A/N: As always;

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: All characters of the Harry Potter series (hereafter known as 'legal property') are the sole ownership of J.K. Rowling (hereafter known as 'owner of said legal property'). No infringement on any copyright of owner of said legal property of the legal property is knowingly intended. Published by author (hereafter known as 'other') for entertainment purposes only. No monetary or personal gain was knowingly made by other with the publication of this story, which was based on ideas and characters created by owner of said legal property as they pertain to legal property. No plagiarism of legal property or of any ideas of the owner of said legal property was knowingly intended by other. This statement is fully transferable and is legally held binding for all chapters of the story Family Ties as they are presented under different chapter headings and titles for individual chapters.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT: STRATEGY

"She's calling to us for help!" Orin stated fervently, pacing around his office like a caged tiger. "How can you refuse?"

"I refuse because I am still thinking." The other 'Power' replied. Standing silently in one of the corners of the room, Eric had not moved for some time. Instead he had remained motionless, staring at the opposite wall while Orin continued to cross and re-cross his line of vision. "Connie got herself into this mess, Orin. Through her arrogance and her pride. I'll not share the same fate for the same reasons."

"And she's not as strong as us, Eric. She needs our help. You can't abandon her!" Orin demanded.

"I'm not. But I'll not run straight into that insolent little creature's trap simply because Connie suddenly has no stomach for the consequences of her poor choices. But nor do I have any intention of letting this child think that he has bested me, or that I do not care for my own."

"We can get her out." Orin insisted. "The other could help us do it."

Eric's gaze settled on him. "You don't know that for sure. And tapping into the other's magic is too much of a risk. If something were to go wrong, Connie could be hurt. Her body could be damaged." "Her body is already being damaged by that deranged creature. And if he does enough harm to it she won't be able to hold onto this realm. We'll lose her, Eric! Are you ready to concede that?"

The other 'Power's' stare never wavered off of him. "No. But nor am I going to rush into this head long without thinking it through, Orin. We have to go very carefully here. If we move to fast, we could end up harming Connie ourselves. Move too slow, and he'll kill her."

"Well, we can't just sit here!"

"We're not."

"No?"

"No." The other 'Power' stated. "We're going to pay a visit to your Mr. Black."

A few minutes later Orion was opening his front door to find his superior and Eric Matterson on his doorstep.

"Have you found Connie?" Was Orion's first question.

Bale walked past his agent into the house. "Not yet. But Eric wanted to come talk to you."

Orion turned to the Deatheater, who was following his brother in the door.

"Actually," Matterson correct Bale's statement, "I wish to talk to your brother, Sirius."

Orion's eyebrows rose at the request. "Sirius? What for?"

"I have heard, Mr. Black, that your brother is a master strategist. I think we've come to a point we could use one of those."

Orin had come to a stop in the foyer and turned back to Eric. "A strategist?" He asked. "We don't need a strategist to find her, Eric."

"We need one to get her out." The Deatheater replied. "We can't rush in wherever he has her, Orin. And we're both too close to this to see all sides of a plan. We need an impartial third party working with us. And if I can get someone who can formulate a good strategy as easily as most people compose their next sentence, so much the better for us."

Orion was watching the two argue out the situation. "That may be all well and good for you." He said finally. "But I'm not so sure Sirius is up to any of this. My brother's been through.........."

"I'm well aware of your brother's.....difficulties, Mr. Black" Matterson replied, effectively cutting him off. "But I'm not looking for a wizard in this. Sirius need not even go with us when we go to get Connie away from this lunatic. My only need from him is to tell us the best way to do it."

"I'm still not sure....."

"You're brother is already on Orin's payroll, Mr. Black. Working to try and help find Heudros. I am simply offering him something else to work on when Orin's task proves a bit tedious."

"Finding Heudros isn't a 'tedious' task." Bale spoke up.

"I couldn't agree more." Matterson replied. "In fact, Mr. Barantor's input on what he knows about this irritant could prove somewhat useful. But finding Connie is my first priority right now."

Orion stood silently considering the enigmatic 'Power' that was Eric Matterson. The man simply wasn't listening to him. He assumed that Sirius helping them was a forgone conclusion and anyone else's view was irrelevant.

But in his opinion, it was time to inject a few conditions of his own.

"All right," Orion stated, "you want Sirius' help? Fine. But there are two conditions. And they are not negotiable."

Matterson's eyes narrowed slightly as he stared down at the man. "Conditions?" He asked slowly.

"Yes. First, Sirius has to agree. If he has the slightest misgiving, you back off. No cajoling, bargaining, or threatening. 'No' means 'no' here."

Matterson seemed to consider the condition for a few moments. "All right." He said finally. "Agreed."

Orion turned to Bale, who simply gave a single nod.

