(A/N: I decided to post this chapter now, even though it needs a bit of a tidy up, as I won't get to it before Christmas and I am getting pleading reviews and emails for the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it as is. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We are almost at the end.)
"Well, there are still one or two small things, Headmaster." Harry said sweetly.
"And what would they be, Harry?" Dumbledore asked with more edge in his voice.
The headmaster did not get a reply as Harry's attention moved to the noise of the doors to the Great Hall opening again. Lucius Malfoy strode into the hall with all his arrogance and distain quite apparent. He saw the Minister and headed directly for him taking absolutely no notice of his own son's attempt to attract his attention.
"Cornelius," Lucius said, "have the others not arrived yet?"
"The others?" the Minister replied.
"The other governors of this school?" Lucius replied now confused by Fudges blank look, "You did summon us here to remove Dumbledore, did you not?"
Harry smirked, it was perfect timing. "Ah Lucius Malfoy, I don't believe introductions are necessary."
Lucius looked down with initial distain at the young urchin that dared speak to him. However his eyes opened wide in surprise when he saw the scar on the boy's forehead. "Potter!" he snarled.
Harry smiled and bowed with a mockingly exaggerated flourish of his arms. "At your service, Mr Malfoy. Please call me Harry. Oh and if you haven't guessed by now I am the one who sent for you tonight."
"You used my name!!!" the minister shouted. " I'll… I'll… I'll have you charged…"
"Charged and brought up before the Wizengamot? Well, that's a little ahead of schedule but all right, go ahead and try if you want. After tonight, I doubt you would succeed in having me convicted even if I acquiesced." Harry told the Minister dismissively. "That means if I let you, which I, of course, have no intention of doing." Fudge was going the same shade of purple that Harry's Uncle Vernon would turn when angry. Harry however, looking entirely unimpressed, turned his attention back to Lucius Malfoy.
"So Lucius, been to any good Death Eater meetings recently?" Harry asked in a casual tone. Now it was Lucius's turn to grow angry.
"How dare you…" Lucius screamed reaching for his cane.
Harry just smiled back at Lucius Malfoy but it was not a pleasant friendly smile. It was much more like the smile a predator gets when regarding its prey. Lucius Malfoy drew his wand from the cane and pointed directly between the two green eyes in front of him, as he cast a not-quite-unforgivable curse. The boy should have fallen screaming to the ground in agony but instead he just stood there unharmed with a slightly bemused look upon his face.
"Is that it? Is that all you got?" Harry asked in a bored tone.
Lucius Malfoy was in a fury. How dare anyone talk to him that way! He grabbed the front of the boy's robes with his left hand while preparing an even more terrible curse with his wand.
It was the mistake that Harry had been waiting for. Harry suddenly ripped the sleeve off the left forearm, exposing the Dark Mark on Lucius's skin. Harry pressed his fingers into the mark and it burned black. Lucius dropped his wand as he fell to his knees, screaming in pain.
"Let's get all your little friends together shall we?" Harry hissed at Lucius.
"Wizards and witches wearing the black cloaks and skull masks of death eaters began to apparate into the Hall. But as quickly as they appeared, they fell to the floor screaming in pain and clutching their left forearms.
At the staff table Professor Severus Snape did not notice this occurring as he had his own problems. His forearm burned and he felt its call. Voldemort's call to come, attend, serve! He felt something else mixed with the call, something strong, somethingalmost alive, something feral and hungry. But the sensation was manageable, painful in the extreme but bearable, hungry but not eating at him, yet!
It stopped as suddenly as it had began. Harry had released Lucius Malfoy's forearm and stepped back. Lucius being well use to the cruciatus curse recovered quickly and regaining his wand once again tried to curse Harry Potter. But nothing happened. Not just the non-effect on Potter but this time, Lucius Malfoy could not even feel the magic in his wand at all. He looked down at the wand puzzled.
"What have you done to me?" Lucius stammered.
"I think the punishment should fit the crime. I have made you and your death eater buddies what you most hate in this world, Muggles! Yes, your magic is forfeit and for the rest of your life you will learn what it is like to be a real muggle without any magic at all. The worst squib ever born has more magic than you now possess. I wonder if you will be shunned by your pure blood friends or perhaps you'll flee the magically world altogether."
Most of the other death eaters were unconscious due to the pain from their dark marks. The few that tried to curse the nearest Auror had cause to deeply regret it, as they joined the other in unconscienness.
On the staff table Professor Snape was still shaken from his experience. He slowly drew back his sleeve and there on his forearm was the last thing he ever expected to see. White, unmarked skin! His Dark Mark was gone, total gone but his magic was intact. Potter had again done the impossible and removed his dark mark. He should have been grateful but he was not, not when it was a Potter that did it. Snape knew he owed the Potters yet another wizard's debt and he hated them all the more for it.
The other staff members were trying to calm the students huddled against the Hall's stone walls. They had seen too much tonight and were in danger of panicking.
"Oh dear!" Harry said as he noticed the others in the hall again.
The Aurors took little time in dragging the unconscious bodies of the former death eaters out of the hall.
"Harry!" Dumbledore voice came as the last of the death eaters were removed from the hall. Harry turned and smiled at the old man but Dumbledore looked strained. "May I tell the students to return to their seats now?" Dumbledore asked with a pleading look in his eyes.
Harry sighed and replied, "Perhaps you should hold off on that for a few more minutes Headmaster."