DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and
owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to
Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros.,
Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is
intended.
((Thanks to all who reviewed, it was very helpful and has inspired me to get writing more. In other words, the fic is almost completed and I will post the finished chapters quickly if you keep reviewing! Also, this note to szelij: I'm thrilled you like my fic so much, and you can post the it in a forum as long as you let me know where. I don't want my email on the internet, but if you give me yours, I'll email it to you. Otherwise, I'll keep responding this way. Thanks again everyone!))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well I've never been part of the game, the life that I live is my own.
All I know is that I was born to wander this world all alone."
-Paul Diethelm and Bruce McCabe "Wander this World"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione thought that her date with Harry was everything she could have hoped for. After their evening out they headed back to the flat and kissed each other goodnight.
"No nightmares tonight right?" He whispered to her, brushing a stray piece of hair away from her face. She smiled at him and shook her head, reaching up to kiss him once more. In the back of her mind a small voice screamed, "Don't let this happen! Even if he does love you, he could be dead in a month!" She ignored the irritating voice however and continued to kiss him until at last she stepped back and headed off to bed.
Hermione still had her doubts and worries but was doing her best to ignore them all. Her love for Harry was far more pressing than all of that. She headed downstairs early in the morning to see if he was up. She found him reading the Daily Prophet in the kitchen.
He smiled at her as she walked over, finding it hard to believe that he was so lucky to have her. He put the newspaper down and signaled for her to sit. She gladly obliged, giving him a small kiss.
"Anything in the newspaper this morning?" She asked, picking it up.
"Luckily no." He replied not really thinking about the newspaper but rather spending more time looking at her.
Hermione could feel his eyes on her and she marveled at how everything had changed in one day. She turned to him and kissed him slow and long, reveling in the fact that he was there with her, at least for now, and she would enjoy her time with him the best she could.
They heard a key turn in the door and they broke apart, Hermione heading over to the table to pour herself some coffee.
Ron came through the door whistling loudly and happily. "Good Morning my two very best friends!"
"Good night I take it?" She teased, pouring him some coffee as well.
"Yep, but I'll spare you the details. I do have big news however."
Hermione raised her eyebrows at him with curiosity. "Well, do you plan on telling us?"
Ron waved his hand dismissively at her. "In time, in time. For now I'd really like to sit down and drink this coffee which I know Hermione didn't make because it tastes much too good."
"Harry made it, but what are you trying to say Ron? I don't think I'm all that bad of a cook." She sniffed.
"No one's complaining about your cooking, you're just terrible at making coffee."
Harry chuckled with Ron for a little while, but Hermione whapped him upside the head with the newspaper to shut him up.
They all sat down at the table for a while in silence before Ron finally spoke.
"Oh alright, I'll tell you guys the big news." He said, as though they'd been begging.
"I knew he couldn't wait too long." Hermione muttered.
"Wha-?" Ron began "Never mind. The big news is that I'm moving in with Cho. She's been plotting it for quite a while now, and I for one think it's a good idea. She finally asked me last night, and I agreed to start packing and move in today."
"Today?!" Hermione yelped with surprise. "Isn't that rather soon?"
"Well no, it's really easy to pack and move when you can just shrink everything with magic, besides, Cho wants me moved in ASAP, and I want to get it all out of the way before the big mission comes."
"Now did Cho do a lot of crying as she said all this?" Harry asked innocently, earning an elbow in the ribs from Hermione.
"Anyhow, any objections?" Ron asked.
Hermione thought about objecting, in the past she wouldn't have wanted Ron going off to live with Cho and leaving her alone, but when she realized that it would be just her and Harry she quickly changed her mind.
"Nope, that's fine if that's what you want to do." Hermione answered and Ron was beaming.
His face suddenly fell. "The real hard part is going to be convincing my mom on the idea."
There was a moment of silence before Harry and Hermione both broke out in laughter.
"It's not funny! You've never seen her in stellar mom mode, it's like they used to use her for prisoner torture or something. Anyways, will you guys help me pack? Cho's coming over in a little while too, with all of us together we should be able to finish the job by around 2:00."
"Uh, I can help you pack until noon Ron, but then I have to go to the prison to pick up my brother."
"I'm going too." Harry interjected and Hermione gave him a small smile of thanks.
