Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers apply.
A/N: Once again credit goes to the OneAndOnlyEnigma for letting me play with his character, PI Malcolm Knight.
Chapter 80
"How?" Marlene demanded, sitting up. "We can't get close enough to him to grab him because of that stupid spell Overgood had cast."
"We hire one of those private investigator's to do it for us like that guy I gave the information about Snape to when Lord Reed was trying to get custody of his granddaughter."
"That worked out really well," Marlene replied sarcastically. "They've still got her." She shifted uncomfortably. "How are you going to find him?"
"I don't know, but I'll bet Dung knows him."
"We'll talk about it more in the morning," Marlene said, throwing the covers back over her and turning over.
~*~* Page Break ~*~*
Severus and Lily rushed to get the kids ready for school. They had stayed up too late and had overslept.
"I can't believe we slept through the alarm," Lily said she as pulled on her white lab coat. The children were downstairs eating their breakfast. Their rucksacks had been packed last night and rested in the living room by the fireplace. "I was thinking about something last night, Sev."
Severus' reply was muffled as he was in the midst of pulling the top to his Muggle scrubs over his head. He pulled it all the way down and said, "Sorry, what were you thinking about?"
"Remember the locator and protection spells we used to cast on Harmony during that time when the Muggleborn children were being taken?"
"Sure," Severus said slipping into his brewing robe that was fireproof, stain proof, and had a golden cauldron on the chest pocket, indicating he was a Potion Master.
"I was thinking maybe we should cast them over the children...just for added protection."
"Good idea because the Potter's made it plain that they want their meal ticket back and I think there isn't anything they wouldn't do to get Jamie back."
Lily nodded then asked. "Are you ready?"
"Yes." He and Lily wouldn't have time for breakfast which would displease Tita, but it couldn't be helped.
Coming down, they passed the children going back upstairs to their bedrooms to brush their teeth. They both waited by the fireplace for the children to come back down. Tita came into the room, carrying two brown paper bags and gave one to Severus and the other to Lily. "Tita fixed you lunch since you does not have time to eat her breakfast."
"I'll bet Tita packed enough food in this little bag to feed the entire Potions Research Department," Severus whispered.
The children came back downstairs and picked up their rucksacks. "Before you go," Lily said. "Dad and I decided we need to do one more thing."
"We're going to cast what's called a Locator Spell on you just as an added precaution," Severus explained. "It might be considered being overly cautious, but I don't think that hurts."
Lily positioned the children so they were close together than took out her wand and said, "Nullam Geographicam," and cast the spell with a twist of her wrist. "This spell will locate you wherever you are geographically." She then cast a second spell, "Distineo, Actio, Defendio."
"What's that one, Mum?" Harmony asked
"This last one is a strong protection spell that will keep you safe," Lily explained as she slid her wand back into the holster she wore on her forearm.
"Are you doing this because the Potter's might try something?" Jamie asked.
"They won't be able to, but that doesn't mean they might not try to convince somebody else to do it," Severus said.
"We don't think they will, but it doesn't hurt to take precautions," Lily added.
The children picked up their rucksacks and they all stepped into the floo. After the children got off at Jatan's floo, Severus and Lily stepped out of the floo at St. Mungo's. "I wonder if the Potter's will try anything," Lily said.
"Well, if they are, it'll take them awhile to find somebody willing to risk doing it," Severus replied.
"So, we probably have some time to prepare," Lily said.
"It'll probably be a Muggle," Severus surmised. "They can't be sent to Azkaban, but MLE or the Aurors will send them to whatever contacts they have in Scotland Yard or the Metropolitan Police."
Severus went off to the Potions Research Department while Lily went off to the office she shared with Dr. Robinson. As predicted, Severus had enough food in his lunch sack to feed the entire Potions Department. Lily shared hers with Dr. Robinson, Remus and some of the Medi-Witches and Medi-Wizards that worked with them.
