Chapter 16.

When I opened my eyes again, I thought I was going to suffocate, my body felt sore and my throat dry, I felt like I had died sometime in the night.

I climbed down the tree slowly and gathered my things. Strange, there's no blood on my suit, it's clean.

I looked around suspiciously and suddenly it came to me. I looked at my watch and squinted to read the date.

Tuesday... I've been out for four days. I looked up to the tree I had slept on. Four days on that twig. I hadn't moved in those four days, or I would have fallen. The rain that had washed my suit didn't wake me up, nor did the cycles of sun and moon or the probably various insects and birds that had poked my limp body out of curiosity.

My stomach gurgled, reminding me that I hadn't eaten in those four days neither. I grabbed my wand and tried a cleaning charm on myself. Using magic didn't hurt, but it felt still a bit sore. Four days without applying the ointment would probably make the scar permanent, I thought as I spread the dark green substance on the scar, berating myself for this lack of planning.

I looked around for an animal to eat and I spotted a familiar white bird watching me from a branch.

"Hedwig!" I laughed, happy to see a friendly face at last. Hedwig hooted happily and flew down to me, a bunch of letters in her grasp. I petted her for a while and started to read the letters, most of them had been wet and dried but still readable. She probably took care of my mail since she understood I left the house.

One came from Zachary, who basically told me that I had to come home because the whole Order was freaking out, another came from Albus Dumbledore, head of said Order, asking me to come home to discuss it calmly and the others were nothing more than the usual letters from my Hogwarts acquaintances.

Followed by Hedwig, I walked back to my cave and unloaded all the good I had stolen on the big flat rock that had served me so well during the creation of my armour. I now had all the illegal ingredients I needed to perform the Melor Ritual as I had decided to name it, in homage to Yevgeny Melor, the Russian Necromancer that made it possible.

I placed the armor against the wall and took a few steps back to appraise it. Much like my body, it was quite wrecked. The helm was the worst part, one of the two bull horns had been snapped by the punch that had nearly killed me, and the right side was nastily caved in. The cuirass had many impacts and scratches on it and a few deep gashes from the Chimera. It was a bit deformed here and here, it had some scorching traces and sharp bumps all over it but was still consistent. Most of the other parts were unscathed except for a few scratches, and my left greave had been chopped along with my hand, but the cut was so clean I didn't need to even fix it; a leather belt would be enough to hold it firmly in position.

I took an hour to wash my wounds in the river and freshen myself with a few dozen cleaning charms, put my everyday clothes on and apparated to a small wizard town near the Dean Forest. I walked down a few houses and spotted the one I was looking for. The Justice manor. Alyson and me had become closer lately, and I knew I could trust the Slytherin witch to not blab about me to anyone.

I rang at the metal gate. The manor wasn't a big one, it was merely a big house with a small domain in front of it. It looked nice and rich, but it wasn't really much. I hope they have a nice shower booth, I could use one.

"Harry! Long time no see!" she squeaked and trotted to me to hug me. I took the hug and smiled to her.

"Hello, Alyson. Care to let me in?"

"Oh my god, Harry! You look terrible. And you smell like... the forest?" She opened the door and I followed her inside the modest manor.

"What happened to you?"

"What? Do I look that bad?"

"You look like you haven't eaten or drink anything in a month and washed yourself in a lake."

"Yeah well, I admit I wouldn't spit on some meat and a nice shower." I shrugged and watched at her expectantly.

Her eyes widened.

"You actually come here to ask for food?"

"I came here to see you, but I can very well go and eat in a muggle fast food shop if that's a problem."

"No, it's okay - Norbert!" A house elf appeared next to her and took my order of red meat and water. We sat down at the main table and waited for the elf to cook the food.

"So your parents are away?" I asked, pretending to care at least a small bit.

"My parents? They're working." she answered, not looking away from me. "Let's talk about your parents. You know they owled me to know where you were? That was about two days ago."

"What? Why you? I never told them about us..." I was genuinely surprised.

"I guess they deduced it from the letters I sent to you... letters that you didn't answer to, may I add." The elf appeared again and served me a plate of lamb and French fries with a fresh jug of water.

Alyson took a sip from my glass and watched me intently. "So, you disappear from your home, right after your dad gets fired from the Auror corps for making a public announcement about the return of You-Know-Who, and you come to my house five days later, looking like you've spent the holiday in a bear trap, and ask for food and water. That plus the nasty wound on your head and the obvious terrible state you're in, makes me wonder exactly what the hell happened to you, Harry."

She hadn't stopped staring at me the whole time, her eyes showing excitement. She was enjoying the mystery around me. "Should I add that exactly four days ago, an unknown person broke the international apparition wards and dropped a dead Mage Knight who happened to be an official of the Venezuelan Ministry, right in the middle of the Dean Forest." she added in a lower tone, her eyes narrowing.

I laughed heartily.

"You think I killed an Auror? What would I even be doing in god damn Venezuela, out of all places to visit in the world? Alyson, you're insane." I tried to look like I didn't take her seriously, but I started to wonder how much trouble I was putting myself into. She's too perceptive for her own good.

