Chapter Nine - Prepare

"Andromeda!" Harry called, as he appeared on the front porch. He heard her come rushing around from the back garden.

"Take Teddy and floo to the Weasley's."

"What's wrong?" she asked, even as she headed inside. He followed her in and closed the door.

"I was kidnapped by a group of Muggle assassins who wanted me to babysit for them and do their hair. They were spying on Teddy to try and gain leverage. They'll probably guess that I was coming here, and they'll likely be here soon to confront me."

She stared at him in shock and then shook her head. "Only you, Harry. I'll take Teddy to France, he's been wanting to play with Victoire. That should be far enough away."

"Thank you," he said sincerely. It was at times like this that he loved her no-nonsense approach to life. "I'll cast anti-Muggle wards on the house so this can't happen again. Will that be a problem?"

"Teddy doesn't like having friends from school over, so it shouldn't be. When I get back you can key me in so I can open them if I need to." With that, she hurried upstairs, coming back down five minutes later with a backpack slung over one shoulder and a four-year-old in tow.

"Uncle Harry!" Teddy yelled, running forward to fling his arms around his Godfather.

"Hey, Teddy! Your Grandma called me here to watch the house, so that you can go on holiday to see Victoire. Make sure you take lots of pictures for me, OK?" Teddy had got a wizarding camera for his last birthday, and he was absolutely enthralled by it. Andromeda and Harry both encouraged his hobby, and his photos were stuck up all around the house.

"Yep!" Teddy nodded enthusiastically. "Come on, Grandma!" He tugged Andromeda over to the fireplace, and Harry waved goodbye as they spun away. The only thing he could do now was wait.

"Magic," Squalo said flatly. "The hairdresser was a Wizard."

Mammon tried to hide how uncomfortable she felt. Nono had given her permission to tell the Varia about magic, in the hopes that they could prevent the situation from getting any worse than it already was. The raise he had offered her was not enough to make up for this.

They were all sat in the living room of the Vongola Mansion while expendable minions went over Headquarters with a fine tooth comb. Both Bel and Levi remembered seeing Evans cast spells before he left, and they had no idea what any of them had been. Because they had been cast wordlessly, they didn't even have any incantations they could report to Mammon.

"Yes. Harry James Potter, a British war hero, renamed himself Harry Evans and moved to Italy. He is a Wizard. Magic is real. Wand-waving, broom-flying, potion-brewing Magic."

No one knew quite what to say. Until Lussuria asked the obvious question.

"So if he's so powerful why did you think threatening his Godson was a good idea, when he was being such a good boy?" Everyone turned to stare at Mammon.

"Levi's orders were to watch the boy and not be seen, so that we would have data on him in the event that Evans turned hostile, because the only way we could be guaranteed to control him was with leverage of some kind. If his squad had followed procedure like they were meant to, this would not have happened." Mammon's voice was icy, and Levi scowled.

"The idiot is no longer a member of the Varia. Still, what are we going to do now?" He was furious. It had been a long time since he had been so thoroughly overwhelmed, and it stung. That it had been at the hands of the tiny civilian was even worse. Looking back, he could see how he had been lulling them into a false sense of security. Even the prank with Squalo's hair had been saying 'I'm not a threat. All I can do is mess with your hair. I'm harmless'. They had been played. He should have taken Mammon's warnings about the civilian seriously, but at the time he had just been insulted to be given such a basic mission. His mistake, and one they were all paying for.

"The Prince wants to talk him," Bel said suddenly. The usually talkative boy had been silent so far during the meeting. Mammon wasn't sure whether it was the embarrassment of having been so easily defeated or the sense of betrayal that was weighing on him. He had been quietly compliant as he waited for the spell sticking him to the wall to wear off, not fighting or struggling. He had followed Mammon meekly to the Vongola Mansion, with only a quiet, "I can speak now, Mammy," to let her know that the silencing spell had worn off. She had been so disturbed by his behaviour that she hadn't complained when he clung to her, or even charged him for the hug. Squalo had picked up on it too; he hadn't kicked up his usual fuss when Bel huddled close to him on the sofa, just slinging an arm casually around the Prince's shoulders.

"The squad that's still in place say that Evans is at his Godson's house," Levi said.

"Voi!" Squalo yelled. No one admitted how comforting it was to hear him raise his voice again. He had disturbingly quiet all meeting. "Get the plane ready then, we're going to England."