Harry Potter and the Ultimate Betrayal
Chapter 3
Shopping
The first stop on Harry's list was Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. He definitely needed some knew robes. As of now, all he had for clothing were his Hogwarts robes, and Dudley's hand-me-downs. There was no way that he could wear Muggle clothing, it would piss all of the Death Eaters off, not to mention Voldemort. The first things he had done when he woke his first morning there was to burn all of his Muggle clothing.
His first week at 'Voldemort's Lair,' as he had taken to calling it, was spent learning how to Apparate. Voldemort had taught him that in his dreams, like he did Occlumency. It had taken a full week, because he never got to spend more than an hour learning when he was woken up. Voldemort had only taught him the basics of Apparating; saying that Harry was not prepared to master it as he had.
The Apparating lessons were the last of Voldemort's lessons for Harry. The only reason he taught Harry how to apparate was so he would be free to move about on his own. Voldemort had read the Daily Prophet and knew that Harry was not going to betray him. What would he do? The supposed killer of Dumbledore, the greatest wizard to live, would get about five steps before Ministry officials would capture him and sentence him to death. Also by letting Harry have the freedom to come and go as he pleased, Voldemort insured that Harry would not come to hate him, eventually turning on him, the way he had Dumbledore. Or so he thought.
What Voldemort did do, was something that Harry had always hated to do. He assigned him to read several books. And by several, he meant seven. Seven very thick books. All on the theory of magic. Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Ancient Runes, and a three volume set on the Known History of Magic itself. Needless to say Harry had a ton of reading to do.
Harry walked into Madame Malkin's store and slowly lowered his hood. "I'll be with you in a moment, sir." Madame Malkin said as she saw Harry enter. Harry silently thanked Narcissa for his disguise. After some threats and promises, Narcissa had agreed to help him with his disguise. He had 'borrowed' a plain black cloak from Marcus Flint, it wouldn't have done much good if he walked around Diagon Alley in Hogwart's robes. Narcissa had charmed some make-up to cover his one discernable feature, his lightening bolt scar. She had also charmed his skin to appear darker than usual. He had let his facial hair go for the past three days and was now sporting a halfway decent beard. The truth was, he had no clue on how to shave it. No one ever taught him how to do it, Muggle or Magical. Narcissa also preformed a charm on his eyes to change the color from the noticeable emerald green, to an unobtrusive hazel. The only down side of this charm is that it only lasted for approximately three hours. Harry looked down at the watch that Hermione had given to him. The charm was set to wear off two and a half hours so Harry was in no real hurry.
Harry stroked the watch with his thumb as he put it back in his pocket. This watch had yet to leave his person since he had received it from Hermione. It served as a constant reminder of everything he had given up, everything he was fighting for. His friends. He knew that he most likely wouldn't survive through the final confrontation with Voldemort. Even if he did, he could never face his friends again. After everything he had done, everything he was about to do, how could he ever face them? It was funny really, he was doing all of this for his friends and they would wind up hating him for it.
"How can I help you, sir?" came a voice from his side. Harry turned and was met by a vaguely familiar face. Harry knew he knew her from somewhere, but just couldn't quite place it.
"Yes, I'm trying to readjust myself to Wizarding life and will need a full wardrobe." Harry lied quickly, without faltering.
"Readjusting to Wizarding life? Why would you want to do that in times like these?" The girl asked, and that was what helped Harry to identify her. Mauve Brown, Lavender Brown's older sister. Mauve had been a Seventh year Hufflepuff when Harry was in his Third year. The only reason why he remember her, was that she was always butting into other people's business. He vaguely remembered Lavender saying something about her sister working at Madame Malkin's during fourth year, but was to busy fighting to stay alive to pay much attention to the silly girl. Harry was going to have to tread lightly around her.
"Not that it's any of your business, but after the first war I left the wizarding world hoping to never return. About a month ago I heard about Voldemort's rebirth and have decided to return to do my part against him. He killed my entire family the first time, I'll not let anything like that happen again." Harry said, expanding on his lie.
The girl flinched violently at the mention of Voldemort's name, but shrugged it off like nothing happened. "So what can I do for you today, Mr..."
"Black. Ophiuchus Black. Like I said before, I need an entirely new wardrobe. I destroyed my last one." Harry gave the name that he placed on his checks. He had considered putting Hugh Jass, but thought twice. If someone payed attention to it, or if a younger person, like Mauve, were to see it they would know right away that it was a joke and questions would be asked. Questions were bad.
Ophiuchus was a name that Harry had gotten from Astronomy class. It was a constellation called the Serpent Wrestler that represented the God of Healing Asclepius. According to myth, Asclepius had gained the power to restore life to the dead from a herb which a serpent used to restore to life another that Asclepius had killed with his heel or staff. Asclepius then began restoring so many people back to life that the Realm of the Dead was becoming underpopulated. Hades complained to Zeus about this and Zeus in turn killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt. Apollo was pissed that his son was killed and so killed the three Cyclops that made Zeus's thunderbolts. So to appease Apollo, Zeus restored Asclepius to life and set him in the sky as the constellation Ophiuchus.
Harry felt that this applied to him and Voldemort greatly. Harry was Asclepius, killing the serpent, Voldemort. Another serpent, Wormtail, restored Voldemort to life. Harry was going to kill Voldemort restoring the peaceful life to the world.
"Anything particular you want, Mr. Black?" Mauve asked him.
"No, just get me about ten normal robes, all dark colors; five cloaks, dark; two pairs of boots; and anything else you think I may need, all dark. I also need a cloak with lots of pockets ranging from small to large." Harry replied.
"Not much for fashion are you? You do know that dark colors are out this season? You look a lot better in a light blue, maybe a sapphire." Mauve said indicating the robes she was talking about.
"I don't really care about what's 'in' or 'out' this season. Just get me the stuff I asked for, or kindly get someone who will. I don't have time for this."
