A/N: I do not own Harry Potter nor the Advent of the Archmage. They are owned by J.K. Rowling and Mo Xiang respectively.

Dumbledore had just returned from the muggle world. Walking towards the schools entrance, he noticed a figure sitting not too far away, staring at the lake. Staring at the boy for a while, the Headmaster went to him and sat nearby.

"Hello Headmaster, sorry for leaving without talking permission, but as you can imagine, I was a little anxious." started Link, still gazing at the Lake.

"Quite alright, dear boy. I'm glad your parents are safe. Though that brings a lot of questions. I wonder if you can answer them?" was the calm reply.

Though it was posed as a question, Link was self-aware enough to understand that answering is not optional. It was an order, and the Headmaster was taking on his role as Chief Warlock.

"What would you like to know?" Now, Link isn't going to lie, but he would be a fool to release everything immediately. Regardless, Dumbledore was apparently happy with the cooperation, if the smile and twinkling in his eyes were anything to go by.

"Very well, how did you know your parents were attacked?"

"I enchanted a set of bracelets for them. It notifies me should they be attacked."

"Impressive, how did they escape the ten wizards that encircled them?"

"I added a portkey mechanism into the bracelets that activate as soon as a spell intending to harm the wearer was cast."

"Remarkable, truly wonderful. Please explain how you accomplished all that?"

"Well, I studied Arithmancy and Ancient Runes all of last year. I also read up on the numerous ways of transportation. I kept making experiments to try and understand and later implement the process of a portkey. In the summer I finally made a breakthrough and was able to embed it into bracelets. Thankfully my research proved useful."

Dumbledore was looking at the child as though he were a freak. His eyes were full-on glowing now, not just twinkling. 'This boy is… just amazing.' Dumbledore's excessive emotions were understandable. After all, Link, a boy of 12-13, was able to do what few could accomplish. His future is truly unpredictable, his potential limitless. It was exciting.

"Marvelous. You also studied apparition?"

"Yes, I did. I was able to use it to get to my parents just now."

"Maybe we should leave these two parts out of your 'interview' with the DMLE. After all, it is illegal to apparate without a license, and creating Portkeys are the same. All of them must be registered with the Ministry, otherwise, a lot of crime would pass by unmonitored."

That last bit confused the boy a bit.

"But, if the law is passed to stop crime, wouldn't those who commit the crime not care for the law in the first place? This law seems to favour those of the 'Dark' alignment in the ministry, after all, they will be able to monitor the 'light' alignment much easier."

Dumbledore was still smiling at the beginning. Then a moment of silence and his smile gradually disappeared, what replaced it was an expression of shock and bulging eyes. As though he had never thought of that before. He resisted the urge to palm his face in utter frustration, but just barely.

"Excuse me, my boy. It seems I have some things to work on."

With that, the Headmaster left in a hurry, eager to rectify a situation that had eluded him for so long. Further thoughts of interrogating the boy, long gone from his mind. Utterly unaware that Link had accomplished what he wanted.

Link had of course read the laws concerning the Portkeys before. Which is why he had an immediate response to that statement. In fact, he was hoping for it. This way at least the investigation towards the mercenaries that attacked his parents would be delayed slightly. Enough for his trail to run cold.

Would Dumbledore still smile if he had known what happened 20 minutes ago? Maybe not, best not to tempt fate. (A/N: The 10 minutes Dumbledore spent at Link's house, and the 10 minutes of conversation just now)

"Mom, Dad, I'm glad you guys are fine, but I need to get back to school."

"Go on then, don't worry. We're fine, don't skip on classes."

"Will do, in fact, I have some good news I want to share with you later. I'll write about it in my next letter."

When the door closed, Links smiling face slowly turned ice cold. There was work to do, and not a lot of time to work with.

A perfect mage is near apathetic.

There was a saying in Firumen, "A perfect mage is near apathetic". Although the Academy of mage's goal isn't to produce unfeeling puppets, it is however encouraged to keep a calm mind at all times to cast spells efficiently, safely, and properly. However, there are some instances in which successful mages have lost their ability to feel. So it wasn't entirely true. Most common folk only saw a mage when he was casting spells, or interacting with people not close to them. They gave off the aura of a cold unfeeling weapon, their eyes were cold and unfeeling. There was only rationality.

It gave credence to that adage.

Link wasn't always calm. He was hotblooded, desperate, and foolhardy. A typical boy that was disregarded by most of his family except his mother. He was brash and prone to recklessness. However, once he was accepted to a minor magic academy, he started calming down. He understood this was his chance to finally rise beyond his station.

As he grew in levels and people showed appreciation for his talent, his heart calmed down. When he was sent to the top mage academy of the Kingdom, his temperament improved greatly. When he killed his first living creature, his heart suffered a disconnect. The day he found out his mother was sold to slavery, his mentality grew cold. Her death closed off his heart.

