Chapter 6.

AN: I bow before the almighty J. K. Rowling.

I was in a bookstore, somewhere in the seventh layer of Knockturn Alley. Sherry had recommended me this one when I had asked her about rituals, blood rituals more accurately.

After reading a lot about golem, inferi and various creature summoning, I was certain I had to find a ritual to get Natasha's body back. It was something palpable, flesh and blood, I needed a way to rebuild it - for the rest I'd see later.

Sherry was with me, we were strolling around in the tiny bookshop, reading titles each one grimmer than the previous one.

"Rituals from North America, before the white faces." she muttered, sliding her finger down the dark red edge of said volume.

"What kind of rituals are you exactly looking for, Harry? Half those books just have Ritual as title, without any indication about what..."

"A lot of them probably describe the same rituals, just from different viewpoints. I'm looking for anything body-related, how to create a body from blood, something like that." I answered absently, picking up a green tome titled What the government doesn't want you to know about "dark" rituals.

"You know you're getting in real trouble if you get caught trying something like that, why do you need that, Harry, seriously?" she questioned, half concerned and half impressed.

"It doesn't matter." I replied, not wanting to waste our limited time in the shady store lying to her.

She stopped walking and frowned.

"I've known you for a year now; you drop in every now and then for a shag and that's it? Not going to open up even a little?" she snapped angrily, throwing a large book on the wooden floor.

"I've tried knowing you, Harry, but you never tell anything about you, your family, or anything else. I thought we had something more than just amazing sex, I don't think it's enough." she was pissed off, tears started to gather under her eyes.

She took a big breath and continued hissing at me, this time trying to be a tad more quiet.

"Now I'm following you in this place, and when I think you're finally going to tell me a bit more about your motivations, it doesn't matter? That's all you have to say?" she wiped her eyes and straightened.

I was lost, I didn't know what do to. I couldn't lie to her, it was pointless, and there was no way I'd tell her about my secrets.

"If you don't have anything more to say, don't bother coming back to me - I'm done with you, Mr. Book." she turned around and left, the shop's bell ringing softly for a few seconds behind her and alerting the paranoiac shopkeeper.

I picked up the book she had thrown on the floor and looked absentmindedly at the picture. It was the picture of a Mage Knight, taking all the page, his body and armor separated like a muggle toy with arrows pointing to each parts and a good load of notes following. I closed the book and read the cover. Body enhancing, the secrets behind the infamous Mage Knights. It was a fairly big book, heavy and bound with what looked like obsidian.

I remembered me punching Zabini in the guts with all my strength and barely having him drop to a knee, I remembered the fight against the boar, when it had come very close to reduce my legs to a meaty pulp and glanced at the book again.

Body enhancing. It would be useful for sure, but do I need it? Can't I do everything with my might?

Mage Knights existed for a reason. They were made for combat.

You could be strong and fight with magic, that was what most wizards and duelists did, but when it was about true combat, on the battlefield, when it was about killing and surviving instead of just defeating an opponent, you needed more than magic, you needed to be fast, strong and resistant. Mage Knights carried weapons around because their job was to be efficient in combat, and chopping half a dozen wizards in two with a sway of a battle axe was the definition of combat efficiency. True Mage Knights were Mage-level wizards, they could handle any kind of opponent in the first place. The fact that they were enhanced warriors encased in a thick enchanted armor tipped the scales in their favour.

And Hellard dropped three of them before dying... I need to ask him about that.

I took the book along with the two other I had selected and walked to the counter.

While I was walking to the nearest ascendant Black Bricks wall, I thought about Sherry. She was right, I had never told her anything about me. Often she would ask small things like where I lived and what I did during the day, I always changed the subject to something involving the two of us and an empty room. She told me a lot about her over the months, I knew she was Sherry Carlisle, nineteen years old, ex-Slytherin and that she was working in that bookshop to get experience before getting her own bookshop in magical Edinburgh. I knew her uncle was the last member of her family alive since the war, I knew she lived in a small house with him somewhere in the countryside before working in London.

All she knows about me is that I am Harry, and that I like it very much when she does that thing with her tongue.

I reached the fifth layer and her workplace after a few minutes of being lost in my thoughts and walked in, making the bell ring.

She saw me enter and came to me.

"So, do you have something to tell me?" she asked, visibly still mad at me.

"Listen, I can't tell you who I am or what I do in the day, and I won't lie to you." I started, trying to sound as sincere as I was.

"But if you want to know about me, I'll make efforts to answer to your questions."

While I was trying to win her back, I shortly wondered why I was doing this. She was really hot and nice but why did I want her so bad? Guess I'm kinda addicted to our private lessons.

"I understand you have things to hide, but why don't you trust me with them? You know I'm not an Auror or anything like that, and your terrible secret is probably not much compared to all the shit that happens in this place anyway, Harry! Just be you and open to me!" she begged, grabbing my hands and catching my eyes with hers.

"I'm sorry." I turned and walked off. I cared about her and that was bad. I was about to tell her everything, and that was unacceptable. My secret was way more important than the affection I had for her.

I walked out and took a room in an inn at the second layer. Tonight and every other nights from now one were going to be without the warm body of Sherry against me.

I closed the book in a clap and rose a hand to my forehead.

I was tired, exhausted. It has been a month since I had started studying rituals, and that had been so taxing I was now cruising at six pepper-up phials per day.

Rituals were crazy complicated, each one of them could be modified to get a different result, and all of them contained an assload of details and factors that could be crucial or mundane. Reading about them and trying to understand how to put all of this together to reach my goal was mind-torture. That and the Occlumency lessons, of course.

Dark magic was now officially part of my weekly schedule, two nights per week I went in the Forbidden Forest and attacked things, sometimes killing them, and sometimes retreating quickly after pissing off a too strong opponent.

While it eased my headache, it had the hitch of putting me in a constant daze of bliss and recklessness. I was looking at the world through a screen, like a game where nothing could reach me. I constantly had nasty ideas and laughed at the demise of my housemates. Often I would trick them, make them get mad between themselves, hurt them with minor hexes and pretend that it went from elsewhere. Sometimes it didn't work so I had to obliviate them, and it made me laugh inside. It made me happy. But I was still sane, I knew it was bad. But if it makes me feel good, how is it bad? From my point of view, it's pretty good. As long as I don't go too far, it's not bad to have a bit of fun.

After a few weeks of deep studies on different rituals, I could say that I got the logic behind them. I understood more or less how runes could affect the flow in magic and temper with its proprieties, I also understood how the numbers worked, why you had to set a certain number of items in a certain shape, there was a logic behind it. But the sheer amount of ingredients, potions and whatnot you had to put together to successfully execute a dark ritual was overwhelming. And the worst part was that no known ritual could build a perfect body, there was always a downside, like the body would survive only a year or it would be inhumanly hideous, or worse.

I opened the bag of pixie powder I got from my contact in Slytherin. I could have gone to buy it myself but these days I was too much of a wreck to risk another outing in Knockturn Alley.

I took a pinch of the thin golden powder and dropped it unceremoniously in the pepper-up potion. It was highly unrecommended to add exotic ingredients to a potion, even more to a pepper-up potion, and even more when those ingredients were heavy stimulants like pixie powder. But the fact was that it boosted the efficiency of my pepper up to about three times the standard reaction, and I didn't mind the euphoria that came along as side effect. I was already high on dark magic anyway and my slowly growing resistance to pepper up potions had to be dealt with.

