*Chapter 20*

December 11, 2008 (Hogwarts)

Harry was having a great year, in his personal opinion. He, recently, had only been spending half of his time at school and that was only to hang out with Daphne, Tracy, and Luna. The other half of his time was used by taking contracts. Now that he had a company, he would need money to keep it afloat. Speaking of his company, the amounts of progress his new research team had been making was amazing. Ren said that they had recently found a new series of runes that could possibly be applied to have a fully-functioning electronic. If the new series worked, they could have a prototype ready in just a few weeks. This was good for Harry, as he recently had taken to going to Craig's more and more recently for jobs and it would be nice to no longer have to do that and just use a phone. Harry also really wanted to get some video games. They looked like something fun for him to do during his off time.

"You seem deep in thought," Sammy stated. Harry looked down at the regular-sized snake that was now wrapped around his neck once more. He nodded once.

"I'm just thinking about the changes that have been going on recently. Especially with the company," Harry replied quietly; he was currently in the library.

"Will you quit being an assassin if this company of yours takes off?" Sammy asked. Harry thought about it before sighing sadly.

"Perhaps. It really depends on how I feel, I guess," Harry said with some sadness in his voice.

"Do you not want to be able to retire from that portion of your life?" Sammy asked curiously. Harry just looked at his snake with a forlorn expression.

"Sammy, have I ever told you about my life before I found you?" Harry asked.

"No, you go through great lengths to avoid it, actually," Sammy responded. Harry chuckled humorlessly.

"Before I knew you, I use to work with a man. His name was Nick Wolfe," Harry said. Sammy squinted at him in suspicion.

"You must have been close for you to take his last name," Sammy observed. Harry just nodded.

"He was the closest thing I ever had to a real family member, even more so than Rose. He was my life, my friend, brother, father. Anything I ever needed, he would be it. He taught me everything I know- apart from magic, of course. Still, he was a man I would have given anything for, even my own life," Harry said. They stayed silent for a moment.

"What happened to him?" Sammy asked. Harry's eyes darkened.

"He died in my arms as I watched the life fade from his eyes," Harry said.

"Did you…?" Sammy asked silently. Harry shook his head.

"No. We were surrounded by one of the U.S. government forces. This was before I could flash away to any place I wanted. Actually, I learned how to do so that night, just a few seconds after he died, ironically. I tried to save him, but he was getting hit faster than I could heal him. He is buried on our island. It's on the hill I sometimes watch the sunset from," Harry said. Sammy nodded her understanding.

"After his death, I became obsessed with finding a way to bring him back. I searched every culture, both magical and muggle, to find a real way to enter the underworld or afterlife to retrieve him. I was obsessed for close to 6 months. I barely ate or slept the entire time," Harry said as he closed his eyes trying to recall all the memories.

"When did you give up?" Sammy asked.

"Never. I found a way to enter the afterlife and retrieve the dead," Harry said. Sammy looked at him with surprise.

"You can do a true revival of someone?" She asked. Harry just shrugged.

"Theoretically," Harry said.

"What does that mean?" Sammy asked angrily at Harry for being so vague on such an important subject. Harry sighed.

"I know how to do it, but I can never accomplish it," Harry said.

"Why not?" Sammy asked

"Before you get to the levels of the afterlife where humans reside, you need to cross the deepest depths of hell. That is where some of the most powerful demons reside. No human has ever been able to make it all the way past them to get to the human afterlife to retrieve their loved one or ones," Harry explained.

"But you tried anyway," Sammy guessed. Harry nodded.

"I did, I was foolish. Human magic does not work in hell. I did not know until I was confronted with a demon and tried to finish it off quickly. You can only imagine my surprise when not a single one of my powers worked," Harry said.

"You're telling me that you survived a fight with a high-class demon with no powers at the age of 10?" Sammy asked. Harry shook his head.

