FicWad

Chapter Four: Confusion and Conspiracy

Eckstein and several of his cronies walked into Fletcher’s club, before they approached the back door. One of Eckstein’s goons raised his beefy fist and knocked on it.

“Come in,” prompted a shaky voice, as Eckstein and his men entered the office, before they sat around, as a very shaken looking Fletcher breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, Eckstein, it’s you, I thought it might be someone else.”

“Yeah Fletcher, can the chit-chat, and ask us why you turned my agents away earlier, saying that they were no longer welcome to conduct business in your little club,” demanded Eckstein. “If you want a bigger cut of the deal, I believe I can cut you in, say forty percent instead of thirty five percent, but that’s all I can manage, have to keep my men happy after all, with Caruthers waiting in the wings, trying to ruin what’s rightfully mine, but now we’ll run the empire.”

“It’s not about the money Eckstein, it’s about my own health,” said Fletcher. “Barone confronted last night about some of the transactions your men have been doing with the patrons of my club. To say he was unhappy, a real understatement. The fact is that I really value my health, even above my own bank account.”

“Barone, I’ll deal with him soon enough, I have a feeling he’s going to have a little accident here before long,” said Eckstein in a greedy voice. “Still, don’t get what the big deal is about this punk, I mean, I bet I can take him in no time flat.”

“I’d cool it Eckstein,” advised Fletcher as he looked around from side to side nervously. “He has ways of knowing exactly what’s going on in all of his businesses; he could be listening to us right now it’s like…”

“Say magic and you’ll be getting intimate with the bottom of the river,” grunted Eckstein dangerously as he held up one of the converted hair dryers.

“What are you going to do to that thing, style my hair?” taunted Fletcher but Eckstein just pointed the converted hair dryer, before he pressed a switch. A blast came from the hair dryer, completing vaporizing the file cabinet behind Fletcher. “Where did you get that thing Eckstein?”

“A benefactor, who’s willing to see Barone out of the way,” commented Eckstein as he examined the hair dryer. “Shame its pink, but what’re going to do?”

“Still, until Barone is out of the way, I’m afraid our business is concluded, Boss Eckstein,” remarked Fletcher.

“Boss Eckstein, I like the sound of that and soon the entire mob world in Britain and soon the world will be calling me that,” gloated Eckstein as his men chuckled before they moved out. “I suspect I’ll be seeing you soon, at Barone’s funeral, Mr. Fletcher.”

“Maybe, but if that day comes, I’ll be sure to buy flowers,” commented Fletcher smugly before Eckstein and his men left the office, leaving Fletcher alone and really hoping that Barone never caught onto one word of the conversation that they had in their office.

Winston stood in front of a group of one hundred Aurors, all that had brand new broomsticks, glad to be out in the open and in fresh air, but the new, slightly arrogant, Head of the Auror Office stood out.

“Now, my fellow Aurors, we must look for instances of rebellion against the Ministry of Magic,” said Winston happily. “While I’ve already sent some of you to keep a vigilante ear out in many public places in our world for people who dare contradict the Ministry, that is not enough, we must also keep an eye out for communications sent from one to another. The Floo Networks are heavily monitored on the order of the Minister of Magic, but there are many other ways to communicate. Hundreds of owls are sent in this country a day, it is up to you Aurors, to monitor these owls, take the letters and the packages within them, examine the contents. At this point, our objective is not to look for cursed items but rather any communication that paints the Ministry of Magic in a bad light. After all, the only way to maintain the freedom from dark wizards is by making sure that the Ministry remains vigilante in stamping out any and all signs of rebellion. And yes, by the rolling of your eyes towards me, you’re agreeing that anyone who dares spread lies about the Ministry is a fool.”

“When are we getting off?” muttered one of the Aurors, barely stifling a yawn which Winston frowned at.

“We’re work on insignificant details on when your shift ends later, but treason never sleeps and neither does the Ministry of Magic Aurors. Rest assure that I will contact you the minute we can spare some of you taking a break, but only when we figure out the entire volume of post we’re dealing with,” answered Winston briskly. “Now if you excuse me, I really need to get some sleep, so don’t waste any time, scan the skies, leave no post overturned and I’ll be looking forward to your reports in the morning.”

Winston walked off, as the Aurors groaned. Many of them were not fond of taking orders from an outsider as it was, but now he got to sleep after just barely lifting a finger, while they had been working their arses off for longer they can remember, at least since the incident where Harry Potter allegedly laid waste to Hogwarts. Still with the new laws that had been passed over the past couple of days quitting their jobs might have been considered to be an act of rebellion against the Ministry of Magic, they had no choice but to mount their broomsticks, tentatively in many cases as it had been years since they had been on broomsticks. The Aurors shot up into the air, to stop owls and rifle through the mail, many of them feeling that this was stupid considering the fact that there were still Death Eaters out there.

