The Potter Factor
by Amora
All standard disclaimers apply. Copyright infringement not intended.
-Dedicated to those who reviewed or gave feedback. Thank you.-
Chapter 4: A Two Front War
"Good afternoon Mr. Riddle." I returned the landlady's greeting halfheartedly as I passed by the front lobby of my temporary apartment. That's what I was going by these days. Trent J. Riddle. Not very inventive, but I doubt that anyone from the magical police would think to look for me under Tom's name. The apartment I rented wasn't very spacious, but I could only do so much with my stolen drug money. Sooner or later, I would have to find a way to permanently finance my life.
Upon entering my room, I was overwhelmed by the smell of pine cleaners. I had spent the previous day cleaning, but I forgot to let it vent. Stupid me. With nothing better to do, I clicked on the TV to see if I was still wanted. Sure enough, I was making headlines in the six o'clock news. I laughed along as they continued to describe me as a dangerous and wanted fugitive that was armed and dangerous. Apparently I was wanted for kidnapping, child endangerment, assault on several police officers, attempted murder, and slander of a public official. What the hell? Child endangerment? I was the one being endangered here! Fucking hypocrites!
Oh well. BBC really sucks at reporting anyway. With nothing better to do, I guess I should go get some food. Probably good old fish and chips. Yep nothing better than that for clogging up the arteries. On my way out, I grabbed my wand, gun, and jacket before proceeding to the nearest restaurant.
As I walked down the street, I tried to formulate a plan of action for the next few months. It was mid August and there was no way in hell I would be going back to Hogwarts. Maybe Beauxbatons? French girls were really cute. And that was out of Fudge's jurisdiction. Perfect! But I'd definitely need a plan to get there. I continued to ponder the idea through lunch, and the more I thought of it, the better it seemed to work for me.
Lunchtime was completely uneventful until the food actually arrived. I happened to glance at the door while sipping my drink and nearly spit it back out. Sauntering in the restaurant was none other than Bella. I could see the eyes of the other male patrons immediately go to her, but I wasn't worried about that at the moment. She looked around and spotted me before giving me one of her knee weakening grins. God did she have any idea what she was doing to the male population of this establishment? I guess not.
The fact that Bella was wearing a simple outfit and causing this level of commotion speaks volumes for her natural beauty. She turned heads with a pair of muggle cutoff jean shorts and a "Quit Staring" t-shirt that was tied leaving her gorgeous midriff showing. Hell, she was beautiful in anything. Even Death Eater robes! The last thought snapped me out of my staring and I automatically looked towards her inner wrist. She was wearing armband that was covering the dark mark. For some reason, this pissed me off more than anything else imaginable. Bella, the human version of Aphrodite, perfection and flawless beauty, was tainted by that damn mark. I had half a mind to take a butcher knife and gut Tom the next time I see him.
I was pulled out of my morbid thoughts as Bella sat down in front of me. Noticing the death glares I was getting from half the customers, I pointedly ignored them and focused my attention on the dazzling beauty across from me.
"Why am I not surprised to see you here?" I asked before I could once again turn into a human goldfish staring into her eyes. As I looked into those beautiful cerulean gems, I was surprised to see no malice or deception. Instead, there was humor, amusement, life, and dare I say lust? What the hell? Is this the same Bellatrix Lestrange I dueled in the Department of Mysteries? I guess being away from "work" causes a whole new person to shine through. Am I that different outside of school too? With no prophesies and Dumbledores to fuck with me, I was nowhere near as uptight or bitchy as I was in fifth year.
"I do believe you are catching on, Harry." Bella says bringing my mind to the present. I raise my eyebrows and wait for her explanation, but none comes. "So what are your plans now Harry? You've become quite the spectacle in the Ministry. You are their number one most wanted fugitive. Of course they don't know about the Dark Lord being alive." My eyebrows rose even more until they were up to my hairline. Was she really expecting me to spill all my plans to her? I may be an idiot hormone ridden teenager, but I wasn't that stupid. Bella must have read my look for she smiled wider and leaned closer to me.
"We're really on the same side you know. The Ministry hates us both. We are both misunderstood and persecuted for what we think is right. You for your reformist ideology and ours for our beliefs that the sacred honor among wizards is just that. Sacred." She saw my confusion and continued. "I'm not asking you to make up your mind right now, but just think about it. We're not as bad as we are perceived to be."
What the hell? Was this an open invitation to join the Death Eaters? I looked into Bella's hopeful eyes and something inside snapped. If it was just Bella asking, I would have honestly gone over. But unfortunately along with Bella comes the caveat. One Lord Voldemort. Pure rage coursed through my veins when I thought about that fucker. I would never join him. One for what he did to me during my almost tryst in the park earlier in the week. And two...
