13

Chapter 13

Harry was in his office at Sanctuary, working his way steadily, if with simmering frustration, through an irritatingly large pile of paperwork. The majority of the work had been done by Sergei, Alex, and the Smith golem, but there were some details that required a personal touch that Smith just couldn't manage. It was fine for dealing with small time reports and signatures, but anything that involved the complicated wheels within wheels type of planning that Vahan was infamous for was beyond its capabilities.

Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Harry paused to take a sip of his coffee. It was still the perfect temperature, despite the forty odd minutes it had been sitting untouched. The young crime lord took a moment to bless magic and dedicated House Elves.

"Sir, the Acolytes are moving," Alex announced as he quietly entered the room.

Harry glanced up at him, grateful to divert his attention to something more interesting than the annihilated forest on his desk.

"Good. Do they need a removalist? I think we have a few trucks free."

Alex flashed a smile, before sobering.

"They attacked Dudley in his hospital room. Two of his guards were killed, the other isn't likely to survive the night. One of them managed to hit the alert button before they were taken down, but they got away with Dudley. Marcel says that if we don't get him back in the next twenty four hours that he likely won't survive. His previous injuries were severe enough to be of concern, so if the Acolytes torture him…" The Hound trailed off meaningfully.

Vahan calmly raised an eyebrow.

"Do we have the intel yet?"

Alex paused to rifle through the folder in his hands.

"We received the floor plan and what details our agent could uncover last night." He pulled free a folded map, and pinned it to a board on the wall. "I've noted an entry plan, but the chance of getting in and out without casualties is less than five percent. I've put together recommendations for a team, it just needs your approval and they'll be ready to move."

He handed the file to Harry, who glanced over it quickly. All of the people listed were very capable members of his network, but nobody who would be crippling to lose. He noted that Bobby from Dudley's team had offered up his two most capable fighters, one of which specialised in B&E.

"Approved. Sergei and I will be onsite as well. I'll leave the initial entry and sweep to the team you selected, but I want someone I trust to go through afterwards to check the place out. We haven't seen any evidence of magical involvement, but we would be remise not to check while we have the opportunity." He handed the folder back.

Alex took it with a nod.

"Did you want me to go with you as well?"

Harry shrugged dismissively.

"If you like."

Harry leaned against his car, wrapped in a thick wool trench coat, and watched impassively as his people breached the isolated farmhouse. There were bangs and crashes, and flashes of gunfire for several minutes as the team of fifteen swept through the building like a rage filled Tsunami.

Only the two volunteers from Bobby's team had met Dudley, but all of the involved 'soldiers' were howling for blood at one of their own being harmed. The fact that it was one of the kids merely flamed their bloodlust to rabid proportions. Everyone knew that you didn't hurt the kids if you wanted to keep your hands (or other parts), and everyone knew what the Acolytes were capable of. Vahan looked after all of his people, but the children were special, and everyone in the network understood that they were to be protected.

At the Hounds recommendation, every person even loosely associated with Vahan's network had been informed about the Acolytes, and placed on a Priority One Alert for any information on them. So far, they'd managed to unearth at least three more inactive cells, and had a lead on another.

The ruckus finally died down, and Harry refocused his attention to the mission at hand. Sipping at the Thermos lid full of hot chocolate Alex had handed him, he waited patiently for the Team Leader to come and report.

A figure emerged from the gloom, and came to a halt in front of Harry, saluting sloppily with his left hand.

Fighting down a smile, Harry sipped his drink and let Alex handle the report. As far as any of the team were concerned, Tiny had been sent to observe the situation at Vahan's request, and while nobody knew why, they assumed it had something to do with the Acolytes.

"We cleared the building, Sir," the scruffy man stated. "We lost two of ours, and we have four others with non-fatal injuries that need attention, but we got all of the cell members who are here right now. We'll have to go through the paperwork we found to see if there's any more who weren't here tonight."

Alex nodded, hands folded behind his back.

"And our boy?"

"Safe. They'd started softening him up a bit, and he's lost a couple of fingernails, but it looks like we got here in time. He's getting some first aid now, but I think he's gonna need to get back to the hospital quick smart."

