In the month that Harry had spent with Dawn he had read extensive books on duelling and stealth. All of those books stressed that taking the element of surprise to far usually leads to some unavoidable unpleasantness. In short, while waiting for the enemy to lower his guard, it probably isn't particularly clever to let him get close enough that one can say "Boo!" Although, Harry had to admit, it was unbelievably gratifying to see the look of utter speechlessness on Lucius Malfoy's pointy face.
Harry grinned at the Death Eater's expression and slammed his fist into his nose. He shoved his wand into the man's throat, as the other Death Eaters ran forward. Harry felt himself grin wider at the approaching threat and raised his empty hand, as if to "Halt!" The two Death Eaters collapsed.
As Harry concentrated on stilling them-his grip on Malfoy loosened, letting the taller man slam him rather hard into the nearest wall, dislodging Harry's wand from his grasp. Stars erupted in front of Harry's eyes and a strange thing happened. Harry didn't flinch in pain or fear, and, completely forgetting that Snape and Lupin were watching, he was easily two feet shorter than Malfoy, he had three wands at his disposable and Harry didn't, He brought his leg forward in a kick and succeeded in kneeing the sneering blonde between the legs. He slammed the palm of his left hand into Malfoy's already bleeding face, causing a satisfactory crunching noise by his nose. Harry quickly started drawing a complicated pattern in the air with his right hand, and a green light appeared in his palm. Malfoy, on his knees and gasping, stared at the boy in front of him.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you." Harry hissed, grabbing the front of Malfoy's robes and bringing him within nose to broken nose with each other. "M-My son!" He managed to gasp, fear swimming in his eyes, and his aura was reeking with some appropriately placed terror.
Harry smirked into the man's face, "Wrong answer."
He slammed the green light into Malfoy's head and the entire alley was illuminated, and then plunged back into darkness.
Harry kicked the unconscious Death Eater onto his back and silently removed Snape and Lupin's wands, his own jumped back into his hand with a quiet summon. "He's not dead," He told the two wizard's, who were staring at him in shock. "He's in a forced sleep like the other two; they'll awake when I deem it fit." Harry closed his eyes, silently begging for strength, and then he whirled to face his former professors; he felt his temper snap.
"YOU STUPID BASTARDS! WHAT IN GOD'S NAME WERE YOU THINKING?!? HAVE YOU COMPLETELY TAKEN LEAVE OF YOUR SENSES? WALKING UNPREPARED INTO A TRAP! YOU COULDN'TSTOP LOOKING FOR ME COULD YOU?...NO, YOU HAD TO FIND POOR LITTLE POTTER AND NEARLY GET YOURSELVES KILLED!! I SHOULD KILL YOU MYSELF SELF!...IF YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN I'LL…I'LL…" But Harry had run out of steam, and couldn't think of a suitable threat that would daunt the mild mannered Werewolf and Potions Master.
Lupin was watching him with his eyebrows raised and Snape seemed to be fighting back a grin, or a very biting insult. Harry took several deep breaths-making the bangs around his face flutter- and walked forward-threw his arms around Lupin's middle and hugged him tightly. He quickly let go before Lupin could respond, and sank to the pavement-hugging his knees to his chest and trembling.
"I hate you both." He muttered, feeling exhausted, and there were black spots swimming in front of his eyes.
"Get up Potter." He heard Snape say. Harry responded by politely informing the Professor of what his wand was capable of and where he should shove it. He thought he heard Lupin snicker.
"Well now, what's all this?" A familiar voice said. Dawn.
Harry shook his head and pressed his face into his knees, willing himself not to faint. He listened to her approaching footsteps, they paused slightly as she took in the fallen Death Eaters, and stopped somewhere to his left. He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Over do it?" She asked kindly. Harry nodded into his knees, feeling sick. Dawn made a noise in her throat, and murmured something to Snape and Lupin. He then felt an arm snake around his back and under his legs, murmuring a lightweight charm and picking him up as if he were a mere child. Harry mumbled a protest, before letting his droop against a warm chest, and passed out.
Lupin was getting to old for this. Dumbledore informed him that Lucius Malfoy had escaped from Azkaban, and was rumoured to be in muggle London. Lupin didn't bother to ask how Malfoy escaped, neither did Snape, they both knew. So he resigned himself to flying to London with the foul-tempered Potions Master and performing another fruitless search for someone who doesn't want to be found.
Figures something like this would happen.
