Idiots, courage and Fools.
Harry grinned at the lack of Dumbledore, a couple more Daily Prophet releases later and the man had promptly disappeared. No one knew where he had gone but it had only increased the suspicion surrounding him especially since the same day he had disappeared the head auror had come in to arrest him on the suspicion of being a traitor and dark lord sympathiser.
"Mr Peverell please pay attention you need to be able to do this for your N.E.W.Ts next year." That was the substitute teacher for transfiguration Professor Farley, she wasn't as good as McGonagall but she had gotten an O in her Transfiguration N.E.W.T so technically was qualified to do the job.
"I can do it." She didn't like Harry very much, every time he had daydreamed in class or drifted off she would challenge and attempt to humiliate him into paying attention and every time Harry showed he could do the transfiguration flawlessly. One would think the woman was stop but she apparently wouldn't until she had sufficiently humiliated Harry.
"Do it then, perfectly." Harry as per usual waved his hand and his transfiguration worked, the fairy cake turning into a fairy that decided it liked his hair and laid down to sleep in it. "Get out." Harry's lip quirked and he kissed Luna on the temple as he left. He was getting bored but on the bright side Luna and his N.E.W.T exams were scheduled already and they just had to get through two months as Harry had decided to schedule them for the Yule holiday rather than summer.
Purely because he was bored and decided they did not in fact need to be in Hogwarts for another eight months to do the N.E.W.Ts in summer but instead could destroy Dumbledore from outside of Hogwarts.
"Harry, what are you doing out of class."
"Hey Tom, got kicked out. You have a free period?"
"Yes. He wants to talk to you by the way, through the mirror." Tom passed it over and Harry grinned, sitting on the window sill and silently creating a space separation ward. No one could see or hear him hell they could sit right on top of him and they wouldn't notice until the ward went down. "Harry, you can't take his call out here."
"Yes I can, magic remember." Harry grinned at Tom's scowl. By now Slytherin was already coming to fear the boy but now that he was affiliated with Harry and most if not all suspected Harry was with Grindelwald and therefore Tom was. Well Slytherin didn't step a toe out of line and the other houses were also slowly falling into place from the aura of the both of them. "Gilly! How are we?"
"Harry , I trust you're in a secure location." Harry shrugged but Grindelwald continued anyways. "You are to stop attacking Dumbledore."
"Excuse me. I am to do what?" The instant disappearance of Harry's smile and the fact that frost was currently creeping across Nurmengaard seemed to remind Grindelwald who exactly he just tried to order around.
"I have other plans for the man, please stop your rampage." Harry kissed his teeth. "And if it's okay I have a job I need you to do."
"What is it?"
"I have a meeting tonight, some newer members are coming so they'll need to be protected in the event something happens but I have also received intel that the event is being targeted for a raid."
"Then can you not just move the meeting?"
"The only way we could have been informed was from a single person and we cannot yet afford to lose that mole especially if it will start a full scale investigation of the moles I do have."
"Fine, what time?" Gellert just got him the time and place before Harry hung up and shoved the mirror back towards Tom, the space ward bursting violently as Harry walked through it rather than taking it down. Harry hated Samhain because something always, no matter what, happened that he or Luna or the both of them didn't like. And it appeared that this Halloween he had learnt that Dumbledore had re-joined Grindelwald. Which meant Nurmengaard would be a lot less fun and killing him would have to be postponed.
In the mean time Harry decided to go down to the chamber and see Seraphim, if he was there too long Luna would find him so it didn't matter if he lost track of time. It was likely Luna would find him anyways to say hello to Seraphim also.
"Sera." Harry greeted the happy basilisk and moved past her to go to the many chambers that lead off the main chamber or what would seem to be the main chamber but was in fact technically a decoy.
"Happy Samhain."
"Yeah, happy." Harry sighed and slumped in the chair in Salazar's study.
"Why aren't we happy?"
"Because every single Samhain something bad or weird happens. To begin with it was Voldemort of him related stuff. Every Samhain after was him or just something else entirely." Luna answered as she joined Harry curling up in Seraphim's coils.
"Ah well let's make this Samhain happy."
"Sorry Sera but it's too late for that this Samhain is already shit."
"Oh, next time. I don't like this smell you have. Next Samhain you two will come sit in my coils and we'll all go to sleep, that way the day can't be bad."
"Sounds like a plan Sera, thanks for having us."
"Always for Master's children." Luna and Harry smiled at the giant basilisk, they had long since tried to tell her they weren't Salazar's children and stopped trying because she didn't seem to understand.
"We have our next class soon." Luna said from her place with Seraphim and glanced up to look at Harry.
"Yeah but I don't fancy it."
"Me neither."
"I've got something to do tonight"
"I figured as much, Gilly?" Harry tilted his head towards her and smirked.
"He said please."
"Oh what did he do to get there?"
