Title: The Innocence Of Guilt
Author: ENSIGN
Chapter 13 – The Innocence Of Guilt
Manchester – Number 16 Nickerson Street
Emile Murville appeared in his living room after the typical uneventful day of work at the Daily Prophet. The five foot eight brunet ran a hand through his damp hair. His fingers brushing aside his fringe as he placed his briefcase and a small paper bag down.
He had been caught in the usual English showers that came and went when he had gone to purchase some take away. The pleasant scent of hot food wafted from the small paper bag by his feet. He shrugged off his wet cloak and hung it on the available cloak rack. Drawing his wand, he made a simple wave. A simple and quick drying charm resulted in him, his clothes and the cloak immediately returning to their dry clean state.
Satisfied, he picked up the paper bag containing his dinner. Emile had been looking forwards to the weekly special of shepherd's pie at the local magical tavern that he frequented. He ignored his briefcase as he made for the kitchen where he would go about preparing his dinner.
He was ready for a nice quiet evening to himself and thus wasn't expecting anyone. There had been no pre planned attack plans or Death Eater rally. It was going to be a peaceful night alone listening to the Wizarding Wireless without outside interferences.
Thus he was completely surprised by the hooded figure sitting at his dining table facing the entryway into the kitchen. He barely registered the wand aimed at him before he received a vicious stunner to the face.
Harry Potter's eyes flashed in satisfaction as he rose from his seat and summoned Murville's wand. He grumbled when the presence of an enchanted holster prevented its release.
Just in case he shot off an additional stunner, before manually removing the Death Eater's wand and snapping it. Glancing at the bag in the man's hands, Harry's tongue forked out. He picked up the smell of lamb rather than a potion that might be dangerous.
Disregarding the meal, he kicked it aside as he inspected the downed man. "Hello there Mr. Murville, let's get better acquainted with one another." Harry spoke to himself as he hoisted the unconscious man off the floor.
XXXXX
England – Stonehenge
"So, Stonehenge huh?" Mary looked around here at the ruins of the massive stone formation they where centered within.
Her current companion paid her comment no attention as she concentrated on focusing her blood base magic as she slit the throat of a rooster.
The female Unspeakable grimaced at the nonchalant reaction behavior of the Vampire. "Must everything with Vampires have to do with blood?" She voiced her slight disgust as Lucy set about painting a small ritual circle with the drained chicken's blood.
"Not really. This just happens to be the most effective way of tracking our missing Unspeakable. This particular locating method requires a minor sacrifice as well as something your Unspeakable department doesn't have."
"What's that?" Mary tried to make out the details of the circle despite the dying daylight.
"The location of a magical nexus." She waved her bloody hand around them indicating the ancient rock structures. "And his blood." She held up a small tube of dark red substance.
Mary frowned at the ampoule in Lucy's hands.
"Relax." The Vampire assured her. "Your partner's blood is only useful up till twenty four hours since it was collected, so any more would be rendered useless. Thankfully for us, this ritual is within the expiry limit."
"James wouldn't be happy that you got a hold of his blood." Mary pointed out.
The Vampire snorted. "I suspect he wouldn't, however, it is his own fault at not cleaning up after himself. I believe the stress of battle and transformation may have affected his judgment slightly."
"You don't say." Mary replied sarcastically. "The James that left us looked like he was ready to murder someone."
"That he did Mary." The Vampire Princess grinned savagely. "That he did."
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Two: Auror Headquarters – Head Auror Office
Amelia Bones was stressed.
She couldn't believe the shit that was left in the wake of the latest Minister's administration, let alone the nightmare that was Fudge's.
It was a common practice that most newly voted in Ministers immediately sought to replace political members in key positions with ones loyal to themselves or to simply buy their loyalty.
Fudge had been at it for more than half a decade. Both under the influence of the Death Eater Purist Faction and driven by his own greed and incompetence. The Ministry was completely smothered in inefficiency and corruption. Sure Scrimgeour replaced him and no doubt managed to remove some the idiot's influence, however Scrimgeour had only been in office for less then half a year and had only begun to scratch the surface.
Amelia sighed in annoyance. As the Interim Minister her first order of business had been to look into the Minister's policy of dealing with the current Dark Lord.
She was no doubt appalled that despite the growing threat that was Voldemort, Scrimgeour had only implemented a slight increase in the Auror Department's funding and a campaign catered towards increased recruitment and public awareness.
Basically a complete 'look like we are doing something but not' campaign. It was a clear case of 'throwing money at a problem hoping that it would disappear' and it wasn't even a significant amount. She should know. The increase funding was just enough to cover the wages of the new influx of Auror graduates. It was barely enough to even implement newer equipment, and training.
All in all it was a complete fuck up. The Ministry was completely inefficient. The amount of red tape caused by multiple laws being laid down over the centuries, and rather stupid ones at that ensured that most matters took an extremely long time to fix. A long time that was usually negated via the application of a 'express processing fee'.
At least, due to the state of emergency, she had been granted full control of the Ministry. She was definitely going to go through the Departments one by one. Why the hell did they even have a Muggle Worthy Excuse Committee and a Ludicrous Patents Office, that and a completely inappropriate allocation of funds to an Official Gobstones Club and Quidditch League Headquarters? The two were simply clubs and had nothing to do with Ministry affairs.
That was just the second thing she had to fix, the first was to burn the current law book and adopt the Muggle one. When it came to Muggles, she really did have to admit that they did come with a better command of common sense.
Amelia massaged her temple and pinched her nose bridge. She pressed the intercom at her desk.
"Please send a large pot of extra strong coffee." She ordered her secretary. It was time to make some changes. For once she was glad of the power granted to the Minister Of Magic due to special war time circumstances.
XXXXX
London – Alleyways
Harry leaned against the wall as he gave a deep sigh of tiredness. The stress of expanding so much magic coupled with his previous night had finally caught up to him.
He was tired and weary. He closed his eyes as his fingers loosely gripped his yew Basilisk venom wand. Taking another deep breath he collected his thoughts.
