.

Balance Factor Chapter 27

Year Five

News

A/N: We'll see Ryuuko again! No worries!

The fluctuation had become less apparent.

Darkness was stabilizing. It was getting easier to balance the realms, though Harry hadn't let down his guard just yet. Since Ryuuko's reappearance, he had been cautious to see whether it was Ryuuko's meddling, or if the balance really was re-stabilizing.

Ryuuko had told him that his inshi was in his successor, Akira. That was good. It meant that Akira had been accepted as the Direct King and the tuner for Light. Shirogane must have moved on.

Would it cross Shirogane's mind to look for him now that he had his counterpart? Harry doubted it. He wasn't even sure if Shirogane wanted to see him again.

"Kazuki?"

Opening his eyes, Harry picked up Kou's mirror and smiled at him. It was quite late at night, but apparently still very light out in Japan. Draco had told him to wait for him, as he would contact him at night about anything that happened.

"Hi, Kou. How are things going?" Harry asked.

"Quite well, actually. We're doing damage repairs," Kou said, grinning. "Today is my day off. So I decided to stay in and chat with you. How are things on your end?"

"I felt the balance stabilize," Harry said. "Kou…? I have a question. How much does Shirogane actually like Akira?"

Kou looked surprised. He sighed and then ran a hand through his hair. "They're close. Really close. I don't really know what you are looking for, but Shirogane's always been rather… attached."

"Because Akira is Ryuuko's successor or because he genuinely likes Akira?" Harry pressed, wanting to know. He had not told Kou of Ryuuko's return, saving it for a better time.

"I don't know… I'll ask Shisui about it, but I doubt there will be a straight answer," Kou said slowly. "Why the sudden interest?"

"Curious, I suppose. I have yet to meet them, after all," Harry said. He paused and pulled out Draco's mirror. "Alright, Kou. You rest. You look like you need it. Contact me later if you need anything."

Draco was watching him through the mirror. "Harry? Did you know that they're slandering your name through the Prophet?"

"Weren't they doing that all last year?" Harry asked. "What makes this any different?"

"They're saying some really nasty things. They don't want to believe the Dark Lord has returned," Draco said quietly. Harry raised an eyebrow at him in confusion, so Draco pressed on. "They're painting you as a tragic hero and a joke."

"That's fine," Harry said, pleasantly. "They are beneath me anyway. What's important is that you believe me. And Ron and Hermione. So do you? Or do you think I'm an attention seeking brat?"

Draco paused. For a second, Harry thought that he believed the Prophet, but then Draco spoke.

"Father's been talking about it, actually. How the Dark Lord rose again… And how a man in white robes wielding a scythe fought off the Dark Lord… How the Dark Lord was forced to retreat after one blow in fear of getting ripped in half," Draco said. "From what Father's told me, the Dark Lord has been scouring every possible resource to find out the origin of this man and how to defeat him. So far… he's found nothing but rumors."

"Rumors?" Harry asked. Draco gave a smile.

"Yes. Of a man wielding a scythe bringing good fortune. Of a man in white robes resurrecting people," Draco said. "Also, apparently, there was one account of when the man in white robes was fighting a man in black robes with a sword. I assume that it was Ryuuko in these tales. But these stories were ancient. Years and years and years ago. Hundreds of thousands."

"Probably Ryuuko then. Ryuuko hasn't been in the Human World for years and years," Harry said, nodding. "At least, not visible anyway. It's possible a wizard saw him though, since wizards are more spiritually aware."

"Father's been trying to help the Dark Lord, but hasn't found anything yet," Draco said. "It's strange, but Father says he doesn't feel any magic coming from Ryuuko. It's clear Ryuuko has some magic in him though, as he can enter Hogwarts, brew potions, and is liked by the house elves."

"He has magic, that I am sure of," Harry said, nodding. "It could be that his magic is on a different level. A completely different spectrum. I can sense his magic, but that may be because I also possess his magic."

"That's strange, because you definitely have magic," Draco said. "Our magic."

"I took it from Harry Potter, remember?" Harry reminded. "I integrated it within me. Ryuuko's a pure being. He doesn't have magic like you and me."

Draco nodded. "Okay. Anyway, I heard that they're also slandering Dumbledore. And Fudge is rather insistent."

"The best play for Voldemort right now is to lay low and remain unseen," Harry said calmly. "So I assume that's what he's going to do. While the Prophet is slandering us, anyway."

