FicWad

Chapter Twenty One: Death Eaters On Ice

The predicament Barone was in was extremely amusing in a rather twisted way. Hanging over the side of a cliff, with Bellatrix cackling madly as she looked down at him with malice dancing in her eyes. The rock crumbled and Barone looked up, before he snapped his fingers and activated one of his portkeys, disappearing in mid air.

The next thing Bellatrix knew, a barrage of gunfire rained down on her, blasting her wand out of her hand and backing her off the cliff. Bullets impacted Bellatrix and she fell backwards over the cliff, laughing madly with her final breaths, proving once and for all that only Bellatrix would find her own grisly demise entertaining. Bellatrix impacted the rocks below and blood splattered in every conceivable direction. The mobsters shot at Bellatrix’s body from high above, impacting her body with more bullets.

“I think she’s dead,” remarked Antonio calmly, as he looked down at the bullet ridden corpse of one of the top Death Eaters, having been put down by Muggle means, a humiliating and painful death to a pureblood supremacist to be certain.

“Good work, boys,” answered Barone who appeared behind them. “Remind me to increase your Holiday bonus for that work. A couple dozen down and several more dozen to go, now let’s collect the corpse, I have one final piece of business to attend to before I return.”

The mobsters nodded, before Barone cast a few charms to make sure no one else was in the area and sure enough there was not. So they moved in to do what the feared mob boss had ordered.

To say that the last few months had tested what passed as his patience would be an understatement to Voldemort. Having to deal with nearly hourly assassin attacks, some of the most skilled and cunning witches and wizards in the world had pushed Voldemort to his limits. The fact these individuals were not tied down by Ministry restrictions like Aurors made the battle a bit more level and while Voldemort was absolutely confident of his abilities to defeat these assassins in a legitimate duel, they did not necessarily play by any rules of dueling etiquette. They managed to break inside, throw a barrage of lethal spells at Voldemort, and get out, before the Dark Lord could put them in their place. The fact that his followers had the tendency to recently wind up dead in strange and humiliating ways had caused many of them, except for the extremely insane, to be afraid to go out at night. That was frustrating as the best time to inspire fear in Mudbloods, Muggles, blood traitors, and pretty much anyone else who looked at Voldemort funny, was at night. Voldemort reflected these thoughts in his mind as he sat in his fortress, a large rock structure shaped like a dark mark.

At that moment, the door opened and Voldemort quickly sprung up, wand drawn, ready to curse anything that moved, but it was one of his Death Eaters, Voldemort did not care which. The Death Eater knelt before him, carrying a package.

“Speak,” prompted Voldemort.

“My Lord, this package came for you…” stated the Death Eater but Voldemort quickly put up a shield charm over the package.

“You fool, this package could have been cursed!” thundered Voldemort. “Some assassin wanting to collect a million galleons because of that contract that fool Barone put on me.”

“Please, my Lord, it’s my first day,” pleaded the Death Eater.

“Very well, but don’t slip up again,” cautioned Voldemort as he used his wand to open up the package, as the Death Eater hastily retreated before Voldemort had a change of heart. Carefully, Voldemort opened up the package and immediately he spotted a card. Quickly, Voldemort snatched it in his hand, reading the contents.

Riddle,

Just an early Christmas present for you

Your friend,

Barone.

Voldemort looked in the box and inside was the decapitated head of Bellatrix Lestrange. While Voldemort could hardly care about Bellatrix personally, the fact that one of his top Death Eaters was now dead thanks to Barone. The mobster was taunting Barone and the fact that several of his Death Eaters were slain at his hands, proved that the mobster did not fear the Dark Lord. In a matter of time, Voldemort felt he would have to correct that little personality flaw in the foolish Mudblood. That thought went through Voldemort’s head, just before a bludgeoning spell nearly did. Another assassin had attempted to collect some quick gold and Voldemort quickly whipped his wand, sending one of the hundreds of deadly spells at his opponent, but only the wall suffered, as the assassin conjured an arrow dipped in poison and banished it right at Voldemort, before making a quick exit. Voldemort just barely avoided being impaled by the poisoned arrow, reducing it into dust just a second before it would have struck.

