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The scoring was a mixed bag. The Durmstrang Headmaster gave him a zero on account of the lack of magic Harry used. The fact that Harry got his hostage the fastest didn't mean anything to him. Dumbledore gave a nine and Bagman another ten. Beauxbatons headmistress gave an eight for getting her champion's hostage and for the interesting entertainment that came with it. Crouch gave a seven saying he would have given a ten had Harry used a single spell.

Harry didn't particularly care about the points but the Quest said he would be penalized if he did not get full marks for the third task so hopefully the scoring for that one would be different.

The final task was on June 24th giving Harry four months to prepare.

What was interesting right after the second task was not the lack of a certain reporter's presence, but the presence itself. Harry had been waiting for her and he had been getting better at identifying specific energy signatures. He felt hers in the tent where he was going to meet his godfather but he didn't see her. Though he did see a beetle that happened to be crammed with exotic energy.

Harry whispered to Sirius, "Animagus bug reporter," before saying aloud, "I'm really glad all those bribes Malfoy paid got some good information on the second task ahead of time."

Sirius had been a part of more than just one or two pranks in his lifetime so he knew how to improvise. He said, "Who can blame him, it's thanks to you the man who controlled him is gone, what better way to thank you then helping from the side. Everyone cheats in a game like this."

Harry asked, "Well since I did as you asked and used muggle toys, the odds of me winning should be in the negatives by now. Malfoy will definitely win back what he put towards this from the bets."

Sirius nodded and said with a straight face, "Well it's thanks to him no one knew I broke out of prison and rescued you from those muggles. The winnings from those bets are definitely deserved. Good job with that Pettigrew thing. Now I don't have to pretend to still be in Azkaban."

Harry asked with concern, "What do you think he is going to do to get me to win the last task?"

Sirius answered, "Malfoy told me the last task will be some one on one duels. We'll get some muggle toys that will let you beat the others easily. I think Malfoy said something about sabotaging the other contestants. I hope he doesn't infect them with dragon pox again. The last time he tried that it wasn't pretty. That poor fellow."

Harry innocently asked, "Do I have to cheat?"

Sirius answered in a hard tone, "Yes, if not for Malfoy helping me you'd still be with those horrible muggles and I'd still be in Azkaban. We owe him a debt and Wizards take debts very, very, serious."

Harry looked down in sadness but in reality he was having trouble not laughing at that Sirius being serious line his godfather snuck in there.

Harry left the tent and after a few moments he confirmed the beetle wasn't following before he couldn't take it anymore and collapsed into a fit of laughter.

Sirius also took it as he cue and let it out as well. They laughed like a pair of madmen for a few minutes before his godfather asked, "Animagus bug reporter?"

Harry nodded. "Skeeter, you know her?"

His eyes shot up, "The one who did those lovely stories about my adventures?"

Harry answered back, "I sensed her magic in a beetle in the tent. She showed up instantly after the last task and I was actually waiting for her. Instead of giving me another interview, she decided to play 'fly on the wall.'"

Harry already told Sirius about his energy senses and his godfather took it into account during their magic practice over the last two months. Harry could almost predict what spell a person was going to cast before they cast it and he had no problem sensing spells from any direction.

Once Sirius realized the very person Harry tricked into writing those ridiculous stories had just heard that performance of all things, he once more burst into a mad, cackling fit of laughter.

Both of them were looking forward to what was to come.

A week passed and neither were disappointed. The headline was titled Conspiracy and Lies.

It spoke of deceit and betrayal around the Triwizard Tournament and the betting that had been going on in the background and the dirty deeds mixed in. It listed unnamed sources that prove Sirius Black and Harry Potter were cheating the tournament to affect the betting pools due to a debt they owed to Lucius Malfoy for preventing the press from discovering the fact that Sirius Black had escaped prison long ago. The article also mentioned Malfoy's plan to infect the other contestants with Dragon Pox to ensure Harry's victory.

Harry fell out of his chair laughing in the Great Hall. The small blond Slytherin who also seemed to be Malfoy, not Mofo like he previously thought, was very confused at the article.

When the redheaded twins saw the article and realized what had happened, they bowed to Harry and declared him the Lord of Pranks. He actually got the Daily Prophet to post such an article for all of Magical Britain to see.

Outwardly Hermione declared it wasn't very funny, but Harry caught a few twitches of her lip as she worked to prevent a smile.

At this point in Harry's schooling he had memorized every significant book in the Library including all the material from the restricted section.

Harry already got Sirius to agree to take him to the Black Family home for Easter Vacation next month. Harry intended to memorize every book in that library and spend the rest of the vacation experimenting on projects he couldn't do in the RoR.

At this point Harry had already reached the limit of the RoR for training. It couldn't provide greater than 10 times normal gravity so Harry spent a large amount of time when he could just analyze the magic of the room to see how it was put together.

Harry's weekday schedule consisted of waking up at 2 or 3am, four hours after sleeping and heading to the RoR. He'd exercise to his limit then spend time until morning either experimenting or studying. Much of his studying included charms, runes, and potions. He did buy a large amount of every ingredient and a nice cauldron so he certainly wasn't going to let Snape stop him from mastering the art. One problem most people had with potions was that they expired after a while. Since time in Harry's inventory didn't move, Harry had stocked an impressive amount of potions and had every intention of increasing that number.

The two hours before breakfast he'd use battle meditation to earn energy and then return to the dorm in time to join the others on their way to breakfast. The higher his level the more he needed to level up and it was already taking three days to level at this point.

The twins somehow found out about Harry's training and asked him where he went each night. Harry told them about the RoR which gave the pair some nasty smiles.

After classes Harry would tutor Neville and Hermione, the latter getting tutored longer as she was also learning high school classes. Harry would first go over what they learned the prior week to ensure retention of the lesson then go over the theory of the new lesson then the practical application. Hermione benefited more from the theory but Neville learned more from the practical. Both were now doing the equivalent of their fourth year classes which for Hermione included the electives of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. He was also giving her a basic foundation for Alchemy by showing her where certain branches of chemistry were applicable in transfiguration and potions.

At one point, Hermione jokingly said, "Harry, we're going to run out of things to study soon. Whatever will we do next year?"

Harry however couldn't meet her in the eye.

"Harry?"

"Hermione, I don't think I'm coming back next year," he honestly answered.

"What? Why?"

"I've already memorized the library Hermione. The whole thing. Other than teaching you and Neville, there isn't much left for me to do here."

"But you can't leave, you're still underaged. You'll not be allowed to perform Magic unless you graduate."

Harry shook his head, "Actually, the law says that anyone who doesn't graduate Hogwarts will have their wand snapped and will be forbidden from acquiring another. That doesn't apply to me as I've never used a wand. Also, my entry into the Triwizard Tournament has actually made me a legal adult. I haven't been an underage wizard since the 31st of October."

Hermione looked downtrodden. Harry asked with a little hope, "Do you want to come with me?"

She looked up and saw that it was a genuine offer. She could leave Hogwarts and return to the muggle world. She wouldn't be allowed a wand but she had already taken steps to learn intent based wandless magic and had confidence she wouldn't need her wand forever. That being said.

"I'm sorry Harry, but I can't."

Harry gave a weak smile and said, "That's ok. Can I ask why though?"

She answered, "Do you remember what you said when I asked you if you were from a wizard family or a muggleborn?"

Harry half smirked and repeated back, "Neither. I am an anomaly, an aberration, a tear in reality and a magnet of impending doom. You have been warned."

She nodded and said, "This has been the most exciting, the most terrifying, the most insightful, and the most amazing year of my entire life. Warning or not, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. But to be honest Harry, I can't keep doing this. I'm getting burned out. If each of the remaining years of my life are less eventful or even boring, I'd be ok with that. But I know that if I stayed with you, this would just be the beginning wouldn't it?"

