Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!
Chapter Six - Hardwin Peverell
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The resultant discussion about what his Account Manager, Hooknose, needed from him and what he needed from his Account Manager took longer than Harry thought it would; far longer.
The other financial business he accomplished while there was to organise money be 'snuck' into the muggle bank accounts of those he owed during his trip from Colorado back to Britain and promised himself he'd recompense. He even figured out a decent payment to the Norwegian Cruise company who owned the liner on which he travelled between New York and England, for the cost of the food and the 'rent' on the utility compartment.
The goblin thought it was a prank, but he promised to get it done. Harry truly didn't care if he did or didn't think it a prank; just got it done.
Harry also needed to accept Headship of House Potter from Sirius, but left him as Steward for the House in case something happened to him. Further, he also had to take control of the Peverell Account - wasn't that a surprise, as neither Sirius nor Luna had told him about it - and also accept the Heir's position for the House of Black. That led to him having to don three rings - Lord of Potter, Lord of Peverell and Heir of Black. Thankfully, they weren't that bulky, even though they looked like they were.
Once the parchmentwork was all done, he was handed a copy of the Potter and Peverell account books. He handed those off to Luna, who slipped them into her clutch-purse for him.
Next, he took a trip down to the vaults. He didn't have a vault for Black - as he was now Head of House Potter, he didn't receive a stipend from the Black accounts - and Sirius had dumped a whole lot of galleons into the vault as a lump sum one-off 'payment'. So he first headed for the Potter vaults.
Seeing everything that was in there was a real eye-opener. He had no idea the Potter family was a wealthy one. However, he was informed the Potters had made their fortunes through Potions - such as Skele-Gro, Pepper-Up and, 'lately', Sleek-Ezy - and through careful and very clever investments of the capital in both the wizarding world and muggle.
He took well over a thousand galleons and was converting even more to muggle British pounds so he could buy muggle clothing.
He was then going to bypass the Peverell vault, but Luna told him it was important he visit it.
When the vault was opened he was expecting piles of gold, weaponry, old documents, that sort of thing; just like the Potter vault. That is not what he was greeted with on the cart goblin opening the vault.
Instead, there were a couple of piles of gold off to one side that seemed to be about a few hundred thousand worth. However, the major find was the Goa'uld artefacts. They occupied a table, lined right down the middle of the vault like a set of trestle tables.
He stopped and stared in stunned amazement.
"Harry," said Luna, trying to get his attention.
When he finally looked at her she indicated a letter sitting on the end of the closest table and at the vault door end. "I believe that's for you," she said.
When he picked it up it was addressed to 'Our Heir'.
Frowning in confusion he opened it out and read it.
It was difficult to read, considering it used many letters that had changed shape since the days of the Peverells; and the style of writing was also quite different. However, with a bit of effort and concentration, he was able to 'decipher' it. After the first paragraph it became easier.
The letter stated the artefacts left on the table had been recovered from archaeological 'digs' in the middle east, especially around Egypt. And that the earlier Peverells made their fortune from tomb raiding before Gringotts got in on the act.
Each of the artefacts, according to the earlier Peverells, after detection charms were cast on them showed them to have been made of metals and metal composites not found anywhere else on Earth. And that the Peverells had made it part of their lifes' work to collect them. Accordingly, they never sold one single item of 'this particular type' and even purchased them off other tomb raiders both on the hidden (black) market and from museums around the world.
When he finished reading the letter he quietly muttered a heartfelt, "Daaammnnn!" and refolded the letter. He didn't realise he'd done so, but had handed the letter to Luna. His mind was on what the letter contained and already on what was on the trestle tables. She simply dropped it into her clutch-purse without a word.
He then made his way down the side of the nearest table, taking note of what was written on the little cards attached to each, immediately recognising many of the devices or objects and could see the Peverells were quite close on what they were. The only major difference of opinion between his own and that of the Peverells was that the Peverells believed they belonged to what they called 'The Ancients', while Harry knew them to be called 'The Goa'uld'.
Apparently, they believed a race of people, similar to humans but were also 'starfarers' who once colonised Earth, for whatever reason simply left again; leaving the dregs and detritus of their society behind. The Peverells believed they'd intended to return, but never did.
Another surprise was that the Peverells further believed that those Ancients who'd remained on Earth while the vast majority of the rest of their civilisation left, eventually mated with the then 'first' humans who were showing themselves to be tool users and had intelligence. The Peverells posited that magic came from the Ancients and, together with mixing their blood (DNA) into the human race, brought forth the first true wizards and witches.
To Harry, it bore a lot of thinking. However, it was something to deal with later.
For now, he had at least his three main 'devices' back: The kara kesh, the hajar alshifa' healing device and, if he wanted it, a staff weapon.
Looking to the staff weapons leaning against the back wall, he picked up the first and tried to activate it. Nothing happened. Then he moved to the next. It worked. And, when he activated it, the escort goblin jumped in shock. However, Luna merely grinned back.
She calmly said, "Sorry, Harry. That's too big for me to slip into my purse."
Distractedly as he was focussed on what he was doing and looking upon, he deactivated it again, put it back against the wall and checked the third and last. It had a charge but he could already tell it was quite weak. As with the other two, he returned it to its spot on the wall.
He then walked back up the table and took a gold kara kesh, one of the hajar alshifa' devices - which he handed to Luna to slip into her clutch - and slipped a second one into his pocket. Finally, he picked up a Zat'nik'tel. It showed to be almost fully charged.
He'd had one he'd taken off Imhotep but, like his kara kesh, hajar alshifa' and staff weapon, the SGC had taken it from him. He did not realise how much he'd missed it, plus the others, until now.
He quickly slipped the kara kesh onto his left hand and up his wrist, then checked it still worked. Not wanting to use the offensive capabilities he knew it held, he only tried a shield. And it worked as if it was brand new. Grinning, he moved onto the next.
By the time he was finished he had the kara kesh on his left hand and wrist and under a Notice-me-Not, the hajar alshifa' in his pocket and the Zat'nik'tel under another Notice-me-Not on his off-hand hip on his belt.
