Five Nights: Hide and Seek

A/N – Sorry about the delay guys. Things have been very busy here. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 6 – Past and Present

10th-11th July – Harry

Harry had to question his sanity sometimes. Willing facing potential death several times in the previous years, running off to the Ministry to save Sirius without any proof he was in danger in the first place and here he was now, back in the swirl chair, staring at the tablet blankly as he waited for midnight. He was sure returning to this place was the craziest thing he has ever done, especially after what he had learned earlier that day.

-Flashback-

Harry warily peaked around the corner into the living room. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were seated on the couch watching the television after the morning rush to the hospital. Vernon had not been happy about that but thankfully for Harry, Petunia had enough sense to remember that Harry couldn't receive the paycheck at the end of the week if he bled to death. They had gone to the hospital, had Harry's arm stitched up, and then Harry got a few hours sleep. Focusing back on the task at hand, he noticed that Dudley was nowhere in sight. Harry assumed he was out terrorising some innocent pre-teen again. He didn't care where his cousin was though. All that mattered was that everyone was busy. Show time!

As quietly as possible, Harry crept up the stairs into Dudley's bedroom. He carefully shoved aside the junk on his cousin's desk until he could see the computer. It was a very expensive model, the best of the best. Harry was pretty sure it was going to take him forever to figure out how to use it. He hoped his relatives wouldn't notice he was missing.

After spending around twenty minutes trying to figure out how to use it, Harry was ready. He brought up a new search window and typed in 'Freddy Fazbear's Pizza'. Several websites popped up straight away. The first was the restaurant's official webpage. Harry ignored that one, it wouldn't tell him anything useful. The next was a restaurant review site. He passed over that one too. The third site though caught his attention. It was a newspaper article website. Clicking the link, Harry felt his excitement rise. This might be just what I'm looking for!

The page loaded and seven articles containing 'Freddy Fazbear's Pizza' appeared on screen. Harry clicked on the earliest one. He skimmed through the article before closing it in disappointment. It was only advertising the grand opening of the pizza place. Still, he did learn one worthy fact. The restaurant the article talked about? It was in America and dated 23 years ago.

The next article was written roughly one year after the first and the title caught his attention straight away. Death at Freddy's! Not the most creative title but still effective.

The article was long and a lot of the information wasn't very useful. One paragraph though really caught his attention.

'….on Thursday afternoon customers at the much loved family restaurant were horrified to find the body of 7 year old Zack Wolloway lying on the footpath right outside the building. Young Mr Wolloway was stabbed three times in the neck and then left there to be found approximately half an hour after the attack. The killer has yet to be found but detectives believe that this was a planned killing. "The killer knew where all the security cameras on the street were and waited for a time when there were few people around to carry out this disgraceful crime. It is our belief that they murdered this child for a specific reason. What that is though has yet to be determined," stated Detective G Midlow. Freddy Fazbear's Pizza denies any involvement in the crime and has agreed to cooperate fully with detectives as the investigation continues. The restaurant will remain closed until late next week both out of respect for the deceased and to help with the investigation….'

Harry gaped in shock at the screen. Someone was murdered outside the place? Harry shook his head in sadness. Who would do such a horrible thing to a child? The next article was dated a few months later. It was short and mostly stated that the investigation into the murder of Zack Wolloway had gone cold and was being declared an unsolved case. It had a picture above it of a little boy standing by a lake in what Harry assumed was a park. It was a black and white image but Harry assumed the boy had black or very dark brown hair with light skin. He was clutching a camera in his right hand and positively beaming as his picture was taken. Harry felt a pang of grief for the poor boy. He was so young…

Harry paused as he continued to stare at the image of the child. Zack...that name's familliar...and that face...Harry shook his head. If it's important i'm sure it will come back to me later.

The next newspaper clipping was dated fifteen years after Zack's murder and the title sent a chill down Harry's spine. Five Kid's Declared Missing at Local Pizzeria!

The clipping spoke about how five children had gone missing at Freddy's while attending a birthday party. The birthday boy himself was one of the five. Another child attending the celebration had told police he saw a 'golden bear' leading his friends away to a room in the back. The kids hadn't been found but the suspect had been arrested. Harry was shocked to say the least. How could five kids just go missing without a trace like that? Unless, was magic involved? Possibly….Harry frowned. None of this made sense.

Harry read over the list of names, committing them all to memory.

Hail, Sarah – 7 years old

Swanborn, Marcus – 8 years old

Meadows, Dean – 9 years old

Ravenbark, Cody – 7 years old

And the birthday boy himself….

Willwood, Ryan – 9 years old

Harry bowed his head in a moment of respectful silence before moving onto the next newspaper clipping. The article was talking about how the business was struggling after the disappearance of the five kids followed by another about the place being threatened to be shut down due to health violations. Harry nearly went right past that one but something in the article caught his eye. "reanimated carcasses."

