Chapitre 164: CHAPTER {188-190}
****THE-COLD-WAR-INITIATED (I)****
~~Ossuary, England~~ (December 20th, 1994)
Amelia Bones glared at the parchment on her table with pure hatred… Thankfully, she didn't have the power to burn stuff with her glare or her glare would have already burned a hole through the wall after burning through the paper… It has been more than three weeks since she received the list from Harry, but she was yet to make any headway in her path of revenge.
The Ministry has declared Harry Potter a wanted criminal with a bounty of 100,000 Galleon on top of his head, but he needed to be caught alive. The DMLE was currently looking for him and the Malfoys, but they have yet to make any progress in that regard and to be honest, she wasn't expecting much in the first place as wherever the boy was, he was hiding under the Fidelius Charm.
According to Saul, it was impossible to bypass the Fidelius Charm and there was only one way to get around the Fidelius Charm. They needed to learn the Secret, which was kind of unlikely since the Secret Keeper would need to give away the Secret willingly. Saul theorized that it might be possible to break the Fidelius Charm, but he wasn't sure as it was never tried…
If the Secret Keeper was killed, then all the people who knew the Secret would become Secret Keepers and to completely break the Fidelius Charm, you would need to kill all the Secret Keepers before they could reveal the Secret to anyone else…
Well, in other words, it was simply impossible for them to break the Fidelius Charm as they were extremely against killing anyone in the first place. Amelia glared at the parchment on her desk some more before gulping down a significant quantity of alcohol from the firewhiskey bottle in her hand. She was trying to get sloshed since she woke up in the middle of the night, but it wasn't working, obviously.
When she received the list from Harry she knew that she wouldn't be able to do anything in an official capacity as except for two people, everyone else on the list were so-called upstanding citizens of their community… To be honest, it made her blood boil in anger, but she was quite aware of her limits. So, she had been trying to investigate them subtly, but once again, it wasn't working out for her.
All of their businesses were clean, and if there was something fishy going on, then her Aurors would need to go deep undercover to find anything. Her Aurors weren't equipped for that and Nymphadora could probably do it, but she was way too valuable and soft to get involved with undercover work… Amelia had done some undercover work herself during the last War and it was anything but pretty.
Then there was the glaring fact… Even if she did find some evidence against them, what was she supposed to do after that? Yes, she could arrest them, but they would walk free. At most, they would have to pay a hefty fine, but a hefty fine would mean nothing if they could walk free and if she managed to get them sentenced by some miracle, their sentence won't be long.
After all, Amelia couldn't get them punished for any of the crimes they have committed during the War. All of their crimes were pardoned by the Bagnold administration as they were poor Imperius victims… It was nothing but Hippogriff dung, but if she wanted to convict the people on the list for the crimes of killing her brother and his wife, then she needed to prove that the Imperius defense was nothing but an excuse before anything else.
Now, proving the Imperius Defense to be nothing but hogwash was a completely different matter…
Though she was still trying to get some dirt on them as it was the only way she knew, but then she had to go and have a nightmare… A nightmare where her brother and her sister-in-law were giving her disappointed looks while screaming at her for not being able to get them the justice they deserve… This wasn't the first time she had this nightmare, but this was definitely the first time when the nightmare was so intense.
She woke up, sweating and panting, her whole body drenched in a thin sheen of sweat… Sleep refused to come after that. So, she simply climbed out of the bed and after putting on a robe as she wasn't wearing anything on her body… One of the perks of being completely alone in the house. Right now, she might be in her forties, but for a Witch, she was in her prime… Though unfortunately for any suitable prospects, she didn't have any interest in romantic relationships.
Since her mind kept playing back the scenes from the nightmare, she decided to get sloshed, in the hope of forgetting the nightmare she saw… 'You can have your revenge if you don't play by the rules' Her own voice… A traitorous voice, which sounded like her own voice whispered inside her mind, but Amelia quickly shook her head and dismissed the idea. She wouldn't take the law into her own hands!
'We shall see…' The same traitorous voice trailed off in a challenging tone and Amelia knew that it was going to be an uphill battle for her…
<Line Break>
~~Nott Manor~~
"You are late" Voldemort stated coldly as he stared at the gathered group in front of him, but unlike his Death Eaters, the group didn't look concerned in the slightest. It infuriated Voldemort to no end, but he knew that it wasn't the time to lose his temper… He needed them right now, so he decided to look past their audacity and arrogance for the time being.
"Something came up back in the Coven and we had to deal with it before we could leave" The supposed leader of the group answered, but it was clearly a made-up excuse.
