Title: The Innocence Of Guilt
Author: ENSIGN
Chapter 02 – Pathertrory James
Six Months Later
Location Unknown – Classified
"Who the hell are you?"
Harry immediately resisted the urge to smack his forehead in resignation. Seriously, were all Death Eaters this dense? Or was their stupidity a result of the inbreeding carp that the Purebloods were so fanatically fond of?
Probably not.
Both the Weasley and Longbottoms were Purebloods, and look how they turned out. He didn't remember them displaying the Crabbe and Goyle level of intelligence, which was the sharing of a single brain cell. Then again neither had they inbred with themselves as much as some of the "purer" Purebloods.
He had a theory.
Could it be that the inability to think was a prerequisite for Death Eaters? It probably was the case, after all Voldemort wanted loyal Death Eaters and not smart ones. Smart ones would overthrow you.
Why else would a bunch of blood purists bow down before a Halfblood and allow him to command and curse them on a daily basis? They all had to be thick or something. Surely all the inner circle members knew about Lord Voldemort's parentage.
Then again they could be in denial, trying to convince themselves that such a powerful figure just had to be a Pureblood.
Yes.
That was probably right considering the Death Eaters kept on constantly denying that Voldemort was a Halfblood every time he mentioned it.
"What are you doing here?"
Harry couldn't resist a sigh this time.
It was definitely official. Death Eaters were thick.
What would any unlawful Muggle person do should a CIA agent come waltzing into a secret meeting?
Answer. The exact opposite of what ever these retards were doing.
"You dumb asses just keep getting brighter every time I meet another one of you."
The men seem to bristle at his comment.
Harry also noted with slight amusement that they had only just recently decided to draw their wands.
He had obviously already drawn his of course. Both wands were currently strapped to his wrists. It allowed him to have his hands free whilst he performed acts of magic. It was pretty cool. It always gave onlookers the impression he knew Wandless magic.
"You're an Unspeakable." One of them identified.
"No shit Sherlock. Did my standard Unspeakable issue blue robe give me away? Was it my facial concealment charm or is it the fact that my badge is currently displayed to all of you on the front of my cloak?" Harry couldn't resist and just had to answer the ridiculous observation as sarcastically as he could.
The Death Eaters looked stunned, figuratively of course. They were probably still trying to figure out who Sherlock was.
"Stupefy." Harry quickly raised both hands. He wasn't going to pass up this chance.
Six jets of light flew at the Wizards, who to their credit managed to conjure up shield charms just in time.
All six spells hit the Wizards completely ignoring the presence of their shields. Non verbal spell casting was definitely a plus. Yell out a spell and everyone immediately assumes it is the one being cast.
The men had looks of shock on their faces.
Of course it might have been something else of course.
Harry wasn't sure if it was because of their failed Protego or was it because each felt a finger jammed up a nostril. Courtesy of the Nose Picking Charm that Harry had used.
The Wizards were now clutching their faces in pain. Maybe he had been a tad enthusiastic in his spell casting.
Harry took this opportunity to throw up a particularly unique spell around the room's walls. Having been invented by the Wizard Uric The Oddball, the spell was pretty much useless in a sense. It was meant to have been a shield spell, unfortunately, instead of protecting, it caused all the caster's spells to be rebounded back at him.
It was pretty much labeled a useless spell. That was until Harry had found an interesting use for it.
"Explodra!" A powerful beam of red shot at Harry from the wand of one of the Death Eaters.
He simply did what any logical person would have done. Harry sidestepped the curse, opening the door he had come through in the process. The curse flew out the doorway and into the night.
Harry once again contemplated the IQ level of a standard Death Eater. True, most were indeed magically powerful. The Death Eater before him had just proved that by throwing a powerful Explosion Hex at him.
The problem was that Tom-I-Am-Shit-At-Anagrams-Voldemort had spent most of his time ensuring their loyalty instead of their brains and dueling technique.
Not the Harry was criticizing his opponents dueling methods. True, no body wanted to go up against a superior opponent in a duel. However this was just sad.
Powerful spells were good and all, but they required too many wand movements, concentration and they drained one to fast if used repeatedly.
Furthermore, if Harry was ever going to use a spell like the Exploding Hex against an opponent, he would have aimed it at the ground. Aiming the spell directly at an opponent was just plain stupid.
The person if he had enough brains, that meant Death Eaters weren't included as they stood still and relied on the fact that people were running from them, could easily duck. Hitting the floor on the other hand meant that the person may still duck the spell but he would be caught in the resulting blast and shrapnel shower.
Anyhow, Harry preferred small, easy to cast spells that required short incantations and very little wand movements. Sadly there weren't many dangerous ones. Thus he had gotten creative, funny how three of those curses were the Unforgivables.
Harry shot three spells off target at the wall behind the Death Eaters. He hadn't really aimed them. His aiming was good, but to perform a precision trick shot in limited time under fire was a bit impossible.
It worked thought.
No the spell didn't hit the Death Eater's backs. Harry would have danced a jig if it did.
Silence befell the room temporarily as the Death Eaters ceased their spell casting to trace the flight path of the ricocheting spell. They raised their wands as soon as the spell dissipated. Harry wasn't worried if it hit him. It was a useless Poking Charm.
