18

r 18

Harry was irritated. He was actually beyond irritated, but he was trying his hardest not to show it. He hated when his fathers made logical points in any of their disagreements, logical points that Harry couldn't counter. At least he wasn't being singled out by his alleged recklessness this time. Sirius was also being left at the castle for his proven recklessness, well that and his wanted status.

"Chin up, pup." Sirius called out to him once the others passed back through the cabinet. "You'll get your time to shine soon enough." He paused before he continued with a grimace, "or you'll make an opportunity."

"I know," Harry huffed petulantly, "I just wanted to help."

"As much as I hate to admit it, they had good points," Sirius leaned against the cabinet door with his arms crossed and a pensive look on his face. "My history suggests I can't be trusted and you're unproven." Sirius sighed to himself, though for what reason Harry wasn't sure, "This is delicate, Really delicate," He stressed, "and there are innocent lives on the line that Minnie is responsible for."

"I realize that, it's also why I didn't really make a big deal about it," Harry remembered Amaru's words about what was expected of him as a priest. Sometimes the hardest job a priest has to do is to take a step back and let someone else do a job. "Just sucks," he sighed as the teenager he was.

"Preaching to the choir there, pup." Sirius smiled warmly at him as he chuckled to himself. "But we've got some time yet. Why don't you go on and explore some more? Just try not to find any more strange women, ok? I don't think dear Remus could handle it today," Sirius gave him a cheeky smile.

Harry couldn't help but smile in return, "I make no promises!" The father and son shared a good laugh.

Harry left Sirius to his waiting and wandered down the hallway. He came to the first T-junction and found another one of those weird mechanical cat things from before. Or, he mused on the possibilities, maybe it was the same one? There was no way to be sure since he had merely glanced at the first one. He was able to get a better look at it now, however, and was impressed by what he saw.

The cat was made out of smooth metal pieces that were interlinked so they wouldn't bump into or grind against each other at all when the creature moved. The single large eye that was a beautiful purple color was a bit discerning, but it was easy enough to get used to when the creature it was attached to acted like an aloof cat. It didn't try to lick it's spindly leg or non-existent paw like a regular cat, but that could simply be because it didn't have a mouth.

Harry looked around down the dark hallways and felt a little overwhelmed by the size of this castle, though he was big enough to understand that he was probably just feeling anxious about his fate finally catching up to him being this close to Britain and that Voldemort fellow. He looked back to the cat creature, who seemed to be waiting patiently on him to do something. His stomach growling gave him some direction at last. He looked at the cat and just couldn't help himself.

"You wouldn't happen to know where I can find some food, would you?" Harry asked the cat creature, mostly in jest. He had food stored in his bag under preservation charms and Queenie's honey could get him by for days he imagined, but he preferred to keep that for when food might be scarce or he was on the run once more. Being hungry in the middle of the Yuacutan was not an experience he wanted to repeat anytime soon. He had never had to use his bag for much more than sneaking or sleeping really, but the lessons Hausis taught him were hard to forget.

The cat creature's back opened and a giant coiled metal band or spring popped out of the hole, startling Harry. He watched as the cat creature walked by him with a typical feline grace wondering what the thing was doing. The cat creature's spiral tail unfurled and made an unmistakable beckoning motion at his eye level. There was no force on this planet that was going to stop him from following this strange creature to wherever it was going while mild Harry could sense adventure now and he was going to catch any excitement he could. The cat creature led him down one hallway and around the corner to another hallway that looked much like the last one but everything looked the same in the dark now. It delicately sat down in front of a closed wooden door and used its long tail to point at the door. Harry opened it and recognized the inside as a kitchen, the visible foodstuffs being the most telling.

"Whoa! You actually led me to a kitchen. Fascinating, " Harry spoke in wonder to the mechanical cat. It slowly blinked it's large purple eye at him in the only response he figured he'd get. After a moment's indecision he patted it's head and walked into the kitchens.

Inside was similar to most kitchens he had been in or near, except that the only appliance was a stove that looked to be a woodfire fueled. Harry considered the fact he was in a magical castle and reevaluated, perhaps it was just woodfire decor. Shrugging internally he took in the rest of the room. It was a large kitchen with many cupboards and cabinets. Harry opened a few and found them full of fresh looking food which Harry thought was strange. Preservation charms could hold for a while but this was getting to look ridiculous. This whole castle looked like a mix of taken care of and abandoned for years, decades even. He opened a tall cabinet next and found it to be what a purely magical being would create that was nearest to a walk in refrigerator. It wasn't cold, but Harry could feel a very powerful preservation charm that was keeping the various meats and fruits perfectly preserved. He could identify some of the foods stacked neatly on the shelves, but there were even more foods that he had no idea what they could be. He grabbed two large red apples, at least knowing what kind of fruit it was, and went back out to the hallway where he was surprised to find the cat creature patiently waiting for him.

"Well," He said after he took a bite of one apple, "what else can you show me that's this useful?" He asked the cat creature with amusement.

The cat creature got up and continued down the hallway to one of the other closed wooden doors. It stopped and sat down again next to the frame and blinked it's eye at him, waiting. Harry shoved the second apple into his pocket and opened the door, finding a rather large, very empty room. Harry turned back to the cat creature, now slightly exasperated.

"This isn't very useful little one," Harry stated as he munched on the apple in his hand. He considered the thought of a few dozen kids showing up here very soon and admonished the metal beast behind him, "Now a bunk room, that would be useful," With a mental wince Harry tried to reign in his sass, the cat had taken him to food after all. It was hard though, Harry was dealing with a lot of unknowns at the moment.

Something shifting behind him in the empty room caught his attention. He turned just in time to see a tower of bunk beds shooting up from the floor up to the ceiling. Harry counted fifteen bunk beds tall. Row after row of tall bunk beds shot up from the ground next to each other in neat rows until the room was full of hundreds of beds.

Harry turned back to the cat creature with a whistle. "Well," he said as he looked down at the cat that was calmly watching him, "forgive me for being short with you." He said to it gently. If the creature minded, it didn't show it.

Harry looked over to the closed wooden door next to the one he just opened and decided to try that one next. It was the same as the first, big and empty. Harry exhaled sharply through his nose.

"A shame there wasn't something about Hogwarts here. That'd be super helpful." Harry muttered under his breath.

A podium of some sort rose up from the ground not far from the door, only surprising him slightly. He walked over to it and took a look at what changed. It was a simple podium that looked to be the same look and feel as the floor that had a large piece of thick paper on it. He picked it up and opened it carefully to find a blueprint of some sort. It was of some sort of huge, multi leveled building. Harry realized it said 'Hogwarts' at the top in big letters and felt really stupid. He folded the map back up and put it into his bag carefully. He had no idea what was going on here, but he wasn't so stupid that he was going to deny such a gift.

"Ask and ye shall receive I guess," Harry left the second room and closed the door behind him. He walked past the cat creature and back to the cabinet room where Sirius was. Harry poked his head into the doorway and saw that Sirius was still standing next to the Hogwarts cabinet, looking even more bored than when Harry had left.

"Hey dad?" Harry waited until Sirius turned to him. "Down this hallway, turn left, the third door on the left is a bunk room. Figure you can put the kids there for now."

Sirius smiled broadly at him. "That's great, pup! I knew you'd find a way to help and look at you!" He praised him. Harry smiled back at his father. He may not have been in the thick of the mission, but he still managed to find a way to help. Like a proper priest, he found a small, yet still very necessary way to aid the children he had still yet to meet. Harry sighed, oh he was bored if he was praising himself like that.

Harry closed the door once again and found the cat creature had followed him back to his father. Harry motioned to the cat creature vaguely.

