Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, etc, etc, etc
A/N: I am (just for a change) extremely sorry for the long months it has been since I updated this story, but I've been very busy and this story had me completely stumped.
I hit the proverbial writer's block and it was terrible, I knew what I wanted to happen in all the chapters after this, I just couldn't get this one together and wonderful though all my reviewers are, they all seemed to want different things.
Then I came to realise that I can't please everyone and that I just have to do what I think is best for the story, so this chapter does contain an encounter with Voldemort, later on there will be Harry/Hermione romance and Draco bashing will continue
But if anyone is really opposed to Voldemort fight scenes then I will mark them out, you can simply skip them and your enjoyment of the story will hopefully not be spoilt too much. So here goes nothing:
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A tall dark figure with his hood up came striding into the head offices of the Aurors and glanced round swiftly before making his way to the reception desk
'Good afternoon sir, can I be of assistance?' the secretary asked in a highly-polished tone, not realising she was speaking directly to the boy she had been reading about only five minutes earlier in the Witch's Weekly
'I certainly hope so. I wish to speak with Mr McInnes' Harry said, reading the name of the head of the auror department off a list in front of him
'Do you have an appointment?' she asked, still apparently unconcerned that a hooded stranger who for all she knew could be a deatheater was only a few centimetres from her
'No'
'I see' the secretary said, in a voice that clearly meant she expected him to be leaving very soon
'Yes, but while I'm very grateful that you can use your eyes, this is an urgent matter regarding Voldemort' Harry said rather annoyed that after sneaking out of Hogwarts over an hour ago, he was still wasting his time with some secretary while Voldemort might be killing some innocent person
'You-know-who?' she questioned glancing around a bit nervously
'No, Voldemort' Harry said repeating the word very firmly
'Right' the secretary smiled calmly while reaching for the security alarm
'Can I see him now?' Harry asked abruptly staring intently at the woman's arm, which had now paused inches from the alarm
'I'm afraid he's far too busy just now, but if you like I could tell him you called' she decided that pressing the alarm might provoke this weirdo further and instead tried to fob him off with her most professional voice
'Or you could actually do your job and tell him now' Harry said continuing to stare from under his hood, succeeding in making the woman extremely uncomfortable
'Very well. Name?' she asked with a sigh of defeat as she reached for a quill and parchment thinking she should definitely be paid at least twice as much for this job
'Harry'
'Harry what? There are more than a few Harry's in the world' the secretary snapped irritated by this young man's stupidity
'Potter. Harry Potter' the young man in question said as he lowered his hood with a smirk that the secretary missed as she was busy scribbling on her parchment of paper muttering to herself
'Ok. Harry Potter about you-know-who. Harry Potter? The Harry Potter? About the you-know-who? You're Harry Potter. Harry Potter' she was now gaping at him, her eyes going from his scar to the piece of parchment with his name on and back to the scar
'Wonderful, I'm happy that we know each other's names' Harry said very dryly, wondering if this woman was even qualified to be a secretary and not in fact some escaped mental asylum patient
'Actually I never told you mine' she said rather breathlessly, as she imagined her friends' faces when she told them she'd met Harry Potter and that he was even better looking in person
'And I hope you never do, putting a name to the voice and face might just give me nightmares.' Harry visibly shuddered but the secretary merely gaped at him missing the insult, so he continued, 'but would you be a good little nameless girl and tell Mr McInnes I wish to see him'
'Right-away, if you'd like to take a seat' the now hopelessly infatuated secretary smiled as she backed away and in doing so bumped into her own desk before managing to find the right door to her boss' office
Mere seconds later Harry was ushered into an office where a very curious man was waiting for him
'Hello I'm Angus McInnes, head of the British auror department, how can I help you?' McInnes greeted looking the visitor up and down with interest as he motioned him to sit opposite him
'It's more like how I can help you' Harry said seriously as he accepted the offer of a seat
'Oh really?' the older man raised an eyebrow
'Really. How would you like to capture Voldemort?' Harry asked leaning forwards as McInnes other eyebrow shot up to join the first
About an hour later, Harry had finished detailing his plan and McInnes who had stayed practically silent throughout leant back in his chair stroking his chin thoughtfully
'So will you back me up?' Harry asked growing restless after watching a few minutes of silent chin stroking
'How old are you?' McInnes asked casting his scrutinising eyes over Harry once again
'Seventeen'
'Maybe you should wait a few years' McInnes said, sounding as remarkable over-protective as Sirius
'Don't patronise me, I'm Harry Potter' Harry said extremely defensively, unable to believe that somebody was questioning him
'Don't believe your own press laddie, you'll meet a sticky end if you do' McInnes asked harshly
'Look I'll do this with or without you, do you want in or not?' Harry said coldly standing up as he prepared to storm from the room
'I can't pass up this opportunity' McInnes admitted with a half glare as Harry paused, before he stood up himself to say 'I'd just like to say ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?'
