Chapter 6
AN: Thank you to everyone who favourited, followed, or reviewed 😊
Lara . Niric: As I said before, the soul piece is simply too small to be detected by Flames. Ivy's scar is an accidental Horcrux, so only a tiny part of Voldemort's unstable soul is trapped in it; enough to prevent him from meeting his long overdue demise if it isn't dealt with, but still too small for detection. The only reason Mammon can sense it is because they have magic and the thing is a very noticeable against Ivy's otherwise untainted magic.
Black Dragoniss: I'm not sure about the DA. I'll have to think about it
Sirius sat in the old family sitting room of Grimmauld Place, reading his latest letter from Ivy. Lessons, teachers, friends (some odd names, but he really couldn't talk – odd names were standard in the Wizarding world), pranks; it was the sort of letter he should have been receiving from her during her years at Hogwarts. Would have received, if he hadn't been such a prat that night and if he had been given a trial. It was a typical letter from a child far from home to their loved ones, and it was so very different from the letters he had received from Ivy during her fourth year. Nightmares, burning scars, deadly tournaments, dragons, arranging clandestine meet ups in the mountains outside Hogsmeade… The difference was amazing.
Of course, it was obvious some details were missing. Ivy had explained it as not wanting to be found if the Ministry or Dumbledore intercepted the letter. Perfectly understandable in Siruis' book. If this was the difference three months away from Britain had made to his goddaughter, then he would be the last person to force her back.
That last thought caused Sirius to frown. Dumbledore had probably already figured out that Sirius knew something about Ivy's disappearance. It was only a matter of time before the old man asked Sirius what he knew, either in writing or in person. Out of Ivy's connections in Britain, he was the most vulnerable. Her friends might be in Dumbledore's domain, but Sirius was still a wanted criminal. Even with Shacklebolt convincing the DMLE he was in Tibet, all it would take was one supposed sighting… Sirius was all the family Ivy had and any hint that he was in danger would bring her running.
Sirius looked around the dingy room. Ivy was the only reason he had ever come back to this place. He had left his hideaway on Black Island and returned to Britain, knowing that there was still a Kiss-on-sight order on his head, hiding in caves and scavenging scraps to try and protect her. When Voldemort returned, he offered Grimmauld Place as a headquarters for the Order, his fugitive status making it impossible for him to fight on the front lines and help protect his pup from the madman who murdered her parents. With her safely out of Voldemort's reach, there was no reason for him to stay. He had already adjusted the Wards to allow the Order to come and go without him needing to be there; that had been difficult, but he had managed it eventually. Thankfully the Family Wards were one of the lessons he had finished before his mother had forced his father to end his Heir lessons when he was fourteen, despite them being one of the Pureblood Traditions she was so proud of. The hypocrite.
Anyway, he had no reason to stick around and multiple reasons to leave. The main problem was how to find Ivy, but Sirius had an advantage there. When he swore the magical oath to become her godfather his magic had formed a connection to Ivy's. It was faint, but it was enough to get a sense of which direction she was in and how close if he concentrated. He already knew she was somewhere abroad – the trip to Paris had been a big hint – so all he needed to do was smuggle himself out of the country again and then use the connection to find her. It was a simple plan, but years of pranks had taught him that simple plans worked better.
The only thing he was struggling with was whether to invite Moony along. Remus was his best friend, but the werewolf was also incredibly grateful to Dumbledore for allowing him to attend Hogwarts after he was bitten. Dumbledore had already played on that gratitude once before, sending Moony out to try and win over the packs in the last war; an action that had led them all to believe he was the traitor when the Death Eaters started hunting down Order members. Leaving Remus behind would potentially set him up to be emotionally blackmailed into doing something inadvisable again, like helping Dumbledore track Ivy down. Equally, taking Remus with him could also see the werewolf giving information about Ivy's location to the Headmaster out of a need to repay him. It was a tricky one. Sirius wanted to bring his best friend, but he also didn't want to risk Ivy's newfound freedom.
There was also the little fact that Moony was a werewolf. Sirius would have to check if he was allowed to leave the country in the first place; there was no point deciding whether or not to invite Remus along if the law stopped him from going. That would involve some tedious legal research, but it wasn't like he had anything better to do right now. Fortunately, the Black library had a great many books on the laws of Britain and Europe – after all, you had to know the rules in order to break them without getting caught.
Feeling much happier, Sirius headed off to the library to start his research.
The week or so of October at the Varia were mostly spent doing two things; catching up on sleep and figuring out what actually happened during the madness that was September. There were all sorts of strange stories going around, both from the field and at home. The most popular one was how the Mist GM gave several people animal appendages for pissing him off and then refused to turn them back for half an hour, but that was hardly the strangest. Several of the subjects of those stories had ended up in Medical, including a Cloud who had somehow managed to Multiply the size of his nose while half-asleep until it was the general size and shape of an aubergine. That one had been hilarious, not that Ivy had so much as snickered within his hearing; the more highly strung Clouds tended to react violently if you did that.
Lussuria had given her the day off from Medical and she had no lessons today, so Ivy decided to spend her free time working on Flame training. Hood had recently declared she was competent enough with her Flames that she could be trusted to work on them independently. Since the weather was pleasant, she decided to train outside for a bit. Most people did outdoor training to test more potentially destructive techniques that could get them in trouble with Mammon if used indoors; Ivy came out here to run. The forest around the Varia castle was her favourite place to run. Sprinting along with the wind in her hair, the ground flying under her feet, dodging trees as she used her Flames to Increase her speed, senses, and reflexes. It gave her a similar thrill to the one she got from flying. After the stress of September, a good run was just the thing she needed.
