Title:Harry Potter: Four In One
Author:Joshua
Disclaimer:J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe. Tamora Pierce is the awesome author of the "Circle of Magic" books that 'Mage-Harry' is taken from, and of course I don't own Winding Circle nor the concepts of Academic and Ambient Magic. Any future Spy-Magic you might see is going to be exactly like the Battle Magic so far, an amalgamation of numerous sources that might not even be 'magic' on their own, but have been twisted in such a way by me. You have been warned.
Summary:A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy.
Story:
Three o'clock on the following afternoon found Harry, Ron, Fred, and George standing outside the great white marquee in the garden, awaiting the arrival of the wedding guests. Harry had been offered a large dose of Polyjuice potion, but waved it off before ultimately demonstrating his ability to self-transfigure, or disguise himself into any shape or form he could imagine. The plan was to introduce Harry as "Cousin Barny" and trust to the great number of Weasley relatives to camouflage him. The potion had included a hair of one of the local village boys, but Harry had chosen for his appearance from one of the few muggle celebrities that he even knew the name of, let alone the face. Thankfully, Bill and Fleur had not invited many, if any guests that were sufficiently familiar with the muggle world for them to ask why Tom Cruise was one of the ushers, or why he was wearing thick-rimmed glasses.
All four of them were clutching seating plans, so that they could help show people to the right seats. A host of white-robed waiters had arrived an hour earlier, along with a golden-jacketed band, and all of these wizards were currently sitting a short distance away under a tree; Harry could see a blue haze of pipe smoke issuing from the spot to attest to their activities.
Behind them, the entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden chairs set on either side of a long purple carpet. The supporting poles were entwined with white and gold flowers. At the end of the path, an enormous bunch of golden balloons had been fastened over the exact point where Bill and Fleur would shortly become husband and wife. Outside, butterflies and bees were hovering lazily over the grass and hedgerow, a few lone eagles and hawks soared lazily high in the sky, and it was a mercifully cloudless day. In short, it was the perfect day for a wedding.
Harry had complimented the large number of Weasleys and friends and hired caterers by conjuring a whole boatload of Shadow Copies, then transfigured each into a different face, some of students from school, some of people that weren't even on the planet, and others a mish-mash of people he did know. Such as his own disguise, that had his own height and build, but Ron's red hair, Ginny's brown eyes, Hermione's cheeks, the Twins' ears, Mr. Weasley's nose, Charlie's mouth, and Bill's jawline with Fleur's flawless skin. For some reason though, Luna Lovegood still identified him immediately.
Nevertheless, for those that didn't want to do the more menial, boring, or uncomfortable jobs, a Copy was available to do it, leaving everyone enough free time to actually have some enjoyment, along with getting twice as much done even faster. The Twins almost begged off the entire chore list, until Harry threatened that he'd let them babysit Gabrielle if they didn't do something, so they still wound up greeting guests and guiding them to their seats alongside his 'Tom Cruise' Copy.
The one bit of trouble, if it could be called trouble, was when Ron's Aunt Murielle showed up. If he ever meets such a disagreeable... person ever again in his entire life, it would be too soon. Although he did allow himself a brief fantasy over exactly how Voldemort and his Death Eaters would react to having to deal with the old bat. It would truly be a punishment worse than death, worse the Azkaban, and probably even worse than anything old Moldy-Shorts himself could come up with, at his most devious and sadistic.
Finally, the guests had all arrived, and it was announced that the ceremony would be starting soon.
And wouldn't you know it, that's exactly when Harry's beeper went off.
How did Harry get a beeper? How could a muggle-device like a beeper even work around all these witches and wizards? Who, or what would be calling Harry Potter of all people at a time like this?
In answer to the first, it wasn't an actual beeper, but the pocket watch he'd gotten for his birthday from Mrs. Weasley. And while it was 'beeping' at him, it was the way that it was beeping that got his attention. Because it did not represent somebody trying to send him a message, or anything like that. No, it was beeping because shortly after he'd received the watch, he replaced all the components inside of it, fixed the dent, and cast a multitude of charms, spells, and numerous other magical properties into it. One of which, was the ability to detect any form of dark magic, and to sound an alarm upon detecting specific types of dark magic.
Such as a Dark Mark.
"Not today, you buggers," he muttered after looking down at his watch.
"Harry?" Ron asked, having stood next to his friend even as the watch went off.
