Disclaimer:

I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...

Mischief Managed Damn It!

Title: Die Hard in Hogwarts / Chapter 2

Posted Date: December 25 2024

Tags: Harry being John McClaine, Alternate Canon AU, Idiot Granger, Interference Order of Phoenix

Possible Pairings: Harry x Susan, Harry x Padma, Harry x Daphne

Possible Challenge: No Horcrux, Hermione interfering with Harry's rescue, BAMF Luna

Amelia Bones was feeling really impatient as she stood in the outpost tent situated a few feet away from the ward boundary of Hogwarts and not too close to the forest to avoid the centaurs from thinking they were trying to invade them, watching her team scramble to assemble the place with a team assigned to get updates on the situation. She was gnashing on her teeth hard enough that if she had a strip of hard leather in her mouth, she was likely to tenderise it with how hard she would go at it.

Amelia felt like she was on the Knight Bus travelling the entirety of Britain with all the recent news that had been hitting her since the untimely death of Cedric Diggory. The Ministry had been running a smear campaign against Harry Potter and Dumbledore all because the previous minister did not want to acknowledge the revival of the dark wizard, and the fact that Lucius Malfoy was whispering in his ear to take Potter down. They even sent that dreadful toad to be the inquisitor to supposedly audit the teachers and Hogwarts but was meant to spy on Dumbledore and harm the children. Once Voldemort came out in the open, Cornelius was kicked out of the minister's seat and Dolores was sent to Azkaban for her actions for the year and other crimes like sending the Dementors after Potter.

She would have liked to enjoy her frustrated screams more if not for Yaxley trying to assassinate her in her own office shortly afterwards, and later the attempt by Voldemort's crew at her own house. It was a good thing that she remembered to maintain the tunnels built further down the manor and well past the ward line, so she was able to get away on time, and she was glad Susan was visiting Hannah at the time of the attack.

She was also very angry in finding out about her Aurors who had been spying in her department for either Dumbledore or You-Know-Who, and while it was easy for her to handle the latter by means of interrogation and a special cell courtesy of Croaker, she had to make sure Dumbledore could not try sabotaging her through his spies and made it clear to them that any more attempts to spy for him or any actions done for him that run counter to hers would no longer tolerated, and that it was only because of numbers that she was not busting their bums into jail cells. She made sure to have both written and sworn oaths made to her and also had her memories backed up in a Pensieve to protect herself from Dumbledore who would probably try something.

But that paled in comparison to what she got earlier in the day.

She was one hour into her battle with paperwork when her charmed necklace went off, alerting her that something had happened with her niece. She quickly scrambled to get her Aurors guards to prepare going to Hogwarts, only to be waylaid by an oddly dressed elf passing a coded message from her niece about the situation which got her increasing her numbers by recalling those on standby or on day-offs. She was really thankful that Cornelius had been replaced by Amos Diggory who saw his chance to avenge the death of his son and went to give Amelia all the funding she needed to rebuild the force and more, so now she had quite a big group to help her with Hogwarts.

As it stood, it was a good thing it was standard practice to Apparate outside of the wards near Hogsmeade, because their trip to Hogwarts got interrupted by both the castle protections and a few Death Eaters who were waiting for trouble and stalled them enough to get behind the wards and watched the Aurors get thrown back for their efforts. Amelia growled at Dolohov who blew a raspberry at her before getting him and others behind the gates.

Since then, they had set up the outposts at both Hogsmeade and close to the forest line without getting into trouble with the centaurs. They did not like the fact there were also Acromantulas just waiting to eat them, and ended up wasting time gathering up the extermination crew from the Magical Creatures Department to help contain them for the time being if not get them away from the school to avoid getting attacked from behind. Amelia was running out of patience and her Aurors could tell that she was one word away from hexing the next person to earn her wrath. Which was why when a certain interfering headmaster arrived with one of the Aurors known to have worked for him on the side, everyone got well away from the blast zone while close enough to see the impending doom.

"Auror Vance." The growl that was evident made many Aurors take a few more steps back from the potential eruption. "Why is he here?"

"I did not want to bring him here, Madam Bones." Emmeline Vance answered in earnest. "He just appeared from the Hog's head and insisted on following me to find you despite the orders to stay away." The wizard in question stepped forward with that damnable twinkle in his eyes and all-knowing air around him.

