Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Harry honestly couldn't understand why Slughorn refused to give him the real memory. The man obviously knew how bad Voldemort was. He clearly didn't want the Dark Lord to win but he simply refused to give it to him, even going so far as to slam doors in his face.
Now time was growing short. There were only a few more weeks till the end of the school year and Harry would miss his chance.
In his hand Harry held the possible solution to his current problem.
Felix Felicis.
It looked like liquid gold. It was probably just as valuable. Harry hoped this sacrifice was worth it. He only needed a small amount, a few hours to confront the Professor and get the memory.
He slowly raised the vial to his lips and began to sip.
Now, Harry had always had trouble believing he was lucky. Granted, whenever he told someone about the adventures in his first five years at Hogwarts, he claimed he 'got lucky'.
But then you had to consider if it was truly 'lucky' if he found himself in those situations in the first place. Not to mention his disastrous first eleven years of life of losing his parents and living with the Dursleys.
Harry's unusual relationship with 'luck' came to a head as he took his first sip.
The door to the dormitory slammed open with a bang and Neville charged in. "Harry! Harry! You have to help us; I think Ginny might try and kill Ron!"
The absolute shock and surprise of the door being slammed open and being shouted at caused Harry to swallow hard.
"NNNNNNGGGGG! NNNNNGGGGGG!" Harry began waving frantically at Neville.
"Harry? This is serious, stop playing around!"
"NNNNNNNNGGGG!" Harry began to turn blue with the vial jammed in his throat. He grabbed Neville by the shoulders and forced him to look at the situation in his mouth.
"Merlin Harry! Why did you swallow that?"
Harry had never wanted to hurt anyone as badly as he wanted to hurt Neville at that moment in time.
He began gesturing wildly to try and get Neville to help him get it out.
"Come on Harry, you can play your weird muggle games later, we need to save Ron from Ginny." Neville ordered as he dragged the dying Harry Potter out of the room.
Harry couldn't tell what was happening downstairs, his vision was blurry from a lack of oxygen. He couldn't tell if Hermione was there; she would understand and save his life.
He had one last chance – wandless and non-verbal magic. He hadn't had time to grab his wand from upstairs but he knew it could be done; Dumbledore did enough of it. They had been working on non-verbal spells in DADA.
He raised his hand in front of his mouth and put all his thoughts and feelings into one spell:
'Accio vial!'
There was a horrible wrenching sensation as the vial flew from his throat and across the room at high speed.
"OW! Who the hell threw this?"
There was a horrible retching sound as Harry vomited all three meals of the day.
All over the nearest table.
Which happened to seat Lavender and Parvati.
"EWWWWWW!"
Harry collapsed on the floor, panting heavily and in pain.
"DAMN YOU POTTER!" Came the three angry voices of both girls and the victim of his flying vial, Cormac McLaggen.
"It… was… *gasp*… an acccssssiident." Harry wheezed.
"I'm going to kill you Potter!" Lavender seethed as she drew her wand.
Harry barely managed to move as he dodged the stinging hex. "Accident!" He gasped, his throat still raw.
Neither the girls nor Cormac were in a forgiving mood as they began hurling curses at him. Harry instinctively threw up his hand and began concentrating on the shield charm.
The rest of the common room occupants gasped as he succeeded. The three attackers were too enraged to care and Harry's shield, weak from his current near death experience and his lack of wandless experience, collapsed.
Harry bolted for the exit as spells kept flying.
"Get back here Potter! We aren't finished with you yet!" Cormac screamed.
Most of the occupants of the common room snickered at the girlish sound the tall handsome boy made in his rage.
As the four individuals exited the room in an explosion of spell fire the residents began to gossip about the whole ordeal. Seamus began to take bets as to whether Harry would survive his encounter.
Ron came off the best as Ginny forgot all about hexing him because he was sticking his nose into her love life with Dean.
Harry was running up the stairs as fast as he could. Spells were flying past him as his three enraged housemates chased after him.
But he was tired. Drained from the lack of oxygen and the terror of nearly suffocating to death.
His poor vision, stamina and coordination caused him to lose his footing and he went hurtling into a suit of armour sending pieces crashing everywhere.
There was a loud bang as the shield landed on his head.
Harry was beginning to question the brewing skills of Professor Slughorn… this was his unluckiest day to date.
"We've got you now Potter!" Cormac snarled as they stalked up to him.
"You got puke all over my bag!" Lavender snapped.
Harry frowned as he noticed something. "I think there is some in your hair." He said distractedly.
Lavender's eyes widened in horror: "GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT!" She screamed frantically as Pavarti tried to do just that. Lavender, forgetting she was a witch ran for her dorm room and the shower with Pavarti hot on her heels.
This left Cormac and Harry alone; with Harry only having the shield to hide behind.
