AN: Again, Thank you for the wonderful beta work Danielc!
Chapter 7 - Reappearance
It was in June of the following year as the last meeting of the Order of the Phoenix happened. It was taking place within a secret room in the old Castle of Hogwarts. As was usual by now, Ron and Hermione were there along with the core members.
"We are here to discuss the security of the students while they travel back for the holidays." Dumbledore opened the meeting, "But firstly I want to know if there is anything new to discuss."
"Nothing new about the suspected students, Sir." Ron answered for once in a no nonsense voice.
"Anything new about Harry?" Hermione asked.
The eyes of the headmaster were twinkling like mad, "Indeed."
"What?" Molly nearly screamed.
"It seems to me that little Harry has come to his senses. Just this morning I received a letter from him asking me to allow him back to his seventh year."
"That's great!" Ron shouted.
"But what about all the lessons he missed?" Hermione asked concerned.
"As far as he told me in his letter, he has been studying this last year and thinks he is up to it. And even if he isn't, I trust you to help your friend catch up." Dumbledore said with a small smile to Hermione.
"Of course." she replied beaming.
"What other news do we have?" Dumbledore asked.
"There were some Death Eater raids during the last month." Snape stated.
"What? Why didn't we hear anything about it in the press?" Ron asked.
"Because not one of them was successful. They had been small raids to keep the Death Eaters satisfied. But not one of them came back… alive."
"What? There's somebody out there who is killing them?" Remus asked interested.
"It would appear that way. Some were simply hit with the death curse, it seemed. But clearly more had been mutilated. The torn apart bodies and all the remains had been sent to the secret hideout." Snape reported.
"This is disturbing news." Dumbledore stated gravely, "There has to be a powerful dark wizard at work to achieve this. While it's good that he is ridding the world of Death Eaters, it is bad to have another dark wizard out there.
"Severus, do you know anything significant about these occurrences?"
"There are rumours flying around, that before any of this happened, a dark eagle owl was seen flying over the places where it happened, like a messenger of the impending death if you will."
"That sounds more like a myth. Anything else?"
"Not that I know of. The only thing bothering me is how he or she know of the raids?" Snape mused.
"Is there another spy?" Ron asked intrigued.
"I don't believe so. None of the Death Eaters have enough brain or skill to pull that of." Snape said sure of himself.
"Lucky guesses?" Remus asked.
"Not possible. Then at least one of the raids would have been successful." Snape responded.
Ron mused, "It doesn't matter as long as the person is fighting on our side, even if it is a more final way of dealing with the bunch. I for one appreciate it. At least this way, there won't be any other escapes from Azkaban."
Hermione scowled, "I never thought I would say this, Ron, but you are right, from a logical point of view. But in my heart I can't condone such actions."
"We'll see if we can find out anything else about this stranger." Dumbledore concluded.
"Wait! One thing more." Snape interrupted, "I have a feeling about this guy, Albus. Don't cross him! It seems to me that he is killing all who stand between him and his target. The Death Eaters are already terrified! For now, we aren't a target as far as we know… but if we ever try to stop him…"
Ron nodded, "I hate to say it, but I second that."
Snape smirked at the red headed teenager but nodded glad about the support even if it came from a Gryffindor.
"We shall deal with him carefully." Dumbledore decided.
"Now to the security of the students. Miss Granger, Mister Weasley, I trust the DA is ready to protect the students?"
"We did all we could, Professor." Hermione answered, "They are proficient in DADA but we don't know how they will fare in a fight. And without Harry as their leader… well, they didn't learn as enthusiastically as last year."
"Thank you. Remus, Tonks, and Shacklebolt shall accompany the train. Sadly to say I can't send Severus along because it could compromise him."
The teenagers nodded.
Molly seemed to be concerned, "Do you really believe that an attack could happen?"
"It's possible, Molly. We know now that Voldemort is becoming impatient and he isn't actively searching for Harry anymore either.
"When he strikes he will do it where it will hurt us the most."
She nodded agreeing.
As the teenagers sat in their compartment some days later, they mused about the last school year.
"I wished Harry could be here." Ginny sighed.
"He will be next year, Ginny." Hermione reassured her.
"But we have learned so much in the DA alone. Won't he feel singled out?"
"I don't think so. We know he's fine from the few letters he sent us and we know he will be coming back for the next term. Then you can see him again and work on seducing him." Hermione teased her.
