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Chapter Eleven: Unlikely Aid

“I suppose the best part would be started when we arrived at Diagon Alley to do our shopping,” declared Harry, before he launched into the tale of the events of that day.

The Portkey had brought everyone to the Leaky Cauldron. Harry took a look around, seeing a few Aurors scattered around, along with a family of Muggles, with a young girl of about eleven years old who was about to start her year at Hogwarts, lead by a Ministry Auror, along with the Divination teacher Professor Trelawney, who looked even more eccentric than usual. Trelawney spotted Harry, looking at him with wide eyes, before turning her back on him, not saying a word, before leading her charges through the gateway in Diagon Alley.

“I could have sworn I heard a rumor that she was kidnapped from the Hogs Head, by Death Eaters,” muttered Lily in undertone, to the others, with looking to Harry and Ginny, deciding not to refer about the strange dream Harry had about Voldemort and Trelawney. Both Ginny and Lily seemed to think it was something to consider, but Harry was adamant that it could have been just a really strange dream, although he was at a loss to determine how his subconscious might have come up with such a thing.

“Actually I believe it was a false rumor, because Arthur told me she returned to Hogwarts a couple of days later,” replied Mrs. Weasley in a low voice. “She didn’t seem to remember anything about the two days that she was missing.”

“A quite common affliction in Seers, actually,” replied Lily, recalling a brief passage on Seers that she found in a Mind Arts book when she had to learn Occlumency and Legilimency when she was chosen to join the Department of Mysteries. “They can wander off for days, after they have seen too much, its overwhelming and return not remembering anything. Of course, I don’t know of Trelawney actually has seen, but her great grandmother did have the gift, so perhaps she has slight flashes of it.”

Harry and Ginny exchanged looks, with Harry relieved. He really didn’t want to think he had some demented window to view the actions of Lord Voldemort, even through it was highly likely because of the scar. Harry really wasn’t all that concerned about whether or not Voldemort got his hands on the prophecy Trelawney made, as it was completely false. Still, Harry had to admit that it was good that his dream might have been just that, a dream.

“She’s a fraud,” piped up Ron, bringing Harry out of his thoughts. “I’m really glad I don’t have to take her class this year.”

“Ronald Billius Weasley, do not speak ill of Hogwarts Professors!” hissed Mrs. Weasley.

“No matter how true the statement may be,” muttered Ginny, but only Hailey and Harry heard her and they resisted the urge to laugh.

“Let’s go shall we,” declared Lily with the Weasleys and her children following her, as the Turtles and Master Splinter stuck to the shadows, a few paces behind them. Lily removed her wand, tapping the bricks and opening the gateway towards Diagon Alley. Everyone moved through as Diagon Alley seemed to be blanketed in a slight fog, with more Aurors scattered around the parameter of the Alley.

“Lovely, the Dementors are breeding,” declared Harry sarcastically. “Just what we need, more of those horrid things.”

“Let’s stick together, wouldn’t want to get lost in this fog,” declared Mrs. Weasley, as they made their way towards Gringotts to get Galleons, before moving on to do their shopping elsewhere in the Alley.

After a trip to Gringotts, where the goblins had security doubled up, Ron, Ginny, Hailey, and Harry consulted their lists.

“Let’s see, N.E.W.T level books for Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Study of Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and…” started Harry, before shaking his head, and looking frantically down the list. “It seems like they don’t have an N.E.W.T level books for Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

“The fifth year book list doesn’t seem to have a book for Defense either,” declared Ginny, as she double checked.

“My book list doesn’t have one either,” said Hailey. “Maybe they couldn’t find a Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher this year.”

“No, it’s going to be a practical emphasized class, with any theoretical work done through research in the library,” replied Lily before adding. “That’s the current plan for this year, so there would be no official book.”

“I didn’t know that,” declared Harry. “Mum, you know way too much about this, you have to know who the new teacher is.”

“Maybe, but you’ll find out on September First,” replied Lily in a calm voice. “Won’t say any more than that?”

“Can’t be any worse than Umbridge, whoever it is,” declared Ginny.

“I should bloody well hope so,” replied Hailey. “Exactly what happened to our favorite Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, anyway?”

“The official word is she had a little accident in Azkaban that lead to her demise” declared Lily in a low voice. “An accident that may or may not have had something to leaving her in a locked cell with Fenrir Greyback during the full moon, but the Ministry is trying to hush that particular matter up.”

