The Protagonist System

71 An End And A Beginning

I put Petunia's things into my storage space and walked down the street to leave through the Leaky Cauldron. In the corner of my eye, I caught the sight of the floating broom in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies and it gave me a neat idea, especially when I remembered the restriction of first years not being allowed a broom.

I chuckled at subverting that and entered the shop. It was fairly crowded as several others shopped and stared at the Firebolt on display. It was the fastest and most expensive broom on the market and the others were in awe of it. I approached the clerk that stood behind the counter and thought about how to ask for what I wanted.

“Can I help you?” The man asked.

“I hope so.” I hedged and he raised his eyebrows at me. “I have a friend that wants to buy a pile of brooms, only they don't need to be top of the line or anything. Do you give discounts for bulk orders of older brooms? Like the Comet 260 or the Nimbus 2000?”

The man gave me an odd look. “Does this shop look like I can stock piles of four year old brooms?”

I glanced around at the small space and sighed. “Is there any chance I can get a contact address for the Comet or Nimbus company?”

The man's odd look changed to a frown. “Look, kid. Either buy one of my available broom models or you can leave my store. I'm not telling you how to cut me out of possible sales.”

It was my turn to frown. “I wasn't asking you to...”

“I don't want to hear it.” The man cut me off and waved at the front door. “Thank you for wasting my time.”

I opened my mouth to hotly retort, then huffed. “You are an idiot.”

“Sure I am. Now get out.” The man said, sternly.

I barked a laugh and started to walk over to the door. “I can't wait until the Daily Prophet hears that this shop refused to help Harry Potter buy replacement brooms for Hogwarts.” I said loudly, just so everyone else in the store heard me. “Imagine being stupid enough to give up on the commissions for selling 50 brooms!”

The other shoppers started talking loudly as I left the store. I glanced back and saw the man's pale face. Hedwig hooted and looked smug, which made me chuckle.

“Yes, he definitely regrets not listening to me asking about a bulk purchase.” I said and walked down the street. I felt out with my magic as several people ran out of the store behind me and headed right over to the Daily Prophet building to spill the story. “I'll write up a note with my idea and send you off to the Nimbus company. Dealing directly with the company seems like a much better idea.”

“Hoot.” Hedwig responded.

I went to the pub and chose to have a quick meal for lunch and Hedwig stole one of my sausages. Tom chuckled at the sneaky thief and brought me two replacements. She stole one of them, too. He laughed and patted my shoulder in commiseration before he went back to tending the bar.

We finished our meals and I drank my butterbeer, paid for the food and left a generous tip, and left a happy Tom behind as I used the floo to go back home. Petunia was delighted to get everything so soon and thanked me with a quick hug.

“Are you visiting Tonks today?” Petunia asked as she let me go. “You know she'll want to know you accepted.”

I nodded. “I need to talk to her about what she's going to do after graduating, too.”

“Did she get her marks already?” Petunia asked and started to pull some of the things she wanted out of the enlarged bag.

“Last week, I think. She sounded excited, anyway.” I said and Petunia nodded. Getting high marks on NEWTs was a good reason to be excited.

“Tell Andromeda hello for me.” Petunia said and then gave me a pointed look. “You need to stop with the wandering hands, too.”

“My hand slipped one time when I hugged her!” I defended myself.

“I'm pretty sure that squeezing and caressing her butt with both hands does not count as a slip.” Petunia countered with a flat voice.

“In my defense, she was wearing workout tights and had just finished exercising.” I said with a grin. “Besides, both she and Tonks whacked me good for it. Ted just laughed.”

Petunia shook her head at me. “I don't know why they put up with you.”

I stepped back in close to hug her again. “Because, just like you, they loooooove me.”

Petunia snorted and hugged me back as she leaned into me, then seemed to stiffen. “Don't you dare!”

I laughed and let her go without groping her. “I'm not suicidal, Aunt Petunia. Vernon would kill me if I ever touched what he loves like that, no matter how tempting it is.”

Petunia blushed and shook her head at me again. “Get going, you. I don't want to see your face until supper.”

I darted in and kissed her cheek before she could stop me. “Love you!”

Petunia swatted at me and I ran. “I love you too, you scamp!”

I took off the outer-robes and stored them as I went to my mail room. I wrote up the request for the Nimbus company and tied it to Hedwig's leg. “Have fun, girl. There's no rush coming back.”

“Hoot.” Hedwig said and took off out through the specially enchanted owl window.

I left the mail room and went the teleportation room as I changed into my Harry Potter look and put on my fake glasses. I activated the circle and flashed over to the one in Andromeda's backyard. I walked to the house and knocked on the back door. It opened after a moment and Andromeda stood there with a slightly sad face.

“That's not a good look to have when looking at me.” I said instead of saying hello.

“Come in, Harry.” Andromeda said and stepped back.

