FicWad

Disclaimer: Taking this story completely seriously may be a hazard to your health.

Chapter Three: Questions Unanswered:

Eckstein walked into the cavernous hallway of a large building, with several armed bodyguards behind him. He consulted the directions that he had been given, before he had chosen the appropriate room. Entering the room, Eckstein looked from side to side, tapping his foot on the floor impatiently, but there was no indication that anyone had arrived. He was beginning to think that his mysterious benefactor had played him for a fool.

“Patience is a virtue, Boss Eckstein,” commented the shadowed figure, almost if he had read Eckstein’s thoughts. “Now, I am certain you are anxious to gain the weapons that we have promised you in our previous communication.”

“Absolutely, give them to be,” said Eckstein in a gleeful, greedy tone of voice and calmly, a device that looked like a hair pink dryer dropped into Eckstein’s hand. “What, this is your weapon? What I am supposed to do, threaten to mess up the hair of my enemies’ if you don’t cooperate?”

The bodyguards laughed along with Eckstein, but the shadowed figure seemed as humorless as usual.

“Give it a try Eckstein, but be careful when you use it,” warned the shadowed figure.

“Or what, I’ll shoot my eye out,” scoffed Eckstein with a smirk.

“No more like blow your brains out, but given the fact that you’re a Muggle, that might not take that much to do the job,” stated the mysterious benefactor coldly.

“He’s insulting me again, isn’t he?” asked Eckstein and his bodyguards just shrugged, before he held up the weapon, examining it closely, skeptical that it would work. “Very well, let’s give this baby a test drive.”

Eckstein pointed the weapon towards a conveniently placed vase and pushed the button to activate. A large blast of yellow light impacted the vase, shattering the vase into dust.

“Yes, this will do nicely,” said Eckstein as he eyed the weapon curiously, before he turned to his benefactor with a hopeful look on his face. “Does this thing work on people as well?”

“Depends on the person,” remarked the shadowed figure mysteriously. “Rest assure it will cause injury to an extent to even the most powerful individual.”

Eckstein nodded, with a grin, as a box was pushed over towards them, containing several more of the weapons.

“Careful with those you boobs, those are high powered weapons,” said Eckstein, as his bodyguards picked them up the weapons. “Now what else do you have for me?”

“If you do the job properly, you shall need nothing else,” commented the shadowed figure. “Do remember that this power was granted for the express purpose of dealing with Barone, although do feel free to utilize it any way you see fit, as long as the end result is Barone’s destruction.”

“Fine, I was going to have to end up dealing with Barone anyway, but seems to me that you don’t care too much for him either,” said Eckstein. “With me it’s just strictly business, but with you, it seems rather personal.”

“Just do your task, Eckstein, it is little of your concern of why we want Barone out of the way,” remarked the shadowed figure curtly and the next time Eckstein blinked, his supplier was gone, without a trace.

“Fine, be that way, we’ve got the stuff, we’re going to rule this country, but damn, why did they have to pink?” declared Eckstein triumphantly, as Eckstein, picking up the box with the remaining weapons, it seemed to be almost magically lighter than it should have been, and his bodyguards moved out of the building, pleased with their new hardware, that would be enough for Eckstein and his followers to rule the criminal underworld in Britain.

Back at the headquarters, Harry, Lotus, and Luna arrived, where Hermione had stepped out, to greet Harry and Luna, along with giving some Harry some urgent news that she had found out when they were gone, before stopping in her tracks when she had saw the mysterious third individual, more so when she saw that she had the same vivid green eyes that Harry had.

“Okay, could someone please explain to me what’s going on?” asked Hermione as she regarded Lotus with a curious expression. “Since when have you had a twin sister Harry?”

“Never,” said Harry calmly, as he was both amused by Hermione’s expression and the look that Lotus had on her face, it was obvious she did not want to be considered Harry’s sister, wrinkling her nose at the very thought. “No seriously Hermione this is Lotus….and to be honest with you, I’m not exactly sure where she came from.”

