Disclaimer; Potter-verse belongs to Bishop, I belong to the Realms, and Dyslexia has JK Rowling. Or some combination thereof.

/This is an indication that someone is channeling the Infernal Overlord of the six hells and thirty two waffles. /

As the school settled down to breakfast halfway through October, Harry looked down at the front page of the Daily Prophet and barely managed to avoid spraying his pumpkin juice all over his friends.

"What! I can't believe this!"

"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione wondered.

"Draco managed to get himself killed and I wasn't there to do it!" He had perhaps said this a bit too loud as some people were beginning to look at him sideways.

"You shouldn't speak like that. Well? How did he die? I hope the aurors gave it to him good."

"That's the part that annoys me. He was enjoying a five star meal at the Golden Dragon when he apparently had an allergic reaction to something in his food. He died in transit to St. Mungo's. It appears that the chef who prepared his meal has been let go to prevent any scandal from being attached to the restaurant."

"So, that's one less death eater, who cares?" Ron asked between bites of his pancakes.

"He shouldn't have died by accident. He should have looked me in the eye and known death was his only reward for what happened to Dumbledore and Bill. Remember, he let Fenrir and the others into Hogwarts. He got off too easy." A feral and wild look took over his face as his voice rumbled too quietly. He didn't have the thunder of Saetan or Daemon, no he had sound of tidal wave rushing forward.

"Mate, you are scaring the girls. Control yourself. Please." Ron implored Harry uselessly.

"No, they will all pay for the innocents who have suffered. To each shall be given what he gave." A sense of power began slowly radiating from Harry, and a sense of great danger. Half of Gryffindor House was openly staring at Harry in fear and some of the other houses were starting to feel it when Hedwig flew into the Hall and made a bee line for Harry.

She buffeted him around the head and neck with her wings and landed on the table staring at him. Several tense seconds passed while the two shared a mental conversation. Lucy came up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder. He spun around instantly, catching her wrist as she tried to pull away.

"Go to the courtyard. I'll face you with the sticks." She said as she walked away.

When Harry left the hall, everyone visibly relaxed. They didn't know how they knew, but they could all sense that a predator had left the room. Conversation began to pick back up.

"What was that about? I've never seen him that way." Hermione gave a small shudder.

"Yes you have. He was like that when he kissed me at the wedding." Ginny corrected.

"No, he was different. He was intense and focused, but now… he was downright deadly."

"He was deadly then too, you just couldn't feel it like I could. He warned me about this. He is going to be alright eventually. He just needs… Oh my god! We need to get to the courtyard!"

"Why, what's wrong?" Ron said as he started to stand.

"He needs to work off his temper, and Lucy just called him to the courtyard for practice with those bladed sticks they use. He's going to get her killed!"

When they arrived they saw Harry and Lucy as never before. The others had seen them work through solo drills and maneuvers, but had never seen them in an all out battle. Lucy had Harry horribly outclassed and it showed. He was blinded by his rage, while she was quick and lithe. Add in that she had a few more years of training and it was easy to see who was going to win.

Harry's robes hung in tatters and he sported several large but shallow cuts across his torso and back. They were just enough to slow him down and make every movement hurt. Lucy decided to finish it and appeared behind him and put the butt of her stick into the base of his skull as he crumpled like a rag doll. She turned to the others.

"Kaelas, float him to the hospital wing, I'll get Madam Pomphrey. Ginny, you go with him and be there when he wakes up, I'll send Hedwig to join you. Your presence will calm him some."

They were surprised to hear her suddenly giving orders but followed them anyway. Kaelas appeared out of the shadows and floated Harry's body along beside him. Ginny fell into step.

"So you're Kaelas, Harry told me about training with you wherever he was this summer. I never suspected that you would be here at Hogwarts too."

/I am Kaelas. Kae Tundros learns fast but has much yet to learn. / He confirmed.

"I didn't know you could do that too. Who is Kae Tundros?"

/He is Kae Tundros, the white thunder. He is accepted by the Kindred. /

"Ok, if you say so. So when we are alone, can I see what you look like as a human? Everyone has been wondering who the tiger animagus was."

/I am not a smelly two-legs. I am an Acerian Cat, I am Kindred. /

"You aren't human? Then what are you doing here?"

/I am Kindred. The school said the Lady's daughter could bring a familiar animal and they said she could bring a cat. Here I am. Kae Tundros assured us that it was allowed. He and Hedwig have been together all his time here. /

"You mean you are actually a tiger all the time? Lucy has a tiger as a familiar?"

/I am not a tiger, whatever that is. I am an Acerian Cat. / Kaelas sounded highly insulted.

"I am sorry, Hedwig is the only example I've seen of an animal that uses magic. I don't know if she can talk."

