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Chapter Text

Fire. She was on fire. She could feel her skin burning and her blood boiling.

Why? She was screaming 'Why?' over and over, she knew. No one was answering and she felt the darkness crowding her vision. She could feel the restraints tying her down shaking and smacking against the table in her struggles.

"I should have let all of you rot! I should have let you all die!"

She screamed all sorts of condemnations, rage as fiery as the fire burning her consuming her.

She should have let their world burn in Hell.

A girl woke up in the early hours of morning, mouth opened in a silent scream and sweating as emerald eyes shot wide open in terror. She tiredly wiped a hand down her face, before covering her eyes and tried to catch her breath.

It was a typical morning in the Dursley household, with their unwanted outsider. All three Dursley family members slept on peacefully, while Henrietta "Harry" Potter got out of bed and morosely went to start on breakfast.

When they awoke not too long after, almost none of them greeted the quiet girl finishing up cooking. Dudley Dursley stared at his cousin for a moment, before passing by her and muttering a quiet "Good morning." She paused in her work, before ignoring him and going back to what she was doing.

After getting away with a small portion (they'd probably starve her completely, if they could), Harry started in on the dishes, again ignoring the others as Dudley sat in front of the TV, and his mother went into another room to call her "friends" and gossip, and Vernon Dursley went out the backyard and took a call on his cell phone.

He went back in soon after, all agitated, and immediately went to where Petunia Dursley gabbed away. Harry and Dudley glanced in that direction uneasily, before going back to their respective things. However, both Vernon and Petunia came back into the living room, with Vernon yelling for Harry to join them there. It was there that Vernon announced that his boss was having a business party. It had nothing to do with Harry really, so she didn't know why she had to be there.

And then Petunia and Vernon gave each other looks before purposely glaring at Harry.

Petunia pursed her lips. Vernon sighed. Dudley glanced between his parents.

Harry glanced at them before looking away.

"Well, if we don't bring her, she might…bring down the house," Petunia said disdainfully, revealing what their problem had been. "Especially after they said what she did…"

Harry willfully ignored them, letting their words wash over her.

"If we have no choice," Vernon sneered, his mustache quivering in irritation.

"Then it's settled," Dudley tried to smile cheerfully, and Harry looked his way, still bewildered over his recently nicer behavior. "We're all going to Dad's business party."

"She doesn't have anything to wear," Vernon mentioned, still upset at having to bring the girl.

Petunia sniffed. "She can just wear one of my old dresses."

"She'll look awful!" Vernon eyed the teenager. "It won't fit her and she'll embarrass us. I refuse to be embarrassed in front of my boss."

"Then we'll have to…buy her a new dress," Petunia scowled. "A good waste of money, that is."

Honestly, Harry didn't care anymore. She hadn't cared for a long time, and she just wanted to be left alone. Instead, she'd been dumped back on the Dursley's doorstep and isolated, kept "caged" like some kind of animal. Hidden away like some dirty secret…

Or contained like some kind of disease.

And after everything she'd done for everyone. Harry couldn't understand the way their minds worked, the way they could so callously flip on a whim. The Wizarding World had practically abandoned her after she had fulfilled her duty.

And for her efforts as well, she got a nice little extra from the Wizarding World…

"Come on, girl," Petunia snapped at her. "We're going now. Best to get it out of the way."

Harry nodded sharply at her aunt, and followed after her.

A long drive to London and a shopping district, and the two of them were in a stiff silence as they entered a store that looked fancy enough to have clothing wearable to the business party they were to attend.

"Look for the cheapest dress," Petunia glared at her. "I'll be next door, picking out new clothing for Dudley."

She left Harry alone to look lost in the store that she most certainly didn't look like she belonged to. Wearing an oversized shirt and baggy pants, she looked more like a homeless person than that she should be shopping there. Why on earth Petunia would drag her off to this store and leave her, much less make her look for a dress in this store, was beyond her.

Sighing, she began to walk around, wondering if the store personnel would get on her case and kick her out, or maybe even think she would steal something. Her eyes spotted a few dresses in the meanwhile, but a glance at their prices were too expensive, especially for Petunia's taste and especially because it was for Harry.

"I think that emerald dress would look lovely on you," a woman's voice said from behind her and she whirled around to see a tall red head, her hair in a unique style, and wearing a white dress-like uniform with black accents, a red R insignia on her left breast, and wearing gold earrings and heeled boots.

Red hair like her mother's…

Harry turned back around and saw the dress she was talking about. It had been one of the dresses she'd been looking at, but the price was obscene in her eyes. She strode back to it and picked the price tag with two fingers, dexterously twirling it upwards as she faced the gorgeous red head again. She shook it once to indicate the price and the woman laughed.

"Expensive then? Let me see," she strode over and took a look herself. "That's not bad."

Harry blinked. If that wasn't bad to her, what the hell kind of money did she have?

The woman whipped the dress off of the display and held it up to Harry. She gave an appraising eye of the dress against her, and Harry was suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"Beautiful ruched georgette style evening gown," she heard her murmur. "The one-shoulder neckline makes your chest pop, while hiding cleavage. The sweeping skirt falls down from a seamed waist, while the hem hits down to the feet. A nice touch of a slit down a side to reveal a thigh…the emerald color makes your eyes stand out. Halston Heritage –good brand. No, no, dear. This evening gown is perfect for you. You have to get this dress. It's even already in your size!"

Harry twitched and again, held up the price tag. The woman laughed.

"Alright then. I'll pay for it."

Harry blinked again and stared at her strangely, disbelieving about her sudden offer.

"All I'd like in return is for you to go shopping with me," she explained. "I dislike shopping, moreover shopping alone. It gets tedious and boring. Therefore, if you agree to look for dresses with me, I'll buy this. Deal?"

Harry frowned, glancing at the dress. It was a beautiful dress and she didn't have to pay anything, could probably even not be forced to rely on Petunia and her so-called "family's" money. Plus, she didn't have to go around looking for more dresses for herself. It wasn't like she really had a good eye on that kind of thing. She usually relied on Hermione for things like that –even she was better than Harry at fashion.

With a small nod, Harry agreed and the woman smiled like the cat who caught a mouse. She twitched at the analogy, warily watching the strange woman, who had the evening gown immediately boxed and paid for and had then come back to her, dragging her off to another section.

"I love the color purple," whoever this woman was spoke up. "Maybe a dark purple evening gown…"

The red head grabbed a few dark purple dresses and led Harry to the dressing room, proceeding to dress in the first one. For a few minutes, Harry merely frowned, shook her head, or made a face at the dresses the woman tried on. At one, a slight smile crossed Harry's lips and the other immediately noticed.

"Ah, this one is a good one then," the woman held it up to look at it fully. "It got you to smile, even if a little bit. It's the last one of the pile as well. I'll take this one then."

"Excuse me, but has this girl been bothering you?" Petunia's familiar voice was practically spitting acid, and Harry's face went back to its usual (these days at least) blank façade.

The woman somehow immediately changed, her friendly attitude becoming cold, even as she wore a sharp smile and evaluated Harry's aunt with a look that said she didn't think much of Petunia.

"Not at all. She was helping me find a dress," the woman drawled, barely hiding the condescending tone that Harry still caught.

Petunia huffed. "What good is she? She's mute. She can't offer you a single word. Come on, you," Petunia then directed towards Harry, who had become even more withdrawn. "Stop wasting time. You had better have found a cheap dress."

"Actually," the woman interjected again, even more steel lining her tone. "I've already bought her dress in exchange for her help. Thank you, dear, for helping me find this lovely dress," she told Harry.

Harry, as had become her usual response, nodded back to her and fluidly got up from the chair she'd been sitting on, while helping the woman find her dress. She accepted the box with her dress in it, and then Petunia was dragging her away before she could gesture a goodbye to the other, though she still felt the red head's gaze watching her.

Harry had never even gotten her name.

The night was starting to become a bore, even though it had only just started. Giovanni had no reason to complain already, considering this business party had only started a few minutes ago…but he was restless and couldn't see why Ariana couldn't have handled this on her own. She usually did anyway.

Regardless, he was there now. He had to at least pretend (for the moment anyway) to be polite, though even at least in the Regions, his more well-known acidic personality was well spread. Here was different, and he had to…play nice. Besides, non-pokémon business had much more impact and money coming in outside the Regions, though his successes and business was flourishing in both the outside world and the Regions almost equally. He had done well for himself for all these years.

"There you are," a certain red head strode over. "Are you going to amble around here or go out and mingle? I know I've seen more than a few women looking over and eying you."

Giovanni began tapping his thigh irritably, continuing to look around the room in boredom.

"I'm not in the mood to dally about with silly women," he scowled. He turned to her and assessed her attire. "Not bad, Ariana. I would have thought it would have taken you much longer than you had taken earlier to find a dress you liked."

Ariana frowned at him. "I had help. I found a cute girl wandering around lost in the store I was in, the thirteenth store I had been to that day. I got so fed up looking for a dress, I decided to go ahead and drag someone else to basically find one for me. She did do well, didn't she? I quite love this dress –and she was very thorough, I'd say. Wouldn't smile or go for any of the other dresses I'd picked out, until this one came up."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "A girl? Don't tell me you just randomly selected some girl to help you out."

She huffed at him. "Not quite. Yes, she was a stranger and there were plenty of others around I could have picked out to help me, but she has that lost, lonely quality. I saw some grumpy woman drop her off at the store, and the woman's looks reminded me of a Ponyta –and not in a good way. Horse-like features and bitchy attitude if I ever saw one."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Sounds like the usual type you like to score into the Team."

Ariana hmmed. "I suppose. Maybe a bit, though I don't think quite."

Giovanni eyed her seriously. "A potential recruit?"

The red head smirked at him. "Mm, perhaps…Although I wouldn't mind just kidnapping her and keeping her anyway."

The Italian Kantoan ignored his subordinate's behavior, quite used to Ariana's antics by now.

"I'm going to go around, try to see any potential business to make money off of, or anyone willing to invest in us. Try to have fun, won't you?" Ariana directed towards him wryly.

He easily dismissed her words, back to again scanning the room. She grumbled under her breath as she left him behind, and soon enough he was left alone again.

However, that wasn't for long, as the host of the business party was eagerly approaching him with a group of four. He inwardly sighed, but the host was one of his biggest business partners, despite only being a business that dealt with drills. Then again, with all the construction Team Rocket had to do, those drills ironically came in luck.

"Giovanni! Glad to see you here. I'd like you to meet some people, if you don't mind," the man had a wide smile as he finally reached Giovanni's side. "Vernon, this is Giovanni Rocketto, founder and owner of Gio Corp. Giovanni, I'd like you to meet Vernon Dursley, my best employee. This is his lovely wife, Petunia, and their son Dudley."

Giovanni saw Vernon, a man that reminded him of an oversized Seel, and easily identified the greedy glint in the man's beady eyes, having recognized Giovanni's business and therefore Giovanni himself.

So, a man who lusted after money and power, hm. He could certainly relate, as he inwardly sneered at the man.

He moved onto the wife and nearly cringed at her horse-like features, easily resembling a Ponyta. He idly wondered if this was the same woman Ariana had met in that store earlier. She couldstill look pretty, if it hadn't been for that horrible flower-print dress she was wearing and the pursed lips she sported, that made her look like she'd just bit into something sour.

The son, however, looked slightly overweight, but like he was trying to lose it and was working towards building muscle. Good. At least he wasn't going to mimic his father in size and rolls of fat.

"Ah, I almost forgot, with how quiet she's been and with her hiding a bit behind her cousin. This is Vernon's niece, Henrietta. Come on out, dear!"

"She prefers to be called Harry," the aunt bit out, and Giovanni quietly observed the venom in which the aunt directed towards her niece, though she tried to hide it.

He finally turned to look at the misbegotten niece, and uncharacteristically his breath caught in his throat.

The young girl was draped in a beautiful, flattering emerald dress, which was nowhere near the beauty of her green eyes. Green seemed too plain to describe them; their verdant color shone and reminded him of emeralds, more so because of how cutting they seemed –like real raw emeralds' sharp edges.

Raven locks were simply tossed over the shoulder that had the single strap from the dress, and tied loosely. The simple style didn't detract from her image, but merely accentuated it by hiding nothing and letting him see all. She even wore no makeup, but that only helped showcase her natural beauty and the fact that she didn't need anything to play it up or make her beautiful.

The only thing off, though it didn't make her ugly and only made her stand out more, were the intricate design of lines and whirls in faint silver down the right side of her body, from her face to the feet sticking out from under the hem of her dress.

The other thing he noticed was the cool look on her face, and the fact she didn't seem at all impressed with him. He wasn't at all happy about that –he'll just have to change her mind…

The girl, Harry (if the aunt was to believe), gave him another look before giving him a nod and not acknowledging him any further, aside from a cool look that moved from him to gaze to the side. There was a strange edge of sadness to her gaze.

"Pleased to meet you," Giovanni murmured, though his gaze didn't move away from the girl. And the statement was true –at least for the girl. He was quite insincere about it, regarding the rest of the family.

He turned to look back to his business partner, faking a smile.

"I'm sorry, but you've caught me at a bad time. My assistant, Ariana, had just informed me that there was a call I needed to make. Perhaps we can talk more later? Addio, tutti,"he gave them all one last nod before he turned on his heel and began walking away.

"Giovanni's part Italian, as you could hear," his business partner continued to gush in his absence. "I'm sure it makes him quite popular with the ladies."

He turned slightly to look at the girl in the peripherals of his gaze as he walked away, hoping she was watching him, but she continued to look off to wherever or whatever had captured her attention.

His lips slightly turned down. No matter. He'll just have to corner her later, having successfully just escaped from the others and deciding that he really should make a call back to base and check up with Archer. His second in command had been due to report to him before the business party had started, but had missed the appointed time.

To his luck, he saw the girl lounging by herself near the refreshments later on, after his call. With a smirk gracing his lips, he walked over to her casually, catching her attention when he was near enough.

"Ciao, Henrietta, was it?" he smoothed his lips into a friendly smile.

She looked at him closely, sharp eyes still haunted by a hollow look.

"Or do you prefer Harry?" he asked, making sure and not going by the aunt's words. He wouldn't take anything from that woman seriously.

She continued to look at him intensely, before giving a small nod in answer.

"Harry then," he grabbed a seat and placed it by her, though it faced the other side. He sat right next to her, though with their chairs facing opposite sides, they ended up facing oppositely away from each other as well. Perfect. He would be close, but not seemingly too in her space (though that was more or less an illusion), and it would also seem that way to others looking in their direction.

Their shoulders brushed as he turned slightly towards her.

Giovanni handed her the drink in his hand, champagne filled to the brim.

"Here, for you, mia stella," he murmured, watching as she hesitantly reached towards him to take it, her slender fingers elegantly wrapping around the stem of the glass. He watched the action closely, before he turned to look at her with hooded eyes. "Tell me, Harry, how such a beautiful girl such as you could ever be related to a bunch of animals, such as your relatives."

He reached for a strand of hair loose from her tie, and twirled it around idly.

"You are such a rare, precious gem," he leaned slightly and whispered into her ear, his lips practically brushing against it with each word he spoke.

He could easily see her tensing up, from the way her shoulder moved, his gaze directed there as he hadn't moved too far away from her ear.

Suddenly, she stood up and he found the glass of champagne neatly being placed in his hand (the same hand that had been playing with her hair) before he had time to react. He looked up and saw her frowning slightly, face otherwise quite blank and eyes like ice. And then she was moving away, easily walking away from him.

"Well…that went quite well," he murmured, but he was still smiling slightly, watching her retreating away from him.

He spent the rest of the time at the business party, charming his way through the group of people, no doubt earning a profit in the future. Near the end of the party, his luck returned again and he spotted Harry keeping to herself, near the entrance of the large banquet hall. His smile returned to him and he set off, easily navigating himself closer to her.

Without her noticing, he snuck up behind her and weaved an arm around her waist and another across her torso, pulling her further into the shadows, hidden in the corner and behind some curtains and darkness.

"I'll let you escape from me this time, mia stella, but next time I expect to keep you all to myself," he practically purred into her ear, feeling her heart beat rapidly against his wrist, and her chest heaving against his arms.

He leaned his head down and placed his lips against her bared shoulder, kissing it gently.

He finally let her go after a moment and she whirled around to face him, eyes wide and watching him warily. Hm, not complete ice then.

"Until next time," he smirked at her, and then moved around her and was the one walking away this time.

Started 7/30/14 – Completed 8/1/14

Chapter Text

Harry waited for the other to respond, and soon enough the handheld mirror in her hand glowed and she saw Hermione's reflection instead of her own. Hermione, instead of talking, began to use sign language to communicate to her, and Harry began to respond. Hermione, loyal and sweet, had taught Harry to use sign language when Harry became mute and finally been let go from her confines.

That was despite, now and even when it first was announced, Harry having been forbidden contact with anyone or anything of the Wizarding World.

Ron and Hermione were the only ones who illegally attempted to do so, and they mainly stuck to the handheld communication mirrors her godfather had given her. They've learned to not speak to Harry, but aside from Hermione helping her to get used to and practice signing, it was because they didn't dare speak Harry's name. They didn't want to leave any chance to indicate they were in contact with her at all or have anyone find out that they were, possibly stopping communication and further causing problems for Harry.

After awhile of 'speaking' with Hermione, Ron took over and Harry got out the whiteboard she'd managed to find from Dudley's old pile of junk and that she'd stolen for herself. Ron, likewise, began writing on parchment and then held it up to his mirror for her to read. She responded on her whiteboard. And so on, this continued.

Ron was still learning to use sign language, but it was harder for him and it was taking longer for him to learn. She appreciated that he was trying though, and she was grateful that he was doing his best just so he could communicate more easily with her.

Aside from the loss of her magic, losing her voice was one of the worse things. It made it harder for her to connect and reach out to others, and left her silent and alone.

They took as long as they could, until both Ron and Hermione had to go before it became too suspicious and even lead to someone checking up on them. When they were gone and Harry was left alone again, she just held the mirror limply and stared at her reflection morosely. She lifted a finger slowly and began to trace the lines on her face on her reflection.

Fire! Fire was everywhere! She was burning!

Her hand clenched around the mirror tightly, but she forced her grip to relax so that she wouldn't end up breaking the mirror.

She banished those images and thoughts to the recesses of her mind, and instead thought of the man from the night before. She didn't know why. It wasn't like she was going to see him again. But he was strange, and the way he acted with her caught her off guard and made her uneasy. She also had to admit to several facts too.

Severus Snape had not managed to teach her good enough Occlumency before, enough for her to block her mind and safeguard it…but he had managed to teach her to lock down her emotions, using Occlumency. It had been a useful method for her to use, mostly as a coping method, though she agreed with Hermione (even if she ignored the warning) that it was an unhealthy method, especially with how frequent Harry turned to it. Further, after the Wizarding World had turned on her and what had happened, along with everything else they did to her, somehow her 'coping method' had switched to an almost always 'on' period.

Ever since her "containment" and then banishment, she'd been cursed with her emotions constantly being in a muted state. She couldn't fully experience emotion anymore, but oppositely she was still able to completely "cut off" her emotions, like she used to.

But Giovanni Rocketto unnerved her. He made her hair stand on end, her heart race frantically, and cause her to react and to lose the self-composure that had been unbreakable for the longest time. And with barely any effort!

That man made her instinctively act, to even lose control. She felt, and easily at that! Without wanting to feel or the ability to stop herself from feeling, she felt and it was because of him…

She wasn't sure whether or not she was happy about this new development.

After all, she had finally gotten used to her emotions being so muted, and the muted emotions allowed her to not experience the full intensity of the more passionate emotions she knew dwindled inside. Especially the rage…

She curled up on her bed and glared at her wall.

Who was that man really?

There was a knock on the door that broke her out of her musings, and she stared at it dully. What? Did they expect her to say 'Come in'? She rolled her eyes.

It opened not too long after that, and she kept her face emotionless as she saw Rufus Fudge, nephew to Minister Cornelius Fudge, enter her room. He smiled hesitantly at her.

"Hello, Harry. Ready to go?"

Ah, it was that time again, was it?

She got up gracefully and walked over to him, looking at him (though it felt more like she was looking through him, in his opinion). He took out the magical binding cuffs they had given him, and reluctantly placed it around her wrists. Not that it was needed –he knew they had already somehow locked away her magic, so that she couldn't perform any spells or whatnot. However, he also knew that more latent magic was accessible to her. She could use her Occlumency, her innate magic's focus on healing her and keeping her healthy, and accidental magic was theorized to be possible for her.

"We'll be going now," he murmured, pulling out his private portkey.

Instantly, they had traveled and appeared already inside of the Ministry building, outside of the Unforgivables headquarters.

"Good timing, Fudge," Malcolm Walters smiled congenially at him, and he instinctively brought Harry closer to him as he watched the researcher warily. "Hand over the specimen, won't you?"

He pursed his lips at the man's address of the girl in his hands, but he had to transfer her over.

"Follow us and then wait outside the room, while we perform the tests," Malcolm told him and he gave a sharp nod at the other.

He exchanged one last glance with Harry, who looked back at him with an unfathomable gaze. Then they dulled over and he knew that she had probably shut down her emotions. His lips quirked up sadly and then she was disappearing through the door with the researcher.

She knew Rufus Fudge actually cared about her and felt sorry for her. He hated his new assignment, having been assigned to her from the moment she'd been released at the end of her last day in that "prison." What clumsily learned Legilimency she'd managed to learn on her own had told her all of that.

It didn't change that she was still being brought to this place.

"Strip," Malcolm ordered her, turning to activate the runes in the room. "Sit on the table when you're done."

She did as ordered, blankly watching the room light up with a blue glow from the etched runes, the lines starting from the middle where the table was, and then stretching out to reach through the rest of the room. They were similar, but more rugged than the lines engraved on her skin.

"Specimen's name is Henrietta Jamie Potter. Subject is currently 17 years old."

Harry closed her eyes and focused on magic she knew was inside of her, but she couldn't reach. It was like barely just out of reach of her fingers. If only she could just stretch a little more…

"The specimen defeated the Dark Lord at 15, in her fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft. Immediately after –"

She tensed up as she felt one of Malcolm's long fingers gently touch her back, just under the nape of her neck and slightly above the middle of her shoulder blades.

"The mark of the Deathly Hallows, the same mark Gellert Grindelwald stole for his own purposes during the First Wizarding War, appeared on the skin of the specimen. Subject began to show no signs of aging or ability to catch illness, and the mark was discovered."

Replacing his finger, she felt the sharp and cold feel of steel against her skin.

"The rules of ownership of the Hallows were discovered, and mastery over them gained one the title of Master of Death. Possession of all three Hallows proved to not be enough, but mastery over them and their acceptance of you was. The Cloak has been in the Potter family's possession and ownership for centuries, probably from the moment it was created, since their ancestor proved to be the Peverell brother who requested it from Death.

"The Elder Wand has been in the possession of Albus Dumbledore since his acquisition of it. However, the subject acquired it by accidentally disarming Dumbledore and ownership was switched. Despite owning it, subject continued to allow Dumbledore possession and usage of it, until the Final Battle where its sentience caused it to appear by her side to be used. The Resurrection Stone was repossessed from the Gaunt Estate and in the possession of many hands, but never owned. At the acceptance of her death, the subject was in possession of it and it allowed her to own and subsequently master it. Having had possession of each Hallow at one point, and having then owned them all and earned mastery of them, the subject currently holds the title of 'Master of Death.'"

By then, Harry could feel the blood dripping in rivulets down her back, but she had numbed herself enough that the pain was passable. She wondered if he was hoping to experiment with combining runic and blood magic that day…

"The specimen seems nigh immortal and un-aging. It is not known if it is temporary or truly forever. Nothing as of yet seems capable of killing her either. Nor does the title Master of Death seem capable of being transferred from her, or taken."

They deemed her dangerous after she had defeated Voldemort and revealed to possess the Hallows, who had attached themselves to her. When it was proclaimed she was the Master of Death, they took her magic away from her, locked her up in this place and wrote the runes into her skin with magic itself. Branding her skin in silver-ish magical bindings, curiously and experimentally rewriting the runes onto her skin, seeing what she could take and what capabilities her new title granted her.

For a year after the Final Battle, she was held captive, experimented on, and locked away from the rest of the world. She was dangerous. A powerful sorceress who had just defeated the Dark Lord, and now was declared Master of Death and seemingly immortal. Of course she had to be stopped before she could become something beyond their capabilities to stop.

The Immortal Sorceress, she heard was what they called her now.

And if they took liberties in "protecting" the public and keeping her away, then no one had to know and they should be praised anyway. They could, with her abilities, find a way to prolong life, fight illness, become immortal. They couldn't take her immortality from her, like they originally tried (and hoped to keep for themselves), but they could try to find the secrets of immortality from her. And because she couldn't die, they could experiment all they want on her for other purposes, and not worry about her death.

"Even with the specimen's original extraordinary healing abilities, with the gain of the Hallows, her healing rate has risen exponentially."

Harry lifted her head and gazed blankly at the ceiling as Malcolm plunged the scalpel into her back and twisted.

This couldn't be what she was doomed to for the rest of her life. Damn it, she couldn't be damned to this for eternity!

She cursed them all over and over in her head, and hoped Magic heard her pleas.

Giovanni stood by his window, gazing out over the city of London. The frameless window wall allowed him to oversee the city lit up and still moving along, despite the late hour. Quietly, he swished the alcoholic drink around in his tumbler, the clink of the ice against the glass the only noise in the room. His other hand was in his pocket, fingering the shrunken down pokéball thoughtfully.

"Sir?"

He turned his head. "Ariana," he nodded slightly at her. "What is it?"

"The JJM unit called collect. I believe they wanted to report that they failed in catching Ash Ketchum's Pikachu, but that they'll try harder next time," she refrained from smiling.

Giovanni sighed. "Again?" Although, he wasn't sure whether he was referring to them failing in catching that Pikachu they were adamant in catching for him…or that they were again calling collect. Still, despite being idiots, they could be useful and they did do well for him in Unova. And if he was honest, he was rather fond of them. Not that he'd ever tell those three that.

"Is something wrong, Giovanni?" Ariana's voice only revealed the slightest tinge of worry.

Giovanni swished his drink again. "Are there anymore business parties being held, especially involving Grunning's?"

Arianna blinked in surprise. "No, I don't believe so."

"Hm…when was the last time we hosted a business party ourselves?" he mused, and she was further surprised, especially with Giovanni's disdain of attending the last business party.

"I'm not sure," she said at last.

"Start organizing one for…this weekend. Yes, that should do. It's not too close to the last business party that it would look like we're taking the spotlight, but close enough that we can use it to look as a repayment business party in goodwill to Mr. Grunning."

Ariana voiced her agreement, hiding her continued surprise. She hesitated, but decided it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Is there a reason why you want to do all this, Giovanni? I know you don't really care for these things," Ariana chanced her luck.

Giovanni hmmed. "There was a girl."

Her surprise was further pushed to the limit. "A-a girl?" She suddenly laughed. "Didn't you say you didn't want to 'dally about with silly women' back at that party? What changed?"

He scowled at her. "I wasn't dallying about, and she is most certainly not silly. Nor is she one of those frivolous and annoying women gaggling about the party, or anywhere near like them."

Her eyes lit up. This was a goldmine. One, it's been awhile since her boss had entertained any sort of interest in a woman, much less had been with one. There was also that Giovanni seemed to be actively pursuing this girl, which was unlike him. Not that he usually even needed to expend energy to get a woman to be with him; that he was arranging things so that he could meet her again…

And the way he defended and talked about her! My, oh, my, she must be something special. But if he was trying to meet with her again, then that meant he had met with failure the first time…or that he truly wanted to see her again, which was again unlike him. Or even that it was for both of those reasons, which made it even more than remarkable.

Giovanni also unusually referred to the mysterious female as a 'girl' as opposed to a 'woman.' She didn't want to seem picky about words, but…

"How old is she?" she caught him off guard.

He frowned. "…Young, I suppose. Perhaps late teens. She could pass by early twenties, especially dressed up as she was. I don't know for sure. I hadn't asked, and I was more preoccupied by other things."

She briefly frowned as well at the information that the girl could be young, but then easily brushed it off. They were basically criminals and were in illegal business –what was another law to break? That was if she was underage. She could be straddling the line, or even just look young.

"But tell me more!" she grinned widely, switching gears and leaning against the window casually, right next to him. "What's her name? What does she look like? Come on, give me some more details! Tell me you're finding out more about her."

Giovanni strangely answered her for once. How unusual. This girl must be unique and Ariana was all the more intrigued by her. She made Giovanni act all out of sorts, and Ariana loved it. He probably didn't even know he was.

"Her name is Henrietta," he revealed. "She prefers Harry. She's young, like I said. Dark-haired, petite. Verdant eyes –" This amused and surprised her; such poetic description, a rather choice and specific word for her eyes, and to use that instead of a simple green… "Horrid relatives. And yes, I've already had Archer go on and do a background check on her, so that I can have all the info I need."

Ariana suddenly had a very wicked grin that Giovanni glared at.

"Don't pester Archer for information about her," Giovanni practically ordered. "Now get started on that business party."

"Of course, Giovanni," but it seemed too easy to him, that she easily backed off. "I'll take care of things."

As she left, Giovanni exasperatedly thought that he'd have to keep an eye on her. If there was one thing he knew for certain, it was that Ariana tended to get overzealous on things that interested her.

There was a knock on his door and he ordered them in, growing more interested when he saw it was Archer who had entered. As always, his loyal second wore his white uniform crisp and stood straight, his posture proper like the blue-haired man preferred. Even Giovanni tended to slouch more often than his subordinate.

"I have the information you wanted, Giovanni," Archer informed him respectfully.

He raised an eyebrow. "Already?"

"Truthfully, there wasn't much information to come by."

Now that raised both of his eyebrows. But it was intriguing and unusual news.

"Go on," Giovanni prompted the other.

"Henrietta Jamie Potter, born July 31st in 1980," So she was seventeen then. Not quite legal, but a few months and that wouldn't be the case. "Born to Lily Marianna Potter neé Evans, and James Dorian Potter. Parents died young, at the age of 21, in a suspicious gas explosion in the house, orphaning her at age 1. She was then given over to the next of kin, Petunia Teresa Dursley, married to Vernon Hobart Dursley. She lived with them, and her cousin Dudley Hammond Dursley, since then and currently still does."

The news about living with her current family, Giovanni was aware of. He'd noted how she was with her aunt and the rest of the family, all of whom seemed to detest her –he found it odd that she had been with them and wondered about the parents and had suspected something of this. He hadn't expected just how long she'd been with them however. It was also unexpected how young the parents were when they died, and how young they must've been when they had her. He also took note about the gas explosion and that it was being described as "suspicious."

"Her current residence is Number 4, Privet Drive, Surrey," Giovanni smirked at that. That was definitely useful information, and one he definitely planned on exploiting. Frequently, might he add, and as soon as possible. "She attended public schooling in the area until the age of 11, whereupon she attended her parents' alma mater from then to her fifth year, upon which reports say she returned a year after she stopped her schooling and was reported to have suffered some sort of trauma. She is currently not in school and remains at the Dursley household. There are no other records on her –she has no medical records, nothing on schooling after she turned 11 and began to attend that private school, or anything else. She seemingly drops off the radar."

Giovanni's interest was peaked even more. It seemed his little emerald was even more mysterious than he'd pegged her for. He did, however, frown at the report that she had suffered some kind of trauma.

He saw his second in command hesitate. "What is it?"

Archer shifted uncomfortably. "I…had further trouble getting information on her, despite how I was able to pull up anything at all and how quickly it seemed. I don't believe it is a largely known fact that Henrietta attended a private school; around the neighborhood, I gathered that they believe she is some sort of criminal and hooligan, and attends a school called St. Brutus' Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Children."

Giovanni was split between amusement and outrage. Amused that anyone could actually see Harry as that, or believe those lies, and outraged that those views were spread and accepted about her.

"I managed to attain a source that supplied me with the information that I was otherwise unable to get through normal means, especially with the lack of records on her. She was an old babysitter of Henrietta's –an Arabella Figg. She also informed me about the rumored trauma and the discrepancy of Henrietta's return from her last attending school year to coming back to the Dursley household."

He was seeing a lot of discrepancies and missing information. But he had a feeling that he would find it all out soon, and that he would certainly be informed by Harry herself.

"I see. Continue to find out what you can, although it won't matter too much if you can't. I believe she'll tell me in the end. Do prepare a passport for her though," Giovanni then turned back to gaze through his window, swirling his drink much more rhythmically, while wearing a slight grin on his face.

Archer observed his boss quietly. "Sir, do you intend on taking her from here?"

"Take her? Not at all," he began to wear a full-blown smirk. "Before long, I will have her coming willingly with me."

Archer tilted his head to the side curiously. That Giovanni cared to have her come willingly caught him off guard. And the use of 'with' rather than saying 'to' Giovanni implied a level of equality that he saw the other with, which was unlike his boss.

"Shall I assume we are bringing her with us then?" he asked softly.

"Of course," Giovanni answered with a certain tone. "Though, if she isn't willing, I suppose I'll have to just take her anyway. She'll realize it'll be fine in the end."

Ah, there was classic Giovanni.

Giovanni then knocked back a large gulp of his drink.

"Harry, mia stella, come to me. There is only so long I can keep myself waiting patiently," Giovanni murmured.

"I've news!" Vernon announced at lunchtime, having come early from work. "Mr. Grunning informed me that we are invited to another business party. Apparently, the owner of Gio Corp. is hosting a business party in return for Mr. Grunning's good will, and Mr. Rocketto even specifically requested to Mr. Grunning that we were to be invited. We must have caught his eye!"

He seemed exceedingly proud and excited about this, and Harry hid her roll of eyes.

"It's a masquerade ball, so we have to wear masks. But Mr. Rocketto was kind enough to send us a box of masks we could use!" Vernon seemed to be in high heaven that he and his family were being treated with so much favor and especially from someone so powerful.

"What about Harry?" Dudley asked suddenly, and everyone turned to him in surprise. Harry furrowed her eyebrows as well, wondering what he was getting at and why he had to bring her up at all.

Vernon's mustache twitched. "Well…It was requested that all of us go…even the girl."

Harry was taken aback by that, and became wary also.

Petunia huffed, but that news didn't bring her down. "It doesn't really matter. But, oh Vernon! Since the girl didn't waste money buying a dress, couldn't I use that money to buy a new dress for myself to wear?"

"Of course, dear."

Harry mentally gagged, while silently traversing over to the box of masks Vernon had brought over. She waited as the others grabbed theirs and looked down to see the last mask in the box, a rich jade color, with a black feathery outline.

Why did she have the feeling that man intentionally chose that one for her?

The masquerade ball was already under way when they arrived, and she was quick to split away from the Dursley's and hide in a corner. She let them leave her behind, while she quietly kept to herself and tried to blend into the shadows.

"Why did I figure you'd be here?" a smooth, slightly accented voice spoke to her side, and she saw a tall man in a suit as black as night coming towards her, dark hair slicked back and wearing an amused smirk as he strode over to her. His mask was black as well, though the lighting of the banquet hall showed the red highlights.

She knew who he was immediately.

She nodded her head at him in acknowledgement, slightly tensing as he slid into place beside her. Both of them stared at the crowd of people dancing on the dance floor. She noted the bigger hall and the more extravagant decorations, as well as the more expensive taste clearly being shown, as compared to the last business party.

"There's a quote I remember," he suddenly murmured, leaning into her space and an arm moving around her, bringing her close and then plastering her against his front without warning, as he turned to her as well. "Large parties tend to be so much more intimate."

He pressed her back against the wall and further pushed against her, leaving no space between them at all. She hadn't even had time to put her hands or arms in between them, to try to push him away or put any semblance of space between them. Without any other option, she just looked at his face, staring passed his mask and into his dark onyx eyes.

"Prying eyes won't pay any attention to us here, nor would they recognize us," he continued to murmur into her ear, much too close for her to be comfortable.

Unable to escape from his hold or push passed his more physically built body, she just glared up at him resolutely, pressing her lips into a thin line. But then he was moving away and peeling her away from the wall, still holding her somewhat close to him.

"A dance," he declared quietly. "A dance is all I ask."

And he then further separated from her and held out a hand. She glanced at it hesitantly and then to the dance floor, and then looked back to his expectant face. She placed her hand in his, and his much larger one closed around hers. He pulled her close again, and she could feel his arms wrap around her, the warmth of his body reaching her. It was a pleasant warmth and she wasn't reminded of flames and burning skin.

She gently laid her hands against his chest and then, after a moment, laid her head against it as well. They danced slowly in the corner of the large hall awhile, separated from all the rest, until she was content enough that she said nothing of when he finally whisked her off to the dance floor, and danced amongst the others, anonymously and unrecognizably.

Harry hadn't realized how and when she'd gotten caught in his web.