The Death Eaters on the other hand were idiots.
"Stupefy En Multiplicus!" It was time Harry showed them how to use a real spell.
A small red ball erupted from the tip of his wand before quickly exploding into streaks of red colored light.
It was the spell Dumbledore had used back in his fifth year. It was as its name suggested a multiple stunning curse.
Coupled with the earlier rebounding charm on the walls, the curses ricocheted wildly around the room.
Harry caught sight of one of the Death Eaters going down as he Apparated out of the house. The beam had hit him in the back of the head.
Screaming and small pinging sounds were heard from the inside as the remaining two men tried to avoid the bouncing bolts of light.
Harry sighed. Why hadn't they tried to escape via Apparation earlier? If he himself was ever a Death Eater, heaven forbid, he would have either attacked or ran if an unidentified person gate crashed his meeting.
Harry reached into his robes and withdrew a small crossword puzzle book. Locking the front door of the hut with Voldemort's unique locking charm, he sat down to figure out what "Down 15" was.
Harry had been monitoring the small wooden hut for the last few days. It was a small Death Eater safe house out in the middle of nowhere.
It was a normal gathering spot for them to go to before Apparating en masse to wherever Voldemort was calling them from.
Harry had decided to intervene tonight both because he had finally broken down the wards and the Aurors had received an anonymous tip off and were getting ready to raid the place.
The Aurors like most law enforcement personnel, had to go through the red tape first. That was the reason that they were taking so long. Harry himself was here because he didn't want the Ministry to go home empty handed thinking the raid was a wild goose chase.
"What's a seven letter word for yell?" Harry asked himself out loud.
"Eeek!!!" A scream came from the house, followed by some loud banging. The pinging sounds were coming less frequently now. That meant most of them had already dissipated or had struck a person.
"Ah! Screech." Harry noted the answer and wrote it down.
Five minutes later and all was quiet again. Harry finally stood up, brushed his behind for grass blades and pocketed his crossword book.
Humming the tune to "Weasley Is Our King" he Apparated back into the house.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Classified
"Well, well, well. What have we here?" Harry spoke as he appeared in the room once again.
Although he appeared non caring, Harry was twitching to duck should it be an ambush.
He shouldn't have bothered.
All three Death Eaters were down for the count. The first one out from the beginning when he had Apparated out.
The second didn't look as if he had been stunned, judging from the lump forming on his forehead he must have fallen and bopped his noggin. Then again he could have been stunned and then fallen on something.
All three men's masks had fallen off during the battle. It didn't really matter. Harry didn't recognize them. Although two of the blonds did remind him somewhat of Malfoy.
The third guy, now he was the interesting one. He had been smart enough to follow Harry's example and had Apparated.
Trouble was that Harry's unknown spell was yet another from the collection of Uric The Oddball. Thus it was definitely yet another defective spell with a nasty side effect. It was a favorite of Harry's as no one had yet to developed a shield to block it, it was unexpected, no one knew what it did and best of all, it stayed till it was removed by a counter charm.
It had been created by the mad genius as a means to aid and speed up the travel of Apparation.
Why? Harry certainly had no idea. Apparation was almost instantaneous. Who in the world would want it any faster?
Anyhow, the spell worked too well in the sense that it moved the person's body faster that the mind could comprehend.
Hence the reason why the Death Eater had followed the standard procedure of Splinching. That was to spread oneself over a wide area in pieces.
It was something Harry had no intension of experiencing anytime soon. Imagine being alive but in pieces. Unfortunate victims had said that much pain was felt from the experience. Even when put back together there was a weird tingly feeling that was felt, and to Harry, tingly meant irritating.
Fortunately for Death Muncher number three, he was unconscious at present not to mention in pieces.
Death Idiot number two could be revived easily enough, however Harry needed his Death Eater coherent, a visible bump on the head meant severe dizziness.
Death Bum number one it would be then.
"Enervate." Harry woke the man up.
He had of course bound the man up in enough ropes to make a bondage fetish fanatic jealous. He had also removed both the locking charm and shielding charm as well. It wouldn't do well to allow the Aurors to learn his tricks and pass them on.
"Now." Harry addressed. "Tell me what you know about Voldemort's hide out."
Harry didn't really expect him to know. The Death Muncher was obviously a low ranked Nufnuf. Voldemort's inner circle were too full of themselves and would have demanded that he release them immediately.
Harry snorted at that though. As if.
Anyhow he usually asked the question just to see if he would get lucky.
The Death Eater spat at him.
Harry sighed.
Captive on the floor. Captor standing up. Captive spits. Spit goes up. Gravity, the force that makes things fall kicks in. You work out the Physics.
v = u + at
v2 – u2 = 2aS
S = u + ½at2
Harry watched the blob of liquid rise and fall back onto the man's mask less face.
Harry sighed. Did they always have to do this the hard way?
"Cruc…" Harry paused.
The man had flinched.
The Death Idiot was probably used to the curse by now if he knew what to expect.
Instead, Harry reared back and delivered the man his now famed Squirrel Move.
