Chapter 60 is here! I had never thought I'd reach that number to be honest, haha. Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews this story. Your comments alwas make my day.

Enjoy!


''Objection!''

The word echoed through the dark, high courtroom, and Harry found it odd how his own voice sounded in his ears. Kingsley looked up to him, looking as undisturbed as always despite being chained to the wooden chair he sat on, with two Dementors flanking him. The voices that had been murmuring constantly through the process fell silent, and as Harry gazed around, he saw all eyes were on him. Most people regarded him with respect, some with suspicion, and others with contempt. It had been too long since he'd been out in public, he noticed. After the battle of London he'd been a hero among the Dark... Now, since he officially put down his status as Marvolo's trusted follower, he was a popular Quidditch star, but nothing more.

His hands trembled as he gripped the wooden railing in front of him.

''At the time of the defendant's alleged crimes, these were not criminal yet. Kingsley worked with the Ministry until the new regime took over, and then disappeared, with no record of hostile activity after.''

Normaius Ebner, the current judge, looked down on him with narrowed eyes. Harry decided that he disliked the man very much. He should have a chat with Yaxley, who was the current head of Law Enforcement, about the people he employed. ''Nonetheless, he did not register himself or continue his job as he had ought to do. Mr Potter, you are not the attorney of this man. Please do sit down.''

''Well, he doesn't have an attorney in the first place. How is he supposed to defend himself then?'' Harry said, and kept standing. He had promised Kingsley to ensure this trial would be fair, but with Ebner here, he did not know how to realise that. He cursed himself for never having looked up how a trial was supposed to go. He knew a bit about Muggle trials, which were far different than these, with a plaintiff, counsel, attorney, witnesses and spectators present and the judge not being accusing but only there for judging. Yet Ebner was firing question after question at Kingsley, and obviously already biased towards condemning him.

In his fourth year at Hogwarts, he had seen three trials in Dumbledore's Pensieve: that of Igor Karkaroff, of Ludo Bagman, and lastly the one of the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Junior. All had been decidedly different, also in the way the person had been judged. With the Death Eaters, the judge had spoken the sentence and that had been that. With Bagman, there had been multiple people in the jury and the whole court had rebelled against putting him in prison like Crouch had wanted. It had left Harry confused about how much power everyone had here, and when they could execute it. He'd seen a few more trials, now the thought about it, that time when he and Marvolo had dug through all of Dumbledore's memories Harry had copied. That night had been a blur though, and he'd only remembered most of the memories with information about Marvolo's Horcruxes. From what he had gathered, the judge could decide on the sentence first, and that sentence was carried out unless the majority of the others in the room were against it.

''I'll be a witness then!'' Harry shouted after Ebner plainly ignored his accusation about Kingsley not having an attorney, praying silently that witnesses were even allowed in this system. He had not seen any in the Pensieve trials. Yaxley had explained much to him about the new and old laws, but the judiciary system itself had not really been mentioned. Ebner grimaced as Harry walked down to where Kingsley was sitting, and crossed his arms.

''Very well Potter, what do you have to say?'' the judge sneered.

''Kingsley did his job until we came and defeated the Light. He even was a popular candidate for the position of Minister of Magic but stepped aside for Sirius.'' Murmurs went through the crowd. Even after their victory, many were uncomfortable with admitting that the Ministry had actually been overthrown in the first place. ''Of course he disappeared, he had been a part of the Order of the Phoenix.''

''Ah, but there we come to the crux of the matter. The defendant was an Order member who battled against our Lord and his Death Eaters!''

''Which was completely legal back then. After the Battle of France, he lost his legs and did not work for the Order anymore. You can't just throw him in prison because of laws we made months after that! And ever since we were victorious in London and took over Great Britain officially, he has been working to integrate himself and others. I have witnessed this myself.'' More muttering, but to Harry's relief, they sounded more in his favour now. Thus, he pressed on. ''No-one told the Order members they could officially surrender or anything like that. It's no more than logical that he tried to hide in fear of persecution. And a perfect example of that that was justified is the exact way you are treating him right now, even after he has proven to not be our enemy anymore. Do you have proof of a single thing he did after the Battle of London that was in any way against the Empire?''

''Mr Potter, you are overstepping your boundaries. Apart from your feeble line about seeing his work of integration, you have not witnessed anything else. As such, I urge you to return to your seat!'' Ebner said heatedly, becoming red. ''Shacklebolt, you gathered old Order members. If you were not conspiring against your government, why did you not turn them in?''

''For the same reason I did not turn myself in,'' Kingsley answered. ''None of them rebelled after the new establishment had been put into place, and we tried to make the best of it together.'' Harry gave Kingsley an apologetic look as he walked back to his own seat, having no good reason to speak up more. Still, from the nods he got from the people he walked past, it had seemed that his speech had swayed some opinions. He honestly couldn't see why it was not clear as day to anyone else why Kingsley should be convicted. Harry was glad that he'd decided to come, else Kingsley would have been fed to the Dementors by now.

''I have heard enough!'' Ebner shouted. ''This man was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, an Auror who hunted down Death Eaters and spoke openly against our Lord, and did not turn himself in or continue to work for us after the Battle of London, instead fleeing and hiding, branding himself as a criminal. I sentence Kingsley Shacklebolt to thirty years in Azkaban!''

''Did you not hear a word of what I just said?'' Harry yelled through the courtroom.

''Silence Mr Potter! Our Lord may have held you in high regard before, but now you should stick to the Quidditch pitch and posters! There is no solid proof for Kingsley Shacklebolt contributing to our society in any way!''

''There is also no proof against the opposite!'' Harry shouted back, having gotten red at the insult hurled at him. At times like these he wished that it was openly known that he was much more than just some follower of the Dark Lord, and not only known in the Inner Circle and amongst his friends. He drew his wand. If there really was no hope for Kingsley, then he would make hope. He couldn't stand authority figures who demeaned others for no good reason. Ebner was almost as bad as Umbridge in that regard, not wanting to listen to any words but his own.