The powder fizzled on the surface and smoke invaded the room. I breathed it, like always, it had become some sort of rite of my own. While my body relaxed at the sweet smell and toxins it knew so well, my mind drifted away to the chaotic memories of the Quidditch match we had for fun last week end. I was just coming back from almost killing some kind of wood golem - or was it a living tree? - and I was ecstatic. The dark freezing curse I had used was like having sex ten times per second, it was glorious, mind-blowing. And I was nowhere near mastering it, the wood beast hadn't even been half frozen.

Playing a Quidditch match with my housemates had sounded like one of the best idea at the moment, so I went and had fun. Of course, they got really impressed with my skills on a broom and decided on their own that I would try out for the house team.

At first I tried to stop them, but after all, what's wrong in a bit of fun? I could always skip the matches if they were encroaching on my project.

The cauldron vibrated faintly, the pixie powder had blended with the rest of the potion. I filled up ten phials, put them in a wooden phial holder and shoved everything in my new satchel, which was enchanted to hold a bit more than the usual schoolboy satchel. I took a gulp from the ladle resting in the cauldron.

The surcharged pepper up woke my senses up, setting my nerves ablaze. I grinned widely as my brain received a nice injection of I don't know what that made me feel awesome. I bathed in a combination of numbness, laziness and jubilation, but my body was fast and accurate.

The match was to begin in ten minutes. Perfect, as long as they don't ask me to think about anything...

I grabbed my broom in a smooth gesture and set sail to the Quidditch pitch.

Half Hogwarts later, I was approaching the pitch and I could already hear the crowd roaring and cheering. It was about to start. Wonder how it would feel to cast a wide area advanced dark curse on the crowd, I'd probably overdose...

I quickly transfigured my robes into Quidditch robes and walked in, without bothering to enter the changing room or to talk with the captain, Cedric Diggory.

"Harry, you're here, great. Let's go then, we waited enough. I'll tell you about the tactics when we're up there." exclaimed Diggory, relieved to have his team complete.

"Yes captain!" I yelled, imitating the Auror's salute to their superiors. Then I burst out laughing, everybody looked at me strangely but quickly discarded it when madam Hooch blew the whistle.

I was still laughing my guts out when I kicked the floor, I knew it wasn't especially funny but I didn't give a damn, I just wanted to laugh. And that made it even funnier to me.

"The quaffle passes to Angelina Johnson, in fine shape these days, I hope she won't distract the Gryffindor players as much as she distracts me -" started the loud commentator, only to be scolded by McGonagall for his improper remarks.

"- and the delicious chaser passes to Alicia Spinnet, who gets blocked by Pamela Laverne, very nice action here - but what is that? A bludger sent by Weasley thwarted the interruption, Spinnet still on her way to the goal, nobody is here to stop her, except for the Hufflepuff keeper Jeffery Price, and GOAL! GOAL FOR GRYFFINDOR!"

I was lost in my mind, sitting on my broom, wondering about an important question that just came to me. Who am I playing against?

"Harry what are you doing? Harry come here!" shouted Diggory, bringing my attention back to the match. I shook my head and flew to him. Damn, this set of pepper up is something else... I have to stay focused on reality.

"Yeah, nothing, so ... what?" I chuckled without thinking. I was just having the best time of my life. Okay, focus.

"Harry, what the hell are you doing? Listen, you're a pretty good flyer, even on this broom, so I told Howell to let you go ahead and make a long pass when you're in the twenty feet zone, okay?" he talked loudly, to be sure I was hearing him.

"Got it." I thought about some witty comment to make in a pirate voice but refrained. I had already acted too strange today.

"And the quaffle goes to Spinnet again, covered by Bell, but Potter is speeding toward them, and oh my god -"

I was leaning on my broom, feeding it magic, pushing it to the limit, I knew I could get the quaffle from those cute but scared Gryffindor gals. I was about to reach their position, slightly under them, when Spinnet took a sharp turn to her right, Bell followed and covered her left side. I grinned and accelerated suddenly, the broom was really hot now, my skin started to burn on my palm and fingers. I raced between Spinnet and bell, bumping their elbows, and let go of my broom, holding it only with my legs. The lack of magic in my broom made it lose all acceleration, I quickly grabbed the quaffle from Spinnet with my two hands, and let the sudden deceleration get me out of the sexy sandwich I found myself in. Spinnet was clenching the quaffle strongly, and got pulled back with me as I moved down with my legs. She lost control of her broom and leave the quaffle to me so she could stabilize herself, helped by Bell. I turned around in the sharpest turn I could manage, I sensed the broom bend slightly, creaking painfully, and came to a full stop.

And now, everyone's too confused to act, I rock at that. I thought without a hint of modesty while I tossed the leather ball with all my strength. It made a gracious curve and landed right on Pamela who was at the other side of the pitch, her path to the goals totally clear of opponents.

"TEN POINTS FOR HUFFLEPUFF! Amazing action by - what is that? Madam Hooch stops the match, surely to discuss this dangerous stunt from Potter!" the commentator yelled in the enchanted microphone.

I flew down to Hooch under the jeers of the Gryffindor side. My team mates were delighted by my performance, Diggory pushed me aside and gave me a wide smile and a thumb up before going down to deal with Hooch himself.

"Incredible Harry, how in the world can you do that with a Cleansweep Three!" cheered Pamela, bumping me in the side and throwing her arm around my shoulders. I wonder if she'd ride me as well as she rides a broom, she sure is athletic.

"That was amazing, Harry, dangerous but amazing!" smiled Smith, waving his bat around like an excited kid. That's what I wanted you to say when you saw me cursing Louise with the self-strangulating curse. Too bad you had to freak out and get obliviated too.

Other team members flew around me and congratulated me while Diggory came back up, angry.

"I'm sorry Harry, she really didn't like your play here, I tried to explain her it wasn't that dangerous but she said you pushed your broom too far and could have crashed in them. Bullshit." he spat in the air.

"Anyway, you're out. Sorry mate."

I really didn't give a damn, I had enough fun. I flew out of the pitch and happily walked back to my clandestine lab, planning to spend the rest of the day in the diary. I need to focus on my objectives, fun is alright, but there is a time for work too.

...and the sixty years old Indian mage Jagdish Chanda, who followed the progress of the team as scribe. No one came back, except for Jagdish the archivist, who then disappeared in his homeland, India. Many have come to him for the notes and memories of what happened, but few got anything. It is believed that Jagdish has become insane and lives in the Sahyadri mountains with muggles.

I closed my second most precious book, The recorded attempts at Soul Magic all over the world, and thought about what I had just read. This bit of information might just have been worth the five hundred galleons I had spent for the book. There was someone who was maybe still alive and had data about how to retrieve a soul. Sure, the shady ritual the team had attempted was unknown and it didn't work perfectly as they all died, but there was this guy, Jagdish, who knew what happened.

Creating a soul was impossible, the book listed a lot of crap about destroying them, manipulating them, tearing them to pieces and such. It also had a lot of useful information on ghosts of all kinds and ways to fight them, but the part that interested me was soul retrieval. Taking back a soul that have been claimed by something, be it death or anything else. Of course, it only listed attempts, and most of the time there was no useful information at all, but just this little sentence could prove valuable enough.