In a bedroom at one of Harry’s many office buildings, a beeping sound echoed in the room.

“What is that infernal sound?” grumbled Lotus, her head buried in Harry’s shoulder, her body pressing against his as they laid in bed.

“It’s called an alarm clock,” said Harry calmly, smiling at Lotus, the girl looking extremely irritated that she had been woken up, after all, she was very comfortable. “Not a morning person, are you?”

“REDUCTO!” yelled Lotus, as she had aimed her wand at the alarm clock, reducing it into microscopic dust particles. “There that’s much better, isn’t it?”

Harry nodded, as Lotus snuggled up against him, not really wanting to move and Harry really was not in any hurry to move her. Still, the day had come and Harry slowly pushed the covers off of him, before the covers dropped down to the floor, right next to Lotus’s clothes. The naked girl slowly lifted her head off of Harry’s shoulder, her hair slightly unruly, as she looked up at Harry with an adoring glance, as she slowly removed her hand from the front of Harry’s boxers, brushing her fingers up against him. Harry swung his legs slowly off the bed, as Lotus sat next to him, brushing her long hair out of her face.

“Sleep well last night?” asked Harry with a smirk.

“After you wore me out, I went to sleep straight away,” replied Lotus, as she smiled at Harry, looking at him hungrily with her emerald green eyes, traveling across every inch of his body, stopping to linger for more than a few seconds at strategic places. “Fighting’s not the only thing that I have a higher endurance for then most girls, you know.”

“Should I take that as a compliment that I kept up?” asked Harry.

“No, but you should take this as a compliment, babe,” said Lotus, wrapping her arms around Harry, before she pushed Harry down onto the bed, wrapping her arms around Harry, pressing her warm moist lips against his, as she laid on top of him. Harry took his hands, feeling inch of her smooth, beautiful, skin and she responded to his touch, encouraging him to go on, as she pressed her tongue on the inside of Harry’s mouth, causing him to respond in kind. “Come on Harry, give me everything, don’t hold anything back.”

“Sure you can handle it, little girl?” teased Harry and Lotus just lifted her head from Harry’s, before she planted kisses all over Harry’s face, before she worked her way down his body. Harry came to a conclusion, as he looked over Lotus. It was not wrong in any way whatsoever to have relations with a female clone of himself.

Especially if she was bloody hot.

After several minutes, both Lotus and Harry laid in each others arms, covered in sweat, their hair completely messed up, but both completely satisfied.

“I think I’m going to take a shower,” announced Lotus as she rose from the bed, as she walked towards the bathroom in the next room, swaying her hips back and forth, fully aware on the affect it would have on Harry, before she looked over her shoulder towards him, with a predatory smirk. “Are you joining me or not?”

“If you insist,” said Harry with a grin, as he followed Lotus into the bathroom, doing his part to help the environment.

A limo pulled up outside a rundown, rat infested flat that served as headquarters for the once great Zabini empire. Eckstein and his men exited the limbo, wrinkling their noses at the sight below them. It was reasons like this where Eckstein felt he had cause to retire Caruthers and others that were loyal to the old ways of doing things, so he can allow a younger crowd take the Zabini, soon to be Eckstein, Empire. They held their converted weaponry, before one of Eckstein’s goons broke down the door. Several of the Caruthers loyalists moved forward, holding their guns, as Caruthers himself walked forward, leaning on his cane, the pain in his bad hip evident, but he stared down the younger, brash, Eckstein with an irritated glance, as he steadily held a machine gun.

“What’s the meaning of this, Eckstein?” demanded Caruthers, as his men pointed their guns on Eckstein and his followers. “I just found out you were making deals without my consent and now you dare come back here. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t have you pumped full of lead and bury you in the cement of my new parking lot?”

“You old fool, always against progress, that I’m younger, smarter, and quite frankly better at running this organization than you ever be, but I never had a chance to take you out until now, with the power I have” narrated Eckstein as his men held the converted weapons that they had received from their shadowy benefactor. “With you out of the way, I’ll have full control of my organization, and with it, the tools I need to finish off Barone.”

“You talk a good talk Eckstein, but talking and doing are two different things,” rasped Caruthers, before snapped his fingers but before his men could fire upon the rogue faction, they flicked the switch on the converted hair dryers. The blasts of light impacted the guns, completely vaporizing them in a flash, along with a few hands depending on the angle of impact. Several of the men fell to the ground, as they slowly bled to death, as others backed off.