'Oh yes definitely' Harry grinned, unconcerned that the head of the auror department had just bellowed loud enough to scare pigeons for miles around. 'Now remember, 10 o'clock don't be late' he added cheekily as he let himself out of the office
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A/N: LOOK HERE, READ THIS. From this point onwards it is the Voldemort fight scene, if you really want you can skip down to the next author's note and hopefully it wont spoil your enjoyment of this story too much
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'Potter, I'm glad…' Voldemort said with a sneering laugh as Harry stepped inside
'Expelliarmus' Harry yelled almost lazily as he reached out his hand and grabbed Voldemort's wand as it came flying towards him
'What the..' Voldemort had rather obviously not been expecting this
'You see, I've worked out your problem, you always want to talk too much, it just wastes time' Harry explained very patiently grinning as Voldemort went from looking stunned to looking furious in about 2.65478 seconds
'Boy give the wand back so we can duel like real wizards' Voldemort growled stepping menacingly forwards as Harry took a step back
'Hmm let me think, give the big scary man his wand back so he can kill me or not. I choose…not'
'My deatheaters will force you to'
'Deatheaters?' Harry inquired as he glanced to his right and saw a large mass of his favourite black-cloaked wizards and smiled 'Oh those people, I thought they were just a little fan group of yours.' Spotting the one particular deatheater with a black eye visible under his hood Harry smirked 'Hi Avery, you been fighting? Looks like you lost'
'Stop it' Voldemort commanded growing rather annoyed with this game of Harry's,
'Very well, I brought you all a little surprise' Harry said as though it was Christmas and brought his fingers to his lips and gave such a shrill whistle that several deatheaters winced. As though by magic (because it was), dozens of aurors burst into the room shooting out ropes at Voldemort who fell to the ground in a heap in the middle of the hall
Harry deciding that now Voldemort was tied up somewhere on the floor in the middle of all the fighting his work was done, moved towards the end of the room to lean against the wall and wait for his happy ending
However fifteen minutes later neither side had made any advantage other than a few cuts and bruises, so Harry felt obliged to intervene
'No no no no no, you're doing this all wrong. Everybody stop' Harry commanded with a rather annoyed sigh that he had to do everything, for some strange reason all the deatheaters and aurors did stop and look up onto the stage where Harry now had his wand drawn. 'Accio deatheaters wands' Harry cried and ducked quickly, dropping his own wand in the process when every single deatheater wand flew towards him, 'ooo goody it worked'
And the battle begun again
'Very impressive' a voice said from behind Harry
Harry spun round quickly in surprise to see Voldemort stood there twirling his wand menacingly
'How the hell did you do that?' Harry stuttered in complete shock and suddenly wishing he hadn't dropped his wand
'Wandless magic' Voldemort said with a dismissive shrug and an evil dark lord glint in his eye
'How interesting, I'll have to try that sometime' Harry said hoping he sounded a lot more nonchalant than he felt and wishing he had brought some potion with him
'It's a shame but you'll never get a chance as I plan to kill you now' Voldemort's smirk now grew into a manic grin, which didn't make Harry feel any safer
'I don't like that plan much' Harry muttered stepping backwards and trying to decide what to do, McInnes and two other aurors were now fighting their way towards Harry and behind them another deatheater was being knocked unconscious and dragged away.
