AN: Another 5k word chapter. That brings this novel to ~160k, roughly the lengths of the first two Harry Potter books (1st is 77k, 2nd is 85k. Longest is Order of the Phoenix at 257k. Total for all 7 books is like 1.1mil or something if you were curious).
And it also ends all my prepared chapters. I thought about writing the second year and planned out the full trajectory since the second year wouldn't be as long as the third year I planned. I'll release at the very least 20 more chapters at their average chapter lengths before the 'finale' of year 1 started. Maybe I can get into it and finish the second and third year, which was as far as I had planned the story originally.
It's just that it won't be a chapter a day. I'll try to reach 4 a week, but no pinky promises cause it's summer and I'll spend some time in the sun (but only because I live next to a lake to cool down in).
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All thirteen black-robed enemies were red in my vision. Both girls were white. That was all I needed to know as I threw a blackout stone forward and cast 'Arresto Momentum' on it above the group so that the covered area was bigger and the chances for it getting trampled being lower.
"Who cast that shit! Carrow, knock that shit off and wait to fuck your trophy at home you animal!"
"It ain't me, and stop screeching my name while in regalia, you bloody twat!"
The drunk Death Eaters were arguing like little children, like I hoped and suspected they would. But by the time this 'Carrow' finished speaking, I had already silently killed three of these mongrels as they fell while gurgling on their own blood, clutching their throats after I slapped their wands out of their hands with my basilisk glove.
By the time they tried to get rid of the smoke with wind and light spells, I had activated another two black out stones and killed three more while Patrick dispatched two.
One guy tried to apparate out of the smoke to see what was going on, but after the third apparition where he was finally outside the smoky area, the death eater heard a pop and was bisected from behind by my little elf. The second guy Patrick killed apparated right into a trap Patrick had set that mangled the death eater while the elf erected a silencing charm around the screaming man.
When it was just the two guys holding the two knocked out girls, they were still bickering like school yard bullies fighting over who got to pick on the smallest kid first. They somehow found each other in total darkness thanks to all those hurled insults and were pressing their wands at each other's chest instead of trying to identify the smoke around them or get rid of it. Maybe they figured that their allies would take care of it. Maybe they were just too drunk. Or just too careless.
It gave me the opportunity to kill both of them just as the last blackout stone I used broke. My two hidden blades pierced both of their hearts and in the blink of an eye landed in their throats before they could utter another profanity.
I noticed my orichalcum coated blade go in much, much more smoothly than the other. I chalked it up to the blade actually working against magical protections just like I hoped it would.
"I hope you won't rest in peace, you animals," I spat as I floated the girls away from the group with a flick of my wand, unclothed the Death Eater's left arms and took candid shots of all those marked Death Eaters now sharing a death day while dressed in their 'regalia'.
None of the wizards and witches stayed in the immediate surroundings once my smoke appeared. They thought it was an even worse form of attack. So we, Patrick and I, stood there in relative silence, only broken by the screams of people fleeing from the other two groups, there were two more as I now learned when I drew closer to the first group, who were apparently terrorizing the people without anybody really fighting back.
Once I had them all on camera in heaps, alone, with mask and without, I ordered Patrick to rob them clean and get those two girls to safety while I made my way to the second group.
Praising myself for being smart because I chose to attend the survival club, I cast a spell taught to us by Kettleburn mid run that made blood stains disappear so that I wouldn't run around with two bloodied hands while sprayed from head to toe in blood thanks to all the necks I cut open. I silently made my way through the shadows toward another group of attackers while putting out a few fires here and there. I needed to spread my magical imprint on as much area as possible to have reasonable doubt on my side if the aurors investigated whatever happened tonight. I cast plenty of powerful spells with no visual or otherwise noticeable impact all over the place when I left the stadium earlier, too. I could just claim to have helped a bunch of fleeing people later.
The members of this second group, once more numbering thirteen, the unlucky number, were spread out a little more than the last group. But these thirteen death eaters were just as uncoordinated and unprepared. Yet they were also more ruthless.
