7 7
Repercussions. That was the word of the the week at Hogwarts. The argument between Ron and Harry that had been overheard on the train had spread like wildfire due to the gossip network of Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil. They were helped by the bored and chatty Hogwarts portraits. It did not take long for the Professors to hear the rumors and find out what had led to the split of the "Golden Trio".
At the start of the year staff meeting many professors were still coming to terms with the happenings of the previous night. McGonagall felt ashamed because she realized that Hermione had lied about the reason she had been away from the feast the previous Halloween. As a result she started to doubt her ability as a faculty member. She vowed she would crack down on her lions to prevent anymore from jumping ship due to bullying.
Snape was awash with different emotions. He still hated the Potter spawn but he could now see his precious Lily's determination. The irony that her son had cut off Weasley just as she did with him after he slipped and called her a mudblood was not lost on him. The fact that he and Weasley were in identical situations with those of Evan's blood due to their own immaturity and tempers opened some still raw wounds. He was also disgusted due to the fact that he did not want any sort of connection with the Weasleys.
Filius Flitwick was ecstatic because he had just received two great students. He couldn't wait to help them achieve their full potential. He was also saddened that Minerva had lost two of her favorite lions due to one of her other lions. He was sure she would rather have lost Mr Weasley than the two she did lose. He would try and be magnanimous and not throw salt on that fresh wound.
Dumbledore was not having a good year. It all started so well too. He had sent Harry back to his relatives and was hopeful that the boy wouldn't have to face another dangerous school year. He was unfortunately disabused of that notion when Gilderoy attempted to touch Harry inappropriately. Gilderoy was now at the mercy of the DMLE. He had tried to get the poor boy out of the trouble he was in and give him a chance at redemption but the vainglorious boy had made an attempt at Harry in public and there was no way to make that go away.
He was thanking his lucky stars that Madame Bones had authorized a semi-retired Auror to take up the post of DADA professor this year. Professor Redlake would hopefully be able to teach the children what they needed and hopefully it would be toned down. He didn't want the children to be trained as fighters but he did appreciate the man's knowledge and expertise.
He was also wondering where Harry could have heard about the by-law. He had tried to obscure that by-law because he believed that the houses you were sorted into should avail you life long friends. He would have to speak with Harry and see if he could talk both he and Ms Granger into forgiving Mr Weasley and hopefully going back to the Lion's den.
The remaining staff were careful to bring up anything that had happened the previous night due to Minerva's mood. They all agreed that bullying was a serious issue and would be more vigilant to stamp it out to try and prevent anymore resorts. Snape said he would speak with his house but they all knew that was just a token gesture on his part and that he would not really put in the effort. They didn't know it but they were all in for a strange year.
---
In the Gryffindor common room the students were all abuzz with the the break up of the "Golden Trio". The conversations would range from understanding and empathy to outrage and anger. The fact that the outraged group consisted of a certain ginger second year and his sister and a small group of friends was merely a coincidence. The last group which consisted of mostly sixth and seventh years was indifferent. They had O.W.L.S and the looming job market to worry about so tween drama was not very high on their list of priorities. The murmurs were all silenced when one lone voice was heard wailing in utter anguish.
The students stopped their conversations and looked to the small group of students that had surrounded the wailing young man. Oliver wood was surrounded by his team mates and had just realized the most important fact of the current changes. Harry Potter the youngest seeker in 100 years was no longer in the house and even worse no longer on the team. Oliver dropped to his knees and let out an anguished wail as his dream of getting the quidditch cup had crumbled before his very eyes.
After much consoling on from the "Flying Foxes" Oliver's mood swiftly changed from heartbroken to rage when he laid eyes on the architect of his dream's doom. Ronald Weasley had the hairs on the back of his neck go up and quickly searched for the cause of the chill he just got. Ron was very lucky his brothers had seen the direction of Oliver's rage filled gaze and held him back before he could kill their little brother. "YOU! YOU CAUSED ALL OF THIS AND BECAUSE OF YOU, WE LOST OUR STAR SEEKER! WE WILL NEVER GET A CHANCE TO WIN THE CUP EVER AGAIN!"
At this point the rest of the house came to the realization that not only had they lost their star seeker and best chance to win the quidditch cup but they had also lost their top points earner and had no chance of making up for the loss and would be out of the running for the house cup. Ron soon experienced everything he ever hoped for. He was now out of his older sibling's shadow, too bad it wasn't the type of recognition he wanted. He was upset and blamed both Harry and Hermione and for a fleeting moment he thought he felt rage.... never mind he was just hungry. He should have been worried, because if there was one thing the Gryffindors hated more than cowardice (ironic), it was losing to Slytherin. Ron would be ignored by most of the house for the rest of the year. The other half would only give him hate filled glares. Ron had come to regret his actions but it was too late, he was religated to a background character. Ginny would attempt to approach her future husband but he would just ignore her and hint that he was not attracted to redheads. He said it was too Oedipal, whatever that meant. She would have to write her mother for some help.
