The Potter Factor
By: Amora
Place typical disclaimer here. No royalty theft intended.
-Dedicated to everyone who took time to review and leave feedback. Thank you-
Chapter 6: The Unbreakable
I would have to admit later that this was the best night's sleep I ever had. It was well past ten when the first rays of the sun broke through the shades, and I slowly opened my eyes. But something was missing. Of course! Bella wasn't here. Damnit, this bed really felt empty now that I'm in it by myself. I chuckled mirthlessly at the thought. Now that I knew what it was like, a good night's sleep would never be the same again.
I slowly hobbled out of bed and put on some clothes that were strewn around the room. I was a little bit tried, but after a performance like last night, I wasn't surprised in the least. I had released all my pent up frustration and hormones since that first day at number 4. And I enjoyed every second of it.
Smirking at my newfound experience, I walked into the kitchen, but that too was empty. Where was Bella? Not that I was worried or anything, as she could take care of herself, but I was a bit confused at the sudden disappearance. Maybe she was summoned again. Damnit, I really need to find a way to get rid of that damn mark. Only problem was that I really couldn't show my face near any magical community lest I get thrown in Azkaban.
The situation really didn't get any better over the last few days. I knew that the run-in with those idiot robbers only drew attention to this area of London I'm hiding in. They would probably increase security, which was not a good thing for me. If I were recognized, I'd have a lot more trouble blending in with the muggles.
While thinking of an emergency exit strategy, I decided to cook myself something to eat. To my dismay, I forgot to stock any type of groceries in the fridge. Idiot! I chided myself before grabbing my usual necessities and walking to the nearest supermarket. It was a rainy day outside, and I didn't stand out at all in my leather trench coat and combat boots. The three kilometer hike passed quickly and I wasn't too soaked before I arrived at my destination.
Doing a preliminary scan of the place, I quickly decided on what I should buy. Every guy should have at least bread, sliced ham, cereal, and milk. I guess I should start with that before getting anything out of the ordinary. As I walked down the aisles, a sudden sensation of me being followed hit me full force. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled and I turned quickly to see if anyone followed me in.
I swore I saw a black robe duck behind an end cap. Shit! This couldn't be good. There was no way my instincts would go off like this unless someone was really here. I gripped my wand tighter and checked to make sure my HK was loaded before proceeding to the bakery section of the store. I pretended to be interested in the cake displayed in the window case and tried to make out any reflections off the glass. Sure enough, an obscure image made its way over to me. I tensed and prepared for a confrontation. When a hand reached for me, I grabbed the nearest thing I saw, a French baguette, the kind that is rock hard after sitting for an hour, and smashed it into the assailant's head without hesitation.
To my horror, it was an employee of the store. The stunned man on the floor wore an apron and name tag that read "Eddie". Holy shit! I just fucked up big time.
"I'm so sorry!" I apologized profusely to the prone figure on the floor. "I don't know what came over me! I was just thinking and-" I was cut off from my apology as in a stroke of luck, I got a glimpse of his left wrist. The hideous dark mark was peeking through the watch on his arm. What the hell was this? A Death Eater in muggle clothing? They were getting smarter every day!
Acting as I was bending over to lend a hand, I grabbed the front of "Eddie's" uniform and threw him head first into the glass panels of the cake display. The glass shattered as he flew through it, and he didn't move after coming to a stop. If he wasn't dead now, he would be blind when he regained consciousness. I didn't stop and admire my throw as I knew what was coming. Sure enough the Christmas colored green and red light display started and I ducked behind the nearest bagel rack.
"Give up Potter! We might let you live!" I scoffed at the challenge. Does anyone really think I would give up without a fight? Well maybe last year I would. I would have probably gone crying to that fucker Dumbledore about how the Death Eaters and Voldie weren't playing nice and being mean to me. Ha! Besides, he said "Maybe". Which meant that they would kill me on sight anyway.
I rolled to one side as the bagel cart was effectively blown in half and ended up in the canned soup aisle. A hooded figure was to my right and I picked up a can and chucked it at the Death Eater. Of course the can was blown to pieces in midair, but that was just what I was hoping for. The contents of the can splattered all over the shiny black robes the figured adorned. The screams and curses that followed made me chuckle.
"Potter! You little bastard! Come out here and fight like a man!" The figure yelled in my direction. From its voice, it was probably Avery. Oh well. I complied and did a one hand cartwheel out of my hiding spot and quickly fired two shots. Avery ducked and looked bewildered before realizing what I had done.
"Ha! You're pathetic Potter! Your muggle toys can't hurt me!" He sneered and stood back up. He had no idea that I had missed on purpose, as before he even got to his feet, a huge black sphere landed on his head and shattered. It was one of those muggle security cameras they hide so it had to have weighed a ton. Avery crumpled to the ground motionless. I didn't know if he was dead or not, but I didn't have time to check as another blast of green light whirled by eerily close to my head. 3 more Death Eaters were advancing up the dairy aisle and cutting off my escape. Damnit!
"Serpensortia!" I yelled pulling out my wand. A black Tiger Snake appeared and inclined its head towards me. Perfect! I instinctively switched to snake tongue and asked the snake to go devour those tasty morsels that were coming closer. The snake seemed delighted at the suggestion and slithered away unnoticed.
How could I distract them so they wouldn't notice the huge serpent coming their way? An idea popped in my head and I almost laughed thinking about it. The milk storage wasn't permanently attached to the wall, and I could almost see them getting hit with falling milk jugs.