"Alright, alright. Geeze, don't get all in a huff. Would you like your unfashionable clothing tailored to fit you, or do you want just any old robe?" Mauve said, dripping with sarcasm.
"Tailored." Harry replied simply.
"Alright, step up here and I'll get you measured." Harry did as instructed and after a few minutes he was completely measured. "I have to go speak with Madame Malkin." Mauve said, to which Harry merely waved her on.
Mauve left without another word, supposedly to speak with Madame Malkin. She returned a few minutes later with Madame Malkin in-tow. "Hello Mister Black, I'm Madame Malkin. The reason for my speaking with you is that your order is quite a large one. When a customer wishes to place an order over a hundred galleons, I generally handle them myself."
"That's fine, I just want to get my clothes and leave." Harry said impatiently.
"I'm afraid it isn't as easy as that. This is a custom order and will take at least three hours to complete."
"How much will it cost?" Harry asked, his impatience growing.
Madame Malkin did some quick figuring on a pad of paper before she gave him his price, "138 Galleons 14 Sickles and 4 Knuts."
Harry took out his check book and began filling it out. He placed the cost at 180 Galleons even and handed the check to Madame Malkin. "Have it finished in two hours, or I'll cancel the check and the order." Harry threatened emptily. He had no idea if he could cancel a single check.
"Yes, sir. I'll have it finished in two hours. I'll have my best girls working on it."
"See that you do." Harry said turning and walking away without looking back. Had he looked back he would have seen the immense look of joy that had overcome Madame Malkin's face. She had upped the real price from 97 Galleons 14 Sickles and 4 Knuts to the price she gave the stranger, figuring he was worth it. Then he and upped the price even more. She was making close to a 90 Galleon profit. She would have gladly sucked the stranger off for that price. Hell she would have done that for free if he just asked. This day was definitely turning out for the best.
The next stop on Harry's list was the trunk store. His school trunk was becoming quite crowded and with his new clothes, there would be almost no room. Plus he was hoping to get a trunk with a shrinking charm on it so, if push come to shove and he cut tail and haul ass out of Voldemort's Lair, he wanted to be able to take his stuff with him and not be burdened by them.
Upon entering the store, the clerk who was sitting behind a desk idly tapping his fingers, jumped to attention. "How can I help you, sir? As you can see we have a wide variety of..."
"Save it." Harry cut him off. "I need a new trunk, hence I have entered a store that sells trunks. I need one with a lot more space than normal, and preferably a shrinking charm that I can activate easily."
"Well, sir," the man started seeming a little put off by Harry's attitude, "I have several trunks with about three times as much space as a normal trunk. None of them have shrinking charms placed on them, but that can be dealt with for the correct price. Then we have the multi-compartment trunks. They have anywhere from three to seven compartments. All of the multi-compartment trunks have shrinking and feather light charms placed on them. The trunks with five compartments have two normal sized compartments, the rest range from three-five times normal. Trunks with seven compartments contain a compartment where two people could sleep comfortably. Lots of Wizards use these when they are traveling in the wilderness so they don't have to sleep in the cold. During the first war, Aurors used this as a means of transporting suspects. Of course you cannot shrink the trunk while a living thing is in it. Inanimate objects can survive the re-enlarging, but living things tend to enlarge on the outside only, leaving the entrails the minimal size. The Department of Mysteries lost quite a few people testing this." The man explained. "So what will it be?"
"I'll take the seven compartment trunk."
"What color do you want?" that man asked.
"Whatever color you can get the fastest." was Harry's response. The man left quickly to get Harry's new trunk.
"Blue it is." the man said as he came back with a small blue trunk in his hand. "Now let me explain the features of this trunk. It of course has all the normal charms and enhancements. It's fire proof, water proof, stain resistant, when its shut it is sealed vacuum tight so nothing can be contaminated. The seventh compartment has a fresh air charm on the inside so you don't need to worry about suffocating. The shrinking charm is activated by this button." the man explained indicating the side of the trunk and then depressing the small button. He dropped the small, fist-sized trunk. On its way down to the ground the trunk grew in size, hitting the floor with a thud. "The inside of all compartments are charmed so nothing moves. You could throw this sucker off a mountain and it would never get a ding on it, nor would anything on the inside shift position. When the trunk is in its normal size, the shrinking charm button is transported to the upper-right corner on the top of the trunk. This is so it isn't accidently bumped by anyone/thing. Also, instead of having seven different keys and seven different locks to open the seven different compartments; there is one key and one lock." The man said showing Harry a large skeleton key. "To open the other trunks you merely twist the head of the key to the number of the compartment you want." The man then showed Harry seven very small numbers on the body of the key. He switched it from number one to number two, and the key magically changed. "That's about all there is. You'll find a manul in the first compartment that tells you how to do everything. It should also answer any questions you may have."
"Great. Now how much do I owe you?"
"Well the total comes to about 343 Galleons, 8 Sickles, and 11 Knuts."
Harry quickly filled out his check for 343 Galleons, 8 Sickles, and 12 Knuts. He had decided that he didn't like this guy, and so gave him a 1 Knut tip. After handing the guy the check, Harry quickly shrunk his trunk, put it in his pocket, and exited the shop.
Upon leaving the shop, Harry once again checked his watch. He still had an hour and a half left to kill. He walked down Diagon Alley looking for a place to spend money in. Flourish and Blotts was out. Voldemort's Lair had a collection of books that equaled Hogwarts. While Hogwarts was more towards the light side of magic and the Defense of Dark Magic. The Lair's collection was centered on the more obscure arts of magic, including, but not limited to, the largest collection of Dark Magic in the world, handed down from Salazar Slytherin.