---
Harry had the first of many restful nights in his private room. He didn't have to hear any loud snoring or worry of certain gingers taking liberties with his stuff. He went through his morning ablutions and did a quick work out consisting of push ups, sit ups and burpees in his room before getting his toiletries together and making his way to the showers. Once he was showered and dressed he went down to the common room were both Luna and Hermione were waiting for him. He overheard the last part of their conversation and snorted at Hermione's frustration at Luna's explanation of Wrackspurts.
"Good morning, ladies. Shall we make our way to the breakfast?" They both greeted him and followed him to the door but they were stopped by 6th year prefect Penelope Clearwater and told them that their class schedules would be passed out momentarily. The trio waited and once all the first years had gathered the prefects handed out the schedules by year. The prefects then led the first years to the Great Hall for breakfast and the other years went about their morning.
The Great Hall was a cacophony as they entered but quickly quieted down to whispered murmurs when they saw the two new additions to Ravenclaw. Harry told Hermione to ignore it and led her to the Gryffindor table to ask Neville to join them for breakfast. They were called traitors by some of the Lions especially the quidditch team, but Harry ignored them.
"You obviously don't have to join us but the offer is always on the table. You are a true friend Neville and even though we are now in different houses you are always welcome." They went back to the Ravenclaw table and enjoyed their meal.
After their morning meal, they had gotten their bags and left for their classes, unfortunately it was potions, on a positive note, it was with the Hufflepuffs and not Slytherin or Gryffindor. Harry and Hermione took their seats and waited for the bat to make his dramatic entrance.
Harry knew Snape would try to mind rape him so he prepared a special memory just for him that would stop any further nonsense from taking place. He smirked to himself and got ready.
Snape sauntered into the class billowing robes and all. He of course gave his customary snide remarks and brought some Hufflepuffs close to tears and then zeroed in on Harry.
"Potter! You may have tricked the hat into putting you into the house of the knowledgeable but I truly doubt that you have any intelligence." Snape had blatantly insulted Harry to rile him up so he could get one of those hated glares that reminded him of both of his best friend and his worst enemy. He would have his chance to see what was going on in the Potter spawn's head.
Harry did not like shit talkers and glared right into Snape's eyes. Snape used his opening and probed his mind. If it had been the real Harry Potter, Snape would have succeeded in going through the kid's mind no problem. Unfortunately for Snape this was not really the Harry Potter he knew. He entered Harrys mind and was sorely disappointed by the lack of mental defenses but was then struck by what he least expected.
Harry had prepared for the mind rape and pushed the memory of toddler Harry's last moments with his mother. So Snape got front row seats to his beloved's last moments at the hands of his master.
"Not Harry! Please...have mercy...have mercy... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please... I'll do anything!" Snape fell back towards his desk as if physically shoved after seeing his beloved Lilly's last moments including his master's joyous laughter as he snuffed her out.
"GET OUT! ALL OF YOU! OUT!" Snape yelled. The kids ran out of the classroom as if it were on fire. Hermione walked in front of Harry so she missed the smirk on his face as they exited.
The rest of the classes went well for the second years. Harry was enjoying his meal with his new housemates and was happy that Neville had been brave enough to join them. Hermione had been asking why Harry and Neville had received healthier foods than the rest of the table but Harry had cut her off and explained about house elves and their symbiotic relationship with wizards and how students could request special meals from them due to dietary restrictions and such. She was intrigued by both the nature of house elves and the boy's new healthy diet.
As the group of friends chatted and watched Luna make a mashed potato castle, they were approached by professor McGonagall. "Mr. Potter, the headmaster would like to have a word with you after your meal." Harry nodded. he finished his meal and walked to his new head of house. 'Time for that B.S. grind'
"Professor Flitwick, I have been summoned by the headmaster and from what my housemates have told me I can request my head of house to be present. I didn't know this last year and would like to request your presence at my meeting."
Filius Flitwick frowned in confusion as to why Minerva had not informed Harry about that but shook it off and filed it away for later. He simply smiled and replied. "Of course, Mr Potter. I would be more than happy to accompany you."
The boy and the professor made their way to the Headmaster's office where they were quickly let in. "Ahh Filius, thank you for escorting Harry, you can go back while Harry and I have a chat."
