Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Birth of a Nightmare Man

Summary: Prequel to The Nightmare Man. How did Harry Potter become a feared lord of ancient times? Here we'll see the start of it.

Pairing/s: None.

Warnings: Violence, gore, evil!Harry and Twisted!Harry. Seriously, for quite a bit he's not friendly at all with humans. Be warned.

Disclaimers: I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money writing this or any other fanfiction.

-o-

Violence is described here, just so you know. Not bad, but a little bit.

Enjoy reading.

-o-

Chapter Eight

The silence from Harry Potter after the partial destruction of Aberdeen was unsettling to the entire magical population in the United Kingdom. The Ministry tried to locate him, using George Weasley's name for any properties and even searching through the entire joke shop in Diagon Alley. They found nothing. The employees only knew that George was dead despite the fact no one would probably find his body.

The goblins could confirm the death though, by the fact his will had been unlocked, something that would only happen in the event of his death. They called in the people listed and all but Harry Potter showed up. A few unwanted ones turned up as well, namely some of George's family members. George gave the joke shop to his employees, and left the house and almost all his gold to Harry. The employees were given a share. Nothing was left to his family.

Both the Ministry and the Order tried to get George's address to the house from the goblins but they showed the will and there was no address listed.

In the end the Ministry's hunting gave no results; they couldn't find any house or even flat with George's name although it was known he had purchased a house. They wondered if he had bought it under a false name, which meant it would be impossible to find the house and through that, Harry himself.

Dumbledore was quite disappointed with the results. Amelia Bones wanted nothing to do with the Order, and so he wouldn't have anything to do with the Ministry. If he found Harry Potter first, he'd do away with the boy before alerting the Ministry. Amelia spoke of returning Harry to Azkaban, now with only human guards. Dumbledore scoffed at that. There was no need to keep Harry alive.

It would be a great loss to the magical world to lose the last Potter and their ancient blood, but Harry did this to himself. Had he only been patient and stayed at Azkaban Dumbledore would have arranged everything for him, including marriage to Ginny Weasley. Harry could have lived a calm, sheltered life like he always wanted to.

However, he could plan Harry's death as much as he wanted but if he couldn't find where Harry was all this planning would be quite pointless. Dumbledore sent out Order members when they had time to scout remote houses, see if they saw Harry. If not, they would look for Dementors, seeing as they could lead the Order to Harry. Dumbledore hoped Amelia hadn't caught up on that and advised the Aurors to look for Dementors to find Harry.

-o-

It was a crisp October morning and Ginny was alone in the house. Her father and brothers were out; Ron had moved out with Hermione, both of them opting to live closer to London with their two children. She didn't want to be alone though, and fire-called around. Luna and Neville were free, and soon came over to keep her company.

Ginny had been rather depressed ever since Harry got out. For one, he never once looked at her. Also, his words sent her mother to Azkaban and then being responsible for Molly's death because in Ginny's mind there was no doubt he caused her death. Not only that, George's definitive death due to the release of his will was devastating. Despite him being on Harry's side, Ginny would miss him dearly.

So now Ginny cursed Harry's name, blaming George's death on him as well. If only he hadn't drawn George to him, then George would be alive right now. To think the boy she loved for so long was such a horrible, horrible person!

Neville and Luna were godsend, spending a lot of time with her after Harry had been put in Azkaban, and helping her feeling light about the future. Professor Dumbledore spoke to her numerous times, and of course Harry would come out from Azkaban one day and he would absolutely be in love with her, naturally.

Nothing of the sort when he did come out, and now Ginny didn't want him. He wasn't famous for anything good anymore, only infamous for all the deaths he caused. She didn't want to be associated with that.

She made tea for Neville and Luna when they arrived, and they were talking about their time in school, carefully not mentioning Harry at all, and spent a good hour making themselves feeling better. This was when the door splintered, flying off its hinges and slamming into the wall. They were all up, wands in hands and ready to fight. What they saw was Harry, dressed in black robes. Between that and his hair the skin looked white in comparison. He was also without his glasses.

Safe to say, he looked nothing like the hero he once had been in her eyes.

"Hello," he said with a cheerful tone. "I was just going to have a chat with Ginny but I suppose you don't want me to?"

"Go away," Neville spat out, wand aimed at Harry's chest.

"We don't want you here," Luna continued.

"Too bad; I don't care."

He raised his arms, and they all focused on Voldemort's wand that they didn't even get a shield up before the magic exploded out. Ginny was slung backwards into a wall, Luna thrown to the stairs and knocked out, and Neville against the table, also knocking him out. Ginny however stayed awake and didn't get far before Harry was there, boot pressed against her neck, her wand wrenched from her hand.

Cold came in, too cold, and she whimpered when she saw Dementors coming inside the house, their rough breathing enough to send shivers down her spine. She forced herself to focus on Harry only and said in desperation:

"Harry, it's me! It's Ginny!"

"Yes, I can see that," Harry replied.

"You can't kill me."

"Why not?" He tilted his head, watching her.

"Because you love me!" she tried with.

"Do I now?" Harry asked. "You know, I can't recall that I do. Once perhaps, definitely not now."

"No. You still love me." I have to try that, I have to…!

"Is that what Albus told you? Or did you believe I'd love someone who let me rot in Azkaban? No, I don't love you. George however, I loved him. With everything I was, and had. If Albus hadn't killed him, I wouldn't be doing this."

"What? No, Albus didn't… he didn't kill George."

"He did, and you know it. Everyone does. I've seen the papers."

"The papers are lying!" she screamed. "You killed him!"

"I was there, Ginny, and Albus Dumbledore was the one to kill George."

"No, that's not true, you killed George!"

"I'm not going to keep arguing with you about that. Tell me where Fred is."

"What?"

He pressed harder against her throat.

"Tell me where Fred is," he repeated. "His grave."

"Why?" she gasped, clawing at his boot, his leg.

"Because I'm telling you, to tell me," he replied and smiled a wide, sick smile that made her wail. "Oh, come on Ginny, just tell me."

"No!"

"No? Oh well… guess you wouldn't. Still loyal to family, even if it's just to a grave. Well then, I guess I just have to try out Legilimens. I've been training but there only so much one can do with a willing person. You however, you are going to die either way so I don't need to hold back with you."

She felt a press against her mind, and then Harry dug in. Ginny screamed. It felt as if pieces of glass were digging into her eyes, and her nerves began to burn. She tried to look away but couldn't. Harry let her go but she stayed down, and he kneeled over her, keeping her arms locked to her sides. Her thoughts were pried apart, shredded, her memories ripped from their roots of happy childhood and great sorrow over losing a brother.

