Chapter 10

"You're going to have that incessant grin on your face all day aren't you?"

Clang!

Metal met metal hard sending sparks flying. Two swordsmen danced around each other, flying in to attack then flowing away like water.

"It's not an incessant grin as much as it is a satisfied smirk, Severus," Kai chuckled as he dodged the potion master's longer sword.

Attack. Attack. Dodge.

'Like water, unstoppable. Move around everything in you path until you wear them down.'

The blade of Kai's sword bit shallowly into the older man's shoulder.

First blood.

Defend. Defend. Dodge.

Severus was mad.

Correction, Severus was pissed.

"You're just mad that I saved your ass from that potion blunder," the assassin spit out playfully, eyes flashing.

Snape snarled, "I was apparently foolish to believe that assassins dealt death, not begged for it!"

Kai landed a punch to Snape's unguarded left side before circling again and landing a powerful roundhouse kick. His leg didn't escape, however, without feeling the bite of Snape's sword on his calf.

Snape's dark eyes narrowed, "So that's how it is going to be?"

The swords were discarded as the circling continued.

"I don't care how confident you feel about it, combining the houses they way you want in classes won't work, Boudreau. They'll never get along. My Gryffindor-Slytherin potions classes are a threat to my sanity alone."

The assassin laughed, face and tied hair gleaming with perspiration, "If I can make born vampires and Lycan exist peacefully and amicably in my lectures I can handle a couple dozen human students."

"Good luck, these rivalries are centuries old."

Severus was a more than able fighter. As a much larger man, he was physically stronger than the blood mage, though not near as fast. It was strength vs. speed. A leg sweep from behind made Kai backflip over the kick, quickly springing away. He was not quick enough as Severus' follow through caught him across the ribs.

Point Snape.

He rolled over Snape's leg and came up with an uppercut into the solar plexus. Kai leaped away and back to his feet as the potions master fought to get his breath back.

Point Kai.

"Will you teach them this?" he wheezed out.

"Some," Kai replied, "I'll have to focus on fitness first. Foolish lazy European wizards," the assassin scolded jokingly.

Severus scowled, "I'm a blade master I'll have you know."

Kai barked a laugh as he dodged Snape's attempt to grab him.

"I'll do mostly dodging with the younger years. Introduce them to normal sports"

Dodge. Block. Strike.

Kai heard a snap as Snape's nose broke.

"Thanks for that, like my nose isn't crooked enough."

"I'll heal it after. Suck it up."

A blow caught him across the temple and his vision blacked before refocusing.

'Note to self, don't piss of Snape; it makes him faster…'

"The key for 5th years and below is all about knowing when and how to escape a situation and if not possible, how to shield, block, or hide well enough to then escape,"

"Good," they circled again, "all these kids can think of is the bravo and honor of battle, as if they would stand a chance against a Death Eater. Foolish Gryffindors," Snape muttered, speech slightly slurred from the broken nasal bone.

He went down hard as Kai's sweeper kick took out his legs. Kai held his left foot over Snape's throat, claiming victory.

"You, Severus, are part of the problem," he growled, annoyed. "You snipe about how stupid the Gryffindors are, how pathetic the Hufflepuffs are, how book-obsessed the Ravenclaws are. Is a child's character actually defined by the one trait the house is most known for? Is their worth to be decided by some old hat?"

Kai snarled and walked away, sitting at the appearing table, wiping away blood and sweat with a damp towel. A hand ran over his leg and head, healing any swelling or cuts. Then he took a drink of cold water, as much to cool his temper as his body.

"I was in the Bloodfang House at Riker. Bloodfang has the highest death rate of any house. Some people focus on this one fact more than anything else about my house-mates. What does this tell you about its members?"

"Foolish, reckless, untalented," Snape snapped, towel stemming the blood from his nose.

"Add this to your consideration. Bloodfang produces more class leaders than any other house."

"Foolish, reckless, though talented."

"Bloodfang houses most of the school's bloodmagic mastery students."

"Reckless but extremely talented," Snape said grudgingly, sitting in the chair next to the assassin.

