Chapter 15

Dumbledore entered the pensive, he could not help but wonder what his potions master and spy had seen. Severus looked quite shaken, something which worried Dumbledore as the man was usually only ever shaken if he was hit by a cruciatus curse. Dumbledore also found himself unable to forget Severus saying that Voldemort had a heir. That...that just sounded wrong. There was no way that Tom would want an heir, he wanted to live forever, that's what his horcruxes were for after all.

Voldemort was not someone who would want to share power either, and if Voldemort had an heir then Dumbledore was sure he would have heard long before now and even worked out who he was. Dumbledore didn't know what was happening but silenced his thoughts so he could focus on the memory. He watched the meeting, he saw how Voldemort took an amused interest in Harry's escape from the order and attacking the order headquarters, then Dumbledore watched as Voldemort's heir entered.

The heir walked, proud and strong, as if he had nothing to fear in the room. He didn't bow to Voldemort and Dumbledore was surprised that Voldemort allowed that, his shock also grew when he saw the heir speak parsletounge. His thoughts immediately went to Harry, the only other parsletounge he knew. Dumbledore could not understand what he and Voldemort were saying, he realised that he would probably have to ask Harry to translate as he needed to know what was being said and didn't have any other available person who could speak parsletounge.

Dumbledore's eyes widened when he heard that Voldemort had made the heir using Harry's blood along with his own, that was likely why the heir was able to get past the blood wards, he had Harry's blood. Dumbledore felt slightly happy in knowing that he was at least right about the blood wards, even though it was a moot point now, then Draco Malfoy spoke. This saddened Dumbledore but he held hope that the boy could be brought to the light.

Dumbledore had two thoughts when the heir kicked Draco, the first was that this might be one of the many acts that would help show Draco why joining the dark side was not all fun and games as his parents might have taught him, Dumbledore's second thought was a mental note about how violent the heir was, it seemed to be an attitude that would suit him well amongst death eaters. Then Voldemort's heir spoke for the first time.

The heir apparently did not like the fact that Snape was half-blood, again something that would suit him well amongst the death eaters, though this now worried Dumbledore as it meant that now things would be more difficult for Severus as he had likely lost some respect amongst death eaters. Fortunately Voldemort still saw the value in keeping Severus around. Dumbledore felt sorry for Snape when he was put under the cruciatus curse but Dumbledore did not think about it too long as he was now focused on watching the heir in action.

The three death eaters stood opposite the heir, their body language betrayed their nervousness while the heir stood as calm as can be. He stared at the death eaters as if he was staring through their souls, he twirled his wand in his hand, his body language showed he did not consider them to be threats.

"The winner will either be my heir or whichever one of you manages to kill him and remove his hood." Voldemort said, leaning back in his chair as if he was going to watch the Sunday news.

The heir stood perfectly still, his wand in his right hand, waiting for the death eaters to make the first move.

The death eater on the left started first and threw a cutting curse, the heir casually leaned out of the way and the curse flew past his head. The heir blocked a bone breaker from the middle death eater and a piercing curse from the right death eater at the same time. The three death eaters went on the offensive, but the heir did not show any signs of being bothered by this. The heir would alternate between avoiding and blocking their spells or occasionally deflecting them back which forced them to block.

After several moments of showing his defensive powers the heir went on the offensive, he dodged one organ liquifying curse and sent a cutting curse at the death eaters. The death eaters were worried but relaxed when they saw the cutting curse go wide and miss them, however what they did not see was it circling back around and charging towards them. The cutting curse hit the right death eater in the back, causing him to scream in pain and stumble forward right into the heir's piercing curse which hit him in the chest, the heir followed up with another piercing curse to the chest and the death eater fell to the floor, lifeless.

The other two death eaters felt their heart rates skyrocket and quickly went on the offensive so the heir could not throw another spell, the heir returned to defending, the left death eater shot a bone breaker at the heir's face after the one in the middle shot a shield breaker. He along with everyone else in the room was shocked when the heir simply raised his left hand and allowed the spell to hit him in his palm, he showed no reaction nor did he act like anyone who had just had their bones broken.

The heir saw that the middle death eater had recovered from his shock first and was about to blast him, the heir let a bright light shine from his wand, blinding his opponents. The middle death eater suddenly found his arms crossed against his chest and his entire upper body wrapped in razor wire, he was not given long to get used to his pain as the heir followed up with a spell that caused him to hang upside down by his ankles which resulted in the death eater being taken by surprise and dropping his wand as he hanged upside down in the air.

