Disclaimer: I do not own any character's objects or anything else that comes from J.K. Rowling'sHarry Potterseries.
Warning: This story will contain scenes of violence, bad language, and maybe other themes that some audiences may find unsuitable. You have been advised.
When You Have Nothing Left to Lose
Chapter 7:
"Lock it up, or we'll lock up for you!" A robed official ordered.
Wizards and witches hurriedly closed up their doors along the street upon hearing this, as the official and others wearing robes like his walked down the street. Two young siblings around the age of eight, a boy and a girl, were hurriedly trying to get to their home from their position at a snow bank but were having trouble. Two of the officials walked up to them and each one roughly lifted one up by their collars.
"I said to get in." The highest ranking one of the officials, who barked out the order, spoke. "A curfew is now in full effect to save everyone from Death Eaters. Now, only Death Eaters and officials like us are out here now, and we don't recruit people of your age. That means you're not one of us, so you two must be Death Eaters. Are you? Or do you just support them?"
"No, we just were having trouble getting in." The girl pleaded.
An official shoved her down, face first into the snow.
"Now, it's not good to lie. Tell us the truth."
"But we're not!" The boy cried.
An official hit the boy in the side of the head, sending him flying sideways into the snow. The officials continued toward both of the children, intending to further bully them, but were halted by one of their ranks falling forward into the snow unexpectedly. Suddenly, a few more fell down, and from both sides of the streets and the areas between the homes around them Death Eaters came forward with their wands pointed forward, letting loose stunning and killing spells.
The two children fearfully raised their heads from out of the snow to gaze up and see the many Death Eaters.
All of them were dressed differently with snow camouflage cloaks on top of their regular battle robes. They were still identifiable as Death Eaters, though, by their silver masks.
One with a wolf like mask stepped towards them with a couple others behind him while the others dispersed through the rest of the town to eliminate the other battle aurors that occupied and harassed the town.
"Check to see if they are injured." The Shadow Wolf ordered.
The Death Eaters quickly moved to carry out his orders while he stepped towards the little girl.
"Where do you two live?" He asked, taking a knee in the snow to be more level with the girl.
"Right there." The girl said, shocked but still pointing to her house.
"Tell me when we can move them." The Shadow Wolf instructed.
"The girl you can; she is completely uninjured. The boy has a little bit of head trauma and slight bleeding, but we can move him." One of his troops informed him. Each member of his battalion had been trained to also be a rudimentary combat medic in case they or another were injured in combat, and medical resources weren't available.
"Let's move them to their home then. I don't want them to be caught in the cross-fire if more aurors arrive." The Shadow Wolf picked the girl up in his arms, reminding him of the days he did so with his little girl and showing that same amount of care in how he held her.
The boy was picked up by one of his troops and the entire group of Death Eaters moved carefully over to the house the girl had pointed to.
It was just like the others on the street with a black chimney poking out of a black roof, and rough, tan stones fitted together well to make up the walls. It was a two-story home and looked quite warm and welcome, especially with the snow covering a good portion of it, excluding the large windows.
Harry knocked on the black, wooden door in front of them when they reached it. "Excuse me, but we found your children. Your son is hurt, and your daughter pointed out this as their home. We're here to make sure they got home safe."
The door opened quickly but the man and woman behind it stopped, paralyzed in shock to see who was at their door.
"Don't worry. We are just here to make sure these two got home safe." Harry set the girl down, and she ran forward and hugged her parents before turning and running back to hug Harry's leg.
"What happened?" The husband, a nerdy looking man with glasses, asked.
"Battle aurors found them in the street. We stopped them." The Shadow Wolf gave a euphemism for the children around him. "Your son was hit on the side of the head, though, before we arrived and could have some trauma, so with your permission, I'd like to have a couple of our medical officers tend to him. They can come here if that would make it better to you."
The husband and wife looked at each other for a moment, then at Harry, and finally their son. The wife beckoned to hold him, and the Death Eater gave her the child.
"Okay. You can send a couple here." The wife said after a couple of seconds of holding the boy and looking at his head.
