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Chapter Six: Ministry Meddling.

Darkness, pure and utter darkness, swirled around Harry Potter. The Boy-Who-Lived had just managed to escape from being blown up along with his mafia headquarters by Inferno. A very close, escape, as Harry did not know where he went. He was aiming for the Grangers’ but Apparating while suffering from severe dehydration and heat exhaustion was not advisable. He thumped forward, the adrenaline had worn off and the pain from getting his skin burned set it. Every bit of air hitting his skin inflamed it. Inferno had really done some damage to him. Harry could have taken him easily, had he not had those blasted elemental abilities but the question is how did Inferno acquire them and more importantly, how in the hell was he still alive? He feared some convoluted comic book explanation of Inferno acquiring the powers when he was met head on with an exploding gas can. Harry opened his eyes, he managed to look through the haze caused by the pounding of his head, he managed by some stroke of luck

Inside the house at this moment, Hermione, Lotus, and Luna had several years worth of Daily Prophets in front of them. While Harry did own the paper, there could have been a vital clue that pointed to whereabouts of Dumbledore within them that Harry had long since forgotten about it. It was going to take a bit of time, at least several days in between the three of them, but there were few other options. Lotus seemed to take this task rather seriously, if it was Dumbledore, she wanted to make him pay personally. If Harry had not managed to convince her that he was not her enemy, Harry might have been killed and who knows how many other people would have suffered at her hand. Lotus kept searching, but despite the vast amount of resources that was the Daily Prophet archives, they could find nothing.

“All these blasted newspapers and nothing’s here!” shouted Lotus after about an hour of searching that had gotten them nowhere.

“I know, it’s frustrating,” said Luna, as she placed her hand on Lotus’s shoulder. “Not even a hint, but we’ve got to keep looking.”

“Luna, are you sure that you couldn’t find anything in the Quibbler archives?” asked Hermione desperately.

“Yes, Hermione, I’m sure, believe me I am, I know them from back to front by memory and the last time Dumbledore was mentioned was before the entire incident with sending Harry with the Dursleys was brought to light,” said Luna. “Until that contact brought him up that was the first time I heard Dumbledore’s name brought up in a long time from anyone. I mean, once someone’s out of the public eye, it’s hard to keep track of them.”

“We have to try though,” responded Lotus, as she levitated another stack of papers and moved forward it. It was very easy to get angered by the Ministry’s actions in the past by reading some of these old papers. If she was Harry and in a matter of speaking, she kind of was, she would have wiped these idiots out a long time ago. However, she knew Harry had his reasons, but if this Dumbledore was behind this and the Ministry was connected in either way, Harry would have to respect hers.

“I just hope Remus and Sirius…have better luck,” said Hermione, trailing off into a near whisper as she heard a loud banging sound from outside of the house. Springing up to her feet Hermione rushed out of the room, followed by Luna and Lotus to investigate the source of the knocks. Hermione stopped outside, before she pushed the door open and screamed in horror when she saw Harry’s barely conscious form, face beet red and covered in sweat, laying there, moaning in agony, unable to move. “Harry, who did this to you?”

“Hermione, I’m no healer, but it looks like he’s suffered a severe case of dehydration and heat exhaustion,” said Luna urgently, as she looked at Harry. “We need to get him inside, out of the sun, and get him plenty of water, before we even begin to ask questions.”

Hermione nodded, before she, Luna, and Lotus had gently pulled Harry inside. Lotus knew exactly who did this. They had tried to get to her through Harry, there was no question about it. In a minute, Harry was hoisted gently on the couch. Luna placed her hand on Harry’s forehead.

“He’s burning up,” informed Luna as Hermione moved off to get Harry water and a cool wash cloth. “These burns on his arms don’t look too good either, looks like they could magical in nature, I think there is some burn paste back home, I’ll go there real quick and get it, you stay here and keep Harry comfortable until I get back.”

Lotus placed a cooling charm on Harry, as she stood over him. It would only be a temporary measure, but any relief that she could grant Harry was appealing to her. From what she had learned, his life had been one person coming after him after another. The minute Voldemort dropped dead, it was supposed to end, but it seemed like Voldemort was only the warm up to something even more dangerous. It was not fair but yet Harry had somehow managed to not let all of this get to him and there was more than enough to get to someone.

Inferno stepped forward, humming, as his head bobbed from side to side, as he entered the hotel where Wansuke and his men had been staying. Sparks flew from his ears as his head moved around side to side, causing the hotel curtains to be set ablaze. The smoke alarms went off as Inferno moved directly up the stairs, holes being burnt through the carpets as he made his way up the stairs. More smoke rose, as people fled their hotel rooms at the sound of the smoke alarms going off. Stepping forward, Inferno raised his fist, the arsonist turned elemental burning right through the wooden door as he knocked on it. After a few seconds, the door opened, to see Wansuke, his interpreter, and several of his cronies standing around, before they looked up.

“I am here Mr. Wansuke, as you will find out, I rubbed out Harry Potter and a great deal of Barone’s organization, along with Barone” said Inferno in a boisterous voice, deciding to embellish the bit about Barone, planning to flee the country to the Bahamas with the pay off he was to get for this job.

