I don't own Harry Potter, sadly enough. If I did then the books would have been considerably darker.
Please let me know what you think.
X
The Treasure Hunter.
"Bored, bored, bored, bored," Harry grimaced as he flicked through the files that contained the reports of the attacks committed by the imposter, although he wasn't sure why he was even bothering; he had seen enough of them already to have committed them to memory by now. But in truth, he didn't have anything better to do while he was stuck in the DMLE.
Amelia Bones and the rest of the DMLE - Harry didn't know if the orders came from higher up or not, but it didn't matter and he quickly realised that it wasn't something to care about - had been keeping him in this part of the Ministry for hours, and since he had gone through the documents about the imposter Dark Wizard, there wasn't anything for him to do. Harry didn't feel any kind of surprise by that given how he had become a nomad and he hadn't been seen for years, and it also didn't help matters that there were likely those out there who would like to cause him harm if they disbelieved him.
It was possible.
But he was relieved at the same time; Amelia Bones was made out of stern stuff and she didn't make the kind of mistakes Harry knew Dumbledore would have made if the old wizard was given charge of this; she kept him informed of everything that was going on, so while he was bored, he was kept in the loop and he wasn't being patronised by a much more older and experienced witch. She was also smart enough to keep some of the worst elements of the British government from coming to the DMLE, something to be grateful for, and she was likely keeping Dumbledore or one of the Order from coming in.
But it was just so mind-numbingly dull and tedious sitting around.
God, I'm glad I didn't become an Auror; if this is what they have to do every time a major case occurs, Harry thought to himself more than once before he turned to study one of the memory photographs depicting one of the nastier massacres. Most Dark Wizards who went on to become Dark Lords usually had a purpose in their minds when they began to rise to power, but there was no sign of any purpose here.
Thanks to his time in France and Germany, Harry had learnt when he had begun his own rise to power, Grindelwald had held rallies. Thanks to them and his subsequent actions Grindelwald had gained more power than the average Dark Lord, even Voldemort hadn't been able to rally that much support even with the decades of the groundwork he had used before the First Wizarding World War began. On the continent, Grindelwald, not Voldemort, was seen as the worst Dark Lord in history. In comparison Voldemort had barely managed to conquer Britain at all; the only reason the Ministry had nearly fallen was that Voldemort and the Death Eaters had been biting at the heels of the Ministry for years, but all they achieved was an image as a violent gang of thugs, not even close to the level Grindelwald and his army achieved. There were reasons why Voldemort had never garnered much of a following. In the minds of many, Grindelwald had been their best hope. Voldemort was nothing but a rabid animal.
But this imposter…
Harry couldn't see any other motive for him except to just kill. Maybe there were a few people out there who liked the thought of just killing, but Harry wasn't entirely sure. It was hard for him to get an idea of what was going through the mind of the killer, but he knew they were smarter than they acted.
All he wanted to do was confront the wizard and stop them before they did anything else. While he had already decided not to bother spending too much of his time dwelling on what their motives are, he was so bored he could not help it.
One, the wizard was just causing trouble and they'd decided to simply take the identity of a famous person to spoil and disguise themselves, but there had to be a long term plan for that.
Two, the wizard DID have a political agenda of some kind and they were launching the attacks to spread fear and terror throughout the magical world while things ripened up for… whatever they had in mind.
Three, it was just a basic trap aimed at dragging him out from where he was and framing him for something. Harry knew he had dozens of enemies out there. He usually kept well out of the way of major situations, sometimes it was just unavoidable and outright impossible to achieve. Any one of them could be responsible. The question was which.
The biggest problem was why they were bothering to impersonate him in the first place when they had more than enough power to back up their arguments.
As he had gone through the reports, one of the more recent ones, something interesting popped out to his attention.
The impersonator was able to appear using flame-based magic. It was rare for wizards to use such dramatic power, so it had to be significant. But why they would bother was beyond him.