The wolf mask gave a nod. "Get them here."
One of the Death Eaters apparated away.
"We need to go. They'll need us to help defend the town from the aurors when they counterattack. You," Harry pointed to the boy who had tended to the boy already, "stay here for now until medical personnel arrive. Everyone else, move out!"
One by one the group of Death Eaters disappeared in clouds of black smoke until it was their leader's turn.
"Thank you, Shadow Wolf." The husband said with genuine gratitude.
All he received was a modest nod back before the figure became smoke and faded away into the night before reappearing at the edge of the town next to his men who were running along the edge, creating defenses and wards to help against the impending attack.
"Why are we still here, sir? Couldn't we just have eliminated the enemy here and left?" A trooper who was a part of the new forces sent out into the field asked.
"First time in the field, right?" The Shadow Wolf asked and received a nod. "We need to use different strategies against the enemy. We can fight them better if we confuse them with different tactics, so we will use guerilla warfare as well as other methods. Plus, I want more of their blood. We've already captured a few battle aurors from this encounter, but I want more of them dead, wounded, and captured. Now, get back to your duties."
"Yes, sir." The Death Eater bowed away.
Harry walked up to a Death Eater with a ferocious dog as his mask.
"James, how are things coming along here?" Harry asked his second-in-command.
"Good, sir. Almost done. Already all of the men required are hidden inside the snow outside the town ready to attack, our wards are already fully up, and almost all of our defenses have been raised." The man replied.
"The floos and apparation points?"
"Disabled for use, sir. We ruined each one properly."
"Good. Ready yourself. They should be here any minute now." Harry walked off to position himself behind one of the little structures covered in snow that the Death Eaters raised in anticipation of the oncoming counterattack. Each one was quite impervious to most spellfire, excluding some explosive spells, as they were made of metal and were warded.
Two minutes later, James called out, "All defenses set! Everyone remain in your positions until they arrive!"
Everyone ducked down beneath their pieces of cover and waited six minutes before aurors suddenly appeared in front of the ward line, stopped from their apparating.
They were well outside the town and had to proceed along the paths in the snow towards the town. Each of the four sides the aurors came from had them coming between two large piles of snow hiding most of the bottom the trees around the paths and the town. After the path was filled with aurors, battle and enforcer alike, spells raged out of the snow banks, felling many of the aurors at once. Before many of the others realized what was happening, they were dropped to, and the last of them were killed by various kinds of spells just as they started to respond to the ambush.
The Death Eaters hiding in the snow rushed out to gather up the stunned and dragged them behind the others' pieces of cover and into the town, sending them to Death Eater bases all over the U.K. via portkeys. After they sent their new prisoners on their way, the Death Eaters joined their comrades and prepared for more aurors to come.
A minute later, aurors came running down the paths towards the town, looking around to see if they could spot the attackers of their dead brethren. When they came almost upon the Death Eaters, each of the silver masked men and women aimed their wands around their pieces of cover slowly to not attract the aurors gaze. With a nod from Harry, the Death Eaters launched their spells as one and continued to persist in their efforts, knocking down aurors left and right. More of their brethren, though, came in to replace them, but the Ministry's forces were pushed back quite far from the Death Eaters' line. The battle aurors tried coming in through the woods to use as cover but were halted by more Death Eaters hiding behind cover.
"Fall back! Fall back!" A battle auror with robes that showed his higher rank yelled before turning to retreat. Harry, though, sent an explosive spell at his turned back, destroying the man and others around him in a five meter radius and injuring those from five to ten meters away from the impact point of the spell.
Aurors ran as fast as they could away from the Death Eater defensive, but many of them were killed as they retreated. As soon as the aurors had retreated from visual range, the Death Eaters put up new wards on their pieces of cover and retreated further into the town except for a few.
Aurors carefully treaded forward with their wands aimed at the former location of most of the Death Eaters. Suddenly, the last Death Eaters at their posts attacked the aurors flinging spells at them quickly and with much lethality. The aurors struck back but kept being felled by the incoming spells. The last Death Eaters quickly fled but did so sneakily so as not to be seen by the aurors who kept attacking the mounds of snow and metal. The reflective wards the Death Eaters had conjured insured that for every spell the aurors launched, they received two more. Finally, though, another high-ranking battle auror ceased their efforts.
