I am loving the reviews everyone! And to answer a few questions that I keep seeing- no Harry will not be sleeping with Abraxis, no there will be no Mpreg, yes Elizabeth is a bitch and I rushed her chapter on purpose because she's a bitch and doesn't deserve much attention:) and soon my impatient snakelings! Soon you will see Harry's little romance blossom. Don't forget to review! The more reviews the sooner I update!

Allons-y!

Let me know what you think!

Mistress Slytherin

WARNINGS:

VIOLENCE

LANGUAGE

HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONSHIP

QUESTIONABLE MORALS

Let me know if I missed anything.

Chapter 14

Harry ran a clean business. Aside from the occasional dark brew which was always custom ordered he kept his business clean. The reason for this was in fact knocking at his door at that very moment. Harry sighed and drank his potion in a single gulp before watching himself age in the mirror. Fred and Georges modified aging potion, he'd never thought that he would find use for it. Now he was glad they'd given him the secret. He adjusted his robes and turned to the door now a handsome man in his mid forties.

"Oh come in come in! The door is unlocked." He said putting on an expression of mild surprise. The Auror knocking frowned and reached down to push open the door. Green, he hated Aurors that had no clue what they were doing. "Welcome gentlemen, is there anything I can help you with-" a paper was then pushed into his face.

"Sorry sir but we are under orders to search the place." The Auror said glancing at Harry.

"Very well, do as you like, however please be gentle hmmm? Some of my equipment upstairs is highly temperamental and shouldn't be tampered with by a novice." He said pulling the paper back as though to read the fine print. "I wouldn't want you to get hurt." He said kindly as he pulled the parchment away and smiled faintly.

"Heavens!" Came a cry from upstairs followed by a crash. Harry winced.

"Nothing to worry about Madam Prince, these men are simply doing their job!" He called up to her. "Poor woman she startles easily." He said shaking his head.

"Sir! I do not know who you are but these are my private belongings and I am a Lady!" Harry smirked inwardly, before turning to the man that was obviously put in charge of the raid.

"Do forgive her, she is a pure blooded lady, raised in the old ways I'm apprenticing her son." He said with a light smile. "Now, would you mind telling me why my shop is being searched?" He asked with a slight smile. The young man obviously didn't know what to say.

"Well sir, we apprehended someone who had with him a very dark potion, when detained he told us that he purchased it from here." The boy said. Harry was mildly surprised and it showed on his face. May I see the bottle?" He said curiously. The boy frowned at him in thought for a long moment.

"It's all clean up here sir!" some of the men said coming down the steps.

"Can you tell me what it is exactly that you sell here?" The boy said appearing apologetic. Harry blinked at him rapidly before smiling widely.

"I can do you one better young man, here, this is a copy of the catalogue. Oh and I do try to keep up with the ministry restrictions so if there is anything in the catalogue that I might have missed as being restricted do note it down and I'll be sure to remove it." He said mildly before handing the boy the book. "Oh and I understand that you couldn't show me the vial or bottle it was silly of me to ask but…" He went around his counter and reached under it retrieving eight vials. "I could swear I sent a set of my signature vials to the ministry last year; however just in case I'll wrap these for you. Unfortunately my hand crafted collection can't be sent along, they don't really have any use anyway though, customers tend to buy these as gifts. But you're welcome to look through them if you're careful." He said moving towards the large display case where decorative vials sat.

"They're beautiful." The man said as Harry opened the glass doors with the small key.

"When I travel for potions ingredients I sometimes pick one up if it catches my eye, this one here is from Cambodia, the man who sold it to me is dead now, but his work is still here. I have several pieces that I keep personally of his work, one of which I commissioned from him just before he died. I was going to give it to Albus Dumbledore, he was my professor in school you see, however I find it hard to part with the last piece of my favored artist." He said smiling faintly. At the mention of Dumbledore the young man seemed genuinely apologetic. It didn't take long for the other aurors to leave after that.

"Did you really commission something for the headmaster?" Madam Prince said with a frown. Harry smiled faintly as they moved back up stairs.

"Yes in fact, I knew the moment that I took Severus on as my apprentice that I would need to speak to the headmaster, and if there is one thing I know about the old man it's that he has a tendency to meddle." He said smirking slightly.

"You know." Madam Prince said a slight smile on her lips. "I do quite prefer this version of you; you're a rather handsome man Mister Black." She said quietly. Harry glanced in the mirror and saw himself as the man he should be. It was odd, he didn't like it, age should progress naturally and this was not natural, something in his gut told him it wasn't yet time to age naturally.

"I am frozen in time Madam Black, I will remain in the body of a twenty year old for quite some time, it took me over twenty years to look twenty rather than fifteen. I'll not go into the details but I've learned to almost accept my fate. Now, if you don't mind waiting up here there is a man standing at the door to my shop and he very much wants to get inside." He said sighing softly.

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Harry stepped in front of the door and stared gravely at the man on the other side for several long moments before nodding and allowing the wards to let him in. Tall, elegant and nearly the same age physically as he was, the man was certainly his type. Unfortunately he had learned long ago not to simply rush into something; Elizabeth was an old hurt and one that had never entirely healed over.

