Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.

Chapter 84- Guerilla Warfare.

----------------------------------------

Tonights the night... Godamn, I feel like Dexter right now, apart from going out with plastic wrap and tying people up, showing them their victims before killing them in an ironic way, chopping them into pieces and then throwing the parts in garbage bags, which are then dumped in the ocean. Still going after a bad guy, though, so that is similar. Except my bad guy doesn't have a blood and flesh body for me to cut up; instead, I have pages to collect. The first few times I tried, I wasn't successful, but this time I am prepared.

I have a properly thought out plan now, one that I have put a lot of consideration into while thinking about actions and reactions. Even so, I am sure I've missed some things, but I can't delay any longer because that's more time for Riddle to put his own plan into action. I have the Marauders Map now, which will help me a lot. I did have to put up with suspicious looks from the Weasley twins as they definitely knew their map was missing from where I put it in the bin. Just to be safe, I completely vanished all the rubbish in it, but those two were clever and on to me, not that they could do anything about it.

The map was actually very helpful in allowing me to work on the next thing I needed to improve before going after Riddle. My stealth. While I did work on a few spells to improve it, I realised there was a much quicker method to improving it, and I am nothing if not time efficient. So there I was, disillusioned, just outside of the Gryffindor Common Room in the middle of the day, waiting for a student to come and enter, and when one finally did, I managed to get the password to get past the fat lady.

Coming back at night, I used the map to make sure I didn't run into anyone, though I noticed a few names out and about, whom I assumed to be Riddle agents. Of course, I made it of the utmost importance to avoid them as much as possible, even if I was confident in my disillusionment; there was no need to risk any students going pop in the night. Reaching the Fat Lady, I was glad that she was sleeping; however, that works for magical portraits.

"Cornu Draconis," I said loudly in front of the portrait, my disillusionment still in place. "Oh yes. Wait, who's out this late? Come back!" The Fat Lady wakes up suddenly and automatically opens the door, feeling like she has been caught slacking. Still, she soon realises what time it is and how late it is, but it is too late by then as I have already walked through, and all she can do is call for me to come back before the painting closes behind me.

Wasting no time, I head towards the boy's section, which is on the right if I am correct. I pause before doing so, remembering that if it is the girls, there will be an alarm, and the stairs will turn to a slide. I look around for any clues as this could potentially mess up my whole plan tonight, but then I spot some stuff along the stairs on the right, such as ties, quills and other stuff, while the left staircase is very neat and clean. Yep, the right one is definitely the boys. Thank you classic stereotypes for your guidance, I can always rely on you.

Heading up the stairs, I go to the second floor, chancing a glance in by slowly opening the door, which is thankfully not creaky at all. Either this floor belongs to the second years, or I am going to have to go to the floor that is second from the top. I just hope I don't open this and find some kids cranking it, I remember starting to do some of that when I was twelve, and I don't know if it is weird or not for that age. Looking in, I am relieved when everybody is asleep and doubly so when this turns out to be the correct floor as the slovenly Gryfindor second years sleep haphazardly on their beds, their curtains not drawn.

Making sure all of my stealth spells are still in effect, I move in, closing the door silently behind me in case one of them wakes up from a draft or realises the door is opened and gets spooked. If I am correct, then Harry Potter keeps his Invisibility Cloak in his trunk, and since he is very trusting of his fellow Gryffindor students, the trunk should be unlocked and easy for me to get into.

I could have come during the day behind some students entering the common room, but there was an increased chance of being captured, and maybe Harry would have taken the cloak with him since it was dangerous around the school nowadays. Night time had hundred percent guarantee of it being here, so that is when I decided to strike. Grabbing the trunks lid, I thank my stars there is no lock, and I lift it up and look inside to see a bunch of clothes and school supplies. At least the boy is clever enough to hide his valuable possession beneath all this other stuff. I hope.

I don't start shuffling and rifling through the trunk as the boy might notice the contents of his trunk being in different positions. I don't even use magic in case any of these boys are sensitive and will wake up to it, or the magic cast is somehow picked up by teachers. Instead, I reach in and grab a chunk of stuff, carefully pull it out, and set it to the side, and then I do the same again, remembering the order I am taking it out.