“Master Wansuke is required further proof of your success before we discuss the option of payment,” said the Interpreter after a few seconds of conversation with Wansuke. “We trust we will find proof of the demise of our enemy at the main base of operations, Mr. Periwinkle.”

“Absolutely, you won’t be disappointed,” stated Inferno, as he waved his arms around, sending small blasts of fire in every direction, setting the walls of the hotel room of fire. Quickly, one of the thugs pulled the fire extinguisher off the wall, spraying out the flames, as Wansuke talked quickly in Japanese to his interpreter, who turned to Inferno, before relaying the instructions to him. “And, any damage that you have done to this hotel will be taken out of your payment.’

Inferno nodded, despite having awesome fire manipulated elemental powers of doom and destruction, Wansuke was still an imposing presence, worthy of terrifying him. The Yakuza left the room, with Inferno following them, trying not to cause any more damage with his new powers. It took a great deal of concentration to control them but it was worth it, given the amount he would save on fuel costs with his new abilities. A few sparks flew, but the crazed pyromaniac managed to hold off his powers enough to not cause a great deal of property damage. He only wished to do that when he was getting paid a great deal of money. If the damage was done for free, it would really drive down his value.

Harry’s eyes flickered open, as Luna was on one side of Harry, holding a wet washcloth on his forehead, while Lotus gently tipped a glass of cold water up to Harry’s lips, allowing him to drink.

“Thanks, I needed that,” said Harry and the two girls looked happy when they realized that their boyfriend was awakened. They both threw their arms around Harry, hugging him madly, while kissing him on the cheeks. Both of their bodies pressed against his were somewhat relaxing and Harry felt a rush of disappointment as they pulled away from him, as Lotus handed Harry the glass of water.

“Drink as much as you want to Harry, it’s charmed to refill automatically,” said Luna as she looked at Harry with a concerned look in her eyes, as she looked at him with concern. “Are you okay?”

“I could be worse,” said Harry weakly. “Dehydration and heat exhaustion is not a pleasant combination, I’ll tell you that much, with the temperatures that guy was giving off, it was a wonder I lasted that long. Maybe I’m going insane, but it seemed like the temperatures rose higher as he got closer to me, almost as if he was fueled by my magic. The guy was an elemental, he could control fire.”

“Interesting, elementals have said to be a myth, because the human body isn’t geared properly to be able to properly channel any elements and manipulate them,” commented Luna casually, as she draped her legs over Harry’s lap, while Lotus leaned her head on Harry’s shoulder, grabbing his free hand in hers, as he took another gulp of the ice cold water. “Still, I believe you Harry, I just wonder if he knows how perilous his existence is.”

“Given its Inferno, he’s a nutcase who just wants a bit of power, he doesn’t plan for the long term, he just plans for the moment, the next pay off for the latest job,” replied Harry calmly before sighing. “The more I learn about this, I tell you, the less I really understand.”

“I know Harry, believe me, I know,” said Lotus. “Don’t worry, they have to answer for something, this is the second time they tried to have you killed.”

“What do you think they’ll do to you when they find out you deviated from their path?” asked Harry as he looked at Lotus, he did not want her to get hurt, but Lotus refused to be persuaded against the idea of revenge.

“Nothing pleasant I’m sure but I don’t care, they used me as their pawn and tried to kill one of the people I care about again, I’m not going to sit back and let that go,” said Lotus firmly, which Harry felt was about the same thing he would say had he been in that situation.

“No and neither will anyone else,” remarked Luna. “If it really is Dumbledore, Hermione will find out where he is. She’s looking for anything right now, Hermione’s never failed to find anything.”

“It has to be Dumbledore, if not, what else do we got?” asked Harry and they did not really have an answer to that question.

A group of shadowed figures crowded around the Department of Mysteries corridors, where one walked forward in a tentative matter. Inferno had defied their orders, had blown up Potter and their leader would not be pleased at all. The crazed arsonist had left and no doubt gone to use his powers.

“G.W. won’t like the plans being ruined like that,” stated the superior in a cold voice. “You were supposed to ensure Inferno only used his powers to subdue Potter, while we looked for our property.”

“I won’t be pleased with what, prey tell?” asked a calm voice, as the distorted image of their master appeared, causing the rogue Unspeakables to crowd around, in an attempt to look innocent or as innocent as figures cloaked in shadows could.

“Well, Herbie Periwinkle, that being Inferno, he looked for the tool like you said, but she wasn’t there, Potter had her moved, but we followed the instructions, the ones that Potter shouldn’t be harmed, and he took out one of those Muggle propane tanks and might have blew Potter away,” remarked one of the shadow figures quickly before adding one final comment. “He did knock out a lot of the mob group though, his forces were weakened…”

“Potter still lives,” remarked their superior crisply. “You underestimate him too much, I refuse to, that was the short coming of Tom Marvolo Riddle that cost him in the end. He saved himself, but I showed him the consequences of tampering with the balance. Several of his valued employees were destroyed in the crossfire and if I had any confident that Inferno would have finished him off, I wouldn’t have put him in a position where he could have done so. Everything is going to plan, the attention has been misdirected and soon the next phase will take fold. Patience my children, patience, soon our goals will be fulfilled.”

