Chapter 41: Malfoy, Zachariah and other Catastrophes

The last weeks of the holidays flew by, and the 1st of September was just around the corner. It was a week before the train towards Hogwarts would leave, and the friends had agreed to meet for the necessary shopping for school supplies. The twins had told them when their family intended to go to Diagon Alley, and the others decided to come and "save" them.

So now Hermione, Neville, Harry, Loki – deaged again – and surprisingly Sam – also deaged – were sitting at a table at Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour waiting for the twins to show up. They were accompanied by Harry's parents as well as Sirius and Ellen, who wanted to see how the magical community of Great Britain looked like, while Jo stayed with Bobby glad to be away from her mother and her beau for some time. It took the twins nearly an hour to finally show up.

"Sorry, but getting away from our family wasn't that easy," Fred explained while slumping down on a chair with a huff.

"Your parents don't know that you're here?" Ellen asked suspiciously, and a bit worried, she was a mother after all.

"It's not the first time we snuck away," George replied with a shrug.

"And it is much more fun that way," Fred added with a broad grin.

"That's the spirit!" Loki piped up.

Neville and Hermione though only rolled their eyes, already used to the antics of the twins.

"So where do we want to go first?" Hermione asked, had she to decide they already would have gone to Flourish & Blotts a long time ago.

"Not to disappoint you or such, but we honestly should avoid the bookstore for now," George told her.

"Yeah, there is some bloke giving autographs, Lockhart I think," Fred added.

"That's how we finally got away. The crowd in there gave us the opportunity to vanish."

"Lockhart? I heard he's brilliant!" Hermione squealed like a fangirl ready to bolt to the bookshop.

Loki, on the other hand, couldn't help himself and snort. "That idiot isn't even able to tell the difference between an illusion and the reality."

"You know him?" Harry questioned.

"I might or might not have run into him once. He's a complete fraud and homophobic as it seems," he explained with a snicker.

"And I don't even want to imagine THAT," Hermione groaned in embarrassment while Neville's face went beet red.

The twins on the other hand snickered.

"Hey, I'm a shapeshifter…I don't care about gender," Loki huffed in indignation.

"Kinky," Harry said with a roguish grin.

"Harry James Potter, you're twelve years old!" Hermione screeched, attracting quite a bit of attention with it. "You're not supposed to know about such things and even less think about them."

"Oi, first, technically I'm thirteen for your information and second I have free access to the internet," he retorted. "You know, teenager plus free internet…."

"I don't know whether as your father I should be proud of you or angered," James spoke up earning himself a hit over the head from Lily.

"I'm definitely proud of you," Sirius said with a broad grin also getting hit over the head though from Ellen.

"You're sleeping on the couch tonight," both Lily and Ellen said simultaneously before they looked at each other and smiled.

James and Sirius, on the other hand, looked horrified at their wife and girlfriend respectively, but the gazes of the women told them that they were serious, so they slouched in their chairs sulking about it. Harry chuckled lowly at their misfortune.

"I'd say we go clothes shopping first; Harry will need new robes," Loki decided.

It was true, ever since Harry ate regularly healthy meals and – unknown to him – received nutrition potions from Snape once the man knew what was going on via his meals at Hogwarts, he grew quite a bit and also wasn't as scrawny anymore. Sure, he was still on the shorter side, but at least he didn't look three years younger anymore.

Harry groaned, he had hated being prodded already the first time around, and it surely wouldn't be any better now. With a devious grin, Loki jumped up and dragged Harry with him towards Madame Malkin's. Harry didn't fight him but also wasn't very enthusiastic. Luckily for him, the robe shop was empty of other customers, and so it didn't take too long for him to be measured and the new robes being tailored. Lily though finally being able to spoil her son a bit, decided to also buy him a few casual clothes like an emerald green button-down shirt that emphasise his eyes.

Once they had everything – and had the twins been shocked when both Sirius and James in coordination with Loki decided that they also needed new robes because according to them a fellow prankster cannot run around in rags – they made their way to the other shops. They bought potions ingredients, ink, quills, parchment and whatever else they would need during the school year.

When they passed the Quidditch shop though, James got the idea to buy Harry a snitch for training.

"Dad, I already have a snitch," Harry growled in exasperation, said snitch hovering next to him and nodding in emphasis.

"That lazy thing?" James retorted though it was something he shouldn't have said because suddenly the snitch was gone.

