Ninja Wizard IV: Goblet of Fire 13

By David

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. JK Rowling has that honor.

Author's Notes: these marks [] indicate Japanese spoken

Ninja Wizard IV: Goblet of Fire 13

'End of Fourth Year'

Everybody in the great hall gasped at the announcement that Cedric and Harry had been declared the winners in a tie for first place and would receive one thousand galleons each. Harry had the feeling that nothing good would come out of this, and he was proven right when people started to protest, calling for Harry's disqualification and be stripped of the prize, declaring Cedric to be the true winner. Harry stood up and walked out of the hall, having lost his appetite. He didn't see his friends stand up and yell at people in his defense. Harry was now regretting his coming to Hogwarts. Harry walked out of the castle main doors out into the warm May morning and paused for a moment to look around and pick a direction. He headed to the gardens as they were one of his favorite places to go when he needed to deal with something going on in his mind. Harry entered the gardens and wandered around the gardens looking at everything but not really seeing anything as his mind started to deal with his feelings. He was regretting his coming to Hogwarts now and was debating on going home to Japan and just let the bastard Voldemort have England. That, however, wasn't an option. Harry continued to wander round the gardens until he came to a gazebo and stepped up into it and sat down on one of the benches inside of it. He leaned back and watched the birds at play in the nearby birdbath. The first thing he felt was anger at all of them. How could they treat him like that? Harry hadn't entered the TriWizard's Tournament, it had been Bartemius Crouch Jr. that put his name in. He had confessed it all right there on the grounds because Voldemort ordered him to do it. His going insane didn't help matters. Barty Jr. had been escorted off the grounds right after the confession to someplace as Fudge had ordered the Aurors to remove him. All those people had talked to him last night and Harry was made to repeat his story quite a few times until he was blue in the face. He wondered if they believed him and had the feeling they hadn't, or Fudge had somehow interfered and done something. Cedric had given his version of the events and Harry wondered if they believed him. He hoped they did. He knew his friends believed him.

Harry felt exhausted. He was tired physically and mentally as he had been put through an experience he wouldn't wish on another person. Harry knew that things would change drastically now that Voldemort had returned. The peace that the wizarding world had enjoyed in the last thirteen, fourteen years would soon end and the DE's would start up their attacks once more. Harry had read of the first Voldemort war and how bad things had been. His mind recalled the prophecy as he knew it complete, thanks to his father's journals. He had been working on it here and there and he believed he had it worked out. What it came down to was that Harry had to be the one to kill Voldemort and not anybody else. As for the power he knew not, Harry came to believe it was his ninja skills that would tip the fight in his favor. The reason he hadn't used his ninja skills in the graveyard fight was that he didn't want Voldemort to know of them just yet. Oh he had every intention of fighting the DE's in his ninja persona as he had done so in the past. He needed a way to be alerted to the DE's attacking places and getting there to take them out. One of the things Harry needed to work on during the summer was learning how to apparate so he could get there fast. Harry had mapped out Diagon Alley in case they attacked the alley. He knew they could come out of Knockturn Alley as that was where Sirius had told them they hung out there. Now he wished he had gone into Knockturn Alley in disguise to check it out. First chance he got he would do it. Harry sighed as he knew there was little good in sitting here and trying to figure it all out. People are going to believe what they choose to believe, and right now all of Hogwarts believed that Harry had cheated by entering his name into the tournament. Harry nodded as he came to a decision. He would fight Voldemort and his merry band of killers no matter what happened to him, and he knew that he was in for some hard times, especially with Dumbledore dogging his steps while spouting that mantra of his about moving Harry into 'safety', which Harry knew was a lot of bull, considering the old man had constantly badgered him with it in the past four years. Having made the decision, Harry felt better and stood up, his resolve having been made stronger. He headed back to the castle.

Harry entered a dimly lit corridor and headed down it when suddenly he felt a presence up ahead of him. He could feel the power rolling off the person in front of him. Harry reached for a pair of knives and waited.

[Ninja,] the voice said in a soft whisper.

