A/N: Here we go again! Another chapter into the Fourth Power, and we're nearing the time when Voldemort meets his end!!!!
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Chapter 20: Harry's Surprise
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Halloween morning dawned at Hogwarts, and Harry met Hermione in the Great Hall for breakfast. Once again, they were both decked out in their shadow cloaks for reasons they didn't know.
They finished eating as the rest of the school began to meander into the Hall. Harry and Hermione, being demons, didn't sleep very much. Their bodies rested at an accelerated rate, so three or four hours a night were all they could manage. They simply sat back, and relaxed a while before classes.
Their relaxation time was cut into sharply by the pair of Ministry officials who walked briskly into the Great Hall. They were dressed in black robes, with gold trim, and a golden badge attached securely to the front. Harry and Hermione shared a look. These two were the best the Ministry had. They stood out among Aurors and any other Law Enforcers. They were the elite of the elite. They were Hit Wizards. However, it wasn't this fact that made Harry and Hermione share the look. It was the evil-looking crimson glow surrounding their left forearms. Not just Hit Wizards, but Death-Eating Hit Wizards.
The pair of Hit Wizard strode purposefully through the Hall, and stopped in front of the Headmaster. Once there, they shared a whispered conversation with the Headmaster, who nodded finally, and rose from his seat. He looked over at Harry, and Harry got the inkling of the plan.
"Hermione, this is the day we've been waiting for." Harry said with a small smile. "I think I've got the plan figured out, and it seems to be almost flawless. Too flawless, in fact, for the Dark Lord to pass up on."
"Oh?" Hermione responded, obviously intrigued. "Is it what I'm thinking too? Enlighten me a little, would you?"
"Sure. These two Hit Wizards came here this morning to tell Albus the news that Privet Drive has been destroyed. They'll also tell him that I need to come to the Ministry and identify the bodies. At some point, they'll require me to hand them my wand. Then they'll march me out past the apparition wards, and take me to their master. A nice big surprise, huh?" Harry explained.
"I thought as much." Hermione said. "Harry, this messes with our plan, though. We never even imagined that this scenario would occur during school hours. The teachers will miss me if I don't show up for classes."
"Improvise, Hermione." At Hermione's blank look, Harry elaborated. "Look, I know that you're not exactly human, but nobody else knows that. Remember your first year, when Ron called you a nightmare?" Hermione nodded, but stayed quiet. "If you were to get upset, and just happen to run straight to your room, do you think anyone would go after you?"
"I get it." Hermione said. "If I become distraught here at breakfast, then all the teachers will see it happen, and I should have solitude to do what needs to be done."
By the time Harry and Hermione had finished their whispered conversation, the two Hit Wizards had made their way over to Harry's place at the Gryffindor table, with the Headmaster following closely. "Mr. Potter?" One of the two began. Harry shifted his attention to him, and watched him expectantly. "I'm afraid we have some bad news for you." Harry did his best to change his facial expression to one of concern. "The Dark Lord attacked your home at Privet Drive last night." Harry pushed his features into shock and sadness, and watched the satisfaction flutter quickly across the Death Eater's face before he was able to push it down. "Both your Aunt and Uncle were killed in the attack, and the house was completely leveled."
It was at this point when Hermione began her act. She got a completely hysterical look on her face, and grabbed Harry in a hug. "Oh Harry!" She cried, squeezing him hard enough with her demon-enhanced physique that if he hadn't shared the enhancement he would have been nothing more than a mass of broken ribs. She released him, and bolted for the door, sobbing all the way. No one made any move to follow her. Step one accomplished.
Harry arranged his face so he looked rather shell–shocked, and began to walk away from the table. Now was the most critical part of the deception. If he expected anything, or even looked like he suspected anything the Hit Wizards would likely cut their charade short. That would be most disappointing.
Harry was not to be disappointed. "Mr. Potter," the other Hit Wizard started, "your relatives are muggles, and we don't have any way of verifying their identities. We'd like you to come down to the Ministry with us, and identify them." The Hit wizard tried to smile reassuringly, but the eagerness in his eyes was apparent. Harry knew that they wanted him outside the apparition field as soon as possible.
