"Happy birthday Harry!"
The cheer went up around the great ballroom of the Potter Estate. Harry had changed into his best party clothes and dress-coat before leaving Konoha, a soldier pill resting in his pocket to keep him going throughout the night. He really wasn't all that fond of parties, but there came a time when, for the 'upper echelons of society', they were wretchedly unavoidable. A pox on being a powerful political figure with lots of money.
"Thank you all," Harry said, smiling brightly across the room, his green eyes searching out friends in the crowd. "Thank you for coming to celebrate with me." A glint of shiny wrapping paper caught his eye. "And thank you all for the incredible pile of gifts. I honestly had not expected them. Please, I hope you enjoy yourselves tonight, and I hope I get to talk to at least most of you before our feet refuse to hold us up any more."
A polite laugh rippled through the room, and Harry descended the stairs he'd appeared at the top of, heading towards where he'd spotted Hermione and Draco talking to Neville. Of course, he greeted everybody along the way, talking to them of nothing in particular for a moment before moving on politely.
"This is wretched," Harry said, even as he smiled and hugged his best friend.
Hermione chuckled as she returned the hug. "I know you don't like parties, and certainly not for your birthday, but is it really that bad?"
"Of course it is," Draco said, clapping Harry about the shoulder in a friendly way before reclaiming his girlfriend. "Harry's having this party so that he can satisfy the old biddies who want to see him settled down."
"What?" Hermione asked, surprised.
Neville nodded. "Grandmother and her friends," he said sagely. "They want to see all of us with someone as soon as possible. Parties like this are the initial step for those who didn't find or stay with a Hogwarts sweetheart like we did. Getting to meet lots of people, cutting down the rather huge list of potentials, then it will be more private soirées with a short-list of people, then real dates while parties like this get relegated to being social events for political or business advancement."
"Sirius gave you these lessons as well Hermione," Harry reminded her.
Hermione blushed. "I forgot," she admitted quietly.
Draco smiled and kissed her. "That's alright," he said. "Hopefully you won't ever have to worry about it, because our children will be just as lucky as us."
The friends all laughed, then Harry sighed and said he'd better keep moving. They waved him off with wishes of good luck and happy birthday.
Five conversations later, Harry found himself surrounded by Fleur, her now-fiancé Charlie, Bill and the Twins.
"Right, well, can't have Fleur feeling out-numbered by red-heads," Harry announced with a smile, turning his own hair the same blonde as his secretary's, making her laugh and winning him a kiss on the cheek. "I saw Gabrielle earlier," he said. "She seemed to be enjoying the mochi and Luna's company."
Fleur laughed again. "Oui," she agreed with a smile. "Gabrielle 'as become quite fond of both, as 'ave I myself. Zough Gabrielle's fondness of Luna is rather exceeding of my own."
Harry nodded, pleased with the implication, then turned to Charlie. "Fleur is brilliant," he said firmly. "And I'm not around much to remind her, but you had better. I know Fleur's nuts about you, so I hope you appreciate that."
Chalie nodded, holding back laughter at getting the 'father speech' from someone younger than him who wasn't even related to Fleur. "I do Harry," he answered. "I'm the luckiest man I know right now. I have the love of my life twice, once in Fleur, and once in my job. What more could a man want?"
"Children," Fleur answered promptly, smiling. "I fully intend to make sure zat zere will be more Weasleys in ze future Charles."
Charlie laughed happily, pulling Fleur closer to him and kissing her neck. "Strawberry blondes," he promised. "All too fond of playing with fire, probably," he added with a chuckle.
Fleur laughed as well.
Fred and George chuckled, conjuring some floating pink love-hearts and tiny white doves to tweet around the happily besotted couple. Bill snorted and added a fluffy pink cloud at their feet. Harry added sparkles while he tried to keep a straight face. Fleur and Charlie joined in the laughter when they noticed.
"Oh 'Arry," Fleur said, changing the subject through her giggles. "Zis party is supposed to be for you to begin with finding someone, not tease your poor secretary about 'er love-life," she scolded happily.
Fred, George and Bill all stared at Harry in shock at this announcement.
Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah," he admitted. "I know." He turned to the red-heads and explained. "The matrons apparently want all the young men of means to get settled down. Apparently they believe Jane Austen: a man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife."
"Zey don't mind if you decide on a 'usband 'Arry," Fleur reminded with a teasing smile.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Same principle," he said. "The problem is that I'm not really in want of either a wife, or a husband, and would be much happier if I just got to travel for the rest of my life."
They all laughed at him, or his situation, and didn't make comment.
"They get that bee in their bonnets every year," Bill said at last. "They're soppy romantics beneath their iron aprons, the lot of them. They're only yelling so loudly at the moment because so many family heirs have finally graduated to marriageable age."
"Which is why he's still single," Fred added, jerking his thumb at his older brother.
"Despite Mum's going on at him when he's home," George put in.
"Your mum goes on at everyone," Harry said fondly.
"It's become habit from having dosed us all with potions since we were little so that we'd do as we were told I suspect," Bill said with a frown. He'd already told his siblings about it, and his father, along with giving them the assurance that her original funds for that potion had been cut off, though warning that she might have gotten more some other way.