“Couldn’t have happened to a better person,” commented Harry, before checking his list and shuddering. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the fog, which seemed to be getting thicker by the second, was an omen that something bad might happen sooner rather than later. “Never mind, let’s go get our books first and then get anything else we might need quickly.”

The others nodded, as Harry looked over his shoulder, seeing Raph, Leo, Don, and Master Splinter putting on infa-red goggles to be able to see better through the fog, before waiting for the others just outside of Flourish and Blotts.

About twenty minutes later, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Hailey, Mrs. Weasley, and Lily excited Flourish and Blotts, their arms full of shopping, before walking down the streets, right towards what used to be Ollivanders, but was not a pile of rubble, with a magical dome around it, to prevent people from moving closer.

“The Ministry seems to think it was an accident, Ollivander experimenting with volatile wand cores,” replied Harry.

“I don’t believe that for one minute, Harry,” declared Lily with a frown. “Voldemort might have wanted Ollivander to give him information and when Ollivander refused, Voldemort torched the place.”

“But where will people get wands?” asked Hailey.

“Other wand makers, there are a couple shady ones in Knockturn Alley,” replied Lily. “For the muggleborns, I don’t know, but I think there might be someone coming in to fit them for a wand on the first.”

The fog just seemed to be getting a little thicker.

“Okay, we have the books, those of us taking Potions need Potion ingredients,” declared Harry, as Hailey and Ginny nodded in agreement.

“Ron needs new robes, as his old ones are entirely too short,” added Mrs. Weasley. “Any of you others need new robes?”

Hailey, Ginny, and Harry shook their heads. They had just bought new robes in a magical clothes shop in New York in May, so they would be good on robes for the foreseeable future.

“Harry, you go with Hailey and Ginny to get Potions ingredients,” ordered Lily. “Molly can take Ron to get robes. I’ll patrol the parameter of the alley, because this fog may very well indicate that Dementors are close by. We’ll meet back here in thirty minutes and be careful.”

Mrs. Weasley seemed a bit put off about Lily taking charge, but nodded in agreement. Ginny, Harry, and Hailey walked towards the Apothecary, while Ron and Mrs. Weasley made their way to Madam Malkin’s. Lily moving on in no particular direction, in an attempt to determine if Dementors were close enough to be a threat.

After a few minutes, Hailey, Ginny, and Harry left the Apothecary with their Potion kits more than sufficiently stocked for the upcoming year. Raph and Leo were following at a distance, with their weapons at the ready.

“Now, we’ve got everything,” replied Harry. “Hopefully we can meet the others and get out of here.”

“Yeah, this fog’s giving me the creeps,” said Hailey shuddering and all of the sudden, a scream echoed through the alleyway, causing Harry to stiffen.

“Of course, can’t go out one time without running into trouble,” muttered Harry.

“Now, Harry, maybe it’s something that the Aurors can take care of,” replied Ginny, who frowned, as they took a few tentative steps forward but stopped, before looking down at trio husks that were still breathing, but had a blank soulless look on their faces.

“You mean these Aurors, Ginny,” muttered Hailey, as she looked down and sure enough, the figures were Ministry of Magic Aurors.

“They have been kissed, which means Dementor’s are close by,” replied Harry. “Mum was right, wands out; we might have to use the Patronus Charm sooner or later.”

Harry’s mirror began to heat up and Harry took it out, seeing his mother’s face appear on the mirror, looking a bit flushed and sweaty.

“Harry, Ginny, Hailey, I just had to use a Patronus a quartet of Dementors,” declared Lily. “I chased they off, but judging by the fog, they’re still very, very close.”

“We know,” muttered Harry darkly, as it appeared to go darker, colder, and the fog intoxicated before being greeted by quite the troubling start. “You said there were four Dementors Mum?”

“Yes, Harry,” replied Lily.

“Well, there are now six of them, two of them must have been breeding and thus split,” declared Harry before his mirror went dead. “PATRONUSES NOW!”

“Expecto Patronum!” yelled Harry, Ginny, and Hailey in unison and Harry felt glad they spent so much time on that spell during their four months when they were exiled from Hogwarts, as a fully formed raven, falcon, and doe blasted down the alley way, causing the Dementors to make a retreat for it.

Harry felt better, as he reached into his pocket, before pulling a magically expanded drawstring bag. He opened the bag, before digging into it, taking out five medium sized slabs of chocolate, giving them to his concealed brothers, his sister, and his girlfriend, before taking one for his own consumption. After eating the chocolate, warmth began to spread to through their body.

