*Chapter 16*

September 17th, 2007 (Hogwarts)

"So, wait. You purposely revealed yourself as an assassin to Dumbledore, complete with a live demonstration of how easily you could kill him?" Daphne asked as she looked over at Harry.

"That's correct," Harry said as he played with Sammy in his arms. He wasn't even trying to conceal her this year. Multiple students had already reported to the teachers that he had a dark-scaled snake with him. Teachers were not happy about it, but they let it pass since Harry refused to get rid of her no matter what.

"Why? He could have you thrown in Azkaban for that, especially since you admitted it," Daphne asked.

"One, he could TRY to throw me in prison. He would be unsuccessful, but he could try. Two, it's all about profit. Dumbledore's mortal enemy is a man who is seemingly immortal and he himself cannot kill. He also wouldn't, even if he could. He constantly needs to show that he is the ultimate light lord and an example of what others need to be, so he cannot dirty his hands. This is where I come in. I am a person who is paid to kill important and powerful people. As soon as Dumbledore realizes he can't kill the dark lord, he is going to run to the one person who he thinks can, which is me and only me. However, I don't do stuff for free. I'm going to make him pay me a mint for service only I can perform. That's called scarcity. The third reason is that I really wanted to fuck with Dumbledore some more. His face, when I choked him, was pretty funny to see on the old goat," Harry said.

"I see. You do know that the Dark Lord is already dead, right?" Daphne asked Harry as she tried to convince herself that he wasn't completely insane.

"I know for a fact he is not, or at least not completely. I know Dumbledore is of a similar mindset," Harry replied.

"How did he survive then?" Daphne asked, slightly frightened by the prospect of the Dark Lord coming back.

"Not sure, exactly. I think he somehow chopped himself into pieces. Not sure how you go about doing it. Not really sure I want to, either," Harry responded.

"If Dumbledore doesn't know that he will use your services in the future, what's stopping him from calling the Aurors on you?" Daphne asked trying to piece all this together.

"He is an idiot and still views me as a pawn on his chessboard. You don't throw away your own pawns unless it puts you in a position of benefit against your enemy. So, Dumbledore is going to metaphorically put me in his pocket for just the right moment. Probably going to bite him in the ass down the road though," Harry said.

"Alright, I think I understand," Daphne said as all the pieces came into place in her mind.

"About time. It only took you 10 minutes to understand a plan I literally created in 2 seconds while on the spot," Harry grumbled. Daphne glared at him but said nothing.

"I've been thinking; it's time to start training you in how to fight in hand to hand combat. You have built up enough stamina," Harry said as Sammy slithered up his arm and pretended to strangle it.

"Finally! When do we start?" Daphne asked excitedly.

"I'm thinking of starting tomorrow. Don't know why you sound so excited, my training is going to hurt. A lot," Harry said as he smirked at her. She just smiled back at him

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," She said back with her smile. He smiled back.

"Just remember that when you can't move tomorrow," Harry said

September 18

Daphne was on the ground, groaning and moaning in pain. Harry was smiling down at her.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," He said mockingly down at her.

"Shove it up to your ass, Wolfe. I think you broke something," Daphne groaned.

"I KNOW I broke something. Your left arm and two ribs are broken," Harry said matter-of-factly. He bent down and started healing her arm. After a few seconds, he moved on to the ribs. Finally, he healed the bruises that appeared to cover most of her body.

"So, how did you like your first day of training?" Harry asked

"I hate you," Daphne responded.

"Oh, lighten up. I bet if you work hard, you will only need a year of this before you're good enough to just maintain your form," Harry said cheerily as he patted her on the back. Daphne just grumbled something incomprehensible under her breath. Harry smiled and walked back up to the castle with a not so happy Daphne. He didn't feel upset that he had beaten her so hard. That's how you learned fast. Nothing like getting your ass kicked to work harder to not get your ass kicked. They entered the castle and went to the Slytherin dorm. They then parted ways so they could go shower in their gender-based bathrooms.

As Harry walked into the shower, he saw Draco walk by. When Draco locked eyes with him, he sneered.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Potter failure. Come to beg for coins, you pauper?" Draco said as he looked down on Harry. Harry just raised his eyebrow.

"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" Harry asked

"Don't play dumb. My father looked you up and found out that you used to be a Potter, but you ran away. Now, you're likely living on the street, like the trash you are," Draco said with a snobby voice.

