5 chapter 5

My lord."

There was a silence before eyes opened and locked upon the visibly sweating form of Avery. "Speak. And best to not disappoint me."

"We… we have discovered that the initial interviews for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position are going to be held at Hogsmeade this week." Avery stated with a half stammer.

"I do not care who gets that position, Avery," Voldemort stated coldly. "Whomever it is will find themselves losing it at the end of the year in some way or another."

"… We have learned that one of the applicants is this… Storm Chaser." Avery stated as he bowed his head quickly.

Voldemort froze for a moment before turning his head and looking at Avery with a cold, unreadable face. "Truly?"

Inside, Voldemort could feel his thoughts racing. Why was this infernal man applying for that position? Why now? What was his plan?

Another, far more traitorous thought began to gnaw at the back of his mind. Could his jinx actually remove him? Was this man strong enough to resist it? To break it?

There was a reason the jinx targeted the Defense Against the Dark Arts position and not that of the headmaster. Beyond creating a whole mess of Hogwarts' general teaching, becoming dependent upon inept governors, he wasn't sure it would work. For all his own power and skill, Dumbledore was still considered a more than competent, even dangerous, foe. One who was, he reluctantly admitted, almost his equal.

Could this Storm Chaser be one as well?

"How have you confirmed this, Avery?" Voldemort demanded, his mind still trying to play out the possibilities, positive and negative of this information.

"Horace Slughorn," Avery stated simply. "You, my lord, know how… talkative he can get when excited, and looking to trade gossip for favor."

Voldemort inclined his head in the barest of acknowledgements. He knew all too well how it was possible to get Slughorn to tread the conversation onto topics he shouldn't. After all, a young Tom Riddle had managed to get the man to discuss horucruxes.

This was…

Voldemort did not frown, though his eyes narrowed slightly.

It was an opportunity. But, was it a good one? Hogsmeade was close to Hogwarts. This meant close to Dumbledore.

A strike powerful enough to insure the wizard's demise would become open warfare. He wasn't sure he was quite ready for that. Especially not with the issues the so called Storm Chaser had inflicted upon them.

Membership was shrinking. Not quickly, but it was. Recruitment had dried up to a trickle, with only the more desperate and unsavory types joining. They were thugs, pure and simple. He needed warriors, people who had the skills to help take down the upper echelons of those defending the status quo.

Protecting pathetic, worthless wastes of flesh like muggles? Indeed.

But, thanks to the sudden and violent rash of disappearances…

They were starting to fear this newcomer more than they believed in him. They feared that wizard more than they feared him. So, it came down to a gambit.

Did he move in force and strike down this… usurper? Did he bide his time and keep building up his forces with patience and guile as he had been for so very long? Could he afford to let this Storm Chaser continue to do even more damage?

None of his options were particularly favorable. None of his options were without serious risks and less than adequate rewards. And, unfortunately, they were his only options.

Tapping his finger down on the arm of his chair, he considered. Finally, he spoke. "I need Dumbledore suitably… distracted. There will be a Wizengamut meeting that day, yes?"

"Yes, my lord." Avery agreed, his voice barely above a whisper.

"See to it then. The Chief Warlock is needed for the whole session after all," Voldemort stated as a cool smile started to curl over his lips. Yes, perhaps he might just be able to turn this around after all.

Harry tugged at the collar of the tailored robes Charlus had insisted he wear with a sigh of irritation.

"Don't fidget," Charlus admonished simply as he gave Harry a look. "It's unbecoming."

"I hate you," Harry stated flatly as he gave Charlus a look before gesturing down at himself. "And I hate this."

"Of course you do," Charlus agreed dryly as he carefully adjusted his own robes.

"Why do I have to go through all this?" Harry asked with a groan as he looked down at himself.

"Because all the applicants do." Charlus responded with an arched brow. "What were you expecting? That I would say something to Albus Dumbledore and you would magically have the job?"

"…Yes?" Harry asked as he looked back at Charlus uncertainly.

"Funny," Charlus stated flatly and shook his head. "No. You will have to go through the hiring board like everyone else."

"Hiring board?" Harry asked, frowning. "I thought…"

"Dumbledore has final approval, yes, but he does not have the time to personally interview all of the applicants." Charlus said. "As such a hiring board is put together. Hogwarts is a prestigious institute, after all."

Harry grunted at the comment and again tugged at his collar. "Then how am I supposed to do this then? I can't exactly give them references or papers."