Started 8/12/14 – Completed 8/20/14

Chapter Text

Time seemed to have passed by slowly as she danced in his arms. She couldn't tell for sure how long it had been as she was trapped in his embrace, gazing and unable to look away from the dark abyss of his gaze. Surely it hadn't been so long as they danced on the dance floor? But yet everything was just blurring around her and she could see and focus on nothing but him, with equal (though she wasn't sure why) fervor and focus being returned in kind from him.

His presence commanded her gaze, and somehow she also seemed to have commanded his.

She could feel his hand, large and warm, placed flat against the small of her back as he twirled her around in circles, in a waltz lost in the crowd. His other hand held hers firmly, in an escapable grip. Every so often, their fronts would brush against each other intimately, so close together were they.

Even with a mask, she felt so very naked underneath his gaze.

"Harry," he breathed out her name reverently. "In all honesty with you, I plan to abduct you from this place, and rush you off to my blackened world. I do not yet have a chariot ready, but I promise you this, my little Kore."

If she were being rational, if everything was rational, she would have pushed him away and run from him. But she couldn't help being entranced by him and his intensity.

Bells were tolling in the distance and then he was sweeping her off nearer to the entrance, where he stopped and she could break out of his spell, pushing away from him. However, he caught one of her hands and held on tightly, tilting his head as he examined her. He smirked slightly.

"Harry dear, if you so wish to run away from me, then I advise you to not leave behind a 'glass slipper' for me to pursue. Because I promise you, if you leave any kind of clue behind, I shall pursue you to the ends of the earth."

He slowly lifted her hand, watching her watch his actions, and caressed her knuckles with his lips.

"I look forward to our next waltz," he murmured.

Without another word, he straightened up and walked away, and she wanted to scream at him because he was the one chasing her so fervently, when she was the one who wanted to walk away from him. The sounds of laughter and merry cheers sounded distantly to her ears, seemingly so far away, despite only being a mere foot from her spot.

She swallowed harshly and closed her eyes, but he and his words wouldn't stop haunting her.

In fact, even days after the masquerade ball, he haunted her dreams and her every waking hour. Her mind, usually so enwrapped in the torment of the Wizarding World, had instead traded one torment for another, as she was plagued by thoughts of him, about him…

She wished she could just run away from it all –from all of them. Run away from the Wizarding World, run away from him…

Even as the Dursleys left to go to the city for an outing, leaving her behind for once, she couldn't think of anything but him. So she was immensely surprised when the doorbell rang and when she looked through the peephole, saw nothing of note. But as she opened the door, she saw a black box with a bright red ribbon tied around it. Her hands shook as she reached down and took it. It could be any one of her enemies, delivering this unknown box…but she had this instinctive feeling that she knew exactly who this box was from.

She swiveled her head and she looked around in a panic, but didn't see anyone at all or who could have dropped it off.

She went back inside and shakily closed the door, going back to her room and then sitting down dazedly on her bed. She saw a card poking out from the intricate knot on top. She plucked it out and read it quickly.

I saw that you were wearing the same dress last time. Though I don't know if it is your only one, I hope you will like this one and wear it to the next ball.

Harry opened it and inside was an elegant dress, black silk practically flowing off of her hands as she held it up. It was, she had a feeling, probably even more expensive than the emerald dress she'd worn the last two times.

But more importantly…

He  knew  where she  lived .

She didn't know how he knew. But he did. There was no other explanation as to account for how he'd gotten this dress delivered to her, unless he knew where she lived and had it brought to her.

She honestly didn't know how to feel about this, but for some reason, she wasn't as upset and disturbed as she should have been.

Harry was agitated as she cooked the Dursleys their breakfast. It had been three days since the delivery of that damnable dress, and she hadn't seen or heard from Giovanni Rocketto. She was starting to think it was just some sort of prank. She was going to write it off as one.

It was probably best that she did, and forget about it as quick as she can.

"You know, I was thinking…" she heard Vernon say suddenly. She refrained from making a look that would obviously be sarcastic, focusing instead on the bacon. "Those…freaks from her world don't nearly check up on the girl as much as they used to in the beginning. The only time they do is to pick her up for whatever they still need her for, and I got a pattern on that –they always come in the beginning of the month, in the first week. They just took her, so there's time…I was thinking of taking this week off and we can go visit Marge and have a short vacation, and leave the girl behind."

"But weren't we sure she'd destroy the house or something?" Petunia asked hesitantly, just as Harry finished cooking the food and was beginning to dish it out.

Vernon huffed. "I figure, if she's as dangerous as they say and with those markings on her, I bet they did something to keep her in check. Some kinda…safeguard or something. The girl is probably harmless now."

"Harry," Dudley interrupted all of sudden, sounding strangely irritated. "Her name is Harry."

And he got up from his seat and practically stomped over to Harry, ignoring his gaping parents all the while as he grabbed hold of Harry's baggy shirt and dragged her behind him as he stomped out of the house.

Harry was completely bewildered, and had been since the beginning of Dudley's nicer attitude towards her once she'd been "released" into the Dursleys' custody.

Dudley hadn't stopped until he'd taken her all the way out to the park, where he stopped and made a frustrated noise as he glared at the ground. Then he sighed and looked at her.

"Sorry. I probably seem off my rocker and completely mental to you," he shrugged.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

He licked his lips. "It's just…I'm sorry for being an arse to you all these years…And I wanted to thank you for saving me back then…before those D-Dement –Dementoids. Those things back before…your last school year." He flushed red.

She smiled a little at his mispronunciation of Dementors, and nodded to him to accept his apology. It was strange coming from him, but looking back at his behavior since she'd come back, it shouldn't have been so surprising.

"So, we basically walked out on breakfast," he grinned briefly at her. "I'll go nip off to the corner store and get us something to snack on, alright? I'll be back. You just enjoy the swings."

She let him go, plopping herself onto a swing and lightly making a go of it. It was nice of him to realize she'd like some time to herself and gather her thoughts.

After a minute of just swinging, she heard light footsteps and she looked up to see a man with a white outfit that seemed slightly familiar, an embroidered red R on his right breast, while the uniform was easily visible as being extremely crisped, and it was shown even more as he stood with a perfect posture. His hair actually looked to be a natural light blue.

She inwardly let out a sigh of relief, considering for some reason she immediately thought it was going to be him.

"I'm sorry. I hadn't meant to startle you," he started off, and she was still a bit wary. "Let me introduce myself –my name is Archer. I am Giovanni's right-hand, to be blunt."

Her eyes widened and she stood up, ready to run. He held up his hands to indicate his harmlessness, which she didn't buy. And yet she wasn't running away anyway…

"As you can surmise, Giovanni has been asking about you and you must know by now how persistent and stubborn he is. And also that, by the least of your knowledge, he is at least knowledgeable about your address. However, let me assure you, despite his underhanded tactics and skewed perspective, he means you no harm. Truthfully, though he is not aware of it and wouldn't be pleased for me to say this whether or not he was aware of it, but I believe he is very much enamored with you."

He stepped closer, and though she tensed, she didn't move. He took several more steps and sat on the swing next to her, sitting prim and proper on it, while clasping his hands politely together on his lap. After a moment, she joined him in sitting back down.

"I admit, Giovanni and our organization has a habit of…being awfully gray or downright dirty," he gave her a side-glance, while she hesitantly wondered what he meant about an 'organization.' Wasn't Giovanni just a businessman? "In fact, he and the whole Team tend to be rather morally ambiguous when it comes right down to it. Regardless of any of that, he seems quite content to try to slow down his intentions and chase after you on your pace, hoping not to scare you off. It's unlike him, but you seem to be rather special. I understand he's been forceful with you so far, but Giovanni can be a lot more forceful than he has been. He may usually have an impressive reserve of patience, but when it comes to desires he really wants, he tends to be such an impatient man, Henrietta."

She silently snorted. She'd suspected that to be an aspect of the man. And she also shouldn't be so surprised this Archer knew her name. They knew her address after all, and Merlin knew what else.

"I have a favor to ask," he then continued and she focused on him even more warily than before. "I request that you…allow him to get closer to you. Give him a chance, if you will. He will respect your boundaries, of course. There are a great many things he has no qualms pushing through, but he won't push you, especially because it is you. Well, at least not unless you want him to."

Harry swallowed heavily. It was actually a huge thing to ask of her, especially at this point in time in her life. She couldn't fathom why or how an older man like Giovanni could intensely be so intent on her.

"Will you consider it?"

She scrutinized him heavily before reluctantly nodding. The truth was that she was rather intrigued and when her life was already in shambles and consisted of nothing more than a confinement to a place she couldn't stand and visits to a place she considered Hell, this new development seemed to be the brightest spot in her life at that moment.

So if Giovanni Rocketto could provide even a moment of something resembling happiness for her, then who was she to turn him away?

She had nothing else left.

"Then I shall leave you to it," he smiled kindly at her. He stood up smoothly and turned to her, slipping a hand into his pocket and pulling something out, to which he then handed to her. She nearly dropped it in surprise as she saw just exactly what it was.

"Giovanni would prefer that you kept this on your person at all times," Archer explained the small can of Mace Harry now held. "Actually, he would prefer to have given you a semi-automatic, but he hasn't decided which one he would like to give you and would fit you best. Well, that and he would prefer to make sure you can handle one and learn to use it before just handing it off without further instruction."

Harry stared blankly at him. He chuckled and bowed slightly at the waist.

"Welcome to, as Giovanni would say, la famiglia Razzo."

He straightened up and after one last smile, he turned and walked away with Harry still staring after him.

"Was he bothering you?" Dudley nearly startled her, but she'd caught the sound of his footsteps only just a little ways away from her before he finally managed to reach her side. She looked at him, seeing him narrow his eyes suspiciously at Archer's retreating figure, with the blue-haired man now quite a distance away from them.

Harry shook her head, clutching onto the Mace. Dudley caught sight of it and his eyes widened.

"Where did that come from?! W-where did you get a can of Mace?"

She dazedly and wordlessly pointed at the direction Archer went off to, which made Dudley stare in that direction with a bewildered look. He shook his head as he snapped out of it, handing her a sandwich. Cautiously placing the Mace into a pocket, she unwrapped the plastic from the sandwich and began to take a bite.

"Okay, whatever. Anyway, some white-haired arrogant prick wanted to talk to you," Dudley brought up, recalling the encounter in irritation. "Said it was important."

She perked up and looked intently at him. He cleared his throat nervously at her attention.

"Uh, I think he said his name was…Drago Malkoy?" Dudley screwed up his face, trying to remember.

Excited, Harry opened her mouth and began speaking, forgetting that she couldn't actually speak anymore.

Dudley winced. "Er, s-sorry," he stammered. "I couldn't understand what you were saying…"

She recoiled slightly. She hated that when she got all excited, she would just forget about her lack of voice. Ron and Hermione had the misfortune of this particular effect (then again, they were the only logical choices, considering she didn't communicate or like to communicate with anyone else previously).

"So," Dudley tried to change the conversation back to what he'd brought up. "I told him that I'd talk to you first. He said in the meantime, that I should hand you this."

He gave her a rather thick letter, thanks to the parchment, with Gringotts' emblem sealing it closed. She placed her sandwich on her lap and eagerly opened it, looking it over and face unrevealing to Dudley of what the letter contained. She finished up and folded it carefully, and then smiled brightly at him, a first in a long time for her. His own lips twitched up. Good news then.

"Alright, let's finish these sandwiches and then head back."

Harry didn't mind going back, and now even more so with the Dursleys leaving.

The Dursleys had all left as soon as Monday arrived. Harry had briefly enjoyed the silence, before she'd found a second card that came from the dress given to her by Giovanni, having missed it the first time by focusing on the dress and it having dropped from its place aside the dress when Harry had picked it up in awe. She apprehensively took a second, before reluctantly reading it.

This coming Monday, I will be hosting another ball. I would very much like to see you there. If you're agreeable, go to the corner of Magnolia Crescent at 8, and you shall be picked up promptly.

Already, the silence of the house was beginning to bother her. While she preferred the Dursleys, except maybe Dudley, to be away, the silence was beginning to haunt her and remind her of her isolation. This was an 'out' for her, but it was a highly strings-attached one, she was sure. And yet…

So it was a little before 8 that she anxiously put on the dress and headed out. She was surprised that it came with small, black kitten heels, having also missed them in the box during her initial opening of it. She wasn't too bothered by them, considering they weren't too high and as she was rather short already, she was glad for a little extra height…especially with Giovanni's tall figure. It was much better than the light green ballet flats she'd worn with her green dress, and that she'd also had worn during the Yule Ball during her fourth year.

She was also not too surprised to find both heels and dress fit perfectly. She did, however, bemoan her lack of distress at his capability of finding out everything about her, from her measurements to where she lived.

She didn't know what time it was, but as soon as she was at the corner of Magnolia Crescent, a fancy and expensive short limo pulled up in front of her. She apprehensively stared at it, taking a step back when she saw Archer step out from the driver's side. Why did she not expect this, or that it was for her?

"Hello, Miss Henrietta," Archer bowed slightly. "Giovanni will be most pleased that you accepted his invitation. Please, step inside."

He opened the door for her and held it, and she tentatively got in. She sat rigid on her seat, sticking close to the door and even more so once the car started driving off. The divider that separated her from Archer was rolled down, and he glanced at her from his mirror.

"Don't be alarmed or frightened, Henrietta. Giovanni has requested I tell you that if at any time you wish or at any time you feel uncomfortable, you may approach me to be driven home. I shall see to your safe return."

She was still feeling like she was entering the wolves' den, despite his reassurances.

Harry stayed quiet the entire time, and soon enough they were in front of the same banquet hall that Giovanni had procured last time for his masquerade ball. Archer got out and opened her door, and she awkwardly accepted his hand and stepped out. He then turned somewhat, still holding her hand.

"Giovanni sir, I've safely retrieved Miss Henrietta and had no problems along the way or at the retrieval point," Archer reported succinctly to the man that stepped out of the shadows.

Harry immediately dropped Archer's hand and looked at Giovanni, feeling even more awkward by the second. He was yet again dressed in an expensive suit, tailored obviously to him.

Giovanni gave a brief nod to acknowledge Archer, who then said, "I shall inform Ariana that you won't be available for the night and that I will conduct business in the hall in your stead," before stepping away. Giovanni then turned to her.

"I hope everything was to your liking?" he inquired quietly to her, and Harry glanced at Archer, who wasn't looking at her but was dutifully standing nearby and ready for anything ordered of him.

Of course, she knew he meant the dress, the heels, the ride…she wasn't exactly even sure how she felt about all of it. But…they were nice and weren't too over the top…

She held out her hand for him to take, and that was as much approval as she could convey to him. He grinned slightly, taking her hand and then tucking it into his arm as he pulled her a bit to be by his side.

"I have something different planned for tonight," he informed her, taking her into the banquet but then taking a detour to the side and entering into a hallway. "While I'm sure the ball will go on, I've already made my rounds and will just appear later. For now…I would like it if you'd join me in a private dinner?"

And then they entered into a large room, sparsely lit with just a few candles, and a small table in the middle. He led her to it, seating her first and pushing her chair in, before he sat opposite her.

She took a deep breath and looked at him, and he steadily looked bacḱ unflinchingly.

Into the belly of the beast, it was then.

She found, as the night progressed, that Giovanni was an extremely intelligent and shrewd man. He was also very logical, a little like Hermione (but much colder at certain situations). But he did have a rather humorous side to him (most of the time, very sarcastic and dark humor though). She was surprised at how much she enjoyed this time with him, and listening to him. Well, it didn't help that his voice was lovely to listen to, especially with the slight accent coloring his voice. She now understood why there were people who swooned at others with accents.

After being served lobster-stuffed mushrooms and a fancy salad (he called it panzanella) for appetizers, shrimp-tossed linguini for entrée, they were now being served dessert. Two small bowls of a white, creamy dessert was brought out and placed in front of them both.

"It's a lemon ricotta granita," Giovanni revealed. "On top is the ricotta and sugar blend, while underneath is the lemon dessert."

She curiously took a bite, giving a small smile after as she enjoyed the taste. However, she heard a sigh and looked up to see Giovanni looking disappointed, and she began to feel self-conscious.

"Mia stella, you are still so very cold to me," he gave her a wry smile. "I suppose I'll have to continue to thaw you, my ice queen."

Oh. Oh.

He didn't know she wasn't able to speak. All this time, he had been under the impression that she was being deliberately icy towards him and refusing to talk to him (er, well sort of and really just mostly in the beginning, when they first met).

The thing is she realized she didn't want him to know.

Maybe he was chasing after her so fervently because she'd seemed to adamantly refuse him so much, and if she revealed why she really wasn't talking to him he'd lose interest and leave her alone. She hated to admit it, but she didn't want that. When there was really nothing going for her and she had nothing, she wanted to hold onto whatever this was –hold his attention for as long as she could. She knew he'd probably eventually lose interest in her, especially if he'd gotten what he wanted…but for now, even if she had to rebuff him over and over and keep him challenged and interested, then she could agree to play at it.

In all honesty, the idea of being alone, confined, and forgotten terrified her.

She was already so isolated from everyone, from both worlds. She was put out of the minds of Muggles and wizards and witches alike, refused to be thought of or remembered in the slightest. This man, even with his frightening intensity, saw her, noticed and paid attention to her, and didn't push her aside like some broken doll to be discarded now that its use was finished.

Even if his focus on her was worryingly passionate and relentless, it also kept her from feeling the loneliness she had been plagued with. It kept her from feeling too claustrophobic in her "cage," from feeling the monotony of her current life's routine. And with all his concentration on her, she felt like the only person in the world, and like she mattered and wasn't someone so easily thrown away and wouldn't at all be forgotten.

Admittedly, she was rather drawn to his burning intensity and felt more alive in his presence than she had been in a long time and with anyone else. His ability to draw out the emotions in her and strengthen them both scared and awed her. Even if this was to eventually end up in the same manner like she was used to, holding onto it for now was more than worth it.

"Thoughts on your mind?" he asked, and she gave him a careless glance, before deliberately focusing on her dessert and frowning. "Ah, forgive my nosiness then. However, I do wish to ask something of importance."

She looked at him from underneath her eyelashes, keeping her mouth closed. He took it as a sign to continue.

"I believe your family has departed for the week, yes?" She wasn't even going to think about how he'd known that little tidbit, and so quickly at that. "Why don't you stay with me for the week, at my English estate then?"

Her head fully rose abruptly and she stared at him, eyes wide as she genuinely expressed her shock and how caught off guard she was.

"You don't have to decide now," a small smirk was playing on his lips. "Tomorrow morning would be sufficient. I'll come by at 7 for your answer, but I won't push you either way. Consider it seriously, please. I promise nothing untoward, and you will find that you might even enjoy your stay there."

She swallowed nervously, pretty sure that her uncertainty and apprehension was clear on her face.

"You'll consider it?"

Harry looked at him and he looked vaguely indifferent about the matter, only his eyes conveyed his expectancy and anticipation. Thinking about it, she supposed it would be a chance to get away from her "prison cell." Deciding she would go for it, she gave him a hesitant nod.

"Excellent," his eyes were gleaming. "You seem tired. If you want, I shall have you brought home, so that you can think on the matter there and rest for the night."

She did feel tired and was now trying not to fret about her decision, so she gave him another nod and stood up. Giovanni got up as well, heading to her side and taking her hand to tuck it into his arm again. Surprisingly, after he'd stealthily yet smoothly avoided going into the main hall (where others were still enjoying the night and party), he'd led her to a sleek red car to the side of the building. After he got her into the passenger seat (which she was much more comfortable with, than sitting in the back of a chauffeured car), he went to the driver's side himself and sat down, further surprising her. She looked at him questioningly.

"I'll drive you home," he said simply.

His voice brooked no arguments, so she settled back in her seat and gazed out the window. That didn't mean she wasn't confused and questioning him again, once they were nearing her address and he'd stopped nearly two blocks away, closer to the park where she'd met Archer at.

"It is a nice night out. I thought it would be a good idea to walk the rest of the way," he watched her carefully.

She gave her assent and then they were walking side by side in no time, with he once again tucking her hand to his side and wrapping her arm around his. She'd been tense at first, until after awhile of walking, Harry finally started to relax by his side.

A man stopped them, a knife in his hand and threateningly pointed at them.

"Give me all your money!" he snarled at them. "Empty out all your pockets!"

Harry grumbled inwardly, wishing she had her wand (even the Elder Wand would do). Although, he was a Muggle…

From the corner of her eye, she could see Giovanni's face blanking over as he stared down the mugger.

"I said give me all your money! Hand over your wallet, asshole! You look like you got a whole lotta change on you –give me what you got, and your girl won't get it," the unkempt mugger threatened her, and Harry recoiled a bit, scrunching up her nose in distaste. Right now, she wished she had learned to defend herself beyond dueling with her wand. Aside from her rather impressive (if she may say so herself) evasive and running capabilities, she wasn't very well-versed in defending herself beyond using magic.

She then saw Giovanni reach inside his dress jacket, inwardly upset that she was partly at fault for making him lose money, even if she was sure what he had on him was merely a drop in a bucket compared to the vast fortune he was certain to have amassed in his name. Except, right then, both she and the mugger paled exceptionally when Giovanni merely drew out a gun and pointed it in the mugger's direction calmly.

"Would you care to repeat that?" he asked coolly.

"Y-you wouldn't dare shoot at me!" but the man's voice turned high-pitch, and he took a step back from the duo.

Giovanni raised his eyebrows slightly in disdain, face still looking rather indifferent. He then apathetically shot to the side of the mugger, close to his head. Their would-be attacker yelled.

"I assure you the next time I won't miss," Giovanni drawled, sounding rather bored with the confrontation. "I suggest you run off and leave us to our rather peaceful walk."

The mugger turned tail and ran without any further prompting.

Her companion gave a small huff in irritation, before turning to her and smiling slightly, like nothing had happened and everything was fine and normal. Like that was normal. Like he hadn't just pulled a gun on someone who had been trying to mug them.

"Shall we?" he asked evenly, completely at ease.

She could only continue to stare at him in wide-eyed alarm.

What kind of man was she involving herself with exactly? Just how dangerous was he truly?

Rufus Fudge entered his home, tiredly dropping his stuff to the ground next to the door. He trudged further inside, seeing his uncle miserably at the kitchen table and staring into his cup of tea. After his uncle's impeachment and shunning from the rest of the magical world (with the addition of the sequence of events that happened after, with the war), Rufus had opened his place to the disgraced former Minister of Magic. Family was family after all.

He made a slow trek over to the stove, taking the kettle and making himself a cup of tea. Afterwards, he sat opposite his uncle and stared into his own cup.

"Bad day at work?" Cornelius Fudge asked lightly, looking drawn and weary.

Rufus twitched. "More like bad weeks," he muttered.

He closed his eyes tightly and tried to not remember the images that were threatening to burn themselves into his mind.

He heard the horrific screaming, an odd combination of also sounding terrifyingly beautiful and haunted, and yet also bloodcurdling. He had rushed back to where they were keeping the Girl Who Lived, bursting through the door and into the room, with his eyes bulging at the scene.

There were multiple wizards and witches there, positioned around the room and holding tightly onto metal chains that rattled violently. The metal chains they were holding tightly onto, and were easily tossing them into a furor and panic? They wrapped around a colossal-sized, magnificent beast that screeched and yet distinctly also trilled its pain, aggressively fighting against its restraints with a righteous fury.

It was, to Rufus' dismay, a titanic, captive phoenix –godly in power and size.

Glistening jet-black feathers drifted about, but it was the emerald eyes that drew Rufus' gaze to.

Was that…?

"Ah, Fudge! Curious, were you?" Malcolm came over to his side, before going back to studying the over-sized phoenix with sickening adoration.

"Is that…"

"Henrietta Potter, yes," Malcolm was quick to answer him, still not taking his eyes off of the struggling phoenix. "I'm not surprised the subject's loud trilling brought you in here. It is, curiously, the only time she's capable of making sound, after we'd written in those runes to silence her."

Rufus clenched his jaw. "How is she…what is this?"

"Hm, this? Well, the specimen was easily extremely powerful in her own right, and still growing –but after attaining the Hallows, that power grew immensely. Even after binding her magic, before the Hallows we might have been able to keep her power bottled up. After the Hallows, we could only conclude that they expanded her power beyond true, complete containment. We had been experimenting earlier on with her, and accidentally discovered and brought out her animagus form –amazingly and unheard of as a magical creature! And not just any magical creature: a phoenix.

"Since we theorized that with her power continuously still growing, she could soon easily overpower the magical binds. However, if we were to somehow find a way to drain that power…We came up with introducing a sequence of runes that would activate once her 'power gauge' was nearly full, and thereby transform her into her animagus form and drain her power extensively, preventing her from being able to overcome the magical binds.

"Right now, we are currently trying to see if the animagus transformation shortcut we discovered through her can be adapted to be more available to the Wizarding community, and if we can reduce the pain factor…"

The man continued to talk, but Rufus could only reel back in horror and stare at the agonized phoenix that flailed about in pain.

He tried to block out the beautiful, anguished trilling of the transformed songbird, but it continued to haunt him right down to his soul.

Started 9/8/14 – Completed 9/11/14

Chapter Text

Giovanni had returned his gun back to where he'd hid it on his person. After, he went back to escorting her back to her home, looking and acting as if everything were normal. She tried brushing off the incident, but she was having a hard time pretending that her escort hadn't just easily threatened someone (even if it was a mugger) with a dangerous firearm, and had directly threatened to more or less blow the man's head off without care.

But she was still by his side and 'trying' to pretend nothing had happened.

"You're…disturbed," he noted, speaking out of nowhere.

She looked away, biting her lip. He sighed and stopped, turning towards her.

"Granted, I can be very confrontational, but I don't take being threatened lightly. And you were being threatened, and that is intolerable," he said firmly.

A huge part of her knew that she should be alarmed he would go that far for her, but instead she felt flattered and in awe that he would act that much on her behalf. Her face felt hot and she couldn't help taking a step closer to him and holding on tighter to his arm, though she continued to refuse to look at him.

They continued to walk on, but Giovanni was very pleased with her reaction. When they reached her door, Harry hesitated. She wanted to invite him in, maybe have tea with him…But she didn't know how without speaking, and she knew it might look like she was inviting him for something else. She didn't want it to look like what it would, but she wanted to be polite and repay him back somehow, even just a little bit.

So, struggling with herself, she stood in front of her door without opening it or looking at him, thinking hard and not noticing him watching her and wondering what she was thinking so hard about. Harry then took a deep breath and opened her door, before facing him. He was bemused, seeing her staring at him so intensely in her doorway. But then she stepped aside and held the door open, stubbornly looking to the side with her face heating up.

He accepted the silent invitation, refraining from grinning like a lunatic and smoothly moving passed her and into her home. He was sure she didn't mean this in a sexual way or anything of the like, as he was more than sure of her personality and how she was. However, that she was inviting him in at all meant a great deal, especially considering her (so far) rather reserved character.

For her, seeing as she couldn't speak to him, she decided actions would help her better and headed straight to the kitchen, leaving him to close the door and then go follow her. She'd set up the kettle by the time he came into the kitchen, and could see what she was doing.

"Tea, then? I'd like that a lot," he smiled slightly, and took a seat at the table at her gesture.

They were in relative quiet, sitting across each other at the table. Once the kettle started whistling, Harry quickly got up and turned the stove off, picking up the kettle pouring the hot water into two cups she'd set aside, putting two teabags into them. She carefully transferred them to the table, sitting at her side again after.

"Thank you," he politely said. "I'm pleased to be sharing this time with you, Harry."

Her name –her short, boyish nickname –sounded so elegant and pretty coming from his lips, with that voice. She could listen to him all the time, with a voice like that. And hear her name coming from him all the time…

"I have a gift for you," Giovanni announced suddenly. "I had planned to give it to you later, but this is a good opportunity and as good a time as any."

He stood up and walked to be closer to her, and she looked up at him, wondering what was it now that he was going to give her. Without further warning, he fished something out from his pocket and held it out to her, and Harry accepted the strange ball in her hands.

"As I told you before, this is a pokéball. Inside is a pokémon," Giovanni murmured coolly, but she could hear a touch of tenderness in his tone. Her head shot up and she looked at him, instead of the pokéball in her hands. Though her face was mostly solemn as always…

She did remember the talk of pokémon and pokéballs, and of his usual residence where those things were common. The talk over dinner had been amazing (even if it was one-sided), and she loved hearing him talking about that world of his, and had wanted to hear more.

"Go on," he said softly. "Release her."

She looked down at the pokéball and then gently tossed it. There was a bright flash of red and the pokéball returned to her hands, and then there was a small, white quadruped pokémon in front of her.

"It is a Glaceon, a pokémon of ice to match your icy exterior," Giovanni said as he came to stand beside her, hand flitting to briefly touch her face. "Perhaps she'll help me melt you."

But she merely stared at him with eyes of emerald glass, and he felt the briefest amount of frustration. Inwardly, she felt rather awful she couldn't respond to him more properly, but there were so many restrictions on her that she couldn't even say a proper 'thank you' to the man.

Unable to say the words, she turned her focus to the white pokémon before her, and she knelt before it. She tentatively reached a hand out and petted her, recalling how Giovanni had called the Glaceon a 'her.'

"She's what people would call a 'Shiny,'" Giovanni spoke up again. "Most Glaceon are blue, but as you can see, yours is white."

She gently picked up her new Glaceon and held her in her arms, who was feeling warm and happy as she cuddled into Harry. Though she was unable to say words of thanks, Harry did her best to smile the brightest smile she could at him, and was rewarded with a soft one in return.

"It is getting late," he noted as he looked at the time. "I should get back to my car before it gets any later and harder to see."

Harry mentally frowned at that, and was quick to decide on what next to do. Coming over to him, she tentatively touched his arm and got his attention. Pulling at him, she silently had him follow her up the stairs and to the guest room, despite the fact he was probably wondering what she was up to.

She stood in the doorway, trying not to look at him as she gestured to inside the room.

"Are you…are you allowing me to use your guest room?" he asked to make sure, and she nodded. "Is it really alright? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."

Harry swallowed, still looking elsewhere as she pet her Glaceon. Then she gathered up her courage and nodded stiffly, before surprising him as she stepped forward and hugged him with one arm, careful not to squish Glaceon between them. He had such a comforting warmth, and she could feel it without wanting to scream or feel her skin burning. Her ear managed to land onto his chest, above his heart, and she could feel just as much as hear his heart strongly pounding in a staccato rhythm.

Though it took a moment, a moment enough to make her worry she'd been too rash, he wrapped his own arm around her, before he also bent a little and laid a kiss on her head.

"Sleep well, mia stella. I will see you tomorrow morning."

And then she was flitting off quickly, away from him and his embrace.

Giovanni was extremely content by how the series of events had occurred. His dinner with Harry had gone well, and then he'd managed to escort her to her home. Despite that little hiccup with the mugger, she ended up not being too put off by his quick display of retaliation. And then she not only invited him into her place for tea, but had allowed him to stay in the guest room for the night.

He was extraordinarily satisfied by the events of the night and his progress with the girl.

Now if only she would talk to him, or at least say his name.

However, having been able to be close to her and lay a quick kiss on her at the end, made up for that. Except now he had, or might have (considering how the night went and her responses to him, he was leaning towards a positive answer) an entire week to plan out scenarios in which she would learn to be more comfortable in his presence, and he could try to steal as many kisses as he could.

It looked like it would only be a matter of time before he had her, and could completely claim her as his.

The next morning had him eager to wake and see to the girl that hosted his night stay. It would be a novel experience to wake up and see how a morning with her would be, and he wouldn't have to wait until she'd agreed to stay over his home. Exiting the guest room (the bed had been horribly decorated and stiff, but he didn't blame Harry –it was those horrid Dursleys that owned and lived there after all), he could see more clearly the hallway that he'd walked through with her.

The hallway was rather narrow, but he was able to see there were four doors in total, including his. However, it was the last door before the staircase that caught his attention, and he wrinkled his nose at it. Ordinarily, he would prefer to find out about Harry from herself and not snoop around covertly, as he and his organization were used to. However…

There was much to be said about a door that had several different locks on it (and a catflap with obviously no cat around), and he could only think of one person in this so-called family who'd be given a door with that many locks.

Hearing noise downstairs, as well as a lovely aroma that spelled a delicious breakfast, Giovanni quietly traveled to that specific door and turned the doorknob. He frowned as he saw the room –it was small, there was a worn bed set, and a single wardrobe that occupied the space of the room. The wardrobe itself looked old and about to fall apart, and not likely to hold many clothes within. There wasn't much to look around the room, as it was sparse and didn't really hold any personal effects. It was pretty Spartan and didn't hold any clue to whom Harry was, or what she liked. Nothing in here screamed Harry's personality, of what he knew of and of what he'd hoped to have found out by looking around.

Disappointed at the lack of anything to point to Harry's personality and likes, he poked around a little bit for anything he might have missed, before heading to the wardrobe. He blinked when he saw how lacking it was, even in there. There were several large clothing he doubted fit Harry's slight frame, the green dress she wore, and then the black dress he'd given her. But that was basically it.

Now that won't do at all.

He closed the wardrobe and then walked out of her room, finally heading downstairs and to where Harry was, seemingly with breakfast. He entered the kitchen, seeing her still cooking over the stove, though she wore baggy pants that were held up by a belt, and an oversized t-shirt that kept slipping off of her shoulder and of which she kept agitatedly pulling back up. He felt a smirk curl on his lips.

Timing himself well, he moved to be behind her and when her shirt moved down again and revealed her shoulder, he moved in and hooked a finger under the hem and made her freeze. Smirking even more, he leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her bared shoulder, before moving away after pulling her shirt back up.

"I see breakfast is coming along. Anything you need me to do?" he asked nonchalantly, but he was smiling rather mischievously as she wheeled around to face him with wide eyes.

He could see her visibly swallow nervously, before pointing to a drawer and then a cupboard. Heading over to the drawer and seeing the utensils, he could guess she wanted him to set the table. Seeing what she was making for them, he grabbed two forks and knives, and then two plates from the cupboard. He transferred them over to the table and waited for when she would be done. When she looked at the table and then at the pan, she glanced at him in embarrassment. But he easily read what she was thinking, grabbing the plates and placing the toasted English muffins from the side onto the plates, and then held out the plates for her to carefully put the poached eggs on top of them. After that, she poured some hollandaise sauce over the egg-topped muffins.

"Smells delicious. Shall I pour us some drinks?"

When she gave him a suspicious look, Giovanni chuckled and opened up her fridge after he'd put the plates back down on the table.

"Orange juice," he said wryly. "If you have some."

She ducked her head, though he glimpsed her tinted cheeks, and she went to grab two glasses as he took out the orange juice container. As he poured the juice into the glasses, he heard a thunk behind him and he turned around to find out what it was.

Harry stood there with a small bag by her feet, huffily (but adorably) glaring off to the side with her arms across her chest. He smirked fully then and came over, moving her bag a bit with his foot.

"I will fully admit and take responsibility to the fact I was nosy and snooped around in your room. If this has clothes like the ones in your wardrobe, we'll be going shopping in London after breakfast."

She turned her glare on him, but he unrepentantly stared back. She scoffed, but pointed to herself, then the bag, and then out the door. Giovanni took a guess on what she meant.

"Fine, you can choose your clothing and where we shop."

Her glare let up on him and he awarded himself a point in success. However, he felt rather uneasy and increasingly disappointed at her refusal to speak to him…

Ariana looked around before she darted into her fellow Executive's office. She searched around a bit, grumbling under her breath at her luck at finding nothing she'd wanted to see. When she reached Archer's desk, she spotted a manila folder peeking from underneath his keyboard, and her hand moved forward quickly to grab it.

Her fingers barely brushed against the corner, before someone else's hand slammed down onto hers and banged it onto the table. She glared at the culprit, ignoring the stinging pain.

"Archer," she muttered irritably.

"Ariana," he smiled politely. "What are you doing in here?"

"I needed to retrieve something for Giovanni," she lied with a straight face.

"Then why are you touching this folder that is absolutely none of your business?" he threw back with a deadpan look that said he didn't buy her excuse.

"Damn it, Archer. You know this is an unusual situation and Giovanni is particularly acting out of sorts. Don't you care about just who exactly has him so hung up?"

Archer actually snorted, taking his hand off of hers, but also taking the file from his desk and away from her.

"You just want to see the girl and find out everything," he accused. "You hardly care what Giovanni gets up to unless it's interesting, and you know he can take care of himself. Save me the 'I'm just looking out for him' reasoning you think you can put past me."

Ariana scowled heavily at him. "Yeah, yeah –" but she moved quickly, after deceptively pretending to have given up, and snatched the folder from his hand to open it and skim whatever she could in the time she was allotted before Archer retaliated.

But a simple picture kept her from looking through anything else, and she stared in surprise at the picture of a familiar girl for only a few precious seconds, before Archer immediately snatched it back.

"Ariana, leave it alone, won't you –"

"She's Giovanni's Harry?" Ariana interrupted, asking faintly.

