AN

I know, I know, and I'm sorry. I really am.

I'm rushing to get this in as it is. No review replies I'm afraid. I'll reply to your reviews from last chapter and this chapter at the same time when I update again. This hasn't even been betaed because it'd take too long, so here it is.

Disclaimer: see chapter 1

Chapter 20

Renegade Warrior

Only minutes after seeing his girlfriend leave, Harry was back in England. After all the Flame Travel and apparition (which a general ache in his body wouldn't let him forget for a while yet) he had done that day, he was starting to get tired. He hoped that this would be the last stop he would have to make that day.

He appeared in a ball of flames in the midst of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes to near pitch black, indicating that it was now late at night, and the shop was obviously closed.

Knowing that the two eccentric inventors lived in a small apartment over their precious shop, Harry took a step towards where he knew the staircase was hidden.

Too late, it occurred to him that just appearing anywhere near the twins was a very dangerous idea.

Even as he was thinking this, an alarm of some sort went off at full blast, making him wince in pain. Simultaneously, several red lights that looked to have been stolen from a police vehicle flashed on.

Harry felt, rather than heard, the object falling straight towards the top of his head, but by the time he gained enough presence of mind to throw himself out of the way, the water balloon had already hit him, drenching him in not water, as he'd first thought, but smelly, sticky yellow slime.

Before he'd even had time to be disgusted with this, a hole opened in the wall to his right, and a length of rope came rocketing out of it straight towards him.

:Look out: Sirius cried frantically.

Harry just managed to cast dual Banishing Charms at the ground beneath him, propelling him up and over the rope and out of harm's way.

But it seemed the shop's automated defenses (or booby-traps, really) weren't finished with him yet. The air was soon filled with projectiles aimed at him, and Harry was forced to use a combination of magical shields and magically-enhanced acrobatics to avoid being hit.

At one point, a muggle children's toy arrow struck him on the forehead, cheap rubber suction cup making a small squelching sound as it stuck. At first, it seemed to have no effect on him, but when he reached up to remove it, Harry quickly found that it was stuck on more strongly than if it had been soaked in super glue.

Ducking into a roll to avoid another falling balloon, Harry decided to leave the arrow be for the moment, and concentrate on more pressing matters.

Harry was already panting harshly from exertion at this point. Fortunately for him, the alarms and booby traps suddenly and inexplicably shut off, leaving him to collapse, exhausted, to the floor.

A red-haired and freckle-faced head appeared above him, and a mouth opened to say, "Oi, what's the idea, barging into our shop? You could've got yourself hurt!"

"Nah," Harry panted, "None of your stuff is clever enough to stop me – you know that."

Fred, for it was he, grinned and offered Harry a hand up. "If you hadn't given us our start, I'd make sure you regretted saying that," the redheaded twin threatened good-naturedly.

Once on his feet, Harry bent over and put his hands on his knees, willing his breathing to return to normal.

George was over by the stairs that led up to their apartment, standing at a control panel filled with brightly colored and strangely shaped buttons. "What do you think of our security system, Harry?" he called out, pressing a bright orange button that caused all the debris in the shop to vanish.

"Rather disappointing, really," Harry replied, straightening up to walk over to him. "You could've done a lot better." He realized the toy arrow was still stuck to his forehead, and reached his hand up to tug it off.

"Oh . . . we have," said Fred slyly from behind Harry, having followed him over. "The shop just recognized you, so it didn't go into the more dangerous protection mode."

Harry, grunting with the effort of trying to yank the suction cup off his forehead, stopped what he was doing to turn and stare at him. "You mean to tell me that the shop can recognize me, and yet it still turned on all the security?" he demanded.

The grin on the redheaded twin's face was all the answer he needed, and Harry groaned aloud. "You two are impossible."

"Here," said George, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder and turning him around, "Let me get that for you." He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the arrow. "Evanesco."

The arrow vanished without a trace, leaving Harry to rub the spot where it had been thoughtfully. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Most people don't," said Fred, walking around Harry to stand next to his twin. "Wizards are very narrow-minded thinkers. They focus completely on the apparent problem, instead of 'thinking outside the box,' to use a muggle phrase."

"But enough about that," said George taking Harry by the arm and steering him towards the stairs, "We have a lot to talk about."

