Chapter 05
Malfoy, Zabiny e Avery returned to the Dark Lord's presence clad in muggle clothes. Malfoy was wearing a gray Armani suit with his long blond hair tied at the nap of his neck. Zabini looking very imposing in his dark suit, with white shirt and deep blue tie. Avery didn't hide the fact that he was the muscles of the trio with black denim, black button down shirt and black leather jacket. The three man bowed in front of the Dark Lord before apparating away.
´Oh, joy! Diplomacy, Threat and Pain are out to play again´ mused Snape.
"Severus" Called the Dark Lord.
"My lord"
"I need you back on Hogwarts. Dumbledore must not find out about this... most pleasant, turn of events . Do what you want with your time before the school term begins, but do not let him even consider the possibility of me having his seer"
"As you wish, my lord" answered Snape. He knew he would have no problem carrying on his orders, the last thing he wanted was for Dumbledore to get suspicious now, or the Dark Lord for that matter, he would have to find a way to get his son out of this mess. Allowing him to go in to battle against the mad wizard was not something he was about to let happen, with one last look at Trelaway left the meeting.
Trelaway was still smiling and nodded at him, indicating that all was well. He wasn't too trilled with the idea of leaving her within Bellatrix reach, but he would have to let things be for a while and concentrate on the bigger problem he had in hand: getting his son back and out of harms way.
His son! Severus Snape has a son! He wanted to scream from the top of the Astronomy Tower, but that would also have to wait.
Severus Snape was a man well known for three things: His foul deminor, his cool under pressure and his calculating nature. All his attitudes were calculated, he had learned his lesson from the mistakes of his youth and this was not the time to go rushing in like a foolish Gryffindor. No, now was the time to watch, learn and, only after he had all the facts, to finally act.
Snape went back to his potions room, he had things to prepare for the beginning of the school year, when he would be reunited with his son.
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"Come on, mate. Before anybody sees us!" Ron said, his voice just above a whisper.
"Let me just get Hedwig" answered Harry going back up stairs and running back seconds later holding his beautiful white owl in his arms.
"Why don't you just let her fly?" asked Ron.
"Uncle Vernon hurt her, he hit her with Dudley's stick" and seeing the puzzled look on Ron's face he continue "it's this thing from his school, it's suppose to teach you something about life or whatever, basically, It hurts."
"Oh" said Ron, clearly not understanding.
They ran to the sidewalk and raised the wand hand, calling the knight bus.
"I'll tell you, mate, this knight bus is seriously overrated, don't think I'll be too anxious to ride it again so soon". Harry looked at Ron, he did look a little green while waiting for the bus.
"Don't worry, Ron. It will be over soon" Harry said smiling. He could not believe, his friend had came all to way to Surrey to help him escape his muggle family all because he failed to answer the letters he received three times in a row. The order was yet to act and his friend had already come to take him away, great protection they were. Dumbledore was probably giving his "it's all for the best" speech as he stood there waiting for the bus.
The purple bus was there in a second with a loud bang. They paid and went inside, settling in for the bumping ride ahead.
"I can't tell you how happy I am to see you, Ron. I though I was hallucinating when I saw you standing there" said Harry with a smile throwing himself in the bed besides the one Ron was occupying. "I thought they had finally broken me." He added in a low voice.
"How bad was it, Harry?" asked Ron turning to look at him.
"It was worse that it has ever been. Before they called me a freak and treated me worse than a Malfoy house elf, but now... even with the order seeing me off at the station or maybe because of it. It was like uncle Vernon finally realized I really had someone to back me up and no matter what he did I would still be a wizard... and the fact that next year I would be able to do magic in the house didn't help either. I guess he was afraid I would turn all of them in to toads or bats. He went out of his way to beat magic out of me 'before it was too late', like he said". Harry couldn't help the sadness that came over him, he felt cold and wrapped his arms around himself. "Ron, for a moment there I didn't believe I was going to see Hogwarts again, Thanks for coming".
"I'll never abandon you, Harry" said Ron and Harry felt the mattress shift under Ron's weight as he laid next to him, he turned to look at Ron's face.
