[fic] Bloody Torchwood (10/18)
Title: Bloody Torchwood (10/18)
Author: noscrubs12345
sirius100 Prompt: Variations on Reality (original)
Pairings: Remus/Sirius, Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: Sirius Black knew there was something he didn't like about Cardiff. He just didn't expect it to be a rift in time and space. But, once taken, will he be able to make it back to the wizarding world? Or will he be stuck with bloody Torchwood if his friends don't find him first? And what does a mysterious blonde woman have to do with the strange blue box hidden inside the Department of Mysteries?
Warnings: spoilers through Torchwood series two and Doctor Who series four
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, Russell T Davies, the BBC, various publishers, including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended and no money is being made.
Notes: My sincerest apologies for the delay in updating. Between moving house and getting settled in I've barely had a free moment. The spotty wi-fi hasn't helped either. XD
Missed the beginning?: Part I || Part II || Part III || Part IV || Part V || Part VI || Part VII || Part VIII || Part IX
or
Bloody Torchwood @ AO3
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Sirius woke with a start as the door banged open. He raised his head from his arms and stared groggily at Harkness and Cooper. He sat up and rubbed his eyes when he noticed the red and blue lensed glasses Harkness was wearing.
“You look ridiculous,” Cooper whispered as he took the opposite chair him from under the table and turned it around.
“Mr Black, do I look as silly in these as Gwen here seems to think I do?” he said as he sank down, arms crossed over the back of the chair.
Sirius looked between the two, not quite sure if Harkness was serious. At Cooper’s small nod, he said, “I think you look like a nutter.”
Harkness chuckled heartily and pulled them off, sitting them by Sirius’s empty plate. “Well, you’re probably right, but I always say it’s function over form.”
Sirius raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. Leaning forward, he said, “If this is your interrogation technique, it’s awful.” He’d seen recruits straight out of Hogwarts with a better one. Even if Harkness was trying to unsettle him, it seemed a bit…silly.
“And how would you know anything about interrogation techniques?” Harkness said, levelling that steely blue gaze at him. It was a bit disconcerting to have it directed at him, and it didn’t take much for him to realise what Harkness was implying about his own skills.
“I’m an Auror back home,” he said, trying to shrug it off. What did it matter if he told them? He could just Oblivate them if he had to once he got his wand back.
“And an ‘Auror’ does what exactly?” Harkness glanced back over his shoulder at the mirrored panel set high on the wall.
Sirius looked up at it and frowned as Cooper reached for her ear. There was some sort of device concealed there, and he was almost sure Jones was watching from behind the two-way glass. He turned back to Harkness. “We’re sort of like MI5 for wizarding Britain.”
“But what do you do?”
“Why should I tell you that? You do realise I could go to prison for having already told you much as I have!” Sirius snapped and leaned forward. No point in making it easy on them if they weren’t going to take him seriously.
Harkness frowned at him. “We won’t let that happen, I promise, and I’m sure your superiors will understand if you divulged information to Torchwood in order to return home.”
There was something condescending in Harkness’s tone that Sirius didn’t like. “And just what gives Torchwood jurisdiction over the MLE?”
“Her Majesty the Queen,” Harkness said, staring coldly at him. “We’re separate from the government, outside the police, beyond the UN. I’m sure we could work something out. Besides, I don’t think you’ll need to worry.”
Sirius looked between a frowning Cooper and coldly grinning Harkness for a moment. “Why not?”
“Because you’re a long way from home, Mr Black,” he said, fingering the glasses. “If there was indeed magic in this world, I guarantee you Torchwood would know about it. And there’s nothing in our archives, and only a handful of witch trials on this planet and in the known galaxies to even acknowledge the occult following of it. Well, unless you count the Vegas galaxies, but then they were always a bit too Derren Brown for my liking.”
“You’re talking rubbish,” Sirius said, shaking his head. He didn’t believe a word Harkness was saying; of course there was magic. He was proof of that. “There’s no way you’ve been to space. The Muggles had barely got to the moon by 1979.”
“Yeah well, in the next hundred years they’ll be going a lot farther than that,” Harkness quipped. “Now are you going to tell me what it is you do exactly?”
“Why?”
“Because Ianto and I told you about Torchwood. I know it may be a bit hard for you to believe, but however much ‘rubbish’ you think we’re talking I guarantee that’s how we’re feeling about your magic right now. And Gwen and I need to ask you some questions so we can do our best to help, maybe give your loved ones closure.”
Harkness did have a point about sharing information. But his family? They’d be thrilled. “What kind of questions?” Sirius asked with a snort and glanced at Cooper from beneath his lashes. Maybe he’d get somewhere with the good cop.
“Just some things about yourself, sweetheart,” she said, smiling gently. “We just want to help.”
Sirius looked between them again. He looked up at the mirror and stared at his reflection, wondering just why he was still putting up a fight. Wouldn’t it be better to work with them if he had a chance at even trying to get home? After a moment, he let his gaze fall back to his companions. “Fine. I’ll tell you what I can.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Harkness said, grinning. “We’ll start with your real name.”
“What?” Sirius said, mouth agape. Why wouldn’t they know his name? They had his driving license. “You know my name.”
“We checked the records. You don’t exist,” Harkness said. He picked up the glasses and slipped them back on. “Which really isn’t that surprising considering you’re covered in Void stuff.”
Sirius rested his elbows on the table and ran his hands over his face. He could feel a headache coming on. “You’re talking nonsense again. I’m wearing a poor excuse for clothes and itchy wool socks. I’ve just had a shower. How could I be covered in anything?”
“It clings to things that have been through the Void-“
“You mean your Rift?” Sirius tried, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. Rift, Void, he couldn’t keep track of half the strange things Harkness said. Why confuse him when he was just starting to come around to the idea that there was, indeed, a spatial-temporal schism in Cardiff?
“The Rift is a crack in the fabric of space-time whereas the Void is the space between realities. It’s more than likely that while you were in your world’s Cardiff, the Rift took you, but for some reason it brought you here-pulled you across universes through the Void and into our world-instead of sending you to God knows what backwater planet.”
“What does that even mean?” he asked. “How can you tell?”
Harkness held the glasses out. “Put them on and see for yourself.”
“I still say you’re a nutter,” Sirius said, but did as he was told.
He gasped as he looked down at his hands. There was something floating around them-and the rest of him when he jumped to his feet-something like small black particles. He snatched the glasses off and threw them on the table
“What the fuck was that?” he yelled
“Background radiation. It’s nothing to be worried about,” Harkness said and frowned. “Well, not that we know of. That's Void stuff.”
“‘Stuff?’” He was covered in radioactive particles and they called it stuff?
Harkness waved his hand about dismissively. “It’s a highly technical term.”
“How is that possible?”
“You should be dead,” Harkness said simply, and Sirius had to commend the way he didn’t so much as bat an eye. “Travel through the Void without a vessel is impossible. Two years ago, a race of creatures thought to be extinct in this universe came through in a Void ship. Another race of monsters came through behind them. Together, they destroyed Torchwood London, and if it wasn’t for the Doctor and Rose…well, that doesn’t matter now. Anyway, you didn’t have a ship, so I don’t think that matters.”
“So how the hell did I end up here then?” Sirius asked and collapsed into his chair, heart pounding as he wondered what Harkness hadn’t said.
“That’s why we need to talk to you, sweetheart,” Cooper said. She crossed the table and knelt beside him, laying one of her soft hands on his. She smiled up at him, somewhere between a mother comforting a child and the police officer Harkness had said she was. “What happened before you were taken?”
“I was with Remus,” he said and swallowed, thinking back. Unconsciously, he turned his hand in hers and squeezed. “We’d been shopping and had got an ice cream before heading back to his mum’s. We were running late so we cut through Bute Park, and I was trying to weasel my way out of dinner. His aunt was in town; she doesn’t like me and the feeling is completely mutual.”
“Meeting the family,” Harkness said with a chuckle. “That’s always fun.”
“We’re going to need Remus’s last name,” Cooper said. “We searched for any him, but the only result we got is a bit questionable.”
