Author Note: Harry Potter and company are not mine. I didn't create them and do not own them. They

belong to Ms. Rawlings who did a great job rewriting King Arthur and Merlin for the modern age. Let me

say here and now, I like canon Hermione and Ron. I even liked Dumbledore though for the life of me I

don't know why. However this is not canon and you won't find those characters in this story. This story

has taken me years to write though I doubt I worked on it as long as Ms. Rawlings did. It is long and

already finished. All I need to do is upload each chapter for you to enjoy. And I hope you do.

Payback's a Bitch

A Harry Potter Fanfiction

By The Mother Rose

Chapter One: Reflections of First Year

Harry Potter was sitting on a huge boulder in his backyard at #4 Privet Drive in Little Whining, Surrey, England.

The rock was sheltered by a gnarly old fruit tree and was one of Harry's favorite places in the yard to hide as when

he was younger, his cousin Dudley, who was something of a bully, often forgot to even look for him there because

he couldn't scale it. If he did remember to look there for him, Harry could outlast him. Dudley grew bored very

easily. And Aunt Petunia had never once called Harry down from the rock while Dudley was lying in wait for him.

Harry didn't know it but it was because he liked the boulder as a place to sit and think while hiding from Dudley

that the rock was still in his Aunt and Uncle's back yard instead of having been broken up and hauled away a long

time ago. His Aunt had noticed how Harry was using it and made his Uncle stop calling contractors to get rid of it,

pointing out that so long as Harry had a place to get away from Dudley's need to rough house, they didn't have to

worry about Dudley taking an injury due to Harry's freakishness. If he was on the boulder, it meant he wasn't

interested in or wanting to join Dudley as he played with his friends. Which meant dear Dudley was safer. Or having

to deal with the neighbors calling to complain about him. Which they had done more than once. Which him, they

would complain about, wasn't something she specified and Vernon didn't ask since he just assumed it'd be Harry,

his freakish nephew, who'd disturb them.

Petunia knew better. But then she'd never told Vernon it was their sweet Dudders the neighbors didn't like. She

knew the neighbors saw Dudley as nothing but a bully who's favorite victim was his own cousin and more than one

neighbor had warned her if she didn't get the situation under control, chances were good it'd lead the boys into a

criminal lifestyle as adults. Both boys, the neighbors had insisted when she'd tried to point out that her nephew was

predisposed to that lifestyle already given who his parents had been but that her sweet Dudders had her and his

Father as an example of how decent people lived. They'd pointed out that children who were bullies, to the point

where they had a favorite target for their abuse, often grew up to become thugs and enforcers for petty crime

bosses. And the prisons were full of men like that.

So she'd looked for a way to separate the boys without alerting Vernon to those nasty comments from the

neighbors as to their son's possible future. Giving Harry more chores to do didn't work because, if Dudley was bored

enough, he'd just go disturb Harry and often make a mess of whatever chore the boy was trying to do. That would

lead to Vernon punishing the boy for failing to do his chores properly because of course he wouldn't be done when

Vernon went to check them. Which only gave her Dudley more reason to go bad as that was his intention when he'd

gone to mess with the boy to begin with.

But then she'd seen Harry scaling the boulder only to sit calmly on top of it while Dudley danced around the

base yelling and screaming because he couldn't reach him. After a bit Dudley got bored and wandered off. Harry

had come down the rock and gone back to what he'd been doing before Dudley had chased him onto it. The boy had

never said a word about Dudley's behavior or how he'd interfered in his work that afternoon. Of course, it wouldn't

have done him any good to complain about her Dudders anyway. It took a few more times of seeing that before she

understood but once she did, she stopped Vernon from trying to get rid of it and it became Harry's rock to both the

household and the neighbors.

But today Harry wasn't hiding from his cousin. There wasn't any need to. His cousin wasn't here any more. No

one was. No one but Harry.

He was thinking. Thinking as he had been for most of the summer actually. It was three days until he returned

to Hogwarts for another year of school and near-death experience disguised as saving someone, the school or just

the whole freaking world. He idly wondered which it would be this time. Would Dumbledore place another student in

harms way again to force Harry to rescue them? Or would he bring someone or something dangerous into the

school thereby placing everyone in danger? Or would the threat actually come from Lord Voldie again this year?

