CHAPTER 7:

PROBING ATTACKS

Baby Bonny Hood had to laugh at the stupidity of the Death Eaters. After all, they could have found out about Harry's address simply by looking it up in a phonebook. But then again, Magical Britain was mostly stuck in the Victorian or Edwardian eras. Hell, the magical communities all across the world were stuck at least several decades in the past for the most part. Okay, large concentrations of magic tended to make electronics go haywire, but really, did anyone do any R&D to fix that?

BB Hood held more than a little contempt for wizards. Not as much as she did for Darkstalkers, though one didn't get bounties for killing wizards, unless the local authorities posted one (unfortunately, she had been out of the country and otherwise preoccupied when the hunt for Sirius Black was on). But they were so stupid, so backward, so insular, she could all but hear the banjos. It was the same in almost every magical enclave across the world, that they were so backward, and yet so assured of their own superiority. Admittedly, so were many Darkstalkers, but then again, most Darkstalkers were way more powerful than the average wizard. Voldemort might as well have been a Darkstalker himself in terms of power, though (and appearance: damn, he was uglier than more than a few Darkstalkers BB Hood herself had encountered), and killing him would be tricky, but BB Hood was going to give it a damn good shot.

She hoped that Voldemort or his associates would be so stupid as to try and stab her in the back. Many of Voldemort's followers were old money, like that Malfoy guy. That was partly the reason why she made the price for Harry Potter's demise, along with that of this Succubus who was accompanying him, so damned ruinous. She wanted to take these fuckers for every penny they had.

Of course, she also knew that a personage like Harry Potter would not be protected by just a Darkstalker, especially with Voldemort on the rise. Dumbledore may have been a semi-senile old fool at least, but there had to be some form of protection in the first place. Which was why, after getting to her stash, she made her way into Privet Drive and began surveying the street discreetly from a distance with some very expensive instruments she had bought years ago in Knockturn Alley. She wasn't dressed in her Red Riding Hood outfit either: she only did that when she wanted to be conspicuous. Though a witch (or a wizard for that matter) would probably think otherwise. But they were mentally retarded by default.

The first thing she noticed was the person in the Invisibility Cloak sitting opposite the home address. She was scanning from a house nearby that didn't have anyone currently living in it. The binoculars she had were expensively modified Omnioculars that could detect magic. The person currently watching the house was visible as an outline, like that in a thermal imaging camera. BB Hood wrinkled her nose in disgust. The man was drinking from a flask. She even had a directional microphone, and she recognised the man's voice as he muttered drunkenly to himself.

Jeez, it's Dung, she thought to himself. That drunken idiot of a spiv(1). Bilked me out of my money. If he's Potter's guard dog, Dumbarse-dore is really hurting for hired help. Then again, he's muttering about someone called Lupin. Hmm, wonder if he means Remus Lupin?

She knew of Remus Lupin as one of many werewolves in Britain. She hadn't targeted him yet for a number of reasons. Firstly, he never attacked anyone to her knowledge. Secondly, no bounty had been posted on him as yet. And thirdly, she had cased his house, and found nothing of interest that she could loot after killing him.

With that thought, she raised the Omnioculars to the Dursley household, and frowned. That was interesting: a few strong wards were there. Targeted towards hostile wizards, though one of them, she hadn't seen before.

As she adjusted the Omnioculars, she could see into the house proper. A couple of normal humans (well, one was disgustingly obese) on the ground floor, and on the top floor…oh. Oh shit.

BB Hood scowled. Had she identified one of the figures incorrectly? There were three figures in a room on the top storey of the house. One seemed human, albeit with a power level that was on a par with a weaker Darkstalker or even a Night Warrior, so she guessed that was Harry Potter. But the outlines she had seen suggested two Succubi. One was a shorter one, apparently in her teens, so she guessed that may have been the one Voldemort reported. But the other…taller, definitely an adult…

…And if she didn't know any better, the outline looked like Morrigan Aensland.

Of all the Darkstalkers, particularly the residents of Makai, there were a number of them that were the strongest of the strong. BB Hood had educated herself rigorously about them. Jedah Domah, the self-styled Dark Messiah who disappeared long ago, though whether he was dead or not was another matter. Ozom, one of Jedah's former underlings, and the power behind revenant rocker Lord Raptor. Demitri Maximoff, one of the most powerful vampires, if not THE most powerful, exiled to Earth after trying to usurp Belial Aensland. There was Belial Aensland himself, the ruler of Makai and the Darkstalker generally acknowledged to be the most powerful.

