Midnight Duel, Midday Love
Shades of Grey
By Draco664
Shades of Grey
The second explosion shocked the two recent Death Eater recruits to their very core. They looked fearfully at each other and swallowed in tandem. The explosions from the base of the building in front of them had felled both Pritchart and Sanderson.
Pritchart was struggling to her feet, having been tossed back like a rag doll by the second explosion. Even to herself, her voice sounded raw and distant.
"That's it, Potter. You're dead."
Pritchart finally managed to stand on quivering legs, looking with dismay at the fire in the building.
"Hello, Professor." came an unwelcome voice from behind.
From three hundred meters up, Harry tucked his wings and dove. At less than two meters above his intended target, Harry transformed. Suddenly increasing his mass over ten times slowed him down enough that he wasn't stunned as his knees connected with the Death Eater's shoulders. The air expelled from the crushed lungs tore through the dead man's voice box, causing an animalistic grunt.
Harry felt the sickening sensation of his victim's vertebrae fusing together under his assault. The corpse of the recent recruit collapsed bonelessly beneath Harry, cushioning his landing. As he rolled forward off his first kill, Harry deftly grabbed the dead wizard's wand in his left hand and gracefully rose to his feet just as the second Death Eater recruit spun to see what had caused his companion to grunt.
Harry stared straight into the other Death Eater's face, and gave the shocked man a big smile. Before the Death Eater could react, Harry drove his right knee hard into the wizard's groin. Adrenaline surged through Harry's lean body, and a feeling of intense excitement flooded him. Harry's emerald eyes widened, gleaming with inner fire, and his breathing quickened.
Harry spun his torso from the waist and drove his elbow into the man's throat with a satisfying crunch, knocking the Death Eater breathlessly to the ground. The wizard fumbled with his wand, aiming it straight at Harry's heart. Without the ability to pass air through his throat however, the young Death Eater couldn't cast a spell, and started panicking.
Harry snarled at him, stepped forward, drew back a leg and viscously kicked him in the temple.
Turning his back on the unconscious dying man without a second thought, Harry crept forward towards Pritchart. A fire burned in his mind, fueled by the deep anger he felt for the world.
The body of The-Boy-Who-Lived crept forward, but whatever was behind those green eyes, it wasn't Harry Potter.
Dudley quickly scanned the clipboard holding the names of the few students still staying at Smeltings over the holidays. He had evacuated each and every one of them in under three minutes. Now, twenty-odd shivering boys stood at the evacuation point on the opposite side of the school building from where the Death Eaters were.
A haggard looking Master Jennings ran across the grounds with a disheveled headmaster Hardcock. 'Greatbig', as he was known amongst the students, looked as though he had been rather rudely awakened. The pair of teachers descended on the boys.
Dudley stepped forward before either of them could speak. "Headmaster. I've evacuated the dormitory, and double-checked the roll with the students. We all got out without injury. I've called the fire department, and I was told they would be here in minutes."
Jennings looked at Dudley with a frown, but the headmaster took the clipboard and gave it a quick once over.
"Well done, my boy!" he said, visibly relaxing at seeing all his charges present and accounted for. "Dursley, isn't it?"
"Yes sir."
"Excellent work. Simply first class."
Jennings finally found his voice. "But Victor! He should have waited for the teacher in charge to oversee the evacuation!"
The Smeltings headmaster raised his bushy eyebrows and stared at his subordinate. "You only just arrived, Cyril. Dursley here has everyone out of the building and safe before you even made it here. I'd say he did a superb job."
"Thank you sir." said Dudley, a small smile the only indication of the wide grin that was threatening to break out over his face.
Faint sirens became audible, and all present turned to watch the arrival of the local fire brigade.
Dudley resumed is scan of the grounds. As the Hardcock and Jennings went to greet the firefighters, Dudley noticed two people in non-descript robes standing off to one side where no one had been seconds before One thin, the other rather heavy-set.
"I'll be just a second." he told one of the students, and trotted off towards the pair.
Quickly, they put away their wands as Dudley approached. "Good evening." Harry's cousin said.
