Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling. And the Pretender-idea belongs to Ryshora. Thanks buddy!

Authors Note: Thanks for the reviews. Sorry for the delay, but I've had a couple of tests this week and didn't have much time to write. Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last.



-Chapter Four-



Athan's sharp senses picked up the presence. The thing, whatever it was, was powerful, extremely powerful. The vampire realised that the feeling had been in the air for a good while now, just that he had been too occupied to pick up on it before now. He cursed himself in several languages; it was one of his bigger faults. He didn't have the ability to concentrate on more than two things at the time, while other vampires could think about ten things while they were doing something else.

He slowed his speed, and lazily floated towards the British coast which he could see in the horizon, all the time scouting under him for the thing. If it was the Dark Lord they didn't have a chance in hell of defeating him; and if it was something completely different then it would be good for the vampire population to know about it and do something about it before it was too late.

Sound reached his ears, human voices either speaking or singing. Sea Witches. Athan let himself slowly drop until he was just above the water surface, then he headed towards the ship. There was light in the Captains cabin, and most likely it was there where he would pick up something useful. The Sea Witches hunted vampires whenever they saw one, believing that killing a vampire on the sea brought them good luck.

As he floated closer to the windows of the cabin, the powerful presence in his mind grew. Soon he was close enough to hear what was being said.

"We'll arrive Englan' t'morro' Chase." Athan knew that voice. It belonged to Brian Calhoun, an old sailor the vampires feared. He had killed more of them than ten of the other ships put together. "Unless we run into trouble tha' tis."

"Tomorrow suits me fine Captain," the other voice replied. In the same second the vampire knew that it belonged to the powerful being, and it was not Riddle. "Trouble you said?"

"Ye know; pirates, storms, sea-serpents, their like." Calhoun replied. "An' let me tell ye right now Chase, ev'ryone on board's suppos'd ter to their fair share of the fighting. Them pirates are the least of our worries, the worst would be te meet tha' ghost-ship the 'Naar de Duisternis'."

"The Darkness." The other voice whispered in respect. "Dutch, isn't it?"

"Righ' ye are youn' un'. Ye 'ave got a head on yer shoulders. I guess tha' it wasn't to hard for ye to escape from them Phoenix Agents."

"A few tricks here and there, and I was almost out, most of the honour goes to you and your crew and 'Avenger'. And Kanchigai of course."

Athan couldn't keep it up anymore, he had to see this Chase-guy, and besides the sunrise was slowly, but securely, coming closer. He carefully flew up to the window and peeked into the room. Calhoun sat with his back to the vampire, the table in front of the captain was neatly organised. The lamp above their heads swung here and there with the ships movements. In one corner there was a neatly made bunk and opposite the window was the door.

On the other side of the table, facing Athan, sat a young man that couldn't be more than twenty-eight. He had short, spiky brown hair and intelligent, twinkling eyes. The man was looking straight at the vampire. Their gazes met for a second, then the young man looked back to Calhoun and didn't say anything about what he had seen.

Athan on the other hand had nearly lost his grip on the flying and had nearly landed in the sea. Those eyes, those beautiful jewel-blue eyes, had scared the hell out of him. Never in his long life had the vampire ever seen such eyes before. They pierced into the depths of his soul, digging up memories that he had believed forgotten, and some memories he deliberately didn't want to remember. And hell curse him if those eyes hadn't turned unnaturally green too fast for Calhoun to see.

"From what I've heard," Chase's voice said. "Then that ship mostly keeps to the waters near the southern pole."

"Well, it does most of the time," Calhoun replied. "But ye can never be sure 'bout tha'. Now, come 'n join the crew an' meself on board, and let's see what ye can tell us 'bout them happenin's in England."

"After you Captain."

Athan heard the door of the cabin being opened and the fading footsteps of the Captain. He looked one last time into the cabin. Chase was still there, his gaze locked with the vampires again. Athan watched in surprise as Chase flickered his hand and the light in the cabin went out; the jewel-blue eyes still seemed to glow.