Archer stared at her in surprise. "I take it you saw her picture. She's rather pretty, isn't she? Giovanni's got good taste and made a good pick this time. It also sounds like she'll be 'here to stay.'"

"That isn't it," Ariana murmured, bewildering him. "I know her. She…"

Archer waited for her to elaborate, curious on what she meant now, and how could she know that girl. She reluctantly told him about meeting Harry in that store.

"Hm. She is rather pleasant, and quite a character. I haven't yet figured out everything about her for the boss, but I hope to know more soon. Especially about this trauma she suffered, but no one will talk of," Archer inwardly sighed, a little frustrated that he's been hitting a lot of dead ends for once.

"She's mute," Ariana supplied quietly, taking the folder back from him and gazing at the photo of the girl she had instantly liked. "Her aunt practically threw that in her and my faces before leaving the store with the girl. I don't know the cause though."

Archer made a mental note, so he could add it later to Harry's file. "I'll have to find out about the cause then. At least I know what ails her now, and can inform Giovanni. Plus, it'll relieve him to know she isn't just not speaking to him because she doesn't want to."

"Is that what he's been thinking?" she asked, starting to flip through the folder, rather curious on what Archer had managed to dig up.

Archer shook his head. "It's been bothering him painfully."

"Oh woe is him," she muttered, but she had a feeling their girl was the one with all the pains.

It had been a…strange experience shopping at a retail store. Giovanni hadn't really wanted to allow her to shop at such a mundane and cheap place, but she seemed adamant and determined to shop at the closest Walmart. The slight frugal side of him that appreciated the ability to save money and spend cash usefully and more efficiently agreed with this method, and appreciated her outlook. But the other parts of him balked at letting her wear such inexpensive and regular clothing, when he wanted to spend as much as he could on her and have her own and wear the best that money could buy. That his money could buy.

And he was an extravagant man. He usually indulged in extravagance in most parts of his life, so he didn't see why he wouldn't with someone as important to him as her. He had the money and it wasn't going to run out then or anytime soon, so he was more than willing to spoil her rather rotten, especially from gathering her lack of spoils in her own life after what he'd seen so far.

Why the hell couldn't and wouldn't he pamper and treat her to all she could want?

But, well, he was catering to her wants and this was what she wanted. He'll just have Domino (or even Jessie) shop with her for more finer clothing later on. Both women tended to be rather forceful and hard to deny, so it would be a bonus to send them in to 'convince' Harry on a more fruitful shopping spree.

Crazy women like them adored shopping sprees, didn't they?

Which had him quite blessed with someone like Harry, who was such a quick and efficient shopper and didn't dally too much. Plus, she was very good at finding the best deals around that place…

Afterwards, he drove to his company's building there, where he led her in and straight to his office on the top floor.

"We'll be taking an unusual route to my estate, seeing as it's actually in Kingsbridge. We can cut the hours by using Gallade," he explained to her, the elevator opening to his enormous office just as he finished.

She wanted to ask him what he meant, but she couldn't. Luckily, she didn't have to as she saw what she guessed to be a pokémon moving about the room.

"Gallade, meet Harry. She and I will be vacationing over in my English countryside home for the rest of the week," he promptly told the pokémon. It bowed to her and she hesitantly smiled and gave a tiny wave. "Teleport us over, Gallade."

Harry then glanced at Giovanni in question, but Gallade had traveled over and then she felt like she was floating, before everything around her disappeared. A quick second later showed she was in a smaller, comfier office, and she whirled in a circle to take it all in.

"Gallade is a dual psychic-fighting type," Giovanni told her, bringing her attention back to him. "He has the ability to teleport, of which he used on us, transporting us from London to Kingsbridge instantaneously."

She was still unsure of what he meant, being new to this whole pokémon thing, but it was amazing what they could all do. It was like magic –Teleport was easily much better than Apparation though, considering how much more smoother and easier on her body it felt.

Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed how much closer Giovanni had become to her until his hand warmly touched the small of her back.

"Please meet Persian. He's been a very loyal companion to me over the years, and he's been really looking forward to meeting you," he said, removing a pokéball from his belt and tossing it, letting out a beautiful and graceful feline.

"Persian Perrrsian," he purred, quickly looking at her. The feline stalked towards her and rubbed his head against her side and she smiled widely, dropping to her knees to pet his head more firmly. Persian gave a pleased purr at that, though he nudged his head softly against her neck, peering at her. Giovanni noted the strange interaction.

"If you'd like," Giovanni continued to watch her closely, enjoying the sight of her happy in his home. "You may release your Glaceon and allow her to freely roam around. Unlike the cities, the countryside is a little more lenient in allowing pokémon to roam around, if they're owned."

Harry glanced at him hesitantly before she reached into her pocket and then pressed the button, her Glaceon appearing just as gracefully as Persian. Giovanni gently tapped her shoulder.

"Come. Let me at least show you around our floor, before I show you your room and allow you to be settled in. Gallade will be back momentarily with the things we've bought for you."

Harry looked up at him, seeing him reach out and hold out a hand to her. She looked at the pokémon with her and then looked back at Giovanni.

She tentatively laid a hand in his, and he folded his hand securely around hers.

The entire floor was insanely huge. She learned that the room they'd arrived in was his personal study, while he had a more public one on the ground floor, for which his employees could reach him. There was a large library she knew Hermione would salivate at, four entire suites of which she learned one was to be hers and the main one was Giovanni's, and then there was Giovanni's personal battle arena which he used to train his pokémon in when he was there.

And then when he led her to where she was staying, the suite made her stop short of the door and stare at it. It was way too big for someone like her to stay in alone, and she didn't remember a time where she'd stayed in something so fancy.

"I hope everything pleases you," he murmured and she turned to face him, trying to school her face into something indifferent. "If you need anything, or want, just come to my door and ask."

He took her hand and lifted it to his lips, and she could only watch him dazedly. This was really too much so soon…

When he left, she headed to the bed and fell down backwards, trying to gain her bearings. Her Glaceon trotted over and easily jumped onto the bed. Harry reached out and scratched her small head, smiling at the pokémon that was now hers. She stared directly into Glaceon's eyes.

'Can I call you Lily?'

'Of course, my mistress. Whatever you wish. I quite like the name.'

Harry's smile turned sad. 'I can't speak, Lily, so I'm sorry I can't speak to you more directly.'

'It is alright. I understand, Mistress.'

She'd made a guess that Legilimency might let her talk to her Glaceon, but she wasn't sure if she could use it on other pokémon and especially on people. And well, Legilimency required direct eye contact anyway…

Still, she was curious about pokémon and all this battling they didn't seem to mind. She remembered Giovanni's battle arena.

'Lily, could you show me some of your moves?' Harry asked curiously.

Lily practically preened, and excitedly looked at her new mistress.

'Of course I can. Just show me when and where.'

Bit by bit, Harry felt like she was forgetting about all her troubles.

At the arena, she watched in awe as her Glaceon performed all sorts of moves, even pulling off the moves in a more than flashy than normal way. Harry silently giggled and clapped her hands, allowing her pokémon to show off for her.

"I see your Glaceon and you are having fun. How do you like the arena? Enjoying it?" Giovanni slowly walked into the room with his Persian.

Harry hesitantly looked at him, fidgeting before giving a small wave. He indulgently waved back.

"Would you like to have a pokémon battle? I'll take it easy, seeing as it wouldn't be fair since I have more experience and am considered a strong battler even by normal standards," he suggested to her.

She thought about it, and inwardly she'd been wanting to know how a real battle went, ever since he'd told her about them. She couldn't duel anymore, but it would be nice to find an alternative and even better, have a companion and friend in Lily to do it with.

She nodded, still as hesitant with him as always, and then they were going on opposite ends of the stadium. Giovanni explained the rules patiently to her, and then they were starting.

Harry hadn't considered or remembered about her voice, as she quickly realized it was needed to command pokémon on the field. Panicking and growing all the more anxious as the battle slowly went on, with Lily just dodging and the two of them sharing an alarmed look because of their circumstances, Harry understood she'd been too hasty in accepting and having not understood the full repercussions or what detailed an actual pokémon battle.

She clutched at her head and decided she'd been really stupid, and at a particular attack from Persian towards Lily, that the Glaceon couldn't avoid, Harry just reacted and ran forward, scooping up Lily and bracing for the attack.

To that end, she was suddenly picked up and she'd realized that Giovanni had rushed over and grabbed her in turn, hastily dodging to the side and out of the way of the attack. As Persian yowled in worry and Lily leaped from her arms (after a quick lick to her hand in comfort) to head towards the feline, Harry was whirled around to face Giovanni.

"What were you thinking? Why would you just jump in front of the attack like that? You could have been hurt!" he scowled and examined her thoroughly, furrowing his eyebrows. "And why didn't you order Glaceon to attack back at all? Especially then –you could have avoided both you and her being in range of Persian's attack."

Harry, despite her initial thoughts, really should have said something about her lack of voice. She blinked away tears, and hated that she'd been so handicapped like this and that she missed talking and how much she'd needed to say so many things to everyone, to anyone. So despite not wanting to, she touched her throat with her fingers and shook her head, glancing at him quickly before averting her teary eyes.

He paused, still holding onto her. "You…you can't talk? Is that it?"

Harry closed her eyes and buried her face into her hands, wishing she'd never accepted her Hogwarts Letter.

Started 9/28/14 – Completed 9/30/14

Chapter Text

Harry couldn't stay there long, running off to her room not too long after the reveal. She locked herself in there and stared at the door, waiting for him to come after her and demand she leave immediately. She wasn't sure what to do next, or what he would do. Would he get upset that she hadn't outright told him about her lack of voice? Or would he finally be bored of her, now that he knew why she wasn't speaking to him, and that she hadn't been purposefully refusing to speak to him? That there was no challenge, no purpose in him continuing his chase and pursuing her. It was game over.

Honestly, she expected to be kicked out.

But he hadn't followed her. She didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing, but she wasn't holding high hopes. She fully expected his reaction to be negative, and that she would be dumped back at the Dursleys and never see him again. And for some reason that caused her to balk; she shouldn't be so surprised though. Giovanni had been the first and only real connection in a long time, and she hadn't really interacted with anyone for the longest time either. Or interacted with anyone like in the way she had with him. Ever actually, now that she thought about it.

That brought her thoughts to a halt. She hadn't realized how depended she had gotten on his company, and so quickly. She had only known him for a short time after all, but after everything and her lack of connection or even just communication with anyone, she shouldn't be so caught off guard that she'd unintentionally latched onto him so fast or so much. And the fact was, for some reason he was the only one who really brought her muted emotions out in the first place. She couldn't even fathom why that was.

She felt as if she was too unsure of everything, and she wasn't sure if she liked this unsteady, helpless feeling. A nagging voice in her head told her she was too afraid and needed to let go.

But then again, she wasn't the only person to make those decisions around here, and she had to wait and see what Giovanni's response would be.

Except he was just as upset and unsteadied as she was, though not for the reasons she had been thinking of. The truth was, he had been caught off guard by the revelation of her muteness, but thought he should have thought of it before now.

He should have figured it out.

He felt stupid, having not figured it out for himself. In hindsight, there were many telltale signs, especially the night before as she struggled to allow him in –to her home and inside her metaphorical walls. It was obvious, and yet he hadn't seen it and dismissed any clues that could have told him the truth and allowed him to adjust his approach to her, that would have made him even more accommodating than he had been.

It was irritating to him that he'd been so blind. But he had a chance to rectify it, and he would change his methods a little more to capture his girl. This was a minor setback, and his ignorance could be forgiven. He'll have her yet.

Giovanni would have gone after her soon after, but thought she might prefer some space instead. He promised he would compromise by approaching her later, which is what he was doing now, holding two plates of ricotta and spinach cannelloni and standing in front of her assigned room. He moved the plates to hold them up with one arm, and then knocked on the door. After a moment, it opened hesitantly to reveal Harry looking warily at him.

"May I come in?" he asked neutrally, and she looked briefly upset before her face molded back to a more unrevealing look. She stepped back and held the door open, and he slipped inside.

"I brought lunch," he moved a plate and then had one in each hand, holding them out for her to see. "I used to have this when I was…upset when I was younger. I still do, but I would prefer that you don't broadcast that out to everyone, especially my employees. I'd rather keep the fear of God in them," he ended dryly.

She gave him a look and pointed to her throat. He rolled his eyes.

"Don't use that as an excuse, mia stella," he smirked at her, more so when she glanced at him in surprise. "I'm sure you'd have other ways of leaking out information."

She smiled slightly to herself, and he knew he'd done well in his reply to her. She grabbed the plates from him and set up at a table the suite graciously came with. He filched the forks he'd brought with him from his pockets, and handed one to her. For awhile, they ate in awkward silence. There was a thick tension in the room and between them, and Giovanni thought about what he could do to defuse it.

When they finished eating, he pushed the plates aside and quickly snatched one of her hands before she could bring them to herself.

"I don't know what you're thinking," he admitted. "But I've never known that, even before I didn't know you couldn't speak. It's no different now than it was before, because I'm still clueless about you. I'm infuriated at my progress with you, not because you can't communicate with me," he interjected quickly, seeing her face start to look upset, "but because I should be able to adjust myself accordingly, even without full knowledge of everything, and that I should have found this out already and on my own. And, the not-speaking withstanding, you feel as distant as ever.

"I'm failing somewhere, and I don't know how I can correct it," he frowned. "I severely dislike failures, and yet I can't even see what I can do to make sure I'm not with you."

Giovanni took the hand he had, and brushed his lips against it.

"However," he firmly declared. "I am a businessman, as you know, Harry. I fully involve and dedicate myself to my investments, and I –though not even I am sure why –have invested everythingof myself in you," he completely laid out to her.

Honestly, she hadn't expected all that, especially what was basically a confession. And, well, neither did he actually.

But he wasn't really one to take back his word once he gave it, which was why he usually never gave his word to anyone. He'd given it to her, and he didn't really regret it or care to retract it now that it was out in the open.

Flustered, and he was quite pleased at her responsive reaction, she hastily took her hand back and averted her eyes, giving him a small nod. It seems even without the ability to talk to him, she would still be more comfortable with him at a distance. Now that won't do…

He moved his chair closer, alarming her, but for a second he just sat there. And then he slowly moved to grasp her face between his hands, allowing her time to see what he was doing and push him away if she wanted. His eyes bored into her wide ones, and then he leaned closer and firmly placed his lips against her forehead. He kept his lips there until finally her slim hands moved towards him and grasped at the lapels of his suit jacket.

Though a dark beast emerged inside of him and craved to do more, to push her against the wall and ravish her until she was senselessly writhing against him, he forced himself to keep the intimate action tame. There would be plenty of time to do that later on, when she was much more emboldened by his presence and would respond to him more favorably…

Archer waited outside of the house patiently, until it opened to reveal his new source. The woman's name was Arabella Figg, an older woman that had once babysat his boss' new female acquaintance (perhaps he should start referring to her as the new madame boss? He would have to inquire with Giovanni, in order to come up with a more suitable address to Henrietta). It was thanks to her that he'd gotten most of the information he'd obtained on Henrietta.

She nervously looked around. "Please, come in quickly."

She was always unreasonably nervous and twitchy, but he never pushed her too hard about things or inquired about her behavior. He was always patient enough to deal with people of her type, and he knew how to deal with them accordingly.

"In here," she muttered, and she entered her kitchen.

Frowning, he cautiously followed, only to be surprised and wary about the man sitting and having tea at her table, looking incredibly exhausted and just as twitchy.

"This is Rufus Fudge," Arabella informed him stiffly. "He can tell you much more about Harry than I can, at this point. I'll leave you two to talk."

She disappeared from the room, and Archer observed the man critically. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes that were shaded more earthy. He had a slim figure that said he was more suited and used to working behind a desk, than having done any physical tasks on a more daily basis. His pale skin and the bags under his eyes said much about his exhaustion, but Archer wouldn't count him out as not dangerous just yet.

"You're…You're, um, the Archer Arabella mentioned, right?" Rufus asked hesitantly.

Archer gave a curt nod, still watching him closely. "I am. You can tell me about Henrietta? Like what had happened to cause her the trauma Arabella mentioned, or to the fact she is currently mute."

Rufus flinched. "Under law, I cannot tell you anything by the order of the Statute of Secrecy. But…"

He stood up and took something from a previously unnoticed bag to his side, retrieving a stone bowl with strange markings on it and a lid on top. Several vials were taken out and placed next to it.

"I'll be going now," Rufus said quietly, startling Archer with his abrupt leave.

"Wait –" But Rufus left the room and when Archer followed him out, he saw nothing there. It baffled him.

Going back into the kitchen, he wondered about the items he'd been given. It was strange that the man wouldn't even hand it to him, so it made him think that maybe that strange law he mentioned kept him from directly giving the stuff to him. He had a feeling that even the indirect approach Rufus had taken would give the man trouble if it was found out.

He took the items, noticing a small piece of parchment stuck underneath the stone bowl, and went back to his car, where he took the time to read the note.

Pour each liquid from the vial into the Pensieve. It is automatically sequenced, so you will see everything from the beginning and nothing will be out of order. Tomorrow, you will receive the next set.

Curious now, he kept the bowl on his lap as he started the car and drove off. It didn't take him long to reach Team Rocket's base in England, situated beneath Giovanni's business building, where he headed to his quarters and set up the Pensieve like instructed, after which he saw the silver liquid shimmer mesmerizingly in the bowl. However, he wasn't sure what to do next. There had been no further instructions after being told to pour in the liquid, whatever it was.

He was interested in the silver liquid, which moved oddly and not at all like normal liquids. He debated the merits of probing it with his finger, but wasn't sure if it was dangerous. It could be poisonous. But he didn't have time to find out, or trust anyone else with this. Especially since no one else was in the know or had clearance to know about Henrietta, until Giovanni so chose to announce to the rest of the Team about her permanent presence with them.

"Ah well, it is for the boss."

He gently touched the liquid and felt an odd sensation, before feeling as if he was being sucked into the bowl.

After he'd moved away, Giovanni asked Harry to accompany him to his study. He'd also informed her he'd had their pokémon resting, to recover from their battle and also be fed. She looked intently at him, but at least now he knew that her silence wasn't purposefully.

It also made him wonder if maybe that trauma he'd heard about had something to do about her muteness. And if possible, if there was any way he could help her regain her voice. She wasn't a selective mute by the way she was gesturing to her throat and being unable to utter anything at all, even to the point where she and her Glaceon were almost hurt. That was still just a guess, but it seemed likely. So that meant, if he took that her trauma could be involved into account, that maybe an injury had caused her muteness.

That put a terrible scowl on his face, though he quickly fixed his expression so as to not alarm Harry.

If it was an injury and it had been caused by someone, he would be paying that person a personal visit in the near future.

"I have something for you," he voiced instead, once they'd reached his study.

She looked inquisitively at him, but he went to his desk and held up a leather-bound notebook. He then went back to her side and handed it to her.

"This was meant to be given to you as a diary, or for you to use for whatever you please. However, I would like to request that you use it to communicate with me," he gave her a serious look, really meaning it, even to the point where he'd actually request it. He wouldn't for anyone else, because he was used to and really just ordered everyone else around…but this wasn't just anyone else, it was Harry.

Harry was always the exception.

She carefully opened it, a single hand elegantly caressing the inner pages and then the outer shell of leather appreciatively. Then, bemusing and ending up delighting him, she plucked the pen he had poking out of his breast pocket, and began to write in the notebook already. After she was done, she held it up for him to read.

Thank you, Giovanni.

And he was extremely pleased by this turn of events, and thought maybe the reveal of her muteness hadn't been such a bad thing in the end after all. She was now actively using his name, even if it was in writing.

He decided now was a perfect time to spend with her and "talk" as they hadn't been able to before. And he'd found out a great deal of things that he probably wouldn't have been able to, or would have taken much longer had he not known she was mute.

He learned she'd named the Glaceon he'd given her Lily, after her mother. He also found out she knew Ariana, as he'd suspected after linking Ariana's story of the girl and her horse-like relative and remembering meeting Harry's aunt.

Regrettably, he didn't know sign language, but resolved to learn now that he knew that she was proficient enough in it to communicate. Luckily, Archer did and would help her practice it, once Giovanni told him.

He stayed away from the topic of her markings and her family situation, especially the suspicious deaths of her parents. He also decided, having a strange feeling, that he shouldn't ask anything about her private school or why she'd dropped out, especially if it concerned the mysterious trauma she suffered and if it linked to her muteness. He didn't know if she knew anything about her lack of records, so he didn't ask about that either.

What was interesting, when he asked about the can of Mace he'd wanted her to have, was finding out about the unauthorized visit to her from Archer. He'd assumed his subordinate would have included it with the box that had been delivered to her with the dress Giovanni had chosen for her. Instead, he'd found out that Archer had personally handed it to her and had said a few things, though Harry wouldn't say what. It seems he would have to have a talk with his subordinate and hear just exactly what he'd said to Harry, and find out just exactly what had happened and why Archer had gone to her in person.

Though surprisingly, Harry hadn't asked him any questions. Still, it wasn't like he'd given her a chance to, when he'd asked her so many things and hadn't realized he hadn't allowed her to squeeze some questions of her own in.

Curious, and a bit apprehensive, he asked the next question with a bit more hesitancy than his previous questions.

"Are you afraid of me, Harry?" he hid any expression on his face, trying to keep it neutral as he waited for her answer.

She blinked in surprise, before looking like she was thinking about the answer. Then she began writing and he held his breath.

Not…afraid. Apprehensive. Not used to…this.

He wanted to ask her what she meant by that, though he could get somewhat of a gist, even if there was a broad range her statement could cover. Still, he didn't want to push her and left it alone. For now.

He saw her writing again, and he patiently waited for what she would ask, pleased she might be finally asking a question.

Why do you call me 'mia stella'? And it seems you're calling me that less recently?

"Ah, good question," he tested waters by reaching over for her hand and holding it. Though she tensed, she didn't pull away, so he took it as a good sign. "First, I have been calling you it less, simply because I'd always wanted to use your actual name more, once it seems we've gotten more intimate and you had started using mine. While it is in writing, I count it. And I find that our progress has been much more personal than before.

"'Mia stella' is Italian for 'my star,'" he explained. "The more common and cliché explanation anyone could use would be to say like you are a bright, shining star, but that's not all to say. At least, not for me. Stars are actually many light-years away –miles away from the Earth."

That was rather ironic as she was the star and considering his ground-type preference, would that make him the Earth?

He brushed his thumb against her knuckles. "So very distant. A cold atmosphere, but a burning hot core. I know deep inside of you is a raging fire and I want to bring it out of you and light it higher aflame."

Giovanni, though, was wary of that 'core' burning out and transforming into an unforgiving black hole, whether it was from whoever or whatever that haunted her or even of his own doing.

She wrote something quickly down and then pushed the leather-bound book towards him, tilting her head slightly and her lips twitching up. That caught him off guard, but in a completely good way.

But would you be able to tame that fire?

He barked out a laugh and grinned unashamedly at her. "Touché, Harry. But you just proved me right, and that you probably do have a rather fiery personality I want to know more of." His grin turned wry. "However, stars can be really old. I have the strangest feeling that, despite how young you are, inside you are much older. You are…more mature than many women I know. There is something rather weary and even worldly about you."

Seeing her frown though, made him rethink his words and perhaps try to backtrack and save face from whatever he'd said to upset her. But he stiffened up and stared in wonder as she bent her forehead over their held hands, laying it gently on top of them, and the strange and almost worshipful imagery evoked something strange in him. And when her lips gently landed on the back of his hand, he exhaled a huge breath he hadn't even known had been held in.

Her sacred lips slid away at the same time as she slid her hand from his. And when she looked up, she gave him the saddest smile he'd ever seen in his life, with emerald eyes that spoke of seeing and having done too much.

And inside, a rage grew and he swore he would find whoever had made her like this, who had hurt her so much (because he swore to God that he just knew someone was behind her pain), and he would make them pay dearly.

He determinedly snatched both of her hands, holding them tightly in his. He ignored her startled face and looked straight into his eyes.

"Stars have been shown in history to have guided people, led them. People have always looked to the stars. I have no doubt that many have probably done the same to you. Please lead my path, Harry, and I promise you the world," he swore fervently.

Because now he was even more sure than ever. She would be his. She was the most important capture of his life, and no Legendary would ever compete with her. His entire being counted on her.

Giovanni could see her face slowly turning red, and the look of mixed uncertainty and shock. But it was important that he get it across to her how important she was –to him, to his Team, to his dreams and goals, to whatever future for him there was. There was no future that meant anything, if she wasn't in it.

She started to hastily write something, hands shaky as she held his pen to the paper. She handed it to him and he read it quickly.

I'm not afraid of you, but when you get like this…I  do  become afraid.

Not what he'd wanted, but he understood that the intensity he kept displaying towards her wasn't normal or healthy, or probably even sane. He could also see how terrifying and uncomfortable it would be to see it, much less be on the receiving end of it. But…he wouldn't compromise on this.

Because she had to know sooner or later how desperate he was to chain her to him.

"I'm sorry," he said with a small, strange smile that had a tinge of apology, even when he and she both knew he contradicted those words much more than he wasn't.

Was he sorry? Maybe. In the end, he was more unapologetic than he was.

He could apologize for how he made her feel, and maybe even a little for his behavior, but he wouldn't apologize for how he was or the base truth of which that he would probably continue on and not stop himself.

Perhaps he could be a little sorry about that.

Harry lay in bed, with her Glaceon mewling and cuddling up to her.

'Mistress?'

She shivered, wide awake and eyes staring at the ceiling. Today had been…emotional. Too emotional. She hadn't had such an explosion of emotions for a long time; it was such an intense cacophony all day, with her emotions ranging from lows to highs. It was like a rollercoaster, and the strength of them didn't help.

Lily began pawing at her in earnest, but her body was locked up and her mind racing. She didn't even notice when her eyes became dilated, to the point where they looked black, and her breathing became labored. She did notice when there started to become two spots of burning sensation on her back, right between her shoulder blades.

'No. No, no, nononono –'

Horrified, Harry threw herself to the side and stumbled off the bed. Lily yelped, watching her mistress in panic. Deciding to get her mistress' companion, she darted out the door as soon as Harry opened it, going for Giovanni as Harry staggered about, almost like a drunk.

She gasped, clutching at her throat, and contorting her shoulders. Her staggering became more hurried, and at a turn in a hallway, she lurched and started to wildly flail her head about, her torso shaking and convulsing violently as she tried to shake off the growing pain.

Desperate, she began rushing about blindly before she accidently slammed herself into a wall. She threw her head back and a screech escaped from her mouth. Her hands flew to her throat and her eyes widened, and she hurriedly continued her stumbling walk to her destination before it became too late and she destroyed everything around her.

Using one hand to help her against the walls, her movements slowed and she made her way more sluggishly than before, each step becoming more painful as the burning spots in her back began to spread. She let out another screech and fell to her hands and knees, her back arching as skin tore open at her back, from where the burning spots had originated.

Two black wings slowly slid out, pushing out gradually and causing Harry to feel as if her back was being shredded. After the initial push, where large bits of the wings had come out, another push had them emerge fully, and they flapped once before lying limp against her. She whimpered, her voice returning, if only for this transformation.

She crawled a bit more, looking up to thankfully see she had somehow made it to the room she wanted to be in. Her body trembled and she pushed herself up and opened the door, practically tossing herself into the battle arena. She crawled to the middle of the arena before her body shook one more time, and then she collapsed onto her back and her body began seizing.

As the seizures continued and her body convulsed into violent movements, she could feel the bones inside her body begin to shatter and then her body contorted unnaturally and she began to shift and reshape into a larger being.

Another screech, louder and more eerie, escaped from her and echoed through the estate.

When Giovanni found Harry's Glaceon scratching and calling at his door, he left his work behind and followed after her in a worried state, while still wondering about that inhuman screech he'd just heard. He'd started to rush towards Harry's room, but Lily diverged from that path and he'd had to head back a turn and follow Lily to where Harry apparently was.

That she wasn't in her room was worrying and made him uneasy.

He was disquieted by the stillness of the air and the sudden silence. It wasn't boding well and he wanted to find Harry quickly, hoping that nothing was wrong and she was alright.

On his way to wherever they were heading, he was disturbed to find indents, cracks, and other damages to the walls the closer he came to what he realized was where the battle arena was located at.

"What the hell happened?" he muttered in confusion.

When they finally came to the battle arena, their final destination he realized, he stared at the door in confusion. He looked down at the Glaceon by his feet.

"She's here?" he asked hesitantly.

Lily nodded, rubbing her paw against her nose.

"You smell her in here?"

Another nod. Giovanni frowned and then reached for the doorknob, anxiously opening it and wondering what he'd find behind the door. He turned the doorknob and then, after another pause, pushed it open. The lights began turning on one by one and then he sucked in a huge breath as he stared in terrified awe at the great creature massively dominating a huge space around it. The battle arena was more than half-filled with it, and Giovanni doubted that even many of the Legendaries could match it in size.

"What…what are you?" he breathed out, also wondering how in the hell it had gotten into this place and where it had come from. But one thing was clear…

This…this wasn't a pokémon. Not one he knew of, or had yet to be discovered…

He cautiously came closer, when Lily came rushing passed him and towards the beast. His eyes darted around the room, seeing torn fabric all around the ground. Sleek, black feathers (no doubt from it) were layered all around them, some still floating in the air and falling down. He reached out and plucked one from the air, examining it curiously. It was extremely soft and silky, fine to the touch and a bright shine to it that rivaled (maybe even best) the shiny coating from a Cresselia feather. Pocketing it into his breast pocket, he looked back at the creature that was somewhat curled into itself, hiding its head behind a massive wing.

Risking it, he walked closer and stopped beside Lily, who had stopped a few paces before the creature and had sat there, intensely watching it. Frowning down at her, he looked back up and watched the creature with a wary air.

"What are you?" he asked again, louder this time.

It gained its attention and it shifted, alarming Giovanni, who took a huge step back. But it just moved slightly to face him and then moved its wing, revealing its head. More beautiful black feathers decorated it, still sleek and shiny, the glossing reflecting the light from above. It looked at him with tired, pained eyes, and he actually felt a burst of compassion, something he hadn't actually felt for anything or anyone until Harry.

Harry…

Not only did he remember what he was there for, rather who, but he also recognized the emerald eyes that stared at him from across the room, on a giant creature that looked like it wanted to die.

Before he even realized it, he'd walked the last few steps towards her (because it was her, he just knew it, and no one had those emerald eyes ever). His hand trembled as he reached out and gently touched the top of her head as she bowed it towards him, and he tenderly stroked her head.

"Harry? Is that you?" he asked, voice quiet and as if he was trying not to disturb the stillness of the room.

She let out a loud keening sound that reflected her pain and sorrow, and he felt like he was shattering into pieces, with her feelings reverberating through him. He felt something wet hit his face and reached up, and blinked blankly.

He hadn't even realized he'd started crying.

Started 10/21/14 – Completed 10/27/14

Chapter Text

Giovanni wasn't sure how long it had been. He couldn't be sure of how much time had passed; it could be morning already, and the sun was up bright and early. It could have only been a few minutes.

He just couldn't and didn't keep time.

Instead, he sat on the ground, brooding to himself as he gently caressed and rubbed the dark phoenix's head. Harry's black feathers were soft and practically like silk, and he actually found that it was even more comforting and relaxing caressing the silk-like feathers than even petting his Persian.

"Someone did this to you," he murmured, making sure to keep the anger from his voice, so as to not upset her.

A low keening sound came from her and it brought a pain to his chest. He put one of his hands on his leg and gripped it tightly. He wouldn't rest until he found out who was the perpetrator and he'd spilled blood. He'd paint the streets red by the time he was done with him.

He was jarred from his murderous thoughts as Harry's phoenixian form shifted, before she gave out a cry and then her aviary form began what looked to be a very painful process of reverting back to Harry's normal, human form. He could easily guess that it was just as painful (if not more) to transform into that phoenix state.

When it was over, Harry's naked, shuddering body was curled up, with her head tucked and hidden in her arms. Gritting his teeth and feeling his anger briefly make a reappearance, he calmed himself and walked over to her. He frowned when his touch earned a flinch from her, and a part of him hoped it was more a reflexive reaction (especially after a transformation), rather than her being afraid of him for some reason, even for such a simple one like being afraid of his reaction to her.

"Shh, mia stella. It is just me. Let me take care of you," he murmured, taking off his jacket and tucking it around her shivering form.

He then picked her up and held her securely to his chest, making quick but careful steps out of there and to her room. Once he'd made it there, he gently laid her onto her bed and covered the blanket over her. He'd have to put clothes on her later, when she was more relaxed and also wouldn't mistake his intentions. He momentarily disappeared, coming back with a bowl of cold water and a small cloth, to which he dipped it into the water and sat next to Harry, dabbing her forehead with the wet cloth.

"Rest for now," Giovanni hummed softly. "I will take care of you. Today, you should just stay in bed and let me handle everything."

She blinked up blearily at him, before she closed her eyes and snuggled into her soft pillow. He pushed her hair back from her face and dabbed her forehead a little more. He gazed at her restless face for awhile, frowning and wanting to give her sweeter dreams than what she was obviously dreaming of.

He sat back and kept watch over her, before pulling out his phone. He needed to get to the bottom of this, and the faster he did, the faster he'd find out who was responsible for his stella'ssuffering and exact a satisfying retribution.

However, Archer wasn't picking up, which wasn't like him. Giovanni frowned and resigned himself to talking to the other man later. For now, he would keep watch and look over Harry, making sure she was taken cared of in the meantime. There would be plenty of time for him to plan the perfect revenge, but right now his focus should and would be on her.

It was only a little time later that Giovanni noticed she was shivering, and he was chagrined to remember he hadn't put any clothes on her, aside from keeping his jacket around her nude form. He still was unsure if she would be alright with him touching her and being the one to put on her clothes, but he was the only one else there and she needed to be clothed and kept warm. He rummaged around the drawers, where Gallade had followed his orders in packing her new things in, and quickly found what he needed.

Though he didn't want to see her nude like this, there wasn't much choice and he didn't want to wake her from her slumber to make her clothe herself. He quickly put on her underwear, taking care not to let his hands linger or look directly at her, and then he quickly put on some plaid pajamas she had insisted were fine and were comfortable.

'She is the more homely kind,' he thought, smiling a bit.

Care and comfort over looks…Although, he still wouldn't mind seeing her in something a little more revealing.

"What do you think, Harry? Would you wear something a little more risqué for me?" he asked her unconscious form.

He sighed at the quiet he was answered with, and knew that even if she'd been awake, she couldn't speak to him anyway. But she could tell him through her notebook now at least…

Giovanni threaded a hand through her hair and kissed her forehead.

The light-blue haired man was thrown out of the bowl, feeling exhausted and yet also enlightened.

Archer had managed to solve a piece of the puzzle of the enigma named Henrietta Potter.

"A witch," he muttered.

He hadn't expected that at all. But he also held no misconceptions that his boss had been spelled into his infatuated state. He could see, even from a young age, how much Henrietta treasured her morals and had a strong sense of what was right and wrong, as well as justice. There would be no way she would have bewitched Giovanni into loving her, especially with how unwanted Giovanni's presence had been at first.

Hopefully, that's been remedied by now.

He wasn't sure, but he was hopeful about it, what with Giovanni having invited and taken her to his private estate. He wondered how the boss was handling long-term, close contact with her, and alone in that large place. He also wondered if Harry had done anything yet to reveal her magic.

Something about that bothered him though.

However, since he had an important piece he could plug into the mismatch of information he'd already gathered, Archer could now reevaluate all of his information. Now there were much more things that made sense, like they hadn't before. Her private school and how she practically dropped off the radar at the edge of 11. Records stopping at all, like it had for her, was impressive –but at that age? It hadn't made sense to him at the time.

A lot of his questions had been answered actually. The suspicious deaths of her parents, her living arrangement with people that detested her and who she detested, and the lack of records. He still didn't have anything yet on her trauma or why she had dropped out of her school early, but it seemed like he had at least four more years of memories to look through before he could maybe get a glimpse into that.

He would have to get Ariana to help him out with something first though, if he wanted to speed the process up. He made the quick call, informing her of the new changes and asking her for her help. The woman sounded a little too enthusiastic to get involved, but he could count on her to get things done and get what they needed quickly.

Now he just needed to reach Giovanni and report to him about his new findings. It would be best to bring the Pensieve and the memories as well, now that he thought about it. He was sure his boss would be skeptical and need proof.

Archer collected his things and carefully made his way to an elevator, setting everything down on the floor and making sure the lid was sealed tight on the Pensieve. When he'd reached his boss' office, he frowned when he saw that Gallade wasn't there (he silently berated himself for having not thought of the fact it would've stayed with Giovanni), and that he'd have to use another pokémon to travel there. Knowing time was against him, he realized he'd have to travel back down to use one of the Abra transports the rest of the employees were to use to travel where they needed.