"We're busy. Go away." said the thin one.
Dudley shrugged. "I just thought you should know, the Death Eaters are on the other side of the burning building."
The pair stiffened. "What do you know about Death Eaters?" Thin growled.
Dudley smiled. "I'm a squib. My cousin goes to Hogwarts. He was with me in my room when he saw them approach. We started the fire so the emergency services would be called to cover the evacuation. Everyone is safe now."
The pair looked at each other. The large auror sighed and nodded, then faced Dudley.
"I'm Bellot, this is Atkins. Did you call in the Death Mark sighting?"
"Death Mark? Oh, you mean the floating green skull with the snake?"
"Yes. Where is it?"
"Sorry. There isn't one. My cousin told me to report that to the emergency services. He said it would mean that you guys would get here quicker."
The pair looked a bit disgruntled at that. "Where is your cousin now?" Atkins asked.
"Behind the building. He took on the Death Eaters to make sure the rest of us could get out."
"He took on-, Merlin's beard!" gasped Bellot, and the pair immediately sprinted around the burning building.
"Well," said Dudley to himself. "He is a Gryffindor."
Pritchart spun around and immediately noticed two things.
One, Potter had his wand trained on her and madness in his eyes.
Two, her reserve forces were gone.
Pritchart swallowed loudly.
Harry stared down his wand at the woman who caused him to be sent to Azkaban. In his anger, his mouth started forming the incantation for the killing curse.
"Avada Ked-" he started before the last remnants of Harry Potter finally managed to exert control of his body.
With a scream and a shudder, Harry collapsed, shaking his head. Through the throngs of pain, he forced the madness, the unthinking animal within aside.
"Expelliarmus!" shouted Pritchart. The wand in Harry's hand flew to her own.
Harry looked up, his eyes blazing with anger.
Now holding both wands, Pritchart noticeably relaxed. "Well, Potter. I had thought you'd put up more of a fight than this. My orders are to capture you, but if you resist, I can kill you. I think I'll kill you anyway."
Faster than Pritchart could see, Harry whipped his own wand and sent a quick hex at her. Pritchart ducked under the hastily fired spell and stood to respond. Her stunner landed in the dirt where Harry had been.
Both combatants conjured shields and began dueling in earnest.
Dudley was walking back to his classmates when another faint pop sounded behind him. He turned and saw a tall, thin man, with dark hair. The newcomer was staring intently at a small glass ball that had various coloured lights moving within.
"You're a little late aren't you?" he said.
With a jerk of his head, the dark-haired man fixed his grey-blue eyes on Dudley. "Who are you?" he demanded.
Swallowing at the man's overwhelming presence, Dudley replied, "Dudley Dursley, sir. I'm Harry Potter's cousin."
A slow, wide grin covered the man's face. "So, Dursley. You're the one that tormented my godson for all those years."
Dudley gasped. "You're Sirius Black!"
"In the flesh, and about to strip yours from your bones." Sirius snarled, drawing his wand.
"Wait!" hissed Dudley, hoping that none of his classmates were watching. "Harry is behind the building, taking on some Death Eaters. He got me to get everyone else out!"
Sirius' eyes bulged. He started to run round the building before realising Dudley was keeping pace with him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"I have to tell you... there are aurors behind there... Harry said you escaped... don't get caught!" Dudley puffed.
Sirius' expression could only be described as confused. But he didn't slow as he tore round the building, leaving Dudley panting softly.
"Jeez, Harry. Is everyone in the wizarding world as insane as you?" he muttered to himself.
Dudley nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice from behind growled, "Yes."
Harry lashed out at the shield surrounding Pritchart. His magical assault caused a tear to appear, but it quickly healed itself. Shaking his head, Harry knew his was in trouble. The pair had dueled for what felt like several hours, but was probably only a minute or so. Both combatants were now panting, Pritchart quite heavily.
Pritchart was a wily one, he had to admit. Every hex, charm and curse he sent at her was neutralized quickly, while another was sent at him. I suppose that spending over thirty years dueling with wizards who don't want to be arrested would sharpen your skills. he thought.
