Disclaimer: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.


WORLD #405 – The One with a Dark Harry

A.K. rematerialized in a new world of his magic's choosing. He looked up at the disappointingly familiar building. "Shit." He sighed recognizing Slytherin Castle. "It's always a fucking castle. I mean sure he had to go somewhere when he got his ass kicked out of Hogwarts, but why not a shack? Or a cave? Well, maybe not a cave." He was mumbling to himself as he took a look at the protections around the area. A.K. had been to places like this one before. Sometimes Harry was captured and being tortured. Sometimes Harry was the one doing the torturing. And the fact that A.K.'s presence had yet to trigger any alarms left him thinking it was more likely the latter. "Shit."

A.K. worked his way through the castle, staying invisible and keeping his mage senses on high so that he would know if he was nearing any new wards, triggers, or people. Thus far he'd only found packs of people, which were not good for stealth interrogations. After the frustrations of not finding anyone walking alone, he turned back the other direction and thought he'd check out the dungeons that were bound to be a decent indication of what sort of world he was in.

Given the stench of decay and the bloodstains he encountered, A.K. got the feeling it wasn't going to be pretty. He had yet to find any sign of living prisoners, just empty cells that smelled like death. He maintained his invisibility walking past three Death Eaters. Two of which had green trim on their robes, while the other had silver. A.K. ignored their debates on the merits of muggle chemical weapons and moved down towards the last cell where he heard conversation. He immediately recognized Kingsley Shacklebolt and Hestia Jones.

"Albus was right!" Hestia whispered. "They cannot be killed."

Kingsley was holding a rag to his heavily bleeding arm. "It was bad enough with just the one." He winced and grimaced in pain. "I hit that fucker with a killing curse dead on. He didn't even try to block it. He just sat there and smiled."

"What can we do?" Hestia asked. "Two of the three most powerful wizards in the world are working together and if Albus' prophecy is accurate, immortal to all but each other."

"I can't believe Voldemort would accept an ally as an equal," Kingsley muttered. "Unless we can get them to work against each other, I don't know if there's anything we can do."

"But from the sound of it, even if we did get one of them to kill the other," Hestia retorted. "Then that would just make the other one immortal for real."

Kingsley hissed as he tried to lean back against the wall. "One immortal Dark Lord would be better than two." He sighed. "I think."

A.K. had heard enough. He kept up his invisibility but dug through his many pockets until he located a couple of freeze-dried ration packs. He magicked a quick note and tossed them into the cell. As he left he whispered into the wind, "Buck up Phoenixes. It may not be as bad as you think."

Both Hestia's and Kingsley's eyes widened at the appearance of food and the mysterious voice. Hestia pulled off the card that had been stuck to the top of the food. It read,

A.K.
Official Voldemort Slayer
and all-around Dark Lord Hunter

Hestia looked at the business card in confusion and turned it over. Hastily scrawled was a small note that said, "In half an hour this card will activate and portkey you to just outside Hogwarts' gates."

Kingsley listened as Hestia read it aloud. He considered the authenticity of it, shrugged, and reached for a ration pack with his good arm.

"What if it's a trap?" Hestia warned him.

Kingsley shrugged. "We're caught and beaten. They could torture us or force us to do any number of things. Why would they need to trick us? And this seems too ridiculous for something they made up and would expect us to believe."

Hestia nodded. "It would make sense that our escape would trigger alarms, and this A.K. person or group needs the element of surprise a bit longer. But why the food?"

"We got half an hour to wait. And I'm hungry." Kingsley explained as he began to eat.


Now that he had given himself a deadline, A.K. decided the time for subtlety was over. He flipped his cloak back, keeping the invisibility on the inside lining and made himself look intimidating. He checked his backup weapons and apparated to this world's Harry Potter.

The moment he appeared, a pale young man dove forward in a roll, spinning around sending a couple flesh eating curses straight behind him. A.K. put up an obscure white shield that absorbed the two spells, and darkened as each one hit it. "Excuse me," A.K. began as he dispelled his shield. "Pardon my interruption." A.K. took a moment double-checking his initial assessment of his immediate environment. There were eight Death Eaters in the room, five with green trim, three with silver trim. And right next to him was a pair of throne-like chairs, one of which contained a pale, but almost human looking Voldemort. The other chair's former occupant A.K. recognized immediately, despite a unique looking wand hanging loosely to his side while he seemed to be examining A.K. Numerous knocks rattled A.K.'s mental shields, but he smoothly ignored them all.

Voldemort grinned at this auspicious newcomer, maintaining his calm, collected manner. "Who are you?"

"I was hoping to have a private conversation with Mr. Harry Potter."

"I am the Dark Lord Levicordus!" Harry insisted as he sent a half dozen more extremely strong spells towards the intruder. A.K. raised an eyebrow and merely apparated a few feet to the side. "Mr. Potter, I presume?"

Voldemort's eyes glazed over for a second before focusing on A.K. "According to our monitoring wards, you are Harry Potter."

A.K. nodded respectfully towards Voldemort. "Yes well, I didn't think I'd be welcome if I came as myself."

"Masking and manipulating a magical signature is supposed to be impossible," Voldemort replied with an implied question.

A.K. kept his guard up and smiled. "As is immortality. And with all due respect, Mr. Riddle, it is Mr. Potter I came to speak with."

