Ezekiel's morning the next day didn't improve. At least this time when he walked into the kitchen he didn't found Harry buried under a mountain of letters. This time Harry was standing outside the room where the letters had been thrown into. The mountain of white envelopes had been replaced by a red sea of ones.

"Morning Harry."

"Hi Ezekiel." He replied timidly.

"I guess some people might be angry about the whole 'stop writing at Harry Potter' thing."

"You got more letters than I did."

"Really?" He asked surprised.

"Kreacher counted them." Harry nodded. "You got five more than me."

"Huh, usually I don't get that popular until..." Ezekiel's brain kicked in and stopped him mid sentence. "Sorry." Giving Harry a guilty look, who had now looked away from him.

"It's alright." Harry whispered.

"No, it's not Harry. I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry."

A noise startled both of them, unsure where it came from.

"Harry...is Dora in that room?" Ezekiel asked.

"I don't know." Harry said but both were surprised when she came running into the room.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Dora screamed angry.

"And good morning to you too, cousin."

"SHUT UP I'M LATE FOR WORK!" Dora screamed before she tripped over the letters on the floor. "Fucking Hell! Why the fuck are all this fucking letters on the fucking floor!"

"She's not exactly a morning person." Ezekiel told Harry. Turning to the room he explained "It seems that England hates me again, Dora."

"Hugh" She groaned. "Come on I need some fucking food! I need to fucking go to fucking work!"

"Calm down, Dora." Ezekiel said tiredly. "The kitchen is closed for the time being. Take some money from the usual place and buy yourself something on the way to work."

"What the fuck am I supposed to buy if I'm using the Floo you fucking dolt."

"Nymphadora." Ezekiel said sternly. "I'm willing to put up with your morning mood up to a certain point. Don't push it."

"Yeah, yeah." She waved her hand as she left.

"Ignore her, Harry. Her brain doesn't work without her morning coffee." He told to the impressed boy. "Kreacher!"

"Master." The elf apparated bowing to Ezekiel.

"Take all the howlers and destroy them. Call everyone for this if you need to. Has the paper arrived yet?"

"Yes, Master." The elf motioned towards the kitchen.

"Great." Ezekiel deadpanned. "Start working on it please."

"Won't you get in trouble if you're late? I thought that you worked with Dora." Harry asked as the elves apparated in the room and started working.

"Nah, I can pretty much skip every day and it wouldn't matter."

"Master, we've found the newspaper." Kreacher presented it to Ezekiel.

"Thank you Kreacher." He said to the elf who bowed at him as he read the news. "Now let's see...yep, pretty much what I expected."

"What is it?" Harry asked curious,

"Well it seems that I've kidnapped you in some sort of scheme to raise you away from the magical community. It seems that I want to steal your position in the community and turn you like me. Oh and apparently, I'm slowly degrading your noble spirit to make you like me."

"What's so bad about being like you?"

"They mean Dark, Harry." Ezekiel smiled warmly. "But thanks."

"But why would someone write that?"

"To sell papers Harry. The truth is not very common in our world or any world, really." Ezekiel chuckled. "Of course."

"What is it?"

"The author of this piece is an old... acquaintance of mine. Her name is Rita Skeeter and she's the biggest seller of shit on this hemisphere. The only thing she got right was our names." He snarled as he leaned on the wall. "Kreacher are you done yet? I'd like to eat my breakfast before the millennium ends."

"Yes Master! We'll be quick Master!" Kreacher voice sounded from the kitchen.

"Master." Another elf appeared with letters on his hands. "This aren't how howlers master."

"Thanks." Ezekiel said as the elf reentered the kitchen.

"Why do they call them howlers?" Harry asked.

"It's a letter that you can send to other people when you're angry. The letter screams the message at you, then blows you a raspberry and tears itself to shreds once finishes shouting."

"It can shout?"

"The letter resembles a mouth with teeth when it starts shouting. They are very dangerous."

"Do they bite?" Harry asked confused.

"No, they start heating up if you don't open them and they can even explode. With all the letters that we had they could blow up the house. Don't worry" Ezekiel added seeing Harry's terrified face. "the wards of the house are based on the Black Magic. If they don't come from someone I approve then their magic is destroyed."