I could hear some arguing in the living room and held in my sigh. I was sure what this was going to be about and took Andromeda's hand. She squeezed it tightly and led me through the kitchen and into the living room.

“I'm an adult now and it's my decision!” Tonks almost screeched as she shouted. “And I made it!”

“You don't realize the danger!” Ted shouted back.

“Yes, I do! I know all about...”

“Is this a bad time to say I got my Hogwarts letter today?” I asked and both father and daughter jerked as if slapped, then they looked embarrassed. “By the way, I accepted.”

“Harry.” Tonks said in a soft voice and blushed before she looked away from me.

Well, crap. I thought and knew what was going to happen. “You're breaking up with me, aren't you?”

Tonks didn't look back at me as her face changed to the color red. “I'm going to be too busy with Auror training for... personal things like a steady boyfriend. The instructors also recommended not having personal attachments that could be used against you.”

Andromeda's hand in mine squeezed harder and I wasn't sure if she was trying to reassure me or was warning me to not start shouting. Either way, she was trying her best to handle the situation.

“Is becoming an Auror what you really want to do with your life?” I asked her.

“Yes, it's what I've always wanted. To make a difference.” Tonks said and her red face changed to a normal skin tone. “My abilities are the best for stealth and infiltration and my interview was overseen by the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement herself, Amelia Bones. She really wants me to be one of her Aurors and promised to assign me the best mentor for training.”

“Alastor Moody.” I said and she nodded. I looked at Ted's sad face and then at Andi's. “Your parents are scared for you, Tonks. Being an Auror can be extremely dangerous at times.”

“I know! I'll be careful and...” Tonks paused and finally turned her head to look at me. “You're not scared for me?”

“No, I'm terrified.” I said and all three of them had wide eyes. “One lucky spell from any of the criminals you meet will end your career and possibly your existence. There's no take-backs and no do-overs from something like that.” I gave her a pointed look. “I'll give you a few things to protect you, even though you're tossing me aside.”

“Harry, I... I don't want to. It's just... I...” Tonks stopped talking and blushed. “I can't devote any time or effort to our relationship anymore.”

I held my free hand out to her and wagged it. Tonks sighed and took out the license she had that declared her to be an Official Harry Potter Girlfriend. I altered it and handed it back. She looked at it and tears came to her eyes. It now said she was an official ex-girlfriend.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out several things. A protective amulet similar to mine, a protective cloak also like mine, and a book on offensive spells. Tonks took them and her tears flowed down her cheeks. I stayed quiet and turned to hug Andromeda. She hugged me back and her own tears dropped onto my shoulder. I let her go and held a hand out to Ted to shake his hand. He shook it and nodded.

“I'll drop off more things to sell next week.” I promised and looked at Tonks. “Good luck, Tonks.”

“Th-thanks.” Tonks said and hugged the things I gave her to her chest. She didn't move to give me a hug or a kiss goodbye, so I didn't offer either.

I nodded and turned around and left the room. I heard a soft sob from behind me and I couldn't tell if it was from Tonks or Andromeda. In the end, it didn't really matter. I went through the kitchen and walked out the back door of the house, across the yard, and stepped onto the teleportation circle.

With my mind in some turmoil over what just happened, I made a fairly rash decision. I concentrated on a particular magical signature that was inside my protective amulet and activated the teleportation circle to send me to the closest one.

I appeared inside a dark and dusty room in front of a grimy glass cabinet. There was Slytherin's locket and I used magic to open the cabinet and levitated the locket out. I slipped it into my storage space and closed the cabinet. When I used a magic detection spell, I didn't find any living things inside Grimmauld Place.

I went down to the kitchen that I knew was at the bottom of the house and found the dried out corpse of Kreacher in the furnace room. I went back up through the house to the front door and the painting of Walburga Black was still and silent. There was no magic in the painting, either. I figured that when Andromeda chose to reject the family, it must have broken whatever magic was left inside the house.

I went up to the library and there was no magic or protective charms on the door or in the room, which meant I could empty the place. So, I did. I took out my school trunk and converted the fifth compartment into a library and levitated all of the books into it. I would have to check them for curses and jinxes later. I stored the trunk again and went back down to the front door, cast several charms on it to keep it permanently locked, and teleported away.

I arrived back home in the teleportation room and went to the castle's library. I picked through the books to find one on advanced Arithmancy and settled down at the desk to work out a spell for searching for things. I had to heavily modify my magic detection spell to look only for a specific magical signature and then I had to rework the magic used to boost the distance to cover the United Kingdom.

Nearly four hours later, I had my modified spell. I went downstairs and had supper with my family and they all saw the look on my face and didn't comment on it. They knew something was bothering me and left me to deal with it on my own. Petunia gave me a questioning look and I shook my head, so she nodded back and stayed quiet.

