Capítulo 20: Hephaestus
Stepping out into the back garden, Andromeda placed the clothes basket she was carrying onto the ground, wand flicking out. Slowly, the clothes rose and landed on the washing line to dry.
As the last shirt draped over the washing line, Andromeda then picked up the basket once more and made her way inside. In there, she found Teddy playing with her newest houseguest, a young woman named, Malia. She had arrived a few days ago, Kingsley having accompanied her and explained the situation to her.
Harry, who was indisposed due to circumstances that Kingsley had not been able to clarify, was the one to ask to see if she was willing to take in Malia. Andromeda had initially been hesitant to agree, as wonderful and king as Harry was, she wasn't willing to let an unknown girl into her home near her grandson. She of course knew that Harry was the last person to put Teddy in harm's way, he loved the boy that much she knew.
But this was a young woman that she had never met before, Andromeda was well within her rights to have reservations about whether she could be trusted.
It was during that conversation that Malia had met Teddy for the first time.
Well, it was more that Teddy had met Malia and upon seeing how the two interacted had been more than enough to convince Andromeda to take in Malia for a short time.
And as she looked upon the two now, Andromeda was glad to have accepted Malia. She was quiet and withdrawn a lot of the time, hardly ever smiling and a permanent frown upon her face. But she was gentle, helpful, and kind and Andromeda was grateful for how easy she had made things around the house.
Her gaze then turned to look at the dishes. 'As willing to help look after Teddy as she is, she is useless when it comes to everything else.' But despite that, Andromeda was hardly bothered and instead moved her way towards the sink.
Hearing a knock at the door, Andromeda sighed. "Malia, could you see who's at the door." She called, placing the basket on the floor, and moving to pick up Teddy who was looking to see where Malia had gone in confusion.
"Hey, Malia, it's good to see you again." Harry's voice greeted, flashing Malia a smile as he stepped inside. "Andromeda, you here?"
"In the living room." She called, Harry stepping out of the corridor and into the living room where a smile came upon his face. He moved forwards, taking the smiling and giggling Teddy from her hands, completely oblivious to the looks both Malia and Andromeda were giving him.
Both had noticed the scars upon the left side of his face, running down from the tip of his hairline, down across his left eye and reaching and stopping just under the ridge of his cheekbones. And once again, the Tonks matriarch wondered to herself what line of work Harry had gotten himself into. She knew from talking with Hermione, the smart young girl she was that Harry had told them two conflicting stories.
As far as Hermione and his other friends were aware, Harry had been going out and travelling the world. He didn't have a job which had not only further confused Andromeda as to why he was telling two different stories, but what job he was part of that required him to tell two different stories.
Malia on the other hand was of a different mentality.
Even after nearly a week, the scent of the Werewolves on him was still strong, especially within the scar upon his face. And his scent, always unique compared to everyone else's and now containing the scent of a Werewolf along with it.
"How are you?" Andromeda asked, hinting to his eyes.
"I'm fine, just a little scratch." He dismissed easily, turning to face her. "I was wondering if you'd want to take a little day trip out to Diagon Alley. I've got a business meeting there, shouldn't last too long, but I think it could be a good day out if you're willing?"
Andromeda took one look and then released a small sigh, a smile coming onto her face as she nodded her head. She doubted she would get answers even if she asked, Harry had been tight-lipped about a lot of things recently. But she doubted how much she pressed, he would cave and reveal everything about what she wanted to know.
However, that was fine.
Andromeda was just glad to see him alive and well and with Teddy.
-X- Line Break -X-
Walking down the cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley, Harry held Teddy in his arms as he looked around at the changes that had begun to appear. The overall architecture of Diagon Alley had not changed, Muggles themselves were quite adamant about maintaining the historical architect of places and so, the physical changes were not great.
Those places that had been attacked and desecrated in the Second Blood War had of course been rebuilt and many places had been encouraged to introduce more Muggle products to try and revolutionise Magical society.
The biggest of course was Knockturn Alley.
There had been several raids in the past few days into Knockturn Alley. The first had been the largest raid, millions of Galleons worth of illegal artefacts, books and contraband had been gathered. And in the following days, there were several smaller raids to clear up those remaining stores which had remained.
While Knockturn Alley had been cleared up, there was still the process of rebuilding it in a new image. That would take a lot longer, considering the amount of corruption and darkness that surrounded the alley.
Feeling a prod on his shoulder, Harry turned to see Malia looking at him in confusion, Andromeda who was stood next to Malia and had been explaining and pointing things out to both her and Teddy, smiled in amusement at her confusion.
"Yes, Malia?" He asked, Malia eventually pointing to his hair. "Yes, its blonde, because people would recognise me, and I don't want that." Due to his fame, something Harry disliked, he couldn't go anywhere in Magical Britain without people recognising and swarming him.