"You think you're so high and mighty Potter. You deny me my place on the team just so your friend can have it, you take Granger away from me and now you think you can just throw things at me? Well it's time to teach you your place." Cormac grinned maliciously. "Bombarda!"
Harry ducked down behind the shield.
There was a loud crash and gust of wind.
Harry looked down and saw he was still in one piece, and he hadn't been moved.
He chanced a peak over the shield and saw that Cormac was now lying several feet away in a rather bloody mess. Judging by the groans he was still alive though.
"What the bloody hell happened?" Harry croaked through his raw throat.
"Stupid modern wizards." Came a metallic echoing voice.
Harry looked around and was shocked when the suit of armour pulled itself together and retrieved his shield from Harry.
"They keep us around as decorations and seem to forget that there was a reason armour was once used." The armour said in disgust as it climbed back up on its pedestal. "Are you going to call for a house elf or let the fool bleed out?"
"Erm… Dobby?" He asked hesitantly, his eyes never leaving the now inert armour.
*POP*
"Harry Potter called for Dobby!" The excitable elf cried happily.
"Hi Dobby, could you see to Cormac?" He pointed at the crumpled body. "He had a bit of a spell accident."
"Of course, Harry Potter!" Dobby clicked his fingers and he popped away along with Cormac.
Harry frowned as he stood up. He had survived a vicious spell because he had a shield. A metal shield from a suit of armour. He turned to the suit of armour.
"Excuse me, Mister Armour, Sir, are you still in there?" He asked, feeling slightly foolish.
"Not like I'm going anywhere else anytime soon." The suit grumped yet remained immobile.
"You actually fought in battles? With wizards?"
"Absolutely. I'm actually a younger model, but on the seventh floor you can find older models that fought for Arthur." The suit said proudly.
"Are you the ghost of the person who wore the suit?"
"No, I'm just a magical construct. I would aid the wearer by telling them simple things, like when he was about to be stabbed in the back." The armour chuckled.
"Do you have any other enchantments?"
"Like what?" The suit asked curiously.
"Erm… comfort, heat, fireproof, water proof, unbreakable-"
"No lad, I was just charmed with basic intelligence charms and magical focuses."
"Magical focuses?"
The suit of armour finally moved and showed Harry the palms of its hands. "See, these gloves let the user cast magic through the palms."
Harry looked closer and saw what appeared to be some sort of crystal with some string like substance embedded in it.
"What is that?"
"Dragon heartstrings in amber resin." The armour said proudly. "Of course the gloves could be switched out for a better match to the wizard but dragon heartstrings are better for battle."
"What's the difference between you and the older models then?"
"Older models have a bit more experience, of course after centuries of disuse they might not be completely functional. Newer models like me have these." The armour held out its right forearm and pointed to a small opening that led into a channel from elbow to wrist on the inside of the forearm. "Let's a wizard put his wand in there and they can use the wand whilst it is in place."
"Your shield, you could use it to block a killing curse, couldn't you?" Harry asked as he recalled the battle at the Ministry the year before where Dumbledore had conjured and summoned objects to block the unblock-able curse.
"No idea. That curse wasn't around back when I was in service." The armour shrugged.
Harry scrunched up his nose in thought for a few moments. "I don't suppose you would be willing to go back into service? I have this Dark Lord and his minions that need dealing with and I could use an advantage."
The armour gave bark of laughter. "Lad, I was built for battle. Standing on this pedestal for the past six hundred plus years has been absolutely sickening, all those kids hiding behind me from teachers or kissing and whatnot. I swear I've had thirty generations conceived just behind me. If you want to give me a chance to fight again then you are my hero!"
"Great! Let's go to the Room of Requirement, we can work there."
The interesting duo made an unusual and noisy journey to the seventh floor. Harry made a mental note to put silencing charms on the armour; it was currently useless for sneaking around.
Luckily, they managed to reach the room without running into anyone. But Harry still needed to get into the room. He stood there thinking about what to ask for.
'I really just need a place to work. Some tools and books would be useful. But what should I ask for?'
Whilst he was wondering a door appeared which surprised Harry. He figured the room had read his subconscious needs and provided the right stuff. He stepped forward and entered the room. He was confused as it was the junk room, the place where he had stashed his potions book.
They moved forward, glancing around at the various mounds of junk. Harry wondered who had put the stuff in here. If students had done so it wouldn't be a secret. He supposed the elves could have but it didn't seem tidy enough for an elf. Of course if the elves had been able to get in here they would have fainted in shock and pleasure at the sight of so much work.
"CRUCIO!"
Harry instinctively dived behind the armour as the yellow bolt of light whizzed past his last position.
"I don't have my wand!"
"Take this, lad. I'll deal with the upstart." The armour said as it shoved its shield at Harry.