The funeral was grand, George was there but he didn't stand with the family. Ginny felt Harry's assault on her mind stopping for a bit, and she could almost imagine him looking at George with… sadness? No, this was Harry Potter the killer, not Harry Potter the saviour; he didn't feel sadness. He was just a horrible person that deserved to die for what he had done to her mother, to her, to all the people he had killed.

"I see," Harry murmured a few minutes later. Ginny was panting, sweating, crying as she tried to recover from his Legilimens. "I know where he is now, thanks for sharing, Gin. Are you still with me?"

Her head had been cracked open. She felt like it had anyway. She rolled away from Harry when he stood up. When that wasn't good enough, she curled up like a ball and he laughed.

Then…

"Crucio."

She howled this time, loud enough to rouse Neville. Luna still lay motionless near the stairs. Neville screamed and charged at Harry instead of attacking him with a spell. Ginny couldn't see, heard them scuffle around on the floor and then there was a thud of something hiding the floor and a painful cry from Neville. Ginny rolled over her head to see.

An arm clutching a wand. Neville's arm. The Cruciatus curse had lifted as Harry dealt with Neville but Ginny lay twitching on the floor and could only see blood at first. Then she managed to move her eyes and found the two, Neville still fighting despite only having one arm left. They fell down, another flash of Voldemort's wand and a single spell. Neville lay still after that.

Harry panted as he sat up and looked at her. There was blood on his face.

"I always liked Neville," he told her. "He was… just so… Neville I suppose. Never judging me. Well, never judging me until I went to Azkaban. And Luna too. She stood by my side even when most people considered me a freak."

"Then why… did you kill him?" Ginny asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Because he's in the way," Harry said.

"Of what?"

"I don't know. Oh, I think Luna is coming around. Can't have that, can we?"

"Nooo…"

Ginny rolled over to her stomach, stretching out her hand, trying to do something but could only watch as Harry walked over to the still groggy Luna. He went behind her, took a hold of her head and twisted it, hard. Luna went slack in his hands and Ginny screamed.

"Takes care of her then…" Harry murmured and put Luna down. He wasted time by moving her to a move natural position, and then kneeled down. Ginny could barely see through the tears, anger and sorrow mixing inside of her. Harry looking down at a friend he once valued with nothing more but mild interest whilst being covered in Neville's blood. Harry took Luna's wand and pocketed it.

Ginny moved as he stayed still, distracted, by Luna's corpse. Adrenaline made her able to get up and run out of the house. The cold of the Dementors didn't let her get far though and she saw the whole house was surrounded by them.

"No," she moaned, got her knees, fell down again. "No!"

Harry grabbed her legs from behind and dragged her into the house. A Dementor came closer and Ginny felt the cold, felt joy and happiness leave her until the foul mouth was close to her own.

"Oh, alright then," she heard Harry say. "Take her."

Ginny began to scream when the Dementor's mouth clamped over her jaws. For one single moment she saw something, a gate in an ever-lasting darkness. Her ears were filled with the screams of tortured souls, and then…

Nothing.

-o-

The Weasleys returned to a destroyed home. The door had been blasted off its hinges and Ginny laid in the doorway, eyes open, foam at her mouth, her body alive but the soul forever gone. Neville was further inside, torn apart, blood everywhere and lastly Luna, broken neck by the stairs, eyes closed. Their wands were all missing.

The magic residue left behind was Harry's, and it led from the house. Order members tracked it to the nearby graveyard where they discovered to their horror that Fred Weasley's grave had been dug up, the corpse removed. Harry's magic vanished there and obviously, he had taken the corpse with him.

Albus saw the destruction first-hand. He gazed down mournfully at Ginny, still alive but her mind and soul taken by evil. Arthur refused to have her body killed. He had lost too much already. She was to be taken to St Mungo's despite the fact no victim of a Dementor had ever been rescued.

This was a disaster, Albus realized. Harry wasn't hesitating to kill those who once were close friends. He suggested that Ron and Hermione should go into hiding, for the sake of their children and themselves. The two agreed, both in tears over what had happened.

"He needs to go," Ron said. "Harry. He needs to die."

"Yes, he does," Albus said. One by one, perhaps, the Order would come around and see nothing wrong with killing Harry Potter.

"I don't care that he's the last Potter. The world is better off if he dies; the sooner the better."

That's exactly the mindset Albus needed the Order to be in.

"The Ministry cannot be trusted," he said gravely to Ron. "They don't understand how dangerous Harry is. They must not be alerted to what we are doing."

"Of course," Ron said. "But what about Ginny? They'll see at St Mungo's that something's wrong."

"Let me speak to Arthur about that, we'll come up with something."

The Ministry would perhaps be alerted to this incident later, but for now, no one would know. Albus made sure they erased Harry's magical signal and put the earth back on Fred's empty grave. Killing close friends and digging up a corpse… the boy was truly lost. He needed to be gone.

-o-

Harry meanwhile just finished putting the earth back on George's grave, having put the twins side by side in the ground. There was a stone that marked the grave, and he now began to carve a G and F there. He'd know what that meant.

Then he sat still for a little while. He had killed three people he once trusted. Luna who stood by his side, with her Butterbeer cork necklace and habit of tucking her wand behind her ear. Yet there was nothing to say now, despite the fact he held her head in his hands and then broke her neck, like she was just an animal he put down.

He was the animal out of the two. A predator perhaps? A crazy predator. He shook his head and walked into the house. Rabastan was in the kitchen and looked him over when he came in.

"I would ask where you've been Potter, but I don't think I need to ask."

"Oh, just you know, the usual stuff. Killing people, stealing a corpse… your everyday task."

"Ah, yes, your everyday task."

Harry walked over to the sink to clean off his hands from Neville's blood and the dirt from digging up two graves. Rabastan continued to eat behind him for a little while before he said:

"Have you ever thought about having kids?"

"What brought that up?" Harry asked.

"Just wondering."

"For your information, the only one I ever thought about marrying once upon a time was Ginny Weasley and I just let a Dementor suck out her soul. What do you think?"

"Getting married, and having kids, those two are completely different things."

"Well… I guess you do have a point there," Harry admitted and unbuttoned his dirty robe, letting it fall to the floor, leaving him in shirt and pants. "I never got that far in my thought process before I ended up in Azkaban. I mean, I seriously thought Voldemort would kill me, and once I was in prison all I focused on was getting out alive with my sanity relatively intact. I appear to have only been moderately successful on that front."

"So, never kids?"

"I don't think I like kids very much anyway."

"You've been a child yourself."

