Chapter 14

Harry walked behind the woman from the day before - whose name was Sophie, he had learned - at a rather quick pace. They had been walking for nearly an hour now, and he wasn't too sure what direction they were going in. Even with the training his sense of direction was never good.

They reached Magi's Run, a small outdoor restaurant, and Sophie introduced him to a man named Jackal. Now Jackal wasn't the type of person to bother with small chit chat, so he said that Harry had best get to whatever he wanted to see him about before he got bored.

"I uh, I need you to help me locate someone. Cygnus Preece." Harry explained.

"Friend or foe?" Jackal asked. "And don't lie."

"Foe…"

Jackal nodded. "If I am to do locator spells that result in Mr. Preece's whereabouts, that will be a medium caliber favor. If he's unable to be found, in hiding with a secret keeper, then you shall only be required to give a low caliber favor."

"What kind of favor are we talking about here?" Harry asked curiously.

Jackal smiled. "Well that all depends, now doesn't it? I don't collect favors immediately afterwards, mind you, I collect them when I need them. Currently, I need no favor from you, so your tab will be kept open. Do not worry though, there will be no interest compounded, the favor will stay the same value no matter when I collect."

Harry eyed the man, but nodded his acceptance. Later that evening, they worked together along with four of Jackal's associates to locate Mr. Preece. Within an hour, they had narrowed down the man's location to a small, unidentified island off the eastern coast. Harry made the call to go in come nightfall.

As Jackal's end of the bargain was up, he said he was going to stay behind, unless Harry was willing to offer another medium caliber favor. Harry decided to go it alone though, wanting to owe the man as little as possible.

As Harry jumped from a small boat into the clear waters, and made his way to the tiny island's shore, his mind was torn between his family and this man. Something wasn't sitting right. Badbane had urged him to gather information before he flew off of the handle, and Harry had agreed only to get the centaur off of his case. He had no plans of getting any information as he knew that he was in the right. Preece was paranoid because he was doing something, probably something illegal, and his paranoia had caused him to attack Bill. Bill was near death when he was found, leaving Harry of the opinion that Preece deserved nothing less than death himself.

Climbing in through the window of the single house on the lonely island with a feather light charm on his feet, Harry pondered his situation and wondered if perhaps he ought to give the man a chance to tell him what was going on. As Harry's feet hit the floor, and his head raised to see Preece's sleeping form on the couch, his eyes caught sight of a moving picture of Kingsley Shacklebolt with darts in it. It was then that Harry decided this man deserved no chance to explain himself.

Creeping up on the snoring figure, Harry swiftly made his move. He withdrew his wand, zapped Preece with an avada kedavra killing him instantaneously, and went into phase 2 of a plan he didn't know he had. Harry grabbed the nearest parchment, rolled it up, and placed it close to the roaring fireplace. Just as an ember popped out on to the paper, it unraveled and flame caught to it. Harry saw the words and fragments, '-klebolt' 'plan' 'werewol-' and '-nocide', before the entire parchment burnt to a crisp.

As quickly as he could, before the flames reached Preece's side of the room, Harry grabbed several papers from where he'd gotten the first, and ran from the tiny house on the tiny island off the east coast of New Zealand.

Harry spent one last night to gather his thoughts and try to figure out why he felt so irritated with Preece's outcome. The man was dead. That was Harry's mission. He realized, around about 3 am that morning, as he lay awake in his bed, that he was dissatisfied with how Preece died. He had wanted to cause the man to suffer. He wanted blood. All he had was a news report from the muggles about a fire on a tiny island off the coast caused by a man who had fallen asleep with his fire going.

Jackal has assured Harry that he would be able to contact the young savior when he needed a favor, and Sophie had led him back to where he'd popped in his first day here. There were no emotional goodbyes, just some words of wisdom. "Use that necklace every chance you get. You'd be surprised what you could learn from the animals." Sophie informed him before pushing him into the green fire that led back home.

Harry managed to gracefully walk from his fireplace with several papers in his arms at 3 pm London time. Severus was the first to greet him. "How did it go?"

"Preece won't be bothering us anymore. He's gone for good." Harry informed him.

