The FBI's Secret Involvement

Ch. 9

With his arms crossed over his chest, his metallic fingers strummed rigidly on his biceps, each hinged knuckle creaking softly. The shrouded Death Eater appraised the Riddle House with a calculating gaze while the rest of his clan apparated onto the grounds.

'Now this is an interesting development,' Montague Sullivan thought, his steel claw clenching and unclenching restlessly. 'Lord Voldemort requesting, note: not demanding, my aid and services.' Sullivan smiled smugly to himself.

'Of course he would realize I am not a subordinate, but an equal. But he also knows he better be careful with me or he'll have a rival that he can't possibly match.'

He turned towards his DEs and jerked his head towards the House. Together, they strutted across the threshold and into the foyer of the dilapidated British home.

It was the day after the Auror meeting and Snape was on his way to his potions lab in the basement with his arms full of beakers and ingredients when Sullivan planted his clawed hand on Snape's shoulder. The American DE stared fixedly down at Snape and boasted loudly, "Tell His Lordship that Sullivan's here." The metal fingers dug sharply into his shoulder.

"Follow me," Snape snarled and led the clan up the stairs.

Sullivan hadn't been sure he was going to answer Voldemort's invitation, but he didn't want to miss the fun of muggle-hunting. Even though he considered himself a separate leader and not a servant of Voldemort, he shared many similar beliefs, especially about wiping out the mudbloods and muggles. And besides, his clan was growing sluggish from inactivity and he thought an excursion with Voldemort would wake them up.

At the top of the stairs, Snape knocked twice on a closed bedroom door. A thin hiss said "Enter" and he pushed open the door.

"Montague Sullivan, Commander of the American Clan has arrived, My Lord," Snape proclaimed, and then stepped aside.

Voldemort sat on an old-fashioned burgundy armchair near the fireplace and motioned the American nearer. The Commander strode forward, leaving his clan clustered at the door, and bowed -- only a slight nod of his head-- to Voldemort.

The Dark Lord surveyed Sullivan silently. He certainly looked like a psychopathic killer. Each of his ears was studded with six or seven earrings made of human teeth. Besides the obligatory Death Mark, he had a dragon tattoo as well, unfurling its scaly wings across his throat. His blond hair was sheared military short and while he despised everything related to muggles, he was souped up on steroids, making him an imposing figure. His black eyes looked demonic, showing only slivers of white at the corners, but his crowning feature was the steel hand, a souvenir from Memorial Academy.

"Why have you decided to join me?" he hissed.

Sullivan met his red serpentine eyes and said, "Why do you ask? Did you not expect me to answer your invitation?"

Voldemort chuckled dryly and addressed the rotund wizard bustling around the room. "Look, Wormtail, a Death Eater unafraid of me and one who doesn't blubber apologies at my feet or beg for mercy. Sullivan, I'm aware of your successes across the Atlantic and it's refreshing to see a Death Eater who isn't easily intimidated. But I ask why you've come because I'm worried about your loyalty to me."

The Death Eater gazed steadily at him, but gave no answer.

This enraged Voldemort and he hissed venomously, his scarlet eyes glowing, "Sullivan, you would do wisely to watch your back. Your foolish insolence will cause you no small amount of pain if you proceed to think you are mightier than Lord Voldemort. I have no need of such contemptuousness!"

Sullivan, unperturbed, said, "What would you have me do--" he paused, "My Lord?"

Momentarily appeased, Voldemort gave a sly grin.

~*~

"But my apartment was burned down, Star-boy. I don't even have a toothbrush...uh-huh...yeah...no, I'm fine and Kori's okay...yep...well, if you could send me a care package--Hogsmeade...I know, Star-boy...and maybe include a laptop and...yeah, that'd be great. Allrighty, thanks Dad."

Jade hung up and stepped out of the phone booth. Sirius was leaning against the side with Kori waiting for her. "Ready? The train's about to pull out."

King's cross station was packed. They edged their way through the crowd and finally stopped at a metal barrier.

"Well, which platform is it? Nine or ten?" Jade asked impatiently.

Sirius said, offhand, "Nine and three quarters, actually."

"Har, har, real funny."

"But I am serious." A pause. He grinned devilishly.

She rolled her eyes and Kori shook her head.

"Ok, ok. It's through the barrier," Sirius said, gesturing at the very solid partition.

The agent and dog looked at him as if he was crazy.

"It's magical, y'know. You just have to slip through it." And with that, he leaned against the barrier casually and instantly vanished. A few seconds later, he reappeared, just where he had vanished from. "Piece of cake."

Jade, still skeptical, placed a hand against the partition. Nothing happened. "Does the wall know I'm a muggle now?"

Sirius, running a hand through his hair, said, "Well, I think it's more likely that if you think it's solid, it will be, and if you think you can pass, it'll let you."

"Great."

