A/N: Hello again! I hoped that this chapter would not turn into another monster, but it's over 9k again. The dumb DB joke is strong in me, it seems. This is also yet another chapter without proofreading - I'm doing as much as I can, but I'm sooner going to memorize the whole thing than spot every single mistake. So, uh - somebody want to help a bit?
Chapter 4
Two worlds
Since he ended up in England as so called specialist for the unusual cases, Suguro really shouldn't be surprised when he found orders and the pretty thick file with all the Annexes that went with this particular case.
He expected people to dumb all troublesome stuff on him, but this… was rather underwhelming.
"So..." Suguro raised his eyebrows, looking at the files, then back at Joseph. "Dead bodies are running from the cemetery again."
"Fourth time this month," the older exorcist grimaced. "It's not even funny anymore."
"What's up with this graveyard anyway?"
"Haven't the slightest," Joseph shook his head. "Nothing spectacularly malicious. Fifty years ago a whole family dropped dead, but there were times when carbon monoxide leaks were a pretty usual stuff, so…"
"Maybe somebody is having his fun then?" Suguro chewed on his thumb, thinking. "Through somebody would be able to spot that obsessive-compulsive necromancer by now..."
"And that's exactly the reason why this time they want you to check this out," the older exorcist shrugged. "Maybe you bumped into something similar that's completely foreign to us."
Suguro hummed under his nose. Like somebody expected everything unusual to be of Japanese origins. Even now, he could tell this thing had nothing to do with thing he encountered. Even at the Illuminati's base, the zombies were acting less… weird.
It wasn't the first ridiculous shit he deal with in England and probably wouldn't be last. He didn't really mind, after all he was actually gaining experience and slowly building reputation and these were always good things to have.
"There was once that very irritating group of quickly regenerating zombies," he said. "But they were carefully engineered in a laboratory. I doubt that every body around here was under the same treatment."
"Nah, these are just really fond of jogging."
Suguro sighed and threw the files on the table and stood up, stretching his back.
"Well, let's get these buggers before they decide to stop for a snack somewhere."
The apothecary shop with "special resources" was right across the street. It was owned by an old Chinese couple, who found it very funny to act in the most stereotypical way possible. Suguro was pretty sure they were visiting auction houses pretty regularly, trying to get their hands on the most ridiculous stuff they could find. It was a surprisingly good business plan, since many people were curious and enjoyed the odd experience, even if the real customers were the member of True Cross Order.
They also had a pretty handy system at work, selling "standard packages" with the stuff that was the most commonly used during missions by any sort of exorcist and "exclusive packages" the members of TCO could combine by themselves and order with a short notice.
It definitely dealt with that awkward problem when the shop was full and the exorcist really needed to stock up on holy hand grenades right now.
"This is pretty handy," Suguro admitted, when they both walked out with neatly wrapped boxes of "All About Zombies" spending no more than five minutes in the shop.
"It was different in Japan?"
"To get to the shop you actually had to use a Key…" he shrugged. "So no tourists or other people."
"Well, we don't have a devil on hand, so people here are dealing with this stuff in a different way."
He was speaking the truth. While they still were wearing Keys with them, they were used only in emergencies and most of them were leading to the Doors Room in the hospital or HQ. To travel anywhere else, they simply used more mundane methods. Like public transportation or cars. This forced them to use hunting rifles rather than semi-automatic guns, because a hunting rifle was much easier to explain if somebody got too interested why they were carrying ranged weapons.
Japan really got it easy.
"For bigger hits we actually have ways to transport the good stuff," Joseph explained, tapping the rhythm of cheesy pop song on the wheel, when they were leaving London behind. "You still have to arrive on the spot by yourself, but all the weapons are waiting and ready to use."
"I do prefer my own stuff," Suguro mumbled, watching the view outside the window. "Even if the model is the same, you still need a time to familiarize yourself with it and you usually don't have that time."
"Oh, yeah," Joseph rolled his eyes. "It's hard to forget all that drama, because you couldn't take that bazooka of yours everywhere."
"Hey!" Ryuji protested. "This was the first thing I got a license for! I… I have created bonds!"
"Of course you did," the older exorcist chuckled, which caused Suguro to argue even more.
At least the ride wasn't boring.
When they finally arrived, Suguro couldn't help himself, but gasp. It looked far worse than he imagined. The zombies not only raised from the graved, but they seemed to dig out everything possible on their way. The cemetery looked more like construction site than place of final rest.
"Damn," he murmured, stepped carefully over toppled piece of gravestone. "I really hope we're not the ones to clean up this mess."
"Well, it's the fourth time," Joseph shrugged and looked around. "I really hope somebody would just deluge the whole place with cement, that would make life so much easier!"
"What could made them so lively anyway?" Suguro huffed and knelled near another tombstone. Or what was left of it. It looked like it was blown up, and into tiny pieces too.
Ryuji picked up one of the stones, looking curiously on its edges, trying to guess how exactly it was destroyed. The break was not really a clean cut. While the stone was smooth, the edge was far from being completely straight. He couldn't find any tracks of any sort of ammunition too or any other kind of things that could tear piece of marble apart, but there was nothing.
"Something interesting?"
"Just more weird," Suguro grimaced standing back up. "Zombies wouldn't be able to do that to the gravestones. But I couldn't find traces of soot or anything at all. Like it just decided to randomly explode, or something!"
"Well, at least the area is evacuated," Joseph shrugged.