Voldemort's eyes widened at the implication. While his young ally's identity was well-known, his was not. He hissed angrily, "You are not making a good impression so far, bringing up hated muggle and muggle-loving names we do not take kindly to. And you have yet to identify yourself."

A.K. shrugged. "I'm less inclined to use an honorific that's self-appointed, unless you're all willing to call me God. I figure if we're picking our titles, I'll just grab the biggest one."

Voldemort scrutinized their intruder for a moment before snapping out a Killing Curse, faster than the eye could blink. A.K. had expected this and was hoping he was lined up decently. With an intense focus on his soul, A.K. phased out of corporeal state and the Killing Curse passed straight through his cloud-like form, slamming into Lucius Malfoy, who had been sneaking up behind him. Lucius crumpled to the ground dead.

Half a dozen more curses came flying towards A.K., who held onto his incorporeal state, and ignored the spells. "Must we resort to fighting?"

Voldemort was standing over Lucius and kicked him, muttering about his stupidity. He waved off the Death Eaters. Harry hadn't even fired. He just kept watching A.K. without moving or blinking. Voldemort waved his hand, inviting him to return to corporeal state. "So what is it that you wish? An alliance? Because so far I have seen no sign that you are even a dark wizard."

A.K. regained form, and lazily bent his wrist aiming indiscriminately to his left. "Avada Kedavra," he tiredly incanted. The spell came zooming out his wand and a surprised Bellatrix didn't even have time to react. "See? I can be a dark wizard if I want."

"Bella!" Harry called out in desperation. He held her lifeless head in his lap, and was smoothing out her hair while his rage began building.

"I think you have overstayed your welcome," Voldemort insisted. "And now, you must die."

A.K. began backing himself up, not wanting to deal with enemies in every direction. "I merely wanted to talk to Mr. Potter and find out why he chose to become a Dark Lord."

A.K. was dodging spells and blocking most others. "If I found myself agreeing with him, I might just leave you all alone. I've only cast one offensive spell, and that was merely to assure you I am capable of dark magic. We don't have to do this, you know."

Harry's eyes snapped up glowing bright green with power, giving his pale skin a sickly look. "Yes, we do."

A.K. saw the determination and restraint Harry was exhibiting. He had a feeling this one could get messy. Listening close, A.K. could hear Harry's breathing halt for just a moment, before the young Dark Lord had sprung into action and there were two spells headed right for A.K. He quickly cast a shield from the blood boiler, and dodged out of the way of a yellow spell he didn't recognize. The next thing A.K. saw was Harry's fist as it slammed into his jaw.

Stumbling backwards he sent off an array of bone-breakers in an arc all around Harry. Out of the corner of his eye, A.K. saw Voldemort just watching the scene in amusement. He knew he wouldn't be able to land a spell on Voldemort in surprise, but he was able to silently summon large pieces of debris that crashed into Voldemort's back. He saw Harry had managed to avoid all but one of the bone-breakers and that he seemed to be rapidly healing his shattered forearm.

Jumping directly in between the pair of Dark Lords, A.K. faked putting up a shield and instead cast a dubious spell that sent dozens of bludgeoning hexes in every direction all coming straight from a glowing nimbus of blue magic directly around A.K.'s midsection. Harry merely batted the ones that came his direction away and returned fire with a paralysis curse. Voldemort reflected all the nearby bludgeoning hexes back towards A.K., who waited for a mere beat before apparating himself into invisibility a few feet away. Which left the two Dark Lords' spells heading towards each other.

Both of them brought up shields and counters in time, but it was obvious that these two were not used to working together. A.K. was hoping to at least frazzle them a bit. He hurriedly cast his typical set of stealth spells on himself, concealing body heat, silencing his immediate area, and masking his smell. When he saw both Harry and Voldemort scrambling around trying to spot him, he hurried around the room choosing moments when they weren't focused to take out the remaining Death Eaters with whispered Killing Curses to their backs. A few times fog spells, and paint spells spread, but A.K. kept countering those in time and maintained his cover.

Harry and Voldemort were getting visibly rattled. All the Death Eaters but one were unmoving on the ground and didn't look like they'd be ever getting up.

A.K. snuck up behind Voldemort and lined him up with the last Death Eater. When he saw Voldemort focusing solely on the last Death Eater, A.K. cast a Killing Curse straight past the elder Dark Lord hitting the Death Eater right in the throat, ending him instantly. Apparently luck was on his side, as that was the exact moment the portkey went off taking Kingsley and Hestia away, A.K. had hoped. The alarms began blaring and it gave Voldemort a moment's hesitation spinning back towards where the Killing Curse had come from. A.K. knew this would leave him open to Harry for a second, but figured it was worth the risk. He slapped his hand flat against Voldemort's chest and quickly clenched the flesh in his tightened hand. He screamed out the Ancient Egyptian soul-trapping spell, separating this soul's bonds to its horcrux pieces and preventing it from ever being split again. Voldemort gasped and shrieked as he felt the pain and tightness wrapping around him.

Harry didn't hesitate for a moment and smiled victoriously to see his Shredder curse connect on the invisible man's hip with a crack of broken bone and wet smack of torn flesh.