"Yes, and I grew up with one I would cheerfully murder right about now if given the chance." Harry scrubbed under his nails. "Damn, flesh is hard to get out from underneath the nails…"

"Scrub harder," Rabastan instructed. "It'll go away eventually."

"Plus, I think about Hermione and Ron's kid. Kids. I don't know if she's given birth yet… anyway, getting off topic. I think about those two kids, and I wouldn't mind tearing them apart just like I did with Neville, and I tore Neville apart while still liking him."

"That's cold, Potter. Pure cold."

"Frightened yet?"

"Oh, no, I love it," Rabastan said with a grin. "My brother didn't want kids either, and got his will through due to his marriage to Bellatrix. She was too busy having a crush on our lord to have sex with Rodolphus."

"He was the oldest, right? Wasn't it his duty to bring offspring into the family?"

"As if he cared about that," Rabastan said. "Anyway, we do have kids… somewhere. And before you ask, no, we didn't rape any women. I may be insane, but I ain't going to disrespect a woman that way."

"Death Eaters having morals… that sounds weird. Wait, did you say Bellatrix was having a crush on Voldemort? She had an actual crushon one of the craziest people to have ever walked this planet?"

"Yes, well, she was crazy too."

"And Voldemort? What did he say?"

"I'm not even sure he acknowledged her. The lord wasn't exactly the man to gossip."

"I wish I could have seen that," Harry said as he finally began to dry off his now clean hands. "The look on his face… I mean, I saw that she respected him but not that she was that invested in him… now, what should I do with the robe?"

"Try cleaning it, if it's too bloody throw it away."

The window opened up and one Dementor floated inside, then another one.

"I'm getting a fire started," Rabastan said and got up. "Why can't they generate heat?"

"Because that would make them more appealing, maybe," Harry replied, reaching out a hand to one of the Dementors. "They're supposed to be one of the foulest creatures on earth."

"Well, they're certainly living up to it."

"I'll make us some lunch. Can you light a fire in my room as well?"

"Sure."

Harry watched the man leave and then looked down at the robe. Neville's blood, maybe some of Ginny's. He sniffed at the fabric, smelt the blood and for a moment considered licking it.

"What the hell…" he muttered, and did.

Nothing special. Just blood. A coppery taste that stayed on, mingling with the saliva. He shrugged and tossed the robe to one Dementor.

"Put it in the hamper, please."

He decided to make a salad. Some meat too? Or well, they had beans. He wanted beans rather. Rabastan could cook meat if he wanted to have it.

-o-

Shacklebolt was patrolling Diagon Alley under the guise that he was merely taking a long lunch-hour to have a stroll. The Ministry was a slow-moving machine and while posters of Harry Potter had been put up, they were from when he was seventeen; they hadn't even bothered trying to find a more recent image of him.

And that was all. They didn't actively hunt for the damn boy, which goes to show the Ministry wasn't going to catch him. Albus was far more efficient. He sent out Order members regularly to watch out for Harry Potter, and to bring him in. They wouldn't make a mistake trying to kill him in public again, where he could survive by accident. No, they would capture him and deal with him away from the public eye.

Shacklebolt's gaze was drawn to a young man exiting a clothes shop, and he stopped for a moment as he realized it was Potter. Coincidence, or perhaps a sign from fate? Shacklebolt didn't care of which; he had Potter in his sight!

He was a changed man. Where Potter once would have walked with his head down, now he held his head high, scar gone along with no glasses, a hairstyle similar to Lucius Malfoy some years back, when the Ministry followed his every move. Potter's new style didn't fit the new Ministry, and people moved away from him, perhaps not recognizing his face but taking his dark clothes as a sign of ill will.

Potter moved to a smaller alley, and Shacklebolt sent a Patronus to Tonks, alerting her so she could alert Albus, before following Potter. Perfect if it was in one of the side-alleys people rarely used anymore; they were dark and isolated, and people's shouts and calls didn't reach the main street.

It was a golden opportunity, truly a sign of fate; Potter turned into one of those side-alleys and Shacklebolt followed quickly. But once he walked into the alley he was thrown up against the wall, a rotten hand over his mouth. Harry stepped closer and Dementors moved with him, two of them holding Shacklebolt immobile.

"Hello," Harry said. "You were rather good at hiding your presence but that first moment, when you recognized me, blew the rest of it. I would say you should think of that next time, but… there won't be a next time."

Shacklebolt struggled against the Dementors. Instead they held on stronger and one wrenched Shacklebolt's wand out of his hand and handed it to Harry as it was a gift.

"Thank you," Harry said and smiled at the Dementor.

Those foul creatures who only followed Voldemort when promised carnage and chaos, millions of Muggles to feed on… they wouldn't be with Harry if they desired the same thing from him as they did from the now deceased Dark Lord.

Shacklebolt stared at the Dementors, at Harry. Those beings didn't just listen to Harry; they respected him.

"The Order is on its way, right?" Harry said. "I ought to hurry up then. A Dementor's Kiss would be quick to deal with you…"

Shacklebolt shook his head frantically, trying to get away from the Dementors despite being surrounded by them.

"Now, now, I said it would be quick," Harry told him. "I never said I wanted it to be quick."

Shacklebolt screamed behind the rotten hand.

-o-

This time the Ministry was involved since Shacklebolt was an Auror, and a well-respected one at that. The man lay in an isolated part of Diagon Alley, or rather, for now they assumed all of him was there.

He had been torn to pieces, blood splatter on the walls and the ground. Amelia watched the scene, face blank, mind racing. There was no magic trace left behind as to who had attacked and murdered Shacklebolt but she would put her money on any of the escaped Azkaban prisoners or Merlin forbid, Harry Potter.

She was ashamed to have not acted earlier to get Harry out. It was just that she had barely gotten comfortable in her new position when she was starting to hear things such as Harry Potter sitting in Azkaban without having received a trial. Amelia had assumed he was hiding from the public. Foolish now, when she thought back about it. She should've demanded to know where he was the first week, take him out of the prison and protect him from Albus Dumbledore and his Order.

For not doing so she couldn't forgive herself but if Harry was responsible for this, she wouldn't show him any special treatment just because he was locked up for no reason. Murder was not allowed under her watchful eye, and those who broke those laws had to face the consequences.

Amelia wondered if he was planning the breakout at Azkaban when she handed over the wands to him. When George hugged him and took him home. Or was it the result of George's death? No one had any confirmation that the redhead had actually died, since Harry Apparated away with him but she had seen memories of that attack; the wounds were too deep for even the most skilled healers in England. George had probably bled out in minutes.

Died protecting Harry one final time against Albus Dumbledore. She didn't know Albus' reason to try and kill Harry Potter, but since no one was willing to prosecute Albus Dumbledore or even tell under oath they saw him try to kill Potter she had no other choice but to let him go free.