"I'll explain later," said Harry as he moved towards the edge of the festivities, "Stay close to Hermione and Ginny. Unfortunately... I just got that bad feeling. Don't panic anyone, let Bill and Fleur have their day. They deserve it, and I'm going to make sure that it stays theirs."
"What are you going to do?" Ron hissed urgently.
"There's somebody with a Dark Mark looming around here," explained Harry. "I'm going to find them, make them disappear in the crowd, interrogate them, and then probably kill them unless they beg to be taken to Azkaban first. Then I'll kill them. Nobody messes with my family, even if it's extended family. Stay with Hermione and Ginny. One of my Copies will also be hanging around. Pretend he's me. Go!"
After Ron left, reluctantly, Harry opened his Aura Sight, and within moments had tracked down the lone Death Eater. A spy, no doubt. Came in amongst the guests. Double checking the list real quick, he realized that the Weasleys aren't ones to idly invite people they aren't sure about. Looking back at the marked-guest, he recognized the trace of Polyjuice potion wearing off. After all the guests were already present, it would be almost inhuman to be able to keep track of every face and make sure it didn't suddenly change into an unknown. Plus, the Weasleys are known for having a big family, so an extra face at a wedding is nothing to be suspicious about, unfortunately.
In short order, Harry had cornered the Death Eater and with the help of a few catering copies, he and the Death Eater vanished over the hills into a secluded little valley that was really a ditch, where nobody would see them, and any screams that came from there wouldn't be heard at all.
"Who are you? What do you want? What are you doing here?" Harry interrogated the adult wizard, who he pressed down into the mud, half-standing on the man's chest. "Those are the questions I want answered. Anything that is not an answer to either one of those questions will result in a lot of discomfort for you. We'll eventually work our way up to Cruciatus, but for now we'll start with actual physical torture. Do we understand each other now? Good."
Five minutes later, there was a new bone buried for some dog to find later in life. Say what you will about Crouch Jr., he was still the best and most effective teacher Harry'd had since Remus taught in his Third Year. Plus, the crazy lunatic had some interesting ideas on how to get rid of evidence.
He came back just in time for the ceremony to start, and quickly used a simple 'Replacement' spell to switch out with his Copy next to his friends sitting near the front. The ceremony was standard, yet still very beautiful. Bill was a damn lucky man, and even with his new scars, it merely made him appear more manly and roguish. Fleur, of course, was a goddess and very beautiful in her wedding dress. As soon as the ceremony completed with the flare of binding magic, which was just as beautiful and amazing as everything else so far, the marquee exploded with a flourish into the outdoor reception setting and everybody mingled and dove for the food. Well, Ron did at least, after they'd settled themselves at a table, as far away form Murielle as possible.
Soon, the music started up, and a few dancers went out onto the floor in couples. Luna, who was at their table, simply said, "I like this song," before getting up to spin alone on the dance floor, looking quite content to while away the time.
Ron, who would've said something, wisely kept his mouth shut, and just grinned over at the blond Ravenclaw. Ginny, who was sitting between Ron and Harry at their table, suddenly spoke up, "I just realized... Luna's still going back to Hogwarts. And Neville and the others too. While we're all going off on some grand adventure."
Harry remained quiet for a moment, continuing to watch the bright yellow form of Luna Lovegood dancing alone. "I'd hardly call going into hiding a grand adventure, Gin," he said to her. "If Viktor shows up, try to keep Ron from acting too much like a prat, all right?" Then he stood up and easily and quickly slipped into step alongside Luna so that one second she was twirling about like a ballerina, the next they were dancing together with bright smiles on their faces.
"Hello Harry," Luna grinned at him.
"Hello Luna," he grinned right back.
"Enjoying the party?" he asked as he twirled her around before pulling her back to the beat of the music.
"Immensely," she replied. "And you?"
"Had a bit of trouble earlier, but I handled it rather nicely. And permanently."
"Do you hear barking?"
His grin widened. "Probably just a wild Toynbee roaming the countryside. I'm sure they're trying to find a rather tasty bone that's buried somewhere in these hills. You know those Toynbee."
"Yes, I'm sure that's all it is," Luna's own grin deepened.
Before too long, they came to the edge of the dance floor and stopped when they felt somebody tapping their shoulders. Ginny was standing there with a mildly annoyed look on her face. "Mind if I cut in?" she asked pointedly.
