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Harry was slightly dumbfounded. He was the most powerful wizard? That can't be right. He was mediocre at best. Well maybe mediocre was pushing it. Maybe he was slightly above average in defense. But he was only okay at everything else. "Nym, how exactly can we take care of this?"
Tonks looked thoughtfully for a moment before forming her answer. "We could just simply remove them, but the rush of power might be too much for you handle. It might kill you or drive you insane or it might do nothing."
"What's the other option?" The thought of death or insanity didn't sit well with Harry.
"Have whoever cast them remove them. But since it looks like it was a masterful job, I'd be willing to bet Dumbledore wouldn't want to remove them any time soon." Tonks said.
"oooookay… Well, that's not exactly what I was hoping for. So its death, insanity, maybe nothing, or get the old bastard to remove them?" Harry steeled himself. "I don't think we have that last option there Nym."
Harry led her to the attic. He stood in the middle area where there wasn't anything that could be tossed about or anything sharp he'd land on. "Okay Nym… Finite me."
Tonks raised her wand. "I sure hope this works," she said as she screwed up her face in concentration. "Finite Incantatum Maxima!" She screamed.
The spell impacted with Harry and he glowed for a slight second before all things stopped. Tonks walked up to him and saw he was just standing there with his eyes shut. When she got up to him, he opened his eyes. Tonks stumbled back at the green glow they had. "Harry? How… how do you feel?"
"In a word my sweet Nym," Harry said with a dark elation in his voice. "powerful."
As Tonks lay in bed that night, she was just a little frightened at how Harry had taken to his power. He could make his magic do things she hadn't thought possible by any means. 'I may have to get Dobby to go get a merlin's orb tomorrow so I can test exactly how powerful he is. It was creepy when I unlocked his power, but at the same time it was… Well… Sexy as fuck.' She blushed as she finished the thought. 'I shouldn't be thinking that way about him. I'm the adult here, and he's still a boy.'
Harry lay in his bed but he wasn't tired. His mind was working over every possible outcome with his new powers. 'I can win this war he thought, but now I have to fight on two fronts. I have to fight the dark tosser and Dumbledore. Do I have the power to beat them both? ' He sat up and walked over to the window. The clock said it was just it was just after midnight. 'I wonder…'
"Dobby!" Harry cried and the elf popped to him.
"What do you need Harry Potter sir?" Dobby asked with elation and once again being useful to the one wizard he looked up to.
"Dobby. I have a plan that I will need your help with tomorrow. I'm going to be building an army to help me destroy not one, but two lords. I have become so in touch with my magic that I now realize there is no light and dark. How magic is used is all about the intent. I think its time for the world to see a little gray.
Tonks woke early the next morning to see the Dursleys were already in the kitchen. It startled her when Dudley stood and approached her. "Ms. Tonks," he addressed her meekly. "May I have a word with you in private?"
"Sure Dudley. Just give me a moment." Tonks turned around and spoke with Dobby. "Dobby, can you do me a favor and pop to the ministry and steal a merlin's orb for me. It would help Harry a lot."
Dobby agreed and popped away and returned a moment later and handed her a small glass orb with black smoke in it.
"Ok Dudley, come out into the hall and we'll talk," Tonks said leaving the room with Dudley following her.
"Ms. Tonks, I was wondering… Jesus this is embarrassing… if there was anything magical that you or Harry could do about my weight. It was because of the spell that I am the way I am I think. Every time I thought of doing some form of exercise other than being physically violent, I became extremely hungry," Dudley finished, turning bright red.
Tonks chuckled. "Well as for spells, I'm afraid there isn't anything like that, but there are potions to supplement your appetite. I'll get some for you. If you mix them with good old exercise, you should lose weight quickly. I'll transfigure you come equipment in an empty room and tell you what you should do to get you in shape quickly."
"I'd be very grateful ma'am." Dudley ended quickly as he looked up and saw Harry coming down stairs in a pair of plain black pants and a black button up shirt that was open in the front.
"What was that all about?" Harry asked Tonks when she saw Dudley leave.
"Oh he was asking me if there was any way he could fix his weight magically. I told him I'd help him with it later." Tonks finished. She started breathing a little heavier as she saw his physique. Pulling herself together, she reached for the Merlin's orb. "Harry could you touch this with your wand please?"