“We’ll have none of that, Caruthers, now I offered you the chance to retire with a nice sum of cash to ensure the rest of your short life was lived in luxury, but now, I doubt that I’m going to allow you have a life to live,” commented Eckstein, but Caruthers had quickly removed a second gun from inside his jacket, before he began firing in every which direction. For an old man with a bad hip, he moved quickly, catching several of Eckstein’s bodyguards off guard. They dropped to the ground, wounded, blood dripping everywhere, as Caruthers had forced his way. “Want to give me a fight old man, fine, hunting you down will make my accession to power that much more sweet Caruthers.”

Eckstein pushed open the door, unconcerned for the men who were dying. If they got themselves shot, he suspected they were not much of a use to him anyway. Walking forward, Eckstein calmly pushed the door open, as he peered in, looking around for Caruthers. Caruthers was crouched down and Eckstein pointed his weapon towards his cover, vaporizing the stack of boxes. In an instant, Caruthers fired a desperate shot towards Eckstein, using his last bullet up. Unfortunately, his aim was off due to his glasses being knocked off in the confusion, so the bullet landed in the wall. Caruthers looked up towards Eckstein, who held the weapon up.

“Thought you didn’t believe in hocus pocus, Eckstein,” rasped Caruthers, but the younger mobster held the weapon on the aged one.

“I don’t, but I do believe in change,” countered Eckstein, a malignant look dancing in his eyes. “Considering this your termination from my organization, Caruthers.”

Eckstein pulled the trigger, but to his credit, the aged mobster stood his ground, knowing full well what would happen when the fire power from the weapon hit him. Sure enough, a light blasted from the weapon and connected right into the chest of Caruthers, ripping him in half. Eckstein stepped forward, holding his hands out in triumphant, bathing in the blood of his defeated rival, basking in the glory of his annihilation and the ascension of Lou Eckstein to the top of the mob scene.

Eckstein walked forward, both sides looking, before they all clapped, even those who had been on Caruthers’s side just a matter of seconds previous.

“Thank you my friends and with my tactical genius, along with these weapons, we’re untouchable,” boasted Eckstein. “No one can stand in our way, not even Barone, especially not Barone.”

Eckstein looked over mobsters from both sides, holding the converted hair dryer on the former Caruthers supporters before he looked at them with a smug expression.

“I trust there are no objections to me running this empire,” concluded Eckstein and the entire group remained silent, none of them wished to object, especially when Eckstein had such a dangerous weapon, even if it was pink. “I thought not.”

Deep within the Department of Mysteries, the group of Unspeakables moved forward, faces and voices still distorted, as the leader of the group moved them forward, as the mysterious “G.W.” had all wished to speak to them on a very urgent matter. In the shadows, the leader turned, towards the fuzzy spectral leader of the mastermind behind their ultimate goal.

“Our tool has not reported back yet?” asked the mastermind calmly.

“No, I don’t understand, Potter should have been destroyed by now,” stated the team leader.

“If the weapon has been captured, we must do everything in our power to trace it,” ordered the mastermind calmly, as the members of the group wanted. “I’ve waited a long time to be able to put this plan into motion, I can ill afford any setbacks.”

“What if the weapon has gone rogue?” asked the team leader. “When you ordered us to place in all those complex dueling techniques into the weapon, there was always a chance that our property could go rogue, be able to think and feel beyond what we tell it. So what should we do?”

“Terminate it,” said the mastermind curtly, towards his group. “If it has a defect, do anything you can to bring it down. Is that clear?”

“Yes, boss,” stated the team leader with a nod. “We will locate and if necessary destroy.”

“Excellent, be ready, as the next phase of our plan is coming soon and I wish to have all loose ends tied up, especially Harry Potter,” concluded the mastermind as he disappeared into the distance, leaving the group of Unspeakables to continue their work, walking off into the next room, containing some of their most closely guarded secrets, secrets that not even the Minister of Magic was privy to.

Back at headquarters, Hermione sat at the lower floors, reading a book, when Lotus and Harry made there way down the stairs, deep in conversation, laughing as Hermione.

“Morning, you two,” said Hermione as she regarded them. “Slept in a little late, haven’t you?”

“Actually we got up exactly on time, it’s just a chore to get her out of bed and ready,” commented Harry lightly and Lotus just stuck out her tongue at him. “Put that thing away, unless you’re intending you use it.”

“I intend onto, but later, much later, and in private,” replied Lotus with a playful smile and Harry looked at her, taking in every bit of her, taking further notice in the tight black dress she was wearing, that complimented all of her attributes nicely. Harry personally gave her outfit three thumbs firmly up.

“Besides Harry, it’s not like you were that much of a picnic to get up in the morning for school when we were younger,” remarked Hermione unable to suppress a smile. “I remember when you were eight, you blasted pillows in my face.”

“That was in retaliation for you throwing a bucket of ice cold water on me and you know it, Hermione,” countered Harry.

“Any more embarrassing stories from when he was younger?” asked Lotus mischievously, but Harry groaned.