"Try and take him alive, we need to ask him questions."
"Interrogation it is then." The armour nodded.
"Diffindo! Bombarda! Get away from me! Sectumsempra!"
Harry recognised that voice and nearly did a small dance of joy as he realised he had finally caught Malfoy. He could find out what the ponce was up to.
"Lad? I have the brat and his wand." The armour called out.
Harry stood up and picked up the shield.
He immediately added a mental note to his list to add feather weight charms to the shield and armour as his arm was nearly wrenched out of his socket.
He rounded a corner of stacked broken chairs to see the armour holding Malfoy two feet off the ground by his collar, in the armour's left hand was Malfoy's wand.
Harry realised he had the perfect opportunity here. He could squeeze Draco for all the information he had, provided he did it the right way, which as always meant tweaking his ego.
Harry adopted a sincere expression of sympathy. "Oh Malfoy. Are things really that bad in Slytherin for you that you have to hide in a junk room? Are they teasing you that much?"
"I own Slytherin Potter, and when my father hears about this the Dark Lord will let me kill you myself."
Harry walked up and took the wand from the armour and sliced Draco's left sleeve revealing the Dark Mark. "Did they force you to take this like they did your father? Did they use the imperious?" He asked with sincere compassion… well, faked sincere compassion.
"I took my master's mark with pride Potter!" Draco snapped. "The Dark Lord was impressed with the way I tortured and killed that muggle girl."
Harry hid his scowl; Draco Malfoy wouldn't last the night if he had anything to say about it. "You've seen Voldemort? Is he still living in a rundown shack? Last time I saw him he was camping out in a graveyard, before that he was hiding in some old ruins."
"Malfoy Manor is no 'shack'! The Dark Lord lives in luxury as is befitting a Pureblood."
Harry took a moment to wonder if maybe the luck potion was finally working, or Draco was really that stupid. It was a tough call.
He saw the tools and the half-dismantled cupboard nearby.
"But all he has you doing is hiding and playing with a cupboard. Has he relegated you to fixing his furniture?" He asked with a knowing frown of understanding.
"The Dark Lord has tasked me with his most important mission!" Draco declared as he puffed up. It was quite comical considering he was still dangling from the armour's hand. "That's a Vanishing Cabinet and now that I have finished it the Dark Lord will lead his loyal followers here and we will cleanse the school of the muggle filth!"
"So that leads to Malfoy Manor?" Harry asked as he looked carefully at the cabinet before picking up one of the many books scattered around the cabinet. It was a book on basic runes.
"Of course not, it leads to Borgin's. There the Dark Lord's most powerful and skilled fighters await him." Draco scoffed.
Harry thought for a few moments. "Stupefy." Draco slumped still dangling from the armour's hand.
"We could have gotten a lot more information out of him!" The armour objected.
"I couldn't think of how to ask him questions that would make him voluntarily give up the info. We can always wake him up later. For now, we know all the important bits like where Voldemort is and what this cabinet does. With these books on runes I can add more features to you and make you much safer to head into battle with, even against dragons!"
"I never got the chance to fight a dragon." The armour mused as it rubbed its helmet's chin with its free hand. "Let's get started then!"
"First up, strengthening and light-weight charms. This shield is bloody heavy, and I don't think I will be able to lift and move in the armour."
"You don't need to worry about that. That's one of the more basic features I have. That and the waste disposal charms."
"Waste disposal?"
"Knights would have to spend days in the armour, and quite frankly, everybody shits." The armour declared with authority.
Harry looked a little green at the thought of putting on armour that others had… shat in. "Good to know." He said weakly.
Harry spent the next hour with a piece of parchment and a quill going through the various books on runes that Draco had with him to fix the vanishing cabinet. Every time he found a feature, he would check with the armour to see if he already had it.
He soon had an extensive list that included making the armour unbreakable, a feature not available when the armour was in service, flight, which Harry was exceptionally excited about and planned on reading that book extensively later and a sealing mechanism that would prevent anyone except him removing the armour.
Harry had questioned the armour about how he would fit his short frame inside a six-foot suit of armour. The knight had assured him that there were many short knights and that he was built with special charms that would make his body grow to the right size whilst he was in the armour.
Harry began to get to work using the special tools that Draco was using. He had to dismantle the armour, but the helmet still chatted with him, telling him about various battles he had engaged in. Harry found that he enjoyed reading about runes and was looking forward to experimenting with them. He considered asking McGonagall if he could take the runes OWL if he joined a third-year class. They seemed to have so many applications and some of them could be used by non-magicals.
After two hours Harry was finished. He was surprised to find out that it was one in the morning, but he needed to do all he could whilst dosed up on luck potion, so he began to put the armour on.
This actually required a lot of instruction by the armour as apparently it was a task for three or four people.