Harry looked at it appraisingly. "What is it?"
"It's a merlin's orb. Its basic function is to measure your magical power level. They say Merlin himself was a solid 1000 and Dumbledore is only 187. Tom riddle was measured in his 7th year and he was right around 150, prolly more now because of the dark arts. Those two have been the highest in the last two hundred years or so." Tonks was feeling flustered at the sight of Harry's chest and abs. She caught herself with thoughts somewhere along the lines of, 'Fuck milk… Quidditch does a body good!'
Harry pulled out his wand that was tucked in the hem of his pants and tapped the orb. Tonks looked at the number and dropped it in shock. "Harry, according to this you're over 5000 points. Your exact reading is 5984."
"So I'm almost six times stronger than Merlin himself?" Harry asked astonished.
"It would appear to be so… and handsome to boot." Tonks finished shocked that the last part had come out.
Harry just smirked at her before saying, "You don't look so bad yourself there Nym. Maybe one day you'll get to see more and I'll get to see the 'real' you."
Tonks stood gobsmacked as he brushed past her into the kitchen and greeted with family warmly. After breakfast, Harry was ready to implement his plan. He pulled Dobby aside. "Ok Dobby, I don't know how to apparate yet, so I need you to pop me to Hermione's house. I'm fairly certain her parents are at work this time of day so it should be safe to do magic. Just pop me straight into the living room. I have a feeling she's being watched."
A short time later, Harry was dressed and ready to go. Harry and Dobby appeared right in Hermione's living room. Harry almost at once felt the wards that would alert the order if he was there. 'Fucking old man… He knew I'd try to come here. Let me try something new.' Harry focused his new found power and changed the wards to alert Dumbledore whenever Margerate Thatcher entered the house.
He began his search for Hermione trying to make as little noise as possible. He peeked out of the living room window and saw Kingsley and Moody outside 'trying' to be inconspicuous. "Jeez… Those two just fail at life."
Walking upstairs he heard heavy metal music on in what he assumed to be Hermione's room. 'Huh… Who knew Hermione liked Metallica.' Harry cracked her door open just a little and peeked in. What met his eyes completely shattered the image he had of his bookworm friend.
Clad in all black, much like he was, with a short plaid skirt that had safety pins in it, was Hermione. She also donned a fishnet shirt under which she only wore a bra. On her feet she also wore thigh high boots that buckled in the front. There she sat, banging her head to the god that failed.
Harry fully opened the door as the song finished and leaned against the door frame. Hermione just sat with her hair in her face.
"So how come you never told me you were a closet goth?" Harry asked with a smile on his face.
Hermione jumped straight through the ceiling and screamed. "Harry! What are you doing here? Please don't tell anyone about this. If my parents knew I was goth, they would probably disown me. I have to keep all my clothes in my school trunk so they don't find them. "
Harry chuckled at his friend. "Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. I've taken somewhat of a pension for black clothing myself lately."
"Harry…" Hermione started nervously. "Its not true what the Headmaster says, is it?"
Harry took a slightly evil look deciding right then and there to see where Hermione's loyalties lie. "Tell me 'Mione… What does our distinguished headmaster say?"
"He…" Hermione looked fearful of her friend for the first time in her life. She knew, somehow, he'd gotten past the Order members outside of her house. "He says you've gone dark."
Harry walked up to Hermione slowly. In almost what could be considered a deliberately intimidating manner. "And if I have? What would you do? Tell the order members outside that a future darklord has come to get you?"
Harry didn't realize just how much he'd changed. His black clothing and darker mannerisms had the complete opposite reaction to his friend. She stood up and kissed him full on the mouth. Harry was so surprised that it took him two whole seconds to comprehend what was happening and begin kissing back.
After a brief snog, Hermione parted from his lips. "Light or dark Harry… I'd follow you into hell if you wanted."
"I would never ask that much of you 'Mione. But I will ask you to help me win this war." Harry said. He related to her the whole of Dumbledore trying to make Tonks and Moody believe he was dark. He also told her of the compulsion charm on his family and the seven binding charms on his magical power. Harry had to wonder something. So he switched his vision to his magical sense. And sure enough Hermione glowed with a light pink charm and the same dark green one that had been placed on him.