Harry reached out with his senses and felt the man deep in the shadows. [Who are you?]

[A friend, young ninja,] the voice said. [I mean you no harm. Come, let us talk,] the voice whispered once more as the man stepped out in front of Harry.

[How do you know I am ninja?] Harry asked.

The voice chuckled. [Because I too, am ninja.]

The speaker emerged from the shadows to reveal him self. Daichi Souta smiled as he bowed to a very surprised Harry. Now Harry knew for sure that Daichi Souta was indeed a ninja. Harry returned the bow.

[Come, friend Potter. We have much to discuss,] Daichi said, a serious look on his face and Harry nodded, deciding to hear him out.

Harry put away his knives as he followed Daichi out of the corridor and into the sunlight. They took seats on a nearby bench overlooking the grounds facing the lake in the distance, the Durmstrang ship in sight, moored to the docks.

[I believe you when you say you saw Voldemort return in a new body,] Daichi started the conversation. [Those who have chosen to not believe you are fools.]

[I've asked myself why I should protect them,] Harry said.

[And what is your answer?] Daichi asked.

[I must, because of a prophecy that says I have to,] Harry replied.

Daichi nodded as he grunted. [I do not place much faith in those things.]

[Neither do I, but certain people do believe this one and it has caused me pain,] Harry stated.

[You have lost your parents because of it,] Daichi said.

Harry turned to him. [Yes, but that is one of the reasons I choose to fight him. I will fight him because of all the lives he ended in his quest to become absolute ruler of the wizarding world. That cannot be allowed.]

Daichi nodded. [Then… he must die.]

Harry nodded. [I agree.]

[I am staying here in England to fight them as I believe they will begin their attacks on the wizarding world before long,] Daichi said.

Harry nodded. [Good. We will need all the help we can get. My only problem is to find a way to detect them when they go out to attack.]

Daichi smiled. [You are not aware of the magical detection system that the English ministry has? They have such a system in place where they are able to find out where magic is being performed at any given moment.]

[So I would have to sneak into the ministry to get to it,] Harry sighed.

Daichi smiled. [They have more than one. I was able to… 'borrow' one of them from the ministry. My associates are looking it over in their attempt to build a working model for our use. If they are able to build a copy of it I will ask them to build one for you as well. I shall keep in touch through Director Ragnock at Gringotts Bank.]

[Thank you sir,] Harry nodded.

Daichi bowed. [Stay strong, young warrior. The gods watch over you.]

A moment later he was gone, having disappeared back into the shadows of the corridor.

Harry headed back to the castle and headed up to his private flat. He headed to his desk and immediately sent letters to Kotake, Hiroshi, Ichiro, Hamura, and Ragnock. All of the letters informed the recipients of the encounter he had with Daito Souta and the reaction in the great hall to the announcement of Harry and Cedric having tied for first place and being declared the winners. Harry copied off the letter for the others and sent them off in his letterbox just as Miyamoto announced Hermione.

"There you are Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "I was worried about you!"

Harry got up and embraced Hermione. "I needed to get out of there. I didn't want to do or say something that I would end up regretting later."

Hermione sighed. "You haven't heard the latest talk going round the castle. People are saying that you and Cedric were experiencing mental breakdowns and were having hallucinations of Voldemort coming back. They are claiming that Barty Jr. is clearly insane from having spent time in Azkaban. They plan on charging him with his mother's death, using an unforgiveable on his father, kidnapping Moody, impersonating Moody, and interfering in a ministry sponsored event."

"Where the hell did you get that?" Harry asked.

Hermione handed him the morning edition of the Daily Prophet and Harry opened it up to find big black headlines proclaiming trouble at the third task. Harry looked to see who had written the article, and it had been Rita Skeeter.

"KUSO!" Harry shouted as he snarled.

