*** Searching for Harry***
Moody was not a happy camper. He stomped around the room throwing things for several minutes before he finally asked the question, "How much did we miss them by this time?"
"Two days." Tonks answered.
"Merlin's pants." Moody swore angrily, "That's the closest we've gotten yet. Any idea why?"
"His birthday is in more than two weeks." Tonks said, "In the past they've always disappeared just a few days before it. Then they generally show up again someplace new within a week or so later. I showed neighbors a picture of James and Lily and they immediately said that James had to be Harry's father because he looked so much like him."
"They're leaving more time between the media coverage on his birthday and him being in an area." Moody saw her point, "Albus isn't going to like this."
"We're doing our best." Tonks put her hand on his shoulder, "We can't outguess them all the time."
"You have the list of schools?" Moody demanded.
"It's here." Tonks replied, "All schools he's ever been to are marked. But these are only a list of magic primary schools. He's been to several muggle schools and to hide him better I suggest that is where they'll try to stay from now on. It's daunting because Canada has so many schools."
"They may even move into the United States." Moody said, "I don't know how we're going to find them now."
"You always say that." Tonks grinned, "Yet you always at least get us close."
"I better report." Moody said.
Before he could move Fawkes flashed into the room. In his talons was a paper and in his beak was a letter. Moody took both and read the letter first. After reading it he handed it to Tonks and picked up the paper. She read the paper when he was finished a huge smile graced her face.
"I'm so glad he didn't do it." she said grinning madly, "I bet you feel better knowing the man you trained wasn't a murderer after all." Moody's only response was a growl. She didn't understand the meaning of it but she did realize he didn't want to talk about it. She decided a slight change of topic was in order, "So he's going to join us and try to work his way in as a pet instead of me trying to work my way in as a friend."
"It's a good plan." Moody grumbled, "People are much freer around pets than friends." He sat down at the table and wrote out a reply to Albus giving him their current location and how much longer he thought they would be there. He gave the message to the Phoenix who flashed away.
"Do you think there is any way she hasn't been raising him to be dark?" Tonks asked the question she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to.
Sirius and Remus joined the duo a few weeks later. They arrived to find the two sitting at the kitchen table going over lists of some sort. Tonks informed them it was a list and description of any new student at any magical primary school. The two new members of the team picked up copies and looked them over.
"I don't see anyone of Harry's description." Sirius said after a few moments.
"Some families just like to move around to new schools so their kids can meet more magicals. Those names we can mark off." Tonks said, "Like Jeremy Miller. This is his third school in two years. We're locating the new names on the list, she could be transfiguring him so we don't pay any attention to the description until later. We are also marking anyone with both parents so they're at the bottom of the list to search. Bellatrix has never signed him up for school with a father or uncle's name attached to it. Most of the time she signs herself up as his aunt but twice it's been as his mother."
"So you'd probably search out this kid named Mark Nelson." Remus stated trying to understand their logic, "He's registered by his aunt and he has dark hair."
"We would but Mark is another one who moves a lot." Tonks said, "He gets moved because he keeps getting kicked out of schools. That is one bad kid. Likes to hex people."
"And you're sure he's not Harry in disguise?" Sirius asked.
"Positive." Moody interrupted, "We were able to do a blood test on him."
"We've actually been able to rescue three kids with this method." Tonks said, "When we can't prove the kid isn't Harry we call in the locals to test them. We're not allowed to do it ourselves."
"Wow that's impressive." Remus blinked at the pink haired girl, "So how are you able to check on them without alerting them to your presence?"
"We work with the schools." Tonks stated, "I'm allowed to get a job at which ever school we think he may be at."
"Sorry but isn't your hair a give away?" Remus asked.
"Nope." she said as she turned her hair black.
"She's a metamorph." Sirius snickered at his shocked friend, "I told you my cousin was."
"I didn't realize you meant this cousin." pointed out a very embarrassed Remus.
"Three times we've managed to get close." Tonks interrupted their conversation about her, "I'm almost positive I saw him one of those times but I wasn't one hundred percent sure. They disappeared shortly after."
"Did they know you were there?" Sirius asked.
"No come to find out they'd been there for about three months." she frowned, "They move at least every three months sometimes less."
"How many names are we going to have to search out?" Remus gained their attention.
"Around two hundred." she guessed, "There are seventy five magical primary schools in Canada. So far they've not ventured out into any other country that we can find. There are several times he doesn't show up in any school but we're assuming that they went muggle those times. The schools will send us another list of any new kids that register late."
"Are all of these kids just in Harry's year?" Remus asked.
"No." Tonks replied, "These are from all the years but we check out two years younger to two years older in case they're messing with his age."
"How is he in school?" Sirius asked.
"Records show a well behaved but friendly boy." Tonks shrugged, "So either he's keeping a low profile or he's just a good kid."
"I guess that's my job to find out now." Sirius sighed.
