Chapter 6
Only A Muggle
Fred and George Weasley once again proved that they were so much more intelligent than they grades suggested. Their newest invention didn't look too appealing, but it was probably the best thing Harry even saw. It could help him to learn something about what was going on in the magical world so much!
Harry had nothing against using any invention of the twins at all. Knowledge, after all, was power, and when a psycho was hunting you down with a fiery passion every sort of power was welcome. Besides, he was really worried and the adults weren't talking to him. To the point they completely ignored every question he asked. Or just brushing his worries of, because he was just a kid and shouldn't occupy his innocent mind with such grim things.
On the other hand, they seemed to be suddenly way to curious about the whole exorcism deal. Harry really wanted to kick himself in the butt for even saying a word about that. He really could better control his mouth while angry. But that could wait. Now he was using the opportunity to actually learn something.
He eagerly bended over the receiving end of the magical version of a bug and stiffened. As he feared, the adults were talking about the exorcism.
"Sirius, you were constantly changing the topic," Remus said with voice more weary than usual. The full moon was either very close or happened a few days ago. Harry wasn't sure. "How exactly were you expecting to get any answers at all?"
"Remmy, the Dementors might have suck out a bit of this and that from me," Sirius said slowly. Very slowly, like he was talking to a small child. "But they definitely were not interested in my brain."
"Like there was anything else to be interested in," Moody commented dryly.
"My point is," Sirius continued, ignoring the auror. "That I do remember how you were acting when you were trying to hide your furry problem. And Harry was doing exactly the same thing. Hadn't you notices, how wary of us he suddenly became, as soon as we mentioned the whole exorcism stuff?"
"Of course he was!" Mrs. Weasley huffed. "The poor boy is obviously traumatized and no wonder about that! We don't even know what they do to him!"
"Well, he's not talking," Sirius said. "And we can't force him to talk to us either. That's just going to piss him off even more."
"This is for his own good, Black," Moody grunted. "The brat can be if that floats his boat. He can survive with that."
"Now you sound like Snivellus," Sirius groaned unhappily. "You really are fine with him not trusting us? Doesn't that beat the whole purpose of keeping him safe?"
"Well," Remus murmured slowly. "You do have a point, I think. If he doesn't trust us, then how are we going to know if something bad is going on or not?"
"Soon enough he'll be back at Hogwarts and then he can be as angry as he wants to be."
"And that worked soo well in the past," Remus snickered. "Really, Sirius is right. Harry needs to trust us and breaking his trust just to force him to say something he doesn't want to..."
"That would be just dumb," Sirius finished for him. "So give him some time, alright?"
"It could be all just a story, because he needs attention," Moody pointed out.
"I Don't believe that," Mrs. Weasley stated decisively. "He knows better than made up stories like that!"
"But the whole thing doesn't make any sort of sense either!" Moody protested. "There's no way for Him to just show up like that, because some muggle said a bit of weird things!"
"Well, something did happened!" Sirius groaned. "I don't know what, or why, but these crazy people did something to Harry and I want to know what as much as the next guy! But he won't tell us if we just keep pushing him."
"And you think a handful of dirty jokes are going to solve the problem?"
"Well it's definitely work better than trying to force all the answers out of him," Sirius shrugged. "And throwing him a bone would be a good idea too, I think. He wants to be involved somehow, I think, so you know... Showing that we trust him will make him trust us. I think."
"We can't just walk around and tell teenagers everything!" Moody protested.
"I agree with Alastor," Molly added. "They are still children, they shouldn't be involved!"
"I never said we should tell them something important. Just... something."
"And act like that little something is a big deal?" Remus sighed. There was a long pause, like he was toying with the idea in his mind for a few moments. "That actually could work. And making them memorize some stuff would help too... even knowing only the theory behind a shielding charm is going to be better than nothing."
Harry exchanged looks with the twins. Their sour expressions looked exactly how he felt himself.
"But they better don't get in any fights!" Mrs. Weasley demanded.
"Considering how rotten luck they had up until now..." Remus murmured.
"Better safe than sorry," Moody agreed. "But I'm still going to say that these were just muggles fooling around," Moody huffed.
"Then how are you going to explain the wraith of Him?"
"An illusion! Psychological manipulation maybe, I've heard that muggles are being more and more fascinated with that stuff." Sirius sounded like he was really frustrated. "I don't know!"
"Then I think we should just get the answers straight out of the source!" Moody threw his hands in the air. "It's just a muggle anyway. A chair, a binding curse and a bit of Veritaserum and we all know everything we ever wanted to know about this ridiculous thing."
"I like that plan," Sirius sounded like he was really happy about the whole deal.
"I don't know," Lupin murmured. "We can't just go and kidnap somebody because we want to talk to him."
"Well, we're at war, boy," Moody growled. "If you want to be nice, then go someplace else."
"I understand," he sighed. "But kidnapping? That's just wrong."
"We're kidnapping him just for an hour or so," Mr. Weasley shrugged. "He won't even remember that, so what's the big deal? The Obliviators are doing this all the time!"
Harry felt like his blood turned into ice. They were serious. They were talking about kidnapping somebody like it was no big thing and seemed to be perfectly okay with wiping somebody's memory just because they could. Harry remembered all too well what happened to Lockhart when he butchered the spell because he tried to use a broken wand. To think they could do the same thing to somebody as bright as Suguro…
"Well, I don't know about the Ministry being a good thing to follow..." Remus started carefully. "But if this is for Harry..."
"We're just going to make sure he's okay," Mr. Weasley said quickly. "You know, it always could be an untrained wizard and not just a plain old muggle, you never know with these foreigners, so odd, the bunch of them!"
"That would definitely mess this up," Moody grunted. "We need a plan and a few people on the case."
"A few?" Sirius snorted. "You're afraid that some boy who's probably just a muggle, would kick your ass?"
