Disclaimer-I dont own nothing, not a thing well excpet anything you dont recognise, i may have a little claim to that
By the by, just been signed of work for at least a week so looks like your going to be getting quite a few updates soon, and before any of you start the reason harry defeated dumbledore so easily was because he didnt expect him to be capable at all, the last time he had seen harry was at school where he was no great shakes at magic.
Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming
He was fuming, absolutely enraged by what he had read in the paper that morning, 'that son of a bitch, faking his own death just to steal something from Voldemort, it was probably another horcrux but still I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't actually stolen anything at all but just used this as an excuse to get Snape back in Voldemort's favour and give himself a little bump in the popularity stakes'.
Marching down Diagon Alley many people moved out of the way of the young mage, not knowing who he was and in these dangerous times they were all wary of people who hid there faces, but weren't about to confront someone who's magic was literally sparking around him as he walked down the street. Knowing that he needed to calm down before going to see Dumbledore and needing to pick up his new wand he decided to go for a run in the forbidden forest in his animagus form first then head back at a later date. Concentrating slightly he opened a vortex and apparated through it to the middle of the forbidden forest, near where Hagrid had taken him and Ron to see Grawp last year.
Back at Diagon Alley all hell had broken loose, with some Aurors checking the wards around the alley with others scanning the area to make sure nothing untoward was happening in the mean time. The alley by design had some of the strongest wards in the world, with each building having separate wards around them, knitting in together and reinforcing each other. For someone to seemingly apparate, all be it silently, out of the alley was some feat. Shacklebolt, who happened to be on guard duty that day immediately contacted both Dumbledore and the Ministry. Something really weird had just happened, he wasn't sure why, but he had a real good feeling about the person who had just done this but would never voice this opinion, the Ministry would be scared of them and Dumbledore would be threatened. All in all he was caught between a rock and a hard place.
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Running through the forest, he couldn't help but relax, his long, powerful strides eating up the ground as he dove between trees, skirting the territory of the acromantula nest which he knew from memory was quite near by, and he really wasn't in the mood to deal with them right now. Flash appeared above him and the sky darkened, sensing his masters mood the phoenix gave a cry of pure power and rage, the heavens opened and a storm unlike any other Harry had ever seen brewed up and rained down upon the forest, lifting his head to the sky he let out a content growl and telepathically thanked his friend. The storm helped a lot and was helping more by the minute.
Half an hour later, Harry was sitting in a clearing scratching his phoenixes special spot, just behind his left ear, earning contented phoenix song from his familiar. Suddenly Flash took off of his lap into the air, Harry looking up could see a figure appearing from the horizon, in the rough direction of Hogwarts, did Dumbledore know he was here? That question was answered soon after with a no, when Hedwig landed alongside Flash, he had never seen his owl look so hopeful and fearful at the same time, this scared him so he looked at Flash for a reason.
"Master it seems that before Hedwig became your owl see was a wild owl, most are bred in captivity but she was not. She got injured by a young wizard playing with its mothers wand and the witch felt guilty so took her to the pet shop in Diagon Alley, she is wondering if you would free her, she says she would miss you terribly but that she had a mate in the wild and would like to return to him"
A single tear rolled down Harry's cheek, he had been keeping her all this time when she had a family of her own, he felt guilty beyond words. "Tell her I would be honoured, and am sorry to of kept her from her family for this long"
A low short burst of phoenix song later and Hedwig flew up onto Harry's lap, nipping his finger affectionately before taking off cuffing his head slightly with her wing and flying into the distance.
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Feeling slightly subdued but extremely excited Harry apparated back to the leaky cauldron, it was near dinner time and he was starving after not getting anything for lunch. Once inside the pub he was amazed at how deserted the place was, nothing like any other time he had been there and he suddenly understood why Tom was so remorseful last time they met. Going up to the bar he looked at the menu and seeing Tom appear from a back room with a smile that did not reach his eyes plastered on his face he made a decision.
"Hello, I was wondering if I could order one of your specials. And a butterbeer on the side" he asked nicely to the barkeep. A small smile and a nod of his head later Tom left to go prepare his food. As He emerged from the back with a steaming plate of chicken, beef, sausage, bacon and mash with loads of gravy he offered Tom the seat opposite him saying it was along time since he had had company. Tom awarded Harry for his effort with a wide smile, and after gathering himself a mug of mead sat opposite him.
"So how are things Tom last time we talked you seemed a bit down?" Harry asked, he wasn't going to hide his identity from the old man, but that's all he was going to find out.
