Harry walked out of Gringotts with a scowl which would have caused Grindlewald himself to shit his robes break down crying. As an agent trained in espionage, deceit and false-facing, it took a lot to make Harry Potter show his true feelings, for example telling him that the contents of his vault had been seized on the orders of Minister Granger two years ago. Harry had been in the wizarding world for just over a month now, and the bag of galleons which MI6 had supplied him with was running thin. He had been living under the name of Marvin Tallas, one of Harry's more frequently used alternate identities, but now that he had finally tried to access his vault it was only a matter of time before word got out that Harry Potter was back. The goblins would be sending an owl to the Ministry right now, and within a day those at the top of wizarding society would be aware that the famous Harry Potter had returned after over a decade. Perhaps it was for the best, Harry thought. He had been planning on spending a bit more time anonymously gathering Intel before revealing himself, but so far his month of investigation had provided disappointingly little information about the attackers. Whoever they were, they knew how to cover their tracks. Harry had spent his first few days in Knockturn Alley, asking the right questions to the right people, and had found nothing. Even in the dingiest, dirtiest bars - crowded with the darkest, most dangerous people - no one knew anything about a series of attack on muggle Britain. His original plan had been to infiltrate one of the magical world's several gangs, and listen out for any information which could help him, but it seemed that Hermione's government has successfully cracked down on organized crime. In fact, Harry was startled by just how much the magical world was thriving under Hermione's leadership. He had always expected her to do brilliant things, but the impact of her policies had left Harry slack jawed. The wizarding economy was booming, partly due to interest-free loans from the Ministry for magical entrepreneurs, and magical Britain's GDP was at an all time high. When Harry was eleven and saw Diagon Alley for the first time, it had seemed spectacular. But now it was on a whole new level. The street was lined with new shops, vivid and bustling, decked out in bright colours. As he walked back from Gringotts, Harry was enveloped by the sheer energy of the place; blue, green, purple and red shop fronts and cafes - many of which featured children playing and couples laughing outside of them. This booming economy - as well as record OWL and NEWT results and a magical equivalent of the NHS - made it evident why Hermione was so popular as Minister, even amongst the aristocratic purebloods who had initially threatened rebellion at the thought of having a muggleborn as Minister. As Harry neared his destination, he withdrew his coin purse from his pocket and checked inside. Four Galleons. He needed money. MI6 hadn't provided him with nearly enough, since they expected him to be able to access his vault. There were rumors of backroom poker games in Knockturn Alley, and he also knew that there was an underground racing circuit here in Diagon Alley which supposedly payed quite well. Since his room at the inn was still booked for another night, Harry decided to worry about making money tomorrow, and spend tonight planning his next move, after all, his priority was the mission, the money was just a tool he needed to complete it. A night of pure planning would come in handy, he thought, when things start to get really chaotic. They always did when he was around.
##########
The door to the Leaky Cauldron groaned as Harry pushed it open and stepped inside. He started making his way towards the stairs at the back of the inn and heard Tom the innkeeper call out to him
"Afternoon Mister Tallas, will you be wanting to book the room again for tomorrow?"
"No thanks Tom, I think tonight will be my last night here" Harry said, giving the old man a small smile
"Ah, well in that case it has been a pleasure having you stay Mister Tallas" said Tom, who looked just as Harry remembered apart from a few extra wrinkles and slightly less hair. "Also, there was a pair who came looking for you Mister Tallas"
"What. Who were they?" Harry asked
"A man and a woman, said they were friends of yours they did"
"What did you say"
"Well, I told them what room you were in, and they said they would go and wait there"
"I see, thank you Tom" said Harry, speaking in a pleasant manner which did not reflect his train of thought.