I broke my gaze with Bella's enchanting eyes and looked at the arm band she wore. The one that was covering the dark mark. Calling upon my Gryffindor courage, I slowly reached for Bella's hand and removed the band only to be staring at the repulsive brand on her forearm. Pushing down the anger I felt, I slowly traced a finger across the mark itself. It tingled with dark magic and I felt Bella shiver. Slowly, I lifted her hand to my lips and lightly kissed the serpent figure tattooed on her arm. I looked up and saw Bella staring at me with a look I've never seen before.
"Harry, I-"
"I'll never forgive him." I whispered quietly. Bella obviously wasn't expecting that.
"I- I don't think he realizes what the costs of the perfect world ar-" She tried to explain but I cut her off.
"No. I don't give a shit about that. I won't forgive him for what he did to you." I said looking her directly in the eyes. Bella seemed to be at a loss of words and I've never seen her so confused and vulnerable before. I reached over and softly traced my fingers along her cheek. She responded by leaning into my touch, and at that point, the restaurant and rest of the world seemed to fade away. I closed the gap between us. As I leaned closer and closer towards Bella, she closed her eyes and waited for our mutually anticipated kiss. I could feel her breath tickling me and that was my last thought before capturing her lips with mine.
God, she tasted so good. Like summertime strawberries. Unfortunately, before I had the chance to enjoy heaven at its best, screaming broke us apart and we gasped for breath. Looking around at the perpetrators, I noticed that while we were in our little world, three armed gunman in ski masks were currently taking control of the entire restaurant. One was keeping lookout, and the other two were currently robbing the rich women in the establishment while their husbands and boyfriends looked like they were about to piss in their pants at the uzis and semi-autos the robbers were armed with. If I wasn't so angry at being interrupted, I would have laughed at how ridiculous the scene looked.
"Shut the fuck up bitch!" One of the three yelled at a screaming lady before backhanding her. Her boyfriend attempted to come to her aid, but was knocked unconscious by the robber behind him.
"The next one to scream like that dies! So everyone shut the fuck up!"
Closer and closer, one of them approached our table. He looked at Bella, to me, and back to Bella.
"Well, what do we have here? You have good tastes boy!" He sneered before making a fatal mistake. The unfortunate robber tried to grope Bella, but before he could even get close, Bella twisted his arm and cracked it in three different spots before kneeing him as hard as she could in the groin. He crumpled to the ground, and before he could even scream in pain, Bella effortlessly snapped his neck like a twig, rendering him lifeless.
I stared at Bella in wonder as she wore a smirk of grim satisfaction. Now THIS was the Bella I was used to. It seems that she only comes out in dire situations.
"You stupid bitch! You killed Mark!" The one from the door screamed. He aimed his gun at Bella and prepared to fire. I knew that Bella would never be able to get out of the way in time, and I only had one chance to deal with him. I took it. I grabbed the steak knife from the table and hurled it across the room. The flying blade pierced the robber's skull right between the eyes and he dropped down dead.
As I admired my accuracy, I completely forgot about the third gunman. It seemed like a theme lately. To forget about the third in a trio. Bella didn't however, and proceeded to save my life once again.
"Watch out Harry!" She screamed and pushed me out of the way. As I fell, I heard a single shot, and felt the bullet pass right by my ear...and right into the path Bella took. The next few minutes were forever engraved into my memory as I saw Bella fall. My beautiful Bella. Shot while saving my miserable life.
"NO! Bella!" In a fit of rage, I turned towards the lone gunman. Without hesitation, I pulled out my HK and pulled the trigger again and again until the entire clip was empty. Bullet after bullet pierced the masked man, and as the last one enlodged into his neck, he stopped doing the dance of lead and fell over in a pile of blood.
There was absolute silence in the restaurant, but I didn't care. I ran over to Bella, and to my great relief, she was alive and apparently not seriously wounded. If you didn't count a bullet through the left arm serious. She looked up at me through her long lashes and I felt guilty as hell. She had gotten shot because of me. Damnit I hate blaming myself, but in this case, I couldn't help it. Now, the least I could do was help patch her up and help her while she recovered.
"Come on. I'll take you back to my apartment and get that wound cleaned up." I offered. I didn't wait for her to refute and honestly I wouldn't have cared. I placed my arm under her knee and cradled her to me. Bella was surprisingly light in my arms. Wordlessly, I carried her away from the stunned spectators and police that I knew would come.
------------------------
A/N: I'm having a hard time placing this story in either Humor or Drama. It seems to switch fairly often between the two. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, thank you for reading my story.
by Amora
All standard disclaimers apply. Copyright infringement not intended.
