Mist of Shadows
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Reluctant Villainy Part 6
🕑 Added 2021-04-27 02:45:05 +0000 UTCHarry glanced between Myst and Riley when they reappeared. "That's not my mother."
"No shit," Myst replied with a grin. "This is my friend Riley, one of your mother's charges and a friend of mine."
"Hi," Riley offered then worked on finishing the last of her burger.
"Trouble?" Hermione asked.
Myst held up his thumb and index finger a centimeter apart. "Just a bit, Riley has a demonic bounty on her head because of her powers and Harry's mother can't talk to him or check on him until Voldemort is dealt with or at least that's what I'm assuming she meant by 'until his destiny is resolved."
Harry nodded. "That just means we need to kill Voldemort."
"Pretty much," Myst agreed as he checked Riley's powers.
"What powers does she have?" Hermione asked, curious about the younger girl.
Riley glanced at Myst. "Do you trust them?"
"They're trustworthy," Myst assured her.
"I can manipulate and generate electricity, cold, shadows, earth, light and water and mix them together in interesting ways. I'm also working on learning enchanting and how to copy powers," Riley said cheerfully, rather happy with her collection of magical talents outside of the problems she was having with various demons.
"I can see why the demons would want you," Hermione admitted, wondering how that stacked up to Projection.
"If you can do that, why did you need help against the demons?" Harry asked, surprised that she hadn't just destroyed the demons.
"I'm still working on control," Riley admitted sheepishly then turned as the door opened revealing a man that looked in his early forties. "Hello?"
Harry turned to look at the door. "Sirius."
"I was going to let you know that dinner will be ready shortly but I heard voices I didn't recognize," Sirius said as he glanced between Harry and the new people. "How did you get past the wards?"
Myst shrugged. "I was brought through the wards in a bottle and I teleported Riley past the wards which only really protects the place from being found."
"In a bottle?" Sirius asked suspiciously.
"I'm a genie," Myst admitted. "Before we go downstairs and deal with a bunch of questions, we might as well deal with Voldemort and his minions."
"You think it's that easy?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yep," Myst replied with amusement as he gave Sirius the Power Hub power and made sure everyone in the group could copy his Adaptation, Hatred, Specific Magic Immunity and Precog Immunity abilities. He swapped his precog to Matter Creation and conjured concealing gloves, robes and masks on Riley and Sirius. "Shall we?"
"What the hell?" Sirius sputtered when he realized that he was wearing a mask.
"Probably should," Hermione agreed, figuring they might as well deal with Voldemort before the questions started and the adults started objecting to the 'danger' of actually doing something useful.
"Don't die!" Myst gestured and dark orbed the group into Malfoy Manor next to Voldemort. He quickly used his projection ability to lock the place down so none of the dark wizards and witches could apparate out.
"Shit!" Sirius cursed as he found himself in a room he hadn't been to since he was dragged there as a child for a social event. He pointed his wand at Lucius who was sitting on Voldemort's right and unleashed a bonebreaker curse, figuring he might as well go down fighting.
Voldemort had barely grabbed his wand to toss up a shield when Harry's bolt of lightning struck him in the chest, causing his heart to explode.
Riley's own optic blast of shadow mixed with water, lightning and shards of ice ripped through the group of Death Eaters seated around the table, showing the group why she hadn't used her magic against the demons in the diner.
Sirius stared in horrified disbelief as the group of Death Eaters was ripped apart before they could cast more than two spells their way. "What the fuck was that!" he asked as he stared in horrified disbelief at the gore splattered dining room that was soaked with water.
"Justice? Vengeance? A good start?" Myst mused thoughtfully as he picked up one of the chairs that had gotten shattered in the fight. He opened a portal under Umbridge, dropping her into the room then tossed the broken chair leg, staking her through the heart. "No more anti-werewolf laws for you."
"Did you just kill Umbridge?" Harry asked in disbelief, remembering her from his trial.
"Yeah, she would have been a horrible fucking teacher," Myst replied as he walked over, bent down and started collecting knives and forks off the broken table.
"Language!" Riley scolded him.
"Sorry," Myst replied as he opened half a dozen portals, dropping fourteen of Fudge's flunkies into the room. He tossed the various knives and forks at the disoriented government employees, striking each of them in an eye or the heart then tossed a platter through one of the flunkies' neck when he ran out of utensils. He used a portal to cut the last two in half then closed the portals and dark orbed the group back to Hermione's room.
"What the hell was that!" Sirius demanded as he pulled his mask off, still trying to wrap his head around what he'd just seen.
"Hermione made a wish, I was cleaning house," Myst replied as he used his Projection power to clean and dry their robes, gloves and masks, removing all traces of blood and gore.
