Chapter One: Like Clockwork

It was a hot day in the middle of summer, and the sun poured in through the windows of the spacious flat with reckless abandon. Said windows were open, letting in what was meant to be a cool breeze but was really more of a hot wheeze, and a man with messy black hair currently lay with his eyes shut on the sofa. The fan in the corner whirred away, compensating for the lack of fresh air.

James Potter was a brilliant individual. He had a knack for identifying patterns of all sorts and connecting dots, which had been the main motivation behind his choice of profession – private detective. He was where people came to if they felt that the Ministry would be unable to help them, or if the laws were against them but justice still needed to be served. His cases tended towards the mundane, but Wizards were rarely comfortable with going to someone non-magical, especially when that someone was paid to be observant.

"Oi, James, you home?" came a call from the direction of the windows. James opened his eyes and looked up to see a head of dark hair and bright eyes poking up from the bottom of the window frame. A certain someone had decided that rather than climb the stairs up the six or so storeys like a normal human being, it would be a better idea to climb up the side of the building.

He leapt up and strode over, sticking his own head out to get a face full of one Sirius Black. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Climbing," said Sirius helpfully. James looked down and noticed two hands gripping the edge of the windowsill tightly, although none of the strain showed on Sirius' features. With a sigh, James extended a hand and grasped Sirius' forearm, pulling him up and over the window.

"Did you have to?"

"Yeah, there were some really irritating old women in front of me in the lift and the stairs were blocked. Do you know how annoying that is?" Sirius dusted himself off and flicked a lock of dark hair out of his eyes. James couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at his friend's choice of clothing. Somehow Sirius had gotten hold of a leather motorcycle jacket and matching boots, which was probably why the old women hadn't been completely open to Sirius' presence.

"Someone exploded a toilet on the fifth floor, that's why the stairs are closed," James explained. He meandered into the kitchen, opening the fridge with a little frown. "Dunno what he was doing, but I bet it was something illegal. Ginger pop?"

"Ta," Sirius said, catching the bottle effortlessly and popping it open with his teeth. If there was one thing James envied about his best friend, it was his teeth. They were quite possibly the strongest thing in the history of the universe.

"What do you want?" James asked, dropping down on the floor in front of the sofa and opening his own bottle with a bottle opener. "I thought you were off in…Egypt? Morocco? Where was it?"

"Mexico, actually, but you got the right hemisphere." Sirius took a swig of the ginger beer and let out a contented sigh. "Turns out the tomb was completely ransacked in the something-th century. By the Conquistadors, you know? So I came back, turned in the report, and realised that I had a week of nothing doing, thought I'd come and bug you."

"What's Mexico like?"

"Hot. Dry. Boring."

James leaned back and tipped his head to stare at the ceiling. "Didn't bring me back a souvenir?"

"Merlin, no. Nothing but key-chains and illegal drugs." Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "Was tempted, though. Some of them were hilarious. Been doing anything lately?"

James grinned. Sirius had a stupidly fast train of thought and could change a conversation almost immediately after it had set off on a tangent. "No, it's been quite lately. Landlady came over for the rent last week, couldn't believe that I could still pay it."

"Helps having your parents supporting you still, doesn't it?"

James shot a look at Sirius. "Yeah, I suppose. Mum's getting older, though. I go round every Sunday for lunch now."

"Is she alright?" the other man asked worriedly. "She's not ill or anything, is she?"

"No, she's fine. Just old." James took another sip. "You want to go grab something for lunch? There's a new fish and chip shop open just down the road, opened last week. It's pretty decent, actually. They don't do their fish really heavily."

Sirius nodded, but didn't move. "Don't you have to mind the agency today?"

"Nah, Friday's are my designated 'off day'." James didn't move either. Lunch could wait, he was comfortable. "Would've taken Saturdays, but that's when a lot of my clients come in. Something about it being inconspicuous to go out on a Saturday."

"Obscurity in a crowd," said Sirius, nodding wisely and stroking an imaginary beard. "Good thinking, that. When was your last case?"

James thought back and crinkled his nose. "Two and a half weeks ago, I think. Maybe three. Woman wanted to know if her husband was bringing back illegal dark artefacts. He wasn't, of course, but it paid."

"Who was it? Or is that client confidentiality?"

"Client confidentiality, sorry mate. I can tell you if you have a valid reason, and no, curiousity doesn't count."

Sirius shrugged and balanced his bottle on his head. "It is what it is. Did anything interesting happen?"

"Not really. Got bitten by a teacup. I'm pretty sure that counts as Improper Use of Magic, but I really couldn't be bothered to go all the way to the Ministry and fill out the forms for it. Waste of time."

"That has got to be the stupidest excuse for a department. They really need someone in there to get rid of the paperwork. No one's going to report anything if it takes a week just to get the forms."

James laughed and plucked Sirius' bottle off his head, whacking him in the side of the head accidentally. "Come on, let's go get some lunch. Who knows, maybe someone will recognise the great detective James Potter and offer me a case."

Sirius snorted. "Doubt it. Not when I'm eating with you. Come on, in this jacket and those shoes we look like a gay couple."

"There're worse things to resemble. Hurry up, I'm hungry."

The fish and chip shop was barely a five minute walk away from James' flat, which James just knew was going to make him put on weight at an enormous rate. There was also a chocolate shop and a bookstore in the same line of shops, which James frequented often, the chocolatier more so. It was a nice area, mostly made up of older folks and college students. An odd mix, but somehow it worked.

He ordered for the both of them and took their food, dropping down into the plastic chairs and passing Sirius his food. "Here you are. Heart disease on a plate."

