Chapter 23 It Is Not Over Yet

The week went smoothly and the men got back into the flow of working. Hydrus and Harry started lessons again and those were going well. Nothing more happened with the store and the papers dropped the story now that it was old news.

Hydrus received a letter of apology from Mr. Greengrass. In it he stated that he had not known his wife took losing their son so hard. He explained that they were doing what they thought best for the child. Now his son could prosper in the non-magical world. They had donated a lot of money to the orphanage and were one of the ones who sent gifts to the other children. He promised to get her help in the form of a mind-healer to help her better understand that she didn't lose a son; he was just in a better place.

The family was sitting at breakfast on Saturday morning and enjoying the quiet time, when the phone rang. "I'll get it," Hydrus said as he got up and made his way to the living room. All the while hoping better mobiles would come out soon. "Hello."

"Mr. Hydrus Black?" asked a deep male voice.

"This is he," the immortal said, recognizing the voice of one of his investigators.

"Mark here. I have a report for you," the now named Mark said.

"Go ahead," Hydrus sighed as he plopped down on the sofa and hoped for good news.

"First, I wanted to report that I did a background check on all the women you know and they all come up clean for using Dark magic. There are a few minor things, but nothing Dark. Second, I took a deeper look at the timed spell used in the store and I don't think that it was the Greengrass woman's work. The signatures on the howler and the balls are different. We're pretty sure they were working together, but when we questioned Greengrass, she had no recollection of the spell. We think her mind has been wiped." The man took a deep breath and continued, "Third, we got into Azkaban and talked to Skeeter. She said that she only heard a woman's voice in passing that she was 'going to make them pay' and took it to mean that this person was an up-and-coming Dark Lady. She never got a look at the woman," Mark droned in an apathetic voice. "Also, we don't have an origin on the spell; the motion detector on it was a masterpiece. Whoever did this is very, very smart." He actually sounded a bit excited about that bit of news.

"Well, damn. Thanks. Let me know if you find out more and give your report to the DMLE," the time traveler said, running his hand down his face. At least he knew it wasn't his friends or employees.

"Of course," the detective said and hung up.

"Good-bye to you too," Hydrus mumbled as he replaced the receiver. He went back to the table and shook his head slightly and mouthed 'later'. They resumed their meal of Scotch eggs. When they were done, he sent Harry to do some homework and the adults trooped to the living room. Hydrus told them what Mark had said and they all settled with thoughtful looks on their faces.

"Well, I'm clueless," Sirius said after a minute.

"Me too," Remus sighed.

"I don't have any ideas either," Hydrus said. "Let's wait and see if the DMLE comes up with anything. What are you guys doing today?"

"I have a date with Laura," the dogman said, waggling his eyebrows.

"I have to go to the book store. We are having a sale today, in the magical side, to clear out some of the inventory. There is a new mystery novel set to come out and we need the space," the werewolf said.

The new mystery was going to be a bestseller. It was the first magical one on the market. While the magicals hadn't gotten around to making cartoons and movies, they were taking things from the non-magical books in The Book Nook and adapting them for their community. They had a few romances that flew off the shelves, but this was the first mystery that used magical and non-magical means to discover the villain. Remus was excited.

"I have to go to the appliance store. Mr. Parker said one of the employees quit and he wants my opinion on the applicants," the immortal said. "One of us needs to stay with Harry." He looked at the other two.

"My date isn't until later, I can stay until around one," offered Sirius.

"Okay, I should be done by then. Have him finish his work on the book I assigned and I'll be back before noon."

"Why are you making him do homework on a Saturday?" Remus asked, once again thinking that Hydrus was pushing the boy too hard.

"It's only reading," Hydrus said with a bit of a bite. "All he has to do is read and come to me with the words he doesn't know. If I can get him to read a bit every day then he will learn faster."

"Still, it is Saturday," the werewolf pointed out.

"And when he is done, I'll take him flying the rest of the day. Look, we all agreed that when it came to Harry's education I was in charge. I don't think I'm pushing him too hard, if he starts to hate reading then I'll back off. But right now he is enjoying it, doing well and learning fast. So let it be," his tone suggested the subject was over.