Sirius frowned. He’d told Jones, but if they’d got a result, however tentative, for Remus and not him.... “He’s not a pureblood,” he said suddenly, making the connection. Of course. If there was no magic here, it made sense their might not be any of the old wizarding families.
The pair stiffened and looked between each other before turning back to him.
“Pureblood?” Harkness asked, eyes narrowing as he regarded Sirius. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’m a wizard with a bloody pedigree,” Sirius spat. He couldn’t blame Harkness for what he was thinking. He was fucking right, and that was why Sirius needed to get home. “Remus’s mum was a Muggleborn and his dad was a half-blood. That’s probably why you couldn’t find anything on me if magic doesn’t exist here. Blood purity is what the war we’re fighting is pretty much all about. One half-blooded madman who wants to rid our world of those with what he considers less than pure blood.”
“That sounds familiar,” Harkness drawled. He paused, a faraway look in his eyes that made Sirius shiver. Ah. Yes, it did sound familiar; that was what had been going on in Muggle Germany when Grindelwald came to power. He’d paid more attention in Muggle Studies than Remus had thought he did. “You mentioned Remus was a werewolf? Does that have anything to do with the war?”
Sirius shook his head. “He’s on our side. Voldemort was recruiting followers-some of the werewolves were going over to his side, but Remus was helping us fight him. He was working with them, trying to convince the others that Voldemort’s were false promises.”
Cooper gave his hand a final squeeze, and stood to key her earwig. She listened for a moment, before she set the files she had been holding on the table. “Torchwood has had past encounters with so-called werewolves, all non-terrestrial beings. Are you sure he’s human? From Earth?”
Sirius bristled, sitting straighter. He’d had this fight before. “I know him better than he knows his own self. Have done since we were at school. He’s as human as I am! He just has a furry little problem, that’s all. But there’s no space travel back home. And, save for a small faction of ours working with NASA, our world doesn’t seem too chuffed about getting into space. I mean, who cares about aliens when we’ve got magic!”
“All right, Mr Black. We still need Remus’s last name? Maybe his mother and aunt’s names as well?”
“Lupin. Anwen Lupin née Davies. His aunt’s name is Glynis,” Sirius said, looking between them as Cooper sucked in a breath and Harkness squared his shoulders. That certainly wasn’t good. “What? Is something wrong?”
“Jack?” Cooper asked, meeting his eyes as she leaned over the table.
Sirius watched him nod, his heart thundering in his chest.
“Sweetheart, I think you need to take into consideration that this isn’t your world, and not your Remus,” Cooper said and opened the file. She laid out a picture of a smiling, sandy haired boy and a piece of paper with an official looking seal. They were all embossed with a stylised T. “Remus John Lupin was killed in a road accident when he was four.”
Sirius looked over the paper, only picking out phrases as he skimmed over it. No, this couldn’t be right. Remus was alive, he knew that for a fact. But if there were only alien werewolves here... He took a deep breath to steady himself and set the paper down. Cooper was right. This wasn’t his Remus. His eyes drifted to the photograph and Harkness pushed it towards him. He traced the edge of this Remus’s face, studying the fall of his hair, the chubbiness of his cheeks and smiling hazel eyes. So why did it still hurt so much?
“Is this your Remus?” Harkness asked quietly and leaned forward to look at the photograph upside down.
Sirius chuckled darkly. “I was always his, but that’s not what you meant. This boy isn’t him. My Remus is twenty and alive and I’d bet he’s trying to hide the fact he’s beside himself from James right now.”
“James?” Cooper asked, smiling as she stepped closer and leaned her hip against the edge of the table. He swallowed when he saw the gun tucked into her jeans as her blouse rode up. What was it with these people? Were aliens always hostile or something?
He cleared his throat and looked back down at picture. “The friend I was telling you about. He probably doesn’t exist in this world either. Or Peter. Or Dumbledore. Or anyone else I know. Or my pitiful excuse for a family, thank Merlin.” And no Voldemort.
“And anyone who does happen to exist in both worlds wouldn’t know you,” Harkness said with a frown. “You’d never have met.”
“I’d still want to know they were safe.”
“Just don’t get any ideas,” Harkness said, taking a plastic bag with the same hexagonal pattern from his lap and laid it on the table. Sirius felt his jaw drop.
“That’s my wand!” he said and reached for it. “How did you-“
Harkness laid a hand over the bag. “We took it off you after you collapsed last night. We brought it back here because we’ve been getting some strange energy readings off the both of you.”
“I’m guessing that’d be something to do with my magic,” Sirius said, hand flexing reflectively. He could practically feel his palm itching. “May I have it back please?”
Harkness smiled, but his eyes were cold. “Maybe it’s magic, maybe it’s residual Rift energy coupled with the Void stuff, but whatever it is, our sensors don’t seem to think it’s anything dangerous. Now this”-he picked up the bagged wand-“is something else. Care to tell us about it?”
“It’s a wand,” Sirius said with a shrug. Even they could figure that out. “Every wizard has one. I got it when I was eleven for school.”
“What was the name of the school?” Harkness asked and pulled a pen from a pocket.
“Hogwarts,” Sirius said, watching as Harkness scribbled it on his palm, “but I doubt you’ll find it. It’s warded against Muggles. Sort of like that perception thing on your lift. Though I doubt it’s even there if there’s no magic.”
“Where’s it located? We might be able to look into it,” Cooper said and smiled at him.
“It’s near a town called Hogsmeade in Scotland, but it’s a wizarding village. It’d be warded too,” Sirius said, frowning, and watched Harkness activated his communication device.
“Thanks, Ianto,” he said with a sigh. “What’s the nearest town?”
“Dufftown.”
“Lovely,” Harkness said, and turned to Cooper. “Gwen, could you see if Archie knows anything when we’re through here?”
“It’d help if I knew what I was looking for,” she said and looked at Sirius.
“Old, rundown castle to Muggles, pretty damn breathtaking one for wizards,” Sirius said as Cooper rolled her eye and stood up. “Anything else?”
Harkness opened the bag. Removing the wand and holding it out to Sirius handle first, he said, “I’ll believe in magic when I see it.”
Sirius grinned as he took it and saw Cooper place one hand behind her back. He looked at Harkness, a tight smile tugging at his lips that didn’t reach his eyes. It would be so easy to stun them and run, but if there was nothing he knew in this world…. He cleared his throat and stared down at the picture of Remus for a moment before muttering, “Wingardium Leviosa.”
As the picture started to float off the table towards the ceiling, he smiled to himself. “It’s just a simple charm. It’s one of the first things we learned in Charms. Quite useful when you’re rearranging the furniture.”
“I should imagine,” Harkness said, eyes following the photograph as it drifted back down to the table. “Gwen, I think you were right about the incantation.”
“Is this where I get to say I told you so?” Cooper teased and winked at Sirius.
He gave her a small smile and placed the wand on top of the plastic bag. He didn’t think they’d be letting him keep it.
Harkness picked the wand up and held it up to the light. “What’s it made of? I mean, I doubt a simple piece of wood is a powerful enough conduit.”
“Cypress wood with a core of dragon heartstring. Ten and a half-inches,” Sirius said and felt his cheeks burning at the lecherous look Harkness shot him. Good god, what was it with the man? “Not like that.”
“Of course not,” Harkness said with a wink. “So, I’m assuming dragons are ‘magical’ beings, thus their organic matter heightens the effects of your powers and concentrates them.” He tucked the wand back into the bag, sealing the zip top on the second try. “You make it yourself?”
Sirius shook his head. “Father took me to Ollivander’s shop in Diagon Alley after I got my letter from Hogwarts. It took the better part of two hours before Mr Ollivander found the right one. His family has been making the best wands in Britain since the fourth century.”
Harkness raised an eyebrow. “So, I’m guessing the wand is unique to each wizard.”
Sirius nodded, and couldn’t help but feeling a little proud of Harkness. He seemed to be taking it in stride now that he wasn’t fighting him. “No two are the same, and, while you can use another witch's or wizard’s, it doesn’t have the same effect.”
“Sounds fair enough,” Harkness said and shifted in his chair to draw one leg up under himself. “Care to tell us how you can turn into a dog?”