Harry nodded. He'd grow to like Hermione then really like her, maybe even more. But he knew that she was right. She was an amazing person, but she was perfectly happy with being a big fish in a little pond. He knew it would be different if he relied on her. She was the type to go above and beyond for anyone in need, but the fact was, he didn't rely on her.

Harry said, "Well then, I promise to at least continue to write when I can."

She smiled sweetly and said, "I'd like that Harry." She was happy she wasn't going to lose her friend.

Harry's weekdays were almost nothing when compared to his weekends. Sirius would be considered a level 120 Wizard with a Magic rank of 20, close to 21. When Harry started sparring with him, his own Magic Path Rank was at 16. Thanks to this difference, Sirius had been thrashing Harry for three hours a day every Saturday and Sunday.

Few knew it but Sirius Black was actually the strongest wizard below Voldemort and Dumbledore in the whole of Britain.

Some thought it was the Charms Professor Flitwick or the Transfiguration Mistress McGonagall, but Sirius could defeat either without difficulty if it came to a fight. Sure, Flitwick was a champion duelist, but duels had rules, etiquette, restrictions. Flitwick's strengths thrived in a fight with such limitations for him and his opponent. But in a fight that didn't have any rules, Sirius would win. McGonagall was the second best user of Transfiguration magic in Britain behind Dumbledore, but Transfigurations was a flashy, power intensive magic that looked impressive but lacked finesse. In a fight without rules she was weaker than Flitwick.

Not that either were considered weak, both were equal if not a hair stronger than Voldemort's supposed second in command Bellatrix Lestrange. But compared to Sirius Black both were lacking.

He'd been raised with access to the Black Family Library yet he had the heart of a knight and the soul of a prankster. He had a reason to become strong, the means to do it, and a mischievous perspective that allowed him to easily think outside the box. The only person on Voldemort's side who could defeat him in a one on one fight was Voldemort himself. Even on a bad day, Sirius could play with his cousin Bellatrix without difficulty and even make a show of it.

Once Sirius understood Harry's skill level, he dueled his godson without holding back. Harry actually had to brew potions to recover stamina for his godfather so he could put everything into each duel before collapsing.

The results however spoke for themselves, Harry's magic path rank had increased to 18 and he wanted to get it to 21 before the third task.

Once Easter Break started the training was amped up to another level. Harry put every single book of the extensive Black Family Library in his inventory and then spent what may have been a full year paused before coming out of it. He'd never spent that long paused before because it would distance him from others. However since Hermione pretty much dumped him, he didn't have a reason to hold back.

And that was just the first day. For two weeks Harry would spend some unknown time paused going over everything and then unpause and experiment and finally he would duel Sirius for three hours and then digest the practical experience before experimenting some more.

Oh, and Harry and Sirius saw something both of them wished they had never seen.

On the second day of Easter Vacation, the Black Family House Elf shouted at Goose and told her she was a disgusting creature of the filthy half blood. Harry had taken Goose with him since he had no intention of leaving her at Hogwarts and he still spent some time each day chatting with her or petting her.

Goose's response to the elf's accusation was to open her mouth and release a swarm of horrible purple tentacles and teeth more terrifying than anything the pair had ever seen. The tentacles grabbed the elf and he screamed and cried out and seemed to try to escape using elf apparition and elf magic, but once bound by the tentacles, it seemed ineffective. The tentacles drew the deranged house elf into Goose's mouth where they disappeared behind the snapping sound of those unspeakable teeth which then completely withdrew into her body.

Both witnesses agreed never to speak of the incident again.

Once Harry got into his rhythm he realized how much he underestimated the Black Family history and magic itself.

The Black Family had more volumes of Grimoires on various types of magics than the Potter Family, the Hogwarts' Library, and Salazar Slytherin's study combined. It wasn't too surprising as a Grimoire is something written specifically by a witch or wizard about their own experiences with magic. A lifetime's worth of wisdom and comprehension on magic and the Black family Library had over two hundred of them. Many Grimoires dated back to before the time of Hogwarts. There were even a few encoded passages you wouldn't understand without reading the lot and once Harry had gone over them all a few times he cracked the code to the deeper aspects as well.

Exotic energy was not the only energy that could be used for magic, but it was the only one witches and wizards used. Every generation of Blacks felt that magic powered by Exotic energy was the strongest as other forms of magic would manipulate the rules of nature to achieve the effect while exotic energy magic rewrote the rules of nature to achieve the effect. One was clearly more powerful than the other.

However there was a problem with that. Each Wizard's exotic energy reserve was limited. Other sources of energy were not. Someone using nature energy which fills the air could use magic to create a thunderstorm and call down lightning with only some difficulty. Wizards could perhaps do the same or more if they had the reserves, but no witch or wizard had enough internal exotic energy to compare the amount of nature energy that flowed freely outside. It was like comparing a bucket of spring water to a fire hydrant connected to a city's water system. Quantity over Quality.

Many members of the Black Family sought to fix that. They tried to combine their exotic energy reserves with external energies like the energy of nature or dimensional energy. They blew up.

Harry figured from cross referencing history books that every wizard who had gone down the path of mixing energies had exploded. Not figuratively either. Their bodies weren't built to store energy like that. Their's weren't, but Harry's was.

Unfortunately it was not that easy. Harry tried absorbing Dimensional Energy and Natural Energy through his battle meditation but even if used to increase the level of his body, it didn't allow him to control it or use it to power his magic. He tried to control external dimensional energy but it wouldn't move as he wished it to. Even if it did, he wouldn't be able to master it before June so he decided to work on that if he was still alive once summer started.

The Black Family home itself had many quaint features and random curses on the floors, doors, and items. Harry could see magic so they didn't catch him unaware, but most of it was odd. Especially that locket in the downstairs drawer. From his senses it looked like a mass of black tentacles trying to infect others so he didn't want to even put it in his inventory. For sixteen days Harry considered this place his home since for all intents and purposes, his family was here. However all good things eventually come to an end.

At least when the end of the holiday came around, Harry's stats looked much better.

[Harry Potter

Level 112 Age 11

STR 80 AGI 201

INT 300 WIS 300

LUK 20

Warrior Path rank 13

Scholar Path rank 17

Magic Path rank 20

Tech Path rank 11

Crafting Path rank 6]

Harry spent most of the second week in battle meditation when he wasn't sparring with Sirius. Harry was now able to reliably beat him without having to use blood magic to boost the strength of his spells. Harry was now a master at dodging spell fire thanks to his energy senses and agility. He also finally relented and added a few points to luck since experimenting was partially reliant on luck and he had many more experiments to attempt.

Once Harry returned to Hogwarts, he found some good news and bad news. The good news was that the Dementors had left the grounds. Sirius even agreed to accept Dumbeldore's offer and move into a guest room once he found out. The bad news was that there had been a mass breakout of Azkaban and the Dementors were no longer following the direction of the Ministry of Magic. Yeah, that was bad.

Also, Harry's request for the goblins to acquire some muggle firearms for him was denied. Their letter did explain why though. Muggle ammo did in fact tend to go off on its own when stored in a magic rich area, when magic was used near it, or when used by a magical being. Thanks to that it was too dangerous to get near and Gringotts had very specific policies on them. There were even stories of magicals losing fingers or even getting killed just trying to load a muggle gun.

They didn't even have any suggestions on where to get some himself. They stated that in 1997 handguns were made pretty much illegal so outside of rifles for sport, there were no means to acquire concealable firearms. You couldn't even walk into a store that sold rifles and use magic on the clerk since the ammo in the store would go off.

Harry really wanted one for plan M, even if he had to manually inscribe every bullet, but it seemed it wasn't going to be that easy. He wanted to face Voldemort and his Death Eaters and whip out two tommy guns and shout, "Say Hello to my little friends!" He doubted anyone at the time would get the reference but it would still be satisfying to say.

