Design Paradigm


Seventh: Stateside

The plan was actually quite simple.

Or perhaps actually quite stupid, Hermione wasn't sure which.

While Severus had been slaving away as the (unwilling) temporary star of the butler cafe, Morioka had been so kind as to do a little research into the security alerts going down around the portkey terminals. He found that despite the ruckus about two highly dangerous and belligerent British fugitives, the actual security measures in place were trivial at best. There were no spells in place to remove Disillusionment, nor a wash to remove the effects of Polyjuice Potion, nor any sorts of identity verification. In fact, it was as though they weren't even trying.

And so the plan, in its simplified form, went as follows:

1. Drink Polyjuice Potion

2. Take portkey to Los Angeles, California

3. ?

4. Profit

The plan was, truthfully, a little more complicated than that.

They didn't want to risk taking a portkey directly to Honolulu since whoever was pulling the MBI's strings would surely expect them there if they were to meet with Danny. Instead, they would take a portkey to a slightly less obvious terminal: namely, Los Angeles. And it was there that Danny had agreed to meet them before taking them to Honolulu via unauthorized portkey rather than just leaving them to find their own way to the safe house. Both Severus and Hermione had their misgivings about relying on portkeys to take them anywhere, but Harry had relayed Danny's assurances that domestic portkeys were more easily...fudged...than international ones.

Still, it certainly was a much simpler plan than say, taking a portkey to Long Beach, California and stowing away on a Hawaii-bound cruise ship, then Apparating from the ocean once they were in Apparating range of Hawaii. Or risking severe splinching by Apparating across Asia to places they've never been to. Or flying across the ocean on pilfered broomsticks or magic carpets.

This left her with the justifiable worry that they were walking into a massive trap. She tried to do as much research as she could on Los Angeles and the surrounding area in case it really came down to Apparating away from potential assailants, but she deeply hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Sure you want to go?" Morioka asked despondently as he watched Hermione and Severus packing their emergency supplies into small bags. "Seberus is a good butler."

"I'm afraid Japan just isn't ready for me, Kouhei," said Severus dramatically. Hermione took a brief break from her bag to glance at him.

"Oh? In what way?" she asked, letting out an amused chuckle before reaching for her tea.

"I'm just too fabulous for Japan, you see."

Hrrkkkhhh.

God dammit, Hermione thought irately as she wiped tea off her chin.

Morioka let out a laugh, but it was obvious by the look on his face that he was still quite disappointed. Hermione supposed that it was just that Severus had shown such potential...

She put the last of their emergency supplies into a small purse and zipped it shut, sitting back with a sigh of relief. Morioka had graciously provided them with food and medical supplies as a gesture of thanks for Severus's butlering, so they were well prepared in the event of potential starvation or severe injury. Which Hermione hoped would not be the case, but she knew it would likely be so if past experiences were anything to go by. Still, she had the utmost faith in their abilities — while not overconfident by any means, she was sure that they would be able to scrape by so long as they weren't greeted by an entire squad of Hit Wizards or Aurors or the like. In any case, Severus looked perfectly calm about it all, if not downright nonchalant as he sipped his oolong tea. It had the lovely effect of calming Hermione as well; despite her confidence in their abilities, she would have anxiously gone over each detail of their entry into the US if not for Severus's contagious nonchalance.

They sat in relative silence — the three of them busy with tea or pastries or newspapers — until finally Morioka stood up. "Ready?" he asked.

He didn't wait for them to nod before disappearing into the corridor leading to his store room, returning moments later bearing a tray with two flasks of what was ostensibly the Polyjuice Potion that would conceal them for their trip. As he set the tray on the table, Severus took a pair of vials from his pocket — hairs plucked from the heads of an unsuspecting Muggle couple passing by in Akihabara. Hermione had watched him take the hairs and had noted, with some amusement, that he had waited until a man of sufficient height was available as a...donor. She wasn't sure if it was because he worried that the rather smaller Japanese men would make his clothing look ill-fitting, or if he did not want to be quite so short.

