The second-last day of term before the summer holidays (Christmas at the Grangers had been both fun and educational for all involved, and Tony had mailed him some Ironman merchandise as a Christmas present. Harry had sent him a subscription to a British science magazine), there was a new message splashed in red across the walls, just below the previous message. It said:
"Her Corpse Shall Rot In The Chamber Forever!"
A quick head-count revealed that the school was missing a red-head. The youngest Weasely girl seemed to be the victim of this unfortunate mess.
Lockhart, thanks to his bragging, was ordered to find her and fetch her back. Ordered. At wand-point. The cowardly fraud pulled a vanishing act.
Loki found the girl though, somehow that he wasn't telling, and somewhere that he wasn't telling, but he was filthy when he was spotted walking the halls solemnly, with the red-haired girl dead in his arms... and a tattered, half-burned book resting on her stomach.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there soon enough," he told the Weasely family softly as he passed the girl's corpse over to her father. "But at least you will be able to bury her yourselves, rather than..." he tactfully left off actually speaking the alternative.
Arthur Weasely nodded. "Thank you," he answered, tears in his eyes.
~oOo~
Tony had invited Harry to visit him during his summer break. Harry, however, had maintained his tradition of opening the atlas to a random page and throwing a dart to choose his destination. He wrote back to Tony to apologise that he wouldn't be able to visit him this summer, since his plans would be taking him to Guatemala instead.
Well, as soon as he'd dropped off the snake in India and apart from meeting up with his friends at the beginning of August and spending the month from that time until September with all of them at Lee's home.
Tony's answering letter was petulant and brief, which made Harry chuckle in amusement. The man was so much of a child in an adult's body, genius brain all aside.
Harry bought a cart and a llama to travel through Guatemala. He still wasn't old enough to drive, after all, and llamas and alpacas were the traditional beasts of burden in the mountainous southern Americas, well, apart from goats, but he wasn't keen on goats.
Harry was headed for a waterfall he'd heard about that was supposed to be a pleasant spot when a bedraggled, half-dressed man stumbled onto the road, actually holding up his trousers. He pulled on the reigns and shushed the llama to a halt.
"Bad day?" Harry asked.
The man blinked. "You speak English," he noted with surprise. "Where am I?"
"Guatemala," Harry answered, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead as he blinked a couple of times in surprise himself. "Do I dare ask how you don't even know what country you're in?"
"I was in Brazil, the last I remember," the man answered sheepishly.
"Last you remember, huh?" Harry said softly.
The man nodded, embarrassment written all over his face. As well as his disinclination to discuss what had happened to have him crossing at least six national borders without his knowledge.
"Well, the road is probably starting to dig into your feet, so climb on up here," Harry offered, "and I'll dig around in my trunk to see if I have anything that might fit you."
"Uh..."
Harry chuckled. "After the last time I went on holiday and found someone that needed rescuing, I decided it might be prudent to carry some adult-sized things," he explained.
"Who did you save last time?" the man asked.
"A man by the name of Tony Stark," Harry answered easily as he flipped the lid of his trunk and started looking for something that should fit his new friend. "Oh, I'm Harry by the way. Harry Potter, and you are?"
"Bruce Banner," the man answered. "Tony Stark?"
Harry chuckled. "Found him in the middle of the desert in Afghanistan. Ahah!" he exclaimed and pulled out of the trunk. "This should do for now!" he declared happily as he pulled out a German army great coat he'd found second-hand. "I bought this with a mind to Scottish winters," he said as he passed it over. "But it should do you for now until I can have a better look through."
"Thank you," Bruce said, and pulled it on. "You must swim in this when you try to wear it," he observed. It was large on his frame, and Harry wasn't as tall or long-limbed as Bruce was, being only approaching thirteen.
Harry shrugged. "Well, I'll grow into it one of these days," he answered easily. "But I was just headed for a waterfall that's supposed to be around here. I've got a picnic lunch and everything."
"It's just a little off the road over there," Bruce offered, pointing back the way he'd come. "That's where I woke up."
Harry grinned. "Bril," he decided. "Then you can share my lunch, and after that I'll have a proper look through my trunk for clothes that will fit you, then I'll take you wherever you want to go."
"I couldn't -" Bruce protested.
"Pfft," Harry scoffed lightly, waving the man off. "It's not like Guatemala is all that big, and I hardly have an itinerary. Lemme help."
Bruce's shoulders slumped, and after a moment of staring hard at the ground, he nodded. It was a reluctant nod, but it was an acceptance of offered assistance all the same.
Less than half an hour later, Harry had his picnic blanket spread out on a large, damp rock, and the food spread out on the blanket. He also had transferred Sif from the back of the cart where Bruce hadn't seen her to a branch near the picnic blanket.
"Bruce Banner, this is beauty is Sif. Don't try to pet her though, she's kind of picky about her company," Harry warned as he conducted the introductions before he removed Sif's hood and let her go to just fly for a while.
Bruce chuckled slightly as he watched the bird go.