During the second week of April Harry complained about this problem to Hermione and Neville. Neville was not surprised Harry thought he would have to face Death Eaters and understood why he wanted a gun. When Harry explained how a fast moving bullet could go through any magic shield, Neville certainly saw why they appealed to Harry.

Hermione of course being Hermione made Harry feel like an idiot by asking, "Why can't you make a magic gun that shoots solid bullets using magic?"

Harry then spent the next thirty seconds banging his head against the table while Hermione gave him her smuggest grin to date.

Although Harry had access to more magical knowledge than anyone in the school, that didn't mean the answers to some questions would just pop into his head. Did he know a dozen different potions recipes that could make something as good or better than gunpowder? Yes. Did he know metal transfiguration spells that would let him mold or strengthen metal to any form? Of course he did. Did he know runes he could directly carve onto bullets that would make them more powerful than an anti-tank round? Why yes, yes he did. But until Hermione mentioned it, he didn't put it all together.

Once Harry finished banging his head, he grabbed a parchment and drew a basic schematic of his idea. A few minutes later he walked over to a place he never thought he'd go. He knocked on the door and a few moments later it opened wide and he was faced with the perpetual sneer of Hogwarts.

"Potter.. What do you want?"

Harry said, "Can we speak inside?"

The potions professor was tempted to refuse but his curiosity got the better of him. "Why not."

Harry entered and the man closed the door. Harry said, "It's not like I haven't enjoyed our game these last few months, but I need your help with something."

Snape didn't seem surprised in the slightest Harry knew his distaste for him was an act. Mostly anyways. The fact that Harry figured it out and went along with it would help Snape in the long run. But a meeting such as this was dangerous. Should Voldemort return, Snape would be expected to return to his side. The Dark Lord's skill at mind reading was nothing to look down at and Snape preferred there to be as few interactions between himself and Potter where they were amicable as possible.

Snape easily said, "As you know, according to the rules of the tournament, a member of the staff such as myself cannot assist you with anything."

Harry smiled at the wording and ignored it before getting out the schematic he drew earlier. He said, "Since we don't know what the final task is yet this can't be considered assistance for the tournament. I'm going to make this to kill you-know-who and any Death Eater who comes for my life. Do you know how a gun works?"

Harry didn't avoid Voldemort's name out of fear but simple politeness. Proving you could say it without flinching was about as classy as swearing during a dinner conversation to prove you were above caring for such things.

Snape took the paper and noticed the muggle weapon shape but the composition of the gunpowder was written with a potion recipe. Not one he'd heard of as it was obviously meant for detonation, but that was beside the point. He'd also recognized the runes that would operate the device that may as well have been called an artifact considering how it functioned. A chill went down his spine as he imagined the power behind such an artifact. And it would work too. Mostly.

Snape let out a deep sigh and handed back the paper. He said, "I cannot be a part of this."

If Voldemort ever saw this memory Snape would certainly be killed. He didn't mind death as he knew he deserved worse, but he would still prefer a less meaningless death.

Harry had already figured out Snape's angle and after a few moments said, "No one knows I came here. What if you give me all the advice you can think of, then Obliviate yourself of the conversation? Then we go back to how we were before."

Asking anyone else to obliviate themself would earn a broken nose, but it was perfectly reasonable advice to a double agent.

Snape took more time than he thought to consider it. After a full two minutes he said, "Under two conditions. First, I want you to answer every single question I have for you. Tell me what plans you already have and how strong you actually are. You've done a remarkable job until now playing the part of a simple slightly above average student. Should anyone ask, I can make myself believe it to be true even under Veritaserum or Legilimency, but if we're going to do this I need everything. Second, before I obliviate myself, I will write myself a letter and give it to you. If you successfully kill the dark bastard then you will return it to me. Do we have a deal?"

Harry held out a hand without hesitation and they shook on it.

Harry told him as much as he could without telling him that he was pretty much a video game character though he did give a summary of the effects. The extra details he asked Snape not to include in his letter.

Once Snape understood the relevant points he said, "Let me understand this. You are a mutant obscurial immune to the killing curse and poison. If you die from anything else you can easily, albeit painfully come back to life, though a little weaker. You have a timeless, internal pocket dimension of unlimited size. You are already stronger than myself and that foolish godfather of yours. And yet you intend on coming up with a method to defeat Voldemort, all his death eaters, and a hundred dementors, without revealing any of these facts to others."

Harry said, "I also have the dissected parts of a basilisk corpse."

Snape looked longingly to his shelves at his bottle of Ogden's Finest Firewhisky but knew that it would be a waste to drink it for a conversation he won't remember.

The potions professor said, "Dumbledore hid the Sorcerer's Stone in the passage behind the third floor corridor. Unfortunately, it seems to have been stolen during the second task."

Harry felt his stomach drop. That wasn't good.

Chapter 13 The 3rd Task and a Cutscene

After finding out that the item he was supposed to protect was hidden in a place Dumbledore practically told everyone about on the first day, Harry cried out, "Why did he hide it there?!"

Snape understood the underlying question and said, "For a sufficiently powerful wizard, almost any security measure is little better than a delaying tactic. The only one of any real worth is the Fidelius charm, but that spell cannot be maintained on a location without magical residents living there full time and the secret keeper cannot live there himself."

He continued, "Few know of this, but there are ways of tracking the location of the Sorcerer's stone which is why it is not so easy to hide. The corridor contained an assortment of various obstacles and tasks, not designed to stop, but designed to stall the thief. Dumbledore himself intended to deal with whomever came for the stone, so the real security was Dumbledore himself."

Harry understood the concept now that he knew better and once he considered it he did find that there really weren't any truly fool proof security means. Recently he found out there is literally a spell that lets the caster find the direction of what they seek using the incantation 'Point Me,' for crying out loud, though that too has its limitations. That was also why wizards left their wealth with Goblins. There was no perfect lock or security when it came to magic. The only thing you can really use to protect something was strength.

Once Snape saw the understanding draw on Harry's face, he said, "Because of your death, Albus resigned his post as Chief Mugwump so he was not informed of the Triwizard Tournament until after he had already swore to Nicolas Flamel to hide the stone for him. Several teachers including myself were stationed around that hall during the tasks but they seemed to find a way."

Harry used his not inconsiderable amount of brainpower to put the pieces together in an instant. "Pettigrew. Pettigrew is an animagus rat. He could squeeze under the cracks of doors to or go around those obstacles whenever he needed to. If Pettigrew investigated the whole thing then brought the details back to whoever got him free, they would have enough time to figure out how to get around them quickly."

Snape's eyebrows raised a bit as he considered it. The truth was that the only obstacle that had any real significance was the Cerburus he refused to call by its given name and the Mirror of Erised. It would be impossible to see it and quickly figure out how to retrieve the stone. However, if Harry's guess was accurate, Voldemort would know of the mirror before he retrieved the stone and perhaps he found a way around it ahead of time. The mirror wasn't unbeatable after all, it was just Dumbledore's best stalling tactic.

Harry asked, "Can we track the stone?"

He answered flatly, "Once the stone had been removed, its trackable signature seemed to have widened from a small space to a vast area. All anyone knows is that it is somewhere in the UK. We can't even tell if it is Ireland, Scotland, Great Britain, or still in Hogwarts herself."

Harry wasn't exactly happy but what's done is done. He went over all his various ideas and plans with Snape. When he saw one of the formulas Harry gave him he said, "This Aerosol Polyjuice Potion won't work like this. You'll need a stronger base to prevent the properties from breaking down instantly and it would never work with hair."

Harry considered it and asked if it could be changed to work with blood. Since Harry's blood even used as an ingredient would vanish after a couple of minutes, anything that used it as an ingredient would become ineffective at that point so it would only last a few minutes. But depending on the circumstances that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Once Snape understood the direction Harry was going, he really wondered how the brat avoided being put into Slytherin.

