A.N: Sorry for the wait, this chapter would not cooperate. The characters, especially. Why, Viper, why ? Must you be so difficult ? Anyhow, I decided to post it as it is because otherwise in two months I'll still be stuck on this bit.

Thank you to all of you that left reviews, and favourited and followed this story. It keeps me going !

(Ps: I updated the warnings on chapter 1. If you could tell me if you think I missed anything, or if something's unclear ?)

Enjoy !

Chapter 7:

When Harry got home from grocery shopping, it was to find Andy, in the kitchen, looking bemused. Teddy, sitting in his grandmother's lap, was having a staring contest with Viper. The toddler, obviously, had mimicked instinctively the looks of the new person as best as he could, and was also sporting indigo hairs, eyes, and odd tattoos on his cheeks.

"Do I want to know ?" Harry asked, making everyone turn to him.

Teddy, catching sight of his favourite person, lit up like the sun, and immediately his hair went messy black and his eyes green, triangles disappearing from his cheeks. Viper made an odd noise in their throat, and Andy had to clearly hide her amusement.

"Harry," Vi said, "You didn't tell me your godson was a metamorphmagus."

"He takes it from his mother," Harry replied, putting the grocery bags on the counter.

"My daughter," Andromeda informed Viper, her voice a bit strained. The amusement had bled out of her expression, leaving a bland smile behind. "She was the first to get the family trait in a few generations."

"I see," Viper said, adding softly, "I'm sorry for your loss."

Andy nodded, smile tight in a way that Harry had become very familiar with, over the months. He went to her, rubbing small circles on her shoulder, even as he smiled at Teddy – or tried to smile, since he knew full well that he too had trouble being genuine when those they had lost were mentioned. Or when his family was hurting – which was the case right now. The boy was smart, though. His hair changed to a dull mousy brown, as did his eyes, reflecting the morose mood.

Once again, seeing that, Harry was reminded of why he didn't listen to that longing he had to go on the road to find his circus again. He had a duty here, to Teddy, and Andy, and all of his family. He couldn't just leave them, to selfishly go and have fun. No matter what he wanted to do.

"Right," Andy said suddenly, taking a deep breath and straightening a little. "I think I'll leave you two to catch up. Teddy and I can go take a walk around the garden, right Teddy ?"

Teddy made a sound that could have been an agreement, his hair shifting back to black. Viper eyed the shift with interest, once more, but didn't comment.

"If you want to go rest, we'll watch Teddy," Harry told Andromeda.

"No need, Harry, I'm fine. I can take care of myself, and Teddy," Andromeda said, rather sharply. She softened the bite of her tone with a small smile. "You haven't seen each other in years, right ? Teddy and I are just going to the garden. We're not going anywhere. Viper, on the other hand, won't be staying around too long. So enjoy it."

Harry nodded, a bit meekly – as always, he forgot that he could come across as overbearing when he was just trying to care. Of course, it was probably due to the fact that he didn't quite know how else to do things. His only real parental guidance were the Weasleys, and Mrs Weasley fussed a lot. Harry had just picked up on it a little, even without meaning to.

Andromeda gave a smile, to show that she wasn't upset at him, and tugged Teddy along to go walk in the garden. The toddler, while he preferred to be carried in someone's arms most of the times, had started to walk hesitantly, not too long ago. Harry had actually taken to take small walks around, holding his godson's hand, to help Teddy progress.

Once the door had closed behind them, Harry put the grocery bags in one of the charmed cupboards – stasis charms for the win.

"Right," he said, turning to Viper, "Tea ?"

"Please," Viper nodded. While Harry set to prepare the tea, mostly with a few twirls of his wand to boil the water and set the porcelain in front of them, the illusionist commented, "Lady Tonks is a formidable woman."

"That, she is," Harry admitted, adding a bit wryly, "Although you can call her Andromeda. She likes that better." He put a bag of leaves to infuse in the hot water, and sat down. "I'm lucky to have her around, really. She's always setting me right when I'm being stupid, or when I'm doing something wrong without noticing. I'm not sure what I would do without her. Or the others, really."

"I'm sure you would manage," Vi said simply.

They had meant it more in relation to the fact that Andromeda had almost decapitated them when she had seen Viper standing in front of the house in their usual hooded cloak. Then, calm as you please, as if she hadn't just attempted to brutally murder them, the Lady had informed Viper that having a dark hood up in a house full of war survivors wasn't the smartest course of action.