"Hold on. what's going on here?! You don't have a brother Hermione!"
Hermione sighed deeply and began to explain.
~
"So you mean to say that you're going to have a dangerous criminal living here with you?! Is Dumbledore off his rocker?!" Ron exclaimed when Hermione had finished.
"Yes and yes." Harry responded.
"I don't like the situation at all." Ron muttered.
"He's just a Muggle Ron. Hermione said, "And we can use magic to restrain him if worse comes to worse. Besides, there's two of us here and we'll be fully capable of handling him."
"Except he isn't just a Muggle. He's a Celtic Warrior." Ron interjected.
"All the same." Hermione replied shortly, realizing sadly that with Chrome at the house she and Harry wouldn't have it to themselves.
A knock came on the door. "Damn, that's Cho! Harry, she can't see you, so why don't you go work on packing my room up and we can work on packing my stuff from down here."
Harry nodded and headed upstairs as Ron let Cho in.
As they all greeted in the kitchen Harry set right to work packing. Shrinking charms were so simple that all he had to do was point and think the charm to make it happen. He went about doing that and placing the various objects into a duffle bag he found hanging on the doorknob. He continued until he heard a knock on his door and he slowly opened it up to see Hermione standing there.
"You've gotten a lot of work done already!" She marveled as she stepped in.
"Yep, I'm almost done, what time is it by the way?"
"11:00, we still have an hour until we need to head out to pick up Chrome."
"I can tell you aren't looking forward to picking him up."
"Can you blame me?" She asked, exasperated.
"No, not really, but let's not worry about it too much. We have bigger fish to fry if you know what I mean."
"Yep, bigger fish to fry." She laughed.
He turned to her. "Are you making fun of me Ms. Granger?" He pushed her back against Ron's now bare bed and leaned down onto her and kissed her so hard she felt completely dizzy and unable to concentrate on anything except being kissed by him.
He flopped beside her breathless and she laughed a bit as she moved to rest her head on his chest. As she lay there she tried to burn the memory into her mind, she never wanted the moment to end.
"Let's finish this packing Harry." She finally said while standing up. He reluctantly got up as well and together they quickly finished the packing. Hermione floated the bag downstairs with a simple "Wingardium Leviosa" and soon she was back upstairs.
"I only just realized we need a car to get to Chrome with! He's a Muggle, he can't apparate, not to mention the fact that we're going into a Muggle area where popping in and out of thin air would be fairly obvious."
Harry, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, appeared to be thinking very hard.
"I have a car, it's actually magic operated, I bought it and paid to have the spells put on it a few years ago. I bought it so that I could go undercover in Muggle areas. The problem is getting it here. A shrinking charm will probably mess up all the magic spells I had put on it."
"Well you must be able to drive it out of Gryffindor Manor if you've taken it out before."
"Yes, that's one of the spells, it can drive over almost any terrain, and trees and other objects move around it of course, so I can drive it straight through the forest. The only thing is that Gryffindor Manor is." He looked at her nervously. He'd never given anyone even the smallest hint as to the location of Gryffindor Manor, but he decided that if he couldn't tell her he couldn't tell anyone. "It's four hours further from the prison then your flat is, it'll take us a while to get there. The car doesn't just pop from location to location like the night bus, and it functions on a normal speed so that it appears normal to Muggles."
"Well, Dumbledore never said when we had to pick him up, he just said it had to be today."
"Alright then." Harry said. "Let's go!"
~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want real danger, I want freedom,
I want goodness. I want sin."
-Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Raymond "Chrome" Granger walked back to his cell from lunch accompanied by a guard. Prisoners in their cells gave him a quick nervous glance and then looked back away. He had a reputation as a real mean man, it was common street knowledge that Chrome Granger was the leader of the Northern Celts, a big time gang. It was also common knowledge that he had some connections with the best street runners anywhere, connections that spanned internationally. He wasn't a man to start something with.
Chrome got into his cell and didn't even bother to turn around as he heard the door lock behind him. Instead he headed straight over to the corner for a work out. He whiled the hours away like that, just doing hundreds of push ups, sit up, pull ups, whatever he could to stay in top shape and keep himself occupied. He didn't know how he'd be able to stand the years he still had coming. The thing he really hated was how he was expected to sleep at night and be up in the morning. He had always been a night person, he didn't care if he slept most of the daylight away, it was the night that he loved. When he was a kid it meant roaming around the small Irish town he'd grown up in with his buddies, and as an adult it meant roaming the city night life with the boys of his gang. He missed parties, pubs, but most of all privacy. He liked being around his buddies, but he also liked solitude and he never got that here. He could never get a moment when he wasn't being watched.