"That son of a whore… He's bound your power too. And it looks like he's got a tracking charm on you." Harry was mad. Dumbledore had just messed with the wrong person. With a wave of his hand, Hermione was freed of the charms. She felt more powerful than she ever had before.
"Harry… What did you just do to me?" She asked breathily, as if she'd just finished running or some other physical activity.
"I unbound your power. You should probably be more in touch with your magic than you've ever been. You need to pack. We should be leaving soon. Dumbledore would've felt those charms break," Harry told her as he moved toward the door. "I'll hold off any Order members while you and Dobby pack up."
Harry walked downstairs and waited for the inevitable confrontation. Sure enough the first ones through the front door were Moody and Kingsley. "Shack! Moody! How've you been?" Harry asked in a genuinely friendly way. He really didn't have anything against them. He even actually looked up to Kingsley as something of a role model from when Harry wanted to be an Auror.
Moody slumped forward. "I don't know how you did it Potter, but you're coming back with us."
"I'm sorry guys, but I've no intention of going anywhere but back to my place with Hermione when she gets down here," Harry said with a smile.
Kingsley walked up beside Moody. "Harry, please don't make this harder than it has to be. You're not completely dark yet. I can tell because of how you greeted us like we were still your friends. Dumbledore wants to help you."
Harry's smile faded at the mention of the headmaster. "Shack…" Harry started while shaking his head. "Dumbledore is pulling your strings. I'm not dark. I've never been. It's the headmaster himself you should probably take a good look at."
Hermione came downstairs at that instant with her trunk in her hand. It had been shrunk. She looked at a Moody and Kingsley in surprise. Other members of the order began to arrive at that point. Snape was the first one seen, followed closely by Bill, Charlie, and the twins. All wands were pointed at Harry and Hermione.
"I always knew it would happen one day. The son of James Potter would become to arrogant for his own good," Snape drawled to which Harry just shook his head.
"Lets all just calm down for a moment before someone does something rash. I don't want anything bad to happen to anyone," Harry said while putting his hand in front of him, palm out. With a quick flick of the wrist, Harry cast one of his father's favorite spells. "Levicorpus!"
Suddenly everyone was suspended in the air by their ankles. With a mumble expeliarmus, all wands were in Harry's hand. He walked up to Snape and lifted his sleeve. Harry looked at the dark mark in disgust before grabbing it and willing his magic to remove it from Snape's arm. It was a hellish little bit of magic, but Harry managed. He leaned forward and whispered something into the man's ear. And Snape just nodded. Harry canceled the spell. "Glad to have you aboard Severus."
"Glad to be of use Harry," Snape said with a respectful smile.
Harry did likewise to the twins who had similar responses. Harry turned to Bill and Charlie. "Tell Mrs. Weasly that I miss her and I'll be by to collect Ron and Ginny soon." Bill and Charlie were so dumbfounded that all they did was nod. "Likewise," Harry started as he turned on Kingsley and Moody. "You two tell the head master that his comfortable little world in which he is the self proclaimed bastion of light is going to come to an end, not with and glorious and grand exit, but if a fizzle and maybe a pop."
As soon as He said pop, Harry's party disappeared and his spell ended, dropping everyone on their heads.
To say that Albus Dumbledore was furious would be a bit of an understatement. He just lost his spy in Voldemort's camp as well as two of the most creative minds he'd ever met. From the look of things, he'd probably lose the youngest Weasley male. No big loss there. The boy was a jealous idiot. No, losing Ginny was a bigger problem. That star struck little bitch was his next move in manipulating Harry to become a new dark lord for Albus to defeat.
He'd let them fall in love and be together in secret. When everything was perfect, he'd let her be killed by Voldemort then make it seem to Harry that vengeance was the only road left open to him. That would seal Harry's fate into going dark. Then in a few years time, when he earned enough repute, Albus would just kill him too. He'd be known for killing two dark lords. His reputation would be secure. He would've killed Voldemort himself of course, but that damn prophecy was made.
Maybe all wasn't lost. Albus sat down and steepled his fingers in thought. If he could just poison Ron's mind against Harry and make the fool think his best friend had indeed gone dark, then things might still work out and young Harry would still be dark. It was a thought.
