Chapter 11.

The next time I saw Loren Nerys was right in the middle of King's Cross.

It was now time to attend my fourth term at Hogwarts, I saw her kissing goodbye to her mother as I entered the Express. A white-hot needle stabbed my heart at the sight of her - how happy and careless she was, spinning in her dress and laughing heartily as she trotted gracefully to the train.

She probably still had headaches sometimes but she would be okay after a few months. I watched her impassively and sighed. Maybe in another life, sweetheart.

I had erased almost everything about me in her and her mother's mind. Her love for me, our first conversation, her discoveries about me, everything that was linked to me and her affection to me; I only left the general knowledge that we dated and kissed a few times in public, so she wouldn't freak out when people mention a relationship between us.

I can't afford to have any flaws. I thought bitterly.

I knew it was true, I really couldn't afford to have a weakness such as Loren, now less than ever. James and Zach were onto me, and I still had a lot to do. There wasn't any place for Loren in my life. I couldn't afford her.

I had perfected the obliviation, making sure to not wreck her mind and trying to leave facts about me to make it believable.

I knew it was the worst way of obliviating someone; erasing almost a year worth of selected memories and deleting an entire person from someone's mind was stupid, really stupid. But I had to give her up. I wasn't good enough to keep the good memories and delete only the memories of her doubts and suspicions - even if I was, I couldn't do that to her. So I had erased everything.

She'll be fine. She still knows who I am and all, she just don't feel the same about me anymore. I swallowed a regretful tear and sat down in the compartment. I'll just Imperius the others and force them to shut the hell up if they pester her too much about that. Especially Louise. I had started using the Imperius curse three weeks before, the book on control said it was a good way to get a taste of how you need to will your Fiendfyre to bow.

It wasn't difficult to use, just sort of hard to hide. If you just slammed your will in their skull, the victims acted like inferi, and commanding them to "act normal" wasn't working. To prevent this from happening, you had to overpower them without silencing them and taint their will with yours, forcing them to do what you want without them noticing it, like a poisonous confident who would whisper veiled orders in their ear. That was a perfect Imperius, but the weirder are your orders, the easier it is for them to snap out of it.

Commending fourteen years old to not harass Loren should be easy enough.

From now on, I would dedicate my whole attention to my work. I had a lot of things to do this year. No more girlfriend, no more card games, no more wasted week-ends.

I had an arsenal of spell to help me being alone, Notice-Me-Not Charm, Imperius Curse, Proximity and Repulsion Wards, even Disillusionment Charm if I needed to. I had given up on Loren, the last thing that kept me to some extent focused on my social relationships, and it was for the best.

I sat down and opened a book on the different theories about the link between magic and its owner, hoping to find something to help me with my problems.

The door slid open. I raised my head and glared at the trespasser. Zachary.

"Here you are. What are you reading this time? How to cast the Avada Kedavra?" he narrowed his eyes at me. My wand was pointed on him, my hand lowered.

"I have nothing to say to you, get out."

"I don't know what game you're playing but I won't let you have it your way. I just came here to warn you a last time. Talk to me and I'm ready to close my eyes on the bad decisions you took." he said in an almost brotherly tone, his eyes fixed on mines.

"Get fucked in the hole." I retorted, not without a faint smile.

He spat on the floor and turned around.

"I'll figure out what's wrong with you, and when I'll do, you'll regret you didn't talk to me." he threatened before slamming the door shut.

I snorted in the silence and locked the door with a medium locking charm, checking out a sixth year's fine ass as I did so. I was fourteen and positively full of hormones, since a few months already I had the typical sexual appetite of a teenage boy, but Loren had been here to appease me. I shook my head and sat down again. I won't have time for any of that, this year.

An hour later, someone knocked on my door. It was Louise. She was looking damn fine, as I had expected her to look. I sighed and opened.

"Hello, Louise, what do you want?" I asked in a bored voice.

"Still not riding the Express with Loren, heh? I thought you two became quite close last year..." she asked innocently while she stepped in my compartment. It was unusual to have a full compartment for oneself but I was some kind of an unusual kid.

"I'm not with Loren anymore." I stated calmly. It had to be clear. Louise grinned widely.

"I knew it! She's acting all weird and pretend to not care about you. Got tired of the breadboard already, dear Harry?" she mocked playfully with a laugh.

"Just kidding, she's sweet and all but you really deserve better."

"We didn't break up because of her chest, Louise, for fuck's sake what's up with you and your obsession over tits?" I barked, dropping on the seat.

She giggled madly, a naughty twinkle in her eyes.

"Don't you like my boobs, Harry?" She grabbed her now well-grown breasts and squeezed them. "I'd let you touch them if you ask nicely..." she giggled some more.

I couldn't deny I wanted to, but I had more important things to do. Namely reading my book and then a huge tome on theories about Portal Rituals that I had found in an old dusty library all the way down the 9th layer of Knockturn Alley.

"Sounds really cool, Louise, but I have other plans. Imperio." I jabbed my wand to her, her eyes widened comically and the curse connected, right above the breasts she was still fondling.

Do not bother Loren with Harry. Ever. I pushed the order in her mind and lowered my wand. She blinked a bit and smiled, the incident was already forgotten, I imperiused enough muggles to know how one reacted to it, and Louise was no better than a muggle at this point.

The curse would take a small amount of my focus to stay on, but I knew how to handle it. And Louise wasn't nearly perceptive enough to notice it nor powerful to break it.

I opened the door.

"Thank you, Louise, now let me alone." she quickly frowned, obviously not remembering where the conversation had ended and shrugged.

"See you later, then." She left the compartment and I locked the door again.

She'd be a lot harder to resist to if she actually played with her natural innocent look instead of that whorish behavior. I mused, sitting down and patting the insides of my satchel to find my book.

She was probably the only one likely to annoy Loren with that, the other will just stay silent and roll with it.

I banished the thoughts from my mind as I dived into a fresh book.

I took a seat next to Rosaline the most silently I could manage, the great hall was silent.

"Did I miss anything?" I whispered to my neighbor. She shook her head.

Dumbledore was standing in front of the six tables of the great hall, waiting patiently for the wooden goblet placed at chest level on a podium to finish whatever ancient sorcery it was performing. The thing was really archaic, its magic was probably unfathomable for the wizards of our time.

