Harry grinned widely as Hermione popped into existence just outside the gates of Hogwarts. There was really no reason to take the train anymore.
It had only been a few days since he had last made the trip south to see her, but still. He always missed her, and it felt different when school started for the year.
Even if it really shouldn't. They could go anywhere in the world.
She smiled back and he reveled at the warm feeling in his chest and the knot in his stomach. Having a body was still weird, even weeks after returning to corporeal form. He could feel her own anticipation and longing in his soul as she approached. Their magic sang together as it spiraled around them, and he pulled her into his arms.
He would never, ever get bored of feeling her lips move against his while her fingers traced burning trails through his hair and down his neck.
She pulled back and he sent a general feeling of disappointment through their link, making her smile grow and her eyes shine.
She stepped deftly out of his arms and passed him, throwing a grin over her shoulder.
Catch me if you can then, Death Walker.
And she shot into the sky in a symphony of frozen power.
He laughed and rocketed towards the heavens after her, emerald and sapphire comets dancing over the ancient castle.
…
I may have made a mistake.
Harry narrowed his eyes at the staff table.
Oh?
I assumed that being mind-controlled would make Cornelius more competent, but I may have been mistaken.
They both observed the new cruel, slimy excuse for a soul at the front of the hall.
Delores Umbridge may just look like a slightly patronizing woman with a unique sense of style, but her soul said otherwise.
Well, it's too late now. We can't exactly kick her out for having a disgusting soul. We'll keep an eye on her and have Fudge remind her that she is here to build favor with you and Albus for his reelection campaign. Hopefully she is self-serving enough to behave herself when it's in her best interest.
Maybe the curse will kill her quickly.
We can only hope.
…
Harry was just about to flop into his bed when he felt the headmaster's power reaching for him.
"Good evening, Albus. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Severus has been summoned to Voldemort's side. Are you available to visit my office to plan our next move?"
"Let me snag Hermione and I'll be right there."
He sent the memory of the conversation through his ever-open link to Hermione's soul and transfigured his pajamas back into his standard outfit. He turned invisible and flew through the wall to the girls' dormitory, aiming for the familiar spark of his Ice Queen's soul.
He arrived and took Hermione's hand as she shook her head at him fondly. He felt a feeling of exasperated amusement from her.
You know it's probably against any number of rules for you to just fly into the girls' dorms.
I figured you wouldn't want to worry about walls on the way to the headmaster's office, and I don't think that you can call on the cloak independently now that we aren't sharing a body anymore.
Ever the pragmatic Knight.
Harry turned them both invisible as they entered the peaceful Dark together and flew through the wall towards the spark of Dumbledore's soul.
…
"It appears that Voldemort is using Malfoy Manor as a base of operations."
Harry groaned. "Of course he is! Who else but that little blond shitstain-"
"Language."
"-would have the Dark Lord living in his parents' basement."
"Indeed," Albus said. "The Malfoy's are some of his most prominent supporters, even taking into account the temporary setback of Lucius being disarmed."
Hermione's eye twitched.
"So, we need to go break down the asshole's door, but we can't cast suspicion on Snape. Did he give you the names of the other Death Eaters that were called?"
"Yes… I'm not going to like where this is going, am I?" Dumbledore asked tiredly.
"Probably not. We need plausible deniability for just how we know where Voldemort is. Voldemort has a number of well-known followers who are both still at large and were at that meeting. It will not be outside of his expectations for us to be hunting his followers."
Harry felt Hermione catch what he was thinking in the back of his mind, and she started reviewing the notes that Albus and Snape had compiled on the Death Eaters present at the gathering.
"We kidnap one of these Death Eaters and interrogate them. We take the information from their minds and then memory wipe them. After we launch our assault on the manor, Voldemort will go looking for his leak. He's bound to notice that one of the potential candidates has a memory problem, and he will break his own follower's mind to get the information that we want him to have. We don't have to get our hands dirty, Snape is safe, and Voldemort loses an extra Death Eater as a bonus."
