"You really think this is a good idea?" a soft feminine voice asked as she gazed over the night sky.
"Who cares, we are getting paid and a hefty sum in case you forgot." A harsh tone replied as the owner shrugged carelessly as he aligned his scope.
"Of course I didn't forget… still… she's just a kid, man you sure you want that blood on your hands?" The firsts tone was more worried now, concern seemingly out of place for her.
*BANG* the shot rang through the city and bounced off the many buildings as the sound of a window cracking and a multitude of screams spread into the air.
The shooter shrugged again as he stood up and shouldered his rifle before inspecting his handiwork "My hands are already stained, what difference does a few more drops make. Adult or child, blood weighs the same, love"
"You're a sick son of a bitch, Ace, you know that?" The woman stated more than asked as she fell into step with her partner.
"Fuck me. You just figured that out now, Vanessa?" The shooter "Ace" asked in return of his longtime partner and friend.
"Maybe later Ace, for now let's collect some payment." Vanessa teased as she strutted ahead of him, hips swaying seductively.
"Whatever fits you best." Ace replied with a shrug, though his eyes followed that amazing ass all the way.
The two quickly made their way down from the roof and back into the darkness of the streets of London. Ace helped himself freely to any exposed wallet they might pass by, he must have made away with a few thousand pounds tonight.
"You are getting paid 10 million pounds for this and yet you are nicking wallets?" Vanessa asked in a ridiculed tone.
Ace shrugged before shifting through his newest acquired wallet. "I'm only seeing 2 million of those 10 you know that, and those 2 already have a place they need to go so what is wrong with me grabbing some spending money?"
"I swear if you shrug one more time Ace I will kick you so hard in the nuts that you will taste your future kids!" Vanessa half yelled at her partner, his constant shrugging was grating on her nerves.
"Sheeze calm down, you know I can't help it." Ace defended as he raised his hands in the universal sign of defeat.
"I swear if I meet this "Albus" character I am going to make him eat his staff!" Vanessa growled into the night.
"For the eleventh billion two thousand and thirty five point fifth time Vanessa, wizards don't fucking use staffs! Mages does, get your facts fucking straight if you are going to insult us." Ace corrected his partner with a low hiss, much like his shrugging annoyed her. He was annoyed when she constantly got facts about the wizarding world wrong.
"Well excuse me mister fucking "Boy-Who-Lived" Harry "Ass over tit" Potter! I forgot you are our resident expert on the matter!" Vanessa yelled into his face.
"Would you stop calling me that? I gave up that name years ago… also perhaps we should stop yelling before I have to memory wipe an entire street… again." Ace chided as he poked her in the chest with a pointed finger before using his thumb to indicate to the rest of the street.
"Whoopsy… sorry Ace… I just hate that entire world after what they did to you…" Vanessa replied with a grin on her face that betrayed how little she cared.
"I got over it. Not like they managed to do anything to me before I split." Ace replied with a small smile of his own.
"Something about you being a Mage wasn't it?" Vanessa questioned as her eyes closed for a moment to recall the memory.
"Yeah… a regular Wizard or Witch just needs a wand to channel their magical energy, a Mage or Sorceress needs a staff or something of equal measure to ensure they don't blow up half their current area with a simple spell because of too much power." Ace explained once more, it still sounded farfetched to him even to this day.
"In your case it turned out to be that beauty on your back." Vanessa stated with a knowing nod.
Ace gave a sly grin as he adjusted the large black sniper on his back, that little baby was a Mage-MK1 sniper rifle. A little something Ace had built a few years ago when he *ahem* left, the wizarding world. He had built it to replace the staff he had to leave behind… well the small pieces he did leave behind; the Silver Phoenix feather that had made up the core of his staff was currently the core piece of his Sniper.
"Yep, she is the reason I am the best in the business." Ace said with an ear splitting grin.
"She is also the reason you aren't using any of that hard earned money on ammo… bloody unfair if you ask me." Vanessa grumbled as she halfheartedly kicked a pebble on the sidewalk.