"I understand you are having problems accessing the school, Amelia." Dumbledore began to speak. "Although I must ask if this is an overreaction. There is nothing to fear. Hogwarts is totally safe." The Aurors were now booking it to get well away from Amelia.

"Clearly, you are not as well-informed as you would like people to believe." Amelia spoke while getting an Auror to bring the items from the two Death Eaters they managed to capture. "The Death Eaters have infiltrated Hogwarts and are now using those wards, that you kept praising about, against us. We have lost a couple of our Aurors in the process."

"Now Amelia, you must be mistaken. There is no way for the wards to be taken away from me. It is likely because of your Aurors being extremely aggressive to those seeking sanctuary within the halls of Hogwarts." Dumbledore spoke with a chiding tone.

"Dumbledore, if I find that you are purposely protecting those Death Eaters while endangering the children, my niece included, you will be facing me in a duel. First blood and more." The others shivered at the low tone Amelia was using. The last time such a tone was used was when a criminal dared to mouth off at her about what he would do to Susan as revenge, half the force had to physically pull her away from the man as she pummelled him with her bare hands.

The screams. Oh, the screams.

"My dear, I assure you." He barely spoke before his body shuddered and he dropped the grandfatherly expression in favour of a shocked one. "Impossible, the wards!"

"Start talking and it better be the truth." Amelia demanded, and it was a clear indication of something going wrong that Dumbledore answered her without meaning to.

"The controls for the wards have been taken away from me, and from what I can tell, neither Minerva nor any of the professors have them. And the wards are getting stronger." Dumbledore took out his wand to check only to let out a whelp and dropped his wand from the shock delivered to his hand. "That is not possible. Why is it being reset without my input?!"

"Clearly, it is possible. Perhaps now will be a good time for you to actually give us relevant information, otherwise stay the hell out of my way." Amelia started moving before turning again, "And I will make sure that you are not going to talk to my Aurors for classified information, so do not bother trying." The woman walked away with the old man scowling at her and the situation they were in, not that she could enjoy it that much since it only just reinforced the fact her niece was in grave danger.

As Amelia got closer to the tent, a soft pop by her side prompted her and her Auror guards to turn on their heels with wands ready to hex, barely holding back the action to see a house elf dressed in a simple dress with the Hogwarts emblem on it. "Lady Bonesy. I have a message from little miss Bonesy."

"Thank you." Amelia calmed her guards down before asking the elf to relay the message. What she got had her torn between relief, shock and outright frustration. She wanted to scream out loud the situation her niece and the other children were in.

And she couldn't use this to screw Dumbledore over, damn it!

~ooOOoo~

"Fan out and find them! They should be around here somewhere!"

Daphne Greengrass cursed as she pressed herself against the wall with wand at hand, with Tracey Davis and her little sister Astoria behind her guarding the first years. While Daphne was confident that their pursuers would not find the false wall that was hidden behind the cabinet which led to this hidden room she had found in her second year, she did not want to leave to chance and casted several wards to hide their presence and preparing to make one final stand if she had to.

And one thing she wanted was the chance to curse Draco Malfoy to oblivion for his actions.

She knew that boy was bad news since her first meeting at a function before Hogwarts, his behaviour and actions merely reinforcing that image since entering Hogwarts because he knew that he effectively had immunity thanks to his father who had the previous minister's ear, and his godfather who happened to be the potions professor and the Head of Slytherin House. Combined with Dumbledore's infamous tendency to hand out second chances to repeat offenders like candy to children with the supposed purpose to redeem them, and the recent arrest of Lucius, it was no surprise the boy would be emboldened by all of this and would become a death eater.

At least they were not the only ones frustrated by the situation, although Daphne would admit she was a little surprised that Harry Potter was one of them. Granted, the only information she could get her hands on came from the biassed views of Draco and Snape, along with whatever observations she could get on her own, but after privately meeting with him in person around the fifth year, it became very clear that Harry Potter was not quite, or perhaps no longer, the Golden Boy of Dumbledore as one would think. He was apparently tired of the man constantly giving empty platitudes and giving offenders a slap on the wrist while the victims get no proper compensation or punished instead. And he was certainly not in a forgiving mood towards his head of house or those two hanger-ons that keep stopping others getting close to him.

