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 six: Reconsiderations



The High Security Prison Destroyed!
By: Gerald Faraway


Earlier today the High Security Prison was assaulted by Death Eaters. Eyewitnesses state that You-know-who himself was leading this attack. The official number of human casualties is 38 persons. Many more are missing. The actual numbers are hard to come by as the prison was completely destroyed by a huge magical explosion. The exact cause of the explosion is still unclear.

It is rumoured that there was a third faction at work during this incident. Our ministry sources tell that that a boy, who calls himself Dark Knight and who was part in the infamous Robbery of Gringotts, was there during the battle.

He got there by impersonating Auror Captain Shacklebolt, who was later found stunned under his bed at St. Mungo's, where he had been recovering for his earlier battle with the said boy at the Gringotts bank.

Dark Knight saved Auror Nymphadora Tonks, and killed six Death Eaters in front of her eyes. Most of them he killed by a sword, rest by Dark magic.

He was apparently trying to rescue his companion who was caught at the Gringotts. It is rumoured that the man he was rescuing was named Kheiron Lestrange.

As some of the readers might remember Mr. Lestrange was convicted to Azkaban for the rest of his days for two first class murders, for using the Killing Curse on another human being and for using the Cruciatus Curse on another human being in 1942.

Whether there is any truth within these wild rumours remains to be seen as Kheiron Lestrange was reported to have died in Azkaban about a year after his conviction.

Nevertheless, Ministry is offering thousand galleons for an information leading to capture of the Dark Knight. People are advised to stay away of him for he is know to be armed and dangerous.



The most powerful Dark Lord in this century and maybe even in the millennia lifted his scrutinising gaze from the evening Prophet and twirled a wand in his long and pale fingers.


The wand was eleven inches of holly with a phoenix feather core. It was a very powerful wand. And most curiously, it was the only 'brother' to his own wand; Thirteen and a half inch of yew, and a tail feather from the very same phoenix.


His followers had picked this wand from Auror's dead body. Though it appeared that he was neither Auror nor dead.


Lord Voldemort was quite sure that the wand belonged to the boy who had killed a bunch of his follower and duelled with Bella. The boy was one of Kheiron's followers, he was sure of that. A thin smile appeared on his pale lips. At least that bastard was dead


But who is the boy really?


Bellatrix had told him that the boy was a good dueller. Bella had won their duel, yes, but to be even able to duel her is impressive. Especially if the boy is really a boy. His most trusted lieutenant was after all one of the best duellers in the whole Europe. Her abilities had skyrocketed during his mentorship.


The Dark Lord turned his gaze from the wand and out of the window. His attack to the prison hadn't go as it had been planned. It had started well but then Kheiron had to blow the whole building up killing many of his followers. From where had he managed to find that damned Globe of Thanathos anyway? Secrets of their creation were lost over millennia ago and there couldn't be many remaining.


He had lost more people than he had freed. But on the other hand ministry had lost many of its members. He hadn't really won, but he hadn't lost either.


The boy's description matched with the one who had fought Aurors in Gringotts. They had stolen one his Horcruxs from the Carrows vault.


What should I do this boy?/ The Dark Lord wondered. /What should I do to the Dark Knight as the morning Prophet called him?


It took only few seconds to make the decision. He should be exterminated.


Lord Voldemort drummed his spidery fingers against his mahogany table. Maybe he would send the Angela brothers after him? Slayer could be a good choice too. Or maybe even Bella as she would love to kill the boy who managed to escape her wrath.


*


"So, what happened then?"


Tonks took a look at the ancient Headmaster, who was peering her over his golden, half-moon glasses. She closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath before continuing with her story.



The boy had started coughing. It was obvious that he needed medical attention. But first she should get him off the wall. "Finite Incantatem."


The sticking charm was lifted and the boy fell downwards like a sack of stones. She easily caught him on her arms.


The boy chuckled slightly as his head was pressed firmly against her mostly bare breasts. In response she dropped him on the floor. Damn these hormone driven, depraved, mangy mongrels of teen wizards.


The boy hit the floor unceremoniously and started to cough. After he had regained his breath, he started muttering incantations, tapping his chest repeatedly with his wand. In less than a minute he was back on his feet. He was still bit shaky, though.


He turned his mask covered face towards her. "You really had to do that? It was you after all who pressed... your assets against me. If you current state of undress bothers you so, I suggest that you either conjure some clothing or simple take a robe from some of those Death Eaters. It is not like they need them anymore."


