"So. You said you knew something about this?" Ted asked, having finally managed to corner Q on his own in the living room the next day.

Q looked up from his laptop as he sat crossed legged on the sofa, blinking once at the object Ted held in his hands.

"It's a Leonelli family crest," he said bluntly before turning back to his laptop as Teddy leaned against the couch in awe.

"I think I uh, stole it from a guy named Clarence Leonelli," Ted supplied, "I think he's been parading around my school all semester as an unregistered student," he added although Q failed to respond.

Seating himself on the armrest, Teddy stared at the necklace in his hands once more. It was a simple tooth, sharp and thin, and carved into the side of it was something that did indeed look like a family crest.

After a few minutes of patiently waiting, Q turned his laptop screen to the boy perched by the armrest.

"Lorenzo Leonelli," Teddy read out loud as he took the laptop from the man. "Chairman of the Leonelli crime family. Sex: Male, Age: 55, Race: ..." Ted trailed off as he gave a rather astonished look in Q's direction, "Vampire?!"

Q's gaze remained unmoving and Ted hastily skimmed the rest of the stats, skipping through a rather lengthy list of crimes before coming upon a section titled Family.

"Wife passed away 11 years ago. One son. Clarence Leonelli," Ted said aloud, feeling rather proud as Clair's face peered back at him as a picture on the monitor, "That's him alright. Wow you Secret Service guys are good," he said with a grin and Q gave a "hrmm" in response before taking back his laptop.

"Do you guys have a file on Clair too?" Ted asked, looking over the man's arm.

Q gave a nod as his fingers clattered over his keys. Ted spent a short while marvelling at the fact that Q was practically hacking into the Secret Service databases to get information for little, insignificant him.

"Here," Q said, showing Ted the screen fully once more.

"Clarence Leonelli. Son of mafia don Lorenzo Leonelli. Sex: Male, Age: 17, Race: Vampire," Teddy recited before a string of sentences beneath the stats caught his eye.

"Inferiority complex. Deemed mentally unstable and prone to wild, extremely violent actions..." Ted quickly skimmed the rest before looking up at Q in alarm.

"He threw a grenade into a mall when he was 8?!" Teddy said, eyes wide as Q gently took his laptop back.

"I knew he was a psycho!" Teddy cried, reaching to grab a fistful of hair.

"And it says he's 17. He looks like he's 11 for crying out loud," Ted complained.

"Vampires generally look youthful," Q replied, returning to his previous task.

"What else does it say about vampires?" Teddy asked, remembering Mr Jeevas from the Summer Fair only a few months ago. Matt's father hadn't seemed out of the ordinary. A bit pale in the light but there was definitely no sadistic blood streak like he'd seen with Clair."

Teddy shuddered at the thought.

"Leonellis come from a long line of vampires. Unlike those from other countries they isolated themselves, breed within the family to keep traits and traditions alive. Traditions would include a taste for blood and rather harsh and violent upbringings." Q started as he quickly typed up more information regarding the fact, "Vampires usually show immense physical strength, can see in the dark, acute sense of hearing, high immune system."

"Can they turn into bats?" Teddy asked, suddenly excited but Q only gave him a raised eyebrow.

Teddy shrugged, "It'd be kinda cool," he insisted.

"No bats."

Teddy grinned, "What about the taste for blood thing. You said British vampires didn't do that anymore."

Q shrugged.

"Leonellis would have an attachment to it. Not sucking dry its victims of course but bloods of vampires are considered sacred. The sharing of blood can be used for Blood Pacts and family is held in high esteem by its members."

"Blood Pacts?"

"Bonds shared between a vampire and another. Based largely on protection and trust."

"Sounds like marriage."

Q tilted his head slightly as if thinking about that fact.

"Similar but can be in more than one Blood Pact. Vampires can form Blood Pacts with anyone and they do not need the other party's consent."

"And so what happens if you're in a Blood Pact?"

