Disclaimer: All of this is mine. I made it all up myself. I am J.K. Rowling writing under an assumed name. I only look like a 21 year old guy because I'm using a Polyjuice potion. I tricked you all. Hahahahahaha! What's that? Polyjuice isn't real.........er.........ummm...... fine you caught me! None of this is mine except the plot. There! Are you happy now? Oh well, back to the drawing board.
Harry's crazy inner voice #1
Harry's crazy inner voice #2
Chapter 2 – The Rules of the Game
The assembled crowd of Death Eaters and Order members stared at the figure who had appeared in their midst in complete shock. Finally one of them was able to shake himself out of his shock and respond.
"HARRY!!!" Remus Lupin, werewolf and disgraced member of the Order of the Phoenix, broke from the crowd and ran towards the young man who he had failed. He didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around the young man and give him a crushing hug.
"Oh Harry, is it really you?" tears had begun to fall from his eyes but nothing could hide the grin on his face which hadn't been present since his young friend had been thrown in jail.
" ...air...must...have....air" Harry choked out.
Remus quickly let go of him but the smile refused to leave his face.
"Sorry about that. I'm just so glad to see you're all right." The werewolf's smile faltered and he lowered his eyes to the ground refusing to look Harry in the eyes.
"I'm really sorry that I couldn't get you out of there Harry. I tried to stand up for you but being a dark creature I think I just hurt your case. I'm so sorry Harry. Can you ever forgive me?" With his last words he lifted his head revealing eyes shining with tears revealing all the self-recrimination and inner turmoil that he felt.
A small smile came to Harry's face. "Remus. Look at me. You have nothing to be sorry for. You stood by me when everyone else turned their backs on me. You of all people have nothing to be forgiven for."
Not like the rest of those stupid gits standing over there.
Oh come on. It's not like name calling is going to help at all.
Yeah? Well it sure makes me feel better. And when did you show up. I thought there was only one voice in my head.
Errrr....good question. It looks like we really are crazy.
We!!! I was messed up enough when there was only one of me in here. Now I've got to share space with you?
Believe me it isn't exactly a picnic for me either.
Then just go away to wherever you came from.
Why should I go away? I was here first.
No you weren't. I was.
No, I was
No, you're wrong. I was.
No you weren't.
Enough!!!!! Now where were we. I mean where was I.
US!
Whatever.
"I'll never forget you standing up for me." Harry said as he gave his friends shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
Remus's smile was quick to return. "Thank you Harry. You don't know how much that means to me. How did you escape from Azkaban though, and what are you doing here? For that matter, do you have any idea what any of us are doing here?"
Harry chuckled. "Don't worry Remus. All will be explained soon." Suddenly all humor disappeared from Harry's face and his tone took one which spoke of tightly held rage. "But before we can get to explanations I have a couple more old friends that I need to talk to." The last words seemed to have been spat out and Remus winced at the anger concealed within.
Now it's time for some fun. Let's show them that they messed with the wrong Potter.
Calm down a bit. If we act calm and collected we'll unsettle them more. Besides if we act responsibly then when they find out the truth we'll look better for having kept our cool.
Screw looking responsible. They sent me...sorry us to Azkaban and you want to pretend like nothing happened?
Just try to control yourself.
I make no promises.
Sigh
Harry walked slowly towards the members of the Order and a smirk slowly began to form on his face as he watched his once friends and allies all raise their wands to point at him in fear.
Oh please. As if they could even scratch me with those stupid sticks.
Us! Scratch US!!
I'm still not convinced I'm not just imagining you so be quiet.
Imagining me? Of course you're imagining me. We're voices inside of our own head! We both aren't real...ish.
Well that clears things up.
No problem.
Harry raised his hands to show he had no intention of attacking.
"Hey everybody. No need to be so jumpy. I'm not here to hurt anybody."
Yet.
Calm down.
What? I'm calm.
"Now why don't you all lower those wands before you poke someone's eye out? I don't think Moody over here would enjoy loosing another eye." Harry laughed as he looked over towards the grizzled auror.
"What are you playing at Potter?" Mad-eye Moody questioned.