"I just want be done with this as quickly as possible," Alastor snorted. "need to be spotted by the idiots from the Ministry, they already made more than enough trouble with that dumb court."
Harry really wanted to jump in there and scream until they regain their senses, because this was just terrible. But he needed to know more and not only about what they planned to do with Suguro but about other things too, so he bit his lip and continued to listen in silence.
There was some more hush-hush stuff about guarding something and Voldemort not making any obvious moves, and then they were caught and shoed away before he could even say a thing.
Harry wasn't in a good mood. For the ten past days he really hoped that after dealing with the Ministry of Magic he was going to finally get some answers and maybe a moment to breathe.
Of course, it just wasn't happening. The adults not only decided to keep all the important stuff secret and trick him. Even Dumbledore was still silent, either acting like Harry wasn't in the room at all, or looking at him with a strange expression in his eyes while he thought Harry wasn't looking at him.
He really didn't want to drag Suguro in any of this mess. He had life hard enough. This was the reason Harry decided against talking about the exorcist in the first place. But now...
They knew his face. Dumbledore saw his face, he took it out right from Harry's mind.
They knew Suguro's face and there was no way for Harry to even warn him about the Order of Phoenix in any way at all.
Harry groaned and hid his face in hands in a silent act of frustration. He was sitting alone for quite some time – or at least it felt like some time had passed – not carrying to turn the lights on or even to take his shoes down; sitting in the ancient armchair with his legs curled up, with soles of his trainers leaving dark stains against the expensive fabric gave him at least some satisfaction. Taking his revenge upon a chair was probably just childish and dumb, but Harry wasn't in the mood to act like a proper adult.
The doors creaked slightly and somebody carefully walked in. It was Hermione and she was moving painfully slow, like she expected him to explode at any moment and didn't particularly want to be anywhere close to the ground zero.
"Harry...?" Hermione asked in a soft voice. "Is everything alright?"
"No," he said, not looking at her. "No, it's not. Anything but."
Harry could clearly see in her eyes that she instantly understood what he was talking about. Or at least was able to guess. Maybe the twins filled her in. Or he was just that obvious. Probably the last one, considering how the two Weasley brothers crept inside after her, listening on their conversation.
"I'm sure they know what they are doing," she smiled slightly, trying to reassure him somehow.
"You don't even know what they were talking about," George pointed out dryly, making her jump with surprise. Hermione hadn't noticed that they walked in, Harry noted. She was lucky that her hair was still in the same color as usual.
"And it seems to be wrong," Fred added with a grimace. "A bit. You know, he's just a muggle… No offense, really."
"I'm sure they know what they are doing," she repeated, even after the twins explained in short words what made them all to be so disturbed. Only her cheeks got more flushed and she was talking faster, like it was going to prove that she was right. "They fought in one war against Death Eaters already!"
"Hermione," Harry groaned. "They are planning a kidnapping. Why are you fine with that?"
"I'm not fine!" she protested. "But I think, in that situation..."
She chewed on her lip for a moment, looking for a right words.
"Hermione, kidnapping is still kidnapping, no matter how well you mean for the world."
"But... how can they contact him?"
"I don't know, send a letter, maybe? Choose a date, meet up on the neutral ground?" Harry suppressed flash of annoyance. "Honestly, how cooperative would you feel if somebody would suddenly grab you, apparte to some strange place and then told you that this all was for your own good?"
"Okay," she sighed. "I believe you made your point. Wizards are crazy. But I'm sure your friend will be just fine..."
"Oh, I'm more worried about the Order members," Harry laughed a little nervously. "As far as I know, Suguro is rather used to fight."
He was lying. Badly. He was absolutely terrified by the whole situation and the fact that he hadn't any way to prevent anything from happening… Even during that horrible time at the cemetery or in the Chamber of Secrets he at least could try to do something.
"Definitely not with the wizards," she pointed out.
"Yes," Harry reluctantly agreed. It was exactly the thing which was freaking him out so much about whole situation. Even if the exorcist somehow manage to go through the books he borrowed from Harry and then somehow apply the newfound knowledge to the real–life situation during a surprise attack… it was so going to end up badly. So he continued, more to try and reassure himself than for any other reason. "Maybe not. But after he dealt with piece of Voldemort he acted like it wasn't anything big!"
"Now he sound just stupid!" Hermione winkled her nose.
"I don't think so. But you have to actually see some things to believe."
She was silent for a few moments before she decided to speak again.
"You… really do care about him, right?" she asked in a soft voice.
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "He's great, really. And not treating me like some dumb kid that needs to be sheltered."
"Harry," Hermione said slowly. "You are a kid."
"With a psychopathic murderer after me," he rolled his eyes. "Seriously, that cut childhood a little bit short, don't you think?"
"They just care about you…" Hermione tried to explain.
"Look, I get it. But This is not what I need. I need… to know things, about Voldemort, about what is really going on out there and how exactly I'm supposed to stay alive. Sitting on my butt and letting adults do… whatever they're doing is just not enough."
"I'm sorry," she sighed. "I wish I could help you, somehow. I really do."
Harry shook his head, but couldn't stop his lips from curving into a small smile.
xxx
It was impossible to talk the adults out of that idiotic idea once they made their mind. Even worse, they were trying very hard to not give Harry even a chance to voice his opinion about the issue. To the point that the group destined to snatch the exorcist moved out when he was occupied with the daily routine of dealing with the house pests. They will be back the next day, obviously, since Kreacher was trying really hard to snatch back as much of little annoying creatures as he could, just for the sake of make the living at Grimmaur Place worse than it could be.
Harry could just grit his teeth and wait, sitting on the sofa by the wall in the room they destined to be the apparition site. And try to not snap at Mrs. Weasley who tried to make him feel better by trying to feed him every five minutes. Ron, on the other hand, seemed to be more than fine by that course of action. At least he was siding with Harry, even if he was happily chewing something most of the time. Hermione acted like she was ignoring Ron, but Harry caught her gaze wandering towards the other boy, like she was checking if he was really still eating after all he managed to swallow already.