By the end of the evening, Harry was able to tell one thing for sure: he was no interested in pursuing relationships of the even vaguely romantic variety with the offspring of any of the people who had been in any way in agreement with the practices or philosophies of Death Eaters. Which really meant that, apart from Draco, the only Slytherin alumni left to talk to were the Greengrasses, the Davises, and the Higgses. All the ones that ended in S, huh. Oh, and the Pucey's. However, apart from Tracey Davis, none of the potential partners he talked to were actually available. They seemed to all be dating, or engaged to, each other. That was fine. He could still make casual friends with them, which was better than any of the alternatives really. It also meant that Harry wouldn't be seeing four Gryffindor families again, interestingly enough.
The two houses butted heads about a lot, but they had more in common than they really seemed to realise. Harry would also be avoiding two Ravenclaw families and a Hufflepuff family, which surprised him, even though he knew it really shouldn't. A set of stereotyped characteristics did not make a person after all.
~oOo~
"Chilly down with the fire dance!" the odd little creatures sang as they danced around, rearranging their bodies in odd ways.
Harry grinned. Okay, maybe he could learn to like this kind of party.
He spent two days just enjoying himself and the company of the nameless creatures when a man walked into the clearing, and when the music stopped this time, rather than starting again, it stayed stopped as they creatures bowed to the man.
"Your Majesty," they deferred.
Harry raised a curious eyebrow before standing from where he'd been lying on the moss and bowing. If there was royalty around, he wasn't going to be discourteous. He'd been a reluctant politician long enough to know that.
"I find it interesting that a human could suddenly appear in my kingdom the way you did," the man said. "Tell me how."
Harry bowed again and explained.
"I am Jareth," the man said when Harry was finished. "The Goblin King. The Labyrinth, of which this forest is a part, is my domain, and my castle is beyond the goblin city. You may visit if you wish, the goblins themselves can be rather tiresome."
Harry nodded and bowed once more before Jareth left, and the chilly down party by the fire started up once again.
It was a relaxing month, until a girl stumbled upon the clearing just when the critters had been taking a break – food, water, sleep, basics to get out of the way before they could start up again – and spotted him.
"Are you running the Labyrinth as well?" she asked.
"Hm? Oh, no. I'm taking a break from running the rat-race," Harry joked, sitting up. "Harry Potter, a pleasure to meet you fair lady," he said, taking her hand in his and kissing her knuckles. The same thing he always did when meeting a female.
"Sarah Williams," she answered, a little stunned, then she shook herself out of it. "Do you by any chance know how to get to the castle beyond the goblin city?"
Harry smiled. "Can't say I've been yet, but I was invited to visit. Jareth says that having only goblins for company becomes tiresome. I've not been motivated to go. The inhabitants of this forest are such good company. They'll be back soon to get the party started again."
"Um, I'm sorry, but I'm really on a time-limit," Sarah said nervously.
Harry sighed. "Well, as much as I think you could do with a good ol' fashioned relax, I can see now isn't the time. I'll help you," he said.
"But you said you haven't been to the castle," Sarah said.
Harry patted her shoulder. "That doesn't mean I don't know how to get there, and on the way you can explain why you're running the Labyrinth with a time-limit."
Sarah did explain, fretful the whole while, and not a little bit confused as Harry absently turned one way, and then the other as they walked.
"So you said something that you didn't mean, and are now being held to account for it," Harry summarised.
Sarah nodded.
"Unfortunately," Harry sighed, "that happens a lot. A great deal of the time too, an apology isn't enough, and actions speak louder than words, as the saying goes."
"What about the way the Goblin King is acting?" Sarah asked. "He's not being very fair."
Harry sighed again. "Actually, I think that he's being exactly as fair and logical as Toby would be if he were capable of understanding the situation," Harry said honestly.
Sarah's pretty green eyes went wide at that.
Harry smiled. "Then there's also the other matter."
"What other matter?" she asked, furrowing her brow as confusion was suddenly written across her face.
"Oh, you know, standard playground stuff really. A boy pulls a girl's hair just to get her attention. She doesn't like him for it, but he's got her attention, and that's what he wanted," Harry said.
Sarah's eyes went wide again, her jaw dropping as well.
"Does this look like a city to you?" Harry asked, staring at an open gate with a view of rather crooked houses beyond.
Sarah blinked, pulling herself from her suddenly swirling and confused thoughts to focus on the present once more. "The goblin city," Sarah breathed. "We made it."
Harry smiled and nodded. "That we did. It wasn't hard and it didn't take long. This place is alive after all, and I've been here a month. I picked up the language and asked nicely. Now, what are you going to do?"
"I need to confront the Goblin King," Sarah said, moving towards the gates. "I have to get my brother back."
"Why?" Harry asked. "For who?"
"Because I have to. I made the mistake, I have to fix it. I don't like Toby, I don't like Karen," Sarah snorted softly. "I don't even like my dad all that much right now, but they shouldn't have to suffer for my mistake."
"Your slip of the tongue?" Harry suggested.
Sarah nodded.
"Then good luck," Harry said, giving her a light kiss on the forehead. "And don't mention my name. I have a feeling his Majesty won't be exactly pleased with me for helping you."
"Thank you Harry," Sarah said, then turned an ran off.
When she was gone from view, Harry had one thing left to say. "Humans have a saying: you get more flies with honey than vinegar."
"What does that mean to me?" Jareth demanded coldly from behind Harry.