Bill, who was laying on their couch, smiled. "Thanks Harry." He said with a sigh of relief.

Harry nodded and grasped his papers. "Sev, I'm going back to the school. I need to get some things ready for tomorrow." He said. "You actually need to come as well."

Severus frowned. "Why would I do that? All of my classes are in order, I've-"

"You have that thing up in the corner on your ceiling that you need to fix." Harry said, giving him a look that demanded his compliance. "Remember?"

"Oh, yes. Nuisance that." Severus said with a nod of his head. They bid Bill adieu and made their way back to Hogwarts, where Severus crossed his arms over his chest. "I demand to know why you felt it necessary to lie to him."

"I found something in Preece's house." Harry told the man, walking off towards their chambers. "Something that you're gonna wanna see." He lay out the parchments on their table and stood back while Snape looked over them. Harry had no need to look over them, as he'd already read them in his hotel room.

and if he succeeds, it will be the end of all werewolves that we know of. I don't know how he's managed to convince one of the few living Potions Masters to work against one of the others, but he has. I am sure that the Potions Master developing the main serum is in on it, but the one working against him hasn't the faintest idea what he's developing the potion for.

I can't fathom why he's so specifically focused on werewolves though, he's never been bit to my knowledge.

The man lifted that parchment, and read on to the next.

mixed with that of the wolfsbane potion, it could cause catastrophic effects. Especially if the wolfsbane were to be finalized so it might only take one dose to keep the werewolf docile for the rest of its natural life. How he intends to gather all of the living werewolf population is beyond my knowledge, as word would spread quickly should this enhanced potion be given to one or two at first. After the first few deaths, werewolves would stop taking the potion, even at the promise of controlled lunar cycles. When they

Snape was reading faster now, more worried than he was before. He threw that parchment to the side and picked up the last.

I can't believe that bastard caught on to me! Someone I work with must have leaked the information to him. Surely he, Potter, and Snape are working together, I've seen them at the ministry far too often for it to be anything else. I fear he shall send Potter next, since that Weasley boy didn't pan out… I should have killed him when I had the chance instead of setting him free. I know that Weasley knew why he was sent to find me, I could see it in his eyes.

If he manages to succeed in eliminating the werewolves, who knows where he'll stop. He never stops to think that they're real people, just sees the beast side of them. That plan of his to allow them to marry witches and wizards to throw us off of his scent was positively brilliant. It cost me 3 of my colleagues. When he

The words stopped there. Snape looked to Harry, who was looking back with apprehension. "He's using me."

Harry nodded. "We have to hide Teddy, keep him away from Shacklebolt."

"Why?" Alden asked, coming into the room.

Harry spun around and sat on one of the parchments. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"It's Sunday." Alden reminded him.

"Oh, right." Harry said shaking his head and rubbing his eyes.

"We have a problem." Severus interrupted.

Harry looked up to his husband. "What?"

"I've managed to isolate the issue I was previously having with the potion… and fix it… it will now work how we've been trying to get it to." Snape admitted.

"Well, we just don't send it to him." Harry said.

"That's the problem… I sent notice to him that it was complete about 10 minutes before you arrived."

Harry stared at the man, his eyes growing wider. He snapped his attention on task. "Severus, go destroy the potion and any notes you made on it. If you're unable to remember how to make it again, save a copy of the notes and we'll find somewhere to hide them. Alden, get your brother and bring him to Minnie's office. Well don't just stand there you two, hop to it!" Harry yelled, rushing from the room and heading to the headmistress' office as fast as he could go.

(¯`·. Hp/Ss .·´¯)

"I'm beginning to wish I'd never taken them on that stupid tour of the Chamber of Secrets." Harry complained. "I could have used it to hide Teddy."

"Yes well, what's done is done, and you can't change the past." Minerva told him, holding the toddler as he chewed on her robe. She looked at their surroundings and sighed. "This place is not good for someone of his age."

"Well this is the only place I own that the Minister doesn't know about." Harry told her, fiddling with the toddler's hair.

"I still don't understand why we're here." Alden said. "And since when is the Minister a bad guy?"

"Since we found out why Preece attacked Bill." Harry told the boy.

