Chapter 29
Severus sat in his rooms in silence. He completely ignored the argument around him.
The others were arguing, once again, about what they should do regarding London. He had been missing since Friday evening—it was Tuesday morning now, and London had been gone longer than they had anticipated. For some unfathomable reason, they had all been convinced that he would "see the error of his ways" and return on his own.
Severus had, of course, known better. He had been fully aware that London would not return on his own.
The argument now was whether to involve the Ministry or not. Half of the group was for it, the other half against. Severus wasn't entirely certain which side of the debate he himself stood on. If they told the Ministry they would risk Death Eater leaks within the Ministry learning of London's disappearance. Of course, not telling the Ministry meant that they could not depend upon Auror assistance in their search. Frankly, the Order of the Phoenix was simply not up to the task of tracking an angry, upset young man across the globe.
"We have to tell them, Albus," Kingsley said. "This is getting ridiculous. We obviously cannot find him. We have no way to begin to trace him. The Ministry can help. If nothing else, they can alert the countries that London is more likely to go to, so that their Ministries can keep an eye out for him at the borders."
"Yes, that's a brilliant plan," Minerva snarked back. "Let's announce to the world that we lost Harry Potter. Brilliant."
"There is no need for sarcasm my dear," Albus said gently. He sighed heavily as he gave the matter some more thought, all trace of the familiar twinkle gone from his eyes. "Perhaps it is time to seek some more help. Kinsgley might be right. Severus, you know London better than any of us. What do you think?"
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to keep from screaming. "Kingsley may be right, albeit not for the reasons that he thinks he is. London would never follow protocol when entering or exiting a country—"
"What makes you think that?" Sirius snapped. "He's not a criminal!"
"Merlin's balls man, I didn't imply that he was!" Severus snapped back. "He has no bloody idea of what he should do when exiting the country. For that matter, he likely has no idea that Ministries even exist in other countries that he should check in with to gain clearance. I know for damn sure that he has no paperwork or passports or papers of entry."
"How can he leave the British Isles then?" Minerva asked.
"London doesn't need those things because, as you are all aware, he leaves no trace when he apparates. It is impossible for any Ministry to trace his apparition into the country, and so they are simply never aware that he arrived. They have nothing to track and so they are unaware that any laws have been broken."
"Well then how would the Ministry be useful?" Kingsley asked. "If they can't stop him at the border, then what can they possibly do?"
Severus sighed again. "London enjoys fighting. He enjoys a good fight the way that the students here would enjoy a friendly game of Quidditch. Chances are, if he remains in one place for long enough, he will be in a fight. If we are lucky, the muggle police of the Aurors will be contacted. If they know to look out for him…"
Dumbledore nodded. "You are right, Severus. I hate to go about catching him his way. He trusts us so little as it is."
Severus nodded. He hated it too. And he hated himself for even supporting any idea that could help get his lover arrested, even if only temporarily. But he hated the idea more that a Death Eater could find him first. If London was in the kind of mood Severus assumed he was in, then you could count on the fact that London had likely seen few sober hours since his departure three days ago. And if he was that drunk, he was either fighting or fucking, and Severus couldn't bear to think of the chances that London was engaging in the latter.
"It is decided then," Albus said slowly. "We will alert the Ministry at once. I will leave immediately for Minister Fudge's office to brief him on the matter."
ChangerChangerChangerChangerChanger
London entered the Ministry through the front doors, just as he had when he had been escorted there by the Aurors for his meeting with Fudge. He paused for a moment as he watched the flurry of people moving around him.
No one noticed him at all.
With a smirk he moved through the witches and wizards quickly, drawing no notice to himself. It was one of the traits that he was more proud of—his ability to not only live but thrive completely under the radar of the average human being. He had dedicated so much time to going unnoticed that it now came more naturally to him than gathering attention.
Within moments he had bypassed the wand weighing station, thanks to a timely crush of employees who forced their way through without pausing to have their wands inspected. A brief moment more and he was in Callie's hall, standing in front of her door. Well, here was the moment of truth. While he was quite certain that Callie liked him, and that she was generally on his side, he was not entirely certain that she wouldn't just turn him over to Dumbledore and the others.
He knocked briskly.
"Come in," Callie called from within.
London pushed open the door and leaned in the doorframe. "Ready, love?" he asked with a smile.
Callie pursed her lips. "In a moment. I need to lock up some paperwork and then we can begin."
"Ah. Thing is, I kind of wanted to get out of here," London said, stepping in to the office. "A friend of mine wanted to sit in."
