"Are you sure this is the place?" Dorian asked his second cousin.
Petunia nodded. "How many underground dwellings do you know of? I was rather careful to write down the street name of the house of a family that wanted to kill my sister. Corner of Rose and Hawley."
The entire alliance had tagged along. Moral support, they said, although Dorian was thinking more along the lines of safety in numbers.
"Petunia, this is a sewer."
She nodded again, proud to be leading the way for once. "Manhole number 198426, to be exact," she asserted, rapping twice on the cover, stomping six times, and rapping seven more times, and marveling at the paranoia of a family who had never even seen an Unforgivable Curse.
"Who goes there?" called a voice from below. Nina took a step back, and she wasn't alone.
"The wife of Bath," Petunia answered.
A minor scuffle was unfolding below between two children who couldn't have been older than twelve.
"Bath? Was that Paul's name?"
"No, Paul was the Pardoner."
"So who was Bath?"
"I think it was Vernon. Well, whoever it is couldn't possibly be a wizard spy; they know our code."
They lifted the cover.
Dorian peered down into the foyer. "Only half right, lads," he answered. "Vernon was Bath. But I am a wizard spy."
Petunia managed to pull Dorian out of the way seconds before the explosion. "I should have warned you they can't take a joke down here," she apologized. "At least now we're going to get to meet their leader pretty quickly."
She wasn't wrong. An oldish woman appeared in the foyer. The members of the alliance cautiously started filing in, although they hadn't been asked. The woman also had a small pistol, as well as what looked like a metal detector, except that the readings were 'mortal', 'magician', 'wizard', 'sorcerer', and 'enchanter'. Thankfully, the machine was either fraudulent or out of batteries, because it remained silent even after passing Harry, Nina, and Jeff. "State your business," she prompted them.
Dorian had been much more enthused about his findings before he was surrounded by wary looking Dursleys. "Erm, we have… some evidence has come to… look, your grandfather was a wizard, and we have proof!"
Several of the younger Dursleys fainted on the spot. The rest cracked their knuckles threateningly. While Dorian stuttered through an explanation of the diary, Ella Dursley grew murderous, and no one was paying enough attention to notice Dominic quietly wander off with Nina.
The house was deserted; everyone was crowded into the foyer to see the excitement. The two ambled through what seemed like a pleasant eighteenth-century mansion, except that it was underground. They glanced at a highly decorated family tree, admired an expensive-looking art collection, and finally stopped in a child's bedroom.
The tot couldn't have been more than three, but he already appeared to be indoctrinated. Clad in only a pair of overalls and a toy soldier's hat, he stumbled towards them. "I'm gonna bust some witchers," he solemnly informed them.
Nina was horrified. "This family is evil!" she shrieked. "Look at this little… little… worm!"
And suddenly, he was. Dominic nodded knowingly at Nina's crimson face; worse damage had been done accidentally by his younger brothers and sisters before they had gotten their Hogwarts letters.
Nina nearly choked, but Dominic neatly clapped a hand over her mouth. Smoothly, he slipped the worm into his pocket.
"Are you mad?" Nina gasped when he had finally released her.
"Not on your life," Dominic answered. "Dorian's dying out there. We have a very convenient and unexpected hostage. What could go wrong?"
Famous last words.
A/N: All reviews make me smile. I don't care if you send me an emoticon; it's better than nothing.