“She attacked Harry on the orders of someone who has it in for him,” said Luna calmly as if this was an everyday occurrence and to a certain extent it was. “She tried to kill him, they had a little duel, but eventually she came to see the error in her ways. We had a nice little chat and now all three of us are together.”

“That’s an interesting way of putting it, Luna,” said Harry but Lotus put her hand on Harry’s.

“Well, its true isn’t it?” asked Lotus. “At the risk of sounding really sappy, there is a connection between the three of us, as weird as that may be.”

“Wait a minute, let me get this straight, she attacked Harry and now you’re in a relationship…all three of you,” said Hermione slowly, as if she was comprehending a foreign language in a matter of seconds and Luna, Lotus, and Harry all nodded, with smiles on their face, all taking a perverse pleasure in making Hermione’s head explode, before she put her hand on her head, sighing. “I need an aspirin.”

“Yes I know, but what are you going to do?” asked Harry to no one in particular.

“Oh, I’m sure we can come up with some ideas,” said Lotus mischievously, as she batted her eyelashes towards both Harry and Luna, before the trio laughed and Hermione just sighed, now she had three of them to contend with, all equally insane.

“Anyway, before you induced this headache, I was coming to tell you about new legislation that the Ministry of Magic passed, it’s coming all over the Wireless and the Daily Prophet,” said Hermione calmly.

“Why do I have the feeling that I’m the one who’s going to be getting a headache in a few minutes?” asked Harry. “Better get it out of the way, Hermione.”

“Well the Wizengamot, by the slimmest margins possible, pushed through a new bill,” said Hermione. “It’s horrible, really, more or less, it says that anyone who is caught speaking out against the Ministry is subjected to be taken in for questioning and may face time in Azkaban. This policy is said to be the work of the new head of the Auror office, Garrett Winston.”

“Who?” asked Harry, in a befuddled voice, he had no idea who this Garrett Winston person was and he tried his best to be familiar with all the high ranking politicians at the Ministry, especially those who had the potential to give him trouble.

“He’s some American Auror, no one knows much about him, Scrimgeour brought him in to revamp the Auror Department,” said Hermione. “He might be a problem if he managed to get this legislation drafted on his first day.”

“I suspect this was in the works, Scrimgeour might have been in contact with Winston for a long time,” said Harry. “And trust me, if the Ministry knows what’s good for them, they won’t be a problem.”

“Remember your history too Hermione, they enacted harsh laws like this before, most notably during the first uprising of Voldemort,” said Luna.

“Yes, they did Luna, but only in time’s of war, not without a current dark lord terrorizing the population,” argued Hermione.

“I know I don’t know all that much about the Ministry, but there are some people who would consider Harry to be reason enough to enact those laws,” said Lotus logically. “I was sent after him, who knows what else they have up their sleeves?”

“So the Ministry is behind this,” muttered Harry, as he looked at Lotus, who just shrugged, she was just guessing. “Since there’s no real proof that the Ministry is connected to the people who tried to get you to kill me.”

“Knowing you, Harry, you won’t rest until you find proof,” stated Luna logically.

“Of course he won’t and neither will I,” said Lotus firmly. “Even if this Ministry of Magic isn’t connected, I want to find the people who used me.”

“We will, calm down,” replied Harry, as he felt the floor rattle beneath him, it was obviously that she did not take too kindly to be manipulated for someone else’s means.

“Trust Harry, he’s a man of his word,” added Luna. “Is there anything else Hermione?”

“Harry, just so you know, the items that were destroyed by the arsonist are over halfway from being complete, everything should just barely be ready by tomorrow,” remarked Hermione.

“Good, nice to see everyone’s been busting their arses to make sure that shipment’s in on time, make a note to have me increase their holiday bonus,” said Harry.

“What do I look like, your secretary?” asked Hermione.

“Actually, thanks for volunteering Hermione, pay is ten galleons a day,” said Harry and Hermione just groaned, she should have known better than to be sarcastic with Harry by now. “I’d love to sit here and chat, but we have some things to figure out, talk to you later.”

Harry, Luna, and Lotus made their way down the hallway, towards Harry’s office. The door swung open, and once all three was inside, Harry ensured that the door was properly secured.