"Hey don't hate on me just because you were born a Normy and can't have a bad ass sniper that shoots Magical self-vanishing bullets." Ace replied in a fake superior tone that he remembered from some of his old "friends" in the Wizarding world.
"Yeah… no thank you, if being a Witch means eventually being thrown head first out of my own world and then have my eye taken in payment…" Vanessa began but stopped herself as she breached a topic neither of them were very comfortable about.
Ace stiffened slightly as he reached up and ran a hand over the black eye patch that was currently hiding the gaping hole that used to hold his left eye.
Ace shrugged to himself as he forced the anger away "I got the fucker who did it to me, fair trade if you ask me."
"I'm still saying you let this "Ron" guy off too easily, I mean he betrayed you didn't he? And all he got for it was a bullet through the head… I would at least have taken his bits or something…" Vanessa's smile turned creepy when she began talking about taking people's bits…
Ace let out a shudder at the thought. "What's with you and threatening people's bits?"
"They are a nice squishy target." Vanessa stated with a shrug of her own.
"Oi! Shrugging is my thing!" Ace yelled with a mock pout.
The raspberries were not unexpected but there were was no time to respond, they had arrived at their destination. A small pub down in central London. A quaint little place called "Where the world Ends" which was fairly famous for being a gathering place of mercenaries and hit-men should you need one.
"Ace and Vanessa, the usual?"
The barkeep Tom, yes that Tom, called out to them and got two nods in response. The old Wizard had retired from the leaky cauldron when he saw Harry get chased out through his doors; he wasn't going to watch both the greatest sin Wizarding Britain was committing and its aftermath.
The two before mentioned guests took their regular seat at one corner of the small pub and awaited both their drinks and their employer.
"Ale for Vanessa and an Old Rusty for Ace." Tom announced as he sat the two drinks down and gave each of his old friends a smile.
"Thanks Tom. How's everything been?" Ace asked as he took a healthy swig of his drink.
"Oh just fine Ace, you know this place is sacred ground." Tom replied with a knowing glint in his eyes.
Vanessa couldn't hold in the snort as she remembered what happened to the last guy that forgot, "Yeah like anyone is going to forget after you blew a hole through Trickster's head."
"Now, now Vanessa you know I don't condone violence." Tom chided though he sounded thoroughly sarcastic.
"Of course not Tom." Vanessa agreed with a nod that led into her taking her first sip.
With a smile, the elderly wizard returned to his bartending duties leaving the two behind to their small talk and enjoyable silence.
At least it was enjoyable until a suit walked through the door and looked to be so tightly winded up that if someone let one loose he might jump five feet in the air. The suit quickly located the two in the corner and shuffled over to them and sat down across from them and placed a rather bulky suit case on the table
"I trust everything was done to order?" The suit asked as his head kept darting around in fear.
"No need for the secrecy, Suit. Yeah the kid is dead and they won't be able to tell you asked me to pull the trigger." Ace informed the lackey of his employer as he tossed a foot on the table.
With a gulp and a nod, the Suit turned around the briefcase and opened it up to reveal the rather hefty sum of ten million pounds in large bills. A remarkable sight for any mercenary.
"As we agreed." The suit stated. He was looking ready to hurl the more he sat still.
"Indeed we did. Leave the briefcase and get out of here, I can smell you're about to piss yourself." Vanessa barked as she kicked the bottom of the suit's chair causing the frightened man to stand up.
The Suit almost ran out of the pub. A ripple of laughter echoed through the pub quickly followed by a cheer as Vanessa held up a wad of bills and yelled "Next round on me!"
It was customary that when someone got a big job done they would buy a round for whoever was at the pub at the time; it helped keep up some semblance of comradely between them all.
Ace quickly separated the money into three piles, five million for Vanessa, Two million for himself and three million for Tom. The three million going to Tom was a good agreement the two had together, Tom kept Ace's real identity and location a secret from everyone and in return Ace paid for every renovation or other small need the pub might suddenly find itself in need of.
"So Ace… how about we go celebrate?" Vanessa asked in a sultry tone as she placed a wad of bills between her shapely breasts.
