*Chapter 15*

August 18, 2007 (Wolfe Cove)

Harry sighed as he looked out at the sunset from his front porch, stroking the scales of the sleeping form of Sammy. He finally had a peaceful day to himself. Recently, Rose had been coming over and hanging around his island with him. She seemed to love it here. At first, the Potter's were not okay with just letting their only daughter go alone with Harry, but Rose had pouted and ignored them for a week until they caved in and let her go with Harry alone. That girl had twice the energy he had at her age, which shouldn't even be possible considering all the training he had to go through to even get to his level of stamina. She also seemed to amuse Sammy and was now Sammy's flesh bag pillow, even surpassing Harry himself, which he found himself a little jealous about.

As he continued to look out at the sunset, he felt a disturbance around his wards. Something had just tried to enter them though it seemed that whatever it was, wasn't a human. He tweaked the wards so that whatever animal was trying to penetrate them would be allowed through. As soon as he did, a red phoenix flamed into existence next to him. Harry immediately made an annoyed grunt.

'What does the bumbling old fool want now?' Harry thought as he saw the note the phoenix was carrying. As soon as he took the note, he looked back at the phoenix.

"Scram, before I find myself in the mood to try the flaming fried chicken," Harry said to the bird. The phoenix seemed to squawk at him in indignation before flaming away. Harry looked down at the letter with curious annoyance.

"If this is secretly a Portkey, I swear I will kill everyone that's on the other end, no matter who they are or what their reasons for doing it are," He ripped open the letter and started to scan the contents. Hmm. It seemed that the old man was requesting an audience with him and he even did it very politely. Harry clicked his tongue in thought and weighed the pros and cons of going to see the old geezer. Pros were that he would most likely get to screw with the old man some more, and that was always fun. Cons were that the old man would most likely be trying to weed him for information the whole time. Well, whatever, if it got boring and Dumbledore started spewing crap about joining the light side, he would just take off on his own. Harry picked Sammy up off his lap and set her down gently on the seat next to him, making sure that he didn't wake her. He then got up and brushed himself off before flashing away.

Same time (Hogwarts)

Harry flashed straight outside Dumbledore's office and immediately opened the door. He saw the headmaster look at him with total surprise on his face. The man then seemed to compose himself and he offered Harry his patented grandfather smile.

"Ah, Harry, I didn't know you were here. Please, take a seat. I assume you got my letter?" He said, offering Harry a seat.

"Yep. Now, my time is valuable, so hurry and tell me what you want. I was enjoying a rather beautiful sunset," Harry said as he sat, spread like a cat, in a chair.

"I didn't know you were one for such things," Dumbledore said with slight amusement.

"To be fair, I really don't think you know any accurate information about me. I also think that it bugs you quite a bit to know there is a variable on your precious chessboard that you can't find anything on," Harry said as he looked amusedly back at the old man.

"I won't lie and say you aren't correct. I'll be blunt with you, Harry, since I know you would prefer that," Dumbledore said.

"Aww, no mind games this time?" Harry asked with a pout.

"No, not this time. So, will you answer some of my questions?" Dumbledore asked politely.

"Weellllll…since you asked so nicely, I may answer a few. But only a few, old man," Harry responded back. He was honestly a little disappointed that they wouldn't get to have a verbal match like usual. Though, this new Dumbledore had taken him aback. He didn't think that the old man still had it in him. He supposed he could answer a few of his questions, just enough for the old man to hunger for more.

"Thank you. Now, my first question is, where have you been all this time, since you were certainly not with the Potters?" Dumbledore asked with an eager expression on his face.

"Oh…Everywhere, I suppose. There are few countries on this planet that I haven't visited. U.S., Japan, Russia, hell even North Korea for a time," Harry responded with honesty.

"I see. And why did you travel around to so many places? Was it to escape wizards?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes and No. While it was partially because of that, it had more to do with my…work," Harry said. Now he looked at Dumbledore with a hard stare. Would he take the bait?

"What did you do for work?" Dumbledore asked concerned about what this child had been doing at such a young age. Harry looked at him for a second before a huge sadistic smile appeared on his face.

"You really want to know? Fine, since you amuse me so much, I will tell you. I'm an international assassin. I'm one of the best alive on this planet, as well. Does that answer your question?" Harry said with the huge grin still plastered on his face. Dumbledore gave him a disappointed look.

"You didn't have to lie if you didn't wish to tell me."

"Who said I was lying?" Harry said as he continued to smile at Dumbledore.

"You expect me to believe you are an assassin?" Dumbledore asked slowly, now questioning the sanity of Harry.

