And if you're reading this now, it's chapter 4! So, um, yeah. Enjoy, please. Thank you. I don't really have a schedule for writing these; I do it when I feel motivated and such. Writer's block amiright?

The pet shop assistant watched as the teenage witch walked out the door with the fluffy orange cat and the rat tonic. A small bell rang out, indicating it was closed. There was silence except for the chattering of mystical creatures. Officer Howard stared for a moment before turning around, letting out a sigh of disappointment.

"That was the rat." he murmured to himself. Of course, he would never be alone with himself, for his legion decided to re-summon itself for a small comment.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. What other kid's bringing his stupid muggle rat to a wizard shop?"

"That wasn't just an ordinary rat. He's a criminal! And we have to stop him."

"Stop him from doing…what exactly?"

Officer Howard took a moment to think. "I'm not sure exactly. He's killed before, so he can kill again. And if he's working with this 'dark lord' they speak of, then he must be brought to justice."

"And what if he's lying," his legion pointed out. "You're so keen to trust this escaped prisoner, but what if the rat is innocent, and the dog's been the one behind it all?"

"I..listen, I'm not sure. Sirius is the only lead we have here so far, and even if what you're saying is true, we can't prove it yet. For now, let's just go with the plan. If something comes up, then we'll deal with it."

His legion scoffed. "Why do you always trust everyone around you? When this all blows up in your face, don't say I didn't warn you. It's happened before, and it'll happen again."

Howard gave his legion a look. "Don't bring that up. Please. Right now, we've got to focus on getting home. We've got to go after the rat."

"Speaking of, why did you let him get away? He was right in your hands, and you let him flee!"

"It was more complicated than that," Howard argued, "The cat spooked him off, plus, I'm not going to steal someone's pet in front of them. Even if the rat is a murderer, and we have to keep this low profile, got it?"

"Sounds stupid, but okay." the legion shrugged with its sword arms.

After closing the shop for the last time of his new 'career', Howard walked slowly underneath a dusky night sky. It was still the last day of summer holidays, so the red haired boy and family would still be staying at the Leaky Cauldron. He walked down the narrow street, taking care to be careful of the people who were walking by. Creeping towards the courtyard of The Leaky Cauldron, he spotted one of the officers that chased him weeks prior, seemingly on guard. The officer looked up from the wall that separated the courtyard from the alley. The one on duty was the rookie, Officer Barker, if he was remembering correctly. He was sitting down, legs criss crossed on a box, sunglasses hanging around the top of his shirt..robe…no, it was a shirt. The young man was looking down at something, and his eyes were invisible underneath the lamp that was behind him.

"What is he doing?"the legion asked

"He seems to be checking something. I think it's his phone." the officer responded

"Good, good. Damn kids always on their electronics now." Howard just looked at it and continued with the situation.

"C'mon, let's get moving," Howard dismissed the legion, and started creeping into the courtyard. He hid behind the boxes, careful to not get discovered. Upon closer inspection, the device the wizard cop was playing on was actually a Gameboy, not a phone. Nevertheless, he sneaked around a box, looking up occasionally to eye the guard's movements. He had made his way to the door, slowly but surely reaching for the knob. He turned it, and the door made a loud, creaking sound. The wizard got up, and Howard moved back behind the boxes. "What the hell?" mumbled the guard as he investigated the door. Officer Howard put his hand over his mouth; he had to distract the guard before he got spotted. Thinking quickly, he picked up a nearby stone, ready to throw it. The guard was done inspecting the door, and looked to his left, where Howard was currently hiding. After a brief moment, he looked right, and that's when the officer of the future threw the rock. It bounced off the opposing wall and onto a couple of boxes, before quietly rolling on the ground. The wizard guard looked up, and walked off to the destination of the rock, allowing Howard to make an escape through the door and into the building.

