Stormseeker: Unwanted Destiny

"Well, that could have gone better," I say, flopping down on the couch in Grimmauld Place the next evening. It might not be the most secure place, but it's all we have at the moment.

"I never realized how many bits of parchment you need just to convince Muggles of who you are," Cassie says.

"Paper," Gerard corrects her. "Not parchment."

"Whatever," Cassie says.

"I'd been mostly worried about the scars on my face making me easily recognizable," I say. "I thought it would be a simple matter to get some work for some Muggle money and a place to stay. Why do they need to make everything so complicated?"

"Alright, do we have another plan?" Cassie says.

"Murder Lockhart?" I suggest.

"That's not really a plan," Cassie says. "And I don't think that'll really help us."

"I don't care," I say. "I want him dead."

"Can we at least kill him in such a way that it isn't blatantly obvious that he was murdered?" Cassie says, smirking.

"I want him to suffer," I growl quietly.

"There's no need to torture him again," Cassie says. "Just kill him, in the most expedient way possible, alright?"

"Cassie..." I say, sighing.

"I mean it!" Cassie says. "If he deserves to die, then just kill him. There's nothing to justify making him suffer."

"Fine," I say, shaking my head. "I want to take a nap and then hit him tonight."

"What's the defenses on his house like?" Gerard asks.

"I don't know," I say. "I wasn't really paying attention when we were there last. But he's an inept Mudblood. How effective could they be?"

"He's an inept Mudblood with enough money to pay for someone competent to ward his house," Cassie points out. "We should be cautious."

After taking a three hour nap, we head out and Apparate near Lockhart's place, Cassie doing Side-Along for Gerard since he didn't go with us last time. We try to stay out of sight, avoid being noticed by any of the Muggles living in the neighborhood.

"Alright, let's stake out the place," I whisper, peering out at Lockhart's house from over a rhododendron bush. "What do the defenses look like?"

"It's warded," Gerard says. "Nothing particularly dangerous, though."

"Probably more intended to keep out his throngs of raving fans than actually hurt anyone," Cassie says.

"Exactly," Gerard says. "It's the home of a Mudblood with an overly large ego, not a pureblood dark wizard. His defenses aren't serious."

"Can we get through them without alerting anyone to our presence, though?" I ask.

"Doubtful," Gerard says. "Alarms will go off the minute the wards are pierced. But from what you've said, he won't be much of a fight."

"I'm just concerned about any Aurors showing up or something," I say.

"Hmm," Gerard says. "I think we can make it so any alarms that go off are restricted to inside the house, and no signals getting sent outside. Cassie, help me out with this one."

I stand by watching as the two of them work magic well above my level upon the house and its wards. I keep alert and look about the street to make sure we haven't attracted any unwanted attention, Muggle or otherwise. After about fifteen minutes, there's a soft cracking sound, and a faint pulse of light around the house.

"We're in," Gerard whispers.

The three of us waste no time in heading inside. There's no sign of Lockhart in the first room we enter, so we look around a bit to try to find him.

"Could he have realized we were coming and Flooed out?" I whisper.

"Maybe," Gerard says. "Though he could just be hiding."

We hunt around for him, poking into every room, wands out and alert for any trouble. He might not be much of a threat, but we don't want to take any chances and be caught off-guard.

"Obliviate!" says a voice from the shadows behind a door.

We're caught off-guard. Cassie stumbles, looking dazed. I growl in rage and let a burst of lightning fly through my wand and strike our enemy. Lockhart's wand flies out of his hand with a flick of Gerard's wand.

"You're going to regret that, you Mudblood bastard," I snarl. "And you're going to regret what you did to Hermione! CRUCIO!"

Lockhart screams and falls to the floor, writhing in agony. I hold the spell on him, letting my rage take its toll and gaining some satisfaction in his suffering. Gerard doesn't stop me.

After several minutes, there's a hand on my shoulder. "Lexen. Stop. Please stop," says Cassie.

I release the spell and look aside at her. "Cassie, are you alright?"

"I have no idea how we got here, but I can guess what happened," Cassie says. "The last thing I remember was laying down for a nap. Obliviated the last couple hours?"

I breathe a sigh of relief. "I was afraid... Merlin, I hate Obliviation."

Lockhart is laying on the floor, twitching still. I glance down at him and give him a swift kick for good measure.

"Please, Lexen," Cassie says. "Just kill him. Don't torture him for my sake."

"If you ever feel like torturing anyone for my sake, though, feel free," Gerard puts in.

