AN: Okay, I'm trying something a bit diffrent here. None of my generally emotionally deep and make you cry emotionally disturbing peices. Nope. This story's all about, the action, the mystery, and how many people I can shove into one black van and get across Mexico without having them kill one another. Oh, yeah, there's quite a bit of slash in here and if you don't like it, it isn't that bad. You can just pretend most of it isn't there.
Disclaimer: Sirius, Remus, Draco, and Harry, as well as any little supporting characters aren't mine. If you don't know who they belong to, I weep for you and laugh at you. A.J., Laz, and NAS are all mine. Slayer is partially mine and partially my sister's because every mean and nasty thing she says to Harry is something my sister would want to say. Lara is mostly mine, and a tiny bit of King Zoe who wanted to be in the story. COR is mine and that pleases me greatly.
There were nine people in the bar. One was a wanted man in two worlds. Three were law enforcement officials. Five were teenagers in a booth in the back. Children of the nightlife. Bohemians and pot heads as far as the three officials were concerned as they moved in towards the dark haired man sipping peacefully at his brandy in the bar's shadow.
" Sirius Black." The man in the shadows stiffened, setting his glass down slowly. He had borrowed time as long as he could. Time had deserted him now. Slowly he raised his two hands in the air. He stiffened as something ridged, larger and more blunt than a wand pressed into his spine. " We need you to come peacefully this way Mr. Black."
Three official hit-men for the Ministry, bought in the Muggle world with no official ties to anyone who could feel the repercussions of this act. The four men walked calmly out of the bar. There was no noise. No protest. Five teenagers, three woman, two men, stood and slunk silently out the back.
" I suppose I can't argue my innocence?"
" I suppose if you close your mouth we may kill you quickly." The words were soft in the ink of the night. No stars, no moon, nothing to see the man die, save three hit men for the Ministry of magic and five teenagers who stepped out of the surrounding shadows, wands and guns drawn.
" He comes with us." She was tall and dark and an angry angel with a tech nine primed and aimed. Her eyes were hidden behind silver mirrored shades and her hands were encased in soft kidskin gloves. Off to her side a shorter, slighter woman with cropped brown hair held her wand unwaveringly on the man who's gun was held on Sirius. She raised an eyebrow as she gestured with her wand for the guns to go down. To her side a tall platinum blond youth with long dreadlocks made the same gesture with his gun. It was followed a sight more readily. Incedium and the guns were melted in a small puddle of metal and fire, their explosion contained neatly and silently in a small spell from a fourth member. The fifth simply held out his hand for Sirius. Slowly the man stepped backwards as silver ropes shot from the end of a wand and wrapped securely around the men. The amazon, the leader, stepped forward, placing her hand to the forehead of a man. " They will come for you, and when they do, tell them the Children of the Revolution are coming for the persecutors, Ministry and Death Eater alike."
There were three men in the alley.
Dear Mr. Potter, We write to apologize in our late correspondence in the matter of the large black dog you complained of. It took us a while to track him down, but he is now in our possession. It seems he was lost and we are arranging to transport him to the States Friday night. We hope this clears up any problems you may have had. Elaine McTavish. McTavish-Sheilds Dog catching service.
Fifteen year old Harry Potter closed the letter he had just read aloud to his uncle.
" I told you Uncle Vernon, it was just a letter from the Dog catchers I called about that dog that almost bit Dudley. Nothing weird about it." His hand trembled in the slightest as he watched his uncle struggle with whether or not to believe him. If he didn't… If he couldn't leave for this summer Friday morning…
" Well, good to know you did something right boy." The "complement" was gruff and apparently a rough admission. " Still leaving Friday morning?"
" Be gone before you wake up." Harry promised, sighing mentally. Clutching the letter in his hand, Harry ran up the stairs and pulled out a sheet of parchment addressed to Ron, apologizing that he couldn't make it to the Burrow this year and that maybe it would be best if he didn't try and reach him for a while and absolutely no rescue missions. Tying it to Hedwig's leg, he watched her soar away. His room was bare, more so than normal. All his belongings he would take to school were packed in his trunk and safely in his Gringotts vault and three changes of clothes, his wand and a picture of himself, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Seamus Finnegan in the Gryffindor commons tucked into a small knapsack from his primary school days. He lay back on his bed.
It was Wednesday.
Four in the morning and the air was thick and the sky ran like black ink into water as dawn fought to rise. The van was old and beaten with plates that changed as you looked at them. It was black and silent sliding up to the curb at the end of the street. Silently Harry Potter, soon to be sixteen in three hours, slid into the comfortably decorated interior, relaxing against the tasselled pillows thrown about the extra large cushion in the rear.
" Now is the time to turn back." A warm voice whispered in his ear. " We promised we'd get him to safety and we will. You don't need to do this. We could take you to the Weasley home and you could forget about this new life you will be accepting." In response, Harry closed the door of the van firmly but quietly.