According to this book, the guy is ... sixty plus ninety... one hundred and fifty something years old. Shit, he might have died long ago.

I sighed and sat back in my armchair.

It had been a week since I stopped taking pepper-up potions, Occlumency lessons, and dark magic trips in the forest all together. I was becoming too crazy, too dangerous. I actually had to obliviate two fifth years because I heard them discuss the weird things that happened among the Hufflepuff first years, what could be the reason behind it and if it could possibly be related to the rumors of the Heir of Slytherin being in the school.

I had been reckless.

Once, Marvyn had asked me to retrieve another chest for him and when I came back, some random Ravenclaw saw me exit the secret passage, so I had to obliviate her. Sadly, I was too out of my shoes to notice her boyfriend a few feet behind her, who almost got me with a Stupefy.

Of course, I had overreacted and sent a column of almost raw magic, barely molding it into some kind of messed up Black Energy, right through his guts. Black Energy, also called Obsidian Light, was a nasty piece of dark magic I had tried to learn. Its purpose was to fuck up the target, internally. It was different for everybody, but most of the time it wrecked their emotions, their thoughts and their nerves and could be a really useful spell when mastered. I had to obliviate him and let him shiver and puke whilst crying on the floor, wondering if he'd be okay. There was no counter curse to Black Energy, especially not to a messed up attempt like this one.

I was fucked up. And I decided that enough was enough.

So I stopped everything, since the start of winter break. I slept ten hours per days and ate three meals per days. Mind cleared and headache gone, I was able to think straight again.

I had made a list, a summary of my plans and how I had advanced in them.

First is to learn how defend my secrets, namely how to Obliviate and become an Occlumens. This step was very well gone, I was really good at obliviation and my fortress was already strong enough to resist a standard Legilimens.

Second is to actually defend my secret, by acting like a standard Hufflepuff and raising no suspicion. This step wasn't too bad until now but I had to work on it harder.

Third is to learn how to be efficient in combat if something fucks up. No problems on this step, I had an impressive arsenal of dark magic and combat spells if I needed to. And to train with them made my magic muscle much more powerful than it should be at twelve year old.

Fourth is to find everything I can on necromancy. This one was going rather slowly, but it was going nonetheless.

Fifth is to make a scheme on how to successfully get her back - body, mind, soul and magic. This step was still at a standstill.

Sixth, make tests until I'm one hundred percent sure of what I'm doing. Waiting for step five.

Seventh, bring her back.

Yep, I was still far from even having an idea of how to successfully revive her. It looked impossible, unattainable. And it probably was, which made it even worse. But getting depressed over that isn't gonna help much.

I made a promise, I won't rest until she's back on this world. And if it's impossible, I'll die working on it.

I wrote down the name Jagdish Chanda on my notebook and closed it. I'll find this guy's whereabouts and pay him a visit.

I knew it would be quite the journey but I needed to try something to make my project go forward. Thankfully, I'm filthy rich. All of this would have been three times harder if not...

But money can't really help me find this legendary archivist... I suddenly remembered the paper pinned on the inn's wall I had seen when I was in Knockturn Alley a few weeks before. It had attracted my attention because it was displaying a list of wanted wizards. On top of this, there was an announce. A detective guild, headquarters located in Russia, if I remember right. Brilliant.

The decision was taken, I'd hire a detective to find Jagdish, this way I could stay at the castle and I was assured that the guy knew what he was doing. Those kind of guilds were very old and proud, they accepted only the most skilled candidates. Fail a job and you tarnish the whole guild's reputation, that was unthinkable. You'd get fired immediately, if not killed.

However, the performance would most likely be rather expensive, depending on what class of detective you'd hire. I'll probably take the best I can with what I have.

On my starting funds of 30 000 galleons, I had 28 000 left. I had spent two thousand galleons in a year and three month. Books had been expensive, especially the one on soul magic, aging potion had been expensive too, even when I bought it myself for 80 galleons in Knockturn Alley, and various spending like my wardbreaker scope, ingredients for my homemade pepper up brews, Christmas gifts for housemates and such increased the monthly bill by quite a lot.

But I had no idea of how much would a detective ask for this job, so I decided to go take a look. It was Tuesday, in the middle of the Christmas break, Hogsmeade would be overflowing with people buying stuff, being unseen would be a piece of cake.

I stuffed my things in my satchel and rose up, nodded politely to madam Pince and walked to the one eyed witch statue.

Two Dissendium later, I was in a busy Honeydukes shop, pushing my way through the crowd slowly. I was in no hurry, I appreciated the Christmas ambiance around me and even tasted a few candies. There were kids everywhere, begging their parents to buy a pound of Blueberry Jellytongue and running around the shelves like little imps. If this place wasn't magically hardened, those kids would have destroyed everything.

I spent a little twenty minutes looking around in my teenaged body and finally flooed to Diagon Alley from the local travel shop, then hurried to Knockturn Alley, forcing myself to not lose too much time looking at the infinite wonders of Diagon Alley during winter holidays.

In Knockturn Alley, the sudden change in ambiance was even more shocking at Christmas, there was a few decorations on some shops here and there, but the alley kept its trademark grimness, as if the dwellers did their best to contrast with Diagon Alley.

I reached the nearest Black Bricks portal and tapped it.

The mood in level two was already more Christmas-like, there was a huge Christmas tree in the center of the place, illuminating the buildings around with its flying lanterns and hundreds of magical fireflies buzzing in the its branches. Level two's central place was definitely the real Knockturn Alley entrance.

I blended in the mass and made my way to the inn, I spotted four Aurors in official garb arresting a big man in a side street. So they do come here...

It was a wonder how supposedly light wizards could enter this place, only accessible by Black Bricks. Apparition, portkey, and floo travel were blocked by the natural complexity of the place but also by wards set up by the local crime lords. While floo travel only redirected you to level one, apparating in there would probably obliterate you.

I found the tavern and pushed the door, revealing the cheerful ambiance inside. Good old tavern music was playing, with all the accordions and flutes necessary, and people were shouting, playing cards, betting on underground sports and generally drinking a lot of weird-looking beverage. I reached the bulletin board, buying a bottle of HorseBeer - they wouldn't sell ButterBeer in this place - on the way and read the part about detectives whilst taking a mouthful.

Need to find, to track someone or to discover their darkest secrets? Contact the renowned Detective Guild of Novosibirsk. Notorious for its efficiency since 1807, the DGN offers the services of the best detectives in the world. At its head Vsevolod Lev, of the Vsevolod House, and other well known names like the handsome Italian genius Simone Amedeo and the French Metamorphmagus femme fatale Astride Emeline.

To contact the DGN, call "The Detective Guild of Novosibirsk" with any floo device.

The bulletin was large and displayed a beautiful picture of an old rock fortress somewhere in the snow of Russia, along with pictures of the three detectives mentioned in the text and under it, as my memory had recalled, a bunch of wanted posters.

I looked closely at the French witch, she was sitting on the cold stone wall of the guild's headquarters and looked right in my eyes, with a superior look she must have worked on for years to get it so perfectly with her small size.

Petite, thin but not too much, and a metamorphmagus with that. How exciting - useful I meant, a pity she's probably way out of my budget.

I had to make a floo call, but using public fireplaces wasn't an option, I needed a place more private. Hogwarts had no floo call service and even if they had, I couldn't trust it not to be under surveillance.