Ginny blushed fiercely and Ron groaned, "He better behave!"
"Don't you dare to interfere, Ronald Weasley!" Hermione scolded him, "Or I wont even kiss you anymore!"
"That's not fair!" he whined.
"What's he going to say about you two being together?" Ginny asked.
Hermione gulped and blanched visibly, "We hope he will be alright with it."
"You didn't tell him?"
"We still couldn't send him a letter. You know that." Ron said.
"Yes, you're right. But you should tell him as soon as you see him. We know now he isn't very forgiving anymore." Ginny reminded them, "He still hasn't forgiven you… or me for that matter, for what we did to him last summer."
Ron looked deep in thought as he stared out of the window.
"Oh shit!" he muttered and blanched.
"What is it?" Hermione asked alarmed.
"There is a black eagle owl flying beside the train!"
Both girls looked out of the window and there was indeed an owl flying directly beside their window. She seemed to see them, screeched once and flew out of their sight.
"Do you believe the rumours could be true?" Ginny asked clearly frightened.
"It wouldn't hurt to alarm the DA." Ron stated as a matter of fact.
Hermione nodded and activated the charmed coins. She put all members on a high alert.
"I hope it's a fluke." Ginny prayed.
Her prayer wasn't heard. Not even fifteen minutes later they heard an explosion and the train came to a halt with screeching brakes.
As soon as it stopped, curses were impacting on their side of the train.
The window in their compartment shattered and covered them in shards of glass. Luckily none of them were seriously injured. Ron was the only one and he only suffered from some small cuts because he sat nearest to the window.
Cautiously they looked out of the window and saw at least twenty Death Eaters out there and they were getting closer. They fired curse after curse at the train, mostly exploding hexes or the Cruciatus.
Suddenly they heard the screech of the mysterious black owl.
Ron nearly snickered, as the Death Eaters stopped their attack for a moment and looked to the sky more than a little frightened.
But his smile froze on his face, as a black cloud appeared out of nowhere between the train and the Death Eaters. Darkness and evil were radiating from the black cloud until it disappeared. The students nearly became sick as the feeling ran through them.
After the cloud disappeared, a tall athletic wizard stood before them. He wore a dark red, nearly black, cloak and had the hood up, which covered his hair and face.
But the most significant feature was the staff he carried. It was six feet long and had a gleaming crystal of some kind on top of it. It pulsed in a dark red light.
"A staff? Who is powerful enough to use one?" Hermione asked.
"This guy obviously." Ron said absently.
They watched, as the guy didn't even wait or warn the enemies before beam after beam left his staff. They didn't even hear an incantation.
The beams caused explosions and screams from the confused Death Eaters.
The teenagers shuddered as he began to fire green beams between the Death Eaters. It was the same green color as the death curse. The only difference was that it was surrounded by a spiral of the same dark red light as the pulsing crystal.
Death Eaters tried to cast shields but the curses flew straight trough them and killed them on impact.
"He's using the killing curse." Hermione stammered frightened.
"They're beginning to reorganize themselves and fight back." Ron said concerned.
They saw, like in slow motion, how he raised his staff a foot in the air, the glow of the crystal intensified and he rammed it down on the ground.
A red circular wave exploded over the ground and suddenly the stranger was surrounded by a circle of glowing red runes and a pentagram also encompassing runes.
"What is that?" Ron asked his girlfriend.
"I… I don't know, Ron. It could be some kind of summoning ritual."
The stranger began to chant in an old strange language and shudders of pure terror ran down their spines.
"That's sick." Ron stuttered as he began to feel a gut wrenching feeling flowing through his body.
"Black magic." Hermione stated as a matter of fact.
Suddenly the ground began to shake and the earth between the stranger and the Death Eaters was torn apart. Large chunks of earth were moving upwards as if something large was trying to break free from beneath.
And it was.
A huge skeleton broke out of the ground with a skull as large as a car, sharp menacing teeth, and glowing eyes in the colour of the crystal.
As it completely emerged out of the ground they could see that it has once been a huge dinosaur of some kind.
"A T-Rex!" Hermione gasped. The animated skeleton began to move towards the now running and screaming Death Eaters and reached the first ones shortly after that. It tore them apart with its' claws and teeth.
They heard a strange laugh in a cold and foreboding manor, "Now, you shall reap what you sow!" he yelled over the noise and started to hurl dark curses over to the Death Eaters once again. Some of them started to fight back and fired curses of her own at him or the unholy creature.
