Chapter 14.

I wiped my wet forehead and pulled the piece of metal out of the water with my wand. The cooled metal still slightly clinging from the sudden change of temperature, I placed it on a plane rock and waved my wand to the water, undoing the conjuration. The final piece was done. I had used all of the remaining steel to forge myself a melee weapon, something no Mage Knight would dare calling themselves a Mage Knight without.

The war axe was bigger than me, the thick handle was so long I could set it on the floor standing up and have the blade at head level. It was heavy, probably a good hundred pounds, the head was a double blade finished by a dangerous looking pike.

As I sat down and started to carve runes on it - sharpness and penetration, mostly - I thought about my plans for this summer. In a few days, Hogwarts would be over and I'd have to set my plan in motion.

To steal every item I needed for the body conceiving ritual. Phoenix tears, Dementor saliva, Banshee cloth, Harpy eyeglobes, Chimera teeth, a Legendary Salamander still beating heart and - oh the irony - Moondust.

I had pinned down the base of the ritual and was confident that my guesses on the geometrics would be right. It was ready, everything was written down in my invaluable notebook and ready to be set.

However, all of those items together were worth over three million galleons, considering the amount of Moondust I'd need. I had a contact, Pablo. I had met the guy in Venezuela during a very short trip and he assured me he had everything in stock. I was meant to come with the money to the huge Aleksandro Manor and trust them to have everything packed neatly in a suitcase or something.

I snorted, finishing the ever-sharp set of runes on the face on the blade. Nobody dared to try and steal from this man because he controlled the whole continent and was one of the most powerful crime lord in the world. Some kind of Latino Malfoy, but more dangerous, if I had understood correctly.

Like I give a damn about that. I was planning to go in there with my armor and try to sneak in, until I'd get spotted. From there I'd go berserk and kill everything. Good plan.

I knew it was impossible to sneak in, not with the surveillance in place, not with the dozens of guards in there and probably numerous wards. The location of the warehouse was easily found in the mind of Pablo, he had somewhat of an Occlumency shield, surprising me slightly as I had rummaged through the unsafe chests in his inner fortress. I had become better than good at Legilimency, he didn't notice me unlocking his locks and stealing the information as we shortly connected our eyes. He probably didn't expect me to know such art, I had gone in my fourteen years old body, aging potions not necessary anymore.

The warehouse was in the middle of nowhere, hidden in the dense and impenetrable Amazon forest. Many people actually lived around the warehouse, which was actually more of a camp than anything from what I saw in the mind of the man.

I had done a small research on Don Aleksandro, his family had done business with every big dark lord of the last era. Grindelwald, Lady Yoland, Voldemort, you name them. He provided the magical world in everything that was forbidden by the International Confederation of Wizards and didn't hide it too much. Nobody would dare going after him in that forest, that would be declaring a war against someone who has a scandalous amount of money and connections, not to mention a few impenetrable fortresses scattered across the globe. The South American Wizard Covenant actively worked against him but the few attacks that had been led had always ended in a failure.

Nobody would be foolish enough to steal from this this man. He would find you and torture you for years before killing you. That is, if you survive the attempt of stealing him.

I had thought about stealing the money from someone and buying the items with it, but I had no time to find anyone with enough money, even the Potter vaults wouldn't be sufficient, and assaulting the goblins was promptly booted out of the equation.

Once I'll slip in this beauty, I'll be invincible, a god of adamantine, a minotaur of power. A demon. I ignored the part of my mind who screamed "madness" and finished the last rune. It was totally insane, I knew it, but I also knew that without insane decisions, I'd never have gone so far. And that was the sanest thing I could recall thinking in the last months.

I positioned the massive axe beside the armor itself, against the wall. I took two steps back and admired my work. Perfect.

The helm was totally faceless, a perfect, flawless chrome mask without any features except for the eyes, two aggressive oblique slits at eye level. Two massive bull horns were mounted on it, made of solid steel and shining from the faint light that pierced in the cave. The cuirass had been shaped like the body of a bulky minotaur, thick muscles and manly hair engraved in the grey metal. I smiled widely.

It was huge, thick and terrifying. I could see myself killing senselessly in that suit.

"Let's try this baby out." I spoke aloud, like if the thing itself could hear me. It can hear me, it is inside me. Lurking inside me, awaiting the moment I slip the suit on to be freed. No longer Harry Potter but the Demon Minotaur of death.

I chuckled slightly at my antics and levitated the first part in front of me. The boots, protecting my feet. I slipped my feet inside both metallic shoes and waved my wand, the runes of expansion deactivated and the steel shrank back to be in contact with my skin. After that followed the greaves, the knee protections, and every other part until I was fully covered in an inch and a half of steel.