A.K. grunted and gasped to feel the shock of the curse hitting him, but didn't have time to think about it. A white hot ball of flame grew straight into his palm and he slammed into his heavily bleeding side, cauterizing and singing the loose flaps of his skin. His wand hand cast a solid shield that he enchanted to hover and protect him, while he regained his bearings. He laughed looking down to see he was still mainly invisible other than what looked like a floating charred t-bone. He watched Voldemort struggle back to his feet, apparently uncertain about what happened but no doubt feeling the effects of it. Harry moved his way over to his Dark Lord ally, and he kept his wand trained on where he knew the invisible assailant to be.

A.K. canceled his invisibility as it was pointless at the moment, and he wanted to put his all into the next spell. He thought he might get a free shot and whichever one he aimed for would just take it and smile. A.K. stopped his movement and mustered up every bit of magic he could. He snapped his wand down aiming it straight at Voldemort and screamed out "Avada Kedavra" as loud as his lungs would allow him. He did not want to mess this up.

A.K. saw the unconcerned smirk on Voldemort's face as the spell shot from his wand. No doubt Voldemort believed himself protected from death by the power of the Prophecy. But both men were surprised to see Harry lean forward and act like he was catching the spell in his teeth. Or maybe he was just swallowing it to make it look weak. When the Killing Curse hit on the inside of Harry's mouth, he had just enough time to get a look of complete confusion and shock permanently locked on his face as his head snapped back and he fell to the floor dead.

Voldemort's smirk had only gotten bigger seeing his protégé and ally put on a bit of a show. But when he realized that this man had killed the younger Dark Lord his eyes widened in pure, absolute terror. Voldemort's head lurched back in pain at the unexpected rush, and he barely managed to maintain enough control to safely apparate away.

A.K. was unable to do anything but pant with exhaustion after connecting on a Killing Curse with this world's Harry Potter. Seeing how scared Voldemort was when faced with his own mortality, was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. Perhaps the battle didn't quite go as planned, but it was more of a success than a failure.

A.K. caught his breath solemnly looking at Harry Potter's dead body surrounded by all these other Death Eaters. After a brief moment of reflection, he snuck around the castle, making sure there weren't any more prisoners and placed a couple dozen charges he had stored up in his trunk. Less than a minute later, he was a couple hundreds yards back and he got to watch Slytherin Castle make a very big BOOM as the dust and debris blanketed the sky in a haze.

Now though it was time to regroup. And perhaps get some answers from the Order.


A.K. took a couple days to heal himself up a bit. He was still limping as he walked, but no longer his movement hindered in any way. Just sore and a bit painful. He tracked down a number of past issues of The Daily Prophet that gave him hints of understanding, but it was always suspect how much truth you could read into a news article, particularly in a new world with an entirely different political climate. Just then he felt his tracking charm kick in as it apparently had left Hogwarts' wards and decided to see where it was headed.

A.K. followed it to a heavily protected home that he didn't recall ever seeing before. He had to fight the protection's compulsion charms and focus on his own magic in the tracking charm. Once he was inside he found himself staring down two wands pointed right at him, poised and ready to strike. A.K. grinned at the sight of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks.

"Who are you and how did you get in here?" Remus demanded holding his hand perfectly steady.

A.K. showed them his empty hands. "Relax Moony. I was wanting to talk to the old man and figured now was as good a time as any."

Remus did not care for the nickname and snarled. "The only people I ever let call me that died a long time ago. And you didn't answer either of my questions. Now try again."

A.K. quirked his mouth at the sight of the wolf in Remus getting riled up. "Have you seen or heard about a business card Kingsley and Hestia received?"

Tonks' eyes widened and she seemed to momentarily relax. "What's it to you?"

A.K. shrugged. "Well there's both of the answers you were looking for then. Name's A.K. and it had a tracking charm that finally left Hogwarts' wards and I followed it to here. Like I said, I was wanting to talk to the geezer."

"Tonks," Remus ordered. "Go get Albus, I'll keep my eye on A.K. here." The young metamorphmagus ran off to track down the Headmaster.

"Look Moony," A.K. sighed.

"Don't call me that!" Remus insisted.

"Fine, werewolf," A.K. said with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "If you don't want to be referred to the way your friends do, I'll stick with your enemies' nicknames. But as I was saying, I'm not just going to-"

"What seems to be the problem here?" Albus asked as he strode up to the front door.

A.K. wasn't fooled for a moment. He smiled and slapped his knee. "Holy shit, Tonks! You're getting damn good at that. You look just like the old man. Even put my business card in your pocket to fool me. Nice try." A.K. agreed with an almost proud smile.

Albus turned towards Remus curiously. "Remus?"

Remus looked at Albus and shrugged.

Albus' facial features morphed away and his hair cycled through several colors, finally landing on a shocking pink. Tonks asked with a frown, "What gave it away?"

A.K. smiled. "Well… to be honest, I probably shouldn't say as it's not exactly something Albus spreads around. Though if I weren't me, I'd probably never notice it."

"If you weren't you, you'd probably not notice?" Remus asked back relaxing slightly in confusion.

A.K. nodded. "And if I weren't me, that statement would be a lot more confusing too."

"Right," Tonks slowly and uncertainly agreed.