A week later Tonks and Padfoot headed out to start checking the kids on the list. The first kid was quick. Sam Dearly turned out to be a girl. Her name was Samantha but she refused to answer to it so her aunt always filled out the papers with her shortened name. They went through the list and marked down seventeen for further investigation. The initial search took almost a month. By that time the school year had started and they had another list of new students however this list was much shorter. It was from this second list that Sirius felt he had located a promising subject. It was promising enough that he approached the boy as a dog one afternoon after school. The boy immediately lured the dog home and was able to get his mother to let him keep the dog. After two days in the house Sirius realized the boy wasn't Harry and left.
"Don't feel bad." Tonks soothed a pouting Sirius, "It's not as easy as it looks. Besides I have another subject for you to look at."
Moody handed him a photo, "He's got Lily's eye shape, brown hair and blue eyes. Quiet kid, didn't try to make any friends and he's been there almost a week. This one's at a school Harry has not been to before."
Padfoot tried the same approach as last time. But the boy didn't try to lure him home. He pet him in the playground at the school until a woman came and got him. Following them he watched as they entered a house around fifteen blocks from the school. The boy didn't seem upset that his mother wouldn't let him walk home alone like the other boys his age did. When it got dark Padfoot snuck into the back yard and watched through the windows. The two had a quiet dinner and the boy did his homework. The night was very quiet. He watched them for three days with nothing changing and was about to give up when the first really interesting thing happened. It was a Friday night and the boy was much more excited than he usually was. He still hadn't made any friends at school so Sirius didn't think he was having a friend over so he wondered at the excitement. After a few moments Sirius notice a flare from the fireplace and a man entered the room.
"Dad!" the boy called excitedly.
"Go get your bag." the man smiled.
"Ok." the boy ran off.
"Mark be careful with him please." the woman begged, "I don't want him to come back all bruised again."
"He's a boy Meredith." the man shook his head, "Boys like to play rough."
"But quidditch is just too rough." she claimed.
"I played at that age and survived." he said, "I want him to grow up to be a great quidditch player."
"Just like you." she sighed.
"He wants it too." the man claimed.
"Just make sure he knows that when he gets married he shouldn't let the fame go to his head and cheat on his wife." she grimaced.
"How many times do I have to apologize?" he frowned, "I made a mistake and I'm paying the consequences by only seeing my son every other weekend."
Sirius sighed and left the yard. No way was this kid Harry. He returned to the house they used and reported, "Not him. Just a kid from a split family. He's got some famous quidditch player for a dad."
"Good job." Moody said, "Now this next one Remus scoped out a little while you've been gone."
The search continued for months. Sirius was tired of getting his hopes up and having them dashed. But just like the others he pressed on. Each time a new child started at a school they'd look over his profile and either add him to the list to investigate or check him off as one already known. Near Christmas the name Jeremy Miller popped up on the list again.
"This is odd." Tonks said reading the name, "He doesn't usually start a new school until the term is over."
"Maybe there are two kids with that name." Sirius threw out off handedly.
"I've not seen it before." Tonks said, "I'm going to check with Crestridge to see if our normal Jeremy is still there."
Remus picked up the list and compared it to the other, "I don't think it's the same kid. Different colored eyes. This kid has green eyes. Your Jeremy has brown eyes."
"Another reason to check just to be sure." Tonks agreed and popped away.
"I'm going to scope it out." Sirius said, "I'll be back soon."
Tonks returned a few minutes later, "Our Jeremy is still at Crestridge. Where's Sirius?"
"At the new school scoping it out." Remus said, "He should be back soon."
Sirius was back in three days time and he was grinning from ear to ear, "It's him I'm sure of it."
"What happened?" Moody asked.
"I saw him playing on the playground with the other kids during school and he has James' laugh." Sirius said, "So I followed them home. But Bella has a car and it took me three days to follow them all the way. They live probably twenty miles from the school in a small house protected by several really good charms. They can do magic without anyone knowing. But no anti-animagus wards."
"I don't know of any Death Eaters that have an animagus form." Tonks said.
"It's beneath them." Remus stated, "Severus was telling me that since Voldemort preaches that muggles are animals none of them are willing to ask if being an animagus is ok. Peter was never looked upon as anything more than a useful rat. Voldemort only kept him as an informant he wasn't a full-fledged death eater."
"So she's more worried about them than us?" Sirius asked hopefully.
"Sounds like it but don't get your hopes up." Moody said, "It's your job to watch for indications of dark arts."
"I know." Sirius said, "I'm heading back."
"Take Tonks and Remus with you so they know where you are." Moody instructed, "You two map out the area see if you can get good places to watch the house and school. Watch out for dark activity from any source. If we've been able to find them the bad guys might have found them too."
The three nodded and popped away. Once they landed Sirius changed into a dog and Tonks changed his fur to a light brown then Tonks and Remus walked their dog around town. To keep up appearances they strolled arm in arm like a couple in love might do. First they checked out the area around the school and found several suitable places for Tonks to sit and watch the school without looking like she was. Then they apparated away to a spot about a mile from the house Sirius was sure Harry was in. They passed no houses at all as they walked down the road to their destination. They disillusioned themselves as they got close. They walked a wide birth around the house and Remus found a spot where he could see the house without being seen. They moved closer to the house and froze as they felt themselves move through a ward. When nothing happened they continued on with more caution too scared to use any additional magic. As they neared the house they had to stop at the edge of the woods because the back door flew open and a young boy ran out.