"Thankfully this position can have some things… fudged," Charlus said simply as he looked away. "What you need to do is be confidant and knowledgeable. That way we can clear you to Dumbledore."

"Confidant and knowledgeable?" Harry repeated before giving Charlus a look. "At what? The best ways to put down dark wizards? To disable a transformed werewolf? How to drive off a swarm of dementors? Kill a basilisk with only a sword?"

Charlus blinked slightly. "… Do I even want to know? A swarm of dementors. Of all the…"

"It was that or be Kissed," Harry said with a shrug. "Well, it also involved a time turner and not wanting to create a paradox."

Harry's eyes went distant for a moment and he frowned. He'd altered so much already, irreversibly so in only a few moments that had vanished in a flash. Since then he'd done his best to keep moving forward. A part of him mourned what he'd lost, what had been destroyed by his own actions.

Another part of him was absolutely thrilled. This was a world where The-Boy-Who-Lived never happened. This was a world where he wasn't known as a boy hero, an icon that could never live up to the idea they'd crafted for him.

Here he was a man without a past and without expectations beyond what he'd established for himself. And he was now the Storm Chaser.

…Which, he had to admit, could sound kind of corny at times.

Still, he was going to have to be confidant and knowledgeable.

He could do that, right?

Orion Black fought back a sigh as he was forced to listen to the fop trying to pass himself off as competent. So far the various applicants had been a more than mixed bag of diversity. They ranged from self-aggrandizing fools to the few with a cool confidence, but so far, still no Storm Chaser.

"Are you sure he's actually going to be here?" Orion asked quietly so only his brother-in-law could hear while he shifted a bit and gave Cygnus a look. "If he fails to show…"

"We will still have gained a measure of respect for showing interest and restraint in how we've approached this," Cygnus stated simply as he gave Orion a look, his voice equally quiet. "While not as… fortuitous as getting the measure of the man himself, it is still a gain. Besides, Uncle Charlus assured me that he would be here."

Orion grunted sourly as his eyes narrowed for a moment then he forced himself to relax. "That man…"

"Is who he has always been," Cygnus interrupted quietly. "Only this time he had something shocking enough that we actually had to listen."

For a moment Orion glared back at the man, who simply gave him a calm pointed look in response. "I do not like it."

"Neither do I," Cygnus admitted quietly with a nod of his head. "However the world does not cater to our wants and preferences. It presents us with the situation how we respond to it and view it is up to us."

"I do not prefer to view it this way." Orion answered as he continued his glare.

"Then don't," Cygnus said, causing him to blink. "I think he made a valid point. Did you not notice how we speak of lords? Whom we shall follow. Not whom we shall side with."

"That is…" Orion started to say before frowning as his lips pressed together.

"Exactly." Cygnus agreed. "But, is it what's best for the family?"

"It is what we have always done," Orion stated flatly. "It is tradition."

"It is pride," Cygnus argued as he leaned back in his seat. "A bitter one that has carried itself long since past when it still serves us. Uncle Charlus had a point. We need a new kind of pride."

"Is there something you gentlemen would like to discuss with the rest of us?" the arch voice of Augusta Longbottom cut in as she gave the two men with a withering glare.

"A topic of family tradition that came up momentarily," Orion stated simply, giving the woman a steely look that refused to be intimidated. "We apologize. We shall try to keep the topics relevant to the current task at hand."

"And the latest applicant wasn't even worth the parchment he submitted his application on," Edmund Bones stated dryly as he shook his head. "So I hardly find their need to come up with a way to keep their minds focused surprising."

"Edmund!" Augusta declared with a frown and a glare.

"What? If I had to keep listening to that fool much longer, I was worried his banal incompetence might just become contagious." Edmund responded with a shake of his head. "Merlin knows how he even managed to dress himself for the interview."

"It is our place to render a reasonable list of potential professors to Albus Dumbledore, not to sit around gossiping like ill-mannered reprobates!" Augusta stated with a frown. "Now, the next applicant is… Harry Potter? Strange. I thought I knew all the Potters."

Immediately both Blacks stiffened and directed their attentions to the still closed door as Augusta read from the application.

"Let's see… Former Dark Wizard Hunter. References… Restricted?" Augusta stated with a blink and a frown. "Skilled in Charms and Transfiguration and a variety of tactics for combatting both dark wizards and dark creatures. Knowledgeable in various tactics of combatting the dark arts without resorting to the dark arts…"

"Ah, yes. Charlus recommended him," Edmund agreed as he noted the name on his own copy of the information. "Something about his previous experiences being a necessary secret."

