Chapter 12.

'll definitely need Harpy eye globes or the incantation about sorrow and pain of a torn soul doesn't make any sense. That's probably what Yevgeny meant when he wrote those notes about the crying angels of death. And to say I thought it was just an allegory for the runes of despair and salvation like in that Tibetan exorcising ritual...

"Finally here, I'm waiting since half an hour, you know?" complained a busty witch in front of me.

"Prefect Eveleen, you summoned me?"

"Yes, I wanted to show you something." She whispered a word to the painting behind her. She had asked me to meet her in the fifth floor without telling me why. I imagined it could be interesting and here I was.

The painting slid on the wall and revealed a wooden door like any other class room door. Trix grabbed the handle and walked into the room. I followed her.

"This... is the Hufflepuff prefects' reserved bathroom!" she exclaimed, spinning on herself arms wide open. The bathroom was large and with a low-ceiling, the floor was made of marble tiles and gleamed with a soft light. There was a huge square bath in the middle of the place, that looked more like a Jacuzzi from where I was, sinks and mirrors were lined against a wall and towels were being heated by another wall. There was a window, only source of light in the room, and it was tainted yellow, bathing the bathroom in a warm dim glow.

"That is definitely one of the coolest room in Hogwarts, but why did you bring me here?" I inquired, even though I had a small idea. I hadn't stopped flirting with Trix, even with her being quite mad at me for a few days.

"Well... I was wondering how to store the most whipped cream in a single place..." she walked to the tube and slid her fingers through the mountains of bubbles. Those are not made of soap.

She brought her Chantilly coated fingers to her mouth and licked them, staring at me.

"But then I figured it was too much for me alone, so here it is, will you help me eating all of this cream?" she asked with a fake shy voice.

I grinned widely and walked to her.

"But I only eat whipped cream with strawberries. Perhaps you could find something equally juicy and sugary to go with it?"

At that she dropped her robes altogether, revealing her naked body that had been hiding beneath it. She had the faintest blush and stepped in the bath, giving me a nice view on her treasures.

"Consider me your fruit, then."

The next two hours were something to be remembered, probably the naughtiest Sunday morning of Hogwarts history. Trix treated me like a drug addict would treat a mountain of heroin, and I showed her a few tricks I had learned from Selena the detective, involving obscure charms and her nervous system.

We were now resting and panting in the messy bathtub, covered in whipped cream, only our head and hair had earned a cleaning charm before I slumped on the edge of the tub. Trix followed me and slumped beside me, leaving us enough space to heat off. I vanished most of the cream and opened the faucets with a wave of my wand. Clear warm water flooded the tub and rose until chest level, bits of cream floating right and left like clouds in a blue sky. She came closer to me and leaned on me, her hand sliding playfully down my torso.

"What are those necklaces' stories?" she asked in a numb and dreamy voice, nothing like the everyday Trix. Well, she was nothing like the usual Trix for the past two hours...

"This one is my dead sister's necklace, and this one is just a gift." I explained, only half lying.

"Your sister? I'm so sorry... how old was she?" she continued in the same voice, this time with a hint of concern and genuine sympathy.

"Too old... too young. She didn't deserve to die." I spat, anger rising on its own. "Sorry, I just don't like talking about it."

"I understand..." she murmured, kissing me softly in the neck.

"So, what happened? You reject me every each opportunity I exploit to get to you, and suddenly, today, you give in?"

She giggled.

"Well... I wasn't sure it was right for me to actually do it... You're only fourteen. But then I heard the rumor about you and that Gryffindor whore and I decided fuck it. I wanted you too much."

"Oh, Lea?" I sniggered.

"Yeah, I see what you mean."

Lea Kristine had been especially suggestive about the ideas she had for me. It had been a quick and effortless shag in a bathroom in the dungeons. Sadly, or funnily, according to how you see things, Lavender Brown was in the very same bathroom and walked out of the booth to detect the source of all these muffled moans. Naturally the whole school had learned about the naughty seventh year and her fourth year playboy in the next hour.

"So? Was the rumor actually founded? Did you really fuck her in that nasty Slytherin bathroom?" she rose her head too look at me in the eyes.

"Maybe, maybe not. I like the status quo. Those who believe it will believe it anyway, and those who don't will do the exact same." I explained, shrugging. She sighed and stretched her back, her freed breasts peaking out of the water.

"You're such a mystery, Harry. It's like you say things but you know a hundred more that you don't say." she muttered, playing with my chest delicately.

"You know the Headmaster actually asked us prefects too monitor you, because of your brother and all that."

I feigned surprise.

"Yeah, I don't know what he's thinking... he's old you know, and rather crazy." she continued.

"What are you meant to do if you find anything strange on me?"