Since they were further apart and some of them didn't like each other, forcing me to dodge spells in total darkness as they tried to curse each other, I had to spend seven blackout stones before I killed ten of them. One of those assholes even made me dodge the killing curse that he just randomly threw into the smoke without care for his peers. Bastard took one of my kills.
It was quite telling that this group thought that they had someone amidst the group who would betray them as they rained spells into the smoke without care for casualties among them. Had I known then, I would have probably laughed that some people in this group were friends with the two Death Eaters I killed in the woods before I received the Assassin training. They were all suspicious of each other being responsible for Gibbon and Jugson's disappearance.
Three of them, however, were too cautious. They fled after one died to a killing curse as they all heard 'Avada Kedavra' from an alleged friend and another died while screaming after my stab to his throat had only cut his jugular instead of into his windpipe and vocal cords. Asshole stumbled over his own feet and dodged my perfect stealthy take down.
His screams as the flesh eating flower juice that coated my hidden blade for fast kills did its work discouraged the rest of them to stick around, even if Patrick silenced the area quickly as was my instruction.
It was clear those three who got away weren't Gryffindors. I just hoped those three weren't important. They managed to apparate away before my rope reached them as I attacked in a giant sweep to deal as much damage as possible after the scream rang through the smoke.
The sweep killed one and heavily injured two more that Patrick eagerly dealt with. But three managed to get away regardless. I'd hate to find out that Lucius was among this group, and I allowed him to slip through because of such a small fuckup. I didn't care to prolong the man's suffering. Lucius was better off dead, and I wasn't powerful enough to 'play with my food' by a long shot.
Not in this political climate. Not with my current standing.
None of the dead members of this group carried any 'trophies' with them. These guys had killed their way through tents instead of 'merely' terrorizing the populace. And still, there were no aurors present - and not because I killed two at the start of the attack.
Funnily enough, I learned while taking more pictures that one of those ten I managed to kill in that group was an auror. I remembered him well, despite him being orange in my vision originally last I saw him. He lurked around every corner and thought I didn't see him, and I wouldn't have if I couldn't see people of interest through walls. I suspected him to be the one to set up the potion in my food on someone's order. So it was him who had a hand in planning whatever would have followed my unwilling potion-induced sleep.
Apparently, with enough to drink, the man became a willing Death Eater who kills at random instead of someone who was bribed to use a non-lethal potion on a minor.
Good riddance, even if he was under the Imperius curse, which I doubted.
I'd still try and learn how to differentiate people who are under the effect of the Imperius and if their color was different in my Eagle Vision at a later time.
I ran to the last towering fires and screams as I prepared for another battle.
The next group was the infamous group who floated the muggle girl of the land owner or whatever above them as they laughed their way through the attacks they peppered their surroundings with. But killing them would not be happening as easily. Sirius and Harry were stalking them behind a tent. Same with Moody and Tonks, who were talking into their badges.
I couldn't trust that Moody's eye didn't see through the smoke of my blackout stone, so when I threw one into the group of Death Eaters and dropped one at my feet, I started hurling my knives into them with banishing charms instead of going close quarter for silent takedowns. It hurt me that I would have to likely leave some of them behind, but I would only lose two of the knives that I temporarily multiplied with the Gemini charm.
Only one guy died after I managed to pierce the eye hole in his mask with a real knife. The others were saved by the fact that their regalia was apparently knife-proof at the spots I aimed the multiplied copies.
Moody found me quite easily, his head snapped in my direction immediately when one of them died. I had to cut my losses if I didn't want to explain my presence to the authorities. Instead of using 'Bombarda Maxima' to deal as much damage as possible to the group, I ordered Patrick to leave behind his present as I bolted away.
With one last look behind, I held up my hidden blade and pulled the ring to fire the pistol.
