Three's a Charm

She can't help but watch Hei rather than the sky because it was so nice to see him so happy, "So, I take it you like your birthday surprise?"

He looks down at her with a warm smile, "Absolutely. This is quite probably the best birthday present I've ever gotten."

She smiles warmly, then reaches for her bag again, "While it's not as amazing, like I said earlier I had already gotten you a practical present before I had the idea to get a Real Sky Astrolabe, and now that I've given you one, I should give you the other."

She's reached into her bag and just wrapped her fingers around his other gift when a voice cuts in, "So you're a birthday boy, huh?"

Hei jerks and shoots to his feet and she turns her head towards the voice. Standing there was a man with a faint smile, though something about it…

Wary, she drops his other gift from where she'd just wrapped her fingers around it and pulls her hand from her messenger bag, then she scoops up the astrolabe and climbs to her feet as well. The man tilts his head back and gets a surprised look, "Oh wow, it really does let you see the real stars."

With a faint scowl at the man who just rubs her the wrong way, she shuts it off. Before anyone can say anything more, men with guns start coming out from behind the trees a bit further away, quickly making it obvious that they were surrounded.

Hei looks around quickly in surprise as he tugs her into his side protectively, and the man looks back down at him with that damnable smile, "Hah. You must be so terribly confused, Mr Reaper. No one's been able to sneak up on you in years after all. Well, I'm feeling a little generous since the little lady let me see something nice before, so I guess I'll explain." Another man steps forward and he pats his shoulder, "This is RB-529, his ability is Sound Manipulation, which makes it rather easy to hide footsteps and the like. And since you two were so nice as to isolate yourselves…"

Hei tenses up and his eyes start glowing red, and he snarls out, "I hope you realize this will be far from an easy fight for you."

The man holds up his hands, "Easy there. We aren't looking for a fight. Even if you did run off, the Syndicate would rather not kill you. The best assassin in the world is rather valuable after all. I'm here to make a deal."

Hei narrows his eyes, "A deal?"

The man nods, "Yes. The Syndicate understands that you're a teenager who just met his soulmate and that it's rather understandable that you'd do a runner under the circumstances. They're willing to forgive and forget. As long as you return anyway."

Hei's eyes narrow, and the man glances at her before continuing, "They also told me to inform you that if you come back quietly, they'll even spare the little lady."

Hei stiffens for a few moments, then let's go of her, "Go back Xiǎolóng."

She turns to him swiftly, "But-!"

Hei shakes his head, "No, Xiǎolóng. If they've managed to follow me once, they might be able to do it again, and they may just kill you next time."

She gives Hei a pained look as she's forced to accept that she can't convince him, then shoves her hand back into her messenger bag and pulls out a small wrapped present and holds it out to him with the astrolabe, "Then here. If you're leaving, you'll need it now. Especially since it was already practical, but doubly so if you're going back to the dangerous job of being an assassin."

He blinks, then accepts them, tucking the astrolabe into his palm as he quickly rips the paper off and opens the box. He blinks in curiosity at the black leather bundle inside, but swiftly pulls it out and partly unrolls it, revealing the neatly arranged pouches of potions, sewed at the edges of it with Acromantula silk dyed the same green as the inside of his coat, and sorted by what type of injury they're for.

Her brows are still furrowed at the situation as she explains, "The pouches are delivery pouches linked to a Potion shop with an order put in to automatically restock them. It's sturdy too, since that's Dragonhide with Acromantula silk sewing, which despite being silk is one of the naturally sturdiest materials in the world and takes incredibly to enchantments, including ones to boost its durability further. That first pocket also has a copy of my potions graph."

He smiles softly at her, then crouches down to hug her. She buries her face into his shoulder, making sure his shoulder is thoroughly hiding her mouth to murmur barely loud enough for him to hear, "The seam on the side is also a mail pouch that's connected like a magical mailbox to another one that I have. It only opens for you and only if you want it to. It gets a subtle silvery sheen if you have mail. You better at least stay in touch."

He presses a kiss to her hair, then lingers so his mouth is hidden and murmurs, "I will. Now use your emergency portkey to get back to Remus so he can protect you. I wouldn't put it past them to kill you once you're out of sight otherwise."

She sniffles and nods reluctantly, then steps back and gives him one more look before bitterly entoning the password that'll activate her portkey, "Dragon's retreat."

And just like that, Hei disappears from her sight as her vision is swept up in a whirlwind of color. Her head dips. The whirlwind doesn't last long before she's landing in the entryway of Sirius' old apartment.

Remus rushes out, likely having heard the portkey and knowing the ones they have are for emergencies only, "Calanthe?! Are you okay?! And where's Hei?!"

She shakes her head slowly, "They.... They took him. The Syndicate. They caught up to him, and they forced him to come back by making a deal to spare me. Hei thought they'd just track him down again even if we got away and next time they might kill me immediately, so he accepted. Hei didn't trust it though, said they might kill me once I left his sight, so he told me to activate my portkey and get back to you so you could keep me safe."

Remus sucks in a sharp breath, then moves forward and clenches her shoulders, "I'm so sorry, Calanthe. You must be so upset. If you need a shoulder to cry on or something, I'm here, okay?"

She slowly clenches her hands as she lifts her head with equally stunted speed. When she meets his gaze she narrows her eyes in fury, "Oh I'm upset alright. But I'm not going to cry. No, they're going to learn the hard way of the consequences of stealing a Dragon'streasure."

Then her lips twist in a silent snarl as her teeth clench, as she pushes past him and storms off in rage.

She purses her lips at the letter. Hei had managed to keep both the Astrolabe and the Healing Potions kit she'd given him, mostly by showing the latter was obviously just for healing and if they were pushing him back into his old occupation, then it was part of his gear now. Given her reassurance that the seam wouldn't open for any but him, he'd even allowed them to examine it on the condition they did it in front of him so he knew it wouldn't suddenly go mysteriously missing. As for the Astrolabe, he'd just given them a death stare and informed them that if they even tried, then they'd be starting a fight with The Black Reaper and they knew damn well how deadly he could be.

