Author's Note: You all are so…scary, sometimes. For everyone who called me evil: it's true. I seriously considered changing who the person was in the lift, just to see your reactions, but I couldn't be that cruel. So, here's the next chapter, not even a week after the last one! Enjoy!
Well, this wasn't supposed to happen at all. Harry stared at the man in the lift and took a few steps back in shock. Why did his life always have to be bloody complicated? Sensei immediately nudged Harry behind him after seeing his student back away. Harry gave the man a small grateful smile and studied his current enemy just outside the lift doors, effectively blocking Harry's only escape path. Why didn't the magical world believe in fire escape stairs? "Headmaster." Harry returned to Dumbledore's greeting, completely unsure of what to do now. Dumbledore was unpredictable right now. He seemed too happy to see Harry. Gleeful, almost. The thought was disturbing.
Dumbledore looked around and gave an odd yet twinkling look to Paul and Sensei. Harry realized that the man was amused at the idea of bodyguards. Harry made a mental note to remind the wizard of this when he approached Harry about further guards from the Order. Harry wouldn't allow them as the Muggle guards seemed much more effective than the wizards ever were. The only one who actually did anything was Arabella Figg and she was a squib! Harry watched as Dumbledore's twinkle died when he laid eyes on Petunia. "Mrs. Dursley, how lovely to see you again." He told her.
"I'm sure!" Petunia snapped. Harry watched her hackles rise and inched away from her. This wasn't going to be pretty. Petunia was very upset at Dumbledore and having an actual physical target could spell the man's impending doom. That would be fun to watch.
Dumbledore ignored Petunia's comment and stepped closer to Sensei. Harry stayed firmly behind the man and Sensei wasn't letting Dumbledore get around him at all. Harry knew that Dumbledore would be dead if glares could kill, for Sensei's glare would be enough to kill a thousand Dumbledores and then turn the corpses to ash. He didn't know if Sensei knew a lot about the headmaster, but Harry's reaction seemed to be enough for him to think that Dumbledore was an enemy. "We've been very worried about you at Hogwarts', young man." Dumbledore said to Harry. He tried moving around Sensei, but found himself blocked by a rather intimidating man who had one hand in his jacket. Harry knew exactly what Sensei was ready to pull out and he spoke up to keep the man from putting a bullet through Dumbledore's head. Voldemort would have a field day.
"Sorry, Headmaster. My aunt thought that I needed some time away from a place where I've nearly died." Harry said without contrition. Dumbledore blinked and looked between Petunia and Harry. Harry could almost hear his thoughts: How does a Muggle enchant someone? Ha. Got one over on him.
"Come along, Harry. We need to get you back to school. You have that test this afternoon." Harry blinked. He didn't have a test, but he was willing to go along with Petunia on this one. Dumbledore wouldn't have much power in the face of Harry's legal guardian, Muggle or not.
"Mrs. Dursley, there have been some developments recently concerning Voldemort." Harry felt Sensei stiffen in front of him. Paul and Sensei had shot each other a look as Petunia pressed the call button for the elevator. Harry took a deep breath and got ready for whatever they were planning. "It is simply not safe for Harry to be out of Hogwarts at this moment."
"You don't seem to understand something, Headmaster." Petunia actually sneered at him. Harry pressed closer to Sensei and Harry felt the man pat his arm. He relaxed a bit and watched the scene between Dumbledore and Petunia play out. He was already stressed out from his two panic attacks of the day and the calming potion wasn't going to let him have another one anytime soon. He was tired from the night before and then his brain made a connection. His panic attacks always came on in life-threatening situations (or what he thought was life threatening) or directly after a Voldemort dream. The attacks after a Voldemort dream always came on easier and faster than any other attack. What a connection! Harry couldn't wait to share with Paul. "Harry has been attacked more at your…school than any other place on earth. This Voldemort person has yet to find Harry at school this year and I intend to keep it that way. Don't think that just because you run the only magical school in Britain that Harry is obligated to attend." Go, Aunt Petunia! "You have had far too much say in the boy's life and now I'm not letting it go any further."
Harry was starting to see where this was going. Petunia had marched up to Dumbledore and started poking a finger in his chest at the words "now I'm not" and she kept it up. She was also removing him from the direct path to the lift. The doors "binged" open and Sensei and Paul each dropped two small objects to their front and backs. Harry was blinded as bright flashes went off and clouds of smoke started to swirl around him. He blinked against the flash behind his eyes and felt himself pulled rather harshly towards the lift. Sensei pushed Harry to the back wall and stood in front of him while Paul guarded the door. Both men had weapons in their hands.
