I am a horrible, horrible person. Seriously. Sorry. I have no excuse. Anyway, as promised, a chapter!
And to all those amazing people who reviewed, thank you!
EmeraldGrey57 - Awww thanks! That's so sweet! I'm not sure it's the best but rest assured that I will not abandon it!
demon19027 - *Salutes* Yes Sir!
LunaBlack - I don't know, I just thought that Harry would of told Draco about what 'The Potters' did to him. I only really started to think this is the second story, 'A Part of Me' though, because of Draco's reaction to being in Harry's pensive with Damien, almost like he knew what they were going to see.
Xartimus - I'm so glad! Please don't abandon me! I'm nothing without followers! Thanks for your review. It made me smile.
Psyco Queen - nice name. Thanks for reading.
Anne - I'LL NEVER LEAVE YOU! I haven't really thought about doing any of Kurinoone's other stories, but I might. Just gotta finish this one first! Also, Dumbledore hasn't read the book, but when Narcissa gave it to him, he kinda got a brief summary of what has happened to Harry up to that point. He has no idea what the future holds! (;
Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this story, and please check out my new one. It's Supernatural, called 'Demon Child' and is inspired by the Darkness Within, but won't be a rip-off, I swear.
On with the story!
xxxx
Chapter Nine
Hermione grabbed the book from Fred and scanned her eyes over the title, gasping aloud as she did.
"Hermione?" Ron asked, concern showing on his face. "'Mione what's wrong?" He added, as Hermione stared at the book, a slow smile spreading over her face.
"Nothing Ron, nothing wrong. It's just- well listen would you?" The beaming girl replied, reading the chapter title aloud. "We Got Him". Silence, for one, two, three seconds, before the room erupted into raucous applause. The Weasley twins were chanting 'We got Potter, we got Potter!' over and over as Ron clapped his hand onto a grinning Damien's shoulder. Ginny giggled at the stunned looks on the Marauders face's, she could have sworn she heard Remus mutter something about not believing a plan Sirius had come up with actually worked. Lily had tears of joy in her eyes, and was hugging an overjoyed Molly Weasley.
Hermione allowed the room a moment to absorb the news, before clearing her throat. No one payed her any mind, however, prompting McGonagall to clear her own. The effect was instantaneous, everyone snapping to attention immediately as a sly smirk appeared on the Gryffindor's face. Hermione smiled at her Head of House, and began reading.
Harry was not having a good day.
Damien pouted sarcastically, "poor baby." Ron laughed while Ginny frowned disapprovingly.
"That's not nice Damy, you don't know what could have happened."
"Awww stuff it Ginny. You're only defending him 'cause you have a crush on him." Ginny scowled, crossing her arms. She didn't deny anything, something that caused Hermione to shoot her younger friend a concerned look. Could Ginny really have a crush on a boy she hadn't even properly met yet?
He had woken up to a splitting headache,
Ginny smirked at a regretful looking Damien. Lily clutched tight to her husbands hand in worry, not letting up as he winced in pain.
thanks to some Death Eater who had delivered some unfortunate news to his father.
'Interesting.' Dumbledore thought. 'Perhaps... no it can't be.' Yet even as the old man denied it, the thought crawled into his mind, dwelling like a dark shadow on his thoughts. 'Neither can live while the other survives."
He then had spent most of the morning looking for Bella only to be told that she had gone on a raid.
Lily was noticeably upset by this information, to the surprise of none. James squeezed her hand, but she just shook her head and muttered something about being jealous of the relationship Harry shared with the Death Eater.
"Typical" he said under his breath.
It was getting colder now as it was approaching the middle of August. Harry pulled on the sleeves of his robes to cover his hands as he set off towards the middle of the grounds. His silver mask was sitting in the inside pocket of his robes.
"He really carries it everywhere?" Bill asked in disbelief. Draco rolled his eyes at the eldest Weasley child, causing him to turn the signature Weasley red.
Most of the Death Eaters had gone to this raid, which was probably ordered by his father, after hearing whatever the disturbing news was that had awoken Harry.
"Right." Tonks said, "Middle of August, there's gonna be a Death Eater raid." She scribbled this information down on a parchment she had conjured, before frowning, "of course we still don't know the exact date, nor where it's going to be..."
"It's still more information than we had." Kingsley reassured her. Draco frowned. 'Right,' he thought, 'middle of August, there won't be a Death Eater raid, not after I tell Harry 'bout this.' Smirking, he rearranged himself into a more comfortable posture, and settled down to listen.
Harry walked steadily on towards his training grounds. He was feeling quite aggressive after the lousy morning that he'd had and wanted to vent some of this anger away by training.
"Someone's got anger issues." Damien muttered.
However he had not even reached the training grounds when a sound alerted him. It was a slithering sound. The leaves on the ground were slightly crunching as if someone or rather something was sliding over them. Harry knew instinctively what this was. He turned around slowly to see a huge snake slithering towards him.
"Nagini" he hissed in Parseltongue.
James laughed. "Very funny Hermione." He said, "now read what it actually says."
"That's what is says." Hermione insisted, ""Nagini" he hissed in Parseltongue."
"It can't say that. Harry couldn't possibly speak... Parseltongue!" Lily denied, shaking her head.
"Yes he can." Came the predictable drawl form the blond boy on the couch. "Tried to get him to teach me some, but I wasn't very good." He smiled at the uncomfortable looks on their faces, knowing that the idea of their 'Golden Gryffindor' Potter boy being anything but. "Honestly," he couldn't resist adding, "I don't know why that surprises you, what did you expect from the Dark Lords son?"