"I did survive, but only through sheer luck. It was several times stronger than a regular man and seemed to enjoy playing around with me. It broke one of my legs and a few of my ribs and left dark bruises all over my body. When I was lying on the ground, bleeding, I looked up to see him leaning down with a smile, preparing to consume me. I used all my strength to pull out my knife and jab it straight into his throat. He was too close by that point to move out of the way or dodge. His black blood splattered all over me and he died on top of me. After that, I passed out. When I woke up again, I seemed to have healed somewhat, so I crawled my way out through the same way I came in," Harry said.

"It is quite lucky for you to have a knife on you, then," Sammy said, glad that her friend had not had a premature death. Harry smiled slightly and nodded.

"The knife was a gift from Nick that I always carried with me. Fitting that its last act was saving my life, I suppose. Although, there were some problems after I left hell. The blood of That demon changed me physically and magically. It made me stronger, heal faster, as well as impart some of the power of a demon to me. That is where I get my chains of hell ability as well as my black flames. Those are two things that cannot be conjured by a normal human wizard. Though, the process was excruciating as I waited for the demon blood to fully integrate with my own," Harry remarked.

"Soooo….you're a demon then," Sammy deadpanned. Harry laughed at this.

"No, I'm not a demon. I'm closer to half or a quarter, if anything, but definitely not a full-blown demon," Harry said, amused.

"Do demons have bat wings like they do in folklore?" Sammy asked, seemingly interested in the subject. Harry nodded.

"Yes, although they retract and morph into their back when not in use. Before you ask, I do not have any wings," Harry stated amusedly.

"Tsh. You're the lamest half-demon ever. Anyways, what did this have to do with you continuing as an assassin or not?" Sammy asked. Harry had looked at her with confusion before remembering why he even got started on the tangent they had just been discussing.

"Ah, yes. Well, before I made my company, I obviously did not do jobs just because of money. I already had plenty. I did jobs because it just made me feel closer to Nick. They give me a nostalgic feeling and remind me of all the good times we use to have. So I am not sure if I will really ever stop or not. I'll be honest, I'm afraid that if I do, I will forget about Nick. That is something I never want to happen," Harry said as he finally came to the point of their discussion. Sammy stayed silent for a second before finally speaking up.

"Maybe it's not about forgetting about Nick, but more about moving on?" Sammy said carefully, trying to make sure that Harry did not get angry with her suggestion. Harry looked down at Sammy for a second.

"You're awfully smart for a creature that just eats rats all day," He said with a smirk. Sammy hissed at him angrily.

"Watch yourself, or the next thing I eat will be you!" Sammy said. Harry just laughed out loud again.

"I'm glad we are friends, Sammy. I truly am."

January 18, 2009 (Tokyo)

Harry was in Japan. Today was the day Ren had said they had their first working prototype. Harry was excited because he was finally going to be able to use an electronic since the days of his youth. He walked up to the hidden warehouse and knocked. He waited a few seconds before Ren opened the door and shook his hands.

"Mr. Wolfe, so good of you to come so quickly," Ren said with a smile. Harry just waved him off.

"How many times now have I told you to call me Harry? You do not have to be so formal towards me. Not like I would cut you off or something," Harry said. Ren just shook his head good-naturedly as he gestured Harry in and started to lead him to the main experimentation room.

"You are still the boss. Regardless of if you would cut us off or not, we should still give you respect," Ren as they finally entered the room. Harry just grumbled obscenities under his breath as they made it to the room. They walked over to Ren's private desk where a silver suitcase was waiting.

"So, this is it?" Harry said. Ren nodded before unlocking the suitcase and opening it up. Inside was a simple flip phone that Harry had seen many people use in the past. They had begun to go out of style with the creation of the smartphone, but he still saw them around. It was simple and black with silver edges. Motorola, if he remembered correctly.

"It's been tested?" Harry asked as he looked at Ren. Ren just smiled back at him.

