A/n First off I want to thank all of you for sticking with me this long. Secondly I wanted to address some of the criticism I've been receiving in particular for killing off Sirius. Trust me when I say there are real reasons for this that will become evident later on in the plot.
Also I would like to address Murg's criticism of my use the word hero to describe Harry. Now first and foremost I don't condone murdering anyone because they get in your way that is both rude and illegal, also I wouldn't call this heroic. However when I called Harry a hero I meant that to mean that he is the protagonist and therefore the hero of this story. Though if you wanted to get technical he would be an antihero but it appears that I'm rambling. So please enjoy the story.
Harry did not know when exactly he had begun to feel like he was being followed, he was sure it had began sometime during his first week home. Though for all he knew, someone could've been tailing him all the way from King's Cross. Percy (the new assistant to madam Bones) had assured him that whoever was tailing him it wasn't the ministry. So that left Dumbledore or Voldemort, Harry was guessing it was Dumbledore, as any Death eater worth his salt would've already killed him.
Harry had taken to watching his watchers so to speak, they were a mix of people. Some were clearly trained for the mission and others; well the best that could be said about them was that they were amateurs. There was one who would take on the appearance of various people, and if it had not been for the person constantly tripping over things Harry doubted he would ever have noticed. There was another who took on the guise of drunken man sleeping in the alley's Harry would occasionally walk down, though Harry had noticed that it wasn't always an act.
It was during one of that man's shifts that Harry with Dobby's help had snuck out of Privet Drive and Surrey. He had ridden a muggle bus to a small pub deep in the countryside, where he had met Percy.
The redhead had changed a lot in the surprisingly little amount of time since Harry had last seen him. His already pale complexion had gone to a ridiculously pasty white, and his usually tidy appearance had suffered a horrible blow. Though Harry could not help but notice that even if they were dirty Percy's robes were of a much higher quality then Harry had ever seen him in before.
"Bones working you hard?" Harry asked rather unnecessarily as he dug into his Sheppard's pie.
"You could say that," Percy said digging into his plate of lasagna, "it's just luck that I managed to get anytime off at all," He finished wiping sauce off his mouth.
"Busy at the office then?" Harry didn't want to come right out and ask about Voldemort, as he was not entirely sure he had not been followed.
"Oh you could say that, feels like the third Anglo-American has just broken out, it's odd though crime has actually gone down," Percy's voice was incredulous.
"Down?" Harry said carefully keeping his voice down.
"Not all of it of course what would Britain be without pickpockets after all, but the dark artifact trade has practically disappeared," Percy said leaning in.
"You'd think it would shoot up, with him back and all," Harry was speaking more to himself then Percy.
"Quite," Percy replied stiffly, he knew something was going on but he doubted it had anything to do with the dark lord.
"Well what is Fudge saying about it?" Harry asked though he was sure he already knew the answer.
"Oh what you would expect he's walking around claiming he single-handedly conquered crime," Percy was still a by the books prick but Fudge trying to make him a scapegoat had earned the minister a lifelong enemy.
"Bet that doesn't sit well with Bones?" Harry had only met the woman once but he remembered her as a no nonsense and intimidating woman.
"Oh they've had there own parting of the ways, it hasn't hit the press yet but you can be sure that Bones will be put in Mr. Crouch's old slot during the next cabinet reshuffle," Percy said as if the position was worse then death.
"Is that so bad?" Harry asked confused, "I remember you thinking Crouch was a god."
"I was new to the civil service and I thought that anyone who conversed with the Minister of Magic must be important. I've come to learn that it's usually works the other way round" from Percy's voice you might think he was a veteran soldier talking to a recruit not even out of basic training yet.
"In the muggle world the Foreign office is one of the best positions a minister can get?" Harry couldn't help but be amazed by the differences between the two worlds.