"A boy may pull a girl's hair to get her attention, but she won't like him for it," Harry repeated for his new audience, "and she may decide to walk away from him because of his behaviour. Far better to give her love-notes first, and flowers, and chocolates. Obvious displays of doting love. Teasing needs to wait until you're already in the relationship and have some idea of what kind of teasing they don't mind," Harry said.
"How do you know this?" Jareth asked, not as coldly as before.
"I may not be in a relationship," Harry said, "but I know a lot of people who are, and that's how they work."
"What is said is said," Jareth stated, referring to more this time than just the words that Sarah had spoken.
"And Sarah is currently working to redeem herself of the consequences of her words. Words cannot be taken back, but they can be apologised for, and the pain caused by them can be worked through until they no longer hurt," Harry said. "If the one who spoke them is willing."
Jareth nodded and disappeared. He had a beautiful girl entering the threshold of his castle after all.
Harry couldn't help but think they looked like a family already when the three of them emerged, Sarah with Toby on one hip, practically joined to Jareth on the other, huge smiles across their faces.
"Sarah has her brother," Jareth announced when the trio reached Harry. "And I have her."
Harry smiled at Sarah. "Are you happy about this?" he asked.
Sarah looked up at Jareth and nodded. "I'm coming back after we've returned Toby and gotten a few of my things from my room."
"Congratulations then."
"Thank you Harry," Jareth said, and the hand not wrapped around Sarah's back produced a crystal ball for the black-haired young man. "A gift, my gratitude. It will play the music of the Labyrinth for you."
Harry took the crystal reverently. "A priceless gift," Harry acknowledged, bowing to the Goblin King as he held the orb to his chest.
~oOo~
"Honey, I'm home," Harry called, his voice dripping with sarcasm, as he walked through the front door of the Potter family's Country Estate.
Laughter, hale, hearty, healthy laughter in thirteen different voices, all of which he recognised, answered him from the sitting room. He hadn't expected everybody to be here today. Before he could quite reach the door, however, Bast came running down the stairs.
"You been gone way too often Harry," the pokemon complained.
Harry frowned. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't realise that I was so missed."
Bast heaved a sigh. "Most everybody else don't mind," he said. "Only me an' Fino really. The others are enjoyin' havin' all the space to hang around and have fun in, but we used ta talk, ya know? An' Fino misses you doin' her groomin'. Says no one else does it as good."
Harry smiled and patted the cat pokemon's head. "Then how about it be just you, me and Fino on my next adventure?" he offered.
Bast smiled hugely at the idea. "Really?" he asked. "You mean it?"
Harry chuckled. "Of course," he promised. "Or I could spend a lot of time grooming Fino while I'm here, and it can be just you and me?"
Bast considered. "I'll ask her," he said. "I don't know for sure."
Harry nodded. "You do that. I'm staying for a full month this time anyway, since I came back early, so she's got plenty of time to make up her mind."
Bast nodded and ran off, then stopped before he could turn the corner. "Oh yeah," he said, looking back at Harry, a glowing blush showing through his creamy fur. "You've got pokemon eggs. A bunch of us were feelin' a bit frisky, an' Fey didn' mind helpin' out."
"You too Bast?" Harry asked. He was aware that all pokemon lay eggs, even the mammalian ones.
Bast's blush deepened, but he nodded.
Harry smiled. "I may have to go back at some point so that we aren't going to have any inbreeding problems down the road. I don't mind Bast. I might give an egg or two to some of my friends, if you guys don't mind, but I'm certainly not upset. Surprised it took so long actually."
Bast turned practically tomato red, nodded again, and then disappeared around the corner.
Harry shook his head fondly and let himself into the sitting room where he found Hermione to be sitting on Draco's lap, Neville with Susan Bones in his, and Fleur and Charlie were in a similar situation. Remus had Sirius in his lap and Fred was in George's, he bet it was just for laughs that they did that. Most interestingly was that Baron was seated upon Tonks' lap, but it meant that, unless Harry decided to buck the trend and sit on the furniture properly like a normal person, the only lap available to him was Bill's.
Harry raised an eyebrow in question, and got a laugh in answer while Bill shook his head and patted his knee, indicating for Harry to just sit so that they could all laugh.
~oOo~
"So where are we?" Bast asked when Harry released him from his pokeball. It was just him. Fino had been satisfied with a month of dedicated pampering and being shown off at parties. Those who couldn't handle being around pokemon had been scratched from the list of potentials quicker than you could say "they're just not my type".
"London," Harry said with a smile. "In about the mid-eighteen-hundreds. A different London, but still London."
"Like the time we went to that London that was full of vampires right?" Bast asked.
Harry nodded. "Like that, but this isn't that London either."
Bast nodded his understanding. "You gonna want to blend in better than that?" the pokemon suggested.
Harry chuckled. "Yeah," he answered, then magicked his clothes into something fashionable for the era, then picked up Bast.
"Hey, whatcha doin'?" Bast objected.
"London is a dirty city at the moment," Harry answered. "I think you will appreciate not having to walk the streets with your bare paws. I have shoes at least."
Bast looked around from where Harry was holding him and found he had to agree. "Some nasty stuff lyin' around," he assessed, then shifted himself up to drape around Harry's shoulders. "You like havin' your arms free, an' I know it," the feline commented.
