If you don't feel like doing the math, Harry is twenty-one, exactly the age
of his parents. Also, I couldn't fit this into the paragraph: Harry was
loose for four years (so he was caught at nineteen), so he's had two years
in Azkaban.
L's and G's, here's your chance. Begin placing your guesses on the true identity of V. I will give you these hints: he/she was at Hogwarts along with the Trio. V is a letter in his/her name. It is not the first letter of his/her common name. Another hint is the pass-code and the screen name. VW Beetle, so he/she must know about Muggle technology.
Slayer of Death
Chapter One: Going Under
Brayers and Rodzina ran pell-mell towards the end of the hall. The guards were just getting up. Obviously they too had been knocked back by the blast. At the opposite end was a cell that was considered famous or infamous, depending on your point of view. Cell Block 023 was the cell of Harry James Potter.
Six years ago, after his fifth year and the death of his godfather, he had run away from his aunt and uncle's house, breaking the wards that kept him safe. Immediately about sixty Death Eaters attacked. With a wave of his hand, all of them dropped dead. He had gone renegade, unable for anyone to find for four years, earning money with mercenary services. He could kill anyone on the earth from anywhere. The only mark he left was a lightning bolt on the face of all his victims, slicing from their hairline down to their chin. It had taken a hundred Aurors to bring him in, and even then he'd killed thirteen and injured every other. He was under about eighty different spells binding him against doing anything more than blinking.
During his trial, he had been given heavy doses of the strongest Veritaserum. The strongest Ministry Legimens attacked his mind repeatedly. Despite all of it, he never said a word. The only murder they were able to convict him for was that of Lucius Malfoy, which had been committed in the eyesight of several Ministry employees.
The Minister of Magic at the time had been Arthur Weasley. There had been questions on where his loyalty lay, but these were quashed when he became estranged from his own family, his wife, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny, because they had defended Harry in public. He had died weeks later from an accident with a hippogriff. Although most of the wizarding world did, neither his children nor his wife attended his funeral.
Before they even reached the end of the hall, the bars on the cell melted and flew away. Brayers swore loudly.
"The necromancer must have broken all the spells in Azkaban!"
A tall, gaunt man of twenty-five stepped out of the cell and into the hall. His black hair hung in long, matted strands around his face. His robes were the standard Azkaban grey, but more tattered than most, and didn't hang off him. Despite the fact that he hadn't been fed for years, his body was well- muscled. He lifted his head to look the two guards in the eye. Brayers nearly screamed. His eyes alone could have killed. They were a dark, forest green, and sort of cloudy, as if murky creatures swam in their depths.
"Where is the necromancer?" he commanded in a deep voice that resonated with bass tones.
Brayers pointed with a shaky hand. As Harry swept past him and Rodzina, both fell to the floor slowly, gracefully, as if blown over by a gust of wind and steadied by another at the same time.
At the cell at the end of the hall, the necromancer stood. She laughed, an odd cry somewhere between a scream and a single note sung in a minor key.
"I am Mors Occisor. As I said, welcome."
The woman seemed shaken. Her robes were torn more than the man's, and there was a bruise on her cheek. "But we were just in the house!"
Mors cocked a head and raised an eyebrow, making her look like a curious jaguar. "Interesting."
Suddenly Harry reached the cell. The three occupants hadn't even noticed him, but at the sight Mors looked triumphant.
"And so I succeed."
Harry looked somewhat surprised. Not by the sight of his parents; apparently he hadn't noticed them yet. "Mors Occisor. I thought the dementors had finally taken the power out of you."
"Just enough to cure the GE. You don't seem to be quite so lucky."
"GE?" Lily said.
Harry turned. He was positioned just so that at a turn of the head so he looked over his shoulder, he was face-to-face with his father.
The resemblance was striking, if not eerie. The two were perfectly identical but for their eyes and skin — James had a light tan, while Harry was pale from years hidden from the sun.