“Not really, but I have a feeling you’re going to make me anyway,” Sirius deadpanned and Harkness smiled coldly at him.
“Our history with shapeshifters isn’t so good.” The American gave Sirius a look that sent a shiver down his spine, and there was an expression on Cooper’s face that said there was definitely a story there.
“Like werewolves?” Sirius countered, scowling at him. If they so much as implied he was an alien, he didn’t know what he’d do. Probably something to get him sent back to that prison.
“Tell me about your ability, I’ll tell you what I know about the Torchwood werewolf,” Harkness said, ignoring Cooper’s protest, and raised his eyebrows.
“Fine,” Sirius said, meeting Harkness’s eyes . “We-James, Peter and I-figured out Remus was a werewolf in our second year at school.” He paused, a grim smile tugging at his lips as he remembered. “He disappeared once a month. Said his mum was ill and that he went home to visit her, but he always came back with cuts and bandages and these horrible bruises. At first we though someone was hurting him, but eventually we realised it was always a full moon when he was gone. I guess we should have noticed that sooner than we did, but he was so quiet and kept himself to himself for the most part.
“When we told him we knew, he thought we were going to tell our parents and have him removed from the school.” He rubbed a hand along his jaw. “Even back then he had a good left hook, but he was our friend. We wanted to help him, but since we couldn’t be with him on the full moon as humans without being mauled, James came up with the idea of becoming Animagi-that’s what you call wizards who can turn into an animal.”
“So how does that work? Becoming one, that is?” Cooper asked.
“We started looking around the library for a spell or potion to do it. See, some wizards are born with the ability, but it’s rare. Very rare. There were only six on the register when we checked. After a while-and after checking our parents’ libraries and the Restricted Section at school-we finally found a potion halfway through third year. It took us until fifth year to perfect it, but it worked. Highly illegal, but being with Moony was worth it.”
“‘Moony?’” Harkness said with a grin. “I take it that’s a pet name for Remus’s other form.”
Cooper groaned and Sirius chuckled. Remus had felt the same way. “Yup. Remus was Moony for obvious reasons. I’m Padfoot since I’m a dog. James was a stag, so we called him Prongs, and Peter was a rat we called Wormtail.”
“How illegal?” Harkness asked. “What would have happened if you’d been found out?”
“There are worse things to go to Azkaban for,” Sirius said with a shrug. “We didn’t care. We were helping a friend. That’s all that mattered.” He met Harkness’s eyes. “Your turn, Captain. What does Torchwood have to do with werewolves?”
The American sighed. “I’m afraid I don’t know much more than what it says in the founding documents. I wasn’t there when it happened.” He paused, eyes glazing for a moment before taking a deep breath. “In 1879, Queen Victoria visited Torchwood House while en route to Balmoral Castle. According to the record, there was a werewolf being held there by a group of monks who worshipped it. Long story short, it was an extra-terrestrial and wanted to take over the planet by biting the Queen and turning her into a werewolf herself. After what happened there, she set up the Torchwood Institute to protect Earth from such threats, even though the Doctor, an alien himself, stopped it from happening. That’s all you need to know.”
“So you’re not going to tell me what happened, exaclty, at the House to make her think the planet needed protecting?”
Harkness narrowed his eyes and leaned back. “Nope. It isn’t relevant at the moment, and the Institute has undergone some rather major changes since its founding.”
Sirius stifled a sigh. Typical bureaucratic nonsense. He looked down at the picture of Remus again. He felt his stomach do a flip and closed his eyes against the fear that started to rise. “What else do you want to know?”
“Do James and Peter have last names?” Harkness asked. “What about your family?”
“James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. They’re both purebloods like me so you probably won’t find anything. And I don’t give a damn about my family. I left when I was sixteen and haven’t looked back since.”
“Well, trying to find your friends couldn’t hurt,” Harkness said with a soft smile. “If that’s all you can tell us, we’ll look into getting you settled somewhere.”
“I don’t want to go back to that place,” Sirius said and flattened his hands on the table top. “I thought I was in Azkaban.”
“I take it that’s a wizard prison?” Harkness said and motioned for the file Cooper was holding.
Sirius swallowed and nodded as she handed it to Harkness. “It’s not a very nice place. You could lose your soul there.”
“Figuratively or literally?” He took the file and looked at the papers briefly.
“Both.”
“Ah,” Harkness said and turned to look at Cooper. “Could you send Ianto in and run those names?”
“Sure,” Cooper said and smiled at Sirius. “If you need anything just ask, all right?”
Sirius nodded and watched her leave the small room.
“These are for you,” Harkness said and set the folder down. “I thought maybe you’d want to know a little more about him in this world. It’s not much, but it’s something.”
“This won’t affect anything with history or whatever, will it?” Sirius asked and traced his finger around the edge of the folder. “I mean, will me having this change anything? I’ve seen enough Muggle sci-fi films to know about things like that.”
Harkness chuckled and placed his hand over his. “If it would, I wouldn’t be letting you have it. Just remember he’s not your Remus. I...I know what it’s like to be alone in a place where nothing’s familiar and you haven’t a clue what’s going on. I don’t want you to feel that way. Sometimes you just need a tiny little bit of home, no matter how far removed it may be.”
Sirius pulled his hand away. He regarded Harkness for a moment, wondering if perhaps he’d fallen through the Rift and/or Void too since he knew so much about it. Even without the period military clothing he looked like he didn’t quite fit in, but he couldn’t quite figure out what it was that gave him away. “You don’t even know me.”
“You didn’t ask for this to happen,” Harkness sighed. “I know what it’s like to lose someone like that and I know what it’s like to be left behind. We can’t help Remus and we can’t send you home, but the least we can do is make you feel as welcome here as possible if you’re willing to meet us halfway.”
“Why can’t I go home?” Sirius said and balled his hands into fists. “I want to go home. I have a life there-friends, a cause, someone I love. That’s where I’m meant to be.”
Harkness didn’t look up as the door opened and Jones, in his shirtsleeves, stepped in. “Because travel between parallel worlds is impossible. You shouldn’t even be here-it could mean trouble. Big trouble.”
“I don’t think it’s wise for me to be causing anymore ‘trouble,’” Sirius said with snort. Anything to stop them from pointing guns at him. “Does your lot still burn witches, then?”
“People are more accepting nowadays,” Harkness said and scowled at him. “They’re more accepting of a lot of things actually, and it’s only going to get better, but that’s not what I meant. If you came through from a parallel world, it could mean the walls between universes are breaking down.”
“The Darkness is coming,” Jones sing-songed and stepped up behind Harkness. He laid his hands on the American’s shoulders, and the tension in them immediately disappeared as he leaned back into the Welshman’s touch. Sirius had to look away, a hot coil of envy unwinding through his chest.
“Exactly,” Harkness exhaled. “I was hoping it was Abaddon.”
“Maybe it was. If we’re lucky,” Jones sighed. Sirius watched as he massaged Harkness’s shoulders a bit before stepping away and stuffing his hands in his pockets.
“You’re talking nonsense again,” Sirius quipped lightly. He stared resolutely down at his hands on the table, wondering if he’d ever be able to touch Remus like that again. “What’s going to happen to me now?”
***
“Well, we can’t let you go unsupervised,” Jack said and scooted back in the chair, unconsciously seeking out Ianto’s presence again. “You could stay here.”
“In this place?” Black said, eyebrows threatening to disappear into his hairline. “In a cell? I’d rather sleep in the sewers.”
“Well, the company might be the same either way,” Ianto said as he fingered the tracking device in his pocket. He briefly wondered how the man would react when he met Janet. “But I don’t think that’s what Jack meant.”
“Right,” Jack said and sighed. He ran a hand through his hair. “There’s a room under my office. I don’t us it much anymore, but you’re welcome to it. One of us can kip on the couch if you stay there. Or if you want to go outside, get acquainted with the world again, we can give you a tracking device and you can come home with one of us where we can monitor you. But you have to wear the device. That part’s not negotiable.”
“So either way I’m a prisoner?” Black spat and crossed his arms. “Do I really need a guard?”
