Miscalculation - Chapter 12

Harry returned to Diagon Alley with the brick in his pocket. He wasn't quite sure how to announce that he had killed Lord Voldemort, but he needed to make sure the bastard stayed dead. There was a chance that he could drain the life from more of his followers. That would make it hard for people to trust him if he said Voldemort was dead only for the supposed corpse to pop back up.

He could come up with a couple of ways off the top of his head on how to deal with the issue. Option one, he could return Voldemort to his natural form in the vicinity of marked Death Eaters. That would have the added benefit of taking out some minions as well. The second option would to simply keep Voldemort as a brick. Downside of that being that it would make it quite difficult to validate his claim. They would have to remove the transfiguration to check and that would just start back all over again.

Harry sighed. It really came down to the first option. Maybe he could have come up with another few ideas, but he wanted to get this over with. He signed in at the Ministry, presented one of the disposable wands at the desk, and decided to check in with the DMLE.

He didn't make it two steps off the elevator before Moody was there to greet him. The gruff old Auror stared him down. Moody didn't have his magic eye yet, but he could clearly sense the miasma that the Volde-brick emitted.

"What are you doing here?" Moody said, his wand pointed directly at Harry's throat.

"I have a couple of things I need some help with," Harry replied as though being held at wand-point was completely natural. "I've got a Dark Lord transfigured into a brick in my pocket and need to check if he's really, truly, completely dead."

Moody narrowed his eyes.

"You aren't lying," Moody said after a moment.

"Nope," Harry smiled.

"Why do you think he's not dead?" Moody questioned; his wand still pointed at Harry.

"They tried to ambush me out by the Shrieking Shack near Hogsmeade," Harry said. "Death Eaters, that is. I killed a few and sent one back with a message to their boss. He showed up with even more of his lackies, we fought, he died, and then drained the life out of his nearby minions. I killed him again, but I don't know if he'll pop back up if he's around more of his followers."

Moody studied him as he spoke.

"I was wondering if you had any marked Death Eaters around," Harry said. "That way I can change him back to human form and see if he comes back."

"We might have a couple Death Eaters in holding," Moody grumbled. "No marks though. Just suspected affiliations."

"Any suspected Death Eaters?" Harry asked with a sly smile.

"Moody," Amelia called as she strode over. "Mister Potter, what are you doing here?"

Harry repeated what he had told Moody, including the final question. He took the brick from his pocket and held it up for them to examine. They flinched back at the force of darkness that was unleashed.

"That certainly isn't just a brick," Amelia whispered.

Harry smiled at her and nodded.

"He drained the life from his followers," Amelia said flatly. "And you want to try again in a public place?"

"They weren't enough to put him back at full strength," Harry explained. "His wounds closed, but it didn't grow back his hand. Plus, I hit him with the Killing Curse. His body might be restored, but his soul is gone. We'd have a vacant shell. Worst case, I'll kill him again."

"You just confessed to using an Unforgivable in front of two Aurors," Amelia snapped at him.

"Pretty sure the law is on my side against a Dark Lord," Harry teased.

"You're sure it's him?" Amelia asked.

Harry nodded.

"Moody, grab anyone who has seen Voldemort," Amelia didn't flinch when she said the name. "I want to see if they can verify."

Moody scanned the hall as he waited for someone to appear. Amelia led him back to a holding cell set aside for dangerous suspects and confiscated dark items. He set the brick in the middle of the room. The two settled into a tense silence as they waited for the others to arrive.

Harry tried not to react when his father, Frank Longbottom, Sirius, and a witch he didn't recognize entered the room. They stared at him but kept it professional. The gathered Aurors drew their wands. Moody grunted as Harry did as well.

Moody hit the brick with a spell to revert it. The Aurors gathered tensed as the battered for of Lord Voldemort appeared in the center of the room. A chorus of blood-curdling screams echoed through the building.

"Brace yourselves," Harry warned.

