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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:Harry/Ginny Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Humor, Romance Warnings: Extreme Language, Intimate Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use, Violence Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 277 Summary: A freak accident clears the name of Sirius Black who then takes over the welfare of a young Harry Potter. A hideous discovery convinces Sirius Hogwarts is too dangerous for the young boy. Years later a lonely, over-worked Harry meets a young lady who will change his life and actually allow him to have a little fun. If only his fellow Aurors could work out who he was dating. Hitcount: Story Total: 153606; Chapter Total: 20470 Awards: View Trophy Room Author's Notes: At the bottom this time. |
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Chapter 9 — Camden Town Blues As the tube train jerked to a halt, Harry kept a close eye on the man sat in the far end of the carriage. He was glad that the tube was not jam packed as normal, so that he had some breathing space. For some reason the Central Line always seemed hotter and more airless than the rest of the London Underground. He had spotted his prey outside of Waterloo station and followed him this far. He made no pretence of trying to hide his presence, as he knew the man he was following had already noticed him. His type always did. The doors closed, and the tube train again lurched into life causing Harry to wonder exactly where they were going. A few stops later, his prey darted out the doors just before they closed and Harry barely made it out himself. Looking round, he noticed they had disembarked at Tottenham Court Road. Harry hastily followed his prey down the platform. He was surprised when the man ignored the exit, and headed to the archway further along marked Northern Line. Harry was now totally confused as to where they were heading. As he followed the man, Harry took note of his prey’s appearance. Long, black leather coat? Check. Black combat boots? Check. Long hair, dyed black? Check. Make-up designed to make him look like Alice Cooper? Check. Why did his type always look like a walking cliché? Interestingly, his prey made no attempt to try and lose him as they joined the crush of people getting on the escalator upwards. The man merely leaned against the right side of the moving stairway, and let himself rise upwards. At the top, he casually joined the queue at the turnstiles for the Northern Line and Harry hurried after him, silently thankful that all Aurors that regularly operated in London had been issued Oyster travel cards. Oh, the wonders of Muggle technology. They waited on the platform for the next tube train and boarded it on arrival. As the train picked up speed, Harry had a second to gather his thoughts. He had to admit that this was the part of his job that he enjoyed the most. Over the years he had lived there, he had come to love London and it’s incredible diversity. By this point, he had come to know his way round the huge city fairly well. There was a certain thrill he got chasing a suspect through the streets and parks of the capital, never knowing what twists and turns might be ahead. He had once heard someone say that the best way to learn about a new place was to get lost in it, and chases such as this one often provided such opportunities. Using this method he’d previously found a wonderful café in Richmond, several good pubs and an interesting shop that sold naughty videos. He was awoken from his reminiscing by the tube slowing for another station. Harry’s target waited until the very last second before the doors closed to dart off the train onto the platform. If Harry hadn’t been stood right by the door he would never have made it off himself. As it was, his jacket nearly got caught in the doors as they slid closed. Ignoring the angry shout of a nearby guard, he looked round to see where they had got off. He groaned when he saw the sign which read ‘Camden Town’. Great, he thought, a vampire is really going to be noticeable in Camden. Moving up a final set of escalators, they finally exited into the cold air of the early evening. It was dark already but the streets were still fairly busy, and Harry had to hustle to ensure his prey did not get too far ahead. They passed the brightly coloured shops, most of which were just closing, and Harry briefly wondered if he should bring Ginny here some time to do a little shopping. Despite the need to maintain his concentration on the black coated figure ahead, he could not help but smile at the thought of his girlfriend. While in some ways she was a very traditional girl, he knew she would get a kick out of the very unconventional clothing and jewellery offered by many of the shops in the area. He glanced in the window of one shop as he passed and noticed a very skimpy leather skirt and started to imagine what Ginny would look like in it. He mentally slapped himself — concentrate, Potter, concentrate! Of course, the identity of his girlfriend was still driving his team round the bend. Religiously, for the last three months, on each Monday morning his colleagues had presented him with an up-dated version of the list. After slowly reading it, he had, with a certain smugness, rolled it into a small ball and thrown it back at them. Foolishly, they still seemed to be relying on the newspaper gossip columns to compile the list, hoping some