Looking up and grinning at Luna, he saw she was smiling back.
She asked, "Ready to go?"
"Oh, yes," he returned. "You knew, didn't you." It wasn't inflected like a question.
"Yes," she nodded, then flicked a quick glance at the goblin.
Harry understood the hint. She was even reticent for the goblins to know of her Seer ability. He actually felt honoured she was happy for him to know.
"Alright, then," he suddenly said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Let's go get some shopping done."
She smiled and took his left elbow as they walked out, ignoring the now open-to-everyone vault. The escorting cart goblin, behind them, just shook his head in exasperation for leaving the vault open and, after sealing the vault back up, joined them back in the cart.
Back to the surface, please," said Luna as the goblin hopped back in and into the single front seat.
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Back on the surface, Harry went across to one of the vacant counters and had about a third of the gold he'd pulled from his Potter vault converted into Pounds Sterling. He was surprised to see the conversion was now at about 1:5.2 Galleons to Pounds. It was at about 1:4.9 three years earlier. He was also surprised to learn there was no conversion fee going that way, as the goblins were happy to get rid of the muggle notes. He thought he conversion fee going 'this' way, though, was still quite steep.
"Anything else, Lord Potter?" asked the goblin, after sliding the notes over.
"Not at this time, no," replied Harry.
"Then step back," said the goblin.
Once ready and with his new wizard-spaced and blood-locked coin pouch hanging alongside his wizard-spaced mokeskin pouch, he turned to Luna and asked, "Ready?"
She was looking out the front main doors at the time and lightly frowning.
She turned back and calmly replied, "You go, Harry. I have one more thing I need to speak with the goblins about."
He gave a nod and said, "I'll meet you at Madam Malkin's." Then he gave her a quick hug before walking to the doors.
Behind him, Luna stepped to the counter and quietly said, "You need to let Axe Lord Ragnok know that wizards in the Alley are lying in wait for your customers to step out the doors. If they are not careful, you will have spell-fire in the lobby, here."
The goblin instantly frowned back for a moment before he quickly scribbled out a note and slid it into the slot on his side of the counter. Then he turned back and nodded to her.
"Thank you, Honoured Teller," she nodded. "May you find gold for the taking, lying at your feet."
Then she headed for the doors, but did not to step through them. She needed to stand out of people's way and in a place of concealment, the change in lighting between outside and in was enough for the latter, and watch what was happening outside.
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Harry had just stepped out through the doors and was standing on the bottom step of the bank, looking about for any threats, when such threats suddenly turned up.
Quickly stepping out from both sides of the street while focused on him, he saw nearly a dozen or so wizards and witches move to stand in the middle of the Alley. All of them, bar one – Dumbledore - had their wands drawn and were holding them loosely pointing down. They then formed a bit of a wall, twenty five feet away from him, blocking the Alley in two ranks. The twenty five feet separation was the unofficially accepted minimum duelling range of wizards and witches; Jaffa, too, when they got that close.
Harry mentally groaned, but didn't move. As he was standing on the steps of Gringotts, he was in goblin sovereign territory. Luna had told him that. He did not believe this lot would try anything, just as long as he was standing there or further back.
Mentally sighing, he could identify nearly all of them. Dumbledore, front rank in the middle and slightly forward; Neville Longbottom about a pace apart and half a pace back to his right; Ronald Weasley, to Neville's right and a pace and a half apart; then Ginny Weasley, with the same spacing. To Dumbledore's left stood Mad-Eye Moody, a pace back and two apart; then someone who looked like a boy, now a man, he remembered as in the year in Gryffindor above him, a pace and a half apart; then another adult he didn't recognise. In the second row, off-set from the front row, he saw Elphias Doge, still wearing that silly cravat; a furtive Mundungus Fletcher, obviously and clearly not wanting to be there; Daedalus Diggle with his purple top hat; but, off to his - Harry's - left and in the back row he saw Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks. Tonks was standing real close to Remus and, while keeping an eye on Harry, was whispering something into Remus's ear. 'Yup, twelve,' thought Harry.
As soon as he and Remus made eye contact, Remus quickly glanced around to see if anyone of the Order was watching him, then gently raised his off hand with the palm down and made two quick shoo'ing gestures and mouthed, 'Go back inside'.
Harry smirked and, looking away, quickly and only slightly shook his head.
In that couple of seconds, Harry also saw that everyone else in the Alley had stopped to watch. "Bloody idiots,' he thought. 'They should either realise trouble was afoot and bolted, or run into one of the shops to demand the aurors be called.' He didn't see even one of them do that.
'At least they're smart enough not to get directly behind Dumbledore and his flunkies or, worst still, move through the gap between them and me.
After a few seconds had passed while none of the main players moved, Dumbledore's expression had changed to one of irritation. Clearly he expected Harry to do something, or at least say something.
"Young man," the old coot finally said. "Who do you think you are to have demanded audience with the Potter Account Manager?"
Harry cocked an eyebrow back. "Well!" he suddenly said. "It appears I need to have words with Gringotts' management about client confidentiality."
That clearly irritated the old man. 'Yeah, he's paying a goblin off to feed him specific information. One, at least, would be concerning anyone coming in and talking about the Potter accounts.'
"I must ask you, again," said the old man. "Who―"
"Must ask me again?" asked Harry, cutting Dumbledore off. Something he knew which really got under the old man's skin. "It sounds like someone has you under a compulsion charm, old man. You might want to get that looked into."
While Dumbledore barely reacted except to frown a little harder, Ron Weasley shouted back, "Who do you think you are, dark wizard, to ask questions of Albus Dumbledore? If you're trying to get into the Potter―"
"Do shut up, Mister Weasley," Harry cut in, cutting the red head off. "Just looking at your face makes me want to vomit. I do not need you compounding the problem by opening that maw you call your mouth and spruiking bullshit."