Opening his eyes he glared at the wall opposite him. Alfred Normanby, a pureblooded Wizard of two generations. No monetary and political standing. Basically your average Death Eater grunt, recruit and general cannon fodder, unfortunately he had been part of the team sent to assassinate the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
As such, his participation in that act had brought Harry's wrath down upon him. Harry snarled as he looked over his handy work. The man was most definitely dead from blood loss. However he had been forced to regurgitate all he knew before his demise. The Death Eater had been painfully staked to the wall behind him via sharp metal spikes into each of his wrists and ankles. Everything from his neck down was a mess.
The green eyed Wizard could still hear the man's screams as he begged for death as he was slowly opened up. Harry Potter's lips pursed in aggravation. Normanby was the end of the line his information provided. He had already dealt with 3 others and there only 4 more remaining.
Sure he had the names of the remaining one involved, but they were too well hidden. Snape, Draco, Greyback and the last remaining free Inner Circle member, Bellatrix, all were in hiding and were thus inaccessible.
His hunt would be on hold for now.
Harry gave a grunt as he pushed off the wall and dismissed his silencing and avoidance charms on the alleyway.
He had a grave to visit.
XXXXX
England – Stonehenge
"Found him." The Vampire's grin displayed her elation at the ritual's success.
"Where?"
Lucy didn't answer but immediately grabbed the other woman's forearm. Without warning, both Vampire and Unspeakable had teleported away to their destination in a burst of black smoke.
The glowing blood red circle had formed into a map of Scotland with one word pulsating brightly.
Hogwarts Castle Of Witchcraft And Wizardry
In a matter of minutes the power would fade, leaving nothing behind.
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Black Lake's Shore
Despite the approach of the summer season, the skies surrounding Hogwart's School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry was covered by the presence of dark clouds. Completely blotting out the sun's rays the landscape was cast into dim facade of night. It was as if nature itself was mourning the passing of Albus Dumbledore.
The massive funeral that had begun at dawn was attended by almost the entire British Wizarding world. Dignitaries from various foreign nations had arrived from all over the Western Wizarding World to pay their respects. Despite the ceremony having ended earlier on in the afternoon, a small handful of magical folk still remained to pay their respects.
As such, in the dying sunlight, the entire area surrounding the white marble sarcophagus had been illuminated by floating crystals. The dying sunlight penetrating the cloud cover and bathe dimly in a surreal blue glow, the gravesite had a feeling of mysticism about it.
Enchanted both by the tranquility and respect for his friend and mentor, Harry Potter felt his anger slowly diminish. Hooded and hidden beneath his invisibility cloak he stood upon the shores of the Black Lake. Out of way of any of those paying their respects, Harry fingered the smooth glass of an ampoule containing his emergency supply of Mandrake Restorative Potion.
His hunt for his mentor's murderers had finally hit a dead end.
Standing there, looking upon the marbled grave the Unspeakable was finally able to calm down and think clearly. He noted with slight amusement that his supposed sarcophagus was in close proximity to his mentor's. Dumbledore, he believed, would have wanted to been laid to rest beside his beloved sister, despite his love for Hogwarts. He could understand the idea as he too would rather be beside his loved ones. He made a mental note to add that into his will. He didn't like the idea of becoming a public monument to be gawked at. While the Headmaster had become used to the attention of the media, Harry himself preferred his privacy.
Maybe a decoy public monument would do, whilst he's be buried beside his parents would be best. It wouldn't do to have bunch of tourist trampling his family's burial grounds.
His thoughts then shifted to the glass tube in his palm. Maintaining a partial Animagus transformation, especially one with as much changes he had, was ill advised. Human and Draconian physiologies were just not mean to mix. As such it was probably a good idea to revert before anything permanent occurred. Seeing no more need for his Draconian strength and abilities, he downed the potion in a single gulp. Wincing at the horrid taste upon his enhanced senses, he tossed the phial away towards the Forbidden Forest.
Slowly he could feel the effects of the potion setting in. He frowned at the feelings of goose bumps crawling over his skin as the Draconian transformation reversed. Just as his senses slowly dimmed he took the chance to take in the sight of Hogwarts and its surrounding grounds with his superior eyesight.
Out of the corner of sight, with his dragon eyes catered towards movement, he spied a slight flicker in the rays of light that shone through the clouds. His sensitive eyes had caught one of the light streams bending slightly.
Harry frowned at the phenomenon. The only thing that he knew distorted light in such a fashion was the Disillusionment Charm. Turning in the general direction he concentrated upon the various light streams.
His eyes once again caught the wavering of another beam. Whoever the person that was under the Disillusionment Charm most definitely didn't want the attention of the general populace nor the Auror guards on protection detail surrounding Dumbledore's final resting place.
Blinking, Harry focused and his field of view suddenly entered the infrared spectrum. The advantage was short lived as the restorative properties of the Mandrake's roots forcibly returned his eyes to human ones. Harry made a grunt of irritation at his earlier decision to take the potion.
Once ingested the properties of the potion could last up till approximately six hours, during which, he would be unable to attempt any sort of bodily transformation. He frowned as he noted that even Mage Sight was impossible. At least in that short frame of time, he had managed to discern the general direction in which the figure had been headed.
He was just mentally reviewing what spells he knew that would allow him sight of invisible entities, when he remembered the presence of his pair of glasses nesting within one of his numerous pockets.
Donning the visual aid, he engaged the infrared feature and had to blink at the sudden influx of colors. Immediately everything was in shades of blue and green. It was very much different from his Draconian version, where he instinctively knew what was hotter than the other.
The boy turned Unspeakable grinned in satisfaction as he easily spotted a large blob of red and yellow hues amongst the blue and green background.
Shooting off another silencing spell at his boots, Harry moved across the shore of the lake towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest where the figure seemed to be waiting.
It took him a while but the figure remained in place as if he were waiting for someone.
The low visibility cast by the shadows of trees made it hard to discern the identity of the figure that had dropped the charm and was now leaning upon a tree.
Harry drew his wand but held his fire. Suspicious behavior or not, it wouldn't do to shoot first and question later. Despite how appropriate it may seem. It was after all a standard procedure that most Unspeakables out in the field remain unnoticed till it was deemed necessary.
"Basilisk." He called out the identification password when he was near enough.
"Sectumsempra!"