Alex nodded, dismissed the man, and clicked his radio to bring in the disguised private ambulances and bus waiting nearby.

"How did you want to proceed, Sir?" He asked, taking the empty Thermos lid from Harry and casting a discrete cleaning spell before packing it away in the car. "Did you want to go inside?"

Harry shook his head.

"No need. I only wanted to see how the team worked together for something like this. I was contemplating having them cross trained into a more paramilitary style unit."

Alex made a considering noise.

"Not a bad idea. Did you want to pull them from their current groups to form a new one?"

The small boy shook his head, watching the injured and Dudley being loaded gently into the vehicles, and the hogtied Acolytes being tossed carelessly into another.

"No, I was thinking more along the lines of secondment. I don't need a permanent paramilitary force at this point, but having a few highly trained units on standby for events like this might be useful."

"Would you like me to begin screening candidates and looking into training?"

Harry nodded, and gave the farmhouse one final look before sliding into the back of the car.

"I'm going home. Scour every inch of this property, not just the farmhouse. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a bunker or a backup building around here somewhere. They seem the sort."

Activating his portkey, Harry disappeared from the seat, leaving his Hounds behind.

Christmas was fast approaching, and Harry was up to his eyebrows in preparation. He'd considered going home for the holidays, but the opportunity to make some progress on the Flamel job was more pressing. Besides, it wasn't as if he couldn't slip home as needed.

Warthog was stretched out in front of the fire, happily roasting herself while Harry lay on the floor, using her belly as a pillow. He was reading through some reports Shot had sent of her progress on the Halloween Night research, which one of his Hounds had thoughtfully charmed to look like a History of Magic textbook. So far, she'd come up with a big pile of nothing verifiable, but that in itself was a lead. She'd discounted several theories, and passed the details of various people along to Bradshaw and the Hounds for prosecution or blackmail. The lawyer and his team had been steadily working through the list of people making money off Harry Potter's name without proper authorization, and gleefully stripping them of every knut that should have gone to royalties. With a few carefully worded press releases, they'd even managed to spin it as reclaiming earnings stolen by heartless adults taking advantage of a vulnerable orphaned child.

Harry had stipulated that since they were working in Harry's name and not Vahan's, they wouldn't touch a single knut that he wouldn't have been entitled to had they followed proper procedures, the exception being in cases of libel or theft. He hated having to consider the PR aspect of things, but the Harry Potter name was too valuable to have it smeared, especially at such an early point in the game. It was imperative to establish himself as a golden child from the beginning if he was going to succeed in cashing in on it later. Albert had thrown a massive spanner in the works by placing him in Slytherin, but no matter how irritated he might be he couldn't really blame the mouthy little lint ball. After all, he was ambitious and cunning.

"I don't like the rabbity one; he stares at you too much." Warthog commented drowsily, the tip of her tail twitching slowly.

"Mm, I've noticed," Harry hummed back quietly. He let his gaze flick over the room, noting the handful of students who were sprawled around making the place look untidy. Not many had elected to stay over the holidays, mostly fifth and seventh years hoping to get ahead with their studying for exams; and Nott, who was failing at subtly staring at Harry from the corner of his eye.

Warthog purred contentedly, the sound rumbling through her chest and into Harry's resting head. Sighing, he relaxed and let his familiar soothe him. They hadn't had a huge amount of time together since starting at Hogwarts, and the nights she'd spent hogging his bed had mostly passed quietly discussing various intel they'd put together on the castle residents.

"You're exhausted," she observed, shifting a paw to rest against his side, purring louder when he absently began to stroke it and fiddle with the pads, extending and retracting the claws idly.

"Yeah," the boy sighed softly. "It's been a bit crazy trying to keep up with everything. I'll manage though. I know Sergei thinks he might have a solution, so hopefully something will pan out there."

"I hope so, I hate seeing you like this. You've always worked hard, but this is insane even for you. It's not sustainable. You're not even drawing anymore."