The grin on Ace face was predatory and Vanessa knew just what that meant, she was going to be walking funny tomorrow. She loved walking funny.
-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-
Next Morning
It was with a loud yawn that Ace sat up in his king sized bed and stared groggily out the window and listened to the birds' happy singing
"…fucking birds… fucking sun… fucking morning…"
Ace kept mumbling and growling all the way from his bed to the bathroom and kept it up through his shitting and didn't even stop when he took a shower, he was still going strong when he hit the kitchen and began brewing some much needed coffee.
A few heavy gulps of his mug and the muttering slowly declined to small growls here and there as Ace managed to lean himself in a way that let the sun hit his one good eye head on.
"Well aren't you a bucket of sunshine this fine morning." Vanessa beamed from the doorway as she practically glided into the room.
The statement was greeted with a two-fingered salute and another few mumbled curse words in regards to Vanessa's unending cheeriness in the morning.
"I know something better you could do with those two fingers." Vanessa teased as she shook her bum at Ace.
"You are walking funnily enough already, no need to make you a cripple for the day" Ace replied offhandedly as he lazily flicked his hand through the air.
"Hoh? Someone thinks highly of his skills." Vanessa tested.
"Someone got verbal confirmation of those skills last night." Ace countered.
Vanessa chuckled slightly as she raised a hand "Guilty, now stand aside my exquisite boy-toy, mama needs her liquid gold."
With an exaggerated bow Ace moved to the side and allowed her access to the brewer before sitting himself down at the table only to let out a growl as he realized he had forgotten to pick up the paper. A few long steps followed by equally long swear words saw Ace out to the door and back again, now with the paper in hand and already opened up to the first few pages.
"Anything interesting this morning?" Vanessa asked as she sat down opposite her lover.
Ace ripped out a few pages and handed them over the table, they mostly contained articles he didn't care about and the fashion section. Vanessa took them with a smile and glanced over the leading article…
Crown Princess killed:
Britain in deep mourning
"Front page again, Ace." Vanessa stated with a small applause.
"I don't know what they are making such a big deal for; she was only 8 so what's the problem. Not like she had done much living." Ace grumbled as he stared at the headline.
Vanessa rolled her eyes before sticking her head back down into her articles. "I don't think they care as much about her being "only" 8 and perhaps more with the fact that she still had a long life ahead of her… people are usually sad when young people die because they still had their entire lives ahead of them."
Ace shrugged as he kept reading his part of the paper. "Protect her better then, not my bloody fault that they allowed the crown princess to play right in front of a fucking 10 meter tall window that was facing a fifty story building."
Vanessa just nodded her consent, she hated killing children but was firmly of the mind that if someone wanted their children to survive then perhaps not place them somewhere that would allow such an easy kill.
"So what is on the agenda today?" she asked over the rim of her paper.
Ace rubbed the back of his head in thought for a few moments as he continued to look through the articles
"Not much. Look through the new job offers, a bit more sex, sleep some more I guess and then perhaps finish up with a movie." he suggested.
"Sounds like a plan."
Ace nodded in agreement but didn't give a verbal reply as a certain article had caught his attention… and kept it for an unusual amount of time, something Vanessa noted which prompted her to move around the table and look over his shoulder to read
Lord Harry James Potter declared dead
after missing for 15 years
The article went on to describe how after fifteen years of the young lord being missing he was finally being declared dead and as such his properties and holdings would go to his next of kin, in lack of any such thing the various assets would be turned over to the government.
"Well to be fair I expected them to do it sooner…" Ace muttered as he traced a finger of the headline.
"You aren't mad?" Vanessa questioned, after all she would be.
"Why would I be? Harry Potter died fifteen years ago just as the article suggests." Ace explained.
"You know you never actually told me just why being a Mage got you kicked out…" Vanessa said as she pulled Ace in for an embrace.
"Because they were afraid mostly, Mage and Sorceresses are extremely rare and only a handful has been seen since Merlin and Morgana. After I took care of their dark lord I guess they feared I might become one myself so they "kicked me out" as I am so fond of saying." Ace relayed the small part of his history he wasn't that comfortable with.
