The kitchen of Grimmauld Place was once again bursting at the seams, the same as it had been for the whole of the last week. From the time Voldemort appeared in front of Privet Drive, attacked Remus, and somehow got on the moving train to steal Potter's cloak, which was previously owned by James Potter.
Why that item nobody knew, but the look of recognition on Dumbledore's face made some of the more observant members think that he had some idea. Not that he shared it with them though.
Voldemort came and went before anybody even noticed. It was only thanks to Dumbledore that they even knew he was behind this. He had to carefully examine the memories of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.. Coincidentally, Ron was absentmindedly looking at the door the moment Voldemort's disillusionment dropped. It was only for a split second before a stunner hit them all, but he did notice him.
"Severus, anything new from your associates?" Dumbledore turned to Snape, who was standing at the back of the kitchen, which served as the meeting place for the Order.
"Absolutely nothing. The word is out there, but unless the Dark Lord calls upon us, we won't learn anything new."
"Then what are you good for, Snape?!" Sirius shouted over the table, and the fact that he was extremely nervous was evident to everybody who had seen him. The moment he got the news of an attack on both Harry and Remus, it took the headmaster himself to hold him back from rushing out there in the open.
"I have important work to do, unlike you, Black." Snape sneered at Sirius with contempt.
"You will both act civil or so help me!" Dumbledore, finally looking like he too had reached his limits with those two, yelled out. Silencing them immediately.
"With that out of the way… Alastor, Nymphadora, anything from the Auror side?" He turned to the two Aurors.
"Results came back from St. Mungo's, and Dursley was truly acting under heavy compulsion and compelling charms. There is brain damage, but nothing life-threatening. Sadly, there is nothing we can legally do unless we catch the one responsible for casting them, and even then, non-lethal crimes against muggles carry only a fine." Moody gruffly responded.
Albus sighed, now that Tom knew the precise location of Harry's residence, Albus had to work overtime to somehow find a way to make the wards shift to Grimmaul Place, but that was work in progress. For now, the boy was safe and sound, surrounded by his friends and under the heavy Black wards.
"Nymphadora?"
"I've got nothing, Professor. Unless you'd like to hear about how some drunk wizard probably threw a small house into the sea." The pink-haired auror replied with some mirth.
"While I'm sure that this will be a fun story once you figure it out, Nymphadora, I highly doubt it concerns Voldemort." He dismissed her with a small smile.
"But just for my curiosity, was it thrown into the Northern Sea?" Albus added once a thought crossed his mind.
"No, it happened on the other side of the country, on one of the St. Klida islands." She replied with a shrug.
"Hmm— Thank you." He said absentmindedly, immediately classifying that information as irrelevant. He then pinched the bridge of his nose, appearing deep in thought, and turned back to Moody.
"Alastor, can you safely spread the word among some trusted Aurors? Maybe one of them saw or heard something about the two figures." Albus nodded at him. Even if it was somewhat risky, he would have to trust that Alastor knew whom to trust.
"I'll try, Albus, but you know that my hands are full training rookies, and with the Order business. It might be a while before I even find anything."
"Very well, do what you can. Nymphadora, I need you to spend at least an hour every day wandering around Diagon Alley transformed into Harry. Hopefully, a sighting of him will lure Voldemort out of his hiding. Make it seem like he is staying at Leaky Cauldron if possible."
"I'll do it, but what if he comes personally? No matter how much I wish it weren't true, I stand no chance alone." Tonks replied with a pensive expression. She wasn't hesitating, no, but she knew her limits, and Voldemort was way above them.
"Have no fear. I'll prepare an emergency portkey straight to Hogwarts just in case. There is no place safer than that." Albus offered with a smile, glad that Nymphadora agreed to such a dangerous request.
"Though please, try and keep this from your mother, I don't fancy a duel to the death with one of the Black sisters just yet." He added with humor, but there was a hint of truth there. All three of the Black sisters had comparable strength, and if Bellatrix was anything to go by, Andromeda should not be far behind.
"Oh, I'll try, professor, but you know how she is."
"Exactly."
—
The week after my extraordinarily successful heist has been amazing. Pyra and I had spent it going over all of my and her powers, and carefully trying most of them out. It did, however, cause the other side of the island to become just a bunch of scorched rocks with no greenery in sight.
The whole learning experience took two whole days, so I decided we deserved a vacation.
The rest of the week was spent doing absolutely nothing important. We read books, went to the cinema, and generally enjoyed a peaceful summer on our island.
Hell, two days ago I managed to talk Pyra into having a barbecue and cooking the meat with our swords, which was super fun, might I add. Even if the meat was inedible by the end.