"Grindelwald!" Cassie snaps.

"Alright, let's put an end to this," I say. I point my wand at him, and say, "Avada Kedavra!" A flash of green light strikes Lockhart, and he finally goes still.

Cassie lets out a heavy breath. "Alright, let's get out of here. Before anything else goes wrong."

As we turn to leave, I pause at the top of the stairs. I think I heard something from downstairs. I hold up my hand to stop the others and put a finger to my lips. Definitely heard something. There's voices, people moving around downstairs. I scramble back into Lockhart's bedroom.

I try to Apparate out, but no such luck. Either the house was already warded against Apparating, or whoever is down there put up Anti-Apparation wards when they came in.

I look around for a place to hide. There's a large walk-in closet full of clothing of various hideous designs. I head inside and gesture to the others to follow. We're still too conspicuous in here. I pull out the invisibility cloak from my bag and drape it over us, and shrink myself down to ten years old to make for an easier fit.

Heavy footsteps ascend the stairs and enter into the bedroom. "Lockhart," says a man's voice.

"Not a mark on him," says a different voice. "The Killing Curse, no doubt."

"Any sign of the killer?"

"Could still be here. Keep sharp."

Cassie's hand squeezes my shoulder. All three of us have our wands out, at the ready, pointing toward the door. But hopefully they won't see us. I just hope Moody isn't with them. I don't think I heard his voice. Scarsely daring to breathe, the three of us wait while the Aurors search the building. One Homenum Revelio will get us into hot water, but they need to actually cast it near us for that.

An Auror opens the door to the closet, shines the lit end of his wand toward us, and then closes the door again without a closer check. My heart pounds as footsteps recede.

"No sign of the culprit. He must have gotten away."

"Sod it. We weren't quick enough. He probably just killed him and fled immediately."

After several more tense minutes, the room outside the closet goes quiet, and I try to Apparate again. This time, it works, and I arrive in front of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, momentarily followed by Cassie and Gerard. We head inside in a rush and I slump down on the couch, panting softly.

"That was too close," Cassie says.

"We must have missed some alarm somewhere," Gerard says. "Maybe not even on the wards themselves."

"You were right," I say. "Should've just gone in and killed him, and gotten out. I wasted time making the bastard suffer for it."

"I've never seen you use that curse on anyone else," Cassie says. "What's gotten into you lately?"

"I used it on Rodolphus Lestrange," I say. "But that was mainly to prove to Tom that I could cast it." I sigh. "I guess I've just been on edge lately, but I also really don't like Lockhart."

Gerard picks up the cloak from where I'd left it laying on the couch next to me. "Wait. Lexen. This cloak has the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on it!"

"Yeah, that's the Cloak of Invisibility," I say offhandedly.

"You never mentioned this before," Gerard says. "How long have you had it?"

"It belonged to James Potter," I say. "Got Dumbledore to give it to me shortly after I arrived in this world. James had left it in his keeping."

"So Albus had gotten his hands on two of them at one point," Gerard says. "And now you've had two of them and lost one before you found the third one. With any luck, we can get the Elder Wand back, though."

"That would require facing Moody again," I say. "And has a very high chance of getting us killed. If we run into him, fine, but I'm not going to actively seek him out until after you two are bonded to me."

"Nothing ever comes without risk," Gerard says. "But there's a point to that."

I take the cloak and shove it back into my bag. "At least there shouldn't be anything to connect us to the crime this time. You guys can get some sleep if you want. I'm going to stay up, just in case."

"I'm not sleeping if you aren't," Cassie says.

"And we still haven't solved the problem of where to hide," Gerard says. "If anything, they'll be after us all the more if they even so much as suspect we were involved in Lockhart's death. Which they will."

"Cassie, does this house have a back exit?" I ask.

"Of course," Cassie says. "Right past the gardens."

"Can I set up a contingency spell to wake me if any wizard shows up within a mile of here?" I say.

"Probably too large of an area," Gerard says. "Now, the immediate area around the house, that would be doable."

"I'd just hate to get trapped here," I say.

"Well, I already told Kreacher that if anyone shows up looking for us, we were never here," Cassie says.

"We should probably find someplace else as soon as possible," Gerard says. "Especially now that we've less than subtly actually killed someone."

"The Malfoys are still loyal," I say. "But the Aurors will definitely think to check there for us. Hmm... I do have a Muggleborn who owes me a life debt."

"Does anyone know about any connection between you?" Gerard asks.