"You suspect me of being up to something. I'm wounded. Can't an escaped convict have some time to catch up with his "friends"?" As Harry spoke he brought his hands over his heart as if to convey that Moody's words had injured him in someway.
Having now arrived at the Order lines he forced them all to lower their wands with a wave of his hand, earning him many surprised and fearful glances from those present as he approached his old best friend Ron Weasley. He came to a stop in front of one of those who had betrayed him more than any other and looked him up and down.
"I like your hair." was all that Harry said to the one who had been like a brother to him.
Wonder when he'll notice we turned it blue.
Oh. That was real mature. Good job getting them to take us seriously now.
Stop your whining. You enjoyed it as much as I did.
...no comment.
That's what I thought.
Turning from the stunned red...blue haired boy to the bushy haired girl at his side Harry again took a few moments to size up the other third of the now broken "Golden Trio" as they had sometimes been called.
When he spoke to her it was in a highly amused tone. "And Hermione Granger, or should I say Hermione Weasley?" He asked looking pointedly at the ring on the finger of the girl who, with a wave of his hand, now had bright red Weasley hair. "I'm hurt that I wasn't invited to the wedding. I mean admittedly it would have been hard to get some vacation time from good old Azkabany but I would have given it a shot for you guys."
While Hermione merely blushed and looked away. Ron, who had realized he now had blue hair, was not remaining silent.
"As if we would have invited a filthy Death Eater like you. We wouldn't want to have anything to do with a murdering piece of scum like you."
Harry turned from Hermione to stare the Weasley boy in the eyes.
Punch him in the nose! PUNCH HIM IN THE NOSE!
NO! Control. We must control ourselves.
"I would advise you not to speak of things you don't understand Weasley." The words were whispered and yet there was not a person present who could not hear them and the threat which was conveyed with them. That is except for Ron.
"Oh I know exactly what I'm talking about Potter. You killed all those muggles. You are a disgrace to all those who died for you. You parents would be as disgusted with you as I am."
Uh oh. Mistake.
CRACK!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone looked on in shock, no one more so then Ron who was quickly regaining his senses to attempt to stem the flow of blood coming from his obviously broken nose. As Harry turned away from the confused ex-redhead, Ron was comforted by his wife who had crouched down to fix his nose.
YES!!! We got him! Right smack dab in the nose. Did you see his face? That was priceless. Oh look she's fixed it. Quick. Let's turn around and do it again. Forget our other plans. Let's see how many times we can break his nose in an hour. I say 50 times. What do you think?
You have the maturity of a 6-year old.
Hey, don't look at me. You're the one who gave the order to punch.
Yeah well he deserved it.
Yeah! I'm starting to have a good influence on you.
Sigh
Leaving the young Weasley couple to their own devices Harry approached the aged figure of Professor Dumbledore who was mildly concerned at the twinkle present in the young wizard's eyes.
The twinkle really is a lot of fun isn't it.
Now who's immature?
........
That's what I thought.
"So good to see you again Professor. You're looking well. Can I interest you in a lemon drop?" The twinkle seemed to increase as Harry offered the old Headmaster some conjured candy. "No? Well, your loss then. Quite tasty." Harry smiled as he popped one of the treats into his mouth.
Dumbledore just shook his head before speaking and all could hear the sadness and weariness in his voice. "What is this all about Harry?"
Harry sighed. "Well Albus. What was it you always said to me? You'll know when you're ready? All shall be revealed in time? Some nonsense like that I'm sure. I guess you'll just have to be patient."
See how you like it.
Dumbledore sighed and took a step back. Harry popped another Lemon Drop and began to chuckle once more until he saw who had made her way to the front of the group and was now standing in front of him.
Ginny Weasley.
Look at her. Standing there with her gorgeous red hair, those beautiful eyes, and those kissable lips. Who does she think she is?
The woman we love?
Oh yeah. Don't we hate her now for turning on us too?
...
Well?
...
Would you stop drooling over her and answer me!!!!!
Sorry. Can you blame me though?
No I suppose not. She does look good though doesn't she?