"Hm," Harry said as he looked back at Draco, who was still looking down at him. Before Draco could blink, Harry gripped his hand into a fist and planted it firmly into Draco's kidney. Draco flew backward and crashed on the floor painfully. He immediately yelled at the pain he was feeling in his abdomen. Harry walked over and crouched down by the boy's face.

"I don't honestly care if you wish to insult me by calling me trash or whatever other generic insults you want to say. I do care if you associate me with Potters, though. I know you can't respond to me because of the pain you are feeling, so I will just assume that you understand what I said clearly. Have a nice day, Malfoy," Harry said as he stood up and went to the shower. After washing himself off, he went outside and watched as Sammy came slithering up to him.

"Not sure if you should be alarmed, but there is a giant basilisk roaming around in the castle sewers chanting the words 'rip' and 'kill' over and over again," Sammy said nonchalantly, wrapping herself comfortably around his neck. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Well, not our problem. As long as it leaves me alone, I will leave it alone," Harry said. Sammy flicked her tongue gently on his neck to signal she understood. He walked down a corridor towards the Great Hall. He heard a scream from another corridor around halfway. He turned towards the direction he heard the scream.

"So, who do you think is dead?" Harry asked as he started towards the direction of the scream.

"I don't care one way or another," Sammy said as she adjusted herself slightly before settling down again.

When he got to where he heard the scream, he saw a large group of people crowded around a wall that had writing which appeared to be made of blood. There was also a cat hanging from the wall. He then turned around and went back to the Great Hall.

"Who was it?" Sammy asked.

"Just a stupid cat; it wasn't even dead, just frozen," Harry said in a bored tone.

"It must not have looked directly at it, then," Sammy concluded. Harry nodded in response.

"I suppose that is a likely possibility. Either way, be sure that you are careful when you go out for hunting," Harry said to her as he entered the hall. He saw it was pretty empty, probably because it was so late and many had classed. He was pretty sure he had transfiguration, but he figured he could miss some of it. As he picked some food to eat, he looked over and saw Luna. She was reading some magazine upside down. He looked at her for a second before shaking his head and continuing with his own food.

December 11th, 2007

Harry was looking at the youngest Weasley. Ginny was her name if he remembered correctly. She had been doing a lot of suspicious stuff recently. Plus, she had been apparently carrying something on her person that had the same 'Voldemort' aura that he felt from Quirrell. He deduced that it must have been a shard of Voldemort that she had accidentally ended up with. Or purposely. Not like he knew what she had gotten up to in her free time before this. Maybe reviving dark lords was her thing? He wouldn't judge.

The girl seemed to command the basilisk while the shard clung to her and apparently temporarily took over her mind. One student had already been petrified. Harry couldn't remember who it was since he hadn't cared that much at the time. He, honestly, was surprised that no one had died. He watched the youngest Weasley open a stairway in the abandoned girl's bathroom before disappearing down it. Harry made a grunt before leaving; he had found out all he needed to know. He made his way back to his room and ended up bumping straight into Luna as he made his way around a corner. Luna fell to the ground, whereas Harry only took a step back before balancing himself. He looked down at the blonde, who was looking right back at him.

"Hello, Luna, nice to see you again," Harry said as he offered her a hand up. She took it and gave him a soft smile.

"Hello, Harry, thank you for helping me up," She said nicely with her trademark dream-like expression.

"It's fine. I knocked you down, after all," Harry said, waving her thanks off. He looked at her again.

"So, what brings you down to the dungeons today?" He asked.

"Oh, I'm just looking for some of my things that have gone missing from my trunk. I suspect Nargles have something to do with it," She got in close and whispered the last part, as if not wanting anyone else to hear her. Harry just stared at her suspiciously.

"So….Nargles broke into your trunk and stole your things?" Harry asked with squinted eyes. She nodded back.

"I suspect so. They're quite the devilish little creatures, you know," Luna said convincingly. Harry looked at her and nodded slowly.

"I see. Tell me, Luna, how well do you get along with your housemates?" Harry asked politely. Luna's expression turned slightly sheepish.

"I'm afraid that most of them don't like me. They like to call me loony behind my back," She said, slightly sadly. Harry just stared at her quietly.

"Hey, Luna, I have never been to the Ravenclaw dorm before. Will you take me to see it?" Harry asked politely, trying to control the slight anger he was feeling.