Upstairs, the three of them were soon seated in the tiny kitchen at a fold-up poker table, butterbeers in hand.

In between swigs, Harry quickly filled the twins in on everything that had been going on, from the training he was going to, to his escape from Azkaban and plan to form his own army.

"I could really use your help, guys," he said earnestly. "I need as many people on my side as I can get, and you two are brilliant inventors. Your help would be especially useful."

Fred and George looked at each other for a long time, communicating without any words. After what seemed an eternity to Harry, they turned back to him and, in an uncharacteristically solemn fashion, shook his hand one at a time.

"We're with you, Harry, all the way," they said in unison.

"We have one condition, though," said Fred.

"Anything."

"We want Lee Jordan in on it too."

Harry took a moment to consider it. The twins obviously trusted Lee implicitly; else they would never have asked such a thing. "Are you sure he's on our side?" he asked cautiously, after a moment.

"Without a single doubt," George responded immediately.

"Alright, he's in."

Silence descended for a few moments, as each of them became lost in his thoughts upon the changes taking place in their world.

After a short time, Fred spoke up again, "Harry, you said Ginny told you that we believed you. When did you see her?"

"Just before I came here."

"And . . ." Fred trailed off, looking nervous and uncomfortable.

"And what?" Harry prompted.

"And where is she now?" George finished for his brother.

"Oh." Harry shrugged. "She's back at Hogwarts, why?"

The twins exchanged a quick glance. "We thought she'd convince you to take her with you," George explained.

"We knew she wouldn't want to be left behind, and she's very stubborn," Fred added, nodding.

Harry smiled ruefully. "That she is," he said, almost to himself. "I convinced her she had to at least finish school and learn to apparate before she could follow me all around the world. It's a good thing, too. She's safer at Hogwarts."

"What makes you think that?" asked George, eyebrows lifting in surprise. When Harry looked at him quizzically, he added, "Harry, you've encountered more dangerous situations at Hogwarts than most Aurors do in their first few years of work. Voldemort's got into Hogwarts before, what makes you think she'll be any safer there than you were?"

"I-" Harry started to say, but stopped. It was true, there was no denying it. Why hadn't he remembered that? "You're right. What do I do? She can't come with me, and I don't know anywhere else she can stay. She's Voldemort's number one priority after me, as far as murdering-slash-kidnapping goes."

Both redheads shrugged. "We don't know, Harry," said Fred. "We can find excuses to go up and check on her every week or so, and we can watch her in Hogsmeade, but we can't protect her every minute."

Harry put his head in his hands and massaged his temples wearily. He couldn't believe he'd been so stupid. What could he do now? Ginny was a fierce fighter, but Voldemort would pull out all the stops to get his hands on her. How would she do if a dozen Death Eaters attacked her? What-

His hands stopped, and he looked up slowly, a thought taking root in his mind. That would be perfect.

"I know just what to do," he said to Fred and George. "Don't worry about a thing, she'll be just fine."

They both nodded, trusting Harry to take care of their sister.

"Well, I better get going," Harry said, rising from his seat. "I'll send you that portkey soon." He headed for the door, but Fred's voice stopped him with his hand on the knob.

"Harry!" He turned just in time to catch the small, black, pear-shaped object the redhead had thrown to him. Its surface was as smooth as glass, except for a tiny red button on the round bottom.

"What is it?" he asked curiously.

"Our latest invention," George replied. "You inspired it. It only works once, but if you're ever in a tight spot with a lot of enemies, just hit the red button and chuck in the middle of 'em."

Harry examined it a moment longer. "Thanks." He pocketed it and called out a farewell as he left the apartment.

Outside the anti-apparition wards on the apartment, Harry prepared to apparate to what he hoped was his last destination of the night. He was getting tired by this point, but he had to do one last thing to ensure Ginny's safety.

It was well past one in the morning and she was exhausted, but Ginny still didn't go back to Gryffindor Tower for the night.

Fully a month had passed since she'd last seen Harry, and in that time, she'd been unable to sleep so much as wink.

It felt so odd for him to not be there, just a few feet away in another bed, within reach if she needed him. If she tried to sleep, her thoughts inevitably turned to him, and she would end up spending the entire night worrying.

So instead she wandered the halls of the old castle at night, trying to exhaust herself enough to doze off.