Harry chuckled. "Thanks. Comfy?"
"Eh," Bast answered non-committally. "It's not so bad. I've been in less comfortable situations after all."
Harry stifled his laughter at that comment and decided it was time that they picked a direction.
"Well, come on feet," Harry declared happily, and decided to let them guide him wherever they may.
Both he and Bast were quite surprised to find that they ultimately stopped in front of an undertaker's shop. What was particularly odd was that they could hear a woman saying something that sounded truly inappropriate.
"Goin' in?" Bast asked.
Harry nodded and pushed the door open.
"Oh? Have I got a customer?" asked a man with long silvery hair and scars over what could be seen of his face.
"I just followed my feet," Harry answered, shaking his head. "They brought me here, and then I was curious about what I heard," he added, raising an eyebrow at the only woman in the room, dressed all in red and with a sick-mask over her face with a big red X over it, an Asian looking man beside her in the same state.
A boy wearing an eye patch frowned. "We're investigating a murder," the boy said.
"And it's sensible to speak to the coroner," Harry allowed. "But like that?" he questioned, looking around the people in the room before cocking his head at Bast.
The pokemon shook his head. "Makes no sense to me," he said.
Everybody was staring at Bast now, and as Harry could practically feel the silence stretching out, he allowed himself a small smirk. "What?" he asked. "Cat got your tongue?"
The silver-haired man grinned, chuckled once, stifled giggles, chortled into his hand, and then finally cracked up laughing.
Harry smiled. "Oh come now," Harry scolded the others who were now staring at him. "You didn't expect me to pass that up did you? Even if it was a terrible pun."
"Does that satisfy you Undertaker?" the boy asked, turning back to the grey-haired man.
The man, Undertaker, sighed, wiping a tear from his eye beneath his long and shaggy fringe. "Ah, yes, I suppose so," he allowed, turning to Harry for a moment. "Will you stay, Mr-?"
"Potter," Harry answered. "Harrison Potter, and I would be delighted. Any objections Bast?"
Bast shook his head. "None from me," he answered, leaping down from Harry's shoulders to take a seat on one of the coffins.
Harry sat down beside him, scratching him behind the ears and stroking his back absently.
"Tea?" the Undertaker offered.
"Not a bad idea," Harry allowed, and conjured a cup for himself. "Bast?" he asked, ignoring the way that everybody was staring at his cup now. They'd soon learn to get over it, he was sure.
"No thanks Harry," Bast answered, shaking his head. "Maybe later."
Harry nodded and gently sipped from his tea cup while the Undertaker passed around beakers with hot water and teabags. Harry hadn't thought tea bags had become common for at least another half-century, but he didn't really pay attention to that sort of detail. Not much point after all.
Still, as the conversation continued, Harry felt that there was something to be said that they all seemed to be missing.
"How do you know it's just one person?" he asked. "Or a he, for that matter?"
Postures, which had hardly been relaxed before, suddenly became very rigid.
"Typically," Ciel – they'd finally gotten around to introductions from everybody – said, gently turning his tea beaker in his hands, "when a woman wishes to commit murder, they are more subtle."
"Typically, when someone is very mad about something, they like to make a mess," Bast interjected, doing his best to mimic Ciel's tone.
Harry chuckled. "I almost thought you'd gone to sleep," he said to the pokemon, then looked up at Ciel. "Bast is right though. Why cut out a uterus unless that part of them had somehow made the murderer angry? And for that matter, was it cut out peri-mortem, at the time the victim was being killed, or some time later, or even before?"
Every face but the Undertaker's and Bast's were frowning at Harry. The Undertaker's grin was threatening to wrap completely around his head.
Harry sighed and, with a glance at the Undertaker, transformed his appearance to match him, even faking the scars (he could make them, not hide them) and the little braid that hung down by his face wove itself as he sat there patiently. "There," he said as the braid was tied off. "Do I look sufficiently like an expert now?" he asked.
The Undertaker crumbled in laughter again.
Ciel's frown deepened. "You will come back to the Phantomhive mansion with us I hope?" he requested.
"I'm sure it will be a laugh," Harry answered with a smirk, still looking almost identical to the Undertaker, though in his own 1850's attire.
The Undertaker started to howl his mirth.
Harry was howling his own mirth as Sebastian let himself out of the swiftly moving carriage they had all piled into and were discussing possible ways to narrow down the suspect list so as not to include every man, woman and child in London. Alright, the medical expertise had immediately ruled out children, as there were very few instances of such gifted young people in this time, particularly in the field of surgery, or even tidy butchery, but everybody else was still mostly fair game.
~oOo~
"There is something very odd about that Sebastian guy," Bast reported to Harry as they settled down in the guest room that Ciel had given them.
"What tipped you off?" Harry asked sarcastically, though still fondly. He was very fond of Bast after all, and they'd taken this jaunt, just the two of them, so that they could enjoy some time talking together again. "His jumping out of a speeding carriage? His getting back here before the speeding carriage? His having compiled a list of suspects and their alibi's before he got here?"
"The way he snuck around the back of the house while everybody was havin' tea, an' proceeded to act like the little black cat he found there was the most beautiful creature in existence," Bast answered.
"Cat fetish?" Harry suggested. "You'll need to be careful."