Luna and Harry shared a look, then shrugged, and Harry replied, "Not at all, Ginny. Enjoy yourselves ladies, I'm on prat-patrol." Then he left, leaving a confused Ginny, who was quickly swept up into dancing with Luna without any warning. It caused some stares, and Ginny was still wondering exactly what had happened, but Luna was her friend, and they were having fun, so pretty soon it didn't matter.
Ron and Hermione, thankfully, were also on the dance floor and for once Ron was controlling his more pratful tendencies, such as his raging jealous streak. Although Viktor Krum stalking around trying to chat up the more attractive, and less obsessive females of the wedding party didn't help in this, it was a good test for his hot-tempered friend.
The reception and party was going just fine, with everybody having a good time, getting to know one another, catch up with old friends, and even meeting new people and starting new relationships. As with many weddings, you had your usual cliques. Old people remarking on the newlyweds, parents of both wishing their children luck in the future, siblings ribbing their now-married brother or sister, bachelors looking to snog one of the bridesmaids, women looking to find their own future husbands, and kids just trying to play around while the grown-ups did "grown-up" things.
Just as the sun was setting, Harry, who'd been speaking with an old associate of Professor Dumbledore's, suddenly stopped and turned his head to the horizon. "Uh... Harry? Are you all right?" Elphias Doge asked when he noticed the younger man's distraction.
"Excuse me, Elphias, there's something I need to check on," Harry spoke urgently, already getting up from his chair and walking to the edge of the wards. As he approached, his pocket watch beeped at him. But in a different tone and form than when it had detected the Dark Mark earlier. Still, he knew what it meant, and it was merely further evidence towards what he was sensing at that moment.
Voldemort's forces were on the move.
Moving quickly through the crowds, he found his friends and spoke quickly and quietly with them. Ginny was still next to Luna, who had returned to her father's side, their eye-smattering sunflower yellow robes much more pleasant to bear in the twilight than it had been earlier in the afternoon.
"Ron, Hermione, Ginny... Remember that bad feeling I told you I'd been hoping I wouldn't get?"
"Another one?" Ron whined, uncomfortable with his best friend making comments about killing Death Eaters, but overall he didn't really mind that much. They were Death Eaters after all.
"No... but remember what we were talking about last night?" he reminded them. Predictably, all three of them went very pale, very quickly, which drew the attention of the Lovegoods. Thankfully, they hadn't been close enough to truly listen in before now.
"Is everything all right here?" Xenophilius Lovegood asked them, sounding genuinely concerned.
"Actually, Mr. Lovegood," Harry spoke directly to the man. "You and your daughter need to leave. Right now. Go home, lock the doors, bank your fire, and if you have them, raise your wards. The Dark Lord had started his campaign against the Ministry. Preparations need to be made, and I suggest you go take care of them. Immediately."
The Lovegoods both looked at him as most people looked at them a good percentage of the time, until they both began to realize he was quite serious about his warning, and his three friends reactions merely confirmed their own trust in him. Finally, Xenophilius nodded and quickly led Luna off the property without another word, except for a small nod of understanding from the man, and a look of longing worry from Luna.
'Don't worry,' Harry communicated with his mental magic, 'We'll be OK. Have a good year at Hogwarts. I'll do my best to make sure it's not too unpleasant. We'll always be your friends, Luna.'
With that final message, he turned to his friends, whispering urgently, "Get everyone into the house. Remus, Tonks, Hagrid, Bill, Fleur and her entire family, and the entire Weasley clan that can't be trusted to look after themselves. In fact... Ginny, have Fred and George escort Murielle home themselves, and tell them to do whatever it takes, just get her home safely. Even if they have to use knock-out gas. Go. Quickly!"
Harry watched with mounting worry as his friends raced to complete his instructions. They weren't ready for this. He wasn't ready for this! His demonstration in facing off against Voldemort was supposed to delay this! He needed more time!
Alas, it seems that time is the one thing he was in short supply of. He needed to...
Oh no.
At that moment, something large and silver came falling through the canopy over the dance floor. Graceful and gleaming, the lynx landed lightly in the middle of the astonished dancers. Heads turned, as those nearest it froze absurdly in mid-dance. Then the Patronus's mouth opened wide and it spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming. You Know Who is on the move."
Shit.