“Thank Merlin for your chocolate addiction Harry,” declared Hailey. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have just happened to have chocolate on you.”

“Well to be fair you…” started Harry but more piercing screams filled the alleyway and another loud scream of “help us”.

“It’s coming from over there, I think,” declared Hailey, pointing towards the direction and sure enough, they spotted the family that they had seen earlier being escorted into the Alley by Professor Trelawney were being tormented by Death Eaters.

Harry rushed forward before coming across a slightly visible black barrier.

“Just as I thought, the Death Eaters would have found a way to stop us and unfortunately this barrier looks to be more reinforced against entry than the one that I had to contend with at Hermione’s,” muttered Harry. “Give me a minute to..”

“You have no time ickle baby Potter!” declared the cackling form of Bellatrix Lestrange as she swooped in, sending what looked like a black orb from her wand at both Hailey and Ginny, but the two girls managed to move out of the way and the orb struck the ground, blowing a large crater at them.

Harry flicked his wand, sending an organ explosion hex right at Bellatrix’s heart but the sinister dark witch put up a powerful shield that managed to block it just a split second before it would have hit her. Not put off at the slightest, Harry sent a slicing curse right at her throat, but Bellatrix managed to find a way just to barely block that attack as well.

“Oh, Harry, like to play rough now do we,” declared Bellatrix, but she spun around to see both Hailey and Ginny sending a pair of stunners towards her in either direction. Bellatrix pointed her wand up in the air and propelled herself into the air with a blast of hot air aiming off the ground, causing the two stunners to impact in mid air, causing the three teenagers to blast to the ground.

“Where in the hell are all the Aurors?” asked Ginny in a pained voice.

“Oh, since you asked so nicely, they had to deal with a little Dementor problem,” declared Bellatrix. “Competent enough witches and wizards, nothing compared to the followers of the Dark Lord, but still fairly decent. They might have lost their souls by now.”

In a flash, a pair of Sais flicked out of midair, knocking Bellatrix off balance. Bellatrix spun around, with an absolute giddy look on her face, as she levitated the Sais into the air, before using her magic to blast them back towards the disguised forms of Leo and Raph, causing the two Turtles to back.

“The Turtles are here to play too!” cooed Bellatrix but Harry’s right arm began glowing orange, before he shot a large orb of fire from his wand, attempting to incinerate Bellatrix to a crisp but Bellatrix managed to disapparate, just as the fire scorched the ground.

Bellatrix reappeared, her eyebrows singed off and her face a blistering red, allow with the sleeves of her robes burned off. Her Death Eater mask had been burned directly off her face before she managed to Disapparate.

“You think you’re hot stuff Potter!” screeched Bellatrix, before pointing her wand towards Ginny. “Well this should cool your fire. AVADA KEDAVRA!”

Harry reacted with cat like reflexes with Ginny being threatened, shooting a wall of water from his wand in front of Ginny, before using a second spell a nanosecond later to freeze the water solid, forming a barrier, shielding his girlfriend from harm. The wall of ice shattered on impact, causing Ginny, Hailey, Harry, Leo, Raph, and Bellatrix to all fall backwards, with various degrees of injury due to the shattering ice, but Bellatrix managed to get to her feet first, absolutely incensed.

“Fire and Ice Potter, I wonder what other tricks you’ve got up your sleeve!” yelled Bellatrix. “The Dark Lord may be very interested to know, but it’s just too damn bad I’m not in a mood to allow you to live.”

“We’ve got to get rid of her and save those poor Muggles,” muttered Harry as he saw the Death Eaters cheering as a small girl, no older than four or five was being bounced up and down off the ground like a ping pong ball, while her parents, eleven year old witch sister, and what appeared to be a nine year old brother were forced to watch.

“As if you can defeat me, the most devoted servant to the Dark Lord,” declared Bellatrix, as she aimed her wand, as Ginny and Hailey joined Harry in getting to their feet, before Bellatrix raised her wand. “Offennsu Undo…”

Bellatrix got knocked to the side by a banishing charm as Harry breathed a sigh of relief, as Bellatrix was about to hit them with the Shockwave Destruction Curse. The one curse that Harry had not been able to find a counter for, the same curse that allowed Wormtail to murder an entire street of Muggles and pin the incident on Sirius, causing Harry’s godfather to have to spend twelve years in Azkaban.