“What of Periwinkle, his powers could be problematic?” questioned one of the Unspeakables, but their superior just appeared to be amused at the thought that Inferno would be a concern.

“Give a Muggle a taste of power, and they think they can rule the world,” stated their superior. “Don’t worry, his powers will keep evolving to the rate of instability, and once they reach their end, he will spontaneously combust. The combustion will release a fire in all directions for fifty kilometers, destroying everything it touches, leaving nothing left.”

The shadowed Unspeakables remained silent.

“Focus your intentions on recovering our property and once you find her, destroy her,” said their superior in a cold voice, as the Unspeakables nodded in agreement. “We will be speaking again shortly.”

With that, their leader disappeared, leaving his followers to return to their own devices.

Tonks arrived at the Ministry, barely suppressing a yawn, as a group of Aurors followed her. Their shift had finally ended after way too long and now they were all just going through the motions.

“Good day to you all!” cheered Winston in a boisterous voice and he had a good reason to pleased, he had gotten more than a few minutes of sleep recently. Tonks clutched her hand around her wand, gritting her teeth, and her fellow Aurors looked to be suppressing the urge to hex Winston as well. “So far you’ve done well for the most part but we have a few performances reviews in, especially from you Auror Tonks. Now I’ve found out that you diverted from your post in the sky, to go engage a group of wizards in attack.”

“Head Auror Winston, they were Death Eaters, they attacked a group of Muggle children in a park“ informed Tonks quickly. “Do you want me to just let them run free?”

“They were doing nothing to directly harm the Ministry,” said Winston calmly and Tonks could not agree with what she was hearing. Her right hand was shaking, she resisted the urge to hex this twit into a million pieces “You could have damaged the credibility of the Ministry of Magic by attacking these wizards. I understand it might be tough. After all, your father was muggleborn if I’m not mistaken. However, we can’t watch over Muggles every time, they need to learn to be left to their own devices, it’s disrupting the balance. Our societies have been too intertwined; in fact a bill is being passed as we speak to prohibit any contact between the magical and Muggle worlds. Any children who show signs of magic will be taken and place with a proper home, the minds of their parents and family modified to erase any memories. We can’t afford another situation like Harry Potter, where he was left with improper relatives that bent him to go against the Ministry that he was obligated to protect and serve.”

The Aurors looked towards Winston, none of them wanting to say anything to get themselves thrown into Azkaban. Still, it was rather interesting that as much as the high ranking officials of the Ministry condemned Harry Potter, they were willing to use his placement with the Dursleys as an excuse to promote any anti-Muggle agendas on the table.

“And Tonks, why you meant well, I think I’m going to have to send you home for the next week without pay, to think about the shame you brought onto the Ministry of Magic,” stated Winston but as far as Tonks concerned, this was a blessing in disguise. First she had to inform Harry of the last bits of information she managed to pick up, that they were going after reporters that worked at the Daily Prophet. They had already took in Rita Skeeter and there could have been others taken into the Ministry by now.

Wansuke and his employees looked outside, scanning the cindered wreckage of once was a glorious hotel. Inferno stood awaiting his latest clients to survey the damage. Either he would be awarded or heavily punished. Several tense moments later, Wansuke’s men relayed their findings to him and Wansuke responded by talking to his interpreter.

“Well, Mr. Periwinkle, there is no indication that Potter or Barone have survived your attack, but be warned, if he remains alive, you will pay the price,” said the interpreter and Inferno nodded in agreement.

“If you don’t mind me for asking, what do you have against this Potter brat anyway?” asked Inferno and the interpreter relayed this question back to Wansuke in Japanese and Wansuke responded quickly as he could in Japanese, before the interpreter turned to Inferno.

“Thanks to your adequate work, Master Wansuke will entertain your question with a response,” said interpreter. “Some years back, Master Wansuke was in negotiations with this country’s dark lord, Voldemort. He was going to sell him a set of mystic artifacts that would have boosted Lord Voldemort’s power, although not as much as he was lead to believe. The artifacts only guaranteed a moderate power boost, but through exploiting his ignorance, we made Voldemort believe that he would gain much more. Master Wansuke would have been made for life with the gold he was to receive, but before the transaction could be completed, Voldemort met his demise. Since then, we began to put together a plan to conspire to gain control of the underworld scene in Britain, absorbing it into the Yakuza and with Barone out of the way, Master Wansuke’s plans are coming close to fulfillment.”

“Ah, that explains everything,” stated Inferno, in a mock insightful voice, before he leaned forward, as the interpreter handed him the briefcase after a nod from Wansuke. The briefcase was taken into his hands, and Inferno opened the briefcase, before he reached forward to count his ill-gotten gains. As he put his fingers to the money, it burst into flames, causing them to reduce to ashes. Inferno shrieked like a little girl when he saw that all of his money had gone up in flames.

“That’s bad luck, Mr. Periwinkle, but unless we have need for you to do another job, that’s all the money you’ll be receiving,” stated the interpreter in a calm before Wansuke told him something. “Master Wansuke also says it’s not a good idea to burn through your capital so fast.”