He only laughed and batted most of them away with a flick of his magnificent staff. Others, like the un-blockable killing curse he intercepted with an expertly levitated chunk of earth or a rock which exploded at the impact of the green light. He didn't even move once from where he stood.
"This guy is good." Ron said impressed.
"But he is evil… look at that monster!" Ginny said full of terror.
"He… he…he's a necromancer!" Hermione stammered with a shaky voice.
"And?" Ron asked.
"Ron, nobody was powerful enough to even try it in the last thousand years, not even Voldemort." she explained.
"Holy shit!" Ron swore.
"More unholy." came Remus voice from the compartment door as he came over to the window.
"Dumbledore has been informed and will be here soon. No matter how foul the magic is that he is using, he saved us." Remus said shaken.
"You can say that again. He's dealing with them without mercy. He isn't here to take prisoners, he is out for the kill, exactly as Snape said." Ron whispered.
"One against twenty and he is laughing at them." Remus said and shuddered, "Even if he has his hands full with blocking now. But he has already cleared the lines of them and his monster is still killing, even if they did blast apart some bones."
The girls clung to each other with shaking bodies.
Dumbledore appeared just, as the stranger blew apart the last three Death Eaters with an empowered reductor curse.
The old wizard visibly blanched as he saw the still moving skeleton of the haunting dinosaur.
"Great Merlin!" he gasped.
"Not exactly." the stranger replied with a magically altered deep and reverberating voice.
He once again rammed the end of his staff into the ground and with a red flash the skeleton, the rips in the ground, and the symbols surrounding him disappeared.
The mysterious eagle owl swooped down with a screech and landed on his right shoulder.
"Who are you then?" Dumbledore asked.
"None of your concern."
"Why did you help us?" the headmaster asked.
"I didn't."
"But you did!"
"No, I was here to kill Riddle's minions. It was your luck, that I stood between them and you."
"Why… I mean, why are you killing them?"
"That's simple. I want to kill Riddle himself and I will kill anyone who stands between me and him. Don't even think about crossing me because for me it is no difference between you and them. There are only two things that matter, me and Riddle, and one of us is going to die a painful death."
"But we…" Dumbledore gulped, "We could work together."
"No, we can't!"
"Why?"
"Because I said so." the stranger replied coldly, "You got your first and only warning, fool. Stay out of my way or bear the consequences!"
With that he and the owl disappeared in a black cloud.
AN: Thanks for your wonderful reviews. For your information, I write 'ENGLISH' in the titles of the stories which are in English. It's easier for you folks because my natural language is German and in this way you know if a story or a new chap from me is in a language you can understand ;-)
Athenakitty: Harry doesn't have control over the Black estate. It is mentioned in one of the earlier chaps, that Remus inherited the house. But Harry still has a little bit to say in there because he is the head of the Blacks. About the Dark mark, well, Bella will not flaunt it into Snapes face, but Harry will have his fun with that. Just wait!
marka: If you remember, Bella allowed him to call her a bitch, but only if they are in bed together or in similar circumstances. At the end of the last chapter, he used this condition out of fun against her.
barkeeper: I didn't write the story in German first, I wrote it originally in English. I will never translate my own stories, because I simply haven't enough time to write the same story twice. Besides it is simply boring ;-) But you are right with the hint for the English people as mentioned above. Thanks for answering that to LuciverIsDivine. As for Remus, I think I mentioned it that he owns GP12, not Harry. But Harry is the head of the Blacks. I made it so, because Harry would have kicked out Dumbi and the Order of the fried chicken and where is the fun in that? They both will have more fun in this way, just wait!
LuciferIsDivine: See above! I only want to show the English readers when a story of me is in English because most are in German. It should help you.
Vegico: Hmm, you seem to be right. But I can't change it. So if you don't have a problem with that, I leave it as authors imagination ;-)
Jo Lizard: Die Wortwahl kann deshalb unnatürlich rüberkommen, weil ich kein Engländer bin und ich spreche eigentlich selten Englisch. Nun, da ich einen Beta hab, kannst du ja mal sagen, ob es besser geworden ist. Und was den Kitsch angeht, so bin ich nun mal. Aber glaube mir, in DIESER Story sind lange nicht alle Kaps so kitschig... einige werden eher hart und brutal sein, andere wieder gefühlvoll... wenn du das net magst, must du die Fluff-Kaps überspringen :P