"I can already feel my arteries clogging," he said with a grin. "Pass the salt."

Sirius was a notoriously slow eater, so James polished his off first and smirked at the ceiling. "So, Sirius, me old mate, my good chap, I heard you had something going on with a Mary McKinnon."

"It's Marlene, and you heard wrong," he corrected. "She and I were paired for an assignment for Gringotts and that was that. It ended, we parted ways, someone spread a rumour."

"Sounds a little defensive there."

"James…"

James raised his hands in the universal gesture for peace. "Hey, hey, I'm just saying. Nothing going on then. Nothing at all. No romantic feelings whatsoever. No, sir, nothing doing. Not a – "

Sirius rolled his eyes and stuffed a chip into James' mouth to shut him up. "Yeah, yeah, we get it. Nothing. At. All."

"Good."

"Fine."

"Great."

"Yeah."

"Not that it would have been a bad thing…"

"Shut up, you."

"It's James. J – A – M – E – S. Not You. You is not my name. My name is not - "

"Yes, whatever, shut up. Not got a girl yet either, I take it?"

James snorted. "No, of course not."

"You're such an old romantic," Sirius said with an amused grin. "Waiting patiently for Miss Right. When was the last time you went on a date?"

"Now it's your turn to shut up."

"I can do that."

"Brilliant."

"Fine."

"Great."

"Good."

"…"

"…"

"We just ran a full circle, didn't we?"

"Yep."

"…sod that."

James leaned forward on his elbows and peered at his friend. "You've got a bit of salt just…here," he said, gesturing towards Sirius' entire body.

"I need that salt like I need my motorbike."

"Where is that old horror, anyway?"

"Who, the motorbike?" Sirius looked a bit affronted, probably at having his precious baby called an old horror. "She's parked outside your building, of course. Couldn't leave her out for the wolves, could I?"

"Do you know how fast it's going to get stolen?"

"Don't worry, I put a charm on her. She's not going anywhere."

James shook head his head and laughed again. "You're like a mother hen towards that filthy old thing, you know."

"You just don't appreciate art," he replied loftily, finishing off the rest of his fish with a satisfied chomp. "It's alright," he continued, this time sympathetically. "I can understand. Some things just don't come to everyone."

"Prat."

"You love me for it."

"Depends on the level of prat-ness."

"I have levels?"

They continued to chat for a good hour and a half before Sirius felt that his food had digested enough to merit standing up. They dropped their wrappers in the bin and bounced the door open, walking back out into the summer heat. The chocolatier was looking as tempting as ever, but James felt too full to eat anything as rich.

"Ah, yes, there she is," said Sirius, pointing at the motorbike parked in front of James' building. "I don't understand how you can dislike her, she's a beauty."

"Oh, I don't mind it when you drag me off for a ride, that's fun," he defended. "I just don't get why you're so infatuated with it. I swear it's more than any girlfriend could ever be."

"No, she's just a motorbike, and as much as I love her, she's never going to replace a girl." Sirius had a rather manic twinkle in his eye, one which heralded danger in its many forms. "Hey, you want to go for a ride before I ditch you?"

James glanced at his watch and grinned back. "Hell, yeah, I've got time."

"You'll always have time." Sirius leapt on and discreetly drew his wand, dispelling whatever charm he had placed on it to keep it from being stolen. "Come on, up you get."

James hopped on and grinned like a madman when Sirius revved the engine and shot off, taking no time to slowly build up speed. James had helped him enspell the thing, and one of the useful little spells involved was the same that allowed brooms to instantly shoot off. It had needed tweaking, but James and Sirius hadn't let that stop them.

When James finally staggered off, hair messier than ever and eyes bright, the duo had managed to terrify sixteen pigeons, run over three shopping bags – one still full – and break instantly for a little old lady. It wasn't quite up to their record, but it was a decent stab at it.

"Buzz me when you get a new case, yeah?" Sirius asked, looking over his shoulder as he wheeled away.

"Yeah, sure. Why, you want to help?"

"You might need some legwork done," he replied with another trademark wicked grin, before he revved the engine again and drove off.

James shook his head and stowed his wand away in his pocket. He wasn't expecting another case in the near future, but if Sirius wanted to run around and just generally be a nuisance for 'public service', who was he to stop him?

He unlocked his flat and stepped in before freezing. Something was wrong. At first glance, everything looked right and in order, but there was something wrong. He narrowed his eyes, taking his was out again and padding around softly, examining each doorway before entering and looking every which way for signs of entry.

After a good half hour of fruitless searching through both normal and magical means he dropped down on the sofa with a loud exhalation. Something was wrong, something was out of place, but unfortunately his subconscious hadn't seen it fit to share whatever it was with his conscious.

He shut his eyes and tried to use his other senses. He couldn't hear anything different, just the rattle of the breeze on windows and the dull whirr of the fan. The air conditioner was turned off, as it had been before, so that wasn't what was wrong. The fridge was making a steady hum and there weren't any unfamiliar or out of place sounds to speak of, other than the roar of distant traffic.

Then he caught it. There was a very faint aroma of flowers, the kind that are often associated with perfume. It was very faint, mainly situated around the couch, and James knew for a fact that neither he nor Sirius wore perfume. He didn't recognise it, either, which meant that someone who he didn't know or couldn't recognise by perfume had been in his flat and had seen it fit not to alert him of their presence.

James wasn't sure what worried him more; that someone had broken into his apartment and done nothing to it, or that someone knew that Sirius was going to be there and James would suggest going out.

Someone knew what he was doing.

Therefore, someone was watching him.