Home. If you can call it like that...

I peered at my watch, it was four in the afternoon, the happy Potter family was sure to be outside for a family outing.

I strode to the nearest transportation shop, tossed a handful of sickles on the empty counter, not bothering to make sure it was enough, and activated the floo fire. I stepped in the flames and called "Potter House, Godrick's Hollow, Great-Britain - as Potter." The last bit was to speed up the process, this way, the floo wouldn't have to lose time checking why I was blocked since it would look for blood wards immediately and allow me to enter.

I walked out of the fire with assurance, being used to floo travel by now, and looked around. Nobody in the living room. I walked to the glass door and scanned the backyard, they weren't here either.

"Anybody home?" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

Nothing.

I walked back to the floo, tossed a bit of powder in it and stuck my head inside it, calling out loud "The Detective Guild of Novosibirsk", almost butchering the Russian name.

I waited a bit, pulled a seat from behind me and sat on it just as the connection opened.

"Здравствуйте -" started an old witch before I could stop her.

"English please."

"Hello and welcome to The Detective Guild of Novosibirsk, how can I help you?" she greeted in a creaky voice.

"I have a work for the guild and I'd like to get an estimation of the cost, and eventually to seal the deal as quickly as possible."

"What kind of work?" she started writing on a parchment I couldn't see.

"Find someone with nothing more than a name and a few locations."

"Is this person hiding?" she asked, peering at me over her half-moon glasses.

"Probably, but not from me." I replied, thinking at the same time. I didn't know if this guy was hiding, the book was ninety years old after all, everybody probably forgot about archivist Chanda.

"Actually, I don't know, it's just that the information I have on him is old, almost a century old. He may even be dead." Thinking about it, I could have at least tried to look for him before resorting to detectives. I was too hasty.

"Very well, do you have a preference in the person you want to work for you?" she asked, eyes on her parchment.

"No, but don't give me a new recruit, I want someone able on this."

"Every detective in our guild is a top class detective, place and date for the first appointment please." she harrumphed haughtily, apparently outraged at my rudeness.

"Great Britain, London, Knockturn Alley, Second Layer, The Leprechaun Hut tavern, as soon as possible."

She finished writing and nodded.

"Mister?"

"Mister Books." I answered simply.

"Expect the performance to cost around five to ten thousand galleons." I nodded. She scribbled a few more note on her paper and put her quill down to hold the parchment closer to her eyes.

"Mr. Books, tomorrow, eight o'clock, Great Britain, London, Knockturn Alley, Second Layer, The Leprechaun Hut tavern." she repeated slowly. I was getting impatient, it wouldn't be good at all to be found like that by James and Lily.

"That's good for me. Who's my contact?"

"Ms Selena Lizaveta, grade four detective, member since 1985, do you want a listing of her past achievements?" Oh why the hell not. That could be fun to read, I don't have much to do since I stopped Occlumency and dark magic...

"Yes, thank you."

The green fire fizzled and danced when she forced the roll of parchment through it. The ward wouldn't allow it if I didn't grab it on my side.

I grabbed it and pocket it.

We politely greeted good day to each other and I cut the call, only to throw in a new pinch of floo powder before stepping in.

"Honeydukes shop, Hogsmeade."

I was sitting at the table in the corner, watching the tavern fill up slowly, there wasn't much people at this hour. As I watched the chubby waitress pour HorseBeer in a wizard's tankard and giggle softly as he reached her thighs before wiggling out of his area, I unrolled the parchment roll the guild had given to me yesterday.

I had planned to read it before going to bed but the opportunity to rob every first year of their money in a Exploding Snap tournament between the ones who stayed in the castle had kept me occupied for the evening. Can't believe this Lavender girl had the incredible luck of calling three explosions in a row, turning the bank against me for the ten final rounds...

I had ended up second by ten points, Lavender was first only by luck. Bitch didn't even skip when that Ravenclaw called the second explosion on her left neighbor and missed, she had like a chance on twenty to escape the explosion...

I shook my head, this game had left a bitter taste in my mouth, and started to read the list of my detective's achievements.

Selena Lizaveta, joined the Detective Guild of Novosibirsk in August 1985 with a score of 91/100 at the entrance examination. Candidates scoring under 80/100 are rejected.

First assignment: December 1985- February 1986:

Employer: Mr. Nels.

Category: Tracking.

Context: N/A.

Result: Success.

Comments: "Intelligent and quick-witted, very professional."- Mr. Nels.

Second assignment: September 1986 - December 1987:

Employer: French Ministry of Magic, Drug Department.

Category: Tracking, Undercover infiltration, Cooperation with authority forces.

Context: Sent along with Mrs. Emeline to assist a French task force in charge of dismantling a drug cartel in south-west France.

Result: Success.

Comments: "Sharp and reliable element, not afraid of going in the field, good teamwork abilities." - Mr. Destombes, French Captain Auror of the Drug Department.

That sounds more like mercenary than detective work.

Third assignment: Janua-

"Mr. Books, please." asked a female voice with a slight Slavic accent.

I rose my head up and saw the innkeeper point at me, showing the lady where I was.

She walked to me, dodging a waitress bringing food to another table and sat on the chair in front of me. She then started waving her wand around us, setting privacy charms on our table.

She was trying to look serious and business-like but I caught her watching me out of the corner of her eye, a slight surprised look on her face.

A very cute face with that, noticeable eastern European features but with dark red hair, probably not natural but very sexy nonetheless. She was tall, thin and busty, her cleavage was unbearable to a sixteen years old who was sixteen only a few times per year. Her leather jacket and corset didn't help me focus on the deal, nor the whole Indiana Jones look with the adventurer hat and the pockets belt around her wasp waist.

"So, Mr. Books?" asked the twenty five or something witch when she was done with the charms, rolling the R with the typical Slavic accent. Our table was now totally silent, no sound came in our out.

"That's me alright, and you would be Miss Lizaveta?" I asked with a smile, looking right in her eyes. Thank Merlin I know Occlumency... If she were to read in my mind right now...

"Yes, so what is the deal, Mr. Books?" she asked, leaning forward to hear me out. I started explaining immediately to avoid staring stupidly at her chest or lips.

"Jagdish Chanda. Last info I have on him dates from ninety years ago, he was sixty at that time. He's either dead or 150 years old. I need to find and contact him. Last known location, India, in some mountain." I explained to the intoxicating witch, peering only two time down her welcoming twin hills. Of course she caught me both time.

"Mmh, is that all the information you have?" she questioned with an amused smile, tickling her notebook with her quill.

"I also know he may be insane or hiding, but that's not sure at all." I added, knowing it wasn't very useful.

She nodded and snapped her finger, the charms over our table suddenly vanished, overwhelming us with the sound of the mildly busy tavern.

"Two firewhiskies!" she shouted to the barman, rising her hand in the air. The barman nodded and turned to grab two glasses.

She turned to me, giving me a toothy smile.

"Now let's discuss the how and the why, Mr. Books." she started, definitely having fun. "You are around fifteen or seventeen, you're probably in school, probably in Hogwarts too."

The innkeeper came with our glasses and placed them on the table. Miss Lizaveta snapped her fingers and closed the charms around us, bringing silence back, and took a sip.

"What are you trying to say?" I asked, weary.

