A/N: Look who's back! ME! I'm sorry this has taken a little while, but I've had a bit of writer's block so I've been writing other stories. I also realize this is a little shorter than my other chapters, but it is important to the story. There will be some big discoveries, some angst, and a tiny bit of fluff. REMEMBER: READ, REVIEW, REPEAT (WITH MY OTHER WORKS).

Peace.

Chapter 5: Lessons

Severus sat in the library, books stacked on the table before him. Sighing, he threw one aside and picked up another, searching for any reference to the runes used in Ra's contract mark. He glanced behind him at the young man who lay asleep on the couch, his chest rising and falling steadily. Severus had to admit that Ra was a beautiful thing with his pale skin and dark hair. The Potions Master had always had a weakness for the dark, mysterious and cute type.

Shaking his head, he turned back to his work. His eyes lazily scanned the page, trying to refocus his attention. Ever since the boy had propositioned him earlier that day, he had been distracted. He couldn't help but wonder what it would be like. Ra was, after all, a prostitute, trained in the art of pleasure and bodily entertainment. Then again, sex wasn't an unusual thing for the young wizard. Sleeping with Severus would just be another in a long line of men he had to repay throughout his life.

Finally, he gave up and set the book aside. Getting up from his chair, he walked over to the couch and sat down next to the curled up teenager. Feeling the shift in the pillows, Ra's eyes opened and he glanced up at Severus, smiling weakly. The Potions Master clasped his hands in his lap, sitting back against the couch.

"I am not sure how long it will take to break your contract mark, if ever. In the mean time, we need to find a better way to communicate than just written notes. They're very inefficient," he said.

His smile widening, Ra leapt up, facing Severus. He held out his hands, making a few motions with them. Seeing Severus's frown, the young man grabbed his hands and copied the signals he'd just made.

"You want to teach me sign language?" Severus asked.

Ra shook his head. He made a few more signs and mouthed, Its not sign language.

"Then what is it? It looks like basic sign language to me."

Huffing, Ra touched his mouth with all five of his fingers before his hand dropped down to his chest, hitting it a few times. He lifted his other hand to his forehead, tapped it with his pointer finger, pointed to Severus and then shook his head.

It's our own language. No one else knows it.

"Ah, I see. Tender never actually taught you guys how to communicate so you made up your own."

Ra nodded.

"I guess that at least being able to understand would make conversations easier," Severus said slowly.

Ra's nodding only increased after hearing that.

"Alright. How about we start with some basic words and phrases."

Michael, meanwhile, was drumming his fingers on the table, scowling heavily. Alana sat beside him, working on her summer homework. Every now and then, she would glance up at her brother, frowning when she saw the look on his face. Their parents were in the other room, whispering harshly to Remus.

Giving up, Alana set her quill aside and closed her bottle of ink. She looked to her older brother.

"What are they talking about?" she asked.

"There's someone that I need to go find, but Mum and Dad won't let me," Michael snarled.

"You're the Boy-Who-Lived, big brother. You can't just go running around the country with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named still running around," Alana said matter-of-factly.

"I don't care about him at this point!" Michael snapped.

"What's so important about this one person that you're willing to get yourself killed to find them?" Alana huffed, setting her fists on her hips.

Hesitating for a moment, Michael stole a quick glance at the door and motioned for his sister to follow. He led Alana to the other side of Grimmauld Place, trying to get as far from the prying ears of their parents. Reaching a small parlor, Michael closed and locked the door behind them. He sat down on a couch next to his sister, taking a deep breath.

"Do you remember me mentioning to you before about a boy named Harry?" he asked.

Alana nodded. "Vaguely."

"He's our brother," Michael said. "He's a year younger than me and a year ahead of you."

"Why doesn't he live with us then?" the fifteen year old girl asked. "Why don't I remember him?"

"Mum and Dad sent him away. They abandoned him with our aunt and uncle," Michael hissed.

"You mean Mum's sister that hates her?" Alana asked.

Michael nodded.

"But why?"

Michael sighed a little. "Mum and Dad didn't want him after what happened. They thought he was an inconvenience, but they still kept him around until he was six. Only then did they get rid of him and without telling me."

"You really loved him," Alana said.

"Of course. He was my younger brother and he was the opposite of me in almost every way. Where I was loud, he was quite. When I complained about getting hurt, he'd silently take it. When I chased after frogs in the backyard, he'd be sitting under the oak tree, reading some book of Mum's," Michael said. "You will like him."

"Isn't he still at our aunt and uncles? Why can't Uncle Padfoot just go get him?"

"He's not there, unfortunately. The day that he got there, our uncle abandoned him somewhere in London. He's been missing ever since."

"Since he was six?"

"Yep. Uncle Padfoot and Mooney have been trying to find him ever since we discovered he was gone, but there's been no leads yet. Even his magical signature is untraceable."