She looked over at Tonks, Shacklebolt's partner. It was a known fact they were both in the Order. The moment Tonks left, would she run to Albus and tell? Of course she would. To the Order, Albus Dumbledore was the light guiding them out of the darkness, and he had been that figure for decades.

"Minister?"

"Treat him with respect," she ordered the Auror that had stopped next to her. "That's the least he deserves, even in death."

"Of course, Minister."

"I want a copy of all the reports. Increase the search for the missing prisoners and Harry Potter, and have them brought alive to the Ministry holding cells."

"Alive?"

"Yes, alive and in one piece."

She left.

-o-

The Order had no intention of staying out of this. Shacklebolt was one of their finest, and he deserved retribution. Tonks was all for chasing Harry down and killing him herself. None of the compassion she had once had for him was left.

Albus Dumbledore was satisfied with the new attitude everyone was taking. It meant he could speak freely of what options they had to kill him. It had been a mistake to try and kill him in public, but back then Albus had thought him to be Voldemort and killing him in public had been the most logical and sound choice.

Killing Harry Potter however could be done in any way, and more than gladly away from the public. It was for the best if Harry Potter became nothing more than a nightmare that vanished. Then perhaps his corpse could be found, looking like the poor boy killed himself. The public's fear could be put to rest and life could go on.

Albus mourned Shacklebolt's passing. The man had been a good friend, a loyal one. Not once had he strayed from Albus' wishes, and it angered the headmaster that Harry Potter, for it was none other than Potter who took Shacklebolt's life, had gotten the upper hand of such an experienced Auror. It must have been a trap.

Then they would trap Harry in return; give him a taste of his own medicine. Albus cautioned all Order members that they were not to go anywhere alone unless they were at work. He still posted an Order member near the joke shop, despite the fact it was handled now solely by George's employees. No one had seen Harry close to the shop since that day. Obviously he had been in Diagon Alley but people still hadn't seen him.

-o-

Rabastan whistled as he read the Daily Prophet. He put it down and looked over at Harry who was attempting to make a potion.

"Shacklebolt, ey? Please tell me it was painful for him."

"What, did they skip the details?" Harry wondered.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact they did. That meant it was bloody?"

"Well, let's just say it probably took them a while to gather everything up. I'm afraid I left him all over the place."

Rabastan laughed and slammed his hand to the table.

"Oh, you're more entertaining than I ever thought you could be, Potter!"

"I'm flattered."

"So, who's next?"

"All in due time, Rabastan. All in due time… now help me with this before it explodes in my face and professor Snape can laugh at me from the other side."

"Reckon he'd show up just to laugh at you?" Rabastan asked, holding a bottle that Harry had thrust into his hands.

"No. He'll probably just let his laughter echo around the room before fading away, the bastard. Oh, that reminds me; I need to go to Hogwarts for a bit."

"You do realize that's impossible for you?"

"I just need to pick something up in the Forbidden Forest. It's mine anyway."

"What about the centaurs?"

"Not my problem."

"They live in the forest, Potter," Rabastan replied.

"Well then, I'll kill those who try to stop me."

-o-

They didn't try to stop him. Harry found it ridiculously easy sneaking into the Forbidden Forest and he had to be inside the wards of Hogwarts so why wasn't anyone coming? He thought for sure he'd be banned from the castle grounds, or that someone would be alerted that he had breached the wards.

But here he was, in the dark, searching for a stone that wasn't all that big. Great. He knew the centaurs were there, he heard them but they kept to the shadows and as long as they did that, he was ready to leave them alone.

Aha! Harry saw something glimmer and went back. He couldn't believe his luck; over three years and it was still there! He picked it up, the Resurrection Stone sitting nicely in his palm. He didn't think of anyone. He didn't want to see them, not now. Perhaps George later, and Fred. Definitely not his parents. He was evil now, or what they would see as evil. Harry wasn't prepared to see the hatred in their eyes on top of everything else.

So he put the stone in his pocket, bid farewell to the centaurs, and left.

Within two hours, people still found out that Harry Potter had gotten through the wards of Hogwarts with no troubles at all, and hell broke loose. Parents screamed their terror to Albus, swarming his office with letters and howlers as Harry Potter was the new evil, the new nightmare in their lives and how could you allow such a dangerous thing where our children are?

The Ministry came and reinforced the wards along with the professors. Amelia and Albus did not speak to each other but then tension made the rest uncomfortable.

The public didn't know who to blame; Amelia for releasing Harry Potter, or Albus for putting him away in the first place. Amelia got ahead of Albus by giving an interview where she spoke of three years in Azkaban, abandoned by all those who knew him save one, that turned Harry Potter into a shadow of his former self. The presumed death of his friend George Weasley most likely triggered his current behaviour.

But even with the interview the public were foaming at the mouth, demanding actions, demanding deaths. What was done about the escaped prisoners? What was done to find Harry Potter? Would he simply go back to Azkaban?

What about the Dementors? No sightings had been made of those horrid creatures after the chaos in Aberdeen, but not a single one could be found within Azkaban. What should the public do to protect their families against the Dementors, against the prisoners, against Harry Potter?

Rita Skeeter started publishing articles of how his tragic childhood was partly to blame. Others followed in her wake, sprouting more and more outrageous theories of why Harry Potter had turned evil.

At the sideline of all this chaos was Harry Potter himself, reading the newspaper and marvelling at how much crap the magical world could still come up with when it came to him. He remained in the shadows, watching and listening to the magical world of United Kingdom going mad.

"You're enjoying this," Rabastan told him as they stood listening to a group of witches.

"Why not? They're all in a tizzy because of little me," Harry replied with. "Who to kill next?"

"Why not Dumbledore and be done with it?"

"No… I want him to suffer. I want those who knew me the best to suffer the most. But I have a list of Order members. Pick one you want."

Rabastan was given a parchment. It was filled with names, some he knew, some he didn't.

"Dumbledore started a new recruitment while I was locked up," Harry explained. "I found the list in George's bedroom; he was keeping track of them, so he'd always know if it was an Order member who came to the shop."

"Clever Weasley. Him; he's old school, an annoying one. Kept calling my brother brainless." Harry looked at him. Rabastan shrugged. "Hey, I care about that too. My brother wasn't the smartest person alive, but he was no idiot."

"Alright. We'll do it."

The game was on.

Tbc…

Another chapter done, and Harry are getting madder by the minute!

Chapter nine: The killing leads to the Order hiding, but Harry isn't afraid to play some hide and seek with them.