"Why don't you pick it up and try it out for yourself?" Ren said back. Harry looked back down at the phone before reaching down to grab it. It felt light in his hands and smooth. He could feel the push of the runes on the phone, making sure his magic did not penetrate the phone. He flipped it open and pressed the power button to turn it on. He was pleasantly surprised to see it turn on and not burst into a small shower of sparks. He smiled as it fully turned on and went to the home screen, waiting for him to decide what to do.

"No problems with battery life? Have you tested its calling and messaging functions?" Harry asked. Ren nodded.

"Yes. It can do both fine. At the moment, it is very good at repulsing magic, but the runes will break if a large, conscious amount of magic is forced into the phone. What you have in your hands is the first fully-functional prototype. We have four more besides that one that also works correctly. The actual application of runes is a mixture of Celtic and Chinese, which is strange since they normally do not mix well. However, the application process of writing the runes on the electronic take less than a few minutes, as long as we have the supplies to create them; we have plenty, thanks to you," Ren said with pride evident in his voice. Harry nodded.

"Excellent, Ren. Would you have any problem marketing this?" Harry said. Ren looked surprised at this.

"I'm surprised you are even asking. I thought that was your plan since the beginning," Ren confessed. Harry nodded.

"It was, but I just wanted to make sure that you were fine with it. It would mean a lot more work for you and your colleagues. You will probably need to hire some help. I will provide the income to pay any more help you can get, of course. However, make sure that all employees sign a contract that states that they will never replicate the rune sequence required to make the electronics operable outside of work and especially not for a third party. The wizarding world has no laws about monopolies, which we should use to our advantage," Harry said. Ren bowed his head slightly.

"It shall be as you wish. Thank you, again, for everything you have done for us here, Mr. Wolfe," Ren said with a smile as he shook Harry's hand. Harry just sighed when the man said his last name.

"Pleasure. I, too, will try to find more people to work for us. I'm glad I met you, Ren," Harry said politely while returning the smile.

"As thanks, I would like to give you this prototype for you to keep. I hope it serves you well," Ren said as he handed Harry the suitcase with the phone in it. Harry nodded his thanks.

"Thank you, Ren. I will see you soon," Harry said before flashing away right in front of Ren, who just looked at the place Harry use to be occupying with surprise. He then sighed and walked away.

'So that's how he always gets here so fast,' Ren thought with a smile.

March 13th, 2009 (Hogwarts)

Harry was finally back at Hogwarts for more than a second to visit his friends. The past few months had been very costly for him. He had to get entire new facilities for his employees, as well as buy a shop in New York to set up their store, hopefully, this summer. He had been neglecting his friends, though, and wanted to come back and visit them. It was a little past noon and Harry knew that Daphne and Tracy, as well as Luna, would be in the library since they didn't have classes in the afternoons every other day.

Harry walked straight into the library and directly to where he could feel his friends. As soon as they saw him, Daphne spat out an insult.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to grace us with his presence. Done prancing off to who-knows-where and have finally come to see how us lowly commoners are, have you?" Daphne asked sarcastically. Tracy seemed upset as well, but Luna just smiled her regular dreamy smile at him, so he could not tell if she was actually angered or not.

"I'm sorry, you guys. I have been extremely busy recently. It was unfortunate that I could not make time to come and see you, but sadly necessary. I hope you can forgive me," Harry said as he bowed his head to show he was sorry. The three girls just looked at him before Daphne spoke again.

"Out with it then, what have you been so busy with?" Daphne asked with some venom still in her voice. Harry quickly threw up some privacy wards before speaking.

"This will surprise you, but I have decided to come clean. I have started a company and have been extremely busy making sure it gets off the ground," Harry said. Just like he predicted, all of the girls looked at him with surprise. Except for Luna, of course, who looked like she already knew, which just made Harry look at her for a split second before returning to the other girls, who looked like they were about to ask more questions.

"What kind of company have you started?" Tracy asked.

