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Toonie\'s Love	By : SpeedyTomato Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Sirius Views: 50454 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 10
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and make no money off this story.

Chapter List
- 23
- 24
- 25
Beta'd by the amazing Tenchi. Love you, woman, you're the best!

With help from Lynn who works with me when it comes to flow, continuity and other issues.

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.

Chapter 24

PJ was jarred awake far earlier than normal by his cell phone. As he knew it was the ringtone for Toonie, he was out of bed and grabbing for it, already worried what the problem was as she knew to wait until around noon to call since she was aware of his sleep schedule. After sitting up and rubbing the grit out of his eyes, he answered, “Yeah?” One glance at the clock made him give an internal groan. It was only about eight in the morning.
As Toonie started talking, voice raised and going a mile a minute, his brow drew down then he lowered the partition to see Sirius standing there doing up his robes after obviously coming out of the shower. Seeing his godfather look like he was about to ask, he held up his hand then told Toonie, “Slow down. It's a bit hard to follow you. And, don't worry, no one can trace you through a letter. It's why they go to the central box I talked about. Now, tell me again what the problem is? I missed a bit with how fast you were going.” All he was able to catch on to was she had received a letter from someone which upset her. Once she slowed down and told him just what the problem was, he would sort it from there.
Sirius stood there after finishing dressing, looking at PJ and wondering what was going on. He never received calls this early in the morning from anyone because they knew his sleep schedule. What he overheard made him more concerned. The first person his mind skipped to was Petunia and an issue. He hoped it wasn't the case of someone from the Order or Vernon sending her something. With how PJ set this up, he doubted anyone could find her, but you never knew.
After listening to the explanation then groaning about the letter, he cut her off from the rant she was on and said, “First, don't worry. He can't trace you through the letter. Not being able to trace is one of the reasons I set up the box. Next is he can't put a spell on it to track you that way either. The box negates any spells for such nonsense. Just calm down and let me think.”
Though he didn't hear anything but what was said on Petunia's end, Sirius was now very concerned. Stepping closer, he could actually hear Petunia on a rant of some sort, voice raised, even though PJ had the phone to his ear and not on speakerphone. “Is there a problem?” He asked, hoping like hell it wasn't a big one they couldn't counter.
“There is,” PJ told him distractedly as Toonie ranted on. “Let me think then we'll sort it from there. Going to need your and Remus' help with it, I think.”
“Let me go grab him then,” Sirius said, more worried than before.
“Snag me some coffee while you're down there,” PJ told him distractedly as he thought he hit on an idea which would work.
“Will do,” Sirius told him with a nod then hurried out, wondering what they had to deal with.
When the door closed, PJ told his aunt, “Right, what I want you to do is send the letter to me the normal way, through the box. Include the envelope and everything in it if there was more than just the letter. Once I read it, we'll sort out how to deal with it. If it's nothing more than a warning for me to keep myself safe, we won't do anything. Don't answer, Toonie. Just let it go. This way he doesn't know if you received the letter or not.”
“Like I would want to hear from that nasty man anyway!” Petunia huffed, voice raised. As she fumbled around with shaking hands, trying to find an envelope to stuff the letter in, she asked, tone worried, “He can't trace me then or know where I am through the letter? It came the normal way with everything else.”
“He can't, I swear,” PJ soothed, shaking his head. “I pay extra for the boxes to negate any spells or harmful bits on them. Anything he would try to put on it wouldn't work for that very reason. It's part of the reason why I want you to send everything this way. Nothing to worry about. Let's see what it says then we'll go from there. You did the right thing in calling me. Once I get the letter, Sirius, Remus, and I will sort out how to deal with it, if we have to do anything at all. If we do, it won't involve you. Nothing to worry about. Just send it off right away. If you do, I'll receive it in about an hour.”
“I'm putting it in an envelope now then will drop it in the box when I get off the phone with you,” Petunia assured him, the tremors in her hands lessening as she talked to PJ. With a huff, she snarled, “I don't want to hear from that awful man! When I saw his name on the envelope, I knew it wouldn't be good! Severus Snape isn't a name I want to hear ever again!”
“It's fine,” PJ soothed, looking up when the door opened, though he knew who it would be. “If it's just a warning for me, it's nothing to worry about. And this is how I want you to handle any odd bits you're owled. Just call me, no matter the time, and we'll sort it from there. Nothing to worry about. The worst you won't get as the box will negate general junk from the unwashed masses and will determine if it's legit. You're fine, Toonie, I swear. We'll handle this bit from here.”
“Rotten man!” Petunia huffed, sitting down, looking plenty sour. “I do not need to see his name on anything before I've had a full cup of tea! No, this did not help anything on my end!”
With a chuckle, grinning, PJ commiserated, “Completely understandable there and I don't blame you a bit. Why don't you send it off, finish your tea and I'll take a look on this end. I'll give a call this afternoon after we sort out whatever on this end and let you know what we're doing.”
“I will,” Petunia told him, though her outlook for the day was now shaded in a bad way. “Just be careful.”
“Oh, I will, don't worry,” PJ assured her, take the cup of coffee from Sirius. “We'll have it sorted shortly, don't worry.”
“Thanks, PJ,” Petunia told him, giving a tremulous smile and soft sigh of relief. “I knew you were sleeping, but felt this couldn't wait.”
“You did the right thing and I want you to wake me for these bits,” he assured her. “Just calm down and we'll take it from here.”
After talking to her for a minute more, making sure she was calm, he then hung up with a heavy sigh and groan. Downing the last of the coffee and having an elf refill it, he looked over at Remus and Sirius, both of whom looked concerned. “She received a letter from Snape, of all people.”
“Severus?” Remus asked, tone astonished.
“One and the same,” PJ nodded. Standing with groan, he said, “Let me do the loo thing then I will fill you in. It was apparently a warning for me to protect and hide myself better. Will explain more when I come back.” Then, with a nod to the two, he headed toward the bathroom, hoping this wasn't the first sign of a really bad day.