“Please sit down, Lotus,” prompted Harry motioning to the chair, and the girl obeyed, before Harry removed his wand from the sleeve of his robe. “Okay, I’m going to try to figure out what’s going on here, so I’m going to use a technique to read your mind called Legilimency. It will allow me to easily shift through your mind and perhaps I’ll be able to find some clue left behind by whoever sent you after me. Now, if you feel uncomfortable in any way, let me know and I’ll back out immediately.”

Lotus nodded and Harry removed his wand, before he pointed it at her temple. It was very easy for him and virtually painless for her to get for Harry to enter her mind. After a few seconds, it was very easy to know why and after he shifted around her mind for more time still, Harry pulled out, finding nothing that hinted who did this.

“I’m sorry, Lotus, I didn’t find anything about who was behind you attacking me,” said Harry and Lotus nodded, she had a hunch that whomever did this had covered their tracks. “However, I did find out something rather peculiar about your….existence, well I’m not exactly sure how to delicately put this…”

“I’m sure I can take it, I’m a big girl,” said Lotus in an encouraging voice.

“You’re well….technically a female clone of me,” stated Harry.

“What do you mean technically Harry?” asked Luna.

“Genetic material from me was used help create you,” said Harry. “There are a few similarities between us, but differences as well, other than the obvious. It’s very complicated and requires understanding a lot of magical theory. You were artificially matured to sixteen years old, mentally and physically, and to give you a better chance to fight me, you were gifted with the ability to think on your feet at an advanced rate. Unfortunately for them, this gift also gave you the ability to independently think beyond what they wanted you to believe.”

“So I was created as a weapon,” replied Lotus in a perceptive voice.

“My entire purpose at one point was to be a weapon, to defeat Voldemort by sacrificing myself,” said Harry quietly. “The key is to learn to live beyond that brand, to live your own life.”

“I will,” said Lotus firmly, she would not let this eat her up inside. “Does this change anything between us?”

Luna and Harry exchanged a look. Harry was thinking quickly, remembering the kiss that he shared with Lotus. The feeling was just as strong as what he felt whenever he kissed Luna.

“If you have no problem with it, that I don’t either,” said Harry casually.

“No, obviously I don’t,” said Lotus as she breathed, glad to see that Harry was not exactly completely noble. “Some people might not approve of it…”

“They won’t, but quite frankly I don’t care,” remarked Harry calmly as both of them turned to Luna.

“You know how open minded I am Harry,” said Luna with a wink and Harry nodded with a smile. “Lotus seems to know exactly how to fit in with both of us, so why mess with a wonderful thing?”

Luna rose to her feet and kissed both of them good bye.

“I really need to be get going, I was due back a few hours ago, I’ll see you two again, I suspect,” said Luna.

“Okay, bye Luna,” said Harry.

“Yeah, hope to see you really soon,” said Lotus and once Luna was gone, Harry turned to his second girlfriend, with a serious expression on his face, before he pulled out a book on the shelf.

“You have some good instincts when dueling out there, but you might need a bit fine tuning on the fundamentals of magical theory,” remarked Harry. “There were a few times you could have gotten me, but your spell work was weak, allowing me to easily find holes in your offense.”

“That was a good thing!” protested Lotus but Harry nodded, agreeing that it was a good thing that he did not have a hole blasted in his chest right now. Still, given the types of people that attacked him on a regular basis, he wanted anyone that was close to him to be able to defend themselves, be able to fight to kill, which unfortunately included a grasp on the fundamentals of magic.

“I know, there are others that are less benevolent than I am,” said Harry firmly. “This offers more than the tripe they try to pass off as theory at Hogwarts. Once you read this book, you should be able to master some of the more advanced forms of magic.”

Lotus opened the book and nodded, as she began to read. The book seemed a little dry, but everything made sense and registered in her brain before too long.

“Now I have some business to take care of, I’m sure Hermione will be happy to help you if you don’t understand anything,” concluded Harry, before he walked off, leaving Lotus sitting cross legged on the office floor, as she read the magical theory book, with full knowledge in her mind that once she had read everything, she could learn more interesting material.