Eventually they came to an impasse. Harry had successfully put the helmet on. That was it.
"Why don't you call that elf, Dobby wasn't it? They used to be fairly useful at this sort of thing." The armour suggested.
Harry nodded and removed the helmet so he didn't scare his little friend. "Dobby?"
With a small pop the elf appeared. "Harry Potter calls for Dobby twice in one night! Is Harry Potter wanting Dobby as his elf?" He asked with large hopeful eyes.
"Oh, you're that elf with no master. You aren't the drunk one, are you?" The armour asked.
"I am not!" Dobby said heatedly. "Dobby is a free elf, but Dobby wouldn't say no to working for Harry Potter."
"Better do it lad, elves get a little nutty without a master, no one knows why but they can't survive without someone to serve."
Harry had flashbacks to Dobby's 'help' during his second year. "Sure Dobby, you can be my house elf."
Harry grunted as Dobby slammed into him hugging him tightly. "Harry Potter is the best wizard ever!"
"Glad someone thinks so." Harry chuckled as he thought of his previous year in which everyone seemed to hate him. What really annoyed him was that Hermione seemed to have it in for him because of that book and because he did better than her in potions. He really didn't seem to be able to win at times.
"Dobby, can you help me get into this armour?"
The elf nodded and hopped back from Harry. "Master Harry will need to stand up."
Harry quickly stood up and waited.
Dobby snapped his fingers and Harry started to rise into the air, this startled Harry who began to flail about frantically.
"Master Harry must be still!" Dobby admonished.
Harry looked very bashful as he tried to relax under the stern gaze of his new house elf.
Dobby began levitating the various pieces of armour on to Harry, strapping the leather and snapping the catches in place where needed. The whole process took less than two minutes before Harry was lowered to the ground where, thanks to his silencing runes, he made nary a sound.
"This is great Dobby!" Harry declared as he began twisting and bending, jogging on the spot and stretching his limbs. There were apparently a lot of charms for letting the armour move naturally with the user, unlike a muggle suit of armour that turned the user into a lumbering Frankenstein.
Harry easily picked up the shield and began swinging it into defensive poses and even practising smashing things with it. Then he remembered the gloves and looked around for something to aim at.
He moved over to the large stack of chairs and pulled one from the top, placing it on the floor. He then took a few steps back and raised his palm at the chair.
"Reducto!"
The chair exploded into tiny shards of wood.
"Excellent!" Harry cried as Dobby hid behind his tall metal legs. "All I need now is a sword and my wand."
"Dobby will get them!" The elf cried as he popped out. He was only gone for a second as he returned with his wand and a very familiar sword.
"You took the Sword of Gryffindor?" Harry asked slightly amused as he took his wand and placed it in the slot on his right forearm.
"It belongs to Master Harry. Dobby knows that the talky hat gave it to Master Harry. Headmaster Dumbles warned all elves not to touch it as it had a poisoned blade."
"And yet you still touched it."
"Dobby not touch blade! Dobby touch handle!" The elf said indignantly.
"I'm just teasing, Dobby." Harry took the sword carefully whilst looking for something to put it in. That was when he realised he didn't have a scabbard.
Dobby seemed to realise this and popped out again, this time returning with a suitable scabbard which he helped Harry attach around his waist.
"Dobby took this from another suit of armour. He was holding his sword so he didn't need it." Dobby reasoned.
"You're a life saver Dobby." Harry assured him. "Ok, I'm all set. I have armour and weapons. I know where Voldemort is- Dobby it's just a name. I'll call him Riddle if you like, that's his real name." He offered the elf as it flinched at the forbidden name.
"Say, Dobby, do you know how to get to Malfoy Manor?"
"Dobby knows. Dobby sneaks in to see Dobby's children."
Harry just stood there in shock. He'd never thought about where house elves came from. He'd never considered Dobby's age or family beyond the Malfoys.
"Dobby, are your children bound to the Malfoy family?" Harry asked worriedly.
Dobby just nodded sadly.
"Then we will just have to free them." He said decisively. "Dobby, I'm going to go in this cupboard. I will appear in Borgin and Burkes. When I get to the other side I will call when it's clear. Can you then take that cupboard to the Shrieking Shack?"
"Dobby can do that!" He said as hope began to fill his eyes.
"Good, once you've done that you will need to take me to Malfoy Manor where I will kill Riddle and rescue your children." Harry declared confidently.
"Lad, are you sure you want to rush into this now?" The armour's voice appeared to sound in his head. "I'm always up for a fight but some planning and backup would be useful."
"Yes, but I accidentally swallowed twelve hours of luck potion. Plus if word gets out that I know where Riddle is I might lose my shot."
"How can you accidentally swallow luck potion?" The armour asked.