Harry had to give the man credit. Most of his victims squealed like girls. This guy just held it in. That was probably not a good thing either, judging by the purpling of the man's face. Letting it all out was probably the right thing to do.
"Now again. Where's Voldemort's hideout?" Harry said as he raised his foot again.
"NO! NO! I'll talk. Just don't kick me." The man choked out.
Harry raised an eyebrow in surprise. They usually just pleaded that he stop. This must be his lucky day.
"It's in London. I don't know anything else. He always summons us to an empty dark room." The man babbled.
It wasn't anything new to Harry. It was widely rumored that Voldemort had set up camp in London.
Spread a rumor about your hide out being in London and set it up somewhere else and let the Aurors have a wild goose chase. Voldemort was pretty smart in a sense. Reverse psychology had its uses.
Unless it was reverse reversed psychology and his hide out was indeed in London.
Harry groaned. This was hurting his head. He definitely though a bit too much.
He was interrupted by a groan.
Harry looked down. The man had somehow managed to somewhat move in his trussed up state to cross his legs.
"Stupefy." Harry decided to put the man out of his misery.
He memory charmed all of them to forget the events of their duel, except that he had brought them down by means that they couldn't remember.
After that he Apparated out whistling his own tune to the Hogwart's school song.
Twenty minutes later, Aurors would storm the house only to discover a ruined room with three unconscious Purebloods in various stages of pain.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries – Head Unspeakable Office
"So. How was France?"
"Boring and noisy." Harry replied as he shut the door behind him.
"I find that hard to believe. You saying noisy and boring usually indicates a fight that you found a bit too easy." The Head Unspeakable retorted.
"And as usual, in your Potter fashion you Pottered this mission up by blowing the place up, splinching a guy with your yet unknown Anti Apparation Jinx and of course, let us not forget balling a few men."
"And you guessed all that from two words?" Harry stated sarcastically. "Besides the explosion happened no where near the house."
"No. One of our field agents accompanied the Aurors and reported back to me. He clearly stated that what looked like an exploding curse narrowly missed his head."
"Woops." Harry shrugged. "It wasn't mine."
"Because of that he decided to tell the Aurors to hold their position and wait for backup."
Harry snorted.
"Also judging by the time frame between the report I received and your late arrival, you must have made a pit stop somewhere."
"Firstly, its none of your business. Secondly, I needed a drink."
"You do realize that all three of your victims today were from prominent Pureblooded families. Two which are currently top ranking Aurors in the French Ministry."
"So. What are they going to do? Give me a medal?" Harry joked.
"Yup." Flamel cheerfully replied.
"I beg your pardon?" Harry shifted his gaze from trying to read the man's inbox, to the face hidden beneath the blue cloak.
"Yes you may."
Harry wanted to strangle the man. He briefly contemplated it.
"What medal?"
"Why the Order Of Merlin 3rd Class of course. The French Ministry has decided to award the Unspeakable who has been combating the forces of evil and injustice within their country some kind of reward."
"Don't expect me to turn up for some speech."
"No worries. They were understanding in the fact that you wished to remain unknown, and by appearing in public would not be the smartest way."
Harry nodded in affirmation.
"Here" Nicholas slid a nicely polished mahogany box towards Harry.
Harry opened it to reveal three nicely displayed items.
A gold Order Of Merlin 3rd Class medal, a certificate stating he had been awarded an Order Of Merlin 3rd Class with the name slot blank and a Gringotts bank draft for 250,000 Gold Galleons.
"I always knew the French were a bunch of weirdoes. I beat up their countrymen and they give me a medal?"
"Harry shut up. It's a sign of their gratitude. Since I assigned you to France three months ago, the amount of Death Eater activity there has dropped to almost none. Not to mention every dishonest law evader fears the name James Pathertrory now."
Harry merely smiled at the hooded old man.
XXXXX
Location Unknown
"Where are the Malfeays and Malgerians?" The hissing voice of the Dark Lord addressed his circle of followers.
"I don't know my…"
"Crucio!" Voldemort used the Unforgivable on the Death Eater who had replied. "I did not give you permission to speak Wilson."
"But you asked…"
"Crucio!" Again the Unforgivable was used. "I did not address you."
Voldemort this time held the spell a little longer than he did the first time.
"Now Malfoy." He addressed a blond member off to his right.
"I…" Two voices answered together, but were interrupted by the Dark Lord dishing out yet another Unforgivable.
Judging from the screams, it was the younger Malfoy who had been targeted.
"I was addressing your father, boy." Voldemort hissed. "Continue, Malfoy."
Lucius seriously considered that Voldemort had used his family name intentionally so that both he and his son would answer. Before his son's initiation, Voldemort had used to refer to him by his first name.
Nevertheless he pushed it to the back of his mind for now. He had to think up a way to present his answer. A slip of the tongue usually meant an Unforgivable.
"I would assume that they have been ambushed my Lord. It would be recent as I have not yet heard news of their arrests from my contact in the French Ministry."
Voldemort nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Severus report."
"The old man is growing suspicious of my loyalties my Lord. He is beginning to suspect me of being a genuine Death Eater. I have nothing new to report because of this." Snape prepared himself for an Unforgivable.