The Patronus had vanished, dissolving into silvery mist, quiet seeming to spread from the spot as everybody slowly turned to where it had arrived at and realized what it meant. The damn was about to burst, it was only a few seconds away from that as it is. Harry quickly moved through the crowd, making his way to the dance floor where the lynx had stood only moments before.
Then somebody screamed.
"QUIET!!" Harry had absently cast the Sonorous spell on himself just before shouting, which seemed to have negated the panic the scream had almost started. "YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME!!"
Consciously undoing the spell, he still shouted, but this time without the echoing boom. "I am Harry Potter! I know that you all want to panic and run right now, but that is the last thing we need! As long as I am here, your protection at this event is guaranteed. Nevertheless! Please, everyone, gather all of those in your party, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE EVERYONE! And then quickly make your way to beyond the wards and go immediately home. If you used Portkey, my advice is that those of you that can, not are allowed, but can, use side-along Apparition and go straight home! Once you have everyone in your party, you may leave!"
Around him, the crowd was still pushing and much louder, but it wasn't the panicked stampede it could have become, instead it was everybody trying to leave the party all at once, and as quickly as possible. Within five minutes, the place was practically deserted, only family members left, and a returning Fred and George, who were grinning far too much for them to have simply escorted their difficult Aunt home for the evening.
Harry felt the assault the minute before the lynx Patronus had arrived, and it was for the simple matter that the wards were his that he could feel it at all. It was very subtle, and stunk of Ministry magic. It was also because the wards were his that when the Order's, the Ministry's, and even a few of the older Family Protections surrounding the Burrow had broken and dropped, that those he'd put in himself since his arrival a week ago, expanded and filled in the space, so to speak. Unfortunately, that expansion cost, and there were gaps.
The Anti-Apparition, Anti-Portkey, and blocks on Floo access were still up and in full coverage and effect. But those that he'd put there that would keep an army out and from causing any harm to those inside the ward were severely compromised. Walking around to the front yard, Harry stopped the last guests from crossing the ward-barrier, telling them to go out through the back orchard instead. When they saw what he did, they didn't argue, instead running full out for the back orchard.
"Hello Tommy-boy," Harry called out across the darkness, standing at the edge of the ward, only a few meters from Voldemort, who stood at the head of a small army of Death Eaters and wizards and witches wearing Auror robes and a few others bearing Official Ministry symbols here and there.
"Hello Potter," the Dark Lord hissed back.
"Come to crash the party?" Harry teased back.
"Well, I simply couldn't help myself, when I heard you were in attendance. After all, I could not let your challenge to me go unanswered," the snake-faced wizard sarcastically remarked.
"And here I was thinking you were smarter than that," Harry chuckled. "Now that you are the Ministry, Tommy-boy, I have no choice. Instead of just "going abroad" for a year, or going into hiding, now you're forcing my hand. I have to become a rebel against the State. I can't even risk coming out in daylight without a disguise, and any time that I do show my face in public, it will have to be in an aggressive capacity. My friends were rather reluctant about going into hiding at all, but seeing as we're now wanted by the government, we really won't have any choice. If you'd left things the way there were, chances were that at least one of your Death Eaters might have caught me unaware. Now I have to disappear."
"Oh, but you won't do that, will you Potter? You're too much the Hero to just run and hide and care only for yourself," Voldemort taunted his foe. "You won't be able to just stand by and let countless lives be ruled by me and my Death Eaters, will you?"
"Any reason you're here, Tom?"
"I AM LORD VOLDEMORT!" the Dark Lord screamed.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say Moldy-wart," Harry yawned. "I noticed that, despite apparently coming here in an officiating Ministry capacity, the wards are still up, otherwise you would've come in already. Now, be honest, what are you here for?"
"As you say," Voldemort composed himself quickly, going back to his smiling and taunting, "you have been declared an Enemy of the State. When we received word that you were here at this... gathering, I made it a point to take charge of your capture, personally."
"All cause I whipped your butt a week ago? By the way, nice scar."
"Your wards have been weakened, boy. Do not think yourself invincible!" the Dark Lord warned.
Harry frowned, but finally he just turned around and walked away from the wards, and the gathered army. "While we've been talking, Tommy-boy, I've been silently restructuring and rebuilding the wards. Unfortunately... you're right. I can't stop all of your forces. But I can stop you. In the time that we've had our pleasant little conversation here, in addition to the fractured 'non-violence' protection, I've managed to complete two additional matrices. One removes the presence of any and all traces of the Imperius Curse upon those that pass through it. And need I remind you, Tommy-boy, I've found a way of stopping the Avada Kedavra, what makes you think I don't have similar ways of stopping the other Unforgivables?"