"At your age, I was wondering how many and which men I wanted in my bed for the night, I wasn't spending thousands of galleons to find some old wizard who may even be dead..." she shrugged slightly.

"And according to how you're drooling all over my assets, I'd say you're not uninterested in the pleasures of life, so, what makes you seek this man? What could possibly be more important than having fun in school for a handsome young man like you?" she asked, staring intensively in my eyes.

"This is Christmas holidays, I'm taking a break." I lied, "And my reasons to find this man are private, I will not give them." I stated simply, taking a sip on my dink too.

"So strong and mysterious... I bet you wet all the panties in Hogwarts, don't you?" she laughed like a siren singing in my ears.

I ignored the comment and changed the topic.

"You were in Durmstrang?"

She nodded.

"How was it?"

"Not the dark wizard factory everyone seems to picture when you say Durmstrang. It's old, stony and the teachers are harsh but except for that, it's a normal place. I had a lot of fun." she sighed.

"Being a detective is really great but I miss the sweet student life in Durmstrang. Having fun, sleeping with all the men, learning magic, those were great times." she smiled morosely and finished her glass.

"That's why I wonder why someone like you would want to spend so much money to chase an old Indian wizard."

I looked at her and preferred finishing my glass too instead of answering.

"So, while you will be doing whatever and whoever, I'll be looking for this guy." she said, taking a more serious voice. "If I find him, what do you want me to tell him?"

"There is nothing to tell him, just let me know where he is and arrange a meeting between us. I need to meet him myself."

"What's your full name? I need it to owl you." she grabbed her quill again.

Shit, how can she contact me if I have no floo and no fake name registered to the owl post?

She seemed to sense my anxiety and smiled.

"I can always register you to my personal owl, this way you won't need a full name. Or even a real name." she offered impishly with a wink. She was toying with me.

"That would be incredibly helpful." I accepted with a small bow. She laughed and stood up.

"Take a room, I'll fetch my owl and we'll work that out together."

A few minutes later, we were in a small room above the tavern. Her owl was watching us quietly from the bed table.

The owl registration process had been quite long and even in a room, the magical disturbance from everyone in the tavern still made it harder for the magic to not be disturbed.

But it had been done, and at the moment, I was tasting Selena's mouth, testing the softness of her lips and the reactions of her tongue. She giggled softly as I bit her upper lip, or maybe it was because I couldn't slip my fingers in either her corset or pants, no matter how I tried. Her clothes are too damn tight, I can't get in here.

She stopped the kiss with her fingers, and pushed me back softly, rearranging her clothes and hair.

"Now now, I feel you're taking too much confidence here, Mr. Books. Having a relationship with business partners is a bad idea." she laughed, her eyes gleaming with mischief and she licked her lips.

"We're not really partners, I'm hiring you." I tried hopefully with a grin.

"Very well, but you'll need to try harder to get anything more than a snog from me, I'm not your habitual sex-craving teenager girlfriend. And anyway, you're a bit young for my tastes." she said while getting closer to me.

"Goodbye, Mr. Books, I'll try to find your man as fast as possible."

She kissed me on the cheek and left the room, leaving me alone and horny on the bed. Damn.

I lay on my back and thought about Sherry. I wasn't much of a Casanova, actually, my seducing skills were poor, so why did Sherry and Selena jump on me like tigers on a piece of meat? I knew I was in fact sort of handsome at sixteen, but still...

Girls are all over me when I'm on aging potion, I wonder if the older students have as much fun as she says... My final years could prove very enjoyable...

I grinned and stood up. There should be a quality brothel somewhere in third or fourth layer.

"Good luck for the match, Harry!" encouraged Rosaline from further down the table, flashing me a wide smile.

"The weather is really better today, this should be a great match." added Loren cheerfully, tossing me an apple.

"Eat something, it's not like you to stress before a game."

I wasn't stressed or anxious about the game, I just had a bad headache since about two months ago when I started taking Occlumency lessons again. We were in March, it had been three month since the meeting with the smoking hot detective. I hadn't received any news yet but I was confident, after reading the whole list of her past assignments I was convinced of her efficiency.

I bit in the apple, sticky juice flowed around my fingers. Damn headache...

Hellard said it was natural and would happen as long as I needed him to build my walls. I had asked him about the Mage Knights he had fought before dying too but he was no help, he could only tell me generalities about them.

With my extensive knowledge on rituals, I looked deeper on body enhancing rituals and came to the conclusion that it would surely be useful, but not a priority. I continued learning more and more impressive and powerful dark magic but only went in the forest two times. I forced myself to keep a natural style of life to avoid being the mess I was before the break, constantly high on pepper-up and dark magic.

"I'm not stressing, I just have a bit of a headache." I countered absently, munching on my green apple.

"You should go to madam Pomfrey, you often have headaches don't you?" Loren placed her hand on my arm worriedly. I don't think I ever talked about it, she must have noticed it...

"I'm fine." I brushed her off, just as a brown owl swooped down from the bird stream above us and released a letter in my empty plate.

I took the letter and opened it, wondering what it could be.

I didn't get to wonder for long. On the letter was written in sharp letters DGN - S. Lizaveta and just under it to Mr. Books.

"What is it about?" asked Louise in front of me, Loren simply leaned on me to see the letter.

"Personal stuff." I stood up abruptly, shoving Loren aside and grabbed my satchel. "I gotta grab my broom and go, see you after the match." I strode to the massive great hall gate and ran in the first empty place I found.

I closed the door behind me, watched around me and casted a quick Homenum Revelio, not very reliable in such a magically crowded place but still useful. There was apparently nobody in the room.

I feverishly unfolded the letter, exposing its content.

Mr. Books, I have successfully verified the fact that the target is alive and in India, near the Sahyadri mountains. However, very few people have seen him, he seems to live a hermit life and hide from civilization.

But that is what people in this region believe, not what I believe. I have reasons to think he is among the magical population in the Madikeri town, I even found someone who let slip that he knows him but he wouldn't say anything more, I don't think I'm the only person chasing this man.

Anyway, I have a plan for you to meet him. I know a few places where he might be and if we make him understand we mean no harm, maybe he will show up. But I'd need you with me, I can't meet him on my own only to tell him I'm hired by someone. Not if he's hiding from someone else.

I told Rain, my owl, to stay in Hogwarts' owlery until you answer me. Don't call her Rain, her real name is the Russian word for rain and she'd hate it.

S. L.

I threw my fist in the air. Yes! I knew it, he's alive!

Now she wants me to go in India and check a few places to find him? That could take time, and I can't afford time, not when I'm still in Hogwarts.

I summoned a chair, sat on it and stroked my chin, thinking intensively. Why not, after all? I already lost enough time as it is, I can very well disappear from Hogwarts for a day or two. I'll invent some shit, they can't read my mind anyway. The sooner I meet this guy, the sooner I can set my plans in motion concerning Necromancy.

I walked to the owlery, ignoring everybody looking weirdly at me on the way. "The match is in five minutes, boy!" called a student. Like I cared about a stupid Quidditch match anymore.

I found Rain waiting for me in a corner of the cage. She flew to me as soon as I motioned her to.

Understood, will travel with you. Take care of everything, will cover expenses. Rendez-vous Friday night, 00:00, same place as last time. Reply only if necessary.

Happy with my reply, I folded the letter and attached it to Rain's leg and watched her fly away in the blazing twilight above the lake.