The torches had been killed to let the hall bath in a half-darkness illuminated mainly by the starlight of the ceiling and the dancing red fire in the cup.

The fire suddenly spat out a piece of paper, high in the air. Dumbledore snatched it and opened his mouth.

"The champion of the Durmstrang Institute is Viktor Krum." he articulated clearly, his loud voice booming in the hall. The additional table next to the Slytherins' roared and cheered madly, whistles and clapping hurting my ears now acquainted with sweet silence.

"Mr. Krum, the door behind me if you please." continued the Headmaster with a genuine smile.

Krum rose up from the Durmstrang group and strode to the door without any sign to his crowd, a grumpy look plastered on his already peculiar face. The crowd continued roaring, girls squeaked louder than anybody could possibly squeak, and he finally reached the door.

Dumbledore made silence in the room again with a simple motion of his hand.

Moments later, the chalice spat another piece of parchment, which got caught by Dumbledore the same way as the first.

"The champion of the Beauxbatons Academy is Fleur Delacour."

Cheers and clapping again, the intoxicating witch opened her arms wide and flashed a bright smile to her admirers - about all the masculine population of the room. Except me, maybe. I didn't trust a veela, even a half-breed one. I knew it wasn't a good idea and her weak aura never had a chance to set foot in my Ice Castle if I decided to close the doors.

She reached the Champion's room and another paper sprouted.

"The champion of the Hogwarts School is Cedric Diggory."

I almost forgot to cheer, as I couldn't force myself to care about this stupid tournament since they had announced it, but the group effect caught me. I clapped and whistled with everyone else at the Hufflepuff table and slapped him in the back as he walked past me, flashing me a happy grin. I liked Diggory, he was truly a good guy. How many Quidditch practice did I miss? And he barely got pissed off at me. I chuckled in the cacophony, he probably didn't say anything because I was by far the best player, but still, a chill dude.

He waved around and walked to the door.

"Brilliant!" exclaimed Dumbledore in the slowly returning calm, he clapped his hands happily.

"Now, the three champions have been selected for the Tournament. I am certain they will perform amazingly and make their peers proud of the school they belong to. Let it be known that each one of -"

He stopped his post-ceremony speech to stare at the cup like everybody else. The flames had started dancing again, spitting sparks around, and suddenly, it vomited another piece of parchment.

With a now well-honed motion, Dumbledore snapped it out of the air and stared at the square in his hand, apparently as baffled by the unexpected event as the rest of us. Well not me, did I mention I don't care at all?

He frowned slightly, and rose his head to the soundless audience.

"Zachary Potter."

Now that is interesting. I thought while the hall started humming ominously, its occupants starting to register what they had heard.

I stood up like everybody else to get a better look at Zachary, genuinely curious at what he was thinking. I knew he wasn't good enough for the tournament, I knew even I wasn't good enough for it. It was a really brutal and dangerous tournament, many young wizards and witch had perished for the promised fame and glory. Well, I'd probably survive it, but not without massive use of questionable magic.

He stood up and walked to the professor's platform, his face blank. Half way to it, he stopped suddenly and spun around. He searched for a few seconds, his eyes furiously analyzing the crowd before locking on me.

"You did it!" he roared madly, whipping his wand at me. I fumbled in my pocket to find mine, if only to defend myself.

Oh yeah, Zach, do it. Right here, right now, lose your shit and send a curse, I dare you. I teased him with my eyes, displaying a perfect face of incomprehension.

"You fucking did it, didn't you?" he continued as people around me gasped and made room for the upcoming duel.

"I didn't do crap, hold your horses." I spoke calmly, I had the upper hand in this conversation, and everybody was watching.

"Now, now, we will get to bottom of that in a moment, but not here." said Dumbledore, walking to Zachary and seizing him by the shoulders.

"In the room, Zachary." he then looked at me. "You too, Harry."

"I seriously didn't do anything, headmaster." I replied, pocketing my wand.

"I don't doubt it but your brother seems to be persuaded otherwise." he didn't smile, his voice was more grave than ever. He waved to the door.

I sighed and walked to it. What the hell has Zach done this time...

Behind the door was a charming little room with armchairs and a massive fireplace. I scanned it, the French half-veela or whatever she was was standing up, her hands on her hips like stopped right in the middle of giving a lecture, and the ugly and bulky Bulgarian was by the window, watching outside. Cedric was in a chair, looking at me questioningly, and Zach was standing in front of me, his wand drawn.

"Why did you do that, Harry? Do you want to get me killed? Are you that evil?" he barked with a madness soaked voice, making me question his mental health for the first time.

As he drew closer and nearly touched my forehead with his wand, I snorted and slapped it away with a fast motion, sending it smash against the wall and clatter on the stone floor.

"I told you I didn't, you stupid cunt." I snapped irately. I really hated being pointed at with a wand, especially by an unstable fool.

I wanted to insult him some more, spit a bit of my hate in his face, but the door cut me by swinging open, revealing a cortege of old wizards, led by the oldest of all, Dumbledore.

Behind him were the two other headmasters, one was an obviously Russian old pureblood wizard and the other was some sort of half giant old woman. Along with the group were the two official Ministry blokes who had organized this whole tournament.

They instantaneously started yelling at each other, making a point to ignore the rest of us. I turned around and headed to the door, not having any business with this mess.

"Professor Dumbledore, Harry's escaping!" yelled Zach.

I rolled my eyes. Escaping? Jesus Christ Zach, could you get more childish?

"Mr. Potter please stay with us, we might need your testimony." tried Dumbledore. I raised an eyebrow.

"I have no idea of what happened and neither of why I am here."

"He lies! He was the one who added my name, professor! We fought this summer, he's a dark wizard!" ranted Zach, earning only skeptical looks from the adults in the room.

Dumbledore, on the other hand, took it quite seriously.

"Harry, do you have any doing in this?"

I gaped at him, making a show of the stupidity of the question.

"Sir, my brother is obviously perturbed, I have nothing to do with all of this." The others nodded. I decided to have a bit of a revenge. "I think he's only trying to find a convenient scapegoat." I refrained the grin that menaced to spread on my fake concerned face.

"It eez obviouss, ze little kid iz trying to find a scapegoat." agreed the charismatic veela, her hands still on her hips. Everyone seemed to agree with that.