"Most improper," Augusta stated with a frown. "How are we supposed to render appropriate judgment about the truthfulness of his skills?"

"I imagine we ask him questions to see how he answers," one of the other members asked dryly. "Still, that's a bit exciting. Restricted information? He could even be that wizard who dealt with Greyback."

"And why would someone like that apply for a position at Hogwarts?" Cygnus asked arching a brow. "I find that to be… well, really. How many people that are capable of those things have a desire to teach? And Defense Against the Dark Arts of all things?"

"You never know. Look at Albus Dumbledore," another member pointed out.

"Because there are so many like the great Lord Dumbledore." Orion stated with a slight bite to his voice before shaking his head. "Shall we move on with the interview?"

"Yes," Augusta stated succinctly. "Send him in."

A flick of a wand and a spell shot out. A moment later, a young man with glasses stepped in, wearing well cut and tailored robes that he seemed oddly out of place in. As Orion studied him, a trickling realization hit him about just what he looked out of place.

It was not the look of a young man who didn't know his place in the world, or was uncomfortable with who he was. It was the look of a dragon forced into robes and clothes that he wore with only the most tedious agreements. He looked very much like someone who did not wish to be there. One whom they should not make feel particularly inclined to show them how much he did not want it.

When he saw the eyes, he knew that this was the man from Bellatrix's memories.

A glance at Cygnus confirmed that he too was of that opinion. As he looked through the board he saw both apprehension and dismissal. While Augusta and Edmund took in the look of the man and found reason to pause, most of the others saw the obvious discomfort and saw weakness.

"Mr. Potter?" The voice that spoke was bordering on condescending as it looked back at the visibly young man.

Orion noticed the sharp narrowing of Harry's eyes behind his glasses before the man spoke in a calm collected voice. "Yes. And whom am I addressing?"

That was not the reaction that was expected as the speaker took a moment to collect himself. "We are the Hiring Board. We will be deciding whether or not you will be among those eligible to be presented to Albus Dumbledore for determination of who will be the new Professor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"I see," Harry stated simply as he then tilted his head to the side. "And does this position automatically come with an inability comport yourself with manners and decorum, or is that merely your own personal deficiency?"

The man who'd spoken had his face turned crimson, his fingers reaching down towards his robes at Harry's response, only to find the young man staring back at him, unflinching and visibly unimpressed.

"How dare you-" the man started only to be cut off by a glare from Augusta Longbottom.

"Be silent." The woman's stern voice was steely and cold. "Mr. Potter is quite correct. It is our responsibility to act with the manners and decorum that should be associated with individuals in our position. To do otherwise is an insult to both our families and Hogwarts herself."

"Or, you could draw your wand on him and we could see firsthand some of his qualifications." Edmund ventured with an arched brow.

"He insulted me!" the man protested.

"I treated you with the same courtesy you treated me with." Harry stated flatly. "And as my being here is the result of the recommendation of Charlus Potter, that in turn tells what level of courtesy you have shown him."

Orion fought back a slight smile of approval as the man suddenly turned quite pale as he realized exactly how far his insult would travel.

"And, in turn, your behavior reflects back on Charlus Potter." Augusta stated as she looked firmly back at Harry.

"And, Madam, have I acted in a way he would find inappropriate?" Harry responded back with a bland monotone.

Augusta sighed at that as she leaned back in her seat. "I see. A Potter indeed then. I am Augusta Longbottom. I will be chairing this interview."

"Madam," Harry agreed with a respectful nod of his head.

"Edmund Bones," Edmund stated next as he watched Harry with bemused eyes.

And so the introductions went, including the now far more contrite individual whom had made the initial introduction. Until they reached Cygnus and Orion.

"Orion Black. Head of the Black Family. And my brother-in-law, Cygnus," Orion stated simply as he stared back at Harry.

"Sirs," Harry responded with a nod of his head, before looking at them carefully. "An interesting sight to see such… distinguished individuals in such a setting."

Orion narrowed his eyes for a moment before answering back. "Cygnus' daughter brought us most… interesting facts about the current state of the Wizarding world. Ones that we would be remiss in not considering."

"Ah. An interesting thing then. I suppose someone must have made quite the impression upon her," Harry stated simply with a nod of his head.

"Memories can go a long way, Mr. Potter," Orion agreed, before steepling his fingers together. "But, I believe we have an interview to conduct?"