A greasy young man with a mullet walked out of the side of a night club. He owned the establishment, a very popular hang out for teenagers. While they were not strictly allowed, the owner felt for the sake of profits, he would overlook the fact that some of his patrons were underage, providing of course they could pay the tab. He took out a cigarette and lit it, but all of the sudden, he found his feet lifting off the ground. From the shadow, the imposing figure of one Boss Barone stepped into the forefront, flanked by two bodyguards.

“Hello, Mr. Fletcher,” said Barone with a calm voice. “It’s been a while.”

“What are you doing here, Barone?” begged Fletcher as he was levitated into the air. “I paid you for this month in full, I swear, what could you want?”

“I’ve been hearing some very interesting rumors about certain transactions that go on inside your club, in the heart of my turf I might add,” said Barone calmly. “It seems like you’ve been getting some kickbacks from a rival of mine, to allow these transactions to take place.”

“Now what I do inside my club is my business, Barone, you’re way out of line,” argued Fletcher.

“Considering how much money I put into your little club to keep you from losing it, I’ll be as out of line as I want to!” snapped Barone. “Now I’ve turned a blind eye to the fact you allow underage teenagers into your club, but the fact remains that by allowing this to happen, you’re endorsing it.”

“Hey, I don’t touch the stuff, I swear,” begged Fletcher, but Barone flicked his wand causing him to hang upside down, before he stared intently at the night club owner.

“If I see or hear of any causalities in my club, you’ll be the next one to die,” said Barone in his most dangerous tone of voice. “Do you understand me?”

“Y…y..yes sir,” stammered Fletcher as Barone caused him to drop to the ground.

“Good,” said Barone, as he watched Fletcher scrambled to his feet. “If he comes here again, tell Eckstein that Uncle Al said hi and to stay the hell out of his turf.”

Fletcher nodded quickly, looking rather terrified, as he backed off, but Barone and his two goons were as gone. He quickly scrambled to the parking lot, to his car, as he needed a fresh change of pants.

In a large conference room in one of his many buildings, Harry, under the guise of Barone, sat, with several crates full of the merchandise, with two bodyguards at his side. Barone sat in the chair, awaiting the arrival of his buyers. He wished to get these particular gentlemen in and out of his building as soon as possible, there were of course many other things that Harry wished to get finished today. Sure enough, the door opened, and a large imposing Japanese gentlemen dressed in a nice business suit entered the room. His right hand was noticeable because his right pinky finger had been chopped off. The man’s name was Genki Wansuke, who had been in Britain for the past several months on business and had offered, through his interpreter, to pay Harry a handsome sum of money for certain items. It was just spare change as far as Harry was concerned but it would allow him to not have to go to Gringotts for a while to get Muggle money for his business in that world.

“Ah Mr. Barone,” said a short little man by Wansuke’s side, as another quartet of men entered, completely dressed in black, their faces completely obscured. “I trust you have the goods that Master Wansuke has requested full and complete.”

“Yes, I believe you’ll find it in order,” stated Barone wearily, and Wansuke barked orders to his men in Japanese, who moved towards the crates, rifling through them, examining them, before they responded back. Wansuke then turned to his interpreter, talking to him, before the interpreter turned to Barone.

“Everything is in order, your works is as satisfactory as always Mr. Barone,” said the interpreter with a calm nod, before Wansuke pushed a briefcase into the hands of Barone. Barone opened the briefcase, carefully counting the funds inside, which Wansuke did not seem too pleased about. “I believe we can trust Master Wansuke, Mr. Barone.”

“You went over my goods, it’s only right that I count to make sure my entire payment’s here,” replied Barone swiftly, as two of Wansuke’s aides pulled out swords, pointing them towards Barone, feeling that he had disrespected their Master. “And you can tell your little minions to put away their butter knives as well.”

Wansuke grunted towards his men, which was obvious that he indicated for them to back off. He still regarded Barone with a cold, dangerous look. Given the fact that he had been face to face with one of the most dangerous dark wizards that ever lived on a number of occasions, Barone highly doubted that Wansuke could do much except scowl and grunt menacingly.