She would not admit it openly but Daphne was very happy to meet him outside of the groups they were in, and recently started with him actively talking with her once the truth came out. Something about his two old friends not being supportive got him to start branching out during the fifth year and then continuing to the sixth year. Daphne was certainly not too worked up over that since it meant she did not have to deal with Weasley's prejudice towards any house that was not Gryffindor or Granger's attitude over academics.

Now she just needed to deal with the attention he was getting from Susan Bones and Padma Patil without alerting him about hers.

Daphne shook her head at the nonsensical thoughts invading her head. Here she was getting pushed into a corner by the death eaters and she was thinking about Potter being oblivious to the girls around him. What was up with her life?

A pop and her sister's muffled scream made Daphne spin around with a cutting curse ready at her tongue, with the sight of an oddly dressed house elf trying to calm the students down barely restraining her action. "Dobby?"

"Mistress Greengrass is safe." The house elf spoke softly with the eyes darting about. "Dobby has come to save you and the other students." The students behind him looked hopeful at his words. Daphne was going to answer when the false wall suddenly shuddered.

"Hey, I think this is a false wall!"

"What are you standing there for then? Blast it!"

"Children must go!" Dobby's proclamation brought other elves into the hidden room to take the children to whichever place, leaving her and Tracey the last ones in the room. Before Dobby grabbed her, Daphne decided to leave one parting present for the would-be attackers in the form of a spell that would leave them regretting for attacking her sister. She only regretted not being around to see the aftermath as Dobby quickly popped her away from the hidden room.

And into a chamber that had a ruddy BIG HONKING SNAKE WITH SHARP TEETH in front of her!

"What in Merlin's sagging balls and name is that?!" Daphne practically shrieked to the amusement of her sister and Tracey who were by the side to watch her reaction, after they let out their own set of curses upon their arrival earlier.

"I would rather tell the story in one shot when everyone is here. For now, just know that we are in the Chamber of Secrets." A voice prompted her to turn and find Harry Potter who was coordinating with the elves and other students to get the others settled. Her heart was still racing from the sudden encounter with the head, and it only went faster as she stood back only to find out how big it was with its mouth open for all to see the spear-like fangs glistening in the lighting. Daphne shivered and looked away from the eyes that seemed to look at her despite being obviously dead and apparently missing a large part of its body from being moved somewhere else, preferring to focus her attention on her sister.

"Are you okay, Astoria?" The younger girl nodded while she let a house elf check her over for injuries.

"Yes, thanks to Harry, we got the elves helping us." Astoria answered with a light blush. Daphne had to groan mentally at the fact that her sister was now gaining a crush on Harry, like how many girls were going to be after him at this point!

"Daphne, are you okay?" Harry came up at this point. Daphne shook her head to clear her head of the random thoughts.

"Better now that we are away from the Death Eaters." The young woman motioned with her thumb at the head. "What the hell is that?"

"That would be the previous guardian for the chamber, the Basilisk that had attacked and petrified the students during our second year." He answered with the air of one describing his wares like a salesman. "Thankfully it's still in one piece, so that is something for me to handle. And" He held up a fang that was big enough to be a dagger on its own, which based on the mouth was the smallest teeth. "Now we have our own tools of trade to deal with the Death Eaters."

Daphne nodded at this, now taking the moment to look around. "This is Slytherin's chamber?"

"Yeah, it needs a lot of redecorating and major cleaning, but it is one of the few places we can get almost everyone if needed." Harry looked at the groups forming while they looked about in wonder, fear at the basilisk's head, and unfortunately distrust towards the few Slytherins in the room. She also noted that they were wearing a set of clothes that were similar enough to the ones provided by Madam Pomfrey when staying in the infirmary, but different from the Hogwarts uniforms. "We are coordinating with the house elves to get the students here or in other places that can hide them from the Death Eaters before they get processed and leave."

"Processed?" Daphne blinked at the word. Harry let out a frustrated sigh at this point.

"Some of us believed that a few of the students would have taken the Dark Mark, or possible supporters to help undermine the structure here, but no one bothered to listen to reason. We knew that Malfoy was a likely candidate, and this proves it." It was only then Daphne realised she, Astoria and Tracey were in an almost invisible box that had a small tunnel leading to one side of the chamber that had been converted into make-shift cubicles for students to be separated by genders and to be checked for something, covered by three elves and two students with wands at the ready. Near them was a room with the door opened to show a small number of stunned students with their left sleeves rolled up to show the ugly tattoo on their arms, also guarded by house elves with one wielding a saucepan for some reason. While she was not surprised to see the majority being Slytherins, she was surprised to see at least one Hufflepuff and one Gryffindor in the group.