Only his finely turn reflexes born of dodging bludgers and combat spells saved his head as the figure immediately whipped around and unleash a curse at his center of mass. Despite his invisibility cloak's ability the spell was dead on target.
Harry dived out of the way as the spell promptly carved multiple lacerations into the bark of a tree. He rolled once before jumping to his feet as another spell impacted the ground. His invisibility cloak abandoned, he waved his wand.
"Leucuspis." Harry whispered under his breath and summoned his favored method of protection.
A total of seven white shimmering shields were erected around him. Capable of negating all curses except the Avada Kedavra that simply cleaved through just about anything, the shield had a single drawback. No matter what the spell, one spell blocked resulted in one barrier lost. That and another shield spell immediately terminated its effects.
The solution to this, dodge.
'Dodge like hell.' Was Harry's main thought as he sought cover behind the massive trunk of an ancient tree. Whoever this man was, he was good.
Spells continued to barrage his shelter as his opponent preferred to keep his distance, before Harry felt his skin crawl from a massive power build up. Immediately he dashed from his cover.
It was not a moment too soon as out of the corner of vision a bright red spell blew the tree apart.
He flared his cloak shielding his face from the shower of splinters and shrapnel as a barrage of spells eliminated four of his shields. Attempting to engage his Line Of Sight Apparation cost him another two barriers as the discovered that Hogwarts warded against even that form of travel. Instead he jumped to the left to avoid another and retaliated with a small barrage of inconsequential curses made to annoy.
The hooded figure erected a powerful golden shield that absorbed all his spells before dropping it. The action, however, had bought Harry enough time to dash towards his opponent, rapidly closing the distance. He tossed his wand aside and drew his melee weapon in a swift motion.
Two more curses were deflected haphazardly by the swing of his sword and a third harmlessly splashed upon his chest negating the final shield. Unable to recover from his earlier swings, Harry released his weapon and laid into his opponent with a devastating hay maker.
He flicked his wrist, drawing another wand and immediately followed up with an overpowered Disarming Hex. His opponent already stumbling was blown further back by the spell at almost point blank range.
The figure's impact on the forest floor was cushioned by the leaf litter and was quick to roll back to a standing position.
Harry snarled in annoyance as his stunner was blocked as his opponent had flung his cloak at the spell.
Finally divest of its cloak the figure's identity was easily recognized despite the dimly lit forest.
"Snape!" Harry growled out as his being filled with fury and malice. "I'm going to rip you apart!"
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Black Lake's shore
Both women had arrived at the gates of Hogwarts via Apparation and made their way towards the congregation of people by the lake's shore. Mary chose to remain hidden under her cloaks camouflage feature as an Unspeakable really did draw too much attention.
As they approached the funeral, Lucy's presence triggered a number of dark detectors which had been set up around the sarcophagus. A number of the floating blue stones begun flashing red and emitting a low buzzing sound.
"I'll get this one." A lone Auror spoke to the group surrounding the coffin.
Mary groaned in frustration as the Auror approached them with his wand drawn.
"What is your kind doing here, bloodsucker?" The Auror demanded as he stared at Lucy in contempt.
"I don't quite like your tone Auror." The Vampire's voice held a touch of frost as she stared down the larger man.
"Your kind is not welcomed here. leave!" The man ordered as he leveled his wand at her chest.
Lucy snorted. "I'm here simply to pay my respects to a man. Besides my presence here is in no violation of any laws, Wizard or Vampire."
"Listen here you…" The Auror made to grab the small female, but his words and advance were both halted when Mary dropped her disillusionment and concealment charms that had been hiding her presence beside the Vampire up till now.
"I would advise against your current thought process Auror." Mary stepped before the man, partially shielding Lucy with her body. "With the given warning by your detectors, you should be on full alert. Yet, your abilities must be severely lacking if you were unable to notice my presence beside her.
Mary saw his wand twitch. "I wouldn't try that if I were you. Your hostility is not appreciated." She tilted her head at his aimed wand. "At this range, I could easily disarm and incapacitate you. Imagine what a Vampire could achieve."
The man, to both ladies amusement had steadily gone from red to a nice purple coloration as the conversation went. It seemed he had enough when both women saw his fingers twitch.
"Stu…"
The Auror never got to finish his spell.
Mary immediately snapped into action. Slapping his wand arm away from her, she moved in and slammed the palm of her hand into the underside of his chin. Her attack was simultaneously followed up by Lucy darting around her and performing a jumping knee strike directly into his groin.
It was a rather peculiar sight as the Auror toppled backwards as his grab reflex floundered over which to grab, his crotch or his chin.
"Freeze! Back away!" Three other Aurors had reacted to their downed comrade and were approaching the women with their wands drawn.
The Unspeakable immediately held up her hands in a peaceful manner as she stepped away from the downed Ministry personnel. Lucy followed likewise but gave a snort of disgust as the Auror was now curled up in a fetal position as blood gurgled out his mouth from a bitten tongue. "That ought to shut him up for a while." She whispered.
Mary in turn a raised an eyebrow, despite the hoods concealment charms, Lucy had been allowed sight. The Unspeakable however, still maintained her disguise. "The squirrel move?"
"Squirrel move?" The Vampire asked in confusion.
"Go for the nuts." Mary explained.
Lucy grinned and nodded her understanding. "I wanted to hit him where it hurt the most."
"His nuts?"
The Vampire smirked. "Male pride."
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Edge Of Forbidden Forest
Harry ducked behind another tree as a familiar buzz saw of purple fire ripped a large gash into the trunk of the tree. Snape was in tip top shape as he always was. He conjured up his earlier multiple shield spell and prepared for a finishing move.
The Boy-Who-Lived hated to admit it, but out of all his dueling instructors, Snape was probably ranked only under Dumbledore who was the best.
Each had their own style with weaknesses and strengths. Dumbledore favored the use of Conjuration and Transfiguration before falling back on the use of extremely powerful spells of mass destruction. The down side to his style was that if your opponent could counter the initial tactic, the rapid use of power demanding spells would quickly both tire you out and overload your wand's core.
Flitwick preferred his use of Charms to annoy and distract while he laid traps and slowly maneuvered his opponents into them. His small size easily allowed for him to dodge most incoming spells but made him rather slow at running. His style's cons were that they were useless against an opponent favoring spells of mass destruction.