"Graham Montague." she answered calmly, still not tearing her eyes apart from me.

"Montague? What about him?"

"Don't think I didn't saw the links, Harry. He died a few days after you attacked him on the pitch and I was in the middle of the fight, I know what happened. He kept ranting about how he was gonna make you pay for the affront in the common room, and he privately told me that he would hurt you for real, probably to scare me. Guess what, I was scared for you, but the day after, he was dead. And in the most suspicious fashion. I did a bit of research and discovered that you had been sent out of class this afternoon by professor Moody, who turned out to be a Death Eater under disguise... I don't get all of it, but I'm pretty certain you had your hand in it."

"Christ, Alyson, you're way out of bounds. Come back on planet earth!" I answered with a laugh. "I was in the library with Isabel, a Ravenclaw friend of mine. And didn't it go through your head that maybe, what Montague meant by 'hurt me for real' involved Dementors, thus explaining why he foolishly tried to steal one?" I took a piece of meat and ate it like it was my first meal in years.

"Montague was an idiot, an asshole even, I'm glad he's dead to be honest, but it doesn't make any sense for him to try and steal a Dementor. Everybody agreed on that in the Slytherin community."

"Well, I don't see how I would have set the whole thing up anyway, or do you mean I also killed those Ministry workers?"

"Ever since my second year, when that prefect warned us about you, I knew there was something weird about you, Harry. Guess what happened to that prefect? He was expelled for having tried to hurt you and presumably hurt a few other first years. But you were the only one with him when it happened, nobody else know what was said. I've always been suspicious of you, and things have gotten out of hand in the last year, your brother calling you a dark lord in public, you crashing in the main tower and being unharmed, the fight against Montague, his death, everything is getting weirder and weirder."

I continued my meal, wondering where she was going and when I'd have to obliviate her.

"So I asked a few of your close Hufflepuff friends about you, and strangely enough, they have nothing to say. They're actually kind of weird, often not even responding when I ask about you, like if they were somehow unaware of your doings. At first I thought they were just being Hufflepuff, but then I asked more questions and drove them into traps to contradict themselves. It took me a few days to notice something is really amiss with them, the weirdest being Loren, the girl you dated for two years before dumping for no apparent reason. She literally hadn't a thing to say about you, nothing whatsoever."

I swallowed my meat and sighed softly. She was very close to make me mad, mentioning Loren out of nowhere like this.

"That's when I understood what was going on. You obliviated her, Harry." she concluded, apparently not scared to reveal all her suspicions to me.

"Guess who else had been massively obliviated a few month after that? Your twin. A few month after he called you a dark wizard and accused you of having put his name in the cup. He was brutally assaulted, almost killed and completely obliviated... I know Moody took all the blame and I know it sounds mad but... I'm sure you're not innocent in this mess."

"Er..." I tried.

"And now, on top of all this madness around you, you get to my house, looking like you're an escaped war prisoner, a few days after the event that triggered a massive chaos known as the Britain-Venezuela affair. Say, Harry, would you show me your left arm?"

I finished the last piece of meat and placed the fork down.

"So what? I'm a serial killer and Obliviator, and I declared war to Venezuela or something?" I chortled, slowly picking my wand out of my pocket.

"I don't know exactly what you are, but you're way more of a Slytherin than anybody I know, and I want to be with you." she answered quickly, standing up as she saw me rising from my chair.

I pointed my wand at her in a flash. The atmosphere around us suddenly dropped a few hundred degrees.

"Y-You could obliviate me, but be aware that I stored all of my suspicions in a Pensieve and will be able to retrieve them. And if you kill me, the Daily Prophet will get a nice letter explaining why you killed me."

She watched my wand with no small amount of fear, but kept her feet steady and her voice only wavered a bit.

"What do you want?" She's probably not bluffing, damn! I chose the wrong witch to visit today...

"I want to be with you. I believe that You-Know-Who is back, everybody in Slytherin believes it and I trust some of my classmates to have real intel on the matter. I want to work with you and earn... your protection, I guess. I am scared of the Dark Lord, Harry, I know my bloodline isn't pure enough if anybody looks into it and I don't have enough connections to be safe. I don't want to get killed by some Death Eater thug for some half-assed reason, Harry!" she all but whined, still clearly unnerved by my wand.

"And you think I can do anything to help you?" I asked incredulously. What she expected from me, I had no idea.

"You're powerful and dangerous, Harry. I don't care what you say, you're cunning and clever, you're going to be someone more dangerous than Malfoy or any of the other dumbasses in Slytherin. And, well... I kinda feel like it's working well between us." She didn't blush but I thought the immediate threat of death that my wand posed was the only reason.

I sighed.

"Look, Alyson... I don't plan on becoming a strong wizard or anything, I'm about as cunning as a bludger and don't even plan to defend myself from You-Know-Who, to be honest. I have something to do and once it's done, I'll disappear from Britain. I'll take a one-way portkey to some secluded place and get away from here. I can't protect you." I answered honestly, wondering how I could get out of this situation.