journalist got lucky and spotted Harry and his mysterious lady somewhere. Frankly, as he had told them many times, they were approaching the matter completely the wrong way but they still hadn’t got the message. Part of him was disappointed that his team of skilled investigators were being so unimaginative. He thought he had trained them better than that. Ginny had been very much on Harry’s mind in recent weeks. She was everything he had every hoped for in a girlfriend: beautiful, funny and compassionate. She also had a wonderful ability to knock some sense into him when he became moody or depressed, something which thankfully occurred less and less these days. The only problem was that he just didn’t see enough of her. Ginny was clearly of the opinion that he worked far too much, something that Suzie had been nagging him about for months as well. The last thing he wanted was for the relationship to fall apart because he was never around. Harry shook his head. This was something he would have to seriously think about, but now was not the time. Looking up, he noticed that they were approaching Camden Lock and suddenly his prey turned left sharply. At first, Harry thought he was going to enter the covered market area where it would be nearly impossible to follow, but was relieved to see the man continued onward into the more residential area of Camden. Soon, they were passing rows of Victorian terrace houses mixed in with the occasional block of mega-trendy, hugely expensive flats. Harry began to suspect that the man he was following was a little lost as he frequently slowed and peered down side streets as if looking for somewhere he recognised. At one point, he came to a complete halt and looked as if he was going to double back, but on seeing Harry he changed his mind and continued onwards. As the vampire clearly had no idea where he was going. It was not a surprise when he made a mistake. He turned down a side street only to be confronted with a dead end. Sensing his chance, Harry drew his wand and cast a quick spell causing all the lamp posts in the side street to suddenly go dark. He continued to walk towards the man who, realising he was cornered, started to back up until he could go no further. Harry advanced until they were only a few feet apart. The vampire now had his back to a solid wall supporting a flyover. Traffic could be heard zooming along above their heads, and there was no chance of escape in that direction. To either side were solid rows of Victorian style houses leaving the only exit as back the way they had come, and there was no way Harry was going to allow that. No vampire is a match for a fully trained wizard, especially one as powerful as Harry. There had been a few magical vampires in the past but they had all been hunted to extinction; any vampire who displayed any talent in magic kept quiet about it if they knew what was good for them. A cornered vampire is, however, always dangerous and this one appeared ready to put up a fight. Harry knew that it had not fed for some time, and it had nearly been driven mad with bloodlust. How it had travelled through the crowded streets of Camden without attacking anyone was a mystery. The vampire faced Harry with hate in its yellow eyes. It bared its fangs and hissed at him like a wild animal, and he braced himself for attack. The vampire did not move, however, and it kept its eyes on the wand which was pointing directly at him. One good cutting charm could take off its head and kill it permanently. Keeping his wand in levelled in front of him, Harry reached into his jacket with his left hand and retrieved a flask. At the sight of it the vampire hissed even louder and became more upset, but still it did not attack. Carefully, Harry threw the flask to the vampire who caught it automatically. “Drink it,” Harry ordered. The vampire stopped snarling and a look of disgust came over its face. He unscrewed the flask and drank the contents in one go. “Ghhhaahhh! Bloody hell!” the vampire cursed, “where the hell do you people get hold of such foul-tasting crap?” he spat, and bent as if to throw up. “Well, if you’d been where you were supposed to be, then you might have had a better choice, wouldn’t you?” Harry replied, without sympathy. The vampire managed to look a little shame-faced. “Hey, it’s not that I’m ungrateful or anything, but every once in a while it’s just nice to feed direct from source, if you know what I mean. I wouldn’t have hurt anyone. At least not permanently.” Harry shook his head and cancelled the spell dimming the lights. That done, he pocketed his wand knowing the vampire was no threat now its blood lust had been satisfied. The vampire was still complaining, however. “Who did you get that blood from? A syphilitic pig farmer? Ugh, that tasted horrible. I really need a strong drink,” he moaned. “We passed a small pub about three streets back,” Harry supplied helpfully. “Great! Err, how about I buy you a pint, to show there’s no hard feeling?” the vampire offered. Harry glanced at his watch, in ten minutes he would be off shift and he wasn’t due to see Ginny tonight. “Why not?” he shrugged. With that, the vampire and the wizard retraced their steps in search of liquid refreshment. HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP It was one of those bitterly cold, rainy nights that make you glad to be indoors. At that exact moment, Ginny couldn’t think of a better place to be in such weather. She was curled up in front of the