That being said Hydrus got up to get ready to go into public by changing into casual business clothes and putting in his grey contacts. He stopped to say good-bye to his nephew, praised him for doing well and then Disapparated to the Alley. He made his way down the busy street to his store and weaved through the customers into the back room.

"Hello, Mr. Parker. How is business?" he asked as he took the chair in front of the crowded desk.

"Good morning, Mr. Black," the neatly dressed man said, looking up from the paper he was reading. "Business is going well, very well indeed. Christmas brought in a lot of new customers. We are so far in the black that I have very little worries about profit at this time."

"Good, I was a bit worried about a drop when I took the entertainment out of the store. It's good to know that didn't happen. So let's look at the applicants." And the two men started going through the applications. There weren't that many and they ranged from all walks of life. They settled on five to interview and then Hydrus rose to get home so Sirius could go on his date. After shaking Mr. Parker's hand and congratulating him on doing well, the immortal left the store.

When he stepped out on to the sidewalk there was a bright flash of light, which caused the whole street to shield their eyes. When the light died down in the sky were the words 'I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE' in bright neon pink. They were too big to hang only over his store, so they covered the five stores to the side, and were slightly over the street, like the person casting had bad aim.

Well shite. Hydrus looked around to see how people were taking this. Most were simply confused and started pointing to the words. Many were asking what the words meant. The Alley was suddenly flooded with reporters and photographers, like they had been warned this would happen. Trying to calm his racing heart, the immortal decided to stick around, in case it looked like he was hurrying from the scene.

A reporter, for The Times, did come up and ask him if he knew what was happening, since the words were so close to his shop. Hydrus answered honestly that he had no clue as to who put them there. After about a half an hour he finally made it home. He told Padfoot what happened and then sent him on his way. He called his detective and informed him. The man said he'd look into it.

Harry came running in and hugged him. "I finished my book. Here are the words I don't know," the five and a half year old said, handing the paper over. "Can we fly now?" He bounced on the balls of his feet.

"Let's go over a few of these first and then we can fly," Hydrus said, mussing that ever messy hair.

"Fine," the child pouted, while he liked reading and learning words, right now he wanted to play. So the two sat and discussed the schoolwork and twenty minutes later they were outside enjoying the cold air.

That night, after a simple dinner of macaroni and cheese, the men settled in the living room. Harry was on the sofa playing with his handheld.

"How did your date go, Sirius?" Remus asked, not knowing about the happenings in the Alley.

"Very well," the dogman answered with a dopey grin. "Laura is such a fun gal. We took in a movie and then went to a restaurant and then back to the flat for a bit of slap and tickle."

"What kind of game is that?" chimed in Harry. "It doesn't sound fun." He wrinkled his nose at the thought of people slapping then tickling each other. The three adults burst out laughing, making the little boy pout and shout, "It's not funny!"

"Sorry, Harry, we don't mean to laugh at you. Slap and tickle is an adult game, you will learn about it when you're older," Hydrus said as he hugged his nephew, still trying to control his laughter. He was dreading the time when Harry would be old enough for The Talk. Maybe he could pass that off to Sirius; he was the guardian after all.

"Well grownups are stupid," Harry said firmly.

"I promise you'll understand it later in life. For now just believe us when we say it is a fun game for us," the oldest uncle said with a huge grin.

"Fine," the boy stated and turned back to his game.

The three men shared a smile and talked of nonessential things until Harry went to bed. The Hydrus turned serious and told them what happened in the Alley.

"So you think this woman is behind it?" Sirius asked, rubbing his chin.

"Who else would it be?" he answered with a shrug.

"Well, we were wrong about it being Mrs. Greengrass," Remus pointed out.

"Not quite. She did work with someone to do the spell and she sent the howler," was the rebuttal.

"Do you think it could be someone else who lost their child?" Sirius questioned, his mind running through the short list. He had asked his cousins and aunts about them. They all said that these women were from Pure-blood family, but they both backed Dumbledore making them less likely to cast Dark spells.

"I don't know," the immortal answered, running a hand down his face. "I'm beginning to think it's someone I haven't met yet, but is affected by the changes nonetheless." He shook his head, all this guess work was getting them nowhere. "When is Harry's next play date? He's been cooped up here too long," he asked changing the beaten subject.

