Chapter 16

"What's that?"

"This? Oh, Moody told me about it once, let me remember. I believe that it is a Valravn, a mythical creature from Danish folklore. These Valravn were ravens that devoured the bodies of the dead on ancient battlefields to gain human intelligence and perform malicious acts. They were known to fly only at night on some journey for redemption and specifically hunt for the blood of innocent children. If they were ever able to consume a child's body, they became knights. Simply said, a typical boogeyman."

"Huh."

Harry didn't doubt that, the raven visage stared at him with a hungry snarl forever crafted on its face. Malice almost dripped from its mouth in fat drops of venom. Its lifeless eyes still retained the light of a merciless predator. Despite all that, Harry was taken by an impulse as he took off the decoration off the wall. For a moment, the teenager expected the raven to bite his hand, but he dismissed that silly notion.

The Valravn sure seemed extremely aggressive and the background story of it that he was told by Remus rang something familiar in Harry's mind.

He's been thinking repeatedly about getting some sort of disguise this whole week that they have spent in Moody's house. No death eaters showed up, so they decided that it was safe enough as a temporary safe place. His occlumency skills have matured enough for them to start considering their future actions. Returning as Harry Potter was tempting, but he felt that the drawbacks were too much to risk. Perhaps people needed a new hero, someone who could do the fighting that they couldn't trust a teenager to do.

Adapting a new name, a new personality and face seemed to be his best chance to inspire others to follow him into the fight against the Dark Lord. Entering a new figure into the power game that ruled over the magical world was essential right now. Now that he was visually aware of his connection to Voldemort, Harry has gotten little snippets of the wizard's thoughts and plans. The teenager guessed that Voldemort was a bit more careless now that his main challenger was dead; he wasn't even in England, chasing something abroad.

It was the perfect time to strike, to show the world that there was still hope for a better life. But, not with that attitude. No one liked to have a dreamer as their leader, they needed a realist. Whether he liked it or not, the idea of hard revenge was much more attractive than an optimistic hope for peace these days.

With that thought in mind, Harry walked with the raven's head in his hands, luckily finding the three of the house's occupants in the study, engaged in conversation. Remus and Tonks finally found an abandoned apartment building in an older part of London that was in an alright condition. They've already started setting up wards that kept the building from being swarmed by homeless muggles. The three were talking about the soonest occasion they could move in without attracting any attention and the need to conjure furniture for the people who will soon be moving in.

Harry waited patiently for them to acknowledge his presence, leaning against the wall with the wall decoration still in his hands. They looked at him expectantly and he took his cue to start talking. He talked for many minutes, not letting any of the three to interrupt him before he felt that he said everything that he wanted. He talked about the mask, his plans, his concerns, his expectations of them. At some point they gave up, letting him talk despite having comments or questions.

Once he was done, Harry shrugged his shoulders as to say: Go at it.

Remus was the first one to voice his concerns, "Harry, I was under the impression that you were planning to return as yourself."

"There is no point Remus. Currently, the world sees Harry Potter as their failed hero; they see him as a criminal that went renegade when things didn't go his way. At some point, I won't have a choice but to reveal my identity. When that moment comes, I will not hesitate." Harry spoke with quiet passion.

Tonks was the next in line, "you can't expect people to trust us if we're all clad in disguises. They will probably end up thinking that we are just Death Eaters as well."

Harry considered that already.

"You and Remus will be the only ones who will reveal your true faces. You will tell them that Harry Potter and Kingsley Shacklebot gave their lives away to save a married man so that he could return to his pregnant wife."

Kingsley brought the dessert, "who are these they that you keep talking about? You can't seriously expect people to join us simply because we fight against Voldemort."

That was the one thing that Harry has yet to find a concrete solution but he offered his foundations nevertheless, "muggleborns. They are being treated as criminals for simply existing. Most of them will be ready to fight the oppressive government. I'm not quite sure yet from where we'll be able to recruit them though."

They considered this for a few moments, their faces crunched in concentration, weighting the pros and cons.

"What about Azkaban? I heard that they are hoarding muggleborns there at the slightest provocation, and sometimes even without that." The pregnant witch suggested hesitantly.

How were they supposed to break into the most secure prison in the magical world, a werewolf, a pregnant witch, a wanted auror and a child hero? They didn't have the resources that Voldemort had.

Shacklebot seemed to be thinking around the same lines, "I used to work on transporting duty to the prison in my earlier days as an auror. There is only one platform that connects to Azkaban, I doubt that they decided to change its location." He offered, not too certain if he knew what he was suggesting.

"So you're suggesting attacking the platform in hopes of freeing muggleborns and hoping that at least some of them will be willing to join us?" Lupin asked.

Harry scratched his chin, absently noting the slight stubble that has grown there. The idea could barely be called a plan, it was all based on chance and luck, but what else did they really have?

"It's a good way to announce our presence. We can't let the world become too bored after all." He finally declared, managing to produce a half-hearted grin.

XXXXXXX

"Move along, you filth, I want to get home early today and I'd be damned if some Mudbloods will keep me waiting." A wizard roughly said while kicking a teenage girl who whimpered but offered nothing else. Harry had to grit his teeth to keep himself from pouncing at the man and making him choke on his words. Similar acts of brutality happened all over the platform by the dozen wizards and witches dressed in various dark shades.

Kingsley's memory proved to be right, as the platform was still at the same place. It was by the coast, somewhere in England, the auror wasn't too generous with the details.

The platform was rather small, with only a few docking stations that had cruelly small boats. There was no kind of a building to regulate it all, though a husk of a shack nearby suggested that there once was, when regulations were still being followed.