Mad Eye Moody, the aged Auror used the typical Auror 'shoot, shield or duck' method. Its disadvantage was it required the presence of a squad to be effective and was once again rather susceptible to spells of mass destruction, although, the Auror definitely had some tricks up his sleeves that he had yet to show. No one got that old and successful by being an easy knockout. Better to loose in training and destroy the enemy when necessary. Keep your secret moves secret and all that.
Snape himself preferred to instead barrage his opponents with an overwhelming repertoire of curses till they slipped up or their shields faltered. The technique was rather limited for use against single opponents and the user could be distracted. It was a style that emphasized taking your adversary down fast, before they could pull something out.
Finally, there was Harry's adopted style coming from Kingsley Shacklebolt. Wide, area of effect spells were key to this style as they were used to herd, maneuver and distract opponents so that the user may close the distance for close quarters combat. Knives, swords, fists and legs were used for this style. It required almost inhuman like reflexes, speed and agility, attributes Harry had in abundance.
Kingsley had pointed out that the style most suited Harry in that it required limited spell knowledge and was easy to pick up. That, and as the large Auror had said, "Getting in close induces panic and makes them retaliate predictably. Most Magical folk are unfit and untrained in the physical aspects of dueling and combat. Those that are, are usually too old to match up to us spry, young lads. Besides, we can Kung Fu fight."
Harry chuckled at the last line and was satisfied to note that Snape's nose had been broken by his earlier straight on punch. The greasy git's hooked nose was even more prominent now and a stream of red stained the lower parts of his face. Pity, it was a myth that a punch to the nose could send fatal bone fragments up into the brain.
Once again he had to abandon his cover as it blew apart, he lost two layers as he weaved around the jets of multicolored light and flung a small glass orb at his assailant.
Predictably, Snape retaliated and blasted the thrown projectile before it got anywhere near him. It had actually been nearer to Harry than it was to the Death Eater, which was why he probably wasn't as affected by the brilliant blast of light searing into his eyeballs as the flash grenade prematurely detonated.
Harry, who had shut his eyes and covered them with his cloak, dashed in a zigzagged pattern at the ex Potion's Master. He felt three more layers fall as they absorbed the man's blind fire.
Recovering far too quickly Snape focused on the incoming human missile and fired off the all purpose win spell.
"Avada Kedavra!'
Harry's eyes widened as the green spell of death cleaved through his remaining shields and impacted his chest. At the same moment he dove at the Death Eater, wand aimed directly for his eye socket.
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Black Lake's shore
Mary rolled her eyes as the Aurors surrounded the two of them. She blamed Harry for his sarcastic attitude corrupting her. Even now she was starting to think their Aurors needed a refresher course in guard detail.
While it was true that Lucy was a Vampire and thus posed a rather significant danger. Committing all your Aurors to surround her was pretty stupid. So many things were wrong with that particular tactic. Firstly, Lucy's attack could have been a diversion to draw attention away from the grave, it was definitely working. Second, did they even know about suicide bombers? The Death Eaters were famous for it back in Voldemort's first rise to power, excluding the suicide part of course. She remembered Harry once telling her about a Death Eater who blew up an entire street while hiding his wand behind his back or the infamous Banzai Suicide Imperius Bomb Victim tactic.
"Keep your hands where I can see them!" The Auror she assumed was the Captain of this team ordered.
"I'm an Unspeakable, code Griffin 08." Mary's head twitched indicating her badge that was on display for all to see.
"I can see that, but it doesn't explain why Archie is on the ground there grasping his ding dongs." The man gestured at the downed Auror who was receiving medical attention for his injured tongue. "Let me check your badge." The leader shot off an identification spell at her badge and nodded in satisfaction as it glowed orange indicating it was an authentic Unspeakable identification.
Mary shrugged "I'm the guard detail for the Lady Lucy." She waved at the amused looking Vampire behind her. "Protective details tend to engage hostiles who attempt to curse after insulting their charges."
"I see…" The Auror Captain trailed off in answer as he indicated for his men to stand down. He had been in the corps long enough to know that you didn't mess around with Vampires, especially ones that looked relaxed despite being surrounded. That, and he was pretty sure that the Unspeakable guard was everyone's protection rather than the Vampire's.
"I'm Auror Captain Hayden, Ma'am, Milady," He nodded at the two, "I will have to file a report of assault against a Ministry personnel regarding this matter, Auror Archie Merlot will be questioned via Veritaserum in regards to your claims. I doubt I am authorized to arrest Unspeakables." He dismissed most of his men as the wounded Auror was Portkeyed away.
Mary nodded in compliance. She loved having Unspeakable immunity.
"May I enquire as to your purpose here?"
"I wish to pay my respects to the late Albus Dumbledore." Lucy finally stepped forwards to address the Captain.
"I see." The man waved two of his Aurors forwards. "These men will accompany you, I apologize, but those classified as dark beings have to be accompanied by a member of the Ministry."
Lucy glanced at her companion and turned back to the Captain with a raised eyebrow.
"I know." The man shrugged. "Just doing me job, consider it extra protection."
Lucy gave a fanged grin to the Auror Captain. Both knew well enough that she didn't need extra protection. "Much appreciated." She nodded in compliance.
The two men approached. "I'm Auror…" His introduction never finished as loud pops distinctively echoed from the direction of the Forbidden Forest.
All present turned their heads.
"Sounded like a muffled explosions." One of them commented.
"James?" Lucy questioned.
"James." Mary confirmed as she turned to the Aurors. "Hold the fort Captain. We'll handle this." She pointed at the two Aurors assigned to them. "You two follow me." Not allowing them to reply, the two women shot off sprinting towards the woods.
"What are you waiting for? Move!" Captain Hayden ordered already dashing off in chase. "Go! Go! Go!"
The two men jumped and begun chasing after the two females and their superior.
"Tell me why we became Aurors again?" One asked the other.
"Shut up Peterson." The other immediately replied as if it were a common question.
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Edge Of Forbidden Forest
The green lance that was the infamous Killing Curse dispersed upon contact with Harry's chest. As per the rules governing its proper use, the curse was rendered harmless when hastily cast.