Harry smiled and put his papers aside, rolling over and draping himself along her pleasantly warm body. He chuckled when she lifted her head and licked the top of his for a moment, before slumping back down, content to be his mattress. They lay in silence for a while, each drawing comfort from the other and silently promising themselves that they'd make more of an effort to spend non work related time together.

"Hey, Warthog," Harry eventually whispered. Warthog twitched an ear to show she was listening. "That night I asked you to escort Hermione back to her Common Room, how did you get into the classroom we were in? The door was closed, and I know you weren't in there beforehand."

Her soft laugher rumbled through his mind, even as her purring picked up a notch and developed a decidedly smug air.

"You only decided to ask this now?"

"I'd forgotten until now, to be honest. I've been so busy that I've been slipping." He sighed heavily, shifting his head on her shoulder and wrapping his arms more firmly around her ribs.

"Hmm," Warthog replied, stretching her forelegs and popping her claws before relaxing again. "I've been developing some new talents thanks to being bonded to you."

Harry perked up, folding his hands together and resting his chin on them so he could peer down at his familiar.

"Really? What kind of things?"

"Well, I'm still experimenting, but so far I can tap into your magic through the bond and use it to walk through shadows," she huffed slightly as Harry jerked on top of her, sitting up slightly.

"You can what?"

Sending a feeling of impatience and annoyance down the bond, the massive cat waited for her wizard to settle again before continuing.

"Relax, it's not like I can steal your magic and use it to cast spells or anything. It's barely a drop in the ocean, and it's no different than using it to activate the armour. I'd imagine it has the same restrictions, in that if you're magically exhausted then I couldn't use the Sliding ability." She fell silent, allowing Harry time to process the newest information.

"Really? You call it Shadow Sliding?" Harry snorted.

"Shut up, brat, I think it sounds cool!"

Harry shrugged.

"If you say so? Call it whatever you like, that's still a very neat trick."

"It's magic," she huffed, "tricks are for kids."

"Only until I kill their pimps," Harry muttered with a smirk, smiling wider at the burst of laughter from his familiar.

Several minutes passed in silence, broken only by the crackle of the fire and the sound of turning pages from the studying students.

Finally, Harry sighed and lifted himself grudgingly off his familiar. This was not the place for this conversation, and while he was perfectly capable of casting a privacy charm, that was a fifth year spell and he couldn't risk blowing his cover for something like this.

"Come on, let's go for a walk. I need to stretch my legs a bit."

Warthog reluctantly pried herself away from the warmth of the fire, and followed Harry into his room, where he quickly threw on some warmer clothes and then covered them with a cloak. He looked at Warthog thoughtfully.

"Did you want me to arrange a jacket or something for you, to help keep you warm? I'm sorry I didn't ask you sooner, that was neglectful of me."

Warthog chuffed in amusement and rubbed her face against his stomach, knocking him back a step.

"I'm fine, silly wizard. It's a bit cold, but I've got some ideas I'd like you to run past Shot and the Hounds. Are we going to see them now?"

"Not tonight. We'll go tomorrow, assuming nothing major comes up between now and then," Harry shook his head, and the two of them strolled from the dorm and out of the Common Room, Harry waving cheekily at Nott as he passed.

The look he received in return made all the future bitching he'd be subjected to worth it.

The echo of their footsteps rolled playfully through the deserted halls, highlighting the eerie emptiness of the castle. It was strange, the lifeless feeling permeating the ancient building. Even in the dead of night, the quiet presence of the slumbering residents brought a feeling of life to the halls; but with so many people gone, the castle had developed a lonely air, as if Hogwarts herself was calling out to her children, begging them to come home and love her once more.

Harry rested his hand on Warthog's shoulders, idling scratching the fur under his fingers even as he enjoyed the sensation of her strong muscles shifting under the skin. It was odd that she was larger and more muscular than her species usually achieved, but he supposed it was a side effect of his magic feeding into her. He'd have to make sure she had regular check-ups and didn't develop any problems from the enhanced growth.

"Stop fussing and just admire me," Warthog said, purring in amusement. "Your constant worrying is giving me a headache!"

