Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling.

Authors Note: Sorry for the long wait, but here's chapter 11. Hope you enjoy and happy new year.

-Chapter Eleven-



The fact that the Weasley twins weren't there anymore was noticed within the next few days. There was no one at the Gryffindor table to make fun of Slytherins; well, no more than usual. There was no one in the common room hanging over a piece of parchment in a secluded corner, plotting some major prank or other. There was no one suddenly giving you food 'just to do it'. There was no one trying to get you to eat Canary Creams, though there still were quite a few around, and Tongue Tie Toffees. The teachers didn't seem so stressed anymore, and Filch had gotten his drawer back. Even Peeves himself seemed a bit put out, but that didn't last for long.

The Weasley twins were sorely missed, even if some residents in the castle would have to swallow a good dose of Veritaserum before admitting to it.

To lighten things up, Dumbledore decided to hold a ball at Halloween, with one small twist. Everyone, teacher as well as student, had to wear a costume.

Needless to say some were ecstatic: Trelawney, the House Elves, all the girls and even some Hufflepuff boys.

While others loathed the idea from the very beginning: Snape, the Slytherins, Harry, McGonagall, Cian, the Gryffindors, the Ravenclaws, the ghosts, Hagrids dog Fang, Vector, Sinistra, Madame Hooch, Ron and Madame Pomfrey.

However, there were few of those who decided to stay neutral: Flitwick, Hagrid, Sprout, Hermione, Ginny and most of the Hogwarts paintings.

All in all the whole thing was quite even.

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'This is SOOO not a good idea!' Harry thought angrily, walking down a corridor. 'But does Dumbledore listen to me? Nooooo! Alright, he is the Headmaster, but still... Wonder what he wanted.'

Harry had been called to the old mages office shortly after the afternoon classes had begun, and was now nearing the gargoyle guarding the entrance. He opened his mouth to say the password, then closed it again.

Dumbledore had, once again, forgotten to tell him the password of the month.

"Sherbet Lemon? Chocolate Frogs? Ice Mice? Blood Pops? Smarties? Mars Bars?" Harry sighed and decided to try this logically... Since when did a creation of Dumbledore's and the word 'logic' fit in the same sentence?

'Not to worry Harry,' the voice told him. 'Dumbledore's currently on his way down. It seems he has placed a spell out here to tell him when someone's trying to guess the password.'

'Good, I've run out of patience for his little Games.'

Suddenly the gargoyle jumped aside and Dumbledore himself stuck his head out. He beamed when he saw Harry, but the twinkle in his eyes wasn't as bright as before.

"Ah, Harry. Right on time too! Come on in, my dear boy."

"Professor, what is this about?" Harry asked.

"Oh, nothing big, I assure you. The Minister just wanted to talk to you for a bit. Professors Joyleaf and Snape are here too."

Harry had gotten worried when Dumbledore said 'nothing big'. No one would've dragged him out of class if it could've waited till supper. And when the Headmaster mentioned Fudge, Harry's day shot straight to hell. He really had no intention of dealing with the nincompoop right now. And with Cian and Snape in the same room, the explosion just waited to happen.

He took a deep breath before entering the office, Dumbledore closed the door after them. Harry nodded politely to Cian and Snape, then turned his eyes to the Minister. Fudge gad brought with him four people. Two normal Aurors, who stood beside him and glared at Harry. The third person was the leader of the Auror department, Phoebus Comminus. The man was watching Harry with a mix of anger and hate.

The last man was by far the most interesting. He was tall, had broad shoulders, and a ragged appearance that testified of his constant fight against the Dark side. The sharp dark-brown eyes were narrow by nature, the nose somewhat flat as if it had been bashed into something time and time again. The mouth was too big for the face. His stance spoke of unbreakable pride, perhaps too much of it, and clearly told Harry that the man was ready to attack at all times.

'Who the hell is that?'