“Oh please, don’t get her started, I had two versions of me in my head squabbling from control, so everything I did, I had an excuse due to slight mental instability,” stated Harry.

“Slight?” asked Hermione in a bemused voice, before shaking her head, as Harry just gave his best friend a mock glare. “I’d love to talk to you, but I really need to finish this book, it’s a sequel to one of my favorites.”

“How is it?” asked Harry.

“Pretty good, but it does seem like the author’s trying to cash in on the success of the original in some places,” commented Hermione, as she turned the page.

“Well, that’s the nature with most sequels,” said Harry briskly, prompting Lotus to just clear her throat, before she grabbed Harry by the hand and lead him off.

“I really hope you find out something today, Harry,” said Lotus seriously, as she stood, wanting revenge on the people who had set her out of Harry. Every moment she spent with Harry, intensified her hatred for the mysterious shadows who had sent her to kill him. She really hoped Harry found out who they were.

“I do too,” remarked Harry, as he saw the Daily Prophet on the table, scanning the front headlines, thumbing through it, just absent mindedly reading it slightly, as he and Lotus ate breakfast.

“Anything interesting in there?” asked Lotus curiously after several minutes.

“Oh the usual, the Ministry doing something to ensure that there might be a dark uprising by their new security measures that is intending to stop such things,” remarked Harry, shaking his head, but by now, he was desensitized by the Ministry’s stupidity. “Looks like Head Auror Winston will be making all kinds of new friends, with him having the Aurors go through owl post and tap into Floo conversations. Delightful, I feel for the Aurors, they’re going to be the ones who get all the heat for this, but the politicians at the Ministry of Magic get off clean and free. It’s a good thing that I have my own private Floo that is charmed against unwanted eavesdropping.”

“Really, what happens if someone tries to listen in?” inquired Lotus.

“They here it’s a Small World After All and it’s charmed to stay in their heads, causing it to be stuck in their heads for at least a day,” remarked Harry and Hermione broke out into laughter, she once got that song stuck in her head and it was horrible, having that vile creation of one of the few organizations that may have been more ruthless than Harry’s playing in your head constantly. It was at that point, the intercom in the kitchen area of Harry’s hotel complex/mafia headquarters came to life. “Yes?”

“Sorry to disturb you, Boss, but they is a madman with two flame throwers coming through the parking lot,” said a gruff, rather confused voice on the other end. “This is my first day, I don’t know what quite to do.”

“I’ll take care of it, don’t worry,” said Harry before he turned to the two girls. “My arsonist friend seems ready for round two. I guess I needed a second workout to supplement the cardio I did this morning.”

Lotus leaned forward and kissed Harry good bye quickly. Now that he was properly motivated, Harry moved forward, wand in one hand, also ready to signal for help just in case Inferno was too much trouble. Harry really looked forward to have another crack in taking down the crazed, yet highly successful, man, and he wanted to do it on his own.

As he exited the building, he saw Inferno walking through, several trees around the area of the parking lot set ablaze. With expert precision, Harry put out each of the fires one by one with jets of water from his wand, before he saw Inferno turn towards him, holding a flame thrower in each hand, that was strapped to a fuel container on his back.

“Time to feel the burn!” cheered Inferno in a crazed voice as he shot both flame throwers at Harry and from his perspective, both jets of fire had blasted against Harry. A large ball of fire appeared around where Harry was and when Inferno stepped back, the smoke cleared and Harry stood right before him, with not even the slightest scratch on him, thanks to the magic of magic. “Why aren’t you a pile of ash?”

“Guess I’m too cool for you,” remarked Harry with a slight smirk, he could not resist and Inferno attempted to blast Harry with one of the flame throwers, but Harry dodged, before he shot a large jet of water from his wand, putting out Inferno’s attempt of an attack. Harry moved around, but Inferno seemed to be moderately skilled, as Harry attempted to send a coma curse at his opponent, he dodged out of the way, causing the curse to strike the fence behind him, ripping a hole through it. Inferno swung his weaponry and a ring of fire circled around Harry.

“If you can’t handle the heat, stay away from the fire!” yelled Inferno, but Harry had already flicked his wrists, causing the fire around him to freeze. Harry banished the newly created ice back at his opponent. Inferno winced, as his hand was cut, before one of the flame throwers was obliterated by Harry’s attack. Harry moved over, as Inferno was only working at half power, but the arsonist was not done. He aimed the flame thrower right at Harry’s head. Harry ducked down and used a particle destabilization charm on the second flame thrower. Inferno pointed the weapon at Harry but when he pressed the trigger, it crumbled to dust. Harry took steps to neutralize Inferno but the pyromaniac nutcase was not about to go down without a fight, as he had another miniature flame throwing apparatus strapped to his wrist, which he used to blast away Harry’s attempt to tie him up with ropes. It did not seem to have as much fire power, so all Harry felt he had to do was goad him into using up all of his fuel, and then he would have it.