"How we even explained that?"
"Gas leak."
"On the cemetery?" Ryuji raised his eyebrows.
"The rest of the city is just right next to us," there was another shrug. "Besides, there always could be something underground, right?"
"This is still weird."
"We can always ask Seven if any magical people got crazy on the cemetery lately if he decide to show up,"
"That's fair," Suguro decided.
They wandered around the graveyard for a bit, finding some more completely destroyed gravestones and even one tree broken almost in half as if a thunder smashed right into it, but there was no signs of fire or anything else.
It was strange, but both of them saw way stranger in their previous cases, so they concentrated on looking for runaway zombies. The ground was completely dry because of how hot the past month was and it was hard like a stone too, so following the trait was mostly looking for bits and pieces of things no one sane would like to find on the ground or trying to guess where the scent of rotting bodies was stronger.
"I think they should've put some sort of a tracker in them, after the second time," Suguro grunted.
"Well, we already know they're heading east," Joseph shrugged. "We only need to catch up to them."
Which was just the thing he shouldn't say out loud. The zombies indeed were heading east and in a straight line too, bumping into fences and buildings like really slow flies over and over again before they somehow managed to reach the corner and walk past the obstacle.
For whatever reason, they weren't acting like a normal, honest to god zombie horde; instead of walking in one nice, big group, they seemed to be actually avoid each other, spreading wider and wider.
But the strangest thing was the fact that they didn't turn back when the exorcists showed up. They actually started to walk faster.
Suguro blinked, not quite understanding, why the undead horde was walking in the wrong direction. "It's just me, or these zombies are acting..."
"Weird?" Joseph blinked. He was staring at the merry group of undead, same as his younger partner.
"I think I don't like this word anymore."
"I think we should follow them,"
"That sound just wrong," Ryuji grimaced. "Like a horror movie in reverse."
"At least it's something new."
Suguro just rolled his eyes. Figures that the old man would be so optimistic; the guy was happy pretty much about everything. They walked a bit faster, hoping to reach the zombies before the undead manage to spread out too wide or go too far.
There was just one problem with that.
"They are running," Suguro said, still unable to believe his eyes. He saw many strange things but zombies actually running away from people were definitely the oddest shit ever.
"Well, let's chase them before they get lost somewhere in there," Joseph grunted. "We should do headcount after we're done too, just to be sure."
Suguro grimaced and kicked at a hand that somebody lost on his way. "I think we should count not only the heads."
"Darn, cleaning it up is going to be a drag," the older exorcist grimaced and took out his phone, quickly writing a message. "I'm so happy I'm not leading an esquire group!"
Ryuji snorted. Of course picking up stuff after somebody else was considered a part of training. From this point it seemed to be even funny, even if he remembered all too well how many goo-monsters he chased himself, because nobody else wanted to touch them. No mention how often he ended up in front of the computer, copying report after report, because someone higher up the ladder demanded to have back-ups in electronic version.
But while he was save from the cleaning duty, his job was still running away in the opposite direction. Directions, to be exact.
"I think we should split, before they get too far," Joseph said, grimacing slightly at another dumb horror movie trope that just gone wrong. "Maybe we can force them to regroup!"
"What are we, cowboys?" Ryuji grunted under his breath, but nodded. Rounding them up before they find some way – because there always is a way, experience taught him that – to get past the blockade and wander into the city, was important.
Joseph turned right, while Suguro marched quickly towards the alley on the left, deciding to go after the monster that seemed to be the farthest away.
"Hey, wait!" Ryuji shouted, but the zombie completely ignored him and just keep on walking further between buildings.
"Now that's just wrong!" he shook his head, then followed the monster. "You're doing your job wrong!"
He felt somewhat offended. It was a zombie, after all and it not only wasn't interested on eating him, but was running away from him. The whole situation lacked only loud screams of fear.
"This is ridiculous," Suguro shook his head and then followed the undead, pulling out his gun. Since he couldn't use his bazooka, he started to take a pistol on jobs like this one. It was an old S&W gun, pretty heavy compared to the newer models and the magazine wasn't the biggest around either, but Ryuji found out that he really liked the elegance of older weapon and how sturdy it was.
He continued to follow the lone zombie until he got a view clear enough to risk a shoot. Sadly, while in the "All About Zombies" box ammunition was included, a silencer wasn't and making unnecessary noise didn't seem to be the best idea with enemy that was already running away.
The single shot tore the silent, still air like a thunder and a moment later, a heavy thud of body falling on the ground followed.
"Really need a silencer," Ryuji muttered, already moving on to meet up with his next target, hoping that the zombies would at least stop their escape for a moment. After all, this sort of undead was always fascinated by the loud, sudden noises. On the other hand, being swarmed by the flood of undead who suddenly remembered about eating brains wouldn't be the best thing to do with his life either.
At least the one that got the furthest away was dealt with and now he could try to use slower, but more silent ways of dealing with this sort of stuff. Considering how quiet it was on Josephs side, the man decided to use sacred seals – or binding ones – to deal with his part of the job.
Suguro grunted and looked around for some nice spot from where he could roughly estimate which road the zombies would choose to follow. After that, he set up a barrier with a handful of paper seals, slapping them on the walls of the buildings and a two lampposts.
It was easier than drawing the whole thing with chalk on the ground. Cleaner too. Besides, he still had to wait around, to put the final one and imprison the undead in a nice ring of protection from evil. Shame they couldn't take any grenades, tossing one in the middle of it would be a god way to finish the job.
