First I would like to welcome you all to chapter six. Second I need to apologize for the erratic nature of the last chapter, I had re-written it several times and got frustrated invariably losing the flow of it. I promise it won't happen again, this chapter will shed a bit more light on the happenings between the death of Voldemort and the abduction.

Disclaimer - I do NOT own Harry Potter


-Chapter 6: Secrets-

After breakfast Hermione returned to her room garbed in her grey jogging pants and a simple white t-shirt. When she had entered the room the night before they were sitting on her bed with a note placed on top:

Dear Miss,

Dobby and Winky is not knowing Miss' size so we is just guessing. We is apologizing if these are not to Miss's liking, just ask and Dobby is happy to change the colors.

she couldn't help the smile that crossed her lips, 'some things will never change,' she thought and began pulling on her wedding shoes, she stepped into the hall and made her way to the living area. As she continued her slow walk her eyes roved over the dark colors of the walls which, coupled with the stained floors, caused the huge house to give a comforting feeling despite it's owners. It's owners, that thought flared up two things in her mind: anger and relief. It really was quite irritating. She thought about all the times she had cried infront of Harry's grave, yelling at him sometimes, and other simply talking about the future she wanted to have with him. Her steps gained a harsher stride as she thought about the fact that he was alive and killing people, 'Killing people!' she thought angrily. Though Ron's words reverberated in her head as well

-Flashback-

"..Sometimes it's just best to put'em down."

-End Flashback-

Then another thought came to her, how many had Harry 'Put Down'? Tens? Hundreds? The image in her mind of the kind hearted boy she remembered was replaced by another. A tall, handsome man, slightly long black hair falling around his head at odd angles, and finally piercing emerald eyes, he was surrounded by werewolves. The man had a slight gleam in his eye as he began to cut them down, then her mind began to twist the images of the cursed men into NORMAL men, though the Harry in her mind didn't stop cutting them down without mercy. 'No, stop it!" she shouted, losing herself in her mindscape. Harry did not relent, "STOP!" she cried out loud, garnering the attention of the gathered people in the living area. Her faced turned a nice shade of red as she mumbled an apology.

"Alright love?" questioned Ron as he wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head

She nodded hesitantly, "Alright." Silently she cursed herself, just a day ago she was swearing Harry to the back of her mind and now his presence was as if it had never left. 'Denial does not turn a truth into an untruth,' she told herself. She noticed her mother and father across the room and used the excuse to slip out of his grasp. A rough hand on her shoulder caused her to whip around

"You going to be alright?" questioned Bill, his face a mix of a smile and concern.

If there was ever a big brother a girl wanted, it would be Bill Weasley. Come hell or high water, the world would collapse before he let anything happen to her or Ginny, "Yes Bill, I am a big girl you know." She watched his face twist into a scowl, "I promise."

"He's an Alchemist," hissed Arthur as he gave her a small hug, "watch yourself."

Before she could question the odd tone in the eldest Weasley's voice, said alchemist was descending the stairs. As usual his black hair spiked back. He wore faded straight cut jeans that fell over a pair of black and white converse. His shirt was red with a white circle on the front and an odd design in the center, it was much more intricate than the ones she had observed on his gloves the day before. Finally he wore a red leather racing jacket with patterns of black and white running over it. As she was observing him something clicked, 'if I can play him right, I might get all the information I need.'

"You're going to burn a hole in him," whispered Ginny to her left, "though he does clean up nice doesn't he?"

Hermione scoffed, "I'm not the one smitten with him, you've been flirting since we were abducted."

"Me?" gasped the redhead looking scandalized, "I think not."

"Harry'll be down in a minute," stated Lucas as he reached the ground floor, "Grangers this way."

"OI!" shouted Ron, "Nothing better happen to them, if it does-"

"You'll do absolutely nothing," interupted Lucas without turning around. He glanced back at Hermione and her parents, "Like I was saying, the sooner we get going the sooner we can get back and get out of each other's faces." He lead them out to the garage where his M3 was parked. He produced the keys from his pocket and hit a button, the car beeped twice and the sound of two doors unlocking was heard, "get in and don't touch anything."