"It's a magical technology company, at the moment. We currently make operable muggle electronics that are not affected by magic," Harry said with some pride. This got even a bigger shock from the two Slytherin girls.

"How did you get them to work?" Daphne asked. Harry just smirked and winked at her mischievously.

"Trade secret, I am afraid. I can't tell anyone how that isn't in the company. Just know that if you ladies would ever like a job, you can always come to me. The pay is great, I assure you," Harry said with a smile.

"What about your other job Harry? Surely you won't give up on it, will you?" Luna asked curiously. At this, Harry looked directly at her. It didn't surprise him too much that Luna knew what he normally did for a living. He never kept it that much of a secret in the first place, but he didn't exactly advertise it either. He suspected Luna to have some seer-like abilities simply from the otherworldly way she acted. Harry just kept looking at her before he noticed an awkward silence had fallen over the group as they all waited for him to answer the question, with only Tracy not understanding the weight of the question.

"At this time, I will not be quitting my current job for a while. I definitely will not even consider it until my business is fully off the ground. However, since you clearly know of my other job, tell me what you think of me doing things like that, Luna," Harry said politely as he looked at the petite blonde. Luna just shrugged.

"It doesn't bother me. In my eyes, you are just making the world a safer place. You only go after the bad ones, anyway," She said as if she were discussing something as simple as her favorite food. Harry looked at her for one more second before nodding.

"Thank you for telling me that," Harry said. He then looked at Tracy, who was the only confused one of the four.

"Tracy, since you do not know, I have decided that you should be informed of what my job truly is. To be blunt, I am an assassin. In fact, I am considered one of the best in the world as well as having an almost 100% completion record. Along with that, I tend to be slightly cheaper than most assassins, which means more people come to me with jobs. I trust you with this information because you are one of my friends. I trust you to keep that information," Harry said as he looked at the girl. Tracy looked as if she was going into shock. It did not look like she was processing this new information as well as she could have been. Harry rushed to her and put his hand on her forehead, causing her to be forced into sleep before she hurt herself.

"Is she going to be okay?" Daphne asked, panicking slightly at her sleeping friend.

"She will be fine. I just needed to put her to sleep before her brain fried itself," Harry said as he laid Tracy down gently. Daphne breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do you think she will tell anyone?" Luna asked. Harry just looked at her.

"Luna, at this point, I'm pretty sure your guess will be better than mine, but I would assume not."

"That's good, although we could have used a ragglesnark to make her forget the whole conversation. I believe a colony of them just moved into the forbidden forest," Luna said with what sounded like sadness that she no longer had an excuse to use her suggestion. Harry just looked at her before making a mental note to go into the Forbidden Forest and annihilate any creature that looked like it could be a ragglesnark.

"Maybe next time Luna. Maybe next time…"

May 16th, 2009 (Malibu)

Harry just looked at Tony Stark's mansion. He had never seen a house quite like it and had a feeling that the eccentric man added his own personal touch during its construction. He sighed.

He had called the man of his own accord strictly for business. His company had been taking off, but sadly they needed more phones and they couldn't just keep going to stores around the facilities to buy them anymore as the store owners would start to get suspicious. They would need a supplier. After researching the topic, Harry had found that Stark Industries made some of the best phones in the world, with Apple being a close second. Harry wanted to see if Tony would be open to selling him some phones in bulk to use at a cheaper price then buying them individually.

Therefore, Harry had contacted Craig and told him to have him put in touch with the man. He gave him Tony Stark's private number and Harry had called the man. Tony had been ecstatic to hear him and immediately insisted that Harry come over to his house today to talk. Harry barely got more than a word out at a time before finding himself being forced to come to the man's house for dinner.

Harry sighed before entering the grounds and knocking on the door to the billionaire's house. He waited for a second before the door was opened by Ms. Potts, who looked at him confused.

"May I help you with something?" She asked politely. She clearly did not recognize him, which caused him to chuckle slightly.