Snape's experience with runes was inferior to Harry's so he couldn't help with that, but he did know more about potions than the author of any book Harry had in his massive inventory. Like Sirius with light and dark magic and the will to use it, Snape had access and a reason to brew every potion of every alignment and had used his spare time over the last ten years further mastering the art.

"This formula has potential but the critical reaction will take too long. A muggle weapon fires in nearly the same instant the trigger is pulled. This compound would have a moment's delay which for your aims would be unacceptable. Also I understand why you would want an explosion, but a directed force expansion would put more magic into the force of the bullet as it adds to the intent." Harry found that although the potion master was still telling him everything he did wrong as he did in class, the man seemed to be enjoying himself as they were making something new.

Harry gave him the uses of the various rune schemes he could use to ignite the gunpowder and the professor considered the best concoction for a stable but explosive powder that would eject the bullet from a cartridge with enough force and magic to deal with anything in its path.

Another hour passed and Harry had a list of different possible gunpowders they thought up together. There was no way to determine which would be the best without further testing. Snape had written a letter to himself and sealed it with his own magic before setting up the stage for his own Obliviation. Harry left as he knew the man wasn't likely to go against the plan. If Voldemort had the stone he could make a body anytime and call his supporters any day. Both Harry and Snape guessed what the man was waiting for which was why both were eager to complete the formula.

Another month passed and Harry had dropped three levels though did gain them back. It was his first deaths since the tutorial and possibly even more painful than he remembered. It also clearly explained why no one else made a magic gun before this point. He wouldn't bet he was the first to try, but of the list of those who did, there were likely no survivors. If it wasn't for the autocorrection of his Crafting Path, he may not have been able to even do it successfully at all.

On the last week of May, McGonagall told Harry to meet his fellow Champions on the Quidditch pitch.

On the way he thought about brooms themselves and Quidditch. One would think that a flying broom would be pretty simple, but when Harry placed one into his inventory, he found they were nearly as complex as a car or a computer.

Flying brooms had likely advanced over the years, but the complex spells that went into the making of even the outdated ones were far beyond what could be imagined. First a magic array would be carved out of a large stone and a recess would be carved into the center of the array. The recess would be filled with a special potion that had some alchemic proprieties and a specially carved piece of wood, the broomstick itself would be submerged into the potion. The magic array would be powered by several witches and wizards and it would infuse the potion into the broom which would then harden into a crystal matrix of a very specific configuration. This matrix included the rune scheme pressed into the broom through the magic array which allowed it to fly using the exotic energy of a wizard.

One of the things on Harry's to do list was to find the secrets of the best brooms and make the best one for himself. For someone with an inventory, a very fast broom would be very useful.

Once Harry reached the Quidditch pitch, he saw Ludo Bagman and the others. The field which Harry visited a few times to run was no longer flat, but looked like an irregular garden. Cedric starred in horror over the pitch as if the vegetation offended his family's honor. Victor Krum's expression was firm but appeared to share the sentiments of the Hufflpuff Seeker.

Bagman noticed Harry's approach and said, "Well, what d'you think? Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid'll have them twenty feet high. Don't worry, you'll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"

Krum grunted out, "Maze."

"Correct. The Triwizard cup will be in the center of the maze and the first to get it will receive full points. Points to the other contestants will be determined by how well they did once the cup has been acquired. When you enter the maze will be determined by your current point total."

He looked back at Harry and said, "I'm sorry but it was decided against my objections that other than a wand you cannot take any tools into the maze, no muggle toys as it were. Nothing foreign can be placed in the maze ahead of time. And nothing not already in the field will be allowed in once the task has started."

Harry shrugged and said, "Would it be against the rules if I took a step in then left the maze?"

Bagman considered it for a few moments and said, "No, there is no rule to keep the contestants inside the maze once they have entered but there is only one entrance. Although you are behind in Points Mr. Potter, if you get the cup you earn fifty points regardless and if the other contestants haven't shown off much before then, you could have enough to win."

"So I can leave the maze and re-enter?"

"Yes, but again, you can only enter with a wand, taking anything else with you won't be allowed and there will be several wizards stationed around to specifically watch you and make sure you don't use any muggle toys."

Harry smiled which caused Cedric to frown, Fleur to sigh, and Victor to.. Well, he didn't do anything really.

Harry returned to the castle and was pleased he wouldn't have to worry about the third task. His quest said he'd be penalized if he didn't get full points and getting full points just meant getting the cup before anyone else.

Another month passed and Harry only died once but gained two levels. He finally got a magic gunpowder formula and rune combination that worked for ammo and a gun prototype that worked well enough for his intentions. His tech and crafting path both ranked up twice and his magic path ranked up to 22 thanks to sparring with Sirius in the RoR every day. This meant that Harry had gone from 60 times weaker than Dumbledore to about 60% of Dumbledore's strength. Not perfect, but workable.

He also had enough secret aces to make him feel somewhat secure, if not comfortable. Though anyone else discovering what he had prepared would ask him to look up the definition of overkill. Was a working Reality Bomb of questionable stability really necessary to handle a group of terrorists?

Harry stood with his fellow champions before the towering maze and Bagman spoke to the assembled crowd and gave a pause for applause between each sentence.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! In first place, with eighty-eight points, Mr. Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts School! In second place, with eighty points, Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute! In third place with sixty-eight points, Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy! And in last place with sixty-five points, Mr. Harry Potter, of Hogwarts School!

Regardless of the point difference each place would enter a minute after the others so Harry would enter three minutes after Cedric did.

Bagman counted off the seconds while each contestant gave another look at Harry and inwardly hoped he wouldn't show them up too badly this time.

Once Bagman reached the mark Cedric sprinted into the maze. Harry took a look into the crowd and wondered how the final boss battle would appear. He hoped it wouldn't be here since there would be a lot of casualties. Sirius was aware of Harry's fears and was sitting in the bleachers with the Gryffindors and a wand in his hand. He met Harry's eyes and gave a devilish smile. He alone knew what Harry was planning. A few seconds before Harry's mark, Sirius got up and made his way to the judges table to pass on a note.

"Three-Two-One-Go!" shouted Bagman.

Harry leisurely entered the maze. Waited a moment, then walked out of the maze.

Bagman saw this and let his head fall in disappointment. Harry looked him in the eyes and smiled as he shifted into his animagus form and a moment later took flight, directly above the maze.

Bagman shouted, "Look at this! Harry Potter is an Animagus! Is he registered?"

At that moment Sirius had reached the man and handed him a slip of paper which he read before shouting to the audience, "I have just been informed that Harry turned his registration papers in this morning so he is in fact a registered Animagus, a White Snowy Owl. And he is, Yes! He is flying over the maze! I can assure you this is no violation of the rules and he is in fact using magic! Animagus training usually takes years so no one considered a student to be capable of this! Certainly not a first year. This is incredible!"

From the maze everyone heard a familiar shout of, "Really Harry?!" which caused more than a few giggles.

Harry easily spotted the shining cup and swooped down to grab it by his claws and carry it back. The moment he touched it though, he felt himself get dragged by his stomach as the portkey activated.

Bagman shouted, "Potter got the Cup! Wait, where did he go?"

A few hundred miles away, a white owl appeared along with a cup in a dusky graveyard. Harry saw the wand pointed at him and heard the shout of "Stupefy," but as an owl there was nothing he could do. He had no idea he'd experience portkey sickness as an owl when he didn't have that problem as a human.

*Ping*

[You have been Stunned]

Harry woke up tied to a statue. Someone used the spell to revert an Animagus to human and also seemed to place a spell on Harry to prevent him from changing back without the removal of the spell. The ropes that bound him were not normal ones but conjured ones and a little stronger than store bought ones.

Voldemort was definitely here since no one else could stun him in a single shot with the ridiculous magic defense granted by his WIS stat. Harry paused the world and looked around. The paused world was immobile so he couldn't snap his binding and walk about, but he saw enough.