Harry was sure that given enough time, he could wear down the former auror. Pritchart was in far worse physical shape than he was, and Harry was sure his magical reserves were greater.
But the other Death Eater was stirring. Time was an enemy now.
Pritchart sent a spell that surrounded Harry with a blanket of absolute darkness. From within the dark cloud, Harry grinned to himself. Darkness was no handicap.
He leapt to his left and crouched, casting a quick silencing charm on his feet while in midair. Pritchart's next spell went wide and high, while Harry's disarming spell struck her shield full on, and by the sound of it, knocked her backwards several feet.
Silly to try and blind your opponent when you still let him know where you are by uttering an incantation, Harry thought.
Harry shrugged, and cast, "Serpensortia."
In parseltongue, Harry directed the large snake to attack his opponent. A shrill scream told Harry that Pritchart was afraid of snakes.
With her concentration broken, the darkness was dispelled. Harry risked a quick glance at the other Death Eater and noticed that she was on her hands and knees. Realising he was out of time, a surge of adrenaline coursed through him. Time slowed, his senses were amplified.
Scanning the ground, Harry smiled at what he saw.
"Accio! He shouted, holding his wand high and angled so it pointed slightly downward at Pritchart's head.
Standing still as he was, Pritchart's next spell brought down Harry's shield. Her triumphant expression remained on her face as the large chuck of fallen masonry Harry had summoned from the ground behind her slammed into the back of her head, crushing her skull.
Harry took a deep breath as he looked down at her corpse. "Well, that's two Death Eaters I've taken down with that same tactic tonight." Harry said to himself. "There must be a gap in their training somewhere."
Harry turned to look at the sole remaining Death Eather when a stunning spell fired from the other end of the building just missed him, passing so close to his arm that his fingers tingled. Harry spun and saw a pair of wizards coming from the side of the building.
Swearing to himself, Harry conjured another shield and sprinted back to the tree line.
Allison watched as Potter systematically defeated all of Pritchart's attacks. Allison was completely fine, able to leap to her feet and start attacking The-Boy-Who-Lived, but remained on her hands and knees. Harry defeated a wave of darkness by sending a snake to attack the Death Eater and looked in her direction. Allison slowly shook her head, feigning dizziness and shock. Harry went back to battling Pritchart, and in seconds had crushed the back of her skull.
Allison smiled to herself. "Well, that's one less Death Eater for the Dark Lord." she said to herself with satisfaction.
Suddenly, two wizards wearing auror robes rounded the corner of the burning building and immediately fired two stunners at Harry.
"Obviously green cadets." Allison muttered to herself as both stunners missed. Harry turned and bolted for the trees where the two other Death Eaters Pritchart had commandeered lay in wait. No, they must have been taken care of. They didn't attack when Pritchart was in trouble. she thought.
Resolving to play dead for a while, Allison lay back down, facing the amusing scene in front of her.
Harry ran in a zigzag pattern for the safety of the trees. Three more stunners had missed him on his way there, but now he was in the relatively safety of the woodland marking the edge of Smeltings' land.
Harry hid behind the thick trunk of a massive tree, his mind racing.
Who are these guys? he thought to himself. They're not Death Eaters, they aren't wearing masks.
Panting softly to himself, Harry risked a glance around the tree he had hidden behind. The two wizards were approaching the woods cautiously. Harry transformed and launched himself into the air, debating the merits of fleeing, before gliding to a halt and landing on a high branch in a tree at the edge of the woods.
Popping back to his human form, Harry waited until the pair had passed beneath him before he fired two quick stunners down at them, quickly rendering them both unconscious.
Harry sighed and shook his head. Now the danger had passed, he could feel the thrill of battle flow out of him, leaving his muscles aching slightly. A massive grin spread across his face, and try as he might, nothing would shift it.
Am I going crazy? he pondered. I just killed three people, and I'm smiling!
You're alive. his mind supplied. After everything you've been through, you're still alive.
