Carrow Part Two: The Cape Is Watching

"Ron, what are you doing out of bed? You're supposed to be resting!" Harry berated his recently-injured friend.

"I'm Mad-Eye's 'enforcer,' Harry. I can't just lay around the tent. I have to get out there and show Goldilocks that we're not afraid of him.

"You could help, you know."

"Me? I'm a little bit more concerned about my family being caught in a shootout."

"You're the Cape. I've read the comic books. The real Cape would see that the attack on your family and the attack on me were connected—they're both symptoms of this gang war—and he would be out there doing something about it!"

Harry stared at the redhead.

"Ron, that's just a comic book! I'm not a superhero!"

Tonks entered the tent then and frowned.

"Harry, why did you let Ron get up? You know he should be in bed!"

"He was…" Harry trailed off. How was it his fault that Ron was pushing himself too hard?

"I just heard that Goldilocks is flying in Carrow," Tonks informed them.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"Amycus Carrow: A bomb expert; sounds like things are getting serious," she replied.

Ron gave Harry a look, imploring him to do something to try to act up to his moniker. Harry sighed.

"What does Carrow look like?" he asked.

"No one knows," Tonks answered him.

"How can no one know?" Harry asked skeptically.

"He's never left the U.K. before. All we know is that he has some kind of scar on his face," she explained.

The wheels in Harry's head started turning.

"And that's it? Otherwise, as far as Goldilocks knows, he could look like anyone?" he asked. Tonks nodded. Harry turned to Ron.

"I'm going to need a crash course in bomb making."

~TC~

One extremely compressed course later, Harry was waiting back at his hideout. Finally, the door opened and his partner strolled in.

"You're late. You said you'd be right over—that was two hours ago," Harry complained.

"Maybe it took me a little longer to get the stuff than I thought it would," Hermione returned, completely unapologetic. She rolled up his shirt and started strapping a wire on. "It's copper-flex wire. You shouldn't have to worry about pat-downs, although obviously a strip search would give you away, as would a metal detector. Try to stay away from magnets."

She pulled away at last and, to her disappointment, Harry pulled his shirt back down. Her face flushed and she turned her back to him.

"Orwell, what's going on? I know your heart hasn't been in the work lately."

"Drop it Harry," she said quietly.

"If you don't work through whatever is bothering you, you won't be able to protect the city from Snape!"

Steps from the door, Hermione froze. That was part of the problem. She was no longer sure she wanted to keep fighting against her father. She faced Harry.

"Get out of my head," she said firmly, "or find a new partner." With that, she turned and left.

~TC~

Sirius entered Mad-Eye's trailer.

"My brother, Regulus, found a job for me upstate. It's not great, but it's a start. I've already started packing."

"Sirius," Moody growled.

"I'm leaving, Mad-Eye. I want my share of the Montecarlo heist before I go. You want to stay here with the cop, that's your business."

"I'm a thief, same as you are, Black. Do I strike you as particularly patient, compassionate or charitable? I'm not! Angelo Dundee trained Muhammad Ali. Mad-Eye Moody has been training Harry Potter."

"Good for you, but—"

"You never asked me what I was training him for!" Moody barked.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't concern me," Sirius said, turning to leave the trailer.

"Delacour,"* Moody said, stopping Black in his tracks.

Sirius turned and stared at Mad-Eye. Then he shook his head.

"You don't mean that. You're just saying that to string me along so I won't leave yet."

"Am I?" Moody asked.

Before Sirius could reply, Harry barged through the door of the trailer.

"I've got a plan to strike back at Goldilocks and ARK, but I need your help," Potter announced.

Sirius held Moody's gaze for a moment before answering.

"Well, I guess I'll be staying around a little longer, then."

~TC~

One of Goldilocks' men was driving Amycus Carrow from the airport to Lockhart's warehouse. The street was deserted but for the car and a taxi that was gaining on them.

"Do you have kids, Carrow?" the driver asked.

The collision interrupted their conversation. The taxi, in an apparent attempt to pass the other vehicle, had crashed into it and now blocked the way. The taxi driver jumped out of the cab and started screaming at them in Russian.**

"Speak English," Goldilocks' minion yelled back.

Sirius Black went right up to the driver's window, abruptly stopped shouting, and put him in a trance.

"You picked him up from the airport and drove straight to the warehouse," Sirius hypnotized the man, who was oblivious to what was happening in the backseat.

When the gangster came to, Sirius and the cab were gone. He adjusted his rear view mirror and glanced back at his passenger.

"So as I was saying…er, what was I saying?"

"Just drive mate," Harry told him, sounding impatient.

~TC~

Goldilocks smiled as he entered the main room of the warehouse. The smuggler addressed the leather clad man sitting before him.

"So you're Carrow."

"Nah, I'm the freakin' Dalai Lama," Harry replied. He'd slicked back his hair and had used makeup to create the illusion of a scar along the right side of his face. He was doing his best to disguise his voice. As long as he didn't drop into a rasp, he was pretty sure Goldilocks wouldn't put him together with the Cape.

Hopefully pretending to be Carrow wouldn't be too difficult.