-Dedicated to those who reviewed or gave feedback. Thank you.-
Chapter 4: A Two Front War
"Good afternoon Mr. Riddle." I returned the landlady's greeting halfheartedly as I passed by the front lobby of my temporary apartment. That's what I was going by these days. Trent J. Riddle. Not very inventive, but I doubt that anyone from the magical police would think to look for me under Tom's name. The apartment I rented wasn't very spacious, but I could only do so much with my stolen drug money. Sooner or later, I would have to find a way to permanently finance my life.
Upon entering my room, I was overwhelmed by the smell of pine cleaners. I had spent the previous day cleaning, but I forgot to let it vent. Stupid me. With nothing better to do, I clicked on the TV to see if I was still wanted. Sure enough, I was making headlines in the six o'clock news. I laughed along as they continued to describe me as a dangerous and wanted fugitive that was armed and dangerous. Apparently I was wanted for kidnapping, child endangerment, assault on several police officers, attempted murder, and slander of a public official. What the hell? Child endangerment? I was the one being endangered here! Fucking hypocrites!
Oh well. BBC really sucks at reporting anyway. With nothing better to do, I guess I should go get some food. Probably good old fish and chips. Yep nothing better than that for clogging up the arteries. On my way out, I grabbed my wand, gun, and jacket before proceeding to the nearest restaurant.
As I walked down the street, I tried to formulate a plan of action for the next few months. It was mid August and there was no way in hell I would be going back to Hogwarts. Maybe Beauxbatons? French girls were really cute. And that was out of Fudge's jurisdiction. Perfect! But I'd definitely need a plan to get there. I continued to ponder the idea through lunch, and the more I thought of it, the better it seemed to work for me.
Lunchtime was completely uneventful until the food actually arrived. I happened to glance at the door while sipping my drink and nearly spit it back out. Sauntering in the restaurant was none other than Bella. I could see the eyes of the other male patrons immediately go to her, but I wasn't worried about that at the moment. She looked around and spotted me before giving me one of her knee weakening grins. God did she have any idea what she was doing to the male population of this establishment? I guess not.
The fact that Bella was wearing a simple outfit and causing this level of commotion speaks volumes for her natural beauty. She turned heads with a pair of muggle cutoff jean shorts and a "Quit Staring" t-shirt that was tied leaving her gorgeous midriff showing. Hell, she was beautiful in anything. Even Death Eater robes! The last thought snapped me out of my staring and I automatically looked towards her inner wrist. She was wearing armband that was covering the dark mark. For some reason, this pissed me off more than anything else imaginable. Bella, the human version of Aphrodite, perfection and flawless beauty, was tainted by that damn mark. I had half a mind to take a butcher knife and gut Tom the next time I see him.
I was pulled out of my morbid thoughts as Bella sat down in front of me. Noticing the death glares I was getting from half the customers, I pointedly ignored them and focused my attention on the dazzling beauty across from me.
"Why am I not surprised to see you here?" I asked before I could once again turn into a human goldfish staring into her eyes. As I looked into those beautiful cerulean gems, I was surprised to see no malice or deception. Instead, there was humor, amusement, life, and dare I say lust? What the hell? Is this the same Bellatrix Lestrange I dueled in the Department of Mysteries? I guess being away from "work" causes a whole new person to shine through. Am I that different outside of school too? With no prophesies and Dumbledores to fuck with me, I was nowhere near as uptight or bitchy as I was in fifth year.
"I do believe you are catching on, Harry." Bella says bringing my mind to the present. I raise my eyebrows and wait for her explanation, but none comes. "So what are your plans now Harry? You've become quite the spectacle in the Ministry. You are their number one most wanted fugitive. Of course they don't know about the Dark Lord being alive." My eyebrows rose even more until they were up to my hairline. Was she really expecting me to spill all my plans to her? I may be an idiot hormone ridden teenager, but I wasn't that stupid. Bella must have read my look for she smiled wider and leaned closer to me.
"We're really on the same side you know. The Ministry hates us both. We are both misunderstood and persecuted for what we think is right. You for your reformist ideology and ours for our beliefs that the sacred honor among wizards is just that. Sacred." She saw my confusion and continued. "I'm not asking you to make up your mind right now, but just think about it. We're not as bad as we are perceived to be."
What the hell? Was this an open invitation to join the Death Eaters? I looked into Bella's hopeful eyes and something inside snapped. If it was just Bella asking, I would have honestly gone over. But unfortunately along with Bella comes the caveat. One Lord Voldemort. Pure rage coursed through my veins when I thought about that fucker. I would never join him. One for what he did to me during my almost tryst in the park earlier in the week. And two...