As Ron stood gaping back, Harry saw Nymphadora's hair turned red and she had to slide behind Remus to hide the fact she'd started giggling. Harry could tell by the shaking of her shoulders.
"Besides," smirked Harry. "Aren't you the one who, as soon as Harry Potter went through that Veil of Death thing, you helped yourself to his personal effects; including his very expensive Firebolt?"
Ron's expression changed from one of shock to one of embarrassment then to one of anger in only a couple of seconds.
That's when Harry felt the tickle on his Occlumency shields. His first line of defence, a self operating beater's bat, firmly whacked the probe as if with a cricket bat stroking for a 'six'.
Dumbledore flinched hard back.
Harry turned his attention back to the old man and said, "Now, now, Albie-my-boy. Using unpermitted Legilimency on another is grounds for having your arse sent to Azkaban. What a terribly daaaarrrk thing to do!"
Getting angrier Ron finally blurted, "It's you, who's the dark wizard! You're clearly one of You-Know-Who's Death Eaters. You've just taken your mask off, is all!"
"Mister Weasley!" barked Dumbledore in an aside. "E-nough!" He never took his eyes off Harry, though.
"Thank you, Albie," said Harry, smirking. "I see the sound of his voice makes you want to vomit, too."
Ron was now almost trembling in suppressed rage, wanting to shout back, but he held his tongue.
Harry looked to the young man and grinned. "Yes, be a good little pawn, Mister Weasley; a good doggy-minion. If you're a good boy, Albie might give you a doggy treat later. You'll have to sit up and beg for it, though."
Ron looked like he was going to disobey the old man until Dumbledore snapped a quiet, "Stay silent!" at the boy. Then he quickly turned back to Harry, ready to say something.
However, before he could, Harry looked to Neville.
"And here we have the famous Neville Longbottom; the backup so-called Chosen One. How does it feel to be Dumbledore's second choice, Mister Longbottom? Of course, he only came to you when he supposedly got his first choice killed."
Longbottom's expression went to the near-instant flatness of Occlumency shields gone up full.
Then, before Neville could say anything, if he was about to, Harry had already turned back to Dumbledore. "I hope you're now taking better care of your little pawns, since then, Albie. Or, do you consider Nevvy to be a... bishop perhaps? Is that why he's tucked in close to your side? Just like a bishop to your... queen?"
As Neville frowned and began to move away, Dumbledore said, "Stay where you are, Mister Longbottom." And Neville moved back.
"Oooh... you've got your little bishop trained well, Albie," snarked Harry. "You must be giving him plenty of doggy treats. You do make sure he eats them, don't you? I wouldn't put it past Thief Weasley to steal them and shove them into his own gob."
He now had both Ron and Neville flushing red in anger.
Behind Ron and Ginny, Harry saw Remus looking back with a barely concealed smirk and cocked eyebrow. He'd also stopped trying to gesture for Harry to go back inside the bank.
Dumbledore, finally seeing his spot to speak out and look grand while doing it, snapped, "Young man, whoever you are, I must insist you stop this, at once!"
"You do, do you?" asked Harry. "Well, then; go ahead!"
With a sudden look of confusion, Harry saw the old man was stumped.
Harry sighed and almost perfectly mimicked Dumbledore's own 'I'm so disappointed in you' pose and voice inflection while doing it. "Very well! Insist!"
"Errrr..." said the old man.
Harry rolled his eyes and, in an 'I'm explaining this to a small child' voice, explained, "You said you must insist something, though it sounds like yet another compulsion charm in effect on you. So, go ahead and insist."
Frustrated and angry again when he worked out what Harry meant, Dumbledore gestured a wave-off with his off hand and said, "Very well. I insist you stop this, at once!"
"That's how you do it, old man. Nicely done," snickered Harry. "How about... hmmm... NO!" And laughed.
That got the old man angry. "Young man, come here... Now!"
"Old man," he mimicked right back. "I'd say come here and suck my penis; but, since you're a homosexual, you might just do it."
That had everyone, including the bystanders, gasp in shock.
Looking around - there were now quite a few people gathered behind the Order, but still not directly behind, and trying to listen in - Harry had the audience he wanted. He had information Luna had provided in those scrapbooks of hers he could use.
"What?" he loudly asked to the crowd at-large. "You didn't know?
"Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald were lovers. It's why Albie wouldn't go after Grindelwald until the mid 1940s, even though Grindelwald started his pogrom in the late 1910s. He and Grindelwald were planning to take over the world together. They decided that, while Grindelwald was staying at his aunt Bathilda Bagshot's place in Godric's Hollow, back very soon after the turn of the century.
"That's where Dumbledore's and Grindelwald's catchphrase, 'It's for the Greater Good' comes―"
"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore screamed, now red in the face.
"Oooh..." said Harry. "It appears you didn't want anyone to know, did you. Oops!"
"Shut your mouth, dark wizard!" yelled Ron.
Harry just laughed and said, "Tell me, Thief Weasley, how you came to the conclusion I'm dark. Is it because the Great and powerful Fairy... I mean, Dumbledore... told you I was? Did you even ask for proof?"
"Of course you're dark!" he snapped. "You're wearing black!"
"That I'm wearing black makes me dark?" asked Harry, actually surprised. Pretending to be overly-acting it, he exclaimed, "Oh, my God! Every student at Hogwarts wears black, so every student at Hogwarts is a dark wizard!
"Quick!" he mocked. "You'd best hurry there and kill them all!" And laughed again.
He also noticed there were a few bystanders who also hid snickers behind hands to their mouths.
Frustrated Ron barked, "You're a Peverell! Everyone knows the Peverells were dark!"
"So were the Blacks!" Harry shot back. "Wasn't your great grandmother, Cedrella, born a Black? Did your great grandfather marry a dark wizard?"
He immediately turned to Neville and asked, "And what about your great grandmother, Callidora, Longbottom? She was born a Black, too, wasn't she?"