Multiple strands of black smoke drifted through the walls. Slowly, it all formed into a large orb. This one was easily double the size of the previous. They watched as the body twitched and jolted absorbing the smoke. The bruises, cuts, and scratches healed before their eyes.

Voldemort took a deep, shuddering breath. The remaining smoke coalesced around his missing hand. Its color shifted from black to silver.

"I am Lord Voldemort," the body had a voice like dry gravel. "I told you once, you fool, Death has no hold on me."

The gathered Aurors stood in shock at the scene before them. Harry hit the resurrected Dark Lord in the neck with a cutter. The body flopped back onto the floor as the detached head rolled to a stop against the far wall.

"Give it a minute," Harry said.

There was more screaming from somewhere in the building. The thin strands of smoke that flowed through the walls faded before they could reach the headless body.

"You should probably get out there," Harry slid his wand back into the dimensional pocket where it usually rested. "There's going to be a lot of dead Purebloods out there, judging by the screams."

The Aurors stared at him in various degrees of incredulity.

"The smoke," Harry explained before they could ask. "It was the life force taken from marked Death Eaters. The cause of death will be obvious."

"You're going into a holding cell," his father said.

Sirius nodded, the four Aurors formed a line with their wands pointed at him. Harry looked to Moody and Amelia. They nodded. He sighed and held up his hands.

"Your wand," James Potter ordered. "The one you just had, not one of your fakes."

"They aren't fake," Harry said in mock-outrage. "They're disposable."

No one reacted.

"Not even a smile?" Harry asked. "Tough crowd."

He summoned his wand and held it out with the grip toward the Aurors. Sirius grabbed it. His brow furrowed as he held it.

"Is this silver and iron?" Sirius asked. "I thought Moony was just being dramatic."

"Enough, Sirius," James said in his Auror voice. "Escort the suspect to Holding Cell 23."

Frank's eyebrows raised at that.

Harry had trained with Aurors, but had never officially became one. That saved him from hours of paperwork. Everything else, be it stakeouts, questioning suspects, or guarding the prisoners. Azkaban had to be restructured once the thin trust in the Dementors shattered. They were locked to the island with strong containment wards and left to live off the residual emotional energy. A new prison had been built and was staffed by people rather than soul-sucking monsters.

Holding Cell 23 was another set aside for dangerous suspects. It was layered with wards that suppressed magic. They had taken the runic array from magic suppressing cuffs and applied it to the entire room. It was given the name 23 because that was how many days it had taken to assemble. Simply putting an anti-magic ward strong enough to fill the room didn't work. In fact, it killed the first person who entered. Instead, they had to layer multiple wards that blocked specific schools of magic and then figure out how to get them all to work together. The Auror badges had an enchantment that would allow them to be able to use magic inside the room which made things even more complicated.

The room itself didn't look like anything special. A simple wooden table with a few chairs, a one-way mirror along the far wall, and a single door. The room was lit by a couple of mundane hanging lanterns to avoid further complications to the wards.

Harry could understand the caution, but it still stung a little. He waited for Frank to lead him to Holding Cell 23 and took a seat without a worry. The ambient magic in the air was thinner than he remembered. Funnily enough, it wasn't the worst place he'd experienced. Still, it wasn't going to be easy to brute force his way out of the room, but it was an option. He was confident that he could walk out the front doors once he was in the hallway.

Frank, the woman from before, and James Potter entered the room. They settled into a classic three-point position that put one of them off to the side behind him, another by the door, and the final in front of him. The other two Aurors were clearly confused as to why James Potter was so tense.

"Mister Potter," Auror Potter said as he took a seat across from Harry.

"Auror Potter," Harry replied with a slight tease in his voice.

James stared at him flatly. For some reason, it sparked a warm feeling in his chest. Who knew being glib with parents was so fun?

"Care to explain what you expected to happen by bringing a Dark Lord into the Ministry?" Auror Potter asked without a hint of humor in his voice.

