AN- Thank you for all the reviews, PM's, Follows and Favourites.
Time for…
Chapter 11 – Favours
The trip to King's Cross went much quicker than the one to Hogwarts for Harry; their compartment was fuller than it was earlier as well. Harry was sat on the floor in front of Daphne who was debating with Hermione about something Harry had lost interest in as soon as the topic began; instead he focused on the game of cards he was playing with Neville. The slowing of the train stopped all activities and an excitement settled in the cabin
They'd be seeing their families for the first time since September; for the firsties it was the longest that they'd been away from their families and they were usually the first ones off the train.
Harry was introduced to all his friends' parents in such rapid succession but left Theo's parents for last since they had invited him over for the holidays and he wanted to thank them for their hospitality.
"Mother, Father this is Harry Potter" he said and then saw the confused look on Harry's face "My parents already know Blaise" he said to Harry quickly
"Nice to meet you Mr and Mrs Nott" Harry said striking out his hand for them to shake
"Nice to meet you too Mr Potter, I hear you'll only be joining us for the last two weeks of your holidays" Mrs Nott said
"Yes ma'am. My guardian and I will be doing some travelling first" he smiled "Theo has given me your floo address though"
"Just be sure to write to us regarding the time you'll be arriving. The floo is secured and we'll need to ensure someone can let you through from the other side" she explained
"I will Mrs Nott" he smiled
"Now I think you should be off, your guardian must be worried" Mr Nott said in a deep voice
"I'm sure he is" Harry smiled and left the group and walked through the barrier and saw Hermione with a large man and a woman who looked like an older version of his friend, though the older woman's hair was more tamed. He smiled at her when she waved him over
"Mom, dad this is Harry" she smiled "Harry these are my parents"
"Nice to meet you Mr and Mrs Granger" he smiled and shook her father's hand
"You too Harry, we're in a rush since we still need to get back to work. You should come visit sometime" her mother said
"Definitely, Jane and I would really like to hear more about Hogwarts and meet a few of Hermione's friends" her father added
"I will, I need to find my guardian as well" he said and saw the family leave; catching her mother commenting on the length of his hair.
He continued scanning the area for John; the man was always dressed in a suit when they were in public and his hair was always cut neatly never longer than a few centimetres. That's what Harry was looking for; he was surprised when he saw John looking at him from next to the newspaper stand. Harry took the sight of his mentor in, his hair was longer; almost down to his shoulder. He was dressed in a formal pants and a polo neck; Harry could see the imprint of the knife holster on his left forearm as he got closer.
"John" he said smiling
"Harry, glad to see you're safe" he said "And you've grown too, I think we need to go shopping before you head off for the last two weeks" he said assessing the boy
"We probably should, maybe even get you a haircut" Harry joked
"Yours is almost down to your ass, I think you're the last person to comment" he shook his head and took hold of the trunk
"Where are we going? You look too serious" Harry said
"A rescue and an assassination job has come up, it's going to take three of us and Marcus has already agreed to join in. Are you up for it kid?" he asked loading the trunk into the car
"Yes" Harry said without hesitation
"Are you sure about it? It's not one of your ten" John asked
"I'm sure, think of it as a thanks for everything you done for me" Harry said "When is this taking place?"
"Tomorrow, I was hoping you'd say yes so that I wouldn't have to find someone else"
"You only need to ask John, I owe you more than I can say. I don't know what would have become of me should you and Death have stayed out of my life" Harry said honestly
"Thanks Kid, you've helped me too. Some of the supplies I now have access to are unbelievable and will definitely give me the edge. Not that I need it" he laughed
"Now who is the target and who are we rescuing?" Harry asked "And what weapons are we going to use?"