There was no doubt in his mind it'd be one of the three. It always was.

Actually, it was rare that the Snake-faced, self-proclaimed Lord was a threat to Harry's well-being of his own

accord. Usually the only times he and Harry had a run-in at all was due to Albus' manipulations and games. Just

because he was over a hundred years old gave him no right to include the innocent lives of children under his care

in his efforts to relieve his boredom. Harry well understood being bored and doing anything you could think of to

relieve that boredom but the old professor took things too far. Way too far, if you asked him. Unfortunately, no one

ever did.

Every year, since Harry was eleven, there had been something. Something dangerous and life threatening.

Where someone could, and usually would, die. And it was always nothing more than the result of a game the old

man was playing. A game where he was the main pawn being played for a fool. Risking life and limb for people who

didn't even bother to say thank-you. Looking back, he could see just how easily he'd been played and manipulated

into being the fool. With shame, he knew he'd allowed them to make a very big fool out of him.

His first year, the game had been disguised as a relatively harmless mystery that he and his friends could solve

with no danger to themselves or anyone else if they solved it quick enough. It wasn't until they had solved it, that

the anything but harmless risk had become clear. A risk that could've been easily avoided. But because Hermione

had insisted they grab the reward just to have proof they had solved the mystery, Harry had found himself face to

face with the threat to the safety of the school. All because a little girl wanted to prove she was smart.

Oh, she hadn't said that at the time. No, she'd claimed they couldn't let the bad guy get his hands on it. The

treasure hidden in the school was too dangerous to let it fall into the wrong hands. A bad guy, she believed, to be

Professor Snape because all the clues said he was the bad guy in the school. Harry had tried to tell her it wasn't

him. That he was too obvious. She wouldn't listen. Hagrid had even told her it wasn't Snape. But she wouldn't listen

to him either. She believed she was smarter than they was. That she understood human nature better than they

did. And getting to the treasure before he did would prove it to everyone. So Harry had gone with her and his other

companion to rescue the treasure.

But if she was so smart, why then hadn't she figured out if he wanted it, he could already have gotten it? He

was, after all, one of the authors of the various traps protecting the stone which was the treasure. The deadliest

trap, as a matter of fact. The last trap before the room with the treasure stored in it. Which meant he had to know

how to bypass all the other traps when he'd set up his own. And of course he knew how to go around his own

trap. He designed it! But even when they were standing in that room facing his challenge, which she freely admitted

could only have been his, she still insisted he was the thief trying to steal the stone from the Headmaster. Which

made no sense at all. Especially since she knew without a doubt that stone didn't belong to the Headmaster at all. It

only proved to Harry she only wanted to go after it so as to prove to everyone she'd solved the mystery. Like a real

world Nancy Drew. Facing real life dangerous situations with her two faithful companions and coming out on top

with the treasure safe and the bad guys caught.

Still, even after he had found himself in a life and death fight, Harry hadn't realized just how he was being

played for a fool. He had blindly gone along with his friends to try and prevent the Philosopher's Stone from being

stolen and used by Lord Voldemort to return him from the half-life existence he was living at the time. Never once

realizing even if the Dark Lord had known what was hidden in the mirror, all the traps that were guarding it and

where exactly it was, -which, as things turned out, he did- he still couldn't actually get it. Simply because he'd

wanted to use it to his own benefit and the trap laid on the mirror was such that only someone who didn't desire to

use it for their own benefit could claim it. Therefore, the Voldemort possessed Quirrel could never have gotten the

stone out of the mirror. And the nature of the mirror itself would prevent them from denying what they wanted with

the stone.

Nor actually could Albus Dumbledore, come to think about it, since he was using it to his own benefit at the time

as well. Albus was using it as a lure to draw Harry into a face to face confrontation with the shade that was

Voldemort at that time. Which meant he was intending to use it to his own benefit also.

Nicolas Flamel, who actually owned the stone, couldn't have gotten it either. Because of course, the Flamels

intended to use the stone. That was why they'd created it to begin with.