large, roaring fire in the sitting room of Grimmauld Place. This was definitely her favourite room in her boyfriend’s house, with the possible exception of his bedroom. The room was decorated in warm brown and cream colours and filled with large, comfy sofas and high-backed chairs, all perfect for snuggling into. As a final touch, she had recently convinced Harry to buy a big sheep-skin rug on which she currently laid. Harry sat a few feet away from her, staring into the flames with a contented look on his face. The last three months with Harry had been wonderful. As a boyfriend, he was kind, attentive and generous. He treated her as an equal and they frequently had proper adult conversations, something previous boyfriends and, indeed, most of her family seemed to think she was incapable of. The two of them also had lots of fun. They were both capable of becoming extremely silly, especially when alcohol was brought into the equation, and they shared a similar sense of humour. Oh, and the sex was mind-blowing as well, which was nice. If Ginny had one major problem with their relationship, it was that she simply did not see enough of Harry. It was not as if he was happy with this either, it was just that his rather excessive working hours, coupled with her own rather unusual timetable, meant that they didn’t see nearly as much of each other as they would like. Bearing in mind how her last relationship had just drifted apart this was a major issue for her. She most definitely didn’t want that to happen with Harry. So they had talked about it, and Harry was in the process of explaining his partial solution which, as far as Ginny could tell, involved him being less of a doormat at work. “So, let me get this right,” she began, while shuffling the pack of cards in her hand, “you are currently doing half of your colleague’s paperwork in the Auror’s office because you can’t say no?” Her hands twitched as she fought the urge to start slapping Harry around the head. “Not because I can’t say no,” he denied, looking uncomfortable, “more that I just helped some people out and never got round to passing the tasks back to them.” Ginny started dealing the cards out between them. “Explain,” she commanded. “Look, I’ve told you what a mess I was after I split up with my ex, right?” Interestingly, Harry rarely referred to his ‘ex’ by her given name anymore, although what this meant Ginny wasn’t sure. She just nodded and encouraged him to continue. “Well, after the split all I did basically was work. Looking back, I think I was trying to come up with excuses not to come home. This is a big house, and it can get pretty lonely here sometimes. To avoid coming home I volunteered for any extra jobs going: extra shifts, additional cover, procedural reviews, that sort of thing. As well as that, if anyone went on holiday I often agreed to cover their extra responsibilities as well. Most of us have extra jobs we cover: welfare officer, inventory reviews, equipment development projects, all sorts of things. Well, I was so glad of the extra work that when these people came back from holiday, I didn’t always hand the jobs back to them.” “I see,” she said in a despairing voice. She laid her first card in front of her and Harry followed her action. “Of course, once it got round that if you asked me to cover any additional work for you while you were away that I kept it, everyone was asking me to take stuff on.” Boom. As Ginny laid her next card on top of Harry’s they exploded. She pulled off her right sock and waited for Harry to lay his next card. “I must admit, I didn’t realise just how much extra paperwork I had taken on,” Harry continued. “After our conversation the other day, I was having a moan about my hours in the office and Suzie started pointing out to me how much work I was doing for other people.” Boom. This time one of Harry’s cards caused the explosion. He too removed a sock. “Good for Suzie, whoever she is. Pity she didn’t point this out to you a while back.” Boom. Ginny pulled off her remaining sock. “To be fair, she did. In fact, she’s been nagging me for ages that I should work less and get a life. I guess I just didn’t realise how bad it had got.” Boom. Harry pulled off his sweater under which he was wearing a tight fitting black t-shirt. “Well, now you know the problem, what are you going to do about it?” Ginny asked. Boom. Ginny gripped the bottom of her jumper and pulled it over her head. She was just wearing a bra underneath. “I’ve already started fixing it. Yesterday, I had a major clear out and handed back all the jobs I had taken on.” He shook his head. “It just shows you how ungrateful people can be. Did I get a thank you from anyone for all the extra work I had done? No! I get lots of complaints and moans that I was handing the jobs back. Gits.” Boom. Harry striped his t-shirt off and Ginny paused to admire his lean, muscular frame. Merlin, she could spend all day just running her hands up and down that chest. After a few moments she remembered she was supposed to be miffed with him. “I can’t believe you took on all that work and just forgot about it. So, how much time will this shave off your working week?” Boom. She unbuttoned her jeans and slipped them off, casually throwing them behind her. The sheep-skin rug felt fantastic against her skin. “Err, I reckon maybe seven hours a week, and with me cutting back on volunteer cover the same again.” “What! No wonder we barely see each other! And it’s taken all this time for you