Harry sat back at Grimmauld place with Hermione and Tonks. "I need to make an army of my own. I also need to know what Dumbledore is up to. I need someone on the inside."
"That will be easier said than done Harry," Hermione retorted. "I mean it isn't like we can just have someone steal into Hogwarts and spy on the old bastard. We need to get someone he trusts."
Tonks nodded in agreement with Hermione as Harry started up again. "I know, but who could we possibly get… wait… It'd be perfect if we could get some kind of proof. Dobby!"
"What is Harry Potter sir needing?" The manic little elf asked.
"Dobby, I need you to pop to Hogwarts and sneak into the headmaster's office when he isn't around. I need you to bring me back a journal or any personal documentation of what the headmaster has been doing over his life. Can you do that for me?" Dobby nodded. "I also need you to look for any residual magic that might be out of place there."
With a final nod, Dobby was on his way to perform his assignment. Tonks looked at Harry. "What's your plan Har?"
"Well Nym… Its more or less illegal. I plan on kidnapping Professor McGonnagal and making her see the true light about her boss," Harry said with more calm than he should've managed to do.
Tonks looked shocked while Hermione looked at Harry appraisingly. "Conversely," he started again. "I've began working on a list of other recruits. I think its time we took this fight to Voldemort. I'm sick of waiting for the old fuck to muck things up more and get more people killed. I think we should get Ron and Ginny first. Then Neville, Luna, Professor Flitwick, and a few others."
Hermione smiled at Harry and Nym. "This should be fun. I've always wanted to be the bad girl."
The next morning found Harry walking up the dirt road the burrow. Dobby had returned in the night with the proof. Harry had yet to review it, but what was absolutely surprising to Harry was that there was a binding spell on Fawkes. Why would the head master need a slavery spell on a familiar unless… wait… Fawkes wasn't the old man's familiar. He was a slave. 'This just gets better and better doesn't it?'
A quick little spell manipulation and he was through the wards at the edge of the property. He thought about being covert with this, but he decided that it was time he and the old bastard had a talk. Harry strode up and walked right through the kitchen door to catch Molly Weasly making breakfast. She jumped in surprise and grabbed her wand only to have it summoned to Harry's hand.
"Now now, Molly, where's my motherly hug?" Harry asked sarcastically.
Molly Weasly gave Harry a look of loathing that hurt more than anything else He'd ever experienced. "Aspirant dark lords aren't welcome in my house."
Harry looked hurt, "So I suppose the old man got to you too? That hurts Molly. You would just instantly believe him after you've said I was like a son to you. Would you treat Ron the same if the head master had said he was dark," Harry said then remembered that Dumbledore had said just that. "Actually, now that I think about it, he did say just that. "
Molly looked confused and somewhat disbelieving. Dumbledore had never taken them down the wrong path before, but Harry had never lied to her either. It was at this point that Ron and Ginny came down stairs to see what their mother was screaming about. Ron charged Harry at first sight. Ron swung and impacted on the side of Harry's head, knocking him on the ground outside the door.
Ron grabbed Harry by the collar and jerked him up close to his mouth and whispered in his ear, before his mother could look. "Make this look convincing mate, you need to fight back some. Ginny is leaving with you but I'm staying here to spy at Hogwarts for you." Harry managed a nod before having to dodge another punch from Ron.
Harry rolled Ron off of him and jumped to his feet as Ginny ran out the door. Harry extended his hand and cast levicorpus, lifting Ron off the ground. "Harry! I'm going to kill you! You're dead to me! I won't be associated with a future dark lord!" Harry thought it was a good idea Ron had his back to the house because he had a smile on his face the entire time.
"I'm sorry you feel that way Ron, and it hurts me to think my own brother would feel that way," Harry tried to should genuine.
Ginny walked over to Harry with all her things she thought she'd need. "I'm ready Harry."
"Ok, just give me a moment," Harry said as he walked over to Mrs. Weasley. "I'm sorry it had to come to this Molly. I'll really miss you and Arthur."
He walked over to Ginny and activated the portkey he was carrying. Together they vanished.
Harry wasn't back at Gimmauld place ten seconds before Hermione snatched Ginny and ran upstairs. Harry looked at Tonks with a raised eyebrow and a questioning glance. All Tonks could do was laugh at him. "She's going to go have the talk about how you are now off limits to anyone but her," Tonks informed Harry as soon as she stopped laughing.