Which was why Harry had remained in possession of the stone even after the event had concluded. How he had

managed to hide it from Dumbledore, was something Harry really didn't understand but he had. For some odd

reason, Dumbledore hadn't been able to sense the stone on his person when he came upon Harry passed out from

lack of oxygen in the mirror room and took him to the infirmary. Voldemort had known he had it but Dumbledore

had only suspected. Nor had he found it in Harry's pocket when Harry was unconscious though Harry had no doubt

he'd search him for it. Either that or he'd had Madam Pomfrey search him.

In any case, the stone stayed in Harry's possession for the rest of the school term. He had sent it back to it's

creator with Hedwig, his birthday present from Hagrid and best friend, once he had reached Privet Drive for the

summer. It had taken her two weeks to find them but she was a smart and determined bird who knew this stone

didn't belong to her Master and did belong to the recipients she was to take it to. So she had persisted until she

found them and got herself through their protections to deliver it.

Harry had gotten a letter back from them. It was unaddressed because Harry hadn't signed the letter returning

the stone. So they didn't know who had rescued it or returned it. They'd been grateful since Dumbledore had

reported the stone as destroyed during the thief's attempt to steal it. They'd also revealed he didn't actually have

his permission to remove the stone from Gringott's to begin with because they believed a school full of children was

no place for the most infamous stone in creation. Over the years since it's creation, many lives had been lost by

people seeking the stone and with the knowledge that the stone was being sought yet again by those who'd use it

for ill purposes, they'd sent it to Gringott's in the hopes of preventing that eventuality. Gringott's had let Hagrid

take the stone from the vault because said vault belonged to Albus who told them Nicolas wanted him to store it for

him when in reality Nicolas had said no such thing. So in effect, Albus had conned the goblins into letting him steal

their stone from them. Which they admitted was only a decoy stone for the true stone of immortality and not the

actual stone at all. Though Albus hadn't known that went he conned it off the goblins. And Harry had returned it to

them. They were very grateful and wanted to know what they could do for him in return as this decoy stone was

very useful to them in keeping thieves away from the true stone. The Letter was one of his greatest treasures but

he hadn't sent a reply because there was nothing he wanted for his effort in restoring it to them. That hadn't been

why he did it.

But as for Ron and Hermione, they'd played their roles so beautifully he had honestly thought they were simply

following him into danger as intent on rescuing the Stone as he was. For more selfish reasons, yes. But still only

wanting to do what was right and protect people in the process. He hadn't seen, until years later, how the pair were

his control agents leading him where Dumbledore wanted him to go and showing him what Dumbledore wanted him

to see so that he would fulfill his role in Dumbledore's games, all the while thinking it was his own idea and blaming

only himself for anything that went wrong and anyone who died during the game play. The worst part was, the

stupid stone had never been in any danger since it had never actually been in the Castle to begin with. The stone

Dumbledore had hidden in the mirror was a forgery. A clever one but a fake nonetheless. Something the Flamels

had made clear to Harry in their reply letter.

Not that either Dumbledore or Voldemort had known that. Neither had he actually. But still. Those two had put

a school full of children in the middle of their differences just because they could. And Nicolas and Penny hadn't

wanted the decoy there because the whole world believed it was the real stone and that put the children in danger.

Something Albus knew full well. Knew but didn't care. Because he was bored and wanted to play a game with his

rival.

Still, Nicolas and Penny had been glad to get it back since they used it as a decoy any time rumors about the

real stone and it's properties began to circulate again. The real stone, only they knew the location of and neither of

them would ever reveal it to anyone.

Harry had finally admitted during this long summer of thought that's exactly what it was to Dumbledore. A

game. A game he called The Greater Good. And Ron and Hermione, Harry's supposedly two best friends, were really

just two of the many people he used to keep Harry, deaf, blind and stupid so he could maneuver him the way he

wished him to go.

Someone had died every year, too. That was the saddest part of the whole thing. All his efforts to save lives

failed because in the end, when push came to shove, there was always someone he failed to save.