Jack growled and Ianto stepped forward. He placed his hand back on Jack’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. If anyone knew what it was like to be a prisoner of Torchwood, it was Jack. It didn’t matter that Black was a potential threat; after what had happened with John Ellis they would have been doing it for anyone. They couldn’t afford not to.
“Think for a minute how you’d feel in the same situation,” he said, staring resolutely at the young man. “If Jack’s offering to let you go, I think that means he trusts you. We just want to keep an eye on you, make sure you’re safe. It’s standard to keep tabs on all refugees or asylum seekers that come to this planet. We’d offer you a safe house, but they’re all full up since a few planets seem to have gone missing.”
“Your safety is our priority,” Jack said, straightening in his chair as he leaned into Ianto’s touch. “If someone found out about your powers, they could try to exploit them. They could, to use your example, burn you at the stake if they were so inclined. Things are good, but not so great that people aren’t still idiots who’d rather lash out than attempt to understand. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“What’s to stop you from trying to use them yourself?”
“Because I know what it’s like to have someone use your abilities for their own amusement. Trust me, we wouldn’t do that. The old Torchwood regime might have, but not us.”
Black let out a breath and slid down in his chair. He closed his eyes for a moment before taking the picture off the table. He stared sadly down at it, and when he looked back up at Jack and Ianto his eyes were glossed with unshed tears.
“Can I work for you?”
Jack laughed, and Ianto ducked his head to hid a grin. He couldn’t blame the man for trying. “Not if all you’re going to do is look for a way to get back.”
“What if I help you out around here?” Black said. “I could do admin stuff or walk the pterodactyl. Or maybe I could use magic to help around here. Ever had the dishes wash themselves up or the broom sweep the floor for you?”
“Or we could falsify your documents and you could have a nice shop job. I hear Marks & Spencer is hiring.”
“I don’t want to work at some shop,” Black spat and blew out an angry breath. “I want to actually do something worthwhile. I could have sat around like some posh twat at home, but I went into magical law enforcement and joined the resistance.”
“Right now what you’re going to do isn’t important,” Jack said tersely. “Once Gwen, Ianto and I talk, we’ll decide what’s best for everyone. We’ve got time to get you a job lined up, in a shop or not, but we need to get a roof over your head. The facility at Flat Holm would do nicely.”
“It’s a prison.”
“It’s a long term care facility for those who can no longer care for themselves,” Ianto said. “Everyone the Rift takes and returns we take there. They’re battered and scared in ways you can’t imagine, but you’re the exception. Now we can either come up with something or we can put you down in the vaults with the other shit the Rift spits out.”
Black looked at him as if Ianto had betrayed him. He didn’t feel guilty about it. Almost. “I just feel so useless. I don’t know where I really am or what to do.”
“You’re in Cardiff, Wales, on the planet Earth in the year 2008. The city has just been attacked, but it’s recovering. The Rift has been active for the past few weeks because of that, but it looks like it’s going to be calming down if the predictor is right. We’re tired, you’re lost, and I’m sure we all could use a little down time,” Jack said, his shoulders slumping. “I don’t think it’d do anyone any harm if you left the Hub. In fact, I think it’d help, but if you try anything-and I do mean anything-you’ll be in the vaults so fast you’ll think you’re still in 1979.”
“But I have to wear a tracker to go out, don’t I?”
“It’s just a small precaution. Ianto,” Jack said and turned to look at Ianto, smile tight and looking anywhere but at him, “do you have it with you?”
“You wound me, sir,” Ianto said, smiling at him as he pulled the device from his pocket.
It was a long chain of dark, light-weight metal with clear beads set at regular intervals. The metal was warm against Ianto’s palm as he held it out for Black to see.
“It’s simple enough. It uses body heat to power itself and activates once you put it one,” he explained and handed it to Jack.
“Our technician found the frequency it works on a few years ago,” Jack said, letting his fingers ghost across Ianto’s palm as he took the device. “Waterproof, bulletproof, and good up to a half-light year away.”
“So you can follow me if you wanted?” Black said, his hand twitching as if to reach for it.
“You can have your freedom, more or less, but the city’s changed a lot since the Seventies, and we don’t know what else is different about this world and yours,” Jack said and held it by both ends. “It’d be best if you had one of us with you until we’ve got everything sorted.”
Black nervously rubbed at his left wrist before holding it out. “Is it always so cold in here?”
“Pretty much,” Ianto deadpanned. “The human furnace here won’t let us change the thermostat.”
“Hey! I don’t complain about your place, you don’t complain about mine,” Jack said with a smile as he looped and then tied the tracker around Black’s wrist. The beads glowed a soft rosy pink for a moment before it fit itself to his wrist.
“You know, I would complain to the boss but he’s just as bad as you are,” Ianto quipped and tucked his hands into his pockets with a small smile at Jack’s glare. “So, Mr Black, what’ll it be?”
“I don’t fancy staying in this place,” he said, not looking up as he traced the device with the fingers of his right hand. “It’s dank.”
“I should be insulted,” Jack said, but gave Ianto a small smile. “Fine, then. I don’t blame you. That room under my office is a bit claustrophobic now that I think about it. However, I don’t think Gwen’s husband would be too happy if she brought home a handsome young man, so...Ianto?”
Ianto frowned at Jack. It’s not that he necessarily minded putting up their guest, it was just such short notice. Jack could have told him what he was thinking sooner, but the innocent look the man was wearing told him he knew how much trouble he was in for. “The flat’s a mess, but you’re welcome to my sofa.”
“No spare room?” Black asked, wrinkling his nose.
“Hardly any room at all, really,” Ianto shrugged. “I was using the spare room for storing all the boxes while we close on the new place.”
“Bloody red tape,” Jacks said, earning a playful smack on the arm from Ianto.
“I don’t mean to be a burden,” Black said, meeting Ianto’s eyes. “I could stay here if I’d be in your way.”
“It’s really no trouble at all, Mr Black,” Ianto said. It really wasn’t, not with how much time he and Jack spent together now. Two sets of eyes watching him would be better than one.
“Oh,” Black said quickly, as if just remembering it, and picked up the picture of Remus. “Can I keep this?”
“Of course,” Jack said and pushed himself out of the chair. He brushed Ianto’s thigh, hand lingering longer than necessary, as he tucked the chair back under the table. “The files too if you want. If you’ll just follow Ianto, I’ll go see what Gwen’s got for us and we’ll head out.”
“What about clothes?” Black said, staring up at Jack with a frown. “I look ridiculous in these scurbs or whatever they’re called. I can’t go out wearing these. How about some real ones? The ones I was wearing when you found me?”
“I think your old ones were a bit worse for the wear,” Jack said. “We’ll try to get you some new ones tomorrow after we’ve all got some rest. I don’t know about you, but I’m dead on my feet.”
“Fine,” Black exhaled. He seemed to deflate as he slouched. “What time is it?”
“Half two,” Jack read off as he checked his watch. He stood, hand squeezing Ianto’s knee. “Mind hanging around here for a few hours? Maybe have a cup of coffee and play fetch with the dinosaur?”
“Fine with me,” Black sighed.
“Right,” Jack said and looked back at Ianto before starting towards the door. “You might want to check in autopsy.”
Ianto watched Jack’s retreating form, waiting for the door to close behind him before he turned to Black. “Now, why don’t we see if Jack hasn’t moved Owen’s things to long term storage yet? You’re about his size, though I doubt you’ll find anything you like.”
“Who’s Owen?” Black asked, brows furrowing. “Harkness said you lost some people.”
“You can call him Jack, if you want,” Ianto said quickly, his face expressionless. He didn’t like thinking about what happened still. “Owen was our medic.”
“Was?”
“He’s gone now.”
“Gone how?”
“Just gone. One of the hazards of this job,” Ianto said curtly and motioned for Black to stand. After a moment, he sighed and smiled wanly at him. “How does a nice curry sound for dinner? We haven’t done a curry in a while.”
Black stared at him for a long moment before nodding, and Ianto had the distinct feeling that he could more than empathise with him. He’d said he was fighting a war a home; it only stood to reason he’d lost friends, too. “Sounds fine to me.”
