The Godslayer Who Lived 4
The various people seated within the chamber began to mutter, and Fudge called, "Aurors! Arrest them both!"
"My name is Princess Alice Louise, and I am an emissary of the Witengamot," the platinum-haired woman beside Harry stated, even as five aurors started to make their way towards them. Tonks was smart and kept back, as did a few others. "Do you truly wish to make an enemy of the Witengamot, Minister Fudge?"
"I am the Minister of Magic," Fudge blustered. "You have trespassed within our chamber. And he broke the Statute of Secrecy and the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Wizardry. Not to mention attacking an auror at Gringotts!"
Shaking her head slowly, Alice said as if speaking to a child, "He was defending himself from a heretic god. That is a reasonable reason to use magic. And all appearances of heretic gods are under the purview of the Witengamot, not the Wizengamot. You have no right to charge him with anything whatsoever. Especially as he is now a Campione. Quite frankly, he is now above your laws. A fact acknowledged by your own laws."
Throughout this, Harry had simply stood there, listening. He finally spoke, voice dry, "Or in other words, Fudge, you being Minister means absolutely nothing. As for the auror, he used the Killing Curse on me."
"Lies!" snarled Fudge. "If you'd been hit with the Killing Curse, you'd be dead. You're not Campione, you're a fame-seeker with delusions of grandeur."
Harry shook his head slowly and gestured with a hand. The shadowy figures around them surrounded Alice, making it difficult for her to be attacked. If the fool wanted proof, Harry would give him some. More muttering came from the Wizengamot members. Harry walked to the centre of the Wizengamot floor, "It's quite simple, Minister. If you believe I'm not Campione, I invite you to test it. Aurors," his voice rose, "Feel free to cast whatever magic you wish at me."
Fudge opened his mouth. Closed it. He couldn't allow this! Alice spoke mockingly, "What's wrong, Minister? You're so sure that he isn't a Campione. Perhaps you're simply afraid to prove him right?" She looked at the chamber, "The fact is this. He is a Campione. The investigation of the events leading up to that fact fall to the Witengamot. Your very laws state that he is above you. They say this for a reason. Albus Dumbledore?" She looked at the man in the visitor seats. "Could you stand up to a Campione?"
"Not even remotely," Dumbledore said cheerfully. There were sounds of shock beginning to rise within the chamber.
"If we have laws saying such a fool thing, we will simply change those laws," Fudge blustered. He was losing control of the meeting and didn't like it. "I am the Minister of Magic!"
"You are a fool." This from Alice. "I really wanted to be diplomatic, but you are making that difficult." She glanced at Harry, "Harry, will you please show them why it is a foolish thing to bother a Campione."
The muttering turned fearful, as people began to rise. Harry sighed, "You do realize they are going to be afraid of me?"
"It was unlikely to be otherwise," was Alice's response.
Harry lifted a hand, and began to chant, "I am the one who carries all away, he who judges souls! I order thee, Charon, to bring my servants across the rivers and past the jaws of Cerberus to serve me!"
Slowly, shadowy spirits began to appear side by side, ringing the entire Wizengamot chamber. Soon, they were surrounding the entire Wizengamot. This caused the five aurors, and even some of the others to start raining curses down upon Harry, trying to stop whatever he was doing.
Each curse simply disappeared as it touched him.
A few curses were directed at Alice, but struck the shadowy figures around her instead, to the same result.
Alice's cold voice could be heard in spite of the cries of fear and worry, "A Campione is utterly immune to magic. Not even the Killing Curse would be effective. A Campione's authorities literally break the laws of existence. They may do things no wizard or sorcerer can accomplish. A Campione is stronger than any human. Do you now realize why the laws are as they are?"
Fudge was kneeling behind his desk, hiding, when a voice rang out, "Avada Kedavra!" It was the pink-robed woman beside him.
It struck Harry, and he looked down at it, repeating his joke from before. "Ow?" The woman was gaping, and Harry shook his head, walking towards her. "This woman cast the Killing Curse in front of the entire Wizengamot. What's the punishment for such a crime?"
"Life in Azkaban," came Alice's response.
"All right, I'll expect it done," Harry said calmly.
"I am the Senior Undersecretary of the Minister of Magic! You cannot put me in Azkaban," the woman sneered.
"I think you will find," Alice said calmly, "That it can be done." She looked across the room, "Once again, he is a Campione. He could kill each and every one of you and there would be no repercussions from the Witengamot. And he could do so easily, each of those shadows is as strong as a giant or dragon. And he can call them at will. Now, please stop interfering in Campione business. And please put that woman into Azkaban, or we might return." She smiled at Harry, "Shall we, Campione Potter?"