I pushed my magic in the enchanted steel's channels and felt the runes communicate with my magic, connect my mind to the metal and the metal to my mind. I couldn't feel my flesh anymore after a few minutes, only the chillness of the flawless steel.

I took a moment to adapt to the thing, the steel moved thanks to a combination of magic and strength, I could feel the insane weight of the metal around me but I could move easily, pushing strength in my enhanced muscles and in the suit itself. It was probably more tiring, but I couldn't feel it. I was beaming a genuine smile of joy and of accomplishment. It felt good.

I grabbed the axe and set it on my pauldron, holding in with one arm. The metal rang loudly and my left foot crunched a pebble into thin sand at the impact. This is power.

I took my wand with my right hand, the gauntlet were made of fine chainmail, the hardest piece to forge. Steel plates adorned the back of the hand and the fingers. My grasp was still soft and accurate.

I looked down, the cylinder of solid adamantine was still laying there, waiting to be melted and spread on the armour. A shame really, I liked the look of the shiny steel.

I lifted it, my metallic fingers digging streaks in the friable rock under it, and placed it on the surface I had used to forge. I took a breath and punched the thing with all my strength. The roll of adamantine took the blow and rocketed to the wall like a cannonball, it hit the rock with a deafening crack, burying itself and causing the whole cave to shake and crumble. Pieces of rock fell on me in a melodic clattering, bouncing off the armor harmlessly.

The plates on my fingers were unscathed, as good as new. My hand itself hurt a bit but no bones were broken, probably just a scratch that would regenerate after a few minutes.

The adamantine chunk, on the other hand, was totally bent and embedded in the wall, massive pieces of rock laying around the impact point.

Goblin steel. As long as my magic inhabits it, it's going to be hard to break. Not all self-proclaimed Mage Knights had such metal around their body, not all of them could handle the constant strain on their magic.

I winked at the misshaped lump of black metal.

"See you in a minute." I turned around and left the cave. The day was almost over for the sun, but it only started for me. I ran for thirty minutes in the forest, my heavy body crushing pebbles and twigs under my feet as I carelessly dashed through bushes and small trees. Numerous animals fled at the sound of my unstoppable self, jumping over trunks and blowing up entire rocks as I landed on them. Nothing can stop me, I'm a machine of steel and magic. I laughed, my helm reverberating the laugh in a frightening growl. Damn it feels good.

I finally stopped running, and took a few deep breaths. This is tiring. I looked around me. I should be far enough.

I focused on the Goblin Branch of Enchantment's building roof and jumped. My body got squished in a thin cylinder of rubber and I was thrown on the floor. I absorbed the disorientation with my arm, crouching slightly, and stood up. I was in London, on a roof.

So I can apparate with it without difficulties. No we'll see with the adamantine. I had taken my final apparition lesson a week ago and was positively able of apparating freely. I had found out after a few successful tries that it was in fact very easy. Once the armor would be coated with adamantine, though, I expected it to be harder. The layer of the resistant metal would be thin enough to apparate it, with the power of my own magic negating its effect from the inside, but it was still an unknown territory for me. I'll experiment...

My apparition on the roof was already known by goblins, I had no doubts. I waited for the detestable creature to emerge from the trap door and took my helm off to feel the wind on my skin. The view was marvelous, thousands of building laid from my feet to the horizon, shining in the twilight under the mixed reflects of the gibbous moon and setting sun, thousands of lights blinking like the eyes of a thousand cats peering at me. The slate tiles were wet from the previous rainfall but my weight wouldn't allow me to slip on the almost-flat roof.

I stood there for some time, watching the golden orb disappear and leave his throne for the silver queen, feeling the moist wind of London wash my heat away.

The goblin I was waiting for arrived when the sun was definitely bedded, he pushed the door trap and stood on the unsteady tiles, watching me. He didn't do so much as to raise an eyebrow, the fact that I was visibly too young to even be out of school and inside a metallic armor didn't faze him in the faintest.

"What will it be, sir?"

"How much to imbue this weapon and this body armor with Elemental Magic?"

"That would be six thousand galleons each."

I sighed, it was above my budget.

"Then only the weapon it will be." I slammed the end of the axe handle on the floor, cracking the tiles, and tossed him my On-Demand wallet from the leather belt around my waist. The goblin took his fee, threw me back the wallet and enchanted the huge thing to follow him.

"What element shall I imbue in the weapon, sir?" it asked with a smile that would have given me the creeps if I wasn't used to much worse in my own head.

"Lightning." I answered, recalling how Hellard had said I had an affinity with it. The goblin imbuement would allow me to use it without any training or knowledge of the art of summoning the elements.

It nodded and disappeared in the trap door again, leaving me to marvel at the incredible view their invisible-to-muggles building offered. My body, my metallic skin locked itself in a steady position and rested, the sheer weight of the metal being enough to stay immobile without any control from my muscles.