to realise this?” Boom. Harry stood up and slid his own jeans off. Ginny was interested to see that rather than his usual boxers he was wearing tight fitting briefs that left little to the imagination. She grinned. “Nice to see that your finding this conversation so….stimulating,” she teased. He grinned and sat down again. “We should definitely find it a bit easier to get together in the week. I’ve also realised I have a backlog of holiday built up so I can start taking more days off.” Boom. Ginny reached behind her and unfastened her bra. Slipping it off, she held it by the strap for a second before dropping it to one side. Harry’s briefs appeared to be straining in protest. “Well, that’s good to hear, Harry,” she acknowledged seductively, “it will give more time to play more rounds of strip Exploding Snap.” Boom. Harry stood and slowly pushed his briefs down past his ankles. “I seemed to have won, Mr Potter,” she said, enjoying the view. “Indeed you have, Miss Weasley. Let me see about giving you a prize.” Harry lay beside her and stated trailing kisses down her neck while his hands slipped into the waistband of her knickers so he could slide them downwards. Ginny smiled. She loved winning. HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP Harry shifted the report he had been pretending to read from one side of his desk to the other. In truth, he hadn’t that much work to do and even less inclination to do it. Since shedding all the extra jobs he had accumulated, he had found his working days much more relaxed. In addition, he also found that he was able to concentrate on his cases more, and over the last few weeks had made several good arrests. He was also now able to see Ginny three or four times a week, with the result that several people had commented on how cheerful he had become lately. His team, however, had gone into overdrive trying to discover the identity of his girlfriend. Every Monday they presented him with an up-dated version of the list and every time he smiled and threw it back at them. Robbie had even accused him of cheating, claiming that they had by this point named every witch in the country. Harry had just shaken his head at this and silently wondered why they had so far listed so few Quidditch players. He could only remember seeing two players names so far (one of whom had been a Harpy, which had given him a start) and he couldn’t understand why. Suddenly, a loud alarm went off shaking Harry from his musings. The alarm signed an emergency alert and was the signal for the stand-by team to respond. This week that meant Harry’s team. The four of them were scrambling to get their gear together when Gawain Robards ran out of his office. “Who’s the alert team this week? Ah Potter, your team is it? Good.” Robards approached Harry and continued in a much quieter voice. “I’m afraid I have some bad news. The Dark Mark has been sighted over a house in Warwickshire.” His three team members gasped and Harry felt like he had been hit over the head with a beater’s bat. The Dark Mark? But they were gone. All the Death Eaters were gone, either locked up or dead. Who else would have cast the mark unless...unless they had missed one. Harry ground his teeth and felt anger rise within him. All the pain and suffering he gone through to see this all ended, and now someone was trying to start the war up again. Whoever they were, he thought with determination, they weren’t going to succeed. “We haven’t much information to go on at present,” Robards continued, “but here are the coordinates for you to Apparate to the house. Sort out what’s going on, and report back as soon as you can!” He thrust a piece of parchment into Harry’s hands and strode away. With a nod, Harry signalled the other three to follow him to the Apparition point. A few minutes later, they found themselves standing in an open field edged with tall trees. The field was laid to grass and was soggy. Being early December, the air was cold and everything appeared grey. Harry, however, could only look in horror at the sight before him. About two hundred yards away was a medium sized Georgian style house. What horrified Harry was the large twisting image that hung in the sky above the property. Although he could not see all the details from this angle, he instinctively knew what the huge dark ball of smoke was, a Dark Mark. Sprinting as well as he could across the muddy field, he threw himself down behind the dry-stone wall that surrounded the property. A quick glance over the wall revealed the worst; the garden was laid entirely to grass and was a good thirty-five yards long. There was no cover at all and any dark wizard who chose to fire spells at them as they made their way to the front door would have a clear field of fire. The sides and rear of the house looked no better either. By this point, Suzie had already cast the detection spells and there didn’t appear to be any protective wards or charms in place. He looked over to where Malcolm and Robbie crouched and explained the plan, such as it was. “Okay, everyone. We have a lot of open ground to cover and we can’t afford to wait. Someone could be dying in that house for all we know, so we’re just going to have to rush the place. On my signal, run as fast as you can and get ready to cast shield spells at the first sign of trouble. Usual drill; me and Suzie in through the front and you two round the back. Everyone ready?” he asked. They all nodded, but no-one looked happy. They all knew they