"Lead on," He said as he pulled the second apple out of his pocket and took a bite out of it.

The metal cat turned and began walking down the other hallway. Harry followed after the cat dutifully, now thoroughly curious about this cat creature and the building as a whole. The cat turned another corner and stopped next to another closed wooden door. Repetitive perhaps but Harry had a feeling this was the "Swiss Army Knife" of castles. Harry couldn't tell one door from another since all the wooden doors looked exactly the same in this place. He opened this one and found a surprisingly modern looking restroom that he would expect to find in a large University. One that could handle dozens of people at a time.

"Handy, might need one for the boys and one for the girls though," Harry made a mental note about the location so he could let the others know. Harry noticed the door and one across the hall rippled until an obvious 'man' and 'woman' shape stood out prominently on the door about chest height. Harry was impressed, really he was, this kind of magic was just amazing.

The cat creature continued on it's way with Harry following dutifully. Down another hallway and the cat creature led him to an arched doorway with no door and had a vine and leaf motif etched into the stone border. Harry poked his head into the room and was amazed at what he saw.

There was a giant crystal that was probably bigger than dad's motorcycle suspended from the ceiling by metal rods. It didn't look terribly safe to Harry, but it had to have been secure if it hadn't fallen yet he mused. The floor under the giant crystal had a strange checkered, circular design that made his eyes hurt as he looked at it and it was made with what looked like small tiles. The room wasn't decorated at all except for a table that had many smaller crystals sitting upright in some sort of box in neat little rows. Harry decided to not delve into this mystery right now and let the cat creature lead him away.

This time the cat creature led him down a long set of stairs that passed through several doors that were made of metals instead of wooden. This Harry thought was interesting thus far everything was uniform but the stairs and doors down were different. The last door was a metal double door that could swing open to allow much larger things through. Harry clicked his tongue before throwing the doors open for himself and the cat. What they walked into Harry could only describe as a dungeon. There were many cells, varying in size, with thick metal bars and magical locks still engaged. A smaller cell had a dirty brown skeleton laying in a pile next to the wall and a suspicious dark spot on the floor around it. It didn't take a scholar to figure out what had happened there. The cells went from small enough for a cat to big enough to hold creatures nearly as large as Amaru. There was another skeleton in a larger cell in the back. Or skeletons, Harry amended as he took a closer look. It looked like there was some kind of giant cat skeleton, perhaps a lion or tiger. It must have died while eating or shortly after eating a goat. Maybe it had something to do with the snake skeleton that was behind it. The snake was laying along the tail and the snake was huge. There was a shabby looking writing table that was near the entrance of the dungeon that had metal collars hanging on the wall next to it. Harry picked one of the collars off the wall and noticed that there were strange looking runes etched all around it. While holding it, Harry noticed that the magic in his fingertips was moving away from the collar.

"Very strange," Harry whispered to himself as he looked closely at the collar. Harry slipped the collar into his bag so he could examine it closer later. Maybe when he got tired of all the adults from Hogwarts trying to tell him what to do. The cat creature walked past him and continued out a metal door hidden around a corner at the back of the dungeon. The cat creature led him up a narrow staircase that twisted upwards for what seemed like forever until they finally hit another metal door. This door led to the outside, for which Harry was grateful. As much as he enjoyed exploring old buildings, he hated being inside for too long. Remus always said it was because he spent his entire childhood outside with the people of the Six Nations. The door opened to a long and narrow stone walkway that was far above the ground that led to a tower that stood separate from the rest of the castle on the other side of the courtyard. The pathway on the walkway only went forward, so that's where Harry went. The walkway ended at a large double door that was ornately decorated with more vines, leaves and flowers this time. Harry quite liked the overall nature theme that was going on in this castle.

Harry opened the door for the cat creature yet again, but the little beast refused to follow him inside. It turned around and walked back towards the dungeon door. Harry shrugged and poked his head into the doorway warily. This place was important enough for the cat construct to lead him to, but Harry wasn't about to just walk in willy nilly since the cat wouldn't follow him inside.

As far as Harry could tell, it was a really old workshop of some sort. There was a large writing desk that looked to be made of stone with some papers and metal scrap scattered across it. There were more papers stuck to the wall behind the writing desk. Much of the walls were covered with shelves that were themselves full of books, papers, and other little knick-knacks that Harry couldn't identify from a distance. There wasn't anything that Harry could see that could be a trap, but there was far too much magic in the area to discern if there were any magical traps.

Harry decided to enter the room as carefully as he could with his magic already primed just in case something was set off. There was a sound of something grinding against metal somewhere high above him. Looking up, he saw a crystal like the one in the other room, just much much larger. It was hard to tell this far beneath it, but Harry could guess that it was larger than Sirius' motorcycle and trailer, and well, it was just bloody massive. Harry threw up a shield of magic around him when it shifted slightly and made a loud banging sound that echoed throughout the slender tower. There was a beam of light that went from the giant crystal to a design on the floor and all the oil lamps sprung to life at the same time. The door slammed shut behind Harry as some of the light took on the flickering image of a person on the other side of the room from the door.

The image stopped flickering and now Harry could see that blue tinged image of a person hunched over a podium that had a black pyramid with gold accents and a crystal so clear that Harry could barely see it.

"Ah, yes. Looks like everything is imprinting this time," The image of the person stood up and turned to face Harry. Now Harry could tell that the person was a stereotypical old man with a long, light colored beard and wearing robes not too dissimilar to the robes that the elder monks in China wore. "Hello, salute, and good greetings!" The old man spoke happily and with a large smile. "It would be a pleasure to meet you if I were actually alive to do so, but as I am sadly deceased, this memory crystal of me will have to do."

Harry dropped his magical shield and took a relaxing breath. As far as Harry knew, and he certainly knew that there was much he did not know, an image of a person that was made of light could not hurt him.

"If the castle sentinels and the various defenses have let you this far, then that can only mean that you are meant to be here," The image of the old man shuffled his way over to the writing desk. "I can only hope that you found this place before you need it rather than after it was needed, however Fate is seldom very kind in this regard," the elderly image muttered to himself as he sat down in the image of the desk chair that was in a different position than the physical chair. "So much to cover and yet there is very little time to do so," The old man looked across the room like he was looking at someone or something over there for him but not for Harry. "So much, too much to cover in what little time I have left." He pointed a weak hand towards another box that had rows of crystals. "See my memories. Learn the truth...of everything," The old man sighed tiredly almost like it was taking all his energy to stay alive. "First, go back inside. The Gwas will take you to my study. The Tapestry. Start...there," The image of the old man flickered a couple of times before turning off and leaving Harry in silence.

"What do you mean 'start there'? Start?! What sack of bullshit is that! Again why is this happening, AGAIN!" Harry yelled to the silence.

This was all just his luck. Fate seemed to have one hell of a sense of humor considering everything she threw at him. He rubbed his forehead roughly as he tried to reign in his thoughts and emotions. He was just out exploring an old and abandoned castle that he and his fathers happened across when they ran away from some Aurors. Now he's being handed yet another object that was supposed to help him, but maybe not. He still hadn't really used many of the items that had already been given to by the various people he ran into and now he's got a castle and a whole heap of other things he has to figure out. Again.

Harry violently blew out his breath and the last of his aggression drained on his exhale he left the tower through the only door. The little cat creature was there and waiting for him. The image of the man had said that a 'Gwas' was going to lead him to some Tapestry, so that must have been the name of the cat he'd been following around. The Gwas turned and began walking back down the stone walkway and Harry followed with a now tired sigh. He was beginning to feel like Remus, old.