Today, we decided to go on a trip to Diagon Alley. Mostly just because we needed Galleons and I wanted to buy some cool magical knick-knacks, and because we still had almost two thousand pounds left, it should net us around two hundred galleons if we convert it all.
"Are you ready to go, Pyra?" I called out into the house. You see, she had a slight problem. Mainly, the fact that the only clothes she owned were the ones she was already wearing, and while they were very pretty, they stood out way too much, even among wizards. So Pyra borrowed some of mine and agreed to a shopping trip later.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" I heard a yell followed by frantic footsteps. When she emerged, I was at a loss for words. She wore the oversized nineties tracksuit jacket, a pair of loose-fitting jeans finished by the old pair of Converse I repaired during the week. All she was missing were some big bright earrings, and the look would be complete.
"Wow, you look absolutely gorgeous." I said appreciatively.
"Thank you~ You're not so bad yourself." She smiled and did a little twirl. I was glad she liked my outfit. I wore the tracksuit trousers, my white tennis shoes, and a plain white T-shirt.
"Let's get going, I wanna check out Leaky Cauldron." I outstretched my arm, waiting for Pyra to grab it. Once she did so, I apparated us to an alley across from Leaky, and if it wasn't for the sign announcing its name to the world, I'd never recognize it.
"Well, it looks like just any old British pub."I muttered, making my way there.
"What else would it look like? " Pyra rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
As soon as we opened the door, the unmistakable feeling of magic washed over me. This place had to be under so many wards and numerous muggle-repelling charms. The inside of the pub was surprisingly busy for the time of day. People were walking up and down the stairs and going out the back, where the entrance proper to Diagon Alley was.
"Good morning, Tom. How are you?" I asked the aging innkeeper politely as I walked up to the bar. The man barely spared us a grunt before he got back to polishing the beer mugs.
"I guess he's not a morning person." Pyra whispered and shrugged.
"He is just old. Though I must say, I was expecting something more… magical?"
"You won't see much of that in here. Everything truly magical is beyond that door in the back."
"True. So are we hitting up Gringotts first then?"
"We should, we'll have all the time in the world to wander around the alley afterward."
"Then let's just go, the less time I have to spend at the bank, the better." I grumbled.
I wish I could say we went straight to the bank, but that would be a blatant lie. I felt like a kid in a toy store, jumping from one display to another, excitedly pointing out things I liked to Pyra, and generally dragging her along behind me. Bless her for putting up with me, though if her smiles were of any indication, she enjoyed it too.
The bank, when viewed up close, appeared quite imposing and I dare to say majestic, even though it also looked like it could topple over at any moment. Honestly, were magical beings really that allergic to straight lines? Why do most of the buildings look like they are held together by super glue and supported only by hopes and dreams?
When inside, we found the nearest free goblin, and what followed was the worst banking interaction I have ever had. The man was rude, and I was sure he added at least a couple of fees that did not truly exist. Thankfully, opening up a new account was not at all difficult. Other than my magical signature, they didn't even require an ID, but then again, as long as I had money, the goblins didn't seem to care.
"Will that be all, Miss Strauss?" He asked me after I converted most of our money into Galleons.
"Just one thing. How much is an ounce of gold going for these days?"
"One ounce for forty Galleons. Anything else?" He asked impatiently.
"No, that's all. Thanks for your time." I bid him farewell and hastily left the bank. Ugh… I need to get some underlings to deal with this kind of stuff for me. I hate it. And no, I'm not going to force Pyra to do it.
"Fucking hell, I'm glad that's over." I couldn't help but grumble once we left the bank.
"It wasn't that bad, but why ask about gold?" Pyra soothed and asked curiously.
"Gold is universal, and even if Galleons are made out of pure gold too, they are way too enchanted to use in another world. I'm not going to sit there and unravel the protections on every coin I get my hands on. "
"True… that would be time consuming to say the least." Pyra agreed.
"But enough talking about that. Let's hit the street and enjoy ourselves. Wanna get ice cream first?" I pointed at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.
"Sure. Do you think it will taste better than normal ice cream?"
"Probably not, but I think there will be some wild flavours, if the Jelly Beans are anything to go by."
And I was right. They had the usual ones, vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate, but they also had some that made no sense to me. Like, what the hell is Dragon's Breath or Kelpies' Promise? And what the hell is Re'em's milk?
In the end, I went with the classic vanilla/chocolate combo, and Pyra got two scoops of strawberry. It wasn't expensive, thank god. Just a few sickles. We then leisurely strolled through the street, enjoying our treat, when Pyra suddenly spotted someone.
"Isn't that Harry?" She asked me, nudging my arm and pointing in the direction of a Quidditch supply store, and sure enough, looking at the brooms on display was Harry Potter.
