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The Treasure Hunter.

"The atrium of the British Ministry of Magic?" Harry whispered even as he shivered as the cold air of the hall chilled his skin. Surrounding him, dressed in red robes, were aurors. All of them were grim-faced and pointing their wands at him. Harry slowly got to his feet, his eyes moving from one auror to the next.

"What is all of this about?" Harry asked as he gingerly stood up so he didn't startle any of the aurors - some of them looked ready enough to curse him badly at the drop of a hat - while he tried to hold his hands out to show them he wasn't a threat even though he knew it was almost comical that he was standing there, half-dressed, dripping wet and shivering from the cold. He also felt a bit of irritation, wondering how it was even possible for witches and wizards to stand around and not cast a warming charm.

"Harry Potter," one of the aurors, a stuffy looking character who tried to present an impressive looking sight but actually came off looking rather stupid, "by order of the Ministry of Magic, you are under arrest."

"For what? Aren't I allowed to hear the charges?" Harry demanded while his mind raced as he tried to think of a worthwhile plan for getting out of his mess. At the same time, he was trying and failing to understand how the Ministry even found him in the first place. He quickly realised the answer. When he had told the magical authorities in Japan about his presence, someone here must have tipped off Britain but why they would do that Harry genuinely did not have a clue. But one thing was certain, Britain had gone to a lot of trouble to find him but he was relieved that he had likely made it incredibly hard for them, but now Harry wished he had looked into more extreme methods than what he had used before this mess to avoid his fellow witches and wizards.

The auror snorted and a few of the others sneered or jeered back at him. "I think you know, Potter."

Harry narrowed his eyes before the cold got to him again. "Look, if I'm being accused of something, then tell me what I am meant to have done," he said as calmly and as maturely as he could to keep them calm. "I haven't been in Magical Britain for a good few years, and I am not a threat."

"Oh yeah!" One of the aurors rushed forward, fiercely jabbing his wand right into Harry's face. "Tell that to the families you've murdered-!"

"That's enough!" A red-haired woman that Harry didn't recognise snapped, her expression hard and set but she had her wand levelled at her colleague. "We're here to take him into custody, not deliver vigilante justice."

Harry was getting seriously worried now. Families killed, by him? No wonder these people looked trigger happy. "Please, just tell me what I am meant to have done. I can assure you that I have not killed anyone."

He was certainly telling the truth. He hadn't harmed anyone seriously for a long time now, and none of them had been in Britain. But Harry's mind kept going to what the more aggressive auror had said a moment ago, about how he had murdered families. What in Merlin's name was going on here?

The young woman turned to him, and then for no explicable reason, the red in her hair turned to a darker shade as if to highlight her temper. Harry studied it in amazement. He had heard of metamorphamaguses, but they were extremely rare. He had never expected to meet one in the British magical world, in fact, it had never entered his mind.

She stared at him, her expression warring between anger and a desire to tell him. Finally, she gave in. "You're under arrest for the murder of several magical families; the Weasleys who are now all but dead except a few members who're left, the Macmillans, the Malfoys, the Parkinsons, and the Abbots. All families you've had problems with in the past."

Harry's eyes widened at the list. The sheer number of people dead, apparently caused by him… it was staggering to him. "That does not mean I did it. There were many people who would like to see some of them dead," Harry pointed out calmly, but inwardly he was stunned by what was going on. He had no need to kill the remaining Malfoys since Lucius had been the only Death Eater of the family, but the Abbots and the Macmillans? Who would want to kill them?

While he wasn't fond of either Hannah or Ernie, he didn't care one way or another if they lived or died, but what possible reason was there to murder them in the first place? Someone was framing him, he realised, and they looked like they were doing a bang-up job of it since PC Plods here couldn't be bothered to investigate, but what Harry could not work out was how they just assumed it was him.

"You were seen killing Hannah Abbot and her little boy only three days ago! You cut her down in Diagon Alley!" One of the aurors screamed at him.

Harry stepped back out of reflex. Some of these aurors were trigger happy and looked about ready to kill him. The last thing he wanted was to give them an excuse to attack him. But he was stunned by what he had just learnt; someone had taken his appearance and they had killed a young woman and a child in broad daylight, a woman whom he had never gotten along with in the past? Where was the sense in that, what was the point? What was going on?

"I didn't do that," Harry said slowly and quietly while he tried to think of a way he could deal with this mess without making it worse than it needed to be - a part of him wanted to take his wand and fight his way out, but that wasn't a smart move; it would only make everyone believe him even more guilty. While had never been fond of Hannah since she had believed he had been setting the basilisk on the rest of the school and believed he dangerous, she had just been an afterthought in his mind, he had preferred to think she simply didn't exist in his world and he was happy there was a wide world between them.