He had done as she'd asked and stayed in touch, though he adamantly refused to even tell her what county he was in, which was frustrating since it made it basically impossible for her to investigate since she didn't have any experience in tracking down criminal organizations and the like, which was undoubtedly the point.

She sighs as she leans back, tilting her head to rest against the back of the chair and gazing at the ceiling. Out of the corner of her eye Remus glances over from where he was working on the cabinet again, "Hei still refusing to even tell you what county he's in?"

She sighs again, "Yeah. I suppose the only remotely good thing about the situation is the fact that it doesn't put us back to square one or worse, since in the non-magical world you were granted secondary guardianship, and in the magical world the laws surrounding soulmate custody supersedes the law that werewolves aren't allowed custody of children, so since Hei made it clear that you had guardianship if anything happened to him or he became unavailable, you only had to go in and get interviewed with a Veritas Quill and Parchment to prove you had my best interests in mind and zero intention of being reckless with your transformations in regards to me."

Remus hums in agreement, "Yeah. It could've been…. bad if you didn't have a guardian by magical standards considering how many people would inevitably start fighting over getting custody of the Girl Who Lived. I'm just glad that the fact I'm a werewolf isn't public knowledge, as that could have been one hell of an explosive situation. I mean, a werewolf having custody of the damn near reveredGirl Who Lived? That would have been one hell of a mess."

She hums, "Yeah. It's too bad you can't-"

Then she straightens sharply and cuts herself off as her eyes go wide.

Remus looks over in concern, "Can't what?"

She holds up a finger as she quickly climbs to her feet and swiftly moves over to the Library Index book and quickly fills in the relevant term. Almost impatiently she looks over the handful of listings, then shakes her head and just calls them all over before quickly gathering them up and returning to the table.

She flips through all of the books quickly, finding the areas where they discuss the spell she was looking for. None of them outright contradict her thought, and given the wording in all of them lines up in certain ways, to a certain degree they even enforce her idea.

She rubs at her lower lip with the side of her first finger in thought. Remus huffs lightly, "Well? Did you find out what you're looking for?"

She glances up at him, "Maybe? The Wizarding World in general… well, they tend to act like sheep and just accept what they've been told, and even those that don't tend to have gotten so used to magic and things just 'working that way' that they tend not to critically question certain common knowledge things about magic, and the innovators that don't are few and far in between."

He nods, "Yeah, I know that. What's that got to do with looking something up?"

She looks towards him, "Every single mention of it in these books says that 'the Fidelis Charm hides a secret inside a soul'... not a single one says it has to be a location or a house."

He tilts his head as his eyes go a little wide, "That-" And then his eyes unfocus as he slowly says, "No, the description of the spell never says that, does it…"

She nods and crosses her arms and sets them on the table to lean on them, "Yeah, honestly someone may have used the Fidelis itself on that knowledge to make it a little less obvious, but… Who says you can't use it on the very knowledge that you're a werewolf?"

He jerks as his eyes go from a little wide to so wide they look like they might just pop out of his head, "That's-!" His wide gaze shifts down to his lap, "Maybe?"

She sighs, "Don't think we'll know if it works until we try."

Remus nods lightly, "Yeah…"

She furrows her brows as a thought occurs to her, "Just make me a promise, since I don't think I need to go so far as to make it a standing order."

His eyes narrow back to normal as he looks up at her, "Yeah?"

She shakes her head, "If it works, I don't mind you carefully spreading it to other werewolves to help them out a bit. Just promise me you'll do everything in your power not to let it get back to people who would abuse it. Get magical oaths from anyone you're going to tell before you do just to be safe."

His eyes widen briefly before they narrow, "Oh, don't worry, I absolutely will. There are plenty of nasty sorts I wouldn't want it to get back to. Hell, maybe even add an oath not to abuse the knowledge of using the spell like that in general, since it could be misused in more capacities than just being a werewolf.”

She hums in agreement, "The only real drawback would be that on the Werewolf Registry, since the Fidelis would make anyone who looked at it look over the names of anyone who was under the Fidelis, the Registry would have a larger and larger percentage of what people could actually take in being taken up by the sort who give werewolves a bad name."

He purses his lips slightly, "Maybe, and that would make it harder to get all those anti-werewolf laws overturned, but since the Ministry has been getting harsher and harsher towards werewolves I can't help but think that there isn't much of a choice then to do our best to lessen the burden on werewolves in general now."

She sighs but nods in agreement, "You could explain this to anyone you've gotten a vow not to tell from and give them the option of staying known to try to help with the perception of werewolves? Some of them might choose that instead."

He nods lightly, "It's definitely a thought at least."

She stares at the small article in the Daily Prophet. Then she shoots to her feet, startling Remus, and rushing into Sirius' old room and the trunk without a word, Remus hot on her heels, knowing that she doesn't tend to rush off with no reason. As soon as she rounds the corner, she locks her eyes with her dad's painted ones and doesn't even wait for greetings to be shared, "Mad-Eye Moody wouldn't enjoy retirement, right? Just from what you've said, that was the impression I got, but is it accurate?"

He blinks in surprise, "Moody? Retiring? The only way that would happen would be if they forced him to, because no he wouldn't." She hums in satisfaction, totally unaware that it sounds like a rumbling purr that reminds them all of her nickname of Dragon, "Why?"

She grins in vicioussatisfaction, only bringing the name to mind even more, "Because, he's damngood at his job and would likely enjoy the opportunity to hunt down more criminals. Say, by someone hiring him to go and get a Hit Wizard license and hunt down the Syndicate." Then she rubs lightly at her lower lip with the side of her forefinger, "Mm. Might want to get your help writing the letter, just to make sure I don't accidentally set him off in any way though.”