"It's the same way here, in theory at least, you see minor negotiations are handled by the ambassadors in a specific country, so they can't do anything about that. Now this would theoretically leave the foreign secretary to handle the major treaty talks and policy decisions. However, in practice the Minister Fudge sets all the policies, and, takes all the credit from the treaties. So the Foreign Secretary is left to negotiate the thickness of cauldrons, and, be the fall man for any mistakes Fudge makes. It's what you do with someone when they have so many powerful friends that you can't stick them in the Centaur liaison office," Percy mused.
"So will she take the position?" Bones did not seem like a person that could be sidelined to Harry.
"Depends on whether she thinks she can keep her seat next year without a ministry."
"Well can she?" Harry was beginning to wish he had read the Daily Prophet more closely. He doubted Percy would betray him after all revealing secrets like this was a major offence for a civil servant, but it didn't look good for him to be so ignorant.
"Anyone's guess really, she's popular locally but her constituency is hemorrhaging Jobs, and that could play against her. Plus nobody's entirely sure who's camp she's in, she was a Whig before the coalition, but she hasn't broken with the Federalist like the rest of Dumbledore's group," Percy explained.
"Do you have any idea who's side she'll land on," Harry asked.
"She's definitely sympathetic to Dumbledore, but he's not popular at the moment, and the general election is only a year away. So she can't afford to slip up and jump parties at the wrong time. And you can be sure that if she does leave Fudge will block her peerage," Percy said wondering how much that would factor on her decision.
"She doesn't seem like the type of person who would be intimidated by that," Harry pointed out.
"I suppose not, but still a peerage isn't exactly something you throw away for short term political gain," Percy replied.
"Well how is Fudge doing politically?" Harry asked the important question of the evening.
"As far as public opinion goes the mob hasn't ever loved him more, but he is facing some serious problems in the Wizengamot. Now that Dumbledore has removed his Whigs from the coalition, he's leading a minority government and can theoretically be called for a vote of no confidence at anytime. That however is extremely unlikely as Malfoy and the rest of the old opposition has effectively shut up and have given fudge a free reign in the last two months," Percy was referring to Malfoy's traditionalist party which had previously formed the core of the opposition.
"Word around the ministry is that he is looking to form a coalition with the Conservative Association, he'll have a devil of a time trying to do that though," Percy chuckled. "After the way he treated them last time around they would have to be worse then stupid to give Fudge a second chance," he explained.
"What happened last time?" Harry asked.
"About what you would expect from him, every time Fudge made a mistake the conservatives would be the fall men. It got to the point where Duke Charles's protégé got the blamed for a trade treaty with the Raj falling through. Didn't really matter much though Fudge still had a comfortable majority in commons and lords with the Whig's on his side," Percy finished.
"Well then why does he expect the Conservatives to come back to his side?" Fudge was a coward but even Harry wasn't prepared to underestimate him as a politician.
"Duke Charles's is retiring and there's a power struggle that's going to be taking place inside the Conservative ranks. By rights Viscount Downey should be the Duke's successor, but he's still tarred with that whole Indian affair so some in the party are claiming he doesn't have what it takes to led. His opponents are supporting Harold Puck, who just happens to be Fudge's nephew, reverse nepotism you could say," Percy chuckled.
"How much of a chance does Puck have?" Harry wanted Fudge with as much support as possible. The Minster enviable downfall (And that of everyone who followed him) had to create a power vacuum for his plan to work.
"They'd be worse then stupid to take Fudge up on his offer, you see with Malfoy effectively letting Fudge have his free reign there is a small group who feel he's abandoned the traditionalist ideal. If the Conservatives can keep plugging away on that line they could steal a few seats away from Malfoy in the next election. All they really need is that foot in the door and in a few years they could be real political players," Percy explained.
"Yeah but how many of them are likely to take the long view when fudge starts promising them some real power?" Harry pointed out.
"True enough," Percy said, "But Duke Charles has been the Conservatives Association for the better part of a century as long as Downey can keep him in his pocket any threat Fudge poses is a moot point," He explained.