The interpreter laughed by Wansuke and his bodyguards looked humorless, as Inferno stood, watching them get into their limo and drive off. Angrily, flames burst from the top of Inferno’s head, as he stomped smoldering holes into the ground. Any time he lost money for whatever reason, for something that was out of control, it really set him off. The thing was that this time, it was not really Inferno’s fault.

Inferno let out a breath, causing a huge cloud of smoke to fly across the street. Thinking about the situation, there was only one possible solution that made perfect sense. He would go on a psychotic rampage and kill as many people as possible by using his powers.

Harry had almost regained a great deal of his strength. His body was still a bit sore, as he took another drink of water.

“Feeling better?” asked Luna calmly.

“Loads,” replied Harry. “Now Inferno’s out there still, we have to find a way to stop him for good. Temporary measures to stall him won’t work, we need to take away his powers.”

Harry paused, putting a hand to his chin, looking thoughtful, as he looked down. Quickly, he levitated a small piece of ash that was on the leg of his pants, so he could get a better look at it.

“It’s just a piece of ash,” said Lotus in confusion and Luna seemed a bit confused as well, but intrigued. “Exactly how is that going to help us defeat Inferno and remove his powers?”

“Actually if I’m correct, it’s his skin,” replied Harry, as he placed it look at it closely and sure enough, it had a small yellow glow around it. It was faint, having detached from Inferno’s main body and thus not feeding off of his power, but it still retained just enough to confirm Harry’s suspicious. Quickly, Harry did a few tests on the effected skin sample to gain an idea. After a second, the suspicions were confirmed. “Well, this does complicate things a lot.”

The two girls looked at Harry, he had never appeared so grave, so horror struck. They encouraged Harry to tell them and Harry sighed.

“Whomever is behind this, whether it’s Dumbledore or anyone else, is dabbling in magic that could threaten countless lives,” said Harry, as both Lotus and Luna took a hand. “They’ve saturated every centimeter of Inferno with a rare magical compound called Incendia Elementum. The last batch of it was said to be destroyed in the 1940s, it’s supposed to give the ability to manipulate and control fire, at least temporarily.”

“Wait, wait, temporarily?” asked Lotus.

“It sounds like you lose the ability to do so after a while, but then what?” questioned Luna and Harry sighed, he was delving into the strange and mysterious. He only came across his element when he was studying for dark magical potions that Voldemort might have used in the first timeline and had filed it away, until it clicked in his head after he thought about his battle with Inferno.

“Well, there’s really no recorded accounts of it being used on this level, because no one is insane enough to saturate their entire body with such an unstable substance, it’s normally ingested small doses and they eventually wear off, with only minor uncontrolled outbursts of fire,” replied Harry, before he sighed and continued. “If I’m correct and this is one time where I hope I’ll not, once Inferno loses control over fire, he’ll draw heat from the air around him, until he spontaneously combusts, destroying everything in all directions.”

“There is a way to stop him then,” stated Luna in a confident voice.

“Most magic, let’s say about eighty five to ninety percent roughly, can be reversed and this falls under something that can be, with a little creativity,” remarked Harry with a sigh. “It’s all down to finding the proper counter agent to Inferno’s fire manipulating powers. It’s not as simple as throwing a flame freezing spell at him to stop him. Liquid nitrogen can hold him, but now after a few more hours, I fear that it might only be a temporary measure. This is really a tough one to crack.”

“Maybe we can stop his powers from getting out of hand, by freezing their acceleration?” asked Luna.

“That’s brilliant Luna, there should be spells to put someone in a state of stasis, but I don’t know how long it could last,” remarked Lotus, as she looked over Harry, who looked rather thoughtful at this suggestion.

“There is a potion, that was invented for the express purpose of putting people with magical diseases in suspended animation to look for cures, given the highly original and inventive name of the Suspended Animation Potion but it was outlawed due to the side effects,” replied Harry. “Permanent brain damage and all kinds of nasty stuff, but considering this is the guy who attempted kill me and wipe out a decent chunk of my employees, side effects don’t matter.”

“Feeling better Harry?” asked Hermione as she entered the room, before she sat down right on the chair across for them. Harry responded with a nod, but Hermione looked really frustrated. “No go on the Prophet Archives for Dumbledore, the last reference I could find was a few months after the trial, but it was just said that Hogwarts was looking for a new Headmaster. I hope Sirius and Remus can find something concrete that we can go on, otherwise we’re pretty much sunk.”

“You did the best you could Hermione, we’ll find something, hopefully soon,” stated Harry and Hermione nodded, but she seemed to be very annoyed that she could not find one simple piece of information that could help Harry. “Anyway, never mind that, I need your help with something else.”

“What is it Harry?” asked Hermione who was curious.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the Suspended Animation potion, you know the one that was banned due to its harmful side effects,” replied Harry and Hermione nodded. “I need your help to whip up a batch.”

“Exactly why do you want a batch of that nasty stuff, anyway, Harry?” asked Hermione.

“Our resident arsonist Inferno survived, he has new powers, powers that are coming dangerously close to overloading and causing a chain reaction when he spontaneously combusts, wiping out hundreds,” explained Harry. “I’m hoping we could stop his powers from getting out of control, stopping him long enough to find a way to dispose of him.”