Dumbledore looked pale. "Harry, that's a rather extreme-"
"We already talked about this, Albus. How many innocent souls is one murderer's worth? We could always just put a Death Eater in the ground from the start and Voldemort will probably come to the conclusion that we tortured the information out of them before we killed them, or we could just kill everyone on the list and be done with it. It won't be as effective for protecting Snape, but would that be better for your moral compass?"
"No, Harry, I just think that we need to be cautious about taking violent steps from the start. Voldemort is prone to escalation."
"We cannot afford to be afraid of being proactive just because our enemy might not like it, Albus. What is the alternative? Sit on this information and do nothing while our Enemy solidifies his base of operations?"
The headmaster sighed. "I suppose that you have a point. Your plan has the best chance of keeping Severus safe while allowing us to act on his information. Which Death Eater are you thinking of targeting?"
Hermione looked up from the reports. "Mulciber."
Harry's smile turned predatory. "Mulciber it is then."
…
When did you learn Legilimency?
Last year. I fell down the rabbit hole researching Occlumency, along with the realization that I had been using it since I was eight and probably messed up my brain.
And to think, my teachers always called me an old soul.
Harry and Hermione floated above the wards of the Mulciber estate, invisible within the Dark. While not nearly as grand or as well protected as Malfoy Manor, the Mulciber family were purebloods who had been following Voldemort since his initial rise. The current head of the house, a man in his mid-thirties, was their target.
Harry could feel his selfish, sadistic spark flickering far below.
Do we have any reason to do this quietly?
He might have house elves, which would be inconvenient. Or he might make it to the fireplace. Or his wife might decide to come downstairs and investigate.
Fine. Quietly it is.
They flew through the wards and down towards their victim.
Mulciber never had a chance. They landed in his well-decorated study and Harry bound him within his power before the man even knew that they were there. Harry returned to visibility and stared into the eyes of the frightened monster suspended in front of him.
"Good evening, Mulciber. I happen to know about your extracurricular activities, and I would like to know what Voldemort is up to nowadays. He's been far too quiet for my liking. You will have one chance to tell me before I rip the information from your useless mind."
Harry undid the magic around Mulciber's head.
Unfortunately, Mulciber was not the sharpest knife in the metaphorical drawer. He glared at Harry with indignant rage, "Potter! You won't-"
Harry silenced him. "Well, I tried. Although not very hard, I'll admit. See, I don't like you very much."
His glowing green eyes met the terrified and furious gaze of his prisoner, and he tore into the man's mind with his magic.
The man's occlumency was pathetic compared to Harry's power. Harry did his best not to break the man's mind too badly as he ripped the memory of being called to Voldemort's side at Malfoy Manor from it.
"Thank you, Mulciber. You have been most useful to our cause. Now I just need to make you forget, and you can return to being pointless."
The man's eyes widened further, and he may have been screaming into the condensed magic holding him, but Harry wasn't really paying attention as he wiped the last few minutes from the Death Eater's mind.
…
Hermione gasped as he crushed her body against him, her lips demanding and feverish against his own. They floated together amid towering pillars of cloud, high in the night sky.
"I still shouldn't…"
His lips reclaimed hers as she clutched at his vest to pull him to her.
"...like it…"
He groaned into her mouth when she threaded her fingers through his hair to pull his face back to hers.
"...when you do that to people."
Harry definitely couldn't put his wits together enough to reply, so he just shared his feelings of love and appreciation and longing to her through their connection and reclaimed her lips as she sent her own burning sensations in return, and he lost himself within her glorious soul underneath the endless sea of stars.
…
Since they were hoping to catch the Dark Lord mostly alone and unawares, they didn't call the Order or the Aurors. Without a powerful spark and the awareness to fend off raw magic, all that the rank-and-file witches and wizards could do against a foe like Voldemort (or Harry) was die immediately.
They assembled just outside the gates of Hogwarts. Harry, Hermione, and Luna landed after their brief flight down from the castle. Dumbledore appeared with Fawkes in a pillar of orange flame. Mad-eye and Madam Bones popped into existence with a loud crack of apparition.
Harry had the somewhat startling realization that everyone was looking at him.
"Good evening. There is every chance that Voldemort will run when he realizes that we're on to him, but he may decide to try and do some damage first."