"Get down, deshi." Sensei told Harry. Harry looked around as he wondered exactly how he was to 'get down'. There was no way he was just going to take a seat in a combat situation. "Stay alert. We don't know what will happen." Harry nodded and watched as the lift doors slid closed. Where was his aunt?
"Where's Aunt Petunia?" Harry asked quietly as the lift started to descend.
"We are following her orders, deshi. That's all you need to know." Sensei told him. Pardon? Her orders?
"But we can't just leave her there!" Harry said as he pushed himself off the wall to face Sensei.
"We must and we will." Sensei said as he pulled Harry into his arms. Harry fought for a second before relaxing into the hug Sensei was offering. This was different from Paul, Hermione, and Petunia. Stronger, somehow. More understanding of what Harry was thinking at just that moment. This was more than comfort; this was also restraint from rushing into battle. "I know it's hard, but she told us what to do if something like this would happen. We must follow the plan. We'll meet up with her later." Harry took a deep breath, thankful for the calming potion still in his system, and nodded. Petunia could and most likely would take care of herself. He could understand that, but he would hurt Dumbledore in very painful ways if anything happened to his aunt. The lift opened to the Atrium and Harry was immediately pushed behind Sensei. Harry could almost swear he had memorized the back of the man's jacket.
"Harry?" Paul whispered. "Anyone from that Order of yours here?" The two men walked forward a bit and allowed Harry to glance around.
"Yes." Harry whispered. "That's Professor Snape over there to our left." He told Sensei and Paul. "The man with the weird eye will see me in just a second. The two with red hair are Bill and Charlie Weasley. Don't mess with them. They know a lot of spells. Same with those two. The bald man and the girl with purple hair."
"This should be easy." Sensei said with a smirk as Moody turned to him and pointed. Harry shrank behind his bodyguards and hoped for the best.
"They're Muggles, lads." Moody said with a smirk as he started to clunk forwards to Harry. "Potter, come out from behind them. We need to get you back to school." Harry saw Kingsley shoot an amused look at Moody before stepping back and folding his arms. What was this? Did Harry have an ally here? Was Kingsley just there for show?
"I'm not going back there." Harry told Moody calmly. "My aunt won't allow it and I certainly don't want to." Harry watched as shocked looks went around the Atrium. Snape looked like his birthday had come early and someone had presented him with a whole basilisk carcass. Well, at least one person was on Harry's side in this. Kingsley had a little smirk playing across his lips. Make that two people on his side. Harry knew that Sensei had already seen everything Harry had seen and drawn the same conclusions.
"Step away from him, sirs." Moody said. "We'll take care of him from here." Paul and Sensei exchanged looks. Neither said a word.
Sensei reached behind him and pulled Harry between himself and Paul. Paul had his gun out and sighted anyone close enough to be a target as they walked. "He's got a gun, lads." Harry almost snorted. Good going, Captain Obvious! "We don't want anyone getting hurt." Moody said as his wand appeared in his hand. Sensei and Paul exchanged looks. This was not going to be pretty.
"No one will be hurt if you let us do our jobs." Paul said in a voice Harry had never heard before. Wow, Paul could be scary. Who knew? Paul stared down Moody with a dangerous look that promised swift pain if Harry was touched.
"Just give us the boy. I'm afraid you don't realize who he is." Moody said. "He's far more important than you know."
"The "Boy-Who-Lived" stays with us." Sensei snarled. Whoa, that was scary. Harry was glad that Paul and Sensei were on his side. He really was. Moody raised his wand and pointed it at the Paul and Sensei. A red flash left his wand. Harry knew what that was. Stunning spell. Sensei grabbed him and threw him to the ground and both men ended up on top of him. Ouch.
"He was trying to hit you." Harry hissed at Sensei. He tried to wriggle out from under them, but Sensei stopped him with a gesture.
"We lowly Muggles do not know that." Sensei said with a grin. "Now, however, we can retaliate." Sensei and Paul popped back to their feet and set Harry on his. "Move." Sensei said to Harry. Harry dashed along the wall and felt Sensei and Paul close behind him. Stunning spells continued to hit the wall just where they had been before or where they were going to end up. One hit directly in front of Harry and Harry looked to see Professor Snape aiming at him. Greasy git. He's going to give the rest of them ideas. He almost got us. "Keep going." Sensei ordered from behind him. Harry dashed past one fireplace and felt someone's arms grab him and pull him inside. His head cracked against the mantelpiece. Harry bit back a cry of pain and reacted to the arms. He drove his knee into their groin. A shriek told him his target was female. Purple hair bobbed in the corner of his eye. Tonks. Harry fell to his knees when she released him and he struck with his elbow to her stomach. She doubled over as Sensei pulled Harry back out of the fireplace.