“Hit me with your best shot, come on, that wasn’t even a spark,” taunted Harry, as Inferno had fired several more shots, fireballs that were easily dealt with a mild water charm and Inferno became more frustrated, focusing his attack towards Harry’s wand, but it was unfortunate that Harry would not even allow the fireballs that reach the wand, and at that minute, Inferno ripped the fuel tank off of his back before he threw the contents towards Harry, causing them to splash all over the Boy-Who-Lived.

“CATCH!” yelled Inferno, as he dropped a lit lighter down a can of gasoline before he flung it right at Harry, but Harry banished it back towards his attacker, before he placed a shield charm in front of him.

Inferno’s eyes widened, as gasoline can exploded right in his face, sending him flying several feet backwards, before his body crashed in the street with a thud. At that moment, a truck barreled down the street and smashed right into Inferno’s body, sending his burned body flying into the air all the way across the street, before it flew over the edge of a nearby bridge and out of sight.

“Well, that’s finished,” commented Harry with a sigh. He would have some people collect the corpse later, but right now, he had to finish breakfast and then it was off to his meeting with Luna and the mysterious contact that wished to speak to him.

Luna looked out the window, with a dreamy expression on her face, as she looked out the window, awaiting Harry to come. It was a bit before he was due, but she had little else better to do. Her mother had shut herself in the library, due to her father having one of his, episodes. He was walking around the house, wearing nothing but a kilt and sandals, with a butterfly net and a magnifying glass, searching for microscopic dust demons, a plague that would make Voldemort look like a girl scout.

Or that was at least what her father said. Luna just smiled, as she watched Harry walk up towards her house, before she swung the door open, inviting Harry inside.

“Hello Harry,” said Luna happily as she wrapped her arms around Harry, before she passionately kissed him, a gesture that Harry all too willingly returned. After it became necessary for them to breath, they broke apart, before they walked hand and hand into Luna’s house. “You look like you’ve had a rough morning.”

“You’re not kidding,” remarked Harry. “The damn arsonist tried to attack me again, but a gasoline can blowing up in his face brought him to an early end.”

“Sad, that does seem to happen to most of the people who try to kill you,” said Luna wisely, as they sat down on the couch, with Luna draping her legs across Harry’s lap, before she wrapped her arm around Harry. “So, you’ve been having fun with Lotus, right?”

“Mmm hmm,” remarked Harry, thinking how great it was that he had two beautiful, if slightly eccentric, girls. He suspected this was fate’s way of apologizing about all it put him through.

“Well, it’s nice to see someone’s there to keep you from taking life too seriously when I’m not with you,” remarked Luna. “It’s a shame that I haven’t been able to join you, but Dad’s healer wants him to cut back on his work, it’s becoming too stressful with him.”

“I could help if you wanted me too,” offered Harry but Luna shook her head.

“That’s nice of you to offer, Harry, but you have way too much to do as it is and besides, it’s not that much, just a couple of longer nights a week, to get the Quibbler ready for press and to answer angry letters, that’s not that bad,” commented Luna, as she leaned against Harry. “It’s a real shame that Lotus couldn’t have been here as well, but I guess I’m going to have to settle for only one of you for right now.”

Luna shifted her weight slightly wrapping her legs around Harry’s waist, but seconds later, they heard foot steps, which caused them to break apart and look around. Luna’s father walked forward, bent down, looking at the floor through a magnifying glass.

“Don’t mind me, continue your hormonally influenced fun, just as long as no one gets pregnant there’s no harm,” said Xenophillius.

“DAD!” cried Luna, who looked slightly embarrassed. “I’m always careful…”

“I wasn’t talking about you, Luna, if Harry gets knocked up, how I’m going to explain it to his entire mob organization?” asked Xenophillius. “I only like fish on a platonic level, so I don’t fancy sleeping with them.”

Luna cleared her throat slightly, at her father’s confusion.

“Uh, Dad, boys can’t get pregnant, remember,” said Luna. “Only in those really strange stories that you read on the Internet…”

“Oh that’s right, I forgot, blasted microscopic dust demons, affecting my thinking,” remarked Xenophillius, giving his head a shake. “I’ll get those devilish blighters yet.”

“Dad’s taking a calming draught to deal with his nerves, it’s having some side effects,” explained Luna calmly, once her father was out of an earshot. “Mum’s shut herself up in the library, it normally passes after an hour or so but still, he’s been going on about dust taking over the world, the next thing you’re know he’s going to be saying that the Ministry is well run and efficient.”

“Now Luna, your father’s not that far gone,” replied Harry and Luna laughed at this, as the two spent the next few minutes just spending time with each other, until lunch was ready.