"The second barrier that is now in place is an either or type of protection. You can send in your minions that aren't under the Imperius, and I'll fight all of them... or you come in and we have ourselves a little rematch. Again, the choice is yours."
By this point, Harry had made it back to the marquee, and everybody else was inside the Burrow, or gone and back to their homes. He stood in the middle of the dance floor, clearly visible to all, and waited.
"You're bluffing!" Voldemort shouted over the distance.
"Try me!" Harry shouted back.
Of course he was bluffing. It had been barely two days since his last merger, and while his magic was four times as powerful and four times as potent, he still had not completed his Battle Magic pathways, so his spell craft was not yet up to handling the small army Voldemort had gathered to face him. He could still use magic, and he could force the spells, but it would cost him a lot of concentration, as what the pathways did was allow him to use Battle Magic spells easily and fluidly, like reflexive actions more than anything else. Without those pathways built up in his body, he'd basically be reacting the same way that a beginning student would.
And while both types of wards that he'd described did exist, because his magical reaction time was off, just the slightest bit, he had only enough time to put one of them in place, and he wasn't betting on having the time to put the other down in time.
Still... at least Voldemort couldn't use their link anymore, let alone Leglimency.
Thankfully, snake-head only decided to call half of Harry's bluff, as he ordered his Death Eaters, "Keep the Aurors back. He's bluffing, but a few of them might be faking anyway. Follow me." He then calmly stepped over the ward and through the barrier it presented. He passed through without any difficulty at all, and, smirking, the Death Eaters likewise had no problems in closing in on the Boy Who Lived.
"You were saying, Potter?" Voldemort taunted.
In response, Harry just reached up to behind his ear and pulled out a green toothpick, that instantly expanded into his 7-foot-length Compliant Rod, twirled it around once to get it into the ready-position, and glared at his opponents. For further motivation, he started channeling his magic through the staff and extended his magical senses, so as to detect anybody trying to get past him and into the Burrow.
"Let's do this," he growled.
"So eager to die, Potter?" it was Malfoy's voice speaking from behind the Death Eater mask.
"Found Crabbe Sr. yet, have you Malfoy?" Harry teased right back, not changing his stance one bit.
"Avada Kedavra!" ten wizards that were on the front lines shouted, sickly green lights headed right for Harry at the center spot. He made his first move.
Twirling so fast, other people could only see a blur of motion, Harry raised a solid wall of elemental magic, using his battle staff to lay down the boundaries, and then he pumped the Astral Barrier spell matrix into it to double the chances. Ten spells hit... ten spells broke like water on the shore against the shield Harry had constructed in a moments time, and the shield held without any sign of wear. Nobody was stupid enough to think that it would continue to do so, but there was nothing stopping him from taking it down and creating a fresh new one at the moment.
"That is getting really old guys," Harry commented in a bored tone of voice.
Suddenly, he snapped his staff out and a trio of fireballs exploded out of the end, flying towards one of the masked figures that was on the edge of the front, and was trying to sneak around to attack Potter in the back. All three hit, one to the head, one to the chest, and one to the hips, exploding and then covering the Death Eater with flames. He tried rolling around in the dirt to smother the fire, but that just seemed to make it spread faster. Finally a few of his fellow Death Eaters cast Aguamentia on him to help douse the flames, only the moment the magically-created water touched him, they hissed angrily before flaring up ten times brighter than before, consuming the Death Eater in moments as he screamed out in wretched pain, only for it to be suddenly cut off and for the body to stop moving and only then did the flames die out... when there was nothing but ash left.
"Fiendfyre," Harry answered to the unasked question and looks Voldemort and the remaining Death Eaters were giving him. "Not really worth casting a fireball spell if it's just going to be put back out with an even simpler spell, is it?"
"Tell me, Potter," Voldemort asked this a calculating look, "when did you get so ruthless? I like it. If you might be willing to consider joining me, despite just being a mere half-blood. With your... impressive skills, there is not much that could possibly stand in our way."
Harry frowned for a moment, before pointing his staff at Voldemort and said, "Kettle, meet Pot," he pointed the staff back at himself before dropping back into his ready-stance. Voldemort snarled, understanding the simplified phrase, and then gave the order, "Kill him." Then he stepped back to watch the fireworks.