*BOOOM!*
In his year dealing with muggle criminals, Patrick had stolen a few blocks of C4 and other explosives from a certain gun smuggling ring that the elf tried to gift me. But I wanted no part of that stuff, so I told him to keep it for such an occasion. My elf could just place the C4 at their feet if they were close by simply by opening his pouch and snapping his finger, and I could shoot it with the one-shot pistol on my wrist blade if I felt like it - which I finally did on this day. Sir Frye's apprentices did teach me how to make an incendiary bullet for the one-shot pistol.
Being as good in wanded combat as I was and being able to see the cache of explosives that Patrick left behind as a golden item sticking out in the total darkness, my shot easily hit the mark. And Moody couldn't find out who I was through some magical residue shenanigan like he could if I had used a giant Bombarda Maxima. He'd find my two knives at best, but they were just that. Sharp knives.
I made my way to the tent of the Delacours that I found on my way to the first two aurors I killed. I noticed nobody following me, not even Moody since apparently he had his priorities straight and stayed behind for the Death Eaters, stored my quiver-holster and the hidden blade in my pouch, transfigured my outfit to look like before and cleared Zonko's candies out of my system with a potion I bought in the joke shop.
Patrick did the same as he appeared next to me with his original looks - he had made himself look like a goblin as they shared a similar stature. My elf also started gathering wands and other foci on my order. It was a bit risky in case his belongings were searched, but I still wanted to keep a bunch of the wands for research and as backups. I didn't take every wand from the Death Eaters I killed, but there were still a few, even more that were dropped by fleeing civilians and unfortunate victims. If someone tried to summon the wand back, I gave Patrick the instruction to let it go. If they didn't claim it, tough luck.
Originally, I wanted to search for Barty Crouch Jr, which would be easy since I knew to look for whoever cast the dark mark in some while or even have Patrick search for the Crouch family elf Winky, but I chose to establish an alibi instead. There was no need to stretch my luck now that Moody looked in my direction. Too bad I couldn't stay behind to see how many people the explosion killed and how Moody, Tonks, and maybe Sirius dealt with them.
"Talion?" Fleur asked with her pleasant accent as I reached their tent while looking disheveled.
I put out a few fires on my way and smeared some ash on me so that people would remember seeing my face more easily as the one who dealt with the flames. But if I wanted to be truly on the safe side, I needed a family of foreign officials to vouch for me.
"Fleur? Are you and your sister okay?"
"Oui, Gabrielle is in the tent. One of these groups was about head in this direction, I think, but I guess they are dealt with? Did you see the aurors arresting these savages?"
I shook my head, "No aurors. I saw only fleeing people. What about Pierre?"
"Someone threw a butterbeer bottle at his head. Gabrielle is tending to him," Fleur explained with an embarrassed smile. "I am standing guard..."
"Want me to take a look? Or take over for you?"
"You know ze noble art of 'ealing?" Fleur asked in excitement, and her accent bled through a little more.
"I know first aid. I can deal with a cut. I can probably deal with bones if they have a simple hairline fracture, maybe set a splint. If it's something more worrisome, you still need to find an actual healer. I didn't bring any dittany with me either..." I quickly explained as I got a little flustered.
Okay, excited veela have less control over their allure, and my hormonal self wasn't completely immune.
Thankfully, Fleur's enthusiasm waned quite a bit as she heard my explanation, and her allure was back in check. She still opened the tent flap after looking around for enemies and ordered, "After you."
Fleur only met me today. It came as no surprise that she vigilantly watched over me, even standing behind me with her wand drawn as I closed the gash on her father's head with a minor healing charm after cleaning the wound. It was weird that Fleur didn't know these two spells - or maybe she feared she could do something wrong since she never had to heal someone before.
The man became lucid almost immediately after and fixed his own mild concussion with a smelly potion, then thanked me for my help and scolded Fleur for her lacking healing prowess and how she didn't know that he carried the potions with him for such circumstances.