Filius frowned at the attempted brush off and was going to reply but Harry had cut him off before he could. "Headmaster I requested professor Flitwick to join us as he is my head of house."
"Harry my boy, I'm sure that professor Flitwick has other things to do and he won't be needed for our chat." Dumbledore replied with his grandfatherly mien.
"Headmaster, isn't it professor Flitwick's job as my head of house to stay and join in this conversation? I haven't broken any rules that I know of, so I am confused by the nature of this conversation." Harry retorted with a confused look on his face.
"Mr Potter is correct, Headmaster. He requested I accompany him for this meeting and as head of house that is one of my duties." Flitwick added.
Dumbledore realized he wouldn't win this argument so he let Flitwick stay. The boy and the diminutive professor took their seats and waited for the headmaster to get to the reason of the summons.
"Lemon drop?" Dumbledore asked. The two declined the sour confections.
"I've asked you here today to ask how you are doing after that awful situation in the alley a few weeks back and to ask how you learned of the by-law." Dumbledore stated.
"I am doing better, The DMLE have informed me that the wizard that was arrested in the alley would be going away for a very long time. To answer your second question, one of my new friends explained what the by-law is after they saw Ron and I have our argument. Is that all?"
Dumbledore gave a sad nod and watched as the boy and half goblin left. He was sorely disappointed by the lack of trust shown by the boy but he understood that after his traumatic ordeal he would be hesitant to be alone with an older man.
He gave a weary sigh, he was heartbroken by the fact that the boy may be a living horcrux of his parent's murderer. He had attempted to give the boy a good childhood in case he couldn't find a way to safely remove it. He had to take solace in the fact that the boy had grown up with his maternal aunt and her family, happy and loved. He had made sure that the Ministry and those that secretly pulled the strings from the shadows didn't have access to the boy.
He had hoped the Death Eaters that had been under the Imperious had truly reformed but he couldn't take that chance and had sealed the Potter's wills as a safety measure. He was glad he had been able to bribe the Potter junior account manager to let him take funds from Harry's trust vault to help the Dursleys out with expenses.
He was disappointed he couldn't make a betrothal contract between Harry and Ginevra Weasley as only the head of house had that power, but he had reassured Molly that little Ginevra and Harry would be a great match and he would help the littlest Weasley in her endeavors to capture Harry's heart. The boy would need someone to marry if he survived his ordeal and being matched with a girl from such a loving light family would be for the best.
He had so many plans to give the boy a loving family and future. The falling out of Ronald and Harry had put a damper on that but he assured himself that the boys were just having a small spat and would get over their differences and come out out of it as better friends. He gave another tired sigh before he started reading yet another obscure book on dark magic to research ways to remove the horcrux from the boy. Dumbledore had not once thought that his actions could be seen as malicious nor had he ever thought about asking his colleagues for help.
---
As the days turned to weeks Harry had continued his new routine of schooling, working out and hanging out with his new friends. He had been offered a spot on the quidditch team for the Raven's but he had surprised everyone when he declined and told them all that he just loved to fly and didn't particularly care for quidditch, not to mention he didn't want to take time away from his studies.
Most of the Gryffindors still considered him a traitor but some understood that he and Hermione really didn't fit into the house. Harry's new group of friends had grown since he left the Lion's den. Many who previously had not had the chance to approach him due to Ron's slandering found Harry to be an intelligent and reserved boy but was quite friendly and easy to talk to.
Everything was going well in the Ravenclaw house until a few of the second and third year girl's decided that Luna and Hermione were not good enough to be around such a handsome, rich and friendly boy. They had taken it upon themselves to put the muggleborn and the little oddball in their place by teasing and bullying them.
Original Harry would have been oblivious to the signs of bullying but the current Harry was not. He had immediately taken both girls to their head of house and had told him of the bullying. Professor Flitwick had learned from his colleague's mistake and had come down on the bullies like a ton of bricks. He had taken points and handed out detentions. He had threatened to take the current prefects' badges from them if they didn't do their jobs properly.
The diminutive professor had made his point abundantly clear and things in Ravenclaw tower had changed. The bullying had been eradicated. The other heads of house noticed the fallout of Flitwick's actions and had followed suite in their own houses. The Gryffindor's had of course had it the worst since their head of house had taken the resorting as a personal insult to her abilities and the lions had paid with detentions, points and removal of Hogsmeade privileges.
The Slytherins of course had shown no outward change but internally their head of house had cracked down severely. He did not want to be a laughing stock like McGonagall had by having most of his house resort the following year. The upper year Slytherins who weren't intelligent enough to realize the changing winds became Snape's personal cleaning crew and and dueling practice partners. After many weeks of scrubbing cauldrons and "dueling practices" even the slowest witted ones had gotten the message. Another thing that was noticed by the snakes was that with the recent crack down the other houses didn't treat them as badly as before. They begrudgingly accepted that they owed the changes to Potter and Granger.