Her dad's portrait blinks as he murmurs out, "Yeah, sure."

She smiles at him and chirps out a happy, "Great! I'll go get my writing supplies and be right back!"

It doesn't take long before she has them and has written up a letter that her father said should work, and she gives it one more read over.

“Alastor Moody,

My name is Calanthe Potter-Black and I'm reaching out to you as I read about your, presumably forced from what my father's portrait said, retirement today, and I could use a bit of help.

Help that would be right up the alley of a man of your reputation.

I would rather not talk of what it is over a letter, but I've also heard of how cautious you are, so if you're willing I figure it'll put you more at ease to pick the meeting location as well as the date and time. Anytime works as long as you take into account however much time it'll take for this to travel from your old student Sirius Black's old apartment and back. It's important enough that I'll reschedule if I had anything else going on, even today if you have time, and any place works as well, though I would prefer to have the conversation in private with spells concealing its contents given that it's rather sensitive. Remus Lupin is with me and could easily Apparate me to pretty much anywhere you pick, as such he'll undoubtedly be with me, just to let you know.

I know this is short, but as I said, I'd rather not talk about it over a letter, so please let me know if you're willing to at least hear me out and if so, when and where.

From,

Calanthe Potter-Black”

It was rather short, but her dad had advised her that Moody preferred being to the point.

She nods in satisfaction at it and sends it off with Gwyneira.

It's less than half an hour before she gets a reply, and figures he must live in London as well. It's as short and to the point as her dad had warned her the man was.

“Ms Potter-Black,

I'm familiar with where his apartment is, and given that I also live in London, I know it couldn't have been long since you sent your letter or for this reply to reach you.

As I'm interested in at least hearing what you have to say, and you said any time works as long as I take the letter travel time into account, meet me today at 7 PM at Madam Arnulf's. It's one of the restaurants on Horizont Alley(1) which is one of the cross streets on Diagon Alley. I'm sure Remus knows where Horizont is, even if he doesn't remember the location of Madam Arnulf's specifically, which shouldn't be hard to find. Even if he doesn't though, it's the Alley turning off to the left of the front of Gringotts if you're coming from The Leaky Cauldron. It's much less busy in general on Horizont Alley, and Madam Arnulf's has enough people wanting privacy that they won't bat an eyelash at their customers putting up privacy spells, and they'll even get their customers attention before they enter the bubble of the spell to make sure they don't overhear anything.

Alastor Moody”

She can't help but chuckle, her parents' portrait and Remus all told her that if he'd been forced into retirement, he'd likely jump at the possibility of getting back into action, and with all the extra time would likely set their meeting for fairly soon.

She glances at the clock and finds that Moody had added an extra half hour, likely to make sure she had enough time to get to the meeting since he had a good idea of how long messages would take to travel back and forth.

She gets up and heads into the library, where Remus was once again fighting with the filing cabinet schematics and attempting to duplicate it. Once she gets there she finds Remus already gazing at her, likely knowing she was coming due to his werewolf hearing, "So, Moody replied?"

She nods, "Yes, we're meeting tonight at seven at Madam Arnulf's on Horizont Alley."

He furrows his brow in thought, "I'm familiar with the Alley, and Madam Arnulf's sounds familiar… I think James and Sirius went there a few times to meet Moody?" Then he shakes his head, "Though I can't quite recall exactly where it is, so I suppose we should head out, just to make sure we have enough time to find it and such."

She nods, "Works for me. Though, he mentioned that Horizont was the one to the left of Gringotts, but I thought once you went down Diagon Alley, Gringotts was right in the center of a five way split, Diagon Alley that you came from, two turning sideways and branching off, and Diagon being split as you go more straight by the two that hug the sides of Gringotts and continue on? So while he did mention turning, and therefore I'm going to assume he ment the one that turns off instead of the one that hugs Gringotts and continues on, I'm not one hundred percent certain."

Remus stands and stretches with a groan, "Might be getting a bit old. And yeah, that's correct. The two that hug Gringotts are respectively a continuation of Diagon on the left, though on the right even though it mostly lines up with Diagon as well, it'd obviously be confusing if both of the ones that basically continue on from Diagon and just turn a little bit from Gringotts, being at what was once the end of the alley but has since become the middle of the road, had the same name. So the one on the right is actually Vertic Alley, a high class area that is really only browsed by wealthier people and is rather fancy. As you'll recall, we went there so you could meet Slughorn for the first time and hire him. I sincerely doubt he mentioned it, but the one that turns right is Diurn Alley."

She snorts, "You're only 29. And I get where the other names come from, Diagon Alley from diagonally," She makes a purposeful little pause between Diagon and Alley just to make it clear which was the name and which was the word, a pattern she keeps as she continues, "Horizont Alley from horizontally, Vertic Alley from vertically, and Knockturn Alley from nocturnally, but where the hell does Diurn Alley come from?"

He gives her a sullen look, "And lycanthropy is hard on the body." Then his expression smooths out as he explains, also using a purposeful pause in the name to indicate that it was the name between it and the word, "And Diurn Alley comes from diurnally. The antonym of nocturnally. Ie related to or occurring during the daytime."

She hums, "There is that I suppose. And yeah, that makes sense actually, I mean if there's actually a word for that and you already used a variation of nocturnally for one… or maybe they were made in the opposite order, but the point still stands."

He nods and casts a few quick spells to make sure his clothes are clean and straight, then nods, "I don't need to grab anything. Do you?"

She hesitates, "That… No, I was thinking of maybe grabbing Hei's letters, but he didn't say anything revealing, not even about the other branches in other countries or anything. Oh, though actually, I almost forgot that I needed to grab that photo of the two of us you took so Moody knows what he looks like, and the copies of the pictures of the Syndicate members that came to collect Hei that were extracted from my pensieve memory."