The article went on to report on the events at the third task, from the beginning of the event, to Moody doing the freak out, Cedric and Harry popping out of nowhere, to the interviews. The interviews had been repeated with nearly one hundred percent accuracy. The interview with Dolores Umbridge was very interesting. Umbridge was quoted as saying that both Cedric and Harry were found to be suffering from hallucinations brought on by the stress of dealing with whatever had been in the maze. She stated that the mind healers had confided to her that they believed that Harry and Cedric had been severely confounded at some point inside the maze and were prepared to confine them to the mental ward for treatment. Harry closed up the paper and set it aside. Harry slowly cracked his neck and Hermione knew he was really pissed.

"What do we do now, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"We stick it out the best we can. The moment the year end finals are done, we get the hell out of here. If they do get me locked up in St. Mungo's I won't be able to do much of anything," Harry stated. "This is something that Dumbledore would take advantage of and I don't want that old man anywhere near me."

"I'm sure that woman was behind all of the rumors going round the castle this morning," Hermione speculated.

"Sure she was," Harry went to the kitchen for coffee. "All she had to do was whisper things into Malfoy's ear, and off he goes running to his buddies 'hey guess what I heard this' and now the rumor is all over the school. Problem is we can't prove it so that takes care of that. It also tells me which way the ministry is leaning in regards to this thing. Fudge has his head up his ass as usual and refuses to acknowledge the problem."

"And he will continue to until he has his face shoved into the evidence," Hermione stated as she took a cup of tea from Harry.

Harry dropped the next bombshell on her, the confrontation with Daichi Souta.

"Can you trust him?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah I can," Harry replied. "He is a member of the Yaguu ninja, the second oldest ninja clan from Japan. The Kokura ninja is the third oldest ninja clan. I am sure that if I play my cards right I could get both ninja clans to join in on one big operation to defend the castle when Voldemort attacks Hogwarts."

"You sound so sure about that," Hermione said.

Harry nodded. "I am. Hogwarts is probably the oldest magical place there is, next to the ministry. It has defended the magical world for centuries and people look to it as the one place where they can get help when needed. If Voldemort attacks Hogwarts, and he will, and managed to take it over, all of the magical world will fall. Can't let that happen."

"So what do we do?" Hermione asked.

Harry paced the floor for a few minutes until he turned to Hermione and nodded. "We keep on keeping on. We do the last two weeks of school. Get out of Hogwarts. I'll go meet my family and have a family meeting with them. Then I call a meet of our crew that includes Sirius and Remus, and go from there."

"Sounds like a plan," Hermione sounded confident. "Now let's get busy with the finals. I want to do well this year."

Harry retreated to his recliner. "Go for it. It's quiet in here and you should be able to get a lot done. I'm confident that I can pass them after the year I've had."

Hermione reached out for her bag and pulled out the charms textbook and went to work as Harry opened the newest novel he had gotten and started reading.

Professor Filius Flitwick approached Cornelius Fudge later that day and secured Harry's one thousand galleon prize from him. He handed it over to Harry later in the privacy of Harry's flat.

"Thank you sir," Harry said as he took it. "I just didn't feel like going to the closing ceremony tonight. Didn't want to cause trouble."

"I don't blame you, Harry," Flitwick said. "With all of the talk I've been hearing today I had the feeling you were in seclusion."

"I felt it was the best thing to do," Harry said.

"Cedric Diggory has done the same," Flitwick said. "Professor Sprout collected his prize and is handing it to him right now. McGonagall accepted the trophy once we made sure it was safe to do so. If there was any kind of spell on it someone managed to remove it before we got it."

"Can we say 'cover up'?" Harry said sarcastically.

Flitwick sighed. "I don't doubt that one. Harry, you need to get out of here the moment your last final is done. I hope you have a hiding place ready."

"I do, and I appreciate the warning from you. I'm sure the ministry and the old man Dumbledore have plans for me that I want no part of. I plan on spending my summer training my ass off and making plans for the immediate future," Harry said.

"Good. I can and will loan you a few books that I am sure will help you in your training," Flitwick said. "You need to be prepared for Voldemort."

"Thank you," Harry sighed, glad to know that some of the teachers were behind him. "I need every bit of help I can get."