They walked back through the dungeon and down the same hallways from before until they got back to the hallway where Harry found the Gwas and the cabinets. Harry could hear voices of kids talking down the hallway he had indicated be used for the kids to bunk in, which he then ignored and continued following the Gwas. The Gwas turned right and went back towards the cabinet room, but stopped just before they reached it and stood next to a wooden door on the opposite side of the hallway. Harry shook his head and entered the room. Another closed door? Unexpected, he thought sarcastically as he reached for the handle to push it open and go inside.

This room looked much like the rooms in which the particularly rich and powerful did much of their business. Yet another writing desk against the back, that it itself was covered in many different books. There was a small sitting area in front of a fireplace that had an elaborate brick design that made it look like it was growing towards the ceiling. On the other side of the room, the entire wall was a slightly different color than the rest of the wall, though not by much. Getting closer to the wall that was a different color, he could see now that it was also a different texture, not the stone blocks that made up the walls of the castle. Harry waited to do anything else when he heard heavy footsteps coming down the hallway. The mission must have concluded and all the students they needed to bring from Hogwarts and settle here in this little sanctuary were here.

"Pup?" Sirius called out as he came into view, "Ah! Good. I was worried we were going to have to put together a search party to find you again." Sirius came up to him and gave him a firm, one armed hug.

Remus walked in next, followed closely by Minerva and Severus.

"Surprisingly enough, everything went off without a hitch," Minerva spoke calmly as she looked around the room.

"I'm still hesitant about bringing these children to a location we know nothing about," Severus droned from behind Minerva.

"We had little choice, Severus. It is still a better situation than the one they were in at Hogwarts. And for that mercy I am grateful," Minerva sighed in a way not too dissimilar to Hausis when someone began to try her patience.

"Welcome to the study Professors," Harry said before he indicated a couch or chair for anyone to occupy. "Did my cousin Draco make it?" Harry asked Minerva, but Snape answered instead.

"Draco Malfoy is a Pureblood from an incredibly well connected family," Snape sneered at Harry. "Even if he was in danger from this action Dolores Umbridge would not dare anger his father, Lucius."

Harry didn't like Severus' tone, but chose not to say anything. Any fight that would undoubtedly start from his comment would just not be worth the effort right now.

"Sirius told me about the bunk room you found. Good job, pup," Remus came up to Harry and gave him a firm hug.

"It was nothing, dad," Harry shrugged while smiling. "The Gwas led me to it."

"The what?" Remus and Sirius asked him in unison.

"The cat creature," Harry pointed at the same Gwas that had been leading him around everywhere. "I found some kind of a...recording?" Harry asked himself, unsure of how to even start to explain what he saw before he shook himself free of the ponderings to continue, "of an old man. He called it that."

"Pup…" Remus said warningly. "Is this going to be something that gives me another headache?"

"With our history? Probably. But I don't do these things on purpose dad!" Harry half yelled at his father, his earlier frustration bleeding into his tone. "They just happen to me!"

"Well he's not wrong," Sirius said as he shook his head. Remus' head snapped over to him. "Remember the Indians and the Monks?"

Remus sighed sharply as he turned his attention back to Harry. "What happened this time?" He asked softly like he normally did when he was bracing himself for bad news.

"The Gwas led me around until we ended up at the tower on the other side of the courtyard," Harry pointed out the window towards the tower in question, "and there was some kind of recording of an old man telling me to come here to the tapestry." Harry motioned to the blank tapestry before him. He was so beyond tired of getting vague directions from people who claimed to know about his destiny yet never actually told him what it was. Granted the old man only talked about fate and not his destiny but still, Harry figured it still applied.

"Do strange things like this happen often?" Minerva asked from behind Sirius he lips pressed into a firm line and one a scowl on her face.

"You have no idea," Sirius smirked to the older woman. Minerva could only sigh in response and shake her head thinking about the child raised by two damnable Marauders.

Harry walked around Remus and took a closer look at the tapestry before him. There was so much latent magic in this castle that he couldn't get a good hold on the magic inside the tapestry. It was there and it was a potent concentration but it was blank. The recording said to touch the tapestry to get things started, so he decided to do just that. He figured things wouldn't get too bad with four more magic users to help if things got weird. Harry pressed his index finger to the tapestry, feeling an incredibly soft, almost velvet feeling fabric before there was a sharp pain from something pricking him. He yanked his hand back with a huff of displeasure and inspected the small bead of red welling up.

"Pup?" Remus asked hesitantly.

Harry looked up at the tapestry and saw that where he touched was now a red dot that had thin lines of red shooting out of it. It looked like the lines were making many small boxes with names under them that were connected to each other with different types of lines. His fathers took a few steps back, maintaining their relaxed stances while the other two professors took a closer look. The lines finally stopped making the boxes and names and the boxes filled in with small moving portraits of people, albeit black and white variants.

"It's a," Sirius fumbled as his brain tried to catch onto something, "family tree?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, but look," Remus pointed to the top of the tapestry where there was some large writing. Remus turned to Sirius. "Isn't that Welsh?"

"Yes, but I don't speak it," Sirius shook his head. "At this point I barely speak the Queen's English."

"I speak Welsh," Minerva came to stand next to Harry on the other side of Remus. "It says, 'Emyrs. The most Noble Sentinels of Avalon'." Sirius and Remus both sighed wearily, which Harry was expecting. Minerva turned to face the family of three. "What does all of this have to do with Merlin?" She asked her arms folded and she tapped her finger along her upper arm waiting for an answer. Remus just rubbed his eyes tiredly in response. Behind him, Sirius was looking over the Emrys tapestry.

"Well Minny. This is clearly a family tree with Merlin, or Myrddin Emyrs, at the top," Sirius spoke in an overly pompous voice as he then drew attention and pointed to each of the portraits at the bottom. "And it appears like all the lines coming down from Myrddin Emyrs died out centuries ago."

"Not all of them," Severus spoke from behind Minerva. Severus stepped towards the tapestry and pointed to a line of portraits that went off to the side of the main tree. It was a line of single portraits in a long line until it got to the bottom where Harry could see his name and picture. Above his picture, he saw a picture of a, presumably, red haired woman that he recognized from China when he pushed out the piece of evil that she was trapping inside of him. The name "Lily Potter nee Evans" beneath her picture confirmed her as his mother.

"You...you're related to Merlin? You're related to the greatest Wizard in our history?!" Minerva pointed an accusatory finger at Harry. He was far from worried from a magical standpoint, but he was far from willing to fight any seer or teacher without reason. Especially one spoken of so fondly by his fathers.

"Calm down Minerva," Remus sighed heavily. "You'd be amazed how often this happens around him."

"Certainly explains a few things though," Sirius spoke mainly to himself from behind Remus having reeled his playful nature back in. "The stone sentinels out front, for one," He turned to Remus with a big smile on his face. "The cabinet in the basement of the Vatican!"

"And the cabinet in the basement of the Vatican," Remus sighed again, this time with his eyes screwed shut but nodding his head anyway.

Minerva sighed out the rest of her outburst, "Alright. We obviously have a lot to talk about at a later date when things are a bit calmer at the school."

Minerva turned to look at Severus, but he wasn't looking at her. He was instead looking at the tapestry, or more specifically, the moving picture of Harry's mother. There was obviously a story there, but Harry would have to wait to learn it. Things needed to settle down a bit more before he would be able to get any information on his past and his biological parents at least from this professor.

"Um, excuse me?" A small voice called out from the doorway. Everyone turned to see a small boy that looked to be about ten years old looking bleary eyed and very nervous. "Where can I find a bathroom?"

Harry perked up, actually having the answer. "Hm! Go down the hall, take a right, and the boys' bathroom is on the left," Harry pointed in the correct direction, just in case the boy was more than half asleep.

"Thank you mister," The boy replied as he started to shuffle down the hall.