“I say we leave it alone,” PJ said after taking the letter back from Remus. They had all read it over and it was basically Snape saying for him to stay hidden and to protect himself from Albus, nothing more.
“The way to handle it,” Sirius agreed with a nod.
“It's quite odd for Severus to write a missive such as this,” Remus admitted, shifting in his chair, brow furrowed. “Not sure of the why behind it, but we should take it for what it says. He must have a reason as he's not known for giving warnings of this sort.”
“Got me there,” Sirius admitted after taking a sip of his tea. It was about an hour after the call from T and they were trying to sort out what to do once the letter came in. They had all eaten and were now holed up in their room. “It's—I don't know what to make of it. We tested the letter and there are no spells on it to track in any way. Either the box negated them or there just weren't any to start with. One of the two. And it wasn't much of a letter either. Just to keep yourself hidden from Albus. No mention of the other side.”
“Very strange,” PJ groused, leaning back in his chair and tossing the letter onto his desk. “Only thing I can think of is he wants her to write him back to ask the why behind what he said. Not going to and will just leave it. Let's see what else comes of it, if anything. With him—no clue there.”
“Again, the way to handle this,” Remus nodded. “Just tell her to keep an eye out for anything else from him. If she receives more, we might be able to sort out the why behind it. Until then, we take the warning at face value and go from there.”
“And keep a closer eye on the research the lot is doing,” Sirius added, looking between the two. “Let's see if we can figure out what he might be up to from there. As we know plenty they don't, we might be able to pick up some clues from what we see.”
“With Severus? Not sure we'll figure out his plan,” Remus admitted with a shake of his head. Then he added, softly, “I'm sure the warning is just what it means, though. With what we know of T and the past relationship, I'm sure he knows she won't be happy to hear from him and will have nothing to say in return. I think, if this was at Albus' behest, he would have done something to coax her into talking Harry into returning, such as a line about protection. He's not. Instead, he's telling Harry to hide better. With the hunt for Harry, it's counterproductive.”
“There is that,” Sirius admitted with a groan. “Yeah, makes no sense. Let's leave it and see what comes from here. Any more clues will allow us to judge. If nothing comes of it, we leave it and move on. Until then, we don't worry about it.”
After a nod, Remus asked PJ, “Do you have anything planned today we need to tend to?” As they were now going to go everywhere with PJ and at least stay close, they needed fair warning so they could plan out what they were doing.
“No,” PJ told him with a shake of his head. “I'm going back to sleep for a while then I'm going to spend the afternoon on the phone and doing some work. I have a couple bits this week I want to go out to do and there is the gym, but nothing today.”
“Good,” Sirius said with a pleased sigh. “We're sure we'll have plenty in and out because of this mess. Just stay alert and we'll go from there with whatever.”
“Not to worry,” PJ assured him. “Let me see what comes up then we'll plan from there. The gym—we can do that whenever, just so I get in my normal amount of hours.”
“We won't set up a schedule for it so the other side can't catch on to when you go,” Sirius told him with a nod. They'd work this out and give PJ the freedom he wanted, and needed in some areas, it would just take time.