Flame-based apparition was a circus trick. It didn't make a wizard or a witch any more powerful than the average. Whoever this impersonator was they liked putting on a show. Harry personally thought it was a waste of time. There were more subtle ways of getting about, and this imposter had shown he was good and bold at what he was doing. So why perform such a pointless trick?
Harry sighed and he picked himself up, wincing. He had been sitting in that damn chair for hours now and his body had become as stiff as a board. He would need to walk around the room a bit. Out of the corner of his eyes, however, Harry spotted the aurors stationed in the room to keep watch over him stiffen themselves; they were bored like he was, and they looked like they had been a moment away from falling asleep themselves, but when he had moved, they had jolted themselves awake and they had slipped their hands into their pockets. Making sure to keep his movements as slow and as non-threatening as he could possibly afford to get away with, Harry walked around slowly to nurse his legs and spine out of entropy and he walked over to get some sandwiches and a coffee, and he took them back to where he had been sitting.
Harry token his wand out and checked that the sandwiches and coffee he had brought over were safe; he didn't trust Bones or anyone within the Ministry to not have doctored it chewed one of the sandwiches - tuna mayo with tomato and cucumber - and he munched on it thoughtfully. As he felt the bits fall down his throat to his stomach, Harry decided to stop thinking about the matter for a moment and just ate.
Once he was finished demolishing the sandwiches and he had finished dabbing his mouth with a napkin, Harry turned his attention over to the coffee before he finished that as well. Once he was done with both, Harry stood up and walked around the room, trying to stave off the boredom he felt. He didn't once speak or even glance at the others in the room with him. They were busily standing around loitering, chatting quietly with each other, or they were on the point of falling asleep. If this was what the DMLE procedures were then he was relieved he had never become an Auror.
He didn't care.
A part of Harry was tempted to just leave them to it, but he knew if he did that it would cause problems for Bones further down the line. He didn't want that. He respected the older woman. Amelia Bones might have needed to learn the hard way which battles she knew she was going to win, and which ones she would not have a chance of even reaching the type of conclusion she wanted, but there was no doubt in his mind she was one of the better witches in the magical world. But he knew he needed to be on his guard with her. Just because he did respect her didn't mean he knew what she was like underneath.
That was one of the reasons why he had made sure he had received an unbreakable oath from her. If she or the Ministry tried to keep him here against his will, then they would die. It would give them all something to worry about.
GONG! GONG!
Great dragons, what the hell was that? Harry jumped at the sound of the bell, shivering as the sound went right through him and chilled him to the bone. He looked around wondering where it came from when Madam Bones rushed in looking around before she saw him. She ran over to him, but the moment he saw her face he knew what she was going to say.
"There's been an attack?" Harry wanted to be sure about his theory.
Bones nodded grimly. "It's happening right now. It is happening in the Ministry itself."
Harry wondered if this imposter could have been any more brazen. "Where are they?" He asked as Bones led him out of the incident room. With luck, he had just seen the back of that room, and he ran alongside the Aurors as they raced to the last reported location of the imposter.
Bones barely spared him a glance. "That's the thing, Potter. He seems to be apparating to different Ministry departments. That alone is troubling. But what's even stranger is that he is doing it in a strange way."
"What do you mean, strange?" Harry pulled out his wand as he prepared himself mentally for the fight ahead. His occlumency barriers clamped down on his emotions. He accessed his mental library of spells, looking for the more dangerous and the most obscure curses in his arsenal while he opened the mental 'books' on Battle Transfiguration, Basic Transfiguration and Basic Charms, and Battle Charms to help him save his energy.
"He's apparating using fire," Bones said, clearly having a hard time believing what she had said.
But right now Madam Bones' statement about him apparating to different Ministry departments surprised him. From what he knew there were wards and spells and enchantments all over the Ministry to prevent anybody from moving freely through the place. It was done to prevent dark siders from being able to get to the more sensitive areas, like the archives where you'd find information about muggle-born children who were about to enter Hogwarts, information about court cases, criminals, stuff like that.
The idea of someone being able to pass through, and being wrapped in flames….
