HP/AB FIC: Confluence, parts 7 and 8
TITLE: Confluence
AUTHOR: 38gnihsurc
PAIRINGS: Bill/Fleur, Harry/Ginny, Harry/Bill, Harry/Jason, Anita/her many canon men, and I'm sure there will be other pairings later.
RATING: en.sea.xvii, overall
DISCLAIMERS: J. K. Rowling and Laurell K. Hamilton own all of the characters. I'm just having some fun.
WARNINGS: Crossover/slash fic... and, given the style of AB books, there will probably be some degree of bloodplay or furry-fun, or just plain ol' bdsm, in the future.
NOTES: This is a crossover between the Anita Blake and Harry Potter universes. I had an idea while watching the fourth HP film, and my muse was chipping away at it for a few days. Now, I can't stop writing it. Hopefully, it's not too farfetched!
parts 1 & 2
parts 3 & 4
parts 5 & 6
"I already got two of the last horcruxes," Harry explained to Bill, in one of the sitting rooms of the Circus of the Damned, hours after he had offered his blood to Asher.
He and Jason had slept for a few hours, drowning in the luxurious afterglow; then, they cleaned up, ate, and resumed their evening's schedule. Jason went to see what his pack was up to; Harry went after Bill, to explain some of the things he had yet to touch upon since they met up.
"Which ones? Where were they?"
Harry smiled a little. "They were in the orphanage were Tom Riddle grew up. Tucked away, under a couple of floorboards... in different rooms." The smile disappeared as he added, "I have no clue if the locket's gone. Someone will need to check Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. And, I still need to find the last one. I think... if Dumbledore was correct, it's a Gryffindor artifact."
"Where would it have been hidden?" Bill inquired. "At the orphanage?"
Harry shrugged. "Dunno... I mean... I have a hunch it's somewhere inside Hogwarts. But I don't know why I think that."
"Well, let's go over what you know. Dumbledore gave you a crash course of sorts in Voldemort's train of thought, yeah? So, let's talk it out."
Harry smiled and nodded, before launching into the stories of his time with Dumbledore. He went over the tales of Tom Riddle's childhood, the special places he had valued, and the attraction he had to objects from the four founders of Hogwarts.
By the time Jean-Claude had returned to the Circus, flanked by Jason, Bill had processed most of the information and was making some observations.
"Look, if it's in the castle, you've got to figure out two important things: what is it, and how did he put it in there?" Bill said, after casting a smile towards the vampire and werewolf. "There aren't too many surviving items of Gryffindor around, so I don't know what he would have taken."
"The sword was always in Dumbledore's possession," Harry said quietly, avoiding Jason's eyes but meeting Jean-Claude's. "I don't know what else of his exists... I suppose I could try doing some research on him, to see what else might have survived."
"We should owl Ron and Hermione," Bill said next. "Get them to look around---"
"No," Harry said firmly. "There are too many risks involved. And Ron isn't exactly the most stealthy person in that school."
"What are you going to do, then?" Bill inquired, looking amused. "Sneak in at night under your invisibility cloak?"
"Maybe," Harry admitted. "If I could get my hands on a few books... there's got to be a wizarding community around someplace... then, I could start thinking on what it could be. He hides his objects in well protected places---"
"Under floorboards?"
"They were magically nailed in place, and there were some tricky obstacles in the crawl space," Harry corrected him. "Took me a good three hours to figure out how to get the artifacts out of there."
Jason cleared his throat. "What kind of obstacles?"
"Poisonous potions, some cursed mummy hands with very firm grips," Harry replied, casting the werewolf a quick glance before looking back at his wand as he twirled it between his fingers. "There were a few other things... it was a mess."
"That's how you got the scar on your stomach?" Jason asked.
Harry blushed. "Um... yeah. One of the hands was a little too fast for me," he mumbled.
Jean-Claude arched an eyebrow. "This wizard is very dangerous... with no regard for others."
"Exactly," Harry agreed. "He's killed people just so he could divide his soul into seven parts, so he could be harder to kill permanently. And now, he just wants to take over the whole sodding world." He paused and then added, "Oh, and he wants to kill me while he's at it."
"There's a university nearby," Jason piped up. "With a pretty diverse art history department... maybe they'd have some information on your artifacts."
Jean-Claude shrugged. "He has a point, petit agneau. St. Louis has always been a magnet for the unusual."