//Don't you have a meeting to attend, Immortal?// Athan's gaze was glued to the man. How could the mortal know the meaning of his name? //If not, then I feel obligated remind you that the dawn is coming closer and closer.// The weirdest thing was that there was no hate nor fear in the message, only power and an overwhelming patience.

//Who are you?// Athan asked. //Or better said, what side are you on?//

//Rex Chase,// the man replied, //and you might say that I'm something of a freelance wizard. My loyalties goes to whoever has the best chance of winning.//

//And in this war?//

//Why, I thought it was obvious.// Chase left the cabin, leaving the vampire to look after him uncertainly. The immortal shook his head and started to fly towards England. He had flown for quite a while when Chase's voice penetrated his head. //If you want to contact me, ask Potion Master Severus Snape, or Harry Potter.// Then it was gone.

The rest of the short way to London Athan spent debating with himself whether this man was on the good side or not. He had named a well-known Death Eater and the mortal enemy of the Dark Lord, the Boy Who Lived. God, mortals were so confusing.

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Harry grinned. The poor vampire was thoroughly confused, and that's the way he wanted it.

'Good job mate,' the voice said. 'Couldn't have done it better myself.'

'You know, I think you've spent too much time at sea.' Harry replied. 'And since you came back you've been talking more than last year.'

'Well, it wasn't my fault that those Phoenix Idiots had found a way to keep someone from the outside giving telepathic orders to someone on the inside of that building. And you did quite well on your own too.'

'Why thank you. I'll take that as a compliment.'

'Why, in heavens name, do I always get stuck with the comedians?'

" 'ey Chase!" Harry looked over to Calhoun. "Come an' join us an' tell us 'bout them happenin's in England!"

Harry made his way over to the captain, the first mate and some other men and sat down on a barrel.

"What do you want to know?" he asked. "The politics? The scandals among the pure-blooded families? Or the biggest scandal of them all?"

"We ain't interested in politics unless it concerns us," the first mate, Desmond, began. "The scandals among the purebloods we could care less 'bout; so I guess it 'ill be the last one."

"The Dark Lord, Voldemort, is back." Harry said bluntly.

There was a long silence, then most of the sailors began to laugh.

"Oh, tha' tis a good un'!" Calhoun roared.

"Every'un' knows tha' 'e is dead!" a sailor added. "Tha' Potter-lad did it."

"You shou'ln't joke with them things," Brice, the oldest sailor on board, said. Besides Harry, he was the only one who wasn't laughing.

"I am not joking about anything." Harry said seriously. "You've all heard about the TriWizard Tournament I presume?" the sailors nodded. "At the end of the third task Potter was taken away by the means of a portkey. The Dark Lord used the boys blood, bones of his father and the flesh of a servant to resurrect himself. I have this from three very reliable sources." He added seeing the disbelieving looks.

"Who?" several sailors asked.

"For one, Albus Dumbledore. Two, Severus Snape, and three, Potter himself."

"Dumbledore and Potter I can believe in, but ev'ryone knows tha' Snape's a Death Eater." Calhoun said.

"Wrong," Harry countered. "He's an ex-Death Eater and was a spy for Dumbledore until summer last year when the Dark Lord found out. I saved the man myself. And the fact that I got it from him just means that it is more reliable," he continued. "Since Voldemort didn't know that he was a Death Eater, he was summoned and able to witness the whole thing."

'You are lying your ears off there mate.' The voice said. 'Snape was never at that gathering.'

'What am I supposed to do? Tell them the truth? Not bloody likely!'

'Sometimes it's better to do just that.'

'I'll file that away. Now I have a question for Calhoun, so if you don't mind?' the voice mumbled something about rude idiots, then went quiet. Harry turned to the captain. "Excuse me for asking captain, but I was wondering about something." He waited for the man's nod, before he continued. "How did the Sea Witches come to be, and what's their purpose?"

