CHAPTER 1: Kill them all
"Harry, are you sure you don't want to come with us?" asked Hermione, almost begging.
"I'm sure", he said with a smile. "Australia sounds way too hot for me, and you guys deserve some alone time. "
"But we don't know when we will be back" she insisted. "It might take months to find them, not to mention lifting the spell. God I have no idea how to do it…"
"Hermione, look at me. You're the cleverest, the brightest witch ever. You will figure this out, as you always do. Now if I were you, I'd be more worried about having to put up with Ron alone for so long."
"Hey!"
But it was enough to make Hermione smile and change the subject, accepting his decision.
"What are you going to do then? Search for a job?"
"A job? Hell no, not yet. I don't even have to work a day in my life, if I don't want to. After all, inheriting both the Potter and the Black fortune, I'm pretty sure I can put Malfoy's to shame now. No, for now, I will just… enjoy. For as long as I can remember, my life has been nothing but pain, blood, and your life-saving company. I've never even got to visit London, for Merlin's sake. So I intend to right this wrong. I'm going to eat like a freak, try every pub of the neighborhood, spent some time with Neville or Dean, maybe go and visit a bit of Scotland too! I also have a godson to watch over now, and I also promised George I would help him with the shop from time to time. So please, don't worry about me. I'm gonna be just fine!"
"What I don't understand" said Ron, trying to ignore the feeling of jealousy inside of him, "is why you'd rather stay at the dark and creepy place while you could stay at the Burrow. Mom and Dad would be happy to have you, you know it!"
"I know, mate, I know. But what would I do there, without you guys, without Ginny, even without George now living above his shop? No, it's better for me to leave them alone, they earned it after putting up with you lot for so long! Besides, that creepy dark place, as you call it, is the last thing Sirius left me, and I intend to honor his memory by turning it into the home it should have been for him."
Without anything to add, Ron put his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Alright bro. But don't come crying when you're missing the hell out of us! No, what the hell am I saying! Please do come crying, cause I'm gonna miss you as hell too!"
The shoulder pat turned into a brotherly hug, followed by Hermione practically jumping onto them, mumbling things about taking care of himself, not forgetting to eat, and stuff like that.
Hours later, as Ron and Hermione were lining up at the International Floo Department at the Ministry, she said to him with concerns in her voice: "I'm really worried about Harry. We should not leave him alone…"
"What do you mean? Dude's fine, you saw him like me."
"Ron, something feels wrong. This is Harry. Master Brooder n°1! We lost so many people, we lost Remus, Creevey, not to mention… your brother… The Harry I know would be beating himself up to death, rambling about how this is all his fault! Ginny is back at school, the rest of our friends are either with her back at Hogwarts or scattered left and right searching for jobs or on trips abroad. And yet he's all smiles, talking about visiting London or Scotland?"
Ron seemed to be thinking about it for a second. "Maybe you're right. But what can we do? We can't cancel our trip now and we have to find your parents. Maybe he just needs to be alone for a bit. We'll write to him every week and if things are indeed wrong, maybe I'll come back early, or ask Neville to keep an eye on him. We'll see."
"Yeah…"
Sitting in the kitchen of his new home, Harry was standing blankly into the void. He could remember the discussions, the yells and the laughs, of this summer before 5th year, where he discovered the existence of the Order. It was like he still could see Sirius sitting right next to him, talking to him as he was James. Harry clenched his fists, and lowered his head, trying to control the wave of rage growing inside him.
He needed to act, to do something, but he had no idea where to start. It was usually Hermione coming up with a plan, or a list the leads that would lead to one, but right now, he felt so lost. He needed to breathe, take his time, and think this through. His friends had been gone for barely two hours, there was no rush. He went upstairs, and took the book out of his secret stash. Start at the beginning. The bottom of the ladder.
"No", he thought. "This is still too fast. Start by preparing yourself. Get set up."
He looked around, and gazed upon the white, virgin wall, thinking about the family tree painted on the walls of the other room, the one Sirius never managed to get rid of. He smiled.
"Kreacher!" he yelled.
With a *pop*, the house elves appeared, looking older than ever, if it was even possible.
"Master Potter?"
"By any chance, would you know how Sirius and the Marauders made this map invisible?" he asked while getting the Marauder's map out of his trunk.
Kreacher looked at the blank file, suspicious. He took it inside his hairy hands, turned it, looked at it closely. Harry, getting impatient, put his wand against it and whispered the password, making the ink slowly appear.
"Oh, I see" declared the elf. "Mistress Walburga loved to use this spell. So did Master Regulus. This a variation of the Disillusionment Charm. Simple spell, but quite unbreakable with the appropriate password."
"Do you know the spell?"
Kreacher nodded. Now, Harry was getting somewhere. He grinned. Nobody ever asked anything about magic to house elves because, well, why would these "inferior creatures" know anything about it? Turned out, they knew a lot.
He took his wand out, at started waving it carefully across the wall. Slowly, black-red letters appeared on the wall and forming names.
The Malfoys took their place, side by side, at the top center of the wall. Parkinson and Bulstrode at the bottom. The other ones got dispatched left and right. Finally, he drafted a thin line from Bulstrode to Parkinson, then from Draco to his father.
"Now, show me the spell."
Kreacher told him both parts of the incantation, and the master put it in motion.
"I solemnly swear that I will kill them all" he thought. "Revillumantis!"
Nothing happened.
"Murder accomplished" he thought again. "Disillumantis!"