Ron reached Harry's forehead and brushed way a few locks of his hair and Harry felt his mouth dry. Ron kept looking him strait in his eyes, not saying anything, just laying there and touching his hair gently. Harry was the one who moved, covering the last few inches towards Ron, his hand resting on Ron's waist, not pulling him closer but letting him decide to accept the next move or not and finally their lips met. It was a soft touch, nothing more than that, just a touch, but Harry's heart went wild in his chest and the world ceased to exist.
He could now feel Ron's hand slowly moving on his back, gently pulling him, Ron moving his whole body closer, deepening the kiss. A soft tongue touched Harry's lower lip, begging entrance, going in, exploring as if time had stood still. Each touch felt like a healing charm erasing bruises, hard words, mean looks and replacing the cold Harry felt with a warm tingling feeling, like sun light. Yes, that's what Ron felt like, sunshine.
Ron pulled back a little, his arm still around Harry.
"Are you ok with this?" he asked, his voice laced with concern.
"Yes" Harry smiled "I'm ok with this" that was everything he wanted in the world, to be wrapped in loving arms, feeling sheltered and warm. He had though about it, being with Ron, when he first learned he also liked guys, but had pushed the thoughts away on the account of their friendship. He valued it too much to risk it, but now Ron felt for him too and that made it alright. Harry was very ok with this.
They remained wrapped in each other's arms for the rest of the trip to Diagon Alley. They got a room in the Leaky Cauldron and sent an owl to Mrs. Weasley for the order to come and pick them up. They knew someone would be there in a matter of minutes, which left them very little time alone, so they just held each other in the room's double bed. Harry's head resting on Ron's shoulder feeling calm and protected for the first time in a long time.
A knock on the door wake Harry up. He and Ron exchanged glances, getting up and drawing their wands.
"Yes?" said Ron, gesturing for Harry to remain quiet.
"Ron? It's us" Remus' voice came through the door. Ron quickly opened the door, letting Remus and Tonks in.
"Gods, Harry, Don't do that anymore. Do you know how terrified I was when I got to your relatives' house?" said Remus pulling Harry in a tight hug. "I though I lost you too".
"You went there? Why?" asked Harry confused.
"When your letters stopped coming, Dumbledore send us there to check on you and pick you up, but when we got there you were gone. Don't do that again, do you hear me?" Remus had tears in his eyes and kept hugging Harry all the time.
Harry's heart was about to burst. Dumbledore had sent for him, the order went to pick him up, his best friend... or his boyfriend (he would have to talk to Ron about that) did go to pick him up and he was getting more hugs tonight than ever before. They really cared!
"We really should get going" said Tonks after hugging Harry "We better take you to a safer place than a public inn in the middle of London".
"Yes, you're right" said Remus picking some of Harry's stuff. "It is best to hurry now".
They walked quickly in the another room, where Tom already had a fireplace lit for them to floo out of there.
Harry arrived at Grimmaud 12 only to find himself pulled in another hug.
"Oh, my god, Harry, you are skin and bones! Don't those people ever feed you? No worries, dear, we'll have you fixed up in no time". Mrs. Weasley held him for a long time before pulling away.
After that things kind of became a blur. Harry vaguely remembered Fred's, George's and Ginny's hellos. Hermione was also there and gave him and Ron a hug before Mrs. Weasley called them all for dinner. The conversation around the table was cheerful while everybody brought Harry up to date with the latest events. Ron's arm gently resting on Harry's waist. The twins noticed it right way.
"Is there something you forgot to mention, Roniskies?" asked... the twin on the right.
"No, Fred, my boyfriend and I have nothing to say" said Ron pulling Harry closer in to his chest before turning to Harry with a smile on his face "or do we, love?"
"No, nothing comes to mind" mocked Harry leaning in to the embrace.
"awww..." the girls said, and the whole table exploded in laughter.
Molly Weasley look over the table smiling. Not all of her children were there, Charlie and Bill were both way because of their work and Percy... well, Percy was simply not there anymore, her smile faded away a little as she remembered her third son.