---
While his new routine was monotonous, Harry kept pushing through. He had received word from Ted that Sirius would be questioned soon so his little break was going to end soon and he would have to start on the next phase of his plans.
One night as he was putting away his homework he was interrupted by a pop.
He had already drawn his wand and had a banishing charm on his lips before he noticed that Dobby had appeared in his room. He noticed that Dobby was vibrating in place.
"Dobby? What are you doing here?" he asked.
Dobby gave a dopey smile and replied, "Great Harry Potter sir was right. Dobby dids as he was told and waited for bad master to throw things at Dobby when he was angry he lost so much money and Dobby switched the glass he had in his hand with a dirty sock and bad master threw it to Dobby. Dobby is a free elf! Dobby wanted to know if The Great Mr Harry Potter sir would keeps his word and make Dobby house elf of Great Mr Harry Potter sir."
Harry gave a long blink while he mentally translated elf speak into something he could understand. Dobby got nervous as the silence dragged on a bit too long but Harry smiled and shook Dobby's hand.
"I will gladly welcome you into the service of House Potter." They did the bonding ritual and Dobby changed as Kreacher did by filling out a little more.
"A few things to know Dobby, first you are not to punish yourself at all. If you think you deserve punishment you will tell me the reason why and I will determine if you need punishment or not. Secondly, you will be trained by Kreacher the Black family house elf on how I run things. As a matter of fact, Kreacher, I need you." Kreacher silently popped next to Harry.
"Kreacher, I don't remember if I have told you already but you are not to punish yourself ever and if you think you need to be punished you will tell me the reason why and I will determine if you do. Is that clear?"
"Yes young master."
"Good, now I have a few things that need to be done. First, you will take Dobby with you to Grimmauld and help him get settled for the night he can also help you clean. Secondly, you will come back at 0300 ready to do a covert mission. Once our business is done you will go back to Grimmauld and teach Dobby how we run things. You will help him make a uniforms like yours except he will have a Potter crest instead of the Black for his day to day uniform and a mission uniform. You know what we will need." Kreacher nodded and looked at the hyper little elf and sighed. He knew it was gonna be rough for him.
"When you come back for our mission tonight I will need you to bring a cage for a rat if you can spell it unbreakable do it, if not bring the cage and I will do it here."
Harry then kneeled to be eye level with both elves and internally cringed at what he was going to do but hearts and minds. He took both elves into a hug that froze them both. "I am truly a lucky wizard to have such great elves in my service but most of all I'm lucky to have such great friends." 'I'm gonna have to burn this shirt with all the house elf snot I'm about to get on it.'
The two elves finally processed what their master had said and both started to bawl and mutter at how great their master is. Harry held the two little guys in the hug until they calmed down then looked at both and told them one last thing. "Dobby you may address me as young master or sir as Kreacher does. I would prefer you addressed me as sir but young master will do. You have your marching orders my friends, now get to it."
The teary eyed elves nodded and and popped away. Harry looked down and his now snot covered shirt and let out an annoyed and disgusted sigh. He took it off and vanished it. He got his toiletries and went to take another shower before bed.
---
At 0300 Kreacher popped back into the room to meet with Harry cage in hand. Harry saw Kreacher was in his mission uniform matching his own and gave an approving nod. "Alright Kreacher, were you able to spell the cage unbreakable?" Kreacher nodded triumphantly. "Here is your missions for tonight. I will lead you to the Gryffindor portrait where you will wait invisibly until you can enter then you will make your way to the second year boys dorms and stun the rat on or near the redheaded boy without waking anyone up and bring the stunned rat to me. We will then move on to out secondary objective from there ok." Kreacher gave another nod. Harry told Kreacher to climb on his back. Kreacher did, then Harry put on his Invisibility cloak and sneakily made his way out of Ravenclaw tower and made his way to Gryffindor tower.
Harry then whispered for Kreacher to go invisible and wait by the portrait until he gained access. Harry then went back to his dorm. He removed his cloak as soon as he had entered his room and verified he was alone. He laid back down and fell asleep. He was woken an hour later and he took the stunned rat and stuffed it into the cage and covered it with a towel. "Alright Kreacher, Great job on the first objective. Now onto the second, You will go to the 4th year boys dorm and retrieve a blank parchment that they may have hidden under their pillows if you don't see it there then you will have to follow them tomorrow night to obtain it. They will unlock it by saying 'I swear that I'm up to no good.' Once identified please retrieve it for me. it was my father's and they just happened to find it. I would like it back. It is imperative that you not be seen. understood?"
