Chapter 2
*BANG*
Everyone jumped as a group of seven men all dressed in black burst through the door.
And there, on each of their inner left arms, only visible due to the sleeve-less shirts they wore... was the Dark Mark.
Silence.
Tom slowly put down the glass he was polishing, "… Harry?"
The part-time Auror sighed and reluctantly put down his drink, "On it".
He stood up, raising his wand.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
And that's when all hell broke loose.
"Crucio!"
"Imperio!"
"Confringo!"
Once the dark wizards realised that Harry had paralysed one of their members, they fought back, giving him all they had.
Some of the other patrons in the bar quickly jumped to their 'saviours' help, while more simply ran away screaming. But throughout the battle, the mysterious boy in the back remained motionless, continuing to read and sip at his tea, not giving a single damn that there was a vicious duel going on in front of him.
That was, of course, until one of the men bashed into him, knocking over his table and smashing his mug.
Standing up, Rodolphus dusted himself off, before spinning around to face the blonde.
The teenager glared at him, putting down the worn novel, before slowly standing up, "Well, that wasn't very nice, now, was it?"
Lestrange smirked, "So what are you gonna about it boy? You're a kid. Underaged… You can't fight back".
"Oh, can't I?"
A split second later, the Death Eater was pinned to the wall behind him.
The boy hadn't even lifted a finger.
Struggling against his bonds, he began to panic as his captor came towards him, a predatory gleam in his eye.
"What the HELL have you done to me?" He yelled, and the blonde frowned, "Not as much as I want to do, unfortunately… But I guess that this will have to do for the moment".
He raised his hand, and with a simple snap of his fingers, Rodolphus Lestrange collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
From across the room, Harry Potter stared at the boy with barely-concealed shock.
Wand-less magic?
At his age?
"Impedimenta!" He yelled, quickly snapping back to the battle at hand as he just narrowly avoided an Unforgivable.
"Giving up yet?" He opponent sneered.
Something Rowle, he believed his name was.
"Locomotor Mortis" He shot back, "How's that for an answer?"
The fair-haired wizard collapsed to the ground, his legs rendered useless for the time being.
Quickly picking up the Death Eater's wand, Harry continued on, shooting down Jugson as he passed.
The fight was short and brutal, the cloaked figures easily over-powering the few uninjured witches and wizards, until all that remained were the seven Death Eaters, Harry Potter, and the mysterious boy with no wand.
"Give it up, kids" Goyle Sr. smirked, "You don't stand a chance".
Harry frowned.
Kids?
Glancing to his right, he noticed the blonde teenager standing empty-handed next to him.
"What the hell are you doing?" He hissed, but the boy didn't even look at him, "Saving both our asses for a start".
Keeping his guard up in case the dark wizards attacked, Harry turned partially towards him, "How? You're underaged. You don't have your wand with you-"
"I don't have a wand".
Silence.
Travers sneered arrogantly, but shifted uncomfortably on the spot, his body betraying his nerves, "No wand? He doesn't stand a chance! Is this kid serious?"
The boy's cold brown eyes met his evenly, "Yes. I am. They're unreliable, easy to break, and quite frankly, your dependency on them is rather dangerous".
"You don't have a wand?" Harry repeated, "You're underaged, doing magic, and you don't have a wand?!"
"For fucks sake" He growled, "Why the hell would I use a wand, when I DON'T FUCKING NEED ONE?!"
And with a single sweep of his hand, the seven Death Eaters were sent plummeting to the cold ground below, all unconscious.
He stared at them, before turning back to the elder wizard and raising an eyebrow, "… See?"
"How the HELL did you do that?" Harry whispered, slowly lowering his wand.
The teenager sighed, turning to him, "Look, man, I don't have time to answer your questions, because, unlike you, I have to deal with the son of a bitch who's about to walk through that door and yell at me".
*BANG*
Everyone slowly turned to face the door to the inn as it swung shut behind someone.
Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Minister for Magic.
His eyes roamed the room for a minute, before finally settling on the blonde-haired boy standing in the middle of the room.
"The Ministry received intelligence that at six twenty-three this evening, you performed illegal underage wizardry. As a clear violation of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, you are hereby-"
"Yea, yea, whatever. I've heard this same speech before, so how about we just skip to the end of this little tirade of yours, where you ask a very important question, I give you my answer, you apologise profusely, drop all charges that were made against me, and turn around and walk back through that door with your tail between your legs, yea?"
They all stared at the boy in question.
He just talked back to the Minister of Magic.
He was done for.
Kingsley glared, "What is your name, brat?"
The boy smirked, "Alexander. Jonathan. Rider".
The effect was immediate.
Kinsley paled.
Dramatically.
"Oh, I- I didn't- I didn't know- Mr Rider, sir, I'm so sorry. Please, accept my most profound apologies, I did not know that it was you, and if I had, I most certainly wouldn't have-"
"Just go, man" He interrupted, "Before you embarrass yourself even further".
Kingsley quickly nodded, "Of course, sir".
And true to the younger wizard's predictions, the Minister did a remarkably accurate impression of a scolded dog as he left, his proverbial tail tucked firmly between his leg.
All eyes were on 'Alexander', who met everyone's gaze squarely.
Harry stared at him, "… Who the bloody hell are you?"
He smirked, "I'm Alex Rider... And to the government, Mr Potter, I'm even more famous than you".