The greedy midget came back with my war axe gently hovering behind him after an hour at most. He levitated it to me and I grabbed it by the handle. The finely engraved goblin runes on the surface shined a slight silver light, like if it was absorbing the moonlight.

"The runes redirect the magic to the blade, overpower them and the magic will spread wildly." he explained before turning away and returning to his work, not one to discuss for long.

I pushed magic in the weapon and admired the edge of the blade turning purple-white and blue-white, as the intense electricity accumulated on this point started to escape, creating large arcs of energy that hung on my forearm and ran in the sky, hissing and fizzling hungrily. Elemental magic was more than just summoning the elements, it was controlling them. It was my own magic that crackled in the sky around me, I felt it caressing the tiles and evaporating droplets of rain in their fall to the ground, I felt it being part of me.

I apparated back in the Forbidden Forest, now was time for the last step of the making of my Mage Knight plate armor.

Adamantine, or how to become immune to most spells.

It wouldn't protect me completely, as the layer would be very thin, but any standard spell like Expelliarmus or Stupefy wouldn't have a chance, even a good Secaferox would probably get blocked by the material. I couldn't coat too much of it around my body, or it would become impossible to apparate, and even hinder my own magic.

The trip back to the cave was abruptly interrupted by a courageous beast that had decided that without my helm, I wasn't scary enough to not eat. A dragon, flying in the sky and diving on me, spitting thick fireballs.

It was a small dragon, I noticed, probably a very young one. Not having my adamantine protection yet, I avoided the dragon fire by running to my left. Even with the adamantine on, dragon fire isn't kiddy business.

The balls of fire exploded on the grass, burning it ruthlessly as the beast landed, its glossy red scales reflecting the flames around it. It roared in my direction, its wings fully deployed for maximum intimidation.

I smirked and put my helm on. I felt the runes activate and close the helm hermetically, sealing my whole being in the shell of steel and feeding me filtered air from below my chin. A simple eternal Bubble-head-like charm on the lower part of the helm ensured that I always breathed proper oxygen.

I peered at the red scaled creature, it was advancing on me slowly, its mouth open and razor-sharp teeth coated in fuel, ready to be lit. You'll be just perfect to try out my new toy.

Dragons were known to eat wizards simply because they were magically very charged, and dragons loved the taste of magic.

It jumped in the air, flapped its wing once and vomited a huge column of fire toward me. I dodged the thing by running forward and on the right, too fast for it to adjust its jet of napalm. The heat was probably unbearable, but I couldn't feel it through my steel skin, I gathered magic in my war axe and roared as I swung it to the dragon, who was taking off for a dive attack. A bolt of blue lightning exploded and grabbed the wing of the beast, channeling thousands of watts across its body. It wavered and roared madly before crashing in a nearby copse. I slammed the end of the handle on the ground, feeling my arm sting with power, and breathed heavily. I was getting tired.

The trees from where the teenage dragon had crashed suddenly caught fire and cracked loudly as they were torn by the rampaging beast. Not enough to take down a dragon, heh?

It crawled out of the copse, whining and hissing furiously. The wing that had caught the bolt directly was smoking, burned to a crispy black cloth. It roared again, sending bits of flaming saliva crash against me. In its madness, it started to charge me, claws ready to tear and teeth to rip, foaming magma at the mouth. I flicked my right hand, my wand spurted out of its slot in the vambrace and I grabbed it.

The first spell I tried was an overpowered Secaferox, it hit right in the mouth of the beast, cutting a gash in its tongue and dislocating a tooth. The rampaging dragon was rapidly closing in, I focused my power and jabbed my wand.

"Frigidi Mortem!" I bellowed, sending a thick wave of frost with a blinding light. The blast smashed against the roaring thing and positively froze the boiling magma in its mouth, its whole face and front. The momentum still present but its front legs frozen, the beast crashed on the ground and slid on a few yards, pushing a massive lump of dirt forward.

My respite didn't last long, the animal roared again, pulverizing the ice in its mouth with a few gallons of infernal napalm. It stood up again, its frozen flesh heating up and resurrecting. I sheathed my wand in a quick motion of the wrist and grabbed my axe with two hands.

I roared inhumanly and swung my weapon again, this time in a vertical slash, electricity buzzing madly at the edge. The dragon's eyes were still frozen, it didn't see the strike coming. The lightning hit just before my blade did, melting the scales and tendering the meat under them, and the hundred pound of goblin steel hacked the dragon's collarbone and flesh. Blood only sprayed after the axe had stopped, embedded in the thorax of the beast. The child dragon whined a sad whimper and collapsed to the ground, dead on the spot. Blood flowed massively, painting my boots and my greaves red.

