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Dumbledore looked around and gave Harry a curious stare.

"Harry, you have quite a lot of explaining to do." The teen grinned sheepishly.

"This could take a while..."


TO BE CONTINUED...

Dumbledore leveled a cold stare at Harry as the teen shifted uneasily from foot to foot.

“Would you stop staring at me like a piece of meat,” Harry finally growled. “I'm not a pinup for Pedophile Weekly and I don't have a disease. If you want to ask me something, ask. Don't just stand there and undress me with your eyes. “Remus moved up beside Harry and laid a restraining hand on his shoulder. Dumbledore eyebrows shot up at the teen’s insinuation as he raised a hand to stop one of the cloaked figures from throwing themselves at Harry.

“I believe that this is best discussed indoors. Shall we?” Harry snorted and gestured towards the abandoned Flourish and Blotts. Dumbledore and his merry band of minions went first, followed closely by Shacklebolt and a couple of the other Aurors. Only after all of them had gone inside did Remus and Harry enter the shop.

As Harry entered the abandoned shop, Remus shut the door behind him and quickly carved a set of Runes into the back of the wood. Dumbledore made to say something until Harry held up his hand for silence. Once the Rune was finished, Remus put his hand on it and activated it. Harry lowered his hand, motioning for Dumbledore to speak.

“Silencing Rune, I presume?” The old wizard questioned as he moved to look at the carving. Remus snorted derisively.

“As if I would put down something that easy to bypass. It's a silencer with an impermeable twist to interlock it with shield Rune. We don't want any visitors to overhear sensitive information, do we?” Albus inclined his head briefly towards the werewolf. His blue eyes shifted back to Harry, trying to pin the young man with an icy glare. He was surprised when Harry returned his glare.

“The hell do you want? I already told you that I'm not interested in becoming an ass muppet for your pedophilic needs.” Remus turned green at the mental image while Dumbledore took a step back at the vicious response. One of the Order members behind Dumbledore took a daring step forward to berate Harry.

“How dare you speak to the Headmaster in that manner?! And to imply something so insanely ridiculous to boot!” The unknown member promptly wilted under Harry's harsh glare.

“I will talk to whomever I damn well please however I wish. Anyone who would like to say otherwise can kiss my ass. Besides, who the hell are you?” The man began to stutter out his name before Harry cut him off. “Actually, you know what? I don't care.” Remus stepped up beside him.

“You may care. That is Dedalus Diggle.” Harry's emerald gaze snapped back onto the small man. Diggle was very short and round with a paunch that suggested a fondness for the finer things in life. He had an eccentric array of clothing, black robes over a purple suit that went out of Muggle fashion most of a century before. The entire wardrobe was completed by a tall purple top hat which raised the man's height from tiny to merely petite. The man's eyes were a muddy hazel color that darted everywhere nervously, never stopping long enough to initiate eye contact.

“Oh really,” Harry said, letting loose a vicious grin which left his eyes cold and hard. “I do find that interesting. Do you consider yourself interesting, Mr. Diggle?” The nervous man shook his head furiously, looking at everyone except Harry and Remus. “I, for one, find you interesting, Mr. Diggle. Do you want to know why?” Harry started moving slowly towards the small man, taking carefully measured steps. Dedalus looked nauseated at the idea of Harry finding him interesting and was rapidly shaking his head that he didn’t want to know the teenager’s reason.

“I, for one, would like to know the reason,” Kingsley said. “I’ve not had many explanations today and would like one for this mystery.” Harry’s eyes grew even colder as his grin expanded.

“Well, Shack, I shan’t disappoint. I first learned about Mr. Diggle here from a very interesting source. That source said something about treachery and Dark Lords, but that may have been just babble. However, the thing that stood out was his answer to a single question. Just one. Do you want to know that question, Mr. Dumbledore?” Dumbledore nodded, his blue eyes serious as they bored into Diggle. “My question was simple. Who told the Death Eaters about our outing? This was quickly planned for the sole purpose of keeping the trip safe. No one but myself, Susan, Remus and the Headmaster knew this was even a possibility, let alone the exact time or place. So I had to find the weak link. Unfortunately, it seems that we have a small leak. I’ve been afforded the opportunity to remedy this problem. Do you know what this Death Eater’s answer was?” Diggle looked around nervously, avoiding Harry’s emerald gaze. “He said only two words. Dedalus Diggle.”