"Halt! Cease fire!" He waited a second, listening and watching for Death Eaters and enemy spells but received nothing but the sounds of the injured. "When did you last see a Death Eater?"
"I… I don't know." Another battle auror answered. "Like a minute or two ago?"
The officer rushed forward along with some of his lower ranking battle aurors until they reached the former pieces of cover.
"We've been tricked! They've been using reflective wards!" The officer yelled.
The rest of the forces rushed forward to meet with the battle aurors.
"Come on! Let's get them!" The officer raised his wand and started to run forward but with his first step the entire ring of mounds with the ground around them detonated, incinerating almost all of the Ministry forces. The ones far enough away from the blast were either injured or, with very few being the case, left unscathed.
"This is insanity." Neville shook his head as he came with the newest batch of reinforcements for the aurors as they saw the flames in the distance.
"Then get in the back." A battle auror shoved the senior auror back.
The aurors surged forward and quickly collected their wounded before proceeding into town. As they walked along the streets, they dispersed to cover the entire town. Like with the paths into town, however, it was a trap, and the entire Death Eater troops present in the town ambushed the aurors, killing or stunning all of them.
"Collect the paralyzed, and let's go!" Harry shouted.
The Death Eaters did as they were ordered, capturing the stunned and apparating away while Harry hurried over to the house he left from when he went to the defensive line. He quickly knocked on the door and waited for it to be answered.
"How is he?" Harry asked the father as soon as he opened the door.
"He is going to be okay, according to your men." The husband presented his hand. "Thank you, Shadow Wolf. I don't know what would have happened to him if you hadn't come along."
The leader of the Death Eaters' army shook his hand. "You're welcome. I'm afraid we can't protect this town throughout this war, so we are going to leave. We eliminated many of those thugs and their friends, though."
"You have done so much for us… how can we repay you?" The nerdy man asked.
"Just spread word of our deeds. Let the truth persist. Defy the Ministry. They cannot be allowed to continue." The Shadow Wolf replied.
The husband nodded as if making a vow. "Of course… Do you want me to get your men?"
"Please." Harry nodded his head. The man left and returned with his wife, daughter, and two Death Eaters.
"We are leaving." Harry informed the two.
The Death Eaters nodded and stepped forward, and they were about to leave until the family stopped them.
"Thank you. Good luck in battle. You deserve to win." The wife spoke.
The three nodded and disappeared into smoke before reappearing at Harry's base of operations after apparating to many safe houses and other various locations.
"Come on, chaps! Secure the area!" A battle auror officer yelled. "I want every street void of any Death Eaters and civilians. Kill every Death Eater you find!"
Aurors and battle aurors ran through every street with reinforcements helping flood every street until it was certain no Death Eaters were in the town streets.
"Looks like they are all gone." The officer spoke. "Start searching the homes and buildings!"
The officer stepped onto the sidewalk leading to the nearest home's door, and suddenly, every street erupted into flames, incinerating all of the people on the town streets and leaving behind bones crumpled up in piles. The casualty rate for the Ministry was one hundred percent. No auror or battle auror left the town free and alive, only dead or captured.
All over the town, parents, men, women, and children stared out at the lifeless streets, at a time of night when normally they would have hid for fear of the force that now lay dead in the street, internally celebrating their newly gained freedom.
"Report back to the medical wing. See if you are needed there and afterwards report to your C.O." The Shadow Wolf ordered before walking away from the two medics and into the crowd around them.
The warrior rushed to the stairs and headed down the floors until he arrived at the very bottom floor. He then navigated the torch-lit cavernous corridors, traveling farther through the ground. Finally he arrived at a heavy metal door that looked rusted and old.
"Harry James Potter, second-in-command of our Death Eater forces. Alias: the Shadow Wolf." The man informed the gate, which then rose for him and closed behind him after he passed through.
