Chapter 9
Seras was walking down the hall, having just put Nicole to bed. She smiled at the memory. Nicole had been fussy all morning, despite being fed and clean, and Seras had been at her wit's end. She thought to get Harry, but didn't want to take him away from his work right now, so when she saw Integra with Regina and walked up to her, Nicole immediately calmed, smiling reaching for Regina. Integra and she went to the shared nursery and placed them both together in Nicole's crib, and within moments both were asleep, their fingers intertwined. Integra quietly photographed them before they left.
"What's Harry up to today?" Integra asked.
"Working with the Infernals. They're digging a system of catacombs underneath Diagon Alley for them. Most are going to want to go back to their world after this is over, but many have expressed an interest in staying, and Harry expects once they wake up the rest there will be more. Underground is ideal since they're so sensitive to sunlight." Seras said. They walked in silence for a few moments, as time went on it became more unbearable.
"Can we talk in the Library?" Seras asked abruptly.
"Um... sure." Integra said, following her towards the enormous Potter library. When they entered Seras closed the door.
"You've been very quiet around me." Seras said. Integra looked at the floor.
"I'm sorry. I'm just... This is very new to me." Integra said. Seras chuckled.
"Me too. A couple of years ago if you told me I'd be engaged to a man, a mother to his child, and trying to convince him to include his female best friend in the relationship, I'd have carted you in for drunk and disorderly." Seras said Integra smirked.
"There's also the religious implications." Integra said.
"Oh that's bollocks and you know it." Seras said. Integra looked at her scandalized.
"Integra, I've had these feelings for quite a while. Hell I've borne a child out of wedlock and I'm a vampire. Do you remember what happened when Harry demonstrated holy magic on me?" Seras asked. Integra said nothing so she continued.
"I didn't burn to a crisp. I felt warm, loved, like Harry was pouring his soul into me. Holy magic harms evil, Integra." Seras said. Integra looked pensive.
"I hadn't thought of that." Integra said. Seras closed the distance and hugged her.
"It's going to be okay, Integra. Look, why don't we drop the girls off with Rip and Zorin, ask the elves to make something nice and all three of us have dinner and discuss it." Seras said, having backed off a bit but still holding her.
"Oh I don't know if I'm quite ready yet.." Integra said. Seras looked her in the eye.
"Tonight, Integra. We're doing it tonight." Seras said, authoritatively.
"Okay..." Integra said. Seras grinned and kissed her cheek.
"No real kisses until Harry's in on it." Seras said with a smirk. Integra laughed.
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"You guys sure this is gonna be ok?" Harry asked, carving runes into the wooden supports holding the new tunnel up.
"Oh yeah. Back home we were living in caves anyway, hot, dry caves. This place is paradise in comparison." Voorg said, wiping his brow.
"Remember the storefront windows up above all have UV shielding now." Harry said. Voorg shrugged.
"A lot of folks weren't too pleased to see us walking about. Can't say I blame 'em, honestly." Voorg said.
"I sure as hell can." Harry said, scowling. Voorg patted his shoulder.
"Baby steps, mate." Voorg said. Harry nodded.
"I heard Rakka made a new friend." Harry said. Voorg grinned.
"Thaelynn is a bright one. I caught the two of them asleep in the engine room two days ago, apparently they'd stayed up talking shop all night and passed out." Voorg said.
"I remember Rakka was excited about the submarines." Harry said. Voorg nodded.
"That reminds me. We need to discuss drainage in these tunnels." Voorg said.
"Already covered." Harry said, shining the lumos on his wand downwards. On both sides of the tunnel were grooves about 10 cm deep cut into the floor.
"Nice." Voorg said. Harry frowned.
"What's up boss?" Voorg asked.
"I just got a bad feeling." Harry said.
"Oh shit." Voorg said, his expression serious.
"Call me if you need me." Harry said.
"Will do. Stay safe." Voorg said. Harry disapparated, leaving Voorg to continue overseeing construction. Harry appeared in an alleyway between two old businesses in London and stepped out into the street, past the muggle-repelling wards of the commonly used apparition point. He walked on autopilot towards Grimmauld place, and knocked on the door to number 12.
The door almost immediately burst open, and Harry was met with the sight of Remus and Tonks looking concerned.
"Oh, Harry. Come in we need to talk." Remus said. Harry entered and followed them to their sitting room.
"Sirius has been gone since yesterday. He went to interview Mrs. Inman about the job at the orphanage, and he never came back." Remus said. Harry grimaced.