"It is alright" Voldemort decided to drop the issue. Now that they were here, he would use them as best he could… There were quite a few things he could already think about at the top of his hand, so he decided to start from there… According to Lucius, the brat had somehow managed to cast Fidelius Charm on his manor. Voldemort knew exactly how powerful a person needed to be to cast the Fidelius Charm on a small shack and the brat managed to cast it on the whole Manor.
How did the brat manage to do that? He wasn't sure… Though it was an obvious sign that the boy was extremely powerful, still he should have failed… Even Voldemort wasn't confident enough to try something like that as people have died trying to cast Fidelius Charm. Once again, Voldemort found himself wondering if the Prophecy was empowering the boy…
"I have heard that you Vampires have a very good hunting squad?" Voldemort asked as he looked down at the group from his throne. The leader of the group pointed at the female Vampire, who had scoffed at his words when he went to meet Kraven in Budapest.
"This is Selene, she is the best Death Dealer we have" The leader revealed and to be honest, Voldemort wasn't sure if he believed those words, but he decided to go along with it, for now…
"Who am I hunting?" The woman asked in an indifferent tone and with a flick of his Wand, Voldemort created a hologram of Harry. The woman stared at the hologram for a few seconds before looking up at Voldemort. "He is a boy" The woman declared blandly.
"So, what? Are you not capable enough to hunt a boy?" Voldemort asked her in a mocking tone. Selene the Vampire immediately turned toward their leader, who gave her an unimpressed look.
"He gave you the target, so I don't see a problem" The leader declared and the woman bared her fangs at him, but moments later, she turned around on her heel and started to leave with four more Vampires following her out of the room. "And about the things you promised?" The leader asked.
"The rest of you are free to hunt and turn, but for the time being, keep everything under wraps… I have already arranged a place you can use to keep the newborns" Voldemort explained before he stood up from his throne. The War was kicked off prematurely and he wasn't pleased with that. If the Ministry and Dumbledore made a move then he would need to make a move too. He couldn't sit back and enjoy the show.
He would need to take advantage of their every move or he would fall back in the War… He was planning to consolidate his forces before making a move, but it was no longer possible. The Vampires wanted to hunt and turn, which could be used to his advantage as he could use them as his attack dogs. Yes, Vampires weren't that dangerous, but in numbers, they could be a serious threat.
That is why he had sent a message to Fenrir and told him to hurry as he couldn't wait eight months for them to arrive…
The lead Vampire smiled wickedly at that. "Ohh… I love the sound of that. I am sure that Kraven will be pleased" The Vampire leading the group revealed his fangs and the rest of the Vampires who were left behind followed his example…
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****THE-COLD-WAR-iNITIATED (II)****
~~Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire~~ (December 23rd, 1994)
Narcissa's hands trembled as she started to read the letter… This wasn't the first letter she received from her son, but this could very well be the last. Apparently, the Auror guards in the school were keeping a close eye on him, but that wasn't all, they weren't going to let him leave the school during the Christmas holidays as the Aurors didn't think it was safe for him to return to his own home.
The Aurors were also trying to put a lot of pressure on Draco, wanting to see if he knew where his parents lived, but the problem was that he didn't remember anything himself. It was getting harder for him to maintain any sort of communication with her with each passing day as the Aurors were putting more and more pressure on him to gather any sort of clue or information.
After Severus ran afoul of Harry, Septima Vector became the temporary Head of the House, but she wasn't capable enough to handle the Slytherin House. Severus ran the Slytherin House with an iron fist and thanks to his reputation, none of the students tried anything funny, but Septima wasn't a fighter, nor did she have any scary reputation to back her. She was only managing somehow because the Aurors were running around the school.
Also thanks to the Aurors, Draco no longer had to deal with harassment and the Hexes in the hallways, but at the same time, he was getting sidelined by the Slytherin House. He didn't have any friends, nor did he have anyone to talk with… Narcissa could feel his pain and anguish through his words. She could understand what he was going through and as a mother, she could see his pain.
With a determined look on her face, she stood up with the letter in her hand and decided to find Harry. She wanted to blame him as if it wasn't for him then their lives wouldn't have taken the hard turn, but a part of her knew that he wasn't to blame… At least not completely. They could have ended up in a much worse situation thanks to her foolish spouse.