Before he could do anything though, all through the room people rose, shouting their objections as well. Harry sighed in relief and finally sat back down with ease. There was still hope. ''My whole family has been part of this courtroom,'' and elderly man spoke with a surprisingly powerful voice. ''And none of them have ever tolerated injustice. This man is not guilty of anything. Many of us opposed the Dark Lord, because we were told that was the right thing to do until recent changes.''

Others all through the courtroom muttered in agreement, and one person after the other stood up to say their part against the sentence. Finally, Ebner threw in his towel and raised his hands. ''Quiet, everyone! As there seems to not be agreement, a vote will decide. Who is for sentencing this man?'' More hands than Harry had hoped still shot in the air, and Ebner counted them silently. ''And who is for clearing this man of these charges?'' From hands alone, Harry could not make out who had won, but then he saw Ebner getting more and more red as he counted. His small hammer gave a final bang, and the man shouted: ''Fine, fine! Cleared of all charges. Take Shacklebolt out of here!''

Satisfied, Harry ran down again to the former Auror, who gave him a soft smile. ''Thank you, Potter. Your passionate speech saved my skin.''

''Good... I can't believe that he was just going to throw you into Azkaban!''

Kingsley shrugged at that. ''Why do you think I was so reluctant? I knew it would have ended up with e in prison if you would not have been here for support. You see only the good in people. The reality is that most in this room would to do anything that is seen as desirable in the eyes of the Dark Lord.''

''But he wouldn't want this!''

Kingsley only raised his eyebrow. ''I do not have an insight on how much you know the workings of the Dark Lord's mind, of course, but I'd be careful with statements like that. I cannot believe that he would be very merciful on his former enemies if he had no-one to stop him. To what extent anyone can stop him, I will also be careful about expression out loud.''

Harry made an irritated gesture, both not ready to reveal to Kingsley just how much he knew, an also not ready to admit to himself how much truth was in the man's words. Arthur Weasley, - and most of the Weasleys really-, as well as Sirius and Remus had essentially only been saved because of their attachment to Harry. If Marvolo would never have come to him, or if Harry had decided to keep out of the war altogether, how much would the Dark Lord have cared, really? So many of the Order had been eliminated already. ''So, what will you do now?'' he asked as they walked out of the courtroom, spectators and members of the court streaming out behind them, amongst whom was Judge Ebner, rushing past Harry, still red in his face and throwing the both of them a dirty look.

''I can hardly take up a job here in the Ministry again. I know, I know, 'everyone is on the same side now', 'you'll be safe here'... I don't want to hear it, Potter. Too many extremist arse-kissers have replaced good friends of mine, and cleared or not, I'll always be that light side supporter in their eyes. I hope I'll be able to return to the Consultation Bureau and work there officially. I'll still need money for food on my table, and if I can't be an Auror, I might as well help more Muggles and wizards come closer to each other. As odd as it might sound, I think it is also what Dumbledore would have wanted.''

Harry wisely stayed silent about that topic, not wanting to overthrow Kingsley's world even more in only two days. ''Should I also stay for the other processes?'' Harry asked, worried about Mrs Jones.

''She has the same story as me, and she was always even less active for the Order. Now I have been cleared of charges, they would have a very hard time condemning her. Also, I think I'm going to show up for that as a spectator if there is any possibility of doing so. You've already done more for us than I could have hoped. You know, I've never been able to judge your character very well, Potter. You may be dark, and have been painted a traitor before in the Order, but you do care about people, I like that about you. I've had the honour of knowing your parents, and I daresay that they may not have agreed with your choices in life, but that they would still be proud of the person you have become.''

The compliment came unexpected and struck something deep within Harry. He felt guilty for not thinking of his parents as often as he used to, and while he really wished for their forgiveness, he knew he'd done things that they would not have been able to condone, such as the torture of Umbridge, no matter how horrible a person she'd been, or his determination now to kill the Dursleys first chance he got, the last living family of his mother. He slightly softened his conscience with that he would leave Dudley alive at least.

''I need to go now, Kingsley,'' the teen abruptly said. ''Oh, and next time we meet, remember that it's just Harry.'' Kingsley laughed and removed his typical blue hat with a gallant gesture.

''Will do, Harry. Greet Sirius from me, I haven't seen that old dog in far too long. I'm glad to see that he has not been corrupted so much like many others have.''

''I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that, but for your own safety, don't say things like that too loudly. Stay safe.'' Trying to escape from the sudden overwhelming feeling of sadness and nostalgia, he nearly ran down the hallway, wondering why he was feeling like this. Was it really because of Kingsley's words about his parents? Or was it because Harry had been confronted with that the law system was just as corrupt as Kingsley had feared? Did his fiancé really care about who lived and died under the Ministry he had formed? He felt slightly ill about the words that had so naturally left his mouth a moment ago: 'stay safe by being silent'. A government should never silence the opinion of the people, right? And yet, everyone, himself included, accepted that there were some things better left unspoken.

The Atrium looked as grand as ever, although some changes had been made. The fireplaces were less in use now half of the Ministry was above ground, and several had been finally remodeled into a pipeline system through which memos could fly to the other departments. It gave Harry a bit of a flashback to the Basilisk and he was pretty sure he knew who had suggested the idea. he stepped into one of the fireplaces and a whirl of green fire and soot in his mouth later, he stepped in Lucius' study. It was not an ideal way to travel, but having Ministry fireplace linked directly to the Dark Lord's manor would be a massive security problem. Lucius' new elf instantly popped over to verify Harry's identity, and a few quick questions later, he stepped into the hearth again to floo further, finally exiting at the familiar dining hall at home. A quick check told him that Marvolo was for once not upstairs in his study, but rather in the library.

''I saw you did a marvelous job at clearing Shacklebolt?'' the man asked when Harry entered. Marvolo put the parchment he had been writing on aside after a quick spell to dry the ink, and waved his wand once more to clear a stack of books away so Harry had room to reach him.

