Sirius knew the first person he had to find was Dumbledore. If anyone was covering the search for Harry, he knew it was the headmaster. What Sirius wanted to know was how was it possible for Harry to slip out of his sight without Dumbledore preventing it?
I'd love to know who was brilliant enough to fool old Dumbledore, he thought as he reached land.
Sirius looked around for awhile, panting. The water had been freezing and he needed someplace warm to hide from the dementors. Luckily, there was a cave nearby.
He nestled himself deep within the cave to ready himself for a nice sleep. He knew he'd need it. The Ministry would be on his tail soon.
Ted glanced at the clock. Two o'clock AM. He rubbed his eyes sleepily. He had put the girls to bed hours ago and was now waiting for his wife. It didn't seem as if she was coming home anytime soon. The least she could've done, he thought, was send a letter saying that she was okay.
Ted was starting to wonder about this emergency that his wife had been called away for. Even if it was an emergency, she would have at least contacted him saying how long she would be gone. Even now that he thought about it, her letter had been rather vague.
I'll call up St. Mungo's and see if they know anything. And if they don't, I'll have to go to Hogwarts personally to talk to Dumbledore.
Alex let out a deep breath again. Andry had led Alex back into the living room. Dumbledore had stayed behind to keep an eye on Harry. She had placed her index and middle fingers on both sides of his head and had asked him to take deep breaths. Alex had no idea what for, but he had just decided to follow along.
"I thought you died during the war," she said when Alex took another deep breath.
Alex snorted. "That's a little too much to hope for, I'm afraid. I've been alive this entire time."
"Shame," said Andry, removing her fingers. She picked up her wand and said, "Hold very, very still. If you have to breathe, do so carefully."
"Well, breathing is necessary for me to stay alive."
"Let's hope you can enjoy it a little longer," she muttered, waving her wand about his head twice.
Alex didn't respond as a circle began to form around his head. It was a deep gold with white and black mixed in it. Alex recognized it immediately as his own magical core.
Andry was examining it closely, running her fingers along the side, but never making contact with it. When she ran over it again, her brow furrowed.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Shh," she said irritably, but her eyes were concentrated on one spot on the ring. She picked up her wand and touched the spot, which happened to be located above Alex's ear. He strained to look at it, but he couldn't quite see it.
"How much of Harry's magic did you take when you were performing the Ritual?" she asked, her eyes never leaving the spot.
"Only a little. I was going to return it to him once everything became safe for us."
Alex was uncertain if this was a good or bad thing. He sighed with relief when Andry grinned and vanished the image of his core.
"You're both lucky. Your magics' are very…different. I'm surprised you were able to accept such a small portion of Harry's magic."
"So why am I lucky?" he asked, sitting back.
"If you hadn't had that small portion of Harry's magic within your own magical core, your core would've been rejected from Harry's body instantly."
She paused for a moment, as if wondering if she should say what she thought next. Alex had no such restrictions.
"Well?"
"What have you been doing to make your magic so…strange? It's unlike anything I've ever seen before."
Alex's eyes narrowed at her. He had suspected this question would come up eventually.
"That's not any of your business. If you knew the things I've seen or have been doing since school, well, I'm afraid your already low opinion of me would be worse."
Alex read the confusion on her face. He knew she couldn't tell if he was serious or joking. She seemed to be trying to read him, but Alex kept his face impassive. Giving up, she left the room to tend to Harry, who had begun to cry out again.
"We'll begin in thirty minutes Alex," she said when he followed her in to look at Harry. A large, purple bruise had appeared over his cheek, and any color that he'd had left was gone, leaving him as white as a sheet.
I'm going to make you better Harry. I won't let you die, I promise.
"Dad's worried about Mum," said Tasha as she slid into her jacket. Hermione glanced at her before asking:
"Aren't you? She didn't come home last night."
Tasha shook her head, as if Hermione had just asked her a ridiculous question. "Dora always said that if there's someone you could trust with your life, it was Albus Dumbledore."
"And you believe her?" asked Hermione.
"Of course. Nothing bad has happened to her while she was at school. He must be doing something right."
Hermione had to agree. With all of the chaos Tonks was capable of, Dumbledore must be doing something right.