And doze off she did – during meals, during her studying, and during classes. Her school work was suffering, and her professors, her family, and her friends were all starting to worry about her.

But she didn't care. She'd never really had any friends besides Neville, Luna, and Hermione anyway, and she was fed up with her family for siding with Dumbledore over Harry. Luna was still easily her best friend. Just the other day Luna had even said she didn't think Harry was a Dark Wizard because when he was born he had been blessed by a Witch Doctor from the island of Nethos, and therefore was incapable of being Dark.

Ginny had no idea where Nethos was or if it even existed, but she appreciated the support from Luna anyway. She got little enough as it was. Neville was the only other person that still supported Harry with her, so the three of them usually hung out together.

For the most part though, Ginny avoided even them, preferring to be alone with her thoughts. Fortunately, she knew her way around the castle better than most people (thanks to Fred and George), so she was able to avoid everyone most of the time.

Unfortunately, she was unaware of the fact that several people had noticed her behavior. Several people she did not want anything to do with.

So it was that when a dozen or so Slytherin students sprang from their hiding places to completely surround her, wands drawn, Ginny was taken completely by surprise.

Even so, she had not trained with Harry all summer to simply be taken without a fight. Faster than the eye could see, she had her wand drawn and a Stunner cast at the nearest student, who turned out to be Crabbe. Before her would-be attackers could even recover from the shock of seeing the enormous student crumple to the floor, she had moved her wand on the next target and cast the Full-Body Bind, leaving Nott helpless and immobile.

But even all of Harry's training could not prepare her to face twelve opponents at the same time on all sides, and no sooner had she managed to let loose another Stunner at a dumbfounded Goyle than one of the Slytherins behind her finally shook himself out of his stupor and cast the spell to bind her with magical ropes.

Ginny knew it was too late when she heard him speak the words of the spell, but she tried to turn anyway, raising her wand. The ropes reached her before she could open her mouth, wrapping themselves tightly around her entire body, pinning her arms to her sides and forcing her legs together. She wobbled for a moment, unbalanced with the ropes binding her, then inevitably fell to the floor hard.

Her fall seemed to bring the rest of the Junior Death Eaters to their senses, and they immediately went into a blur of motion. Somebody darted forward and snatched Ginny's wand from her hand (thought it made little difference, since any spell she cast would've just hit her own leg anyway), and another cast a Silencing Charm on her when she opened her mouth to scream for help.

The three students Ginny had managed to incapacitate were soon brought around, and Goyle assigned to pick her up and carry her down the corridor.

Slung over his shoulder like a sack of meal, Ginny was utterly humiliated and furious with herself for having been caught. On top of that didn't think she'd ever felt or smelled anything more disgusting in her life than Goyle.

"Not so tough now, are you Weasley?" hissed a voice to her left. She turned her head to find Pansy Parkinson walking along next to her, a positively maniacal gleam in her eyes.

"That's enough, Pansy," said someone else. Ginny recognized the voice as the one that had cast the rope-binding spell on her. She got her first look at him out of the corner of her eye. He looked somewhat familiar to her, though she couldn't quite remember the name – something with a 'Z' perhaps?

"Who made you the boss, Zabini?" Pansy snarled, throwing what she probably thought was an intimidating glare in his direction.

Blaise Zabini, that was it! Ginny thought to herself.

"Lucius Malfoy did, actually," Blaise replied mildly. "Our orders are very clear; grab the Weasley girl and bring her to the Forest. Mr. Malfoy will be waiting there for her. In the meantime, we're not supposed to speak to her." His gaze turned diamond-hard and his voice lowered considerably. "Now be silent or I'll tell Mr. Malfoy about the problems your theatrics caused. You should've just Stunned her from behind instead of rushing ahead to start an ambush and forcing us all to play along. She could've gotten away."

Pansy's mouth closed with a snap, but she was clearly still furious with Blaise. She moved away, muttering under her breath, and Blaise turned back to ensure that the rest of the party kept moving.

By this time, Ginny was starting to panic. She had her portkey, of course (she never went anywhere without it around her neck), but it was useless unless she could speak, and the Silencing Charm prevented that. Too bad she hadn't thought of it earlier.

She had been attacked on the seventh floor, and they had now reached the sixth. Her mind worked frantically, trying to come up with some means of escape. She didn't want to be taken to Tom again, didn't want to see those horrible red eyes and slit-nostrils.