"Then take me with you." she replied immediately.

I looked at her critically and thought about it. There could be some potential here.

"You said I couldn't Obliviate or kill you, but you forgot another possibility." She raised her eyebrows and looked at my wand again, fear creeping on her beautiful features. "I could cast the Imperius curse on you and have you destroy each one of your precautions before killing you, or I could read in your mind, kill you and proceed to dismantle your operation afterward. I'm sure I could find a few other solutions if I put my mind into it."

"I-I didn't t-think you could use the Imperius curse." she replied, stepping back slowly.

"And that's exactly why I can't have you knowing so much of my secrets, Alyson. You don't think enough." I commented as I stepped toward her. "Or maybe you think too much, I'm not sure." I added as an afterthought.

"P-Please, I-I swear I won't tell anybody. Listen, you can obliviate me, I'll tell you where's my Pensieve!"

I thought about it for a second. Finally, numerous solutions are available... but I like my first idea better.

"I was just kidding, sweetheart." I sheathed my wand and opened my arms before letting out a small laugh. She swallowed and laughed nervously, barely trusting me.

"So, you accept my demand?" she tried softly.

"I suggest even better. An unbreakable vow. You swear that you won't ever tell anyone about my secrets, on your life."

"And what will you swear?"

"Well... I guess I'll swear that I'll do my best to take you with me out of Britain when I've done what I have to do."

She glared at me.

"And protect you from the Dark Lord, should he try and follow you for some reason."

She acquiesced and we called the ancient magic to seal the deal with a few wand waves and old English sentences. It was disturbing to see how easily we had made the vow unbreakable, putting ourselves under the sword of magic, accepting to die if we ever broke the promise, without any possibility to go around it.

"So, now I guess I can get comfortable." I said, taking my jacket off and revealing the scar on my forearm. She gasped and looked at me.

"That... you really... I didn't actually think it was you!" she blurted out, grabbing my arm to inspect the scar.

"Yeah, well. It was." I grinned, feeling a bit proud. "How did you know about it? Daily Prophet?"

"My mother works at the Ministry, she told me things not everyone knows. The fact that your hand was cut off your arm among other things. What's the story?"

"I'm not going to tell you everything, Alyson. I'll tell you what's useful for you to know. From now on, you're working for me." The next year will be quite busy, she could prove useful.

I had decided it a few minutes ago. Alyson would be my second set of eyes, ears, legs and arms in the castle. I would have to set up the ritual inside Hogwarts to take advantage of the massive amount of ambient magic, and she would help me better than any Imperiused student could. With the vow she had taken, there was no possibility of a leak from her, it was safe.

"Work for you? What do you mean?"

"I'll explain it when I need you, for the moment, I need a shower and afterwards I want to shag you real bad." I grinned widely and approached her.

"What? Now?" she squeaked, her eyebrows raised. "I'm not really in the mood..."

"I'll put you in the mood, come on."

She smiled faintly and led me upstairs. I took a moment to think about the ramifications of that discussion. If she, starting from nothing but suspicions about my involvement in Montague's death, deduced my numerous obliviations on my classmates and eventually guessed that much of my secrets, then how much could anybody else find? How much could Zach find if he actively began interviewing my housemates?

Well he doesn't have any true suspicions about me. He keeps ranting about me being dark and abnormal but he doesn't actually think I did anything so far... Only Ron seem to believe I was the one to attack them in the Forest, and he only does because he needs someone to blame for his injuries.

I shrugged mentally as I entered Alyson's private bathroom to take a shower. I could fix the issue by Imperiusing my housemates and planting stories to tell in their mind, but that would take too much of my time and focus. I wasn't willing to even think about the Loren case. I wouldn't ever cast an unforgivable or any kind of dark magic on her. I'll let things be for the moment. I'll open the Portal of Horus in a few month and it'll be all over.

Once I used the incredible magic source that is Hogwarts to fuel Natasha's rebirth, I'll just get away.

And if Alyson becomes a problem in the process, I vowed to do my best to take her with me, once I've done what I need to do... who knows what can happen to her before that?

"Well, I'm alright, aren't I?"

"That isn't the point, Mr. Potter! What if someone used you to get to your brother?" Auror Kingsley sighed and softened his tone.

"I understand it's a difficult situation but you must bear with it. No more outings, Harry. Promise me."

"Only if Zach and his dogs promise to never enter my room again. Not even get a glance into it."

"Oh yeah? So you can hide all sort of dark stuff right under our noses?" spat Ron fiercely.

"Ronald, stop being so thick!" scolded Hermione. "We promise, Harry." She smiled faintly.

"I don't know, Hermione. I kind of agree with Ron this time, I don't want him to hide stuff and bring Slytherins in his room." stated Zachary calmly, analyzing me carefully.

I had come back after a day at Alyson's place, I was clean and entirely fixed, except for the inhuman exhaustion that would probably be over in a week or two. My arm scar was concealed with a bit of makeup and my head wound had been mended by her House elf, surprisingly good with healing magic. I looked healthy again, if a bit tired.