Part XI
Author: noscrubs12345
sirius100 Prompt: Variations on Reality (original)
Pairings: Remus/Sirius, Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: Sirius Black knew there was something he didn't like about Cardiff. He just didn't expect it to be a rift in time and space. But, once taken, will he be able to make it back to the wizarding world? Or will he be stuck with bloody Torchwood if his friends don't find him first? And what does a mysterious blonde woman have to do with the strange blue box hidden inside the Department of Mysteries?
Warnings: spoilers through Torchwood series two and Doctor Who series four
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, Russell T Davies, the BBC, various publishers, including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended and no money is being made.
Notes: My sincerest apologies for the delay in updating. Between moving house and getting settled in I've barely had a free moment. The spotty wi-fi hasn't helped either. XD
Missed the beginning?: Part I || Part II || Part III || Part IV || Part V || Part VI || Part VII || Part VIII || Part IX
or
Bloody Torchwood @ AO3
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Sirius woke with a start as the door banged open. He raised his head from his arms and stared groggily at Harkness and Cooper. He sat up and rubbed his eyes when he noticed the red and blue lensed glasses Harkness was wearing.
“You look ridiculous,” Cooper whispered as he took the opposite chair him from under the table and turned it around.
“Mr Black, do I look as silly in these as Gwen here seems to think I do?” he said as he sank down, arms crossed over the back of the chair.
Sirius looked between the two, not quite sure if Harkness was serious. At Cooper’s small nod, he said, “I think you look like a nutter.”
Harkness chuckled heartily and pulled them off, sitting them by Sirius’s empty plate. “Well, you’re probably right, but I always say it’s function over form.”
Sirius raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. Leaning forward, he said, “If this is your interrogation technique, it’s awful.” He’d seen recruits straight out of Hogwarts with a better one. Even if Harkness was trying to unsettle him, it seemed a bit…silly.
“And how would you know anything about interrogation techniques?” Harkness said, levelling that steely blue gaze at him. It was a bit disconcerting to have it directed at him, and it didn’t take much for him to realise what Harkness was implying about his own skills.
“I’m an Auror back home,” he said, trying to shrug it off. What did it matter if he told them? He could just Oblivate them if he had to once he got his wand back.
“And an ‘Auror’ does what exactly?” Harkness glanced back over his shoulder at the mirrored panel set high on the wall.
Sirius looked up at it and frowned as Cooper reached for her ear. There was some sort of device concealed there, and he was almost sure Jones was watching from behind the two-way glass. He turned back to Harkness. “We’re sort of like MI5 for wizarding Britain.”
“But what do you do?”
“Why should I tell you that? You do realise I could go to prison for having already told you much as I have!” Sirius snapped and leaned forward. No point in making it easy on them if they weren’t going to take him seriously.
Harkness frowned at him. “We won’t let that happen, I promise, and I’m sure your superiors will understand if you divulged information to Torchwood in order to return home.”
There was something condescending in Harkness’s tone that Sirius didn’t like. “And just what gives Torchwood jurisdiction over the MLE?”
“Her Majesty the Queen,” Harkness said, staring coldly at him. “We’re separate from the government, outside the police, beyond the UN. I’m sure we could work something out. Besides, I don’t think you’ll need to worry.”
Sirius looked between a frowning Cooper and coldly grinning Harkness for a moment. “Why not?”
“Because you’re a long way from home, Mr Black,” he said, fingering the glasses. “If there was indeed magic in this world, I guarantee you Torchwood would know about it. And there’s nothing in our archives, and only a handful of witch trials on this planet and in the known galaxies to even acknowledge the occult following of it. Well, unless you count the Vegas galaxies, but then they were always a bit too Derren Brown for my liking.”
“You’re talking rubbish,” Sirius said, shaking his head. He didn’t believe a word Harkness was saying; of course there was magic. He was proof of that. “There’s no way you’ve been to space. The Muggles had barely got to the moon by 1979.”
“Yeah well, in the next hundred years they’ll be going a lot farther than that,” Harkness quipped. “Now are you going to tell me what it is you do exactly?”
“Why?”
“Because Ianto and I told you about Torchwood. I know it may be a bit hard for you to believe, but however much ‘rubbish’ you think we’re talking I guarantee that’s how we’re feeling about your magic right now. And Gwen and I need to ask you some questions so we can do our best to help, maybe give your loved ones closure.”
Harkness did have a point about sharing information. But his family? They’d be thrilled. “What kind of questions?” Sirius asked with a snort and glanced at Cooper from beneath his lashes. Maybe he’d get somewhere with the good cop.
“Just some things about yourself, sweetheart,” she said, smiling gently. “We just want to help.”
Sirius looked between them again. He looked up at the mirror and stared at his reflection, wondering just why he was still putting up a fight. Wouldn’t it be better to work with them if he had a chance at even trying to get home? After a moment, he let his gaze fall back to his companions. “Fine. I’ll tell you what I can.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Harkness said, grinning. “We’ll start with your real name.”
“What?” Sirius said, mouth agape. Why wouldn’t they know his name? They had his driving license. “You know my name.”
“We checked the records. You don’t exist,” Harkness said. He picked up the glasses and slipped them back on. “Which really isn’t that surprising considering you’re covered in Void stuff.”
Sirius rested his elbows on the table and ran his hands over his face. He could feel a headache coming on. “You’re talking nonsense again. I’m wearing a poor excuse for clothes and itchy wool socks. I’ve just had a shower. How could I be covered in anything?”
“It clings to things that have been through the Void-“
“You mean your Rift?” Sirius tried, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. Rift, Void, he couldn’t keep track of half the strange things Harkness said. Why confuse him when he was just starting to come around to the idea that there was, indeed, a spatial-temporal schism in Cardiff?
“The Rift is a crack in the fabric of space-time whereas the Void is the space between realities. It’s more than likely that while you were in your world’s Cardiff, the Rift took you, but for some reason it brought you here-pulled you across universes through the Void and into our world-instead of sending you to God knows what backwater planet.”
“What does that even mean?” he asked. “How can you tell?”
Harkness held the glasses out. “Put them on and see for yourself.”
“I still say you’re a nutter,” Sirius said, but did as he was told.
He gasped as he looked down at his hands. There was something floating around them-and the rest of him when he jumped to his feet-something like small black particles. He snatched the glasses off and threw them on the table
“What the fuck was that?” he yelled
“Background radiation. It’s nothing to be worried about,” Harkness said and frowned. “Well, not that we know of. That's Void stuff.”
“‘Stuff?’” He was covered in radioactive particles and they called it stuff?
Harkness waved his hand about dismissively. “It’s a highly technical term.”
“How is that possible?”
“You should be dead,” Harkness said simply, and Sirius had to commend the way he didn’t so much as bat an eye. “Travel through the Void without a vessel is impossible. Two years ago, a race of creatures thought to be extinct in this universe came through in a Void ship. Another race of monsters came through behind them. Together, they destroyed Torchwood London, and if it wasn’t for the Doctor and Rose…well, that doesn’t matter now. Anyway, you didn’t have a ship, so I don’t think that matters.”
“So how the hell did I end up here then?” Sirius asked and collapsed into his chair, heart pounding as he wondered what Harkness hadn’t said.
“That’s why we need to talk to you, sweetheart,” Cooper said. She crossed the table and knelt beside him, laying one of her soft hands on his. She smiled up at him, somewhere between a mother comforting a child and the police officer Harkness had said she was. “What happened before you were taken?”
“I was with Remus,” he said and swallowed, thinking back. Unconsciously, he turned his hand in hers and squeezed. “We’d been shopping and had got an ice cream before heading back to his mum’s. We were running late so we cut through Bute Park, and I was trying to weasel my way out of dinner. His aunt was in town; she doesn’t like me and the feeling is completely mutual.”
“Meeting the family,” Harkness said with a chuckle. “That’s always fun.”
“We’re going to need Remus’s last name,” Cooper said. “We searched for any him, but the only result we got is a bit questionable.”