"So… Preece was a good guy?" Alden asked. "Doesn't that make Bill a bad guy?"

"I hope he wasn't a good guy…" He muttered. "It's a bit more complicated than that." Harry said, wishing not to speak about it anymore.

"Daddy." Teddy called, garnering everyone's attention. "Ow." He said, pointing to his mouth.

"Here, let me see." Harry said, arms outstretched.

"No!" Teddy demanded, hitting Minerva in the chest.

"Teddy! That's not nice. If it hurts, I need to see it so I can make it better." Harry tried to explain.

"No no NOOOO!" Teddy stated loudly, hitting the woman again.

"Ted Remus Lupin! You do not hit people." Harry scolded, picking the boy up. "What have we told you about hitting people?"

"No!" Teddy stated, his face red.

"Ted…" Harry said warningly.

The string of 'No's' continued well throughout the night, even after Minerva had left and Severus had come to join them. By the time Severus did arrive, Harry was at his wits ends and was just shy of casting a small level petrificus to hold the boy still so he could do something to alleviate the pain in his mouth. The conversation Snape walked in on was most interesting.

"Teddy, do you want it to hurt?"

"… no…"

"Then let me fix it."

"No!"

"If I don't do something, it will keep on hurtin- don't you bite my finger!"

"NOOO!"

"Is that all you can say?"

"No!"

"Teddy, I swear on Merlin's socks… if you don't let me fix it, you'll have a hurt mouth all night."

"NO!"

"Why not try getting him to sleep, then fix the issue?" Snape suggested, interrupting the two.

Harry looked up and hugged Severus' arm, Teddy still in his own arms. "How did it go?"

"I gave him a botched version of the potion." Snape told him. "It shan't take long before he realizes that he's been duped."

"What are we going to do?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Bad man." Teddy said. He looked to Severus and outstretched his arms. "Papa, ow."

Harry frowned and Severus curiously took Teddy into his own arms. The toddler pointed to his mouth and opened it, awaiting Severus to do whatever it he did to fix the pain.

"You want me to fix it?" Severus asked the child.

"Uh huh." Teddy agreed, mouth still wide open.

Severus made quick work of the toddler's ailment, and put the child to bed. When he came back out, Harry was sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, staring into it. Severus sighed. "What's wrong?"

"He wouldn't let me touch him. He squirmed to get loose when I held him. He didn't want me to fix it…" Harry looked up at the man. "What have I done wrong?" He could feel his eyes stinging and threatening to let loose those obnoxious things humans called tears.

"I've no idea… Perhaps… perhaps it's because I was the one who was here and doing things for him for so long." Severus suggested. "I'm sure it means nothing."

"Nothing?" Harry asked, standing up and glaring at the man. He was so caught up in the moment that he didn't realize Alden had woken up and come out of his room, currently hiding behind the wall in the hallway of Harry's family safe house. "It means nothing to you that a child blatantly prefers one parent over the other? It means nothing to you that I'm obviously doing something wrong? I should have never went away for so long, he's detached from me. This is my fault… I should have spent my time worrying about whether or not his and my relationship would last a year apart, not ours." Harry flopped on to the couch and let his tears fall. "I'm a bad father."

Alden's eyes widened as he watched Severus try to comfort the young professor. He slunk back to his room and locked his door. Had he really been showing favoritism? He hadn't thought he had, hell, he had thought that he liked them both equally. Clearly Harry thought it was his own fault for this, but it had to have been Alden's, if he was blatantly preferring Snape over Potter. He had to show Harry that he cared. He had to show him that he wasn't just interested in what one parent had to offer. He had to do better.

The boy resolved that he would spend time with Harry… unless… that is, unless Harry decided that he didn't want Alden anymore. The boy's eyes slammed shut. What if Harry saw him as expendable? What if he was shipped off to a school in another country, or what if Harry and Snape moved to another country and left him there? Alden shivered. He would run away before he would let the Ministry get hold of him, especially if Shacklebolt was one of the bad guys.

(¯`·. Hp/Ss .·´¯)

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. My little break turned into a long break. No worries, I'm back now, though I don't know if I'll be updating as regularly as I used to, I hope to be updating it more often