"We have eyewitnesses!" An Auror shouted at him. Harry flinched at the sound, but he was happy he had the chance to jump on what the Auror had shouted in his face.

"Eyewitnesses who could have been fooled. They're witches and wizards as well, don't forget magic can be used to deceive," Harry argued. "We have potions that can disguise ourselves so we look and even sound like others, not to mention there are glamour charms and metamorphamagi out there. Don't be so quick to judge before you have the facts!"

The Auror looked like he was about to argue - or curse him - but whether or not that was going to happen, a strong voice bellowed, "Dawlish, get away from him. Now!"

Harry gasped, recognising the voice and he turned and he saw to his relief Amelia Bones marching through the atrium, her wand outstretched. The woman was older after their last meeting where Amelia arrived at Hogwarts after the revelation of Barty Crouch Junior, but the look she was sending him was such of deep disgust warring with her desire to see justice done. It was hardly encouraging but at least she wasn't baying for his blood.

"Madam Bones, it is agreeable to see you again," Harry said calmly.

Bones glared at him and looked him up and down for a moment before she turned to her subordinates. "I ordered him to be brought into the DMLE, not here in the atrium where anyone could see him!" Bones hissed. "What part of that was beyond your understanding?"

At the sight of the Aurors' visibly paling features, Harry realised that Bones had not done this deliberately. She had wanted to conduct this quietly. So either someone in her department had delusions of grandeur and political ambitions of their own, or the Aurors were a bunch of thugs with all the attitude of a lynching mob.

"And why is he undressed, and dripping wet?" Bones went on, gesturing towards Harry's wet body.

"I was taking a swim when I was brought here," Harry wasn't going to admit what he had been really doing; the magical world had a nasty habit of twisting the facts to make them look worse than they were in reality, and the last thing he wanted was for them to know he was a thief and a treasure hunter. There was no way of knowing what they would twist those details into. With the news he'd had, Harry guessed the idiots here would start spreading lies he was looking for the secrets of some of the more dangerous ancient dark wizards, and plotting to use their powers to bring down the magical world.

"A swim?" Bones stared at him in surprise; Harry wondered why that was.

"Yes, why?"

"We discovered you were in Asia, but we had assumed you were looking for something powerful, and something dark to use against us. You having a swim was the last thing we expected," Bones replied.

Harry inwardly sighed and wondered to himself if keeping his occupation a secret was even worth it if they thought that of him. "Look, Madam Bones, I am telling you the truth. I did not do the things going on at the moment; aside from a few visits around the world, I haven't really bothered with the magical world in years since I left Hogwarts and got my masteries. Why would I suddenly kill people?"

Bones sent him a darkly ironic look. "Exactly the questions that are going to be posed to you at your trial, Potter."

"Trial?" This was the first Harry had heard about it. "What trial? Nobody said anything about a trial when I arrived."

Bones speared her underlings with a glare before she turned it towards Harry. "I would have expected it to be honest and obvious, Potter. The whole Wizarding World sees you as a monster, a murderer. They want you to be in Azkaban before you become a full Dark Lord-."

"Hold it a minute," Harry interrupted before any more of his respect for this woman's professionalism and attitude faded into ashes on the wind. "A Dark Lord? Do people think I'm a Dark Lord? I don't care enough about the magical world enough to go that far, and besides, why would I become one after my family was murdered by one?"

Bones didn't have any smart answers to give him. Clearly she wanted those answers as much as Harry did himself. An idea came to Harry's mind.

"I, Harry James Potter, do hereby swear on my magic and my life that I am not the person committing these murders in the magical world, so mote it be," Harry said and he held out his hand.

Bones and the other Aurors looked and whispered in awe as a small ball of magical light the same size as a tennis ball appeared in Harry's palm. The ball glowed so brightly some of them had to cover their eyes. Harry's eyes flickered to every single one of the Aurors.

"Madam Bones, I don't know who is committing these murders, but it is not me. I can prove it. Give me some leeway during the trial proceedings, and I can prove it," Harry said quietly.

Bones licked her lips in thought. Somehow Harry had the impression she hadn't really believed he was guilty, that or she didn't appreciate the high-handed way he had been brought here, but she had been pushed into a corner to bring him back here to old Blighty. "How, by swearing magical oaths?"

"That and I can show you memories of where I've been recently," Harry was already mentally preparing himself to show the Wizengamot the memories of where he'd been.

"That might help, but be warned, just because you have convinced me you are innocent, others won't be so easily convinced. You're gonna need a lot of luck with this one, Potter. Whoever is behind the attacks has gone beyond Britain's borders."