"Anytime," Harry waved to the empty door. Remus gave him a good natured pat on the head with a smile.

"Well," Minerva got their attention again. "We need to get back before it gets too late." She motioned to Severus behind her, who was still not looking anywhere but Lily's picture. Minerva pulled out her wand and cast a spell Harry didn't know. A puff of smoke came out of the tip of her wand and took the shape of numbers naught-four-four-seven. "Or early, it appears." Minerva turned to Severus again. This time he was looking at her. "We can discuss plans further once Dolores is properly distracted with the missing children."

Severus nodded to her, though Harry noticed how his scowl seemed to have softened ever so slightly. The two teachers took their leave so they could have enough time to sneak back to their rooms and look disheveled enough when the Aurors showed up with the news of the disappearances.

"What about us?" Sirius turned back to Remus and Harry and after a moment he groaned. "My motorcycle and trailer are still in Italy!"

"Calm down Sirius," Remus yawned. "We can figure out how to get it back once things get settled here. For now it seems Minerva expects us to keep an eye on the kids here with some of the Prefects' help."

"Um," Harry spoke up to get his father's attention. "There was another room by the bunk room that changed when I walked in. Maybe we can see if it'll change to a bedroom for us to use?"

Before anything else could be done a small group of House Elves scampered up to them, clearly distressed, before either of his fathers could respond one spoke up in a twittering distressed voice that no one could make sense of.

"Where is the kitchen?!" One of the older female House Elves asked them quite sternly as she hushed the younger elf.

"Oh right over there ma'am," Harry responded while pointing to where he found the kitchen not far from the hallway 'T'. This all made him wonder if the Gwas led him to places that it knew he was going to need or if it was sheer happenstance. Harry shook his head, it was Fate, of course it was what he would need.

Harry looked back to Remus, who just shook his head wearily and motioned for Harry to lead them to the room. Sirius was still a little amped up by the knowledge of his missing motorcycle, but followed him dutifully. Harry led them to the room where he had gotten the map of Hogwarts and opened the door. The room was the same as before, a blank stone room that quickly changed as they walked in and voiced their needs. Harry, remembering the elves, ran back to the kitchens and told the elves to make themselves comfortable wherever they could find a place that suited them. A bit shocked but thankful the elves let him know they would. After the flurry of movement that Harry's return to the family's room created, what was left was several partitioned bedrooms with walls and doors, a sizable table set up for eating, and a couple of couches in front of a large fireplace.

"Wow," Remus seemed to perk up a bit impressed at the magic, "This looks nice."

"It'll do for now, at least," Harry replied, pleased that Remus had come out of his dour mood. The castle was a marvel after all.

"It'll do more than just 'do'," Remus gave him another one arm hug before entering the room proper.

"It's a good thing we've been desensitized to your level of insanity there pup or else this would really be too much to take in this early in the morning," Sirius said as he passed Harry to enter the room right after Remus. "Despite having run from Aurors and having to rescue Hogwarts first generation magical population," Sirius finished with a smirk at Harry.

Since there were three rooms that appeared and partitioned, they each claimed one for their own. Sirius made a remark about sharing a room with Remus, which made Remus respond by picking up an apple that was in a bowl on the eating table and hit Sirius in the head with it, not that it stopped Sirius from cackling like a maniac. Harry just went to his room shaking his head at the waste of good fruit.

Harry was sitting on the plush bed that he had picked out, fully unable to sleep. Severus had stated that Draco was still at the school and Harry was not convinced that the protection his 'Pureblood' status afforded him would be enough to actually keep him safe. History had proven that once a person decided that someone else was 'beneath' them and deserved less than them, they would soon invent reasons to add more people to that list, and someone who attacked children could not be trusted to not attack all children eventually.

Harry decided to look over the map of Hogwarts and get acquainted with the path to the Slytherin Common Room while he waited until he knew his fathers were asleep. He had learned years ago that Sirius mumbled to himself when deeply asleep whereas Remus always seemed to be hunting something as a wolf in his dreams. Harry silently cast a couple of silencing and muffling spells on himself and muffling charms on the door to make sure his fathers would not be woken up by a squeaky hinge, the castle was well maintained but best not to take any chances. With quick steps, he slipped out of his bedroom and out the main room door.

There was the Gwas sitting by the cabinet room bouncing it's previously coiled tail slightly as it slowly blinked it's one eye at him. It walked up to him and gently pawed at his leg, not unlike what a real cat would do to get someone's attention. Harry knelt down closer to the Gwas' level to see what the guide wanted from him. It leaned it's head to the ground and then there was a soft glass 'clink' sound before it sat back up. Harry saw that there was now a small crystal on the ground at its feet. It then stood up, moved it's tail in such a way that it made a rippling of metal that sounded almost like a mockery of a trilling meow, and walked away back down the hall.

"Ok? Thank you," Harry said bemused and not without sass as the Gwas walked away.

Seeing no reason to leave it, Harry picked up the crystal and slipped the crystal into his pocket, checked that his bag was secured at his hip and with the map in hand he opened the cabinet to Hogwarts. Harry cautiously slipped out of the cabinet and the office once more just in case Minerva or Severus had lingered there. They weren't there, so he continued on out the elaborate door and down a staircase to another doorway that led out to a large stone hallway far less intricate than the ones at the other castle. He pondered, as he cast a illusionment and obscuring spells on himself, that he should probably refer to the castle "Brocéliande" since that was the name just outside the courtyard and it was a lot easier to differentiate it since now there were two castles that he was now in or around and there was no telling how many more there would be. Fate and all.

With the spells in place, Harry opened the Hogwarts map and headed down the long, nondescript hallways. He was careful to follow the map closely since, while he was good at wandering, his ability to get back to where he started was hit or miss at the best of times. He passed some adults walking down the various hallways that were clearly not teachers. Teachers wouldn't be looking for a fight with their wands out in a place with any children around. Harry thought that maybe it was better he and Sirius weren't allowed on that mission earlier, moving kids past these guards would have been hard enough without Harry getting in the way or setting off an alert. Harry continued on his way until he finally found the Slytherin Common Room door behind a nondescript wall in the dungeons and nestled between two suits of armor.

"Password…" A disembodied voice sighed out from one of the suits of armor, though Harry couldn't tell which one.

Harry looked back down to the map, hoping to find a second way into the Slytherin room since he had no idea what the password could even be. He found where he was on the map by finding the main door. Some small, yet incredibly elaborate, script looked like it had been written-in next to the label of the main door.

"Purity," Harry stated softly just in case someone was hiding in the dungeon. The door opened fairly quietly and Harry, inexperienced infiltrator that he was, was able to slip in before it closed again. Inside didn't look much different than the actual dungeon outside. The many decorations and furniture seemed to be of an overly high quality. It was dark, dreary, and had the air of opulence; which were all things Harry hated. He followed the map to the staircase that led to the male dormitory, taking careful care not to accidentally find himself in the female side.

The staircase circled upwards until it hit the first floor where it leveled out into a walkway lined with doors. Each door had a golden name plaque with names written in an overly stylized script that was hard for him to read. None of the names were Draco's so he continued around the walkway and took the staircase to the next level. No luck on the next few levels either. Harry was starting to get worried about finding Draco before people started waking up when he finally found a plaque that said Draco Malfoy. Harry always thought that his cousin had a very strange name, but seeing it written in the swooping font made it look so strange. Harry cast a muffling charm on the door just in case it made noise and another spell to unlock it.