In retrospect, Viper could admit that it was a bit insensitive of them, given that Death Eaters were known to be dressed in dark hooded cloaks. So they had put the hood down, despite their dislike of showing their face. In the face of being killed – even if just by reflex – it seemed like the lesser of two evils.

But sure. Viper supposed that managing to make Harry see sense was just as impressive as almost beheading them for their fashion sense.

Truthfully, though, they were glad that there was at least one person making sure Harry wasn't overdoing anything. He had always been too giving, when he found something to protect. The sort to put himself on fire to keep others warm.

Hopefully, that family of his would teach him that there were other ways to do things. Ways that didn't involve Harry getting hurt in the process.

As the young man served the tea, the Mist inspected him a bit more thoroughly.

He had grown a lot, from the rather short but gangly teenager that had befriended them in his fourth year. Sure, the general looks were the same, but he was taller now, and a bit broader. He had filled up a little, too, which Viper was pretty sure was his 'family's doing – Harry was a wonderful cook, but he always ate woefully little, as if he didn't deserve his share.

The war and other hardships that their friend had faced were still visible as well. There was the small nick of a scar, right above his cheekbone, that hadn't been there before. His other, more infamous facial scar was surprisingly less visible than it had been as well. But scars weren't the only things that were so telling.

The dark smudges under his eyes, the small twitching reflexes, and the look in his eyes were just as obvious to the informant. Harry had always had too old eyes for his age, but now they had a tiredness in them that hadn't been there before. He used to be always so determined, a born-fighter in many senses of the term. Now, though, he looked like he was done fighting.

Well, Viper certainly thought he deserved a long holiday. If their last years had been tense and unpleasant, they didn't even want to know how awful it had been for Harry. Which certainly begged the question of what he was planning to do now.

…Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask. Harry would tell them if they were being intrusive.

"You are all studying very hard for your exams, it seems," Viper said, blowing on their tea. "You have plans, then ?"

"It's more of a milestones, really," Harry said, "A way to get started at a normal life again." He made a face. "We're all discovering the wonders of spending most of our schooling dealing with other things. Oddly, knowing how to deal with murder attempts isn't something you can write on your resume. Who knew ?"

"How incredibly surprising," Viper said in a deadpan. "Are you telling me you don't need to know how to rescue people from a magical lake for most jobs. For shame."

"I know, right ?" Harry said, mock-serious. He snorted, and took his tea-cup, not yet drinking. "More seriously, though. There are a lot of things that none of us ever heard about before now. It makes studying difficult, having all those holes in our knowledge. And some things – Runes and Arithmancy, for example, should really be made mandatory."

"Well, Hogwarts' standards for education have been falling for a while now," Vi said. "Albus Dumbledore was a great man, and a very accomplished and powerful wizard, but he was holding too many positions all at once and not delegating enough. He didn't have time to look at what his school had become. That's all it takes for things to deteriorate."

That, and the ICW should have come to investigate matters a lot sooner. But then again, the British Ministry had always been an old-fashioned and proud one, blind to their own faults. It wasn't surprising that they wouldn't want anyone else sticking their nose where they didn't belong, and that they kept their heads in the sand about how bad things had become.

However, as interesting as this discourse was, it was an old topic, one that they had already broached once or twice in the past. Viper liked talking politics, and was well informed on a lot of things pertaining to governments, laws, finance and other similar topics. It was both something they had been raised to know, and something they cultivated for their chosen job. What kind of information broker didn't know which way the wind was blowing ? But Harry didn't like those topics as much, and Vi was currently more interested in what their friend would do in the future.

Which had been what they had been asking, but somehow they had gotten a bit misdirected.

"But that's neither here nor there," they went on, "What are you going to do with those diplomas, once you have them ?" Harry opened his mouth, and Viper cut him off, sensing the tangent coming. "You, Harry, not your friends and family. They can tell me themselves over dinner, what they want to do. I'm sure it'll make for good conversation starters, since you insist on me being social."

"I promise I'll bake you the best strawberry shortcake ever to make up for it," Harry teased. Viper shot him the look they felt this comment – and yet again attempt at misdirection – deserved. Harry sobered. "Right, well." Harry said. He fidgeted, and took a small sip of his tea, grimacing when it proved to still be too hot. "I actually don't know. I tried the Auror training, but it didn't work out at all."