"Told me to leave Dumbledore alone, has other plans."
"Dumbledore joined Gellert?"
"Exactly what I was thinking. So we will leave him for the moment but I'm going to keep an eye on him and inform the reporter, we're postponing."
"Right. Well what does Gilly have you doing?"
"He's got a meeting that may be raided, need's me to be helpful."
"And you said yes despite, Dumbledore being postponed."
"Of course I did. I promised I'd do what he needed me to."
"You did, you're so good at keeping your promises Harry." Luna sounded incredibly sarcastic.
"Of course, always."
"Nothing to do with you being bored."
"Absolutely not." Luna snorted, giggling in Sera's coils as they settled down until lunch time. When which people, as usual, noticed them mostly the people in their class and the teacher of the class they skipped.
"Mr and Miss Peverell. Would you like to tell me why you were not in my class?" Professor Merrythought stopped them before they could get to their table and Harry shrugged.
"I didn't fancy it. Luna?"
"Me neither."
"You didn't fancy it?"
"We didn't see why we had to, taking our N.E.W.Ts in the winter and what not." Merrythought snorted and crossed her arms.
"You think you're ready for your N.E.W.Ts already?" Harry grinned in response.
"You know we are." Merrythought sighed and waved the two of them over to their table, very quiet whispers coming from the Gryffindors about the unfairness of them skipping class and not getting even points taken, much louder whispers from all the tables about them taking their N.E.W.Ts already.
"You're already taking your N.E.W.Ts?" Tom raised his eyebrow, he knew both of them were ridiculously smart and of course who Harry was so Tom did suspect they were hiding something else.
"Yeah we have stuff to do, we only came to Hogwarts for you."
"Me?" Tom almost snorted, he gave them the most incredulous expression they had ever seen.
"Of course, well we don't trust Dumbledore for shit around you or anyone for that matter. So, you know we did what we could. He's gone for now and soon enough he'll be gone forever." The Slytherins blanched the thinly veiled death threat and turned to their meals, incredibly interested in their plates.
"How sweet." Tom raised an eyebrow.
"Exactly, we're as sweet as sugar." Luna giggled at Harry's response and elbowed him in the side.
"Well what would make you sweeter, is telling me where you disappear off to with no trace at all." Harry grinned.
"What makes you think we want to be any sweeter to you, maybe we just disguised our intentions as helping you when we just wanted to fuck over Dumbledick." Tom rolled his eyes again.
"The fact that you said that tells me that not just it. See you in the common room." Tom finished his food and got up heading out of the Great Hall. The rest of his little 'posse' finishing their meals and following soon after.
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Luna headed back to the common room by herself around curfew, being stopped by Tom's little posse and lead over to Tom near the fireplace.
"Where's Harry?"
"Busy."
"Good, tell me where you guys go. " Luna looked up him up and down for a moment.
"And why do you think I would tell you?"
"Because Harry's not here to protect you and I have ways of making people talk, whether they want to or not." Luna snorted and leant back in the seat she took.
"Why do you think I need Harry to protect me?"
"I take it you aren't going to tell me, I warned you." Tom had his wand out casting a crucio before Luna could blink and before Tom could Luna had stood her usual smile no where to be seen as Tom's Slytherins backed up a little. Luna plucked the wand right out of Tom's hand, leaning down so her hands were on the arm rests and she was hovering over the fourteen year old.
"I'm going to look over that little stunt you just pulled, hell I won't even tell Harry. Now see neither of us that big on getting revenge for ourselves but we are both fiercely protective of the other, Harry of me, even more so. And since I our plan is to keep this time line on track, the way it's heading I don't plan on seeing you so broken that you can't even blink without feeling pain, so broken that you can't think without your every nerve screaming at you.
So I won't tell Harry and we will, were going to tell you as a birthday surprise but I'll be telling Harry no more. So not only are going to live, I promise you will live without finding the place you so wish to find and Seraphim will never meet her heir. You know why?" Luna leant down so her lips were near his ear. "Because I will make it so, because Harry may be more powerful, may be so much more than you could imagine but the opinion he values above all else is mine, the only person, entity, being, thing that he listens to no matter what is me. So if I tell after this that you live, you will if I tell after this you die, then you die." Luna stood up dusting herself off her dreamy smile back in place. "Now see that you remember and instances like this don't happen again, with me or your Knights." Luna left tossing Tom's wand, making it land so very, dangerously close to the open fire place, no one reaching to get it until she had moved out of sight, they hadn't heard most of what she said but Tom feared her and that was enough.
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Harry sighed as he walked into the centre of Gellert's meeting, mask in place and ready.
"Harry?" Gellert had noticed that Harry was within the wards he just couldn't see him.
"Call me Arcane darling, I'm a secret after all. " Gellert's tightened and he nodded as his followers started apparating in, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. Gellert of course thought it was because he couldn't see Harry and true enough that may have been part of the reason but it was really because Harry was still annoyed and had made himself comfortable in Gellert's shadow.