'The leader of the Unspeakables and the Department of Mystery, Venenifer Caliga.'

'I see he fits his name.'

'Be careful around him Harry, he has a way of picking up on the Big Game. Hell, he has a way of picking up anything out of the ordinary!'

'I feel so assured.'

"Harry, let me introduce Phoebus Comminus and Venenifer Caliga." Dumbledore began. "Both of them work at the Ministry. And these two Aurors are Jen Stella and Stian Washington." The Headmaster sat down behind his desk and the Boy Who Loved took a seat between his Defence Professor and Potion master. "Now, why don't I hand the word over to our dear Minister of Magic, and he can explain what's going on?"

Fudge cleared his throat and looked somewhat uncomfortable with the three glares coming from Harry, Snape and Cian.

"Right, um, it's about this Rex Chase fellow." The Minister began. "And this Blood Contract of yours." He added hastily. "Now since the two of you," he mentioned to Harry and Snape, "have known him the longest, it was obvious who we had to talk to."

"Then what's the Defence Professor doing here?" Harry asked.

"A source of ours said that he was also a friend of Chase." Venenifer Caliga replied this time, smirking all the time. "Chase makes this too easy. It's like killing three birds with one stone. One known Death Eater; a little golden boy; and a terrorist with valuable information."

'Why don't I like the guy?' Harry thought sarcastically.

'I agree. Should've done something about him when I had the chance.'

'I'm not even going to ask about that one.'

"What is it, Mr Potter?" Caliga sneered. "The dead Dark Lord took your tongue?"

'You sure this guy isn't a Death Eater?'

'Unfortunately I'm positive about that.'

Caliga was smirking superiorly, staring down his flat nose at Harry. Snape was wearing a mask of cold indifference, but it was obviously hard for him to maintain it. Dumbledore looked ten years older than usual; Cian was gripping the armrests, looking ready to kill everyone. The two young Aurors weren't sure what side they were on anymore; Fudge and Comminus just watched the whole scene with interest.

"Mr Caliga," Harry said politely and calmly, refusing to rise to the bait. "First of all I must correct you; the Dark Lord is not dead, and is currently trying to get his old powers back." The man raised a sarcastic eyebrow. "And second, what makes you think that I and this Rex Chase signed a Blood Contract?"

"It said so in the Daily Prophet, and it also said that Mr Dumbledore here had the proof of it."

"Reporters lie Mr Caliga," Harry said as though they were discussing the weather. "And especially the reporter who wrote that particular article."

Caliga's eyes narrowed down to mere slits. It reminded him extremely of Voldemort.

"I'm glad we agree on that Mr Potter. Skeeter may lie, but a Blood Contract sure as hell doesn't." And from his midnight black robes he drew out a scroll. Caliga rolled it out, held it up and began to read, " 'By signing this I, Harry Potter, hereby give my services to Rex Chase for as long as he wishes.

These conditions I, Harry Potter, will obey: I will not betray the trust he puts in me. I will do whatever he tells me to, only having the right to refuse if it involves something illegal like killing or Dark Magic.

These conditions I, Rex Chase, will obey: I will not do any harm to Mr Potter. I will not harm his family and friends. I will only ask for his services if there's no other option in sight. I will not force him to do anything. I will not send him into danger without sufficient reason.

If any of these conditions are broken or not followed to the point blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, so on and so forth.' " The leader of the Unspeakables smirked triumphantly. "Hung by your own rope there, Mr Potter?"

Harry smiled charmingly, though inside he was boiling.

"My dear Mr Caliga," he began. "I am afraid that you will find that you are wrong. I have never signed that contract."

"Then you won't mind if we compare your DNA with what's on the paper?"

"Do what you must." Harry held his hand out and Caliga rapped it with his wand, more harshly than necessary, and whispered a word. Then he tapped the parchment.

First a O- flashed in the air; that was Harry's DNA. Then a B+ showed up beside it; that came from the parchment.

