Disclaimer:

I don't own anything related to the rights of Harry Potter or Warehouse 13.

Author's Note:

The chapters in this story are likely going to be shorter than I usually do, sorry 'bout that.

(Feb. 20th) - Small punctuation error fixed and a small clarification added.

Publish Date: Feb 14th, 2014

Update Date: N/A

Chapter One

What's That Thingy?

It had been two weeks since the Warehouse crew ran into the enigma known as Harry, who was, in a word provided by Claudia and agreed to by everyone present, Freaky with a definite capital 'F'.

No one knew anything about the man. Steve, Pete and Myka couldn't get anything out of any of their contacts, Claudia didn't find a scrap of recent information anywhere on the Internet, which just irritated her to no end and sent her into a frenzy trying to find something. Artie only had one 'old friend' that decided to say anything about the man at all, and that was a succinct, "If you have any brain cells left in that hat rack you call a head, then you won't ask anyone about that man, ever."

Even Mrs. Frederic was being completely stonewalled, which worried the entire Warehouse crew.

"I can't take this anymore!" Claudia exclaimed loudly, standing swiftly and swatting the keyboard completely off the desk and to the floor.

"You must be in a bad mood if you're abusing tech," Steve said.

"I am!" Claudia exclaimed louder. "It's like this guy doesn't exist! There is nothing out there about him after the age of eleven, nothing at all! Everyone has something out there! A parking ticket, an overlooked bill, a god damned overdue library book at least!" Claudia huffed and stopped pacing, trying to calm herself down. Finally she stated in a more normal voice, "It's like this guy is being actively and constantly scrubbed from the entire Internet in real-time."

Steve looked at Claudia, questioning, "Is that possible?" At Claudia's incredulous look, Steve elaborated, "I mean, to be scrubbed off the web like that. Is it possible?"

Claudia snorted and replied humorously, "Not a chance, padawan. Someone would need some serious hardware and software, like Warehouse level, a dedicated team to do the actual scrubbing, not to mention back doors into literally every single site on the entirety of the interwebs. Even then, there's human error to take into account, and this is all too perfectly done."

Both Warehouse agents sat in silence for a while, thinking their own thoughts, until Steve finally said with a shrug, "Have you given any thought to his job offer?"

Claudia huffed and replied, "I don't know. I can't find anything on him and that makes me nervous. What kind of things is he going to have me looking at and making? What if he uses something I made for some nefarious purpose?" She dropped down in the chair and picked the keyboard up off the floor, inspecting it for any damage. "I mean, is that something I should risk?"

"Just don't work on anything that could be used nefariously," Steve replied slightly mockingly before asking more seriously, "So what do you know about him?"

Claudia just looked up at him from the keyboard she was inspecting as if he had just said something that was both amusing and stupid at the same time. Finally she responded, "Anything can be used nefariously, padawan." She sighed and answered, "If it's the same person, then his name is Harry James Potter. Born July 31st, 1980 to James Charlus Potter and Lily Marie Potter, and orphaned October 31st, 1981 by way of murder. Taken in by Lily's sister Petunia Dursley, her husband Vernon, and their son, Dudley."

Steve snorted and asked, "Dudley Dursley? Really?"

Claudia grinned and replied, "I know, right?" She went back to inspecting the piece of tech in her hands and continued, "Not much after that though, and definitely nothing that paints a good picture." Claudia sighed and stopped her inspection of the keyboard and looked at Steve sadly, "There were seven emergency rooms within fifty miles of his residence. Between the ages of fifteen months and eleven years, he visited each of those ER's at least once for, broken bones, severe blood loss, bruising, burns, and internal injuries."

Steve looked, in a word, pissed. He finally reigned in his anger and asked, "What happened when he was eleven? You seemed to imply that kind of thing stopped then."

"That's where it gets to the strangeness. He just disappears. According to his school transcripts from back then, his guardians transferred him to St. Brutus' Center for Incurably Criminal Boys, but I'm questioning how he attended a school at eleven that closed down when he was four." Claudia sighed in frustration before continuing, "And when I say he disappeared, I mean just that! Poof! Disappeared! Vanished! There are absolutely no records of him existing anywhere in the civilized world."

"What about the uncivilized world?" Steve asked.