Sighing in aggravation, he headed back down and headed specifically for the transportation room. There, a bunch of transporters were set up, powered by multiple Abra. He didn't look at the Rocket agents maintaining the area, heading straight to a transport. There, he laid his hand on the scanner on the outside, which one of the Abra would use to read his mind for the location he needed to be teleported to. He stepped into the transport, and then he disappeared from there.

Within moments, he appeared in Giovanni's personal study, instead of the bottom floor general study that the rest of the Rocket employees had access to. Gallade was there, sleeping peacefully, but Giovanni wasn't there working late as usual. He should have expected it, considering that Harry was staying there this time, and his boss would have all his focus on her. He made his way to Giovanni's master suite, and knocked succinctly. He frowned at no one answering, and hesitantly tried the door.

When he peeked his head in, he decided to do a quick sweep of the suite when he saw and heard nothing, and even checked the master bedroom. Seeing nothing, he made a cautious guess that his boss might be in Harry's room. He idly thought that it seemed too soon for them to be together in a room, and too soon for Harry to feel comfortable for that either. Then again, there were many reasons why the two of them could be together right then, much less for any certain activities being or having been performed.

Still, a protective feeling overrode his thoughts, and he still thought it was too soon for them (especially for Harry) to be together alone, even in any kind of platonic way.

Archer took a deep breath and made his way to Harry's suite, which while large, wasn't as huge as the master suite. Neither he nor Giovanni had thought she would be comfortable with such a large place all to herself, and as the estate and this particular wing was large enough by itself (despite Giovanni being more than willing to trade his master suite for her), they hadn't wanted to intimidate her.

Finding the suite closest to the master suite, he knocked on the door and hoped he'd get an answer this time. It took a few seconds, but the door opened to reveal a harassed-looking Giovanni. He looked almost fully clothed, missing his dress jacket and tie, and his sleeves having been rolled up and a few buttons on his dress shirt unbuttoned.

"Archer?" Giovanni asked in confusion. "What are you doing here at…" he glanced at his watch, "at 4 in the morning?"

He cleared his throat and lifted the Pensieve he carried carefully in his arm.

"There's been a development, Sir."

He tried to discreetly peer around his boss to glance into the suite's living area, but his boss stepped out and closed the door behind him.

"She's sleeping in her bedroom," Giovanni frowned. "She had a…rough night."

Judging by the lack of a pleased tone in Giovanni's tone, Harry's rough night wasn't due to more pleasurable activities. Archer inwardly scowled and felt agitated. What had happened? What was he missing now?

"Rocket business or –"

"It's about Miss Henrietta," Archer interrupted, interjecting a note of urgency in his tone. "May we convene in your study?"

Giovanni glanced worriedly at the door, but nodded. "Make this quick. I don't want to leave her alone."

Curious and wary about what his boss meant, Archer nodded and followed after his boss to the study. There, he related meeting Rufus Fudge after going to his new contact, and mysteriously receiving this parcel. He explained about what the Pensieve could do, though Giovanni looked skeptical.

"I suggest you look into the contents of the Pensieve yourself, Giovanni. It would explain better than I could," he suggested, but Giovanni glanced at his study's door.

"It sounds like it'll take awhile. I don't want to leave Harry by herself," Giovanni looked agitated, making Archer worry more.

"I'll look after her," Archer offered. "I can stay by her side, while you watch the memories."

While it wasn't the ideal way to find out about her or even how they'd like to get to know her, they needed answers and it seemed like there was an invisible clock ticking on them. Though they weren't sure why they got that feeling, they knew it was urgent they pieced together everything and quickly at that.

"There's a bowl of water by her bedside, with a damp cloth. Rewet the cloth and dab her forehead every few seconds," Giovanni instructed him sternly. "If the water starts becoming warm, dump it and refill the bowl with cold water."

"Yes, Giovanni. I understand," Archer obediently nodded.

Giovanni then doubtfully lifted the lid of the Pensieve slightly, before completely taking it off. He looked intrigued at the silvery liquid inside, with a slight silver-colored mist floating atop it.

"Just touch it then?" Giovanni murmured.

At Archer's nod, Giovanni gently touched it and then was pulled into the Pensieve.

When Archer called her out of nowhere, Ariana hadn't known what to expect and was almost irritated that he'd called her at such an early time. Almost, since she was already awake and was bored. And it was her good fortune that he'd called to get her help on the one project she'd been itching to be a part of. Anything to do with Harry Potter, and she was game to do whatever was needed.

And right now, she had to locate someone named Hermione Granger.

Apparently, according to Archer, Granger was Harry's female best friend, while a Ronald Weasley was her male best friend. Weasley wasn't locatable, so she was to set off and find out where Granger was and to interrogate her about what she knew of Harry.

The information she'd managed to find was that Granger's parents were dentists, her records eerily echoed Harry's in regards to records and schooling, and that prior to her own 'disappearance on paper', she was a very studious and intelligent student in her past schools. She was caught off guard by Archer's new information about the existence of 'magic' and everything else the other Executive Rocket had told her, but she didn't shrug it off.

She figured she could let it go, and maybe even confirm it with the girl she was about to go and question.

Finally having found the girl's home, Ariana parked outside in the driveway. She calmly made her way to the door and knocked, grinning when it opened to show a young teenaged female, with frizzy brown hair, just as Archer had described.

"Hermione Granger?" Ariana had a Sharpedo-like grin on her face.

Granger looked warily at her. "Y-yes? That's me."

"You and I need to talk about a certain Harry Potter," Ariana practically purred out.

She was going to grill this girl and find out whatever she could. By the time she was done, Ariana would have squeezed out every little pertinent information regarding Harry.

It was a little before noon before Giovanni was finished. After he was back in his study, he had stared at the stone bowl in deep contemplation. Then he put the lid back on and went back to Harry's suite, where he relieved Archer of his task, sending his subordinate back to his duties. Archer had informed him, before leaving, that he was due to receive the second set of memories that day. He had made it quite clear to his second in command that he'd wanted to see those memories as soon as he was done viewing.

He knew without saying that Archer would want to view them, and that it was probably needed so that all available information was known to his subordinate anyway, and Archer would be prepared for anything. Still, in the back of his mind he was slightly agitated at the thought of someone else viewing such personal memories of Harry. He didn't want anyone else knowing Harry so intimately, and he wanted to selfishly hoard those memories of hers to himself. It made him return to his study momentarily to stare at where the Pensive had been, knowing that Archer had taken it with him and aggravating him with the stone bowl's absence.

Deciding it was best to check up on Harry, he left his study again and went to her suite, heading straight for her bedroom. She was still sleeping, so he retrieved the bowl of water and dumped it in the bathroom sink. He refilled it with fresh, cold water and then went to her side, taking the cloth and dipping it into the cold water. From there, he sat by her and continued to cool her forehead.

Luckily for him, she seemed to be waking up. Her eyes scrunched a bit before she weakly opened them, blinking tiredly at him.

"Good morning, Harry," he murmured, patting her forehead one last time, before setting aside the bowl and the cloth. "Do you feel better?"

She woke up completely and became a little more aware, cringing away from him. He frowned and reached out to her, only to see her silently whimpering. He didn't back down, slowly moving his hand to softly touch her head and let her see that he wasn't going to hurt her.

"I won't hurt you," Giovanni said firmly. "I will never hurt you."

Harry's bright emerald eyes tentatively opened and solemnly gazed up at him, and he kept his hand where it was. He sucked in a deep breath when Harry tilted her head up and kissed his palm.

He moved his hand after, and cupped her face. He slowly brought his other hand up, watching her eyes cautiously watch it, before bringing it to the other side of her face and holding it there. Cradling her face carefully, he leaned down and kissed her lips.

"You must never think of yourself as a caged bird with me," he whispered against her lips.

Giovanni pulled back from her and stared into her eyes, trying to convey his sincerity to her. He was almost alarmed when she blinked and tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes and trailed down her face. Harry then shifted closer, before moving onto his lap and hugging him to her, hiding her face against his shoulder.

He would possess this girl and destroy all those who had dared to lay a hand against her.

After he'd calmed her down and had settled her back into bed, he piled a few of the pillows behind her and sat her up. Then he left her for awhile, coming back with a tray of food. He fed her the soup first, and then helped her to lay back down before he went to start in on his own food. When he was done, he was tempted to give her a massage, but was unsure if she would be receptive to it or feel comfortable. He knew she would be sore after something that looked as painful and enduring as the transformation she'd gone through, so he settled for reaching for her arms and gently giving them a rub down.

She shyly gave him a small smile, so he took that to mean that he hadn't overstepped his boundaries and that she'd liked it. Perhaps another time he could do a little more, but for now this would have to do.

When Harry began to insistently reach to her side for something, he held her back and looked to see what it was. Seeing the notebook he'd given her, he grabbed it and handed it to her.

"Was that what you wanted?"

Harry nodded and began to scribble something into the notebook. She then turned it around and showed him.

You weren't…supposed to see that last night. You're not supposed to know about that at all.

Giovanni frowned. "I could guess that. It's not a normal thing, turning into a phoenix or what not."

She looked away from him, but he reached out and touched her hand gently to reassure her. She started to write again.

Usually, I only transform when my…levels are up. On the rare occasions when my emotions are heightened and I feel extremely, it triggers my transformation. That's not supposed to be a usual case, because my emotions have become muted. You make me feel.

Giovanni didn't know what to make of that. On one hand, the admission that he made her feel made him extremely pleased. However, he didn't know and was worried what it meant for her and the issue of this transformation. And still, there was the issue of her being a witch, which he still didn't know how to bring up.

"I have so many questions, but I don't want to overwhelm you," he felt frustrated and helpless. He had to do something, so that he felt like he had achieved something for her. "Can you leave the Dursleys? Run away from there?"

Not…sure. I don't currently have…access to money. Or property. I have no one and nowhere to run to, and no means of escape.

"What about your magic?" he tentatively brought up.

Harry's eyes widened and she flinched, moving away from him. He held up his hands.

"Archer came across the information. He had a source in an Arabella Figg –a babysitter of yours? She then introduced him to Rufus Fudge, who provided your memories of your first year. I assume from what Archer told me, that this Fudge intends to give a set of memories every day."

Harry looked anxious, though he had noted her reaction to Rufus Fudge's name coming up.

"You know Rufus Fudge?"

She took some time to write something and then he was reading.

He is like…my handler. He keeps watch over me of sorts. He's nice and doesn't like what's…being done to me.

Giovanni wanted to question what was being done to her, but didn't want to push her too much. And he had a feeling he wouldn't like the answer anyway. He put off those thoughts and continued to read.

As for my…'power', I'm underaged still, and The Trace is on me. I can't use my power or else it would alert them. Aside from that, my power is locked up anyway. They 'wrote' something on me that prevents me from using my power, as well as writing something to prevent me from speaking. They wouldn't want me to speak or reveal anything about that world, so even writing anything will alert them using a variation of the Taboo 'method.' Some words I can get away with, but most of them relating to that world I can't.

They keep tabs on me too. It used to be frequently, so there would be no chance of my escaping anyway, but only recently do they seem to only come to see me and take me away at the beginning of the month. Without any way to keep away or anyone to go to for that matter, because I can't risk the one person that I can go to in this condition, I'm stuck with the Dursleys and that house. Even if I attempted to run away from there, it wouldn't take them long to find out I was gone and then track me down.

Her condition would especially debilitate her. No money, no place, no one to go to…That alone would be hard enough for her if she decided to run away. But then being mute on top of that, it would definitely make things harder on her. Being mute also seemed somewhat new to her, and not something she had completely learned to cope and deal with it. Striking it out on her own like this would leave her uncertain and scared out there. And if he could guess, she didn't seem to have much knowledge of London or the surrounding area, or even of current 'Muggle' technology.

She would be so lost and alone…

In his thoughts, he hadn't noticed her rapidly writing something down, until she'd shoved her notebook close to his face. His eyes darted through and read it quickly.

Are you…are you afraid or bothered by me? After last night?

He could practically hear the hesitation and fear in those words, even though it was only written down.

"No," he said vehemently. "In fact, even though I wouldn't wish such a painful transformation on you, your form looked absolutely beautiful. If only it wasn't so painful for you to transform into that form…Is it? Painful?" he hesitantly ventured to ask.

Harry looked reticent as she wrote down her answer, and he was hesitant to read it.

It's very painful. Most transformations aren't usually like that. It can be painful, but it's not like mine and my form is unusually and extremely large, which makes it worse. My bones are breaking apart and my skin is tearing, and I'm basically reforming myself a new body. And maybe it wouldn't be as painful if they hadn't forced the transformation on me, and now it's marked through my skin with the other writings they put on me.

There were so much he wanted to do for her, and yet it was obvious that he couldn't do anything. For now, at least.

"You need your rest," Giovanni suddenly said, startling her.

She watched him bewilderedly, but he knew she needed some time to think after what he had to say next.

"Harry, I want you to listen carefully. I will leave you to think over what I'm about to say to you, but I want you to think over this very carefully. I want you to think about the fact I have money. I have a place for you to go to. I can get you transported anywhere easily, and you have no fear of miscommunication or being taken advantage of. You will not be lost. Your inability to talk will not hinder you. I am someone you can go to at anytime."

Giovanni grabbed her hand and kissed it tenderly.

"You now have an opportunity and the means to run away from all of them, and no one will be the wiser."

He reluctantly let go of her hand.

"Think about that very carefully, mia stella."

Harry did think about it all. She couldn't stop thinking about it. She lay in that bed for a long time, just thinking about Giovanni's words. This could be her out. But what about the Dursleys? The only flaw she saw was what if they interrogated them about who took her and where had she gone.

Could that be circumvented?

She could always ask Draco and his family for help. Giovanni was an unknown to everyone. No one knew who he was and how she knew him. The Wizarding World wouldn't have a clue, especially because he was a Muggle. And it wasn't known that she was close to the Malfoys either. This could work. She could make this work.

He'd make sure this would work.

Harry moved off of her bed, her bare feet making contact with the soft carpet. She trekked out of her room and stopped short in the main suite, seeing a vase full of fragrant and beautiful blossoms. She wasn't sure what they were, but they smelled sweet and heavenly.

She touched the tips of her fingers against them in awe. However, she looked near the base of the crystal vase, and saw a bunch of seeds laid out. She followed the line of it with her eyes, and saw that it went to her floor and trekked all the way to the door out of her suite. She went after it and went outside of her suite, and then saw that the seeds followed a line down a hallway. She started to follow it, and saw that along with the seeds, petals of the flowers she saw in her room were also dropped to the ground around the seeds.

She was so busy looking at the petals and seeds, following them, that she didn't notice that once they came to an end, she would look up to see Giovanni sitting in front of a small table, a plate with pieces of a cut up pomegranate, and two wine glasses filled with a dark reddish liquid.

When she looked up finally, she halted and stared at him and his offerings. He looked serious and was extremely quiet, and she was suddenly nervous and unsure as to what to do.

"A bite, a sip. Or you could turn around and walk away. It is your choice. It is always your choice," his smooth, accented voice weaved its spell into her ear.

She started to breathe heavily, and took another look at the offerings laid out before her.

And then Harry took a seat on the empty chair opposite Giovanni, and reached out for a slice of the pomegranate.

She took a bite of it and swallowed, and then reached for her glass and took a sip of the pomegranate wine.

Started 11/21/14 – Completed 11/23/14

Chapter Text

Harry was more than familiar with the significance of the pomegranate setup. The myth it pertained to was well known, only now it had become much more personal to Harry. She knew what Giovanni had implied, what he'd been offering, and what he wanted from her.

She accepted it and willingly drank the pomegranate wine and ate the pomegranate fruit, just as she realized she followed the trail of pomegranate seeds and flower petals to her fate.

She just hadn't realized it would become truly personal and binding when Magic got involved.

For so long, she had pleaded to Magic to save her, help somehow. She didn't think that it would have resulted in it sending Giovanni her way. If she thought about it, maybe their fated encounter at that business party really had been fated.

Her gut told her that regardless of anything, that the two of them had always been bound together. But intervention had made it so that they would actually meet, when there had never been a guarantee before.

And now Magic had taken it a step further, taking her acquiescence to Giovanni's offer to be more binding and lasting than she had thought it would become.

Because now they were entwined through that ceremony, not just symbolically, but magically and inescapably. It had practically been a binding ceremony and she was more or less…married.

She was married.

When the impact of what she had done with the pomegranates hit her, she hesitantly informed Giovanni of the development that they were married, at least in magical terms. Even if it had been on accident, Magic had created a binding ceremony through their little pomegranate set up, and had married them.

He didn't seem displeased at all. In fact (and in hindsight, she really shouldn't have been so surprised), he was rather the opposite –completely pleased about the news, to her amusement. He told her he more than accepted this turn of events, and hoped that she'd have him. And in all fairness, he wasn't that bad of a man to be stuck married to.

Giovanni Rocketto was handsome. He was smart, rich, worldly, and strong in mind and body. He had more than enough capability as a husband to take care of her and provide for her, and saw her as an equal and let her be as independent as she wanted, and equally was open to her helping and being just as capable of a wife to him. She would and could take care of him in turn, and they were both sure that if it came to it, if one needed help, the other would be there and they could depend on the other when one of them couldn't stand on their own and when independency became a hindrance.

And to be honest, Harry had never felt she could truly and completely depend and rely on another, the way she felt she could with Giovanni. She also couldn't help her own natural reaction to him. How her heart beat rapidly, how he could completely drive her breath from her, make her thoughts run around in circles about him…

She could acknowledge now that she'd fallen in love from almost the first sight of him, but feared such a strong pull towards someone, whereas he'd been so eager and willing to chase after her.

"You're lost in thoughts," she heard Giovanni comment quietly from behind her, and she turned to face him.

The garden they were in was something she'd admired in the beginning of her time there in his estate, but hadn't been fully able to appreciate until now, when she could walk through it after she'd recovered from her transformation. The light of the moon shone brilliantly on them both, and the clearing filled with different types of flora that swayed under the slight breeze. It was a beautiful night, and Harry had enjoyed sitting on the ground in her thoughts, though she didn't mind Giovanni's intrusion.

She gave him a small nod and was about to take out her journal, when he sat by her and leaned in close. She gave him a questioning look.

He gently took her hand and then turned it, carefully placing a ring in the middle of her palm. Her breath almost stopped.

"We are, according to you, already married," he said with a small grin playing on his lips. "Well, I don't see why we don't make it legal as well, and get married properly. Will you marry me, Henrietta Potter?"

Harry stared at the ring on her palm, mystified. It was a lovely ring, with the traditional diamond in the middle replaced with a pearl. The band had tiny diamonds set all around it, with just as tiny emeralds intermixing after a set group of those diamonds. Somehow, the ring was both simple and yet extravagant at the same time.

Closing her hand around it, she gave it back to Giovanni, who looked disappointed. However, she held out her hand next, extending her ring finger more prominently, and Giovanni's attitude quickly became enthused as he slid the ring on her finger.

"I suppose you'd like a simple, quiet wedding affair," he quirked an eyebrow at her.

She gave him an amused smile.

"I do hope you'll allow me to plan a more extravagant and larger wedding later on, as you more than rightly deserve," he acquiesced. "But I understand that a small, quick wedding would probably be best for now, in order for you to be quickly taken away."

Harry gave him an inquiring look, so he elaborated.

"I'd planned to propose long before you told me of our circumstances," he revealed smoothly. "Besides my personal desire to take you on as my wife in the first place, I also saw that it would be much easier to take you away, go through legal issues and passport dilemmas, if we were to just get married. As my wife, I can take you with me back to the Regions without any problems or need to go through the extra paperwork and legalization of your status and extricating permissions. You'll be harder to find legally and on paper, because you would be married to me and your name changed –making it harder for you to be traced by normal means.

"And well," here he gave a smirk, "I was thinking that marriage would've been an excellent way to get you away from the Dursleys. They would, after all, be basically handing you over to me and giving up all their rights to you and any legal custody, responsibility, and anything else tying them to you over to me. In any case, they would be finally out of the picture and you won't be stuck with them anymore."

It did seem to work out well, Harry thought about it. There were even more benefits popping up as she continued to think about her new twist in life, and she could only continue to agree.

If she was to be bound to anyone or anything, she found that she wasn't minding the fact that it had been to Giovanni and his sordid life and family.

Archer was impatient, but he knew he was more than early. Having come hours early to Arabella Figg's house, all he could do was prowl around the house like an unhinged Pyroar, waiting for Rufus Fudge to hurry up and come to the house already. However, he did at least receive good news and was caught up with the happenings at the estate.

He would have to stop by and buy some flowers to congratulate Henrietta on her marriage and uh…engagement.

Well, a magical marriage was much more promising to him than the legal process, but the marriage might as well be made accountable in all means. Arceus knows that normal people, of the mundane non-magical kind and who didn't know of magic, would probably scoff and not count a magical binding. But at least now he and Giovanni did, and they weren't counted in that small, clueless group.

To the side, he idly noted that Arabella was not so discreetly glancing at him every few seconds. He knew that he, aside from this whole informant situation and the possibility of being found out by her magical ministry, highly intimidated her. It made sense that she would be nervous and uncertain about his presence.

But he'd come a long way, and he had much to do. No amount of terrified glances was going to make him go away.

"This Taboo…" he said suddenly, causing the older woman to jump slightly. "On Henrietta…is everyone affected by it?"

She looked thoughtful. "No, actually. Only those closest to her –the ones they fear and think will and can help her away from her situation. I don't have enough magic in myself to count, given I'm a Squib. Harry, herself, is bound by a lesser Taboo that forbids her from using many words that could relate to the magical word."

"I see," Archer murmured. "Can she be traced magically? I know, once I've messed with the system and paperwork, she won't be able to be traced legally and through normal means. But magically…"

"Magically, all one would have to do is use a locator spell, and more or less ask to find Harry Potter," Rufus entered into the conversation, finally appearing.

"So you're allowed to talk now?" Archer raised an eyebrow, looking at him with a hard to decipher look.

Rufus grimaced, while Arabella excused herself and disappeared from the room.

"Allowed to talk? Not really. But I'm not monitored, and as someone who 'found out' about magic on your own, neither you nor I are violating any rules. Plus, you are a close relative, in a sense, to Harry, and rules state that the close relatives of a magical person may be allowed to know of magic and the magical world. Even with Harry as is, I would say she still counts. There are a ton of loopholes in the law to exploit, so counting this one, we would be able to talk at great lengths."

That was most fortunate, because Archer had a lot he needed to know, especially to expedite and help make Harry's escape as smooth as possible.

"But if 'Harry Potter' no longer exists…at least by name…" Archer hinted, though it flew over Rufus' head. "I mean if she were to, say, get married and her name legally changed?"

Rufus' lips twitched up slightly. "It would be just the right nudge to throw them off slightly on that end. But they could possibly go on to try to look for her magical signature, or if they got desperate –which I assure you, they can –they'll resort through blood magic to look for her."

Archer nodded, but he didn't look worried. That caused Rufus a little confusion, but he waited patiently for the blue-haired man to continue.

"And what of her, or rather Magic itself, having performed a magical binding between Henrietta and someone?" Archer said then, catching Rufus off guard.

"Magical bindings are nonexistent these days," Rufus licked his lips in disbelief. "And Magic doing the binding itself…that's unheard of. It's permanent and completely binding, and it has been decided that only those who were meant to be together absolutely should complete one, as those couples that did and found later that they were incompatible or weren't meant to be or just simply cheated or were unhappy…there were consequences. Very bad consequences."

Again, Archer looked completely unconcerned.

"But it is more than enough to nullify any locator spells," Rufus reluctantly said. "Her magical signature would have been tainted by the presence of another, even if that person was a Muggle. Her blood is her life force and through which magic is heavily entwined with, so it too would be 'tainted' in a sense."

Archer frowned. "But if she were needed to prove she is who she says she is using her blood…say, going to your magical bank and having to use her blood to prove her identity…"

"Well, just because it's been altered, it doesn't change who she is," Rufus tried to explain. "She is still herself, still Harry."

"So physical presentation of blood would certify herself and any blood magic involve," Archer mused, still frowning. "Then who is to say that this ministry of yours can't use her blood to find her? Do you all not have a collection of her blood?"

"All gotten before her altered state," Rufus said, thinking rapidly. "It wouldn't help now, since Harry's blood is different from the time that we'd collected before. If she gives her blood now for any reason, it'll still register as her because she would still be recognizable. Oppositely, her old blood would be insufficient because it doesn't have the new 'properties.'"

Archer understood as much of that as he could, though he would still be more comfortable after getting a better bearings on magic than he currently had.

"Do you have all of her memories with you right now?" he asked suddenly.

Rufus blinked but nodded.

"I would like to have all of them at this time," Archer said grimly. "Time is running out, I fear, and I –or my employer –cannot afford the time to wait for a vial of memories a day. We are…working on making sure Henrietta is…free from her chains."

Rufus stared at him for a moment, before he hesitantly reached into his pocket. Archer opened his mouth to reiterate the need for all of them, when he closed it and watched in hidden bewilderment as the man pulled vial after vial from his pocket, of which Archer was sure all of them wouldn't fit in there unless with magical help.

"These are her years from 2-5," Rufus pointed to certain vials. "This is childhood memories and this is her last few memories, which detail…her time with the ministry."

Archer had a feeling he would be more than furious with that last vial.

Ariana withheld a yawn, even though she was extremely exhausted. After her little meet and greet with Granger, she had set off like a Zubat out of hell. The girl was smart as heck, and had managed to give her all the information that she could, despite being limited in what she could say because of the restrictions on her. And even with the monitoring and restrictions having been lessened since from the beginning, there were still a fair few in place to hinder Granger from full out giving information to Ariana.

No matter. Ariana got plenty out of her.

What especially interested her was the loss of Harry's godfather. According to the girl, Sirius Black had fallen through a mystical veil that supposedly was instant death. However, no one knew for sure what it did or where anyone went if they went through it.

Hence, the red head was highly doubtful of that outcome. And how was she going to refute it? By bringing Sirius Black from the 'dead' and making Harry extremely happy with her. That sweet girl sounded like she more than deserved some happiness, and Ariana admitted there had been something about her that had drawn in and had made Ariana attached to her from the beginning.

Besides that, if Sirius Black, as Ariana theorized, had actually been transported to some other dimension, then she just needed to find a way to reach him and bring him back. To do so, she'd need the help of a certain dimension legendary to do that. And to get to it, there was a certain blue-haired nihilist she had to hunt down in the Sinnoh Region…

Well, at least she managed to reach the Regions in record time. She'd gone straight to headquarters in the London base, after talking with Granger, and transported herself in a dizzying rush to the Regions using their psychic transports. Unfortunately, she hadn't specified just where in the Regions she wanted to go, and had ended up landing in the main Kalos base, since that was where they were currently operating a large part of their current plans. Before deciding to teleport again to another base, she gained an idea.

Her cute, little niece was traipsing around these parts, according to the last report of the JJM unit. Those three, unknown to them, continually harassed and stalked Ash Ketchum, who was actually the daughter of Delia Ketchum –Ariana's sister.

It was hilarious really, and the only ones who knew were Giovanni and Archer, because that bastard knew everything.

And the best part was that her niece was such a magnet for trouble, and somehow ran into the regional Teams like they were annoying door to door salesmen you couldn't get rid of. More so that Ash already had experience dealing with Cyrus Akagi, and had met the man before –could probably even find him somehow. With Ash's usual magnetism to trouble and the Teams, Ariana could bet her niece's unfortunate luck would actually help Ariana in finding the reclusive former leader of Team Galactic.

Inwardly cooing in triumph at her genius, Ariana redirected her thoughts to her niece and focused as she was teleported again. Finding herself in the town of Lumiose City, Ariana had two places to check for sure. Ash would probably be staying at either the Pokémon Center, like she usually did and like most trainers…or at the region's Professor's Lab. Seeing that she was in Lumiose City, home to one Professor Sycamore, she had a heavy feeling Ash was with the latter, with her tendency to get each regions' professor's favor and inevitably get attached to her.

Geez, if Giovanni really wanted to rule the world, he should just get tips off of Ariana's niece.

It hadn't taken him long at all, to find where the Dursleys were. They had been keeping tabs on them after all. It was how Giovanni knew the family was going to leave for a while, and leave Harry behind. It was what had allowed him to take advantage of the situation and ask Harry to stay with him in the meantime, whisking her off to his country estate. And even better, now he didn't have to return her.

"You're…not serious, are you?" Vernon Dursley was as disgusting to look at now as he had been when Giovanni had first seen him.

He resisted the urge to sneer.

"I am very serious, Mr. Dursley," Giovanni said slickly. "I am not joking around at all."

"But you're asking to marry the girl!" Petunia Dursley's shrill voice joined into the conversation.

"Actually, I'm not asking," his look turned cold. "We can do this the hard way," he pulled out a gun and placed it on the table with a loud thud, and making their faces pale. "Or the easy way," he pushed the set of papers closer to them.

"Harry is underage still," Giovanni frowned at that. "Therefore, I require your signatures on these papers to permit me to marry her. I advise you to sign quickly."

"She has people that monitor and want her guarded," Petunia said tersely, though she was obviously shaken up.

Giovanni gave a very sadistic smile. "And I will deal with them all. Thoroughly."

The elder Dursleys shivered and looked at the table in trepidation, focused on where gun and papers rested ominously. Their son sat completely still to the side, and the last –whose home they were currently in –had gone grocery shopping and wouldn't be back yet.

"And you can be assured that your memory would be wiped entirely of her –she wouldn't exist in your minds and you can wash your hands of all memory and responsibility of her," Giovanni continued, knowing these people wouldn't want anything to do with Harry and this offer would only entice them. "You wouldn't have to deal with her anymore."

That put a look of consideration on their faces, though Dudley looked extremely reticent.

"I don't want to forget Harry," Dudley scowled, but his parents shushed him. Giovanni gave him a considering look.

"Not now, Dudley," Petunia gave her son a strained smile. "This is our chance to be free of the girl!"

"She'll be your responsibility now, got it?" Vernon told Giovanni gruffly, signing the papers as quick as he could. "No take backs. We don't want her back, so don't bother. If you get tired of her, got bored, or you finally realized she's a no good bitch and not what you wanted after all –you can do whatever the hell you want with her. Just don't give her back to us."

While Vernon handed the papers to his wife, Giovanni was contemplating using his gun anyway and shooting the two of them after they were done signing, but decided that it might be too suspicious. Perhaps a car accident or a gas leak in their house later on…

It would be ironic, considering Harry's past.

Once the papers were signed and he'd collected them and safely put them away in his briefcase, Giovanni straightened up in his seat.

"Mr. Malfoy," he called out softly, and a pale aristocratic man swept in, wearing a robe of all things, but which were obviously made in expensive material. Ice blue eyes glanced coldly over the group, but his lips curled into a mocking sneer.

Giovanni lazily pointed to the adults. "Please, if you will."

"It'll be my pleasure," and Lucius Malfoy swept closer and began to weave a powerful and even rather dark memory spell over the adults, knowing that it would be near impossible to retrieve their memories without breaking them, and even then the memories would still be gone.

After he was done with them, he turned towards the boy. "And him? What shall we do with him? Shall I take his memories as well?"

Giovanni admitted he was rather impressed by the defiant glare the boy sent towards his new associate.

"Tell me, kid, why do you want to keep your memories?" Giovanni stared down the boy, who looked down quickly.

"She's my cousin," Dudley muttered. "I don't want to forget my cousin. We just made up too…"

Giovanni tapped his fingers on his knee, leaning back and looking over the kid in front of him. He frowned before he looked to Lucius, who looked at him with a blank face.

"There is a lesser spell I could use," the blond man reluctantly offered. "They won't bother looking too much into him, considering they would focus more on the parents and assume he doesn't have any knowledge on anything. It's the parents that they would be more concentrated on, and they'll think he's as clueless and memory-locked as them if they try anything and hit any type of barrier, without checking further if it was a weaker version."

"Go on then," Giovanni drawled, and Dudley didn't fight, resigned to his fate but at least hopeful that their talk meant he could someday remember Harry again.

But if this all meant Harry would be free soon, then he was okay with this.

Giovanni stared at himself in the mirror. His lips slowly moved into a smirk as his eyes darkened and he ran his fingers through his slicked back hair, examining himself as he reached for the lapels of his suit and straightened them.

"Where is she?! How the hell could she have gone missing?!"

Everything was running smoothly and he and Harry had already signed the papers and made things legal, sending in the marriage license to be processed and accepted. Afterwards, his Team would bury the official copy so it couldn't be found and Harry would be untraceable aside from their own copy of the license and the miscellaneous papers they needed to keep on hand for her. Anything else outside of their vicinity wouldn't exist, and soon all records of Harry would be gone completely, unless needed to be brought up for a few moments and then disappearing again as if they never existed.

"Did you hear? They can't find her! The Immortal Sorceress is missing!"

"I can't believe the Ministry lost her like that."

Giovanni chuckled quietly, tugging at the bottom hem of his suit jacket and dress shirt, and then straightening his sleeves. Then after a final look over, he turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

"Nothing? What do you mean nothing is working? She should be easily traced!"

A small wedding, as had been agreed between Harry and him. Later…later he can throw as extravagant a wedding as he could, as she deserved. It would be beautiful and elegant, and his beautiful little phoenix would shine brilliantly in front of an adoring crowd.

But for now, while still a white wedding that befitted his stella's loveliness and purity, it would be a simple one with no one but themselves and a priest to marry them off. He still did the best he could to at least make it a pretty wedding, lines of lilies twined around banisters and rose petals decorating the aisle.

He took his place at the altar, by the priest, and waited.

"She couldn't have possibly just disappeared into thin air. What about her relatives? Do they know anything?"

"They don't even remember her."

Giovanni felt his lips move to create a gentle smile as he saw his bride blushingly and shyly tread down the aisle, looking around in wonder before her emerald eyes stopped on him and stared. He gave her an encouraging nod, and held himself back from laughing as she began to jog forward quickly, ignoring the tempo of the traditional wedding march being played in the background. In front of him now, she gave an embarrassed grin and scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

"I want her found! Use whatever you need to! Forbidden spells, dark magic, blood magic! I don't care. Do whatever it takes!"

"Do you swear…" the trading of vows started.

"I do."

"She's gone, not a trace left behind. Where do you think she could have gone?"

"I'd rather know if she's biding her time, waiting to take over and enslave us."

'I do,' she mouthed in turn, giving him a small but very sincere smile.

Giovanni squeezed her hands in turn.

"Where is she?"

"I now declare you man and wife."

She was his wife now. And he'd wage war for her.

"Where is Harry Potter?"

Started 3/17/15 – Completed 3/31/15

Chapter Text

If Ariana had known better, she would think Professor Augustine Sycamore was flirting with her niece.

Never mind, he totally was.

Inwardly face palming, she interrupted the professor trying to woo her niece into something.

"Long time no see," she drawled.

Instantly recognizing her voice, Ash Ketchum shot up from her seat at a desk and faced her in surprise.

"Aunty Ariana?" she exclaimed.

Grinning slyly, she came over to her niece and slid into place next to her. Ash turned a bit to look at her questioningly.

"Augustine," Ariana almost raised an eyebrow at Ash's use of the Kalos' professor's first name. "This is my Aunt Ariana. Aunty, this is Professor Augustine Sycamore."

Ariana held out a hand, examining the man that was obviously interested in her niece. She gave a sharp smile that the other returned more nervously as he shook her hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Professor. I found out my niece was here and I have to talk to her about something urgently."

"By all means!" he exclaimed with a polite grin. "Feel free to use this area. Ash, I'll just step out then, alright? If you need me, I'll probably be out in the back."

Ash grinned widely back at him and gave a small wave, and soon enough it was just her and her niece in the room.

"So…he's handsome," Ariana commented.

"And not my type," Ash answered wryly, knowing what Ariana was implying. "He is handsome though, and I'm completely flattered that he's interested in me."

Ariana frowned at her niece. "Can you like not be interested in older men? What about boys your age?"

"I'm not interested? Too immature? Boring?" Ash lazily smirked at her aunt. "I could go on, but you look ready to throw me out of a window."

"I'm just saying," Ariana grumbled. "I'm not particularly thrilled at your choice of men. Surge, Morty…and I even heard about Pryce!"

"That was one date," Ash rebutted. "And it was more of a just a rock out at a concert. You'd never know, looking at him, but Pryce is a hardcore rocker."

Ariana glared at her. "Oh? And what about Norman? Wasn't he married?"

"Doesn't count. He and his wife are swingers. And I was curious."

Ariana threw up her hands in disgust, deciding she probably wouldn't win this. "Fine! Whatever. Anyway, I need your help on something."

Now looking entirely too smug, Ash found a chair and sat down, looking inquisitively at her aunt.

"Yeah? What's up?"