Dumbledore, on the other hand, needed more than logic to believe it. He leaped in my eyes, injecting his magic in my psyche. I broke eye contact just as he slammed in my fortress, wincing painfully. He brought a hand to his forehand and glared at me. Damn, he's not suspicious anymore, he's already thinking about how to corner me. He would probably have found a hole to pour his magic in my stronghold, he was experienced and powerful enough. But in a small time window like that, he only had time to try blindly. Too bad, there are spikes everywhere in there. Watch your step, old man.

"Would you testify under Veritaserum?" he asked, scanning me with his almighty eyes.

I was trying to look like I had no idea of what happened, but I couldn't erase his suspicions. Not even with an obliviation curse, not a wizard of this range.

"This is madness, Albus, the boy is obviously trying to blame his brother to escape responsibility." claimed Snape, who I hadn't noticed until now.

"You can't be serious, Dumbledore!" shouted Karkaroff, spluttering like a rabid dog.

I shrugged, this could be a good way to make Zach look like a fool and drop the whole suspicion thing at once.

"Sure, I agree."

"Severus, a phial of Veritaserum, please."

Snape glared at him and walked off. The rest of the group started mocking Dumbledore and his idiotic trust in Zach, who was glaring at me with a lot less confidence than he did before. Probably considering the possibility of my innocence only now. I smirked right in his face. Yep, you fucked up.

After a few minutes I spent staring by the window and not listening the various insults and heated arguments that were flying in the room, Snape came back with a phial of Veritaserum and dipped three drops in a water glass.

I downed the glass and waited, feeling an odd euphoria enter my bloodstream. Not unlike dark magic, the potion plunged me in a cloud of bliss and indifference.

Is your name Harry Potter?

Who had asked that? Dumbledore, right, I was under Veritaserum. And he was questioning... questioning who?

Me. Right, me.

"My name is Harry James Potter." I corrected, not particularly caring about my middle name, but it was still important to say things properly, wasn't it?

I could see their faces, I could see very clearly actually, but my mind was immersed a white fog, a blinding fog.

Have you in any way nominated or helped to nominate Zachary Potter, your twin brother, for the Triwizard Tournament?

No, definitely not. And I was damn proud of that.

"Absolutely not." I stated clearly. Dumbledore straightened up and nodded, the other just rolled their eyes and complained loudly about the loss of time it had been.

Are you a dark wizard?

Zachary had suddenly blurted out the question, glaring at me intently.

I was. No doubt about that. I opened my mouth to answer, but stopped just before the first sound came out.

I didn't want to answer that. I was staring at the question through the monochrome stained glass window of my mind's bastion, sitting in the chill throne of the main hall.

No, I wouldn't answer that.

A sudden pain lanced through my brain, so hot and abrupt that tears immediately found their way to my eyes just before I winced. I needed to answer the truth, the pain was gradually increasing. My arms were shaking, my head was hotter than fiendfyre, I could feel the blood rushing to it.

I needed to answer. But I didn't want to. Zachary was still in front of me, Snape was stretching a glass to me but I ignored it. I wanted the pain to stop.

No sound escaped my gaping mouth, I sprang on my feet and punched Zachary in the face, feeling his nose break along with his glasses before he was tossed back like a stringless puppet. He was the source of my pain.

However, the pain didn't end. It was worse than ever. Snape grabbed my head and forced me to drink from the glass. The fog cleared. I blinked a few time and observed the astonished faces around me.

Fuck.

Zach was bleeding and positively knocked out, currently running in the green meadows of his mind and tossing flowers to the fairies of dreams. I was in a much less pleasant predicament.

"Strong will, these Potters. You gotta see it to believe it." affirmed Karkaroff helpfully. I saw an exit.

"I... I'm sorry, I really didn't want to answer to Zach after how he treated me. My own twin thinking so badly of me!" I tried, displaying a perfect apologetic but angry face.

Dumbledore was dubious, as was Snape. The others were just plain amazed.

Karkaroff helped me a second time.

"Let us not digress any longer! I refuse to accept two champions for Hogwarts, I absolutely refuse it!" he bellowed, attracting everyone's attention on the main topic again.

"You may leave, Harry." Dumbledore discarded me quickly to focus on the argument.

I left the room and walked to my dormitory, the great hall was empty.

While I was crossing numerous corridors and passageways, I wondered how much I was in trouble. Probably in a lot of trouble. Dumbledore felt my Occlumency, and right after that the Veritaserum slip happened. If he wasn't suspicious of me, he now is.

It wasn't illegal to know Occlumency or to act weird during a Veritaserum inquisition, in fact, the latter was not that surprising, every person reacted differently to the thing. But I knew it would raise a lot of questions, especially because of the question itself. Are you a dark wizard? I swore loudly in the open air archway I was going through.

Fucking hell, Zach, I'll fucking kill you one of these days, for real.

"A hundred pounds of Adamantine, fifteen thousand galleons. A thousand pounds of goblin steel, two thousand and four hundred galleons."

The goblin snapped his finger and the bunch of thick steel plates dropped on the floor, making the floor shake. Except it wasn't really a floor, we were on the roof of Gringotts' Materials Merchant branch.

I tossed the goblin a money purse and walked around the heap of raw metal. This was making a huge dent in my budget. Mage Knight armors were not to buy, they were burned with their owners when they died. Only a few very rare pieces had been conserved after the death of a Mage Knight, but they were way too expensive. I could have gotten the goblins to make one for me, but once again, it would have been too expensive.

Crudehammer nodded greedily after having checked the content of the purse and bowed.

"Please come again, Mr. Horus."

I nodded and cast a lightweight charm on the thousand pounds of steel I was about to drag with my broom. The adamantine, on the other hand, would have to be dragged as the hundred pounds it was. No magic could temper adamantine in any way, only good old fire and brute force. The goblin had delivered it as a massive and solid black cylinder. It was meant to be melted down.

I stuffed the shrunk and lightweight charmed steel in a conjured suit case and glued it to my broom. I sighed one last time. There was literally no way to temper with adamantine, you couldn't even apparate or portkey it, not such a dense piece. I had to do this by broom.