Voldemort observed all this thoughtfully and waved his wand bathing the room in red light before turning back to Harry who was inching ever closer to his own wand
'I hope our next encounter is this much fun. You have a rendezvous with death Potter; do make sure you're not late for it' Voldemort hissed through a smirk as he yelled 'apparate'.
And suddenly the room was empty of all deatheaters and Voldemort
'Damn it, why didn't you secure the area?' Harry yelled in frustration realising that Voldemort had escaped unhurt
'We did, he just tore down our strongest forcefields' McInnes yelled back as he tried to work out, just who was captured and whether any of his aurors were injured
'Did you at least catch Lucius Malfoy?' Harry asked
'We caught four deatheaters, but none of them was Mr Malfoy and there is no indication he is anything other than a employee of the ministry of magic'
'You must be blind, tell me you at least caught Peter Pettigrew' Harry pleaded wildly
'Pettigrew was killed 15 years ago, the day after your parents, he died a hero, of course he's not a deatheater. You should just go and be grateful you're still alive' McInnes barked angrily, losing patience with Harry who he now assumed was absolutely crazy
'You fools. I'll show you, I'll show you all, I will have my revenge on Malfoy and Pettigrew, you see if I don't' Harry hissed before storming from the hall in a fit of pure rage, which would not be worn off by a good night's sleep
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A/N: Well now that's out of the way, I think I will be avoiding Voldemort in this story, but never say never
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Less than twelve hours after his encounter with Voldemort, Harry was wandering round the lake of Hogwarts swigging large amounts of liquid from a potion bottle badly disguised in a paper bag. Ever since he'd woken up two hours previously the entire castle had known of his foul mood, his plate at breakfast had exploded, a group of first years who had dared to glance in his direction were now in tears been comforted by Hermione who had shot a look of pure venom at Harry who had merely smirked before sweeping out of the great hall in search of more fun
Harry didn't know why he'd never done this before; it was loads of fun especially because he really honestly didn't care who got hurt so long as he got to laugh. At the last count he'd upset seven people, but they'd all been Slytherin's and Hufflepuff's and Ron who had reacted badly to Harry's loud rendition of Pop goes the Weasley in the middle of the common room. So they really weren't hard, the real test was Gryffindor's.
As coincidence would have it an entire group of Gryffindor's, Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's was coming round the corner at that very moment. Harry put his potion back in his cloak pocket and eyed them all quickly sizing up his options, Dean and Ginny would just be too easy to annoy to be much fun, Parvati would probably twist anything he said in her delusional mind to make it seem as though he liked her. Ernie McMillan was still living in fear of the very sight of Harry, which was amusing in itself, most of the other Hufflepuffs had already being picked on by him. He was a bit worried that Padma might be like Parvati, so he didn't want to risk talking to her. So that left Terry Boot and Justin Finch-Fletchley who both played on their house Quidditch teams as well as the ever reliable and ever teasable Neville.
'Terry, Justin delightful to see you' Harry grinned very widely as he greeted the two boys who glanced rather nervously at each other and Harry could of sworn he'd seen Justin gulp in fear
'Hello Harry' Terry said finally
'Hi Harry' Justin said seconds afterwards, still looking rather nervous
'Say you're not scared of spiders are you?' Harry asked what appeared to be a completely random question
'I don't really like them, why?' Justin asked now sounding suspicious, Harry was sure Ernie McMillian had been spreading wild stories about him around his house which in fact pleased him immensely
'Because there's one the size of a tarantula on your robes' Harry said calmly and as both the Ravenclaw and the Hufflepuff spun round in horror, Harry planted the magically enlarged spider on the back of Justin's cloak
'Stay calm Justin I'll get it off' Terry said trying to calm down both himself and Justin, who was now hopping from foot to foot wildly
'No, please let me' Harry said grinning wickedly as Terry stepped aside and allowed Harry to raise his wand while clearing his throat dramatically
'Sepentosia.' Harry yelled and the snake shot out Harry's wand onto Justin's cloak eating the spider and then falling to the ground
'There we go' Harry beamed at the boys happily, only Terry and Justin who were both now pure white from terror were stupidly staring silently at the snake which was staring straight back
And as they both regained their senses there came an almighty:
'Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh' as two petrified teenagers ran the fastest they'd ever run in their lives towards the castle
'What? Lads? Come back. I got rid of the spider, didn't I? Ungrateful sods, last time I help them.' Harry muttered reaching for his potion bottle as he turned away and caught a glimpse of Neville now all alone walking towards the castle.
