Ascension Of The Scorpion Sorcerer

by Vorlon666

After the Events of his fifth year Harry is angry. Fed up with Dumbledore's lies, half truth and deceits, he will no longer allow anyone to dictate his life. He trains very hard and along the way makes some startling discoveries. He discovers who he is.

16. The End Of An Era Part 1

Chapter 15 "The End of An Era Part 1"

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Hello Everyone. To all my faithful readers I am sorry it's taken me nearly two months to post, but year-end in engineering projects is the same as Christmas shopping during the last seven days. It's been nuts! This is why this is a 30 k+ chapter.

I wish I had more time to take part in Yahoo groups and all that but the truth is that my time has been quite limited this past six months. I hope the New Year brings some decent pace of work.

Now I need to vent off about some of the fan fiction I see out there. Folks I'm sorry but chapters that are less than 2000 words should not be considered chapters. Second thing is WHAT IS IT WITH THE SLASH. I hope to God that Daniel Radcliff doesn't read FanFiction. Net. He would be wearing a chastity belt. It just seems that there is an awful lot of it out there. Especially MPREG, Basic biology should tell you it's pretty damn impossible, unless you are willing to put up with the worst case of constipation in the history of mankind. Enough said about that.

Also what's with the bloody I must abuse Harry by the Dursley's stories? He is a wizard who is supposed to be equal in power to Voldemort. Do you honestly think that someone who has the power to do accidental magic would let himself be beat up by some fat pig who can't even see himself pee. COME ON!

For those of you who still use stupid fourth year douche bag spells for their fights here is a link that translates English to Latin. USE IT and make your fights a little better.

www.archives. Harry is not Jesus Christ, he is a Soldier who has to kill Voldemort. IT IS OK TO KILL DEAT EATERS TOO GET IT!

Oh yah, before I forget there is definite gore in this Story. YOU have been warned. All right On with the Show. Sorry about my rant but I had to get it off my chest.

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Harry walked out of the classroom trying to control his anger. It would have been so easy to just grab the bloody bat and portkey him to his lair and let the Weasley's take care of it. He had promised Bill that he would have free reign where Snape was concerned. If nothing else he was doing it for Charlie. In the wizarding world there was nothing more sacred then blood ties.

The Weasley's on his side wanted to avenge their brother according to their code, and Harry would be damned if he would interfere with that. He knew damn well the feeling they were going through. In hindsight it might not have been the best strategy to attack his old potion master. The worst that could happen would be for Dumbledore to become even more suspicious of his ties with the Scorpion Sorcerer.

Harry walked to the third floor wing where they had met Fluffy back in his first year and found it to beempty. Harry apparated to Potter castleto his library and made his way to the safe where he kept all of his important papers. Blood wards and a slew of very nasty dark spells protected the safe itself. Currently only his wife and himself had access toit. Harry took his wedding ring and put it's imprint againstthe obsidian panel, which had the matching depression to his ring. The moment his ring matched the depression, all the wards, and protection spells came down. He took out the original copy of his parent's will and his bank account transactions and reactivated the wards.

Harry checked himself to make sure that he had his cloak and hood were properly fastened, and took out his Holly wand. If the idiot at the Ministry decided to confiscate his wand, he didn't want it to be his creations. When he was done checking himself, he pictured the statue of magical brethren at the entrance to the ministry building and apparated there.

Harry immediately found himself facing the statue and took stock of his surroundings. Harry tunred towards the statueto take a closer look and sneered. All the other races were looking at some tall wizard and witch as if in awe. If those same magical creatures were here right now, they would probably blast the fuckingpiece of trash to pieces.

The wizarding world really thought that their shit smelled better then everyone else he thought. Harry looked around once more and finding the coast clear, he took down his hood down and proceeded to the reception desk. Harry waited in line until his turn came up.He was looking around when he saw acaricature off the Scorpion Sorcerer in poster form and a wanted ad below it. The ad said that the minsitry would pay fifty thousand galleons for any information leading to the capture of the Scorpion Sorcerer. Harry smirked at the ad, nothing like being wanted he thought.

Finally he made his way to the clerk. She looked fairly pretty with dark brown hair and light gray blue eyes. " Name and purpose for visiting the Ministry of Magic?"

Harry answered back, " Harry Potter here to see Amelia Bones from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Griselda Marchbanks of the Wizarding Examination Authority." Harry saw the woman looktowards him and her eyebrows were nearly at the top of her scalp.

"Oh my God! I can't believe that I am seeing the Harry Potter. " She kept stuttering. " Wait until my girlfriend hears about this, she is so going to freak." She was mumbling to herself at which point Harry had completely tuned her out.

After more mumbling, Harry having heard quite enough of the stupid worshipping act cleared his throat and said, " Excuse me! I really need to get going, do you need anything else from me?"

The girl suddenly looked up and blushed furiously. She must of realized that she had been muttering out loud. Finally she found her voice and said, " Sorry Mr. Potter, I need you to leave your wand behind before proceeding inside theinner doors."

Harry smiled and handed over his holly wand. The clerk gave his wand a good look, much more then she should off and gave him two passes. Much to Harry's pleasure, she never bothered to check for any other wands. Harry attached the passesto the front of his cloak and proceeded towards a large map at the main entrance to the main door. He quickly located Amelia Bones's office walked away.

Amelia was currently looking at some file folders on suspected death eater.She turned around to look at her board and crossed out Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. She looked more closely at her files and also crossed out Vincent Crabbe Jr, Gregory Goyle and Draco Malfoynames. She didn't even know that they had been death eaters until the mark was found on their bodies. She still shuddered at her memories of this morning's investigation. The sudden appearance of the Malfoy's mutilated bodies with the scorpion mark on their forehead had been a real wake up call.

She herself had mixed feelings about this Scorpion Sorcerer. From all accounts he was fighting Voldemort with a vengeance that the ministry could learn from. It was also very obvious that he was fighting Voldemort's minions with dark arts, which she wasn't very enthusiastic about. She could not deny it's effectiveness however , and wondered if the ministry had boxed itself with their stupid regulations. In the end it wasn't the magic but the intent that mattered. She was brought out of her musing by the imposing figure that was marching towards her.

It soon became clear to her whom this imposing figure was. She was looking at none other than Harry Potter himself. Looking at his face, she instantly knew what was coming. She vividly remembered the events in August between Dumbledore and Potter. She had resigned from the order because of it. That event had caused her toreally questionDumbledore's motives and character.

It seemed to her that Dumbledore was willing to sacrifice any of their most treasured law's for his so called greater good, which in reality were his own personal gains. She still had her copy of the Potter will that Harry had given them during the August debacle.Amelia had since checked the validity of Harry's claim, with some of her deep undercover agents workingat Gringotts.After careful analysis of the facts, she had beenastounded at the depths of Dumbledore's crimes. The fact that Dumbledore had completely ignored the wishes of the blood parents was unthinkable. The wishes of the parents override any others.

Harry marched up to Amelia Bones and said, " Madam, could I take a few moments of your time and discuss some very important issues involving Albus Dumbledore."

Amelia looked into his glowing eyes and said, " What can I do for you Mr. Potter?"

"I would like to file a lawsuit against Albus Percifal Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore has violated the Edict of 1124 as stipulated by Charlemagne and passed by the House of Lords concerning wizarding wills and titles. I also charge Dumbledore with failure of financial decree of 1492, paragraph 6, subsection E. Dumbledore willfully withheld information on my true financial status and stole from my trust vault without my knowledge and forged my signature of said transaction. I also charge Dumbledore with intent to cause psychological and bodily harm to my person during my six years of education at Hogwarts. " With that Harry pulled out several parchments with the official Gringotts seal on them. Harry also pulled out a vial of silvery liquid out of his pocket.

Harry continued, " As you can see, the first two accusations can be proven with these documents carrying the official Gringotts seal. Madam, if you have a pensive then my memories, which are contained in this vial will prove without a shadow of a doubt what Dumbledore had planned for me just recently. I am fed up with being the recipient of his constant manipulations in my life.MadamBones, it is my firmbelief that this man has wielded power for far to long. Dumbledore needs to have his influence severely curtailed. Who really knows how many other people he has manipulated. The objective of my lawsuit if to have him removed as chief mugwump and from the Wizengamot altogether. His powers at Hogwarts should also be severely curtailed. "

Amelia had expected some sort of grievance but nothing to this extent. It was now clearly evident that the breech between Potter and Dumbledore ran far deeper than she had ever expected. Her gut instinct screamed of ulterior motives, but she had no evidence to the contrary. She looked at Potter's piercing green eyes and said, " I believe in these two documents. Please give me a second to get a ministry pensive to view these memories of yours. You do realize that what you are doing will create a big power vacuum that may very well favor Voldemort?"

" Madam, I firmly believe in your department's ability to screen allpotential candidates when the time comes to find us a new supreme mugwump. " Harry replied.

Amelia noddedand went to fetch the pensive. She came back and had Harry pour his memories for viewing. The special ministry models were developed by the unspeakable and projected the memories like a three dimensional hologram. Shelookedtowards Harry and said, " Mr. Potter, due to the charges being laid, and the position that this individual holds, it would be prudent for a senior ministry trustee to witnessyou memories. Do you agree with this suggestion?"

Harry thought about it for a moment and replied, " Very well, if he is trust worthy then I have no problem with it. "

Amelia took her wand andsent a message charm toward the door behind her desk. Five minutes later, a tall blond haired gentleman walked through the doors and introduced himself as Sirus Goldstein. Amelia explained to him what was going on and he took out a notepad and waited for the memories to play out. Amelia then took her wand and touched four different runes and muttered some incantations and the memories started playing.

As they were viewing his memories Harry detailed the events as much as possible as they were playing out. He knew that she would spot several of his curses as dark or gray magic but he hoped his arguments would be enough to convince her that he needed to use this type of magic. When the memories were done, Amelia turned towards him with a frown on her head. Harry waited for her to say something.

Amelia had been stunned to realize the extend that the headmaster went into disrupting Potter's life. Clearly there was a lot more going on at Hogwarts than anybody could have possibly conceived. She looked over at her deputy who seemed to have a permanent crease on his forehead. Finally Amelia cleared her throat and said, " Mr. Potter, I find myself shocked by these events and at the same time intrigued by your repertoire of spells. If I am not mistaken I can tell that some of them were dark magic. Would you mind commenting on your use of these spells?"

Harry immediately replied, " Madam Bones, the manipulations you have just seenhave actually been going on since I first came to Hogwarts. Nearly every year I have been at Hogwarts my life has been in constant danger. Last school year after the DOM fiasco, I came to the firm belief that If I was to ever have a chance of defeating my enemies, then using the useless spells thought by the grossly incompetent teachers hired by Dumbldore to teach DADA classes would be no where near enough to protect me. As the muggles say know thy enemy. I have learned from my mistakes Madam Bones. Yes I was using gray magic, and could just as easily have used dark magic to achieve the same result. You will notice that I never killed anyone. Had they been death eaters, one of the spells I used would have hit them with steel balls instead of ice balls. I am no longer a wide-eyed easily impressed eleven year old boy. I have learned these past five years that magic is all about intent and of itself magic is neither light nor dark. "

Amelia looked deeply into his green orbs and slowly nodded. What Pottersaid, was no different then her own personal belief? It is true that Dumbledore has been throwing his weight far too much these past decades. She opened her bottom right drawer and pulled out a blue parchment. She wrote an official declaration and told Sirus to file the declaration and send one of the official ministry owls to Hogwarts to inform it's headmaster that he would be appearing before the wizengamot, and the ministry courts. The reason for court prceedings are due to his many violations of the following wizarding laws….ect The official court date is set for November 15.

Satisfied with his plan, Harry thanked Madam Bones and Sirus for their due diligence and left to find Grisilda Marshbanks who had just been re-instated as the Head of Wizarding Examination Authority once the ministry high inquisitor had been sacked. Fudge, during the summer had been forced to admit that Voldemort was back. The press had completely ridiculed himfor ignoring the warnings given to him a year ago by the boy-who-livedand the old coot. Harry walked down a large corridor until he saw the sign Wizarding Examination written in large gold letters. Harry walked into the door and immediately saw the old crone sitting at her desk.

Harry walked over and waited for her to acknowledge him. She was busy scribbling a note when she suddenly bellowed, "Well, what do you want sonny? Make it quick, at my age you never know if I'll kick the bucket right here and then."

Harry laughed and said, " I'm sorry to disturb you madam, but I would like to know the procedure for taking my NEWT early?"

She looked him in the eyes and instantly recognized the young man as Harry Potter. She finally said, "Well this is certainly not a request we get too often, however we do have provisions for such an eventuality. You must first fill out this application form, and then pay 500-galleons up front. That's why most people wait for school year to be over. The ministry pick up the tab you see. The reason for the fee is that the examiners are usually busy doing other ministry work during the regular year and early examinations fall under overtime work. If you can afford the fee it's no problem. "

Harry decided to make her think he was seriously thinking about it, just so she knew that he did not regard their time for him as something that was no big deal. After about a minute he said, " That's fine madam, I will pay the 500-galleons. It's very important for me to get my exams out of the way. My family portfolio requires me to finish school early. I have many businesses that need attending and remaining at Hogwarts is certainly not helping. When is my first exam?"

The old crone looked at several parchments and a calendar and started writing dates. When she was finished she handed him his exam schedule. Harry noticed that his first exam was Tuesday and he would have an exam every second day from after. Well that's not too bad he thought, there was at least a day in between for review. Harry filled out his application form and paid the fee. He walked out of her office and made his way to the ministry apparition point.While walking,he wasformulating his plans when heard his name being called in a whisper. Harry suddenly tensed and turned aroundslowly while pulling one of his stiletto daggers from his robe. Harry hissed and said, " Who are you?"

Harry suddenly felt a silencing ward forming and tensed even more. He noticed that some people passing by were taking notice. Harry relaxed a little and looked as if he was examining one of the paintings on the adjacent wall. Harry heard the gruff voice again and immediately recognized it as Moody's.

" That was a good recovery you just did there Potter. I thought for sure you were going to attack me. It's good to see you using your brain."

Harry narrowed his eyes and while faking examining the painting said, " How do I know you are the real Moody? What is the secret code that I gave you to contact him with the muggle cell phone?"

Moody replied, " You showed me how to use the cellone and told me to type Scorpio."

Harry smiled and said, " That's a cell phone Moody."

"Yah, yah, I can never keep up with the blasted weird names muggles have for their contraptions. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I want in. That last job at Malfoy manor clinched it for me. I also have some important information to pass along concerning Azkaban but not here."

Harry replied, " It's good to have you aboard Moody. You'll have to take a loyalty oath when you meet him. There is no negotiating where the oath is concerned."

" I don't have a problem with that. It shows the lad practices Constant Vigilance. A very noble trait if I do say so myself. "

Harry nodded and took out a black bracelet. Harry looked around to make sure no one was close and pulled out his wand from his Basilisk holster and touched the bracelet. Harry concentrated on the coordinates and the bracelet glowed a deep navy blue. When he was done he gave the bracelet to Moody and told him that it was a specialized portkey and that it would activate for Monday afternoon at 3:00 pm.

Moody put the bracelet on his wand hand and left. Harry sheathed his wand and made his way back towards the reception desk tocollect hiswand. When he was done he made his way to the apparition point and went back to the Scorpion lair.

---

Following DADA Class Earlier That Morning

Severus was shaking with righteous anger. How dare that bastard spawn of Potter's threaten him? Severus had no doubt that the brat was into dark magic. He could sense it off him. Dark magic always left a certain type of aura. There had to be a way to use this against him. If he was honest with himself he would admit that the lad had shaken him. The callous way in which he was playing with Draco Malfoy's eyes was unsettling to say the least. Severus was getting close to the headmaster's office when he bumped into someone and tripped.

Sheeting with rage he pulled himself up and bellowed, " Watch what you are doing you stupid little sot!" Severus narrowed his eyes when he noticed who he was dealing with. With a smirk he said, " Well, well, well, if it isn't Longbottom andhis little sot Miss Lovegood. I would have thought that five years of education at Hogwarts would have increased your I.Q beyond that of a house plant." The reaction Severus got was nothing like he expected.

With speed that was almost a match for Harry, Neville whipped out his wand and pushed it deep inside Snape's nostril and with pure venom in his voice hissed, " You can insult me all you want Snape, but if you ever disrespect Luna in front of me ever again I will make sure that your bat brains adorn the walls of Hogwarts permanently. You will apologize to Luna immediately or I will perform a tonsillectomy through your nostrils, which should provide enough payment for your cheek. Now what's you choice?"

Luna was shocked yet pleased with the way Neville was protecting her honor. Neville had changed a lot under Harry's tutelage. Long gone was the meek and shy boy whom she had met in herfirst year at Hogwarts. Neville was now very powerful, confidant, and one of Harry's top lieutenants. Neville would never again let anybody push him and he would defend his interest with extreme prejudice. Luna finally said, " It's o.k Neville, it's not important."

Neville bellowed, " It's important to me Luna, no one disrespects you like he did. NO ONE!"

Luna with misty eyes rubbed her hand on his back. Luna had never had anybody fight for her like this until she met Neville and Harry. She felt so much love coming from Neville and it brought such warmth to her heart.

Luna looked into Neville's eyes with a dreamy smile on her face and said, " Professor Snape is obviously affected by a colony Bramble Benthams which must have taken residence in his prodigious nose. If you didn't know, they are closely related to Doxins but much smaller and produce a toxin that effects the frontal lobe of the brain and perpetually makes the victim an insufferable bastard."

Neville looked at Luna and was fighting real hard not to break into fits of laughter. She had managed to insult Snape while making it look like it wasn't his fault. God she could make him laugh no matter the situation.

Severus meanwhile wasfeeling mighty uncomfortable with the heat of Longbottom wand in his nostril. He could feel the anger and power coming from the boy. Severus was seething on the inside but he was at a slight disadvantage at the moment. Severus turned his head towards the loon and with as much loathing as he could muster said, " Miss Lovegood, I apologize for my inappropriate words. Mr. Longbottom I will see you in detention."

Neville answered back, " I don't think so. If push comes to shove I wonder what the board of governors would do if they found out how you treated females at Hogwarts."