Alana sat back against the couch, eyes wide in shock. It was incomprehensible to her. Their parents had always been fair and kind to her. They included her in all of their activities and doted on her almost as much as Michael. She had no complaints, but what could she think now? Her parents had been downright cruel towards her other brothers, both of them. Normally, she was so forgiving of anything, but what her parents had done was quite possibly the first thing she could not let slide.

"What are you going to do then?" she asked.

Shrugging, Michael rubbed his forehead with the base of his palm.

"Uncle Mooney has called almost every homeless shelter and orphanage in the entire country. There are a few that we never got responses from so I was hoping to go search them with Uncle Padfoot," he said.

"But Mum and Dad said now," Alana finished.

"Yes."

"I'm surprised. This is the first time they've ever denied you something."

Michael laughed, nodding in agreement. Just then, Sirius opened the door and poked his head in. He smiled at Michael and motioned to him.

"Come on. We've got to go find your brother."

He stared up at the tall building before him, gulping a little. It looked so uninviting, so dark and… hollow? Was that the word he was looking for? The bricks of the building were covered in a thin layer of soot, as was the front door. The steps that led to the door were cracked in places, stalks of grass growing from each little jagged line. He could see the outline of a figure past the thin curtains that hung behind the windows on the first floor. Each window on the second floor and above was dark.

Sirius cleared his throat and Michael turned to look over at his godfather. Glancing up at the door, Sirius nodded to his godson and jogged up the steps, Michael and Remus close behind. The dark-haired Auror knocked on the door and rung the bell several times before someone answered.

"Hello?" the man who answered said, a faint surprised tone to his voice.

"Hi, we're looking for a boy, about sixteen years old," Sirius said. "Black hair, green eyes, probably a little on the short side."

"Yes. What of it?" the man asked.

"I was just wondering if you had a young man like that here. We'd like to talk to him," Sirius said.

"Adoption?"

"Well, yes, I guess you could call it that."

The man's face brightened for a moment as he ushered them inside. "Ah, yes I know exactly who you are talking about. How did you know he was here?"

Sirius and Remus glanced at each other as the man led them into the parlor that was just off the entry hall. Michael's gaze flicked to the ominous flight of stairs that led to the second floor. Taking a seat in a small arm chair, the man poured a steaming cup of tea.

"Would you like any?" he asked.

The three wizards shook their heads, taking a seat on the couch across from him.

"We didn't," Remus said, finally replying to the man's original question. "No one seemed to know exactly where he was."

"Oh, that will need to be rectified soon, well, as soon as I get him back, of course," the man sighed, sipping on his tea.

"Get him back?" Michael asked.

"Ah yes. He comes very highly recommended so there's lots of people who want to see him," the man said.

Michael nearly gulped at the implication behind the words.

"Due to the unfortunate circumstances, I cannot offer him to you right now, but I do have others who would love to meet you."

The man smiled politely as he set his tea aside and stood. He motioned for them to follow as he walked to the stairs. The ominous feeling in Michael grew as they trudged up into the darkness.

Opening the door at the top of the stairs, the man led them into a darkly lit room. It looked like a common area, a TV sitting in the corner. A few couches were spread around the room and Michael noticed that they were bolted down. Each cushion was wrapped in plastic. A few bookshelves held a myriad of heavily abused titles, most of them appearing to be children's books.

"Ra is-"

"Ra?"

"Yeah. That's his name. As I was saying, Ra is one of the kind and I don't have any others like him, but I can-"

"Wait, what?"

"I understand that Ra has quite the reputation, but some of my other boys are just as good."

Gritting his teeth, Michael rushed forward, grabbing the man by the collar. "What the fuck did you do to him? What did you do to my brother?"

"Brother?" the man cried as he shoved Michael away from him. "Ra is your brother?"

Sirius grabbed the man's arm, holding it tightly. He glared down at the man fiercely.

"We need to confirm this first, Michael. Do you have a photo of this Ra?" he asked.

The man nodded furiously and pointed to a small cabinet in the far corner of the room. Remus walked over to it and spelled the lock open. The man's eyes widened as he watched Remus take out the book and start to flip through it.

"Fuck, you're wizards," he snarled. "Look, I didn't know-"

"Shut the fuck up," Remus snarled, his wolf rising to the surface as he turned towards the other three.

His amber eyes glittered with anger and the werewolf stormed over to them. He threw the book at Michael, taking the man by the front of his collar. His fangs elongated as he snarled in the man's face.

"Merlin," Michael murmured, staring down at the open book in his arms.

The pages were covered in pictures of naked boys of various ages, some as young as eight or nine. All were in provocative positions, although crossed legs or the angles of their bodies hid their nether regions. In the lower right corner was a photo of a small teenager boy with long, wavy black hair. His pale skin was luminescent and shimmering. Thin, long fingers reached out towards the camera from where the thin boned boy lay on his back, legs bent and crossed. The vivid green eyes stared back at Michael. The teen in this photo was, without a doubt, his little brother.