"It sure is… mmm~ Strange though. I don't see anybody else with him. You think he ditched them and went here on his own?" Something was telling me that this was a setup, and I carefully scanned our surroundings for even a glimpse of a familiar face, but that came out empty.
"Pyra, I don't think that's Harry at all. Look at him, he is acting too much like bait. Polyjuice maybe?"
"No, the ingredients are way too expensive. They couldn't have known we would be here today, so this must be a long-term thing… A Metamorphmagus."
"So that's Tonks, huh? How about we bite and see what she does? Worst case scenario, we fight our way out and lay low for a while." I said with a grin.
"If you're sure." Pyra shrugged and followed after me. 'Harry' acted as if he did not notice us approaching and continued to stare intensely at the brooms, but I could see the twitching of his hands, and even his posture became more rigid with every step we took. He was panicking.
"Ah~ It's great to see you, Harry." I stood on one side and Pyra on the other, effectively cutting off two escape routes.
"W-who are you? I think you're mistaking me for somebody else, miss." Her tone pitched at first until she got it under control. So she was playing dumb, huh.
"You wound me. Here I was, thinking that our 'date' at the graveyard was special~, but I guess not." I leaned closer and whispered in her ear. Her right hand immediately went for her wand, unfortunately for the girl, it was in her back pocket, which gave me enough time to draw my own and discreetly shove it into her side.
"Ah, ah, ah. Not so fast, Mr. Potter." I said, taking the wand from her back pocket and throwing it at Pyra.
"Damn, you're really here all by yourself. That's rough. So what was the plan? I doubt any of you expected me to actually show up in person." I snorted.
"What plan? What are you talking about?"
"Ugh… Don't play dumb with me. This whole thing? It's an obvious trap. So what is the end goal? You want to capture me? Kill me?" I could hear her breathing get shorter and shorter, and a light sheen of sweat was starting to form on her forehead. Poor girl must have been on the verge of a panic attack.
"I bet it has something to do with that portkey in his pocket." Pyra said and pointed at the small bulge in the pocket closer to me.
"Oh, really? A portkey… Now isn't that interesting? Where does it lead?" I peered down at the woman, and she just subtly shook her head, seemingly unable to answer.
"You took an oath… of course you did. In that case, I don't need you." I facepalmed, I honestly forgot that things like that even existed. Then I reached into her pocket and pulled out the portkey, which looked like an ordinary lighter, and I threw it to Pyra too.
"Can you figure out the activation word?"
"Sure. I'll tell it to you once we're done here." She said, and I knew that the moment she touched it, she had already figured it out, but there was no reason to reveal that in front of Tonks.
"Now what should I do with you, Nymphadora? I still wanted to do some more shopping, but I know that the moment I let you leave, Dumbledore will be on his way."
"Why don't we just take her with us? There are anti-apparition wards all over the alley, I have her wand and portkey. She can't leave unless we let her." Pyra said probably the most reasonable thing I've heard all day.
"H-how did you know?" Tonks asked fearfully.
"Simple deduction, my dear. Polyjuice is expensive, and you're the only order member capable of mimicking its effects. But you know what gave you away? Potter is not afraid of me, you are, and it shows."
"Change your looks back, and follow us like the good girl you are, okay~?" I said, poking her ribs with my wand as a reminder of her situation. She followed my instructions without delay.
"Hmm~ You're cute. A shame that you're a cop, though." I said to the pink-haired woman.
"Wanna pick out some books, Pyra? There is bound to be something interesting here."
"Are we really using our names in front of the prisoner… Emily?" She asked with an upturned eyebrow. Shit. Never mind.
"It—uh, slipped? Does it even matter? It's not like they can use them for anything. What about the books?"
"True. Let's go buy some." Pyra shrugged.
Who knew that shopping while holding someone prisoner would be this awkward? Tonks spent the whole time with us desperately scanning her surroundings, looking for help that never came. And the times she was not doing that, she was watching our every move. By the time we were done with the bookstore, I was seriously regretting approaching her, it made the whole shopping experience weird.
"Ugh… Fuck it. Here is your wand, and get out of here." I tossed the wand at her and stomped out of the store.
"What a shit show *sigh*" I sighed once we were back out on the street.
"But was it really? The portkey you took goes directly to Hogwarts. The Horcrux and the Elder Wand are there. So I'd say that today has been quite fruitful."
"Yeah sure, but we don't need it. Not when I can open a portal leading directly there."
"Dumbledore doesn't know that, does he? This portkey will be active for the next seven days, and he will find out you took it, and as long as that portkey is active, he will have to stay at the castle."
"I didn't even think about that, but you're right. Hmm... I wonder how much treasure Hogwarts holds?"