Turning back to Weasley he said, "Accusing someone they're dark, just because of what family they were born into, is a clear nonsense, Weasley. Otherwise, both you and the Second Chosen One, Longbottom, are both dark. So is Nymphie Tonks, back there," that had Tonks instantly shut up and glare back, "So is old Moody there... so are quite a few of you, come to think of it.
"Oh. My. God!" he mock-horror exclaimed as if just realising something. "The Order of the Flaming Fairies is full of dark wizards! Look out, everybody! The Dark Lord has a challenger!"
And laughed again. So did quite a few of his now audience.
Inside the bank, Luna was giggling so hard and trying to stifle it she was red in the face, crying and leaning against the wall, where she'd collapsed against it.
Harry finally looked around, shook his head at the idiocy of some folks and called. "Right, folks! Entertainment is over! I'm about to step off this step. When I do, Dumbledore and his lick-spittle minions are going to attack me. You'd best not stand outside or you risk getting hit with stray spells."
Harry watched as many folks quickly disappeared into shops. However, all of them either stood in the doorways or looked out through the windows; the... plain glass... windows.
'Well, I warned them,' thought Harry. 'If they get hurt now, it's their own damned fault.'
As they'd cleared out, Harry watched as the Order readied themselves. He just grinned back.
Once the bystanders were 'gone', he held his hands out to show he didn't have a wand. "Look everybody! NO wand!" he called. "If you attack me, you'll be attacking an unarmed man!"
Then he grinned again... and stepped off.
Dumbledore roared, "NOW!"
Wands in Order members' hands snapped up and, en masse, fired stunners. The only ones who didn't were Tonks and Remus and a couple others Harry didn't recognise.
Harry simply flicked his left hand out as he spread his fingers and activated the kara kesh.
All... eight... stunners, including Dumbledore's, simply died when they hit the golden shield Harry'd erected around himself from the kara kesh.
Immediately, they all, including many bystanders, gawked back at Harry in stupefied shock. No one should be able to withstand a concentrated barrage like that without succumbing to many of them; especially not without a wand in your hand.
As soon as the last Charm hit, Harry turned off the kara kesh and drew his wand from his sleeve.
As he raised it he barked, "My turn!" And started rapid-fire casting.
In his mind he was rapidly chanting, 'Stun! Break! Stun! Stun! Stun! Stun! Poke! Stun! Stun! Shove! Stun! Pud-Trip! Stun! Cut! Stun! Break! Stun! Stun! Stab! Stun! Break! Stun! Stun!'
He'd replaced every incantation in his repertoire with a single syllable word that related. Stupefy became Stun; Confractus (for the shield breaker) became Break; Depulso became Push; Secare, the Cutting Curse, became Cut; Pud-Trip was actually a combination pair of jinxes, the Knockback Jinx and the Tripping Jinx; and so on.
Further, without even realising he was doing it at first, back in his third or fourth fight with the Jaffa he had begun to pump magic into his own body to try and help. It did.
What he'd manage to accomplish through the employment of will and magic was to temporarily increase the speed of his thought processes, heighten his reflexes and speed up his movement. From his side, it made everything slow down around him; but that wasn't the case. For those watching him, or being involved with him, in a battle it saw him significantly speed up until he almost looked like he was 'blurring'. And curses were leaving his wand as if from the barrel of a machine gun.
His wand was moving so fast no one could any longer see it and his hand was just a blur. As such, no one could even deduce what spell he'd next cast from the wand movements. It wouldn't have mattered, anyway; he was practically point-casting. It was, fundamentally, inhuman; and that's why the Jaffa and Tok'Ra thought him to be a demon.
At a distance of twenty plus feet, as they were now separated, Harry had his third cast leaving his wand before his first reached its target. He had Dumbledore, his first target, down and stunned within one and a half seconds after hitting him with a stunner, snap-blocked by a Protego from the old man, hit with a shield breaker, smashing the Protego and rocking the old man back, then downed and unconscious by an unblocked stunner. The rest of the Order including Longbottom, except for Mad-Eye, didn't even get another spell off before Harry had them all down. Both Remus and Tonks let 'their' stunners hit them. Remus even closed his eyes, waiting for it. Tonks was just goggling back in shock. For Moody, he was the last down. However, he couldn't dodge due to his wooden leg and was down with a triple of a stunner, shield breaker and stunner just like Dumbledore, unable to protect himself beyond the first shield charm, with a second stunner just in case.
In return, the only one to get a spell off back at him was also Moody. And Harry simply side-stepped that one. He also recognised it as a somewhat dark, or dark grey, spell; a bone shatterer. However, he was still trying to get his head around over how damned slow the stunners and Moody's bone shatterer moved. Compared to a blaster weapon, they crawled towards him.
As soon as the Order were down, with Moody joining the rest on the ground only four seconds after Dumbledore went down, Harry was already looking about for any further threats. There weren't any. Everyone not an Order member were now gawping at him from the walls and through doors and windows.
"Well!" he huffed. "That was invigorating!" Then he looked around at those bystanders staring at him, still in shock. "Anyone else?"
That had heads all duck away again.
Laughing, he walked over to Remus and enervated him with the incantation, 'Wake!'
As Remus gave a start and his eyes snapped open he found himself staring into the eyes of his honorary nephew, grinning down at him. And stopped still.
"I'll let you wake the idiots up, once I'm gone," said Harry.
Then he walked off, up the Alley.
A quick Notice-me-Not while he walked and a hundred plus yards later, he was slipping in through the door of Madam Malkin's. And immediately dispelled the Notice-me-Not again.
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Luna had managed to watch what was going on outside right up until Harry said he was going to step off the step. That's when the door guards outside hustled in and slammed the big, reinforced doors shut, practically in her face.
Only ten seconds later they were opening them again and she quickly slipped through with a lot of other witches and wizards who were waiting inside. She immediately saw Harry enervate Remus and then walk off, disappearing a few moments later.
Knowing where he was headed, she nimbly slipped through the unconscious bodies in the middle of the Alley and, giving an unconscious Dumbledore an 'accidental' swift kick to the testicles as she went, skipped on up the Alley. A wizard leaving the bank behind her saw her do it, smirked and added his own, much harder, swift kick to the old man's twins.