The corridors grew even rougher and more dimly lit, creating a dreading atmosphere about the section of the base that was heightened by the many heavy solid metal doors covered in rust that closed off the rooms along the corridors.
Harry navigated the corridors until he came upon another heavy metal gate, where he restated his name and pushed his wand through a hole until it was buried up until its grip. The gate then rose and revealed a large room. Death Eaters were all over the room, staring at boards filled with crystals that glowed atop consoles. A large red crystal rested high up on the wall opposite of the doorway Harry was in, and the crystals on the consoles were red, green, and orange. Only one of these colors for each console was alit, and a small fireplace rested beside each console, which was used to talk to others in the underground prison.
"Commander on deck!" The two guards positioned beside Harry after he entered announced. Immediately, everyone snapped to attention in a salute, where they held their wands straight up in front of their wand-bearing shoulder.
"At ease." The Shadow Wolf, still adorned with his mask, nodded. Everyone returned back to their posts, and Harry turned to a man in Death Eater robes with a cage imprinted on its left breast. "Warden."
"Sir, how may I help you?" The stocky man asked.
"Where are the prisoners I just apprehended?"
The stocky man quickly summoned a guard to the two of them. "Take our esteemed leader to our latest inhabitants."
"Yes, warden." The silver masked man turned to Harry. "Follow me, sir."
The guard turned around and led Harry through one of the many corridors that sprang off the main room. They walked along the roughly carved stone hallway, passing by heavier solid metal doors than the ones that Harry had passed earlier. Finally, they branched off into a short hallway and the guard stopped.
"All cells here hold the prisoners you just captured. Would you like to enter them, sir?"
Harry nodded. "Yes, but I also want interrogators down here to extract what they can out of them. Use veritaserum if needed for each of them. I want the truth."
"Sir, isn't councilman Rhys in charge of interrogation methods? Shouldn't he be the one to-" A pair of glaring emerald wolf eyes silenced the guard.
The man quickly rushed over to the first door and unlocked it after taking out the lonely key and inserting it in the keyhole. "I will remain outside for you, Commander."
Harry swept past the guard and entered the cell to see an old friend and colleague amongst seven other aurors. With a heavy thud, the door closed behind Harry as soon as he entered. The man and the other aurors around him were held on all of the walls excluding the one holding the cell door by sticking spells and chains. Each prisoner was held barely off the floor and was outfitted with only baggy white pants unless they were women, who also were dressed with a bright white shirt as well as pants. Each one was blinded and deafened by the classic senseless spell that the Death Eaters had created.
Harry dismissed the charm on the one man he wished to talk to and spoke. "Ah, I see you were lucky enough to not fall to the corrupted side or die at the hands of my wand or that of my soldiers. How fortunate for you. I must say I actually am quite happy that you have. I would hate to see a true hero be vanquished, but then again, there were many other heroes who have been."
"Let me go please. I have a wife and children. I've only remained in service for the Ministry because of this war; I've hated how the Ministry has been. I was planning on resigning, but the war came about. I promise you won't get any trouble out of me if you release me. I will return home and not share anything with anyone. Besides, I don't even know where this place is." The auror said, pleading but in a tone where it seemed he wasn't.
"I am afraid I can't allow that, Neville Longbottom. You are too valuable as a prisoner along with the rest of your compatriots. We normally would have released you, but you're bosses have stopped showing mercy to us and, since the appearance of the battle aurors, the people of Great Britain. We will hold the same sentiment although we will not just wantonly kill prisoners or torture them needlessly. Now, I have some questions for you, and please, I don't want to be a bad guy here. I will if I have to, but just answer me truthfully for both of us. I don't just say that; I really don't want to extract information from you painfully."
Neville remained silent for a moment before speaking quietly. "What do you want to know?"
Harry smiled behind his mask.
Minutes later, Harry left the prison cell and walked through the passages with the guard scrambling to follow after locking the cell door. Harry continued traveling through the prison until he reached the door he had entered through. He then navigated his way up to his rooms and contacted Daphne through the mirror system they had made.
"Are you alone?"
"Yes, love. I'm alone." Daphne smiled.
