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Leaving With the Devil	By : SpeedyTomato Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Sirius Views: 38945 -:- Recommendations : 6 -:- Currently Reading : 14
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and make no money off this work that throws most of canon out the window

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
A reminder of what's on my profile; reviews whinging or complaining about lack 'o smut in stories get deleted. If you want something that is one long, smut-filled story, find something else to read as my work isn't for you.

Beta'd by the most wonderful, amazing and stupendous Tenchi. Woman, you are the best and love you for all you do for me!
With help from Lynn who works with me when it comes to flow, continuity and other issues.

Chapter 16

With a tired sigh, Hermione flopped down on the settee. Kicking off her shoes, she wiggled her toes then propped her feet up on the coffee table with a soft groan. It had been a tiring day for her. This morning she had spent the time not only moving all her things up to the DMLE, but she had Orientation. Part of that was walking around the entirety of the DMLE and Aurors offices so she knew what was where. Then she had more Orientation before she was shown to her desk. As, by the time she finished her Orientation, it was almost time to go home, she just had time to put her new desk to rights then meet with Rufus. Around everyone in the office, he was rather gruff with her, like he was with everyone else, but when in his office he treated her very well and with quite a bit of respect. They spent up until the time to go home with him going over not only what she needed to do for her job, but also what he wanted her to keep an eye out for.

A small smile forming, she felt good though she was tired. Now, well, it finally felt like she was doing something substantial when it came to the war effort. At first, with the Order, she thought she was. They were busy and trying all they could to help. Looking back she realized they weren’t doing much beyond protection and running in circles. Now, though, she thought she was in a position to do some real good. It was something she liked.

After summoning a butterbeer from the kitchen, she sat up with a groan and looked at the mail stacked up neatly on the coffee table waiting for her. Once she took a quick sip of her drink, she waved her wand and sorted it into categories like she always did. A glance told her most of what was there fell into the advertisements category, something she always waited until the weekend to sort through. There were a couple bills, then about four personal letters. Those she would look at tonight.

With a tired groan, she leaned forward and picked them up. With a smile, she saw one was from her parents. That she would read later. They were on an extended vacation to the States due to a ‘suggestion’ she gave them. It was her way of keeping them safe as she knew they would be in extreme danger because of her. Another was from Albus. Not unexpected, honestly, as there was plenty in disarray because of Rufus moving Order members. However, she frowned when she saw one from Minerva. It was odd for her old Head of House to write her, so she was curious. She would read that soon to see what was going on. After putting it down beside her, she picked up the last and smiled. It was from Harry and Sirius.

Once she settled back and curled her legs under her, she opened the letter and began to read, still smiling. Most of it was just filling her in on what they were doing and planning. That she wanted to know so she could prepare for whatever. Then there was a bit of their joking around, talking about going out on the big wheel like Harry wanted to ride on, with Sirius complaining about it. That made her laugh, eyes twinkling. It made her glad to know they were so happy together.

The next page had her straightening up, though, eyes wide, a huge grin on her face. The house would be hers! Sirius’ willingness to finance it for her and the price was perfect, probably far less than he could get on the open market. This was wonderful! Dancing in place on the settee, she couldn’t believe her luck! While there was a ton of paperwork to do for this and Sirius wanted to finish cleaning the house because it might be dangerous, she could look forward to being in her own home in a couple months!

When she reread the letter to make sure she didn’t miss anything important, she clutched it to her chest with both hands, grinning hugely. She had her own house! All her own! And it was perfect for her. Oh, she couldn’t wait to move in.

Summoning a quill and parchment, she then started her reply to them. Not only would she fill them in on what she was doing now, but let them know she wanted the house on their terms. As there was much to do and figure out, it was best to get it started.

As she wrote, her brow furrowed a tad, wondering how she was going to explain her getting the house from Sirius to Ron and the others, but shoved it aside. When the time came she would figure something out. Since she had plenty of time, she was confident she would come up with something.

That worry falling by the wayside, the grin returned. Yes, she would manage and this would end up something she would love.

Brow furrowed, Hermione reread Minerva’s letter then let out a sigh. Her old Head of House wanted a meeting with her in a couple of days. While she didn’t say why, she did mention she was calling a meeting sometime this week and the reason was what she wanted to talk to her about. Most curious.

Hermione made a note of that on a parchment and wondered what could be going on. Tapping the quill on the parchment, she looked at the letter. While it was a typical tome from Minerva in her normal brusque style, there seemed like there was more, like an undercurrent of anger. That piqued her interest even more. If Minerva was angry, she would end up a force to be reckoned with. While there wasn’t much of a hint about what it was that she was alluding to, Albus’ name was mentioned.

While thinking it over, she wondered what Albus could have done to irk Minerva. If it was Albus she was irked at, she couldn’t think of anything that would have set her off other than the debacle in the alley and what came of it. However, she thought Minerva would have said something at the last meeting if she was. Now she was most curious.