Bill shrugged. "Sure... that sounds good."
Jason smiled. "Cool. Oh, and Bill, Richard said he'd talk with you... he's going to come here when he's finished with pack business."
Harry blinked and turned to look at Bill. He smiled at Harry. "I just wanted to ask him about the way packs here function. And... I also wanted to see why I smell like a wolf, if I'm not one."
"Do you want me to stay?" Harry asked quietly, eyes widening as he thought of the huge man that had pinned Bill to the wall. "I can, if you want---"
"It will be fine," Jean-Claude assured Harry. "I will be here. My animal to call is the wolf."
Harry nodded jerkily, not really understanding. "Alright. If everyone's certain."
"Quite."
Harry smiled a little in Bill's direction. "Fleur'd murder me if I brought you back to England, shredded to bits."
Bill laughed. "Very true."
Jason smiled. "So, will we go, Harry?"
Harry blinked and then brought his eyes across the room to look at the werewolf. "Uh... sure. Yeah. Can we stop by my flat first? I just want to tuck my mail inside."
The other man smiled and nodded. "Sure. Let's go."
Harry nodded, too, and followed Jason out of the sitting room. He was worried about Bill's meeting with Richard, but he was more worried about being alone with Jason, at that particular moment.
They had fallen asleep with at least three feet of free mattress between them; however, they woke up with Harry on top of Jason. He had buried his face in Jason's neck, and Jason's arm was wrapped around Harry's body. Found in uncharted waters, Harry had panicked. He had all but vaulted off of Jason's body, before dressing in a panic and heading to his own bathroom to shower.
He hadn't seen Jason since that moment. He didn't know what he should say. Was there an appropriate thing to say during moments like that? Harry hadn't had a clue. He had a hard enough time dealing with the opposite sex; dealing with uncomfortable situations with men was completely unfamiliar.
An hour later, after going to Harry's bachelor apartment and tucking his mail inside the front door, they were sitting in the stacks of the library, thumbing through a stack of books on British art and artifacts. Harry guessed they had exchanged thirty words, tops, during their entire time spent together.
Jason must have picked up on it, too, because he nudged Harry and said, "Are we ever going to talk about what happened?"
"About what?" Harry asked, not looking up from the book he was flipping through.
Jason put his hand out, pinning Harry's and preventing him from turning another page. "About tonight."
"What's there to talk about?" Harry asked.
"Um... I dunno... how about the way you bolted out of bed?" Jason asked quietly, although Harry could pick up on the seriousness in his tone of voice. "You were really uncomfortable."
Harry shrugged. "I... I don't usually sleep with other people," he said. "That's all. I mean, I don't fancy men and you don't, as far as I can tell, so I apologise if I made you uncomfortable, but it was really just---"
"Slow down, Harry," Jason advised. "It didn't bother me."
"You fancy---"
Jason smiled and shrugged. "Lycans like being close. It's comforting... it's not always about sex, remember?"
Harry flushed and nodded. "Right. Yeah."
"As for whether or not I 'fancy' men---" he stopped short and laughed softly. "That's actually fun to say. I don't think I've ever used the word fancy like that before." He shook his head, laughed again, and then continued talking. "I don't know. I always considered myself completely... I don't know. I think it just depends on the person I'm with... I guess I'm more of a romantic than I seem to be."
"Oh."
Jason was almost too honest for Harry's liking. He didn't know what to do with that information.
"So look, I just... since you're probably going to be here for a while, I just wanted to clear the air," Jason continued. "Waking up like that didn't bother me."
Harry nodded. "Right. Well, if you're sure..."
"I am," Jason said as he released Harry's wrist and picked another book up off of the pile.
&&&&
"Harry? C'mon... gotta get up."
"Nguh."
"Now, Harry," Jason said more firmly.
Harry opened his blurry eyes as he fumbled for his glasses. When he could see in the dimly-lit room, he saw Jason smiling down at him from his side of the bed.
"We just got back from the library," Harry groaned in protest. "What on earth---"
"Anita needs a few guards for her raising tonight," Jason explained, handing Harry a shirt from the floor. Harry didn't look at it---their clothes had been mingling on the floor for a couple of weeks, and they shared almost everything---and shrugged it on. "You, me, and Micah."
"Where's Bill?"
"Lessons with Richard," Jason answered.