Rodzina and Brayers had finally reached the cell, just in time to see Harry and James practically staring each other down. Brayers swore under his breath. Rodzina silently agreed. The magic emanating from The combination of Potter and Occisor was almost visible, like a thick mist floating about the two.
Lily touched James's arm, and he stepped back, giving Harry a good view of her. He looked her in the eye, and suddenly the dark color of his eyes faded slightly, not quite to their former emerald shade, but closer; a dark jade.
In a single step, Lily was standing next to him, embracing him. Some unexplainable, intangible instinct in the motherly side of her recognized that this was her baby.
Harry didn't seem to know what to do with the hug. It felt as if he had never known any type of love for a long, long time. Lily felt like screaming from the injustice of it. She could see little flashes of what had happened to him, what had happened to her, all the time that had passed. Time seemed to be something that was no longer within her reach.
Behind her, James simply rested a hand on his son's shoulder. He flinched at the touch, but did not fight. James got the distinct feeling that he and his wife were the only people in the world that could touch him at that moment.
Meanwhile, Rodzina glanced at Brayers.
"Call V."
*~*~*
It had been a simple job of containing the other prisoners. Occisor had been somewhat of a challenge. She had hexed three guards — still wandless — and bit another in the hand. Eventually she was put in a Body-Bind and spells similar to those that had bound Harry. Separating Potter from Potters Sr. had been more of a challenge. Rodzina had settled for posting a heavy guard outside the cell where the three sat, conversing without words.
Brayers had been given the honor of calling V. V was the anonymous informant that had given them the means of capturing Potter in the first place, along with periodically reinforcing the spells woven throughout Azkaban. He occasionally checked up on prisoners, a major event every time. No one knew who he was, or had even seen his face. When he examined Azkaban, he wore an Invisibility Cloak, and any who used charms to see through it would immediately be subject to a Memory Charm. Complete anonymity was required from him, or his help would be withdrawn.
Contact was made through a Muggle contraption called a "cell phone". Using the "text messaging" program, the pass-code was punched in. The phone was then dropped into a box hidden under Rodzina's desk. Almost instantly it would ring, and show that contact had been made.
Brayers found the cell phone and said:
TheNobleGuard: I finished Leaena. Would you like it back?
He dropped it into the box and waited. Sure enough, before he counted to five, the phone rang. He picked it up again, and saw the reply.
VWrox: Who is this?
TheNobleGuard: Brayers.
VWrox: Ah. The new kid.
TheNobleGuard: Yes...
VWrox: What came up that you and your smartass wizards couldn't handle?
TheNobleGuard: Black Phoenix got out.
Black Phoenix was Occisor.
VWrox: A problem.
TheNobleGuard: She broke down all the protections, so now Lightning's out too.
Lightning was Potter's code name.
VWrox: You want me to catch him?
TheNobleGuard: Not quite.
VWrox: Oh. Zen wants me to go out there since she brought Lightning's parents.
Zen was Rodzina.
TheNobleGuard: How do you do that?
VWrox: What?
TheNobleGuard: Know they were here.
VWrox: Don't ask me questions.
TheNobleGuard: Okay.
VWrox: I'll be there before you hang up.
Brayers smirked and pressed the button. There was no —
"What did I tell you? Smartasses, the lot of you snooty guards. Maybe not Rodzina, but you kids doubtless."
Brayers whirled, only to see the red band painted on the hem of V's Invisibility Cloak. The voice was a soft, mellow baritone, with a strange accent to it, not quite English, but nothing Brayers could positively identify. In his mind Brayers automatically constructed a picture to match the voice: dark hair, tanned skin, chiseled face, strong, muscled body. The sort of man that starred in action movies as the brave, gallant hero with lots of weapons and gadgets and that always got the girl.
"I'm complimented."
"How — "
"I told you about asking me questions," the voice said, suddenly dangerous.