He sighed and flipped onto his back for sit ups. He heard a rapping on the bars of his cell and he angrily moved to see who was there. A guard stood there looking at him.
"What d'you want?" Chrome snapped irritably.
"Now, now, that's no way to be talking to me is it?"
Chrome could feel his temper rising. "Do you have something to say to me or do you just plan on standing there and wasting more of your already wasted life?"
The guard looked like he was getting angry this time, and it was just then that Chrome remembered that it was important to try to be polite if he wanted to be released early for good behavior.
"I do in fact have news for you Granger, but maybe I just won't tell you."
Chrome eyed the guard coldly waiting for him to speak.
"You're being released today."
Chrome brought his eyebrows together in confusion.
"I know, it doesn't make any sense, you still have years to go, but the boss just got the word that you're released. Get a move on, we're not sure when they'll be here."
"Who? Who's coming?"
"Ah, your sister I think." The guard said as he unlocked the cell door.
"My sister? You mean my half sister? What was her name again. Hermione I think." Chrome found the whole thing very odd. He couldn't understand why his sister would be picking him up. They hadn't talked in ages, and he supposed she hated him since he'd caused so much trouble for her father. He hadn't really. He'd caused a few problems on the few summers he'd been to their house, nothing very serious.
~
It was night time when Hermione and Harry pulled up at the prison.
"Here's the area where we're supposed to pick him up." Hermione said in a tired voice.
"Well, let's do this then." He responded. When he noticed she wasn't moving he reached over and gave her hand a little squeeze. "Come on. It can't be all that bad, and once we've gotten him back home we can go out somewhere."
"And leave him in the house alone?"
"I don't think he's going to steal anything, after all, Dumbledore trusts him."
"Alright, alright. Let's go then." She said reluctantly.
Chrome watched who he presumed to be Hermione climb the stairs to the area where they were scheduled to meet. He only recognized her by the famous Granger brown hair and brown eyes, which he happened to have as well. He saw a tall young man with messy black hair and the build of an athlete climb the stairs beside her. "Probably her boyfriend" he thought, trying to remember if he'd seen prom pictures of the two or something since the boy looked slightly familiar. He saw them walk inside and waited for them to come to him. After several minutes the black haired boy opened the door and the two stepped inside.
"Chrome?" Hermione asked in what sounded like a very uptight voice. She eyed the man who she could barely even remember from childhood. He had a mean look in his eyes, he was the sort of man you could look at and just know they could beat a person an inch of their life without a second thought.
"Yes, that's me. You must be Hermione, and you are." Chrome turned to the stranger and waited for a response. He eyed the man in the corner, slouched back and looking slouched stature adding to the look.
"James Evans" Harry lied, he used that as one of his undercover names, and he wasn't sure if Chrome was trusted to know his real identity.
"Wait. James Evans? I thought you looked familiar."
Hermione looked at Harry in confusion and he shrugged looking equally confused.
"You were on the chase for Harvey Creg one night, same as me. I remember you took five of his henchman out. You probably didn't notice me, I was chasing in a black Porsche a bit behind you."
"You were the one in the black Porsche?" Harry exclaimed. "The black Porsche that shot that one henchman that was on me? You were the shooter?"
"Uh huh." Chrome said lazily. "I figured if you were after Creg also you were somewhat of an ally. I missed catching the bastard though because I had to make that shot."
"You wouldn't have caught him anyways" Harry muttered, personally knowing that Creg had disapperated several seconds after that. "What were you doing chasing him anyways?"
"Two reasons" Chrome said standing up. "For one he killed one of my boys from the Northern Celts, and secondly he had a good bounty on him."
"My brother the bounty hunter." Hermione muttered sarcastically. "As great as this conversation is, think we could get going?"
"Wait." Harry said suddenly. "One last question. How did you know my name is James Evans?"
"I have my connections. She's right, let's get the hell out of here."
