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Harry Potter: Thinking like a Thief.

While he was immersed in reading a spellbook, Harry was sitting up in bed, barely listening to the conversation among three of his dorm mates - like himself, Neville was keeping out of it, but Ron, Dean and Seamus were loudly talking about the fire which had taken place in the village and how a number of corpses, many of them belonging to some of Hogwarts students were brought out as the building on the outskirts of the village burnt to the ground.

Some of the corpses had been identified already. Draco Malfoy. Vincent Crabbe. Gregory Goyle. Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Lily Moon, and half a dozen boys and girls from different houses, including Gryffindor had been pulled out and identified, but they were not alone. Among the dead, several Death Eaters were found. What made it interesting, and Harry honestly had no intention of not making it clear in the pamphlets while he prepared to burgle the homes of a few of the ones whose family lines were now, for all intents and purposes, dead and buried, those Death Eaters had been too young to have been involved in the previous war.

Hopefully, that would get them thinking. But luckily a few people were starting to think along those logical lines. The only question was would it be enough? Time would tell. It always did.

The DMLE had arrived on the scene and nearby a number of half-naked or really naked girls and women, some of them were showing a catatonic state while showing clear signs of abuse and magical tortures consistent with what you would find from the Death Eater's numerous victims during the last war.

But what really made the whole thing sickening was many of the victims were in fact kidnapped muggle or muggle-born children. All of them had been kidnapped and taken to the brothels hosted by the Death Eaters or their allies and supporters, and they were forced to endure a horrifying existence as they were tortured day and night, magically and sexually. Harry had made sure Dobby took an eavesdropping rune to record all of the details, and he knew more about the case than his dormmates.

For half a day while he was dealing with Umbridge, taking Hufflepuff first years to the hospital way, Harry had been hearing the same thing over and over again. Umbridge, naturally, had taken it upon herself to announce to the school there were no Death Eaters, but the stupid woman hadn't yet comprehended the fact there were too many witnesses.

"I always knew that bastard Malfoy was a Death Eater," Ron was saying loudly to Dean and Seamus, the two boys in the dorm more like him in attitude and personality, "I mean, only a slimy Death Eater Snake like him could like something like that, wouldn't he?"

Harry winced at the volume of Ron's voice. He noted how the local contender for the Redheaded League didn't say anything about the nine Gryffindors who'd been found and identified from the inferno. It was likely the idiot was ignoring the whole matter, or he simply put it down to Slytherins causing trouble. Harry didn't bother adding in his own opinions because he hadn't witnessed the event, but he knew more about what happened because Dobby had given him a blow by blow account of what he'd done.

Dobby had found the brothel was filled with Death Eaters and prospects having 'fun.' Harry had needed to stop himself from feeling physically sick when the loyal elf had told him what they had done to the muggles inside the brothel, but he had needed the details to really horrify the 'readership' of the pamphlets.

Harry frowned as he thought about the pamphlets, wondering if he had made the right decision in coming up with the plan behind them in the first place. The idea behind them was in the same spirit as a poison pen writer, but at the same time Harry wasn't even sure if he was cut out for that kind of work since he was starting to get bored with them, but he decided to stick with it for the time being while he prepared for the robberies he was going to commit. He already had several magical families dead. With Lucius dead and his son and heir gone, the Malfoy line in Britain was wiped out forever. Harry wasn't bothered by Narcissa; the woman was not a Malfoy by birth and since the heirs were gone, according to Dobby, Harry would not have any problems breaking into the family vault with the help of the house elves and steal what was inside. And as for the manor, well with the male Malfoys dead and unlamented, he could go in there the first chance he got.

The Malfoys were just the start. There were others and according to what he had found out, there were at least a dozen other families that were waiting to be plundered. Mentally Harry went through the list of people who were dead, and yet there were no children involved. Some of the Death Eaters were childless, officially anyway; there was little doubt at all in his mind considering how the Death Eaters had brothels and had no problem raping whoever they captured some of them had illegitimate kids of their own. Those Death Eaters were relatively easy to deal with and Harry had had Dobby and Winky plunder their vaults before the Ministry or Gringotts could get to them.

"What do you say, Harry?" Harry looked up when he heard Dean interrupt his thoughts.

"Sorry, what?" Harry said.

"We were saying there were lots of people with Dark Mark tattoos on their forearms; this gives credence to your story You-Know-Who was back. Do you think there are any more?" Dean repeated.

Harry lowered the book he was holding. "Yes," he didn't even have to think about it. "If there are a few who weren't marked the first time around, or they were simply too young to be involved in the previous war then it means there is trouble out there."

"How do you think Umbridge will take it?" Seamus asked.