Lotus walked down the hallway but Hermione quickly blown past her in a hurry.

“Hey, where are you going?” asked Lotus.

“Just remembered, I have a family reunion that I have to attend, it’s been several years since most of my family has even seen me, but Mum’s guilt tripped me into going,” said Hermione who was talking at the speed of light. “I know Harry left me in charge, but if anything asks for me, tell them that I’ll be back tonight and if anything comes up, figure it out on your own, I really need to be get going.”

Lotus watched Hermione leave and she was not gone for even gone for five minutes, when a pair of frantic looking mobsters walked up the stairs, looking around.

“Where’s Boss Barone?” demanded one of the mobsters.

“Out,” remarked Lotus and they just sighed. Given the frantic looks on their faces, Lotus took pity on them, deciding to offer help “Can I help you, I was left to handle things when he was out after all?”

“It’s just some of Eckstein’s goons are causing trouble, off by the docks, trying to peek into the shipment crates to see what the Boss is up to,” replied one of the mobsters and Lotus quickly rushed to the office, before she quickly transfigured her clothes into something that would be more easy to deal with the members of a rival organization. She picked up a pencil on Harry’s desk, before transformed it into a Portkey and rushed out. “Grab onto this, it will take us there.”

The mobsters hastened to obey, as her tone left no room for argument, before they grabbed onto the Portkey, taking them off to attempt to cut off Eckstein’s mobsters before they caused too much damage.

A group of shadowed figures had taken a charred and nearly lifeless body out of a river, before touching a Portkey to transport them back to the Ministry of Magic.

Luna and Harry walked across the path, towards the home of their mysterious contact. Harry looked up, it was surrounded by a fence with razor wire wrapped around the top and the house seemed to have no windows, with only one door that looked to be made of reinforced platinum, the only metal on Earth that magic did not effect on at all.

“Are you sure this is the place, Luna?” asked Harry, tentatively, he was getting an extremely strange and rather distrustful vibe off this place.

“Yes,” replied Luna, as she looked at the slip of parchment and Harry took a deep breath, this was what he was afraid of.

“Keep your wand out, Luna,” muttered Harry and Luna wasted no time in agreeing, as they held their wands out, ready for anything. Harry in particular was very willing to attack anyone who looked at him cross-eyed. The gates swung open, on their own accord and the moment Harry and Luna passed them, the gates swung shut, as Harry and Luna moved, Harry looking over his shoulder every step of the way as the door to the front of the house, the only entrance or exit for that matter opened, allowing them to step inside. Harry stopped, mouth wide open, looking around in absolute horror at what he had seen inside this house as the door had swung behind him. Luna also looked mildly shocked at what she had seen before her.

Lotus stepped forward, looking into the shadows, the mobsters behind her, watching the rival mobsters nose around the crates. Quickly, she walked forward, looking at the mobsters through narrowed eyes.

“Excuse me, but what right do you have to look at those crates?” asked Lotus and the mobsters just turned to her. “Either give me authorization or clear out.”

“Tell you what, baby, we’re quit nosing around these crates, if you come with us and show us a good time,” remarked one of the mobsters, as he leered at Lotus, who was not amused and at that moment, he fell to the ground, feeling pain, as each and every one of his ribs cracked, as Lotus held her wand.

“I’m sorry, maybe you would like to rephrase that,” said Lotus in a dangerous voice, as the mobsters took a few tentative steps out of the shadows, staring down Lotus like she mortally offended them, as their downed coworker was in the shadows.

“Fine, it’s obvious you have no class, bitch, liquidate her,” said one of the mobsters as they withdrew the converted hair dryers and one fired right towards Lotus, who put a shield charm that just barely managed to block the brunt of the impact, but caused her to stagger backwards. She managed to land her feet, realizing that she needed to disarm them of those weapons. Quickly, she slashed her wand and sure enough the weapons flew out of the hands of the mobsters, landing on the ground, a couple of them shattering to bits, before Lotus conjured a noose. The noose wrapped around the throat and a second slash of the wand had caused the man’s neck to snap, dropping him to the ground. One of the mobsters was foolish enough to grab Lotus. Needless to say, the man paid for it, with two broken arms, as he dropped down to the ground.

“RETREAT!” shouted the mobsters in unison and several of them ran for cover. Lotus watched as Harry’s associates moved in, shooting one of the mobsters in the back of the leg. She aimed her wand and dropped another one with a stunning spell. A third mobster managed to get into a car, causing a fourth yet to be left behind. Lotus, with expert precision, ran in front of him, before she secured his arms and legs in shackles, as the car sped off. It was the same mobster who tried to attack her with that weapon. The two took a step forward.