"Kreacher understand young master."
"Good. Come back to me if you find it, if not go back to Grimmauld and rest and we will try again tomorrow night." Kreacher nodded before going invisible and popping away.
Harry had just changed back into his basketball shorts when Kreacher appeared with a blank parchment. Harry smiled. "Lets see if this is it." He took the parchment and tapped his wand on it "I swear that I'm up to no good." The map revealed itself to him and he noticed his name as Harry Potter. He breathed out a sigh of relief and told Kreacher he did an amazing job and and thanked him before sending him home to rest.
Harry had the map and the rat and in the morning would send a letter to the goblins to arrange a meeting for Amelia Bones to pick up Petigrew from the bank. He would also have to write a letter to Amelia explaining why she was being gifted a rat. He then went to sleep.
---
Harry was glad that it was a weekend so he could get his scheming done in relative peace. He did his usual morning work out. He then noticed there were sounds coming from the cage he put on his balaclava and took off the towel before stunning the rat again. He replaced the towel and went about his morning. After breakfast he returned to his dorm and wrote the letter to Daggertooth. He had Kreacher take the letter to Gringotts because he thought Dumbledore would get suspicious if he sent Hedwig.
Kreacher returned with the reply from Daggertooth. He stated that for a fee he could rent out a meeting room in the bank and a goblin would give the "gift" to Madame Bones from a client that wished to remain anonymous. They would even send her a summons.
Harry wrote Daggertooth back and and prepared the letter that would be presented with the gift. He had Kreacher take the cage and the letters. The one to Daggertooth in his own hand and the one to Amelia in the stenciled calligraphy.
---
Amelia Bones was so tired. She was tired of the Minister, the public and the headaches that the damned Boy-Who-Lived had caused her when he released that statement to the public. She was tired of the work that had been created by Lucius Malfoy losing his damned mind at the raid which had him dead to rights for dark artifact trafficking but due to the corrupt Ministry he was let go. She was tired of the damned trips to Azkaban to investigate the deaths of so many prisoners. She was tired of the headaches Sirius Black had caused simply because he had survived... Amelia Bones was tired. As she sighed at her lot in life, she was quickly distracted by the fact that an owl bearing the Gringotts seal had appeared at her breakfast table.
She took the letter and thanked the owl which swiftly flew away. She read the letter from Gringotts requesting her presence at her earliest convenience to discuss an important matter. She wondered what that could be about. She finished her breakfast and sent a Patronus to her number two, Rufus Scrimgeour letting him know she would be in to the office a little late due to some business at the bank.
She took the floo to the Leaky and made her way to the bank. In the bank the teller led her to a private meeting room. She started to worry because Goblins rarely offered such service unless it was very important. She sat at the table and was surprised by the 3 goblins who entered.
"Madame Bones, thank you for meeting us on such short notice we have been hired by a party who wishes to remain anonymous with a gift and a letter. They placed a covered cage on the table and gave her the letter. She was instructed to read the letter first before revealing what was in the cage. she carefully took the letter and read.
Madame Bones,
You may be wondering why you are receiving a cage with a rat inside of it. I would like to assure you that it is in no way a threat or insult to you but instead a gift. You see the rat held in said cage is really no rat at all. I understand The Ministry will soon question Sirius Black. This Rat is evidence to prove his innocence. As you will find out soon enough, Sirius Black was framed for the murders of the Potters, Peter Pettigrew and 13 muggles all those years ago.
In the cage you will find the rat animagus form of Peter Pettigrew the true traitor of the Potters and murderer of those 13 muggles.
Sincerely,
Kit Walker
Amelia read then reread the letter and thanked the Goblins for both the "gift" but also the massive migraine she was soon to have. Amelia Bones was tired.
---
Harry sat on his bed and pondered his actions in the war so far. He had already defeated the Douche Lord in his scar. He and Kreacher had stolen the diary from Malfoy, the ring from the shack, and Kreacher's locket. He had eliminated the Death Eaters in Azkaban. He had rid himself of Crouch junior and senior. Pettigrew was soon be taken care of and Sirius was well on his way to be freed. He still had to deal with the Dursleys, Snape, Fudge, Umbridge and all the Death Eaters that had gotten off on the Imperious defense.
He laid back and tried to hash out his plan. His main objective was to get the hell away from the wizarding world and have them deal with their own problems unfortunately he had created ties to a few of the kids and he wasn't the kind of asshole to leave them to some weird society that glorified inbreeding.