I shake my head. "We've only even met all of once. Dumbledore would know, but he's not telling anyone anymore. I don't even know where he lives, though."

"We can still get a message to him, though," Cassie says.

I give a nod. "That we can." I think of the rainbow after the storm. "Expecto Patronum." A shimmering silvery duck emerges from my wand. "Can you get a message to Dirk Cresswell, if he's awake? Tell him, I need your help. I've been framed for a crime I didn't commit. I'm calling in your debt." This is true, even though I've been accused of other crimes that I actually did commit. The duck nods and zips away.

"Assuming he's even still awake at the moment," Gerard says. "It's almost one in the morning."

I wait for several minutes, wondering just how fast a Patronus can move when it's not having to deal with Dementors. One night at Hogwarts in another life, it took a Patronus hours to get through a horde of Dementors, just between the Forbidden Forest and the castle.

Then, a translucent Patronus in the form of a warthog charges into the room. "I will help. Do you have a safe place where we can meet?"

"Can we trust him?" Gerard asks.

"If he betrays us..." I say, sighing and shaking my head. "We'll deal with that if it happens. Expecto Patronum." The duck appears before me again. "Tell Dirk Cresswell to meet me in Hogsmeade behind Madam Puddifoot's."

I get up, and pull out my invisibility cloak, and pass it over to Cassie. "You two get under that and make it look like I've gone there alone. Just in case."

We Apparate over to Hogsmeade, and I'm careful to stay out of sight as much as possible myself while the others are under the cloak. I make my way to the rendezvous point, and wait. I remain on alert for a possible ambush, trusting my friends to have my back.

"Harry?" says a quiet voice nearby. I turn, almost jumping toward the source. "It's alright, it's me, Dirk Cresswell."

I look around warily, not lowering my wand. "Muffliato," I mutter to ensure us some privacy. "You came alone?"

"Yeah," Dirk says. "What do you need from me? Do you need a place to hide?"

"I do," I reply. "For myself and two others."

"I can put you in my attic for a while, if you don't mind," Dirk says. "There's plenty of room up there, and I doubt anyone would think to look for you there."

"Thanks," I say. "Much appreciated. Cassie? Gerard?"

They pull off the cloak and hand it over to me, and I put it away again. Without asking any further questions, Dirk Apparates the three of us over to his home one by one. He quietly leads us up two flights of stairs to a rather spacious attic, cluttered with baby furniture and miscellaneous objects.

Cassie waves her wand a bit and says, "There, they won't hear us in the rest of the house now."

Dirk nods. "You'll have to stay up here for now. I can't risk the boys finding out you're here. They're too young to understand, and might let something slip. I do hope that whatever you've done won't put my family in danger, however."

"I don't think so," I say. "It's Aurors that are after us, not Death Eaters."

"Might I ask what you've been falsely accused of?" Dirk asks.

"Someone modified Hermione Granger's memories to make her think that I tortured and raped her, which I did not and would never do," I reply. "And they believe I used the Cruciatus Curse on Gilderoy Lockhart as well." I don't mention that the latter one is actually true.

"That's... not good," Dirk says.

"Sirius Black and Remus Lupin are working to try to clear my name, but in the meantime, I have no intention of going to Azkaban, and my friends here refused to let me go into hiding alone."

"I can't blame you for not wanting to get sent to that place," Dirk says. "You should be safe here for now, though. And I can feel assured that the Aurors aren't likely to blow up my house in order to get at you."

"Thanks, Dirk," I say. "For this, you can consider any debts between us to be paid in full."

Dirk gives a nod. "I'd best get to bed. I'll sneak some food up for you in the morning." He heads back downstairs.

"This place will definitely suffice," Gerard says as Cassie starts transfiguring the furniture into beds, chairs, and a table for us. "No one will guess that we're here. Of course, we'll be practically prisoners here for the next few months."

"At least we're not alone," I say. "And there's no Dementors here."

"You make a good point," Gerard says. "Going to get awfully boring, though."

I open up my bag of holding and pull out all of the books that I've been hauling around. "I brought reading material."

"Wait, is that the Codex Veritatum?" Gerard says, eyes widening. "Alright, I'm not complaining anymore."

The next morning around nine, Dirk brings us up a fair amount of food and a copy of today's Daily Prophet. "Looks like this Gilderoy Lockhart you mentioned is dead," Dirk says. "By the Killing Curse, most likely, and you're the prime suspect."

