Standard Disclaimers Apply
Author's Notes:
Hi. To all my readers who were patiently anticipating this chapter, I am so sorry for the late update. I fell out of the loop for this story for a bit. I just couldn't get the whole cliche getting better over the summer thing. (Eventually I decided to skip it and jump in the time line.) I just couldn't get this chapter to work so I took a break (one in which I started three other stories (one if which I abandonned) in the time it took for me to get back into the feel of it).
I had recently been under a large workload but my time is freeing up now so I sat down and started writing this chapter and it sort of wrote itself. I hope to update more often. I am now concentrating specifically on three of my stories (this one being the more serious one storywise). I suggest you read my other Harry Potter fic, it is one of my best works.
Anyways, this chapter is more of an informative transistion chapter so little to no violence in this one. Sorry. But it's still good. I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter Four
Just Another Day
It had been nearly a month since the mysterious 'kidnapping' of Harry Potter and the first appearance of Nightmare. The people were still talking about it, speculating on whether Harry was still alive, whether he would come back like promised and whether the mysterious Nightmare was really as opposed to death eaters as the massacre on Privet Drive suggested. Pandemonium had erupted when the news of Harry's disappearance had hit the front page of the Daily Prophet. It read:
BOY WHO LIVED MISSING
Harry Potter Kidnapped During Attack
Yesterday in the early hours of the morning, a squad of ministry officials had come to Harry Potter's place of residence to check up on a rather strange amount of magic being detected used around the house. Since Mr Potter's wand was not detected by the ministry to have been used and there were no wizards or witches living in the area, it was suspicious enough to incite a ministry investigation. What the officials found when they arrived were more than they would ever have suspected.
What they found could only be described as close to a war zone. Found on the front lawn were the corpses of 12 murdered death eaters. With the amount of blood splattered everywhere it can only be assumed that they had died painfully. There was only one survivor who was later questioned by a team of Aurors who had been dispatched after the ministry had been informed. All they could gather from him before he broke down in hysterics however was that this massacre had been caused by one single person who had easily killed all of his cohorts.
The unnamed death eater is now under mental treatment at St. Mungo's. He however has not responded to any of the test and now only mutters, "What a nightmare, such a nightmare…" It is believed that this is a reference to the 'ominous figure' that had murdered a dozen death eaters.
Checking on the residence of the house, it was found that Mr Potter was missing from his bedroom, all of his possessions along with him. All that was found was a note. Although the entirety of the note was not released to the public, we have been able to find that the note was signed 'Voldemort's Worst Nightmare' and that it promised that Mr Potter was safe and would be back for the school year in September.
Who is this mysterious 'Nightmare', as the Aurors have named this vigilante? What were his intentions in taking Mr. Potter and is he going to keep his word about returning him? We can only wait and speculate.
People were in a panic over this news and everyone started being more cautious with such an unsavoury character on the loose. During the nest few days there were constant updates on Nightmare and anything related to him. News titles like: 'Nightmare Strikes again: Death Eater Massacre in Manchester', 'Saved by Nightmare: Exclusive Interview with Florean Fortescue on Being Rescued and Surviving a Death Eater Attack' and even the Quibbler had run an article: 'Is Nightmare Actually a Vigilante Goblin?' Harry actually really enjoyed the last one (both Harry's did actually) even though the information was a bit off.
Diagon Alley was not having one of its best days. Ever since the wizarding public has been alerted that Voldemort was indeed alive and terrorising again, the usual hustle and bustle of this thriving avenue of busy businesses had now been reduced to tightly knit groups that were always looking over their shoulders.
The usual joy that one would have when venturing on a shopping expedition to Diagon Alley had all but vanished leaving behind paranoia. Instead of the usual gallivanting through the shops the people move cautiously and are always glancing over their shoulders.
It is quite funny to note that however more aware they were, they still did not notice Harry Potter apparate into the street and then hastily conjure up a cloak for himself. They did however stay clear of the black cloaked figure that was strolling down the lane towards Gringotts.
As he passed by the numerous shops that littered Diagon Alley, Harry remembered back to his first visit to this place that summer. It had been a long exhausting day. Not only did Harry duel a squad of death eaters and bypass two sets of obstacles but he had also had a full day of exhausting shopping. Any shopaholic would be proud of the amount of things he had bought.
At the beginning of the day Harry had an interesting meeting with the goblins where he found out about all of his vaults. The goblins were also surprised by the fact that Harry did not know about his vaults (especially because there had been some numerous and quite sizable withdrawals from the Potter vaults in the last five years). He had been told that he should have been told by his family's financial executor on his eleventh birthday. The appointed executor for the Potter accounts was Albus Dumbledore. Harry was able to get the goblins to fine Dumbledore for failure to follow the duties of a financial executor (in which he had signed a contract to become) and for embezzlement (if it wasn't Harry who was taking all of that money out it had to be Dumbledore).