Inside the room was much different from the outside. The walls were covered with dark colors as was the floor. Harry couldn't tell if they were different in the darkness. The room was that large, but that could have been because of all the furniture that filled the room. There was a dark square on the other side of the room that Harry assumed was the bed. He ended up being right, but wondered why a bed would need to be covered with blankets. Harry could hear his soft snoring which made him have to stifle a snigger before Harry pushed open the hanging blankets. He decided to summon a small orb of light to illuminate the inside of the bed tent. Now with some light, Harry could get a good look at his cousin. Maybe it was because of the types of people Harry spent the majority of his time with, but he found Draco almost sickly looking with his pale white skin and nearly white hair. The boy really needed some sun. Draco sniffled adorably as he began to wake up to the rude light.

"Eh...what?" Draco spoke groggily as he reached lamely for the small table next to the bed. "Stupid light…"

"Draco," Harry said firmly. He needed Draco to get up quickly without startling him too much. Time was running out and students would be up and about soon, or the Aurors would be looking to round up the kids..

Draco's eyes fluttered open and Harry now got a good look at his light blue eyes. Was everything about this boy pale as hell?

"Who?" Draco pushed himself up to his elbows and looked up at Harry with squinted eyes. "Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Pleasure to finally meet you, Draco. I'm your cousin Harry Potter," Harry spoke as pleasantly as Remus insisted he do when meeting new people.

Draco looked up at him with big eyes as his brain tried to process what Harry just said. "You lie," He finally said.

"You have so many people breaking into your room that claim to be Harry Potter that your first response is 'nah'?" Harry said with a smirk.

Draco sat up sharply. "No! How dare you insinuate such a thing!" Draco spoke, clearly offended. "It's just...how did you get here?!"

"It's a long and complicated story that we don't have time for right this second," Harry said as he looked at the map in his hand and back to his cousin. This was taking too long. "If you want the whole story, we should do it somewhere else. Things are about to get crazy around here anyway."

"What's going on here that's out of the norm?" Draco asked as he got out of his bed and headed to a large closet.

"Nothing that involves you apparently, but I'd rather you not be here regardless, family first and all that," Harry followed Draco to leer at his wardrobe. Nothing that he looked at looked anything other than uncomfortable and restrictive.

"I would have preferred a letter informing me of your arrival," Draco muttered as he began dressing.

"That would have drawn far too much attention to you I'm sure cousin," Harry informed him as he helped Draco with a button up shirt not too dissimilar to the ones Remus wore. Just far more expensive, was it silk? Really, Draco was a spoiled little prince.

"Why do you say that?" Draco grabbed a dark colored jacket to pull on.

"I'm already sending letters to the Patil twins, so…" Harry started his explanation before he was shouted over by a flabbergasted Draco.

"What?!" Draco startled Harry into silence with his outburst. "That's YOUR crow?!"

"Oh. I see you've seen it. Does it stand out that much?" Harry asked calmly with genuine curiosity. Harry knew his fathers spoke of owls being the primary mail carriers, but Harry didn't believe them. The Six Nations used crows while the monks in China preferred their cranes. There were much better birds out there than owls.

"Yes!" Draco practically yelled. "No one here uses anything except owls!"

"Huh. That's rather dull, don't you think?" Harry asked as he fingered another shirt and cringed at the silk. Was everything Draco owned silk? His underwear?

Draco just looked at Harry like he didn't understand what he was saying. "Clearly we have a lot to talk about." Draco sighed as he turned back to the closet. He pulled out a bag from the closet and began using whatever was inside to fix his hair.

"Really Draco?" Harry just couldn't deal with Draco right now. He thought Sirius' dedication to his appearance was a strange quirk of his. It was quickly looking like it was a Pureblood thing. "Do you need some time to do your makeup, too?"

Draco turned sharply and leveled a hard glare at Harry, making him laugh. "Don't test me, Potter! Not this early in the morning! Besides, I'm not the one with the purse!"

Something very similar to what Sirius said whenever Remus sassed him before his morning coffee. "That was a sharp barb cousin, well done you must be waking up!" Harry held up his hands and patted the air as he stepped back from Draco to let him finish. "Alright. Alright," Harry put his hands in the air in surrender. "You almost ready to go?"

"Indeed," Draco closed the closet and turned back to Harry. Seemed like opulence was the name of the game when it came to British Purebloods. "Where are we going?"

"No idea. Out?" Harry shrugged. "Got any ideas?"

Draco rubbed the hair down behind his ears and smoothed out the hair on the back of his neck into place as he thought, "Well, I'm hungry, so how about we go to the Leaky Cauldron for breakfast? We can talk there and get some breakfast."

"Sounds wonderful," Harry patted Draco on the shoulder. "Where's that?"

"It's in London, next to Diagon Alley, but I have no idea how we're going to get there," Draco sighed with a deflated slump of his shoulders. "Headmistress Umbridge will know immediately if we try to use magic to leave, due to the many defenses around the school."

Harry pulled out the map of Hogwarts and looked over it quickly. Draco came up next to him and looked at the map with him.

"How'd you get a map of Hogwarts?" Draco asked in awe. "This has everything on it! The passwords too? Brilliant."

"This will be covered during our discussion," Harry said absently as he looked for a way out of castle that wasn't the front doors. "Here," Harry pointed at a place near where they were on the map. There was a small path going out from the dungeons that Harry had walked through to get to the Slytherin Common Room. "This looks like a way out without going out the front doors and being spotted."

"Are you sure?" Draco stepped closer to Harry to get a better look at where he was pointing. "Where does that even go?" Harry pointed to some small script next to the edge of the map. "Hogsmeade. Basement of Dogweed and Deathcap. Ah." Draco nodded to himself as he mulled the information over, "Sure, let's do this escape adventure of yours cousin."

Harry folded the map up and placed it back into his bag. "You seem very calm about all of this," Harry looked Draco over with a critical eye. Draco seemed far too relaxed in a situation where a cousin he had never met before showed up in his room at a well guarded school and was pretty much abducting him.

"Hogwarts isn't the same anymore. Everyone is scared all the time, well everyone without a family line to back up their magical heritage that is," Draco sniffled slightly, whether that was blood purity dogma or a genuine sadness for the school he had attended Harry wasn't sure. "Mother didn't want to send me back this year, but my father insisted. He claimed it would be safe for me, but...but I don't think it's safe. For anyone." Draco wrapped his arms around himself. "I don't want to be here Harry, at all."

"Well, don't worry," Harry gave him a brief one armed hug like Remus often did. "We're busting you out of here!" Draco gave him a grateful smile, so the hug worked. "I'm not going to let you come back here. What about your stuff? You got everything you want or need?" Harry pointed to the closet.

Draco waved his hand dismissively, "I don't care about any of this. I'm good."

"If you need anything, I'm sure we can get it for you," Harry nodded and winked at Draco, making the blonde boy roll his eyes at him while still smiling. "Like more makeup." Draco's immediate scowl made Harry have to smother his laughter behind his hand. Clearing his throat and getting himself back under control Harry eyed his cousin before nodding at him and raising his hands.

Harry cast a muffle spell on Draco as Draco led them out of his room and back down the spiral staircase. They could hear people starting to get up inside the closed room doors, so they made sure to pick up the pace to get out of the Common Room before the early risers began leaving their rooms. Once outside the main door, Harry took the lead and led Draco out towards the secret pathway that was hidden away behind a wall in a closed dungeon cell. It was dark enough that Harry had to cast his ball of light so they could see well enough to not trip on all the stone debris that littered the old passway. It seemed like forever until they finally reached the end, which was an incredibly old looking wooden door. Harry didn't sense any magical traps or defenses on the door so he tried to open it. The door didn't budge, so Harry tried to push it harder, but it still didn't move. Draco came up by Harry and they both used their body weight and slowly pushed the door open. On the other side of the door was dark, so Harry wasn't worried about sticking his head around the door. He found several large boxes had been stacked against it.