Looking both ways before he crossed the hallway to address his legions of minions, Voldemort took each step carefully, hand on his wand, these assassins were starting to the greatest wizard who ever lived. The fact that he was losing warm bodies daily did not help, he would have to regroup and step up his plans to take over before Barone eliminated every single Death Eater in his employ.

Harry had returned to Hogwarts in the latter part of the morning, a bit tired but rather cheerful, as he entered the Ravenclaw Common Room. Hermione seemed to have gotten up early to do some reading .

“You seem to be in a good mood and in one piece, which is a fortunate thing,” remarked Hermione casually, only slightly looking up from the book she was reading.

“I had Bellatrix Lestrange iced last night, now I’m going up to bed for a couple of hours, good night Hermione,” said Harry quickly as he made his way up the stairs.

“Wait a minute, you went after her,” replied Hermione in a frantic voice. “Dobby just told me you went hunting…”

“It isn’t like I knocked on Voldemort’s door and ran off cackling,” said Harry waving off Hermione. “Although, if I have nothing to do this weekend…”

“Well, killing all these Death Eaters, someone’s bound to notice, not that I blame you for doing so,” replied Hermione quickly. “But, what if you kill someone who’s repentant, someone who regrets joining up with him…”

“I understand and I’ve thought about this, until I found out what has to be done to receive a dark mark,” responded Harry. “Horrific acts are required to perform the ritual, it isn’t as simple as just getting a tattoo. I don’t want to talk about the specifics Hermione, you’ll get nightmares, but I’ll say this, putting down a Death Eater is just like putting down a rabid dog. It’s for their own good along with everyone else, as long as they lived, they are inflicted with an irreversible curse tying them to Voldemort.”

Harry sighed, remembering if he had found this out before, he might have shed all of his beliefs about how killing was wrong sooner and they might not be in the situation, where he had to do things all over again.

“It will force Voldemort to play his hand sooner and maybe I can beat him,” said Harry but he then sighed. “Although I don’t know how, I gave Flamel a detailed memory of that battle with Voldemort, including how he was resurrected, and he, along with several other of the top minds in the Wizarding World, to find a flaw in Voldemort’s new body, that can be exploited so I can put him down, but so far nothing.”

“I’m sure something would break soon, hopefully before Voldemort takes over again,” replied Hermione in a reassuring voice before she decided to change the subject. “Now, Harry, I need to ask you something else.”

“Can it wait a few hours Hermione?” yawned Harry but the look on Hermione’s face, one that Harry knew all too well, indicated that she could not wait at all. “Very well, what is it?”

“What are you going to tell Luna, Harry?” asked Hermione and Harry did a double take, a look of confusion appearing on his face.

“What are you getting at Hermione?” inquired Harry in an absolute baffled voice.

“Harry, she’s going to figure it out sooner or later, from what you’ve told me, she’s extremely bright and able to put two and two together,” responded Hermione and awaited Harry’s answer.

“Hermione, it’s more complicated than you think,” said Harry in a tense voice.

“Oh, yes I believe exactly how complicated you think it is, Harry,” replied Hermione with a slight smirk. “You might want to try the truth, I’m sure Luna will understand.”

“She may,” agreed Harry grudgingly. “I’m still not going to do it.”

“Why not?” demanded Hermione.

“Because,” said Harry as he wondered what he could say, what he should say. “I can’t let it happen again. Mere words can’t illustrate how miserable I was last time…it’s for the best, friendship is all I can hope for right now.”

“So you’re afraid?” asked Hermione, who had known Harry for so long and spent so much time with him that she could read him like a picture book but the ice cold look Harry was giving her, caused Hermione to step back, she had obviously said too much.

“Afraid, no I’m not afraid, I’ve fought dark wizards, Dementors, vampires, werewolves, giants, ,withstood many Molly Weasley howlers, and Merlin knows what else, so I don’t know fear,” responded Harry frostily and Hermione just sank back into the shadows, feeling she deserved whatever rant Harry propelled her way with that comment that accidentally slipped through her mouth. “Hermione, I like you, you’re my best friend, but don’t try and figure out what I’m thinking. Trust me, my mind’s not a pleasant place to be and trying to figure it out is next to impossible. My unique predicament makes it impossible for me to be with anyone beyond friendship but this is a whole entirely new level that no one can comprehend. Good night!”

