Chapter 13 – Lucius Finds a Way

A night spent with her mind moving too quickly to permit her to sleep left Amelia Bones exhausted and discontented as she began her day at the British DMLE. Shacklebolt's report kept imprinting itself on her mind's eye throughout the previous night. If his information was accurate, American research and development was much better funded with many more items in their arsenal than what was produced by the DoM. "Are we that far behind," she wondered for the tenth time, "or are they that much more advanced?"

She tapped her fingers on Shacklebolt's report as she muttered, "They use and adapt Muggle tools and methods that we'll never get approved by pureblood overseers. But it gives them many more options and opportunities, not only for defense, but for offense as well." She turned a page in the report, although she had mostly memorized everything in it by now. "Their communications are more immediate and varied, since they don't rely on the Floo or owls. If we created adapted their telephone technology into hand-held orbs, we might get the pureblood traditionalists to accept the concept."

She frowned at the folder again and pinched her nose at the most concerning of the items the Americans were working on. "Full suppression of magic. If they ever used it offensively, we would have no defense. Magical weapons would fail, spells would fail and we would be totally helpless. Thank Merlin You-Know-Who doesn't have access to that information!"

As Amelia Bones was beginning her day, Special Agent James Sheppard sipped tiredly at his coffee as he wandered into the empty Operations room to look at the evidence board that listed the facts and assumptions about T.M. Riddle, the self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort. This wizard-terrorist had spread his activities across the magical and non-magical world and was in jeopardy of opening the wizarding world to non-magical attention.

"Damn the Brit Ministry of Magic," he muttered irritably. "Why do they have to live in another century and remain deliberately oblivious to the technological advances of the last century? Why couldn't they emulate their MI-5 counterparts? Now there's a group that stayed on the cutting edge of not only technology, but investigative practices."

An amused voice broke through his rambling thoughts, "Speaking to yourself is the first signs of a mental breakdown, you know." He glared good-naturedly at Lora Peterson as she leaned against a desk in the large room.

"It's when I hold both sides of the conversation that you should worry," he replied with a grudging smile.

"Gotcha." She looked at the evidence board with a practiced eye, ignoring the fact that both of them should have headed out hours ago. "I see we had warning that one Lucius Malfoy had been assigned to harass or kidnap the Potter kid. Pity they couldn't have passed that along before the attack on the Diaz's."

Sheppard shook his head in disgust. "Apparently they sent the info via owl to Shacklebolt, and he had already arrived in the U.S. I still can't believe they refuse to adapt any technology. How do they justify a five day trans-ocean trip when the message could be texted to a shielded cell phone in minutes?"

The brunette tipped her head at her partner. "I assume you deliberately gave Shacklebolt and Palmer the R & D tour to open their eyes a bit?"

The gray-haired man couldn't restrain a smirk. "Heh, I have to believe their report home made for interesting reading. Not only are the American 'cousins' a force to be reckoned with, we're downright scary in our own right. The sheer number and ingenuity that the R & D teams come up with is something else."

Lora's dimples showed when she responded, "I wonder what they would think if they realized most of the teams are made up of Sci-Fi and James Bond geeks who get a lot of their ideas from movie writers?"

Her partner chuckled around his coffee cup and then frowned at the bottom of the cup when he drained the contents. He placed the cup on a desk and stared at the evidence board again. "Have you heard any more on the Diaz couple?"

"The husband is fully recovered, but the wife is going to be lucky to be able to speak in anything but a raspy whisper going forward. She's going to have a long recovery, although it looks like she'll be released from the hospital in a few days. I hope she didn't spend a lot of her time in the court room. Malfoy achieved his end if he wanted the Potter kid off-kilter."

Sheppard turned to another board that identified suspected Riddle supporters in the U.S. "Malfoy is a well-chosen lieutenant, if Riddle acknowledges him as such. Independently wealthy, well-educated, and entrenched in British politics through bribes, blackmail and intimidation. He's been raised to design and execute multi-faceted schemes. We still have nothing on his location. If he hasn't taken a penthouse suite at a magical hotel, then he might be staying with a wealthy or like-minded associate." He picked up the chalk and made a notation to be followed up in the morning.

Dear Harry,

Thank you for your letter. I'm doing pretty well, now that we know that both Miguel and Anarosa survived the attack. You won't let anyone know I broke down like a baby, right? I'm still a bit worried about Anarosa. The Healer said she may never be able to speak normally again. She seems pretty upbeat in spite of that. She says alive and quiet is better than dead and buried.