The Apothecary was out too. Any potions Harry needed he would just have Snape make them for him. Therefore, there was no need for any cauldrons or any such stuff. Harry wouldn't be playing Quidditch anytime soon, so no Quality Quidditch Supplies. There was no way that Harry would risk a visit to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. There was too great of a chance of them recognizing him. There was nothing that Harry needed that Diagon Alley could provide, so Harry took a turn down Knockturn Alley.
Knockturn Alley was just as Harry remembered it, except there were a lot more people. Now that Voldemort had risen people with bad intentions were coming out in flocks. They were trying to make a Galleon in a time of crisis, taking advantage of peoples fear.
As Harry looked around he began to notice a theme. While Diagon Alley had stores the sold general stuff; luggage, clothes, books, etc... Knockturn Alley was more specific oriented. There were stores that sold pre-made potions, or a certain type of book for example. The stores also sold the stuff that you couldn't find in Diagon Alley. Extremely rare items: Pensives, Invisibility Cloaks, and rare potions ingredients. Also, if you dropped the right name to the right people, you could get anything you wanted no matter how illegal.
One store in particular caught Harry's eye. Dragon's Hide, was the name of the store and for the life of him, Harry could not figure out what this store sold. Upon entering, there was a loud ringing that alerted the clerk to the presence of a customer. Then Harry's senses were overwhelmed by the smell of leather.
Looking around the store Harry was amazed by the colors. There were dragon hides of all twelve major colors. The primary colors: Red, Yellow, and Blue. The secondary colors: Orange, Green, and Violet; and then the six tertiary colors: Red-Orange, Red-Violet, Yellow-Green, Yellow-Orange, Blue-Green, and Blue-Violet. There were dragon hide pants, coats, vests, boats, gloves, hats; everything you could imagine and some things you couldn't. On one shelf there was actually dragon hide clothing made for animals. Harry had seen people dress dogs and cats up in human clothing, but dressing a Hippogriff up in dragon hide? Come on.
Harry stopped his perusal of the shelves and walked up to the clerk who was currently reading a book. Harry stood there for a second waiting for the wizard to acknowledge him, but to Harry's irritation the clerk did no such thing. So Harry tried the subtle way of clearing his throat loudly in his best impression of Umbridge.
"Hem, Hem!" The clerk looked up grunted then went back to his reading.
Just as Harry was about to pull his wand and give the clerk a little pain to think about, a voice spoke up from the storeroom. "Klaus is someone there?" Klaus, as that was apparently his name, grunted in reply. A head poked out of the storeroom. "Oh. Hello. I'll be with you in a moment." The head disappeared for a while, before the man emerged bodily from the storeroom. "I'm sorry about Klaus here. He's not much of a people person. Been working for me for seven years and I've never heard him say one coherent world. Don't know if he can't, won't, or just doesn't know how? Never really cared to find out either, if I'm honest." The man said with a laugh. "He's a hell of a worker and that's all that counts. Adds up on the numbers in his head within seconds and is always spot on. And if a customer tries to cheat me, or say that I cheated them—well, Klaus throws them from them bodily from the store. He can take quite a punch too. I saw him take four stunners from three powerful wizards and not blink an eye. I think he may be part troll, though I can't imagine what human would ever have relations with a troll. He just showed up one day with a little note card that said 'Job' on it, sat down behind that desk, pulled out a book, and began to read. But, I'm sure you didn't come here to listen to me rant on about my worker. What can I do for you Mr..."
"Black. Ophiuchus Black." Harry answered the strange man.
"Marten Miggs. Everyone just calls me Marty." The man said holding out his hand and a big smile on his face.
Harry took the hand readily; forgetting all pretenses that he was supposed to be an insufferable asshole. There was something about this guy that reminded him deeply of Professor Flitwick and it was impossible to be an asshole to Professor Flitwick. Even Draco Malfoy was kind to Professor Flitwick. Harry would thing that Marty Miggs was Flitwick's twin brother if not for the fact that Marty was taller than even he was and Harry was a healthy 1.7meters tall.
"We're well met, Mr. Black." Marty said shaking Harry's hand a couple times, his face beaming.
"Call me Ophiuchus."
"Very well, Ophiuchus. What can I do for you today?"
"I'd like to purchase some dragon hide clothing."
"Of course you do! What type of dragon hide clothing do you want? Formal robes, causal robes, protective robes? Do you want gloves, boots, hats? Anything you want, I can do." Marty answered enthusiastically.
"Well, I know that I want some protective robes. That's what I came here for, some battle wear. But, depending on how smooth a talker you are, I can be talked into something else also."
"My favorite type of customer. First let's get what you came here for. Protective robes are back here." Marty said. "Most people think that curses and hexes will just bounce off of the robes leaving the wearer unharmed. That couldn't be further from the truth. Dragon hide absorbs the hex at best. It is the magic within the dragon that allows them to be so impenetrable. If some of that magic didn't remain in the hide upon removal, these robes would work only slightly better than normal cow leather. Now if you were to be wearing one of these, and I were to cast, say a stunning curse, the dragon hide would absorb most of the blow, but you would still be left light-headed. If someone of Albus Dumbledore's power, God rest his soul, were to cast the stunning curse on you, you would probably be rendered unconscious, that is to say unless you were on par with Dumbledore's power, or just slightly less powerful." Marty explained.
"Now another misconception that everyone has about dragon hides, is that they are all the same, just different colors. However, each dragon hide has its own characteristics. The Ukranian Ironbelly is probably the most resistant to curses, but this makes for a very stiff and nearly inflexible material. It's just more for boots than anything else. The Aurors of this country like to use the Chinese Fireball for protection as it is the least expensive material that still protects from minor curses and such. If I were to recommend a specific type of hide, it would have to be the Swedish Short-Snout. It is surpassed in protection only by the Ukranian Ironbelly. It is slightly more expensive than the Chinese Fireball at 450 Galleons per square foot, but the higher amount of protection it offers is worth the price in my opinion. Those are the only three that I would recommend, though I can make it out of anything you want." Finished Marty.
