Chapter 3: Battle in Hogsmeade

November 28, 1995, The Shrieking Shack

Pop!

The Joker arrived with a pop at the old decrepit house. He brushed off the dust that landed on him upon his arrival and calmly strode out of the building. He took in a deep breath of cool air as he got ready for a fun fight. From his place, he could see the back of the Death Eater army as they arrived at the center square. He observed that they looked like professional killers, much like him. For that, he could respect them. The Order of the Pheonix soon arrived, and his respect immediately disappeared as he found out that the Death Eaters were actually zombies in Death Eater garb. That meant that a master necromancer was nearby, and the only other place that gave a clear view of the battle was the roof of a run-down building at the edge of the town.

Now here he was in a dilemma. 'Should I hunt down the necromancer or should I just go fight Lestrange? On one hand, I wouldn't have to deal with the zombies. On the other hand, those pathetic Order members might think I was an enemy, or even worse, they'd think I was helping them! Hmmm...a dilemma for sure.' A few more moments of pondering and he made up his mind. His mission came first. This meant that his only target would be Lestrange.

Alright, to an omniscient audience, one might assume that this Joker fellow was quite an unpleasant and evil person. Unpleasant? Yeah sure. Cold? Definitely. Cynical? Yup. Cruel? Most of the time. But evil? Most definitely not! Deep down behind his mask (not just literal, but his figurative mask) he was a good person. Years of suffering by his own family turned him this way. His twin brother was believed to be a hero, so his parents and their friends spent all their time lavishing their attention upon their "precious baby boy". He was nothing. Nothing but the forgotten twin.

When he ran away ten years ago, he was naught but a lost orphan, deciding that he would forsake his name and family. He stumbled upon someone who would later become his beloved mentor, and said mentor brought him to a school where he worked as a teacher. The school was a school for the elites. You needed an invitation to join, and most joined after some time, since they needed to be able to prove that they were worthy of joining this school. Joker was lucky, since his mentor gave him his invitation. After joining the school, he spent most of his time studying obscure points of magic and training with his mentor, eventually becoming the top student in his year. What is he good at, you ask? Well, a better question would be, what isn't he good at? But those secrets are for another day, after all, one never knows who his enemies are.

Now in the present ten years later, he was a feared man in the both the muggle and magical underworld, despite being at the age of fifteen. After all, one cannot be expected to not gain a level of notoriety after dispatching half of the muggle and magical Japanese Yakuza by oneself. In the muggle world, he was known as the best assassin in the business. In the magical world, rumors of the Joker spread through dark bars, where the Joker would always get his target, if you can hire his services.

'The time for fun has begun...' the Joker thought to himself as he ran down the slope towards the back of the zombies. One flick of the wand and a giant red beam soared towards those unknowing undead.

Boom!

As soon as the spell had left his wand, he used his magic to pump up his legs, giving him the leg strength to jump several stories up in the air. However, he only used about 25 percent of this magic-induced strength to jump atop the shop closest towards him. He absently noticed that the shop had a large sign stating "Weasleys' Wizarding Weezes" before standing at attention like a soldier with his wand held to loosely his side. Struck by a spell? Already? Oh no, that was just his battle pose. It made him seem ferocious without even doing much. And indeed, the onlookers looked up at awe at this new force. The Joker smiled to himself as the Hogwarts students and Order members were dumbstruck at this new arrival.

---

Back with the Order

"Albus! Who is that?" an elderly professor by the name of Minerva McGonagall asked the mentioned man.

Dumbledore himself looked up at this new force, and responded with a clear shrug. "We can only hope, Minerva, that he is a friend."

---

The Joker stood atop the building and surveyed the people below him. He locked eyes with his target and said in a deep voice, "Bellatrix Lestrange. Your time is up. I come here on behalf of the words of Satan, who seeks your soul. May you burn in hell for your crimes against humanity." The Joker waisn't much of a religious guy. He just couldn't resist saying something as scary as that. And besides, it also helped increase his reputation.

As soon as he finished, he added some more magic to his feet, and the power boost increased his speed. His legs tensed and faster than the eye could blink he was behind Lestrange, his wand raised.

"Diffindo!" he said calmly, and the beam of light smashed into her back. Unfortunately, being the skilled dueller that she was, she already had a shield up that took the brunt of the attack, although a gash still appeared on the back of her robes. Blood spilled out and she went flying into the side of the zombies, bowling over three of them at the same time.

Joker stood there, waiting for her to get up. His blood was boiling with excitement and the adrenaline was pumping faster and faster, but he didn't show any of it outwardly. "C'mon Lestrange, get up," he said with a blank expression still stuck on his face. After all, assassins shouldn't have emotions when doing jobs.

She responded with a growl and slowly picked herself up. She cradled her left shoulder, which was dislocated upon impact with the zombies. Using her wand, she snapped her shoulder back into its joint and growled at this new entity. 'How dare he,' she thought, as her eyes slitted in anger.