A.K. thought about the situation for a moment and asked Tonks, "So how long have you been impersonating the Headmaster and when do you expect him back?"

Remus' eyes widened assuring A.K. of the accuracy of his conclusion.

Tonks sighed. "Any way you can prove your intentions or at least that you are A.K.?"

A.K. shrugged. "I'd think the knowledge of my own existence and ability to track my magic might be enough, but I know I tossed Kingsley and Hestia a couple of old ration packs and told them to buck up. Speaking of, Kingsley get healed quick enough? I didn't see any mention in a paper, though I didn't expect to."

Tonks nodded. "Yup. Madame Pomfrey got him fixed up and he was out of there within the hour."

A.K. looked at Remus who was still a bit tense. "You mind relaxing a bit, Moo-… err Lupin? How about calling a meeting as I have some news and was hoping to trade information? And I get the feeling neither of you intend to tell me where Albus is or when he'll be back?"

Remus lowered the wand, staring intently at A.K. for a good ten seconds. "Albus sent a message saying he would return tonight and to have a full meeting at 7. He can deal with you then. But until that point, we can talk. And you can start with why you keep calling me Moony and how you know about the Order."

Tonks grabbed them some alcohol while Remus led A.K. back into a more comfortable den of sorts. A.K. accepted his drink with a cautious look. He smelled it and stared at it for a moment. Even cast a couple diagnostic spells on it before smiling and taking a sip.

"Don't trust us?" Remus asked with a grin.

A.K. shook his head negatively. "I trust you not to trust me yet. There's a difference."

Tonks was relaxing and enjoying her drink too. "So how come you're still drinking? I saw it glow when you checked for truth serums."

A.K. shrugged. "I was hoping my discussion after drinking it would get you to trust me easier, but I suppose if you want me to be honest, it's because the serum is weak enough I can resist it easily. I wouldn't have drunk it, if it was veritaserum. But still you must decide if my ability to resist it makes me untrustworthy or my openness about my resistance is worthy of your trust."

"Sure it's not the serum that's making you say that?" Tonks smirked.

A.K. saw Remus was getting confused. He leaned towards Tonks and looked at her completely honestly. "Tonks, I want you to know, I think your base form, the real you, is the most beautiful way you can look, even considering you are a hairless albino with three penises."

Tonks' eyes widened and she gulped. "God I hope that wasn't the serum."

"Me too," an uneasy looking Remus added. "And why do you call me Moony?"

A.K. looked at Remus and asked, "Because of your nickname in school?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "I figured that much. I'm wondering where you heard it and why you seem to think of me as Moony first."

A.K. sat there for a moment and figured he'd see how these two respond. "Because that's what most of the Remus Lupins I've dealt with have wanted to be called?"

Remus didn't particularly care for that answer and sipped his drink. Tonks asked the most obvious one, "And just how many Remus Lupins have you dealt with?"

A.K. licked his lips and guessed, "I'm sure it's in the hundreds. Moony is one of the most dependable people I come across usually." He paused a moment until he had both of them looking at him curiously. "But never more than just the one per dimension I'm in."

Remus closed his eyes as he was didn't really want to face the truth of that question. "You really are a Voldemort Slayer, hopping from world to world as you're needed, aren't you?"

A.K. nodded. "Something like that."

Tonks barked a laugh. "So did you kill Voldemort? That why you're limping?"

"Not yet." A.K. frowned a bit as he put pressure on his still healing side. He shook his head. "So what happened to Padfoot? And why the hell did Harry ally himself with Voldemort?"

Remus snapped. "Black? He's probably the one who poisoned Harry and turned him into Lord Levicordus."

"Yeah what's up with that name?" A.K. asked. "That's awful. Sounds like a spell if you've got a lisp."

"Huh?" Tonks asked.

A.K. got a playful smile and lisped out, "I am the Dark Lord Levicorpus!" With his wand aimed towards Tonks, on the last word she was flipped into the air dangling by her ankle. When her face turned purple, and not from a metamorphmagic change, A.K. quickly countered the spell and let her fall gracelessly back onto the couch.

A.K. shrugged. "Sorry bout that. Couldn't help myself there. And what's this about Black? Did he never escape from Azkaban?"

"Escape?" Remus asked ignoring Tonks moans and sputters. "Thank Merlin, no. How could he escape from that place anyway?"

"Err… his animagus form?"

Remus shook his head. "As soon as I heard what happened to Peter, I told them about his ability and made sure he got a cell warded against the transformation. Traitor deserved everything he got." Remus snarled. "And after the first breakout when Voldemort freed nine of his Death Eaters, Fudge had all the other lifers Kissed immediately. Good riddance."

A.K. was biting his tongue, doubtful his insight would be appreciated at the moment. "I see." He was beginning to understand this world a bit more. "So if he never left prison, how could he have poisoned Harry?"

Tonks shrugged not particularly proud of any members of her mother's side of the family. "They must have been communicating somehow. Because Harry got it in his head, that Sirius was innocent and we should let him out so Harry could live with him. He even volunteered to stay with Sirius at Azkaban."

A.K. choked on his drink. "He wanted to go to Azkaban?"

Remus sighed. "I still don't know how Sirius did it."

"Did Harry live with the Dursleys at the time?" A.K. asked.

Tonks nodded. "Yeah. He'd run away for a few years but was put back with them."