Severus was once again on the defensive and seeing no way for retribution at the moment sneered and spat, " Get out of my face the both of you and watch your backs." Severus walked off and Neville was sure her heard Snape say Gryffindor assholes.

Severus was in such a fit or rage that he didn't notice he standing in from of the Gargoyles. He took a deep breath to calm himself and finally looked up and said, " Acid Pops." Withinseconds he was sitting in a chair facing the headmasters desk.

Albus must have heard him come in because he came down from his suite and said, " Severus my boy, what can I do for you?"

Severus sneered, " I'm almost certain that Potter uses dark magic headmaster. I had a slight altercation of sorts with him this morning. In his usual arrogant self he threatened my life. In the process I found him playing with these." Severus dropped Draco's eyeballs on the headmaster's desk.

Severus noticing the frown on the headmaster's face continued, " He told me that they were a gift from the Scorpion Sorcerer. As you can imagine I was quite shaken to see my godson eye ballsrolling on my desk. I'm convinced that Potter knows who the Scorpion Sorcerer is. We must find a way to get the information from him. I can't prove it but I also have this feeling that more then one student is associated with the dark wizard. Just a few minutes ago, I had an altercation with Mr. Longbottom, which resulted in Longbottom nearly cursing my nostrils to oblivion. This action is completely out of character for the little plant-loving coward. I'm afraid that this Scorpion Sorcerer is recruiting fromyour school headmaster."

Albuslooked deeply into his potion masters eyes, andreplied, " I have come to the same conclusion as you have Severus. However, as you well know all of my plans so far have met with complete failure. The fact thatHarry is hardly at the castle makesit much more difficult for us to gain control over him. I exude tremendous control within the wall of the castle Severus, but when he is hardly here it is very hard to find out what he is up too. Perhaps it's time that we take the bull by the horns and get our hands dirty."

Severus gave the headmaster a feral smile and said, " Headmaster, I believe that a stay in the hospital for Mr. Potter would quite beneficial for us. I would give us the time needed to break into hismemories dont' you think?It'is high time that the little bastard had his egotaken down several pegs. I feel it would be quite easyto engineer a duel with the boy. With my knowledge of the dark arts, I can injure the boy enough, which should cause an overly long convalescence on his part. With several mind-altering potions, I can speed up the time it takes to breakhis mental defenses. With your powers of Legillimency, he will be no match. If heshould become permanently injured duringthe duel, some much the better. He would have no other alternative but to turn towards us us for protection. "

Albus looked into Severus eyes and gave him a calculating smile. He analyzed the plan from different angles and figured it was a well thought out plan. If was even better for him as it posed relatively little risk to him, and by agreeing to Severus demands, this would only strengthen the spy's bond to him. Not to mention, that seeing the brat hurt would bring him great joy.

The little phony had cost him much these last three months. To add insult to injury, Albus would even volunteer to be Severus second. This act alone was bound to scare the brat. He was renown to be the most powerful wizard on the planet after all. Albus hated to admit itbut the truth was that he had a large ego and was vain. It was a poor man indeed that couldn't admit to his own faults. Looking into Severus expectant eyes he finally nodded and said, " My dear boy, I must say Salazar himself couldn't have done a better job of coming up with this plan. However, I must warn you that Potter seems to have some knowledge of the dark arts. He did take down a strike force of 12 DA students after all. "

Severus smoothly countered, " Headmaster, a few weeks of dark arts training duringsummer doesn't equalyears of training in the subject. Lets be honest,The DAleaders even with their Auror training, are nothing but whelps compared to trained death eaters. Believe me, Potter will be no match for me."

Albusanalyzed his potions master very carefully and finally said, "To improve on your plan I will volunteer myself as your second. " Albus noticed the almost orgasmic look on the potions masters face. Albus couldn't help thinking how easy it was to snare people with honey.

Albus then said, "When do you plan on engineering your confrontation with Potter?"

Severus thought about it for a moment and said, " From my sources I have learned that the Dark Lord is planning something big, so I'll most likely be very tied up next week, however the week after would be good. Potter will be having DADA then. Hopefully he'll show up for class this time around. His attendance had been most erratic headmaster. If he fails to show up for class, I'll make sure to get him by mid November."

Albus narrowed his eyebrows and replied, " Very well Severus, I leave it into your capable hands. "

Severus took this has his dismissal and nodded to the headmaster and left. Albus watched his potion master leave and hoped that this time this plan would bear fruit.

Unknown to Albus at the time he would come to see this as the official beginning of his downfall

---

Friday Afternoon Scorpion Lair

Harry with his body magic in full swing, wascurrentlypracticing his martial arts and sword technique with his old mentor Akima, Blaise and Remus. They were giving him a wicked workout he had to admit. He was relishing the workout. Nothing like heavy physical exercise to drain away stress he thought. Harry saw Blaise move in with a sideswipe while Akima made a quick frontal thrust attack with his katana.

Harry parried Blaise and then dropped to the floor and made a backward roll to avoid Akima's downward thrust. He had evaded both strikes only to run almost at Remus feet who had a downward strike incoming. Harry saw Remus strike coming for his face and barely had enough time to bring up his katanaand parry the blow. Harry made another backward roll and crouched back on the balls of his soles, with his body magic at full power he was able to jump almost twenty feet in the air and land behind Blaise. Harry fired a stupefy spell through his sword and watched Blaise drop.

Akima and Remus were standing one hundred and eighty degrees apart with Harry in the middle. Harry suddenly relaxed and reached out with his magic. He brought out his aura reading capability and decided to wait for the first attack.

Remus was getting jumpy, and felt that Harry was about to attack at any second due to the fact that he felt Harry's magical probe. Remus took the initiative and brought his body magic to bear. That coupled with his werewolf attributes made him deadly strong and fast. He jumped forward with his sword in his left hand and his wand in his right hand. He thought he finally had Harry as he let off a dark curse, and approached him at frightening speed with a forward thrust of his katana.

The moment Akima saw Remus attack he decided to open up the second front. He brought his body magic to it's full capacity which he knew was no where Harry's level but was still more than adequate and decided to follow with a Samagachie feint and a Torano frontal attack.

Harry was at one with his mind, magic and body. He suddenly felt Remus and Akima breach his magical perimeter and based on what his magic told him he let his instincts take control. Just as the curse was about to hit, Harry dropped into a crouch position, which left Remus curse sailing overhead. The moment Remus landed on his feet with his sword thrust forward, Harry parried with a low-level roundhouse kick which, swept Remus legs from under him and caused the werewolf to crash hard on his back and knock his breath out. Harry immidialty cast a wandless stunner at him. With no time to react, Remus was knocked out.

After dispatching Remus, Harry had just enough time to feint to the left from his crouched positionand avoid the frontal kick coming for his head, which Akima had just launched. Just as he feinted to the left, Akima immidialty sent his sword in a forward attack. Harry saw the sword coming at him and brought his katana's in a mantis parry, which assimilated Akima's attack and allowed him to use his katana and sweep his sword at Akima's legs.

Seeing Harry's riposte, Akima jumped back to avoid the hit. This proved to be the error that Harry had been looking for. Harry suddenly jumped forward, and with his body magic, he managed to propel himself ten feet in the air and twisted his body in order to complete his aerial roundhouse kick. Harry managed to connect with Akima's head, which knocked him unconscious. When all of his opponents were taken out, Harry turned around to see all of his troops starring at him. With a slightly annoyed voice, Harry said, " As entertaining as this little display may seem, don't you all have dueling practice to be going on with?"

Everyone nodded and went back to work. Before everyone was back at it, Harry said, " Today is a good day to practice team dueling. I want to see one on two, one on three, one on four and then the gauntlet. I want you to also be practicing the dark arts from the lament scrolls and Necron's six volume." Harry heard many grunts but everyone one got into it. Everybody in the lair suddenly went to dueling formation, which allowed Harry to wake up his comrades. The only people missing were Bill and Fleur.

Practice finally finished at around 5:00 pm. Harry wanted to relax for the weekend and spend as much quality time as he could with his wife. Harry knew that Bill and Fleur were searching for land sales close to where he was. He couldn't blame them. The area was absolutely beautiful. With their new financial muscle they should be able to buy a very nice piece of land close to the island of Tyree. Harry also knew that Neville and Luna were also looking for a nice plot of land close to where he was. Harry felt very happy about this. He considered his friends as an extended family of sorts. According to Luna they were to meet up with a sales agent within the hour. Harry told his council to relax for the weekend and that Monday they would be welcoming Mad Eye Moody into their ranks. At that last bit, Tonk's rolled her eyes but managed to smirk at the same time.

Tonk's couldn't help it and said, " Harry how in Merlin's name did you manage to get Moody on our team?" Harry could tell from her face that she was completely flabbergasted.

Harry smirked and said, " Let's just say that Moody is less then enthralled with the actions of our current ministry andthe turkey club. "

Every one who heard the comment broke out into laughter. Harry took part in many of the duels, providing the necessary muscle to make all of the participants put in their very best performance. Without the right motivation, it was natural for people to slack off. When they were done, Harry took a nice long soak in the mineral pool. When he was finished, he showered and made his way to the command center. He found Remus pouring over several maps and seemed to be writing a list of sorts.

Harry took his time and studied the map that Moony had punched up on the monitor screen.It dawned on him that he was looking at real estate registry North of the Island of Tyree. Finally out of curiosity Harry said, " Remus, what are you doing?"

Remus turned around and with a sly grin said, " Well with my new found wealth, I thought that it would be nice to create Lupin Manor. I'm currently looking at a piece of land right on the ocean that's not too far from Potter castle. If it works out, I would like to build my new home there. I also want to surprise Tonk's when the time is right. I love the proximity of the sea and being close to you. I hope you don't mind?"

Harry immidialty replied, " God no Mooney. I would love to have you stay close. After all family is supposed to stay close together right? I'm really happy that you finally found someone to share your life with. Believe me I know what's it's like to be alone. "

Remus winced at hearing Harry's words. Remus had a much better understanding of how hard Harry's life had been thus far. Poor Lily and James must be extremely bitter knowing the manipulations that their son has had to endure in his short life. Well enough dwelling in the past he thought. He looked at Harry and nodded at him. It was his way of letting Harry know that he understood without any pity. For one, Harry would be extremely pissed if he knew that pity was directed towards him.

Harry nodded at Remus and said, " Well, besides land hunting if you aren't busy you and Tonk's can join Xiana and me for lunch tomorrow."

Remus then remembered something very important that he needed to tell Harry. Remus answered back, " I won't be able to make it. Yesterday I found out from one of my old friends from back home who also shares my little furry problem that for the first time in 500 years there is a world wide gathering of the werewolf clan leaders out in the Scottish Highlands not to far from the Lock. This is also the first time in over two thousand years that the Manitou clan from North Western America will be there."

Harry frowned and replied, "What is so special about the Manitou clan?"

Remus answered back, " The Manitou clan is the oldest werewolf clan in the world. Not much is known about them. The one thing that it known is that they have been around since before the last ice age. We do know that during the first war, Voldemort sent an emissary to that clan with an offer to make them his top servants if they agreed to join him. Well that didn't go to well with the clan elder and basically told Voldemort's emissary to take his offer and stick it up his ass. Voldemort was incensed and sent twenty of his best death eaters to wipe them out. "

"What happened?" Harry asked.

Remus continue, " Soon after they made contact with the clan,Voldemortlost contact with his team. Three weeks later a very large box appeared at Voldemort'slair. How they knew where to find him remained a mystery. However, the large box was made up of the body parts comprisingthe death eaterattack team. Voldemort never bothered with the Manitou clan ever again. The Lougarou, Ragorth, Sioban, Celthasi, and Kalaban clan will also be present. These make up the most powerful werewolf clans in Europe. I'll be going to get more information on why the clans are meeting. I'm almost sure that it's related to Voldemort somehow."

Harry sat back in his chair and tried to think of a reason why the entire werewolf clans were meeting. His logical mind began formulating strategies for each scenario that he cape up with. Each of his solution had strength and weaknesses. One thing for certain, if the werewolf side with Voldemort then it's going to make life really difficult for all of them. Of course this might be the right time for a bold move. Harry was reminded of the famous French General Napoleon Bonaparte and one of his most memorable quotes. When formulating stratagems for war always remember 'Laudace, Laudace, Toujour Laudace'.

Harry finally looked at Remus and said, " Why don't we let the Scorpion Sorcerer take the initiative?"

Remus replied, " I'm listening."

"Iwould like them to seewhat theScorpion Sorcerer is all about. I'll get dressed up and conjure some criters for visual effects. The Scorpion Sorcerer will then explain his vies and plans for the wizarding world in a very general way. If the clan members philosophically agree withhis precepts then both side shouldformally initiate contact for further discussions. This way it will look like the Scorpion Sorcerer knew of the clan gathering and he approached you.Take the Auror style projection pensive with you and make the presentation to the clan memebers. What do you think?"

" Well, I'll give this to you Harry your plan is bold as hell. With werewolf it's best to be upfront and direct. They are not known for their cultured ways. It won't cost us anything by trying. For all we know they may not be here for Voldemort anyway. The gathering may be for an entirely different reason. " Remus answered.

Harry said, " All right let's do this. Let me get my gear and call forth my pets."

Forty minutes later Harry was finished with his presentation to Remus. For his part Remus took out the fresh memory and deposited it in the pensive. When that was done, Remus made sure to take all of his battle gear with him and hugged Harry before he left. Harry wished him good luck and told him to be extra careful. Harry then told Remus to just portkey out of there if he ran into trouble. Remus assured him that he would. Charlie's downfall was still very fresh in their minds.

Harry looked at his watch and noticed that it was nearly 7:30 pm, and decided to go home. He wanted to look over the scrolls and books from the Malfoy secret library. Harry pictured his bedroom at Potter castle and within seconds found himself by his wardrobe. Harry took his time and took out his battle robes and weapons. He looked in his wardrobe and took out a royal blue silk robe with black and gold Egyptian runes imprinted on it. When he was done getting himself comfortable he made his way downto the kitchen. When he got there he found Winky putting away a pile of groceries.

Winky was busy putting away the grocerieswhen she felt her master enter the kitchen, she immidialty stopped what she was doing and said, " Master Harry, you is back. Howis your day be sir?"

Harry never could sneak up on his elves. He replied, " I am fine Winky. I was going to ask you if you have any left over supper, I'm starving."

Winky curtsied to Harry and said, " Winky is sorry but there is no left over master, but Winky will make fresh supper for master. Winky can have it ready within the hour is this o.k ?"

Harry smiled and replied, " That would be fine Winky. I'll be in the library. When it's ready just let me know."

Winky curtsied and said, " Winky will tell master when supper is ready."

Harry nodded and asked, " Winky, is Xiana home yet?"

Winky answered, " Mistress is home master, and she is with her mom and her Brinni in the living room."

Harry furrowed his eyebrow wondering why his mother and sister in law were here at this time. Harry certainly didn't mind, they could drop in any time they wanted. Harry couldn't recall Xiana mentioning a visit so he just shrugged it off and made his way to the living room. As he got closer to the French doors separating the kitchen from the dining room and the living room he could hear Xiana sobbing. Harry immidialty started thinking that someone had gotten hurt and quickly made his way to the living room. The moment his burst in, he saw his mother in law and Brianna trying to comfort Xiana. Harry burst into the living room and both Xenna and Brianna turned around to look at Harry.

The first thing that Harry noticed was Xiana's tear face and said, " What happened? Is everyone all right?" To his amazement Xiana stood up and bellowed, " How can anything be all right, if you don't get yourself killed, then those Vampire and Vela sluts are going to take you away from me!" She sobbed and took off running upstairs.

Harry stood there with his jaw hanging open and after a few minutes he managed to reign in his thoughts long enough to say, " What the hell is going on?" He was about to follow Xiana upstairs when he felt a hand on his forearm and he looked down to find that his Xenna had stopped him. With a very confused look on his face Harry looked up into her eyes pleading to understand what was wrong. He looked at Brianna who gave him a very sympathetic smile.

Finally Harry heard his mother in law telling him to sit down. Harry was very confused but he obeyed anyway. Xenna looked at him with a very sympathetic smile and finally said, " I know this must be very confusing to you Harry. I'm afraid that what you just witnessed is a consequence of her pregnancy. Harry,she is not thinking logically right nowand she is scared. I'm afraid that she is a victim of what we women call a hormonal hurricane and it's messing her up. I beg of you to just be patient."

Harry in a confused state simply said, " I just want to help. I knowI'm not very good withemotions,but I really want to understand why Xiana is so upset?"

Xenna sighed and answered back, " Harry, she is very stressed out and as a result of her condition her deep seated insecurities are surfacing. She is afraid that in the very near future you may be forced into accepting a marriage of convenience to satisfy some sort of treaty protocol,which would cause her to share you with someone that she truly hates."

Harry looked at his mother in law and then at Brianna and instinctively ran a hand though his black mane before bellowing, " NEVER! Never will I accept a treaty that compromises my beliefs. When I married Xiana I swore an oath to myself that I would protect her and stay faithful to her no matter what. If these other races can't understand my deep-seated beliefs then they can go to hell and to hell with their treaty. I love you daughter with all my heart and would die before betraying her. "

Brianna with her voice breaking replied, " Harry we believe you with all of our heart. I think that my sister simply needs to have you to herself for a little bit with no interference from the outside world. She is worried about the paper, about you battles, about her pregnancy. To make things worse she is imagining that the Vampires and Vela's are going to steal you away from her. Now all of these issues coupled with her hormones being all over the map have just overwhelmed her into thinking the worse. I think you know what you have to do. Mother and I will make sure that no one bothers you for the weekend. Just be there for her and she will come around I can swear on it. "

Harry was struggling with all of his might to keep his emotions from running out of control. The thought of Xiana hurting emotionally was just too much for him. With his eyes misting he looked at Brianna and his mother in law and said, " I'll do whatever is needed to make her fears go away. She means everything to me. I can't defeat Voldemort without her. " Harry looked at them both and simply nodded. He slowly got out of his seat and made his way upstairs.