"Did Remus skip the lesson on genies? They always twist your wishes," Sirius complained, thinking about the old stories he'd heard about unfortunate wizards that found a genie's lamp.
"Look on the bright side, Voldemort is dead and Lucius Malfoy won't be a problem anymore," Myst explained while Riley and Harry worked on taking their costumes off.
"And the random people you dropped into the room?" Sirius asked.
"Ministry employees that helped," Myst glanced at Riley, "do some very bad things to muggleborns or covered it up. The world is better off without them."
"Ah, right," Sirius muttered, wishing he wasn't surprised. "What are you planning now that Voldemort is dead?"
Myst glanced at Hermione. "That's up to Hermione but she wanted the collective intelligence raised by 20% which means I need to kill or banish a ton of stupid wizards or recruit an army of smart magic users to balance things out."
Sirius snorted. "Let's try to avoid killing people that aren't Death Eaters."
"I wasn't planning on killing anyone innocent," Myst assured him. "I've already dealt with the worst of the ministry employees, I should be able to fire or banish everyone else."
"How are you going to fire them?" Sirius asked with raised eyebrows.
"One of my duplicates is currently pretending to be Fudge," Myst replied with a grin.
"What happened to the real one?" Harry asked warily.
"He's dead," Myst admitted, seeing no reason to lie.
Hermione scowled as she thought of Fudge. "He was selling information about children to demons."
"Lovely," Sirius said sarcastically. "Are you going to wish him free?"
"Do you want to be free?" Hermione asked Myst, thinking of what he'd said about the house elves.
Myst frowned slightly when he realized he couldn't actually answer her question. "Aladdin is my favorite movie. Just give me like ten minutes so I can give Riley copies of my magic."
"Sure," Hermione agreed. "I'm not all that hungry right now."
"You can give people copies of your abilities?" Sirius asked, wanting to make sure he understood what the genie was implying and it wasn't some sort of trick.
"I can basically make copies of all of my magical abilities," Myst replied as he turned his Projection power into a power sphere and scanned it so he could duplicate it. He reabsorbed the ability then did the same for his High Resistance power.
"What's the trick?" Sirius asked.
"No trick," Myst replied as Ron opened the door. "Hey Ron."
"What do you need?" Hermione asked Ron, figuring it had something to do with food.
"Mum won't let us start eating without everyone," Ron complained. "Which means I don't get to start eating until you get down there."
"We were just leaving," Sirius assured him as he waved his wand and vanished the robes he was wearing that Myst had conjured.
Myst snapped his fingers and used Projection to change Hermione's robes to normal normal street clothes. "Have fun, I'll be here when you get back."
"I should probably introduce you and Riley to the rest of the order if you're going to be sticking around," Sirius pointed out as he led the way into the hallway.
"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal," Myst joked as followed Sirius into the hallway.
"Who are you?" Ron asked Myst and Riley suspiciously as they headed for the stairs.
"I'm a god of tricksters and Riley is my assistant, we're here to eat all of your cake," Myst replied sarcastically.
Riley shook her head. "Now you're just being weird. We're on the run from demons and need a place to crash."
"Right, don't tell me," Ron complained as he stalked off.
"Is he always this annoying?" Riley asked once Ron was out of sight.
"It's been getting worse," Harry grumbled. "I warned people I've been having nightmares but they still insisted we share a room. Everyone has been a bit on edge lately."
"If it makes you feel better, you should have less nightmares now that Voldemort is dead," Myst pointed out in a whisper, just in case Ron was lurking.
"Hopefully," Harry said hopefully.
"If not, we can see about making a dreamcatcher," Myst offered.
"Do those work?" Harry asked as they started down the stairs.
Myst laughed. "They do if you have magic."
"Why didn't anyone suggest it?" Harry asked.
Myst skipped the last couple of steps by gliding over them. "Probably because most wizards don't practice ritual magic."
"Please tell me you can give people flight," Sirius begged.
"Sure. Do you want the ability to fly?" Myst asked with amusement as he created and scanned a sphere for his Adjusting power.
"I do," Riley said enthusiastically.
"What's the catch?" Sirius asked, wary of tricks but giddy at the idea of flying under his own power.
Myst reabsorbed the sphere then swapped his power to matter creation and created a Flight sphere. "The emotional anguish when Ron realizes everyone else can fly other than him." Myst handed Sirius the sphere then created another one for Riley.
"Is there a reason you don't like him?" Sirius asked, wincing when he noticed Molly step out of the kitchen after Myst turned to look at him. 'This can't end well.'
Myst snorted. "Beyond the fact that he was an inconsiderate ass to Harry and Hermione for a decent part of the school year because he thought Harry cared about fame or gold? He's lazy and encourages everyone else to sink to his level. He's known about magic for his entire life and he never bothered to learn much of anything until he got to Hogwarts and the teachers forced him to."