Ariana took a deep breath. Actually, she hadn't told her niece the truth about her being in Team Rocket, or the fact that the three idiots known as the JJM unit (and specifically as Jessie, James, and Meowth) were allowed to shadow her because Ariana wanted a close eye on her and to know what she was up to, as well as the fact that Giovanni admitted that he got a kick out of reading the reports and JJM's repeated failures and Ash's repeated, exasperated wins.

"There's really some things I need to tell you…"

So Ariana confessed to her role in Team Rocket, as well as her high rank in the organization. Ash's face flickered through several emotions, too fast for Ariana to keep track of, before settling on blank.

"Well, at least you're really high-ranking. That's actually kind of cool," Ash admitted at last. "Please tell me you get to order around those three idiots."

Of course Ariana knew just who she was talking about. "I do actually," Ariana briefly looked mischievous.

Satisfied with that, Ash nodded in acceptance and Ariana was both completely surprised and pleased at that.

"Can I ask what that has to do with you needing my help?" Ash brought the problem back at hand.

"Giovanni recently got married," Ariana revealed, remembered the text Archer sent her. "He's got a pretty wife I want to help out with something."

Ash looked surprised at that. "He did? Well…he is a handsome bastard, and pretty rich and charming," she grudgingly admitted. "I can say I kind of have a little crush on him, despite being an evil jerk. Who's the lucky lady?"

Ariana, ignoring her niece's comment about Giovanni and that little confession, took out her phone and looked up Harry's picture, showing it to her niece afterwards. Her niece's eyes widened.

"Oh wow. She's really pretty."

Ariana nodded in agreement. "Her name's Henrietta Potter –well, Henrietta Rocketto now. She also prefers to be called Harry." She put away her phone. "She had a godfather that she was really close to, but something happened and he disappeared through some sort of portal. I'm assuming he'd gone to some dimension or other, and I need you to help me find Cyrus, who might know more about this, and especially and hopefully more on Dialga and Palkia, which might be able to help me."

Ash blinked at her. "But why me?"

She gave her niece a look. "You're like a Team magnet. You attract us like bees to honey, and you always somehow manage to meet each boss of every Team one way or another. You'd somehow magically draw Cyrus without doing much of anything, I bet."

Ash sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, grinning slightly at her aunt. "Yeah, I guess that does happen…Alright, I guess I'll help you go looking for that guy. There's no guarantees or anything, but we might as well get started and look for him. We should try around the places where we know were the main Galactic bases."

"Where to first then?" Ariana asked her.

Ash thought about it, frowning to herself as she crossed her arms.

"…Eterna City. Let's head there and try looking around."

Ariana smiled. She knew Ash would come through for her.

Ash, after having called Serena to let her know she wouldn't be in Kalos for a bit and having visited Clemont and Bonnie to let them know the same (Ariana's "What is with you and gym leaders?" had her grinning), went to go find the Kalos professor who had let her stay in his abode kindly. Though she could tell her aunt was getting impatient, she did like and care for Augustine very much and it was only polite to let him know where she was going. Plus, her aunt had interrupted them talking and working on something important.

But, as soon as she was done, she let her aunt drag her and her Pikachu out of there and to the nearest Rocket base, conveniently located in the same city. She wasn't all that surprised to find out that the Rockets seemed to be everywhere; it figures that they would have some sort of placement in every region.

After pestering her aunt for a Rocket shake (and getting a promise to get one in the Sinnoh base they were heading to), Ash was then wowed by their transporters and what they were capable of doing.

"This is pretty cool," Ash admitted after Ariana explained to her what they were and how they worked. "Well, here's to rapid transportation."

She did as Ariana had instructed her, and the rush of sensation was thankfully quick. Holding tightly onto Pikachu, she took in her new surroundings after opening her eyes, seeing a similar but slightly different setup to where she'd just left. The transporter next to her was activated and soon enough, her aunt appeared beside her.

"Alright, ready?" Ariana asked her. "We'll get you your shake, and then you can walk around the city while I have to report in and find out what's been happening while I was gone. Then we can go searching for Cyrus together, okay?"

"Sure," Ash agreed, and was soon enough enjoying a Rocket shake while she walked around the streets of Eterna City, with Pikachu having his own. She was surprised he hadn't swiped the ketchup bottle…

Maybe she should got vis..it…Garde…nia…

Her thoughts jumbled up as she found blue hair, light blue and the shade of skies, walking around a corner. She ran towards it and hid around the corner, peering to see the person. Just as she thought, Cyrus –strangely in something outside of his usual suits and Galactic uniform –was apathetically appraising the Eterna Historical Museum.

Damn. That was quick. She really did have some sort of magnet attached to her, attracting these people…

Cautiously, she followed the man, who walked a long way until they were outside the city and towards a more secluded area that had trees all over. To her surprise, the old Galactic building was intact, if seeming abandoned.

As far as she knew, the old Galactic Team had been disbanded until it had been reformed and changed into a legal, non-profit organization under Saturn's direction, and based in Veilstone City. So why was Cyrus here?

Actually…after that whole debacle with the Sinnoh Legendaries and Galactic (and consequently Cyrus) failing to make a new world, Cyrus himself had disappeared afterwards. There hadn't been any sightings of him.

Until now, and of course it had to be Ash who'd found him.

She followed him up until he entered the base, debating quickly with herself. Her aunt would probably disapprove, but honestly –Ash did this all the time. And apparently everyone else knew that too, otherwise her aunt wouldn't have come to her for help with this. Glancing at Pikachu, she could see he already exasperatedly knew what she was going to do.

Heading in, she only glimpsed Cyrus turning a corner and followed him quickly, making sure that her footsteps were heard. Might as well alert him to her presence and get a quick confrontation on. When she caught up, Cyrus was scowling and waiting for her at a dead end, allowing her to corner him.

"So this is where you've been hiding," Ash noted blandly.

"What do you want?" Cyrus narrowed his eyes at her.

She scoffed. "Believe me, I wish you wouldn't be needed, but I need your help in tracking down Palkia and Dialga for something important. Being who you are and what you know about them, I figure it would be best to get you to help."

"It's all meaningless," he said bitterly. "Why should I help you? Why should I care? This world is pathetic and useless. You and everyone else are but ants. In the end, our existence is meaningless."

Ash blinked and just stared. What the hell? Was he really serious?

She began to laugh hysterically, prompting Cyrus to glare at her. She then stopped abruptly before glaring back and looking at him in disgust.

"Arceus, you're so pathetic," she uncharacteristically degraded the other, making him inwardly surprised (even if he didn't show it). "You're even worse than before! Forget it. Who needs you? I certainly don't really need your help. Never mind, you're not needed at all! So do the world a favor and continue to be a hermit and lock yourself up in here, hopefully starve yourself to death and leave this 'pathetic world' behind. You can help make it less pathetic that way. If you'd died, no one would care or miss you, so you might as well."

She turned on her heel and stormed away, missing him flinching and watching her with eyebrows furrowed and slightly despaired eyes.

Ash bounced a ball against the wall, glaring at it. Pikachu was currently napping by her side, snuggling up to her waist. With her legs crossed as she sat on the bed, Ash caught the ball one last time and sighed deeply. She looked down at her lap thoughtfully.

After that confrontation with Cyrus, she'd returned back to her aunt, only to find her aunt looking concerned about something. She didn't mention anything about Cyrus, only going to the Pokémon Center when she was directed to, and grabbed a room for herself. It would slightly be weird (not to mention probably too daring) for her to stay at the Rocket base, considering that by then she was a known Rocket enemy.

Now she was brooding in her room.

She had beenrather mean. She wasn't usually like that, but she had been fed up with Cyrus' attitude. He was like this last time too, only he'd become worse overtime, it seemed. So she couldn't stand it and had cruelly blurted that out. And even if some of that was true, she didn't have to say it at all.

Knocking on her door interrupted her thoughts, and Pikachu stirred a little. Caressing his head, he went back to sleep and she got up to get the door, only to look at the man behind it in surprise.

She hadn't expected Cyrus to come after her.

Alarmed, she grabbed and pulled him into her room, looking back out quickly and hoping no one had seen him.

"What were you thinking?" she asked in consternation once she'd closed the door. "Anyone could have recognized you or something!"

"What did you want me for?" he demanded instead.

Irritated, she stomped over to her bed and sat down, careful not to wake her slumbering Pikachu.

"My aunt –turns out she's one of the Executives from Team Rocket," that caused his eyebrows to raise slightly, "and she sort of needs to get into contact with Palkia and Dialga. A, uh, friend of hers recently revealed she had a relative enter a portal and wasn't seen again, and my aunt thinks he might have gone to another dimension or so. She wants to check and see if he has, and rescue him if possible," Ash summarized.

She watched as Cyrus stayed quiet, looking like he was thinking it over. And then, to her utter surprise, he nodded. Trying not to sound hopeful (or be hopeful for that matter), Ash asked him again, to be sure of his answer.

"You'll really help?" she cautiously asked.

"Yes," he said simply.

Well, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Though caught off guard at Cyrus' appearance and how quickly Ash had found him, Ariana was definitely very pleased about it. She had the three of them gather together and quickly get to work on thinking up ideas and hopefully forming a plan.

"We could try to retrieve the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs," Cyrus monotonously suggested. "My plan nearly worked last time, if it weren't for some interference."

He glanced at Ash, who clearly ignored him.

"If I remember, you needed the three Lake Guardians to form the Red Chain to control them though," Ariana hmmed in thought. "And all that took time. Time we don't have."

"So what were you planning to do when you found them though?" Ash deadpanned. "It's not like they'd stay still for you or want to listen."

"Oh, that's where you come in again," Ariana said cheerfully. "Since you're such a Legendary magnet too, and you'd probably get them to stay long enough to listen to you."

Ash fidgeted somewhat, while Cyrus gave her a suspicious look that her niece also ignored. Ariana probably looked rather smug in comparison though. But then her niece looked thoughtful, causing her to watch her closely.

"We could…we could head to Michina Town," Ash hesitantly suggested in a halting voice.

"Michina Town? Why there?" It seemed Ariana hadn't been the only one who had caught Ash's reactions.

"There's ruins there that might help us find things out," she mumbled, but the other two managed to hear her.

"Fine," Ariana agreed, since there wasn't anything else they had to go on. "In the meantime, if we see any of the Lake Guardians, catch them. Even if we can't form a Red Chain, we can still try to get their help somehow."

Ariana glanced at her niece one more time though, wondering what she was hiding.

Ash looked out of the window of the train compartment they were in, watching as the scenery passed her by. Remembering Michina Town, she remembered the events that happened there, as well as thinking of how long it had been since she'd been in that town.

She then glanced to the man sitting opposite her, also staring out the window. Since agreeing to help, Cyrus had strangely practically stuck to her side, staying with her and following her at all times. Hell, she'd had to deal with him following her to the bathroom, and creepily staying outside and waiting for her. She wasn't even sure if he would have stayed there and not have followed her in, if she hadn't insisted on it.

But decked unusually in blue jeans and a black turtleneck, he looked like a normal person. Even if she had to get used to his casual wear, and his strange behavior, she couldn't help noting how handsome he looked.

And there went her common sense, and she just wanted to hit herself. She was not going there again.

She hadn't thought like that since the last time she'd been in Sinnoh and had just met the guy, and before she knew he was the boss of Team Galactic (okay, that was a lie –she still thought he'd been handsome then).

"But you have the personality of a fish," Ash grumbled under her breath.

"You say something, Ash?" Ariana asked in amusement, and Ash flushed red in embarrassment, glaring at her aunt in annoyance.

She also ignored Cyrus' stare boring into her. "No, it's nothing, Aunty," she said dryly.

"Why are we really going to Michina Town?" Cyrus suddenly asked.

Ash flinched. She reluctantly began telling the other two about what happened there and how she met Arceus, earning herself two wide-eyed looks from the other two. At least she'd managed to get some type of reaction from the normally stoic Cyrus.

"I didn't hear about this," Ariana frowned. "Usually, minus the time in Unova, the JJM unit keep a track on you and follow you around, allowing me to find out what you've been doing." Okay, that Ash hadn't known but should've figured, once she'd learned her aunt was Team Rocket. "Their reports about the Dialga and Palkia incident was vague enough, and then there was this whole 'shadow pokémon' they mentioned but never elaborated much on either."

Wincing, Ash then started from the beginning, starting with the whole thing with Dialga, Palkia and Darkrai in Alamos Town, and ending with how it all came to be with meeting with Arceus. Incredulous looks were thrown her way.

"I don't think I like the idea of letting you travel around anymore," Ariana frowned. "You get into too many things."

"Oh, come on! I mean, all that was kind of bad…but it's really nothing compared to the whole Mewtwo versus Mew fight from a long time ago," Ash shrugged. "I mean, I was like dead for a minute or so."

"Dead?!" her aunt straightened up, and Ash wanted to face palm at herself.

"Oh…that was off the books, wasn't it? I forgot you wouldn't probably have a report on that," Ash said weakly.

"You tell me exactly what happened right then! In fact, I want to know every single time you met a Legendary, and you better tell me everything! Apparently, I need to know a lot more than what Jessie, James, and Meowth have been telling us!"

Ash wondered if it was too late to find an escape. Looking at Cyrus for any type of support, all she got was a curious, burning stare that said he wanted to hear too. Ugh.

So she started from the beginning with Ho-Oh, and just barely ended with Team Flare and the whole Primal Groudon and Kyogre (and Mega Rayquaza) stuff that had just happened.

"I'm definitely going to rethink you continuing your journey," Ariana glared at her after she was done.

Ash coughed nervously, only glad to notice the train slowing and stopping.

"You know, let's talk about that later, okay? Bye," Ash said rapidly, hand shooting out to grab Cyrus' and then running out of the compartment and off the train. By the time her aunt would have caught up, Ash hoped she would have calmed down (and hopefully forgot about keeping Ash from traveling). Ariana did seem somewhat cooled when she reached them, but Ash only just realized she was still holding Cyrus' hand. When she went to let go, she hadn't been prepared for Cyrus to grip her hand and keep holding it.

Ariana caught that. "You know, Cyrus, you should have just used my niece to lure in the Lake Guardians. Better yet, you should have just used her to get Dialga and Palkia, because apparently she really does attract all Legendaries."

Ash gave her aunt a dirty look, before huffing and beginning to walk away, heading to where the Michina Ruins were. She ignored how Cyrus was still holding onto her.

Closer to the ruins, she turned to them.

"There's a couple who live here," she revealed. "They basically guard the ruins. The one related to Damos is Sheena, and her husband is Kevin. I'll see if they wouldn't mind housing us a little bit, until nighttime when we can try to contact Arceus."

"Why that late? Can't we try it now?" Ariana was confused.

"I doubt he'd want to come in broad daylight," Ash shrugged. "So we wait."

With that agreed on, Ash led them to the building Sheena and Kevin lived in, and where the two had told her about the legend of Arceus and Damos. There, she introduced her aunt and Cyrus to the couple, and in return introduced the two with her to the couple.

"It's great seeing you again," Sheena said warmly. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Oh yeah, it really has," Ash agreed. "Thanks for this."

"It's no problem, especially with how high Arceus regards you. And you are a friend! You are definitely always welcomed here," Kevin said as well.

Trying not to blush, Ash led the other two with her and they were sat at a table.

"Some tea?" Sheena asked considerately.

"Sure," Ariana smiled, though she was looking around and observing everything she could.

"Tea would be nice," Cyrus said quietly, and Ash glanced at him inscrutably.

Once they had tea, the couple left the trio alone while they had to go out and help in the town.

"This isn't awkward at all," Ash said sarcastically. She then drank her tea in a few large gulps. "Excuse me while I go look around the familiar premise."

She stood up and left them, heading to where she remembered seeing the moving pictures and walls that had depicted the legend of Arceus in that town. She watched it only for a few seconds, before she noted she had a companion, turning and finding Cyrus nearby and looking around as well.

"I had no idea of this place," he murmured.

"Yeah, kind of a hidden niche," Ash attempted to be civil.

"It's…beautiful," he surprisingly said, something Ash wouldn't have thought to come out of him.

"…It is."

Maybe Cyrus wasn't that bad.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"Yes. No. Ugh, just leave me alone," Ash was ready to pull out her hair. "Let me just try to figure this out."

"And how are you going to get Arceus' attention, much less get him to come here?" Ariana asked skeptically.

"I don't know! Maybe something like this –HEY ARCEUS, I KIND OF NEED YOUR HELP! IT'S ME, ASH!" she first yelled up at the sky and threw her hands out to the sides. She then glared at her aunt, who rolled her eyes.

"I don't think that'll help," Ariana said sarcastically.

"Maybe it did," Cyrus interrupted, and they looked at him to see him looking up.

They looked up as well, seeing Arceus coming towards them from the sky.

"I…didn't think that would actually work," Ash said faintly.

"Ash Ketchum, you have called for me," Arceus' voice was clear as he towered over them.

Ash stepped towards him, only glancing back to see her aunt waiting in the back apprehensively and Cyrus staring in awe, breaking his usual apathetic façade.

"I need your help," Ash turned back to Arceus. "There might be a person trapped in another dimension, but I don't know for sure. And I would hope to bring him back, if he is there."

Ariana finally stepped forward. "His name is Sirius Black. He had dark hair, and blue eyes. Rather tall…"

Arceus shifted his gaze over to her, and Ash could see her aunt shiver and look like she wanted to move away.

"I see," he said, and she had a feeling that he really did (and might have skimmed her aunt's mind somehow). "I know of whom you speak of."

That had Ash and Ariana excited, and looking towards the pokémon eagerly.

"He resides in the Hall of Origin, my domain," Arceus revealed, and Ash didn't know whether to be happy or morose about the news. "If you wish, I can take you there and help you retrieve him back to here."

Ash perked up. "Really?"

Arceus inclined his head. "Yes. I shall personally bring you to him and help you. It is the least I can do for you."

Ecstatic, Ash threw her arms around the great pokémon and didn't see the bewildered and awed looks from the other two.

Started 9/17/15 – Completed 9/18/15

Chapter Text

Harry watched herself in the mirror, regarding at how she looked in awe. Even if it had been simple, it had been her wedding. She couldn't believe she was really married now. She couldn't even believe how she looked. She didn't think she'd ever looked this beautiful.

Slowly, she began unraveling her hair, taking out the decorative flowers she'd managed to weave into her hair. She glanced back at Giovanni through the mirror, who had been watching her from his –their –bed. She raised an eyebrow and held up one of the flowers. He chuckled and walked towards her, plucking the flower from her hand.

"Would you like some help, mia stella?" he asked, his voice rolling over her like velvet.

She smiled widely at him, and she sat up and waited patiently as Giovanni's deft fingers expertly unwound her hair and removed pieces of flowers. Her hair fell around her, and Giovanni moved onto her wedding dress. Her breath hitched as his fingers went to the back of her dress and found the zipper, zipping downwards and opening it. As it reached the bottom, Giovanni leaned down from behind her and kissed her ear softly. His lips trailed down her cheek as his hands went to her shoulders, and he had started to kiss her neck when he spoke again.

"Harry, we don't have to do this tonight," he surprised her by saying. "I am yours. And I can be patient."

Relieved, she relaxed and all the tension seemed to flee from her, though she hadn't even noticed she'd tensed up. Looking into the mirror and looking at him, while he stared at her with darkened eyes, she reached up with one hand and elegantly placed her hand against the side of his head. She pushed him toward her and turned her own head slightly, leaning her head back a little as she kissed him.

If the world burned, she had a feeling it would not be because of herself and her phoenix form.

It would be at the hands of Giovanni, and it would be all because of her.

"Okay, Ash, not that I'm not happy about you succeeding and all this," Ariana started out. "But I can't believe you! You don't go hugging Legendaries and getting into their personal spaces and-and-and –and especially not Arceus!"

Ash stared blankly at her aunt, though her own Pikachu was giving her the 'I told you so' look. "What? Why not? I do it all the time. This isn't anything unusual for me." She turned to Cyrus, hoping he'd say or do something to help her out for once, but he was only staring at her blankly. She knocked lightly on his head. "Hello? Did I break you?"

He caught her wrist, though he glanced back at the large, waiting Legendary some ways away from them. He cleared his throat awkwardly, ignoring how Ash's Pikachu was visibly snickering at the situation.

"It is a rather amazing feat to see, for at least your aunt and I, of whom aren't as used to seeing Legendaries or being so friendly and affectionate with them."

Ash scrunched up her nose, but nodded in sort of understanding.

"So, I'm going to go with Arceus," her aunt flinched at that, "and I'll go get this Sirius Black guy."

"I would like to accompany you," Cyrus surprisingly interjected.

Though caught off guard, Ash nodded hesitantly. She hugged her wary aunt and handed her Pikachu (hopefully he'd help calm down and reassure her aunt, but Ash doubted it), and then grabbed Cyrus' hand, leading him back towards the Legendary of all Legendaries.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked him before they reached Arceus.

"I should be asking you that," he replied to her sarcastically.

Grinning, Ash shook her head and went faster towards Arceus.

"Have you made your arrangements, Ash?" Arceus asked her regally.

Ash nodded. "Yeah. Although, my friend here would like to come with me, if that is alright?"

It was kind of strange referring to him as a friend, and Cyrus himself felt funny about it.

Arceus intimidatingly looked him over, and Cyrus felt like shrinking away and finding a rock to crawl under. He felt uncomfortable under the gaze of a powerful Legendary such as Arceus, who seemed to be judging him.

"Very well," Arceus said finally. "However, if we run into Dialga and Palkia, there isn't much I can do to keep them back, if they wish to attack him. They are still upset and angry with this human."

Cyrus flinched, but Ash squeezed his hand. He started in surprise, having forgotten she'd been holding his hand still. When he stared at her, she wasn't looking at him but smiling widely at Arceus. She then glanced sideways at him and gave him a small nod.

"It's fine," she told Arceus. "I've got him. I'll make sure to take care of him."

Somehow, for some reason, that really got to Cyrus and he felt himself warm up oddly.

Arceus knelt, which caused the other two aside from Ash to feel uncomfortable and also almost panicky. However, Ash (as usual) saw nothing the matter and easily went to Arceus and climbed up onto him, pulling Cyrus along. After she got on, Cyrus hesitated for a moment on the ground, before a look from Ash made him wince and then climb up onto Arceus behind her. Then he had to deal with the issue of what to do with his hands and where would he place them, only hesitantly placing them onto Ash's waist after a few moments' thought. She didn't say or do anything, so he relaxed a little and held on tighter.

"Ready to go, Arceus!"

"Very well. Hold on tightly," Arceus told them, and then he set up into the skies.

They were getting closer and closer to the atmosphere, which made Cyrus antsy, considering he knew they were humans and couldn't breathe the higher up they were. However, he noticed that for some reason they weren't having trouble at all, even though they were now closer to breaking the atmosphere than before. Noticeably, Ash hadn't even blinked at any of this, despite the danger posed to them.

"When it is time, as we enter this portal, it is important for you two to go to sleep. It is not safe and could be dangerous for humans to travel consciously through dimensions," Arceus said as he continued to fly, though a portal had now formed in front of them. "It is dangerous enough that you will be entering my domain. I will need to allow for my realm to accept you two without any further problems."

That alarmed Cyrus, though Ash seemed to be taking it in stride. However, just as he was going to voice his worry, he felt a heavy presence in his mind and felt his eyes droop. Before either of them could notice, they'd fallen asleep, holding onto tightly to what they had been holding. Before long, Arceus passed through the portal with them.

Ash shifted, sighing into the soft mattress and the silky sheets. Wherever she ended up staying at, she must've gotten lucky. Really lucky…

Although the weight on her back and kind of holding onto her was warm but heavy.

Her eyes snapped open and she moved her head, seeing Cyrus still asleep behind her. As he'd held onto her when they'd been traveling, he was still holding onto her. Just more…tightly than before, with his arms encasing her in his hold. He was also snuggling up to her, which she was sure he wouldn't have had he'd been awake.

She almost freaked out and would have awoken Cyrus, or at least broken out of his hold and moved away (still waking him up in the process)…but then she thought about it. This was a rare occurrence. He was vulnerable and –dare she say it –being rather sweet in a way. She could just lay there and wait for him to wake on his own, and see how he reacts to their current position. He'd probably freak out, but at least he'd once again be showing some more emotion.

That decided, she lay there and waited, admitting that she felt rather comfortable anyway. When he started to stir, she tried not to tense up and waited in anticipation for him to realize how he'd basically wrapped himself around her. And she knew exactly the moment he had, when she could feel him tense up against her, his breathing almost coming to a stop. However, he said or didn't do anything else, and she was getting disappointed at the lack of outward reaction. Maybe she should say something to show she was awake and make him embarrassed?

Just as she opened her mouth to do so, someone else's voice interfered.

"You two are awake. Good," Arceus spoke.

Ash pouted. What a missed opportunity. And Arceus damned if Arceus didn't sound amused right then. All-knowing punk.

Cyrus stiffly unwound himself from her and got off the bed, and when she turned on the bed to see him, he was looking away from her and had already formed his face into its usual serious look. Sighing to herself, she slipped off the bed as well and looked around, blinking at how…human (if sorely extravagant) the place was. It was like a palace room from right out of the fairytales, with the walls and ceilings made of marble. There was no other decorations and the bed was the only thing in the room, and it was huge and fit for more than a human, she'd guessed. She was a little weirded out by the place and how it looked –and biased as she was –thought everything seemed rather human-like.

Not that she was going to ask Arceus. That would be even weirder, and maybe ignorant and reflect her 'human-bias.' Or was she reading too much into things?

"What are you thinking of?" Cyrus whispered suspiciously.

"I'm contemplating speciesism and bias," she told him and he gave her a weird look. He glanced around warily, and she rolled her eyes as she grabbed his hand and squeezed. If she had to reassure him again, geez whatever. She ended up missing the flustered look he sent her as she focused up ahead, as Arceus continued to lead them out of there and down a hallway.

"Sirius Black has been put under a stasis to relieve his body, mind, and soul from the stress of being in this realm, as well as heal him from previous wounds. Though, even with his special condition, being in the Hall of Origin would have still been a strain on him," Arceus informed them.

"Special condition?" Ash questioned him, not sure what he'd meant.

"He is…like you, with something similar to Aura," Arceus told her speculatively. "Your Aura is why you are handling this realm better than your comrade."

She blinked and looked at Cyrus, noticing that he was starting to sweat and move sluggishly. Worried, she leaned towards him and put her other hand against the side of his face.

"Are you okay?" she made sure to speak gently.

He was easily more reactive, inching his face away from her but his face turning red slightly.

"I'm fine," he muttered.

She frowned, but didn't push him. However, she pulled him closer and monitored him more closely out of the corner of her eye. After a while of walking, Arceus stopped in front of a door.

"Is he in there?" Ash asked suddenly, feeling anxious.

"Yes," Arceus confirmed. "You may retrieve him and come to me. We will return at once back to where we met."

Trading a look with Cyrus, she pushed the door open and entered. The two of them quickly spotted the prone body, who was laying peacefully in a similar bed to the one they'd woken up to.

"I will carry him," Cyrus actually offered, and headed over to the unconscious man and brought him off the bed and then carried him. He was a bit slow in coming back and was starting to perspire further, which made Ash worry even more and think that they had to get out of there for his sake, even if she was feeling fine.

Soon enough, the two of them were back on Arceus and had settled the man they came there for in front of Ash, and then they were heading back, once again falling asleep on the way.

"You guys sure look cozy."

Ash woke up again, this time to see her aunt leaning over her and wearing an amused, if contrite, expression on her face. Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, she tried to look around to see if she could decipher what her aunt had meant, which was quickly realized when she couldn't really move that much. The fact was, she was once again trapped in Cyrus' arms, and this time she could feel his breath tickling the hairs on the back of her neck.

"You've got to be kidding me," Ash muttered.

She didn't know if she was fortunate or unfortunate that her aunt was aggravated and impatient enough to shake Cyrus awake and drag him off of her, startling and violently waking Cyrus into consciousness and realizing what he'd been doing after the fact. From his position on the floor, he avoided looking at Ash as he slowly got up (though he did toss a glare in Ariana's way).

"So I got Sirius set up in another room," Ariana told them. "He's still unconscious, but color's coming back to his skin and all his vitals seem normal. Sheena suggested we stay here a bit, try to rest and see if we can get him to regain his strength, and try to get him adjusted to being conscious and living life again. Don't know how much that will work since we're not sure when he'll wake up, o-or if he'll wake," her aunt grimaced. "And that's discounting the fact we're in the Regions, whereas he's used to the Mainland."

That was brought to Ash's interest, considering she'd lived in the Regions all her life and hadn't heard much about life outside of them.

"He's from the mainland?" Ash asked curiously.

Ariana laughed. "That's right. You've never been. Giovanni's got business out there. You're used to calling the four Regions grouped closer together as the mainland, that of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, with Unova and Kalos being the Outer Lands. Which, as a native, is fine. But technically, the Mainland most people talk about will refer to the world outside the Regions."

Ash turned to Cyrus. "Have you ever had business in the Mainland then?"

Cyrus, feeling awkward at her sudden attention, shook his head. "No. Cyrus Industries had never expanded beyond the Regions, and actually mostly centered in Sinnoh anyway."

"About that, do you still run your business or what? I kinda figure, with you being somewhat of a fugitive and all, that something would've been done with your business and your money," Ash scrutinized him. Unknown to her, her aunt had slipped out while Ash had gone on a tangent, intending to check up on their new addition to the group.

"Saturn is taking care of it, though I still have access," Cyrus revealed. "They never revealed my involvement with Team Galactic or my role in it and the Team's past plans, and the public never got wind of it from anyone either. However, the International Police are still looking for me, hence why I've kept my head down and kept to myself all these years."

"Have you learned your lesson?" she asked suddenly, watching him closely.

"Learned…my lesson?" Cyrus asked, giving her an uncertain look. However, she didn't answer him, though she continued to look at him with an inscrutable look. Cyrus felt uncomfortable being put on the spot like this, but felt like he had to give her an answer for some reason. And yet, he couldn't figure out what she'd wanted from him. "I don't understand," he admitted.

She frowned. "Is life worth living? Is this world worth it? Do you want to live in this world?" He flinched, just as she paused at that spot. She also hesitated, which he noted, but she pushed herself to continue. "Could you think of giving everything a try? Even emotions? I'm an emotional person, so if you can't, I don't think you could handle being around me."

Wait, what? What was she saying? Ash really needed a filter at that point, because she wasn't sure what she was saying anymore.

Cyrus stared at her, and she wished she'd kept her mouth shut. But then he spoke and surprised her with his answer.

"I'm not an emotional person," Cyrus started, causing her to cringe. "But I am…more accepting of them than I thought I could ever be. And this world…it is not as bad as I have thought it was, and maybe I could just continue to live through it and find my own way."

She let out a breath, breaking out into a blinding smile. It made his breath catch in his chest and he couldn't help just staring. Without warning (or thought on her part), Ash threw herself at him and embraced him tightly, causing him to once more be supremely flustered and unsure what to do or where to place his hands.

For her, she reiterated her thoughts. Maybe Cyrus really isn't that bad.

"How's he doing?" Ash asked her aunt, who was currently checking Sirius' temperature. They'd been there a week already, and there hadn't been much progress in his state. Although, to be honest, considering where he'd been and how long he'd been there, they hadn't really thought he'd wake up quickly anyway. In fact, there was a fear that he mightn't wake up at all.

"Not okay, but not any worse than when he got here," Ariana frowned as she examined the comatose man under her care. She turned her attention to her niece. "And of you? How are you holding up? Especially having to put up and watch over the nihilistic dolt?"

"I'm fine," she reassured her aunt. "Actually, it's not so bad with Cyrus either. Right now, he's helping out Sheena and Kevin by getting the groceries. It's a bit amazing really. Other than that, we've taken to perusing Sheena and Kevin's library, and he's been educating me about Sinnoh's history and the region's legends. He's a pretty good lecturer actually, and I like listening to his voice."

Ariana gave her an incredulous and disbelieving look, but Ash was being honest. Cyrus really had taken to helping out, and was getting groceries from the store at that moment. And she really had been spending time with Cyrus at the library, and reading all the cool things Sheena and Kevin had stocked up in there. And Cyrus, after a few curious questions about Sinnoh from her, had decided he'd educate her about it all, and she'd realized right away that Cyrus was interesting like this and was good at lecturing. She also, admittedly, enjoyed listening to his voice a little too much.

"Yeah, okay," Ariana muttered. "I'll believe you, even if it sounds all crazy to me."

Just then there was a loud groan and the two females froze. They traded looks before they moved their heads rapidly to look at their 'patient.' They waited with bated breaths, and then Sirius had once again groaned, this time shifting minutely from his position. Then his eyelids fluttered and beautiful crystal-blue eyes revealed themselves.

From there, Ash let her aunt take over, directing the heavily breathing man's attention to herself.

"Mr. Black? My name is Ariana," her aunt introduced herself. "I'm a friend of your goddaughter. Henrietta Potter?"

At that, the man shot up from the bed and alarmed them, more so as that movement had caused him to double over and cough violently, his entire body shaking from the effort.

"Please calm down, Sirius!" Ariana attempted to calm him, slipping in his first name. However, he stayed agitated.

"H-Harry," he gasped out. "I have to get to Harry."

"She's fine," Ariana told him, using a soothing tone. "When you're better, we can take you to her. But right now, you need to calm down and lay back on the bed."

Ash, watching them, slowly backed away. She was sure she wasn't going to be helpful at the moment, so decided to get out of there and probably go check on Cyrus. He should be back by then…

Sirius wasn't sure how to take anything. He'd woken in a strange place, with strange people. He wanted to roam free to explore his surroundings, but his body was still feeling weak. But most importantly…

He wanted to go to Harry and see if she was alright.

The last time he remembered seeing her, they were in that stupid chamber in the Ministry of Magic's lower levels. He was falling backwards through the Veil, and he could clearly recall the look of utter, devastation on his goddaughter's face as she watched him.

He had to talk to her, reassure her he was alright. He wanted to know where she was, because he knew Harry would be there by his side, watching over him and forgetting about her own health because that was the type of person she was. And yet, at the moment, he was clueless and unsure what was going on.

The door to the room opened and that girl entered, the one who'd been helping the gorgeous red head who'd been taking care of him the most. A light blue-haired man followed after her, carrying a tray of food and medicine.

"Oh! You're awake," she said cheerfully. "I brought breakfast! Come on, Cyrus. Over here."

Cyrus was the man, Sirius concluded. Both of them came closer, with the girl directing Cyrus to place the food tray gently on his lap.

"I'm Ash by the way," she said idly. "Aunty Ariana said you've been doing well and recovering much faster than anyone thought you would. It's amazing."

Ariana was the older red head, he remembered her saying her name. Sirius hummed a nonchalant answer, looking down at his food. It was a simple soup, some fruit, and some cheese to nibble on.

"My goddaughter," he brought up again.

Ash cut him off. "I haven't met her," she revealed. "My Aunty Ariana asked for my help in finding you though, and she showed me her picture. She's really pretty."

Sirius smiled to himself, thinking about her. "Yes, she really is." His smile died down. "Do you know anything at all? Is there anything you can tell me?"

Cyrus actually stepped in, putting a hand on Ash's shoulder. "We're not really sure of anything. Her aunt asked us for help, because she believed –after hearing your goddaughter's story about what happened to you =that you'd gone into a portal. We were lucky enough to find you."

Sirius tilted his head, observing them. They were close together and Cyrus' hand was still on her shoulder, and they'd unknowingly leaned into each other. He smiled a little and his eyes lingered on Cyrus' hand.

"Are you two together or something?" he asked, and nearly laughed at their shocked faces, and Cyrus removing his hand away from Ash as if it had been burned.

"N-no, of course not," Ash said, but her face was burning red. "We're just…acquaintances?"

"Was that a question?" he asked in sarcastic amusement.

Ash snapped her mouth shut, pouting a bit. At that moment, the door opened again and Ariana entered.

"I see we've been busy," she noted, observing the scene.

Sirius opened his mouth, but she beat him to it.

"After you rest up today, I think you're fine to make the travel back to Eterna City where we'll head back to the Mainland. You can be reunited with Harry there."

Sirius felt elated, and promised to himself that he would get better enough quickly. He missed his goddaughter and wanted to see her.

Harry saw her husband talking on the phone, forming several different expressions on his face. She was curious, but didn't think she needed to pry. If it was important and needed her attention, he would come to her and talk to her about it.

Which was what he did, hanging up on his phone and heading towards her. Raising an inquisitive eyebrow at him, he was quick to answer her silent question.

"That was Ariana, one of my Executives," he informed her. "Aside from Archer, she is probably my most trusted subordinate. Interestingly enough, she called to inform me she'd gone off to do something on your behalf."

Confused, she waited for him to elaborate on why a woman she'd never met had done something for her.

"Apparently, after hearing about your godfather, she had some kind of theory that he might have gone through a portal instead. She found a way to test that theory –in fact, she was successful," Giovanni did his best to tell her the news gently.