Harryfound his way to the master bedroom door and stopped. He didn't know what to say to Xiana to allay her fears. When it came to strong emotions, he always had a tough time dealing with them. From as far back as he could remember it had always been his gut reaction to just clam up and ride out the problem. It had been survival at the Dursley's to just never bring your emotions to the surface. This was different. He was married and his wife was scared. It didn't matter that most of her fears were due to hormones. The fact was that in her mind her fears were very real. He decided to just let his instincts take over. Harry gently knocked on the door. Hearing no voices he slowly pushed the door open and saw his wife standing by the bay window looking out over the western grounds and the sea.

Harry smiled, when he needed to think he always sat himself by that window. One of his work desks was just to the right of the bay window. For some reason, the sea always managed to calm and refresh his mind. He wondered how many of his ancestors had stood by that same window admiring the same sight. He noticed that his wife had her arms around her self and was quietly sobbing. Harry made his way to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

She didn't knock his hand off but instead brought her right hand tohis and gave it a squeeze. Puttinghis fear of rejection out of his mind, Harry tookhis hand off and gently broughthis arms around her and restedhis chin on top of her head.

Her hair smelled like fresh strawberry. She leaned into him and he complied by tightening his hold on her. Both of them stayed like that for quite a while. It was now pitch black outside but they could make out the reflection of the moon on the sea. The sky was clear and Harry instinctively looked towards the constellationCanis Major. He found the star Sirius burning brightly. Harry wondered what his Godfather was doing in the other realm. Hopefully, he was with his mom and dad causing an unbelievable amount of mischief he thought.

Xiana for her part felt content to just have her husband's strong arms around her. She needed to spend more time with Harry. Due to their insane schedule they could rarely let their hair down. That meeting with the Vampires and the Veela's had unnerved her more than she realized. She was genuinely scared that she would have to share her husband with some other woman due to treaties. She couldn't understand why the wizarding world used women as bloody bargaining chips for just about everything.

She finally found her voice and whispered, " I'm sorry love. I'm just being stupid. My hormones aren't helping my head any. I am trying to be strong for you, but I'm also scared and jealous that I am going to have to share you with some Vampire or Veela strumpet in order to secure treaties. You would think that being brought up in our world since birth I would know better, but it seems that my head and my heart aren't exactly on the same wavelength these days. I guess that with all the fighting that has been going on lately, I keep seeing you go down in battle and leaving me alone to raise our children."

Harry swallowed hard and replied, " Babe, you will not be sharing me with any other woman I swear this on my magic. I love you and only you. I have made my commitment to you in the eyes of nature herself. You are all that I have ever wanted or will ever want in a wife. I am resolute in my beliefs. If these allies don't want to acknowledge my own beliefs then I want nothing to do with them . " Harry looked into her eyes and he noticed her nodding at him to continue.

Harry whispered, "As for dying? You know that I can't guarantee that I won't die in this war. After all we are at war and anything can happen. However, I want you to know that with you at my side I don't see how I can loose. I am no longer a stupid little Gryffindor golden boy charging in hoping that the fates will smile kindly on me. My Slytherin side is fully awake and in charge thank Merlin. You know I am doing everything in my power to keep us safe. I honestly think that with training and planning we have the winning combination to survive this war. I haven't let our victories go to our heads babe. Despite our triumphs to date, Voldemort remains a very powerful and cunning wizard, and I don't plan on letting our collective guards down until he is gone once and for all. This also goes for Dumbledore. They will both regret ever tangling with us."

She turned around to face him and gave him a passionate kiss. Harry then held her and made small circles on her back. This always seemed to soothe her. Xiana rested her head on his chest and said, " I love you so much Harry."

Harry lifter her chin to meet his eyes and gave her a passionate kiss. When he ran out of breath he pulled back and replied, " I hope you knowI love you more than anything in this world babe. How about we have a nice candle lit supper in our room tonight? "

She wiped away her tears said, " I think that would be great." Harry nodded at her and went into the hallway and then called out, "Winky?"

Winky immidialty popped to him and Harry got down on his knee and told her that Xiana would be joining him for supper in their bedroom. Harry then asked her to find Dobby and whispered instructions into her ears. She blushed and told him she was going to tell Dobby to get to it right away or she would scold him severely. Harry smiled at her and went back into the master bedroom.

Within half an hour his workroom had been transfigured into a beautiful dining table for two with red candles lighting the room. Harry took Xiana by the hand and let her to one of the plush chairs. He seated himself and within minutes the table was filled with braised lamb, black currant jelly, couscous, spinach salad, chilled pumpkin juice and chocolate moose cake. They took their time and talked about everything that has been going on these last two weeks. Harry asked her about her latest articles and they talked about Neville and Luna, Bill and Fleur, Remus and Tonk's and by the time they were done talking they were both laughing hysterically.

Finally Xiana looked deep into her husband's emerald pools and smiled. She finally collected her thoughts and said, " Thank you love. I really needed this."

Harry looked back and smirked. He took her hand and replied, " You don't think that this is the end of our night do you?"

She gave him a mischievous smile and said, " What do you have in mind?"

Harry took her hand and guided his wife to her feet. He then led her towards the master bathroom. He opened the door and led her in. Upon entering the bathroom she gasped. Their large Jacuzzi whirlpool tub had beautiful lily pads floating and the scent coming from the room was sublime. There were hints of tropical flowers and passion fruit. The room was illuminated with floating black candles. The roof was charmed to allow the night sky to be seen.

The moon was almost full. There were silk robes hanging on the back wall. There were bowls of strawberry, passion fruit, and chocolate lying by the edge of the tub. Throughout the room there were little islands filled with tropical plants. In the background she could hear classical music playing. Xiana immidialty recognized the music as one of her favorite pieces. It was Chopin Nocturnes in F playing. Xiana closed her eyes and felt like crying. She couldn't believe that Harry had arranged all of this for her.

She let out a small sob and hugged the stuffing out of him. Harry kissed her forehead and then pulled back and took off his clothes. He then looked into her eyes and slowly disrobed her. As the robe fell off her shoulders he marveled at her beautiful body. She looked like a goddess in his eyes. Harry could clearly see the start of her bulging tummy.

Finally unable to contain his emotions he said, " I hope you know that you are the most intelligent and beautiful women that I have ever met. I love you with all my heart." Harry passionately kissed her and led her into the tub. The bubbling swirling water felt wonderful. He took a bottle of scented oil and began massaging her back. Harry took his time. He felt his stress starting to bleed off. When he was done she did the same to him. He then took the scented oil and began massaging her front. He gently caressed her nipples, which were rock hard by then. He could hear her whimper with lust.

Harry moved behind her and pulled Xiana's back towards his chest. He then began kissing the nape of her neck while gently caressing her nipples. For her part Xiana felt a tremendous heat build in herregion. Her vagina felt as if it were on fire. She kept moaning at the wonderful pleasures that Harry was giving her. Harry then took his left hand and wandlessly Accio one of the plush towels. He then laid it on the landing just at the entrance to the tub. He again cast two different cushioning charms on the towels and then lifted his wife in his arms.

Xiana by then was savagely aroused. She felt Harry picking her up but didn't care. Harry laid her down on the towels and began caressing her tummy while sucking on her nipples. Harry started kissing her tummy and slowly made his way towards the garden of eden. Once Harry had reached his goal he parted her labia and ran his tongue from her entrance to her most sensitive region. He suckled on her nerve center bringing gasps and waves of pleasure to her. Harry could taste his wife's hot juices and kept coming for more. Harry took his middle finger and gently entered her. Soon he was stroking Xiana back and forth whilelicking her nerve center. Suddenly Xiana cried and Harry could feel her muscles tighten around his finger.

Harry raised himself on his knees and spread Xiana's legs apart. Harry took the head of his erection and positioned it at Xiana's entrance. He heard her gasp and then gently pushed himself into her. Harry began stroking back and forth with his hips. Harry parted her labia with his fingers and started running small circles around her nerve center with his thumb. Harry quickened his pace then took one of his other thumb to rub her hardened nipples.

For her part Xiana was in ecstasy. She could feel her husband's erection stroking inside her. The pleasure he was giving her was surreal. She started arching her back and willing her hips to meet his strong stokes. Her fingers were digging into his thighs. She was moaning and gasping and finally, she couldn't hold on anymore and exhaled loudly as she came. Within seconds, she felt Harry's rhythmic release. She could feel the sensual release of his seed inside her. She let the waves of pleasure pass through her body. She felt all of her stress bleed away and turn to ash. She looked up at the ceiling to see the moon rays reflecting a silvery glow on her husband's back.

She smiled in content. She felt Harry slowly pull out and he picked her up and brought her back into the Whirlpool tub. They spent another hour in the tub eating fruits talking and laughing. When they were done, Harry took her hand and pulled her out of the tub and cast a drying charm on them. He then robbed her and made their way to the bay window. They both looked at the moon reflecting on the sea and after a while they went to bed. They were both naked and Harry grabbed her by her waist and pulled her against his chest. Xiana rested her head on his broad chest and fell into a very peaceful sleep.

---

Saturday Morning October 18

Michael and Blaise portkeyed to Potter castle on the Northern terrace close to the lake. Michael and Blaise were walking along the stone path when they noticed two people on brooms flying at insane speed and doing acrobatic maneuver that would have him chucking his breakfast. Hi could see Harry's owl Hedwig flying with them. She seemed to be having a grand old time. Michael looked at his son, but unlike him he seemed enraptured with their flying. Must be a youth thing he though. They finally reached the front door and made their way to the parlor. Michael looked up and saw his youngest daughter and wife walk up to them.

Michael walked up to his wife and gave her a quick kiss. He then said, " I need to speak to Harry, do you know where they are?"

Xenna replied, " Yes, Harry and Xiana are flying on their new brooms. I am sorry love but you will have to wait until Monday morning like everyone else to talk to Harry."

Michael furrowed his brows and said, " Why?"

" Your daughter needs some time alone with her husband. Xiana had a bit of a breakdown yesterday. Her pregnancy, the war, the paper, the long hours away from Harry and everything else in between finally got to her. She needs quality time with Harry and I'll bloody make sure she gets it. Short of an impending disaster nobody is going to be bothering my daughter and son in law this weekend do I make myself clear?" Xenna replied.

Michael just nodded and finally said, " No problems dear. I can certainly wait until Monday to meet Harry. Well since we are here I'm sure Blaise like me would love a cup of coffee. "

His wife was gentleand went with the flow most of the time. However, when she got serious about something it was better get out of her way. Now, if she managed to get pissed off, it was much safer to hightail out of her line of sight. When she got pissed, she was down right scary. That was one of the many things his daughters had inherited from their mother.

They all made themselves comfortable and had coffee and scones. They all caught up on the latest gossip and what Xiana and Harry were up too. It turns out that Michael wasn't to crazy about having his eldest pregnant daughter doing aerial acrobatics, but it seemed that she had arm twisted Harry into doing it. His eldest had always been a firecracker. They talked about the impending lawsuit that Harry had filed against Dumbledore and how they were going to bring the dissident Wizengamot members into their camps.

Michael, Brianna and Blaise left shortly after they were done. Xenna stayed to mind the fort.

---

11:00 AM Saturday Morning Weasley Family Plot

All of the Weasley clan was gathered around Charlie's coffin waiting for the elder to finish reciting the wizard burial rites. Muggle and wizard funerals were done very differently. The tombstone of the fallen had for example a charm that allowed a three dimensional image of the person to float above the tombstone. That morning however a stranger could have cut the tension in the air with a knife.

On one side of the coffin stood Molly, Arthur, Percy, Ron and Hermione. On the other side stood Bill, Fleur, Fred, George and Ginny. Looking at Molly Weasley one could tell that she was preparing another rant. With tears in her eyes she was eying her eldest son Bill and her supposed daughter in law. She kept wailing about how her poor Charlie had killed and that his soul was now dammed. Bill himself was building a head of steam that could power a muggle ship across the Atlantic. Bill had long ago understood that his parents were somewhat gullible but for the women to berate her dead son because he had killed in the line of defense was just to fucking much. She kept ranting on how the great Albus Dumbledore had always said that there was always an alternative to killing someone.

For his part Arthur had his eyes narrowed at the twins and his daughter. They were dressed to the nines and Arthur felt like they were making a statement against him. This got him thinking as to where they got the money for the duds. He had always been a bit sensitive when it came to money issues but for his own children to make that type of affirmation cut him to the bone. Ron and Hermione kept glaring at Ginny. Ron for himself seemed wary of Percy. They had already gotten into some nasty arguments to the point where wands had been drawn. It had taken both Arthur and Molly to prevent and all out cursing war.

For her part, Ginny was not even paying attention to the loser branch of her family. She had tears running down her cheek and kept thinking about Charlie and the bastard that had been responsible for his death. Since discovering that Snape had been responsible for her brother's death, she had spent a lot of time thinking about the best way of torturing the bastard. She had many ideas but nothing concrete yet.

Harry had given her a lot of ideas that involved potions in one form or another. She thought that it was quite fitting that the bastard should suffer under his precious potions. Besides Snape, the other two people that she could not stand anymore was Granger and Ron. To her they were the biggest bunch of narrow-minded hypocrites that she had ever come across. The other person she could barely stand was her mother. The insufferable gullible woman was driving her to insanity. Ron and Granger had ratted her out about her relationship with Blaise and her mother had immidialty labeled him a death eater in training.

Ginny had asked her mother about proof, but all she had for proof was based on a report from Dumbledore, which stated that the family must be dark because they had refused the old man in joining his precious order. Ginny had countered by telling her that Order of the Phoenix was nothing but a bunch of cowardly sycophants that bowed to the headmasters every whim. She told her that was the reason that Blaise parents had never joined Dumbledore.

Her mother had slapped her, which had prompted her to slap her mother backto her mother's utter shock. She had then screeched at her for daring to hit her and that now she fully believed Ron's narrative on what was going on at Hogwarts. She had then told Ginny that she was to quit seeing Blaise immidialty. Ginny had told her that she could take her order and stuff it where the sun doesn't shine. Ginny then told her mother that she would not be welcome to see her grand children.

This had set both her father and her mother into rants. Her mother had then called her a slut. With tears in her eyes she had fled to her room. By then Bill and the twins were furious at their parents and had started a major row with them. Their father wanted to know where they had gotten the nice clothes. They had told him that it was none of his business. Molly had gotten into the fray and accused them of being nothing but little ingrates just like the Potter brat.

That last slander had finally done it for Bill and the twins and they had laid into their parents to the point of accusing them of being Dumbledore's stooge. Ron had accused them of being Potter's pets and that they were a disgrace to the Weasley clan. Hermione kept saying that Harry would be the next Dark Lord. She told them that Harry delving into the dark arts was the only way he could have beaten her and Ron. The twins replied that a drunken garden Gnome could beat them in a duel blindfolded. They called Hermione the Beaver with no power.

They then told Ron that he was barely above a squib and that he should have been a wet spot on their mother's sheets. This had caused Arthur to pull his wand to hex the twins but they had been faster and had petrified their father. Molly had in turn cast a cutting hex at both of them, which had completely enraged the twins. Bill had finally cast a full body bind on his mother who kept screeching bloody murder. To say that the Weasley clan was fractionated was an understatement.

What hurt Bill the worst was the contempt that his parents had towards Fleur. Bill finally understood that his parents were part of the old world that Harry had been talking about. Bill had now seen it first hand. It was no wonder their world was so fucked up. Bill realized that he would be breaking all ties to his parents, Ron, and Percy. The philosophical divide between them was too great now. Bill had looked into the twin's eyes and Ginny's and realized that they had come to the same conclusion he had.

Bill could see the hurt in Ginny's eyes where their parents were concerned. He would have to talk to Blaise to make him realize what Ginny had given up for him. Bill also realized the depth of Dumbledore's brainwashing. He had to hand it to the man, he sure knew how to conquer and divide. His parents simply couldn't see that they were his pawns and nothing more. If Dumbledore was such a good friend of the family and if his Phoenix members meant so much to him, why was him absent at Charlie's funeral. He had tried explaining it to them but they refused to understand. His parents kept making excuses for the man.

Finally Bill brought his head up just as Charlie's casket was lowered into the hole. Bill let a tear flow down his cheek one more time. Ginny was crying and was being held by the twins. Once the coffin was lowered, each member picked a clump of dirt and threw it at the casket. When they were done, both groups looked at each other without saying a word. Bill simply sneered and grabbing his wife's hand he turned around and walked away. The twins and Ginny followed suit. Ginny could hear her mother ordering her to stay behind. Ginny didn't care anymore, she was cutting her ties and would follow her heart. The second war had finally taken its toll on the Weasley clan.

---

October 18, Saturday Afternoon Ministry of Magic

Minister Fudge was sitting at the head of the international conference. He was talking to Claus Rinhaus of the Belarus consortium. Sitting next to him were the other thirteen members of the European wizarding governments. Like most government in their century, dangerous criminals were difficult to handle. Wizarding prisons were very expensive totheir respectivegovernments.

In fact maintaining a wizarding prison and its legal system easily accounted for nearly forty percent of the ministry budgets. It was estimated that most prisoners cost on average 30 thousand galleons per person. Most of these countries had laws that tied their hands when dealing with their criminals. Most countries banned execution, which included England. Unlike England, no other wizarding country possessed an isolated place such as Azkaban to house it's prisoners. Even with the Dementors gone, Azkaban remained the most secure high security prison in all of Europe.

Cornelius Fudge had gotten the idea that England could offer it's facilities to the other wizarding countries to house it's most undesirable elementsin Azkaban for a percentage of their ministry budgets. Theamout would be much lower then what they were currently dishing out to house their criminals. Most of these countries had readily jumped at the opportunity to rid themselves of their less desirable elements.

Many of these so-called criminals not only included dangerouswizards and witches,but also very high-ranking Vampires, and Werewolf. Looking at the figures in front of him, Fudge figured that he could add an extra 500 million galleons to his coffers. The deal as he now called it would go a long way in shoring up his dwindling support. He would show them how competent of a minister he was.

With this little deal he mused, he would be able to lower taxes, which every one wants he thought. Now he would have to hire more Aurors to help manage the increased criminal population. These were all minor details as far as he was concerned. Now that Voldemort had taken the Dementors back and broken out his inner circle, he no longer had a reason for breakinginto Azkaban.