Unfortunately for the Joker, he, in his excitement to fight Lestrange, totally forgot about the surrounding zombies. Two immediately jumped forth with wands firing spells of destructive degree. Joker saw the two different-colored beams out of the corner of his eye and ducked. The two beams smashed into each other, creating a small explosion which blew Joker aside. He flipped through the air until he finally touched down. His eyes closed and he concentrated for a second. When he opened his eyes, both of his hands were covered in a light blue sheen of magic.

Back when he was still a student, he created his own branch of magic. Although it isn't as fancy and doesn't produce pretty lights like others, its effects are quite well...effective. He found out he had a great control over his magic during school one day, and was struck by an idea. If you can channel magic into your wand to cast spells, why can't you do it with your palm? Or your fingers? With that in mind, he spent the next year working on the specifics on this new magic. He coated his fist, palm, and fingers with magic, which required meticulous control. After the magic was added, he attempted to punch a tree. To his surprise, the tree blew up in an explosion of splinters. Another year passed and he declared that the he finally developed the branch completely. Its name is the Magic Touch.

Joker rushed straight to the two zombies. With his wand in his right hand, he let loose a Reducto at point blank at the zombie on his right. With his left hand curled in a magic-coated fist, he punched straight through the zombie on his left. Needless to say, not much was left of the two corpses.

He turned back around just in time to see Bellatrix Lestrange shooting the Killing curse at him. He inwardly cursed and sidestepped the curse, before snapping his wand forward. A vivid stunning curse emerged from the wand and streaked right over to Lestrange. Her shield once again came up in time to block, but the force that Joker put into the curse easily broke the shield. Right before the curse would've knocked her out, one zombie dove in front, taking the curse at its maximum. The zombie was blown up by the sheer power that the stunning curse possessed.

Bellatrix mentally thanked her lord for allowing her to take lead of today's attack, since it allowed her to fight such a worthy and powerful opponent.

After Bellatrix got back up again, the two stared each other down, both excited at the prospect of fighting a worthy opponent, but only one showed it on the outside. The zombies ceased attacking the Joker, and instead surrounded the two duellers, forming a makeshift ring. The people still within the safe confines of Hogwarts watched the back of the zombies. Only a few tall enough to see over them could watch the fight between the two.

Another minute passed. The moment a small leaf gently touched the ground, the two burst into magical combat.

"Flamma!"

"Crucio!"

"Bombarda!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Reducto Maximus!"

Bellatrix cursed as she saw the enormous beam that was about to hit her. She dived at the last second, and the curse instead tore through the ranks of the zombie Death Eaters. Unfortunately, more seemed to fill up the hole created, and the makeshift ring was back.

The Joker let loose a laugh. "What, does the infamous Bellatrix Lestrange only know Unforgivables? I know kids who could do better than that!" he taunted.

His response from Lestrange was only the gritting of her teeth. Suddenly her behavior took a 180 degree change. "Well," she said sweetly, "you are a very good duelist. How would you like to join my master? I'm sure he would be pleased if you joined us."

"No thanks, I don't bow down before hypocritical fools," he responded.

Ignoring the barb at her master, she questioned, "Hypocritical?"

"Ohoho! It seems even his most loyal servants don't know his true heritage, huh? He is always boasting about how he is a descendant of Slytherin, but have you ever wondered who is on the other side of the family tree? Perhaps it is a pureblood. After all, no one else would be this hateful towards muggles, muggleborns, and halfbloods! But alas," he paused dramatically. "That is not true! His father was a muggle! And you people serve a halfblood, all while spouting rubbish about pureblood supremacy!"

Here Bellatrix Lestrange let loose an ear-piercing shriek. "That's a lie! My master is not a filthy halfblood! It's not true!"

"Oh? Allow me to give you a brief lesson in history. Tom Marvolo Riddle, born on December 31, 1926 to Merope Gaunt, whose family descended from Slytherin and to Tom Riddle, a muggle from Little Hangleton! Raised in a Muggle orphanage in London after his mother died and his father abandoned him! He went to Hogwarts in 1938, sorted into Slytherin, made prefect in '42, won a medal for Magical Merit for "special services" to the school, namely framing Rubeus Hagrid for the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, made Head Boy in 1944, and created his own Slytherin cliche, which eventually evolved into the future Death Eaters. He graduated in 1945 at the top of his year and was considered to be the most promising student. Great things was to be expected of him, but instead, after graduating, he went to work at Borgin and Burke's. In 1956, the first Death Eaters were created! Antonin Dolohov, Mulciber, Nott Sr., and Rosier were the among the first to join. And finally, the most damning evidence!" Here he paused and lifted his wand. He traced out the name "Tom Marvolo Riddle" into the air with his wand, and with a flick, the letters rearranged themselves. Bellatrix watched with her full attention as the name Tom Marvolo Riddle changed to "I am Lord Voldemort".

The feared lieutenant of the Dark Lord could only look on in shock as it was revealed that her master was a half blood. Unfortunately for her, her musings were interrupted by the teacher who gave the history lesson.