"I'll give you my owl address so you can write me if you need advice," Flitwick said. And wrote it down on a bit of parchment for Harry.

"I appreciate that sir," Harry said.

Harry tucked it away into his address book after Flitwick had left. Nice to know he had people wanting to help him.

Finals week was fun. Harry went from class to class dealing with each final as he took it. He was certain he had done well on the written parts of the finals, and he was very confident he'd passed all of the practical parts of the finals. He ignored all of the comments that came from people as he walked the halls to each one of his classes. Even Malfoy couldn't get a rise out of him as he verbally attacked Harry. Snape didn't fare any better as Harry would step around him and just kept on going. Snape didn't dare attempt to sabotage Harry's potions finals as he knew he could get in trouble from the exam board. All he was able to do was verbally harass Harry. The day the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students were to leave, Viktor and Fleur approached Harry and Cedric to offer their congratulations to the both of them. Cedric and Harry accepted them. Later at the brunch the next morning, Viktor and Fleur both dressed down all of the people who were giving Harry and Cedric a hard time about their experiences at the graveyard and then informed Hogwarts not to expect any help from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang for their treatment of Harry and Cedric. A number of students tried to stand up to them and got shot down quick. Harry and Cedric joined them as they led their respective schools out. The last final was on Thursday morning, with the student body leaving on Friday.

"Are you ready to go, Harry?" Hermione asked Wednesday evening in his private flat. "Your idea to slip away after the last final tomorrow morning was an excellent idea. Who knows what they are planning?"

Harry settled into his recliner. "Seemed to me it was the right move as people will be everywhere in the confusion that the last final will generate."

"Not to mention keeping all of the right people busy," Hermione grinned.

"A certain interfering old goat comes to mind," Harry said.

"A loony toad woman?" Hermione guessed.

Harry laughed out loud. "A certain minister who is very good at parking his head inside his ass. Doesn't he get tired of wiping stuff off his face?"

It was Hermione's turn to laugh. "Probably not. I'm sure he's used to it being there."

"That's scary," Harry said.

Hermione got serious. "Good luck tomorrow, Harry. I'll see you at the train."

"Be careful, Hermione. Don't let Dumbledore catch you. I wouldn't put it past him to try and use you to get to me. He'd do it, I'm sure of it," Harry warned him.

"I will," Hermione hugged him and then left.

Harry turned away from the door and went back into the living room area and sat down in front of the fire. He stared into the fire for a time until he was nodding off. He went into his bedroom and went to bed. Tomorrow would be a long day.

Harry kept a look out for trouble the next morning as he went to his last final in charms class. Flitwick nodded to him as he handed Harry the written final. Harry sat down and got started on it, taking his time on it. When he was done with the final he glanced at the clock and noted the time. It took him nearly two hours to finish it. Harry slipped out the door of the classroom and headed for a secret passage he knew of and made it just as he heard footsteps coming his way. The picture closed behind him and Harry headed down the passage to a set of stairs. They would take him down to the ground floor and from there he would be able to out of the castle. He peeked out from behind the door and noted how crowded the grand foyer was. Harry slipped out of the door quietly and mingled with the other students heading out the main doors. Harry kept his head down and moved with the crowd as they went out the main doors hoping nobody was looking for him. Harry kept going with the crowd and managed to make it outside. He took his time in heading down to the gates while keeping a lookout for anybody that might be looking for him. So far, so good. Then he approached the main gates and noticed men standing there watching the students leaving. Harry reached into his pack and pulled out a baseball cap with the logo of the English national soccer club on it and pulled it low. Just as he got up to the gate, somebody grabbed him by his right shoulder and spun him around. Harry looked into the face of a man in dark robes.

"Going somewhere Mr. Potter?" he asked. "Professor Dumbledore wishes a word with you right now."

Not giving Harry a chance he grabbed him by the upper right arm and dragged him away from the line of students leaving. Harry caught George Weasley's eye and nodded. George nodded back and continued on out the gates. He would get the word to Hermione. Harry then turned to his current problem, how to get away from Dumbledore. He knew that he could get off the grounds by running into the forbidden forest, passing the wards, and portkey home from there. He decided to keep quiet for the moment and see what was up.