For years his only reason for living was his sense of duty and uncovering the secrets of magic.

However, he was reborn. He had a mother again. He has a father that loved him. He has friends, acquaintances, and Rose. His heart which was like a diamond, hard, unfeeling but 'good'; now became an ember. Warm, inviting, hopeful. It is close to becoming a great fire that encompasses all his loved ones.

It was a new feeling for Link, one that he liked very much and would like to explore further, but it was still weak, years of war and solitary living are ingrained in him. It's a slow but steady process. Which is why now that someone tried to take away some of the few true joys in his life, he felt another emotion. One he rarely ever felt, and only on the battlefield.

Rage.

How dare these insects threaten that which is mine. How dare they… how dare they… how dare they…

The thought revolved in his mind, constantly feeding the growing inferno. Fury was good, only when used to fuel ones mind rather than blind them to their surroundings.

First Link apparated to his parents' office. From there he retraced their steps. He soon passed by an alley where he felt faint magical remnants. They would disappear within an hour or so.

He first set out with a magic array from his world. It helps recreate an event that happened within a certain area, as long as the event happened within 30 minutes of when the spell is cast. Luckily it's only been 15 minutes since the incident began.

After reviewing the scene, he noticed that one person apparated. A minute later he was back a little worse for wear. Apparently, he tried to follow Link's parents. Thankfully, the wards were able to prevent his entry.

The ability to determine where portkeys are going is something most wizards are able to do, given that they have some experience in doing so. Portkeys do not hide this information in the first place. It may be the fastest way to travel, but also the easiest to track.

Of course, that is relative. It is only easy if you have experience in tracking them. As Portkeys are not very common, not many mages study how to track one. But these people were mercenaries, granted not very powerful ones, but mercenaries nonetheless.

Link had to think of a way to make the Portkey safer.

Once the man returned, the rest gave up the pursuit in frustration, and all apparated away.

The spell did its job. Now, Link had to figure out where the ten wizards went.

Having 10 different apparition spots, Link was able to determine more accurately the location the wizards had fled to. Locking on, he followed them. Teleporting approximately 30 meters away from them.

He found the building they were in easily enough. There were quite a few warehouses in this area, surprising that wizards know about this in the first place. A simple point me spell showed the way.

First, he had to lay down an array. Multiple arrays really.

Reece "Herpo" Bailey was a poor half-blood wizard from a poor town in the suburbs of wales. He like the rest of his crew attended a normal Magic school that only offered courses till the OWL examination. Hogwarts was without a doubt one of the best schools in the world, however, not everyone is able to attend.

Similar to Harvard or Oxford in the muggle world, on average those from the 'elite' schools are better at their craft.

Reece was not particularly powerful. A level-5 mage, not that this world has any awareness of the level system. They merely judged themselves in magical strength. There are no clear denominations. The level system is something only Link is aware of.

He was sick of the poor life he lived in England. He didn't want to stay poor all his life. So he joined a mercenary band. They weren't very powerful, around his strength. They were 6 in number. The stronger bands would not have accepted him anyway. That was 13 years ago. Now he had risen in the ranks, eventually becoming the leader of the band after the previous leader died from the poisonous breath of an infant Nundu in Kenya. They were trying to capture the beast and sell its organs. Very profitable business. They couldn't go against an adult Nundu, only people the likes of Dumbledore are able to stand up to that horrifying beast. It's a class 5 beast for a reason. Anyway, they were careless, the leader ended up paying for that with his life.

He took the reins of the band shortly after that event. He decided to get an easy job this time. Start off his time as the leader on a successful note. So when he heard that the big and mighty Malfoy family was looking for someone to off a muggle family, with a huge payout of 50 gold Galleons. It was too irresistible.

Only it wasn't as easy as he had thought, they failed. It's only a matter of time before they are tracked by the ministry. They had to bolt. The Malfoys are people they could not afford to offend. It is a sure way to experience an early death.

"It's going to be an easy job… trust me… we need to recast the vote when we're gone"

Another wizard, Stephen Brooks, pure-blood, mocked while waiting for the portkey to activate.

"Oh, fuck off Brooks. You had it in for Herpo from day one. He won the vote, suck it up. It ain't his fault we didn't have all the information."

The response was from Herpo's good friend, Micheal. The vote was close, Herpo won by one vote against Brooks. Brooks wasn't convinced and had been trying to get a revote for a while now.

"Shut up ass kisser. We wouldn't be in this mess if we stuck to hunting contracts. That's what we are good at. We're hunters. This is a right mess."

"It's not as though we haven't killed a thousand muggles already in Africa. What the hell do you have to complain about you bloody hypocrite."