"I'll bring whoever and whatever I damn please in my room, and you will stay out of my business."

"No, Mr. Potter, I'm afraid we can't let you bring whoever you please in the house. There is too much going on." Kinglsey spoke in a calm and serious voice, one that resounded of confidence and viability.

I sighed furiously and peered at the dark skinned auror.

"So what? Do I have a certain number of people I can get in or something?"

He shook his head. "Mr. Potter, the situation here is very tense, words spoken in this house cannot be heard by anyone. I will ask you to endure it until you return to Hogwarts." He patted me in the back and left the kitchen as I was trying to burn him with my eyes. I turned to the silent trio, Ron looked extremely smug and Zach looked pensive. Hermione had a blank expression.

This guy technically has no authority on me, but there's no point in bringing that out. James will just agree and tell me the same thing.

"Stay away from me, all of you. Especially you, Weasley." I scrunched my nose in disgust and turned to the door.

As planned, he tried to jump on me with a mad roar but slipped and fell pathetically on the floor. I didn't hate the boy, but it was so easy to anger him, I couldn't resist. Malfoy had been teasing him all year long about his wounds, and the kid was constantly about to explode. And since he had triggered the trace on me a few days prior, his parents had confiscated his wand.

I chortled and walked away, to the library. Might as well read if I'm stuck here for the summer. However, I stopped in the living room. Kinglsey, McGonagall and my parents were having a chat with Moody MadEye and someone I thought knew from somewhere.

Pink hair and leather jacket, a very cute face and blue eyes. She was around twenty years old from what I could see but I couldn't quite remember where I had seen the witch. I may be mistaking her for someone else, though.

"... Umbridge, probably, but we can't say for sure until the Minister declares it." concluded Kingsley, earning a few nods of acknowledgment. "In other news, we got a recent development in the Venezuela affair."

My ears perked at that and I silently took a seat.

"I trust you remember the details. We had the blood of the mysterious man but no match to it in the Ministry archives. Granted it doesn't mean much since pureblood family have the right to ask for deletion of their blood samples but yesterday, we found a match."

"Really?" exclaimed James, jumping out of his seat. My blood froze. They can't have found me out. Kingsley would have apprehended me already.

"The French." answered Kingsley, making a dramatic pause and watching the reactions before explaining further. "The French have the same blood sample tied to one of their unresolved case. Tonks and Moody went this morning to find out exactly what's going on."

"Right," started the pretty witch excitedly. Tonks, Priscillia's cousin, the metamorphmagus. "So, long story short, they have even less than us about the man. All they have is that in May 1993, he went in the French Knockturn Alley and assaulted two undercover Aurors. He obliviated them and left them tied in the street. They got a few drops of blood from the ground, probably a harmless cut. Their theory is that the Aurors followed him after detecting a heavy disguise on him and he surprised them."

Kingsley nodded and turned to the others again.

"With the French Ministry working with us on the case, we tried a go at the goblins for a blood analysis. They did the analysis and destroyed the results immediately, they now refuse to help in any way."

"That mean it's either a very rich or a pureblood family. Or that the goblin have an arrangement with the man." said James, apparently thinking hard about the situation.

"If the goblin had an arrangement with the man, or with someone who hired the man, they wouldn't have even checked the sample before refusing."

"Or they did that on purpose, to make you think they didn't know who it is beforehand." replied James with a small grin.

Silence filled the room for a few moments before McGonagall broke it.

"Do we have any clue of why did You-Know-Who attack Lord Aleksandro?"

"We can only assume, Minerva. Severus said that he didn't have any information on it but we must wait for his last report. Alkesandro has been a good ally of You-Know-Who in the last war, something must have happened between them for him to send someone here. But as we discussed the other time, the most disturbing is the way it had been dealt with. A single wizard was sent, and he nearly got killed." began Kinglsey.

"The South American Wizard Covenant was monitoring the place and decided to launch a frontal attack when they saw the breach caused by the Death Eater. Security measure didn't work as planned and half of the mercenaries meant to be here weren't here, that is why they took advantage and attacked. Apparently, it quickly degenerated in a very violent war, and our man escaped the scene only by luck." continued James.

"So... the presumed Death Eater would have died if it weren't for the South American Covenant?" asked Tonks unbelievingly.

"Well, the Covenant told us he killed a Chimera and an unknown number of wizards and Mage Knights on his way out, but he didn't engage in the main battle and still got his arm cut off. He was probably good, but no match for the defense Aleksandro hired."

"You-Know-Who barely used Mage Knights and mercenaries in the last war, this isn't his style. Blasting into the warehouse of his best black market supplier and attracting attention to Britain with an intercontinental apparition through the redirection wards isn't what a Death Eater would do. This doesn't seem right at all." muttered Moody.

I decided to speak up, it would be perfect if Voldemort and his clique took the blame.

"Well, maybe it was a punishment."