"You don't remember me? Understandable, last time we met I had broken into your apartment and hid in the shadows," Harry said as if reminiscing fondly at old memories. Pepper just continued to look at him with a confused expression before her memories clicked into place and she immediately went stiff as aboard.

"Are you here to kill me?" she asked quietly with fear in her voice. Harry just shook his head, amused.

"Of course not. You would have to do something quite terrible to be put on my kill list. No, I am here because Mr. Stark invited me over for dinner after I got in touch with him about a certain business transaction. And no, not the same kind of business transaction we had," Harry said. Pepper relaxed slightly and nodded.

"I see. Well then, would you please wait here while I inform Mr. Stark you are here?" Pepper asked politely, but still a little too stiff. Harry just smiled at her and nodded.

"Of course. I'll wait here then," Harry said as he took a step away from the door to show his compliance. Pepper nodded and relaxed a little more now that he did not appear to be trying to force entry. She closed the door and disappeared. A few minutes later and Harry figured they were either calling the cops or the house was just that big. Just as he was thinking about leaving, the door swung open to show a smiling Tony Stark in just a tank top and jeans.

"Well, if it isn't my desert savior! Come in. I have ordered take out. Do you like Chinese? I love it! Should be here any minute. Come, let's sit on the couch. Would you like a beer? Oh wait, you're too young, right. What do teens drink when they can't illegally get a beer? Soda? I got some Root Beer in the fridge. It even has beer in the name, to make you feel better," Tony prattled on at a mile a second. Harry did not even try to respond as he was led to the couch.

"So tell me, what has my mysterious 12-year-old savior been up to since we last met? Hopefully not dipping his hands in innocent blood, because, I don't know if you heard, but I kind of take action against that these days," Tony said. Harry just shook his head.

"No need to worry on that end. I only kill criminals and only the worst of the worst. I don't go after innocents," Harry explained calmly. Tony beamed at that.

"Great! I knew you were awesome the second I looked at you. So tell me, have you been keeping business? I had JARVIS look into you, but he found nothing except that you were a pretty well-known assassin only known as 'Harry'. Rare that Jarvis cannot find any real information on someone. You MUST be good," Tony said in his fast-paced tone once again.

"I would suck at my job if just anyone could find me. Who is JARVIS by the way?" Harry asked. Tony puffed his chest with pride.

"An AI system I built- probably the smartest AI on the planet if I do say so myself. He helps run everything around me like my business as well as my security. Say hello, JARVIS," Tony said.

"Hello, Mr. Stark's guest. I am Jarvis. Mr. Starks AI. May I have the pleasure of knowing who you are?" A British voice said, coming from the walls. To Harry's credit, he did not jump when he heard a voice come from nowhere, although his eyes did slightly widen before they returned to normal and a smile presented on his face.

"Well, technology certainly has advanced if this is possible. Hello, Jarvis, I am Harry," Harry said politely.

"Do you, perhaps, have a last name?" Jarvis asked.

"I do, although I am not ready to share it with you," Harry said amused.

"I see. Then pardon my intrusion," Jarvis said.

"So Harry, why do you not hide your name? Or is it fake? It would be cooler if you had an alias like 'Black Hawk', or maybe 'Silver Fang'? Something that rolls off the tongue but is also catchy. Mine, for instance, is Iron Man," Tony said with more pride.

"Eh. Too much work. It is my real name, but it's not like it matters if you know it or not. Aliases are for those who need to hide their true identities. I do not. I don't care too much who knows. As of right now, only one government agency knows my true identity and that's only because a sexy red-head snitched on me," Harry said with half exasperation and half amusement.

"Ah. I, too, know the feeling of being betrayed by a sexy red-head," Tony said solemnly.

"I heard that," A voice said from a nearby room.

"You were meant to, Pep. Stop snitching on me to my own company," Tony called back.