The man walked Harry up to Hagrid's cabin. Harry nearly smiled as that easily fit into his plans. Dumbledore opened the door to Hagrid's cabin as they walked up. He looked at Harry with a very serious look on his face.

"Come in and sit down, Harry. We need to talk," he said.

Harry decided to see what Dumbledore wanted and entered the cabin. He noted the back door's location and knew he could reach it in a matter of a few steps. Harry sat down at the table and Dumbledore talked to the man a moment and then turned to Harry.

"Harry, things have changed now that Voldemort has returned. You are in even more danger than you had been in before. I cannot allow you to go rambling around England like you had before. I have made arrangements to put you in a very safe place this summer, and you cannot leave it without my approval," Dumbledore said.

"Does that mean you are going to tell me everything?" Harry asked.

"I'm sorry, no. You are not ready for such a burden," Dumbledore said.

"Ah, so you rather I be ignorant of everything about Voldemort and helpless so you can execute your grand plan and step in at the last second to 'rescue' me, kill Voldemort, and use all of that glory to become king of the wizarding world," Harry snapped, dropping his hands down below the table.

Allowing Harry to sit at the table with his back to the hut's back door had been Dumbledore's big mistake. Allowing Harry to get his hands under the table was his second mistake. Harry palmed a small silvery ball that contained something the Weasley twins called instant darkness. All he had to do was drop it on the floor, the room would be filled up with the dark smoke, and Harry would get out.

Dumbledore smiled as he sat back in his chair across the table from Harry. "Now that's just not true, Harry my boy. Plenty of time for you to know everything. You need to enjoy your childhood before thinking about such things."

"I lost my childhood the night my parents were murdered," Harry shot back.

"I'm sorry you see it that way, Harry. Now let me tell you about the family you will be staying with. They are the McHenry's. They have a daughter your age and she is eager to meet you," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his left eye.

"Ah, so that's your new plan," Harry said. "Keep me ignorant, hook me up with another girl, marry me off to her, get me to write a will giving you everything, and then kill me off."

Dumbledore frowned at Harry as Harry leaned forward with his arms on the table and purposely knocked one of Hagrid's mugs off the table.

"Damn!" Harry said as he leaned over to see where it went.

He bent down to retrieve it and placed the silver ball under his right foot. All he had to do was step on it hard and the ball would break, releasing the darkness into the room. Harry put the mug back on the table.

"Harry, why do you accuse me of such things?" Dumbledore said.

Harry looked up. "Good thing the mug was a metal one. This one is Hagrid's favorite. Because you are capable of doing such things as you had proved that once already. Why the Wizengamot didn't throw your wrinkled old ass into Azkaban I'll never know. I'm willing to bet you had something to do with that one. Probably paid off a few people to keep that from happening. Losing the three posts you had with the Wizengamot, Hogwarts, and the ICW I'm sure you were willing to write off as you no doubt have a way of manipulating things from the shadows. You're the one who's going dark, old man. You are willing to do anything it takes to rule the Wizarding world from your ivory tower, king over everything and getting what you want when you want it."

"Now that is just enough!" Dumbledore thundered, bringing his hand down on the table, making things jump. "I cannot and will not allow you to talk to me this way!"

Harry had come very close to pulling his wand but stayed his hand at the last second as he sat back in his chair.

"Sorry old boy, but I can and will talk to you this way because I no longer have any respect for you. You are not the boss of me," Harry snarled.

"It appears that I must teach you some manners this summer," Dumbledore said,

"Ooh. It seems I struck a nerve, my, my. Since I'm on a roll here, kindly allow me to whack another nerve in your addled brain," Harry smirked, and squashed the ball under his right boot hard.