"I'm not teaching the entire city how to—" at London's glare and nod toward the open door she bit her tongue. "At any rate, I am not doing this for anyone but you."
"She already knows how," London said, swinging himself up onto her desk. "Its Ana. She just wanted to come with."
"Well bring her here."
"She's not a changer like us," London explained reasonably. He saw that Callie was wavering, but not entirely ready to leave the office yet. It seemed that Callie was unaware that he had already left Hogwarts. That should make this easier. "Plus, I've been really craving some proper food. Can't stand any more of that high class shit they serve at Hogwarts."
Callie snorted. "You just want to irritate the old goat," she said knowingly.
"That too," he acknowledged. "Come with me?" he asked, turning his best puppy-dog eyes to her.
Callie sighed and spelled the paperwork to a safe place. "Whatever you want."
"Brilliant!" London said, jumping down from the desk and moving to her side. "Hold tight," he said before changing them to a café that he had frequented when Marian's was too busy.
"What the hell was that?" she snapped.
"Changing. You bunch are fucking odd about this. Don't know what's wrong with the way I do it. Sev does it and no one gives a shit. I do it and its like the world bloody ended."
"When Professor Snape apparates he does not do it through the strongest wards erected in the wizarding world."
London shrugged. "Come on, Ana's waiting." They moved through café quickly toward the table that Ana had already claimed. "Order anything yet?"
"Just a cuppa and a sandwich. I wasn't sure what you wanted."
"That sounds fine. Ana, this is Callie," London said, sitting down next to Ana.
Ana smiled at the witch. "Thanks for helping him out. I tried to, but I'm just not that good."
Callie nodded at the young muggle. "I'm not sure how much assistance I can give London, but I thought I should give it a try. If we can't get anywhere, I will recommend someone skilled in the Learning Arts."
"But you think you can help some?" Ana asked, looking quickly over at London.
"I believe so. I have brought some books to help determine what level you are at right now, London," she said with a nod toward the books she had taken out of her pocket and discretely restored to size. "It might be frustrating at first but I need to see how far you can push yourself. I need to see how you learn, how you react to words and sentences. Then we can move from there."
Ana stared at the stack of books. "Can I look at one while you guys are working?"
"Certainly," Callie said, flipping through the stack quickly. She pulled out one of the more advanced texts, although even this one would be simple for the average ten year old. She wasn't able to tell how well the young muggle could read, and she didn't want to discourage her.
"So…where do we start?" London asked, eyeing the stack of books nervously.
ChangerChangerChangerChanger
Albus and Severus stood in silence outside the large double doors that led to the Minister's office. This was not a way in which either of them had wanted to begin a second meeting with the Minister.
The doors opened suddenly, clearly spelled to open when the Minister was ready for his appointment. Albus and Severus stepped through.
"How are you doing today, Headmaster?" Cornelius said jovially, wondering where Har—London was. He had rather assumed that the young man would come to visit him at some point in the not too distant future. For once, he found himself genuinely liking someone who might in future be a rival for his position. He simply couldn't bring himself to dislike the powerful and intelligent young man, in spite of the fact that there was a very good chance that the wizarding world would elect London Minister at some point after he defeated Voldemort—assuming the boy could in fact defeat the Dark Lord.
"Not very well I am afraid, my dear Cornelius," Albus said slowly. "It seems that Harry Potter has decided to…take a short holiday."
"Holiday?" Fudge echoed back.
"He has left," Severus said firmly. "Indefinitely."
"Indefinitely?" Cornelius echoed again. "You cannot be serious." At Severus and Albus' twin nods he stared back at them, mouth agape. "Left? Why in ruddy hell did he leave?"
Albus and Severus exchanged a long look. "I am afraid that he was not fitting in very well," Albus finally said.
"I hardly see how the boy would care about that. He did not seem to be the sort of person to think very much at all about how other people viewed him."
"Just the same," Albus continued, "he was not comfortable in our world."
"And what do you intend to do about this?" Cornelius asked, all hint of his prior joviality gone.
"We have tracked him as best we could, but I am afraid that the trail goes quite cold at Severus' flat in London."
"He left yesterday?" Cornelius asked, turning back to his desk to study the calendar there.
Albus cleared his throat. "Friday," he said slowly. "He left Friday evening."
"It is now Tuesday afternoon," Cornelius said blandly. "What have you learned in the intervening eighty four hours?"
"Very little," Albus said.