"I had a feeling something was up. Did you go to Mrs. Inman's address?" Harry asked.
"I was about to. Sometimes Sirius will meet someone and disappear for the night without telling us but he always sends a patronus the morning after, usually to brag." Remus said.
"Let's go, I'll need your nose." Harry said.
"Teddy's with mom, I'm coming along." Tonks said. Remus apparated them to point near the address
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"He won't hold out too much longer. We know from experience these wizards can't stand up to too much punishment." The Doktor said as he strode down the hall beside the Major.
"I'm not worried in the slightest. Soon enough we'll know everything we need to proceed." The Major said. They turned down a corner and the Major frowned.
"Why is the door to his cell open?" The Major asked.
"Scheiße" The Doktor said. They picked up the pace, making their way to the cell only to discover that the only occupant was a headless vampire that was rapidly turning to ash.
"I'm so sorry, Major." The Doktor said.
"Think nothing of it, Doktor. He can't have gone far." The Major said. They walked off to go order a search party, not noticing that Sirius was crawling overhead in an air duct with his wand in his teeth. He'd tried to apparate out but the wizards had set up anti-apparition wards, and his emergency portkey was in his jacket which they'd confiscated. In their hubris they'd failed to frisk him, and did not find his backup wand.
He was about to climb down when he heard two men speaking.
"These nazis are idiots, they didn't even think to search for a spare wand." One of them said.
"I know, right? Fuckin' brainless they are. No wonder they lost the war." The other said. Neither of them heard the man in the ducts climb silently down and transform into a dog.
Sirius stayed low to the ground, blending in perfectly with the shadows, stalking them. When they turned into a room, Sirius followed them in and kicked the door closed with his hind foot. The noise got their attention, but they were too slow to react before Sirius was on one of them ripping out his throat.
"Fuck, he's escaped!" The other one said, fumbling for his wand. He managed to pull it out of his sleeve and aim it just in time for Sirius to give a repeat performance, ripping his throat out as well, letting them both bleed out. He looked around and noticed there was a hatch on the opposite wall. He opened it and grinned when he saw daylight coming through the enormous windows on the bridge of the gondola.
There were three vampires manning the systems, however behind them was the Captain's chair. Piles of documents lay on a table to the left of it and hanging off the back was his own jacket. He silenced his footsteps. He slowly, carefully made his way to the chair and retrieved his jacket, putting it on and then taking the documents which he silently shrunk and stuffed into the jacket.
"Hey mate you got a light?" Sirius asked. The three vampires turned immediately, staring wide-eyed at him.
"No worries, I found mine." Sirius said jabbing his wand and unleashing a gout of flame at them, setting them ablaze. They were still writhing and screaming when he broke through the windows with a bombarda and leapt out the window, going into free fall over the Atlantic ocean.
"Genius, Padfoot. Genius." He said to himself with a grin. After falling a few dozen feet, he felt the wards disappear and he apparated.
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"The scent disappeared in the alley, so they must have apparated." Remus said.
"That was definitely some kind of gas bomb." Harry said, his eyes stormy as they approached the entrance to 12 Grimmauld place. Tonks had gone to retrieve Teddy, and Remus sighed, opening his liquor cabinet and retrieving a bottle of gin and two glasses.
"You need to stay here in case he comes back in some sort of stupor. I've got eyes all over the globe. We'll find him Mooney." Harry said, reassuring him.
"I can't lose him again, Harry." Remus said
"I know.. Neither can I." Harry said. With a flash of green light, Tonks stepped through the floo with Teddy and walked over to the two of them.
"We lost his scent in an alley." Remus said.
"Oh no..." Tonks said.
"We'll find him. Amelia already has aurors looking for him, and Tony's passed his description along to the muggle authorities." Harry said.
"If he got drunk and shacked up with some bird I'm going to murder him." Tonks said. Harry went to respond when he was interrupted by the sound of a loud crash and furniture breaking. They all ran into the parlor and found Sirius laying face down in the remnants of what used to be a couch.
"Sirius!" Harry cried, running over.
"Hey Harry." Sirius said with a stupid grin, slowly getting to his feet.
"Where were you?" Mooney asked. Sirius reached into his jacket and removed the container of cookies, restoring them to their original size, opening it and taking out a cookie, eating it.
"Got some cookies." Sirius said, handing the container to a dumbstruck Tonks.
"Are you ok?" Tonks asked.
"Probably not." Sirius said before collapsing onto the floor, unconscious.