"You don't believe me. Perhaps a…demonstration?" Harry said as he smiled, the hair which covered his eyes giving him a demonic appearance. Dumbledore immediately tensed when he saw Harry's whole aura change before him. Before he could say anything, chains flew from the floor all around him. He tried to reach for his wand, but he was too slow. The chains wrapped around both his arms and his legs and lifted him into the air. Once in the air, another chain wrapped around his neck and started to slowly choke him while a final chain with what appeared to be a blade attached to the end pointed itself directly at his heart. He was now struggling to breathe in midair completely at Harry's mercy.

"I hope that was enough to show you that killing isn't something I'm new to," Harry said as he recalled the chains. They immediately dropped Dumbledore into his seat before receding into the floor like metal serpents. Dumbledore rubbed his bruised throat while looking at Harry.

"What was that?" He asked in between ragged breaths. Harry simply looked back.

"Would you believe me if I said I made a deal with a devil and gained some of his power?" Harry asked Dumbledore with a smile. Dumbledore continued to look back at him with fear, not sure if he should believe the boy or not.

"Now, I have answered some of your questions, how about you answer some of mine?" Harry said as he looked at the frightened man.

"What do you want to know?" Dumbledore asked cautiously.

"Why are you so set on bringing me under your thumb? If I recall correctly, you didn't care nearly as much about me when I use to live with the Potters," Harry asked

"It is true, yes, that I focused more on Arthur and his future because of what his fate was, but I always assumed that you would be with your family and therefore on the light side. You always had as much, if not more, potential than your brother, but I deemed it more important to nurture his potential for the greater good. I am sorry, if that decision caused you pain," Dumbledore responded honestly.

"I see. So you all really were just pieces of trash. Although…something still isn't adding up…there's another force at work here," The last part, Harry mumbled to himself. He couldn't shake off this feeling that something bigger was happening on a larger scale than just the wizarding world. This did not make him happy. No one screwed with Harry Wolfe, no matter what. He would put whoever tried in their place, beneath his boot.

"Fine, next question. How is Voldemort still alive? Don't bother denying it, just tell me how he did it," Harry said as he held up his hand to stop Dumbledore's lies before they started.

"Fine. I, myself, am not quite sure, as of yet. I have a few ideas, but nothing concrete. Why do you wish to know? Do you wish to confront him?" Dumbledore asked with a little bit of hope in his voice. Harry scoffed.

"Keep dreaming, old man. I care nothing for killing him. If he wants to slaughter you all like the weak sheep you are, then I say let him. As long as he doesn't touch a hair on any of my allies' heads, I could care less what he does," Harry said with an uncaring manner.

"You would willingly let him kill innocents, even when you know you could help stop him?" Dumbledore asked with disbelief.

"Yep. Not my problem," Harry said back immediately.

"That is disappointing to hear. I had thought better of you Harry," Dumbledore said reverting back to his grandfather voice.

"Don't know why, I never made a claim to being a nice person. I wouldn't even claim to be a decent one. I'm pretty selfish; I only help those I feel like helping. I'm driven by my own principles. That's the difference between wolves like me and sheep like you," Harry said, giving Dumbledore a dark stare. Dumbledore just looked at him sadly.

"Well, this was informative for both parties, I think. Let's do it again sometime. For now, I'll be off. Hope to see you soon," Harry said as he got up and walked towards the door. Dumbledore didn't say anything in return, he just watched him go. As soon as he closed the office door behind him, Harry flashed away.

September 1, 2007 (Hogwarts Express)

Harry was sitting in a compartment with both Daphne and Tracy. The girls were happily chatting away about what they did over the summer. This really annoyed Harry, since he knew for a fact that they had spent half the summer together and most likely knew what each other's Summer's had been like.

"God, could you two possibly talk about something else that's not so cliché? It's only been 20 minutes and you're already giving me a migraine," Harry demanded loudly.

"Shut it, Potter. You deserve it for forgetting to write back to me for all of August," Daphne said back with some venom on her voice.

"Jeez, how long are you going to hold that against me? I told you I was busy, didn't I?" Harry shot back.

"I don't believe you were so busy that you couldn't take 5 minutes to write a letter to me," Daphne said, now glaring at him. Harry sighed. It was true that he did have time to write the letter, but it honestly slipped his mind. For most of August, he had been training on a new magical detection system. He may have also been trying to alter the space-time continuum, but that hadn't gone quite so well. He'd decided to put the second project on hold for a while.

"Alright look, I'm sorry I didn't write. It was wrong of me to ignore you. Now, will you please shut your trap and let me sleep?" Harry asked with fake politeness.

"Absolutely not. A half-assed apology like that would never get me to forgive you," Daphne yelled at him.

"You're going to be the one who is apologetic when I run your ass into the ground with training," Harry mumbled, just quite enough for the girls not to make out what he said.

"What was that, Wolfe?" Daphne asked dangerously.