"And how can you do that? How can you destroy magic?"

Now it was Ezekiel's turn to be silent. As soon as he heard those words left Harry's mouth even the house-elves stopped working, peeking at the duo.

"It's a secret Harry, the family magic is something that only the Black family can know about." That was the wrong thing to say. Harry looked as if he had kicked him in the stomach. "And even then, it's just for the Heir of the House, you see." He added quickly trying to at least mitigate the damage he had done. "A magic that's passed down the bloodline is a very sensitive thing, very secret. You'll inherit one too, you know? And when that time comes you'll have to keep it a secret as well."

"Even from you?" Harry asked unsure.

"It doesn't matter." The Black Magic spoke from the darked part of Ezekiel's mind. "IT will destroy it no matter what it is."

"Yes, even from me." Ezekiel sighted. "Still, this many howlers is a bit too much. You need a special paper to make one and it's not cheap."

"Why's that weird?"

"Well, people are obviously trying to get you off my custody. Problem is that nobody except my family knows where I live."

"So?"

"So if I wanted to know where a house that can't be found is." Ezekiel explained as he opened one of his letters. "The best way would be to mark it in a way that magic can't disguise. Or to destroy the place where the wards are. This many howlers could set the house on fire or even destroy the structure. Are you alright, Harry?"

"You'd really do that?" Harry asked warily.

"Well, not like that of course. It's a waste of good paper and money, not to mention it carries a great risk for the owl. Those letters can be very unstable. Hate to think what could happen to the poor bird." Ezekiel shuddered. He finished reading the letter in his hand and sighted.

"What?" Harry asked concerned. "Is everything alright?"

"You're being sued."

"WHAT?"

"My uncle Lucius is suing you for the potions sold on the store. Says he bought your family's recipes legally and that you didn't pay for using them. I haven't found a proxy for you yet, sorry Harry. Things started piling up and then with the other day... it's not an excuse but I promise you I'll find one soon."

"But, what do I do?"

"Relax Harry, this one I can fix right away. Just need to pay a little visit to my relatives."

"You never said that you had another uncle." Harry pointed out.

"He's married to my aunt Narcisa, we're not blood related. " Ezekiel explained. "And the reason to keep you away from them is because they are something I wanted to get away from."

"How so?"

"When I was a kid, I was raised a certain way. I was told things that weren't true but I didn't knew better." Ezekiel said. "I became a true believer of those lies. It wasn't until I met Ted, Andi and Dora that I realized how wrong I was."

"Oh." Was all Harry said. "Ezekiel can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because eventually you'll find out, regardless of what I do or say." Ezekiel smiled. "Just like you did last night with Dora and I." Ezekiel laughed at Harry's gaping face. "You aren't as stealthy as you think you are. Also next time don't let your head peek so much."

"Is it true then? Was that man really a friend of my parents?"

"You heard what I said." Ezekiel replied. "It's better for us to corroborate things fist before drawing conclusions."

"Can I help?"

"No."

"But I.

"You" Ezekiel interrupted him. "are an eight year old. Your only concern is to get up to date with your studies. This is something for the grown ups."

"But..."

"No buts, Harry. I'll deal with the crazy ones, you'll deal with school and making friends."

"Alright." Harry mumbled but for Ezekiel it was clear that this was far from over.

"Speaking of friends, how would you feel if we go to the house of another wizard? She's someone from work and she has a niece. Who knows, you might even make a friend."

"I don't know..."

"If you're concerned if she's a fan then don't worry. They don't follow either side."

"Are you sure?"

"You don't have to decide right now." Ezekiel replied. "Just give it a thought and if you don't want to then we don't go."

"Wouldn't your friend be angry?"

"Not more than usual, I imagine." The kitchen was still full of noises so he asked. "How about you and I go get breakfast at Ted's? Sounds like it's going to take a while."

Just then a brown owl approached them and tossed a letter to Ezekiel who caught it in mid air. Reading it's content he sighted annoyed.

"Apparently I am missed at my job." He said. "Do you mind using the Floo again? My boss wants me there yesterday."

"But what about the man in the basement?"

"Right. Kreacher, make sure that our guest is comfortable but don't let him leave his chamber."

"Yes, Master!" Kreacher voice replied from the kitchen.