She had nothing to say to that, so she merely glared at him, before she took Rabastan's robe, kicking the dead body repeatedly in the process.


"Where are the holding cells located?"


She turned her head towards Dark Knight. Yes, that was what he had called himself. "Why do you ask?"


"I have a friend there."


"You mean that man who was arrested at Gringotts?"


"Of course. I still have one portkey. Once we find him we can portkey away. When we are outside of these wards you can Apparate where ever you want. Not to mention that we might be able save few others. So, do we have a deal?"


She carefully considered her options. If she agreed, she might indeed be able save somebody and gain more information about him. "Okay."


"Lead the way, then."



"You decided to aid him in releasing his partner in crime?" asked a redheaded Order member. There was approving mutter from few other members. Tonks glared them evilly.


"It's all right," said Dumbledore soothingly. "It might have very well been the best course of action during those exceptional circumstances. I sincerely doubt that anyone deserves to be in Voldemort's clutches." Half of the Order flinched as he said the Dark Lord's name.


"Please continue," Dumbledore urged, waving his hand slightly, his eyes twinkling.


She took a gulp from her glass before she continued. "After we had wandered the hallways for some time we run into..."



Sudddenly her companion stopped and lifted his had, signalling her to stop too. "What's wrong?" she whispered to his ear.


"We are about to get some company, Nymph. Ready yourself," he whispered back. She could detect some anticipation in his voice, maybe even exhilaration. And he had dared to call her 'Nymph'. She was not one of those green-skinned nymphomaniacs who lived in trees! Or did they live at lakes? Anyway, she was about to give him a piece of his mind when two black robed Death Eaters came around the corner.


She didn't even manage to lift her wand, and neither did those Death Eaters, before Dark Knight had waved his wand vertically, releasing a disk made of spinning black flames. The disk went straight through the Death Eaters and the wall behind them, leaving no apparent trace. A second later the Death Eaters slumped down, blood pouring from their every orifice. Their bodies were quivering, and they were gurgling faintly as their blood was slowly pooling on the polished wooden floor. They would undoubtedly be dead within a minute. The wall behind them was completely undamaged.


She stared the boy in disbelieve. He had killed those two Death Eaters in less than a two seconds. And he had done it with Dark magic. She suddenly realised that Dark Knight had started to chuckle to himself. "You killed them," she said accusingly.


His laughing abruptly stopped, and he turned towards her. She heard him taking a deep breath. "I... I had to. If they were to life they would have continued to kill, torture and rape. They don't deserve to live. Neither do they deserve any mercy, for they wouldn't give any to us. Scum like them killed my parents and grandparents, hell, probably even their parents."


"You realise that I should arrest you from that?"


"Don't be a hypocrite, Tonks! Aurors are allowed to use deadly force against Death Eaters. Besides if you wanted to arrest me you would have already done so. Remember those three Death Eaters I killed in front of your eyes before?"


She didn't answer, it was a rhetorical question, after all.


"Lets go. We shouldn't waste any time squabbling with each other. If you want, we can duel after this is over."


"Yeah," she said quietly and stepped over the bloodied remains of two Death Eaters. The boy followed and they continued their journey towards the holding cells.


They managed to get there without further inconveniences. "The cells are located on the other side of this wall," she said pointing the long unfurnished stonewall opposite the window side of the chamber they were currently in. "There is a hidden door somewhere, but I don't know how to open-"


She stopped mid-speech as a section of the wall crumbled near silently into dust. Dark Knight lowered his wand and turned towards her. "Well, that was easy. There was no strengthening charms on that wall and-"


"Grraaaahhh!"


"What the...," exclaimed Dark Knight as a dark figure came out of the cloud of stone dust. A second later the boy had launched a paralysing curse and she had cast a stunner on the approaching figure.


The spells failed to halt the figure's advance and a heartbeat later it was all over the boy. Now she could see what it was. It was a Death Eater, though there was something weird about it. Dark Knight aimed a sharp kick on the Death Eater's kneecap. A sharp crack was heard and the Death Eater slumped down without a sound, taking the boy with it.


She didn't dare to cast any spell on the Death Eater as it and the boy were rolling on the floor. Stunning spells apparently didn't work and she didn't want to accidentally hit the boy with stronger curses. She had, after all, already cut his hand off. The Death Eater was strangling the boy, who was currently injecting his dagger on it's side.


She couldn't understand why the Death Eater didn't scream in pain. It was the boy who answered her unasked question. "Inferius," he managed to gurgle through the chokehold.