When school was out, Harmony, Harry, Jamie, and Briony flooed to Rose and Hal's home. Briony younger brother, Keirnan, was there also. Rose had flooed over to Miss Sherry's Daycare to pick him up. Before he'd started nursery school, he stayed with Liam's parents.
~*~* Page Break ~*~*
Mundungus Fletcher knocked on the door of Potter Manor and looked around him. James had a pretty good set up here and he hoped he planned on being generous for whatever favor he wanted. He was his usual appearance, unshaven, his hair sticking up, and wearing dirty, stained, and ripped clothing.
Dazzy opened the front door and eyed Mundungus suspiciously. "What is it you wants?"
"I'm here to see your master," Mundungus announced. "Tell him Mundungus is here as requested."
"Wait out here whiles Dazzy checks with her Master and Mistress." She certainly wasn't going to let this foul smelling creature inside Potter Manor!
Dung heard yelling from inside and then a few seconds later, James flung open the front door. "Dung! Good to see you. Come on in! Sorry about that elf. She's so stupid, I should give her clothes!"
Dung came in and James led him towards the library where Marlene was waiting. Dung's eyes gleamed as he saw the spread of food on the library table. "Marlene, you remember Dung?"
Marlene nodded...barely. His smell was practically intolerable!
"Help yourself, Dung, there's plenty more where that came from," James said, sitting down next to Marlene on the couch opposite him.
"Any of that special Potter whiskey, too?" Dung asked.
"Uh...sure, Dung," James replied, leaving the room to get it. He came back with a bottle and a glass and set them on the coffee table in front of Dung.
Dung ignored the glass, took the stopper out of the bottle, and chugged straight from the bottle. "Ahh...now that's good whiskey!" He said, wiping his sleeve across his mouth. He proceeded to make himself a huge sandwich and took a bite of it, chewing nosily, and ignoring the fact that it was dripping down the front of his shirt. "So what do ya need, James?"
"You know how the Boy-Who-Lived was stolen from us by those dark wizard's, the Snape's and how the WCS, the Minister, or the Aurors refuse to do anything about it?"
"I heard 'bout it," Dung said.
"What we need to know is if you know anybody who doesn't mind doing something that may not be strictly legal, but they would be well paid for it."
You talkin' 'bout hiring somebody to grab the kid, ain't ya?"
"The Boy-Who-Lived is our son and he should be living with his rightful parents and ones who aren't dark wizards and Death Eaters, don't you agree, Dung?"
"I 'member you and Sirius sneaking bottles of this fine whiskey out for me on Christmas Day so yeah, I agrees wit' you. A kid should be with his real parents."
"Great!" James said, rubbing his hands together.''
"How much you gonna pay them 'cuz that's the first thing they'll ask?"
"I'll pay them 3000 Galleons and there's a 1000 Galleons in it for you if you find me somebody really good."
Dung's eyebrows raised appreciatively. That would keep him in good whiskey for a long time! "I might know somebody. I gotta find him first 'cuz he works for the Muggles, too."
"Let me know as soon as you've found him," James said. "Remember there's 1000 Galleons in it for you."
"Won't forget that," Dung replied then flooed out, taking the bottle of whiskey with him.
"Are you sure we can trust him, James?" Marlene asked.
"Of course! He's part of the Order and Dumbledore trusts him."
~*~* Page Break ~*~*
Private Investigator, Malcolm Knight, was sitting in the Hog's Head, with a glass of Fire Whiskey in front of him when a voice said, "Here you are! Been looking all over London for ya!"
"You found me. What do you want, Fletcher?" Knight asked in a bored tone.
Dung pulled out the chair opposite Knight and sat down. "Is that any way to talk to the man who's gonna provide ya with a big pay day?"
"What are you yapping about?"
"Ya can at least buy me a whiskey before I gives ya the details."
Knight sighed and then motioned to Aberforth and pointed at Dung. Aberforth came around from behind the bar with a bottle and a glass then poured Dung a drink. He grabbed Aberforth's hand. "Leave the bottle here. Knight can afford it." Dung lifted the glass to his lips, took a sip, and sighed, "Pure gold!"