The antique clock seemed to be making fun of Harry, with its chime moving painfully slow, but his own watch was showing the exact same time.
Finally, the few members of Order of Phoenix returned, with the captured exorcist, no less. Lupin was sporting a black eye and was rubbing his ribs with painful grimace on his face, while Mr. Weasley had rather sheepish grin on his face and seemed to be wrapped in some sort of a chain. Even Snape got hurt; he was holding bloodied handkerchief to his face, but he was the one who was holding Suguro at the wand point too. Right until the exorcist kicked him in the knee and when he was falling in the back of his head with an elbow, for a good measure.
"Wow!" Ron gasped.
"Ow!" Hermione grimaced, because the man fell face–first on the ground with an impact big enough to produce a loud thud.
Sirius made a weird, canine noise and jumped right where the fight was, a spell already dancing on the tip of his wand, before he even got over the railing.
The noise was all Suguro needed. He moved out of the way, just by bending his knee and lowering his whole body, so the curse flew harmlessly over him. Then, before Sirius could react, the exorcist whirled around and hit the wizard right in the moment when his feet touched the ground. The force behind the punch was strong enough to push Black a few steps away.
Just then Snape, with a vicious grimace on his face send a curse in Suguro's direction, forcing the exorcist to step back. Another one followed and then another, all of them wordless, just a sharp movement of the wand, not giving the opponent an opportunity to hit back.
In the spectacle of blistering lights, Harry barely could see his Godfather, who was got up from the floor but stayed low to avoid the curses, creeping slowly towards the enemy, or Suguro. The exorcist was dodging and ducking and rolling away from the seemingly never ending wave of spells, both of his hands close to the chest.
"Is he hurt…?" Harry gasped, bending over the railing, so he could see better.
But there was no blood or other things to worry about. Just his fingers moving quickly, forming odd looking gestures.
Harry eyes widened with recognition in the same moment when the bright blue lights suddenly appeared in the mid air, forming a complicated, symmetric pattern. A red blast hit it with a loud cracking noise like the spell just smacked into a physical object, creating a cloud of sparkles.
Snape's eyes widened at the sigh, but his wanded arm never stopped moving, bringing to life yet another charm the exorcist's way. Suguro, his fingers still locked in a complicated seal, pushed himself off the ground and throw himself right where the wizards was standing, not sparing a single glance to the menacing light of a curse. The air was filled with sparks and noise once again and before even the lights disappeared, the exorcist suddenly broke the seal and crossed his forearms, right before rammed into Snape with full force.
The wizard made a choking noise while the railway he was brutally thrown into protested loudly, bending and creaking under the unexpected pressure.
Sirius jumped, using the moment where the exorcist turned his back towards him, transforming mid-air into his animal form and baring teeth into a menacing grimace, sharp fangs promising to bit and tear.
Suguro barely managed to turn around and raise his hand, but somehow managed to push the attacking beast away with his forearm. Reacting instinctively, he grabbed the dark fur, fingers digging deep into the skin and throwing the dog away, once again using the movement of his whole body to add more strength to the blow.
As the Black hit the wall over the railing with a painful yelp, another person apparted into the room.
"Wouldn't you just stay put, boy?!" Moody growled. He took out his wand with one sharp movement, like it was already waiting for the chance to jump into his hand.
The young man just grinned viciously.
"Is he going to fight Mad-Eye?" Ron gasped. "But he don't have a wand!"
"I don't think he's even magical," Hermione murmured quietly. She looked pale and scared. That sort of a fight was definitely not what she was expecting, Harry decided. Nobody was expecting a brawl like that, not even he. And he knew Suguro! But the sheer brutality of the way the exorcist was fighting was just downright scary.
"If you want to play this way, then..." Moody stated, irritation clear in his voice. In one swift move he raised his wand and suddenly, the floor under the exorcist creaked menacingly. The wooden boards suddenly came to life, wiggling and bending under him, trying to push themselves off the floor.
It was also the moment when Suguro ducked to the corner of the room and grabbed a broom.
"What the...?!" Moody asked, gaping at the teen with slightly bewilded expression.
The young man was wielding the broom like it was some sort of a weapon and for some reason he didn't look ridiculous.
"You really think this is going to help you against me?" Alastor snorted. "what do you plan to do with this thing, brat? Fly away?"
"You're the one doing the flying," Suguro growled.
The floorboards shot up, gleaming with still sharp tips of nails in them, circling around the exorcist, who somehow managed to step away just in the time to not be knocked over when the floor had risen.
Both Suguro and Moody waited, two rows of wood slowly circling around the exorcist, ready to strike.
"I've seen all your tricks," the old Auror said, his voice rumbling loudly in the sudden silence. "There's nothing you can surprise me with anymore."
"Is that a challenge?"
Without skipping a beat, Suguro jumped forward and Moody reacted just as fast. The wooden boards suddenly moved much faster, surrounding and following the exorcist, not giving him enough space to pick up pace fast enough to just dash trough the room at the Auror. Suguro stepped aside once, than twice, then had to duck and Moody grinned widely.
Suddenly, a big beam of blueish light shot from his wand, bigger than anything Harry ever saw and headed towards the ceiling. It never reached it. Instead it started to falling down, like a comet, slipping between the flying boards with perfect ease just to hit the floor with a small hiss. Before the spell even vanished completely, another one followed and after that a next one, bombarding the ground where the enemy was.
The exorcist whirled around, dodging and ducking, like in a some weird dance, his face – visible only during the flashes of bright light – wearing an expression of absolute concentration, a broom still in his hands.
It was a very short moment, not even a split of second, when Suguro's eyes widened and he rushed forward, avoiding the projectiles and the wood like he somehow knew exactly where it was going to be. Then, using the broomstick like pole, he jumped high, over the ring of broken wood and over the old Auror. Landing on all four, Suguro quickly pushed himself off the wall and turned towards Moody, aiming at the man's legs with the broom.