Harry looked around at the formidable group.
"He will know that we are there as soon as we arrive outside the wards. He will feel the Eye of Fjolnir peering into his broken soul.
We will have very little time to decide on a course of action when we arrive. Albus and I will break the wards, and then everyone will make a beeline for Voldemort. Kill or incapacitate any of his followers who happen to be in the way, including the Malfoys."
Dumbledore looked disappointed but everyone nodded.
"On my mark then."
Harry took a breath and pulled on the peaceful Dark within the cloak to steady himself.
"Go."
…
Voldemort was only halfway paying attention to Rowle's report when he felt it.
His Nemesis was here.
The Dark Lord stood and ignored Rowle's sudden cowering. He could feel a strange sensation within his soul, like he was a bug under a microscope. He did not like the feeling.
He felt the wards around the manor shatter and new anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards snap into place.
He could feel the group of powerful souls drawing closer with every second. Six souls of significant strength, with Potter and Dumbledore's coming close to his own unstoppable power.
He called on the Crown of Madness and considered every possible outcome within moments.
He sighed in anger and disappointment. He was used to dealing with Dumbledore, the fool hoarding information and taking years to act on it. Clearly Potter was pulling the strings here. Fitting, that his prophesied Enemy should be more competent than the condescending old man, but no less irritating. With a casual gesture, the Dark Lord blasted the office wall outwards into the night and flew away.
…
The group stood over the unconscious forms of Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, and Thorfin Rowle.
Harry had briefly considered chasing Voldemort down, but only Luna and Hermione could keep up with him and he didn't see the point in trying to pin Voldemort down at this point, especially when he could just apparate away as soon as he left the hastily constructed wards.
At least they had accomplished their goal. Voldemort was off balance and was now deprived of three more followers and a potential stronghold.
"What do you propose that we do with them?"
Harry surveyed the Death Eaters with disdain.
"Maybe a time-out will help them think about being nicer in the future?" Luna chirped.
"Luna's right, toss them in Azkaban. Amelia, if I talk to Cornelius and get his unconditional support, will you be able to keep this quiet and lock them up under treason or terrorism or something?"
Madam Bones fixed him with a serious stare while she considered. Harry also thought through the implications and the potential consequences that could come from this amount of ministry overreach against someone like Malfoy.
"Yes. We will have to ensure that the information is highly classified so that the Azkaban guards can't see their files, and we will need to disguise them.
"Excellent."
Harry turned the Malfoy's hair black and left the rest of thedetails to Bones and Moody as they disapparated with the prisoners.
Albus still looked disappointed.
"Oh, don't give me that look. They're murderers and terrorists, remember? Once again, be happy I'm not just putting them in the ground like I really should. If Malfoy escapes and kills any more innocents, those deaths will be on my conscience. And I'm not looking forward to it, because I'm betting that he will, even if I'll admit that just executing him now still feels wrong."
Albus looked pained and very tired as they left the empty manor.
…
"You know, I could imagine myself being very disappointed that I didn't get a perfect badge."
"I completely forgot about that."
They watched from across the Great Hall as Ron and Parvati helped the first years find their first classes."
"I did too, until McGonagall asked me if I wanted it. Obviously, I turned her down but… there was a time when things like that mattered a lot to me, you know?"
"I've certainly never felt that way, but I can definitely imagine a tiny Hermione running home excitedly to tell her parents about getting an A+ in-"
"Yes, yes, shut up. It's just weird. It just… feels a bit silly now, is all. We broke into two separate Death Eater's houses last night, interrogated one and sent the other to prison without a trial. We're fighting a war against a wizard whose name most people won't even say out loud. It just hits me occasionally how far we've come from things like getting top marks or badges or house points."
"You were so mad when I kept beating you on every test in first year."
"For the record, I'm still mad about that, you dirty cheater. Not all of us have instinctive Occlumency and you let me think I was just stupid."
"All's fair in love and war."
"Shut it or you'll be stuck with only one of those."
That actually came out a lot meaner than I meant it. I love you a lot, Death Walker.
I know, don't worry. And I love you too, Ice Queen.
…