Soon enough, the zombies were smashing into an invisible wall, unable to cross a border set up with the seals and he jumped out of his hideout to slap the final one on the trashcan.
"Try to go somewhere now," he smirked, then pulled out his phone and quickly turned on the GPS to mark their position, ignoring the moans of confused zombies. With a group imprisoned in a sphere like that one he could deal later or even leave it for a group of esquires that happened to be on the cleaning duty. A bit of experience was always a good thing for the newbies and this was probably one of the safest way for an Aria beginner to try his skills out.
After Ryuji marked where he left the now very dead undead too, he continued to wander around, trying to find more of them. Some couldn't be spotted from the higher ground, getting stuck in the most ridiculous places and bushes or even falling inside the buildings through windows.
He found another zombie nowhere else, but on the roof of one of the buildings. That one without fire escape on the outside.
"What the fuck are you even doing there?" Suguro groaned. "And how in the world you even climbed so high?!"
Naturally, there was no answer.
Ryuji grit his teeth. He couldn't just leave it for later, standing there and making noise. Even if these zombies seemed to be dumber than usual and not very aggressive, their behavior could change. The demons usually were pretty unpredictable and even the most common of them still could surprise people in rather nasty way. And he hadn't a clear shot either.
Looking around, he didn't managed to find any ladder or stairs leading to the rooftop, the doors to the house itself were also closed. But there was a nice, big trashcan by the side of the building, so it was probably the way zombie managed to get on the roof. Ryuji followed, carefully climbing onto the trashcan and then pull himself up, swallowing cursewords. He was really high and still got trouble with getting up. How in the world something as clumsy as undead managed to get there?
The zombie itself was standing on the other side of the roof, a few steps from the edge, staring at some point in the east for no reason that Suguro could come up with.
Ryuji exhaled slowly and carefully looked around, trying to not lose sight of the zombie for any second. He could spot with ease Joseph moving around in hundred meters or so, trying to scare off two undead from their path and led them towards dead end instead.
Several more were still walking down the streets, still heading more or less in one direction.
He had to deal with them and fast, but before that…
Suguro once again pulled his gun out. He started reciting the holy texts, trying to pinpoint a fatal verse, his voice steady and eyes looking for any sort of a reaction. For over a minute, there was no difference in the undead behavior at all.
Then, all of sudden, it turned towards him, the motion way faster than Ryuji anticipated. He instantly raised his gun and aimed, pulling the trigger in a split of second later. The zombie suddenly swayed, almost like it tripped over its own feet, the bullet flying over it.
"Oh, now you want to fight?!" Suguro growled, aiming again. The blasted thing threw him out of rhythm, so the few last lines he recited were useless and it seemed that there was no time to repeat them at all.
He pulled the trigger again, but the zombie suddenly launched at him, jumping high in the air, so the bullet only nicked its right foot. The undead landed right next to him and tried to grab him instantly, completely ignoring the wound. Suguro stepped back, avoiding the hands with dark, broken fingernails reaching for him, and then he made another step, trying to move towards the middle of the flat rooftop they were on. Fighting right on the edge was dumb, trying to shoot the enemy in the point black range wasn't the best idea either, at least not when said enemy was trying to bite your face off. Ryuji, after few steps found himself on the edge again, forced to dodge a vicious streak when the zombie threw itself at him again.
The damage done to its foot had to be more severe than he estimated, because something suddenly cracked and the undead lost its balance right after that last jump, hitting Ryuji with the whole weight of its body instead of an outstretched arm.
And then, they both fell.
Ryuji hit the ground with heavy impact that forced air out of his lungs. The zombie landed right on top of him, reaching towards his face almost instantly. He grabbed the monster by the shoulder, trying to keep it at distance, while rasping out holy verses.
He wasn't even entirely sure if he was really saying the words, because all the sound seemed to be muted almost completely.
He finished right before his elbow bend under the weight of the monster, dark spots dancing before his eyes, mixing with the ashes the zombie turned into, before it disappeared into nothingness.
"Suguro!" Joseph voice ringed in his eyes.
"I'm okay!" he managed to wheezed out, while still lying on the ground.
The world was still slightly spinning before his eyes and breathing was troublesome; he actually had to force his chest to move.
"You definitely don't sound alright," the other exorcist stated critically.
Ryuji just cursed under his breath and started to get up, using his elbow to push himself up.
"Hey!" Joseph growled. "Should you really move?"
"I'm fine," Suguro coughed. "I'm just out of breath."
"Well, that happen when people fall down from the roofs," Joseph grunted. "And you are bleeding too."
Suguro blinked. To think about it, his left hand felt a little funny.
He coughed again and raised it, so he could get a better look. The sleeve was torn and he could see a long gash on his forearm. It was bleeding, but looked rather shallow otherwise.
"I must have bumped into something on my way down."
"You sure?" There was another question hidden in there.
"It didn't chew on me, I just got knocked out for a moment."
"That shouldn't happen in the first place," Joseph grunted, then helped him to stand up. "Well, at least you don't seem to be concussed. just dumb. And I think you need stitches."
Ryuji bit his tongue and just let the older man scold him all the way he wanted to. He was right, after all, Suguro screwed this one royally, because he wasn't thinking at all. Just chasing the enemy, falling right into dumbest sort of accident and only by miracle didn't break his own neck. Death by falling down the roof with a zombie on top definitely wasn't what he wanted on his gravestone.