There, the inn was quiet, an eerie darkness settled in where the once lively crowd used to be. The soft glow of his legion was the only light, except for the small glimpse of moonlight peering through the window. Two people were talking at the table closest to the light, though they were still silhouetted by the darkness taking up the bar. They were having a discussion, one male one female, an angry one judging by the strained voices doing a not so good job at being quiet. Something about HarryPotter and Sirius Black. Something he would be interested in. He moved further away as they continued to speak, sending out his legion to eavesdrop on the conversation. As it was getting closer, there was a thud on the wood, the male banging his fist on the table,

"Molly, how many times do I have to tell you?" The man cried, frustrated, "They didn't report it in the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Blacks' been talking in his sleep for a while now. Always the same words: 'He's at Hogwarts... he's at Hogwarts.' Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants Harry dead. If you ask me, he thinks murdering Harry will bring You-Know-Who back to power. Black lost everything the night Harry stopped You- Know-Who, and he's had twelve years alone in Azkaban to brood on that..."

There was silence. The legion grumbled softly. Howard tugged at the blue chain to prompt the legion to move closer.

"Well, Arthur, you must do what you think is right. But you're forgetting Albus Dumbledore. I don't think anything could hurt Harry at Hogwarts while Dumbledore's headmaster. I suppose he knows about all this?"

So, Hogwarts is the school, and 'Dumbledoor' is the headmaster… the officer was writing this in his notes. Though, how to spell 'Dumbledore'?

"Of course he knows. We had to ask him if he minds the Azkaban guards stationing themselves around the entrances to the school grounds. He wasn't happy about it, but he agreed."

"Not happy? Why shouldn't he be happy, if they're there to catch Black?" The other one, Molly, argued.

"Dumbledore isn't fond of the Azkaban guards," The man, Arthur, sighed heavily. "Nor am I, if it comes to that... but when you're dealing with a wizard like Black, you sometimes have to join forces with those you'd rather avoid."

"If they save Harry, then I will never say another word against them," Arthur wearily continued. "It's late, Molly; we'd better go up..."

He jerked his legion back as the two wizards got up from the table and headed towards the stairs.

"Careful; Harry's coming!" his legion informed him. Howard quickly darted under a table, watching as Harry hid by the bar, then got something from under the table the couple, Howard assumed they were a couple, and left.

"So what do you make of that, sir?" his legion whispered in the officer's ear.

"I don't know," Howard whispered back. "Who are these people? What's the deal with the Azkaban guards? Should we-"

"The real question you should be asking is if we should be trusting Sirius Black. Innocent or not, he's clearly crazy. Is he even going to uphold his end of the bargain?"

"I get what you're saying," Howard replied, a little miffed he was interrupted. "And I was getting to that. But should we trust what they're saying too? This 'Fudge' guy seems like an important figure, and the couple seem to know him well enough to have that information."

"What those wizard cops are after too: Black. The entire government is after this guy. Should we trust anything he said to us?"

Howard tapped his electronic pen on his electronic notebook. "We just got an account that has no bias towards us. But.."

"But nothing! Take everything said with a grain of salt. Do you remember Jenna Anderson?" His legion said this name with a special malice.

"And do you remember our situation? Sometimes the government is wrong." Howard retorted.

It thought for a moment. At least, it looked like it. "Fine, fine. There were wrongs on both ends. But is it still possible that both of them are in the wrong? Capture the rat, and arrest the dog. Play both sides." the sword decided.

Howard sighed. "We can't trust anyone, Swordsy. We're already on the wizard cops' watchlist. Plus, aiding a most wanted criminal will certainly make it worse. Look, our main objective is to leave, but we don't know how. Sirius could help us, the wizard government could help us. But going to Azkaban won't help us. It's probably the equivalent to Alcatraz here."

"We could escape-" Howard knew where this was going

"What if they separate us? We need each other here." the officer yawned. "It's getting late, I'm going to bed. Just…for now, we need to follow Harry. He's the main character, sticking with him might help, arresting the rat might help, and who knows? Hogwarts is a school, it could have information to get us out of here." The legion nodded, and dismissed itself.

Howard ended up sleeping outside after the wizard rookie left. It was bright out, his hair was a mess, and the sun was clearly visible. The officer held his head in his hand; sleeping on boxes and rocks wasn't good for his health. Gathering his mental and physical bearings, he checked the calendar. He sighed, getting up to stretch.

"Today's the mission, Swordsy. No going back now." he mumbled. His legion summoned itself, again.