He was tied to a statue that had the name Tom Riddle carved into it. No idea who that was. In front of him were four people, three of which he recognized. Quirrel was there, no surprise. Pettigrew was there, though he looked like a strong breeze would make him beg for mercy. There was a student there in Ravenclaw robes. Harry didn't remember her name since he never paid attention to names, but it was the fifth year girl Cedric took to the Yule Ball and was his hostage for the second task. Huh, you never can tell with some people. Harry wondered what would have happened if Cedric got the cup first. Last was an energetic man with manic eyes.

The only thing besides the group was a cauldron three times larger than a bathtub which the group seemed to pay a great deal of attention to.

Oh, there were also the hundred Dementors flying above the group. How does that not stand out? Luckily Harry's game body and mental protection actually made him nearly immune to Dementors and they couldn't suck his soul out since his soul didn't really exist in his body. From what Harry could tell, it actually was in the same space his inventory existed.

At the moment if Harry were to die, he would reform in the last place he was that he considered safe. That would actually be Sirius' guest room at Hogwarts so there was no way to crush him repeatedly to level one. That being said, it looked like the group was up to something pretty bad. Probably better to not die and see what's going on.

He unpaused and shifted a little to check for any slack but the conjured rope constricted when loosened. Harry had a few ways to break it but now was not the time.

Quirrel immediately noticed Harry had woken and said, "Potter, so good of you to join us."

Harry calmly answered back, "Well I've never been one to turn down an invitation to a good party. Where's the entertainment and the snacks?"

The man he didn't recognize growled back, "Do not speak to the master without respect unless you want me to rip your tongue from your throat!"

Harry raised an eyebrow and looked back at Quirrel and said, "I wasn't aware you had groupies Professor. Congrats I suppose."

Quirrel motioned for the man to calm down before addressing Harry. "Your Professor has been dead for some time. Thanks to the elixir of life, I can remain in his body for as long as I wish, but tonight, I shall craft a new body."

"Ah, not Quirrel. Well then introductions I suppose. I'm Harry Potter. Nice to meet you." Harry wasn't going to do the same as a certain redhead and not introduce himself for six months.

Not Quirrel seemed amused and said, "Very well Potter, you stand in the presence of Lord Voldemort."

Harry kinda already figured that but he didn't want to assume. Quirrel wasn't wearing the turban anymore and his level would have been about 130 with a magic path rank of 23. Harry wanted to find that turban later so he could examine it as it blocked exotic energy better than the rune scheme Harry took months to create.

Voldemort was a little surprised that Harry's lackadaisical attitude survived his own introduction. That wasn't usual. He said, "Do stay comfortable Harry, the entertainment will begin shortly."

He probably imagined that his evil sneer and morbid tones had caused a shiver of fear to trickle down Harry's spine. At this moment though Harry had already figured out what was going to happen and was five moves ahead. He wondered who hated the fates so much they would mess up their script this badly.

The ravenclaw student seemed nonplussed about the whole thing. However Harry realized she was not all there. According to his energy senses, her life force was almost entirely removed from her body and contained within the thin leather book she held. If the book was taken from her, she'd likely die or drop into a coma on the spot. The book itself seemed parasitical and more than a little familiar. But he couldn't place where he'd seen it before.

The manic man who yelled at Harry said in reverence to Voldemort, "It's time my Master."

He nodded and the man began what seemed to be a ceremonial rite. He picked up a bone and said, "Bone of the Father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son," before dropping it into the cauldron.

He gave it a moment and said, "Body of the servant, willingly sacrificed, you will revive your master." Then Voldemort removed a robe at which point Harry turned away as fast as he could to avoid seeing anything. He didn't turn back until the sound of a plop was heard meaning he was fully submerged in the cauldron.

The man turned to Harry and walked forward with a maniacal grin and said aloud, "Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe."

He got out a knife and forced it against Harry's arm and pressed deep before sliding the knife down and leaving a trail of blood to his hand. The man set a vial near Harry's fingers and Harry didn't bother stopping the blood from flowing into the vial by making a fist or anything. Luckily the man didn't notice that his heavily pressed slice was just barely skin deep. Harry's physical defense may not have been as high as his other stats but it still took a lot to deal any significant damage. Once the vial was full, the man walked back to the cauldron without noticing the wound was already gone beneath the line of blood on Harry's arm.

The man carefully poured the blood into the cauldron which shot out golden sparks making the man grin with pleasure. From what Harry guessed the sparks should have been silver. Harry figured a large amount of elixir of life had been added to the mix. That would make things interesting.

The sparks fell down and the glow from the cauldron died. A moment later, a man rose from it. Harry turned his head again but luckily the man said, "Robe me," pretty soon which made Harry sigh in relief. He really, really didn't want to see anyone naked today.

The newly robed Voldemort looked at Harry for a moment before looking down at his own body. He had a full head of slightly curly brown hair and was relatively handsome by British standards. Harry figured that this body was his masterpiece. With continued usage of the elixir of life he would keep this body forever.

The man from before had already conjured a large mirror and Voldemort was vainly admiring his work.

From Harry's senses, the new body was about level 160 with a magic rank of 25. Most considered him weaker than Dumbledore before his fall but as of now at least he was a full rank stronger than Dumbledore. Harry figured that right now Voldemort would likely trounce Dumbledore in a fair one on one fight, the only type Dumbledore would likely give him.

He turned back to the man and said, "Show me your arm Barty."

The energetic man, Barty it seemed, quickly rolled up his sleeve to reveal what Harry could see was the so-called Dark Mark, the sign of a servant of Voldemort. From what he learned, it had faded since the man's fall but as of now the mark on the man's arm was vividly clear.

Voldemort smiled and said, "It's back. They will all have noticed it. And now, we shall see. Now we shall know."

He pressed a finger against the mark for a moment and said, "How many will be brave enough to return when they feel it? And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?"

He looked back to Harry and noticed he seemed.. Bored. Voldemort approached and asked, "Does my hospitality bore you Harry?"

Harry looked back up and said, "I think between the two of us I have the better track record of being a generous host. Every time I've had an audience I kept them entertained you know."

"Ah yes, I wasn't there for your second task, but I did hear you kept the sheep enthralled by your performance. Your use of muggle toys was as interesting as it was insulting."

Harry heard the venom layered on the word muggle and said, "You don't seem to like Muggles do you?"

Voldemort gave a cruel smile and said below the level the others could hear, "Just between you and me Harry, I once had a muggle as a father. I killed him Harry, I killed him for leaving my mother to die. It is his tomb you are currently bound to Harry."

The sound of whooshing came from above and Voldemort said, "But look Harry, my true family returns."

Fifteen and wizards fell from the sky and knelt in a semicircle around the spot they had been summoned. Some wore masks, others did not. Those who didn't Harry recognized as escapees of Azkaban. Harry wondered why they weren't here to begin with. After considering it, Harry figured he wanted them there after he had returned to full power.

Voldemort began his monologue. He told everyone how disappointed he was in them and how displeased he was that they had lost faith. He spoke of those who remained loyal like Barty and those liberated from Azkaban, but also said that the others had a debt to him that they would not escape paying it in full, one way or another.

Harry didn't feel like standing on Voldemort's dad's grave anymore so he cast the Notice-Me-Not to prevent people from noticing Harry Potter was no longer bound. It wouldn't last long once people actually turned in his direction but it would last long enough. Harry broke the ropes and walked to an empty spot before taking item after item out of his inventory.

From the group Harry heard someone say, "Master, we crave to know, we beg you to tell us how you have achieved this miracle. How you managed to return to us."

"Ah, what a story it is, Lucius. It begins with our guest here who we shall entertain in just a moment. That night you see.."

Harry tuned out the man and conjured a few items. He wondered if this was a game if he would be in a preboss fight cutscene.