"I read a report about that just now. The problem is most flame-based apparition is draining, and it doesn't do anything more than adding a bit of show and colour," Harry mused.
"Yeah, they're one of the more obscure shows of this guy's power, and some of the Unspeakables I spoke to told me it is a pointless waste of time, so why would they do it?" Bones asked.
Harry didn't know the answer so he shrugged his shoulders. But then a thought occurred to him, something that made him slow to a crawl before he stopped. Bones stopped as well, as did the young Auror who had the weird hair.
"What's wrong?" Bones asked, seeing Potter's eyes were wide open in shock.
"What if the flame-based apparition isn't for show, but it's a natural part of their ability to move?" Harry turned to her, horror on his face. No, what he was thinking of was too insane; surely he couldn't be...?
"What's he talking about, boss?" The younger Auror asked, her hair suddenly lemon yellow as she stared at Bones. The older witch shrugged.
Harry realised they weren't thinking, and he dialled back his irritation and took a deep breath so he could explain his growing theory. "Look, we've both agreed the flame-based teleportation is a pointless and overdramatic way of appearing and fighting, but what if it's an essential part of the magical travel?"
"Potter, why don't you come to the point?"
Harry groaned and he ran his hands through his already messed up hair in frustration. "Look, let me put it another way-."
"Please do."
Harry ignored the sarcastic snark from the younger Auror. "We know wizards using wizard methods of travel; portkeys, apparation cannot move through the Ministry. Not without help. What if this wizard has help?"
Bones was rapidly losing her patience. The longer they debated this, the more ground the Dark Wizard impersonating this wizard was going to get. Why couldn't he come to the point?
Fortunately for their sanity, Harry Potter was nothing like Albus Dumbledore, who would have led them around and around on a leash.
"We already share a world with magical beings - House Elves can come and go freely through the Hogwarts wards without any trouble. So can goblins, and both races are capable of manipulating magic via their minds, and they are born with their unique forms of magic. What if the wizard is doing the same thing, using a magical being with their own unique magic to help them move from place to place inside heavily warded institutes like a Ministry where there will be defences and enchantments to prevent it? For a House Elf, their magic would be incompatible with the enchantments, but we're not dealing with a House-elf, their magic is too subtle."
Bones shared a look with her fellow Auror. The idea was ridiculous, absurd, and yet it would explain a great deal. "What kind of creature would it be?"
Harry licked his lips. He knew this was going to be virtually impossible for them to even believe. "Flame travel. I know only one magical creature that can do that…."
Bones caught on quickly. So did her younger associate. "A phoenix?" She gaped in shock.
"That's impossible. A phoenix is a light creature. It will destroy and hunt down any dark creature and will protect the innocent, they don't kill." The certainty of the younger Auror made Harry sigh.
"Not necessarily; there are spells - powerful and difficult ones - that can be used to twist a phoenix's mind. They're hard to master and they need to be applied time and time again, especially if the Phoenix goes through a Burning, but they exist. They were created by ancient dark wizards who wished to harness the full power of a phoenix and bind them to themselves. The spells are banned but they still exist."
"But who'd do something so evil?"
Harry had a good idea who could do something like that, but he wasn't going to say anything as he had no evidence. He needed proof and he had a feeling they'd get it. "Let's wait and find out," he said philosophically as they moved through the Ministry before they reached a large corridor space. The small group were passing through it when a burst of flames appeared in front of them. Harry ignored the yelps and shouts of surprise as the flames appeared out of thin air, growing larger before disappearing entirely, leaving only the imposter.
As soon as his eyes fell on the wizard, Harry saw a hint his suspicion was correct. The wizard's eyes were twinkling. The wizard's expression was cool, composed and serene and controlled, although there was a hungry look on his face. It was a predatory gaze as they locked onto Harry, but there was something else there. Annoyance? Why would he be annoyed?
"We meet at last, Harry Potter," the wizard spoke. Harry was surprised by the almost amicable way the imposter had just said that. He had assumed the other wizard would launch into a chain of curses and spells the moment he realised who was in front of him. Suddenly he realised what the wizard was doing. He was hoping to buy time, but for what? To take him by surprise? Well, it was not going to work.