She looks sad though. Is it wrong that I just want to forgive her for everything and kiss her?
No, I don't think so. That's love.
Sigh
"Hey Gin." Again Harry's words are whispered but this time they are only heard by one person. "You're looking good."
Understatement of the year.
Yeah well she probably wouldn't have reacted well to "I love you let's run away together."
Yeah that might not have gone over very well.
Ginny looked at the young man she had been in love with and her face showed a mixture of emotions and it seemed like she was having great trouble getting any words out.
"Harry...I..." Before she could get another word out she was silenced by Harry's finger on her lips.
"Please Ginny don't. I don't know if I could take it." Harry turned, refusing to look at her and walked back to the middle of the field missing the look of pure misery that had taken over Ginny's face.
As Harry slowly made his way back to the middle of the field all could tell that he was deep in thought and wondered what would happen next. Some were not as patient as others.
Voldemort, apparently unimpressed by the soap opera taking place at the other end of the field, was anxious to find out what was going on as well.
"All right Potter." He called out. "Now that you've gotten that out of your system why don't you explain how you brought us here before I kill you."
This seemed to be exactly what it took to shake him out of his depression for as he heard Voldemort call he raised his head and all could see that the smile had come back to his face.
"Ah Tommy Boy. How could I have forgotten that you were there? Completely unforgivable I know but I must apologize nonetheless. Be patient though Tommy. There's plenty of daylight left and as you really have no choice in the matter why don't you just sit tight."
Ooohhh I bet that one pissed him off.
He has always been rather sensitive about his muggle side hasn't he?
Voldemort was unable to respond as he was now seething with rage over the insulting nick name pinned on him by the smirking Boy-who-Lived.
Harry didn't give him the chance to regain control as he immediately launched into his prepared speech.
"Yes, I must apologize to all of you for the delay and for pulling you out of your no doubt very busy lives. By now I'm sure you're all simply dying to know why I've brought you here today. It's really quite simple. But first it's necessary that we look back on the last few years." He turned first towards Voldemort and his Death Eaters. "You all did your best to destroy any little bit of happiness that I could have. Tom here killed my parents and then ever since I joined the wizarding world you guys have done whatever you could to try and kill me and my friends. That wasn't very nice."
Oh nice touch. "That wasn't very nice." Oh we are really eloquent today aren't we?
Look at you. Using all those big words like "we" and "are" I'm impressed.
Oh that was uncalled for.
Funny though.
Harry turned to face the members of the "light side".
"As much as it pains me to admit it, the light has treated me even worse. Instead of placing me with a family were I could have been loved or well treated. You, Albus Dumbledore, sentenced me to 10 years of physical and emotional abuse. That didn't matter to you though because I never really was anything more than a tool for you was I Albus? I was nothing more than a means to fulfill a prophecy, a pawn that you could throw away when I had no more use. Then there are my so called friends. Those who said they would always stand beside me, believe in me, love me. Oh how quickly we forget eh? Nothing Voldemort ever did could compare to the pain of your betrayal. You all sent me to hell without a second thought."
Harry turned so he could face both groups and as he began to speak once more all those gathered watched in awe as a silver glow surrounded him and he slowly began to rise until he was floating about 10 above the ground.
"Some of you may have noticed that I seemed to have gained some power recently. After Albus unlocked my true potential not even Azkaban could stem my magical growth. Now it seems that I have enough power to do just about anything. Smile everybody. One way or another, the war ends today."
(A/N: That enough for you guys. No? Well I guess since its taking me a little longer than I expected to update I'll continue)
"Now as I said just a moment ago I can do pretty much anything. This includes I don't know...killing Voldemort and wiping out all his Death Eaters," the smiles of the Order members were short lived as Harry continued "or perhaps killing Dumbledore and all of his little Order members. As you can see I've got a difficult decision to make. Do I kill those who killed my parents and so many others? Or do I kill those who pretended to be my friends only to sentence me to hell? Decisions, Decisions. What to choose."
Harry's musings were interrupted by a voice from the side of the Order members.
Why won't that boy shut up? When will he learn? I've just told him we're basically omnipotent and he's giving me attitude. Dumb as a stump that one.