"Sorry. Now can you fix the wards?" he said, the apology losing sincerity in the face of urgency.
"Already done," V said carelessly.
"Already — "
"I need to see Potter and his parents," V interrupted.
"I don't think that's — "
"Now."
"This way."
V had the ability to make you feel as if you were the most powerful person and the world or the dog dung stuck to the bottom of his shoe, depending on his mood. Brayers wondered why he didn't want a position in leadership. He seemed to be a veritable Minister of Magic...
Wait.
It couldn't be...no, the Minister wouldn't dare.
Would he?
Besides, he didn't sound like that.
Charms can do a lot...
Brayers hushed the voice in his head and opened the door to where the three currently sat. The red band swept into the stone room with the sound of boots clattering on the floor. The three looked up. Harry Potter looked surprised, then laughed.
"Well, hello."
"Don't say a word," V commanded evenly.
Potter laughed still more. "Like you could stop me, Bittersweet."
"Don't call me that. Ever."
From the movement of the cloak, it was guessable that V had looked up, towards James and Lily Potter. The band then dropped, and a leather-gloved hand appeared.
"Mr. and Mrs. Potter, please come with me," V said, his voice dropping from cold as ice and hard as diamonds to gentle and soft as velvet.
Lily cocked a guarded head. "Who are you?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell that to you. Secrecy is something I require."
Harry laughed again. "I'll tell you who the mysterious V is." He said it mockingly.
"And, as you can see, your son knows me," V said, sounding almost pained. "Although he won't tell, will he?"
Harry smirked, but nodded. It seemed to be enough for both V and Harry's parents. They stood and followed the swinging red stripe of cloth and the clomping of boots down the hall, up several steps, and to the entrance of the prison. There the band flew above their heads, and for an instant V was revealed. In that moment, the couple caught the sight of dark blue, glistening gold, deep red and a poisonous green before it and they disappeared. They reappeared inside the Leaky Cauldron, alone. Lily took James's hand and looked into his eyes, which, like hers, were filled with grief and a newfound loneliness.
For they knew what their son had been through.
L's and G's, here's your chance. Begin placing your guesses on the true identity of V. I will give you these hints: he/she was at Hogwarts along with the Trio. V is a letter in his/her name. It is not the first letter of his/her common name. Another hint is the pass-code and the screen name. VW Beetle, so he/she must know about Muggle technology.
Slayer of Death
Chapter One: Going Under
Brayers and Rodzina ran pell-mell towards the end of the hall. The guards were just getting up. Obviously they too had been knocked back by the blast. At the opposite end was a cell that was considered famous or infamous, depending on your point of view. Cell Block 023 was the cell of Harry James Potter.
Six years ago, after his fifth year and the death of his godfather, he had run away from his aunt and uncle's house, breaking the wards that kept him safe. Immediately about sixty Death Eaters attacked. With a wave of his hand, all of them dropped dead. He had gone renegade, unable for anyone to find for four years, earning money with mercenary services. He could kill anyone on the earth from anywhere. The only mark he left was a lightning bolt on the face of all his victims, slicing from their hairline down to their chin. It had taken a hundred Aurors to bring him in, and even then he'd killed thirteen and injured every other. He was under about eighty different spells binding him against doing anything more than blinking.
During his trial, he had been given heavy doses of the strongest Veritaserum. The strongest Ministry Legimens attacked his mind repeatedly. Despite all of it, he never said a word. The only murder they were able to convict him for was that of Lucius Malfoy, which had been committed in the eyesight of several Ministry employees.
The Minister of Magic at the time had been Arthur Weasley. There had been questions on where his loyalty lay, but these were quashed when he became estranged from his own family, his wife, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny, because they had defended Harry in public. He had died weeks later from an accident with a hippogriff. Although most of the wizarding world did, neither his children nor his wife attended his funeral.
Before they even reached the end of the hall, the bars on the cell melted and flew away. Brayers swore loudly.
