FicWad

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, then it might well belong to J.K.R or to some of her affiliates. Or to some random people out there. I only claim my OC:s and plot.

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Chapter three: The Cabal of the Chimaera



Loud screeching sound rang in the Gringotts' dungeons. It was an alarm, which indicated that someone had gained access in the deepest sections of Gringotts... and then screwed up.


In the total darkness of the wizarding bank a feminine voice was heard. "Oh shit!"


"Ama is right, Kheiron, this wasn't supposed to happen," said someone in a more manly voice.


"Don't worry, Harry. We already have what we came for. And it will take goblins ages to get over that stone wall."


"Yes, I know we trapped goblin guards in their own garrison, but what about Aurors and other law enforcement personnel?"


Kheiron just smiled. It wasn't very reassuring.


*


Fifteen-year-old Harry Potter sat on the ceiling, waiting for Aurors to come by. With his enchanted eyes he could see clearly in the near total darkness of Gringotts' dungeons. He was wearing skin-tight shirt and little less skin-tight pants made of midnight black acromantula silk. Over his shirt he wore custom-made very dark green, nearly black, dragonhide armour. He had sturdy, black leather boots, thin black leather gloves and strapped across his back, was an ornate black and gold scabbard. It contained the sleek curved form of a Japanese sword. Six throwing darts made of blackest carbon steel were attached on the left hand's bracer, ready to be grabbed in a heartbeat. The darts were reeking of Dark magic, betraying their profane nature. On the right hand's bracer were short wand holster, which was charmed to shoot the wand to his hand upon command. There were second wand holster on his left thigh. On the right thigh there were short black rod, a heavily modified Auror stun-baton to be exact. On his belt were various assortment of useful items. Most of them boasted pointy ends and razor-sharp edges.


He didn't have to wait long before squad consisting of three Aurors entered the room. Harry could recognise two of the three Aurors. The leader of the Auror squad was Kingsley Shacklebolt, a tall, bald black wizard who wears a single gold earring and the pink haired woman was Nymphadora Tonks, a Metamorphmagus and suspected member of the Order of the Phoenix. She had graduated from the Auror School just about a month ago. The third Auror was probably some other new, not-so-significant recruit, as he didn't remember seeing a file about him. Still none of them should be underestimated. Aurors were after all the wizarding world's equivalent for both police special forces and military.


Harry grinned in anticipation as he waited for the Aurors to pass under him. He knew it was stupid, but he couldn't help it. It was going to be his first real battle. Well, the second if you considered that 'minor' incident in Egypt as a battle.


He pressed himself firmly against the cold ceiling and held his breath in an attempt to stay unnoticed. Undoubtedly Aurors would be using some spells that would allow them to see in the darkness of these dungeons, but still Harry knew that even they would be hard pressed to notice him.


Harry silently dispelled his reverse gravity spell. Before he hit the floor he cast nonverbal Wingardium Leviosa which caused him to hover about a feet above the floor so that the Aurors couldn't hear him landing. He released his spell and dropped on the floor his wand levelled, ready cast spells on unsuspecting Aurors.


Apparently the Aurors weren't so unsuspecting after all as they all turned around before Harry had had time to cast single spell at them. Did they hear me, or where they aware of me all along?


Harry, however, still had the initiative. "Launch!" As soon as Harry had yelled the command word, six enchanted darts flew from his bracelet towards the three Aurors with terrible, and most likely very lethal speed.


Aurors quickly cast their Proteus charms to shield themselves from incoming projectiles. Proteus unlike common Protego had an ability to intercept physical objects. But it had a glaring weakness; it couldn't block magical attacks. So even though Harry's projectiles ricocheted from the shields, his toxic green paralysing curse sailed straight though them.


As one of the newly recruited Aurors fell down in agony his comrades opened fire on Harry. Most of the spells were cast nonverbally as it makes them harder to block because the enemy doesn't know what to expect before the spell had already left the wand. In addition, it slightly cuts off the casting-time of the spells with long incantations. The two remaining Aurors, Kingsley and Tonks, traded curses with Harry with insane speed. Soon it became clear that if this would continue, Harry would lose. Harry however, wasn't going to let it continue that way.


He spun away from an incoming curse, bringing his wand down in a slashing movement, unleashing a purple ribbon of fire at Kingsley, who dived to the floor.