"I was afraid of that," I say, sighing as I take the paper and look it over, grabbing a bagel and munching on it.

"So, did you actually kill him?" Dirk asks.

I almost choke on my bagel. "What?"

"I believe you about Hermione Granger," Dirk says. "But you came to me less than an hour after Lockhart was found dead. Look, I'm obligated to help you either way, I'd just like the truth."

I give a nod, and say, "Yeah. I killed Lockhart. Because he planted those false memories in Hermione. I know it was rash, but I couldn't believe someone could do something like that to someone, and Hermione was my friend..."

"I understand," Dirk says. "I might've done the same thing if someone had done something like that to my wife."

"Er, Hermione and I weren't... like that..." I say. "We were just friends."

"Don't take it the wrong way," Dirk says. "That's not what I meant. So, how long will you be staying here? I'm sure you have no idea whether your friends will actually be able to get you off, but you can't stay here forever."

"No later than Halloween," I say. "If you can keep us hidden until then, we can manage from there."

"Halloween?" Dirk says. "Got something planned?"

"You could say that," I say. "It's a long story. But suffice it to say that our plans won't harm anyone else."

"I'll take your word on that," Dirk says. "I don't know that I like hiding murderers in my house, but I can't turn you away."

"There are always choices," I say. "If you don't want us here, help us get set up in the Muggle world and we'll hide out there instead."

Dirk shakes his head. "No, I won't turn you away."

"That's better," I say. "Thank you. We'll try to be as little trouble as possible for you." I pull out a pouch of galleons from my bag of holding. "Here."

Dirk takes it and looks inside. "I don't need your money, Mr. Potter."

"Just take it," I say. "Cassie and I are both from wealthy families. We can certainly spare some galleons for food, at least. You have three sons. You can't have too much money."

"Okay," Dirk says. "I suppose I can't argue."

"Grindelwald was groping me!" Cassie shrieks.

"I was not," Gerard protests. "Besides, I'm eleven. And gay."

It's a good thing that this room is silenced. I don't think anyone else in this house really needs to hear this discussion. I don't think I need to hear this discussion, for that matter.

"And he eats too much!" Cassie snaps.

"What can I say?" Gerard says innocently. "I'm a growing boy."

"I suppose there's one consolation to being dead," Tom comments. "I don't have to eat or sleep."

"I still feel kind of bad about imposing on Dirk like this," I say. "I'd like to try to make it up to him somehow."

"Why?" Tom says. "He owed you his life."

"Because you were going to kill him," I say. "That's almost as bad as James Potter demanding a life debt from Snape because of Sirius almost getting him killed."

"A life's a life," Tom says. "I say it's fair. But if you really want, then leave him whatever you like. It's not like we'll need it when we leave this world."

The door opens, and Dirk comes up from downstairs, carrying a large cake with chocolate frosting. "Happy birthday, Harry."

"Is it my birthday?" I say. "I'd entirely forgotten. Everything's been so hectic lately, I've lost track."

"I figured you should at least have a cake," Dirk says.

"Thanks, Dirk," I say. "You're too good to me. How'd you know it was my birthday?"

Dirk pulls out today's Daily Prophet and passes it over to me. "Not much of a birthday present, but better than nothing."

I glance over the page, and see that progress is being made on exonerating me, apparently. There's nothing to connect me to the death of Gilderoy Lockhart, and they're trying to undo the Memory Charm used on Hermione without damaging her mind. They still want to bring me in for questioning, however.

"Good news is good news, I suppose," I say.

"You might be able to just turn yourself in and get this all cleared up," Dirk says.

I shake my head. "I can't risk questioning under Veratiserum. Not when I'm actually guilty of killing Lockhart. I can't be sure they won't ask me about that."

Dirk nods. "Yeah, that complicates things. At least, with any luck, they'll be able to help your friend Hermione. Horrible having to remember something like that, even if it didn't really happen."

"I hope so," I say. "Poor Hermione."

September approaches, and things are quiet for a while. They're still hunting for me, wanting to bring me in for questioning, but seem to have figured that they aren't going to readily find me at the moment.

Then, toward the end of August, Dirk comes up the stairs with a newspaper in his hand, and isn't carrying the usual assortment of food for the day. His face is stern, and he pins me with a glare as he shoves the paper at me.

"You have some explaining to do," Dirk says.

"Huh?" I say in puzzlement, peering at the paper. The headline reads, BOY-WHO-LIVED IMPOSTER!

"Lexen Chelseer?" Dirk says.

