Disclaimer:

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

Author's Note:

I want to be clear, none of my stories are abandoned. If that ever happens, I will be very obvious about it. However, my muses have seem to taken vacations all at once, so any progress made is rather slow. With that said, here is the fifth chapter of Endless Wondering.

Publish Date: Oct. 08th, 2015

Update Date: N/A

Chapter Four

In The Bag

Claudia wasn't even confused or surprised anymore. The sudden pop followed by a black messenger bag falling on the table caused everyone to jump, while Claudia simply looked up from her food and blinked once, before running a few scans of the bag with her new Omni-Comp.

Satisfied with the readings, she looked at the tag attached to the bag and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "It's for me?" The redhead asked more than stated, followed by a muttered, "I hope this one doesn't come with a manual as well."

The sudden pop-THUNK! Of a book striking the table next to the bag caused everyone to flinch again and Claudia to immediately call out, "Oh, come on! I was joking!"

That afternoon found everyone in the B&B looking at the bag that Claudia had placed carefully on the table and all but ordered everyone to stay away from it. Claudia had then proceeded to tear through the accompanying book with a voracity that mildly surprised the rest of the Warehouse Crew. When asked about it, she would glare at the questioner before returning to the book and muttering, "I don't want to talk about it."

Artie was the first and only one to question further, and the resulting glare cut him off mid-question and sent him returning (scampering) back to the Warehouse for a bit to do inventory (to let her cool off). By the time he returned, Claudia had finished the book, and it was currently sitting in front of her, closed, as she glared at the bag.

"So," Steve drawled out. "What's going on, Claudia?" he asked tentatively. He didn't want to be put in the line of fire on this one, but it seemed no one else was going to ask, so he had to, and hope for the best.

Claudia's glaring at the bag intensified as she stated, "Bags shouldn't need instruction manuals."

Everyone looked confused at that and Steve looked at everyone else to see if they had any idea what she was talking about. Seeing that no one did, he asked carefully, "What?"

If possible, Claudia's glare tripled as she continued, "That bag needed an instruction manual."

Steve looked around again, even more confused, only to see that confusion mirrored on everyone else's face as well. Finally he asked again, "What's going on, Claudia?"

Claudia's head snapped to Steve and she dropped her glare. "I just needed to tell all of you that you shouldn't touch that bag. At all. Ever."

Pete tilted his head to the side and asked, "Why?"

"Because," Claudia started before pausing for a second, then continuing, "that bag has some pretty intense security features, and it seems that I'm the only one who can open it."

"Intense?" Myka questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Normal intense or Warehouse intense?"

"Warehouse intense," Claudia replied immediately with a nod. "Definitely Warehouse intense."

"So don't try to open the bag and we're good, right?" Pete asked, pointing at said bag.

Claudia nodded and added, "Picking it up and moving it somewhere else is fine as well, for the most part, provided you aren't holding it for long."

"How long is long?" Pete asked worriedly.

"A few minutes," Claudia shrugged. "Honestly, if you aren't trying to open it or steal it, you can just treat it like a normal bag for the most part."

Myka arched an eyebrow at Claudia and stated blandly, "It's the 'for the most part' part that worries me." Myka waved her hand in a wide arc and continued, "This is the Warehouse. Is that bag going to be fine around that many artifacts?"

Claudia nodded once resolutely and replied, "Definitely." With a shrug, she added, "And it'll likely be on me all the time at the Warehouse anyway, so I can make sure."

Pete was the one who finally broached the subject by asking, "Why did you need an instruction manual for a bag anyway?"

The resulting silent glare caused Pete to backpedal and everyone else resolve to just not ask anything about the bag at all.

3 Weeks Later...

"Give it to me and go distract the guards," Claudia whispered to Pete and Myka hurriedly. "I'll take care of hiding that thing."

Pete looked at her incredulously and quietly shot back, "We're in an empty, windowless room!" He accentuated his point with a wild wave of his hand and continued, "Where the hell are you going to hide an eight foot tall, four and a half foot wide painting that the guards aren't going to notice?!"

Claudia just looked at Pete and Myka for a second before assuring, "I promise I can take care of it, just buy me a minute or two!" The young redhead started pushing the two older agents toward the door as she finished with, "Probably closer to two!"

The two agents turned around to look at Claudia, who shooed them toward the door, mouthing, 'Go!' Pete and Myka looked at each other for a second before Myka opened the door and Pete said, "We'll buy you as much time as we can," as he followed his partner out and shut the door behind them.

Despite their initially subtle yet increasingly transparent attempts to stall the guards from checking the room, Pete and Myka had only bought the younger Warehouse agent just under a minute and a half. They couldn't stop the guard from walking into the room without tipping their hands, so they just had to hope that they had bought Claudia the time she needed.