"Quite," Harry didn't outwardly show how unnerved he was when he was hearing his own voice speaking to him like that, by this stranger. Aside from the glasses and the robes and the pale skin, meeting this guy was like looking at himself in the mirror. The eyes were the same, the hair that he had forever given up trying to comb, the wizard in front of him was like something out of a mirror universe. Harry tightened his grip on his wand as he prepared to fight. "Two questions; why did you take my physical form? Also, why haven't you formed your own private little cult like Voldemort did?"
The wizard's expression didn't change, all he did was smile serenely back at Harry and the Aurors. While he didn't otherwise show any signs of noticing, Bones took the opportunity to direct her Aurors to block off all physical routes of escape and to box the wizard in on all sides. The wizard eventually caught sight of the Aurors movements, but he dismissed them as if the Aurors were just schoolchildren playing a tedious game he couldn't be bothered with.
"I haven't formed an army of followers because I know you are a more independent soul than Lord Voldemort," the imposter said arrogantly. Then the wizard's expression and manner darkened. "I had a great plan in mind for you. All I needed to do was to impersonate you. But all that is now ruined. Thanks to that oath you made, you ruined many of my plans. I had hoped that by turning the populace against you, I would have the means to defeat you."
"But you did have help," Harry pointed out while he filed away everything he had just learnt and he mentally sorted through the jigsaw puzzle in his mind, "there's no way you could have broken into those European ministries without some inside help. Even a Phoenix couldn't get into those places," he added smartly.
The wizard's expression was closed off and cooly serene, but everyone noticed how he started in surprise.
"So you do have a phoenix," Harry stated, gazing at the other wizard in disbelief. His suspicions about who this wizard was were hardening into certainty every moment. "What did you do to the poor thing to allow you to do everything you have?"
Without giving the imposter a moment to respond or even give him a chance to fight back, the tip of Harry's wand exploded. The imposter didn't have a second to gurgle or even break the water vortex which had surrounded him and encased him in an eight-foot-tall conjured water spout. Through the vortex, Harry and the Aurors could see the imposter struggling to hold his breath. For a moment nothing happened, and then the water bubbled as an underwater fire reminiscent of the deep sea volcanoes Harry had seen in those tourist submarines appeared but it was drowned out by the volume of water.
The imposter waved his wand arm desperately after he regained some degree of control over the situation he was in, and Harry conjured a solid block of concrete and he heard a sound from behind the shield block like a giant splash. Dispelling the shield, Harry found himself looking at the imposter who was lying on the ground, letting out terrible hacking coughs.
Harry took a step towards him slowly - and instantly the phoenix appeared dripping wet although its inner fire was trying its best to turn the water into steam, cawing indignantly at Harry for what he had just done. Harry glared back at the creature, again wondering what the hell the imposter had done to twist the creature to his will. He had hoped privately that the imposter hadn't gone this far, but this was the ultimate proof. But he was even angrier that the phoenix had been abused in such an appalling manner. If he needed proof those spells should be destroyed forever, he had it, and so did everyone else here.
A phoenix, a wild phoenix, was a purely light creature. It would have used its power to protect the innocent, and it would have used its talons and its beak and its powers to kill anything including a basilisk. But this creature… The mighty and incredible bird swooped towards his human - only for Harry to blast it with a killing curse and three blasting curses.
"NOOOO!" The imposter roared in horror as the curses impacted the bird, making it squawk and explode in a flash of flame and it fell to the ground into a cloud of ash. The imposter stared at the pile of ash with a faraway, disbelieving look in his eyes before he glared at Harry with hatred. The look was so identical to Harry that the real article actually stepped back.
But it was too late.
With a cry of rage, the imposter leapt at Harry. The Aurors readied themselves to fight him, but they were taken by surprise by the attack he unleashed on them all. With a sweep of his wand, he banished a number of Aurors, desperate to reach Harry. With his wand in his hand, Harry tried to fight back against the imposter, but the Aurors were getting in the way. Finally, he banished the lot of them and sent them flying off in different directions where they clattered against the wall.
