Prologue
The days are numbered for the Headmaster. The truth is coming out, and soon people will know his crimes. The grandfatherly act is being seen through, and people will soon end him. Many a time I've heard of the attacks he's planned, to provoke fear in the hearts of the ordinary, and only the extra-ordinary can stop him. There are two men left who can truly oppose him, and alone the cannot win. His experience outnumbers theirs, and his two opponents are still at odds with each other. Only when the olive branch is extended, will Voldemort and Harry ally. One must make the first move, and until this happens, the war will continue.
While Voldemort may have not killed Harry's parents, he still is not a kind and generous man. He is a general, arrogant and in control. His ideals are beneficial to mankind, but he believes the ends justify the means, so long as more lives are saved than lost. Harry will be at odds with him even if he joins his ranks, for their personalities clash. Voldemort cannot allow himself to indulge in the small pleasures that bring great gratification, for he must be strong. However, by alienating himself from other people, he will eventually turn dark. Blocking human emotions destroys the soul, and this cannot happen. If it did, the two most experienced and powerful wizards in humankind will indulge in an all-destroying battle for dominance.
Only Harry could stop this. Harry must restrain voldemort, and exert control. Lack of progress has caused discontent amongst Voldemort's troops, and they are sliding from his grasp. If the army of Voldemort dissipates, Harry is on his own...
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Author: Jacobim Von Styluss
Disclaimer: Nope, nope, not mine, it belongs to a very nice woman called Jo. Shame really, if it was mine, I would be set for life instead of spending my spare time making sure nobody gets killed by their coffee machines. Ah well...
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Harry blinked as he and his relatives stepped from Gringotts into the bright sunshine. Harry looked up and down the street, savouring the view. It had been a while since he'd last been here, and considering his new plans, a while till he'd return. Luckily, there was a nice shopping centre in Greece, and so he would not have to struggle to shop. Durmstrang is situated on the Bulgaria-Greece borderline, and thus the Thessaloniki Wizarding Complex was a short apparition away.
He had various things he needed to deal with while in London. He knew for a fact that Hernan's did not have a branch in Thessaloniki, and he planned to organise another branch being opened. He also wanted to make stops at his various companies to make some long needed staff adjustments. With these goals in mind, he set off down Diagon, his aunt and cousin following behind.
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"Oy, Gred, Forge. I need to talk."
"Ah good sir, how corking of you to join us. Fancy a spot of supper? We have some excellent Earl Grey brewing..." replied the Weasley twins, in their strange mock-British accent.
Harry sniggered, "No, we're fine. I need to talk business."
"Oh how dull," they said, somehow exactly at the same time.
"Not this business. Trust me on this."
Fred Weasley, slowly twisted his head, to look his brother in the eyes. George Weasley, in perfect sync, did exactly the same. Both raised an eyebrow, then shrugged.
"How do you do that?" Harry asked, still in awe of the incredible knowledge of each other that the two had.
"Just comes naturally, Harry mate."
"You two are weird."
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"Right, first question. What are you doing here, with the Dursleys, in fact?"
"We aren't Dursleys anymore," said Petunia and Dudley, at exactly the same time. They looked at themselves in surprise.
"How come everyone has a 'twin' but me?" Harry pouted.
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"Anyway, my relatives are here because we patched things up. I'm here because I need to go shopping." Harry said.
"Yeah, but we thought Dumbledore asked you to stay in Privet Drive. Surely you shouldn't go against him."
"Goddammit you sound like Herm! Anyway, there are a few things you don't know about Dumbledore. They overrule any orders he has given me. Anyway, what use does staying at Privet Drive have? It isn't the house that protects me. It's my aunt. She's right here."
"You're got a point, but surely he has a reason for all this. Maybe he put up wards of his own?" Fred replied, sounding slightly doubtful.
Harry shot that straight down. "You can put more powerful wards on a smaller object, such as a ring, and then charm it so it can't be taken off. That would have kept me safe at Hogwarts as well."
George sounded desperate as he said, "But surely he has a reason..." he trailed off. Harry was holding a photo of Dumbledore obliviating them from the file Grillkrup had given him. His mouth shut softly, and all traces of desperation left his face.
They turned to him, slight curiosity on their face. "Can we trust a man like Dumbledore? I'm starting to doubt he had a good reason for that..."
"Fred, George, that is the least of his crimes, my friends. I'm leaving Hogwarts. I'm turning from him, and when the time is right I will have him arrested. That man will pay for his transgressions."
"Isn't arresting him a bit harsh?" Asked one of the twins, who had a bit of unease returning to his face. "Shouldn't you make allowances for his dedication to the light?"