Severus emptied each vial into a flask and, to Hermione's relief, it appeared that the two Muggles had been nice people, as the resulting potions both appeared to be relatively innocuous. Not quite like the Polyjuice Potion with Harry's hair in it, but then again, not many could compete with the golden heart of Harry Potter. "Shall we?" asked Severus, handing her the flask containing essence of Muggle woman.

"Let's," she said, stamping out any hesitation lingering in the back of her mind as she raised the flask to her lips and quickly took a sip.

This Polyjuice Potion wasn't anywhere near the disaster that Bellatrix Lestrange's was — in fact, Hermione thought that it tasted pleasant, with a hint of jasmine. Still, it was a disconcerting experience to see her skin bubbling and changing, no matter how many times she'd already done it. Happily, it didn't take long for the potion to finish its work, so when all the bubbling and stretching and shrinking finally stopped, she glanced at her reflection in the small hand mirror that Morioka thrust at her. A weary-looking but bright-eyed Japanese girl peered back at her.

"Wow, Hermione," Morioka said, grinning, "Seberus pick a good one for you." She laughed and cast her eyes over towards Severus, who was eyeing Morioka with slight disdain. Which, to Hermione's amusement, Morioka returned. "Pick better next time, Seberus. Ugly, ne?"

She stifled a laugh as Severus bristled indignantly. He didn't pick out the most handsome man, but what did it matter as they were only going to have these bodies for a couple hours at most. Still, the man Severus had changed into had a goofy 90s haircut and a face that, in spite of Severus's severe expression and the way he crossed his arms, made him look silly — as though he was trying entirely too hard to frown. "You just picked this man because he was almost as tall as you, didn't you?" she said, allowing herself the tiniest smirk.

"Because of his height? Of course not. I am a vain man — I had to pick a Muggle worthy of my beautiful visage," said Severus without skipping so much as a beat.

This combined with the silly expression of trying-too-hard-to-be-serious was too much for either Hermione or Morioka: the pair of the burst out into raucous laughter.

Wordlessly, Hermione and Severus nodded to him and got to their feet, Hermione shouldering her little purse and Severus his little courier bag (which contained an identical set of supplies to Hermione's as well as an adorable penguin print on its front flap). They followed Morioka to the entryway of his home, where he waited for them to pull their shoes on before firmly grasping an arm each. Hermione was slightly apprehensive of the impending Apparation considering her recent run-in with moderate (but still horribly painful) splinching, but she forced it from her mind. There would be no splinching going to the Tokyo Portkey Terminal. Nope. None. She refused to ever splinch again.

"Okay. We will go now," said Morioka brightly.

There was the all-too-familiar squeeze and an explosion of noise as Hermione found herself standing in the designated Apparation zone of the bustling Tokyo Portkey Terminal.

Well, that was easy.

As she followed Severus and Morioka to the information board to find where their Los Angeles-bound portkey would be, she couldn't help but marvel at the terminal itself. It was obvious that the terminal had been renovated with the modern aesthetics of a Muggle airport in mind, but it was infused its own sense of magic: elegant but minimalist koi murals slowly undulated along some of the walls as though they were silhouettes of koi behind a screen, and though Hermione wasn't too well-versed in Japanese architecture, the ticket counters and support pillars had a decidedly traditional flair. Near the foot-traffic entrance of the terminal was a beautiful, flowing water sculpture of a cherry tree covered in blossoms, the gentle sounds of the water flow drifting throughout the terminal. She deeply wanted to examine the terminal in detail — a modern blend of form and function that she felt the magical facilities in Britain lacked — but she supposed it would be best to come back when she wasn't a fugitive.

"Is that our portkey?" Hermione said incredulously.

A large and round penguin plush sat atop a pedestal labeled "LOS ANGELES."

"Ah yes, finally we'll be traveling in style," said Severus, the slightest hint of glee in his voice. Hermione rolled her eyes.

It looked to be a rather full portkey: as the departure time approached, more and more people began congregating around the penguin plush and soon it was obvious that they would all be standing shoulder to shoulder with each other. All the better, in the end; the more people arriving with them, the easier it would be to blend into a crowd. As Severus and Morioka talked about something or other (she heard vague snippets that included, inexplicably, "chocolate egg"), Hermione mentally went over the plan once more in her mind.

