I swear I'm not a slow writer. I'm not the fastest writer, but my biggest issue is lack of sleep and my job that keeps adding hours to my workday because no one else wants to ever show up. It's an endless and tiring cycle. I keep asking them not to and they do it, anyway.

Warnings: It's shounen-ai, slash, gay, Tom/Harry Sirius/Remus and vice versa. Don't like, don't read.

Chapter 14

"So, who wants to bet on how long it'll take Tom to come running back to Harry," James asked, his voice cheerful.

Harry choked on the stale air he was breathing, Sirius giving him a push forward when he stopped walking to hit his chest. "DAD!"

"He cares for Harry a lot, but he's also rather stubborn," Remus mused. "I'm thinking two weeks at most."

Sirius snorted. "Three, because the first time I see him trying to talk to Harry, I'm going to curse him, and he'll be spending a week in St. Mungo's."

"Sirius," Harry groaned.

"I'm going to say two days at most after we get out of here, you know, in case we get lost down here for a while," James said. "I think once he realizes Harry's safe, he'll stop worrying so much."

How could his family talk about his love life like this!? Well, he had a feeling he knew. He just thought they'd be nice enough to wait until after they'd saved his mother to start this conversation. Not that there was much else for them to do right now, and even though they hadn't come across a single bone yet, it was still a pretty depressing place to be. There was no sunlight to speak of. The air tasted old, unventilated, with plenty of dust and dirt particles for everyone to enjoy with each inhale of breath. Walking through cramped spaces with a 'map' that may or may not be correct didn't exactly inspire hope either.

"I know you're trying to make me feel better, but you don't know Tom like I do. It's over." Tom didn't like to waste time, and that's all he'd be doing if they remained a couple. "I still want to join the Auror department. Why would he bother taking me back if he's going to end up panicking every time I go to work?" Tom had probably realized that and decided to move on long before his outburst the day before.

And if he really thought about it, that wasn't the only reason their relationship probably wouldn't have worked. Tom never stayed in one place long. He was always running around researching something. Harry wouldn't notice it much while he was in school, but he wasn't foolish enough to believe he'd be okay with it once he graduated. Using Floo powder to get to the Ministry every day for work would make it easier, but only if they had a stable location to call home.

Then there was the question of whether or not Tom would even want him around while he was researching. If not, that could mean weeks, possibly months of not seeing him and that Harry knew for sure he couldn't do. He wasn't sure how he much longer he could handle it right now and it'd only been a few hours.

"I know you think you understand Tom pretty well, but before he's a genius, he's a teenager. I've seen the way he looks at you, Harry. He isn't going to give up that easily," James said, confidently.

A tiny part of Harry wanted to believe his father was right. That Tom would rethink everything and take Harry back, but his father was judging Tom by normal standards, not Tom standards. "I don't think—"

"We had a talk before he ran off to retrieve you from your kidnappers. I almost felt bad for them after seeing the look in his eyes."

"That was before the Ministry." When things had still been bad, but not bad enough to make Tom give up on him. That's not fair. Tom hadn't given up on him because of the Ministry attack. He'd given up on Harry because of his lack of concern for his own safety. How could he possibly worry about himself when his mother's life was on the line, though? Important stuff like that, you risked everything for. His family would do the same for him, excluding the Dursleys, of course.

"He's just scared he's going to lose you," James said.

"Then he should have come down here with us," Sirius said, his tone bitter.

"Sirius, Tom isn't even of age. We can't expect a sixteen-year-old to come help us storm the Paris Catacombs for a boyfriend he's known for less than a month."

"We would," Sirius muttered.

"Tom has this ingenious skill called common sense," James said, turning back to the two and grinning. "I don't even like that Harry's with us, let alone having to watch out for someone else's kid."

"What did you and Tom talk about?" Knowing probably wouldn't make him feel any better, but the conversation seemed to have convinced his father that Tom would never leave him. Tom was a master manipulator, though.

"Ask him when we get back."

Yeah, because Tom was going to be waiting for them outside the tunnel, ready to take him back like they'd never gotten into a fight. "Okay, what happens if we do survive and we go home, and he doesn't want to get back together?" Since that was exactly what was going to happen.

