Disclaimer: Not mine.

Rebirth

Chapter 7

Arthur was on his feet and running to the floo as Vincent stepped into it. Throwing down the powder, they headed for the Leaky Cauldron. Tom's floo was the closest to Helen that they could safely use. Many others had been damaged during the last fight, or had been taken of the network to stop Death Eater escape and had not yet been re-established.

They stepped out to a room just beginning to fill for the morning meal, and found Tom lazily sitting at the counter drinking his first cup of tea for the day. Seeing Vincent and Arthur step out of the floo he waved them over frowning.

"Arthur, little early for you to be out. Don't say I remember having you here in time for breakfast." He sipped his tea and looked over the rim, then set his cup down seeing Vincent's face.

"What is it Vincent. More problems with the Ministry?"

"No. I know its early Tom, but you need to unward the back door and let us in that way. I don't want the noise of apparation alerting anyone."

"Helen?"

Vincent nodded and walked toward the back door as Tom grabbed his robes from the back of the bar and joined them. He un-warded the doors and sent his Patronus upstairs to the barmaid, telling her to come down and watch the place until he came back. He slapped Vincent on the back as he passed him in the short hallway to the back door.

"Let's go boy." He opened the door, holding it open for the two to step out into the back yard and hurried to the wall. "Vincent, why do you think she is danger?"

"I think someone wanted to make sure they had access to my home. They are looking for something." Vincent stepped to the side as Tom tapped the bricks.

"There was a journal, after the fire it was in the same room I was kept in. Elsie was there all the time so it would have been too hard for them to get in." He spoke hurriedly as the bricks slide back and opened the wall.

"The first time I really went out for any length of time was to get my wand. Then it was with Helen when we had lunch at your place." He looked at Tom evenly. "They attacked knowing I was on my way to see her. They planned to accuse me. Then they poisoned her thinking they could get rid of both of us that way."

"We don't know that for sure." Arthur interrupted Vincent's story. "We have to make sure before we take this to the Ministry."

"Right now we need to get the witch." Tom began running down the pavement to the wand shop with the others close at his heels.

Tom threw the door open to the shop and sighed in relief when Helen stepped out of the back room with her wand drawn.

"Tom?" She looked at him and then saw the other two walk in behind him. "What is going on? Gods man, it sounded like you were taking the door off."

"Put that wand down." Tom smirked at her. "That is a nasty habit you are picking up."

She slid her wand up her sleeve and walked over to Tom, stood on her tiptoes and gave his a kiss on the cheek. "And it is a nasty habit you have of running in here all the time."

"Umm," Tom looked back at Vincent sheepishly. "She thought she heard something last night again, I guess I over reacted."

Vincent raised his eyebrow and looked at Tom, and then at Helen seeing a blush start at her neck and start climbing up to her face.

Vincent put his wand down to his side but kept it ready. "We need to get out of here. Helen, you can't be here for a while, not until we figure this out and it's safe."

"Safe?" She looked around at the shop. "But, Vincent, this is all I have. If I lose this … I can't just walk away. Forgive me Mr Weasley if I don't trust you, but the Ministry and I just don't see eye to eye, now you come in with them and tell me I have to leave."

"Helen," Tom said stepping closer and lifting up her chin. "You need to leave. They may think that they can get to Vincent through you."

"What?" She peeked around Tom's arm and then looked back up to him. "Why ever would they think that?"

"We had lunch together." Vincent said flatly. "Trust me, in this place that is all it takes before rumours start."

"I guess I could afford to close a couple of days. Business should be slow for a couple of days." She chewed her lip and looked around the shop again. "The First Year letters go out next week and you know how busy it gets then."

"I will have you back by then." Tom smiled down at her and took her elbow.

She nodded at him and hurried to the back room to grab her robes. She threw wards up along the shelves to help protect the wands, knowing as she did it that the wards were weak and could be easily broken.

"I'll just run upstairs and get a change of clothes."

"No," Arthur stopped her. "Tom the back door and store room, Vincent keep the front secure. Now we can go up. You will stay behind me and only take what you can carry. Three minutes and then we are gone."

He walked to the stairs and hurried up with his wand out, Helen running behind.

"Vincent." Tom turned and looked at Vincent. "About Helen, you don't mind do you? I mean she didn't seem to…"

"Bloody Hell man, she was just someone who talked nice to me. I thought she could be a friend." He chuckled at Tom's relief. "A good looking friend I must add, but no Tom. I am glad you two met up."

"I didn't think there was anything, but once you hear a rumour, doesn't matter how hard you try, it's hard to forget."

"Tom, Helen needs you to forget not just what they said about us, that was nothing, but about her family. The truth is bad enough you don't need to go adding to it." Vincent scowled at him.

"I'm working on it Vincent. It's not easy, but I'm working on it."

"You two watching those doors or talking?" Arthur came down with Helen close behind, clutching what robes she had time to grab.

"Arthur, you walk ahead with Helen next. Tom keep to her to the right, leave her walk closest to the buildings, I will bring up the rear." Vincent raised his wand to the ready position and opened the door.

As Helen walked by him he cast a shield around her, and a notice me not spell, giving her a little push and sent her on her way. As Tom walked by, he stepped out, warding the door to the shop and then nodding to the others to start.

"Vincent," Tom hissed back. "Where are we hiding her?"

"Right under their noses." Vincent smiled.