"No. That man is not dedicated to the light." Harry then voiced a thought that had been buzzing around in his head for days. "Is that man light at all, or is he a con who simply wishes us to believe he isn't trying to gain an inexorable power over us? To be honest, I'm not sure that Voldemort is as bad as he is portrayed."
Fred and George looked slightly sceptical about this statement. "No matter how bad Dumbledore is, Voldemort is worse."
George looked to add something to Fred's outburst, but Harry beat him to it. "Did you know Dumbledore killed a Marauder, and ordered the death of another?"
George's mouth shut. "You mean, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?" Fred stuttered.
"Damn right. You've met Padfoot and Moony. Padfoot was killed on Dumbledore's orders, and Prongs he shot the curse at himself."
Fred and George looked thunderstruck and torn, and slightly confused. However, they were never stupid, and thus realised who Padfoot and Moony were. "Sirius and Remus were part of the marauders!" When Harry replied with a nod, they said "Explains a lot, we suppose. Who was Prongs."
"Dad."
"What!"
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When the Weasley twins had gotten over their shock at finding Harry was a second generation marauder, they slowly came to realise what Harry had just said. "Did you just say your father was killed by Dumbledore?" Fred asked wide-eyed, while George gazed slack jawed at Harry, sputtering slightly.
"Yes. As was mum. Voldemort made no attack, my guess is that he attacked Godric's Hollow, then Voldemort. Voldemort was not killed properly as Dumbledore was too drained, after killing my parents..." By the end of this last sentence, Harry's fists were clenched in his anger, and small pulses of power were shooting away, knocking things off shelves, and cracking glass shelves. His aunt placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. Harry looked into her face, which bore a gentle smile. He slowly calmed down, and managed to get a proper hold over his magic. "Sorry guys," Harry apologized. "It's just that I really get furious when I think about it."
"Don't worry Harry, you paid for this in the first place. We still haven't gone through all the funding you gave us, and the business is worth almost four times that now." Fred and George were trying to change topic, as although they were extremely curious, they knew that they would get little more of importance, and also didn't want to upset their friend.
"You fund all this?" asked Dudley. "This place is awesome."
"Yeah, I'd just won a competition, worth a thousand galleons. At the current rate, that's £8500. I gave them it on the train home. This was at the end of fourth year. By the way guys," - Here he addressed the twins - "Whenever you need more, just ask. I know you'll spend it wisely, after all, you've done excellent so far. One bit of advice, hire Remus. After all, he's one of the few remaining marauders, and might be able to teach you something. He has a wicked side, that can't be denied"
"Cheers Harry."
"Right, Anyway I have a proposition for you. I think you'll like it, as if it works, you will be forever known, and probably become two of the richest people in existence." Throughout Harry's declaration, Fred & George grew more and more dumbstruck. By the end, they were almost drooling. They were businessmen, and would be forever.
Harry told them his suggestion, and their eyes began to cloud over with ideas. While it was a challenge which had been pored over a little, no major research had been carried out. They could finally change that. They could be pioneers.
"We need to get the patents. We heard a while ago that some small American company has them, but we could buy them. They couldn't come up with any ideas worth working with, and gave up after a while. They would probably sell the patents. However, we'd need a few thousand galleons more. I know it's expensive, but the fact is that the returns could be incredible."
"No probs guys," Harry chuckled, "Just don't give me the details. I'm your sponsor, not a businessman. Anyway, I'm filthy rich. In fact, I'll set up a sub account from my main accounts, and put a lump sum in there. You'll get the key to it. I'll even ask my banker to top it up every month if it is too low."
The Weasley twins were beaming. "Consider it a belated birthday present. I didn't get you anything last year." Harry continued.
"You didn't have to Harry, a thousand galleons the year before would suffice for all of our birthdays. By the way, do you actually know our birthday?"
"Not for certain, but I can make a good guess."
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"So, you two. How's Ron and Herm been?"
Fred and George looked at each other a little worried. "Well, to be honest, they are completely self centred prats. They got together, and now they've had a really bad effect on each other. Hermione's getting bitchy, and Ron's got a stick so far up his arse, preaching the values of Great God Dumbledore."
Harry hung his head. He knew this would happen eventually, their personalities suited it. He'd been dreading this day for a year or so, since Ron pitched his jealousy fit in fourth year over the Triwizard. In truth, he'd known Ron was shallow, but simply could not bring himself to break friends with him. Hermione got on his nerves a little as well, whenever he was around her. She grated him down, and irritated him to no end, not to mention the little put-downs, based on how much more smart she supposedly was.