Alastor gasped, but jumped over the stick before it crashed into his only knee, his wand already commanding the animated items to once again attack his opponent. But the exorcist was too close and he pushed up the pace, taking the initiative. Moody aimed for his head with the next spell, but Suguro already moved aside, trying to smack the auror with his elbow. Alastor ducked, letting the punch pass him harmlessly and once again tried to curse the enemy.
Harry was just staring, observing the fight with his mouth open, unable to do anything. The spells were flying in the air like the most magnificent fireworks, covering the scene in thousands of tiny sparkles and flashes of bright colors. The two men were moving around each other in perfect harmony, like it was just some sort of an oriental dance and they trained for it for years.
Suguro suddenly turned around breaking the rhythm, smacking the end of the stick right into Moody's sternum, pushing air out of his lungs. He didn't even give the man to step away, but just hit him again, this time in his right hand with a loud smack.
Alastor's wand not even hit the floor, when he turned around and hit him again, this time right in the face with the switches, blinding him just for enough time to smash Alastor another time and force him down on the floor.
And then he stomped on Moody, placing his foot right between his shoulder blades.
"Woah!" Ron gasped. "Did you see that?"
Before Harry – or Hermione – managed to find any words at all, there was a crack. The railing Snape crashed into just a few moments ago fell apart. Then, there was another crack.
Suddenly, Molly Weasley and Tonks were standing by the stairs, looking around the place with confusion.
Well, the place looked like hell. There were dark scorching marks all over the place and the heavy, ancient chandelier ceased to exist at all, leaving behind only a few shards of glass, now sparkling sadly among the pile of loose wooden boards. In one corner of the room Remus Lupin was hovering over Arthur Weasley, shielding the still bound man from the wild spells. In another, Snape was trying to get his breath under control with Black standing over him, still holding a Protego charm active.
In the middle of this mess, the exorcist stood proudly, breathing heavily, but still ready to fight.
"What in the world happened here?" Nymphadora was the first one to regain her speech.
"Why is he standing on–" before Molly finished her question, a sudden flash of light cut through the air.
"A second wand!" Harry gasped.
Suguro either could move away, letting Moody go, or stand his ground and be hit with the unknown curse. As soon as he moved away, Alastor jumped onto his feet and punched him in the jaw, hard enough to draw blood.
"Think you're the only one here who can lay a punch?" Moody asked with a nasty smile.
Sirius and Lupin were now standing up, pointing their wands at Suguro, same as Tonks. Molly was the last one to reach for hers, but she didn't look afraid at all.
"You are surrounded!" Lupin warned him. "Please, just step back..."
"Like hell I would!" the exorcist growled, blood sipping down his chin.
There was something off in his eyes, something that wasn't there a moment before. It was hard and cold, and unmerciful. Utterly terrifying too.
Harry ran down the stairs, intuitively knowing that either he was going to stop all that madness right in this very moment, or something very bad was going to happen. He remembered what Suguro could do with fire pretty well.
"Suguro, I'm soo sorry!" Harry said quickly, before the exorcist moved into action. "I tried to tell them that they're being stupid 'and shouldn't, but...!"
"Not your fault, kid." the exorcist shrugged, tension in his shoulders vanishing as he breathed out. He still seemed to be ready to fight and looked around the place with a furrow on his brow but at least didn't seem like he was going all out. For now. The odd expression was still in his eyes.
"If I didn't tell them about what happened..."
"What's done is done," Suguro muttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Where are we exactly?"
"Harry, don't...!"
"London," he said, feeling rather satisfied by doing so.
"Not normal part of the city, am I right? The place gives pretty dark vibe."
"What tipped you off?" Harry snorted.
"You don't want to know... but try get back home, the miasma here is thick enough to give anyone issues."
He blinked. It was really hard to not notice how many Coal Tars and other lesser demons occupied this place. Was it the reason why Suguro was acting so off? But then, these were just lesser demons, nothing to concern somebody like him.
"Are we uh… done now?" Sirius asked carefully.
"I hope so," Harry found himself saying. Funny, he hadn't even noticed that he opened his mouth. "I'm standing here!"
"So, these are that wizarding people of yours?" Suguro slightly raised his eyebrows. "Not a very charming bunch, to tell the truth."
"I told them it was a stupid idea," Harry explained, ignoring the loud gasps and protests of all the wizards at the sign that the Statue of Secrecy was breached. " But they don't believe in telephones."
"There's no need to be worry, young man," Mrs. Weasley smiled, in hopes to turn the conversation around before somebody got seriously hurt. "All we need from you is to have a little chat..."
"And you people just had to kidnap me for that?" Suguro snorted. "Pretty damn stupid!"
"That's not the way to treat your elders...!" she gasped.
"I don't give a shit about your opinion, got my own mother," the exorcist grimaced with a distaste. "Besides, a kidnapper lecturing people on good manners, that's rich!"
"Can somebody please unwrap me?" Mr. Weasley asked, probably trying to defuse situation a little bit. Or at least catch his wife attention before she gets into a brawl with the exorcist over his language of all things. She definitely sounds like she was about to, and the muggle wasn't helping at all, screaming right back at her.
"And what happened to you?" Sirius looked at him with curiosity.
"I tried to catch him," Arthur explained with a blush of embarrassment creeping up his cheeks. "He was faster."
"That I can guess," Sirius nodded. "But how, it's beyond me. By the way, I like what you've done with the place. Looks much better now!"
They somehow managed to defuse the situation. Or Harry managed to drag Suguro away, while Arthur and Tonks were leading Mrs. Weasley the other way, so the two wouldn't try and murder each other.
"You okay?" Harry asked quietly.
"I'm fine," the exorcist answered, is eyes still locked on the group of wizards, like he was expecting them to attack once more.