"No ?" Viper said.

"No," Harry said, "I'm- sincerely ? I'm not doing well with orders, and with the attention. I do well at some of the aspects, like undercover stuff – that's fun." He smiled a little, but it was short lived. "But the fighting, and apprehending dark wizards ? I've had enough for a while."

"Mou," Vi admitted the point. It certainly went with what they had observed, and they couldn't blame Harry for wanting some quiet for a while. "Understandable."

"What about you ?" Harry asked. "What are you doing these days?"

Viper decided that for now it was enough, and allowed the change in topic graciously. They could always go back to it later, when Harry felt like it. Or when they had gotten to know Harry's friends better and could corner him into answering.

Possibly with blackmail.

"Mou, that's private information," Vi said, eventually. "You don't have the money to buy it."

"So, more shady stuff, huh," Harry summarized, looking a bit amused by his friend's behaviour. "One day you'll tell me what it is."

"Maybe," was Viper's non-committal reply.

"But you can tell me if it makes you happy, right ?" Harry went on, always so stubborn when the well-being of his friends was concerned.

"Yes, Harry," Vi huffed, rolling their eyes inwardly. Andromeda was right, he was being even more of a mother-hen than usual. "I'm happy."

"Good," Harry smiled, looking pleased. "You look happy." A flat look was sent his way. "Although, you know-" he made a rather vague gesture with his hand, "-blue. How did that happen ?"

Once more, Viper allowed the change in topic. Better that than to talk more about their job. Besides, they supposed Harry had a right to know why they looked so different. He had clearly been dying to know. It actually begged the question of how Harry had recognized them so easily, when their appearance wasn't the same as before. But then again, it was Harry.

…Viper had the feeling they were going to use that phrase to explain a lot of things about their friend from now on.

Right, moving on to their change in appearance.

They pushed a strand of hair to reveal a triangular fang-shaped earring. They took it off, and immediately their androgynous, indigo looks melted to reveal their 'real' appearance. Harry looked fascinated and impressed. Viper very consciously did not preen.

"That's amazing," he said, and took the offered earring. He inspected it. "Did you enchant it ?"

"Not exactly," Viper said, slowly, extending a hand to take it back. "That would be too complicated, and risky."

"You always were good with charms, glamours and illusion-based magic, though," Harry pointed out, giving the jewel back. "That, and mind magic."

Viper didn't deny the statement, although it wasn't quite the truth. While they were quite good at charms, and glamours, and were really good at any magic affecting the mind, most of their talents actually rested on their flames. Mist flames were wonderful for illusions, and anything affecting perceptions of any kind.

They didn't say so, however.

The Satute of Secrecy and Omerta were pretty much mutually inclusive, and in theory talking about magic in the mafia or talking about flames in the magical community should be perfectly fine.

Key words being 'in theory'.

In practice, it actually depended on a lot of things. Current location, nationality, circumstances, identity, intent, the position of the stars and the mood of the Vindice that day, among other things. To make things simple, breaking either of the secrecy oaths to the other secret community was a pain in the ass and a fifty-fifty chance of winning a one-way ticket to Vendicare or the nearest wizarding prison.

Even though it was 'theoretically' allowed.

Harry might be Viper's friend, one of their best friends, in fact – if not the only one – but there was only so much they were prepared to do for him. Risking prison was not their idea of fun. Especially a magical or underground prison.

(Although they had no illusions that if Harry bribed them with food again, they might just do something foolish. But damn his cooking was divine.

Not that they would admit it.)

So, instead of replying, they simply put their earring back in place, feeling the illusion on it anchor itself to Viper's flames. It was a rather simple system, for someone such as Viper, and something that provided extra-security.

Anyone was able to see through illusions, with a strong enough will. Viper knew that, and knew that even if they were one of the best, there were people that could still see them, if they used an externally applied illusion, or a simple glamour.

Internal illusions, though, anchored inside their flames, were much harder to see through, because they were much more stable and didn't depend on strength. Viper would like to meet someone able to see through their disguise, (and then would need to kill them for being such a threat to their privacy).

"Could you make me something similar ?" Harry asked suddenly, if hesitantly, still looking at the fang-shaped earring.