"Indeed we do," Augusta agreed with a nod. "I have to admit, you have a most… obscure application, Mr. Potter."

"It is as complete as it can be at the moment," Harry stated simply. "If you have questions on the subject I will answer them to the best of my ability and if you require a demonstration…"

He paused there and suddenly smiled at the man who had been so rude earlier. "That I can easily arrange as well."

Even the more dimwitted of them took notice of that. It was starting to trickle into their minds that they were no longer at the top of the food chain there. For some, Orion imagined, it was a very, very tough thing to accept.

That he knew because it was hard for him to accept himself, and he had actually seen the man in front of him at work.

"What are the uses of the Patronus spell?" It was a simple enough question about one of the more obscure and less used spells that Aurors tended to learn for its messaging purposes.

For some reason it made a look of amusement cross Harry's face before he spoke. "Well, the classic answers are the repulsion of dementors and lethifolds. There is a variation that can be used to carry messages, and there are other uses, if the caster is creative enough."

With a gesture, suddenly a magnificent stag of pure, glowing silver erupted out of his wand, standing tall and proud as it regarded them with a calm grace before it lightly butted its head against Harry's shoulder.

Smiling, Harry lightly stroked against the guardian's head before gently dismissing it. "I have experience training a number of individuals in how to cast that spell, to the extent of enabling them to cast a fully corporeal patronus in several cases."

It was, Orion had to admit, an impressive display. It was one that firmly cemented the fact that this Harry Potter was not a dark wizard. A very cunning play indeed.

"Impressive," Augusta allowed with a slight nod of her head. "Most wizards have difficulty with that particular spell."

"I had a very good teacher when I was younger," Harry admitted with a slight, mysterious smile on his lips. "He helped me learn how to cast it fully due to an incident I had with undesirable dark creatures."

"What would be your primary goal in teaching the children of Hogwarts?" one of the other members asked.

"How to stay alive," Harry stated simply, letting the words sink in before continuing. "One of the basics I'd like them to understand is how to find, or make, an exit."

"You want them to run away?" one of the members stated angrily.

"I want them to survive. Not everyone can be a hunter of dark wizards or dark creatures," Harry corrected succinctly. "And even those who are, on occasion, need to be able to get out of a situation where they're outnumbered, or when facing a superior enemy."

"What, you expect them to just be attacked in their homes or on the street?" It was an angry member of the board now. "Here on the isles, we are perfectly safe! There are no dark wizards running about trying to torment people and I won't stand for the idea of someone trying to drum it into people's heads!"

Whatever Harry was going to say was cut off in a violent explosion as the wards protecting the room were violently shredded and one of the walls exploded in a shower of debris.

While most members of the hiring board had thrown themselves away in a half mad scramble, some had cast shields and moved to their feet.

Harry had cast a spell on the floorboards at his feet, causing them to curl back into a makeshift wall and protecting him from the debris that swept his way. With a cloud of dust still obscuring the field of view beyond the now-destroyed wall, it was impossible to see exactly who or what had caused the explosion. Streaks of magic then blasted through the dust, each one aimed at the brightly glowing shields that the quicker witches and wizards had cast.

The instant they hit the shields, the shielding spells violently shattered, sending the casters who hadn't already moved or avoided the spells flying backwards.

Orion was fortunate enough to have already started moving away, he and Cygnus were merely thrown onto the ground. Edmund Bones was not as lucky as he was blasted back into one of the walls, cracking of his head against audibly as he slumped unconscious. Augusta had been the only one beyond Harry Potter whom had not used a charm shield, preferring instead to conjure up a slab of solid rock, and she, like Potter, had not been the target of one of the spells.

Frowning, Harry cast quickly, summoning the large amount of debris from around the room, before animating it into a felinoid creature. With a gesture, it quickly stalked to the edge of the wall, hiding just out of sight before another spell from Harry suddenly grabbed hold of the cloud of dust and it pulled back, abandoning the hole entirely.

Orion recognized the robes and masks, though most of the others didn't, as he pushed himself back to his feet, gripping his wand and gritting his teeth. At his side Cygnus was performing a similar action as his eyes narrowed into slits. It would seem that their neutrality would be ending earlier than they had originally thought.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Augusta's voice, strong, proud and angry, demanded.

"Ah, Augusta Longbottom," a man wearing a mask far more intricate than the others almost seemed to purr out. "I suppose I should've expected your presence. No matter. Today, our issue is not with you, but with a certain… applicant you were interviewing."