Well, they certainly looked pissed off, Harry had to admit that. They were definitely more roughed up that Suguro too, probably because a physical fight was not what they were expecting to meet, when they kidnapped a muggle at all. In their eyes, muggles seemed to be just these helpless people, who couldn't stand their ground against magic. But, considering most of their experiences with people without magic, that wasn't too strange. Harry remembered all too well how the Dursleys were freaking out if somebody even mentioned something supernatural around them. Probably there were other people just like them somewhere out there.
Before Harry decided what to do next, the Headmaster walked into the room. His robes – as flashy as ever – were slightly stained by a dark dust. So he probably shown up just now, using the Floo instead of just apparting in.
The ancient wizard looked around curiously before his eyes set on the exorcist. Suguro glared right back at him, proudly raising his chin.
Harry always knew that Dumbledore was quite a high person, but only now he realized how much the old man was towering over everybody else. So was Suguro. They looked almost like titans among the lesser men, both powerful, even in a completely different way. Harry gulped. The air seemed to be so thick, one could chop it with an axe.
"Hm, yes, that could've gone better…" the Headmaster muttered, slowly running one hand along his long beard. "Nonetheless, I must welcome you in our world and hope that even after such… inconvenient introduction, we will find a common ground."
"Inconvenient, my ass!" Hermione gasped somewhere behind Harry. "Those retards jumped me in the middle of fucking street!"
Mrs. Weasley and Alastor Moody never agreed more with each other than in that particular moment, both protesting against the language and the lack of respect the exorcist was showing towards somebody like Dumbledore. Snape sneered at him too, thought it probably was just his default expression.
But the Headmaster merely raised his hand, silencing them and continued the dialogue like nothing wrong had happened at all.
"I admit, it was a mistake of ours," he said, his eyes not leaving Suguro for a slightest moment. "But I assure you, we did it only because we are worried and we wanted to learn what exactly happened to Mr. Potter."
"And why would I want to answer your questions at all?" the exorcist merely raised an eyebrow. "You have no custody over him, thus I'm not obliged to release any sort of information about him. Quite opposite."
"You clearly don't know, who are you talking to, brat!" Moody hissed. "This is Albus Dumbledore, the most powerful man you will ever meet! Show respect!"
"Saw bigger," he shrugged, completely unfazed by the old Auror. "Besides, you already know all what is there to know: I've exorcised an evil spirit. That's it."
"That's ridiculous!"
"Think what you like," Suguro shrugged. "But the answer is not going to change because you don't like it."
That was it, to tell the truth. The adults were arguing some more, while the exorcist was repeating his stance on the issue and Harry felt like his head was spinning from all this madness.
It, Harry decided, was definitely the most awkward, the most uncomfortable moment of his life. It was so much worse than that time when Snape caught him on sneaking to the Hogsmeade back in his third year, or that time when Aunt Petunia cut his hair leaving only the fringe. The worst part was the fact that it wasn't going to end anytime soon.
xxx
The situation at the Grimmaur Place was rather awkward. Most of the Order members couldn't stay all the time, having jobs and families to tend to, but Mrs. Weasley demanded that at least somebody would stay with her to help around- and she never seemed to count Sirius among the useful people.
Because of that - and since the werewolves seemed to either ignore Lupin completely or even attack him - Remus pretty much moved in. He even choose his favorite armchair and was sitting in it when the small group of wizards decided to finally talk about the situation on hand.
Albus Dumbledore was spreaded comfortably in another one, nursing a cup of warm tea in his hands, while Snape and Moody both decided to stay standing, as far away from each other as possible. Alastor's magical eye was not leaving the Potion Master, like he expected him to show his true self any moment now and Snape was sneering back every now and then.
Sirius was the last person in the room and he was the only one walking. Constantly circling the table near the armchairs, stopping only for a short moment by the window to look for something on the outside through the old, yellowish curtains, then turning away to continue his way towards the wardrobe with collection of old, elegant porcelain on the shelves and a crotchet doily that was really sticking out with how bright and colorful it was - an effect of Mrs. Weasley trying to make the place look a little bit more homey and welcoming than it was.
"So," Remus coughed quietly. "May I ask what exactly are you going to do with our new... guest? Since he's not really friendly nor cooperating?"
"I like him," Sirius shrugged with a smirk on his face. "It was kind of awesome how he beaten you guys all on his own!"
"That was a little unexpected, I must admit that," Remus grimaced, carefully eyeing Snape but luckily, the man just grimaced and refrained from commenting. "But still, grabbing somebody off the streets like that... it just wasn't very wise."
"We just need some answers," Moody merely shrugged. "And since the gentle way is not working..."
This time both of his eyes turned, first towards Dumbledore, then slowly wandered towards Severus.
The old wizard seemed to share this sentiment.
"Severus, my boy, could you...?" Dumbledore asked gently.
"No, I couldn't." Snape only snarled in response, crossing hands over his chest.
"I know this isn't the best thing in the world, but you have to understand..." the old wizards started explaining in his usual kind and understanding voice.
"It's not about this, Albus," Snape grunted with a sour expression on his face. "You know rather well that I don't really care about all that ridiculousness."
"Then why you refuse?"
"I'm not refusing, I just can't do it. I tried when you were talking to him," he shook his head. "It's like hitting a stone wall. His mind is closed shut and I can't do anything about that."
"What are you saying?" Lupin shook his head. "He's a muggle! Muggles are not supposed to be able to use mind magic!"
"They are not supposed to use magic at all," Sirius rolled his eyes and then smirked. "But maybe our old friend is just a bit rusty, huh?"
"Don't you even dare...!" Snape growled, stepping towards him, a wand already in his hand.
"Hey, hey!" Lupin quickly walked between the two men before they started anything. They both were way too stressed, one because of living in a house arrest in the place he hated guts, the other for a whole different but as much important reason. But they were also grown men and should know that fighting among themselves won't solve anything. "This is not the time for it!"