"What do you think that I can do about this? If the boy does not wish to live in our world I doubt that there is much that we can do to convince him otherwise."
"We need Auror assistance in locating him. I think that if he will just sit down and talk with Severus, he might change his mind and return."
"I will not have that boy kept here against his will," Cornelius icily. "You will find, Headmaster, that I am quite willing to uphold the proper sentencing for those who think to control the innocent through use of the Unspeakables. Not even you are exempt from our laws."
"I would never think of doing such a thing," Severus said quietly, ignoring the gaping Headmaster. "What's more, I doubt that the Unspeakables would even phase London."
"Leave us, Albus," Cornelius said, studying Severus closely. "I wish to speak with your Potions Master alone."
Albus looked between the two men for a brief moment, before deciding that it couldn't hurt their cause. While Severus lacked the people skills necessary for a career in politics he had a masterful understanding of manipulation. He doubted that it would be possible for Cornelius to manipulate Severus into saying or doing something that would be harmful to the Order or their cause.
"Very well," he said, stepping out of the room. The doors slammed shut behind him, leaving Severus alone with the minister.
"How can I be of assistance?" he asked quietly.
"You can tell me the truth," Cornelius said, sitting behind his desk and motioning for Severus to take a seat as well. "Why did London leave?"
Severus sighed. "There were a multitude of problems. As the Headmaster said, London was not particularly comfortable on our world. Along with a general unease, I know that he was quite concerned about having a godfather."
"He does not like Sirius Black?" Cornelius asked, his surprise unfeigned. He has assumed that the two would get along rather well.
"No. Black is not prepared to treat London as an equal, and keeps attempting to assert his authority over London as though he were a child. London not only has little patience for people in positions of authority but he also has a genuine fear of adults who are in parental roles. As I am sure you are well aware, his muggle family were not…adequate guardians for him."
"Yes," Corenlius said slowly. "I had known that, although I confess I had not thought of the implications." He paused for a moment collecting his thoughts. "You said that there were more reasons?"
Severus sighed again. "I left him alone to his thoughts too much. He had no occupation to keep him entertained. With no job, no duties, nothing to do during the day, he turned to fighting."
Cornelius raised an eyebrow. "I have heard nothing of fights at Hogwarts."
"There was just one…a bad one. The Headmaster kept it quiet."
Cornelius nodded. "Anything else?"
Severus decided to lay all of his cards on the table. He knew that London trusted this man and he felt that he must trust in his lover's judgment. He passed the crumpled note over to the Minister, who scanned it quickly. "Honestly, I am uncertain. His friend Ana left me this note before she went with him."
"Not terribly informative, although it does back up some of your thoughts as to his reason for leaving. Very well. Where do we go from here?"
"I am quite certain that, at least on Friday night, London left the country. What I am not certain of is how long it will take for him to tire of his new location and return here. Nor am I entirely certain where he will go when he does return."
"Pubs and night clubs, presumably. Or to the streets for a fight. Do you know of any place in particular where there are fight clubs?"
Severus shook his head. "As much as he enjoys fighting, as far as I know he has never participated in an actual fight club. His fights are instigated by rival gangs and enemies from the street."
"What do you intend to say to him to get him to return?"
Severus met his eyes steadily. "I do not know. I only know that I have to get him back. We can only keep this information from the Death Eaters for so long. Frankly, I am amazed that they have not yet discovered his absence."
"He can protect himself, am I correct?" Cornelius asked.
"Yes, when it comes to fighting against a few opponents. I have never tried to throw Dark spells at him though, and so I have no idea how he will react to the truly Dark Arts if they were used against him. If the Dark Lord sent his full army…"
"Alright," Cornelius said, acknowledging his understanding. "I will contribute as many Aurors as I can to finding London. For now, I will scatter them throughout the city, focusing largely on the night clubs and pubs. If any of them spot him I will have you notified immediately. I assume he will not take well to being approached by one of my aurors?"
Severus shook his head.
"As I thought. Very well. I will contact you if I receive any further information," he said, standing and shaking Severus' hand.
"Thank you," Severus said sincerely. "I will keep you abreast of our discoveries as well."
Cornelius smiled. "I rather doubt the Headmaster would approve."
"I can't say I give a damn anymore."
Cornelius laughed heartily as he led Severus to the door. "It was a delight speaking with you. When we find London, we will need to go out to dinner together."
"I am certain he will be delighted," Severus said, before leaving the office to join the Headmaster and begin the search once more.