" I don't turn back from my beliefs." He could feel her smile as she stretched out beside him on the cushions, removing her mirrored sunglasses.
" That's what I hopped you'd say. Head for the west port safe house Slayer." At the wheel, a dark feminine hand lifted in silent acknowledgement and the van pulled away from the curb and away from the drive.
" Lazzie! Did you get him?!" She ran into the small flat above a warehouse by the bay, leaving her sister to walk alongside Harry. At the window a man with long white dreadlocks looked up from a mug in his hand and grinned.
" Don't I always come through luv?" He teased. " He's asleep in the back room. Nas and Lara are going after the wolf now."
" Good. He can sleep with Sirius and cage with Slayer, and Harry can share the other room."
" Cage?" Harry asked in confusion. Beside him, the short, lithe woman opened her mouth slightly, showing pointed eye-teeth.
" My sister is Lycanthropic."
" Oh." Harry said simply, looking out the window at where the almost full moon was sinking out of sight. " Do you umm…"
" Have somewhere we keep her?" The woman laughed. " Slayer has a cage in a sub basement under every house we keep. As long as the guy will submit to her being Alpha wolf, we can put him in her cage too and we'll be fine."
" Umm, who is this other wolf?" Harry asked nervously.
" A man being hunted by the ministry for association with Sirius and by the Death Eaters for association with you." Lazarus drawled from the window sill.
" Professor Lupin?!" Harry exclaimed.
" Hello Harry." Came a warm and tired voice from behind him. He turned around to see him enter between an almost short Hispanic man and a brunette of almost the same height. " But I'm not a teacher anymore. Call me Remus."
" Look, sorry to break up the tea party boys, but we'll need all the sleep we can get. We've got a lily white ass tomorrow night and then we're leaving for the states by floo and then boat first thing in the morning." Nas said with authority.
" Lily white ass?" Harry asked in confusion.
" Full moon." Slayer answered shortly.
" Look Harry, we can explain everything tomorrow. Right now, it's time to sleep." The first woman insisted. Harry realized he didn't even know her name as she lead him to a small room with a single bed. " Just crawl in. Get used to sharing a bed, sometimes we all crawl in one, if there is a bed to sleep in." She turned and made a move to close the door.
" Wait!" He whispered urgently. " What's your name?"
" A.J."
Harry first shifted around noon, the weight of an arm thrown casually around his waist shifting with him, a head of silky hair resting gently on his shoulder. Then the snickering reached him.
" No way Moony, I'm sending these to all their friends at school. It's just too perfect." And then Harry cracked his blurry eyes and noticed the hair on his shoulder, attached to the head resting under his chin, was slivery white in the sunlight and that there was a vaguely familiar scar on the bare arm, like a marks of a Hippogryph…
" Fuck me!" He yelped, scrambling out of the bed, leaving a very confused Draco Malfoy to sit up and rub his eyes as he looked around for the source of all the laughter.
" Wha… where am I?"
" Not a morning person, are you darling?" A.J. asked from the doorway, a long black tee-shirt brushing her bare thighs " I assume you and Harry know each other?" Draco looked stricken.
" Potter?!" Gleefully, Sirius handed a picture to both boys of the two curled around each other sleeping peacefully.
" You know, the two of you are awful cute together." Remus snickered. " This could be the start of something very noisy." The two look disgusted. " Remember how we used to be Padfoot?"
" You mean the night James handcuffed us together until we worked something out?" Sirius snickered. " The look on his face when he found us the next morning… Jazzy, do you happen to have any handcuffs?"
" You guys are just wrong, you know that?!" Harry yelped, squeezing between his godfather and Remus to escape from the room in his underwear.
" Hey, you in the skivvies!" Lara yelled from another room. " We require either a pair of decent underwear or pants here! You got a hole in those so big…"
" Leave him alone Lara!" A.J yelled out. " Sirius just scarred him for a long time." Walking by from the bathroom, Nas took a look at Harry, and shook his head.
" Sad really." He murmured, taking off his towel and handing it to him, continuing his way to his room naked. In the far corner of the room Lazarus snickered.
" We're in trouble now Jazz, we just broke him. We broke Harry Potter and in only ten minutes too. So what do you do for the rest of the summer?" The woman smiled softly.
" Finish breaking him and make him better." She said with a hint of regret. " Okay, come on Draco, out of bed, we've got to clear this place out and spell dust it so that we can leave when the moon sets."
Slayer walked past Harry on her way to the large construct in the center of the room.
" You know," She murmured, leaning close to him. " People taste just like chicken, and black people love chicken."
"Eep."
" Slayer, leave Harry alone and come on already, Her sister called from where she her position just inside the large steel mesh cage, her wand in hand, a gun across her lap, ready to jump out the door if such an occasion arose.
