Chapter 8: First Gheds
"So, Whad'ya think?" Seamus asks after Charms, my first lesson.
"Interesting. I'm still a few years behind everyone. Reckon I won't be much worse than Ron though." I joke, earning a laugh from Seamus.
"Shove off." The ginger boy says with a laugh.
The lesson was engaging, mainly thanks to the Professor, Flitwick, who has a very upbeat personality. I'm not entirely sure if the words are needed for the spells, or if they are just supposed to focus you. My measly lifting charm certainly wasn't assisted by the words. I allow my room-mates to guide me to lunch, I've no idea how they know which way to go, all the corridors look the same.
"5 points from Gryffindor for slovenly composed uniform." Snape. I thought Ron was exaggerating last night. 15 points gone, just like that. He glares at me as the three of us straighten our already straight ties. He turns and stalks away, robes flapping behind him.
"Bloody git." Ron grumbles as we continue on to lunch. "At least Neville wasn't here. Snape really hates him." He looks over at me. "You don't want to get on his bad side, Champion or not he'll stick you in detention for the tasks if he'd have his way." Ron continues to bad mouth the greasy professor until we sit down for lunch, the food suitably quells him.
"So, Herbology after lunch? What's it like?" I ask, glancing around the room for demons.
"Re-potting plants, teaching us which ones will bite our fingers off." Ron says between bites.
"I reckon old Sprout has lost a couple o' fingers over the years." Seamus say, wiggling his own with a concerned expression. "Don't fancy losing one o' mine, pay attention enough to stay in one piece."
"Words to live by." I laugh.
"Neville really knows his stuff though." Seamus nods towards the Hufflepuff table. "He's the only one under the sixth year that's allowed into the other greenhouses." Neville is currently sporting a smile as he listens to Hannah and Susan talk about God knows what. He's one of t he only students that isn't sitting at his house's table.
"Harry mate, you've got an admirer." Ron says with a full mouth, looking across the hall. Following his vision, I find myself looking, once again, at Camille. "She looks ready to eat you." I laugh loudly, drawing a few looks.
"You don't know the half of it." I grin. I really should talk to her at some point. She doesn't look like she wants to kill me. Much anyway. I eat few sandwiches whilst Ron and Seamus ogle the Beauxbatons' girls.
"We should get a move on it's a bit of a trek to the greenhouses." Ron says as people begin to stand up.
We follow the crowd and funnel out of the door. I try to keep and eye on Camille, but her messy hair soon fades from view. The students thin considerably as we reach the courtyard.
"Lancelot." I hadn't heard Dobby appear over the noise. A few of the students openly stare at him.
"Anything interesting?"
"A rumour about some Gheds down in Cornwall." He says. "I should have a location by tomorrow, maybe tonight. Up for it?"
"I'll never turn down an easy hunt." I grin. He vanishes mid-step.
"What's a … Ghed?" Hermione asks for behind me.
"G.H.D. A Generic Humanoid Demon. Ghed is a colloquialism." I tell her. "Slow and brutish, much like the male population of this year, but they are demons. They get summoned when an amateur tries to do something with uh, necromancy?" I say, trying to think of a wizardy word for it.
"Necromancy?" She looks disgusted at the mere thought. "And you kill them?"
"Well, strictly speaking, they don't really live, so I couldn't really kill them even if they weren't demons." I explain. "I just destroy their body, it's the equivalent of killing them. Cut of their head, or smash it. They kind of bleed this thick inky black stuff. Sometimes we just call 'm Orcs."
"So you just cut off it's head and it vanishes?" I nod.
"Sort of burn up really."
"Are they strong?" She asks. I tilt my head side to side.
"A fair bit more than your average human, but compared to some demons, they're like babies." I laugh.
"So a dark wizard -" She begins.
"Or witch." I interject.
"Or witch – attempt necromancy and summon Gheds?"
"When it goes wrong, which is most of the time."
"And Dobby finds them for you to dispatch?"
"Pretty much." I smile. Ron and Seamus slowly floated away after Hermione started walking beside me. I detect some animosity.
The greenhouse is already filling up as we arrive, We seem to share this lesson with the fourth-year Hufflepuffs. Neville looks to be in his element here.
"Mr. Potter." I turn to who I assume is Professor Sprout. "Could you wait to one side whilst I get the class ready? To no fault of your own, you're not at the level of the rest of the class." She says kindly. I nod my head.
"Sure, I wouldn't want to be eaten or anything." I eye a giant Venus fly trap warily. "I'll stand out of range of everything." She hands me a pair of thick leather gloves and walks to the far end of the greenhouse.
"Good morning class."
"I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't bouncing bulbs." I say the Neville as we head towards the castle. The bouncing bulbs attacked a few students as they wrestled with them.
"Lancelot!" Dobby appears at the same time as my armour. "They're near a village."
"How many?" I ask as I draw Excalibur.
"About 30."
"Brilliant." I grin. "See you at dinner." Dobby jumps in the air and teleports us to the Gheds.
"Mmmrrr." Ah, the voice of an angel. The first one is within chopping range, it's neck cuts like butter to Excalibur. 29 to go.
"We'd better make this fast." I call to Dobby who has just thrown a Ghed into another group. "Any chance of the New Order showing up?" The shouting and stabbing has attracted the rest of the group, I can just make out the lights of the village.
"Higher than normal." Dobby calls over the sound of the roars. "I've not met this contact before, for all I know he might have summoned these himself." 20 to go.
"Potential trap?" I skewer two Gheds on Excalibur's length. "I can't sense anything bigger than these around here."