"So what's this deal that's going to provide me with this big pay day?"
Dung lowered his voice to almost a whisper, "Knows somebody who's trying to get his kid back from a dark wizard. Tried to get 'elp from the Ministry and the Aurors, but they won't 'elp him. He's willing to pay you 3000 Galleons to get his kid back for him."
"I'd have to know more before I can make a decision. Set up a meeting with this person at my office in Diagon Alley. My office is above the secondhand robes shop. He can come through my floo if he doesn't want to be seen coming into my office. Upstairs Attic, Diagon Alley is my floo address."
"I'll let him know," Dung said, finishing off his drink, grabbing the bottle, and getting up.
He got back to the place where he stayed. It was a decrepit, old house that nobody had lived in for years, but it was enough for Dung since apparently people thought it was haunted and stayed away from it. The floo still worked, too, as an added bonus. He flooed James. "I talked to my contact and he's willing to meet with you in his office. He said you could floo there if you didn't want to go in from Diagon Alley."
Dung gave him Knight's floo address and asked, "Ya want me to go with ya?"
"Thanks, but I can handle it from here," James said.
~*~* Page Break ~*~*
At dinner that evening, Severus said, "I was thinking today that we should take a vacation next summer and go see Uncle Timaeus at his ranch in Texas."
"I remember it was a big place and Seneca taught me how to ride a pony," Harmony said.
"We flew on a jet liner to get there and it was a long flight, but flooing would have been even longer," Lily said. "She looked at Harry. "You probably don't remember it because you were still pretty little when we went there."
"What's a jet liner?" Jamie asked.
"I'll have to take you and Harry, and Harmony to Heathrow International Airport and we can watch them take off and land," Severus said. "In this case it's easier to show than explain."
"Muggles have invented all kinds of flying machines and rockets they've taken to the moon even," Harry said.
Severus scratched his head. "I believe NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, has a branch in Houston, Texas where Uncle Timaeus lives that we can visit, but they launch most of their space flights from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Maybe we should visit Florida where NASA Space Center is located while we're in the states, too. I think they have a space museum there."
"That would be awesome, Dad," both Harry and Jamie said at the same time.
"That's our plan then for next summer," Severus said. "Maybe if we're really lucky, we might get to see a space rocket launch from Florida."
"I've heard their beaches are fantastic in Florida, too, Lily said. "But we're all going to need a lot of sunblock, especially both of us, Sev."
"Yeah, I remember how sunburned I got the last time we were in Texas. We can invite everybody to come with us, too."
Lily laughed. "I remember dad saying that Timaeus is the only wizard, besides Liam, he'd met that understood economics."
"Petunia and Veronica can visit about their organization…"
"Which are spreading widely," Lily added.
"Indeed," Severus said.
Saturday morning, as he had promised, Severus borrowed Lily's car, and drove the three children to Heathrow. They stood in front of the windows in one of the terminals, watching the planes taking off and landing.
"How do the planes keep from running into each other other?" Harry asked.
"There's a bunch of specially trained people in the control tower, they're called air traffic controllers, and it's their job to direct all the air traffic up in the skies. They use something called radar that allows them to see where all the planes are in the sky and they're able to keep them safely out of each others way."
"Sounds like magic," Harry said.
Severus nodded. "In a way it is."
~*~* Page Break ~*~*
There was a knock on the door of Malcolm Knight's office. He looked at his watch. "Right on time," he muttered. "Come in."
James opened the door and came in.
"Have a seat," Malcolm said. So, Dung's friend was James Potter.
"Thanks," James said, seating himself. "Did…"
"Hold up, give me a chance to get out my notepad,"Malcolm said. He pulled open the top side drawer of his desk, took out a notepad, but also switched on the mini-recorder with a microphone he had in the drawer and left the drawer partially open so James' voice would be clearly picked up by the microphone. Handy device that he'd picked up in a Muggle electronics store.
He picked a pen up. "Okay, start at the beginning."