"Slow down, first we stop for clothing and supplies. I managed to get you more knives and two daggers"
"What's the difference?" Harry said assuming they were the same thing
"Well they're more or less the same and most sales people will not know the difference. While both have a sharp point a dagger typically has two sharp ends while a knife has only one. It's all semantics, most people just call them all knives except for stuck up tools" John explained
"So why mention it?" Harry turned to the older man
"Because the daggers are poisoned"
"Ah, so who are we saving?" Harry asked
"A girl called Claire Douglas, her father owns a transport business and he suspects his competition has taken his daughter. Marcus has managed to find where she is being kept, but she has been moved everyday over the last three weeks. Marcus knows where she is being moved from and to" John explained
"So a mob daughter?" Harry asked
"Yes, have a problem with that?" John asked
"No I don't, stop being so jumpy" Harry laughed
"I need you to be serious and I was worried you were only in for the ten death gave you" John explained
"I've already killed a troll outside the ten John. I'll be serious when the time demands, for now I'm enjoying watching this new John. What changed while I was at Hogwarts?" Harry asked
"Death visited me and so did Fate" John explained
"Death and Fate? Together?" Harry asked shocked
"No not together. Death came to me shortly after his visit to you, he offered me a few a new deal. Fate arrived a few hours after that, she told me that if I interfered anymore that she would strike when I least expected it" He said
"What was the deal?" Harry asked
"It doesn't matter, I didn't take it and I won't take another deal from any Power" John said pulling the car into the lot "No more talk about it, let's go get clothes and supplies" he said effectively ending the conversation
Getting supplies was a quick and efficient trip just like Harry and John liked it; Harry just needed to get new robes but he told John he'd do it in the two weeks with the Nott family. They left the building and started driving towards the airport
"The airport?" Harry asked
"Yes, the job is in Russia. So we've chartered a plane so that we can do planning on our way there." He said
Harry remained quiet for the rest of the trip, he was sure John was waiting till they were with Marcus before they discussed anything else. The drive went by quickly and soon they were sitting on a plane with Marcus
"So are we set?" John asked
"Yeah, I'll be on a rooftop providing cover as you enter and exit the building. Unfortunately the building has bulletproof glass so while you're inside I'll only be able to act as a distraction until you get out" he said laying a map of the building down
"Could we try infiltrating? Rough me up a bit and act like I'm a street kid" Harry offered
"I don't think it'll work but it could get us in if you could take out the gate guard with that routine" Marcus said "Quickly"
"Then you and I go in, we cross the lawn in a dead sprint" John said to Harry
"Understood, now can I see this girl we're saving?" Harry asked
"Dating prospects that bad at Hogwarts?" John joked
"That's not… you know it's not what I meant" Harry blushed
"Here" Marcus said laughing "For your scrap book"
"Ugh I hate you old men" he said taking the picture "Is the picture recent?"
"Taken three days before she was taken" Marcus confirmed
Harry walked down to the plane's exit and back up three times before he spoke again
"What weapons will you take along?" he asked John
"Well Marcus will be using his new rifle that he won't shut up about and you and I will go with whatever we feel comfortable with. I'll be going with these handguns and two knives" he said opening the case on the table
"I'll go with my new knives then" Harry said putting his holsters on the table
"Daggers" Marcus said pointing to one set
"See stuck up tools" John said to Harry
"There's an important distinction…" Marcus began
"Not tonight, we have some more preparation that we need to do" John said and opened a folder with photos in it
"There are fifteen or so guards, they don't usually patrol any of the grounds. They stay in the building and search it routinely, preferring to stick to the hall ways, this means that we're going to have quite a battle to get to Ms Douglas" John said
"And she's held in the deepest part of the building, which in this case means the basement" Marcus said pointed to the bottom of the plans
"Then we should get some rest because once we land we will be making our way to that building. We'll be hitting them hard and we'll be doing it as quickly as possible" John said
After that all three men went their different ways and fell asleep in their different positions. The plane landed several hours later and soon they were loaded into a car and barrelling to the building with one stop to drop Marcus off close to the building he would shoot from.
John pull to the side of the road while Harry threw some homeless kids clothes over his tactical outfit.
"Move quickly and do not waste time, remember what I told you about your first kill" John said and opened the door and watched Harry walk across the road and make his way around the corner.