"That is always good," Harry smiled for a second, "but I have war information to discuss with you."
"Oh, what do you have?" Daphne asked with slight surprise.
"We've captured Neville Longbottom, and he has informed me that he has been dissatisfied with the Ministry of Magic increasingly. He's also just one of the many prisoners we gained, attacking the town we discussed earlier." Harry grinned.
"What is the word on the attack?"
"It was a massacre for the Ministry; we annihilated almost every opponent we encountered and captured the rest." Harry reported.
"Casualties on our side?"
"None." Harry gave a proud reply. "We even gained support from the town because of their treatment at the hands of the Ministry's battle aurors."
"Good. We are weakening them on all fronts then." Daphne said contemplatively.
"Well, not all. Auror Longbottom's dissatisfaction did arise a thought of how to weaken the Ministry in another context." Harry said mischievously.
"What may that be?" Daphne grinned.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me! The Death Eaters are already killing our troops, and extinguishing our efforts to find them, but now this!" Minister Corner shouted, slamming down the day's copy of The Daily Prophet. The front page's headline was what caught Corner's anger: "Ministry Scandals Revealed!"
It also had other headlines in the articles throughout the paper like "Wealthy with the Power!" and "Abuses of Power for Money!"
"How did they find out?" Minister Corner asked.
"Merlin only knows, sir. The Prophet won't reveal its sources or even who wrote the articles. It says that it's protecting its authors' safeties." An aide replied.
"Lucky writers." Corner groveled. "Is there any way we can salvage this?"
"I don't know, sir. They have a lat of proof, and it was the majority of the paper. I have no idea what you can do."
The Minister of Magic sat in his office chair for many minutes, scraping his brain for any idea of how to save his power.
"Deny every word of it, and charge every paper that has anything on this with whatever we can that may apply. Use treason if you have to. We can't let the public think that this is true, and the newspapers must pay."
"Sir, do you think that is wise?" The aide asked.
"Just do it!"
The aide ran out of the office to carry out the Minister's orders while the man poured himself the first of what would be many shots of firewhiskey.
"Sir, we've received word from Hogwarts." A Death Eater notified Harry after opening his door. His face was masked by a charm that held his head in a shadow but let him see outward.
"What is the word?"
"They have formed an organization in our name and wish to be recruited. They sent one of their own to one of our recruitment posts just today with a letter from them." The Death Eater replied.
"Have we replied?"
"No, sir. I was sent to get confirmation from you."
"Tell them that I want a list of their recruits names with their house and year… and welcome to the Death Eaters. I will be there shortly. Wait for me at the floos." Harry said before closing his door.
"Yes, sir." The Death Eater managed to say before the door closed.
A few minutes later, Harry, adorned with his wolf mask and dark robes left his rooms and quickly ran up to the busy floo station.
"Sir!" The Death Eater called from one of the floos, raising his hand way above his head.
Harry walked through the parted crowd to the floo. "Care to go first or tell me where it is?"
The Death Eater quickly turned around and said, "Diagon Alley Death Eater Recruitment Post One," before disappearing into the flames.
Harry followed behind right after.
The two appeared out of a small fireplace but managed to walk through into the large, dimly lit tent. They were in a small sectioned off piece of the tent with a flap that led to the rest. After walking through, the two met a large room marked with several wooden tables with Death Eaters sitting on the side closest to the two's left as they had entered from the side. On the other side, wizards and witches lined up in rows writing down their names on a long list before being taken to the opposite side of the tent from where Harry was. To Harry and the Death Eater's right were another Death Eater along with a teenager wearing black, plain robes with the cowl pulled back.
The boy had long black hair and green eyes. His jaw was set well and had a cleft for his chin. His forehead was covered by his expanse of long hair styled to hang low on his head.
"What is your name, year, and house?" Harry asked once they reached the two. The Death Eater with the teenager passed a scroll of parchment over to Harry before going back to the tables.
"Edward Remus Lupin, sir." The boy saluted. "Fifth year. Gryffindor."
Harry freezed for a second in surprise but recovered quickly. "I take it you know who I am?"