" Is she crazy?" Harry whispered to Lazarus. The blonde shook his head, leaning over closer to Harry, Sirius and Draco.
" Slayer was born Lycanthropic. Technically A.J is a wolf too, but she's never had to power to go with the moon like her sister, she's perfectly safe inside there unless Lupin decides he wants to be the Alpha wolf." A.J stood inside the cage, putting down her weapons. " There's a ritual in hereditary wolf packs, watch, it's mind blowing."
Slowly, the girl slid off her black silk robe, a gauzy white and silver dress flowing around her. She walked to her sister who slid out of her own robe, handing it to the woman, sitting naked on the floor. She turned to Remus, who with an uncommon boldness, took off his robes and sat down as well. The three robes were placed safely outside the cage.
" When the world was young, when the dragons were free, when all were tribes, we worshiped the wolf, we worshiped the moon!" The woman's voice rang out powerfully as she turned to face the two in the cage.
" And it was good." The wolves echoed.
" We were protected by the wolves, we were guided by the moon. They were our mother and our family."
" And it was good."
" When the moon was in the stage of the mother, a wise man, a woman of blood, and a warrior went with the pack alpha and watched him receive the blessing of Selene. They waited with him; sat and learned as he went with the moon."
" And it was good."
" And so we lived for an untold time, until a warrior shaman was touched by darkness. And he went with the woman and the wise man and the alpha and he struck them down and took the power of Selene, and he became maddened."
Harry watched the cage enraptured by the strong voice and the subtle changes coming over the two seated figures, the coarsening hair, the changing eyes, and the occasional movements that weren't quite human anymore. A shiver ran up his spine as the two growled fiercely, taken into their legend, their past.
" In his madness, he stalked the tribe, tearing their flesh from bone, biting those who could escape, destroying those who could not until the dawn broke. And with the break of dawn, the moon herself stepped from the sky and stood before him, and she was resplendent in white and silver and the warrior felt fear in his heart and adoration in his eyes.
' You who would murder my chosen servent and you who would steal what I chose not to give you. You are cursed in my eyes. May the power come hard upon you from the dawn of moon to its third hour. May you writhe and howl and forever be without tribe and pack and kin. Where you create more with your bite may they suffer the same until they find redemption."
" And he was cast out among wolf and tribe." The two snarled.
" And Selene turned to those who had lived through the attack and touched them and they were whole and without mar from the night of horror, and she took them to her and made them her own, and their change was swift and their pain was muted and she charged to them one sacred duty. When you find the children cursed and abandoned, you must take them to you and make them your own. Bring them to your pack and give them my blessing."
" And it was good again."
" Remus Lupin, forsaken child of the warrior, as the caller, as the representative of the woman, of the moon, in pride and honour do I offer you a place in the Pack of the Silver blooded moon."
" In pride and honour I accept."
" Do you defer as Beta to your Alpha?"
" I accept the ranks of my pack as standing." He murmured, his voice strained. Looking out the window, Harry saw the moon rising higher and higher into the sky. From within her dress, A.J. withdrew a long dagger with a thin blade and swiftly drew it across her arm, dribbling the blood into an old and chipped bowl. Silently she did the same to Remus and her sister, holding the blood directly into the moonlight. It roiled and then was still as blood should be. Kneeling down, she bared his shoulder, painting over the scar he bore of his wolf bite. Remus threw back his head, howling loudly.
Around them, the group outside the cage began to rise.
" Where are you going?" Sirius murmured.
" We stand in as pack members for the calling of the moon, but we never stay for Slayers transformation. It's intrusive." Nas scoffed. Harry and Draco rose slowly. " Aren't you coming?"
" Until Azakaban, I was never not there for Moony's transformation. I've been there for as many as I could since I got out and I'll be here tonight."
" He doesn't need you." The Hispanic youth scoffed. " He has a pack now."
" Leave him alone Johnny. They're mated." Slayer growled, her fingers curling and flexing involuntarily as her transformation picked up speed. " He stays." Abashed, the youth led Harry and Draco out of the main subbasement room and into a small adjoining one, a group of futon cushions lining the floor, a small radio in the corner.
" So…" Lazarus began. " What did you two think of the calling?"
" It was..wow." Harry murmured. " And how did Remus know what to say? Did they teach it to him?"
" A.J told him some, but it's almost instinctual for wolves. It's the biggest base wolves have for defending that the legend of the calling is true." Lazarus said, streaching out in a corner, letting Nas and Lara curl up together to sleep. Uneasily, Harry and Draco stared at the remaining cushion before sitting as far apart as they could on it.
" So, what's your name?" Draco asked. " It's obviously not Lazarus, just like Nas is actually Johnny."
" I'm Rob, Robby, bloody vampire, whatever you want to call me." Draco nodded slowly as Harry looked over in shock.
" You're…."