Until later,

TiroChapter 8

Birth of a Nightmare Man

Summary: Prequel to The Nightmare Man. How did Harry Potter become a feared lord of ancient times? Here we'll see the start of it.

Pairing/s: None.

Warnings: Violence, gore, evil!Harry and Twisted!Harry. Seriously, for quite a bit he's not friendly at all with humans. Be warned.

Disclaimers: I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money writing this or any other fanfiction.

-o-

Violence is described here, just so you know. Not bad, but a little bit.

Enjoy reading.

-o-

Chapter Eight

The silence from Harry Potter after the partial destruction of Aberdeen was unsettling to the entire magical population in the United Kingdom. The Ministry tried to locate him, using George Weasley's name for any properties and even searching through the entire joke shop in Diagon Alley. They found nothing. The employees only knew that George was dead despite the fact no one would probably find his body.

The goblins could confirm the death though, by the fact his will had been unlocked, something that would only happen in the event of his death. They called in the people listed and all but Harry Potter showed up. A few unwanted ones turned up as well, namely some of George's family members. George gave the joke shop to his employees, and left the house and almost all his gold to Harry. The employees were given a share. Nothing was left to his family.

Both the Ministry and the Order tried to get George's address to the house from the goblins but they showed the will and there was no address listed.

In the end the Ministry's hunting gave no results; they couldn't find any house or even flat with George's name although it was known he had purchased a house. They wondered if he had bought it under a false name, which meant it would be impossible to find the house and through that, Harry himself.

Dumbledore was quite disappointed with the results. Amelia Bones wanted nothing to do with the Order, and so he wouldn't have anything to do with the Ministry. If he found Harry Potter first, he'd do away with the boy before alerting the Ministry. Amelia spoke of returning Harry to Azkaban, now with only human guards. Dumbledore scoffed at that. There was no need to keep Harry alive.

It would be a great loss to the magical world to lose the last Potter and their ancient blood, but Harry did this to himself. Had he only been patient and stayed at Azkaban Dumbledore would have arranged everything for him, including marriage to Ginny Weasley. Harry could have lived a calm, sheltered life like he always wanted to.

However, he could plan Harry's death as much as he wanted but if he couldn't find where Harry was all this planning would be quite pointless. Dumbledore sent out Order members when they had time to scout remote houses, see if they saw Harry. If not, they would look for Dementors, seeing as they could lead the Order to Harry. Dumbledore hoped Amelia hadn't caught up on that and advised the Aurors to look for Dementors to find Harry.

-o-

It was a crisp October morning and Ginny was alone in the house. Her father and brothers were out; Ron had moved out with Hermione, both of them opting to live closer to London with their two children. She didn't want to be alone though, and fire-called around. Luna and Neville were free, and soon came over to keep her company.

Ginny had been rather depressed ever since Harry got out. For one, he never once looked at her. Also, his words sent her mother to Azkaban and then being responsible for Molly's death because in Ginny's mind there was no doubt he caused her death. Not only that, George's definitive death due to the release of his will was devastating. Despite him being on Harry's side, Ginny would miss him dearly.

So now Ginny cursed Harry's name, blaming George's death on him as well. If only he hadn't drawn George to him, then George would be alive right now. To think the boy she loved for so long was such a horrible, horrible person!

Neville and Luna were godsend, spending a lot of time with her after Harry had been put in Azkaban, and helping her feeling light about the future. Professor Dumbledore spoke to her numerous times, and of course Harry would come out from Azkaban one day and he would absolutely be in love with her, naturally.

Nothing of the sort when he did come out, and now Ginny didn't want him. He wasn't famous for anything good anymore, only infamous for all the deaths he caused. She didn't want to be associated with that.

She made tea for Neville and Luna when they arrived, and they were talking about their time in school, carefully not mentioning Harry at all, and spent a good hour making themselves feeling better. This was when the door splintered, flying off its hinges and slamming into the wall. They were all up, wands in hands and ready to fight. What they saw was Harry, dressed in black robes. Between that and his hair the skin looked white in comparison. He was also without his glasses.

Safe to say, he looked nothing like the hero he once had been in her eyes.

"Hello," he said with a cheerful tone. "I was just going to have a chat with Ginny but I suppose you don't want me to?"

"Go away," Neville spat out, wand aimed at Harry's chest.

"We don't want you here," Luna continued.

"Too bad; I don't care."

He raised his arms, and they all focused on Voldemort's wand that they didn't even get a shield up before the magic exploded out. Ginny was slung backwards into a wall, Luna thrown to the stairs and knocked out, and Neville against the table, also knocking him out. Ginny however stayed awake and didn't get far before Harry was there, boot pressed against her neck, her wand wrenched from her hand.

Cold came in, too cold, and she whimpered when she saw Dementors coming inside the house, their rough breathing enough to send shivers down her spine. She forced herself to focus on Harry only and said in desperation:

"Harry, it's me! It's Ginny!"

"Yes, I can see that," Harry replied.

"You can't kill me."

"Why not?" He tilted his head, watching her.

"Because you love me!" she tried with.

"Do I now?" Harry asked. "You know, I can't recall that I do. Once perhaps, definitely not now."

"No. You still love me." I have to try that, I have to…!

"Is that what Albus told you? Or did you believe I'd love someone who let me rot in Azkaban? No, I don't love you. George however, I loved him. With everything I was, and had. If Albus hadn't killed him, I wouldn't be doing this."

"What? No, Albus didn't… he didn't kill George."

"He did, and you know it. Everyone does. I've seen the papers."

"The papers are lying!" she screamed. "You killed him!"

"I was there, Ginny, and Albus Dumbledore was the one to kill George."

"No, that's not true, you killed George!"

"I'm not going to keep arguing with you about that. Tell me where Fred is."

"What?"

He pressed harder against her throat.

"Tell me where Fred is," he repeated. "His grave."

"Why?" she gasped, clawing at his boot, his leg.

"Because I'm telling you, to tell me," he replied and smiled a wide, sick smile that made her wail. "Oh, come on Ginny, just tell me."

"No!"

"No? Oh well… guess you wouldn't. Still loyal to family, even if it's just to a grave. Well then, I guess I just have to try out Legilimens. I've been training but there only so much one can do with a willing person. You however, you are going to die either way so I don't need to hold back with you."

She felt a press against her mind, and then Harry dug in. Ginny screamed. It felt as if pieces of glass were digging into her eyes, and her nerves began to burn. She tried to look away but couldn't. Harry let her go but she stayed down, and he kneeled over her, keeping her arms locked to her sides. Her thoughts were pried apart, shredded, her memories ripped from their roots of happy childhood and great sorrow over losing a brother.