"The bastards are really getting at you. It's strange really, but these days they say you are being melodramatic about everything, and playing for sympathy." It didn't surprise Harry, as Ron never knew what it was like to lose a loved one.
"He said, and I quote 'It's not like he knew Sirius, I knew him as well as Harry and I'm not moping. He sulked all through the end of last year and expected sympathy from us.' When we heard that, we expected Hermione to snap at him for being so callous. She didn't. She nodded."
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"They never knew Sirius even nearly as much as I did..."
"We know Harry, we know."
"I knew him, years ago. He was a good man, so full of life," Said Petunia. "When he was blamed for James and Lily's death, there was nothing anyone could do. I knew he wasn't the secret keeper, but Dumbledore ignored me. When he surfaced again, I used the excuse of being scared of him as a reason to treat you better, that Vernon couldn't refute."
"I never realised you knew about these sort of things. Damn it, since when have you been so understanding?" Harry chuckled weakly, then burst into tears.
Petunia drew the teen into a gentle hug, and let him cry onto her shoulder.
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The twins had left Harry and his relatives in the back of the shop, which served as half office, half lab. The returned to the shop, and proceeded to continue business. Luckily, they now had an assistant, who had been helping out in the shop, in return for a rather excellent wage.
"Hey Lee!"
"Yeah?"
"Don't go round the back, we've got a friend in there who needs leaving alone for a while."
Lee shrugged and got back to work.
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Harry had dried his eyes, and was slowly catching a hold upon his emotions. The raging sadness inside him, which minutes ago was driving him to choked sobs, was fading and leaving a slightly lightened burden. Before now he had been able to talk about Sirius easily, but the emotion came to a head for the second time this summer. Now it was released, his guilt and sadness was lightened. There would be more episodes like this one, but they would steadily decrease in number.
Now, he had family to help him through. His cousin was still walking on eggshells a little with Harry; he really didn't know much about comforting people. His mother was best for that. Every time Dudley was upset when he was younger, his mum would come into his room, wrap him in a hug and whisper comforting platitudes. Now it was Harry's turn for the familial comfort. While some would be jealous, Dudley knew Harry needed it, and had never had it before.
Dudley smiled as he saw his cousin calming down and wiping his eyes. He knew his cousin was strong, and understood that he was going through more than Dudley would ever suffer. Dudley knew that some of it was due to him. He was doing what he could, but only by being strong for him would he truly help.
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They were finally out of WWW and were now on the way to look at one of Harry's other investments; Hernan's.
And, typical to the strangeness of the Wizarding world, Siecoe 'Path' was actually a sort of weird Italian-esque staircase/alley. Which is strange really, since the supposed Diagon 'alley' was actually a wide, clean street, in truth the width of a small motorway. So not really an alley. And Siecoe 'Path' isn't a path either. Someone just had a strange sense of humour while naming it. Ah well.
Anyway, back to the point, the entrance is near Ollivanders. It would have been helpful is Grillkrup had given specific direction. Harry, in his euphoria over his new-found independent situation, had forgot. And, as anyone who has been hunting for a second-rate caravan park in Cornwall will know, when you get within two miles of the end of your journey, and are simply told 'It's around here', you tend to panic and lose all sense of direction. Which kinda happened to Harry.
"Where is this street then, Harry?" asked Petunia. "I've never been there before."
"..." Harry oh-so-eloquently replied.
"So, you don't know then?" sighed Petunia.
"Not really..." replied Harry, looking sheepish.
"Look, you're going about this the wrong way." Interrupted Dudley. "If that giant bloke hadn't been with you when you went to that dingy little pub place, the one where you get through to here, how would you have spotted it?"
"I dunno..."
"Simple. Look for something no-one else is looking at. Whatever they ignore, is your place."
Harry gaped at Dudley. "That is a brilliant piece of logic"
"I know," Dudley inflated with pride, and then rapidly deflated with a yelp when Harry poked him in the side then ran off giggling.
Dudley and Petunia looked at each other, identical expressions of resignment, and a tinge of humour. They then shrugged, in sync with each other once again.
"Stop it, stop it. Fred & George are twins. They're allowed to be on the same wavelength. But not you two as well!" Harry yelled, pulling his relatives away from each other in an attempt to break this slightly scary connection between those two. He then situated himself between them, trying in vain to be able to stop any of this, this weirdness.
Minutes later, Harry got prodded in the side by a fairly pudgy finger. "Ouch!" Harry glared at his cousin.
"Payback!" chirped Dudley cheerfully.