"Second," Orion stated, "you tell Sirius the truth."

Neither 'Power' responded immediately. Instead Orion watched as the two locked gazes across the foyer. For all the world he would bet there was some sort of silent communication going on.

Finally Matterson turned his stoic gaze back to Orion. "That is out of the question." He stated.

"The find yourself another strategist." Orion replied in a flat tone that left no room for argument.

"We already have one. Your brother."

"Who isn't available any longer."

"For what?"

All three men instantly turned to the stairs, where Sirius was just coming down.

"I'd like to know what exactly it is that I'm not available for." He stated as he proceeded down the last flight of stairs.

"My brother and I were looking to engage your services with a troublesome matter that has arisen." Eric said quickly, effectively cutting Orion off before he even began.

Sirius turned to face the Bale. "Does this have anything to do with the other 'matter' you asked me to help with?"

"As a matter of fact," Eric spoke up again, "it is very closely related to it."

Sirius turned a composed but bored look to the man next to him. "Does anyone in this room get to talk but you?" He asked.

Orion all but choked stifling his next comment behind a cough. Something that didn't go un-noticed by Eric as he raised an eyebrow in the Unspeakable's direction.

"That's a nasty cough, Mr. Black. You should have that looked at before it develops into something more serious." He stated flatly before turning his attention calmly back to Sirius. "Orin and I have a sister, Connie, who is being held by a person who means her harm. We need your help to free her."

Orion stared hard at the man. "Could you have sanitized that any more if you tried?" He asked heatedly.

Sirius considered the two men for a moment. "My brother seems to have some misgivings about my helping you with your 'troublesome matter'."

"Your brother is being overly cautious."

Sirius fixed a hard gaze on the man. "My brother may be many things," he stated in a low, level voice, "but I have not found 'overly cautious' to be one of them. If Orion feels a certain matter is dangerous, he's usually right. Now, my brother, from what I heard, was laying down some rules to my taking on this 'troublesome matter'. One was I had to agree to it. As yet, I have not. The second was I was to be told the truth. I get the distinct feeling that qualification has yet to be satisfied either."

Matterson gave the younger Black brother a very tight-lipped smile. "It's a small wonder your relearning of your magical skills is taking a bit longer than expected." He stated casually. "As that you seem to spend an inordinate amount of time eavesdropping on other peoples conversations instead."

Sirius returned the smile. "And I find in general you learn such interesting things that way."

"You can also learn some very dangerous things that way, Mr. Black."

Sirius refused to back down. "You've heard the conditions." He stated. "Do let me know when you've made a decision."

Bale watched Sirius turn to leave the foyer. "Just a minute." He stated suddenly, stopping Sirius before he reached the doorway. "Eric, we need his help. What choice do we have?"

Matterson stood with his arms crossed so tightly over his chest Orion wondered that the man could breath at all. "Given time, I am sure I could find several."

"And time, unfortunately, isn't something we have." Bale hissed at his brother.

The Deatheater stood in silence so long Orion began to wonder if he was going to say anything at all. Instead he simply stood as though frozen in place, staring across the foyer at his brother as though no one else around them even existed.

"Very well." Matterson stated finally, breaking the silence. "But if we're going to have 'Show and Tell'," he added with a wicked grin, "let's at least have some fun with it."

Before Orion could even think what the Deatheater had in mind, the form standing before him melted into a pool of black, liquid light. But no sooner had one form vanished than another took its place. Within seconds the black pool reformed into a large, green, full grown dragon. It's mass filling the foyer as it let out an unearthly roar.

Bale was first to confront the creature. "Eric! Enough! We haven't time for......"

But that was as far as the 'Power' got in reigning in his brother. As the dragon expanded it's chest to let out another billowing roar, it was cut short by a sudden sound of a door being thrown open.

"Oh no." Was all Orion was able to get out as soon as he realized what the sound meant.

From the other side of the foyer, the door to the basement hit the wall with a resounding bang, and a large snout inserted itself into the open doorway.

But with a brief puff of smoke from its flared nostrils, the creature seemed to suddenly realize its error. The snout quickly disappeared, only to be replaced by a type of gel that easily squeezed its way out of the opening, quickly solidifying itself into the form of a near mirror image of the other dragon, with the exception of it being black rather than green.

Expanding its chest with a deep pull of air into its lungs, the dragon exhaled with a roar that shook the house to its foundation.

The green dragon considered the newcomer for a moment, then pulled its lips back, revealing a mouth-full of very long, very sharp teeth.

Orion immediately placed himself in front of the black dragon. Eric really had no idea what he was dealing with.

"Bo!" Orion called up to the dragon. "Bo!"

The black dragon maneuvered its head around against the foyer ceiling until it managed to crane its neck back and look down at the man standing before it.