Kai stood up and took the towel.

"So your opinion of me and my housemates changed from us being stupid and untalented to extremely talented with only two additional pieces of information."

Snape narrowed his eyes, "I didn't know anything about Bloodfang members."

The assassin grabbed Snape's nose and snapped it back into place, a bone-mending and blood clotting spell healing the injury.

The only response Snape had to the harsh treatment was watering of his eyes.

"And you seriously think you know anything about these students? Because a person is sorted into Hufflepuffs does not mean they do not have the intelligence of a Ravenclaw, or the bravery of a Gryffindor, or even the cunning of a Slytherin, it just means that their loyalty and work ethic is more predominant. Don't judge a person because of what some moldy talking hat says. Doing so would be blinding yourself, something a 'cunning' Slytherin such as yourself should loathe to do."

He waved a cleaning spell over himself and pulled on a black polo shirt emblazoned with the logo of the English National rugby team. He sat down and as the room provided a comfortable lounge chair for him.

"This is a remarkable room," he commented as the room gave him a book of instructions on itself.

"It's called the 'come and go' room. I've been using it for sword training since my Hogwarts days," Snape commented absently, mind still pondering Kai's words.

'I'll have to speak to Hogwarts about making this my classroom. I could make it any kind of play field or obstacle course I wanted. The possibilities are endless…'

"Think about what I said Severus. Because frankly, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem," he turned away, retying his hair. "I have a meeting," was all he said before he walked away.

As he walked down the hallway his phone vibrating at his side brought Kai out of his thinking. He flung up a mobile silencing ward around himself as he walked.

"Shadow," he said.

"Kai, it's Anaconda," a male voice replied. He sounded pissed.

"What's up?"

"Good news and bad. Good news first. Leander is in serious blood withdrawal, shakes, hallucinations, he's fighting anything that resembles you."

"Still? Man, I'm going to have to start using my blood as a new vampire torture technique…," it had been over a week and a half since his escape. That Leander was still in bad shape was marvelous.

"Bad news, though, he's now protected under maximum security. Riddle has apparently moved him to his private quarters. He lives in there; he brews in there and nothing can get in and out but Riddle. He used parsel wards to lock us all off of the property."

"Parsel wards, huh?" Kai smirked viciously. "Looks like I'm going after him my self."

Anaconda laughed heartily, "That's what I thought you'd say."

"Good, good. Any other news?"

"No."

"Then I'll let you go, I have a meeting. I'll talk to you soon?"

"Yeah, no doubt. Make sure you stop by the manor sometime, the wife and the kids keep asking after you."

Kai smiled fondly; he loved Anaconda's family, "I'll try. Say hi to them for me."

"I will. Oh, by the way, you might get a bit of a surprise on the Hogwarts Express."

"Con…" Kai hated being surprised.

"No, I'm not telling. You'll have to wait and see," Anaconda laughed. He'd always been an uncle to Kai, being one of the head bloodmagic instructors at Riker and a mentor.

"Later."

"Arrivederci"

Kai dropped the ward as he faced the door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office and knocked.

A call of, "Come in!" came from the other side so Kai let himself in. The office was warm and comfortable with much memorabilia on the shelves. He chuckled at the glare the grindylow in a tank was giving him.

"Can I help you?" the voice was friendly, but cautious.

Remus Lupin was a tall, very thin man, blonde hair graying at the temples. He looked weary and prematurely aged.

"Remus Lupin? I'm Kai Boudreau, the new practical defense teacher," he held out his hand over the dark wooden desk.

The man smiled, "Ah yes, Albus mentioned you would be coming to see me."

Kai pushed down his inner voice as it yelled, 'Bitten werewolf!' when their hands touched.

"I'm looking forward to collaborating with you. I believe your class is a long time coming," Remus commented, motioning him to take a seat. "I hear you're good at what you do."

Kai smirked, "I'd like to think so; I've brought my lesson plans-Hello!" Kai yelped as a wet nose sniffed his leg. He had seen the grim-like dog upon entry but had ignored it, sensing its calmness.