"Just give me a minute," Ryuji mumbled, reaching to one of the many pockets of his coat. "I've got bandage on me, I'll wrap it up and we can finish the job here."
The older exorcist rolled his eyes with visible irritation, but waited for him anyway. He didn't help him get up, though. The rest of the mission was uneventful; they managed to finish what they started and trapped undead in a magical circle before they exorcised them back where evil spirits belonged. Joseph was angry when they were finishing the job and continued on being angry when they returned home.
Suguro didn't say a word while the older man kept on ranting about his stupidity. After all, Joseph was right.
"Shirt off," he demanded. "I want to look at your back, to make sure you're only bruised."
Ryuji obediently took it off, trying to not agitate his wound or move too much. He wasn't sure what was hurting more, his hand or his back.
They started with the hand, but Suguro wasn't sure if he was happy about that. Angry Joseph happened to be also a sadistic bastard and not delicate at all.
"Stop wincing and be happy we don't have to go to the hospital," he grunted. "They surely would love to hear your story..."
"Can you knock it off already?" Suguro hissed through his teeth, when Joseph generously covered his forearm with antiseptic. "I know already that I'm one dumb shit, you can stop repeating it over and over again!"
"You really think I will stop this soon?" Joseph raised eyebrows, then returned to his work. "But honestly, that's really lucky. Butterfly or three and we're done."
"By just looking at you I'm starting to think that getting stitches is not that bad idea..." Ryuji murmured.
"Oh, man up!"
The next five minutes were full of pain and Suguro breathed out with relief when Joseph finished wrapping a new bandage around the wound.
it was really short relief, since right after that the other exorcist switched to poking and prodding, checking out if Suguro's ribs weren't broken. They were whole, but his back was way to tender for treating like that.
"You probably should go sleep it over," Joseph finally said with a sigh. "You looks like a shit."
"That sound like a good idea," Ryuji said, too tired to argue.
"Don't bother yourself with the reports, I can do that on my own."
"Thanks."
"Just cut the dumb act already."
Suguro dropped on the bed with a groan.
Sleeping could be a problem, since he definitely wasn't laiyng on his back anytime soon. Sleeping on his side would be an issue too, not only because of his arm, but his shoulders weren't in the best condition too.
He dropped on his stomach, trying to find the most comfortable position, not sure if he would manage to sleep at all.
It took no more than fifteen minutes, sound of flames lulling him to sleep.
xxx
"What happened to you?" was the first thing that fell out of Harry Potter's mouth, because of course everybody just had to ask that.
"Job?" Suguro shrugged. Honestly, he wasn't looking all that bad. A few visible bruises here and there, bandaged forearm and medical gauze covering his left cheekbone. Honestly, he lucked out with mere scratches but people were completely overreacting the whole thing.
"You look like somebody seriously beaten you up," Dudney pointed out, eyeing the exorcist.
"And from where would you know that, Big D?" Harry couldn't stop himself from elbowing his cousin. While Dursleys suddenly decided to turn into somewhat decent people, he wasn't planning on making it easy for them. It was very childish and he shouldn't do that at all, but a little innocent vengeance wouldn't hurt anybody too seriously.
"Oh, bug off, Pothead!"Dudley grunted and showed his bulky hands down his pockets, sulking.
Suguro fought hard to not laugh.
"So, uh..." Harry started awkwardly. "Something new?"
"Besides the bruises?"
"Uh, yeah. It was a few days since last time, wasn't it?" he pointed out.
They exchanged a few messages, but besides that, Suguro was rather occupied with work and trying to stay on top of his studies.
It was all rather exhausting, so meeting the brats was rather nice change.
"I'm not sure if I hate more people who steals all the bodies from the cemetery or when the bodies runs away on their own," Suguro grunted.
"Why somebody would steal the bodies?" Harry gasped, slightly grossed out.
"Zombies are real?" Dudley was more interested in the other thing entirely.
"And are kind of annoying," Suguro agreed.
"So what, one of these bit you, or something?"
"Nah," he winkled his nose and looked away, like he was embarrassed. "It pushed me out of the roof."
"Why were you fighting zombies on the roof?"
"That's the question I'm asking myself," Suguro cringed. He, and everybody else he knew. "Anyhow, my back is killing me, so the gym wouldn't be the brightest idea in the next few days."
"I'm actually surprised you're even here," Harry murmured. He knew from the first hand experience that falling down was not the best thing to happen. Even with the cushioning charms on the grass during Quidditch matches and trainings, the players were in pain, especially on the day after. But they were landing on magical grass and had all sort of spells to magic the bruises and broken bones away. Suguro looked like it wasn't grass he landed on. "Shouldn't you be lying down or something like that?"
"Don't be ridiculous," the exorcist snorted. "I'm fine. And we can visit someplace else instead the gym."
"Should I say "halleluiah" or it's too soon?" Dudley mumbled.
"Decide for yourself," Suguro shrugged. "We're just going to visit a shooting range. I checked the place out before, it's pretty decent."
"You serious?"
"Why not?" Ryuji shrugged. "People are doing it all the time. "
"Why exorcist needs a gun anyway?"
"I told you it is possible to exorcise evil spirits with firearms," Suguro said dryly. "I wasn't lying. We really do that."