I panted for a moment, exhausted from the lengthy use of the armor and the exercise it had become. Dark magic from the freezing spell was still pleasantly soothing my nerves and tingling my skin.

I thought dragons stayed in the mountain part of the forest. I eyed the fallen creature still bleeding heavily. Sorry, kid, but you should have listened to your mommy.

I pulled the axe out of the draining flesh and set course to the cave. I'll take a nap first, adamantine will wait.

I grinned faintly. No human could hurt me in this thing, even a dragon can't.

Tomorrow was planned the final task of the Triwizard Tournament, I had missed three of the six tasks but heard Zachary was doing pretty good, even if he had had to train twice as much after the memory loss. I would be watching this one, the year was almost over and I had done all that I needed to be done.

An intense feeling of accomplishment alleviated me as I fell asleep on the rocky ground of the cave.

I watched Zach blast away one of the crazy half giant's pets on the floating screen and wondered just how did he become so good with a wand. Potter blood is one thing, but he's really good.

The dangerous looking fiery crab was thrown in a bush and Zach transfigured the grass under it in mud, effectively trapping the monster.

"Come on Ced, show him how it's done!" cheered Smith on my left, his voice booming above the constant noise of the crowd.

The six floating screens above the entrance of the labyrinth showed each participants in their quest through the endless bushes. So far Zach had encountered Dementors, a Sphinx and a few clever traps, all defused skillfully. I cursed everytime he passed through an obstacle, he was too damn good for a fourteen years old. The crowd was delighted, of course, and cheered for him louder than anybody else.

"Damn, what was even that spell he used to vanish the fog? Your brother is really something Harry." squeaked Eveleen in my ear.

"Could have blasted the whole trap with an Incendio, though. It would have been faster." I spat, not bothering to hide my irritation. I had no idea of what spell it was neither.

"An Incendio? This thing had to be protected from fire, obviously."

"So what? Send something stronger then! A spell that vanishes fog is worthless when you can just burn the whole fucking place!" I barked angrily before forcing myself into calm.

"Merlin, Harry, what's wrong with you?" she asked, placing her hand on my arm.

I took a sip of the butterbeer bottle and grabbed her hand.

"Follow me."

"What? But the task?" she asked incredulously. I pulled her up and pushed my way through the crowd, mumbling apologies to the spectators I was almost walking on.

"It's gonna be quick I swear." We got out of the stadium and I led her behind the wooden structure.

"You want to? Now? Oh, Harry, never change." she smirked and let me push her against a wooden beam. I needed to get rid of the irritation of seeing Zach do so well. I was sick of the show anyway, and it had been a few days since I had touched Trix.

She giggled as I vanished her panties with a flick of wand and conjured handcuffs on her wrists, locking her around the pillar of the stadium's structure.

"Ohhh, kinky today, I see. Want to take the helpless prefect here and now? Oh no, what am I gonna - ummm" she finally stopped talking and started to moan.

Our fun was unfortunately stopped by the crowd after a few minutes, apparently, someone had reached the cup. The cheers and cries heard told me that someone from Hogwarts had gotten it. I sighed. Probably him, of course.

"Don't stop, Harry..." whined Trix, still bound to the wooden beam. I returned to my work on her, but the cheers had stopped. Weird, they're not cheering anymore. The crowd had turned silent and was muttering weirdly. I heard steps above me, people were moving around, up and down the stadium.

"Harry? Is this a new game or something?" moaned Trix. "Come on ...please!"

"Something's not right, Trix. The crowd, they're acting weird. Let's go." I vanished the handcuffs and closed my pants hurriedly, ignoring the stinging hexes she send at my back out of frustration. Once in the stadium again, my suspicions were confirmed, something was wrong.

At the jury table, I spotted James, Lily, Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, The Minister, Shacklebot and numerous other official-looking people. They were obviously very worried and arguing quite loudly. Aurors had invaded the pitch on brooms and were containing the crowd.

"What's that about, you drag me out there to play your fantasies and you retract just when I'm about to -" yelled Trix in my ears before I cut her with a silencing charm.

"Look around you, Trix, there's been an incident." I explained, excited. Maybe he's dead, maybe he finally got killed by something.

She quickly surveyed the stadium before canceling the charm.

"What do you think happened?"

I tapped the closest wizard on the arm to get his attention. Apparently a Ravenclaw, not that it mattered.

"What happened? I didn't see."

"Well, Potter and Diggory got to the cup together and decided to grab it at the same time. The cup was a portkey and took them away. And apparently, this wasn't planned right, they aren't coming back."

"Where did the portkey take them?"