Remus laughed, "That's my dog, Padfoot, he's really quite nice."

A baby sat crying in his crib, calling, "Pa'foo! Pa'foo!" until a big black dog came bounding into the room and leaped into the crib. The baby laughed and giggled as the dog licked him and snuggled against him until a man, who looked a lot like Kai came running in, "Padfoot, get out of there!"

Kai snapped out of the flashback. 'What in Athena's name was that?' he thought to himself. 'My parents? Padfoot…Padfoot… what am I remembering?'

The dog smelled him all over almost frantically. He reached down to pat his head but recoiled as soon as he made contact. He darted away, knocking his chair over as a blade was summoned to his hand.

"What kind of joke is this Lupin?" he voice was ice. "You often keep animagi as pets? Is that a new werewolf trend I'm unaware of?"

Lupin's eyes went huge, "How?"

"I know by touch," he turned to the dog who was whining pitifully. "You, quit playing games. Change back or I will change you back."

The dog whimpered before changing into a tall, thin dark man with long, stringy black hair and ice blue eyes.

Kai almost laughed, 'Speak of the devil,' he thought. The resemblance to Tonks was easily seen.

"Mr. Black," Kai smirked, lowering the blade slightly.

The man's eyes got even wider.

"H-Harry?" Black stuttered, stepping forward.

It was Kai's turn to be shocked. Waving his hand, he cast an enormous amount of privacy spells.

"Why do you call me that name?" he asked sharply, voice full of suspicion.

"Your scent, I have never forgotten it. I used to jump into your crib and play with you when you were a baby, and take you for rides on my motorcycle," as Sirius spoke, Lupin scanned the youth, taking in his features. He had seemed familiar to him at first but now that he knew… the similarities were startling.

Harry was a perfect blend of the best of Lily and James, the long hair accentuating his mother's cheekbones.

Something bothered the worn werewolf about the way the now 17-year-old Potter held himself and the easy way he held that long silver blade in his hand. He slid his cypress wand into his palm. The second war had made them all more cautious.

The Azkaban escapee found out just how well the youth wielded that knife when he leapt forward to give his godson a hug and found his arm twisted behind his back and the razor sharp blade at his throat.

The entire time, 'Harry' remained completely calm, even apathetic, to the fact that he held his godfather's life in his hands.

"I recommend not making sudden moves at me, Mr. Black. I don't know what Dumbledore has told either of you about me but I will warn you that my trust must be earned before you can approach me in such a way."

Sirius stayed frozen until Kai released him, backing away. As much as Kai was interested in getting to know this man, he wasn't about to jump into trusting him.

Remus made the first move, "Why don't we all sit down. We seem to have more to talk about than planned, Harry," Remus forced a smile.

Kai sat in one of the chairs, back to the wall, still holding the blade.

"First of all, my birth name may have been Harry Potter, but my legal name now is Kai Boudreau and you will call me by that name. Only one other being knows that I am the Potter heir and I hope to keep it that way."

"But why, Har-Kai? Knowing you have returned would bring new hope to the people, rouse them to make a stand," Remus inserted.

"That would bring no good, Mr. Lupin. I am no light wizard. I would not be hailed as their saviour, I would be shunned as the next Voldemort. Even if they didn't, I couldn't bear the fawning English sycophants. Their obsession with me is frankly disturbing."

Sirius sat near him nervously black wavy hair obscuring his face, "Kai, may I ask why you aren't still attacking me? I mean, not that I'm complaining, but what they say I did…"

"And what happened are very different things, Mr. Black. I, for one, have come face to face with Peter Pettigrew."

Sirius blanched, "W-when? How?"

Kai scoffed loudly, "I thought you were in Dumbledore's inner circle," he shook his head morosely. "When I spent three weeks as Tom's prisoner. In fact, that's how I came to be here."

Remus looked thoughtful, "We've been away. But, he mentioned something about," he stopped dead. "You're the Riker."

Kai nodded, curious as to how he would react.