Viper blinked at him, surprised by the inquiry. They nodded, slowly, unsure of where this was going.

"I could," they admitted, "Why ? Did you have something in mind ?"

"Nothing very specific," Harry said, a bit too fast for it to be believable. Viper leveled him with a look. Harry looked away. "It's just an idea. I'm not really sure if I'll end up actually doing something with it." He huffed, dragging a hand through the mess that was his hair. "I just- need a disguise, you know ? I can't go outside without fearing I might end up jumped, either by a rabid fan or a runaway Death Eater."

Well. Viper could certainly sympathize with that. Appearances were always so stupidly important. They couldn't blame Harry for wanting a way to escape from it.

"I could do it," Viper said, "For a fee, of course."

"Of course," Harry said, looking both fond and terribly relieved. He added, a touch mischievous, "Can I pay you in food ?"

"Mou," Viper said, trying to hide their eagerness, "I'll think about it."

Harry, the perceptive little bastard that he could be sometimes, looked way too knowing for Viper's tastes. So they were properly vindicated with the way their next question made his expression change.

"So," they said, "What exactly did you have in mind ?"

Harry looked sheepish, and a bit embarrassed.

"Well," he started, "I was thinking of a set of piercings..."

Viper felt their brow climbing up without consent, with every word that spilled out of Harry's mouth. While a change in appearance was understandable, and a change of voice would be even smart… This was a little. Hm. Eccentric.

Purple hair ? Purple eyes ? What the hell.

Well. While that wasn't exactly what they had been expecting, they could do it. It might even be a fun sort of challenge.

However…

"That is a very specific request," Viper pointed out. They drawled, "I'm not sure it's the sort of look I would use for a simple disguise, hm ?"

Harry fidgeted, and looked at his tea-cup like it was the most interesting thing he had ever witnessed. How he could be such a terrible liar sometimes and yet other times fool even the best of them was completely beyond Viper.

They were tempted to keep drilling a hole through Harry's head with their eyes alone, and see how long he would last. But given it was Harry and that 'stubborn' was probably one of his middle names…

Viper gave him a look.

"What are you planning ?" They asked.

"You make it sound like I have some nefarious plot," Harry grumbled, then stubbornly shut his mouth again.

"Well, I don't know," Viper said, drolly, "Given how your plans end up, overall, I'm tempted to think you might do it on purpose."

"...You'll laugh, if I tell you," Harry said in a mumble. Viper wasn't impressed.

"Humour me," they said.

But Harry, proving that yes he was this stubborn, stayed silent. Viper narrowed their eyes at him. Which, if their friend had bothered to look at something other than his tea-cup, he would have seen – and thus known that Viper was planning something that would probably end badly for him.

But he didn't look, and so didn't suspect anything when Viper eventually sighed.

"Fine," they said, relenting. "Be that way. So. Tell me about your godson instead. Teddy, wasn't it ?"

Harry looked a bit suspicious, but was way too relieved to actually question his good fortune.

Viper would make sure he regretted that oversight at dinner.

Dinner, all in all, was a surprisingly pleasant affair. And no, Viper was not saying that because the food was wonderful. Even if it was.

The truth was, the company was surprisingly… tolerable.

Sure, it got a bit loud by moments, and there were some personalities in the lot that were truly bemusing, but Viper adapted pretty quickly. They had seen weirder and livelier in the mafia.

Although the Mist suspected Harry's family was actually trying to behave, somewhat, so as not to scare them away. That, and apparently there were a few people missing – like a few Weasleys – so they weren't at full potential. Which, given that they were already being very lively and odd, was quite a terrifying thought.

One had to wonder how a family reunion where no one held back would end up. Viper wasn't sure whether to be afraid or morbidly curious.

The information broker was actually so swept up in conversations and simply the atmosphere, that they almost didn't recall their plan to uncover Harry's so-called 'nefarious plot'. But, unfortunately for their friend, Viper did remember it, eventually, over dessert, when George Weasley told them what he planned to do in the future – and Vi was actually quite interested in buying some share of that joke shop, it sounded like a good investment.

"Oh, right," they said, and they might have sounded a tad too innocent, because Harry turned a look on them. Paranoid little bugger. But clearly not paranoid enough. "Talking about future plans. Apparently Harry had an idea, but he wouldn't tell me what it is. Do you know about it ?"