"You…"

"Alright quite" Herpo spoke. "The Portkey will be ready in 3 minutes. Everyone ready? And Brooks, we can have a revote when we are safe"

They were silent after that. Even if Brooks wanted to be the leader, they were all on friendly terms. Otherwise, they wouldn't work together. They had a sense of trust in each other.

All of a sudden, it was dark.

"Damn it, is it the Aurors?"

"Impossible, it's not been 20 minutes since the attack. How can they get us so quickly?"

"How did they even make it dark?"

"Who is it then?"

They were all battle-ready, standing in a circle. They covered each other's blind spots.

"You idiots, we're wizards… someone cast a Lumos" said Herpo, exasperated. Though he talked big, he was also startled, it took him a while to remember this. Not that he would admit such an embarrassing thing.

"Lumos Maxima"

With the light hanging above their heads, the 10 wizards were able to take in their surroundings. There wasn't anything different. Except, of course, the short person next to Herpo.

Herpo noticed the new addition immediately. he was short, probably a midget. He was dressed in all black, a hood hiding his facial features. They guessed the new addition was male, but they couldn't be sure. The clothing did not give any indication of the gender of the individual. More importantly, they felt the person was a mage. Though they could not tell his strength. Either way, they were confident with their numbers. Unless the opponent was Dumbledore, they were confident in their ability to take care of most opponents. (Wrong of course, any mid to high level-6 or above would be able to take care of all of them.)

"Who the fuck are you?" Herpo intoned.

Silence was all that greeted them, there was no hint as to whether the person had heard him.

Irritated, Herpo walked with purpose towards the man, two strides were enough to reach him.

"Are you bloody deaf? I asked you who the f-"

That was as far as Herpo was able to get out before he felt excruciating pain, then darkness. All he heard before falling was:

"None of you are leaving here alive."

It sounded eerily as a kid. But that was impossible, right?

At first, it was muffled. Then it slowly became clearer. Similar to a slowly fading concussion. All Reece felt was confusion. The ringing he felt was reducing quickly now.

Eventually, he felt nothing at all, which was concerning. The numbness spread all over his body to the point he began to panic a little. He looked at his arms, wondering why he can't feel them, only to see through them.

He was a ghost now.

Fuck.

Looking around, he noticed it was only a few seconds since he apparently died. There were still looks of surprise on the face of the bands, slowly morphing into horror. Which confused the leader, they were no strangers to death, why are they so shaken? How can they lose their composure so easily?

He understood why a second later, there were already 3 deaths, himself included, in what amounted to 30 seconds.

How can that be? What is that monster?

He saw him, the demon. It was armed with a simple sword in its left arm and a wand in its right arm. It was weaving in and out of the spells his comrades cast at it. None were close to touching it. As though an adult playing with kids a game of tag, but none could touch the adult. It was a similar scene only much more elegant.

The demon was swift, no wasted movements, no mistakes. Everything was going along to an unforeseen script that the demon had memorised.

Every ten seconds there was another casualty to their troop. A sword through the head, an elemental spell impacting a weak point. The spells seem to dance around the demon, as though excited to do its bidding. Willing to go through hell and back all to accomplish what the demon willed to happen.

It was one of the most beautiful slaughter he had ever witnessed. No, not a slaughter, nothing so boorish. It was a dance, a dance of magic and death.

With every death, another ghost popped into existence. A minute later the demon finally stopped, a minute after that and there were ten ghosts present.

Wait a minute… how can there be so many ghosts? There are very strict requirements needed before the creation of a ghost. Herpo wasn't sure on the exact details, but he was sure the requirements were extremely stringent, otherwise wouldn't every wizard and witch be considered semi-immortal?

How did this demon accomplish the impossible?

It turned towards them, all the ghosts being spawned next to each other, another oddity really.

It stopped in front of them and removed its hood, unveiling the face of a child, one barely into their teens.

The dead mercenary troop's eyes were wide at that moment, they had died at the hands of… a child. It was inconceivable.

Just before they were about to rage at the child for the unprovoked slaughter, he spoke.

"Now that you are dead, we can get to the main point. Why did you try to kill my parents?"

They were stunned for a second, then they sneered at the child in mockery. With gazes of derision, most of them turned away, intending to leave this area. They could report this child to the DMLE, ruin his life as he had taken theirs.

However, to their astonishment, they discovered their inability to move beyond a certain limit. Their surprise quickly turned to shock and fury.

"Kid, what's the meaning of this. You kill us, then when we turn to ghosts you confine us?"

"Yes, you aren't going anywhere. Not until you answer my questions. Of course, as I had made sure you became ghosts, I can just as easily make sure you fade. A permanent death."

The boy said this so coldly, they couldn't help but feel a chill crawl up their spine, even though they were already ghosts. Though, Brooks quickly recovered, sneering in a condescending way.