Portkey to Los Angeles. Portkey to Honolulu. Find safe house.

She took a deep breath to calm the anxiety in the pit of her stomach.

"It's time," said Severus finally.

Hermione looked to him — she must have looked very clearly anxious because Severus put a hand on her shoulder — and then looked to Morioka, who had stepped back beyond the lines demarcating the portkey's departure area. "Thank you, Kouhei," said Hermione with a smile. "For everything."

Morioka nodded and held up a hand in farewell. "Make sure Seberus send chocolate egg," he said with a grin.

As Hermione and Severus squeezed up against the other passengers and placed their hands on the plush, she glanced up at him in confusion. "Chocolate eggs?" she whispered.

"Turns out he's a fan of those Cadbury creme eggs."

"Ah."

If they got out of this alive, she would make sure Morioka was drowning in creme eggs.

Suddenly she felt the familiar and now rather unpleasant hooking feeling behind her navel. Her stomach seemed to turn over on itself as they spun away from the Tokyo Portkey Terminal — she was, quite frankly, completely done with portkeys and would absolutely love it if she and portkeys could take a break away from each other to reconsider their relationship.

It felt as though her heart fell through her gut as her feet reconnected with the floor, and it was all she could do to keep her knees from buckling. But she quickly composed herself and cast her eyes about while the other passengers stood around to get their bearings.

The Los Angeles International Portkey Terminal appeared to be an underground facility. It was large, windowless, and quite noisy — there must have been hundreds of people in the terminal, with people spinning in and out of the room in a steady stream of portkey arrivals and departures and still more popping in and out via Apparition. If this was a trap, it was difficult to say; there were far too many people there to spot any obviously suspicious figures. She tightened her grip on her emergency bag and wand, casting her eyes about as the arrivals from Tokyo were directed away from the portkey landing area, and out of the corner of her eye she could see Severus doing the same.

"There's Danny," said Severus suddenly, nodding his head toward Danny's unmistakable figure standing in the shadows of a pillar.

They had agreed upon a password of sorts with Danny when they had formulated the plan, as they would be disguised via Polyjuice. "Takahashi Magical Remedies?" said Severus as they approached Danny, holding out his left hand. "My associate and I are here about your new business prospect."

A smile spread across Danny's face as he shook Severus's hand. "Glad you guys made it," he said, releasing Severus's hand to shake Hermione's own. "Listen, there's been a change of plans. We've had to sort out a different hotel for you two."

A sinking feeling filled Hermione's gut at Danny's words. Surely his words meant that something had gone wrong with the safe house. And now that she could see his face more clearly, she realized that it bore the unmistakable splotches of healing bruises. She tried not to let her mind run away with hypothetical scenarios, but she couldn't quell the horror that Danny might have been hurt by Rene Mortin's people — all things that, in the end, were really because of her and that blasted portkey research.

Danny had led them toward the designated area for Apparating and Disapparating and put a hand on them, looking to them for silent approval. When Severus and Hermione both nodded, Danny smiled and they were plunged into Apparition space.

Hermione found that they arrived at what appeared to be a small backyard that seemed disused and unkempt, with dried leaves scattered across the concrete floor and all over the wooden patio furniture. The remnants of a lawn sat along the far wall, overgrown but dried and brown and riddled with weeds. It was curious, however, that there wasn't a door in the wall of the house — it didn't seem like there was any more house accessible around the corner, and there didn't appear to be a basement. But before either of them could say a word, Danny waved his wand and the subsequent ripple of magic told Hermione all that she needed to know — a sliding door bloomed on the wall and slid open, as though inviting them in.

The first thing Hermione saw inside was Angela Villar sitting up on a couch, her wand pointed at them in terror.

"Whoa there, Angie, these two are my friends," said Danny, stepping in front of Hermione and Severus with a conciliatory smile. When Angela didn't look convinced, Danny glanced back at them and let out a bark of laughter. "Oh right, the Polyjuice! They'll go back to normal in a bit, and then you'll probably remember them."