"The human is granted immunity to the vampire. Cannot be killed by them. In return, the vampire will know the human's whereabouts and perhaps other things. Several other factors. Only pureblooded vampires are capable of doing it so very little information available."

Teddy pouted a bit but straightened a bit.

"It sounds a lot like an Unbreakable Vow."

Q raised another eyebrow and Teddy explained.

"It's when two wizards make promises to each other. They're bonded together by an Unbreakable Vow. If you break your promise you die."

Q shrugged, "Suppose so but won't die. Simply can't break the Pact."

"But so that's the big secret? The Italian mafia is actually run by vampires?" Ted asked with a shudder as Q gave a shrug.

"No. Just certain families. Bertinellis. Cassamentos. Leonellis."

Ted suddenly sat bolt upright, "You told me that at the fair this summer!" he said, jabbing his finger at Q so that the man almost lost an eye.

"Arg I totally forgot. I should have remembered and then I would have kept better track of him! And now he's got the Cloak and the Wand!"

"Not your fault," Q supplied before pausing, "...the Cloak and what?" he asked hesitantly and Teddy hastily launched into an explanation of how he'd come about meeting Clarence Leonelli and the aftermath that followed.

"So yeah, we think he's trying to become the Master of Death by collecting all the Deathly Hallows!" Ted insisted before looking back down at the computer, "You guys know about all that stuff right? Cuz it's pretty important with the Second War and everything and I know Kingsley told your Minister about the War."

"We know," Q insisted as his fingers flew over the keys.

"Clarence Leonelli flew from Sicily to London six months ago," Q read off the screen as Teddy turned to peer at the laptop once more.

"Was he with anyone?" Teddy asked, frowning at the mess of displays, information and computer code that now splattered the screen.

"Will look into it," Q said and Ted gave him a smile.

"You don't really have to," he insisted, "all we really need to do is find the Resurrection Stone before Clair does. I know Harry said he dropped it in the Forbidden Forest, that's some forest near my school. My friends and I can probably find it after the break. It's our problem really. I think you've got enough on your plate right now don't you?" Ted asked, not wanting to seem like a bother.

"Leonelli crime family is in London. Year before boy becomes legal adult at 18," Q started.

"What happens when Clair turns 18?" Ted interrupted and Q waved a hasty hand in the air.

"Can become chair of family business should father permit," Q answered and Ted gave a shudder. Someone like Clair becoming the leader of a mafia family?

"Makes it my problem," Q finished as he went back to work.

"Yeah but it doesn't make it your problem now," Ted insisted, getting off the couch and grabbing the man's arm, "It's Christmas Eve and I wanna show you my broomstick," Ted said, grinning when Q simply gave him a blank look.

"Come on, you can look into Clair and all that Italian vampire stuff some other time," he continued as he dragged Q off the couch.

Only to run out the living room and promptly crash into one Lucy Heartfilia.

Ted's mouth went dry as he looked up into the impressively innocent eyes of the teacher.

"Are you alright?" Professor Heartfilia asked, helping Teddy to his feet and Ted was quick to give a false smile as Q calmly walked over to him. There was a rather awkward silence between the trio as Teddy's suspicions roared in his head.

"How much did she hear? Was she just walking in or was she standing there the whole time?"

"MOONY!"

Ted and the rest of the trio jumped as Sirius Black's voice echoed throughout the house.

"MOONY! COME UPSTAIRS! I NEED YOU!" Sirius shouted and Ted spared a glance at Q behind him before he rushed upstairs to follow the noise.

"What in Merlin's name did you do Sirius?!" Ted heard his father shout.

"He was asking and I thought it wouldn't hurt to give him some pointers!" Sirius explained as Ted burst through the door.

The first thing he noticed was Vic on the bed having sprouted a rather impressive set of rear paws and a tail. Teddy turned to Celty and Roy perched by the windowsill, both looking as if they were struggling to determine whether to laugh or stare fixated in horror at the half human half dog...thing.. on the bed.

"He's only 12 Padfoot!"

"So! We started when we were 12!" Sirius insisted on the other side of the bed.