He tilts his head and hums, "Mmm, a good idea. Maybe grab them anyway. Moody is damn good at plucking clues from thin air. And grab your mail pouch too, maybe he knows a way to track the other end of it with some sort of spell most people have never heard of."

She nods, "Alright, then give me a minute." She starts to leave then remembers, "Oh, right, did you just want to walk or Apparate?"

He hums, "Probably Apparate even if it's only fifteen minutes away, since we aren't totally sure where Madam Arnulf's is and may need the extra time."

She nods again, "Alright, then please go lock the apartment up while I go get those. I'll meet you up there."

He hums in agreement, "Sure."

She heads to her room and quickly gathers everything, then pauses to think a bit if there's anything else he might find useful if he takes her offer. Not thinking of anything, she just puts that stuff into her messenger bag and heads up to meet up with Remus, "Finished locking up, so I'm ready to go."

She nods, "Me too."

He holds his arm out, "Then shall we?"

She nods and grabs his arm, bracing herself for what is easily the worst form of magical transportation in her opinion. Remus turns sharply, and with a small 'pop' she finds herself experiencing the blackness with pressure damn near crushing her, a feeling like a constrictor snake squeezing her chest hard enough that she can't breathe, her eyes feel like they're being pressed into her head, which itself feels like like it's being squeezed from all directions at once, and her eardrums feel like they're on the verge of popping. As they appear in the alley to the side of the Leaky Cauldron she takes in a sharp breath then exhales slowly as the wave of usual nausea hits to avoid throwing up.

She takes in another breath, though much slower this time, still trying to fight off the nausea, before giving Remus a wary look, "Seriously, does it always feel like that?"

He tilts his head with faintly furrowed brows, "Like what? Describe exactly what it feels like to you? Because honestly? It seems like it hits you harder than most."

She looks down thoughtfully and describes it as she does her best to beat back the nausea, and once she's done and looks back up, she finds Remus staring at her with wide eyes, "Merlin, no wonder you always-" He shakes his head hard, "We aren't doing anymore Apparition until we see a Healer and see if they know what's wrong, because no it doesn't usually feel like that. The darkness is normal, and it feels like a bit of a tight fit, but nowhere near that level, and the rest of that description isn't normal at all."

She blinks, "Oh." He stares at her with worry, but she shakes her head and pushes off the wall, "We can worry about that later. It doesn't seem like it's putting me in immediate danger after all, since there haven't been any longer term effects or any symptoms flaring up out of the blue, so let's go find Madam Arnulf's so I can have my meeting with Moody."

He nods a little reluctantly, "Alright…"

She straightens herself up and does her best to carry herself as Andromeda had been teaching her as they enter the Leaky Cauldron, and though she gives Tom and the patrons in general polite nods, it still makes her uncomfortable to get so many stares, but she knows she needs to get used to it, both as an Heiress to a well known family, and given her goals regarding both of the Houses she's Heiress to. Though she wonders briefly what they'd think if they knew Sirius had named her his Heir.

Unfortunately, now that she wasn't outright trying to hide her involvement in his case, she'd asked Andromeda and Lady Bones, but they'd both pointed out that it'd likely be brushed off as him reinforcing his cover and likely planning to name a ' proper Heir' after Voldemort won and just never got a chance. And they'd also told her that while she didn't need to hide her involvement anymore, she should likely still stay in the background, given the inevitable outcry from her revealing herself in regards to trying to prove Sirius' innocence.

To that extent, while they had added certified copies of Lily's journals, since the Ministry copy of the will was sealed, the one she had was invalid since it couldn't be verified as being the last version, and the posthumous letter would make it painfully obvious who had originally come to them, they weren't using either of those. Besides, as Lady Bones had angrily pointed out when they were still getting stonewalled after Lily's journals, which they were tight-lipped about how they got a hold of, the letter wouldn't make that much of a difference since there were dates in the journals and she outright talked about how they'd gone with Sirius' plan for him to be the decoy and for them to make Peter the Secret Keeper.

Though more than a few people in the Wizengamot had switched sides with the revelation that he was genuinely innocent, unfortunately they still didn't have enough collective power to trump those working to stop them.

She'd asked Andromeda and Lady Bones to keep track of who was working against them and who was helping them, because even if they didn't know it, the former category were absolutely burning bridges with her given that no one who would block them for no other reason than they didn't want the Ministry to look foolish were certainly not people she'd ally with or anything of the sort. The latter category were similarly unknowingly getting into her good graces. Well, mostly unknowing. Pretty much as soon as the journals had been added to the evidence list, Lady Longbottom had gotten in contact with her.

She'd explained that the Longbottoms and Potters had been allies long enough that they were familiar with the fact that only a Potter would have access to the journals, and had even encouraged her to check the Potter records regarding the Longbottoms rather than take her word for it. Anyhow, she'd further explained that it made it abundantly clear to her exactly who gave them the journals, and undoubtedly instigated the whole thing, given the strangeness of the two suddenly changing their tunes about Sirius out of the blue, and also made it clear that she obviously hadn't had access before, which indicated that she wasn't being raised as a proper Heiress and being trained and informed of her family's history and allies.

She'd even gone so far as to offer to give her Heiress Training once she'd confirmed for herself their alliance, which she'd reiterated that she should do and not just take anyone's word on it. She'd done so, asking her dad's portrait who has sheepishly admitted to it slipping his mind with everything going on before she sat down with him for a lesson on the Potter alliances and feuds so she wouldn't have to go digging through records.