"Sorry," Harry smiled, before turning his attention to the sound of additional footsteps approaching.

A few moments later, Snape stepped menacingly out of the shadows, peering down his hooked nose at the boy and his familiar.

"And where might you be going at this time of night?"

Harry tilted his head slightly, a patient smile drifting across his lips.

"Just out for an evening constitutional before curfew, Sir. Would you care to join us?"

Snape eyed him suspiciously for a moment, before nodding, turning on his heel to fall in beside them.

They walked quietly, each of them lost in their own thoughts as the minutes rolled by. The night was chilly, but the moonlight streaming in through the windows created a beautiful image that had Harry's fingers itching to hold a paintbrush.

They were halfway down a rarely used corridor when Warthog chuffed to draw their attention.

Leading the way, she nosed against a door that was only partially closed, pushing it open and stalking inside.

"That old one that smells like lemon and goats was in here recently," she observed.

"You know his name," Harry responded dryly. "I don't know why you insist on referring to people by their smell. It's very off-putting when I have to talk to them next and all I can think about is how you described them."

Snape snorted quietly.

"Should I ask?"

Harry grimaced.

"Well, I have it on very good authority who is having sex with whom, and a whole variety of other revolting scent based gossip that I'd rather not think about, but in this case she means Dumbledore. She says he was in here recently."

Snape decided that it was probably wiser not to enquire into the gruesome particulars, and looked around the room curiously.

It was an old abandoned classroom, smaller than average - which might account for its disuse - but recently dusted. All of the furniture had been removed, which only served to draw attention to the single item displayed proudly in the centre of the space. A large mirror in an ornate frame stood highlighted in the moonlight, the silvery light making the incongruous object seemingly glow.

Snape took a careful step closer, Harry remaining where he was.

There was an inscription along the top of the mirror frame, and the Potions Master skimmed his eyes over it.

"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi?" Harry snorted quietly, deigning to come closer once nothing terminal occurred to his Professor. "That's the worst code I've ever seen."

Snape raised an eyebrow, peering down at the boy.

There was a long moment of silence before Harry sighed.

"It's just mirrored? I know you know that." He shook his head, exasperated. "I'm not familiar with many magical objects yet, that's not really something I've needed to focus on before now. Do you know this one? It seems to have been left here for a purpose."

Snape's lips twitched slightly, and he turned back to the mirror.

"It is the Mirror of Erised. Supposedly it shows your hearts greatest wish. It is a bad idea to use it repeatedly, but if you are curious then a single use will not harm you."

Harry shrugged, focusing on the dark clad man, instead of immediately stepping forward in front of the mirror, as Snape no doubt expected.

"And only I can see what it shows?"

Snape smirked approvingly.

"Indeed."

"Is it usually kept at Hogwarts? And if so, I can't imagine an item that is presumably as rare and valuable as this would be left in such an insecure location. Anything could be about to happen to it!" He blinked angelically at the older man.

Snape viciously stamped on the laugh bubbling in his chest.

"Greed is unbecoming, Mister Potter."

Harry smiled serenely.

"I agree. Greed makes people do all sorts of things they might not otherwise do." He shook his head with mock solemnity. "Unconscionable, profitable, highly amoral things."

A nearly silent huff of amusement left Snape's lips. They stood in silence for a moment looking over the mirror thoroughly.

Eventually, Snape folded his arms, watching Harry from the corner of his eye.

"I have engaged in some interesting correspondence recently," he said quietly.

"Oh?" Harry responded blandly, mirroring the older man's pose and ignoring the huff of laughter in his mind from Warthog.

Snape inclined his head slightly.

"I decided to accept the offer you extended to me. As you suspected, the benefits of such a position were most tempting."

Harry remained silent, waiting to see where his newest recruit would take the conversation.

He had high hopes for Snape. Sergei had gone into detail about what he could remember of him from Death Eater raids and meetings, which admittedly wasn't much, and they'd thoroughly investigated his reputation as both the premier Potions Master in the UK and a formidable opponent in battle. They'd determined that the man's reputation in fact was grossly understated. Harry had been deliberately dropping hints about his true position in the organisation, watching intently to see if the man's intelligence was all it was cracked up to be. Assuming he was genuinely loyal, and managed to figure out the truth of the situation, he would become Vahan's newest Hound. If he didn't, well... He would be useful in R&D.