"Hi Ted!" Vic said as Teddy stared while Vic scratched his head with a hind leg. "Look I have a tail now," he said, wagging the limb in his friend's still stunned face.

"Vic are you alright?" Remus asked hurriedly before he felt any further need to strangle his friend in front of the children.

"I'm fine Professor. Just kinda...stuck...that's all," Vic insisted as Remus took out his wand and began muttering a series of spells Teddy couldn't quite hear. After a few moments, Vic's tail slowly shrank back towards his body and after a few more, Vic was certified human once more.

"Right. No more of that. I don't want another unregistered Animagus running around the house," Remus announced as he put his wand back into his pocket.

"Aww," Vic said.

"None of that," Remus warned, "You could go to Azkaban for being an unregistered Animagus."

"I could register myself," Vic insisted but after receiving a glare from everyone else in the room minus Sirius, he sighed and promised not to make anymore attempts.

"Mr. Sirius got to do it," Vic said with a pout as Ted and his friends made to sit on the bed with him as well.

"Well Mr. Sirius is an exception," Remus mimicked before shooting his friend a look, "And he's also a terrible influence," he finished.

"Aw come on Moony," Sirius said, holding up his hands in mock surrender.

"Living room Padfoot," Remus instructed and the kids held back a snigger as Sirius was marched out of the room as if he were an irate school boy.

"What were you doing?" Teddy asked once the adults had left the room.

"I want to be an Animagus Ted!" Vic complained and everyone rolled their eyes.

The sound of quick tapping filled the air.

"No one's saying you can't," Celty said as the boys crowded around her Muggle cellphone screen.

"But wouldn't it be safer if you did it at Hogwarts?" she continued and both Roy and Ted shook their heads in agreement.

"Yeah. Doing it in my dad's bedroom isn't the greatest idea Vic," Ted pointed out and Vic gave him another pout.

"Anyways," Ted said before Vic could go further into his sulk, "I've been talking to Q. Get this guys," he said as he began to track down the recent developments of the Clair case. Celty, puzzled at first, had to be clued in on the basics but it wasn't long before Ted outlined everything that happened to his friends from the incident at the tomb to his talk with Q from earlier.

"You think Hearfila's in on this?" Vic whispered and Ted shrugged.

"I couldn't tell if she was just entering of if she was just standing there," he admitted.

"She hasn't done much to ward suspicion...which is suspicious in itself," Vic said only for the conversation to be immediately cut off when they heard a squeak upon the landing outside the room.

All attention was then quickly drawn back to the door as Snape emerged, holding a vial of potion that Teddy recognized as the potion Celty used to make her thoughts heard.

"You left this on the coffee table," Snape said harshly and Ted and the boys shrank back a bit in fear of the Potion master's wrath.

Celty on the other hand gave the vial a puzzled glance before tapping out another message.

"I haven't taken it out at all today," the girl insisted and Vic was quick to back her up.

"Yeah. Celty's been with me and Roy all today," he insisted and Roy shook his head in agreement as well.

Snape narrowed his eyes at the foursome before opening his mouth to speak.

"Shh!" Ted suddenly interrupted, eyes darting to the door.

Everyone else gave him startled looks.

"Did you just tell Snape to shh?" Vic whispered but Ted shook his head.

"Shh!" he insisted.

The rest of the group glanced quickly to each other but thankfully kept their mouths shut.

That's when Teddy started to hear it. Like a beating drum that was making its way closer and closer.

"Cosa Nostra. Criminal syndicate. 19th century. Don't touch. Don't steal. Don't kill. Don't cross. Be silent. Omerta. Italy. Siciliy. Clarence. Lorenzo. Protection. Racketeering. Murder. Vampires. Immense physical strength. Pale. Aversion to bright light. Crave blood they've tasted. Crave. Craving. Smoke. Need a cigarette..."

Ted's head was starting to throb as he hastily got off the bed, eyes meeting Snape's in a moment of alarm before throwing open the door of the room and running downstairs.