I peered in the moonless night, and mounted my Nimbus. Pushing magic in all my muscles, I grabbed the massive roll of metal and positioned it on my back, holding it with my left hand. My iron bones and overpowered back muscles would survive. If it rolls and fall down, I won't be able to catch it, though.

The take off was difficult, my Nimbus swayed dangerously, adapting its power output according to the weight on it. I made a diagonal line to the dark clouds, even in the black night I wasn't carefree enough to fly in the open. I had chosen this night because of the absence of moonlight and didn't regret it.

The flight was peaceful, I was above the clouds and shivering slightly at the freezing wind, but I was going fast, very fast. I would reach the Forbidden Forest only in three hours or so. The increased weight allowed me to get speed rushes anytime I dove to get a glance of the country under the clouds. My charmed robes had a hard time countering the chill of the night and the moist of the clouds, I was soon dampened and as cold as my inner cathedral.

As I sped across the sky, I thought about my situation in Hogwarts. Zach had briefly apologized for his behavior but it was mainly because Dumbledore had told him to. He didn't believe in my innocence at all and was now one hundred percent sure I was a dark wizard. He threatened me and warned me once again, but I knew it was baseless. He had too much to deal with, being a champion in the tournament.

The final decision was that since Hogwarts had two participants, the two other schools would have two participants too. They had chosen themselves their secondary Champion and the tasks would be changed to fit the new organization.

Why didn't Zach just refuse? I was sure he just couldn't pass on such an opportunity to show off, but it may have had something to do with the magical contract between the Goblet of Fire and the champions.

But he'll order his dogs to sniff around for me, to track me and monitor me. I had no doubt he wouldn't drop his investigation on me. Can Zachary Potter handle two mysteries in one year?

Sadly, Dumbledore was siding with him and was suspicious of me too. I had learned it with a bit of Legilimency on Trix Eveleen, the Hufflepuff prefect. Dumbledore had asked her and Diggory to keep an eye on me and bring him a weekly report on my actions. While neither Trix or Cedric believed I was guilty of anything, they dutifully accepted the task.

I suspected Dumbledore to have asked my head of house Sprout to tell him about my absences and detentions too, I'd have to be careful.

I eventually distinguished the huge shadow I was looking for on the ground, hundreds of yards below me. The Forbidden Forest. I dove inside it and landed clumsily in a small clearing, dropping the heavy burden from my back. The weight fell on the soft earth with a loud thump, shaking the area. I stretched my back and felt my bones ease up.

Around me had gathered five black unicorns, glaring at me angrily. Black unicorns, also called tainted or demonic unicorns were nothing more that unicorns that fell in the traps of fairies and were changed by their twisted games. Some fairies were downright evil. Those unicorns were dangerous, their red eyes gleaming with wickedness and their hoofs rasping the dust hungrily.

"Pshhh, get away you kids!" I shouted amusedly.

I sent a vicious Aleraeno Vultimacum, hitting the first tainted equidae as it tried to jump out of the way. The skin shredding curse was really fast. It neighed brutally as its dark fur wiggled madly, shifting and shivering as the skin under it started to hurt, tearing itself apart from the flesh. Surely enough, strips of epidermis detached themselves from the red meat and the unicorn thrashed on the ground. The others took this as their cue to leave and vanished in the trees.

The exquisite pain of the animal filled me, I countered the curse and let the bleeding beast gallop away.

Now... where I am and where is my cave? I had found a nice cave to forge my armor, secluded but accessible quickly and in a rather quiet part of the forest, where few things ever wandered. Most were scared of the resident Komodo dragon, a thick and angry beast who had drank in the magical stream up the mountain for too long, mutating in a powerful monster. At least that's how I would explain it. I wasn't scared of it though, it had immediately bowed before me, as a mark of its respect for me. It had sensed my power and agreed to sign a peace treaty.

I knew the forepart of the forest well enough, after a few minutes of running around, I found my way to the cave, lifting the heavy material with me.

I dumped it in the cavern, along with the suitcase of goblin steel. The adamantine was the last part of my plated armor, just a layer of magic resistant metal on the external side of the suit would offer me a protection no enchanted leather suit could ever hope to offer.

I undid the shrinking and lightweight charms on the goblin steel and levitated the plates one on another.

The first step was to shape the plates, bend them and cut them as I please, to make my armor. Pauldrons, helm, gauntlets, I would craft each part of my Mage Knight Armor, with steel and magic.

After that, I would carve runes and lines on the internal part of the plates. The one that would be in direct contact with me, with my magic. The symbols and veins I'd carve in the steel would permit my magic to be channeled through the armor and make it move it like it's my own body, to make it answer my thoughts directly. Be one with your armor.

Once that done, I'd imbue it at the goblin's workshop to give it a little extra something and finally coat it with a hundred pounds of adamantine, making it totally magic-proof. Goblin steel was already quite resistant to magic, but nothing nearly like adamantine.

I levitated the first plate and placed it on the flat surface I had cleared on the rocky floor.

Well, I guess I have to start somewhere. I set the tip of my wand on the steel.

"Gol'brosn'is."

The piece of metal started to fizzle gently and the ambient temperature rose, the air became hotter and hotter and soon, the steel around my wand started to glow a faint orange. The goblin spell had been engineered by the goblins themselves to work on their metal, and leaked to wizards by a chain of events that lead to the great revolution of the goblin industry in 1851.

The steel was now bright orange, the whole plate was whistling and fizzling dangerously, ready to be shaped.

I focused on the shape I wanted it to take, a pauldron. Thick and large, with cutting edges and a lightly curved to the top form. The metal began shifting as the magic manipulated it, slowly bending and thickening, the plate crushed itself in a smaller piece. I kept visualizing every details of the final product, while correcting as it went, willing the metal to bend the other way, to thicken or to soften at some part.

Ten minutes had already passed and I was sweating heavily, the pauldron still not done. It was starting to take shape, my wand was still against it, my knuckles went white a long time ago.

Every layer of half-molten metal that spread itself around the shape I was molding the steel into took a blow at my endurance, eventually drawing heavy breaths out of me as I started to feel the exhaustion.

About four hours of toil was what it took me to shape correctly my first piece. I had to restart a couple times to be sure to have the shape I wanted, and in the end it was perfect. I think I can do the second pauldron in less than two hours.

The shape in itself was important because the armor would have to marry my own shape perfectly. My shoulder would have to perfectly be encased in the pauldron, without hurting or leaving a void.