While he was speaking, Harry continued moving closer to Diggle, maintaining a deceptively quick, measured stride. Once he said the small man’s name, Diggle exploded into motion. He went to draw his wand, a spell already on his lips. The wand cleared his holster, only to be stopped by a long-fingered hand grasping his wand hand. Startled, Diggle looked up and saw a pair of fiery green eyes boring into his very soul.

“I reserve my hatred for very few things in this life. Not much is worth the effort of hate. I hate Voldemort, who murdered my parents and ruined the lives of millions. I hate needless death and pointless pain. But the one thing that I hate above all other things, the deed that I believe worthy of the deepest pits of hell where torture is especially heinous, is betrayal.” Harry squeezed hard on the captured hand, producing a groan of pain as the bones popped. A quick turn of the wrist caused a snap followed by a short scream of pain from the man, dropping him to his knees. Harry dropped him and clicked his fingers, binding the man with metallic cords. Dumbledore looked down at the man with a crestfallen expression.

“I never would have believed it. Dedalus Diggle has been one of my closest friend and strongest supporters for decades.” Harry turned his emerald gaze on the old man.

“Unfortunately, we don’t know if it was malicious intent on Diggle’s part or coercion that tipped the scales here. But I do promise you that I will find out. Sorry, Shack, I can’t let you take Diggle into custody. I reckon that it would be best for Mister Diggle to not manage to ‘accidentally’ slit his own wrists sitting in a jail cell. I’ll take over from here.” A quick twist of the wrist produced a CED that Harry pointed at Diggle. A flash of light blinded everyone around him and Diggle was suddenly gone. Dumbledore blinked in surprise at his former friend’s disappearance and shot a startled glance at his young student. His blue eyes narrowed as he mentally returned to his original line of questions.

“My boy, we still need to address what precisely happened here.” Harry rolled his eyes.

“They came, I saw, they died. Pretty much the end of the story, really.” Dumbledore sent Harry a glare that the teen quickly shrugged off until Remus nudged Harry. “Fine,” the teen sighed. “You want the truth? You and everyone else here take an oath on your magic to never reveal anything I reveal to you.” The others in the room immediately burst into outrage. One of them stepped threateningly towards Harry.

“Boy, that is out of line! An oath on our magic is entirely too much to ask!” Harry shrugged.

“There’s the door. Don’t let it hit you on ass on the way out.” The Order member spluttered indignantly, but shut up anyway. Harry smirked. “What do you say, Dumbledore? A story for an oath?”

The old wizard nodded and gave his oath, followed by the rest of the group. Harry clapped his hands together after the last one finished their oath.

“Good. Well, what happened is this: Death eaters found out about our little outing today and wanted to crash our party. I’ve captured over a dozen and the rest are around you now. Questions?” Half a dozen questions flew out at Harry until he held up one hand for silence. “One at a time, raise your hands.” Several hands shot up, only to fall back down as Dumbledore raised his own hand.

“Harry, why would you kill these men? They could have been redeemed.” Harry blinked and tossed Remus a golden coin.

“Damn, I thought you would take more than one question to hit the ‘redeemable’ angle. Moony was right, you are an utter fool. These men meant to kill me and everyone else in the store. Specifically endeavoring to kill the young muggleborn children I was escorting. What was I supposed to do, just let them run rampant to burn and murder?” Dumbledore sighed.

“The loss of property is lamentable, but in order to not stoop to their level, sacrifices must be made.” Harry and Remus snorted in unison.

“Lamentable? Do you understand that they weren’t intent on just torching the properties around us, but killing everyone who was in the way and who saw them do it?”

“Yes, but killing them wasn’t necessary,” Dumbledore said in a tired voice. “You have the necessary skills to bring them in alive so that they can be redeemed!” Harry shook his head.

“Do you realize that we are at war right now? War isn’t pretty. When the enemy tries to kill you, you cannot give them every chance to finish the job. They want to fight to kill? So be it. I can respond in kind.” Dumbledore shook his head in frustration.

“But killing is never justifiable! There is no honor in stooping to the level of common killers!” Harry’s eyes flashed brightly as his magic flared while Remus growled.

“NO HONOR! There is no honor in war! War is not pretty; it holds neither honor nor glory! Not all who are lost want to be saved. Trying to redeem someone who doesn’t want it is both stupid and entirely reckless. People who want to nothing more than to murder and torture innocent people deserve only death in return.”