´No, not now´ she though ´no time for that now´
She looked at the children gathered around the table. Her children. They were all happy and whole, enjoying the time they had together, doing their very best to ignore the up coming war for a few moments.
´No, now is the time for a little happiness. Merlin knows we are in dire need of those.´
Chapter 06
The day was like every other, the sky was grey and the promise of rain hung over the city all morning. Sargent Green was doing the most boring job possible at the station, filling out paper work. He hated paper work, but it had to be done sometime, so he did like every other dull job he had to do, all at once getting over with it as soon as possible and not thinking to much about it. That is why he was not very pleased with the interruption.
"Would you repeat that, please?" he asked for the second time to the man in sitting across his desk. He hated those types, old money by the looks of it, moving around like he owned the world, coming down to HIS desk and asking strange questions about some bloke who got fresh with a dame some years ago.
"As I already said, Mr... Green..." said the brunet man while the blond one next to him only smirked.
"Sargent"
"I beg your pardon?"
"I'm Sargent Green" and he better show him some respect now.
"Of course, my mistake, Sargent Green. It's very important that I see the report on all the rape incidents that took place during this particular period of time."
"Why?"
"Because, I represent a person who is very interested in the particular details of one of such incidents."
"Fine, fine, fill out this form in triple and submit it to the front desk, an officer will check the formalities and inform you if you can or can not receive access to the files you desire, than..."
"Oh, for Merlin's beard!" Shouted the blond one jumping to his feet and pulling a short stick from inside his suit. "IMPERIO" and Sargent Green lost track of the rest of the day. He blinked and it was already night fall and another was officer knocking on his door.
"Green, Aren't you going home?"
"Oh, my! Look at the time, I tell you, this paper really makes you doze off." He said getting up to go home and not thinking on the matter anymore. It would be a few months before anyone notice that a few old files were missing never to be found again.
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Avery and Zabini were sitting at the table in the hotel suite looking through the police files while Malfoy was taking a bath. There were six incidents. One of the perpetraitors was killed a week later on a robbery, two of the man were caught on the act and did time in jail and one of them was black. That left only two possibilities: Sarah Michaels and Daisy Mckinlay. Both maiden names, not that it would be a problem.
It took them three days to find Sarah Michaels. She was a nice petite lady who lived in a flat not far from the hospital where she had worked as a nurse her whole life. A very nice and lonely lady who had never been a mother in her life. She received them for tea and biscuits and they chatted for a while before they had to go. She though they were really nice man.
Daisy Mckinlay was not her real name. It took them a few days to find that out. She gave the police a false sur name to avoid any scandals, but her mother had let her name slip in the hospital and they wrote it down. Apparently she was spending a few days with the parents because she had a fight with her husband and was considering not going back, but she went back eventually. It was all very neatly written down in the very neat hospital report the doctors would never notice missing.
She went back because of her unborn child.
It took only a few hours drive in a very comfortable muggle car for them to arrive at the old address written in the file. Where they found a very well kept muggle neighbourhood full of nice old ladies ready to share their afternoon tea with three very polite gentlemen who happen to be looking for an old friend who lived there.
"Oh, of course I remember that family. Lovely family, such good children. It was a shame they moved away, but that's life. The children grow, they get marry and move away"
"Yes, a terrible shame" said Malfoy "tell me, Mrs. March, you wouldn't happen to have an address for these children. Would you?" he said with his most charming smile, making the old lady blush a little.
"Oh, I think I just might. Yes, the oldest one gave me her address when Daisy died." She went to her desk where a few address books where neatly placed in a row. "Yes, here it is. Let me copied down for you. It is not that far, you know, really not that far" she handed a card where she had written the address.
"Thank you, you're too kind" and they left waiving good bye.
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"I'm getting sick of being nice to muggles. We should have the permission to at the very least torture a few of them" growled Avery.
"No, our lord wants this to be as quiet as possible. We already took to many chances with that policeman"
"He was asking for it, I merely oblige" answered Malfoy ironically.