Claudia just shook her head. "No travel records, no hits on facial recognition in any of the ways into or out of any civilized country, nothing. And I still don't know how he managed to get close enough to slip that card into my pocket without me noticing or of feeling him do it." Seeing Steve open his mouth, Claudia cut off the question she knew was coming. "Yes, I've already tried tracing the phone number he provided. It leads to a New York based answering service, and yes, I've checked all of their clients. Every. Single. One. And they all checked out." She sighed and went back to her inspection, muttering, "I just don't know who to ask if this is legit, you know?"

"You could ask me," A voice interrupted, causing Steve and Claudia to jump in surprise and the keyboard that had been in Claudia's hands to take a second dive to the floor. Both agents turned to see Mr. Kosan, the head of the Regents, their boss', boss', boss' boss.

Mr. Kosan looked at the keyboard that had just hit the ground for a short moment before turning to Claudia and saying neutrally, "Please refrain from damaging Warehouse property, Ms. Donavan."

"Of course!" Claudia squeaked out. After a second, his previous comment registered in her mind and she asked, "You think taking this job is a good idea?"

Mr Kosan sat down at the across from her in silence before finally saying, "I can tell you that he does good work; similar to us in that he protects others from things they might not understand."

"Then why doesn't he work here?" Claudia asked curiously. "If the guy does the same thing we do, then shouldn't we be working together a lot more often?"

The Head of the Regents looked conflicted, as if struggling with himself on what he could say. Finally he stated, "Some things fall outside of our jurisdiction, and on a few very rare occasions, some things are simply too powerful or too dangerous to even risk storing here."

"What kind of things?" Claudia asked incredulously. "We have Pandora's freaking box here, what could be worse?"

"The Minoan Trident, for one, is something we store with Harry and his people," Mr. Kosan replied. "Apparently it compels certain people in certain mindsets to use it by any means necessary, which is one of the reasons we were willing to forgive Miss Wells so quickly. Another item they hold for us is the Bow of Artemis." Mr. Kosan shook his head and added, "It's far too dangerous to store here with the statues of Zeus and Hera here as well." Claudia and Steve both seemed shocked, and that only got worse as Mr Kosan continued, "We hand those things over to Harry and his organization for safe-keeping. In return, they send us any artifacts they may stumble upon in their work, along with a few other various tasks."

"What's their organization called?" Steve asked curiously.

Mr. Kosan shrugged and replied easily, "We don't know, which is another reason the Regents are willing to allow Miss Donavan to accept this offer with no repercussions to her job here at the Warehouse."

Steve, having been in a similar position before, came to the conclusion first. "You want her to spy for you."

"We would appreciate any information about Mr. Harry and his organization that Miss Donavan is allowed to pass along," Mr. Kosan corrected gently. "And we believe that this would be a good way to begin to build a more permanent bridge between out two organizations." With a small shrug, the head of the Regents turned to the redhead and continued, "That said, we leave the decision on whether or not to accept the offer in your hands." With that, Mr. Kosan stood and straightened his jacket before leaving the Warehouse.

It was silent for a long moment before Claudia asked, "Well that puts a whole new spin on things."

Steve nodded in agreement before stating, "So I take it you're going to call."

"Might as well," Claudia shrugged. "Seems it has the backing of the Regents and it has me curious." She pulled her cell out of her pocket along with the card, dialing the number quickly before she lost her nerve.

After being prompted to leave a message, she hung up and shrugged at Steve, saying, "Now I guess we wait."

As soon as Claudia finished speaking, her phone rang, causing her to look at it in surprise. She quickly accepted the call and put it on speaker-phone, saying, "Hello?"

"This is Claudia Donavan, correct?"

"Yes," Claudia replied, glancing at Steve, who simply shrugged back.

"Good. Your first assessment is on the table in the corner."

Both agents spun to look at the indicated table to see a box about the size of a printer with a red bow on top, as if mocking the two. "How did-"

"Let us know as soon as your done and we'll send the next one right out."

The person ended the call, leaving the two agents with many more questions than they had before. Claudia looked at the box before muttering, "What the hell, why not." With that, she stalked over and opened the cardboard container before staring at the contents.

After a moment of Claudia continuing her unblinking stare into the box, Steve asked pointedly, "What is it, Claud?"

"It's a... Thingy." Claudia replied in confusion. She pulled out an object that looked quite a bit like a leather vambrace, but with a small keyboard embedded in the top of it. "No wires, no inputs or outputs, no screen, hmmm..." Claudia muttered, turning the object over in her hands.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get any more out of the redhead, he sighed and leaned over to see if there was anything else in the box. Seeing a small scrap of paper at the bottom, he picked it up and read it before handing it to Claudia.

Figure it out. Have fun!

Harry