Harry groaned and pushed himself into a better sitting position. "Pants. Need pants."
"And a toothbrush," Jason teased, picking Harry up out of the bed they had started to share, only to toss him towards the bathroom. Harry laughed sleepily and stumbled into the bathroom wearing his t-shirt and boxers.
As Harry washed up, he heard Jason moving around the room. He smiled at those familiar sounds; he had to admit that since he accepted Jean-Claude's invitation to move into the Circus, he had been happier than he had in a long while.
Since Anita was helping Harry understand necromancy, since Harry was offering his blood to Asher, and since he and Jason were searching the art history stacks of the local libraries, he was spending a lot of time at the Circus of the Damned.
When Jean-Claude told Harry he could stay there as often as he liked---since it was more convenient for both Harry and the vampires. Harry accepted; Bill, who did not feel as comfortable there, took Harry's apartment, subletting the apartment from the Boy Who Lived until the redhead wanted to go back to England.
After a few bad nightmares in his own room, Jason moved Harry into his room; Harry had protested at first, afraid of what it would mean, but it became entirely too comfortable to share a bed with another warm body. Jason didn't judge him when he woke up screaming or crying---he just helped him calm down and then helped him fall back to sleep.
This was the first time that Harry had ever been considered to help the close-knit group of vampires and lycans that supported Anita. He felt like he was becoming a part of this group, as though he had a place in which he really belonged.
He felt relieved. He didn't think they wanted him around because he destroyed a famous wizard when he was a baby. He felt that he had made an impression somehow with them and that they had grown to trust him.
Harry finished brushing his teeth and then he wiped his mouth on his towel; after he came out into the main room, he saw Jason running a hand through his bed-ridden hair.
He smiled. "You're gonna need something a little stronger than a hand to tame that hair."
Jason laughed. "Like you should talk," he shot back.
Harry grinned and found a pair of ripped jeans on the floor. He saw the studded belt threaded through the hoops, which told him the pants belonged to Jason.
"Mind if I wear these?"
Jason shot him a 'why are you asking?' look and then found a mesh top in the closet that he wanted to wear.
"Ready?" Jason asked as Harry got the belt fastened.
The dark-haired wizard nodded and reached for his wand and then attached it to his arm with a device of leather straps he had fashioned a couple of weeks ago. Then, he grabbed his jacket and put it on, effectively hiding the wand.
"Now I'm set," Harry told him, smiling a little. "Where are we going?"
"I don't know," Jason replied. "Micah's picking us up."
"Oh, alright," Harry said as he followed Jason to the door.
They only had to wait five minutes for Micah to pull into the parking lot. Harry got in the backseat, and Jason took the front; Micah greeted them both and then turned his attention back on driving.
Harry leaned back in the seat and listened as Micah talked about the raising. He said Anita had been worried about it from the start; but the client hadn't raised any of Animators, Inc.'s warning flags, so she decided she was just always on edge and asked for some protection while she was raising the zombie.
"Who's the client?" Jason asked as Micah stopped at an intersection.
"Anita said he's some stuffy, upper-crust business man. Sampsun Vanier... maybe Vanière... I don't know," the wereleopard said as he waited for the lights to change in his favour. "He just said he had some questions for the zombie he wanted raised. Pretty vague... but he passed the required tests."
Harry sighed and closed his eyes as he and Jason continued to discuss the client. He wished he was back in bed; it was warm and nightmare-free that night. However, he had yet to see a zombie raising, and he wanted to help Anita in any way he could. He hoped that she might return the favour someday.
They stopped at the graveyard, and Harry reluctantly opened his eyes. He saw Anita waiting by her jeep; in the distance, he saw a dark figure waiting impatiently. He tilted his head and studied the man. He saw the man's posture, the way his hair fell over his shoulders as he walked, and even the stride he took---and found it all very troubling. Suddenly, he was transported back to Hogwarts, back to Potions Class---and he knew who Anita's client was.
"Uh... Micah... I don't know who Sampsun Vanière is... but... that's definitely not him."
Micah turned his green eyes upon Harry. "What do you mean?"
"That's... oh, god," Harry trailed off and groaned. He inched lower in the backseat. "Can you guys just pretend---"
"Tell me what's going on," Micah demanded, his voice dropping into a low growl. "Now."