"Yes. You're the Shadow Wolf."
"Well, good. Now that we know each other, you can stop saluting me. The men and women in my ranks do salute but only briefly unless under a formal occasion. That does not mean, however, that respect is not present. Understood?" Harry inquired.
"Yes."
"Good. Now, tell me, how many of you are there?" Harry asked.
"There are three other Gryffindors besides myself, Hufflepuff has about ten, Ravenclaw estimates to about one half of their house but probably a little over, and almost all of Slytherin is a part of our resistance." Teddy reported.
"Hmm. What has your organization done?"
"We've caused minor disruptions: marking walls and floors with the Death Eater's symbol, weakening the chairs of those who support the Ministry, tearing, burning, or stealing Professor Weasley's papers, etcetera."
Harry paused. "Well, prepare to take a step up. You won't be pulling childish pranks anymore. You will actually be soldiers now."
"Yes, sir. Thank you."
"Now, come with me. I will need your help to perform a plan I have been creating for some time now." Harry said before turning to the Death Eater who accompanied him. "I need a room in this tent to be alone in with Mr. Lupin here."
"Yes, sir." The man then quickly went over to one of the officers who commanded a couple Death Eaters to clear a room behind the recruitment tables.
"It is clear, general. You may enter when you wish." The officer told Harry, coming forward instead of the Death Eater Harry sent.
"Thank you. Come with me, Mr. Lupin." The two entered the separate room of the tent, closing the flap behind them.
Days later right before dinner, Teddy walked along the corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on the seventh floor. He strolled down the empty corridor and quickly dashed into a room, disappearing from sight. All over the school, students were disappearing from sight into specific rooms or secret passageways.
After a few minutes, the rest of the students and the entire faculty and staff crowded into the newly repaired Great Hall for dinner as it were the first night back from the Christmas Holidays.
"Where is my house?" Professor Slughorn thought aloud, looking out and only seeing a few Slytherins at their table as he had seen most of them earlier.
"Along with mine?" Professor Flitwick also mused.
"Have you seen Teddy Lupin and his friends today?" McGonagall asked one of the teachers.
"Some of my puffs are missing as well." Sprout added.
"Where are all of they?" Hagrid wondered.
"We can't bother with it now. We have to start the feast." Hermione said to the professors around her. "We'll start searching for them if they are not seen by bed."
The Headmistress of Hogwarts then stood to begin speaking but was paralyzed when she saw the Shadow Wolf enter the Great Hall once more. It was not just the sight of him, though, that stopped her. It was the sight of all of the formerly missing students, adorned with their Hogwarts' robes and armed with their wands, as well as the many Death Eaters behind them.
"Hello, again, Hogwarts. It has been some time since I have seen all you here but probably sooner than many of you would wish." Harry spoke to the entire Great Hall as they entered, causing all of the heads of the students to snap from Hermione to him.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked.
"Fulfilling my promise. Did you believe I was merely joking when I swore what I last said before leaving all of you? I assure all of you: I never go back on my word. We are here as a direct result of your Ministry. Thankfully, these grand students here," Harry indicated the students around him, "let us in. It is good to see that students still can find secret passageways that defy the rules. I remember navigating many of the old ones myself.
"To the topic at hand, though. The Death Eaters, as you can see, are here again, and as I promised, we are here to stay until the war ends. From now on, this school is under the control of the Death Eaters, and is one of their bases of operation. School shall still commence throughout the semester as before, but there will be military activity when necessary. Designated Hogsmeade weekends will continue as well as all other school activities and programs excluding those of prejudice.
"The students around me will sometimes be excluded out of classes if necessary, but they are not above any other student in any other way, though all who enact prejudice upon them will be treated as if they are assaulting a Death Eater.
"We will not interfere in school affairs otherwise, but if there is a scenario where the Ministry attempts to recapture this castle, then the school shall go into lockdown, and we will be in complete control of everything to combat the threat.