After a brief conference with the elder goblins who had wished to speak with him (matters on which will be discussed later), Harry was escorted to his vault and took a large amount of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. He had even bought a bottomless money poach from the goblins gift shop (a very small counter in the corner of the main room of Gringotts with a small sign stating the words 'Merchandise' above it: the goblins did not like too many people to be in possession of goblin made items). He also got some of his money exchanged for muggle money.
Harry (who was disguised using some self Transfiguration) exited Gringotts and went about to buy excessive amounts of things. He had bought many pairs of robes and cloaks from Madam Malkin's; enough books from Flourish and Blott's to give Hermione a run for her money (he had also bought some Ancient Runes and Arithmancy text books on 'dark' Harry's insistence); some Dark Arts text from the stores in Knockturn Alley; and then moved on to shop in Muggle London.
Finding a shopping centre, he went to buy lots of muggle clothing (desperately needing them as all Harry owned were Dudley's larger than humanly possible hand me downs). He also picked up some catalogues so that he could mail order from. He then found a hotel and checked in. After putting an untraceable charm (one that excluded owls unless they were being traced) on himself, 'dark' Harry allowed control to go back to 'light' Harry and fell asleep in exhaustion.
Since then Harry has read the books he bought, practiced switching control of their body (which made the shift from 'light' Harry to 'dark' Harry less noticeable i.e. his hair didn't get grey streaks anymore and he doesn't keel over in pain every time he switched) and then generally do things at his own pace whenever he wanted. It was a much needed change and he was having one of the best summers he had ever had.
Whenever he felt that there was going to be an attack, he would try to stop it. At his last count he had stopped 15 death eater attacks (at 12 of them, he had slaughtered every last death eater involved in the attack). All of the death eaters he was meeting though seemed all to be new recruits and he hadn't seen many inner circle members all summer (those he did see he made sure to kill). Regularly, Harry would also go out and stroll through either Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley and just be on the lookout. This was one of those times.
Harry decided that his first stop would be to Gringotts. Even with the amount of money he had taken with him a month ago, now he was starting to run out. There were some new security procedures that were implemented at Gringotts (on the ministry's new decree) that just seemed to only inconvenience all the customers (as do most ministry decrees) as it now took a couple of hours to be able to get to your vault. Harry didn't have this problem though.
Walking through the door, he immediately walked to a small secluded side counter that was guarded by two armoured goblins. Talking discreetly to the goblin at the desk, Harry was led through a side door into the goblin's office section. He was taken to one that had the name 'Rabnook' engraved on it. Harry knocked and entered when he was beckoned in.
The goblin at the ornamental desk was indistinguishable from all the other goblins except for the fact that his clothes seemed more regal. Rabnook stood up when he saw Harry walk into his office. "Well, if it isn't our favourite vigilante goblin, eh? Good day Mr Potter's. What can I do for the two of you?"
"Why do you continually haunt him with that? He may have laughed when it first came out but he takes a little offence at being falsely labelled."
"Great offence my ass, I'm pissed. I mean honestly, a goblin? A vampire, a werewolf, a zombie, the next dark lord or a mutant rat that sprouted from the sewer works I can understand but what the hell? Okay then; rant over."
"He says 'Hi' by the way" stated Harry ignoring the string of insults that he is being mentally barraged with. "Do you I can get a quick withdrawal from my account then?"
Slamming a large bag of coins onto the desk, the goblin slowly pushed the heavy load across his desk. "I'm sorry Mr. Potter's, but I can't do that. There are new Ministry regulations in place which forbid me to do so, but… they do not stop the flow of money between goblins, do they? Nightmare?"
"No… I guess they don't. What a shame?" answered Harry, picking up the notably heavy bag. "Thanks for trying. I hope to see you soon."
Rabnook waved him goodbye and as the door to his office closed he whispered to nobody, "Good luck out there. You don't know how much of a saviour to the people you really are."
Stepping out into the glaring sun of August, Harry had to shield his eyes. He looked up and down the street. They were bare with sparse groups of cautious wizards and witches milling around. When he had received his Hogwarts letter, when he had first entered the wizarding world, it had been a whole new beginning with such hope. Now, Voldemort had reduced it to this.
Voldemort had taken everything from him; his parents, his godparent and any semblance of a normal life. Harry's fist clenched at these thoughts. 'It won't be so easy anymore, Voldemort. No one else will have to suffer like we did when we are done with you.'
Harry smiled at 'dark' Harry's sentiment. He whispered up to the sky, "No one deserves to suffer like we did. Voldemort will pay for everything. For every ounce of pain he has inflicted on another person, we will pay back tenfold."
Harry was broken out of his thoughts of revenge when he spotted a large concentration of red coming down Diagon Alley. 'That must be the Weasleys. We haven't seen them for a while. Let's have a look at what they are doing.'
"Okay. Seeing them again will be nice." Indeed the group mainly consisted of Weasleys. Ginny, Ron and Mrs Weasley were there, but there was also Hermione and Tonks. Most probably they were here to get their new school supplies and Tonks was there to guard them.