Harry adjusted his stance into a more defensive one, keeping both hands on the dark green metal of his Compliant Rod, and kept his senses wide-open. The first attack, as always, came from the front, but mere seconds after it, came two others, angling in from 30 and 120 degrees off center. Extending his staff just enough, he manipulated the elements in the spell and grasped the magic of it's core and then spun around, the spell-bolt not quite touching the gold-tipped end of the staff, until he brought it in contact with the spell coming in on his right, and then the two collided and seemed to fuse somehow as he kept up the spinning and brought the newly fused spell all the way around to collide with the spell coming in on his left, where the same fusion happened, and he threw the newly fused spell right at Voldemort, who barely reacted in time to raise his own protections. The explosion still knocked him back and decimated the ranks of anyone in the vicinity of the Dark Lord. All that completed in one, smooth, unending motion that was completed in less time than it took for the Death Eaters to cast all three curses at him.
This time, everybody on the front lines, not in unison, but still all together cast the worst curse they knew. A lot were the Death Curse, but there were a few other more impressive and imaginative curses thrown in too. Harry didn't trust that he could manipulate the Death curse yet, and to be quite honest there were just plain too many for him to try without more time to hone his reflexes. So, he made a real quick copy, kept the elemental magic wall up, and then hypersped it out of there. When the shield finally crashed, the first spell that hit the copy, Avada Kedavra or not, caused an explosion that tore down the entire marquee and put the entire grounds around the Burrow in shadowy darkness, the only light coming from the moon and stars in the sky and the Burrow itself in the background.
A few Death Eaters started to cheer, but a voice in that darkness suddenly silenced them in the aftermath of the explosion. "You missed me..."
And then out of the smoke, Harry Potter was seen, the ethereal flames of his Battle Magic shield spell highlighting his body and presence. A few foolish and hot-headed Death Eaters raced forward, intent on killing their enemy, whether through curses, or just through strangling the life out of him with their bare hands. After they passed a certain point, Harry just raised the Compliant Rod above his head and screamed the spell, "Lightning Bolt, Come Forth!"
Instantly, the sky over the Burrow, which had been clear to see the stars, was covered in a single storm cloud, and while a spark left the gold capped tip of the staff, multiple lightning bolts crashed down onto each of the advancing Death Eaters, leaving nothing but cooked meat behind. The sound alone from that many close-range bolts was enough to stagger a lesser man, possibly even enough to make his ears bleed and to send him to the hospital after making him permanently deaf. Harry just stood there, glaring at the army before him.
"Interesting," Voldemort commented. "Send in the werewolves," he ordered, and instantly another group of robed and masked Death Eaters surged forward. Nevertheless, there was no doubt, these were the werewolves in service to the Dark Lord.
Harry frowned as he detected this through his own senses, and adjusted his tactics accordingly. Meaning he let them get a single step closer before felling them with a single spell from the tip of his staff, this one a bit of a fusion of all his magical training, from Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy. He took the 'silver sparkle' spell that any Second Year at Hogwarts knows, boosted it with the training and forms of Battle Magic, used his abilities as a Mage to change the elements of the spells so that instead of just being silver-colored, it was real silver that was being shot out, and it was his training as a Magic Spy that he was able to create the new spell in the first place.
Silently casting the spell, Harry waved his staff in a warding-arc that covered everything in front of him, and from that arc, a wave of silver energy swept out and covered and knocked back the advancing werewolves. Those that were closer, died instantly. A few, maybe one or two, in the back just fell back and were severely poisoned, and without treatment, perhaps even with it, they would be dead within days.
And still, Harry hadn't even moved from his spot between the Death Eaters and the Burrow.
"Very interesting," Voldemort commented. Then he called out, "Tell me, Potter! Why the change in form? A week ago, you were hunting down my Death Eaters and seeking to cause as much damage to our ranks as possible. Now you stay in one place, do not move, and do not attack except to defend yourself. Why is that, I wonder? Is it possible your power comes at a greater cost than even you realize?"
Harry frowned, but decided to humor the old man for once, and answered back, "Different strategy, different tactics." Seeing that none of them, not even old snake face knew what he meant, he elaborated. "A week ago, my only goal was sending a message. I'm more powerful than you, so DON'T FUCK WITH ME!!"