The funeral was grand, George was there but he didn't stand with the family. Ginny felt Harry's assault on her mind stopping for a bit, and she could almost imagine him looking at George with… sadness? No, this was Harry Potter the killer, not Harry Potter the saviour; he didn't feel sadness. He was just a horrible person that deserved to die for what he had done to her mother, to her, to all the people he had killed.

"I see," Harry murmured a few minutes later. Ginny was panting, sweating, crying as she tried to recover from his Legilimens. "I know where he is now, thanks for sharing, Gin. Are you still with me?"

Her head had been cracked open. She felt like it had anyway. She rolled away from Harry when he stood up. When that wasn't good enough, she curled up like a ball and he laughed.

Then…

"Crucio."

She howled this time, loud enough to rouse Neville. Luna still lay motionless near the stairs. Neville screamed and charged at Harry instead of attacking him with a spell. Ginny couldn't see, heard them scuffle around on the floor and then there was a thud of something hiding the floor and a painful cry from Neville. Ginny rolled over her head to see.

An arm clutching a wand. Neville's arm. The Cruciatus curse had lifted as Harry dealt with Neville but Ginny lay twitching on the floor and could only see blood at first. Then she managed to move her eyes and found the two, Neville still fighting despite only having one arm left. They fell down, another flash of Voldemort's wand and a single spell. Neville lay still after that.

Harry panted as he sat up and looked at her. There was blood on his face.

"I always liked Neville," he told her. "He was… just so… Neville I suppose. Never judging me. Well, never judging me until I went to Azkaban. And Luna too. She stood by my side even when most people considered me a freak."

"Then why… did you kill him?" Ginny asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Because he's in the way," Harry said.

"Of what?"

"I don't know. Oh, I think Luna is coming around. Can't have that, can we?"

"Nooo…"

Ginny rolled over to her stomach, stretching out her hand, trying to do something but could only watch as Harry walked over to the still groggy Luna. He went behind her, took a hold of her head and twisted it, hard. Luna went slack in his hands and Ginny screamed.

"Takes care of her then…" Harry murmured and put Luna down. He wasted time by moving her to a move natural position, and then kneeled down. Ginny could barely see through the tears, anger and sorrow mixing inside of her. Harry looking down at a friend he once valued with nothing more but mild interest whilst being covered in Neville's blood. Harry took Luna's wand and pocketed it.

Ginny moved as he stayed still, distracted, by Luna's corpse. Adrenaline made her able to get up and run out of the house. The cold of the Dementors didn't let her get far though and she saw the whole house was surrounded by them.

"No," she moaned, got her knees, fell down again. "No!"

Harry grabbed her legs from behind and dragged her into the house. A Dementor came closer and Ginny felt the cold, felt joy and happiness leave her until the foul mouth was close to her own.

"Oh, alright then," she heard Harry say. "Take her."

Ginny began to scream when the Dementor's mouth clamped over her jaws. For one single moment she saw something, a gate in an ever-lasting darkness. Her ears were filled with the screams of tortured souls, and then…

Nothing.

-o-

The Weasleys returned to a destroyed home. The door had been blasted off its hinges and Ginny laid in the doorway, eyes open, foam at her mouth, her body alive but the soul forever gone. Neville was further inside, torn apart, blood everywhere and lastly Luna, broken neck by the stairs, eyes closed. Their wands were all missing.

The magic residue left behind was Harry's, and it led from the house. Order members tracked it to the nearby graveyard where they discovered to their horror that Fred Weasley's grave had been dug up, the corpse removed. Harry's magic vanished there and obviously, he had taken the corpse with him.

Albus saw the destruction first-hand. He gazed down mournfully at Ginny, still alive but her mind and soul taken by evil. Arthur refused to have her body killed. He had lost too much already. She was to be taken to St Mungo's despite the fact no victim of a Dementor had ever been rescued.

This was a disaster, Albus realized. Harry wasn't hesitating to kill those who once were close friends. He suggested that Ron and Hermione should go into hiding, for the sake of their children and themselves. The two agreed, both in tears over what had happened.

"He needs to go," Ron said. "Harry. He needs to die."

"Yes, he does," Albus said. One by one, perhaps, the Order would come around and see nothing wrong with killing Harry Potter.

"I don't care that he's the last Potter. The world is better off if he dies; the sooner the better."

That's exactly the mindset Albus needed the Order to be in.

"The Ministry cannot be trusted," he said gravely to Ron. "They don't understand how dangerous Harry is. They must not be alerted to what we are doing."

"Of course," Ron said. "But what about Ginny? They'll see at St Mungo's that something's wrong."

"Let me speak to Arthur about that, we'll come up with something."

The Ministry would perhaps be alerted to this incident later, but for now, no one would know. Albus made sure they erased Harry's magical signal and put the earth back on Fred's empty grave. Killing close friends and digging up a corpse… the boy was truly lost. He needed to be gone.

-o-

Harry meanwhile just finished putting the earth back on George's grave, having put the twins side by side in the ground. There was a stone that marked the grave, and he now began to carve a G and F there. He'd know what that meant.

Then he sat still for a little while. He had killed three people he once trusted. Luna who stood by his side, with her Butterbeer cork necklace and habit of tucking her wand behind her ear. Yet there was nothing to say now, despite the fact he held her head in his hands and then broke her neck, like she was just an animal he put down.

He was the animal out of the two. A predator perhaps? A crazy predator. He shook his head and walked into the house. Rabastan was in the kitchen and looked him over when he came in.

"I would ask where you've been Potter, but I don't think I need to ask."

"Oh, just you know, the usual stuff. Killing people, stealing a corpse… your everyday task."

"Ah, yes, your everyday task."

Harry walked over to the sink to clean off his hands from Neville's blood and the dirt from digging up two graves. Rabastan continued to eat behind him for a little while before he said:

"Have you ever thought about having kids?"

"What brought that up?" Harry asked.

"Just wondering."

"For your information, the only one I ever thought about marrying once upon a time was Ginny Weasley and I just let a Dementor suck out her soul. What do you think?"

"Getting married, and having kids, those two are completely different things."

"Well… I guess you do have a point there," Harry admitted and unbuttoned his dirty robe, letting it fall to the floor, leaving him in shirt and pants. "I never got that far in my thought process before I ended up in Azkaban. I mean, I seriously thought Voldemort would kill me, and once I was in prison all I focused on was getting out alive with my sanity relatively intact. I appear to have only been moderately successful on that front."

"So, never kids?"

"I don't think I like kids very much anyway."

"You've been a child yourself."