Everyone turned their head to me, Kingsley looked surprised to see me here and Tonks beamed at my sight. We had fun last time I spoke to her, even if she laughed at my almost-subtle attempts to get her in the bed with Priscillia and me.

"Maybe one of his Death Eater fucked up badly and as a punishment he was sent to steal something from this Alex guy." I shrugged. "If he comes back with it, he's forgiven and all is well, and if he doesn't come back ..."

"That makes a small amount of sense, I like that thinking." exclaimed Moody, winking at me.

"We need Snape's feedback before thinking further. I don't remember You-Know-Who giving such punishment, especially when he has more than enough money to buy everything he would want stolen. But it isn't impossible, maybe Aleksandro refused to deal with him anymore for some reason." agreed Kingsley, standing up.

"Did the Covenant or the Auror interrogate this Aleksandro person?"

"He's been interrogated but if he knew something about You-Know-Who, he wouldn't say so. He may be outrageously rich and well protected, but he probably doesn't want You-Know-Who to try and visit him. No amount of mercenaries would protect him from that and he knows it."

Everybody nodded at that and stood up to shook each other hands before leaving by the front door, Tonks muttered something to Moody and trotted to me.

"Hey Harry, how was the crystal princess, then? Did you get any shards?" she laughed and slapped me on the shoulder. We had mocked Priscillia for her surname when I met Tonks a few day ago and crystal princess had become her nickname.

"Nah, she's one of these crystals that look sharp but are actually very smooth when you know where to rub them."

"Yes, she did say that you knew how to rub her the right way." she replied with a sly smile. "You know, she's quite smitten with you, Harry."

"How do you see your relationship with her?" she added after a small pause.

I raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "It's just harmless sex between us, she was the one to like it better this way, actually."

Tonks frowned slightly. "I don't know exactly how you two ended up together but the way she talks about you, Harry... it's not just harmless fun for her." she said as she placed her hand on my arm. "She's my cousin and I'd hate it if you hurt her."

"Hey, like I said, she was the one who asked for that, and she knows very well she's not the only one in my life."

Tonks harrumphed at that and shook her head. "Still, I think you two should have a serious discussion. She talks about you like she's your girlfriend and at the same time you tell me you see other girls. I don't like that."

"She knows it, trust me. Now enough talked about my love life, what about yours?"

"I know she knows it, I just don't like it." She sighed and followed me into the library. "And you have no business knowing about my love life." she quipped and messed my hair affectionately.

"Mmh, so about that blood sample..." I started, swatting her hand away.

"What about it?"

"What are you gonna do? It's a good lead, no?"

She shook her head sadly.

"It could be one if the goblins weren't so stubborn. But the case is about to be closed anyway, the Ministry doesn't want to spend more resources on it. The man didn't break any law except for dropping a dead guy and breaking the wards, even the French don't really want to find who he is. I don't know about the South American Covenant but I think they have a lot more important things to deal with, so... yeah I think there won't be any follow up." she explained and sighed again. "Another case to the archives without a conclusion." she concluded with a shrug. "The Order won't give up so easily, though. The case is most likely linked to You-Know-Who and is very important."

"So what is the Order gonna do about it?"

"We'll see when Snape returns, for the time being we're in the dark."

I nodded and sat in a chair with a tome on advanced potion theories. Tonks sat beside me. "So... no running away, this time? Think you can survive a month in there?" she laughed and peered at my book.

"Seriously? This is bullshit, I can't stay here all summer. You know, I already ran away last year and went to live with my girlfriend for a month, that's how much I can't stand being locked here." I replied without opening the book.

Her eyes widened. "You left for a whole month? You were thirteen! What did your parents say?"

"I wouldn't know, I didn't see them again until Zach got Pettigrew, and they had pretty much forgotten about it."

She seemed quite astounded at that and stayed silent for a moment. I still didn't open the book, I didn't really want to read it after all. Staring into her eyes is much more to my liking.

"Well, I don't know much about you or your family, but Zachary is a good kid, it's probably not that bad."

"It is, trust me. Do you know why I went away for a few days just now?"

"Well, yeah, he told us. But that shouldn't happen anymore since you can't invite girls in the house." she said in what was meant to be a reassuring tone.

"Oh great! Thank you! Not only I'm stuck here but I can't even bring my friends in!" I threw my hands in the air, making her chuckle.

"I heard you get along well with Ginny, that's better than nothing."

I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Oh no! I don't mean you should get her into your bed or anything, actually, please don't!" she laughed. "No, no, I meant as a friend you know, I could be your friend too." she added with a smile.

"That's very nice of you Tonks but to be honest I'd like it better if you didn't bother being my friend and skipped right to friend with benefits."

She sneered at me hauntingly and rolled her eyes.

"While I see why teenagers are all over you, I'm way out of your league, kiddy." she looked at her wristwatch and cursed. "I gotta go, see you Harry." she leaned and kissed me on the cheek. "Don't do anything stupid."

She left the library and tripped on the door threshold, lost her balance and crashed against something I couldn't see in the living room.