''You sound displeased. They had absolutely nothing on him though.''

An unbelieving look made it clear what the other thought of that. ''I am not a fan of letting former enemies go. One never knows when their loyalty sways again.''

''You are going to marry one of your former enemies, I think you can relax a bit more on others as well. Kingsley tried his best to make the most of it.''

''If he steps out of line, he is dead, but I'll watch him for now,'' the other said. Harry, not entirely satisfied with that answer, summoned a chair and sat down on it, looking at a large map that showed England and Wales that his lover was studying, the only thing left on the table now. ''You have become a lot better at magic,'' Marvolo commented, throwing Harry off balance for a bit. All his thoughts about corruption and displeasure fell away when he was in the man's presence, talking to him.

''I.. I have?'' he stuttered.

''Both charms and transfiguration you seem to perform without a thought now. I knew your skills in offensive magic improved, but I was unaware of how much you had progressed in other divisions as well. Have you been practising more?''

Harry thought about it and shrugged. ''Well, I suppose I have. Ever since you removed the trace from me, I did my best to make casting magic more natural to me. At Hogwarts we had so many restrictions on it that I often only did magic in class with exception of the occasional Accio or Lumos when I had learned those spells. But in a house in which everyone constantly uses magic, I have picked up more spells and use them constantly. To move objects, to find my things, to warm my food when it's gotten cold... I don't even think much about it anymore now. Still, I don't think I improved that much. Sure, with more experience the spells I know come easier to me, but I haven't learned many new ones. Perhaps I should finish 'A standard spell guide volume five' and pick up volume six at the bookstore Ever since I left school, I haven't looked into my old textbooks a lot. I'm probably behind on most in my year who are still at Hogwarts now.''

''It's a good initiative. Magic is never-ending, for you would need to be immortal like me to learn all spells currently in existence, and even then numerous spells are still left to invent.''

Harry hummed and watched as the man put his pheasant quill on the parchment again and set a few dots and drew a line, the ink changing colour on its own. In fact, there was no inkwell in sight at all. The only ones whom Harry knew made self-inking quills were Fred and George, and the image of the Dark Lord casually wandering about the joke shop swam in his mind, bringing a smile to his lips. Then, his thoughts jumped to the man's previous words, mulling them over. Immortality... it was a topic he'd tried to push to the back of his mind for now, but it was not something he was able to ignore forever.

''What do you actually think about that you are immortal and I am not?'' Harry asked finally. It was something they had spoken surprisingly little about, considering how important the topic was for the Dark Lord who had gone to any length to make himself unable to die permanently.

The scratching of the quill stopped for a moment, and the both of them watched as the drop of ink that hung at the end was sucked up again. ''I am concerned about it, truth be told. Not as much as I used to be, with you mostly out of harm's way now and still young, but it is still something that I think about often. There can always be accidents, or illness, or old age... Especially after the battle of France, when you blew yourself to pieces, it became a very real possibility.''

The teen shuddered when remembering the battle, the golem, and the intense pain of the blast that had nearly cost him his life. But more than that, he thought of the emotions his fiancé had openly shown to him about it after, in the hospital. He couldn't do that to Marvolo again. ''Is there any other way to be immortal than Horcruxes? I have to admit, seeing how you made one does not make me very keen on doing so, and added to that the fact that if somehow my Horcrux an me would be destroyed, I would not even be able to move on to whatever afterlife exists...''

''The only other two methods I know are the constant drinking of the elixir of life, which does not work anymore as the Philosopher stone was destroyed, and the piece I have of it does not function, and then there is becoming a Vampire, for which you would have to sacrifice your magic. Besides, both those options only lengthen your natural life span. You can still be killed.''

''Neither sounds like a great option then.''

''Magic always requires a sacrifice. Usually that is either emotions or just the energy it takes to cast a spell, but in cases like this, hardly anything you can give is equal to immortality. It is not surprising that you cannot gain it in a free and easy way.''

He had to think about that for a moment. Weighing the options, Horcruxes sounded like the safest bet, but he didn't want to sacrifice what Marvolo had for it. The thought of his body becoming distorted was not a very pleasant one, and he doubted that his magic was so strong that he could avoid his mind twisting as well. ''What about the Hallows? I have the cloak,and also the wand since I killed Dumbledore... we literally only need to find the resurrection stone now.''

''But as you said last time we spoke about this in the hospital, we do not know what becoming 'Master of Death' really means. I had hoped it would grant you immortality, but after thinking about it, I'm not too certain. Think of that damned prophecy... words can be interpreted in so many ways... so many different ways. It might just be a self-proclaimed title, or a myth someone made up. If anyone ever actually held that title, then why are they not here anymore? Horcruxes are a much safer path, in my opinion, although I won't stop you if you wish to search the resurrection stone. But with that as well, keep in mind that you cannot truly call people back from the dead. Many necromancers have tried, and as I am one of the most proficient necromancers of this time, I know what I am talking about. It's either souls or bodies, never both, and even if you would be able to miraculously summon both of the same person, they still cannot be combined anymore.''

''I see,'' Harry said in a quiet voice. Secretly he had never given up the hope of maybe being able to see his parents again. He carded his hand through his messy hair, not knowing what to say. ''I still don't know about making Horcruxes though,'' he muttered awkwardly. ''I used to think about it but ever since I saw you making your last Horcrux I've... well... to use a Muggle expression: 'chickened out'.''

Marvolo sighed deeply and looked at him with concerned eyes. ''I cannot force you to make one, but I highly recommend you to do so if your search for the last Hallow ends in nothing. Do you have any leads?''

''Not exactly,'' Harry said, ''But I figured that I have enough time now. I can't train Quidditch 24 hours a day.''

''For the next days I recommend not training too much either. You need to be ready.''

''For what?''