Bellatrix seemed to look up at her attacker, who was wearing plain robes, with a cloak with a hood pulled over his face. His face was obscured by a Slytherin scarf.

“I don’t know who you are, but you won’t deprive me of finishing off Potter!” declared Bellatrix, before pointing her wand towards their mysterious savior. “AVADA KEDAVRA!”

The attacker managed to dodge the attack with little effort as Harry decided to work on dismantling the barrier while Bellatrix was tied up with this guy.

“Stand still you whelp!” yelled Bellatrix. “CRUCIO!”

Bellatrix’s specialty soared over her attacker’s head as Harry removed a small Muggle flashlight from his pocket as Ginny and Hailey looked at Harry with a skeptical look in their eyes.

“A flashlight is going to stop that barrier, Harry,” muttered Hailey with skepticism.

“Watch closely, sis and you’ll see why,” declared Harry, as he unscrewed the button of the flashlight allowing the batteries to fall out, before removing several wires. Harry placed the wires on the barrier. In a blink of an eye, a magical/electricity reaction flowed through the barrier, causing a glitch that disrupted the spells used to form the barrier and caused it to dissolve.

“Brilliant, Harry,” said Hailey.

“Thanks Hailey, but let’s focus, stunners right now,” muttered Harry and three jets of red light were sent from the wands, but they bounced off the Death Eaters, who turned around, not harmed at the least.

“Potter, you really think we weren’t expecting an attack today,” declared one of the Death Eaters in a pompous voice. “We are wearing magical body armor underneath our robes, able to absorb many commonly used spells, including stunning spells.”

“Let’s see how well that armor absorbs our fists,” declared Raph, as the two Turtles, still obscured darted around the area, before leaping up and catching a pair of Death Eaters off guard with kicks, but it only staggered the Death Eaters back a few steps.

“Your invisible friends won’t help you…” declared the same Death Eater, maintaining his pompous tone, but Hailey had darted behind him, before levitating a large rock that was on the pathway and attempting to dump it on the Death Eater’s head, but the Death Eater sliced the wand in half. Harry and Ginny were fighting a Death Eater each, as the family of Muggles seemed spell bound, but none of their attacks seemed to have worked. Harry wondered if some of the more obscure and powerful spells in the library of Salazar Slytherin would be able to penetrate the armor.

Over his shoulder, Harry saw that Bellatrix Lestrange was blasted backwards into a wall by her attacker. Bellatrix might have seen it as an insult to her abilities to wear the magical body armor, and she rose to her feet, but her wrists were bound in thick cords by her attacker. Struggling, Bellatrix managed to slice the ropes free, causing the scarf to slip down the face of the attacker, revealing the face of Draco Malfoy.

“DRACO MALFOY!” yelled Fred and George in unison in the Weasley Family kitchen.

“Attacking Death Eaters,” started Fred.

“Saving his mortal enemy from destruction,” continued George.

“From his aunt,” added Fred.

“BLOODY HELL!” exclaimed the twins in unison.

“Exactly our reaction when we saw it,” declared Harry nodding. “Let me finish the story through.

Bellatrix looked at her nephew before stepping backwards in shock and utter disgust, as if she would be contaminated by something disgusting. Harry seemed to be utterly in shock, but he was brought out of his dazed state by a yell of “Crucio!”

“You filthy little blood traitor!” yelled Bellatrix, as she aimed a cutting curse towards Draco, but Draco managed to barely block it with a shield, that got sliced to ribbons and Draco sent a volley of rapid fire spells at Bellatrix.

“It appears that the student has outstripped the teacher, Aunt Bellatrix,” drawled Draco pompously, as he blasted a net from his wand, but Bellatrix sliced it into ribbons. Another spell knocked Bellatrix in the chest, causing her to wheeze in pain and reach up her sleeve, for a Portkey, before tapping her wand activating it and popping into mid air just as Draco sent a stunning spell at her.

