FicWad

Chapter Eleven: Encounters

The next few weeks were a trial to Harry, as he had to get back into the routine of attending all of his lessons. Somehow, Harry managed to catch up all what he missed, although he had a sneaking suspicion it was due to the Room of Requirement altering the properties of time that elapsed within it so he could complete his homework on time. Harry could not prove it but he was pretty sure that this was the reason why he completed all of his work for a six-week period within two days.

Classes were interesting for the most part. Defense Against the Dark Arts quickly became Harry's most anticipated subject, as he learned more within a few lessons with Professor Lupin than he did with both of his previous Professors. The variety of different creatures they learned up such as Red Caps and Kappas was very intriguing to Harry. Snape seemed to be his usual self in his lessons, being biased against the Gryffindors while favoring the Slytherin students. It was times like these where Harry was glad he got sorted into Slytherin. Even if he had to put up with Malfoy on a regular basis, at least he did not feel the wrath of Snape.

Harry's other classes were going along smoothly, with the exception of Care of Magical Creatures. It seemed Hagrid was very reluctant to anger the Board of Governors and spent lesson after lesson on Flobberworms. In Harry's mind, they were the most useless creature in existence, with perhaps the exception of Fudge and Lockhart.

Hermione seemed to be attending two classes at once still several times a week although Harry could not for the life of him figure out how she managed to do this, the handful of times he thought about it.

Unfortunately, Ginny still laid in St Mungos, not responsive to anything or anyone. With all the work Harry set upon himself, including researching how to tell if a magical block had been placed on him or not, along with the nearly fanatical approval he had been taken to practicing his ninjitsu skills he could not find the time to visit her. This tore up Harry inside and there were times where Harry looked over, but realized Ginny was not there. The Twins told Harry that their mother had written to them, informing them that if everything went right, Ginny should recover in about two or three months. Of course, Harry knew all to well that everything rarely went right in life. Maybe in some fairytale dream world where good always won over evil in every battle, but Harry faced the harsh reality that life was filled with darkness and sorrow.

Dumbledore seemed to spend most of his time in his office, no doubt planning to manipulate more people. Harry wished he could stop him but he did not have the resources necessary to put Dumbledore out. He had a handful of loyal friends, his family and quite a decent amount of knowledge on some advanced magic but that was it. Dumbledore had the Ministry of Magic, decades more experience, and he had know doubt amassed a few loyal fanatical followers. Also Voldemort, should he ever return, had the support of the pure blooded supremacists. One thing held true, the Wizarding World needed Harry more than he needed them. If Voldemort ever found a way to come back, Harry had no doubt that this time he may achieve his goals, as it was by some fluke that he was destroyed last time on that fateful Halloween Night.

Quidditch Practice was the usual hell. Malfoy attempted to worm his way into the team during Harry's absence but Harry decided to solve this problem in a simple yet effective matter.

"Potter! I'm the Seeker of this team now!" yelled Malfoy, who seemed to have gotten over his Buckbeak induced fake injury recently. "You’re nothing, I took your spot on the team!"

Harry shook his head. Malfoy would never learn. Malfoy rose up into the air and Harry shot up with him.

"Potter, I don't know what you are doing," said Malfoy. "You’re no longer on the team, Potty. Flint has put me in your place as Seeker. I took your spot just like that Weasley girl was taken from Hogwarts just like the trash she is. You..."

Malfoy crossed the line and Harry snapped, he was planning on doing this anyway, but he was going to knock Malfoy even harder for that last remark. Harry decided to shut Malfoy off by flying at him full speed. A sickening crack echoed throughout the sky as Harry hit Malfoy head on and Malfoy was sent flying off his broom from thirty feet in the air. Malfoy hit the ground with a thud, apparently both of his arms and one leg broken from the impact Harry caused by flying into Malfoy at full speed. Harry could have killed Malfoy but he didn't, so Harry did not stress over what he did too much.

Harry turned to Flint, who was smirking sadistically. It seemed the sadistic Quidditch captain enjoyed others suffering pain, as long as it wasn't him on the receiving end of it.

"I believe we have solved that problem, Flint," said Harry coolly.

"Indeed Potter," said Flint before turning to the rest of the team. "Now, let's resume practice. Up in the air you idiots, what in the hell are you waiting for. Christmas? Move it now."

The Slytherin team went through their usual hellish training regime. The more things change, the more things stay the same. Flint was set to leave this year, providing he managed to pass all of his classes this time. No doubt Slytherin Quidditch Players would rejoice once Flint and his militaristic style was gone.

The first Hogsmeade weekend of the year was approaching and thanks to Dumbledore's little power play, Harry found himself trapped in the school unable to join Daphne, Theodore, and Hermione. Then again, getting close to the Dementors was not that much of a great thought to Harry. The four days he spent with them hovering around his cell at Azkaban were bad enough.