"I'll take the Swedish Short-Snout then." Was Harry's simple answer.
"Excellent. Now I recommend having a vest, as it allows free motion of the arms. The only real danger to the arms are cutting curses. If you were to take a stunner to the arm, it would be like taking a stunner while wearing Chinese Fireball hide to the body. Cutting curses are easily recognizable and easily dodged or blocked."
"A vest it is." Answered Harry.
"Wonderful! Here you go." Marty said pulling a very small, silvery-blue vest off of the shelf. "Don't worry about the size it's one size fits all. The more you wear it, the more flexible and form fitting it is. Well? What are you waiting for? Try it on. No, no it goes under your clothing, that's what the cushioning charm on the inside is for. Don't be shy. We're both grown men."
Harry took off his robe and undershirt and struggled into the vest. Struggle was an understatement. It took him three tries before he finally got it on with Marty's help. "It's a little tight." Harry gasped out, nearly suffocating from the tight vest. "Are you sure—that it is—one size—fits all?" Harry managed to gasp out between breaths.
"Yes. When you wear it more it will stretch. Now, I take it you will be wanting to wear that out of the store? Good. Next are the pants. Not very many people like to wear dragon hide pants, and I agree with them. They are as tight as the vests, and don't allow very much maneuverability. So?" Marty informed.
"I need to be able to move. My speed is the best thing going for me; so, I guess I won't be buying any of the pants. Anything else?"
"The only other clothing for protection are the cloaks. Now these need to be made to fit, none of that one size fits all stuff. I have them tailored without sleeves so you will have good maneuverability. Also, for an extra 100 Galleons I can fit it with the Calaquendi Rune for protection. It adds to the level of protection, making it that even a wizard with a 'normal' power level could withstand one stunner from someone of the power of the late Dumbledore."
"I'll take one of those." stated Harry immediately. "Rune and everything."
"Okay that will take about an hour and a half to make. The Rune is a very delicate process, and needs to be done correctly." Marty explained.
Harry pulled out his watch, flipped it open, checked the time, snapped it shut, and put it away all in very rapid succession. He had a little over an hour left, plus the stop for Lucius and he still had to pick up his clothing. He was going to be cutting everything close. "That's going to be a problem. I have a very important meeting to be at in 45 minutes and won't be able to return for the rest of the day."
"No problem, you can come pick it up at your earliest convenience."
"I'm not exactly sure when that is going to be, and I'm sure I'll need the items before then. Tell you what you get this done in 45 minutes, properly done mind you, I'll take half of the total price and make that your tip." Harry enticed.
Marty's eyes widened at that prospect. He had been doing the math in his head and had come to about 5,120 Galleons, and he was horrible at math. It was probably more than that. With that kind of tip he'd be able to take his wife on that vacation he'd been promising her for the past five years. Getting it done in time would be no problem. The hour and a half was just a safety measure to make sure that he did it all properly and had room to start over on the Rune a couple times if need be. But, he couldn't take advantage of this young man. He probably had no idea how much gold this was going to cost him.
Harry seeing the indecision on Marty's face did some quick talking. "Don't worry about taking advantage of me. I have more money than I know what to do with. Do yourself a favor and take the tip. I know it's going to be large. You can buy your family something special. Take them on vacation for a while to get away from this war."
"Alright you got yourself a deal." Marty agreed and shook Harry's hand. "Come into the backroom for a second so I can get you measured then feel free to browse around until its finished."
Harry walked into the backroom with Marty. Upon a quick inspection, Harry saw that it looked exactly as he had expected it to. Completely covered with all different types of dragon hide in all different shapes and sizes. "Ignore the mess. This should only take a second." Marty said noticing Harry's inspection. Now if you remove your cloak, I can take your measures properly." explained Marty. Harry quickly complied. After about a minute Harry was completely measured and was being ushered out of the backroom. "Out. I need complete silence to do this correctly. Tell Klaus to close up the front door. You'll be my last customer today."
"Alright, thank you again." Harry said politely.
"Thank me when its done." Marty said closing the door.
Harry turned around and was about to tell Klaus what Marty had wanted him to do, but it appeared that Klaus was already in the process of locking up. When he was finished. He sat back down behind the front desk and began reading.
Not know what else to do Harry decided to try and engage Klaus in a conversation, knowing full well that it was pointless. "So whatcha reading?" Harry asked as conversationally as he could manage.
Klaus, as Harry expected looked up from his book and grunted, before turning back to it. Then to Harry's shock, Klaus tilted the book so Harry could read the title. "Crime and Punishment by Fyoder Dostoevsky. Sounds interesting." To which Klaus replied with a grunt and continued reading.
What felt like an eternity later, Marty returned with Harry's cloak. "Well here it is, a work of art. Got it right on the first try. Care to try it on and give it a test run?"
"No time for that, I trust you to have got it right. If you didn't, I'll be paying you a visit." Harry replied jokingly. "Besides, you're thirty seconds late." said Harry after checking his watch.
"I wouldn't have felt right taking such a large tip from a nice, young man such as yourself." said Marty with a great sigh of disappointment.
"Marty, I'm kidding. Well, you are thirty seconds late, but I'll still be giving you the tip I promised. Truthfully, I didn't think you would get it done this fast."
Marty's face brightened considerably, but he still felt the need to go through the pleasantries. "No, no. I said I would get it done is 45 minutes, and I didn't get done within the time frame, no tip necessary."
"If your really don't want it..." Harry left the sentenced unfinished.
"Alright, you've twisted my arm. I'll take the tip. If you insist."
"I don't insist, but you'll take the tip anyway." was Harry's reply. "So what do I owe you?"
