AN: So I would've had this chapter out for you guys sooner, but my boyfriend ran away with the laptop for a few weeks. But I have it back! And am already working on the next few chapters. I've had to rewrite a bunch of stuff because I realized I was jumping the plot too quickly, but I think I've got it figured out. This chapter is mostly for my own amusement, but it sets the stage for MAJOR plot that I'm pretty excited for. Enjoy! And as always let me know what you think :)

Harry's lead came from a chance sighting of one of the guards at Azkaban Prison. The man had been headed home after a shift when he saw a strange shadow moving out of the corner of his vision. Since the discontinued use of dementors at the prison, a black mass floating through the sky was no longer common occurrence. The small shadow was not nearly large enough to be a dementor and was carried on the wind with far more purpose than their tattered cloaks. The thing flew towards one of the small, barred windows of the uppermost cells and floated through, as if there were no wards around the prison at all.

He stared in incomprehension for several moments, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He wanted nothing more than pretend the thing was a bird, or better yet not even real. A hallucination even. He wanted to go home and warm up with a nice cup of tea in front of a roaring fire and next to his sweet wife, but he knew this needed to be reported. Sighing heavily, he wrapped his cloak tighter around him and trudged back inside to alert the rest of the guards and call the aurors.

Harry was the first to arrive after the alerts went out. He had been on the lookout for any notifications coming in from Azkaban since his talk with Draco and had still been awake when the call came. He apparated directly into the warden's office having been keyed into the wards months ago to improve response times from the Ministry. The room was in chaos.

Prison guards were yelling and pointing fingers as if to accuse each other of inattention to the prisoners or even falling asleep while on duty. The Warding Division were there trying to figure out who had managed to screw up such an important job. Minister Shacklebolt was there doing his best to calm everyone down but looked to be near the point of shouting at the Warden, who should be noted was the only calm person in the room. Harry made his way to the pair and interjected before the Warden could set off Shacklebolt's fury.

"Sir, if I could have a word with the Warden, I would like to sort this out as quickly as possible."

Kingsly threw his hands in the air and growled in frustration, "Be my guest!"

Harry pulled the Warden to a quieter part of the room and asked, "Can you tell me exactly what happened?"

"Well," the man drawled as if he were discussing the latest quidditch scores rather than a matter of national security. "I had just arrived for my shift when one of my off duty guards came in to tell me he'd seen some shadow goin' in through an upstairs window. Turns out to be Malfoy's cell, so I sent some of my men up to see what's what, but they came across that thing there." He pointed towards a crate in the corner of the room that looked to have at least four warding and locking spells on it. "Figured it was suspicious enough to call the aurors over, not that they've been much help."

"How did the manage to catch it?" Harry asked, going over to inspect the crate.

"They threw a bunch of spells at it until it quit moving."

Taking a deep breath to keep from rolling his eyes, Harry thanked the Warden for his time and dismissed him. He would get little else from the man and preferred not having to deal with him any longer. The crate's mysterious contents had captured his full attention.

As of yet, no one was sure what it was. Everyone who had seen it described a small shadow, about the size of a raven. Lucius Malfoy had been seen talking to it when the guards arrived, but the man had been silent since and refused to tell them what the creature was or where it had come from. The creature expert Harry had called finally arrived and came directly over to the crate, ignoring everyone else in the room.

"I'm assuming it's inside the box?" She asked, already flipping through the large tome she had brought with her.

"Yes, it is. Thank you for coming, Adelaide."

"My pleasure," she responded without looking up from her book. "Can we remove the wards so I can see it?"

Harry motioned over one of the warders. "We're going to place a circle on the floor so we can see it but it can't escape. If it's intelligent it might the able to tell us why it was speaking with Malfoy."

The circle was drawn, wards placed, and the room fell silent. Everyone watched in anticipation as Harry cast the spell to open the box. At first, nothing moved.

Slowly, as if hesitant, a small shadow eased itself out of the box. It was completely black and moved silently across the floor without any definite shape. It was as if a portion of shadow had separated from the shadows inside the box and moved on its own. It had no features or form, it's inky blackness odd against the light of the room. The constant shifting of its form made it impossible to see what shape or size it was. It made no sound, nor did it attempt to leave the circle of magic cast around it. Everyone stared in silence at the creature, and even the magizoologist seemed entirely baffled.

Adelaide next to him had her mouth hung open in shock, her book forgotten in her hands. No one moved, all were transfixed by the bizarre thing in front of them.

"What is it?" Harry finally asked. His voice was hushed, as if speaking too loudly would cause the creature to hide again.

She shook her head, eyes never leaving the box. "I'm not sure. I've never…" Her voice trailed off in awe.

Scratching his head and squinting at the shadow, Harry sighed quietly. This investigation would be far more complex than he thought.

—..—

"So you think my father was using that shadow creature as a messenger?"

Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose and grumbled, "I honestly don't know what to think."