"So, what do you do with yourself Bruce?" Harry asked as he picked things for his plate. "When you're not suddenly stranded several countries from your previous location."
"Uh..." Bruce looked a little nervous and confused.
"Your passion, your vocation," Harry explained. "I have to get ideas for what to do with my life after school from somewhere," he added with a boyish grin.
"I... I'm a doctor," Bruce answered. "I studied a lot of other things as well, gamma radiation, chemistry, but I was an MD first."
Harry grinned. "Cool," he said with a nod, and then tilted his head to the side as a thought struck him. "Are you the same Bruce Banner who wrote on anti-electron collisions?"
Bruce's mouth fell open. Since he'd been getting ready to take a bite of the sandwich he'd piled up, that could be excused, but there was once again surprise written all over his face. "Yeah... How- how did you know about that?"
Harry chuckled. "Tony Stark sometimes sends me things he thinks are interesting, since he's determined to stay in touch with the, and I quote, 'kid who saved his bacon from being completely fried out there'," Harry explained with a smile. "He raved about your work for a full five pages, and considering his attention span on most subjects only lasts for a couple of paragraphs before he's jumping onto something else, that's saying something."
Bruce blinked as he sat back and considered that. "Wow," he said softly. "Tony Stark huh? Wow."
Harry chuckled, and bit into his sandwich. "Where to from here, Dr Banner?" Harry asked with a smile, after he'd swallowed of course. "There's a town just a little further that way," he added, pointing with the hand not holding his sandwich down the road in the direction he'd been travelling from. "If that suits you."
"I just... I want to go home," the man said tiredly, head hanging now and hands limp.
"America somewhere, or back to Brazil? The people who tossed you out probably won't look for you back there too quickly, but you might want to change neighbourhoods," Harry advised with a slight smile.
"America," Bruce said. "There are libraries that I need to get to."
"From Brazil, to dumped in Guatemala by unknowns, to American libraries," Harry mused. "Dr Banner, do you have some incredible tale of woe, mystery, and danger?" he asked, only half-joking.
Bruce looked up briefly, only to hang his head even lower than before.
"Hit it on the head, did I?" Harry asked softly, surprise and sympathy both in his tone.
Bruce nodded unhappily. "I... an experiment went wrong, and now... I've been trying to find a cure since, and not been having much luck, and suddenly being in Guatemala means that I've lost all my data as well," he explained vaguely, an air of despondency hanging all around him.
"How bad is it?" Harry asked curiously. "Because, Tony's story has him living only thanks to a glowing battery in his chest now."
Bruce shook his head. "He can control that," he countered. "I... my situation is a bit more Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, except I only had to take the 'potion' once, and now it causes me to change whenever my heart-rate gets too elevated. The experiment went really wrong," he reiterated. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this."
Harry grinned. He did seem to have that kind of effect on people. "Are you still... you, when you turn into your Mr Hyde?" he asked.
"Uh, sort of," Bruce answered. "I can sometimes see what's going on, but I'm pretty much pushed aside in favour of this other personality. We can sort of communicate, but..." he shook his head.
"Okay... and is this other guy aware of your life?" Harry asked.
Bruce's head snapped up. Surprise seemed to be the default emotion for this conversation for him, since he was wearing that same stunned expression again.
"Well, you're aware when he's in charge, a bit, why wouldn't he have some idea of what you're doing? Maybe if you tried to communicate with him, it wouldn't be so bad," Harry suggested. "Not that I'd know anything, I'm just tossing out random suggestions really."
Bruce chuckled weakly. "It's not without merit," he admitted, "and an approach I hadn't tried yet. I've been so focused on trying to find a cure, to get rid of the other guy... I hadn't thought about just making living with him easier."
The rest of their picnic lunch passed in a sort of silence that was companionable and saturated with deep thought, until Harry packed up the food, the blanket and called Sif back. Harry pulled out clothes that looked like they'd fit for Bruce to choose from while the bird got in a few last aerobatics, and then she was hooded again and carried over to her perch on the cart when she came down. Once Bruce was dressed again and up on the cart beside him, Harry urged the llama on to the next town.
"I'm going to find a phone and call Tony," Harry said as they entered the town. "I know he'd be thrilled to meet you, and probably be fascinated with whatever the effects of your experimentation are too."
"I don't want to attract attention," Bruce protested softly. "Really, your giving me a lift this far is enough. I'll get where I'm headed eventually. And I refuse to accept any more charity than the clothes, which I'm very grateful for, by the way."
Harry sighed. "Alright," he allowed. "It's a bit of a bummer though. I got to spend three days with Tony in the desert, getting to know him, and I don't even get your company for a full day."
Bruce chuckled weakly. "Yeah, trust me, you're safer that way."
"Well, at least let me give you the mailing address for my boarding school," Harry insisted, and pulled some paper out of his pocket, as well as a pen. "I want you to keep me updated on how you're doing. You're a nice guy, Dr Banner. I hope good things find you."