She'd been surprised to learn that the Bones' were also allies, though for not nearly as long, to which an inquiry to Lady Bones had gotten an apology and an embarrassed confession that since the truth about Sirius had been dropped in her lap just prior, it hadn't really registered that if she was only just starting Heiress Training with Andromeda then she wouldn't know about it. After she'd asked how it came up and learned about Lady Longbottom figuring it out so swiftly, she'd also confirmed unprompted that the Longbottoms were longstanding allies to the Potter's.

She'd been rather surprised to hear about the alliance to House Greengrass, which was generally considered the head of the Neutral Party, as well as multiple other Houses within said party, even more than those from the Light Party, before her dad's portrait had dryly pointed out that while the Potters had been strongly viewed as being within the Light Party for a few centuries, they were actually in the Neutral Party.

It was something they'd never bothered to point out since they generally didn't care given that their allies already knew, but it was something she had mused to him that maybe she should be more vocal about, since there were doors that would've automatically closed when people started to see them as firmly Light that were not necessarily evil that she might be able to make use of, which had gotten a huffing laugh from her mom, and a little grin with a comment that clearly Slughorn had been teaching her more than just Potions.

Anyway, she'd made sure to reach out to all of the House Potter allies and explained the situation of why she hadn't been in contact, after double checking if it wouldn't ruin her reputation too badly with not only her dad's portrait, but even with Andromeda, Lady Bones, and Lady Longbottom upon asking for advice. They'd all reassured her that it wouldn't reflect poorly on her, since she was doing her best to correct it, and the fault would land entirely on her previous guardian, though her dad had pointed out that she might want to keep that part to herself until she'd felt them all out in regards to Dumbledore.

Anyway, she'd also informed House Potter's allies about her busy schedule as well, but her intention to meet with them each at some point, merely that it may take a bit, and would undoubtedly be spread out, so for the sake of fairness and not showing favorites she was just going to go in order of the length of their alliance, which had been unanimously agreed as being the fairest way to handle the situation. Luckily, she'd gotten very sympathetic responses, and more than a few offers to help her get on the right track via Heiress Training and the like.

Anyway, while Lady Bones already knew, she'd also explained just how busy she was to Lady Longbottom, but that she wasn't against meeting her and the Longbottom Heir in the slightest, and had also reassured Lady Bones that she'd be happy to meet the Bones Heiress, but she'd also informed both that it might take a bit before she had an opening to do so, something that they'd both been entirely understanding of.

As far as Sirius goes, there were also those that were just working against them because they were on the Dark side, like Lord Malfoy, but she'd already known that they were amongst her enemies, so that didn't really change anything.

She refocuses more fully, since she'd absolutely been keeping track of the world around her like Hei had taught her and the Syndicate had driven home, when they find Madam Arnulf's, which wasn't that hard since it was rather easy to find on Horizont. She looks it over curiously, it wasn't run down or seedy in the slightest, but nor was it particularly fancy. It actually looks pretty normal if a little more unobtrusive than she'd expected, though maybe she should've, since it was somewhere Moody picked.

She shares a glance with Remus, then glances at her watch, "We still have a little under ten minutes, but that's really not enough time to do anything, so I guess we should head in."

He nods in agreement, so they head inside, where a waiter soon comes over, "Just the two of you?"

She shakes her head, "No, we're meeting someone else, so it'll be three in total."

The waiter nods his understanding, "Do you have a preference for a booth or table?"

Under normal circumstances she would have asked Remus then said no if he indicated he didn't care, and went with his choice of he did, but her dad had made it clear that having his movement more restricted by a booth didn't really work for Moody, so she dryly responds, "Well, I don't know if he comes here all that often but he's rather infamous, and considering Mad-Eye Moody, who we're meeting with, doesn't like more movement restricted booths…"

The man laughs lightly, "Oh yeah, Moody is a semi-regular so we're rather familiar with it." The man puts the menus back down, "He's already here actually, and there are already menus over there, so I'll lead you to him."

With that, he leads them to a table tucked into the corner, as they approach the tingling wave of a privacy spell washed over her, then he smiles as they both take seats opposite Moody, "Do you know what you'd like to drink?"

She nods, "Butterbeer for me please."

He nods and Remus smiles faintly, "I'll take tea please."

The man nods again, "I'll have those right out."

He leaves swiftly as soon as he says it, so they turn their attention to Moody, who looks at them in curiosity, "So, what were you looking for help with that you think would be up my alley?"

She smiles in mild humor as she and Remus open their menus, "Dad's portrait wasn't kidding when he said you liked to get straight to the point. I assume that the tingling I felt was a privacy spell?"

He nods, "I usually use them, so you asking for one doesn't make a huge difference in how this meeting would have gone."

She hums in acknowledgement, "I won't dance around the topic since you wouldn't like that, but if I got straight to the point you'd have questions and I’d need to backtrack. I'll just start from the beginning instead, so please be patient since it'll take a few moments to explain. Anyway, to be blunt, when the first Contractors awoke, the younger sister of one of my soulmates became one of the very first in the initial wave that awakened during the 'meteor shower' that occurred at the beginning. They were both children, he was twelve, she was only ten. Not really knowing what was going on with her, love and loyalty drove him to stay with his sister even despite the changes she'd gone through."

"I guess it was good for him, since Contractors tend to test their powers for the first time on family or friends, and despite not understanding why she'd gone through enough of a drastic change that led to her testing her powers on their parents and subsequently killing them, before she could attack him, her Obeisance of sleeping, which she hadn't learned how to manage, kicked in and had her passing out."

She sighs, "Unsure of what to do, especially since the whole world had been going crazy at the time with the recent awakening of the Contractors and the Dolls and the changing of the sky, and terrified of what would happen to his sister since even though the non-magical governments had been trying to hide it while they figured out what the hell was going on, there had been plenty of rumors of people suddenly becoming different and then government employees showing up and grabbing them and them not being seen again, he ended up not calling the police about their now deceased parents and just took his sister to her room and her bed. And upon waking and realizing he hadn't killed her or turned her in while she was asleep and vulnerable, she decided he'd make a good metaphorical guard dog."