"The necromancer must have broken all the spells in Azkaban!"
A tall, gaunt man of twenty-five stepped out of the cell and into the hall. His black hair hung in long, matted strands around his face. His robes were the standard Azkaban grey, but more tattered than most, and didn't hang off him. Despite the fact that he hadn't been fed for years, his body was well- muscled. He lifted his head to look the two guards in the eye. Brayers nearly screamed. His eyes alone could have killed. They were a dark, forest green, and sort of cloudy, as if murky creatures swam in their depths.
"Where is the necromancer?" he commanded in a deep voice that resonated with bass tones.
Brayers pointed with a shaky hand. As Harry swept past him and Rodzina, both fell to the floor slowly, gracefully, as if blown over by a gust of wind and steadied by another at the same time.
At the cell at the end of the hall, the necromancer stood. She laughed, an odd cry somewhere between a scream and a single note sung in a minor key.
"I am Mors Occisor. As I said, welcome."
The woman seemed shaken. Her robes were torn more than the man's, and there was a bruise on her cheek. "But we were just in the house!"
Mors cocked a head and raised an eyebrow, making her look like a curious jaguar. "Interesting."
Suddenly Harry reached the cell. The three occupants hadn't even noticed him, but at the sight Mors looked triumphant.
"And so I succeed."
Harry looked somewhat surprised. Not by the sight of his parents; apparently he hadn't noticed them yet. "Mors Occisor. I thought the dementors had finally taken the power out of you."
"Just enough to cure the GE. You don't seem to be quite so lucky."
"GE?" Lily said.
Harry turned. He was positioned just so that at a turn of the head so he looked over his shoulder, he was face-to-face with his father.
The resemblance was striking, if not eerie. The two were perfectly identical but for their eyes and skin — James had a light tan, while Harry was pale from years hidden from the sun.
Rodzina and Brayers had finally reached the cell, just in time to see Harry and James practically staring each other down. Brayers swore under his breath. Rodzina silently agreed. The magic emanating from The combination of Potter and Occisor was almost visible, like a thick mist floating about the two.
Lily touched James's arm, and he stepped back, giving Harry a good view of her. He looked her in the eye, and suddenly the dark color of his eyes faded slightly, not quite to their former emerald shade, but closer; a dark jade.
In a single step, Lily was standing next to him, embracing him. Some unexplainable, intangible instinct in the motherly side of her recognized that this was her baby.
Harry didn't seem to know what to do with the hug. It felt as if he had never known any type of love for a long, long time. Lily felt like screaming from the injustice of it. She could see little flashes of what had happened to him, what had happened to her, all the time that had passed. Time seemed to be something that was no longer within her reach.
Behind her, James simply rested a hand on his son's shoulder. He flinched at the touch, but did not fight. James got the distinct feeling that he and his wife were the only people in the world that could touch him at that moment.
Meanwhile, Rodzina glanced at Brayers.
"Call V."
*~*~*
It had been a simple job of containing the other prisoners. Occisor had been somewhat of a challenge. She had hexed three guards — still wandless — and bit another in the hand. Eventually she was put in a Body-Bind and spells similar to those that had bound Harry. Separating Potter from Potters Sr. had been more of a challenge. Rodzina had settled for posting a heavy guard outside the cell where the three sat, conversing without words.
Brayers had been given the honor of calling V. V was the anonymous informant that had given them the means of capturing Potter in the first place, along with periodically reinforcing the spells woven throughout Azkaban. He occasionally checked up on prisoners, a major event every time. No one knew who he was, or had even seen his face. When he examined Azkaban, he wore an Invisibility Cloak, and any who used charms to see through it would immediately be subject to a Memory Charm. Complete anonymity was required from him, or his help would be withdrawn.
Contact was made through a Muggle contraption called a "cell phone". Using the "text messaging" program, the pass-code was punched in. The phone was then dropped into a box hidden under Rodzina's desk. Almost instantly it would ring, and show that contact had been made.