He nearly had a heart attack when Malfoy pulled back that boy's hood and Harry's face grinned back at them. Thankfully, Lupin wasn't the only shocked into complete immobility, Snape seemed frozen to the spot. Harry easily felled two Death Eaters, with barely any effort and no wand. He didn't even utter a spell. Most chillingly, he fought like a Slytherin and smiled into Malfoy's face as he threatened to kill him. Lupin didn't see a trace of the mild mannered little boy he taught Defence Against the Dark Arts to over two years ago. He saw a very powerful wizard capable of murder, and wasn't afraid to use that to his advantage. But, just as soon as he saw this side of Harry, the boy slammed his glowing fist into Malfoy's skull and the man collapsed, and for three breathless minutes, Lupin thought he had witnessed Harry's first killing. Thankfully he was wrong, as Malfoywas just sleeping. Harry collected their wands and turned to face him, shocking Lupin even more by hugging him. The Werewolf felt that a stroke would be entirely justifiable by now; as he watched a young woman who claimed to be Harry's mentor place tiny green jewels on Voldemort's lackeys, muttering something completely unintelligible. He watched as the Death Eaters disappeared and turned to Snape, who was carrying the Boy-Who-Lived as if he might break, of course, Lupin reasoned, that's most likely why Severus looked like he wanted nothing more than to drop him.
"Well Gentlemen, Your friends have been taken care of and my flat's around the bend, why don't we get my apprentice home before something else unfortunate happens." She spoke lightly, but as Lupin looked into her eyes, he couldn't help but feel that there was a tiny hint of a threat in her voice. Snape nodded in agreement and the four individuals exited the alley.
"Well you have to say one thing for Potter." Snape commented as they walked.
Lupin wondered if he was going to regret this. "And that is?"
"He has vocal cords that Mrs Weasley would be proud of."
Lupin couldn't help it, he laughed. The woman beside him nodded thoughtfully. "He does have an interesting temper. I heard him yelling, was that at you two?" She asked.
Lupin nodded, grinning slightly. "Felt like I was Fred George for a minute, I wouldn't have been surprised if he had suddenly sprouted red hair."
Snape snorted. "The next time that woman says my cynicism isn't setting a fair example for my Slytherins; I believe I shall tell her about this night."
Lupin grinned wickedly.
When Harry woke up he was lying on the couch with a damp face cloth on his forehead and four faces staring at him with varying degrees of concern, that is, Lupin sporting a ten at the highest, and Snape residing somewhere in the negatives. Harry snorted. "Why are you here?" He demanded, though it sounded rather like a whine. Lupin removed the cloth from his head and brushed his bangs back, glaring at him. "Looking for you apparently, thank-you for the goodbye note by the way, Dumbledore was touched." Lupin said this all very gently, though with the hurt in his voice Harry would have preferred him to yell.
"Are these the people you wanted to protect, Harry?" Gekko asked him as he sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Some of them, I guess. Lupin…meet Dawn and Gekko….meet Lupin and Snape." He muttered, making the necessary hand movements. "That's Professor to you, Boy." Snape growled.
"Did I not tell him to shove a wand up his ass?" He asked Lupin testily, ignoring the Professor.
"I believe you did." Said Lupin mildly.
"Well, maybe you should get on that then, sir."
Gekko sniggered and Snape glowered.
"As fun as this is, would someone tell me what is going on? I have to be at the pub soon, Alfred called and said he a just got a rush of celebrating rugby fans, and I don't want himworking his own." Dawn said rather impatiently, holding a cordless phone in her hand.
"Nothing is going "on" as you so blithely put it Miss Miller, we are simply taking Potter with us back to Hogwarts." Snape responded.
Dawn narrowed her eyes dangerously, while Gekko exclaimed loudly; "The hell you are!" and Harry watched Lupin closely, who wasn't speaking.
"I think, Mr. Snape, that you are unaware of the position you have put me in. Harry is my apprentice, therefore under my protection, if you try to remove him without mine or his consent; you are breaking a magical contract that can have dire effects. Your best bets are too spend the night, seeing as how it is rather late, and discuss this in the morning. Harry, get some rest." She glared imperiously at the two men before donning her jacket and moving to the door.
"Oh, I forgot." She turned to Snape, her eyes twinkling similarly to Dumbledore's. "I wouldn't remove him by force; I can assure you that this building is almost as well guarded as Hogwarts." And with a wink and smile she left, leaving two stunned wizards in her wake, along with a sniggering Gekko and a bemused Harry watching the door.
"Well! That was fun!" Gekko exclaimed cheerily. "I'll show you were you two are sleeping, it's upstairs." He turned to Harry and surprised the boy by giving him a big hug. "Don't mind what Dawn said about this place being like Hogwarts." The boy whispered quickly. "She was lying through her teeth." Harry forced himself not laugh and hugged the little Werewolf back, thinking that this was going to be one of the more interesting nights of his life.
Okay! This is how much I can't stand cliff hangers, as soon as I finished chapter nine, was typing up this one! Ah well! I enjoyed it, there's something about getting Lucius canned in the gonads that seems immensely appealing. grins Don't Forget to Read and Review! Thankie! hugs