Just then, she remembered something Harry had said about the most vulnerable part of a man's body. What was it exactly again? Oh yes.

"No matter who he is, Gin, if you hit him there, he'll crumple like a tin can."

Of course, she still had no idea what a tin can was, but the meaning was clear. She shifted her legs, which were hanging down Goyle's front, just slightly and bent her knees, which pulled her feet out and away from his body.

The fact that they were tied together made it quite difficult, but she managed anyway, and with what little strength and weight she could manage to put behind them, she shoved her feet forward again, driving them into his groin.

Goyle grunted and collapsed onto his knees, dropping Ginny as if she were on fire to press both his hands to his groin. Ginny ignored his agonized moans as she quickly struggled to free herself from her bonds.

Just as she'd hoped, Zabini had not had much practice using the spell, and it did not bind her as tightly as it should have, and she quickly managed to free one of her hands. Praying desperately to every god ever worshipped that the Junior Death Eaters hadn't got their wits about them enough to stop her, she made to dive for Goyle's wand.

A sound, one that could only be described as a high pitched war cry, stopped her. She looked up in surprise to find that a half-dozen or so small blurs had appeared seemingly from nowhere and were now darting among the Slytherins, blasting them into the walls of the stone hallway as if they were little more than leaves in the wind.

Within seconds, all twelve of the students that had ambushed Ginny were unconscious, many of them looking considerably the worse for wear.

To Ginny's complete surprise, her saviors were none other than seven House-Elves. Most of them hung back and watched her from a distance, but the one that seemed to be the leader rushed forward and snapped his fingers, vanishing her bonds with a loud crack!

He helped her to her feet (Though he was so small he really wasn't any help), and immediately began to brush her off, talking animatedly all the while.

"We is sorry we is late, Miss Wheezy," he said, seemingly horrified with himself. She noticed he was wearing an extremely large number of hats on his head, one on top of the other. They wobbled dangerously as he backed away and bowed low, his long, pencil-like nose nearly touching the stone floor. "We is supposed to be being here earlier, but we is also supposed to be cleaning the castle."

The now quite upset Elf turned on his heavily-sock-clad heal, ran to the nearest wall, and began to beat his head against it. The other Elves made to do the same, but Ginny quickly cried "STOP!" and all seven of them froze and looked at her.

"Stop that," she said again, less loudly, and went on, "What do you mean you were supposed to be here? And who are you anyway?"

"I is called Dobby, Miss," replied the leader. "And we is supposed to be keeping dangerous ones from hurting you."

Ginny's head was throbbing now, both from her earlier falls and from the effort of trying to understand what was now going on. "Why?" she finally asked.

Dobby blinked his enormous, tennis-ball-sized eyes at her, and stated, as though it was obvious, "Because Harry Potter is asking us to, Miss. He is entrusting his Miss Wheezy's safety to us."

"Harry?" Ginny was even more confused now. Harry had gotten a bunch of House-Elves to protect her? But no, the other six elves were wearing tea towels stamped with the Hogwarts crest. They were Hogwarts elves. "Wait," she said confusedly, "Why would you do what Harry asked? Don't you take orders from the Headmaster? And does Professor Dumbledore know about this?"

"Usually we is taking orders from the Headmaster, Miss," Dobby replied, shifting nervously from foot to foot. "But Harry Potter is the master of this castle, so we is doing what he says as well. He is telling us not to tell the Headmaster, Miss."

Eyes widening in shock, Ginny demanded, "Harry is the master of Hogwarts? How is that possible?"

Dobby wrung his long-fingered hands together. "He is being the last descendent of the founders, Miss. After Lord Slytherin left, the other three owned the castle. Harry Potter is the descendent of Lord Gryffindor."

He suddenly darted forward and grabbed her hand. "Come, Miss, we must be getting you back to your bed. You is not safe here."

Ginny found herself being pulled down the corridor towards Gryffindor Tower by a being less than half her size. "What about them?" she asked, nodding over her shoulder towards the unconscious Slytherins behind them.

"We is taking care of them, Miss," Dobby replied hurriedly, still dragging her along. "We is taking them to the Headmaster for punishment." The rest of the elves seemed to have stayed behind to do just that, because they didn't follow she and Dobby.