A second skin.

The external part could look like anything, that didn't matter much. But I don't want to look like an amateur, do I?

The general look of one's armor could change the tides of a battle. Loren had once told me about this guy who had sort of messed up his helm and looked stupid when he put it on. Long story short, the guy got attacked by a group of brave wizards because they thought he was some idiot who wouldn't have a chance against them, and they were right.

They had killed him and overthrown the lord he was working for, the moral was that if he had been looking scarier, they probably wouldn't have dared to attack. God I miss Loren.

I had taken this memory as a personal advice from Loren and intended to honor her by following it. At least by making the armor symmetrical.

I was panting, I slumped on the cavern floor and blasted chill air everywhere in the place to get rid of the steam. A massive cloud of steam had spawned when I had plunged the finished craft in a tank of conjured water. Conjured water...

I waved my wand, canceling my conjuration. The steam disappeared, leaving behind it only the heat. Warm and tired, I slowly closed my eyes and drifted in unconsciousness.

I woke up to my watch vibrating, my eyes opening suddenly. As I was rubbing them, I pondered on what was going on.

My watch woke me up, that means it's seven in the morning. I was doing some forging, I am currently in the cave, fifteen minutes from the dormitory. No time to lose.

I gathered my things and shot a last glance at the stack of metal, just to make sure everything was alright. I sped through the forest, leaping and jumping over obstacles, racing around trees and drifting on slopes, and reached the castle, charming myself clean and fresh as I pushed a door to the first floor.

I entered the great hall and sat down at my new favorite place, where I couldn't see Loren.

"Good morning Harry, ready to roll?" Priscillia flashed me a bright grin and sat beside me.

"What do you mean?" I bit in a toast avidly. The night had been beyond exhausting.

She rolled her eyes. She was cute, for a beater.

"Oh for goodness' sake, Harry!" she whined. "First match of the season? Diggory not captain, I captain. Match today. You have brain, right?" she mocked.

"Ohhh, right." I remembered the last practice session we had. Diggory explaining that he wouldn't play anymore because of the tournament and nominated the sixth year beater Priscillia as the new captain.

"With all that tournament thing going around, I doubt anyone's gonna care much for quidditch." I bit another piece of bread nonchalantly.

"Well I do care, so please do your best? please?" she asked playfully, putting her hand on my arm and pulling for an answer.

"Alright, but only because it's you." I was in the mood to play. I was always in the mood to play, dark magic did that. Maybe just to me...

"Yay!" she squeaked and kissed me on the cheek before turning to her plate. She then proceeded to take a massive amount of potato gratin.

"I hope you have better than a kiss on the cheek for me if we win." I joked. She giggled and blushed slightly.

"Well, make sure to win and you'll get to know." she added playfully but still blushing. Cute.

I couldn't help but flirt, the girls were all squeaky and frisky around me. I knew I looked quite good, different from what the aging potion had showed me, but still somewhat handsome. I had kept my noble and square features, but even I could see in the mirror, even I could sense that there was something about me.

I guessed it was the rituals. Or the dark magic. Or the insanity. Oh come on, I'm totally sane. Saner than a year ago. I chuckled out loud.

If we agree Imperiusing Smith to make him slap Nolwenn on the ass was sane. Funny, no doubt, but sane? Who is "we" anyway?

"Harry you're making that spooky face again."

I shook my head and continued eating.

After a complete breakfast, I headed to the locker room with Priscillia and Howell, the match was planned for eight o'clock.

"Who are we playing against?" The whole team groaned loudly at my lack of concern and Priscillia let an irritated whine out.

"Ravenclaw! How many times do I have to tell you, Harry!"

You didn't tell me shit! Or maybe you did, I don't remember. I swallowed my words and stayed silent.

She let her angry glare hover on me for a while and turned to the now ready team. "Alright, like Harry -" she shot me a teasing glare, "- has reminded us, we're playing against Ravenclaw. So what's our strong points against them?"

She was taking her new role seriously, it seemed.

"Our attack?" tried the new seeker, a second year going by the name of Esmund Aengus.

"Right! Our attack is the strongest of the school, with Harry doing mad stunts and Diggory's tactics, we dominate the scene. Now what's our weak point against them?"

"Cho Chang!" I said, raising my hand excitedly like a kid in elementary school. Cho Chang was Ravenclaw's seeker, and she was damn good. Damn good, indeed. I had caught her peering at me a couple times last year, and I had to admit I wouldn't mind getting to know her better.

"Exactly, their seeker is experienced and very good at what she does. Our seeker has never played a live match." she explained to everyone.

"We have to put pressure on her, Kyle and me will send all the bludgers we can on her, and you guys score as much point as possible. Go fast, go strong." she finished her speech with a helpful visual representation, punching her hand with her fist.

I was looking at her dreamingly, my fourteen years old body secreting all kind of pleasant things in my cortex. She was the sportive type, of course, thin and a bit muscular, half-long blonde hair tied in a small ponytail, her quidditch robes were tight around her, giving her an even more boyish figure than usual. Funny thing that the only sportive girl in Hufflepuff turned out to grow one of the tiniest cleavage of the sixth years. It's like her body decided to grow for Quidditch... a pity she plays beater, with that physique she could be a nice chaser or seeker. I mused, my eyes lost in her cute face. A really cute one, with that. I watched her lips move as she spoke again. That mouth looks so wet and warm, so soft and tasty...

"Harry!" she yelled, tearing my world apart. I jumped slightly.

"Yeah, what?" I blurted out, surprised and unprepared. I looked around me, everybody was already out.

"The game is starting, follow the group!" she indicated me the door. "Were you even listening just now? You were just staring at me dumbly." she scolded as we entered the pitch. It was sunny and hot, the audience was full, people were already cheering and jeering, waves of smells came to me from the seats, snacks and candies.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking how gorgeous you were." I apologized shamelessly. "Not my fault, I'm fourteen years old!" I shrugged and mounted my broom, knowing that she wouldn't have any answer worth hearing to that.

The match lasted a bit more than an hour, Ravenclaw got the snitch and won by twenty points. I had scored my share of points and successfully denied the snitch catch to Cho with my inhuman vision and reflexes. The Nimbus helped quite a lot too. Four times I had raced to the snitch and made it flee away as Cho was reaching for it, earning mischievous glares from the Asian witch, who was definitely loving our rivalry and chasing game. She looked more pissed than playful at the fourth time, though.