"Yeah," Draco said softly. "Be careful, okay?"

Harry smiled, waving at Draco as Draco disappeared. He put down the mirror and closed his eyes.

It seemed like ages ago when he last saw Ryuuko. Ryuuko had said they would meet again, but Harry had no idea when and how. The only thing that proved it wasn't all a dream was the echo in his Light of Ryuuko's presence. Where Ryuuko was and what he was doing, Harry had no idea.

He had entered his core days before, searching for the inshi Ryuuko spoke of. He couldn't see it. He didn't even feel it. But that didn't mean it wasn't there. It simply meant that he wasn't aware of it. And that might have been a good thing, as he would have no idea how to remove it anyway.

Harry rolled over in bed, yawning. Ryuuko's presence and Shirogane's completion. The Shadow inshi had been returned to Shirogane, it seemed. He had been so distracted by Ryuuko's return, he had not even looked at the Darkness inside him and study it. After Ryuuko vanished though, he scolded himself mentally for being so careless. Ron and Hermione seemed disappointed that Ryuuko was gone.

"Harry?"

Dudley slipped into his room. Dudley had taken to sticking around Harry, which, much to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's frustration, Harry tolerated. Dudley had definitely lost weight, his body stockier and less pudgy. He had taken up boxing.

Harry rolled over in bed, looking at him. Then he smiled and beckoned him over.

"Evening, Dudley. What's the matter? You can't sleep?" Harry asked, getting up in bed. He was starting to get used to Dudley visiting him in the evenings.

Dudley had been surprisingly friendly this summer. It could have been the heat getting to him though. They were in the middle of a particularly nasty heat wave and Harry's room was the coolest in the house.

"Yeah. Can I sleep here?" Dudley asked. Harry hummed, nodding. Dudley took the floor, curling up under a thin blanket. "Hey Harry?"

"Hm?" Harry asked, looking at the two mirrors. Kou was doing well, it seemed. And Draco seemed more troubled than he could ever remember him as. Was the stress bothering him that badly?

"Can you tell me more about your school?"

Harry closed his eyes. For the past three days, Harry had been telling Dudley about Hogwarts. "Last year was a little different than the previous years…"

-0-

Harry walked down the blazing hot road to the park. As he was cut off from the rest of the Wizarding world, with the exception of Draco, he didn't really have much to ponder over. Draco informed him of anything important, though he was a little put out as Ron and Hermione both didn't contact him.

He sat down on the grass, under a large tree. He closed his eyes, taking in deep breaths and sank into his core to examine the balance. Apparently, Akira had done wonders in stabilizing the balance. The fact that Shirogane was assisting him was also somewhat surprising. All he had to do was maintain it.

Opening his eyes and yawning, Harry looked around. It was getting darker, but he didn't mind. He rather liked the cool night air.

"Harry?"

Dudley was looking at him. Apparently he had separated from his friends and had come to find him.

"Hi Dudley," Harry said, nodding at him. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing much," Dudley said, watching Harry trail his fingers through his long black hair. "Why do you keep your hair long?"

"I like it long," Harry said. "And it's a sign of power in my world."

Dudley nodded and sat down next to him. He remained silent and then said, "I'll ask mum if you can join us for dinner today."

Harry glanced at his cousin and then shrugged. True to his word, he had cooked Dudley a fabulous dinner the year before. Dudley had eaten all of it fairly quickly, claiming it was delicious.

The air grew colder. Harry paused, a little confused. It was summer so it was a little unusual that the temperature would drop this much…

"Harry…? What's going on? I can't see…" Dudley sounded scared. His hand gripped Harry's arm in the darkness. Harry's eyes widened as he felt a light pull on the Darkness inside him.

"Get up and stay behind me," Harry said softly, sliding to his feet. "I think someone's going to attack…"

"Harry…" Dudley said, shrinking behind him, as if Harry could protect him. Harry held out his hand, spotting the creatures, as he had left his wand back at the house. He didn't expect creatures to be so bold to attack him so close to the Dursleys.

"Expecto patronum," Harry said clearly, pouring the Light in his Factor into the spell.

Like before, there was a blinding flash of light. A cat bounded out from Harry's hand, making Harry double over in surprise and then laugh in relief. It figured that Ryuuko's spiritual animal was a cat.

The cat swiped at the dementors and hissed. There was a pause and then one of the dementors advanced. The cat charged.

Harry almost laughed in amusement. The dementors glided away, the speckled cat swiping at it as it left.