"Who gives a shit?" As far as Harry was concerned Umbridge and Fudge could both die of heart attacks. "There's nothing the toad can do about this. She might take it personally since it happened so close to Hogwarts, but since she didn't witness the fire or the bodies until later, what can she do?"

"You're right. Umbridge and Fudge have spent months making people think you are a loony and that he's dead and buried, this sort of thing is gonna make them look stupid," Seamus commented.

Ron, naturally, had to shove the Slytherins are evil propaganda down their throats. "This fire shows just how evil the Slytherins are though, right Harry? I mean, only scum like Malfoy would love to torture muggle kids, right?"

Harry was growing tired of the one-dimensional view the simpleton had when it came to students who wore silver and green trim on their robes. "The way I heard it, Ron, the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws had a few students from the upper years including our own year in that collection of corpses," Harry sent a pointed stare towards the redhead to make sure there was no sign of an argument.

"But, Harry-!"

"No buts. What you fail to realise, Ron is that, despite your views on them, there are Junior Death Eaters in every house. The identified corpses made that very clear. This isn't a game, Ron. It's not the Houses of this school which make someone good or bad, it's down to the minds of the people themselves which make them good or bad," Harry knew he was wasting his time given how the elder Weasleys had drummed into their children's brains the Slytherins were evil, Death Eater wannabes, but there were other guys in the dorm with him and there was a chance a seed of doubt could be implanted into their minds.

He was certainly surprised by how many students in the various Houses had been found in the brothel's burning remains, but he had the names for the victims of the blaze in his bed. Tomorrow he would begin drafting the pamphlet.

Ron meanwhile was glaring at him, although Harry didn't realise it until a second later since he was too deep in thought to see what was on his 'best friend's face. "I can't believe you would stand up for those slimy snakes, Harry. Your parents would be ashamed of you-."

Surprised and yet truly pissed off by the careless comment about his parents, Harry leapt to his feet moving so fast every boy in the dorm jumped.

"Don't you dare use my parents like that simply because I have an opinion of my own and you don't happen to like it!" Harry's voice was dark and intense.

"But Harry, the snakes-!"

"There were Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and even Gryffindors in the debris, Ron. Don't tell me you're stupid enough to forget them!" Harry snapped, his temper now fraying dangerously.

"But Harry-!"

"No, buts, Ron. I am sick and tired of you stereotyping the fucking Houses in this school; some of the students in the school are dangerous, but don't blame the majority for the mistakes of the few."

Ron glared at him in disgust while Seamus and Dean were clearly trying, and failing, to decide whether or not to follow suit. "I can't believe you'd turn traitor towards Gryffindor, Harry. You of all people, after everything Malfoy has done to you-!"

"Malfoy has done nothing to me. He was nothing more than a pathetic daddy's boy who tried to impress his parents by acting like one of the big boys, but he was never able to pull it off. I never saw him as anybody to take seriously although I kept an eye on him since first impressions didn't always count in the grand scheme of things," Harry interrupted him.

"So that why you never paid much attention to him?" Neville interrupted, and Harry sent the more timid Gryffindor fourth year a curious glance. He was surprised that only one person here seemed aware of how Harry had not bothered to pay the Slytherin fifth year the attention he wanted. "I always saw those bored looks on your face when you were confronted by Malfoy."

"He was boring."

"Looks, what looks?" Ron shouted to get the attention he deeply wanted. "I didn't see any looks-."

"That's because you are unobservant, Ron," Harry rolled his eyes, letting some of his contempt for the boy bleed out before he decided enough was enough. Palming his wand, Harry silently cast a wide stunning spell to send every single one of the boys including Neville asleep. When he was done, he silently prepared to cast the memory charm while he went through their minds to find the right memories. As he worked and erased their memories of the last few minutes simply so he didn't have to go through the tedious stupidity of the other Gryffindors knowing of his opinions on the deaths of so many students and Death Eaters, Harry waited for Dobby to arrive. The little elf had been told to wait until all of the students in the dorm were asleep so he had some kind of alibi for when he broke into Malfoy manor.

When the boys were asleep and the sleeping spells were keeping them under, Harry summoned Dobby. The little elf grinned happily at Harry and he was bouncing up and down with unbridled glee. The house-elf was over the moon when Harry had announced they would be plundering the Malfoy family fortune for good. Well, that and a few others.

"Okay, Dobby. Let's go."

Dobby nodded and took the young wizard's hand. "Yes, Harry Potter, sir," the elf replied quietly before they vanished.

X

Harry looked around the hallway for a moment, taking in the splendour of the place. Dobby had told him the Malfoys liked living lavishly and their home reflected it. Walking through the manor was like walking through a palace even though Harry knew it was a manor, but the Malfoys had spared no expense whatsoever when it came to decorating the place.