She had however ended up catching it, and glowed with pride as she searched the pitch for me to rub it in my face. I shrugged as I flew past her.

"I figured the match wouldn't end if I didn't let you catch it." I quipped as she followed me down. Once on the sandy floor, she dismounted her broom and jogged to me, radiant.

"Sure, your broom is totally not smoking." she laughed.

"No it's not. Watch out for your fan club." I pointed behind her, the whole Ravenclaw team and spectators were rushing to her. I chuckled and walked away as she turned to me again. While her housemates cheered and hugged her, I saluted her and she threw an annoyed glare to me.

Flirting doesn't make me lose any time at all. As long as I don't cancel my projects for it... I reasoned. I just couldn't spend the year not flirting, not with that many sexy witches around me. That wouldn't be sane.

The team entered the locker morose and beaten, Priscillia made a disappointed speech and sent us to change. When I came out of the shower booth, Priscillia was sitting on the central bench, her face in her hands, still not cleaned or changed. The rest of the team was already gone, I was always the last in the shower. It was one of my simple little pleasures to stay under the water and think for a while. I used my shower times to check my internal fortress and reorganize my thoughts.

I sat beside her on the bench. My appointment was only in two hours and I didn't want to do anything before anyway. I had arranged Apparition lessons in Knockturn Alley for a small price of twenty galleons per lesson.

"Don't want to shower? I know it sucks, but we live in a society where being dirty doesn't do well. I'm sorry." I joked, sliding my arm around her shoulders and sighing.

"One of these days, we will stop showering, we will be free..." I waved my hand in the air dreamingly. She chuckled faintly and looked up to me.

"You know we didn't lose a match in the last eighteen months."

I frowned. Really? I'm that good?

"So that's it? We lost a match and you fall in despair?" I laughed."Priss, I thought better of you."

"I'm not falling in despair... it's just that Diggory led our team to the top and now..." she leaned on me resting her head on my shoulder. "It was up to me to maintain that position, and I failed."

"Oh come on! You failed!" I barked. "You did as good as Diggory, let me tell you. We lost because our seeker is weak and inexperienced, we absolutely dominated them on the score before the end." I explained, still holding her against my wet skin. "Train Esmund and it's going to be alright. Draco isn't an especially good seeker, we may have our chances next match. In the worst case, just break the little shit's nose with a bludger like you send them so well and that's it!"

She nodded softly.

"Yeah, I guess." she breathed softly. "You're all wet, you should dry yourself." she muttered. I rarely used the drying charm, it was really unpleasant. Being wet was much more to my liking.

"No thank you, on the other hand you should take a shower, you're all sticky and smelly." I retorted with a grin as she was standing up.

"Want to take it with me?" It was said jokingly, but she was looking at me with foxy eyes. I stood up and grabbed her by the waist, too hungry to play games anymore. Her eyes opened in surprise as I pinned her against the locker and buried my tongue in her mouth. She didn't stop me, though, she simply returned the kiss hungrily, her hands grasping my flesh and slipping on my wet skin.

I started kissing her in the neck, she was more salty than expected, I thought as I bit her sweaty skin. She moaned and giggled as I slid my hands under her robes and reached her tiny female assets.

"H-Harry, s-stop..." she mouthed between two kisses. I didn't stop, I ripped her clothes off with a bout of magic strength and tossed the cloth on the ground. She squeaked.

"I'm not... I don't think we should..." She was now in panties, I slid my hands across her whole body, licking and biting her nipples avidly. The sexual excitement building in me tasted more and more like dark magic, but not nearly as powerful. I wonder how it would feel if I cursed her while fucking her. The wicked thought didn't bother me at all, I was entranced.

'Yield.' I commanded suddenly, forcing power in my voice involuntarily like I did when I played with Fiendfyre. Her doubts seemed to vanish immediately at that, she gave herself to me, her whole body naked and grinding on me in savage moans and whimpers, her mouth riding across mine without restraints and her nails stinging my reinforced skin.

The locker room stayed fortunately unperturbed for the wild hour, and we ended up in the shower, tired but feeling great. Well, for her. On my side, I wasn't tired at all and while I felt great, I knew I could feel better.

Cursing or killing her for instance would be awesome, right now.

I winced at the terrible idea and conjured a towel. Priscillia had already dried herself with a wave of wand and was now casting a Reparo on her torn Quidditch robes. She had put the Hogwarts black robes on.

I walked to my own stash of clothes and slipped them on.

"It was really great, I mean really great, Harry. But... I don't think we should do that..." she started, unsure, looking at me nervously. "It was a sudden urge, I... don't know how you feel... I mean you're fourteen and all." she went on as I chuckled.

"No problem, Priss, I can't say it was just an urge for me but feel free to forget it, I won't bother you with it." I looked at my watch. Almost an hour left, I had enough time to get here without hurry.

"What do you mean it wasn't just an urge?" she asked softly.

"I mean you're really cute and I'd pound you all day and night if I could, so it wasn't just an urge." I brought my hand to my chin. "Actually, I guess it was an urge, but if I get them constantly I can't call them urges... Or can I?"

She giggled happily and walked to me. She laid a kiss on my lips.

"Well in that case, let's do that again, some day." she winked and left the locker room. I followed her and headed for the third floor.

I was in time for my appointment with the middle-aged wizard in the underground warehouse. I didn't care much for the unusual setting, I was getting illegal and cheap Apparating lessons, that was all that mattered.

I spotted my instructor in a clearing behind a huge stack of barrels and coughed to announce myself as I approached. He was talking to another wizard.

He beckoned me and shook the hand of the other wizard with a smile.

"So, ready for your first lesson?" he yelled, his voice echoing in the impressive warehouse, bouncing on the numerous boxes and barrels stacked everywhere. The other guy walked past me, I nodded.

"Sir, yes sir." I tossed him a bag of twenty galleons. He grabbed it and pocketed it.

"The anti-splinch ward is already in place, you can start when you want. Do you want the theory ?"

"Do tell."