"What's to say Downey won't form the coalition, a politician's memory is about as long as a goldfish's," Harry pointed out.
"Downey might but Fudge won't," Percy said wondering what exactly goldfishes had to do with anything. "If Fudge allies himself with Downey it's as good as admitting the trade deal falling through was his fault. He's popular but if the big shipping houses ever figure out for sure that was his fault, they'll pump so much money into the Opposition's coffers it won't matter how much the public likes him," Percy continued.
"speaking of Fudge's popularity, what's does he plan to do with it?" Harry asked the question of the hour.
"At the moment he's using it to purge the ministry of every Dumbledore appointee he can get his hand on, rather amusing really. The Civil Service set up regulations to protect itself from this sort of thing years ago, anyone truly important has tenure and those of us not so blessed can sue for wrongful termination," Percy said clearly amused at the idea of suing Fudge.
"How long do you think that'll keep him occupied?" Harry asked.
"Anyone's guess really, office pool says sometime in September, I know Bones has three Galleons on December. But between you and me, a friend in the Lord Advocate's told me that Fudge wanted too know just how much power he has in Hogwarts," Percy said leaning in.
"How much power is that exactly?" Harry didn't like where this was going, for better or worse he was going to be stuck in Hogwarts for a while longer.
"The Schools Act of 1984, says he has about as much power as he wants, I suppose the Wizengamot could overturn his decisions but how likely is that at the moment," Percy answered.
"Wait schools there's more then one?" Harry asked surprised, why hadn't he noticed that before.
"Well only the one really matters," Percy said laughing, "the rest of them are really just jokes. Hogwarts is like that muggle school, ah… what was it? That muggleborn from Hufflepuff always talked about it," Percy said desperately trying to remember the name.
"What muggleborn?" Harry asked.
"Fetchy, Finchy… something with an F," replied Percy.
"Finch-Fletchy?"
"Yes, what school did he always talk about?" asked Percy.
"Eton?"
"That's the one," Percy said smiling, "Everyone who wants to be somebody in the ministry, or anyone who wants to advance far in the business or really any other sector has to go to Hogwarts, something of unspoken law you see," Percy explained with a note of pride in his voice.
"There's only three ways to get in, you have to be A. Wealthy, B. Connected, C. A muggleborn, and they only do that last one to avoid the whole racism charge," Percy explained.
"Twenty percent of the population is muggleborn, bit much for tokenism," Harry observed.
"Oh that's only since Dumbledore took over, before that they made up barely five percent," Percy replied. "Back then," he continued, "Hogwarts accepted, only the best and the brightest of the muggleborn. Now Hogwarts accepts nearly fifty percent of them, or do you honestly think the Creevy brothers are the best the muggle world has to offer."
"Bit Bitter," Harry commented.
"There are wizarding families who save up for years pouring every extra knut they make into tuition funds to send their children there, and any muggleborn off the street gets in on a scholarship. It does make one feel mildly cheated," Percy said as he reached for his drink.
Harry had always known that there was some bitterness among purebloods because of just how many muggleborns were let into Hogwarts. But he had never been aware of just how deep that went, especially from someone with a family like Percy's. It wasn't like Dumbledore letting more muggleborns in was a stupid decision, he had probably decided that the more muggleborns the more cross blood friendships and marriages, and the more of those the sooner the pureblood elite would lose their power. But Dumbledore had miscalculated, because whenever you give a group something they don't deserve, it creates resentment.
Harry was sure that Dumbledore's plan would eventually work, but until then it was a weakness Voldemort had been more then happy to exploit.
"Good, God!" Percy exclaimed looking at his watch I should've been back at the office two minutes ago.
"Here," Harry said grabbing a stack of envelopes, from the inside of his jacket. "I want you to mail these for me," Percy clearly found the request odd but he was in too much of a hurry to ask any questions.
"Here's your bill," A waitress maybe a few years older then Harry said handing him the paper.
