Chapter 4 (Light ways) (A/N: Heads up, the updates will be slow from here on out. I didn't have as much written and proofread as I'd hoped so this is only part of the chapter.)

Severus and Sirius set off on foot. It wouldn't have been difficult to floo or apparate away from Moody's house, but this night was too precious to lose by using magic. Magic means of transportation were too easily traced. Take a port key and every Death Eater would be out there faster than you could snap. Flooing to any place that wasn't secure would mean the same, though neither even knew if this destination would be hooked up to floo. Likely, it would not. On top of that, they couldn't apparate somewhere they didn't have a clear mental picture of. Sirius sighed. He was familiar with muggle transportation- his motorcycle had broken down a few too many times when he was first enchanting it for him not to be familiar with it. He looked down at his godson, zonked out in a way only a child could ever hope to achieve. He smiled. He would take muggle transportation any day over risking Harry's safety. Severus stopped as they reached the end of the nondescript street and Sirius nearly ran into him.

"Problem?" he hissed questioningly through the dark.

"Hardly."

Sirius waited a few moments before he'd had enough of standing. His lack of patience was one of the primary reasons he'd landed Gryffindor over Slytherin.

"Are you going to move, or are we going to stand out here all night?" Sirius snipped.

"By all means, be my guest and lead us to the tube," Severus said evenly. "I'm sure you'll find it before it shuts down for the night."

Sirius muttered a curse under his breath and stalked off toward where he remembered the train station being.

"That wasn't a dare, Black."

"I've been here before. The tube entrance is close to the bus station, which is half a mile down the road. Are you coming or not?" Sirius started off before Severus could answer, a smirk playing on his lips. Reluctantly, Severus trudged after him.

It only took five minutes or so to find both the bus station and the entrance to the tube. Severus stalked ahead to the ticket counter while Sirius hung behind. Muggle money was not something he was exceedingly familiar with. He'd rather let Severus handle that instead of risking handing the ticket agent money from the wrong country.

A quick transaction later and Severus returned with the correct number of tickets and a map.

"Did you ask for directions?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Hardly," Severus sneered. "We don't want people knowing where we're going."

"Good," Sirius said shortly. "Which tube are we taking?"

Severus handed the map and address to Sirius and stood watching. Sirius discretely opened the map and followed the lines, before his eyes flicked over to the strange man in the corner. He hadn't gone for a ticket, he wasn't reading the transit times, and he certainly didn't blend in with the environment at the station. He stood out a bit less than a punk-rock teenager in a nursing home.

Sirius controlled his reaction carefully and studied the map closely, looking for the parallels he was hoping would exist. He traced the coloured lines across the map, following various ones. He went back and found the line they were on and slowly traced it up to where he knew they were going. His eyes flicked up to the map and he smiled.

"Oh perfect, we only need one line," he said cheerfully. "Hurry up Severus."

He took off walking, leaving a dumbfounded Severus to catch up. He quickly entered a nearby train, Severus hot on his heels. Out of the corner of his vision, he noticed an oddly dressed man hurry over to the ticket counter. With Severus studying along beside him, he went to the very last door on the train before hopping out on the other side. They quickly made their way to the right line. As the doors sealed with no sign of their pursuer, Severus finally turned to Sirius.

"What was that about? We have to take more than a connection to get where we need to go."

Sirius smirked.

"That's the point. We were being followed by a wizard who was dressed so badly that he likely has little idea about the muggle world. How he found us, I have no idea. But they think we're staying on one line, which only gives them a limited range for searching. We won't be there."

Severus gave him an evaluative look before nodding.

"Very slytherin of you."

"I was raised that way."

As they continued down the line, Sirius held his godson tightly and found himself proud of being Slytherin-like for the first time.

Alastor Moody knew it would take hours for them to reach their destination. That was beneficial and detrimental at the same time. It would be harder for anyone to follow them magically and would keep them safer in the long run. However, if anyone figured out their final destination before they arrived, they could be walking into an ambush. He shrugged. At this point there was nothing left to do but trust that both men could handle themselves. He settled himself into his favorite chair with a pad of paper to make notes pertaining to the events of that evening. He never risked using pensives. It was far too easy to have someone sneak up on you while using one and the memories were never truly safe. No, he preferred legal paper for notes on memories. His notes wouldn't change over the years, and anyone trying to break security would end up with far too many paper cuts in sensitive places and would never see a word.

He had just finished transcribing his notes and safeguarding them when the floo alarm went off. He threw his notes to the side and sealed them, before hobbling over to the fireplace and unlocking it. Dumbledore's face swam into view in the flames.

"Ah, Alastor. May I come through?"

"Sure," Moody barked. "Don't you Ah, Alastor me," he grumbled quietly.

Dumbledore stepped through the flames and stoically turned to face Moody.

"Haven't given up the theatrics yet, have you?" Moody snarked. Dumbledore had one been his friend, but quite a bit had changed in the past five years. Moody's old friend was no longer the same person.

Dumbledore gave no sign that he'd heard Moody.

"I fear we have a grave problem, Alastor."

"Yeah?" Moody questioned, crossing his arms.

"Alastor, Harry Potter is missing. I fear he's been kidnapped."

Moody feigned surprise and outrage.

"What! Who on earth would kidnap Harry from his family?"

"I know, Alastor. It is… a travesty."

"What happened?"

"Voldemort attacked young Harry's family tonight. Both of his parents perished. He survived and Voldemort was overcome, but Harry disappeared shortly after that."

"Do you think he crawled off?"

"No, he wouldn't have made it down the stairs alone. I fear that Death Eaters may have taken him."

"Why did you come to me about this, Albus? Why not contact the DMLE and Crouch?"

"You're still an Auror, are you not?"

"Only officially for a week more. Apparently when you lose this many limbs, it becomes time to retire."

"That is a shame, Alastor," Dumbledore said severely. "The department will be losing their best Auror."

"Albus," Moody said, cutting Dumbledore off. "Get to the point."

"Ah yes," Dumbledore trailed off. "I was hoping for your assistance in locating Harry. You aren't limited by Ministry guidelines, so your search would be more efficient than any I could hope to find there."

"What are you going to do when you find him, Albus?"

"I'll place him where he currently should be."

"And where is that,"Moody asked, his paranoia at full intensity.

"With his Aunt and Uncle of course."

"His Aunt and… What do you mean his Aunt and Uncle!"

"Lily Potter had a sister who married at some point. I believe the boy would be safest there."

"Albus, have you ever even met those people?"

"Why, I believe I saw them from a distance at the Potters' wedding. They didn't look too off-putting."

"Did you actually talk to them?"

"Well, no but…"

"I did. Those people are some of the worst muggles I've ever met. They weren't polite, they didn't like the Potters and were only there out of a sense of duty or whatnot, and they loathe magic."

"I'm sure that's an overstatement."

"It isn't. I tried to talk to them, and she refused to talk with me. At the same time, she badmouthed half my auror class, the ordained wizard, and the bride herself. That woman- no, those people are a walking Salem witch trial. They'd rather burn us than talk to us. "

"Surely it can't be that bad…"

"It's worse."

Thank you to the guest who notified me that I'd left out a part of the chapter. I've fixed that and worked a bit on the layout as well