With few fast steps he reached the melee range. Harry's foot found its way to Tonk's stomach causing her to stagger few steps backwards. As his boot had imprinted itself into the Auror's stomach Harry had dropped his wand and grasped his stun-baton causing it to be enveloped in bright red light. In the darkness his baton looked much like those lightsabers in muggle movies. With a fluid motion he swung his baton towards Kingsley's head. The veteran Auror easily dodged Harry's swing and levelled his wand at him... for Harry's free hand to grasp hold of it and snap it to half.


"Everbero!" Tonks' bludgeoning charm caught Harry unaware and hit him straight between his eyes. Harry was slammed on the floor and his black mask exploded into small fragments, which cut slight wounds on his face. Luckily for him his mask had shielded him from most the harm. As he flew backwards he threw his stun-baton at Kingsley. It came too fast for the veteran Auror to dodge it and without a wand he couldn't block it.


Harry grinned as Tonks' fast Ennervate failed to wake unconscious Kingsley, and rolled left to avoid her incoming stunner. Harry's stun-baton was indeed special. With swift wrist movement Harry's second wand dropped to his hand from its container.


With fast flick of his wand Harry caused a shimmering, near invisible, purple shield appear in front of him. He lunged towards the last remaining Auror, intending to make it close and personal as even Aurors appeared to be poorly trained for it. Apparently the wizarding world's distain for physical combat extended into Auror corps too. It was disgraceful. Though, there were few old families that still practice swordsmanship or axesmanship.


Harry's shield absorbed Tonk's first two stunners but her third curse shattered it. This didn't do much good to her though as Harry's dragonhide armour managed to absorb what remained of her curse neatly.


Harry slammed on her with great speed, causing them both to slam on the floor. The impact send Tonks' wand to the corner. For some time they rolled quite pathetically on the floor trying to get hold of each other. Harry grinned victoriously as he managed to get Tonks in one-handed chokehold. This came to abrupt end as his other hand grasped Tonks' soft breast. As Harry froze for a second she slammed her elbow on Harry's face breaking his nose with wet crack.


As Harry was momentarily off the fight, Tonks managed to grasp a hold of Harry's wand. Now, they both had a hold from the same wand and they were both desperately struggling to point it on the other. Tonks lay top of him, their eyes locked on each other. Their faces were only few inches apart.


Tonks suddenly realised that her enemy was only a young boy, even though he looked quite demonic with his bloodied face and red eyes, with slit pupils. His snakelike eyes seemed to burn with an inner light, glowing like charcoals in darkness. "You have lost, boy," she said to him sweetly. "More Aurors are coming."


"So this is an Auror mission?" Harry stated as he watched her bubble gum pink eyes. "I was wondering whether this was an official or an Order mission."


Tonk's eyes widened at the implication, but Harry hadn't finished his speech yet. "Anyway, I don't intend to be here when your allies arrive. Serpensortia!"


As Harry finished his incantation, a big black snake came out of the wand they were holding. The snake turned it's head towards them and hissed loudly.

:Bite the woman,: Harry hissed in Parseltongue, causing Tonks to shiver involuntary. The snake blinked surprised, but moved his head backwards to ready a strike. Harry knew if that snake managed to bite Tonks the fight would be over; She would be unconscious in seconds. The poison was not deadly however, and so he would have to worry about killing her.


Tonks quickly rolled away from the snake releasing her hold of the wand. In an instant Harry was back on his feet, his wand pointed at the still prone Auror. "Mobilicorpus."


Luckily for her, Tonks had managed to grasp Harry's primary wand, which he had dropped less than a minute earlier. Simple Protego rebounded Harry's body manipulation charm back at him. Harry was forced to dodge his own charm, and Tonks took this as an opportunity to cast a disarming charm.


As his wand was expelled from his fingers Harry made a mad lunge to catch it. Tonks had already sent a cutting hex towards the wand. A second after that Harry's hand and Tonks' curse collided.


"Whoops," Tonks intoned as her curse cleanly severed boy's left hand off from the wrist. "Let me help you- ARGH!" The poisonous snake had sunk its teeth on her thigh and she dropped like a sack of stones.