"I do agree," Dumbledore nodded. "However unusual it is, we shouldn't fight over it. Sometimes strange things just happens. Even if this one is rather... troublesome."
"Troublesome? He's a muggle, that's supposed to be impossible in the first place!" Moody snorted. "Next time we check they will be running around with wands, throwing tripping hexes at each other!"
"You don't need a wand to use mind magic," Snape rolled his eyes, acting like he was forced to explain complete basics. "Besides, weren't we already suspecting that he might be a Squib?"
"Of muggle origins?" Sirius blinked. "That's just... weird!"
"Is your memory so short I need to remind you every five minutes about the simple fact that we don't know anything about this brat?" Snape sneered. "We don't know who his parents were and if there was anyone magical in his family at all. Merlin, even if we knew these things it would still be useless, considering his people happen to live on the other side of the globe!"
The fact that wizarding societies tended to keep to themselves almost all the time was not helping at all. The relationships were already strained after the war with Grindwald and with the rising of another Dark Lord in such short time, some wizarding communities decided to cut all the ties with English Ministry of Magic, including most of the east. The knowledge at the Order disposal – or what was possible to gather with moderate ease – was either completely outdated or just didn't exist at all besides few stories and legends that seemed to be more fairytales than anything truly useful. Even the families of wizards of foreign roots had no useful information, already living in the western countries for generations.
"Yes," Lupin sighed heavily. "At this point everything is possible. For all we know he might actually be magical and spontaneously casting illusion spells. Cheating himself and everybody else..."
"That's a nice theory, my boy," Dumbledore smiled slightly. "But there was no way for him to either know about Voldemort."
"Are you certain it was him?"
"Yes," he nodded. "There was no mistake. Besides, the wording that wraith used..."
Dumbledore stopped silent for a short moment and looked straight at Severus before he continued.
"The words the wraith used were one of a kind and not many people knows them."
Severus eyes widened slightly.
"Are you telling me...?"
"The prophecy, yes," Albus nodded. "There was no mistake."
"The Potter boy... he doesn't know?"
"He's still so young!" the old wizard sighed. "I know he need to learn about the prophecy sooner or later, but I just wanted..."
"Yeah, he deserve to have a little bit of childhood," Remus smiled slightly.
"Childhood is not going to save his butt when things will go south," Moody snorted.
"So what are you saying?"Sirius ran fingers through his hair with both of his hands, groaning with frustration. "That the guy is the real deal? Or a wizard, or something?"
"That we don't know," Lupin gently patted him on the shoulder. "But he seems to like Harry, at least. And it goes both ways."
"The Potter boy is still just a brat," Snape sneered. "way to trusting..."
"Yeah, because any kid would be absolutely trusting after what happened last year," Lupin shook his head. "or any other year, to tell the truth."
"The fact that they are friends is a good thing," Dumbledore took a sip of his tea, then put the cup away on the table.
"How exactly?" Sirius frowned.
"Seeing how we are treating the boy, how we are not doing him any charm, but caring for him and keeping him from danger... that would speak volumes, don't you think?"
"Well, he might be not as angry as us as he could be..." Lupin murmured. "But that is not going to make him actually like us or even trust us any time soon."
"Our special guest is well trained," Moody added. "That means somebody at least explained to him that trusting nice kidnappers in not the brightest idea."
"You're telling us that because he beaten you. With a broom. That wasn't even charmed to be magical, it was just a broom," Sirius chuckled. "But you could learn fighting on your own, you know?"
"Yes, he did kick my butt," Moody rolled his one eye. "But he wasn't fighting like somebody who just liked to punch people in the face. Nay, he was taught to fight for his life."
"What are you trying to say, Alastor?"
"That if not for the Potter brat, the situation would escalate very quickly and in a very nasty way," Moody grimaced. "Trust me, if he was serious we would have fatalities on our side."
"Are you saying that he's capable of...?" Lupin asked carefully.
"In self defense?" Moody snorted. "Anybody is. But yes, he is dangerous."
"If you say so," Sirius just shrugged. "But what now? We still have all the question unanswered, but now Harry is not talking to us. And the second guy definitely won't talk any time soon..."
"And since he seems to be a natural occlument then the Veritaserum is going to be useless too," Moody said before Sirius managed to open his mouth..
"So," Severus looked at Dumbledore and raised an eyebrow. "What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to give them some time."
"Don't you think that of all the things time is not something we can just waste like that!"
"Harry needs time to get used to the new situation," Dumbledore said gently. "And our guest needs some time to learn that we are not an awful people."
"What, are you planning to wait for the Stockholm Syndrome to set in?" Severus raised both eyebrows in disbelief.
"I just want for him to see that we are not evil!"
Snape just groaned.
"Stockholm Syndrome it is."
xxx
The fact that the unusual guest on Grimmaur Place wasn't so keen to spend the time with other people living in there wasn't all that strange, at least not in Molly's eyes. Being snatched like that definitely wasn't the nicest thing to went through, but she hoped that the young man would warm up to people eventually and tell them what they needed to know.
Because exorcism clearly wasn't the answer, these things were impossible!, she thought and shook her head.
The more troubling was the fact that to avoid all of them as much as possible the young man decided that skipping meal was an acceptable idea. Molly highly disagreed but at the same she somewhat understood his point of view; probably she herself wouldn't be so keen to join her kidnappers during dinner. So Molly decided to bring him food and let eat in solitude. Only it wasn't really working; the self-proclaimed exorcist ignored almost everything.
"Really," she groaned. "And here I am, having so much trouble of making all the kids eat any vegetables...!"
She almost suspected that he did that just to mess with her. But it was the second day and Molly was starting to worry. People weren't supposed to act like rabbits.
The only sensible thing to do was go and confront him about eating habits, so Molly decided to do just that.