Seconds later the hut was filled with instant darkness. Harry was out of his chair and to the back door. He opened it and raced out of the hut, heading into the forest as Dumbledore started yelling. Harry didn't look back as he plunged into the forest a few feet away from the hut. He knew exactly where he was going and he headed for the path he knew would take him to the edge of the wards where he knew they were the weakest. He could hear footsteps behind him and Harry raced up the first tree he came to and started moving through the treetops ninja style. He could hear the yelling below him as he weaved through the branches. Harry pulled the Potter wand and began sweeping himself of any tracking and locator spells and found a few of them on his boots, his belt, one on his watch, and another one on his belt buckle. The bastard Dumbledore had been putting them on him as they had been talking. Harry checked himself a few more times until he was absolutely positive he was clean of any kind of spell. Harry felt a cold chill pass over him and he knew he was outside the wards now. He continued to move through the treetops and then rubbed his Potter ring and activated the portkey. Seconds later he was gone.

Harry appeared in the receiving room at Potter House. Constantine shimmered into existence as Harry caught his breath.

"Welcome home, Harry. You have company waiting," he said. "Lord Sirius Black and Remus Lupin are in the living room."

"Good," Harry said. "The Dumbledork tried to grab me as I was leaving Hogwarts. Raise the security another level."

"You need to recharge the wardstones," Constantine said.

Harry nodded. "Thanks for the reminder."

Harry popped down into the ward room and spent the next few minutes recharging them. It was a simple process. All he had to do was place his hands on the large stone in the center of the room and feed it power from his magical core until the stone was full to the top. Normally it would be a drain on the wizard or witch doing it but for Harry it wasn't a problem as he had a very strong core due to his working his magical skills every day. Harry headed up to the living room where he found the two old marauders snacking on pizza and drinking butterbeer.

"Any pizza left?" Harry asked as the two men turned around.

Sirius grinned at Harry. "Hiya kid! Sure, we got your favorite here. Constantine told us you had an encounter with the old fart."

Harry opened the pizza box to find pepperoni piled high. "Oh yeah, now you're talking!"

Harry knocked down two slices before opening a bottle and drinking down half of it in one go. He let out a loud and long burp and smiled as Sirius laughed. Then Harry told him about the Dumbledore encounter.

"Nice move, kid. We need to thank the Weasley twins for the assist," Sirius said. "First chance I get I'll investigate the family Dumbledore tried to set you up with. Amelia isn't going to like this."

"I don't like it either. I need to send Ragnock a letter to find out if there is a marriage contract," Harry said.

"Be like him to do one," Remus said.

Harry headed to his office and wrote a letter to Director Ragnock and dropped it into the letterbox. Then he took his pack upstairs to his room and dropped it there. He stripped down to nothing and then pulled on a pair of cutoffs. He jogged downstairs and went back into his office and dashed off another letter, this time to Hermione to warn her of potential trouble, and another one to McGonagall to alert her to the incident. Then he rejoined Sirius and Remus in the living room.

Dumbledore was in a foul mood when he arrived in his personal quarters. He reached for the closest object and threw it against the wall. He went over to the small table and picked up a bottle of fire whiskey and poured himself a drink. He drank it down and slammed the glass back down on the table as he snarled.

"Damn the Potter brat!" he yelled.

Harry had seen through his latest plan and destroyed it in a matter of seconds, months of hard work down the drain. The McHenry's would be calling for what was due them and there was no way he could accommodate them. Dumbledore knew he would have to deal with them before they did anything to ruin his plans. They would have to become victims of a DE attack. He didn't want them going to the DMLE or the goblins at Gringotts to rat him out. Harry had been right when he accused the old man of going dark. Dumbledore had been going dark for a very long time, justifying his actions by his thinking that it was all for the 'greater good'. Harry was now out of his reach for the summer. That would give him time to lay plans for Harry's fifth year. There was still time. He could wait. Plenty of time. Dumbledore went to his desk and started making plans, taking the bottle of fire whiskey with him. He would beat Harry, Harry wasn't going to win this fight.