“Leave it for now, I think I can convince him to spill the beans,” said Lotus as she used her wand to pull the captured goon forward, his knees scraping against the pavement, before she looked down at the mobster, picking up one of the hair dryers, looking at it. “First question, where did you get this thing?”

“I’m not going to tell you,” said the man stubbornly and Lotus sighed, before she grabbed him roughly by the ears, her fingernails cutting into the back of the man’s ears, causing him to scream in agony. “Fine, fine, ease up!”

Lotus withdrew her hands and raised her foot above the man’s crotch. The mobster was all too quick to spill the beans when he realized that the girl was wearing heels.

“Fine, I didn’t see them, in fact Eckstein, he got them from some mysterious shadowy guy, he didn’t say his name, his face was never shown once, that’s all I know, it’s a plot to finish off Barone though, please don’t kill me, I have a wife and kids, kill them,” stammered the mobster quickly, as Lotus looked at him with notable distaste in her vivid green eyes.

“Did you say shadowed figures?” asked Lotus quietly, a fire blazing in her eyes that terrified the mobster.

“Yes, yes, yes, that’s what I said, that’s who gave us these weapons,” said the mobster, as the girl just pointed the hair dryer towards him. “Watch where you point that thing, it vaporizes anything it touches.”

“Well, you were going to hit me with it,” countered Lotus coldly as she looked at the mobster, who looked absolutely petrified, but the fact remained that he tried to use a weapon on an innocent human being, so he forfeited the right to not be killed as far as she was concerned. If he lived to be able to use that weapon or something more dangerous on anyone else, Lotus could not live with that, especially the league of people this mobster kept with “You didn’t care, so why should I?”

Lotus pressed the trigger and vaporized the man. Blood splattered everywhere, along with a few bone fragments, the skin melting. Turning to the two gangsters, they stepped back, not wanting to say a word, given the dangerous weapon in her hand, not that she was not dangerous without a weapon. Walking over to the crates, Lotus placed a series of curses on them, set to go off when anyone who wasn’t authorized to mess with them touched them, before she turned to Harry’s employees.

“Let’s go, everything is done here,” ordered Lotus and the mobsters did not hesitate to obey her.

Harry blinked, as he looked around the room. The wall was splashed with a multitude of bright colors that sent Harry’s sense of sight into overload. There were way too many contrasting colors for Harry’s brain to register, as he looked towards the floor, which was rather blank and devoid of any color.

“Ah, totally cool, you’re like…here and stuff,” said a voice from the other room. “Hang on, I need to get my notes ready and stuff, I’m not good at remembering things that well for some reason.”

Harry’s eyes flickered towards the direction, where a multi colored curtain was obscuring a doorway of some sort. From behind the curtain, smoke entered the room.

“Yes, I wonder why you’re having these memory problems,” muttered Harry under his breath, as the figure stepped outwards, arms full of parchment. Given some of the characters Luna’s father normally kept in contact with, he seemed to be fairly normal. He had the appearance of an older man, perhaps in his seventies at the least, with most grey hair, wearing a multitude of tie-dye, and glasses, covering his slightly reddened eyes.

“Yeah, hey didn’t see you two come in,” muttered the mysterious contact as he looked at Luna and Harry. “So, you’re the exterminators right?”

“No, we’re here for the article for the Quibbler,” said Luna patiently. “You contacted my father a couple of days ago, requesting an interview, saying you had information that could rock the entire Wizarding World.”

“Yes, of course, that’s what I did and…Harry Potter, man, that’s Harry Potter,” said the contact as he pointed at Harry, as Harry’s fingers twitched around his wand, but Luna grabbed his hand to stop him. “Man, its like so totally radical that you’ve fought the power, standing up to the man.”

“Yes and Luna told me you had information that I should know,” remarked Harry and the contact nodded blinking.

“Yeah and just so you know my name is….” stated the contact but Luna used a silencing charm on him.

“I think it would best not to give names, for the sake of everyone, if this information is as groundbreaking as you claim it to be,” warned Luna as she removed the silencing charm.

“Yes, yes, it’s something that they don’t want you to know,” remarked the contact.

“The Ministry of Magic?” asked Harry but the contact shook his head.

“They’re like puppets, they think they have power, but they have been dancing along on strings for years and years, because of the real power of the Wizarding World, they don’t want anyone to know about their sinister schemes and use the Ministry as a front,” remarked the informant. “They are like so sinister and into schemes, man.”

“Exactly who are these people?” asked Luna calmly.