" Actually a revenant, which is a hybrid species, although we're fighting the ministry for our own classification. It means less blood, daytime exposure, no fear of bursting into flames, and other perks like that."
" So…you're just people who drink blood?"
" Immortal people who drink blood. All the perks, none of the drawbacks…the ministry chasing us around to study us, Voldemort hunting us down if we don't join him… wait, did I say perks?" He snorted. " We're all here for a reason, some one died, hurt us, hurt someone else.." He brushed his bangs back in exasperation. " We have a long enough boat ride coming up tomorrow. If you want our stories, ask us then." Without seeming to move, the man got up and turned off the light, snickering at the gasps from the two sitting figures. " Go to bed guys. A.J will get us up far too soon." Eyeing each other warily, the two boys began undressing, making beds at oppisite ends of the cushion.
The reddish wolf's growl startled A.J from her trance in the corner of the cage. At the bitch's side, a large grey male began a low rumble in his throat as well.
" Wha…" Sirius sat up from where he had slipped into a light doze just outside the reach of the cage.
" They smell something." The woman stood, sniffing at the air. " Even without a change I can smell it faintly. It's fear. Is someone else here?" She drew her wand, ready to let out the wolves as well as herself.
" Wait." Sirius stood and instantly there was a large black dog sniffing at the air. " No." He was a man again. " It's one of ours. Just a night terror." Nodding, she knelt between the two wolves, her hand buried in the ruff of their fur as she made a reassuring whining noise deep in her throat. At her side, the two werewolves settled, stalking once around the perimeter of the cage before settling down, eyes trained on the small door to the adjacent room.
Harry sat up with a start as the foot shot out and jabbed into his ribs.
" Malfoy, you bastard…" He muttered, looking up at the writhing figure at the top of the makeshift bed. A soft cry from the sleeping lips confused him as he crawled up towards the top of the bed. The pale boy twisted around in the sheets, his hair matted to his face, his voice pained as words slid from his mouth. " Malfoy?"
" Pheonix.. Risen in… can't stop…"
" Malfoy?!" Harry's voice took a vaguely fearful tone as he reached over and shook the whimpering muttering youth. " Wake up damn it!" He shook him roughly and the blond sat straight up, gripping his arms painfully tight, his eyes feverishly bright. <.p>" We can't stop it, she's coming back!" He hissed before slumping forward in the other boy's arms with a soft moan. Gently, Harry eased his, enemy? Team mate? Malfoy?, Malfoy back onto the cushion, groaning as the slender, pale hands gripped his wrist tightly, desperately. Stretching awkwardly with his foot, Harry managed to hook his pillow, pulling it towards him and settling uneasily beside the other boy, his spine stiffening as the blonde rolled against him, his head seeking out the shoulder nearest to it.
' Ron's ribs would shatter laughing at me right now.' He thought with sleepy frown.
In the furthest corner, fast and silent, Lazarus slipped from the room and out into the main cement room, walking purposefully to the cage.
" Lara's vision was right." He whispered. " They buried it in the boy alright. She's in Phoenix."
" You know, for you two to hate each other, you're getting awfully close." Sirius smirked sometime around dawn. Harry simply raised his middle finger high into the air.
" I don't want to hear it Sirius, this was all his doing." Gently Harry slid from beneath the other boy, moving the blonde to a pillow as he sat up, groping around for his glasses. " He kicked, grabbed, and thrashed all night before deciding that I was perfect to sleep on."
" Well, wake him up Harry, we floo out in ten minutes to somewhere outside Mexico."
" Mexico?"
" We're going by floo to the island, taking a ferry to Mexico and from there we're driving up to the states."
" Why? Isn't that kinda wasteful, time wise?"
" Well, apparently, they have a lot to teach us and a few places we need to hit before we get wherever we're going. So come on, wake up your little…friend,"
" I'm warning you Sirius."
" And let's go. The two of you now have six minutes before we apparently leave you in England."
" Malfoy! Hey, wake up or you're stuck in England! Come on up!" Harry yelled, shaking the blonde roughly while hopping into a pair of faded jeans that were far too large. The blonde sat up suddenly.
" What? Where?"
" You really aren't a morning person. We have five minutes to be dressed and to the van or they leave without us."
" Shit!" Draco fell out of the bed and looked around wildly for his pants. " Where in the hell are my bloody fucking trousers!"
" They're under the blanket, here!" Harry shoved the stiff black jeans at Draco, pulling on a thin green tee shirt almost to small from him." Hastily the blond slid into them, and grabbed up his few things and ran from the room. " Where are you going?"
" To take a piss!" Harry snickered. Malfoy was far to endearingly human in the mornings. Waving his wand, he rolled up the cushion and bed and shrunk them down so that they fit neatly into his pockets, grabbing up the two pairs of shoes on the floor.