The other death eater quickly attacked and sent a trio of spells at the heir before he yelled out a killing curse. The heir blocked all three spells just as the green light of the killing curse connected with his head, causing him to fall back.

"I did it!" The death eater cheered. "I did it my lord!" He cried with joy before he walked over to the body, laughing all the way there, he kneeled down, ready to remove the hood and take his place as the Dark Lord's heir.

Everyone who watched felt incredibly disappointed, seeing Voldemort's heir go down by a simple killing curse. The death eater's hand reached for the hood when something entirely unexpected happened, the heir suddenly sat up. Shocking everyone beyond words, including the death eater who was about to reach for his hood. The heir sat still, looking forward, not at the death eater who was by his side and frozen in fear and disbelief.

"T...that...that's not possible!" The death eater eventually spoke, echoing the thought currently shared by everyone. The death eater fired another killing curse which was about as successful as the last one. The heir's head snapped towards him as if he had just noticed him, his left hand grabbed the death eater by the neck. The death eater gasped as the heir stood up while maintain a grip around his neck. "Crucio!" The death eater shouted, hitting the heir with a torture curse to the chest. Everyone was once again amazed and terrified beyond words when the heir looked as if he didn't even feel anything.

The heir tossed the death eater down on to the ground before hitting him with the cruciatus curse, the death eater screamed out in pain. The death eaters all were still as they listened to his screams echo across the room and in their ears until eventually the curse was stopped.

"P...Please...s...stop!" The death eater cried. The heir was not feeling particularly merciful as he did not hesitate to raise his wand and bring it down to throw a cutting curse at the man's throat. The heir then turned to the remaining death eater and before he could say a word the heir had flicked his wand and sent a cutting curse at the man's throat, ending him in the same way as the previous one.

"Done." Was all the heir said as he turned to Voldemort.

"I can see that." Voldemort said dryly before turning to his wide eyed death eaters. "You all have bared witness to the power of my heir, together we shall rule over the wizarding world. Me and my heir, Apophis, will end Dumbledore and Potter. A new world is coming, our world is coming." Voldemort finished with a smirk on his face as his red eyes glanced to Apophis.

Dumbledore exited the pensive, his face pale and almost as white as his beard. He understood now, he understood why Snape believed that Harry was being less than truthful when he claimed to have fought this person, this Apophis. A fitting name in Dumbledore's opinion,in ancient Egyptian mythology, Apophis, also known as Apep, was a god of evil. He was the primary enemy of Egypt's sun god, Ra, and symbolized darkness, chaos and destruction. The snake-like god frightened many with his relentless power. Apophis was depicted in the form of a giant snake which fit well with Voldemort's snake theme.

Yet according to Kingsley and Alastor, Harry had apparently been able to go toe to toe with him and Kinglsey mentioned that he could not tell who was winning. Dumbledore made a mental note to ask Harry for a memory of the fight the next time he saw him but for now Dumbledore was focused on a few certain things. For example how in the name of Merlin was Apophis able to survive a killing curse?!

Dumbledore knew that Harry's first time surviving the curse was thanks to Lily Potter and her sacrifice, he knew that in the extremely unlikely event of Harry surviving another one it would be because of the horcrux in his head. Apophis on the other hand was able to survive two in a row and be unaffected by the cruciatus curse, that's two of the worse spells in history and yet nothing happened to him, if Dumbledore had to guess then he would say that Apophis was resistant to the imperius curse a well.

The question now is how? How is it all possible?

"Harry." Harry was woken up by the sound of someone calling his name followed by some knocking on his door. "Harry, it's me Tonks. Can you open the door please?"

"Coming." Harry yawned as he stood up and made his way up to the door while wearing nothing but pyjama bottoms. "What's up Tonks?" Harry asked after opening the door. He looked at Tonks through tired eyes, he saw that she was pretty much wearing the same clothes as yesterday except this time her pink hair was purple and in a pony tail.

"Wotcher Harry, are you going to put a shirt on?" She asked, raising one of her purple eyebrows.

"Would you consider my body attractive?"

"Yep." Tonks answered almost immediately, her eyes looking him up and down. A brilliant set of abs with little to no fat and defined muscles made Harry a very appealing sight for the young metamorphamaugus.

"Then not yet." Harry said as he gave her a tired smirk. "What's up?"

"It's ten o'clock. I just came by to visit Sirius before I go off to work, he asked me to come and check on you before I left. Now I can go down and tell him the reason that you're not out of your room yet is because you're lazy, not because you were injured...or masturbating."