"Are you sure about this, sir?" it asked

"No, are you sure?" Howard asked the question right back at it. The legion fiddled its sword arms, quiet clanking was the only reply. "What I do know is that we need to leave this place. It's unnatural, and there is no food for me here, no care. Do you want to stay here? I don't."

"I know, I know. I miss Akira and the police force as well. I just want to get this right, y'know?" The legion nodded.

"C'mon, let's go back to the inn and see if they left yet." he said wearily.

The Leaky Cauldron was a chaotic mess of people working and bringing suitcases to and fro towards the exit from upstairs, and a man going back and forth holding cups of tea, some full, some empty.

"Do you see him?" he whispered to his legion

"No, of course not! Try looking for the redhead brigade!" And there it was: said redhead brigade, cluttered in with the owl screeches and their luggage being brought outside. He carefully followed, making sure his boots didn't give his position, and watched as the group got into their dark green cars, each piloted by an equally green diver. As he got closer, a mop of black jutted through the small pond of red, it must've been Harry! He was getting in one of the cars with the help of Arthur, the supposed father of the Weaselys. Some more redheads followed up, with that the door to the car closed.

"How should we get to them now?"

"Why are you asking me?"

Howard rolled his eyes. Looking through his legatus, he actually found a better one than nothing.

"Beast legion deploy!" And with that, the sword legion was swapped out in place for a different one, the Beast Legion. Unlike his other ones, the beast legion was a quadruped, with three toed feet on each paw. Despite being canine shaped, it still retained the classic blue skin along with green, grey, and white armour pieces. Howard mounted the newly deployed legion. "Follow those cars, girl. The dark green ones." The legion barked out a reply, and initiated a chase; one of its greatest attributes was that it didn't complain.

The 'chase' was really more like a stealth follow mission. The beast legion did its job, avoiding any oncoming cars or people in the way. There were more than a few concerning looks from pedestrians, but that didn't matter right now. Along the way the officer noted a large purple bus squeezing and curving its way around cars as well, although going in the opposite direction. The cars surprisingly gave no mind to it. Was it like how the legions are invisible to the human eye? It didn't matter speculating, for the bus was gone in a matter of seconds. The cars eventually parked at the King's Cross Station, probably going to the supposed Hogwarts school for wizards. Dismounting the beast legion, he took note of the now departing green cars and the little circle of red amongst the sea of people. It was actually easier to track them than expected, the 'scents' the beast legion picked up for them were quite similar amongst each other. It was more complicated than that, but he didn't have time to recall what Hal tried to tell him regarding this particular technicality. He followed them as the group headed towards the end of the platforms, but surprisingly they didn't head towards the more modern looking trains. Instead, they faced the wall and went to walk into it. 'Must be similar to the wall in the Cauldron's yard' he thought as he peered over as one by one they ran into the wall and didn't crash their faces into it. After making sure the last of them were headed in, and no one was watching, he swiftly ran and did a downward slide into the wall, surprisingly passing through it this time. Making a sharp left, he looked at the new platform he entered. It was very similar to the ones before, except for the old, red steam train parked on the rails. The platform was packed as families, bags, and owl cages took up the platform's space. It was lucky to have his beast legion, as it was able to keep up with tracking the redheads and Harry. They were getting on the train, saying their goodbyes and giving hugs to the parents. As the crowds on the train lines started to slow down, he made his way to the edge of the platform. The train's whistle was blaring, and the steam was starting to pick up. For a moment, Howard felt hesitant. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" his legion seemed to be taunting him from inside his mind. "Yes!" he sighed aloud. The doors were starting to close, and he turned around one last time to the platform. He wasn't sure why, but he thought he would see something, Sirius perhaps. But nothing was there, just the thinning crowds of now parents saying their goodbyes to the train passengers. Fine then; he boarded the train.

The train was packed with students filling up the cars and forming their little groups within them. Not wanting to be seen by the redhead group and Harry, he headed for the back of the train and found a seat. The train whistled, and soon they were off on the path to Hogwarts. Little did anyone know when the train started its journey, a chilly mist rolled after it, red eyes beaming with malice from within.