“But that makes us as bad as those we fight,” one of the Aurors yelled. Remus snorted.

“Boy, have you ever actually been in a battle?”

“Of course! I was there at the Ministry Battle in May!” Remus rolled his eyes.

“That wasn’t a battle for the Aurors who showed up at the end of the fight. You just got to watch Dumbledore duke it out with Voldemort for a minute. Once you’ve gone through a real fight to the death, one where you know that you could die with the first misstep, come back and talk to me.” The Auror gaped at the older werewolf as he turned around to ignore the fool. Harry smirked and flicked a finger at him, sending a silent silencing spell at the unsuspecting Auror.

“Anyone else? No? Good. Now, Dumbledore, where the hell are the kids that I sent to Hogwarts?” Dumbledore just smiled in a grandfatherly and patronizing manner. Harry sighed. “I’m only going to ask one more time politely. Where are my charges?”

“Safe, my dear boy,” Dumbledore reassured.

“You thrice-damned goat-fucker! Need I remind you of your track record with keeping anything safe when I am involved? Troll, Riddle, basilisk, Riddle, Dementor, Riddle, DRAGONS, Riddle, Mermen, Riddle, Riddle’s graveyard, and did I forget to mention, FUCKING TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE!” Dumbledore and sycophants looked aghast at the young man’s tirade. Then Dumbledore saw an opportunity.

“I do believe that this could all be resolved with a little quid pro quo. You tell me what I want to know about what happened and I shall tell you precisely where the students are.” A flicker of silver appeared in the eyes of the assembled people. Harry’s hand was on the sword belted at his waist, an inch of blade visible over the scabbard.

“Dumbledore. Twice I have asked and received no answer. The third time is my final civil request. You’ve been warned. Where. Are. My. Charges?!” Dumbledore smiled patronizingly again.

“What warning, dear boy?” Harry snorted and fully sheathed his blade with a click. Dumbledore’s beard fell to the ground, the new edge now even with the old man’s Adam’s Apple and a red line gracing the protrusion.

“That one, you old goat. Now thrice I have asked, I charge you answer me.” Dumbledore’s eyebrows shot up at the loss of his beard, then his blue eyes narrowed.

“I am not a Sidhe, Harry. That doesn’t work. I can tell you that they UURK!” Dumbledore choked on his own tongue as Harry flashed a vicious grin.

“Asking directly three times works on all magic, you old fool, not just the Sidhe. Now answer me straight.” Dumbledore glared at the younger man.

“They are safe and sound. I am sure that you will not kill us. That would surely prove to everyone that you are turning to the Dark.” Remus snarled from his place behind Harry.

“Albus, look around you. Fighting against Harry is obviously a terrible plan that does not end well. Just tell him where the children that you are supposedly committed to protecting have gone or you’ll have to contend with an angry werewolf as well as Harry,” Remus declared as his eyes flashed amber.

One of the Aurors stepped towards Remus, only to pull up short at a glare from harry.

“Back off or I put all of you down.” He glanced over at Dumbledore. “I had hoped to resolve this without involving her, but you’ve forced my hand.” Harry drew his wand and fired a silvery shape that darted away. Dumbledore paled at the sight of the Patronus.

“You cannot involve Amelia! She does not understand the need for the Greater Good!” Harry snorted.

“Greater Good, my ass. You just don’t want her digging in your little sandbox. I’m calling her in both because her niece is involved and crimes are in her jurisdiction. Your Auror lackey’s should have been the ones to call her in, not me.”

Dumbledore motioned to the Order members arranged behind him. They Disapparated, leaving only the Aurors, Dumbledore, Remus, and Harry standing in the bookstore. The old man shook his head.

“I’m sorry, my boy, but Amelia will likely arrest you for murdering purebloods. It is unfortunate that it has come down to this, but perhaps it is for the best. You are becoming entirely too similar to Tom in how you deal with your enemies.” With that parting shot, Dumbledore disappeared with a soft ‘pop’.

Harry shook his head.

“Bloody fool. If I was like Riddle, I would have tortured them all first. He has been removed from the practice of war for too long if he thinks that all killing is evil.” The remaining Aurors tried to glare Harry into submission, but the emerald-eyed man rolled his eyes.

Remus walked to the door and removed the runes that he had inscribed, allowing a small contingent of Aurors and Madame Bones to surge into the shop, wands drawn. The Director of the DMLE quickly picked out Harry among the small group and pinned him down with a monocled glare.