Caliga looked murderous. He compared Rex Chase's DNA with Harry's, but only came up with an AB+.

This time it was Harry's turn to smirk.

"What is it, Mr Caliga?" he asked mockingly. "The Dark Lord took your tongue?"

Caliga looked ready to explode, but Fudge quickly stepped in.

"Now, now, gentlemen, there's really no need for fighting." The Minister turned to Caliga, and glared at the leader of the Unspeakables. "I told you not to trust what that Skeeter-woman wrote, Venenifer. You should have listened to me since I have had more experience than you in the matters of the media."

'What a bad, unconvincing arse-kisser.' Harry thought as he turned the Minister out. Fudge just kept on going about his experience with the media, clearly boring the rest of the rooms occupants to the brink of death.

"The Contract may have been a fraud, Cornelius." Caliga's voice brought Harry's attention back to the case at hand. "But what about Snape and Joyleaf over there? They are both rumoured to be in league with Chase, and so far I've seen nothing to prove the opposite."

"You have neither seen something to prove your assumptions, Mr Caliga." Snape spoke up for the first time, his voice deceptively calm.

Caliga opened his mouth to protest, but shut it again. He was doing a fairly good impression of a beetroot.

The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes had returned full force, and Cian had begun to relax and was enjoying the show.

"Now that that is settled," the Headmaster began, "how about we don't keep the two Professors and the student from their classes, hmm?"

No one dared to argue. Snape stood up first and nodded to Dumbledore before leaving the office. Cian was next. He stood up, nodded to the old mage and winked to Harry before he left the room.

Harry followed in Snape's footprints and nodded to the Headmaster, then he too left the room and the Minister behind.

'What a suspense-filled meeting!' the voice commented when Harry found himself safely out in the corridor.

'Yeah, tell me about it!' the Gryffindor replied. 'I wonder why the head of the Auror Department was here today. The guy didn't say a thing throughout the whole meeting.'

'I think it has something to do with a certain letter that you received at the end of the summer.'

'Oh, yeah, that. Athan sure as hell did a good job burning it to crisp.'

'Yes, it's one of his... eh, specialties.'

'Rrrrriiiiiiigggghhhhttttt...'

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Harry smiled as Hermione told him and Ron all about her costume for Halloween. Apparently she was going to come as Arwen from Lord of the Rings, and Neville has agreed to come as Aragorn and was her 'date' for the evening. The poor boy had finally worked up the courage to ask Hermione to come with him, and had quickly reassured her that this was a strictly friendly date, and that he had no interest in her, no offence.

Ron had apparently ventured bravely into the library in Ottery St Catchpole, and had discovered the books of Anne Rice. He had gotten hooked on them, so there was no surprise to anyone who knew about his new obsession when he announced that he was coming as Armand, a 500 year-old vampire who still looked like a teenager.

The redhead had found a kindred spirit in Acacia Alcander who also loved Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. She was going as Akasha the Queen of the Damned, and the two of them had decided to go together.

Harry himself still hadn't found a fitting costume. There was only a couple of days left to Halloween, and he hadn't the faintest idea of what he could dress up as. The voice and Cian had been giving him ideas, but nothing felt exactly right to him. The First vampire was going just the way he was, just adding some fancy clothes. The fact that he was a vampire pretending to be human pretending to be a vampire did more to hide his real identity than anything else.

'Why can't you do the same?' the voice asked. 'Why can't you just go as yourself?'

'You know what Dumbledore said, everyone has to have a costume. And I'm not going to miss this feast for the fact alone that something can and will go wrong.'

'Yeah, I guess you're right.' The voice seemed to think for a while. 'Can't you go as one of the characters from Shakespeare's plays? How about Hamlet? Or what about Puck from 'A Midsummer-Nights Dream'? Or what about Oberon, king of the fairies from the same play? Or what about someone from the plays of Charles Dickens? And what about the books of Mark Twain? You could be Tom Sawyer; or you could be Jim Hawkins or Long John Silver from 'Treasure Island' by Robert L. Stevenson.'