Harry watched his wrist-stump in disbelief. The pain was nearly unbearable and he was bleeding profoundly. He tried to clear his mind and pointed his wand at his arm stump. "Cruconsto." The blood-jellying curse might not have been the most appropriate spell to be used in this situation, but at least it stopped the bleeding. With two summoning charms he summoned his stun-baton and primary wand, which was holly and contained a phoenix feather. He really liked that particular wand. After putting his wands and baton back to their holsters he rose shakily on his feet.


He brought his remaining hand to his broken nose. Harry hesitated for few seconds before he forcibly jerked his nose, guiding the broken bone back to its proper place. A muffled wail escaped his lips as the waves of pain hit him. Single tap of wand and an incantation, accompanied by a nearly unnoticeable flash of sky blue light was enough to mend the broken bone. The pain stopped, well, the pain in his nose anyway. His left arm was still aching. Badly. It was a pity that he couldn't use a pain killing charm on it as it would slightly numb his whole body in addition of taking away the pain. He simply couldn't allow to reduce his fighting capacity when Aurors could attack him at any moment...


Suddenly the door was blasted into a tiny splinters and four Auror Hit-Wizards in full battle gear sprinted into the room.



Common Law Enforcers were wizarding world's equivalent of muggle police, most of their job was done in the office. Aurors combined police special forces and military in magical Britain. They were divided into three divisions; Protection, Security and Detainment. Protection Division acted as bodyguards to important Ministry personnel and to anyone deemed to be need of protection. Security Division guarded important Ministry sites like the Ministry Headquarters, Azkaban Prison and St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Detainment Division's job was to capture fugitive wizards and witches. During the times of need, like now, Aurors could be used as a potent fighting force. The Auror Hit-Wizards were the shock troops. They were sent when heavy resistance was expected, and they were expected to triumph. Usually they did.


The Hit-wizards wore the standard, scarlet Auror combat robes with the Ministry emblem proudly in sight. What visually distinguished them from ordinary Aurors, was the scarlet dragonhide vests they wore over their robes. If Harry remembered right, the hide of Chinese Fireball was especially resistant to many Dark curses, even if it lacked the uncontested general magical protection of Swedish Short-Snout or the immense physical toughness offered by Romanian Longhorn and Hungarian Horntail.


However, it was not the armours that concerned him, it was what those suits contained. Hit-wizards were the elite of the elite. There was only three squads of Hit-wizards in whole Britain. Harry knew he had no chance against four of them, not even if he wasn't wounded and tired after an earlier fight.


Their wands were pointed directly at Harry's heart. Less than two seconds later the air was full of incoming spells. Oh shit! Damn it, Kheiron. Why can't you undo the wards little bit faster? I am about to get my ass kicked fucking royally!


Harry twisted his body sharply, bending his knees as he bent backwards almost horizontally. The spells shot by him, impacting harmlessly on the stone wall behind him. Well, harmlessly for him, not for the wall. He had, however, completely lost his balance and fell backwards on the cold stone floor. The spells hammered to wall and stone dust and small fragments of grey stone rained on him.


"Don't shoot. I surrender," Harry said, raising his hands high in the air, deciding to play time. The Aurors were staring him warily. From their faces it was clear that if he dared to make a single sudden move they would go spell-happy on him.


One of the Auror Hit-wizards quickly banished the snake, or perhaps she should be dubbed as a Hit-witch? She was looking Harry's red eyes bit fearfully. I guess my eyes look bit like Voldemort's.


"You are a Death Eater, aren't you?" she asked softly. "I wasn't aware that they recruited children, though."


Harry snorted in indignation. He was not one of those murdering bastards! :Death Eater? Me? The whole idea is ridiculous!:


"What did you say?" the Captain asked his eyes narrowing. Harry suddenly realised he had accidentally spoken in Parseltongue. He had been thinking about the Snake-face, and thus he had unconsciously shifted onto the language of serpents. He really should master his 'gift'. Otherwise it might get him killed one day. Maybe even today? He really shouldn't give the Aurors even more reasons to perform some police-brutality on him.


"Oh, sorry about that," he said, this time in plain English. "What I meant to say is that I am not a Death Eater." For some reason Harry doubted that they didn't believed him.


The Hit-wizard Captain was going to say something but the female Auror was faster. "You are a Parselmouth and you have You-Know-Who's eyes. You are not his son, are you?"