"I'm sorry son but have we met before, I'm usually quite good with faces but I don't seem to recognise yours" he explained
"Its alright I wouldn't expect you to, I have been through some changes since then" and lifting up his fringe, a small line of gold in the shape of a lightning bold could be seen.
Gasping Tom looked at the young man in front of him and wondered what had happened to the shy, innocent boy that had walked in to the wizarding world not six years ago. "Harry, what, what happened to you?"
"I trained myself up a little, we are at war and everybody needs to be ready, I just took it upon myself to make sure that I am" He said with a smile. From there the conversation turned more light-hearted until Tom mentioned that he was going to Dumbledore's return to life party tonight at Hogwarts and was wondering if he himself was going. 'Perfect, I'll show Dumbledore I'm not the little boy he used to boss around anymore and show the wizarding world what a manipulative old coot he really is' a smile appearing on his face that made the old bar keep shiver, and he made his apologies saying he needed to pick something up before heading home for the night.
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Fifteen moments saw Harry standing in the wand makers shop the most nervous he had been in years, in fact he couldn't remember a time when he had ever been this nervous. Although when Ollivander emerged from the back room holding a box as delicately as he could, eyebrows and half a head of hair missing, Harry couldn't help but laugh. Ollivander directed a glare at him but said nothing.
"What the heck happened to you" he said with another chuckle.
"The binding liquid I normally use had an adverse reaction to the powerful core, it couldn't handle it and blew up, nothing was damaged except my head, but the annoying thing is they won't grow back with magic" Ollivander grumbled. Bursting out laughing Harry was in hysterics, he had never heard anything so funny in his life. "Now Mr Potter it's rude to laugh, especially when the person you're laughing at is still here, now please could you pick up the wand so I can be sure of my safety once more" Placing the box down on the table he skittered off to what he thought was a safe distance.
Walking up to the wand Harry reached down and picked up the wand not expecting what was about to happen. Pain, lots and lots of pain, it was like the Cruciatus but it was over quickly, above him was Flash looking down very proudly. "A full bonding of a wand and you didn't scream master, very good, you must have great mind control to not of screamed"
"No Flash I'm just used to pain, it's sad really but it had its uses, so what's this wand bonding thing?" He asked his familiar but before he could answer Ollivander was over straightening him up and started babbling.
"A full wand binding but they are so rare only when the wizard is a complete and perfect match for his wand does this happen" He carried on after that talking more to himself than Harry but, he did get the gist of it, looking down at the new wand he couldn't help but feel complete, something was still missing, he wasn't sure what, but he didn't need to know that now. Now he needed to get ready for tonight, and plan how best to ruin Dumbledore's little welcome home party.
Using his element, he pulled it around him and in a blink of darkness was outside a massive mansion. His jaw dropped, no wonder the twelve families kept the place of there ancestral homes so well hidden, the Ravenclaw one was amazing. Walking towards the front door he suddenly sensed danger, spinning on his heal he came face to, well leg with a huge dragon glaring down at him. The dragon was a royal blue in colour with bronze scales above its eyes and along it back ridge. Harry had never seen a dragon like this, preparing himself for a fight he gulped slightly, this was going to be awful, the dragon was about a half bigger than the Hungarian horntail he fought in the tri-wizard tournament and this time he had to subdue it somehow. But to his immense surprise after a couple of sniffs the dragon bowed slightly and flew off to where he could see a few more dragons in the distance, near the edge of his land. Flash took that moment to fly down onto his shoulder and inform him that they were the guardians of the Ravenclaw manor and some of the only ancient dragons left in existence. 'Well that's solves the security issue' he thought to himself and walked back to the front door and opened it.
Inside was a manor of luxury but usability which surprised Harry in the most, it was the finest place he had ever been in yet, it looked as if it had been lived in and felt homely. After a tour from one of the house elves, which had all been freed by an ancestor but refused to leave and served the family ever since. Upon reaching the library he found a family history book and using the ring he absorbed the knowledge not learning that much new stuff but the odd thing, he had most of it downloaded in the transfer, but he did find another reason to hate Dumbledore. His father could of come here with him and been safe, unless Voldemort was strong enough to take on 6 ancient blue dragons and win, which he seriously doubted, but Dumbledore had done the same to James as he had to Harry, James had no idea he was heir of Ravenclaw, or descendent of one of the twelve families when he died, the old coot had hidden it from him, and it had cost him his life.
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Harry looked in the mirror and for the first time in his life he liked what he saw. With the training in the chamber and a growth spurt he was now a shade over 6' and filled out quite nicely thanks to the training, element and animagus transformation. He was wearing his battle robes with Eleanor, his sword, strapped to his back. With his hair long enough to cover his ears and in several waves so it looked as if he was caught in a strong wind he was reminded of the warlocks of old marching onto the battle field.