He would do his best to destabilize the current government and society before he pulled a Houdini. He needed to get more aggressive but he was severely limited by his 12 year old state. He knew that the only thing he could do currently was to hit the Death Eaters in their pocket books. It was counter insurgency 101. Deny enemy assets. He just had to find a way to do it covertly. The hope was to eliminate Tom before he could become a serious threat so he would have to send his house elf soldiers to remove all Riddle and Gaunt family member remains and dispose of them to cut off that possible avenue for resurrection from the noseless wonder.
He decided that he needed to put something into action in the mean time. What to do? He would have to have Daggertooth research ways to obtain Death Eater and the Minister's funds. He sighed once again and got to writing out his request. He would also need to get rid of the spiders covertly. He didnt want attention from the Centaur herd or Hagrid. He would have to see if a fan theory panned out but he was loathe to put it to the test because it was ridiculously dangerous. He would save that as a last resort though.
---
A few more weeks had gone by and Harry was frustrated. He received word from the Goblins saying they would research ways for him to obtain the funds he wanted, for a fee of course. He didn't haggle much because as long as the money was not in the terrorists hands he didn't much care where it went. It was still early days so nothing would be hammered out until something viable was found. He had done all sorts of research into the spider problem but he had hit dead ends so he would have to try the fan theory out. He hoped to whatever deity brought him to this world that it panned out.
He was so tired of war but he would be damned if he would leave without finishing the fight. His plans would take place on Yule break. He did receive some good news though, his law suits for all those books and endorsements in his name had been won and Ted told him that he would be getting a nice little windfall. Harry was happy that went through ok. He would take a win whenever he could get it. He had started to fill out more and with his new diet and ongoing potions regime. He had made up for most of the damage that the malnutrition had cause. He was glad he was still in contact with Andromeda and she had sent him his potions via Dobby.
He signed up for the train ride back home for Yule break to have a valid excuse for his absence. Harry had mostly ignored Draco and his childish attempts to goad a reaction from him but Draco was unnerved by Harry's concern for his mother. Malfoy had yet to catch on to the deflection that Harry's questions actually we're but many Slytherins had and they found it amusing. They were all secretly impressed by his tactic and bemused by Draco's obliviousness to it. They figured Malfoy senior had found a way to bribe the hat because Draco was quite obviously the most unSlytherin Slytherin in their house.
---
Harry and his group of friends were enjoying the train ride back to London and chatting away as Harry read his book. The train finally arrived and the group said their farewells and promised to exchange gifts on the train ride back to Hogwarts. Harry bid his friends goodbye and snuck away from the crowd and had Dobby pop him back to his tent. Dobby had learned about Harry's secret war from Kreacher and learned to be of help to them.
Harry had received Intel from his House elves on the whereabouts of one of their targets, Walden McNair. Walden worked in the Ministry and one of the "poor victims" of the Dork Lord's imperious. He lived alone and was known to be someone who loved to hit the pubs after a long week at the Ministry. He along with the other "innocent" Death Eaters had spent the last few weeks girding their loins after the results of the interrogation of Sirius Black. To say that the wizarding world had been shocked at the result would be an understatement.
---Flashback to 6 Weeks Prior---
Harry had been called to his head of house's office. Harry greeted his professor and stood before his desk.
"Harry, you maybe wondering why I called you into my office today and the reason is that Sirius Black will be questioned and I wanted to let you know and offer you they day off from classes because the results will cause your fellow students to swarm you for answers. There is also another reason, the DMLE has sent an auror to act as a temporary bodyguard on the off chance the Dark Lord's followers planned something for you today" 'I better play this like a polite little boy. I wonder who they sent?'
"I appreciate the consideration professor and will gladly take up the offer. It's a big day and hopefully justice will be done. I will make it easy on my Auror guard and will stay in my room reading and getting ahead of my school work. Do we know who will be safeguarding me?" Harry asked.
Flitwick smiled, "I'm glad to hear it. Your guard will be a rookie auror and recent Hogwarts alum..." Before Flitwick could finish his sentence, Harry caught motion from the corner of his eye and reacted. Harry grabbed one of the books on Flitwick's desk and threw it at the distortion in the air and heard a yelp as he saw a body appear and jump to the side. Flitwick and the unidentified person hadn't had a chance to react before Harry had jumped on top of the stranger and smacked the wand out their hand and put them in a rear naked choke.
Harry heard gurgling and sputtering before he heard his professor yell out his name.
"Harry! calm down! That's the auror I was talking about!" Harry finally processed the words coming from his professor and let go of the person he was choking. He quickly disengaged and rolled away from the now coughing and wheezing person on the ground wand in hand. 'Damn it! I almost snapped that girls neck without even thinking about it... wait a minute, girl?'