James lurched forward in his seat, focusing his gaze on the Malfoy heir. "He's not Voldemort's son," he hissed, infuriated when the boy only raised an eyebrow in response.
"Young Master." she hissed back at him.
Harry walked over to the huge snake and gently stroked her head. He was really fond of her.
The Gryffindor students gagged in disgust, even Ginny looked put off by her saviour's fondness of the animal.
Nearly as much as Lord Voldemort himself. He had promised Harry that when he turned seventeen he would get Harry a similar snake.
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen." Remus shook his head, "Your parents are never going to allow a snake in their house."
"Then where's Potter going to sleep, once he's been caught?" The snide comment came, to the surprise of many, from Charlie Weasley. He shrugged at the glares he received. "What? Some of us are not so quick to forgive."
'Just one more year to go' thought Harry as he continued to stroke Nagini. He had just turned sixteen a fortnight ago, but as usual it was not celebrated. The only birthday of Harry's that would be celebrated would be when he came of age, seventeen.
Ron's mouth was gaping. "No presents?!" He exclaimed, looking just as scandalised as the other children felt.
"They didn't even celebrate any of his birthdays Ron." Hermione said when she was able to speak again. "It's worse than just not getting presents, it's not being acknowledged."
"We'll change that though, won't we?" Damien demanded, looking at his parents.
"Of course we will!" Lily exclaimed, thinking of all the presents she and James had bought Harry over the years. 'Just you wait' she thought, 'we'll make it up to you, Harry.'
Harry looked at the giant head of the reptile and asked again in Paseltongue.
"What are you doing here? You usually don't go anywhere until nightfall."
"I got bored so I was going to get myself a small…snack!" she hissed at him.
Harry grimaced slightly, he knew that a small snack for Nagini was usually a very big thing by normal standards. Nagini was responsible for the disappearances of most farm animals such as horses, cows, and a few sheep that were near by. She had even got herself a few humans many times, but Harry chose not to think about that right now.
"So, he feels sickened by actions that usually please Death Eaters," Snape announced to the room. Lily and James looked proud, happy that their son didn't feel pleasure at the snakes actions.
Before he could say anything more to Nagini he felt a searing pain in his scar. His hand found its way to his forehead instinctively and Harry was momentarily blinded by the white hot pain that had erupted in his head. He blinked away the spots he was seeing and turned in the direction of the manor.
While the majority of the room looked concerned that Harry's scar was hurting him, Dumbledore only looked curious. The lines from the Prophecy kept running through his mind, and he pondered the significance of Harry's scar.
"Wonder what's wrong now?" he muttered to himself.
He turned to Nagini and hissed his goodbyes and set off towards the castle. The pain had gone as fast as it had come. There was the dull throbbing that Harry had gotten used to,
"He shouldn't have to be used to it!" The unusually quiet Ginny exploded, to nods from those most concerned with Harry's safety.
since Lord Voldemort was very rarely in a completely happy mood. He didn't stop once, until he approached the doors leading to his father's room. He knocked once and entered the room quietly.
Lord Voldemort looked up at the person who had entered his private chambers. He saw Harry and motioned for him to come closer. Voldemort stepped away from the window and turned to look at him.
"Harry, there's been a situation, I have just received a distress signal. It seems the raid this morning hasn't gone very well."
Harry nodded once without taking his emerald green eyes away from his father's ruby red ones.
"Who was the signal from Father?" he asked.
"Bella" Voldemort almost whispered the word.
Harry felt like the air around him had vanished. He couldn't breathe.
Many looked uncomfortable at the obvious affection Harry held for Lestrange.
He looked at his father awaiting orders to go and help her, but they never came.
"Good." Lily said, feeling a vicious dislike for the witch who held the position of mother figure in her sons life. Sirius, however, had caught onto his future self plan and was looking worried that it wouldn't go ahead.
Lord Voldemort only looked at Harry and turned away, obviously fighting the anger building inside him, for Harry's sake.
Scoffs were heard as many dismissed the thought of Voldemort caring for someone.
"Father, what are your orders?" Harry pushed.
"Nothing, I don't want you to do anything."
Harry could only stare at his father's turned back.
"But father, surely we have to do something…"
"Harry, as much as I want my inner circle back, especially Bella, I am not going to risk you in a rescue mission." Voldemort said, still with his back towards Harry.
"Doesn't want to lose his most loyal soldier." Mad-Eye stated, to disapproving looks.
Harry felt his own anger building.
"Uh Oh." James said. "Looks like he's got your anger, Lily." His wife slapped him over the back of his head, but she couldn't hold back her smile at the comparison.
"Father, we can't lose the inner circle either, it will take too long to build up again, and Bella…we can't lose her either."
Harry said the last part quietly. The mere thought of losing Bella was too much for him to even fathom. Voldemort turned around to face Harry at this. He also looked as if he was torn between trying to save his follower Bella or keeping his son out of harms way. He personally didn't care about Bella or any other Death Eater in particular, but Harry was right. If he lost his inner circle now it would cause all sorts of problems, not to mention the delay in winning the war. He sighed deeply and locked his eyes with Harry's sending him the visual location of the raid.
The rooms occupants groaned, distressed at the obvious trust Harry had for Voldemort, to so readily allow him access to his mind.
Harry took in the detail and turned around sharply, and almost ran to the door.
"Harry!" Lord Voldemort called out after him.