The new address was actually very close by, in a few minutes they pulled up in from of a house. They looked up and down the street with disgust; every house was exactly identical to the others with minor differences in the yards.
"This people are definitelymuggles" said Zabini
"Zabini, you do have the most amazing ability to state the obvious" smirked Malfoy.
"Let's get this over with, if this is the wrong child we just get the address of the others and get out of here" Avery was really and the end of his patience.
They walked up to the house and knocked at the door. They heard steps coming closer and a skinny woman with a face that reminded them of a horse and the longest neck they had ever seen opened the door.
"Hello, may I help you?"
"Hello" Said Malfoy smiling "I'm doctor Malfoy and this are my colleagues Dr. Avery and Dr. Zabini. We are conducting a research on the present condition of a few old patients that have been attended in our hospital and were wondering if we could ask you a few questions?"
She looked at them taking in the expensive clothes and the luxury car parked on the street before she smile stepping aside to let them in.
"Of course. I'll be glad to help"
The house was spotless clean. It was so unnatural that was almost sickening. They went into the living room where she made them sit on the flowery couches before offering some tea.
"So, How can I help your research?" she asked with something that should pass as a polite smile on her face.
"Well, we were looking for you mother actually, but we were informed that she passed way" started Zabini.
"Yes, a few years now" she answered not looking too sad about it.
"We are sorry to hear. Would you mind just clearing a few details for us?" asked Avery.
"Well, of course not. What would you like to know?"
"Yes" said Malfoy making a show of opening a fancy leather folder where he begin to write things down "Now, how many children did you mother have?"
"Oh, only two, two girls, me and my younger sister"
"and you both in good health, never any serious illness? anything strange?"
"Of course not" she looked offended "no strangeness in my family"
"I'm terribly sorry if that came out wrong, I meant no offence" said Malfoy coolly.
"Oh! It's alright, I suppose. We just don't like strangeness that's all."
"We?" asked Zabini.
"My husband and I. That's us on the beach at Majorca with our son. He is 16 now."
The three man looked at each other. How could they find out what they wanted? This had to be the right family, but this woman and the rest of her family were clearly muggles. If there was really magic in this family it had to be on her sister's side.
"Excuse me, Madame" said Zabini looking at the woman with a dazzling smile "We should talk to your sister as well... would it be possible for us to have her address?"
"I'm afraid not" she said pressing her lips together as if she didn't want to talk about it.
"It would be extremely important to our research"
"Well, she passed away almost 15 years ago. She and her husband were on this car crash... really, no need to talk about her. More tea?"
"Oh! Please, allow me" said Malfoy picking up the tea pot before she could and pouring some tea on her cup first, before proceeding to the others.
"Oh! How lovely, Thank you"
Malfoy gave a pointed look to Zabini, who immediately got up and moved closer to the pictures.
"This fine young man is your son, you say? Impossible, Madame, you're much too young to have such a grown up man for a son"
The woman giggled at the flirtatious wizard, not noticing Malfoy adding a few drops of a small bottle he dug out of his pockets before handing the cup back to her. Zabini kept talking to her about one picture or another until he notice she losing her grip on the tea cup and her eyes getting unfocused.
"She is ready" he said leading her back to the couch where he began to question her.
"Is your sister really dead?"
"Yes"
"Was your sister a witch?"
"Yes, she was a freak"
"Is anyone else in your family a wizard or a witch?"
"Her son"
"Where is he?"
"I don't know, he left, runway"
"Bloody hell" yelled Avery "How can we find him now?"
"I don't know, he runway" answered the woman not able to realize the question was rhetorical. Zabini looked ready to punch the woman, so did Avery.
"and do you have any idea where we could go looking for him? Where will he go?" asked Malfoy.
"Yes, He will go to Hogwarts"
"Hogwarts? Is he a student in Hogwarts?" Malfoy was smiling, things were looking up!
"Yes"
"What is his name?"
"Harry, Harry Potter"
The sound of china hitting the floor was the only sound in the living room were the woman was unaware of the three gasping wizards.