"That's... my former professor. The one... the former Death Eater. The trait---" Harry broke off when he felt his voice tremble. He didn't know if it trembled out of anger, fear, or grief. He sucked in a deep breath and continued on. "He killed Professor Dumbledore... he ran... he worked for the Order, but he... he... oh, god."
Jason opened his mouth, but Harry resumed speaking. "I don't know if Voldemort sent him, or if he's here on his own---"
Jason interupted him. "Do you want to stay in the car?"
Harry shook his head and pulled out his wand. "No... I want to see what he's up to. But... I have to..." he trailed off and tapped his wand to his head before muttering a disillusionment charm. "Micah, I'm going to---"
"Whoa," Jason breathed at the same time Harry tried to get Micah's attention. "How'd you---"
"Magic. I just wish I thought to bring my Invisibility Cloak with me to this meeting. Would be easier to stay unnoticed---"
"You want to slide over the seat and sneak out with me?" Micah asked.
Harry smiled, even though he was sure neither lycan could see it. "Yeah. Please. He'd notice if I opened and closed the back door."
"Right. You have to let us know if we're getting into trouble, though," Micah told him. When Harry assured the wereleopard that he would, Micah turned to Jason. "You get out and stand in front of the door, okay?"
The younger man nodded. "Sure thing." He looked in Harry's direction when he unbuckled his seatbelt. "You okay?"
"I... I don't know," Harry admitted. "I hadn't planned on seeing Snape until... well, not for a long while. This is a bit of a shock."
"You don't have to go out there."
"I do, Jason."
He sighed. "Okay. Look, just... don't overdo it, y'know? If you have a meltdown in the middle of the graveyard, I don't know if we'll be able to find you as easily now that you're kind of invisible."
"I'll try to hold any potential meltdown in until we get back to the Circus," Harry promised in a dry voice.
"Harry..."
"It'll be fine," Harry said as he turned and glared at Severus Snape, who was talking with Anita in the distance at that point. "Go on. Anita won't want to wait much longer."
"Yeah," Jason agreed, before getting out of the car. Harry awkwardly clamboured over the seat as Micah stepped out. He caught the look Micah gave Anita---a brief look of warning, followed by a warm smile that showed the world how he felt about her---and then he slithered onto the grass in time for the wereleopard to shut the door.
TBC...
AUTHOR: 38gnihsurc
PAIRINGS: Bill/Fleur, Harry/Ginny, Harry/Bill, Harry/Jason, Anita/her many canon men, and I'm sure there will be other pairings later.
RATING: en.sea.xvii, overall
DISCLAIMERS: J. K. Rowling and Laurell K. Hamilton own all of the characters. I'm just having some fun.
WARNINGS: Crossover/slash fic... and, given the style of AB books, there will probably be some degree of bloodplay or furry-fun, or just plain ol' bdsm, in the future.
NOTES: This is a crossover between the Anita Blake and Harry Potter universes. I had an idea while watching the fourth HP film, and my muse was chipping away at it for a few days. Now, I can't stop writing it. Hopefully, it's not too farfetched!
parts 1 & 2
parts 3 & 4
parts 5 & 6
"I already got two of the last horcruxes," Harry explained to Bill, in one of the sitting rooms of the Circus of the Damned, hours after he had offered his blood to Asher.
He and Jason had slept for a few hours, drowning in the luxurious afterglow; then, they cleaned up, ate, and resumed their evening's schedule. Jason went to see what his pack was up to; Harry went after Bill, to explain some of the things he had yet to touch upon since they met up.
"Which ones? Where were they?"
Harry smiled a little. "They were in the orphanage were Tom Riddle grew up. Tucked away, under a couple of floorboards... in different rooms." The smile disappeared as he added, "I have no clue if the locket's gone. Someone will need to check Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. And, I still need to find the last one. I think... if Dumbledore was correct, it's a Gryffindor artifact."
"Where would it have been hidden?" Bill inquired. "At the orphanage?"
Harry shrugged. "Dunno... I mean... I have a hunch it's somewhere inside Hogwarts. But I don't know why I think that."
"Well, let's go over what you know. Dumbledore gave you a crash course of sorts in Voldemort's train of thought, yeah? So, let's talk it out."
Harry smiled and nodded, before launching into the stories of his time with Dumbledore. He went over the tales of Tom Riddle's childhood, the special places he had valued, and the attraction he had to objects from the four founders of Hogwarts.