"Sorry about that professor, it seems I'm more anxious then I initially thought. I just saw something move in the room and thought I was being ambushed." Harry replied sheepishly.
Harry had not taken his eyes off the auror and saw her hair color change rapidly as she continued coughing and slowly get a hold of herself. Flitwick sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose in relief that his student hadn't killed the auror. If he had not been so surprised, he would have wondered why a 12 year old boy had reacted like a combat veteran but he would not ponder that until later when he recounted the story with Minerva over a glass of 50 year old firewhiskey.
Harry watched Tonks bent over still trying to catch her breath. 'Nymphadora Tonks in the flesh. I can't believe I almost killed her. She probably tripped when she moved. I bet she tried to prank me, boy did that bite her in the ass. Speaking of ass. Dayum! She thicker than Snicker although she can change her form so I'll take that with a grain of salt but if she looks anything like her mom in natural form I could do worse.... Sweet Merlin puberty is gonna hit me so hard.'
Professor Flitwick went around his desk and checked up on Tonks to make sure she hadn't been injured. "Auror Tonks are alright? You took a hard fall and Harry choking you probably didn't help."
Tonks finally stood upright and massaged her throat. " I-I'm alright professor. He just took by surprise."
Flitwick sighed in relief, "Nevertheless Nymphadora, We will escort you to Madame Pomphrey to get you checked out." Tonks' hair flashed red at the sound of her name but nodded. Harry snorted quietly but in the silence of the room was clearly heard. Flitwick turned and tried to remain serious but was unable to hide the amusement in his eyes. Tonks on the other hand have Harry a glare and with a flash of red and pink hair which showed her annoyance and embarrassment.
"Think it's funny do you?! Wait till I get my hands on you. I'll hex you into the next week." Harry had a mischievous smile on his face but raised an eyebrow at her bluster.
"First of all, you tried to prank me didn't you? Second of all, how will you manage to hex me when your wand is by my foot?"
Professor Flitwick let out a belly laugh, "Oh Nymphadora, he's got you there. He figured out your plot and he disarmed you." Tonks flushed in embarrassment but stuck out her chest and tried to lift her nose in the air to seem more confident but her throat still hurt and Harry stared at her breast before quickly looking away and picking up her wand and twirling it in his fingers like a drummer.
The trio went on to hospital wing where Harry spent most of the day with Tonks while Madame Pomphrey gave her potions and made her rest. Harry got to know Tonks and subtly learned a few metamorphmagus tricks that he would practice in private. After lunch he and Tonks were interrupted by Amelia Bones. She went on to explain what had happened at the interrogation.
It seemed that Sirius had never been given a trial by Barty Crouch Sr. 'nothing new there's He was questioned under veritaserum and after the appearance of Peter Pettigrew He was begrudgingly found not guilty of any crimes and was made to register his animagus form and would receive restitution for his false imprisonment. Peter Pettigrew was scheduled to be interrogated at a later date. Harry and the rest of the wizarding world would later be disappointed to find out one of the dementor guards had accidentally killed Peter so no knew information was discovered. It led to an investigation but nothing came from it.
---Flashback End---
Harry had since received owls from both Tonks and Sirius. He had written Sirius back and they had slowly gotten to know each other and would meet on Christmas Eve. Tonks had started writing Harry to continue to get to know him and get tips on self defense which Harry was happy to provided. Harry was back in his tent and was getting ready for his next mission the capture and interrogation of Walden McNair. He needed to get that done before he could go meet Sirius and most likely Remus at the Leaky a few days before Christmas. He was glad to have spoken about it with Walburga and Kreacher and gotten their cover straight. He got his mission uniform and gear including his tranq gun dagger and short sword. After a last minute equipment check they popped away.
Kreacher, Dobby and Harry were hidden in a corner or the Hag's Respite, a shady pub in Knockturn Alley. They had snuck in and waited for Walden. They sat and watched as he made his way in and watched him get properly drunk. They watched him order a bottle of whiskey to go. Harry saw that as his chance and ordered Dobby to cause a distraction in the other side of the pub and when everyone looked over to see a table fall Kreacher tagged the bottle with a tracking charm. They then waited for Walden to leave before making their way out. Harry had Kreacher disillusion himself and pop over to find a good place to infiltrate. Kreacher returned and he took Harry's arm and popped him over to a copse of trees away from the cottage.