He was surprised when it didn't come. Instead Voldemort spoke something in Parseltongue. Snape didn't understand it but he guessed that the Dark Lord was swearing.
"You'll return immediately before he get more suspicious. If you are discovered, escape. Your talents are to valuable to loose."
Snape remained still till he was dismissed. He had every intention of leaving this meeting without getting cursed.
Receiving his dismissal he kneeled and kissed Voldemort's robe hem before retreating and Apparating away.
XXXXX
London – Number 12 Grimmauld Place
"Pathertrory has done it again. The French have just reported that their Aurors have raided a house with three Death Eaters who were found incapacitated in a manner suggesting James Pathertrory's handiwork." Kingsley Shacklebolt announced.
"We'll see when Severus returns to us." Dumbledore replied. "Thank you Auror Shacklebolt."
The meeting of the Order Of The Phoenix continued in its usual manner with question to the location of one Harry James Potter and just who was this unknown Unspeakable called James Pathertrory?
"Is there anymore news regarding the recent exploits of Mr. Pathertrory?" Dumbledore asked, seemingly disappointed about the lack of response.
For the past three months the unknown man had been working havoc on Voldemort's forces down in France. Any news on Pathertrory was good news.
"I don't think there's anything newer than what Kingsley had to report Albus. One man can only cause so much havoc in one day." McGonagall snapped seemingly irritated by her superior's good mood.
Earlier today she had been the unfortunate target of an accidental transfiguration curse. She had been turned into a hamster for most of the day due to a missed aimed spell by one of her third years.
The fact that the mind of a rodent and feline didn't really comply was working a headache into her most of the day.
"I wouldn't be so sure Minerva." The silky voice of Severus Snape came from the doorway as the Potions Master swept into the room.
He had his wand drawn as Alastor Moody had welcomed him with a Leg Locker Charm.
"Constance vigilance!" Moody barked out.
Snape wondered for a brief moment just who the man was talking to. Moody must have easily caught him entering the house with that eye of his.
"Good news Severus?" Dumbledore's eyes had gone into twinkle mood again at Snape's comment.
"Other than me escaping an Unforgivable, Pathertrory has succeeded once again in infuriating the Dark Lord."
"If you're talking about the three missing Death Eaters, we already know about them. The French Aurors picked them up half an hour ago."
Snape blinked.
"And I'll suppose that the French have decided to release their identities so soon." Snape stated in a tone of voice that implied that he knew something you didn't.
"No." Remus snapped. "Just get on with it. We just know that they were from some of the most prominent French Pureblooded families.
Snape gave a small snort at that comment.
"Two of those three just happen to be the two oldest sons of the Malfeays. For those of you who aren't versed in international relations, the Malfeays are France most politically powerful family."
"Malfeays… now where have I heard that name before?" Remus mused as he dug his mind for the answer.
He needn't have bother as Dumbledore had it. "If you're referring to relations between the Malfoys, then yes, they are related."
"Weren't they the main branch from which the Malfoys broke off from when they came to Britain a couple centuries ago?" Kingsley asked.
"Indeed, back then the Malfeays had to severe all their relations with their British cousins due to a war. The British Malfeays then replaced their family name with that of Malfoy." Dumbledore finished.
Remus gave a whistle. "Their family's reputation will probably be going into the dirt in a few days when this gets out."
"Much like the ones here then." Bill Weasley agreed. Nothing gave a Weasley more satisfaction than seeing a Malfoy destroyed.
Everyone gave a small laugh. They all remembered Harry's speech to the media at the beginning of his sixth year. Not only had he sought the destruction of the Minister and his Undersecretary, he had also brought up the supposed superiority of the Malfoy's Pureblood.
Imagine what the public thought when twelve of the supposedly most powerful Purebloods got taken out by six untrained Hogwarts school students.
Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"If there are no more reports. I would like to remind you that in the case that you do discover any more information or a means to contact this James Pathertrory, you are to report immediately to me. Thank you ladies and gentlemen."
With that the Order Of The Phoenix departed. Some going to the rooms that they occupied upstairs, some returning home and others remaining to further gossip about the current events that had happened.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries – Head Unspeakable Office
"So where am I off to now?" Harry questioned.
"Beats me." The man shrugged. "You joined up with the conditions that you wouldn't take any orders from me."
"Make a suggestion then." Harry replied.
"I hear Italy's warm this time of the year."
"I'll bet, just in time for the tourist season as well."
"Voldemort has been trying to gain a foothold in that country for some time now. Apparently he's been having some problems due to organized crime groups."
"Let me guess. They're more interested in making money and not his Pureblood nonsense?"
"Yup."
"And how does this relate to me?"
"Some of the more old fashioned Purebloods seem of be leaning towards his views as of late. Your mission will be to convince them otherwise."
Harry chuckled at the thought of the six centuries old Nicholas Flamel calling someone old fashioned. The man himself was a living fossil.
"So off to the land of Romans and Mob bosses I shall go then."
"And do be a bit more discrete about it this time. Your last stunt left the French with a man they are still having problems reassembling."