"We shall, Princess Alice," Harry agreed, moving towards her. As he neared her, the shadows moved to the side so he could stand beside her, before surrounding them again.
"One more thing," Alice said calmly. "I will be speaking to the Daily Prophet. If you attempt to slur his name in the press once more, there will be consequences." She smiled, "Good day."
Harry took that as his cue. He gave the Wizengamot a grin and saluted. The shadows in the room disappeared as he apparated out of the room with a loud crack, bringing Alice with him.
HPϟHPϟHPϟHPϟHP
When they arrived outside the cottage, Harry quickly entered and collapsed on the sofa. Coming in more sedately, Alice asked, "Is there something wrong?"
"I bullied the entire Wizengamot. I probably terrified all of them," Harry said to her.
"I certainly hope so," Alice said calmly, sitting down beside him and patting his hand, fingers clasping his gently. "I had hoped that we could handle things diplomatically, but knew it was unlikely. That was why I told you that you had to be arrogant. Fudge is too much of a fool to listen, and much of the Wizengamot only care about themselves. Even among Dumbledore's faction, there are many who are far too afraid of losing power." She chuckled, "Not that I can talk, the Witengamot is quite political, but we aren't fools so I suppose that helps."
"How does this help?" Harry asked.
"Simply enough, now they will leave you alone. Some individuals will try to act against you, but the Wizengamot as a whole will not try to interfere." Alice offered a smile, "That makes things easier for us. You can handle the occasional assassination attempt."
"I can handle...what?" Harry asked, only to feel her squeeze his hand, calming him down.
"You still don't realize how strong you are, Harry. Even without magic, the average person couldn't harm you before you act and even a Great Knight would be unable to kill you. Hell, it'd be amusing to see someone attack you physically if only to see your response." Alice smiled at him.
Harry shook his head, "I still find it difficult to believe I'm as strong as you say I am, but I'm certainly not going to argue." He squeezed her hand and suddenly blushed. He'd been too focused on his thoughts to notice she'd been holding his hand the past few minutes.
"You two didn't wait for me!" came a voice from behind them, and Tonks hopped over the arm of the couch, sitting on Harry's other side. She grabbed his other hand, "Hey, Alice. Harry," She said brightly.
"Tonks!" Harry said, almost squeaking as she took his hand, "What're you doing?" Tonks' fingers tightened, not letting him pull away. Amusingly, Alice's did as well.
"My boss officially made me your liaison," Tonks quipped. "She knew I was here before as Dumbledore had arranged it. So I'll be here instead of doing auror work for a bit."
"Oh, Tonks, I'm sorry," Harry began. "I know you love to be an auror, I can talk to Madam Bones..."
"Nah, Harry, it's okay," Tonks assured him, "Honestly, I've been considering a change for a while; I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I love it when I get to investigate things and fight criminals. But the paperwork and worse, the politics are bloody annoying. I got yelled at just the other day by Scrimgeour for not providing proper documentation of my time here, when Bonesy told me to be circumspect. He's a prick." She grinned, "I've looked into Campione, and life around 'em is never boring. So this is a good thing. Relax."
"It'll be nice to have you here," Harry admitted. "I was a bit worried about what'd happen when you and Alice left. I'm really not ready to deal with all this stuff."
"Left?" Alice asked in surprise, "I wasn't planning on leaving. You need a permanent liaison to the Witengamot as well, and I've enjoyed my time here. It's nice being out and about." There's obviously more to it than she's saying, but Harry doesn't pry. "Besides, if I left, they'd probably try to give you all sorts of girls to try to control you. I know the Copper-Black Cross and the Bronze-Black Cross have been making overtures to the Witengamot."
"Obviously," Tonks chimed in, smirking, "We can't have that. He already has us, anyway."
"Tonks!" Harry said, glaring at her, while Alice blushed slightly beside him. "What are the Copper-Black Cross and Bronze-Black Cross, Alice?"
"They are rival mage associations," Alice explained, "The Witengamot is focused on research and our home is in Britain. The Copper-Black Cross and the Bronze-Black Cross are focused in Italy and Hungary respectively and are more militarily focused as they both are descended from the Knights Templar. We all have influence throughout Europe, however."
"Harry, I'm holding your hand. Think about it," teased Tonks, even as she squeezed his hand and let him go. Beside him, after a moment, Alice did similarly. "Where are your folks, by the way?"