I broke my gaze with Bella's enchanting eyes and looked at the arm band she wore. The one that was covering the dark mark. Calling upon my Gryffindor courage, I slowly reached for Bella's hand and removed the band only to be staring at the repulsive brand on her forearm. Pushing down the anger I felt, I slowly traced a finger across the mark itself. It tingled with dark magic and I felt Bella shiver. Slowly, I lifted her hand to my lips and lightly kissed the serpent figure tattooed on her arm. I looked up and saw Bella staring at me with a look I've never seen before.
"Harry, I-"
"I'll never forgive him." I whispered quietly. Bella obviously wasn't expecting that.
"I- I don't think he realizes what the costs of the perfect world ar-" She tried to explain but I cut her off.
"No. I don't give a shit about that. I won't forgive him for what he did to you." I said looking her directly in the eyes. Bella seemed to be at a loss of words and I've never seen her so confused and vulnerable before. I reached over and softly traced my fingers along her cheek. She responded by leaning into my touch, and at that point, the restaurant and rest of the world seemed to fade away. I closed the gap between us. As I leaned closer and closer towards Bella, she closed her eyes and waited for our mutually anticipated kiss. I could feel her breath tickling me and that was my last thought before capturing her lips with mine.
God, she tasted so good. Like summertime strawberries. Unfortunately, before I had the chance to enjoy heaven at its best, screaming broke us apart and we gasped for breath. Looking around at the perpetrators, I noticed that while we were in our little world, three armed gunman in ski masks were currently taking control of the entire restaurant. One was keeping lookout, and the other two were currently robbing the rich women in the establishment while their husbands and boyfriends looked like they were about to piss in their pants at the uzis and semi-autos the robbers were armed with. If I wasn't so angry at being interrupted, I would have laughed at how ridiculous the scene looked.
"Shut the fuck up bitch!" One of the three yelled at a screaming lady before backhanding her. Her boyfriend attempted to come to her aid, but was knocked unconscious by the robber behind him.
"The next one to scream like that dies! So everyone shut the fuck up!"
Closer and closer, one of them approached our table. He looked at Bella, to me, and back to Bella.
"Well, what do we have here? You have good tastes boy!" He sneered before making a fatal mistake. The unfortunate robber tried to grope Bella, but before he could even get close, Bella twisted his arm and cracked it in three different spots before kneeing him as hard as she could in the groin. He crumpled to the ground, and before he could even scream in pain, Bella effortlessly snapped his neck like a twig, rendering him lifeless.
I stared at Bella in wonder as she wore a smirk of grim satisfaction. Now THIS was the Bella I was used to. It seems that she only comes out in dire situations.
"You stupid bitch! You killed Mark!" The one from the door screamed. He aimed his gun at Bella and prepared to fire. I knew that Bella would never be able to get out of the way in time, and I only had one chance to deal with him. I took it. I grabbed the steak knife from the table and hurled it across the room. The flying blade pierced the robber's skull right between the eyes and he dropped down dead.
As I admired my accuracy, I completely forgot about the third gunman. It seemed like a theme lately. To forget about the third in a trio. Bella didn't however, and proceeded to save my life once again.
"Watch out Harry!" She screamed and pushed me out of the way. As I fell, I heard a single shot, and felt the bullet pass right by my ear...and right into the path Bella took. The next few minutes were forever engraved into my memory as I saw Bella fall. My beautiful Bella. Shot while saving my miserable life.
"NO! Bella!" In a fit of rage, I turned towards the lone gunman. Without hesitation, I pulled out my HK and pulled the trigger again and again until the entire clip was empty. Bullet after bullet pierced the masked man, and as the last one enlodged into his neck, he stopped doing the dance of lead and fell over in a pile of blood.
There was absolute silence in the restaurant, but I didn't care. I ran over to Bella, and to my great relief, she was alive and apparently not seriously wounded. If you didn't count a bullet through the left arm serious. She looked up at me through her long lashes and I felt guilty as hell. She had gotten shot because of me. Damnit I hate blaming myself, but in this case, I couldn't help it. Now, the least I could do was help patch her up and help her while she recovered.
"Come on. I'll take you back to my apartment and get that wound cleaned up." I offered. I didn't wait for her to refute and honestly I wouldn't have cared. I placed my arm under her knee and cradled her to me. Bella was surprisingly light in my arms. Wordlessly, I carried her away from the stunned spectators and police that I knew would come.
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A/N: I'm having a hard time placing this story in either Humor or Drama. It seems to switch fairly often between the two. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, thank you for reading my story.