Harry slowed his walk as he approached the guard at the gate
"Some money for the poor" Harry asked in Russian
"Move boy" he shouted at Harry
"Sorry" Harry said and stabbed the man in the throat, it was uncomfortable stabbing that high from the angle he was standing at. He pushed the guard against the gate and robbed him of his handgun just in case.
John rounded the corner at a brisk pace and both of them sprinted across the grass until they reached the doors. John looked at Harry and held up three fingers and then removed two guns from their holsters and kicked in the door and fired off two shots which took down the two guards. Harry slipped into a door way and waited for the footsteps to get closer and then struck his opponent in the knee and then the head
John kicked open the door to his left and found the room empty and then moved to the next one; Harry slipped into the room and waited for John movement to draw opponents into the room.
"Marcus" John said into his earpiece "We need that distraction, they're closing ranks. We've been here almost two minutes and we've only taken down four men"
Moments later three explosions went off outside and then the lights went out; the sound of footsteps rang through the halls
"Now we start" John said and stepped into the hall
Harry stepped in front of John and threw two knives from behind John and caught one of the guards in neck and another in the eye. Harry stepped into a door way and watched John fire off multiple shots and heard bodies fall and then the older man stepped into a doorway of his own. Harry took lead and attacked another guard; Harry kicked the man's knee and watched him buckle as it broke. He snapped the man's neck and threw a knife at a guard who stepped into the hall and caught the giant of a man in the chest but was not slowed down
The guard came closer and kicked Harry in the chest and drew the biggest knife Harry had ever seen. Harry drew his poisoned daggers and grinned; this was going to be fun. The guard swung down hard which was quicker than Harry expected and was forced to roll back before he could attack, the man surprised him once more by throwing the knife with such force that the blade lodged itself in the brick wall behind Harry and then he smiled at Harry and pulled another knife.
"Fuck" Harry muttered and approached the massive man with the same determination he did the troll
He threw one of his daggers and grazed the man's leg but then the giant thrust his knife forward which caught Harry in his left shoulder. Harry winced but fought through the pain and stabbed the man in the gut and received a punch to his face in return
The man approached him once more and Harry drew the handgun he had stolen earlier and fired off three shots two which found their target.
"It was a knife fight" the man said before Harry unloaded the rest of the rounds into the man's skull
"You assumed it was, not my fault" he said and searched for John. He found John picking the lock to a door
"There'll be more behind the door. What happened to your arm?" John asked alarmed
"Got stabbed, hold on I want to try something" he said pulling his wand and cast a healing spell on himself which closed the wound
"Alohamora" he said and pointed at the lock which clicked open
"You could have done that sooner" John said shaking his head "Do you know combat spells?" he asked
"No, not yet. Those were both beginner spells but I have these" he said pulling two handguns
"Since when?" John asked
"No time" Harry said hearing sirens in the distance "Let's go" he said and threw the door open. Immediately a shotgun went off
"Cover me" Harry said and got on his knees and moved into the doorway and saw their attacker; unfortunately for the guard he was aiming as if a grown man was going to step into the room and not a child on his knees so he hesitated which was all Harry needed who fired without thinking twice and took down the man.
Harry followed John down the stairs at the far end of the passage and started searching the basement
He heard crying and made his way further into the room and found the girl tied to a bed
"Don't worry, we're here to help you" he said in English "Do you understand?" and the girl nodded
"John I've found her" Harry shouted
"Let's go then" the older man said and picked up the girl as if she was nothing and slung her over his shoulder
Harry removed one of John's guns from its holster and took lead; as they crossed the lawn a police car swung into the drive way and a pair of officers got out of the car and shouted in Russian for them to drop the girl
Before Harry could say anything he heard Marcus fire off his guns and take out both officers
"Oh shit, what a shot" Harry said eyes wide
"He has been working on that" John said and started for their car again. Harry got into the backseat with Claire
After picking up Marcus, they made their way back to the airport as Marcus arranged flight plans to New York.
"So we hand off Claire and then what?" Harry asked
"A vacation" John said "We deserve it"
AN – I hope everyone has enjoyed it. Please review and favourite and follow.