"Well, to successfully apparate, you must understand a few things. First is to know where you want to go. It doesn't have to be a clear visualization or a street name on a parchment, but your mind, your whole being must know where you want to go. You must feel it and command your magic to go there." he started explaining happily.

"Second thing is to focus. You have to focus really hard on what you want to do. It's not some wand waving where a word and an approximate movement gets a result, you have to be one hundred percent focused on the feat you're trying to perform." he continued, staring at me intently.

"Third and last thing you need to know is that you want to be sure of what you're doing. No doubts can be present, no questions on where you will land or how it will feel, you need to be firmly confident and trust your magic completely." he concluded.

"Any questions?"

I looked at the chalk circle drawn on the floor.

"So what do I do? I just focus on my wish to be in that circle, without questioning the forces that will move me here?" It sounded sort of stupid, but magic had its own ways. He stared at the circle contemplatively and nodded.

"I guess that's a way to sum it up. Go on, try it."

I closed my eyes to get a better focus and tried, without result. I tried a few more times and sighed, looking at him again.

"How did it feel? Did you feel your magic doing something or not at all?"

"Errr... yes, sort of. It felt like my magic got ready to do something but didn't really do anything." I explained.

"Mmmmh, try to trust it some more, don't try to understand how to trigger it or anything, just do it." he suggested.

After a while, he side-apparated me to give me a taste of the thing and I eventually successfully almost-apparated and crashed against the anti-splinch wards, sparing me the discomfort of ripping my body in numerous pieces.

I left the warehouse and walked to The Leprechaun Hut where I was to meet my contact. The barman had promised me the man could provide me in illegal items. I wasn't quite sure of all the items I'd need to recreate Natasha's body from the few drops of blood I had around my neck, but I already knew a few.

Dementor saliva, Banshee cloth and some Phoenix tears. Only one of those was legal, and all of them made my remaining stash of money look ridiculous. About 7000 galleons, that was that was left. And I had no doubt goblins would charge me around 4000 or 5000 for a simple imbuement. It cost them almost nothing, the greedy bastards...

My contact was hooded like I was, two black shapes in a dark alley, murmuring illegal words.

"I can't get Banshee cloth, nobody smuggles that stuff in Europe anymore since this drug affair in France. You'll have to deal directly with Don Aleksandro and smuggle it at your own risk. Aleksandro owns the largest black market in the world. How much Banshee cloth are we talking about?" he muttered.

How many? Just enough to warp an eight years old girl's body.

"About half a ton." I lied, seeing where this was leading me. He whistled.

"Merlin, we're talking about of hundreds of thousands of galleons. I'll give you a contact in Venezuela, he will supply you with anything. Only a hundred galleons and the contact is yours." he offered. I sighed, not in the mood for torture or Legilimency. And I can't risk losing my only lead on the biggest deposit of dark artifacts in the world.

I tossed him a purse.

"Speak."

"I can't be sure who's going to deal with you, probably Pablo. Portkey to Caracas in Venezuela and look for the Aleksandro Manor. I will tell them about you. Now, I can provide you in Dementor saliva and Phoenix tears, how much?"

I shook my head.

"I'm done with you." I walked away, letting him swear softly in the alley. He had just lost a customer.

If I'm going to deal with some Latino mafia lord, might as well deal only with him.

"Oh Harry, um... hey!"

"Sup Trix." I greeted as I tried to walk past her. She blocked my way.

"So... where were you today? I didn't see you much." she laughed nervously. Oh. Right. You're meant to tell Dumbledore about me and my doings.

"Oh I was here and there, doing stuff... How about you? I wish I'd see you more too." I replied slyly.

"Well, same thing actually, doing prefect stuff and all. Where do you come from, anyway?" she tried again, smiling awkwardly.

"Ahhh, that's a secret." I answered teasingly. I was coming back from the cave, where I had started forging the main part of my armor, the cuirass. I now had a clear idea of what I was going for. Ancient Greece terror. It was kitsch and over the top, I knew it, but it was a Mage Knight thing to be over the top. Brassed muscle cuirass and bull horns on the helm would do give it that minotaur look I wanted.

Her eyes twinkled suddenly, she was enjoying playing detective.

"C'mon tell me!" she played.

"Nuh uh, it's a too valuable secret to be given. I'd sell it, though."

"Alright then, how much?"

I pretended considering it, making a show of staring in the void and stroking my chin.

"Yes, I think a kiss would make it." I finally answered, earning an amused sigh from her. "But not the prude kiss you'd give to anybody, I want a long and tasty french kiss." I grinned widely as she frowned slightly.

"Who do you take me for, Potter, I'm not Priscillia." she harrumphed. My relationship with the team captain was well known in the Hufflepuff community. It had started by a few rumors from people who wondered where she was during that hour, and since neither of us denied, it was now common knowledge.

"I only asked for a kiss, you don't have to jump on me after. Not that that I didn't entertain the idea." I shrugged.

"It's a secret anyway, I'd prefer not telling you." I walked around her and through the door to the great hall.

I reached our table and sat down, I was one of the first. She sat in front of me as I helped myself with some strawberry and whipped cream. I raised an eyebrow to her and tasted the whipped cream.

She continued staring at me without speaking, a smile creeping on her lips.

"What are you looking at? If you want some whipped cream, it's wonderful." I suggested, stretching the bowl to her.

"You're a mystery, Harry. And I'll figure you out." She declared, accepting the bowl. "You have a deal."

"Marvelous!" I exclaimed in my best Dumbledore impersonation and clapped my hands. "Shall we find a nice and cozy place?"

"What? Now, you mean?" she looked around quickly for no apparent reason, she had dumped Pryce last year and was single since then. Maybe she thinks I actually date Priscillia.

"Well yeah, I've got a nice strawberry breath and your lips are covered in whipped cream, I can't imagine a better setting for it."

She bit her lower lips, shifted on her seat and finally stood up.

"Alright, let's go."

I chuckled and followed her, my bowl of cream covered strawberries in hand. I wasn't about to let go this work of art for a kiss.

"Are you seriously going to bring this with you?"

I gulped a spoonful of strawberries and nodded the affirmative. She sighed and walked beside me to the first floor main corridor. We encountered a few of our classmates on the way, and greeted them without stopping. Many asked where we were going but no answer was given, my mouth was conveniently full of the delicious fruit and Trix conveniently didn't hear them.