Bast nodded. "I can take care of myself," he answered. "I think my bein' able to talk, an' bein' yours, will probably keep him off for a while too."
Harry nodded. "I'll set up a ward around the bed anyway, just in case. Wouldn't want him to come in and start stroking your tail in the night."
"That's gettin' too creepy," Bast agreed.
In the morning, Sebastian was surprised to find Harry already awake when he came to rouse him. Furthermore, Harry was wearing only a pair of pants and was pushing himself up and down in a handstand, his legs straight up in the air, and though his hair was no longer resembling the Undertaker's, which was something, it was blue. Okay, Ciel had somewhat grey hair, and his aunt's was bright red, but they were potentially natural colours, if a bit odd. Hair that was the same colour blue as the sky outside was definitely odd.
"Breakfast is being served shortly," Sebastian informed from the door. "Will you be needing anything?"
"Thank you, no," Harry answered. "I'm perfectly capable of seeing to my own needs. I'll finish up, wash up, then see everybody at the breakfast table in...?"
"Fifteen minutes," Sebastian supplied. "Will you need to have a bath drawn?"
"Again, no," Harry answered. "I'll be presentable at the breakfast table, I promise."
Sebastian bowed slightly and left the room, closing the door behind him.
"Hey Harry?" Bast said, looking at the door.
"Yeah?"
"The butler did it."
Harry snorted. "Probably, but somehow I feel it's not that butler, at least this time, though I've no doubt that he could if he wanted to. Still, not our problem," Harry said, pushing himself up off his hands, twisting slightly and landing on his feet.
~oOo~
"So, we're going to infiltrate a viscount's party because he's the only individual without an alibi and suspicious connections?" Harry asked in summary when the tea was being served at breakfast.
"That's right," Ciel said, gritting his teeth.
"And he's got a fancy for young women?" Harry checked.
Ciel frowned and nodded again.
"Ciel will make an excellent young lady for the party," Madam Red said fondly, in the way that only an aunt can.
Harry chuckled. "He would," he agreed, "but if you don't mind, I'll go instead."
Madam Red and Lau were both suddenly wearing the same expression they had been struck with upon finding out that Sebastian had beaten them back to the house yesterday, and accomplished so much in the in-between time. This time though, Ciel and Sebastian were wearing those expressions as well. Madam Red's butler, Grell something, had stars in his eyes.
"Oh come," Harry said, waving his hand, dismissing their shock and avoiding looking at Grell. "You did that yesterday already when I suddenly looked like the Undertaker. It's no trouble, not at all."
Bast chuckled. "Harry," he said, "you haven't tried looking like a girl since before you hit puberty."
Harry shrugged. "Still, it's not like it's beyond my abilities," he pointed out. "There are plenty of normal men who look convincingly female with just a little make-up and the right clothes."
"I'm going to be your fur scarf for this party," Bast insisted absently, then stabbed his fork into the baked fish that had been presented for his breakfast.
Harry nodded. "Just brush your teeth after breakfast," he said, then turned back to look at his breakfast companions. "You can snap out of it now," Harry said dryly.
It only took ten minutes on his own in his guest room, and when he emerged once more and entered the drawing room where everybody else was waiting for him, Harry was confidant that all he might need was to be taught how to be led when dancing, rather than doing the leading.
"Bast," Harry said, raising the pitch and softening the tone of his voice slightly so that he didn't sound quite as obviously male. "If you tell anybody back home about this, I will be most upset."
Bast chuckled. "I wouldn't dream of bursting your bubble," the cat answered, hopping up onto Harry's unusually slim shoulders. "You tell them all first, of course."
Harry chuckled behind his gloved hand.
"How did you get into that dress so quickly without help?" Madam Red asked enviously.
Harry waved his hand in her direction and said, "The same way you got into that dress in the last five seconds?" he offered with a smile.
Madam Red looked down at herself and gaped. "I wasn't wearing this before!" she yelped.
Bast laughed loudly, while Harry restrained himself so that he was only smiling.
"Harry used magic," Bast explained.
The dress that Madam Red was wearing was full-skirted and many-layered. The bodice was corseted and riddled with ties, lacing and buckles. The collar was low and the sleeves were short, allowing for an ornate necklace and long gloves to be displayed. Not one stitch was red either, as her dress from moments ago had been. No, the dress now was only black with pearls and diamonds as accents.
"Will that be appropriate for the party?" Harry asked sweetly. "It will change back at dawn, if that's what you're worried about."
It was deemed appropriate, and Harry let Lau guide him around the dance floor at the party.
"How delightful," a man said, stepping up to them as they stopped dancing. "Such an elegant dancer," and then he seemed to find an appropriate comparison for Harry's grace when he noticed Bast around Harry's shoulders. "Like a cat, all grace."
Harry stepped away from Lau slightly and curtseyed. "Viscount Druitt," he deferred.
"Little cat," he answered. "Who did you come with?"
"I was visiting with Madam Red," Harry answered. "She insisted on showing me off, and on Lau escorting me. I cannot think what is so fascinating about me though."
"Your beauty, Lady Harriet," Lau answered with a chuckle. "I shall leave you to dance with the viscount, hmm? I shall return to attending Madam Red."