As she walked into Madam Malkin's, it was to see Harry already standing on one of the low pedestals on the male side of the store and being measured.
"Hi Luna!" he grinned. "Enjoy the show?"
"I was in the bank and the goblins slammed the doors shut just before spells started flying," she replied. "They had them open again about ten seconds later to see Dumbledore and his... Order of the Flaming Fairies... all taking unintended naps on the cobblestones."
That had the witch measuring Harry pause and look to Luna. "Dumbledore was in a battle and lost?"
"With Neville Longbottom," she grinned, "Plus about another almost dozen of Dumbledore's illegal Order as backup."
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―==(oIo)==―
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Remus had immediately woken Tonks and quietly told her Harry had won. Then, though she was clearly shocked, she helped him wake the others. Out of spite Remus woke Dumbledore last.
When the old man snapped awake and looked around for his wand, he aborted reaching for it and reached for his testicles instead, moaning in pain. It was a few seconds later, still in pain and with one hand cupping his tackle, he was clearly relieved to find his wand close at hand and picked it up. A quick wave of it at his own groin and he sighed in relief.
"What happened?" he then demanded.
"We lost," Remus simply replied.
"Who was killed?"
"No one," Remus smirked. "Apparently, he's not as dark as you and Ronald seem to believe."
Dumbledore scowled and held out his off hand in a clear gesture to be helped to his feet. Remus grabbed him by the forearm and lifted; and Dumbledore winced as he recovered his footing.
"We need to go back to headquarters to discuss this new threat," the old man declared, smashing down in his mind the pain from his bruised boys.
"You do realise we were all down and at his mercy and that he could have easily killed us all, right?" asked Remus.
Irritably, Dumbledore waved it off and said, "It was just a gesture to make people think he isn't dark. He's definitely dark, though."
"As he asked, where's your proof?" Remus snapped back. "If you believe he's dark, you'll be explaining to us all how you came to that conclusion."
"I will not be questioned about my decisions!" the old man snapped back.
Before Remus could retort, the old man turned and snapped out loud enough for the other Order members to hear, "Back to headquarters to discuss this latest dark wizard!" And immediately latched onto Longbottom and apparated away with him, blowing through the anti-apparation wards over almost the entirety of the Alley, before anyone could say anything. The only place without the anti-apparation ward was over the two designated apparation points, one each end, of the Alley.
As the other Order members hurried away to the upper end apparation point just inside the arch leading back to the Leaky Cauldron, Tonks walked over to Remus and said, "He has no idea it's Harry, or that we know he's not dark. So, Dumbledore is simply declaring 'the man in black' to be dark because he felt like it?"
"No," scowled Remus. "He's declaring him dark because he's afraid he has rightful access to the Potter accounts. Dumbledore wants those for himself and has been fighting for access to them from Sirius for quite some time.
"I think he intends to convince everyone Harry's dark so he can get him shuffled off to Azkaban and out of the way... like he did to Sirius back in '81. You can't access Gringotts from a cell in Azkaban."
With a sigh, Tonks said, "Let's get to headquarters so we can keep an eye on him and what he tries."
The two then left for the apparation point.
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―==(oIo)==―
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None of those of the Order hurrying up the Alley saw Harry through the window of Madam Malkin's getting measured for new robes. Mind you, that might be because he'd doffed his hat and over robes and, therefore, looked a little different.
It was also apparent the staff of Malkin's were either too busy with work; or hadn't been informed by a passer-by or customer of what was going on, while it was going on. And, therefore, did not see their new customer was the one accused of being a dark wizard and then attacked by members of the Order.
It was both, actually.
"There was an attack?" asked the sales assistant witch, from where she was kneeing at Harry's feet while getting further measurements.
"Yeah," replied Harry. "Dumbledore seems to want to go around accusing folks, for no reason, that they're dark and, even while they're unarmed, attack them with about ten of his minions... I mean, members of the Order of the... Stupid Chicken?.. backing him up."
"I think you mean Order of the Flaming Flamingo," smirked Luna.
"No, that's not it," said Harry, mock-frowning. "Ummm... Order of the... Burnt Turkey?.. No, that's not it, either."
"Order of the Sautéed Seagull? Pickled Pigeon? Stunned Salmon?" Luna giggled.
Harry chuckled and said, "Nah! You just like the alliterations."
"Guilty!" she quickly declared. Then tried, "Order of the Oddball Occamies!"
"I think you mean Order of the Phoenix," said the witch as Harry laughed.
Harry and Luna glanced at each other and grinned.
"Now why would a dark wizard like Dumbledore call his illegal vigilante organisation the Order of the Phoenix?" he calmly asked.
Just as calmly Luna replied, "He wants everyone to think he and his illegal vigilante organisation are light wizards and witches, Love."
"Well! Attacking an unarmed wizard stepping out of Gringotts, with a dozen members of that illegal vigilante organisation at his side, was a bad way to get people to think he's light, wasn't it?
"Besides, who would ever believe that an illegal vigilante organisation could be light?"
"Apparently, most of the wizards and witches of magical Britain," she logically replied.
Both saw as the young witch on the floor thought hard about that, frowning; and grinned at each other again.
Once the measurements were completed, it was on to colour, style and fittings.
Harry was quite happy just sticking to basic black, like Luna had bought him in advance and he was wearing. However, now that he was here, she was determined to see his wardrobe cover more than just that one colour or tone.
She and the sales assistant then rapidly talked to each other about styles, colours and the like while also gesturing the certain features of Harry; such as the colour of his eyes, colour of his hair, his build, etcetera. Harry stood there watching them both, with his head rotating back and forth like he was watching a tennis match at Wimbledon from the front seats. He was just as quiet, too.
Eventually, a good two dozen different coloured material 'swatches' were brought out. That got narrowed down to half a dozen and then large bolts of cloth were brought out.
Luna instantly went to a dark, almost forest, green and brought it over to drape over Harry's shoulder.