Her breathing almost stopped and she stared at Giovanni in disbelief. Her godfather…Sirius was found.

'Is he alive?' she mouthed, and when he nodded, her face broke out into the happiest look she could achieve. Inwardly, she was frustrated that her happiness at this unbelievable news was hindered by the muteness of her emotions, and worse that even her frustration wasn't fully formed either. Still, she did her best and wrapped Giovanni in a tight hug.

"He'll be arriving soon," he added. "Why don't you get ready? I will make sure Persian and Lily are fed while you do."

She nodded and got up, heading to her room. She made sure to focus on her breathing, trying to calm herself. She was excited, but unsure at this new news. What would Sirius have to say about all this? About what happened to her? About her being married, and to whom?

Harry didn't want to think about that then. All she wanted was to see her godfather and be reunited with him after so long, especially after having believed he was dead. She quickly fixed herself up and then began writing something down on her journal, she carried it with her as she then went back down to where she was supposed to meet Giovanni, only to see him with a group of people and speaking with a red head. However, she only had eyes for one person, who had been looking around in curiosity and was glancing occasionally in interest at the yellow mouse-like animal near a girl Harry's age, Persian, and Lily, with the pokémon having been gathered together and were speaking to each other in their own languages.

She ran towards him and embraced him, holding onto him and never wanted to let go.

"Harry!" she heard him exclaim.

He hugged her back just as tightly for a few moments before they reluctantly parted, and Harry turned to the others. She specifically wanted to see and meet the woman who had helped make this happen, and thank her profusely, only to be caught surprised by the familiar red head.

The red head cheerily waved at her. "Nice seeing you again, Harry! Remember me?"

Harry nodded dumbly, while Giovani shook his head in exasperation. He moved closer to her, and she could feel her godfather tense and his confusion. But he didn't do anything, for which she was glad.

"Harry, this is Ariana. Ariana, since you met her first when you went shopping, you should know who she is."

"Yeah, your new wife," Ariana snarked, causing Harry to blush prettily while Giovanni glared at her.

Her godfather tensed even more, but surprisingly he didn't say or do anything. She could guess he was still processing everything, especially since it sounded like he'd been in some other dimension. She was still confused about that, but so was Sirius. Hopefully, one of the others would eventually explain it to them more fully.

"This is also my niece Ash, and her friend Cyrus," Ariana introduced the girl and man beside her, though Harry had to wonder at the emphasis.

She didn't really have to look that much into it, considering it was almost pretty obvious, with the other girl's red face and glare towards her aunt, and the blue-haired man's almost unnoticeable fidgeting.

Ariana's Cheshire grin said a lot more.

"So I'll have these three settled into our home," Giovanni interrupted, talking to Harry. "You can catch up with your godfather."

Harry gave him a grateful smile and he left with the others, leaving her alone with Sirius.

"You haven't said a word," Sirius said in worry.

Smiling sadly, Harry led him to a place to sit and faced him. She then pointed at her throat and shook her head.

"You can't talk?" Sirius asked alarmed.

Harry handed him her book and opened it to the page she had written down what she needed to. As he read, she could see his face darkening with every word he scanned.

"Those bastards!" Sirius shouted as he slammed the book shut. She reached over and placed her hands on his and he looked at her aggrieved. "I'm so sorry, love. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you, and that you had to go through all this. And I'm sorry that you thought I'd died and mourned for me."

She shook her head and made sure her face, especially her eyes and lips, were visible.

'No, what happened happened, and I'm just happy you're alive and here.'

And he cried with her as he moved around the coffee table separating them, holding onto her like she held onto him.

Sirius was still pretty weak and was still recovering, so he had to rest some more after that emotional breakdown. Luckily before he did so, Ariana finally provided an explanation to them, regarding how she thought about Sirius' predicament and how she'd managed to bring him back. Both Harry and Sirius had managed to communicate their gratefulness to her and to Ash and Cyrus, before Giovanni and Harry had led Sirius to what would be his room and helped him to rest.

Harry was then walking around the manor, thinking to herself of what she could eat for lunch. It was then she saw Ariana's niece walking along the same hallway. She quickly sped up and tapped the girl on her shoulder, smiling widely when she was faced with the surprised female.

"Oh, hey!" Ash greeted her casually.

'Hi,' she mouthed, and Ash kindly didn't mention anything about her muteness. 'Are you hungry?'

"Right, food. I hope you don't mind. I am a bit hungry," Ash admitted.

She smiled kindly at the other and led the way to the kitchens, where she led Ash to a table for them to sit at. After Harry made some sandwiches, with Ash helping out by making some quick rice balls, they sat and ate quietly at the table.

Still curious about earlier and feeling (as much as she could) mischievous, Harry found a writing pad nearby and began writing something down. She then handed it to Ash, who read it and simultaneously laughed lightly and blushed horribly.

"Is Cyrus my boyfriend? Arceus no! That guy's got zero personality and the worst attitude about the world ever. No way." Ash shook her head several times, but Harry wasn't sure the other knew how much she sounded too defensive.

'Why defensive?' Harry teased.

Ash huffed and started pouting. But then she sighed and shrugged. "He's handsome and maybe not all that bad. But we're not dating. Seriously."

Harry grinned widely. 'Maybe you two should.'

"Harry!" Ash yelped in dismay.

Harry just began to laugh soundlessly at her, which the other girl took good-naturedly.

An hour later and her conversation with Harry was still spinning around in her mind. Having managed to find the library, Ash wasn't admitting that she went there to hide and brood.

Remembering the other girl, she thought on how young the other was and how she was even prettier in person. Giovanni was as handsome as ever, though he was less of a jerk than she remembered, and strangely docile and domestic. It was probably because of Harry, and Ash could see how well the two fit together. She was a bit envious and wanted a relationship like that…

Which made her remember the talk she just had (and Cyrus), which made her cringe. No. Just no way…

And yet, she could confess –if only to herself –that she had found him handsome and captivating from their first meeting in Celestic Town. Even as he got overly passionate about talking of Dialga and Palkia, she'd only found it amusing and likening to her own passion towards pokémon battling, despite her friend Brock's insistence he looked and sounded crazy. And when it was revealed that he was the Galactic Boss, none of that had changed.

But still –!

Her thoughts were interrupted as a soft thump broke through, and she saw a tea pot and two tea cups placed on the little table in front of her. She looked to the side to see the culprit being Cyrus, who was purposely avoiding her gaze as he held a book in his arm. He slowly took a seat next to her, and she could feel how tense his body was and how nervous he was, though his face remained as tightly controlled as he could keep it.

He sat back, slightly leaning towards her, and opened the book to begin quietly reading aloud. Ash hesitated before slipping off her shoes and pulling her legs up, curling them under her as she leaned into him, listening to his voice comfortably as she decidedly rested her head against his shoulder.

She really hoped Harry wasn't the type to say 'I told you so.'

Started 9/24/15 – Completed 9/29/15

Chapter Text

"I would offer you a drink, but you're not old enough."

"Harry gets to drink."

"She's my wife and old enough in her homeland."

"Bah! Kanto's behind the times."

Giovanni chuckled quietly, ignoring the pout the girl sitting with him at the room's bar counter conveyed. Ash eyed him speculatively.

The truth was, she'd caught sight of him from out in the hallway and had seen him enter this room. So, in her usual fashion, she followed after him and found him sitting at the bar, nursing a glass of some kind of alcohol.

Hesitating, Ash decided to just go with it.

"You're a Team Boss…how does that…how does that go with falling in love and making decisions from then on?"

He watched her curiously. "Are you asking for me or are you asking so you can think behind Cyrus' thoughts?"

She turned red, lightly glaring at him. "No!" At his look, she fidgeted. "Maybe?"

"It certainly changes things," Giovanni answered honestly. "What you do and say after, you have to be conscientious of her…or him, if you're inclined. You wonder about what you're doing or going to do, and you have to weigh the consequences more. And you think of what you should do and what's worth it, and can you be the person the person you care about deserves."

Seeing her listening intently, Giovanni decided to give further words of advice, as much as he could. He had a feeling Harry would prefer he did anyway.

"I've known Cyrus a long time," he told her. "Mutually through business, but I've also known him –and the other bosses –through all the intel myself and my Team have gathered over the years. Not that you should be spouting out to the others about what I do and don't know about them."

She held up her hand and put it over her heart. "Scout's honor! So long as you share what you know with me," she added mischievously.

He snorted, but conceded. This girl had always amused him when it came to the others. If she wanted to torment them, it wasn't any skin off his back.

"Like I said," he continued. "I've known him for a long time. You and I both know he's not the emotional type." They shared a roll of the eyes, while Ash muttered under her breath that that was an "Understatement."

"But he's willingly showing more of them now, isn't he?" He caught her off guard, and she bit her lip. She nodded in answer to that.

Giovanni took a sip of his glass, watching her thoughtfully. "You know, from the reports I received from the JJM unit," he smirked as he saw her make a face, "he was starting to be like this during your time in Sinnoh, when you'd been around him. I think you just entered a time in his life where you were just a little bit too late into his plans and he couldn't stop then. Who knows? Maybe if you'd been a little bit earlier in his life, he would have stopped before he could start on anything."

She didn't know if that made it better or worse for her.

"I like Harry," she said suddenly. "You did a good job, catching a pretty and awesome girl like her."

"Was that a compliment?" he asked sarcastically, finishing off his drink.

"Yep, you jerk. Don't lose her, idiot."

She held out the bottle and poured him another glass, and he thought on it before inwardly shrugging and grabbing another glass for her. He poured a little and she eagerly accepted it, taking a sip and then making a face. Still, she kept it and continued to sip at it occasionally.

"So…I notice about Harry and her own emotion stuff. Any tips on how to deal with unemotional-prone loves? And their tendency to shut down?" Ash asked, trying to be nonchalant.

"…One, Harry can't help it, unlike Cyrus who voluntarily shuts himself off. Good luck on that, by the way. Two, Harry does show emotion, just muted down. Cyrus doesn't know how to show emotion."

"He tries," Ash supposed, thinking about it. At least he was doing his best. But…She groaned quietly and lightly thumped her head onto the counter. "Arceus, why does he have to be such an ice block though?"

Giovanni smirked. "That's your fault for attaching yourself to a man like him."

Ash reluctantly conceded he was right about that.

Cyrus watched as the girl who he knew as Giovanni's wife, silently mimicked humming as she groomed the Shiny Glaceon on her lap. She made for an elegant picture, so he could see how Giovanni had been captured by her.

Hesitantly clearing his throat, he suddenly wasn't sure what to say or do when she looked up at him and had her attention all on him. He noted she didn't seem surprised to see him there, though he'd thought he'd been silent enough in approaching her. She motioned to the chair next to her, and he went forward and sat there.

For a moment, she just continued to groom the Glaceon, while Cyrus silently sat with her. And then she put down the brush and quirked an eyebrow at him. He felt himself flush in embarrassment, and wished he wasn't becoming so used to showing emotions these days, despite that being part of the reason he'd approached Harry Rocketto anyway.

"I…I understand that you, though not completely the same, similarly have issues with expressing yourself. Especially towards someone you…care about," he finished off uncomfortably.

She gave him a gentle smile and nodded. She opened her mouth and he prepared himself to pay close attention, knowing that he would have to lip read and it was important he not miss a word.

'You like Ash, don't you?' she started off and he flinched. He nodded reluctantly. 'Don't be reluctant. If you like her, you should accept that and move on.'

He swallowed heavily. "I'm not an emotional person. I used to not like emotions and was totally disgusted by them and the show of them."

'And what changed?' she asked.

He thought back to then and his shoulders slumped. "Her. I met her and I don't know how or when it all shifted. And now she and I are here and there is a now, but I don't know what's going on or how to show or allow myself any kind of emotion, even for her."

'I think you need to be patient,' she mouthed the advice. 'It's obvious you are trying and doing your best to change, and I'm sure she knows that. And if it's all the same to you, if you're so worried about this and trying to do all that, I think your first step is to acknowledge you want to be with her and probably already in some sort of relationship with Ash already.'

He was behaving so strangely these days and he admitted that there was a multitude of emotions that seemed to always plague him everyday towards Ash.

"What if she doesn't feel the same?" he muttered, looking down.

He felt a slender hand touch his shoulder and squeezed. He looked to her smiling softly.

'Trust me. I know she does.'

Maybe Cyrus should try harder to open up to Ash.

If she was swaying, she wouldn't be noticing. She was probably a bit drunk, but that was her fault. She was the one insisting on drinking.

Humming under her breath, she continued to drunkenly walk around until she remembered something.

Wasn't Ash supposed to be meeting Cyrus in the library?

Giggling to herself, she almost rather skipped in amusement there, stumbling through the doors. Seeing he wasn't there yet, she browsed cheerfully through the shelves. She wondered if she could get Cyrus to read her a fiction book. She knew he liked legends and they weren't always true, so maybe something like fantasy…

She laughed aloud to herself, looking rather odd. But at least there was no one else there to see her. Or so she thought. Because Cyrus decided he wanted to pop up all of a sudden after all.

Where'd he come from?

"Are you alright?" Cyrus asked, looking at her strangely, though concern seeped through too.

She waved a hand at him, smiling goofily. "'Course I am."

He gave her a look.

"Maybe a little drunk?" she said sheepishly. "I was commiserating with Giovanni."

"Over what?" he asked hesitantly.

Ash giggled again and leaned closer to him, poking him in the chest.

"How haaarrrdd it is to LIKE someone who prefers to be unemotional," Ash leaned even more and ended up losing her footing and tumbling into Cyrus, who caught her. She laughed at herself. "Oops. Anyway, it is. 'Cause I like you. Even back then. Do you like me?" she peered into his face.

His face involuntarily turned red, extremely visibly (unlike most times). But as she waited for a reply and grew increasingly depressed when he said nothing, he panicked and blurted out his answer.

"Yes," he said suddenly and she blinked at him. "Yes, I do."

Ash broke out into a wide smile and threw her arms around him. Flustered, Cyrus wasn't sure what to do then. But just as he decided to finally reciprocate the embrace, the sweet moment was interrupted.

"Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get married
Gee, I really love you and we're gonna get married
Goin' to the chapel of love~"

The music blasted around the library, and Ash stiffened in his arms. She moved away from him slightly, glaring around suspiciously.

"Where…who the…"

Ash jerked away from Cyrus and began to savagely whirl around the library, trying to find the source of the music.

"Where are you, Arceus damn it?!"

Cyrus watched blankly and was certain he'd gotten himself into a crazy relationship and that Ash was not a stable drunk.

Outside the library, one Sirius Black was wheezing and laughing as he leaned tiredly against the wall next to the doors. His goddaughter happened upon him and took a quick look inside. After she closed the door, she looked at Sirius and gave an exasperated sigh.

'Only got back and not even fully rested, and you're already up to pranks,' she gave him a smirk.

Sirius shrugged. "The Marauder Legacy must go on."

Besides, if Harry was Prongslette Jr., then Sirius had to go find a suitable heir to his Marauder throne.

The wooden chair smashed against the wall and broke apart upon impact. Archer's eyes blazed angrily, his usual placid and polite attitude forgone for just pure rage. Arabella quivered away from him, but he was too busy catching his breath and being angry to notice.

"Mr. Archer, if you would calm down –"

Archer turned his angry gaze on Rufus. "Calm down? Do you realize what I'd just seen? I will not calm down!"

He'd been correct in that he would be more than furious once he'd seen the last vial. But he wasn't just furious –he was enraged. How could they think he wouldn't be, after seeing what Harry had gone through? His boss' wife hadn't deserved the treatment she'd endured, especially after what she'd done and lost for the lot of them.

It hadn't taken long for Archer to see the whole collection of memories, some part of the magic allowing him to condense the time he saw them all in one day. But he hadn't immediately gone to Giovanni and handed the vials over. For one, he had needed the time to calm himself down and not react as he was (he also knew that obviously that hadn't worked out so well, since he was still angry and he had gone to Arabella's house and lashed out).

He also knew that Giovanni would be worse than he was, and he had to think about the consequences if he handed Harry's memories over to him. He also didn't want to upset Giovanni, as he knew the memories (especially the last vial) would. And then there was Harry, who wouldn't appreciate their reactions, or the reminder of the torment she'd had to endure.

But he'd promised his boss he'd hand over the memories when he was done, and that world needed to be taught a lesson anyway. And if it was by their hands…

He doubted either of them would have any regrets.

"I advise you two to not keep too much contact with the Wizarding World in the coming days," Archer said coldly. "At least the British part of things."

He clenched his jaw and then turned to stride quickly out of the house and to his car, intending to quickly make it back to Giovanni's estate. In the hours it took to drive there, he continued to stew in his thoughts and anger, though he'd calmed down some once he'd received news of Harry's reunion with Sirius some days ago (he wished Ariana would tell him these things immediately), as well as the arrival of her niece and Cyrus Akagi. Interesting. He wondered if his previous recorded analysis on the two together would be correct…

By the time Archer had reached the estate, he'd long reached a more morose state, though he knew that if he'd thought of or was reminded of the memories, he'd fly into another fury-fueled state. He constantly reminded himself to keep to a meditative, calm mindset.

Once he'd entered the premises, he'd immediately caught sight of a raven-haired girl dragging a familiar light-blue haired man down the corridor leading towards the kitchens.

"I made it! I want you to test-taste it first, so when I hand it over to Harry, I know it won't taste awful," she was saying vehemently.

"You are not a bad cook. I am sure it will be fine," the older man was uncomfortably answering back.

"Not the point! I know I'm at least good, but she's a fantastic cook and I don't want to embarrass myself and I want her to like it! Come on, Cyrus. Please?"

"Ah…v-very well…"

Once again, Archer could say his observations had been spot on. He'd always thought those two were rather close in the girl's Sinnoh days, and would have (if they hadn't been already) gotten together.

"It's nice to formally meet you, Miss Ash," he called out, startling the duo.

Ash looked at him hesitantly, stopping in her tracks and making Cyrus stop with her. Cyrus was obviously frowning and looking at him.

"Do I know you?"

He smiled primly. "No. But I am one of the Rocket Executives and a colleague of your aunt's. Ariana might have mentioned me?"

She seemed to slowly come to a conclusion about him. "Oh, are you that Archer guy she talks about, sometimes in annoyance?"

Archer's smile twitched. "Yes, that would be me. I'm not surprised about the annoyance –your aunt seems to perceive a rivalry between the two of us."

She raised an eyebrow. "A rivalry?"

Archer's smile turned amused. "Which is nonexistent, because your aunt isn't a threat and I'm clearly superior."

Ash burst into snickers. "Aunty Ariana isn't going to like that! Ha, I bet she's going to rant and seek you out!"

Archer gave a slight mocking bow. "I'll look forward to it."

He inclined his head her way once, before leaving as she burst into full laughter. She was still laughing as he walked away, even as he turned a corner. His good cheer dulled a little, as he remembered that he had to report to Giovanni and eventually give the Pensieve full of memories over to him.

It would do no good to delay then.

"I suppose we need to have a talk."

Giovanni had a feeling this was coming. Though wary, he was rather calm about facing Harry's godfather and talking with him. He had, after all, only the best intentions when it came to Harry and he was prepared to show Sirius Black that.

"We do," he acknowledged. He gestured for the wizard to take a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. And instead of sitting at his usual desk, he took a seat next to Sirius. "I assume you wish to talk about Harry with me."

Sirius frowned at him, but nodded to that effect. "Yeah…She told me everything. Since you're not covered in the Taboo, she didn't have to skirt around."

Giovanni acknowledged that and understood that Harry had probably covered most definitely everything she could. She was the sort to be completely honest, but also pragmatic in the way that she would think it was best to get it all out in the open. He would even guess she'd learned that the hard way.

Sirius shrugged. "I can't say I disapprove of you. You're a hell of a lot better than the other choices she could've gotten stuck with. Purebloods back home are inbred, glory hounds who want her for her fame and money, and immature brats who don't know shite about her or would understand her. You're rich enough to provide for her, as she could probably provide for you back tenfold. You've got the means to get her away from the hell she was stuck in, and you pulled through with that –which outweighs everything by far.

"And from what I hear from her, when you found out about her phoenix Animagus form, you didn't freak out. You're patient and mature enough to handle her, and despite her age, she can more than match you in maturity. Then speaking of age, despite your own age and the age difference being a seeming problem, it really isn't. In the Wizarding World, wizards and witches live to a long age anyway, so all's the best. And with the magical birthrate being so low, it's hardly a matter either, and age difference couples are common in the Wizarding World, especially in the olden circles. You've got old, dysfunctional courting traditions that are worse off and stranger than what you two went through too. And speaking of age difference couples, I've got to find out what happened to Remus and Tonks…" Sirius trailed off in thought.

The other man sighed heavily. "I haven't been there for most of her life and when I did, I managed to knock myself out of it for another few years. I can't say I deserve having my word count as anything, so I'm glad that it does somehow. I love Harry. So I'm glad she found you and I approve."

Surprised and extremely pleased, Giovanni broke out into a genuine smile.

"Thank you. The truth is, I'm very happy you do because I would never want to upset her and I know how much you mean to her."

Sirius nodded. But then his face darkened. "But if you do harm her or hurt her in any way, I will show you exactly what I learned from my crazed up family."

Giovanni blinked before barking out a laugh. He clasped Sirius' shoulder, smiling a rather shark-like smile.

"Oh, we'll get along just fine indeed."

Sirius, slightly bewildered, shrugged. "I suppose." He looked a bit sorrowful then. "I guess I only regret missing her wedding."

Giovanni wasn't thrown off and rather glad to have him mention that. "Oh, don't worry about that. It was just a quick –if as pretty and special as I could make it for her –wedding, so that we could hurry and make it official and get things underway. I promised her that a real and much more extravagant wedding would happen later on, one that you can be in and even walk her down the aisle."

Sirius looked ecstatic at that, though he gave a sly look to Giovanni. "To her consternation though, huh?"

"She did promise I could plan it."

Sirius laughed at that. "Ah, poor girl's never been used to having time and attention spent on her. As her godfather, I encourage you to make the wedding as sorely excessive and showy as possible. Merlin, I can't wait to embarrass that girl."

"I promised her it would be tasteful," Giovanni said apologetically, making Sirius almost deflate. "But she never said how ornate and exaggerated I could be, or that I had to show any restraint."

Sirius nearly cackled at that, because his poor goddaughter really needed some spoiling –especially after everything. And if they had fun at her expense, it was with love. Lots and lots of love.

The door being knocked on interrupted them, and Giovanni looked at it in thought.

"Who is it?" he called out.

"It's Archer, sir."

That made Giovanni wary, considering the last he heard from his subordinate, he'd been off to go looking at Harry's memories. He glanced at Sirius quickly, and thought the man might want to be here for this.

"Come in, Archer. We have a guest."

The blunet came in, looking briefly surprised to see Sirius.

"Sirius, this is my second in command and longtime friend Archer Bellafonte. Archer, this is Sirius Black, Harry's godfather," Giovanni introduced them to each other.

Archer looked surprised again, before looking very pleased. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Black. I've seen great things of you, though questionable parts as well."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Seen?"

Archer took out the Pensieve from the bag on the side, the lid miraculously allowing the mysterious liquid inside to stay in place. By the look on Sirius' face, he recognized the magical object.

"That's a Pensieve," Sirius stated curiously.

"I received it from one of my contacts. It contains all of Harry's memories, including up to her time being held captive in the Ministry."

Matching dark looks crossed his and Sirius' faces.

"As you requested, Giovanni," Archer indicated towards the Pensieve. "You wished for me to hand them over when I'd finished viewing them."

Giovanni nodded determinedly. "Thank you, Archer. I will view them as soon as possible."

"I would like to be included in that," Sirius said stubbornly, and Giovanni agreed and decided that then was a good time.

"Keep an eye on things here, Archer," he told the other man. "I suppose we'll see you in a day then?"

Archer grimly confirmed, and then Giovanni lifted the lid. Glancing at Sirius, the two of them then touched the liquid and disappeared into the Pensieve.

As Archer searched around for Harry, wanting to make sure she was alright and not in need of anything, he found her staring stiffly into a mirror in her suite. Concerned, he announced his presence.

"Miss Henrietta?"

Harry looked up at the sound of his voice and gave him a weak smile when she saw him. He cautiously entered her suite and sat near her, waiting for her to tell him whatever bothered her, if she wanted to. After a few moments of silence, Harry reached over and grabbed her journal and handed it to him, with it opened to a certain page. He was quick to read it and he frowned.

"Your godson Teddy was kidnapped and taken from Andromeda, his grandmother. Andromeda contacted you through that mirror?"

Harry nodded angrily.

He could tell she was incensed, which wasn't good. Especially if she was going to do something rash, as she was prone to do as he saw from her memories. That was especially true when it came to her loved ones.

"I can't stop you from going after him, can I?" he asked with a sigh. "If I try, you'll just find a way to leave, and we'll be unable to find or help you in time."

Harry gave him a hard stare. Archer returned it easily.

"Fine," he told her. "But only if I come with you. I doubt Giovanni will be happy either way, but at least he'll be less aggrieved than if you were to be alone and without any help."

Harry's shoulders slumped in relief and she gave him a tired smile.

'Thank you,' she mouthed.

"Don't thank me yet," Archer told her. "We still have to successfully retrieve your godson."

He also had a feeling it wouldn't be an easy task.

Started 10/6/15 – Completed 10/8/15

Chapter Text

Harry had never had real family before to depend on her. But here was her godson. Someone she'd been charged the care of, as in like an honorary parent.

And those bastards were using him against her.

"Miss Henrietta, we'll be reaching my contact soon. I know you know her –Arabella Figg?" Archer spoke up in the car and she glanced at him in surprise, just remembering that Giovanni had told her Archer had used Mrs. Figg and then consequently Rufus Fudge as contacts.

Figg, huh? So she could guess that they would be attempting to meet with Rufus.

In some ways, she did and didn't expect that. She'd been so far removed from her 'past' that she was almost solely living in the present, and with Giovanni and in his ('theirs' her mind whispered) estate that everything else was like an unreal dream. And now it was crashing down on her like the reality it was.

A hand on her wrist squeezed and broke her out of her thoughts. She looked to see the owner of the hand smile grimly at her.

"Do not worry, Miss Henrietta. Things will be fine in the end, and until you are back with Giovani again, I will make sure that you will be fine in the meantime."

She nodded, though inwardly she was still feeling trepidation. But soon enough, they'd reached the area of her old home and parked in front of Mrs. Figg's house. However, as she looked out, it was almost amazing, but also disconcerting to see her aunt, uncle, and Dudley getting out of her old house and heading to the car, as if nothing was wrong and nothing was missing in their lives.

Just like she had never existed.

It made her a bit sad. Not that she ever cared for the Dursleys, except for Dudley. It was just so sad and disheartening to have been so forgotten and thoroughly, especially by people who were supposed to be family. She knew it was a spell that had done this, as Giovanni had explained to her how he'd had Archer go to the store where she had told him an old schoolmate of hers (and his family) could help her out…but she knew that even without a spell, the Dursleys would have wished to have completely forgotten her existence in their lives just as easily and utterly as they had with that spell.

They had never wanted her in their lives after all.

"You are worth so much more than them," she heard Archer say strictly, and she saw that he'd seen and watched her attention be captured by the family now moving out of the driveway and starting to drive off. "And you have a new and better family now."

Harry smiled slightly and agreed, patting Archer's shoulder in thanks briefly, before getting out of the car and leading the way to Mrs. Figg's front door. She rang it a few times, and finally got an answer the fifth time.

"Hold on, hold on! I'm coming!" she heard the old woman say irritably, tossing the door open.

Mrs. Figg's eyes widened at the sight of her, gasping aloud and her wrinkled hand flying to cover her mouth in shock.

"H-Harry?" her name slipped out from Mrs. Figg's lips.

Harry hesitantly gestured to inside the house, to which the old lady quickly looked around in fear before shuffling inside and opening the door. Archer quickly ushered Harry inside, and then the two of them were seated in the living room and having tea, while Archer explained their predicament.

Mrs. Figg was wringing her hands. "I…I don't know about this. But I guess I can contact Rufus right now and see about him coming over and trying to help you."

Archer nodded in agreement, while Harry inwardly worried and tried not to get too impatient. There was a part of her that didn't want to just sit there and wait, while part of her understood that this was probably the best course of action. They needed help to get into the Ministry after all, and Harry couldn't risk Teddy being taken even farther away from her and having who knows what being done to him.

His father was part lycanthropic, and people in that world were prejudiced enough as it was. Adding on Teddy being a half-breed and Harry's godson…

She hoped being bait for her was enough for them to leave Teddy alone and not touch him while she was still away from them and out of their hands. If not…

"Harry? And Mr. Archer! Is there –is there a problem?" Rufus asked in alarm, looking apprehensive.

"There is actually," Archer said dangerously, and Harry watched him in fascination.

To be honest, she'd always seen the more polite, prim side of him. Aside from some hints, she can't have recalled ever seeing the polite and respectful Rocket Executive be so alarmingly scary. But she should have guessed. After all, she realized that to be Giovanni's second in command was a very big deal, and probably needed a strong stomach and steel nerves. She was amazed that she hadn't seen this side of Archer earlier than then actually.

"You see, Mr. Rufus," Archer started out. "Your Ministry has kidnapped Teddy Lupin –godson to Harry. She is not pleased by that, so I am not pleased. As I told you two, limit your contact to the British Wizarding World in these coming days."

Harry hadn't known that, but she kept her surprise to herself.

"However, I will need, Mr. Rufus, for you to get us into the Ministry building so that we may find Harry's godson and retrieve him from there, and take him to a safe location to be with family."

Rufus grimaced. "It's not a really good idea for you two to just sneak into there, and go and get Teddy Lupin. I haven't heard about this at all, or know if they'd gotten him, but I swear that I'll do all that I can to help you two. However, my only condition is that you at least let me go into the building, find out if they really have him, and where. It's not a good idea to just rush into the building and try to break him out, without any information at all."

Harry knew, even without looking at him, that Archer was much more for this idea than for them to just storm the building and to run in and grab Teddy. He was logical and prepared like that. On the other hand, she also knew that the two men were looking to her, and knew her mindset. She would have rushed headfirst…just like she had for Sirius.

Nodding slowly, she agreed and her shoulders slumped. 'But please make sure to be quick and careful about it. I would really want to know and to get Teddy back soon, safe and unharmed,' she carefully worded, making sure her lips were readable to Rufus.

"I will," Rufus promised, giving her a sincere smile. He'd always been kind to her…

She gave him a reluctant smile and hoped things would sail as smoothly as possible.

Rufus was increasingly paranoid as he walked through the building, hoping he didn't look as suspicious as he felt. He just had to look at the lower levels of the Ministry building, and see if Teddy Lupin was being held somewhere there.

He just wondered why he hadn't heard anything about this, not even a whisper. Wizards in general were horrible at keeping things to themselves, but in this building and where he was at and his rank, he should have heard something.

He made his way to the Ministry's elevators nervously, and stayed that way as he made his way down. At one of the lower levels, he ran into Harry's "primary doctor," who was wearing a suspicious smile on his face.

"Fudge! Good that you're here," Malcolm Walters had always been someone that Rufus was wary and kept a distance from. And given how that this was even before he met and became in charge of the infamous Harry Potter, Rufus couldn't stand the man especially now.

He was, however, aware that as the man in charge of all this, he would probably have the most answers and be the person Rufus needed to talk to the most.

"Walters," Rufus smiled thinly. "Was there something I could do for you?"

"Actually, yes," Walters replied absentmindedly. "If you could, those files about Harry's family –bring them to me, would you? Not her Muggle family. The ones you've dubbed as her 'extended family.' Particularly on Remus Lupin."

Rufus tried not to show any discomfort on his face, nodding along to answer the other. However, his suspicions had been aroused and he was now sure that Teddy Lupin was being held there.

Regulating his breaths, he went to go get the files slowly and tried to idly make his way through while keeping a sharp eye out for Teddy, hoping to find the toddler quickly. Unfortunately, he kept going farther and farther, until he reached Harry's old room (not the room they experimented on her, thank Merlin) and he peeked in to see a little boy huddling on Harry's old bed, his hair rapidly changing colors.

He wanted to open the door and say something, but he wasn't sure if he should. He didn't want to be caught around there, but…

He opened the door slightly and quickly put his head in, drawing Teddy's attention to himself.

"Teddy," he whispered, and the boy hesitantly looked at him. "I have to go, but your godmother is looking for you. You'll get out of here soon, I promise."

And before the boy could reply, Rufus quickly closed the door and then started to leave the area. He had to get back to Harry after all, and tell her what he'd managed to find out and who he'd found. He grabbed his files and dropped them off to Walters' desk, and then did his best to quickly leave the Ministry building. As he made his way back to Arabella's, he found himself growing hesitant again.

If he told her that her godson was in the Ministry, he knew what she would do. Anyone with a brain and could actually think would see the pattern and figure her out. Harry had a habit of being protective of her loved ones, a manifestation of her childhood neglect and unloved blood family. She would go to any lengths for them, and her godson was now being held captive by the Ministry. She would become rash and unthinking, and prone to just rushing out ahead.

Rufus telling her might not be the best thing.

But as he looked her in the face, that intimidating, fearsome man next to her, Rufus couldn't find himself saying anything but the truth to her, especially as she looked at him with glistening emerald eyes. He, much like every other wizard on the planet, had grown up thinking she was and would look like a princess. Seeing her now, he couldn't say that wasn't truth after all. He'd always thought she was pretty and had regretted not taking his uncle up on the offer of introducing him to her, back when he'd been Minister.

"I found him," he croaked out, sighing inwardly to himself.

He really couldn't have helped himself, even if he'd tried.

Harry's eyes widened and she looked pleadingly at him.

Rufus wouldn't have been able to deny helping her, even without her plea to him. It was simply inevitable in a way.

Harry had been relieved that Rufus had agreed to help her and Archer into the Ministry. She hadn't been too sure that he would agree, but in the end he had, and she was grateful that he was going to such lengths to help her out.

"What are you going to do when you get there?" Rufus asked hesitantly.

Archer looked thoughtful. "Generally, being only the two of us, we should keep a low profile and try to sneak in. You should keep your distance and make sure to keep your involvement as small as possible to not implicate yourself. We would need disguises, but I'm not too sure any of the magical disguises wouldn't be detected. They would be looking for that, yes?"

"But the area he's kept in is especially dangerous," Rufus told them. "It was where…Harry was kept in."

She made the beginnings of a silent snarl. Those bastards…

Rufus paused before continuing. "Actually, he's held in your room."

Harry angrily grabbed whatever was in reach and threw it at the wall, breaking a flower vase. The runes on her body began to light up as her magic strained against the locks on her, and her magic lashed out minutely, causing things around the room to shake violently and a few things to break.

Archer quickly came over to her, doing his best to calm her down while Rufus stared at her in awe and thought.

"It's alright, Harry. We'll get him out of there," Archer murmured.

"I don't think those runes will continue to restrain your magic for much longer," Rufus quietly noted. He looked around at the damage. "No, they won't."

"Let's continue planning, shall we?" Archer pulled them back on track, and they decided that plain disguises will have to do in order for magic to not detect them.

After they had planned what they could, it was time for them to actually go through with it. They headed into the building, following Rufus as a light-haired couple of different shades of blond, and Archer slightly putting himself in front of Harry to hide her from view. She held onto his arm, but inched to keep behind him. She was nervous herself about being back in this building, but she was also feeling the creeping vestiges of terror. She hoped she wouldn't flash back to painful memories, but she could already feel herself start to freak out.

"Relax, Miss Henrietta. I have you," she heard Archer whisper to her, and she felt him squeeze her arm.

"We'll go to the elevators, and then I'll have to leave the two of you by yourselves. Harry can lead you to where the lower levels are, and to where her room was," Rufus told them quietly. "I will be heading to another elevator and head to the lower levels separately."

"Head to your office," Archer advised him. "Make yourself look busy."

By the time they reached the elevators, that was exactly what they did, splitting up to go to different elevators. Harry watched Rufus leave them behind, and struggled to follow after Archer into the elevator. It got crowded fast, and the two of them had to squeeze to a corner. Archer protectively held her to him, glaring lightly at anyone who looked in their direction (especially if it was towards her). Thankfully, most of them had left after a few floors down, to which they made it towards the lowest of the levels and where Harry remembered being kept locked up in. She grew increasingly agitated, her body tensing up on its own.

"Miss Henrietta," she heard Archer call her softly, and she broke through the red haze to see him looking down at her in concern. "It's alright," he reassured her again, once he saw he had her attention. "We'll find your godson and then head back soon. Giovanni wouldn't even find anything remiss."

Harry smiled at that, not totally sure they would be able to get away with Giovanni not figuring anything out, even if they managed to get back home in time for him to not notice they had been gone.

'Right,' she mouthed sarcastically at him, but she was no longer fuming or worried.