Harry had gotten over his own fears of failure when he was awake. When he was asleep, a different story all together existed. Visions of Voldemort, Shredder, and the Dementors plagued his nightmares night after night along with the Chamber of Secrets incident being replayed, only turning out for the worst this time. In all of Harry's dreams, one theme seemed to crop up in every single one. He managed to somehow survive but those around him paid the price for his failure to protect them in death.

"Okay, I’m giving you gold, you’re to return with chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate," said Harry to Hermione.

"Okay, Harry," said Hermione shaking her head. "Who am I to tell you for wasting your money?"

"Yeah, if Harry wants to buy all of Honeydukes, that's his business," said Daphne.

"You three have fun," said Harry. "I suspect I'll wander around, maybe I'll step in to visit my family briefly, providing if they are even awake as it is a Saturday."

Daphne, Theodore, and Hermione nodded before walking off towards Hogsmeade, leaving Harry in Hogwarts. Harry decided to take a brief walk around the school, just wandering around. He thought he might as well take a trip to the Slytherin library for some light reading.

"Harry," said a quiet voice, which caused Harry to turn around to look for the source. It turned out to be Professor Lupin.

"Hello Professor," said Harry in a polite voice.

"Why aren't you in Hogsmeade with everyone else?" asked Lupin.

"Black and Lestrange are still loose and the Headmaster seemed to think I was in too much danger to leave the school," said Harry.

Remus looked at Harry, perhaps he was imagining things but there was something that seemed close to anger when Harry mentioned Dumbledore's name. He decided not to bring up the subject, as Harry was the only link to his past and he did not want to alienate him after barely knowing him for a couple of weeks.

"Harry come into my office, it wouldn’t ideal for you get caught by Filch wandering the hallways, even if it is during the daytime," said Lupin.

Harry walked into Lupin's office with him. The first sight Harry spotted was a tank with a pale green creature with sharp horns, poking its face ominously out of the weeds.

"The subject of our next Defense Against the Dark Arts class, a Grindylow," said Professor Lupin. "They tend to be rather nasty, rarely you find more than one. The trick is to break their grip, as their fingers are the weakest part of the body. Indeed, we will go into that in more detail in the lesson."

"I'm rather looking for that learning more about these creatures, Professor," said Harry looking at the creature with interest.

Strange creatures interested Harry but did not freak him out too much. Then again, living with four giant talking mutated turtles and a rat with the same condition rather numbed Harry's horror to the strange and mysterious. The only thing of this nature that freaked him out was the Dementors. Thoughts of this nature brought Harry back to his first class with Lupin. He frowned, wondering why Lupin never let him face the Boggart.

"Is there something that is troubling you, Harry?" asked Lupin looking concerned.

"Well, actually there is a question I want to ask of you," said Harry looking rather reluctant

"Go on, Harry," encouraged Lupin.

"Well, the day you had us face the Boggart, how come I never got to face it," said Harry.

Lupin looked at Harry with a curious look on is face.

"I was sure that would be pretty obvious, Harry," said Professor Lupin. "If you faced the Boggart, I naturally assumed it would take the form of Lord Voldemort but as I can see by the look on your face that I was obviously wrong."

"Voldemort did come to my mind at first, but the thing I really thought of as troubling was those Dementors," said Harry, looking a bit surprised Lupin actually used Voldemort's full name. There were not many in the Wizarding World who did that. The only two Harry could think of off the top of his head, besides Lupin, was himself and the old man.

Harry did not even mention that the Shredder came to mind, as he did not want too many people to know about his problems on the other side of the world involving the Foot. It would lead to too many awkward questions in the long run.

"So that suggests what you fear most, is fear itself," remarked Lupin thoughtfully. "Very wise Harry."

Before Harry could answer, he could here Lupin's door opening. Professor Snape walked in, carrying a goblet with some kind of potion inside that Harry could not recognize.

"Mr. Potter," said Snape with a brief nod before turning to Lupin. "Lupin, you should drink that straight away for it to be of any help."

"Thank you Severus," said Lupin, drinking from the goblet.

"I made an entire cauldron full, just in case you need more," said Snape.

"Yes, I believe I should take some more tomorrow," said Lupin as Snape walked out of the office, as if he was never there.

"Interesting potion, I have never seen anything before like that and believe me, I have read many Potion texts over the past couple of years," said Harry.

"Yes, I have a rare medical ailment that causes me to feel rather off color from time to time so this potion is the only thing that helps me," said Lupin. "Nothing life threatening I assure you, just a recurring problem that crops up every so often that needs the assistance of this potion. Professor Snape is one of the few that are able to brew this highly complex potion and I am grateful to be working beside an expert Potion Master such as him."