" Malfoy, your shoes!" Harry threw them into the main basement. " Come on."
" Got 'em!" With a light spell dusting to the room, the two run upstairs to the door.
" We're here!" Harry panted. " We're here." A.J. looked unimpressed.
" You boys need to learn to hustle come on, in the van , watch out for Remus and Slayer, they're sleeping in the back." Harry and Draco climbed into the van behind the front seats where Robby and Johnny sat arguing amicably about the quickest way to their destination. From where she lay curled behind the clump that was "Sirius'nRemus", Slayer lifted her head and glared at Harry.
" I hate you're hair. I'm doing it on the boat." From the front seat Nas began to laugh.
" Oh, kiss every nerve ending in your head good bye." He sneered. " When Slayer finishes with you I could shoot you in the head and you couldn't feel it." Harry winced. From behind Sirius' shoulder Slayer muttered something. Draco looked around him before turning to A.J.
" Your sister's hungry. She was saying something about crackers just now." From the seat in front of him, the girl looked surprised before laughing so hard she doubled over, grasping her ribs.
" No…no Cracker remarks Slayer!" She scolded laughingly as they speed along the way to the floo house. " Apologize to Harry. That was mean."
Slayer had fallen back asleep.
" I hate it when we do this." Slayer's face was twisted into a grimace as her sister cast the charm over the black van, shrinking it down to the size of a matchbox car. " My baby." She moaned, cradling it in her hand. Harry leaned over curiously to look at it. " One inch closer Potter and I'll eat your face." The boy backed off quickly.
" It's not personal." Lazarus assured him. " Slayer doesn't like anyone bothering the shagging wagon."
" But it's the second time she's threatened to eat me!" He protested. " She just doesn't like me."
" No, she's just very anti social." A.J soothed. " Give her a few days and you'll be like the little brother we never wanted but weren't allowed to eat."
" Funny."
" So, where's the floo house?" Draco asked. " We're in the middle of nowhere." Reaching into her pocket, A.J. pulled out a mirror and flashed it against the sun twice. Silently, a house slid into view before them.
" Under grounders." She explained. " We stay very well hidden. Come on." Slowly the group approached the cottage, slipping into the door that promptly disappeared behind them, leaving them in a small oak room with a large fireplace. In a chair sat a small figure in a cloak and hood.
" Who are you and where is it you come from?" A.J. laughed.
" Zoë, does your dad know that you're playing hearth minder again?" With a flourish, the forest green hood was pushed back and a small pale figure with deep green hair and eyes grinned up at them.
" Hi Jazzy! Dad said you were coming through and that I could send you!"
" Fine, but we need to go now, there was a full moon last night and Slayer and Remus are tired." The little girl nodded.
" Sure. I'll tell daddy you were through here. He really wanted to talk to you this time though." She said, looking longingly at the tall blond man who smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
" Next time." Lazarus promised as the little girl threw a handful of floo powder into the leaping flames.
" Where are you headed?"
" West Cuba house." The flames jumped up and sparked green at the sound of the woman's voice. Silently the group began to walk into the flames in a single line, A. J bringing up the back. " Are you sure everything is fine Zoë? We don't want to cause trouble if someone finds out…"
" Daddy says the ministry can suck his verdant green arse." A.J laughed.
" That's your father for you. Tell him Jazzy sends much love." And she was gone through the flames as the door slammed open.
" Zoë, put out the fire!" The man was tall and vividly green from his pale skin to his emerald hair. " The ministry's coming!" With a curse, the girl dumped the bag of floo powder into the flames and then a pot of water atop the lot, destroying it. " Robbin?"
" He's gone, with the rest daddy." The girl pulled a wand out of a small niche. " I know where they went." She whispered, handing it to the man. Silently, he took the proffered piece of wood, muttering a memory charm.
" Ministry of Magic! Open the door!" Snapping the small wand, the man slid his daughter behind him as the door began to heave heavily from the force of the spells directed at it.
" She gets cuter every year." Lara sighed stepping out of the floo in Cuba's station house. " I just love your daughter Robby."
" Daughter?" Harry asked. " But she said her dad…"
" He is. Robby's lover for the past what?"
" Almost a century now." He grinned shyly.
" Ninety some years, has been a tree sprite." Nas explained.
" So?"
" So," Remus began, slipping back into his teaching persona. " Tree sprites have the unique ability to be reproductive despite their gender depending on who they take as a mate."
" So Zoe is my daughter by Noah." The man explained. " She'll be forty-three in two days." He said proudly. Harry ogled in confusion. " Tree sprites are also immortal. Zoe is the equivellent of being eleven."
" Oh." Harry was silent for a moment. " Well, at least I know I won't be behind if I don't finish my summer reading. Where's A.J.?"