Nodding at that both of them left the house ready to face the new day.

"Auror Black." Madam Bones greeted Ezekiel as he entered her office.

"Madam Bones" Ezekiel replied respectfully.

"Auror Black humour me for a bit."

"As you wish, Madam."

"Are you illiterate?" She asked curious.

"Madam?"

"Illiterate." Bones repeated. "Do you know how to read and write?"

"Yes Madam Bones, I do know how to read and write."

"That's good, good." Bones nodded. "And the clock, do you know how to read it?"

"Yes, Madam."

"You do? Little hand for hours, big hand for minutes?"

"I'm perfectly capable of reading the clock Madam Bones. Is there a point for all this?" Ezekiel asked impatiently.

"My point Auror Black is that I require all my agents to be in time for their shift."

"Madam I think we both know that my presence or absence has no impact in the performance of this department."

"I'm two seconds away from assigning you to maintenance for the rest of your 'career', Black. Give me one good reason not to."

"There was an incident a few days ago, Harry and Auror Tonks were taking a walk when she realized they were being followed."

"I saw her at the bullpen." Bones noted. "She seemed to be quite crossed. Did anything happened to Harry Potter?"

"He's fine, thanks for your concern. The problem is that between that incident and the issue of his mail."

"Yes, I saw the open letter on the Prophet. I imagine people weren't happy to read that."

"The howlers flooded the kitchen." Ezekiel told Bones who whistled after hearing that.

"How bad was the explosion?"

"I managed to vanish them before it came to that." Ezekiel lied. "But Harry was quite affected by the whole ordeal."

"I imagine." Bones nodded. "Very well Auror, I'll let it slide this time. Don't make a habit off it."

"Thanks, Madam Bones" Ezekiel bowed as he left the room.

"You're a cunt, you know?" Ezekiel heard as soon as the door closed. "Using Harry as an excuse like that."

"I take it you haven't got breakfast yet, Dora?" Ezekiel replied as he walked to the Archive.

"Oh she didn't tell you, did she?" Dora said as she grabbed him by the shoulder.

"You got one second to let me go before I turn that hand of yours into a slug."

"Alright, sorry about this morning. Happy?" Dora replied as she let him go.

"What was Madam Bones supposed to tell me?"

"Something happened in Knockturn." Dora explained. "The team assigned there made their monthly round and found four people. Well, what used to be four people anyway."

"And what does four injured people have to do with me?"

"How did you know that they were still alive?" Dora raised an eyebrow as she pointed with her head to the other side of the building.

"It's Knockturn, Dora. If they were dead they wouldn't have found anything. The people in there won't let good body parts go to waste." Ezekiel said as he walked where Dora pointed. He didn't lied too hard since Dora was present when he'd gotten the location of the brothel.

"Of course." Dora replied. "They were treated in Mungo' 'll live in case you're interested."

"Why yes, I'm terribly interested." Ezekiel muttered.

"They all lost their arms and legs, not to mention their organs couldn't be properly healed. The only thing that actually works is their hearing, which is surprising given that none of them have ears anymore. It's not going to be a pretty for them."

"I feel so bad for them." Ezekiel could barely contain his sarcasm. "That still doesn't explain why the trouble."

"It seems that whoever did that to them made the entire alley shit themselves." Dora said as they reach a door in the hallways. Opening revealed a mob of people squeezed together. "And apparently gave a persuasive argument for people to start turning themselves in. We're a bit short staffed for all this confessions you see, so we need you to write down all of them."

"Well that's not that bad. Just give me an auto-quill and"

"Manually." Dora interrupted him.

"Fuck me." Ezekiel groaned.

The entire room became silent as his voice resonated. The mob gasped collectively as their gazes fixated on the newly arrivals, specially at Ezekiel.

"They all have stores across the alley." Dora whispered on Ezekiel's ear. "They all want to confess several crimes but the moment they're asked about the four people they shut up. Not even a peep. Madam Bones didn't like that."

"I'd argue that I don't give a shit."

"And I'd say this is her way of saying 'fuck you too'." Dora replied happily as she gestured to a dark corner of the room. "Your desk is there with the paper, ink and quill too. Have fun!"

"Fuck off."

"Love you too, bye!" Dora replied laughing as she left.