"Well that's one dragon hide vest made out of Swedish Short-Snout, and one personalized cloak, made out of the same material, with a protective rune, with these measurements." Marty said to Klaus handing him a slip of paper with Harry's measurements on it. The second Klaus had the slip in his hands he flipped it over and began writing on the back with a quill. He handed it to Marty, who read what was written. "16,200 Galleons. I assume that's with the tip added in?" Marty asked of Klaus who merely grunted in affirmation.
Harry pulled out his checkbook and began filling out a check for his order. Signing 'Ophiuchus Black' with a flourish of his quill, Harry ripped off the check and handed it to Marten Miggs. Taking out his trunk and setting the cloak within the first compartment, Harry made to leave, but was called back my Marty.
"Mr. Black, I'd like you to have this." Marty said pulling down the single hat that rested upon a shelf behind the front desk.
"Thank you, but I can't accept that." Harry said politely hoping not to offend.
"Don't worry about it. This hat has been sitting on that shelf for seven years now and nobody even looks twice at it. I made it after coming back from a vacation in America. The wife and I saw a muggle movie called Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I'll spare you the details and just say that I fell in love with the movie and made two hats out of dragon hide. One for myself and one to sell. I wear mine all the time to my wife's constant consternation, and I thought that this would sell like a hot cake, and people would be putting orders by the broom load. Let's just say that never happened. Now I'd like you to have it. Don't worry, your tip more than makes up for the price of this. And who knows, you may start that trend that I was trying to start."
"Umm, thanks, I guess." Harry replied politely. He then put the hat uncomfortably on his head, trying not to offend Marty. "I'll see you some other time." Harry said leaving as quickly as he could.
"It was nice meeting you Mr. Black. I'll be looking forward to your business in the future." Marty called after him.
Wow. What a weird man. Was Harry's first thoughts upon exiting the store. Followed quickly by, Shit! As he looked at his watched and noticed that he only had nine minutes left. His first thought was to pick up the package that Lucius wanted while he was still in Knockturn Alley, but immediately vetoed that idea. He had no idea how long that stop would take. If he was going to revert back to his original look; he'd rather do that in Knockturn Alley where people would less likely to call 5-O on him.
So Harry quickly went back into Diagon Alley with the intent on getting in and out of Madame Malkin's as quickly as possible. And that's just what he did. Upon walking into Madame Malkin's Harry ignored the shopkeepers question of where he got that silly hat from and told her to get his clothes rather nastily. When she returned with three bags full of clothing, instead of looking through it to make sure everything was there like Malkin suggested, Harry just opened his unshrunk his trunk, put the bags in compartment three, re-shrunk the trunk, and left the store as quickly as possible.
Harry made it back to Knockturn Alley, and his final destination, with three minutes left to spare. Harry entered the loathsome store that he had accidently stumbled upon back in his second year, Borgin and Burkes. Making sure nobody was in the shop besides the somewhat familiar face of Mr. Borgin, Harry turned back to the door and cast several locking charms on it.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Mr. Borgin asked, pulling out your wand. "I ought to curse you to hell and back, thinking you can rob my store."
"I've come to pick up a package for Lucius Malfoy." Harry said casually. At the mention of Malfoy's name, Borgin paled considerably and nearly dropped his wand.
"I know no such person. Now leave my store at once."
"Lucius said you say something like that." Harry said cooly.
"He did, did he. Well I have no idea who that is so leave this instant."
"Lucius also told me to tell you, if you didn't give him his package, he'd be sending an anonymous letter to the Ministry of Magic about '84." Any color that Mr. Borgin had retained at the mention of Lucius Malfoy fled his face.
"T-there's n-no need to d-do that. I-I'll get his p-package right away. J-just wait here. I-I'll go and g-
get it for y-you." Mr. Borgin stuttered out before rushing into the backroom.
Instead of going to the hidden room that had up until recently held all of his unscrupulous business deals, Mr. Borgin went to his fireplace. Throwing in some floo powder, Mr. Borgin stuck his head into the green flame and called out, "Auror Headquarters; Nymphadora Tonks."
Nymphadora Tonks was sitting at her desk at the Auror Headquarters bored out of her mind. She had recently been put in charge of a three person team with orders of finding and capturing Lucius Malfoy and she had exhausted all of her leads.
After the failed attempt on his life, Fudge had ordered teams to go in search of all of the escaped convicts. Teams of five or more had been put on everyone except Lucius Malfoy. Orders to be captured dead or alive had been put on everyone except Lucius Malfoy. And it really pissed her off.
The only reason she had been put in charge of a three person team, which included herself and two rookies, was because Fudge didn't think she stood a chance in hell of catching Malfoy. Despite everything that Malfoy had done, Fudge still didn't think that he was guilty of anything. Malfoy had donated way to much money to everything around the wizarding world, including Fudge's personal bank account, to be guilty of anything. That's why Fudge put together this shit team.
The first rookie, Damon Moon, was a cocky son-of-a-bitch who thought he was better than everyone else. He was constantly undermining Tonks's authority, never doing a thing she said. He was a muggle-born who had seen way too many muggle cop shows. He was always cursing first and asking questions later. He also had absolutely no subtlety when asking questions.
The other one, George Polk, was the complete opposite. How he got to be an Auror, Tonks couldn't guess. He had absolutely no confidence in his abilities, of which he had none. Tonks could never count on this guy to back her up in a fight.
Then there was Tonks herself. She was too preoccupied with finding Harry before anyone else to lead a team. Plus, she could freely admit that she wasn't a good leader. That's why she had never wanted to be one, and that's why Fudge made her one. What Fudge didn't count on, was that Tonks would have Shacklebolt and Moody in her corner, two of the greatest leaders in Auror history. Shack was taking on a double load, helping her with Malfoy and also leading the team in search of Rabastan Lestrange. Moody was taking on a quadruple threat, helping her with Malfoy, leading the team in search of Bellatrix Lestrange, helping with the team in search of Rudolphus Lestrange, and leading the Order of the Phoenix.