"As you can imagine, we are being a little paranoid and would prefer to cross check the students as they come in here. While I know the three of you are safe, the others need convincing. So I apologise for the inconvenience, but we need you to go there for a strip search to ensure you have no Dark Marks on you or anything that could be used to attack others." Harry winced as he said this. "Sorry, but the others are really trigger happy at this point."

Daphne would want to refuse but knew she was in no position to do it. These were desperate times and it was clear the other students wanted some assurance so she and the other two went to the cubicle meant for females to strip and prove they were at least not marked. Daphne allowed herself to be examined, just thankful that they were females doing the search. She could tell some of the older male students were cursing at the missed opportunity to "search" her.

Once done and given a clean set of clothes to wear, Daphne approached Harry who was by the table with Longbottom, Padma and Susan looking at a Map that had names and dots moving about. As many questions as she had, she focused on the important ones. "So what is the plan?"

"We have managed to send word to the outside world so with any luck we have Amelia Bones bringing the cavalry." Harry answered as he noted a name and got Padma to write it down. "I also got the elves to run interference to get the other students out of the way first elsewhere in the castle while I make things a bit harder for the Death Eaters to take over Hogwarts."

"Which is?" Tracey's question got Harry looking a little sheepish.

"Turns out I have a rough connection to the castle because of an inheritance test I recently did over the summer before fourth year and for defeating the Basilisk. I don't have full control, but I was able to reactivate the wards in time to ensure no more death eaters can enter the castle in any other manner. From the feel of it, at least ten have been forcefully removed but the ones who have already entered the castle are still exempted. Our headmaster knew what was going to happen despite multiple warnings and kept silent despite the most recent decree to alert the ministry of any possible suspects." That got Daphne feeling the urge to hunt and hex Dumbledore good even if she were to fail in the attempt. The old wizard was up to his damn games again.

"The only problem is how I did it. I essentially reset the entire configuration so we are now in war mode with the castle on lockdown. At the same time, Dumbledore's permissions have been removed on account of him ignoring the dangers." Harry continued. The Slytherin trio blinked at that.

"Won't that mean no one can control the school?" Astoria asked.

"Yes, although I think I can gain control, I need access to the main wardstone, and that is not going to be anytime soon. For the moment, I am more focused on getting the students out of the line of fire. If we can clear up the tunnels over there, we might have a way out for the younger students to leave." Harry motioned with his thumb where Daphne could see some of the older students going through with some dumping small stones out of their pockets, likely transfigured and shrunken debris.

"Anything we can do to help?" Harry looked at her briefly before answering.

"We could use your help to gather the younger children together. Some are not listening to the elves. Then once done, we are going to try and get them out first. Depending on the older students, we may need their help with the other students stuck here." Harry looked back at the map with a frown. "As it stands, the Death Eaters' advantage is using us as hostages. Take that away and the DMLE should be able to take them."

"That's if Dumbledore does not stick his nose in the matter." Padma piped up from her end of the table.

"Well, since I removed him from the wards, I think Director Bones will be all too happy to waltz right in to arrest some folks." Harry shrugged before sobering up. "But we still need to plug the hole where those guys come from, and I have a good idea where."

"After that?" Astoria asked. Harry gave a smirk that unknowingly sent butterflies moving about all the girl's stomachs watching him.

"We make them regret invading Hogwarts this close to Christmas."

(Omake)

Severus Snape was pacing back and forth in the headmaster's office, acting much like a caged animal intent on hunting the prey known as Harry Potter so that he would render him into potion ingredients with his bare hands. His compatriots and the students who followed the cause were mindful of the space that the man was moving in and silenced all the portraits to avoid triggering his temper. Even his godson was staying well away from him with the excuse of checking with the others about his father's status.

The operation to take over the castle was somewhat successful; the professors were effectively rounded up and either placed in the jail cells near the dungeons or taken out like the professor dealing with Muggle Studies. The secret passageways leading in or out of Hogwarts had been secured and manned by guards, including those that had previously collapsed with the reasoning that some would attempt to use those paths to try and get away if they were desperate enough to risk the tunnel collapsing on their heads from hasty fixes. After that, they went about rounding up the students to gather them in the Great Hall or restrict them to the dormitories.