They all headed into the car and as soon as they sat down Harry locked the doors and spun around. "You probably have a lot of questions, so just keep quiet while we explain, and then if you have questions you can ask them."
Chrome sat as Harry and Hermione explained how Dumbledore had gotten him out of prison, what he was needed for, explained that they were part of the magic world, and explained that he'd be staying at their flat.
Chrome just nodded when they were done and didn't ask any questions. They started the car up and began to drive off. Chrome sat and let everything set in. This whole mission sounded like suicide to him and he wasn't sure if he wanted any part of it. He'd need to weigh his benefits before he made a decision.
~
When they all got back it was much later than they'd anticipated. The apartment looked slightly bare without Ron's stuff but they weren't all that concerned at the moment. Hermione flopped down into an arm chair and Harry sat on the arm, both of them too tired to think. Chrome on the other hand had plenty of energy, after all, he was a man of the night and he'd been getting way too much sleep for his own liking for the past year spent in prison.
"I need to talk to Dumbledore tomorrow." Chrome said suddenly breaking the silence.
"Good idea." Hermione said waking up a bit more. "Tomorrow the order has a meeting, I suppose it would be alright if you attended since you'll be doing work for the mission."
"I won't just be doing work for the mission if I agree." Chrome thought. "I'll basically be agreeing to sacrifice my life." He stayed silent however. Finally he said, "where will I be sleeping?"
Hermione looked at Harry. "Uh, I'll take the couch and Chrome can have Ron's old room."
"Where's that?" Chrome asked, feeling slightly frustrated.
"Upstairs and to the left. The flat is magically enhanced to have two floors. You're room will be across from Hermione's." Harry answered.
"What? No way, I'm not letting you take the couch. I don't need everyone to know when I get up at night."
Harry and Hermione exchanged glances and Harry just shrugged. "Well in that case I'm heading off to bed for the night."
As they headed up the stairs, Chrome leaned back against the wall. This next month could be one of the most interesting of his life.
((Once more I hope you liked the chapter. I know it was mostly based around an original character, but don't worry because he isn't that important. He mostly represents a symbol I wanted in my fic, but he isn't the main focus. Anyhow, next chapter: Harry, Hermione and a late night storm and more about the mission!))
((Thanks to all who reviewed, it was very helpful and has inspired me to get writing more. In other words, the fic is almost completed and I will post the finished chapters quickly if you keep reviewing! Also, this note to szelij: I'm thrilled you like my fic so much, and you can post the it in a forum as long as you let me know where. I don't want my email on the internet, but if you give me yours, I'll email it to you. Otherwise, I'll keep responding this way. Thanks again everyone!))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well I've never been part of the game, the life that I live is my own.
All I know is that I was born to wander this world all alone."
-Paul Diethelm and Bruce McCabe "Wander this World"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione thought that her date with Harry was everything she could have hoped for. After their evening out they headed back to the flat and kissed each other goodnight.
"No nightmares tonight right?" He whispered to her, brushing a stray piece of hair away from her face. She smiled at him and shook her head, reaching up to kiss him once more. In the back of her mind a small voice screamed, "Don't let this happen! Even if he does love you, he could be dead in a month!" She ignored the irritating voice however and continued to kiss him until at last she stepped back and headed off to bed.
Hermione still had her doubts and worries but was doing her best to ignore them all. Her love for Harry was far more pressing than all of that. She headed downstairs early in the morning to see if he was up. She found him reading the Daily Prophet in the kitchen.
He smiled at her as she walked over, finding it hard to believe that he was so lucky to have her. He put the newspaper down and signaled for her to sit. She gladly obliged, giving him a small kiss.
"Anything in the newspaper this morning?" She asked, picking it up.
"Luckily no." He replied not really thinking about the newspaper but rather spending more time looking at her.
Hermione could feel his eyes on her and she marveled at how everything had changed in one day. She turned to him and kissed him slow and long, reveling in the fact that he was there with her, at least for now, and she would enjoy her time with him the best she could.
They heard a key turn in the door and they broke apart, Hermione heading over to the table to pour herself some coffee.
Ron came through the door whistling loudly and happily. "Good Morning my two very best friends!"
"Good night I take it?" She teased, pouring him some coffee as well.
"Yep, but I'll spare you the details. I do have big news however."
Hermione raised her eyebrows at him with curiosity. "Well, do you plan on telling us?"