"Typical Weasley, skipping out on a bill," Harry muttered as he reached for his wallet. Though in truth Harry had came out on top from the meeting, he had received some news though in truth the vast majority of it could have been gotten from the newspaper. Even the bit about Bones, Susan didn't write very frequently but when she did it was always informative. No the real victory had been the letters, he was probably being paranoid, but he didn't want Hedwig, or Dobby to carry anything that was really sensitive.
And to say the notes were sensitive would be an understatement, one of them to a friend Harry had gotten into Auror training flat out asked for Lucius Malfoy's auror file. In time Harry would be able to get much more accurate information from Percy but at the moment Harry wasn't ready to trust him that much. Summerby had proven himself loyal the year before, and if he had a sudden change of heart Harry had more then enough dirt to make the man useless as a witness. It was he concluded as he waited for the bus well worth the trip.
The next few weeks progressed all to slowly for Harry as Dumbledore's men seemed to switch their schedule, and the drunk man never appeared anymore. Leading Harry to think that his negligence had been noted, Harry couldn't help but think that Dumbledore would've had to have been an idiot to trust the man in the first place.
During those long weeks of activity Harry kept himself busy by reading and rereading the mail he received sifting for clues about what was going on. Ron's were usually one liners and contained no useful information, Hermione's were pages long but equally as useless.
His other friends however provided a wealth of information, Neville's for instance often discussed the inner dealings of the Whigs. He was in a position to know as his grandmother serving as his regent was one of Dumbledore's few remaining allies. Eddie Carmichael's notes were filled with pureblood gossip, Harry had yet to find a practical use for the information but he was sure it would come in handy someday. Marcus Belby, a sixth year who's family owned a chain of apothecaries kept Harry up to date on the wizarding world finances. This was rather useful as Harry had been able to determine how Voldemort kept himself funded.
It was interestingly enough not through his followers as most people thought but through several business. Originally they were funded by his more affluent death eaters but they soon turned a profit all their own. In the last war the ministry had found those business impossible to shutdown as their owners always turned out to be important foreigners with excellent reputations.
When he wasn't reading his correspondence he had taken to running more to amuse himself then anything else. Few things were funnier then middle age men and women who had let themselves go trying to keep up with a teenager. Especially because they usually wore invisibility cloaks. By midsummer the rumor had circulated that the park was haunted after people began to hear heavy breathing and cursing coming from thin air.
Not all of his pursuers were completely hopeless however one person probably a large male by the sound of his feet usually managed to keep pace with Harry. And the other was a mousy haired woman who ran without the cloak, she would frequently run ahead of Harry and mockingly wait for him to catch up. The affect was thoroughly ruined as she frequently tripped over cracks in the sidewalk.
It was during one of her guard shifts that Harry decided to check his mail, which was a surprisingly hard thing to do. Just as Harry sent his letters through Percy to keep them from being read he had devised a system to make sure that his incoming mail was never intercepted. Rather then using owls which were a pretty easy target for wizards he had the mail sent to a PO box. It wasn't entirely clever but given the usual disdain that wizards had for muggle things Harry was pretty sure he was safe.
Getting away from the woman was surprisingly easy it involved waiting for her to run past him, then running in the opposite direction. Harry was pretty sure that she would be pissed, the thought of her waiting at the corner forever was to comical for him to care very much.
The rest of his trip to the local post office was for the most part uneventful. He did however have to duck out of the way of Dudley and his gang who were making fun of an elementary school child. He wasn't particularly scared of his cousin not anymore, but only an idiot went around making trouble for trouble's sake.
When Harry arrived at the Post office he had to sit through a ridiculously long line of people. Most of them ignored him but one of the housewives insisted on giving him dirty looks, she was one of Petunia's few friends and had been hearing stories about his delinquency for years.
Harry paid her back by winking at her daughter a thoroughly uninterested teen who was going through a Goth phase. The girl smiled back, which caused her mother to glare at both of them. There were times when Harry was glad that his aunt had spread his bad boy image around, compared to what she might have said it had it's advantages.