"If anybody knew, we would be celebrating instead of waiting for someone to explain what the hell is going on." he retorted in a condescending tone. I turned to Trix and explained her quickly, hiding my amusement. This is glorious, he's getting kidnapped under the nose of Dumbledore, James and the Ministry officials.

A few dozen minutes later, as I was trying to convince Trix to give it a go again, the crowd exploded suddenly. I turned around and quickly spotted what triggered it. Zach had appeared in the middle of the stadium, just under the floating screens.

He looked terrible, he was dirty and very pale, his arm was bloody, I could see it soaking the black robes. He was carrying Diggory, who looked dead, eyes open widely and lifeless body. At first I thought the boy had been stunned by a weird spell or something, but I soon understood that he was actually dead.

"Holy shit, Diggory's dead! Oh my god! Holy shit, Harry!" Trix was raving next to me, shaking me madly. The Aurors had ran to Zach and were busy with him, as was Dumbledore and everyone around him.

Student were promptly sent to their dormitories by their respective heads of Houses, and before I knew it, I was confined into a roaring common room.

A lot of girls were crying their eyes out, and most of the boys were shouting and yelling to no one.

"This has to be Potter, he wanted the cup for himself!" finally shouted one. Soon after, everyone adopted the idea and suddenly remembered there was another Potter in the room.

"Potter! You and your brother!" spat a seventh year, his face reddened. He pointed his wand at me madly.

"What?" I simply answered to the non question.

"You little shit!" he barked and without further ado silently sent a spell my way.

"Protego." I casted the shield charm, speaking the incantation at the last second, almost revealing my silent casting skills. No fourth year knows how to silent cast a shield.

The pink spell shattered the shield and vanished along with it. I readied myself to stop another one when a red bolt struck my assailant, who fell in the arms of his fellow classmates.

"What do you think you're doing?" barked an angry prefect Eveleen, her wand still pointing to the group that turned to me.

"Harry was with me the whole time! The next one who does any kind of magic will get a fully detailed report to Sprout!" she yelled, her eyes still puffy from the crying.

"That doesn't prove anything!" shouted a fifth year, Jay Carry from what I remembered.

"And everybody knows Harry shags you so that doesn't really make you a valid alibi." mocked a seventh year, sneering at her. "That make you the whore of a criminal." he added helpfully, earning a few laughs.

It was apparently a touchy subject, and Trix was probably not in the mood for that.

"Incarcerous!" she yelled. Ropes started to grasp the seventh year when his friend sent a stunner at Trix. My reflexes kicked in, I casted an out loud Protego in front of her, that got destroyed by the two stunners.

The following seconds were a mess.

"Frangerium." I spoke out loud, not ready to reveal my silent casting. The silent explosion curse hit the floor just behind the first row of angry teenagers and exploded. It wasn't a dangerous spell, but it was still very efficient against groups of people. The force of the silent blow sent everyone in the room flying. Yelps and shouts were heard as the students crashed against the furniture, bounced of the ceiling and landed on the floor, losing their wands, glasses and any other objects as they were chucked around.

"What in blazes is going on!" bellowed Sprout from the entrance of the common room as everyone were picking themselves up. The room was completely messed up, students were stacked one on another, trying to get up without hurting themselves too badly. Some were moaning in pain as they hurt their wrists or ankles in the process, and almost all the girls were still crying from the death of Diggory. Wow... Frangerium indoor is one hell of a party. I thought with a smile.

"What happened?" inquired Sprout, scanning the terrible state of her students.

"It's Potter!"

"Potter tried to kill us!"

"Shut up you lot! Professor Sprout, they tried to attack Harry because his brother was with Cedric when he..." started Trix, allowed to speak to Sprout thanks to her prefect status. She stopped and bit her lower lip, visibly refraining a tear.

"Anyway, he's not to blame, it's Dewayne, and Mortimer and his friends." she finished, pointing to the angry seventh years. My wand was still in my hand, I didn't know much offensive and legal spells, but I was sure I could take them on.

"Detention to all of you. Potter, with me." I raised an eyebrow but silently made my way to professor Sprout. "I'm going to bring Mr. Potter to his family, when I come back, I want everyone of you calmed down and this room in perfect condition! I won't hesitate expelling the lot of you if not!" she yelled before turning around and walking away. I followed her, shooting a small smile at Trix before I couldn't see her anymore.

We walked for a while in the empty corridors, Sprout was visibly shaken by the loss of Diggory, she didn't utter a single word.

"Ah, Harry." greeted Dumbledore with a sad smile when Sprout pushed me in his office before going back to the common room.

"Headmaster."

"How are things in Hufflepuff, my dear?"

"Quite messy, to be honest. I might have had to curse a few dozens to save my skin. What's going on, headmaster?"