"A car?" questioned Mr. Granger with slight amazement as he buckled himself in and scanned the silver and black interior

Lucas looked in the rearview mirrior, "You'd prefer to walk?"

The older man shrugged, "I just expected something a bit more-"

"Magical?" questioned the alchemist as a bemused expression crossed his face. He pressed in the clutch and turned the key, causing the car to jump to life, "I'm not a wizard, therefore there are somethings I have to do the hardway, although I did manage to procure some things to make this car a bit more..." he paused and grinned fully, "durable."

Hermione watched as he pulled on his white gloves and put the car in gear, beginning the two hour trip to her parents home. She tried to keep her eyes open as the hum of the tires on the road and the steady beat from the radio began to lull her to sleep. Looking back she saw that her parents had already given in and were sleeping soundly, most likely because they had gotten so little of it the night before. Adjusting herself slightly she rested her head on her hand. 'How do I do this? I don't think he's going to just offer up information,' she thought as she began to formulate a plot to pry Harry's past five years from this man.

"The seat leans back if you're tired," stated Lucas softly as to not wake his other passengers, "you don't have to try and fall asleep like that."

Hermione shook her head, "I'm not tired, too much on my mind."

The red-eyed man glanced out the corner of his eye at her, luckily his sunglasses were sheilding his eyes, "Like?"

"Why do you care?" she replied curtly, "as comfortable as you're trying to make us, and as pleasent as you try to be, you've still taken us against our will."

He nodded, "That's true, but you have to believe us that it's for your protection..." he paused and shifted gears to pass someone, "well not so much yours really."

Her head snapped up, "What does that mean?"

"You want the truth?" he questioned with a raised brow, a hesitant nod was the reply, "Fine, the mission was to extract the Weasley family before 'They' showed up. You were never in the plan until Harry cut that dark wizard to pieces and you refused to leave. I still have no idea why he did that."

'He wasn't suppose to save me?' that wasn't what she was expecting, but then again, she hadn't been expecting much. 'Lucas isn't as bad as I thought...wait, since when did I start calling him by his name,' she shook her head and pushed the question to the back of her mind until later, "So he went against his orders?"

He nodded, "Then they wouldn't extract us," the first signs of exhaustion came across his face as he lifted his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "this mission has been one big cluster fuck."

Hermione ran her fingers through her hair, "I know how that is, it's been so long since I've had an assignment go right that I would probably die of a heart attack if one actually did." She felt herself relaxing slightly and dropping her guard, his personality was almost as disarming as Harry's, though his sarcastic humor was a bit harsh he sure didn't have the Potter temper. She glanced over at his hand that was gripping the steering wheel, "Why do you wear those?" she gestured to his hands

"Well for right now they're very good for driving," he replied with a smirk, "but they have a different purpose when I fight."

"And that would be?" she left the question hanging

He raised an eyebrow, "Like I said I'm not a wizard."

Hermione glared, he was talking in circles, "If you don't want to answer then don't."

"Stop interupting," he replied with a huff and a pout, "between you and Ginerva I can't get in a word edge-wise." He focused back on the road, "I'm an alchemist, we specialize in transmutation."

"Like transfiguration?" she quesitoned

He shook his head, "Transfiguration is just that, changing the outward appearence of an object. Wizards and Witches can change a bird into a pen, but essentially at it's core it's still a bird and eventually it will revert. Transmutation is the shifting of the basic molecular structure of an object, when an Alchemist transmutes something it is whatever the transmuter decides on until the shifting is reversed." He held up one of his hands, "These are transmutation circles, all alchemists require them."

"So why did the Vampire call you "The Flame Alchemist" he almost sounded scared," she questioned as the flood of information was absorbed into her brain.

Like Hermione, Lucas was beginning to become lax in his guard and found that talking to the girl was a bit too easy, "Most alchemists can only transmute solid objects," he replied, "shifting air is beyond the abilities of even top alchemists, altering the structure of something intangable is nearly impossible."

Her thirst for knowledge was getting the better of her and she now looked like a child asking for a puppy, "but you can do it can't you? That's how you killed that vampire. Does that mean you can make fire?"

"Nope," he replid with a grin and took off one of his gloves, "Put that on." He waited as she did so, "They're made of a material called Pyrotex, it's a sythetic created with the same principle as a dragon's sparking gland. Now press your thumb and index finger together and then snap."