Harry walked off in a huff. Petunia and Dudley grinned at each other.
"Nooo! Stop it, it's not right!" Harry cried.
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"Genius theory, Dudley," grumbled Harry after Dudley's logical streak proved a little less useful than hoped. After visiting three petshops, and accidentally breaking into a small empty shop with 'For sale' above the door.
"Look, we're here now aren't we? Whinging sod..." Dudley finished the statement under his breath. After all, Harry had bony fingers. He had to look after himself, didn't he?
The sight which greeted them, was...
quiet, Harry supposed...
It had a weird sort of emptiness which made it clear that there was plenty there, it was just hiding...
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Anyone get the "No, but I can guess." line, about fredngeorge's birthday? If you don't know their birthday, you should. You shouldn't even need telling.
Anyway, the Polls are now closed, and as far as I remember, the results are thus:
Should Harry:
1. Start his own side – 6
2. Join Voldie – 4
3. Stay with Order of the Burnt Poultry, but depose Dumbledore – 0
Pairing:
1. Rodolphus Lestrange - 3
2. Thomas Marvolo Riddle (Lord Voldemort) – 2
2. Lucius Malfoy – 2
3. Other – 1 (Seamus)
4. Draco Malfoy - 0
4. Remus Lupin - 0
4. Sirius Black - 0
Next on the agenda:
Why is nobody entering the competitions? The Narrator question is not difficult, because there are two completely different right answers.
The questions are -
1. Who is the Narrator (the guy from the prologue)?
2. Who is the female from the end of last chapter?
Question two will close once I post the next chapter. It is part of the plot, and thus I cannot hold onto it. Please, have a go. You might win a role in the story, or perhaps an early chapter. I always write one chapter ahead of what I'm posting. In fact, if you want, you can design a OC that I will use.
18/07/05
Huggiebear – Thanks! The artefacts, well, every fic should have those sort of things. I personally love the little window, Fenestrus. What can I say, I'm a gadget nut :)
Sweet-Little-Yugi – Thanks for reviewing again!This is the first story I know where Petunia is magical. While Dudley being a wizard is fairly common, I thought Petunia was being overlooked. After all, in the real series she seems to know a little bit more than she lets on. Hope the writing works for you... good luck.
lmill123 – I'm afraid you've got a few details wrong – I probably was a bit confusing. Dumbledore, while talking about the 'other' pawn, that was just how I wrote it. He was talking about Harry. Also, Voldemort hasn't been working with Dumbledore. It's Dumbledore using his political power to discredit Voldemort. Voldemort is trying to improve the wizarding world, rather than gain power. Originally, in my head anyway, Voldemort wasn't considered evil, just a rebel. Then Dumbledore committed murder, pretending to be Voldemort. After all, nobody has actually really heard what Voldie has to say, and knowing the wizarding world, if he denied it he would have been ignored and executed. He is fighting against bad judicial systems.
It is admittedly true that Voldemort and Harry have fought, but this was Voldemort fighting an enemy. At the time of the fights, Harry supported Dumbledore, and thus Voldie had to fight him. Voldemort is ruthless, and would kill Harry simply because Harry supported Dumbledore. Now Harry is against Dumbles, and thus Voldemort has little quarrel with him.
As to imprisoning Dumbledore... That will be rather difficult for Harry. All major cases seem to go before the wizengamot, and therefore Dumbledore's friends. The Wizarding World is unfair, and therefore would not change the laws to make it easier to convict someone with a major position in the courts. Also, they would most likely refuse to even hear a case against Dumbledore until people start to believe in his wrongdoing. Also, would prison really keep him? However, I do agree, he does deserve punishment.
Right, first person to pay attention to the competitions, so thanks for that. However, one hint is given in the Dumbledore scene. The only staff there is Filch, and he is certainly not female. There are 'staff' there, but these staff members are always overlooked.
Whew, that took a while to type. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, and I'm glad you like!
Kira6 – Whoa, that was sudden. For some reason, when I read that, I burst out laughing. After all, I've never had a one word review before!
By the way, Chapter 4 had an error. While I will not go through reposting it (at least not yet) I will show the error, to avoid confusion here:
Harry left the room grinning, but stopped when he saw his Aunt and Cousin sat at an elegant mahogany table, drinking tea from gold rimmed china cups. "Ermm... What the hell? I didn't see those there a minute ago..." Grillkrup gave him his answer "This room is like a modified version of a certain room in Hogwarts. Any idea what I'm talking about?"
Hmm... Only four reviews this chapter (My lowest so far). I hope that's just because everyone was reading Half-Blood Prince!