“I'll look into this and see what I can find then we'll talk again, PJ. Once I do some research, I'll see if it matches up with what you have there,” Du Bois told PJ, shifting his bulk around in the chair and leaning back, propping his feet up on the table. “Should be interesting,” he chuckled, grinning a tad.
“Very,” PJ told him with a snort of amusement. With a sigh, he added, “Just watch yourself. The warning wasn't a joke. I'm having Sirius and Remus come with me everywhere. We'll have to work on a way to wiggle around when I'm talking to sources, but we'll manage.”
“Don't worry about me,” Du Bois assured him. “I'm staying out of the UK if I can manage and just coming in when I need to look up whatever or talk to someone. We're all taking the threats leveled seriously. Johnny received the warning letter from the Order and is stepping up protections for the offices close to the UK. The ones elsewhere? Not real worried, but he'll make certain they're more vigilant about checking whatever that comes in and people.”
“Now, what do you have in the works so we don't end up doing the same bit,” he asked, most curious as PJ said he had several bits he was working on. He had seen the stories PJ had submitted about various failures when it came to Fudge and the government, so he was curious.
“Though it might not be the best idea, I'm going after the Prophet again,” PJ chuckled. “Leave the mess with the war where it relates to what was in the interview I gave to you. I'll take on some, just so I don't end up having to use info I garner from in the house.”
“Had it with them, have you?” Du Bois asked, a chuckle in his voice and grinning.
“More than had it,” PJ groused, looking sour. “Any other paper out there would report what's really happening. The Prophet has the biggest stories in the UK at hand and they go for gossip! It's bull.”
“I can see why you feel that way,” Du Bois admitted, still chuckling. “Especially after the articles about your romance with Sirius.”
“Hogsmeade blows up and they cover the romance. There is a Death Eater attack and Skeeter is bitching about me not allowing her in for an interview. Most papers wouldn't survive with this kind of so-called reporting, other than tabloids,” PJ snorted. “And if we submitted this kind of reporting to Johnny, he'd give us a reaming we'd never forget and wouldn't ever be paid by them again.”
“No arguments from me there,” Du Bois nodded. “Let me see if I can do a bit of digging on my end. I'm working on the denial from the Ministry. It might tie in. If I can find a link, I'll feed you what research I can for it,” he then added, jotting down a note about the area.
“Will do the same on my end,” PJ told him with a nod. “I think there is one. My gut is telling me there is and it's more than the Ministry leaning on them, as I've heard. If there is, I'll let you take the Ministry end and I'll tend to the Prophet part.”
After hearing Du Bois agree, he asked, “When is the article about the Death Eater influence hitting and how much should we worry?”
“Wednesday,” Du Bois told him. “They decided on that day so the weeklies over there will carry it the day it hits. And all of you need to worry, honestly. I pulled out plenty. The government won't like it a damned bit as I not only listed what some have managed to get away with for years, like little Draco, but linked influence all the way to the Minister's office. Lucius Malfoy is a big one there. He's managed to get away with plenty over the years for some big donations. There will be many who won't like this.”
“Needed done, but I'll put the word out to those close to watch out,” PJ nodded.
“It's not all they have to worry about,” Du Bois chuckled. “There is an opinion piece coming with it from someone on staff which nails everyone. While he lays blame where it belongs, with Fudge, he's also taking after the Brits themselves for being sheep. One of the things he's pointing out is they stepped up when it was needed the last couple of times and showed true British spirit like the Muggles did in World War 2, but are ignoring it this time. It's not pretty as he's plenty scathing with them. As he's an expat, it comes from someone who knows what they're talking about and a Brit himself.”
“Oh, this should be good,” PJ grinned, chuckling slightly.
“You'll love it,” Du Bois told him with a deep chuckle. Then he added, sobering up, “You might want to talk to Johnny about doing something similar with yours. The talk at the offices runs about complete disgust, especially with those who are expats, when it comes to the Prophet. They point out the UK is known for its tabloids, but the Prophet isn't one, at least that's what it professes. It's turned into one, though, and no one can trust its reporting anymore. And there is plenty of documentation to back up everything we say about them. It can make a bigger impact.”
PJ didn't need to think over what was suggested and agreed. “I'll call him when I'm done with you. This article won't take me much longer and I'll have it submitted. They can then have at it from there. It's a good idea and might have more impact. I don't see it changing anything, though. Unless one of the weeklies over here changes to a daily and starts hammering, the Prophet will go on just like it is.”