"I refuse to think about it as my head might explode. By the way, do you have a name?"
"Call me Arnie."
"Arnie the armour?" Harry asked in disbelief.
Arnie just chuckled.
"Who is Master talking to?" Dobby asked worriedly.
"The armour? You can't hear him?"
Dobby shook his head.
"You wouldn't want the enemy to be able to hear me give you battlefield knowledge would you?" Arnie pointed out.
"True. Are you ready then Dobby?"
"Yes sir!" Dobby said.
"I'll call for you on the other side if it's clear." Harry said as he stepped into the cabinet and closed the door.
A nifty little feature that Harry found in the books was an invisibility rune. It was very complex, far more complex than the flight runes but it was supposed to work just as well as any invisibility cloak and much better than the Disillusionment Charm. So when he arrived in the other cabinet and opened the door, the Death Eaters couldn't see him. But they did all point their wands at the cabinet when the door opened.
"Did it work? Did the brat succeed?" Came a high-pitched voice that Harry loathed. Bellatrix Lestrange was in the shop.
"There's nothing in there." Came a male voice he didn't recognise.
Harry grinned as he raised his hand and sent out a Bombarda at the floor that sent the Death Eaters flying. It was a small shop and like most other magical properties, the windows where charmed unbreakable. It simply made sense to charm them instead of replacing them or fixing them. This meant that many of the Death Eaters did an impression of a bug on a muggle windshield.
Harry quickly moved through them stunning them, petrifying, binding them and silencing them. He then put the lot of them in a pile in the corner on top of each other. He'd decide what to do with them when he had done Riddle in.
"Dobby!"
*pop*
"Master Harry is very powerful!"
"No, Master Harry is just doped up on a lot of liquid luck." Harry said dryly as Arnie chuckled inside his head.
"Can you get the cabinet to the Shrieking Shack and then come back and move the bodies there too?"
"Does Master want Dobby to take him to bad old master's home first?"
"Better get this done first." Harry considered.
Without another word Dobby started popping backwards and forwards taking the cabinet first and then taking the Death Eaters one by one.
In fairly short order the shop was empty and repaired as Harry had not been idle whilst Dobby was busy. There was no evidence of the exceptionally short and one-sided battle that had occurred.
"Master Harry is ready to go?"
"I am, but once we get there, grab your children and go to the shack. I need you to strip the Death Eaters and make sure they don't have wands or Portkeys or anything else on them. I can't believe I didn't think of that."
"Dobby already does that, Master." Dobby said proudly.
"Wow… nice work Dobby! Let's go finish this then."
Malfoy Manor shocked Harry to his core. Situated in London in one of the most impressive places the city contained.
The grounds of Buckingham Palace.
Harry was utterly disgusted, it was clear that the Malfoys had built the Manor in the past years or had stolen it from the Royals as there was no way a commoner foreign family would be granted such a prestigious location to live. Harry himself could see the manor so he knew it wasn't hidden by a Fidelius, he assumed it had muggle repelling wards like the Leaky Cauldron and Hogwarts.
"Ok Dobs, I'm going in. Wait till you hear fighting before you grab your kids, I don't want to tip off Riddle."
"Yes sir, Master Harry sir!"
Harry nodded his armoured head and activated his invisibility. It was now time to field test his flight abilities.
Harry learnt a very important rule about equipment. Always test it before taking it into battle.
He shot into the air at a speed that far outstripped his Firebolt, screaming in shock as he went.
"Master Harry must be taking the long route." Dobby muttered as he listened to the sound of Harry's vertically departing scream.
Harry eventually stopped screaming and resorted to silent panicking. The runes he had used for flight were the basic ones used on broomsticks, carpets, Ford Anglias and Triumph Motorcycles, just as the invisibility runes were used on Arthur Weasley's car. What Harry didn't realise (because he was so excited he skipped the safety section) was that a second set of runes were needed to minimise the maximum speed. It had always been impossible to test the maximum speed of flying runes as when the rider reached the sound barrier they were usually killed by wind shear and falling from the broom.
Of course, no one had ever thought to apply the runes to a suit of armour.
Flight runes, like many others, were powered by the magic of the user, so it all came down to how much magic Harry had put into the runes. Harry stopped applying magic when he breached the sparse cloud cover over head and had a perfect view of the stars.
That view soon vanished as he began to plummet back to Earth. Harry desperately tried to find a happy medium of power that wouldn't put him in orbit or see him decorating His Majesty's lawn with his entrails. He was far too tense to control his magic and kept falling several hundred feet before he would activate the flight runes and shoot up one hundred.
This happened for about a minute before he came plummeting down into the roof of Malfoy Manor, through the attic, the master bedroom, a guest room and finally three feet into the floor of the banquet hall.
"Arnie… remind me to test the flight runes properly next time." Harry groaned from his inverted position.