"Yes, yes, I figured they might think Zachary had done something terrible. Sit down with your family, please." he discarded me and walked back to the center of the office, where a bunch of witches and wizards were arguing loudly. I made my way to a seat next to Zach and listened.

"But it makes sense, Minister. Zachary is positive in his report, Voldemort is back. Barty Crouch was a death eater and plotted this nefarious enterprise while he was alive." insisted Dumbledore, backed up by James who nodded heavily.

"We must warn the people as soon as possible, Cornelius." he added.

"You are basing all your suspicions on the tale of a fourteen years old boy who - clearly - is not in his right mind." argued the minister.

"Are you saying my son is a liar, Cornelius?" threatened James, taking a step toward the fat Minister.

"Auror Potter, your son's tale isn't credible! Survived another encounter with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? And with his death eaters this time?" he laughed a nervous laugh.

"My son!" bellowed James, grabbing the Minister by the collar. "Does not lie!"

"James, calm down, I'm sure the Minister will see reason." helped Dumbledore, putting his hand on James' shoulder.

"Auror Potter! You will remove your hand and step back!" squeaked the little man. "Until there is a strong evidence of your fairy tale, I will not believe it."

"There are two dead bodies, Minister!" yelled McGonagall. "Doesn't that and Zachary's account make enough evidences?"

"Cornelius, we must face the facts and react accordingly. If we act soon enough, we will be able to deal with Voldemort efficiently. It won't be like the last war."

"Enough, Dumbeldore!" Fudge yelled before stepping back. "You-know-who is dead and will stay dead. I won't play your sick fantasies." he spat.

"If you want to deal with dark wizards, I suggest we discuss the fact that there is a kid here who came back from Merlin-knows-where with a dead student in his arm!" he barked, pointing accusingly at Zach.

"This story isn't clear, Albus, and I will clear it out."

"Cornelius, I beg you, look at the facts!" tried Dumbledore one last time before the Minister and his cortege left the office, leaving him and the Potter family in a boiling silence.

"This imbecile!" shouted James, throwing his arms in the air. "He's a god damn idiot, and he's gonna bring down the entire country with him!"

Dumbledore sat behind his desk and sighed deeply.

"I knew there was something wrong with Zach being in this tournament, if only this fucker didn't die so quickly, I could have seen the whole thing in his mind!"

"James! Settle down!" shrieked Lily, James was fuming.

"James, Lily, I suggest you take Zachary and his brother home. You will be hidden and protected here." started Dumbledore, standing up.

"It is time to reform The Order, I will contact you shortly."

They nodded knowingly and before long, we were back home.

This night I wondered just what the hell I was getting into.

Whatever's gonna happen, I can't become a part of it. I have my own plans.

"Mail!"

The voice woke me up suddenly. I sat up in my bed and massaged my forehead. I almost remembered the dream, this time. I still had the scent of Natasha in my mind, as if I had just hugged her a few seconds ago. Dreamed of her again... At least it's not the nightmares.

It was almost noon, I crawled out of my bed and slipped on a cargo short along with a polo, not bothering to look at what I was summoning from the drawer with lazy wand flicks. After a quick moment in the bathroom, I was fresh and ready to start my day.

When I arrived in the living room, I suddenly stopped whistling. Before me were headmaster Dumbledore, deputy headmistress McGonagall and a few other people I couldn't remember seeing before. They were discussing enthusiastically and drinking Lily's famous punch.

The Order of the Phoenix was apparently some sort of anti terrorist association Dumbledore was the head of, and my living room had become its headquarters. Our house was heavily warded and impossible to find without being invited into it, that and the fact that it was Zachary's home, Dumbledore decided there wasn't a better place to arrange meetings of the vigilante group.

Diggory's death had been publicly explained as an accident, and Dumbledore's and James' vehement public declarations only served to get James fired from the Auror ranks and press articles about the declining sanity of the old Warlock. Now, it was all about the Order, they were determined to make things move.

Looks like they invited the kids too, great. I thought darkly as the Weasley mother scolded Ron for annoying Ginny. I made my way across the busy room, trying to not be noticed too much, to get my mail. Owl magic had been cut from the house since the recent attempt on Zachary's life, and we now had to get the mail by the floo, a service took it for us and packaged it through the green fire.

"Hey, Harry." I winced at the voice. I had taken Ginny's virginity a few weeks ago, and it had been really, really weird. Mostly because we did it right after seeing fake Moody being killed.

"Oh, hey Ginny." I smiled and pointed to the pile of mail James was reading near the fireplace. "I'm going to get my mail if I have some... And you? What are you doing here?" I asked lamely, cringing at the bad wording.

"My mum and dad were invited to spend the day here so we came along." she explained, looking expectantly at me. "Why didn't you talk to me since... you know..." she blushed.