Harry stopped at the door and spun around.
"Just take her and come back immediately, Understand!"
"Yes Father." was Harry's reply and then he quickly made his way to the apparation point just outside the main door.
xxx
Harry apparated in front of a crumbling building. He quickly scanned the surrounding area. There was evidence of battle everywhere. He could make out the blood just at the entrance. He made his way into the abandoned building, which may have been a warehouse at some point, but now was nothing more than a crumbling wreck.
With his mask firmly in place Harry entered the building. He walked in cautiously, even though it seemed that the place was empty. He could hear voices shouting in the distance, maybe on the upper floor of the destroyed building. He kept to the shadows and quietly made his way to the stairs. Once he reached the top he saw that the battle indeed was still going on. There were bodies lying, scattered everywhere. Most of them were masked Death Eaters. Harry cursed under his breath. He quickly crossed the room and hid near the collapsed wall. His emerald eyes were searching the floor for the form of Bella. He noticed that he could hear curses being uttered and the flashes as the spells were being fired but he couldn't actually see anyone around.
Realisation dawned on the faces of the adults, as they understood that this must be a trap. The children were still oblivious, tense as they wondered what was going to happen.
'They must be behind the ruins' Harry thought as he surveyed the mountains of rumble and rocks lying everywhere.
'That's uncharacteristically reckless.' Kingsley thought, frowning.
Harry threw caution to the wind and moved away from his hiding area. He saw Bella instantly. She was lying in the corner of the building. Her robes were ripped and blood streaked her usually pretty face. Harry felt the anger inside him bubble. He was shaking from suppressed rage. He got up quietly and made his way to the fallen body.
He reached her without anyone realising. He knelt down beside her and gently placed a finger on her neck. 'Please don't be dead!' he whispered to himself. He felt the pulse and breathed out a huge sigh of relief.
"Bella" he whispered as he tried to wake her up. Bella opened her eyes and to Harry's surprise gave him a wide grin.
"Hey gorgeous!"
"Sirius." Lily laughed at her husbands best friend. He grinned and bowed.
"Well, I guess this was part of your plan then?" Damien inquired, smiling at the marauder.
"Naturally." Sirius said, smirking.
Harry whipped away from the body. The face was Bella's but the voice was that of a man.
"Are you sure Harry?" James asked. "Sirius can be quite a girl-" He was cut off by an annoyed 'OI!' as Sirius punched him in the arm. James laughed it off along with Remus and the children.
A voice Harry had heard many times.
"What?" James was suddenly serious again. He turned to accuse Sirius, "but you didn't know Harry was alive, did you?"
"No!" Sirius sat up straight, "Prongs, if I had known do you think for a minute I would have kept it from you?"
"No," of this James looked certain, "But then-"
"I don't know how he recognised me, mate. But maybe we will find out."
The 'fake' Bella sat up and smiled at the look of shock on Harry's face. Harry stood up, but before he could raise his wand he noticed that all the voices that had been shouting curses had now stopped and he was completely surrounded by the previously fallen bodies.
"That's quite the trap, cousin mine." Tonks grinned at Sirius who winked back.
xxx
Lord Voldemort sat on his throne. He had Nagini next to him but he was ignoring her at the moment. He sat massaging his temples, eyes closed, repeating a silent mantra to calm himself down. Trying to concentrate all the anger he was feeling away from him. His concentration was broken by the sound of his door being knocked on and the sound of many voices.
"Uh oh." Tonks looked worried. "He's about to find out it's a trap."
With a sweep of his hand he opened his doors and sat shocked as the entire inner circle came through. They were all wearing triumphant looks and were smiling at their Dark Lord. None of them looked even remotely hurt. As they all knelt before him his gaze fell on the Death Eater nearest to him.
His only female Death Eater smiled at him as she stood up to greet him.
"Master, the raid was a complete success. We now have the…"she broke off as she noticed her master looking at her with disbelief.
"My Lord!" she gasped as Voldemort had stood up and appeared in front of her in a flash. He stood looming over her.
Voldemort stared into Bella's eyes and realised with a sick jolt that he had been fooled. Bella had not sent out the distress signal. There had been no complications. He had sent Harry into a trap!
"Oh damn." Fred swore quietly so his mother wouldn't hear, his twin nodding in agreement.
"No…no! Harry!" whispered Voldemort. He took a step back and then without warning he lunged forward and grabbed Bella around the arms and shook her like a rag doll.
"Get him back! Get Harry back now!" he snarled at her.
Bella could only nod her head as terror gripped at her. She saw the images flash before her as Lord Voldemort entered her mind and showed her how Harry had left to allegedly 'save her'.
She turned and wordlessly ordered the rest of the inner circle to follow her. She and Lucius led the way out of the chamber.
Lord Voldemort stood and watched, all the while channelling his anger away from him. If Harry ever needed total concentration it was now.
"He won't be able to fight his way out of this one." Moody snarled. "We'll take him down easily."
"Don't be so sure." Draco smirked. Refusing to elaborate, he, for once, gave Hermione his full concentration, hanging onto her every word. He didn't want to miss a single detail of the fight that was to come.
xxx
Harry looked around him and saw at least ten Aurors surrounding him, their wands pointing directly at him. Most of them had removed the Death Eater masks and black robes to reveal their Auror robes as Harry realised that he had been fooled by the bodies on the ground. The 'fake' Bella laughed a bark like laugh. Harry felt his insides burn with anger.
Sirius looked very hurt by Harry's reaction.