"Bo. Eric's just playing a game. All right? It's just a game. He's not going to hurt anyone." Orion quickly turned back to the other dragon. "Mister, you'd best transform back right now, or you are going to have more trouble than you bargained for here. Bo doesn't understand that you're not going to hurt us. He thinks you're a threat and he'll respond accordingly if you don't back off RIGHT NOW!"

The green dragon studied its adversary for a few moments, who was once again eyeing it through narrow slits as it seemed to wait to see if it's Channeler was telling the truth. But finally the black dragon took a step back and quickly dissolved into a pool of black liquid light that eventually reformed by Bale's side as his brother.

If Orion expected the Deatheater to say anything, he was sorely disappointed as the man instead simply stood next to his brother, a curiously puzzled look on his face as he watched the black dragon equally disappear, reforming into a tower of dark robes next to its Channeler.

For once the boggart did not pat anyone on the head or even offer a friendly wave at its adversary. Instead Bo simply stood at Orion's side, his cloth covered arms folded in front of him. For all the world Orion felt like the boggart was simply waiting for the Deatheater to cross some invisible line.

Standing on Orion's opposite side, Sirius was giving the Deatheater the same equally appraising look Matterson was giving the boggart.

"I'm willing to bet you got very high marks in your Transfigurations classes." He stated.

Matterson turned a slow gaze to Sirius. A small smile curled over his lips. "I'd have gotten very high marks in a lot of my classes, Mr. Black.......had I taken any."

"A natural talent?" Sirius inquired innocently.

"More than you know."

"Orin and Eric aren't your usual wizards, Sirius." Orion put in with a sigh. If Sirius were to take Matterson's offer, he wanted his brother to know the truth of who he was getting involved with. But this wasn't the way he wanted him to learn it. "They aren't, in fact, wizards at all."

"And I take serious exception to that." Bale spoke up quickly. "If you insist on your brother being privy to this information, at least be accurate about it. I very rarely, after all, hear you referring to your boggart as a 'thing'. I would like to be extended that same courtesy."

Orion paused for a moment. The last thing he liked to admit was that Bale had backed him into a corner. But when the man was right, he was right.

With a slight nod, Orion turned back to his brother. "Orin and Eric aren't from our realm, Sirius. They're from the realm where our own magic originates. What they are is...."

"Magic." Sirius suddenly stated with understanding. "You're...just 'magic'."

"We're a good deal more sophisticated than that, Mr. Black." Matterson spoke up. "'Just magic' is what comes out of the end of your wand. I'm a bit more than that."

But something else had grabbed Sirius' attention as he turned quickly back to Orion. "Orin said you don't refer to Bo as a 'thing'."

Orion had hoped that small piece of information would get lost in other, more relevant disclosures. But Sirius had latched onto it like the proverbial dog with it's bone.

"Bo is.....somewhat similar to Orin and Eric." He explained carefully. "But he's a 'Power' that was locked in the body and the mind of a boggart by our father."

Sirius frowned at the explanation. "Why?"

Orion tried to come up with a reasonable answer, but Matterson beat him to it.

"Because he feared him." The Deatheater sneered at him. "Because he feared what he couldn't understand and what he couldn't control."

"That isn't true!" Orion shot back. "My father thought Bo was a danger to us with good reason. Any of my family that used his magic went insane. He didn't want that for me and he didn't want that for Sirius. And he didn't just abandon Bo, leaving him without any form, locked in the dark of his own mind somewhere. He gave him a body of his own. Something that would likely outlive any other host he could have. A body where he could interact with the world around him. Not just exist in our realm, vicariously living his life through his host."

"How very decent of him." Matterson answered in a droll tone.

"And that's enough, Eric." Bale put in quickly, cutting off anything either Orion or Matterson might have had to say on the matter. "This is of no use to us." He added, turning quickly to Sirius. "Have all your conditions been met?" He asked pointedly.

Sirius considered the question for a moment. He had certainly gotten more than he bargained for with the 'truth', and he felt he still was facing a great many unanswered questions. But the two were asking for his help and time was apparently of the essence. So instead of drawing things out, he slowly nodded instead.

"Then I suggest we concentrate our effort on finding Connie from this point on." Bale stated with a good deal of finality. "Arguing among ourselves does nothing more than give Richard extra time to carry out his plans. He has to be stopped before he harms Connie. And to do that, we have to stay one step ahead of him. For that, Mr. Black, we need you." Orin added, turning once more to Sirius.

"I take it Connie is what you are then?" Sirus asked. "Her being your sister."

Bale nodded quickly.

"And who is Richard?" Sirius asked with a puzzled frown.

"A demented little cretin with a very short life expectancy." Eric answered with a small smile.