I've gotta agree with you there. He's thick all right. You'd think Hermione would have been able to cram some intelligence into him but I guess some things really are impossible.
The voice interrupting him was of course that of Ron Weasley.
"Why are you wasting our time Potter. We all already know that you've gone dark. Why the charade?"
Harry gaze drifted over to where Weasley was standing. He seemed to be considering something before nodding his head as if coming to a decision.
"Weasley. Shut up." And with a wave of his hand Ron Weasley no longer had a mouth.
"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. I seem to be unable to decide which side to destroy and which side should survive to lead the wizarding world. So here's the deal, we're going to have a battle of champions. The champions of the light," he pointed to the Order. "and the champions of the dark." he pointed towards the Death Eaters.
"There will be seven duels or competitive events and whichever side wins the most gets me and all those wonderful powers that I bring. Any questions?"
Why seven? Why not just one duel or three or five? Why seven?
Why not seven? Seven is a good number. Seven days of the week. Seven dwarves. Seven...
Seven dwarves? There are more then seven dwarves out there. They have a whole civilization.
Sigh It's a muggle thing
Oh, okay then. Hey why do you do that whole "Sigh" thing all the time?
No reason
Harry looked around at hundreds of witches and wizards who still seemed to be trying to wrap their minds around just what Harry had suggested.
Voldemort was the first to get a question out.
"Who will be choosing the champions."
Harry smirked. "Why, me, of course. There's a couple of people who I've been just dying to see duke it out. I'll pick the champions and match them up. You all will get to pick roughly how you will be competing. Each side will take turns deciding the type of contest whether it be a duel with wands or a round of Exploding Snap. Sound fair? Of course it does. Is that it?"
Harry's attention was caught once more by the now flailing arms of Ron Weasley who was trying to get his attention and get his mouth back.
"Ah yes. Mr. Weasley over there was wondering why I'm doing this since everyone knows I'm evil. Guess what Ron, everyone's wrong. I think it's time we cleared up some things on both sides. You see it turns out there are some people in the crowd today who aren't being completely honest about their loyalties."
Harry turned, directing his attention to the Death Eater side of the pitch.
"Now, Tommy old boy, it pains me to be the one to have to tell you this, truly it does. You have a spy in your midst. I know it must be a shock. How could one of your wonderful little puppets not enjoy the constant stream of insults, being treated like a slave and constantly being cursed? Guess he must just be ungrateful. Oh well, Severus Snape come on down."
With a wave of his hands the crowd of Death Eaters parted allowing a very pale Potions Master the room to float, with some help from Harry, to the middle of the field.
Adopting the voice of a game show host Harry spoke, "Yes folks that's right. Dumbledore's spy within the Death Eaters is none other than Severus Snape. Old Sevvie boy here joined Tommy's forces in his first rise to power but turned his back on the Dark Lord when he was forced to wear a mask on all the attacks and couldn't show off his lovely greasy hair. Severus enjoys making potions, taking long walks on the beach, and seeing just how greasy he can make his hair. Let's give him a big hand folks." Harry began to clap enthusiastically but after a few moments stopped as he realized everyone was just staring at Snape in shock.
Well I wouldn't think it was really that much of a surprise that he was the spy.
Probably the whole "he enjoys long walks on the beach" that's got them surprised.
Oh, right. That was a bit of a shock for me too.
Yeah, I always pictured him as the picnic in the park type.
Are you serious?
You know...I'm not really sure.
It's things like that which remind me we're crazy.
"Anyways," Harry continued, "Albie isn't the only one who's managed to plant a spy in his enemy's forces. It may surprise you Order members to know that there is one among you who isn't loyal to the light."
Although how it could be a surprise when he's got that big tattoo on his arm is beyond me.
You have to remember they aren't as smart as us. I mean come on, they thought we were guilty.
Er...they still do.
Oh...Right.
"Anybody care to wager a guess on the identity the traitor? How about if I give you all some clues to help out? He comes from a large family, very full of himself, has a secret passion for cauldron bottoms, oh and he was the one who helped frame me for the crime I was imprisoned for. Anybody guessed yet? He's the Weasley that you just love to hate...Percy!"