As she closed the door Ezekiel turned towards the dark corner where his desk should've been. As he approached it he realized that in deed it was there. A desk smaller than the one he had used in school with an even smaller chair on top of which were the quill and ink. He wanted to think that this was the best Bones could came up with given the circumstances. If she was doing this out of actual pettiness Ezekiel would lose all respect he had for her.

I shouldn't be here, he thought, I should be interrogating that stupid werewolf. For fucks sake I only have three more days!

Alas that'd have to wait as he examined the poorly lighted room. No windows, a couple rows of chairs and everything covered in stone. He hated stone rooms, perhaps because he had already seen the Auror offices in the MACUSA in America. High ceilings, plenty of light sources that didn't hurt the eyes. They even managed to come up with a new way to regulate the temperature that he had been dying to study but hadn't got the time. Instead he was stuck in a place where the air had passed through the lungs of each and every occupant several times already. To top it all the room wasn't enchanted to enlarge depending on the number of people in it. Tunas in a can had more space than they did and it showed on the general mood. If he had iota of sympathy for this people he'd care, but given that he was he and they were they... His empathy had been metaphorically shot twice in the back of the head and was being devoured by his apathy and disinterest.

Still, he was a professional and would complete the task given swiftly and... He couldn't help to chuckle as he thought that. The people in the room backed away from him since every time a Lord Black had laughed it was for an inhuman, bloody and horrifying reason. Ezekiel took a big breath before turning towards the crowd with a cheshire smile.

"So you all want to confess, eh?"

"Alright then, it's all done." Ezekiel said as he loudly placed a large stack of papers on top of Dora's desk.

"Wai-What? What the hell is all this?"

"Their declarations, silly." Ezekiel replied with a sweet tone. "All transcribed manually as Madam Bones requested."

"HOW? It's been like what, four hours?"

"Four hours and forty nine minutes actually." He said as he checked his watch. "I had my doubts if I was going to make it to lunch I tell you but I guess a 'can-do' attitude really helps."

"How did you do that so fast? Why isn't your wrist hurting? And why the fuck are you bringing these to me?"

"Well I realized how stupid this whole process was. I mean let's face it, me writing each and every thing that those people said? It'd be mental! But, then I realized that there was a simple way of doing things. Would you like to know what it was?"

"I'm hanging at the edge of my seat."

"I made them write down their confessions!" Ezekiel replied with false happiness. "Aren't I a smart one?"

"How? You only had one quill?"

"Dora, cousin mine, aren't you forgetting something? I'm a wizard! I had them empty their pockets and transfigured whatever they had into quills. Just to make this whole thing legal I had them all take an Oath that everything they'd write was the truth. Also that ink that you gave me? So generous of yours to engrave it so it wouldn't run out of it. All it took was transfiguring the desk into a small drinking trough of sorts where I could fill it for everyone to use. The paper took a bit longer since I had to ask for it but eh, as the Stones said 'You Can't Always Get What You Want'."

"But...four hours? Some of those people had so many things to confess." Dora asked confused. "How did you managed to get this done so quickly?"

"I ask really nicely." Ezekiel replied sweetly.

"Right..." Dora replied rubbing her eyes. "And what does that has to do with this fucking pile on my desk?"

"Well, funny thing." Ezekiel chuckled. "I am an Auror as you know but my role is more bureaucratic. As in sort things out in the Archive bureaucratic, so I can't actually file all this. It has to be done by someone here and I thought that you of all people could do it for me!"

"That's your little revenge, really? Have me levitate this stupid stack of papers to the Archive? You're really losing your touch."

"Well of course you'll have to levitate them there but I know that won't be a problem for you." Ezekiel's smiled gave Dora the chills. "Right after you check each and every one of these pages for any mistakes. They are the truth of course but their writing capabilities of many of those people were a bit.. iffy. My oh my look at the time, it's almost lunch! Well I've got to go, have fun!" And with that he walked away.

"Oi you twat, come here! Don't you dare to leave me this fucking mess!"

"Sorry, got to go! I'll bring you a doggy bag!"

"You fucking cunt!"

"Auror Tonks!" Madam Bones yelled at her from her door. "To my office, now!"

I don't own Harry Potter, all characters except OC belong to J. K. Rowling.