And then there it is, a shimmering length of silky greyish cloth that looks somewhat like solid fog, yet it seems so transparent and nonexistent. This is definitely the one. Before picking it up, I drag my wand along the surface, using my connection to my wand and the magic in it to scan the cloak for any other magic. My wand picks up nothing, meaning Dumbledore doesn't have tracking charms on this or anything, which lends more credence to the fact he isn't an evil Dumbledore and also makes me think he is pretty incompetent and untrustworthy.

Well, no time like the present. I need to leave here stealthily, and there is no reason to do it the same way I came in now that I have a better option. Quickly putting the things back in the trunk and shutting it close, I rise to my full height and pull the invisibility cloak over myself, feeling it slither over me, a coldness suffusing over me and encasing me inside it safely. The disillusionment I had on dispels automatically; maybe the cloak didn't like the lesser form of invisibility and got rid of it, something I will check later as it is curious. With that done, I flee with ease, the Fat Lady sleeping soundly as I push her painting open and retreat back to my room for the night.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

And that's how I got here, where tonight is the night. I'm still in my room, making sure my potions are all in the right places and I have plenty of supplies. I am fully prepared, and with the map, I now have the element of surprise. Checking the map, I spot a few names walking around the castle; most likely, all of them are Riddle's agents, and if any of them are not, well, tough shit, they shouldn't have been sneaking out at night.

Now, eenie, meenie, minie, mo, catch a baby tiger by the toe; if it hollers, let it go, eenie, meenie, miny, mo, my target tonight is you. My finger stops on somebody on the 3rd floor named Jonathan Barkley, the person I will be going after first tonight. The eenie meenie miny mo thing was just for dramatic effect; I am going after the closest person to me, and then after them, if all goes hopefully well, I will be moving on to the next nearest person until they are all gone, or Riddle inevitably notices that something is up and retreats. It depends on how my capture method works and whether Riddle will be able to tell I have taken a page.

Readying my Soul catching cage, which has the Diadem in it, I cast the spell on it, and the trail shows up. I follow it out of my room, and looking at where it heads and comparing it with the map, I can confirm it is in the direction of Jonathan Barkley. Time to go, and I feel fine going as fast as I can as I am wearing the invisibility cloak. Harry Potter doesn't even seem to have noticed it is missing, so I guess he isn't using it much this year, which is good for me.

Moving through the halls without the worry of being caught, I reached my destination in no time to find a fourth-year Gryffindor boy walking along the corridor, clearly with a destination in mind. Consulting my map again, I confirm that this is indeed Jonathan Barkley. I can't help but wonder about where he is heading and what Riddle is up to, contemplating just following this one and finding out Riddle's plot.

In the end, I decide not to. I don't have the luxury of wasting time trying to find out what Riddle is planning because, most likely, even if I knew, I would be able to do anything about it with how many agents Riddle can have out and about. Better to just focus on capturing pages, which will hamper his operations, in the end, achieving the same effect even if I don't know what his goal is. Checking the map once more to ensure that no one else is around, I feel safe enough to put my plan into action.

Waiting for the right moment, I continue to follow the boy until he slows down to a stop. Taking the opportunity for what it is, I snap out with the two spells I had practised so much to have them shoot out fast, so my plan works. It starts with a stunning spell that hits the student in the back, and literally, following right behind the red spell, is another that hits a second after, and that is the Immobulus spell to slow them down. The combo proves to be very effective as the student is in the process of slowly falling to the ground, and slowly moving out of his robes is a page which is moving in slow motion.

My first victim, the first page capture in this long drawn out war that will consist of guerilla tactics. I approach cautiously, still hesitant because usually, the slowing spell slows the perception of the target as well, but since this page is not actually a person or animal, I am unsure of whether its perception is slowed or not. If it is, that is good for me, as Riddle won't properly know what is happening besides knowing that he has lost a connection with one of his pages. If it isn't slowed, then I have to make sure that I don't reveal my identity as I capture the chair, or Riddle might follow through on his promise and explode all of the agents he currently has.