"Q!" he shouted, bursting into the living room with more than half the house following.

"Q what's going on?" Helena said as the living room quickly filled with adults.

"Whatever it is turn it off. I'm getting a headache," Tonks insisted and the other teachers hastily agreed as Ted and his friends reached to clamp a hand over their ears. It didn't do anything. Random strings of information were still being shot through their heads at alarming speeds.

Q, still sitting on the living room couch with his laptop ignored most of the people in the room as Helena rounded on him.

"Helena. Bertnelli. Angry. What did I do? Smoke? No. She's beautiful when she's angry. Leonelli. Vampires..."

"Q we can hear you think!" Teddy shouted as he tried to hear himself over the buzz in his head.

Q cast an alarmed look in Ted's direction before he went back to looking at his wife towering over him.

"It's a potion that Snape brewed for Celty. It must have gotten into your tea or something," Ted shouted as all the adults turned to look at him, "It lets the people around you hear your thoughts!"

"What's the radius?" Croswell asked, turning to Snape who frowned.

"A few feet at best."

"Right! We'll be in the yard then," Logan said as the other teachers plus Tonks hastily fled the house.

"Yard. Enclosed area. Attached to a building. Yard. Unit of length. 3 feet. 36 inches. Scotland Yard. Headquarters of-"

"Q!" Helena cried as her husband went off on yet another tangent.

"Can't just stop thinking Helena," Q interrupted, looking increasingly agitated and Helena bent down to kiss him.

The thoughts in Ted's head went silent for the briefest of seconds but before Ted even had the chance to cheer they were back again with renewed rigor.

"Beautiful. Things could do with her. Wish I could- No. Cigarette. Need a cigarette."

"Helena. Not helping," Q muttered, face turning alarmingly red as he struggled to firmly not think about his wife in any context.

Teddy and his friends took the time to awkwardly look at everyone but the couple in front of them.

"Lupin. Knock me out," Q said hastily, looking a bit desperately at Remus on the other side of the room as his brain restarted his seemingly random sprouting of information.

"Celty, how do you control your thoughts?" Remus asked instead and everyone turned to Celty who had instantly leapt into action, typing out a message.

"I just push out which ones I want to be echoed," Teddy recited from the mobile and everyone gave Snape a curious glance instead.

"It's not meant for someone with such complex thoughts," Snape said, trying to refrain from shouting with what felt like drums echoing in his head. "Most people's thoughts are relatively linear, especially when they're speaking, so it's easier to control than this."

Everyone turned their attention back to Q who didn't seem to be listening to them. Instead he seemed to be staring intently at a corner of the room while firmly trying to not think about anything as a mantra began to play almost obsessively through everyone's heads.

"Cigarette. Cigarette. Need a cigarette. Helena. No. Cigarette. Cigarette..."

"What in Merlin's name is going on?"

Everyone jumped as Professor Heartfilia made her way past the door and Q had a momentary lapse of concentration.

"Heartfilia, Lucy. Put this stuff in my tea. Loyalty to Leonellis. Vamp-"

BANG

Everyone jumped as Q suddenly went shock still before slumping forwards into Helena's waiting arms, out cold.

"Thank you Remus," Helena said with a sigh of relief as the voices in their heads instantly cut off. After a beat though he children turned to look almost accusingly at Heartfilia.

There was an increasingly long silence as Heartfilia struggled not to wilt under everyone's stares.

"Well. I can see when I'm not welcome anymore," the professor said.

"What do you know about Clair Leonelli?" Teddy interupted, trying to pass it off as an innocent question from a typical curious 12 year old and succeeding slightly.

"I've never heard of that name in my life," Heartfilia insisted.

"I could ask Q," Teddy said, nodding to the man passed out on the couch.

There was another long pause before Heartfilia gave a huff.

"You can ask him all you want dear boy," she replied with a nod, "Thank you for having me Remus but I really must be going."

Lupin mumbled a polite apology but otherwise didn't stop her from leaving.

Ted was half tempted to run after her and demand answers but a look from his father quickly halted that train of thought.