"I wish your dad thought the same way."
Ted had been pacing restlessly, large bags under his eyes. Neither thought for a moment that he'd gone to sleep. He'd awoken them early, saying that they were going to take a short day trip.
"Now Hermione," he had said, "this trip is to a place where magic is everywhere. It's where Nymphadora is at. You might not like it, but I can't leave you here alone. So you're just going to have to trust me when I say that the magic isn't going to hurt you. You've been to school, haven't you?"
Hermione nodded.
"Then you know that everything there is safe. Trust me; Hogwarts is the safest place in the world."
"Because of the presence of Harry's magic, I can give you a little more than an hour. How much more, I'm not sure, so it'd probably be best if you located Harry's magical core as quickly as possible."
"Where exactly would that be?" asked Alex, unfamiliar with magical anatomy. "And how will I know when my time is up?"
"Right in the center of course," said Andry, as if everybody should know that. "It's like the heart, pumping magic throughout the body. And trust me, you'll know when you're out of time. But don't fight against it. Because then, both you and Harry will die." She placed a hand on Harry's throat and then on his wrist. She did the same to Alex. Dumbledore was watching the process intently, his hands folded in front of him.
"Slow down your breathing Alex," she said quietly. "You have to match Harry's. It might be difficult, he's breathing extremely slowly."
Alex relaxed his body, not realizing how tense he had been and listened for Harry's breathing. Andry was right, it was hard to match Harry's breathing, but he was eventually in sync with him.
Andry removed her hands and stood in front of the two, wand at the ready. "You must be completely relaxed," she said, "or I could kill you." Alex was surprised at the amazing amount of calmness in her voice as she said this.
"Extracting a magical core is a very tedious process, as is placing it in someone else's body. Don't move at all, unless I tell you to."
Andry took a deep breath before reciting an incantation. The words slipped past Alex as he relaxed his body, keeping the same, steady breathing rhythm. For a moment, nothing happened. Then he felt a sharp jerk in his body.
He kept himself from crying out as there was another jerk, this one more painful. He had to relax, he reminded himself. He had to keep the same breathing rhythm. The jerks continued, each more painful than the last.
Alex kept reminding himself to relax, but a small part of him was wondering how he could relax when his body felt like it was being ripped apart. There was a whirring noise now, and Andry's voice was getting louder, even though the words were becoming indistinguishable.
This is for Harry, he thought. A little pain is nothing compared to how you'll feel if Harry dies.
Right after this thought, Alex felt as though he was flying as a lightweight feeling overtook him as he went soaring, soaring, and then…
"Ow," said Alex, landing roughly. Wherever he was, it had been dark until he had arrived. Alex was glowing, a bright, golden light emanating from him and bouncing off the walls.
He didn't waste anytime looking around or wondering at his glowing body. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his wand.
"Point Me," he said.
The wand whirled in the palm of his hand for a moment before finally landing in the opposite direction of which he was facing.
"So just go north and I'll find Harry," he said. "I hope."
Alex sincerely hoped that Harry was the only thing he would find.
Sirius Black was in need of a wand. He knew there was no way he could survive if he didn't have one. He needed food and a disguise. He could always live off rats of course, in the vain hopes that one was Peter. He couldn't remain a dog all the time though, it was too draining; he was weak enough as it was.
Fortunately, he was as far away as he could possibly be from wizarding neighborhoods. He doubted he Muggles knew he was a supposed mass-murderer.
That was why he was now walking the streets, still wearing his Azkaban prison uniform, perfectly aware of the stares he was getting and honestly not caring. He ignored the cars that were passing him, looking for some type of sign to point him in the right direction.
"Halt, Black!"
That was obviously not the sign he was looking for. Without even bothering to see who had called his name, Sirius took off down the street at a sprint, dodging past all the people that were trying to stop him easily.
"Stop, stop!" yelled the pursuer, but Sirius wasn't stopping for anything. He was not going back to Azkaban.
The solution to his problem suddenly occurred to him and Sirius could've kicked himself for being so stupid.
Moony always said it was one of my better traits, he thought before disappearing with a crack.