"Hmm..." she said, before giving a nod and saying, "That's one!"
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
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At the 'secret headquarters' of the Order of the Phoenix – that is, a previously abandoned classroom just down the corridor from his gargoyle guardian protected entrance to his office - Dumbledore was almost ranting in his objurgation of 'the Peverell wizard', how his Order did not 'do their jobs' and a lot else.
It was into this that Moody stomped into the room, before then moving to sit on a chair at the other end of the boardroom-style table from where the old man stood.
As he sat, Dumbledore glared at him and snarked, "It's nice of you to join us, Alistair. I thought I ordered everyone directly back to here?"
"You might have," said Moody. "However, I had something else to do, first."
"And what was so important you had to delay?" the old man demanded.
Moody reached into an inside pocket of his heavy coat and withdrew a small framed picture; before tossing it, face up, somewhat down the table.
"I went to visit old Bathilda Bagshot to see if what Peverell said was true," he calmly replied.
As Dumbledore gave a start of shock, he continued. "It seems he didn't lie. According to old Bagshot, you and her nephew, Gellert Grindelwald, were... as she put it... quite close.
"She even said you were, soon after the time Grindelwald began staying with her after being kicked out of Durmstrang, almost inseparable; with both of you spending a lot of time planning and plotting... things.
"She also said you both used the phrase, 'For the Greater Good' a lot after you became close. At the time, she thought you were just being 'boys' and your plans to take over the world For the Greater Good were just words. Now, though?" And shrugged.
Doge, had reached out and picked up the frame with its photo. It showed a teenaged Dumbledore and Grindelwald standing side by side with their nearest arms around each other. Dumbledore, slightly taller and with his right arm around Grindelwald's shoulders; and Grindelwald, with his left arm around Dumbledore's back. Doge was old enough to recognise both.
Looking up at Dumbledore while holding the frame in his left hand, Doge gestured to it with his other hand and demanded, "Do you care to explain this, Albus? Or, are you just going to reply, 'What I do is for The Greater Good,' like you usually do?"
Scowling, Dumbledore used the few moments of dropping into his throne-like chair at the head of the table to think before he replied, "I knew Gellert, when we were very young men. At that time, of course, I had no idea what he would go on to do. As with all young men... and women... I was unwise in some of my choices.
"However, once I determined what sort of man he was like, I drove him off."
"That's not how Bagshot tells it," growled Moody. "According to her... and now confirmed by your brother, Aberforth... it was Aberforth who drove him off; with the three of you in a three-way duel at the time. He also said that one of you killed your sister, Ariana, during that duel."
"He cannot know who it was," grumped the old man.
"Oh?" asked Moody. "As Ariana Dumbledore was killed by the Killing curse, are you saying you were casting Killing curses at the time... Albus?"
After another deep scowl it was a moment before Dumbledore snapped back, "It is not your place to question me, Mister Moody. You are no longer an auror."
"And, yet, I still retain auror instincts and the experience of being a Master Auror," Moody snapped back. "Your answer... or, rather, non-answer... tells me all I need to know."
Moody then stood back up and, reaching into his pocket, withdrew his Order medallion and tossed it down the length of the table.
"As someone who has cast an Unforgivable you should be in Azkaban, Albus," he stated. "You are a self-admitted criminal; and, as such, I will not abide being a Member of your Order any longer."
Then he spun about and stomped back out again.
Two others then stood and, without a word, tossed their own Order medallions on the table. One of them, Oliver Rivers, said, "He's right." And both walked out.
A third, who was in the Alley with them, then stood and said, "We attacked an unarmed man, Dumbledore. We fired stunners at him at the same time. Do you have any idea what that many stunners hitting a person at the same time does to them? It very likely kills them."
Professor Minerva McGonagall, who wasn't there for the attack but was there for the meeting, scowled and said, "If it was the same as four stunners hitting me close together back in June 1996, it'll have at least put him in hospital."
"I did not sign up for this," the wizard continued. "I signed up to fight You-Know-Who, not someone who might... without any proof... be one of his Death Eaters." Then he, too, walked out.
Dumbledore could do nothing, but scowl at his back.
In a quiet voice, Neville asked, "Were you and Grindelwald friends, Headmaster?"
Dumbledore waved him off and said, "What happened almost a century ago is not your concern, my boy."
"Yes it is," Neville firmly disagreed.
Dumbledore finally looked to him and said, "You need to focus on your training, my boy. Your destiny still awaits you."
"Does it?" he asked back. "Or, have you been lying about that, too?"
"Do not question me, Mister Longbottom," Dumbledore practically snarled.
"No," said Longbottom. "That's your answer for everything, isn't it, Headmaster? Every time someone asks you something you don't want to answer, you give back either a refusal to answer while claiming you're all-wise and knowing, or some... platitude that's also a slap-down."
"Mister Longbottom..." the old man warningly growled.
"No!" snapped Neville. "One of my trainers... my primary trainer, in fact... Moody, just walked out on you. And Professor Flitwick is far too busy with classes to pick up the slack! And you... you just keep blowing me off instead of actually providing me with any actual training, as you promised me and my grandmother you would do!
"It's time you start answering questions and providing the combat training you promised, or I'm gone!
"That man took less than two seconds to put you down! And I was down less than a second later! If, whoever that was, could put all of us down that fast... then what is Voldemort going to do to me?!"
Then he got up and stormed from the room.
When Ron jumped to his feet and made to follow, Neville said, "Naff off, Weasley."
Ron stood there, shocked and wondering if he should hurry after his 'best mate', or sit again. He looked to Dumbledore to see if he'd tell him what to do.
Dumbledore, tense and gritting his teeth, just sat there feeling utterly impotent. He never said a word.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
By the time the two witches, the sales assistant and Luna were finished Harry would be getting a robe of forest green with black trim; a robe of black with bright green piping, of which the colour near perfectly matched his eyes, according to Luna; a third of deep deep red so dark that, in anything but bright light, looked like it actually was black; a fourth that was a proper set of professional duelling robes in black and dark grey that would take a week to make; and, of all things, a set of pure white robes and matching slippers, for which Luna refused to explain why. The second set, the black with green piping, would also have the Peverell and Potter crests stitched into the breast.