"I didn't know if he could still come back and wanted someone on my side in case he did," Harry explained. "I also was hoping there would be a bounty or some sort of reward for dealing with him." He paused. "Any chance there is a reward?"

No one answered.

"You confessed to killing multiple witches and wizards in the last twenty-four hours," Auror Potter ignored the question.

"No," Harry shook his head. "I defended myself against people with murderous intent."

James stared coldly back at his son. Harry sighed, he leaned forward on the table, and locked eyes with his father. He would be able to detect if someone was reading his thoughts. Right now, he didn't care.

"Everything I have told you is true," Harry stated. "My patience is running out. I just solved the Dark Lord problem and I'm being treated like a criminal. There are three of you in this room with me, two behind that glass, and another in the hall."

The other Aurors in the room shifted a little at his words.

"I appreciate the time and skill that went into creating this room," Harry continued. "Please don't force me to turn it into scrap."

"You're rather full of yourself," Auror Potter practically growled at him.

"I've been told I get it from my father," Harry said with a humorless smile. "You have been warned. That headless Dark Lord is proof of what I can do. While I've always been curious about how I'd stack up against Moody, I'd rather do it under friendlier circumstances."

"You do realize where you are, right?" Frank spoke up.

James shot the other man a glare. Frank shrugged.

"Do you?" Harry asked in reply.

"What are you talking about?" The female Auror finally said something.

He shifted in his seat to look at the witch. There was something vaguely familiar about her, but he couldn't place it.

"Apologies, I don't know your name," Harry replied.

"Auror Perks," she replied.

Harry narrowed his eyes. A slow smile crossed his face as he realized the connection. Sally-Anne Perks was a Ravenclaw student in his year. He could see the resemblance now.

"Auror Perks," Harry said. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Harry Potter."

The witch looked from Harry to James.

"Any relation," she asked motioning to her colleague.

 "Yes," Harry replied with an easy smile.

"Then this is a conflict of interest," Auror Perks glared at James.

Anything more was interrupted by the noisy arrival of a group of Ministry employees. They lurched to a stop once they entered the room and found their magic suddenly locked down.

"Minister?" Auror Perks asked.

The Minister and her retinue hurriedly backed out of the room. Harry leaned over to see a group of rather annoyed Aurors gathered in the hall as well. If his memory served, the woman was Millicent Bagnold, current Minister of Magic. She was also the one who had no problem tossing Sirius into a cell without a trial and perfectly happy to take 'donations' from Death Eaters that claimed to be under Imperious. To put it plainly, Harry was not impressed.

"What is the meaning of this?" The Minister yelled.

Her voice reminded him of the painting of Walburga Black.

"We're questioning a suspect," Auror Potter replied.

"You're treating the man who slayed the Dark Lord as a criminal?!" The Minister practically screeched. "This is preposterous. This man should be lauded as a hero! The people need to know his deeds!"

James Potter wanted to tell them about Harry's plan. He wanted to let them all know that this was a dangerous wizard with the goal of becoming king. This wizard who claimed to be his son from the future was not a savior, he was another Dark Lord in the making.

Harry winked at his father as the Minister's minions removed their new hero from Holding Cell 23. The rest of the afternoon and into the evening was a blur of photo-ops, interviews, and a hastily arranged award ceremony. By the next morning everyone knew Harry Potter had slain Lord Voldemort. The following afternoon revealed the rise of the Dark Lord, including his true origins. No one mentioned the sudden deaths of multiple 'Traditionalist' faction members. Their remaining relatives were desperate to distance themselves from the exposed Death Eaters.

With the first part of the plan complete, it was time to move on. Harry was already making headway winning the approval of the people. It would make his ascendence to ruler easier if the majority of the populus cheered him on. Though he did have plans in case he had to resort to crude means.

Now, it was time to deal with Dumbledore.