AN: I forgot to give you an explanation in the AN at the end of the last chapter. I have added some information now; it's not that important, it's just some trivia but I thought it would be a nice thing to do for those who had not heard about Elizabeth Bathory and Vlad the Impaler before. For more details, you can check Wikipedia, of course.

I didn't keep you hanging for too long, did I? Second chapter this week~ enjoy!

Chapter 20 - Kill

'Anti-Disapparation Jinx!' was the first thought that came to his mind and he immediately became alert. A feeling of danger washed over him. Decades spent on the battlefield had not been erased after just 1 year and a half of peace. His instincts had not disappeared.

But Bellatrix had yet to stand up from where she had fallen when a scream came from behind them:

"Avada Kedavra!"

Her eyes wide in fear and disbelief, Bellatrix only had the time to turn her head towards the scream and watch as a green bolt of light flew at her.

However, having become alert from the very moment they failed to Disapparate, Harry reacted instantly. He pointed his wand at the incoming Killing Curse and said calmly:

"Avis."

A flock of over 20 yellow birds flew out from the tip of his wand and tanked the supposedly unblockable Killing Curse. It was a very simple trick to block the Killing Curse but very few people had the presence of mind to use this third-year spell against the infamous curse.

"Oppugno."

The bird that had been hit by the Killing Curse fell to the ground lifelessly but the other 19 launched themselves head-first at their targets. They were not meant to do any actual damage, just to distract his opponents. They were quickly vanished by his enemies but they had more than served their purpose.

As for Bellatrix, her heart was beating as if to jump out of her chest. She had thought that she was going to die. For the first time in her life, she cursed the fact that she was wearing high heels. Her vanity and pride in her physical appearance had almost caused her to lose her life. But when the Killing Curse was blocked by such a banal spell - any 12 or 13-year-old child could conjure a flock of birds - she looked at the boy in front of her blankly.

"Aguamenti."

A torrent of water burst from his wand and started to magically float like a curtain, in a sphere around them. It was a massive amount of water.

"Good girl," Harry whispered towards his wand.

He could feel it through their connection that the fir and dragon heartstring wand was giving its all to amplify his magic spells. The wand had become almost hot to the touch due to the intensity of his magic power and it was trembling from the power of his spells. The feisty wand from before was now like an eager child that was doing everything in their power to please their parents.

At his praise, the wand sent a current of warmth through his arm. It was as if it was singing in delight at finally being recognized. Even Harry himself could not help but be infected by her enthusiasm. He even forgot about pretending to be just a 12-year-old boy. He forgot that he was not supposed to cast spells nonverbally.

The enormous curtain of water was still floating around them like a protective dome when arcs of electricity sparked on the tip of his wand and struck the water. The water was still visibly crackling with white and blue arcs of electricity when he used an area of effect Banishing Charm to blast the electrified water outwards.

Agonized screams came from some of the people surrounding them as they were zapped to unconsciousness or death. Hidden by black robes and wearing skull masks on their faces, out of the original 10, only 7 silhouettes were still standing around Harry and Bellatrix, with Shielding Charms around themselves; the other 3 had either fallen unconscious or died.

It was then that Bellatrix had finally recovered from her shock and stood up. With a simple wave of her wand, her elegant and sexy high heeled black shoes were transfigured into a pair of boots.

"So I take it that Voldemort is back?" she said conversationally as if she didn't almost get killed a few moments ago. The people surrounding them were wearing the same outfits and masks that Death Eaters used to wear in the war from a decade ago.

"You dare speak his name, wench?" one of the seven cloaked people surrounding them shouted. Going by his voice, it was a man. He dropped his Shielding Charm and thrust his wand at Bellatrix. A yellowish beam of light began to form on the tip of his wand...only to suddenly be extinguished a split of a second later.

"No Bone-Breaking Curses for you. Amateur. Haha!" Bellatrix laughed, having recognized the wand movement and cast the counter-curse before the man could even finish casting his spell. (1)

It was Harry's turn to look at her in surprise. What she had done was something only duelling masters were capable of. Wizards such as Severus Snape from his past life, or the likes of Voldemort and Dumbledore. It seemed that spending the last 10 years in peace had not diminished her skills with a wand in the least.