"Which as you have explained means that they tried to bind your magic and wipe your memories?" Vanessa said with a questioning gaze.
"Yes and as you were once an engineer you can of course tell me when you put a weak dam in front of a raging river." Ace agreed with a nod.
"It collapses." Vanessa deadpanned.
"And in my case sends an explosion of magic out that blew up half our government and resulted in me being hunted by every Willie capable of wielding a wand." Ace said with a loud sigh.
Vanessa promptly planted herself on Ace's lap and continued looking over the attached articles that covered just what regular Britain knew about their most recently deceased Lord.
"Well I guess I should thank them, I would never have met you if they hadn't done it." Vanessa tried on a more cheerful note.
"I could have lived with not losing my left eye thank you very much… but I guess you are right. Living without you wouldn't be as much fun." Ace concurred as he pulled her a little closer.
A quick kiss showed that Ace had managed that one perfectly and now perhaps he would need to screw up slightly more if he was to lose his chance at getting their second round underway.
The two lovers continued their breakfast and let their morning slowly run its course which led Vanessa into the bathroom for her shower 'Well an hour of freedom, what to do, what to do' ran through Ace's head as Vanessa took notoriously long showers.
His musing was cut off when a pop sounded through his living room and heralded the arrival of a Wizard whom was just so incredibly stupid as to apparate into his apartment… he or she was going to regret that.
"Avada Kedavra!" a familiar voice screamed.
Ace recognized that attempt at a killing curse and slowly turned around to stare at whoever had attempted to do magic here inside his lovely apartment. Said person was currently standing in shock and staring down at their wand trying to figure out why the spell didn't appear.
"Having a wee bit of trouble there are we?" Ace teased as he saw the attempted attacker look at her wand in fear.
"You! What did you do?!" the assailant screeched in a manner befitting her mother-in-law.
"Me? I'm sorry but you not just apparate into my home and try to shoot me with a killing curse? I think a more appropriate question would be "What the hell are you doing?" care to answer?" Ace flipped the question right around again.
The assailant realized that spells wouldn't work so this person threw themself at Ace hoping to catch him off guard and perhaps kill him with their bare hands… *snort* yeah that was going to work, of course it was!
Ace side stepped the attempt fairly easily and used silent wandless magic to both freeze his assailant and stop them in their tracks so they wouldn't fly into his expensive oak dinner table.
"You know for the supposed "brightest witch of our age" you really are stupid sometimes, what are you doing here Granger? If you are here for revenge over Weasley then I must disappoint you as that won't be happening, though I would love to learn how you found me." With the wave of his hand Hermione Granger found herself flung into a sofa by Ace's banishing spell and then the paralyzes spell was partially lifted so she could speak.
"You filthy murderer!" she screamed and looked like she was charging up for another triad.
And the spell was back in place as Ace rubbed his eyes tiredly and began grumbling obscenities to keep himself from physically striking Granger.
"Ace what the hell is going on out here?" Vanessa yelled as she came out of the bathroom, a towel strung around her midsection.
Vanessa rounded the corner into the living room and saw Ace sitting in his chair in one end of the living room and a woman she had only seen pictures of in the past sitting paralyzed in the sofa.
"Not that I mind the visage of you in a wet towel but you are dripping on the floor. Also Miss Granger here tried to kill me." Ace informed his lovely partner.
"Oh did she now? I'll be right back!" Vanessa declared as she ripped the towel off her body and marched, loudly, into the bathroom again to dry off and find some clothing.
Back in the living room Ace gave Granger and mild look of pity that clearly conveyed the message "She is not happy with you" of course Granger being Granger she simply scoffed to herself.
"So do you want to try again Granger? How did you find me, and I swear if you yell again I will throw you ass first into the nearest dog impound butt naked and covered in dog pheromones." Ace threatened with the worst thing his morning mind could think of.