"Yes, and I grew up with one I would cheerfully murder right about now if given the chance." Harry scrubbed under his nails. "Damn, flesh is hard to get out from underneath the nails…"

"Scrub harder," Rabastan instructed. "It'll go away eventually."

"Plus, I think about Hermione and Ron's kid. Kids. I don't know if she's given birth yet… anyway, getting off topic. I think about those two kids, and I wouldn't mind tearing them apart just like I did with Neville, and I tore Neville apart while still liking him."

"That's cold, Potter. Pure cold."

"Frightened yet?"

"Oh, no, I love it," Rabastan said with a grin. "My brother didn't want kids either, and got his will through due to his marriage to Bellatrix. She was too busy having a crush on our lord to have sex with Rodolphus."

"He was the oldest, right? Wasn't it his duty to bring offspring into the family?"

"As if he cared about that," Rabastan said. "Anyway, we do have kids… somewhere. And before you ask, no, we didn't rape any women. I may be insane, but I ain't going to disrespect a woman that way."

"Death Eaters having morals… that sounds weird. Wait, did you say Bellatrix was having a crush on Voldemort? She had an actual crushon one of the craziest people to have ever walked this planet?"

"Yes, well, she was crazy too."

"And Voldemort? What did he say?"

"I'm not even sure he acknowledged her. The lord wasn't exactly the man to gossip."

"I wish I could have seen that," Harry said as he finally began to dry off his now clean hands. "The look on his face… I mean, I saw that she respected him but not that she was that invested in him… now, what should I do with the robe?"

"Try cleaning it, if it's too bloody throw it away."

The window opened up and one Dementor floated inside, then another one.

"I'm getting a fire started," Rabastan said and got up. "Why can't they generate heat?"

"Because that would make them more appealing, maybe," Harry replied, reaching out a hand to one of the Dementors. "They're supposed to be one of the foulest creatures on earth."

"Well, they're certainly living up to it."

"I'll make us some lunch. Can you light a fire in my room as well?"

"Sure."

Harry watched the man leave and then looked down at the robe. Neville's blood, maybe some of Ginny's. He sniffed at the fabric, smelt the blood and for a moment considered licking it.

"What the hell…" he muttered, and did.

Nothing special. Just blood. A coppery taste that stayed on, mingling with the saliva. He shrugged and tossed the robe to one Dementor.

"Put it in the hamper, please."

He decided to make a salad. Some meat too? Or well, they had beans. He wanted beans rather. Rabastan could cook meat if he wanted to have it.

-o-

Shacklebolt was patrolling Diagon Alley under the guise that he was merely taking a long lunch-hour to have a stroll. The Ministry was a slow-moving machine and while posters of Harry Potter had been put up, they were from when he was seventeen; they hadn't even bothered trying to find a more recent image of him.

And that was all. They didn't actively hunt for the damn boy, which goes to show the Ministry wasn't going to catch him. Albus was far more efficient. He sent out Order members regularly to watch out for Harry Potter, and to bring him in. They wouldn't make a mistake trying to kill him in public again, where he could survive by accident. No, they would capture him and deal with him away from the public eye.

Shacklebolt's gaze was drawn to a young man exiting a clothes shop, and he stopped for a moment as he realized it was Potter. Coincidence, or perhaps a sign from fate? Shacklebolt didn't care of which; he had Potter in his sight!

He was a changed man. Where Potter once would have walked with his head down, now he held his head high, scar gone along with no glasses, a hairstyle similar to Lucius Malfoy some years back, when the Ministry followed his every move. Potter's new style didn't fit the new Ministry, and people moved away from him, perhaps not recognizing his face but taking his dark clothes as a sign of ill will.

Potter moved to a smaller alley, and Shacklebolt sent a Patronus to Tonks, alerting her so she could alert Albus, before following Potter. Perfect if it was in one of the side-alleys people rarely used anymore; they were dark and isolated, and people's shouts and calls didn't reach the main street.

It was a golden opportunity, truly a sign of fate; Potter turned into one of those side-alleys and Shacklebolt followed quickly. But once he walked into the alley he was thrown up against the wall, a rotten hand over his mouth. Harry stepped closer and Dementors moved with him, two of them holding Shacklebolt immobile.

"Hello," Harry said. "You were rather good at hiding your presence but that first moment, when you recognized me, blew the rest of it. I would say you should think of that next time, but… there won't be a next time."

Shacklebolt struggled against the Dementors. Instead they held on stronger and one wrenched Shacklebolt's wand out of his hand and handed it to Harry as it was a gift.

"Thank you," Harry said and smiled at the Dementor.

Those foul creatures who only followed Voldemort when promised carnage and chaos, millions of Muggles to feed on… they wouldn't be with Harry if they desired the same thing from him as they did from the now deceased Dark Lord.

Shacklebolt stared at the Dementors, at Harry. Those beings didn't just listen to Harry; they respected him.

"The Order is on its way, right?" Harry said. "I ought to hurry up then. A Dementor's Kiss would be quick to deal with you…"

Shacklebolt shook his head frantically, trying to get away from the Dementors despite being surrounded by them.

"Now, now, I said it would be quick," Harry told him. "I never said I wanted it to be quick."

Shacklebolt screamed behind the rotten hand.

-o-

This time the Ministry was involved since Shacklebolt was an Auror, and a well-respected one at that. The man lay in an isolated part of Diagon Alley, or rather, for now they assumed all of him was there.

He had been torn to pieces, blood splatter on the walls and the ground. Amelia watched the scene, face blank, mind racing. There was no magic trace left behind as to who had attacked and murdered Shacklebolt but she would put her money on any of the escaped Azkaban prisoners or Merlin forbid, Harry Potter.

She was ashamed to have not acted earlier to get Harry out. It was just that she had barely gotten comfortable in her new position when she was starting to hear things such as Harry Potter sitting in Azkaban without having received a trial. Amelia had assumed he was hiding from the public. Foolish now, when she thought back about it. She should've demanded to know where he was the first week, take him out of the prison and protect him from Albus Dumbledore and his Order.

For not doing so she couldn't forgive herself but if Harry was responsible for this, she wouldn't show him any special treatment just because he was locked up for no reason. Murder was not allowed under her watchful eye, and those who broke those laws had to face the consequences.

Amelia wondered if he was planning the breakout at Azkaban when she handed over the wands to him. When George hugged him and took him home. Or was it the result of George's death? No one had any confirmation that the redhead had actually died, since Harry Apparated away with him but she had seen memories of that attack; the wounds were too deep for even the most skilled healers in England. George had probably bled out in minutes.

Died protecting Harry one final time against Albus Dumbledore. She didn't know Albus' reason to try and kill Harry Potter, but since no one was willing to prosecute Albus Dumbledore or even tell under oath they saw him try to kill Potter she had no other choice but to let him go free.