Ron waved his hand dismissively at her. "In time, in time. For now I'd really like to sit down and drink this coffee which I know Hermione didn't make because it tastes much too good."
"Harry made it, but what are you trying to say Ron? I don't think I'm all that bad of a cook." She sniffed.
"No one's complaining about your cooking, you're just terrible at making coffee."
Harry chuckled with Ron for a little while, but Hermione whapped him upside the head with the newspaper to shut him up.
They all sat down at the table for a while in silence before Ron finally spoke.
"Oh alright, I'll tell you guys the big news." He said, as though they'd been begging.
"I knew he couldn't wait too long." Hermione muttered.
"Wha-?" Ron began "Never mind. The big news is that I'm moving in with Cho. She's been plotting it for quite a while now, and I for one think it's a good idea. She finally asked me last night, and I agreed to start packing and move in today."
"Today?!" Hermione yelped with surprise. "Isn't that rather soon?"
"Well no, it's really easy to pack and move when you can just shrink everything with magic, besides, Cho wants me moved in ASAP, and I want to get it all out of the way before the big mission comes."
"Now did Cho do a lot of crying as she said all this?" Harry asked innocently, earning an elbow in the ribs from Hermione.
"Anyhow, any objections?" Ron asked.
Hermione thought about objecting, in the past she wouldn't have wanted Ron going off to live with Cho and leaving her alone, but when she realized that it would be just her and Harry she quickly changed her mind.
"Nope, that's fine if that's what you want to do." Hermione answered and Ron was beaming.
His face suddenly fell. "The real hard part is going to be convincing my mom on the idea."
There was a moment of silence before Harry and Hermione both broke out in laughter.
"It's not funny! You've never seen her in stellar mom mode, it's like they used to use her for prisoner torture or something. Anyways, will you guys help me pack? Cho's coming over in a little while too, with all of us together we should be able to finish the job by around 2:00."
"Uh, I can help you pack until noon Ron, but then I have to go to the prison to pick up my brother."
"I'm going too." Harry interjected and Hermione gave him a small smile of thanks.
"Hold on. what's going on here?! You don't have a brother Hermione!"
Hermione sighed deeply and began to explain.
~
"So you mean to say that you're going to have a dangerous criminal living here with you?! Is Dumbledore off his rocker?!" Ron exclaimed when Hermione had finished.
"Yes and yes." Harry responded.
"I don't like the situation at all." Ron muttered.
"He's just a Muggle Ron. Hermione said, "And we can use magic to restrain him if worse comes to worse. Besides, there's two of us here and we'll be fully capable of handling him."
"Except he isn't just a Muggle. He's a Celtic Warrior." Ron interjected.
"All the same." Hermione replied shortly, realizing sadly that with Chrome at the house she and Harry wouldn't have it to themselves.
A knock came on the door. "Damn, that's Cho! Harry, she can't see you, so why don't you go work on packing my room up and we can work on packing my stuff from down here."
Harry nodded and headed upstairs as Ron let Cho in.
As they all greeted in the kitchen Harry set right to work packing. Shrinking charms were so simple that all he had to do was point and think the charm to make it happen. He went about doing that and placing the various objects into a duffle bag he found hanging on the doorknob. He continued until he heard a knock on his door and he slowly opened it up to see Hermione standing there.
"You've gotten a lot of work done already!" She marveled as she stepped in.
"Yep, I'm almost done, what time is it by the way?"
"11:00, we still have an hour until we need to head out to pick up Chrome."
"I can tell you aren't looking forward to picking him up."
"Can you blame me?" She asked, exasperated.
"No, not really, but let's not worry about it too much. We have bigger fish to fry if you know what I mean."
"Yep, bigger fish to fry." She laughed.
He turned to her. "Are you making fun of me Ms. Granger?" He pushed her back against Ron's now bare bed and leaned down onto her and kissed her so hard she felt completely dizzy and unable to concentrate on anything except being kissed by him.
He flopped beside her breathless and she laughed a bit as she moved to rest her head on his chest. As she lay there she tried to burn the memory into her mind, she never wanted the moment to end.
"Let's finish this packing Harry." She finally said while standing up. He reluctantly got up as well and together they quickly finished the packing. Hermione floated the bag downstairs with a simple "Wingardium Leviosa" and soon she was back upstairs.