Harry nodded with a smile, and allowed himself to be swept across the dance floor by the viscount, and then guided through an unobtrusive door, where Harry quickly banished an air-borne drug from his presence and pretended to grow weak and fall asleep. Harry let himself be tied up, moved, and then put in a cage on a stage, where he allowed himself to 'wake up'.
"I shall start the bidding at one-thousand," Viscount Druitt announced.
Harry forced down an amused chuckle, pursed his lips, and whistled. It was a long, eerie sound that seemed to echo off of wet dungeon walls. The candles around the auction hall went out, and Harry vanished the ropes that were around him before stepping out of the cage and lighting the candles again.
"How did you get out?" the Viscount asked, shocked.
Harry smiled and allowed the visage of a pretty young woman to fade from him, transforming his dress into a pair of pants and a black Chinese-style shirt with red boarders.
"Magic," Harry sneered.
"Shall I scratch up that pretty face of his?" Bast offered. "That wasn't at all nice what he was planning to do."
Harry reached up and stroked Bast's head. "It might be a good idea actually," Harry said, "it would give him one less weapon for luring unsuspecting victims to be in this situation."
Ciel and his companions arrived just as Bast raked his claws across Druitt's face, Sebastian adding that he'd already called the police, and they would be there soon.
"Well?" Ciel asked.
"Auction," Harry said. "I was going to be sold. Not killed, and probably not sacrificed. I expect I'd have become a sex-slave. Still not legal, but he's not your murderer."
Ciel nodded and had the scratched up Viscount taken away, as well as all the bidders who were still present.
"Now we wait and see if we did catch Jack the Ripper somewhere among them all," Ciel stated.
They hadn't. That rather upset Ciel, and Harry had no idea why.
"I mean, it's not like you were dressed up as a girl yourself and almost auctioned off," Harry commented easily as he sipped his tea. He'd decided to keep the very long black hair he'd grown for the party, but he was obviously and blatantly male once more.
"Why aren't you more frustrated then?" Ciel demanded.
Harry shrugged. "Death is part of life," Harry said. "These deaths aren't the least bit tidy, I grant you, but the killer feels that his, or her, or their actions are justified somehow, and they're only killing a few people."
"Don't be so callous about these lives," Lau scolded. "One might think you were a killer from the way you talk."
"I am," Harry said. "If you had not come when you did, I would have had no problem at all with killing every single person in that hall for the way they devalued their fellow human being, believing that I could be auctioned off. Not a problem at all. I congratulate anybody who can find a non-violent solution to situations though. It's much harder."
"Who have you killed?" Ciel asked coldly.
Harry laughed. "Oh, nobody recently," he answered. "I think the last time I killed anybody was back when I was nine. No, wait, do the undead count? Because if they do then the last time I killed was when I was thirteen. Then again, back when I was nine, they were demons, not people anyway, so do they count?"
"You killed demons?" Ciel asked flatly.
Harry nodded. "Yeah, it was this Tournament... No, wait, I'm sorry, I forgot. I killed someone when I graduated from school a couple of years ago. Madman, obsessed with 'purification', with a side obsession of ending my life. Killed him in front of a whole lot of people. He was making people nervous and I had a speech to make."
Ciel sighed, frustrated and overwhelmed.
"Think of it another way," Harry suggested. "You looked at suspicious people who could have killed. Try looking at patterns in the victims instead. You know that they all had their wombs cut out, why might that be? What links these women together? Why did Jack the Ripper choose them to be his victims and not someone else?"
"Sebastian," Ciel said, giving the order.
"Yes, my lord."
Harry didn't go in to Madam Red's funeral. He'd stayed in the Phantomhive house with Lau while Ciel and Sebastian had gone out to catch Jack the Ripper and missed the excitement, but had quite enjoyed the chess game. During the funeral, he stayed out in the graveyard, talking with the Undertaker about the sorts of research he was doing when he cut up the cadavers.
It was interesting stuff, and some of it he had answers for already because of the different times and places he'd been to.
Then Harry got to delight in all sorts of different curries – and did his best to keep the foolish Indian prince out of Ciel's way. Harry even shared a few of the curries he'd learned to make before turning around and begging for the recipe Sebastian created using chocolate.
Harry's favourite adventure with the Earl and his butler, however, was the time they went to the circus. Noah's Ark Circus, where Ciel got renamed Smile, and Sebastian was dubbed Black. Harry himself decided to join them – and why not? He had nothing better to do and was much more qualified to join these people than Ciel was – where he was almost dubbed God the moment he took hold of Joker's false hand, yanked it off, and poured a potion down his throat that set the arm to re-growing, good as new.
"I protest!" Harry exclaimed. "I'm not that holy, I just know a few tricks."
"Magic tricks," Bast quipped from his regular place on Harry's shoulder.
The top-tier performers who were trying to come up with a name for Harry stared at Bast until the feline was introduced.
"You're not changin' my name," Bast insisted haughtily.
In the end, they settled on calling him Mage, and thanks to Harry, no one from the circus got killed over their sponsor's twisted ideas. The Doctor didn't last long though, with Harry helping everybody to get their real limbs back – and showing them how to brew the potions that would re-grow limbs if they ever lost them again, or met someone else who lost a limb.
"You might want to keep this sort of thing to yourselves though," Harry added with a smile. "Wouldn't want to get burned at the stake for witchcraft or anything."