The seven Death Eaters were momentarily silent at her display of skill and her mockery. Despite the masks they were wearing Harry could sense their uneasiness. In the beginning, there had been 10 of them. Their job was supposed to be easy; how could 10 men not be able to take care of just a woman and a little boy? However, in the blink of an eye, three of them had been taken out. Now, despite being 7 against 2, they were not feeling that confident anymore.

"You don't expect to fight against seven of us and win, do you?" one of the Death Eaters began to say. "Give yourself up and I promise to let the boy go. You care about him, don't you? Such a young and promising young boy, the descendant of Salazar Slytherin himself...wouldn't it be a shame for him to die here? He has a bright future ahead of-"

Whatever he had was going to say was left unsaid because, in the next moment, he fell on the ground screaming in agony.

"Crucio!"

It was Bellatrix who had cast the curse. For the first time since he had started living with her, Harry saw her truly angry.

Fortunately for the one suffering under her curse, Bella was forced to cancel the spell and use her wand to deflect a dangerous curse coming from one of his fellow Death Eaters. It was like the bolt of purple light encountered a mirror when it met her wand because it was redirected to the side, into another cloaked man. The unfortunate Death Eater howled in agony as his eyeballs burst from his skull. He died on the spot.

As much as Harry would have loved to watch the grace with which the beautiful and deadly witch was weaving through her attackers' spells, he was afraid for her safety. He could not let her fight alone against 6 of them. He pointed his wand at one of the Death Eaters and said:

"Imperio!"

The man in question laughed.

"You think a snot-nosed brat like you has the strength of will to make me obey?"

His words made his friends relax, fooling them into thinking that the boy's Imperius Curse had failed (as it was supposed to, considering that he was just a little boy). However, even as he laughed and said those words, the Imperiused Death Eater raised his wand and pointed it at one of his fellows. His target fell to the ground with a bloody hole in his throat courtesy of a Piercing Curse to the back of his neck.

The battlefield descended into chaos. There were only 4 hostile Death Eaters left and 1 Imperiused, under Harry's control now. Two of them started to hurl curses at Bellatrix while the other two turned to attack Harry and the man he was controlling. An involuntary smile appeared on his young face. It was a smirk of derrision and schadenfreude. Chaos? He thrived in it.

The Imperiused Death Eater started shooting deadly curses with wild abandon, not caring about his safety in the least - not trying to parry, block, deflect, or dodge any spells. His frenzied attacks took one of his former friends down but he fell to the other Death Eater's Killing Curse too.

The last surviving Death Eater from the team that split to deal with Harry levelled his wand at him and cast again:

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Is that the only spell you know how to cast? ...What else can I say other than - like master, like dog?" Harry taunted as he almost lazily conjured another flock of birds that blocked the Killing Curse.

The Death Eater swore under his breath in frustration. He could not understand how had 5 of them fallen at the hands of a 12-year-old boy. Looking at the mocking expression on the young boy's face, inexplicably, a feeling of terror crept up in his heart. He voiced out the terror he felt when he saw that the flock of yellow birds flying at him were suddenly transfigured into snakes.

A wave of fire came from the tip of his wand and incinerated all the snakes flying at him but, in the next moment, his own skull mask suddenly disappeared from his face...and another snake appeared in its stead, coiled around his head. It was a viper.

"M-Mercy, please!" feeling his death approaching, the Death Eater pleaded for mercy desperately.

A short hiss came out of Harry's mouth:

"Kill him."

When it came to those that attacked him or the ones he loved, the word "mercy" did not exist in his vocabulary anymore. Thinking that they had tried to kill him and Bellatrix, he watched indifferently how the viper sank its venomous teeth into the man's cheek.

⁂

"What's with that wide flourish of your wand?" Bellatrix cackled as she made fun of one of her two opponents. "Are you giving a performance or trying to kill me? You only need a small V movement to cast the Reductor Curse."