Bruce smiled a little. "I hope so too," he said softly, and accepted the paper with the address. "Thank you. I'll do my best to keep in touch," he promised.
Harry nodded, and then Bruce turned and left. Harry sighed. "Well, on with the holiday," he decided, and started looking around the town.
"Mr Potter," a familiar voice greeted him as Harry was bent over a spread of 'local delicacies' some hours later, studying them with the intent to see if he could persuade himself that they looked appetising enough to try eating.
He jerked up. "Professor Loki, hello," Harry answered with a smile. "I was just considering dinner," he said with a gesture at the 'food' spread out before him.
Loki chuckled. "You are very brave then," he said, amused.
Harry shrugged. "Try anything once," he answered. "It can only make me sick," he decided, and paid for a small serving. "I've elected to take your class this year Sir," he added.
Loki smiled. "I'd noticed," he answered. "I really am very pleased about that. May I enquire as to which other electives you will be taking this year?"
"I'm also going to take Care of Magical Creatures," Harry replied, "but apart from those two, and the regular subjects, I'm going to really dive into the non-magical school curriculum this year, and make sure I'll be able to go to a regular university if I want to."
Loki nodded. "Truly commendable," he agreed, approval in his tone.
~oOo~
Spending August at Lee's house was fun and educational, just as spending Christmas with Hermione's parents had been, but in an entirely different way. There was still the ground rule that there would be no laughing at what was perceived to be a stupid question, since if it was being asked, then it was being asked seriously, and should receive a likewise serious response.
(Then again, the Twins still weren't all that inclined towards laughter. The death of the youngest Weasely child was still a very raw subject with all of the family. The pranksters had become serious, and they reported that Percy was less focused on his studies and more on his family now, and Ron was more focused on his studies, and less inclined to let the bare minimum be good enough.)
Hermione was a bit disturbed to learn about House Elves, initially, but a lot of questions sorted the whole matter out. (Symbiotic relationship, not slavery, and yes there were some people who treated their elves poorly, but they were a minority and elves were perfectly capable of getting themselves out of a bad situation if they really felt they needed to.)
There was also the news that someone called Sirius Black had escaped from a place called Azkaban back at the beginning of the summer holidays, and that started up a whole other discussion about the legal system of the magical world.
It started this way:
"So, what did he do?" Harry asked.
"He was a supporter of You-Know-Who," Mrs Jordan answered. "His second in command, practically."
"How'd the aurors catch him?" Hermione asked, wide-eyed.
"Oh, he'd been chased down by a chap called Peter Pettigrew," Mr Jordan answered. "They were friends at school or something. A bit after our time," he added by reason for his less than perfectly accurate knowledge of the details of the matter. "Apparently he..." Mr Jordan hesitated.
"He betrayed the Potters to the dark wanker," Lee finished softly.
Harry blinked in surprise. Then he asked if it would be possible for him to see a transcript of Sirius Black's trial.
"Why d'you want to do that for?" Dean nearly yelped in shock.
Harry shrugged. "It would have all the details," he said. "Whoever was prosecuting, and for that matter, whoever was defending, would have asked him a whole lot of questions. If this Sirius Black person gave up my parents to the dark tosser, I want to know why."
"Harry... you're not... not thinking of hunting him down or anything, are you?" Mrs Jordan asked, worry all over her face as she asked.
Harry shook his head. "No Ma'am," he answered. "I just... want to be informed, and I figure that reading a trial transcript would have a lot of information in it."
From there, the discussion of the magical justice system followed, and Mrs Jordan – who actually worked in the records department of the Ministry – promised to have a look the next day when she went in to work.
The next evening she returned from her day at the office with the shakes. When she'd gone looking, she hadn't been able to find a trial transcript. In fact, the only bits of paperwork pertaining to Sirius Black that she could find was Arcturus Black filing to make him official heir to the headship of the Black family (twice, both before and after he'd been incarcerated), Sirius Black's employment history as an auror for the Ministry during the war, and a short note that was signed and countersigned by Bagnold and Crouch (neither of whom still held the same positions in the Ministry as they had) that stated Sirius Black was to be shipped to Azkaban immediately.
He was never tried, never convicted, never even questioned.
"When I found that, I went to Amelia Bones," Mrs Jordan explained to the teenagers. "She's head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The expression on her face... Well, the news in the Prophet tomorrow will certainly be interesting," she said.
It was too.
And the Prophet the day after that was full of public outrage. There were two sides of that outrage: that the heir to an Ancient and Noble House could have been shipped off to Azkaban without a trial on one side, and that the second-in-command to You-Know-Who could be shipped off without being interrogated for more information on the other.
Either way, there were calls for Sirius Black to present himself and be properly tried, and for the Ministry to give that trial (or interrogation). Once the Ministry agreed publicly to give the man a trial if he presented himself, the man promptly did. Which caused more uproar – very confused uproar.
All because Harry asked for details on the matter, and managed (by pure luck) to ask the right person.