"Anyway, it matters not, since you will not live long enough to do anything about it. Sectumsempra!" The dark form of the cutting curse slammed into Bellatrix. Her face was still in shock, even as the spell split her into two.

Immediately after Lestrange was killed, the zombie Death Eaters collapsed into unmoving heaps on the ground.. Joker stood there, his eyes looking like an owl's, and blinked several times. 'What the he-...No way. Lestrange was the necromancer the entire time?!'

It appeared that he was wrong the entire time. Voldemort never hired a master necromancer, which actually made sense, since they were hard to find and usually did not choose to serve. 'I guess Bellatrix was trained in the arts of Necromancy,' he thought, before finally noticing that the Order members left the safety of the school and were quickly approaching him.

---

Order's View

After this new masked entity engaged Bellatrix Lestrange in a fight, whispers started up among the people present.

"Who is this guy?"

"That man is suicidal!"

"Lestrange is gonna kill him!"

The whispers soon died down when Voldemort's heritage was revealed. Everyone was in shock at the truth of the most evil Dark Lord in a century being a half blood. Everyone that is, except Dumbledore.

When the man told the story of Tom's past, Dumbledore's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open. He was surprised beyond belief. He assumed that he was only one to know of Tom's history, but it appears he was proved wrong today.

After the story telling was over, the whispers started up again about this new revelation. Once again, the whispers disappeared when Bellatrix was cut into two. Shock adorned the people's face, and the Death Eater zombies' fall brought them out of their stupor.

The first one to react was Albus, who sped off towards the one who defeated Lestrange. He got their so fast that some people thought he apparated there.

"Excuse me young man!" the old headmaster called out to the newcomer, who was about to take his leave. The newcomer turned his head back slowly and his piercing green gaze was locked onto Albus himself. "Will you please come with me? I'd like to talk to you...privately."

The newcomer thought about it for a few seconds before he responded.

---

Joker's face turned back to Dumbledore after he called for his attention, who he noticed was far ahead from the rest of the crowd.

"Will you please come with me? I'd like to talk to you...privately."

Joker stopped and thought about it for a few seconds.

'Hmmm...do I want to talk to them? Well not really...but it's just a talk right? It's not like they're gonna ask for my help, and even if they did, I'd charge them.'

"Alright," he finally said. "I'll come and talk with you."

---

Dumbledore, the newcomer, and the senior "council" of the Order stood in the Headmaster's office in Hogwarts. The silence was awkward, and was finally broken

"So...who are you?" a man asked. The black-haired man, whose gray eyes sparkled with admiration, looked like he was about to bow down before the newcomer who had defeated and killed his cousin Bellatrix in a duel.

Joker ignored the man who asked him a question, instead taking a look around the office. He noticed several prominent members, like Sirius Black, who was the one who tried to get his identity, Arthur Weasley, patriach of the Weasley family, Remus Lupin, known werewolf, Mad-Eye Moody, most paranoid auror, Elphias Doge, an elderly man rumored to be as old as Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Dumbledore's right hand woman, Kingsley Shacklebolt, an accomplished auror, Severus Snape, ex-Death Eater, Edgar and Amelia Bones, a pair of powerful Aurors, Frank and Alice Longbottom, also powerful Aurors and finally, James and Lily Potter.

Joker's lips curled in disgust as he looked at the Potters. It was these two that caused him to run away about ten years ago.

Finally deciding to speak up, the Joker replied, "You can call me Joker."

"Please, please, let's not fight," Dumbledore said, placating the upcoming fight. "Now, Mr. Joker, can you tell me what you were doing here in Hogsmeade when the Death Eaters attacked?"

"I'm an assassin, plan and simple, and some lady hired me to kill Lestrange. After getting the request, I waited until I received news of an attack, and well what do you know? Lestrange happened to be here," he finished with a shrug.

All of the people present recoiled in shock at this blunt admission. An assassin? Who would hire such people?

Before anyone could say anything though, Dumbledore asked another question. "Who hired you?"

The Joker snorted. "I'm an assassin remember? It wouldn't be good for business if I told everyone who my clients are. Nof if you don't mind, I really need to go and collect my reward."

That's when disaster (for the Joker) struck.

Just as he turned to leave, Sirius Black bounced right up to him and slapped him on the back, meaning to congratulate him on offing his despicable cousin. Unfortunately, during the fight, the bands that kept the mask on his face were loosened by the fighting, and Black's hard thump of the back knocked the mask straight off.

Everyone was frozen in shock when they saw the masked man's face. His messy jet black hair was familiar, and his emerald green eyes were unmistakable. The lightning bolt scar on his forehead, was what everyone noticed.

Lily, who was quietly standing with her husband James off to the side, choked. "H-H-Harry?"

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Author's Note: mardigrascostumes (dot) com/fullpapermache (dot) htm

That's the website I meant to show you from last chapter. Fifth mask down on the left side is what I envisioned for Harry to wear. Something like it, at least.