Harry, Hailey, Ginny, Raph, and Leo were not faring well against the Death Eaters, as their magical armor had blocked many of the attacks. Sweat rolled down the face of the Boy-Who-Lived, as he felt his body temperature rising, even through a chilling fog still lingered in the air around them, but Malfoy removed a set of silver orbs from his robes, before tapping each them with his wand, and then blasting them towards the Death Eaters. The orbs latched onto the arms of five of the six Death Eaters, causing currents of magical energy to flow through their bodies, knocking them to the ground. One Death Eater remained and Harry’s wand began to glow a nearly blinding orange color, before shooting a large jet of orange light from his wand right at the Death Eater. The Death Eater laughed, before he began to glow and then spontaneously combust right before their very eyes. The ashes of what was once a Death Eater fluttered to the ground as Harry’s body heat began to lower down and he looked at his wand, that felt uneasily cool.

Draco Malfoy looked at Harry, surveying him with a curious look before extending his hand forward.

“That was an excellent piece of work, Potter,” declared Malfoy, as his hand extended forward but he found three wands pointed to his chest, each from Hailey, Ginny, and Harry.

“Okay, Malfoy, what game are you playing,” declared Ginny in a threatening voice.

“In case you didn’t notice, Weasley, I saved all of your lives,” declared Malfoy, as he twitched at the sight of the three wands. “So lower you wands, I did nothing wrong to you.”

“Malfoy, explain something to me,” replied Harry slowly. “Why?”

“Potter, it all started when you had my father sent to Azkaban,” declared Malfoy. “For a short time, I blamed you for it, just like I blamed you for everything else bad that has ever happened to me since I began at Hogwarts. Then, it struck me one night, if my father never joined Lord Voldemort, then he would have never been sent to Azkaban.”

“Wow, Malfoy, you think,” declared Hailey in a sarcastic and quite skeptical voice but Harry seemed a bit surprised that Draco Malfoy had actually said Voldemort’s name.

“Now make no mistake about it Potter, we will never see eye to eye, I will never be open minded about Mudbloods and blood traitors like you are, but for the time being, I feel it might be in our benefit to work together, at least until Voldemort is finished once and for all,” declared Malfoy. “He says he works for blood purity, but really, we both know that he only works for his own power. As a result, I have dedicated my life to bringing down Voldemort and I think it might be beneficial if we worked together to bring him down.”

“You want us to work together, Malfoy,” repeated Harry, as Hailey looked at Harry with an incredulous look, as if she couldn’t believe her brother would even consider this. Ginny seemed to be nearly as apprehensive for a few seconds, but also seemed interested to see where this was going.

“Potter, I know quite a bit about the Dark Arts and exactly how the Death Eaters fight, from both my father and Aunt Bellatrix,” declared Draco. “I could be of some use for you and in turn you could get me back into Hogwarts.”

“I knew it!” yelled Hailey in triumph. “Your father couldn’t manage to buy your way back into Hogwarts, so you disguised to come crawling to my brother and see if he might try and persuade the board of governors to let you in. As far as I’m concerned, you deserve a joint cell in Azkaban next to your father…”

“And as far as I’m concerned, you should be quiet,” drawled Draco. “You know nothing of my life, so don’t presume that I am like my father.”

“Hailey, quiet,” declared Harry, before turning his attention to Draco. “I shall see what I can do to get your expulsion from Hogwarts lifted.”

Malfoy nodded as Hailey looked sour but at that moment, many more Ministry of Magic Aurors, lead by Scrimgeour appeared the scene. A couple of the Aurors looked like they had barely escaped getting the Dementor’s Kiss appeared on the scene as well.

“We saw the entire thing Mr. Scrimgeour, this young man managed to duel Bellatrix Lestrange to a stand still,” declared a female Auror, pointing to Draco Malfoy.

“Well, Draco Malfoy, isn’t that interesting, the son of the former Minister of Magic,” declared Scrimgeour in a bit of a forced voice before turning towards Harry. ”Ah, young Mr. Potter, it seems you always get into these tight fixes, doesn’t it?”

Scrimgeour bent down, to talk to Harry in private.

“What exactly happened here today anyway?” asked Scrimgeour in a low voice.

“Well you know about the Dementors, but a group of Death Eaters began to terrorize this family, all of them Muggles, except for their daughter who looks to be starting Hogwarts this year,” declared Harry. “Hailey, Ginny, and I managed to fight our way past the Dementors but were attacked by Bellatrix Lestrange. She prepared to kill us with the Shockwave Destruction Curse but Malfoy showed up and managed to distract her by engaging her in a duel. This allowed us to disable a barrier that the Death Eaters held up and we engaged the Death Eaters.”

“And you were successful in beating them,” declared Scrimgeour.