“Makes sense I suppose, but I don’t like where this is going,” said Hermione with a frown, as she put two and two together, knowing it was Inferno’s new powers that was responsible for the state Harry was in when he had showed up. “You’re going to go out and face him again, after what happened aren’t you? You’re going to do something really dangerous?”

“Anything I do is potentially dangerous,” argued Harry. “This is a time not to worry about the risks. After all as a great philosopher once said, let’s get dangerous.”

Harry then grew serious, as he looked at Hermione. She had seen him in dangerous situations so many times, having known him the longest, but it did not lessen her worries.

“Not without a plan I’m not, but I have to think quickly, we might only have hours before his powers get out of control and he spontaneously combusts, of course, this is dependent on the rate that he uses his powers and…” said Harry before trailing off, knowing that Inferno would abuse his powers and thus accelerate the evolution until he reaches critical mass. “Two or three hours, maximum, if we’re lucky, here’s a copy of the recipe of the potion, get to work, you should be done right away.”

Hermione nodded, taking the book that Harry had magically transported from one of his Gringotts vaults. Harry leaned back, feeling a bit dazed.

“Luna do me a favor and turn on the television,” said Harry and Luna looked a bit puzzled, but did as Harry had indicated. The news was up and Harry saw a befuddled looking newscaster.

“Confusion reigns as the temperatures in London and several areas within walking distance from the outer limits continues to raise about twenty degrees above the average, several have collapsed from severe heat exhaustion and raced to hospitals, others have perished in small fires, people are leaving the city in droves to escape the massive heatwave,” stated the newscaster. “Reports are coming it that a demonic looking figure who can control fire has been the cause of the damage, it’s basically hell on earth in London. We’ll keep you posted more as this situation develops, so stay tuned.”

“Yep, just about what I expected,” remarked Harry. “Inferno is really having a blast with his powers, we need to work quickly.”

Harry lifted his hand, muttering into it.

“Get me a truckload of liquid nitrogen tanks and meet me outside of London in an hour, as close as you can get without dropping dead of heat exhaustion, I’ll explain when I get there.” said Harry and a silvery shape shot out of Harry’s hand, to inform his men at the second largest building that he had of the plan. “DOBBY!”

Harry’s house elf appeared with a pop, looking at Harry with an excited expression on his face, dressed in a pinstripe suit and a derby hat, with a miniature pimp cane.

“Master Harry Potter be calling Dobby?” asked the excited house elf.

“Yes, Dobby, could you please fetch me my combat robes please?” requested Harry and Dobby bowed low right in front of Harry.

“It will be Dobby’s pleasure, sir,” replied Dobby and a second later, the house elf appeared, before reappearing with a bulky set of robes. The house elf struggled to hold them up, but Harry, Lotus, and Luna relieved him of his burden.

“These were recalled a while ago, Aurors wanted to use them, but they were proven to be too uncomfortable and restricted movement in battle,” said Luna.

“Well comfort, I don’t think Harry’s too concerned about, they look to give a lot of cover, but the movement thing does worry me, if he is able to throw fire at you, you’ll need to have fast reflexes, after all,” commented Lotus with a frown.

“I’ve moved in worse conditions, but a few flame repelling charms, and it should hold, it will take a while to get this done, but I’ll need the help of both of you to do it, to reinforce the protections and a cooling spell or too would not go amiss,” said Harry and Lotus and Luna both agreed, before the trio started to go to work to ready the combat robes for battle. It would take a bit of time to properly put the magic on, but they all agreed that Harry needed all the reinforcement, so he could properly fight Inferno without getting seriously injured. Next time he might not be as lucky as he was earlier today.

Back at the Ministry of Magic, Garrett Winston was walking down the corridor, after signing off on several orders to imprison people who had been caught spreading anti-Ministry sentiment in public when a group of Aurors rushed down the hallway, looking rather frantic.

“My friends, what seems to the problem, slow down, where’s the fire?” asked Winston in a boisterous voice, in contrast to the grim expressions etched on the faces of his Aurors.

“All over London,” responded one of the Aurors quickly. “Some nutcase, we think he might be experimenting on himself and something went wrong, has been causing several fires in London. The temperature is thirty degrees about the average and rising. Permission to do something about it.”

“Only monitor the situation, do not directly interfere unless it threatens to the magical people of London, most of them have been given orders to clear out already but still some might not have received the magic or have been trapped, give me hourly reports of what you see,” stated Winston firmly. “Anyone caught assisting people outside of our jurisdiction will be suspended like Auror Tonks was earlier today.”

The Aurors quickly sit out to do what Winston had ordered. Winston watched them go and when he was sure they had left, he had slipped into a room off to the side, unseen by anyone else in the Ministry.

Back at the Granger Residence, Harry, Lotus, and Luna were putting the finishing touches on the combat robes, when a loud knock was heard on the door.

“Harry, are you in here. It’s me, Tonks!” called Tonks from outside the door.