From her distance, Allison could only just make out the pair of aurors collapse. Blinking in surprise, she realised that Potter must have managed to take them down too. And quickly.
Allison took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Potter was certainly an enigma. She remembered his arrival at Hogwarts in her sixth year. Everyone was looking at this scrawny kid who had supposedly defeated Voldemort as a baby.
He was shorter than the rest of his year, except for one of the girls. He looked absolutely petrified when he had to try the sorting hat on.
Come to think of it, the hat took a very long time to place him. she thought.
It was hard to reconcile the two different mental images she had of Potter. One, the tiny, muggle raised boy who she first saw, and now, the still short but confident and powerful wizard who had taken down three Death Eaters and two aurors without too much effort.
Allison was a Slytherin through and through. She had willingly joined the Dark Lord when she had been approached simply because she thought that since the Ministry denied his return, he would use that fault to build an invincible army. She had decided as a child that she would always fight on the side that would win. Always.
Potter had changed that. He had joined the Dark Lord's ranks too. Got close, learned what he could. Then destroyed all the Dark Lord had built in a single day.
Not that Allison had been there. The night of the Ministry raid was supposed to be a triumph for her former master. Somehow the Ministry had a whiff of the plans and had captured dozens of Death Eaters that night.
That night. Allison shuddered despite herself. She remembered all to well what had happened before the raid.
It was true that she didn't have as much loyalty to the Dark Lord as others. She simply wanted to be on the winning side. Potter had also been there that night, and had witnessed her humiliation and degradation.
With a growl, Allison thrust such thoughts out of her mind. She was going to be on the side that won. Quite obviously, that was whatever side Potter was on.
A huge black dog rounded the corner of the burning building and sniffed the ground. She widened her eyes at the sight. How the hell does he do that?
Sirius had transformed as he ran around the burning building. With all the smoke in the air, sight would be almost useless.
He stuck his snout to the ground and sniffed. This low, the smoke didn't affect his tracking ability too much.
Harry had been here, just minutes before. Not in pain. Exerted himself for a while. Pritchart! She is still here. Dead. Heh, that boy is getting good. Sirius' canine thoughts were short and to the point. Another familiar scent mixed with four unknown ones. Sirius sniffed some more. Sanderson! Where is she?
"Over here!" came a call.
Sirius looked up and saw his spy stand unsteadily on her feet. With a faint pop, he returned to human form.
"Sanderson! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, sir. Just a little shaken. The building blew up just as we got here."
"We?"
"Pritchart and two others. I think they are dead. They were told to stay in the woods." Allison waved with one hand in the direction of the woods.
"What about the pair of aurors that were here?" he asked her.
She stared at him in shock.
"What about the pair of aurors that were here?" Sirius asked her.
Allison blinked in shock. He knows how many people were here by scent, but how on earth did he know they were aurors? "In the woods too. They tried to stun Potter, but he took them down too." she managed.
A huge feral grin spread over Sirius' features. With a short laugh that sounded more like a bark, he motioned her to follow and walked to Pritchart's corpse.
Allison followed him. Ever since she had met the man, she had been fascinated. Brilliant, erratic and driven, he was capable of making deductions from so little evidence that Allison had initially thought he could read minds.
Now, he grabbed Pritchart's hands as if expecting to find something. Yes, he just removed the ring she wore.
Allison frowned. That ring had been given to her by one of her contacts. One that both Pritchart and the Dark Lord trusted. How the hell had Sirius known about it.
"Um, Pritchart was given that. She said it would track Potter."
Sirius nodded. "Yes, it will." He put it on his own finger. The band expanded slightly to allow it to slip over Sirius' thicker finger. Closing his eyes in concentration, Sirius shook his head after a few seconds. "He's nowhere nearby." He removed the ring and slipped it in his pocket.
"Why don't you wear it all the time?"
Sirius smirked. "Because you age about ten times faster than usual while wearing it. It leeches your life to magnify your magical signature, making you easier to track."
Understanding dawned. "That's how you got here so quickly! You tracked her!"
Sirius nodded and walked towards the trees. Allison followed, still deep in thought.