James only looked around in confusion while Harry smirked. It just took a few moments before James squealed…like a girl. The snitch had flown around him under his robe and now mercilessly tickled the man who screeched and twisted in the hope of getting the snitch out. Everyone around him laughed at his misery.

"Don't call him lazy," Harry said with a snicker.

"Lord Potter, even after having died and miraculously come back to life you still make a fool out of yourself wherever you go," suddenly a silky voice said behind them. "And Harry Potter, the golden boy, so desperate to get his parents back that he turns to arts so dark that even most of the dark families won't dare touch it. I have to admit that I'm curious how you even learned of that practice."

They all turned around towards the man talking who turned out to be Lucius Malfoy, behind him standing his son Draco. Harry rose an eyebrow at the man, wondering how he had learned about how he officially brought his parents back because he knew that the Prophet never gave any details. But Lucius probably had enough influence in the Ministry to be able to access the documents they had to fill out to declare James and Lily alive once more.

"Actually, I already wanted to ask you last time we saw each other but with it being your birthday and all, how did you bring your parents back?" Hermione spoke up tentatively but interestedly, even the twins and Neville looked at him curiously.

Harry, on the other hand, glared at Lucius.

"Oh, didn't he tell you?" Lucius silkily asked before he smirked smugly obviously thinking that he had Harry. "Your dear saviour made a deal with a demon."

Neville instantly blanched when he heard that while Hermione gasped in shock and even Draco's eyes went wide obviously not having known about it, though the reaction of the twins intrigued Harry, they just stared at him curiously.

"I made a deal with a demon, so what?" Harry inquired as for nothing was wrong with that.

"H-Harry, how…how could you? The consequences of…," Hermione tried, but in the end, her voice failed.

"Are none. Hermione, do you really think me so stupid? Or that Loki, not to mention Severus, Sirius or my parents, who all were there when I made that deal, would have let me, would it have endangered me in any way?"

"But Harry, don't you realise that you have now only ten years left?" Neville spoke up in a low voice. "Was that really worth it?"

Harry couldn't help himself, but he burst out laughing. "You have no idea!" he exclaimed once he cooled down again. "Okay here are a few facts for you. I'm friends with not only one but three demons, two of which are extremely high-ranking as in the king of the crossroad demons and the chief torturer of hell."

"My, my, one might get the impression that the saviour and golden boy is going dark," Lucius quipped with a chuckle.

"If anything, I'm neutral or grey or whatever you want to call me. I don't care whether someone is a demon, an archangel or the ordinary wizard next door. As long as they stand behind me, support me and don't betray me, they are my friends, no questions asked. They don't even have to like each other so long they accept that I do," Harry explained more for his friends than for Lucius sake.

"That's it!" one of the twins said, walked over to him and flung an arm over his shoulder.

"Who cares what others think," the second twin added and mirrored his brother's behaviour.

"It is your life, and you can befriend whomever you want," the first continued.

"Who are we to tell you what to do," the second finished.

Harry looked at them with a beaming smile. "Thank you, you two."

Neville on the other hand silently walked over to Harry and came to stand in front of him. He looked Harry straight in the eyes as if searching for something before in the end he nodded.

"I know that you're not evil and as long as you don't become evil, I'll be your friend. You were one of my first friends, and you helped me, saved my life and I won't betray that if I can help it," he told him passionately.

Harry blinked a few times in surprise before he pulled Neville into a brotherly hug. "Thank you!"

It was only Hermione who seemed to be torn between wanting to be Harry's friend and his decision to be friends with something like demons. When Sam saw that she wouldn't come to a conclusion without some nudging in the right direction, he also walked over to Harry.

"Since one of those demons you call your friend is my brother, it wouldn't only be highly hypocritical of me if I'd suddenly turned away from you but also a betrayal towards my brother."

Harry smiled at him and nodded thankfully before he turned towards Hermione who still looked torn. It took her a few more moments before she shook her head.

"It is as you said, I don't have to like them, but I like you, and as long as I don't have to interact with them everything is well," she said with a smile. "Though you'll still have to explain to me why you thought it a good idea to sign a contract with a demon."

"That I will but not now and not here, okay?" he asked her with a soft smile upon which she nodded. "Lucius Malfoy, I have no idea what you tried to achieve here, but I think you should get lost before…oh wait, too late!"

The only warning that Lucius got that something was amiss was the broad mischievous grin from Harry before someone had the gall to empty out a bucket full of paint upon him, magical paint in the colours of the rainbow. He just grabbed for his wand to hex Harry into the next universe, when he heard the amused cackling of a primate above him before the bucket, that previously contained the paint, fell down on him and with a loud clang came to rest on his head like a helmet and effectively blindfolded him.