"I'm so happy right now that you decided to exorcise me in more traditional way!"
"Dude, you have a gun?" Dudley gasped. "Like license and all?"
"Well... yeah?" Suguro blinked, not exactly sure what all that was about. A gun was just a gun, nothing to be excited about.
"Do you think a gun would even work against magical people?" Harry asked slowly, scratching his chin. The wizarding world seemed to be completely oblivious about muggle technology and everything else too, considering how they looked like during the Quidditch Match the year before. On the other hand, nobody ever told some sort of a dumb anecdote about a wizard meeting a Muggle with a shotgun or something like that. And it would be really hard to not to be aware about stuff that was falling from the skies sixty years ago – wizards usually lived longer, so many of them should remember.
"Well, nobody would expect that."
"I don't think how I feel about shooting people to the death," Harry murmured.
"You can always target his knee," Suguro shrugged. "Getting shoot in a knee would definitely stop evil warlock from waving his stick around."
"I don't even know how to shoot those!"
"No time like now to learn," Ryuji smirked.
Harry wasn't sure if he really wanted to learn how to use a gun, but Dudley was really excited about the whole thing. Besides, trying out new stuff wasn't going to hurt him, especially not when under supervision of people who actually knew what they were doing.
The gun feel odd an unnatural in his hand, all rough shapes, heavy and lacking any sort of grace. The goggles and headphones weren't any better, their weight was making him even more uncomfortable, but Suguro just wouldn't let them take them off even for a moment while at shooting range.
At least Dudley seemed to have fun, even if he missed every single shot, once or twice only managing to hit the piece of paper where the target was drawn.
"This is much more difficult than in the movies," Harry commented, trying to point his weapon at the target. His hands were shaking, even if he wasn't nervous at all.
"Quite," Suguro agreed and then corrected his stance again. Apparently, how he was standing on his legs was much more important that in the wizarding world, where one could duel while sitting if somebody was stubborn enough. The exorcist demonstrated already how easy it was to knock somebody down if he keeps his legs wrong and Harry decided to memorize at least that.
At least casting spells made his accuracy a bit better and most of the shots actually reached the paper, even if only two managed to get past the outer ring of the target.
After they were done, Suguro walked them back home.
And "walked" was a key word that Dudley really started to hate. It was always a trap, but apparently even beaten up exorcist still could wipe the floor with them without any sort of trouble.
Dudley sat down on the bench with a heavy sigh. Then he eyes his cousin and Suguro, feeling pang of jealously.
How these two managed to walk and walk and then walk some more and not even being out of breath. Totally unfair.
At least they stopped somewhere for a snack and it actually was something edible and not these damned grapefruits again. They both still reminded Dudley to choose the diet version of sandwich. At least they were decent enough to buy the same stuff, so he wasn't suffering that much.
Suguro crumbled a little bit of bread and threw it on the ground next to the curb. Harry was eyeing that place too, so Dudley followed. The tiny pieces of bread were disappearing slowly. He would completely miss that, if he wasn't with these two.
"There is something there, isn't it?" he asked.
"Yup," Harry nodded. "And it would be kinda cute, if not... uh, whatever is sticking out of it."
"Is this hard?"
"What exactly are you asking?" Suguro tilted his head.
"Seeing these things," Dusley eyed the disappearing bread again.
"I can't really tell," he admitted. "I was aware of their existence my whole life. Seeing them was just a natural thing, I guess. You eventually get used to them too."
Harry nodded in agreement.
"First few days I probably looked like an idiot," he admitted. "But they really don't mind you. Unless they want food."
"You were always the weird one anyway," Dudley shrugged. "No offence."
"None taken," Harry smirked.
They fed the invisible monsters for some more time, enjoying the evening when the day was finally cooling down.
Of course, the universe just had to remind Ryuji once more, this time using one Vernon Dursley, about that dumb mistake of his.
"You! What in the world happened to you?!"
"Fell down the roof while fighting zombies?"
There was a moment of awkward silence.
"You, uh... you are not joking, are you?"
"No," Suguro sighed deeply. Everybody would probably keep asking about it until his bruises disappear completely. This was going to be a very long week.
xxx
They fell into comfortable routine, waking up early when it wasn't as hot as for rest of the day and wandered to the gym. Sometimes they've meet up with Suguro in there, the other times they were on their own. Dudley definitely preferred the later, because for all the awe his cousin hold towards the Japanese guy and his muscles, Suguro was just too much of a slave driver. Some other times they meet up with the exorcist in the evening, it all depended on his rather full schedule.
Harry discovered with a bit of surprise that his cousin wasn't just a dumb oaf and Dudley sometimes acted like it was a surprise for him too. When he wasn't struggling with not buying sweets when there was a chance to munch something away from hawk eyes of Aunt Petunia, at least.
Just when things finally stopped being ridiculously awkward between them, the evening of the second day of August happened. If not for Mrs. Figg, who pretty much dragged them home after the terrifying experience of meeting the Dementors, they would probably ended up hiding on one of the trees in the park, because there was a slight chance that the blasted creatures didn't know how to climb.
At least, Harry decided with a grimace, the misadventures of the third year at Hogwarts happened to be useful and he knew what to do to stop himself and his cousin from feeling like a miserable balls of depression.
But the bliss of chocolate didn't last for long as well. The Ministry of Magic made sure of that.
"Well," Vernon said, carefully putting the letter back on the table. He was acting like the piece of paper was about to bit him any moment. "This is rather odd."