A.K. sighed wondering how many times he'd wanted to kill dear old Petunia and Vernon. Dudley too, but Dudley was a bit more sympathetic, as he had an excuse. "Why was he put back with them?"

"Well," Remus was confused. "They're his family. And they offered him a blood protection from Voldemort."

"How old was he when he ran away?" A.K. inquired curiously.

"He'd just turned five. It was his birthday," Remus explained.

A.K. shook his head in disappointment and exhaled loudly. "And yet you people kept sticking your champion of the light side with abusive hateful muggles? What does it tell you that a five year old has to run away? What does it tell you that he'd rather be in prison than back there?"

"He ran away because his magic acted up on the Dursleys," Remus explained defensively. "He was probably confused and embarrassed. There was never any indication he was being abused."

"Really? So there were indications he was loved and happily cared for?" A.K. asked. "How many times was he checked up on before he ran away? Or even after you stuck him back with them?"

Remus frowned. "You really think he was being abused?"

A.K. stated. "You never noticed how much smaller he seemed than other kids his age? Neither James nor Lily was anything less than average. What do you think it would take to make a kid prefer Azkaban over the personal prison Number Four Privet Drive was?"

Remus shook his head. "I always assumed that was Sirius' control over the boy."

"You ever talk to Sirius?" A.K. asked. "You ever visit him in prison or go over his trial and the testimony against him?"

Tonks shook her head. "There was no trial."

A.K. nodded. "I know. It'd just be nice to see logical conclusions drawn for once, rather than feeling as though I'm forced to plainly state these things."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked dangerously. "And how would you know where Harry grew up?"

"That is something I think we all would like to know," a wizened voice asked from the doorway.

"Albus!" Tonks exclaimed. "Your hand! What happened?"

A.K. sniffed the air as he looked over at the Headmaster's withered, blackened right hand. "That smells fresh. I hope it wasn't in the last two days…" He stated inquiringly with a smirk.

Albus observed A.K. very closely and found shields he knew he wouldn't breach. "Just this morning actually. This was the best the healers could do for me."

A.K.'s mouth twitched for just a moment before he burst out into laughter at the old man. "Oh that's classic."

Albus raised a curious eyebrow. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met, which makes it all the more curious that you would even be able to be here without first hearing from me."

A.K. shrugged. "I don't know where we are, but I can trace my own magic back to places that are protected. And the name is A.K., old man. I figure I'll save most of the juicy details for the meeting."

Albus smiled jovially having already heard about Hestia and Kingsley's close call. "Well how convenient that we are beginning the meeting now. Tonks, Remus, shall we escort our guest?"

The group made their way back to a large dining room, where there was an impressive meal waiting for them and nearly this entire world's Order of the Phoenix.

"Good to see everyone," Albus announced to the large gathering who were looking at the scarred man sitting in between Tonks and Remus. "I see you've noticed our uninvited guest. I believe some of you may have heard mention of him, but this gentleman goes by the name of A.K."

A.K. almost laughed at the looks that attracted. He stood up and addressed them all. "I'm here to share what I know about what happened at Slytherin Castle in exchange for understanding why Harry Potter went down the path allying himself with Voldemort."

Albus' eyes were about as dim as they had ever been. "I still have hope for him. I still have hope for both of them to see the error of their ways."

A.K. grunted. "Well, that's fine and dandy, but doesn't help me any. And I'm not sure how many of your loyal Phoenixers here would agree with you on trying to give a Dark Lord another chance." A.K. could see he wasn't exactly warmly welcomed but there were a few people who agreed with him.

"What is it you would like to know?" Albus asked tiredly.

A.K. looked to Albus and asked unflinchingly, "I'm curious if you knew about the abuse?"

The complete lack of surprise on the Headmaster's face was all the answer A.K. needed. Albus solemnly responded, "I did not know about any alleged abuse, but I suspected his life with the Dursleys was far from perfect."

A.K. stared back at the Headmaster. "Right. A five year old is getting beaten so bad and so often that his magic reacts and protects him, and you're able to convince the world it was completely accidental. I'd be shocked if when you questioned them, the Dursleys didn't refer to him as freak, abnormal, useless, or make mention of stomping the magic out of him? Am I close?"

Albus said nothing.

"Okay then," A.K. continued. "So he runs away sick of being hated and beaten. You lot track him down and force him back to live with the monsters he was trying to escape. Sounds like a lot of evil in the name of the greater good. So how long was he gone for? Where had he run to?"

Albus sighed and explained. "He had been living with a Death Eater. The only reason we know she didn't kidnap him from the Dursleys is that she was still in Azkaban at the time."

"Bellatrix?" A.K. asked picking up on another piece.

Albus nodded. "Harry refused to cooperate with us or tell us anything about what happened, but Bellatrix was put back into Azkaban. She appears to have cared for him as if he were a son for over two years. Although from what I'm hearing now, they may recently have become involved in a different sort of relationship."

"So if I understand this," A.K. reiterated. "Harry gets beaten and abused. Escapes. Finds someone who cares for him and treats him well. You manage to locate him. Put her back in prison. And put him back with the Dursleys. Where he was forced to return, every year even after he started at Hogwarts?"