Cornelius Fudge would be remembered as the man who finally balanced the books. With the extra money influx which would be coming in, he could drop his efforts at bringing the Goblins to his side. He had always hated dealing with the ghastly little bastards. He was brought out of his musing by the Greek minister.

" Minister Fudge, I have carefully reviewed the contract document and my only real concern are the security measures that you outlined in this document. I don't know about my other colleagues but I feel that housing so many dangerous criminals in one central location will require a lot more security than a beefed up Auror division. " Minister Pastoulie said.

Cornelius could hear the other ministers agreeing with Pastoulie and decided to ask for their advice and said, " Gentleman, if I can have your attention please. I am will to listen to any suggestions that you may have. I understand your need for extra security I assure you that my goal is the same as you. Does anyone have any idea?"

Finally the Romanian Minister Anatoly Varnesqu said, " Why don't you make use of Dragons and cast some darkwards? We can easily give you upwards of twenty dragons. The bloody beasts are breeding out of control anyway. I can have some Ridgebacks, Horntails, and Hybridian blacks, which I believe are native to your Scotland anyway at Azkaban within the week. I'll also loan you some of our keepers and trainers to help train English wizards. "

Minister Badru from Egypt then added, " My country can help you strengthened the wards around you prison. Our top curse breaker is also well versed in casting ancient Egyptian wards. What say you?"

Cornelius made a show of thinking about it for a moment and agreed to their proposal. Azkaban would become even mightier than it already was. He finally said, " I agree to you proposal. I'll have to go before the wizengamot and repeal some of our more backward laws but I don't see that as an issue, especially when they see the benefits in return. Now if there are no objections I suggest we sign and adjourn this meeting. Once we have instituted the security measures and moved the prisoners, I'll release the information at the Daily Prophet. At our current timeline, I estimate that by the end of November everything should be in place. "

With the signatures out of the way, Cornelius called on his lackey Seymour Whitethorn to make copies of the documents. With the legalities out of the way, Cornelius shook hands with the other ministers and he was off to the records department. Unknown to Cornelius at the time, future wizards, and witches of Great Britain would come to know him as the most incompetent minister to ever rule in all of British wizarding history.

---

October 18, Romania in Negoiu mountains in the Southern Carpathian Region

High in Negoiu Mountain stood a very ancient and gothic looking castle. The castle itself was made of black polished granite. It's black spires and foreboding gargoyles gave it a cold and eerie feeling. Shauna of the Grangel clan loved her home and was glad to be out of the blasted blizzard, which so ofter hit this region of the world. No one could apparate into their castle due to extensive blood wards on the castle and the grounds. One had to walk a thousand feet up the black granite steps to reach the entrance to the castle. Of course, all along the path Shauna could smell the guards. Her keen sense of smell was one of the traits passed down to her clan.

From the smell she could tell that the Nosferatu were guards this month. They were gruesome and lethal. No one else matched their bloodlust. Even to her they were frightening of course being the daughter of Necadimus they would never dare lay a hand on her. She looked up to see the last of the demon gargoyle pass her by and she soon found herself in front of the castle doors. She took the demon style knocker and knocked seven times.

She heard a voice bellow, " Who dares disturb the Prince gathering?"

Shauna recognized the voice of Leander of the Ventrue. Typical of his clan he was a pompous ass who thought it was his clan's birthright to rule the Camarilla. Of course, everyone in their world knew it was the Methuselah who ruled their world. Shauna answered, "It is I, Shauna of the Gangrel clan, daughter of Necadimus."

She heard the large door open up to reveal the very aristocratic face of Leander. He looked her up and down and finally said, "It is good to see that you are alive my lady. I have heard tales that your little adventure on that blasted Isle met with some difficulty? There are rumors circulating that your group was rescued by a very interesting wizard."

Shauna would have to search and punish those members of her group that had loose tongues. She knew that it would do no good. First allegiance was to the Camarilla, then their respective clans and then to the leader, unless you were talking about the Methuselah. Finally, Shauna gave him a very predatory smile and replied, " My, my aren't we inquisitive? You know what they say about loose tongues." She then let out a deep feral growl and showed her fangs.

Leander took a step back and simply creased his eyebrows. He slowly backed away and said, " I mean no disrespect my lady. I am just eager for news of the outside. The inner politics of the Camarilla can become quite stale and boring after a fashion. I guess my own desire for action has made me a bit forward. I beg my lady's forgiveness for my actions."

Shauna looked into Leander's eyes to see if she could detect any deceit, but found none and replied, " Very well, all is forgiven. See that it does not happen again. I can tell you that there is a lot of truth to the rumors you have heard. The Scorpion Sorcerer is no myth that much I can tell you. "

Shauna walked past Leander and she could hear him muttering to himself about interesting development. If only he knew, she thought. She made her way to the great staircase, admiring all of the ancient relics, which adorned the castle. There were Roman soldier uniform from centurion to legionnaire. She noticed the glass case that contained the writings of Fluvius Cammilus. He had been a Roman military commander and inventor. He had also been one of her father's best friend 2300 years ago. Her father had kept all of his works and personnel possession.

Walking further she smiled as she noticed the Alexander the Great shrine. On display were his personal weapons, writings, and armor. Her own father revered Alexander the Great. He was perhaps one of the greatest military geniuses of all times. Her father had personally decapitated a member of the ventru clan when he had dared badmouth Alexander the Great. The various text and writings from the different shrines would be priceless in the muggle world.

She finally reached the great spiral case and soon found herself walking the eastern hallway. She finally reached the portrait of her mother Lariana and entered the room adjacent to the portrait. She found her father sitting by the fire drinking blood from a Venetian wine glass. Her father adored the quality and artistic finesse of Venetian crystal.

She approached her father and kneeled before him. He took his hand and placed it on her head. When he was done she looked into his glowing crimson eyes. She couldn't help the shiver that coursed though her. Her father radiated power. The camarilla Prince feared her father's power. His strength, speed and cunning was unmatched except for the older Methuselah. Her father Nicadimus had once told her that the only person he ever feared was Cain himself.

Her father was the first to speak, " I am glad to see you unharmed daughter. It has come to my attention that you were attacked and captured by that British dark lord whom they call Voldemort. Tell me of your adventure. "

Shauna began describing her tale. She explained her meeting with Lucius Malfoy, and his inner circle of friends. He had some of the local Vampires, but soon she had realized that they were not of the Camarilla. She then explained the fight that had occurred and how the Dark Wizard Lord Voldemort had entered the fight and began subduing her pact using very obscuremagic. She explained her capture and their torture. Describing her torture and that of her brothers, she noticed her fathers eyes becoming pitch black. She then described her rescue by the Scorpion Sorcerer.

She explained his destruction of Malfoy Manor. Shauna then gave her father a full description of the help that the Scorpion Sorcerer gave her team. She gave her father a full debriefs of the information session that she had shared with the Scorpion Sorcerer. She explained that he was fighting their ministry and the dark lord at the same time. She told him of the power he seemed to posses. She told him about the twin Scorpions and the dark Phoenix markings on the back of his battle robes.

Shauna was dismayed to see her father react so forcefully at her description of the markings. She noticed her father staring out at the fireplace and noticed his eyes glazing over. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. Finally he broke his silence and told her that the last time he had seen that particular mark had been over two millenniums ago. He finally told her of the ancient priest of Amunaptra in ancient Egypt and the power that they wielded. He described witnessing first hand the carnage that the ancient priest could wield. During the great invasion of Egypt the Scorpion order had simply vanished overnight.

Finally, Nicadimus looked at his daughter and said, " We are entering dark times Shauna. Our spy's tell me that the Sabbat are preparing for a major offensive soon. Methuselah Xanthos of Lasombra clan of the Sabbat is preparing to join this Voldemort. It seems you have found a very powerful Sorcerer to fight with us. I need to see him personally and talk with him. If he is what I think he is, then we would be fools to not align ourselves with him. It would seem that the power of the ancients have awakened. This is a sign I can feel it! I have not told anyone yet, but for months now I have been getting visions of an immensely powerful sorcerer bearing the scorpion mark fighting the snake king. "

Nicadimus looked into her eyes and said, " I feel a great war coming between the Sabbat and the Camarilla. I can see this dark lord Voldemort aligning himself with the Sabbat. They share the same goals after all. They think themselves better thanmuggles and wish to rule in the open. We have to crush them once and for all. We have no choice but to pick our champion. Give me your thoughts daughter."

Shauna took her time to collect her thoughts and said, " My lord, from what I have experienced this Scorpion Sorcerer is not someone to be trifling with. He means to eradicate this Voldemort and destroy their ministry. He hopes to bring all of the other magical races under an equal government. He thinks in multiple dimensions and is heavily immersed in all forms of magic and muggle science. He is supremely intelligent and is also a paradox."

Nicadimus narrowed his eyes and said, " What do you mean by paradox?"

" He seems to be a man of extremes. To his allies and the innocents his heart is pure. To his enemies his heart is as black as night and is utterly ruthless. The way he has taken out death eaters so far make our assassin squads look like muggle priest. " Shauna explained.

Her father looked grave as if debating wither he should tell her something important. He finally looked up into his daughter's eyes for what seemed and eternity and said, " Tell this to no one but I have been getting very strong visions of a jackal and a scorpions army fighting the undead. I have seen cities on fire and rivers of blood. I have also seen the rebirth of Etosha and a new beginning. With my knowledge of our prophecies and these new visions I believe that this Scorpion Sorcerer is also the long awaited Gehenna, the long-prophesied knight of the apocalypse. Send word to the Scorpion Sorcerer that Methuselah Nicadimus, leader of the Camarilla and member of the Gangrel and Tremere clan request an audience. Ask him if he could meet us for November 20. We must hurry the opposition is gathering. "

Shauna was shocked to her core at her father's revelations. She always thought Gehenna had been nothing but a myth. That prophecy had been made a very long time ago during the anti-deluvian battles. Lost in the antiquity of time so she thought. She could barely keep her legs from trembling and sat down in her chair. To her knowledge, her father to date had always been proven right with his prophecies. A mighty war was coming that would once and for all decide the fate of the Camarilla along with the rest of the magical races.

Nicadimus then said, " Send word to ALL of the princes in Europe and North Africa.They are to mobilize for a Camarilla summons to be held at the castle for November 20. We must stop the petty squabbles and focus on the real enemy. The princes are to meet the Scorpion Sorcerer. There will be fights, and blood will be shed but in the end we will have one voice and one path I swear by Cain. "

She looked into her father's burning red eyes and replied, " As you command father." Shauna stood up, bowed and returned to her own chambers. She pulled out the funny muggle contraption called a cell phone and debated wither she should call him right now or not. She finally decided to wait until Monday afternoon to contact him. Until then she was going to enjoy her stay at home. She had a hunt to prepare for.

---

Monday Morning October 20 Riddle Manor

Voldemort was sitting on his throne reviewing his latest plan. If he could pull It off then he would gain a powerful force at his side. Twelve years as a spirit had given him a lot of time to ponder his past mistakes. He had wanted power at all cost to the point of subjugating everyone else. This had been a foolish goal. He would gladly share some power with his new potential allies. Their philosophy closely matched his own. Muggles were nothing but toys and food. He was brought out of his musing when he heard his inner chamber door open. He looked up to find the rat, Bella and Mulciber walking towards him.

Mulciber walked to his lord, dropped to one knee and kissed the hem of his robe and said, " My lord, I have great news for you. It would seem that our esteemed minister of magic took it upon himself to relieve the good wizards and witches of Britannia from heavy taxes by allowing over 600 criminals from all over mainland Europe to be relocated to Azkaban. There are many powerful dark wizards, witches, vampires, and werewolf that will be coming to their new home by the end of November my lord. "

To their shock their lord suddenly started laughing like a maniac. They were all looking at each other in bewilderment. They had never seen their lord let go of his emotions as he had just now. This was either very good or they were in for a very bad time indeed. Unable to take the stress Bella threw herself at his feet and said, " Please my lord don't punish us. If we have done something wrong please tells us."

Voldemort stopped laughing and looked at his inner circle bewildered. Why did they think he was going to pushing them? Suddenly he winced and remembered his old self. " Bella! Rise this instant. I have no intention of punishing you for now unless you do something really stupid or fail your mission. This iiissss very good news indeed. With the Dementor's we will break into Azkaban and free as many prisoners as possible. They will either join us or die. Our first priority will be the Vampires."

Mulciber was never very quick and sometimes his mouth could get him into trouble. Mulciber suddenly uttered, " Why in hell would we free those wretched creatures first. Let them rot, what is wrong with you?"

Mulciber suddenly realized where he was and suddenly became white as a sheet. He looked up at his lord's face to find him in a towering fury. Why couldn't he ever shut the fuck up he though just before he heard his lord bellow, "CRUCIO."

Voldemort held the fool under the curse for over two minutes. Mulciber ended up loosing control of his bodily functions. When he was done he said, " Don't any of you fools contradict me ever again. The wizards and witches there are important, but I have been in secret negotiations with a very old Vampire of the Sabbat pack. Lets just say their beliefs closely match my own. I was supposed to make my way to the Roman ministry and break some of their princes. It now seems that the fates once again favor your lord. That fool Fudge will deliver them to me. Saves me time and energy. Azkaban will bestow her fruits once more to us. With these princes indebted to me, I will be able to form a powerful alliance and then we can start searching for this Scorpion Sorcerer and terminate him, then Dumbledore and finally Potter. "

Voldemort looked at Mulciber and bellowed, " Take the fool away and clean him up. Maybe this will teach him to keep his worthless tongue to himself."

Bellatrix looked her Mulciber being carried out and swallowing nervously said, " What about the ministry my lord?"

Voldemort looked directly at her with his crimson eyes and gave her a leering smile and said, " What about the ministry? My dear Bella, surely you can see that keeping that retard of a minister in power suits our ends rather nicely for now don't you think? Don't worry Bella, when the time comes, I'lll give you the chance to play with Fudgy. Far be it for me to deny you that which you do so well my tortuous Bella. "

Bella looked at her lord and smiled, " You are most generous my lord. "

Voldemort nodded at her and then said, " Enough of this chit chat. Bella get a hold of Severus and tell him to meet us for supper. Then send word to everyone else meet us for 8:00 pm. We will meet in the strategy room and plan our little break out. When we are done they won't have a clue what hit them. "

Seeing that no one was moving, Voldemort looked uptowards the ceiling and sighed. He finally controlled his temper just enough and yelled, " Well what are you waiting for? MOVE!"

Everyone scrambled to get out of the throne room. Voldemort went back to his throne and hoped to God that some these convict had brains. If he was honest with himself he missed Lucius slightly. The man was as smarmy as a bottle of virgin olive oil but he could get the job done most of the time. When he got his hands on the Scorpion Sorcerer he was going to kill him very slowly. His face twisted into a mask of fury thinking about the bastards.

Unknown to Voldemort Fate had her own agenda, and Voldemort was quite low on the scales of things!

---

Monday Afternoon October 20 Wizard Ministry

MadEye Moody was slowly making his way to the central apparition point cursing the stupidity of the Ministry. This was the ultimate brain dead move on their part he thought. At no time in his distinguished career had he met such an incompetent ministry. To think that the bloody morons were going to actually import criminals took the last straw. Fudge had done it. He had single handedly created a quagmire that had the potential of creating such havoc on the British wizarding population that should his prediction come to pass, not one family in Britannia would be spared from death. He hoped to God that the Scorpion Sorcerer could do something about this. The Order of the Phoenix already knew about the ministry deal, but he had preached restraint. He believed that all would work out in the end. The man had completely gone south.

He reached the apparition point and took outthe ring given to him by Potter and activated it. Moody suddenly found himself in a large chamber and immidialty took out his wand. Moody looked around to see a lot of people suddenly staring at him. Moody stood at attention and surveyed his surroundings. The chamber was impressive to say the least. He had never seen such a place in his entire career. He noticed the myriads of training equipment and was nearly blown away by the people who were there.

Moody with his jaw hanging down recognized Tonk's, Bill, Fred, George and young Ginny Weasley. He noticed a lot of other people he didn't recognize. Moody suddenly looked up and saw a figure completely hidden in a battle cloak. With the hood pulled down, he could still make out the glowing green orbs emanating from the shadows of his hood. The charms put on his cloak and especially around his hood had to be dark magic. Moody was using his magical eye but even it couldn't penetrate the obscuring charms.

There was no question in Moody's mind that the aura of power that the man was projecting was genuine. Moody couldn't see Potter anywhere but figured he would show up soon. The mysterious man was suddenly in front of him and formally said, " Welcome to our training camp Master Auror Moody. It is a pleasure meeting you. Harry has told us quite a bit about you. I was told that you were interested in joining our little group? "

Harry turned around and in a grave voice said, " All right all you! The show is over now get back to work. Show the man here what you can do."

Harry turned back to Moody and said, " Auror Moody, if you could please follow me we need to talk." Harry let Moody to the command center and was rewarded by the bewildered look on Moody's face. Moody was looking at all of the muggle technology and was very surprised to find it operating in a very strong magical environment. They finally reached the command center and Harry asked Moody to sit. Moody agreed and then Harry called for one of his house elf to serve refreshment.

Moody was the first one to speak and said, " Well I can certainly recognize who you are. I have been watching your battles and I must say I am very impressed with what you have accomplished. I have been watching your exploits for some time now, and I find your politics and tactics to be much more in line with my own way of seeing and doing things. I told Potter that I was interested in joining your group. I wish to offer you my services as an experienced Auror and I am willing to make a pledge of non-disclosure to you at your request. "

Harry sat back and examined Moody. The old man still had it in him he thought. The fact was that Harry liked Moody and felt that the man had way to many shackles imposed on him from the ministry and the turkey club. Harry finally cleared his throat and said, " Mr. Moody, I am pleased that you have shown interest in my organization. I feel I must point out to you that I am a dark arts user and that I don't plan on relinquishing their use in the near future. I heard somewhere that sometimes the only way to beat an opponent is to fight him at his own game. If you find yourself unable to use the dark arts for philosophical reasons than I am afraid that our meeting is over. However, I don't think that this is the case with you. Am I correct in my assumptions?"

Moody looked at the man and replied, " No, you aren't wrong. Only fools fail to make use of their full arsenal."