So, to avoid that he had used a simple hair and eye changing charm, turning him into a blonde and blue-eyed man. He'd even used a disillusionment charm that covered the scars upon his face. However, considering the street was relatively quiet, he probably didn't need to, but he was taking a small safety precaution.
With the raids of the Werewolves currently taking place, many people had retreated further north and east where they presumed would be safe. The Aurors were hard work containing the Werewolf threat in Devon and Cornwall, but from Croaker had revealed, the Aurors were being pushed further back every day. As a result, it was like the beginning Second Blood War again, back when Voldemort had just been revealed.
Everyone had been too afraid to leave their homes and the same was happening here.
Malia still looked confused by the whole thing but nodded her head as if to say she heard him.
Continuing to make their way down the cobbled streets of Diagon Alley, they eventually arrived at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. The place had undergone some changes here and there, especially considering the current financial problems due to the Werewolf raids and the resulting lack of customers. But Harry still provided funding that helped keep them afloat.
Entering inside, they found that there were still some customers around and Harry noticed George hard at work. Momentarily, a smile came onto his face at the sight, that was until he noticed the heavy bags under his eyes and the slumping of his shoulders.
Already he had lost one brother, Fred during the Battle of Hogwarts, and now he had lost another.
"I'll be back in a minute."
"This is your meeting?" Andromeda asked, Harry, nodding his head as Malia took Teddy from his arms. Moving forwards, Harry moved towards the counter where George had just finished serving a customer.
"Good afternoon, what can I help you with today?" George asked, his voice putting on a forced cheerfulness.
"It's me, George, I was wondering if we could talk in the back," Harry said, George's head whipping up, blinking in shock at the blonde-haired man before him. And as he looked closer, and recognised the voice, his eyes widened.
"Ah, y-yes." George stuttered. "Angelina, can you cover the counter for me, I'll be just a few minutes to talk business with an investor." Out from a stack of boxes, the brown-skinned Gryffindor Chaser, peeked her head up, looking from George to Harry.
"Yeah, just a minute." She replied, turning back to add the last stacks of the product on the shelves.
George meanwhile opened up a countertop, opening a path for Harry to step through. "Shall we?" George asked, Harry, following after him into the backroom to look around at where some of the stuff was in production.
"I see the House Elves are helping in the production," Harry noted.
"Yeah, it small right now, but I had to make a way to make the stuff without Fred, and House Elves were the best thing to do so. Thank you for, helping me get that sorted out by the way." Harry waved it off, the two moving to sit down at a table where a cup of tea instantly appeared before them. "So, what can I do to help you?"
"Well before we begin that, I want to say I'm sorry," Harry said. "Bill was a good man and I'm sorry for your loss."
George was silent, nodding his head slowly but never replying to the sentiment.
Harry then reached inside to pull out a piece of parchment. "Second, before we can get onto actual matters of business, I need you to sign this contract and swear a magical oath that you will not reveal anything you hear and that you'll make sure that the Elves follow the same rules."
"Merlin, Harry. Are you paranoid? Don't you trust me?" George questioned, taking the contract.
"I trust you, but my boss is…professionally paranoid and has asked me to ask you to do this."
"Your boss?" George repeated. "I thought you were travelling the world."
"As I said, I can't reveal until you- "
"-Sign the contract and swear a magical oath." George finished, quickly doing so, first the oath and after a quick read over the standard and simple contract, signed it. "Now tell me what is going on with you?"
Smiling in relief that George had done it so easily, Harry flicked his wand, his hair and eyes returning to their simple black and green colour. But also dispelling the disillusionment charm that covered his scars, George's eyes widening in shock upon seeing them.
Before he could ask how they got them, Harry began speaking. "As you know, the Unspeakables are researchers, but what you don't know, is that there is a sub-branch of Unspeakables, they are Field Agents. Their job is to deal with all manners of threats such as Vampire Covens, Inferi infested caves, wild Dragons and Werewolf Packs. However, during the Great War as well as the First and Second Blood War, they were all wiped out. I'm the only active Field Agent."
"Then? You have been…"
"Yes, I've been fighting the Werewolf Pack that's been raiding Britain, I got severely injured and was just discharged from our Medical centre today." Harry finished off. "I've been going into the field undertrained and underequipped and it's the innocents that have been paying the price for it."
"Why tell me this?"
"Because you're one of the smartest men I know, and I want your help in creating defensive and offensive equipment for the UFAD. You'll be given a contract and a commission, it'll be an extra source of revenue for you, and you'll be able to get revenge against those that killed Bill, indirectly."
George didn't reply straight away, just going over everything Harry had revealed. "What do you need?"
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