She looks off to the side as she refolds her menu and sets it down, "Actually, while Contractors have an increased sense of logic, their undeveloped brains means it doesn't work so well for children. He had to convince her that she couldn't just kill the police that came because even if she won the fight, they'd just send more in an even bigger group that would likely overwhelm her, and that it would be better if they ran. So they did. It wasn't long, however, before a criminal organization that calls itself the Syndicate so as to make it harder for people to track them down by not possessing a proper name found them."

"There, unwilling to abandon his sister, as well as due to the fact he quickly learned that the Syndicate would kill him if he tried to flee, he stayed with her and was trained as an assassin and put through indoctrination at the same time. It didn't fully take, but it didn't fully fail either. He and his sister were sent to the Heaven's Gate War and came to be amongst the combatants various organizations were sending to fight for control of the Gate in South America, where they remained for a few years."

She shakes her head, "Then the-"

She notices the waiter hovering right outside the edge of the privacy spell and waves him in. He smiles a little sheepishly, "Sorry those drinks took so long, I was dealing with something else. Do you guys know what you want yet?"

She nods, "I do." Then she looks at the other two, "What about you guys?"

They both nod their heads, so the three of them put in their orders and the waiter moves off again.

She sighs again, "Then the Heaven's Gate and everything within a fifteen hundred kilometer(2) radius of it disappeared. And his sister went missing too. The Syndicate dangled the temptation of them helping him get to the bottom of what happened to his sister in front of his face, which kept him with them for a few months. Then we met. He was near death, but luckily my Mark made it obvious that would be the case, so I'd done a bunch of research into healing potions and I used that knowledge to save his life. After he woke up, we talked briefly and he decided to abandon the Syndicate and stay with me."

She purses her lips in anger, "But they tracked him down and made a deal with him that if he came back, then in return they'd forgive the previous abandonment and spare me. We argued briefly over it, but he firmly refused on the grounds that even if we managed to escape them that time, they'd likely just kill me next time, which was entirely unacceptable to him. He's still with them out of worry of them tracking me down and killing me if he tries to leave. When we hugged goodbye, I quietly told him about the fact the healing potion kit I got him had a hidden mail pouch that works just like mailboxes, and then he told me to use my emergency portkey because he wouldn't put it past them to just wait until I was out of his sight and kill me anyway, because they're those sort of people."

Moody scowls down at the table, "Scumbags. Lowest of the low is what they are. Only those sort of people try to indoctrinate a child then threaten another if the first young lad doesn't return after he finally gets free from them." He continues scowling down at the table for a few moments before he shakes his head and looks up at her, "You aren't wrong that it's up my alley, but as you read in the paper, the Ministry forced me to retire. I don't have a whole lot of power to help."

She smiles briefly, and the edges of it are darkly dangerous and vicious, "Not as an Auror no, but there's no upper age restriction on being a Hit Wizard and no reason you shouldn't pass the exam to get your license as one. Which is why I'm looking to hire you to go get one, then start working on tracking down the Syndicate and raining hell on those scumbags, as well as looking for Hei as you do."

He grins, "Now you're speaking my language." Then he looks away thoughtfully, "Can't believe it never occurred to me to become a Hit Wizard though." Then he turns his gaze back to her with a bit of amusement, "They definitely messed with the wrong person though, if you're willing to go so far."

She regains her dangerous, vicious, grin, but this time it's even wider, "Hei, the soulmate I told you about, used to call me Xiǎolóng, which means 'Little Dragon'. It's never wise to steal a Dragon's treasure, something they're going to get a practical lesson in."

Moody chuckles lowly. Their conversation pauses as they see the waiter come up to the edge of the privacy spell again, this time with plates of food, and wave him in. Once he's distributed it and left, Moody turns his attention back to her, "So, while I may not have my Hit Wizard's license yet, there's no reason not to ask, since I just can't act on it yet, but what sort of leads do you have for me?"

She frowns, "Not a whole lot to be honest, I have a picture of Hei so you know what he'll look like, as well as pictures of the Syndicate members that came to get him extracted from my memory. But while he managed to keep the potion kit and its hidden mail pouch and has remained in touch, he won't even tell me what county he's in. I did bring his letters though, in case there were any clues your more trained eyes could find, as well as the other end of the mail pouch at Remus' suggestion that maybe you know some sort of spell to track the other end of it or something."

"Especially since unfortunately, as I'm sure you know, tracking spells and mailbox enchantments do not mesh well together, so it's not like we can just send a letter with one on it through. I know it's not a whole lot, but I figured at worst you could use the photos to help track down the guys who came to get him with scrying or something and use them as a starting point. Otherwise, unfortunately the only other thing I know is that they had a Contractor with them, Meissor Code RB-529, who has the ability of Sound Manipulation. Though if you need those letters specifically rather than copies, I ask that you be careful with them, as I'd like them back when you're done with them."

He nods, "That should be enough to get started, yeah. Let me see them."

She stares. Recently, during some of her downtime, she'd come across a book on the basics of Runes. She'd absently known they were in the library, but once she laid eyes on the book it occurred to her that theoretically she could do Rune work, she just needed Remus to activate it for her. Her curiosity had flared. So she'd taken it to read. It hadn't taken long to get through the book, and while it was just on the basics and was likely simplified, she found the subject to be surprisingly easy, and rather interesting to boot. So she'd continued to read books on the subject steadily when she could fit them into her schedule.

She was undoubtedly still a novice though, and given that she knew Remus had taken Ancient Runes as one of his electives, she figures it's probably something more advanced that just seems wrong to a novice. But that just makes her more curious, especially since it was about the Potter Family filing cabinet, a magical marvel all on its own.