Shack and Moody were the two who helped her bring in her one solid lead. So far that lead was leading to nowhere and getting there fast. Tonks and her team had raided a long time 'friend' of Malfoy, Sander Borgin of Borgin and Burkes. What they found was any Auror's dream, a plethora of illegal dark materials in a hidden room under the backroom.
Tonks hauled him into Auror Headquarters and was about to give him over to the Wizengamot when Shack intervened. He had explained to Tonks the whole concept of stringing the little fish out on a hook to reel in the big fish. So instead of handing Borgin over to the Wizengamot, at which he would have gotten a maximum of 5 years in Azkaban, she made a deal with him. Borgin had conveniently told Tonks that he was holding a package for Lucius Malfoy that he would certainly be picking up in the near future.
So Tonks confiscated everything Borgin had in that hidden room and told him to firecall her the second that Lucius Malfoy entered the store. That had been nearly a week ago and Tonks had given up hope that Borgin would ever call. That's why she was slightly shocked when the amplified voice called her name.
"NYMPHADORA TONKS YOU HAVE A FIRECALL AT GRATE 5!" Thinking it was from her mother, Tonks took her sweet time walking to answer the call. She was taken completely by surprise when she saw that the head in the fire was not her mother, but Zander Borgin.
"What do you need Mr. Borgin?" Tonks asked none-to politely.
"You told me to firecall you if Lucius ever stopped to pick up that package." was Borgin's reply.
"And?"
"Well it's not Lucius, but it's someone who has been in contact with him recently. He mentioned something that only Lucius could possibly know about." Borgin said nervously.
"Stall as long as you can. We'll be there in less than five minutes."
"But..." Borgin started, but stopped because Tonks was already gone.
"MOON, POLK, TO ME RIGHT NOW!" Tonks shouted over the din of the Auror Headquarters. Polk was there seconds after she finished shouting. Moon took his sweet old time getting there. When he finally did get there, Tonks started barking off orders. "Alright listen up! Borgin just called he says someone who can lead us to Malfoy just showed up in his store asking for the package. I want you to apparate to Diagon Alley, and then walk to Borgin and Burkes. I want anti-apparition wards put up immediately. Then you will follow my lead. Don't do anything unless I do it first. Do you hear me MOON?"
"Yes, Sir." Moon said lazily.
"What did I say Moon?"
"Don't do anything unless."
"Unless what?" Tonks said getting angry at Moon's lack of respect.
"Unless you do it first."
"Alright move out!" Tonks said before apparating away, quickly followed by the two rookies.
Harry was getting extremely impatient and a little worried. Borgin had been gone for three minutes now and he could feel the charms wearing off. Pulling down his hat to cover up his scar, Harry just prayed that Borgin wasn't smart enough to recognize the change.
Finally, after Harry felt the final change, Borgin reappeared looking more than nervous and empty handed. "Where did the other guy go to?" Borgin asked confusion setting in on his face.
"I'm the same man. Now, where is the package?" Harry asked menacingly.
"B-but, the other guy was much darker. A-and he didn't have green eyes. What's going on here?"
"I was in disguise. Either hand over the package, or you'll be in pain you've never imagined before." Harry growled, pulling out his wand and pointing it between Borgin's eyes.
"I-I-I, j-just h-h-hold, w-wait just a s-second. I-I'll g-get..." In the middle of Borgin's stuttering, Harry felt something about his environment change. It felt as though everything had closed in on him just a little bit. Borgin turned to go into the backroom to get the package, but Harry knew that something was going wrong.
"Don't move! Don't even breathe! What the hell did you do?" Harry yelled at the man.
Borgin started stuttering in response, when the door to the store was suddenly blown off its hinges. "Aurors! Freeze! You're under arrest!" Shouted a male voice behind him. "Come quietly, or we'll take you by force!" The voice seemed to be moving towards the right as it spoke until it stopped on the last couple of words.
"Drop the wand and turn around slowly." a feminine voice said with an irritated tone. Harry recognized that voice. He would always know to whom that voice belonged. Nymphadora Tonks.
"Protego." Harry whispered in an inaudible voice, swishing his wand in a barely perceptible pattern. Then turning swiftly towards his right Harry whispered "Stupefy." Pointing his wand to where he thought the male voice had stopped.
As he had figured would happen, both Nymph and the male voice cast identical red curses at him. What he didn't expect was a third person to be casting a spell from his left, now his right. Luckily, his shield was strong enough to take on all three stunners, reflecting them all back at their casters. The guy who was now on Harry's right was unable to produce a shield to block his reflected stunner and fell in a heap as it hit him in the head. The voice that had originally alerted Harry to his presence was able to get a shield up to absorb his reflected curse, but was unable to block the second that Harry sent at him and fell to the floor hitting his head off a shelf to render him further unconscious. Nymph was able to absorb her reflected stunning curse with a shield and leveled her wand at Harry as he did the same to her.
"Hello, Nymph." Harry said using the nickname that he had tortured her with in the month he stayed at Grimmauld Place before his 'desertion.' "Fancy seeing you here."
"H-Harry, is that you?" she asked, her eyes brimming with tears. This was the moment she had been waiting for. She would finally get the answers to her question: 'Why?'.
"The one and only." Harry said tilting his hat up to reveal his scar. "Nice anti-apparation ward you put up. I take it was you." commented Harry after testing the strength of the ward. He wasn't the best at apparating, but most people couldn't put an anti-apparation ward up to save their life. "I suggest you step out of my way. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to."
"Why? Why'd you do it Harry?" Nymphadora pleaded.
"Why'd I do what? Why'd I join Voldemort? I thought that much would be obvious. We were losing the war, Nymph. Dumbledore had put all of his faith on the shoulders of a sixteen year-old. A sixteen year-old! Can you believe it. How on earth could a kid, someone who hadn't even graduated Hogwarts yet defeat a powerful wizard such as Voldemort. I thought about running away. Going to America or someplace far away, but then I'd just be running my entire life. Voldemort wouldn't have stopped hunting me until I was dead. Dumbledore wouldn't have stopped hunting me until Voldemort was dead. The choice I made was the only choice where I would continue to live." Harry lectured.
