Goldilocks Part Three: No Journey Too Far

Before Snape could get into a staring contest with the Cape, both men looked up, alarmed at the approaching light and noise-another train was coming on the track adjacent to them.

With the Cape's help, Snape dove underneath the Monte Carlo where he would be safe just as the other train whizzed past. That was a close one. A few seconds' difference and he might have been decapitated.

The danger now out of the way, Severus chuckled and got to work. He shone a flashlight around as he located the brake hose and then accidentally dropped the light before he could cut it. Oh well. He didn't need the flashlight that badly. He sawed away at the brake hose; there: He'd done it.

The Cape lifted him back up and Severus sat down there between two of the cars and laughed.

"You're finally learning how the game is played," he told his adversary, grinning. For some reason, the vigilante took offense to that.

Harry hauled Snape to his feet and shoved him up against the side of one of the cars.

"This is not a game," the hero hissed, his body pressed against the villain's. "Sooner or later, I am going to destroy you. You're not as smart as you think you are," he finished before heading inside and leaving Snape alone.

"God, I wish you were right," Severus said wistfully, though his opponent wasn't there to hear him. Others might not give him credit for it, but he was smart. Severus was fairly certain that that was his daughter angrily hurling accusations at him earlier. But worse, he knew that he was attracted to the man that had just threatened to drop him underneath the train and still vowed to destroy him.

This just wasn't his day.

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Goldilocks was going through the loot he had stolen when three men barged into the stationary caboose, catching him off-guard. He recognized one of them, the one with only one good eye, who was holding a rifle on him. He was the one that had been captured and tortured for Chess and apparently, he recognized Goldilocks, too.

"You insufferable twit! Do you know I had to have bullets taken out of three different muscles after our last encounter? I'm allergic to anesthesia," Mad-Eye growled, "and all that got me through the surgery was a shot of whiskey and thinking about what I would do to you when I got the chance. Now get into that cage," Moody ordered, nodding to the one in the corner of the car and keeping the weapon pointed at the smuggler. Lockhart frowned.

"But it looks filthy and-" Moody pumped the rifle and Gilderoy shut up and got into the cage, before the freckled-one locked him in. Goldilocks recognized him, too.

"I see you didn't take my advice about the skin care products. Didn't you hit me with a crowbar once?"

"Yeah, apparently not hard enough," Ron spat. What a tosser. He picked up the bag of stolen goods and followed Sirius and Mad-Eye out of the caboose, leaving Goldilocks behind.

Gilderoy tried throwing his body against the bars of the cage to get them to give and only succeeded in hurting himself. Okay, that plan wasn't going to work. Wait a minute…

He plucked a nail file out of a jacket pocket and set to work….

Finally, he got the cage open and walked out. Then he noticed someone else was in the caboose with him, someone who was just regaining consciousness. He looked familiar…

"I remember you!" Gilderoy exclaimed. It was that man Snape had sent in his stead: Dursley. Goldilocks drew back his fist and started swinging at Dursley.

Vernon, desperate to defend himself, glanced around and noticed a crowbar lying nearby. He grabbed it and hit his attacker, knocking Goldilocks out cold.

When the smuggler eventually came to, Vernon was long gone and there was a gap in his memory. The last thing he remembered was that odious person in a mask, whatever his handle was, telling him that Severus Snape was Chess…

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Harry, having changed out of his costume, walked into Moody's room and approached the desk where the thief was counting the stolen cash.

"You know I realized tonight that you make a living by cheating others out of their hard-earned money," Harry said, laying a hand on Mad-Eye's arm to get him to stop counting and pay him attention. Moody's glare made him drop his hand, which he then leaned on top of the desk.

"And this is news to you?" the magician demanded. Potter knew from the beginning who he was associating with.

"No, but… What does 'the Cape' mean to you? What do you want it to be?"

"It doesn't matter what I want. You're the Cape; that's up to you."

"Do you realize that sooner or later, what I believe in and what you believe in, are going to put us on opposite ends of a loaded gun?" Potter pressed him.

"Well, that day will be interesting. In the meantime…" he gestured for the former cop to quit bugging him and leave.

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Lupin was relieved when Ginny finally arrived back at the apartment and let him in, but she hardly paid him any mind. Thanks to that stupid traffic jam, she'd missed almost all of Al's birthday. After putting the cake box down on a table, she rushed straight over to her son and hugged him.

"Oh, Al! I'm so sorry! I'm no good at this."

"At what?" the boy asked.

"I don't know." Time management; remembering to charge my cell phone; being a single parent, she thought. "I bought you an ice-cream cake, but it's all melted by now," she apologized. Al took it in stride. Once, a melted cake might have seemed like the end of the world, but not now. Not after what he'd been through this year. He turned to his mum's boss.

"Hey, Robert, you want some milkshake cake?" Lupin smiled.

"Sure, give me some of that milkshake cake."

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Back at Harry's hideout, he and Hermione sat sipping butterbeer.

"I was off my game tonight," she admitted. "I blame the feathers," because it was easier than blaming the proximity to her father.

"I do, too," Harry smiled at his partner and then took another swig from his bottle. He sighed. "Goldilocks announced in front of a room full of witnesses that Snape is Chess and they didn't believe him. This was all for nothing!"

"Harry, it wasn't for nothing," Orwell corrected him. "You've got Chess and Goldilocks at war with each other; the Secretary of Prisons wants to be your Tonto; and, oh yeah, you saved hundreds of lives tonight."

Harry shrugged before returning his attention to the wrapping paper in front of him.

"All that happened and you're still here wrapping a birthday present for your son. Why do parents love their children like that?" she asked.

"I don't know; they just do," Harry replied. The blogger bit her lip.

"Do you think that anything could ever make that love go away?" she asked, thinking about the father she'd narrowly avoided earlier in the evening. Harry looked up, his green eyes pinning her brown ones.

"No," he stated firmly. Hermione tried not to think about the implications of that, of how that meant that despite everything, despite the villain her father was, he still loved her. She tried to keep the conversation on Harry and his son.

"Well, next year you'll be at home celebrating Al's birthday with him," she assured him. Harry tried not to grimace. Perhaps people would never learn not to make promises they couldn't keep.

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The morning after his birthday, Al woke up early. He swore he had heard a noise by the window. He got up and pulled back the curtains. Sure enough, there was a gift lying on the fire escape. He unwrapped it: It was a compass, still in its store packaging and there was a card with it. He read the inscription.

"No journey too far, your friend, the Cape." Al exhaled slowly. His father must have told the Cape about their conversation on the camping trip. The child understood the symbolism of the gift, which was meant to tide him over until he could be reunited with his father.

He doubted the hero would still be lurking around since the sun had already risen, but he climbed out onto the fire escape anyway and scanned the horizon. Somewhere out there was his hero, but better yet, somewhere out there was his father.

Author's Note: Thank you IronAmerica, dem bones, and Orwell for reviewing! And thanks to IA for beta-ing.

I realize that other readers may have some of the same questions dem bones raised. However, in the interests of keeping this note to a manageable length, I am not going to delve into the answers here. I will, though, be happy to answer questions left via review or p.m. to the best of my ability.

For instance, is the one-sided Snarry a deviation from canon? Debatable. We're not actually privy to the billionaire's thoughts during the episode, so how can we know for sure? (That's my argument and I'm sticking to it.)

I'm not sure whether this was unclear, but just so there can be no mistake: Al is convinced that his father is alive. So his thinking about being reunited with his father has nothing to do with a life after death.

Anybody looking forward to "Dice"?