Harry slowly nodded at Moody and shot back, "Now like all of the people who willingly follow me, I ask for a magical oath that states you will never reveal the secrets that you are about to learn and that you are willing to learn the dark arts. As I said earlier, if my suspicions are correct, I suspect that you already know a great deal about the dark arts. If you work with us, I believe that we can greatly expand on that knowledge. What do you say?"

Moody gave him one of his crooked smiles and said, " I Alastor Moody, do hereby swear on my magic and proclaim that I do so of my own free will. I swear to never reveal who the Scorpion Sorcerer is and any information about his organization. I swear on my magic that I will lend my knowledge, and skills in service of the Scorpion Sorcerer." A slight teal aura was exchanged between them sealing Moody's bond to Harry.

Harry looked at Moody and said, " Now it is time for me to reveal who I am." With that Harry slowly brought his hands to his hood and pulled it back. Harry felt like erupting into fits of laughter. The look on Moody's face was bloody priceless. The man looked like he was about to shit himself.

Moody could not believe his eyes. Potter was the Scorpion Sorcerer. Moody suddenly bellowed, " Merlin's beard! Fuck me Potter! " Suddenly Moody started laughing so hard that he fell off his chair and couldn't stop erupting into fits of laughter. After several minutes the man began to breathe again and slowly got himself back into his chair. He finally managed to say, " Potter how? I mean how were you able to become so accomplished in the dark arts over one summer?"

Harry decided to take pity on Moody and began his explanation. He explained Odin's eye, the trunk manors, his discoveries in magical theory, his training in the dark arts, his discoveries in mixing muggle science and magic. He gave him a detailed explanation of how the electronics worked. When he told him that the Scorpion Lair was the old chamber of secrets underneath Hogwarts, he nearly had an apoplectic seizure. Harry took him on a detailed tour of the lair and explained all of its functions. He then gave Moody a detailed account of all of their adventures to date and how they had appropriated Voldemort's war chest. He finally introduced Moody to his old mentors and the rest of the troops.

Moody for his part was simply bewildered to no end towards the end of his afternoon. Now that he looked back, all of the little details that hadn't made sense since he had investigated Potter in Surrey began to gel. When he pieced the time lines in his head, all of the dots led to Potter. After seeing that Odin contraption, he could see how Potter had become so strong. The boy had studied non-stop for nearly five real equivalent years. He had studied so much that he had become a class of warrior above anything he had ever seen.

He couldn't believe the sophistication of Potter's organization. Who was he kidding he thought, he was now part of this organization and felt a sense of elation that he hadn't felt in a very long time. He had a good look at the training that the troops were doing and the only word that came to his mind was brutal. From the looks of things these Hogwarts sixth years could put the ministry's Auror to shame. These troops weren't hindered by ministry decrees. Their training in magic coupled with muggle science was more powerful then he could have ever dreamed. Voldemort had definitely met his match in Potter.

Finally Harry sat down with him and explained all of the positions that were available in the organization. He asked Moody where he thought he would best fit in. There was research, intelligence, trainer, front line soldier, propaganda, recruiter, and tactician. After some thought, Moody decided to start with tactical planning and training. He planned on reviewing his dark art knowledge and then go on a massive crash course in dark arts training. He would spy on the order and the ministry.

Harry brought him to stores to be fitted with a portkey ring, a new raptor broom, a new set of battle robe with the scorpion emblems, and told him that he would be fitted with a new wand come next full moon. Harry explained the connection between the full moon and the wand bonding process. To Moody's ever increasing joy, Harry explained the improvements and performance of the new Raptor brooms.

When he was done Moody seemed to go deep in thought and said, " Potter, I have some urgent news that you need to know. The bloody idiotFudge, has made a deal with the other European ministries and in exchanged for some galleons, he has decided to house all of the criminals from mainland Europein Azkaban. The fool thinks the place will be fool proof with some fancy wards and some dragons. Within two weeks time, Azkaban population will increase by over 600 wizards, witches, vampires and other nastiness. "

Harry brought his hands to his temples and began massaging them. Fudge seemed incapable of making any decent decisions. The man was a bloody moron plain and simple. The fucker had to die,he was simply too damn dangerous to keep in power. Harry looked up at Moody and finally said " Voldemort has already broken into that bloody prison so many times he might as well be made an honorary guard of the joint. "

Harry sat there thinking of the gold nugget that Fudge had given Voldemort. There was no way in hell that Voldemort wouldn't jump at the opportunity to increase his ranks with some of the most despicable wizards, and witches that Europe had in its ranks. From all accounts the man's forces were running on vapor. His little campaign of terror seemed to have a major impact on his recruiting. They needed a plan to deny Voldemort his prize.

While Harry was thinking, Moody at the top of his head said, " One thing for sure we haven't heard a whole lot about the Dementor's lately and I have a feeling that they are going to play a big role when he decides to attack. "

Harry looked at Moody gob smacked. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten about those putrid fucking horrid nightmares. He was stunned. How could he of all people forget about Voldemort's most faithful allies? His new top priority now was to figure out a way to protect his troops from their influence.

Thank Merlin that Moody had reminded him. He finally took Moody to the trunk manor to show him his room. He took the time to explain how he had invented the trunks. He took some pity on Moody because the man looked completely bewildered. When Harry had showed him how all of the trunks were connected by floo and that his new portkey ring could punch through any wards, he left himget acquainted with his new residence and went back to the command center.

Harry looked at his watch and noticed that he had about forty minutes to kill. He decided to do an occlumency session in order to catalog his new data and reflect on his weekend. Thinking about the weekend brought a smile to his face. It had started a bit rocky, but taking time to relax with Xiana had done them both a world of good. He honestly didn't know what he would do without his wife. Harry remembered that he needed to find out what Horcruxes were and there importance to Voldemort. Harry decided to make his way to the great hall for some supper and entertainment.

Harry left the command center and was about to apparate to Myrtle's bathroom when he heard two voices that could only spell trouble. Harry turned around to find two smiling faces beaming at him.

Harry cocked his eyebrow at them and said, " Fred and Gorge, how can I help my two favorite business partners?"

Fred and George looked at each other and said in unison, " Oh great and mighty sponsor of Weasley Wizard's Wheeze we come to bring you tidings that the time has arrived to launch the new line of Techno magic products which has come about from your gracious donations and discoveries."

Fred looked at Harry and said, "It has come to our attention that our world had been held back due to a shall we say lack of vision by our fearless leaders."

"Therefore, a new line of product is just begging to be let loose on the deserving masses." George continued.

Fred grinned and added, "What my dear brother Gred is alluding too is that we would like to capitalize on your intellectual discovery concerning muggle electronics and magic and have a whole line of specially modified muggle entertainment. These include such thingsas stereos, television, and VCR to name a few. We believe that it is high time that our world discover how the other half-lives! "

George added, " We are ready to market these product to all of the wizards and witches and wanted your blessing and muggle factory contacts which would be able to manufacture these delicacy for us. Of course due to intellectual property rights, we feel that you are entitled to thirty percent of the proceeds if that is o.k with you. We'll be using our own newly acquired funds to finance the new business, and would incorporate the new line of products as Weasley's Techno Magic supplies. What do you say?"

Harry thought about it for about ten minutes analyzing all the pros and cons and decided to add some stipulations. " It would be good for wizard and witches, especially the pureblood kind to see the benefits of muggle inventions. However, I don't want to give away our significant advantages. I don't want to market any communication equipment such as cell phones, computers and any other hand held communication devices until Voldemort and his merry band are gone.

It would be smart to also make it look like it was your company that made the electronic changes onthe muggle equipment. I don't want the opposition to even think that we outsourced this merchandise to specialty muggle industries. Make sure to pick a place preferably outside of England where your merchandise can be delivered too. You can then portkey it back to your store. Also make sure to destroy all invoices before the merchandise reaches our world. I know I may sound a little paranoid here, but I would rather be safe than sorry. Is that o.k. with you guys?"

Fred and George looked at each other and smiled. They turned towards Harry and said in unison "Deal!"

Harry laughed at the twin's antics, and remembered that he wanted to discuss an idea with them and said, " Now that we have that piece of business taken care off, I was wandering if you guys would mind modifying one of your inventions. I was thinking of your mini swamp. If we come across giants in battle, it would be nice for them to step into a nice swamp that could then encase them in a rock coffin. Do you think that would be feasible?"

The twins looked at each other and seemed to be communicating silently. They started throwing ideas at each other until George turned around and said, " Harry my boy, it seems that this is your lucky day. I believe that we can modify the swamp to turninto stone. This will involve some very delicate charms and potions work, but it should work."

Harry smiled back and replied, " Well, I haven't talked to Hagrid since my little confrontation at Grimmauld place, but I think we need to find what the giants are up too. I am positive that Voldemort has sent agents to recruit them or will be forcing them into an alliance somehow."

The twins cringed at the mention of the giants siding with Voldemort. They may not have joined him yet, but they had to be prepared for any contingency. Harry finally looked up and said, " Well I have to get going and make an appearance. " The twins saluted and portkeyed out of the lair. Harry wasslowly making his way to the center of the lair when his cell phone went off. He dialed in and to his surprise he found himself talking to the Shauna. Harry immediately activated the special GPS locator function on his phone and returned to his conversation.

They talked for about ten minutes. She told him that her father their leader wanted an audience with him. She gave him apparition coordinate and told him to meet them on November 20. She told them that she could bring two people with him. When they were done, Harry punched in a code and read the coordinates that the cell phone had recorded. The coordinates from his cell phone almost matched to a tee the coordinates she had given him except for a few seconds difference. He decided to memorize the cell phone coordinates and key them into his ring.

The difference could be attributed to the fact that he had to apparate or portkey outside of some established wards. Well he thought, they might not appreciate someone passing through their wards but he was going to do it anyway. Their wards were no doubt based on blood magic. He needed to make a show of his power and what better way than portkey through wards that is deemed impregnable. Harry was very familiar with blood wards since he had raised many of them on his ancestral castle and grounds.

Harry disillusioned his battle robes into his school robes and apparated back to Myrtle's bathroom. He slowly made his way towards the great hall. He was careful to make sure that no one saw him come out of the bathroom. He looked at his watch and noticed that supper would start in about ten minutes.The student population was slowly making their way the great hall. He just hoped that chili pepper and the beaver would just leave him alone. In order to calm his mind he reviewed his memories from his weekend with Xiana. They needed to have their time off on a regular basis he now realized. He finally reached the great hall and seeing that Neville and Luna were sitting towards the end of the Gryffindor table he went and sat with them.

Neville was talking with Luna about their latest training session and about Moody joining them when he saw Harry make his way to their table. Neville smiled and said, " Oi!" Harry smirked and sat in front of them.

Neville looked around and seeing no teacher cast several privacy charms. He then looked at Harry and whispered, " Before I left, I saw you receiving a phone call, is everything all right?"

Harry smiled and replied, " No I think it's great news. You remember the vampires we rescued, well she just phoned me to let me know that the leader of the Camarilla wants and audience with me."

Luna and Neville looked at each other and both of their eyebrows were near the top of their hairline. Luna was the first to speak and said, " An alliance with the entire Camarilla against Voldemort would be very powerful. Of course the Camarilla has been fighting their own enemies for a very long time. Unfortunately, for us we don't know who they are. We could be stepping into a hornet's nest. With an alliance it would mean their enemies also. "

Harry looked at Luna and couldn't help admire her intelligence. She was easily the equivalent to Beaver in brainpower. Harry dissected her analysis and then looked up and said, " Luna is right. We have to thread carefully with this. I imagine that I'll be learning a lot more about who their enemies are. In the mean time it would be to our advantage to develop more potent weapons against Vampires. I was just thinking about a muggle weapon called sarin gas. It is a potent neurological toxin that kills muggles fairly quickly. The toxin is extracted from the castor bean. "

Harry paused to review his analysis and continued, "I was wondering if we could create the equivalent using some sort of magical plants, which would affect most magical life forms. If we could create an antidote to go with it, it would give us a huge advantage on the battlefield. Neville could you have a look into it for me. No one can match your herbology skills, it there is such a thing you are the man for the job. The second thing is I would like both of you to accompany me on November 20 to meet the Vampire clans. There is no way in hell I want to bring Xiana with me. She would be killing half the female population on site. If you are too busy let me know and I'll find two others."

Neville and Luna looked at each other much like Harry did with Xiana. Their silent communication lasted a few seconds and then Neville answered, " We'll be there. In the meantime I'll get started on my new project. I think I have the perfect plant in mind."

Neville then turned to Luna and said, " I'll need to carry out a few test first."

Neville turned to his fiancé and said, " Babe would you like to assist me?"

Luna gave him her usual dreamy smile and replied, " I would love the chance to experiment with you sweetie. Of course you do realize that we'll have to be careful with the Nebeloneous Razorbacks, they are a right pain this time of year."

Harry and Neville looked at each other and smiled. Luna was one of a kind, as Neville would put it. It was clear to Harry that Neville absolutely adored Luna. Harry was about to ask Luna a question when a very familiar voice decided to grate on his nerves once again. Harry slowly turned away from Neville to see the faces of Chili Pepper and his sidekick Beaver Von Granger glaring at him. Harry put as much venom as he could and said, " Why are you still talking to me? I thought I made it quite clear that I no longer wanted anything to do with you two. You are dead to me already. Now please do yourself a favor and get away from my face, you're starting to make me nauseous. " Harry turned around to talk with Luna.

Ron was fuming once again. Every time he saw Potterhe wanted to bash his face in. One day he was going to get him." He was about to curse but Mione put her hand on his arm and shook her head. Ron gathered as much venom as he could and spat back, " Don't get too comfortable Potty, this isn't over by a long shot. " Both he and Hermione took a seat at the other end of the table.

The teachers were now sitting in their respective chair. Dumbledore had been watching the exchange between Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. He had hoped that the Potter brat would slip and start a fight. Albus needed some ammunition against the lad, if he was going to discredit him. He was hoping to sway public opinion against him and make him drop out. All alone he would soon find himself disadvantaged and would be at his mercy. Suddenly Albus heard a screech that heralded the arrival of mail. Albus spotted a Gringotts owl going to Potter.

He was about to reach for the Lamb stew when he noticed an official ministry owl land in front of him. Albus took the rolled parchment away from the owl and broke the official seal from the Magical Law Enforcement department. As he read the letter his face suddenly blanched. He never expected the Potter brat to have it in him to take him on in this manner.

Well he thought if it's a fight he wants then by Merlin's beard he was going to get one. After all what does he know about the laws of the wizengamot? Albus thought that he could beat Potter with his clout. After all he had returned the money back to him, and as for his parents will, he was going to discredit his parents choices, that would be enough to sway the upper house of lords. There was no doubt that this little charade was going to cost him. Damn that little upstart. Albus looked towards Potter who was looking straight at him and found him smirking.

Albus narrowed his eyes and slowly took the letter and ripped it in half in front of his face. He noticed that Potter was now laughing. Albus was seething with rage. He finally noticed that the hall had gone completely quiet. The teachers were now also giving him a queer look. He realized too late that Potter had once again caused him to loose his composure.

Albus slowly put the letter down, and acted as if it was just a nasty letter. He gave everyone his genuine smile and went back to his stew. The hall slowly came back to its usual noise level. Albus waited for a few minutes and slowly turned his head towards Severus who was looking straight into his eyes. Looking at him with his eyebrows scrunched up, Albus slowly turned his head back towards Potter. Severus followed his gaze and found himself looking at Potter. Albus was rewarded by the venomous look Severus was sending the Potter brat. Albus mused that Potter was going to find it difficult to attend to his lawsuit from a hospital wing.

Harry himself had received a post owl, which he recognized as belonging to Gringotts. Harry took the letter from the beautiful black eagle/owl cross breed and gave the owl some of his sausage. Harry opened the letter to find that it was from Golderek who was head of the Goblin high council. It basically said, that due to a very important worldwide Goblin council, their meeting for November 5 would be delayed until November 30. Harry shrugged and went back to eating his conjured meal. He didn't mind waiting for the Goblins. Truth be told he had way to much on his plate as it were. He needed to get through the NEWT first. Harry looked up at the enchanted ceiling to find that it was dark and raining. Harry looked at the black clouds and finally went back to his meal.

---

Monday November 10 DADA Class

Harry had made his way early to DADA class in order to review his plans. He reflected on his last two weeks, which had been very busy indeed. He had finally completed his NEWT. The morning had been theory and afternoon practice. Harry had found the exams not too grueling. He had really enjoyed the practical aspects. He knew he had aced DADA, Charms, Transfiguration, Arithmancy and Potion. Runes had been quite challenging and he wasn't too sure about some of his translations. Herbology, History of magic and Care of Magical Creatures he had done well. Harry even found out that there were some NEWT exams that one could take which were not even on the school curriculum. He ended up paying more in order to take a NEWT in muggle studies and Wizarding Law. He thought he did quite well on them, but time would tell. His results would be mailed to him towards the end of November. Until then he had to keep up with the bullshit at Hogwarts. Truth be told, Tonk's had communicated to Harry that more witches and wizards wanted to join him. She had been very discreet in approaching these candidates. Apparently, the Patel twins, Chris McGhee, John Hobbit, and Scott McGinnis wanted to join his side.

Harry reflected on his parent's final resting place. He had wanted to bring his parents back to Potter castle for their final rest. He wanted to be close to them and had explained to Xiana what he wanted to do. She had been with him on that difficult night. Meeting his parents final resting place had brought forth long buried memories.

---

Flashback October 31

Harry was standing by the bay window watching lighting strikes on the tumultuous seas. Tonight was the night that he was bringing his parents remains back to Potter ancestral home. He wanted to be close to them and the best time for moving the dead was at the fall equinox know as Halloween to muggles. However to wizards and the ancient Celtic Druids, October 31 was one of their holy nights. Recalling his encyclopedic knowledge, It was also known as the fire festival. The four holy names were Samhain, Oimelc, Beltane and Lughnasadh. They are known respectively as winter solstice, spring equinox, summer solstice and fall equinox.

From October 31 to November 2, the ancient Druid mages understood that the veil between this world and the world of our Ancestors was drawn aside on these nights, and for those who were prepared, journeys could be made in safety from the other side. The Druid rites, were concerned with making contact with the spirits of the departed. They were seen as sources of guidance and inspiration rather than as sources of dread. The dark moon, the time when no moon can be seen in the sky, was the phase of the moon which ruled this time, because it represented the time in which our mortal sight needed to be obscured in order to see into the other world.