"Arthur," he called up to the head of their group. "Take Tom to where you last saw Minerva."

With that, he reached and grabbed Helen around the waist apparating out of the Alley and to his house. As he settled Helen down the sounds of the others arriving came behind him and Arthur's gentle laugh.

Helen turned angrily, putting her hand on her hips. "Why the big show? We could have just left from inside the shop."

"I wanted them to see us leave. I wanted them, sorry Arthur, I wanted them to think the Order was behind me."

"Good show, Vincent, good show." Arthur grinned. "I would now suggest we head inside."

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Elsie was delighted. She had robes to hang and people to feed. She brought a try laden with tea, pumpkin juice, coffee, milk, any kind of beverage she could find. She then started with the cakes, and biscuits, determined to find something that the pretty one liked. Tray after tray came until her master pinched the bridge of his nose and made her stop. Now all she could do was sit in the kitchen a wail.

"You really have to do something about her Vincent." Helen laughed at his expression. "You let her get out of control, this did not happen overnight."

"She has always been that way. If you just eat something, or hide it in your pockets it will calm her down."

"No, Vincent." Helen stood up and started for the kitchen. "I am quite used to house elves. Let me talk to her."

"Well, what do we do now?" Tom leaned forward, putting his forearms on his knees and talking quietly so Helen could not over hear.

"She can stay here. I have plenty of room." Vincent suddenly smiled "It will give Elsie someone to take care of and leave me alone."

"It will only add to the rumours you know." Arthur frowned at him. "A single witch staying here. I don't know Vincent."

"She's not safe at home, and she is not safe at the Leaky Cauldron. Sorry Tom, but your place is not known for respectable clientele. Bloody Hell, it's the gateway to London," Vincent said. "She stays here. No one needs to know. No one will know if you two don't talk who ever is after her isn't going to say anything. They would have to admit they were watching the shop if they did."

"I guess that is the way we leave it for now." Arthur stood up and started walking to the door. "Vincent, I am sorry to say this, but anyone you talk to right now will be suspect. I would suggest that your tutor be forgotten for a while."

"Shite, I forgot about that. Tom, a Miss Eaton is going to show up at your place looking for a … well I guess at student. She doesn't know it's me, and she doesn't have to. Just tell her the meeting was called off, tell her you got an owl from the person that wrote the ad."

"Try to get a good look at her Tom," Arthur said. "After all, she may not be a Miss Eaton at all."

"That should do it. Right Vince?" Arthur looked at him. "I mean, it was just Helen and this Miss Eaton that you could be associated with."

Vincent suddenly felt cold. He ran his hand through his hair and turned his back to Arthur, walking over to the liquor cabinet and pouring himself a drink. Arthur looked at Tom, who shrugged his shoulders and then walked over to Vincent.

"Vincent? I have to know who."

"I don't know her name. She was just someone I met." He knocked back the drink and poured another. "We sat at the Hogs Head all night. I got home this morning to find Minerva on my stoop."

"Surely you have some idea…"

"She is a working girl Arthur. Even if she gave me a name I am sure it would not be her real name."

"Bloody Hell Vincent." Arthur slumped back in the chair. "Now what?"

"I go back tonight and get her." He turned to look at Arthur. "It shouldn't be hard. I am sure a girl in her profession leaves with blokes all the time."

"Right." Tom said. "She leaves with you, never comes back and Aberforth won't be suspicious?"

"I'll talk to Aberforth," Arthur said. "I can't think of anything else, and we can trust him. I just don't want to put any more in jeopardy than already are."

"Then let me go," Tom said. "One barkeep to the next. If you go, it will be all over that the Order or the Ministry is interested in something that is going on. I'll go now, most working girls have a way for the barkeep to call them."

"And you Vincent need some sleep. Let Helen deal with Elsie in the mean time and try to rest a little. I have something I need to look into." Arthur added looking at Vincent oddly. "You surprised me Vincent. You handled this well."

"It's what I do Arthur. It's all I've ever done really well I mean." Vincent frowned. "What do you think I trained for? Getting a Malfoy out of a tight spot was right up there on the list."

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Elsie woke Vincent up later that day. It was almost dinner time when she came into his room running back and forth between the bed and the door calling him and demanding he get up right away. Vincent opened one eye, peered out at her and pulling the pillow over his head tried to ignore her.

"No, No," she wailed. "Master you come, you come now."

"Elsie, what ever it is I am not interested." He spoke into the pillow that he still held firmly in place over his face. He knew Elsie's next tactic would be to yank the pillow out of his hands and jump up on down demanding again that he get up.

"Master," she ran up to the bed a grasped the pillow. "Oh Master. That one, that one your brought she won't let me feed the other one."

She tugged on the pillow harder and harder until her words sunk into Vincent's sleepy mind with crystal clarity. "The other one?"

Vincent gave in to the tug-o-war on the pillow letting Elsie win. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stared at Elsie.

"Oh Master. So much company in one day. So much to do." She looked up blissfully at him.

"I will be sorry for asking this, but how long has she been here.?"

"She been here since lunch time. She sits and talks with the other one, the first one. She not eat."

"Great." Vince stood up and headed for the shower. He thought of the educated wand maker from a Death Eater family sitting in his sitting room with a Muggle born half blooded whore. He wanted a drink. He wanted a drink badly.

I would love to know what you think so far....