''Did you forget? Your cousin sent a letter about the next meeting. It's in High Barnet, one of the richer suburbs in London, four days from now. You need to pick and practise the spells you want to use on your Uncle and Aunt, provided that that is still what you want to do.'' The statement hung in the air like a question, and Harry nodded firmly.

''I do, definitely. They have become a personal threat to me now. I'll think on some spells... I'm not sure yet if I want to make it quick or not.''

Marvolo growled low in his throat. ''They deserve to be tortured for years for everything they did to you. It is an unacceptable crime to mistreat a magical child. Soon officially thankfully, the law will be passed within the next weeks. Any Muggleborns who are seen to be mistreated -made much easier to detect now we start with magical elementary schools- can be taken from their parents and be either adopted by witches or wizards, or stay at the school.''

''Stay at the school?'' Harry asked, surprised. ''How will you accomplish that? Elementary schools aren't boarding schools right?''

''They can be. It saved me in my teenage years that I could stay at Hogwarts for nearly the whole year... only summer was a problem, and I would have given anything to have been able to stay then too. Wasn't it the same for you?'''' Harry nodded, being reminded of how his stomach had twisted every summer again at the thought of having to return to the Dursleys. ''And it is doubtful that many people will want to adopt Muggleborns with the status they have, so while it is an option, not all mistreated Muggleborns will be able to find a place in the society here. Schools form a perfect opportunity to take over that role for the unwanted, to provide a home, subsidized by the government.''

''How are the test elementary school doing with that actually? They opened at the start of March right? That was... around two and a half months ago.''

''As far as I have seen, it goes quite well. Muggles who accept magic are often happy to have a witch or wizard in their family as it alleviates their status, and try to get their children in. We had to open an additional school in Scotland because there are so many Muggleborns and spread across the whole country. We had many years to catch up to after all.. All Muggleborns between four and eleven can get in. It will become mandatory to attend when they start showing signs of magic, but no such law exist yet. That will also take care of the parents who dislike magic and do not wish for their children to attend and thus try to hide them. Currently we cannot take legal action against that, but soon we will be able to.''

''Hold on... What was that with Scotland? I know we officially got Britain since the Battle of London, but doesn't Scotland have their own parliament too?''

''Partially, yes, although the British Parliament still has influence over it. But the Scots were far more open to magic. After London fell, they were quick to make a treaty. It might have gone under a bit in the news about the streams of immigrants coming over from Europe. They also won't fight if we start war in their highlands to claim Hogwarts, so that is good. I think I'll leave the Scottish parliament for what it is right now. All magical laws are centralised in London, so there are no magical branches in Scotland we'd have to adapt. We can leave the Muggles with some power as long as they don't start making laws against us. Which is easy to check as he British Parliament retains the ability to amend the terms of reference of the Scottish Parliament. Basically, we control in which areas it can make laws and have the right to look over those laws too.''

''That's one less thing to worry about then. Do they know large parts of Scotland turned into a dragon reservation?''

''No, and they have no reason to know about it either. Any Muggles are held far from those places with spells, so they won't find out. What good would it do to spread panic about that particular fact?''

''It's still their land.''

''Correction, it is my land. That I allow them to live on it and let the Muggles govern their own little affairs does not change that fact.''

Harry shook his head and sighed. ''I really wonder why that absolutely arrogance of yours is so attractive.''

''Because I am confident in my abilities, and confidence is always attractive. But to return to the topic of schools: They are running well, and we have not had any trouble. Perhaps I should run an inspection soon to make sure they are up to standard, but I doubt there is much that can go wrong with the curriculum they were given. Its main purpose is to look after the youngest generation of magical children, for them to create social contacts amongst each others, and to in theory get to know their magic and the world they are a part of. Accidents only happen when magic bursts out, but the staff should be equipped to handle that. Wait here for a moment.''

The man rose from his seat and walked over to the bookshelves. A few moments later, he disappeared from sight as he turned a corner. As Harry waited, he took in the library once more. If his memory did not deceive him, it had been here that he'd pledged to help Marvolo with the war, between the rows of books that formed the legacy of their kind. Dust swirled in the light that came in through the row of large arched windows that covered one of the walls, but further the room was quite clean thanks to the House-elves who made sure no damage came to the tomes stored here. Finally, Harry felt the other's presence approach him again, and heard the footsteps a few seconds later. Marvolo appeared, a stack of papers in his hands.

''Here, all current information about the elementary schools, from lists of students and staff members to rough curriculum drafts.'' Harry took the stack on his lap and leafed through the neatly written names until he found the pages with information about the content they were teaching. The main subject seemed to be history, but also arithmacy and runes were covered. ''Isn't that far too advanced for kids?'' he asked.

''Not necessarily. Don't forget that part of the time they also go to Muggle elementary school. At the Muggle school they learn math and writing. Here they learn the basic principles of how they can use numbers in magic and how to write different scripts such as runes. As they cannot control the practical side of their magic yet, these years can form a good ground base for all theoretical subjects. If that becomes a standard, the level of Hogwarts in those subjects can also go up, and more time will be left for new subjects. I always found Hogwarts to be very lacking in education about Healing for example. If most of the basics of other subjects are already laid when they are young, less time has to be spend to cover that at Hogwarts.''

''It sounds like something I'd want to see.''

''You could come with on my inspection. I'd have to set up a meeting with one of the schools first, of course.''

''That would be great. Kingsley really opened my eyes, you know? He showed me how London had changed since you were in charge, since magic is practised openly, and it was wonderful. I can't wait to see the result of everything else you've accomplished, from the werewolf territories to these schools. I am honestly relieved by how it all turned out. At the start I mainly joined you out of anger at Dumbledore and desperation, and then stayed because of my love for you... but over time I've realised that the Dark was not just the 'lesser of two evils' despite your often violent methods. We've made real, good change that gives people a better future. And no matter how many others will fight against you, I'm able to stand proudly next to you and keep them at bay, for I knew how it was before, how many suffered under the statute of secrecy and under the creature regulations that are being lifted now. You are the true saviour of the Wizarding world whom none would accept before.''