Archer gave her a light smirk, and then they hurried through the hallway and tried to make their way to Teddy. Harry made sure to remember the direction to her old room here, but she had always done her best to keep her mind blank of thought while she'd been there. And when she'd gotten away from the place, she turned to making the memories fade as much as possible and as quickly as she could.

"This way?" Archer asked when they reached a spot that made them choose between two paths.

Harry nodded and pointed to the way Archer had guessed, having seen her stare down that hall restlessly. They began to speed up even more, and soon enough they had reached the end of the hallway and where a lone door stood in front of them. It had somehow become rather ominous to their eyes, despite how normal looking it looked in reality.

Harry darted forward then and yanked the door opened, and a small boy was startled and stared at the door in fear. But then he recognized the girl and exclaimed happily.

"Harry!" the boy jumped off the bed and ran towards her.

"Don't worry," Archer said as she held her godson, squeezing him tightly. "We're going to get you out of here."

"No, I don't think you will," a familiar voice said, and Harry turned to the speaker in utter hate.

Malcolm stood there and smiled grimly. "It's been awhile," he said, as Archer slowly backed up closer to Harry, watching the man and the group of Unspeakables behind him.

Harry didn't really see a way out, so she closed her eyes and grabbed her godson's face, before then looking into his eyes and trying to use her Legilimency to transfer her thoughts to him. When she saw his eyes dilate and then return to normal, as well as his look of comprehension, she knew she'd managed to convey what she wanted to him. She stood up and glared at the man who'd made her life a living hell, and then grabbed her godson's hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" Malcolm spoke with deadened amusement, while Archer inched closer to her.

She bit her lip and looked at Archer, who frowned and glanced at her godson and then at the group of people in front of them. He sighed, but nodded. Within seconds, Harry had picked up her godson as Archer moved forward and physically assaulted two of the Unspeakables, and handing a very harsh haymaker to Malcolm's jaw and breaking it, and distracting the rest as she'd rushed Teddy passed them and managed to push him further and watch as he made it to the end of the hallway, before she went back to the others and joined in on the physical fighting, finding it amusing that the wizards were so incapable of it that they were losing out to Archer so easily.

However, one of them got a lucky shot in and sent a stunner towards Archer, and then as she worried over him, she missed the stunner towards her.

She supposed that Giovanni would definitely end up finding out they'd gone out after all.

There was a series of frantic knocking on his door, ones that sounded more like banging. Anxious, Rufus debated on answering the door and hoping whoever it was would go away, but then decided that if he was going to be imprisoned, he might as well not go out like a coward. Cowardice would not be a family trait, if he could help it.

Opening the door, he saw nothing outside. However, a second later, he felt something tackle his legs and hold on, and he looked down to see Teddy Lupin crying and holding onto him. Panicking, he backpedaled and quickly closed the door, hoping no one had seen that. Once in the safety of his office, he bent down and gently took hold of Teddy's hands, prying him off of his legs.

"What are you doing here, Teddy? What happened?" he asked, but inwardly he was panicking about this turn of events.

Where were Harry and Archer? Why was Teddy there?

"Harry came to get me, like you said she would," Teddy sniffled. "But then the bad man came with people, and Harry and her friend fought them and she got me away from them all. She told me where to go, and I found you."

Rufus bit his lip and looked at the door anxiously. Then he turned back to Teddy.

"I have to stay here and keep working," he told him, keeping his voice quiet. "When it's time for work to end, I have to sneak you out of here. But you have to stay quiet and hidden until then, okay?'

Teddy nodded, but Rufus was also thinking on if he could break the other two out as well. Maybe not then, but there had to be something he could end up doing…

Being bound by magic was infuriatingly hard to escape from, Archer found out. But that did not infuriate him, so much as that as soon as they had them and the two of them had been incapacitated, they'd been moved to a large room where Harry knelt in the middle of the floor, and had been chained to it.

She looked over at him, her lips twitching into a resemblance of a smile. And then that man came near her and held the tip of his wand to her neck and chanted something. The runes on her body began to light up and glow, and Harry threw her head back.

The screams that were pulled from her echoed through Archer's head, and he moved frantically against his bonds.

"You'll regret this," he hissed a them. "You'll regret this and you will all pay."

But right then, he had to sit helplessly and watch Harry suffer.

Started 10/10/15 – Completed 10/12/15

Chapter Text

When Ash came to, she only knew and cared about the fact that her head was pounding. And it was hurting really bad.

Also, apparently she was on something really warm and comfortable because she didn't want to move.

Then she became suspicious and moved her head to see Cyrus quietly laying there, stiff as a board and attempting to regulate his breathing.

"What are you doing?" she asked lazily.

His face twitched, and she found that both cute and amusing. His predicament wasn't that bad. She was just apparently using him as a pillow, which wasn't too different from all the times he'd snuggled up to her (even if it had been in sleep).

"Trying not to move," he said stiffly. At her raised eyebrow, he admitted at least part of the problem, which was a surprise for her to know he'd been considering this particular notion. "I didn't want to wake you," he confessed. "I was attempting to make sure I kept as still as possible so I did not disturb your sleep."

She was kind of touched actually. His consideration of her was surprising and not something she would have thought he would come to care to think of, or at least not yet. Hell, she could even say that she hadn't expected him to ever think of her consideration, because with his personality and his usual beliefs it just didn't seem likely. Perhaps he really was trying and perhaps he really meant it when he said he was going to do his best to change himself and his outlook.

She moved up slightly from him and looked around, missing the flash of disappointment on his face before it became neutral again. She noted they had somehow made their way back to the library, which was looking a little worse for wear than before. It was probably her fault, and probably a cause of her first time drinking and becoming drunk.

Arceus, she was never doing that again.

Well, she knew herself enough to know she'd say things like that and end up still probably doing it again later on, so she wasn't going to hold herself to that.

"Cyrus, do you remember what happened and what I did?" she asked curiously, starting to sit up fully and move away from him.

"…I was fully sober, so yes."

"Well, damn. I didn't do anything too crazy, did I?"

By the pinkish tint on Cyrus' face, she probably did do a lot of crazy things and probably a lot of it to do with him. He wouldn't have such a telling face otherwise.

"Yeah, I thought so," she muttered, getting up slowly.

She wobbled on her feet, and Cyrus was quick to get up and make sure to steady her. His hands felt warm on her arms, and she just wanted to lean on him.

"Thanks," she said quickly, then started to remember a little bit of what she'd done earlier. "Um, let's go find Harry, okay? I want her to try my apple pie, since you gave it your approval earlier. I was trying to find her earlier, but ran into Giovanni and that's when I got drunk. 'Course I went here to meet you and that went wrong too, didn't it?" she grumbled at that last part, already heading towards the library's exit.

"It wasn't that bad," he said suddenly, catching her attention and surprising her. She was further surprised when he smiled briefly and said, "I was rather entertained."

She laughed aloud. "I finally manage to open you up, have I? Perhaps I should get drunk more often!"

"Please don't," he deadpanned.

She snickered at him, though she was wondering at the odd stillness and silence in the air. She knew the place was huge, but she hadn't thought it would feel and sound this way. And it hadn't when she'd first got there, despite Harry's muteness and the few people that were there at all.

It seemed so much livelier before, that this strange change made her uneasy.

"Is it just me or does it seem way too quiet and dead around here?" Ash asked hesitantly.

Cyrus noted it too. "No, I also find everything too strangely silent. And I have not seen or heard anyone but ourselves. It is a large area, so that maybe it but…at least some echo of something, in some interval, would have happened by now."

"Good, so I'm not being paranoid," Ash was relieved that she wasn't alone in her feelings. "Do you think something happened?"

"We shouldn't jump to conclusions," Cyrus tentatively said. "We'll look around a bit more. After all, we've both agreed this is a big place."

"I'm just not so sure," she admitted, feeling her gut tell her something was wrong. "My instincts are telling me to be wary and worried, and they're usually not wrong."

Cyrus nodded slowly. "If we can't find anyone in at least an hour, or anything that could tell us what's going on or where everyone is, then we'll figure something out and try to do something about it."

"Promise?" she asked him, looking at him imploringly and taking him aback by how she had actually looked to him and by how she was actually counting on him. He nodded and she smiled widely, coming over to him and hugging him gently.

It made him feel strange, but it was a pleasant strangeness he couldn't help question and know he wasn't used to it.

"Hey, Pikachu's been off since we've got here," Ash said and he noticed they had finally reached the kitchens. He saw what she was talking about, with Pikachu lethargically laying on the floor near the pokémon's food area, with Harry's Glaceon comfortingly laid up next to him and Giovanni's Persian nuzzling the electric pokémon's head.

Ash worriedly strode over to Pikachu, kneeling down by him and petting his head.

"Hey, what's up, Pikachu? Are you okay?" she worriedly brought Pikachu into her arms.

"Pika…" Pikachu said weakly.

"Cyrus, what's wrong with him?" she asked him in a panic.

Cyrus grimaced. Of course. Ash would be the only one who didn't really know about the separation of the Regions and Mainland. He came over to her and checked Pikachu's head with his hand.

"He just needs to get used to the Mainland pressure," he mumbled. Ash looked at him in confusion, so he elaborated. "You've seen Sirius' initial reaction to your Pikachu, right? You haven't been out of this manor yet, so you probably haven't seen the outside world of the Mainland, but you'd probably notice the lack of pokémon around."

Ash looked at him in surprise at that. "What, really? Why?"

"For the most part, the Mainland and the Regions are part of the same world," Cyrus started vaguely. "However, to travel back and forth to the Regions and the Mainland, it's more difficult than one would think. That's because of a temporal rift in the area surrounding the Regions, which sort of puts the Regions on a separate plane of existence that allows it to have the land be larger than would be possible for it to fit in with the rest of the world."

"Is this like the Bermuda Triangle or something?" she asked hesitantly. At his raised eyebrow, she almost pouted. "I do know about that of the outside world, thank you."

"Maybe, if the Bermuda Triangle theory could actually be proven," Cyrus said dismissively, answering her question. "In any case, the rift makes it harder on those from the Regions, most especially pokémon, to be in the Mainland, unless you'd been born here or have been frequently in these parts that your body had adjusted and can handle the atmospheric change. Likewise, it is the same for Mainland natives going into the Regions. Pokéballs help pokémon not feel the effects and can also help them adjust."

Obviously, by the look on Pikachu's face, they could already tell his answer to that.

"Yeah, I know. No reason in the world will ever get you into a pokéball, buddy," Ash smiled weakly, cuddling Pikachu to her. "So you just got to suck it up and get used to this place."

He hesitantly came over and joined her by the floor. Harry's Glaceon moved towards him and gracefully leaped onto his lap, while Giovanni's Persian lay down a small distance away and watchfully kept an eye on them as he relaxed on the floor.

"My pie got wasted," Ash said suddenly, pouting to herself.

Cyrus' lips twitched. "I'm sure Harry would have appreciated your gesture and would have loved the flavor. And we can always just share it between the two of us now, so it won't go to waste."

"Okay," she agreed, feeling her stomach growl. She laughed at herself as he rolled his eyes, getting up while carefully putting the Glaceon onto the floor. He retrieved the apple pie that Ash had been so eager to want to show off to Harry, with a few forks.

"We're going to eat straight from it then?" she asked in amusement.

Cyrus, already having sat down, looked to where the plates where and then back at Ash, who had settled close to him and grabbed a fork from him for herself.

"Yes," he said simply, inching just a bit closer. She hid her smile.

"I still can't help but feel odd about everyone having seemingly vanished on us," Ash grumbled. "You'd think they'd leave a note at least or something."

They thought on that.

"Wait a second, where are the likely places that a note could be found?" she asked excitedly.

"After we eat, we should recheck the library and then see to Giovanni's study and office," Cyrus suggested. "Perhaps we may find a clue then."

Ash was relieved that he seemed so calm about all this and had managed to clearly think things out, because if she was being honest she really was feeling extremely anxious about things right then. Something was really off, she could just tell.

She really just hoped she was wrong though.

Archer sat there with a stoic face, continuing to watch furiously as Harry continued to struggle from her chains.

'Patience,' he told himself. He had to be patient.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was good at waiting things out. This time shouldn't be any different. It couldn't afford to be any different.

Archer frowned deeply as he read over the paper, Harry having outlined a plan that she wanted him to go through with in the case things went the way she suspected it would.

"I don't like this," he said firmly.

Honestly, he hadn't been sure or happy with what Harry had been thinking of then, and he sure as hell wasn't happy now. He knew, for Harry, that she wouldn't tolerate her godson spending a second more in that place, and being left there any longer than she could help it. There was no time to waste and they had to be quick.

She was also aware this time that there was probably consequences and that there was a more than likely chance they wouldn't escape unscathed. She'd learned from the last time with Sirius, but she was still stubborn and overprotective enough to rush in and want to save someone she cared for. Only this time, she was conscious of the fact that things could and would go spare on them. The secondary difference from last time was that she could at least plan for that.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked her.

She nodded unwaveringly.

'No more chains,' she mouthed determinedly.

When they'd been caught, Archer still felt confident enough that they could escape. He could see Harry didn't and that she'd been prepared to send her godson out of there, and the look she sent him asked for him to help out. He was still sure that he and the Armatix handgun he had on him (and currently still had on him) could have taken the group out, but Teddy had been their first priority and Harry had predicted that at some point they would have been confronted.

She wanted to be caught.

It made him balk when he came across that part of the plan, and it still did as he forcefully made himself go through with it. She had asked him with her eyes, at the same time as she asked for him to help make sure Teddy manage to safely escape, that this was the time for them to enact their other plan. Because just the right push and, as Rufus had noted, Harry's magic would break through to the surface.

And more than that, every restraint they'd put onto her, and all of them would become undone.

Harry just had to suffer through all this for that to happen, and Archer hated that the most about this plan.

'I just want to really feel again,' Harry gave him a muted smile. 'I don't want to be half a person anymore.'

But he swore that as soon as this was over, he'd put some bullets in people's heads.

Ash muttered under her breath as she continued to pilfer through the library in some attempt to find a clue to everyone's whereabouts.

"I know we're newcomers and had just come here, but they couldn't have just forgotten that we were here, had they?" she asked Cyrus grumblingly.

"We were incapacitated in here earlier, so they could have decided to leave us alone," Cyrus replied thoughtfully.

Ash threw up her hands in exasperation. "But no note or anything?"

"We should check Giovanni's study," Cyrus brought up and Ash reluctantly agreed, following him out the door.

"Hey," she tugged on his sleeve. "I know Pikachu's feeling horrible in this place, but how come you or I'm not affected?"

"I've been here a few times, enough for my body to have become familiarized with the atmosphere changes," Cyrus admitted.

"But not enough," she observed shrewdly, leaning into his space and examining the light sheen of sweat on his temples and the strain in his eyes. "And I'm guessing like Arceus' realm, my Aura thing's doing something to help me here as well."

"Most probably," he muttered, taking a more shakier breath than usual. "There are better times for me here than others, but at the moment, I believe the strain is more apparent. May I rest when we reach Giovanni's study?"

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Of course. You don't have to ask me that."

"I didn't want to upset you for not helping…"

Ash huffed and grabbed his arm, pulling him along to the rest of the way to Giovanni's private office, where they entered to find it empty as well. Ash brought Cyrus over to a chair in front of the office desk, and after began to look around curiously.

"Yeah, I don't think we'll find a note around here either," Ash said. "It would be on the desk or something too. Plus, if I tore this place up, I have a feeling you'd be out one girlfriend and I'd be ten foot under."

She missed Cyrus flushing red as she called herself his girlfriend, too busy trying to think what to do next. Her attention was caught by an odd-looking stone bowl on Giovanni's desk, strange carvings on it bringing her closer to it. She noticed the silvery liquid inside and was about to touch it, when Cyrus snatched her hand.

"It's probably wise not to touch unknown substances," he advised her warily, wondering if this was what Cynthia had meant when she'd told him this girl was a hazard magnet. The Sinnoh Champion had a great many things to say to him about Ash Ketchum that stuck in his head, despite her non-presence physically in his life then and supposed to be a non-presence to him in general.

"Right," she said sheepishly.

However, it glowed slightly anyway and all of a sudden it had somehow thrown out two individuals that Ash and Cyrus recognized after that strange appearance as Giovanni and Sirius.

"What the hell was that?" Ash tried not to freak out, but it was a very hard thing.

However, neither man answered her and Cyrus only caught the aggravated movement, enough time for him to leap closer to Ash and pull her out of the way as Giovanni angrily snatched up whatever was in reach on his desk and throw it at the wall, smashing it to bits. Sirius was looking equally angry, tensed up and face frozen in a snarl as his hands clenched up.

"Are we interrupting something?" Cyrus stoically interrupted, subtly squeezing a shaking Ash's arms and pulling her closer to him.

Their attention swerved to the couple, and it was rather intimidating to have two furious gazes locked onto you. Giovanni forcibly took a deep breath, scowling as he faced them again.

"Is there something either of you need?"

Ash regained her bravado and took a step forward. "We've been looking for everyone all day. I don't remember seeing anyone since we saw that Archer guy come the night before last. I don't remember much that night, but I can guess I passed out sometime later. Cyrus and I woke up in the library this morning, and have been trying to figure out where everyone has been all day. I guess you two were in a magic bowl?"

"Pretty much," Sirius raised an eyebrow, but his straight face made his joking answer not match and Ash just got more confused. But he had been joking though, right?

Giovanni frowned. "You haven't seen Archer or Harry around at all?"

At their negative answers, he grew worried. He grabbed his phone and started to call Archer's, growing increasingly worried when he was getting no answer. Finally, it was answered and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Archer, where are you and do you have Harry with you?" he demanded immediately.

"I'm sorry, but he's not here," an unfamiliar voice answered hesitantly.

Giovanni gripped his phone tightly. "Who is this?" he growled, causing the others to look at him in alarm at his tone and his words.

"My name's Rufus Fudge," and Giovanni recognized the name as one of Archer's contacts in relation to Harry. "Um, Archer apparently left me his phone and specific instructions on what to tell you. I-I just got here and was about to call you…"

Giovanni glanced at the others briefly before taking deep breaths to calm himself.

"What did he say?" Giovanni asked neutrally, while putting his phone on speaker.

"He said to inform you that he and Harry have gone off to save her godson, who had been kidnapped by the Ministry. Also, that –per Harry's instructions –if there was an opportunity presented, that they were supposed to be caught."

"What?!" Sirius yelled, straightening up and glaring at the phone in Giovanni's hand.

There was silence on the other end, causing Giovanni to impatiently prod the other.

"She theorized that she could push the restraints on herself just a little bit further, and that eventually she'd be able to break them one by one until she would be able to be free of them," Rufus said quietly. "She thought that the people who'd held her captive would unknowingly help push that limit over the edge, even if she was under duress."

While Ash and Cyrus were lost and confused, Sirius was cursing up a storm. Giovanni had become scarily silent, eyes completely black in fury.

"He also wrote down to tell you that he'd already, on your behalf, had informed a 'Ariana' to begin transferring agents from the Regions to this side of the rift. He doesn't know the exact amount of time it'll take for a sufficient amount of Rockets agents to be formed together, nor of how long it will take Harry and he to finish."

Giovanni gritted his teeth before tersely replying. "Thank you for informing me of this. Is that all?"

"Um, there is one more thing…I currently have Harry's godson with me. Should I continue to hold onto him?"

Giovanni was already close to the end and clearly had no more patience to spare, as could be seen by everyone else, so Ash took the initiative to stride over and pluck the phone from Giovanni's hand.

"Hold him for now. Myself and a friend of mine will be traveling there to retrieve him and bring him here for when Harry comes home," Ash cheerfully spoke into the phone. "Oh, and I'm Ash, a friend of Harry's! Anything else?"

"Uh, n-no?"

"Good, talk to you when I see you!"

Ash hung up, looking to see Giovanni closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, clearly wanting to lash out. She threw his phone at him, hitting his shoulder before falling to the ground. He angrily faced her, but she frowned back.

"Getting angry isn't going to help Harry," Ash told him steadfastly. "If you want to help her, then pull yourself together and be the Rocket Boss I know you are."

Giovanni held her stare for a few more seconds, before his jaw clenched and he nodded. Cyrus also, surprisingly, began to help Ash calm Giovanni down and offer help.

"She's right," Cyrus added on. "You are, irritatingly enough, the Team Boss to be really feared. Also, you know your subordinate and your wife. Archer is supposed to be intelligent and capable, is he not? Harry is also someone who seems more than able to handle herself. I don't think you actually really need to worry about them too much, and put your focus towards –to what your subordinate seemed to be hinting –in organizing some sort of strike force for whatever it is the two of you are planning."

"And, like I said, Cyrus and I have Harry's godson. That part of everything is settled so at the least her godson is safe and sound, and will soon enough be home here. Harry and Archer are currently finishing off their own plans and there's really nothing we can do to contribute on that end, but be on standby. I guess you've now got your part of the whole plan to do," Ash finished off.

As much as Giovanni wasn't too happy to leave things be with Harry and Archer, he acknowledged their words as logical.

"In the meantime, I'm going to be trying to locate or at least find out what happened to my friend Remus," Sirius interrupted, a sour look still on his face. "From Harry's memories, I know my niece died in childbirth, but Harry didn't have a clue what happened to him aside from the fact the Ministry made sure he couldn't be with his son."

"Alright, I assume you all need a car?" he asked them. "The three of you are free to choose any in the garages attached to the manor."

He, on the other hand, had to call Ariana and find out the current situation on her end.

Harry felt faint and could barely move. She knew when she came up with this idea, that it was dangerous and might not even work, but…Rufus had said her magic was close to the edge. Shecould feel it bubbling from under the surface, ready to burst out. It was just there, ready for one more push.

And as she remembered from these sessions, she had always felt pushed to her limits and reaching breaking points. If this is what it took to break free, well Harry's always had a high pain tolerance, and if that was crossed she had endurance in spades.

And as soon as she started screaming, she knew that at least the voice block was gone. So slowly, more and more of her issues were being fixed. And even though everything hurt so much, she felt free and herself for once since forever.

"It's okay," she whispered, her voice hoarse and pained as she watched Archer sit near her, having been watching angrily as she was experimented on in the last push towards finding a way for immortality. They were alone now though.

"It's not," he answered miserably.

"It'll be over soon."

"Not soon enough."

But she laughed genuinely and gave him a soft look with a gentle smile. He looked back into her eyes wonderingly, and she couldn't help letting a few tears slip out of her eyes as she looked at him sadly.

"It'll be okay."

And instead of the usual forced, familiar transformation, she let herself attempt to shift naturally. It hurt still, but actually not as much as before.

Harry fully transformed into her phoenix state, seeing Archer staring up at her in awe from the ground. She lifted up her head and let out a loud screech, and it wasn't long until there were wizards swarming into the room in a panic, screaming and yelling at each other.

She violently lashed out, her wings swinging out and hitting a few people, making them fly out and some even harshly slamming against the walls. Around her, wizards attempted to tie her down, using their wands to conjure up more chains and try to capture her. She struggled against them, creating debris and rubble as she rampaged in the room. She only wished Malcolm was there so she could have tried to stomp on him and flatten him beneath her.

She knew that Archer's magical bindings had long since vanished, and looking down she could see his tiny figure easily contributing to the chaos by eliminating a few more wizards with the handgun he was shooting with.

If maybe she felt nothing for the people he was killing so easily, then it was just because she couldn't find it in herself to care for them anymore.

This would be the last time she would ever find herself feeling anything for the British Wizarding World.

It wasn't long until Archer managed to find his way to her side and had found himself holding onto her for dear life, while she continued to destroy even more of her surroundings. She then flapped her wings once and leaped into the air, destroying the building more as she created a hole in the ceiling and then through the rest of the Ministry as she escaped destructively.

Started 10/14/15 – Completed 10/16/15

Chapter Text

Ash didn't want to say she was pouting…but she was.

Continually tugging on Cyrus' sleeve, he kept ignoring her while she went on to being insistent.

"Why can't I drive?" she huffed.

"You don't have a license," he grumbled.

"How do you know that?" she insisted.

He snorted, surprising her. "Cynthia told me back then how you'd never gotten around to getting your license."

"How do you know that I haven't gotten it since then? It's been a few years," Ash's pout was threatening to get worse.

"Your aunt was complaining to Sirius on the way here how you had been hassling her to drive the car, but didn't have a license."

"Damn," Ash muttered, cursing her aunt under her breath. Fully pouting now, Ash turned on the radio. To her consternation, the radio was playing that infernal Going to the Chapel of Love song. Growling, she violently jabbed a button, and changed the channel.

Then the classic Grease song You're the One That I Want came on and Ash figured they were curse. They, not just she this time.

But then Cyrus started humming along with the song, to her surprise, so she figured it was worth it. Grinning slyly, she hummed along with him. And even when the songs after were continually love songs and geared somehow towards them, Ash went along with it and decided she was jinxed, he was jinxed, the radio was jinxed, and the car was jinxed.

"We're here," Cyrus announced, drawing her attention back to him.

She looked at the house Rufus had said he'd be in when she'd called again, waiting with Teddy at an Arabella Figg's place. He parked the car and then they got out, to which Ash hurried up and walked ahead of Cyrus, getting to the door and ringing the doorbell. By the time it opened, Cyrus had joined her side.

The man on the other side of the door must've been Rufus Fudge, who gave her a hesitant smile.

"You're Ash?" he asked hesitantly.

She turned more serious and nodded. "That's me. This is Cyrus. Is Teddy inside?"

Rufus nodded, opening the door more and letting them in. "He's currently eating some dinner, and we've been going over some beginning spells to take his mind off of things."

Ash started to open her mouth to ask him about these spells, when Cyrus subtly grabbed her elbow. Frowning, she looked at him and he shook his head, so she figured that he was telling her not to ask anything.

"Teddy, your godmother's friend is here," Rufus called out and a little boy shyly peeked out from around a corner. "Teddy, this is Ash and Cyrus. They're friends of your godmother," he reiterated, introducing them.

Teddy, still shy, waved at them.

Ash grew a warm smile and walked closer to the boy, kneeling in front of him.

"Hi," she said softly. "My name's Ash. Are you Teddy?"

He gave her a small smile and nodded. "Where's Harry?" he asked seriously, and for his young age, Ash could already see the kid was smarter than his age.

"She's coming soon," she said, even though she wasn't sure about anything. "But for now, we're going to take you to her new home. She's married, you see. You'll be meeting her husband soon, and he'll take care of you while Harry is busy doing something."

She felt movement by her side and turned to see that Cyrus had moved closer and kneeled down next to her, having an unusual soft look on his face that was accompanied by an even softer smile. She didn't think he'd ever be capable of an expression or want to show such a look to anyone, but she was so caught off guard that here he was now and she was feeling oddly warm at the sight of him.

Arceus damn it, where was Harry so that Ash could blubber at her about all this strangeness and complain that it was all too strange?

"Let's go home," Cyrus murmured. "She'll be so happy to see you safe when she comes."

And if Ash's heart skipped a beat when Cyrus smiled a little more and held out his hand for Teddy to take, and Teddy's small hand reaching forward to grasp it –she swore the sweet scene didn't make her feel all warm inside.

Giovanni looked over the count of Rockets that had come from the other side. Ariana stood next to him, looking a slight bit too eager for some carnage.

"Good count," he appraised, looking over the little over 20 Rocket agents at his disposal.

They were from units he could count on to take care of business, the part of Team Rocket that got things done and did the dirty work. Right now, each of them were coaxing the Electrode and Weezing they'd brought over into taking the new drug developed to have pokémon adjust more easily in the Mainland atmosphere.

He'd been developing it over the years, and it was great luck that this was the year that it had finally been finished and finalized. Between the pokémon that they were going to hide around in specific areas and the explosives they'd had on hand, he wasn't going to let the Wizarding World forget what they'd done to Harry for a long time.

They'd be paying for it after all.

"With Archer's information and Fudge's help, I've already had a few agents snuck into the society and infiltrating their world without a problem," Ariana informed him.

"Good," Giovanni muttered, still thinking over the situation and the time that had passed since Archer and Harry's quickly thought up plan of theirs. "They've been planting the explosives?"

"Yes. I've even made sure that they'll work against the magical protections around some areas that have those –explosives are hard to protect against with the magical protections that many of the places have used for years. They're outdated and most spells find it hard to counter explosives anyway. And given their current attitude, they haven't come in contact, paid attention to, or cared enough about 'Muggle' innovation in these passing years that explosives are still foreign to them and they haven't created and crafted a magical defense against them."

Giovanni hmmed, still lost in thought. He was jolted out of it when Ariana placed a comforting hand on his arm.

"She'll be fine, you know," Ariana told him sincerely. "Your wife's the type of person that knows struggle and survival. So trust her on this."

He gave her a grim smile.

"I am. I just still don't like it."

For a while, Harry flew away from the Ministry building and then just traveled off to somewhere. Archer kept quiet all the while, holding onto her tightly as she flew on her phoenix form, getting used to it and adjusting to the body like she had never been able to before.

But he began to notice that she was tiring after having been flying for at least a few days, so he firmly patted her leg.

"Harry, I think this is far enough," he reassured her, lucky that he also recognized the area. "I know a place nearby that we can stay and rest, so land us down here."

Harry made a trilling noise that made his heart feel light and his body to thrum happily. She settled down on a glassy plain and he jumped off of her, which she then began to shift and slowly began to transform back to her normal form. Archer cringed because he could see (able to be up close to it now) that the transformation looked painful and unnatural, and hoped that she wasn't feeling too hurt and pained after everything.

When she was back to human form, she keeled over herself, gasping for air and trying to not pass out. Her hair hung around her face and her eyes were closed and stinging from her tears and sweat. Archer rushed to her side and placed his jacket around her, and tried to support her from completely collapsing to the ground, worried over her current state.

"Are you alright?" he asked anxiously.

Unable to answer, she just lifted her head up and gave him a weak smile. Then she was back to trying to catch her breath and focus on making sure her body wasn't feeling as if it preferred to just lay down there and block out the world. She felt, more than saw, Archer pick her up from the ground and hold her close. He then started to walk off, keeping her close and supporting her, when all she wanted to do was bask in the bonelessness she was feeling at the moment.

"How do you feel?" he asked semi-rhetorically in a quiet manner.

She still couldn't feel up to answering, so she let out a whimper to show how she felt. She felt his nod against her.

"I see," he noted regretfully. "It'll be alright. I promise. We'll be heading somewhere private and where you can recuperate. Soon enough, Giovanni will be back to your side and hoping you'd be well enough to hear him rant about how worried and upset he was at the crazy plan you came up with."

Harry couldn't help but laugh lightly at that. "Overprotective and sweet, he is," she spoke out, her voice rusty from disuse. "Can finally…talk to him…now…"

She felt exhausted at trying to speak just that though.

"Don't worry about that," he told her seriously. "He'd always cared about you, voice or no voice."

In fact, at this moment, he was pretty sure Giovanni cared so much about Harry that he was probably in the middle of setting things up for when the Wizarding World would find themselves at Giovanni's mercy –his mercy he wouldn't grant, because of how much none of them deserved it and Harry deserved a lot more from them than what she got.

Revenge was a bitch and so was karma.

"We're almost there," Archer murmured an hour later, though she was worryingly silent. He sped up and found they had managed to make it to an abandoned building that they could use as a temporary place to stay, so long as it was enough for Harry to just take as much time as she needed to rest up. After everything, she really needed it.

Going into the building, he found a clean room with an old mattress, and laid Harry down on it. He frowned uneasily to himself as he noticed she had her eyes closed and had obviously passed out, but he did a quick check on her still form before leaving her alone to rest. He then went to find a payphone outside of the building and called collect to Giovanni's phone.

"Hello? Who is this?" Giovanni asked sharply into the phone.

"Sir, it's me," Archer spoke worriedly. "We've made it out of the Ministry and have completed our tasks. At the moment, Harry is resting and when she's up, we'll head back to the estate and fill you in on things. On your part, I believe I told Ariana to get some Rockets from the Regions to travel to here."

"Yes, you'd provided ample time to get things ready. Currently, we're about to embark on the Wizarding World and act on the rest of our plans, making sure everything is in place first. However, after all this is over, we need to have a talk, Archer. In the meantime, make sure Harry is safe and comfortable, and feeling alright."

"Yes, sir. Understood, Giovanni."

He hung up, wincing afterward. He knew the moment he'd agreed to Harry's request that Giovanni wouldn't be happy about it, so there was no point in dwelling on that issue. Instead, he went back to Harry and checked on her. Still out.

He hoped she'd wake up soon and feel better.

Sirius had taken a car to Grimmauld, hoping to find Remus there. He knew he'd willed the place to Harry, so even if the Ministry had done what they did, her belongings, money, and estates would stay to her no matter what. And knowing how close she actually was to the Malfoys, he'd reached out to his cousin and had Narcissa named a proxy if anything were to happen to either of them. He was sure she and her husband had made sure to keep everything intact and away from the hands of the Ministry.

Entering the abode, he tried to use his senses gained from being a dog Animagus, but couldn't tell if Remus was there or had been there recently.

"Remus! Are you there? It's me, Sirius! I know you think I'm dead, but it's a long story! I promise," he called out.

Still no sign of anyone, and he was wary about that. At least Kreacher should be skulking about. And speak of the devil, the House Elf appeared then, turning around the corner. However, he wasn't as Sirius remembered. In fact, Kreacher was groomed and cleaned up, walking straight and actually smiling at Sirius.

"Ah, old master is alive and home? Good, good. Would you like Kreacher to make you something to eat or get a drink?"

Sirius twitched and almost barked out a rude 'no' before considering his attitude. Obviously, something had changed in Kreacher and he liked the 'new' elf before him. Still…

"Water is fine, Kreacher," he said gruffly, watching the House Elf closely. He wanted so desperately to ask about the change…

"And when will Mistress Harry finally come home?" Kreacher asked, suddenly turning a lot more eager.

Ah. That explained it. Something Harry said or did had changed Kreacher, so now Kreacher was a changed elf and looked to be extremely loyal to Harry. It was kind of ironic, considering how fanatically loyal Kreacher had been to his mother, and now was fanatically loyal to another female. After all, Kreacher had loved Sirius' brother, but the elf had worshipped Walburga.

"Soon," Sirius said more confidently. "She's taking care of some business, and the Ministry is finally being dealt with."

A vicious grin stole across Kreacher's face, alarming Sirius.

"Very good, Master Sirius. Ministry full of traitors…" Kreacher began to mumble familiar insults under his breath, becoming likened to his old self, if oddly about something different and for a different person now.

"Kreacher, you wouldn't happen to know where Remus is, do you?" he interrupted the elf, who had just handed Sirius' glass of water to him while continuing to mumble.

Kreacher gained a pinched look. "Wolf is downstairs. Basement," he informed Sirius.

Back to being wary, Sirius nodded to Kreacher and took to find the entrance to the basement, where he was hoping he'd reunite with his old friend. He opened the basement door and peered inside, only to find the whole place dark.

"Kreacher, can I get a light in here?" he yelled from where he was at, still feeling weird about the House Elf listening to his orders so easily and him actually giving any orders to the other.

The lights in the room lit up and Sirius cringed back when he saw not just the state of the room, but the state of the lone occupant.

In his wolf form, despite it not being a full moon or anywhere near a full moon, Remus was chained to the wall and looking horrible, places on his body all torn up from his own claws.

"Remus?" Sirius gasped.

Remus lifted up his head from where he'd been resting on the floor, his amber eyes glowing in the dimness of the room.

As he looked at Sirius and made a whimper, at least his friend had been able to recognize him. Now he just needed to find out what had happened and what was wrong.

It was sunny that day. Nothing seemed out of the norm, and everyone had felt content and relaxed.

At exactly 12 o'clock, everything burst into a different perspective.

In Hogsmeade, several people would shift around the area, checking in on the various explosives set around to surround the town and prevent easy escape, along with the anti-Apparation ward their new magical contacts had placed over the area. One particular individual moved to the center of the town and released an odd thing from a red and white ball. He left it there and walked off, and other people watched him curiously while others stared at the strange creature that they didn't recognize.

It started to glow, saying only one thing "Electrode!"

Before anyone could run away, the crowd around the pokémon was engulfed in the explosion as the rest of the explosives around the town began activating straight after that. If Hogwarts remained standing, silently watching over the former intact village, then their pro-Potter stance had always been a staunch rally.

Around the rest of the Wizarding World was another matter.

Diagon Alley was a mess, chaos left behind in the wake of the explosions that had occurred there. Every business in the alley, stretching out to the other alleys like Knockturn, had become casualties, glass exploding outward and littering the ground and people caught in the crossfire. People were scared and confused, and no one knew or understood what was happening.

And what was left of the Ministry, after Harry's momentous escape, was left to further ruins. Little spots of fire were kindling around, more walls of the Ministry had been collapsed, and at least here were people who had been severely hurt (if not even dead). Truthfully, a few of them had even been targeted, in response to the cues and information Rufus Fudge had told about certain people, as well as some of the infiltrators' information gathering.