Harry walked off and Hermione sat there, obviously what happened to Luna in the past timeline was a very sore spot for Harry and she resolved not to bring it up again to Harry, even though she felt that it would be best for Harry to tell Luna everything. Still, pressuring Harry into doing something he obviously was unwilling to face might not be the best thing and Hermione decided to let the matter drop, at least for the time being.

On the lighter side of life, after many years of extensive therapy, Professor Remington Q. Gillworth, the Third Esquire was released from the Insane Asylum. Other than the slight obsessive compulsive disorder that he had, he was declared to be completely mentally healthy, providing that he took his medication twice a day.

“Halt there mate,” said a voice and Professor Remington Q. Gillworth, the Third, Esquire, looked down, to spot and three and a half foot tall man with a mullet and a porn star mustache. “At last, I’ve got you, Voldemort, you aren’t going to get out this time ya wanker.”

“I beg your pardon sir but I’m Professor Remington Q. Gillworth, the Third, Esquire, not this Lord Voldemort you seek,” said Gillworth in a pompous voice. “I suggest you stand out of my way or I, Professor Remington Q. Gillworth the Third, Esquire, will have to teach you a lesson in respect.”

“Nice try mate, but that elaborate disguise won’t fool I, Killer Schwartz,” remarked Killer Schwartz.

“Killer Schwartz?” inquired Professor Remington Q. Gillworth, the Third, Esquire.

“Yes, my friends call me Killer Schwartz, and my enemies call me…Killer Schwartz,” responded Killer Schwartz. “Now are you going to stand down, Voldemort, or will I have to give you a sound bushwhacking.”

Gillworth looked before the psychotic dwarf had grabbed him by the shirt and flipped him to the ground, before holding a wacky magical spear at his throat.

“Help, help, let me back in!” yelled Professor Remington Q. Gillworth, the Third, Esquire. “I, Professor Remington Q. Gillworth, the Third, Esquire, am still very sick. There is a psychotic pixie trying to kill me.”

“That bounty will be mine!” cheered Killer Schwartz triumphantly, as Gillworth attempted to get away, but Schwartz jabbed his spear in mid air, causing a net to appear and wrap around Gillworth, causing Gillworth to crash down, smashing his head on some rocks. “Ah, that’s a piece of bad luck, I guess you aren’t Lord Voldemort, because Voldemort would not be put down by a mere net.”

Killer Schwartz looked down at Gillworth, as blood was oozing from his skull.

“Sorry about the crushed skull, mate,” remarked Killer Schwartz, as he walked off, leaving Gillworth to bleed to a slow, and agonizing death, as Schwartz continued on his quest to collect the bounty on the Dark Lord Voldemort. Soon he would be rich beyond all belief and he could retire in luxury, to an island full of scantily clad women.

Back at Hogwarts, Harry had woken up only a couple of hours after he went to sleep, he was used to getting very little sleep when on the run from Voldemort and Death Eaters for several years in the past timeline, he needed to be ready to spring up at a moment’s notice on a minimum of energy. The first sight that greeted Harry really did not put him in a good mood, as it was a group of first year Ravenclaw girls creeping from the dormitory, determined not to be seen. Perhaps Harry was being paranoid, but since Luna was not among them, Harry had a pretty good idea what they were up to. It was a shame some people just could not stand that others were a bit different, but once again, Harry was going to have to teach some people a really painful lesson.

“That Lovegood, Dad always said her father was a nutcase and her mother was a bit eccentric herself, tampering in all sorts of magic, so we need to teach a lesson, before she becomes too much of a problem,” muttered one of the girls but they looked up to see Harry standing right fro of him.

“Merlin it's Harry Potter!” yelped one of the girls and another attempted to hide herself in the background, her hair was not straight and she could not look like crap in the presence of Harry Potter.

“Good morning ladies,” replied Harry in a calm voice. “Now, I couldn’t help but here your nefarious plans to make my friend Luna’s life miserable.”

“Wait she’s your friend,” said one of the girls quickly, looking rather appalled that the great Harry Potter would befriend such a misfit.

“Yes, got a problem with that,” challenged Harry in a calm voice. “Still, if you do anything to Luna, you’ll have to answer to me and my little friend.”

“Hello,” hissed Vinny as he popped out of Harry’s sleeve, causing the first year girls to shriek and jump back in terror at the sight of a snake staring them right in the face, hissing at them from their point of view.