"Yes, if there is one thing Snape knows, it's Potions," said Harry.

"Yes, I must say I am rather surprised at your opinion about Professor Snape, Harry," said Remus unable to help himself from voicing his opinion. He tended to let things slip a bit more easily when it got close to his transformation.

"Why would that be, Professor?" asked Harry curiously.

"Your father and Severus didn’t exactly get along at Hogwarts," replied Lupin slowly, choosing his words. "I would assume you could call it hatred as it was much like the situation between yourself and Draco Malfoy, only James and Professor Snape were in different houses. James pranking Snape almost every day for his own amusement used to drive Lily up a wall."

"I would then assume you knew my parents then, Professor," said Harry. "Any stories about them you can share."

"Well, James kept asking Lily out on a date for years but she turned him down several times," said Lupin. "I remember it well, James asked her out one thousand, seven hundred, and twenty seven times before she said yes. Of course, that is just a rough estimate; in fact I could be underestimating. She turned him, although the last few times I am sure she was just attempting to annoy James as she started to have a genuine interest toward your father towards the end. Finally she agreed towards the end of our sixth year and the rest is history."

Harry looked rather lost in his own thoughts so Lupin decided to continue on.

"It's rather hard to believe they are all gone," said Lupin in a hollow voice. "That night was horrid, I came back to the wreckage of the house a few days after it had happened. The magical backlash from Voldemort losing his powers and body appeared to be rather catastrophic."

"Indeed," said Harry darkly, remembering Dumbledore describing it the first time they met, when Harry had something vaguely resembling respect for the old man. His father's body was horribly mutilated and his mother's body was never recovered from the wreckage, as all evidence pointed it being destroyed during the explosion of the house. "I sometimes wonder how I survived, but then magic is a rather complex force."

"We can only guess, Harry," said Lupin. "Still, if you want to know any more about your parents, feel free to stop by. I briefly met Lily's sister and her husband and they did not seem to care for the Wizarding World too much so I doubt they were helpful on telling you anything about your parents."

"You have no idea," said Harry grimly as he left Lupin's office, to perhaps do some sparring with his brothers and then visiting them for a while. It seemed Lupin still believed Harry was living at the Dursleys and Harry decided he was not comfortable enough with Lupin knowing his secret about his true home right yet. Even through he had been friends with his parents, so had Sirius Black and Harry knew how that turned out.

In New York, Oroku Saki was sitting in his throne room in the Foot Headquarters Skyscraper looking over several documents detailing his legitimate business operations that he used to fund the Foot. The Turtles, the rat and Potter were destroyed many months ago, but Saki did not seem to be any closer to hunting down his ancient enemies. He knew for a fact they were somewhere in the city. Saki expanded much time and resources in searching for his ancient enemies. If he just had the Sword of Tengu, his efforts would no doubt go a lot quicker.

Saki examined the documents closely. The businesses were located in the three countries the Foot had a base of operations in. Great Britain, The United States, and Japan. The most profitable business as of late seemed to be a British company that made drills known as Grunnings. While Saki did not care for the director of the business personally, he did get results and as long as the money kept coming in, Saki would keep this foul man under his payroll. His chain of gas stations was also booming.

Saki also reflected on his three bases of operation. The first and most close to Saki was his New York base of operations. Saki’s most trusted aide in the United States, the man mountain known as Hun, trained the New York Foot Ninjas. Hun's size fooled a lot of people but he was very skilled in martial arts and knew how to get results with the New York recruits.

Then there was the Japanese Foot, Saki's home until the middle of the sixties when his Ancient Enemies fled like cowards from their Tokyo base of operations. Saki's foot base in Japan was located in Tokyo and was run by his adopted daughter, a young woman known as Karai. Karai was the most efficient of his three Foot trainers scattered throughout the world, as her trainees were more skillful with a greater variety of weapons and quicker than their New York counter parts.

The final Foot base was located in Great Britain, in Manchester. A wicked skilled aristocrat by the name of Corbort ran the British base of operations. He was a ruthless piece of slime who kidnapped homeless children and turned them into ruthless ninja assassins. In other words, he was the Shredder's kind of guy. The only reason Shredder added a third base of operations is in the late seventies when he briefly entertained the idea of joining forces with the Dark Lord Voldemort. Of course, that plan only went as far as the first meeting with Lucius Malfoy before Voldemort met his demise.

Oroku Saki lost his concentration when one of his aides in the Foot Tech division came up to him.

"Master Saki, we have a possible lead on your enemies," said the Foot Tech Division member before handing Saki a piece of paper.

Saki looked over the paper before getting to his feet. The lead led to an abandoned military base just outside the city, complete with an underground bunker. This could prove to be promising. He needed to lead his Ninja towards another possibility for the whereabouts of his ancient enemies. As he walked over to the glass case with the familiar metal body suit, preparing to suit up just in case he had some exterminating to do tonight.

