Chapter 2

Hackney, London

Roan Nott, the scion of the powerful pure-blood Nott family, walked uncertainly down a Muggle road in London. He hated being here, but unlike his father Theodore Nott, a classmate of Harry Potter, Roan knew pure-blood families needed to use and feel more comfortable among Muggles. For the past 30 years, mud-bloods and half-breed blood traitors like the Potters and Weasleys had been in control of the Wizarding World and cowed once-powerful families like the Malfoys and his own. However, unlike the idiot Malfoys, the Notts had managed to retain their wealth and remain out of sight of Harry Potter and his Aurors.

Nott approached his destination with caution and silently cast Homenum Revelio. 'No one around.' Nott looked at the dilapidated warehouse with distaste and thought his contact was being overly careful and overly dramatic.

'Why meet in a Muggle building and why pick one so awful?' he thought to himself.

Roan Nott knew a bit about Muggle crime fiction and this building was as cliche a meeting location as was possible. He signed heavily and made his way into the building. He consulted his antique pocket watch. He was on time, as always, and he hoped his contact would be as well. His hopes were dashed as 10 minutes gave way to 20 minutes and finally 40 minutes. He sensed someone entering the room. He slowly turned, holding his wand.

Nott was surprised by his contact, a tall and well-built man with a full and unkempt beard and long hair. The man inhaled deeply through his nose as if smelling Nott.

"I am Axel Fenrir!" The man announced roughly and with an accent that Nott could not immediately place.

"No, you're late!" Nott hissed with disdain. "I don't appreciate communicating with lackeys… especially..." Nott appraised Fenrir coldly, "werewolf lackeys!"

This elicited a low growl from Fenrir. Nott simply stared back with contempt. They were at a stalemate. Nott had finally placed the werewolf's accent. It was Scandinavian. Nott continued to glare at the Norse werewolf. A woman's voice punctured their staring match.

"Now-now boys. Let's play nice!" Nott turned to find Invidia Sterling smirking back at him.

Auror Office, Diagon Alley

Albus Potter left the interrogation room despondently. 'Nothing was going right! It was all for nothing.'

"No luck?" His father, Head Auror Harry Potter, asked softly.

"No! None at all. They are a total dead end." Albus banged his right hand against the wall hard enough to hurt it. He used his left hand to massage his injured right.

"Feel better, do you?" Harry asked with a grin. Albus shook his head in the negative. "You'd do that as a boy? I could never understand what the walls and doors did to incur your wrath. I got really good at repair spells, though! Although I was much moodier and destructive as a boy. I guess I have no place to talk."

Albus was duly chastised. "I'm sorry! I think I understand what Lily is feeling. A normal drive to find a suspect quickly becomes an obsession."

Harry Potter nodded knowingly. "How is Lily? Did Rose get through to her?"

"It wasn't easy, but yes, Rosie got through to her. She always does," Albus remarked to his father with a wide smile.

"Good! I thought she would. Rose is at times better with Lily than your mother. Lily is doing the right thing; she made the right decision." Harry Potter put family matters aside and refocused on their shared professional duty.

"Hasdeu was right about Invidia. She's more devious, more dangerous, and more connected than we gave her credit for," Harry Potter handed the folder he'd been carrying to Albus.

Albus' green eyes widened in alarm. "Is this intel reliable? Has she really?"

Harry Potter held a single finger to his lips for silence. "Yes and yes, Albus. It's what we've always feared…"

Tribeca, Manhattan

Andrew Fontana walked alone, as he did most nights, on the No-Maj streets of the Tribeca section of Manhattan. He'd been avoiding the magical Stone Street district, home to the majority of the Wizarding World in New York City, since his return. He gazed at the No-Majs surging around him and thought how much he preferred the British expression 'Muggles'. Not only did it sound better to his ears, but it was also one more connection to Lily Potter… his girl.

'I hope,' he thought despondently, 'you still want to be my girl, Lily.'

Trying to regain his position while simultaneously balancing a long-distance relationship-if it could even be called that-was proving much harder than he had expected. His frustration and loneliness were coming between him and Lily. He knew he was hurting her, but his life felt so uncertain at the moment and sharing it with Lily seemed unfair to him. She deserved more.

"So tell me about her." Juliet Tauris' order had surprised him. Shaken him.

"Lily!? She's everything! She's everything good in my world…" He'd been unable to say more and abruptly walked off, leaving a nonplussed Juliet Tauris standing at his desk.

He'd never discussed Lily with anybody, not that he had anybody to discuss her with. His whole immediate family, everyone he loved, was dead.

He had nobody but Lily now and that scared the hell out of him, too. It wasn't her job to put him back together; to fix what had been shattered.

He felt the stares of several provocatively dressed Muggle women who seemed very appreciative of his good looks, as they left a busy bar. He smiled politely but blandly and moved on before they could approach him further.

As he walked he sensed someone following him and discreetly placed a hand on his wand. He moved without haste into an alleyway and waited. His body tensed for battle. Nobody followed him and after a moment he left the alley, but he froze as someone called to him.

"You sure love to wander about Auror Fontana… and all the Muggle women are left to follow in your wake!"

He turned and gasped at his purser.