"Tomorrow, we're going to the Burrow," the Animagus answered with a grin, he too was happy to stop guessing. "With all the money they are making off your sales, Ron is doing much better. He still gets shirty when people show up with new toys, but he calms down after a talking-to."

"That's good to hear, I hope he gets better, except for his bouts of jealousy he was a good friend. Are Neville and Hermione going to be there? How about Luna? She must be lonely," Hydrus asked, thinking about his quirky friend, there was something he was supposed to remember about her, but it was just out of his reach.

"Well, the Longbottoms are bringing Neville and I'll go and ask the Lovegoods if Luna can join us," Sirius answered. "The Grangers are driving up. They want to see what a magical house looks like." It would be their first time at the Burrow and you couldn't find a more magical house.

"That's good, try and be patient with Luna, she's a little flighty. Much like her parents," the older Black warned with a fond grin, taking the bite out of his words.

"Yeah, I've read the Quibbler," the dogman replied with a chuckle.

"I enjoy his conspiracy theories," Remus said with a small laugh. "Too bad it might fold soon."

"What?" Hydrus exclaimed.

"Yeah, don't you read your own paper? There was an article on the drop in subscriptions of the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler. Seems like the Quibbler might be gone soon, if they don't find proof of one of their creatures," Sirius said a bit sad, he really did like that magazine. The rune crosswords were mindboggling and you had to read the entire paper to get the answers. It was a crafty piece of work.

"Well, we'll have to see what we can do to help," the immortal said firmly, maybe some private funding and a few hints will keep it afloat. Then he changed the subject, "If you're taking Harry tomorrow then I'm going to visit Grace. I better call her and ask before it gets too late." And with that picked up the phone and called his girlfriend and made arrangements to meet the next day.

The next morning the newspapers ran the articles about the words in the sky. The Times asked who they were talking about. What the words meant? And how they got into the sky?

The Prophet went on to say it was much like the Dark Mark and that it was someone trying to draw out the Dark Lady. It insinuated that there might be a turf war.

The Quibbler said it was merely the Wibblewonkers playing with people's minds and to not pay attention to the words as they didn't mean anything.

Having read the papers, they all shared a good laugh to relieve their worries, and then they all split up. Harry and Sirius popped to the Burrow. Remus went to the study to have a day reading the new mystery novel. Hydrus went to the lab to work on a port-key that would take him home if he ever fell dead. This way no one would know that he actually died and he would never have to earn the title ending with Who Lived. He worked until it was time to go and popped to Grace's flat. They had a great couple of hours, chatting and making out. Then he went home, feeling that same calm he felt every time he spent time in her company.

Once again settling for their evening chat, the three men claimed their chairs to talk about their day. Harry settled next to Hydrus on the sofa and told about his exciting day at the Weasleys.

"We went flying and Uncle Padfoot tried to teach us how to catch apples, like a seeker. Then we had a pretend game of Quidditch, with the adults throwing apples to each of us. Fred and George had to use bats to swat them away. And Ron was appost to make sure they didn't get in the hoops. It was loads of fun. Then me and Ginny played who could catch the mostest, I caught the more and Mrs. Weasley gave me a biscuit and said I'm going to grow up and be a great seeker," the child rambled on, making swooping motions with his hands.

Hydrus chuckled and gave him a one-armed hug and said, "That you will, Harry. I have no doubt."

"Hermione didn't want to play with us, so she talked to Mr. Weasley with her parents. I don't think she likes flying," Harry complained. Who didn't like flying? Even Ginny played with them. Girls are weird.

"Bill and Charlie had to degnome the garden, they were in trouble. Percy was in his room reading. Harry, here, was great," Sirius beamed at his nephew. "He caught six apples. The twins are going to be powerful beaters, and Ron was a good keeper. Ginny almost beat Harry in the number of apples caught, she got five. Little Luna didn't fly, but she did commentate and it was funny as… heck," he said with a small laugh, remembering all the mysterious creatures the little girl would blame if someone missed what they were aiming for.

"Ginny's alright for a baby," Harry said with a shrug. He was still put out that he had to play with a girl and a baby one at that.