The Dark Lord was back and if it wasn't for Harry then the monster would have been camping in their manor and she wasn't delusional enough to think that the Dark Lord would have left her son alone… He would have sunk his claws in Draco and then his fate would have been quite horrible. Narcissa knew very well that the Dark Lord wasn't the person he led the Purebloods to believe. He was just a monster…
So, in a lot of ways, being under Harry's control was much better than being under the Dark Lord's thumb… At least, Harry didn't treat anyone as his servants. Narcissa arrived outside his room and knocked on the door. She heard his voice from the inside and after taking a deep breath she entered the room. Harry was sitting cross-legged on the floor and his posture made her wonder what he was doing.
"Good morning, Narcissa" Harry greeted her as he stood up and with a flick of his finger, summoned a chair for her from the corner of the room. Instead of summoning a chair, Harry simply Conjured a chair for himself and sat down. "So, what's up?" Harry asked as he glanced toward the letter in her hand.
"Good morning, Harry. The letter came in this morning" Narcissa revealed before handing the letter to Harry. He accepted the letter and only a few seconds later, he turned back to Narcissa.
"So, how can I help?" Harry asked even though he probably already knew the answer. "If you want, I can help you rescue him from tyrannical Aurors" Harry added with a chuckle.
"Yes, that would help" Narcissa immediately admitted without missing a beat.
"I think they will probably move him in a day or two, so I think I will deal with it tonight" Harry rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He knew this was going to happen eventually as the Aurors would become desperate with each passing day since he never stopped cutting a part of Severus Snape and then Portalling the said to Dumbledore's office. To be honest, the whole thing was completely hilarious to him.
Albus was also getting rather desperate and Harry deduced that he was also putting a lot of pressure on the Ministry and the DMLE. Then he was probably trying to locate them on his own too as Severus Snape was extremely valuable to him…
"Thank you" Narcissa thanked Harry with a genuine smile on her face. "By the way, will it be possible for him to get admitted to Ilvermorny after the Christmas holidays?" Narcissa asked and Harry raised his brows at her.
"Why Ilvermorny, why not home-school him?" Harry asked curiously. He knew that Narcissa didn't have any ulterior motives, otherwise, the Mark on her arm would have notified him of her betrayal.
Narcissa slumped down in her seat… "I want to. I want to home-school him. It would have been safer for him that way, but I want him to have friends of his own age" Narcissa revealed with a tired look on her face. Yes, Harry already knew that. He had read the letter too, but he still couldn't understand why Draco was bitching about it. He didn't have any friends of his age except for Brittany and he was completely alright.
|Draco is a sissy. Don't pay him too much mind| Lily commented off-handedly and Harry seemed to agree with her on that and decided to drop the matter.
"What about Durmstrang instead?" Harry suggested.
"No! He will be in even more danger if I send him there" Narcissa immediately refused the suggestion.
"If you are worried about Karkaroff, then you don't need to. He will stop being a problem after tonight" Harry spoke like he was talking about the weather.
"You are planning to kidnap Igor Karkaroff from Hogwarts with all the security?" Narcissa asked just to make sure and after getting a serious nod from Harry, she wasn't able to stop herself from laughing mirthlessly. "If it was anyone else then I would have laughed at them" Narcissa groaned before she ended up rubbing her temple.
"You still laughed" Harry pointed out blandly, but Narcissa seemed to ignore his words.
"...If Karkaroff is no longer at Durmstrang then I don't have any problems" Narcissa answered after pondering for a bit. Draco would fit nicely in Durmstrang as Durmstrang only accepts Pureblood students. Yes, there are a few exceptions here and there, but all of those exceptions are high-profile Half Bloods or somehow related to the Professors. Harry would have probably been accepted too…
"Well, there is no need to hurry. Before deciding anything you should talk with Draco and see what he wants" Harry pointed out and Narcissa nodded her head in understanding. After thanking Harry for the second time, Narcissa bid him farewell and left the room…
~~Timeskip~~ (A few hours later)
Harry was working on some Spell formulas when someone knocked on the door. "Enter" Harry called out and moments later, Katerina walked inside the room with a proud look on her face. He was so engrossed in his notes that Harry never noticed their arrival, but he didn't keep track of every single one of his followers as that would be way too hectic even for him.
"When did you return?" Harry asked as he closed his notebook.
"Only a few minutes ago and I decided to give you the report before anything else" Katerina explained with a grin and Harry simply gestured her to continue. "Well, I have good news and bad news for you" The woman revealed before she lost her smile. "The good news is, Rubek is under our control, but the bad news is, Rubek is so isolated that there are no supply routes around Rubek. We will have to set them on our own if we want to set up a base" Katerina finished with a sigh.