“Eek, a snake,” shrieked one of the girls.

“So, annoy me by making Luna’s life a living hell and…well just say, you’ll end up like poor Ralphie,” replied Harry in a mysterious tone of voice.

“Now Harry, there’s no need to bring up Ralphie, you’ll scare them half to death,” remarked Hermione as she walked in, as if nothing happened.

“Who’s Ralphie?” asked one of the girls.

“He annoyed me one day, really bad, tried to make my friends upset, something that I don’t take too kindly to,” replied Harry. “Then the day after he annoyed me, he was never seen ever again.”

“What happened to him?” asked one of the girls.

“You really don’t want to know,” said Hermione cryptically. “So the moral of the story is, don’t make Harry upset.”

“No, we won’t, in fact, we’ll return her stuff right away and be nice to her, right,” said one of the girls quickly, as the rest of them nodded fearfully, the fact that Vinny was staring at them with a rather hungry look in his eyes hastened their arrival up the stairs.

“Such gullible humans, I was under the impressions that Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart,” remarked Vinny calmly.

“They are for the most part, but they’re only human, not some mindless, fact speaking drones,” muttered Harry.

“You do realize that they’ll find out that the Ralphie story was a sham eventually,” remarked Hermione casually.

“Yes, but I think they’ll be smart enough to know that it’s not a good idea to upset someone with a snake,” countered Harry as Luna made her way down the stairs of her dormitory, as the other girls stepped back.

“Hello Luna, good morning to you,” replied one of the girls nervously, as the others seemed to nervously offer similar greetings, especially when they saw Harry standing from the other end of the room.

“Good morning,” said Luna cheerfully as she walked over to Harry and Hermione who were waiting over by the exit to the Common Room, to go off to Breakfast. “I was wrong about them.”

“How so, Luna?” asked Harry.

“Well, I thought they were a bit cold to me last night, most people would be, because it’s not like many people understand the genius of my father’s work and might ridicule me for that,” responded Luna.

“A shame,” said Harry and Luna nodded in absolute agreement, as Hermione just turned her face to hide the slight smile that was appearing on her face, before the three Ravenclaws made their way down to Breakfast.

The first week of the second year passed much like the majority of Harry’s first year, perhaps it was the fact that Harry had already lived through most of this stuff once before. In fact, he finished his homework in no time, which allowed him to go out beside the lake and just be left alone with his thoughts. All of his other friends had homework to do but some time after he sat down, much to his surprise, Luna had joined him.

“Hi Luna,” said Harry as she approached him. “What brings you out here?”

“Well since I’ve gotten my homework for this weekend completed, I supposed that it might be a good idea to come out get some fresh air, after all, plenty of fresh air makes you live a lot longer, at least that’s what Mum says,” answered Luna, as she sat down beside Harry. “So how are doing this weekend?”

“I’m fine, how about you?” asked Harry.

“Good thanks for asking,” replied Luna happily as she looked at Harry, studying him for a couple of seconds. “You don’t like it at all, do you?”

Harry stared at Luna, politely waiting for her to finish.

“The fame, being gawked at by everyone just because you’re Harry Potter,” responded Luna. “It’s not that hard to figure out, you’d rather be a face in the crowd, than the fact that attracts a crowd.”

“That about sums up everything Luna, I just wish more people would figure that out,” said Harry.

“I wish I could tell you they will, but I can’t lie to you Harry, people like those who are famous, they don’t realize that you have a life, problems, friends, just like them,” said Luna. “Still, most famous people do ask for it, but you didn’t. Your name was known by everyone but it’s not really worth it, is it?”

“No,” replied Harry. “There are people who fancy me, they’ve never met me in my life, they don’t make the effort, when you think of it, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Much like life itself,” responded Luna. “I mean, when it all boils do to it, life really isn’t supposed to make sense. As far as I’m concerned, we all exist for the amusement of some higher power, and if something makes sense, it’s purely by accident.”

Luna sighed, almost remorsefully.

“The topic is something that I’m sorry to bring up, but at least I can sleep at night knowing that you’re not someone who would let their fame run away with them,” continued Luna. “Not many would take everything like you have, others would embrace the hordes of willing fan girls throwing themselves at them, the fame, the free press, and everything that goes on with them, not realizing how much of a curse it might be.”