"-The foolish wizard sought me out for knowledge and power when all others had forsaken me. I granted his wish of course but for a price. For you see he was a teacher at Hogwarts, and I learned that the Philosopher's Stone, the source of the Elixir of Life, had been taken there. Fate itself was on my side. Aided by the will of magic, three allies had come to my aid."

Harry cringed when he thought that Voldemort considered Harry's Hell Mode his own personal aid. If only he knew what was coming.

"The Triwizard tournament was to be held, the old fool would be too busy to protect the stone. Harry Potter himself aided me, though not by his choosing. I entered the boy's name in the Goblet of Fire as a fourth champion to further distract the old fool. Mr. Potter further aided me by revealing Pettigrew."

Harry noticed the lumpy man violently twitch which seemed to make Voldemort smile.

He continued, "A coward he is, but when I saved him from certain imprisonment, his life became mine to use as I wished. His Animagus form easily bypassed Dumbledore's protections of the stone and gave me what I needed to take it myself when the time was right."

He turned to the Ravenclaw student and then back to the man he addressed earlier, "Lucius, my slippery friend. In a way you disobeyed me and had things gone differently that would have cost you your life. And yet it was this act that yielded me another ally. The diary I told you would ensure my return has done so, but not how I expected it to. It possessed the student you left it to. Once I discovered this, I assisted with the possession and she became my most valued aid in this. Believe it or not, the removal of the Dementors and the destruction of the wards around Azkaban can both be linked directly to her aid."

When Voldemort began to describe how he found Barty and his plans for a new body, Harry tuned him out again. He had poured some bottled water into a tea kettle and was using magic to boil it at the moment. Once it reached the right temperature Harry poured himself a cup and waited just a moment for it to cool.

'-But how could I capture him from under the nose of the muggle loving fool? The tournament I myself entered him into provided that very answer. And here he is, the boy you all believed had been my downfall-"

*slurping sounds*

The Notice-Me-Not charm instantly died to the sound of Harry finishing his tea as every death eater was now looking at him sitting at a table with a tea set casually drinking tea before a group of the deadliest people in all of Britain.

Harry looked at them and said, "What?"

Back at Hogwarts, Sirius Black had long since followed the instructions of one of Harry's contingency plans and set up those monitors from the second task. One of the first things Harry pulled out from his inventory was a couple of flying drones and they all had cameras he'd taught Sirius how to pilot once the marauder understood the implication for pranking they had. Above them all was a special drone that hovered high in the air and took the feed from the other drones and would broadcast them to the monitors Sirius set up.

Only moments after Harry broke his binding the feed had started. This meant almost all of Voldemort's monologue and every name he mentioned had been heard.

Sirius himself was half tempted to rush to that graveyard as fast as he could and half tempted to laugh himself to death at the absurdity of Harry throwing himself a tea party in front of Voldemort's Death Eaters.

Author's Notes.

My ability to post so fast is powered by favorites, follows, and Reviews for each chapter telling me your favorite parts and if any part of the chapter made you laugh out loud. And not just this chapter, but other chapters as well.

Harry put down his tea cup and said, "Would you like me to pour you some tea?"

"Reducto!" One of the Death Eaters behind Voldemort, Bellatrix, Harry figured, fired a blasting hex at Harry's table. Harry grabbed a plate and took a step back as the table and the rest of the tea set exploded.

Harry brushed off his robes and said, "How rude. If this is how you treat your guests I can't imagine you're going to be very popular in the future."

"How dare you! Crucio!" Bellatrix cried out.

The cruciatus curse was a red beam that traveled in a relatively straight line. Harry saw where her wand was pointing and moved the plate he was holding in front of him, directly blocking the unforgivable.

Normal plates for tea sets can't block such a powerful spell without exploding of course, but this particular plate was one of Harry's masterpieces. Hidden under the decoration were intricate rune sets that rendered the plate saturated with exotic energy yet frozen in place. Bellatrix's spell was like shooting a water hose at a glacier in the hopes it would break through.

Harry shifted his gaze to Voldemort while continuing to casually block the torture curse with fine china and said, "Have you taught them how to duel? They have no proper etiquette do they."

Voldemort said, "Enough Bellatrix!"

"But Master, he-"

"Be Silent!"

Harry tossed the plate away like it wasn't worth anything and faced Voldemort. This made the man's face twitch as it went against his guess there was something special about the plate. Now however he had their attention.

Harry said, "Now did you want to talk, to duel, or play a game I had in mind."

"Oh, and what game would that be?"

"Hide and seek. All of you against me, I swear on my magic I won't leave this area until the game is over."

None of them noticed the pink mist falling from above released by the flying drones.

Harry continued to in order to keep their attention on him, "Rules are simple, after ten seconds, I'll hide. I'll have five seconds to hide. After five seconds, if you find me, you can kill me. Winner gets fabulous prizes. If no one finds me and you all give up, then since you won't have found me I'll likely be alive."

Lucius said, "What childish nonsense."

The possessed Ravenclaw said, "Is this your big plan to survive?"

Harry smiled and said, "Not exactly. It has been ten seconds by the way so now I have five seconds to hide. Three, two-"

Several explosions occurred at everyone's feet and the area was filled with a red tinted smoke.

Harry stunned the possessed Ravenclaw and summoned her wand. The cameras on the drones had filters that allowed them to see through the smoke and they all focused in on Harry as he transfigured his robe into an adult's robe and carefully lied down on the ground, seemingly faking his death.

Through the monitors the audience gasped as they saw the death eaters shift their form. Suddenly, they each looked like Harry Potter.

Several encountered each other through the smoke and spells began to fly. One camera closed in on Harry and saw him smile before going back to the others.

Dozens upon dozens of spells shot around, various shouts called back left and right that they'd found him. The audience realized that no one knew they all looked like Harry Potter.

Sirius picked up his mic and said, "This gas you see is an Aerosol type Polyjuice potion. It only lasts about five minutes but will turn anyone who breathes it in into the same person, in this case, Harry. The gas also contains a weak Befuddlement Draught and Forgetfulness Potion. Even if they shoot down a Harry, they will forget about that if they see another Harry. They are also less likely to notice they themselves are a Harry."

Spells continued to fly back and forth as the heads of many ancient magical houses were killed off. Sirius considered this and said into the mic, "For those of you wondering, neither myself nor Harry can be held responsible for these deaths. If someone dies due to your actions and they are trying to kill you, it is self defense. In other words this can be considered self defense unless someone here thinks those death eaters are not in fact trying to kill Harry Potter."

Another Harry died, and Voldemort came into the screen, "Ah, it seems old Moldybutt wasn't affected by the potion. Oh well."

Harry himself was using his energy sense to figure out what was going on around him without moving.

Voldemort seemed to have figured it out and shouted, "Everyone Stop!"

Harry used that moment to lock onto three different death eaters and cast the Slippery jinx on their wand hands while hidden through the smoke before summoning their wands from them. Wands and items possessed by another person's magic are nearly impossible to summon from them due to the interference of the other person's magic which is why he could only summon them after using the Slippery Jinx. It was a fact that Jinxes could only be cast while looking at something but Harry could get around this with his energy sense meaning he could uses Jinxes through the smoke when others could not.

Voldemort shouted, "Everyone to me!"

Harry felt the exotic energy in the man build for a moment before he called forth a torrent of wind to scatter the gas and smoke.

He looked around and said, "Kneel."

Every 'Harry' knelt in place.

He said, "We have been tricked. Look at yourselves."

"What is this my lord?" came from one of them in Harry's voice.

Normal Polyjuice potions don't change the voice unless you force it. Normal polyjuice needs hair though, this one needed blood.

Voldemort glared at the Harry and said, "Where is your wand?"

Everyone knew Harry didn't have a wand. The 'Harry' looked to their empty hand and said, "No, I'm-"

"Avada Kedavra!"

And the energy Harry felt from Bellatrix Lestrange vanished from the world.

