Enter the Crush!
It was the next day and James and Albus were lying on the older boy's bed. Teddy had left about an hour earlier; Lily had gone with their father to visit the Dursleys, since she was closest to Ernie. Their mother was downstairs, being interviewed for something or other, and had commanded that they stay upstairs. They still hadn't discussed the fact that they both preferred other boys in great detail, but they were getting there.
"So have you told anyone else?" James asked. "About… you know…"
"Nope," Albus replied.
"Not even Scorpius?" James asked, looking over and raising a ginger eyebrow.
"He's the last person I want to tell," Albus said, a gigantic blush forming across his cheeks.
James gave a knowing grin. "Just because you have a crush on the blondie doesn't mean you can't tell him."
Albus gave his brother a startled look. "How do-"
"We're brothers," James said. "When you told me about being bent last night, everything clicked. He's a good looking guy, I'll give you that. If you don't get him, I think I might try." A sarcastic grin formed on his face.
They both grinned.
James sighed afterward. "I wouldn't do that to you. He's not my type: way to girly."
"He is rather pretty for a guy, isn't he?" Albus responded. "But he has a man-part, so he counts."
"Been eyeing him up, have you?" James asked with a mischievous smirk.
"Don't tell me you haven't looked at the other guys in your dorm," Albus shot back.
The both chuckled. If you had asked either one of them two days ago if they had ever expect to have a conversation about eyeing up other guys with each other, they would both strongly deny it.
zZz
It was rare that Harry had to be called into work on his off days, so when the Minister suddenly asked him to come (using a Patronus, of course), he knew something was up. Dudley had said that Lily could stay with he and Ernie for a time, so he quickly apparated into the Minister's office. Shacklebolt was sitting behind his desk, staring intently at the young man sitting on the opposite side of the deck.
Harry was shocked to see that the third person in the room couldn't have been older than James or Albus. His hair was scarlet and pulled up into a ponytail that reached his shoulders. Freckles covered his face and made his pale green eyes even more disturbing. All in all, Harry found him to be an attractive young man.
"Mr. Potter," Shacklebolt said, "meet Edward von Koenig."
Edward looked directly into Harry's eyes while offering a hand to shake, and Harry felt a chill go down his spine. He took the hand, which was oddly rough for someone Edward's age. The redhead also wore a ring made of a pale pinkish-red stone on this hand.
"You of course know of the war that is going on in eastern Russia, don't you?" Shacklebolt asked.
"Of course," Harry said, taking the seat next to von Koenig. "But like I say every time you mention it, I know very little of it. It's quiet, as wars go."
"As it should be," von Koenig supplied. His voice quiet, but Harry could hear a certain sharpness in it that unsettled him greatly.
Harry raised an eyebrow at him.
"Mr. von Koenig has been serving in the war," the Minister supplied.
"At your age?" Harry asked, somewhat shocked.
It was Edward's turn to raise a scarlet eyebrow. "I am only two years younger than when you were when Voldemort was defeated. When you come from a family such as mine, it is not uncommon for us to have our first battle before you are ten. But that does not matter."
"Then please do say what matters," Harry said patiently.
Von Koenig looked between the Minister and Harry. "Have either of you heard of Homunculi?"
"Only in reference to ancient Alchemical mythology," Shacklebolt said, and Harry nodded in agreement.
Edward also nodded. "A Homunculus is simply an Alchemist's attempt to bring back the dead. They look and feel human and can communicate easily, but they are dead. They are immensely powerful, especially difficult to kill, and have an overpowering desire for death. Most importantly, they are each unique to the Alchemist that created it, feeding off of their strongest personality traits and then twisting those traits."
Harry started thinking. "When you say Alchemist… do you mean like-"
"Nicolas Flamel?" Edward finished. "Flamel powered his Alchemy with the same power than any witch or wizard has inside of them. The Alchemy I practice, and this is the important type, is powered by the planet itself. While Alchemist of my type can use magic in the same sense as the both of you, we normally gather our power from the excess magic that is so abundant around us. It's pretty much two different ways to achieve the same end, but actually Alchemy as a type of magic is much more powerful than Alchemy as a branch of Wizarding magic. It's similar to house-elves having their own type of magic."