From then onwards, it was the perfect demonstration of all of three Isaac Newton's laws of motion.
Any object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an external force. With his full body weight behind his dive, nothing much could have interrupted the impending collision from occurring.
The amount of force an object contains is determined by the multiplication of its mass and acceleration. While not a rugby player, Harry's mass was still rather considerable. When compared to the thin Death Eater, it wasn't even a challenge as to which was heavier.
When comparing the accuracy of being in motion against that of remaining stationary, stationary always wins. Harry's death blow with his wand aimed at Snape's eye faltered and missed. However his follow up punch and tackle didn't. Both men were thrown to the forest's floor in a tangle of limbs and robes.
Every action results in an equal and opposite reaction. Snape's attempted use of a lethal spell removed all chances he had for survival against Harry's philosophy, not that it really mattered in the first place. Action, Snape attacked. Reaction, Harry pummeling the grease bag the moment he gained an advantage. Another example would be Snape's already bloodied nose punching Harry's clenched fist. Fist won despite both getting 'punched'.
Being the more experienced in close quarters combat and physically inclined, Harry easily dominated during their struggle and mounted his opponent.
Harry's third face punch of the day flattened the cartilage that was the Potions Master's nose. The following left hook twisted the man's head so sharply that the cracking of vertebra could be heard clearly.
The Unspeakable flicked his left wrist drawing another wand. He had just been about to deliver the death blow via eye socket piercing when a powerful blow slammed into his side.
Harry let lose a yell of surprise and pain as he was bodily thrown off the Death Eater. His flight through the air ended abruptly as he clipped the edge of a fallen tree before crashing backwards into the ground.
The impact with the soft leaf litter negated any damage sustained. However, the collision with the tree left his right arm with pain every time he tensed the muscles.
Harry grimaced, the bone were undoubtedly cracked if the stinging internal pain was any indication.
Forcing down the pain, both hands reached into his robes. Drawing an additional two wands from his waist holsters, Harry gritted his teeth as he accessed the new situation.
"Five wands?" The newcomer who had summoned his discarded three mentioned in surprise.
The Boy-Who-Lived noted that his wands protective enchantments had failed to kick in if his unknown assailant's non barbequed status was anything to go by.
"Rather nasty runes you have there." The hooded newcomer pointed out as he inspected the captured weapons. Harry tensed as he realized this Wizard was most definitely more powerful than Snape. The figure's posture seemed almost relaxed as he commented on the wand's protections. Harry however noted that his wand, while lowered, was held in a position where it could easily unleash a variety of spells at a moment's notice.
"I don't remember any Death Eaters at your level. Voldemort must be doing something right with his new recruitment plan." Harry taunted as he moved closer towards a tree should he require cover.
"Death Eater?" The man almost seemed appalled. "Given our current situation I can see how." He chuckled and dropped two of Harry's wands by his feet but retained the original Phoenix feathered one. "Isn't that right Harry?"
Beneath his hood, Harry Potter's eyes widened momentarily. "You do know that I'll probably have to kill you now." The green eyed youth spoke calmly despite being slightly freaked out.
"I very much doubt that." The hooded figure held his wand out clearly.
Harry's eyes widened as he had most definitely recognized the unique make of his opponent's wand. Elder, Old and gnarled like a piece of driftwood. It was probably the only one of its kind that he had seen and only one person possessed such a unique wand.
"Fuck me!" Harry commented as he rolled his eyes in annoyance.
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Edge Of Forbidden Forest
By the time small group consisting of one Unspeakable, a Vampire and two Aurors made it to the site of battle, Harry had already propped himself against a tree, right arm in a conjured up sling.
"You're late, as usual." Harry drawled as he spied the three approaching Aurors who were both red in the face from running.
"For once I would actually like to see the Department Of Law Enforcement show up to a public disturbance on time." Harry took advantage of the men's lack of breath.
Turning to his companions he raised an eyebrow in slight surprise at their presence. "That goes for you too Mary, hang around those Aurors too long and you'll begin to pick up their bad habits."
"James? You look like shit." Mary gestured at his slung arm and the blood staining his right shoulder.
Lucy gave a sniff. "Smell like it as well." She commented with a smirk.
Harry shrugged. "It's a forest, there's bound to be some crap on the ground."
"What's going on here?" One of the Aurors had finally recovered from their all out dash trying to keep up with the two women.
Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "The correct question, Auror, would be, 'What happened here'."
Silence enveloped the five for a few seconds before the Aurors realized that they weren't going to get an answer.
"What happened here?" The one Harry identified as an Auror Squad Captain ask.
"What do you think?" The emerald eyed youth replied sarcastically. "There's a mush of grey matter between your ears man, I suggest you use it." He turned to Lucy. "Why don't you show the good man how it's done."
Mary slapped a hand to her forehead in frustration. Her partner seemed to have something against the Department Of Law Enforcement. "Please don't piss the Aurors off James."
"Why not? He seems to be doing their jobs from the looks of things." Lucy pointed out as she looked at the destroyed trees where they stood. "I would go with the assumption that someone who didn't belong thought it was a good idea to attack the funeral. The Unspeakable here found them and a small duel took place. Seeing no body and an injured person I assume that our friend here chased them off."
"You see that." Harry pointed out. "No questions asked and already she's got the whole scene pegged." Harry noted that the two others were probably still rookies and had never encountered the likes of an Unspeakable before.
The lost look on the two sort of clued him in. The Captain seemed to be standing off to the side and allowing his two subordinates to handle the situation.
He rolled his eyes. "You're now supposed to remind me to submit a statement to my superior that will liaise with yours."
"Er… right." The man's partner agreed as he turned towards his superior in askance. To the two Aurors slight horror the man simply shrugged.
"You're bound to encounter things of this sort sooner or later. I'll just leave it to you to the muddle things out. Just consider this a training exercise." The Captain smiled an amused look on his face.
Harry rolled his eyes. The Aurors Corps were looking less and less inviting if they had really let themselves go this badly. "Medic."
"What?" The Aurors looked around.
"I'm bleeding with an arm in a sling and I just came out of a small battle. Most people would ask if I require a healer." Harry tilted his head at his wounded shoulder.