"I'm Lord James Potter and I'm hiring you to get the Boy-Who-Lived back from the Snape's who kidnapped him. Dung recommended you and said you could do the job. I'm willing to pay you 3000 Galleons for his safe return. How soon can you have him back at Potter Manor?" James demanded.
"Not so fast. You say he's being held by the Snape's. Do you mean Lord Prince?"
"He's no more a lord than Argus Filch is," James said and chuckled. "Death Eater, yes, but a lord no."
"The Prince houses are all impenetrable so I won't be able to grab him around the house. Is he being educated at home or at a school?"
"At school...it's called Junetoon or something like that, but I don't know where it's located."
"Are their any other kids in the house? What does he look like so I don't end up grabbing the wrong kid."
"There's two others, a boy the same age as the Boy-Who-Lived, and a girl. The Boy-Who-Lived looks just like me," James said, thrusting out his chest.
'Poor kid' Malcolm thought. "Does he have any hobbies that he might leave the house for? Like does he belong to a children's Quidditch League?"
"I doubt it, Snivellus always hated Quidditch."
"Okay, it's going to take me at least a week to do some surveying to find the best time to grab the kid."
"Okay, and they'll be that reward of 3000 Galleons waiting for you when you bring the Boy-Who-Lived back to Potter Manor."
"I'll keep you posted on what I find," Malcolm said.
"You do that," James said and went back out the office door.
Malcolm grinned and shut off the recorder.
~*~* Page Break ~*~*
Severus and Lily kept close watch over Jamie and warned the elves about any strangers hanging around.
"We is keeping our eyes open," Tita assured them. "And we will summons you if we sees anybody strange hanging around."
Severus lay in bed that night with his arms folded under his head, "You know, I don't know that we need worry about somebody kidnapping Jamie. I mean the kids floo to Jatan and floo to Hal and Rose's house from there. If we drive them to school, one of us always escorts them inside and if we're going to drive them home, we let them know ahead of time and they wait inside the store until we pull up and one of us goes inside to bring them out." Jatan was actually located behind a store which sold goods from India and was run by Mrs. Patel's twin sister.
"That's true," Lily agreed.
"The only places somebody might be able to grab him is in either Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade, but since we rarely go there except for school and Christmas shopping, they wouldn't have much opportunity."
"And where are the Potter's going to keep him?" Lily asked. "I hope they aren't stupid enough to think that Potter Manor isn't the first place we'd look."
"I don't think they have any other homes besides Potter Manor," Severus said.
Lily shook her head. "I never heard him brag about any other houses."
"I mean we can still put the protective charms on them every morning just to be on the safe side, but I don't see where anybody has an opportunity to grab Jamie."
~*~* Page Break ~*~*
The next morning, Malcolm Knight disillusioned himself and waited outside Auror Headquarters until he saw James Potter and another Auror leave together. Once they were gone, Malcolm made himself visible again and walked inside.
Ned and Sirius both looked up from the scrolls they were reading, "Can I help you?" Ned asked.
"Yes, I need to speak with Auror Scrimgeour right away. I have some important information to give him about one of his Aurors."
"What's your name?" Sirius asked.
"I'm Malcolm Knight and I'm a private investigator."
Sirius got up and went down the hallway and knocked on Scrimgeour's office door. "Enter." Sirius stuck his head in to find both Moody and Scrimgeour. "There's a guy out here who says his name is Malcolm Knight, a private investigator. Says he has important information to give to you about an Auror."
"Bring him in, Auror Black," Scrimgeour replied.
Sirius came back out and motioned to Malcolm, "Follow me." He led him to Scrimgeour's office and opened the door and motioned for him to go inside.
Scrimgeour rose from behind his desk. 'He really does look like an old lion,' Malcolm thought
"I understand you have some information about an Auror you wish to convey to me?"
"Yes, but some background first. My name is Malcolm Knight and I'm a private investigator. I work both magical and Muggle cases." He took out of his pocket what looked like a small, silver box and set it on Scrimgeour's desk. "This handy little device is called a recorder and I picked it up in the Muggle world. It records conversations on a tape and you can play them back." He sat down in the chair in front of Scrimgeour's desk. "A few days ago I was approached by one Mundungus Fletcher in the Hog's Head. I'm assuming you're familiar with this gent?"