'Alright, alright, I get the point. But none of those you mentioned seem to be the right one. This is so annoying.'

After long hours spent on thinking up a costume, Harry decided to go as Sherlock Holmes. If something happened and everyone were turned into their character, he'd at least have a decent chance of surviving the mayhem and chaos that would ensue.

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Halloween had arrived. The girls were talking about their costumes and dates, the boys were avoiding anything connected to that particular subject.

The teachers had long since given up on trying to teach the students anything that day, and let them sit and talk in class. Even Snape didn't bother trying to teach, but told them that if they were going to talk, they would talk quietly.

Harry was not looking forward to the feast. All day his senses had told him that something big was going to happen, and he had long since learned to trust his gut-feeling. The disaster was just waiting to happen.

It was no great surprise when his scar suddenly started hurting the same afternoon.

The rest of the Gryffindor House had gone down to the Great Hall, and Harry was alone in the common room. He had just passed the fireplace when his scar exploded in pain. He tried to hold the howl of agony in, but in the effort he fell to his knees clutching his head.

Something powerful and dark was pulling at him, demanding him to come, summoning him.

'Quickly! Let Mayon free, let his senses lead you to the one who's calling. I'll just put up a duplicate of you to walk around here, then I'll come too.' The voice cut through his pain-filled brain, and Harry's thoughts cleared somewhat. 'Well, what are you waiting for boy? Get on with it!'

Harry did what he was told and turned into the black angel. The pain almost disappeared in this form, and he let himself go to whatever was calling him. The shadows in the room weaved around the tall, impressive form, and Harry closed his eyes. When he was completely covered in darkness, it pulsated once then disappeared.

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Voldemort felt a smirk of triumph make its way onto his pale face when the dark orb appeared. The thing grew larger and larger, sucking all the light in the room into its endless pits of darkness. Black mist-like threats weaved through the Death Eaters assembled in the room. Some of them looked at the threads in surprise and fear, but didn't stop chanting. If they did he would kill every single one of them.

The dark mass in front of him had begun to take a form. Slowly the Dark Lord could make out broad shoulders and a powerful body covered in a fancy, black tailor-made suit that could rival one of Malfoy's best robes. Huge black, impressive wings stuck up over the shoulders; white hair neatly falling around the marble-white face. Elegant, white eyebrows arched elegantly over closed eyes.

The Dark Lord felt like he could just stand there and watch this creature forever.

"Lucifer, Son of Morning." A Death Eater whispered, his voice filled with awe and fear.

Voldemort had a good mind to kill the idiot right on the spot, but just as his hand was reaching for his wand, the creatures pupil-less eyes snapped open and looked straight at him. He was frozen to the spot. For the first time in sixteen years the Dark Lord felt fear run through him.

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There, finally finished! Sorry that it took so long to post this. Please review and tell me what you think.

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LATIN:

Venenifer: poisonous

Caliga: darkness, gloom, mist

Comminus: hand to hand, in close combat

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Thanks to:

Harry and Hermione's Daughter, unknown(even to me, Rachel A. Prongs, Amber Evans Potter, Fair Lady Ravenclaw, wquad, Liza P, Yami's Girl, Sophie W., Bill Weasley, Silver Earth Dragon, JUDGMENT, Mistress Creasacre, bubblegum*girl, Ashley, BloodRedSword, USA Tiger, Bookworm, coconut-ice agent h/h, Ruskbyte, Korinna Myorin, CR, Suspect, AJaKe, Witchmaster, Dragonhope, Glasen Dauthi, Ice-Phoenix, daemonhart, Icewind Stormfire, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, Kathy999, A-man, WolfMoon, npetrenko, Richan, Golden Eagle, aurora*sky, Sugar Quill, tima and Vicantis RavenWild.