The circus performers all agreed fervently. Their ex-sponsor had been burned alive in his house, and the Phantomhive house was now sponsoring the circus – it went well with their toy company.
~oOo~
Bast leapt down from Harry's shoulders as the young man walked through the door of his own home once more. It had been a very active month keeping company with the Earl, but now he was home and it was time to move on to a different collection of parties and high society, and his own political rigmarole.
"Discriminating against people because of their heritage – something that they didn't have any control over – is pointless, divisive and needs to stop. I don't say things I don't mean Fleur," Harry said at the first party after the Wizengamot session.
Fleur damn near cried, a smile on her face. She'd been worried about Harry's actual stance on the matter. It had been a minor thing, only slightly related to something that was being voted on. She was glad to hear he'd been genuine.
Harry shook his head at her fondly and sent her off to Charlie before he went to get himself a drink.
"Where are you going next Harry?" Bill asked, striding up to him at the buffet table.
Harry chuckled. "I've got some friends in Egypt I want to catch up with actually," he answered. "I don't suppose you feel like joining me?"
Bill grinned.
As for the matrons and their matrimonial hopes for him... He'd get there eventually he supposed.
~oOo~
"Where are we?" Bill asked, getting off Silver's back and hopping down onto the sands just beyond the ruins. "I don't recognise the place, and I've been to nearly every dig sight in Egypt."
"Hamunaptra," Harry answered, returning Silver to his pokeball and tucking it away. "Come on. Ardeth's got to be around here somewhere. He almost always is."
"Hamunaptra," Bill repeated, awed.
Harry chuckled. "That's right," Harry said with a smile, then led the older male off to the old camp site as, obviously, Ardeth had found them there before, and could therefore likely see it from wherever he and his fellows watched the city from.
There was a different camp just coming down at that moment, a few ruins over, and that worried Harry. It was near to where they'd buried Imhotep last time, and they looked like they'd come prepared for the flesh-eating scarabs as well, so most of them would be leaving alive rather than dead. There was a damn near legion of people. Some of them in hired-worker white, many of them in red and holding guns, which implied that the workers were being forced rather than being paid.
"Harry!"
Harry turned and smiled. "Ardeth!" he greeted. "This is my friend Bill, a curse-breaker and big fan of sand."
Bill laughed and extended a hand to the man. "It's my work to break curses before people trip them, so that my employers can get at any gold without anything nasty raising its ugly head and killing everybody."
Ardeth frowned, obviously not sure if he liked the sound of that or was thrilled. Desecration of tombs versus not having to guard things like Imhotep.
Harry jerked his thumb at the new camp. "What's going on Ardeth?" he asked.
"The woman worries me. She knows too much."
Bill and Harry chuckled.
"Some people make it their life's business to know things that they shouldn't my friend," Harry said kindly. "As long as they can't resurrect him, right?"
"They can resurrect him," Ardeth answered. "You left the books here when you left. He just cannot become whole any longer."
"Still a problem then," Harry frowned. "Think we can handle this ourselves, or do you want to call in the O'Connell's?"
"They are packing up for London," Ardeth answered. "That is where the O'Connell's live."
Harry nodded. "So whether we go find them or not, that lot probably will anyway."
Ardeth nodded.
"Are we going to stow away with them or try and beat them there?" Bill asked, finally able to have something to contribute to the conversation, since they were talking about people and a situation that he didn't know.
"Stowing away," Ardeth answered firmly. "I must keep watch over the creature."
Harry nodded.
~oOo~
"Definitely not the best idea," said a young boy with blonde hair as he backed away carrying a box. "I think it's time to yell for Dad now."
"Now I will kill you and take it anyway," said a large and somewhat intimidating black man dressed in red.
"I think not," Ardeth said firmly. Harry had let them in and he and Bill were following behind the man.
"Ardeth, Harry, what are you doing here?" Evelyn asked. "Who's your friend?" she asked spotting Bill behind Harry.
"Perhaps explanations and introductions are best kept for later," Ardeth suggested.
"Ardeth Bay," the black man greeted.
"Lock Nah," Ardeth returned.
Then the fighting started.
"Woah Mum! Where did you learn to do that?" the child asked in awe as she fought with a sword against the men who'd broken in.
"I have no idea," Evelyn answered.
Harry had pulled another two swords from the stand where Evelyn had drawn hers, passed one of them to Bill, and they joined in the fight as well. Harry went straight for Lock Nah.
"What's in the chest?" Ardeth asked over the noise of battle.
"The bracelet of Anubis," Evelyn answered.
"They must not get the bracelet," Ardeth said frantically as he battled. "Get it and get out of here!"
The boy had dropped the box and was hiding behind a bookshelf, Evelyn grabbed it, but was attacked from behind.
"Mum!"
Harry slashed Lock Nah across the chest and turned to see Bill running after the man carrying Evelyn away. All the other men who could still move – and there were a couple dead – were beating a hasty retreat as well.
Bill was still not nearly fit enough, Harry realised sadly when they got out front of the house to reunite with Rick and Jonathan, Evelyn already taken.
"O'Connell," Ardeth greeted, bowing his head.
Rick was not pleased to see him.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Rick demanded, shoving Ardeth into the nearest solid object – it happened to be an ornamental urn. "No, scratch that, I don't care. Who the hell are those guys and where are they taking my wife?"