"Well, I guess you win the bet?" Harry glared at his father. "Alright. There isn't really anything you can do besides move on or try and win him back."

"Has anyone else caught your eye," Remus asked.

"… Kind of." But that relationship wouldn't be happening either. "But it wouldn't work."

"Why not?"

"… Politics."

"What, is it Fudge's relative or something," Sirius asked.

His godfather didn't sound too happy about that, and Harry didn't blame him. "No." He'd have a better chance of it if it were.

"Have you brought it up to them," Remus asked.

"No. I only realized they were kind of good looking after I met Tom."

"Trying to find a way to make him jealous," James asked.

"Yeah…" It always surprised Harry how well his father understood him.

"That's probably not the best reason to start a relationship with someone," Remus said.

"I know." He had enjoyed his time in Wiltshire with Draco, though. They'd joked around, had a real conversation, and had even shared a piece of cake on a bridge, watching ducks. That was romantic, right? The memory of Tom shoving him against the cabinets in Sirius' kitchen flashed through his mind. He dropped his head, his face burning. Not nearly as romantic as that.

"I wouldn't worry about any of it right now. If Tom doesn't accept your apology and take you back, we'll have more pressing issues to consider. Like whether or not we need Remus to tutor you the rest of the summer," James said, snickering.

Harry could tell his father was joking, but he was right. "Oh, yeah." He'd completely forgotten he might have failed an O.W.L. or two, which meant he'd have to retake some of his classes. Today was just getting better and better. On the bright side, Remus had tutored him before, and he'd learned a lot from his godfather. That had been during the summer leading into his first year, as well as a few hours here and there during other holidays. He'd gone into school keeping pace with Hermione until his third year had started. A week before getting on the train, his mum had mentioned how proud she was of him for his marks and how he needed to start thinking about his career choices because he had to start choosing electives. Somewhere between that talk and Quidditch tryouts, his brain had fizzled out. He'd considered asking Remus for help again, but his godfather always seemed so busy, and he hadn't wanted to bother him.

Instead of telling stories about the Triwizard tournament last summer, he should have been studying.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask for help sooner." If he had, he wouldn't have possibly failed some of his classes, and maybe Tom would have been a little more impressed with him. Tom might have had more confidence in Harry's abilities and wouldn't have freaked out like he had. And maybe they'd be walking through these catacombs together. Which again wasn't fair. Even if they'd been together for years, he wouldn't have expected Tom to come with.

"Asking and accepting help is something you learn as you mature. It's important to do things on your own, but when you know you need help, you need to ask," James smiled at him.

"Is that why you brought Harry with," Sirius asked, grinning.

"Of course not," James said, a slight edge to his voice. "I brought Harry with us so we could keep an eye on him. Do either of you believe for a second he'd willingly stay at Dumbledore's and wait for us to come back?"

"I wouldn't," Sirius said.

"Neither would l," Remus admitted.

"None of us would, Lily included, and I'm not going to pretend he would and risk his safety."

Not quite what Harry wanted to hear, but his father had let him come all the same so he couldn't really complain. Not when the alternative would have meant staying in one of the rooms in Dumbledore's house and locking himself in it until they returned, because he doubted Tom would miraculously forgive him if he'd decided not to go to the catacombs. He just hoped coming along wouldn't cause his family any problems. If they lost to Milan because of him, he'd probably never get over the guilt. If they managed to survive that far into the catacombs.

"So, what are you going to do to win him back," James asked.

Harry sighed. Hadn't his father been listening at all? "There's nothing I can do to get Tom back. One of the reasons they had the privacy request in Wiltshire was to keep his exs away. I don't want to be one of the exes he hates because I can't let go of him." Not that he blamed a single one of Tom's exs, himself included, for wanting to stay with him. If nothing else, it'd be nice to remain friends, though he wasn't entirely sure he could deal with that. Maybe Tom had the right idea about cutting all connections and letting broken relationships die. The idea of seeing Tom snogging someone else, or just knowing that there was someone else he preferred to snog, made his stomach knot up. Stop it. It's over. At least for Tom, anyway. His heart seemed determined to remain in denial.

"So, you're giving up," Remus asked, looking surprised.

"If you were mad at Sirius, really mad. Would you want him harassing you?"