/We prefer Kindred, not animals. Animals are beasts, we are people too. Hedwig can speak, she just does not to humans except to Harry and the Lady. He is kindred, and she is the Lady. /

"I will try to remember that. I don't mean to be insulting, honest."

They came to the Hospital wing to find Madam Pomphrey and the Headmistress waiting for them.

"Alright, Mr. Shadow, what did you do to my patient this time?"

"Mr. Shadow…?" Ginny turned to Kaelas, a look of recognition on her face.

"No, Ms. SaDiablo has already claimed responsibility for this one, though I suspect I will hear it was a training accident when he wakes up." McGonagall inserted.

"In addition to all the cuts and bruises, he was hit at the base of the skull with a blunt object. That is what made him black out." Ginny offered as the Healer scanned him for injuries. "Lucy implied that he would wake up soon, and given how proficient she was at giving him these injuries, I think I will take her word for it."

"What is the world coming to when first years put the head boy in the Hospital wing after beating him senseless with a sharp stick? As if I didn't have a hard enough job already. Well let's see, nothing permanent. It looks like all of these were meant to limit his mobility and be painful without being too damaging. A few hours here and I can let him return to class after lunch."

At lunch, the Marauders struck again. Everyone was sitting and enjoying their meal when several potions and charms simultaneously came into effect. A modified version of the Canary creams was slipped into every dish, and all the drinks contained traces of an aging potion, finally a fertility charm had been placed on one side of the doorway, and a dispelling charm on the other so the mayhem would not result in any additions to the student body.

The result of this clever concoction was an idea that Hedwig had, and the two humans had worked out. As the clock struck half past noon, everyone changed into a large bird of some kind, was fertile, and aged a few weeks. After laying a clutch of eggs, they returned to their normal forms and the chaos reigned.

Kaelas did the lettering this time, "Ms. Snow would like to remind the students to visit their feathered friends in the Owlery and show their appreciation for all the work Owls do."

Harry, who had just recovered from being a swan momentarily, scooped up his eggs.

"Dobby!" He called, "Cheese and mushroom omelet with a crumble of bacon and chopped peppers."

"Yes Sir Mr. Harry Potter sir!"

The others looked at him blankly.

"What? It's not like they're going to hurt me, its just an omelet."

That Saturday, his theory of magic class was packed as always. In the past three weeks he had begun with laws of magic, discussed visualization, and finally moved to different schools of thought about magic (cooperative, sympathetic, shamanistic, blood magic, mental arts, etc…). They all lead into the bomb he was about to drop on them in this class.

"Welcome back everyone, I am happy to see so many of you decided to come back for another boring lecture." There was much laughter here as most considered his lessons anything but.

"We've talked a lot about magic these past couple weeks. I've taught you new spells and helped you cast them better, but we never did stop to define a term. Someone help me, what is Magic? What do we mean?"

A young Ravenclaw began to sound a lot like Hermione, "Magic is a force of nature."

"I think we will need more than that but you are on the right track."

"Magic is a wizard's ability to tap into the creative force of the cosmos." Luna Lovegood provided.

"Yes and no. You are right, but that isn't something most people can relate to."

Hermione thought she knew the answer he was looking for, "Magic is the ability to bend or break reality with your will."

"No. That is what magic allows us to do, not the essence of magic. Magic is chaos. It is the essence of change leaking into the world. Muggle science calls magic Entropy, and they have some rather interesting laws about it. These are in fact the only laws I recognize with respect to magic."

"What can muggles really know about magic?"

"Quite a bit. They saw magic interacting with their lives hundreds of years ago and sought to nail down exactly what it is they are working with. It ruined their experiments and basically sowed chaos where they were trying to instill order. So eventually through trial and error they discovered a few rules about it. Some of you Ravenclaw or muggle born students may recognize these."

"1. There is a fixed amount of energy and matter in the universe. You can change it from one form to another but you can't really destroy anything. Ever."

"2. In any exchange you end up with less than you began with. Magic and Entropy always win. You can conjure a block of wood and burn it for warmth, or you can cast a heating charm. Both give you less energy back in heat than if you set fire to existing wood. Which more than likely cost you more energy to gather in the first place. You can't win, you can't break even, and you aren't allowed to read the rules first."

"Magic is chaos. When you lose some energy performing magic, it manifests elsewhere in some form designed to break order."

"Excuse me sir, but what does that really mean? What does that have to do with us?" a timid Hufflepuff asked.

"All those fancy words really lead down to one thing. Each and every one of you is responsible for the eventual destruction of the earth. When you cast a spell you destroy just a little bit more of the universe. But don't feel bad, if you didn't do it, something else would. Magic is eternal and ever present. As the world becomes more stable and orderly, magic and chaos seek to remedy that."