That was when they started to hit some snags. A few of the junior death eaters hoping to earn some brownie points were rounding up the lower year students when they got knocked out and tied up by someone. Then some of the others started experiencing the same problems at the places they were gathering the stragglers that had evaded them thus far, leaving those that were already captured still under heavy guard. At the least they managed to grab Potter's friends as pointed out by Draco and have them under heavy watch in case Potter tried to go for them.

Now they had four of their members taken out by Potter with some muggle weapon and the castle was in full lockdown, meaning no one could get in or out. And that was not a good thing since their dark lord was demanding access to Hogwarts to gain control of the wards. The only thing that Rookwood was able to determine was McGonagall not having the controls, and more importantly not Dumbledore, but instead the castle had reset itself, likely from the absence of the headmaster and the disabling of the headmistress to ensure no invaders could take control of them. As trusted as Snape was, the old wizard did not give him the location of the wards, and they had stripped the headmaster's office down to the bones to see if he had controls there.

What were they to do?

The door opening drew their attention to Theodore Nott who entered with a nervous expression, not helped when Snape turned around with a growl. "What is it?" Nott gulped nervously and came forward with a package in hand.

"This appeared downstairs and I can't get rid of it. It is addressed to you, sir." Nott was shivering at the expression directed at him by his professor. He placed the package on the table and scampered away, not wanting to experience a Cruciatus from the man.

Severus ignored his student for the time being and focused on the package. He cast several spells in quick succession to test for curses or hexes, then spells to see if there were any physical triggers that did not need magic. Only then did he try to handle the package, and with his current frustration, he just fired a shredding spell at it, especially since he could see the stupid chicken scratch on it.

It got cut up spectacularly, only for the pieces to come back together to form a rough ball of paper that burst into flames and then into an orb of light. "Hey there, Snape! Glad you got my gift. How are things?"

"Potter!" Snape hissed at the hated voice from Potter's spawn. He just knew that boy was interfering with the takeover of Hogwarts, he just could not help it.

"Ah good, so we can hear each other, and I see you have your band of death munchers around as well. At least I got confirmation about Ferret boy being smug about bringing in the invaders."

Draco clearly wanted to brag but the smarter ones quickly silenced him with spells and glares. Snape gave them a quick nod before looking back at the orb. "What is the meaning of this? Do you wish to talk about the terms for your surrender?" Some of the Death Eaters smirked at that.

"Oh you would like that, wouldn't you?" Potter's voice sounded amused. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I was just thinking perhaps you should be thinking about your situation. I mean, keeping all of the children here hostages is not exactly a good idea with the current environment, isn't it?"

"Goes to show how small your brain is, Potter." Snape sneered. The ball rolled a little in the air like Potter was rolling his eyes.

"No seriously, is Voldy really that confident he can do this even with Draco's assistance of bringing in the Death Eaters, or are you so certain of Dumbledore's protection that you can afford to hold kids of different families in the school without fear of having at least 10 parents coming for your head for this action? That you are actually helping with the intrusion shows your colours to all."

"It won't matter once the Dark Lord comes here." Snape said in full confidence, while keeping note of those nearest to him. It was not exactly a secret that many of the Death Eaters had their doubts about Snape because of him being safe from interrogation and a trial thanks to Dumbledore coming forward to claim his innocence as his spy. Bellatrix for one made it her mission to dog his movements and question his decisions multiple times, waiting to catch him on some perceived slight that would allow her to gut him like a fish. And for all of Lucius's openness to him, even Snape could see him being a little more cagey around him, as if it was better to hold some cards to his chest before winning the house.

"Perhaps, although I think it might be a little problematic seeing as you are losing your people and a good number of your hostages, and the numbers are increasing as we speak." The brat's voice sounded almost smug as the ball hovered around in the office. "Not really going well for the recruited newbies, huh?"

"You honestly think that you are able to get the children out of here? You are delusional, Potter." one of the Slytherin recruits spoke out.

"Well, given how the Daily Rag enjoys dragging my name in the mud, perhaps. But in this case, I have to be pretty ballsy to do what I did. And I am sure you have noticed from your buddies that I am done playing by Dumbledore's rules." Potter spoke cheerfully, but there was an undertone that set the adult Death Eaters on alert unconsciously. It was subtle but those who had fought in the old war knew that something had changed in the supposed golden boy, and considering the bodies of their fallen comrades riddled with holes and fear on their faces, it was showing that Harry Potter was not playing with kid's gloves anymore.