"No. It's the only way to get you to come to work," Pepper responded. Tony just sighed in exasperation and looked back at Harry.

"You see what I am dealing with?" Tony said. Harry just nodded with an empathetic look on his face.

"Hey, women, am I right?" Harry said jokingly.

"YES! Finally someone gets it!" Tony exclaimed. Just then, Pepper entered the room with two bags of Chinese takeout and put them on the coffee table while glaring at Tony, who was pretending to be looking out the window with fascination. Harry just looked at the scene and chuckled.

"Here is your food. I am turning in for the night. Tony, remember you have a press conference at 8 tomorrow morning so you need to be up early," Pepper said in a tone that, for some reason, reminded Harry of a mother.

"But that's the middle of the night!" Tony exclaimed.

"I said 8, not 12," Pepper said

"I know! The middle of the night!" Tony responded. Pepper just rolled her eyes before turning and leaving the two.

"Goodnight boys. Do not stay up too late," Pepper said.

"Yes, mom," Both Tony and Harry said at the same time, causing both Tony and Harry to high five and Pepper to turn around and glare one last time before leaving. It was then that they started pulling out the food and getting down to business.

"You are alright, kid," Tony said as he slurped up some noodles.

"I guess I could say the same about you, old man. Even if you do talk a mile a minute," Harry said. He could pretty accurately tell what kind of man Tony Stark was by now: someone who was similar to him. He was a person who made it to the top of their food chain and didn't really worry or care for the sheep's opinions. That was a man that Harry could respect whether he was stronger or weaker.

"Hey, I'm not that old," Tony protested.

"And I am not that young," Harry shot back. Tony grumbled a little but conceded the point.

"So, now that we are alone, I assume this isn't a social visit? You mentioned something about phones when we talked earlier if I remember correctly," Tony said. Harry looked at him confused.

"You heard something besides your own voice on that call? I sure as hell didn't," Harry said. Tony smiled.

"It's a gift. Now out with it," Tony said with a smile.

"Alright, I will be blunt. I would like to be blunt. I would like to buy Stark phones from you. Not the new smartphones, either, but your older flip phones. I also need them in bulk, if possible," Harry said. Tony looked at him confused.

"We do have storages with some phones as you described, but why do you want dated phones?" Tony asked.

"I mean to sell them. The people I am selling them to, however, are a little… old school. They are not ready for smartphones. This is why I will start them off with a simpler version and then work our way up," Harry said honestly.

"I see. You find an Amish group trying to catch up with the times or something?" Tony asked. Harry shrugged.

"Something like that. So what do you say?" Harry asked trying not to go into too much detail.

"I thought you were supposed to be an assassin?" Tony said.

"I am. That's how I am funding my whole operation," Harry said.

"So, what? You trying to get into a new line of work or something?" Tony asked.

"Sort of," Harry responded back. Tony just looked at him for a second before taking another bite of his rice.

"Hmmm, well I guess I could get them for you. How much do you need and how much are you looking to buy them for?" Tony asked.

"I need around 250,000 to start off and was hoping to buy them on the cheaper end of the spectrum," Harry said.

"You need to work on your negotiating kid, but I guess I can work with that. Since we upgraded, the phones have just been collecting dust anyway. I will sell them to you for…let's say 1.5 million dollars. That okay with you?" Tony asked as he took a swig of his beer.

"Hmmm… I guess I can afford that. Still seems a little pricey," Harry said. Tony scoffed.

"Well, they are STARK phones, so they are a little more expensive, even with my 'savior' discount. Still a better deal than most other companies, though," Tony said.

"I suppose that is true. Shall we say cheers to a new deal, then?" Harry said happily.

"Not really as good as my normal deals, so how about a deal between new friends?" Tony suggested. Harry hesitated and his smile dropped for a second. Then he looked at Tony again and smiled once more.

"Fine, then, a deal between new friends!" Harry said as he raised his cup to Tony's glass where they met.

'Chink.'