After hearing her words, Harry seemed to rub his chin with a thoughtful look on his face. The reason why he chose Rubek in the first place was because he wanted to keep his main base hidden from the rest of the world, so setting up supply chains around Rubke would be kind of counterproductive… Though he couldn't ignore the issue. After all, even if they could farm food on the island, they would still need the supply chains for everything else.
"What about Svalbard?" Harry asked. He wanted to know if Svalbard was connected through supply chains and if it was, then they could get their stuff from Svalbard.
"Not exactly, They bring in everything from Norway" Katerina answered and Harry nodded his head in understanding. Svalbard or Norway, it didn't make much difference to him. They could get their stuff from Norway, but buying in bulk would most definitely get the attention of various Government organizations around the world, but to be honest, he wasn't worried about them as he was planning to cast Fidelius Charm on Rubek.
There were two major factors he needed to keep in mind before casting the Fidelius Charm… First of all, he needed to be careful about the size of the place. Most of the people already knew about this. Secondly, the number of people aware of that particular place also factored into the Spell. If a few people knew about a place then Harry would have to spend a comparatively low amount of Magic to cast the Spell and with how isolated Rubek was, he was certain that not many people knew about the place.
"We will deal with it when the time comes… Take a break, you have done well" Harry praised her and the woman smiled at him brightly before leaving the room…
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****THE-COLD-WAR-INITIATED (III)****
~~Unknown Location~~
"We were set up to fail Selene!" A hooded figure entered the dark warehouse and snarled in frustration. The rest of the group quickly gathered near a bulletin board. The board was filled with various newspaper clippings of their target Harry Potter and besides the newspaper clippings, they didn't have anything as Harry Potter rarely made any appearances.
The Vampire group hunting Harry Potter managed to find an abandoned warehouse near Knockturn Alley and after that, they simply decided to set up the warehouse as their temporary base… The warehouse was quite close to Knockturn Alley and even though the place didn't have a good reputation, it was the perfect place for Vampires like them to move around without drawing too much attention.
"What did you find?" Selene asked the man who just arrived in the warehouse. She had sent him to Tipsy Pixie to collect information as right now they have much to go with.
"Quite a bit" The man revealed before he pulled out a parchment and placed it on the table. It was Harry Potter's wanted poster… "Right now, he is wanted by the Ministry for kidnapping a Hogwarts professor named Severus Snape and later resisting arrest" The man revealed and Selene stared at the wanted poster with a frown on her face.
"100,000 Galleons…" Selene mumbled with a frown. "That is a lot of gold" She added thoughtfully. The Ministry was clearly hiding something… 100,000 Galleons for a fourteen year old was simply an outrageous amount and then there was the fact that he resisted arrest. What did that even mean? Did he escape or did he fight them off? Then there was the fact that the Ministry had decided to place a bounty on his head instead of solving the problem in-house.
"Did you find where he was last seen?" Selene asked curiously.
"That is the problem… He was supposed to be staying with the Malfoys, but nobody could tell where the Malfoys lived. So, the Ministry is also looking for the Malfoys and information regarding them as they believe that Harry Potter has kidnapped them too" The man revealed with a scowl and Selene closed her eyes in frustration. The situation was not looking good for them by any means.
"Aren't the Malfoys pretty well-known people?" One of the other Vampires pointed out.
"Yes, they are, but still nobody remembers where they live" The Vampire who went to visit the Tipsy Pixie to collect information reminded everyone in a bitter tone.
To be honest, Selene didn't like this… In fact, she didn't like any of this. She wasn't sent to Britain, so she didn't know much about the War, but a lot of her fellow Death Dealers were, and half of them never made it back to Budapest after Voldemort lost… Alas, she was a Death Dealer, so she would follow her orders for the time being, but she was certain that there was something else going on…
~~Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire~~
"There is a group of Vampires looking for you" Himera reported as soon as she entered the drawing room. Everyone inside the room froze at her words. Himera finally paid attention to all the occupants inside the room and realized that there were a couple of new faces present. She had no idea what they were up to, but to be honest, she didn't care for much since the pay was really good and once again whole.
Then there was the fact that she spent most of her time in Tipsy Pixie keeping an ear out while getting some much-needed service from sexy women was completely beside the point… While Himera didn't mind getting service from men, she preferred women over men…
"Looks like I am in a lot of demand" Harry perked up with a surprised look on his face. "The Ministry is looking for me, Albus Dumbledore and the Order are also looking for me, and now Vampires!!" Harry exclaimed gleefully. If it was anyone else then they wouldn't be laughing, but Harry wasn't like anyone else… She pitied anyone who was foolish enough to become his enemy. She knew very well how his enemies tended to end up.