It was all in French, but judging by Fleur's expression, I could tell that Pierre didn't mince words with his daughters as he gestured at them, at the potion bottle, at everything, really. It wasn't just about healing either. Apparently, he also chided them for not running away if all his wild gestures at the end of the tirade meant what I thought they did.
Since he knew about my dueling prowess and had quite the favorable impression of me, Pierre then took me and his two girls to reconvene with the other important politicians. On our way, three French hit wizards came toward us and immediately put Pierre and his daughters in a protective encirclement as we continued on our way. It seemed that they had been looking for him and were quite flustered before Pierre contacted them some way or another once he came to once more.
We, or rather I, helped a bunch of people and even left Patrick behind for cleanup so that people thought of 'helpful' and 'selfless' when thinking of me instead of thinking nothing or, Merlin forbid, thinking I had something to do with the attacks.
When Pierre reached his colleagues, I noticed with heavy disdain that Fudge and the other ministers were surrounded by dozens upon dozens of aurors and mercenary hit wizards in a protective circle. At least nobody had any objections that I entered the circle, though I made a wide berth around the minister of magic.
Lucius was with him.
How infuriating...
Just when I thought nobody would say anything and leave me to fade into the background so that I could take a deep breather, I heard the most grating voice of my life.
"What are you doing here, Macnair? Is someone of your lowly station even worth protecting together with all these noble dignitaries?"
Pierre Delacour immediately puffed his chest, ready to tear into the blonde idiot, but I held up my hand for him to stop.
"I'm not here to be protected. I did protect. Different from you, I'm a dueling champion and didn't tuck my tail into my panties the moment a curse was cast in my general vicinity," I argued and earned myself quite a bit of attention, not all of it good.
No, from those getting protected, I received quite a few nasty stares instead. Only a few of the aurors looked at me with approving nods. Some of them looked like they wanted to charge ahead and fight off the attackers, but it seemed like Scrimgeour took charge of the situation with Amelia Bones nowhere to be seen. And, Scrimgeour chose to protect the few instead of dealing with the threat.
In any case, the aurors needed to interview people when the situation was finally contained sometime soon, and they would quickly learn how many people I helped. Since there wasn't just a single auror who interviewed all of these people but they all shared their workload, the DMLE wouldn't realise I helped only after a certain time.
The sheer number of people reporting my name or face would simply suggest I helped from the start of chaos until I ran into the Delacours when I was at the end of my stamina. That was my plan, anyway.
Draco scoffed, he was hard to discourage from making a fool of himself with the protection of his daddy literally at his back, and disdainfully remarked, "It must have been a fluke or you used some other underhanded means to secure the tournament win."
I didn't deign answering him since even his own father didn't say anything. Technically, Draco just called everybody who attended the tournament an idiot for not realising I cheated?
"Surprised to see you and your dad here. You didn't join your friends, or did you arrive just before us after a quick wardrobe change?" I asked instead, and I saw both Lucius and Narcissa narrow their eyes. It was my first time seeing her, but the pretty blonde witch stood next to her husband like a trophy and held Draco's shoulder in reassurance. For someone who didn't have a family in this life because of something Lucius and his 'friends' did, that picture of the three playing family was especially aggravating. It was a good thing that Arcturus Black didn't mind me dealing with them.
"My husband's whereabouts are none of your concern," Narcissa argued delicately. Several ministers started scowling in my direction once more after the pretty woman spoke.
Nobody even noticed that she only said 'husband' when I accused both male Malfoy's of being part of the attacking party. So I really did miss killing Lucius?
Damn!
"And how iz it your brute spawn iz allowed to imply our zavior iz not worthy standing among us? That he won an international tournament through trickery?" Fleur spat in disdain with her accent showing a little strongly once more.
Yay, Fleur!
The people scowling at me more than halved the moment an equally gorgeous blonde spoke up in my defense. Pierre gave Lucius and Narcissa a mocking smile before he started talking to his colleagues. There were more important things at stake than a dispute between Hogwarts students.