Before his very eyes the face and body of Bella changed slowly into the tall dark Sirius Black.
Harry could only glare at him as the famous Auror shook his dark locks out of his eyes and gave Harry another wide grin.
"Well Prince, nice to see that you turned up, I thought I was going to have to dress like my dear old cousin for the rest of the day."
"Yuck." Tonks stuck her tongue out, sticking her nose up in the air. Literally. To the amusement of Ginny and Hermione, she morphed her nose so the point was sticking quite far up in the air.
He took out his wand and pointed directly at Harry's chest.
"Now, be a good boy and put your hands where we can see them."
Harry ignored him and instead twisted his body around to show that he was surveying the surrounding Aurors.
"Well, eleven against one. Never thought you had it in you." he said to Sirius in a mocking voice. He saw with pleasure a few faces turn red and their wands shook slightly.
Kingsley sighed at the lack of control. It was disappointing that a simple statement like that could get to so many.
Harry smiled to himself. He was slowly making his concealed second wand move down his arm towards his hand.
"He has two wands?" Damien cried.
"He can use two wands at once?" James squeaked.
He was going to need it.
"So, care to explain how you did it?" Harry asked Sirius, to distract him while he non-verbally muttered the accio curse for his wand.
Ron mouthed 'non-verbally' to himself in amazement.
"How did I do what?" asked Sirius with an annoying look of triumph on his face.
Harry clenched his teeth in anger before hissing at him.
"How did you fake Bella's distress call?"
"Oh that, well it's a piece of cake really, when you have this." he held up a small ring.
Harry looked at it closely and realised it was identical to the ring Bella had. Harry was confused for a moment but then, upon examining the ring again he understood what had happened.
The ring had the Black family crest on it. It was obviously given to Bella by her family. Harry knew that when a distress call was made it generally doesn't have much detail, since it is a distress call, so the person making it doesn't have much time to give a lot of detail. Usually the place and nature of distress is all that can be given. The identity of the caller is usually made by the registered wand or by an artefact with a distinguishing mark, such as a family crest, that the caller has with them at the time of making the call. Since Bella's wand is not registered, as are all of the Death Eaters wands, the ring would have been used to identify the caller. His father would not have expected Sirius to have the ring nor use it in this manner, so he had assumed the distress call to belong to Bella.
"Interesting." Hermione interrupted herself to muse. "But, it is awfully easy to mimic isn't it? By distributing them throughout families, in the case of the ring, it's quite easy for traps to be set just like this one. What if the Death Eaters were to do the same thing, luring in Order members by pretending it's from Sirius? Obviously, if it's a registered wand it wouldn't work, but isn't your wand registered Sirius? And Harry just said that Bellatrix's isn't, so-"
"Hermione." Ron interrupted. "Can you just read, please?" Hermione blushed but nodded.
"So you stole her ring. Can you stoop any lower Black?" Harry asked while enjoying the red blush creep onto the older man's cheeks.
"Actually, I didn't steal anything! This ring belongs to me. Being her cousin and all I got the ring as well, just didn't have a use for it until now." Sirius finished while glaring at the teen before him.
"And the Polyjuice potion?"
"Just happened to have some stock leftover. Glad I kept it from the last time I pretended to be her, that didn't work out as well as this though."
"Something to say, Uncle Siri?" Damien cheekily asked. "You seem to spend an awful lot of time as a woman."
"Why you little-" Sirius leaped off the couch and made to grab Damien, only to be yanked back by Lily.
"Sirius," she started calmly, the man in her clutches gulping nervously. "I already have one son," she gestured at the book, "in imminent danger. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't harm my other one!" The last few words were hissed angrily as the man wriggled out of her grip.
"I wouldn't hurt Damy, Lils." Sirius defended. "Just, you know, make sure he didn't disrespect me again." He playfully sneered at the cheeky boy, who grinned in return Lily snorted and shook her head at him.
"Good luck achieving that, James and I have been trying for years!" The mother shook her head, giving Damien what could only be deemed as 'The Look.' Its one all children are familiar with, as their own mothers often aim it their way when they have caused trouble.
While many tittered at the families playful interaction, Draco interpreted in another way entirely. Believing the playful looks to be hiding truly sinister intentions, he felt sudden fear for the young Gryffindor that he had always found annoying. He scolded himself for never having considered that the Potters treated their youngest son the same way they treated their oldest, but all this talk about 'teaching respect' caused a thrill of fear run through him. He briefly flashed to a conversation he had had with Harry after the boy had made an offhand comment about broken bones being the most efficient way to learn a lesson. It was not one of his favourite memories, not only because the other boy refused to heal his broken arm until he explained that it was not how lessons were normally taught (he had fallen out of a tree Harry warned him not to climb), but because it was the day he first found out about the abuse Harry had suffered at the hands of the Potters. He remembered rushing home and telling his parents, how his Mother had glared at his Father, how his Father had taken him aside and told him that he could not, under any circumstances, act any different around the Potters, they cannot find out we know Draco! Understand? How he had said, yes Father, of course Father, and never spoken of it to anyone but Harry again, who he frequently expressed his disgust to.
Examining the boy sitting amongst friends, he wondered if the smile was merely a show, a mask to hide pain and fear. 'Harry must know of this,' the boy thought. Just as this crossed his mind, a crack sounded through the room. Everyone's heads swivelled as the House Elf appeared, and Draco internally groaned. Schooling his features into a blank mask, for he knew suspicious gazes would be turned to him, he glared at the Elf, hoping it wasn't stupid enough to give everything away.