By some miracle the two House elves and boy had ended up downwind from the cottage entrance which worked out in their favor because Walden was having a conversation with a tall burly disheveled man that Harry recognized as Fenrir Greyback. The two were having some sort of discussion in front of the cottage. Harry was internally greatful because the two he no cover in their immediate area. Harry acted quickly, from underneath his cloak and pulled his tranq gun and loaded a basilisk dart carefully.
He was very glad he had instructed his elves prior to this because he reached out and squeezed their arms in a specific pattern that told them the cover him. He and the elves carefully stalked their way until he was in range of the gun. He took a kneeling position in their blindspot and got into a solid stance. Harry slowly withdrew the gun from the invisibility cloak and aimed it at the more dangerous of the two. He calmed his breathing and on his exhale squeezed the trigger. The shot had been perfect.
The tranq flew and hit Fenrir in the back. Harry quickly threw his gun at the brush away from him. Fenrir reacted to the piercing pain on his back and then attempted to reach the source of it. He never got a chance to do much else because in that same moment he and Walden heard something in the brush behind him. Walden and Fenrir turned to the direction of the sound after that Fenrir collapsed and a few seconds after that died. Walden looked over to the brush and saw a red light from the corner of his eye but it was too late he and was hit by the stunner before he could jump out of the way. His aborted jump just caused him to land on his face vaguely resembling a puppet that had its strings abruptly cut.
Harry lowered his hood and exposed his balaclava to the night. He quickly cast a hominem revelio charm and verified there was no one else around. "Kreacher! Dobby! quickly go inside the house and shrink everything inside and out it in a trunk we will search through it later. Make sure you look for hidden areas. Be careful of cursed objects. I will search the bodies. When you are done, you will come and assist me." The elves popped away. Harry summoned his tranq gun and made his way to Walden. He he stuffed his cloak in his assault pack and took his medic shears and cut Walden's close off on leaving his underwear on. he pulled some zip ties and duct tape and quickly secured him. He went through the clothing and pulled anything of value and snapped the wand.
Once he completed those tasks he moved on to Greyback's corpse. He vanished the dart and stripped the corpse. 'Guess his werewolf metabolism screwed him over on this one. He metabolised the poison quicker than the prisoners.' He was about to walk away but then he remembered the info his dossier and decided to make a statement and as a small piece of vengeance for all those children he had infected and all those families he had eaten. He levitated the corpse to a tree and and then walked over to the hatchet that had been left by door of the cottage. Harry had read about a hex that at first glanced seemed silly but now would be put to good use.
He pointed his Wampus wand and spoke the incantation "Sa circa dentes". Greyback's teeth were removed and landed in Harry's gloves hand. he piled them on the corpses stomach. He took out his dagger and carved message on the trunk of the tree. The elves popped beside him and he had them magic a small trench around the cottage. He levitated Walden's unconscious bodybaway from the cottage and when his elves joined him he had Dobby take Walden and pop him back to their black site. Harry took one last look and cast an incendio on the cottage. His job was not done tonight but it was a start. Harry nodded at Kreacher and Kreacher took grabbed his master's arm then popped him away to their temporary black site.
Kreacher had popped them to shrieking shack and then went on to help Dobby ready their prisoner. Harry walked down into the basement and was met by the sight of a blindfolded Walden duct taped to a chair. Harry cast a revealing charm just to be safe and verified they were alone. He was glad Walburga had helped him research silencing spells and had found one in the Black family library specifically for this type of situation. Harry reached into his bag and pulled out a small vial of clear liquid that Kreacher had obtained in Knockturn Alley. Veritaserum is highly regulated but gold opened up all doors if you knew where to look. Harry took the dropper and opened Walden's mouth and dropped 3 drops. He watched as his prisoner's body swallowed on reflex. He stepped back and shot an ennervate at the man.
Walden sputtered and startled awake. He attempted move but found himself unable to. "Who are ya?! I'm a pureblood who works for the Ministry. Ya think you can get away with this?! When I get out of here I'm gonna skin ya alive!"
Harry started to laugh, "It's precious that you think you will be able to. Now we are gonna play a little game. I'm gonna ask you some questions if you refuse to answer well then I guess I can use as a crucio practice dummy. Or my compatriots will start to smash fingers and toes with their hammers. They are kind of hoping you decide to not talk."
"You sound like a snot nosed brat. You don't have the the stomach for this. I'll just wait till you realize how fucked you are and wait for ya to runaway and I'll hunt ya down afterwards. More fun for me that way." Replied a smug McNair.
Harry laughed again, "It's truly precious how you think that this is my actual voice also..." Harry then grabbed a broken chair leg than smashed it on Walden's toes. Walden let out a scream of agony. He quickly realized that his kidnapper was serious and he started to panic.
"Let's get started shall we."