"I only just realized we need a car to get to Chrome with! He's a Muggle, he can't apparate, not to mention the fact that we're going into a Muggle area where popping in and out of thin air would be fairly obvious."
Harry, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, appeared to be thinking very hard.
"I have a car, it's actually magic operated, I bought it and paid to have the spells put on it a few years ago. I bought it so that I could go undercover in Muggle areas. The problem is getting it here. A shrinking charm will probably mess up all the magic spells I had put on it."
"Well you must be able to drive it out of Gryffindor Manor if you've taken it out before."
"Yes, that's one of the spells, it can drive over almost any terrain, and trees and other objects move around it of course, so I can drive it straight through the forest. The only thing is that Gryffindor Manor is." He looked at her nervously. He'd never given anyone even the smallest hint as to the location of Gryffindor Manor, but he decided that if he couldn't tell her he couldn't tell anyone. "It's four hours further from the prison then your flat is, it'll take us a while to get there. The car doesn't just pop from location to location like the night bus, and it functions on a normal speed so that it appears normal to Muggles."
"Well, Dumbledore never said when we had to pick him up, he just said it had to be today."
"Alright then." Harry said. "Let's go!"
~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want real danger, I want freedom,
I want goodness. I want sin."
-Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Raymond "Chrome" Granger walked back to his cell from lunch accompanied by a guard. Prisoners in their cells gave him a quick nervous glance and then looked back away. He had a reputation as a real mean man, it was common street knowledge that Chrome Granger was the leader of the Northern Celts, a big time gang. It was also common knowledge that he had some connections with the best street runners anywhere, connections that spanned internationally. He wasn't a man to start something with.
Chrome got into his cell and didn't even bother to turn around as he heard the door lock behind him. Instead he headed straight over to the corner for a work out. He whiled the hours away like that, just doing hundreds of push ups, sit up, pull ups, whatever he could to stay in top shape and keep himself occupied. He didn't know how he'd be able to stand the years he still had coming. The thing he really hated was how he was expected to sleep at night and be up in the morning. He had always been a night person, he didn't care if he slept most of the daylight away, it was the night that he loved. When he was a kid it meant roaming around the small Irish town he'd grown up in with his buddies, and as an adult it meant roaming the city night life with the boys of his gang. He missed parties, pubs, but most of all privacy. He liked being around his buddies, but he also liked solitude and he never got that here. He could never get a moment when he wasn't being watched.
He sighed and flipped onto his back for sit ups. He heard a rapping on the bars of his cell and he angrily moved to see who was there. A guard stood there looking at him.
"What d'you want?" Chrome snapped irritably.
"Now, now, that's no way to be talking to me is it?"
Chrome could feel his temper rising. "Do you have something to say to me or do you just plan on standing there and wasting more of your already wasted life?"
The guard looked like he was getting angry this time, and it was just then that Chrome remembered that it was important to try to be polite if he wanted to be released early for good behavior.
"I do in fact have news for you Granger, but maybe I just won't tell you."
Chrome eyed the guard coldly waiting for him to speak.
"You're being released today."
Chrome brought his eyebrows together in confusion.
"I know, it doesn't make any sense, you still have years to go, but the boss just got the word that you're released. Get a move on, we're not sure when they'll be here."
"Who? Who's coming?"
"Ah, your sister I think." The guard said as he unlocked the cell door.
"My sister? You mean my half sister? What was her name again. Hermione I think." Chrome found the whole thing very odd. He couldn't understand why his sister would be picking him up. They hadn't talked in ages, and he supposed she hated him since he'd caused so much trouble for her father. He hadn't really. He'd caused a few problems on the few summers he'd been to their house, nothing very serious.
~
It was night time when Hermione and Harry pulled up at the prison.
"Here's the area where we're supposed to pick him up." Hermione said in a tired voice.
"Well, let's do this then." He responded. When he noticed she wasn't moving he reached over and gave her hand a little squeeze. "Come on. It can't be all that bad, and once we've gotten him back home we can go out somewhere."
"And leave him in the house alone?"
"I don't think he's going to steal anything, after all, Dumbledore trusts him."
"Alright, alright. Let's go then." She said reluctantly.