Dudley gazed in surprise at the cat as the air warmed again. He walked up to it, reaching out to touch it, but the cat vanished into silvery white vapor. Dudley looked up at Harry.

"What happened…?" Dudley asked, his eyes wide.

Mrs. Figg ran up to him, grabbing him by the arm. "Harry! Don't put your wand away! You shouldn't be out here."

Dudley stared at her and then at Harry. Harry sighed deeply as Mrs. Figg rambled on about how it wasn't safe and how she was going to murder someone.

"Mrs. Figg, you're one of them too?" Dudley asked.

"I'm a squib boy," Mrs. Figg said, pulling Harry and Dudley along back to number 4. "Let's get you all home." She looked immensely worried, seeing that Harry had not drawn his wand or even moved to. "Hurry. Before more come."

Which was how Harry found himself explaining to the Dursleys what had happened. He had made a pot of tea for everyone, pouring out a cup for each of the Dursleys and then for himself. Dudley was the only one to drink it without hesitating. Harry paused in his story to read the letter from the Ministry and sighed, shrugging. Since they expelled him, he was free to leave then.

"Boy, you're telling me that you almost got Dudders killed today?!" Vernon growled, his whole face purple.

"If I wasn't there, he'd have lost his soul," Harry said calmly. "Really. Dementors aren't picky. They'll suck the souls out of muggles just as readily as wizards. The person who sent them after me probably was hoping I'd die today."

"They expelled you? After you saved me? That's not fair!" Dudley said. Harry reached up and caught a second letter, this time from Arthur Weasley.

"Since when has the government been fair, muggle or otherwise?" Harry said, scanning the note. Then he threw it to Dudley. "They've been slandering my name since I told them that a murder was on the loose." He reached up and grabbed the third letter. This one was from the Ministry. "A Hearing. Honestly, for a small incidence like this? It's not like I murdered anyone."

"Small?!" Vernon demanded, looking very plum like. "You almost murdered Dudders!"

Harry chose, very wisely, to ignore Vernon. Instead, he stood up.

"I'll get my things. They'll probably want to pick me up in a couple days," Harry said, nodding to Dudley. Dudley nodded back and then stood up.

"Good luck. If anything bad happens, you'll come back, won't you?" he asked, sipping his tea. Harry paused.

"Not likely," Harry said, ignoring Aunt Petunia's gasp. "I will probably go out traveling." He turned to Dudley and sighed. "I have some things I want to do."

"Oh… okay…"

Harry paused at the tone. "It's not goodbye, Dudley. Perhaps a 'see you later'. But not 'goodbye'."

-0-

Harry sat up when there was a crash down the stairs. He opened his bedroom door, sighing deeply and poking his head out the door, looking around. He raised an eyebrow and shut it again, sliding behind the door and holding his wand ready in case any of the intruders felt hostile. Then he thought better of it and slid his wand into his pocket, waiting behind the door.

The door opened. Harry tensed, ready for a fight, but wanting to hear what they wanted first.

"Potter, what are you doing behind the door?" A gruff voice spoke to him. Harry frowned, slightly mistrustful of the other man. The last Professor Moody he knew, after all, was an imposter.

"Professor Moody," Harry said calmly, deciding to go along with it for now. He stepped out from behind the door and crossed his arms.

"Hey Harry," another voice said. "We came to take you away."

"Professor Lupin," Harry confirmed. He paused again and shrugged a little, deciding that they weren't a threat. He grabbed his trunk and dragged it to the door, humming a little.

"Is he an imposter?" Moody growled.

"Harry, what form does your Patronus take?" Lupin asked.

"A unicorn," said Harry, shrugging.

"That's him Mad-Eye."

"Take out your broom. We're flying," Moody said. "I'm going to check the cloud cover." He hobbled out the door as Harry saw the rest of the group.

"Why are we flying?" Harry asked. "Isn't that horribly unsafe?" He opened his trunk and removed his broom, sighing deeply. He didn't really want to fly right now, but it seemed he had no choice.

"To avoid detection from the Ministry," another man said. "You're in a bit of a pinch with them already. Don't want to make it worse."

"If they had come to snap my wand, they'd really be in a pinch when Voldemort shows up on their doorstep," Harry said bluntly. "But I suppose with all the slander, no one will believe me until Voldemort shows his ugly snake face."

Several people snorted with laughter. Harry walked out the doors of Number 4 and looked back.

"See you around!" He said, mounting his broom.