Both Scrimgeour and Moody nodded.
"He said he was contacted by a friend whose son was taken by a dark wizard and he wanted somebody to kidnap the son and bring him back. He said this person was offering 3000 Galleons to do the job. I told him I needed to know more before I could decide so I gave him my floo address and told him to have his friend contact me. He did and we set up a time for him to come to my office. This is what happened during that meeting." Malcolm pushed the play button on the recorder and his and James' voices filled Scrimgeour's office.
They listened to the tape with no expressions on their faces. When the tape ended, Moody shook his head and muttered, "Potter! Might have known."
"May I borrow this device from you, Mr. Knight?" Scrimgeour asked.
"Sure, I bought two of them," Malcolm replied. He showed Scrimgeour and Moody how to rewind the tape and the play button.
"Very interesting," Scrimgeour said, picking up the recorder and studying it closely. "Somewhat like a Listening Spell."
"In my business, it's real handy," Malcolm said as he got up. "In my line of work, it's mostly cheating spouses or missing people."
"Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention, Mr. Knight," Scrimgeour said. "We depend on our citizens to let us know when something isn't right."
"Just doing my duty as a citizen, Auror Scrimgeour."
"I'll escort you out," Scrimgeour said. Before he left his office, he looked at Moody and said, "I want to see Potter the moment he's back."
Moody nodded. "I'll see to it."
After Scrimgeour had escorted Malcolm out and went back to his office, Ned raised his eyebrows and said to Sirius, "I wonder what that was about?"
Sirius grinned and replied, "I don't know, but I'll bet you 10 to1, it's got something to do with Potter."
"That's a sucker's bet," Ned said, grinning, too. "I always wondered how Dawlish ended up getting a new trainee, after Potter messed up that time with Severus and Malfoy, and got Dawlish written up, because usually you're stuck with the same trainee until they're fully trained."
Sirius leaned forward and whispered, "I heard Dawlish told both Moody and Scrimgeour that if they didn't assign him a new trainee, he might Avada Kedavra Potter before Voldemort or the Death Eaters had a chance."
"Can't say I blame him."
"Maybe, this time they'll finally fire him," Sirius said.
About an hour later, Potter and his partner, Aiden Bloom, came walking in with a frightened looking man in handcuffs, between them. "Hey, look what I caught! One of of those Yaxley Death Eaters!"
Ned turned around and saw the man was Torin Yaxley, who owned Yaxley's Yum Yums candy store. While he was related to the other family of Yaxley's who had supported You-Know-Who and were Death Eaters, neither Torin nor any of his family, were Death Eaters or supporters of You-Know-Who.
Moody came over. "Potter, Scrimgeour wants to see you right now! Sirius, you help Bloom process this person."
James grinned. "Probably, already heard about me capturing this Death Eater." James threw out his chest and followed Moody to Scrimgeour's office. They both went inside.
"Don't think that's what's going to happen," Ned muttered.
Even though Rufus had thrown a Silencing Charm around his office, the Aurors in the bullpen could still hear the muffled shouting. Alice's partner Griffin chuckled. "I swear Potter gets his arse reamed at least once a day by either Moody or Scrimgeour."
"And he doesn't learn a bloody thing from it either," Alice grumbled.
Sirius convinced Bloom to drop the charges against Yaxley. This Yaxley wasn't a Death Eater nor a follower of You-Know-Who's and they couldn't arrest him just because his last name happened to be Yaxley.
Scrimgeour came out of his office with James following him. His head down, he walked quickly out of the Auror office.
"Looks like Potter got suspended again," Frank whispered to Alice.
His partner, Chea Diggory, shook her head and asked, "Why am I not surprised?"
"What's the point of suspending him?" Alice asked. "He'll just come back and keep doing the same old crap."
"May I have your attention?" Rufus called loudly. 'I sorry, but we're going to be short an Auror and we'll need to pick up the slack."