Remus considered that. "Hmm… I suppose it would depend on what he did."

"I know all of you are trying to make me feel better, but it's over. I asked Dumbledore to burn the letter I wrote him as soon as we left." Tom would never know he'd apologized or how he really felt. He wouldn't have read the letter, anyway. If Dumbledore hadn't burned it, Tom would have, and it was easier to accept the headmaster destroying his letter before Tom even knew it existed. Easier to accept and process.

"You what," Sirius asked. "Why did you ask him to destroy the letter? You worked really hard on that."

James and Remus sighed.

Harry shrugged. Maybe once some more time went by, he would give them a full answer. For now… "Dumbledore didn't want us together, anyway." And Dumbledore did know Tom a lot better than he did, which he'd known, but hadn't wanted to fully admit. Knowing someone a week and a half was nothing compared to all the years the headmaster had raised Tom, and the headmaster had to know about all of Tom's previous boyfriends. If he didn't think Harry was a good fit for Tom, chances were pretty high he wasn't. "I was able to say what I needed to, and that's all that mattered."

"Why wouldn't he want you two together," Sirius demanded.

Why was his family being so dense? "Come off it. You said it yourself, Tom's a prodigy. Dumbledore probably doesn't think anyone is good enough for him." And Dumbledore was probably right about that, too. And the truth was Harry didn't come close to being anywhere near Tom's level in, well, anything. He wasn't as smart or strong. He definitely wasn't anywhere near his good looks. He was just an ordinary wizard who'd been stupid enough to let himself get caught up in the fantasy that someone like Tom would stay with someone like him. Lesson reinforced the hard way since his sanity had been screaming at him not to get close to Tom, that it would never last, and he'd been stupid enough to ignore all the warnings and common sense telling him not to give in and had kissed him, anyway.

"Yeah, and? Remus is super smart and talented too. He chose me."

"Lily was considered the best in our grade at almost everything," James added.

His parents had other great traits that he didn't though. His father was smart, even though he tended to hide it with humor and was a great leader. His mother was a brilliant healer, Remus was one of the smartest people he'd ever met, and Sirius was both smart and good looking. "The only thing I've shown I'm good at is Quidditch and repressing my feelings, so I don't fall apart right away."

Remus glanced at him. "… Actually, I'd say that's a rather crucial and hard to master leadership skill."

Harry looked up from his feet. "It is?" His godfather might just be trying to make him feel better. He was okay with that right now.

"What good is a leader who's overcome with their feelings when they need to think clearly?" Remus asked.

"That's true…." He hadn't given that any thought.

"You're going to make one hell of an Auror," James added. "Everything I've seen you do the last couple of days; I couldn't be prouder. You've put the good of everyone above your desires, you've fought fully grown and very dangerous wizards. You mastered a new spell under duress in a few tries. Tom may have you beat in some areas, but you have your own talents and gifts, and I wouldn't trade any of them for Tom's."

"Thanks, dad…." Milan wouldn't have to try to kill him anytime soon. He was going to die of embarrassment now.

They continued after that, the adults making small talk. I wish making up with Tom was as simple as they made it sound. Maybe years from now, after he'd found someone else, he could properly apologize to Tom without looking like an obsessed ex.

Time to distract myself. He gave the tunnel a once over. At some point they'd gone from dirt to stone and it had widened a little, but no more than two of them to be side by side. Still no bones. Which was both good and yet slightly disappointing. Weren't the tunnels themselves supposed to be made of them? Are we really in the catacombs at all?

James and Remus stopped, forcing Harry and Sirius to do the same. Somewhere in front of them, someone was gasping loudly and didn't seem to be concerned about being heard.

Remus nodded to James, and silently, he slipped down the hall. Seconds later he called out. "It's Klaus."

They shared a look and went after Remus. Not even five steps in, a tall blonde wizard was sitting against the wall, his breathing ragged, his hand clapped down on his stomach. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you guys," he said, wincing.

Harry noticed the blood trail opposite them and looked back at Klaus. Blood was soaking through the wizard's robes where his hand was. Remus was checking the man, nodding when Klaus didn't wince or grunt. He pulled his wand out and aimed it at Klaus. A gold light encased the younger wizard's entire body. Instantly, his breathing eased up.