"If you are looking for my shop keep I'm afraid he is gone, when he told me that you tried to attack Madam Prince I sent him to a friend of mine to complete his training." Harry said before stepping behind his counter and seating himself his hands on his lap where he could easily draw his gun. "Ronald was an exceptional worker, he made things much easier for a man like me who prefers the lab to working with people, I viewed him as a sort of son that I'd never had and I've had to give him up because of you." He said frowning grimly. "So, do tell me why you are here today, I'm afraid that due to the circumstances I should warn you now that I reserve the right to refuse you as a customer, I have bigger more important things to deal with. I don't need vengeful lovers' spats." He drawled resting his chin on his hand.

"Hadrian Black." The man said narrowing his eyes. Harry smiled thinly.

"Quite." He said easily.

"Do you know who I am?" The man said silkily. Harry frowned. He had noticed similarities before but that phrase, those words…it couldn't be.

"I'm afraid all I know you as is Anonymous." Harry said prodding. If this was who he suspected it was…the man must have caught something a flicker in his eyes because suddenly he was watching Harry with a different light in his eyes.

"You do not fear me?" He said curiously. Harry frowned.

"I've faced far worse people I can assure you." Harry said grimly. He had, and it had been terrible, he didn't want to go back to that life of being the hero, that wasn't his part to play anymore. He was far too jaded and tarnished by the evils of the world to be anyone's hero. The man stared at him with narrowed eyes for a long moment.

"Come to lunch with me." The man said suddenly. Harry quirked an eyebrow at that.

"I'm afraid you just aren't my type." He said with a calm smile.

"I wish to speak with you on neutral ground." The man said sneering slightly. Harry snorted.

"Ohoho! So it's only the young ones your after then hmmm? Of is it that you…fear me?" He offered tapping his fingers lightly across the surface of the counter. "But why would you fear me?" He asked cautiously.

"I fear no one." The man said sharply. "However I see a great deal of potential in you, the man who was destined for great things, yet you disappeared into this little shop and decided to live a quiet life- it doesn't fit." The man said his lips turned down. Harry nodded slowly.

"Ah, I see, why not choose to do enormous things when one has the potential- you must have been speaking to old Dippet then, he never could get over the apparent 'waste' I was making of my life. So tell me why do you think it is I chose this life?" He asked snapping his fingers for the elf as he seated himself comfortably. The fact that he had left his guest standing was not lost on either of them still he poured the man a cup of tea when it arrived, a token of peace- for now.

"That is what I would like to know." The man said accepting the cup.

"Do you remember the war?" Harry asked softly. "I was a product of the war, when I came into this world of magic and intrigue I was already a war hardened man trapped in the body of a child." He said reaching for his gun and setting it on the table between them. "I had nothing, I was nothing and I had never been anything, but I knew that I was different and that I had a chance to start over so that is what I did. I started over and for a while that was all I needed, but then by happenchance my father instead of deciding to destroy me as an abomination to the Black name kept me close. I had never known a father, nor a mother, yet he took me in and became the father I had always dreamed of. For the first time I had someone to make proud, and so I did everything in my power to make him proud." He paused and took a sip of tea. "But then before my father died he asked me to do one thing for him- to live and be happy." He said softly. "I cannot do that I'm afraid, I'm too bitter, too torn by the lies and mechanisms of those around me to ever be happy. But I am content." He said with a nod.

"So your ambition was burnt out?" The man said sneering. "You've given up?" He challenged. "You have led yourself to once again become nothing?" Harry felt his content feeling fall away like a ton of bricks. But had he? No he'd spent these years planning, growing his business hadn't he? But when he thought of this place that up until now had been his alone with its echoing silences…he shook his head.

"What does it matter to you?" He said wryly as he grabbed up his gun and slipped it back into its holster. "I am not a friend, I have little to offer, I'm just a pathetic old potions master to you."

"But you could be much more than that and I think you know it, I will not let you simply fade into the background I see that fire in your eyes, it hasn't died, not yet, it's simply waiting- waiting for something." He said with a smug smirk. "I will make you great." He said with a nod before reaching into his pocket and pulling something out. He tossed it onto the counter and crossed his arms.

"What's this then?" He said glancing down at it.

"You are undoubtedly a confusing person Hadrian Black, but you cannot fool me, there is no Ronald Granger, there is only you and the more I speak with you the more intrigued I become. Wear your true skin when you come to this party, show the world who you could have been, let go for just one night of that too cautious behavior you live by." He said turning to the door. "You are living for yourself now Black however that seems to be failing you doesn't it? Why not try living for someone who can make you great?" He said hesitating by the door. Harry stared at the invitation and felt his heart pound.

"Someone like you?" He rasped suddenly very aware that he was going to go to this party, and that he wouldn't have been able to stay away if he'd wanted to.

"Perhaps." The man said smirking slightly. Harry felt dizzy, slightly ill as he watched the man leave his shop and became very aware of a very important fact: he was truly tempted to join Lord Voldemort.

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