Yes, Harry had landed headfirst and was currently stuck that way.
"Stop griping and pull yourself together lad! You are in enemy territory. Pull your head out and start kicking arse!"
Which Harry did as he managed to plant his feet on the ground and lever his head out of it. More precisely he managed to pull a huge chunk of the floor up which remained lodged around his helmet. Harry quickly smashed his head with his gauntleted hand sending a spray of dust into the air.
"EWWW!" Harry squealed as he realised he had a finger and an ear lodged in said gauntlet.
"Enemy right behind you!" Arnie warned.
Harry quickly spun as he raised his shield and he saw Lucius Malfoy raise his wand.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The bolt of green light sped forward but as with the spell from Cormac it bounced straight back at the caster.
Lucius dropped dead on the spot.
"YOU KILLED LUCIUS! YOU BASTARD!" Harry spun back around and saw the blonde haired Narcissa Malfoy brandishing her own wand.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
What happened next should be obvious.
The world was now down to just the one Malfoy.
"Anymore?" Harry asked Arnie quietly. He was a little disconcerted that Narcissa had been so stupid in repeating her husband's own mistake.
"Look at the floor Harry." Arnie advised.
Harry tilted his helmet down and saw black robes all over the floor, blood pooled everywhere.
Harry felt very sick as he realised he had killed them all when he landed.
"Don't you dare puke in me boy!" The Arnie warned.
"I won't, promise." Harry said queasily.
"On your left!"
Once again Harry turned as a barrage of curses flew his way from the seven Death Eaters that had just entered.
Two killing curses and a Bombarda were reflected back. No one would know for sure what killed them.
"End of the room Harry, someone's alive over there." Arnie warned.
Harry raised his shield and peaked over the top. A wheezing cough could be heard as a dark shape struggled from under some ceiling beams that Harry had brought down with his entrance.
"Voldemort." Harry scowled.
"Who are you that you dare attack me?" The pale skinned, snake-faced creature demanded.
"Just Harry." He replied with a small smirk… not that Voldemort could see it. "Surrender Riddle or I will take you down. It's going to happen, it's been prophesised." Harry bluffed.
"Potter?" Voldemort scoffed in disbelief. "You are not Potter. Potter is a weakling. Severus tells me the brat is a weakling who couldn't out duel a first year. I've fought Potter, he was right."
"I beat you in the graveyard, didn't I?"
"Is that what Potter told you? Ha!"
"Why doesn't he believe it's me?" Harry muttered.
"Probably because your voice is muffled through my helmet." Arnie offered.
"Oh, right." Harry flipped up the visor. "See, me!" He grinned.
"Potter!" Voldemort roared.
"Didn't we just cover this? Are you going to surrender?"
"I will make you suffer for years boy! I will bring your friends before you and make you watch as-"
"Stupefy!" Harry was bored already and he was not going to listen to Voldemort rant.
"Really? You led with a stupefy?" Arnie asked disapprovingly.
"He'll shield anything I throw at him. If he sends anything at me I can deflect it." Harry explained quietly as he dropped his visor again.
"Here's hoping he doesn't have a spell that can do some damage." Arnie was clearly displeased with this plan.
Voldemort led with the Death Eater special: The Killing Curse. This bounced back but Voldemort quickly dodged his own curse. This happened three times before he decided to switch to the blasting curse, Bombarda. He quickly came to the conclusion this was a bad idea when he found himself pasted against the back wall and groaning in pain.
"I WILL KILL YOU POTTER!"
"Promises, promises!" Harry taunted happily.
"He's too quick, lad. You need to go on the offensive before he decides to run." Arnie chastised.
Harry quickly began sending stunners and Reductos at Voldemort.
"Are you insane boy?! GUT THE BASTARD! SLICE HIS HEAD OFF! STOP THIS PANSY ARSED SHITE YOU BLOODY PACIFIST!" Arnie roared in his head.
Harry winced at the volume and language but dropped the stunners and brought up every nasty curse he knew. Voldemort could do nothing but dodge.
The self proclaimed Dark Lord knew he was outclassed. Not only could he not hit the boy, but the boy himself had him pinned under a barrage of spells. It was only his superior physique from his artificial body that allowed him to dodge and deflect many of the spells whilst Potter simply stood there firing at him. He needed to get beyond the wards so he could apparate out or at the very least fly.
He took aim at the wall behind him and fired his strongest blasting hex.
Harry did not like what he saw. If Voldemort escaped he might never get this chance again. He did the one thing he really didn't want to do again that night.
He activated his flight runes.
Voldemort spun around as he heard an approaching scream. He didn't turn very far as Harry slammed through him.
Yes, through him. Harry's armour sliced through Voldemort taking most of his stomach with him and leaving Voldemort's chest and legs to flop to the floor.