"Woop de do." Harry clapped his hands in mock enthusiasm. "So tell the idiot he now holds the record for worst possible Splinching accident."
"Now remember Harry." Nicholas said firmly getting back on track. "You technically aren't an Unspeakable in this department as you have somehow bypassed the registry. Therefore if you're caught, we'll deny all relations to you. Not that we would anyway."
"Whatever." Harry waved his words off. "If I get caught, I'm as good as dead anyway."
"So any chance that you'll tell me what you did with those spare parchments that you liberated from my desk?"
Harry gave the man the one fingered salute.
Nicholas had of course figured that Harry had nicked some of his parchment and red ink back when he had been knocked out. He had also noticed Harry's unique pass card.
It was pretty obvious. Harry had been able to access locations with clearance levels way beyond what his card indicated. Also every time Harry entered his office unannounced was proof that the registry wasn't detecting him.
Unknown to anyone. Harry had taken to wearing his normal "Griffin" badge on the outside whilst carrying his modified one in a secured pocket.
Of course this didn't stop the old man from pestering Harry to tell him how he'd done it.
Harry accepted the yellow file handed to him.
"Judging by the difficulty of the assignment I would expect it done in a two months."
"Really?" Further words were prevented when Nicholas raised a finger.
"However in your case, with your uncanny ability to attract danger and good luck. I'll give you a week."
"Thanks for the faith." Harry scathingly replied as the left the office.
Nicholas sighed as the young man left his office. Were all heroes this sarcastic? He supposed that it was a nice change from hanging out with Albus who acted mad and kooky most of the time.
XXXXX
France – Paris Wizarding District
Fuck. Damn. Bugger. Shit.
Harry officially hated magical travel. If he had just taken the Muggle airline system he would have been at his destination yesterday.
Not only had he landed every single time on his ass when he Flooed, he had to end up at the wrong location as well.
Portkey travel was definitely out of the way. Harry stubbornly refused to use the blasted thing as every time he used one he ended up in a sticky situation.
Currently the Portkey was looking very inviting.
He had so far ended up at Cairo in Egypt, Memphis in the States, Diagon Alley where he originally departed from, Siberia in Russia, Vancouver in Canada and finally a small Amazonian village in Brazil.
Harry still wondered how he had ended up at that last location. He had startled the local indigenous tribesmen by emerging from their campfire. Of course knowing nothing about magic they had heralded him as a god.
The fact that the tribe's shaman had been attempting to perform a ritual didn't help either.
He had gotten out of there as fast as he could after that.
Finally he had made it to a somewhere that looked very much like his wanted destination. That was the case, until he stepped out of the Floo station and saw the bloody Eiffel Tower in the distance.
Harry groaned.
That's it. He was taking a Portkey no matter what situation he got into. Harry was just itching for a duel now.
He glared at the man across the street who was staring at him. The man quickly turned and rushed away. Harry always wondered if there was some kind of a curse on him to attract unwanted attention. He was dressed like an everyday common Wizard so no one would technically even notice him.
Then again it could be because he was swearing up a storm at the moment.
Basically he had removed his scar, altered his hair length and placed various Notice Me Not and Blurring Charms on himself. No camera would be able to capture his face and no one should notice him unless he did something obviously out of the ordinary or if that person was specifically looking for him.
Swearing one last time, he turned back into the Floo station.
XXXXX
Location Unknown
"My Lord."
"What?" Voldemort spat at the Death Eater that dared disturb his musings. "This had better be good."
"Our contact in France has just informed us that a person just signed into the country using the name James Pathertrory."
"Good. Take a group of ten men and dispose of him."
The Death Eater released a breath of relief. The Dark Lord seemed pleased, which meant no Cruciatus Curse.
XXXXX
France – Paris Wizarding District: Transport Department
"Excuse me Sir." Harry addressed the man by tapping him on the shoulder.
The man had barged into the station, cut the line and demanded an international Portkey from the attendant.
The fact that he had shoved Harry out of the way meant that Harry was currently resisting the urge to deck him.
The swarmy bastard even looked like a Malfoy. He had the same strut, bleached blond hair, dress sense and lack of manners.
"Fuck off!" The man flipped him off without bothering to turn around.
That was it.
Already finding the day shitty so far, with all the wrong destinations he had Flooed to. Coupled with the fact that he hadn't gotten much sleep, meant that Harry was currently a walking time bomb waiting to snap.
Of course some idiot Pureblood who had his head stuck so far up his ass couldn't notice this. Oh well, served him right.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he registered that he had been a bit more irritable lately. It was probably a result from some of the darker curses he had been practicing.
It would definitely explain Tom's constant bouts of rage and overall unpleasantness. Anyhow, the Dark Tosser was the last thing on Harry's mind as he proceeded to demonstrate why you didn't get Potter mad.
He had grabbed the man's finger in a vice grip and twisted. Kicking out the man's legs, Harry followed through by turning around.
The unbalanced man was dragged along and Harry made full use of the momentum to send him out the windows.
The shattering of glass was heard before a small thump.
Harry stepped out of the main door and stared at the unconscious man lying among a pile of glass shards.