"Oh no," Harry closed his eyes with a groan as he tried not but couldn't stop himself from imagining the diplomatic nightmare that must be causing. "Where?"

"France, Germany, America, and even as far as Australia and Russia."

"Merlin," Harry shook his head before a thought occurred to him. "Has anyone seen this bastard in action?"

Bones lifted a brow. "Of course, but the wizarding world has been completely taken by surprise by what's been happening. You have to bear in mind following the defeat of You-Know-Who when you were an infant, the DMLE has been brought down. It's only with the revelation that he didn't die that night and he was trying to make a return that we've received funding and an influx of new Aurors, but we haven't got enough people. It doesn't help that Dumbledore is still Hogwart's Headmaster."

Harry ground his teeth involuntarily at the mention of the manipulative old headmaster and he wondered what the old wizard has been doing with these attacks. "What has Dumbledore's response been? The old man run a vigilante group when Voldemort was around the first time. Have they been reformed?"

"From what I can gather, yes," Bones replied.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry noticed one or two Aurors flinch. Something told him they were members of the Order of the Phoenix. He would keep an eye on them. He wasn't going to tell Bones since there was a chance you would go apeshit and start a purge of her department.

"I won't bother asking what they've been doing, Madam Bones, but the sooner I clear my name, the better. How long will it take to do that? The sooner that's out of the way, the sooner I can find out who's been lying about me and the sooner justice is served, the better," Harry said.

Bones stared at him piercingly for a moment; if it wasn't for the fact he knew she would never go that far, Harry would have sworn she was using legilimency on him, but she wasn't. Finally, she sighed. "This is going to be a nightmare since many are convinced you have gone dark."

Harry shook his head. "As I said, I don't care enough about the magical world to go that far. I've come to see you can try looking for power however hard you like, but in the end either you're brought down by your enemies or you die of old age. Personally, I prefer travelling the world and exploring it, in any case, my family were murdered by such a Dark Lord. I haven't got any intention of becoming like that thing."

X

Watched by three Aurors, Harry sat in Amelia Bones' office waiting for the trial to be set up. They hadn't said anything to him much, either because they had been told not to speak to him, or because they couldn't find anything to talk about despite them being desperate to break the awkward and drawing silence, Harry did not know and did not care. He was going through everything the DMLE had found on the imposter. The British DMLE had been working with other DMLEs in other countries, accumulating a lot of evidence against him.

The imposter had struck about a year ago, starting his reign of terror by striking Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and St Mungo's in only a few days. Once the wizarding world was reeling from that, the imposter had gone for Hogwarts, a much bigger prize on the Christmas holidays, striking when the students were leaving for the holidays. Harry rubbed his face, thinking that the attacker had a good logical mind for this kind of assault; the Hogwarts wards were good, but they were weak around the train station. The attacker was driven off by the Hogwarts staff, but the damage had been done; half of the train had been destroyed, the station itself was demolished and the tracks had been twisted into giant metal pretzels.

Magical Britain was outraged but during the chaos, the imposter had gone on to attack France and Germany and Spain in much the same way, but this time the imposter had maimed a number of French Aurors who were much better trained and precise than their British counterparts, as the European magicals had not made the same mistake as Fudge had with the Death Eaters by foolishly believing a DMLE was unnecessary.

The imposter had apparently been surprised if the reports and the pictures engineered from the memories of onlookers and European Aurors fighting him had anything to go by of the stronger resistance.

That made sense. With the poor and inconsistent educations, witches and wizards got in Hogwarts because of Dumbledore's poor management of the situation and his terrible decisions, many people were leaving Hogwarts with a good training in magic. It was partly because of his realisation he lacked the mental energy to really care about the problem that Harry had left, but he hadn't expected it to come back and kiss him full on the mouth in this case, because it meant he was dealing with someone from this country, someone who hadn't bothered to truly become a good enough wizard.

But why impersonate him like this in the first place? What the hell was going on?

What angered Harry the most was how petty the targets were. If he had wanted to become a Dark Lord, Harry would have gone straight for the jugular - the seats of magical government itself either through manipulations or by assassination, all to weaken the country and make it extremely hard for them to fight him.

But this imposter was just like a murderer who was just lashing out at the world because he could and there didn't seem to be a long-term plan behind any of it, just senseless acts of violence and pointless murdering. Most of the murders were aimed towards people whom Harry himself had known in his time at Hogwarts, some of whom he'd had public arguments with, but the Weasleys who were dead were Bill, Fred, and Charlie and Arthur.

Harry rubbed his chin as he examined the dossier Madam Bones had given him to familiarise himself with the recent events before she returned with news.

The trial was on.


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