"Thanks. Milan's not here… but this is where they've been holding everyone."

"Did you see Lily," James asked.

"No, but according to others, she's here. They set up traps in the tunnels. I managed to get a few people out before I stupidly triggered one. Lily and their other 'prized prisoners' are being held further in." He sighed. "I tried to send word to Dumbledore—"

"It's okay," James said. "We're probably the best backup you're going to get."

Klaus managed a short laugh that quickly turned into a groan. "Sorry, I think I broke a few of my ribs."

Remus gave another flick of his wand, the gold light once again pouring over Klaus. "That should fix it."

"Yeah," Klaus agreed. He took a few deep breaths. "The traps started about ten minutes of walking down this path. I disabled whatever I came across for the last few hours, but I know there are more. I didn't take every path."

"We'll be careful," James said. "Do you want one of us to walk you to the exit?"

"And let the three of you take all the glory as usual," he asked, snorting. "Just let me catch my breath, I'll come with."

"Are you sure," Sirius asked.

"Definitely. I can point out where I've been."

The adults exchanged looks. In the end, James shrugged. "Okay. So how bad is it?"

"Surprisingly, not that bad, for Milan anyway. Everyone I found was in a basic holding cell. No one had been tortured or even harmed."

"That means Lily is probably alright," Remus said.

James nodded. "We were worried Milan had changed his tactics and might have hurt Lily."

"I don't know about the others, but the people I got out were fine."

"Okay. That means we're probably going to be down here for quite a while," Remus said. "We should have enough supplies as long as we're careful."

"Are you sure you don't want to turn back Harry," James asked. "We might have to sleep down here. It could be days before we see the sun again."

Harry nodded.

James sighed and nodded back. "Okay."

"I should be okay now," Klaus said, climbing to his feet. He removed his wand and pointed it at his robes. "Scrubify". The blood stains vanished immediately.

At least we have help. Harry had only met Klaus a few times, usually in passing when he visited his father at the Ministry. James and Sirius had both spoken of him fondly more than once. Klaus' family came from a long line of Aurors, all of them held in high esteem. His father and grandfather still worked for the Auror department, and he had two siblings in training. One of Klaus' brothers, Rodrick, had just graduated from Hogwarts in June and would be joining the Ministry that summer. His youngest sister, Meredith, was entering her seventh year. Harry spoke with Meredith when they ran into each other, but her being a year older and in Ravenclaw didn't exactly allow for a lot of conversations.

"Did anyone give any indication of where the 'prized prisoners' might be? Leave us a detailed map, maybe," Sirius asked. "The one Dumbledore gave us is a little rough."

"Rough," Remus repeated, holding the map up.

This was the first time Harry had seen it, and he almost laughed. The 'map' was a large piece of paper drawn in tan crayon, with arrows pointing straight. Where else could they go? The tunnel hadn't branched off once. Further down showed branching tunnels, or what he thought were branching tunnels. Only one of them kept going, the other four had question marks next to them. The one that continued on stopped a few inches in. The rest of the map was blank.

Klaus managed to give Sirius a dark smile. "Wouldn't that have been nice? Unfortunately, Alexandre only spoke to taunt others. Granted, that's how the prisoners found out about the prisoners being held further in."

"Huh," James asked.

"Alexandre was taunting some of the prisoners up front that they should be glad they weren't in the back. That would mean their entire family was to be eliminated, not just them."

"Arsehole," Harry muttered. He was glad Tom had killed him. In fact, after they left the catacombs and got to Switzerland, he was going to send an expensive candy basket to Dumbledore's house. If he sent it under the pretense of it being for Dumbledore, Tom might actually eat some of it.

Klaus seemed to just notice that Harry was with them, his eyes widening, mouth falling open. "James, why did you bring your son with?"

"It's a long story," James sighed.

"You're being completely irresponsible! Lily is going to hang you." He shook his head.

"I would have come on my own if my dad hadn't brought me with," Harry said. He wasn't going to let his father take all the blame for this. Coming had been his choice, and he had to take responsibility for that choice. The good and the bad. Wait, what good? Well, he wasn't sitting in Dumbledore's house losing his mind and hating himself. On the other hand, if he had stayed, he would probably be at Dumbledore's house right now, snogging Tom, or at least cuddled next to him. And hating myself for being a coward.