The imposter sent a smug grin Harry's way before he launched into his form. Harry met the imposter's curses fluidly before they settled using their different techniques in a duel. The imposter used Battle Transfiguration while Harry used basic household charms mingled with Battle Charms and Transfiguration spells.
The murderer came at him with a Battle Transfiguration spell chain where the very floor Harry was standing on transformed into a small square-shaped lake, but Harry quickly realised what was happening and managed to leap to the side before throwing a Chinese curse toward the imposter. The other wizard didn't have a clue what the spell did, showing he didn't have any knowledge about the Ancient Chinese sorcery spells. The spell smashed through a hastily erected shield and sent the imposter flying towards a wall before the imposter quickly recovered and got back into the fight.
As it wore on, it became increasingly apparent that the real Harry Potter was the superior duellist although it was clear the imposter had a very strong spell repertoire. The imposter was good, however, the differences were clear; the imposter, despite being a murderer, had a careful choice of the spells he used. Harry, on the other hand, was more direct, malicious and controlled.
The real Harry's wand moved silently, with a mere flick Harry dispelled or changed the spells sent his way, a blasting curse suddenly transformed into a winged flaming spell which flew back to the imposter, who had to quickly dispel it himself, but he didn't have the skill needed to transform it into something else and use it as a weapon. Some of the spells were deflected back at the imposter, while Harry was moving with graceful steps that would put someone in mind of a humanoid cat.
The imposter settled into a holding pattern, waiting for Harry to exhaust himself. But it didn't happen. Harry wasn't using high-powered and explosive spells unless he needed to, and he used spells which were used at first or third-year level. Not just that, he used a number of third and fourth-year curses that the imposter had to concentrate on dispelling, but Harry fired a few transfiguration spells, forcing the imposter to deal with unexpected diversions that made him visibly annoyed. A small statue became animated and attacked the imposter, while a hanging tapestry surprised him when spells ricocheted off of it, and he realised it had been transformed into a patch of reflective surfacing, forcing the imposter to fight off two fronts.
It soon became clear to the onlookers, many of them members of Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix that the imposter was beaten, and he was beginning to tire.
The imposter took a backstep, but Harry walked over to him slowly, conjuring a giant swarm of hornets which he sent over to the imposter, whose eyes widened in horror when he saw what was coming, but he was too late stopping the swarm. He pointed his wand at the swarm and fired a fire vortex at the swarm.
The insects were engulfed in a blazing inferno although a few of them were able to survive and sting him. The imposter screamed and instinctively tried to wave the stinging insects away…. Only for Harry to appear and blast the wand out of the imposter's hand, send the wand - and a few of the imposter's fingers - flying away.
The imposter screamed in agony, dropping to the ground while he clasped his shattered hand protectively as blood pooled out from the stumps where his fingers used to be, staring at the wound in disbelief, unable to take in what had just happened. He stared up at Harry with bleary, pain-filled eyes while he looked fairly out of it. He watched in horror as Harry summoned the wand he'd used.
"You're done," Harry said to him simply before he began scanning him for any other weapons or potions. The imposter looked at him worriedly when he saw the sudden look of concentration and then anticipation. Harry flicked his wand and something was summoned from the imposter's neck. It was some kind of necklace, but Harry could see it was some kind of rune cluster.
"No, don't-!" The imposter gasped as he tried to stand, but the pain in his hand made him fall back to the ground.
But it was too late. The imposter began to change. His skin started wrinkling, like an apple being left out in the sun, before the hair lengthened and started to change from a black to a brown, and then to grey, to a white and then to an almost luminous silver colour. From the chin, a small goatee appeared before the hairs lengthened and grew at phenomenal speed until it went to the waist. The nose became longer, more crooked.
Harry was more than aware of the gasps of horror and the cries of denial as the identity of the imposter became clear.
"You just could not leave it alone, could you, Albus Dumbledore?" Harry sneered.
Until the next time...