That wasn't the case for the Italian Minister of Magic, Niccolo Veneziano. The young man, compared to his colleagues, in his early 30s had kissed me enthusiastically when handing me the trophy back in Italy because he was in love with my high-intensity dueling with the rigorous requirements to physique. He came from a noble bloodline of gladiators or something? He was smitten by the fact that I ended all those fights except for the final in less than a minute. He even tried to poach Flitwick standing next to me as an instructer for his aurors.
Thankfully, he only kissed me on the cheeks. Regrefully, it was tens of times on the podium for everyone to see.
Since he was such a fan, he immediately started cursing at the Malfoys - verbally as to not cause an incident - and had to be held back by Fudge and his secretary when he wouldn't calm down. Even the aurors had to step between them, lest Niccolo really pulled out his wand.
To thank the man, I talked with him for a few more minutes, and Niccolo insisted once more that if I ever cared for it, the Italian magicals would welcome me with open arms. Even if their most prestigious school wasn't as highly regarded as Hogwarts in this era, I took it under advisement if I wanted to spend my N.E.W.T. years outside of Magical Britain. If it weren't for the Catholic Church and the fall of the Roman Empire - at least that was Niccolo's assessment - the Italian 'Stati Magia' hidden somewhere in the mountains way up north of Venice would be considered the world's best magical school. And together with the African Uagadou, it was one of the oldest, much older than Hogwarts anyway.
It likely was, but then again, the Catholic Church did ban magic, they did burn countless magicals and books, and eventually forced the magical world into hiding. And, the Roman Empire also very famously fell millenia ago. Technically, even more than once. I wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to somehow recreate Stati Magia's downfall before his death in this timeline with my meddling - so I thanked Minister Veneziano and told him I would look into finishing my magical education in Italy. He was over the moon.
Maybe I even needed to do it as a necessity instead of it being a mere option, if I had to flee the country in the future when all hope was lost. It would also be fun to see if I could learn more about my assassin roots there because I regretfully didn't have much time to roam about in Rome. Maybe next year on a more casual vacation. I did have the money...
The three nights I was there were spent with Flitwick bringing me to talk to other old dueling veterans and other charm masters. I had recognized a few of the buildings in Rome from my dreams while walking around with my mentor, but a quick glance sadly didn't help me to learn more about the brotherhood.
As more and more people noticed the bubble of aurors and hit wizards protecting the politicians, Fudge was eventually urged to finally send out his guards to 'arrest those apprehensible troublemakers'. I wanted to vomit every time the minister opened his mouth, honestly. At least Umbridge wasn't here for one reason or another.
Maybe she died in that explosion if she was a Death Eater already, I could have gotten lucky.
Since I seemed to have a connection to Monsieur Delacour, Scrimgeour personally interviewed me after getting word that the attackers were either dead or fled. My story was perfect and left no room for arguments - only if he had outright asked me if I killed around 30 people today would he learn that I had a lie to tell. The rest was just half-truths.
I never met Amelia until the very end but also couldn't ask where she was. I didn't want to, either. Maybe she held up the fort at the ministry or simply didn't want to attend the finals. Whatever she did, I didn't need her here, not that she would have helped me if I needed it.
Instead, I, the recently emancipated dueling champion, started helping people by finding their runaway children or identified buried and lost items. Helping a young girl find a doll she lost while running away scared felt like balm for my soul after killing so many people in cold blood.
It didn't hurt that I left a positive impression with her young parents and the few aurors who saw me in action.
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The following day, I sat at the dinner table with a Daily Prophet in hand as I ate lunch. I had slept for much longer than usual because I spent quite some time at the tent village to make sure Hermione, Mandy, and the rest were okay. To not flare up my annoyance with Potter and Longbottom, however, I did so silently, which took a little longer since I couldn't just shout their names while I helped those strangers.