Hermione Granger was the smartest witch of her generation and certainly knew it, which is also why she knew that the man in front of her was not her old friend turned enemy, Harry Potter and that this man would actually make good on his threat so when the spell was lifted she took a deep breath.
"I used a combination of tracking spells and rituals to pinpoint your location." she muttered through gritted teeth.
Ace saw how much it pained the woman to disclose just how she had managed to find him because it ensured that it would not happen again, also Ace was mighty pissed that he had actually missed some spells that would allow him to be tracked.
"Well at least you are living up to your title… though seriously Hermione, what possessed you to come here and try to kill me? Surely you must know what I have been doing for the past fifteen years?" Ace asked in curiosity.
Ace saw how her face slowly turned a shade of pink as the truth was revealed… she had not known what his current occupation was and she had most likely spent those fifteen years trying to find a way to locate him.
At that moment Vanessa walked into the room wearing a set of casual clothes which consisted of a pair of very short denim shorts and a pure white t-shirt. She sat down in the sofa next to the one that held Hermione and then quickly glanced over at Ace who, with a quick Legilimency spell, conveyed what had transpired as she got dressed.
She then turned her gaze on Hermione and stared at her with a ridiculous expression.
"You came here and tried to kill him without knowing just what he has become? Woman you are utterly insane!" Vanessa declared.
Hermione's eyes widened at the lightness of the woman's tone and looked between the two other occupants of the room and silently begged for an explanation. Something Vanessa was only happy to provide.
"Okay girly listen good. The man you know as Harry Potter died fifteen years ago when you idiots chased him out, the man sitting in front of you is Ace, the best god damn hit-man in all of Europe. This is the man you just tried to off, count your lucky stars that we just woke up or odds were that Ace would have been carrying a gun which means your brain would have been splattered over the floor right now." Vanessa explained with a few hand motions going between herself, Ace and Hermione.
Hermione paled and began shaking as the implications hit her and she realized that perhaps she should have done a bit more studying on what Harry had been up to in the years rather than focusing solely on a way to find him and rely on the belief that surely he couldn't have become more dangerous after fifteen years of being unable to do magic… fuck was she wrong huh?
"So Hermione do enlighten me what your grand scheme was, I mean aside from killing me which would have put a price on your head that is." Ace demanded.
"I-I-I-I…" the supposed brightest witch of her age muttered.
"Was she this stupid while you attended that wizarding school as well?" Vanessa questioned after a while
"You told her about Hogwarts?!" Hermione screeched.
Ace and Vanessa were both surprised by Hermione's sudden outburst and Ace just nodded in reply and saw her head slowly shifting from embarrassed pink to angry red.
"But that's against the law and the statue of secrecy! How could you do that?! What if she tells anyone?!" Hermione yelled as her face turned redder.
"Ever the good girl huh Granger? Who gives a shit about the statue? No one would believe her if she told anyone about the wizarding world, she only believed me after I showed her some actual magic." Ace commented as he flicked the invisible dust speck off his shoulder.
Hermione began spluttering and foaming at the mouth in anger as Ace kept revealing how many of the wizarding secrecy laws he had broken. It was quite amusing for her two captors to witness and they openly laughed as she blabbered incoherent nonsense.
"… believe you would do that! Well good think I have a contingency plan!" Hermione declared triumphantly.
That last bit caught both their attention as they both tried to react to whatever Hermione might be doing but Ace wasn't quick enough with sealing her mouth with the paralyzes spell again and whatever spell she muttered began taking effect and Hermione's entire body began glowing
"Oh shit, she going to…"
Those were the last words Vanessa ever spoke and the last words Ace heard before an ear rending explosion ripped through their bodies and turned them into a fine red mist… alongside creating a crater the size of a city block.
Chapter Revised 27/12-2015
A/N: Hmm yeah… don't expect this just come flying out chapter wise, I'm not sure if I want to continue with this but I figured I could post the first chapter and sort of get peoples opinion. If, if I do end up doing this then there definently is a plot in the works and it won't be the longest of fics ever.
Some Time-Travel with a twist or two in the story.
Will have M rating for language and adult situations
-TheLemonsWillSeeYou