“All in order, Wansuke-San,” said Barone, adding the “San” part with a bit of a sarcastic air in his force, but once the Interpreter relayed Barone’s statement back in Japanese, Wansuke just grunted before he gave a short bow which Barone returned. His minions hauled the crates, Barone standing back, offering no assistance to them. After all, they did not pay him extra for hauling charges. Once the Japanese mobsters left, Barone breathed a sigh of relief, and dismissed his bodyguards, before he moved down the hallway. Peering out the window, he saw Wansuke’s minions load the equipment into the van and then seconds later, they entered the van, before driving off. Barone stepped into the next room, before he walked out as Harry Potter.

“Problems Harry,” said Hermione as she walked into the hallway.

“Just getting back from my meeting with Genki Wansuke,” replied Harry. “Japanese mobsters, different then what I’ve dealt with in the past, the Yokozuna I believe they’re called.”

“Yakuza,” corrected Hermione. “They’re really dangerous, or so I’ve read, not someone you’d want to mess with, Harry.”

“I might have insulted one. Wansuke, big hulking brute with his pinky finger chopped off, looks like he could punch through cinderblocks without cracking a knuckle,” stated Harry. “You know how I am.”

“All too well Harry,” said Hermione. “Seriously, be careful next time, they practically run the country, it’s not like over here where there’s only one or two main players that only have minimal pull over the government. If the rumors are true, the Yakuza practically runs Japan and this Wansuke guy might be nosing around over here, trying to expand their operations into Britain.”

“So basically if he’s nosing around here on behalf of the Yakuza, I might be going from a large fish in a moderately sized pond to a small fish in an entire sea of hungry sharks,” stated Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement. “We’ll see about that.”

“Please tell me you’re not going to do something to rub salt in the wound that you already have opened, Harry?” begged Hermione

“Okay, you’re not going to do something to rub salt into the wound that you’ve already opened, Harry,” replied Harry. “Happy, Hermione?”

“Not particularly,” dead panned Hermione.

“It will have to do,” concluded Harry in a final voice. “Look, I’m gong to check on Lotus, she’s still studying in my east office, right?”

“As far as I know,” said Hermione. “I’ve peaked in a couple of times, but she’s just been intently reading those books in her office.”

Harry nodded, before he walked down the corridor and approached the door to the east office. He raised his hand and knocked on the door.

“Come in!” called Lotus from the other end of the office and Harry pushed open his office door, before he stopped cold in his tracks, feeling his jaw drop as he took a look at Lotus. She had changed out of her robes, wearing a tight black t-shirt with her midriff exposed and a short skirt that really showed off her tanned athletic legs. In Harry’s somewhat biased opinion, she looked absolutely stunning and not that he gave this matter much thought, but he was actually glad that he was not born a girl. If he looked like this, he would never get a moment’s peace. People would be offering to carry books, hold open doors, stammer over their words trying to get a date to Hogsmeade, until Harry would lose his or rather her, mind and hex them into a million pieces.

“Wow,” breathed Harry.

“I take it you like what you see,” said Lotus as she got to her feet, before she walked over, leaning towards Harry, pressing up against him, with a flirtatious smile and wink. “The robes were way too confining you see and besides, I have to look good, shame Luna isn’t here to enjoy this is it not?”

“Mmm hmm,” said Harry, as Lotus wrapped her arms around his waist. “You looked positively breathtaking.”

“I aim to please, although if any other guy looked at me this way, I’d castrate them with a potato peeler,” said Lotus, before she laughed at the very thought. “Of course, I know this outfit would look much better lying on the bedroom floor, you seem to fit me much better, babe.”

“Anyway down to business,” said Harry shaking his head which caused Lotus to give him a mock pout, sticking her lip out towards Harry.

“You’re no fun,” said Lotus but she was grinning.

“I’ll show you how fun I am later,” remarked Harry. “Plus, its best we wait until Luna can join us anyway.”