I snorted and tossed the book on the table. I guess I'll sleep, I've got to rest a lot anyway.

I eyed the big red locomotive with no small amount of joy and exhaled loudly a breath that I had been keeping in for too long. Deliverance. Finally.

I would be in Hogwarts in a few hours, free to kill whatever I'd want in the forest and free to shag whoever I'd want in the castle. I had been in a more than terrible mood for the rest of the summer since my official restriction. I had forced myself to let my wand in my trunk, to avoid cursing people by accident. My hands moved on their own, my thoughts raced on their own and I couldn't trust myself with a wand.

The pain from the dark magic shortage in my body had been constantly increasing until it became a constant headache and soreness. I didn't sleep well, the food I ate was stale and I wanted to hit everyone. However, after week of constant pain I started to get accommodated to it and almost ignore it, and understood how dark wizard lived without killing everything that moves. It makes life hell, but with time you get used to anything.

Not anymore. I'm back.

Tonks had rejected every each one of my tries to get in her panties with that smile of hers that meant basically "you're cute but you have no chances", I had even tried to force her by pushing magic in my voice, but that had only earned me a kiss and a quick withdrawal from her.

The horrible hunger, the unbearable need I had experienced had ended up driving me to have sex with Ginny again, and of course the cat got out of the bag immediately after. Ron had been insanely mad, the twins wanted to beat me up and their mother shouted her lungs off at Ginny. She had been grounded for all summer and forbidden to see me ever again. The red head beast tried to scold me too but I quickly made her understand that I didn't give two shit about what she had to say, more or less brutally. James and Lily were outraged at my behavior and punished me too, not that it changed my situation anyhow.

If I had been anywhere near getting the Hermione girl in my bed before, it was definitely impossible after. She wouldn't even speak to me anymore, making all my work of being nice and throwing little smiles to her useless in the end.

Well, vacation's over. Back to business.

I entered the train and looked for an empty compartment. I spotted someone with whom I had exchanged a few letters over the summer.

"Alyson." I spoke, still unable to smile without focusing on it because of the constant headache pounding in my skull and screaming for blood. Scream for blood? Nah I just made that up.

"Harry!" she ran to me and stopped suddenly before walking more calmly.

"Sorry, I don't know how we're meant to act in the end. Boyfriend and girlfriend or not?"

I shook my head.

"As far as anyone knows, I bang you and I like to hang out with you. They can make their guesses from that, not that I care."

"Here he is, my dear brother. The one who defiled our innocent and underage sister." snarled a voice I knew behind me.

Fred and George. "What do you two clowns want?" I asked offhandedly.

The punch surprised me, I hadn't pegged the Weasley twins for the violent type. It connected with my cheek and pushed my head to the side. Meh, I've seen better. Alyson squeaked and drew her wand.

"We'll make your life hell for what you did, asshole." started the one who had punched me.

"Don't forget we know a little secret of yours from a few years ago." said the other with a wink.

I rubbed my cheek and watched them in what I hoped was a bored look. I couldn't be sure with rage inside me, the anger tearing my mind apart, demanding me to curse them into oblivion.

"We all know you can't reveal that secret; Why are you so mad anyway? Ginny loved it." I grinned widely as the one in front of me grew redder and redder.

"She was fucking thirteen, you sick fuck!" he grabbed my collar and swung another punch. This time Alyson reacted and banished him before he could hit me. He was sent a few feet back in the corridor and crashed against the door between two wagons.

"Got your girlfriend to protect you, Potter?" snarled the second one, pointing his wand at Alyson.

"She's not my girlfriend anymore than Ginny." I grinned again and turned around, the twin glared at me but didn't try anything more. They'll probably plan some prank on me.

I left the wagon with Alyson and found an empty compartment. We used the time to reach Hogwarts to ease my pain a little, locked in the compartment behind curtains and privacy charms. Thankfully, the ride went unperturbed, a few people had knocked on the door at some point but gave up when we didn't answer.

As I was getting out of the train, I spotted the twins glaring at me while muttering something with Lee and another boy. I turned to Alyson behind me.

"Alyson, you first assignment is to make sure the Weasley twins won't prank me." I whispered to her, getting closer. She nodded and her eyes jerked to the twins.

"Do I have carte blanche?" A smirk had found its way on her face as her eyes came back on me.

"Yes, do whatever you need to make sure they can't impede me and my plans. If it's just small harmless pranks it's alright, but don't let them harm or incapacitate me in any way."

"I'll watch them." she muttered back with determination.

I didn't trust her to be competent for anything, I knew she was an average witch and not particularly clever, but she had found out about me and that showed an unusual perceptiveness. My plan was to use her for my errands and to protect myself. I had some very complex and volatile potions to brew for the body re-creation ritual and she could help me brew them. She could go get the ingredients or she could monitor the cauldron when I wouldn't be able to do it myself, and at the same time she would be useful to block issues such as Zach or more recently the prankster twins.