By the time Jean-Claude had returned to the Circus, flanked by Jason, Bill had processed most of the information and was making some observations.
"Look, if it's in the castle, you've got to figure out two important things: what is it, and how did he put it in there?" Bill said, after casting a smile towards the vampire and werewolf. "There aren't too many surviving items of Gryffindor around, so I don't know what he would have taken."
"The sword was always in Dumbledore's possession," Harry said quietly, avoiding Jason's eyes but meeting Jean-Claude's. "I don't know what else of his exists... I suppose I could try doing some research on him, to see what else might have survived."
"We should owl Ron and Hermione," Bill said next. "Get them to look around---"
"No," Harry said firmly. "There are too many risks involved. And Ron isn't exactly the most stealthy person in that school."
"What are you going to do, then?" Bill inquired, looking amused. "Sneak in at night under your invisibility cloak?"
"Maybe," Harry admitted. "If I could get my hands on a few books... there's got to be a wizarding community around someplace... then, I could start thinking on what it could be. He hides his objects in well protected places---"
"Under floorboards?"
"They were magically nailed in place, and there were some tricky obstacles in the crawl space," Harry corrected him. "Took me a good three hours to figure out how to get the artifacts out of there."
Jason cleared his throat. "What kind of obstacles?"
"Poisonous potions, some cursed mummy hands with very firm grips," Harry replied, casting the werewolf a quick glance before looking back at his wand as he twirled it between his fingers. "There were a few other things... it was a mess."
"That's how you got the scar on your stomach?" Jason asked.
Harry blushed. "Um... yeah. One of the hands was a little too fast for me," he mumbled.
Jean-Claude arched an eyebrow. "This wizard is very dangerous... with no regard for others."
"Exactly," Harry agreed. "He's killed people just so he could divide his soul into seven parts, so he could be harder to kill permanently. And now, he just wants to take over the whole sodding world." He paused and then added, "Oh, and he wants to kill me while he's at it."
"There's a university nearby," Jason piped up. "With a pretty diverse art history department... maybe they'd have some information on your artifacts."
Jean-Claude shrugged. "He has a point, petit agneau. St. Louis has always been a magnet for the unusual."
Bill shrugged. "Sure... that sounds good."
Jason smiled. "Cool. Oh, and Bill, Richard said he'd talk with you... he's going to come here when he's finished with pack business."
Harry blinked and turned to look at Bill. He smiled at Harry. "I just wanted to ask him about the way packs here function. And... I also wanted to see why I smell like a wolf, if I'm not one."
"Do you want me to stay?" Harry asked quietly, eyes widening as he thought of the huge man that had pinned Bill to the wall. "I can, if you want---"
"It will be fine," Jean-Claude assured Harry. "I will be here. My animal to call is the wolf."
Harry nodded jerkily, not really understanding. "Alright. If everyone's certain."
"Quite."
Harry smiled a little in Bill's direction. "Fleur'd murder me if I brought you back to England, shredded to bits."
Bill laughed. "Very true."
Jason smiled. "So, will we go, Harry?"
Harry blinked and then brought his eyes across the room to look at the werewolf. "Uh... sure. Yeah. Can we stop by my flat first? I just want to tuck my mail inside."
The other man smiled and nodded. "Sure. Let's go."
Harry nodded, too, and followed Jason out of the sitting room. He was worried about Bill's meeting with Richard, but he was more worried about being alone with Jason, at that particular moment.
They had fallen asleep with at least three feet of free mattress between them; however, they woke up with Harry on top of Jason. He had buried his face in Jason's neck, and Jason's arm was wrapped around Harry's body. Found in uncharted waters, Harry had panicked. He had all but vaulted off of Jason's body, before dressing in a panic and heading to his own bathroom to shower.
He hadn't seen Jason since that moment. He didn't know what he should say. Was there an appropriate thing to say during moments like that? Harry hadn't had a clue. He had a hard enough time dealing with the opposite sex; dealing with uncomfortable situations with men was completely unfamiliar.
An hour later, after going to Harry's bachelor apartment and tucking his mail inside the front door, they were sitting in the stacks of the library, thumbing through a stack of books on British art and artifacts. Harry guessed they had exchanged thirty words, tops, during their entire time spent together.
Jason must have picked up on it, too, because he nudged Harry and said, "Are we ever going to talk about what happened?"