Sirius frowned. He’d told Jones, but if they’d got a result, however tentative, for Remus and not him.... “He’s not a pureblood,” he said suddenly, making the connection. Of course. If there was no magic here, it made sense their might not be any of the old wizarding families.
The pair stiffened and looked between each other before turning back to him.
“Pureblood?” Harkness asked, eyes narrowing as he regarded Sirius. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’m a wizard with a bloody pedigree,” Sirius spat. He couldn’t blame Harkness for what he was thinking. He was fucking right, and that was why Sirius needed to get home. “Remus’s mum was a Muggleborn and his dad was a half-blood. That’s probably why you couldn’t find anything on me if magic doesn’t exist here. Blood purity is what the war we’re fighting is pretty much all about. One half-blooded madman who wants to rid our world of those with what he considers less than pure blood.”
“That sounds familiar,” Harkness drawled. He paused, a faraway look in his eyes that made Sirius shiver. Ah. Yes, it did sound familiar; that was what had been going on in Muggle Germany when Grindelwald came to power. He’d paid more attention in Muggle Studies than Remus had thought he did. “You mentioned Remus was a werewolf? Does that have anything to do with the war?”
Sirius shook his head. “He’s on our side. Voldemort was recruiting followers-some of the werewolves were going over to his side, but Remus was helping us fight him. He was working with them, trying to convince the others that Voldemort’s were false promises.”
Cooper gave his hand a final squeeze, and stood to key her earwig. She listened for a moment, before she set the files she had been holding on the table. “Torchwood has had past encounters with so-called werewolves, all non-terrestrial beings. Are you sure he’s human? From Earth?”
Sirius bristled, sitting straighter. He’d had this fight before. “I know him better than he knows his own self. Have done since we were at school. He’s as human as I am! He just has a furry little problem, that’s all. But there’s no space travel back home. And, save for a small faction of ours working with NASA, our world doesn’t seem too chuffed about getting into space. I mean, who cares about aliens when we’ve got magic!”
“All right, Mr Black. We still need Remus’s last name? Maybe his mother and aunt’s names as well?”
“Lupin. Anwen Lupin née Davies. His aunt’s name is Glynis,” Sirius said, looking between them as Cooper sucked in a breath and Harkness squared his shoulders. That certainly wasn’t good. “What? Is something wrong?”
“Jack?” Cooper asked, meeting his eyes as she leaned over the table.
Sirius watched him nod, his heart thundering in his chest.
“Sweetheart, I think you need to take into consideration that this isn’t your world, and not your Remus,” Cooper said and opened the file. She laid out a picture of a smiling, sandy haired boy and a piece of paper with an official looking seal. They were all embossed with a stylised T. “Remus John Lupin was killed in a road accident when he was four.”
Sirius looked over the paper, only picking out phrases as he skimmed over it. No, this couldn’t be right. Remus was alive, he knew that for a fact. But if there were only alien werewolves here... He took a deep breath to steady himself and set the paper down. Cooper was right. This wasn’t his Remus. His eyes drifted to the photograph and Harkness pushed it towards him. He traced the edge of this Remus’s face, studying the fall of his hair, the chubbiness of his cheeks and smiling hazel eyes. So why did it still hurt so much?
“Is this your Remus?” Harkness asked quietly and leaned forward to look at the photograph upside down.
Sirius chuckled darkly. “I was always his, but that’s not what you meant. This boy isn’t him. My Remus is twenty and alive and I’d bet he’s trying to hide the fact he’s beside himself from James right now.”
“James?” Cooper asked, smiling as she stepped closer and leaned her hip against the edge of the table. He swallowed when he saw the gun tucked into her jeans as her blouse rode up. What was it with these people? Were aliens always hostile or something?
He cleared his throat and looked back down at picture. “The friend I was telling you about. He probably doesn’t exist in this world either. Or Peter. Or Dumbledore. Or anyone else I know. Or my pitiful excuse for a family, thank Merlin.” And no Voldemort.
“And anyone who does happen to exist in both worlds wouldn’t know you,” Harkness said with a frown. “You’d never have met.”
“I’d still want to know they were safe.”
“Just don’t get any ideas,” Harkness said, taking a plastic bag with the same hexagonal pattern from his lap and laid it on the table. Sirius felt his jaw drop.
“That’s my wand!” he said and reached for it. “How did you-“
Harkness laid a hand over the bag. “We took it off you after you collapsed last night. We brought it back here because we’ve been getting some strange energy readings off the both of you.”
“I’m guessing that’d be something to do with my magic,” Sirius said, hand flexing reflectively. He could practically feel his palm itching. “May I have it back please?”
Harkness smiled, but his eyes were cold. “Maybe it’s magic, maybe it’s residual Rift energy coupled with the Void stuff, but whatever it is, our sensors don’t seem to think it’s anything dangerous. Now this”-he picked up the bagged wand-“is something else. Care to tell us about it?”
“It’s a wand,” Sirius said with a shrug. Even they could figure that out. “Every wizard has one. I got it when I was eleven for school.”
“What was the name of the school?” Harkness asked and pulled a pen from a pocket.
“Hogwarts,” Sirius said, watching as Harkness scribbled it on his palm, “but I doubt you’ll find it. It’s warded against Muggles. Sort of like that perception thing on your lift. Though I doubt it’s even there if there’s no magic.”
“Where’s it located? We might be able to look into it,” Cooper said and smiled at him.
“It’s near a town called Hogsmeade in Scotland, but it’s a wizarding village. It’d be warded too,” Sirius said, frowning, and watched Harkness activated his communication device.
“Thanks, Ianto,” he said with a sigh. “What’s the nearest town?”
“Dufftown.”
“Lovely,” Harkness said, and turned to Cooper. “Gwen, could you see if Archie knows anything when we’re through here?”
“It’d help if I knew what I was looking for,” she said and looked at Sirius.
“Old, rundown castle to Muggles, pretty damn breathtaking one for wizards,” Sirius said as Cooper rolled her eye and stood up. “Anything else?”
Harkness opened the bag. Removing the wand and holding it out to Sirius handle first, he said, “I’ll believe in magic when I see it.”
Sirius grinned as he took it and saw Cooper place one hand behind her back. He looked at Harkness, a tight smile tugging at his lips that didn’t reach his eyes. It would be so easy to stun them and run, but if there was nothing he knew in this world…. He cleared his throat and stared down at the picture of Remus for a moment before muttering, “Wingardium Leviosa.”
As the picture started to float off the table towards the ceiling, he smiled to himself. “It’s just a simple charm. It’s one of the first things we learned in Charms. Quite useful when you’re rearranging the furniture.”
“I should imagine,” Harkness said, eyes following the photograph as it drifted back down to the table. “Gwen, I think you were right about the incantation.”
“Is this where I get to say I told you so?” Cooper teased and winked at Sirius.
He gave her a small smile and placed the wand on top of the plastic bag. He didn’t think they’d be letting him keep it.
Harkness picked the wand up and held it up to the light. “What’s it made of? I mean, I doubt a simple piece of wood is a powerful enough conduit.”
“Cypress wood with a core of dragon heartstring. Ten and a half-inches,” Sirius said and felt his cheeks burning at the lecherous look Harkness shot him. Good god, what was it with the man? “Not like that.”
“Of course not,” Harkness said with a wink. “So, I’m assuming dragons are ‘magical’ beings, thus their organic matter heightens the effects of your powers and concentrates them.” He tucked the wand back into the bag, sealing the zip top on the second try. “You make it yourself?”
Sirius shook his head. “Father took me to Ollivander’s shop in Diagon Alley after I got my letter from Hogwarts. It took the better part of two hours before Mr Ollivander found the right one. His family has been making the best wands in Britain since the fourth century.”
Harkness raised an eyebrow. “So, I’m guessing the wand is unique to each wizard.”
Sirius nodded, and couldn’t help but feeling a little proud of Harkness. He seemed to be taking it in stride now that he wasn’t fighting him. “No two are the same, and, while you can use another witch's or wizard’s, it doesn’t have the same effect.”
“Sounds fair enough,” Harkness said and shifted in his chair to draw one leg up under himself. “Care to tell us how you can turn into a dog?”