“No argument from me there,” Du Bois sighed. “I'll toss what I know from the bit in Hogsmeade and the Alley their way if they go with the angle. It'll just shore up everything all of you are saying.”
“Good,” PJ nodded. “I'll see what I can do.”
After agreeing, Du Bois asked, “Do you have any line on a source I can use, one close to Dumbledore and the Order? Have something in mind, but I need someone closer to all of the side working with Dumbledore to ferret out some info.” As PJ was close to so many there, he might know someone who could end up persuaded to be a source. “I'll use the standard spells to protect them, of course.”
After thinking over what was asked, PJ said, “Maybe. There's one. Let me talk to Remus before I say anything to you. If they agree, I'll have them get in contact the usual way and tell you I sent them with the usual code.”
“Good,” Du Bois said, pleased. “Let me know. It could help, a lot. I know your godfather and his friend could assist, but I don't want to go that route as they're too close to you. I'd rather keep your real name as far out of this mess as I can manage.”
“So would I,” PJ chuckled. “A suggestion, though,” PJ pressed on. When Du Bois told him to go on, he said, “See if you can cultivate Snape. You've seen the research. He's also close to the old goat. And he won't put me in any kind of danger. I bet he has a perspective the rest of us don't on this nightmare. Just give it some time before you jump in there. You have the research to prove he's a spy, on top of what I told you, so you might be able to manage with him. I don't know there, though.”
“Interesting idea and I think it's one I'll seriously consider,” Du Bois told him with a grin, making note of it. “If you can think of anyone else who might work, let me know. I'll do the approaching and make sure it doesn't look like you pointed me there or give a hint where I came up with their name.”
“I'll ask Sirius and Remus. They might be able to give me an idea who would be best or where else to look outside the Order,” PJ told him. “The only one I can think of is Dumbledore's brother. From what I know, and the research you turned up, he might be one who'll talk because he does not get along with the old man.”
“From what I've been told, plenty in the Order are mad the old man is pressing on looking for me. It might lean some to talk. I don't know there,” PJ told him with a sigh, looking at the notes spread all over the desk and ones he had taken while talking. “I'd just prefer to stay out of it when it comes to the Order part. The less I know, the safer I stay.”
“Understandable,” Du Bois nodded. “Just drop me some hints and I'll take it from there. I'll make sure you stay out of it.”
“Let me see what the two say and I'll pass it along,” PJ told him, tossing his quill back on the desk and shifting around with a groan. He was tired, all there was to it, and planned to take a nap after ending the call. “There's so much here that the two of us can't cover it all. We need help in the form of someone taking on the daily small stories, like a normal paper would. The two of us can easily tackle big ones, like we are. I don't think anyone realizes just how much is here which needs covered, beyond the daily part.”
“I know,” Du Bois sighed, shaking his head. “If someone could either buy one of the small weeklies and convert it or a bigger paper from the continent would put out a daily covering the UK, it would be better. While it gives us plenty to work with, which ensures we get paid because we can keep producing, I keep stumbling on smaller stories which could end up great, but can't do them because they won't sell to anywhere outside of the UK. By the time the weeklies would go to press, they'd be outdated and useless. And these are the kind the Prophet won't cover.”
“I'll add the suggestion for the opinion piece, but there's nothing I can do, short of keeping a running list of what needs covered as it's big enough and tossing it in the piece I'm doing,” PJ signed, slouching down. “I don't see anyone doing anything, honestly. We're working for a wire service, not a bigger paper. They don't put out papers of their own.”
“True,” Du Bois admitted, shaking his head. “Nothing we can do. We just report, nothing more.”
“Yup and that is more than enough,” PJ chuckled, grinning. “And can get us into plenty of trouble on its own!”
“That too,” Du Bois laughed. “More than our share.”
Settling back, assuming the worst was over, PJ covered some minor areas with his old friend, pleased with the talk. This sort of conversation always helped both of them with whatever they were working on. They just didn't manage to do it as often as he would like because of their busy schedules. He also tended to take the advice given because Du Bois knew what he was talking about.
As they covered the last little bit, PJ smiled. This was good. It wasn't what he planned for, but was working well for all involved. And he didn't have the problems he envisioned when it came to his reporter alter ego. Perfect. He could easily press on from here.
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Toonie\'s Love