“Lotus hide, I don’t want to have to explain you to anyone else, I know we can trust Tonks, but there’s no time right now,” said Harry to Lotus and Lotus nodded, before she moved to the other room, as Luna made her way to the door to open it and allow Tonks inside. Tonks moved inside, staggering inside, before she collapsed in a chair, in irritation.

“First time I’ve gotten to properly sit down in days,” muttered Tonks and Harry turned to her. “Winston’s been running us all ragged, but there are things that you should know. The Aurors have been forbidden from interfering in Muggle matters, including if they are attacked by other wizards.”

“That’s horrible,” said Luna in shock. “Even if they are being tortured, you can’t step in and help?”

“I did and I got sent him for a week, not a bad thing considering how long we’ve all been working, but also Harry, they’ve been rounding up writers at the Daily Prophet, to put them trial,” informed Tonks and Harry just sighed.

“Those idiots like to test me, don’t they, I suppose its because the Daily Prophet writers are telling the truth about how inept the Ministry is, “remarked Harry, as he shook his head. “It’s damn lucky for them that my attention has to be diverted elsewhere for a while, otherwise, I’d do something about them.”

“Exactly what Harry?’ asked Tonks. “What do you have to worry about now?”

“It’s a long story, something that I’ll explain to you one day if I ever have the time,” said Harry and Tonks nodded.

“Well if you’re busy, I guess that I’ll be leaving, getting home, enjoying my forced vacation,” yawned Tonks as she rose to her feet and left, not really paying attention to what Luna and Harry were doing, as they made a few last second adjustments to the Combat Robes. When they were sure Tonks was gone, Harry motioned for Lotus to reenter the room.

“The more I learn about this Ministry of Magic, the less I like them and honestly, I really didn’t like them all that much to begin with,” said Lotus in a disgusted tone of voice, shaking her head from side to side, after Luna and Harry filled her in on what happened.

“I know, but we can’t worry about them right now, yes, I believe the robes are ready for battle, let me get them on and we’ll be good to go, I just hope we can stop Inferno in time,” said Harry, as Lotus and Luna nodded in agreement, as they went over the plan quickly as possible and then Harry prepared himself to get ready for what would hopefully be a successful confrontation against Inferno.

Inferno stood in the middle of a street, throwing fire into the air. Most of everyone knew enough to clear out of his way, but several people were trapped inside a blazing building. The screams were music to Inferno’s ears, especially women and children. Some people would say he was sick, some people would say he was an absolutely insane, heartless bastard, and Inferno would be inclined to agree with each and every one of them.

“FREEZE!” shouted police, who had bravely fought through the heat, but Inferno just turned to hi, his skin going more coal black, as small veins with lava bubbled out of his skin, his glowing orange eyes staring at the cops with an amused expression etched in them, a spark in his eye.

“Sorry, can’t,” said Inferno as the police fired their guns at Inferno, the bullets melting before they even touched his coal skin, before Inferno took a deep breath and spat lava at each of the guns of the cops, melting them. Fireballs from his fingertips rose up before they shot off, incinerating them, who stood their ground to the very end. “I have power beyond all knowledge, nobody can stop me.”

“Guess again, Inferno!” cried Harry as he swooped down on a broomstick. Inferno looked up in surprise and Harry flung an entire large bag of ice right down at Inferno to get his attention. The bag broke, sending ice in every direction. The intense heat melted the ice, which caused it to in turn put out the fires. Inferno looked up, enraged.

“I went to a lot of trouble setting that on fire!” shouted Inferno in an angry tone of voice, sparks were flying from his narrowed eyes, before he realized who he was fighting. “Potter, I thought I killed you.”

“You wouldn’t be the first one,” commented Harry dryly and Inferno wildly began to shoot fireballs at Harry. Thanks to the robes, they were diverted right away from Harry, but despite the extra precautions, it still wasn’t pleasant to me around them. Inferno continued to shoot at Harry, he hoped Hermione would be done completing the Suspended Animation potion soon, as Inferno’s powers seemed to be greater. Harry continued to duck and dodge the fire placed assaults of Inferno, as his feet burned into the ground as he walked forward. “LOTUS, LUNA NOW!”

The two girls swooped down on broomsticks, sending freezing spells right at Inferno. This backed him off slightly, which allowed Harry to flick his wrist. The fire hydrants nearby burst open and released cool jets of water at Inferno. With the three of them aiming freezing spells at the water, Inferno appeared to be temporarily frozen in his tracks.

“So, did we hurt him?” asked Lotus as Inferno was cursing under his breath, as the ice holding him into place began to melt. “Guess not.”

“Not enough to do any good,” remarked Luna sadly, as smoke began to rise up from underneath the ice.

“FALL BACK!” yelled Harry, as the ice cracked and Inferno rose up, the street below them. “Up now, as high as you can go, I’ll deflect his power.”

Lotus and Luna flew off, to give Harry plenty of room, as the street below Inferno burst open, revealing several miniature volcanoes to erupt. Lava splashed up into the air, as Harry quickly avoided the attack.

“Come down Potter, unless you can’t handle the heat!” taunted Inferno, as he wiped his forehead, sending sparks flying. Harry leaned over, he flew up, the need to get him into position for the next phase of the plan growing.