Her eyes went wide as a red spark came from the friction, "WOW!" She repeated the process several more times before relinquishing the glove, "So after creating the spark you shift the air into something flamable, then adjust the oxygen level to control the size of the explosion."

This time it was Lucas' turn to be shocked, "R-right."

"That's weird then," thought the brunette outloud, "are you some kind of secret society?"

"What?" he sputtered and swerved, "why the crap would I tell you so much about alchemists if were a secret group of people?"

Hermione shrugged, "Well I don't see what the big deal is, but Arthur and Molly say the word "Alchemist" almost disdainfully."

"Really? The didn't strike me as the prejudice types," he replied non-chalantly, "but I guess it takes all kinds."

Her head whipped back around to him, "Prejudice?"

Lucas nodded as a frown crossed his features, "It's weird really, we're magical, but we can't DO magic. It was about six hundred years ago when a man appeared at the ministry claiming he could do a special kind of magic, he proceeded to transmute the entire office floor into pure gold with the help of a small red stone. Well imagine the minister's surprise when he realized that with no wand this man had basically crushed the worth of gold and could send the wizarding economy into a downward spiral." His glare intesified, "He banished him and anyone like him from the wizarding world and decreed that they could never return. Just because they were banished didn't mean alchemy ceased to exist though, more and more people began to spring up everywhere with the power to transmute."

Hermione was listening with rapt attention, "That doesn't explain why they talk down to you though."

"A long time ago, before any of the wizarding wars there was another one, and it was worse than anthing you could imagine," he stated gravely, "A group of bandits, that just so happened to be wizards, attacked a small town with the intent of simply obliterating the village and making out with the goods. Now wizards might have been ignorant of us, but we knew all about them, so when the wands came out hell broke loose. The alchemists misinterprited it as an act of extermination on the part of the wizards and before anyone could really grasp the situation, war was ravaging the countryside. We killed, they killed, and in the end thousands were dead and there was no end in sight. It really did seem like we were going to wipe magic from the face of the earth."

"What happened then? And why don't we know anything about it?" She questioned

Lucas shrugged, "Dunno really, just one day everyone just stopped fighting. As far as a lack of knowledge, well every alchemist knows about the war, while the ministry implimented it's oh so famous, "don't talk about it and it didn't happen" plan. Eventually the people that fought died off and the only thing that was left was the knowledge that alchemists were bad, and unfortunately that information hasn't been rectified."

She remembered the year after Voldemort's return, the ministry refused to admit it and even went so far as to claim that Harry was going crazy, "That's just like them, and here I was thinking alchemists were just masters of potion making." She gave a wide yawn and stretched, the quiet hum of the road finally getting to her. "You're not too bad of a guy," was the last thing she muttered before slipping into sleep

Lucas grinned and slid his sunglasses back into place, "Thanks."


Ginny was absentmindedly picking at one of the golden bows on her bridesmaid's shoe, 'He was supposed to be down ages ago, what is he doing?' She had been mulling over the thought of this new Harry, he wasn't cute anymore, he was gorgeous and definately more mature. Something was missing though, not so much in him as in herself, that funny flip-flop her stomach used to do when he was around wasn't happening. Maybe it was their situation or maybe it was just that she had lost her crush. The sound of boots on hardwood broke her from her thoughts. There he was, jeans, black boots, and a black undershirt. Instead of a jacket he wore a dark green, long-sleeve, shirt with the top two buttons undone along with the cuffs on the sleeves. His black was hair falling around his head, the onyx locks now long enough to touch the bottom of his ears. Finally the emerald eyes and chiseled features, that made him his parents' son. Ginny sighed in a combination of frustration and confusion, 'What is wrong with me?'

"Ready everyone?" he questioned, several stiff nods were the response, "Alright, outside then, we'll take the nightbus." Ten minutes later and they were on their way to the first home that Harry had ever known. A slight smile crossed his lips as he remembered his first visit via the ford angelina. Out the corner of his eye he noticed Ginny peering at him curiously, "Something on my face Gin?"