I went back to the library and started working on another spell to keep myself distracted. I wanted to modify my teleportation circle to reverse its effect. I didn't want to teleport to something, I wanted to teleport something to me. I spent the rest of the evening working on it and was mostly done when Nanny popped in and told me to go to bed.

I thanked her and she led me to my room and helped me change, then she tucked me into bed. Her kiss on my forehead gave me pleasant memories of when I was younger and I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face, despite the horrible news I had that day.

I finished the modifications the next morning and left the castle to go to the local park. It was the only place nearby that I could make a temporary teleportation circle outside and I put up a notice-me-not charm around the sandbox and quickly transfigured the sand into a stone slab for what I needed. I carved in the runic sequences and changed the appropriate things to reverse the effect.

When I was done, I set up several protective spells and shields around it, then took out Slytherin's locket. I set it into the middle of the six foot wide teleportation circle and cast the location spell and used the magical signature of the soul piece inside of it. There was a slight glow from my protective amulet and I nodded at the confirmation.

I took it off for the first time in my life and put it beside the locket. I concentrated on the results of the spell and poured magic into the teleportation circle. It took quite a lot, because none of the objects I was looking for were without their own protections and under protective wards. My version of teleportation ignored most wards when it was inside of them, so I poured in more magic to compensate.

Twenty seconds later, a small flash of light happened and Tom Riddle's diary appeared. It must have been the closest one. Ten seconds later, the Gaunt Family ring appeared. I kept the magic flow up and waited another twenty seconds before Hufflepuff's Cup appeared. I chuckled at that, because I didn't have to enter the bank to get it, which meant the thief warning didn't apply to me.

Another twenty seconds later, there was a flash of light and the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw appeared. I nodded at the retrieval spell being so successful that it even found something inside a secret room inside of Hogwarts. Just as I stopped adding magic to the teleportation circle, a large flash of light happened and a very surprised Professor Quirrell appeared in front of me.

I immediately scooped up my protective amulet, put it on, and jumped up to wrap my hands around the idiot's neck. The man screamed as his skin started to turn to ash and he tried to fight me off. I held on without trouble and his struggles slowed and stopped as the ash and rot reached his brain. I let go and he collapsed to the ground and continued to dissolve away.

When his body finished turning to ash and left only his clothing behind, a dark black cloud floated up from his remains. It screamed at me and flung itself at me. I smiled as it did so and instead of going through me, it hit my amulet and the enchantment sucked the disembodied spirit inside without trouble. Voldemort screamed as he was absorbed and I thanked my book adventure with the mummy for teaching me the spell to do that.

That was all seven pieces of the monster's soul. My scar, the diary, the locket, the cup, the diadem, the ring, and Voldemort himself. He hadn't found the snake yet and wouldn't make it a horcrux until after he had a body again, which was never going to happen. The triwizard tournament wasn't happening for another three years and I already had all of his soul pieces.

With my darker thoughts after my breakup with Tons, it only took me a couple of minutes of sitting there to come up with the best way to deal with them all. I debated keeping him around and letting him power the blood wards around the neighborhood, then chose to exchange his soul for another power source instead.

I stored everything in front of me and transfigured the stone back into sand, removed the notice-me-not and protective spells around the sandbox, and walked away from the park. I went back home and around to the backyard. I barked a hello to the griffon on guard and it barked back. I waved and went into the feeding pen to put on some protective gear before I grabbed one of the sheared sheep and dragged it out.

This caught the attention of several griffons and two of them landed to watch me closely. It made me chuckle, because they somehow knew I was going to let them have a great chase when I was done. I took out each of the horcruxes and transferred each of the soul pieces into my amulet. It started to glow with a black light and became brighter with each piece.

With Voldemort's entire soul inside the amulet, the blood wards almost exploded and expanded to cover most of Little Whinging. It made me laugh at that, because I could hear someone yell at the very strong protection ward that pushed away anyone with bad intentions.

I did one final transfer from the amulet into the sheep to drop Voldemort's soul into the poor thing and from the sheep into the amulet. It would power the blood wards from now on and Voldemort was about to become someone's lunch. It was no surprise to me when the wards reduced to barely cover the castle and part of the street outside.

“Baaaaa.” The sheep lamented sadly and every griffon stiffened and perked up at the sound. “Baa?”

“You better start running, Voldesheep!” I said and smacked his shaved butt.

“BAA!” The sheep yelled and took off like a shot.

Every single griffon let out a squawking yell to start the hunt and dove for him.

“BAAAAAAAA!” Voldesheep yelled as he was chased and attacked by the whole herd of very happy griffons that loved chasing enthusiastic prey.

I laughed and laughed as he gave them the best hunt they ever had. A great time was had by all, except by Voldemort. He was eventually caught and his last bleat of defiance was cut off by the winning griffon that tore out his throat. It barked happily and spread its wings triumphantly as it posed.