“Not really, but I have a feeling you’re going to make me anyway,” Sirius deadpanned and Harkness smiled coldly at him.
“Our history with shapeshifters isn’t so good.” The American gave Sirius a look that sent a shiver down his spine, and there was an expression on Cooper’s face that said there was definitely a story there.
“Like werewolves?” Sirius countered, scowling at him. If they so much as implied he was an alien, he didn’t know what he’d do. Probably something to get him sent back to that prison.
“Tell me about your ability, I’ll tell you what I know about the Torchwood werewolf,” Harkness said, ignoring Cooper’s protest, and raised his eyebrows.
“Fine,” Sirius said, meeting Harkness’s eyes . “We-James, Peter and I-figured out Remus was a werewolf in our second year at school.” He paused, a grim smile tugging at his lips as he remembered. “He disappeared once a month. Said his mum was ill and that he went home to visit her, but he always came back with cuts and bandages and these horrible bruises. At first we though someone was hurting him, but eventually we realised it was always a full moon when he was gone. I guess we should have noticed that sooner than we did, but he was so quiet and kept himself to himself for the most part.
“When we told him we knew, he thought we were going to tell our parents and have him removed from the school.” He rubbed a hand along his jaw. “Even back then he had a good left hook, but he was our friend. We wanted to help him, but since we couldn’t be with him on the full moon as humans without being mauled, James came up with the idea of becoming Animagi-that’s what you call wizards who can turn into an animal.”
“So how does that work? Becoming one, that is?” Cooper asked.
“We started looking around the library for a spell or potion to do it. See, some wizards are born with the ability, but it’s rare. Very rare. There were only six on the register when we checked. After a while-and after checking our parents’ libraries and the Restricted Section at school-we finally found a potion halfway through third year. It took us until fifth year to perfect it, but it worked. Highly illegal, but being with Moony was worth it.”
“‘Moony?’” Harkness said with a grin. “I take it that’s a pet name for Remus’s other form.”
Cooper groaned and Sirius chuckled. Remus had felt the same way. “Yup. Remus was Moony for obvious reasons. I’m Padfoot since I’m a dog. James was a stag, so we called him Prongs, and Peter was a rat we called Wormtail.”
“How illegal?” Harkness asked. “What would have happened if you’d been found out?”
“There are worse things to go to Azkaban for,” Sirius said with a shrug. “We didn’t care. We were helping a friend. That’s all that mattered.” He met Harkness’s eyes. “Your turn, Captain. What does Torchwood have to do with werewolves?”
The American sighed. “I’m afraid I don’t know much more than what it says in the founding documents. I wasn’t there when it happened.” He paused, eyes glazing for a moment before taking a deep breath. “In 1879, Queen Victoria visited Torchwood House while en route to Balmoral Castle. According to the record, there was a werewolf being held there by a group of monks who worshipped it. Long story short, it was an extra-terrestrial and wanted to take over the planet by biting the Queen and turning her into a werewolf herself. After what happened there, she set up the Torchwood Institute to protect Earth from such threats, even though the Doctor, an alien himself, stopped it from happening. That’s all you need to know.”
“So you’re not going to tell me what happened, exaclty, at the House to make her think the planet needed protecting?”
Harkness narrowed his eyes and leaned back. “Nope. It isn’t relevant at the moment, and the Institute has undergone some rather major changes since its founding.”
Sirius stifled a sigh. Typical bureaucratic nonsense. He looked down at the picture of Remus again. He felt his stomach do a flip and closed his eyes against the fear that started to rise. “What else do you want to know?”
“Do James and Peter have last names?” Harkness asked. “What about your family?”
“James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. They’re both purebloods like me so you probably won’t find anything. And I don’t give a damn about my family. I left when I was sixteen and haven’t looked back since.”
“Well, trying to find your friends couldn’t hurt,” Harkness said with a soft smile. “If that’s all you can tell us, we’ll look into getting you settled somewhere.”
“I don’t want to go back to that place,” Sirius said and flattened his hands on the table top. “I thought I was in Azkaban.”
“I take it that’s a wizard prison?” Harkness said and motioned for the file Cooper was holding.
Sirius swallowed and nodded as she handed it to Harkness. “It’s not a very nice place. You could lose your soul there.”
“Figuratively or literally?” He took the file and looked at the papers briefly.
“Both.”
“Ah,” Harkness said and turned to look at Cooper. “Could you send Ianto in and run those names?”
“Sure,” Cooper said and smiled at Sirius. “If you need anything just ask, all right?”
Sirius nodded and watched her leave the small room.
“These are for you,” Harkness said and set the folder down. “I thought maybe you’d want to know a little more about him in this world. It’s not much, but it’s something.”
“This won’t affect anything with history or whatever, will it?” Sirius asked and traced his finger around the edge of the folder. “I mean, will me having this change anything? I’ve seen enough Muggle sci-fi films to know about things like that.”
Harkness chuckled and placed his hand over his. “If it would, I wouldn’t be letting you have it. Just remember he’s not your Remus. I...I know what it’s like to be alone in a place where nothing’s familiar and you haven’t a clue what’s going on. I don’t want you to feel that way. Sometimes you just need a tiny little bit of home, no matter how far removed it may be.”
Sirius pulled his hand away. He regarded Harkness for a moment, wondering if perhaps he’d fallen through the Rift and/or Void too since he knew so much about it. Even without the period military clothing he looked like he didn’t quite fit in, but he couldn’t quite figure out what it was that gave him away. “You don’t even know me.”
“You didn’t ask for this to happen,” Harkness sighed. “I know what it’s like to lose someone like that and I know what it’s like to be left behind. We can’t help Remus and we can’t send you home, but the least we can do is make you feel as welcome here as possible if you’re willing to meet us halfway.”
“Why can’t I go home?” Sirius said and balled his hands into fists. “I want to go home. I have a life there-friends, a cause, someone I love. That’s where I’m meant to be.”
Harkness didn’t look up as the door opened and Jones, in his shirtsleeves, stepped in. “Because travel between parallel worlds is impossible. You shouldn’t even be here-it could mean trouble. Big trouble.”
“I don’t think it’s wise for me to be causing anymore ‘trouble,’” Sirius said with snort. Anything to stop them from pointing guns at him. “Does your lot still burn witches, then?”
“People are more accepting nowadays,” Harkness said and scowled at him. “They’re more accepting of a lot of things actually, and it’s only going to get better, but that’s not what I meant. If you came through from a parallel world, it could mean the walls between universes are breaking down.”
“The Darkness is coming,” Jones sing-songed and stepped up behind Harkness. He laid his hands on the American’s shoulders, and the tension in them immediately disappeared as he leaned back into the Welshman’s touch. Sirius had to look away, a hot coil of envy unwinding through his chest.
“Exactly,” Harkness exhaled. “I was hoping it was Abaddon.”
“Maybe it was. If we’re lucky,” Jones sighed. Sirius watched as he massaged Harkness’s shoulders a bit before stepping away and stuffing his hands in his pockets.
“You’re talking nonsense again,” Sirius quipped lightly. He stared resolutely down at his hands on the table, wondering if he’d ever be able to touch Remus like that again. “What’s going to happen to me now?”
***
“Well, we can’t let you go unsupervised,” Jack said and scooted back in the chair, unconsciously seeking out Ianto’s presence again. “You could stay here.”
“In this place?” Black said, eyebrows threatening to disappear into his hairline. “In a cell? I’d rather sleep in the sewers.”
“Well, the company might be the same either way,” Ianto said as he fingered the tracking device in his pocket. He briefly wondered how the man would react when he met Janet. “But I don’t think that’s what Jack meant.”
“Right,” Jack said and sighed. He ran a hand through his hair. “There’s a room under my office. I don’t us it much anymore, but you’re welcome to it. One of us can kip on the couch if you stay there. Or if you want to go outside, get acquainted with the world again, we can give you a tracking device and you can come home with one of us where we can monitor you. But you have to wear the device. That part’s not negotiable.”
“So either way I’m a prisoner?” Black spat and crossed his arms. “Do I really need a guard?”