When we reached an empty classroom, she was all flustered and agitated.

"Let's get it over with." she declared, turning to me her pink cheeks.

"You know they're going to gossip anyway, we might as well make the most of it." I explained helpfully, swallowing another lump of strawberries. She smirked and took my bowl off my hands to put it aside.

"You're really confident in your charm, aren't you?" She approached me with a slight blush and slipped her hands on my shoulders.

"So you admit I have some." I quipped one last time before grabbing her by the waist.

"I would be blind to -" I cut her by pulling her suddenly and snatching my well earned kiss before she gave it to me. I'm a conqueror, I don't wait for them to give it to me, I seize it. I thought while I forced her to play with my tongue.

She resisted a bit at first, trying to keep it reasonable but ended up snogging me like it was her last day on earth. Her hands moved from my shoulders to the back of my skull, making my hair even more messy, and she closed the remaining distance between us, pressing her advantageous chest against mine. She whined softly when my hands climbed her upper body on their own, I intensified the kiss and pushed her against a desk, ignoring the rattling sound of the wood on the stone. I lifted her by the thighs and placed her on said furniture, her legs naturally welcoming me in her personal space. She eventually stopped my conquest when I slid my hand under her robes to cup her breast. She yelped a cute moan and pushed me back with her hand.

"N-No, stop, Harry." She swallowed and inhaled deeply, her face crimson. She wiggled out of my grasp and jumped off the desk, flattening her messy clothes and rearranging her untidy hair.

"Wow, that felt... strange." She stated after a moment.

I sat on a desk and Accio'd my bowl of strawberries.

"I liked it." I said simply, plunging the spoon in the creamy bowl.

"Yeah, me too... I mean too much. I liked it way too much, you're... different when you're closer." She explained cryptically. I narrowed my eyes.

"Wadya mean?" I asked, my mouth full.

"Kind of... mesmerizing, compelling..." she stared into space. I raised an eyebrow. Weird... that remind me how easily Priscillia gave in. Even I had felt the power I had emitted in my command. Oh well, I don't exactly give a damn.

The sound of my spoon rasping the bottom of the glass bowl awoke her from her musing and she turned to me, still very pink in the face.

"Anyway, your secret, let me hear it."

I laughed heartily and made a you-don't-seriously-believe-that face.

"Wasn't it obvious? I have no secret, Trix, I just wanted to kiss you." I said in a chuckle. She gaped at me, her face reddening. This time, it wasn't embarrassment and arousal.

"You asshole!" she whined. "I can't believe you tricked me! Five points from Hufflepuff!" she yelled madly.

"Go on, I never cared much for points. Our housemates won't like it much though, when you explain them why you took points from me." I mocked, jumping down from the desk I was sitting on.

"You were most delicious, Trix, even better than those strawberries, and they were covered in much more whipped cream than you were."

I blew her a kiss.

"Let's make sure we have enough of it next time." I laughed and exited the room as she shouted at me angrily.

I didn't care about her anymore, I had finished playing. The headache was slowly returning, still hidden behind the clouds of my thoughts. I need some good ol' killing.

I went back to the great hall and grabbed a sausage with a loaf of bread, ignoring the cheers of my peers that had guessed I borrowed miss Eveleen for more that discussing my potion essay. I disillusioned myself and returned in the forest, this time to settle my need of dark magic.

Diggory hadn't let go his position of Prefect, even with the tournament going on, but he was too busy to even look at me. That left Trix the only one to report my actions to Dumbledore. And next time I'll see her she'll probably be naked and covered in whipped cream. I grinned. Girls weren't quite all over me like Louise was, but they obviously liked seeing me up close and flashing me bright smiles or suggestive winks. It was great, to flirt like I was normal. Like I didn't have anything to care about. A strange contrast with my alter-ego, with the real Harry that was studying the darkest branch of magic during class. My researches were going forward, slowly but surely.

I was now used to Imperiusing everyone around me in class so I could focus entirely on the subject. Maintaining the Imperius wasn't hard and provided me a security nothing else could.

Zachary hadn't talked to me at all since the apology, he had way more important stuff to think about. The first task was planned in a few days. James came once every now and then to give him spells to learn and advices.

All of this only contributed to make him more dangerous to me, if we ended up dueling. I wasn't afraid of him, but it bothered me that I couldn't consider him a bug that would never impede me.

A rustle in the bushes behind me made its way to my ears and interrupted my thinking. I turned around. Before me stood proudly a tall creature, half horse and half human. The human part looks awfully hairy, I wonder if they're all like that.

"Hey. Never seen your kind around, and I've been playing in this forest for some time now." I greeted the creature with a wave. The books said centaurs were intelligent beings.

It squinted at me and raised its bow to me, bending the cord with an arrow. I raised my wand to it, changing my demeanor in a split second.

"Calm your horses, horseman. I can blow you up before you say shazam."

It didn't move a muscle.

"So you are the source of the death and darkness that creeps in the forest, young human." it started on a menacing tone.

"Our herd has decided to let you be until you become too much of a problem, but I disagree. You are too much of a problem." The arrow raced to me and impacted my chest violently, piercing my toughened skin and burying itself in my flesh. The enhanced flesh stopped it soon enough to spare my life, the arrow hadn't reached the heart. the centaur opened its eyes madly as I tossed the arrow aside, producing a line of blood drops on the surrounding fern trees.

"What are you?" it whispered as I jabbed my wand.

"Duonexufulmen!" was my answer.

The white curse sped to the centaur, it tried to get away with a side jump, and the curse hit it on the side. The second the curse connected, thunder boomed in my ears, my arm shook madly as a thick bolt of lightning exploded from my wand to the horse, lasting twice as long as a normal lightning bolt and flashing a pure white light on the surrounding forest. It was over in a half a second, the centaur fell face first, his fur blackened. His face was torn in a terrible expression of pain, his eyes rolled back and his mouth open wide. Thick blood dripped from its ear, nose and eyes. A strange black smoke surrounded him, his flesh was still audibly fizzling.

I was on my knees, tasting a death by this spell I had only recently learned.

Shivering madly, I started to laugh.

My body laughed on its own, not an evil laugh but an insane laugh that resounded of power and madness.

AN: Sorry for those who like romance, but Harry is fucked up, I can't help it!