He had of course gathered the crowd's attention this time. Who wouldn't when they tossed a man ten feet?
It would also seem that the man was pretty well known and hated, judging by the looks on some of the onlooker's faces.
Speaking about faces. Now with a clearer view, Harry thought that the man looked somewhat familiar. He had the exact same characteristics of the other two blonds he had taken out the other day.
Judging by the way the bugger was acting earlier, Harry guessed it was safe to assume that they were from the same family.
He briefly wondered if they were related to the Malfoys. They certainly got the looks and mannerisms spot on.
Now that gave him an idea.
Harry cast two successful spells at the man. The first, an Enervate Charm. The second went off with a loud bang.
The pure white ferret appeared dazed for a moment as it got used to its new physical attributes.
As soon as the rodent had determined its situation, it made a break for it. Harry fancied himself pulling a Moody.
Hitting the scuttling rodent with the Levicorpus Charm, Harry proceeded to bounce the animal off the walls.
The creature gave painful squeaks upon each impact.
"Always. Respect. Your. Follow. Man."
Harry followed each word with a bounce.
"ENOUGH!!!"
Harry gave the thing one more smack before he stopped and dumped the ferret on the ground and returned it to its normal state.
The man looked a little worse for wear. Anyone would if they had just been bounced like a rag doll.
Harry noted that the people who had gathered around him earlier were now backing away into stores. Apparently the new comer was someone important.
Harry noted that he was dress and looked like an older version of the blond ponce behind him. He must be head then.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The new man spoke loudly.
Has anyone ever sat down and thought about just how stupid that question was? It was like asking a wounded man if he was alright.
"I think it would be pretty obvious." Harry drawled. "But just in case you're having trouble processing it. I was enjoying the aerodynamic properties of flying rodents."
The man purpled and made a small hand gesture. One of the bodyguards drew his wand and the other Apparated out.
Fetching reinforcements no doubt.
"That man is my son."
"You admit it?" Harry called out in awe and mock shock. "Good sweet Merlin be damned, you would actually lay relation to this idiot."
Apparently insulting the man was the way to go, as indicated by him turning red.
"Do you have any idea who I am?" The man roared in fury.
"Nope but I imagine you're going to indulge me." Harry replied bored
"I'm the head of the Malfeay house and the most powerful man in France."
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Really…" He trail off in disbelief. This was his lucky day.
Come to think of it. Why hadn't he noticed it earlier? The man and his son couldn't be anyone else but a relation of Malfoy. No one else could get on his nerves that much.
"Most powerful huh?" Harry stated. "Wanna bet?"
The man stepped forwards flanked by his remaining bodyguard and drew his wand.
"I challenge you to a duel of honor for the insult you have laid against my family."
"Sure. You've got some dirt on your shoe by the way." Harry called out.
Harry rolled his eyes as the man did just what every stuck up image loving narcissist asshole would do. He looked down.
Seeing black polished leather the man looked up, only to catch Harry's Bludgeoning Curse full on in the face.
Harry sighed. The dumb ass had initiated the duel, yet he was so easily distracted. The duel had already begun the moment Harry had accepted.
The bodyguard seeing his employer go down fired a Cutting Curse at Harry.
"Wait!" Harry held up his hands in surrender.
The man paused and Harry once again rolled his eyes.
"Stupefy!" The man went down as well.
"I win." Harry sang out feeling much better now.
Sighing once again he decided he best leave France now. No doubt the French authorities would be arriving soon and he didn't think they were going to let him off so easily this time for beating up their citizens.
Deliberately stepping on the Malfeay scion on his way back to the station, Harry took a bit of pleasure in the fact that both father and son had landed in a puddle of mud.
"Name?" The attendant looked at him in awe.
"James Pathertrory. I need an international Portkey to Italy."
He was passed a can of tuna. "It'll activate on thirty seconds."
"How much?" Harry asked.
"Don't worry. It's on me." The woman smiled.
Harry shrugged and vanished as the magical device activated.
A few seconds after Harry's departure two groups of men Apparated in. On one end were eleven Death Eaters led to capture or kill the mysterious Unspeakable, the other a group of twelve bodyguards ready to attack any opposing force they may run into.
Both groups stared dumbly at each other for a few seconds before chaos broke loose.
The bodyguards attacked the men in black assuming they were the ones responsible for their boss's current condition.
The Death Eaters attacked the bodyguards simply because they were being fire upon.
Twenty minutes later French Aurors arrived on the scene to discover eleven downed Death Eaters and twelve unconscious men, the two remaining conscious looked knackered enough that they didn't put up much of a resistance.
All were identified as persons with suspicious backgrounds, arrested and taken into custody.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries – Head Unspeakable Office
"I demand that you tell me who the man is."
"I can't do that Minister, you do not have the necessary authorization to make such a request."
"I'm the Minister Of Magic."
"That you are Sir, and therefore our department lies outside your jurisdiction. Besides he isn't one of ours." The Head Unspeakable answered joyfully.
If the man was aiming to piss off the Minister Of Magic, he succeeded.
"Then I demand that you find out who he is."
The man sighed. "Your can't make that sort of request Sir, you don't have the authority."