"About what?" Harry asked, not looking up from the book he was flipping through.
Jason put his hand out, pinning Harry's and preventing him from turning another page. "About tonight."
"What's there to talk about?" Harry asked.
"Um... I dunno... how about the way you bolted out of bed?" Jason asked quietly, although Harry could pick up on the seriousness in his tone of voice. "You were really uncomfortable."
Harry shrugged. "I... I don't usually sleep with other people," he said. "That's all. I mean, I don't fancy men and you don't, as far as I can tell, so I apologise if I made you uncomfortable, but it was really just---"
"Slow down, Harry," Jason advised. "It didn't bother me."
"You fancy---"
Jason smiled and shrugged. "Lycans like being close. It's comforting... it's not always about sex, remember?"
Harry flushed and nodded. "Right. Yeah."
"As for whether or not I 'fancy' men---" he stopped short and laughed softly. "That's actually fun to say. I don't think I've ever used the word fancy like that before." He shook his head, laughed again, and then continued talking. "I don't know. I always considered myself completely... I don't know. I think it just depends on the person I'm with... I guess I'm more of a romantic than I seem to be."
"Oh."
Jason was almost too honest for Harry's liking. He didn't know what to do with that information.
"So look, I just... since you're probably going to be here for a while, I just wanted to clear the air," Jason continued. "Waking up like that didn't bother me."
Harry nodded. "Right. Well, if you're sure..."
"I am," Jason said as he released Harry's wrist and picked another book up off of the pile.
&&&&
"Harry? C'mon... gotta get up."
"Nguh."
"Now, Harry," Jason said more firmly.
Harry opened his blurry eyes as he fumbled for his glasses. When he could see in the dimly-lit room, he saw Jason smiling down at him from his side of the bed.
"We just got back from the library," Harry groaned in protest. "What on earth---"
"Anita needs a few guards for her raising tonight," Jason explained, handing Harry a shirt from the floor. Harry didn't look at it---their clothes had been mingling on the floor for a couple of weeks, and they shared almost everything---and shrugged it on. "You, me, and Micah."
"Where's Bill?"
"Lessons with Richard," Jason answered.
Harry groaned and pushed himself into a better sitting position. "Pants. Need pants."
"And a toothbrush," Jason teased, picking Harry up out of the bed they had started to share, only to toss him towards the bathroom. Harry laughed sleepily and stumbled into the bathroom wearing his t-shirt and boxers.
As Harry washed up, he heard Jason moving around the room. He smiled at those familiar sounds; he had to admit that since he accepted Jean-Claude's invitation to move into the Circus, he had been happier than he had in a long while.
Since Anita was helping Harry understand necromancy, since Harry was offering his blood to Asher, and since he and Jason were searching the art history stacks of the local libraries, he was spending a lot of time at the Circus of the Damned.
When Jean-Claude told Harry he could stay there as often as he liked---since it was more convenient for both Harry and the vampires. Harry accepted; Bill, who did not feel as comfortable there, took Harry's apartment, subletting the apartment from the Boy Who Lived until the redhead wanted to go back to England.
After a few bad nightmares in his own room, Jason moved Harry into his room; Harry had protested at first, afraid of what it would mean, but it became entirely too comfortable to share a bed with another warm body. Jason didn't judge him when he woke up screaming or crying---he just helped him calm down and then helped him fall back to sleep.
This was the first time that Harry had ever been considered to help the close-knit group of vampires and lycans that supported Anita. He felt like he was becoming a part of this group, as though he had a place in which he really belonged.
He felt relieved. He didn't think they wanted him around because he destroyed a famous wizard when he was a baby. He felt that he had made an impression somehow with them and that they had grown to trust him.
Harry finished brushing his teeth and then he wiped his mouth on his towel; after he came out into the main room, he saw Jason running a hand through his bed-ridden hair.
He smiled. "You're gonna need something a little stronger than a hand to tame that hair."
Jason laughed. "Like you should talk," he shot back.
Harry grinned and found a pair of ripped jeans on the floor. He saw the studded belt threaded through the hoops, which told him the pants belonged to Jason.
"Mind if I wear these?"
Jason shot him a 'why are you asking?' look and then found a mesh top in the closet that he wanted to wear.
"Ready?" Jason asked as Harry got the belt fastened.
