A/N: So I think I need to change the description of this prompt set to get more people to read it. Thank you to those of you who did take the time to check it out and comment on the first story. For you I have a second, and it has a little Harry Potter vibe to go along with it.

Enjoy!

Chapter 2: The Cupboard Under The Stairs.

Steve McGarrett was sitting in his officer sending off emails and wrapping up his current case load when his friends, and resident conspiracy theorist, walked in and stood before him. Steve looked up from what he was doing just as Jerry cross his arms over his chest.

"Um...can I help you, Jerry?" Steve asked in confusion.

"I need your house keys." Jerry demanded.

"Jerry, you just moved out. Why do you need back in?" Steve asked suspiciously - this time he cross his arms over his chest and looked sternly at the man before him.

"Toast and I need to investigate and so we need to be in the space where it all began."

"So the garage?"

"No, the whole house. We think your dad was hiding something - more things - in addition to the Champ Box."

"I've been through that house - every inch of it. There is nothing else to find."

"Were you the one that found the co-ordinates on the bottom of the Champ Box because of the wrong colour paint?"

"No..."

"Then you don't know what to look for. Give me the keys!" Jerry ordered and held out his hand as Danny appeared in the doorway.

Steve relented and handed the man before him the keys to his house. Jerry then turned, greeted Danny cheerfully, and then left the office all together.

"So, how did that feel?" Danny asked with a gleeful look in his eyes.

"Uncomfortable."

"Now you know how I feel when you demand that I hand over the keys to my car." Danny stated as he pointed at his partner.

"That's not the uncomfortable bit!" Steve said with a shake of his head. "Jerry said that he and Toast were going to go and investigate at my house. Now, I'm sure that I've found everything pertaining to my dad's case, but they think there is more to it than that, and now I'm worried about what they might actually find. Also, I'm dreading the state in which I might find my house when they are done and I go home."

"Hope you hid your porn!" Danny laughed and waved as he walked away.

"Whoa, wait, aren't you the least little bit curious?" Steve asked as he dashed after his partner.

"Nope," Danny answered as Steve caught up to him at the Smart Table, "because I trust that you did find everything and that the case is closed as far as it involves me. Anything else after the fact is your own curiosity and you're the one that got those two involved in the first place. So leave me out of this. We would have found everything when we fixed up the place after the General Pak incident, and you didn't find anything in the walls or elsewhere in the house when you were doing the repairs - did you?"

"No, I wasn't really looking, but I'm sure that something stuck behind a wall would have jumped out at me. I tore the garage apart for more evidence and found nothing."

"Then I don't know what you are worried about. Let the kids have their fun and get it out of their systems and then once they are convinced that your house is clean you wont have to worry about that anymore. They'll move on when they get bored. Trust me - it's what kids do."

Steve nodded at his partner and returned to his office. The rest of the day was quite uneventful, yet productive, for the Five-Os and with no new cases looming and the day wrapping up, Steve logged off of the computer and headed for home. He arrived to find Jerry's vehicle still out front.

As he walked up to the house, Steve could have sworn that he'd seen Jerry peeking out of the front windows and then disappearing again. Steve sighed, and with on hand on his weapon, he opened the door and walked in.

Standing before him, leaning on the post that made up the bannister of his staircase that lead up to the second level of the house, Steve found Jerry.

"You look guilty. What trouble have you gotten yourself into?" Steve asked as he scanned the living room area and found that it looked like everything was in its place. "What did you find?"

"Nothing," Jerry said and Steve was even more suspicious.

"Where's Toast?" Steve asked sounding like a parent scolding a naughty child.

"Um...well...he's..."

"Spit it out, you're not fooling anyone." Steve ordered.

"He's in the panic room." Jerry confessed and lowered his eyes.

"I don't have a panic room." Steve stated.

"Well what do you call the space under the stairs?" Jerry asked.

"I call it the storage space under the stairs," Steve answered skeptically.

"Oh, so that stuff under there wasn't hidden?" Jerry asked.

"No," Steve answered with a shake of his head. "That was just crap that I didn't feel like moving into the attic."

"There's an attic?" Toast asked excitedly as he appeared out of the cupboard under the stairs.

"Yes, Potter, there is an attic." Steve mocked.

"Interesting..." Toast stated as he crawled out and pulled his laptop with him. "What about under the house?" he asked.

"There's nothing under the house except pipes, the dugout and the cement slab that most of the house and garage as settled on.

"Are you sure?" Toast asked skeptically. "Have you gone down there to look?"

"Not since the water heater went all wonky about a year ago. Aside for that, what's on the house plans, is what's under the house. The door to the dugout is accessible if you want to go check everything out."