"Molly was in a right state when we let her little girl on a broom, but that child is a natural." Sirius's ears were still ringing from when the Weasley mum went off on them. Arthur tried to defend the men, but she was having none of it. They tried to tell her that none of the kids went over ten feet, but she still yelled at them for twenty minutes. The kids were just happy they weren't the ones being disciplined.

"Well, I am glad everyone enjoyed themselves," Remus said with a fond smile at the now yawning boy.

"Time to go and wash up for bed," the oldest uncle said, picking up the tired child and setting him on the floor.

"I'll be up to read you a story in a minute," the youngest Black said, ruffling the boy's hair as he passed. It was still his duty to see the boy tucked in.

After the footsteps made it up the stairs Hydrus asked, "So, how many apples did they miss?"

"About twenty, it was cute the way they dove around the field, but they are just little kids. Ginny was adorable," the dogfather said with a huge grin.

Then the immortal got serious. "Nothing bad happened?"

"Nope," the youngest Black said, still grinning. "It was just a relaxing day of fun for the kids."

Hydrus relaxed. "I'm working on a port-key to take me here if I die. Next I'm going to make one for the two of you, so if you get hit by a Dark spell you'll come here as well. Then Tippy can get me and if you need medical attention I can get you to St. Mungo's."

"Why not straight to St. Mungo's?" Remus asked.

"Not all Dark Spells are life-threatening. If I can dispel it then I prefer that you come here, where it is safer," the older man answered.

"Why only if we get hit by a Dark Curse?"

"I figured that you two would rather stay and fight," Hydrus said with a shrug.

"And Harry and Grace?"

"I'm working on some that will pop them away if they are near any hostile spell fire," Hydrus answered with a determined glint in his eyes.

"Oh, well, I guess that makes sense. When do you think you will have them done?" Remus questioned, leaning forward in his seat.

"In the next few days."

The conversation dropped off from there and the three men got lost in their thoughts. Sirius went to read to Harry. Remus pulled out his book. Hydrus finally gave it up reading as a bad job and said he was going to go and meditate. After sitting an hour in calm bliss he finally remembered what he had to do for Luna, making a mental note to send off a missive of support to the family he went to sleep.

The next day he sent a letter to the Lovegoods with an anonymous donation to the Quibbler and words he hoped they'd use to find one of the creatures. His Luna had found it when she moved to France. It was what made her paper take off so well, even though her paper was more factual than her fathers, it was a great discovery, plus a lifelong dream come true.

To the Lovegood Family

I have recently heard of the woes of your wonderful publication. With the enclosed donation I would like to help. I have only just been to a seer and she said that to help your family I must tell you where to find the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. It is in France. Look for it where the Veelas dwell.

This seer also warned me that should Pandora not take better precautions with her spell-crafting a great tragedy will occur.

Since I care about what happens to you and yours, please, take the donation and the warning to heart.

Sincerely

A Friend

Going through his usual routine when sending these letters, he cleared his magical signature, donned a non-magical disguise and went to the owl post office in the Alley and then went home. That night he let the others know what he did and they all hoped for the best.

Dumbledore cornered Sirius at the Ministry the next day and said he was getting the Order together and asked if he would find Remus and let him know. Sirius said he would try and reiterated that he would need to update the vow. The youngest Black let them know what the Headmaster said in their nightly chat.

"Did he ask about me?" Hydrus asked, not really worried about the old man any more.

"Nope. I'd expect a visit to one of your shops soon," the dogman replied. With that they turned to other topics and soon went to bed.

Hydrus finished the port-keys a few days later and handed them out. Harry's and Grace's were to take them home if any spells came their way. He designed them to look like regular bracelets, Harry's being more masculine. A permanent charm on the clasp and his two most valued people were now protected. He also added the shield charm, just in case anti-port-key wards were in place. The immortal only hoped it was enough.

Spending most of his time with Harry, Hydrus hardly ever left the house, unless it was to go on a date with his girlfriend. His detectives did say that the signature on the words and the one on the toys was the same, but they had no idea who cast them. The words showed up in the Alley three more times, each time Hydrus was there, leaving the public baffled and gossiping. The newspapers battled it out whenever they showed, but none of them came close as to the meaning.

On one of the few occasions Hydrus went to check on his shops he heard a disembodied female voice whisper in the air. "Death doesn't need a Master."