"They took the floo to Hogwarts a few hours ago," Harry said, still blushing slightly. "Dumbledore wanted to speak to them about something. Apparently, the Ministry's been causing problems and he wanted to ask for a favour or something." He shrugged.
"Oh?" Tonks looked curious, "Wonder what the Headmaster wanted."
"What were they discussing after we left, Tonks?" asked Alice. "I know you weren't there for long, but..."
"Fudge was trying to get the Wizengamot to declare you a Dark Lord or something. They very much weren't listening when I left. Most of 'em seem to just want to leave you alone," Tonks said.
"See?" Alice asked Harry, "Just like I predicted. If you scare them, they will lash out. If you terrify them, they simply won't want to deal with you. You can send someone else as a proxy from now on and they'll be quite relieved."
"Yes, yes, you're right as usual," Harry said, slightly sarcastic, "I should simply get used to obeying you."
Tonks smirked, and opened her mouth to tease him when the door open and Lily and James entered. "Hey!" Lily called. "Guess what?"
"What?" Harry asked as he got up to give his mum a hug.
"You're looking at the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers for Hogwarts!" James said brightly.
Tonks stared at them. Then started to laugh, "Oh, that's great. Snape is going to go spare!"
"Yes," Lily said darkly, "Harry's told me a great deal about Severus. I expected better of him."
"Apparently, the Ministry was going to appoint a teacher as Dumbledore was having problems finding one. So he asked us to help out," James explained. "I kind of wish I could stay to hear what that wanker Fudge's response would be, but he's apparently at the Wizengamot right now."
Tonks smirked, "You might say that. Harry and Alice showed up and basically scared the fuck out of them."
"I would be disappointed in you both if I didn't know how stupid they were acting lately," Lily said with a sigh. "Anyway, we're only working there for a year."
"Still, this is great! The last really good teacher we had was Moony! I had to learn most of what I knew by myself, though Tonks has helped this past little while," Harry said enthusiastically.
"He's going to keep it a surprise. He doesn't have to tell the Ministry who he hired, simply that the position is filled. He wants to announce it at the Opening Feast," Lily continued.
James said with a smirk, "I approve, it's a great prank."
"He said he wants to talk to you too, Harry, at some point. He's hoping you will still attend Hogwarts, even though you don't have to anymore," Lily said. "I admit, I hope you do as well."
Harry blinked, "I actually hadn't even considered not going. I mean, I have a good place to stay now, so..." He shrugged. "I suppose I could have tutors, but Hogwarts would be better. Though I will say, I won't put up with Snape's bullying this year. I will probably drop Divination, too. I really should never have taken that class. I'll look into taking Arithmancy or Runes, I hear they're useful."
"They are," Lily said, "I have to say, I wanted to hit Dumbledore when I found out he let you take Divination. You don't have the Sight." She shook her head.
"Ironically, that's not entirely true anymore." Alice sounded amused. "Campione sometimes have dreams that give them clues to the world around them. It’s not the Sight per se, but it's a form of divination. But no, a class on wizard forms of divination wouldn't help him much. It's not really something controlled."
"That's fascinating. I wonder why that is, perhaps due to his Authorities and their link to a higher dimension or realm?" Lily starts to puzzle on this, and gestures for Alice to join her.
Watching them talk, Harry said to James, "They're going to talk for a while. I'm going to make dinner."
HPϟHPϟHPϟHPϟHP
The next day, Harry dressed in an almost-modern set of wizard clothing, the robe looking almost like a long coat. Heading downstairs, he asked Alice and Tonks, "You two ready? I'm looking forward to seeing our new home."
"You should like it," Alice said. "I took your requirements and added a few of my own."
"Oh? Tell me about it," asked Harry as he slid his wand into the sleeve of his jacket.
"I added more bedrooms, and thus another floor. You will likely have myself and Tonks staying as well as your parents at times," Alice explained. "There are five bedrooms on the second floor and four on the third. Each bedroom has a small half bathroom; there's also a full bathroom on each floor. The master bedroom has a large bathroom as well. The bottom floor has the usual sitting room, dining room, and kitchen. I added a study for meetings. There is also a potion lab and duelling room in the basement as well as a small storage vault."
Blinking, Harry said, "That sounds rather larger than I expected," he admitted.
"Well, I certainly won't mind moving in. I have an apartment, but I doubt it's as nice as this place will be," Tonks said easily.
"It's a good-sized house," Alice admitted, "But I think you'll like it."
After locating the location in the Gringotts documentation, Alice gave him the magical coordinates. Harry created a portkey from a small silver necklace and held it out for both Alice and Tonks. Once they touched the silver links, he activated the portkey, and they found themselves on a country road, right next to a cobblestone road leading up to an old-fashioned wooden gate.