"Box 4793," Harry said when he eventually reached the counter.
"ID?" the women said without even looking up.
Harry rummaged around in his pocket a bit before pulling out a drivers license.
"Tony Blair?" the women asked looking up.
"There is more then one you know," Harry muttered silently cursing the twin's stupid sense of humor.
"Of course, one moment sir," the bored looking clerk said before she disappeared into the back room. When she eventually returned she was caring one rather thick manila envelope.
"Here you go sir, would you like to pay next month's rent?"
"No," Harry said distracted as he looked at the return address on the envelope or rather lack of one. In it's place was a post mark, which proclaimed that the package had originated from Cardiff. 'Which would mean Summerby,' Harry thought eagerly.
He exited the building and made a beeline for the café across the street, he knew he was being an idiot but he didn't feel like waiting till he got home to see the file.
"What can I get for you sir?" a waiter asked as he sat down.
"Nothing thanks," Harry said opening the envelope.
"You have to get something sir,"
"Shit!" Harry said.
"Excuse me?" the waiter asked offended.
"No not you," Harry replied his exclamation had been prompted by the sudden arrival of the women who had been following him. She had yet to site him but he knew it was only a matter of seconds, should he make a break for it? No the only way to leave would be would take him away from Privet Drive, besides what point would escape serve it wasn't as if he had done anything wrong (that they knew about).
"Sir you have to order something," the waiter said clearly getting annoyed.
"Two Frappuccinos," Harry replied thinking up a plan quick.
"Two sir?" the man asked confused.
"I'm incredibly thirsty," Harry said getting annoyed with the man.
"Of course sir," the waiter replied in a way that clearly said that he thought Harry was mentally deficient, "what flavor?"
"It doesn't matter," Harry said angrily, if the man was still there when she saw him it would sort of ruin the whole mysterious effect.
The waiter was gave him that look again but made no further comment before he left to make the drinks.
Harry looked up to see the women had just noticed the seat, hiding a grin he made a show of trying to hide the envelope under the tablecloth, though he made sure to leave an edge sticking out.
"Think that was funny asshole?" the women said dangerously as she neared the table.
"Have we met ma'am?" Harry asked innocently, while barely containing a smile.
"Do you know how long I was waiting for your ass to show up? I thought you had gotten kidnapped or something," she replied.
"Oh no harm done," Harry said grinning lopsidedly he had been told it made him look cute, he didn't really see that but it was the affect he was after.
"No harm! No harm!" she whispered angrily, "do you know what would happen if Dumbledore found out I let you get away like that?"
"I'm betting you'll get a stern talking to? Maybe a disappointed look?" Harry said sarcastically.
"Shut up," she answered, "we're leaving now."
Harry suppressed another grin, her reaction showed that he wasn't that far off. "Oh come on I ordered us drinks and everything," he said doing his best imitation of puppy eyes.
"If Mad-eye found out that I was even talking to you-" she began
"How would he find out?" Harry cut in, "your shift isn't over for another three hours and I'm not going to tell him."
"H-how did you find the schedule out?" the woman asked shocked.
"The guy who always smelled like gin was a dead giveaway, I just clocked when he was on duty, and after about a month I had the schedule more or less down. So are we staying or what?" he asked.
"I still don't think it's a goo-" she began.
"Please, with all of the happening recently, I-I haven't really gotten a chance to talk to anyone," Harry said throwing out a fake stutter.
"One drink, and that's all got it," she caved in.
"Thanks," Harry said while wondering why all adults fell for that shit, honestly if growing up involved losing the bullshit detecting part of your brain he was happy to stay a teen. "You know I don't think we were ever formally introduced, I'm Harry."
"Tonks," the woman replied, as the waiter returned with the drinks.
"Just Tonks?" Harry asked once the man had set down the coffee and left.
"Yes, and if you call me anything else, I'll kill you," she said with a grin that said she was joking, well for the most part.