And then, there was Morrigan Aensland, Belial's adopted daughter and heiress.

Morrigan was noted for being something of a shameless hedonist and wastrel, but for all that, she was also one of the most powerful Darkstalkers to ever exist. And while BB Hood could take her on, she knew that it wasn't something she could just do on a whim. Confronting the Succubus head-on was, while possible given BB Hood's training regime and enhancements, not a desirable course of action.

She was so going to demand more money from Voldemort and his underlings for this…

Harry grunted as Morrigan tried to enter his mind again as they sat in his bedroom. Learning Occlumency was fairly difficult, and while Morrigan put him through many useful exercises, she also tested him by attacking his mind, albeit with his permission. As her probe withdrew, she said, "Good. Keep in mind, Harry, that while my form of mental attack is different to Legilimency, it is also more powerful, so your Occlumency, while not as good as it could be, is still enough to deflect most attacks. That being said, I'm not that good at it, not as good as others of my kind. I take a more…direct approach. But I use mental intrusion to discern the fantasies of the men I seduce, and change my appearance accordingly."

"Will his Occlumency be enough to stop, say, Voldemort?" Lilith asked.

"Difficult to say, but it should stop a casual probe from him. But you'll need to make more of an effort to deflect a more concerted attack, from what I know about Voldemort. He is a master Legilimens, and only uses it as little as he does because he prefers the instant gratification of the Cruciatus Curse," Morrigan said. "Your mind already has innate protection being a Darkstalker. Harry, however…"

"Yeah, it still feels unpleasant," Harry said with a grimace.

"I know, and I'm sorry," Morrigan said, tenderly stroking his cheek, and giving him a gentle smile. "You've had a crappy life, Harry. I see parts of your memories when I invade. I've led a life of privilege by comparison. And yet, these fools can't decide whether you are their messiah, or just a naughty boy. Sheep, Harry. Like the bulk of humanity, they are but herds of sheep. But you are greater than them. You have part of my power within you. What you do with that power, I don't care, as long as you don't oppose my father and I. Though I sincerely hope you won't be boring with it. Anyway, I think we should go for a walk. I want to stretch my legs…"

As they walked out of the Dursleys' house, Morrigan and Lilith both sniffed. So too did Harry, with his senses gradually getting better since Morrigan's training. Soon, he wouldn't need glasses. "Alcohol?" he murmured.

"I smell that idiot sometimes," Morrigan said. "He's not here at the moment, but he was until a couple of minutes ago. One of Dumbledore's little watchmen."

Harry nodded grimly. They had met Lupin once hiding underneath an Invisibility Cloak, and they would later meet one of Sirius' cousins, a Metamorphmagus by the name of Tonks, who was promptly propositioned by Morrigan, much to Tonks' bemusement. "Shouldn't he be at his post?"

"I doubt he cares," Morrigan said, before frowning. "I also sense a very familiar presence. Harry, Lilith, stay close."

The trio made their way to a park, before Morrigan spoke, more quietly, "I thought I sensed the presence of an enemy of ours."

"What do you mean?" Lilith asked.

"A Night Warrior, and one of the worst," Morrigan said. "Baby Bonny Hood."

"Who?" Harry asked.

"Think Little Red Riding Hood, only she is, as you humans put it, packing heat," Morrigan said. "She may be young, but she's ruthless, skilled, and is capable of going toe to toe with even stronger Darkstalkers. I've fought her before."

"What's she doing in Privet Drive?" Harry demanded.

"At a guess? The pair of you," Morrigan said. "Many Night Warriors are mercenaries, and BB Hood's skills are available to the highest bidder. I'm only speculating, but if Voldemort wanted you dead, Lilith, he'd get BB Hood to do it. Not that you'd die: as long as Harry's still alive, you can reform your body, as you share the same soul. And Voldemort would want Harry alive, at least long enough to torture and then kill. As long as you're with me, you should be safe: while she is a skilled fighter, I am more powerful than she is, and it would take too long for her to take me down. Still, that means the Dursley house may have been compromised. Even with those Blood Wards, it may not be safe anymore. When we get back there, we'll have to send a letter to Dumbledore with Hedwig. I think we…" And that's when they noticed the darkening sky, the lowering temperatures.