Chrome watched who he presumed to be Hermione climb the stairs to the area where they were scheduled to meet. He only recognized her by the famous Granger brown hair and brown eyes, which he happened to have as well. He saw a tall young man with messy black hair and the build of an athlete climb the stairs beside her. "Probably her boyfriend" he thought, trying to remember if he'd seen prom pictures of the two or something since the boy looked slightly familiar. He saw them walk inside and waited for them to come to him. After several minutes the black haired boy opened the door and the two stepped inside.
"Chrome?" Hermione asked in what sounded like a very uptight voice. She eyed the man who she could barely even remember from childhood. He had a mean look in his eyes, he was the sort of man you could look at and just know they could beat a person an inch of their life without a second thought.
"Yes, that's me. You must be Hermione, and you are." Chrome turned to the stranger and waited for a response. He eyed the man in the corner, slouched back and looking slouched stature adding to the look.
"James Evans" Harry lied, he used that as one of his undercover names, and he wasn't sure if Chrome was trusted to know his real identity.
"Wait. James Evans? I thought you looked familiar."
Hermione looked at Harry in confusion and he shrugged looking equally confused.
"You were on the chase for Harvey Creg one night, same as me. I remember you took five of his henchman out. You probably didn't notice me, I was chasing in a black Porsche a bit behind you."
"You were the one in the black Porsche?" Harry exclaimed. "The black Porsche that shot that one henchman that was on me? You were the shooter?"
"Uh huh." Chrome said lazily. "I figured if you were after Creg also you were somewhat of an ally. I missed catching the bastard though because I had to make that shot."
"You wouldn't have caught him anyways" Harry muttered, personally knowing that Creg had disapperated several seconds after that. "What were you doing chasing him anyways?"
"Two reasons" Chrome said standing up. "For one he killed one of my boys from the Northern Celts, and secondly he had a good bounty on him."
"My brother the bounty hunter." Hermione muttered sarcastically. "As great as this conversation is, think we could get going?"
"Wait." Harry said suddenly. "One last question. How did you know my name is James Evans?"
"I have my connections. She's right, let's get the hell out of here."
They all headed into the car and as soon as they sat down Harry locked the doors and spun around. "You probably have a lot of questions, so just keep quiet while we explain, and then if you have questions you can ask them."
Chrome sat as Harry and Hermione explained how Dumbledore had gotten him out of prison, what he was needed for, explained that they were part of the magic world, and explained that he'd be staying at their flat.
Chrome just nodded when they were done and didn't ask any questions. They started the car up and began to drive off. Chrome sat and let everything set in. This whole mission sounded like suicide to him and he wasn't sure if he wanted any part of it. He'd need to weigh his benefits before he made a decision.
~
When they all got back it was much later than they'd anticipated. The apartment looked slightly bare without Ron's stuff but they weren't all that concerned at the moment. Hermione flopped down into an arm chair and Harry sat on the arm, both of them too tired to think. Chrome on the other hand had plenty of energy, after all, he was a man of the night and he'd been getting way too much sleep for his own liking for the past year spent in prison.
"I need to talk to Dumbledore tomorrow." Chrome said suddenly breaking the silence.
"Good idea." Hermione said waking up a bit more. "Tomorrow the order has a meeting, I suppose it would be alright if you attended since you'll be doing work for the mission."
"I won't just be doing work for the mission if I agree." Chrome thought. "I'll basically be agreeing to sacrifice my life." He stayed silent however. Finally he said, "where will I be sleeping?"
Hermione looked at Harry. "Uh, I'll take the couch and Chrome can have Ron's old room."
"Where's that?" Chrome asked, feeling slightly frustrated.
"Upstairs and to the left. The flat is magically enhanced to have two floors. You're room will be across from Hermione's." Harry answered.
"What? No way, I'm not letting you take the couch. I don't need everyone to know when I get up at night."
Harry and Hermione exchanged glances and Harry just shrugged. "Well in that case I'm heading off to bed for the night."
As they headed up the stairs, Chrome leaned back against the wall. This next month could be one of the most interesting of his life.
((Once more I hope you liked the chapter. I know it was mostly based around an original character, but don't worry because he isn't that important. He mostly represents a symbol I wanted in my fic, but he isn't the main focus. Anyhow, next chapter: Harry, Hermione and a late night storm and more about the mission!))