"Now, I hope that we can coexist peacefully here, but any who attack us shall be treated as a target and will be disposed of as one if found necessary. You are welcome to feel negatively about us and peacefully protest, but you do not have that same luxury for violent or sabotaging methods. Headmistress Granger, you are welcome to commence the feast when you wish." Harry then turned around and walked into his mass of troops while the Death Eater students surged forward and sat down at their houses' tables.
Harry continued down the halls of the school he once attended and now captured before ascending the Grand Staircase until he and the rest of his troops reached the seventh floor.
"I remember the first time I discovered this room." Harry mused as he finished repeatedly walking past the section of the wall to reveal the door to the Room of Requirement.
Inside, he found a drastically differing replica of his main base, the Scotland Mountain Hideaway as he willed in his mind. It had far less floors and was more focused on supporting a battalion of troops, more specifically, Harry's battalion of troops.
"Go, report to your rooms, and relax. Your jobs are done for tonight. Tomorrow morning we will discuss our jobs now that we are based out of here." Harry instructed, removing his mask.
Everyone sighed in relief, removing their masks and going to find their rooms except for James.
"Are you okay, Harry?"
"I'm fine, Jimmy, just reminiscing. This school holds many memories for me, but it is much different from the one I left in my seventh year." Harry replied.
"Really?"
"Yeah…" Harry drifted off in thoughts of comparisons between the old and new. "Why? Can't you tell?"
"My parents could not afford the tuition for Hogwarts, so I was unable to go. This is my first time setting foot in the school." James answered.
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I went to a public one in London that suited me just fine. It taught me to be strong and value what I have." James shook it off.
"If it makes any difference, I almost died every year I attended the school." Harry chuckled.
"Yeah, I think that would be a plus." James laughed.
"Goodnight, my friend. I'm going to go for a late night stroll." Harry said giving James a strong handshake.
"Goodnight, Harry." James said before walking deeper into the makeshift base.
Harry turned the other way, adorned his mask, and walked out of the Room of Requirement.
He traversed the corridors alone, scouting out the old memories he made from age eleven to eighteen in the very castle he stood in.
He encountered a large group of Gryffindors of several different years heading back to their common room, and immediately, almost all of them fearfully parted to one side for him to pass through the middle. Harry, though, stepped to the other side and paused fro them to pass by; his gaze looking over the robes that he once wore. The students looked stunned but hurried on, still sticking to their side of the corridor.
Once they passed out of view around a corner, Harry turned and kept walking through the corridors. He saw the ghost of Saint Nicholas rush through a wall to avoid him, and Harry sighed.
He was no longer welcome in what used to be his favorite place on Earth, his home, and the ghosts, people, and house he once knew, befriended, and belonged to now could not know who he really was. He left the castle a hero, and now returned a conqueror. Nobody except those who belonged to his organization realized that he also returned as a savior although his old home saw him as a villain.
The part of him that he thought died that day in that small town, where fifty aurors lost their lives, seemed to partially awaken as he was haunted by his thoughts, but he quickly laid it to rest again, numbing the feeling. He shouldn't care. He was still a hero, so he didn't care.
Harry finally realized a place he must travel. Although the Death Eaters already disabled the floos when they arrived on the grounds of the castle, wards were still up around the castle. He turned and walked through the corridors until he found the Headmistress's office.
"What do you want?" The gargoyle asked with a sigh.
"I need to speak to Professor Granger."
"She isn't in. She is making her rounds through the school. You'll have to come back another time." The gargoyle replied.
"That's fine. I'll wait for her inside." Harry started walking forward, but the gargoyle didn't stir. "I'd suggest, guardian, that you are out of my way by the time I reach you."
The gargoyle quickly parted from the bottom of the staircase for Harry.
"Thank you." Harry said as he started to ascend the stairs.
Ten minutes later, he came back down the stairs and disappeared into the school, leaving behind two words for the gargoyle.
"Good night."
AN: After some time, here's this latest chapter. I hope everyone enjoys it. It was fun but difficult to create. I'm still getting into the swing of writing. If you have any constructive criticisms, encouragements, or ideas for the story, feel free to leave a review. Any of those three are always amazing to see. Occidere Prima Vel Occidi.