Even as she was speaking, her wand was not idle. She intercepted a Blasting Curse, stopping it before it could be cast and then shot a Cutting Curse at the other Death Eater who scrambled to dodge by throwing himself to the side.

"I swear the quality of Death Eater is much lower than 10 years ago. What happened to you all? Dodging is for amateurs."

The one who had just thrown himself to the side to avoid her Cutting Curse felt his face burn with shame under his skull mask.

"Shut your trap, bitch!" he screamed. "Avada Kedavra!"

Bellatrix took a page out of Harry's book and a flock of yellow birds were conjured out of thin air, easily blocking the Killing Curse.

"You guys are no fun~" she complained in a sing-song voice and pouted. "Even ickle Harry finished your pals off, I should wrap it up soon too, no?"

Saying those words, she stopped toying around with her opponents. She fired a Stunning Charm at one of them, anticipating that he would use a Shielding Charm to block it. Just as the red bolt of light was stopped by a transparent shield, another spell was shot from her wand and it pierced through the Shielding spell and then through the Death Eater's body too, like a hot knife through butter. The man collapsed to the ground with a football-sized chunk of his torso missing and the spell even continued on its trajectory and demolished the wall of a store behind too.

The other Death Eater only now came back to his senses, after his other 9 mates died. Filled with panic, he tried to Disapparate but he only managed to make a rather amusing twirl and fall on his butt on the muddy and bloodied street - Harry had preemptively cast his own Anti-Disapparition Jinx to prevent any would-be escapees.

A Disarming Charm hit the man squarely and his wand flew out of his hand, right into Bellatrix's. She twirled it through her fingers playfully as she walked to the collapsed man on the ground.

"Oh my, would you look at that? You've actually survived until the end! How unlucky- pardon me, I meant to say how lucky of you!"

She giggled but her laughter did not quite reach her eyes. Her violet eyes were glowing with rage. The last surviving Death Eater was none other than the one that had tried to negotiate with her by telling her to give herself up.

"What was it that you said? That it would be a shame for my boy to die? That he has a bright future ahead of him?" She laughed. "You're damn right, he does! Crucio!"

The Death's hoarse screams sounded terrible to the ears as she held the curse on him. He even lost control over his bowels and a pungent smell of urine and faeces filled the air.

"Bella... I think it's enough," Harry's voice came from behind.

It was not that he felt pity for the tortured Death Eater nor that he felt any disgust towards her actions.

'Merlin knows I've tortured and killed my share of enemies in the war.'

He had only stopped her because he was scared. Afraid for Bellatrix to not fall into the footsteps of the psychotic woman that he used to know in his past life. Just by casting the Cruciatus Curse two times, she had made a man lose all semblance of control over his body and wet and shit himself.

'Either this guy is very weak to pain or Bella is particularly talented with the Cruciatus Curse in this world too... I'm inclined to think it's the latter,' he thought.

Bellatrix slowly let her hand down at Harry's plea and stopped torturing the man. However, she was not done with him. Not yet.

"Tell me, who sent you?"

The Death Eater was shivering and convulsing on the ground, seemingly unable to utter a word.

"Maybe you want another taste of the Cruciatus?"

Threatened with another round of torture, the Death Eater struggled to say while his voice was trembling through his sobs:

"C-Can't. U-un-unbreakable V-v-vow."

"I see," she said. She had a passive expression on her face, making one not know what she was thinking at that moment. She raised her wand at the Death Eater again and he whimpered in fear but she did not cast the Cruciatus Curse again. Instead, another incantation came out of her mouth:

"Legilimens!"

However, Bellatrix only had the chance to briefly see the image of a rather handsome middle-aged man with black hair and cold eyes before she was thrown out of the Death Eater's mind. At first, she thought that he had pushed her out with Occlumency...however, after such cruel torture, not even the greatest of Occlumens would be capable of protecting their minds anymore. When she took a second look at him, she realized that the man had died.