"I understand your exploits have made quite the number of headlines back in England," Gilderoy said.

"No more'n the headlines your organization makes over 'ere," Potter returned.

"Quite right; forgive me, but that scar looks horrible. Was there nothing that could be done about it?"

"Wouldn't want to; chicks dig scars," Harry said, winking.

Lockhart beamed.

"Do you know? I think you'll fit right in! Smith, come here! Let's show Carrow the space you set up for him."

The three men ascended the stairs to the second story of the warehouse and headed down a hallway to the makeshift laboratory.

"Smith, did you get the bat guano?" Gilderoy asked, naming of one the rarer ingredients that Carrow had requested before leaving for Palm City.

"Yes," Smith asserted.

Gilderoy wrinkled his nose as they entered the lab.

"I tell you, Carrow, if it weren't for your sterling reputation, I'd think you were mad. Anyhow, I'll leave you to it."

Alone, Harry examined the space. Supplies had been set up on the table that dominated the room, but he was more interested in the cracked window that overlooked the lower level of the warehouse that he'd just come from.

Yes, this would be the perfect place for spying on the smuggler.

~TC~

Meanwhile, back at ARK Tower, Severus Snape sat in Dumbledore's office. Albus had persuaded him to retrieve the box with Chess' contacts from the penthouse. The doctor waited outside while Severus opened the box pensively. The billionaire looked at the cosmetic contacts. He still thought this was a bad idea, but…well, Chess had wanted a chance to drive.

When Albus reentered his office, Chess was sitting behind the desk, waiting for him, an old fashioned pen in his hand.

"Do you know," Chess drawled, "that it would take about seven seconds for me to use this pen to sever one of your arteries? Removing, say, one of your corneas would take a little longer, about sixteen minutes." He lifted his chin, silently daring the bearded man to give him a reason he shouldn't do just that.

Unperturbed, Dumbledore pointedly looked at his watch and counted to seven.

"I seem to still have my corneas," Albus observed. "So how about we talk about you and Severus? You know that Severus is unhappy when you just start talking to him like you did the other night. You want him to be happy, don't you?"

Chess sneered. Yes, he wanted Severus to be happy, but that didn't mean he was going to disappear. Severus needed him.

"There are doors that are currently closed to you," Albus continued, "doors which I can open. Interested?"

Chess lowered the pen slightly. Dumbledore had his attention.

~TC~

Mad-Eye strolled into Goldilocks' conference room. Ron had told Moody earlier that the smuggler had demanded a sit-down with him. Goldilocks thought he was the mayor of Trolley Park? Fine; then he'd act the part.

Moody took a seat at the table. Goldilocks sat down, too. There were a few other men there, Zacharias Smith being one of them. Moody didn't recognize the man in the purple turban.

"This is Quirrell," Goldilocks made the introductions.

"P-pleased to m-meet you, M-Mad-Eye," Quirrell said.

"Quirrell suffered a brain injury as the result of an altercation a few years back. He's been stuttering ever since,"*** Gilderoy explained to Moody.

Quirrell, apparently, led a rival gang, but had negotiated a truce with Goldilocks. Gilderoy hoped to reach a similar arrangement with Mad-Eye.

"How's Carrot Top?" Goldilocks inquired, referring to Ron.

"He'll live, no thanks to your thugs," Moody growled.

"Ginger Spice**** had it coming," Gilderoy asserted. "Trolley Park is prime real estate and you haven't been paying taxes to me. From now on, you're going to give me forty percent of everything you take in."

The magician stood up from the table.

"Contact me again when you're ready to make a serious offer. And consider this, Goldilocks: By profession, I make things disappear. Sometimes, they don't come back." With that, Mad-Eye threw down a smoke pellet and disappeared from the room.

"I love it when he does that," Goldilocks smiled.

~TC~

Severus Snape opened his black eyes (no longer obscured by the blue contacts) and discovered that he was lying down on Dumbledore's couch.

"Welcome back," Dumbledore said as Snape sat up.

"What happened? How did it go with Chess?"

"Chess won't be bothering you anymore," Dumbledore assured him, his blue eyes twinkling merrily.

"Oh?" Snape raised an eyebrow. "What's Chess getting out of that?"

"Severus, listen to me: There is no Chess. There's just you. You don't have to distance yourself from the parts of you that are dark. There's good and evil inside all of us."

"Right; what did you promise him?"

"Severus, Chess is gone. Look inside yourself. Look for the place you usually sense Chess. What do you feel?"

Obligingly, Snape closed his eyes and looked inwards. Then he opened his eyes, stunned.

"There's nothing there. I can't feel him," Snape admitted.

"That is as close to a happy ending as we get in my profession," Dumbledore said, smiling as he walked Snape to the door.

The billionaire might have gotten his degrees in engineering, rather than psychology, but he was quite sure that you couldn't get rid of a second personality by offering it tea and lemon drops and asking him to politely go away. Severus paused and looked at the older man.

"Albus, I've known you a long time. I respect you. So I want you to heed me: Never lie to me." Snape spread his hands, communicating this wasn't up to him. "I can only tell you that once," he warned the doctor, before departing the office.