"Please tell me that's not what I think that is," Lilith muttered.

Morrigan shook her head. "We're not that lucky. Dementors. I can sense them coming for us."

Dementors, Harry had learned from Morrigan, were the result of experiments dark wizards had done on captured Succubi and Incubi. While weak Darkstalkers in terms of physical ability, they more than made up for it in their sheer ability to cause fear and sorrow in their prey. Even other Darkstalkers weren't safe: Morrigan admitted that Dementors could affect her. Not to as great a degree as they could affect humans, but her Soul Fist attack would only send them into a frenzy, rousing their hunger.

Of greater concern were Harry and Lilith. Morrigan could fight off Dementors easily, but Lilith and Harry were another matter. Not only were they susceptible to the Dementors' aura, but if one of them fell to a Dementor's Kiss, then the other would die, given their shared soul.

"Quick, we need to find somewhere to open the portal without anyone noticing," Morrigan snarled, grabbing the pair of them and rushing down the street, finally finding an alleyway. Harry began hearing the pleas of his mother, the laughter of Voldemort, before Morrigan slashed open reality, and dived through, just before the Dementors could see them.

However, the Dementors could sense when their prey had left, and they emitted keening screeches of fury that echoed around the street, their cries sending shivers down the spine of everyone in the street who could hear them…

Her father getting torn apart by the werewolf…her mother managing to gouge out the werewolf's eye with a silver necklace's trinket before being eviscerated…the sheer fear of being unable to do anything…hiding, trembling at her parents' request…

BB Hood shook the memories out of her head with a vicious snarl as she stormed out of the house, weapon in hand. She had faced these damned things before. The wizards thought that the only way to deter or stop a Dementor was with a Patronus.

Well, necessity was the mother of invention, as they said.

BB Hood had remained in her hired house when Morrigan came out with Harry and the other Succubus. She had stayed behind and not attempted to follow them for now. She needed to plan things out before attempting to take on someone like Morrigan. If it was just Harry and the other Succubus, it'd be another matter, but three against one, with one of the three being one of the strongest Darkstalkers? Nope, nope, and more nope.

And that's when it all went wrong.

The Dementors, after she heard their frustrated screeching echoing through the street, had started coming down it. And she realised that they were heading for Harry's home.

Now, she didn't do pro bono work. But on the other hand, the Dursleys may be grateful enough to spill information about Harry and the Dursleys' new guests. Plus, maybe there was something in the house worth looting.

And in any case, Dementors pissed her off something fierce.

"Hey!" she yelled at the Dementors. She pumped a round into her shotgun, the distinctive loud click better than any Patronus in dispelling the effects of the Dementors' aura. For her, anyway. "You've got to earn your meal, you soul-sucking bastards!" As the Dementors' heads swivelled to peer at her, even though they didn't have eyes, she fired the first round of enhanced buckshot into one of them.

The buckshot was something she had come across in Europe, created by an enterprising Muggleborn recently to combat Darkstalkers. The buckshot had special runes engraved to strengthen the buckshot, allowing it to tear through the hide of even the toughest magical creatures. It could penetrate dragonhide, which was practically mega-Kevlar and spell-resistant to boot.

At relatively short range, the buckshot turned one Dementor into a cloud of vile-smelling mince. The second one had just enough time to process what happened to its comrade in sheer incomprehension, enough time for BB Hood to reload. However, this Dementor immediately fled, and BB Hood's second shot went wide. BB Hood screamed at it, "Hey! No dine-and-dashers! Come back and take your bloody medicine!", and shot another round, but by this point, it was out of range.

As the aura of the Dementors cleared away, BB Hood snarled in rage. Partly because she never liked leaving a job half-finished, and that Dementor fleeing was a loose end. Partly because someone had sent them here to attack Harry. She didn't know for sure, but she had a major hunch. And NOBODY stole HER PREY from her! If this was an attempt at a doublecross by Voldemort, which she doubted (it was a touch too soon for that, she knew: a doublecross was inevitable, but later), it was a very clumsy one. And she was sure he or his followers didn't know where Harry lived anyway, unless they had put a tracking charm or something on her. In any case, the Dementors were still under the control of the Ministry.