However, the robes weren't the only items of clothing purchased. He also came away with a pair each of black, red and green dragon-hide boots, and black wizarding 'slippers' for around the house.
Other than the duelling robes, the rest would be ready by that evening. However, they said they'd be back in two days to pick the rest up.
Harry had already decided that, if the boots weren't as comfortable as the military combat boots he was currently wearing, he'd be buying more of what he was wearing out in the muggle world when he went out the next day to shop there.
He also, according to Luna, had to start magically forcing his hair to grow out and long. She'd also be purchasing for him Sleek-Ezy Hair Potion to use on it to get rid of the still-on-occasion 'bird's nest' that was its default. That was at least one thing he was happy to do.
Once finished, Luna said, "Ready to go, Love?"
"Definitely!" he firmly replied, relieved.
She smiled back before then hooking her right hand into his left elbow, as she'd been doing since he'd returned, and they walked to the door together.
"Into the muggle world or home?" she asked.
"Home," he replied. "We can save the muggle world for tomorrow."
Just as they stepped out the door, Luna leading this time considering how narrow the doorway was, Harry found his left arm at the bicep grasped from the side.
As he felt the pull back on his arm he instantly increased the spin while raising his right hand in a fist; ready to punch whoever it was in the face. He knew it wasn't Luna, because she was ahead of him.
However, as he drove the punch forward he had to throw it off to only lightly clip the woman, who'd grabbed him, in the ear on the way past. Then, as quickly as he could, he pulled the arm back.
He was ready to pry the woman's talons... fingers... off his arm with his right hand, but the clip to her ear had her release him with a startled 'yelp' and yank of her hand back, anyway.
Looking down at the woman from his extra four inches of height he snarled, "Skeeter. That was damned foolish of you."
With her left hand raised to massage her ear and set her slightly knocked askew glasses back in place, Skeeter stuttered a bit with nonsensical noise before she rallied and, trying to be smooth, said, "I believe you and I should go somewhere and... talk... about your brave defence of yourself outside Gringotts only―"
"Shut up, Skeeter," he quietly snapped at her, cutting her off.
When the woman gaped at him and began to bristle he said, "First, that you're trying to come over all the seductress is, quite frankly, disturbing. Woman, you're about thrice my age. Go try that shit with someone somewhere around your own age. You know, like Dumbledore."
When she gaped again he continued, "You want to interview me? No problem. But you lie to me; or lie about me... I will hunt you down and will squash you like a little bug. Do you understand what I'm telling you, little bug?"
Now somewhat frightened, Skeeter quickly nodded; but again rallied quickly. "Are you willing to be interviewed now?"
He thought about that and glanced towards Luna, who had moved to stand behind the woman and was now grinning while rapidly nodding, and said, "You know what? Why not."
Eagerly, Skeeter asked, "Shall we get a room at the Leaky Caul―"
"There you go again, Skeeter," he snapped, cutting her off. "Trying to get me into a room, on your own, in private... You're three times my age, woman! Shame on you!"
Another glance to Luna and he could see she was now holding up a small swatch of light green fabric she'd grabbed earlier from inside Malkin's and mimicked writing something with her other hand before then pointing at Florean Fortescue's Ice Creamery, across the Alley. Harry gave her a subtle nod as he looked back down to Skeeter.
With a flick of his chin in that direction, he said, "We'll go into Fortescue's and sit at an inside table. You can also buy me lunch, as I've not had a chance to eat yet. It can go on your expense account. I'm sure the Prophet provides you with one, just for this sort of thing."
Again checking for Luna he could see she'd already gone, which meant she'd already hurried across to Fortescue's.
"Oh! And you'll be using a dicta-quill for the interview, or writing by hand. If I see the colour lime anywhere... life, for you, will quickly become unpleasant. Understand?"
Paling again for a long moment Skeeter stood still before she swallowed and said, "Understood, yes."
"If you want to write beyond the truth, then you will ensure... ensure... it is stated as your opinion, or your belief or similar," he added. "You will not deliberately mislead the readers of your article away from the truth. If you do... squish! Understood?"
"Understood," she more calmly returned.
He gave a nod back and gestured to the ice creamery. "After you, Miss Skeeter."
Harry was pleased to see a vacant inside table with Luna sitting at one very close by. She was sipping on a cup of tea and nibbling on jam and cream lathered scones with one hand while reading a book with the other.
Skeeter didn't even seem to notice her 'rival's daughter' sitting at the next table and only two feet from her when she sat down. Where she sat had Luna sitting side-on and just behind Skeeter's right shoulder. In other words, in the perfect spot to listen to everything Skeeter said and see everything she wrote if she turned to look. It was obviously deliberate on Luna's part and set up with her Seer abilities in use, probably together with a targeted Notice-me-Not keyed only to Skeeter. Harry, of course, sat opposite the vile woman. He wished he knew how Luna had managed to order her tea and scones in advance enough to have them ready for her when she entered, though. He just hadn't seen her send a messenger Patronus while he'd been pulling a 'mock' robe over his head to take it off, back in Malkins.
Once seated, Skeeter called over Fortescue's only waitress and placed her lunch order. Then Harry gave the girl his own.
Once the waitress was gone with a promise not to be too long, he was pleased to see Skeeter pull out parchment and a quill that didn't have a lime green feather. This one looked like an eagle quill. However, it also demonstrated it was a dicta-quill when, after setting it up next to her right hand, the quill stood up on its own.
With a little throat clear, Skeeter seemed intent to get right into it. "Firstly, may I have your name?"
Harry smirked back and said, "It's quite long. You may use the short form of Lord Hardwin Peverell. If you remain polite and don't get pushy, you may call me Hardwin."