With all her concentration focused on not crashing into trees as she increased her speed, Ivy didn't notice the half-buried tree root in her path until she tripped over it. As she fell, she curled into a ball, using her Rain Flames to try and slow herself down enough to prevent serious injuries. Fortunately, it had rained recently, so the ground was softer than it would have been; still, crashing into a tree wasn't fun. Ivy lay against the trunk of the tree, feet in the air and head between two roots, waiting for the world to stop spinning before trying to sit up. A quick check with her Flames revealed no broken bones but the throbbing in her ankle told her she had sprained it. Hopefully she would still be able to walk back.
Getting herself the right way up made the world start spinning again, so standing would have to wait. Closing her eyes, Ivy let her awareness expand in a way that she hadn't been able to while running at top speed. Unexpectedly, a Flame signature appeared not too far away; Ottabio, the Cloud Officer. He was one of those Varia Ivy made every effort to avoid if she could – there was something about him that gave her the creeps. What was he doing all the way out here? Maybe he was training? Damn, now she was curious. Surely it wouldn't hurt to see what he was up too.
Ivy used the tree to ease herself upright and carefully tested her injured ankle. She would need to support it with Rain Flames, but she could make it back to the castle. Turning in the direction of Ottabio's Flames, she removed her glasses – she could have kept them on, but this way was easier – and Multiplied her vision until she could see him properly. He was talking on the phone. Why would he be all the way out here to take a phone call when he had a perfectly good office that he could secure against eavesdroppers and uninvited guests? Ivy turned up her hearing, curiosity burning; she really was getting too nosy for her own good.
"…when the job is done. Make sure you have the money ready." Ottabio stopped talking and turned to look straight at her. She had been noticed. Time to leave. Ivy returned her senses to normal and quickly started back the way she had come. She didn't get far before a gunshot rang out and something hit her in the side. Ivy cried out and pressed her hands to her side, eyes widening when they came away bloody. She had been shot.
"You really shouldn't spy on people," Ottabio said conversationally as he walked up behind her. Ivy spun around to face him, keeping one hand on her wound and directing her Rain Flames to staunch the bleeding. He had his gun pointed at her. "I don't know how much you heard, but I'm afraid I can't let you walk away." What a cliché way of telling her he was going to kill her. Ivy's free hand found the hilt of her tanto and she slipped into a fighting stance. She wasn't going to die today.
Ottabio's finger tightened on the trigger.
It was over before she had time to think. She dodged to the side and surged towards him, Increasing her speed, her strength, the sharpness of her blade, going straight for the neck. Seconds later there was a thud as Ottabio's head hit the ground.
Ivy promptly threw up.
Squalo had been in his office when he received the summons from Kaiser. It may have been worded as a polite request, but it was most definitely a summons. The Heads of the Varia and Varia Housekeeping didn't summon each other unless it was important, so this was definitely something that needed attending to quickly. Squalo set the paperwork to one side, glad of a valid reason to escape the torturous work, and followed the messenger set to get him.
The messenger led him to one of the smaller rooms in the areas set aside for Housekeeping and gestured for him to enter. Kaiser was inside, along with Lobo from Medical and a blood- and mud-splattered Brindille. The girl had her t-shirt off while Lobo treated wound that looked like a through-and-through gunshot.
"Voi, what's going on?" Squalo asked the room in general. Brindille looked up from her observation of what Lobo was doing.
"I killed Ottabio," she said simply, producing Ottabio's glasses from a pocket. She looked pale in a way Squalo didn't think was just blood loss. Was this her first kill?
Squalo had to supress a smile at the pleasant and unexpected news. "Do we have a body?"
"Brindille informed me where he could be found when she returned; I've sent people out to retrieve him from the woods. Cause of death was beheading." Kaiser informed him. Squalo nodded gratefully to the Stormy Rain. That was one less thing for him to sort out. Now all he needed was to give Brindille a new Name and set her up with the Cloud Division paperwork. What to call her though? Brindille had no longer looked like a skinny twig, having grown a few inches and filled out a bit since joining. That messy black hair of hers still reminded Squalo of feathers though, and she was still quite slight. Hmm, there was an idea…
"He's definitely dead then. Congratulations on your promotion, Amsel." Squalo said with a grin.
The newly Named Amsel looked confused. "Promotion?"
"When a Varia not an Officer kills the Officer of their Flame type, that Varia automatically becomes Officer of that division. That's how most Officers get promoted actually; I think Officer Lussuria is the only one of the current Officers who was appointed by his predecessor." Lobo explained as he bandaged Amsel's wound and started checking over her other injuries.
Confusion turned to indignation. "I don't even want the job. It was self-defence!"
"The promotion still stands, voi. You're the Cloud Officer until you find a suitable replacement and retire or get offed by an ambitious underling," Squalo told her, filing away the self-defence comment for later consideration. "Until then, you are responsible for overseeing Cloud Division's paperwork, missions, training, and discipline. You also have the authority to change the Division Squad leader and GM if you want. There might also be other responsibilities later on depending on how you're coping with the workload." That covered most of the basics. Amsel still looked displeased by the situation but seemed resigned to it.
"I will send people to start packing up and removing Ottabio's personal effects from the Cloud Officer suite. It will take a day or two to make it ready for you to move in," Kaiser said to Amsel, who nodded. Lobo finished sorting out the last of Amsel's injuries and backed off, allowing her to get dressed again.
"Let's go find Luss and get you fitted for a uniform," Squalo said once she was decent, grinning as he headed out of the room. Having Ottabio dead solved several of his headaches and was well worth the effort he and the other Officers would need to put in to get the baby Cloud replacing him up to scratch. Even without help, Amsel could not possibly be worse than Levi. A competent and halfway trustworthy Cloud Officer was worth her weight in gold.