While it was slightly alarming to find Angela so wound up that she'd immediately pointed her wand at intruders, Hermione supposed it was a good indicator that Danny had given her a bit of a magical education. The circumstances left much to be desired, of course; the state of Danny's face and the tension in Angela meant that they must have experienced quite the ordeal before coming to this place.

"Where are we, Danny?" Hermione asked as Danny disappeared into the kitchen.

"Lakewood," came Danny's voice amid the sounds of him rummaging through cupboards.

Lakewood didn't mean anything to Hermione, and neither to Severus if the furrow in his brow was any indication.

"Where is Lakewood?" she asked, peering into the kitchen.

Danny emerged with a steaming teapot in one hand and four coffee mugs precariously balanced on the other. "We only have green tea, sorry," he said as he carefully set everything down on the dining table. "Anyways, we're in Lakewood. Twenty-ish miles away from the portkey terminal." He paused a moment to beckon for Angela to join them at the dining table, and for Hermione and Severus to sit down.

"And what are we doing in Lakewood?" asked Severus as Danny handed him a mug of tea.

"It's a long story that I'll tell you later, but the gist of it is that my safe house is no-go with the MBI crawling all over the island," said Danny. He had a smile on his face but there was the slightest quaver in his voice. "But we still had to meet you two, so we found a place near LA. Angie can tell you about it."

Angela looked like a deer in the headlights at Danny's words. "I — uh — my friend's parents just bought this house to rent it out," she said rather timidly, as though she felt she was an intruder on the conversation. "Nobody lives here and the — um — the MBI didn't think to check as far as my friend's parents' stuff."

"So you just recently arrived here?" asked Severus, glancing from Angela to Danny. "Where did the tea come from?"

"Grabbed my emergency backpacks before we left," said Danny, gesturing at the two large hiking backpacks sitting in the corner of the room. "Had some tea bags shoved in there with the food."

"You have tea included as an emergency ration?" Hermione laughed.

"Hey man, you're from England, you should understand!"


It turned out that after Hermione and Severus had escaped through the Floo, Danny had destroyed the entrance to the Floo before fighting off the two Hit Wizards that had followed on Hermione's heels. It was there that he sustained the injuries to his face, not directly from a hex but from a Hit Wizard sending furniture hurtling at him while he was busy trying to seal the Floo and deflect the other wizard's hexes and curses. Hermione was horrified to find that her coffee table had all but shattered the right half of his face.

"Just a flesh wound," Danny had said with a laugh — Angela had let out a small giggle but Hermione couldn't see what was funny about his face getting smashed to bits. "Nothing a little magic couldn't fix, anyway."

In the end, Danny had been able to escape and hide out long enough to get a hold of Harry, who had helped find someone to fix his face before assisting him in returning to Hawaii. Danny and Angela hadn't been able to spend very much time there once Harry had left; whoever Rene Mortin had stateside had people scouring the island in no time, leaving Danny and Angela little time to even wonder how the hell they did that before making their escape back to the mainland via Oahu Floo. The safe house was Unplottable and had a whole host of concealment charms protecting it and none of the wards had indicated that he or Angela had been stuck with a tracking spell, so he'd been completely confounded as to how they'd found it so quickly.

Hermione, however, had a nagging little feeling in the back of her mind that told her she knew the reason for this, and she didn't like it one bit.

"And here we are," said Danny once he finished his tale. "Still haven't figured out how they were able to find us. Maybe I got sloppy, I dunno. Nobody's turned up here so..."

Shit. Shit shit shit.

"I think I know," Hermione said softly.

For a moment, her companions looked to her with confusion. Until, slowly, realization dawned on Severus's and Danny's faces.

"Your portkey research," Severus said, running his fingers through his (now un-Polyjuiced) hair.

"My portkey research."


A/N: So uh...I've had this chapter sitting around in my Google docs for like...a couple years. I read a bunch of HP fanfics last weekend and remembered that this was a thing I was working on. So here, have the thing. Maybe I'll write more. Hopefully I'll write more, between this and my Mass Effect one. Hell, maybe I'll write more Portal one, idk.

New things that happened while I was busy doing other things for several years: finished my Masters, got job, got laid off from job, went to Japan, now looking for more job while making games.