"Well," Desmond began, "I don' exactly know how we came ter be, but for most of the time we cargo magical objects from one place to another. Most of them old things them Gringotts down in Egypt, or any other place in the world, dig out can't handle being transported by portkey or apparating, so we take 'em; get paid for it pretty damn well too. We also take on passengers from time to time, but they have ter pay for it."

"On most of our ships there are at leas' one Air and Water Elemental," Calhoun added. "I think Brice 'ere will be able to tell ye how we came ter be."

The old sailor looked Harry up and down for a long while before he began.

"In the ol' days, Master Chase, them Muggles were the only ones with ships, and the Wizarding World hadn't yet discovered the Floo powder. Now, one time a witch, a real lady I tell ye, had had enough of them Muggles and their slow ships. So she took un' of 'er fathers ships, got together a coupl' of sailors and started ter cargo magical people 'round. Later, after the lady's death, 'tis was discovered that she was a Water Elemental and 'er husban' an Air Elemental. Their lad carried on to cargo magical folks 'round 'till the Ministry asked if they couldn't cargo relics as well." Brice had a dreamy look in his eyes. "An' that, Master Chase, is 'ow them Sea Witches got started."

"Thanks for telling me," Harry said.

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Harry waved to the 'Avenger' as she sailed away. Most of the sailors waived back; the sails were dropped and she was caught in the wind and was out of sight soon after.

Harry grinned and started to transfigure a twig into a broom.

'Why don't you just apparate?' the voice asked.

'Are you kidding? After what happened last time I tried?'

'You are afraid.'

'No, I'm terrified of apparating again. For heavens sake, I may look like a twenty-eight year old, but I'm only fifteen.' Harry replied, got onto the broom and flew off.

'Correction,' the voice said. 'You'll be sixteen in a couple of hours, and if you don't get home before twelve something bad is going to happen.'

'What the hell are you talking about? Is this some kind of Cinderella- thingy? I'll loose my Pretend-form when the clock strikes twelve or something?'

'No you nutheaded idiot. There was one thing that the book didn't mention, and that is that every birthday after your first Pretend, you'll get two new shapes.'

'What's so bad about that?' Harry asked.

'It will be extremely painful, and this time you're bound to feel it when it happens. Unless you're unconscious., and you are most certainly not.'

'Oh shit!'

'That's what I've been trying to tell you, now hurry home!'

Harry put on extra speed on the broom, and used his Elemental abilities to make everything go even faster. The houses, trees, roads and fields underneath him were only blurs; and if any Muggle was out tonight and saw him, they would think they had seen a shooting star or an UFO.

Harry could feel the pain building up inside of him as he flew. Right up ahead he could see Surrey, and there was Number 4, Privet Drive. His window was still open, just the way he had left it.

He had just managed to land inside his room, when the pain became much, much worse. It was even worse than the pain he had gone through when the had tried to apparate and the Phoenix Agents had captured him.

Suddenly the pain was gone. Harry took a few moments to collect himself before he stood up and walked over to the wardrobe.

'Let's see what I look like this time,' he thought to himself and opened the door. His mouth dropped and his eyes widened when he saw himself. 'Oh good God.'

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Sorry for the short chapter people, but I'm kinda stuck here. And sorry for the delay, but I've got a novel/story/fantasy-thingy to write for school, and I wasn't even sure that I would finish this chapter. From now on it might take a bit longer before updates due to that thing I've got to write. Anyways, please review and tell me what you think.

Thanks to:

Confuzzler, Arizosa, Moonlight, Naia, WolfMoon, Korinna Myorin, Harry and Hermione's Daughter, ~*Moony*~, Usa Yui and Usa Kou, Phoenix of Light, JUDGEMENT, WeasleyTwinsLover1112, aziandorkess, Bookworm, coconut-ice agent h/h, Amber Evans Potter, A-man, Jarvey, Tara-Chan, LunarMist DarknessEclipse, krystaldragon, PR LUCKEN, SilveRain, BloodRedSword, ( ), Ashley, bubblegum*girl, Godric Gryffindor and Blizzard.

Also I want to thank Ryshora for beta-ing this chapter. And I update as regularly as possible.