Harry ploughed into the ground a few feet away… and a few meters down.
"Nice work lad! Now that's how you take out the enemy!" Arnie cheered.
Harry really wanted to be sick as he gingerly picked a piece of entrails from his visor.
There was a horrible wailing sound and Harry spun to the bisected body to see a familiar black wraith rising up from the remains.
"I will have my revenge Potter!" Came the hoarse and distorted voice.
"I'll be waiting." Harry said calmly. "Just remember, you always have to start from scratch, I've been getting more and more experienced since I beat you as a baby."
The wraith gave an inarticulate roar and flew away from Harry.
"Better than the last time. He flew through me the first time I saw him like that." Harry muttered.
"Probably didn't want to risk the enchantments on me." Arnie explained.
"FREEZE! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES!"
Harry immediately spun around as his shield came up.
Unfortunately the Royal Infantrymen of the King's Guard were not messing around and immediately opened fire with their weapons.
There was the sound of several bullets and then screams of pain.
Harry looked over his shield and saw all of the soldiers lying on the floor with various gunshot wounds.
"Oh bloody hell!" Harry exclaimed. He really didn't want to hurt anyone except Death Eaters and Voldemort, and he really would have preferred to have left that to someone else as well.
He quickly rushed over and was relieved that none of them were dead, two were pretty close though.
He found the one most coherent. "Where's your infirmary?" He asked quickly.
In response the soldier stared at him fearfully and pulled out his radio. "Man down! Man down! Need back up! Hostile on site in sector 3!"
"Roger that, backup is on route." Came the reply.
Harry just groaned. "Look you idiot, I came in peace! You shot at me!"
He stood up and took a step back.
"Dobby?"
Dobby arrived and looked at the scene with a raised eyebrow. "Master Harry is attacking soldier muggles?"
"No, they attacked me. Can you watch these guys invisibly and make sure they don't die? I'm going to try and find their infirmary."
"Dobby could take them to Miss Poppy? Or Dobby could get Miss Poppy."
Harry looked at the soldiers. At least one was on the brink of death.
"Do it, then help her any way she needs."
Dobby returned with a highly agitated Madam Pomphrey dressed in a nightgown and robe.
"Mr. Potter! What is- Mr. Potter?" She froze as she saw Harry's face in the large suit of armour.
"Hi, Madam Pomphrey, these soldiers shot at me and they got hit by their own bullets. Can you help them?" Harry waved meekly.
Poppy Pomphrey was a veteran of the first wizarding war. She saw the bleeding men and she instantly got to work.
"Lad, that soldier called for reinforcements. We should prepare to receive them." Arnie warned.
"Any idea which direction they will come from? And how we can get them to be peaceful?"
"Base, this is sector 3, hostile may be peaceful. They are helping our wounded."
Harry looked at the soldier who had previously called for backup and just now asked them to be peaceful.
The soldier just shrugged. "You are trespassing, but we did fire at you."
"Thanks, I really can't control the bullets and spells when they deflect from my shield. Which is strange considering the shape." Harry frowned as he looked at the front of the shield. The bullets should have gone off at varying angles but they had been delivered straight back at the shooter.
"Part of the basic enchantments lad. Can't have an enemy's spell hitting a friend now, can we?" Arnie explained. "Uh oh, here they come, from the east." Arnie warned.
"Which way is east?" Harry asked.
"Your left boy!"
"Right, right. Sorry."
"Help me up, if I talk to them I might be able to diffuse the situation." The soldier instructed.
"You're shot, you need to wait for Madam Pomphrey to heal you."
"This is nothing, kid. Just get me up." The soldier said. In truth it was a shot to the leg, his lower leg and the soldier could feel it had hit the bone. But he knew that if his fellow soldiers, who were approaching, opened fire, they would be worse off than him and the kid wouldn't be able to do a damned thing about it.
Harry reached down and lifted the soldier up easily, he then proceeded to practically carry the soldier like a parent helping a child walk, under the armpits.
"This is freaking embarrassing." The soldier grumbled. "Shot by my own weapon and now carried like a baby."
"Do you want me to pick you up properly?" Harry offered helpfully.
"Shit no! There are cameras all over the place. I'd be an even worse laughing stock." He exclaimed. "Now keep quiet unless you are asked a question and let me do the talking."
"Ok, but make it quick. There might be more Death Eaters back there. I didn't get a chance to look before you turned up."
"Death Eaters?"
"Erm… terrorists."
"On the palace grounds?! God Almighty, let's speed this up." The soldier snapped as he hopped faster.
Harry responded by taking the soldier's full weight and holding him a foot off the ground as he started jogging.
A minute later they came into view.
"Stay here kid." The soldier ordered.
Gingerly he began to hobble forward.