"You are merely speculating here on Harry's treatment at the hands of the Dursleys," Albus insisted. "Abuse can come in a variety of ways, and may or may not be too strong a term."

A.K. nodded. "True enough. I'm just trying to understand why he felt Voldemort made more sense to him than you did, that's all."

Albus sighed. "There may not be an answer to your questions. We may not know what it was that pushed him too far. Voldemort did kidnap him and use him in a rebirthing ritual. At the time, I was sure Harry was the victim and not a willing participant. But after that he started becoming far more introspective. His acquaintances, while maybe not the closest of friends, said he wouldn't talk with hardly anyone."

"Hang on," A.K. interrupted. "You're skipping another big piece of the puzzle on me."

Albus looked around the room and saw everyone listening intently. He asked, "Which piece?"

"I'm talking about when Harry tried to tell you the truth about Sirius Black."

"The truth?" Albus asked. "He claimed Sirius never killed anyone. And he asked if he could stay with him in Azkaban."

A.K. looked over at Remus briefly and nodded. For some reason, this world's Remus needed a cold dose of reality. "Yeah, the truth. The truth that Peter Pettigrew was the Potter's secret keeper. That it was Wormtail who sold them out to Wormtail's dumb-ass Master. That Sirius found the wreckage of Godrics Hollow. That Sirius tried to get Harry, but Hagrid refused to let Sirius leave with his own godson, who coincidentally, with the sudden death of James and Lily, was the only one with any legal right over Harry. And so left with nothing, Sirius went after Peter, the man he knew was the traitor and cause of his friends' deaths. It took him a day to locate him in a muggle populated area, where Peter hastily set a trap. Peter framed him for killing a bunch of muggles, cut off his own finger to act like he'd been blown to smithereens, and managed to escape away in his animagus form of a rat right when the hitwizards showed up." A.K. nodded. "Padfoot's laughing at the madness of squib-like Peter doing these things and skittering away with only one less finger."

Remus' eyes were wide at the implications but he appeared to heavily doubt this.

"And of course then how the Ministry was too excited about the Dark Lord's downfall," A.K. continued, "to be bothered with a trial, when all of this would have easily kept an innocent man from prison, and Harry from the abuse of the Dursleys. Not to mention this also left a completely anonymous Death Eater rat out in the world to assist in resurrecting his Master. I think you may have even awarded him an Order of Merlin."

Tonks had tilted her head to the side, remembering details that seemed inconsequential at the time. "Harry said he didn't recognize the guy at the graveyard, only that he was missing a finger, before he cut off his entire hand."

Albus frowned heavily trying to process all of this. "Do you have any proof of this?"

A.K. thought about it. "I killed Pettigrew in the castle Kingsley and Hestia were captives of and then exploded the whole place. He was probably completely vaporized then." A.K. laughed a bit at this world. "Course I didn't think you'd all have no clue about him, or Kiss Padfoot for no reason."

"He was a Death Eater! There was a reason!" an angry voice A.K. didn't recognize yelled out.

A.K. rolled his eyes. "Right, right. Satan forbid, you have to alter your perceptions any. I'm just trying to understand why your hero of the prophecy saw you guys as the villain. I mean he's only been beaten and abused, finds someone who cares for him, sees her taken away, and he goes back to being beaten and abused. Then goes to school where shit piles onto him, I'm sure. Probably got found out as a Parselmouth and everyone called him names like dark and evil. Then finds out his godfather is supposed to be the one caring for him, not the people you kept sending him to. Of course no one listens to him about his godfather. He gets caught up in more people calling him names, gets kidnapped, and used in a resurrection ritual. Probably got called more names then and shortly thereafter the woman who cared for him is out of prison. Then the best link to his parents and one of the few who truly cared for him, gets Kissed despite a decade and a half in prison without a trial. And so what do you guys do to help him? You send him back to the Dursleys to get…what again? Oh, I'll just take a wild guess here and say beaten and abused." A.K. felt like smacking these people. "Sheesh. It's hard to believe he's not your golden boy of the prophecy."

"Those fucking Dursleys!" Remus snarled out.

"Oh yeah," A.K. leveled a stare at Remus. "Of course. This mess is all their fault." A.K. kept his glare focused on Remus and Albus in particular.

"Your theories do make sense." Albus sighed sadly. "But it doesn't exactly help us with our current predicament. I believe you were going to share with us a bit more about yourself and what happened at the castle you so eloquently exploded?"

A.K. saw the Headmaster seemed awfully unsurprised at what most here would call startling revelations. Sadly A.K. knew very little about this world and for the moment had to give these people the benefit of the doubt. "I never said anything about sharing info about myself, as so far, everything I've heard leaves me with a lot of doubts about the lot of you. But you said you still had hope for Harry?"

Albus nodded sadly.

"Well, forget about those hopes," A.K. explained. "Because I killed him. Anyone mind if I smoke?"

Having just announced something they all thought to be impossible, A.K. had managed to stun them into a brief silence.

"No one?" A.K. smiled as lit his cigarette. "Great." A.K. exhaled happily. "Yeah, that's the thing with that prophecy you guys like so much. It doesn't quite work with me. Keeps me in business that way."

Albus kept the surprise off his face, though he was slow to respond. "And how did you manage to… kill him?"