So if Giovanni walked in there casually, looking around at the pandemonium he and his Team had caused, he could only observed in contentedness.

He walked further into the building, heading straight down to the lower levels. While his other men, mostly the infiltrators, would have hunted down and taken care of the others who had hurt Harry, he had one particular person he would take care of personally.

From there, he spotted Malcolm Walters alone in his office, nursing the newly healed jaw and various other wounds that he'd gained from the explosions in the building. Giovanni found the man's wand and took it, dropping it to the floor just as Malcolm spotted him.

"What are you –"

With a sure step, Giovanni put his foot on the wand and broke it.

"How dare you?" the man yelled in outrage, leaping at him.

Giovanni easily caught the other and then violently threw the man back, making Malcolm land against the wall hard.

"Who are you?" he asked him fearfully.

A cold, satisfied smile crossed Giovanni's face, as he took out his Beretta 9mm and aimed at Malcolm's forehead.

"A friend of a mutual friend," he said casually.

And he shot Malcolm, just as the other's eyes showed his understanding and knowledge of who he meant.

Started 10/19/15 – Completed 10/20/15

Chapter Text

Archer was very concerned. Harry hadn't woken up for a long while, and nothing he said or did helped her to. He also hadn't heard back from Giovanni, despite trying to call him a few times since his last call. He was anxious to know about what was going on over there.

Once again, he called Giovanni's phone and finally got an answer.

"Archer, is this you?"

Sighing in relief, Archer spoke formally into the phone. "Yes, sir. It's me. I've been trying to call you. What's been going on?"

He could almost hear the smirk in Giovanni's voice. "Just cleaning up the mess. I had decided that, rather than just leave things be with the Wizarding World, that I would…speed up the recovery bit a little."

"Why would you do that?" Archer furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well…let's just say that Team Rocket is a terrifying yet godly fixture with them at the moment, Rufus Fudge has become somewhat of a savior and inching towards being the replacement Minister of Magic –of whom I'd disposed of too –and people have learned what has happened to Harry and why they were all attacked. Having the reason drilled into their heads, as well as some Rockets walking around to remind them has certainly helped to make them learn their lesson."

"How have the agents not been attacked with magic yet? I doubt that they would be able to rule over the wizards with fear so easily," Archer noted in concern.

"Aside from a lot of new Rocket members being recruited from this side being wizards and witches, as well as old agents back in the base having actually secretly been magical as well, a group of them had been working on creating an amulet for the rest to wear that would protect them from most basic spells. It's unknown and kept under wraps, so it can't be replicated or found out. You'll be able to see once you get here."

Impressed and a little taken aback by the practical hostile takeover of the Wizarding World in Britain, Archer thought it most fitting in the end. After all, after destroying a world, it's only right to rebuild it in one's image. Perhaps Right of Conquest and all.

And, well, it was actually more or less leaning towards Harry's image, if he were to be honest. This was all for her.

"That's fantastic news, Giovanni," Archer murmured softly. "I…have rather bad news in comparison. Harry still has not woken up. She looks pale, but not sick. I don't know what to do or what's wrong. I've been trying to contact you to get a car out here to bring us back to the estate…"

The silence from Giovanni was deafening, and Archer tensed up and worried about what was happening on the other end.

"…I see," Giovanni finally said tersely. "Keep watch over her, Archer. I will send a car out to your location immediately."

After giving the location, they hung up and Archer hurried back to where Harry was, waiting in tense anticipation. When the car finally came, he should have known that Giovanni would come himself. But instead of leaving straight after Giovanni arrived, he'd parked the car and had followed Archer back into the building, which was actually an old Bed and Breakfast back in the days. Archer didn't stall and led Giovanni to Harry, where she was 'sleeping' peacefully.

"Any changes since we talked?" his boss focused on Harry, face briefly becoming obviously pained at the sight of her like this, though it was quickly schooled into a more stoic look.

"No, sir," Archer answered truthfully.

"How long has she been like this?"

Archer looked through his memories. "Since after we escaped from the Ministry and she flew all the way here and then passed out."

Giovanni frowned, reaching out and gently placing his hand against his wife's forehead.

"She feels fine," he noted in confusion. "No fever, not clammy…If we didn't know better, she could have been mistaken for just being asleep."

Archer had also had the same confused thoughts over the past days. He couldn't figure it out and it made him anxious. He hated not being able to do anything, for once not as in control of things as he usually was. He was supposed to be good at taking care of things and making sure things happened and got done. Right now, he felt like he was failing.

And if he felt that way, he was sure that Giovanni was feeling worse. The man was even harder on himself than Archer was.

"We'll leave," Giovanni went to pick her up, scooping her petite form into his arms. "I want you to drive, Archer."

"Yes, sir. Understood," Archer answered, taking the keys from his boss. Then they were leaving the building and heading to the corner, to which Giovanni slipped into the back and held onto Harry securely and protectively.

After a quick glance at them, Archer started the car and then began to drive out, doing his best to head back home quickly.

Ash couldn't help smiling widely as she played with Teddy. The kid, at almost two, was creative and extremely smart.

"Geez, I'm stuck with a bunch of geniuses, aren't I?" she teased Teddy, while tossing a quick look at Cyrus.

Cyrus shrugged back at her, smiling slightly.

"I bet you were super smart at his age too, weren't you?" Ash accused him. "He's not even fully two and he's speaking full sentences and using big words sometimes."

Cyrus' cheeks flushed a bit. "I…suppose I was."

Ash laughed and shook her head. She watched Teddy get piled on by the pokémon that was able to be out, the toddler giggling fully from underneath them.

"I feel dumb, in comparison to you two," Ash admitted to Cyrus with a slight grin, though a twinge of self-consciousness hit her for a moment. She did feel that way when it came to Cyrus, always had, and sometimes she wondered if he ever felt exasperated having to deal with her slower comprehension and having to slow or dumb things down for her, as well as having to explain so much to her.

He moved closer to her and lightly brushed his fingers against hers.

"You're not," he said quietly. "So don't sell yourself short," he gave her a meaningful look. "I don't mind explaining things to you. Besides, I get to speak more and you like hearing my voice, don't you?"

Ash blushed, but she did feel much better. This had actually been a sore point for her, so even just a little reassurance from him made her feel a lot better.

"I wonder where everyone is?" Ash asked. "Giovanni left and isn't back, and Harry and Archer still hasn't come back either."

"I believe your question has just been answered," Cyrus told her, and she looked to see him looking near the entrance and she looked there too.

She was surprised to see Giovanni there, holding protectively onto Harry, who looked unconscious. Archer was quick to follow after the couple, and both men wore tight expressions on their faces.

Without a word to either her or Cyrus, they strode passed them in a hurry.

"I don't think things are okay," she said worriedly.

Cyrus frowned and reached for her hand, squeezing it and trying to reassure her.

He didn't think things were okay either.

Sirius felt like he was in over his head. He'd tried approaching Remus as he was, but he was snarled at and almost got caught with a claw. So he tentatively tried to approach Remus in his Animagus form, and while the wolf recognized him finally, he was still eyed warily and growled at lightly.

What the hell happened to his friend?

It made him panicked and upset, but there seemed to be nothing he could do to find out or more importantly, to change things.

Remus couldn't be changed back for some reason.

Reluctantly leaving his friend, he went back to the living room, where he called out for Kreacher.

"Kreacher! Come here!" and on second thought, added a "Please?"

Kreacher appeared quickly and looked at him with patience, waiting for Sirius' next command or question.

"Um, Kreacher, do you know what happened to Remus?" he asked, not sure if the House Elf did, or even if he would answer him.

"Ministry people came to him somewhere, cornered him," Kreacher said sourly. "Did something that made him start turning. He escaped to here and had Kreacher lock him up in the basement. Kreacher feed him and give him water, but not release him like Wolf said."

Sirius scowled. Damn those Ministry bastards! And what the hell was he going to do now? He couldn't just let Remus stay like this. He had to find some way to help him, but he didn't know what to do. He didn't know what he could do.

"I'm going to go back, Kreacher," Sirius told the House Elf. "I'll find a way to help Remus. In the meantime, stay here and continue to take care of him, alright? Thank you, Kreacher."

The House Elf beamed at him, which still weirded him out. Leaving Grimmauld, Sirius found a place he could Apparate from, leaving there and Apparating straight onto the front steps of the estate. From there, he strode into the home and found Ash and Cyrus solemnly sitting on the couch and watching a little boy. Looking at the boy, he could easily recognize the features of the boy's mother and father in him, and Sirius watched him sadly for a moment.

"Sirius! You're back!" Ash exclaimed, jumping from the couch and heading towards him. It drew the kid's attention, and Sirius wasn't sure he was ready to meet his dead niece's son, especially having just found out and seen the boy's father's state.

Cyrus collected the kid and followed after Ash, and Sirius forced a smile on his face.

"Hey, kiddo," Sirius greeted Ash. He looked to Cyrus and nodded, giving a brief smile and noting the man was slowly opening up and being less closed off, probably due to the efforts of the girl next to him. He then looked to the kid. "This must be Teddy. I was one of your father's friends," he smiled reminiscently, feeling nostalgic.

Teddy gave a big grin at that. "Harry and Grandmama told me about you! And Ash told me they found you, so you weren't dead!"

His eyebrows flew up and he looked to the couple (so, so obvious). "Smart kid, he is. Isn't he just two years old?"

"Almost two," Ash corrected him. She gave him a grin too. "But he is totally smart."

"I think you should go to see Giovanni," Cyrus interrupted gravely, and Sirius felt a sinking feeling in his gut.

"Something the matter?" he said, playing off being nonchalant.

"Harry's here," was all that Cyrus said and that made Sirius feel cold.

"Y-yeah, she is? I guess I should…go see her and Giovanni," he replied shakily.

His legs felt like lead, but he forced himself to walk away from them and head to where he knew his goddaughter's room was. No doubt that was where Giovanni had placed her. He knew that after they'd married that they had shared a room, but if something had happened, he would think he would place her somewhere comfortable and where others could reach her. Giovanni's room…their room…just seemed a more untouchable place.

Finding himself in front of her door, he knocked on it and waited. The door opened and Giovanni was behind it. He looked tired and drawn out, and it made Sirius start to panic.

"What happened?" he blurted out.

Giovanni took a step back and opened the door wide. "You should come in," he said seriously.

And Sirius felt the bottom of his stomach drop on him, and he knew he wasn't going to like what he would hear.

A few months went by and Harry was still unable to wake up. It put everyone on edge, and Giovanni (most of all) was looking to snap at any second. According to one of the magical doctors he'd recruited, she was currently in a magical coma. She had exhausted not just her body, but also her magical core. She needed to rest up and regain her energy and heal herself, hence the magical coma. The rush of her magic overflowing when it was finally let loose, breaking the runic restraints, the amount of time her magic had been held back, and combined with her Animagus transformation…

It took quite a lot out of her and her magic put her into a magical coma so she could recuperate. It only made things slightly better for Giovanni to know what was wrong and that it was something to help her, however the fact she was still unconscious and not with him still put him in an aggravated state.

"Sir, I just received reports from Ariana. Do you wish for me to leave them here for you to review?" Archer interrupted his thoughts.

"Can't you deal with it?" Giovanni muttered, having gone to the kitchens to briefly find something to eat before returning to Harry's side.

"I'm sorry, Giovanni," Archer apologized. "You need to review these personally."

Giovanni scowled, but nodded reluctantly. "I'll look them here quickly. Just go up and keep an eye on Harry for me, won't you? Sirius is attempting to find a cure for his friend as well, and has been splitting his time between that and staying with Harry, so he hasn't been resting. I've had to drug him, so he's currently sleeping in his room and won't be able to take my place right now."

Archer nodded and obediently left him to go to Harry, and Giovanni stared morosely outside the kitchens' windows. It was too sunny for a day like this.

"Hey, you look like a bottle of rainbows," Ash hesitantly joked, entering the kitchens and seeing him. Cyrus, as was the usual these days, followed behind her closely.

Giovanni glanced at them before going back to staring outside silently.

"You okay?" she went to stand beside him.

"Been better," he finally answered her. He turned to look at the two properly. "I see you two have been getting busy."

Ash briefly glared at him, before her expression lightened. "Speaking of relationships," she started hesitantly, looking at the doors. "I was just…wondering about Archer's relationship with Harry?"

Giovanni gave her a mildly amused look. "What about it?"

"Isn't it…weird?" Ash struggled to ask, confused. "He's kind of…really close to her and all. And I would think you'd be…worried. Or jealous."

Giovanni's lips twitched slightly. "I can see where you would think that," he said wryly. "However, Archer is aromantic."

At her confused blink and Cyrus' blank stare (Cyrus would be a worse case than her, because both of them doubted he knew anything remotely dealing with anything to do with romance, sexuality, or anything relating to any of that), Giovanni elaborated for them.

"He has little, if any, romantic interest in people. There are people who instinctively desire a romantic connection to someone –Archer is not one of them," Giovanni explained and Ash understood just a little more. "I doubt he's asexual however, but I trust him and have known him for the longest time to not cross that line with her. I also understand his closeness and desire to be close to Harry, and it echoes a similar connection he'd developed with myself. As he explained to me, aromantics are capable of being involved in close, devoted relationships, but are more or less very close friendships. If anything, he's developed a 'squish' towards her."

At her confused look again (Cyrus had just given up trying to know and was just going to wait patiently for explanations), Giovanni continued with his clarification.

"A squish is an aromantic's version of a crush," he told her plainly. "Not romantic but still a very strong desire to have a connection with another person. It can be towards anyone and there can be many squishes at a time. Call it a 'friend crush' if you want; it's similar enough in nature."

Ash nodded slowly. "So he's, uh, got a platonic infatuation basically. Hey, does that mean he's got one on you?"

Giovanni gave her a bland look, but nodded. "More or less. But we do have a close connection already, though nevertheless he does so. If anything, he's probably got a squish on you too, after all those reports he's read on you and gets a kick out of."

Ash turned red at that, though Cyrus felt slightly jealous, regardless of Giovanni's explanation. This was all new enough to him, without it getting complicated on him.

"Haha, you," Ash mumbled, though she did waggle her eyebrows at Giovanni. "At least we're in the same boat. We just need to get Cyrus platonically crushed on and we're a set!"

This time, Cyrus was the one turning slightly red. However, they were interrupted as the doors burst open and Archer came in, looking harried but wearing a genuinely wide smile on his face.

"Giovanni! She's awake!"

Giovanni was quick to start running, and after a quick, shocked look towards each other, Ash and Cyrus chased after his heels.

Harry felt exhausted. Her body still felt like dead weight, even if she was capable of movement, but she felt like she'd just ran the entirety of England on a marathon and without stop. Still, Archer's welcoming and relieved face was a wonderful sight to see, although he'd quickly told her he'd be back after informing Giovanni of her awakening, which had stumped her for a moment.

But then she thought of Giovanni and felt her breath hitch. It had been so long since she'd seen him somehow…

Her bedroom door opened and Giovanni came in, making Harry feel as if her thoughts had summoned him. Right behind him was Cyrus and Ash, who looked at her with wide eyes and disbelieving faces, which quickly transformed into content and gleeful expressions respectively.

"Harry," Giovanni breathed out, bringing her attention back to him.

She gave him a small, tired smile. "Giovanni," she murmured.

And at the sound of her voice, Ash's mouth dropped and Cyrus' eyes widened slightly again. Giovanni himself looked taken aback and looking at her in wonder. But it was his name finally on her lips, and he'd finally heard it in her voice.

The first thing she'd said to him was an acknowledgement of him and brought back earlier memories of how he'd so desperately wanted her to say it, and could she have even remembered that…?

She gave him a secretive smile that said she really had, and that this moment had been purposeful.

With a brilliant smile, Giovanni rushed forward and gathered her into his arms happily, lifting her from the bed and tucking his face into her neck. He inhaled deeply, taking in her scent and reveling in it, having missed it.

"You are a sorely missed and loved sight," Giovanni murmured.

"As are you," Harry reciprocated quietly.

She wrapped her own arms around him and closed her eyes, basking in the moment. To the side, Ash watched the scene blushingly, biting down on her lip shyly. She unconsciously leaned into Cyrus and had tucked herself under his arm and into his side. Cyrus may not have been prepared for it, but after a moment's hesitation, he moved his arm around Ash more and securely.

It would be nice if their relationship turned out to be a lot like the couple before them.

After she'd been caught up on everything, it took a while for Harry to adjust and process it all. The British Wizarding World's collapse and then its current rebuilding at the hands of Giovanni and his Team was an unexpected (well, she had some sort of clue of part of that happening…sort of…) turn of events. She had realized long ago that Giovanni would end up burning down the world for her, but she hadn't thought so literally. Or that he actually would do so.

She was still a little baffled by the actual events happening, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

Then there was Rufus rallying around Giovanni and Team Rocket, and helping organize the Wizarding World and directing things, as well as bridging people. Talk of him maybe becoming Minister had her laugh, because it just seemed so ironic that another Fudge was going to be in that office again.

And then there was Remus, and hearing about him made her want to cry. Poor, sweet Remus. Tonks had died in childbirth and Harry had had to help pick up the grieving pieces of Remus, and all the while the war was still waging around them. After the war, Remus had been denied being near his son and Teddy given over to Andromeda, and before she could find out what happened with him she'd been taken and kept captive for a year within the Ministry.

Which was why she neared the darkened basement of Grimmauld in trepidation, unsure of what she was going to see. She ignored Kreacher walking close to her, blissful that she was back and watching her with wide, adoring eyes.

She opened the basement door and without having to ask, Kreacher provided light for her and lit up the basement, showing her the inside. She almost gasped in horror, but kept it in. However, she nearly lost her control of that when her gaze found Remus, still forced into wolf form and backed against the wall.

Without further ado, she started to walk towards him, ignoring how he snarled and made to lash out at her. The chains kept him away, but the more she walked close, the more in danger she became.

"Remus," she murmured, a bit of a trill lining her voice. She had uneasily noted over the time since she'd awoken that her voice had started to gain a musical, pleasing and pleasurable quality to it. But at the moment, she understood that the change would really help her now. "Remus, look at me."

Her voice seemed to work against Remus, who had stilled when she'd first spoken and then slowly began to sway slightly, watching her with eyes that gradually became docile. She finally reached him, trying to blink back tears. Standing in front of the hurt wolf, she gathered her father's old friend and her beloved old teacher into her arms. She fell to her knees and took him with her, and couldn't help but bring him closer to her, holding his head to her bosom as she leaned over him and cried into his fur.

Her tears landed on him, gleaming a shining pearly white for a moment, before seeping into him. He then glowed the same color briefly, before he began to shrink and then change back into a man.

Moments later, Harry was holding onto a shivering, naked Remus Lupin, who still whined like a wounded animal in her arms.

Started 10/21/15 – Completed 10/24/15

Chapter Text

The country estate was abuzz with activity. It had been for a few weeks now, considering that a wedding was going to take place there.

Yes, a wedding.

It was almost amazing to think of, considering Harry had never had that whole experience. What she had before, that private, small ceremony…that had been perfect and fine, and it had still been beautiful to her.

But now there was a wedding planner and she would get to choose everything, and her husband was there to be with her and help choose, and…

It created a warm feeling inside of her, as well as tears in her eyes.

"Are you alright?" a warm hand covered hers, and she looked to see Giovanni watching her carefully.

"Wonderful," she said, her voice trilling slightly.

He smiled. "I'm glad then. So our wedding party and guest list have been sorted. The planner will handle getting everything set up and reserved. We just had your engagement party and you had a bachelorette party recently. How was that by the way?"

She blushed lightly. "Alright. Although, I'm surprised Cyrus was there." She laughed a little about that.

Giovanni rolled his eyes. "My fellow boss has no knowledge of social norms. I swear…"

"Rufus will be the officiant, since he's now Minister of Magic and can make sure we're legally married in the Wizarding World as well. Not that the bond ceremony doesn't make us legal and official enough," she added.

"James and Butch have volunteered to be the photographers, while Petrel and Proton will be the videographers," Giovanni told her, and she nodded as she remembered the four men that Giovanni had introduced to her.

"Mrs. Weasley and Ash insisted they were going to make the food," Harry hmmed. "And we have a bunch of people offering to do the entertainment."

"Of course there are," Giovanni muttered, thinking just exactly who she was talking about from his side of things. "Did you get your dress?"

Harry smiled widely. She hadn't thought so much about the difference of choosing one's wedding dress, but faced with the thought of it and finally going and choosing it…she had been so happy and it was beautiful and perfect in her eyes.

"That's a yes," he smirked. "I've got my tuxedo. The groomsmen and the bridesmaids have gotten their clothes. All those who need a ride will get to be picked up by my Rockets, and there's room here for those who need a place to stay overnight."

"The wedding invitations were sent out, and Ariana and Domino have taken charge and are making sure the estate's cleaned up and decorated, as well as making sure everything will be ready for the wedding. They are also making sure everything we chose will be accepted and nothing gets mistaken or messed up."

Giovanni gave her an unsure look. "Those two won't be…fighting?"

Harry shook her head, knowing his fears of the two headstrong women who tended to fight when it came to matters outside of Rocket business. And having just met Domino, the blonde certainly wasn't about to let Ariana get her way easily, even if she was younger than the other…

"No, they promised. They also promised to make sure the music, flowers –especially the bouquet –and everything else will be fine. So don't worry about them."

He was still worried, considering he knew the two women, but he let it slide for now.

"So…the closest to us during this time promised to give a toast –Archer, Ariana, Ash, and even Cyrus. Sirius also wanted to give one."

Harry hesitated, but at Giovanni's prompting look, she said, "My two best friends wanted to give a toast too. If you don't mind?"

Giovanni shook his head. "Of course not. They're very welcome to. Anyway, we just finished the seating arrangements, which means all that's left is our…"

"Vows," she finished, her blush darkening.

"I'm already halfway done with mine," he said teasingly. "How about you?"

Harry averted her eyes shyly, feeling awkward. "I've already finished them."

He blinked at her in surprise, having not expected that. He then squeezed her hand, and smiled warmly at her when she looked at him.

"Fantastic. Now you can relax, mia stella. In the meantime, I guess that means I need to focus and get mine done."

Harry felt excited. She was going to have an actual wedding.

And Giovanni was the one who had given her everything.

"No, no! You're getting it wrong!" Jessie screeched at Cassidy, the two women butting heads over how to fix the wedding favors up.

"I am not!" the strawberry blonde screamed back.

"No, she said she wanted the flowers to be pomegranate flowers and lilies! Why are you putting roses in?" Ariana yelled at Domino.

Domino waved a hand at her dismissively. "Roses are romantic! And traditional for weddings. Just a few are fine!"

The four women bickered and Ash's eye twitched as she arranged some flowers in the ornate pot. Three of four of those women weren't even used to this place's atmosphere, and yet they could still scream at each other fine…

"This is a nightmare," she grumbled irritably. Cyrus awkwardly patted her shoulder, though he glanced at the women warily. At least Jupiter and Mars weren't there. They would have added to the fighting, he was sure…But he did get an idea.

"Perhaps we should take a break and move somewhere for a moment?" he suggested.

Ash immediately agreed. Anything to get away from those crazy people.

He took her hand and led her off to somewhere. It was an even bigger battle arena than the one nearer to the top floor where Harry, Giovanni, and Sirius' rooms were, but Ash was just happy to see something she was used to and loved. She wondered if Cyrus wanted a battle though?

Turning to him, that was exactly what she was going to ask when he caught her off guard by the serious but blushing look on his face.

"Cyrus?" she asked questioningly.

He cleared his throat before he closed his eyes and started to lean towards her. Her eyes widened briefly before she closed them and waited in anticipation, feeling his lips connect with hers. They were surprisingly soft.

His hands was warm as they lay on her shoulders, and she was certain that she'd never felt this blissful. When he pulled back and stared into her eyes, she waited breathlessly.

"My life has been an entire waste," he confessed. "Up until I met you."

His hands moved to grip her hands and he leaned closer again, placing his forehead against hers.

"I feel like I've been waiting thousands of years for you," he said hoarsely.

Ash blinked back tears, smiling widely. "I'm here and you are so never getting rid of me now, Cyrus Akagi."

He smiled briefly before taking her into his arms and pulling her into a slow waltz around that part of the battle arena.

Behind the slightly opened doors, the four women sighed happily.

"I need a man," Jessie said enviously.

"Me too," Domino sighed again.

Ariana smiled to herself. Delia would be happy to know her daughter had finally found someone to be happy with. Maybe he'd even tie her down to one place and get her to stop traveling so much…

"Looks like we'll have another wedding on our hands soon," Cassidy noted with a grin.

Ariana's smile twitched.

Not that fast, they won't.

And Ash just stood on her toes and pecked Cyrus' lips, grinning afterwards. He turned red, but it was always like him when it came to this stuff.

"I was waiting for you too."

They were fine being oblivious to everything around them for right then.

It was the day of the wedding. At the Granger residence, Hermione and her parents had just finished getting ready when a car rolled up to their home. A man in a suit with a red dress shirt and a black tie got out of the car, a capital red R emblazoned on his tie. He waited for them to come out, and when they came to him, he opened the door for them.

Similarly, others were getting ready to leave as well.

Ron and his family, chaotically as always, were running around their home and hurrying to get ready. And since their house was the meeting place for the magicals to appear in Harry's wedding, there were several others waiting in the kitchen and living room.

Luna Lovegood was curiously examining the Weasley Family Clock, while Neville Longbottom nervously sat in an armchair and was waiting patiently. Outside, Harry's old Quidditch team was playing, including Oliver Wood, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell, and Angelina Johnson. Others from Harry's year were gathered there as well, even Headmistress McGonagall, who had kept a steady support for Harry while she headed the school.

In the kitchen, nonchalant but as distinguished as always, the Malfoy family sat at the table and waited, keeping no expressions on their cold, beautiful faces.

Though Draco certainly was getting impatient, as evidenced by his twitching eyebrow and the tapping of his finger against his thigh.

However, soon enough, everyone was ready to go and they gathered together. The time came and then they were all transported from there and to the country estate, where the wedding was set and the place was already filling up with people.

Numerous people in black suits, red dress shirts and the black ties with red Rs were moving around and doing last minute touches, while the seats were beginning to fill with them on the groom's side. White lilies decorated ivory columns set outside, as well as being placed elegantly around the chairs while being paired with red pomegranate flowers. Pomegranate flower petals and seeds were scattered on the crème-colored runner that led up to the gazebo where the couple was to be wed. The gazebo itself was lined with lilies and the occasional pomegranate flower.

Rufus made his way to the gazebo to get ready to officiate, and was joined a second later by the groom. Giovanni looked suave in his black tuxedo, though his dress shirt was a deep scarlet rather than the traditional white. The matching tie and vest neatly blended with it, and the pomegranate flower pinned to his lapel fit in well. His hair was neatly slicked back and his shoes were shined and without a hint of dirt. The today was a perfect day and so he had to look perfect.

The music began and everyone quieted, knowing the wedding was starting. Giovanni straightened up and stared at the mahogany doors that opened up the estate to the large yard. They opened and first little Teddy walked out, accompanied by Pikachu and Lily by his side while he held the rings on a red velvet pillow, with Pikachu holding a small basket and adding some more flower petals to the floor. Persian followed behind protectively, making sure the trio was alright. And then Archer, the only obvious best man for him, strode out calmly with Hermione Granger on his arm, Harry's best friend acting just as calm. Next up was a more awkward couple, with Ron Weasley being a "bridesmaid" and Ariana being a "groomsman." And then it was Ash and Cyrus, looking satisfyingly at home with each other as they walked up the aisle and to the gazebo, splitting apart and heading to their respective places.

Giovanni's heart picked up and he stared intently at the entrance, waiting and anxious to see his bride.

And suddenly there she was, dressed in the slim wedding gown she'd chosen. The chiffon flowed down the skirt of her dress, leading to a chapel-length train that moved around her like a cloud. The illusion bateau neckline was a shimmery sheath, and melded onto the sweetheart bodice wonderfully. Her hair was curled and pinned up, and woven with lilies –reminiscent of their first, short wedding ceremony. But this time the smile on her face was wide and happy and her steps were sure.

Harry was utterly beautiful.

Accompanied by her godfather, Sirius escorted her up the aisle and to Giovanni. When the two reached them, Giovanni stepped closer and accepted Harry from Sirius, grateful the other was there to give her away and that he was.

"You look beautiful," he murmured to her with a quick grin.

"And you look handsome," she returned with an amused quirk of her lips.

He took her and led her to the gazebo, where Rufus began the ceremony. And when it was time to recite their vows, Giovanni eagerly started.

"Mia stella," he started, ignoring the giggles and sighs in the background. "The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew there wasn't anyone else in this entire world I belonged to. I swore to myself then that I would pursue you completely and do all I could to earn your love. But we've come a long way from that, and I hope that I can finally be a good husband to you and be all that I can be for you. I want to be what you deserve and be the man that's perfect for you. If I grow old and die, I will happily do so loving you."

Harry smiled shyly at him and then began to say her vows.

"You intimidated me," she started honestly. "You were intense and passionate, and it was slightly terrifying but wonderful at the same time. I've never had anyone that interested in me before, especially just for me and as me. But you were and you did. And even as passionate as you were, you never pushed me and was so very patient. After everything you have done for me, you have shown so much devotion and love, and though most of my life consisted of none of that, thank you for giving that to me and I hope to give as much back to you. When you set out all those pomegranates, I understood. If you are my Hades, then as Persephone, just as I did then I do now and wholly accept you as mine as I am yours and willingly partake in a bite to be together forever."

They retrieved their rings and put them on each other's finger. Then Rufus had them stand next to each other and tied a handfasting ribbon around their arms together.

"May your love and bond last a year and a day, a lifetime, and for all of eternity. For however long love shall last –may it be for all time –so shall I tie you together and proclaim you husband and wife. Seal your lips in a testament of your love."

Giovanni smirked slightly at her, bringing her in close and kissing her lips lightly. As much as he wanted to, he wasn't going to ravish her in front of everyone.

"Everyone, please stand and welcome Mr. and Mrs. Rocketto, the Lady and Consort Potter-Black!" Rufus announced as they pulled away.

Everyone clapped and cheered, many of them throwing rice grains and orange blossom petals. The couple smiled at each other and Giovanni took her in his arms, and began to waltz with her down the aisle.

"We waltzed together once," he murmured, content.

"We did," she replied, remembering. "And now here we are."

"Here we are," he echoed.

He twirled her up and into the air, and she was laughing liltingly. As she was set down, he then scooped her up and turned to the crowd as he carried her like the bride she was.

"To the reception!"

Amongst the cheering, Giovanni kissed her again.

"Amore mio," she said to him haltingly in Italian.

Delighted, Giovanni gazed into her emerald eyes wonderingly.

"Tu sei la mia luce, il mio amore, la mia anima."

His light, love, and soul indeed.

The food had been delicious and Harry praised and thanked Mrs. Weasley and Ash profusely. The red velvet wedding cake was wonderful, and the cream cheese frosting made it that touch of sinful. She felt a thrill go through her when she had to cut the cake with Giovanni. A man named Attila was DJing and playing music, and everything was wonderful.

Though she wished Remus wasn't so guarded and ready to snarl at everyone around him, at least he was there –if trying to keep to the shadows and hunching over ever so slightly occasionally. Teddy stuck with his father and helped calm him, but it was obviously going to be a long road for the werewolf.

But she also remembered the toasts and she almost started to cry again.

Hermione stood up and clinked her glass with her fork, getting everyone's attention.

"I'd like to make a toast," she grinned widely, giving a beaming look at her best friend. "I love Harry. She honestly deserves so much, and hasn't really gotten what she deserves in life. Until now."

She looked at Giovanni gratefully. "When we were 11, I was stuck in the girls' bathroom in our school. A troll came in, but so did Harry and Ron. She saved me then, like a scrawny 11 year old knight in shining armor…but she did so with a golden heart. And since then, we've been the best of friends, and I've never regretted being her friend. I just regret not being able to do more for her, but I'm glad she got you out of all this, Giovanni."

Everyone started clapping and she smiled at the couple before sitting down. Then Ron stood up by her side and awkwardly grinned and waved at everyone.

"Hey, everyone," he looked at Harry and Giovanni, his awkwardness melting. "I'm Ron, Harry's other best friend. We met on the train to Hogwarts and became each other's first friend. Honestly, I haven't been the best friend I should be at times, but I know my insecurities got the best of me too much. But she's always been there and willing to forgive me, despite everything. She's such a good person, you know? And I don't know Giovanni as much as I want to, but I know that he's done so much for her and know, just from seeing, how much he adores her. And that's all I want for her, that she has someone who adores her as much as she deserves."

The clapping and cheers grew more as more toasts came. Ron sat down and then it was Archer who stood up, smiling calmly.

"I've known Giovanni for a long time. To be honest, we all know he's not an upstanding citizen," here everyone laughed, though half of the room actually knew what he was talking about. "But he's damn well in love and I can see he can and would do anything for her. He's not going to let her go and he certainly will be loyal and devoted to her for the rest of his life. And though I've only known Harry for a short time, she's a beautiful person, inside and out. I have come to care for her as much as I care for Giovanni, and the two of them are the closest people I have ever let into my life. Here's to a long and prosperous life for them and together!"

"Here, here!" someone answered him, and everyone yelled it out as well.

Ariana stood next, wearing a mischievous smile. "Giovanni's never been in love. He's never been the type to, and he still isn't. Harry is just that damn perfect and one of a kind. I knew, when I first met her in that shop looking for dresses, that she was utterly beautiful and would somehow make her way into our lives. I didn't predict it would be this way, but this way was unexpected but fitting for the two of them. They match each other like yin and yang, and I honestly believe that they will love each other no matter what, forever and a day."

Harry turned to look at Giovanni, starting to cry a bit, and they shared happy smiles. Ash stood then, wearing a huge smile herself.

"If we're going with honesty, then I've always known and thought of Giovanni as a huge, big jerk," which caused laughter to go around and Giovanni to roll his eyes. "Honestly, Harry! You deserve better than him. But then again, you don't need better –you need the person willing and wanting to be by your side through thick and thin," her smile softened and she looked at the two happily. "You two are so, so happy. Harry's made Giovanni a better person, and Giovanni's stuck by her side and loved her so thoroughly since the beginning. That…that's what I call a relationship and what I want to think of when I think of love. Everyone should aspire to have a relationship like yours and I hope one day I do too."

Everyone yelled and screamed their agreement as they clapped hard. When Sirius stood up, he waited a second for everyone to quiet and calm down before beginning to speak.

"I haven't been in your life as much as I should have because of circumstances," he looked to Harry, who smiled sadly back at him with teary eyes. "But you have always been dear to me. I love you and think of you as my own daughter. And you have no idea how happy I am that you've found someone to love and cherish you so wholeheartedly, just as much as your father did your mother." He looked to Giovanni, smiling and tears in his own eyes. "Thank you so much, for loving her and being there for her."

Everyone clapped, and a few in the crowd sniffed or outright cried. And then, last came Cyrus who stood up and looked uncomfortable. But he licked his lips and gave a brief smile to the couple.

"I abhor emotion," he started, causing a few to raise their eyebrows. "Or at least I did. And then I met a girl who showed me emotions weren't a bad thing. And for years, I've been more or less in an isolated daze. But then I was brought into this situation and into this family, and I found myself not being…myself. I was more emotional. Allowed myself to be more emotional. Harry, for a time, hadn't been able to do anything like that. Her emotions were forcibly restrained, and I know now to not take them for granted. Giovanni, who I've known off and on through the years, has changed and come to be someone who loves this beautiful girl. Together, they're just…beautiful.

"Seeing them together brings this ache to my heart that feels wonderful and painful, and I'm filled with such longing. What they have? It's a thing of magic and beauty and awe. It's something that can't be broken and will endure for a long time.

"Once upon a time, I wanted to create a new world –a better world. One without emotion and spirit. But I see that that's not needed, because this world is perfect enough when it can create a thing like them and what they have together, and show the beauty of emotion and spirit in their love. I too wish to someday have that."

He sat down and it was quiet for a moment, before a burst of applause exploded from everyone and the area was loud with commotion and joy.

Giovanni and Harry looked at each other and leaned towards the other.

"I love you," they murmured together.

And now Harry held her beautiful bouquet, thinking back to everything. The pomegranate flowers she could smell and made her remember Giovanni's proposal, the lilies she treasured and to honor her mother…So much had happened since she first met Giovanni.

With a wide smile, Harry gripped her bouquet and then tossed it behind her, hearing the happy and excited screams of her friends. Turning back, she laughed delightedly to herself.

A blushing Ash was clutching onto it, though one of Cyrus' hands had also reached out to grab it (probably to get it for her), and she assumed he was there with the females because he was stubbornly sticking to Ash's side like usual.

How typical and perfect to end her wedding.

Snow slowly drifted from the sky, landing around them and on the white lilies gracefully, the first snow of the season.

Started 10/28/15 – Completed 10/29/15