Next Time Around

The Confrontation

Author's note:
Well... here's a new chapter for you guys. I hope you enjoy it, and please don't forget to vote on the chapter or comment or anything really. It really helps to boost the story and it means a lot to me as well.

This chapter is going to be without any triggers or anything so you're welcome (or not for you dark twisted souls). It's something I wanted to write for a long time, so I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I'm not Rowling. I don't own HP... :(

Enjoy!

In the next couple of months, years even, Harry settled into an easy routine. He generally got through the day either in in his room, working away at different pieces of paperwork with Matt, out on a mission, or just hanging around Knockturn with a select group of people he would honestly call his friends.

Now as his Elias persona was actually known to be quite sophisticated and high-class, most of his friends and allies were high-ups as well. The vampire he had met at the Broken Wand for example, Alzar, turned out to be a part of the Arca family -arca meaning coffin in Latin, which indicated the age of the family.

He also quite enjoyed the company of Lord Travers. He had met him in Knockturn one day, and although he had at first been a bit unsure about him- he had the Dark Mark after all and Harry was pretty sure he almost killed Ginny in the future- he warmed up to him soon. After a couple of conversations it turned out that he was actually quite a nice guy, if not a bit radical.

Harry also got to know a Maledictus by the name of Samira who was very friendly. They sometimes whispered together in parseltongue, softly, because no one else knew of "Elias" particular skills with snakes.

Then there were of course a bunch of others as well, close friends but not really worth mentioning as he didn't see them every other day. Many of them non-human or outcasts who had knitted themselves to his ever growing community, there were many who would die for Elias. A scary thought that didn't bother Harry nearly as much as it should.

And then there was of course his vast net of contacts. They were close enough to him, but Harry mostly saw them as opportunity: too much work to invest in a stable relationship, but always accessible. They were mostly partnerships- for example: he had many connections in the upper class, who gave him their support, and consequently had a reliable hit man to their deposal.

He eventually got himself a snake as well, after constant nagging from his acquaintances. It was a small one, but vicious. Harry quite liked it. It was an έχις, more commonly known as a saw-scaled viper. Only about 60 centimeters long, no one would expect it to be just as deadly as it was. It was also a "muggle" snake, so because it didn't have any magic for itself, it didn't have a bad reaction to magic that might not have worked on magical snakes.

He thought he snake went quite well with his Elias persona and it was a good conversationist, so he took it with him often. In the two years Harry had had it, it had probably seen more dead humans than most people did their entire life.

His Harry persona had evolved a bit over the years. Where he previously was heavily respected, but idolized by only a few, now all children wanted a piece of him. It was a situation Harry was quite comfortable with. They trusted him completely and he helped them. If there were fights, people would go to him for a fair middle ground. If people were uncertain, they asked his advice. If they wanted to do something big, they asked him first. Harry honestly couldn't say he hated the position of power, but at the same time only used his authority sparingly. If there was one thing that he had learned from his previous Voldemort, it was that you should rule people with love and not fear.