"Ah. That's why it didn't want to move," Harry said while lightly kicking the boxes.

"Shh!" Draco silenced him sharply. "Seriously Potter. We're trespassing!" He hissed.

"This is your first time Draco? I'll be gentle" Harry asked with a smirk.

Draco sighed dramatically as he turned away from Harry to hide his blush at the innuendo. Harry used his magic to gently push the boxes back against the door and closed the door entrance to the passageway behind them. This basement was full of different sizes of boxes and held the unmistakable scent of plants. Harry grabbed Draco's arm and pulled him towards the only staircase up.

"Wait! What are we going to say when they ask us how we got here!" Draco asked him with a frightened edge as they ascended to stairs.

"Act like you're meant to be here. No one will ask you anything," Harry told him with a smile. This was far from the first time Harry found himself in an area he wasn't supposed to be in.

The two of them walked through the shop that was full of plants and other things that were used in potions. Harry made a mental note to come back here some time and see if they had anything he didn't already have. As Harry briefly scanned the room he caught sight of his cousin and had to stifle another laugh. Harry wasn't sure if it was possible for Draco to be any more stiff without hurting himself, but thankfully they walked by the shop attendant and made it out of the store without having to find out.

"I take it that this is not the first time you've done something this stupid," Draco groaned at Harry not too dissimilar to how Remus would when he had had enough of Harry or Sirius.

"If you only knew, Sugar," Harry spoke with an amused chuckle.

"My name is Draco. Not 'Sugar', Potter!" Draco spat at him, which only amused Harry more.

Draco pulled out a wand and held it up in the air, all without breaking angry eye contact with Harry.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, somewhat intrigued. As he studied his cousin's actions and wondered if he was being threatened.

"Calling the Knightbus?" Draco replied implying that Harry should already know this. Draco rolled his eyes at Harry's surprise and put his wand away when an incredibly tall purple bus came to a screeching halt in front of them. Harry was more than ready to defend his cousin from any danger. The door opened and a rather lanky young man stepped out.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening." The young man tipped his hat to each of them in turn. "Where are we heading?"

"London. The Leaky Caldron." Draco handed over some money to the man and the man nodded in turn. Harry managed to relax only slightly. Draco hopped onto the bus first and Harry followed, though far more hesitantly. He wasn't quick to trust anyone or anything new. Not that Harry was opposed to new ideas but this was essentially enemy territory and trust in his cousin could only take him so far. The man seemed to eye Harry just as closely as Harry eyed him as Harry walked by him. Draco motioned for him to pick one of the six beds that were in a haphazard orientation.

"Sit down Harry, and try to relax. We'll be there before we know it...thankfully…" Draco added with a mutter.

The young man shut the door and told the driver to head to London. The bus took off and that's when Harry realized that the beds weren't bolted down at all and were left to roll all over the floor and bounce off of each other. Harry quickly pulled up his legs and let the bed go where it wanted. Draco, on the other hand, tried to desperately keep his bed from bouncing into its neighbors too hard. From Harry's perspective, it didn't look like it was working. The bus stopped at one point, sending all the beds forward to the front of the bed as it stopped quite hard. Draco took a few steading breaths as an older man got onto the bus and continued up a level. The bus was off again and sent them back this time. Harry actually quite liked the ride, but he could tell Draco did not like it at all, so it was unlikely they would be riding this bus again anytime soon. The bus stopped hard once more some time later and sent them flying forward again.

"London!" The young man announced loudly.

Draco got up from his bed with shaky legs and led Harry off the bus. The young man still watched Harry closely, though Harry would probably guess that it was because of his absolute glee.

"I hate that Merlin forsaken bus!" Draco announced once the bus sped off again.

Harry could only rub his back while trying to keep himself from laughing at Draco's discomfort. While Draco got a hold of himself, Harry took the chance to check out where they were this time. It seemed like an older place with nearly decrepit looking stone buildings and an asphalt road that needed to be repaved soon, judging by the potholes. Draco motioned for Harry to follow him and they entered the decrepit looking door. Inside, however, it looked every bit like an old world pud that Harry had visited with his fathers. It felt homey and comfortable. They took a seat at one of the smaller tables and a waitress swooped by to hand them menus before disappearing.

"I'm not well versed in British food. What's good here?" Harry asked when he realized that nothing on the menu looked familiar to him.

"I was thinking about getting us a couple of standard breakfasts. Keep it simple really," Draco said without looking up from his menu.

"As long as there's some coffee here," Harry replied, only now noticing how tired he was. After some quick mental math, he realized he had been up for over a day. His excitement had kept his tiredness at bay, but now that he was calming down, it was slowly creeping up on him.

"I can't stand the smell of coffee myself, but mother likes a cup every now and then," Draco said not looking up from the menu before he nodded and set it down.

The waitress reappeared and Draco handed their menus over while ordering their food and drinks. She returned quickly enough with a hot tea for Draco and a cup of coffee for Harry. She was kind enough to also bring a metal set of cream and sugar on a small matching tray. While Harry enjoyed coffee, he didn't enjoy it black.

"Not many kids our age drink coffee," Draco spoke as Harry took his first sip.

"I earned an appreciation for a good coffee while we were driving through Australia. Got served a latte by accident at a cafe and loved it. Remus was less than amused," Harry chuckled, remembering how Remus had yelled at Sirius when he thought Sirius had ordered it for him. It wasn't until the waitress had come over and apologized that Remus finally believed Sirius when he said he hadn't.

"Where all have you been? Mother was fairly tight-lipped about most things concerning your whereabouts with Cousin Sirius," Draco leaned forward on his clasped hands under his chin as he bore his gaze into Harry's.

Harry sighed as he tried to figure out where to start with everything before finally deciding on starting at the start. Once their breakfasts got served and Harry's coffee was topped off, he started talking. He started with the night his biological parents died and Sirius made the rash decision to flee the country with him and Remus in tow. He moved onto briefly explaining why a tribe of North American Aboriginals refused to let them go. He decided to gloss over the weird Voodoo Priestess in Louisiana and some of the blood rituals he learned in middle America. Draco gave him a strange look when he told him about meeting the Quetzalcoatl, but didn't say anything. Harry explained training with the monks and getting a dragon. Draco's eyes got large at that, so Harry told him that he would show him Oheo later. He knew he had to explain how he met the Patil twins and why he used a magical crow to send his letters. Draco admitted that it made sense that a group of people living in the forest in Canada would use crows for communication rather than owls. Harry told him about meeting Bill Weasley in Egypt, but not about finding the Library. That may have been a bit much. He then explained their run from the Aurors in Italy and finding the castle that allegedly belonged to Merlin. By the time he finished everything, they had finished their breakfasts.

"That's quite a tale, Harry. I find most of it rather hard to believe," Draco spoke up once Harry had finished speaking.

"You're telling me this?" Harry sighed. "No one ever believes me. I think I've been cursed by Fate to live in a constant state of insanity. But here's a bit of proof." Harry took a moment to feel where Oheo was lingering under his skin and shifting his jacket and shirt Harry was able to expose the head and forelegs of Ohea who was nestled just under his right clavicle for Draco so see. "She moves," Harry said nonchalantly as Draco looked from the tattoo on his chest to where Harry mentioned she was, usually, on his right arm.

"Hmm," Draco hummed as he took a few moments to ponder the information. "There are probably worse ways to live. A life without Quidditch?" Draco spoke thoughtfully, but not quite seriously.

"You know, Sirius always spoke fondly of Quidditch and yet I still have no idea what it is," Harry responded lightly as he recalled all the hype his father had spoken of the sport.

Draco looked at him in horror, "You don't know what Quidditch is?!"