The Elf, meanwhile, was trying to hide considerable panic. Not knowing what was going on in the room, it had to take a blind guess as to when would be the optimal time to apparate in without being seen. Looking at the wands now being pointed at it, it could tell that this was not that time.
"What are you doing here, Elf?" Kingsley said firmly, but not unkindly, pointing his wand at the terrified creature.
"Nothing, sir, I is doing nothing." The letter addressed to Draco felt like it was burning a hole in the pocket it was shoved into. The Elf's worried gaze briefly flickered to the blond Slytherin before it focused back onto the wands in its face. That brief look was enough for Moody, who whirled on the only person not standing.
"You!" he hissed, grabbing the boy by the scruff of the neck and dragging him to his feet. "This Elf yours boy?" He pointed at the quivering creature that was beginning to twist its ears in worry.
"No." Draco answered truthfully, raising an eyebrow in defiance.
"Liar."
"Not lying." 'For once' he mentally added. The Elf, unfortunately, chose this moment to step in.
"I is not answering to Master Draco, no I's is here by Master Harry's command, yes I is-"
"Silence!" Draco hissed at the creature, but he was too late. Lily lowered her wand, hand trembling, along with the rest of the room, except Moody.
"Harry?" James demanded. "Harry Potter?" He whirled around to Draco, "YOU!" He growled, jabbing a finger at the boy.
"Me?" Draco raised an eyebrow, appearing genuinely confused. Only his Head of House could tell the boy was hiding his smugness at the situation, and his fear.
"You've been talking to my son?!"
"Why in Merlins name would you think that?" Draco tilted his head. "Yes this is Harry's Elf, yes I am using it at the moment. But that is merely because he lent it to me over the break because I complained about having to share the ones working at Hogwarts with other students." The lie came easily, slipping off the boys tongue and rolling around the room.
"You really expect us to believe that?" Charlie growled, stepping closer to the boy.
"Yes. Its the truth. Isn't it?" He turned to the Elf pointedly, the creature frantically nodding it's agreement.
"Yes, yes it is, it is. I swears it!"
"What's that in your pocket?" Draco cursed. How could he not have noticed that Moody's magical eye was no longer whirring around the room, instead focused on the letter in the Elf's pocket.
"Nothing sir, nothing."
"Give it here."
"Sir I-"
"Hand it over!" The Elf handed the Auror the letter, ears flat against its head. The man ripped it open, scanning it's contents. He narrowed his eyes, confusion marring his scarred features. "This doesn't make any sense! It's written in some kind of Latin!"
"Perhaps Draco would be kind enough to translate?" The old Headmaster, who had been silent up to this point, smiled at Draco.
"I can't read Latin."
"I think we both know that's not quite true." The infuriating smile never left the old mans face, as he took the letter from Moody's hand and held it out to Draco. Reluctant now, Draco took the letter. For once he wished that it wasn't a letter from his friend. He didn't know how he was going to get out of this one, unless...
"Can't you read Latin, sir." He asked the Headmaster.
"I'm afraid it was one of the many things I never attempted to learn, a fact that now causes me great anguish. However, I have faith in your abilities. Now please," he inclined his head at the letter, "translate."
Draco was now the centre of attention, and for once he wished he wasn't. Clearing his throat, he drew on all his Slytherin abilities. He was going to need them to pull this off. He read through the letter, translating it I'm his head. His eyes widened as he read:
Draco,
I pity you, stuck in a room of idiots. Reading about my life? You better not be lying to me, I will not be happy. Wouldn't want to lose my friendship Draco, it wouldn't bode well for you to run into Father absent of my support.
I will not inform Father, not yet. It's not the first secret I've kept from him, and it won't be the last. Make sure you keep me well informed, and stop using the bloody Elf! I nearly killed the damn thing when it apparated into my room. I've cast a spell on this parchment, it'll wipe itself clean after you've read it, so write your message onto it. I have a corresponding parchment, your message will appear on it as you write it. We can communicate this way, it's faster. And before you go about being too amazed at the idea, I merely modified what Muggles call 'texting'. Don't roll your eyes, just do it.
Harry
"It's from my Father," Draco said, watching as the parchment wiped itself clean. "He's merely informing me that I have permission to stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas break. That's what I asked him for in the first place." He turned to the Elf. "Your services are no longer required, return to you Master. But thank my Father first." The Elf bowed low and disapparated out of the room. Moody snatched the letter from Draco, hissing when he found it blank.
"What is this?" He waved the parchment in the boys face.
"Handy isn't it?" Draco drawled, plucking the parchment from the mans hand and smoothly depositing it into his pocket. "My Father began using it a few years ago. Wipes the parchment clean after the intended recipient has read it. Stops people from using his signature and such." He waved a hand dismissively, the lie coming easily once more.
"Severus, is this true?" Dumbledore asked his spy.
"Yes." Severus narrowed his gaze at the blond boy. "Yes it is. I helped Lucius perfect the spell." 'That's the second time I have supported your lies, Draco.' He thought.
'When are you going to trust me?'
"And you didn't think to tell us?" Moody glared, still upset.
"Must have slipped my mind."
"So." A small voice interrupted. "It wasn't Harry?" All eyes turned to Damien, who looked quite upset.
"It would appear not." Severus drawled. "Shall we continue?"
Everyone reluctantly returned to their seats, James wrapping an arm around his upset wife, and Damien slumping down depressingly. Hermione began to read once more, Mad-Eyes magical eye never leaving a shifting Draco.