Bale frowned at his brother before turning to Sirius. "Richard is from our realm." He explained. "He was called by Heudros. But that fool couldn't control him and Richard eventually turned the tables on Heudros. Sort of the 'slave becoming the master' scenario. Since that time, Heudros has managed to escape Richard's control. But now Richard has no one he answers to. He's a 'free agent' as it were."

"One with very definite plans." Eric put in sullenly.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Plans?"

"It's the reason we believe he took our sister." Bale replied. "Richard is looking to build his power base. One way to do that is to steal the magic from others of his own kind. However, once you take our magic from us.......there really isn't much left, you understand. In our own realm we are pure magic, Mr. Black. We have no corporeal bodies. When we come to your realm, these bodies are little more than physical hosts for us. Our anchor in your realm, if you will. But if another of our kind, or even one of your kind, were able to siphon off our magic, what would honestly be left of us? And while it is difficult to kill one us in such a manner, such an attack would force us to abandon this realm at that point to survive. And that, we believe, is what he means to do to Connie."

"And you know for a fact this 'Richard' has her?"

Bale nodded. "Yes. We just don't know where. But it is most likely wherever he is living. He has no where else to be that we are aware of."

"And does anyone have any idea where this 'Richard' lives?" Sirius asked.

Orion watched as his superior's expression took on an extremely pained looked.

"There is one person who has been in his house." Bale answered in a voice that sounded like it was an extreme effort for him to get out each word.

Sirius turned to the man. "Who?"

Bale paused, then pulled himself up as he folded his arms behind his back. "Our niece." He replied in an overly formal sounding tone. "Becca."

"Your 'niece'?" Sirius questioned.

"Becca was called to your realm by the same fool of a wizard who called Richard." Bale explained. "But when she became separated from....this man, she needed help controlling her magic in this realm. So we took her in. She's only come to us recently, Mr. Black. And she hasn't been in this realm very long. So I wouldn't get my hopes up to thinking you are going to get much out of her. If we could have gotten the answers we needed out of her, Eric could have used that information already to find Richard."

Orion turned quickly back to his superior. "How?"

"We all have talents, Mr. Black." The head of the Unspeakable's replied. "Things that we are better at than others of our kind. Eric's talent, aside from being very good at transfiguration, is teleporting. If Becca could remember things....'see' Richard's house...or even just the surroundings of a room she was in, clearly enough, Eric could use her as a link to take us there simply by what he could see through Becca."

"Have you tried questioning her?" Sirius asked.

"Have you tried questioning her, Mr. Black? Becca is not the most forthcoming person when it comes to answers. It's more like pulling teeth just to get a simple 'yes' or 'no' out of the girl." Bale turned his attention to Orion. "You know yourself all too well what she is like when she's trying to remember something. She's.....sketchy....at best."

"She remembering things like a fifteen year old girl." Orion corrected. "And she wasn't trained to take in detail like an agent is, Orin. She sees things like everyone else. In passing. She sees it, and if it isn't important, she forgets most of it."

"Be that as it may," Bale continued, turning back to Sirius, "I have already tried locating Richard through questioning Becca about his house. Her recollections are simply too incomplete for Eric to use. If the subject's memories are too vague, we could end up literally anywhere. 'Detail' is what is essential here. The little things that separate that place from anywhere else. Becca simply can not give us that.""

"Be that as it may," Sirius replied, "I'd like to talk to her."

But Orion suddenly had a better idea. Knowing all to well himself what it could be like trying to question Becca about something when details were involved. And how much worse it was when she was nervous or scared, Orion didn't see Sirius getting much more than her name out of her without some help.

"Maybe what we need here," Orion put in, "is some 'professional' help."

Bale turned quickly to him. "Professional help?"

"Maybe what we need is an interrogator." Orion suggested. "A very skilled, very specialized one."

Bale frowned at his agent. "I hardly think your wife would be a wise suggestion, Mr. Black. She's hardly known for her gentle manner."

Orion gave the man a small, knowing smile. "I'm glad you think so. Because I'm not suggesting Katlin. I'm suggesting Arabella."

Q&A

Silverfox:

*sighs* Oh Bo, Bo, Bo ...But I guess now that he has Connie Richard won't come back to the house. Probably good for Becca the little mouse, but how will they find him then?

Actually, Richard having Connie is not a good thing. Nor is it going to slow him down any, as the others are about to find out.

Indeed, having Connie alleviates Richard having to come back to the house to try for Becca again. But he still 'has' Connie. For Richard this is basically the equivalent of buying a lottery ticket in the hopes of winning a few dollars and finding out you struck the jackpot.

How they are going to find him is a bit complicated, but is explained in the next chapter.

All reviews are as of 2/21/2010.

And remember:

Work is something that when we have it, we wish we didn't; when we don't have it, we wish we did; and the object of most of it is to be able to afford not to do any some day.