"Well... I wasn't really myself this day and I... I sort of felt like I forced you to be honest." I lied, I had been myself this day as much as any other day of my life and I knew it. There wasn't a solid and true "myself", I had decided after a thorough reflection, I was made of many different facets, but each one of them was myself. "So yeah, I figured you'd hate me or something, and so much shit happened after that, I sort of lost track of our story together..."

She stepped closer and shook her head, blushing furiously.

"I don't hate you, Harry, not at all. It was... weird, but I liked it... I think." she admitted, lowering her voice to avoid being heard. However, I wasn't especially interested in the young redhead anymore. I had broken into her, conquered her, and now she was nothing special. Not even experienced, she has no value anymore. I thought bitterly. Still, she's cute, and it would be a pain to have her throw a tantrum around the house everyday.

"I'm glad to hear it." I didn't say anything more as her mother came to me and greeted me.

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley. James, my mail please."

James merely looked at me and tossed me a bunch of letters tied together by a string. "They're somewhere in there I guess." he mumbled before going back on his read.

"Let me take care of that, Harry. There are some letters in there you might not be meant to read." said Mrs. Weasley as she snatched the letter pack with her wand in mid air, glaring slightly at James.

I looked at her and refrained a violent urge of sending her flying into the wall for being so rude. This is my house, my family and my letters, who the fuck are you.

She started to process the letters, placing back on the table the ones addressed to anyone else than me.

"Hey, Harry." I turned to the voice and saw Zachary, escorted by his famous bodyguards, Ron and Hermione.

I greeted them quietly and waited for the annoying red haired witch to finally hand me my mail if I had any.

"So, do you guys know what's up with the Order and stuff?" I asked nonchalantly, not actually wanting an answer. I had gleaned all the information I could on Voldemort's rebirth ritual and had identified what it was, and it was nothing useful for me, so I had dropped any interest I had for the whole story. If he wants to kill Zach, that's cool with me. Not my problem.

"Oh yeah, you'd like us to tell you, right?" barked the disfigured Ron, his pink skin reddening slowly.

"The fuck is your problem?"

"We don't trust you, Potter. Everybody may have forgotten the forest attack, but we didn't." he spat, lowering his voice a bit as his mother turned her attention to us.

"From Trix Eveleen to Harry Potter." She handed me a letter, I took it. "And from Isabel Neilina to Harry Potter." she said as she handed another letter before resuming her slow processing of the letters.

"You're aware that the case is closed, right? Barty Crouch Junior? Rings a bell?" I mocked, reading the letter from Trix, it was nothing much, basically just good luck wishes for Zach and an invitation to come and shag her all night any time during summer.

"You're not clear Harry, I've had suspicions about you for too long, dad told me about the fight we had last summer, conveniently enough for you, the obliviation starts just before." whispered Zachary, his eyes hard.

I rolled my eyes. Honestly, I didn't even plan to erase that, it just turned out this way.

"So what? I did it?"

"Three more letters, from Cynthia Alanis, Louise London and Priscillia Crystal." the red head mother handed me the letter, her eyes a bit narrowed at me.

"Obviously, it wasn't you. It was most likely Crouch. But there is a possibility that it wasn't him, and in any case, you are not innocent, you had your hand in this, somehow. The book you refused to show me or dad, your behavior over the years, your weird sorting in Hufflepuff, everything is amiss around you, Harry."

"That book was nothing special, I refused to show it because you were being an ass about it." I explained offhandedly.

"One from Alyson Justice ,one from Pamela Laverne, one from Elissa Netta, and finally, one from Howell Nye." finished the authoritarian redhead. "Oops, and one from Rosaline Andie. Popular with witches, Mr. Potter, I wonder if I should let you around my Ginny." she joked before taking off.

Ginny laughed slightly and looked sadly at the pile of letter in my hand.

"Well I don't believe you, and Ron's with me." he leaned to me and lowered his tone. "And Hermione told us about how you threatened her once. I'll be frank, Harry, in these times, we can't allow you to be a risk for us. If you want us to trust you, hand over the mail."

I looked at him unbelievingly.

"The mail? You mean my mail?"

This time, Hermione answered, looking at me straight in the eyes.

"Exactly, Harry. If you have nothing to hide, let us read your mail."

"You guys are kidding, right? There's no way I'm letting you read my mail." I laughed heartily. "What do you even expect finding in there? A letter from You-Know-Who? Him asking me how's going my infiltration in the Potter family? Jesus Christ, I thought you were the clever one, Granger."

"You want to play it like that? Then be it, Harry, but you got to understand we're not playing anymore, not since Cedric died." Zachary concluded darkly and walked away, followed by Hermione.

"Come on Ginny, don't stay around him." beckoned Ron

"Get out of here, half-wizard." I spat, using Ron's new nickname since the Forest attack and walked back to my room before he could lose his temper and end up triggering the Trace.