"We've already been under the house." Toast stated as he crawled back into the storage space and then pulled out a metal box. "Do you know what this is?" he asked.

"It's a foot locker."

"Is it yours?"

"No, it's too old to be mine. Why? Where did you find it?"

"Under the floor boards in the study. Just beneath where your father would have been shot. His desk is over the spot but this was a secret compartment you couldn't access from the dugout, but you can tell where it is from down there if you know what you are looking for. It's enclosed between the floor joists and not as deep as the joist so that it's practically invisible if you are just scanning the beams under the house."

"Is there anything in it?" Steve asked.

"We haven't really looked through it yet because we've been busy with other things like the fact that your security system is inadequate and your panic room was a joke. It was distracting. I couldn't work knowing how unsafe it was in here." Toast explained.

"That's because that wasn't a panic room it was just a storage cupboard."

"Well, not anymore." Toast stated and slapped Steve's hand away from the foot locker. "That can wait. We have more important things to discuss. Jerry, find the attic and investigate." Toast ordered and handed Jerry a home made device that Steve was sure would blow the house up if it was handled incorrectly. "Steve follow me." Toast added and crawled back into the storage space under the stairs.

"Can't I just say out here?" Steve asked but was pulled inside by the overly excited and strangely serious hacker. "Where did all my stuff go?"

"The girly room on the second floor." Toast answered as he sat cross-legged in front of a bunch of flashing monitors. "P.S. you owe me for this new system."

"I didn't ask for a new system or a panic room. I just wanted my storage space under the stairs."

"Do you know who you are and how dangerous it is to be you? To live alone, as you do?" Toast asked and there was aggravation in his tone. "You're being so careless."

"I know who I am, Toast." Steve huffed.

"You'll be thanking me when you see what this baby can do. I have a few other plans for the panic room, in general, but for now I amped up your security system. I've installed cameras onto your front entrance, back entrance and second story balcony in the event of an air strike."

"An Air Strike?" Steve asked skeptically.

"Hey, Danny told me all about General Pak and Nick Taylor. Don't tell me that that balcony isn't a weak point to access this house."

"Okay, maybe just a little." Steve admitted.

"Now, however, you can have eyes on all of the exits as well as within the house at the push of a button. They don't have to run constantly, all though outside I'd leave those running to see who comes around here. Also, I've added new dead bolt locks to all your doors on the house perimeter and windows. You can electronically lock them from here and from your phone. By the time I'm done, you're house will be a smart house with direct connections to all your devices with a command centre in the panic room. Jerry's also got a guy who is building you a new door for the panic room and the dugout. We will install an escape hatch in the panic room so that if you do get trapped inside by the enemy, you'll have a way out."

Steve stared skeptically at the hacker before him.

"Oh and from what we can tell, aside for the foot locker, nothing else was hidden on the first floor of your house but we got distracted by the lack of security to sweep the rest of the house. We'll get back to that in the next few days. We'll be very thorough."

"So, what you're saying is that you're going to be occupying my house for the next week or so? You are aware that Jerry just moved out?"

"And he's glad he did! He didn't realize your security was so sub-par, but don't worry, I'm fixing that."

"And how much is this renovation going to cost me?"

"What is the price of you life? Can you put a price on safety?" Toast asked and again he snapped at Steve.

"It's priceless."

"Exactly. I'll give you the bill when we've made this house as safe as the safest bunker."

"I found the attic! Someone is a huge pack rat. There is so much stuff up there. It's going to take a while to sift through it all." Jerry stated as he appeared in the door to the storage room turned panic room.

"It's all right, I've convinced Steve to turn his house over to us for the next week at least." Toast stated proudly.

"I feel like I've been press ganged into cooperating with you two."

"It's all for your own good, Steve." Jerry stated. "I mean, look, we already found a mysterious foot locker under the floor. What else is hidden in this place?"

"I want to look in that locker." Steve stated with a sigh and crawled out of the cupboard under the stairs.

"I wouldn't recommend that," Jerry said and stepped in front of Steve. "You should leave that to us and we'll keep you posted if it has anything to do with your father's case. For now, you might want to step out for a while. We'll call you when we're done for the night and you can come back."

"Are you kicking me out of my own house?"

Jerry nodded. "Just for a little while."

Steve huffed, grabbed his keys and stormed out slamming the door behind him.

"Good thing your electronics are shock resistant." Jerry stated when Steve was gone as he popped his head into the cupboard once more.

"He'll thank us later. Shall we get to that foot locker, or is the attic more exciting?"

"Foot locker, dinner, then attic."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Toast said as he crawled back out of the panic room and closed the door behind him. "He really should call it the cupboard under the stairs. It gives it a little more whimsy!"