The house was painfully quiet. And empty. Adele looked around. It hurt to leave the place which held so many fond memories of her life. This is where Alonzo had brought her after wedding, where she had given birth to Blaise, raised him. And where Alonzo had kissed her goodbye before his accident.
Adele took a deep breath. Now was not the time to fall apart. It wasn't as if Adriano would have let her keep the property after knowing about Dante.
Adele was going to make sure no one separated her sons and this family ever again.
Remus looked at the girl he was holding. He was as uncomfortable about the situation as the girl squirming in his arms. So far, Hermione had been baby-sat by people he knew. Though, Albus had personally vouched for Molly, he wasn't comfortable as they didn't know the family.
"Looks like you are going to be here the whole day," Remus told the girl, pointing at the strange building in front of him. He was sure it was only magic holding the building.
He stood there for another minute staring at the house called Burrow, unsure of what to do. He could call off the whole thing, but Dumbledore had specifically asked them to leave Hermione somewhere safe so that they could try the tracking process at Hogwarts. Only Hogwarts was safe enough to experiment at.
"Oh-Hello! You must be Remus?" A plump witch said, hurrying towards Remus.
"Hi! Remus Lupin," Remus introduced herself to the woman.
"I am Molly," Molly introduced herself. "And this little girl here must be Hermione."
Hermione immediately relaxed as she was lifted out of Remus' arms by Molly. Remus relaxed automatically. If Hermione was okay with this, he was too.
"Come on in," Molly invited him as she went inside.
The moment Remus entered the house, wonderful smell of bacon and eggs filtered in his nostrils. Looking around he noticed a small crib with an infant inside. Another baby was nearby playing with a teddy bear. There were two more babies around, twins, it seemed who were playing tug on a baby broom. More voices could be heard, so, Remus guessed other children would be somewhere around. Albus had told him about seven kids.
"Molly, are you sure it won't be too much trouble, having another baby around?"
"Oh don't you worry, dear," Molly answered, handing him a cup of tea. "Xena would be here soon with her daughter. Between the two of us, it is easy to manage them."
Remus nodded and watched as twins approached Hermione and included her in their play that included some balls, toys brooms and parchments. Soon, Remus left, feeling happy now that Hermione was happy.
He was looking forward to the experiment.
"Ah, welcome, Severus."
Severus entered the Great Hall and nodded his head towards Albus who had welcomed him. He took his seat at the end of the table. All the requisite material was on the table. James was standing on Albus' left and Regulus on right.
"Now that everybody is here, let us start, shall we. I will explain the process and, then, we shall proceed with it.
As a precaution, there is no one in the Hogwarts today, except for Madam Pomfrey, who shall be alerted if anything unexpected may happen. I will be leading the process, starting with ancient chants that will provoke the blood bond James has with Harry. On my cue, Regulus will initiate his tracking spell that shall help us locate Harry and Severus will put James' blood in the potion. Once the location is clear, the potion will draw a map on the parchment."
"How long will the process take, Sir?" Sirius questioned.
"Provoking the blood bond shall take the longest, depending on the distance between us, Harry's health and presence of any other bond in Harry. Tracking spell and potion should not take more than thirty minutes to take effect and we shall have a location by the end of it."
Everyone nodded. Though Severus had objected being present during the process, he was pleased to have been forced by Albus to do so. He hadn't seen magical tracking done before and it should be informational, if nothing else. Of course, he wasn't sentimental to be here for any other reason.
"There is only one concern that i could foresee," Albus continued. "Provoking the blood bond is a difficult task. James may get tired during the process if it takes too long and may need to draw energy from someone. Might i suggest Remus first, to be followed by Sirius?"
"Why Remus?" Sirius interrupted. "I don't have a problem with that but he is thinner out of the two of us."
"Because he is a werewolf, Sirius, and that gives him inner strength that easily surpasses yours."
James, Sirius and Remus nodded.
"In case i may be in need of energy, i have requested Severus to assist me." Severus nodded. That was another reason he was here.
"Shall we begin?"
All heads nodded grimly.
At the head of table, Albus had been chanting some strange verses for an hour now, his wands making complicated movements. The atmosphere in the Great Hall had changed considerably. The temperature had dropped and there was mist all around, getting thicker by the minute. Sirius was not sure when the cue would come and how would Regulus and Severus know it.
Remus was standing by James' side, his wand connected with James'. Despite the chill in the air, James was sweating. Severus and Regulus stood alert, awaiting their cue. Sirius just hoped it would come to the stage where that cue would be given. He had been so excited about it that he wouldn't be able to bear it fail.
Suddenly, the mist around Albus cleared and there was a warm bluish glow around James. Immediately, Regulus began chanting and Severus made a small cut on his palm and held it on the cauldron of potion.
Sirius noticed the rivulets of sweat on Albus and James. Severus still hadn't moved from his position to assist Albus. Perhaps, they had a cue worked between them.
Severus was panicking inside. Albus was sweating rivers. But, Severus wasn't sure whether to assist him or not. Unlike James, Albus was using wand, so the traditional way of transferring energy couldn't be used. It had to be the dark one and Severus wasn't sure when to start.
Damn Albus for his vague answers. You would know. What kind of answer was that? Praying to whatever Almighty was up there, Severus hoped for a signal so that he could what Albus had requested him to do but not told much about.
Elvis had just tucked the boys in their bed. It has been a small but tiring journey for the boys, who were unused to portkey travel and international one at that. Presley and Blush were assisting Mistress in setting up the house. The house was smaller than the previous one but it had larger garden for the boy to play in. They had spent all their energy exploring it.
Elvis was just about to leave when she noticed a faint bluish tinge around Dante. It was flickering, sometimes blinking fast and sometimes so slow, Elvis thought it was gone.
Mistress needed to be made aware of this. The intentions behind such magic may not be good and Mistress would need time to be prepared.
Sirius had been assisting Remus and James for 15 minutes now, but all his focus was on Albus and Severus. Severus was still not assisting Albus, but he was chanting something. Something, Sirius, suspected was helping Albus stand. He wasn't sure how long will this take.
Sirius glanced hopefully towards the parchment where potion was trickling. It had started writing something on the parchment and kept ... flickering. If that was even possible.
Sirius wasn't sure anymore, if it was even working. Merlin, make it work!
Adele watched her sons sleep, observing the bluish tinge. She had taken a difficult decision whether to help that bluish tinge or block it. Hoping it might be boy's father, she had lowered the specific wards that were interfering with the spell.
Soon, she will know if this was a mistake or not.
She hoped for latter.
Severus sliced his palm open, made a similar cut to Albus' palm, joined them and started muttering his own chant. Some colour returned to Albus' face and blood trickling from his temple stopped. Severus hoped it would be over soon. After all he could see formations on the parchment, stronger than before. He just hoped Albus or James wouldn't give out soon.
Why would Albus go to such great lengths for someone was beyond Severus? He would be drained for so long and at his age recovery wouldn't be easy. Damn Albus!
Perhaps Harry was worth it.
He was Wizarding World's hope after all.