Snape paused, casually drawing his wand and casting a series of detection and privacy spells.

"I had a rather illuminating meeting with Petrikov the night before last."

Harry peered back at him, expression politely curious.

"He mentioned that my task during my 'probation'," his lip curled in distaste, "is to protect and assist you in any way I can. Apparently I am to consider you my superior for all intents and purposes."

Harry hummed in acknowledgement, not reacting one way or the other. The formal apology and soothing of old hurts by the Family Magic was probably the only reason that the older wizard wasn't gnashing his teeth in impotent fury at the thought.

"Were you aware of this?"

Harry tilted his head without turning from the mirror, watching his expression from the corner of his eye.

"Does it matter?"

"I suppose not," Snape grudgingly admitted. "Though this task would be a lot smoother if I have your cooperation."

Harry sighed heavily, and finally gave his full attention to his companion. Warthog, sensing his weariness, sat herself beside him and allowed him to lean against her shoulder.

"Please let me clarify something, in order to avoid frustration on both our parts. While your current job is to aid and protect me, I do not require a babysitter. If you have information that may be useful to me, then by all means let me know, but otherwise it's business as usual. If that changes, or I require you to assist me in some way, you will be notified."

Snape observed the boy keenly, taking in the calm mannerisms and unshakable confidence. It was obvious that this boy was not some wet behind the ears little punk trying to play with the big boys. Potter was every inch the dangerous young man that his contact with Vahan implied. The question was, how close was that contact?

"What do you see when you look in the mirror?" The older man asked quietly.

Harry gave him an unreadable look, before stepping forward.

"My reflection," he eventually responded. His young voice offered a ring of sincerity, though he was clearly omitting some of the more private details.

Making a snap decision, Snape decided to place a couple of cards on the table, and begin earning the very generous position he'd been gifted with.

"When I was instructed to help and protect you, it was mentioned that you had a specific task. I can only imagine that it relates to the item that the Headmaster has recently obtained."

"You mean the mysterious item that he very craftily hid in the school, and totally didn't tell anyone where it is over dinner on our first night here? What makes you think I have any interest in such an item? Assuming such a thing exists, naturally," the boy grinned.

Snape blinked lazily.

"Well, assuming you were interested in such a hypothetical object, I might know where it is hidden and how to get it."

Harry quirked an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

"It's in the mirror," Snape sighed.

"It's in his pocket," stated a voice dryly.

Harry and Snape both jumped, whirling to see who had intruded on their conversation so unexpectedly.

Behind them floated the Bloody Baron, one of Hogwarts many ghosts and the patron ghost of Slytherin House. Silvery blood coated the front of his translucent body, gruesomely painting his figure and drawing attention to the gash in his jacket that mostly concealed the wound that had claimed his life. Gaunt, the Baron stared down at them, his normally blank eyes showing a shrewd cunning and malicious glee. Floating roughly a foot above the floor, the ghost stared down at them smugly, arms folded across his chest.

"You should be aware, Professor, that your silly little charm may work on human ears, but not so well on ghosts, portraits, or animals. You might want to fix that." He turned his attention from the stoic Professor and focused on Harry.

"You, boy. You're the Potter one?"

Harry nodded, making a conscious effort to appear respectful, even as he mentally cursed up a storm.

"Albus thought he was so clever with his little mirror trick, well done on bypassing that 'want it but not to use it' rubbish; the little snot always was overconfident."

Harry smiled blandly and made an indeterminate noise, while next to him Snape wheezed slightly at the revered Headmaster being called a 'little snot'.

The Baron leaned closer, the ethereal coldness of his incorporeal body radiating a chill that had Harry fighting back a shiver. Almost nose to nose, the anciently deceased stared intently, before smirking.

"I'll be watching you, boy. Don't disappoint me, now."