"No?" Harry was really confused about what could be so great and have the word 'itch' in it. "It's not really a thing anywhere else I've been."

Draco looked several layers of offended. "No! No, this won't do!" He suddenly stood up and pulled Harry to his feet as well. He then yanked Harry towards a door on the opposite side of the Leaky Cauldron only stopping long enough to leave coins on the table to pay for their meal. "I will not stand by while a relative of mine has not had a proper education in Quidditch. Come cousin!" Draco demanded imperiously. "There's a Quidditch shop down Diagon Alley. We're going there now."

"Alright," Harry drew out the response at his cousin's sudden shift in attitude. He wondered if there was something in the drinks they had just consumed. He really didn't know what was so great about Quidditch and he didn't really care to learn, but that seemed like it was out of his hands now. Draco led him out of the cafe and into a well manicured courtyard that had two pathways connected to it.

"This is the way to Diagon Alley," Draco pointed down one path. "That's the way to Knockturn Alley. I would suggest you not try to go down there much, if ever."

"Why?" Harry asked, now thoroughly curious about what could be down there. It was practically the flame to his moth now that Draco had pointed it out.

"Unsavory types tend to loiter down there. And the shops tend to specialize in a...darker clientele," Draco stated delicately unsure of his cousin's views on anything really.

Harry made a mental note about what Draco said. He would have to see about slipping out sometime and seeing that place for himself. If nothing else, it would be interesting to see what this culture considered 'dark magic' as compared to what he learned elsewhere. Harry suddenly seized up and his eyes flicked from the alley to all the shadowy corners of the area they were in, his left breast was heating up from the henna from the Patil family. Someone was watching him.

"Draco?!" A woman shrieked out, startling Draco severely. It didn't startle Harry as he was on alert and looking for it, but his head still snapped to the sound. There was a woman wearing all black with a head full of unruly black hair pointing at them and specifically at Draco. "What are you doing out of school?" She practically shrieked at them again.

"Aunt Bellatrix! Fancy meeting you here," Draco feigned happiness when he was starting to sweat. Once his father heard about this...

"Aunt Bella?" Harry repeated as he mentally ran through all that he had heard about her from Sirius. Andromeda and Narcissa's sister that had the 'Black Family Madness'.

"And just who are you?" Her shrieking took on a more dignified tone that he was used to Sirius using when he needed to sweet talk their way through a checkpoint. "And just what are you doing with my nephew?"

"Oh, you know how it goes. Boy meets boy. Boy abducts boy for breakfast," Harry laid the sarcasm on thick. His chest had settled into a simmer as he eyed his third aunt and arguably the most dangerous person currently in his family. Sirius and Remus may be afraid of what Bellatrix was capable of, but they were looking at the situation from a different playbook than him. He glanced over at Draco and found him with eyes so large that you'd think Harry was about to be eaten by a bear.

"Excuse me!" Bellatrix's voice turned icy as she zeroed in on the youth next to her nephew. "How dare you speak to me that way!" She hissed at him. Perhaps she frightened those that were from here, but Harry was not going to be frightened by the same mannerisms you could find in any werewolf pup.

"Harry. Harry!" Draco whispered to him urgently without bringing Bellatrix's attention to him. "Don't get into a fight with her! She's an incredibly feared Dark Witch for a reason!"

Harry turned his head to say something sassy to Draco when Bellatrix said something he didn't immediately recognize and was hit by her spell. The first thing he felt was the all encompassing pain shot out from where he was hit. He couldn't help the surprised yelp of pain he made as every cell of his body felt like it had suddenly caught fire. It was over before he could even recognize that it had started. As he came down from whatever that spell was, he realized that his magic was settling back into its usual transient state inside his body. That was when he realized that she had managed to turn his magical core against him. His head snapped back to Bellatrix, who was now looking far too pleased with herself.

Harry was going to be nice to her since she was family, but that ship had just sailed, caught fire, and was swallowed by the Kraken. He was figuring out what he was going to do when he remembered that strange collar he found down in the dungeon at Brocéliande. His magic had run from it when he held it. Maybe it would disrupt her magic long enough for him to restrain her. He may have been angry that she attacked him, but he wasn't willing to hurt her or let anyone around them get hurt in a full on fight.

"What's wrong, ickle-bitty baby?" Bellatrix jeered while he pulled the collar out of his bag. "Can't handle a little torture?" She threw her head back and cackled madly.

Ah, so that must have been the Cruciatus Curse. Sirius had spoken about how much the curse hurt when his mother used it on him during his childhood. Just another reason this country was a literal hell it seemed. Harry decided he needed to get in close to her, so he used a focused spell he had made to get himself out of trouble quickly; he was certainly unimaginative when he had named it "Blur". He focused his magic in his legs and with a discharge of magic from his body he thrust himself forward once, having to take a moment to reorient himself with Bellatrix. She seemed shocked and was bringing her wand up to send another spell at him. He used Blur again, this time to propel himself to the other side of where she was standing just in time to see her sending out a bright red spell to where he was. She had just enough time to turn her head before he was thrusting himself forward again. Now he was within arms reach of her and he took the moment of her bug eyed confusion to bring the collar up to her neck and use the momentum to get it to snap it itself closed around her neck. It clicked closed immediately on contact with her skin, not needing any magic to latch it securely in place. He quickly used Blur to back up away from her before she could do anything to harm him while he was in arm's reach.

"What is this?!" Bellatrix screeched at him. Harry could feel her magic bleeding out of her as she clawed at the collar around her neck. The magic seemed to pull away from her body and condense in a ball in her chest before it gently pulsed there unable to react to its host's call for aid.

Bellatrix lifted her wand again and said something that sounded like 'Abracadabra', but nothing happened. She looked down at her wand in confusion before trying the same spell again. Again nothing happened. Bellatrix tried a couple more spells before getting angry and throwing her wand down into her robes and focused her gaze on Harry.

"What did you do to me?!" She demanded in that same frozen tone that promised unending pain.

Bellatrix pulled out something thin and silver that Harry assumed was a knife of some sort and after raising his eyebrow conjured some ropes to bind her before she tried to hurt him or anyone else again. They wrapped around her hard and caused her to lose her balance and fall to the ground shrieking and cursing him as she struggled in the ropes binding her down.

Draco ran to her side to make sure she was ok, but Harry knew she was fine due to the ungodly screeching sound she was making, reminding Harry of the annoying parrots near the tourist areas of South America. He weaved a more intricate spell in his hands and sent it to her, knocking her out and silencing her tirade.

"What did you do to her?! We can't hurt her!" Draco pleaded in pure fear as Bellatrix was apparently something that brought out his nightmares. Child abuse was a tradition in this family apparently.

"She's fine, Draco. She's just sleeping," Harry waved off his concern for her. He was still a little miffed about the spell she hit him with.

Draco stood up to face him. "What are we going to do? We can't leave her here!" Ringing his hands as he thought that once all this got out his father would take it out on him, or Merlin forbid his mother.

Harry sighed dramatically as he pulled out his bag. "Alright here. We'll put her in here and take her with us."

"We are not abducting my Aunt!" Draco yelled at him.

"Do you have a better idea?!" Harry yelled back at his cousin after he cast a localized muffling spell. He didn't want to lose his temper with Draco, but it was getting more difficult the longer this whole situation went on. He really needed a nap.

Draco looked between Harry and Bellatrix before nodding to Harry. "Ok. We'll bring her with us and figure something else out later?" Draco tried to reason or plead with Harry.

"Yeah, sure. Sounds great," Harry sighed, just wanting to get this over with.