Sirius now had moved a couple of steps towards Harry.
"Now that your questions are answered I think we should move onto the arrest, don't you?"
Harry didn't answer.
"Come now boy, don't try anything stupid. You know you can't take all of us!" Mad-eye Moody said while inching nearer to the boy.
"Oh, I'm betting he can." No one needed to even look at the blond boy to know he was smirking.
Harry turned to face him and felt his hand close around the wooden stick. He smiled again behind his mask.
"Can't I?" He mocked before whipping out the second wand.
Before anyone could react Harry pointed both wands at the ground and bellowed.
"MOMENTUM EXPUR!"
The entire ground suddenly shook as if an earthquake had hit it.
"Wicked." The Weasley twins muttered, grinning.
The Aurors were certainly not expecting that and most of them got knocked off their feet.
"Well, they'll be expecting it this time!" Tonk chirped cheerfully, to nods.
James, Kingsley and Sirius were the only ones who managed to stay upright, although the shaking ground had meant that they could not point their wands at the boy standing before them.
"We should go in with a balancing charm already cast, keep us steady," Kingsley noted, Draco scowling furiously as his cousin scrawled it all down.
They watched as the Dark Prince kept one wand on the ground sending waves of energy through the ground so that it kept shaking, while using the other wand to draw a circle around him.
"You can't cast two spells at once! I don't care if he has two wands! It's impossible!" James cried, outraged and yet impressed at the same time. 'That's my boy!' he thought, glowing with pride at his sons capabilities.
The wand was emitting a red beam and as the baffled Aurors watched, it cut a perfect circle in the ground. In front of their eyes the Dark Prince disappeared to the floor beneath. He had cut a hole in the ground and had made his way to the ground floor in three seconds flat!
The ground had stopped shaking and the eleven Aurors looked at each other in shock as they hastily got to their feet and jumped through the hole to the ground below. 'How on earth did he mutter two curses at the one time, that's impossible!' thought James
Damien sniggered at that, looking at his smiling dad.
as he fell to the ground floor. He scanned the ruined building and spotted the boy making his way towards the door. He was soon joined by the rest of his team and they started shouting curses at the boy.
'Be careful, Harry.' Lily thought, biting her nails in worry.
Harry threw himself behind debris of crumbling plaster. He leant against it and started to take out his ninja stars.
"Crap." Sirius murmured.
He placed his wand back in the upholster attached to his upper arm. He grabbed a hold of two stars and carefully moved so that he was in clear view of the Aurors. At once he was forced to duck back behind cover as a rain of red and yellow curses came flying his way. It had only taken a moment but Harry had seen the locations of two Aurors.
"Cool," Damien said, not realising what this meant for the two men. Draco smiled, leaning back. He knew Harry wouldn't miss.
He took a deep breath and flung himself away from the safety of the plaster and threw the blades in the direction of both of them. The blades hit the Aurors in the chest and the two men instantly fell to the ground, the blades embedded deep into their chests.
"He killed them?" Hermione cried, outraged.
"Na." Sirius casually waved the suggestion off. Probably just winded them is all."
"Uncle Siri, they have blades imbedded in their chests. How could that not kill them!" Damien joined in, scrunching his eyebrows together in confusion.
"They'd be wearing the standard ROSO shirts* underneath their clothes of course." Sirius answered.
"The what?" Ron joined into the conversation, no longer content to just watch.
"R.O.S.O," Remus answered for his animagus friend. "ROSO shirts. Resistant Of Sharp Object shirts. Prevents wizards from being stabbed and such."
"Like a bullet proof vest?" Hermione inquired.
"Exactly." Lily answered the young girl, smiling warmly as the non-muggle born occupants looked on confused.
"A what?" Hermione ignored Ron, choosing instead to focus on the book.
Harry barely made it back to the shelter of the crumbling plaster while more curses rained down on him.
He heard a cry amongst the Aurors.
"Don't do that! We need him alive, only stun him understand. Don't kill him!"
Harry recognised the voice belonging to James Potter.
"Yes! Go dad!" Draco rolled his eyes at the boy, stroking the parchment in his pocket with a single finger as he pondered what he was going to write.
Harry heard the footsteps inching closer to him and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to hide here for much longer. Harry's eyes darted around him, trying to find something that would help him. He then saw a door leading out to another section of the building on his left. The door was hanging off the hinges and there seemed to be a lot of glass lying around it. Harry smirked to himself again.
Harry braced himself, he could tell the Aurors were coming closer.
"Come now, enough of these childish games. Come quietly and we promise no harm will come to you." Kingsley Shacklebolt tried reasoning with the teen.
Draco snorted. "You're the one playing games." He sneered at Shacklebolt. "Harry's going to win."
Harry snorted and replied loudly.
"You're the ones playing games. I'm showing you how to win."
Silence. Draco smiled proudly, glad that he was so similar to his friend, they even said the same things. Damien wasn't so happy. He wanted to have the relationship the smirking Slytherin clearly had with his brother.
'No.' He thought. 'It's more than that. I just want my brother.'
With that said Harry spun around and darted across the room while throwing curses at the three Aurors who were standing the closest to him. Sirius and James watched as three curses left the boy's wand simultaneously and hit their mark. The three Aurors fell to the ground screaming as the acid spurt spell made their bodies erupt in horrible blisters. Harry kept on running. He could hear and feel the footsteps behind him. Harry moved to the right just in time as a stupefy spell came whizzing by him. He then turned sharply to the left as another body bind curse came flying by.