She found him like expected, sitting with his legs crossed and eyes closed. Sirius, who decided for once to be useful told her all about it when she asked; it seemed that he spied a bit on unaware man as a dog. And Black said that the guest wasn't moving much. Just sitting there, sometimes reciting quietly things in his own language. It didn't sound dangerous, he said. More like some sort of a player and since the man was posing as an exorcist...
Molly coughed, hoping it would get his attention. There was no way to not hear it, but he ignored her anyway.
"Excuse me?" she said, but her question stayed unanswered.
Molly frowned. "Is everything alright?"
This time the young man actually opened his mouth and spoke.
"No."
"What's wrong?" she asked, now worried. They hadn't met under the best of circumstances and the whole situation was rather awkward, but she really would hate
"I'm kidnapped, you dumb woman!" he groaned.
"Do not use that language with me, young man!" Molly raised her voice, feeling growing annoyance. Here she was, all worried that something was wrong and he acted like that!
"I'm going to speak however I want," he just shrugged.
"Well then, if you only go and tell us what really happened..." she started.
"I already did that, but you people seems to deny the reality."
"Because what you told us was ridiculous!" Molly groaned. "No such thing could ever happen, that's impossible!"
"For someone who breaks laws of physics by daily basis you sure are full of doubt."
"Stop making fun of me!"
"Then stop being so stupid and let me go," the so called exorcist rolled his eyes with annoyance. "Seriously, you are not going to learn anything new and I do have a life."
"And you are free to return to it as soon as you tell us what we need to know!"
"Then we are going to spend a lot of time doing nothing," he snorted. "Unless you actually want me to lie my way out of here."
"And what you are you doing now, huh?" Molly challenged him, putting hands on her hips. "Honestly, these stories about exorcising ghosts, that's just ridiculous! Muggles can't see the ghosts! And besides, they are absolutely harmless!"
"Harmless?" Suguro laughed humorlessly. "I actually should be jealous of you, you know. Such ignorance… that goes only with the lack of any sort of experience. You're so freaking lucky, to not understand what you're talking about."
By all means, Molly wanted to argue back, because he was the one who knew nothing. They were at war here, not even two decades after the last one suddenly ended. She still remembered the terror of it, the feeling keeping her awake long after the nightfall and was still bearing the memory of her brothers – and so many more people – dying horribly.
But there was something in his voice, a bitter tone, that she subconsciously understood, even if she was never going to admit it out loud, because the foreigner was just plain infuriating. So she just walked away with an angry huff, promising to herself to not care for his well–being anymore.
With her back turned, she couldn't see the wolfish smile creeping onto his face.
xxx
"That..." Harry said, slowly putting down his end of spying device. "Was interesting."
They were sitting in the room next to the one the talk took place. It was one of these that were currently safe, because they banished all the annoying little beings that decided to made their nests here, but it wasn't clean yet. The place smelled not that good and a thick layer dusk was covering everything, so they had to be careful. Bringing any of the dirt outside would bring the wraith of Mrs. Weasley on them and many uncomfortable question from all the other adults.
"Interesting?" Ron gasped. "My mom is scary when she's angry and I never saw her so furious! He not even blinked!"
"Well," Hermione blinked. "Mrs. Weasley was trying to be nice..."
"And it was working like a charm."
"Don't get snarky on me," she winkled her nose. "It was still a bad thing to do, to offend somebody like that!"
"He was kidnapped," Harry pointed out. " Still is. Wouldn't you be angry in his situation?"
He had a point of course. To tell the truth Hermione had no idea how she would react in a situation like that. She really hoped that she would never find herself in that sort of trouble.
"Maybe he's trying to make people so pissed off that they would just let him go?" Ron said with a small shrug.
"Are you serious?"
"I think he is downstairs."
"Ron," Harry sighed. "Let the pun die. It's a bad one."
"Seriously?"
"Ron."
"Okay, okay!" the redhead raised his hand in the air declaring his defeat. "Guess it was already beaten to the death..."
"Yes it was," Harry sighed.
"It was still sort of awesome," Ron murmured. "I would be scared out of my wits, just standing in front of angry mom...!"
"So," Hermione started in a matter of fact voice. "Are you liking or hating him now?"
"I don't know!" Ron moaned. "I'm confused!"
Both Harry and Hermione snorted. Their friend just seemed to be unable to make his mind once and for all when it came to the exorcist. First, Ron decided that the man was awesome simply because he could wipe floor with so many people at once. But then, he suddenly changed his mind. Probably because the exorcist was rather vocal about Ron leaving his clothes all over the place instead of folding them and putting back in the closet. Their redhead friend was still blushing after being reminded of the whole experience – the twins just loved to bring it up every few hours, just to see the reaction.
xxx
The first day, Joseph was only a little bit annoyed, but other than that, he acted completely normal. On the second day, if Mbali was looking for him, she could easily find him by one of the windows; a phone in his hand and gaze wandering between the cell and the street outside. By the third day, the man started to act ridiculous.
"Seriously, the kid is not that dumb," she said, hoping that if he talked about stuff he would feel slightly better.
"That's exactly what has me worried," he grunted, stubbornly staring at the street outside. "Suguro knows exactly how dangerous the job could be and what people are going to think when you decide to not show up all of sudden!"
Mbali sighed.
"He's not just a newbie," she said, putting hand on his shoulder in conforming gesture. "He probably got more experience than many of the people around here, Jo."
"And that's change things how exactly?"
That made her groan with irritation.
Mbali joined the Order ten years after the Blue Night happened, so she missed the worst of it; the times, when everything was completely chaotic and people were dying horribly left and right.
During that times, Joseph suddenly was promoted from a freshly-baked exorcist, very low on the ladder, to a guy who was supposed to know his stuff. And had to somehow take control over a group of over twenty people who just gained the ability to see the unexplained.
Mbali supposed that while the time was passing, some things just got stuck with you forever.
"You pushed him away from the leg work, right?"