Sirius grinned and said, "Relax. How about closing your eyes--"

"And blindly smashing my nose into metal?" But, after sighing dramatically, she closed her eyes anyway. He grabbed her hand and began to lead her. She hesitated.

He asked, "Don't you trust me?"

"Do I have any choice?"

"No."

"Then, yes, I trust you entirely, Sirius," she chuckled and squeezed his hand. Slowly, she stepped forward. He smiled and led her on. Kori rubbed against her legs as the threesome moved through the barrier.

"You can open your eyes now," he said softly in her ear.

She did. A bright crimson steam engine stood before her and Aurors were quickly clambering off the platform and onto the train. "Wow," she muttered, staring at the Hogwarts Express and then at the wall behind her.

Then she smiled awkwardly, glancing at their hands.

Sirius hastily dropped her hand, stared at the train and cleared his throat, mumbling something that sounded like, "Let's hurry up or we won't get a seat." He strode away.

Jade sighed quietly to herself watching him walk away. A wheezy laugh caught her attention and she noticed Kori chuckling (if dogs could chuckle, that is). The newfie gave Jade a knowing look.

The agent grumbled, "Oh shut-up, mutt," and hurried after Sirius, leaving her pet to tag behind.

~*~

Harry muttered as he watched the countryside whip by his window, "And I thought I would never again ride the Hogwarts Express to school. That wasn't even two weeks ago. Go figure."

"Yeah, I'll take three cauldron cake thingys, oh say...a half dozen chocolate toads and a handful of droobles chewing gum," Jade grinned hungrily as she paid the lunch cart lady and grabbed her treats. Harry, Sirius, and Kori eyed her silently. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Harry quickly muttered. Kori's tongue hung out the side of her mouth as she sniffed the cakes.

"They're frogs, not toads, by the way," Sirius laughed, helping himself.

"Big diff," the agent replied, rolling her eyes. "My dad used to tell me about this train. Heck, I bet it was the same little lunch lady he knew; she looks old enough. Ok, Kori, cakes or chocolate?"

The Newfoundland paused, debating, then gave a loud bark.

Jade snorted, "Pig," and handed the dog both treats. Kori snarfed them up.

Harry said, "You know, chocolate's not healthy for dogs."

Jade eyed Sirius, who was munching away on a chocolate frog himself. "Hasn't killed her yet."

Sirius, oblivious, was watching Kori, puzzled. The Newfie, after licking her lips, noticed him watching her and cocked her head at him curiously.

"Alright, I give up. I've been trying to figure Kori out since I heard you say she isn't an Animagus...but then, how can she understand you?" Sirius asked.

Jade smiled crookedly and wiped the crumbs off of her hands and onto her dog's coat. "Oh, that. Well, it's kinda hard to explain, you see, to a wizard who doesn't know squat about muggles." She grinned mischievously as he bristled.

"What do muggles know about talking dogs?" he asked skeptically.

"Well...not exactly talking dogs, but more like she's been scientifically enhanced," Jade said, evasively. Kori snuck a package of chocolate frogs off the seat when Jade wasn't looking. "Have you read Dean Koontz's Fear Nothing, by any chance?"

Harry, who had been chuckling to himself watching Kori stealing food, nodded. "Yeah, over the summer I spent a lot of time at the library. But what? Are you saying your dog has...human genes or something?"

Jade nodded, "Bingo, Harry. Practically two decades ago a lab outside of DC was testing on animals some illegal and pretty nasty stuff, mind you. My mom helped bust them and what the police found were genetically altered dogs. They could understand languages completely, some could even read. My mom kept a few in the K-9 unit and Kori is the granddaughter of them."

A stunned silence. Then Harry said, "I thought the book was only scifi."

Jade shrugged. "It is, mostly. But the dog in the story is based on fact."

"Well, you lost me," Sirius sighed. "But I think I get the gist. So you can interpret what she's saying?" he asked her.

"Yeah, basically. It took me awhile but I can recognize her body language and intonations. No magic, just pure muggle."

"Cool," Harry said. Kori smiled affectionately at him.

~*~

"Go Harry!" Jade cheered excitedly, watching Harry make a spectacular dive after the snitch. Gryffindor was playing against Hufflepuff who was getting trounced, as always. The stands were over flowing, not only with the students, but also the off-duty Aurors.

Harry pulled out of his dive and threw his clinched fist triumphantly in the air, the tiny snitch clutched in his hand. Game Over.

Jade pulled her jacket tighter as a crisp wind whistled across the grounds. It was the day before Halloween and she could almost smell the change of seasons in the air. Grinning, she jogged out of the stands with the other Aurors and made her way across the grounds to the castle.

Most of the time she couldn't believe she had been at Hogwarts for nearly two months. It was like being a kid again without the worry of homework or pop quizzes. Although most of the time she was busy deciphering Death Eater nonsense, on her breaks, she would explore the school and get pleasantly lost in its multitude of halls. Sometimes Sirius would join her; she caught herself smiling as she thought about him.