"You're not supposed to," Hermione offered half heartedly as Mrs. Weasley's face turned a dark red.
Riley used the sphere to pick up Flight before someone decided to confiscate it.
"It's illegal," Molly snapped, having heard the stranger's complaint about Ron.
Myst turned to look at Molly. "Just because something is illegal doesn't mean it's immoral. You're a qualified witch, if they'd had a problem you could have rushed them to the hospital and told the healers that they'd nicked a wand but no, you intentionally stuffed the shit with food and encouraged him to be lazy."
"How dare you! Who do you think you are?" Molly demanded as she drew her wand.
"A guest in my house," Sirius cut in before Molly did something she might not live to regret. "Is Albus here?"
"Yes," Albus replied as he walked out of the kitchen. He paused when he noticed Myst and Riley. "I haven't seen one of your kind in years," he said thoughtfully.
"Egypt?" Myst asked, curious where he'd run into another genie.
Albus's eyes sparkled as he smiled. "In a Boston auction house actually."
"Makes a certain amount of sense," Myst admitted.
Molly glanced between Myst and Albus. "What is he?"
"Unless I'm very much mistaken he's a genie," Albus explained.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous genies are?" Molly demanded, glancing over the group, trying to figure out who summoned it so she could convince them to get rid of it.
"That depends entirely on the genie," Myst replied with a grin. "And how many stupid people we have to deal with."
"Does that mean we could wish for gold?" Ron blurted from the kitchen.
"Don't!" Molly snapped.
"I wouldn't recommend it," Albus warned him.
"Why not?" Ron asked as he walked to the door.
"Genies are known to stick to the letter of the wish rather than the spirit," Albus explained, studying Myst.
Myst nodded. "Especially if we don't like our master."
"So if I wished for a vault filled with gold?" Ron asked.
"I'd probably do anything from sticking it inside your stomach so you'd be shitting gold for years to dropping it on your head so it kills you or I might drop it in a pond at the Burrow so you can fish it out. Of course, I might give it to you and just let the people I stole it from know where I put it," Myst mused.
"That just means you need to word the wish carefully," Ron argued.
"Best of luck but I heartily suggest you stay away from my lamp, mostly because I don't like you," Myst replied.
"What did I do?" Ron complained.
"Did you ever actually give Harry an honest apology for thinking he cared about gold more than friends or that he'd go behind your back to enter the stupid tournament?" Myst asked.
"Of course…" Ron trailed off when both Harry and Hermione shook their heads. "What?"
"You said that you were wrong about someone trying to kill me, you never actually apologized for your behavior," Harry said.
"The fact that you think encouraging Harry to waste time with chess when he had a dark lord after him doesn't help," Myst pointed out as he opened a small portal through time to shortly before Sirius torched the scrap of parchment with the location of the Order of the Phoenix on it and dropped it in front of Lily and James, quickly closing the portal before they investigated.
"He shouldn't have to worry about that," Molly argued.
"Just because he shouldn't doesn't mean he doesn't…" Myst trailed off as Lily and James orbed into the room.
"Albus Percival Dumbledore!" Lily shouted.
Albus stared at Lily in shock. "How?"
"You're dead!" Severus accused as he rushed out of the kitchen and saw James.
"What's your point?" James asked, knowing that the less he reacted the more it would bother him.
Sirius laughed as he pulled James into a hug. "Good to have you back!"
"It's good to see you," James agreed as he hugged his friend, looking forward to hearing about his adventures.
"Mum?" Harry blurted once he realized that what he was seeing was real.
"Hey kiddo," Lily said as she reached out and ruffled Harry's hair. "I'm so sorry for not being there for you. I was told that you were being taken care of." She turned to glare at Albus. "What possessed you to send him to my sister!"
"She was his only surviving family," Albus argued weakly.
"I have a couple of second cousins," James pointed out, helpfully adding fuel to the fire.
Myst stuck his hand behind his hip and created a duplicate of the scrap of parchment Lily was holding then swapped his matter creation power for teleport.
"Lily is the one that cast the projection ritual, it had to be her blood," Albus argued.
"Any blood relation to Harry would have worked," Lily snapped then turned to look at Sirius. "Why didn't you take Harry?"
Sirius sighed. "I sort of lost my marbles the night you died and went after Peter without explaining things. Crouch tossed me in Azkaban without a trial because I'd taken a blow to the head and was ranting about getting you and James killed."
Myst teleported the scrap of parchment Lily was holding to his bottle. He opened a small portal in Hermione's room back to the point in time he'd stolen the parchment and teleported the fake copy through so that Sirius wouldn't notice the parchment's absence then quickly closed the portal.