She looked over at Tonks, Shacklebolt's partner. It was a known fact they were both in the Order. The moment Tonks left, would she run to Albus and tell? Of course she would. To the Order, Albus Dumbledore was the light guiding them out of the darkness, and he had been that figure for decades.

"Minister?"

"Treat him with respect," she ordered the Auror that had stopped next to her. "That's the least he deserves, even in death."

"Of course, Minister."

"I want a copy of all the reports. Increase the search for the missing prisoners and Harry Potter, and have them brought alive to the Ministry holding cells."

"Alive?"

"Yes, alive and in one piece."

She left.

-o-

The Order had no intention of staying out of this. Shacklebolt was one of their finest, and he deserved retribution. Tonks was all for chasing Harry down and killing him herself. None of the compassion she had once had for him was left.

Albus Dumbledore was satisfied with the new attitude everyone was taking. It meant he could speak freely of what options they had to kill him. It had been a mistake to try and kill him in public, but back then Albus had thought him to be Voldemort and killing him in public had been the most logical and sound choice.

Killing Harry Potter however could be done in any way, and more than gladly away from the public. It was for the best if Harry Potter became nothing more than a nightmare that vanished. Then perhaps his corpse could be found, looking like the poor boy killed himself. The public's fear could be put to rest and life could go on.

Albus mourned Shacklebolt's passing. The man had been a good friend, a loyal one. Not once had he strayed from Albus' wishes, and it angered the headmaster that Harry Potter, for it was none other than Potter who took Shacklebolt's life, had gotten the upper hand of such an experienced Auror. It must have been a trap.

Then they would trap Harry in return; give him a taste of his own medicine. Albus cautioned all Order members that they were not to go anywhere alone unless they were at work. He still posted an Order member near the joke shop, despite the fact it was handled now solely by George's employees. No one had seen Harry close to the shop since that day. Obviously he had been in Diagon Alley but people still hadn't seen him.

-o-

Rabastan whistled as he read the Daily Prophet. He put it down and looked over at Harry who was attempting to make a potion.

"Shacklebolt, ey? Please tell me it was painful for him."

"What, did they skip the details?" Harry wondered.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact they did. That meant it was bloody?"

"Well, let's just say it probably took them a while to gather everything up. I'm afraid I left him all over the place."

Rabastan laughed and slammed his hand to the table.

"Oh, you're more entertaining than I ever thought you could be, Potter!"

"I'm flattered."

"So, who's next?"

"All in due time, Rabastan. All in due time… now help me with this before it explodes in my face and professor Snape can laugh at me from the other side."

"Reckon he'd show up just to laugh at you?" Rabastan asked, holding a bottle that Harry had thrust into his hands.

"No. He'll probably just let his laughter echo around the room before fading away, the bastard. Oh, that reminds me; I need to go to Hogwarts for a bit."

"You do realize that's impossible for you?"

"I just need to pick something up in the Forbidden Forest. It's mine anyway."

"What about the centaurs?"

"Not my problem."

"They live in the forest, Potter," Rabastan replied.

"Well then, I'll kill those who try to stop me."

-o-

They didn't try to stop him. Harry found it ridiculously easy sneaking into the Forbidden Forest and he had to be inside the wards of Hogwarts so why wasn't anyone coming? He thought for sure he'd be banned from the castle grounds, or that someone would be alerted that he had breached the wards.

But here he was, in the dark, searching for a stone that wasn't all that big. Great. He knew the centaurs were there, he heard them but they kept to the shadows and as long as they did that, he was ready to leave them alone.

Aha! Harry saw something glimmer and went back. He couldn't believe his luck; over three years and it was still there! He picked it up, the Resurrection Stone sitting nicely in his palm. He didn't think of anyone. He didn't want to see them, not now. Perhaps George later, and Fred. Definitely not his parents. He was evil now, or what they would see as evil. Harry wasn't prepared to see the hatred in their eyes on top of everything else.

So he put the stone in his pocket, bid farewell to the centaurs, and left.

Within two hours, people still found out that Harry Potter had gotten through the wards of Hogwarts with no troubles at all, and hell broke loose. Parents screamed their terror to Albus, swarming his office with letters and howlers as Harry Potter was the new evil, the new nightmare in their lives and how could you allow such a dangerous thing where our children are?

The Ministry came and reinforced the wards along with the professors. Amelia and Albus did not speak to each other but then tension made the rest uncomfortable.

The public didn't know who to blame; Amelia for releasing Harry Potter, or Albus for putting him away in the first place. Amelia got ahead of Albus by giving an interview where she spoke of three years in Azkaban, abandoned by all those who knew him save one, that turned Harry Potter into a shadow of his former self. The presumed death of his friend George Weasley most likely triggered his current behaviour.

But even with the interview the public were foaming at the mouth, demanding actions, demanding deaths. What was done about the escaped prisoners? What was done to find Harry Potter? Would he simply go back to Azkaban?

What about the Dementors? No sightings had been made of those horrid creatures after the chaos in Aberdeen, but not a single one could be found within Azkaban. What should the public do to protect their families against the Dementors, against the prisoners, against Harry Potter?

Rita Skeeter started publishing articles of how his tragic childhood was partly to blame. Others followed in her wake, sprouting more and more outrageous theories of why Harry Potter had turned evil.

At the sideline of all this chaos was Harry Potter himself, reading the newspaper and marvelling at how much crap the magical world could still come up with when it came to him. He remained in the shadows, watching and listening to the magical world of United Kingdom going mad.

"You're enjoying this," Rabastan told him as they stood listening to a group of witches.

"Why not? They're all in a tizzy because of little me," Harry replied with. "Who to kill next?"

"Why not Dumbledore and be done with it?"

"No… I want him to suffer. I want those who knew me the best to suffer the most. But I have a list of Order members. Pick one you want."

Rabastan was given a parchment. It was filled with names, some he knew, some he didn't.

"Dumbledore started a new recruitment while I was locked up," Harry explained. "I found the list in George's bedroom; he was keeping track of them, so he'd always know if it was an Order member who came to the shop."

"Clever Weasley. Him; he's old school, an annoying one. Kept calling my brother brainless." Harry looked at him. Rabastan shrugged. "Hey, I care about that too. My brother wasn't the smartest person alive, but he was no idiot."

"Alright. We'll do it."

The game was on.

Tbc…

Another chapter done, and Harry are getting madder by the minute!

Chapter nine: The killing leads to the Order hiding, but Harry isn't afraid to play some hide and seek with them.

Until later,

Tiro