My mind drifted to the ritual as we were getting closer to the castle, alone in our carriage. The three potions I needed to brew were for two of them very obscure potions that I had modified after a lot of thinking and the third one was a complete invention of my own. It was actually closer to Alchemy than Potion Brewing, as was the Phoenix tears and Dementor saliva distillation I had to perform. I would mix the few drops of Natasha's blood I had kept so dearly within the final product of the distillation and inject it in the Legendary Salamander beating heart, the main Runic anchor. I sighed. I'd have to design some sort of spell to make all of this work together, I couldn't just use my hands to manipulate the unpredictable liquid, not if I wanted to succeed. Maybe Alyson would be able to take care of the spell, it's just physical motions to imitate to the millimeter, nothing fancy.

I knew I'd have to teach her how to brew correctly if I wanted her to monitor the cauldron, though. The potions would be incredibly difficult to brew, and even if I would take care of the most complicated aspects, even looking after it would require a keen mind. I had everything planned and ready, it was going to be a breeze. Except for the banshee cloth... I thought darkly. I needed to imbue the cloth with the regenerative powers of the phoenix tears, but I had no idea of how to do that. I swatted the topic aside. I'll find a way to do it eventually.

By the time I had finished thinking, we had reached the great hall and sat down. Many of my peers greeted me with various degrees of joy and the hat launched in a song I didn't listen to. The headmaster presented the new defense professor and finally sent the lot of us to bed.

Going to bed was only the beginning for me, I quickly took back my habits and left the dormitory around midnight for the Forbidden Forest. The first thing I did was to check my secret stash of illegal ingredients. The Legendary Salamander heart was still beating and the pouch containing three barrels of moondust was still a simple pouch. I let out a relieved sigh. I had feared one of those two would fail somehow and destroy my plans.

I spared a glance to my damaged armor and decided to try and fix it eventually, but not this night. No, this night I was going to have fun.

There's a rather big nest of Acromentulas a few miles from here. I grinned widely.

I wonder how well spider web burns.

"Yes, that's what I heard."

I looked at Alyson and thought about it for a moment. If they pull this one off, they might be happy with it and call it a day...

"Okay then, let them do it. A babbling potion is nothing I can't handle. I'll just look like an idiot for a few hours and hopefully they'll stop there." I shrugged. The Weasley twins could quickly become a pain in the arse if I didn't defuse the situation immediately.

"Now Alyson, I wanted to ask, how good are you at Charm Theory and Arithmancy?"

She looked surprised at the question and dropped her 'good soldier' mask for a moment in favor of a hesitant face.

"Well... I have notions, why?"

"I'd need you to create a spell to manipulate a small amount of liquid very accurately in a certain fashion. Do you think you can handle that?" I asked as we entered the great hall. It was nothing unusual to see Harry Potter with a Slytherin girl for most of the students. I had earned the reputation of hanging out with everything with a vagina since last year and nobody cared anymore.

"I don't know, I could try but I can't promise anything." she eventually answered.

"You have a month to try."

The planet alignment and meeting with Zephyros and Victor was planned for January. I had about four month to make sure everything was ready.

The ritual for the Portal of Horus had been finally completed during summer, when I had put all of my mind into it along with Gregory. It was all set up and ready to roll. Zephyros and Victor knew what they had to do and I would take care of supervising the placement of the anchors and casting the incantation. When I would depart for Norway, where the Portal would be opened, the body creation ritual had to be ready too. Souls were very volatile outside of a container, and I wasn't about to risk Natasha's soul in a temporary container. No, I would inject her soul in her body immediately after getting it. Half an hour at most, that is what I have between the two rituals.

"A month to try what?" asked a cheerful voice to my right. Priscillia came from my blind spot somehow and threw herself on me for a tight hug. "Been avoiding me, Mr. Potter? It's been weeks already and you barely spoke to me!" she pouted before leaning in for a kiss that I returned gladly. It was always good to kiss witches, that was a constant.

"You know, Tonks told me to have a discussion with you, Priss."

"About what?" she asked curiously as I waved goodbye to Alyson.

"About me and girls. She doesn't like that I'm not yours and yours only."

We sat down and started to eat with our housemates.

"But you are mine." she answered with a sly smile and a lusty look in her eyes.

"For the next hour, I am." I smiled too. "But you know what I mean."

"Yes, yes, she has a rather... peculiar opinion of you since you tried to get her to have a threesome with us." she replied offhandedly, waving her hand to close the topic. People around her raised their eyebrows at the mention of a threesome and looked at me.

"A damn shame she has such a high opinion of herself, it would have been really fun. With her metamorphmagus skills I mean." More raised eyebrows. Smith was closely listening now.

"Are you guys setting up an orgy with a metamorphmagus?" he joked, his eyes betraying him.

"No, Smith, get back to your plate." rebuked Priscillia with a smile before looking up and behind me.

"Mr. Potter, Aurors would like to see you." declared a firm voice behind me. Deputy Headmistress McGonagall had come to the Hufflepuff table to fetch me. My heart sank.