"Okay," harry though wondering if the woman had a mental problem that he was unaware of. "So tell me Tonks what do you do? when your not spying on teenage heart throbs that is," Harry said with a cheeky grin.
"Your not cocky at all," Tonks replied sarcastically.
"When you got it flaunt it," Harry answered with a smile that said he was joking. "But stop trying to dodge the question, what do you do?"
"I'm an auror trainee," she said taking a sip of her drink.
"Ah an auror, well tell you what I'll give you a little tip that might just make you famous," Harry said leaning in.
"Enlighten me oh great one," she answered with a chuckle.
"I'm a dark wizard," Harry said simply.
"Er… what?' Tonks asked confused, she had been expecting something like don't keep your wand in your back pocket.
"I'm an evil dark wizard who is at this very moment plotting to overthrow the ministry, arrest me now and I guarantee you'll get a medal."
"The great Harry Potter a Dark Lord? My, my what ever will his adoring public say?" Tonks asked falling right into Harry's trap.
In Harry's experience most people were willing to ignore an unsolicited confession as the ravings of a mad man or in this case a joke, this attitude would hold out even when there was evidence to the contrary. Mein Kampf was the reason nobody believed that Hitler was killing Jews until the tanks rolled into Auschwitz.
"Something along the line of, so Fudge was right after all I imagine," Harry said shrugging.
"Oh so you heard about that?" she said, her eyes filled with sympathy.
"It's not exactly a secret is it," Harry said shrugging.
"Don't let it get you down, he's just scared of what could happen, he's running for cover and attacking you is the closest cover available," Tonks put her hand on his shoulder apparently attempting to comfort him.
Harry shrugged "I'm more or less used to it at this point, I've been famous since I was eleven the ups and downs off living in the public eye is nothing new to me," Harry didn't like to be pitied.
"What's that?" Tonks asked, she had seen the envelope that Harry had half hidden under the table cloth.
"Oh i-it's nothing," Harry fake stuttered.
"Nothing huh?" Tonks asked cocking an eyebrow.
"Nothing," Harry said purposefully looking anywhere but at her eyes, man she had a great rack.
"Oh come on Harry you can tell me, tell ya what you tell me what's in the envelope and I'll let you in on a secret," she said.
"Wow you'll tell me a secret really?" Harry asked sarcastically.
"Oh shut up Harry," Tonks said blushing when she realized that it did sound sort of stupid.
"Fine do you really want to know what's this is?" Harry continued when he realized that she wouldn't continue to play along.
"Yes please," she chirped returning to what Harry was rapidly beginning to realize was her normal bubbly self.
"Well it's just that sometimes I want letters from gir-people," Harry said inserting the fake slipup. "To you know not be read by my professors first," he finished.
"We don't read your mail Harry," Tonks said shocked that he would even think that Dumbledore would do something like that.
"Of course you do Tonks, think about it I'm sort of famous if you didn't notice. Last year when an article came out saying that Hermione had broken my heart she got hate mail by the cartload. But I didn't get a single letter of condolence, in fact I haven't gotten any fan mail my entire life. Therefore it's only logical that someone is reading my mail and deciding what is and what isn't acceptable for me to read. I'm sure that Dumbledore is only doing what's best for me," Harry said careful to keep the irony out of his voice. "But for the best or not that still means someone has to read my mail."
"B-but that's illegal," Tonks said stunned.
"Oh don't be so surprised, it's a war out there it would be irresponsible of Dumbledore to let any idiot with possession of a wand send me a cursed letter," Harry said leaping to Dumbledore's defense.
He wasn't speaking out against Dumbledore yet, that would've been stupid in fact he was being the loyal servant. That way in the future when he did start to attack Dumbledore she would think that he had a good reason. He was at the same time however planting just a shadow of a doubt in her mind. He was showing that Dumbledore did morally questionable things in order to win the war. Even though she must've understood his reasons, it still was so at odds with the image that Dumbledore cultivated that it would make any reasonable person wonder what else he was hiding.