Draco shoved his hands in his pockets and stared off in thought. He'd never heard of a creature like the one Potter was describing. And his father was speaking to it? What did that have to do with Lucius's goal of reestablishing the old families? His thoughts spun as he tried to figure out how it all pieced together.

"I think the best course of action would be figuring out what the creature is. It was either unable to speak or chose not to, so we weren't able to gather any information from it. And your father was hardly forthcoming with such information, however," Harry pulled out a piece of parchment from his pocket and handed it to Draco. "One of our creature experts at the Ministry says there's a woman in Ireland who might be able to help us. She's supposed to be some sort of expert in old magic and, what did she call it? The creatures of the forgotten world or something like that."

"That's dramatic," Draco said as he read the name on the note. "Aoibheann?"

"Yes, apparently she can be difficult to find. There's an old woman named Maeve who is supposed to know where to find her, and she's supposed to be at a pub in London with a white horse outside."

Draco gave him a skeptical look.

"I know how it sounds, but that's all they could tell me."

Looking entirely unconvinced, Draco asked, "And you think she's our best chance to identify that thing?"

"Unfortunately."

Draco sighed and tucked the piece of parchment into his pocket. "Well, Potter, I guess we're going on a pub crawl."

—..—

They visited twelve pubs before they finally found the right one.

They stood outside the Staggering Steed and gazed at the sign incredulously.

"That's not a horse."

"I mean," Harry hesitated. "It could be. If you tilt your head a little. And squint."

"It looks like a dog."

"It must be a horse with a pub name like Staggering Steed."

"A drunken horse, perhaps. It looks as though a child carved it with a dull knife."

Harry shrugged. "At least it's white."

Draco scoffed and waved his hand dismissively. "That is not white. It might have been fifty years ago."

Harry's response was cut off by the front door opening. A short, elderly woman came tottering out and smiled up at them. Her gray hair and plentiful wrinkles portrayed her old age as did her slow, shambling walk. "Are you boys admiring my sign?"

Draco cringed and held back whatever comment he wanted to say. She seemed too kind for his sense of humor.

"Uh, yes ma'am, we were." Harry stumbled over his words trying his best to look appreciative of the… horse.

"It was given to me long ago," she said. Draco could tell she was about to start a very long story as she shuffled over towards the bench by the door. "The sweetest boy made it for me when I first opened the place."

Draco arched an eyebrow at Harry; he knew it had been made by a child.

Harry ignored him and instead smiled kindly at her and moved to help her sit down. "It's a lovely gift."

"He was a good boy, made sure I hung it up first thing. He said, 'Maeve, this horse is full of good luck and will bring everyone to your pub, just you wait.' And sure enough, I've never been empty."

"I'm sorry," Draco interrupted. "Did you say your name was Maeve?"

She smiled up at him but with a hint of confusion. "Yes, I did."

"We've been looking for you," Harry said while taking a seat next to her. "We were told you might be able to help us."

"Were you?"

"Yes, we were told you might be able to tell us where we can find Aoibheann."

A bright smile lit up her face. "Oh, but of course I can! She's my favorite granddaughter, she is. She's gone off to Ireland though, sweet adventurous heart that she is. This time of year she'll probably be over by Galway waiting on the selkies to come in for the winter."

"The selkies?"

"Oh yes, they come into Inishmaan every winter. Aoibheann helps them there with clothes and food. The muggles think the whole island is abandoned, but she's developed a whole town there to keep them safe from muggle view."

"Thank you so much," Harry said enthusiastically. Finally he was getting somewhere.

"Of course," she patted Harry's hand. "I know how hard it can be to find a good community, but sweet Aoibheann knows many places you two can be happy. You'll have your pick of places to settle down."

Confusion flooded Harry's face. "Settle down?"

"But of course." Maeve smiled sweetly at them and asked, "How long have you boys known each other?"

Draco's brain came to a screeching halt. He jumped to stop her line of thinking but was beat to the punch by Harry.

"Almost ten years now."

"Ten years," she sighed wistfully. "Such a long time. I'd known my Sibyl only half that long when we met Aoibheann. You boys are such good role models for other young men. So brave."

"Brave?" Harry asked in confusion.

Draco jumped in to try and fix the situation. "Ma'am, I appreciate your forward thinking. In today's society, it's refreshing to know people from all generations are so supportive of the homosexual community. However—"

"Oh no we're not—" Harry interrupted him. "We're just, um, it's not…"

"Oh don't worry sweetie," she patted Harry's hand softly. "I think it's wonderful that you two love each other enough to express it so openly. You should be proud." She patted his hand again and tottered off back into the pub leaving the pair of them stunned.

"She thinks we're…"

"Correct."

"But we're not…"

"No, we are not."

Harry scratched the top of his head and tried futilely not to blush. "Should we find her and explain?"

Draco sighed, "It's a bit late for that."

They were both quiet for a long moment before Harry finally muttered, "Even if I were gay, I wouldn't go for your prissy arse."

Draco scoffed. "For your information, I'm a catch."