A short time later, Ginny found herself laying back on her own bed with the curtains drawn, trying to sort through her thoughts. It had been an eventful night, there could be no doubt about that. She had been attacked, found out she had her own personal bodyguard, and found out that her boyfriend owned Hogwarts all in one night.

Her confused thoughts slowly turned to anger, as she realized what it meant. Harry had been keeping secrets from her. He had gone behind her back and gotten Dobby to watch her all the time, without even telling her.

That boy was in for one hell of a howler come morning.

Albus Dumbledore had never felt older than he did at that moment. He had just come back from speaking with the twelve students responsible for attacking young Miss Weasley, and as he rode the revolving staircase to his office, he was quite frankly at a loss for what to do. Should he expel them?

His thoughts were interrupted when he entered his office and immediately sensed an intruder. One did not live with magic as long as he had and not become attuned to it. He knew the second he walked through his door that a magical being of some sort was sitting in his chair, so he quickly drew his wand and pointed it at the back of the chair behind his desk.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The chair slowly turned to reveal none other than a slightly amused-looking Harry Potter.

It took all the Headmaster's nearly hundred and fifty years of discipline to keep from dropping his wand and gaping in astonishment.

"Surprised?" Harry asked mockingly.

The aging professor ignored the remark altogether, choosing instead to tighten his hold on his wand and reply, "Come quietly, Harry, I don't want to have to fight you."

The boy simply snorted. "We'll see." He stood slowly and clapped his hands together once. "Now, to business. I came to speak to you about the students who attacked my girlfriend."

"I assure you, Harry, they will be sufficiently punished," Dumbledore replied. He decided to try to keep the boy talking. He was now trying to strengthen the wards around the officer Wandlessly, and the more time he had to do so, the better his chances of capturing Harry.

The Boy-Who-Lived's eyes turned ice cold and his features hardened until they appeared etched into stone. "I want them gone," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "They have endangered the life of a student deliberately and maliciously, under the orders of Voldemort. Expel them, or I will take care of them myself. I guarantee you will not like the result if I take matters into my own hands."

Dumbledore almost shivered at the end of that sentence. Something about Harry's tone of voice told him that he would make good on his threat.

"Very well, Harry, they will be expelled. Now come with me."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Not a chance."

"If that is your decision, you leave me no choice," Dumbledore said sadly. "Stupefy!" The jet of red light leapt from the end of his wand, but by the time it reached the spot Harry had been standing, the boy had already dived to the side out of the way. Instead, it stuck the bookshelf set against the wall and blasted apart several of the volumes resting there.

Harry stood, a smirk on his face; then seemed to concentrate for a moment. His eyes widened in surprise, and he said, "Anti-animagus wards. I'm impressed."

A second spell sped his way, but he dodged it, allowing it to strike the table with the silver instruments that had been behind him. He concentrated for a second time, and this time nearly fell over in shock. "And stronger Anti-Disapparation wards than the rest of the castle? Not bad at all."

What followed shortly after this sentence was one of the most impressive displays of magic Hogwarts had seen in many, many years. Two of the most powerful wizards in the world dueled each other as if their lives depended on it, and after only ten minutes of battle the office was left in ruins.

While Harry was clearly the more powerful and faster of the two, Dumbledore had over a century and a half of magical knowledge to draw upon, and it was soon clear to both of them that the Headmaster would emerge the victor unless something changed.

"Give yourself up, Harry," Dumbledore demanded, using a powerful shield to block a flurry of curses cast by his opponent. "You cannot win."

But Harry only grinned knowingly. "Perhaps not," he replied. He let loose a sudden barrage of extremely powerful spells that had the Headmaster struggling to hold his ground, then broke out into a run across the battered room. Just as he reached the window, he called over his shoulder "But I can escape!" And with that, he leapt headfirst through the window, shattering the glass and plummeting towards the ground three stories below.

Dumbledore rushed to the window in time to see his former student transform into a Phoenix and vanish in a ball of flames.

"Until we meet again . . ." sighed the old man sadly.

AN

Just a note: the heir of Gryffindor thing is overused, so I promise it won't be a big deal in this story. I added it in there because I honestly have believed he's the heir of Gryffindor since before I read ANY fan fictions, so I thought it'd be stupid of me to leave it out just because so many others have used it.

Review responses at a later date.