"I see he has your reckless side," Klaus said, sighing himself.

"Well, he is my son."

"Yes, and Lily was so sure he'd inherited her ability to think."

"Well, he's not as bad as I am."

Harry opened his mouth to protest, realized the jabs were easier to process than his family gushing about him with Klaus present, and closed his mouth.

Sirius threw his arm around Harry's shoulders, glaring at Klaus. "Harry's more than proven himself these last few days."

In more ways than one. My most recent accomplishment, I haven't gone mad after the Tom Riddle dumped me. He dropped his gaze, snickering. Yet anyway. He was pretty sure he would, in time, hopefully in the privacy of his own bedroom.

"That's hardly the issue here," Klaus said. They entered the room Harry recognized from the 'map' with the six branching tunnels if you counted the one they'd just exited, all of them carved out of stone. One directly across from them, one on each side of the center tunnel, and a tunnel to their left and one to their right. The one directly across from them had to be the one that continued on the map.

"You said the prisoners you found were about an hour's walk down the main tunnel," James asked.

Klaus nodded. "Give or take. I'll be honest, I wasn't keeping the best tabs on my time. I was focused on locating and disarming traps," he said, making a face. "But I get the feeling we'll be down here for weeks."

"The prisoners don't have weeks, they'll starve," James pointed out. He looked at each tunnel before shaking his head. "Okay. We'll start with the tunnel you found the other prisoners in. If we don't find anything that suggests there are more prisoners farther back, we'll backtrack."

"I don't think it's going to be that easy," Klaus said.

Remus looked at Klaus Curiously. "Why not?"

"There were at least four more branching tunnels inside the room where the prisoners were being held. I didn't get to inspect all of them. There's a bend in the back tunnel of that room. That's where the traps start again."

"So, there may be more," Remus said.

"Yes," Klaus said, his face slightly red. "I saw the prisoners and my attention was on them. We talked, and I told them how to get out. After they took off, I started down the back tunnel and got hurt."

"We've all done it," Sirius said. "Next time make sure you inspect as much of a room as possible before rushing in to save someone. We don't do anyone any good dead."

Klaus nodded; his eyes downcast.

So even Klaus makes mistakes. Suddenly his dream of joining the Auror office didn't seem so out of reach. Klaus had graduated from Hogwarts with top marks and had still made a mistake. Aurors didn't start off as invincible warriors like he'd thought. He didn't have to be like Tom to get accepted into the department. His father and godparents had told him as much, but seeing it firsthand made it feel more real.

"Well, we have time to catch up," James said as they started down the middle tunnel. "How's the engagement going?"

"wonderful," Klaus said. "We finally decided on having the wedding and honeymoon in Ireland."

Sirius whistled. "Ireland is a nice place to get married."

"It's beautiful during the late spring and early summer," Remus agreed.

"Remus and I considered Ireland for our wedding."

"What made you change your mind," Klaus asked.

"Fairies."

Klaus stared at Sirius. "Fairies?"

"Sirius was convinced fairies would crash our ceremony and ruin it. I guess he wanted that legacy for himself," Remus said, giving Sirius a quick look.

Harry grinned, remembering the story, or rather stories, because he'd gotten one scenario from Sirius and a different one from Remus and his father, about Sirius and Remus' wedding. According to Sirius, everything had been going great until Sirius' parents had shown up and tried to ruin everything by attacking Remus.

Remus claimed the wedding had started falling apart a week before that when both of them had begun panicking about spending the rest of their lives together. James and Lily had had the honor of not only helping with last-minute wedding details, but also keeping the couple together.

"I did not ruin our wedding," Sirius said, pouting.

"Of course you didn't," Remus said, sarcastically.

"I didn't even tell my parents we were getting married."

"I wasn't even referring to your parents."

James shared a large grin with Harry and Klaus. "Don't worry Klaus, your wedding won't get hijacked by fairies or insane pure blood sympathizers. You and Alys come from normal families."

Klaus only shook his head, but Harry noticed he was smiling too. They continued talking about nothing in particular while using the Revelio Charm, their wands sweeping over the floor, walls, and ceiling, searching for traps in case some of them had reset.