"All this work, for me, Mr. Riddle?" Harry's voice carried out as he stepped out from behind his make shift cover and surveyed his opponents. "And my, so many guests you've invited to the party."

The man in the mask, now identified as the mysterious Tom Riddle, or Lord Voldemort as he preferred, stiffened at the name and his eyes burned as he glared back at the young man in front of him. "The infamous Storm Chaser. I was expecting something… more."

"We all have to deal with our disappointments," Harry stated simply. "After all, think of all the disappointment poor Merope has to deal with."

An inarticulate blast of magic was thrown Harry's way, only to be intercepted by another makeshift wall rising up. The instant the spell splashed upon it, the wooden floorboards began to rot, decay, and then turned to ashen dust before them. Harry clucked his tongue and gestured, sending the dust floating away as he again beheld Voldemort, trembling in rage in front of him.

"Be silent on things you know nothing of!" Voldemort demanded.

"Nothing?" Harry repeated as he twirled his wand lightly. "Really, Tom, I'd honestly be quite happy knowing just a fraction of what I do about you."

"I am Lord Voldemort!" Voldemort declared, glaring at Harry before throwing out a string of dark curses towards Harry. "You will not address me by some common muggle name!"

Harry gestured and ripped the table the hiring board had been using into the path of the spells with his own magic, keeping the pieces moving as they continued to catch the incoming spell fire that cut, exploded, burned, rotted and froze. A number of twisted dark spells clung to the debris that churned and twisted in the air.

"Tom. Marvolo. Riddle!" Harry shot back, gesturing, and the cloud of debris blasted towards Voldemort and his followers.

Voldemort screamed in rage as a torrent of dark fire blasted out of his wand and into the cloud racing towards them.

The cloud, in turn, twisted, catching the fire, transforming from a twisting miasma of dark residue into a toxic cloud of magical ash and fire that greedily reached out towards the group of dark wizards.

It was then that Voldemort's followers realized that their leader was focusing his attention solely upon his foe, ignoring their safety entirely. With startled oaths they began to cast themselves. Banishers hit the debris and pushed it back, at least for a moment. Blasting curses thinned the cloud but spread it further. Cutting curses meant nothing to it.

Then, Harry sent the beast he'd animated earlier charging through the cloud. It immediately began to burn and rot as the tainted ash from the cloud clung to it. When it emerged, slamming into the first one of Voldemort's followers, it looked as if it had been born fresh from a nightmare.

Wreathed in sickly flames and putrid decay, it was starting to rot even as it tore through the throat of the wizard it had caught and then pounced towards the next nearest victim. The wounds it inflicted carried the still-hungering residue of Voldemort's spells, spells that quickly and eagerly went to work as the residue was left behind in the wounds of the beasts' victims.

"My lord!" one of the wizards tried to call out, only to find Voldemort was paying little to no heed.

Instead he cracked his wand down and a sudden, crackling heat exploded into the air. A slick, glowing serpent of hungering flame rose out from the tip of his wand. Fiendfyre, bound tight by Voldemort's will, rose up, and began to ignite the building they were in.

As soon as the first spark of flame has begun to take shape, Harry had been casting into the stone and earth beneath the floorboards he'd warped and torn up for his walls.

When the gigantic serpent had taken shape, he spared a glance towards the members of the board who were staring with terrified awe at the scene in front of them.

"You may want to run away now." And then the ground had started to shake.

It was not a light unsteadiness of the earth. No, it was a violent, angry thing, forcing everyone, even Voldemort, to struggle to keep their footing. Then, before the great serpent of fiendfyre, the floorboards of the building exploded out, sending debris flying in every direction. In its wake, a great draconic head of earth and stone rose up as a wyrm of size and girth equal to the fiendfyre rose, bellowing roar of challenge and defiance.

The serpent twisted back against the roar before Voldemort visibly flinched as he felt the dark, hungering flame pull against his control, hungering to respond to the direct challenge.

And then the great earthen dragon lunged forward, smashing into the almost solid flames, and seemingly tackling the serpent of animated flame to the ground.

A good portion of Voldemort's followers were crushed, burned, or both as they knocked down another wall of the building and a piercing scream informed them that their little fight had just spilled out into the public.

Only, Voldemort visibly didn't care as he clamped down on his will and focused on controlling the serpent as it battled against the dragon.

Earth burned and stone melted as the dragon forced the fiendfyre creation to roll into the street. Bit by bit pieces of it snuffed out, buried and suffocated beneath the great beast.