An Inferius? She had never met one of those before. However, Auror training did cover them. She took a careful aim and launched a combustion curse on the Inferius' back.


The Inferius caught a fire and started to burn happily. A terrible stench filled the room. Less than a half minute later, Dark Knight kicked the still burning, but now unmoving corpse from top of him.


"Thanks," he said quickly and then stepped through the hole in the wall, into a empty cell. He peered through the window in the door and gasped. The boy turned and started to run towards her, his hand reaching for his equipment belt.


Suddenly there was a terrible explosion. It's force was such that the boy was lifted of his feet and slammed into her, sending them both flying. All air was forced out of her lungs. A terrible wave of heat set her robes aflame, before she felt a familiar tug in her stomach, and they both vanished.


A second later they reappeared somewhere else. They hit the soft forest ground and rolled few rounds forward before hitting heavily into an old tree. Once she had recovered from the crash, she quickly cast a charm to quench the flames. Then she turned her head to see whether the boy was all right, only to see that he had already disappeared. She laid there for a some time before she stood up and Apparated back to the prison.



"Well, that was interesting," Dumbledore said serenely. "It appears that the Dark Lord has an another enemy to be concerned. Though, we should be concerned too, as it seems that they, who ever they are, aren't shy about killing their opposition."


The Headmaster turned his gaze at the Potions master. "Severus, was it the Dark Lord who destroyed the prison?"


The black haired Order member and Ex-Death Eater thought for few seconds before answering, "I don't think so. He lost few of his Death Eaters in the explosion."


Headmaster shook his head and took a deep breath. "We must find out how this explosion was created. Severus, try to discern whether the Dark Lord truly did it or not. Arthur, I want you to question Unspeakables. Nymphadora, you could check the Auror archieves." Tonks silently fumed at his mention of her first name.


"That explosion was terrible," Arthur Weasley agreed. "But muggles have bombs that can do much more damage than that. It is bad news if He has started to use explosives, but I don't see why you are so concerned about this?"


"It is because this bomb, what ever it was, destroyed both the prison and the wards around it. With another one of those they could blow a hole in Hogwarts' walls and wards."


*


A week later:


Harry Potter was feeling very apathetic at the moment. Needless to say, he was quite sad too. His mentor had just a week ago blown himself apart, with a Globe of Thanathos no-less.


It didn't help that he had been forced to kill Death Eaters. While he hated and despised them, he still felt some remorse. They might have had families... spouses, lovers, parents, children. They might have been forced to do what they had done. Either by threats or by Imperius curse. He had no way to know.


Also, he had lost his original wand. He still had his two other wands, but they simply weren't as good. Nearly, but not quite. His current wand was nine inches of holly with a basilisk heart-string core. It had originally belonged to his mentor's mother. The other wand was eleven and a half inches of oak with a phoenix feather core.


The wind blew his messy, black hair as he watched the tombstone near transfixed. Kheiron wasn't buried here, after all there was nothing left to bury. Actually, it wasn't even his name on the stone, it was his alias, Jonathan Evermoore. Kheiron had worked over three decades as a private healer under that false name. People would have noticed if he would have suddenly disappeared without a trace. Thus they had staged an accident which destroyed part of his premises at the Knockturn Alley.


Had the ministry checked the records they would have seen that Jonathan Evermoore had a apprentice by the name of Harry Potter. It was a legal apprenticeship. Most of the young witches and wizards didn't go to Hogwarts. Only those with most talent or lineage coupled with sufficient wealth got to go there. There were dozen or so of other less prestigious schools, yes, but most the young magical people either got apprenticed or continued their family business. the wizarding world was quite mediaeval in that aspect. There was no social safety net. If you couldn't provide for yourself, no-one would. This coupled with a fact that wizarding Britain had no army, made taxes nearly non-existent. This was exactly like the richest pureblood families wanted it.


Little more than a quarter percent of United Kingdoms' population was magical, meaning there were about 170000 witches and wizards living in Britain. And less than three percents of them have graduated from Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. However, most of the political and economical power was in the hands of that less-than-three-percents.


The Ministry was clearly an oligarchy, even if it pretended to something else and old pureblood families controlled most business in the Wizarding Britain. While Harry didn't really like it, he wasn't about to complain as his father had left him the Potter fortune. Once he reached his majority and could finally claim it, he would be listed within the hundred richest wizards in Britain. Before Grindelwald, the Potters had been the seventh richest family in magical Britain, but the Dark Lord had killed over two dozen Potters and destroyed most of their property, including the Potter Manor. His grandfather had been the only Potter to survive Grindelwald's purges, and then the next Dark Lord had killed him less than a half century later. Voldemort didn't stop with Harry's grandfather though, but went and killed his parents too.