Brayers found the cell phone and said:
TheNobleGuard: I finished Leaena. Would you like it back?
He dropped it into the box and waited. Sure enough, before he counted to five, the phone rang. He picked it up again, and saw the reply.
VWrox: Who is this?
TheNobleGuard: Brayers.
VWrox: Ah. The new kid.
TheNobleGuard: Yes...
VWrox: What came up that you and your smartass wizards couldn't handle?
TheNobleGuard: Black Phoenix got out.
Black Phoenix was Occisor.
VWrox: A problem.
TheNobleGuard: She broke down all the protections, so now Lightning's out too.
Lightning was Potter's code name.
VWrox: You want me to catch him?
TheNobleGuard: Not quite.
VWrox: Oh. Zen wants me to go out there since she brought Lightning's parents.
Zen was Rodzina.
TheNobleGuard: How do you do that?
VWrox: What?
TheNobleGuard: Know they were here.
VWrox: Don't ask me questions.
TheNobleGuard: Okay.
VWrox: I'll be there before you hang up.
Brayers smirked and pressed the button. There was no —
"What did I tell you? Smartasses, the lot of you snooty guards. Maybe not Rodzina, but you kids doubtless."
Brayers whirled, only to see the red band painted on the hem of V's Invisibility Cloak. The voice was a soft, mellow baritone, with a strange accent to it, not quite English, but nothing Brayers could positively identify. In his mind Brayers automatically constructed a picture to match the voice: dark hair, tanned skin, chiseled face, strong, muscled body. The sort of man that starred in action movies as the brave, gallant hero with lots of weapons and gadgets and that always got the girl.
"I'm complimented."
"How — "
"I told you about asking me questions," the voice said, suddenly dangerous.
"Sorry. Now can you fix the wards?" he said, the apology losing sincerity in the face of urgency.
"Already done," V said carelessly.
"Already — "
"I need to see Potter and his parents," V interrupted.
"I don't think that's — "
"Now."
"This way."
V had the ability to make you feel as if you were the most powerful person and the world or the dog dung stuck to the bottom of his shoe, depending on his mood. Brayers wondered why he didn't want a position in leadership. He seemed to be a veritable Minister of Magic...
Wait.
It couldn't be...no, the Minister wouldn't dare.
Would he?
Besides, he didn't sound like that.
Charms can do a lot...
Brayers hushed the voice in his head and opened the door to where the three currently sat. The red band swept into the stone room with the sound of boots clattering on the floor. The three looked up. Harry Potter looked surprised, then laughed.
"Well, hello."
"Don't say a word," V commanded evenly.
Potter laughed still more. "Like you could stop me, Bittersweet."
"Don't call me that. Ever."
From the movement of the cloak, it was guessable that V had looked up, towards James and Lily Potter. The band then dropped, and a leather-gloved hand appeared.
"Mr. and Mrs. Potter, please come with me," V said, his voice dropping from cold as ice and hard as diamonds to gentle and soft as velvet.
Lily cocked a guarded head. "Who are you?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell that to you. Secrecy is something I require."
Harry laughed again. "I'll tell you who the mysterious V is." He said it mockingly.
"And, as you can see, your son knows me," V said, sounding almost pained. "Although he won't tell, will he?"
Harry smirked, but nodded. It seemed to be enough for both V and Harry's parents. They stood and followed the swinging red stripe of cloth and the clomping of boots down the hall, up several steps, and to the entrance of the prison. There the band flew above their heads, and for an instant V was revealed. In that moment, the couple caught the sight of dark blue, glistening gold, deep red and a poisonous green before it and they disappeared. They reappeared inside the Leaky Cauldron, alone. Lily took James's hand and looked into his eyes, which, like hers, were filled with grief and a newfound loneliness.
For they knew what their son had been through.