~TC~

That evening, the Cape showed up to thwart a heist that Goldilocks' and Quirrell's gangsters had teamed up for. Harry had learned about the location and time of the plot by eavesdropping on the two leaders earlier in the day.

Now the vigilante hoisted Smith up with his cape and told him to listen closely.

~TC~

"He said what?" Gilderoy demanded of Smith, who had returned to the warehouse with news of the foiled plans.

"He said: 'Tell the Ken Doll that ARK may be blind, but the Cape is watching,'" Zacharias repeated.

Goldilocks cursed.

"How the hell does he know what I'm up to as soon as I do?" Oh, great. He could see Quirrell getting out of a car outside. He did not look happy.

Lockhart left the warehouse to go greet Quirrell, who was carrying his turban in his hands.

"What t-the hell h-happened to-tonight?" Quirrell demanded.

"Now, it's just a minor setback," Goldilocks began.

"R-really? B-because it sounds t-to me as though y-you've got a l-leak in y-your organization. I-if you d-don't f-find it and plug it u-up, you can f-forget w-working together!" With that, Quirrell slammed his turban onto his head. Then he grimaced and pulled it off.

"What t-the f-f-…?"

Goldilocks looked from Quirrell's head to the inside of the turban which, if he wasn't mistaken, was covered in bat guano. The blonde narrowed his eyes.

Meanwhile, in the shadows of the warehouse, Harry dumped an empty container in the rubbish bin.

~TC~

The next day, Harry set up a miniature camera as Vernon Dursley from ARK entered the warehouse, demanding to collect the money that Goldilocks had promised Snape.

Gilderoy handed Vernon an envelope full of cash. Dursley frowned.

"This should be heavier," he insisted.

"We ran into some unforeseen difficulties, involving the Cape—"

"I don't want to listen to your excuses!" Dursley cut him off. "Whatever happened shouldn't affect the weight of this envelope.

"Look: You leave the business district alone, kick twenty percent of your take over to Snape and ARK, and the rest of the city is yours. That's not only fair, that's generous," Dursley admonished the smuggler.

~TC~

"What are you doing?" Smith asked Potter, who had been watching and recording the whole scene from above. Harry, turning away from the window, shrugged off the question.

"Who is the Cape?" Harry asked.

"None of your concern," Smith muttered. "The right, huh?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Your scar's on the right side of your face," Smith observed.

"Yeah, so?" Harry asked.

"It's funny, 'cause when you called, you said we'd recognize you at the airport 'cause of the scar on the left side of your face," Smith informed him.

"You must have misheard me," Harry said.

"For your sake, I better have. Now come on, Goldilocks wants to see you."

"I'll be there in a minute."

"I don't think you understood me. You're coming, now!"

~TC~

Back at Trolley Park, Sirius looked up at the noise he'd heard. He went to investigate the source of the sound and grimaced.

The cage that they'd been keeping the real Carrow in was empty. The prisoner had managed to blow up the lock and he'd escaped.

Now it was just a matter of time until Goldilocks discovered it wasn't the real Carrow in his midst.

~TC~

"You wanted to see me?" Harry asked Goldilocks.

"Pack your stuff. We're going to blow up Moody's tent tonight. Maybe then he'll learn how to respect the city's Godfather."

"Not a bad plan, mate," Harry said.

Goldilocks' dazzling smile faltered. He approached Potter.

"It was your plan," Gilderoy reminded 'Carrow.'

"Like I said, not a bad one," Harry tried to cover his slip.

"Right; Smith, escort our friend this way, please."

~TC~

Goldilocks had Harry sit at the conference table with Smith and some of his other men. In the center of the table was a cake. One piece of the cake was missing.

"Smith, for your loyalty, you get a piece of cake," Goldilocks said, putting a slice in front of him. Gilderoy proceeded to give out slices to his getaway drivers. Another slice was given to some slob sitting next to Harry, "for his fashion sense," Gilderoy said jokingly.

"You see, to get a piece of cake, you have to have demonstrated your trustworthiness. You'll notice there's a piece of cake missing," Gilderoy announced to the room. "That's because there's a rat in our midst."

On cue, the real Amycus Carrow walked in. (Sure enough, the left side of his face was scarred.)

Gilderoy whirled on Potter.

"No cake for you. Get him!"

Footnotes/Author's Note:

*The line in the episode was "Deveraux." I am not elaborating on it in the text as it was one of the loose threads we were left with when the show was cancelled. However, IronAmerica created a backstory for the character of Deveraux for her fic "Time Again." With IronAmerica's permission, I have borrowed Deveraux for some of my fics, modifying the backstory where convenient.

**The Russian is a nod to Gary Oldman's character in the 1997 movie: "Air Force One." Do yourself a favor and rent it. (Yes, I mean you.)

*** I've checked, and while it may not be a common cause of stuttering, it does happen.

**** Ugh, Spice Girls reference. I do hope that any redheaded readers will not take offense. I nearly went with Hendricks from "The Dresden Files," but don't know whether Gilderoy would have been familiar with the novels.

Thanks to IronAmerica for beta-ing the chapter! And thank you to dem bones, IronAmerica, and Orwell for reviewing!

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