The camera shifted back to Harry who gave another smile before turning back to the group. There were only four Death Eaters left and only two had wands. Considering there were fifteen earlier, it was quite the drop in Harry's favor.

Voldemort shouted, "Everyone take out your wands!"

He saw two wands but noticed the two missing. One of them said in Harry's voice, "It's me my Lord, Goyle."

"Is that so? Tell me something only Goyle would know?"

"I, I, I've served you faithfully for years my Lord, it's me."

Sirius watching this over the monitor said, "Some people are affected by forgetfulness potions more than others."

Voldemort gritted his teeth waiting for some proof and when none came, he shouted, "Avada Kedavra," once more. He turned back to the two wands that were held out and noticed neither was Barty's. He asked the remaining man without a wand, "And you, tell me something only you would know."

"I'm Carrows my lord, you ordered me to gut the Bones woman and set her ablaze my lord."

"Ah yes, that's right. Now, all three of you go around and find any body without a wand." It was known that someone dying under polyjuice would not revert back to normal which would make this game of hide and seek very difficult.

The camera once again zoomed back on Harry holding a wand before going back to the search.

The group spread out and when the camera wasn't on Harry, he pulled his magic gun out and shot Voldemort, then the first wizard still with a wand, then the second, then the last one.

The sounds were far, far louder than a normal gun shot and even the audience watching from the monitors had to cover their ears after the first. Harry's aim was dead on and large holes formed in the torsos of all four, though when Voldemort collapsed, a moment later the hole refilled itself, healing him.

Voldemort quickly got up and fired off a half dozen spells but wasn't able to save his remaining death eaters. Harry dodged the shots and fired his gun back at the immortal dark lord who quickly dodged two shots before Harry ran out of ammo.

Harry placed the gun in his robes and said, "How's that immortality thing going for you?"

Voldemort's anger was only tempered by the satisfaction of knowing he was now truly immortal. Even he was impressed by how quickly he recovered from the lethal damage.

He spat back at Harry, "Nothing you have done here will matter. Now I will never die, nothing can stop me, and you, I will not kill you quick Harry Potter. No, I will grant you immortality as well just so I can ensure your torment lasts for all eternity."

Harry smirked at that and looked at his arm. The blood that had stained it from the knife wound earlier was fading away.

Harry said, "About that, you really shouldn't have used my blood. You should be feeling it in three, two, one."

Voldemort suddenly collapsed, his body fighting against him.

"What, what have you done?"

"Nothing, you're the one who wanted my blood. You did this to yourself. Your body is breaking down, the elixir of life is keeping you together, but just barely. In this state your body is doing everything it can to keep itself in one piece. You can't use magic and you don't have a port key. You're done Volde."

Harry didn't know the exact details of these rituals but he extrapolated enough to know what was going on with the man's body.

The Dark Lord sneered with venom and said, "So you even saw this coming, you sabotaged your own blood. It matters not. I will return. I will never die, I will-"

*meow*

Somehow a certain orange tabby cat appeared. Harry said, "Goose, what are you doing here?"

Goose conveyed back through the link, 'I'm tired of you needing to deal with this one.'

When Harry realized what was about to happen, he shouted to the cameras, "Sirius! Turn the cameras away! Now!"

Sirius realized with horror what was about to happen and used the controls to twist every drone to face away from Voldemort. The sound was still coming through though.

From the monitors everyone heard Voldemort's voice, "What is this? What? Oh Merlin! What is that thing?! No! Get it away! No! Get it off me! What is this monster?! No! Oh Merlin No! Not like this! I am Voldemort, I cannot be! NO! Please! PLEASE! NOT! LIKE! THIS!"

After another moment of terrified screaming, silence resumed. Harry said, "Ok, it's over."

The cameras turned back to where Harry and Voldemort were. Except Voldemort was nowhere to be seen and the cat seemed to be casually walking away.

Sirius felt bad he hadn't turned the sound off as many would be emotionally scarred for life, but at least they didn't have to see it. He noticed something odd and the camera focused on the downed Ravenclaw everyone heard was possessed by a diary. The Diary itself seemed to be turning black and a moment later, it dissolved into ash.

Dumbledore had been watching this part with interest. He was of course initially terrified for Harry at first, but once Harry started pouring tea for himself, Dumbledore realized the boy seemed to have things under control. Dumbledore had many suspicions about that diary, but the fact that it dissolved with Voldemort's vanishing was beyond anything he could comprehend. He was tempted to ask what had occurred, but his own wisdom told him with no uncertainty that some things were better left unknown and unsaid.

Harry said to the sky, "I think I'm in Little Hangleton so you can send backup. Oh, and for anyone wanting to know where I got my toys, I figured this would happen so I asked Sirius to set a timed port key to bring them to me. Sirius, you can pack up now."

Sirius took that as his cue and turned off the monitor. He figured the real reason Harry wanted it off and didn't intend to argue.

Harry equipped a basilisk envenomed goblin steel dagger Sirius had gifted him and went from survivor to survivor cutting each and healing the wound. Many of the death eaters had only been stunned or knocked out in the fight and Harry's energy sense could tell the survivors from the corpses.

Harry also noticed that when the diary had dissolved, for some reason and the Ravenclaw's stolen life force had returned. She wouldn't be out and about for a while, but she'd live. Harry hoped to rescue her earlier which was why he stunned her before the spells started flying and was glad it worked out.

As he went around slicing and healing, some part of him thought killing defenseless humans would feel different, that making a choice he probably had no right to make would make him feel ill or unclean. But deep down, to him, it was just another monster to kill like the thousands he had slain in the tutorial and during battle meditation. He wouldn't bother justifying it. They had taken actions to kill him and though he had a choice to leave them alive, he had no intention of doing so. Especially when he could get away with it. He may like saving people but that was more of a hobby than a calling. He wouldn't go out of his way to save someone who he didn't feel like saving or spar someone who wasn't likely to repent.

Something about the battle was still nagging him. Sure, it was anticlimactic, he only had to use plans C, G, and M and got lucky on the rest. Had Voldemort used Cedric's or anyone else's blood Harry would have been kinda screwed as the Dark Lord's healing factor exceeded Harry's damage threshold so he'd lose if they tried trading blows. Harry got a cold shiver just remembering how that melon sized hole in Voldemort's gut close like it was nothing at all.

Harry looked through his inventory as all his other plans and contingencies came to mind and he considered how differently that could have gone down. The reason he didn't use the Basilisk Envenomed Grenade for example was because he figured that couldn't be justified as self defense. If things got worse, he still would have used it but it wasn't worth it if there was a better option. He also couldn't take out his Reality Bomb which would likely break every law of physics within a hundred miles as the town of Little Hangleton was just too close.

If enough death eaters hadn't killed each other he might have needed plan K where he would equip two daggers and weave himself through the smoke slicing every death eater around. If every death eater fired survivable spells at him simultaneously before he could start his 'game plan' he would have had to use plan E to equip the magical mirror shield he made and gotten out his grenades right away.

Not too long after the last survivor succumbed to the basilisk venom, a group of a dozen in Auror robes led by Amelia Bones apparated in.

She had her wand at the ready and took a few looks around before settling on Harry. "What happened here Mr. Potter?"

Harry felt the build up of magic from seven sources and jumped back. Amelia and four other Aurors dropped to nonverbal stunners while Harry dodged the other two cast at him.

Ah, now Harry knew what had been nagging him. The ping notifying him of the end of the quest hadn't shown up yet and he hadn't gotten any energy from the kills yet. This was hell mode. After the boss fight was the second, even harder boss fight. What could be more obvious right?

"Quick reflexes kid," said one of the 'Aurors.'

Another of the seven pointed his wand into the air and it glowed with a black light. The swarm of Dementors which Harry had kinda forgotten about came down and destroyed Harry's drones.