"I could be if you were willing to stay for a bit longer." Harry said. "Kidding, kidding." He said quickly, just in case she didn't appreciate his humor.

"Oh, am I not good enough for the great Harry Potter?" She said in a challenging voice but allowed herself a small smile to show there was no true anger behind it.

"You can come in and see if you want." Harry offered, wagging his eyebrows at her.

"Down boy." Tonks said with a light slap to his head.

"Alright, but the reason I was still in bed could have something to do with the fact that I had spent quite some time fighting dark wizards and order members."

"Excuses." Tonks said, tutting her teeth and shaking her head. "Alright seriously I will be off," Tonks said. "look after yourself yeah."

"See ya Tonks." Harry said, covering a yawn with his hand.

"I still like those tatts by the way." Tonks said before she left. Harry looked down at his tattoos before glancing to Tonk's retreating form while briefly wondering if her hips were swaying so much on purpose.

"You boy." Harry heard a voice call when he came downstairs, he looked in the direction of the voice to see a painting of a rather severe looking woman. An old skinny, gaunt woman dressed in black with her black hair in a bun as she looked at him with dark black eyes.

"You are Mrs Black, correct?" Harry asked.

"That I am," The woman said proudly. "Walburga Black. What is your name boy?"

"It is a pleasure to meet you and my name is Harry Potter." Harry said with the smallest of bows.

"Potter? Hmm, pureblood family." Walburga said raising an eyebrow. "Is your blood pure?"

"I'm a half-blood." Harry answered.

"Ha," Walburga scoffed. "disappointing. I nearly found myself liking you after your display last night."

"Hiya Harry." Sirius said as he walked up to Harry. "Is my mother bothering you?"

"Just give me a minute Sirius." Harry said before he stepped away from Sirius and towards the painting, Harry waved his wand and cast a privacy charm so he could speak to the painting without being overheard. Sirius watched as his mother and Harry engaged in a conversation, he stood watching for a few minutes as the two talked. Walburga's face went from calm to angry to disbelieving to calm and then back to angry before it settled on a look that Sirius could not quite identify.

"Harry," Sirius said when Harry got rid of the privacy spell. "what did you say to my mother?"

"Where did you find this boy?!" Walburga demanded before Harry could respond. Sirius opened his mouth, about to tell his mother to shut up, when she spoke again. "Is he your heir?"

"Yes mother, he is," Sirius rolled his eyes. "this half-blood..."

"Brilliant." Walburga said, shocking Sirius into silence.

"I'm sorry what?" Sirius asked, wondering if he had heard wrong.

"You will need to teach him all he needs to know for his station." Walburga said. "I will not have my family be embarrassed because it's heir does not know all that he needs to know. He will also need full access to the Black family library as well."

"Thank you," Harry smiled. "as much as I have enjoyed our conversation, I do unfortunately still have to eat so may we resume it another time?"

"Kreatcher!" Walburga yelled, a second later an old looking house elf popped in.

"Mistress called for Kreatcher?" The old looking house elf asked.

"Yes, this boy is the Black family heir, treat him as such and serve this boy some proper food immediately!" Walburga ordered.

"Yes Mistress." Kreatcher nodded before he popped away.

"Thank you." Harry smiled at her before he walked away and into the kitchen. Sirius, after eventually getting over his shock, walked into the kitchen in time to see Harry thank Kreatcher for some food and for the old elf to nod in response before popping away.

"What the fuck?!" Sirius blurted out as he sat next to Harry who calmly began eating his food. "How...how the hell did you do that?!"

"Do what?" Harry asked innocently.

"You know damn well what! My mother is a royal bitch who has hated everyone and everything that isn't herself for years and yet you come along and get her to like you in a couple of minutes. How'd you do it?!"

"Secret." Harry winked before tapping himself on the nose. "I do hope you stay appreciative of what I have done for you."

"What?"

"After all I am going to be spending time with your mother, that's less time that she could spend yelling at you. A 'thank you' wouldn't go amiss."

"But...you...I...how...what?!"

"Words Sirius, I am told they are very helpful in conversations.

"Whatever." Sirius said as he performed a combination of sighing, rolling his eyes and shaking his head all at the same time. "Also I am sorry to disturb your eating and all but a letter came for you, from the ministry."

"Let me guess, about the attack."

"Yep." Sirius nodded. "They want to see you as soon as possible. Actually the letter said they want you today, if you don't show up then there will be trouble. They take the statue of secrecy very seriously and with the fight that you, Kingsley and Moody have described they are definitely not going to be happy."