Lily turned her attention back ato Albus. "Why didn't you get him a trial?"
'One noteworthy distraction accomplished,' Myst mused as he worked on making and scanning spheres for the rest of his powers while Albus attempted to explain his actions.
0o0o0
Myst glanced up from the book he was reading when Ginny walked into the drawing room carrying his bottle. "I was half expecting Ron to pull something stupid with my bottle."
Ginny shrugged. "Mum is still trying to convince Hermione not to release you and to turn over your lamp, I figured I'd side step the problem."
"Let me guess, you want fantastic powers or a certain boy's heart?" Myst asked as he closed the genie book and stuck it in his inventory.
Ginny snorted. "No thanks, I don't think giving you an excuse to rip someone's heart out of their chest and hand it to me is a good idea."
"Not that I would but you're right, handing a genie such an open ended wish would probably end badly," Myst warned her. "If you're not here for fantastic powers, what do you want?"
"Can you kill Voldemort?" Ginny asked.
"Considering he's already dead, that might be a bit difficult," Myst admitted. "I can always steal him from another timeline if you want to stab him."
"You think he's dead?" Ginny asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sure," Myst replied with a grin. "Harry blew his heart out with lightning a couple of minutes before we came down to eat. I'd avoid telling people that because it's a secret."
"If it's a secret, why tell me?" Ginny asked warily.
"Because you had to deal with the diary," Myst admitted. "You've got more reasons than most to want him dead."
"Would it be safe to wish for power?" Ginny asked.
Myst shrugged. "That depends entirely on what you want and what you're willing to do for it or how good you are at closing loopholes."
"Let me guess, you need something illegal and or immoral done?" Ginny asked warily.
"Mostly illegal," Myst admitted. "There's nothing immoral about stabbing the demons and warlocks I'd be going after."
"What type of powers?" Ginny asked, knowing she should walk away but tempted despite herself.
"Immortality, various forms of teleportation that are a lot nicer than apparition, the ability to survive getting hit with magic or possibly increased strength to the point where you could toss Hagrid across a room," Myst offered.
"You obviously don't need my help, why give me anything?" Ginny asked warily.
"Spite," Myst admitted. "Your mother annoys me."
"Is that because she thinks genies are dangerous?" Ginny asked.
"Nope, she's got a point, most genies like twisting wishes, it's in our nature. The part that annoys me is that she can actually fight and yet, she wants everyone to stick their head in the sand and let the adults deal with all of the problems."
"Which is problematic when you have people that want to kill you," Ginny agreed.
"So yeah, if you want to boost your appearance or pick up immortality and the combat skills of a monster duelist that could make Dumbledore pull out his A game, I'm willing to help," Myst offered.
"Would you be mortally offended if I wished that you had to tell the truth?" Ginny asked.
Myst laughed. "Nah. I'd probably do the same. I suggest limiting it to twenty to thirty minutes so I don't send someone back in time and kill you."
"Fair," Ginny admitted, knowing she'd be royally annoyed if someone kept her from lying for the rest of her life. "I wish that you will answer any question Hermione or I ask during the next thirty minutes honestly and to a reasonable degree of clarity and brevity."
Myst laughed. "Wish granted."
"What are you planning on doing if Hermione frees you?" Ginny asked.
"Same thing I'm already doing, recruit people to make the world a better place and kill demons and warlocks for powers while cleaning up the ministry," Myst replied. "I'm hoping that I can recruit a couple of thousand witches for Hogwarts and a few dozen teachers to handle the extra students."
"A couple of thousand?" Ginny asked in surprise. "We barely have a thousand students and you want to triple that?"
"Hogwarts is certainly large enough and duplication charms work on food and books so it's not like they'd be a large drain on resources. The worst part would be paying the teachers but we can cover that out of what we looted from Bellatrix's vault. That reminds me, I should offer Neville the chance to stab the bitch," Myst mused.
"Is that your solution for everything?" Ginny asked.
"Nah, just people I don't like who are evil," Myst replied as Hermione walked into the room Sirius.
"Why do you have my bottle?" Hermione asked, hoping Ginny wasn't planning on making a wish and getting herself in trouble.
Ginny turned to look at Hermione and Sirius. "I was making sure your genie wasn't going to kill a bunch of people when you set him free."
Myst smiled at Hermione. "I'm currently bound to tell the truth for the next twenty eight minutes, try not to ask any questions you don't actually want the answers to."
"Are you planning on doing anything terribly destructive once you're freed?" Sirius asked, wanting to make sure they weren't creating a massive problem by freeing the genie.
"I'm not a fan of pointless destruction, I'm planning on making sure my friends are safe and helping Hermione recruit people. Beyond that, I don't really have any grand plans."