"That explains a lot," the wolf muttered.

"What's a Riker?" Sirius queried.

"An assassin trained at a particular academy. They are known for producing assassins of the highest quality," answered Remus absently eyes drinking in the youth, werewolf senses reaching out to taste his power.

"That is partly incorrect. A Riker is an individual who graduated from Riker academy. The academy is a place that takes in those with the most potential and outputs the highest ranking masters in the world. Mercenary work such as assassination or protection is a choice some make as it makes us very wealthy, but not all. For example, I'm a successful master warder."

"So you're not an assassin?" Sirius asked; Kai was slightly disappointed at the hope in the man's voice. But, of course, Sirius Black was firmly in the Light's camp with all the particulars that went with it…

"I never said that. In fact, I'm very successful at that as well," Kai chuckled. "The Aurors appreciated my last targets. Even Moody, as reluctant as it was."

Sirius felt his stomach twist. His godson was a killer. What would James say? What confused him was the still burning desire he felt to get his godson's acceptance. He could feel the power and confidence radiating off of him, the smooth calm way he spoke and wielded that blade. It almost frightened him.

"Who?" he whispered.

"The Lestrange brothers, Goyle, and Jugson. I was hired by the Department of Mysteries to take care of them. Unfortunately, Rookwood got wind and set me up when Lucius Malfoy was targeted."

"Wow, that's an impressive list."

Can't fault killing Death Eaters could he??

The youth, though didn't look like it, shrugged, "None of them were especially difficult. I admit, I did enjoy the blade fight I had with the Malfoy Lord. I'm interested to see if his heir has the talent."

'The kid does what the Order had tried to do for years, all by himself, and he just shrugs it off,' Remus shook his head.

"So, you're really teaching here this year? But...you're only, what, 17?"

"Yes, and we still need to talk about what spells I need you to teach the kids."

"No offense, but why not teach them the specific spells yourself?"

"Can't, don't use a wand, never have."

That was a surprise. "Wandless magic? Even Albus can't do much wandless magic!" Sirius choked out.

"Frankly, it has little to do with the amount of magic and more to do with the makeup of my magic. Forgive me if I don't go into details," Kai cut in. "But the punch line is that my magic will destroy a wand. I've already spoke to Fillius and Minerva about what I need from them."

"Do you mind if I drop in and watch your class sometime?" Remus wanted to see Harry...no, Kai, teach. He seemed somewhat friendly, but dangerous. Remus, being a dark creature himself, wasn't biased against the dark and black magicks, but dark wizards, especially ones as powerful as Kai, made him nervous.

"You're welcome to join us. In a few months I'll be having a discussion about werewolves and I'll be bringing in a few friends of mine I'd like you to meet. Make sure to bring your mutt with you," Kai smirked.

"Mutt!" Sirius barked a laugh, "I can't believe it's you. All these years thinking you were dead. Can we...maybe spend some time together…I'm sure you'd love to hear about your parents. I-I'm your godfather actually," the dog animagus looked nervous, obviously wanting his godson's approval.

Kai smiled, "I'm sure the students wouldn't find it strange if Professor Lupin's dog, who had taken a liking to me, was seen hanging out in my quarters."

A smile lit up Sirius' pre-maturely aged face, "Oh, I'll make a Marauder out of you yet Prongslet!"

The assassin raised an eyebrow, "Prongslet?"

"Remus, me and your father were quite the pranksters when we terrorized Hogwarts' halls," the ex-convict looked nostalgic. "We named ourselves after our animagus forms. I'm Padfoot, your father was a stag called Prongs, and Remus is Moony."

Kai chuckled, "Moony? Good one."

"About my lycanthropy, how did you know?"

"I can feel it, just like I knew Mr. Black was an animagus."

"Please," Sirius pleaded, "call me Sirius, or Padfoot."

"Call me Remus as well," the werewolf input, "we're going to be colleagues after all."

"So…are you an animagus too?"

Kai grinned, "Of course, it's in the genes after all."

"Ooh," Sirius cooed, "what are you?"