-0-

Number Twelve Grimmauld Place was a rather dusty place. Harry decided he didn't like it very much.

With all the enchantments on the house, Harry felt somewhat safe. As soon as he entered, the house responded to his core, his Darkness pulsing once in his body. Harry paused and then continued on, moving into the kitchen with quick steps.

There was a crack and then a ragged, dirty house elf looked up at him. Harry raised an eyebrow at the elf, looking back at him.

Tears gathered in the house elf's eyes and the house elf ran forward, grabbing Harry's knees and crying into them. Harry stumbled, but managed to regain his balance, looking somewhat baffled by the elf's behavior.

"KREACHER! OFF!"

The house elf gave Sirius a dirty look and slowly detached from Harry's knees. Harry paused, looking at his godfather.

"Hello, Sirius," he said, looking at the sulking elf. "That would be your house elf then?"

"Yeah… This is my dear old family home," Sirius said, looking up at the dusty ceiling. "We're still doing some tidying up."

Kreacher was muttering some very offensive things about Sirius. Sirius growled at the elf and barked at him to go clean something. Kreacher scowled and shuffled away. Sirius turned back to Harry.

"Sorry about him," Sirius said. "He's a bit nutty."

"He doesn't seem to like you very much," Harry said, looking at Sirius. "I'll talk with him instead."

"Don't bother. He's not worth the effort," Sirius said, waving a hand. "You must be curious about what's happening."

"Not really," Harry admitted, deciding to ignore Sirius' blunt disrespect to the house elf. "I've been keeping up, actually. More of Voldemort's side, so I know what's going on generally."

Sirius looked like he had been hit in the face. "So you know…?"

"About him searching for Ryuuko?" Harry asked, nodding. "Yes. I know. I also know that he's planning on finding someone who can fight him."

"You're not worried?" Sirius asked, beckoning him to the table. People were gathering, looking up at him when he entered. "I mean, I'm not underestimating Ryuuko or anything, but if he finds someone able to fight Ryuuko."

"There is only one man who is able to fight on par with Ryuuko," Harry responded. People all turned to Harry in surprise, waiting for him to continue, but Harry stopped there.

"If that's true then won't it be problematic if You-Know-Who gets to them and recruits them?" Sirius asked. Harry considered the thought.

"Not really, since they would more likely be hugging the daylights out of Ryuuko than killing him," Harry responded, taking a seat. "So, am I going to be brought up to speed? Order of the Phoenix and all?" He paused as Ron and Hermione both ran in. "Well, hi. Thanks for, you know, not talking to me at all over the summer."

"Harry!" Ron said, looking guilty. "We wanted to, but we couldn't!"

"Dumbledore's orders, I would guess," Harry deduced. "Sensitive information should not be passed by owl in case of interference, but honestly? Your letters were borderline boring. You could have at least told me funny stories or what you've been up to."

"The Order is comprised only of overage wizards and witches," Lupin said.

"Yes, yes, but apparently, Professor Dumbledore is expecting me to fly into this blind and not knowing anything about Voldemort's movements," Harry said. "A stupid tactic. There are other ways I can obtain information."

"Like Draco Malfoy?" Sirius asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Apparently more helpful than the whole Order," Harry added, looking sharply at Sirius, not appreciating his tone. "At least he's been keeping me up to date about what he's heard." He crossed his legs and placed both his elbows on the table, leaning forward. "So how about it? Are any of you going to tell me?"

"You're too young," Molly pressed, looking affronted. Harry frowned at her.

"Apparently not too young to get targeted by Voldemort three out of four school years," Harry said calmly. "And survive. Battle is inevitable and if you continue to think you can protect me when Voldemort is so venomously after me, you're sorely mistaken. How many die along the way from Voldemort to me is entirely up to you. Please don't make the mistake in thinking that I am an amateur when it comes to battle tactics."

Molly remained silent after that. She turned to Ron and Hermione.

"Alright, fine, but you two!"

"Harry will tell us everything he's heard anyway," Ron said quickly. "Won't you?"

Harry gazed at him, spotting the other Weasley children piling in. He took a deep breath and said, "Of course I would."

Hermione and Ron beamed.

Molly turned to Fred and George, but Arthur Weasley refuted her. Then she sent Ginny up to bed. Harry closed his eyes calmly, ignoring Molly's whispers of "Dumbledore said not to tell him more than he needs to know".

"So, start talking," Harry said, tapping his fingers against the table.