"Yes," Joseph nodded with a grimace on his face. "But he was still working on a long-term side project. That one which disappeared about two weeks ago."
Mbali couldn't help herself, but snorted quietly, amused. O'Callaghan and Suguro might have come from two completely different parts of the world and had different experiences too, but in the end, they acted a lot like each other.
"Do you think it is somehow connected?" she continued.
"It might be it," Joseph sighed heavily. "But I'm not sure if it's a good thing. Apparently the things on the so called other side are not very good at the moment."
"As I say, Suguro is a clever little shit," Mbali patted him on the shoulder again, then stepped away. "I would be more worried about the merry kidnappers than about him. Want some tea?"
"If you would be a dear..." Joseph murmured.
Mbali huffed, slightly annoyed. He didn't even meant that, just saying things on the autopilot, not because he really wanted tea, but because this was that sort of thing one was just supposed to say in a situation like this one.
Well, she could use this to force down his throat some chamomile tea instead the black one. If she was lucky enough he wouldn't even notice that he was drinking something herbal instead of the real tea and it could calm him a bit.
When she returned, she found Joseph hovering over a tablet lying on the table, with a piece of paper in his hand.
She carefully put the cups down.
"I should've done it yesterday," Joseph said quietly, not raising his eyes from the tablet. "But I hoped that he would just show up, with his phone busted, or something."
"You're contacting his friends," Mbali slightly raised eyebrows.
"Well, they are worried anyway," the older exorcist shrugged. "Since they have that clever system for situations exactly like this one. I'm only confirming that he isn't around."
She hummed with agreement, observing him with a small pang of satisfaction. He was actually drinking the tea, not noticing the different taste. It was no good drugs or anything, but herbs still were better than nothing.
"I'm going to make sure that we have a room or two ready to use," Mbali said after a moment, smiling slightly. "And you really should get some rest. For the moment, there's nothing you can do."
She was right and Joseph really hated that, but there really was nothing for him to do. Just leaving the message and that was it.
He couldn't even contact Seven, because the blasted wizard was always the one to show up, not the other way around. Besides, even if he decide to hunt the Unspeakable down - he knew where was the way into the magical world - he would gather a lot of unwanted attention. And probably end up with his memory wiped out to the point he would turn into a vegetable, because these people were really paranoid about mundane people entering their chubby domain.
No mention he didn't know which side actually grabbed the Potter kid and if it was the same group that decided to borrow Suguro.
All Joseph could do, was to wait.
He hated waiting.
xxx
Ryuji was angry, but it was hard for him to point who or what he was pissed off the most.
The wizards definitely were at fault here - they just attacked him right in the middle of the street and then teleported him someplace else. Place that was infested with Coal Tars and other unpleasant beings were waiting in the corners.
Suguro was angry at himself too, because they succeed at their merry kidnap attempt. He should have been more careful, really. The fact that people usually weren't grabbing other people right out of the street wasn't explaining why he let himself get surprised in the first place.
That just shouldn't happen in the first place, he shouldn't put his guard down at any moment, no matter how tired he was from spending all day at school, hunting for teachers to beg them for letting him write all the stuff he missed because of his job.
The whole fight would probably end up better - or worse - if he had all his stuff instead of a bag with a few books about financial management inside. On the other hand, shooting somebody, no matter mundane human or wizard, wasn't very high on his list of things to do in his life. And it would definitely freak his merry kidnappers way more than a broken nose.
At least now he knew for sure that Harry was fine.
The problem was, people didn't know if Suguro was fine; he hadn't logged in since yesterday, so Konekomaru definitely started to think that something went awry, he was checking the logs more than once every day. And that was bad, Ryuji hated making him worry, necessary or not.
And there was Joseph O'Callaghann too. The man was still pissed off at Ryuji for risking his life in a dumb way. Getting kidnapped definitely was not a thing to put him in better mood...
Suguro grit his teeth.
Should he try to get out of the building and then run back to his room, to act like nothing happened at all? It was quite tempting. Besides, now he knew that getting grabbed by a wizard was not the best idea because of the teleporting skill, so he wouldn't make that mistake again.
On the other hand, there was Harry. And a war hidden by both sides, still dangerous for anybody who was unlucky enough to happened be on the way. Even the so called good guys acted like the people without magic weren't really important and they could deal with them however they wished. That was just wrong. But to do something about that, somebody had to be on the inside, learning and observing... So, Suguro decided to stay kidnapped for the moment.
Meditation was probably one of the most useful things he knew. It not only helped with the concentration - which was a necessity in his job - and clearing his mind, but with other things too. For whatever reason, people usually very absolutely sure that since he wasn't reacting towards what was going on he wasn't paying attention at all. Like his brain was elsewhere altogether. Because of that Suguro could shamelessly listen on whatever conversation the merry wizarding kidnappers decided to have in hearing distance.
They really were a talkative bunch; they also decided that talking about him, while standing in the doorway was a totally fine thing to do.
Ridiculous people, Ryuji decided.
Thanks to all that conversations going on, he had a pretty decent idea what he could find in this weird building and where. Both the library and the study sounded like a very interesting places to check out. Apparently the house was owned by a family of a rather dark name - and not only literally - and the whole place was still full of all sorts of interesting books. It seemed definitely like a good idea to get his hands on these and at least skim through their content.
He couldn't do that while everyone inside was up or guarding him, but after a few days the wizards got used to him not socializing with anyone but Harry. Hell, he was sure that they were forgetting about him now and then, since from their perspective he never was doing anything interesting, just sitting in his corner.
Besides, Ryuji had nothing against waiting.
A/N: Hey. Hey. This is quite awkward, isn't it? I'm sorry for the unexpected hiatus. The real life decided to remodel my timetable and then other issues showed up, so I sort of crashed and burned. Sorry. In the next month I'm going to try and edit all the chapters - just prettying things up and so on. Nothing story-wise important, though.