Harry waited, toning out majority of Gellert's bullshit, finally paying attention when his own wards tripped. Oh he was so excited, he didn't care who it was he had been so fucking bored and he jumped out the shadows next to Gellert. He could have taken them out secretly before they entered but he wanted chaos and he would have it.
"They're here, clear out I want to have some fun and unless you want your people also falling at my hand then I suggest you leave." Gellert nodded and Harry disappeared again.
"People clear out, meeting ended for today go now." Harry watched as someone in the crowd stayed, trying to hide so Gellert had moles, to be expected but this just made it all the better for Harry.
Harry waved Gellert away and the man, still worried for his own arse after his stint with Dumbledore left with urgency and once the Americans aurors had stepped in Harry's wards, they slammed into place with significant theatricality.
"Give up." The man orders with what he obviously thought was authority. "You are just one person, you're under arrest." Harry laughed and it shook the aurors as it bounced off the wards, echoing around them.
"I don't need anything more than myself. Have at me darlings" Harry was so excited as the aurors took his corrupted advice and a cocky group of aurors who weren't newbies but were by no means veterans, stepped forwards. He was oh so tempted to remove his mask just so they could see his face as they died but he wasn't stupid enough to do that, as in some sort of chance one could escape and that is all it would take to fuck things up for him.
Harry flicked his wrist and the group that had just advanced sailed into the air, impacting the wards and falling, crumpling on the ground in a pile of burned flesh, blood and broken bones. The next aurors that stepped forwards looked wearier than the first and Harry was so glad that the commander sent for reinforcements, of course they could join the party but that didn't mean they were getting out alive.
"Formation 3, advance." Harry laughed again at their courage, a fools downfall after all and the aurors went flying or burst or thought they got in close and were shredded. Harry had yet to move from the place he was when the wards closed and was drenched in blood. Another group of reinforcements stepped in the wards and the commander paled. "NO MORE REINFORCEMENTS, STOP, WE CAN'T GET OUT. Chief, I can't guarantee anyone will get out of this alive."
"What numbers are you dealing with?" Harry tilted his head as he listened to the conversation, the aurors watching him terrified behind shield spells.
"Just one chief."
"One?"
"Why are you doing this? Who are you?"
"I. am. Arcane and I live for Chaos darlings. "
"Oh Merlin." Harry head the Chief whisper over whatever link they were communicating through.
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Harry was elated as he walked up to Hogwarts doors early the next morning and the entire ground could feel the happy magic that woke them all, Morgana he'd had such a good time that he'd left their commander, and the youngest aurors all alive, with specific instructions to share what had happened.
As soon as Harry had appeared in the entrance of Hogwarts Salazar was waiting for him in the closest portrait and to say the man was no longer happy would be an understatement as the satisfied magic he had so kindly shared with all of Hogwarts, swept out like the sea would in the event of a Tsunami. That tsunami of magic that came back was dark becoming entirely consuming so that even Hogwarts shook and as student rushed out of the common rooms, or they would have if they could even breathe under the weight of Harry's magic. Tom and his Slytherins, though they could feel the magic, they could breathe and that was why they left the common room to see what was happening.
Tom paled as he stumbled to a stop seeing Harry, the pressure of the mans magic creating pressure and therefore a small gale force wind surrounding him, lifting his hair and whipping at his clothes, even the portrait frames creaking and they were spared from the brunt force of the magic. Luna smiled as she appeared behind Tom, having basked in Harry's happy magic only getting up when it came sweeping back in.
"You said you wouldn't tell him?" Tom whispered as Luna stepped around the other Slytherins, he apparently realised just what he had done when he cursed Luna.
"I said I wouldn't Tom. I don't control what other's do." Luna smirked at him as she walked around him, wandering carefree straight up to Harry, the magic visibly separating to create space for her, filling the gap back in as she put her hand to Harry's face. "Brother, he need's to live remember."
"We could start again." Harry was still looking at Tom, his voice the coldest this Hogwarts had ever heard as his ice washed over her and frost began to settle on her stones, freezing even the magic that made her.
"You would do that to me, after I just got Clary back." The magic vanished instantly, like it had never been there in the first place the frost melting into little puddles. Harry looked down at Luna, covering her hand with his own.
"Never."
"I know." Luna kissed him on the nose and moved their hands so she was holding Harry's. "I also know that you had lot's of fun however, you still smell of blood and you're tired, so come on. You too boys." The third years could do nothing in their state but follow and by the time the teachers made it out of their own chambers and Madame Pomfrey was rushing between common rooms checking no one was dead, Harry, Luna and the rest of the Slytherins were back in bed.
The emergency Daily Prophet sent out that morning tipped the school over the edge and classes were cancelled for the day in lieu of a long weekend.