"It looks like he wasn't lying. He must've taken an Unbreakable Vow to keep everything about his master secret," she concluded. "At least I got to see his face. I don't think I've met him until now but I'll definitely recognize him the next time I see him."

Just having his mind read and divulging the appearance of the one who had sent them on their missions had caused the Unbreakable Vow to take effect and kill the Death Eater.

"Are they all dead? Merlin...you killed 7 of them?! You killed..."

It was as if Bellatrix was only now realizing just what had transpired: her dear Harry, a 12-year-old boy, had easily killed 7 grown-up wizards. He did not even seem winded up, there was not even a hint of sweat on his cheeks or anything to show he had put in any effort. There was no hint of remorse either, nor any emotions of fear in his green eyes. Despite having lived with Harry for over a year already, Bellatrix wanted to ask him at that moment: 'Who are you?'. Inwardly, she was deeply startled. What kind of boy did not even blink after taking a life, let alone seven?

'Is he a sociopath?'

Seemingly unaware of Bellatrix's inner turmoil, Harry cast a Human-Presence-Revealing spell. It was the most accurate way of detecting whether one was alive or dead because this spell could not be fooled, not even the Draught of Living Death could fool it. It was to make sure nobody was faking being dead and attack him from behind or escape.

The spell revealed that among the first three that had been incapacitated by his water and electricity conjuration spells in the beginning, one of them was still alive though unconscious. He pointed his wand at that unconscious Death Eater. In the next moment, his head was cleanly removed from his body with a Severing Curse.

"No need for trash like this to waste the Aurors' time and resources. They're all most likely useless since they made an Unbreakable Vow. It was better to cleanly dispose of him. Less trouble for us too. Dead men tell no tales," he said to Bellatrix calmly, as if he did not just execute someone in cold blood. It was like he was not among a pile of dead bodies, stepping in a pool of blood, but sitting in a coffee shop and talking about the weather.

He knew that there is no way he could convince an intelligent person like Bellatrix that he was a normal boy any longer. Not after such a display. In a way, he felt apprehensive regarding the talk they were going to have but on the other hand, he felt relieved at no longer needing to pretend he was a young boy anymore. Relieved at finally coming clean with the person he cared the most about in this world. After all, what he had written to Fleur in the letter earlier that day had not been a lie. Over the past year, he had grown to care about Bellatrix and see her as his family.

Despite her inner turmoil, Bellatrix could see that there was something on Harry's mind. Not caring about the mud and blood on the street, she knelt to be on the same eye level with him and gently embraced his little body to her chest.

"I think you should call the Aurors," Harry said while also wrapping his arms around her midsection and returning her hug.

She broke the hug and cupped his face tenderly with her hands.

"We'll talk at home, okay? Just know that, no matter what, I will not give up on you. You saved my life. I'll never forget that."

She pressed her lips to his forehead and embraced him again.

"I love you, Harry," she whispered while gently running her fingers through his hair and caressing the back of his head. "I'll never give you up," she said again.

He did not trust himself to keep his voice steady so he stood silent. Her words touched him too. His only answer was to bury his face in her hair and tighten his arms around her back. Although he did not say it out loud, he knew deep inside that he loved her too.

AN: Looking forward to your reviews^^

(1) This is not a fanon thing, it's canon. Skilled duellists can intercept spells and "block" them before their opponents can even finish casting them. Snape did that to Harry in the canon a few times. He even intercepted and stopped Harry's Cruciatus Curse.

[Explanation]

"Cruc —"
But Snape parried the curse, knocking Harry backward off his feet before he could complete it; Harry rolled over and scrambled back up again as the huge Death Eater behind him yelled, "Incendio!"
Harry heard an explosive bang and a dancing orange light spilled over all of them: Hagrid's house was on fire.
"Fang's in there, yer evil — !" Hagrid bellowed.
"Cruc —" yelled Harry for the second time, aiming for the figure ahead illuminated in the dancing firelight, but Snape blocked the spell again. Harry could see him sneering.

This is an excerpt from the 6th book - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Chapter "Flight of the Prince", page 602.