Did that mean someone within the Ministry of Magic had just tried to silence Harry? Fudge may have started a smear campaign, but that weak, cowardly piece of shit wouldn't put out a hit on Harry. But there was someone else who might, someone whom BB Hood had worked for before…

CHAPTER 7 ANNOTATIONS:

So, there you have it. BB Hood, Harry and company, and Umbridge have just been caught in a bit of a SNAFU.

It's probably worth mentioning that, as BB Hood only appears in one brief chapter of the Udon comic, I had to extrapolate a little from what I read on wikis about her character in the game. I think I was helped by a certain character from the light novel series Youjo Senki, or, to give it its English title, The Saga of Tanya the Evil. I was already aware of this series when I started writing this chapter, and partway through, I managed to get the first of the light novels (I recommend it, BTW, as it's a good, if dark, read). I had Tanya Degurechaff in the back of my mind when writing BB Hood, unconsciously at first, but more consciously later. The same cold pragmatism combined with a viciousness in combat, and an extreme maturity for her age…even if I didn't get it completely like the canon BB Hood, well, that's the joy of fanfic.

Now, if you're thinking that Morrigan was OOC in not facing and fighting the Dementors, keep in mind, as mentioned above, that Morrigan was concerned about the safety of Lilith and Harry. If either of them succumb to a Dementor's Kiss, it's game over (they share the same soul, after all), and Morrigan is VERY protective of them. And for all of his strengths, one of Harry's greatest weaknesses is his vulnerability to Dementors. Hell, he needed to be a long way away from them at the end of Book 3 to use a Patronus to drive them away. I also wrote in that thing about the Soul Fist exciting rather than damaging Dementors as an added reason. Morrigan could kick the arses of Dementors with ease, but Harry and Lilith's safety took priority.

Review-answering time! Now, can I have you guest reviewers PLEASE STOP spamming my reviews with overly long reviews that contain stuff that I know about, as well as stuff I don't care about? I am already aware of Darkstalkers/Red Earth: Maleficarium, and have even ordered it through Book Depository (it should be due any day now, as of writing), but any OOC stuff can be chalked down to this being a fanfic.

In addition, I did remove the reference to Morrigan being as exhausted as the others because that was too much, but a number of reviewers thought she shouldn't be tired at all. Keep in mind, she's not just sparring with Harry, but with Lilith too. Lilith has more raw power at her disposal than Harry, given that she already has a Succubus body that can take said power. In any case, my story, my rules, and if you don't like it, the door's there. Don't let it hit you on the way out.

Raven Marcus: That was my original idea, in a way. Incubi in the Darkstalkers universe are VERY different to Succubi, so I wanted to turn Harry into a male Succubus (what we'd think of as an Incubus), but that proved to be too complicated. So while Harry is NOT a Succubus or an Incubus, he is gradually becoming as strong as a Darkstalker.

Manda Jr: I haven't thought about that yet. Your list seems error-filled, though, so I can't say. Also, I haven't any access to the Darkstalkers OVA, so I'm characterising Hsien-Ko as the cheerful (normally) one, and Mei-Ling as the serious (normally) one.

KrisB-71854: It's a bit more complicated than it being siblings. Lilith formed herself from magic, so genes aren't involved. But it could be squicky if you looked at it that way.

Mecha Manda: I haven't decided yet, but I'm thinking a combination of physical strength and magic ability. But don't spam suggestions at me like that, or give me a long list from a game I've never heard of. However, that idea about the Succubus education is hilarious, and I may just use it.

Odin's Eye: Jedah is not aware of Lilith or what she used to be in this fic, at least at the moment. If I'm going to bring in a Darkstalker as a mortal enemy (aside from BB Hood), and I will do that, it's going to be Demitri Maximoff.

Loki's Tongue: For the purposes of this story, the Horcrux was consumed utterly, or at least is useless as an anchor for Voldemort at this point, meaning Lilith doesn't have to die.

Megatronusprime3: It'll be a while coming, but first, she's going to troll the everloving fuck out of Umbridge. You see, Morrigan's coming to Hogwarts, and I'm sure you can guess in what role.

God-King Ghidora: I don't get the reference. The closest I have is one of the lines from Oogie-Boogie's song from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

1. A spiv is a kind of black marketeer that thrived particularly during World War II and shortly afterwards, while rationing was still in effect in Britain. I first heard this term to describe a character in Medievil II, and it would also suit the Merchant from Resident Evil 4, IMO. Especially with the Cockney accent…