"My friend, I am not sure," Ardeth answered. "But wherever this man is, your wife will surely be," he offered, pulling out a photograph that Harry had taken and gotten his Luggage to process for him.
The child snatched the photo. "Hey, I know him! He's the curator, he works at the British Museum!"
"You're sure?" Ardeth asked.
"Believe it or believe it, he spends more time there than he does at home," Rick answered, picking up the kid by the collar and getting him to start moving. "Okay, I've calmed down enough now. Hi Harry."
Harry chuckled. "Hi your damn self," he said good-naturedly. "This your kid?"
Rick nodded. "Alex. Your friend?"
"Bill," the red-head answered offering his hand.
Rick shook it quickly then turned to Ardeth. "You're here, bad guys are here, Evy's been kidnapped. Let me guess," Rick said as they rounded the corner of the O'Connell house.
"No prizes," Harry interjected. "Imhotep again."
"Not to point any fingers," Jonathan said, his own already poised in Ardeth's direction, "but isn't it your job to make sure that doesn't happen?"
"The woman who was with them, she knows things. Things no living person should. She knew exactly where the creature was buried. We were hoping they'd lead us to the bracelet that they were also after. They obviously did, and not they have it," Ardeth explained.
"I wouldn't get too nervous just yet," Alex said confidently, and pulled back the sleeve of his jacket to reveal it on his wrist.
Ardeth cradled the bracelet in his hands.
"Is that gold?" Jonathan asked.
"When I put it on I saw the pyramids of Giza, then whoosh, straight across the desert to Karnac," Alex said, a proud smile on his face.
Ardeth took Alex's wrist in hand, then looked at the boy. "By putting this on you have begun a chain reaction that could bring about the next Apocalypse," he told the boy seriously.
Alex gasped and his eyes went wide.
"You," Rick said, pointing at Ardeth, "lighten up. You," he continued, pointing at Alex, "big trouble. You," he went on, pointing to Jonathan, "get in the car."
Harry chuckled and shook his head. "So the bracelet's cursed?" he asked, giving it a look before glancing over at Bill. "That's your speciality, right?"
Bill grinned. "Normally they're harder to remove once they've been activated," he pointed out, "but they're not impossible," he allowed. "Sit next to me in the car Kid," he said, ruffling Alex's hair. "I'll see what it can do, and what I can do about it."
Alex nodded and climbed into the back seat of the car, sandwiching himself between his uncle and the unfamiliar red-head – except that Rick held Bill back from getting straight in.
"You think you can really do something?" Rick asked.
"That's my job," Bill said. "I'm a master curse-breaker, it's what I get paid to do."
Rick nodded shortly and let Bill get into his car.
Harry decided to ride on the roof, even if it was raining and Rick was driving like a maniac.
When they got out of the car again, Bill was grinning, even if the bracelet was still on the kid's wrist. "Found the rout to Ahm Shere as well and discovered the wearer dies if they're not there in seven days," he said with a pleased smile as he cast a drying spell over a very wet Harry.
Rick and Ardeth moved around to the boot of the car and had a slightly existential conversation that Rick didn't really want to be part of.
"You managed to get that last bit fixed, right?" Harry asked as they followed the apparently two madjai into the museum to rescue Evelyn.
Bill nodded. "Alex won't be dying, even if we don't make it in time, which really we should. The whole 'apocalypse' bit is still very much valid."
~oOo~
Alex got snatched.
The group flew to Egypt with Ardeth separating to go and see the leaders of the twelve tribes, and upon Rick's suggestion of a magic carpet, Bill said that they were banned before getting confused. "How do you even know about those?" he asked.
"They're in standard literature Bill," Harry said, "and Rick wasn't being literal." Harry then pulled out Chav's pokeball. "Will flying by dragon do?" he suggested, releasing the charizard and conjuring the large saddle over Chav's shoulders.
"Is he fast?" Rick asked.
"Char!" Chav declared.
Harry chuckled. "Very," he supplied.
When Ardeth returned, Bill and Harry grinned, pleased to get to meet Ardeth's bird, Horace, even more than the leaders of the twelve tribes.
"We use owls normally back home," Bill said, stroking the hawk. "But I think I may be converted."
Harry and Ardeth laughed, and then it was all aboard Chav, and off to Ahm Shere, intending to beat Imhotep and his convoy there, and more importantly, rescue Alex, who they'd kidnapped because he had the bracelet.
They were in place in two days, three days ahead of schedule. Even the medjai tribes were in place and ready, and Harry was helping Evelyn not turn into a nervous wreck by studying the pyramid in detail, taking photos and collecting treasure, Bill undoing all sorts of traps and curses along the way.
When they rescued the boy again, Harry messed up his hair and smiled. "Now, what have we learned about tacky ancient jewellery that was kept in mysterious boxes?" he asked, peering down at Alex.
"Leave it alone," Alex answered firmly. "And that Dad really is awesome."
Harry grinned and messed up the kid's hair again. "Right. Well, shall we be getting it off the child now?"
Rick nodded. "And killing the Scorpion King, and while we're at it probably Imhotep again, since they built him a new box for him to use."
"And Anak-Su-Namun," Evelyn added with a frown.
When the short-list of people-to-kill had all the names scratched off as dead, Harry decided to take the two Books away with him this time. It was the ultimate guarantee of no repeats.
~oOo~