All of the family has been upgrading their property wards, especially to block out anyone with that ugly tattoo. Your godfather was able to help with that. Please thank him again for us.

I'm supposed to go back to school tomorrow. Are you really going to be home-schooled for a while? The wards around St. Croix are really good. You shouldn't have to worry about the Dork Lord coming after you there. Mom thinks you're probably feeling guilty, but you shouldn't. You're only in charge of your own actions and can't let the terrorists win. So you should come back, OK? Besides, how will I know when Xolotl wants a belly rub if you're not there to translate for him?

Hope to see you soon,

Elias

Sirius hid a smile at the silly grin on his godson's face as the teen finished the letter from Elias. "Good news, Pup?"

Harry pushed the letter over to him. "Elias is doing fine and doesn't blame me for what happened to Anarosa and Miguel. He thinks I should go back to St. Croix. I was sure he would never want to be around me again." The dark-haired boy felt as if a crushing weight had been lifted from him. "Oh, and thank you for helping them with the warding against the Dark Mark, Padfoot."

"My pleasure. The Black wards have always used complex filters. It was pretty easy to show them how to ward against a specific trait." He smiled again at his godson. "So what do you think? Are you ready to go back to school?"

Harry raised brilliant green eyes to his godfather. "I…I'm not sure. What if the other students get targeted? If I'm not there, they won't be identified. Or what if the Dork Lord targets my teachers? Maybe I'm better off being home-schooled."

Sirius had to snicker every time Harry called the Dark Lord the 'Dork Lord'. "And what if a tornado knocks down the school? Harry, you can't be responsible for the Dork Lord's every action. Trust me to work with the school's security and the FBI to ensure the school is safe. Like your roommate said, if you stay away from school, then he wins."

The teen took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'll think about it. But if I decide not to go back, you'll support me?"

He slung his right arm around his godson's shoulders and ruffled his hair with the other hand. "Always, Pup. Always. We're a team."

Amber eyes followed Sirius and Harry with restrained deliberation as they prepared to visit Anarosa. The wolf in Remus was practically howling with the need to protect his pack members, especially the cub. The youngster had already been targeted multiple times and Moony would like nothing better than to secrete him away in a safely warded fortress until Voldemort was destroyed. Unfortunately for the wolf, the man's will was stronger, so he had to manage with simply being prepared to guard and defend his pack as needed.

"Moony," Harry called, "are you coming with us to visit Anarosa?"

"If I am not intruding, I would be pleased to see her," admitted the graying man with a smile. Being invited to join them was much better than forcing himself upon them. At least he could legitimately help protect the cub now.

"She's supposed to go home from Eastlake Hospital in another few days, as soon as the throat specialist approves," said Sirius. He gave a half-shrug at the question in Remus' eyes at his slightly worried tone. "I'll feel a lot better when she's under the more secure home wards than the general hospital wards." He lowered his voice before adding, "I know I'm being over-protective, but Eastlake seems too open to something going wrong. But Harry needs to see Anarosa and constantly reconfirm that he's not responsible for the attack."

The two adults trailed behind the raven-haired teenager on the way to Anarosa's room, their eyes swiveling as they marked every person and their position in relation to Harry. Each had one hand on their wand, but were attempting to walk naturally and not worry the teen.

"Harry," Miguel's voice called. Their eyes jumped to the smiling man who was coming from the stairwell carrying a pack of Exploding Snap cards. "Good, now that you're here, you can play with Anarosa." He tossed the deck to Harry, who caught it with ease, even though his seeker skills were slightly rusty.

The wolf in Remus howled as an unexpected leer crossed Miguel's face, the expression transforming him into someone they didn't know. Everything seemed to move in slow motion even as Remus tried to leap towards Harry and knock the deck out of his hands. The FBI agent guarding Anarosa's room began to withdraw his wand as Sirius did the same. "Into my Master's hands" Miguel smirked and the boy disappeared from the hallway, a look of shock and disbelief on his young face.

"No!" howled Remus in anguish as he landed on the spot where the cub had been, the boy's scent still in the air. " Vivo ut servire" Miguel hissed and he too disappeared from the hospital hallway just as dual stunners landed where he had been standing.

Vivo ut servire = I live to serve