“Actually, they managed to acquire some type of magical armor that repelled most of our attacks,” declared Harry, which caused Scrimgeour to frown.

“Magical armor is strictly regulated by the Ministry, I’m very interested to see where they got their hands in this item,” declared Scrimgeour, in an undertone. “But exactly how were they knocked out.”

“Ask Malfoy, he used some kind of orb, don’t know if it was magical or not, to send a powerful shockwave through the armor, basically stunning the Death Eater,” replied Harry. “That’s all I know.”

“Very well, thank you for your information, Mr. Potter,” declared Scrimgeour in a business like tone of voice, before turning to Draco, to question him as the Aurors were attempting to console the hysterical Muggle woman as her children looked equally disturbed from what had just happened.

“This Professor Trelawney or whatever said she would come back right away and those foul, evil things came after us,” cried the woman in a horrified voice. “They tormented us, no one could save us, if this is what the Magical World is all about, then I don’t want my daughter to have any part of it…”

“Madam with all due respect, your daughter needs to attend Hogwarts, as an untrained muggleborn witch could be a very dangerous thing to your household,” declared one of the Aurors in a stern voice.

“And I’m right here!” declared Professor Trelawney in a slightly flustered voice, as she walked onto the scene. “A premonition drew me away from here, but if I had foreseen what had happened, with the forces of You-Know-Who, I would have not left this area.”

“Let’s go before she spots us and predicts one of our deaths,” muttered Ginny, as Harry bent down, managing to remove a fragment of the magical armor along with one of the magical orbs that Malfoy had used.

“Good idea, she seems to be more mad than usual,” replied Harry. “We need to find out if the others are okay at any rate.”

“And thankfully everyone was all okay and we arrived here a few minutes later and you know the rest,” declared Harry, as he turned to Fred, George, and Mikey, along with the others who hadn’t heard the full story. “As for my reasons for taking Draco Malfoy’s words to be true, well there is a good chance that he is up to something. As the old saying goes, you need to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

Harry sighed briefly, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Then again, there is a very slim chance that Malfoy had turned over a new leaf,” declared Harry calmly. “Not that I believe it’s very likely, but stranger things have happened. I’m going to let everything play out before I deal with Malfoy. It’s not like he is high on the list of threats against my life.”

“I don’t like it, but I have faith that you know what you’re doing Harry,” replied Ginny.

“I still think you should have hexed Malfoy on sight, but I guess you wouldn’t have found out anything,” declared Hailey.

“Still, do be careful, my son,” interjected Master Splinter. “From what you have told me, Lucius Malfoy was a rather talented manipulator. It is highly possible that his own son had picked up a few skills in that area from him.”

The others nodded, muttering similar sentiments. Harry had briefly entertained the notion that Malfoy maybe playing all sides against each other for benefits only known to him, but Draco Malfoy didn’t seem to be the type that would think of something that cerebral. If Malfoy had some kind of grander scheme in mind, Harry felt it was necessary to allow Malfoy to believe that he had gained Harry’s trust. Sooner or later, Malfoy’s own ego would make him trip up and then Harry would have him.

Still, there were more pressing matters for Harry to go over. Harry still needed to analyze that fragment of magical body armor he had swiped along with what Malfoy had used to disable it. Perhaps they would offer some clue about Voldemort’s plans, no matter how obscure. Also, Harry was curious exactly why his body temperature seemed to heat up to a higher temperature, despite being cool just seconds earlier, before he sent that Spontaneous Combustion Curse at that Death Eater. He suspected it might have had something to do with his mystic abilities that seemed to manifest at the oddest of times. Granted, Harry found himself mastering mystically related to mystical abilities, most prominently with elements regarding water and fire, but also some slight experience with air, earth, and metal.

At any rate, it was something that Harry had shoved to the backburner because other things kept coming up, but he resolved to find a way to control his abilities with more accuracy. No doubt the Slytherin library had something about the abilities. After all, the most famous mystic in the entire History of Magic was Salazar Slytherin himself. Surely, Harry would be able to find something in his library, once he searched in thoroughly.