His first year, the person to die had been his teacher of the Dark Arts. He died by Harry's own hands though

Dumbledore had tried to claim he had pulled the man off Harry and thereby saved Harry's life and establishing a life

debt between Harry and himself. Harry knew that wasn't true. Well, he knew now. Research had told him exactly

what life debts were and how they were established. There were, as it turned out, several things wrong with the old

man trying to claim such a debt against Harry. Not the least of which, was the fact that as his Headmaster, it was

the old man's duty to save Harry should Harry find himself in mortal peril due to something or someone in the

school. Second, you can't claim such a debt against a person if you are the reason they are in mortal peril to begin

with and he was. Finally, the person wishing to claim the debt has to place themselves in mortal peril equal to the

peril facing the one they intend to save. Dumbledore, who hadn't even been present at the time, met none of that

criteria.

If Dumbledore really wanted Harry to owe him a life debt, he should have intervened as soon as Quirrel had

placed his hands on Harry's neck. Drawn the possessed Quirrel's attention to himself right away. But he hadn't.

Instead, he'd lurked in the shadows, if he'd even made it there by that time, waiting for Harry to pass out from

oxygen deprivation first. That hesitancy though gave Harry the chance to realize it was the skin to skin touch that

was harming the possessed teacher.

Harry had acknowledged that when he'd placed his own hands on the Professor's face to speed up the skin to

skin contact effect and that was what had killed the Professor. He knew it and nothing Dumbledore could say could

change that knowledge. Because Quirrel was, at the time, possessed by Lord Voldemort, he couldn't tolerate Harry's

touch which had been imbued with the spell his Mother had cast on him the night she died to protect him from Lord

Voldemort. Dumbledore had been forced to admit it when he'd visited Harry in the infirmary. Even still, Dumbledore

had never placed himself in harms way to rescue Harry. So he'd never have been able to claim a true debt anyway.

And that wasn't even mentioning the fact that it was his game that had caused the confrontation to begin with. So

no life debt was owed him.

Harry had used that long past summer to convince himself he'd done the teacher a favor since the man had

been possessed by Voldie all year and was dying by degrees anyway. It was regrettable but both Dumbledore and

Voldemort had felt the life of Quirnus Quirrel was an acceptable loss in this war of ideals they were engaged in. But

still, by the time he'd returned to Hogwarts as a twelve year old, he had faced the fact that he was, whether he

liked it or not, a murderer. He also knew for a fact there was no life debt between him and the Headmaster which

made the man a liar and a conman even if he couldn't claim to know anything more damaging about the man. And

that meant he wasn't trustworthy.

During that first summer, he'd convinced his Uncle to take him to London when he had a business trip there,

and made a trip to the three bookstores in Diagon Alley. There, he had asked the store owners to point him to

books about life debts only explaining someone was trying to claim one against him and he wanted to find out more

before he accepted or denied the claim. Since Harry was famous in the magical world, to hear someone was trying

to claim any kind of a debt against him was cause for alarm. The merchants had been only too happy to help him.

The owner of the second hand shop even went into her backroom to see if she had any books that hadn't yet

made it to the shelves. He'd left her shop with five books. At Flourish and Blotts, the manager pointed out three

different books he thought Harry should read as they had information in them about different categories of debts

one magic user could claim against another. And Obscurus, down in Knockturn Alley, had delivered two very old

books about such debts. One book was all about the more esoteric and obscure debts a witch or wizard could claim.

The other told about debts that could be turned back on the person claiming them and how to do it to free yourself

from the obligation. So all in all, he'd come back to Privet Drive with ten books on magical debts to read. He'd been

surprised when his Uncle had let him keep them in Dudley's second bedroom with him and even more surprised

when his Aunt made certain he had time to actually read them between doing his normal chores.

Harry had also picked up a wide variety of other books covering not only the myths he had come up against

that past school year, but also things every wizarding child raised in the magical world knows before they get to

Hogwarts. Harry had read all books on magical debts before deciding he didn't owe a life debt to anyone as he

didn't feel a pull on his core to go above and beyond what was normal for him. Not for the sake of the old man or

for anyone else. It was from them though that Harry had come to realize Hermione Granger did owe him just such a

debt as he had definitely placed himself in peril to rescue her from a Troll on Halloween.

Author Note: Please review and remember I told you up front these are not the canon characters. My characters are based on certain personality traits the canon characters displayed or events that occurred in canon but could have been taken another way. I am not bashing Ms. Rawlings work. I am merely creating my own using her setting and the people she populated it with.