"Go directly to him, he gave us the password to his office." she laughed quietly.

"His office is protected with a password? Nothing more?"

"Nope. I told you, he's mad. Or maybe he doesn't have anything valuable in there."

How wrong you are, sweetheart. Phoenix tears alone are worth quite a fortune.

"And what's the password?" This time she laughed out loud, making the water around us waver and splash.

"Not a chance, Potter."

I grabbed her hair and turned her head to me. I stared in her eyes for a second before I kissed her passionately. Jellytongue, got it. I grinned internally as I kissed her, passive Legilimency was in my opinion one of magic's greatest gift to mankind.

I stopped the wild kiss that was building up and stood up, water and liquefied cream dripping from my body, I jumped out of the bath and cleaned myself with a couple charms.

"Well, I don't have all day to dick around, sweetie." I started dressing up as she stepped out of the bath, her divine shape gleaming with yellow reflects as the light hit her slippery skin.

"Where are you going?" she pouted.

I just got the best idea to resolve my little problem, and it's thanks to you. I smiled happily.

"Why, hang out with my yearmates and study."

"Oh. Well, good day then." she replied a bit dejectedly.

"You too. Hope we will share more cream in the future." I joked as I left the room. She giggled and I closed the door behind me. Destination: Dumbledore's office.

My main problem with the body conception ritual was that to recreate the body, Yevgeny had apparently used a mix of phoenix tears and Dementor saliva. However, those two ingredients never went together, in any kind of ritual, those were the very most opposite of each other. To mix them would create a reaction I could only guess from Yevgeny's note, and they were quite chaotic.

The only way to successfully determinate how to link those two and if it was even possible, was to experiment with them in a small custom ritual. Just to test the reaction of the mix in a closed setting. From that I could extrapolate enough to decide how to put it in the final ritual. However, with my few thousands galleons left, I couldn't afford them. They were XXXXX ranked items and their price followed the trend.

I had planned to steal them, somehow, like I would be stealing the final ingredients, but the opportunity was too good.

It's probably madness to go in there like that. Who knows what kind of shit I could trigger... I laughed as I ran in the corridor. Fucking insane, but no one can stop me.

I suddenly stopped, McGonagall was talking with Hagrid the giant in a side corridor.

"Professor McGonagall, is headmaster Dumbledore in his office?" I asked, my head a bit dizzy from the rush and the post-coital exhaustion.

She raised her eyebrows.

"He is absent for the week-end, but you can tell me anything you would say to him, Mr. Potter."

"Oh no, it's nothing, I'll ask another time." I didn't let her the time to answer, running again.

I eventually stopped before the fake gargoyles that kept the door, only stopped once in my race by a shy Hannah asking me out for the Yule Ball. Sure, I'd love to lose my time attending a fucking ball.

"You two are actually just animated statues, right? You don't speak or even see, for that matter. Right? Yeah, right. Jellytongue."

The gargoyles moved aside and let me enter the place. In the spiral staircase I disillusioned myself, recalling the only time I went in here and the numerous paintings behind the desk. They're probably all snoring anyway.

I opened the mahogany door as softly as I could and slipped my almost-invisible body in the opening. I watched around, Dumbledore was nowhere in sight. His pet phoenix was sleeping on its perch. I took two step forward and its head jerked in my direction, faster than lightning. Damn.

I took two more steps. The bird was still looking at me but didn't move. I guess it's just intrigued.

I was in reaching distance after a few more steps. It was still looking at me. You can't really see me, can you? You just know there's a disillusioned kid in front of you but you don't know what he's doing. I mused to myself as I raised my wand slowly, until it was trained on it. I inhaled deeply.

I would have to overpower my spell badly for it to work, phoenixes were constituted solely of pure magic.

Confundus. The spell hit at point blank, flashing too quickly for the sleeping paintings to notice. The phoenix shook its head and flapped its wings for a moment before becoming immobile again. I breathed heavily, the power I had pushed in that was overwhelming, I felt like I had spent the two last weeks doing gymnastic with Trix nonstop.

The fact that the phoenix only stared dumbly at me after a open attack proved that it had worked. The bird probably had no clue of what it was at the moment.

Lacrymosa. The spell hit the bird, who didn't do as much as flinching or moving a feather and soon, drops of gleaming liquid were flowing from its eyes. Bingo.

I placed two hastily conjured phials under it eyes and harvested as much as I could. It wasn't easy because the damn thing kept rubbing its head affectionately against my hands. It stopped crying after two half phials and some. I petted it for a while as a sign of gratitude for its cooperation and walked off. The confusion spell had probably stopped affecting it halfway during the collect, but it didn't seem to dislike being petted, even by something that reeked of dark magic like me. Nice bird, really. Not quite as noble and proud as the books say.