“No one really knows exactly who they are but strange things have happened to confirm their existence,” said the informant and he looked almost sane. “They have no name, but their purpose is wide spread, they wish to reshape the world into one magical government under their leader’s control. To do so, they are using a never ending battle between dark lords and those who they have sought out, knowing that they would never turn to darkness, orchestrating their marking as the saviors. The saviors and the dark lords fight in never ending battles, and the Ministry remains stagnate, allowing the current dark lord to cleanse the population unhindered. Once one is vanquished, another will be groomed subtly in their place, and another savior being hand picked to fight in the never changing, never ending battle, while the Ministry is unable to progress, unwilling to change, because of this group manipulating things behind the curtain. It’s a grand conspiracy, to hide their true objectives”

“You’re making this sound like this has been happening for a long time,” offered Luna.

“Longer than the recorded history of magic can trace, it has to do with the very origins of magic its self, the origins that don’t want to know,” said the informant and Harry’s interest piqued, he had always thought magic had always been there, since the beginnings of humanity. Granted, he always used History of Magic in both timelines to catch up on his sleep. “For all the propaganda that the purists spread about muggleborns stealing magic, it’s all a lie, given what the ancestors of some of the oldest lines did all those years ago.”

The informant seemed excited and Luna motioned for him to go on. Harry was more confused than had ever been, but intrigued nevertheless.

“So, a group of two hundred or so people in a village, go to investigate a mysterious disturbance, a traveler of some sort arrived, offering them gifts, taking pity on their primitive culture,” narrated the informative. “The visitor was not from this world or any nearby, but his race was benevolent, peaceful, and used what I guess could be considered technology now, but such a term had not existed that far back, to heal and help the village grow towards a prosperous time.”

“Something went wrong, didn’t it?” asked Luna and the informant nodded his head gravely.

“The traveler had other powers, powers that were far beyond the comprehension of the villagers, but once they had a taste of the power, they wanted more,” narrated the information. “They like took the traveler, forced him to give them powers like his. The strain killed the traveler, just barely able to grant each and every villager the ability to perform what would be magic. Many of his artifacts were recovered by the villagers, feeling they now had power and no one should even give a chance to grant that. They saw themselves as god like figures, they were drunk in power and bullied those who were outside the village. Eventually, generations gone by and descendants moved out of the villages, so, the ability to perform magic spread, into what we have today.”

“What does that have to do with this supposed shadow group controlling the Ministry?” asked Luna.

“The first member to force the traveler to receive the gifts, ensured that he received a bit more power than the others, he could be considered to be the first dark lord in history, he horded many of the artifacts that belonged to the traveler,” continued the informant. “He was paranoid, he thought that outsiders, inferiors in truth, would one day stumble upon the truth and attempt to coerce the powers out of him, much like he and the other villagers had done from the mysterious traveler. A pact was made, when he joined up with a number of gifted villagers who he knew he could manipulate for his own benefits. They would keep the outside world ignorant, distracted by the battles between good and evil, until the leader could achieve his ultimate goal of domination over all of humanity. The group continued generation after generation, as magic spread, gifting more people with it, coming up with more inventive ways of shielding the truth with each passing generation, wasting no time in forcing the Ministry of Magic and several other magical governments around the world under their thumb, without the slightest hint of deception.”

“Okay, and we’re supposed to believe this, when you can’t even give us the slightest name for this first dark lord, if he existed,” challenged Harry, who felt there was a chance that parts of what the informant was saying were valid, he just could not decide which ones they might be.

“He did exist man, you’re being blinded by the truth, they exist, and there latest plan was to replace every Muggle in the world with clones, where do you think Tom Marvolo Riddle received the knowledge to create your double?” asked the informant. “They used him as a puppet, beyond the never ending battle between good and evil, they had some flaws in the spells, which Riddle must have ironed out and they have to have your clone. You messed up their plans when you were thrown back in time.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Harry, but he was actually rather alarmed, that a scatterbrained, common wizard would have found about his spiral back to time. Harry was ready to do some quick neural rerouting but he paused when the informant continued.

“They do, that’s the thing I’m trying to tell you,” remarked the informant. “They know everything about you, your strengths, your weaknesses, they’re just toying with you, waiting for the exact moment to finish you off. The entire Wizarding World is just a game to them and you didn’t play by the rules, so they want to penalize you, Harry Potter. You didn’t keep allow them to keep the balance of their scam, they had you marked for the next dark lord after Riddle, they had intended for you to be the worst of all the carefully orchestrated dark uprisings.”

“Do you know anything about who might be leading this shadow organization?” asked Luna quickly, as she saw Harry was getting rather annoyed.

“I heard, that their leader is currently identified by a rather prestigious and rare honor, only given to an ultra powerful wizard who has lived a long life, they’re dubbed the Grand Warlock,” said the informant. “That’s just a front too, but if it’s true, I know the last person to be named the Grand Warlock.”

“Who is it?” asked Harry in anticipation, looking almost gleeful, as he had a solid lead to follow, a name, in the midst of all this confusion and paranoia that this informant was sprouting.

“Albus Dumbledore,” concluded the informant quickly.