"Accio milk fridge!" I yelled and slowly but surely, the storage started to tip over. One by one, the individual jugs started falling out and pelted the three Death Eaters in the head. There were screams of pain and obscenities as I laughed long and hard to myself at the image.
"Wait till I get my hands on you Potter!" "You little brat! I'll tear you to pieces" "Ahh! Potter you are dead!" Yeah yeah. Empty threats never hurt anyone. Especially me. It wasn't until one of them shrieked before the real fun began. I knew that my snake had just bit one of them, and the victim would die in minutes.
It took every ounce of self control for me to not fall over and laugh at the sight of Death Eaters running and screaming like nine year olds at the sight of the Tiger Snake. Really, all those serpent symbols and snake emblems, I would have thought that they had more courage than that.
In their haste to run away from the deadly serpent, the two remaining Death Eaters ran directly into my line of sight. Ha! They were getting careless. I quickly stunned one of them before the other quickly ducked behind another aisle. Well, now things are getting interesting. I was now the hunter and the Death Eater was the prey.
I sneaked underneath a soft drink dispenser and crawled towards where I could see the figure crouched and looking frantically around. I knew I could have stunned him there, but I wanted to have some fun. No use wasting a perfectly good opportunity like this.
I rose from my prone position and grabbed a huge watermelon from a nearby shelf and stalked silently towards the figure.
"Well, well...what do we have here?" I said smirking. The Death Eater whirled around frantically and was about to curse me, but I was faster. I smashed the melon on his head and it the shattered melon rendered the poor sap unconscious. Admiring my handiwork, I grabbed the all the discarded wands the Death Eaters had and snapped them all. Well, that was fun! It was time to leave before the police arrived and started questioning. The muggles who cleared out as soon as the skirmish started stared in shock and dismay at the ruined half of the supermarket. Oh well, at least none of them died.
I was on my way out the front door when a raspy voice I hadn't heard in a while stopped me. I knew that voice. It was the thing that I wanted to gut with a butcher knife and dismantle piece by piece.
"Well Potter, I see once again that you have eluded death." I whirled around to see Tom and gasped. It wasn't his ugly snake face that surprised me. What I saw literally made me see red. He was holding a beaten and bruised Bella and a wand to her neck. "Now that I have your attention, we have some things to discuss."
I was beyond pissed, but the self preservation part of me took over and I tried to negotiate with Tom. Seeing that I couldn't do anything rash without endangering the nearly unconscious Bella, I had to rely on words over any of my weapons.
"What the fuck do you want, you filthy half-blood?" I snarled. I knew I hit a nerve when Tom's face contorted in rage and his grip on Bella tightened. Shit! Hopefully I didn't go too far.
"Watch what you say Potter! I am Lord Voldemort!" he bellowed. "Now back to business. It has come to my attention that you have corrupted one of my most loyal servants, and I am here to remedy that. Isn't that right my dear?" Bella whimpered and I clenched my fists tightly to prevent myself from attacking.
"Now that we have that straightened out, what can we do?" Tom continued as if pondering something. "You've been a thorn in my side for too long Potter. What can I do that would make you suffer?"
I didn't even get a chance to ask what he meant before he pointed his wand towards Bella and yelled the single phrase that changed my life fifteen years ago.
"Avada-"
"NO!" I screamed knowing it was too late. I pulled out my HK and pulled the trigger, but without some sort of divine intervention, the bullet wouldn't make it there before the curse was cast.
"-Kedavra!" It seemed that three things happened at once. I pulled the trigger and the bullet sped towards Tom while he uttered the last phrase of the Killing Curse. The green light exploded out of the end of the wand. As this was happening, a black shadow leapt at Tom and firmly embedded itself in his leg. The result was him firing the curse, but the green light missed its target by a mere micrometer, and Tom screeching in pain as my bullet pierced his shoulder. All this happened in a span of a millisecond and I had no idea that Tom had missed.
"You bastard!! DIE!" I screamed with rage and emptied the entire clip into him. Even though deep in my mind I knew that Tom couldn't be killed by ordinary means, I didn't care. I proceeded to spray him with lead and when the clip was empty, I ran forward and drop kicked him back into a lettuce pile. Tom's agonizing screams could be heard from within the pile of produce, but I didn't care. Only Bella was on my mind as I ran to her fallen form and prepared for the worst. God, if Bella was dead, I'd take the nearest cleaver and butcher Tom into so many tiny pieces that even Hell wouldn't recognize who they were burning.
"Bella..." I nearly sobbed gathering her in my arms. "Talk to me! Please..." To my absolute amazement, she responded weakly, but I could hear it clearly.
"H-Harry..." she gasped. She tried to get up but collapsed almost immediately. In a silent thank you to any deity that could have been watching, I picked her up and cradled her safely against me. Voldemort's enraged screams could be heard in the background and I quickly hightailed it out of the battle zone. There was no way I was sticking around with both magical and muggle police on their way and one Dark Lord blasting his way out of lettuce.
As I made my way back to my apartment, I couldn't help but think of what kind of torture Bella had been through. There was no way in hell that I would let Voldemort get his scaly hands on her again. Somehow, I had to break the bond of the dark mark. But how? Maybe the brilliant scholars at Beauxbatons could help.
The rain pelted me in the face as I made my decision. There was no way that I could possibly live here anymore. It was time to say goodbye to a country I had called home for the past sixteen years.
A/N: Hope you liked that chapter. This story is progressing along nicely in my opinion, but please review and tell me what you think. Thanks and stay tuned for the next chapter soon.