The Dementor-induced fog in Knockturn Alley was much thicker than that of Diagon Alley, as Draco Malfoy pulled his hood up, shuddering, despite the triumph he had achieved earlier in the day. His Aunt Bellatrix had thought that Malfoy’s plan would not work, but it turned out that Potter had bought his ruse hook, line, and sinker. Soon, Draco would be the Dark Lord’s most devoted servant, once had had finished Harry Potter once and for all. His defeats of the Death Eaters were staged, in fact all of the Death Eaters save for Bellatrix and another one, were transfigured Inferi. The non-Inferius Death Eater was the one fried to a crisp by Potter, but fortunately, he was a new recruit, barely out of Durmstrang. Without the magical body armor that Draco had found in the Malfoy family vault, those Death Eaters have been dispatched by the fabled Platinum Trio in no time flat. Sadly, they were the only six suits of their kind, but Draco amused himself thinking about Potter wasting valuable time and resources attempting to find out ways to counteract armor that would have not existed any longer once the Ministry found a way to destroy it.

Draco Malfoy wanted revenge on Potter to point where he was nearly obsessed with seeing the Boy-Who-Lived on his knees, begging for his life. The filthy half blood had the gall to get himself sorted into the Slytherin house and steal Draco’s role as the future leader of the house. Draco watched with horror as Potter assumed a leader ship role with the younger Slytherin students, poisoning their minds with false ideals about Mudbloods, half bloods, and blood traitors being on equal footing with those of pure blood, the true power in the Wizarding World. Much to Draco’s horror, they began forging friendships with Gryffindors and turned their back on the true face of the Slytherin house, like they were the ones to be outcasts.

In what was a mistake in hindsight, Draco had engaged Potter in a duel during their fourth year. Draco had used an Unforgivable in front of witnesses and had been expelled from Hogwarts. Instead of allowing Draco’s crime to be wiped clean, Potter had managed to block Draco from receiving any further magical education. There was no doubt in Draco’s mind that Potter feared him.

After his father had been put in Azkaban, The Dark Lord had presented Draco with the task of killing Harry Potter. As a reaction to this task that the Dark Lord had set upon him, Draco had hatched a plan. A plan that both his mother and Aunt Bellatrix had insisted would not work. When he took the plan to The Dark Lord, the Dark Lord seemed to be quite supportive and allowed Draco to put his plan into action. A plan that would lead to Draco Malfoy taking Potter’s spot as the beloved hero that the Wizarding World rallied upon and Potter in turn being turned into the outcast, the pariah of the Wizarding World. Potter’s life would be ruined, his reputation tainted beyond all believe, before Draco finished him off once and for all. The Dark Lord had given his blessing to the plan, so Draco had the utmost confidence it would not fail. Potter would pay for his crimes against the Malfoy Family.

Pushing open the door to Borgin and Burkes, Draco slipped inside, his wand at the ready, before approaching Mr. Borgin, who was wrapped in several layers of blankets, shivering at the presence of Dementors that had been known to lurk within the depths of Knockturn Alley.

“May I help you?” asked Borgin.

“You have acquired a set of family heirlooms that were in Lestrange Manor before they were sent to Azkaban,” declared Draco in a cold voice that he knew his father to use to show he would be in control of the conversation, before handing Borgin a pair of photographs. “To be specific, these artifacts are what I require, I will pay a fairly handsome sum for the pair of them.”

“I do apologize, but while I do have the dagger, the pensieve I have never seen in my life,” said Borgin. “Are you quite sure it was in Lestrange Manor at the time of their, capture?”

“Yes, I am quite sure!” declared Draco in a testy voice, as he waved his wand, with sparks flying out of it, causing Borgin to back off.

“It is quite possible that someone removed it from the premises before the Ministry turned up to confiscate all of the artifacts,” declared Borgin.

“Possible, maybe,” replied Draco in a skeptical voice. “Fetch the dagger then, Borgin and you will be rewarded.”

“Very well,” muttered Borgin, giving Draco a short bow, before disappearing behind a black curtain and reappearing a short time later with a rusty looking dagger with a sinister black handle on the blade. The Lestrange family crest was on it. “I’m not exactly sure why you want it, I’ve never found the slightest hint of special powers put on it.”

“Of course, it wouldn’t be anything that you know of,” drawled Draco. “The metal used to make this dagger is really a solidified form of a rare and quite potent poison. Once this dagger draws blood, the poison spreads to the blood stream, causing vital organs to expand until they explode within the victim, causing a painful death.”

“Exactly how long does this take?” asked Borgin out of morbid curiosity.