"You said those people today were your parents? So you're a mudblood?"

"Trust an idiot to be the first one to open their mouth. Yes, I am muggle-born, and I am 12 years old. What does that say about 10 grown-up wizards? Useless?"

That shut him up, of course, there is very little he could do. He just knew that as soon as he was free from this confinement he will report this kid. Send him to Azkaban. I'm sure the Pure-blood community would view this kid with massive power as a threat.

Of course, that did not stop them from having their egos heavily bruised.

"Now that I have your attention, who hired you?"

"How do you know we were hired? For all you know we went to have fun with those pitiful muggles." Herp stated.

"Who's really pitiful? Honest people returning from a hard day's work? Or a bunch of nobodies with nothing better to do than to harass a few random people?"

"What a sharp wit. It seems we can't compete in words and in magic." chuckled Herpo, getting a few melancholic snickers in response.

"Glad you understand, now your employer."

"Oh fuck off kid, why would we tell you? You killed us, there is nothing worse that can happen to us anyway" stated Brooks smugly.

"Oh, how wrong you are, my dear friend…"

"I ain't your friends mudblood"

"You know the saying, death or worse?" continued Link, unconcerned with the petty interruption. "You are about to experience 'worse' I hope a few of you can last long enough to get what I need."

"What do you mean?" Herpo was a little nervous now. But when he thought it was almost impossible to tamper with a ghost, he regained a little confidence. The same could be said to his teammates.

"Sure kid, whatever. When we get out of here, your cosy life will end. Every auror will be after you for the murder of 10 innocent wizards. I'm sure they will believe the testimonies of 10 upstanding wizarding ghosts such as ourselves."

The demon regarded him as though he were an idiot.

"I am Link Granger, by the way. In case you want to make that report more authentic."

His casual disregard to their threat was a shocking revelation. How can someone not care about such a thing? His life will be over. His parents will forget he ever existed. Really where did he get his courage from?

"Since you will not tell me your employers name, I guess I will have to find out for myself. I hope your souls have high pain tolerance."

Link had wanted to avoid such a method, as it was a 70% chance of not getting the information he needed before the soul would give way. Let's hope he's lucky.

Stepping towards the ghost named Brooks, Link extended his hand as though to grab the ghost.

"Look at this idiot, do you think you can touch a ghost? HAHAHA, what an- Ummm… who's touching me? AHH"

Link yanked him out of his entourage, startling the mercenary troop so much their eyes bulged so much they almost popped out of their sockets.

"Tell me everything, bare your soul Brooks" cackled Link in an eerily creepy way, all in an effort to destabilise the mercenary band, that way they would tell him the truth sooner.

With his hand on Brooks shoulder, the boy pushed some magic onto the ghost, then all we heard was Brooks wails of agony. His screeching moans, begging the demon to release him. Then silence, the ghost that was Brooks disintegrated into light particles dispersing in the air.

"Unlucky, I was not able to get the information I needed. I wonder, who's next? Of course, you can just tell me"

Herpo shivered at the almost bland way that horrifying piece of information was delivered. Every one of them was stunned silent at the moment, they simply could not comprehend what just happened.

"No? Then you're next"

A random member was taken out soon after. That brought them out of their stupor, horror reflecting in each of their eyes.

"Wait, I don't know, I don't kn- AAAHHHHHHHH"

The demon didn't bother to listen to them. He immediately shredded Simon as though he were but an ant.

When the child was done, he turned towards them again, extending his arm to pluck another unlucky member of his team. Herpo could not allow that to continue. He had to come clean, at most they will leave the country to stay away from this demon child.

"Stop, Link. I am the leader of this troop. Only I know the name of the employers."

Of course, that was a lie, they all knew who hired them, he just had to have him concentrate on him.

Without an ounce of hesitation, Link grabbed his throat, dragged him away.

"Who are they?"

"One pureblood wizard from the Finch family."

"Finch? Why would a neutral-light family come after my family? Do you think I am an idiot? Who would believe that?"

"But it's the…"

"Oh, shut it, I'll know soon enough. Enjoy"

All Herpo knew was pain.

In the end, Link knew who ordered the attack, Malfoy senior. Too bad for him, Link was now aware of the conspiracy against him. Now it was his turn to start turning the wheel against them. They will know the true meaning of despair, then they will die.

Unfortunately for the mercenary troop, they were collateral. Their souls were extinguished and their bodies burnt to ash.

Dumbledore had just rushed into the great castle, leaving the former war general alone to contemplate the downfall of a wizarding family.

"Malfoy… I wonder since they like to play with people's lives, are they prepared to be played with? Will they still be smug when their world falls around them?"

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

I was told the chapter is a little too dark, should I amend it? Or is this fine?