Everyone stood there for a moment, silently staring at Lucius before the twins, James, Sirius, Loki and Harry began to howl with laughter and even the others couldn't suppress a smirk. Not to mention all the passers-by who stared at Lucius, pointed at him and snickered. Draco, on the other hand, stood next to his father, his front covered in paint and a mortified look on his face. Luckily, Loki had raised a shield so that none of the group could be hit with the dye.

Lucius slowly rose his hands, pulled off the bucket and glared at Harry with malice.

"I promise you, you will rue the day you met me," he said in a low but no less malicious voice.

"But why? Everyone here can attest to the fact that I didn't do anything," Harry replied with a smirk.

Lucius glared at him for the last time before he threw the bucket to the side and strode away, closely followed by Draco.

"Please remind me to thank Fenrir the next time we see him for his gift," Loki chuckled while petting Puck who again sat on Harry's shoulder cackling in amusement.

"I'll have to thank him too," Harry answered. "So only books left."

"Hopefully the masses already left the bookshop," Fred groaned.

"Yeah, or we'll never get the books," George added.

"We'll see," Loki piped up and set off towards Flourish & Blotts, but soon it became apparent that the bookshop was still filled to the brim with fans of that blonde ponce and his name wasn't Lucius Malfoy.

A few of them groaned and watched the masses with trepidation when suddenly someone behind them addresses them, or more specifically Harry.

"Harry Potter, you're more trouble than it is worth, but luckily that will change soon," an unfamiliar woman told them.

"Zachariah," Harry said without missing a beat. "What do you want now?"

"Oh nothing much, just you doing what you're destined to do and I'll make sure of it," Zachariah replied with a devious smirk.

"What? Want to take me as a host? Flash news…NO!"

"Yes, the unfortunate fact that angels need the consent of the host, but luckily for me, …demons do not," Zachariah told him with a chuckle.

To everyone's surprise, a pillar of black smoke rose next to Zachariah to give way to a broad-shouldered man with more muscles than anything else. Harry sighed deeply.

"Really Zach? And here I thought that your amateur mistake from last time taught you not to mess with me," he said with feigning sadness. "Not to mention that you obviously think it's a good idea to attack me in front of my friends and family."

"As if you pathetic hairless apes have the slightest chance against me," the angel chuckled.

"You're a dick with wings, featherbrain," Harry huffed.

"How dare you," Zachariah exclaimed. "Get him!"

The demon made a step towards Harry but before he could do anything more he had a knife in his chest much to everyone's surprise, collapsing to the cobblestone obviously dead. However, when Harry looked at Sam, he knew positively that it had been him to throw it, probably with the aid of magic.

Zachariah roared and lunged at Harry, but the boy simply vanished.

When Harry reappeared, he felt dizzy, and the world spun on its axis.

"Wha-?" was all he could get out before he blacked out.

"As if I fall for the same trick twice," Zachariah raged.

Loki in the meantime grinned, when he suddenly frowned in confusion before worry took over. In the end, he narrowed his eyes before rounding on Zachariah.

"You just made your last mistake," he threatened, an angel blade in hand.

Zachariah's eyes widened when he realised that this was indeed Loki standing before him and he now was wholly pissed off, so he did the intelligent thing and vanished too. Loki stared at the place where the angel had been for a long moment but didn't deign him valuable enough to follow him right now. He vanished the blade and turned back to the others.

"Who…who was that?" Hermione asked once she found her voice again, her shock evident.

"Zachariah, the angel of Raphael's garrison," Loki absently replied.

"He was really an angel? And who is that who Sam…killed? Wait, never mind…where is Harry?" Hermione rattled out a string of questions.

"That is the exact problem, I don't know," Loki said with a serious face that none of them had witnessed so far. "I lost track of him when he teleported away, that is impossible."

"Is…is he dead?" Lily asked he voice wavering and not wanting to even think about it.

"No! Even then I would be able to sense him," Loki threw his hands in the air, they all could see the fear in the pagan's eyes. "There is nowhere in heaven, hell and anywhere in between where I wouldn't be able to sense him."

At that exact moment, several pops echoed through the alley that had gone unusually quiet.

"Great the cavalry, just what I needed," he groaned and turned towards the approaching Amelia Bones who looked very much enraged.

A/N: 'til next chapter!