Harry looked down at the little elf. "Okay, Dobby, can you go and rally the house elves and let them know I can be their new master?"

"Yes, Harry Potter, sir," the little elf nodded solemnly.

Harry didn't like the idea of so many house-elves being without anyone to take care of them, but given what Dobby had told him about how badly the elves were treated by the Malfoys and how the Malfoys only shared a small amount of their magic with the elves to keep them alive, Harry hoped the elves accepted him even if he planned to commit burglaries with their help. But he hoped with the more house-elves available here with the ones he knew of from the Potter family, he would have more help. He was only using Dobby and Winky because Dumbledore, for reasons known only to the old bastard, had been keeping knowledge of the elves away from him. But he'd found out.

"Is there anyone else in the manor?" Harry asked as he remembered Malfoy's mother.

"Dobby check!" The elf vanished for a short time and he returned, his expression serious. "Yessir. Bad master's wifey is still here."

"What was Narcissa like?" Harry asked, realising he had little knowledge of Malfoy's mother.

"She be Belly Lestrange's sister, Harry Potter, sir; she be nicer than her sister, and bad master."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment as he thought about what he would need to do to Narcissa Malfoy. A part of him was tempted to just kill the woman, but at the same time if she wasn't as dangerous as her husband then there was no point, and besides he wasn't in the mood to harm anyone tonight unless he needed to.

"Okay," Harry whispered, taking out his wand and he silently cast the disillusionment charm.

X

In the master bedroom, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black looked over the travelling trunk which was dimensionally transcendental and possessed a large capacity for her many clothes and possessions. She was almost finished packing her things and her possessions and in the morning she would be going on her way. She had no intention of remaining at Malfoy Manor anymore despite it being her home now for many years, but when she had received word Draco had died in a fire in the brothel where the Junior Death Eaters were entertained by captive muggles and muggleborns the former lady of Malfoy Manor had decided to leave.

She had cried for the loss of her only child, cursing Draco for following the same ideology as the Dark Lord who had taken the pureblood supremacist philosophies and twisting them until they were unrecognisable from what Narcissa had learnt from her own mother a long time ago. In those days, pureblood supremacists had been interested in preserving the bloodlines and keeping muggles and mudbloods in their place. The Dark Lord had twisted that, encouraging boys and girls to murder, rape and steal from the muggles, and while Narcissa felt muggles should bleed once in a while, she didn't like the way the Dark Lord wantonly massacred everyone in his path. He was like a deranged child, he always talked of killing, revenge, and destruction…

Sometimes she wondered how Bellatrix had been twisted to follow him, but now Narcissa questioned just how much her sister followed…

The Dark Lord was nothing like his predecessor; while Grindelwald had a questionable history whose rumours were still circulating to this day, at least he had a master plan, but all the Dark Lord did was kill, kill, and kill until Narcissa asked if he even had anything planned for the long term. But what frightened her the most although she was not stupid enough to question him or even voice her thoughts to her idiot husband who was now dead, was that the magical world she loved would die.

That was one of the reasons she was escaping. She knew the Dark Lord would want her, a powerful pureblooded witch who was born from the right breeding stock to provide new sons and daughters for the cause. Narcissa had seen it happen in the past with wives of the Death Eaters who'd died in battle; the Dark Lord 'encouraged' them to marry someone of his choosing, whether they wanted it or not, and if they didn't…well the torture curse was a good motivator.

Narcissa didn't want that. In any case, as she had Black blood she was a valuable commodity and she knew how the Dark Lord viewed women like that, as breeding stock and nothing more. She'd had more than enough of Britain, and if the Dark Lord wanted it so badly, then he could have it. She planned to leave although she wasn't entirely sure where she wanted to go, Narcissa had been hysterical with her packing she hadn't given herself a chance. She would go to sleep in this room, one last time, and hope that in the morning she would have a better plan in mind.

She was making the final preparations for her departure in the morning - she wanted to wake up bright and early and she would head for Gringotts to empty her vault and she would just get away - before she was turning to head to the bathroom, and then everything went black before she could react…

X

Harry looked down at the body of his 'enemy's mother, wondering how he should feel about this but realising that he shouldn't do a thing. As he took in the sight of the dimensionally transcendental trunk on the bed and the clothes and pieces of jewellery next to it, Harry could tell that the woman losing on the ground at his feet had been preparing to run away, and judging from the way he had seen her pack a moment ago she was in rather a hurry.

He decided to just leave her there, and he would let her leave Britain; he didn't see the point in harming a woman who hadn't done anything to him. Lucius and Draco had both caused him problems in the past, but Narcissa had done nothing to him as a person and besides her widow status granted her some sympathy.

Harry turned and left the bedroom, ignoring the jewellery. In his mind, he figured he had done enough to Narcissa Malfoy.