Shit. What do I do. I had literally no chance of fleeing right now in the great hall, Dumbledore was here and I doubted I could outplay McGonagall in the first place. Conversations had died around me and everybody was looking at me. I stood up, a small smile plastered on my expressionless face. I shot a glance at the great doors and saw a bunch of Aurors in official robes waiting for me. I had planned to try and escape McGonagall once in the corridor. God damn it! What do I do? What could they have on me? I forced my mind to give me answers, my Occlumency practice had left me with very well ordered memories, and I couldn't find a reason to have Aurors here.

It could be anything, really. Then it hit me. The blood they were talking about. They must have traced it back to me. Instinctively, my hand shot to my left forearm, where the revealing scar was waiting to send me to Azkaban. They didn't see me kill the guy, though. Being underage, I might not get sent to prison. I tried to reason before letting out a small chuckle that stopped my thoughts. No, it's the end. But it's not over until I'm dead.

"Mr. Potter, follow me." said McGonagall in the same harsh tone, her eyes following me closely.

I nodded and followed out of the great hall. Three Aurors and Kingsley Shacklebolt greeted me with a curt nod and escorted me outside of the castle in the west courtyard, McGonagall reluctantly let me with them and walked back to the castle.

"Hello, Harry."

"Auror Shacklebolt, gentlemen. What can I do for you?" I asked wearily, trying to ignore my panic and to consider my words carefully. I can surprise them with my strength and create a thick smoke fog to escape. They would probably know how to vanish it quickly, they're Aurors, for Merlin's sake!

"I have a few questions for you, Harry, and I'd appreciate it if you answered truthfully." he started, a fake smile on his hard features. I saw through the mask though, he didn't have any remain of trust for me. They have something on me.

"Where were you on the 21th of July, 1992?" he asked suddenly, his voice hard. The other Aurors watched me closely and the only female one had opened a notebook and was ready to write my answer.

I pretended to think about it. Summer 1992, the Zabini affair. I recalled. There is no way it's something else.

"Well, I guess I was at home or at some friend's place." I answered easily and shrugged. "What's this about?"

"And who would be that friend?" asked a young Auror on Kingsley's left.

"I don't know, Trix Eveleen or Alyson Justice I guess." I invented. If they ask Alyson, she'll play along. "Or maybe Loren, I don't know." I decided to throw in for the effect.

"Harry, I'll be honest. The Zabini House has lodged a complaint against you and accuses you of the following acts." he declared in an official voice an motioned for the girl with the notebook to speak.

"Illegal Obliviation, thief of invaluable magical heirloom, use of level five dark magic on a pureblood house member and refusal to pay the entrance fee for the Zabini Museum." she read from her bulletin.

I played the flabbergasted act and gaped at her.

"I.. I what? They did what? Why did I what?" I blurted out, looking left and right between the Aurors.

"It appears that young Blaise Zabini had been obliviated and after years of investigation by Albert Zabini, they hired a team of obliviation masters and retrieved part of the memory."

"And I'm concerned why?"

"The memory accuses you, Mr. Potter. But I don't think a twelve years old could have done this." he said, his eyes warming up slightly. "We are not sure of what is Mr. Zabini's game, but it may be related to your brother and the rumors about You-Know-Who."

"Captain Shacklebolt!" gasped one the Aurors. Kingsley ignored him.

"The simplest way to resolve this affair would be to suggest veritaserum, Harry."

I know there are ways around veritaserum when the questions are about a particular case. I could ask Alyson to erase my memories and store them in her Pensieve to get them back later. But I knew the Ministry would ask all kind of dangerous questions to avoid that. "Do you have memory of the 21th of July 1992" for example would be a total tell-tale. Having no memory of a particular day doesn't exist, even if that day was the most boring of your life, your brain has at least memory of having lived it.

"I'd accept veritaserum under one condition. I want to be asked only one question, and I want to know the question before hand." I explained strongly. "It's easy, 'did you obliviate Zabini or ask anyone to obliviate him?' should be plenty enough."

They looked at each other.

"The Zabini won't stop their pursuit with that, Harry. They have some sort of plan, obviously. Why don't you agree to a thorough examination under veritaserum?"

"I had a nasty experience with it and do not wish to live it again." I retorted. "As a House of Potter member, I am allowed to refuse it and I will."

"Very well. We will check your alibi for that day and question your family. The investigation of Mr. Zabini's memories and other details are already in motion." he squinted at me and nodded to his companions.

"You will get a notice if the Auror corporation finds you guilty. Good day Mr. Potter." With that, he left the courtyard and let me alone with my thoughts.

Creating fake memories was a feat I couldn't perform, and it would take me months of intensive practice and study to get right. It will take a few months for the Aurors to confirm the truthiness of the memory. Hopefully, I'll be done by then.

I walked back to the castle, trying to think of the consequences of that episode. Zach was going to freak out knowing that I know the Obliviation curse and was efficient with it since first year, I had no doubt. I could tell to everyone that I was innocent, but Zach was going to freak out anyway.

Oh well.

an: Getting closer and closer to the end. I hope you guys still enjoy it, thank you for reading and reviewing.