"We better get going," Tonks said looking at the sky, which had quickly grown dark during there conversation.
"Right," Harry said standing up and reaching into his pocket to grabbing a few pounds and throwing it on the table.
"So how exactly did you end up joining Dumbledore's merry band of idiots?" Harry asked as they were leaving.
"Merry band of idiots?" she said amused.
"Well I'm no great judge of character but one of you is a drunk who can't stay awake, and the vast majority can't even run a mile without falling over from exhaustion," Harry said chuckling.
"Hey those people fought the dark lord to a standstill," Tonks answered defensively.
"Which one Grindelwald?" Harry asked slyly.
"Oh shut up," Tonks said conceding the point.
"You never answered the question," Harry replied.
"When I first joined the auror academy Mad-eye took an interest in me, pushed me that sort of thing you know? I'm guessing it had something to do with my ability-"
"Ability?" Harry asked.
"I'm a metamorphmagus," Tonks said simply.
"Er…what?"
"This," she said, and before his eyes her mousy brown hair, turned into a bubblegum pink, that if he were honest he would say fit her personality much better.
"Ah…" Harry said, quickly classifying the ability as tool to be used, and as a potential weakness of hers. The way in which she had chalked up Mad-eye's interest in her to her abilities seemed to speak of a lower self esteem then her otherwise bubbly personality would suggest. Harry supposed that, it made a deal of sense, a trait like that either made someone a complete prick, or self-conscious.
"So it sort of made sense for me to join," Tonks finished, as Harry realized that he had been off in his own world.
"What about you Potter, what makes you do all of that heroic stuff we normal Aurors can only dream about doing," she asked.
"Is it just me or did it just get kind of cold?" Harry said suddenly feeling as if the temperature had dropped twenty degrees.
Tonks shrugged "I've been cold since the sun went down," she gestured to her outfit, which consisted of a sports bras and a pair of jogging shorts. "though now that you mention it, it did get sort of cold," she finished.
There eyes met, and in a second they both had their wands in hand. Harry wasn't sure where Tonks had been hiding hers in that outfit but the possibilities raised were to say the least interesting to his teenage mind. Then all thoughts of that nature were pushed out of his mind as he heard a scream in the distance. Harry didn't stop to think before he took off in the direction of the scream, maybe there was more of the Gryffindor left inside of him then he cared to admit.
He soon regretted that, as rounded the corner of Wisteria Walk to see a figure in a dark cloak at the entrance to an alley about halfway down the street. Dementor or Death Eater, it was impossible to tell at this distance, whatever it was it seemed to be completely ignoring Harry and was advancing into the alley.
"NO LEAVE HARRY TAKE ME" cried a female voice.
'dementor then' he thought as dived behind a pair of trashcans at the entrance to the alley.
"P-PLEASE S-STOP NO MORE, I-I'LL CHANGE I PROMISE!" cried Dudley's familiar voice at the opposite end of the alley.
'Should I?' Harry thought a he raised his wand, the question was really more academic than anything else. Letting Dudley die would serve no purpose other then fulfilling some childish desire for revenge, and it very well could expose him for what he really was. He could here Voldemort's high pitch laugh from behind him as he raised his wand.
"EXPECTO PA-" There was a cold and clammy hand on his arm before he even knew what was happening. He tried to fight the hands but they were two strong, he was turned around to face the hideous gaping maw of a dementor.
'this can't be happening, this can't be how it ends,' Harry thought to himself stunned. The creature moved closer slowly and Harry began to feel a something deep inside well up, as if trying to escape the oncoming horror.
"expecto patronum," although it was shouted, to Harry's rather distracted mind the incantation seemed to be a barely perceptible whisper. In fact he didn't even notice it until the silvery white figure rammed the dementor who had been preparing to deliver the fatal kiss.
A/n Sorry for the delay, but I did warn you that I update sporadically.