"Harry! Vampires are no laughing matter" One of the newer faces exclaimed and Himera was intrigued by the woman's hair… The woman was sporting a bubblegum pink pixie cut, which later changed to some shade of orange, surprising Himera even more. She started to wonder why the woman was doing that. After all, she didn't expect Harry to teach the new girl Wandless Magic.
"Of course not, so I will deal with them somewhere down the line" Harry easily dismissed the concerns.
"Vampires are not that difficult to deal with if you already know what you are dealing with… The conventional Spells used by the Aurors are pretty useless against them as they can heal from pretty much anything, but if you know your Flame Spells, then they become pretty easy to deal with. It's the Werewolves that we should be worried about" Gellert explained with a soft smile on his face.
"Speaking of Werewolves… Gellert did you find Fenrir Greyback?" Harry asked curiously as he tapped the table.
"I have reached out to some of my old contacts, but they don't know anything. If you want I can arrange a team…" Gellert wasn't able to finish his suggestion before Harry cut him off.
"It won't be necessary… I am certain that Voldemort must have reached out to him too. They will eventually arrive in Britain and then I will deal with him" Harry said nonchalantly. Then he turned toward Himera. "How did you learn of the Vampires?" Harry asked as he gestured Himera to take a seat.
"Well… I was at Tipsy Pixie when a Vampire came looking for you. He didn't pay for premium service, so the exchange was at the bar and I was close by to hear them speak" Himera revealed with a roll of her shoulders. Harry gave her a meaningful look but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. She was beyond such petty teasing… "By the way, what are you guys talking about?" She asked, not wanting to discuss her taste in women.
"Harry was telling us how he is going to let me fight Karkaroff and then kidnap him" Jacklyn declared proudly.
"I did?" Harry asked with a surprised look on his face. Himera knew that Jacklyn was probably going to get away with anything, though she wanted to see if Harry was going to really allow her to fight Karkaroff. She had no idea who this Karkaroff was, but his end wasn't going to be good since Harry was paying him personal attention. "Fine, you can fight him, but Himera will be accompanying you" Harry ultimately agreed to let her face Karkaroff, but he decided to drop a condition.
Meanwhile, Himera winced internally… She would have to babysit Jacklyn, in other words, if something went wrong then she would have to take a Spell for the team. Himera was confident that she could probably walk away from anything other than the Killing Curse and the loss of her head, it was still going to hurt like a bitch!! Dark Curses like the Skin Melting Curse or the Organ Liquefying Curse took the cake.
"Hey! I can handle myself. I don't need a babysitter!" Jacklyn protested, looking outraged, but from the look on Harry's face, it didn't look like he was going to be convinced otherwise.
"Are you sure, Harry? Karkaroff may not seem much, but he isn't weak by any means" Sirius asked worriedly, completely ignoring Jacklyn's protest.
"I am certain that she can deal with Karkaroff on her own" Harry assured, but Sirius didn't look convinced.
"I can't believe you guys are discussing about kidnapping people right in front of me" The pink-haired woman groaned as she palmed her face. Her hair was once again pink and Himera couldn't help but wonder how. Maybe she will ask her later.
"I thought we were family… Aren't you going to cut me some slack?" Harry asked with a hurt look on his face and Himera would have seriously believed him if she didn't know him well. The pink-haired woman's hair turned red as she glared at Harry who easily ignored the glare and turned toward another face she didn't know. "After this stunt, there is going to be another Wizengamot meeting, I want you to interfere in anything they try. If they say red then rally for blue" Harry explained.
The old woman nodded her head in understanding. "Leave the Wizengamot to me" The woman declared with a tone of surety in her voice. Himera didn't know who the woman was, but she was probably some big wig from the way she talked, well Harry wouldn't have delegated such a huge responsibility to someone mediocre in the first place… That was the way he rolled.
Then Harry toward Gellert. "Remember, don't kill any of the students or the Aurors… If they are being really annoying then you can always break their Wands, just to be safe and I am sure that Violetta would love to set up a shop to steal some customers from Ollivander" Harry declared and the said woman who was also present in the meeting started to giggle creepily. "But as I said, don't kill anyone" Harry stretched out his words and Gellert simply nodded his head.
"What about my old friend?" Gellert inquired with a frown and Harry simply smiled in return.
"I think it is about time you two meet each other" Harry declared with a cheshire grin marring his face…
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