As molten stone dripped into the streets with an angry hiss, it pulled together, shifting and shaping into lupine-like drakelings that immediately turned their attentions back towards the Knights of Walpurgis.

When the first one launched into one of the dark wizards, still glowing hot, his scream drew the attentions of the others. When they trained their wands on the other creatures born from the falling drops of melted stone of the great dragon, a cloud of dust descended upon them and forced itself down their throats. As they descended into fits of helpless coughing, struggling to breath, they found themselves set upon by the burning stone creations.

Through all of this Voldemort focused, his will absolute as the fiendfyre was rolled back and forth. Bit by bit it was being suffocated. But still, the dragon was melting and burning with it.

So focused was he on keeping his creation under control and strong, he failed to notice the decayed form of the felinoid beast, still wreathed in the dark magics eating at its body, until it slammed into him.

He was not left stunned and locked in surprise, though; a gesture with his wand and the creature was banished back, flying into a wall where it's weak, decayed frame finally broke into a falling mess of debris.

Turning, he bared his teeth and glared back at Harry, who stood there in front of him with a cold, penetrating glare.

"You think you've won, boy? You think this mean anything?!" Voldemort demanded as he flicked his wand and the glowing stone drakelings were frozen by a howling arctic wind. "You think you know Voldemort?! You know nothing!"

Then the frozen stone figures cracked, and exploded, spraying across the ground and digging into bodies of the fallen Knights of Walpurgis without care.

"I know that you should've kept control of your fiendfyre." Harry responded simply as he looked back into Voldemort's eyes unflinchingly.

He could feel the brief, violent force of Voldemort's legimency slamming into his mind, and then the dark wizard stumbled back when he was violently repulsed.

Shaking his head, Voldemort turned for a moment and saw as the torso of the dragon that had been fighting his fiendfyre cracked open as it seemed to expand out, looking as if it was inhaling a great breath. A hollowed out section grew in the area of its chest, glowing hot red from the fiendfyre's heat. Then it clamped down on the diminished and now wild snake of fiendfyre and forced it into that hollow.

The glowing, burning, melted earth slammed shut, trapping the cursed fire inside of the dragon as it turned its attention fully onto Voldemort, its maw opening as the burning heat of the trapped fire could be seen down the hollow of its throat.

The bulging chest then contracted and suddenly the great dragon of animated stone and earth released the trapped fiendfyre inside of itself in a torrent of hungry flame that almost immediately made Voldemort's body vanish beneath the onslaught. Then the flames were followed by a stream of molten stone, falling down upon where Voldemort had stood. When it finished, the now emaciated-looking dragon lowered itself back to all fours, and watched the weakened flames coiling about a pile of melted rock.

Suddenly the rock darkened and a cracking sound filled the air before it suddenly exploded out into a storm of glittering shards of obsidian, revealing a cocoon of frigid, inky darkness. Then, the shield seemed to melt away, revealing a slightly sweating and angry Voldemort, his robes slightly singed. With a gesture, he was again impeccable and he turned his head to regard Harry angrily.

"I already told you, I am…!"

And his voice trailed off as it registered in his mind just what he was seeing.

The moments where he'd been trapped and forced to focus entirely on keeping up his shield, his opponent had not been idle.

Stone and earth circled him as all manner of beasts, eying him from every direction. Some small, some large. Each of them moving with an almost unearthly grace as he then turned his head and snarled back at Harry.

"Here's the thing, Tom," Harry stated simply, wand held at the ready as he stood, flanked by a pair of earthen wyrms, each with maws of jagged obsidian stone glinting in the fading fires of the dying fiendfyre. "I know that you're strong, you're smart, you're ruthless, and that you're cunning."

Voldemort preened slightly at the words, but his eyes narrowed into wary slits. "If you know my power, you should know you stand no chance of defying me."

Then Harry had the audacity to laugh a full belly laugh as he shook his head and reached up, wiping at his eyes as tears threatened to spill forth. After a moment, he recovered and looked back at him, still chuckling. "You're also arrogant, selfish, and foolish."

With a hiss of rage Voldemort swept his arm in an arc and a full quarter of the circle of beasts exploded into jagged shrapnel. "You think I'm afraid of these little toys of yours? They are broken and destroyed beneath the slightest exertion of power!"

"Ah, but you see… from destruction, creation," Harry shot back as he flicked his own wand and the creatures reformed, only now, instead of smooth, heavy stones, they were interconnected, almost nightmarish creatures of sharp, jagged rock and stone. "Everything you destroy, all it takes is a little creativity to turn it into something to send back against you."