''Thank you.'' Unexpectedly, he was pulled onto Marvolo's lap, the papers with information he'd been reading flying to the floor. Cold fingers mapped his face, and a rare, gentle expression lay in the fully red eyes that he'd come to love. ''Recognition means much to me. To know that all my work was not for nothing, that it will not be trampled by ungrateful feet... But I wouldn't go so far s to call myself a saviour. I better the lives of those who support me and make life miserable for those who oppose my views. I don't want to be remembered as good, because if I gain that status, my enemies might think I've weakened. I based my rule on fear, and it should stay that way. Let Black take the credit of the good deeds done, I am and always will be a Dark Lord.''

''I know, but you cannot deny that you have done good for many.''

''And killed or imprisoned even more. You only see what you want to about me Harry. It is enough for me to know you are happy with my decisions, but please do not forget to not shower me with praise openly. I need to be taken seriously, and my violent deeds cannot be forgotten, lest I lose the respect I have.''

''Respect does not have to be built on fear. That only warrants betrayal.''

''But it is the way I know it to work, and how I prefer it. I can deal with traitors, like I did with Severus.'' Harry only grunted at that. Since the Unbreakable Vow to protect Harry was voided with Dumbledore's death, Harry did not trust the man anymore. It was true that he had none other to turn to but the Dark right now, but that could always change again. To call that 'dealing with him' was a bit far-fetched in his opinion. ''Trust me on this, Harry, Severus will not cause any trouble. Don't forget that he is also on the Muggles' hit list. I doubt he has a lot of love left for them. Why should he fight for any other ideals then ours?''

''Personal feud? That you made Sirius Minister probably didn't warm him up to you any more either. He hates my godfather so much that he didn't hesitate giving him to the Dementors for a Kiss even knowing he was innocent.''

''We'll see. For now he's doing a good job brewing wolfsbane for the werewolves.''

''Fine, let's drop the topic of Snape, it always gives me the creeps.''

''If you wish. We should both prepare now for the attack on Britain's First.'' he tapped on the map. ''Through the names of several members from Dursley I was able to find their addresses. So even if High Barnet turns out to be a false lead, we know where else they could be.''

''Right. I'll go then and practise my curses.'' Harry hugged the man tightly and kissed his lips before he slid off Marvolo's lap again. ''See you in the evening.''


His hands were trembling again, but the source of it was excitement this time. The building they had reached looked quite anticlimactic: Harry knew that every member of Britain's first resided amongst the English upper class, and had expected something more grand, perhaps an 80-story building of glass and steel where plans of assassination were made behind hermetically closed doors. Instead, they stood in front of a semi-detached house which was, albeit large, very simple looking. The walls were made of red bricks, with large windows in the front. The people inside perhaps should have left the curtains open if they would have wanted a warning against enemy attacks. They certainly were sure of themselves.

''Is this really the place?'' he heard Yaxley question behind him.

''Has to be,'' Harry answered as his gaze wandered over the road. ''Where else would all the expensive cars here come from?'' Indeed, the shining metallic blue Rolls Royce was more of an eyesore than anything else in this modest living area, and so was the row of cars behind it, consisting of Bentleys, Jaguars and other expensive brand-new cars. Harry grinned when noticing that the Vauxhall Vectra of the Dursleys was not there. For all uncle Vernon's bragging about his car, it would look like a dusty wreck compared to all these. Had they driven together with other members?

''I doubt anyone here can recognise status based on cars dear,'' Marvolo commented. '' Macnair, Goyle, Rowle, Travers. You each guard one of the sides of the house. I can see only doors on the front and back, but we can't risk anyone escaping through windows. Also keep an eye on the upper floor. No Muggles shall be left alive. Mulciber, you come with us inside but keep in the background and use spells to keep the crowd together if necessary. I prefer killing a few at once rather than having to tediously pick each and every one of them off. The rest is on the offensive. Harry, do you want to kill your family personally?''

Harry closed his fingers so tight around his wand that the skin hurt. Hatred coursed through his veins, and he let it. So long had he tried to hold everything back, to try and find apologies for the Dursleys, but his therapy with Narcissa had shown that the best he could do was to let his emotions about this run free. Every stroke of the brush that left a streak of red on the paper had been a slash; every blue smudge a bruise of a fist. Walls full of brown hazes of hunger, green envy, icy blue lightning strikes of fear. The hands that had been stained with paint to deal with those memories and feelings would now become red with blood.

''If you'll allow me,'' he whispered.

''Then you'll go in first to identify them. No-one else can attack Harry's targets, do you understand?'' The Death Eaters behind them bowed their heads under the commanding tone and murmured in affirmation.

''Hello?'' The group turned as one man to look at the frail elderly woman that came out of the house behind them. ''Can I help you... oh.'' The woman looked shocked as she looked at Voldemort. It was clearly a Muggle, and Harry watched in amusement as she began to stutter and bow, her grey curls flying wildly around her head. How times had changed... in the middle of London, when Kingsley had shown him all the magic that was being practised openly, it had somehow felt more real than in this Muggle neighbourhood in which no lick of magic was to be found. Reactions like these reminded the teen that even in places it wasn't obvious, they really had won and Marvolo's face was known as their uppermost leader, even when Muggles were not always aware of his exact role.

''Go back in your home, Muggle,'' Marvolo stated. ''Draw the curtains close and only come back out when you see green light shining through it.'' The man nodded mutedly and scurried inside. ''We need sound barriers,'' Marvolo mused. ''Or else we'll have a larger audience than is preferable.'' He lifted his wand and eight stars of light shot out of it and landed on points around the house, creating a barrier between them and the rest of the world.

''The house on the left might be a problem,'' Harry warned. ''I doubt both houses belong to them. Dudley said the meeting was on number 2, right? The one on the left is 4.''