I grabbed my broom and sprinted to the pitch. I didn't care about missing it or being thrown out of the team, but flying was a pleasure I'd have tonight, be it with the team or on my own.

When I arrived, the match had started. I saw 30/0 in favor of Slytherin on the giant scoreboard above the spectator seats.

Diggory, being seeker, saw me immediately and called for a pause. The whole team flew to me, some a bit worried, some a bit relieved, but all of them angry.

"Harry, where the fuck have you been, we can't afford this kind of bullshit anymore!" shouted Diggory in my face, it was exceptional for him to shout with such anger and even more to swear.

"We swap a player, Madam Hooch, Trenton for Harry!" he yelled toward the referee.

Trenton Bertie nodded at me and dismounted his broom. We were like that in Hufflepuff, no drama, no bullshit. When I saw all the stuff that happened in the other teams, I felt more and more like Hufflepuff was truly the best House, regardless of your intentions.

I rocketed to the sky, pushing already my broom to its best. You'd normally have to treat those cheap brooms carefully, not forcing them too much when they're cold was one of the recommended things to do. But I didn't like that, to me, broom riding was all about pushing it to the limit. If I could try Zach's nimbus, I'd go insane. The acceleration on that beast is something else, too bad Zach is only a good flyer, his broom deserves better than just good. Me for instance.

The commentator started again, shouting and yelling names as the quaffle passed left and right. After a few minutes of flying around, I received the quaffle from Howell ahead of me in a neat feint. I plunged under Marcus Flint and Alyson Justice who retreated when they noticed the quaffle had left his hand, pulled the broom until I was on a vertical line, and accelerated to the clouds. This was way too much for a broom like that, it started thrashing and deviating but I was above the two chasers now, who were trying to follow me without falling in spite of being on nimbus 2001, and of course both bludgers had been sent to me. I waited a bit more, and just before the twigs caught on fire, I pulled hard and turned around, plummeting back down toward my pursuers. Flint avoided me, rolling to the side, and one of the bludger aimed at me hit him right in the jaw, breaking it and sending him sprawling off his broom.

"Oh my god, Potter dropped down and - FLINT TOOK A BLUDGER FROM HIS OWN BEATER! Beautiful maneuver from Potter but another bludger is closing in -"

I took a sharp turn and let my side crash violently against Justice, who took the second bludger in the ribs, dragging both of us on five yards. Only me and herself heard the terrible crack of half her ribs breaking under the impact. I threw the quaffle to the middle ring without minding their awful keeper who was looking at his captain being rescued, and caught Justice as she dropped from her broom. I watched below us and noticed Flint had been caught by the Slytherin beaters and the third chaser.

"Ouch, Potter escapes another bludger but chaser Justice doesn't have his luck, that must have broken a few bones but thankfu - OH, TEN POINTS FOR HUFFLEPUFF!" yelled the dark-skinned second year in his microphone.

With two substitutes chasers and no captain, the rest of the game was a breeze, Malfoy almost got the snitch at one point but a bludger denied him the win and an hour later we finally ended it with a clean 240/30 for Hufflepuff. Madam Hooch took me apart to explain me how to handle brooms and why my recklessness endangered everyone on the pitch. I pretended listening to her and went to the locker room, where everyone was cheering and laughing at the way we had stomped Slytherin, usually first or tied with Gryffindor.

"Harry, Harry come here!" yelled Diggory, dragging me in a group of fourth years who slapped me in the back and praised me loudly.

"Amazing stunt, Harry, what were you even trying to do?" said a guy who was named Thomas or maybe not.

"You actually planned this, right? You looked at the beaters before you decided to take a vertical course, you saw Slytherin had both bludgers, I watched you through my omnicular." teased Trix Eveleen, our keeper's girlfriend, with a sly grin.

"You tricked them into following you up and used them as shields when the bludgers came at you. You knew both bludgers where for you because you were close to the rings and you made a perfect target above everybody else on your unreliable broom." she explained grinning viciously.

I laughed softly and shrugged innocently.

"That's not what madam Hooch seems to believe, miss Eveleen, or she would have taken me out of the pitch immediately." I replied with my own sly grin to the popular and unusually busty fourth year. If I'd be only one or two years older, I could probably get her horizontal just by snapping my fingers...

The cheerful ambiance in the locker room moved into the dormitories for a victory party that ended at midnight, at least for us puny second years.

Rumors about the attacks and the chamber of secrets were still spreading around but nobody had any real information. It didn't interest me much anyway, after a quick look on its history, I came to the conclusion that it most likely had nothing to do with Necromancy.

People around me were scared, Loren had lost her happy-crazy touch that had made me stick with her and Louise wanted to go nowhere without a group of guys around her and kept following me, holding my arm like a lost pup.

But the chamber and whoever was doing whatever to random students was the last thing on my mind. I was going to India in three days, getting fresh air, using some magic outside of my trips in the forest and the minor spells we were taught in class, and escorting Selena the sexy detective for an adventure. It was going to be like a barrel of fresh water in a desert.

I rolled over in my bed, kicking the sheets off, and looked at my clock. It was two o'clock, the party was over for everyone now but I couldn't sleep. The thrill of the match and the promise of a jaunt in India prevented me from sleeping, my magic was in turmoil.

I slowly got up, making sure to be noiseless, and grabbed my wand. I muttered two incantation and I started dressing up. The silencing charm and Notice-Me-Not were enough to go unnoticed in the dormitory, I knew that very well.

After putting my clothes on, I crossed the room and walked in the common room. It was empty, except for a seventh year couple sleeping together in a couch. I paid them no mind and reached the entrance, a stone arch with climbing plants all over it and storm lanterns on each side. The passage was open to anybody, there was no password or whatever, Hufflepuffs had nothing to hide. Nothing at all.

Soon, I was walking along the rocks I knew so well behind the gatekeeper's hut. The sky was bright as ever in this part of the world, the moon and stars light made the fog white-blue, the plants white-blue and the earth white-blue. Everything was another shade of white and dark blue. I breathed the chill and moist air and felt my body unwind, mesmerized by the never steady water of the lake gleaming with reflects of the milky way.

I entered the woods, breaking twigs and branches under my feet, wand ready. I knew my way quite well around the first miles of the forest, I took my usual path, walked in my own footprints and pushed the same fern branches I always pushed. When I reached the small river in which I had bathed one time, I took left and walked into a part I had never walked before.

Ten minutes later, I found a target. Correction, the target found me.

I was in front of three horned Zebras, all identical, they had huge sharp ram-like horns and their stripes were made of blue fire. I could feel the heat from a hundred yards away, distorting the air, twisting it around them like they ripped a hole in reality, illuminating the forest with a bright blue aura. Those aren't carnivorous, there's just no way. Why do they look at me like that...

I didn't know what they were, there were so many magical species in those huge magical forests...

They were looking right at me, and tapped their hoofs on the earth in sharps motions. I was near the water stream, the place wasn't clear of trees but still far from the usual dense forest. I didn't want to attack those ones, they were downright magnificent and probably very rare and dangerous. But they didn't look like they were about to let me be.

The middle one suddenly charged at me, neighing loudly, a thunder-like sound, echoing through my mind like an explosion curse cast at point blank. I faltered and took a step back. This thing as psychic abilities! Occlumency just saved my life.