Harry stared at the quote for what he was sure must have been at least five minutes. Reanimated carcasses. The words kept spinning around in his head. The kids go missing, the bodies were never found and then this? He pulled himself from his stupor and read the article. Foul odour, blood and mucus? He felt his stomach turning. Was it possible that the murderous animatronics and the missing kids were connected? There are only four animatronics though and it said five kids had gone missing. And what about Zack? Was he connected at all?

The last article was about the eventual closure of the pizzeria. Apparently business was never able to recover after the word got out about the missing kids. Harry was about to close the page when something caught his eye. It was another article sitting under a 'suggested' sign. Harry frowned and opened it. The article was titled The Bite of '87. Harry quite audibly gasped as the title hit him like a ton of bricks. The Bite of '87! That's what Cawthon mentioned on night 1! Harry's momentary elation over finally finding something that connected directly to something he had heard quickly vanished as he remembered exactly what the elusive phone guy had told him about the incident. He suddenly wasn't so sure he wanted to hear anything more about The Bite but pushed on anyway. If it helped him learn more about the place….

The clipping talked about an incident that took place in a 'brother location' to Freddy's called 'Fredbear's Family Diner'. The restaurant apparently closed down shortly after an 8-year-old boy named Thomas Clawford was bitten by Fredbear in the head, removing his frontal lobe. The boy survived the attack but was permanently disabled, both physically and mentally, and suffered severe night terrors about the incident. Harry stared at the image of Fredbear. This one was in colour and it was easy to make out the goldish-yellow fur. Harry thought back to the article of the missing kids and how apparently a 'golden bear' had lead them away. Was it possible Fredbear was involved? Was the costume used by the murderer? Could the animatronics fur even be removed as a costume? Harry shook his head. The dates fit but still there were so many missing links.

He closed the computer and crept out of the room as silently as possible. Next stop was the cupboard under the stairs. He hoped the Dursleys wouldn't see him looking through his school things. He really needed his wand for tonight. As he got ready to retrieve his wand, he found himself still reeling over everything that he read. Freddy's was proving to be a much more sinister place then he thought.

-End Flashback-

Harry groaned as he thought back on the horrific news articles. He hadn't known how to print anything out but he did make up a timeline of events and wrote down all the notes he needed. Hermione would be proud he mused ruefully. He still had a lot to think over but he would figure it out tomorrow. Right now, he just needed to survive the night.

Harry's eyes flickered down to the tablet where his wand perched by its side. It had been a challenge to retrieve the wand from the locked cupboard but he managed to find it just a few minutes before his uncle came waddling in, roaring at him about 'arriving late' and 'disrespectful little brats'. He was grateful he had found it and only hoped he wouldn't actually need it. He remembered all too well what happened last time he used his wand outside of school. He wasn't risking expulsion unless it was absolutely necessary. Still, he felt a lot safer with it here.

Just then the clock struck twelve and sure enough, the phone rang. Harry wondered what Cawthon possibly had to tell him this time as he picked up the receiver.

"Hello, hello?"

"Hello, hello." Harry answered amusedly as he began flicking through the tablet.

"Hey you're doing great!" came Cawthon's cheerful voice.

Harry smiled despite himself and replied in a chipper tone "Thanks mate."

"Most people don't last this long. I mean, you know, they usually move on to other things by now." Harry rolled his eyes at the very poor attempt at backtracking, also feeling rather uneasy at the obvious hint of previous employees falling victim to the animatronics.

"I'm not implying that they died. Th-th-that's not what I meant."

"Of course not." Harry muttered, checking the right door light.

"Uh, anyway I better not take up too much of your time. Things start getting real tonight."

Harry's movements faltered slightly at that, the familiar feelings of unease bubbling in his chest. What's that supposed to mean? Things start getting real tonight?

"Uh... Hey, listen, I had an idea: if you happen to get caught and want to avoid getting stuffed into a Freddy suit, uhh, try playing dead!"

Harry blinked. Play dead?

"You know, go limp. Then there's a chance that, uh, maybe they'll think that you're an empty costume instead."

Harry frowned uneasily. "I don't think that'd be such a great idea," he said quietly.

"…Then again if they think you're an empty costume, they might try to... stuff a metal skeleton into you. I wonder how that would work."

Harry grimaced at the idea. He wouldn't like either of those things to happen quite frankly.

"Yeah, never mind, scratch that. It's best just not to get caught." Cawthon amended meekly.

Harry shook his head. "Yeah, I figured as much."

"Um... Ok, I'll leave you to it. See you on the flip side." Cawthon finished in his cheery tone followed by the message clicking off.