“I just want to be judged on my own merits,” said Harry, more to himself that to Luna. “Not what someone heard about me.”

“I do too Harry, no doubt many would call me odd, or insane, or even Looney,” remarked Luna. “But, what if I’m the only sane one, and everyone else is crazy?”

“Well, I think I’m just as sane as you, Luna,” said Harry with a smile which caused Luna to laugh. “So either we’re both really eccentric or the entire world is batty, I’m not sure which is more frightening.”

“We may never know,” concluded Luna mysteriously. “Still, tell me about yourself Harry, I don’t think our meeting on the train really scratched the surface.”

A group of rookie Death Eaters was meeting a secret supplier of rare and quite dangerous Potion ingredients at an abandoned Muggle ice rink. Why their benefactor had requested a meeting of here at all places?

“Hello, anyone here,” said the lead Death Eater, his voice echoing throughout the ice rink.

“Yes,” remarked a voice from the distance, submerged in the shadows.

“Do you have the products?” asked the leader.

“Depends, do you have the gold?” responded their mysterious benefactor.

“Of course,” replied the leader, as he held out the bag, which jingled in the distance and the hand was visible, before a vial containing a light blue substance was thrown right at the feet of the Death Eaters. As it shattered, white mist appeared when the potion connected with the ice and when it cleared, the Death Eaters were covered in solid ice, from the neck down, unable to move their arms to wave their wands as the form of Barone walked out of the shadows, with a twisted grin upon his face.

“Ice to meet you, gentlemen,” responded Barone as the Death Eaters looked on fearfully, as the feared mobster had approached them.

“Barone!” shouted the leader. “What are you going to do to us?”

“It just so happens that you’re going to be part of my new business venture, Death Eaters on Ice!” announced Barone in a twisted, slightly cheerful voice before he straightened up mockingly. “No, wait, sorry, there’s a correction, it really called Death Eaters: Iced!”

Barone nodded, as he stepped forward, before casually picking up the sack of gold that the Death Eaters kept.

“Sorry to give you the cold shoulder, but I have a timetable to keep,” continued Barone. “Still, I guess I can chill for a few more seconds.”

“Are you trying to kill us Barone or drive us insane with those bad puns?” demanded one of the Death Eaters.

“A little of both actually,” admitted Barone, as stepped back, before giving a mocking bow. “Now, children, I would explain my brilliantly sophisticated plan, but really, what kind of mob boss would I be if I did that? So, before you die, keep it cool.”

Barone walked off, as the next thing the Death Eaters knew, a loud explosion echoed throughout the building, dropping the entire ceiling down on them, shattering their frozen forms to pieces and cutting Voldemort’s ranks down by a few more.

It was now the third year. The second year was just another school year, rather quiet considering there was not a basilisk petrifying people right and left. Harry briefly considered letting the basilisk loose for his own amusement, but decided against it, after all, it might accidentally kill someone who had the potential to be a valuable part of the Wizarding World, along with all the dunderheads Harry was certain to eliminate. Voldemort was up to no good but remained mostly under the radar, staving off assassin tasks and a few Death Eaters dropping dead, but most of who remained had gotten the hint, going under group. The mob organization acquired more businesses, made more money, in other words, business as usual and Harry spent most of his time living a semi-normal life, with his friends, whenever he could manage to find the time.

“Hogsmeade finally!” yelled Blaise in an excited voice, as she walked towards the village, with Neville, Harry, and Hermione. They were meeting up with the Twins in a short while, who didn’t seem to believe in going out with the others, rather wanting to sneak out a couple hours early to enjoy more time. “True, I had to beg Dad to sign the permission slip, he’s paranoid that a rival would abduct me right out of the Wizarding village, despite the fact it’s a one in a million shot that someone would find out that I was going.”

“Considering the story’s I’ve heard about your father, I would think that he wouldn’t want to play those odds,” remarked Harry which prompted Blaise to stick her tongue out.

“Well, I’ve heard that your guardian goes water skiing on vacation, on the backs of dead Death Eaters,” said Blaise with a bit of a smirk.

“Actually, snowboarding,” corrected Harry. “It’s really a highly underrated sport, except when the corpse falls apart and you get covered in maggots.”

“Do you have any idea what those two are talking about?” muttered Neville in an undertone to Hermione.