The tunnel eventually opened into a large room. Set against the furthest wall was a holding cell. The door was open, the inside empty, but showed plenty of signs that it had once held people inside.

James whistled. "How many people were inside?"

"About twenty," Klaus said.

"Someone is bound to notice one of them has been released," Remus muttered. "Some of Milan's followers will come after us soon."

"The people I talked to said they've only spoken to Alexandre down here."

"Alexandre couldn't have been the only one taking care of the prisoners. He was impersonating Lily for weeks," Remus pointed out.

"And he wouldn't have let just anyone know where he was holding his hostages," James said.

"So, there's at least one person, probably more, that we don't know about, that Milan trusted enough to keep an eye on his prisoners," Sirius said, sighing.

"For the time being, let's assume there's at least two," Remus said. "One who was helping Alexandre care for the prisoners and possibly another who's tending to Milan's wounds right now."

"There were plenty of people who wanted to tear us apart after the Ministry attack," James said. "I think it's safe to assume Milan has plenty of people to care for him." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Who'd have thought someone so crazy could get so many people to follow him."

"It's his charisma," Remus said. "Even when he's asking for something horrible, he has a way of making others want to do it in order to please him."

"Umm… not to interrupt," Harry said, doing just that. "But if someone like Alexandre is going to be coming after us soon, shouldn't we be looking for the other prisoners?"

"Yes," Remus said, frowning. "I'm concerned we may be getting ourselves into something we can't handle. We knew how many and understood the men that broke out of Azkaban with Milan. There's no telling what these other people might be like or how many."

"There might not be any," Klaus said, all eyes going to him. "It may be that Alexandre was the main jailor with Gale and Nikolas were helping. They may have been using Polyjuice potion on themselves to make the prisoners think it was only Alexandre bringing them food."

"They were brought food? All of them," James asked, surprised.

"That's what a lot of the prisoners were saying," Klaus said.

"I can't imagine Alexandre bringing enough food for anyone. He'd bring just enough to get everyone in the prison to fight over it. He's known for keeping his hostages starved and sleep deprived." James shook his head. "They were taken care of too well."

"Mather made sure I had food for every meal," Harry said. "And Milan gave me food when I made it to that village."

"I doubt Milan was impersonating Alexandre," Sirius said.

"And Mather's too stupid to play the part," Remus added.

"So, we're probably dealing with someone who isn't as sadistic as Alexandre but is smarter than Mather. That narrows it down to half the wizarding community," James sighed.

"We can worry about what this other guy is like later," Harry said. "We need to get to the others before Milan sends his followers after us."

"Harry's right," Klaus said. "We can worry about profiling later."

The three adults nodded. "Wands ready," James said.

Together they started down the back tunnel, the blue light of the Revelio charm lighting their way.

(X)

Are you kidding me!? Harry glared at yet another dead end. Growling, he pulled his bookbag off and threw it onto the floor. He jerked the zipper opening it and pulled a notebook and pen out.

'Dead end, heading back to previous branch.' Dropping the pen into his bag, he tore the piece of paper out of the notebook and shoved said notebook into his bag, then pulled his wand out of his front pocket and tapped the paper. "Nuntium praeveho James Potter!" A pale green light encircled the paper. The paper folded itself up into a perfect square and shot off down the hall, out of sight before Harry could blink once.

An hour into their race against time into the catacombs, it had become obvious they were in trouble. They'd only been walking for maybe twenty minutes when Remus had given up on the small bits of information drawn on the 'map', what Sirius had dubbed as a useless stick figure drawing once they'd entered another branching tunnel and the piece of paper held no indication on which way they should go. Remus had shoved the piece of paper into his bag and began making small marks on the bottom of the walls, just noticeable if you knew what you were looking for. Another half hour in and the stone had faded back to dirt, and an hour after that they found themselves at yet another hall with numerous pathways. None of them looked like the main tunnel that they'd been following so far. Smaller, unrefined tunnels jutted out in random places, each one of those consisting of more side tunnels until they'd run out of options. Reluctantly, James had given in and allowed Harry to go on his own, as long as Harry agreed to keep in touch any time he found something. So far, all he'd found was dead ends.