"I'll cut your funding." The Minister threatened.
"Go ahead then." The Unspeakable smirked. "We get no funding from you anyway. Besides his name is no secret."
"It's obviously a fake, damn it."
"Of course it is, but since he uses it everywhere, just get your Aurors to pick him up. It is their job after all."
The Minister seeing that he was never going to win this conversation, left the office in a foul mood.
XXXXX
Somewhere On Earth
"REDUCTO!!!"
Harry ducked under the red beam of light and swore loudly.
Fate it would seem, was once again taking a crap on his head. He remembered the response Nicholas had given him when he said it so.
"A child marked by fate, you? Ha! Good one. You're just fate's bitch, whipping boy, handyman…"
Of course Nicholas had elaborated the last part with a few words he still didn't know existed even in a thesaurus.
Knowing his luck with Portkeys, Harry had ported right into the middle of some magical battle. The only upside was that they weren't actively aiming all those nasty spells at him.
Alright analysis time.
Group on the left dressed like civilians. Group on the right also dressed like civilians. Spells being thrown currently are definitely not ones known by civilians. Conclusion, he was stuck in building between two groups of professionals battling it out.
Harry rolled his eyes as he sought cover when a deadly Castration Hex narrowly missed his crotch.
Add sadistic professionals.
Guess it was one of those famous Mob battles Harry had heard so much about. He could now add that to his list of things having seen. The plus side was that he now knew he was in Italy.
'Mental note. Add "Viewing Mafia gang battle it out with each other" to list.'
Come to think about it, Harry immediately had an epiphany. It was stupid enough to work and just the perfect time as well. The fact that he could now add "Pissing off the Mob" to his ever growing list of "Things Having Done" would be an extra plus.
He had second thoughts about what he was about to attempt, but decided that if anything went wrong he would just wing it.
Harry ran out from behind the upturned desk he was taking cover behind and made a break for an isolated office.
Shutting the door and locking it with a few quick charms, Harry proceeded to transfigure his robes from emerald green to black. Conjuring a bone white mask he donned it.
He conjured a mirror to inspect himself.
"So how do I look?" He asked the mirror.
"Stupid, but like a Death Eater."
Harry smirked at his reflection's reply, dispelled the mirror and exited the office.
"EXPLODRA!!!" Harry then proceeded to throw off devastating but non lethal spells at the two dueling groups.
"DIE FOR YOUR LACK OF SUPPORT YOU TRAITORS!!!"
Harry definitely felt stupid now. Seriously how did the Death Eaters go about sprouting this crap at the top of their lungs during a duel and expect to win. Shouting like an idiot attracts so much attention that even a deaf man would notice you.
Of course this worked a bit too well as the men decided that the famous phrase "An enemy of my enemy is my friend" was a good idea.
Harry immediately thanked his lucky streak that he had taken advance dodging lessons from good ole paranoid Alastor Moody.
Finding that he was having trouble defending himself, not to mention attacking them Harry decided that retreat was probably a good idea.
Firing off the Dark Mark, Harry Apparated out with a last comment of, "THE DARK LORD WILL HAVE HIS REVENGE!!!"
Of course not knowing where you were going to Apparate to, except that you wanted to be at least a mile from your original location was not a smart thing.
Predictably, he appeared in this middle of a Muggle inhabited area. Thankfully fate decided to cut him some slack and dumped him in a Muggle book store.
Above the Manager.
"Obliviate." Harry mumbled at the still dazed man.
At least he hadn't Apparated into a solid wall. Harry shuddered at the thought of such a severe Splinch.
The man recovered and gave Harry a weird look. He spoke something in Italian which Harry had no idea what it was.
"What?" Harry asked dumbly, his universal translation charm having worn out a while back.
"Ah! English! You going to costume party?"
"Sort of." Harry replied and hurriedly left the stored to change out of the ridiculous robes and find a Muggle hotel.
XXXXX
Location Unknown
"Crucio!" The Dark Lord screamed in rage.
"Who's wise idea was it to attack the Italian families in my name?"
"We…"
"Crucio!" Voldemort cursed again in rage. Some over zealous idiot had decided to teach the Italian families a lesson in his name. While Voldemort indeed wish nothing better than to declare war on the Mafia, doing so was not wise. He either wanted them on his side of the war or out of it. Instead, now he had them up against his as well.
By the time he had learnt about the attacks, it was too late. Diplomatic relations with the Mob was now impossible. The ingrates had sent back his messenger in a body bag with a declaration of retaliation.
Voldemort scowled. When he finds the idiot responsible for this, he would personally torture them to death.
"Crucio!"
The Death Eaters were definitely not going to have a good day.
XXXXX
Italy – Outskirts
Harry crept along the outskirts of the manor's compound. The powerful beams of searchlights scoured the grounds hoping to catch an unlucky trespasser in their wake.
Quickly, he dove into a clump of bushes.
The glaring beam of the halogen flood light passed over the spot where he once stood.
For the third time that night Harry swore enough to make a sailor blush.
That was the third bloody rose bush he had leapt into. Was it him, or did the bloody Italians love rose bushes so much that they simply had to plant them everywhere?