Harry started off up the stairs towards his room on the third floor and drew his gun, keeping it tucked at his side. The only people who knew that Marvin Tallas was Harry Potter were a couple of Goblins, who only found out five minutes ago. In the last month he had given no indication of his true identity to anyone, had covered his scar with the cream that Mike had given him years ago, and had only left his room to poke around in Knockturn Alley. He arrived at the first floor and kept heading up. The only people they could possibly be were a couple of people from Knockturn Alley, but he hadn't given anyone his name - his real or fake one - and hadn't told anyone where he was staying. He was at the second floor now, and kept heading up. Only about ten steps left. So two people he must have met in Knockturn Alley had followed him here, found out which room he was in, and were now waiting outside. Brilliant. As he finally got to the third floor, Harry turned into the hallway with his gun pointed straight ahead, expecting to see two shady figures outside of his room. The hallway was empty. He crept up towards his door and stopped just outside of it, and started to think. They couldn't have left, as Tom would have seen them and he said they were still here. That left two options; they were inside waiting to talk to him, or they were inside waiting to kill him. Before doing anything else, Harry slipped the sunglasses Mike had given him out of his pocket and put them on. There were no signs of magical residue on the door, meaning it wasn't trapped or coated in a poisonous potion. Pressing his ear to the door, Harry heard movement. There was talking and shuffling coming from inside the room. Thanks to Tom, Harry already knew that it was two people, but they didn't know that he knew they were there, meaning that he had the element of surprise. Before he went in, Harry had one final decision to make - to kill or not to kill. Five years ago, Harry would have gone in and put a bullet in each of their brains, but time and experience had taught him that enemies were far more useful alive than dead, at least until they told him what they knew. Then he usually shot them, stabbed them or occasionally beat them to death if he had no weapon. Deciding to go for shock rather than stealth, Harry burst through the door and saw two figures spin round. Instinct and training kicked in, and within two seconds of bursting trough the door Harry had put a bullet in the man's shoulder and was stood with his pistol pointed at the woman. Both intruders screamed. The man's scream was more feminine than the woman's.
"Mike? Melissa? What the fuck are y-"
"You fucking shot me! I build you a magical gun and you fucking shoot me with it!" Mike hollered.
"Well, when you say it like that it sounds bad" Harry said sheepishly. This was definitely not what he expected. Thank God all the rooms in the inn had silencing spells on them, this would have been difficult to explain.
##########
The three of them were sat on chairs in the middle of the room, sipping on mugs of tea which Harry had ran down and fetched from Tom. Mike held a towel to his bloody shoulder, which Harry had recently removed the shrapnel from, cleaned, and stitched up.
"So, now that we have established that Mike makes shitty target practice" Harry said, which Mike responded to using his middle finger, "I have to ask. What the fuck are you two doing here?"
"The boss reckoned you could use some help in the field" answered Mellisa
"So he sent me a secretary and a quartermaster?"
"Ouch. I thought I was supposed to be the bitchy one here" Melissa said with a smirk.
"Oh trust me, you are. I'm just confused as to why I was sent a secretary and a quartermaster whilst I'm in the field"
At this, Melissa's tone grew serious. Leaning in towards Harry she said "There was another attack yesterday. A school. Ninety three children died, all aged eleven or under." When Harry didn't respond she continued "This time they left a message. 'TEN DAYS'. They've told us when their next attack is going to be. Their taunting us because they know we can't stop it. The boss has made your assignment top priority, and Mike and I are here to help. I can get you the intel and research you need on whatever you want, and Mike is going to work on new gear for you out here for when you need it"
"Provided you don't shoot me again" Mike grumbled
"So" Melissa continued, "Tell us what you've found in the last month"
"Nothing" Harry said.
"What. We have ten days until they attack again, you're our best field agent, and you're telling us you haven't found ANYTHING in an entire month? I thought you had connections here?"
"I've been trying to gather intel anonymously at first, so that I could ask around some of the dodgier places, which I wouldn't be able to do if I had revealed my identity" said Harry, and thought to himself that maybe if he hadn't taken so long then those ninety three kids would still be alive. Melissa seemed to sense his discomfort and leaned across, resting her hand on his cheek.
"It wasn't you're fault" she said, and Harry didn't respond
"Oh get a room you two" Mike quipped
"We are in a room Mike, and unless you want to exit it through the window I suggest you keep quiet" Harry replied
"Anyway, back to the point" interrupted Mellisa, "Is there anything you can tell us Harry?"
"As a matter of fact there is" Harry began, "I was just at the bank. I revealed my identity to the goblins there in order to access my vault, and found out that an old friend of mine, who is now Minister of Magic, seized my funds. Furthermore, now that the goblins know that I'm back, they will probably have alerted the government, and I can no longer remain under cover. So all in all it's a big fucking mess."
"So you're broke? And the government now knows about you?"
"Yes I am, and yes they do" said Harry, "but there is some good news. When I asked for a way of getting my funds back, they gave me a contact address. It's a house in London, on a street called Grimmauld Place. It's where the Minister's council and advisers work"
"OK. And what's so special about this house?" Mike inquired.
"Glad you asked Mike. It's where many of the most influential and connected people in the magical world are day in, day out. Meaning there are people there who can get us answers"
"And how are we going to get in there? We breaking in?"
"Of course not, we're going to walk in through the front door" Harry announced, "and this time I probably won't shoot somebody"
"And why do you think we will just be able to walk through the front door, Harry?" Melissa asked
"Because, technically speaking, I still own the place"