"Do you…"
"Never mind." Harry cut the man off and grabbed a hold of his partner's arm. "Lucy, grab hold." He instructed.
The Vampire reached out and caught a fistful of his robes before he activated his personal Portkey.
"Hey…" The Auror called out but the Unspeakables and their companion had already disappeared.
"Well shit." One of them deadpanned. "Er… boss?"
"What, you didn't really expect anything to happen. They are Unspeakables, 'I'd tell you, but I'd have to kill you', sort of Unspeakables." The Captain replied as he observed the small scale destruction caused in just a few moments.
"Somehow I felt really stupid for a moment there."
"Unspeakables. They do that. Meeting one always makes you feel like a rookie again." Their Superior shrugged as he inspected a tree where sharp metallic spikes had burst from within its trunk. He winced slightly as he imagined the effect such a spell would have on a human body.
"We are rookies!" The second Auror pointed out.
"We have been Aurors for two years." The first informed him
"In the office, at a desk." The Captain supplied as he made his way back to the funeral.
A moment of silence passed as the two men walked after their Captain.
"Tell me why we became Aurors again?'
"Shut up Peterson."
XXXXX
Location Unknown
"He's alive." Snape deadpanned.
"Quite remarkable isn't it. I admit that he was the one that inspired me to pull off my own version." The old man smiled. "Now lie still, you once again underestimated Mr. Potter, like many others do."
"That brat took me by surprise, Headmaster."
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in amusement. "Really Severus, I find it hard to believe Mr. Potter would adopt the shoot first policy in such a situation."
Snape didn't bother answering but the gritting of his teeth told Dumbledore all the needed to know.
"In the mean time you get yourself healed up." The aged Wizard smiled as he cast another charm at the Potions Master's smashed in nose. Yes Harry was indeed becoming a force to be reckoned with. Pity he had decided to leave his two best friends out of the loop this time.
Oh, he was no doubt certain they were hard on his trail. It was just a matter of how long Harry could stay hidden before they found him. Too bad he would need to interrupt them soon. He had more pressing matters that required their brand of fresh thinking.
Dumbledore smiled to himself as he conjured up bandages to bind his patient's ribs.
Snape's curses against the Potter spawn somehow seemed to bring a smile to the old man's face.
XXXXX
London – Number 12 Grimmauld Place – Library
"Vampires."
"Say what?" Ronald Weasley looked up from the tome of tracking charms he had been perusing.
"Vampires Ron." Hermione lifted the massive volume and dropped it before the red head, the weight of the book causing the old table to groan under the stress.
Ron always was amazed at how such a small person like Hermione could manage to lift and carry such heavy amounts of books without any strain. Being brought up in a magical environment his brain immediately supplied him with the most obvious answer. Magic.
"See here. It is stated here that while Werewolves are excellent trackers, Vampires greatly outclass them with both their excellent sense of smell and their own unique brand of magic." The bushy haired girl seemed excited after their numerous methods of trying to determine Harry's location had failed.
For a moment the two were almost certain that their friend was indeed truly dead. However, the fact that the charm always failed to locate anything meant that Harry was indeed alive and somehow blocking them. Even the dead gave off a location. Harry's was most definitely indicating he was not at Hogwarts and most certainly not encased in a marble tomb.
Hermione sniffed. Dumbledore's death had hit the two hard as they were the last ones to see him alive. Still the two of them were determined to find their friend and knock some sense into him. Remus was currently out of the country and promised to be back soon. Ginny was stuck at the Burrow aiding Mrs. Weasley renovate the place.
Hermione's musing was cut short when Ron pointed out the problem they had. "So all we need is a Vampire. Doesn't sound like someone you could easily find? Doesn't the Ministry keep a record of known Vampires?"
Hermione took a calming breath at the obvious statement. "No Ron, not just any Vampire can cast their version of a tracking spell. Only the powerful or aged ones can and that is provided they even know how. That rules out the Ministry known ones."
"Bugger."
"Language Ron." Hermione warned as she pondered.
Her pondering was interrupted by someone Apparating directly into the Black family library and startling the two.
Drawing her wand as Ron fumbled with his she was about to curse the intruder when she realized it was the last person she had expected.
Dumbledore smiled at the two students with his ever twinkling eyes. "Ah. Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, I don't suppose you might have seen a peculiar locket while cleaning the house would you.
The two students could only stare in shock at the supposedly dead man.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Unspeakable Safe House – Living Room
Harry grinned in amusement as Mary tripped on her own feet and over the couch as the Portkey deposited them in their living room. He supposed that, giving what he knew of Tonks balance, it was a Metamorphmagus trait to be clumsy.
Lucy had moved to lean against the couch backrest as she looked upon the Unspeakable tangled in her own robes curse up a storm.
The Vampire then turned her attention to Harry himself. "I believe you were quite well verse in Vampire lore Harry Potter." Seeing his nod she continued. "Why did you leave without consulting me?"
Harry raised an eyebrow as he pushed back his hood. "I was not in the best state of mind for a discussion at that time, therefore, not being able to make a rational decision I decided to send you here. Your safety is one of my responsibilities I believe."
Lucy seemed surprised at his argument "It is." She conceded. "However, it is also ultimately my decision if I should follow you into danger as well."
"I'll make sure to inform you the next time I do so then my Lady."
"Please." The Vampire agreed.
"Now that you two are done, James, get out of those robes and take off that shirt. I just patched you up and already you're wounded." The other female made to relieve her partner of his shirt.
Harry sighed and decided to just accept the Asian girl's help.
"You do know that your blood smells absolutely heavenly." Mary mentioned as she gave him a fanged grin.
"Don't remind me." Harry mumbled as wondered how many flasks of Blood Replenishing Potion he was going to need. "On that note we are going to have to return to Hogwarts again."
"Why?" Both girls seemed surprised.
Harry grinned. "You'll never believe who I was dueling in that forest."
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Astronomy Tower
Funny little loophole Harry had noticed about the Hogwarts wards were that they were designed to only zap anyone who entered with the purpose of causing harm within the school on their mind. They were made this way he supposed, or else not many would have been able to enter the castle's grounds at all.
This meant that those intending to carry out harm within the school were barred entrance, everything else was fair game. One could easily enter with intent to lure their victim out of the wards or in a fit of rage commit murder.