Deciding this was obviously fate calling him, he ran to catch his classmate unaware that Hermione's eyes were now following his every move from the Gryfindor tower
'Hey Nev. You don't mind if I call you Nev do you? It's just that Neville is so boring, don't you think?' Harry said breathlessly startling Neville
'Hi Harry, if you're looking for Ron he's just gone to the common room' Neville said unsure of exactly what Harry wanted
'I'm not looking for him. We're friends aren't we?' Harry asked
'Course we are' Neville replied quickly and actually meaning it
'Excellent' Harry grinned taking another swig from his bottle
'Erm what are you drinking? It's not alcohol is it?' Neville asked cautiously
'Oh no, it's not alcohol; it's definitely not alcohol. Want to try some?' Harry held the bottle out
'No thanks, it doesn't look like my kind of thing'
'Your loss. Does Trevor want some?' Harry asked spotting the toad peering out from Neville's cupped hands
'No thank you, what did you say it was?' Neville asked
'Just a little something to keep my spirits up' Harry replied grinning again
'Like a pepper-up potion to give you energy?' Neville suggested looking slightly more relieved now that he was fairly sure Harry wasn't drunk
'Let's take a walk round the lake, give Trev and Nev some air' Harry said avoiding the question
'Well I was going to do my potions homework' Neville said slowly not wanting to annoy Harry
'Who needs potions, Snape can just go boil his head in his cauldrons' Harry dismissed the argument with a wave of his hand as though things were really that simple
'Harry you know he scares me' Neville said rather reproachfully
'Well I should teach him a lesson' Harry's smirk reappeared as he drew his wand
'Please don't do anything, it'll only make it worse' Neville begged, tugging on Harry's sleeve
'Nonsense, look here he comes now' Harry said and before Neville realised what was happening his toad was flying through the air
'Arggh' Snape yelled, he had been about 500 metres from Harry and Neville walking back with the Slytherin Quidditch team after observing their practice when something slimy hit him in the head
'Sir are you alright?' one of the Slytherin chasers asked
'WHAT WAS THAT?' Snape looked absolutely furious and it was at this point that Harry disappeared under his invisibility cloak leaving Neville to simply stare at the scene unfolding in front of him
'Look sir it's that toad of Longbottom's' Draco Malfoy said not bothering to keep the glee from his voice as he pointed to the toad, which was fine apart from been rather dazed and was now hopping away
'Longbottom? I should have known' Snape snarled
'He's right over there sir' another member of the oh so helpful Slytherin team pointed to Neville who was trembling with fear
'Longbottom get over here now, what is the meaning of pelting toads at me' Snape bellowed
'But sir it wasn't…..' Neville began to stutter out an explanation, which Snape cut short
'Don't even try to lie to me, by the time I'm finished dealing with you, you won't know what country you're in, let alone what the day of the week is'
'Although it is Longbottom, he probably didn't know that to begin with' Draco said as everyone laughed cruelly, leaving poor Neville to face the wrath of the furious Snape and Harry to escape
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If there was some kind of world record for falling out with as many people as possible in one day, then surely by now Harry had broken it. However remembering the old saying to 'never do anything by halves', the two most important people to fall out with should be coming up at any moment and sure enough the moment he stepped into the common room he came face to face with Hermione who looked angrier than he could ever remember her been before.