“You’ve got a point Harry, more possibilities,” said Lotus mischievously, licking her lips. “Still can’t you give a girl a little something to hold her over until then.”

Harry looked over her, before he reached forward, pulling Lotus into an embrace. Both pressed their lips together, as Harry guided her down towards the desk. Lotus sighed, as Harry seemed a bit tentative to explore because they had just gotten together. She grabbed Harry’s hand and slowly pulled over, underneath her shirt, so it was touching the underside of her right breast. Lotus felt pleasure at this small gesture, as she trailed down the side of Harry’s neck with kisses, as she felt Harry’s hands roam underneath her shirt.

Harry felt that Lotus was very open to what she was willing to allow him to do to her, but then again so was Luna. Not that Harry was complaining, as he heard the moans of the obviously pleased girl, as he began to pull the shirt over her head, as she was working her hands down his pants, kissing him passionately, but unfortunately at this moment, the office door pushed open.

Instinctively, both Harry and Lotus sprung up, before they began shooting every spell they could think of at the figure that had entered the office.

“Wait stop, don’t shoot, it’s me!” yelled Sirius, as he put up a shield charm, which Harry’s cutting charm had pierced through it backing off Sirius, before he grabbed Lotus’s arm, getting her to stop. “Jeez Harry, you’d think you didn’t want to see your old godfather or something.”

“Sirius your timing is impeccable,” said Harry dryly. “Have you purebloods ever heard of the concept of knocking before you enter a room?

“Of course we have, we’ve never had any reason to use it,” responded Sirius, as he waved off Harry’s irritation. “And who is this lovely young lady here?”

“Lotus, she’s my new girlfriend,” said Harry.

“Wait, I thought you were dating Luna,” said Sirius in a confused voice.

“We are,” responded Lotus. “Is there anything wrong with that?”

“Actually no, in fact, many purebloods have three or four wives, along with a couple of mistresses stashed away for variety,” remarked Sirius, before he turned to Harry with a grin, which never was a good sign on the face of the former Marauder. “So thinking of building a harem, Harry?”

“Sirius, I’m only human,” said Harry seriously. “A couple of girls I can handle fine, but any more is really pushing it.”

“And here I thought it was every young man’s dream to build a harem,” stated Sirius with mock disappointment as he shook his head before he looked at Lotus and Harry, who were both laughing. “Or maybe that was my dream, I can never keep track.”

“What’s stopping you, Sirius?” asked Harry. “All the free time you have on your hands.”

“I’m really bad at remembering names, I mean, you call one witch by the wrong name and they fire a castrating curse at you,” responded Sirius as he shuddered. “A lesson that I learned last night and a couple of weeks after I was cleared and during my sixth year at Hogwarts too and my fifth year and a couple of other times that I’m forgetting.”

“Okay, got the picture, Sirius, now I have some important lessons to teach to my new apprentice,” said Harry as he shooed his godfather out of the office. “I’d really love to chat with you sometime but I’m really busy.”

“Well, I’ll let you get onto your er lessons,” said Sirius with a wink. “Have fun children and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“That leaves us quite a bit to work with,” replied Harry which caused Lotus to nod in agreement as Sirius exited and Lotus leaned against Harry, ready to pick up right where they left off before Sirius had interrupted. “Seriously through, I really need to see how much you learned from your studies.”

“You’re a bloody tease,” pouted Lotus, but she was ready, because she knew the sooner she got done, the sooner she could spend some quality time with the brilliantly hot boy right by her.

In his loft, Herbie Periwinkle or as he preferred to be called, Inferno, sat, counting the money from his latest job earlier today. Some greedy rich old man wanted an orphanage torched, when he was refused when he had offered to buy the land, so he could build a shopping mall. For some reason, the owners refused to sell the orphanage, citing a flimsy excuse about putting all those poor innocent children out on the street. Inferno could care less about the fate of a bunch of parentless brats, especially with the large stack of cash he was handed. The orphanage bursting into flames was all the owners needed to sell the land. Inferno did not know or care if anyone died, all he cared about was the number of zeroes in his bank account.