Harry had been deep in thought when he had felt Xiana's hand on his shoulder. They had portkeyed to Godric's Hollow and made their way to the hidden cemetery based on Remus instruction. After searching the cemetery they found his parents head stones. The area had been poorly maintained. There were weeds starting to over take the head stones. Harry was now furious that his parent's final resting place had been so poorly maintained.

Harry immidialty took out four black granite marbles and transfigured them into fire pots. Harry placed the fire pots at each corner of a box, which contained both of his parent's burial plots. The rain had finally abated but it was still misting outside and Harry could hear the thunder in the background. He took out his wand and lit the fire pots with a beautiful blue flame. It gave the whole place an eerie feeling.

Harry had then chanted an ancient Druid spell, " Oscail- caillí agus- meandar- tá ciumhais an dá fháinne ailínithe sa phlána céanna." This spell was meant to appease his parent's restless souls and prepare them for their new resting place. If one were lucky enough a ghostly image would appear to the caster. Harry didn't see any image but he did feel a deep sense of contentment.

At that moment a golden dome had formed over the burial site and had parted the earth. The coffins had suddenly lifted in the air and had hovered at waist level. Harry with tears in his eyes had beckoned Xiana to him and together they had place a portkey ring on each of their coffin and had portkeyed back to the Potter family crypt located about one hundred meters east of the castle.

Harry had built greatly expanded the original complex. The new crypt is where he had laid his parents to rest. The head stone were a carved bust of each of his parents, created from one of their wedding photos. Harry had then put his parents coffin inside a marble sarcophagus and had inlaid a lily flower and a stag on top cover. Harry had then charmed the roof of the crypt to see the sky. Harry had then built his godfathers sarcophagus besides his parents.

Xiana had stayed at his side holding his hand the whole time. She didn't say anything but was just there for him. Remus had joined him later and had cried at seeing members of his pack laid to rest. The wounds had temporarily reopened but it had been worth it. They had had all made their piece that night. Even Xiana had cried at being denied the chance to meet her in laws. When they were done, Harry had then sealed the chambers with many wards including blood wards. He remembered his last words that night, " Welcome home Dad, Mom and Sirius."

End Flashback

---

Harry looked at his watch and noticed that it would be another hour before class started. He took out his notebook and began reading Remus notes on his meeting at the werewolf gathering. Harry was almost done with the notes. Poor Remus had come home with some bruises and cuts, but nothing too serious thank god he though. Apparently the meeting had been about forming alliances. It appears that the werewolf clans were split on the issues. They had initially discussed the pros and cons of joining Voldemort until Remus had approached the clan elders and gave them another choice.

Apparently, after viewing the offer the Manitoulin clan from North America had approached Remus about setting up a meeting with him. Four other clans had joined the Manitoulin. The Lou Garou clan from France had made it known to the others that they were in Voldemort's camp and had attempted to remove Remus permanently. The Manitou clan had taken exception to the Lou Garou's strong hand tactics and had accusedLou Garou of breaking the sacred laws. Every clan had brought three hundred of their members. The meeting soon turned to open hostilities. The Manitou clan had garnered three other clans with them against Lou Garou whom had only one other ally.

Open war had been declared in the Scottish Highland. Lou Garou soon learned why the Manitou clan was the most powerful werewolf clan in the world. It had been a virtual blood bath according to Remus. Lou Garou had lost over one hundred members before abandoning the field. Manitou had lost twenty-four members. The head of the Manitou clan with the consent of the other clan elders had approached Remus about meeting the Scorpion Sorcerer. Remus bless his heart had told them that the Scorpion Sorcerer be able to meet the elders in early December if that was o.k. The clan elders had agreed and Remus had formulated the protocols, location and final date of the meeting.

Harry picked up the latest sales report from the twins and smiled. Techno Magic was taking the wizarding world by storm. It had been such a smashing success that the twins were being begged by other European ministry to establish shops in their enclaves. Harry had gotten a special letter from the Goblin high council praising him for his business sense. Techno Magic share value had increased five hundred percent in ten days. Things were looking up he thought.

Harry was looking towards the front desk deep in thought when he felt an elbow smack him in the shoulder. Harry looked to his right to see Chili Pepper and the Beaver walking past. Harry sneered and said, " What's wrong Weasley, need to hit people from behind now to make yourself feel important. Only cowards attack people from behind. You would make a great Slytherin you know. "

Harry was preparing himself for a fight. Sure enough the stupid dolt quickly turned around and started coming towards him. Harry remained seated, but had his wand out. The Beaver was screaming for him to stop. Every one in the class had stopped talking. Suddenly Weasley tripped and fell flat on his face. Harry noticed Neville pulling his foot back in and laughing at Weasley. Soon the whole class joined him. Ron got up and his face was the color of dried tomatos. He had a fury on his face that might have been an attempt at being scary but actually came off looking like a bad case of constipation.

At that instant, Harry heard the classroom door slam and heard Snape say, " Weasley you insufferable egomaniac, you are a sorry excuse for a wizard. Get back to your seat this instant and 20 points from Gryffindor for disrupting class."

Ron looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel. The boy really had to learn self-control Harry thought. For her part, Granger was shooting daggers at him and Snape. Harry put on his best-bored attitude and watched Snape walk to the front of the class with his robe bellowing behind him. He got to his desk and in a dramatic way, quickly turned around to survey the classroom. God the ponce sure loved his melodramatics. Snape was finally looking at him and Harry could see a small smirk forming at the corner of his mouth. Something didn't feel right Harry thought. Harry narrowed his eyes and gave Snape his best sneer.

Snape with a sneer of his own said, " Class! Today we have been blessed. The great Harry Potter had decided to grace us with his presence. He thinks himself so special, that he doesn't need to attend classes like everyone else. Don't blame though, it's really not his fault. Potter here can't help himself. It's in his genes. His father was just as arrogant. I guess the apple didn't fall to far off the tree. Mindhis your father did do something right in his pathetic life. He managed to leave this world early and as a bonus he tookhis mudblood mother with him"

Some of the Slytherin's in the class were now howling with laughter and pointing at Harry. Harry slowly stood up and brought his body magic to full capacity. Unknown to Harry the classroom door had just been opened without a sound. Harry with vampire like speed and strength, picked up his desk and threw it at Snape.

Severus saw Potter rise from his chair and knew he had properly baited the brat. Time to teach thewelp a really painful lesson. Severus was brought out of his musing by a desk heading straight for his head. He quickly whipped out his wand and yelled, "Reducto!" The desk was turned into sawdust.

Harry had immidialty brought his new wand from its holster. He was through messing around with the bastard. He could insult him all he wanted but his parents, family and friends were off limit. Harry with as much venom as he could muster said, " My father was ten times the man you will ever hope to be. He died protecting my mother and I from your dark lord. You could take some lessons from him Snivellus. You know the ones about courage, honor, integrity, looks, cleanliness, and magical talent to name a few. It's really to bad that Sirius prank and the Whomping Willow didn't work out that night. It would have saved countless magical children being thought by a biased and incompetent teacher. My father was right about one thing, your problem is that you were born."

Snape roared and bellowed, " How dare you speak to me this way you little shit! I know more about survival in this world than you can ever hope to learn. You are nothing but an arrogant, overbearing and petulant little child with no real magical talent and I'll finally prove it to everyone. I Severus Octavius Snape challenge you Harry James Potter to an all out duel. Everything allowed including dark arts except for the killing curse. If you accept we will duel on the Quidditch pitch in one hour. Let's make this interesting and invite the rest of the school. After all we wouldn't want to deprive them of the privilege of seeing the great Harry Potter grovel at my feet begging for his life."

The room was suddenly so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. Harry slowly surveyed the shocked faces of his classmates. Harry saw Chili Pepper and Beaver smirking at him. So this was Snape's game plan all along. Harry knew he was up to something when he saw that stupid smirk on his face at the beginning of the class. Snape had suckered him into a duel. Harry could almost see the old goat fucker's hands in this. So they were setting him up. Harry had an hour to figure out why. Seeing that the class was waiting, Harry bellowed, "I Harry James Potter accepts Severus Octavius Snape duel challenge. The duel will end when one member is fully incapacitated. No killing curses allowed."

Harry turned around to go get ready when he saw the headmaster standing at the entrance to the classroom. Harry looked at the headmaster and narrowed his eyes. Green glowing orbs met glacier blue eyes. The twinkle was gone from Dumbledore's eyes replaced with cold power.

Dumbledore looked at the flaming green orbs directed at him and couldn't help the shiver running down his spine. Harry brought forth his dementor aura and everyone in the vicinity could feel the room dropping in temperature. Harry project all of the hate he had for the man who was the caused him so much misery.

Dumbledore could literally see the hate coming off Potter's eyes. Dumbledore wondered one more time how his plans had degenerated so badly in such a short time frame. Fate could be very unforgiving it seemed. Dumbledore broke eye contact and looked at Severus and said, " Professor Snape, I would be honored if you would allow me to stand in as your second."

Severus bowed to Dumbledore and said, " Headmaster, it would be an honor and privilege to have you as my second. "

To everyone's surprise in the room except for Harry, Blaise, Brianna, and Theo, Neville Longbottom stood up with cat like grace and said, " Harry I would be honored if you would allow me to stand in as your second. "

Harry immidialty replied, " The honor is all mine Neville. I would gladly have you as my second." Neville bowed to Harry and then turned towards the headmaster and gave him the most evil smile that he could muster.

For the second time this morning, Dumbledore found himself looking at cinnamon colored eyes filled with hate and power directed towards him. Dumbledore broke contact with Neville and directed his gaze to Severus who seemed to be just as shocked as he was. Dumbledore simply raised his eyebrows and said, " I will go a set up the Quidditch pitch and let the rest of the school know.

Blaise had been ready to stand by his brother in law when Neville beat him to the punch. Blaise looked at Brianna and Theo and in silent communication they quietly left the classroom, to catch up with Neville and Harry. Neville and Harry turned around to see who it was and then waited for the others to catch up. Neville turned back towards Harry and said, " Harry, I am positive this is a set up. They are planning something. I mean it can't be a coincidence that Dumbledore just happened to be by Snape's classroom just as he made the duel challenge. What's even more unnerving is the fact that Dumbledore accepted to be his second. I'll bet those fuckers had planned it all along."

Brianna was thinking furiously and said, " Harry you said last night that Dumbledore received his summons from the department of magical law. The date is set for November 15. Don't you think this is to much of a coincidence that this duel with Snape is happening so close to the court date?"

Everyone stopped and looked at each other. They then looked at Harry who seemed to be lost in his thoughts. After standing there for nearly five minutes gazing into the abyss Harry suddenly said, " I think Neville and Brianna have made the connection. Think about this, if Snape manages to injure me bad enough to be laid up in the Hospital, then the trial will have to re-schedule. I was lucky to get a court trial so quick. The backlog at the ministry is humongous. If this trial is delayed, it would take quite a while before the next court date comes up. This would definitely give the old goat fucker more then enough time to formulate his plans."

Harry slowly looked at each of them and continued, " Here is what we are going to do. Brianna could you please portkey to the lair and pick up an invisibility cloak and go spy on Dumbledore at the Quidditch pitch. I don't trust Dumbledore to not lay out some kind of magical booby traps. Blaise and Theo if you could please get into the infirmary undetected and set up a disillusion ward on the south corner of the stained glass window and the painting of Alcazar the magnificent that would be great.

When you are done Blaise could you find Ginny and tell her to contact Bill and have him meet us at the lair later this afternoon. Theo find Tonk's, this will be the best opportunity we have to install a camera in the Headmasters office. Immobilize the portraits while Tonk's installs the camera. The wall behind his desk would be perfect as long as it's high enough. I have been waiting this opportunity for a long time. As for Snape, it's high time for that he get his judgment day. The fucker has been living on burrowed time for far too long." He spat.

Everyone hurried to their assignment while Harry and Neville portkeyed back to command center. Once they arrived they informed every one of the duel and the plan. Harry created a special portkey for later that night. He then exchanged some ideas with Neville on some duel strategies. Harry decided to go through his vigorous checklist before battle. He finally used a parseltongue illusion charm on his Basilisk battle robes. Only a parseltongue could remove the illusion. His battle robe was charmed to look like regular outdoor robes. Harry knew t hat Xiana would kick his ass if he didn't take all necessary precautions.

Harry looked at his watch and nodded at Neville. They both portkeyed to the Gryffindor Quidditch locker rooms and slowly made their way to the Quidditch pitch. They entered the pitch to find the bleachers almost filled to capacity. Neville bumped Harry and pointed at some of the signs, which were being flashed. Most of them seemed to favor Harry. No big surprise there, most of the student populations absolutely despised the bastard potions master. Harry looked towards the Gryffindor bleachers and found Ginny and Ron fighting in the bleachers. Hermione seemed to be yelling at Ginny and Blaise was threatening Hermione. Harry just shook his head. Harry had a very hard time understanding his ex-best friends behavior. Why couldn't they see Dumbledore for who he really was?

Harry noticed that the middle of the pitch had been transfigured into a large rectangular sand mote. It was roughly one hundred feet long by fifty feet wide. Harry noticed that Snape and Dumbledore were conversing. They both looked up when they saw Neville and him come in. Harry could hear the crowd whispering and pointing. Harry could literally feel the tension and anxiousness in the crowd.

Neville for his part was mentally bringing his battle folders to the forefront of his mental shields just like Harry had thought them. Neville had a hard time containing his enthusiasm. There was no doubt in his mind that Snape was about to receive the beating of a lifetime. Neville had dueled Harry enough times to know that Snape was essentially fucked. Neville really hoped that Dumbledore get in the frazzle. Neville wanted to dish out some payback. He hadn't forgotten the memory blocks that Dumbledore had put on him as a baby.

Harry and Neville slowly made their way to the landing on the north side of the pitch. Harry took out his wand and Neville did the same while taking his place roughly ten feet behind him. Harry relaxed his mind and brought forth all of his battle folders. Anyone watching Harry would have seen his face become cold and stone like. Harry noticed that Brianna was approaching him from his right. They all knew that Dumbledore could see through invisibility cloaks hence Brianna showing her self made sense. She approached him and whispered in his ear that Dumbledore had cast several charms towards the center of the sand moats but she had no idea what they were. Harry nodded and she made her way back towards the bleachers.

Harry brought forth his aura-reading gift and saw the different energy waves emanating from the center of the sand moat. Harry compared the colors of the energy waves with his database of energy signatures. He quickly isolated the spells that had been cast on towards the middle of the moat. Harry saw a Corbita-Tutela, which was a speed-reducing ward. Anyone triggering the ward would see his reflexes slow down dramatically. He also spotted a Scabies-Enclaves ward, which would cause anyone to develop a bad case of the itch by bumping into that ward.

Just behind that, Harry found a confundus ward. Anyone tangling with that ward would become instantly confused. Harry couldn't believe the gall of the goat fucker. Dumbledore must have thought that a six-year student couldn't possibly have the knowledge to detect the curse wards. Well good thing that Dumbledore had no clue that he was an aura reader. Nothing like a little embarrassment to start things right Harry thought.

Dumbledore was looking at the proceedings with a somewhat detached attitude. That was until he saw the young Zabini female approach Potter. She briefly whispered to him and then left. What in the world would a Slytherin and a Zabini to boot have to say to Potter he thought? He just hoped that Potter could be taken out early. The last thing he wanted was to get in the fray. Potter had really messed up by accepting Longbottom. The boy was near squib he thought. He had made sure of that himself he mused.

To Harry's surprise, Madam Hooch appeared. She seemed tense but business like. She was wearing a full set Auror battle robe which could only mean that she was going to be officiating the duel. She approached the center of the sand mote and cast sonorous on herself. She looked around the pitch and bellowed, " Students of Hogwarts, staff and duelers. I have been asked to officiate for this duel. Spectator shields have been erected to prevent powerful spells from hurting spectators. The Contra Ferrate rules of 1357 apply in this particular duel. This means that all magic is allowed except the killing curse. The first person to be completely incapacitated will be declared looser. Are there any questions?"

Harry cast sonorous on his voice and bellowed, " Madam Hooch you may not be aware of this, but I have detected some illegal wards which have been set up close to your positon. What is the penalty for cheaters Madam Hooch?"

The crowd went silent for a minute upon hearing his accusations and then went wild and started shouting. It looked like pandemonium was about to erupt. Hooch bellowed, "Silence!" Immidialty the crowd began to quiet down. Hooch looked livid and Dumbledore's face seemed to have turned pasty white. She finally looked at both dueling parties and said, " Mr. Potter are you insinuating that your opposition has cheated?"

Madam Hooch, I can only speculate since I have no proof. It is clear that someone wanted to play an underhanded game here tonight. Harry looked at Dumbledore while launching his accusation. Harry looked around the pitch and continued, "However! My intent here is to defend my honor. Now, I'm sure that if you asked Professor Flitwick he could identify and remove those nasty little curse wards. " Harry said the last with a sneer on his face.

Hooch narrowed her eyes at him but agreed with his suggestion. Much to everyone's pleasure the vertically challenged Charms professor made his way to the sand moat and started casting different types of revealing spells. Once he had identified the wards, he made quick work of them. Madam Hooch finally said, "Duelers on me."

Both Snape and Harry made their way to the middle of the sand moat. Hooch said, Professor Snape and Mr. Potter you have thirty seconds for commentaries before hostilities are allowed. You are not to begin the duel until you are back to your respective positions."

Snape was the first to speak and said, " Potter you don't know how long I have waited for this. It's really too bad that we can't use the killing curse. It pleases me greatly that the golden boy of the wizarding world doesn't have the intent nor the magical power to cast such a dark curse. I can't wait to see you beg at my feet Potter. I hope your stupid father and the mudblood whore that you call a mother is watching this. They are about to be severely disappointed in you Potter." Snape said his last words with a malicious smile on his face.