"In the time of the Roman empire, things were about as orderly as they could get. Pax Romana was two hundred years of stability and peace for Europe and surrounding areas. To off set all this order and stability, the universe brought someone very special into existence. Myrddin Emrys, also known as Merlin Ambrosius, broke all the rules of magic and remade them into what we know now. He was a mage without equal for an empire without equal. There were fewer wizards per muggle back then, but they were more powerful."

"In recent times, the British empire and the new American empire have imposed new levels of order and structure in the world. War among both muggles and wizards has helped decrease the order, but it isn't enough. Their mastery over science and machines is hurting the universe, so new generations of wizards are born with more power than before. In the last hundred years, there have been three major wizards dishing out all the chaos magic can handle. Grindewald and Tom Riddle were insane and sociopathic. Albus Dumbledore was a barmy old codger, but less sociopathic. This generation of wizards and witches at Hogwarts today is one of the strongest I believe there has ever been."

"What about you sir?"

"What about me? Are you asking where I fit on the scale?"

"Yes sir; just how strong are you?"

"I don't think I want to discuss that. It's not my job and would be very arrogant of me to say who was stronger than who. I can tell you I don't think myself on the same level as Merlin if that's your question."

"But know this, even if every witch and wizard alive put down their wands, it would not stop the eventual destruction of the universe. We might see more house elves like Dobby who enjoy socks and are over enthusiastic in their attempts to help, or we might see a muggle nuclear war. The world is ending, but you get to choose how! Pick up your wands, give thanks to Eris, and let the new era of enlightenment begin!"

"Mr. Potter, must you keep pushing the boundaries with your lessons?"

"Of course Headmistress. We will never know our limits until we explore them. Besides, if I didn't have fun on Saturday nights we wouldn't get to have these lovely Sunday brunches."

"I guess its true then. Power corrupts. You're developing into a powerful wizard in your own right and now you've lost your mind. Was it really necessary to encourage self destructive behavior then invoke a goddess of chaos?"

"I don't know if it was necessary, but it was a lot of fun. I really will have to find out where you get this blend of tea, it's quite nice."

"Thank you. Did you realize that you had driven your friend Hermione insane too?"

"Really how so?"

"She was admitted to the Hospital wing this morning for a nervous breakdown she apparently suffered in the library. There are two things that girl holds sacred. Knowledge and orderliness. She went to the library hoping to find something to disprove your ideas, only to discover that if she did, she would only create more chaos as you re-taught a lesson."

"Thus proving my point. The universe always wins."

"Quite."

They sipped their tea in companionable silence for a short while and enjoyed some of Dobby's raspberry tarts. They were interrupted when a distinguished barn owl flew over and dropped a letter in Harry's lap.

"Well that's odd."

"What's wrong?"

"I just got a letter from Gringotts, I wasn't expecting any correspondence."

"Well open it up, it must be important, they don't have owls delivering simple statements wait for a reply as this one is."

"Good point Professor," he opened the letter cautiously as if expecting problems.

"Mr. Potter-SaDiablo,

We regret to inform you that your presence is requested at the London branch of Gringotts at your earliest convenience. With the passing of Narcissa Malfoy, several questions have been raised about some of the accounts held at the bank. Also expected to attend are Andromeda and Nymphadora Tonks. Please respond with an appropriate time that will fit your needs.

Regards,

Igknot the Impetuous

Department of Wills and Succession

Gringotts Bank"

Harry passed the letter to Professor McGonagall.

"I didn't even know she had died. I know Draco passed on Wednesday, but I didn't know she passed too. That's two now."

"Two what?"

"Two death eaters who escaped what's coming. Professor, I don't have any lessons before lunch on Tuesday, may I leave the grounds to take care of this?"

"I suppose you may, you are of age after all. You will be back before time for lunch however." She sounded stern but loving.

"Thank you Professor. Now if you will excuse me I have a few letters to write."

Dear Bill,

I appear to have gotten myself mixed up in some interesting business. Is there any way you would happen to know who those well dressed Goblins were at your wedding? It seems that something I said has set wheels in motion I never intended. Who were those goblins and what do they do for the Bank anyway?

In deep,

Harry

Harry,

The most important probably would have been Grapnold from special services, and a few others from our curse breaking section. They are not goblins to trifle with or offend. They are absolutely ruthless when money is on the line. What's going on?

Confused,

Bill Weasley

P.S. That book isn't so bad. There were a lot of really… interesting things in there. Yeah I cut the hair, but that had nothing to do with the book. I am hoping to get a promotion into special services soon.

Bill,

I think I know what special services means now. Let's just hope things work out now or else I might be asking you for a place to hide where the goblins won't find me. Speculation and conjecture at the party is leading to a lot of money changing hands, I think.

Harry

P.S. That's the whole point of the book. I'm sorry, she's got you now. I'll miss you my brother.