" Arranging a few passports." The woman said from behind him. Here we go, we have Ian Black," She handed the small book to Sirius "Robert McKenzie" Draco took his " Jakob Alcester" Harry gingerly opened his " Ben Francis" Remus slid his into his pocket " And we all have our usual passports, right guys."
" Actually, I think I might have lost mine." Lazarus muttered, digging through his duffle. " Shit, where did it go… Hey! Never mind!"
" And Robby becomes the first reverant to scale the hights of Mt. Crackie." Slayer snickered though a yawn. " Nice and all, can we go now?"
" Yeah, the boat's up here. Come on, walk quickly, we don't have time to lose. Every second counts for the next three weeks."
" Why? What's up in three weeks?" Harry asked, slinging up his bag and running past Draco to stand between Sirius and A.J. The woman smiled tiredly.
" We have to be in Phoenix Arizona by midnight in three weeks." Startled, the green eyed youth paused and turned back to look at Draco, who looked vaguely interested, but nothing more, as if he hadn't been muttering about a phoenix just hours earlier. " Come on Potter, just because we're two hours ahead doesn't mean that you get to waste time. We're leaving!"
" Ouch! What in the hell are you doing?! Trying to scalp me!?" In response, the tired Slayer pulled back her comb and smartly popped the squirming Harry across the back of the head, shocking him still.
" If you don't sit still and stop wiggling, I'll beat your ass." She hissed. " I'm almost done!" From where he leaned against the bow of the boat, Draco sent Harry a vaguely sympathetic glance as the werewolf grasped another lock of the thick black hair and began weaving it to his scalp into a neat row, leaving his scar bared and transforming the look of his face slowly as it's ragged frame was taken away. Lara looked at Harry and frowned.
" Got to hide that. The whole world will be able to hunt us down with that scar just sitting there saying Hi, here I am, Harry Potter at your service."
" Yeah, ow! Because I try so, ouch! Hard at trying to be noticed… Jesus you crazy woman, You're going to pull my head off! Lego!"
" Quit your bitching, done!" Slayer gave his head a quick pat and unclamped her knees from around his waist, smirking as he scrambled away as fast as he could, crouching next to Draco and scowling at her. " Good to know you're not all wuss, just a bit."
" Oh, I know!" Lara got up, shuffling through her bag. " I think I brought it.. Here!" She pulled out a small bottle of concealer. " A.J., let me see yours too, I think I can make this work…" Taking the make-up from the other woman, the set about mixing the two shade in an empty bottle before kneeling in front of Harry, blending the creamy liquid across his forehead " Perfect! I am a master mixer!"
" You are a master crackie, but I will admit, it works." Johnny smirked from his perch on the bow of the boat. " As long as we have enough of that to touch him up when he keeps sweating like a pig in this heat." A.J frowned.
" I think a small charm should make sure the make-up will last until it's taken off." From where he stood, Draco grinned down at Harry.
" Hmm, you could almost pass as human now Potter." Harry scowled at him.
" And when the sun hits you for more than five minutes today, you'll be able to pass for a lobster, so I think I have the better end of the deal." Harry stalked off to the other end of the boat to sit near where his Godfather and Remus slept in a small clump, leaning against Sirius and watching the water when a long dark shape slid alongside the fifteen foot craft, almost as long and wide. " Ahhhhhhh! Shark!" Promptly, the rest of the travlers were at his side, staring down at the large shark easily keeping pace with the boat.
" That's big." Slayer muttered, slinking away from the edge of the boat. In contrast, Draco got on the railing, leaning over to get a closer look.
" Draco, get back!" Harry yelped, grabbing the boy and pulling him back onto the deck and onto him as the fish turned and without warning, rose partially from the water, it's jaws almost leaving it's mouth in an attempt to grab where Draco had been.
" I hate sharks!" Lazarus yelled, pulling out his wand and pointing at the creature that had begun to circle the boat. " Stupify!" Harry watched as the creature shuddered once and then coasted for a second before beginning to sink slowly in the blackish-blue waters.
" Robby, it's going to die now!" Lara scolded, watching the sinking shape. " You know sharks have to swim to breathe…where'd it go?"
" What?"
" It's not sinking anymore. It disappeared under the boat…"
" Fuck me." A.J whispered as a shuddering ran through the weak craft as it was struck from below. " Shit, shit, shit! Remus! Sirius! Wake up! We've been set up!" The two men sat upright as the boat began to tilt and sway as it was battered from the sides and below. " We've got to apperate to land!"
" I can't apperate!" Harry yelped. " I don't know how!"
" I'm going to die! I'm going to drown and be eaten by a shark, I'm going to die!" Slayer yelp, clutching her arms tightly in panic.
" Snap out of it Slayer! We need you here!" Her sister yelled. " Harry, do you have your broom? Shrunk down maybe?" The boys' eyes lit up. " Hurry, I'll wait for you! Everyone else, apperate to shore, wands drawn, if there are men there, shoot to kill, civvies, shoot to stun." Around the two there was a chorus of disapperation pops as the boat began to take on water. The woman looked at Harry who was unshrinking his broom. " It's now or never Potter."