A.K. smiled. "Well I was aiming for Tom, to be honest. Harry just thought he'd be a smart-ass and tried to eat my Killing Curse. Kinda ruins the surprise of the prophecy not affecting me, when the first one drops dead in front of the other."

Albus' eyebrows rose rapidly. "You were dueling both of them?"

A.K. nodded. "Couple of right powerful bastards they were, but they ain't used to having to work together. I killed Bellatrix on a whim, and I think that really pissed Harry off." A.K. sighed remembering Harry's response. "Understandably so, now that I hear more about him."

"How many did you kill?" Albus softly asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

A.K. was fingering his cigarette still. "Well, Tom actually killed Lucius though he was aiming for me. I then killed Bellatrix when they didn't seem to believe me capable of dark magic. That got them all riled up, so I slipped into stealth mode and killed the other six Death Eaters in the room, one of which was Peter Pettigrew. I think the others were a couple of Carrows, a Parkinson, a Nott, and… someone else. Snape wasn't there if that's what you're worried about." A.K. paused. "Course if Snape was helping you lot out, you'd probably have heard about Wormtail. Ain't you got any spies at all?"

Albus shook his head in disappointment. "We received the heads of the last three we had as 'a gift from Lord Levicordus.' We didn't find out that Harry had fashioned himself a new name until shortly after that."

A.K. spotted Albus' hand as he rubbed his temples. "Oh that reminds me! Albus, you should get a laugh out of this one. I knew the prophecy wouldn't protect them, but they didn't. So before I was going to try a Killing Curse on either of them, I managed to bind Voldemort with an Egyptian Soul Trap. It came at the cost of giving Harry a free shot at me, but I was hoping to get this done in a one-off."

"Egyptian Soul Trap?" Albus looked confused. "I've never even heard of that. What is it?"

A.K. chuckled. "It snaps all of the bindings to a horcrux, and prevents his soul from ever being split again, at least until he figures out how to remove the Soul Cage. But part of the capture severs any current connections, including those to say… Marvolo Gaunt's ring."

"So any horcruxes Tom has made…?" Albus was asking looking down at his hand.

"Exactly," A.K. nodded. "Nullifies their primary purpose. They're still a piece of his soul, but they become a separate entity. And it's less than a half-entity. Somewhat dangerous still, but their purpose as it pertains to the original caster is ended. They no longer bare any connection to anyone and have no hold on souls passing on to the next great adventure." He finished with a triumphant smirk.

Albus sighed and restrained himself from pouting. He added, "That explains how you were able to kill Harry too, even getting around the prophecy. Because those two have placed pieces of their soul into each other. Your Soul Trap must have severed Harry's piece from himself too."

"That makes sense," A.K. explained. "Because those two also bound themselves by blood and magic in case either of them was killed."

"What?" Albus said jumping from his seat.

A.K. shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, right now Tom is somewhere in pain, acclimating to gaining all of Harry's power and sorting through his knowledge and memories. This was a little over two days ago, so he'll probably be out of commission and working on that for another 4 days approximately."

"Are you sure?" Albus asked, fearful of a Voldemort with all of Harry's power.

A.K. considered the question and replied, "Not certain, but every time it happened to me, it always took about a week."

Albus stopped and stared at A.K. carefully. "You've absorbed others' power and knowledge?"

A.K. shook his head. "No, not others," A.K. insisted with a roll of his eyes. "It's only happened three… no four times. And it's been Voldemort every time."

This answer did not allay the Headmaster's worries.

"I can't tell if what you're saying makes sense or if I want it to." Tonks said as she seemed to stare off into space.

A.K. sighed and frowned. "And I can't tell, if it's worth seeking retribution for what happened to Sirius and Harry."

Kingsley looked up dangerously. "I thought you killed Harry."

"I killed the Dark Lord Levicordus," A.K. explained. "Harry, on the other hand, was just a kid, helpless against a corrupt society that destroyed or took away every thing and person that seemed to care for him. Hell, the two most powerful wizards born in the last century have fallen victim to this Dark Lord breeding ground you've got going. Your problems run a lot deeper than just the big bad evil Dark Lords."

"You're… you're not going to help us kill Voldemort?" Tonks asked honestly. "But won't he still be protected by the prophecy?"

Albus remembered the business card. "I thought this is what you do? Kill the bad guys?" He finished in distaste for A.K.'s lack of respect for life.

A.K. nodded. "Yeah, so you tell me? Who're the bad guys around here? Who puts an innocent child with abusive guardians? Repeatedly? Who takes away the only thing that matters to a man, before leaving him to rot in prison? Who refuses him a trial before finally giving him a fate worse than death? Because I mean by leaving him alive and under the tortures of constant dementor exposure, you also gave Harry hope for a better life. It sounds a lot more merciful to me to just kill the innocents rather than toying with their emotions, and the emotions of those that know them. Are you asking me to start hunting down all the bad guys in this world?"

Albus frowned severely.

"Because I can guess a few of the names that would be near the top of that list," A.K. threatened staring intently at the Headmaster.

More than a few people were looking at Albus Dumbledore differently now. Albus sighed and the silence hung in the room for over a minute. The controlled powerful stare of Albus Dumbledore looked up right into A.K.'s eyes. Albus softly asked, "How much?"