"Where are your glasses?" she questioned lamely, a reaction to being startled

Harry smiled ruefully, "magical contacts," he replied

"Magical whats?" questioned Mr. Weasley

"Contacts," he reiterated for those listening, "a muggle device with a magical deviation. They're based on the same principle as Alastor's eye."

The next question voiced caught everyone off guard, "Why are you doing all this Harry?" questioned Molly, "We survived a war standing right beside you, why would you hurt us like you did?" Her eyes began to well up with tears, "I know you wanted to protect us, but there's more to is it isn't there? Something you aren't telling us."

"Oi!" Shouted Fred, "We'll have none of that secret keeping!"

George nodded, "Out with it mate!"

Ron rolled up one of his sleeves, "Or we could beat it out of you."

Harry's eyes flashed dangerously, "You don't want to know," he muttered. When he looked up he noticed the sad expressions on the faces of the Weasleys, "if I told you, you would be disgusted with me more than you are."

Before another person could press the matter, Percy stepped in, "It's his secret to keep or tell."

"We still love you Harry," added Ginny with reddening cheeks, "it doesn't matter what you THINK you've done."

Harry locked eyes with Bill, for some reason beyond his knowledge, the eldest Weasley child was harboring ill will towards him. Averting his gaze to Ron he smiled, "So you and Hermione eh?" the minute the question came out of his mouth his stomach turned. Why did the thought of his two former best friends being together just not sound right?

"Yup!" he replied with a grin, "speaking of which I hope she's alright, being with that...Alchemist."

The glare that Harry shot him nearly made Ron fall on his butt, "I doubt there's a safer place for her in the world than with Lucas." He never wavered as he pressed on, "You only know half the story, Lucas is a good man."

"I have a hard time believing anyone that kidnaps and kills for a living," retorted Bill meeting Harry's stare head on, "is a good man. You included Potter."

"BILL WEASLEY!" shouted Molly, "What is the matter with you!"

His mother's glare was magnified by a mirror image from his wife and his little sister, " 'Arry iz part of zis family!" exclaimed Fluer

"Honestly Bill!" yelled Ginny in a huff, "he's saved us all loads of times and you're being a right prat!"

The eldest Weasley child never faultered, "Right, Harry the hero, but you forgot to save someone Harry. Someone that stood by you through thick and thin, and you left them cold and alone in the middle of the bright future you made for everyone." He got up and went to the stairs to the second floor, "Think about it."

Harry wanted to do nothing more than tear after the man and beat him till he explained what the hell he meant. The only thing stopping him was Molly's arms around his waist, "Really Ms. Weasley, I'm fine. Just confused." Quickly Fred and George joined in with mocking sobs, along with Ron, and surprisingly Charlie, "OI! CAN'T BREATH!"

Ginny smiled at the dog pile as tears brimmed in her eyes, she knew exactly who Bill was talking about. She knew because she was the one that told Bill that exact line.

-Flashback-

"I can't believe him!" shouted Ginny as she launched a pillow at the wall in her room

Bill tentatively opened the door to said girl's room, "Gin, everything alright?"

"No it's bloody well not alright!" she cried and wrapped her arms around his neck, "He couldn't save everyone Bill, he left her. She stood by him through thick and thin and now she's out there, cold and alone, in this grand future he's made for us." She quickly untangled herself and gestured to her window.

Bill walked up to it and looked out, Hermione was clutching something tightly to her chest and sobbing. Then he understood what his little sister meant, Hermione couldn't handle a future without Harry. "Oi!" he exclaimed to Ginny, "Looks like we've got a bit of cheering up to do! You know what that means?" She shook her head tentatively, "Shopping! On me, let's go get Hermione."

-End Flashback-

She smiled at the memory, then she glanced over at the man trying to escape an onslaught of noogies from Ron and Fred as Charlie and George held him down, Percy was even in on the action. Despite their situation she couldn't help but frown, Harry was back sure, but why the kidnapping and why did he leave in the first place. Auror training was beginning to kick it, 'Time for some answers.'


End Chapter 6

Read and Review - explaination of alchemists and a bit more character interaction. A bit of a filler chapter really, next one will shed some light on the current state of affairs and we'll begin to meet more members of Ordinatio soon. I hope you enjoyed

Preview Chapter 7: The Threat