With a beaming smile back, she said, "Thank you, Hardwin; I appreciate that. Now, it is believed that the line of Peverell died out centuries ago. Where has the Peverell family... you... been hiding for these many centuries?"
"Firstly, we weren't hiding, as you put it; the House of Peverell was simply not interested in being in the limelight. Unlike some, we found dignity in not flaunting ourselves to the masses.
"As for me..." he shrugged and wryly smiled. "I had no personal interest in being anyone's hero... or villain. I happened to like my anonymity."
"And yet you've come out into the open now," she pressed.
"I was forced to come out into the open, because that manipulative old bum-naffer fool Dumbledore... who can't seem to help himself in doing so... outed me in public," he corrected her. "I also held off on doing anything while I was waiting for the aurors to show up to defuse the situation. However, they never did. I'm forced to wonder why."
"Yes," she nodded. "He, Dumbledore, even accused you of being a dark wizard."
"I was not surprised," he scoffed. "Dumbledore seems to be of the belief that, if you have a certain name, you must be dark. Actually, Dumbledore seems to think that, if you refuse to accept him as being some... undefined Leader of the Light... a title he gave himself, by the way... then you must be dark.
"That's a nice trick of his. Most people don't want to be labelled as being dark; so Dumbledore accuses, without any actual evidence to support his claim, people of being dark if they refuse to do what he tells them to do. And uses his self-awarded title of Leader of the Light to reinforce it. In that way, he can manipulate people into doing his bidding."
With a gleam in her eye as if she was a shark eyeing off a juicy morsel, she said, "And yet you accused him of being dark."
"That's because I believe manipulating people to do your bidding is an evil thing to do. How can people believe him to be a light wizard, let alone the so-called Leader of the Light, if he continues to commit evil acts?"
"A very good question," she replied. "I also saw the speed in which you took Dumbledore and members of his Order down outside Gringotts. How did you learn to duel so well?"
"Okay," he said. "Let's clarify a few things first. One: Dumbledore's so called Order of the Flaming Fairies, or whatever it's called, is actually an illegal vigilante organisation. I believe the ministry should immediately move to label it as a proscribed organisation and make anyone who's a member of it a recognised criminal. We are a society of law; vigilantes should play no part of that.
"Two: I see Dumbledore's vigilantes as his personal minions and thugs, not as members of an illegal organisation. Calling them members seems to me to legitimise them and what they do.
"And three: I did not duel Dumbledore and his minions, they ambushed me as I was carrying out lawful and peaceful business as I stepped out of Gringotts and was heading to spend gold with other businesses of the Alley. In other words, they attempted to mug me.
"Their attempt failed because, as a bunch of amateurs... including Dumbledore... who had no business ambushing people, they stepped out of their places of concealment too soon. I was still on sovereign goblin soil, being on the steps of Gringotts, when they got it wrong and moved too soon. This meant I merely had to remain where I was and, safe in the knowledge they wouldn't attack me while on goblin soil, laugh at them at how pathetic they showed themselves to be.
"It is also very apparent Dumbledore has made no effort to train his people in unit combat tactics. They acted like all thugs usually behave, as just a collection on individuals who happen to be together at the time. There was no use, whatsoever, of how to work as a cohesive unit. As Dumbledore has determined himself to be the leader of those vigilantes, I would have thought he would have gotten off his wrinkly, bony, geriatric arse and actually trained the people he leads in working together as a team. Luckily for me, he's shown himself to be completely incompetent at that, too. After all, it was his failing to train Harry Potter... as he bloody well should have, as he knew of the prophecy well in advance... that likely led a great deal to the boy getting hexed through that so-called Veil of Death in the Department of Mysteries. Dumbledore's negligence... criminal negligence, some would say... may have well doomed us all.
"As for what you called a duel, a duel is a sanctioned, controlled, one-on-one combat between two individuals. What we had at the steps of Gringotts was a dozen people, Dumbledore and Neville Longbottom included, waiting to attack a man who didn't even have his wand in his hand... me.
"While I deliberately delayed matters while waiting for aurors... who never showed up... to show up and send Dumbledore and his minions, including Longbottom, on their way seeing as what they were doing was illegal... I laughed at the old fool and gave him a piece of my mind. When I realised the aurors weren't going to show up after all... and one must wonder why not, when you consider our society is currently at war... I warned all the bystanders that curses were going to start being fired. I, conscientious and fine upstanding citizen I am, knew I was placing myself at greater risk to do so; but did not want to see innocent bystanders hurt, no matter how stupid they were being by just standing there.
"Then I stepped off the step, still without a wand in my hand. Dumbledore immediately barked out, 'Now!'; showing it was his plan, all along, for me to be attacked by himself and his criminal minions. They all fired curses at me at the same time.
"That is not a duel. That is, as I've implied, an unprovoked attack."
"And yet you handily defeated them all," she pressed.
He shrugged and replied, "I do not like bullies or thugs. And Dumbledore and his minions showed that is what they truly are. Besides that, I was defending myself from their unprovoked attack. A quite lawful thing to do; unlike what Dumbledore and his pathetic lackeys tried to do."
The interview was then interrupted by the delivery of their lunches. However, Skeeter kept pressing her questions right through the meal. Thankfully, she seemed to forget she'd also asked him how he'd managed to be so fast. Sadly for her, he had no intention of reminding her of it.
Once finished, Harry thanked the woman for the lunch, warned and reminded her to write her article in a way that did not mislead the reader and firmly stated what he said was to be faithfully quoted. If she quoted him for something he hadn't actually said, or even misquoted him, he'd hunt her down.
Skeeter nodded back and replied, "I believe, almost exactly as transcribed, this article will be faithful to this interview. I really don't think I can... dress it up a bit."
"Then I look forward to reading it tomorrow," he said, standing up. "Good day, Miss Skeeter." Then he spun on his heel and walked out. Luna was waiting for him outside the doors.
As they headed for the Leaky Cauldron, Luna said, "I believe I'll be looking forward to reading tomorrow's Daily Prophet. I don't often say that."
He smiled back.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
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