Harry, careful to keep the bewildered, in shock look on his face, nodded once and drew his wand from his pocket. The two Hit Wizards, flinched slightly, but mastered themselves quickly. Harry raised his wand, and said very clearly, "Accio Traveling Cloak." A few more moments, and the heavy cloak flew through on of the windows, and into Harry's hand. "Alright then," he said, his voice perfectly controlled to sound dead, "lead the way." Then, he turned away and directed his feet towards the door. Now, he just had to wait for the next step.
"Mr. Potter," The Hit Wizard said, "I am afraid that we will need you to turn over your wand until after you leave the Ministry." It looked as if the Headmaster was going to protest, so the elite Auror pressed on quickly. "It is one of the new policies set by acting Mistress of Magic Umbridge, you see. Since the death of Minister Fudge, no one but Ministry personnel is allowed any kind of weapon while inside the Ministry." The Hit Wizard tried to sound apologetic, but his acting needed work. It was good enough to fool any human, proven by the fact that even Professor Dumbledore was fooled, but it fell far short of fooling a demon, the master of deception. To Harry, the Hit Wizard sounded horrendously gleeful at the prospect of taking his wand away.
It was to Harry's advantage to act his part, however, and he allowed Professor Dumbledore to voice the concerns at leaving Harry wandless. "Surely you can wait until you get to the Ministry before taking his wand? With Voldemort lurking in the shadows," Harry had the unholy desire to snort at this expression, but contained it masterfully, "It would be very bad for Harry to be caught without his wand."
Harry read the nervousness in the man that came from having to play the Headmaster. The man's heartbeat accelerated, and Harry could see the cooling charm he'd placed on himself flare slightly, compensating for the sudden increase in his body temperature that would have made him sweat. He puffed himself up, and looked quite self-important. "Professor Dumbledore, we are Hit Wizards. Mr. Potter is safer with us than if six Aurors escorted him. We will see that no harm comes to him."
The Headmaster was going to protest further, but was silenced by Harry offering his wand to the Hit Wizard. Harry wanted to get this show on the road. He had everything he needed to fight his enemy, and his demon side was itching for the conflict. He kept his expression carefully mastered, revealing nothing to either the Hit Wizards, or to his Headmaster. The Hit Wizard took the wand, and tried valiantly to stifle the cry of surprise and pain that threatened to issue from his mouth at the amount of raw power flowing through Harry's wand. He was mostly successful, only allowing a gasp. He pocketed the wand, and began to lead Harry toward the door. Harry followed mindlessly, keeping up his image of a sixteen year-old in shock. Judging by the gleeful look he saw as he glimpsed the Hit Wizard's face, it was working perfectly.
A few of the students were watching with interest, and Harry did notice Malfoy's smug look out of the corner of his eye. He made a mental note to kill Malfoy later, much more slowly and painfully than he'd finished the father.
It didn't take long for the Hit Wizards to lead Harry out of the school's apparition barrier, and they apparated him straight to their destination. Harry, rather angry that they'd done that to him without warning, set about applying his revenge while still in the apparition. Apparating an unwilling person, or an unsuspecting person for that matter, was a painful thing for the victim. Without the focus, it took much longer for the body to put itself together, and hurt a lot more. Harry had been expecting it, and was almost focused when they had done it, so it didn't hurt him much. However, he was still going to take his revenge. Reaching into his well of reserve power, he flared his magic on the lower half of his body only. This effectively pushed the lower half of the two Hit Wizards energies further away from him than their upper bodies. The result was quite satisfactory. The Hit Wizards appeared, and promptly fell to the ground, their legs materializing approximately two feet away from their upper bodies. Harry had forced them to splinch themselves.
Cold laughter was heard in front of Harry, as no less than six Death Eaters appeared from the dark places in the room. Harry had seen them there, and did his best to act surprised. It was dark enough in the room that he didn't need to do that good of a job, but he did a fairly good job of it. The Death Eaters who had been waiting were laughing at the unfortunate splinch-ees, and didn't really make too much of an effort to notice Harry. One of them retrieved Harry's wand from the robe pocket of the bigger Hit Wizard, and the others dragged Harry to Voldemort's chamber.
In the darkness, when Harry was sure they couldn't see his face, His face twisted into a predatory smile. This was going to be fun…
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A/N: Sorry to leave it there, but you're really going to love the next chapter. I want to make sure that I don't need to leave a nice big cliffhanger right in the middle of the biggest one-on-one fight in my entire story, so I'm leaving this cliffie instead. I hope you don't mind. Next chapter: The fall of a Lord.