About forty percents of magical population were purebloods, another forty percents were half-bloods. The remaining twenty percents were muggle-borns. In reality there were much more muggle-borns, but only the most powerful of them were invited into the wizarding world, the rest were left to live their lives as muggles, and to spawn an another generation of muggle-borns. The term muggle-born was actually a misnomer as their parents in most cases weren't really muggles, but untrained and magically weak witches and wizards. But then again, most of them were so weak that they couldn't even cast the levitation charm successfully and thus could hardly be called a wizard or a witch.


The contract he had signed when he had been four and Kheiron had suddenly barged into his... relatives' home, was a formal apprenticeship contract. It had been properly filed with the Ministry, but Kheiron had made sure that it never became public knowledge.


All had gone suddenly so wrong. Kheiron had got himself killed. Both the Ministry and the Dark side were now aware of him. They didn't know who he exactly was, but unfortunately that Tonks woman had seen his face. All was not lost though, he had been under a minor illusion charm and his eyes had been activated to the fullest, causing them to glow with dim, sinister red light. They wouldn't recognise him on sight, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn't have to treat carefully. They had sample of his blood, which could connect him to six murders. Luckily the magical signature in blood fades away in few days. Of course he could still be identified by DNA, but then he could always claim that the blood was conjured or something. The Wizengamot wasn't usually very convinced by muggle evidence. They were way too certain of magic's superiority. Mind you, magic was superior to muggle methods, but that didn't mean that muggles couldn't come up with something ingenious now and then.


"It seems I got lucky, Dark Knight," a female voice said behind him.


Harry froze as he recognised the voice. It was that female Auror. He quickly calmed himself and turned to face her. "Are you talking to me?" he asked as sincerely as he could, which wasn't too much.


Tonks' blinked and her mouth dropped as she saw his famous lightning bolt shaped scar. It took her few seconds to regain her composure. "Are you Harry Potter? The Harry Potter?"


"Yes."


"But you should be dead! Killed by Death Eaters."


"The news of my demise have been greatly exaggerated," Harry said. He had always wanted to say that. It was a famous quote, after all.


"It seems so," she agreed, still eyeing him suspiciously. "But how can I know that you are really the Harry Potter."


Harry chuckled faintly. "You can't. But why should you"


"Well... Damn it!" She glared him evilly. "Anyway, you are also the Dark Knight."


"You mean that murderer from the papers?"


"Yes."


He smiled. "Nope."


She snorted. "I recognise your voice, you look very much like him and you are of the same height."


"That doesn't prove anything," he said, shrugging his shoulders.


She watched him intently and said, "I know it's you."


Now it was Harry's turn to snort. "If you don't have orders to arrest me, leave me alone." The Aurors were forced to play by the rules. She didn't have orders and so she won't do anything. She wouldn't dare...


Tonks' eyes narrowed and she whipped her wand out. Harry barely managed to dodge her... tickling charm? Her next spell met a blue, transparent shield. Harry had got his wand out. /What the hell do you think you are you doing, Tonks?/


She grinned victoriously. /How do you know my name, Harry?/


/Damn it!/ He had slipped up. He sighed and cast few charms to detect if there were any people or any recording devices nearby. There weren't and so he decided to drop the act. As long as he didn't directly admit anything he was quite safe. "How did you find me?"


"I wondered if your friend died in the explosion. I made a logical assumption that if he did, you would be forced to stage his death. Otherwise the Ministry would eventually notice that he had went missing, and questions would be asked. I was sure you wouldn't want that. So I have been visiting most funerals held this week."


Harry sighed. He should have thought that. "And now that you have found me, what are going to do?" he said as he readied himself for a possible attack. He was confident that he could easily dispose her, but there could be other Aurors or Self-Combustion Prone Peacock members nearby. Hopefully they wouldn't have put up any anti-Apparation wards.


"Speak with you."


"You are saying that you are not going to try to take me in or anything?" Harry asked near incredulously, his eyebrows rising slightly.


Tonks grinned at his expression. "Yep."


"And why is that?"


"Because You-Know-Who is winning. I am not going to harm anyone who opposes him. Besides, I am curious about you."


Dark Knight was silent for a minute before meeting her currently chocolate brown eyes and giving his answer. "Would like some lunch?" Maybe he could even profit from this meeting. If not, he could always obliviate her.