That's what he classed tonight as, a battle, if Dumbledore won Harry would be back under his thumb, if Harry won then the wizarding world would have a new leader to follow, somehow Harry thought this was going to end in a draw, with the old coot pulling something ridiculous to try and gain control of his weapon again, but he would deal with that when it came.
Taking a deep breath, he started to gather a large amount of his element around him, the ball had started over two hours ago and Dumbledore was due to make his appearance any minute, Harry was going to arrive with a bang, literally.
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BOOM! 'Well that worked well' he mused as everybody in the room jumped a foot in the air and drew there wands to point at Harry. Giving a cheeky grin, combined with an apologetic "oops" he walked over to where the people were standing looking up at the stage where Dumbledore was looking positively murderous, only in his eyes of course his calm grandfatherly image was still his out going appearance, but his eyes were glinting. Harry was pretty sure he could take Dumbledore in a fight these days, but didn't want to give that a shot just yet, there was a reason Voldermort hated fighting him. Legitimacy, Dumbledore was a true master of the art, more powerful even than Rowena, or anyone Harry had read about, with his constant mental attack, it made it almost impossible to concentrate to defend against him, never mind trying to attack, or come up with a strategy to defeat him.
"After that short interruption, I will continue, and please son, next time try and make the portkey properly" he added with a smile. Harry smiled back, thinking it would not do well to interrupt again and inform them he apparated, it was 'impossible' after all, but unleashed a wave or aura instead, only the aura readers in the room, Dumbledore and Mad-eye Moody, would be able to interpret this, the rest of the people just got a shiver down there spine from the raw magic realise. Moody started laughing hysterically, while Dumbledore stopped and stared, gaping at the changes in Harry who had by this point found a wall to lounge against, showing his utter distain for the whole thing. Dumbledore sent Harry a mind message saying that they would speak later, to which Harry retorted with a mental snort, if that was possible.
Halfway through the proceedings Harry suddenly flicked his wand free from his arm holster and pointed at the person trying to sneak up on him from his blind side. Firing a mild pain curse at the mans knee caps he heard the resulting cursing and swearing and turned to see Moody lying on the ground with his peg leg snapped in two. Choking back a laugh and mending the leg, he helped the old auror back to his foot/peg and leaned back against the wall.
"Excellent my boy, was doing my best to sneak up on you there and I didn't even get close enough to blow in your ear before you took me down. With a silent and invisible curse to, bravo" Moody said impressed, not a lot impressed him, but you didn't get a young lad with so much talent very often. He feared there was going to be a split between Harry and Dumbledore after tonight and he would have to choose sides, right now he was favouring Harry.
"Now ladies and gentlemen I will explain to you all how and why, as much as I can reveal under the secrecy acts, I disappeared two weeks ago" This peaked Harry interest and turned back to the stage. "First how I survived, we all in this room, I am sure, know there is such a thing as soul magic and that it is extremely difficult and dangerous but none the less exists. This was the bases of my survival, I created using soul magic and some ancient runes, a container for my soul which when the killing curse hit would draw my soul into it. There were two reasons for this, first we had a spy on our side and we needed to find out who it was and second I needed to gain a physical artefact from one of Voldemort's hiding places. Both of which were successful, I cannot go into details of either but I will tell you that he is weaker than he was even a few, short days ago" (read note at bottom people, kinda important) Dumbledore finished beaming a bright smile at the crowd, Harry however didn't join in the whoops and applause that had started up around him, all he could think was what a load of bullshit.
He had to take his hat off to Dumbledore though, the man knew how to play the crowd, and it was just a pity the old codger liked to ruin people's lives as well. The other thing Harry couldn't believe was that he would have been stupid enough to create a horcrux himself, he made it sound nice enough but basically he had split his soul, in a special container, so they would join again when he 'died' allowing him an amount of freedom.
Looking back up after his musing Harry caught Dumbledore's eye and was beckoned out into the corridor that led to the headmaster's office. Deciding this was as good a time as any to confront his old headmaster, so headed out another door to take a different root. He wanted the upper hand after all. Reaching the Gargoyle a long way ahead of Dumbles he suddenly realised that he didn't know the password. 'Ah well' he thought 'might as well just apparate then'. This he could actually do because he had the founders blood in him, he was just very glad that Voldermort didn't know that little fact, or if he did then Dumbledore had put up some sort of block against him specifically, or Hogwarts thought him unworthy.