''You may be right, but we need to watch the building from all sides. Let's hope for the inhabitants of number four that they are not at home right now. Or if so, that they have enough brains not to come out when they hear screaming.'' If it would have been any other day, with any other targets, Harry might have been concerned for the neighbours. As it was, he was far too focused on recalling every single painful curse Rodolphus had ever taught him so he could use them to their fullest potential on his uncle and aunt.

He took the first step towards the door, which had been recently painted so the white was nearly blinding in the afternoon sun. He pointed his wand on the brass door knob. There was no need to alert them by using the doorbell. ''Alohomora,'' he spoke, opting for silently entering rather than blasting the door out of its hinges, as satisfying as that would have been. The hallway was clean and empty apart from the rows and rows of shoes in it. The view came as an oddly nostalgic surprise to him. Since he'd been living at Hogwarts and then visited mostly manors with large stone floors, he had only taken his shoes off in the bedroom. At the Dursleys though, only aunt Petunia wore her outdoor shoes inside, and then only if they were high heels. Harry had often ignored the no-shoe rule so he could run more quickly from his bedroom to the outdoor freedom without having to linger in the hallway and possibly be stopped by his family.

''Avery, could you count the pairs?'' Marvolo asked. ''We need to be certain that none escape.'' Harry left them to it, he felt drawn to the door at the end of the corridor, a door behind which he could hear voices. This was the moment he had been waiting for ever since he had made his decision about the Dursley's punishment at Narcissa's place. He would not need therapy against his nightmares after today.

The door was unlocked. It opened slowly, and the occupants of the room did not notice him at first. They were sitting at a long dining table that filled the room. Other furniture had been pushed to the side to make room for it, and the scene gave a very cramped feeling. Women in cocktail dresses and men in suits were talking adamantly, all with notebooks in front of them and each person had an odd round paper on a stick that reminded him vaguely of a hand-fan. The one to which all their heads were turned to right now had his raised. Harry eyes flicked over the crowd, spotting Vernon and Petunia instantly, as they were not hard to miss. Dudley was sitting on their right, apparently he had not been able to make up an excuse not to go. Or who knew, perhaps he wanted to see the last moments of his parents all along. Harry frowned when thinking of Dudley. He hoped that Marvolo had made it clear what they would do with the information his cousin gave them. In either case, the boy would need to get out of here to not get cut to pieces with the rest.

Then, his blood ran cold when seeing another person sitting at the table. Even without his grey cloak, dressed up in Muggle clothing, the man was impossible not to recognise. Cold steely eyes, the scruffy beard... No... no, he did not want to believe it. Both he and Marvolo had been so certain that the assassin at Hogwarts could not have been Eyolf, and Dudley also had said that no plans had been made involving the Assassin's Guild, that the one at Hogwarts had to have come from another group... but his former teacher was sitting here now, in a Muggle suit, at the table with traitors.

Eyolf was the first to notice him, and stood slowly, raising his hands. An odd gesture considering the man could have easily pulled his wand. Harry forgot about his family, forgot about being careful, and pointed his own weapon with a stunning spell ready to be released. Then, everything happened in a flash. The Muggles became aware of him and started standing up and shouting. Marvolo pushed him further into the room so he did not block the entrance and in the same movement shielded Harry from a knife that seemed to come out of nowhere. Death Eaters filled the room and started shooting spells, a Muggle woman threw a chair through the front window and got shot with a Killing curse from outside the moment she tried to jump through. Harry felt a strong surge of magic from his fiancé and all enemies were thrown against the other wall, knocking some of them out cold and injuring the others.

Marvolo was so furious that Harry's head hurt, and his voice was dragged into a long hiss when he said: ''Explain''

Only a few people were still standing, Eyolf in their midst, with the yew wand pointed directly at his heart. Avery, now done with shoe-counting, was standing at the window and blocking that escape way, and the remaining Death Eaters also took targets. By numbers, they were the minority, but their opponents were not supposed to have had magic. That one of them did made matters more complicated. How many other powerful enemies were hiding in this group?

Eyolf did not speak at first, but pointed his hand slowly at another man, who was kneeling in the rightmost corner of the room and trying to shuffle away behind a couch. ''Detain him. Assassin.''

Harry's thought process was not fast enough to keep up with Marvolo's decisions or movements, but a few seconds later, his lover was already battling the man in the corner, and Eyolf had been released from standing at point-blank range. Harry instantly mended this, because if it would have been him, he would not have blindly trusted Eyolf's words. It could have been a trap, after all, and this was the same man who had insisted on teaching Harry about using everything to his advantage in a battle, no matter how treacherous or dishonourable those means were. Giving an innocent man blame to gain an advantage was definitely something the assassin would do.

Sneaking short glances at Marvolo in between his staring at Eyolf though, he had to admit that the man had spoken truthfully. No ordinary Muggle would have knives at the ready, or shoot red beams at his opponent. Very familiar beams, Harry realised, and he lowered his wand a bit when he remembered the cloaked man who had come running at him at Hogwarts. What was this? Why were two wizard assassins at this Muggle gathering that was mainly about wiping out magicians? Was the pay really that good?

''Potter, I will not ask you to trust me,'' Eyolf's calm voice spoke. ''But I ask you to keep me alive long enough for me to comply to our Lord's request and explain myself.''

''You can do so now,'' Harry demanded.

''Good. Well, I won't give any long-winding explanations to not waste your time. I got wind of another assassin being at Hogwarts at the same time you were there. Or rather, Shay being there, which I knew would probably mean the same thing even if she tried to hide it. Unfortunately, I only found out when I saw him escaping from the castle, and knew that I could either go after them that instant or lose them. It turned out to be easier to tag them than I thought, as it was one of the Muggle assassins, and I followed until I found this lot here. Many of the Muggle assassins are very anti-wizard and joined groups like these all over the country. Shay is somewhat of an exception in that she does not hate all magicians.''