"You okay?" He asked.
"I'll live." Harry said as he rubbed the goose egg forming on his head. Ouch. Harry noticed Paul throwing small blades at the wizards, much like Harry's own blades. Harry almost felt sorry for them until he realized that mediwizards could heal the wounds from these blades with a quick wave of their wands. Paul was hitting his targets more often than not. He was going for disarm only.
Aurors appeared from one fireplace and poured into the Atrium. Harry heard Sensei say something in Japanese and Harry started to memorize it. It sounded like a swear word and a good one at that! "Deshi, I hate to ask, but can you provide a distraction?"
Harry looked up at Sensei and then around. He could do this. He looked around the Atrium and spotted the fountain of magical brethren. "I never liked that fountain, anyway." Harry said with a smirk as he raised his hand.
"Use your wand, just in case." Paul told him. Harry nodded and released his wand. Paul and Sensei each dug into their pockets as Harry readied his spell.
"Reducto!" Harry watched in satisfaction as one of the statues blew up. Chunks flew everywhere. "Reducto!" Water started to spray everywhere. "Brilliant. I hit a pipe." Paul and Sensei threw several flash and smokes around the hall and surrounded themselves with them. Flashes of light startled the wizards and smoke hid Harry and his bodyguards from spells. How did they know to bring things like that? You can't accurately hit what you can't see.
"Let's go." Paul said as he pulled Harry through the smoke and towards the exit. Sensei continued to throw flash and smokes until the lift doors started. "Thank goodness for automated services." Paul said with a grin.
"Yeah." Harry said as he took a deep breath. "What about Aunt Petunia?" He asked.
"She will be fine, deshi." Sensei told him. "Just fine." They reappeared on the street and Sensei set a fast clip down it. Harry was grateful that Sensei had emphasized running in his training, but running attracted Muggle attention. Every Muggle they passed only looked away after seeing the way the two were dressed. Was this a standard bodyguard uniform, then? Harry skidded to a stop when Snape and Shacklebolt appeared out of an alleyway. Aunt Petunia was with them.
Paul and Sensei scared all wizarding history from Harry's head when he saw their guns appear in their hands and pointed directly at the new arrivals. How fast were they? "Potter, your aunt has some rather charming powers of persuasion." Snape told him as Petunia stepped forward.
"Code." Sensei questioned Petunia, not allowing her to get close to Harry. Harry found himself once again staring at the back of Sensei's jacket. Was that a new pattern?
"Zen sends his greetings, 007." She smiled at Harry. Harry stepped forward and hugged his aunt. She was safe and so was he.
"What Snape here is trying to say is that your aunt decked the Headmaster of Hogwarts." Shacklebolt said with a grin bordering close to 'giddy'. "Broke his nose and knocked him off his feet." Kingsley smothered his chuckles and looked at Harry. "Don't worry about my old partner. A stray 'Obliviate' hit him just after we left your school. Can't imagine how it happened." Kingsley looked up at the sky innocently before grinning at Harry.
Harry smiled at the Auror. "Thank you." He said sincerely.
"You're welcome. I figured that you fighting to stay anywhere not Hogwarts could mean one of two things: confounded or serious. I'd guessed you were serious when you went into hiding to avoid me." Kingsley gave him a mock glare. "I can't believe that you wanted to avoid me. Worse than that, that you were serious in wanting to avoid me. You'd make a good Auror."
Snape rolled his eyes at Kingsley. "Spare the boy from further praises of his Gryffindor stupidity in battle." Snape muttered more to himself than anyone else. Harry chose to ignore Snape. He was on Harry's side, or against Dumbledore. Harry wasn't sure, but he wasn't about to jeopardize Snape cooperation by just taking offense to the insane ramblings from his mind.
"I was serious." Harry assured him. "Hogwarts is a little much for me right now. I just couldn't go back and expect to be safe."
"Yes, while this is all very touching, I'm afraid there will be another contingent of Aurors here in just a few minutes and they'll all be looking for you, Potter." Snape's sneer told Harry enough.