Now, for the Dementor saliva. I heard they brought some in for the second task. If I had doubted the truth of that rumor at first, since they had put students to battle against freaking dragons in the first task, I was keen to believe it.

Probably hid them in the forest, like the dragons.

I grinned evilly.

"And the quaffle goes to Howell who pass it to -oh, nice catch by Montague who passes to Justice and ... no, the Hufflepuff keeper Pryce stopped it easily. Potter with the quaffle, the Hufflepuffs are going for a strong and fast attack -"

I accelerated, preparing myself for the Blitzkrieg maneuver, behind me were all the chasers and the beaters, going for a full frontal attack. Montague whistled his troops and they established a quick grid defense. They plunged on us like a flock of angry crows as we crossed their line, I pulled up and stopped my acceleration, dodging Montague himself, and sped downward to avoid the others. Hannah Abbot, our new chaser since Pamela Laverne had graduated, got smashed pretty hard by Warrington, earning a whistle from Hooch just as I was about to throw the quaffle in the loop.

"God damn it!" I swore and tossed the quaffle to Howell. Alyson Justice, the good-looking dark haired Slytherin chaser, was hovering next to me and snorted.

"Pretty brutal tactic for a Hufflepuff. Your chasers can't handle it." she stuck her tongue out.

I glared at her.

"I remember you falling of your broom because of a simple bludger, Justice. So don't tell me Slytherins would handle it any better." I smiled and cocked my head to the side.

"That simple bludger broke me four ribs and pierced internal organs, Potter, and do I need to remind you that you used me as a shield from this very bludger?" she snarled.

"But who am I kidding? The incredible Harry Potter does not fear bludgers, right. He can crash on the main tower at full speed and come out alright." she joked, her eyes boring in me.

"If it's just a rib problem, I'd be glad to rub them and kiss the pain away." I voluntarily left the comment on my crash unanswered.

"I'm good at that, too." I grinned widely and flew to her slowly. To my surprise, she didn't back off.

"Oh yes, I heard a few things about Harry Potter, the playboy. How many of them are true, I wonder." she chuckled hauntingly, watching me approach with disdain.

"Well, I could show you how many are true, probably all of them." I reached her and placed my hand on her waist. I saw indecision and doubt in her eyes, her surfaces thoughts expressing how much she liked what was going on and how much she wondered why.

I had wondered why girls reacted like that too, and came with the conclusion that since my wand rejected me, I could safely assume that the change in me was a very real thing, I guessed girls felt a bit of the dark magic that was constantly slithering in my veins, and liked it. Dark magic does feel great, after all.

My sporadic use of magic to boost my voice and charisma was also a cause, but I tried to refrain myself on this. It was easy to spot and would raise many questions.

I slipped my arm around her and pulled her closer, her broom offering a small resistance. Her thoughts were now clear. She loved what was going on.

"Think you can handle a Slytherin witch, Potter? I'm not your standard shallow Hufflepuff slut."

"Oh I think I could handle a few Slytherin witches simultaneously, do you have any good-looking friends?" I quipped, rubbing her waist with my hand. Her eyes gleamed hungrily and her partly open mouth threatened to eat me whole if I didn't close the gap immediately. I leaned on her to take care of that.

"Potter and Justice seem to not care about the game that much and decided to know each other better, lovely story, a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin, forbidden fruit and all." boomed the laughing voice of the commentator, cutting me as I was diving for the liberating kiss, Alyson had her eyes closed and her tongue ready, she suddenly closed her mouth and her eyes jerked open in terror.

"Oh my god I can't believe I did that!" she yelped before speeding away from me. I laughed heartily, witches were damn hilarious sometimes.

I flew to Priscillia, who was eyeing me irately.

"So what happened?"

"Oh well, while you were busy snogging yet another witch, Hannah was moved to the hospital wing, and we have no substitute!" she yelled madly. I didn't know why she was so mad, we had our own little fun just before the match.

"Oy! I wasn't snogging anything!" I defended, but my easy tone didn't seem to appease her wrath.

"We don't need a substitute, we lead by sixty points. Hey Esmund!" I shouted to the head-in-the-clouds boy. He jumped, startled, and turned his head to me.

"Fly next to me, alright? I'll tell you were the snitch is." I turned to Priscillia's dumbfounded look. "I already saw it three times during the match."

"If you win us the match, Harry, I'll do you things that will make you forget any Slytherin bitch." she whispered slyly, biting her lip suggestively.

She nodded to Hooch, who whistled the resumption of the game, and we flew back to our respective positions.