She doesn't really want to interrupt his work, or the discussion about it that he was having with her parents' portrait about its make. But her curiosity gets the better of her, which is what drives her to ask, "Why are the runes placed like that? The books I've been reading on the basics of it suggest that's not how it should be, so I figure it's something more advanced, right? Though I'm a little confused why they'd say one thing at a lower level of study then contradicts it at a higher level."

Remus glances over, then looks at the spot in question, his expression quickly becoming surprised, before he turns that surprise towards her, "It doesn't contradict itself. I was just so focused on other aspects I made a mistake." Then he tilts her head and gazes at her in thought, "You have quite the talent for Runes, huh?"

She blinks at him in surprise, "It's only because I've started reading about the subject recently, so it's more in the forefront of my mind. Besides, while it's undoubtedly because I'm still in the basics of the subject, it's pretty easy."

He shakes his head with bemusement, "Calanthe, you're nine. Yes, it was a rather basic mistake, but Ancient Runes isn't taught until third year, and you haven't been studying them that long. The fact you learned the basics so quickly, which are not generally considered easy even at the beginning level, to such a degree you noticed a mistake I made, and that not only me but also Lily's portrait missed, says an awfullot about your natural talent with the subject."

She blinks at him, "Does it?"

He nods as he waves his wand to clean off the writing of his mistake, which thankfully hadn't been carved yet, "Very much so."

Feeling a bit embarrassed at the praise, which she still wasn't used to, she raises the book she'd been reading before she'd noticed Remus' apparent mistake and gotten distracted. She doesn't get more than a couple sentences before her dad's portrait laughs, "Well, I guess we found out where Calanthe's magical talents lie."

She looks back up only to find Remus and her parents' portrait staring at her in amusement. She blinks at them in confusion, "What?"

Remus smiles a little, "Calanthe, you realize that DADA book is definitely school grade, rather than prior-school grade? It's even more advanced than the Rune stuff, given that it would be more around a second year level compared to the first year of Runes when electives start. Second year isn't that high of course, but since again you're only nine …"

She can't control the way her cheeks flush even with all of Andromeda's training, "This can't be on par with second year, it's even easier than the Rune books."

Her mom's portrait laughs, "No wonder you didn't inherit my talent for potions, and didn't seem to get my talent for charms, or your dad's talent for transfiguration. People can only have so many, and your proverbial magical talent slots seem to be taken up by Defense Against the Dark Arts and Runes."

Her flush deepens despite her desperate attempts to control it, "Well, I mean, everyone has natural talent for something, so it's not that strange."

Her dad's portrait laughs, "Oh certainly, but you're particularly talented at those as far as I can tell. Which is gonna be a scary combo, given the Healer’s revelation that Apparition affects you so bad because of a high level of magic, which is scary on its own given that, again, you're only nine. You aren't even Hogwarts age, much less have hit your magical maturity."

Her mom's portrait and Remus both nod, and she looks away, "Well, that's-"

She's actually relieved when the glow of the mail pouch she and Moody had set up between themselves, since it wasn't standard in the slightest in the magical world and had never occurred to him but was something he'd deemed useful since it'd make it easier for them to talk since it wouldn't require him carrying around a box or only being able to get in touch when he gets to wherever he left it.

She reaches for it and quickly draws out the letter.

Calanthe,

Managed to track down some of the people you showed me pictures of and got some leads from them with a combination of compulsions to answer and tell the truth since those aren't technically illegal to use casually like Veritaserum or Legilimency are. The one's I found have had crimes proven and been tossed behind bars in the muggle world, so while it's still not even the entirety of those who took him, it's not a bad start, and they at least are paying for not only their crimes in general but also for that.

Some of the leads I got were on some of their bases, but I want to do a bit of scouting first. I should be hitting them relatively soon though. I'll send you another update once I've made some more progress.

Also, learned that while they knew where you and Hei were living, the reason they didn't try to attack you there was due to the fact that once you got away and the knowledge that Hei had to have known you'd escape the ambush, they decided to switch gears to keeping tabs on you to continue to use as leverage against him if he ever became more disobedient. They figure if he actually does care enough that you make a good threat against him that it'd be better to keep you alive and give him a recent photo of you as a clear threat if he ever acts up too bad for them to tolerate. To that extent, while I know you'd been staying there up to this point in the hopes of grabbing any Syndicate members that try to attack and pumping them for information, at this point it would be better for you to get a new apartment and travel there magically when you move so as to be harder to follow.

Moody

She can't help the way her lips curl in fierce satisfaction, which is likely why Remus asks, "Good news from Moody?"

She nods sharply, "What we gave him was enough to track down some of the people who were in the group that took Hei, and managed to get them seeing justice in the muggle world. Also, now that he has a far more solid starting point then what little I had, he's got multiple leads, some of which are on outright bases. Which means they're paying for whatever other crimes they committed and for threatening Hei into returning to them."

He snorts, "Ferocious Dragon." Then he whistles, "That is impressive though. It hasn't been that long since he sent you a notice that he'd gotten his Hit Wizard license."

She hums, "Very much so." She glances up at the painted version of her dad, "He's as swift and efficient as you said he was."

He chuckles, "I'm not surprised that neither all the injuries he's gotten over the years or said years themselves which are themselves creeping up on him haven't dulled him in the slightest." He gives her an amused look, "You couldn't have gotten someone better for your goal of raining hell down on those criminals, or eventually tracking down Hei, though that might take a bit longer, since they're a global organization and he's going to have to go from county to country to tackle it rather than just focusing on the local criminals or branch of them while he stays in the UK."

She nods, "To be honest… While I obviously want Hei back as soon as possible, I don't think I'll be able to convince him until I have Moody collapse enough of the lower guys and get evidence on a good portion of the harder to hit or higher up guys for them to have at least a major blow, if not outright crippled, so despite the fact I want him back sooner, it might be better if he finds him later." She runs her forefinger down the edge of the letter, "Do you think that makes me a bad soulmate?"