He whipped out his wand and whirled around to see who it was, causing people to look at him funny. They hadn't heard anything.

"Are you alright, Mr. Black?" a middle aged man asked at the freaked out look on the immortal's face.

"Yeah, sorry, I thought I heard someone," Hydrus said, running a hand down his face. "Must have been the wind. Thanks for asking," he said sincerely, lowering his wand and clapping the man on the shoulder.

"No problem, glad you're okay," the man said gently. And with a shake of his head he wandered off.

"I'm starting to look like a right nutter," the time traveler mumbled to himself, making him look like just that, causing people to edge away from him. When he noticed he chastised himself and put on an innocent smile and made his way to Fun For All. After getting a good report from Ellie, he went to Home Appliances of the Future and got a nice report from Mr. Parker, with whom he never had the same casual relationship he had with Ellie. His eyes kept flitting from face to face in the Alley as he made his way home.

"It has to be someone who works in Diagon Alley," Remus concluded, after they heard what happened. "These things only happen to you there, so they have to see you to cast these spells."

"You're right," Hydrus agreed, making him brighten at the small clue. "I'll have my investigator cross check everyone."

"Do you think it could be someone you employ?" Sirius asked, going over the shops workers.

"No, Mark cleared them," he said, waving that away. He was thinking about what shops were in the Alley and who he knew there. He picked up the phone and called Mark to let him know what they thought, the detective promised to do some checking and hung up. The chat turned to a more relaxing venue and soon the men went to bed.

The floating words stopped in the sky, but the whispers became more frequent. Every time he stepped into the shopping district he was assaulted with those disembodied words. It got to the point that reports on the businesses were done by phone calls.

The agency came up with a small list of suspects that they were looking into. Most of the women on that list couldn't pull off the spells that haunted Hydrus. The others he dismissed as being good people.

Hydrus decided that it was time to get away for a while, so he told the others he was going on vacation with Grace, hoping that the woman plaguing him wouldn't follow. They went to Sweden to relax and enjoy the hospitality of the country. They spent a week camping in the forest and visiting the Viking Magical village, Fredriksson's.

The old-fashioned marketplace, with the colorful robes and clothing styles made the country a very nice place to visit. They made sure to pick up gifts for everyone and spent a lot of time walking the trails and looking at the non-magical ruins; though Hydrus had a feeling some of them were forgotten magical villages. The runes carved into the stones, peeking out of the grass, in the parks were fascinating and Grace was enthralled with the language.

The two went home completely relaxed. Grace had to catch up on her missing class assignments and Hydrus had to correct all the homework he had assigned Harry.

In the week they were gone nothing bad had happened, thank Merlin. Harry and Sirius visited the Grangers with Neville and Luna. The Weasleys had begged off, stating that the younger children had not behaved that week and couldn't go anywhere.

An article ran in the Quibbler about the discovery of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. There on the front page, in glossy colored photos was an ugly creature that looked like a cross between an armadillo and a unicorn, with its round armored body, shiny white coat and bright blue eyes. The horn on its head was indeed crumpled. The story that followed depicted the exciting tale of how the Lovegood family finally found the creature and how they were going to study it in its natural environment. This caused the publication's subscriptions to soar, making Hydrus feel better.

The whole family was all settled in the living room playing the video games and generally having a good time. Harry was sitting next to his Uncle Padfoot watching him get demolished by Uncle Remus.

"Uncle Padfoot," Harry said, getting the man's attention. "Why do you keep playing this game with Uncle Remus when he always wins?"

"Sometimes you just have to keep trying no matter how many times you lose," Sirius answered with a big grin. "That way when you do win, you'll feel great. One day I'm going to beat your Uncle Remus and he's going to have to work harder to beat me. This pushes us to do better." He mussed the child's hair and turned back to the screen just in time to see his avatar die. "Cheater," he accused.

"You were the one to get distracted," the werewolf defended himself with a smirk.

"Let that be another lesson to you, Harry. Don't get distracted," Sirius said seriously.

"Oh, okay," the child said, not really understanding.

"You'll figure it out," the dogfather said, and then started a new game.

"Harry," Hydrus said, looking up from the homework he was correcting, "come here a minute. I want to explain one of the questions you asked."