A soft chuckle slipping out, she decided to answer her right away just to find out what was going on. After all, it would end up most interesting! Hopefully, she could set something up in the next couple of days.

Minerva took a seat at Remus’ battered, scarred up table then accepted a beaker of tea from Tonks with a nod and soft thanks. Once she took a sip, she set it down then leaned back in the chair. Only Remus and Tonks were here, but it was enough. They could pass the word along to the others who were in the know when she finished. Launching in once Tonks took a seat, she said, “I’ve talked to not only Aberforth, but a couple others about what we’re planning. They’ll back us up fully and feel the same.”

“Good, the more the better here,” Remus told her with a smile and nod. “Any issues with them or hesitance?”

“None,” Minerva told him honestly. “In fact, they felt the same way. From my understanding and the way things were phrased, they had been pondering much the same we were and are plenty upset over it. I’m not sure if they talked among themselves over it, but it was there. They all agreed to help us, especially Aberforth.”

“Perfect,” Tonks nodded, pleased.

“Aberforth, of course, is going to help a great deal. He’s right upset by plenty,” Minerva added with a small smile.

“Of course,” Remus chuckled softly, shaking his head. Everyone in the Order was well aware of how Aberforth felt about his brother. And he took every chance he could to point out Albus’ faulty logic when it was apparent. He was sure that the meeting would end up most interesting.

A serious look crossing her face, she then told them, looking between the two, “I’m going to set up a meeting with Hermione in the next couple of days. I know we’re avoiding talking to any of the Weasleys that aren’t already attached to us, but I think she can help. As logical as she is, I’m sure she’ll see it our way and can be a voice of common sense. We all know she doesn’t always see eye to eye with Ron on so much.”

“This is true,” Tonks nodded after thinking it over.

“You sure she’ll help?” Remus asked softly, brow furrowed. “She—well, she does hero worship Albus to an extent and tends to quote him verbatim at times.”

“While this is true, if I lay it out for her, I think she’ll see it our way,” Minerva told them, looking between the two.

“If you think so, but stay cautious,” Remus cautioned. “You might want to feel her out first so we don’t give some of this away and have her run to Albus.”

“I will, don’t worry,” Minerva assured him. With a sigh, she then stiffened her spine and brought up the touchy person she wanted to ask about. “My thought was also talking to Severus.” Hearing the two sputter, she shook her head and pressed on, “We all know the one person who won’t kowtow to Albus and will tell him just how it he sees it is Severus. I also know that he’s concerned about so much. One of the things I’ve heard him mention is he’s worried something will happen to Albus, either health related or Rufus will take him out of commission then we’ll all be in trouble because we don’t know what he knows. Which comes back to so much of what we’re saying. However, I don’t know. Severus is very close to Albus in plenty of ways and I’m not sure we want to give him forewarning.”

“That is a tough call,” Tonks agreed with a nod. Then she shook her head, “I don’t know there. Severus—you never know what he’s up to. I know Albus swears he’s a spy, but there is still plenty who wonder if he’s really one. Because of that, you might want to steer clear of him.”

“There is that,” Minerva admitted, brow furrowing.

“Even if he is a spy, we know some of what we say does get to You-Know-Who for the reason of making himself look good and to stay in his favor,” Remus tossed in, looking between the two. “What we don’t want is for that side to know we have so much dissension in the ranks. As it is, we have huge problems. We need to add no more.”

“More I didn’t consider,” Minerva sighed, shaking her head then taking a sip of her tea. After pondering it for a few moments then told them, “However, Severus would end up a strong ally in our corner. We know he pulls no punches and will make it clear when he doesn’t like something.”

“This is a quandary because you’re right,” Remus muttered, shaking his head. Shoulders slumping, he told her, “I would suggest you just go with your gut there. However, as abrasive as Severus is, he might not be a big help with other members of the Order.”

“Another point,” Minerva nodded. “I’m still pondering it. If Hermione works out as I think I might not have to. As vocal as Severus is, if we make points he agrees with, he might just jump in.”

Then, clearing her throat, she changed topics and asked, “Anything else I need to know about?”

“Some,” Remus admitted dejectedly before going on to explain what else he and Tonks had found out about Harry’s upbringing, feeling guilty once more over it. Trying to shove that aside, he went over what he thought she needed to know.

After tossing the last of the paperwork that came in that day on the coffee table, Sirius and Harry relaxed back, leaning against each other. With a sigh, Harry took a butterbeer from the elf that popped in then took a drink. “That batch wasn’t nearly as much as we usually have,” he observed.

“No, it wasn’t,” Sirius agreed after taking a drink of his own butterbeer. “From what we had, I think we only have a couple more batches and we’re done.”