"Well…I suppose that's fine. There isn't really a rule against it. Follow me," She said as she moved down the corridor. She moved with such a spring in her step, it was almost like she was skipping. After going down some corridors, they finally made it to a hidden door with a talking raven door knocker.

"Ah, Luna, dear, welcome back. Ready for your riddle?" The Raven asked Luna. Luna smiled back and was about to respond before Harry stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder. Harry smiled at her.

"Luna, will you wait here? I need to have a talk with your classmates in private," Luna looked confused, but she nodded back anyways. Harry addressed his smile at the bird, now.

"Please let me in. I need to have a talk with your occupants," Harry said to the Raven. The Raven looked at him for a second.

"I have deemed your intentions to be hostile, so I shall not," The raven spoke back. Harry just looked back.

"Shame," with that last word, he threw a wave of concentrated magic at the door and blew it open. He calmly walked in and saw everyone in the common room looking directly at him. As soon as he was in, he used his magic to repair the doorway, so Luna couldn't see what was about to happen. He then looked around the room and smiled.

"I am only going to say this once, so please listen closely. Anyone who has taken any of Luna's things will return them back where they got them in the next hour. If this demand is not met in the allotted time frame, there will be CONSEQUENCES," Harry said, the last word taking on a demonic tone.

"Is this understood?" Harry asked politely.

"Oh, and why should we do anything that you say? That girl deserves to have her stuff taken away. She is an embarrassment to Ravenclaw," A brave older-year said in the back. Harry looked at him and his creepy smile got wider. Immediately, chains blew through the floor, wrapped around the boy, lifted him into the air, and slammed him into the nearest wall, where he made a groan of pain. Most of the girls screamed and immediately backed away from Harry. Harry walked slowly up to the boy he had pinned to the wall. When he stood close to him, Harry spoke.

"You just said Luna deserved to have her stuff taken away because you felt she wasn't worthy of this house. Well, should I also take away your fucking life since I, personally, feel like you are not worthy of it?" Harry asked in a monotone voice.

"No, please no, I'm sorry. We will give back what we took! I swear! We won't tell anyone about this, just please let me go!" The boy screamed. As soon as he said that, the chains holding him dropped him to the ground, where he landed with a painful 'thunk'. Harry walked next to him and patted him on his head like he was a dog.

"Good boy," Harry said. He then turned around and saw the whole common room looking at him with fear.

"Remember, you have 54 minutes and 32 seconds to go. I do hope for all your sakes that all the things are returned. I would hate to come back here and make an example out of somebody. Also, please make sure you all are at least polite when talking with Luna. I shouldn't hear any rumors about her being called 'loony' anymore, I hope?" Harry finished. He didn't even wait for anyone to respond before he left the room. He saw Luna waiting for him.

"Did you do what you wanted to do?" she asked curiously.

"Yes, I would say it was quite productive," Harry said as he looked at her.

"That's nice," She said with a smile. Harry wondered if she would still smile if she knew he had just threatened to kill her housemates. I mean, he wouldn't actually kill them, but he didn't need them to know that. They walked to the library at that point and decided to read some books on their off time. Harry couldn't remember what he was doing before he had met Luna today, so he just went to the library with her and helped her with her homework. Harry never did his homework, so it was an annoying new experience for him. Daphne eventually came in with a confused look. He hadn't seen her since their training this morning.

"Hey Harry, hello Luna, have you two been here all day?" She asked.

"No, we got here pretty recently," Harry said after Luna had said hello.

"Then what were you doing before you came here?" she asked.

"Oh, you know….stuff," Harry said dismissively.

"No, I don't know, so would you mind explaining exactly what 'stuff' means?" Daphne said looking at him with suspicion.

"Well, we walked around, Luna showed me to her common room, and then we came here," Harry said, trying to avoid saying anything about the incident that actually took place in the common room.

"Harry blew open my common room door so he could talk to my housemates," Luna said informatively. Harry immediately facepalmed. He could feel Daphne's stare burning through his palm and trying to reach his face. He peeked through his hand to confirm and saw that her eyes looked like they were on fire. He slowly closed his hand again and tried to ignore her stare.

"Why did you break into the Ravenclaw common room, Harry?" Daphne asked coldly. Harry sighed. He didn't need this right now.

As soon as he was about to answer, Professor McGonagall came into the library and walked right towards him. She stopped right in front of him and looked him in the eyes sternly.

"The headmaster requires your presence right now, Mr. Wolfe," She said as she slightly glared at him.

Well…shit