I blink at the paper. They managed to break the Memory Charm on Hermione, and now she remembers what I told her. And now, Lexen Chelseer is implicated in the deaths of Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore, Tom Riddle, and Gilderoy Lockhart.

"What the fuck?" I utter.

"Tell me that this is somehow another trick," Dirk says.

I put down the paper and massage my temples for a moment, and then rub the Resurrection Stone. Tom's wraith appears before us.

"I can assure you that he did not kill me," Tom says.

Dirk's eyes widen. "A ghost?"

"Close enough," Tom says, shrugging. "Alastor Moody killed me."

"I'd like some clarity on the rest of it, however," Dirk says. "Are you, or are you not, Harry Potter?"

I sigh heavily. "I am Lexen Chelseer, Harry Potter's second cousin on his mother's side. Harry Potter is dead. But it wasn't I who killed him. Dumbledore practically begged me to take the place of Harry Potter. He set up everything for it."

"Why would Dumbledore do something like that?" Dirk wonders.

"There was a prophecy," I say. "There was one about Harry Potter, and one about me. Harry Potter was supposed to be able to vanquish the Dark Lord, and I was supposed to bear the hope of a thousand worlds. But mostly, Dumbledore... didn't really want to admit to the world that Harry Potter had died under his watch, due to careless neglect."

"You didn't know Albus very well, did you, Dirk," Gerard says.

"It seems a little convenient that the only one who could corroborate your story is now also dead," Dirk says, looking at me suspiciously.

"Aberforth," I say. "He also knows the truth."

"Did you kill Dumbledore?" Dirk presses.

"I'm not in the habit of killing people for no reason other than that they know something inconvenient," I say.

"Lexen," Tom says. "What's the date?"

"August 30th," Dirk says.

"We still need another two months," Tom says. "It doesn't matter what happens after that."

"And that's another thing," Dirk says. "Your plans for Halloween are awfully suspicious, too. What sort of dark magic do you have planned?"

"You're a good person, Dirk," I say. "And I fear I've asked too much of you."

It's a fact I've long since figured out. Slytherins are slow to trust, but once they truly give their loyalty, they won't betray you without good reason. Gryffindors are quick to make friends, but will turn on their friends the minute anything they perceive as "bad" is shown. I've been betrayed by far more Gryffindors than Slytherins in my lifetimes.

"I want the truth, Lexen Chelseer," Dirk says. "What are you really planning?"

"A dark ritual to create Soul Bonds between me, Cassie, and Gerard," I reply. "This will link them to me and allow them to travel through time with me. Once this is done, we intend to leave this world behind forever. No one will be hurt. No one here will ever see us again."

Dirk stares at me in silence for a long moment. "And did you kill Dumbledore?"

I sigh. "I won't lie to you, Dirk. I did kill Dumbledore."

"Why?" Dirk asks in shock.

"For the Greater Good," I say, looking at the floor.

"He should appreciate that," Gerard says.

"Hundreds of lives were saved because of this," Tom says. "Including, I might add, your own as well as those of your wife and sons."

"I sacrificed the one to save the many," I say. "I regret it, but I would do it again in a heartbeat in the same situation."

"How... how were we in danger?" Dirk asks.

"The Dark Lord wanted to burn Caer Danas to the ground with Fiendfyre," I say. "I made a bargain with him. Reckless, foolish, perhaps, but I had no better options. And he kept his word."

"You made a bargain with You-Know-Who?" Dirk says.

"Don't knock it," I say. "I made a bargain with him before for your life, and as you recall, he kept that as well."

Dirk sighs and shakes his head. "I don't know what to believe anymore."

"If I were to lie, I would have denied the entire thing," I point out. "I appreciate the help you've given us this past month, but I will not hold you to it if you are uncomfortable with me under your roof. We will find someplace else to hide out for the next two months."

Dirk turns away, staring off at nothing for several long moments. "Stay," he says finally. "If what you say is true... then not only do I owe you my own life twice over, but the lives of my family as well. But if I find out that you've lied to me..."

"If I've lied to you, then my life is forfeit," I say. "Ask Aberforth. Ask Dumbledore's painting in the Headmaster's office. I'll even submit to Veratiserum for you. But only for you. I would give you memories to view in a Pensieve if I could be assured that they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands."

Dirk shakes his head. "No. That won't be necessary. I'll take your word for what it's worth."

"Dirk, when we leave this world, I want you to have my stuff," I say. "But no material possessions are adequate to compensate you for what you've done for us."