" Up!" With a leap, Harry mounted his broom and was rising when he heard A.J scream and totter, falling towards a hole that had appeared in the boats bottom and towards the mouth beneath it. " A.J!" Arms outstretched, Harry dove steeply, pulling her off the boat, her feet dangling just above the water.
" Up Harry, it's still down there!" With a heave, the youth pulled her close enough to grab the broom as he urged it upwards, the teeth of the large beast sinking into the sole of her construction boot, yanking the broom dangerously close to the water. " Harry, I'm going to let go." The woman whispered. " I'm not to get us both killed. Tell Lazarus to watch my sister.."
" No! " He pointed to her foot. " Alohamora!" The ties on the piece of leather and metal came apart and the Firebolt soared upwards suddenly. " Climb up!"
" It bit me." She whispered in shock, pulling herself upwards. " It bit my foot." Harry looked back and stared in horror at the bloody hole in the side of the bare brown foot that dripped blood into the sea, prompting a line of dark figures to follow the broom in a frenzy as they soared towards the shore.
" Don't fall A.J. Slayer would eviserate me and make a trophy of my head and a rug of my skin if you fall off." The woman behind him chuckled slightly, the sound raspy in her pain. " We're about sixty seconds from shore, just holding onto me." The boy turned around slightly, his green eyes bright with worry and hope. " We'll make it."
" Help!" Harry screamed as loud as he could when he reached the beach. " It bit her, she's bleeding! Help!" The group ran over from where they were drying off and coming down off their collective adrenaline rushes, easing the limp woman down from the broom and carting her off to the back of the resized van. Tiredly, he slid off the broom, sinking to the sand and staring out at the ocean.
" They know good enough what they're doing. I'm sure they'll suss it all out." A familiarly unwelcome voice said unconvincingly, his own voice wavering, trembling. Harry turned around to glare at Draco as he stood there, staring out at where the sun was beginning to finally rise, tinting the pale hair a rosy colour as he shook softly in the morning air. " You could have let me get eaten. How did you know it was going to do…that?"
" One of my babysitters when I was a kid had a shark fetish. I once saw a great white come two feet out of the water and then shoot it's teeth out another seven or so inches. It was all I could see when you leaned over. I would have done it for anyone." He paused slightly as the blond gave him an incredulous look. " Well maybe not Voldemort. I'd probably push him over and hope that would keep the shark busy enough for the rest of us to get away." Draco laughed softly, but the sound shook as he shivered harder. " You okay Malfoy?"
" Robby says I'm in shock." The youth sat down, watching for the dark figures to come closer to the shore, perhaps jump out after him. " Until A.J. didn't make the jump, I was the closest to being eaten. I should be fine in a while. Why? I wouldn't think you would care."
" Well, yeah I care…" Harry shifted on the sand. " Just because we're not friends doesn't mean I want to see you dead. I never want to see anyone else die." Harry stood up, brushing the sand out of his clammy jeans where the spray of the ocean had dampened them, before walking towards the van.
" Potter!" Draco never turned around, but he could feel when Harry did. " I never wanted to see you dead either."
" Hey Jazzy? A.J. Alexand…"
" Don't say it, I'm up." The woman groaned. " Ugh, I'm up and I feel like ass. What did you guys do?"
" A lot of cursing and some creative explorations into the territories of re-growth." Sirius grinned. " You should be able to walk, run, and kick people in the arse with that foot in a day or so."
" Lazzie, who was on the beach?"
" Two unspeakables, our captain and three civvies." The man replied promptly. " The civilians are sleeping the stunners off in their fishing boats, the ministry's men were taken care of and the captain is eagerly awaiting your awakening. I don't think he likes the way Slayer and Remus talk to him." Brushing back her reddish brown hair, A.J. sat up.
" Help me over to him." Obligingly, Robby and Sirius picked her up chair style, carrying her over to an extremely sunny space behind one of the high dunes where the captain from their boat was turning a particularly nasty shade of pink.
" You've really never had people?" Slayer's voice carried over the sands. " You don't know what you're missing. I personally think if we dip this guy in the ocean for just the right amount of salt and let him warm up a bit more in the sun, he could be quite good."
" You know, you're really starting to tempt me Slayer." Remus' voice carried musingly towards them. " But do we have mustard?"
" I always have mustard. Everything needs mustard."
" Enough." The two turned around and grinned at A.J as she was carried over to the three. " So, I suppose this is the part where I would normally appoligize about your boat, but I'm thinking it wasn't really your boat, so let's skip to the important parts. Who hired you? Are you the ministry's man or Voldemort's?"
" You work for…him, you should know well enough who I am."