"Just odd?" Harry protested. "They were acting like I was second coming of fucking Jesus and now they want me out!"
"Language," Vernon barked automatically.
"They are crazy anyway, I was telling you that the whole time," Aunt Petunia said. "You can always go to school somewhere else."
"It would be hard without a wand."
"It's just a stick, you can always get another one," Uncle Vernon just shrugged. "Or you can just ignore the idiots and let them deal with their problems alone. Of course then it would have to be school for kids that are a little bit...uh, late."
Harry grimaced.
But his uncle was right, the magical education while fascinating and full of fireworks was definitely lacking when it came to math and many other subjects. He skimmed once through Dudley books and found himself slightly disturbed at how little he was able to understand. And he was good at math before he started Hogwarts!
"Whatever," he grunted. "What I don't understand is why they are going to break my wand. There were Dementors! They aren't supposed to be around where people live!"
"There shouldn't be that whatever it was on your head in the first place," Vernon cut in.
There was no response to that and Harry knew it well. He tried, for really long, to find a reason why magical people – Dumbledore – let him wander around with a piece of Voldemort stuck to his forehead, but there just wasn't a good answer for that. Either they all were absolutely oblivious to something that was really easy to spot for trained eye, which was disturbing thought on itself or for whatever reason they decided to left it there. Maybe they just didn't know how to take it off, the magical world wasn't mixing well with mundane one in the first place, so having wizards cooperating with exorcists was just wishful thinking…
All the other reasons were too much terrifying to think about.
The notify from the Ministry of Magic about him getting thrown out of school wasn't the only one. Soon after, a very short note from Mr. Weasley showed up and not half of an hour after that another one from the Ministry – this one telling him that he actually will get a chance to say a thing in his defense before they throw him out anyway.
"That counts as slightly better, yes?" Uncle Vernon asked, trying to stay away from the piece of parchment. While he was much, much more tolerant towards anything strange and Harry than he was even before, he still got his issues with touching stuff he considered as weird.
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "I think so, at least."
"Then shoo!" Vernon decided. "You both looks like you're going to drop at anytime, and God help me, I'm not going to drag anybody upstairs!"
They both snickered, but did as they were ordered anyway. There was no point in arguing and besides, they needed the rest anyway.
At least Harry was sure of it when he dropped on his bed. But the sleep wasn't coming to him and stirring in his sheets was just pointless. He groaned and sat down, running fingers through his hair.
Why, in the Merlin's name, his life has to sucks this much?!
A sudden movement startled him a little, but there was nothing to be afraid of anywhere near.
"You fine?" Dudley asked awkwardly, standing in the doors. He probably couldn't sleep either, still haunted by whatever he saw, when the Dementors showed up. Harry was a bit curious, because his cousin was living a very sheltered life, but decided not to ask. The darkest thoughts were always the most private. Demanding that sort of answer so short after they managed to patch a little relations between themselves weren't the best idea.
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "You?"
"Could be better," he grimaced. "And the doctor is going to murder me for breaking my diet, you know."
"That sucks," Harry grimaced.
"Yeah," Dudley mumbled. "Not like I can tell him that I was attacked by soul sucking ghost and that chocolate is the only antidote. Damn, that actually sounds even more ridiculous when you say it out loud!"
"Well, on the other hand you're getting way more exercise than they expected you to have."
"That doesn't change the fact that somebody is going to be charged with murder because of that chocolate. "
They laughed a bit, even if it was just a poor excuse of a joke. Laughter, even nervous was better than awkward silence, or stressing how terrifying the whole situation was.
"You going to call Suguro?" Dudley asked after a few moments.
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "I'm not sure how his kind mix with Dementors, so I should warn him about them."
"Think there might be more?" his cousin voice cracked a bit, heavy with fear.
"Haven't the slightest, sorry," he miserably shook his head.
"That sucks," Dudley grimaced. "I don't even have idea in what direction to run."
"You hadn't even the idea to run in the first place."
"Point," Dudley nodded.
xxx
Ginny wasn't sure if she was excited by moving for the rest of the summer to some old mansion of very ancient magical family, or just irritated by being forced to get used to another place.
It would be an adventure, definitely. But at the same time, there wouldn't be anything new. She was going to be surrounded by her brothers anyway and parents would act even more embarrassing than usual, cooing over her while other people were around. Ginny wasn't just a little girl anymore. She could tough it out if needed.
So she just acted like she didn't care much at all, while entering this old, strange place, where the shadows were moving in darkness, whispering to each other in raspy voices.
All the others, seemed to be oblivious to the shadows moving around them, but it wasn't anything new. It was just like home, only the black was blacker here, flourishing in gloomy atmosphere of abandoned building.
Like her brothers, she was tasked with all the boring, mundane jobs - dusting, degnoming, cleaning up the mess in the rooms after adults were done with shooing away things more serious, like boggarts.
"What are we, house elves?" Ron groaned, after he was handed another cloth and pointed in direction of newly cleared room. They were actually supposed to celebrate since this would be a second bedroom for their use, which meant that there would be no more squishing together like sardines in a can, but Ron was Ron. He just really liked to be grumpy if somebody told him to work.
"Well, we can't use our wands, Ronniekins," George grinned.
"So they have to utilize us in some other way," Fred added. " So be a good house elf and get to work. Chop chop!"
"You just hope for us to do all the work, don't you?"