Harry gave a look of 'Ah' before he turned and went into the kitchen. He actually had need of his cousin at the moment and figured the best place to find him was the ice box. To Harry's surprise, he wasn't there. It took him about ten minutes to find his cousin. Truth be told, Harry was impressed with this sight. His cousin had already had a significant weight loss since starting muggle exercise. "Hey Dud. I need your help with something."
Dudley finished his set before he responded, "Sure Harry, what do you need?"
"I want to learn how to box and I figured you'd be the best at teaching me," Harry said bluntly.
Meanwhile, in another part of the house, three women were sitting down to have a very important conversation over a certain green eyed wizard. Tonks had gone to join Hermione and Ginny. She heard raised voices as she neared the door.
"I don't care what you think he is to you and I don't care what plans you and your mother have. You need to understand one thing. Harry is his own person and no one is going to decide his future but him," Hermione said as she was standing, wand out and pointed at Ginny.
Tonks could only laugh at the two obviously jealous girls. 'Is it so impossible for two girls to be in love with the same boy?' she thought to herself. "Alright girls, you keep this up and you'll prolly bring down this house. Where would that put Harry since he is carefully planning a coup of pretty much the entire world. I'm here to moderate since I'm fairly sure you're talking about your feelings for him."
Ginny was the first to start in. "Well Tonks, she thinks, for some odd reason, that she is the best one for Harry. I know she's smart but…"
Hermione interrupted her here, "She seems to think that Harry needs her based on the fact that her and her mother have some over romanticized view of the boy-who-lived. Harry doesn't need that. He needs someone to treat him like he's just Harry."
"Well I think," Tonks began, raising her hand to stop both of them, "that he needs both."
Both girls stared blankly at her for a moment before she continued. "Look, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but hear me out ok? Harry needs someone to treat him like a friend, but because of his 'saving people thing' he also needs someone to treat him like a hero. That's where you both come in. I have a part to play in this too. He needs someone to teach him and to be his support pillar, someone who's older but not going to treat him like a child."
Hermione nodded in understanding. "He needs someone like an older sister too."
Tonks nodded, "Well you're half right. I actually came up here to get in on this fight. See I've sorta developed feelings for everyone's favorite green eyed seeker as well."
Harry was down in the drawing room coming up with ideas for his most daring plan yet. He was going to personally kidnap Professor McGonnagal. So far he'd even come up with a way to walk directly into Hogwarts and do it. The hard part was going to be framing Draco to be the patsy for his little plan. There was another reason for Harry's visit. He wanted to search the chamber of secrets for anything that might be useful that Slytherin might've left behind. He'd also expand his spy network in the school a little bit by coercing Moaning Myrtle a bit. She'd be a willing little participant as long as Harry looked slightly interested in her.
"Dobby!" Harry called to which the manic little elf appeared not a second later.
"I have need of your assistance again my friend," Harry carefully explained his plan to Dobby.
Harry had decided that it would be best to split up the tasks. He'd have Dobby search the chamber for anything that might be of some use. He was mostly looking for dark spells or weapons, also potion ingredients for Snape. He was going to do the talking with myrtle and then he and Tonks would snatch the esteemed transfiguration professor. The only thing he needed now was Dobby to come back with things to make it look like Draco's fault. Harry was going to use Draco's wand to leave his wand's signiture everywhere.
Harry had just finished going through the papers and journals that Dobby had provided and was extremely disgusted with the headmaster. He was honestly having trouble trying to decide whether or not just go ahead and kill him just to get it over with. He left the room he'd set up as his private study and retired to his bedroom suite.
While all this was going on. A decision was reached between the three witches in the house. "Ok... so we all agree on what Harry needs right?" Tonks asked the other two.
Hermione answered first. "Yes. He needs someone to be to be his friend, that'll be my job."
Then Ginny answered. "He'll also need someone to idolize him and make him feel like a hero. That's my job."
Tonks finished, "And lastly he'll need someone to be there for him when the world is to much for a teen's mind, but not to old that they have become jaded to how he feels. But... we can all three be his lovers," and that being said. Tonks told the other girls how they were gonna let Harry know about his new relationship situation.