Harry just stared her in disbelief, his mouth hanging wide open. Auror Hit-wizards and -witch looked each other and started to murmur something to each other nearly silently. This conversation was going rapidly downhill. He moved his wand hand slowly towards the wand holster on his right tight.


"Enough of this. Lets just stun him and interrogate him at the base." As soon as the Auror Captain had said that, a purplish light filled the room signalling that the Apparation wards had just been broken. At least Kheiron has dramatic timing...


Nearly faster than eyes could follow, Harry's wand whipped out from its holster. A quick Incendio burned his severed hand into ash. He couldn't leave any evidence. Unfortunately there were drops of his blood everywhere in this room. It couldn't be helped. But 'fortunately' his family was dead, and thus the blood couldn't be used to identify him, provided that he wouldn't get captured... ever.


The four Hit-wizards send a barrage of stunners towards the black haired boy. Harry promptly Disapparated before the curses reached the place he had been occupying. A cracking sound echoed in the hallways, quickly followed by series of small explosions as the stunners hit the stonewall.


*


Harry reappeared in a large circular stone chamber. He had Apparated thrice to some random places in England before Apparating here to scramble his Apparation signal. Most of the room in the chamber was taken by large wooden table. Around the table were dozen of dark shapes. The members of the Cabal of the Chimaera.


"Oh my... You look bit worse to wear."


"I fought with three Aurors, and then there came four more!" Harry nearly screamed. "I would like to see what you would look like after seven Aurors!"


"Did you take out seven Aurors alone?" asked a yellow masked Cabal member. Disbelieve was evident in her voice.


"Only the first three. But-"


Their conversation was interrupted by a ball of swirling flames, which signified Amaterasu's arrival. She was looking like she had just run a marathon. Cabal members watched her in silence as she spend a moment to catch her breath. They all realized that something had gone wrong, as Kheiron hadn't returned already.


"Aurors! The whole place was swarmed by them! And those spells Kheiron cast to unravel the wards took very much out of him; he could hardly even put a fight against them. We had no chance! I managed to escape only because of my Pyromagus powers."


"This is dire news, indeed," said gold masked wizard in grave tone. "But we-


"Must do something to my arm!" Harry snapped in, grinding his teeth. "My hand was fucking cut off. And it hurts like a hell."


Ama's eyes widened behind her white mask as she saw Harry's arm stump, but most of the Cabal members just stared him dispassionately.


"It is a pity that Kheiron was captured as he could have regenerated your hand in an instant," said a grey masked witch, whom he recognized as Glaucia Parkinson.


"But I do have something that will help, Dark Knight," she addressed Harry, using his codename. Every Cabal member had a codename; it was a way to hide their real identities in fear of possible infiltration or betrayal.


Glaucia whirled her wand in weird patter and something silvery came out of her wand tip. This silvery stuff quickly formed itself in a shape of hand and attached itself to Harry's wrist stump. The pain abruptly ended, a fact, which pleased Harry to no end.


Harry and Ama could only watch his new hand in amazement.


"I am sure that your new hand will be very useful when you are going to free Kheiron, Dark Knight," Glaucia said, her face unreadable because of the mask.


Other members nodded. Apparently they had chosen him to 'volunteer' for the rescuing mission. Of course he would have agreed if they had asked, but he didn't like them doing decisions concerning without his consent. Who needs enemies when you can have friends like these? Harry thought wryly.


*


Kheiron's eyes snapped open. He had been captured. Again. Last time had been embarrassing enough.


He was in small stone cell, with an iron door. The room was completely dark; no light could enter the cell. It was only because his enchanted eyesight that he could see. He smelled no salt in the air, so he wasn't in Azkaban. Where am I then?


Not that Azkaban was a terrible place anymore. Last Dementors had abandoned the Ministry over two years ago. They were now lending their abilities to the Dark Lord.


Voldemort had regained his body about six years after his apparent death. He had then kept low profile for approximately two years, silently gathering his supporters. When the war had finally begun it had come as surprise to most of the wizarding Britain. Now, there have been little less than five years of constant attacks. Death Eaters were growing bolder and bolder; already there have been few attacks in broad daylight. Soon there would be open warfare.


Suddenly a bright light flooded into the cold cell. Someone had opened the door. Kheiron couldn't see what was happening as his eyes were temporarily blinded by the bright light now entering his cell.


He could hardly see two dark shapes entering the room.