"Yup."
Ginny groaned.
Like it wasn't bad enough like it was. Mom was constantly breathing down her back, checking every fifteen minutes if she was okay... when she wasn't hissing at her to go away, because adults were talking about important secretive stuff and she wasn't old enough. At least boys were treated the same way.
Besides her family, the constant occupant of this place was no one else than Sirius Black, the not-mass murderer, who was always trying to either get murdered by Snape - who showed himself up from time to time - or just get drunk. He couldn't because every time mom was able to catch him with his hand on the bottle and then she was taking the bottle away, no matter how loud he was whining about it.
To tell the truth, life was more than just unfair to Sirius, forcing him to live in the house he hated the most, just after spending twelve years in the most terrible prison in the world. Ginny was also pretty sure that the man was much less sane than the rest of adult wizards actually believed. Dark things were changing how one viewed life, but nobody could really understand how much until he meet his own darkness. There wasn't even point in trying to explain all the things that suddenly changed. She tried.
Ginny learned how to shrug and left things unsaid, because it was so much easier. And when she wasn't trying to talk, the people acted like she actually got better, healed or something like that.
Liars, both of us, she thought and shook her head, before binding her hair in a tight but messy bun and went to the kitchen in search for fresh rag. After all the alive – or not – magical stuff was done, there was also need of plain simple cleaning. It would be faster with spells, but mom couldn't be everywhere. And all the things needed solid scrubbing by hand from time to time too.
Besides, thank to doing her work right she got more opportunities to listen on adults than anybody else; after a few days of observing her obedient behavior the adults stopped being so suspicious and at times even didn't notice her.
Because of that, she happened to be around, when dad jumped out of the fireplace like he was burning for real, looking shaken and scared.
"Arthur?" Mom looked at dad with worried eyes. "Did something happen at work?"
"If only," he sighed. "Look, I really need to talk to Dumbledore and now. I couldn't Floo him from the job, because of all that mess, but..."
Dad shook his head. "just tell me, do you know where Dumbledore is? In his office?"
"So what happened, Arthur?" Sirius jogged up to them.
"Harry got the warning for using magic around Muggles," he said quickly.
"Huh?" Ginny blinked. "But why? He knows that he can't do that!"
"Well, I'm sure he got some really important reason for using magic. A Patronus charm, no less!"
"Patronus?" Molly asked, a bit too shocked for a moment to actually grasp the fact that her daughter was not only in the room but taking active role in the conversation no less. "But why would he use that?"
"Well," Ginny said slowly. "Maybe he was trying to force us to tell something? I mean, all these letters..."
"Ginny, darling, you know what Professor Dumbledore said, right?"
"Well, I do," she shrugged. "But I think you guys forget to tell Harry why it was so important."
"I'm not sure if Remmy told him Patronuses even can carry stuff," Sirius scratched his chin. Hermione, who sneaked up into the room right behind him, nodded.
The Dementors were too big of a deal to actually think of any other uses for Patronus spell beyond keeping these dark creatures at bay. Besides, Harry was struggling with it to the last moment and all the last year was occupied with that disaster of a tournament instead of something that actually to be useful for him.
Molly shook her head."But if that's the case, then why he used it at all?"
"Maybe he wanted to scare that pig of a cousin away?" Sirius proposed with a shrug. "I would be pretty startled if a giant stag would charge at me out of nowhere… and that brat seems to be a petty damn coward, if you ask me."
"All he needed to do that was to say "Alacazam" or something like that," Hermione snorted. "Besides, he knows better than that!"
"I've already send him a note to not go anywhere if he receive a warning from the Ministry," Arthur ran fingers through his hair in nervous gesture, almost knocking off glassed out of his nose. "I just hope everything will end up fine."
"Honestly, this is very awful of them, looking for a reason to terrorize that poor boy!" Molly shook her head. "And in times like these no less!"
"And if there were Dementors in Little Whining?" Sirius growled. "Then what? And why the hell they were there in the first place?!"
"I don't know!" Arthur put his glasses back in their place. "That's why I need to talk to Dumbledore, the situation is already really tense!"
"It's just a warning, right?"
"No," he shook his head. "It's way worse than that. Two years ago Harry already received one and then there was that case with his aunt last year! The Ministry went straight for the big spells!"
"What are they planning to do?" Hermione asked slowly, gulping. With all that bad press about Harry, she had a really bad feeling about this.
Ginny wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the answer either and carefully eyed the other girl and then adults in the room, almost hoping that somebody would remember that kids are not supposed to hear dark things.
"They want to break. his wand and expel him from school"
"They can't do that!" Hermione gasped. "This is awful!"
"Why are they doing that? He's... he's Harry!" Ginny choked on her words too. The one and only Boy Who Lived, a hero of Magical Britain, the one there was so much stupid books about suddenly was degraded from heroic figure to some sort of street hooligan, just because of dumb things like politics. He wasn't even old enough to actually do stuff like that! It wasn't a basilisk either, he couldn't just go and stab in the eye to cause it stop being so annoying. But then how he was supposed to survive this situation?
"That's the problem," Arthur sighed. "They just don't want believe that's Vol... that's he's back."
"But throwing him out of school? Isn't this too much?" Hermione groaned.
"I'm sure Dumbledore will find a way out of it," he said. Then grabbed a handful of the Floo powder and departed away, leaving them nervous and scared.