'I know what you just did, you should apologise to Neville' Hermione stood hand on hips glaring straight at him and a few students scuttled past her anxious to avoid been caught in the cross-fire of this inevitable argument
'I disagree' Harry said pouring the last drops of the potion into his mouth and throwing the bottle away
'If you don't stop this, I'll tell on you' Hermione issued her ultimatum, not even noticing the discarded bottle, as she was too angry with Harry
'You better not do that or I'll….' Harry growled taking a step forwards but Hermione stood her ground, her lips curled in a emotion between complete fury and hate
'Or you'll what? You'll duel me as well? Go on Harry challenge me to a duel' she cut Harry off and for a few seconds his eyes flickered with something close to pain
'No' he said finally
'Come on, if you're going to act like a Slytherin you might as well do it properly' Hermione egged him on, her eyes glinting with something indescribable as she pulled her wand out
'I'm nothing like a Slytherin' Harry said fiercely
'You could have fooled me' Hermione said with a snort, her knuckles now white from how tightly she was gripping her wand.
'Why are you doing this?' Harry asked staring intently at her
'I think the question should be why are you doing this? At first I was nothing but happy that you'd finally stood up for yourself and weren't going to put up with any nonsense anymore. But you've gone too far this time, either change or lose my friendship' Hermione said furiously looking for all the world as though she was fighting an internal battle as to whether to curse Harry or not
'I can't change, it's too hard and I've no reason to' Harry let his wand drop to the floor as he spoke in a voice so tired and lost that Hermione's eyes showed sorrow for a brief moment before turning hard again
'Then I guess you were never the guy I thought you were, in which case we were never even friends to begin with' she said in a harsh whisper sounding as though she was choking back tears.
And with that she turned and fled up the stairs leaving a dumbfounded Harry staring silently ahead of him his mouth open for ages processing what had just happened, before he smirked suddenly and bent slowly picking his wand up and heading down to the kitchens for a quick sandwich
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Returning to his dormitory half an hour later, he found Ron sat on his bed as though he was waiting for him
'You'll never believe what Hermione just said to me' Harry burst out, as he was struck with a sudden strange urge to tell Ron everything he was feeling
'Yes I will, because she told me and I agree with her' Ron's voice was stony and his eyes focused elsewhere
'You agree with her?' Harry asked in disbelief, scarcely able to believe what was happening for the second time that night
'Yes' Ron's voice hadn't changed at all
'You're meant to be my best friend' Harry said in small voice trying to comprehend what was happening and reaching for his drink only to remember that he'd already finished it
'Well you haven't been acting like mine recently' Ron turned to face Harry his eyes full of accusations. Harry could only feel the uncontrollable anger rising in him
'Fine, I don't need either of you anyway' he spat in disgust storming out of the room.
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Down in the empty common room, Harry's anger soon faded to be replaced with self-pity and sorrow, he sat wallowing for an hour before becoming angry again, but this time with himself and he grabbed the nearest book off a pile Hermione had left behind and hurled it as hard as he could at the wall. The book hit with a loud thud and something fell out, Harry bent to pick it up and found himself holding a picture of a happy Harry, Hermione and Ron taken only a year ago.
And as Harry stared at the picture, he knew what had to be done and in the blink of an eye, Harry was no longer in the common room but a golden lion could be seen sprinting through the grounds of Hogwarts.
And at this point an old man stood up in the Gryffindor common room, where he had not been visible a few seconds earlier and sighed as he picked up the forgotten potion bottle from earlier and pocketed it. A lot of pieces of the Harry Potter puzzle had fallen into place tonight, but what the final picture would be would be up to the boy himself
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A/N: Actually it'll be up to me, and believe me now that I've got this chapter out of the way you won't be able to read fast enough to keep up. The next chapter will be the explanations and such and after that get ready for comedy all the way with Harry's attempts at matchmaking, Harry and Hermione, Sirius, the biggest confrontation yet with Draco and a visit to the Dursley's
Oooo this chapter had 4000 words; I'm quite frankly amazed
I'm very sorry for grammar and spelling mistakes, I was just rushing to get this chapter out before I get too much college work piled on again. Honestly at some point I will get round to correcting all my stories
As always please review