"So how does this relate to our Ministry for Magic, Mr. von Koenig?" Shacklebolt implored. "You came here suddenly, saying that you would need our cooperation."
"We have been fighting Homunculi in that desolate part of Russia," von Koenig answered. "We have been able to keep them contained, mostly, but one of the more dangerous ones has escaped. I'm going to need to make sure that you allow me to kill the thing. Also, I'm going to be transferring into Hogwarts in September, since the castle has particularly strong ties to Alchemy practiced in the Middle Ages and will be able to help me to find a way to kill my target."
Harry noticed that the young man seemed be looking forward to killing his enemy, since a sadistic smile spread across his face as he mentioned what he had to do.
"You will see," von Koenig continued, "that in the file I gave you, Minister, is a recommendation from both my commanding officer and my clan leader, along with more details than I wish to explain about the Homunculus that I will be destroying."
"Fine," Shacklebolt said. "Auror Potter, he will be living with you and your family until the beginning of the school year."
"Yes, sir," Harry said as Edward nodded in agreement.
"You may both go," Shacklebolt dismissed. "I will have your belongings taken to Mr. Potter's home, Mr. von Koenig, if you would please wait outside the door."
The boy nodded and left.
"What do you know of him, Minister?" Harry asked as soon as the door was closed.
"He is incredibly dangerous to his enemies, but not to us" Kingsley said quietly, knowing what Harry meant. The Auror would not allow anything dangerous into his home. "He is the grandson of the former Secretary of Magic, the American equivalent of Minister for Magic, through his mother, and his other grandfather helped fight off the dark creatures Grindelwald used during his rise to power. He's technically a pureblood wizard, but as far as I know, he prefers to use his Alchemy to our magic. Apparently, he's only done so because he's been raised to fight in a war.
"I suggest you don't get on his bad side though, Harry," Shacklebolt warned. "His value on human life is signifigately lower than yours or mine. He will make sure that this threat is eliminated, but I have no doubt that he is willing to sacrifice people who get in his way, at least in something this big."
"I understand, sir," Harry said.
"Don't let me give you the wrong impression though," Kingsley encouraged with a smile. "I met the boy when his grandfather was still Secretary of Magic. He's a good, reliable kid, but he just has a more sadistic and morbid thought process than most of us."
zZz
Lily wasn't even going to get her hopes up on this one. Every time there was a cute boy living in her house that wasn't related to her, nothing ever happened between them; so when her father apparated back to the park with a good looking young man in tow, she knew she was hopeless. She was twelve though, her mother kept telling her, and she had plenty of time to find a boyfriend, in a few years, of course.
She, Ernie and Mr. Dursley all felt a shiver go down their spine as the two came closer and the redhead looked into each of their eyes.
"This is Edward von Koenig," Harry introduced.
"I would shake your hands," Edward said, "but I've heard that the process is often disturbing to wizard, and even more so to muggles."
Mr. Potter gave and unenthusiastic laugh, and Lily notice Edward's American accent. "He'll be staying with us until the beginning of term, then starting as a fifth year at Hogwarts."
"I would appreciate it if we left for your home soon, Mr. Potter," Edward informed. "That Portkey from Moscow wore me out."
zZz
There was a knock on James' door, and the boys heard their mother's voice. "Boys, we have a visitor."
James and Albus raised an eyebrow at each other and clumsily got off the bed to go downstairs. When they both arrived in the kitchen and their eyes locked with their guest's, James saw a shiver go down his younger brother's spine, but felt completely normal himself. That is, normal except for the fact that he quickly sat down so he could hide the forming bulge in his pants.
He knew his head and his man-part agreed because when his mother introduced Edward, he found himself returning Edward's charming and attractive smile.