"Yeah, since Potter sits on his arse and doesn't do anything, there's plenty of slack to go around!" Senior Auror Knightly mumbled.
~*~* Page Break ~*~*
Severus had just gotten home from picking up the kids from their grandparents house and they had gone upstairs to change out of their school clothing and start their homework. Severus and Lily always checked their homework when they finished it.
Lily came through the floo a few minutes later and sat down beside Severus on the couch. "Remus invited us over for dinner on Saturday night," she said.
"That'll be nice. We haven't really seen him or Missy all that much so it'll be a nice catch up," Severus replied. "The children can visit with all their friends at Nottingham Pines."
The floo sounded suddenly and it announced, "Aurors Scrimgeour and Moody are requesting permission to come through."
"Permission granted," Lily said.
Rufus and Mad-Eye, used their wands to suck the ashes off their robes before stepping out of the floo and sat down. Severus asked Tita to bring in tea and snacks. Tita returned with a teapot, cups, napkins and a plate of cherry scones which she knew they were Mad-Eye's favorite. Indeed, his one eye lite up in delight as he spotted the scones.
After they were all settled with their tea and scones, Severus asked, "What brings you two here?"
Lily motioned for them to stop and then she cast Severus' Muffliato Spell over the room so if the children happen to come down, they wouldn't overhear anything. She nodded at Scrimgeour to continue.
"We uncovered a plot to kidnap your son and take him back to the Potter's," Rufus said gravely.
"What!" Both Severus and Lily yelled.
Mad-Eye picked up the story. "Apparently Potter told Mundungus Fletcher that he was looking for someone to snatch the boy. Fletcher found this private investigator, who works in both the magical and Muggle worlds, and thought he'd be willing to do the snatch so he recommended him to Potter. Potter met with him two days ago and he said he "recorded" the entire conversation on this little device."
"Yes, a miniature tape recorder. I got one for Sev to record his potion ideas on," Lily said, nodding.
"We listened to their entire conversation then I called Potter in and played it for him and then suspended him for a month and I sent this tape recorder and this private investigator's testimony to Madam Bones with my recommendation that she discharge Potter permanently from the Aurors."
"I'll warn Fletcher, too, that any more shenanigans from him, he'll find himself in a cell in the Ministry and possibly shoveling dragon dung at Gringotts in addition," Mad-Eye said.
~*~* Page Break ~*~*
James trudged into the entrance hall of Potter Manor and dropped his Auror cloak on the floor for the elves to pick up.
Marlene came out of the sitting room and said, "James, what are you doing home so early? Are you hurt or ill?" She asked in alarm. She followed James into the library where he slumped down on one of the couches.
"Scrimgeour suspended me for a month and threatened to end my illustrious career as an Auror. And that's after I caught one of those Yaxley Death Eaters, too!"
"Scrimgeour can't do it, only Amelia Bones can fire Aurors and Magical Law Enforcement officers." The Auror department is part of MLE.
"That's right!" James said, perking up.
"My mum and dad know Madam Bones really well so I'm sure they'd be willing to talk to her and convince her you did nothing wrong. What is Scrimgeour unfairly targeting you for?"
"He found out we're trying to get the Boy-Who-Lived back."
Marlene sat down next to James. "I knew we should have never trusted Mundungus! That smelly, old drunk!"
James rolled his eyes. "It wasn't Dung. I think it was probably that private investigator I saw on Saturday. He found some way to keep our entire conversation and he let Scrimgeour and Moody listen to it. Scrimgeour and Moody blew their tops and started screaming at me like I was some bratty kid and didn't even ask to hear my side of the story," James complained. "Neither of them gave me any credit for bringing in a Death Eater either!"
"Well, just not right!" Marlene said. "How many times has Black violated the rules and he hasn't been written up or suspended?"
James shrugged. "I've lost count."
"Well, we are not going to let Scrimgeour and Moody walk all over us!' Marlene stated. "We're going to fight this!"
Thank you for reading. Please review.