George blinked at them. As did most of the others, looking a bit surprised, before turning to look at Harry with a bemused expression. Harry who was staring at Viper in shock.

Now, Viper tried, honestly, they did. But they couldn't help radiating a bit of smugness.

Harry looked comically betrayed.

"Viper !" He exclaimed.

"What ?" Viper said, perfectly neutrally and innocently. Oddly, Harry didn't seem to buy it. "I thought it wasn't some secret plot ?"

Harry opened his mouth to retort, but by then the damage was done. And Viper only had to lean back in their chair, and watch as the whole group started interrogating Harry for them. While eating a delicious strawberry shortcake.

Ah, that was the life.

Of course, that so-called interrogation wasn't being very effective, given that everyone was talking at the same time and not asking the same questions. Eventually, Harry seemed to decide that enough was enough, and stood up suddenly.

"Fine !" He shouted, and then quieted down when Teddy's hair shifted grey and Andromeda shot him a glare. "Fine. I was going to tell you eventually, you know. It's not like it's- well." He huffed, sitting back down and looking a bit uncomfortable. "I wasn't sure. I'm just thinking about it."

"About what ?" Ron asked.

"Well, you know how I was left alone at the Dursleys in the summers, without contact or anything productive to do ?" Harry said.

Both Hermione and Ron flinched a little, and immediately started to apologize for that. Harry waved the apologies off.

"I told you, it's forgiven, no need to apologize all the time," he told them. "You didn't want to disobey Dumbledore, and writing to me was a security risk. I get it."

"We still should have-" Ron started, looking upset at himself.

"It doesn't make it okay-" Hermione tried to say at the same time, looking just as upset and guilty.

"Look, we were kids. If anything, Dumbledore was the one that should have known better than to leave me alone with them after everything," Harry sighed. Viper got the impression that it wasn't the first time the three had this talk. It sounded like an old argument. "Anyway, not the point. The point is that, well." He grimaced. "I didn't actually stay at the Dursleys all of the time."

Harry clearly took the dumbfounded silence an accusation of some sort, because he cringed. Hurriedly, he soldiered on, babbling about what he had done, instead, during the summers, talking almost too fast to understand.

Still, the gist of it was pretty clear, and Viper was soon torn between laughing hysterically or face-palming. Since they had more restraint than that, though, they just stared blankly at their friend. Friend who eventually stopped talking, looking a bit out of breath and really uncomfortable. As if at court, awaiting judgement.

"You joined a circus," Viper eventually repeated, because apparently everyone else couldn't manage to compute the statement.

"Erm, yes ?" Harry said, cringing a bit.

"To do stunts," Viper went on. "Death defying, muggle, motorbike stunts. While disguised as an emo purple kid." They couldn't even manage more than a blank stare at this point, as they poked mournfully at their empty plate. Not enough cake to deal with this. "I'm not sure if it was genius or pure insanity."

Admittedly, he never got caught, so point to him for the hiding place and disguise.

On the other hand… Harry Potter, stuntman in a circus. What the hell. Viper was not paid nearly enough to deal with the sheer insanity that was their friend's life. How did the others even cope with shenanigans of this magnitude on a regular basis ?!

Of course, that was the point when George started laughing helplessly – frankly, it sounded more like cackling.

Harry turned wide eyes on the red head, looking like a startled bunny. It was as if a dam broke. Suddenly, everyone was either laughing, or groaning in a long-suffering manner. Andy's lips were twitching, even as she shook her head. Next to her, Ginny had no such restraints and had slipped out of her chair, laughing so hard there were tears on her cheeks.

"Only you, Harry," Hermione huffed, not unkindly, "Only you."

Harry, finally, seemed to realize that it meant they weren't mad at him or whatever it was he had feared. A sheepish grin lit his features.

Well. It seemed like Viper was going to have to make those piercings, after all.

...They wondered if Harry would let them have a cut of the profits, if Viper helped advertise his show once he went back.

(Because, let's be honest. He was going back.)

Finally done with this scene ! They know. I know, some of you were probably hoping for a big reveal, but I hope you liked it as it is.

In other news, the muse is being difficult. I might start posting a small, humour-orientated side-story to this to keep the writer's block away. Keep an eye out for it !

Feedback is always appreciated ! I love to hear about your opinions, and what you liked ! Your reviews are what keeps the muse healthy !

Thank you !