The dark-haired wizard nodded and reached for his wand and then attached it to his arm with a device of leather straps he had fashioned a couple of weeks ago. Then, he grabbed his jacket and put it on, effectively hiding the wand.
"Now I'm set," Harry told him, smiling a little. "Where are we going?"
"I don't know," Jason replied. "Micah's picking us up."
"Oh, alright," Harry said as he followed Jason to the door.
They only had to wait five minutes for Micah to pull into the parking lot. Harry got in the backseat, and Jason took the front; Micah greeted them both and then turned his attention back on driving.
Harry leaned back in the seat and listened as Micah talked about the raising. He said Anita had been worried about it from the start; but the client hadn't raised any of Animators, Inc.'s warning flags, so she decided she was just always on edge and asked for some protection while she was raising the zombie.
"Who's the client?" Jason asked as Micah stopped at an intersection.
"Anita said he's some stuffy, upper-crust business man. Sampsun Vanier... maybe Vanière... I don't know," the wereleopard said as he waited for the lights to change in his favour. "He just said he had some questions for the zombie he wanted raised. Pretty vague... but he passed the required tests."
Harry sighed and closed his eyes as he and Jason continued to discuss the client. He wished he was back in bed; it was warm and nightmare-free that night. However, he had yet to see a zombie raising, and he wanted to help Anita in any way he could. He hoped that she might return the favour someday.
They stopped at the graveyard, and Harry reluctantly opened his eyes. He saw Anita waiting by her jeep; in the distance, he saw a dark figure waiting impatiently. He tilted his head and studied the man. He saw the man's posture, the way his hair fell over his shoulders as he walked, and even the stride he took---and found it all very troubling. Suddenly, he was transported back to Hogwarts, back to Potions Class---and he knew who Anita's client was.
"Uh... Micah... I don't know who Sampsun Vanière is... but... that's definitely not him."
Micah turned his green eyes upon Harry. "What do you mean?"
"That's... oh, god," Harry trailed off and groaned. He inched lower in the backseat. "Can you guys just pretend---"
"Tell me what's going on," Micah demanded, his voice dropping into a low growl. "Now."
"That's... my former professor. The one... the former Death Eater. The trait---" Harry broke off when he felt his voice tremble. He didn't know if it trembled out of anger, fear, or grief. He sucked in a deep breath and continued on. "He killed Professor Dumbledore... he ran... he worked for the Order, but he... he... oh, god."
Jason opened his mouth, but Harry resumed speaking. "I don't know if Voldemort sent him, or if he's here on his own---"
Jason interupted him. "Do you want to stay in the car?"
Harry shook his head and pulled out his wand. "No... I want to see what he's up to. But... I have to..." he trailed off and tapped his wand to his head before muttering a disillusionment charm. "Micah, I'm going to---"
"Whoa," Jason breathed at the same time Harry tried to get Micah's attention. "How'd you---"
"Magic. I just wish I thought to bring my Invisibility Cloak with me to this meeting. Would be easier to stay unnoticed---"
"You want to slide over the seat and sneak out with me?" Micah asked.
Harry smiled, even though he was sure neither lycan could see it. "Yeah. Please. He'd notice if I opened and closed the back door."
"Right. You have to let us know if we're getting into trouble, though," Micah told him. When Harry assured the wereleopard that he would, Micah turned to Jason. "You get out and stand in front of the door, okay?"
The younger man nodded. "Sure thing." He looked in Harry's direction when he unbuckled his seatbelt. "You okay?"
"I... I don't know," Harry admitted. "I hadn't planned on seeing Snape until... well, not for a long while. This is a bit of a shock."
"You don't have to go out there."
"I do, Jason."
He sighed. "Okay. Look, just... don't overdo it, y'know? If you have a meltdown in the middle of the graveyard, I don't know if we'll be able to find you as easily now that you're kind of invisible."
"I'll try to hold any potential meltdown in until we get back to the Circus," Harry promised in a dry voice.
"Harry..."
"It'll be fine," Harry said as he turned and glared at Severus Snape, who was talking with Anita in the distance at that point. "Go on. Anita won't want to wait much longer."
"Yeah," Jason agreed, before getting out of the car. Harry awkwardly clamboured over the seat as Micah stepped out. He caught the look Micah gave Anita---a brief look of warning, followed by a warm smile that showed the world how he felt about her---and then he slithered onto the grass in time for the wereleopard to shut the door.
TBC...