"You can't catch me." he yelled.
"No I can't." She agreed but if you don't come back we won't start the quiz." The woman sat on a chair she conjured.
The boy ran around the edge of the yard and back to the woman. They watched as she quizzed the boy on magic. She either gave the name, description or wand movement of a spell and he'd tell her the rest and they were working on fourth year spells. The three stood in shock and watched until she handed him a wand. All three pulled farther back into the woods and watched as she threw several hexes at him and they watched him deflect them all. Then they had a small mock duel in the back yard. Not one dark spell was ever mentioned in the quiz or in the duel.
The next day was a Saturday. Sirius had a good idea for getting into the house. He changed into a dog and had Remus cut his paw with a piece of glass, leaving it in the wound. He limped into the back yard just as they were coming out to play. He froze when he saw them and acted like he was very wary of people. Bella approached him carefully and kept Harry near the door. She checked him over and found the wound on the foot and no collar.
"Harry go get a bowl of water." she called and the boy ran into the house. While he was gone she jerked the glass out of the dog's foot and healed it. Sirius winced when she pulled the glass out and whined just a bit. Bella patted him on the head and said "Good dog."
"Did he bite you when you pulled the glass out?" Harry asked as he arrived with the bowl. At Bella's questioning look he elaborated, "You always send me in after something useless when you're doing something where you might get hurt."
"Smarty pants." she grimaced, "No he did not."
"Good, can we keep him?" Harry asked as he scratched the dog behind the ears.
"For today at least." she said, "I want to make sure that paw isn't infected."
"Can he stay in my room tonight?" Harry's face held a hopeful grin.
"No." she patted Harry on the head, "He can come in for dinner but its back outside after that. I hate houses full of pets."
"It won't be a house full of pets if there's only one." Harry called as he ran towards the door, "Come on Blacky I'll show you my room."
Bella stood and followed Harry to the door and the dog limped along behind. She held open the door as he jumped in. Harry called to him again and Sirius followed the sound of his voice. His room was nice Sirius thought. There were a few pictures of Harry at different ages and most of them had other kids in them. Sirius also noticed a few pictures with just Harry and Bella. He sat on the floor next to Harry and listened to him talk.
"Don't worry Aunt Bella will let you stay for a while at least." he scratched the dogs ears, "Just don't make any messes in the house or you'll be gone. Well this is my newest room. It's nice. Much better than that apartment we were in last summer. You could hear everything the neighbors said or did. We couldn't use magic because it was a muggle neighborhood. Aunty says it's safer for us to be muggles but living without magic is hard. My last school was a muggle school, I was so glad to get back to a magical primary school. I can even put up with the quills and ink in order to have magic. I live with my Aunty because I'm an orphan. Do you want to see pictures of my parents?" Harry pulled a book off the shelf and opened it, "This is my parents wedding picture. See that's them in the middle with my Dad's friends on either side. They move because their wizard pictures. Usually there's another guy in there but he's a rat and disappears frequently, which makes me happy."
Sirius saw his younger self and Remus surrounding James and Lily at their wedding. Harry was right that Peter was in the picture when it was taken. Harry kept turning pages and telling him about each photo. Sirius almost cried when he show him a picture of himself as a baby.
"I wish that dark wizard wouldn't have heard the prophecy. I wish he hadn't come after my parents. But at least Aunty Bella took care of me. She used to be bad but she said I changed her. She says she's shocked at what she's become but not upset shocked it's a good shock. She saved my life." Harry smiled, "See here's my second birthday party. Mum and Dad were already dead by now."
Sirius saw his cousin holding a little wiggling boy and helping him blow out candles. Both looked happy. He couldn't believe this was the same cousin that attacked him back in school. Harry was still turning pages and telling him about his life. His first day of school, every birthday and sad pictures of friends left behind when he moved.
"This is the best part." Harry turned the page and Sirius saw a newspaper clipping, "Aunty has been working on this for years."
Sirius was shocked when he saw it was a headline announcing that he was finally getting a trial. Harry paused for a long time on this page before he started telling the dog about it.
"Aunty knew Sirius was innocent. She started a letter campaign to get him free. So when I go to school at Hogwarts I'll be able to go live with him." his smile faltered a bit, "I can't live with Aunt Bella because she can't return to England. I don't want the dementors or death eaters to get her."
The next page held another article exclaiming Sirius' innocence. After that was an interview he gave about looking for Harry and believing he was still alive.
"He'll be a good Godfather." Harry said flipping to the next, "Aunt Bella said so. That is my school picture from this year the end."
"Harry dinner." Bella called.
"Coming." Harry stood and turned to the dog, "Come on. You can have dinner too."