Hogsmeade seemed to be a good time for everyone who visited. True to their word, Harry's friends brought him back a lot of chocolate. Harry bitterly wished he could have gone to Hogsmeade and he once again cursed the old man.

Late at night, Harry was sneaking towards the Slytherin library but the hallways seemed to be blocked. Harry needed to get through that hallway to get to the entrance for the library but as it appeared he may not get through without being seen, he briefly considered using the Portus-Amulet.

Harry ducked into an unused classroom and he found himself face to face with a gaunt looking man black hair. The Boy Who Lived cursed, he was standing face to face with Sirius Black. Harry pulled out his wand, ready for a fight, as if he was half as vicious as Lestrange, he may be in for a tough battle.

Sirius looked up and he thought he was seeing things. He could have sworn this was his godson, Harry but why was he wearing Slytherin house robes of all things. Something was not right, perhaps it was a trick of light or maybe it was not Harry at all. Sirius looked at the boy in the room.

"I mean no harm," whispered Sirius desperately. "I just needed to get my revenge, it's his fault I was in Azkaban."

Harry looked at Black with a slightly confused look. Something was not as it seemed but he could not place his finger on it right at the moment.

"Whose fault is it?" hissed Harry.

"I can't tell you that," said Black in a low voice. "You wouldn't believe me, he's supposed to be dead."

Harry looked at Black; maybe Azkaban had knocked a few screws loose.

"Who are you anyway?" asked Sirius, wondering whom he was having a conversation with.

"You mean you don't know," said Harry. "I’, sure it was obvious, as I’m rather famous. I killed your Lord after all and if you make one wrong move you’ll be joining him."

Sirius fell back, sinking on a desk. This was Harry. This meant, this meant, he was a Slytherin. Sirius could not believe it, James and Lily's son in that house. Something obviously happened to Harry, this had to be the Dursleys fault. Sirius knew Dumbledore was cracked when he sent Harry to them.

"You're a Slytherin," whispered Sirius, saying the only thing that came to his mind.

"No, I'm a Hufflepuff," said Harry sarcastically. "The robes do kind of clue you in on the fact of what house I am in."

In spite of his godson being in that house, Sirius gave a short bark like laugh.

"You have a sense of humor just like your mother, Harry," whispered Black.

"You have no right to talk about her or my father!" cried Harry, losing his temper.

A few sparks flew out of Harry's wand, lightly stinging Sirius on the nose. His godson was sure powerful, like his parents if simple wand sparks could sting.

"Harry, I don't have time to explain right now," said Sirius wordlessly banishing desks out of the way so his godson did not hit his head once Sirius stunned him when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. "I'm really sorry."

Harry raised his wand but Sirius was quicker on the draw.

"Stupefy," said Sirius reluctantly and Harry hit the floor. Sirius sent up sparks to notify someone that Harry was there before transforming into his Animagus form before leaving.

A few minutes later, Hermione, Luna, Theodore, and Daphne were standing over Harry as he revived from the stunning spell. Snape, McGonagall, and Lupin hovered in the background.

"What happened Harry?" asked Hermione looking rather terrified.

"Black attacked me, that's what happened!" said Harry a bit sharply.

"He's been busy tonight," said Luna lightly. "It seems he has ripped the Fat Lady's portrait to shreds. It seemed like he was looking for something in Gryffindor tower."

"It could have been Harry, maybe he assumed Harry was in Gryffindor as news does not get into Azkaban too easily," said Daphne.

"Still, it was lucky he's mentally unstable and only hit you with a stunner, Harry," said Theodore. "He could’ve used something more lethal."

Harry just nodded as Snape turned to Harry.

"Mr. Potter, all students are to sleep in the Great Hall tonight as per the Headmaster's orders," said Snape. "Lupin, McGonagall, and myself will escort you five there, as it is ill advised to wander the corridors alone with Black on the loose."

Snape motioned for Harry and the others to follow. Several thoughts ran through Harry's mind at this point in time. Several inconsistencies cropped up between Black's words and what he knew. Black seemed rather saddened he had to attack Harry and seemed to go out of his way to avoid Harry cracking his head on one of the desks, injuring him any further. Also, all Black used was a stunning spell, surely if Sirius Black was out for his for his blood and a powerful member of Voldemort's inner circle he would have used a Killing Curse instead of a simple stunning spell to finish Harry once and for all.

Harry sunk into his dreams, still deep in thought about the inconsistencies involving Black. Of course, he also had to deal with the usual dreams involving Voldemort, the Shredder, and the Dementors with him failing every time. Not to mention Dumbledore’s recurring role about taunting him about his power being blocked and the Chamber of Secrets replay with a worst-case scenario ending.