"Look I know it looks bad but let me explain," Ted said hurriedly.

"Yes. I believe an explanation is much needed," Remus agreed. "Call your mother and the others back in. We'll be in the dining room. Helena I'm dreadfully sorry for all this."

"No it's alright," Helena insisted, "Actually it's quite good really. Even I can't convince him to sleep two days in a row," she joked and Remus gave her a smile back.

When Teddy returned to the dining room with his mother and the other teacher's in tow he found the rest of the household minus Helena and Q in their respective seats.

"Now. What exactly is going on Teddy?" Remus said as everyone turned their attentions to him.

Teddy took a deep breath as he began recounting everything from the beginning once again. He was getting rather tired of repeating himself truth be told but the less secrets he kept, the better for his sake.

"So yeah. I think Clair and Professor Heartfilia are behind it all. Clair's actually part of a vampire, mafia family and Q says it would make sense that he'd want to become the Master of Death so he can become head of the family."

"This is ridiculous," Tonks mumbled, putting her head in her hands as several other adults shook their heads in agreement. Ted however was quick to respond.

"Well it doesn't really matter why he's doing it right? Just that he is and we know he already has the Cloak and the Wand so he'd be looking for the Stone next which Harry said is somewhere in the Forbidden Forest. We should have people go look for it," he argued.

"And you thought it'd be a good idea to drag some clueless Muggles into this?" Tonks asked, eyes wide. "Merlin Teddy, just because Q knows about magic doesn't mean you can just throw the Wizarding World's problems onto them."

"Q's not as clueless as you think," Ted muttered, remembering that none of the adults knew that Q worked for the Secret Service.

"Your mother's right Teddy," Remus said from the other side of the table, "This is dangerous enough as it is and I think Q and Helena have enough on their plate to deal with. Never mind solving the Wizarding World's problems on top of them."

"I wasn't trying to give them any trouble," Ted said guiltily and Remus sighed.

"No. I don't think you were but just let us handle this alright Ted?"

Teddy nodded.

"We don't even know who this Clair person is," Bobo said with a huff.

"But it's the best lead we've got," Teddy argued and the other boys nodded. "And again, it doesn't matter who he is. It's just that we know someone's out looking for the Resurrection Stone. We have to find it and put a stop to it."

"We aren't doing anything Ted," Remus said and Teddy spun his head around to look at his father.

"Don't say the grownups will handle this Dad. You don't know what he even looks like!" Teddy argued, "Only Snape knows and he only remembers the little things. I've met Clair. We all have," Teddy continued, gesturing to Vic and Roy.

"Nevertheless we can handle looking for the Stone. You boys just need to lie low and stay out of trouble until we do."

"And for Merlin's sake Teddy don't go involving anyone else," Tonks insisted.

Ted sighed in frustration.

"Fine," he grumbled weakly.

Little did he know that he'd be having to break that promise very soon.


"Young Master, the Lupin boy knows."

"Of course he does! That smart, amazing, no good brat. I tried to set him up at the tomb and it just completely backfired. But I've changed my mind. It's been so long since I've had anyone to play with. The last two you gave me were such a bore. Perhaps Lupin will prove to be quite entertaining after all."

"There is something else... He has a friend. A Muggle to be certain. And this man has far too much knowledge about our movements. He might pose to be an even bigger threat to your goal than the boy."

"Does this man have a name?"

"No Young Master. However, he has a wife. I believe she introduced herself as Helena Rodor."

"How very interesting...Use her as a lead then. I want to know everything about this man. Maybe he'll be fun to play with too."

"And Lupin? Should he be taken care of as well?"

"Don't be ridiculous. He may be a child but his connections run wild. They go from as low as street orphans to as high as Britain's Minister of Magic himself. But as long as I stay off Hogwarts there'll be nothing he can do. I trust you can find me the Stone on your own?"

"Of course Young Master."

"Excellent. Oh what a birthday this shall be. Be sure to invite the Lupin boy along. I can't wait to see him again."