Harry summoned a small mattress inside the opening of the bag and pushed it up under her feet. Draco helped by lifting her body little by little as they worked her into his bag. They had gotten his bag up to her shoulders when someone cleared their throat behind them. Harry glanced up and saw a bigger man that was wearing a thick trench coat and carrying a staff. His face was either missing or covered in scars including an eye that he had replaced with a magical eye that seemed to move on it's own.

"And just what is going on here?" The man asked in a gruff voice. His magical eye swivelling to Bellatrix to Draco to Harry and the bag before swirling to look...into his head?

"It's not what it looks like?" Harry asked innocently.

"It was his idea!" Draco blurted out at the same time.

Harry turned and gave Draco an incredulous glare. "Is this what I can expect for loyalty in this family, cousin?"

"Family loyalty ends at Aurors," Draco replied without taking his eyes off the man before them.

So this man was an Auror. Harry looked at him a little more closely and could see now the man's deceptively relaxed stance and his calculating gaze. No need to show his hand just yet.

"Abduct women often?" The man asked with a gruff edge to his words, but Harry knew it was a ploy. This man was intrigued or amused, Harry looked down at the bound dark witch, perhaps both?

"Honestly? No. This is the first time for me," Harry replied with a shrug and mock innocence as he shoved his bag forward and Bellatrix fell into his bag fully.

"Where are you taking her?" The gruff teasing edge was still there but the man was quickly becoming all business.

"Does it matter?" Harry lost all of his fake innocence as he placed his bag back at his side and stood up. Draco stood up as well, but took a couple small steps to put Harry between him and the Auror.

"It does indeed." The man shifted his weight slightly, though Harry could see it was just a ruse to distract anyone from noticing it brought both his hands onto his staff. "I've been tailing that woman for weeks now, so it's very much my business to know what your plans for her are," The man trailed off and waited expectantly for an answer, but Harry chose to remain silent instead of accidentally revealing too much. "You hold your tongue. Smart lad."

"I don't know you and I don't trust you, so why would I?" Harry said while keeping his features neutral.

"That's fair, I suppose," The man made a nonchalant movement to rub his chin. "The name is Alastor Moody. Former Auror for the British Ministry. Now you could say that I'm...freelance," Alastor nodded to Harry, indicating that it was his turn to introduce himself.

"Logan Hunt," He returned simply.

"I don't believe you," Alastor stated.

"You wouldn't be the first." Harry sighed and rolled his eyes using the moment to scan his surroundings. He still had no idea why he bothered using the fake name that no one believed was his.

"You're obviously a smart and capable lad. How's this? You let me tag along and see where you're taking her and if she's secure enough, I'll leave you alone," said Moody in no way giving the impression that there was an option for 'no thanks, I appreciate the concern though'.

Harry sighed sharply. "Look Moody. I still don't know who you are! I've done this 'show up with strangers at home' once already today and it's bound to bite me in the ass eventually!"

Alastor seemed unmoved by Harry's outburst. Draco leaned into Harry's back to whisper in his ear. "Alastor Moody is a renowned Auror, Harry. You can trust him at least with Aunt Bella."

"Your name is Harry?" Alastor asked with a smirk.

"My name is still none of your concern," Harry retorted. Harry wanted to growl, he was so irritated. "Fine! You can come with us, but I want you gone as soon as you're done confirming. Are we understood, Auror Moody?"

Alastor smiled at Harry, which only irritated him further. "Understood. It's not like I was going to let you leave with someone so dangerous as that one without some kind of assurance she was going to be confined."

"I'm far from weak," Harry wanted to be insulted, but reigned in his emotions. No reason to start a fight with Moody when he was willing to let him off the hook so easily.

"So I saw. A very interesting spell you used there," He probed, though Harry wasn't having it.

"I have plenty more that I would be more than happy to show you sometime. Out of curiosity how are you with meeting alleged felons that haven't gotten to speak their side of the story?" Harry did nothing to hide his irritation or the implied threat as he asked Moody about his dad's safety.

Draco carefully nudged Harry and whispered in his ear as Moody's gaze narrowed at the last question, "How are we getting back to...wherever the others are?" He asked quietly.

"That's actually a fantastic question, Draco," Harry sighed tiredly, "I didn't really think that far ahead." Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the crystal the Gwas had insisted that he take. "The Gwas just gave this to me back at Brocéliande…"

A loud crack and a flash of blinding light cut Harry off and when he came back to his senses, he realized that the three of them were now standing in the room at Brocéliande that had the large crystal hanging down from the ceiling. Draco grabbed Harry's shoulder and wildly spung his head around taking in as much of his surroundings as possible. Draco was not a brave child but his grip was hard enough that Harry was sure he was going to have bruises and Alastor was holding his staff in one hand, his eyes scanning the area in varying degrees as well.

"Oh, is that how this works?" Harry was actually quite pleased by this new development and ignoring his cousin and Moody. "That's actually pretty nifty!" He walked over with Draco not letting go of him and placed the crystal back in the box.

"What the hell was that?!" Alastor demanded harshly.

"Oh, yeah. There's a metric fuck ton of weird magic around here. You get used to it," Harry explained nonchalantly.

Alastor didn't seem convinced, but took a slightly more relaxed stance as he observed the completely relaxed teen. Draco, however, seemed less inclined to let go of Harry. There were voices out in the hallway, some Harry recognized and some he didn't, so he stuck his head out of the doorway and saw that Sirius and Remus were speaking to two women he didn't immediately recognize in the hallway not too far from him. Looking closer now, one of the women looked a lot like Bellatrix and the other one could pass for a close family member but with blonde hair.

Sirius glanced over and smiled broadly when he caught sight of Harry's head. "Hey, pup!" He motioned for Harry to come to him, "Come meet Aunt Andromeda and Aunt Narcissa!"

Aunt Andy and Aunt Cissy were here? He was actually quite happy to finally meet them, however Draco's tightening grip on his shoulder reminded him that he currently had Narcissa's son that she didn't realize had been abducted from Hogwarts with him.

"Pup…" Remus said with his warning tone, "You're hesitating. What are you hiding?"

Curse Remus and his uncanny ability to see right through him. Harry was far too tired to come up with some witty lie, so he went with pure honesty.

"I'm not hiding anything. On a completely unrelated note, look who I found!" Harry stepped out of the doorway and drug a very uncooperative Draco with him.

"Draco?!" Narcissa asked as she recognized her son. One perfectly placed eyebrow lifted as she took in her son and Harry. "Why are you not at school?"

"Him!" Draco let go of Harry's arm to point accusingly at him.

"Again with the lack of loyalty in this family. What am I going to do with you Draco? Who am I supposed to have accompany me on dangerous adventures? Who?" Harry groused good naturedly.

"Aurors and Mothers. Harry, the line is Aurors...and mothers," Draco muttered.

Harry hummed before responding, "That's fair," Harry said knowing that he would do little willingly to incur the wrath of his mothers.

"What's this about Aurors?" Remus asked, concerned.

"He's talking about me," Alastor walked into the hallway. "Moony. Padfoot. Good to see you mongrels again."

"Bellatrix is here as well!" Harry chirped, making all four adults visibly tense up. "Don't worry. She's knocked out in my bag," He held up his bag to show them like it was a trophy that he was showing off to his proud parents.

The silence in the hallway was deafening as the four adults processed the situation that walked in. Andromeda slowly turned to Sirius. "You remember how Walburga always wished your children would be as bad as you were?" She said with a sly smirk.

"Oh no, I'm well aware I'm paying for my wild youth," Sirius nodded with a self-deprecating smile.

"Does this happen often with him?" Narcissa asked under her breath so that only the adults could hear as she watched Alastor Moody hobble over to them and Harry pat his cousin on the shoulder and lead him off to the room that now had six beds for the extended Black family.

"All the fucking time," Remus muttered as he watched Harry escort his cousin down the hallway.