"And the match starts again, Hufflepuff has the quaffle but try another tactic, Potter behind and followed by... Aengus the seeker! Oh, a bludger came very close to Montague but he dodged in time and now he's leading the attack on the lone Hufflepuff attacker, Howell Nye, who makes a nice barrel roll and dodges an incoming bludger -"

The match went on for only ten minutes and thirty points for Slytherin, I spotted the snitch and pushed Esmund to it, who grabbed it just before Malfoy and his state-of-the-art broom could try, coming at full speed. The crowd exploded in cheers and the Slytherin got really mad, a small fight exploded in the stands in the Slytherin side. To lose to a six men team with everyone on Nimbus 2001 was laughable. Pathetic, really.

I landed along with the others and let them rush to Esmund, who was having the time of his life. He caught my eyes from the mass of people around him and I flashed him a thumb up. I liked the guy, he was always dreaming and never listening to anybody, but when he talked, he had interesting things to say.

I heard a shrill scream and turned around. Montague had backhanded Justice who was now eating the dust, her arms flailing around. I didn't care much about her but I saw an opportunity to diversify my witch repertory. The post-match chaos was still present, spectators flooding the pitch to yell their victory or disappointment. Nobody had noticed the Slytherin captain molesting his chaser.

I walked to them confidently, my wand out.

"You filthy whore! That's what you get for betraying Slytherin!" he barked, spluttering on her. Disgusting, I'll have to wash her before doing anything.

"Montague, dear friend! Is that really how you should treat your own players?" I smiled widely and opened my arms as if I wanted him to hug me. He glared at me and whipped his wand out, the rest of the Slytherin team followed. I looked around, nobody was paying attention to us.

"Potter, don't get too cocky, that could end badly for you." snorted Malfoy, pushing his way through his teammates to get in front of me. He stretched his hand to Alyson, who was watching the scene worriedly from the ground.

"Lady Justice, I apologize for the behavior of this ape." he spat, glaring at Montague who popped another vein on his forehead, getting angrier by the second but wasn't foolish enough to attack Malfoy.

I, however, didn't give a hippogryph's shit about Malfoy.

"Frangerium." I spoke happily, with a wide smile.

The silent explosion curse hit the ground and blew up the whole Slytherin contingent, without any sound. Only the manly yelps and squeaks of fears were heard, lost in the ambient chaos on the pitch. A shockwave of sand and dirt washed over me and everybody around, burying Alyson. I laughed a belly laugh as the Slytherins flew several feet in the air and landed brutally on other people, causing a bit more confusion in the general anarchy. I grabbed the slowly emerging form of Alyson by the waist and pulled her out of the sand, like if she weighted no more than a kilogram. I placed her on her feet and she stumbled awkwardly, holding my arm to steady herself, sand dripping from every inch of her robes and hair.

I had kept laughing the whole time and finally calmed down, wiping my eyes.

"Let's get out of here and find a quiet place to continue our discussion, miss Justice." I suggested, not leaving her much choice as I dragged her with me.

She spat some sand and waved her wand several times to vanish all of it, eventually succeeding, save for a few gallons in her hair.

"You're freaking insane!" she finally blurted out, her eyes wide open. She wasn't letting my arm go.

"Not that much, just a bit." I laughed some more, having so much fun. "A tiny bit insane, just what you need to be an incredible sex machine." I turned to her suddenly, my tone mischievous. I kissed her wildly, earning a startled yelp before she pushed me back, panicked.

"By Merlin! What's wrong with you!" she barked, still holding my arm. I pushed the locker door and dragged her in a side corridor.

"Montague is going to be mad at you, for real! He's gonna hurt you badly!" she squeaked.

I snorted.

"I don't fear him, if he was anything near good with a wand he'd have blocked that spell, I even spoke the incantation out loud to give him a chance."

"B-But what about Malfoy then? His dad is really powerful! He could get you expelled!" she was staring at me in awe as I searched around for the painting I was looking for. Ah, there it is.

"Towel'a'dowell." I said to the painting, thanking magic for the magnificent existence of Legilimency once again. The painting slid aside and revealed the door behind it.

We entered the Hufflepuff prefects' bathroom and closed the door behind us.

"Well if I'm getting expelled, might as well make my last day here worth the shot, don't you think?" I grinned as she admired the place.

"Where are we?" she muttered, sliding her hand along the edge of the inviting bath.

"It doesn't matter, just take your clothes off and open the faucets." I commanded casually, getting my own robes off.

"Merlin, Potter! I already told you, I won't just lay down for you!" she stomped on the tiled floor. I tossed my robes on the ground and took a step to her.

'Do it.' I commanded, this time willingly pushing magic in my voice.

She faltered, her gaze blurring slightly. I took three steps and looked at her in the eyes. She wanted it.

"I... I..." she started.

'Take them off' I was starting to like that a lot. She exhaled a lengthy breath and began to take her robes off, giving up. I chuckled as she was standing in panties before me, shivering with lust and apprehension.