Indeed, not five second after the knocking neigh, the three beasts were almost on me, ready to impale me on their horns at full speed and tear me apart. Not today, motherfuckers!

The explosion curse correlation was still in my mind from before, it was the first thing that came to my mind as I charged toward the zebra in the center to avoid letting them surround me.

"Frangerium!" I shouted, aiming directly at the ground in front of it and plunging. Striking it directly probably wouldn't work, I could tell those creatures were heavily magical and thus resistant to it.

The ground exploded silently in a large ball of rock and earth, I landed on my front, covering my head from shrapnel. The middle zebra jumped just in time to avoid being blasted away and landed on its legs, ten yards behind me. The two others were pushed sideways and fell to the ground.

I stood up and turned around. Steam was evaporating from the left one who fell in the river and was getting back on its hoofs with dignity. The one who had jumped charged at me again, trying another mental strike, I aimed at it and shouted as hard as I could "Kroz Sve!". The good ol' perforation curse bounced off its fur and flew in the sky. I dove to the side, avoiding the wide horn swing by a few inches, aimed at the floor again and transfigured a mud pool in an acid pool, only to send another silent explosion to it. The acid flew all over the place, I rolled behind a bush and avoided most of it, getting a few drops on my cloak, but the beast was hit. It wailed madly and ran into the river, its fire blazing twice as strong as before, increasing the already unbearable heat and making me sweat some more.

I stood up and dove to the ground immediately, as the two others tried to take me in a clamp maneuver. I hadn't the time to pick myself up, my mind was in a blur again, magic streaming in my veins, adrenaline overflowing in my brain, I aimed at the two zebras and unleashed all of my might in a single curse.

"Frigidi Mortem!" I bellowed, my voice itself boosted by magic. The cold wave curse was one of the most popular dark battle curse. Literally The Cold Breath Of Death, it was insanely powerful and hard to master. I wasn't a master yet but had a certain affinity with it.

Magic shot from my forearm to the tip of my wand with a blinding blue light, and a enormous wave of cold exploded from it, freezing everything in its path. The blue fire was instantly frozen, replaced by flames-shaped immobile ice, as the zebra themselves where cryogenized. The trees, earth, rocks and everything else in front of me were either pure ice or encased in a thick layer of frozen matter.

I writhed on the floor, experiencing the most intense bout of pleasure ever, my wand was welded to my palm and fingers, shaking as hard as I was. I sensed the remaining beast approach me carefully, it had washed the acid on its fur and was now watching its brothers apprehensively.

I stood up with much difficulty and hold a nearby tree trunk. My body was now feeding on the pleasure, no longer ruled by it.

But as I readied myself to fight the last one, I heard something that made my blood freeze faster than the curse I had used could have.

"Harry!"

I spun around, pointing my wand at a small girl running toward me. Loren! What the fuck is Loren doing here? Did she see me?

"Oh my god Harry! You're hurt!" she jumped on me eagerly, crying heavily. "I couldn't do anything, it went so fast, these beasts attacked you all of a sudden!"

She saw everything. Can't let that go can we?

The remaining zebra ran away as it saw Loren, probably scared of having to fight two wizards when it saw what only one could do.

"I'm alright, I'm alright, but what are you doing here, Loren?" I was ready to whip out an Expelliarmus anytime.

"I... I followed you. I saw you going out the other night and I ... I wondered where you went, and then I wondered if you could be..." she whimpered, crying in my shirt. What the fuck is she rambling about...

"So I followed you, but then you went in the forest and I got really scared, and now that!" she raised her wet face to me and pulled on my robes.

"You're the Heir, aren't you?" she whispered desperately in a sob. The Heir? She thinks I'm the one behind all this shit?

"What? No I'm not, listen, if I was the Heir, why would I train in the forest? I'm training here to... be able to defend my friends if we are attacked! To defend you!" I affirmed convincingly, wondering at the same time why I wasn't just obliviating her. I know I should, but... I really don't want to. She's one of the only Hufflepuff of my year I never obliviated in spite of talking to her at least ten times per day. And that won't change.

She looked in my eyes and muttered a low "really?" that sounded more like whimper.

"Listen, I got my secrets and my problems, but I swear on my magic I'm not the Heir, you trust me, don't you?" I sheathed my wand and slipped my arms around her. I had a plan to avoid obliviating her.

Young witches, no matter what, will forget any incredible feat of magic they just witnessed if you give them something more interesting from their point of view, like a romantic kiss under the moonlight. She doesn't have any idea of how advanced and dark this stuff is anyway.

"I want to, Harry." she moaned in my neck as I slid my hand on her lower back. I raised her chin with my other hand and looked in her grey eyes for a few seconds, the tears had stopped flowing but she was still wet and red, I leaned on her and reached her lips with mine. The kiss was enjoyable, not fierce and passionate like with Sherry, but warm and intense. A lover kiss, probably.

I brought her back to the dormitory, not mentioning my training or the magic I had performed even once, she had already forgot about that. She was visibly shaken, the night had been emotionally charged at the very least. I charmed her to be silent without her noticing and kissed her goodnight for a good five minutes, she was quite the snogger apparently.

As I walked back to my bed carefully, my mind was whirling. I knew I could keep her silent, she probably wouldn't think about telling someone about the fight, but still, she was a breach. A breach I'm willing to keep open, but if something happen, I need to be able to close it. After all a quick obliviation isn't like murder, she wouldn't even remember...

I reached the necklace and adamantine phial around my neck and closed my hand around them. I won't give you up for anything, princess.

I forced my mind to close the topic and thought about the freezing curse. A grin spread on my lips.

Now that was great...

I had no plans for the few days until my rendezvous with Miss Lizaveta, so Loren's vital need to have me around her wasn't technically a problem. She didn't take the initial kiss in the forest lightly, we were now officially dating. Not that I didn't want to, she had a natural aptitude for French kisses, but it made her so damn clingy. At least she's back to her usual self, always raving about some crazy nonsense...

"-so just because he didn't manage the ice cube conjuration, he got sent to Azkaban. Quite silly, isn't it?" she finished her tale with a short kiss on my closed lips. I hadn't listened at all.

"I'm sorry I have no idea what you were on about, I was just thinking maybe, just maybe - we should think about our relationship." I suggested cautiously, I was walking on eggs at this point.

"I mean, should we really be together in front of everyone, you know it's gonna cause gossips and all..." I forced a whinny voice "It's going to destroy everything." I concluded.

It was hit or miss, worth a shot at the very least. Maybe she'll actually let me be... I'm meant to disappear in two days, if I don't shake her off now it's going to be a real crisis.

"You want to hide?" she raised her eyebrows, still sitting in my lap with her arms around me. Very few people had seen us yet, the situation was salvageable.

"Consider all the gossips we heard back in first year, everytime some couple get in together and make it public, they break up after a few weeks. Only the ones who admit being a couple later actually last." I tried, realizing it was essentially true. Weird, I might actually not be lying here, interesting phenomenon to study if I hadn't my hands full yet...

"Seriously, try to remember, it's true!" I said, convincing myself on the way.

She narrowed her eyes, visibly in deep thoughts and nodded slightly.

"You're right..." she murmured slowly like she had the revelation of the century. "You're a freaking genius Harry, you discovered what's wrong with all these couples!" she declared happily.

Is she making fun of me? I couldn't say, Loren was really one of her kind, fairly clever but yet so dumb. She watched the world from her own point of view, as peculiar as it was, and she didn't care.