'The Quidditch Massacre: 77 Dead at Quidditch Celebrations after Ireland's Win'
The article was a scorching pile of hot garbage, and I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. I learned the minister's wand was gone thanks to my good hearing the day before, but Barty Crouch Jr. didn't cast the dark mark in the air if he stole the wand or was even present. There was no mention of the missing wand either. And it wasn't like I could just come out and ask Crouch Sr if he allowed his wife to die in her son's place to break his lunatic son out of Azkaban. So nobody ever even once mentioned that these attackers were Death Eaters despite their outfits.
There were no mentions of Voldemort's slave mark on their left arms or their clearly Death Eater regalia outfits in the article either. No names were even given as it just read '31 pureblood lords and ladies tragically lost their lives after a drunken prank gone wrong. An unknown assailant escalated the situation beyond anything thought possible as he ruthlessly cut down esteemed members of our society.'
They actually put all those deaths on me, or well, disguised me, when I killed only around half of the total body count rather than deal with the fact that Death Eaters had planned to kill, rape, and pillage for fun to relive their 'glory days' and show their adult kids how to be a proper cunt. They even wrote that the two aurors I killed at the start had valiantly given their lives in protection of the people! No mention of the word 'traitor' I carved into their heads. Thankfully, that was exactly what I prepared for.
"Patrick!"
My elf popped next to me. He had a serene smile on this face after yesterday's... fun.
"Are the photos ready?"
"Yes. Patrick is very impressed with this... copy machine," my elf revealed as he snapped his finger.
The weight of all the paper suddenly dropped on my table made it creak dangerously, so I took out my wand and strengthened the legs with a little transfiguration for a moment. Holstering my wand, I took one of the papers.
A picture of a dead Death Eater with his left arm's mark exposed with the Quidditch Stadium visible in the background.
Beneath it, a single line read 'They Are Lying To You'.
There were dozens of stacks with dozens of different pictures, but the line stayed the same. The day after the attack would be a good start. I needed some rumors to pop up.
"Leave a few of them in Diagon Alley all over the place. No more than five of each of those pictures. Make it temporary gemini copies. It can't look like a coordinated effort where people start to compare the pictures they find. It needs to stay a rumor. Do it again a week from now. First of September, we'll dump all these at platform 9¾ and Diagon Alley. Make it rain," I ordered as I gave my elf a pleased nod.
Printing well over forty thousand pieces of paper, in color no less, probably put a big dent in the printer budget of a few companies in York that I sent Patrick to before sunrise. But the IT departments would probably chalk the loss in toner up to a weird system glitch. Nobody would likely find out that a young boy sent an elf to their companies in the middle of the night to copy pictures of dead terrorists.
But using paper instead of parchment was by design.
"Oh. And get some rest when you're done. I don't think you've slept yet."
Patrick simply snapped his finger as he disappeared with a single piece of paper from every stack on the table.
I stared at one picture in front of me. On it was a young man I knew. Now, he was dead. He was one of the more gruesome deaths as my Norse Pantheon rope almost beheaded him.
Almost.
"I kind of hope you come back as a ghost. A piece of shit like you deserves to live on as a cheap copy of Gryffindor's Nearly Headless Nick," I silently cursed as I fought the urge to burn the picture in front of me.
Lucas Bole. Elder brother of Slytherin's beater Lucian Bole. He graduated this year. He was the father of two children from his fiancee Bernice Derrick. I feared I didn't have a chance to deal with him for a long time... though, I was a little apprehensive about the fact that I made two kids half orphans.
At least they won't be raised by a Death Eater, I eventually reasoned and let it go.
Lucas was the third person in my Eagle Vision I saw in blood red when the ability was still new and I just figured out what the colors meant.
One of the people who attacked and tortured me at the start of last school year. It was for the best that a person like that won't be able to raise kids.
Looking outside, I noticed heavy storms and clouds gathering. In the middle of August. England's weather was truly terrible any time of the year. But it gave me the necessary cover to enjoy a good, long broom ride. There was a library I now had access to that I wanted to check.