" Why does everyone assume that we work for Voldemort. We're just your average world wide group of teenage terrorists screaming Damn the man and fuck the fake."
" If that were true, you wouldn't be trying to fight the ministry! You'd leave it to them to protect you."
" Well, see, that's funny, because the ministry seems to have done a royal job fucking up everything they come across from the Potter's to the reserection of Voldemort and everything in between. Yes, we're going to trust something this important to people who haven't known about it for…three years! Tell me now. What do you know and we won't feed you to your pets out there." She watched him pale. " Well, we can't let those fishermen go out on that water with large sharks trained to go after small crafts can we. Maybe if they eat you, they'll go away?"
" Please, I…I have a wife and three children…"
" Lazzie has a daughter and you would have killed him. What do your children matter to me?" The two set her down and she kneeled next to the man. " You can live, you can go back to your wife and kids, you can live and never remember a thing about the Children if you speak now. If not…" She looked leisurely over the ocean.
" I don't work for the ministry! They just said they needed my help. Said I would be helping save two people from terrorists and kidnappers…"
" Draco and Harry." Sirius muttered.
" And that you worked for the man who killed my son." Remus leaned closer to the bound man.
" Amos Diggory? This is Cedric's father Padfoot. Mr. Diggory, you've been used by the Ministry. No one has been kidnapped. Everyone with us is here by choice. The ministry is hunting down innocent people Amos. It's the Dark Days all over again. We're simply trying to keep some of the problems then from happening again." The man looked up angrily.
" Then where were you two years ago?"
" We're not here to argue or offer condolences." A.J. said coldly. " We're here for information. What is it out there, how do we get rid of them, and where is the ministry heading?"
" They're just sharks! The big one may have been an animagus but I don't know how to get rid of them!"
" And the ministry? Where are they going?"
" I don't know. I was just supposed to wait for a group of five or more wanting to cross the channel…"
" May I ask one thing before I let you go Mr. Diggory? What would have happened to our "kidnapping victims" on this trip?" The man looked up in shock. " You know, the poor helpless people we were apparently holding captive? They would have died with us, wouldn't they? Maybe before you forget about this completely, you should stop to ponder what the ministry's really doing." She stood, looking at Sirius. " Can you do memory charms?"
" I was best in my graduating class with them."
" Good. Make him forget the conversation, save this last part. We need more people out there with the truth." She stood, leaning heavily on Robby. " Let's get ready to roll."
Lucius Malfoy writhed on the ground, the pain stabbing through him like white fire and tearing the flesh from his bones to beat him with it.
" You pathetic excuse for a wizard, how could you possibly lose the catalyst!" The low hiss of Tom Riddle echoed through the sharp pain as it stopped so suddenly the absence itself was just as harsh.
" My master…" His voice was a gasp for mercy.
" Do you understand what you have done! Can your small and insignificant mind even begin to wrap around the consequences of what you've allowed to happen?" The pain was back and twice as fierce. " We needed the catalyst to study! We needed to know when it would open the gate! We need it to control the Rising! I searched for decades for what I'd had found so far! I started this fifteen years ago and now! Now of all times, you would fail me!"
" Master, please!" The pain stopped, ebbing away, letting him catch his breath to plead. " I can get the catalyst back! They are obviously travelling to the circle, we simply have to catch them before they arrive!"
" And you believe you can do this? Hardly. I'm assigning a delegation of you to retrieve the catalyst. We already have an operative going after it alone; there will be four of you assist him in this. Malfoy, Pettigrew, McNair, and Snape." Three figures stepped forward, standing next to the wracked body on the floor. " The four of you will apperate out tomorrow. I will tell you where tomorrow. You are al dismissed." Quickly, the room emptied in a chorus of small pops and the lone man left walked from the large emptied room into a small library, sitting in a large, worn armchair and allowing the tiny balisk that was sleeping by the fire to curl around his shoulders as he lifted a small glass orb.
" This is your master." He spoke softly. " Are you there?"
" I'm here Master." The voice had no sex and no inflection, just words floating from the inanimate object. " What is your bidding?"
" I want your position. I'm sending a delegation to assist you."
" We're just inside the Yucatan area of Mexico, Master."
" I shall send a group to wait for you and follow you up through the country. You must keep track of the catalyst. When it reacts the strongest, when it is most easily controlled, and most of all, if they have the check."
" Of course."
" Dismissed." The ball became cold and silent.
And there we go, the first part! Don't worry it gets much longer and much cooler! Tune in next time to see what happens when Draco drinks pond water in Mexico, the origins of COR and best of all, what happens if you start a fist fight in Slayer's baby. By the way, just to let you know. Crackie, belongs to Gorham High and in particular the cast of 9 and all they chose to share it with. (me and a few others.) And Mt. Crackie belongs to Krys, my sister. There we go. Please R&R! I'll give review section shoutouts to those who do!