had no choice, but that didn’t mean they had to like it. “Okay, GO!” Harry vaulted the wall and started to sprint towards the house...and stopped. He stopped so suddenly that Suzie ran straight into the back of him. “Ouch! What’s the matter, Harry? Why have you…..oh!” Suzie had spotted what Harry had seen and seconds later Malcolm and Robbie pulled up beside them. The chill December wind had caused the Dark Mark to twist in the sky and it was now facing directly towards them. Harry could only stare at it with his mouth open. Suzie tapped him on the shoulder. “Harry, is that what I think it is?” she managed to stutter. Beside them, Malcolm suddenly burst into laughter while Robbie looked totally confused. Harry could only nod his head as Malcolm collapsed to the ground wetting himself laughing. Several hours later, Harry sat in Gawain Robards' office. Robards himself was sat opposite Harry and appeared to be on the verge of exploding. His face was red, and he had an expression that would have curdled milk at a hundred yards. He gripped the initial copy of Harry’s report in his hands and looked if he was restraining himself from ripping it to pieces with his teeth. “So let me get this one hundred per cent straight. This...object cast over this house, it wasn’t a Dark Mark, then?” Robards ground out his words. “No, sir,” Harry replied, trying his best to keep a straight face. “And explain to me again what, in fact, it was?” “Tinky Winky, sir.” Harry started biting the inside of his mouth. “Tinky Winky. What the BLOODY HELL is a Tinky Winky?” Robards shouted, finally losing control. “Not what, sir, who. Tinky Winky is a Teletubbie,” Harry explained helpfully, while digging his nails into his thigh. “WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS MAGIC IS A BLOODY TELETUBBIE AND WHY WAS ONE FLOATING ABOVE A BLOODY HOUSE IN WARWICKSHIRE?” Harry did feel Robards was being a bit unfair about all of this. After all, he hadn’t cast the Tinky Winky had he? “Well, it’s like this, sir. The home was owned by a family of Muggles who had a four year old daughter. They were quite unaware that the daughter was actually magical and, if first appearances are correct, the little girl is going to grow up to be quite a powerful witch. This little girl had been misbehaving and as a punishment her parents had stopped her watching her favourite television program — the Teletubbies. This didn’t go down too well with the little girl and she had rather a large burst of accidental magic, with the result that she cast the image of her favourite Teletubbie over the house. Quite amazing, when you think about it,” Harry mused. Robards, however, didn’t seem in the mood for reflection. “A four year old did this with accidental magic. We scramble a highly trained Auror team half way across England, cause a major panic all through the Ministry, Merlin, we even pulled the Minister out of an important meeting because we thought the Death Eaters were back and you're telling me that it was all caused by a BLOODY FOUR YEAR OLD!” “Um, yes. Of course, we called out the Accidental Magic squad and they’ve smoothed most of it over. We decided it was best if we just explained what had happened to her parents so they could know what to expect if it happens again.” Harry tried a weak smile. Robards by this point had his head in his hands. “How the bloody hell do we explain this to the Minister?” he mumbled. “Not sure, sir,” Harry replied. Oh, he would pay good money to witness that meeting. Suddenly Robards' head shot up and he had evil grin on his face, which Harry did not like one bit. “You know, Harry, I really don’t know anything about children and what keeps them entertained,” Robards began. “But you have three grandchildren,” Harry pointed out, suddenly not liking where this might be going. “I know, Harry, but they have no interest in Muggle things like television.” Robards was a very traditional man and had raised his sons to be the same. “I would have no idea how to explain this...what did you call it? A Teletubbie? Yes, how could I explain what a Teletubbie is to the Minister? No, I think someone with a bit more background in the Muggle world needs to explain it, preferably someone who was Senior Auror on site when it was investigated. Someone like you.” “Yes, sir,” Harry growled. Robards handed the copy of the report back to him. “The Minister’s waiting for a briefing now. Let me know how you get on.” Robards’s smile now nearly split his face. “Yes, sir.” Sometimes Harry hated his job. Author notes. Something spooky happened writing this chapter. I had already decided that the house in the last section would be sited in Warwickshire. All the locations I use are real and this house is situated near the site of a heavy metal festival I regularly attend (broken-down old rocker that I am). When I started to research The Teletubbie’s (believe it or not I didn’t know which one of them was the purple one) I found that the series had actually been filmed in Warwickshire! Spooky! Cue Twilight Zone music!! My mega-beta, MinistryMalcontent, pointed out a small plot-hole. As he correctly states, the Aurors would probably, in a tactical situation like this, just Apparate right to the front door of the house rather than run up to it. I have chosen to ignore this sensible advice for comedy effect. It’s my story and if I want Harry and co slogging through a muddy field in the Midlands, I will. So there. |
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