In a calmer tone, he continued, "Right now, my objective is to ensure the safety of everyone in the home behind me, no matter what. To clarify that; if you attack the Burrow, or if you try to sneak past me, whether to get to the Burrow or to do a sneak-attack on me... you die instantly! If you just attack me and completely ignore the Burrow... you get a few free shots before I counter attack and kill you then. You don't advance, I keep up a shield and we do this long-range. You advance, everybody that crosses my line, dies. That simple. Everybody that doesn't... I won't attack you until you become an annoyance."
"Rather confident, aren't we, Potter?" Malfoy taunted, a bit of laughter going up amidst the Death Eaters.
Harry tilted his head as he looked over the masked figure that was Lucius Malfoy.
"I could ask the same of you, Malfoy," he replied. "But then, we have different forms of confidence. I know exactly what I can do, and I know, pretty much, what all of you can do, and thus I have a spell prepared for most contingencies and any attacks you'll make. You... are only confident because there are more of you than there is of me. Or so you think."
Snarling beneath his mask, Malfoy rose to the bait and shouted back, "You are outnumbered, quite literally, at a hundred to one, Potter! What hope, what chance do you even have of prevailing against the might of the Dark Lord?!"
Arching an eyebrow at the challenge, Harry just smirked and stuck his staff into the ground, letting it stand on its own for a few moments. Then he started to form seals with his hands, and focusing his magic.
"That's right, I never got to showcase this type of spell in our last encounter, did I?" Harry beamed as the spell completed, and he called out in a forbidding voice, "Darkness Copy Revolution!"
Back in the Burrow, everybody that was watching from the windows shared a look as most of them had seen Harry's demonstration with the Shadow Copy Kaleidescope spell, but this sounded like a completely different spell.
A soft moan rose up from the environment around the Burrow, the Death Eaters looking around, trying to see the effect of whatever spell Potter had case, but they could see nothing but the darkness and the shadows in the low lighting. And then the darkness and shadows moved.
Nobody was sure who saw it first, but it didn't matter as pretty soon it was happening all over the place. Wherever there was a shadow, a place of pure darkness in the deepening night, a figure was slowly emerging. Some came from the ground, some came from the sides of the home, some came from beneath tables and others from the trunks and roots of trees and bushes. But they all came in the same way, crawling from the darkness like the living undead, until there were enough dark bodies standing there to rival the combined force of Death Eater and Auror that had been arrayed against Harry Potter.
For a few breaths, the forms of pure darkness just stood there, and then a heartbeat later, they changed into the appearance of Harry Potter. They didn't look exactly like Harry though. The Shadow Copies, they were made and designed to be picture perfect copies of Harry in every way, right down to the spells he could cast. The Dark Copies, however...
Their skin tone was much darker for one, and not enough to confuse them with a different race, but more like if Harry spent all his time during the day in the sun, it is what his skin would eventually look like. Their clothing and eyes were also much darker, and both were solid black, like obsidian. Also, the Dark Copies could not perform magic. Well... they could, but Harry would rather he not have to resort to that, as the only magic they could perform would be like a combination of Elvin vampiric and Dementor abilities. A Dark Copy's only power is to drain the magic of their victim and enemy, thereby transferring that magic back to the original once they're dispelled.
"Still feeling confident?" Harry asked, taunting.
"What is this?" Voldemort hissed, outraged.
"A Copy spell. Every single one of them is a solid magical construct, capable of hurting you just as easily as I am, and furthermore, they don't have souls, so Avada Kedavra will only piss them off, not even doing physical damage as they're based off a human form, namely mine. Furthermore, Copy spells can be associated with various elements. Until now, I've largely been using Shadow Copies, which require my shadow to be present. Since it's not daylight and I, technically, don't have a shadow right now, I switched elements... to Darkness, which is not good for you lot at all." Harry explained.
"Stupefy," Voldemort cast a red streamer at the nearest Copy. The moment the spell hit, the Copy took a step back in surprise, then looked down at where it had hit, and took a deep breath, as though refreshed or invigorated by it, and then looked up and grinned darkly at the caster.
"Oh, did I forget to mention," Harry added casually, "They eat magic."
"This isn't over yet Potter!" Voldemort screamed amidst the suddenly retreating Death Eaters. Still, he did walk back to the edge of the ward himself, and disappeared with a silent pop the moment his foot crossed the threshold of the Anti-Apparition ward.
