Disclaimer: Not mine, otherwise Harmony would have sailed.
A/N: My reply to the "Vigilante" challenge by Leochick, you can find it here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26730 . Hope you will enjoy the story, and please if you read review and let me know what you think of it, ok?
Thanks to my beta Gingercat!
The Vigilante
Chapter Six: Second Clash
Harry reported to the Minister about how he had almost caught the vigilante last night.
The man seemed disgruntled at how the confrontation had ended, but nodded all the same.
"Good job, Potter. Keep it up, I'm sure we will catch him soon" Vunrabels said, dismissing the Auror. Harry returned to his office, still thinking how to trap the vigilante. He hated failure and the fact the man had managed to best him didn't go well with his pride.
Still, he knew he shouldn't let anger cloud his judgement, especially since his opponent was so skilled.
All day he stayed there, mumbling to himself, planning several ways to approach the mystery guy and arrest him, then discarding them based on what he had seen during their first meeting.
He analysed what had happened that night, focusing on two points. First, the man didn't attack him, merely defend himself most of the time, like he knew Harry personally and didn't want to harm him.
Then, there was the fact he didn't recognize the voice, which clashed with the idea the suspect might be one of his friends. But, a spell could alter it to make it unrecognizable.
Finally, there was the broom escape. Sure, it didn't last long enough to let Harry catch up with him, still the way he chose to escape seemed to convey the man was confident of his flying abilities, especially because Harry's skill on a broom was well known in the Wizarding World. Even more so, if the man really was one of his friends.
However, Harry had a really hard time figuring anyone he knew doing this, and with such grace and speed in the movements. Surely not Ron, or the twins, who would use some of their trademark jokes to attack the criminals.
Neville had grown out of his shyness, but he and broom would never go together.
Seamus and Dean didn't have enough interest in security matters to pull off something like this. Plus, they weren't amongst the better fighters he knew.
This left him in the dark, as he had finished his options of people who knew him so well that they would restrain themselves from attacking him, and were males.
He seriously didn't think a woman could be behind this, and public opinion seemed to back up his beliefs.
Finally, as the sky started darkening with the descent of night, Harry sighed and left to go home. There was no point in trying to corner the vigilante again, if he had not a plan to trap him for good.
--
That night, Hermione nervously did her duty as vigilante, fearing Harry might show up again anytime during her mission. She really didn't want to harm him but she also couldn't let him know her true identity.
No one could know, as much as it pained her to keep it from Harry. She was also sure he would approve, but the fact the ministry had issued an arrest warrant for her might force his hand to bring her in, if he discovered the truth.
She couldn't take such a chance.
It was thus with a long sigh of relief that she arrived home after punishing another couple of criminals, and threw her mask away, slumping on the couch.
Her body ached, and she jerkily shrugged out of her tight fitting black suit, and trudged to the bathroom for a long, relaxing hot bath, where she could let her mind travel to a certain raven haired young man, and how much she would like for him to be there with her in the bathtub. She could certainly think of some things she wanted to do to him if they ever got in such a situation.
An hand slipped between her legs, fingers dipping into her core, as she released a long moan, dirty thoughts running through her mind, wondering how long she could still go before she jumped the poor man.
She wasn't totally sure he would mind, though, seeing the hungry looks he had given her lately.
--
A week had gone by, and Harry had tried to catch the vigilante again for two nights in a row now, but didn't manage to spot him.
He was getting frustrated, because he had finally developed a plan to stop him Disapparating away, and couldn't wait to test it in a real situation.
As he walked around the block, his ears strained to get the faintest sound of a fight happening, he finally caught some shouting a few streets away.
He quickly ran toward the noises, and hid in a dark alley. There it was, the vigilante, his back to him. When the beating was finished, he would have a really good chance to strike him.
Waiting, Harry watched the mysterious figure hitting repeatedly an already badly bruised burly man that he couldn't recognize. He was sure however the blonde man had deserved the treatment he was now enduring.
Finally, the beating came to an end, with the criminal who scurried away, promising to go to the Ministry as soon as possible.
Harry tensed, and then fired his stunner, but the vigilante was quicker and rolled out of its way.
Harry didn't stop and finally showing himself, he fired curse after curse at the man, who just like last time only defended himself, deflecting Harry's spells or avoiding them, just now and then firing a stunner.
It was going like Harry had planned it for now, and he kept the fight up. Finally, the vigilante took his broom, restored it to its normal size between avoiding Harry's spells, and took off. Harry was soon after him, and cast some anti-Apparition wards aimed at the back of the escaping figure, who seemed much less quick in its movements when on a broom. He avoided the first two spells from Harry but was hit by the third one.
Harry grinned and once they were past the local Anti-apparition wards, he grinned much more when his target found out he couldn't Apparate away this time.
Harry pushed his Firebolt forward, trying to gain on his opponent, and he slowly but constantly did, while they flew over Hyde Park. He was glad it was the middle of the night and they were Disillusioned, because otherwise there would be hell to pay to Obliviate all the Muggles spotting them.
The vigilante directed himself toward a group of tress, trying to lose Harry there, but the raven haired wizard was a much more skilled flier and kept closing in.
--
"Fuck!" Hermione thought when she noticed how near Harry was now. "Brilliant, Granger, trying to escape from Harry on his favourite mode of transportation, really bright" she berated herself, losing focus on her flying for a moment.
Soon she realized her mistake when she hit a tree branch, and fell from her broom, toward the ground.
"I knew it" she swore under her breath, just moments before a tremendous crash on the ground made her right arm snap, as well as a couple ribs.
She moaned in pain, and could see Harry landing just near her, graciously as usual.
She knew then her days as a vigilante, and possibly as MLE officer, were coming to an end.
--
Harry approached the moaning figure of the vigilante with baited breath. It was evident the man had something broken, and from the angle his right arm was bent, guessing what wasn't so difficult. Harry suspected there might be more though.
However, that was not the first of his concerns. He had a mounting curiosity about the man's identity, and so he slowly grabbed the mask and cautiously lifted it.
When he had completely removed it, he gasped, not believing his eyes.
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