“Good,” Harry grinned, putting his feet up on the coffee table. Then he asked, “When are the houses going up for sale? Aren’t two of them being listed this week?”

“Two will go up for sale on Friday,” Sirius nodded. “Next week another goes up. Our Realtor doesn’t want to flood the market, so he’s staggering them. In two months they’ll all be up.” He explained.

“Since you talked to him more—what does he think about the speed of selling?” Harry asked, leaning more heavily against him.

Arm slipping around Harry, Sirius slouched down, stretching his legs out and crossing his ankles. He said, “From what he told me, he expects them to go fast. It’s the protections on them. While they’ll be expensive, more than the average house that goes up for sale, the fact they are more protected than anything that has gone up for a long time will be a huge draw for them. Especially with the war heating up. It’s something we’ll have to see on though.”

“Our luck isn’t good enough for them to sell that fast,” Harry grunted, grinning just a little. “It’ll have to drag out for while to torture us since we’re back.”

Sirius laughed and nodded. “True! Just hope they go reasonably fast so by the time we get all the paperwork for citizenship and other stuff done so we can get the hell out of here.”

“If it comes down to it and we get the other finished we can just vanish. We can manage to do the paperwork via owl if we have to,” Harry said. “Might not be the best way to go about it, but will protect our asses.”

Sirius thought it over then gave a slow nod. “If it comes to that we’ll do it. Want to try to stick it out to ensure it’s done right, but if it comes down to it, we’ll do a runner. I just want to get as much done as we can so we don’t ever have to come back if we don’t want to.”

“I can see the wisdom in that,” Harry nodded, understanding the logic of it. Not wanting to talk this to death, he asked, “Anything you want to do tonight or just stay in?”

Face scrunched up, Sirius scratched his goatee as he thought. After a minute or so he said, “Let’s go over to Grimmauld Place and see if we can get the elves to move faster. I also want to check for anything I might want before they finish. If we can get it done fast, Hermione can move in as soon as she finishes the paperwork.”

“Good idea,” Harry agreed. “Let’s get something to eat first, though.”

“Yeah, we better as I don’t know how long this will take,” Sirius nodded. Leaning over, he kissed Harry then called the elf to have the creature start on their food.

About ten that night, a sweaty and disheveled Harry and Sirius stepped out of Grimmauld Place. Normally, they didn’t go out the front door to do anything, just Apparating away, but Sirius wanted them to double check the wards to ensure they were functioning right. While it appeared they were to Sirius, he wanted to make sure. As Harry was damned good with warding, he wanted the two of them to check everything they could.

They had Disillusioned themselves and were busy checking everything and making sure the layers weren’t hiding any holes, while they were talking quietly. They had found some stuff Sirius had hidden and sent it along to Pooh Manor. Sirius also found some of his brother’s things he wanted to keep, sending that along as well. While tearing through Sirius’ old room after finding plenty of the family papers Sirius needed, they ended up stalled by looking through old pictures Sirius had of him and his parents in school, talking about them. Since they weren’t in any hurry to finish anything, they didn’t mind.

As they were on the next to the last layer, being pleased that they found nothing wrong, they heard and felt a major explosion. Startled, they looked towards the direction they thought it came from. It was then they saw a huge plume of smoke and flames licking up well above the buildings. Though they couldn’t tell how far away it was, they knew this was the direction of the Ministry.

“I don’t like this,” Sirius muttered, clutching his wand. “It’s in the direction where a lot of our people have places.”

“A lot of Muggle ones as well,” Harry pointed out, gazing at the flames. “It could be anything, Sirius.”

“True,” Sirius muttered, brow furrowed. However, he couldn’t pull his eyes away from the fire and there was just some niggling that this wasn’t good.

Harry then started to run the tests on the next layer, but kept glancing in that direction. Though he was watching, he flinched when a louder explosion happened. This time, though, as the smoke rose with new flames the Dark Mark appeared. “Oh shit,” Harry muttered, eyes widening.

“Not good,” Sirius muttered, shaking his head. Backing up, he told Harry, wand clutched tightly in his hand, “We’re going home. We can come back tomorrow and finish this.”

As Harry nodded and agreed, a third explosion happened. “Don’t know what they are going after, but it’s not good.”

“It’s not,” Sirius told him. “We’re going now.” Grabbing Harry’s arm, he dragged him inside. After a glance over his shoulder, seeing the conflagration, he shook his head. It was time to get somewhere safe.

A.N.- Just a note from me. People are wondering why I haven’t updated, so I’ll explain. Quite simply ‘life’ is getting in the way. Between IRL stuff, new meds, and various other things writing has become something I just haven’t been able to do. I’m trying, but it’s rough going. While updates might not be as fast as they were, they’ll come as I can manage.

Thanks for your patience!

Speedy
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Leaving With the Devil