Harry Potter gets smart and takes control - The Goblet

Chapter 41 The Purging Ritual

The shops had turned their lights and their music off, closing windows, shutters and curtains. Nocturne was quieter during the day. Interesting. It didn't all completely go to sleep, some left a mere skeleton crew in the stores that were closer to Diagon, in Knocturn.

Not conducive to sleeping in doorways. And there weren't really bins here, not when rubbish could just be vanished. So no sleeping behind them either. Bugger. He'd have to watch the patterns and routines, to scout out how things worked and where would be safe to sleep. He melted back into the shadows of an alleyway that he'd been watching from only to bump into someone.

Someone who's magic he hadn't felt. Someone who hadn't been there before, who'd snuck up on him. He went for his knife and his wand in one movement turning to face them.

An old woman. At least he thought they were a female. They seemed to be female in shape, but their face was covered by long scraggly hair. He wished there was a polite gender-neutral term on respect. Honestly, Sir or Ma'am was so restrictive!

"Sorry ma'am," he murmured politely, hoping to defuse anything before it started. The lady(?) just cackled at him and went to touch his face with one clawed hand. He jerked out of reach and met her other hand with his knife tip as she went for his face again.

"Oh-ho, lady am I? Polite too. You must be new my pretty. Don't belong here. Must be lost."

He moved back out of her reach and shot a stinging hex at her as she reached for him again. She hadn't felt dangerous, and his instincts were normally good, but he didn't want her touching him.

"Touch me again, and it will be more than a hex," he promised coldly, "you have me mistaken ma'am. I am no-one's plaything. I'm not lost."

He'd be damned if he was going to be seen to be weak by anyone here. He must have had the air of a newbie, so people thought he was an easy target. He straightened his spine. He had to prove he wasn't. He had to prove that he was tough enough not to be messed with.

And here, away from Dumbledore, he was safe enough in the darkness and shadow that he could be himself. He could defend himself without any risk of Dumbledore overpowering and stripping him of his memory and his free will. He didn't have to play 'nice Gryffindor golden-boy,' here.

He smiled coldly, and she stubbornly, stupidly tried to pat his shoulder again. He batted the offending appendage away with his knife. It got her across the palm, and she hissed at him, showing jagged teeth. No, not human at all.

She went for him again, and he shot out a hex and lashed out with his knee this time as she dodged. He caught her across the forearm with his knife again, and she retreated with a hiss and a grin.

But she didn't leave. She just ran a finger over the cut on her hand and the bleeding gash on her arm. He watched with hidden awe as the gashes healed before his eyes. She licked the blood off her fingers and arm with relish and stepped towards him again.

He didn't step back this time but took a step forward until his wand was a foot away from her neck and his knife was at her gut. Not a threat, a promise.

"Leave me alone, or I'll cut off your fingers at best and gut you at worst," he said, his voice cold.

He'd been touched enough, felt up enough, used as a punching bag enough. He didn't know or care what she wanted, but he wasn't interested. And besides, she'd pushed enough, and he'd been lenient enough, had given her more than enough warning. If she pressed him again, he really would cut off her hand or gut her. He'd had enough. He wasn't the Gryffindor golden boy anymore. He never had been.

She cackled and said "oh-ho! It bites," in a pleased sort of gleeful tone before melting back into the shadows.

He narrowed his eyes at the alley she was still lurking in, watching for a long time before he lowered his wand and knife. A watcher then. A test. She wasn't human, that was for sure. Her magic felt too different, not goblin or werewolf... A Hag maybe?