Getting as close as I am comfortable, I summon the Horcrux cage towards me and open the door to it. Then, using my wand, I float the immobile page into the cage, which I then close. I modified the cage so that it is only visible to me, and nobody else can see it. Now that the page is in it, it is inert and cut off from its connection to Riddle. That is one page down, and now it is time to get another.

Looking down at the unconscious Gryffindor student on the floor, I contemplate what to do with him. Honestly, I don't have time to deal with him as every second that passes now is another second for Riddle to run and retreat, hiding from my hands. I also can't just leave the boy here as Riddle can release a Basilisk at any moment, so I float the boy up and put him down in a nearby room, which turns out to be an empty, unused classroom, and I close the door on him, both literally and figuratively in my mind.

Using my spell on the Diadem again, the sickly black trail appears before me again; comparing it with the map, I can see it indeed does lead towards another name, which I don't pay attention to beyond the fact it is a name and now it is moving much faster than it was before. Not that it is running, but its gait is definitely hurried, making me think Riddle isn't sure what has happened here except that he has lost his connection to the page. Hurrying up myself, I go after my next target.

I rush, trusting in the effects of my Invisibility Cloak to keep me hidden from everything, granting me stealth that would even hide me from death. With this, I don't mind running full sprint throughout the entirety of Hogwarts, so I can collect as many of these fuckers as possible. Hell, I think it is even doing a good job of hiding me from Hogwarts as well as there are no distractions stopping me on the way. When I get to the staircase, the stairs don't move when I get on them like they sometimes do; they just stay where I need them to, which means the cloak is definitely hiding me from Hogwarts.

As I run, I contemplate on the cloak. In the story, it was said the third brother kept the cloak on until he was ready to greet death as an old friend, making me think it grants the one using it a form of immortality. You can basically keep this cloak on and live forever, and nothing can kill you. It should be called the cloak of invincibility. However, you will be invisible to everyone else, so it's not really a life, and say you live for hundreds of years, the second you take off the cloak, you will turn to dust. This is all just conjecture, so it might not even be true.

Finally reaching my destination, I found a third-year Ravenclaw girl walking fast whilst looking around, her gaze passing right through me. I don't stop in my run, coming at her from behind, and I initiate the same spell combo. The stunning spell hits, and then the slowing spell, and the girl slowly drops to the ground. Again, the page is trying to leave but is doing so slowly. I guess it can't help its inbuilt survival instinct, and the moment the body it is possessing is stunned, it tries to eject and return, which is good for me.

Employing the same method again, I levitate the page into the cage, where it turns inert. Wasting no time, I put the body in a nearby room and then resumed my hunt, casting the spell for the next trail and checking my map. There is a person really close, actually, and the trail is heading in their direction, so I go towards it. This time, the student is running. I bag'em and tag'em once more, putting another page in the cage.

After making sure the body is safe, I cast the spell and then check the map again, and head to the next student who is running. I follow the trail, but then it cuts out, and when I look at the map, the student has stopped. Riddle must have taken his pages back and gotten to his secure hiding place, leaving his vessels behind. Still, Riddle never blew anyone up or killed anyone; I can tell as all the names on the map that were there when I started are still on the map. They are alive.

Riddle was bluffing. He isn't about to explode every student he controls. If students start exploding, Dumbledore would notice, and teen Tom Riddle is very scared of the man, which is why he is being very subtle this year. He might be bale to kill a few students, but even that might be pushing it as a student death would bring all sorts of outside forces in such as the Auror and the Ministry and Riddle probably can't deal with that. Happy with tonight's bounty, I head back to my room.

Once there, I go over and enter my tent, which is the soul catcher, allowing me to take the pages out of the Diadem cage. Picking the three up, I transfer them to a wooden box, neatly filing them inside. It is another soul catcher for extra security.

Welcome to the collection, which will start to grow bigger by the day.