A.K.'s mouth broke into a small grin at Dumbledore accepting that he needing A.K's help. "What are you asking for specifically here?"

Albus' control never wavered. "To kill Voldemort. You know we are unable to because of the prophecy, and you seem to be capable and our best hope. How much just to kill Voldemort and make sure he cannot come back?"

A.K. was smiling and drumming his fingers. He acted like he was running through some numbers in his head. He briefly considered how badly he wanted this Voldemort gone, and what his magic would do if he tried to fight it. And he certainly didn't want this world to get their problems solved by pure chance. But he doubted there was anything they could offer him that he would want. He had no need for more weapons, whores, or money. Might as well make them pay through the nose for it. After a long tense silence he pulled out another cigarette and lit it. "Ten million galleons."

A number of gasps and guffaws were let out at A.K.'s pronouncement.

Albus saw the confidence and seriousness on this strange man's face. "How soon could you do it?"

Many gasped again as Albus seemed to immediately accept his asking price.

A.K. smirked thinking this evening just may turn out to be fun. "How soon could you get me my money?"

"I could write you a bank draft from Hogwarts as soon as we have confirmation." Albus explained.

A.K. whistled with a smile. "That'd have to nearly wipe out all of her accrued savings and put off those repairs a few more years."

"We could manage," Albus agreed with a grin. "It'd be worth the price for just the children's safety, let alone the rest of the world."

"You want confirmation, huh?" A.K. asked while he rubbed his thumb and forefinger together. Slowly a bubble grew from the friction in his fingers and he pushed his cigarette to float lazily inside the bubble. "I can do you one better than that." With a vicious tear A.K. apparated through their wards, leaving the whole of the Order sitting there in confusion.

Albus' steady face faltered and looked momentarily surprised.

It was only about fifteen seconds later, that A.K. reappeared right next to his floating cigarette. He brought with him a naked, pale, cut, heavily bleeding man, who was writhing in pain and unaware of his surroundings. Many people screamed when they realized it was the Dark Lord Voldemort. A.K. jumped up onto the table, grabbed Voldemort under the arm and held him up in front of him, staring straight at the Headmaster. "Here's your confirmation. A front row seat to that which you wish for, but seem incapable of doing yourself."

Albus' eyes widened and he called out, "A.K.! No!"

A.K. paid him no mind and grabbed Voldemort's sweaty, blood-covered body in a tight bear hug. "Witness the final moments of your Voldemort!"

All the magic in the room seemed to halt leaving a moment of stale emptiness before both A.K. and Voldemort exploded in a shower of blood, guts, and gore. Order members shrieked as chunks of the Dark Lord splattered across their arms as they hastily tried to protect themselves.

Albus had been watching very closely, and saw in the split second Voldemort exploded. A.K.'s body flicker out of existence, back in briefly, and then out once more as Albus hurriedly shielded himself from the majority of nothing more than a pink mist.

Everyone sat there in complete and total shock, most of them unable to cope with what they had witnessed. After about ten seconds of shared looks of disbelief and silence, there was a crackling sound and flicker as a calm and clean A.K. reappeared right next to the blood-soaked bubble protecting his cigarette. He canceled his spell and snatched his smoke right out of the air as it began to fall. A.K. didn't have a smile on his face, just an unconcerned expression of disinterest. "There's a whole lot of Voldemort around here you can confirm all you want on. Now can you make that bank draft out to Cash?"

Albus just stared at A.K. wondering what the hell just happened, how that was even possible, and how this man could be so callous about taking a life. "Would you mind explaining what you just did and how you did it?"

A.K. shrugged as he continued smoking his cigarette. "I told you he was going to be in pain and out of it for another few days. I also informed you I can track my own magic. A soul cage is especially easy to locate. No idea where he was, but it was a room with no apparent doors or windows. And certainly no one else around to see him weakened. Probably a Fidelius of his own, that he was the secret keeper for. No matter, I grabbed him and brought him here. Tricky part about soul cages like the one I used though is you can't release them. But you can contract them down to magic, and then kill the body." A.K. explained. "It just comes at the expense of your own life."

Albus was wiping the sweat off his forehead, trying to cope with this new information. "So you died taking Voldemort's remaining soul with you?"

A.K. smirked. "I know a thing or two about how to manipulate death. Getting stuck with a Voldemort's knowledge has been known to do that." A.K. stopped a moment enjoying the fearful looks he was receiving. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to leave this poor example of a world soon, and hopefully never return. But first there is the matter of my payment…"

Albus nodded, willing to pay this man just to get him to leave their world. He scrambled through many of his pockets until he located the business ledger for the school. He scribbled out the note and slid it over to A.K.

A.K. grabbed the bank draft and looked at it briefly, nodded indicating everything looked in order and stood up, stamping out his cigarette on their table. He folded the draft and stuffed it into his robe's lining. "As much fun as it might be to think you've all learned a valuable lesson today, I ain't that fucking stupid. Goodbye and good riddance." And with a loud pop A.K. once more apparated through their wards disappearing from the Order's headquarters.

No one in this world either saw or heard from him again, and the story printed in the papers held as much fiction as it held truth. But every muggle homeless shelter and hostel all across the European continent passed out free t-shirts and jumpers in loud colors all proclaiming "Pureblood and Proud."