Kai's smile slipped. Your animagus reflects your personality. How would they react to his form? Most would just see the reflection of death, not the calm, confident power that the thestral wields.

"Well, actually…I'm a thestral."

Four eyes went huge.

"That is so cool!" Sirius bounced about, surprising everyone. "A magical animagus! Tell me you've scared some bad people lurking around in that form?" the crazy man, as Kai figured he must be, cackled. "I mean, I have fun looking like a Grim, you've one-upped me!"

"You like? I admit, I'm surprised; I expected you to be creeped out."

"I don't know why I'm not…we should go running in the forest together sometime, I'll be able to see you," Sirius chirped, though he grimaced at his own comment.

"I want to visit the thestral herd Dumbledore has habiting the Forbidden forest, they're a beautiful herd," Kai commented. "But, back to business, we have a curriculum to plan."

If Remus hadn't been impressed with Kai before, he was after the youth had pulled out his detailed planner and had, in depth, gone over what he was planning on teaching each of the years, and when, and what he needed from Remus, aligning the two courses. Sirius, a one-time Auror, gave useful input as the pair talked for hours.

"So Kai...any women in your life? Do I need to give you 'The Talk'?" the escapee picked.

Kai slowly moved away, "Even think about it, and I'll lock you in your animagus form with an insatiable urge to hump anything moving." Kai smirked, "Besides, I've probably had way more lovers than you ever did Mutt."

"Anyone now then Casanova?"

The assassin's smile slipped, "I was but…" he sighed, "No, nevermind."

Sirius frowned and looked at Remus, "Someone broke my godson's heart. We need to begin planning prank revenge. Unless...of course...she's another Riker assassin…," he coughed as he realised he may be getting in over his head.

"No, it's not like that. I wasn't in love with her…" Kai trailed off, the ache in his chest calling him a liar. "I was the one that broke it off."

"Now if you were so fond of her, why did you break it off?" Remus asked.

"It's complicated," Kai looked away. No matter how powerful he was and mature for his age, sometimes he was still 17.

Remus grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey from his desk and poured everyone a glass.

"She betrayed you somehow?" Remus' nose smelled the combination of hurt and anger coming off the teenager.

"She was sent into my club to spy on my organisation. I knew she wasn't who she said she was, but I didn't think she was an auror."

"Wow that's rough. So she was spying on you and feeding information back to the Aurors?"

"It was over a year ago I found out she was an auror. I hadn't spoken to her since...until the other night. I found out that she hadn't told that aurors that she had successfully infiltrated the club…but it doesn't matter. She's a stranger to me," Kai's gaze drifted to the side, deep in thought. Suddenly he made to stand, "You don't need to hear about this; I should go."

"Kai, who is this girl?"

Kai paused, "Your neice."

Sirius made a choking sound, "Nymmy? Oh dear. Well I'll set her straight if you need me to!"

Kai smiled at the man, already starting to feel find of his antics.

"Oh...uh...Kai," Sirius asked suddenly trying to change the topic, "I've been dying to know. Why do you smell like Snape's blood?"

Kai raised an eyebrow, "And just how do you know what Snape's blood smells like?"

"School rivals, you know how it is."

"Ahh, well, Severus and I were sparring earlier," the assassin replied as he stood and collected his notes.

"Sparring? I hope you kicked his ass!"

Kai, still annoyed about earlier, smirked, "I won."

"Attaboy!" Sirius cheered.

"Make no mistake, Sirius, Severus and I might disagree occasionally about his attitude but he and I are friends," Kai scolded.

"I had no idea Snape even knew how to have friends." Sirius made a face.

Kai gave him a scouring look of disapproval before rolling his eyes.

"I'm off to my quarters, which are next to Severus' by the way, if you need to find me. Goodnight."

After the door closed, Sirius whispered. "Oh man, Nymmy? She's like...5 years old than him minimum! He's remarkable though, isn't he?"

"Yeah."

"Nothing like James at all."

"Yeah."

"A lot like Lily when she was mad though, frightening alike."