The broken shards of obsidian stone that had formed from the melted mass of stone Voldemort had been trapped in pulled back together. Lean, humanoid forms with sharp, jagged claws and faceless heads of shards stared back at Voldemort. Broken timbers and stone came together into hulking brutes, stepping towards him.

The remains of the dark magic-tainted ash and dust lingering, eating at the ground, rose up, encased by broken glass and stone, trapped in the chest of a great monstrous bull, its eyes glowing with the dark eldritch power of Voldemort's own spells, nostrils flaring as it pawed hungrily at the ground.

"Come on then, son of Merope Gaunt. Come then, kin slayer, kin betrayer!" Harry stated as he held his wand ready, his voice carrying as he stood firm and unyielding. "Bastard son of a muggle who tries to wipe away his past with blood, death and misery."

Voldemort's face went past anger, past rage, as the words hammered into him. Pure, violent, virulent hatred dripped in the air, made palpable by the twisting, coiling of his magic. "You. DARE!?"

"Come then, Voldemort, born Tom Riddle, after the father you murdered, a deed you were too craven to claim credit for so you laid the blame on your own Uncle," Harry stated as, finally, the calm seemed to break, as anger started to burn in his eyes. "Come then, monster who would rule us all. Let us see just whose dreams will turn to ash."

And he did.

In a blur of motion Voldemort showed that, despite Harry's words, he was far from weak, far from helpless.

Dozens of spells were cast in a single breath; twisting, dark, forbidden magics born of the darkest arts. Spaced between, two of the Unforgivables, as Avada Kadavra lit up the air and invisible Crucios. Stone and earth exploded, rotted and decayed. It was a whirlwind of death that even the most experienced of wizards would have been hard pressed to match.

Harry rose to the occasion.

Battle honed instincts took over. Stones and boards blocked spells, seen and unseen. Cursed residue turned into roiling clouds of miasma that began to race towards Voldemort like serpents as swift stone creations darted in a random, jagged line towards him.all coverd in lighting from a spell Harry created From every creation he destroyed, another was born from its remains covered in lighting.

Both men were sweating, glistening, pushing themselves as neither refused to give even an inch. Everything that came close to Voldemort was stopped, banished or crushed by the last moment. All the spells that raced towards Harry found themselves deflected or simply dodged, and the remnants of their destruction fed into new creations sent back at Voldemort.

No one could properly gauge the time. Not the combatants, not their impromptu audience. Everything was a blur of unstopping, impossible battle.

And then a stone spider, with sharp, jagged legs, dropped from the air above Voldemort, tearing at his face with an unnatural screech as it dripped toxic dark magic residue directly onto Voldemort's eye as it tore into his flesh.

With a scream of rage he tore the creature from his face, only to be slammed in the chest by the hard stone head of the bull that breathed dark magic miasma. Enough of the force was absorbed by the magic in Voldemort's robes that he only fell back a few feet, driven to his knees instead of having his entire rib cage crushed. As he dropped to a knee, Voldemort snarled and the bull suddenly fell, split into two equal portions straight down the center of its body.

Harry snapped his wand towards Voldemort and, in an instant, every one of the stone creatures and lighting rushed straight towards Voldemort.

And then, in a flash of phoenix fire, Albus Dumbledore appeared… directly in the space between the two combatants.

"Enough!" the man commanded, anger burning in his eyes. "What is going on here!?"

Seizing upon the momentary pause in his opponents assault and realizing he was in a dangerous position, Voldemort hissed out, "This isn't over, Storm Chaser!"

And in a sudden blast of dark magic, he rose into the air and vanished in a flying trail of black smoke.

Harry growled and his eyes turned, burning onto Albus Dumbledore. "I had him! What the bloody hell do you think you were doing?!"

"Look around us, and you ask me why?" Albus demanded as he looked back at Harry with a look, a spark of anger in his eyes. "How many people were injured, how many were killed because of this duel!?"

"Duel?" Harry repeated, staring at Dumbledore before standing to his full height. "You're the one that needs to look around then! This was never a duel! Everyone who died here died because Voldemort, Tom Riddle, decided that he would come and attack a bloody hiring board, in the middle of this bloody village! This was their choice! Is it yours that our place is to lie down with bared throats for them to rip out when they come for us?"