It was sad really. The magical school had developed such a formidable reputation for its wards but that was just what they were, a reputation. Sure the castle was indeed excellent when standing up against a siege or invading army. It was however rather susceptible against small infiltration-like attacks.
Sure they would be detected and the current Headmaster notified, unfortunately the famed protections were rather lacking until the castle was placed in full lock down. Too bad it took around an hour to do so.
Five minutes to lock down, thirty to engage defensive wards and another thirty for the offensive ones, sad really.
At least he supposed it was beneficial for him this time round, seeing as he was breaking and entering. Then again it wasn't really so if he was still registered as a student here.
Harry had been banking on that little loophole that he would be seen as a regular student and not an intruder. Lucy, of course accompanied him but she and Mary were both awaiting him at the edge of the wards.
It had been a while since he did anything solo, his rampage did not count. He grimaced at the biting cold wind atop the tower and once again renewed his warming charm.
He had flown past the Astronomy Tower as he continued to scout out the Auror numbers before his attempt at entering. As the secret passages were no doubt being monitored, he had chosen the most unexpected point of infiltration.
The front door.
It was perfect. It had heavy traffic and thus wasn't monitored with spells. The guards were a problem, but when one had an Invisibility Cloak, they became a minor inconvenience.
Judging by the four patrols of three outside the castle he could easily assume that there would be a further eight patrols within to both patrol and relieve those outside. This would come in handy if everything went south. At least he knew the numbers he had to deal with.
Thus, with great amusement Harry Potter infiltrated the castle via the front door, flying over the heads of the Aurors and using the height of the corridors to his advantage to fly over the internal patrols.
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Corridors
Minerva McGonagall had been immediately appointed as the new Headmistress of Hogwarts following Dumbledore's death. She had been voted in unanimously as there was simply no one else with as much experience in running the school as she.
Being the Deputy Headmistress already meant she knew most of the castle's administrative duties and seeing as Albus had been rather occupied with his other posts he had delegated most of his minor responsibilities to her and only took care of the important ones. As such, it was nothing new for her. The only difference was that she now had to go to the Headmaster's office to collect the documents rather than have Dumbledore send them via House Elf. She was considering shifting to the office but decided it was still too soon.
She had just spoken the password to the stone gargoyle when a voice coming from behind startled her.
"Sorry Professor."
"What…" She never finished as she slumped forwards from the stunner to the back.
Catching the Transfiguration teacher, he carefully carried her and stepped onto the revolving stairs. He wasn't about to leave her out in the corridor when one of the patrols might come upon her.
Other than having to stun his ex Professor, it was probably going to be his most uneventful mission ever.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries – Head Unspeakable Office
"Sit down Harry." Nicholas looked positively haggard.
It had been a few days since the funeral and his breaking into Hogwarts before Harry decided to pay his boss a visit and give him an update on the situation.
Harry immediately regretted not coming to see him sooner. The aged Alchemist had taken the death of his long time friend pretty hard.
"Please get this over with, I'm busy."
"Well for starters, you aren't busy, you're just upset that Dumbledore went and kicked the bucket." Harry offered.
"So what if I am? He was a good friend and a student of mine. I'm certainly allowed time to grieve." Nicholas snapped.
Harry decided to cut the old man some slack.
"Oh quit the moaning and mourning, he isn't as dead as you think."
"What?" Flamel looked alert again.
"Irritating old man like you and him just don't go and kick the bucket, unless it's natural and in your sleep. In your case, you missed yours a few centuries ago." Harry theorized.
"Oh hush. Now what's Albus gone and done this time?"
"Well, I had just returned from the mission with the Vampires and needed to get a flask of Mandrake Restorative Potion. I'll hand in that report in a few days. Everything was in the usual Potter style."
Nicholas sighed in that regard.
"Anyway, I saw the Prophet's headline and lost it."
"Would that be why we have three dead members of society that were suspected Death Eaters?" Nicholas interrupted.
"No idea what you mean old man." Harry calmly replied.
The Head Unspeakable simply grunted. "Continue."
"I turned up at Hogwarts to pay my respects. Dumbledore's funeral had ended but there were still some people arriving. So I stayed back when guess who I saw hiding out in the Forbidden Forest." Harry smiled.
"I would hazard a guess that it was our dear old Albus."
"No, actually it was Snape, and predictably I went after him. Him involved with killing Dumbledore and all that, you know." Nicholas nodded in understanding at Harry's words.
"I hope you didn't hurt him too bad."
"Nothing permanent. I was just about to pike his brain when the old codger decided to show up. Seems like he faked his death with the Draught Of Living Death. Smart of him really, getting Voldemort off his back and ensuring Snape a new position in the inner circle. Too bad he left the Wizarding community in turmoil with the loss of another leader."
"You're skipping a lot of details Harry." Nicholas observed.
"Telling you only what's important. Anyhow, Dumbledore realized that I too wasn't dead, told me he left me something in his office and that it would help. Do you have any idea how hard it is to break into the Headmaster's Office? The stupid gargoyle statue was layered with so many charms that my eyeglasses nearly blinded me when I enabled the Mage Sight, had to knock McGonagall out to get in. Just for that, I took all his journals as well."
"You could have brought this to me sooner you know. The funeral was five days ago." Flamel looked irritated.
"Would you rather I didn't tell you at all? Besides, I had over a century's worth of crap to read through."
"So you only care because you found something important?"
"Nope, I would have come in here sooner or later to drag you out of your funk. My curiosity won out when it came to Dumbledore's life stories. Did you know he managed to get drunk with a pair of nuns back in his seventh year?"
"Interesting." Flamel deadpanned. "Anything of actual importance?"
"Important as in Dumbledore had a crush on Marylyn Monroe, or Voldemort related work?"
Nicholas looked fairly tempted to ask Harry on the crush part but his sense of duty won true. "The Voldemort part."
"In that case, do you know what a Horcrux is?" Harry suddenly asked.
"An extremely dangerous and dark piece of soul magic. I suggest that you don't go attempting it." The old man advised without really taking much time to think.
"I don't intend to anytime soon. I like my existence the way it is, thank you. It's just that Dumbledore suggested that Riddle might have created several in his quest for immortality. The later entries confirmed that he did in fact make several. The Vampires themselves confirmed it as well."