And the wall turned back to white, unstained and pure.
"So, Millicent's father is working as Undersecretary for Shacklebolt", he recapped for himself, reading the small lines he added on the wall under the Bulstrode's name. "Moderate, ex-Ravenclaw, nothing to tie him to the Death Eaters. I guess that's why Millicient was not worried after the battle. Her mother, however, is ancient blood. Slytherin, comes of money, and probably sympathetic to Tom's idea. Millicent hasn't been seen nor declared dead after the battle. Kreacher!"
"Yes, Master?"
"Any news on the surveillance?"
"Nothing yet, Master. Lady Bulstrode keeps going out once a day for usual business, but no sign of the daughter."
"Damit!"
Harry was starting to despair. It's been two weeks since he started working on her case. He came and went as he pleased at the Ministry, using every excuse to talk to Kinglsey, Arthur or Percy. It was hard to investigate without raising the suspicions, but he managed to gather these few information. Finding their address was the easy part, and with the help of Kreacher, he had kept it under surveillance for a week. But no sign of Millicent just yet.
"Where the hell is that bitch?!" he yelled, smashing his glass against the floor.
Without a word, Kreacher picked up the shattered glass and made the whisky stain disappear with a snap. Harry hated that anyway. He wanted to try it, as he saw Arthur or Sirius do before, but it tasted like gasoline.
"So what know?" he thought. "Should I keep going, or switch target for the moment?" But could he give up so easily? No he could not. No way. Maybe try a different tactic? Maybe smoke her out by burning the house down? Lure her out with something, like a fake letter maybe?
As he was scratching his head listing the possibilities, a shriek outside the window dragged him out of his thoughts. Ginny's white barn-owl, Alexander, was begging for a way in. Since Errol passed away before the War, Harry had bought her this little wonder just before she went back to school. She loved it so much that she didn't even try to decline the gift.
It was the second letter in that many weeks that Ginny wrote to him.
"Dear Harry,
I love you.
I think this was the first and most important thing to say. All the rest is mere details without any importance. I love you.
That being said, this week was HORRIBLE! As Quidditch Captain, I have to prepare for the tryouts, plan the whole season for the team, while teachers are drowning us under homework. "N.E.W.T", they say. Important, they say. Like we did not save their asses four months ago…
Anyway…."
The letter went on for lines about school life, and it made him smile. He read the "I love you, again" at the end of the letter three times, still having a hard time to believe his luck. She was sweet, trying to make him feel as if he were still there too, making her best so he could be a part of her life, even from a distance.
He sat down and thought, looking at the names on the wall, that maybe all this was not worth it. He had Ginny. Ron and Hermione. A whole new life ahead of him. So why bother?
" For Sirius" said a voice in his mind. His own voice. "For Fred. For Tonks. For Remus. For Teddy without parents, George without brother. For Justice. To make sure it never happens again".
"I know!" he yelled, jumping back to his feet. "Kreacher!"
"Yes, Master?"
"Do you remember Mundungus Fletcher? The low-life rat who stole Regulus's locket. The one you dragged to this very place last year for us."
"Kreacher remembers, Master."
"I need you to do it again. Find him, and bring him to me."
The elf looked surprised for a second, but bowed without a question and disappeared.
Harry was reading Hermione's letter. It's been almost a month, and this was the first one she wrote, although it looked like it took over a week for the message to arrive. He didn't mind, he knew they would be busy.
He had barely wrote two words on his reply that Kreacher popped in with a loud "bang", holding Fletcher by the ear.
"Bloody fucking hell! You again?! Tell this monster to let me go, for heaven's sake!" he screamed.
With a nod to his servant, Harry complied, but the elf did not stay far from Mundungus, ready to jump back in if he tried anything shady.
"What do you want this time, Potter?!" he asked, dusting off his ripped clothes. "I already told you everything I knew about the damn locket!"
"Sit down, Fletcher".
Something in Harry's voice was dark. Rough, rasping. Fletcher swallowed hard and obeyed without a word. He sat at the table, across from his host, and waited.
"I want a full batch of Polyjuice" he said. "I don't know how to brew it on my own, but I'm sure you know exactly where to get some."
"What the hell, kid, are you mental? Polyjuice isn't even illegal, you get just get some at the Apothecarium of Slughorn! You don't need me for that!"
Harry hit the table with his fist.
"Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up, and listen, or I swear to you I will make you eat your own feet! Slughorn's quantity are limited, and its sale is controlled. I would have to sign a register and nobody can know that I bought some. Do you understand me?
"Yes". Fletcher looked terrified.
"So, I need you to get me enough Polyjuice to last a bloody year, under the radar and off the book. Can you do that?
"Yes I can, sure, no problem. But what's in it for me?"
"100 Galleons."
Fletcher's eyes opened wide as he jumped from his chair.
"Hell! I'm your man! Give me a week and I'll get you some top-notch quality juice! I'll get right on it!"
"Fletcher?"
"Yes Boss?"
"Not a word to anyone. Or Kreacher will hunt you down, again, and this time it will be the last."
The thief tried a parody of military salute, and disappeared.
Harry used his time well. While Fletcher was on his mission and Kreacher was studying Lady Bulstrode habits, Harry planned the rest of his hunt.
One week later, Harry had a crate full of Polyjuice, and Fletcher a bag full of gold.
Now, he had everything he needed: the Potion, a plan, and the whereabouts of Millicent's mother.
It was time for blood.