Luckily, Professor Dumbledore was able to act quickly and efficiently. Just a few minutes and the sentence hanging over Harry's head was changed from breaking his wand instantly to letting him prove his innocence in several days.
They all breathed out in relief, but the situation was far from over. The answers were desperately needed, not only about the possibility of the Dementors being in so muggle place as Privet Drive, but about who let Harry being attacked too.
Bunch of other adults joined the conversation, showing up at the Grimmaur Place few minutes apart from each other. There was Tonks and Moody and a handful of Aurors Ginny didn't really knew by name. They all sat down by the huge table in unwelcoming and gloom dining room, which temporary acted as a command center. The bright stains on walls, where once portraits of members of Ancient and Noble House of Black only added to how uncomfortable everyone felt in this place. It at times felt like the empty places were staring at people with accusation in their eyes, but without voicing opinion out loud, like that loud painting right by the entrance.
"Who let that happen in the first place?" Sirius shook his head. "I through you people were watching him!"
"We were watching him!" A very young Auror woman stood up, blush creeping on her cheeks when she was trying to defend herself and all the other people with guarding duty. Ginny liked her, but knew only a little about her; only that she was Sirius cousin, could change her appearance at will and preferred to go by her last name.
"Then how in the Merlin's name you managed to miss something like that?!"
"How in the world should I know?" Tonks protested. "I mean, we were observing his house constantly, and there's that charming old squib across the street too!"
"Charming?"
"She's constantly offering me cookies."
"Cookies!" Sirius growled. "Dementors could be wandering right next to his house and you're talking cookies!"
"I do believe it was Mundungus turn?"somebody added helpfully, probably hoping for keeping Black for turning into a dog and trying to show his disapproval through biting people. He already tried that once, when the Order just moved in and they were about to start cleaning job. It wasn't pretty.
"Mundungus!" this time it was Molly who gasped with sheer disgust. "You let that sort of a man anywhere near Harry? What were you thinking?"
"Mung is an useful man…" one of the Aurors started carefully.
"He's a criminal, for Merlin sake!" Sirius growled. Then stopped for a moment, realizing how awkward it end up coming out of his mouth. "A real one, anyway!"
Before they really started a fight, there was a loud crack in the air and suddenly Dumbledore was in the room, his arm wrapped protectively around shoulders of an old, delicate looking woman. She was wearing slippers and her grey hair seemed need both a comb and a bath.
"I see you started without me," he noted, eyeing everybody with amused smile.
"The situation is quite troublesome, " the same Auror as before decided to voice his opinion. "And we're all very worried."
"Everything is going to be fine, I'm sure of it," Professor Dumbledore said warmly, then let the woman to one of the free seats. "This is my dear friend Arabella. She happened to be in the right place to see everything."
"Then why didn't she do anything?" Molly frowned, looking at her with a distance.
"I'm a squib, dearie."
"Oh!" she gasped, putting hand to her mouth. "I'm sorry!"
The old woman just waved at her, letting it go. It was probably not the first time she went through this awkward point of the conversation, when the wizards and witches were clueless how to act around somebody who was unable to cast a spell.
"Please, Arabella, tell us everything you now. Maybe we can find some sort of answer," Dumbledore said smiling kindly, and gesturing towards the sofa.
Arabella nodded stiffly, then sat down carefully, on the edge, like she was afraid that the antique sofa was about to bite her any time.
"The boy seemed to be in very poor mood after he arrived back home," she started.
Dumbledore was the only one who didn't cringe after that.
"That understandable," he said softly. "He went through much, after all. Please, continue."
The old woman nodded and started telling the tale of how life in Privet Drive went, with all the details she managed to squish in.
"A little while ago a young man started showing up, I believe he's a friend of Dudley," she continued. "Quite scary looking, I must admit, but that boy was always looking for trouble, so I'm not that surprised."
"But they didn't hurt Harry, right?" Molly asked, quite worried. She was telling Albus and anybody else who wanted to listen that the Dursleys were never a good family for such sweet kid like Harry and she was afraid for the boy. Had a reason to do so too, considering how much he needed the rescue from their house before second year of Hogwarts even began.
"No, no!" Arabella shook her head. "It's more like the boys finally found the common ground and are constantly going somewhere together."
"Yeah," Moody grimaced. "Which made looking after him all that more troublesome. Honestly, giving him house arrest would prevent any sort of trouble!"
"Alastor, how can you say things like that!" Molly scolded him. "It's a boy, he need to move! Sitting in the house is unhealthy!"
"Whatever," the Auror grunted. "What's done it's done."
Arabella continued her story about boys doing boyish things. Before she got to the part with Dementors, she managed to really bore the Order members.
"They really were there, the Dementors," Arabella said, her voice slightly shaking with emotions. "Horrible creatures! The boys barely managed to escape and only because of the Patronus Charm!"
"It was only Mr. Potter and young Mr. Dursley who were attacked?"
"Yes," Mrs. Figg nodded again. "Dudley's new friend was showing up every few days. I think he is studying some muggle thing, so he can't be around all the time..."
"Whatever, who would care about some Muggle anyway," Alastor grunted.
"Well, the danger to Mr. Potter can go from any direction, isn't it right?"
"I'll sooner become a ballerina than Death Eaters would invite some Muggles to play," Alastor snorted.
"I do have agree," Molly added. "We have other things to worry about."
"I'm sure I can work something out at the Ministry," Dumbledore.