The conversation with Sirius and Remus went late into the night. The three of them went to bed round one in the morning. Harry came down late the next morning and Constantine informed him that Remus and Sirius had flooed out around eight and didn't know if they would be back tonight. Harry nodded and continued on into the kitchen and made him self a cup of coffee and spent an hour sitting there at the table staring off into space and sipping the coffee. He headed down into his training room and got to work in the gym, starting his daily workout. Finishing that, he headed into his spell arena and went to work on the DE and Dumbledore dummies he had down there. They really pushed him hard today and he welcomed it, using the opportunity to burn off his anger. Then came his ninja training, the magical interactive program mixing ninja with DE's. By the time he was done he was dripping sweat. Harry headed up after cleaning the place up wanting to hit the pool. He stripped off his skintight shorts and dived right into the pool. Harry did a few laps and then stretched out on a lounger out in the sun as he was ready for a break. Harry's only plan for the summer was to work his ass off in his training room and respond to any of the DE attacks anywhere in the Wizarding World as he had the feeling it wouldn't be long before Voldemort would announce his return. It wouldn't happen for some time as he knew that Voldemort would need time to reorganize the DE's, run a breakout operation at Azkaban to free up his followers, and recruit new De's. The recruitment would be easy as Harry was sure there were a number of wizards and witches that felt the same way he did or were disenchanted with the way things were going. Harry turned over on his front and stared at the blank legal pad on the ground beneath him. He began writing down things as they occurred to him in no particular order. One of the items he wrote down was to somehow plant a spy in Dumbledore's order to find out what was being said and done in regards to Voldemort and himself. Harry wanted to keep tabs on Dumbledore in the same way that Dumbledore wanted to keep tabs on him. Harry wondered if it was possible to insert a house elf inside number twelve Grimmauld Place. A house elf would make a great spy as a house elf was usually tasked with the upkeep of the houses they were in and to take care of the wizards and witches within. He would run that idea past Sirius the next time he saw him.

Sirius and Remus both liked the idea as Harry proposed it to them. The only problem was that there was one there already, and Sirius had given him up to Dumbledore's order. The problem was how to get Kreatcher back under Sirius' control.

"I never thought about that," Sirius admitted as they sat in the library, sipping cold butterbeers. "I really screwed that up."

"Okay, plan B," Harry said as he cracked his neck. "We find out who is in the order. Then we approach the person who is most likely be willing to help us. Not only would that person be willing to spy for us, but be willing to offer up their house elf to spy for us when that person isn't there."

"I like that idea even more," Remus said.

"So do I," Sirius said.

Remus took a swig of his drink. "Who do we know that would most likely be a part of Dumbledore's bird club?"

Sirius thought for a moment. "There will be people from the first group who would be back for the second one. I am sure I have a picture of the first group in all of the books I swiped from the Black Library. I'll start looking for it in the morning."

"Alistor Moody," Remus said.

"Tonks," Sirius said, reaching for Harry's legal pad and started writing names. "She is a cousin of mine."

"Kingsley Shacklebolt," Remus said and Sirius wrote him down. "Dumbledore would be using them to keep tabs on what the Aurors know."

"The Weasleys. Arthur, Molly, Charlie, and Bill. No way would she allow the twins, Ron, and Ginny in," Harry speculated.

"All of these people are obvious but the others are just guess work," Remus said. "No way Dumbledore would let Sirius and me in."

"Snape," Harry said. "Dumbledore would need a potions master for medical work in the event somebody got hurt."

Sirius nodded. "Dumbledore definitely would use him for that and to spy on the DE's as Snape is still one of them."

Remus sighed. "That's a small list. The names we have are the most obvious ones to be in Dumbledore's club. Who do we approach?"

"Sirius and I could make appearances in different places. I could start spending time in Diagon Alley at a little sidewalk café in the early afternoons for a tall iced tea and the Daily Prophet and see if anyone approaches me," Remus said.

"Oh?" Sirius grinned. "Or is it to check out the new waitress there?"

Harry laughed as Remus half smiled. "Maybe."

"I like that idea so go for it. Who knows? That might work," Harry said.