''Your story is bull,'' Harry cut him off. ''The assassin who attacked me used magic. So does this one here. Besides, if you'd have left for that reason, you could have left some hint of a note.''

''The Muggles among us have many tools to bypass anti-Muggle barriers and to even imitate magic. Most are used for intimidation and illusion, to throw you off. Do you see an actual wand on him? Don't forget they were raised among magicians and have had magical items and potions at their disposal from the start. They always use Muggle weapons for the finishing blow however, while most of us prefer more... refined methods. As for a note, I knew I had only seconds, and I've been tagging him ever since. Any contact via magic might have alerted him, and there was no time for anything else.''

''Say I believe you... why is he not dead yet?''

''I wanted to know if he killed for personal reasons or for a contract. In the first case, I could kill him. In the second, I could not. It is against the laws of the Guild to kill a fellow assassin if they are only doing their job.''

''And what was your conclusion?''

''Most likely acted on his own after there was talk of using assassins among the members here. I'm not a hundred percent certain though, I was hoping to find out more today.'' The man actually had the audacity to sound grumpy at that.

''Well, you have your chance,'' Both Harry and Eyolf looked up to Marvolo, who had spoken and was now standing over the bound and gagged form of the man he'd been fighting. ''Admittedly rather tough for a Muggle, but tougher to keep alive. I can't promise to keep him sane once I'm through with Legilimency.''

''Before that... may I?'' Eyolf moved his hands slowly so they could see him, but Harry still kept his wand trained on the man to be certain he would not be able to do anything harmful. Out of the inner pocket of his suit, a small flask was pulled, filled with a blue potion. No, that wasn't exactly correct, Harry noted. It was not liquid in it, but powder. Eyolf unstopped the cork and the blue powder fell down on the bound man's head. ''Dissolves his Occlumency barriers. I do not doubt your power, My Lord, but even Muggles can become skilled in Occlumency. Not its counterpart of course, for that you need a wand, but shielding their mind and implanting false memories is a skill many Muggles I know pride themselves in. This one included, otherwise I would have long gotten the information I needed.''

''It was still unnecessary but... thoughtful,'' Marvolo answered. ''If it turns out that that powder had any other function however, I will neatly sever your head from your neck. If it kills me, know that it would not be the first time I'd have had to revive to murder a person.''

''My contract with you is still active for a couple of weeks. It would be a financial disaster if I were to break that,'' Eyolf merely commented.

''We shall see. Harry, go do what you came here for. Yaxley, keep this gentleman under control.''

Harry did not feel entirely comfortable leaving Eyolf to anyone else, especially not if Marvolo would be vulnerable to outside attacks while performing Legilimency on someone else. His passion for blood had been greatly diminished by the whole encounter with his old teacher and the other assassin... the one who had, if this was really the same person from Hogwarts, killed Ginny. He hesitated for a moment before slowly walking around the table. Dudley and his aunt had both been knocked out. Vernon had pulled them behind his massive body, but was cowering as far away as possible. Harry wondered where his steel balls had gone, the ones he'd had when continuing to speak up against Hagrid who had been three times his size and had had magic to his disposal. The past years had drilled a more realistic fear of magic into the man than only the fear of the abnormal and unknown. He knew now what magic could do, and that had made Vernon far more wary and afraid of it.

''You, boy...'' he whispered furiously. ''You took everything away from us...''

Harry raised his eyebrows. ''You did that all by yourself. You did that by taking everything from me first. Food, clothing, friends, humanity, a sense of self-worth... and most importantly, my magic. Did you really think you would get away with that? That it would not come to bite you back?''

''We gave you a home you ungrateful child! We took you in out of the goodness of our hearts!''

''YOU TOOK ME IN BECAUSE YOU WERE AFRAID OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU WOULDN'T'' Harry yelled, instantly pissed now. ''DON'T YOU DARE DENY IT.'' He heaved a couple of heavy breaths and glowered at his uncle. ''You gave me nothing but beatings, bruises, loneliness, starvation... You made the neighbours think I was a criminal or a psychopath. You locked me up in my cupboard when I did things I could not be held accountable for. You never told me why, although you knew. Because of you, even now I get physically ill just thinking back of that time. You gave me no home, you gave me an abusive prison. You used me as a slave for all the chores you didn't want to do, and as a way to relieve stress by beating me up. You are a miserable person, Vernon Dursley, and you don't deserve to be called family. Family would not have put me on a hit list as a target to kill.''

He wanted to say more, convey everything he had felt in a couple of sentences, but Vernon would never truly understand. Harry did not think the man had the empathy for it. ''I'll show you how much I was hurt in the only way you know.'' he said, staring down at his uncle while he pointed his wand. ''Flagro''

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, sweat started to break out of Vernon's pores. Harry had to admit that it was a nasty side-effect that he had not accounted for. The man started to shift, his watery eyes flicking back and forth. ''What... what is happening? What did you do to me, you freak?'' Vernon's voice was a few pitches higher now, and with satisfaction, Harry watched on as the curse took effect. The man's skin turned red at places, and Vernon started to scream. ''Burn,'' Harry whispered, his lips stretching in a grin. ''Burn in hell for all your sins. That hell you used to threaten me with.''

Harry felt his grip slipping a bit as he lost himself in the rush that followed the spell. It had been a long time since he'd been able to use such dark magic in an environment that was not hectic, and completely in his control. His fingers twitched and as the spell kept spreading over his Uncle, Harry's aura darkened and became almost tangible in the air. The feeling was similar to that night when he had blown up Aunt Marge, with the only difference being that he was in control now. Under the force of his magic, a nearby light bulb shattered with a sharp pang.

He thought it to be fitting to see Vernon slowly burn away before his eyes, completely aware of what was happening to him. The man started trashing and nearly fell on his wife, forcing Harry to place a full-boy bind hex on him. He couldn't have Petunia being trampled to death before he was done with her. She had not hit him as often as Vernon had, but he still resented her treatment of him more, for the simple fact that Vernon had only been married into his family. She on the other hand, was of his blood, had been supposed to protect him, and knew of magic through her sister.