Forget weeks, we'll be down here for months. He wouldn't have to worry about N.E.W.T.S. or O.W.L.S. because he'd have a whole year to study at home with his mother and Remus since he wouldn't make it back to school on time. Maybe he could spend more time at the Auror's office too. If everyone stuck in this damn maze didn't starve to death first.

A folded piece of paper in the shape of a circle shot into Harry's hand. He unfolded the note and read.

'Nothing from my branch either, but traps. No one else has had any luck. Meet back in last the main room.'

Harry hadn't even stumbled across a trap. Seemed like Alexandre and Milan hadn't given any attention to the other tunnels. He took the note and put it inside his bag. At least they'd cleared another tunnel. Sirius and Remus had already cleared the tunnels directly to the left and right of the last main room. James, Klaus, and Harry had gone down a single tunnel only for it to lead into multiple routes. When those paths had started to fork, James had cursed and shown Harry the spell to charm paper so they could send notes to each other.

There had to be another way Alexandre was traveling between prisoners or an entrance closer to the other holding cells. One look at his watch told Harry they'd been in the tunnels for over three hours now. It would be too much of an inconvenience to keep such a distance between the two.

Tom would know what to do, he thought bitterly.…. He stopped, a crazy idea running through his head. If I… but… No, dad said the notes only worked in a defined area. So, within the catacombs, in the Ministry building. Sending a magical note wasn't like sending an owl to someone.

Sighing, he started walking again. It would have been nice to send Dumbledore a note asking for suggestions, or an army of people to help check every new path that appeared, but it would only fly to one of the exits and stop. Why hadn't anyone made a stronger spell that would allow the note to go farther? There, I'll invent that spell and become famous. Then people could harass him nonstop until his family and him had a privacy option in place whenever they left home and a Fidelius Charm on their private home.

He rolled his eyes. Even if he managed to invent the spell right now, there would be no way for him to test it and see if Dumbledore got the letter, let alone get a reply from the headmaster.

"We're definitely doing something wrong," he muttered, starting back to the last main room. Somewhere in this maze was a direct path to the prisoners, or as direct a path as one could have in the catacombs. What if they'd chosen the wrong tunnel from the first branching point? They might have to backtrack hours to get back to the first chamber and try out a different tunnel. "I wish Tom was here…."

Harry stopped, his foot hitting a wall of rock. Frowning, he looked up. "Huh…?" He stared at the wall. Where in the hell did this come from? He turned around. The only path forward snaked ahead, and he turned back in the direction he'd been going. A natural stone wall now sat in his way. He couldn't tell the difference from the walls on either side of him and the new one that had popped out of nowhere. "Umm…" He pushed on the wall. Nothing budged. His heart began to speed up as he moved along said wall, pushing against it. There hadn't been any turns or extra tunnels when he'd first come through here.

I'm trapped! He turned back and started walking again, praying he'd somehow gotten confused and made a turn down a path he hadn't originally noticed. Only he knew that wasn't the case. "It'll be okay," he told himself. Even if he couldn't get out, his father knew what tunnel he'd walked down. When Harry didn't show up at the main room or reply to any of his charmed notes, he'd come looking for Harry. Not that it'd do any good if they couldn't get rid of the wall.

He placed his hand on the wall and started the four-minute walk back to where the original dead end had been. Soon enough he was back, the dead end still there. "Now what?" He turned back the other way, placed his hand on the other side of the wall and started walking back. This time he walked for two minutes before he came face to face with the wall. "What…?" Harry was positive the wall had been further away. Hell, not even in existence the first time he'd gone through. And now it was following him!

Maybe I'm losing my mind… Maybe instead of his insanity taking the form of stalking Tom and driving him crazy, he was losing his sense of reality. He wasn't quite sure if he should try going back again and risk the wall moving closer or just sit down and hope his father found him. My mother's going to die because I was stupid enough to get caught in a trap between two walls!

"Calm down," he growled at himself. "I have gotten through worse!" Only this time his bad luck and stupidity were going to get his mother killed. "Tom wouldn't panic, he'd get angry." Only blind rage wouldn't be of much help either. Maybe I can break the wall? Just as he thought that, the wall behind him began shaking. Harry didn't even have time to yell before the wall pushed forward, him going with it, straight for the dead-end. "Um. Um!" He turned and aimed his wand. "Petrificus Totalus!" The wall didn't seem to care and kept pushing forward. This is a really stupid way to die! His body shoved into the wall in front of him and smashing his body. Of all the ways he'd thought Milan might kill him, this one had not occurred to him.