"How does he know where they are coming from?" Bill asked, amazed.
Harry was now approaching the door with the shattered glass.
"ACCIO GLASS SHARDS!" Harry yelled while still running towards the door.
He instantly threw himself to the ground as the sharp glass shards flew towards him. The glass shards missed Harry and instead flew straight into the three Aurors who were running behind him.
Tonks winced in sympathy, "ouch."
Harry heard the screams as the three Aurors hit the ground.
"Ouch." Fred agreed.
He rolled towards the door and just had time to throw himself into the other room before another curse came zooming towards him. It had missed Harry by a mere inch. Harry had barely time to register what this room was. He saw a set of stairs and dashed towards them. There were still four Aurors left and the ones injured would probably still pose a threat. He knew he had to get out of there as fast as possible.
He came back to the floor that he had found Sirius pretending to be Bella. He noticed an identical staircase to the one he had just climbed and began making his way towards it. He began climbing it and was nearly at the top when he felt a hand grab onto his foot, making him fall onto the hard stairs. Harry whipped his head around and saw a dark haired Auror, Kingsley Shacklebolt, pulling him down. Harry grabbed onto the stairs and twisted slightly so that he could raise his other foot. He saw the Auror point his wand at him. Harry used his free foot to smash onto the Auror's face. Harry repeatedly smashed his foot onto Kingsley's face
"Ooooooh." There were many gasps and winces at that, Kingsley rubbing a hand over his face ruefully.
until he felt the grip loosen and Harry wriggled away from him. Kingsley fell to the ground, blood gushing out of his broken nose.
Tonks sniggered as the man subconsciously scratched his nose.
Harry made it to the top and immediately ran towards a door at the far end. He heard heavy footsteps and a lot of shouting behind him.
Harry ran through another door and found himself in what must have been the back of the building. It seemed that some time ago there was an attempt to renovate this crumbling wreck. Harry could see the abandoned scaffolding and large gaps in the floor. Harry looked behind him as he heard the Aurors approaching him. He knew that the best thing he could have done would have been to keep to the ground floor, as his only chance of escape was to go outside and past the anti apparation wards, however he was forced to come to the top and that is what he had done.
Harry heard commotion downstairs and he peered out, what would have been a window, he saw some ten masked men enter the building and start duelling fiercely with the remaining Aurors. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. The Death Eaters were here,
"Crap."
"James!"
"Sorry Lil."
Harry had some help now. He only had to find a safe way back downstairs. He felt another spell zoom by him and Harry ducked to save himself. He turned to see Sirius Black pointing his wand at him.
"Gotcha." Sirius grinned in triumph.
"Don't be so sure." Lily bit her lip in worry. "We all know what my Harry's capable of." Pride shone in her eyes as she smirked at Sirius who just let out a bark like laugh. James squeezed her hand, a smile forcing its way onto his face as he shook his head.
"Don't we all." He said. "My son's gotta be the most powerful wizard of all time."
"I thought that was Dumbledore?" Damien asked.
"Only for now, Mr Potter." Said old man leant forward, a twinkle in his eye. "I fear that once your brother comes of age, he'll have me beat."
"That's my boy." James grinned.
"Nowhere left to go now kid, just lower you wand." He commanded.
Harry in response gripped his wand tighter and took a step nearer to Sirius. Before Sirius could respond Harry lashed out at him, swinging his right foot straight into Sirius's abdomen. Sirius felt like a hammer had just hit him. He flew to the other side of the building and fell hard onto the ground. Sirius felt the unsteady floorboards shake a little as his weight hit them.
"Ouch."
Sirius stood up as Harry approached him. Harry caught Sirius off guard and smashed his fist into his face.
"Ouch."
He then swerved his right foot aiming at Sirius's chest, but Sirius caught his foot with both hands and twisted it, causing the boy to lose his balance and fall to the ground. Sirius then kicked the fallen boy hard in the ribs, causing the boy to cry out.
"Sirius!"
"Oh come on Lily-Flower! I don't know its Harry! You know I wouldn't hurt him if I knew!"
Sirius felt his heart leap in his chest. He felt strangely guilty at hurting him.
"See." Sirius waved his hands around wildly. "I don't even know its him yet, and I feel bad!"
"Oh all right," Lily scowled. "I just don't want anyone hurting my son."
'Except yourself.' Draco thought spitefully.
He put it down to the fact that he was duelling and hurting a sixteen year old boy which was causing the guilt. For all intents and purposes, the Dark Prince was still only a child. In a moment of hesitation Harry had jumped back onto his feet.
"You'll pay for that Black!" He spat at him. He moved with incredible speed and had knocked Sirius to the ground again.
"Ouch."
"We get it Fred!"
"He's not Fred, I am!"
"Honestly Hermione, you call yourself our brother's girlfriend."
"I'm not..." The poor girl stuttered, red faced, until Ginny took pity on her.
"Lets just read, yeah?" The youngest Weasley prompted.
Harry stood over him pointing his wand at Sirius's forehead. Before Harry could even utter a single word he felt a stabbing pain in his ribs. He staggered away from Sirius while clasping a hand over his side. He removed his hand to find it covered in blood. He had been hit with a stinging hex. Harry quickly blinked away the pain and looked around to locate the hexer.
He found it was James standing at the entrance.
"Stupid, stupid." James said, yanking on his hair.