The door burst open and two figures with their faces obscured entered the room, before they pulled Inferno to his feet. Wansuke stepped forward, the large man coldly glaring at Inferno, before he began yell at him in Japanese.

“Wansuke, I told you, I don’t speak Chinese,” begged Inferno, as Wansuke’s interpreter entered the room.

“Master Wansuke is not too happy with your shoddy work, Mr. Periwinkle,” said the interpreter, as Wansuke grunted, a dangerous look in his eyes. “You were supposed to kill Barone-san, make it look like an accident, so we could easily take out Harry Potter and extend control of Wansuke Enterprises into the Evans Empire. All the months we spent spying on Barone’s headquarters, to give you specifications on the building so you can slip inside, down the drain. Your work was, what do you call it, an epic fail.”

“But, some punk with a scar caught me, before I could get to Barone,” begged Inferno and the interpreter relayed the message to Wansuke, who walked over and hoisted the table in the loft up before he threw it against the wall. It shattered into toothpicks, as Wansuke rapidly talked to his interpreter in Japanese.

“Master Wansuke is not pleased, you passed up an ample chance to eliminate Harry Potter, yet you failed,” said the interpreter. “He wishes to have the char boiled corpse of the famous Boy-Who-Lived before him soon, so you better come up with a way to eliminate him and Barone. Master Wansuke’s patience is dwindling, Mr. Periwinkle.”

“Okay, I’ll fine where the kid is and he’ll go up in flames,” said Inferno quickly. “But the price triples…”

When the interpreter relayed what Wansuke had told him, Inferno was grabbed by the scruff of the collar and slammed against the wall.

“Fine, double then, double,” amended Inferno, as the interpreter turned, relaying his message to Wansuke, who just grunted and spoke quickly to his interpreter, before he dropped Inferno to the ground.

“Your greed disgusts Master Wansuke, but very well, you will receive the payment, finish off Harry Potter or…” said the interpreter before trailing off as Wansuke drew his thumb down his own throat, making a slitting motion, as he looked towards Inferno, causing the arsonist to step back in fear.

“Okay, okay, but why do you want this Potter burned so bad?” asked Inferno.

“It is a matter that is none of your concern, Mr. Periwinkle,” said the interpreter as Wansuke and his associates left as quickly as they had entered his loft.

“Well, time to clock into work,” commented Inferno under his breath, as he reached over towards a box underneath his bed, rummaging through the necessary equipment to do the job, before he headed out, singing. “A torching we will go, a torching we will go, someone’s building is going to go up in flames, a torching we will go.”

Back at the headquarters, Lotus and Harry were in the process of wrapping up their lesson, when the fire in Harry’s office came to life. Harry turned around to see Luna’s face in the fire, as Lotus stepped back to allow Harry to speak with her.

“Luna, what a pleasant surprise,” said Harry as he knelt down to greet one of his girlfriends.

“Hi, Luna!” called Lotus blowing her a kiss towards Luna as she bounced up and down.

“Good afternoon, I hope both of you two are enjoying the time you have alone with each other,” remarked Luna smiling as she watched Lotus for a few seconds, before she turned towards Harry. “Harry, Dad just got an interesting request from someone, who wanted to give him some information regarding exactly what the Ministry’s exactly up to.”

“Great, what is it?” asked Harry, but Luna just frowned.

“Dad’s contact won’t give it to him,” said Luna sadly. “But, he has agreed for an interview with me, providing that you come with me and only you. Harry, he really wants to talk to you, he’s hinting that it’s a big secret that would shake the entire foundations of the Ministry and the Wizarding World to its core.”

“This could be the break to find out who exactly was behind you,” said Harry to Lotus, who nodded, she had been studying the books in Harry’s office closely, dreaming of using some of the more dangerous curses on those who attempted to manipulate her into attacking Harry and the sooner Harry found out, the better. “Okay, Luna, when does this guy want to meet us?”

“He said twelve thirty, he wants time to properly sweep his place for Ministry bugs before we come,” said Luna. “So, we’ll be up at my place at about eleven and have lunch before we head out?”

“It’s a date,” confirmed Harry as Luna disappeared from the fire.