“Come and get me, Brimstone Breath!” shouted Harry, as he heard the whirling of a helicopter his men “borrowed” for to help deal with Inferno. Inferno rose to the challenge, chasing Harry as he shot off like a cork on his broomstick, flying forward, as the arsonist threw several fireballs. Taunting him like a three year old was working perfectly, Inferno’s attention was being diverted, but unfortunately, another problem was presenting itself. Inferno’s body heat was rising. If it reached above boiling, he would spontaneously combust and release a great deal of elemental magic, that would wipe out everyone that was within the blast.

Harry saw the helicopter right above where Inferno was standing. He gave the signal, as his men dumped several tanks of the liquid nitrogen. A spell aimed at them caused them to burst open, the liquid nitrogen directed right towards Inferno. Inferno shrieked as his flaming form was frozen solid.

“That cooled him down nicely,” remarked one of the mobsters, as they watched the frozen form of Inferno, but Harry just shook his head. The air had cooled slightly when Inferno had been frozen, but not enough where he could breathe easily.

“For now, tell the others to bring the truck around, we’ll need a bit more to stop him until our secret weapon can be completed,” said Harry anxiously, as smoke began to rise above from underneath the frozen form of Inferno. The truck barreled down the street, he would need all the help he got. He drummed his fingers on the edge of his broom, wishing Hermione was there.

“YOU AREN’T GOING TO GET RID OF ME THAT EASY!” shrieked Inferno as he burst out from underneath the ground where he was frozen, flames swirling around every inch of his body, before he raised his arms. Fire shot on the ground, really tall walls of fire shooting up, blocking the edge of the street, as Inferno shrieked, as he began crazily throwing at Harry. On his signal, the helicopter flew as far away as possible, as Inferno continued to intensify his attacks against Harry. “I’m the greatest arsonist that ever lived but now I have real power and this entire country will burn to the ground before I fall to you.”

“Listen to me you insane idiot, use your powers too much longer and you can’t control him, you’ll wipe out a whole bunch of people, including yourself!” shouted Harry in an agitated voice, after dodging several more fireballs, in a desperate attempt to appeal to some small sane part in Inferno.

“Nice try, Potter, but what kind of idiot do you take me for?” demanded Inferno, until he continued to attempt to scorch Harry. He staggered slightly, which caused Harry to wince, but Inferno just managed to stand up straight, with a ball of fire erupting from his hands up into the air. Several more burst in every direction. Harry took deep breaths, fire was shooting everywhere. “I can control it…no…I mean to do that…”

A pop was heard and Dobby appeared on the rooftop right across from Harry. Harry quickly swooped down right across from Dobby.

“Harry Potter, sir, Dobby has the potion,” said the house elf and Harry quickly snatched it.

“Thanks Dobby, tell Hermione I appreciate it, can’t talk now, got to stop him before it’s too late,” said Harry quickly, as the glow around Inferno intensified. Harry braced himself, as Inferno dropped to his knees, opening the potion. Harry dived right towards Inferno, at the speed of light. It felt for a few seconds that he was going to burn up before he even reached Inferno, but he pushed himself. The elemental magic was eating through the charms on the combat robes but Harry was so close that he could not stop out. As Inferno opened his mouth to scream in pain, Harry tipped the vial right over his mouth. The Suspended Animation Potion dripped down Inferno’s throat. Inferno gave a shudder, as the glow quickly disappeared around his body, as he dropped to the ground, before he crumbled to dust. Harry dropped down, wincing, as he looked at his slightly burnt hands, wondering what had happened. He suspected he froze Inferno’s powers the exact second he would have spontaneously combusted and thus stopped him for good. It was a one in a million chance of it happening and even with the exact same situation, Harry would not have duplicated it.

“Harry!” shouted Luna and Lotus in unison, as the two girls swooped down, the fires and other damage that Inferno had done had began to extinguish. Harry bandaged his hands, as the two girls helped him up, before wrapping their arms around Harry. Lotus quickly kissed Harry. Luna did so the second that Lotus broke off with Harry, before the two girls exchanged a quick kiss, as they looked around.

“Are you okay Harry?” asked Luna. “Are you hurt badly?”

“Because we’ll kiss it and make it feel better,” added Lotus with a mischievous smirk. “Even if you’re not hurt, we’ll still do it.”

“I’m good all things considered, burnt hands yes, not as bad as I could have been, after what happened last time I fought him,” replied Harry with a shudder. “Still, I’m here, with you two, now I need to lie down.”

“We’ll join you Harry, although I don’t know how much sleeping will be done,” replied Luna and Lotus seemed to be rather agreeable with those plans. Harry nodded as well, he was not about to argue. As the three moved off, a series of loud pops echoed from around there. Cloaked figures lead by one Garrett Winston, along with a triumphant looking Rufus Scrimgeour walked forward.

“Thought you’d slip up sooner or later, murderer,” said Scrimgeour as he looked at Harry with disdain, ignoring the other two. “Surrender now.”

“Or we’ll be forced to use force,” replied Winston happily, as the Aurors began to surround Harry, Lotus, and Luna, putting Anti-Apparation spells around the area for a distance. The wands pointed at them, there appeared to be no way out. “The wands drop them.”