It was then that Orion Black made his presence known with a pointed cough. "You know, as much as I loathe to interrupt this, are you often in the habit of enabling the escape of dark wizards who attempt to murder a sizable number of upstanding wizards in broad daylight, Chief Warlock Dumbledore?"

That drew Dumbledore up short as he then turned his gaze towards Orion, about to speak, when Augusta Longbottom cut in. "For Merlin's sake, Dumbledore, what were you thinking?! The boy had that mad man! Who knows what he'll do now!"

"It was…" Dumbledore started to state before a series of cracks filled the air as red robed Aurors appeared, Alastor Moody at the head.

"What in Merlin's name…?" Alastor declared before looking around and, catching sight of Harry, groaned, his shoulders slumped a bit. "… You again. What happened this time?"

"I was in the middle of a nice, quiet interview when we were attacked," Harry stated simply, gesturing towards Augusta and Orion. "I even have witnesses this time."

"Ones that aren't the cooling corpses?" Alastor asked with a grunt as he lightly kicked one of the bodies over to look at its face, taking in the half melted mask. "Branched out a bit this, I see."

"That was Voldemort, actually," Harry stated with a shrug, his eyes still angry as he turned his eyes towards Dumbleore. "Whom I almost bloody well had if a certain someone didn't decide he was going to bloody well bollocks it all up!"

"Aren't these Voldemort's followers?" Alastor demanded before finally getting a look at the scene and sucking in a breath. "Blood and ash, boy. What the bloody hell happened here?!"

"What happened, Master Auror," Orion Black stated with a frown, "is that someone just made a public declaration of war, one that they then found that they were not as equipped with overwhelming force as they thought they were."

"Everyone he kills from now until he's put down, is on your head, Albus Dumbledore," Harry stated grimly as his eyes locked on the Headmaster and he growled angrily.

"There's bloody dark magic everywhere," Moody muttered with a hiss. "I haven't seen this much since…" He paused and grimace before shaking his head. "It's been a long time."

"I was using wood constructs from the walls and wreckage of what he destroyed at first. He decided to throw out a lot of rotting curses," Harry stated simply with a shrug. "It is the kind which sticks around for a bit, so if you get some of that dust from it on you, it starts rotting you, too."

Alastor took another look around and noted the various constructs that seemed to be constraining churning masses of dark magic and then stared back at Harry. "… And you bloody well turned it into a weapon to use back against them."

Harry just shrugged in response.

"It was one of the most impressive and creative uses of animation charms I've ever seen," Augusta Longbottom admitted as she stood up straight. "And after the initial assault, that mad man was far too focused on the young Mr. Potter here to pay the rest of us any mind."

Then her eyes narrowed into shrewd slits. "I take it that was intentional?"

"Potter?" Alastor repeated as he looked at Harry for a moment with squinted eyes before his shoulders slumped again. "Of course you're a Potter. Should've seen it to begin with."

"I knew things about him that I knew he wouldn't like me talking about," Harry stated simply. "It wasn't really that hard to keep hitting the right buttons to keep him focused on me."

"I see," Dumbledore stated as he swallowed, realization of just how badly he'd misread the situation sinking in.

"No, you don't." Harry corrected succinctly. "And if we're all lucky, you won't."

"You do realize you're going to need to drop those animations so most of that stuff can be repaired, yes?" Alastor stated as he tried to change the subject.

"As soon as Voldemort's spells expire," Harry agreed with a nod. "I'd rather not have people have to be treated at St. Mungo's for contact with it."

As Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak, Alastor gave him a look. "As you can see you're not currently needed here, Dumbledore. Why don't you make sure everything's right with Hogwarts?"

"Now, Alastor…" Dumbledore started to protest.

"Best to keep in mind what we talked about last time, too," Alastor reminded him as he gave Dumbledore a look.

Dumbledore slumped slightly as he recalled the man's words before looking slowly around the devastated area. So much destruction. So much loss of life.

"They made their choices, Albus. When they did, they stopped being yours to save," Alastor stated simply. "Now let me try to make sense of this."

"Will this take too much longer?" Orion asked blandly. "I have information about this I need to… disseminate."

"It will take as long as it takes." Alastor stated simply as he looked at Orion. "No more, no less."

"Of course, Master Auror," Orion agreed before sighing as he resigned himself to a rather lengthy… interviewing.

Still, despite the disaster of the day, and despite the violation of House Black's neutrality, he had learned at least a portion of the measure of both the Storm Chaser and Voldemort. It seemed that Charlus Potter might have a point after all.