“It’s best not to,” replied Hermione shaking her head. “So, I must say Hogsmeade is an extremely interesting place, the first…”

“Hermione, I’m sure the history of the village is interested, but Honeydukes and Zonkos are the real attraction,” said Harry cutting off Hermione in mid speech, as they entered the village.

“Not to mention the Shrieking Shack,” piped up Neville. “It’s the most haunted place in all of Britain, even the Hogwarts ghosts are afraid of it.”

“The Bloody Baron isn’t,” said Blaise moodily. “Still, many don’t want to approach it, they fear retribution from the vengeful spirits that live there.”

“Nah, I don’t think whoever lives there is really all that scary, unless it’s that time of the month,” remarked Harry, catching Hermione’s eye who was struggling hard not to snicker.

“So, that must mean that female ghosts live there,” said Blaise. “That makes sense, they are a bit more temperamental, consider Moaning Myrtle…”

“I try not to consider Moaning Myrtle, my life is a lot easier,” inputted Hermione.

“Well anyone who haunts a toilet does have some serious issues,” admitted Blaise, which caused them all to share a laugh at this but they stopped to see a few Aurors patrolling the village. “Wonder why all the Aurors are here?”

“Well, Voldemort,” replied Hermione which caused Blaise and Neville to both cringe. “Honestly, there is a chance he might try something, consider this is Harry’s first trip…”

“Actually, I’d be very surprised if Voldemort came here, Hogsmeade isn’t exactly a soft target, there are a fair few Aurors who live here, along with those who are on patrol,” replied Blaise. “He just doesn’t seem like a person who attacks in broad daylight.”

“Unless he’s desperate,” said Hermione.

“Given how many Death Eaters were killed recently…” stated Neville as he looked around.

“Don’t worry about it Neville, Voldemort doesn’t have the guts to attack a village in broad daylight,” said Harry in a reassuring voice, and at that minute, a loud bang echoed throughout the village and everyone screamed in terror.

“EVERYONE RUN, ITS YOU-KNOW-WHO!” shouted one of the villagers, as panic induced an atmosphere of complete chaos within the village.

“So sue me,” muttered Harry as Blaise, Neville, and Hermione were all looking at him, as the Death Eaters poured into the village.

“All students return to the school immediately!” yelled one of the Aurors and students rushed, as several spells shot from both sides, as the chaos reigned down on the village. It was a fortunate thing that not all of the students had left the school, so it was easy.

“All civilians run for cover!” ordered Mad-Eye Moody in a gruff voice as he thumped over, before he quickly secured a Death Eater who went after a group of fourth year students. Another Death Eater sent a cutting curse right at Moody who avoided it before the grizzled dark wizard catcher expertly knocked his opponent loopy with a concussion hex.

Blaise, Hermione, and Neville had reached the school, several others panting, the teachers looking rather confused.

“Attacking the village in broad day light, I thought he wouldn’t do so,” said Blaise.

“Well he’s getting desperate, right Harry?” asked Hermione before she realized Harry was not with them. “Of for the love of…he’s still in the village…”

Harry, now under the guise of Barone, walked into the village, surveying the situation. Since his past duel with Voldemort, he had studied and practiced his magic whenever possible, but the problem was he was still working against an enemy that had fifty years of experience over him, even after living two lifetimes. He watched as young Auror that was maybe in his late twenties was taken out by an unmasked Dolohov, one of Voldemort’s top Death Eaters. Moody turned to Dolohov.

“Moody, I haven’t properly thanked you for landing me in Azkaban,” said Dolohov in a raspy tone of voice, as he sent a lethal spell at Moody. Moody, showing great agility for someone with his age and physical handicaps, managed to avoid the shot and attempt to send shackles to bind Dolohov.

A loud bang and Moody had to defend himself against a series of razor sharp daggers that were blasted towards him. Moody winced as he dropped to the ground, blood dripping from his forearm.

“Age has made a fool out of you Moody,” taunted Dolohov but the Death Eater was stopped in mid taunt with a bone shattering hex to his wand arm, which he had to block.

A loud bang and Dolohov just barely put up the solid projectile shield charm to block the bullet sent right at him. Dolohov turned, face to face with Barone, with a twisted smile appearing on the Death Eater’s face.