"Nothing," Harry said as he tried to close his eyes and go to sleep again. He didn't get 20 seconds of rest before there was a knock on the compartment door. He groaned and turned further into the wall so he wouldn't have to deal with whoever was at the door. He heard one of the girls open the door and ask what the reason the person knocked for. A distinct, airy, voice responded back.

"Hello, do you mind if I sit with you? The people in my last compartment kicked me out," The voice asked.

"Of course, go ahead and take a seat," Daphne said with too much happiness in her voice. He immediately could tell that she just let this person in because she knew it would annoy him. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction of seeing the actual annoyance it gave to him, so he didn't turn or acknowledge the person who was now sitting next to him. He could immediately feel the person's eyes on him. He ignored it for a few minutes, but could not feel them leave him, so he decided to speak

"Something I can help you with?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"No, just looking at the hive of Nargles in your hair and watching you pretend to sleep. Why are you doing that instead of actually going to sleep? Seems much easier than pretending for the next 8 hours," The girl asked with no sarcasm and what honestly sounded like genuine curiosity. Harry cracked an eyelid and looked at the girl. It was a petite blonde girl. She was looking at him curiously with an expression that reminded him of an innocent child. Harry just stared at her for a second.

"What's your name?" Harry asked. The girl smiled at him.

"I'm Luna Lovegood. Nice to meet you, Harry," She said as she smiled at him.

"Right. Do I want to know how you know my name?" Harry asked dryly. She looked back at him with concern.

"Why, the heliopaths told me, of course," She said as if it were obvious.

"Ah, of course, how could I have forgotten about the heliopaths? Is there anything else the heliopaths told you about me?" Harry asked.

"Not much else, except to make sure to not get on your bad side," She said as she tilted her head in thought.

"Wise creatures, these heliopaths," Harry commented. Luna nodded back.

"Yes, they are some of the wisest. Not quite as smart as Wrackspurts, but still, they can fool most average humans. They like to play pranks, you see," Luna said, trying to explain the creatures to Harry. Harry just looked at the strange girl. He was pretty sure that no such creature existed, but then again, people in the 14th century were pretty sure that earth was the center of the universe, so…

"I see," Harry said as he the girl finished her explanation.

"Of course you don't see, silly, heliopaths are invisible to most, you know," She said like she was talking to a 5-year-old.

"Ahh, of course they are," Harry said, not sure if he should be feeling offended by the fact that someone was talking down to him. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Daphne and Tracy looked to be on the verge of spilling all the laughter they were trying so hard to hold in. He gave them each a slight glare, which only seemed to increase their amusement.

"Well, if you excuse me, Ms. Lovegood, I think I will take your advice and go to sleep," Harry said as he spoke politely to the girl. Luna nodded back politely.

"Okay, Harry. Enjoy your sleep. The Nargles seem to be happy, so I'm sure you will have pleasant dreams," Luna said with a happy smile.

"Good to hear," Harry said as he turned back to the wall and closed his eyes. This time, he actually fell asleep. While he didn't have any pleasant dreams, he did have a restful sleep, so he would give Luna half credit. When he next awoke, it was just Daphne and Tracy in the carriage and they were already in robes. Harry rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Where did that Luna girl go?" Asked Harry.

"She departed already. We need to go, too, if we wish to get a carriage," Tracy said to him. Harry nodded and continued to get up and exit the train with the girls.

They actually got the last carriage back to the castle. They made small talk on the way up, or at least Daphne and Tracy did. He just sat quietly and waited for them to arrive at the castle. When they got to the castle and entered the Great Hall, Harry noticed that they were the last ones to arrive, save for the first years. He grunted and found a seat at the end of the Slytherin table with the girls. As soon as he approached the seat, every Slytherin around it moved as far as they could away from him. He smirked slightly. They were such wimps if they were still this afraid of him. He sat down and waited for Dumbledore to give his speech.

After he did that, Professor McGonagall led the first years into the Great Hall and began the sorting. He didn't care about any of the first years, although he did look up when he heard Luna's name get called. She got sorted into Ravenclaw. He clapped for her. He wasn't sure that was the best fit for her, but remembering her personality, he wasn't sure if there was a house that fit her perfectly. When she sat down, she locked eyes with him and smiled. He waved back but decided to not smile. Anyone who saw the motion immediately talked amongst their friends. He could see some of the other Ravenclaws start to question her and saw her politely answer. His reputation better not be ruined by this. Perhaps he should find some pest to put in their place to reinforce that he was still a top dog?

The rest of the dinner was boring. He finished it quickly and Dumbledore gave the last speech of the night before telling them to go off to bed. As he went back to the dorms and laid back in his old bed, he looked at the ceiling and sighed.

'Another year at this medieval hellhole? Great...'