This announcement was met with much more shock than the other and as a path was made for Percy to be pulled from the Order ranks many members such as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley could be seen in tears as their son was revealed as a traitor.
"Why did you do it Percy?" Mrs. Weasley managed to sob.
Beause he's a stupid git. Because he's evil. Because you did a bad job raising him. There's a couple of reasons. Pick your favourite.
I'm kind of partial to the "stupid git" one myself.
Yeah, that's my favorite too.
"Oh, I can field that question for you Molly." Harry brightly offered. "You see as he was the reason I was sent to Azkaban I've made a bit of a study of your son. It started after my fourth year when Voldemort was reborn. Percy was in disgrace at the Ministry because he hadn't known his boss was under the Imperius curse. One of Voldie's lackeys offered him a good position and lots of power and that was really all it took. As a member of the Weasley family it was easy for him to find out where I stayed during the summer and he passed the information along to Tom. Tom and I used to have very similar wands and so when he showed up at Privet Drive, he used his wand to perform all the Unforgivables and you all thought it was my wand that had done it. I could have explained all of that to you when I was arrested but none of you were very interested in listening to my side of the story." As Harry spoke the brightness quickly left to be replaced with a cold fury that made those present shudder at the power behind them. Many looked to Percy, hoping that it wasn't true but the self-satisfied smirk on his face gave truth to Harry's story.
"I told you he was innocent! I told you and you wouldn't believe me!" Many turned at the amount of pain and anger in the cry to see Ginny Weasley slap Ron in the face before turning away and running to the back of the group in tears.
Well...that was interesting.
Is it possible that she believed in us?
...
Well?
I don't know.
Well we'll just have to find out later then. Back to business.
It seemed that Ginny words had brought the implications of Percy's guilt to the front of their minds. Harry was innocent. Harry was innocent and they had sent him to Azkaban. They really had betrayed him. Those that seemed to be hit the hardest were the Weasley's and Dumbledore whose eyes were dull with no sign of a twinkle whatsoever. Lupin was looking at the rest of the Order with a sense of smug satisfaction mixed with disgust at the fact that so many of Harry's friends had turned on him.
Harry's voice interrupted their thoughts of self-pity. "Well, I hope I've cleared up for you why I'm doing this Ron. While I'm not on Voldie's side I'm most definitely not on yours. Thus our little contest which I believe we should get under way. After I announce the first pair they will announce the type of combat along with the terms and then will have an hour to prepare and plan strategy at which point you may all aid your designated champions. Any questions? No? Good. The first pair will be..."
Here we go.
Lets get some drum rolls going.
Drum rolls began to sound.
That's better.
"Bellatrix Lestrange vs. Neville Longbottom!"
A/N: And that's all for now folks. Sorry about the long wait. I have no good excuse except for it took me longer to write than I thought it would. If anybody doesn't understand how I've got the contest's working just be patient and later chapters should answer your questions. I know pretty much who I want fighting who and how they'll be doing it but I wouldn't mind hearing match ups that you all would like. Let me know who you think should fight and who should win those fights. I make no promise that I'll use them but you never know.
TheAlphieParadox: Harry's sarcastic because I'm sarcastic. I find it almost impossible to not let the way I talk slip into his character a little.
saman007uk1: As you can see Harry is certainly not happy with everyone. The only people he's really okay with are Remus, for believing in him, and Ginny, because he's got a soft spot for her. Harry's dislike for Ron is due to my dislike for Ron. He's going to have a hard time.
MissMooney16: Uh...sorry to hear about the fly. :)
Thanks to everybody who reviewed but since it would take a lot of time to respond to every person who reviews I will only respond if I can think of something to say. This does not mean that I appreciate some people's reviews above others so don't feel sad. Besides, some of them don't really lend themselves to getting responses.
Special thanks to Ceinlinh for beta reading for me. There would be many mistakes if she wasn't checking it.
One last thing, would you all like longer chapters with more time between updates or shorter chapters but quicker updates? Voice your opinion and thanks for reading. :)