However, one adult refused to believe that.

"Potter, you are even more insufferable than your deadbeat father and godfather combined, and that is a feat in itself given how much of an ego both could have on their own that their heads grew so big to accommodate it. You had some lucky shots but that luck will dry up and leave you hanging by the noose." It would be evident to anyone listening in that the potions master had his sneer at full blast while speaking, reserved solely for the last Potter.

"Seriously, that is the best you got? You really need new material." Potter answered rather flippantly. "But then, you are probably hoping that I would die from a curse by Tom or even the manipulations of your other master. Perhaps something to do with a certain scar that I had made sure to remove with help from the goblins and Unspeakables before returning to this place?" The other Death Eaters were confused but one of them was watching Snape and noted his sudden widening of the eyes and stricken expression.

"What is he talking about, Snape?" Makrov asked.

"Something that neither our Lord or Dumbledore would be pleased to hear." Snape knew what was being talked about but would not speak among this lot. Voldemort suspected something else after his resurrection but did not follow after the ministry attack, especially after the boy had forced him out of his possession. Dumbledore on the other hand, had long considered the brat's scar held a piece of the dark lord's soul since that night, and that it should be by Voldemort's hand to remove it, but he did state that even if that was not the case, the boy was meant to be removed one way or another, and needed his aid to help bring that about.

Snape was inwardly dancing with joy when he heard that from Dumbledore, it was poetic in his opinion to have the brat die by the dark lord's hand so that the latter could be made mortal, and he could see the end of the Potter Line without needing to raise his wand. And given the fortune that would be left afterwards, he could see himself getting a sizable amount for his efforts.

"Oh, in case you are wondering, Unspeakable Croaker was there to personally confirm the full removal and cleansing, and he would like to comment that Dumbledore is a real idiot in assuming what was left in my scar. He and everyone else involved knows about it, especially the goblins who are understandably pissed at both of you for what was planned and for trying to bind the leech in my head all these years. So you and Dumbledore cannot use that plan to hack me off, and forget about trying to steal the family fortune through love potions and those laws created over the past couple of years using my seat. The goblins got everything back with interest, and took back the books you have stolen from my grandmother and mother. There is a warrant for you, Dumbledore and a select number from your little Order of Flaming Turkeys who had tried to perform line thefts and child endangerment. And in case you have yet to realise it, I have the deeds already done before arriving so the Aurors will be on you and Dumbledore' order, and since you are helping to take over the castle, that means they can now come after you for being the terrorist asshole that everyone knows about and can no longer rely on Dumbledore's protection. Oh, and just so you know, this is being broadcasted to the public right now so there will be no Imperius Defence or Dumbledore to save your butt like last time."

"FFFUUUUCCCKK!" The other Death Eaters and students jumped at the sudden curse let out by a furious Snape as he watched his internal dream vanishing before him. That insufferable brat had ruined everything again! He was so close to seeing the family line perish and the name of James Potter reduced to a footnote, but that boy was a damn cockroach that JUST WON'T DIE!

WHY THE FUCK WON'T THIS BRAT DROP DEAD!

"Whoa, I heard that even from here. Too bad your little scheme to take me out with Tom and perhaps by the populace was thwarted." Potter's voice then got a touch darker. "Your last attempt got my godfather killed, I intend to make you feel every bit of pain you have inflicted on me and my family just because you could not get over the fact you pushed my mother away with your words and into my father's arms."

"Do you now, Potter?" The potions master was practically spitting mad at this point, and even his fellow Death Eaters were stepping away from the man with wary eyes and fingers on their wands as though to consider what spells to calm him down. "Who do you think you are, Rambo? John Wayne?! There won't be any riding off to the sunset when I get my hands on you, brat! Your organs will be stripped for potions, your eyes will be plucked for specimen jars, and I will have you begging for mercy before the Dark Lord is done with you!"

Harry gave out a mirthful laugh that sounded quite sinister, and Snape would not admit that he had a chill down his spine like the others. The orb moved back towards the wall and slipped into it, but not without leaving one last word for them.

"Yippee ki-yay, Snivellous."

Author's Notes:

My Christmas Idea Story for the year 2024, a continuation from the last chapter. I am still wondering whether to make this a full story.

Merry Christmas to you all!