"Well yes you are, Potter," Severus drawled, "glad to see you've finally realised."
"Severus!" Lily snapped, levelling a glare at the man. She turned to her husband. "It's not your fault James, you didn't know it was Harry." She kissed his cheek. "Sit up, this hasn't happened yet and, now that we know, it never will. Understand?" James nodded.
"Understood. What would I do without you, Lils?"
"Crash and burn." She smiled pecking him on the lips.
"That's not fair!" Sirius whined playfully. "He gets a kiss and reassurance when he hurts Harry in this book, all I got was a glare and blame!"
"Shut up Padfoot."
He was pointing his wand at him and moved slowly towards him. Harry sighed again.
"Don't you ever learn Potter? Stay away from things you can't handle!"
"Some habits die hard." James replied not daring to take his eyes away from the boy.
"Apparently, so do you." Harry said and as quick as a flash Harry had whipped out another ninja star.
James had only just managed to side step it as it came flying out of Harry's hand. It still managed to scratch James's arm as it went flying past him. Harry saw the crimson liquid seep out of James's arm and stain the blue robes James was wearing. Harry had his wand pointing at James, but before he could attack three jets of light came speeding at Harry.
"RECTUSEMPRA" came a shout in unison and Harry found himself hurtling through the air and smash into the ground a few feet away. He turned and saw three Aurors standing with their wands pointing at him. Harry cursed under his breath.
Sirius, Moody and Kingsley stood with their wands pointing at Harry as James went to join them. Ready to curse the hell out of him if they had to. Harry stood up gingerly and turned to face his group of enemies.
"Alright do your worst." he said in a low and dangerous voice as he prepared to bring up his shield.
"He can't be serious?" Molly exclaimed.
"Well no he can't because I'm-"
"Don't you dare finish that."
He deflected the four jets of light quite easily. He laughed softly at the looks of shock and disbelief on their faces. The shield that Harry had conjured covered Harry completely. He was standing within a shimmering blue bubble. There was no way any spell would be able to touch him. Harry brought the shield down momentarily to send two jets of 'Incendio' to the stunned Aurors. What happened next, nobody had quite prepared for.
As Harry's curse hit Sirius and Moody they deflected it with their shields and the four Aurors had turned their attention to the one boy standing before them. Seeing the shield down the four Aurors unknowingly attacked at the same time. Harry tried to block the four spells of 'Rictusempra' but the intensity was too much and he was sent hurtling through the air. Harry smashed on to the far wall and landed in a heap on the crumbling floor.
Gasps sounded around the room as everyone sat, gazing transfixed at the book.
As Harry made contact with the shaky floor it trembled and gave way. As the four Aurors watched, transfixed in horror, the boy went smashing to the floor below him, which coincidentally didn't hold up either and Harry fell through onto the concrete floor at ground level.
"MERLINS SOGGY UNDERPANTS!"
"RONALD BILLIUS WEASLEY!"
"I thought it was quite appropriate, Molly dear."
"Don't encourage them, Arthur."
The four Aurors stood still, frozen in complete horror at what they had done. James was the first one to rush down and find him buried under the rubble. He began moving the bricks and wood to find the boy. He was soon being helped by the other three Aurors as they frantically searched for him.
'Please don't be dead, oh, please don't be dead...' He thought terrified at the thought of killing a teenager by deception. He found the boy buried under a particularly heavy piece of the rubble.
"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA" He and Sirius shouted and both of their wands lifted the debris away from the unconscious boy. James held a trembling finger at the masked boy's neck and let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.
"He's alive!" He informed the others and saw them share a look of relief.
"Oh thank Merlin." Lily sighed in relief.
Suddenly there was an outburst and they saw three Death Eaters shrieking and running at them.
"What have you done!" one of them bellowed. James could see the long blond hair and knew it was Lucius Malfoy under the mask.
Draco gulped nervously, hoping his Father wouldn't be harmed.
James and Moody rushed to their feet and blocked the way to the fallen boy. They started duelling with the Death Eaters. The other two Aurors rushed to their side and joined in.
"Take Prince and go!" shouted Malfoy to another Death Eater. James and Kingsley managed to block the approaching Death Eater while duelling furiously with the others.
"Get Harry out of there!" Ginny screeched.
"Sirius! Take the boy and head to the headquarters! Now!" James shouted over to his best friend. Sirius nodded his head and swooped down to pick up the boy. The boy moaned in his unconscious state causing Sirius's heart to plunge into his stomach. He hated this guilt ridden feeling.
"Sorry kid." he muttered while throwing the boy's broken body over his shoulder. Sirius managed to make it out of the building since the other Aurors were covering him, making sure no one would attack. It seemed pointless anyway since the Death Eaters were too afraid to attack in case they hit their master's son.
Sirius got outside and held onto the boy tightly as he apparated from there straight to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
"YES!"
"Finally!"
"Woo Hoo!"
"WE GOT POTTER! WE GOT POTTER!"
"James, James-!"
"I know Lily." Amid the celebrating James Potter had eyes only for his wife, the joy he felt evident on his face. "We got him."
"Harry's coming home."
xxx
*I made this up. It's cheesy, but I thought it fits.
well its been a while. But a promise is a promise, and I'm eternally grateful you guys didn't give up on me. Seriously, your reviews gave me so much motivation to keep writing this story. And as long as you guys want me, I'll keep writing. I swear it on the River Styx.
Thanks as always for reading and reviewing! Stay tuned for the next chapter!
-Mythology-Is-My-Religion