"That's the cowards way out and you know it!" Nymphadora screamed the tears overflowing now. Suddenly her eyes broke away from his and looked over his left shoulder. They widen suddenly before going back to normal and resting back on his. If Harry hadn't been watching so intently he would have missed it. "That's why I know you're going to lose. Cowards always lose!" Her eyes drifted over Harry's left again and Harry knew what was coming.
Diving forward and to his right, Harry twisted in mid air and fired a stunning curse at Zander Borgin who had overcome his fear of the strange man once he learned that he was the Harry Potter. Money can make people do strange things.
Borgin was knocked backwards into the backroom by the force of Harry's curse. The curse that Borgin had sent at Harry, missed by mere inches and hit Nymphadora right in the chest. Her dragon hide absorbed most of the blow, but she was left extremely light-headed and disoriented.
"Accio Wand." Harry said casually. Nymphadora tried to grab tighter on her wand, but being so disoriented she squeezed the wrong hand and her wand flew out of her hand easily. Harry deftly caught the wand, then getting to his feet went to help Nymph sit down on the ground before she fell painfully. "Sit tight." Harry said patronizingly.
Walking over to the unconscious form of Zander Borgin, Harry cast quick glances towards the other two Aurors to make sure they weren't stirring. Neither were. Getting down on his haunches, overtop of Borgin, Harry cast the 'Ennervate' spell on him. Borgin, slowly began to stir, too slowly. Harry, gripping his wand in his right hand, smacked Borgin hard across the face with his left. It worked.
"Now listen carefully and answer truthfully, your life depends on it. Where is the package for Malfoy?"
"I-I don't know. The A-Aurors, they raided my store. T-took everything. S-Said if I d-didn't cooperate, I-I'd be spending the rest of my days in A-Azkaban." Borgin managed to stutter out.
"Wrong answer." Harry said, raising his wand, causing Borgin to piss his pants.
"HARRY DON'T!" Tonks screamed from her place on the floor. "He's not worth it. Please don't lower yourself to their level!"
"Today's your lucky day, Borgin." Harry started.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Anything you ever need I'll do it! Thank you so much." Borgin groveled.
Harry having enough swung his fist into Borgin's face as hard as he could effectively knocking him unconscious. "Well, Nymph, it was nice talking to you, but I seem to have overstayed my welcome. Lucky for me your Anti-Apparation ward just wore off. See you some other time." Harry said tossing Nymphadora's wand through the air. Before it reached her, Harry disapparated out of the store.
Nymphadora grinned maliciously. Her Anti-Apparation ward had fallen, but her tracer spell was still up and running strong. Seconds after Harry disapparated an image appeared in her head. It was a park that was severely tarnished by graffiti and not a single swing remained on the swing set.
Awakening her fellow Aurors with simple 'Ennervate' spell she instructed them to report to the Headquarters and begin filling out a report. The subject, an unidentified white-male, had escaped. They followed orders swiftly enough, with just a few muttered curses from Moon about being beat by a single person. Once they were gone Nymphadora walked quickly over to Borgin and 'Obliviated' his mind of any reference to Harry Potter being in his store. She would deal with him herself.
Harry apparated into the familiar park in Little Whinging. He had been instructed by Voldemort itself that should he for any reason run into trouble of any kind, he was to apparate to five completely random places before Portkeying back to his 'Lair.' This would assure that no one could have possibly followed him. The park was the first place that popped into Harry's mind as he thought of his escape.
The sudden reappearance of Nymphadora Tonks had really thrown him off guard. He had kept his cool outwardly, but inside he was like a duck underwater fighting furiously to stay afloat. They had become really good friends during Harry's stay at Grimmauld Place. Constantly teasing and flirting with each other. It had probably been the best summer that Harry had ever had. It had really lifted his spirits, having someone to joke around with again. The war had made everyone else too serious. Even Fred and George had laid off on their jokes.
While reliving happier days, Harry had unconsciously fixed one of the swings that Dudley and his gang had broken. He even threw in an unbreakable charm on it for good measure. He only wished he could see Dudley's fat face as he tried to break this swing. It would still be held together way after the rest of the swing set had been rusted into oblivion.
Harry was about to sit down upon the swing to think things over a bit when he felt a disturbance in his surroundings. It was weird he had never felt anything like this before, and yet he almost immediately recognized it for what it was. Someone was about to apparate to his location, not two meters from where he stood.
Closing the distance between him and where the person would apparate to Harry drew his wand and pointed it at where he knew the persons head would appear. Needless to say, Nymphadora Tonks was extremely shocked to find a wand pointed between her eyes as she apparated to Harry's location.
"Drop the wand Nymph." Harry said casually to which Nymphadora complied.
"Harry I just want to talk."
"No time, gotta run." Harry said quickly, preparing to disapparate.
"Oh. No. You. Don't!" Tonks said reaching up and grabbing a hold of Harry's wrist with both hands, twisting as she did so. Stepping into Harry with her right foot, Tonks pulled Harry's arm over her right shoulder. Then with a show of strength, she flipped Harry over her shoulder and onto his back. Twisting his wrist even harder, she quickly removed his wand from his hand. Pinning his arms to his side with her legs, Tonks sat, none-to-gently on his stomach and shoving his own wand under his chin.
"Look at that, my schedule suddenly opened up." joked Harry.
"Now, we're going to talk, and you're going to tell me the truth. Why did you do it?"
"I told you already, I..."
"Don't give me that shit!" Tonks shouted, punctuated her anger by shoving Harry's wand painfully under his chin. "I know you better than that! You'd never join his side just because you thought he was going to win. If you were the type to abandon people because they were going to lose, you would have abandoned the Weasley's a long time ago!"