"Very well, then, we'll keep it secret for the time being, but that's no reason to stop snogging."

She pulled me by my collar and kissed me again, showing unusual lust for that age. Or maybe it is usual. Can't really say, I'm the fucked up one here with my aging potion abuses and ten years older conquests...

After a few sweet minutes of mindless snog, she finally let me go and we walked to the great hall for breakfast.

In the final corridor to the hall, we were stopped by someone I never thought would openly interact with me.

"Sod off, cutie, I need a word with Potter here." ordered Marvyn dismissively without even sparing a glance for Loren.

She waited for me to nod and trotted away after shooting me a worried smile. The corridor was empty except for us both.

"Potter, I understand you thinks the sun shines out of your arsehole after that marvelous stunt of the last match, so I thought I had to make the situation clear." he started, seemingly pissed enough to not pretend being nice.

"You work for me, Potter, and when I write an order in your notebook, I expect you to fucking do it!" he barked madly, his voice echoing in the corridor.

He smiled and straightened his back, regaining his composure.

"So, first you humiliate Flint with an unnecessary stunt, placing yourself in more danger than you can possibly imagine, and now you outright ignore my calls!" he said, this time waving his arms around like he was acting a theater play. It looked like he wasn't serious at all but with his previous outburst and his general tendency to be batshit insane, I knew better than to think he was taking it lightly.

I had indeed forgotten about the enchanted notepad, since I didn't need Marvyn for anything. But I wasn't going to do his little chores anyway, was I?

It was time to cut my ties with the seventh year Slytherin. The mere thought made me shiver. Grow some balls, Potter, a quick obliviation is all it takes...

Obliviation was one of those spells who got harder to perform according to the target's magical strength, and my only experience were second years and muggles.

"Do I consider myself fired then? Too bad, been a pleasure to work with you, mate!" I teased, before walking past him. I knew he would lost it.

And he did. I spun around, wand already drawn and sidestepped the murky magenta curse, letting it graze my robe with confidence. He didn't expect to see me counterattack, he had already lowered his wand.

"Obliviate!"

His eyebrow reached his hairline and he attempted a sidestep, but was too late. The charm barely connected, but it did. I erased all his memories concerning me, it was already hard to override his own control over them, so I didn't lose time and strength trying to make it coherent. I deleted everything and covered my tracks with random memories I couldn't see. There isn't much anyway, it shouldn't be too obvious.

When the spell ended, I quickly hit him with a Petrificus Totalus. I looked around, and spotted five paintings watching at us in the corridor.

"The memory charm? Very strange choice, young man, but it did work!" said a fat queen clothed in bright green robes and with a dead fox around her wide neck. "You should hurry and call a professor."

I walked to Marvyn, who probably had no idea of what was going on and grabbed his wand. He was on his back, immobilized, watching the ceiling. He could easily break the minor body-bind but since he had no idea what happened, he was surely still wondering why he couldn't move.

And I couldn't afford casting a Stupefy on him, not if I wanted to follow my hastily put together plan. And to think it took me almost a full month to finally get the Stupefy working, such a shame...

I aimed his wand at the furthest painting from me and sent a weak Voraxignium with a jagged flick. The spell was still very, very hard to perform - especially with a stranger's wand - but I needed to be sure the painting wouldn't survive.

A ball of white fire erupted from the end of the wand and shot to the painting in a straight line. I immediately felt the exhaustion from the curse, watching the illegal fire reach its target about three times as slowly as it should be. The ball crashed on the painting, consuming the fireproof and various protective charms on it and reducing it to ashes in less than two seconds. Perfect, four to go.

The four remaining paintings watched the ash pile that contained their ex-friend with bewildered looks. Before they took time to act, I had sent two of the dark gluttonous fire balls and definitely cut their exit - Hogwarts paintings could travel from frame to frame if they were close enough.

My magic muscle was hurting badly, the weak pleasure I got from burning less-than-half-living beings wasn't sufficient to make me forget the strain this curse was.

"Stop it! I beg you, stop this madness, we won't say anything, please!" cried the fat queen, who had retreated in her neighbor's frame, who was shouting for help louder than I thought a painting able to.

I sent two other balls, reducing the remaining frames and paintings inside it to nothing, and turned to Marvyn, who was starting to break the body-bind hex. The procedure had taken no more than thirty second.

I obliviated him once more with my own wand and placed his in his hand. After clearing my wand's memory with a dozen easy spells aimed nowhere and a final Petrificus Totalus on my ex-employer, I started running.

The racket of the paintings wailing to death had alerted professor Flitwick, who had been preparing his lesson in a classroom in the next corridor.

"Mr. Potter! Wait, Mr. Potter!" I stopped and turned to him, panicked and crying. Flitwick, thanks Merlin, I can fool this one easily.

"Professor! Something happened, this Slytherin older student, he... he menaced me because of the Quidditch match!" I wept, pointing to Marvyn behind us, who was awaking from the post-obliviation coma and starting to understand that he was in a body-bind.

Flitwick immediately saw him break the charm, he whipped his wand out with eagle reflexes and stunned him.

He approached him, crouched and made sure he was out.

"Harry, tell me what happened."

I swallowed gravely and nodded.

"He told me about the Quidditch match and how he didn't like me humiliating Flint like that, he told me he was going to hurt me and obliviate me afterwards," I started, keeping the act.

"Then he burned all the paintings to show me he was serious and didn't want any witnesses, and he... he aimed at me but I was faster, so I hit him with a Petrificus Totalus." I finished lamely. The story could have been reworked, sharpened to fit better, but it didn't matter much. Marvyn's gonna be expelled for that, he and only he will wonder why he doesn't remember, they'll just call him a liar.

He took the wand and examined it, looking sadly at the ash piles on the stone floor, shook his head and stood up - which made no difference considering his goblin shape.

"Go take your breakfast, Potter, I will take care of that." he assured gently before scooping stunned Marvyn off the floor and walking away muttering something like "... always knew something was wrong with this chap..."

I walked back in the great hall, exhausted and tired. The lie made everyone gasp at the Hufflepuff table, and Loren hardly contained her need to hug me tightly to make sure I was alright.

"Petrificus Totalus?" she asked, surprised.

"Yeah, it's all that came to my mind at the moment." I answered, shrugging. She saw me cast massive dark curses after all, even if she doesn't know how dark and massive they were, it must have been impressive.

"Sometimes, you don't need much to defend yourself." I explained to her with a wink. She smiled knowingly and said nothing.

"True, so true..." laughed Cedric, throwing an arm on my shoulders, "Good job, Harry, I don't want to imagine what that creepy prefect was planning to do to you," he winced, "How terrible that would have been for the team..." he shook his head and sighed.

"You git!" yelled Nolwenn, outraged, along with a dozen girls who heard him and tossed a bread slice at him.

He ran away, laughing heartily. "Sure is popular with women, our ickle Harry!"

A couple hours later, McGonagall made a public speech condemning Marvyn to be expelled and insisting on the seriousness of the situation, with the vehemence that made her famous in the whole magical Britain.

The rest of the day passed slowly, I spent most of it pondering about what I would say to Loren when I'd disappear suddenly for the weekend. I couldn't find anything good so I just pushed the thought away. I'll burn this bridge when I come to it.

AN: Damn, that was a long one...