Quickly, Lotus, Luna, and Harry ran in opposite directions, sending spells right direction at the group of Aurors. There was no rhyme or reason for the spells, it just served to throw whatever strategy that the Aurors had in mind. Several Aurors fell to the ground, their wand arms shattered, but others Aurors rushed in. Harry dodged the attacks before a full body bind took out his Auror opponent. Another dark wizard catcher dropped to the ground, throwing his head back and laughing madly. Several more Aurors kept firing spells at Lotus, Harry, and Luna, who stayed several steps ahead from their opponents, while attempting to figure out away out.

“Keep at them, take the other two, Potter is mine!” yelled Scrimgeour as he moved forward, but a tripping jinx knocked him off balance. In his thirst for revenge, the Minister of Magic had been caught off guard with a rudimentary spell. The Ministry quickly sprung up, as some of the debris left behind by Inferno was levitated, given Lotus, Luna, and Harry some temporary cover so they could plan their escape.

“Okay, they’ve blocked off everything, I think it might be a good idea to signal your employees Harry,” suggested Luna and Harry nodded, before he sent a flare up into the air, to contact them, to tell them to help disable the Aurors. He did not know exactly how much time that would buy him or even if anyone was nearby after the battle with Inferno.

“It’s no use Potter, we managed to railroad those mobsters that were watching the sky, no where to run!” yelled Winston as the Aurors blasted the wall, but Harry quickly removed a very familiar looking remote control device, causing several of the Aurors to recoil in horror.

“You forget, I still hold one notable piece of leverage in this game, Winston,” said Harry. “Surely, Rufus here has informed you of what this one remote control device that I have. After what you’ve been pulling recently, give me one reason why I shouldn’t push the button and expose the magical world to the rest of the world.”

“If you push that button, you’ll lose your hold over the Ministry, there will be nothing holding us back from hunting you down” remarked Winston with a smirk. “You see, you’ll never push it, you’re just bluffing, because you’d lose your power over us.”

“Good point, bad way of expressing it, Winston,” stated Harry, handing Lotus and Luna a pair of earmuffs behind his back, as they put them off, as Harry slipped on a pair himself. Quickly, Harry sent magically amplified sonic vibrations right at the Aurors, causing them to drop to the ground. Harry could quite frankly care less if they went deaf from the attacks, they had attacked Luna and Lotus, and to a lesser extent him.

Scrimgeour shielded his ears, before he rushed Harry. Harry was knocked down, the remote slipping from his fingers in the attack, and Lotus and Luna sent spells at the Minister of Magic, but he quickly deflected them. The Minister sent a burst of powerful magic at the two girls, knocking them down. They only suffered slight injuries but this launched Harry into an attack, sending spell after spell at Scrimgeour, as the sonic vibrations faded. Scrimgeour was no match for Harry, as he quickly collapsed to the ground.

“AVADA KEDAVRA!” yelled Scrimgeour in desperation and Harry never thought Scrimgeour would have stooped to using an unforgivable. Harry dodged it, causing the spell to harmlessly strike a tree behind him. Lotus quickly disarmed Scrimgeour, before Luna blasted him away from Harry. The Aurors stood up and advanced on the three.

“We need to get out now,” mouthed Harry, causing them to nod in understanding.

Little did they know, one of the shadowed figures had been watching the battle. He saw their property but there was no way it could be retrieved without all of these Aurors around, not to mention Potter and Lovegood. At his feet, the shadow figure picked up the remote control, connected to the transmitter that broadcasted concrete proof of the existence of magic. Quickly, he sent a jet of white light towards Lotus. The spell had done it work, as she continued to fight, oblivious to the effects.

Several Aurors dropped around them. Harry moved in, defending Luna from a group of Aurors after she lost her wand. Luna picked up her wand and rejoined the battle, but this allowed Scrimgeour to attempt one desperation attack on Harry. Harry gave a scream as he dropped to the ground, blood dripping from his arm.

“Stay away from him, you mother fucker!” yelled Lotus, who had seen Harry injured one time too many today and she magically gripped Scrimgeour by the arm, before he was spun around. The arm cracked, with the power snapping Scrimgeour’s wand at least.

“Stupid girl, I was close to…” stated Scrimgeour but whatever Scrimgeour was close to was not voiced as a slicing charm connected with his throat, Lotus’s emerald eyes blazing with anger as she fired it off. The Minister of Magic dropped to the ground, blood splattering from his throat, like a sickly geyser. Lotus just looked at him, it was regrettable that she had to kill someone, but he would have done the same thing to Harry.

The Aurors looked, with wide eyes, as their Minister had been struck down in battle. Quickly, with the Anti-Apparation wards finally knocked down, Harry grabbed Lotus and Luna each by a hand, before they disapparated, several spells shot toward them, many lethal in nature. They managed to get away.

The shadowed figure looked on amusement, it was too good to be true and fit right into their leader’s plans. The Minister of Magic had been killed in the heat of battle, which would be cause enough for chaos. Quickly, he muttered into his hand.

“I have the transmitter control,” muttered the shadowed Unspeakable, into his hand.

“Activate it,” replied the leader coolly from within his head and a finger touched the red button.