Turning to walk up the cobblestone path, she pushed the gate open and entered the property. Following behind, Harry asked curiously, "What about protections?"
"They have already laid them. As you are unlikely to have many visitors, they even included a Fidelius. You'll be the Secret Keeper, of course. They just need you to activate them so they attune to you. Otherwise, you'd have to kiss the warder, and I don't think you'd enjoy that," Alice said lightly.
It was a short walk to the house, a large three-story stone and wood cottage. Harry blinked, looking it over, "I like it." Coming out of the door was a familiar figure, and he blinked, "Fleur? What're you doing here?"
"Hello, Harry. I'm apprenticing at Gringotts, and one of my warding masters is handling the wards here. Right this way," she said with a smile.
"All right," murmured Tonks quietly to Alice and Harry as they followed the beautiful witch, "Maybe you would enjoy kissing the warder." Harry's cheeks coloured and she laughed softly.
Entering the house, Harry saw a trio of goblins speaking quietly. "Ah. Mr Potter. I'm Goldfang. Follow me," said one of them, turning to head down a series of steps into the basement. Blinking, Harry followed Goldfang down the steps and down a long hall. He was led to the far end, where a solid-looking steel door was set into the wall. "This will be hidden behind various wards when you activate them." Leading him into the vault, the goblin pushed a small panel in the wall open to reveal an intricately carved stone block. "Now, I simply need you to cut your finger and drip seven drops of blood onto the keystone. Do not tell me or my companions the Secret when the wards activate." Harry was offered a tiny dagger.
Harry pushed the dagger into his finger, though it took more force than he expected. Once he was bleeding, he let seven drops drip onto the stone. There was a glow as Harry activated the wards. "What now, sir?"
Goldfang shook his head, "I always hate being within a Fidelius-warded location when I don't know the Secret. It's this itch. Come, then." Looking amused, Harry followed the brusque goblin upstairs. "We're done, the wards are active. Your account has already been charged," the goblin told him. "The wards book is on the mantle."
"Thank you, sir," Harry said before glancing at Fleur, "It's nice to see you, Fleur. How's Gabrielle?"
"Oh, Gabrielle is doing well. She is going to be starting her first year at Beauxbatons, and is looking forward to it," Fleur said with a smile.
"I'm glad to hear it. I was a little worried that she'd have been affected by being under the lake like she was," Harry said with a slight frown.
"Oh, no," Fleur assured him. "The only thing she was affected by is her saviour. She talks about you a lot," the blonde teased. One of the goblins murmured to her in their own tongue, and she nodded at him agreeably. Strangely enough, Harry could understand it. Glancing at him, Fleur smiled, "I have to go; we're expected back at the bank. I will send you an owl later?" At his nod, she smiled even as she reached out towards the dagger one of the goblins held up. When all of them touched the object, they disappeared when the portkey was activated.
"I suppose this is the first thing to do, then," Harry said. "The Potter Estate is located near Ayslesford in Kent."
"That's better. Not knowing where I was felt weird. Be sure to put us in the wards book so we can apparate and find the place again, it's probably non-plottable too among other things" Tonks said after a moment. "So, you knew the bird? She's a looker."
"I arranged for the place to be warded with pretty much everything, including non-plottable, yes," Alice interjected.
"That was Fleur Delacour. She was in the Triwizard Tournament. Probably the most skilled participant in the thing in my opinion," Harry answered with a shrug as he opened the wards book, looking it over curiously as he began to place his wand upon various pages, adjusting the wards. It was a lot simpler than he'd expected.
"I had heard about the tournament," Alice said musingly, "I may talk to the Witengamot. While we are primarily sorcerers, we do have a few wizards among us, and she could be useful."
"As long as you treat her well; she's a good person." As he spoke, Harry finished with the wards and looked around, "Decorating this place will take a while."
"Actually, not so much. It'll take a fair bit of money, but we can ask Rilly to shrink the furniture and transport it here. It shouldn't take too long at all," Alice said with a smile. "If you like, I and Tonks can do that for you?" she offered.
"Honestly, I have no clue about decorating, so I'd appreciate that," Harry admitted.
"Good. Take a look around while I and Tonks head to Diagon Alley and probably Harrods. Would you care to side-along apparate me?" asked Alice, glancing at Tonks.
"Sure thing!" Tonks said, before glancing at Harry, "We'll be back in a bit." Grabbing Alice's arm gently, they disappeared with a loud pop.