"What do you want me to say? I've already..."
"The truth. All I want is the truth and then I'll let you walk away." Tonks said, tears flowing by now.
"You want the truth." Harry said quietly.
"Yes, that's all I want."
Harry pondered this for a minute. Could he tell her the truth? If he did it could put her in danger and it certainly would put himself in even more danger. Didn't people always say that four could keep a secret if three were dead? Would it come to that? Sighing resignedly Harry decided to tell her the truth.
"What I'm about to tell you, stays between you and me. No one else in this entire universe can know this. So far, besides myself only two people know about this, with you it will be three and it can't go any further." Harry said.
"I won't tell a soul." Tonks promised.
"Alright. I guess that's good enough." Harry said, pausing to think about how he wanted to start. "Do you remember the reading of Sirius's Will?" At her nod of acknowledgment Harry continued. "You remember how he gave everyone a letter? In mine he basically told of how he was innocent and how much he loved my Mum and Dad and me. He also said how he knew that Voldemort wasn't dead yet, and he wanted me to promise, that if Voldemort ever came back, that I would do anything within my power to make sure he stays gone the second time. So I did. Voldemort starting writing to me this summer and visiting me in my dreams. He taught me to become an Occlumens master in one night. So I thought to myself, who better to teach me how to kill Voldemort than Voldemort himself? So together with Dumbledore, I came up with a plan to join Voldemort's ranks, learn all I could from him, then kill him." Harry explained.
"B-but, you killed Dumbledore!"
"Did I? Did you look closely at his body? Yes, his body was dead, but he wasn't. Several hours after I 'killed' Dumbledore, the other person who knows about me stole his body and replaced it with a transfigured stick. Dumbledore is a true master at transfiguration you know."
"Then where's Dumbledore. We need a leader now! He can..." Tonks exclaimed.
"To keep up the charade, Dumbledore needs to stay dead. If he came back to the living, Voldemort would know that I lied to him, and that would be bad."
"So all the things that everyone is saying about you—none of its true—you're still..."
"I'm still me, just in a different location and hiding within a shell." explained Harry.
Tonks, her elation emanating from her face smother Harry's mouth with hers. It was Harry's second kiss and again it was really wet. Why do girls always kiss me after they cry? was all Harry could think before he was lost in the sensation. This was definitely different from his kiss with Cho.
When Tonks finally broke the kiss, it took Harry a minute before he got his senses back. "Umm, Nymph, not that I mind you sitting on me, but there's a rock digging into my back." Tonks, blushing furiously at her forwardness, extricated herself from Harry before helping him to his feet.
Now was the time for the moment of awkwardness that happens after every first kiss. Harry trying desperately to figure someway to break the silence blurted the first thing that came to his mind. "Remember, you can't tell..."
"Anyone. I know, I'm not twelve Harry, I know how to keep my mouth shut. So if Dumbledore isn't dead, where is he?" asked Tonks.
"You know the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher at Hogwarts?"
"Adwiraloth Deriwyn?" Tonks asked confused. "Yeah, my little cousin says he's—Oh my! That's Dumbledore?"
"Right in one. Who better to teach kids how to defend himself than Dumbledore?"
There was another silence before Tonks asked another question. "Who else knows?"
"Snape. He's my contact with Dumbledore."
"Oh. Harry. You haven't–haven't, killed anyone yet? Have you?" Tonks asked tentatively. At Harry's crestfallen face, she got her answer. "Who?"
"Rudolphus Lestrange. He was part of my initiation. He failed in his attempt to kill Fudge, so I had to punish him. I got carried away with the Cruciatus and fried his brain. Just like he did to the Longbottoms. Voldemort made me finish him off then, so I did." Harry said simply.
Tonks was shocked to say the least at how easily Harry was taking this. "Harry, I know he was the scum of the earth, but he was still a human being. You shouldn't..."
"I know. But, what you have to realize, there's going to be a lot more death before this is over. If I let every single one eat away at me, I'll go insane. I have to learn to take everything in stride. These people are animals. If you show any sign of weakness they pounce on it." Harry said, staring intently at his shoes.
Tonks put her hand under his chin and raised his eyes to hers. Before she could say something, Harry interrupted. "Listen, I've got to get going. I was expected back about an hour ago. Find out when the next Hogsmeade weekend is at Hogwarts and then go and talk to Dumbledore. You should be able to get him alone then. He'll know what to do about this." And without her realizing it, Harry took back his wand and disapparated, following the original plan should he run into trouble.
Tonks lingered for a couple of minutes before disapparating herself. Unbeknownst to both of them a white rat with a silver paw crawled out from under the bushes with a satisfied look on its face. Wormtail would portkey directly to Voldemort's Lair and tell his master all that he had learned. Harry Potter would be in for quite a surprise when he arrived back. The rat was about to disapparate, something that only he had learned to do while still in animal form, when fate intervened in the form of Dudley Dursley.
Dudley had been walking around with his gang terrorizing all of those smaller than he was, which included just about everyone in the world, when he heard several loud cracks. Turning into the park to investigate, Dudley accidently trod upon the head of a little white rat with a silver paw, killing it instantly.
A/N: Well what do you think? Was it as corny as I thought it was? I've decided that if there is going to be a relationship in the story it will be Harry/Tonks. Now we have to see if Tonks is going to live or not. Thanks for all the helpful reviews that everyone has given me, keep them coming.
Just about everyone that writes fanfiction uses Harry going to get Dragon hide armor and everything so I can't give a single author credit about. But if you think you were the first, go ahead and take credit. There is some other stuff I wanted to put in here but I can't remember. I should be writing my Philosophy papers, one on Aristotle and one on St. Augustine, both due Friday, but instead I finished this. You should feel privileged, my GPA is at stake here.