So Harry got up and took a seat on the sofa and listened to his oldest uncle explain why there were words that sounded the same but meant different things. Even with the small words his uncle used, he still didn't quite grasp it and decided that it was just one of those things he would never understand.

The next day Hydrus received a call from his lawyer, who stated he needed to come in and sign some paperwork on one of his patents. He made the appointment and was hemming and hawing on whether or not to go in disguise. He had many resources to do so. He would need to remove the disguise when he got to the solicitors' office. One of his watches would be his best bet. Having decided on that course of action he went to bed.

The next morning after letting everyone know about his appointment, he put on one of the watches and morphed into a different face. He Apparated from his room, not wanting Harry to see his disguise and ask questions, to the Alley and started walking down the street, when he heard the disembodied voice say, "I know who you are." Glancing around, he hurried on his way. Nothing further happened by the time he got to his destination. Taking off his watch he went inside.

The new patent was on the microwave, he had hoped to get it out by Christmas, but the paperwork held up production. After all the papers were signed, he left the office, not bothering to put on his watch, since whoever it was knew he was there anyway. He decided to check in on his stores and visited the appliance shop first. He let Mr. Parker know that he could start selling the microwaves and the man was ecstatic. Hydrus then went to Fun For All and talked to Ellie. As he was leaving the shop he was waylaid by the Headmaster.

"Hydrus, my boy," the old man greeted him. "I am so glad I had the fortune to run into you. I am getting the group of old friends together and was wondering if you had the chance to talk to your cousin about joining us."

"I did get time to talk to Sirius, however, I don't think that I have time in my busy schedule to join your 'friends'," the immortal said, still looking around the room for anyone who looked suspicious.

"You seem jumpy, my boy. Is there anything you wish to talk about?" Dumbledore asked as he noted the flitting eyes.

"That's very kind of you, Headmaster, but, no. I'm just making sure there is no one out to destroy my merchandise," Hydrus said, quickly thinking of a reason he would be so tense.

"Yes, I did hear of that," Dumbledore said with a sad note, stroking his beard. "It is such a shame that people are upset on the wonders of your orphanage. I, for one, am very thankful that you have given these children a chance on living a good life. I know of two of my very dear friends that have had to utilize Barkley's." He hesitated and then added. "It was my political clout that started them in the other countries. All I had to do was put in the word that it would boost the morale of the general public and the leaders agreed. I hope you do not think I overstepped my bounds," Albus said, playing down how hard he really had to work with the ICW to get them running and very much hoping he had not offended the young man in front of him.

"No, not at all, Headmaster. That was good thinking on your part," he said honestly. He had wondered how that happened. While he was the silent partner in opening the electronic stores abroad, for a profit, he never had the political pull to talk to foreign governments. Sirius had tried, but the Black family name was mostly British based.

The Headmaster sighed with relief and tried once again to talk the young man into joining the Order. "It is with a heavy heart that I need to call my old friends together. Alas, with the happenings in the Alley, what with the words in the sky, so much like the Dark Mark, that I feel we need to come up with a strategy to stop whoever is plaguing Diagon Alley," he said with a touch of remorse in his voice. He was sure it was Tom playing mind games with him.

"I'm not sure I agree with you, Headmaster. It seems like a giant prank to me," he said with a smile. He knew what the old man was thinking. "No one has been hurt so I don't think it is the work of Dark Forces."

"Nevertheless, it would not hurt to be prepared," Albus argued with a twinkle in his eyes, he liked a good rebuttal. Too many people just agreed with him and never showed their true thoughts.

"I will give you that, but, I don't agree. Therefore, I don't feel I'd be of any help," the immortal said with a shrug as he gave the store one more look over.

"If you change your mind, feel free to contact me or Sirius and let us know," Dumbledore said, patting the young man on the shoulder.

"I will," was the only answer.

"Good day to you, young Hydrus, and may your profits be high," the old man said jovially, and wandered to the prank annex.

Hydrus just shook his head and smiled at the old man's antics. Taking one more look around he made for the doors. He was just to the Apparation point when he was hit on the back of the head. As he blacked out he caught sight of light blonde hair. Maybe it was Narcissa after all, were his thoughts as he fell.