That being said Hydrus got up to get ready to go into public by changing into casual business clothes and putting in his grey contacts. He stopped to say good-bye to his nephew, praised him for doing well and then Disapparated to the Alley. He made his way down the busy street to his store and weaved through the customers into the back room.
"Hello, Mr. Parker. How is business?" he asked as he took the chair in front of the crowded desk.
"Good morning, Mr. Black," the neatly dressed man said, looking up from the paper he was reading. "Business is going well, very well indeed. Christmas brought in a lot of new customers. We are so far in the black that I have very little worries about profit at this time."
"Good, I was a bit worried about a drop when I took the entertainment out of the store. It's good to know that didn't happen. So let's look at the applicants." And the two men started going through the applications. There weren't that many and they ranged from all walks of life. They settled on five to interview and then Hydrus rose to get home so Sirius could go on his date. After shaking Mr. Parker's hand and congratulating him on doing well, the immortal left the store.
When he stepped out on to the sidewalk there was a bright flash of light, which caused the whole street to shield their eyes. When the light died down in the sky were the words 'I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE' in bright neon pink. They were too big to hang only over his store, so they covered the five stores to the side, and were slightly over the street, like the person casting had bad aim.
Well shite. Hydrus looked around to see how people were taking this. Most were simply confused and started pointing to the words. Many were asking what the words meant. The Alley was suddenly flooded with reporters and photographers, like they had been warned this would happen. Trying to calm his racing heart, the immortal decided to stick around, in case it looked like he was hurrying from the scene.
A reporter, for The Times, did come up and ask him if he knew what was happening, since the words were so close to his shop. Hydrus answered honestly that he had no clue as to who put them there. After about a half an hour he finally made it home. He told Padfoot what happened and then sent him on his way. He called his detective and informed him. The man said he'd look into it.
Harry came running in and hugged him. "I finished my book. Here are the words I don't know," the five and a half year old said, handing the paper over. "Can we fly now?" He bounced on the balls of his feet.
"Let's go over a few of these first and then we can fly," Hydrus said, mussing that ever messy hair.
"Fine," the child pouted, while he liked reading and learning words, right now he wanted to play. So the two sat and discussed the schoolwork and twenty minutes later they were outside enjoying the cold air.
That night, after a simple dinner of macaroni and cheese, the men settled in the living room. Harry was on the sofa playing with his handheld.
"How did your date go, Sirius?" Remus asked, not knowing about the happenings in the Alley.
"Very well," the dogman answered with a dopey grin. "Laura is such a fun gal. We took in a movie and then went to a restaurant and then back to the flat for a bit of slap and tickle."
"What kind of game is that?" chimed in Harry. "It doesn't sound fun." He wrinkled his nose at the thought of people slapping then tickling each other. The three adults burst out laughing, making the little boy pout and shout, "It's not funny!"
"Sorry, Harry, we don't mean to laugh at you. Slap and tickle is an adult game, you will learn about it when you're older," Hydrus said as he hugged his nephew, still trying to control his laughter. He was dreading the time when Harry would be old enough for The Talk. Maybe he could pass that off to Sirius; he was the guardian after all.
"Well grownups are stupid," Harry said firmly.
"I promise you'll understand it later in life. For now just believe us when we say it is a fun game for us," the oldest uncle said with a huge grin.
"Fine," the boy stated and turned back to his game.
The three men shared a smile and talked of nonessential things until Harry went to bed. The Hydrus turned serious and told them what happened in the Alley.
"So you think this woman is behind it?" Sirius asked, rubbing his chin.
"Who else would it be?" he answered with a shrug.
"Well, we were wrong about it being Mrs. Greengrass," Remus pointed out.
"Not quite. She did work with someone to do the spell and she sent the howler," was the rebuttal.
"Do you think it could be someone else who lost their child?" Sirius questioned, his mind running through the short list. He had asked his cousins and aunts about them. They all said that these women were from Pure-blood family, but they both backed Dumbledore making them less likely to cast Dark spells.
"I don't know," the immortal answered, running a hand down his face. "I'm beginning to think it's someone I haven't met yet, but is affected by the changes nonetheless." He shook his head, all this guess work was getting them nowhere. "When is Harry's next play date? He's been cooped up here too long," he asked changing the beaten subject.
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