"Resistance is futile." I muttered, more because I found the sentence fitting than anything.

"I'm a virgin." she whispered as I took her hand and led her in the bathtub. Right, she's only fifteen.

"Well let's take care of that." I grinned. Being Harry Potter was a blast.

Rosaline tapped on my shoulder. I jerked my head up and snapped my fingers, triggering the runes on my notepad and book. They snapped shut just as professor Moody approached our tables. I instinctively released the eight Imperius curses I was holding on my housemates. They didn't even move a muscle, they had no idea they were under it all this time, a weak Imperius like this one was impossible to notice without experience in the domain.

"Potter! You didn't listen to me at all!" barked the Defense professor.

"Sir, that's not true!" I yelled, looking right before me like a good soldier. A few students snickered. Moody snarled.

"What can you tell me about the Avada Kedavra, Potter?"

"It kills, sir!" I yelled all the same as before. He snorted.

"You obviously don't want to learn, you can leave the classroom." he spat angrily, pointing the door with his staff. I considered the suggestion, I was sick of researching this damn ritual, it was at a dead point and would stay there until I could test Phoenix tears with Dementor saliva. Moody would probably not bother to remember the event and speak to Dumbledore about it. That's it then.

"Understood, sir." I stood up with my satchel in my hand and walked out of the classroom, my housemates shook their heads and rolled their eyes.

"Typical Harry behavior..." muttered Elissa when I winked to her before crossing the threshold.

I strolled for a while in the open air archways near the forest, wondering how I would obtain Dementor saliva. The second task was planned for next week and I had seen the Dementors in the forest. Six of them were in separate cages, guarded by a handful of wizards camping next to them. Well, as next as possible considering the despair and cold the beast were spreading from their cages.

I had studied it a bit and found out that the only ways to collect their saliva was either to wrestle with them and stick your fingers in their mouth forcefully, which was widely regarded as suicide, to try and Accio the saliva directly from their mouth, overpowering their magical presence, which was even more impossible that the first option, or to wait for it to drool and Accio it when it leaves their mouth.

The only time Dementors drooled was when they were about to or in the act of kissing someone.

I had started to study the Patronus Charm but quickly dropped it, the only happy memories I could muster were either of me receiving sick pleasure from the dark magic hurting something or memories of Natasha, which made my blood boil in anger no matter how I went about it. There was just no way I'd be able to cast it, my numerous tries confirmed it.

I sighed. I knew what I'd have to do. Someone's gonna have to die for me... who deserves the shittiest death?

My magic rustled in my skull, warning me of a disturbance in the area. I turned around and sidestepped the bright yellow spell that brushed past me and crashed against a pillar, cracking the stone.

"Quick reflexes, Potter, but that won't save you today." Montague stepped out of the shadow between two pillars, his wand trained at me and a nasty grin on his ugly face. He was actually not that ugly, but still an ass.

"Oh but it will, Montague, and you know it. Why would you try your luck with a spell in the back if not?" I mocked. Montague, he could be what I'm looking for...

"You think you're all powerful because of that lucky shot on the pitch, heh, Potter? Proud you seduced some dumb bitch because she's a Slytherin? Think we give a shit?" he barked a mad laugh.

"Yeah, I think you're pretty mad I got to pop her cherry before any of you primates could lay a finger on her thigh." I flashed a genuine smile, my magic was aching to be unleashed and knew I would unleash it. Pre-battle excitement, the thrill of dark magic wiggling in my heart.

His face dropped all pretence of superiority to adopt a truly angry glare.

"Oh she didn't tell you?" I blurted out laughing. "Priceless!" I sidestepped the first two spell he sent and blasted a banisher at him.

He dodged the banisher, sending a few silent curses in my legs. I jumped above them and leaped to him, surprising him with the strength of my jump. He tried to kick me instead of diving to the side or attempting a curse, bad decision. I blocked his kick with my left arm and kicked him in the ribs. He roared in pain as his body was sent crashing against a pillar, his ribs probably cracked.

I stunned him immediately before he even tried to get up and looked around. Only the winter wind met my gaze, chilling my heated body. No dark magic, sorry. Not if I want to make it look like he did it on his own.

I mended his cracked ribs and dislocated shoulder, disillusioned him and myself and set course to the Forbidden Forest. I levitated his body behind me, longing the lake instead of Hagrid's hut, as it was closer to my current position. The distortion of disillusionment would be invisible in front of the shimmering lake under the afternoon sun.

We reached the forest without delay and ran through the first miles silently. At some point, I sensed the wards and put Montague down, still disillusioned, on the cold earth. I had crossed the Proximity Wards set by the Dementors' guards. Those were only triggered when a wizard crossed them, not any magical creature that lived in the forest, the guards were probably on the lookout and wands drawn.