Harry dripping pure venom leered at Snape and whispered so that only Snape could hear, " You can't imagine the pure orgasmic pleasure I had torturing that spineless whelp you called a godson. I can still hear him begging for his life just like you will very soon. You should of seen him begging while his own mother cut off his balls and he vomited and shit all over himself. Don't feel bad you rat fuck son of a bitch, you'll soon join him in hell fucking his tight little ass. "

Snape's face took on a look of pure hate and fury. Harry simply smirked at him. Hooch looked at both of them and said, " Duelers take your position!"

Harry walked back to his position and waited. Snape did the same. Hooch had her hand up and bellowed, " Begin!"

Snape wasn't fooling around and went straight to the dark arts by sending a barrage of nasty spells. He immidialty cast Reducto-Maxims/ Conglobo- Accendo/ Cariosus- Carnis Harry immidialty saw a maximum explosion, an incendiary, and a rotting flesh spell coming his way.

Harry instantly launched a series of layered defense and offensive spells. Harry bellowed, " Transformo- Sabulum-Lapis/ Penetrabilis-Matara/ Diffindo-Caruncula-Facere/ Inferorum-Animas- Chalybeius/ Ku-šen."

Immidialty a wall of sand transformed into a six inch thick wall of black granite which was followed by a slew of spikes followed by a dark cutting hex to the face and ten balls of sand transformed into steel balls with a seeking charms. The last spell was a dark shield. Snape's Reducto smashed Harry's granite wall, but his powerful dark shield stopped the shrapnel and deflected the rotting flesh curse.

Severus with a smirk on his face had expected to overwhelm Potter with his first volley ofspells. The speed of Potter's counter attack had instead badly shaken him. He saw a series of spell, which he didn't even recognize but could tell they were dark in origin.

When the fuck had the brat found the time to learn the dark arts was now the million-galleon question. For good measure Severus cast his most powerful shield and threw himself face flat against the sand. Severus looked up to see a wall of spikes fly by him, and could feel a nasty dark cutting hex pass him by also. Thinking he had avoided the worst he started to get up when he noticed a slew of metal balls heading straight for him. He cast Protego and rolled to his right.

The first five balls hit his shield and bounced off but in the process shattered the energy barrier. Severus noticed more balls heading his way and seeing as he had no time to cast another shield charm. He immidialty dropped to his knees and let the remaining steel balls sail overhead. With astonishment on his face he noticed that the balls were coming back at him.

He quickly fired off a slew of Reducto spells and managed to destroy seven of the balls, but three found their target and Severus felt his knee cap shatter along with a few ribs. Severus cried out " Bastard!" He quickly cast a temporary pain relieving charm on his knee and quickly stood up. He then finally managed to pulverize the remaining steel balls coming to his left. He looked towards Potter and with pure venom cast "Adicio-Lancea / Crucio / Decem -Commuto-Canis."

While Snape was busy with his little steel ball, Harry began a pentagram chant. While waving his wand in a pentagonal manner he cast out four ancient runes in quick succession on the sand forming a box that was roughly thirty feet long by thirty feet wide. The runes glowed a crimson red and then vanished. Suddenly Harry brought forth his full powers of concentrations. With beads of sweat on his forehead, He layered a series of spells and silently cast, Caliginosus- Obductio /Anima- Imago- Humus / Serpensortia-Immanis- Basilisk / Praestigiae- Occaeco

Suddenly Harry's first spell triggered a big pitch black box that was roughly a thirty-foot cube. No one could see inside the box except the person in the box. The book on Sun-Tzu often extolled the element of surprise Harry recited. His second spell conjured a golem out of sand made in his likeness. He then animated the construct to move in a human like fashion. The details were so exquisite that it was nearly impossible to tell the difference between them. His hardest spell in the duel so far was a transfigured forty foot Basilisk from sand.

The basilisk was not able to petrify any living creatures, since in itself it was not a living entity, but it could petrify conjured or transfigured animals from inanimate objects. Harry looked at the swaying monster and hissed, Attack the men at the other end of the sand trap. The basilisk reared itself ready to attack waiting for the black veil to lift. The final spell rendered him invisible. Harry quickly moved to the outer edge of the sand moat and waited for the black cloud to dissipate. It didn't take long for complete hell to break out.

Harry could hear screaming coming from the bleachers. Everyone was panicking at the site of the Basilisk. Harry looked towards Neville and even he seemed transfixed by the creature. Harry turned just in time to see Snape's spells reach their target. The conjured lances missed his golem by mere inches. Harry figured that the dark cloud must of caused Snape to loose his focus. Harry immidialty recognized the next spell as a crucio. If nothing else, the stupid death eater was predictable he thought. The last spell saw ten large hounds heading towards his Golem.

Immidialty his Basilisk reared up and engaged the Golems. The Basilisk instantly petrified seven of the Hounds. It swept it's tail in a great arc and lunged at the petrified hounds. Within seconds the hounds had crumpled to dust. Three hounds had slipped by the king of snakes and jumped on his golem. Harry needed to get the bloody hounds off his Golem in a hurry to keep up the illusion that it was him. The Basilisk turned around to attack the remaining hounds but Harry had already cast, Ablegatio- Compingo/ Gu-ul-þara

Harry had banished the large hounds high in the air and used his most powerful explosion curse. The blinding and loud explosion pulverized the remaining hounds into sand dust. The screaming in the bleachers increased another notch. Harry cast a silence charm on this feet and slowly started walking towards Snape's position. The king of snake suddenly lunged at full speed towards Snape and Dumbledore.

Albus Dumbledore seemed to lose all blood in his face. He never imagined that young Potter could duel with such ruthlessness. He had to admit that the Basilisk transfiguration was worthy to be called a master's level spell. The bloody beast seemed so life like it was unbelievable. Dumbledore now realized that they had again made another grievous mistake.

Dumbledore's face now looked very grim as the implications of their bad judgment started forming in his head. The only thing he could do now was to prepare his self to duel the beast. Severus had better come up with a game plan very soon, or that bloody snake was going to pulverize him. Dumbledore noticed Potter getting up rather slowly. Perhaps the hounds had hurt him far more than he thought. One could only hope. The more he looked at Potter the more alarms started going off in his head. Something was off but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Severus was cursing the brat to nine kinds of hell. Where the fuck did the brat learn dark magic. He was pissed. Now he had a bloody Basilisk coming for him. He immidialty conjured a series of walls. His rising panic however was affecting the quality of his obstacles. He cast Exsilium-Alcyon / Adicio-Lancea /Reducto-Maxim

A slew of lances landed on the large snake and seemed to slow it down, blood was seeping out of the beast, but it was still coming full force. The banishing charm seemed to only anger it and his explosion hex missed completely. The snake suddenly lunged to take a bite of Snape but just as the beast was about to nip him, he rolled to his left and cast his explosion hex point blank on the snakes left flank, which connected and gouged a large hole on the beast side.

A large spray of blood and tissue now covered his robe. Severus quickly realized that his victory was short lived. The moment he was back on his feet the snake's tail caught him in the rib cage and he heard a loud crack and felt himself lifted off his feet. He flew a good twenty feet in the air and landed on his side with his left hand underneath him. He landed very badly and felt another sharp pain in his wrist. Severus was not having a good day at all.

The snake thinking that his pray was down went after the other men standing on his master's territory. He lunged for Dumbledore. Dumbledore with grim determination and a lifetime of learning cast Rumpere-Anima –Copula / Fulgor-Inis-Cavea /Reducto-Maxim. The spells were very powerful and draining. The first spell hit its target and the Basilisk started glowing a sick yellowish color. The first spell was used to dissociate the molecular bonds from a living creature transfigured from inanimate matter. The second spell was a lightning cage, which immobilized most creatures.

The creature stopped in its track as if caught in a web. With the molecular bonds severely weakened the explosion hex caught the creature in the head and managed to pulverize the top third section of the snake. It went down and slowly turned back to sand. Now Dumbledore could only hope that Potter didn't transfigure another one of the bloody beast. He had at least taken care of the snake for Severus. Potter was still standing at the other end of the pitch moving his wand. No spells seemed to come out of his wand however. Maybe he was setting up wards, but even he should be able to see some sort of energy discharge. Suddenly his eyes widened and finally caught on to what was happening. That's when he saw Potter grab Severus wand.

Meanwhile, Severus had managed to get back to his feet painfully and thanking the fates that Albus had managed to destroy the beast, he noticed Potter at the other and immidialty cast a slew of explosion hex, acid clouds, silver dart and a multitude of Crucio. The prat was dodging most of his curse when one managed to hit him directly in the chest and blew a hole in his stomach. The brat looked up in surprise and toppled on his back. The crowd suddenly went quiet. One could only hear the sound of the wind. Severus thinking he had won, cast a sonorous charm and yelled, " You see! Potter is nothing but a weak pathetic brat."

At that moment Harry was now standing two feet from Snape and with cat like reflex he reached out and snatched Snape's wand. Harry then silently cast Gaz-Pahal-Edakua to his left leg and heard a scream of pure agony. Harry had just pulverized the tibia and fibula bones in his left leg. Snape dropped to the ground screaming. Harry suddenly made himself visible and heard the insane screams coming from the bleachers. He looked towards Neville and smirked. Neville simply raised his eyebrow.

With a sneer on his face, Harry levitated Snape so that he was standing up and facing him. Harry closed the gap and whispered, " So Snivellus how does the leg feel? Once again Snape you got the shit kicked out of you by a Potter. You know what they say, cream always floats on top and shit sinks to the bottom. Do you think I spend my time caring what you or the goat fucker is up too, ummh? The truth Snivellus is that you just aren't worth my time. You are just another fucking death eater who needs to go. By the way how do you like the new me?"

Harry suddenly broke Snape's wand in two. To everyone's shock, he took one of the broken ends and stabbed it into Snape's shoulder. While he screamed, Harry with no mercy whatsoever delivered at full strength a roundhouse punch directly to his lower jaw and heard another crunch. Snape's jaw was now gushing with blood and was hanging at a weird angle. Harry was about to punch again when he felt a bludgeoning curse hit him on his right leg and he dropped with a scream. He could feel the sharp pain in his leg. From where the pain was shooting up, he was pretty sure that he had a large hairline fracture to his femur. The curse would have shattered his leg for sure had it not been for the alterations he did to his bones with the naquadah potion he took during summer.

Harry immidialty rolled around and with his aura reading capability saw four layered spells coming towards him from Dumbledore's position. He recognized the signatures and hissed Nisi-šen-šen and an emerald shield sprang around him. The spells hit the dome and were absorbed. This particular shield fed on magical energy. It was the equivalent to Aikido from muggle martial arts. It used the opponent's own strength against them. Harry was about to deliver a counter attack when he saw a slew of magical signatures whiz by.

Neville was in full swing. He had been waiting for Dumbledore to step out of line and was now on a massive offensive. He set three sets of layered spells. He layered a confundus, acid cloud, plasma ball, and explosion curses in a close triangular pattern. The effects were surprising. Dumbledore had managed to neutralize most of his hexes except for a Reducto and a plasma ball, which burnt his left hand very badly. One of his Reducto spells spell ended up connecting within a foot of his legs and the concussion wave was enough to break a leg bone. Neville was about to go for the kill when a loud thunderclap rang in the air and a very pissed off Madam Hooch ran into the field and bellowed, "All duelers are to cease and desist immidialty! Anyone breaking anymore-dueling laws will be convicted against the 1469 Austrian convention on dueling protocol."

No one moved until Harry slowly got up and started hobbling towards his end of the pitch. Once he was in front of Neville he said, " Thanks for your help mate. Had you not been there I think Dumbledore would have had a full go at me. I believe you seriously injured him brother. The fucker should think twice about messing with us now. "

Neville replied, " I was just about ready to send the heart explosion curse when Hooch stopped us. I must say, I feel pretty good right now. Congratulations on pulverizing Snape by the way. Even if the outcome was already written in stone, it was a kick ass duel. You absolutely need to show me how to conjure a bloody big Basilisk. I nearly shit my pants when I saw your critter come out of the box." Neville had a huge smirk on his face.

Harry suddenly broke down laughing. Maybe it was stress relief or finally taking the fight against Dumbledore's minions but it sure felt good smashing the fools. Harry turned to his right and saw Chili Pepper and the Beaver going to help Dumbledore. As they passed by they looked toward Neville and him and gave them a scathing look. Hopefully a little demonstration of his power should keep them in line for a while longer.

Harry with Neville at his side, made their way to the castle. They reached Myrtle's bathroom and portkeyed to the lair. It didn't take long for the troops to arrive and celebrate. Like him it seemed as if a hurdle had been passed. Luna ran to Neville and gave him a huge French kiss. Not to far behind Xiana ran to him and gave him a hug and bellowed, " You scared the hell out of me. Jesus how the hell do you get in these situations anyway?"

Harry frowned and replied, " Potter luck I guess?" Harry expected a sound verbal trashing but instead she just hugged him and kissed him again. Harry smiled and made his way to the salt baths. Xiana followed him until he was resting into the healing bath and cast a few healing spell on his injure leg.

The salt bath took care of the rest. Just for good measure he asked Xiana if she could go to the trunk manor by the lake and get some of his bone strengthening potions in stasis in his potions lab. Xiana went and fetched the potions. Harry took a restorative and his bone potion and then relaxed in the bath. Harry not realizing the time fell asleep while listening to light classical music. After about two hours Xiana awakened him. She had a huge smirk on her face and told him to get out of the bath. She nearly passed out from laughing when she noticed that his whole body looked like a huge prune.

Harry made a face at her and quickly apparated to the trunk manor. He quickly took a shower and then got himself a fresh set of clothes. He cleaned his battle robe and affixed his katana to his back, and then apparated back to the lair. His leg no longer hurt and he felt completely refreshed. He had a feeling that it was going to be another long night.

Harry met up with everyone and they decided to have supper at the lair. It didn't take long for Bill and Ginny to show up. The moment they did Harry went over to them and said, " Tonight is the night. If everything goes according to plan, Snape will be at our mercy. Everything is ready at Potter castle. You guys have the final kill, I just want some quality time to break the bastard and suck all pertinent information from his demented mind."

Bill replied, "No problems Harry, as long as we get to kill the bastard. "

Harry said, " I hope you take your time, that bastard has a lot of pain coming to him from a lot of people."

Ginny smiled and said, " Don't worry Harry, I've been planning my revenge for a while now. All I can tell you is that it's going to be interesting. "

Harry nodded and led them to the dining table. Everyone was gathered and feeding on the awesome spread that his elves had provided. Harry was talking to all of his ex mentors and getting caught up in all of their research. Xiana for her self was enthralled with the potions masters' new research on member regeneration.

The potion was based on the DNA memory capacity of the Polyjuice potion. The research centered on having an injured wizard or witch takes a drastically modified Polyjuice potion restorative to re-grow lost limbs. The potential was enormous. The restorative potion would also fix any physical deficiency such as scars, lost eyes and cursed organs. Moody had already volunteered as a test subject with bated anticipation. If it worked, he would be back to his old self.

Finally after supper was done, Harry had gathered all the troops to bring them up to speed on the latest development. He talked about the upcoming Vampire, Vela and Goblin meetings. He had the necessary contact teams update them on their research. He had also established a Horcrux research team comprising Remus, Theo and Luna. His weapons division now had the twins, Neville and himself along with his charms masters.

Bill told Harry that the charities were coming along very nicely. The new wizard orphanage would be up and running within the February time line. Harry couldn't wait to see it. No expense or protection would be spared. Harry planned on putting his most powerful wards on the orphanage. Anyone whishing to hurt the children would meet a most gruesome death. In his book attacking babies and children that was the vilest crime imaginable. The only penalty for such a crime was excruciating death.

The Lycanthrope center was also moving along very well. According to Bill, it should be up and running by springtime. They were making slow but steady progress. Recruiting was also going very well. Tonk's told Harry that many old students from the DA club were extremely dissatisfied with Ron and Hermiones leadership. Many had quit and were asking about him. Tonk's told him she had discretely asked many of them where their political loyalties were and what they thought of Dumbledore. To his shock most of them hated the ministry and couldn't care less about Dumbledore.

Most of them wanted to know if you were allied with the Scorpion Sorcerer and wanted to know what he stood for. So far, most of them were opting for something new, something that resonated with their views and politics. They hated the status quo, and to Harry that was very good new indeed. Odin's eye was getting a hell of a lot of use. Mad Eye had suggested a few things that they might want to add to the training regiment but overall he was extremely impressed with the depth of training. Harry couldn't remember seeing the ex Auror so happy.

The man seemed to be smiling a lot more. He had congratulated Harry on the innovative use of transfiguration and rune magic. Harry capped off the meeting with a financial review of their war chest and their spending. Amazing enough, even with all of their spending the war account was growing at a phenomenal rate. The accrued interest was working wonders. Harry brought forth a list of spending priorities, which was voted on by the war council. More money was going to be spent on materials and battle equipment. When they were done every broke into groups for happy hour. The games room and bar was opened and everyone began mingling. All work and no play made Jack a dull boy Harry thought. After Xiana's breakdown, Harry now felt that scheduled down time whither they needed it or not was necessary.

---

Everyone relaxed and played games late into the night when Harry looked at his watch and realized that it was time for him to go fetch his favorite potions professor. Harry called Bill and Ginny and told him to meet him at Potter castle in half an hour. Harry concentrated on the predetermined coordinates and found himself in the corner behind an illusion ward. Harry took out his wand and scanned the area to see who was present. Harry noticed a couple of first years and a fifth year Hufflepuff lying about sleeping. He then looked to his right and found Snape asleep in his bed. Harry made sure that Pomfrey was also indisposed and made his way towards Snape's bed. Harry stopped about midway and cast several revealing charms on the bed. Sure enough there were a couple of wards set up. Harry carefully identified the wards and took them down.

Harry turned around and cast a sleeping spell on the other students. He turned back towards Snape and noticed that the man seemed to be in pain. Well he thought Skele-Grow could do that to a person. He ought to know. He hadn't forgotten his second year at good old Hoggy Hogwarts. He stupefied Snape and then threw a portkey at him. He then tapped the portkey and the man disappeared. Harry couldn't very well go without leaving his calling card. Harry transfigured a dozen small scorpions and put them where Snape had been. He then cast a repelling ward around the bed to make sure that the scorpions stayed put. Harry would love to see Dumbledore's face come morning.