"That's too bad, because I feel so threatened by all you adult wizards that my magic will start becoming accidental and I just reacted when I saw you." Harry said with an innocent voice.
"What?" Snape asked. Harry only grinned and sent two strong Stunning spells at the men.
"Oops." Harry said with a shrug as the spells hit and both men dropped to the ground. "Come on, let's get out of here." Harry said quickly.
"Unexplored depths to you, deshi." Sensei said with a smirk.
"Yes, I'm sure there are." Harry smiled at his teacher and then turned to his aunt. "Why do I keep missing all of the good stuff? You gave Snape a black eye and you nearly knocked out my headmaster. Can I at least watch next time?" Harry questioned.
"I'll think about it." She told him. Harry gave a moan and shook his head.
"That means 'no'." He whined. He stopped himself and blinked. Weird. He had whined again in front of Aunt Petunia. Their relationship was changing. This was a good thing, right? Right?
"It won't work like that!" Hermione told Draco as she snatched back the plans for the Potter's Protectors next big plan. She scratched out one line and drew in another. "This will keep it hidden from view and still allow it to function. The other way would have announced its presence before we were ready."
Draco looked at her blankly before closing his eyes and putting his head on the table. "If your Head of House ever decides that you are perfect to continue the traditions, run far away and run very fast." Draco mumbled through his arms.
"He had you up late, did he?" She asked as she studied the boy's posture.
"Yes." He answered simply. Hermione decided that she wouldn't ask what they had been doing all night and returned to her plans.
"Okay, now that we've got that worked out….hmm." Hermione turned to her checklist and went through the items on it. Dodge Dumbledore? Check. Meet Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy in dungeons? Check. Breakfast? Check. Study Transfiguration? Check. Plan my part of next prank? Check. Study Potions? No check. "Time to study Potions." Hermione said, more to herself than to Draco.
"Do you ever stop, Granger?" Draco asked, irritated with his previous night's sleep.
"No." Hermione said shortly as she dug into her book bag for her Potions text. "This is Saturday and I have to spend it down in the dungeons. Why would I continue to do nothing?" Hermione opened her book and started reading her assignment for her next class.
"You are mental." Draco said as he lifted his head from his arms and pulled her prank plans towards him. "What is this thing?"
"Delay time release mechanism." Hermione mumbled as she unrolled a piece of parchment and frowned at the essay assignment.
"Huh?" Draco asked, staring at the diagram.
"Egg timer attached to a trigger." Hermione elaborated.
Draco blinked and looked down at the drawing again. "Why didn't you say that in the first place?" He said as he pushed the drawing back to her. Stupid know it alls and their cute little drawings.
Hermione glanced up at him before returning to her book. "I did. Just with different words." Hermione told him.
"You are mental." Draco buried his head in his arms again and proceeded to ignore his classmate. Yes, he knew he was insulting her, but he just couldn't bring himself to care in his current stupor of sleep deprivation.
"You're so adorable when you're sleep deprived." Hermione told him in a sweet voice.
Draco's head came up again and he looked at Hermione. "Really?" he asked.
"No." Hermione told him.
Draco scowled. "That wasn't nice."
"Why don't you take a nap?" Hermione suggested. "That'll save me from you descending into whining in the next twenty minutes or so." She motioned to the couch. "I'll wake you in time for lunch or when the professor comes back. Whichever one happens first."
"Alright. Wake me the second Professor Snape comes home." Draco left the table and went over to the couch. He toed off his shoes and settled down. Hermione only snorted under her breath and returned to her homework. She knew Draco would be unconcious of the world around him in exactly five minutes. She would finally get some peace and quiet to work.
She almost left her seat ten minutes later when the door swung open and admitted Professor Snape. He was not walking very fast, but at a steady pace laced with pain. His hand was clutching his forehead and he held his body inthe odd manner of one who had broken ribs.
"Are you alright, Professor?" Hermione asked as she stood up.
Snape nodded tightly and lowered himself into his chair. He looked at Draco on the couch and smirked. "I will tear your Golden Boy limb from limb if I ever find him without that aunt of his." Snape told her. Hermione had to wonder if the man was actually serious or if Harry was just a convenient scapegoat for his current affliction. "Miss Granger, would you be willing to go to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and fetch me the green bottle on the bottom shelf?"
"Of course, sir." Hermione dashed off to the bathroom and quickly located the bottle he had requested. She returned with the same speed with which she had left and handed the bottle into his waiting hand.