"Homenum Revelio."

The light blue smoke tried to shape itself before me and gave up. No human in fifty yards around me.

"You stay here, mate." I muttered to the still and invisible Slytherin beside me and looked around. I knew where I was, I would find him easily. I stretched my limbs and breathed deeply.

Let's go.

I jumped high in the air and grabbed a twig in a tree, leaped on another and swung around the trunk, throwing myself on a rock. My vision widened as I ran silently from a rock to another, jumping from a tree to another. I eventually spotted the two first guards walking down a path to check who crossed the ward and plummeted on them from the treetop like an eagle on mice.

They heard me a second before my foot crashed in the skull of the first one, sending him sprawling face down on the leaves as I absorbed the chock with my legs and arms. The second guard swore and whipped his wand to me. I dodged the stunner and fired a Confringo right under his feet. I didn't know what kind of protection he had on his robes and I needed to not use any dark magic. It must look like Montague did it, and he honestly doesn't look like he knows any kind of dark spell. It would at least not raise suspicions of a possible stronger attacker.

The blasting curse exploded under the guard, he yelped as the blast sent hot pieces of rock and pebbles in his skin, shredding his flesh. His body was chucked in the air, he slammed against a tree and landed brutally, face down, his wand stabbed in the soft earth. He didn't move. I grabbed his wand and stunned him directly on the head. I trotted to the first one, and used my foot to roll him on the back. His eyes were closed, I summoned his wand and crouched to check his heartbeat.

Dead. I swallowed gravely and shrugged. The impact of my foot on his skull had been too strong. I rose my head and watched the top of the tree I had jumped from. It was at least twenty yards high. Yeah, I guess did plummet down pretty hard.

I didn't lose any more time thinking about it, there were still two other guards who had probably heard the explosion from before. I ran up the path I had seen the two first men coming from and distinguished a tent up the hill.

A few overpowered jumps later, I was in a tree, observing the two remaining guards.

"... doesn't respond, we should go check by ourselves." I heard the young wizard say worriedly. The man beside him was older, probably the leader of the team.

"No, we call in Aurors, there isn't any animal who can cause explosions in this part of the forest." finally ordered the aged man, after a moment of contemplation.

I didn't need to hear anymore to know I had to get rid of these two quickly. I hadn't any spell who could travel fast enough for the old man to get hit without noticing it, and he could prove to be a good duelist. I knew experience was the most important criterion in a duel.

I sprang from the twig I was on, jumping high in the air, and landed directly behind the young one with a loud thump, the old wizard had seen me halfway in my descent and had tried a disarming spell that lost itself in the afternoon sky. I grabbed the youngest one by the wand hand, forcing his arm to twist behind his back, and placed my wand on his temple.

"Drop the wand or the rookie gets it." I threatened strongly. Said rookie was wincing in pain as I gradually dislocated his shoulder with my left hand and the old wizard before me frowned. He didn't lower his wand.

"What are you trying to accomplish, kid?"

"I said drop the wand, old man. I know you aren't soldiers, you don't want to lose your new recruit to protect Dementors, do you?" I spat threateningly, my magic actually hurting me, craving dark magic and blood. My whole body cried for it, begged for destruction and the bliss of dark magic.

He sighed and lowered his wand.

"I don't think you're able of any-"

"Duonexufulmen!" I bellowed the incantation with all my might, all the force I could gather in my lungs and magic, allowing it to finally taste death and relish it with me. His eyes opened wide and he rose his wand, casting a shield a microsecond too late. The curse connected with his torso and the thick lightning bolt erupted for my wand, linking his torso to my arm with a deafening sound of thunder clashing against my eardrums and a blinding light burning my retina. I felt the curse overpowering the old wizard, I felt my power crushing his power and a second later, it was over.

The wizard's torso exploded , his legs and lower body fell on the ground in a fleshy sound, spilling liquefied organs and boiling blood on the floor. Around me fell pieces of charred meat and drops of blood, like a sudden tropical rainfall, covering the rookie and me in dozens of wizard confetti.

My vision and hearing came back soon enough for me to appreciate the rustle of leaves and bushes around us as the last bits plummeted down. The following ecstasy was one of the, if not the best thing I had ever experienced. I tossed the rookie on the blood soaked ground and groaned loudly as I stretched my back, taking a deep breath of the chill winter air. It hadn't been planned, on the contrary, I had planned to not use dark magic, I had planned to not kill them if possible. But I had wanted it, I had needed it. My dark magic addict alter-ego overtook my body and did what my whole being wanted to do.