Harry decided to have a quick look at the infirmary. Harry past by a cabinet of potions and healing books. He picked up a few of the books and noticed how old it was and whom the author was. To his surprise, the person who had written the book was Morganna Potter. He would have to check her out when he got back home. He should have a copy of her book back in the family library.

Harry passed by a muggle cabinet, which to his surprise had muggle medical implements. There were needles, gauze rolls, some antiseptic, different types of antibiotics and some slim implements which he did not recognize until he read the name. Harry suddenly narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Perfect!" He unlocked the cabinet door and picked up several of the muggle instruments. He would have to modify them for what he had in mind, but creativity was a quality he highly prized.

Harry apparated out of Hogwarts infirmary and back to Potter castle in the dungeons. He found himself in the same room where the Malfoy's had been. He found Snape crumpled on the floor and levitated him against the wall. He shackled him and took away his shoes. He made sure to remove item he found on his body. He ended up confiscating three portkey's, which were useless anyway but he didn't know that. The wards he had set up were dark wards and would prevent anyone not keyed into the wards form magically transporting in or out of the castle.

He also ended up confiscating a couple vials of potions, which he guessed to be poisons of sorts. Harry double-checked his torture cabinets to make sure everything was in place, and then made sure that the magical fires in the ovens were nice and blue, and that the freezing charms were working properly. Harry noticed that there was a few potions cauldrons set up by the smiting ovens. Harry smirked and realized that these must be Ginny's. She had quite the twisted mind that one. Harry approached the table and noticed that many ingredients were on the table. He looked at many of them and winced. Harry almost had pity for Snape. The key word there was almost. Well he thought everything seems to be in order. Time to fetch the cavalry.

Harry was about to go up to the living room when two figures walked into the Dungeon. Harry saw Bill and Ginny enter. The twins followed them in. Harry said, " Are you all ready?"

Bill replied for all of them when he said, "You have no idea Harry."

"Good, now keep your hoods on, until I reveal myself to the greasy bastard. I want to see his face when he finally realises whom the Scorpion Sorcerer is."

They went to see Snape immobilized in chains and Harry cast Ennevate and then Lumos. Snape woke woozy and hard to turn his head from the bright light, that was hurting his eyes. He looked to his right hand to find it shackled to a wall. The first set of questions which came to his mind was where the hell was he and why was is so fucking cold. He finally found his voice and said, "Where the hell am I and who are you?"

Snape found the light extinguished and could now see the blue magical fire from what appeared to be an open pit oven could also see the low-level blue flame torch burning along the wall. He looked up to see wet looking Stalactites dripping cold water. He saw five figures looking at him. Suddenly one of the figures approached him and said, with a voice that seemed to radiate about as much warmth as an iceberg, " Welcome home Snape!"

Snape finally looked at the man and noticed the bright neon green orbs looking at him. His eyes seemed as bright as a green flame torch. The fire in them was mesmerizing. Finally he found his voice and said, " Who are you? Where is this place?"

"I suppose you have a right to know whom your executioners are going to be. As for where you are, you can consider this the house of pain. Consider this place a short pit stop, before you reach your real home. "

Snape was now fully panicked and with his voice croaking said, " What is this home you speak off?"

There was no response for a few seconds until Harry said, "Hell of course. You didn't actually think that you were going to get away with the murders you have committed since serving your true master. "

Snape was having an horrible time keeping his emotions in check and managed to say, "What are you talking about. You have made a horrible mistake. I haven't killed anyone. I demand to know who you are!"

Harry waved his hand and yellow torches suddenly came to life, the brightness of the room increased considerably. Harry suddenly hissed, zi-pà -ñír-tab. Suddenly a huge twenty-foot long scorpion materialized in front of Snape. Harry made the scorpion move his stinger within six inches of Snape's face. Harry could see beads of sweat forming on the man forehead and said, " Perhaps my little pet has given you some idea of whom I am? I believe from your reaction that you have heard of the Scorpion Sorcerer?"

Severus was now scared beyond anything he had ever felt in his life. The dark lord had not scared him as much as he was right now. That was perhaps because he always felt that his potions masters' skills were always useful to the dark lord. This was certainly not the cast here. Severus narrowed his eyes and said, " I recognize you attire and I don't know anyone who can conjure such a dark beast therefore I have no choice but to believe that you are the Scorpion Sorcerer, however that doesn't tell me whom you really are."

Harry approached him and when he was within three feet of his face said, " Your are quite right, It is high time that you found out who your executioners were." With that Harry lifter his hood and was quite pleased to see Snape's reaction. He turned to his mates and said, nodded at them. They in turn brought down their hoods. Snape by then was having an apoplectic seizure.

Snape finally managed to bellow, "Impossible!"

Harry sneered and said, " Why do you think it's impossible? Is it because I am the spawn of your most hated enemy and a Gryffindor to boot? You bloody people, you just can't help yourself labeling everybody. Oh, he is a Gryffindor, therefore he must be brash, bold and doesn't think before getting into situations. Wow look at him he's a Slytherin, so he must be cunning, and sly. You think that people being sorted into a house makes up the sum total of who they are. You've been following the goat fucker for far too long Snape. It seems to have idled your wits. As much as I despise Dumbledore he is irrelevant. Don't deny it Snape, we both know that your true master is the Dark Lord isn't it?" Harry could see a deep-seated fear starting to show on his face.

Severus was simply shocked. He needed to get out of here and inform Dumbledore. There were so many questions in his mind that he couldn't pinpoint where to start. It seems the Phoenix order has been compromised beyond his wildest dreams. He had to hand it to Potter. He had fooled and screwed them all royally. Salazar Slytherin himself would be proud. Now that he thought about it, he had never seen the Scorpion Sorcerer and Potter at the same time. His second clue was the wand. He now remembered the shiny looking wand when he had seen the Scorpion Sorcerer fight the death eaters back in Surrey at his muggle relations place. Severus was brought back from his musing.

"What! Cat got your tongue?" Harry spat.

Harry banished the scorpion and continued, " Just so you know, I saw in Malfoy's mind that it was you who suggested that your master to kill Charlie Weasley. Just so you know, I considered him an older brother of sorts. Mind you, the people behind me knew him as an actual blood brother. You didn't honestly think that you would get away with this did you? Another reason, you are here is for us to extract your many dark mysteries Snivellus. As a double agent, you must hold many secrets from both side of the chessboard. I assure you, one way or another we will find out the truth. "

Snape started laughing. He finally looked at Harry and said, " I have managed to survive Dark Lord and you think that you stand a chance of breaking me? I have known more torture than you can possibly imagine. You are just a little bastard with delusions of being the next dark lord, so do your best little boy."

" We'll see." Was all Harry said? He turned around to the rest of the Weasley and said," He is yours. Please don't kill him until I've had a chance to look into his mind." Harry then walked out of the Dungeon cell to go work on his little project.

Bill watched Harry leave and he slowly approached Snape until he was within striking distance. Without any warning, Bill backhanded him as hard as he could. Blood immidialty started gushing out of the potions master nose. Bill then began to beat the shit out of the man until he passed out. When he was done, Bill cast several healing charms on Snape and gave him some healing potions.

Fred approached Snape and said, " Well George, I believe it's time for us to use our Genius for the greater good, what do you think?"

"Smashing idea old boy. I think it's time to test the war box." George replied.

Fred turned to his brother and with an evil smirk said, " The war box you say. Well I can't think of a better person to try it on."

George went and fetched two boxes from one of their packs. He then looked at Snape and said, " We have spent the last two weeks developing a new line of torture pranks we call PPP. By the way that stands for puss, pestilence and pain. Mind you we haven't' tried them on anyone yet. We think you would make a fantastic test subject old boy. "

Fred agreed, "Yes, the perfect test subject." Fred opened the box and pulled out a black looking toffee. He then pinched Snape's nose to force him to breath by the mouth. Fred gave Snape his first candy, and took out a notepad to record observations. It didn't take long for purple looking boyles to appear on his body. The boyles grew until they exploded and released a very acidic puss. Snape started screaming in pain. The boils kept appearing for about ten minutes.

George for his part pulled out a green looking pastille and fed it to Snape. Within minutes Snape began having terrible flatulence which caused localized acid gas to emanate. Snape began wheezing as his flatulence began burning the inner lining of his lungs.

Severus for his part felt as if he had been branded and forced to breathe molten lava. Over the next two hours, he had been subjected to snakes growing out of his head and biting him, horns piecing his skin, and other types of pustules with different pain characteristics. They finally capped off their session by

conjuring an invisible bubble on his head and placing doxin's in it. Snape screamed as the little critters attacked his face. The bytes were very painful and poisonous. The poison was necrotic dissolved bits of flesh at each byte site. As he was screaming, Fred and George got on either side of him cast the Crucio spell repeatedly.

Fred finally said, " Hope you enjoy your time in hell."

" I second the motion." George replied.

For his part Severus could barely think as he was in such pain. He would have never predicted in a million years that his end would come about like this. It had all come down to bloody Harry Potter. After hours of repeated torture at the hands of the Weasley boys he had been left alone for about an hour.

Just as her brothers were finishing her potions were almost ready. She was just finishing putting the final touches on her Lethifold, and the Fusilis-Aetna blood potion. The Lethifold potion finished off as a gel. The gel when applied to skin would slowly eat and digest the skin away. It was supposed to be extremely dark and painful potion. The blood potion also known, as the larva potion would cause the person to feel as thought they were burning up from the inside out.

Ginny scooped up several cups of the Lethifold gel and sauntered towards Snape. She noticed that her brother's had done a respectable job on him but decided to heal him a bit. She cast several healing charms and pain relieving spells. She had learned a lot of healing magic from Fleur. After a few rounds of enervate Snape seemed to be fully awake.

Snape looked up so see the young Weasley trollop looking at him with what he could only describe as cold malice in her eyes. Severus sneered, " What do you want you little cum trough!" He spat. Ginny recoiled at his foul language and without warning she kicked him in the balls. Snape dropped but was still being held by his chains. He was now coughing trying to breathe.

" Mind your manners Snape. You'll be glad to know that not all of your pain will be coming from silly wand waving as you so eloquently called it in your first year speech. The day I found out you were the one responsible for Charlie's death, I have been thinking of ways to get you back. Then I thought why not use potions? Since you loved them so much in life, let's see what you think of them in your torture." Ginny said.

She first petrified him and then removed the top of his robes. She looked at his flabby white skin with disgust. She put a Dragon skin glove on her left hand, and dipped her middle finger in the gel. She then wrote MURDERER on his skin in big bold letters. She then fed him the potion and watched the show.Snape started to scream in earnest.

Severus was panting and reeling from the pain. He didn't know how much more he could take. Several attempts had been made by the oldest Weasley to enter his mind. He had fought them off, but he now realized that he had been weakening his shields bit by bit. No doubt preparing him for Potter's assault.

Early into the morning hours, Harry walked back into the dungeon and got his first view of Snape. Harry was very pleased with the results. It seemed that some well-deserved retribution had been dished out. Harry walked towards Bill and said, "Any progress yet?"

Bill looked very disappointed and replied, " I'm afraid not Harry. I must say I'm very impressed with his shields. I don't know what else to do. I can't think of any else to dish out."

Harry turned towards Snape and narrowed his eyes. He then turned back to Bill and replied, " I think we need to increase the pain threshold, what do you think?"

Bill frowned and replied, " Like I said, Harry I don't know what to do."

Bill noticed that Harry's face took on a psychotic look to it. Lucifer himself couldn't have been more menacing. Harry pulled out a small looking contraction, with a length of tube hanging out of it. Bill had no idea what it was. Harry walked towards Snape and said, " Well fuck face, how was your night. You wouldn't believe the peaceful sleep I had."

Snape spit in his face and whispered, " Fuck you to hell Potter."

Harry with pure venom replied, " No, I'm afraid you'll be the one fucking in hell."

Harry whipped out his wand and cast Abeo-Vestitus and made Snape's clothes disappear to Bill's shock. The twins and Ginny were now watching Harry. The next spell to hit Snape was Exstructio-Penis. Suddenly Snape had a full erection of his penis. The next spell to hit him was Intercalo- specillum. The device flew out of his hand and inserted itself inside his penis.

Bill came over with the rest of the Weasley's and said, " Harry, how is that contraption supposed to bring him to the next level of pain?"

Harry looked at Bill and reached in his pocket and handed him another one of the contraptions. While Bill was examining it Harry said, " This is what muggles call a Catheter. It's a device used in muggle medicine to help relieve patients of urine while they are in a deep sleep or a coma. I have modified it to suit my needs. Do you see all of the little slits and holes on the outside of the tube?"

Bill looked at Harry and said, " Well now that you mention it, yah I see all kinds of them. What are they for?"

Harry smirked and replied, " Follow the end of the plastic tubing, you'll see a little button. Push it."

The Weasley's all looked at Harry with curiosity and Bill did as Harry asked. The moment he pushed the button, sharp little spikes and small constantina blades suddenly popped out of the surface of the device. The Weasley's suddenly caught on and the boys felt a strong need to sit down. They were looking at Harry with their mouths open.

Fred and George looked at each other and bellowed, " Holy shit Harry! You don't fuck around do you?"

Bill looked at Ginny and said, " Are you sure you want to see this. I've already allowed you to see more than you should."

" Bill you are talking about a girls who has six brothers. Don't you think that in the course of my life I haven't seen you little manhood at one point or another. Believe me, I'm not seeing anything I haven't seen before. Now shall we get on with this? " she said to her brothers.

Billed shrugged and said, " Harry do you need any help?"

" No I should be all right. You may want to position yourself. When I'm done be ready to kill him."

Snape meanwhile looked down at himself, and couldn't suppress the shivers racking his body. He couldn't tell if it was the air, the fact that he was in so much pain or the fact that the end was near. He looked at Potter with his glowing green orbs coming towards him and the face that met him was so cold, that even the dark lord would shiver looking at it.

Harry took out his wand and tightened his chains so that his limbs were fully extended. He then took the end of tube and pushed the button. Snape bit his lip to prevent himself from screaming. Harry began pulling on the tube. Snape couldn't hold it anymore. He arched his back and let out a blood-curling scream. The inside of his penis was being ripped apart by the contraption. Blood was flowing down his leg.

Harry dropped the tube and opened Snape's eyes with his thumb, and brought forth his full legiliment powers to bear. Bill was pretty good at it, but Harry was a master. Harry was now hammering Snape's weakened shields. The image he gave Snape was that of a muggle submarine sinking down into the ocean depths until the water pressure crushed it like a can. Harry pictured his attack like the ocean depths. Bit by bit, Snape's occlumency shields began to crack. Due to his extreme pain and fatigue, the pressure was simply to much to resist and shield's finally imploded. Harry quickly sped to the deepest recesses of his memory and started downloading any that were significant.

Harry was almost done when he noticed a particular memory that caught his attention. He followed the thread and soon found himself watching a young Snape in a bar facing Dumbledore and Sybil Trelawney. He was seeing the day the prophecy was made. Dumbledore had Snape immobilized and was telling him that he was going to get the Dementor's kiss for his crimes as a death eater. Snape made a deal that night to become a spy for his order promising him to pass important information on the Dark Lord's plans and attacks. He sealed the deal on his magic. That night Dumbledore found out who the spy was in the order. Dumbledore knew Pettigrew was the spy all along.

Dumbledore sacrificed his parents. Dumbledore was also the one telling him to divulge a part of the prophecy to the Dark Lord. It was on Snape's words that the Dark Lord went after them. Dumbledore could have been their secret keeper but he knew Pettigrew was a traitor. It was him who planted the seeds of doubt into Black's head so that Black would switch.

Dumbledore knew if his parents died his hatred for the Dark Lord would drive him to destroy him. He also knew that by placing him with the muggles, instead of letting his Godfather take like he should have according to his parents will. Dumbledore had done this to make him more pliable. He knew Harry would be grateful to be rescued you from them and happy to do whatever he asked.

Dumbledore couldn't risk him growing up with his Godfather, even if it was his parent's wish. Dumbledore felt that his Godfather would go dark like the rest of his family, and take the only chance at defeating the Dark Lord with him. Dumbledore orchestrated that night at Halloween to the last detail. He had planned every movement of his life since then. He was the one who had given mother the book on blood charms almost a year before, just after he was born. Dumbledore knew she would read it and use it. He alone knew the full prophecy and he used it in the worst possible way. Dumbledore deprived him of his parents, his childhood, and his life until he decided to take control of his life.

Harry pulled out of Snape's head viciously and bellowed at the top of his lungs, " DUMBLEDOORRRREEE!" Harry moved away from Snape and nodded his head at the Weasley's. Four AVADA KADAVRA shot towards Snape. Severus Snape saw the green lights shooting towards him and welcomed it. The moments the green lights hit, he was gone.

Bill came rushing to Harry and said, " What did you see Harry."

Harry turned towards Bill and seething with rage, and explained everything he had seen in Snape's memories. They all stood gaping like fish. They all wanted Dumbledore's head on a platter. Bill had to admit it, the old fucker was a master manipulator. Bill now knew that Dumbledore was finished. His days were numbered and his death would be the most gruesome of all. They all looked at Harry and he had that looked they had seen in him when he was completely pissed. Harry wanted retribution, and he was not going to be denied.

Harry looked at Snape's dead body and spit on it. Harry took out a ring and pictured the great hall at Hogwarts. He timed the portkey to activate at breakfast time tomorrow morning. He hung the portkey around Snape's neck and then turned towards the Weasley's and said, " I'll be back later to take care of him. I have some payback to be dishing out."

Harry was turned and started walking when he heard Bill say, " Thanks for everything Harry. We couldn't have done it without you. Charlie has been avenged. Be careful Harry."

Harry stopped but didn't turn around. He simply nodded and kept going. Bill turned around and said, " Ginny go find Remus and explain everything that happened these last eight hours. I need to find Fleur. Fred and George I'll meet you at the lair later this afternoon. "

Fred replied, " Bill what do you think Harry is going to do?"

Bill replied, " I don't know, but I would not want to be in Dumbledore's shoes right now. What ever he does, it's going to be equal to the crime that much I know. " The Weasley's left the dungeon looking tired and weary. Bill reflected that they now needed time to put everything into perspective. They now had to find a way to deal with their demons the way Harry dealt with his.