"Today then." Harry shrugged.

"Aren't you worried?" Sirius asked.

"I'm the boy-who-lived, Fudge will want me on his good side, plus I am actually in the right here. I didn't use any illegal spells and everything I did was in self defence. I'll go as soon as I finish eating."

"I'll come with you."

"You don't have to do that."

"I want to." Sirius said, earning a smile from Harry.

"Thanks." Harry said.

"It's fine, as long as we're back here by evening. Dumbledore wants to come over and perform the Fidelius charm."

"Fine." Harry grunted.

Dumbledore was not happy, he was not happy at all. Dumbledore had heard from one of his spy's in the ministry that Sirius Black and Harry Potter had entered the ministry. It took Dumbledore all of two seconds to realise that Harry was likely going to be going to talk to someone about the attack on his house.

Dumbledore understood why but he did not like Harry revealing what happened to anyone before him. Dumbledore needed to know so he could minimise the damage, plus he had to talk to Harry and censor the boy so he did not reveal things he probably shouldn't.

Dumbledore had eventually found the room he needed, and was able to get in after wasting a minute on those outside, upon entering he saw Sirius Black sat next to Harry and they were in the room with Minister Fudge, his undersecretary Dolores Umbridge, Mafalda Hopkirk of the Improper Use of Magic Office along with Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE).

"Dumbledore," Fudge frowned. "what are you doing here?"

"Good day to you all," Dumbledore greeted everyone. "it is my understanding that this meeting is here to discuss Harry and the incident at his relative's home."

"Yes but I hardly see how that is a sufficient reason for you to barge in here." Amelia Bones said, not at all impressed with the headmaster right now.

"I have come to provide legal aid to Mr Potter and..."

"That will not be necessary." Harry cut Dumbledore off.

"Harry, you will need someone to help represent you." Dumbledore said.

"I don't personally think I need much help." Harry replied. "In my eyes it is a clear case of self defence and I did not use any illegal spells like the unforgivables."

"Either way Harry, it is still safer if you have somebody to help you."

"What exactly do you think I'm here for? Cheering?" Sirius asked sarcastically.

"Hem hem." Dolores Umbridge coughed. "So silly of me, but from the way you are talking you sound like do not believe that Mr Potter will be safe with us." Umbridge said to Dumbledore in a high pitch and girly voice.

"That is not at all what I am saying Madam Umbridge but I do believe it would be better for Harry to have legal representation." Dumbledore responded.

"We are in agreement there." Fudge said, surprising Dumbledore.

"Don't looked so shocked Dumbledore, do you really think I would approve of this meeting if Mr Potter did not have legal representation?" Amelia Bones replied. "The meeting has not yet begun as we are all waiting for Mr Potter's legal representative to arrive." No sooner than had she finished speaking, a knock was heard. The door creaked open to reveal Ted Tonks.

"Ah, here you are." Ted said when he saw Harry and Sirius. He entered the room and noticed everyone else in the room. "Hello all, what are you doing here Professor Dumbledore?" Ted asked curiously.

"Trying to do your job apparently." Harry commented.

"Huh?" Ted said before deciding to just ask about it later. "Are my services still needed then?" Ted asked, glancing between Dumbledore and Harry.

"He's just a headmaster and you're still a professional lawyer so yeah." Harry replied.

"Ah excellent." Ted nodded.

"Right." Fudge said as they all stood up.

"Excuse me, what is going on?" Dumbledore asked. "I was under the impression that Mr Potter's meeting would be held here."

"No," Amelia Bones shook her head. "no matter how famous Mr Potter is he cannot demand a private trial. Usually if it was just one spell then there would be a simple meeting, however with the amount of magic performed Mr Potter will be taken to have a trial."

"You are taking him to have a trial in front of the Wizengamot." Dumbledore said, remembering how he was supposed to be attending a Wizengamot meeting in an hour.

"Yes."

"Excuse me," Harry said. "but it is my understanding that it is usually the Chief Warlock who is in charge of these sessions."

"That is correct Mr Potter." Fudge nodded.

"Well, perhaps we should have somebody else take charge today." Harry suggested, surprising everyone. "I don't want to be accused of only going free because I have a good relationship with the judge." Harry explained. "Madam Bones, you're head of the DMLE and I don't think we know each other well enough that you would push the trial in my favour. Is there any chance you can take charge of the trial?"

"It will be put to a vote, but that is an excellent idea Mr Potter." Fudge smiled at him. "When the session starts I will suggest it."

"Excellent." Harry smiled.