They were about to follow the guard into the room when he came back out and looked at the two intensely before saying gruffly, "Tell your friend to sightsee somewhere else." With that, the guard turned on his heel and marched further down the hall, no doubt to keep searching for the 'missing' painting.

Pete and Myka looked at each other in confusion before rushing into the room to find nothing but Claudia with no painting in sight. They looked at the redhead, then at each other, having a quick, silent conversation before turning back to Claudia.

"Surprise!" Claudia said weakly with a sheepish grin.

Steve and Artie were sitting at the table when they heard the SUV pull up in front, and shortly thereafter, the argument that was occurring between the three agents. It was fast-paced, intense, and very, very loud. Artie was able to interrupt, however, and unfortunately, unwillingly, drug himself square into the center of the argument with, "Where is the artifact?"

Myka immediately spun around and exclaimed, "That's what we'd like to know!"

"What?" Was Artie's less-than-eloquent response.

"Claudia made it disappear," Pete injected helpfully. "She was in an empty room with it one minute, and the next, poof!" He waved his hands around widely and continued, "Gone was the painting, just Claudia in an empty room."

Artie turned to the now sheepish redhead and questioned, "Claudia?"

"I don't know what I'm allowed to say," She muttered. "It involves something from Harry's side of things and I don't know what's covered and what's not."

"Then call and find out," Artie replied tersely. "Is the painting at least safe?"

Claudia nodded vigorously and continued, "I've tried calling, but there hasn't been an answer."

"That's because today has been quite busy."

Everyone spun at the sound of a new voice to see Harry standing in the doorway, his suit ripped and burned in places, soot on his face and ash in his hair, small splatters of blood in various places, but no visible injuries.

"What happened to you?" Claudia asked, mildly shocked at his appearance.

Harry shook his head and waved his hand dismissively, saying, "Had something to deal with that turned out to be a bit more than expected." He sighed and changed the subject, asking with a grin, "So what has you calling me every ten minutes for the last four hours?"

"She hid an artifact with something from your side of things, apparently," Myka said quickly. "And now she's backed herself into a corner because she says she can't get it out in front of us and doesn't know what she's allowed to tell us."

Harry snorted a laugh and looked at Claudia amusedly for a moment before saying, "While I do expect you to keep secrets, you do realize that you do have some discretion as to what to tell the people you work with."

Claudia froze for a second and then glared at Harry. "No," she bit out between grit teeth. "I was not informed of that."

Harry frowned and replied, "It should have been in the handbook." He tilted his head in confusion and asked, "Didn't you read it?"

Claudia's glare intensified. "What. Handbook?"

"Huh," Harry muttered as his confusion deepened. He shook his head and shrugged as he continued, "I'll send one back myself when I get back to the office, but until then, suffice it to say that you can tell your friends here about whatever you need to."

Claudia sighed in relief and unslung her now ever-present bag from her shoulder and opened it up before thrusting it into Harry's hands, saying, "Hold this then." Reaching into the bag with both hands and appearing to search for something, Claudia continued, "A four-foot by eight-foot painting was awkward as hell to get into this thing alone, I can only imagine how awkward getting it out is going to be, even with help."

Harry arched an eyebrow and smiled amusedly even as he did as he was told by the younger girl. He shook his head as he replied, "You know, technically I am your immediate boss. You shouldn't be giving me orders, you know?"

Claudia paused in her search and looked at Harry with an unrepentant grin and simply said, "So?"

The others watched with slack jaws as Claudia yanked on something and the painting started coming out of the bag. The redhead grunted slightly with the effort as she lifted the painting out of the bag bit by bit, until finally, the painting was leaning against the wall in the B&B.

Harry tossed the bag back to Claudia with a wide grin, saying, "You know, most people struggle with using bags like that. It won't actually work if you don't believe it will."

Claudia huffed as she slung the bag back over her shoulder and said, "Yes, well, panic will cause a belief in just about anything."

Harry's grin widened before he asked, "So how long was it until you resorted to the manual?"

The redhead scowled and muttered, "Not long and too long."

"Excuse me," Pete interrupted. "Are we going to address the fact that a huge painting just got pulled out of a much smaller bag?"

Harry shrugged and replied quickly, "I've done my part, so that's up to her," waving his hand in Claudia's direction. "I've still got a ton of paperwork to do back at the office." He turned and smiled at Claudia and added, "Have fun!"

Then he disappeared with a pop.

Everyone turned to look at Claudia for an explanation, who just sighed heavily and muttered quietly, "I'm going to get him for this."