I skimmed over the letters, most of them were the same wishes for Zach to regain his health and invitation for me to drop in their place for a tea or something. Well, why not after all. With apparition, it would be quite easy to visit them over the summer. But first, I need to try apparition with the Adamantine covered minotaur. It would only take me an hour or two to coat the armor in Adamantine, the rest of the afternoon would be dedicated to practice with the final product. I might drop to Priscillia's place after that, if only to mock her. Priscillia Crystal, what kind of name is that?

I opened my window and jumped off. There was no point in telling anybody I was going out, they would probably freak out and lesson me about how dangerous is You-Know-Who. I walked a few streets away and apparated to the Forbidden Forest.

When I came back to Godric's Hollow, the midnight bells had already rung in the quiet town. The Adamantine coating had been a success, and I had played with the armor a while, apparating in various places of the deep Forbidden Forest. I had encountered a few brave beasts but they fled as soon as they took an overpowered punch in the face.

The following hours had been spent with Priscillia, and weirdly enough, her cousin Nymphadora Tonks who had the incredible gift of metamorphmagus. I had tried to initiate a threesome but the witch rejected the offer. I was only fourteen after all, and she was in her twenties.

I tried to sneak by the backyard and get into my room without awaking the sleeping house, but when I stepped in the living room, crossing the concealment ward, I discovered a very awake house.

"There he is!" yelled Zach, pointing an accusatory finger to me. What in hell did I do this time.

Dumbledore himself was present and walked to me.

"Harry, where have you been?" he asked in concern.

James and Lily were in the back, looking at me with a blank look, and I spotted the ever golden trio glaring at me from their seats.

"What happened?" I asked. Dumbledore sighed and pushed me into an armchair.

"Did you get out on your own?"

"Of course I did." I replied, wondering where this was going.

"Harry, we are at war. Your family is the primary target of Voldemort, you cannot leave the house." he explained, a sad smile plastered on his old skin. I was getting rather pissed off at the old man and his Order.

"Well in any case, I'm not trading freedom for security. You guys can stay locked in there if you want, but I won't. Headmaster." I greeted shortly and stood up to go to my room.

"Now, now, Harry. We are not talking about locking you. What have you been doing out of the house? I'm sure we can come to an agreement." he grabbed my arm and forced me to sit down, I resisted the urge to backhand him into the opposite wall.

"We can't allow you to wander outside, Harry, it endangers your family and the Order." this time, his tone had lost all pretense of friendliness and was firm.

What I've been doing? Sure I could bring the girls here, but I have to plan my attack of the warehouse. But obviously, the old man won't accept anything else than a yes.

"Whatever, I'll bring my friends in the house too then." That should get him off my back until the next time. I shrugged and walked to the staircase, only to be intercepted by Zach and his sidekicks once out of the living room.

"No more of your little trips out of the house, Harry, no more dark magic training and whatever dark stuff you like to do. I told you we're onto you." Zach smirked and climbed the stairs, followed by the two others. Ron glared at me with passion, probably thinking it was intimidating.

"Watch out with that death stare of yours, pretty boy, you're gonna traumatize someone one of these days." I lowered my voice and leaned closer to him with a big grin. "I could make you more... symmetrical if you'd like. I know just the right curse." I winked and let out a small laugh as the red haired monster made a quick grab for his wand.

"Diffindo!" he roared like a mad man, sending the cutting curse at almost point blank.

I protected my face with my left hand, taking the curse in the forearm. Ron wasn't finished, he started another wand motion. Thinking fast, I kicked him in the knee, breaking it instantly. He yelled in pain as he collapsed, his synthetic leg not able to maintain him on its own.

"What the fuck did you do?" shouted Zachary, his wand on me. I raised my hands and grinned as the adults arrived to see what was going on.

"What happened? Who casted the cutting charm?"

"It was Ron, sir, he didn't take one of my jokes well." I explained calmly, showing my forearm, barely bleeding from the cut. "He was about to continue his attack, so I kicked him in the leg."

Dumbledore took a few seconds to fix what he could in the broken knee and levitated Ron on a couch.

"He admitted it! He said it! It was him who did that to me!" he yelled madly, sputtering and glaring at me.

I shook my head and sighed before going in my room under the glares of Hermione and Zach. Summer is going to be really hard this year.

An: So you want to be an Author: yes, according to the stats I have, about half the people that read chapter 1 drop the story altogether.

That's a lesson for me, next time, put extra work into the first chapter. Not that the rest of the story is perfect, I'm aware that it has flaws and all, but the first chapter is definitely a weak point.

In the next chapter, Harry will attempt to steal the ingredients he needs from Aleksandro , stay tuned!