Harry breathed a heavy sigh of relief, but rather than dismissing them, he sent all of his Dark Copies out to guard the surrounding area and make sure there weren't any nasty surprises left behind. He also vanished all the bodies that had been left behind.
After taking a few more measures to ensure the Burrow's safety, even after they left, he took a deep breath, marshaled his courage, and went inside to face the music. Thankfully, the first thing that happened upon his arrival, where everyone was waiting and had been anxiously watching the confrontation, was that everybody wanted to hug him and tell him how glad they were he was still alive. Then the yelling and screaming started.
For the most part, it was all exactly what you'd expect. Mrs. Weasley screaming about how worried she'd been, fussing over how he could've been hurt and all that. Hermione doing the same, only exclaiming how she was still glad he was OK and warning him that if he ever worried her like that again, she'd kill him herself. Moody, Remus, Tonks, and a few other Order Members who had stayed behind gave their own reactions, but soon Moody grew restless and all the of the Order of the Phoenix that had been at the wedding, quickly left, either through Floo, or Apparating. Mr. Weasley went with them, but Bill was, quite firmly, told to remain with his wife, and all the other Weasley children told, in a variety of ways, to stay home and to keep their mother from worrying, and to likewise keep her controlled, if not calm.
After the Order of the Phoenix had left, and it was just the children, Harry and Hermione and Mrs. Weasley, Harry dropped the other shoe.
"It's time," was all he said in the quiet of the sitting room, which had been kept the same through all the remodeling, only with a bit more space and some extra furniture thrown in.
"I'm sorry dear, time for what?" Mrs. Weasley naïvely asked.
Harry just gave a meaningful look at his friends, then nodded at them as they got up to leave. He turned back to address the others, and Ron's mother specifically. "It's time for us to leave."
A heavy pause, like the weight of silence before a thunderclap.
"WHAT?!"
"Sit down, Mrs. Weasley," Harry spoke in a soft, calm voice. She sat down, but still furious.
"You knew this was coming, and we could've slipped away in the confusion of earlier, but I knew he would be coming directly here, and I couldn't let your family suffer just for putting me up for a week." Harry sighed and sat down so he was facing everyone still in the room. "The Death Eaters are the Ministry now. We can't afford to hide in places that are obvious anymore. We need to go underground. And yes, we. Ron and Hermione's names are synonymous with my own, and this last year at Hogwarts, Ginny and I were openly dating each other. If I disappear on my own and leave them behind, they'll be targeted and will disappear behind Ministry bureaucracy and into a Death Eater's dungeon somewhere. I'm not going to let that happen."
"I'm going to stop this. I'm going to stop him. But before I can do that, I need to free the Ministry, and I can't do that legitimately anymore. The coming months are going to be hard on everybody," he gave a meaningful look at the newlyweds. "Most likely, Gringotts, being under Goblin control, won't be too adversely affected. The Ministry still needs its gold, and the goblins all control that, so they won't risk too much in angering them. Still... it's not guaranteed protection."
"Mr. Weasley, Fred and George have come up with a way of clearing Ron for the year, and I've left their... plan intact. Ministry Officials, Truant Officers for lack of a better term, will be showing up before too long. Before they do, I'll have a plan in place for Ginny as well, so she won't be missed, and hopefully even explain away her absence in some other capacity."
"Fred, George... I think it's time you two took your trip abroad, like all wizards are supposed to do after they leave Hogwarts. Where you go, or what you do, I don't have any control over, but being in a place where you can be found would not be a good idea for you two right now," Harry told the twins in no-nonsense terms.
"But Harry..." Mrs. Weasley tried again.
"Mrs. Weasley... Molly," Harry's voice grew thick with emotion. "The only thing you can do for us is help us to remain hidden. We're in more danger if we stay, and as fearful as you can be riled up... I think even you would quail at facing an army of Death Eaters and 'Aurors' that were dead set on capturing and torturing your children, no matter what you had to say or did. We'll contact you, if we can, but don't expect anything."
At that moment, Ginny and Hermione both came back in, dressed in normal muggle clothing, jeans and sweatshirts. Ron just pulled off his dress robes to reveal a yellow t-shirt and blue jeans, before accepting a jacket from Hermione. Harry stood, gave them all one last look, before turning in a tight circle, his clothing changing around him as he did so into a red blouse, navy blue blazer, tight black jeans and black sneakers.
"Well... Bye," was all he said before all four disappeared in a near-blinding flash of emerald green light.