Surprisingly, there were barely any wards guarding it and not that many wizards around, not counting the few dementors. Their presence changed their plan slightly: Tonks, who insisted on coming despite their protests, was going to drive the dementors away with her patronus while the three eliminated the twelve oblivious guards. Despite being under a disillusionment charm, Harry took care to be careful with his creeping, which was made harder than expected with the limited sight his new mask allowed.

It was simple enough to turn the raven wall decoration into a wearable mask with Remus' help. They included some protective charms that allowed the raven head to withstand a lot of abuse. Lupin was able to incorporate the lenses of his glasses into the mask, saying that he didn't have the expertise to fix Harry's eyesight, which made the teenager wonder why he hadn't thought of it before. A hood was drawn over his head but he could go without it and still not look ridiculous, Harry supposed that it was an essential detail.

Harry finally set himself in the pre-agreed position which let him have a clear shot on at least five of the guards. They were facing the muggleborns, shouting insults at the trudging people who flinched away. He had to keep his anger in check, Tonks was the one to give the signal and doing anything before that could result in disaster. The teen couldn't stop himself from tensing in anticipation, it has been quite a while since he had a magical fight.

The witch's familiar werewolf patronus broke the charm of the moment, eliciting shouts of surprise from the guards and spells being shot from three wands that downed two of them. It took Harry a few moments to realize that he missed; his aim was completely off, causing the stunner to not even come close to its target. However, it revealed his position, which made the five guards turn towards his direction with their wands raised.

The masked teen had just enough time to gulp before five death curses headed his way. Perhaps his aim was rusty, but his agility was not. Harry reacted purely on instinct, weaving around the deadly spells and sending his own spell that connected this time, sending one of the five flying through the air.

He didn't even have enough time to feel good about himself, too busy jumping back to avoid being fried alive by a flaming curse. Sending a few more attacks, Harry felt his ire rise when he saw that most of them were off-mark. When did he have the time to become so out of practice? Despite being on the run for quite a while, he still expected himself to be at least in a good form.

The battle lasted too long, but Harry was finally able to best all of his five opponents, mainly because of the element of surprise and their own incompetence. Taking care to compose himself, Harry turned to face the shocked muggleborns, noticing right away that there were less of them than before. Some must've ran off when presented the chance.

He didn't start talking until he felt his three companions behind him, making sure that none of them were hurt in the short fight.

Standing in the cool night breeze, looking at a group of scared people who he was going to lead, Harry felt a strong sense of nostalgia. He'd give anything to have DA right here, to be with people that he felt comfortable leading. That would come with time. Now, he needed to worry about convincing these people to follow him into battle.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I have an offer to make for you." Harry said, trying to deepen his voice nervously.

"Who are you?" Someone from the crowd asked, there were nods of agreement as they looked at the raven headed man in confusion.

"My real name is unimportant, I am Valravn, a wizard who has had enough of sitting around and witnessing my fellow citizens getting slaughtered or sent to prisons on the account of their bloodlines. This is why I'm here, to stop this injustice and offer you the chance to join me on my quest." Harry wondered if he was going too far on the cheesy speech, but he acknowledged the fact that sometimes it was the only way to get a point across.

There were sceptical faces around the crowd of thirty or so, but he could see that he was already able to ignite the fire of hope in some of them. A middle-aged man stepped out of the crowd, leaving his spot by a woman and three children. He didn't have a remarkably big frame or height, but he was able to effortlessly catch the attention of the others. His voice carried through the night.

"What about our families? I want to fight, but I want to insure my wife's and children's safety first."

More murmurs of agreement and nods from the crowd.

"We have an apartment building that is in the process of being weaved with protective wards. Those who cannot fight are welcome to stay there; we will be using it as our headquarters." Harry replied, concentrating on the man in front of him, trying to give off an aura of sureness and confidence.

"How do we know that this isn't some plot by them to hurt us? There must be a reason why you're not showing your face." Another voice rang out, causing more discord in the group.

Harry felt his patience slowly ebbing away, they couldn't be sure that there weren't any alarms here. For all he knew, hordes of Death Eaters were heading their way while they spent their precious time arguing.

"Why would they go for such a stretch? You were supposed to be heading to Azkaban, you know, the prison where you get your soul sucked out? Despite the fact that they don't have anything to do in their spare time other than torturing muggles, I doubt that they'd go for something that smart." He said with a slight bite, doing his best to use the occlumency skills that he acquired to control himself.

"Can you even defeat You-Know-Who? You don't look so powerful."

Harry frowned.

"Are you kiddi-"

His speech was cut short by a sudden gasp from the crowd, before Harry or any of the three had time to react, something grabbed his shoulder from behind in a deadly grip. Turning around, the masked teen came to face a dementor with fear that was unseen by anyone but him.

Even the quickest reflex wouldn't have been enough to send a patronus charm towards the dementor before it attacked Harry. Reacting on basic instinct, the teen locked himself behind his mental shields. Around the cupboard he already had the time to start building walls and barricades, though he quickly found out that he couldn't block the sickly green connection to the Dark Lord, creating a hole in his defences that he has yet to find a way around. It had to do.

Right away, the young man could see and feel the dark intruding presence of the foul creature creeping upon his mind. The walls of his mentality shook as they were hit and pulled at the same time, almost overwhelming Harry right away. He didn't expect such intensity, but he was able to hold on a thread. Once he got used to the odd attack pattern, Harry could start executing his own counter.

When designing his 'fort', Harry couldn't resist adding a few classical catapult-like defences that now launched his aggressive defence in the form of projectiles at the presence. A horrible shriek rang out in the void, causing the young man to cover his ears in pain. The dementor pulled away from his mind, clearly not used to be attacked on that front. By the time that his vision cleared, the dementor was completely out of sight, having fled from terror it could apparently feel.

He let out a few deep exhales before turning back towards the crowd, seeing them staring at him with wide eyes.

"Is that proof enough for you?"

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