Once again Harry asked himself just what in Merlin's name was he doing this for again. He'd rather be doing something much more productive such as hunting down Death Eaters, but no. He had to go accept the stupid Italian mission.
Not only that, his plan of Death Wanker impersonation just had to work. He still didn't believe it, the Wizarding Mafia actually bought his Death Eater crap.
This was what led to his current situation of sneaking around manor houses.
He had been performing failed but very realistic assassination attempts on some of the more prominent families. So far he had already made four fake Death Eater attacks and this would probably be his last.
He had received information from his sources that a group of heads from the five most important families were meeting here tonight to discuss what to do about Voldemort.
Harry was of course planning to gate crash their little meeting.
Unfortunately for him. His last four attacks hadn't gone unnoticed. How could they after he had left truck size holes in each previous manor's outer walls. Due to this, security had been increased. Guards were patrolling the perimeter and the wards protecting the home had been seriously updated.
Thank god that most prominent Wizards were Pureblooded and thus pretty dense. They had of course layered the manor's fence with tons of protective and detection spells that would immediately notify the owners if any spell was being used to break them down.
This was exactly the reason why Harry hadn't use a single spell to gain entry. He had done so the good ole Muggle burglar style. All he needed was a pair of bolt cutters and a handy crowbar.
Seeing an opportunity, Harry sprinted out of the bush and across the open garden towards another clump of bush cover.
He groaned in defeat when he noticed that yet again they were rose bushes. That bloody search light better not pass over him for a while yet.
'Now lets see.' He thought to himself. 'They would most probably be meeting in the office. That would be somewhere on the east front of the manor.'
"Point me." Harry whispered and his wand spun around imitating a compass.
He did a fair bit of directional navigation be determined that the office would be directly opposite the next clump of bushes. Squinting he activated the night vision charms on his glasses.
"Fuck." He swore when he saw that they too were rose bushes.
'To jump or not to jump. That is the question.'
The question was easily answered for him when the ever irritating searchlight came sweeping up the lawn.
Harry gritted his teeth and dived into the thorny bushes. He shut his eyes not wanting to get a face full of bright light while still having the night vision aspect of his glasses switched on.
The beam of light paused on his bush and Harry cursed the guard's powers of observation. They must have caught the slight movement of the bush's leaves.
Hoping they would pass it off as the wind. Harry silently and slowly drew his wand.
"Lepifor."
A small twig was transfigured into a bunny that hopped out of his bush and made a dash for the next one. Predictably, the spot light followed the animal as it tried its best to evade the white circle of lighted ground.
'Dumb asses.' Harry thought as he traced his wand in circles.
The Rabbit took evasive action and hopped from one bush to the next.
Chuckles could be heard as the rest of the spot lights centered on the original. The guards were making a game of who could keep their spotlight trained on the bunny as long as possible.
Waving his wand a bit more, Harry gave the transfigured animal the command to hop around a bit more. Seeing that no one's attention was going to be on him, Harry turned his attention back to the reason he was here.
The window of the office had been blinded but he could easily make out the shadows of people moving about. Harry trained his wand on the glass and wondered for a second if what he was about to do was a smart thing.
"Oh well." He shrugged and cast anyway.
If the bright red beam of light didn't catch the guard's attention, then the loud explosion that followed definitely did.
Harry's spell had nicely blown out the entire side of the building, no doubt interrupting the meeting that was going on.
He had to hand it to the Italians on one thing. When it came to action, they were trigger happy bastards. No more than five seconds after he had thrown the Explosion Hex did a spell blow a crater two meters away from where he stood.
He had definitely overstayed his welcome and Harry did what any Wizard of his caliber would do when under fire from no less than thirty Wizards.
He taunted them, cast the Dark Mark and ran like all hell was after him.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries – Head Unspeakable Office
Nicholas Flamel folded the newspaper he had just been reading and tossed it onto his desk.
"Harry, Harry, Harry, you just don't seem to understand the meaning of subtlety do you?" He spoke to his empty office.
Plastered upon the front page was the picture of the Dark Mark hovering above a large manor house and the headlines:
DARK LORD ATTACKS PROMINENT ITALIAN PUREBLOODED FAMILIES
The article had "Harry Potter" all over it, the casualty rate had been minimal and amazingly no deaths had occurred. The public might view it as a genuine Voldemort attack, but those who were familiar with the Dark Lord's work, which weren't many, knew he never allowed his targets to live.
That cheeky brat definitely had some explaining to do when he got back.
Author's Note:
I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. Don't really have an excuse really. University is over and I am bored out of my brains.
Anyhow here it is. It hasn't really been checked through yet and thus the story might be a bit iffy and whacked.
If any spelling errors and plot mistakes are found, please state them in a review. My betas you know who you are. Other readers are welcomed to help out in correcting as well. ^_^
Anyhow, until next time.
ENSIGN
Nunquam Lamiae Morde "Me Ictus"
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Due to passing a new rule stating that Authors are not to reply to reviews in their story. Since this may affect the length of the story itself. Therefore I'll be no longer answering reviews unless I receive enough of the same questions. The answers can be found in my Author's Notes.