"How many?"
"Six, including himself, seven." According to Albus.
"Sweet Merlin." Nicholas exclaimed.
"A magically powerful number, if not a tad foolish to go splitting your soul into so many fragments."
"Indeed. Do the notes tell of what they are?"
"You'll be happy to know that several of the more recent entries mention their supposed identities in detail. Two have been destroyed and the other five are missing."
"Any clues as to what they are?"
"Funny enough, the first was the diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle back in my second year. The other is Slytherin's Ring. Dumbledore took care of that one. The rest according to his latest notes are Slytherin's Locket, Ravenclaw's Tiara, Hufflepuff's Cup, Nagini, and Volde himself. The last entry stated he had gone after the locket but failed as it had been replaced by a Death Eater with the initials R.A.B. He seemed in a rush and said he was heading to go destroy the real locket."
"How did Dumbledore come to the conclusion regarding the identities of these Horcruxes?"
Harry shrugged. "Said Voldemort had a slight fetish for collectibles involving the founders of Hogwarts. So he just kept an eye out for missing collectibles. Sure enough, bam, missing ring, locket and goblet. The tiara he questioned the Ravenclaw ghost and Nagini he figured out from my dream back in fifth year. Pity he didn't mention how he was tracking them down."
"You'll figure it out. However, this R.A.B fellow… Curious." Nicholas mumbled as he pondered over the information for a while.
He then went to his filing cabinet and extracted a folder in which he leafed through very quickly.
"Gotcha." He exclaimed and tossed the think parchment to Harry.
The youngest Seeker in a century caught it easily enough.
"You have got to be kidding me?" He said when he had barely started. "Regulus Arcturus Black?"
"He fits the profile of known Death Eaters with the initials R.A.B."
"This is almost as interesting as my next piece of juicy information." Harry offered.
"Why is it that you seem to do Raven and Phoenix Division's jobs better than they do?"
"Because I'm the great Harry Potter. You can hide information but I'll find out soon enough." Harry gloated.
Flamel groaned. "What's the rest?"
"Just a small pet theory I have yet to test and confirm. It involves the Horcruxes and a few past memories."
"Noting is ever small with you." Nicholas noted.
"I don't think there are seven Horcruxes." Harry stated ignoring him.
"I'm not going to like this am I."
"Not really, no."
"So theorize away."
"Seven is a powerful magical number right? Voldemort chose it for the ultimate bad and evil take over the world reason. This was good and all for him because with the lucky number seven he was winning the war back in his first rise."
"Until you came along." Flamel added.
"Yes. He was only defeated because the prophesy said so. I guess that fate didn't really like him. All that killing must have come back to bite him in the ass. Karma's really a bitch when she wants to be."
Nicholas grunted and waved Harry to go on.
"That brought me to realize something. If he had the power of the magical number seven backing him all the time, why did he fail when ever he tried to resurrect himself back in my first and second year?"
"Someone's been busy playing with his Pensieve I see."
Harry ignored him.
"He should have succeeded easily, not that I'm complaining of course. I believe that ole Moldy Shorts screwed up on All Hallows Eve by creating an eighth Horcrux."
"Eh? I think I've lost you there Harry." Nicholas spoke slowly running the idea in his head.
"They say that a murder carried out in cold blood tears at your soul. Dark spells can then be used to completely severe the soul and infuse it into an object. Hence the creation of a Horcrux. Through ways that shall not be known, I discovered that my family is actually descendants of Godric Gryffindor."
"Actually you didn't need to use illegal means to find out Harry. Quite a few people know about this piece of information." Nicholas said.
Harry chose to ignore him. "I think Voldemort really chose to come to my house to obtain a possession of Gryffindor, killing my family off was a bonus as well. Killing three birds with one visit and all that. After all he did try to apply for the Defense position at Hogwarts to get at Gryffindor's Sorting Hat, but failed."
"Woah slow down. You mean he wanted to transfer one of his existing Horcruxes into an item of Gryffindor?"
"Completely possible if a tad dangerous, but hey, we're talking Voldemort here. Anyhow, I believe that when Riddle killed my parents he obviously tore at his soul, the rebounded killing curse was the perfect catalyst to rip it, thus creating a soul fragment and my scar."
"So he did get to infuse an item of Gryffindor after all." Flamel joked.
"I think me being human and very much alive classifies me as a being and not an item." Harry stated.
"Why do you think this Harry?"
"See, with eight fragments, Voldie was doomed to failure every time he tried to resurrect himself because lets face it eights an unlucky number in Arithmancy. Fortunately for him, I destroyed one of his Horcruxes in second year making the total number seven again. Hence his luck changed. Wormtail rescued him, his rebirth went ahead and he's had a complete year to plot. That and I start pinging when I get near one of his other little soul repositories."
"So you're saying that Dumbledore destroying one of the other fragments would mean that our luck would start to change?"
"Certainly looks like it." Harry pointed out. "My recent exploits have been surely pissing him off. Not to mention that soon it would be down to five when Dumbledore gets the locket"
"True." Flamel nodded. "So, did you know five is also a powerful number?"
"Oh crap." Harry deadpanned.
Author's Note:
Alright, another update has been posted. I feel amazed that it's before the end of my examinations as well. The chapter would most probably contain an enormous amount of spelling, grammar, punctuation and plot errors as I haven't yet had time to check through and fix them. Not much time when I have an exam in two days time. On that note, Happy Chinese New Year to all you people out there.
Next one would be in about the same amount of time. Already written up most of the end, just need to fill the rest. Just 2 more chapters till the end from here plus an epilogue of course.
In regards to my other Harry Potter story, it would be on permanent hiatus until I can work out how to fix all the bad plot developments and make a rewrite.
Innocence Of Guilt will be my main focus like it always has been.
As for Reality, my Evangelion piece, I very much recommend reading it and would probably update after I finish uploading the next chapter for Innocence Of Guilt.
For those of you who haven't watched Evangelion I advise watching the Rebuild Of Evangelion. The original was nice but extremely old, the new one is just simply amazing.
ENSIGN
Nunquam Lamiae Morde "Me Ictus"