“Ah, the mobster that has been giving the Dark Lord so many problems, no doubt he’ll award me for taking you out,” taunted Dolohov before he slashed his wand. Barone recognized this curse immediately and quickly blocked it but Moody caught Dolohov from behind with a spell that had sent the Death Eater into shock.

“CONSTANT VIGILANCE!” barked Moody before he turned to Barone. “You, what are you doing here?”

“Enjoying the hunt,” responded Barone calmly, as he casually blasted another Death Eater right down from a high perch that he stood upon to get some leverage.

“Beat it Barone, I don’t have no time to deal with vigilant mobsters,” said Moody in a grouchy tone of voice. “I appreciate what you’re doing and all, but at the same time, the Ministry’s looking for an excuse to bring you in.”

“That’s a chance that I’m willing to take,” said Barone. “Where’s the big guy?”

“You mean Voldemort?” inquired Moody and Barone nodded calmly. “He’s sealed himself in the former Hog’s Head, but it’s not a good idea for you to go in. You play a good game Barone, but you’re out of your league, kid, we’re dealing with someone that Dumbledore couldn’t even stop.”

“Dumbledore didn’t have the imagination to do what was necessary,” responded Barone, before he moved out, ducking out of sight and Moody did not have much time to bother with him, as he had to rush over to assist one of his teammates against the Death Eater he was facing off against.

In the Hog’s Head, Voldemort enjoyed the chaos. The entire Wizarding World needed a reminder of why they should fear him and an attack on Hogsmeade weekend, even if it was a trial run, would be serve his reputation.

At that second, the doors of the Hog’s Head burst open and Voldemort looked up, to find himself face to face with Nicholas Flamel, who walked up to Voldemort, wand raised.

“Flamel,” remarked Voldemort calmly. “Looking for some help to speed up the process to the afterlife?”

“No you cocky young upstart, as the Headmaster of Hogwarts, it’s my responsible to protect the students at any cost, but unlike Dumbledore, I’m a bit more hands on!” cried Flamel as a ball of solid orange light flew right towards Voldemort, a spell that Voldemort did not recognize so he quickly moved out of the way. The ball completely disintegrated everything it came into contact with.

Voldemort turned around and Flamel quickly whipped his wand down to the ground. The entire ground beneath Voldemort’s feet rumbled and Voldemort was propelled to the air. The ancient wizard was not done yet, as he quickly shot a burst of magical energy right towards Voldemort’s chest. Voldemort screamed in anger, as the spell made it see like he got a really bad case of heart burn.

“ENOUGH!” thundered Voldemort as he slashed his wand at Flamel and Flamel conjured a solid gold energy dome over him. The spell was ricocheted back at Voldemort at three times the speed and Voldemort was cut by his own spell for a few seconds, before his arm healed.

“Seems if we have a stand still, Riddle,” remarked Flamel.

“Perhaps, you ancient relic, but I doubt it,” said Voldemort, before he calmly waved his hand, promptly his snake Nagini erupted from out of nowhere, fangs bared and about to sink into Flamel’s chest.

Before Nagini could reach Flamel, Vinny the snake sprang out of nowhere, knocking the much larger snake out of the way. Nagini turned to see Vinny staring her down.

“Go ahead, bitch, make my day,” hissed Vinny, as he stared down Nagini, baring his fangs.

“You meddling serpent, I’ll make you pay for defying the Dark Lord,” responded Nagini in with a venomous hiss, , as the two snakes responded by hissing back and forth, neither willing to back down, despite Vinny giving up a fair amount of size to the much larger Nagini.

“So, at last Riddle, we meet,” remarked Barone as he stepped into the picture. “Attacking this village was an idiotic maneuver.”

“AVADA KEDAVRA!” yelled Voldemort but Barone had conjured a large stone shield which impacted the entire brunt of the curse.

“And that was a predictable one,” taunted Barone as Voldemort stood, as the two snakes continued to hiss at each other on the ground.

“Barone, we need not fight, if we join forces, no one could stop us,” offered Voldemort. “You would be among the top Death Eaters.”

“That’s not much, considering I killed every one of your idiotically faithful followers that were worth a damn,” said Barone in a bored tone of voice. “I’ve got a better idea, disband your little club of social misfits and I’ll allow you to join my organization. A position just opened for a janitor at headquarters and I suppose that might be right up your street Riddle, considering you’re full of shit.”