"Captain! Hold up sir, I have intel." The soldier called out as they got closer. Unfortunately the flashlights they were using snapped up and the beams caught both the soldier and Harry's armour causing them to fall into a firing formation as their weapons snapped up.
"EASY!" The soldier shouted. "He's peaceful!"
"Maintain your position, men. He makes any sudden moves fire." The Captain ordered as he took a step forward. "Soldier, report!"
"Sir, we were investigating a disturbance in our sector when we encountered the suit of armour back there. He's just a kid sir. He didn't attack but we startled him and we may have overreacted and opened fire. His shield seems to reflect bullets back at the shooter, which is why we are all shot. His only offensive weapon is that sword on his hip but I haven't seen him draw it yet."
"You been drinking Private?" The Captain scowled.
"Sir! No Sir!" The Private barked respectfully. "Sir you fire and all your people will be taken down by their own bullets. That's my bullet in my leg sir."
"You're saying your entire unit is down?"
"Yes sir. The kid has a nurse or doctor there right now healing them up and stabilising them."
"There are more hostiles?!" The Captain demanded.
"Peaceful intruders sir. None of them have made an aggressive move. The kid and I were even chatting as we approached you."
"Why did you leave your unit Private?"
"Judgement call, Sir. Needed to make sure you didn't open fire like we did and kill yourselves. Sir, the kid says that he was here taking out terrorists and that there might be more back there."
"You expect me to take the word of some punk kid in a medieval suit of armour."
"Sir, that red stuff on his helmet is blood. And it isn't ours."
"SIR? I NEED TO GET BACK TO MADAM POMPHREY!" Harry called over.
"Madam Pomphrey?" The Captain asked.
"The medic he called in. He's worried she's at risk from the terrorists."
"Why do you trust this kid, Private?" The Captain asked seriously.
"He's trying to save my unit sir, despite the fact we tried to kill him."
"O'Donnohue, Matthews, get over here and help Private Jeffries. We'll need him with us as a pre-established contact."
The two soldiers quickly darted forward to support the weight of Jeffries.
"Sir, he's losing a lot of blood. He might have hit a vein or nicked an artery." Matthews reported.
"The wounds low enough sir, a tourniquet will hold me for now." Jeffries said dismissively.
"Make it quick."
"Harry Potter! What in Merlin's name have you been up to? These men are muggles!" Poppy raged.
"Do you see that building back there?" Harry asked as he gestured to the partially destroyed Malfoy Manor. "That is Malfoy Manor. Do you see that building over there? That's Buckingham Palace. Malfoy was squatting in the King's backyard."
"That is no excuse for you-"
"Voldemort was hiding in Malfoy Manor. I just killed him. These soldiers turned up and fired on me but their bullets bounced back at them." Harry interrupted testily. "Now I have had a long and eventful night so unless you have something helpful to say, shut it!" Harry practically yelled the last part.
Poppy was taken aback. "V-v-v You-Know-Who was there?"
"Yes, and now he is over there and there and some of him is on here." Harry grimaced as he tapped his blood and gore covered helmet. "Also, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are both dead inside the building along with a lot of other Death Eaters. I also have a lot of Death Eaters tied up somewhere."
"But the muggles! What are you going to do about them?"
"Tell them the truth. I don't know if you realise this but Voldemort and his buddies have been attacking muggles as well as magicals. They deserve to know the threat has gone."
Poppy sighed. Harry had just told her he had saved the wizarding world… again. It was a lot to take in. "We should call Albus, he should know about this."
"If you want, but can you fix up that other soldier first? He got shot in the leg."
"What? Why would you take him away!?"
"He wanted to make sure his backup wasn't going to shoot you." Harry said glibly.
"Oh… well, go and get him then. And be gentle with him!"
"Sir the knight is coming back." One of the soldiers called out as they walked back to Jeffries unit.
"Jeffries, front and centre." The Captain barked.
The five legged creature which comprised of O'Donnahue, Matthews and Jeffries hobbled forward. They only had a few minutes until they needed to loosen the tourniquet or Jeffries risked losing the leg.
"Is he alright? Madam Pomphrey told me to bring him back to her so she could fix him up." Harry explained.
The Captain was very uneasy about letting someone take one of his man away.
"Sir, if he carries me we could make it faster than trying to keep up at our current speed. It could take ten minutes to get there at this rate." Jeffries offered weakly.
"Sir his pulse is getting really weak." Matthews reported.
The Captain made his decision. "Take him, quickly!"
Harry stepped forward and gingerly lifted the Private into his arms with his shield slung across his back as per Arnie's instructions. He then took off at a light jog.
"Whoa… he can really move." O'Donnahue gasped as Harry quickly vanished into the night.
"Stow that tongue soldier and try and keep up!"
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