Her mom chuckles lightly, "No sweetheart, that just makes you a soulmate who's very familiar with how stubborn your soulmate can be."

Hei can't help but feel savagely satisfied when word travels through the Syndicate grapevine that some of the guys who brought him in got arrested and are now facing some pretty damn long prison sentences. Including that little bastard RB-529, who's codename he'd never bothered to learn.

He doesn't know how the law managed to pin at least some of them, but after the way they'd threatened Calanthe, and undoubtedly been planning to kill her once she was out of his sight as he suspected from the way the guy who'd done the talking's eyes had widened before flicking away. The barely failed attempt at controlling his expression made it obvious to him he was checking in with someone, who as he'd confirmed when they turned to move was a gunman with a silencer hiding a bit away. While he wasn't far enough for him not to hear the silencer given how close Calanthe would've been to him even if she had run, with someone like RB-529 around…

He smiles warmly when his leather potions kit roll's seam gains a subtle silvery hue. And after a brief habitual check via sensing from the electrical currents that he got all of the most recent hidden listening devices and cameras, which he always only let pick up a cold reminder from him for the Syndicate that he'd agreed to come back, not be spied on in whatever residence he was currently in, as well as double checking that he's away from the windows, which have the curtains drawn anyway, and checking for any Doll's spector.

Only once he's sure the Syndicate has no way of learning of it does he will the seam to open and pull out the letter and a by now familiar package delivery. He cracks the equally familiar seal on the back and pulls out the letter.

Dear Hei,

The results of you looking into molecular manipulation and the conclusion that it had to have been by using that was how Bai fused with you rather than with the help of a different Contractor sounds solid. And an explanation as to how might help in figuring out how to unfuse Bai from you.

I'm glad to hear you're doing well. I'm fine, and there hasn't been much change here, though we just finished packing up mine and Remus' stuff and will be heading to the new apartment I purchased relatively soon, mostly just waiting for Remus to finish getting our stuff over there.

Andromeda and Lady Bones, as well as those that switched to our side after the certified copies of my mother's journals got submitted as evidence, are still being stonewalled at every turn. 

Anyway, as you likely noticed, I sent you a package. It's shrunk right now, but its contents have similar permanent enchantments as my truck, and is similarly command activated. It's known as Foe Glass, and it'll look like a small handheld mirror, but as you'll undoubtedly notice, it doesn't show a reflection of the room. That's because it detects people that can be considered as enemies to the owner, and shows vague shadowy figures that become more clear the closer they get, eventually resolving into a crystal clear shadow version of their form if they get close enough. The small sized version should be small enough for you to carry while working if you ever need it, and the larger version isn't huge, it's just one of those ones with a stand that you put on a table and can tilt to have a proper angle.

You lay claim to ownership so it'll display your enemies instead of being utterly blank like it currently is by poking a finger or something and smearing a little bit of blood on it. Also, it's enchanted to be unbreakable, so you don't have to worry about it breaking if you take it out for work, but if someone's Contractor power manages to overcome it, make sure you let me know so I can get you a replacement. And since I know you'll worry about it in the event it breaks and wonder if you should mention it, they actually aren't that expensive, so don't worry about the cost. With how much money I have and the cost of them, it's no more strenuous and costly than buying a loaf of bread.

Speaking of, how is the notice-me-not bracelet I sent you last time working for you?

Oh, and I've been learning quite a bit not only from Andromeda but also Slughorn. Even if I'm kinda bad at Potions, he's always rather patient with me and is pretty good at putting things in a way I'll understand. And his other lessons on the political and networking games are incredibly informative.

Anyhow, I don't know if you're unoccupied at the moment or busy, but stay safe!

Love,

Calanthe

Though he still finds it a little worrisome that she's no longer trying to get him to tell her information about where he was or the Syndicate in general since it really wasn't like her, he can't help but smile, both at the letter in general and at her sending him yet another item to help him out. The notice-me-not bracelet, which she'd warned him wouldn't be nearly as effective if people were suspicious and searching the area, and would be likely to be seen through if they were looking for him specifically, had been far from the first.

That honor went to the demiguise invisibility cloak and a bracelet that applies a silencing charm at will that she'd sent him, with a vague warning that he should probably use them sparingly so as to not make the Syndicate more suspicious than usual. He absolutely agreed with her on that, though he'd tried the cloak on away from their eyes out of curiosity and been duly impressed. They were now in the mokeskin necklace pouch with expansion charms as well as spellwork that keeps everything stored inside safe from harm and comes to his hand if he's thinking about that item along with having its own notice-me-not spellwork on it that she'd gotten for him and explained in the accompanying letter.

He opens the package, and pulls out the shrunken mirror, which has a stand designed in such a way that it has dips for his fingers along the edge and a little loop on the back to put his fingers through for a more secure grip. After pricking his finger and smearing blood on it, which vanishes immediately, he tucks it into his mokeskin pouch and gets up and walks to the side of the curtain before moving parallel to it and 'accidentally' shifting the curtain as he passes by. As his gaze moves around as he fixes it, he casually lets his eyes move over where his watcher had been a few rooftops away and confirms they're still there.

Once he has the curtain reclosed, he pulls the mirror back out of his mokeskin pouch and tilts it in the direction his watcher had been. Sure enough, though it was small, the blank face of the mirror gets a black smudge in the same place they had been on its surface, which moves as he tilts it to confirm it's really his watcher and not actually a smudge.

He grins. He'd need to do some secretive testing to get an idea of how much it cleared up as enemies got closer so as to learn to gauge their distance with it, but it was something that would yet again prove useful.

His Xiǎolóng was so determined to help him, and boy did she succeed.