"Mr. Black? How do you know what the ring does?"
"I followed it from when it was made, to Pritchart's contact, to when it was given to her."
Again, Allison shook her head. The depth of this man's knowledge of what the Dark Lord was up to was frightening.
The pair reached the edge of the woods, and Sirius looked down at the two aurors. He shook his head and chuckled. Allison too couldn't help but smile. She watched as Sirius gave them a cursory examination, making sure they were still alive before making his way further into the forest.
The second pair of bodies were obviously dead. One was hideously crushed as though from above, while the other's face was black from lack of oxygen. Blood trickled out of the second corpse's open mouth.
Allison swallowed. She had never liked gore. Potter was powerful indeed to have done this to them without being detected.
Sirius seemed almost delighted. He shook his head with a smile on his face. "Well done, Harry. But I think I need to teach you to recognise aurors on sight. They don't take it too kindly when someone stuns them." he said to no one in particular.
"Right!" he said, turning back to Allison. "Sanderson, when you decided to help us, your stated objective was the capture or neutralisation of Pritchart. Fairly obviously, that is now complete. You can leave Voldemort's Death Eaters and come and work for me formally, or you can continue to infiltrate his group, perhaps helping to bring him down. Your choice."
Allison blinked a couple of times, surprise at the offer clearly evident on her face. "Honestly, I hadn't thought too far ahead. Do you need me to keep infiltrating his Death Eaters?"
Sirius shook his head. "No. I have other agents working on that. Remember, you are not a fully-fledged Death Eater. Returning to Voldemort from a bungled mission is not the best way to ensure longevity. I can use your skills elsewhere."
Allison swallowed. "Y-you'd let me work for you formally? I'd really be a-"
Sirius put a finger to his lips and looked around nervously. After a few seconds, he relaxed. "Sorry, I thought I heard something. As for your question, yes, you will work for me, and report to me."
Allison smiled. "That sounds wonderful. I didn't enjoy being close to him."
"That I can understand. Go home, clean up and meet me at my office tomorrow. Welcome to the Unspeakables."
Allison nodded and smiled. "Thank you, sir." With a pop, she apparated away.
"Thank you, sir." his new subordinate said, before apparating away.
With a smile, Sirius looked up. "Ok, you can come out now."
A soft flutter of wings, and a blood-red phoenix gently drifted down from the treetops. With a soft sound, Harry stood there, an expression of mild concern on his face.
"You are an Unspeakable?" he asked.
Sirius growled deep in his throat and grabbed his godson in a tight hug. "Damn you Harry, I was so worried. Why did you run away from school like that?" he demanded.
Harry stiffened in Sirius' arms, and replied, "Long story. Not one I need to recount right now."
Sirius took a deep breath and held Harry out at arms length. "Listen, you were in great danger Harry. I had expected you to remain at Hogwarts."
Harry frowned. "Why would it matter?"
Sirius sighed and reached into his pocket. "This ring can track your location once you are outside of Hogwarts' wards. Pritchart wore it."
Harry swallowed and nodded. "So that's how she found me so quickly."
Sirius nodded. "That's also why I was so worried when you left Hogwarts. I had to find her fast."
Harry nodded, a small smile on his face. The smile faded abruptly and a calculating expression covered his face. "How did Pritchart get the ring?"
Sirius looked troubled. "Ministry secret." he said.
Harry's eyes narrowed. "How do you know what the ring does?"
Sirius bit his lip. "Ministry secret." he repeated.
"How did you know how to find her?" Harry pressed.
Sirius remained silent.
Harry stared into Sirius' pale blue eyes for a long time, searching for something. "You made it." he declared. "She got it from you. That's how you found her so fast. It doesn't just track me, it allows you to track her."
"She didn't get it from me directly." Sirius mumbled.
Harry shook his head. "I wish you'd told me. I can't say I wouldn't have run from Hogwarts, but I wouldn't have come here."
"Why did you come here?" Sirius asked.
"Because he knew no one would think to look for him here." growled a familiar voice.
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