Severus Snape was sitting in his office, grading essays. It wasn't something he enjoyed doing, quite the contrary. Not a single person in the entire school seemed to be competent enough to write a decent essay.
"Are they even listening when I lecture them?" he asked aloud, as he marked several mistakes on the fortieth essay he was grading.
"I must've been completely mad when I accepted this job," he muttered, throwing the essay in a pile with the other graded ones.
He was interrupted from his rants by a house-elf appearing. Severus scowled at it. He was not very fond of house-elves. Their voices annoyed him. It did satisfy him though, that they were all terrified of him.
"P-professor S-s-Snape, sir," started the house-elf tentatively. "There's a man outside with two girls, asking for, for H-headmaster D-d-d-Dumbledore." The house-elf seemed to be shrinking more and more with every word he spoke.
"Really?" said Snape, setting aside the essays. "Now that is very interesting. What is the man's name?"
"T-t-Ted Tonks," said the house-elf. "He said it is important."
Severus frowned. He didn't like Ted Tonks, which wasn't really saying anything; Severus didn't like a lot of people. Ted had been a few years ahead of himself, a goody-two shoes Gryffindor, but he had always been fair to Severus.
"Tell him the headmaster isn't here," said Severus, "and he should come back in a few days. Dumbledore isn't expected back for a while."
The house-elf shook his head. "He refuses to leave sir," he said. "I've already told him that the headmaster isn't here. He demands to speak to someone."
Stubborn man, thought Severus.
"Fine, take me to him."
Alex had been running for about ten minutes. He took out his wand and used the Point Me Spell. His wand pointed to the left. Unfortunately, there was a solid wall there.
Alex looked at it, wondering what to do. He could always blast it, but he had no idea how that would affect Harry. He could go right, but who knew where that would take him.
"Better to backtrack then go somewhere where I'll be completely lost."
He ran back down the way he had come, glad for the light. He had figured it was his magical core lighting the way. He had noticed that it was dimming, not by very much, but he was sure that when his time was up, the light would go out.
At the first right turn, he took it, and started going straight. He hadn't gone very far when he started to hear screaming and loud crashes. Alex picked up the pace, racing faster to the noise. The screams got louder and a crash so loud that the tunnel shook, but Alex didn't slow down. He was not going to let Harry die.
Ted groaned when he saw who was coming to meet him. He had been hoping that Professor McGonagall would explain the situation to him, but it was Severus Snape that was walking onto the grounds.
He turned to Tasha and Hermione. "Girls, why don't you go play by the lake? But don't get too close; the giant squid is in there."
They both nodded before running off to the lake, just as Snape arrived. Snape sneered at Ted before speaking.
"I believe the house-elf was clear enough," said Snape. "The headmaster is not here. You will have to come back at a later time."
"Well, where is he?" said Ted. "I need to talk him immediately."
"Dumbledore does not have time to meddle with you Tonks," said Snape. "So I suggest you leave." He glanced behind him at the lake. "A family outing?'
Ted groaned. He really would rather not explain himself to Snape, but it was either that or leave; and he wasn't ready to give up yet.
"Look," he said. "Andry didn't come home and my girls said that she left with Dumbledore. Do you understand now?"
"No, I don't. If your wife is with Dumbledore, than she is in good hands. Worrying about it seems rather pointless to me."
"She hasn't contacted me," said Ted helplessly. "She didn't even tell me that she left with Dumbledore." Ted wished he hadn't said that as soon as it escaped his lips.
"Sounds like a personal problem to me."
Sirius had Apparated right into the Shrieking Shack. He had not expected that. He had only been thinking of a safe place to go.
And the Shrieking Shack is as safe as any, he thought, turning into his dog form and crawling up the tunnel that led out into the Whomping Willow. He moved as carefully as possible, making sure not to disturb the Willow as he peeked out from the tunnel.
No one here, he thought. That's good.
He slipped across the grounds, his eyes missing the two girls that were down by the lake, getting closer with every minute.
A/N: Unsure of the number of chapters left. Probably five at the most. It depends on the length. I'm so excited, this would be the first story I've finished. You can make me happier by pressing that button. Alex finally catches up with Harry and Ted runs into Sirius Black, even though he doesn't know it in And Now...