"What are you planning on doing Harry?" Sirius asked.

Harry turned to Sirius. "Train my ass off. The fights I've been in up to now was real world experiences, and they gave me an idea of how the DE's work. Any help that the two of you can give me will be appreciated. I am going all out on the DE's now. No more playing around. The business in the graveyard gave me a few names I can go after and they confirmed the intel I've gathered over the last three years. Time I started hunting them down."

"Be careful Harry," Sirius said with a serious look on his face. "I don't want to lose you. I'm supposed to be looking out for you like I promised your folks. Don't need your Mum to hex off my bits in the hereafter because I failed to keep you safe."

"Your Mum had a temper, Harry. No doubt she's planned something really nasty for Dumbledore when he crosses over," Remus said.

"And he deserves every little bit of what she can do to him," Sirius grinned.

Harry nodded. "Okay, let's go with the recruitment idea. We really need to know what's going on in Dumbledore's bird club and in the ministry too."

On that note the meeting was adjourned.

Remus put his plan into action the next day. Over the space of one week be became a regular at the sidewalk café in the early afternoons. It didn't take long for someone to approach him, and much to his surprise, it was Tonks, the young Auror. She approached him as he sat under the umbrella of the small round table in the corner of the outside patio.

"Hello Tonks," Remus said with a smile.

She smiled back as she leaned against the rail. "Wotcher, Remus. How goes it?"

He set down the paper and gave her his complete attention. "Join me for an iced tea?"

She accepted, and from there Remus began a careful recruitment of Tonks. By the end of the conversation Remus had her won over, as it had been fairly easy to do as she wasn't too happy with the ministry trying to make Harry look bad. She promised to pass on anything concerning Harry as she believed that Harry was telling the truth about the man named Voldemort. She even offered to be a go between for Harry to Amelia Bones. Sirius liked that idea and Harry liked it too. Sirius had even better luck the next time he had gone into the Black vault and discovered a small painting of the former headmaster Phineas Black in the vault talking to the other Black portraits in there. The man immediately agreed to watch over the order as he had several paintings throughout Grimmauld Place and McGonagall as she sat in the head's office at Hogwarts. He respected and liked McGonagall. Sirius hung the small painting of him in Harry's library so he had a way of passing on intel. Finding someone to spy on Dumbledore was easy as McGonagall had confided to the Black painting that there was an elf in place to watch Dumbledore as she hadn't been invited to join Dumbledore's order. Now that the spies were in place, Harry was assured of good intel. All he needed now was the special package promised him by Daichi Souta. He would send it to Harry via Gringotts as Harry had asked him to do. Once it went into place in Harry's war room, he would be able to start going after the DE's. It was a matter of time before things started to happen.

To Be Continued in the Order of the Phoenix

Author's Notes: I need to comment on a review by Jarno. If you had read the last chapter a bit more carefully, Cedric lost his wand. That was why he was unable to support Harry in his fight against Pettigrew and Voldemort. Harry is skilled, but he does not have the experience that Voldemort has. That's why he chose to get out of there.

I am putting Ninja Wizard on hold for a time, as I had gotten involved in a serious legal issue. I am not at liberty to discuss the situation, so please do not ask for details. Unfortunately I have to go away for about a year and will not be able to work on Ninja Wizard. I will, however, use the time to script out the last three books. My opinion of the last three books is that it seemed to me that Harry did a lot of sitting around and there was very little action in them except for the battle at the ministry and the final battle at the end of DH. I think Dumbledore dragged out the special lessons for Harry, finally revealing what he knew of Voldemort when he should have done that all along to begin with. Harry could have been training hard while Hermione used her powers of deduction and reasoning to figure out Voldemort and to look for ways to defeat him. I feel the final battle had been poorly done, so I will make an effort to create the best one possible. Harry will start getting proactive against Voldemort and the DE's in the next book. No sitting around for him.

Thanks to all who have been reading Ninja Wizard. In the immortal words of General Douglass MacArthur, I shall return.

- David