''Mulciber, as most Muggles are unable to move anyways, give me a hand and get my cousin out of the house. He helped us and I'd prefer him to not die, actually. Just levitate him and make the others outside watch him.''

The death eater nodded and did as he was told to, though he watched Vernon with interest as he levitated Dudley. ''Nice handiwork, Potter,'' he commented before walking away. ''If you want me to, I can teach you some other burning curses too.''

''Sure thing,'' Harry replied, not taking his eyes off his screaming uncle, whose skin was now completely gone at places, burned off from the inside. holes were starting to form in is flesh too, and his left foot had fallen off, the wound instantly closed on both sides though because of the intense heat.

A young woman who had been cowering next to Vernon suddenly leaped upon him and tried to grab his wand, crying: ''Stop it!'' Harry shook her off and shot a Petrifying curse at her.

''No,'' he simply told her, feeling calm now as he looked around at the Muggles who were watching him with horror. Marvolo was still going through the memories of the assassin and the Death eaters focused on the only other real threat, being Eyolf. As a result, all Muggles were still alive apart from the one that had tried to escape. Harry stood up and pointed his wand at each and every one of them. ''No, we shall have no mercy for those who spread their hatred. For centuries, we had to hide because of people like you, who won't accept anything that is outside their little world. Now we finally won this war against you, and are improving this country in every way possible, and you are still trying to beat us down despite not having been granted any power. What gives you the right? Your money isn't worth anything when you are up against someone born with magic in their veins. We have been chosen for a greater purpose than living in fear of the likes of you. My family will pay for that, and so will anyone else who opposes against the natural order.''

''Isn't it the duty of the strong to protect the weak?'' another man shouted, sounding desperate. Harry laughed at him. ''Yes, it is, and had you not been hiding away making plans to destroy us, you would have seen that we do. We have cured more diseases in these few months than you have in years. We are taking in foreigners, giving both Muggle and magician alike a chance to bloom, have improved the economy and even stabilised natural disasters such as flooding all over the country already. You could have profited from all that if you'd just accepted us. But we will not protect the weak who try to kill us for who we are. Besides, it is also the duty of adults to protect children, and there have been numerous cases of magical children being abused by Muggles. You don't deserve another chance now.''

Vernon had stopped screaming. From the blank look in his eyes, his brain had probably been cooked. Next, Harry directed his attention to his aunt. ''Rennervate,'' he spoke, and watched with satisfaction as she came to, slowly blinking, and then became aware of her husband's corpse next to her. ''He got what he deserved, don't you think?'' Harry spoke. ''Whose idea was it to try and kill me off anyway? His, or yours?''

''You... you kidnapped Dudley! You killed my husband... where is my son?''

''Did Dudley ever confirm being kidnapped? I somehow doubt it. Your precious son ran away all on his own to make some powerful friends. Who do you think gave us the location of today's meeting, hmm?'' Petunia violently shook her head, her lips pressed tightly together and her eyes bulging out. ''My dear cousin actually made a good choice for once, and decided that rebelling was a stupid move. You should not have let yourself be consumed by hatred either. Now, you are going to die.'' He did not give her time to answer, but created a fine poisonous mist that spread over his aunt. He had thought before of what to use on her. Destroying her good looks was the first thing that came to his mind, but the emotional pain from that would have to last for days, and he did not have the time. The second he had come up with was to create an illusion for her in which her sister would be back and torture her, but in the end Harry thought it was a bit gruesome to use the image of his mother for that, and he had never been good with illusion or mind magic. Even at Occlumency he sucked majorly, truth be told.

So in the end, he had to settle for lesser spells, and just inflict as much pain as he could before killing her off. Entrail-expelling and skinning curses had come to mind too, but both were too bloody for his current mood, so he resorted to poison, which left far less blood behind. The mist spread over her skin and ate it away much like the Flagro had done to his Uncle from the inside.

The rest of the room was blocked out as he watched his former nightmares dissolve into nothingness. They would not be on this earth anymore to plague him or hold him back. The last pieces of his past were gone now, and if he wished it he wouldn't even ever need to see Dudley again either. Had it felt like this for his lover to get rid of the last of his family too? The filth that had clung to him, the shame of being related to these people, was now washed away. Harry felt reborn, as if from today he could really start being part of the magical society they had built.

A pair of arms wrapped around him from behind, and Harry leaned back into his fiancé's chest. ''Eyolf spoke the truth,'' Marvolo muttered in his ear, making the teen able to relax more. He would have hated to have to kill the assassin he'd come to like and trust.

Harry looked to the right, right into the Muggle assassin's dead face. ''So, it was his own idea?'' he asked, which the other confirmed with a hum. Funny, through his concentration he had not noticed the investigation's end, nor that the Death eaters had finally made a move on the rest of the Muggles, whose corpses now littered the room.

''Indeed. And seeing as the Guild does not quite fall out of the law as much as they like to think, I'll pay them a visit about this to make sure they control the rest of the Muggles among them. Avery, count the people. I need to know if this was really everyone, or if any of them somehow got past.''

''So, one enemy less now huh?'' Harry asked. ''In time it might get boring to have no-one left to fight,'' he grinned. ''I mean, you've had enemies all your life to fight against, don't you think everything will feel dull for you once you have peace?''

''Leaders will always have enemies dear, I don't worry about that. Foolish people will either rise up to overthrow me as the next Dark Lord, or in groups of rebellions like these to go back to the good old times. There'll be plenty to fight. And in the meantime, I can enjoy my life as a ruler.'' Avery confirmed the number and Marvolo nodded, starting to move towards the front door again. The man drew his wand and, once outside, shot out the Dark Mark into the sky. Harry was surprised how visible it was even in the sunlight, moving and glittering emerald.

The Death Eaters disappeared one by one, and the tidy street swirled and vanished as well as Harry was side-apparated.