Lounging in a conjured chair, a rather large throne like chair at that, Dumbledore walked in, eyes darkening and losing there twinkle at the sight of his 'prodigy'. Acting unsurprised as usual, Harry was praying for the day he made him truly shit himself with shock, and walked over behind his desk. They were joined a short time later by professor McGonagall and Moody. Minerva humphed at the total lack of respect shown by the young man in front of her, while Moody chocked back another laugh, hiding it behind another very realistic cough, making Harry think he had actually choked on his own laugh.
"Now Harry would you mind telling us what exactly you are doing here, how you got here and what you have done to yourself since the last day of term?" Harry could feel the mental attack, but his shields were more than up for the task, scaring Dumbledore slightly when he forced him out of his mind so hard he rocked in his chair.
"Firstly I am not going to tell you nothing Albus, until you tell me the whole truth, which I already know by the way, but want to hear from you, see if I have missed anything and second I don't have to tell you squat, so stay the hell out of my mind" Harry's voice had got colder as he continued to talk, with the air and his voice making everyone in the room shiver as he finished. Professor McGonagall was gaping at him, not believing what she was seeing.
"Harry, what happened to you" she stuttered wide eyed to, one of, her favourite pupils, she just couldn't comprehend the changes in the boy, no man in front of her.
"I got some help from a few friends to help me in my task professor" he said smiling at her, he had always liked the strict teacher, she was everything Snape wasn't, and in his eyes that made her alright. She smiled back and nodded, she of course thought it was Lupin and maybe Tonks that had helped him, with Dumbledore's permission, she was shocked when she looked up to see said headmaster frowning at the teenager who was inspecting his nails as if nothing was happening.
"Who helped you Harry?" he asked
"Blow it out your arse Albus and its Lord Potter to you" he stated not looking up from a particularly tough nail.
"Now har….Lord Potter" he corrected himself after Harry's head shot up to glare at him showing the power behind them "I'm sure your angry at my apparent death but I assure it had to be done, I couldn't risk telling you with Voldemort connected to you through your scar" Harry snorted at this, he wasn't going to tell him about him being a horcrux himself though, would probably twist it and tell the world he was evil. Harry snorted out loud at his own thought and calmly looked up at the headmaster.
"If that's all Albus, I will take my leave"
"That's professor, headmaster or sir to you Harry" Dumbledore said with an edge to his voice "the law states that you must stay at school until you have received your newt qualifications or your wizarding guardian gives you permission. I know you no longer have a guardian as you renounced me from the job leaving you with no way to leave. You have no way out, you cannot even transfer without a guardian's signature, a nice little loophole in the law I thought" he finished with a smug grin.
"Yes I was aware of that law, updated quite recently I believe with you as its sponsor, you certainly seem to be able to plan ahead" with that Harry carried on to the door "See you on September the first then"
"I'm afraid I can't let you leave Harry, it wouldn't be safe for you"
Harry turned his eyes glowing "I am safer than you could ever make me, and my parents would have been too if you hadn't messed with my fathers mind, now I bid you farewell"
Dumbledore stood and drew his wand while Fawkes flew behind Harry to guard the door; it was obvious he wasn't going to get out of this that easily. Harry deciding to take the fight to Dumbledore transfigured his desk into a ball of tar and banished it at the headmaster, followed by a extreme heading spell solidifying the tar, Dumbledore was stuck fast, his wand having been knocked out of his hand with the speed the tar came at him and stuck somewhere among it. He was suprised at the ease he had just beaten one of the best wizards in centurys, but he mused that dumbledore was probally expecting a stunning spell, not a complex transfiguration, as his attack, turninghe sawthat Fawkes was not going to let him go started to raise his wand to fire a freezing charm at the bird when Flash burst into the room and screeched at Fawkes before landing on Harry's shoulder. Fawkes upon seeing the thunder phoenix flew over to his perch and bowed to him before apologising with a mournful burst of phoenix song. With his path free of obstruction Harry calmly walked out leaving people with three very different thoughts in there mind. Moody was impressed, very impressed and had decided that he would find Harry, if he could, and pledge his support to the boy. McGonagall was proud of her student's magical ability and especially the transfiguration skills he had shown when changing the desk but puzzled at what he had said and was getting ready to berate the headmaster although her support would always be with him. Dumbledore was fuming, how that…, that child dare show him up in front of his two generals and to get Fawkes to bow and move out of his way, which was completely not on. One thought was constant among them all however; they would never underestimate Harry Potter again.
About the vial for Dumbledore's horcrux, because he was essentially dead, he had no living body was merely a spirit, much like a ghost, magical contracts and papers would of shown him as dead, this is why Gringott's and the goblin thought him to be dead.