"Thank you." He said with a tight nod. Let it never be said that Severus Snape was not polite when others warranted such manners. He uncorked it and drained half the contents before setting it on the table. Draco stirred then and sat up. "Sleeping Beauty awakes." Snape commented with a snort.
"Severus? What happened?" Draco asked as he took in the state of his mentor.
"I met Harry Potter today in London." Snape said lightly. "He was kind enough to keep my involvement in the subterfuge of his whereabouts secret through what he called 'accidental magic'. I'm finding that difficult to believe." Snape explained while he massaged the bridge of his nose.
"Harry has always been good at accidental magic." Hermione informed him.
"That's disturbing." Snape said. "Far more disturbing than him actually having accidental magic at his age. It was supposed to have stopped by now." Snape said calmly. "What do you mean by 'good at accidental magic'?"
Hermione related the entire story of Aunt Marge to Snape who listened without comment. "Strange." He said after she finished. "Very strange."
"Yes, it is." Draco said in an odd voice. "You say you met Potter in London?" Draco steered the conversation back to why his mentor was in such bad shape.
Snape leaned his head back and nodded. "The headmaster called me shortly after my second class of the day. You two were already here and I was about to join you when his hyper little head appeared in the fireplace to ask me to join him. I, of course, went along with him. I find out that we are headed to the Ministry, for Harry Potter was sighted by one of our own there."
"Who?" Hermione asked. She wanted to tell Harry later who had alerted Dumbledore. Revenge would be fun. Merlin, Hermione was spending too much time with the Slytherins.
"Dolores Umbridge, believe it or not." Snape answered her. He looked at the children's faces and snorted. "My feelings exactly."
"That old cow?" Draco demanded. "That cold, callous-" he cut himself off before he could descend into the type of speech that would result in a rebuke from his mentor. He was tempted to continue but thought better of it. Hermione was not so restrained. She let out a series of swear words in French.
"You are very lucky I'm ignoring my comprehension of the French language, Miss Granger." Snape said with a sneer. Really, some of the things the girl had said.
"Good. It's all true, though." Hermione said as she started to pace.
"And anatomically impossible." Snape lifted his head and glared at her until she stopped pacing. "If I may continue?" He asked as Hermione sank onto the couch next to Draco. "Potter made it out, rest assured. He had two men with him who were acting like bodyguards. You are both acquainted."
"Paul and Sensei." Hermione said with a smile.
"Yes." Snape lowered his head again and sighed. "Both are well-trained and protected Potter to the utmost, but they did rely on him to make a rather, ah, explosive distraction. I'm afraid that the fountain will never be the same again." Snape finished with his explanation and sighed. His headache was not going away.
"Harry hates that fountain." Hermione said in a thoughtful tone. "Harry did get away, right?" She asked with a worried tone.
"Yes, Potter got away. As did the aunt and bodyguards. I'm sure Potter is just fine, Miss Granger. Go return to your work or whatever plotting you were doing before my arrival. I will ignore anything I hear or see for the next hour." Hermione nodded and moved back to the table. She dug into her bag and pulled out her Mini-Messenger.
"Do you think we should warn her before lunch appears on that table?" Draco asked Snape softly so Hermione wouldn't hear him.
"It's far more amusing to watch her reactions." Snape said as he closed his eyes.
-Skywalker, are you there?
-Right here, Mi. What's up?
-Snape just told me about your little trip to London. Why didn't you warn me? I could have had enough pranks set to go off that would have lasted Dumbledore a millennia.
-You'll call me stupid, but I forgot.
-You're right. You are stupid. Professor Snape tells me you got away safely.
-Yeah. My aunt nearly knocked out Professor Dumbledore and broke his nose. I never get to witness the good stuff.
-At least you're safe. That's all that matters.
-Dumbledore still after you?
-Yes. Professor Snape is protecting me. I spend a lot of time in his quarters as punishment for 'neglecting basic potions safety rules.' He set me up.
-Slytherin.
-Yes. How are you doing?
-Better and better. I had two panic attacks today, but the situation was really tense, so I'm not too worried. I go back to St. Jude's tomorrow.
-That's good. I'm sure you've been missing Paul and Zen.
-Yes, I have. Sensei has had me in the training hall every day for most of day. Quite annoying, but I've learned a lot.
-I'm sure you have. Please take care of yourself, Skywalker.
-I will. You, too.
Author's Note: There you have it. Next chapter: Harry's return to St. Jude's. A very large secret is hinted at. Paul and Sensei are suspicious. Why is Draco sneaking around? See you next time!