Harry switched. Underneath his cloak, his hair grew a grey tint and his green eyes grew darker. No one seemed to notice as he disappeared into the shadows as well. Harry was now hidden in their shadows, following them. Tonks would not be enough of a guard if they were attacked, not that he had anything against Tonks, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"It's just not the same, Ron" Harry heard Hermione say. "I wish Harry was here."
"Don't worry Hermione. Dumbledore said that he is trying his best to find Harry" said Ron putting a comforting arm around Hermione.
"But, what if it's too late? We don't know a thing about this 'Nightmare'" responded Hermione breaking away from his grasp to face him. "What if he's already dead and we won't ever find out."
"Hermione, we can't think like that. Harry just has to be okay" said Ginny trying to make Hermione feel better. She was close to tears at this moment. Tonks went to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She stopped in her tracks though when she stepped on Hermione's shadow; the one Harry was hiding in.
'Oh crap, she must have a magic displacement spell on her, she can sense us!' thought 'dark' Harry to the 'light' Harry in his mind. Before Harry could high tail it out of there, Tonks had pointed her wand at the part of Hermione's shadow that was sprawled over the wall next to them. Most people couldn't sense these things, but Harry could definitely feel killer intent coming from her. She was sure adamant to let nothing happen to them.
"Come out! We know you're there" shouted Tonks. The others were looking at her strangely. Making sure to magic on his Nightmare uniform, Harry slowly emerged from the shadow. Now, the others were paling visibly at the cloaked figure that had just appeared out of a shadow.
"Who are you and why are you here?" asked Tonks, her wand pointed at Harry's head. Even with the bubble gum pink hair, in this situation she could be taken very serious. Harry lifted his arms to draw down his hood, revealing his recently donned black mask. It covered from his forehead to the brim of his nose. His eyes were not visible through the black material that the mask was made from. His grey hair was tuft upwards because of the mask.
"Well, as to who I am… You'll find out eventually. As to why I am here, it's my job and also, Harry wouldn't like it if his friends got hurt while I was out on patrols" replied Harry in a cool calm tone.
"Harry…" said Hermione. "Then that makes you Nightmare then."
"Very good, I knew it would be you to figure it out first. Harry does say you're a really bright girl." Hermione blushed a bit at this. Their confrontation was disrupted however by a large explosion from the other end of the alley.
It was a death eater attack. Spells were being fired left, right and centre by the motley group of death eaters. Harry turned back to Tonks and her group, and waved. "Now, if you would excuse me, I have work to do."
He silently apparated out of Tonks' grasp. Tonks cursed him but then felt a tugging on her sleeve. It was Hermione and she was pointing down the street towards the death eaters. What they saw would stay in their memories forever. They would be one of the few who saw Nightmare's work first hand and live to talk about it later.
The leader who was leading the new batch of recruits was appalled by their poor spell work. They were newbies though and had still to learn to use such spells as the Unforgivables. He would have to teach them by example. Aiming his wand at the nearest bystander, who just happened to be a mother holding her baby, he spoke, "Avada Kedavra."
As the green ray was about to leave his wand, a small POP could be heard and a foot landed on his wand wielding arm along with the rest of Harry, forcing his wand to point to the ground causing a small explosion at the death eater's feet. As the leader was falling back, Harry fired a low powered 'Bombarda' at the man's face from point blank range. That death eater would never get up again.
As the corpse hit the ground, Harry landed gracefully into a fighting stance facing the line of death eaters, standing between them and the crowd of innocent bystanders. In all honesty after that display, they were all intimidated.
"It's only one of him and there are a load of us. What's there to be scared of? Let's kill him for doing that" yelled one of the cockier death eaters. As the death eaters started surrounding Harry, he discarded his cloak to reveal his form fitting black clothes, the same ones he had worn on his first massacre. The sight of the even more ominous figure was enough for some of the death eaters to start shaking.
"Woke up this morning and this is what awaits me, eh? Looks like today is…" Harry licked his lips as he poured magic into the palm of his left hand to construct his pure black wand. Now all the death eaters were shaking a bit from the lowered temperature and from see the sadistic grin on Harry's face. "Yep, looks like today is just another day…"
End Chapter Four
Tonight, Tonight, Tonight
- Beat Crusaders -
Woke up with you this morning
I'm still alive
Turned on my radio to start a new day
Last cup and DJ chutfield
Hard to survive
Amazing new sky over under away
Tonight love is racing
Tonight constellation
Tonight love is racing away
Almost another day
Chases a shooting star
Good night, good night
She's a shooting start
Good bye
Tonight, love is racing
Tonight, constellation
Tonight, love is racing away
Almost another day
See, just another day
Author's Notes:
Okay this was the first chapter that was somewhat inspired by a song and said song is above (it's the fourth opening song of the Bleach anime Near enough the best anime of all).
Anywho, the next chapter will have a nice fight sequence in it where Harry will harshly beat up a load of death eaters. It should be fun. Also, in the next chapter, Dumbledore will finally arrive on the scene.
Side Note:
Woohoo! Finally, I have a story that goes further than three chapters. I'm so happy. Hopefully, I can actually complete a story.