Harry smiled slightly and murmured in reply. "Yeah, see you on the flip side."

The room once again descended into the eerie quite of night before being broken by Freddy's creepy laughter. Harry sighed before picking up the tablet again. Bring it!

"Fuck!" Harry swore as he slammed the door on Bonnie with only a mere second to spare. He hissed in frustration before picking up the tablet again. It had been the same routine for three hours now.

Cameras.

Light.

Cameras.

Bonnie!

Door.

Cameras.

Light.

Cameras.

Light.

Chica!

Door.

Cameras.

Light.

Bonnie!

Door.

Cameras.

FOXY!

Door.

Cameras.

The cycle was repetitive but Harry found it hard to be bored. Scared shitless and angry? Sure, no problem. Bored? Not a chance. Despite the routine he did learn something new though. Freddy had finally moved off the stage. He wasn't sure what to make of that. It was a relief in an odd way to see the bloody bear do something for once. However, Freddy was good at staying out of sight; a very troubling fact. It was just gone three am now and he was beginning to feel the weary exhaustion start to slow his movements. How did the previous night guards keep this up?

He glanced at the camera again in annoyance. Bugs Bunny was back in his closet again. Foxy was getting ready for another run. Oh joy! He snorted sarcastically. Freddy was perving outside the girl's bathroom again. He didn't need to check the cameras to know Chica was smashing stuff in the kitchen.

He was just putting the tablet down to prepare for Foxy's run when he saw something out the corner of his eye. It was camera 2B open on the tablet and at first nothing seemed out of place. However, when his eyes flickered up to the poster on the wall, he froze. Staring back at him was not the usual poster of Freddy Fazbear. Instead it was an up close picture of a golden bear face.

Startled Harry dropped the tablet and shouted when he saw a figure standing in the corner. It was Freddy! Or at least it looked like Freddy. Harry gaped at the sight of the golden-furred bear with a microphone loosely clasped in his right paw. He had what appeared to be either a dark blue or black top hat and bow tie and greatly resembled the restaurant mascot. What really freaked him out though was the way he sat slumped like a dead body and that where his eyes should be were two empty, black pits with a white pinprick of light in the centre of each eye socket. He looked demonic and it was only then that Harry noticed the strange, giggling coming from the bear. It was a high-pitched child's laugh and just about the creepiest thing Harry had ever heard.

Without thinking, Harry scooped up the tablet and covered his face, certain the bear was going to attack. After all, they would attack when they got into the office. The only thing that saved him from Freddy on night one was the six am bell and that was a good two and a half hours away. He waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing. Slowly he lowered the tablet and peaked over the top. The bear was gone. Harry slowly shook his head in bewilderment.

"What the fuck just happened?" he muttered to himself. How did it get in here? He glanced around and only just realised the doors were both still closed. Cursing he quickly opened them both after checking for animatronics. Sitting back down he thought over what happened. Did I just imagine that? Maybe this job is getting to me more then I initially thought? I mean, there isn't another bear here and there is no way that was Freddy.

He picked up the tablet again and flicked over to camera 2B. Sure enough, the poster was back the way it normally was. After checking every single camera and not finding a single trace of the golden bear Harry admitted defeat. Maybe I am losing it?

He glanced down at his wand, thus far untouched that night. It was then he remembered the newspaper articles from earlier and felt his stomach churn. Was that Fredbear? Or the costume used to lead the kids away? Or both?

Harry glanced at the watch and saw the time. 3:27am.

It was going to be a long night.

Cameras.

Light.

Foxy singing.

Cameras.

Bonnie!

Door.

Singing's stopped.

Freddy laughing.

Cameras.

Light.

Banging from the kitchen.

Cameras.

Light.

Groaning.

Chica!

Door.

Cameras.

Light.

Bonnie!

Door.

Freddy laughing.

Footsteps.

Cameras.

FOXY!

Door.

Cameras.

Harry collapsed back in his chair with a groan of exhaustion. Is tonight ever going to end? Looking down at his watch he saw it was just on 5am. He sighed. One more hour to go.

He opened the West Hall door after making sure Foxy was gone and picked up the tablet. He only had 20% power left. As long as Foxy stays away I should be fine.

He flicked through the cameras, deciding to ignore 2B for tonight, and ended up on the East Hall 4B camera when something else caught his eye. Remembering what happened with the Freddy poster just two hours earlier he cautiously glanced at the wall and blinked in shock. The rules poster that had grabbed his attention on his first night here was gone and instead it was a newspaper clipping.

Harry frowned and pulled the tablet closer in a bid to try and read the tiny writing. He was stunned when he realised it was about the Missing Children's Incident. There wasn't anything written in the article that was different to what he already knew but to see it here in the restaurant….

Surely they can't want people seeing that? It can't be good for business even if it did happen in America, not here.