“Depends on how magically powerful the victim is,” responded Draco. “For a Muggle, their life can’t even be measured in seconds. Average wizard, perhaps they might last ten, fifteen seconds at the most. The most powerful wizards may last up to two or three minutes. Then there are those wizards who have extraordinary amounts of magical power. Merlin, the Founders of Hogwarts, Dumbledore, The Dark Lord, and the Scarhead-That-Won’t-Die, Harry Potter, as much as it pains me to say it.”

Draco paused for dramatic effect.

“The dagger hasn’t been tested on those people, so they might last quite enough time, as their magic fights the potion, but since the poison is rare, there is no antidote, so they will succumb in time once their resistance finally breaks down,” declared Draco, before turning to Mr. Borgin. “Tell me, Mr. Borgin, how powerful are you?”

“I think that is highly relevant,” declared Borgin. “Now as for your payment for the dagger…”

“No, I am curious to see how powerful you might be, Mr. Borgin,” drawled Draco as he raised the dagger up. Borgin was too weak to raise his wand in time, having been in close proximity to Dementors all day long. Draco stabbed the dagger right into Borgin’s arm.

In a matter of seconds, Borgin gave a pained, but brief scream, before sliding from his chair, all the way to the ground. He didn’t last five seconds before his organs combusted.

Draco looked down at Borgin’s body, before nodding curtly, before using his Portkey to disappear without a trace. It would be days or even weeks before Aurors would care enough to investigate a death of a shady shopkeeper in Knockturn Alley, but Draco did not want anyone to tie him to Borgin’s mysterious death.

In the kitchen of the Burrow in the very early hours of the morning, Harry was bent over the piece of magical armor that he had managed to obtain, taking a sip from the cup of coffee that he had made himself. Ginny had tried to go to sleep without Harry close by, but found she was unable to, as shadowed images of Tom taunted her in her dreams, so she got up and joined Harry, in his work.

“Very interesting,” muttered Harry, as he scanned the fragment of armor. “It seems to be silver fused with some type of rare dragon hide, but damned if I know what type of dragon it is.”

“Maybe you should ask, Charlie,” suggested Ginny. “He might know.”

“It isn’t important right now, and I don’t need that knowledge to confirm a theory I have,” said Harry.

Harry brought the orb to the center of the table, before waving his wand over the orb and sure enough, it confirmed Harry’s theory.

“Just as I thought, these orbs are made like the armor, but the metal is just a bit harder, enough so that it would penetrate the armor, sending the shockwaves through them,” declared Harry. “Just enough to stun those Transfigured Inferi.”

“Transfigured Inferi, did I miss something, love?” asked Ginny.

“Well the only actual Death Eaters were the one I incinerated and Bellatrix,” declared Harry. “Don’t mention this to anyone, as I want Malfoy to think that I fell for his ruse and the less people who know how much I suspect, the better. Five of those Death Eaters were Inferi that were transfigured and promptly charmed with basic dueling techniques. The armor prevented us from getting a shot in.”

“So, you suspected that Malfoy had something to do with that attack from the start,” said Ginny. “But what’s his game?”

“If I knew, I would have never faked pretending that I was fooled by Malfoy’s exhibition,” replied Harry. “I’m going to do everything in my power getting him back into Hogwarts, so I can see his plan completely play out. Of course, with that little exhibition, Malfoy might have endeared himself enough to get himself back into Hogwarts without my help.”

“Harry, I trust your judgment but I honestly hope this does not blow up in your face,” said Ginny. “Malfoy doesn’t seem like a threat, granted, but he has had two years to stew after he was expelled, so he…”

“I can handle Malfoy, Ginny,” responded Harry in a firm voice that left no room for argument. “Along with whatever plan he might be able to come up with. I doubt he could string together a plan that I couldn’t ruin in no time flat. Malfoy can’t beat me.”

Harry gave a yawn, in spite himself, before checking his watch. Ginny looked worried, hoping that Harry wasn’t getting too confident and self assured about his ability to easily defeat Malfoy. Still, she reasoned with herself that Harry had fought more dangerous threats than Draco Malfoy before and survived.

Still, it didn’t help with a nagging suspicion that Harry might be taking Malfoy a bit too lightly. Harry had been spreading himself too thin with the fight against Voldemort, and it would be the perfect time for someone like Draco Malfoy to take advantage of Harry’s distracted state. Malfoys were nothing but opportunists.

“Now, we still have a few more hours that we can sleep, before we have to get up for Breakfast,” said Harry with a yawn, before moving from the kitchen, with Ginny walking closely behind him. It had been a long day.