At this range, I could have disarmed and obliviated him, that would even have been faster that the shocking curse. And what a shocking curse, an electricity bolt intense enough to blow up a whole wizard, crushing his magical power along with his flesh. I wouldn't cast anything heavy in the next two days after that. Damn... I really craved my dose of pleasure...

A few seconds later, the young wizard opened his eyes and started to move. I took this as my cue and stopped my moment of intense relaxation.

"Wha-what have y-you done?" he stuttered awfully, his hand raising to his mouth, about to vomit all over himself. I spared him the experience.

"Obliviate."

Once properly obliviated and stunned, I levitated his only remaining teammate next to him and fetched Montague, who had patiently waited where I had left him.

I levitated him behind me and walked until I started to feel a cold that had nothing to do with winter. Dementors.

I eyed the cages, closed by thick frozen metallic chains and locks. I placed Montague on the floor and stuck his wand in his hand. I thought about casting the spells with his wand but decided not to. The wand's memory would vanish anyway, Aurors wouldn't find him before a good while.

"Good luck, Montague. Be a man."

I undid the chain around the closest cage with a wave of my wand. The creature began shifting inside its prison at the sound of the frozen metal clinging and falling to the ground. Soon, the beast pushed the door open and locked its gaze one me.

"The girls say I'm a wonderful kisser." I quipped to the terrifying thing, to attract it. It probably didn't need that, I could feel its hunger for souls. It hovered to me ominously, its rotting hands reaching for me.

I enervated Montague just as the Dementor was sliding over him. He took a deep breath and sat up. The horrible creature jerked its head to him and plunged on him. Montague didn't even shout, already too affected by the aura of the beast, he emitted a weak whimper and went limp, the Dementor grabbed his head and started to feed. I saw the disgusting liquid drip on Montague's pale skin, a dark grey slimy substance. There wasn't much of it, but it would be enough.

"Accio saliva." I muttered, stretching a phial with my left hand. The revolting juice flew to me and started to fill the phial, just as the Dementor dropped the soulless puppet that had been Montague. It had finished its meal. I waited for the last few drops to come and spun around, running madly to get out of the forest.

They'll think it was Montague on his own. They'll think he tried to do something stupid with the Dementor and failed. I cursed aloud, the lightning spell wasn't anything anybody in the student body could do. There's no way they'll guess what spell did that, all they have is a cooked wizard in a thousand pieces and another without any memory of the incident... Montague is a Slytherin and his fifth or sixth year, I don't even know but those one are likely to know dangerous spells.

I smiled faintly. At least they wouldn't have anything on me, I'd just Imperius a few housemates to get an alibi and that's it.

Let's visit Alyson to celebrate.

...isolation and transmutation only, must ready the receptacle before pouring phoenix tears in. Very strong counter-reaction if unprepared Dementor saliva in contact with it.

I stopped writing and bit the end of my quill. That was about all I would need to know for the ritual itself. The few tests I had conducted were clear enough for me. I hadn't reached all the possibilities of a reagent based on Dementor saliva for a Phoenix tear distillation, but the one Yevgeny had used was within my comprehension now. This guys was a true genius, who know what kind of things we could pull off if it was common knowledge. That was probably why rituals in general were considered dark. To limit the natural curiosity of mankind and avoid violating too many laws of Nature.

I nodded, proud of my work. It had taken days of preparation and all the tears and saliva I had harvested, but now I was certain on how to tackle the rest of my researches. I had worked on the Portal of Horus too, but now it was only rearranging runes from the burnt parchment I had and the memories of Jagdish stored in my mind. I could distinguish some of them on the anchors but the memory was hazy.

I walked back to the castle, taking my time, Louise behind me. It was my new thing, I'd Imperius Louise and make her follow me in the forest, monitor the place while I worked.

I had done this three or four times already. When people wondered where I was, they noticed Louise was also gone. And when I came back with her beside me, their suspicions were confirmed. The downside was that Louise had no idea of what was going on half the time. I had to keep her under the faintest control all the time.

I didn't like going in the forest too much lately, Aurors had invaded the place after a stray Dementor tried to attack students having a snowball fight near the lake.

At first four Aurors came, they took the subdued beast away and went into the Forest.

An hour later, half the Auror department was on Hogwarts' ground, establishing a security perimeter. No details had transpired at first but people started to point out the strange disappearance of Montague. Soon, a rumor ran, apparently Montague and two other guys had been found dead in the forest and that the incident was under investigation.

All this rumble forced me to do my experiment in another part of the forest, near my forge, and to make a big detour to reach it.

Once in the castle, I released most of my control on Louise and headed for the great hall. She found her personality back and started talking about things I didn't care about. Coming out of an unintrusive Imperius is like being in a dream, you don't quite remember how you got here and what you did, but you don't wonder about it.