"It's not above the New Order to set us up." Dobby reminds me. His usual contacts consist of seers, house-elves and shady wizards. Those people generally don't call me in for Gheds as they have bigger fish to fry, so Dobby talks to new faces for smaller jobs.
"Don't move!" A voice shouts as I kill the last Ghed.
"Time to go?" Dobby asks, I shake my head.
"They're not Paladins." A Paladin wouldn't point a stick at me. Dobby vanishes.
"Drop then sword." A much calmer, deep voice calls to me as they approach. I slide Excalibur into it's scabbard at my waist and hold my hands up.
"Identify yourself!" The first voice shouts. These are definitely Aurors, I'll have to tread carefully to not get my head shot at.
"Lancelot." I say as they step closer cautiously.
"He's one of them." He hisses. "I say nobody would miss him." He raises his wand menacingly. He looks to be in his mid thirties. He takes a step towards me.
"Stop, stop!" I say. "I'm a wizard." I change my hair to red. "Harry Potter." I don't know if my armour's protection extends to my face, These things don't come with a helmet.
"Savage, step back." The dark skinned man says. 'Savage' grudgingly steps away from me, not taking his wand off of me.
"D'ya see that?" The female Auror says. "You're not using polyjuice are you?"
"What?" I ask. "My hair? Dumbledore said I was a metamorph." Her eyes go wide. "Can I put my arms down? I've been swinging a sword for a few minutes." She looks at the dark skinned Auror.
"Slowly." He says. New protocols for dealing with Paladins I guess. I drop my arms to my sides. Maybe it's the whole 'Boy-Who-Lived' thing. "What happened here?"
"Got a message that some Gheds were here, so I came and killed em." I wave my hands to the blackened grass.
"'Gheds'?" He says.
"Demons. You might call them Orcs." I say, He nods.
"You'll have to come with us. There are … procedures for when we apprehend one of you." He says calmly. I rest my hand on Excalibur's pommel.
"Execution?" I ask. 'Savage' and the women tense slightly. "Look, I'm a wizard. I don't kill wizards, I'm not one of those New Order bastards."
"New Order?"
"The wizard killing Paladins." I say impatiently.
"Savage, Go and tell them that we're bringing in a Paladin and they are not to attack." His eyes never leave me. Savage grumbles and vanishes with a sharp crack. "Expecto Patronum." A glowing blue cat bursts from his wand. "Dumbledore, We have apprehended Mr. Potter." The cat darts away at an incredible speed.
"What the hell was that?" I ask, it looked amazing. I shake my head. "Dumbledore sent you?"
"No. He is a powerful man that has your best interests in mind. We might not have you executed." He explains. The woman steps forward with handcuffs.
"May I?" She asks with a smile.
"Handcuffs on the first date?" I smirk and hold my arms up to allow the large cuffs over my gauntlets. "Oh, don't touch my sword, it'll hurt." She nods and holds the cuffs.
The next couple of seconds are by far the most unpleasant of the day. Spinning colours, noises and wind until we land in a large room full of people.
"The fucking hell was that?" I groan. The man managed to stay on his feet, but the women didn't fare any better than I did. She curses and brushes herself off as she stands.
"Up." The man orders. My armour slaps against the tiled floor as I climb to my feet. Only now do I notice that everyone is staring. Most of them look like civilian wizards and almost all of them look angry.
"Some reception." I mutter as I look around. "So this is your government building?" I ask.
"The Ministry of Magic. The largest magical institution in Britain." The man says as we begin to walk.
"You sure I'm not being led to my grave?" I ask. The other Auror looking people don't look happy with me.
"I suggest you make your hair black and short enough to reveal your scar." He says, barley moving his lips. "Dumbledore should arrive soon." I quickly alter my hair to his suggestion. I'm not sure what everyone thinks of 'Harry Potter' but they might be more lenient to the public face. We stop at a door and I'm led into what appears to be a muggle interrogation room. I sit down as they leave. I can't even kill a few Gheds without being arrested it seems, although the woman has bright pink hair, maybe she is like me.
"Ah, Mr. Potter." A woman comes into the room and sits opposite me. "I am the Head of the Department of Magical Law enforcement."
"Police chief kind of deal?" I ask.
"Something like that." She nods. "There are a lot of people out there that think you should be left to the dementors for your crimes."
"I only killed a few Orcs, it's my job." I sigh. "I'm not the wizard killing type. We're on the same side."
"I've been told as much. Your … lawyer is currently defusing the situation."
"Who?"
"Chief Warlock Dumbledore has seen it fit that he is responsible for you in this case." She says.
"That's a relief. That Savage guy looked ready to blow my head off when they found me." I shift back in my chair. "I'm more likely to kill a New Order Paladin than a wizard. Excluding werewolves unfortunately, they tend to prey on children, and protecting children is one of the highest calls."
"One of the few things that everybody tends to agree on." She comments. A quick flick of her wand causes the handcuffs to fall away from my gauntlets. "I'm sure you could have slipped your hands out of the gloves easily." I merely smile.
The doors opens to admit Dumbledore and a large red bird. "Harry, I trust you are unharmed?"
"All good, Chief." I stand up and walk over to him.
"I have explained your stance to the general public. You will not be taken in for doing your job, but you are not above the law of course." He explains.
"What did you tell them?" I ask as we walk.
"That there is a village full of living people, still ignorant to magic thanks to you."
A/N: I had a thought that Snape despises Neville because he wasn't chosen as the Boy-Who-Lived, which in turn led to the death of Lily.
Kingsley and Tonks are introduced here without names. Harry isn't seen as a murdering Paladin anymore. Enjoy.