Harry jumped as he heard a groaning sound coming from his left. Bonnie! He slammed his fist into the door button and checked just to make sure it was indeed closed. Satisfied, he went to look at the camera again and found another surprise. The Rules poster was back and the newspaper clipping was nowhere to be seen.

He gaped in bewilderment. Where'd it go?

Harry checked the camera again but it still wasn't there. He ran a hand through his hair and lowered the tablet to the table. First the golden bear and now the newspaper clipping? What the hell is wrong with this place tonight?

He could hear the footsteps coming down the East Hall now just as the circus music started up again. No time to worry about it now.

6am arrived with just 1% power to spare and now Harry was dressed and ready for the tedious walk home. He grabbed his wand, slipping it into his pocket, and headed down the East Hall. He scanned the floor but found no sign of any fallen newspaper articles anywhere. He was just passing the Manager's Office when an idea popped into his head.

He had already decided that he needed to confront Davis about this place and the animatronics. He needed to know what the hell the guy was thinking keeping murderous robots here in a family pizza place and who else would know better then the manager himself? However, he knew the likelihood of getting any answers out of the guy was slim at best.

Stopping at the door to the office he briefly considered the risk he was taking. If I get caught I'll be worse then fired. Hell, if this guy knows about the animatronics then who knows what he will do if he catches me snooping. Still, this might be my only chance….

Deciding to go for it, he checked the door and was delighted to find it unlocked. He stepped inside and gently pulled the door shut behind him. The office looked exactly the same as it did when he was here last week for his interview. Well, if I can even call it an interview…..

He quickly scurried over to the desk and scanned all the papers. He saw his own employee file on top with a whole bunch of other meaningless documents. He even found the guys shopping list. There was nothing there of any interest.

Tugging open the draws he saw more employee files. He recognised all the names of the cooks, cleaning and wait staff. He even found Tracy's file and the day guard, Nicholas Carrington's. He didn't open any of the files, knowing it was all private information, and shuffled through the rest of the papers. There was nothing of importance though. Huffing in annoyance he tried to pull open the last draw.

Locked.

Harry smirked. If it's locked then there must be something important inside. Something he doesn't want anyone else seeing. Unwilling to risk expulsion over a simple unlocking charm, Harry grabbed a paperclip off the desk and used it to trick the lock. Sliding the draw open he groaned at the sight of more employee files. He was about to give up and close the draw when the name on the first file caught his eye.

Scott Cawthon.

Harry frowned. He knew Cawthon no longer worked here so what was his file still doing here? Curious and telling himself it was purely for investigative purposes, he opened the file. Overlooking the personal details he went down to the employment records and found that Cawthon had been here for quite a while. 1992. Harry remembered seeing that date before. Ah, yes. This place opened in '92.

He skimmed through the rest until he saw something at the bottom that caught his eye. It was a timesheet caught at the bottom. It was dated last week. Harry noticed that Cawthon had turned up every day for the last week but when it got to Thursday, things got strange. Cawthon had signed in but didn't sign out at the end of his shift. He didn't turn up on Friday at all by the look of things either. Scribbled at the end of the file, next to the date of termination was a hand written note. 'Not Found.'

Harry felt a knot of concern settle in his chest. Did something happen to the previous night guard? He looked down at the next file and saw the name Melissa Hopkin. He flipped open the file and found a similar thing to what Cawthon's said. She had apparently been the night guard before Cawthon took over. She too was listed as 'Not Found'.

He looked through the files and was finding a trend very quickly. The files all stated the same thing. The night guard either quit after one week's employment or never lasted the week. The only exception to the one-week rule had been Cawthon. There were too many files to count but he found that they all dated back to the opening of Freddy's here in 1992. None of the files from the business overseas were here. Harry had no doubt though that there were many more files like this for the American branches as well.

Harry put all the files back the way he found them and put the draw back, locking it in the process. He snagged his bag from the chair and left the office quickly, mind reeling. How can that many people go missing and not one person have anything to say about it? Is no one suspicious?

Harry had learnt a lot about this place in the last 24 hours and yet still felt like he was only scratching the surface of a long hidden, dark secret. He made a mental note to talk to Hermione tonight. Maybe she could dig up some more information. He would also confront Davis tomorrow after he had the chance to think everything through. One thing was for sure though.

He would not become yet another file locked away in that draw.

A/N – Well, there we have it.

I just want to clear up a few things. I know Fredbear's Family Diner and the Bite of '87 happened a while before the other events but it didn't fit in with the timeline for the story. Therefore, I made Fredbear's another location that was running at the same time as Freddy's.

Anyway, I think that just about cover's it up. The next chapters are going to be quite exciting. Things will really start to get intense.

See you all on the flip side!