We sat at the Hufflepuff table and Louise started eating and laughing with our housemates. I was sitting in front of Loren, the last seat available in this part of the table. She was laughing and putting slices of meat in her mouth. I stared at her.

I felt tired, exhausted. It was one of these moments where I felt unusually sober and lucid. I felt like I was waking up from a nightmare. But I knew the nightmare was about to continue when I'd close my eyes.

One of these moments where I remembered the numerous things I had sacrificed. To live happy and be a good guy. To love Loren. To not kill innocent people for no reason. I felt like giving up and stopping everything.

To bury those memories and try to live a normal life. I was worn out.

But I have to go on, for Natasha. The lighthouse in the tempest, the ray of sun in the ash cloud.

I forced myself to not look at Loren and eat, she had caught my stare two times already and would probably try to strike a conversation on the third time. She often tried. And it broke my heart to always reject her. My decision has been taken, I won't play with her anymore. I don't deserve her.

As I was swallowing my dark thoughts with some beef, a clap echoed in the hall. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around.

Dumbledore was standing and opening his arms to invite everyone to listen to him. He waited until everyone was silent.

"Witches and wizards, students of all three schools reunited before me, I make myself harbinger of sad news tonight." his eyes were indeed very sad.

"The Aurors have investigated the crime scene thoroughly and came to a conclusion that I believe every each one of you should hear." he made a pause and turned to a yellow-dressed wizard beside him.

"Mr. Bagman."

At that, he stepped back and sat down.

Bagman stood up nervously and cleared his throat. He unrolled a roll of parchment and started to read in an bureaucrat voice.

"The incident of the 23th November 1994 in the Forbidden Forest on Hogwarts territory." he announced, getting the attention of everyone.

I cringed, I really didn't want to be reminded of that right now.

"It is believed by the investigation squad that Mr. Graham Montague, aged fifteen years old and attending his fifth year in the Hogwarts School, have brutally murdered the following persons.

Mr. Miles Herrigton, aged thirty four years old and working for the Ministry of Magic of Britain, Dangerous Magical Creatures department.

Mr. Imran Khalil, aged seventy years old and working for the Ministry of Magic of Britain, Dangerous Magical Creatures department.

One of those murder is believed to have involved level two dark magic at least.

Mr. Graham Montague has performed a forbidden obliviation on two workers of the Ministry who wish to keep their names secret.

Mr. Graham Montague has tried to steal a Dementor from the ministry and was accidently kissed in his attempt, possibility of suicide is not rejected."

When he had stopped reading, the hall was even more silent than before. He seemed to notice how abruptly he had finished the reading.

"That is all." he added helpfully before sitting back down.

And then, the hall exploded.

"Level two dark magic? Holy shit!" shouted numerous students left and right.

"Oh my god! It's the Slytherin Quidditch captain!" squeaked a girl in my immediate neighborhood.

"He was kissed by a Dementor!" yelled a Gryffindor in case someone didn't hear right.

"Ban Slytherin from the school!" roared my brother's best red-haired friend, his fist in the air. Many approved and threw bits of bread to the Slytherin table, before Dumbledore calmed the chaos with a bang of his wand.

"Don't you ever hang around that Slytherin slut anymore!" ordered Priscillia, making place on the bench to sit next to me. She looked truly shaken. "She was friend with him!"

"No she wasn't, they treated her like shit because she slept with me." I explained.

"No matter, they're way too dangerous for you to be around them. Who knows what magic she might know! He was fifteen and cast level friggin two dark magic!" she shook me by the shoulders as I sighed.

"I'll do whatever I want, Priss."

"No, it's time someone puts her foot down, Harry." she retorted seriously. "You have your own little harem and I deal with it because you were always honest with me, but now it's enough. You won't see this bitch anymore. Promise me."

I wanted to punch her in the face and watch her body be sent sprawling over the table, but I opted for the verbal punch.

"I'll see whoever I damn please, and if you can't deal with it, you can walk the fuck away." I whispered angrily before leaving. I wasn't in the mood for this and I really couldn't care about her.

Just walk away from me, at least you lose the risk of getting cursed for my twisted pleasure, or worse. I thought, remembering the time I had slipped and cursed Trix with painful dark magic during sex, unable to stop myself.

I remembered what the Hat had said. I know you have the potential of a great wizard, be it light or dark, Harry, but should I let you destroy yourself and others in your foolish quest of bringing your dead sister back?

Is it even about Natasha anymore? I wanted to answer yes, but I knew it wasn't entirely true. I had done a lot of things that I should regret and that had nothing to do with my quest. I had digressed a lot.

I shook my head, it was too late to think about that now, anyway.

It doesn't matter, as long as I end up bringing her back.

I'll bring her back.

AN: Is Harry even the good guy anymore? I don't know myself, tell me what you think.