“You dare mock Lord Voldemort,” demanded Voldemort.

“I think you do a perfectly fine job of doing that yourself, Riddle,” responded Barone with a smug expression.

“Nagini, to me,” hissed Voldemort and Nagini reluctantly slithered away just before she was going to make her move against Vinny.

“That’s right, you better run, bitch,” taunted Vinny and quickly a large burst of platinum light in the form of rings erupted from Voldemort’s wand.

“Get away, that spell will destabilize all magic for approximately the next five minutes!” warned Flamel but it was too late as Barone and Flamel were both simultaneously struck with the spells, causing Barone to drop to the ground. Since, he had no magic to hold the form, Barone morphed back into the form of Harry Potter.

“SON OF A MOTHER FUCKING BITCH!” yelled Harry in absolute horror, his cover had been blown right in front of the person that he least wanted it to.

“WHAT?” thundered Voldemort, as he stepped back in surprise, eyes widened in shock, forgetting the supreme amount of fatigue he felt after using that spell. “Potter…”

Voldemort observed Harry for a few seconds, as if scarcely believing what he had seen himself but yet he could not deny it.

“Barone and Harry Potter one in the same,” said Voldemort, it seemed absurd, but yet Voldemort always believed the evidence when it was staring right in front of him. “I can see everything clearly now, there is only one logical explanation that a young child could be able to run a mafia organization at such a young age…”

Voldemort nodded, looking rather pleased, as if Christmas had come early, and Harry knew the jig was up, Voldemort was about to figure out that he had come from the future.

“When I struck Potter with the Killing Curse on that night, instead of killing him, the burst of heavy magic had affected his mind, giving him super intelligence, leagues beyond the level of anyone else his age,” said Voldemort. “Naturally, that has to be the explanation, I’m certain fools would point to something like time travel, but I, Lord Voldemort, am certain that this is the only possible explanation. Perhaps a second Killing Curse would reduce that intelligence...”

“Are you sure you want to risk that it won’t kill me Riddle?” asked Harry. “Remember the Prophecy.”

“Yes, perhaps I’ll kill Flamel instead,” said Voldemort coldly but Flamel looked at Voldemort, unable to do magic because of the extremely dark and powerful curse, but his eyes were still blazing with determination.

“Give it your best shot, I doubt you can succeed where the Grim Reaper has failed,” challenged Flamel but before Voldemort could test this theory, the front wall of the Hogs Head was blown open, just before Harry’s magic had kicked back in and he reverted back to the form of Barone.

“End of the line, you’re under arrest,” barked the head of the Auror Office, Rufus Scrimgeour. “Come quietly, it’s time for you to go to Azkaban to pay for your crimes.”

“Yes, woe is me, I surrender,” said Voldemort sarcastically as Barone and Flamel joined the ground, staring Voldemort. “Really, no prison you fools can build can contain me, you’ll have to kill me and only a really powerful wizard even has a chance, not that they’ll succeed.”

“Someone will put you down, murderer,” grunted Moody, his magical eye whizzing in every which direction.

“And a message to Harry Potter, one way or the other, he will join me,” said Voldemort cryptically, not bothering to out Potter as Barone, as quite frankly he had nothing to gain and doubted that many fools would believe him. “All he holds dear will be taken away from him and if he continues to defy me at every turn, this is just an example of what will happen to his friends. Remember, any blood is on your hands, Potter.”

Voldemort quickly blasted a jet of solid gold light right towards Mad-Eye Moody. The spell traveled so fast, that Moody did not even see it coming until it hit. Everyone gasped as Mad-Eye Moody blew to bits, reducing him to nothing but a few bone fragments and some drops of blood.

“Guess, you should have practiced Constant Vigilance a bit more, Moody,” taunted Voldemort, as several Aurors angrily shot spells right at Voldemort but Voldemort vanished into mid air, after viciously slaying one of the best Aurors that he ever could in the middle of Hogsmeade, just because he could.

This chapter was what it was, just a chapter, a means to get from one point of the story to the next. A few fun scenes and couple of things happen to set the stage for future events, but really, nothing groundbreaking. Of course, that’s just my opinion. The next chapter will be up by the end of May, I hope.