Jack growled and Ianto stepped forward. He placed his hand back on Jack’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. If anyone knew what it was like to be a prisoner of Torchwood, it was Jack. It didn’t matter that Black was a potential threat; after what had happened with John Ellis they would have been doing it for anyone. They couldn’t afford not to.
“Think for a minute how you’d feel in the same situation,” he said, staring resolutely at the young man. “If Jack’s offering to let you go, I think that means he trusts you. We just want to keep an eye on you, make sure you’re safe. It’s standard to keep tabs on all refugees or asylum seekers that come to this planet. We’d offer you a safe house, but they’re all full up since a few planets seem to have gone missing.”
“Your safety is our priority,” Jack said, straightening in his chair as he leaned into Ianto’s touch. “If someone found out about your powers, they could try to exploit them. They could, to use your example, burn you at the stake if they were so inclined. Things are good, but not so great that people aren’t still idiots who’d rather lash out than attempt to understand. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“What’s to stop you from trying to use them yourself?”
“Because I know what it’s like to have someone use your abilities for their own amusement. Trust me, we wouldn’t do that. The old Torchwood regime might have, but not us.”
Black let out a breath and slid down in his chair. He closed his eyes for a moment before taking the picture off the table. He stared sadly down at it, and when he looked back up at Jack and Ianto his eyes were glossed with unshed tears.
“Can I work for you?”
Jack laughed, and Ianto ducked his head to hid a grin. He couldn’t blame the man for trying. “Not if all you’re going to do is look for a way to get back.”
“What if I help you out around here?” Black said. “I could do admin stuff or walk the pterodactyl. Or maybe I could use magic to help around here. Ever had the dishes wash themselves up or the broom sweep the floor for you?”
“Or we could falsify your documents and you could have a nice shop job. I hear Marks & Spencer is hiring.”
“I don’t want to work at some shop,” Black spat and blew out an angry breath. “I want to actually do something worthwhile. I could have sat around like some posh twat at home, but I went into magical law enforcement and joined the resistance.”
“Right now what you’re going to do isn’t important,” Jack said tersely. “Once Gwen, Ianto and I talk, we’ll decide what’s best for everyone. We’ve got time to get you a job lined up, in a shop or not, but we need to get a roof over your head. The facility at Flat Holm would do nicely.”
“It’s a prison.”
“It’s a long term care facility for those who can no longer care for themselves,” Ianto said. “Everyone the Rift takes and returns we take there. They’re battered and scared in ways you can’t imagine, but you’re the exception. Now we can either come up with something or we can put you down in the vaults with the other shit the Rift spits out.”
Black looked at him as if Ianto had betrayed him. He didn’t feel guilty about it. Almost. “I just feel so useless. I don’t know where I really am or what to do.”
“You’re in Cardiff, Wales, on the planet Earth in the year 2008. The city has just been attacked, but it’s recovering. The Rift has been active for the past few weeks because of that, but it looks like it’s going to be calming down if the predictor is right. We’re tired, you’re lost, and I’m sure we all could use a little down time,” Jack said, his shoulders slumping. “I don’t think it’d do anyone any harm if you left the Hub. In fact, I think it’d help, but if you try anything-and I do mean anything-you’ll be in the vaults so fast you’ll think you’re still in 1979.”
“But I have to wear a tracker to go out, don’t I?”
“It’s just a small precaution. Ianto,” Jack said and turned to look at Ianto, smile tight and looking anywhere but at him, “do you have it with you?”
“You wound me, sir,” Ianto said, smiling at him as he pulled the device from his pocket.
It was a long chain of dark, light-weight metal with clear beads set at regular intervals. The metal was warm against Ianto’s palm as he held it out for Black to see.
“It’s simple enough. It uses body heat to power itself and activates once you put it one,” he explained and handed it to Jack.
“Our technician found the frequency it works on a few years ago,” Jack said, letting his fingers ghost across Ianto’s palm as he took the device. “Waterproof, bulletproof, and good up to a half-light year away.”
“So you can follow me if you wanted?” Black said, his hand twitching as if to reach for it.
“You can have your freedom, more or less, but the city’s changed a lot since the Seventies, and we don’t know what else is different about this world and yours,” Jack said and held it by both ends. “It’d be best if you had one of us with you until we’ve got everything sorted.”
Black nervously rubbed at his left wrist before holding it out. “Is it always so cold in here?”
“Pretty much,” Ianto deadpanned. “The human furnace here won’t let us change the thermostat.”
“Hey! I don’t complain about your place, you don’t complain about mine,” Jack said with a smile as he looped and then tied the tracker around Black’s wrist. The beads glowed a soft rosy pink for a moment before it fit itself to his wrist.
“You know, I would complain to the boss but he’s just as bad as you are,” Ianto quipped and tucked his hands into his pockets with a small smile at Jack’s glare. “So, Mr Black, what’ll it be?”
“I don’t fancy staying in this place,” he said, not looking up as he traced the device with the fingers of his right hand. “It’s dank.”
“I should be insulted,” Jack said, but gave Ianto a small smile. “Fine, then. I don’t blame you. That room under my office is a bit claustrophobic now that I think about it. However, I don’t think Gwen’s husband would be too happy if she brought home a handsome young man, so...Ianto?”
Ianto frowned at Jack. It’s not that he necessarily minded putting up their guest, it was just such short notice. Jack could have told him what he was thinking sooner, but the innocent look the man was wearing told him he knew how much trouble he was in for. “The flat’s a mess, but you’re welcome to my sofa.”
“No spare room?” Black asked, wrinkling his nose.
“Hardly any room at all, really,” Ianto shrugged. “I was using the spare room for storing all the boxes while we close on the new place.”
“Bloody red tape,” Jacks said, earning a playful smack on the arm from Ianto.
“I don’t mean to be a burden,” Black said, meeting Ianto’s eyes. “I could stay here if I’d be in your way.”
“It’s really no trouble at all, Mr Black,” Ianto said. It really wasn’t, not with how much time he and Jack spent together now. Two sets of eyes watching him would be better than one.
“Oh,” Black said quickly, as if just remembering it, and picked up the picture of Remus. “Can I keep this?”
“Of course,” Jack said and pushed himself out of the chair. He brushed Ianto’s thigh, hand lingering longer than necessary, as he tucked the chair back under the table. “The files too if you want. If you’ll just follow Ianto, I’ll go see what Gwen’s got for us and we’ll head out.”
“What about clothes?” Black said, staring up at Jack with a frown. “I look ridiculous in these scurbs or whatever they’re called. I can’t go out wearing these. How about some real ones? The ones I was wearing when you found me?”
“I think your old ones were a bit worse for the wear,” Jack said. “We’ll try to get you some new ones tomorrow after we’ve all got some rest. I don’t know about you, but I’m dead on my feet.”
“Fine,” Black exhaled. He seemed to deflate as he slouched. “What time is it?”
“Half two,” Jack read off as he checked his watch. He stood, hand squeezing Ianto’s knee. “Mind hanging around here for a few hours? Maybe have a cup of coffee and play fetch with the dinosaur?”
“Fine with me,” Black sighed.
“Right,” Jack said and looked back at Ianto before starting towards the door. “You might want to check in autopsy.”
Ianto watched Jack’s retreating form, waiting for the door to close behind him before he turned to Black. “Now, why don’t we see if Jack hasn’t moved Owen’s things to long term storage yet? You’re about his size, though I doubt you’ll find anything you like.”
“Who’s Owen?” Black asked, brows furrowing. “Harkness said you lost some people.”
“You can call him Jack, if you want,” Ianto said quickly, his face expressionless. He didn’t like thinking about what happened still. “Owen was our medic.”
“Was?”
“He’s gone now.”
“Gone how?”
“Just gone. One of the hazards of this job,” Ianto said curtly and motioned for Black to stand. After a moment, he sighed and smiled wanly at him. “How does a nice curry sound for dinner? We haven’t done a curry in a while.”
Black stared at him for a long moment before nodding, and Ianto had the distinct feeling that he could more than empathise with him. He’d said he was fighting a war a home; it only stood to reason he’d lost friends, too. “Sounds fine to me.”
Part XI