Harry closed his eyes, groaning, and suddenly he was weightless. His eyes snapped open as he fell face first into a tunnel, this one aimed down. He collided with all sides of the tunnel, hitting his head and hands. He tried to slow his descent by grabbing at the walls, but a rather hard hit to his head had stars flying across his vision and his wand, his only source of light, shooting down ahead of him. He wasn't sure if he was screaming, but he thought he was.

He flew out of the tunnel, his back hitting cement flooring, before he rolled five, possibly more, times before he finally came to a stop. I'm alive… Sore as hell. But that would heal. He tried to sit up and stopped immediately as everything spun, including the stars. "Ugh…"

Wherever he'd landed, the air was colder, damp even. After all the dryness and dirt, this felt wonderful. As long as none of Milan's followers found him or a wondering magical creature, he could rest peacefully until the throbbing of his head stopped.

"Harry?" Footsteps. "Oh, my — what are you doing here!?"

Harry forced his eyes open. "M, mum?" His heart leapt. It was his mother. He'd found her and she was still alive, despite everything. Tears started forming in his eyes.

"I'm going to kill your father," she growled, kneeling beside him.

"You're okay!" Once again he tried to sit up and failed.

"Of course I'm okay." She didn't exactly look okay though. Her face had bruises all over it, her normally beautiful hair was matted with what Harry suspected was blood. Someone had ripped small patches out. No doubt her contribution to the Polyjuice potion Alexandre had been drinking. There were rips in her long-sleeved blue shirt with smears of mud and blood across her stomach and arms. Her jeans didn't look much better. Despite all of that, there was a fire in her eyes. She snatched Harry's wand from off the ground and tapped it against his forehead. Harry closed his eyes as the feeling of a warm bath washed over him. His vision stopped dancing and the soreness he'd just been feeling melted away. "Better?"

He nodded. "Much." He sat up, throwing his arms around her, and pulled her into the tightest hug he could manage. Her hands went around his back, holding him just as close. "Dad and I weren't sure…"

"I'm fine. I know you don't have a high opinion of healers, but I married your father and I've had to deal with Sirius Black since I was eleven. I know how to stand my ground." She stroked the side of his hair. "But it hasn't been easy," she admitted. "I was so worried about you and your father and when Alexandre stopped coming, well, we got worried. What's going on outside the catacombs?"

"A lot," Harry admitted. "Dad didn't tell anyone what was going on, so I thought Alexandre was you, and we got into a fight over me wanting to be an Auror on our way to F.A.I.R.Y. And I wouldn't have even known someone was impersonating you if Tom and Hermione hadn't said something, but I'd just been saved by Tom from being kidnapped by Milan, so-"

"Wait, calm down." She rubbed his back gently. "How did you not suspect anything when I made you and your father attend F.A.I.R.Y?" The rest of his story seemed to sink in then. "Wait, Milan kidnapped you!? And who's Tom?"

"My boyfriend," he said, then frowned as his mother's eyes widened. "Well, ex boyfriend. He dumped me after we were attacked at the Ministry and I almost died and then wanted to come to the catacombs to help find you as soon as we could move."

"I missed your first boyfriend?" She was holding him tight again. "And that…." she cut herself off, growing.

"Mum?"

"I'm so sorry, Harry. If we'd have gotten out sooner…"

"I'm just glad you're okay."

"I'm glad you're okay. But I'm still going to kill your father for letting you come here."

"I would have followed, even if he told me no."

She sighed at that and gave him a warm, defeated smile. "I guess I have all of your influences to thank for that. Well, you might as well come meet everyone else."

"How many people are here?"

"About ten. Only a few are conscious, though. I'll be borrowing your wand to fix that, if you don't mind?" She raised an eyebrow in question.

"Of course not."

The two of them stood up then and started down the path. From the floor to the ceiling on both sides of them were hundreds upon hundreds of human bones.

"Maybe you should tell me more about what's been going on, slowly."

"Okay."

(TBC)