Harry felt that although each of these men was below Sirius in power, it wasn't by that much. The strongest one seemed to be able to give his godfather a run for his money. What was not normal was that each of them was more powerful than Flitwick or McGonagall. That level of wizard was not common and other than Bellatrix, Voldemort's followers were mostly far weaker than he was. At least the ones he'd heard of.

Bellatrix, Flitwick, McGonagall, and Sirius. Besides Dumbledore and Voldemort himself, these four were the strongest in Britain with a wide margin between them and the next strongest. Yet this group was stronger than them all combined. And since they fired simultaneously, that meant they trained to work together. Not good.

Harry said, "I don't mean to be rude, but who exactly are you. I'm Harry by the way."

The man smiled back, "Hello Harry. I'm Vinny, captain of the Knights of Walpurgis. I guess you can say we're the true Death Eaters, the original in fact."

"Umm, so who are they?" Harry motioned to the corpses which mostly killed each other earlier.

"Trainees mostly. Distractions, muscle, grunts, disposable pawns. You get the idea. Only the true elite join the Knights."

One of the so called knights said, "What has happened to our Lord?"

Harry turned to notice that Goose was gone. No idea where. Then again he had no idea how she arrived either. He very much doubted the 'my cat ate your dark lord' excuse would fly with these men.

Harry said, "No idea. I think he said something about Tahiti and a chair by the pool with his name on it."

The man frowned and said, "It isn't polite to be stubborn Potter."

"""Crucio!""" Harry felt their magic build up at the word 'polite' and the three knights cast at Harry and the space to the left and right of him when the man said 'Potter.'

Harry tried to leap further than the spell to his left to dodge but it struck him and lit his nerves ablaze.

At this point Harry realized a few things. First, the men's coordination was based on verbal cues. Like 'cast the torture curse' when he used the word 'polite' and cast it when he said 'Potter.' Second, Harry realized that the torture curse, the worse pain anyone could possibly experience as the spell itself literally forced the person to experience the max level of pain, still didn't compare to dying and reviving.

As an intellectual, Harry understood it. Death while alive was like having every sense he possessed experience every possible sensation at the same time without any of them drowning out the others. In life, people can only truly experience one sense at a time. This was not true in death, and there were far more than just a single type of pain. The sensation of burning under the hottest brand while freezing in the most biting of ice while being electrocuted and stretched and crushed all simultaneously. That was dying while alive.

Birth was somehow worse. It was going from having no sensation to having living sensation which was like going from 0 to a hundred in no time at all. No matter the type, pain is something that one can get used to. However, when a person is born, they have no tolerance for pain in the slightest. If max pain when under the torture curse is a ten, the pain of death was ten plus ten plus ten ect. The pain of birth however was pretty much infinity as there was no cap due to zero pain tolerance.

Yeah, the torture curse sucked. Yes, he was crying and screaming. But no, not the worst he'd ever felt.

The man stopped the spell and the one from before raised his wand in the air and black light shined out once more. Several Dementors descended. He said, "How about this. Every time I ask a question and you don't answer truthfully, I'll have a Dementor eat one of their souls." He pointed at the unconscious Aurors.

Harry asked, "I thought only Voldemort could control Dementors."

"No you silly boy. He was willing to teach his most loyal and most skilled knights that treasured skill. We were the ones who removed the wards from Azkaban after receiving contact from the child possessed by our Lord."

Harry asked, "You work for the ministry?"

The men all seemed to chuckle. One answered, "For? No. We worked in the Ministry. Unmarked and unknown. Aurors, Unspeakables, file clerks. It was only today we all took the guise of an Auror to find you to learn of what happened to our lord."

At least now this answered the question of why Voldemort's most skilled servant was a mad woman. The other skilled ones got a raise and hid themselves. Bellatrix probably didn't qualify for a promotion due to the whole insanity thing she had going for her.

Another of the knights said, "No more questions. You will answer our questions now."

Harry smirked back and said, "Unless you have the ability to know when I'm telling the truth, even if I did you wouldn't believe me."

One of them pulled out a vial and said, "If you insist, you'll have to drink this."

Harry easily figured what it was and said, "Fine, give it here."

The man didn't approach and just tossed it to Harry. Harry paused in that instant and looked back over his inventory to decide on a plan. He had downed friendlies in the field so no grenades, explosives, or poisons. All drones were destroyed in the air and somehow the Dementors ate the magic of the potions a few had been carrying so those wouldn't help.

Although a few of these elites looked up a fraction to see the flying vial, they still had their guard up and were prepared for Harry to do anything. A blinding light might work on a few but not all. Harry did exaggerate a little during the torture to make it look like he couldn't move, but he could if need be. Though he'd still prefer not to get hit with that again.

At the moment Harry had a dagger and a second gun in his robes. However from what Harry could see these men were faster on the spell draw than Harry was on the gun draw. He didn't doubt they'd be able to dodge and his gun only had six shots. Unless he caught them off guard like the Death Eaters he'd need to rely on magic but there wasn't a single spell capable of taking on seven cooperative Sirius level opponents. He didn't mind dying, but the souls of Amelia Bones and her Aurors were on the line.

He needed them distracted or off kilter, but these guys were professionals. They wouldn't get distracted by amateur stuff. He couldn't think of.. Wait. Didn't they just throw him a truth potion? Would that work?

Time to try some luck.

Harry unpaused and caught the vial. "How much do I drink?"

"Just drink the whole thing. There's no lethal dose."

Harry knew that but he couldn't show he knew it so he had to ask. Harry opened the vial and before the whole group downed the Veritaserum.

*Ping*

[No Lies Debuff added, unable to tell a lie or remain silent for a question while Debuff remains active.]

Harry tossed the vial away and said, "Well?"

"Where is Lord Voldemort?" one asked.

"He got eaten by a Flerken."

"Eaten?!" One of them shouted.

It was technically a question so Harry answered, "Yes, he was eaten by a Goose." Not a lie, just addressing her by her name.

"Wait, a goose?!"

Still technically a question, so he answered, "Yes, he was eaten by the cat I am the pet of." Harry was still not sure what a Flerken was but he could honestly answer he thought it was just a very special breed of cat. Probably wrong but he didn't know that.

One of them said, "What's your worst fear?" Probably trying a baseline question they figured Harry wouldn't answer normally.

Harry answered honestly, "Dying one hundred and fifteen consecutive times." Harry wondered what a boggart would look like to him. A pile of dead Harry Potters? No, there was one of those behind him and he didn't mind in the least.

Another of the knights asked, "Do you think you're going to leave here alive?"

Harry said, "I've accepted I'm going to die and I don't plan on leaving here."

He certainly wasn't going to run away and it was true he'd accepted he was going to die at some point. Wouldn't be the first time.

The one who asked said back to the others, "He's telling the truth, or at least he thinks he is."

"So our master got eaten by a Furby, a goose, and a cat?!"

"I think he said Flerken though I'm not familiar with the term."

Another knight asked, "What is a Flerken?"

Harry shrugged and said, "I don't know." He didn't, not for certain anyways.

"Is he crazy or immune to Veritaserum? Or was that a bad batch?"

"Are you questioning my brewing skills? His pupils, tone of voice, and speech rhythms match that of Veritaserum usage. Unless you believe a first year child can fake those flawlessly enough to deceive me."

"Now see here!"

It was time. Harry paused and opened the settings. He turned the Dialogue sound off and changed the brightness settings. He unpaused and cast a Lumos Maxima that could put ignited white phosphorus to shame. The group of professionals had been so thrown off by a taste of the truth that they dropped the guard they had kept up the whole time.

It didn't stop four of them from near instantly casting stunners at Harry. But unlike the prior attacks these lacked perfect coordination and since Harry could see and they couldn't, Harry was able to slip between the spells to successfully dodge.

Harry then cast an obscure charm that made an illusionary copy of himself next to where he stood and last he silently apparated to the other side of the graveyard.

Now the game could begin.