“Mr. Potter, where is my niece?”

“Madame Bones,” Harry said, “may I call you Amelia?”

“No, you may not. This is an investigation of missing persons, though in looking around I am tempted to open a murder case as well.” Harry’s grin melted away like the morning mist.

“If this is to be a formal investigation, then I will have to insist that you address me by my proper title: Lord Potter.” An Auror behind Amelia lashed out, flinging a spell at Harry.

“Murderer!” Harry bobbed out of the way of the spell while flicking a slim knife at the man. The Auror’s spell splashed against Remus’ shield and Harry’s knife buried itself said Auror’s sternum. Harry looked back at Madame Bones to find a plethora of wands pointed at him.

“Hold fire. That was entirely self-defense.”

“We saw everything, alright,” one Auror said. “Saw him try to apprehend a murderer!”

“Simmer down, cockbite. First off, innocent until proven guilty is still the rule of law in Britain unless Fudge or whoever is Minister these days has gone against the Queen recently. Second, this is a period of wartime. Any attack on my person will be met with lethal force unless there is some sort of mitigating factor. Finally, if wands don’t start lowering, arms will cease to be attached to bodies.” Harry’s emerald eyes glowed and the wind in the store picked up as the young man shifted his feet in preparation to move.

‘BOOM!’

Madame Bones lowered her wand as every person’s attention was drawn to her.

“While I do not condone Lord Potter’s actions, he was well within his rights to retaliate against an attack on his person. Even if that attack comes from an Auror. Lord Potter, please lower your wand.”

“I’ve not got my wand out, Madame. I’ve been as non-threatening as I know how to be, but that will change very soon if your Aurors do not begin to lower their wands. And if I act, it will have permanent consequences.” Madam Bones nodded and motioned for her officers to lower their wands, all of whom did so with suspicious glares.

“Now that I have done what you asked,” said Madam Bones, “where is my niece?”

“With the three Muggleborn children and their parents, which I’m sure the DMLE is just as curious as to their whereabouts. Unfortunately, Professor Dumbledore was less than helpful in telling me where his ‘safe’ place was located.” Harry held up a hand to forestall an objection from Madam Bones. “However, if you will give me a moment, I can find out.”

The teen pulled a slim piece of glass out of his pocket. He tapped it a couple of times and held it up to his ear. One of the Aurors went to ask him a question, but was silenced by a twitch of Harry’s finger.

“Susan! Hey, glad you figured out how to answer the phone!” Harry laughed as he pulled the phone away from his ear briefly. The others in the room could hear someone’s muffled shouting coming from the piece of glass. “I’m sorry, I’m joking. Mostly. Anyway, your aunt is here and would like to speak with you. Before I hand you over to her, where the kids and parents? Ok, good. Here’s your aunt.” Harry handed the device and motioned for her to put it up to her ear like he had held it. Madam Bones did so, starting in surprise when she heard Susan’s voice.

“SUSAN!” The steel-haired woman cringed as she was obviously rebuked by her niece. “Oh, sorry,” Madam Bones spoke softly. She listened for a few moments, nodding to herself. “Alright.” She handed the device back to Harry.

“Hey. Yeah, this is pretty cool to use. I’ll be there in a few minutes to get all of you. Yes, I have all the supplies. Later.” Harry lowered the device from his ear and tapped the front one last time before sliding it into his pocket. “Now, Madam Bones, I’m off to retrieve your niece and my charges. Are you going to wait here for me to discuss this incident or can I meet you at your office?”

Madam Bones, still in daze over hearing Susan speak to her without being face to face, slowly nodded her head. “I’ll wait here. Go get her, please.” Harry grinned.

“Of course, ma’am. Back in a flash.” With a grin and wink to the pink-haired Auror in the crowd, Harry vanished in a gout of emerald flames. The entire Auror contingent gasped at the phoenix fire travel.



End Chapter

Next time on The Heir: We find out where Dumbledore stashed Susan and the children. And some other things. Stay tuned.

A/N: Sorry for the massive amount of time between chapters. Unfortunately, being a working graduate student does not leave me a ton of time to do fanfiction, which neither pays bills nor gets good grades. However, I have most of the next chapter already written, so it should be coming out sometime soon. Certainly less than the two years it’s been since I last updated this story. Please read and review! Any constructive criticism would be thoroughly appreciated.

A/N 2: I accidentally had the wrong name of the Order mole in the last chapter. Sorry.