But of course, the downside of everything was that the DEs hadn't attacked the school and didn't seem to be planning to. Normally, this would be a good thing, except for Snape's daily comments making her feel like an ignorant, paranoid Newbie.

A rumbling drew Jade's attention upward as a huge shadow descended beside her. It had wheels.

"Show off!!" Jade said as Sirius turned off his motorcycle. The students, on their way up to the castle, clapped and whistled at his grand entrance.

"Thank-you, I try," Sirius grinned. He saw the deserting stands and asked, "So, did Harry win?"

"Yeah, you missed it. Great dive, too," Jade remarked.

"Damn." He looked disappointed back at the emptying Quidditch pitch before he turned and started to fumble with a package tied to the back of the motorcycle. "I was in London today, y'know, and I decided to rescue this."

Jade took the box and realized it was her care package a month and a half late. She chuckled, "My Dad knew that no owl would be able to haul this huge thing all the way across the Atlantic so he mailed it with the muggle post for Arabella to forward to Hogsmeade. But we never expected British customs to lose it for as long as they did. Did you just march into a Muggle post office--"

"Anything for you, my lady."

Jade's eyes narrowed skeptically. "How'd you survive all the muggles?"

He acted as though insulted. "Madame, I am a fully qualified wizard; muggles do not worry me." Then he lost the act and muttered, "I made the biggest ass of myself. I didn't know what I was doing, but afterward, a few well placed Memory Charms helped just a bit."

She laughed and gave him a quick hug. "It's great to know I have the power to make you go to all that trouble."

He smiled, "What? You had any doubt?"

They made their way slowly up to the grounds, Sirius walking the motorcycle and Jade carrying her box.

She asked, "What time is it?"

"Ten till four."

"Crap."

"What?"

"I got to go relieve Bill at the front gate. My shift's from four to midnight. Damn, I really wanted to unpack this."

"Take it with you. You'll be bored out there anyway. Isn't Moony supposed to partner up with you?"

"Tomorrow's the full moon and he's feeling pretty crappy today. I told him to go rest and I'd cover for the both of us. But, Sirius, if you would tell Kori to come out--"

"No problem. I'll probably drop by myself when I go on break."

Jade smiled at this and then turned and headed down the path to the giant gates. Bill was perched on top of one of the giant winged boars. He looked incredibly bored with his jaw propped on his hands. He was singing softly, and fairly off-key: "654 bottles of butterbeer on the wall, 654 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 653 bottles of butterbeer on the wall...." When he saw her, he snapped at of his trance and jumped down to the ground.

"Finally. This shift was just crawling by!"

"Just what I want to hear. I'll be stuck out here for the next 8 hours; you don't want to stay and keep me company, do you?"

"Hell no!" He jogged off.

"Hey, wait a second, Bill!" She called after his retreating back.

He paused and turned around. "Huh?"

"How many 'bottles of beer' did you start with?"

He smiled lopsidedly, "Ten grand."

Jade groaned. Bill laughed and continued up to the castle. The agent sighed, plopped down and popped open her care package. Starboy had sent her a couple changes of clothes, a few snacks, and her toys. She grinned happily as she pulled out the electronic bugs and tracers, a palm pilot to monitor the tracers, an earpiece, a cell phone and a new laptop.

The agent wondered, since she was outside of the Hogwarts perimeter, if her muggle electronics would work. The school itself had too much magic in it, but as she turned on the cell phone and started the play the Snake game, she was glad to see muggle stuff worked just beyond the gate. Jade began to fiddle with the tracers and testing them to make sure customs hadn't broken any. All worked great.

The sun began to set and Jade pulled her jacket and scarf tight around her. It seemed to be growing colder than usual. Her breath came in white puffs of cloud.

The tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickled. The agent grew alert. She sensed something in the shadows rather than she could hear it. Jade pulled out her Glock and had it ready. Her eyes darted into the gloom.

The cold grew. Her fingers stiffened. Just as she was about to alert the other stationed Auror up the path, a debilitating sense of grief and fear flooded her veins. It caught her breath and she lost her balance, falling to her knees. She could hear screaming in the distance. A thick, white fog began to cloud her eyes, but just as she was about to pass out, she could finally see what was approaching. Giant wraiths, shrouded in black, floated towards her. Behind them marched the Death Eaters.

The screaming was deafening. Somebody was shouting at her, "Run for it, Jade! I'll cover you! GO!!!" Then the voice wailed in anguish and a maniacal laughter roared in Jade's ears.

The agent passed out.

~*~

When she came to, it was a clear, starry evening. Kori was tugging at her jacket sleeve. It took Jade a moment to remember where she was, and what had happened. She had a killer migraine.

Wobbly, she stood up and began to head up to the castle. The sight she saw, however, almost had the impact the Dementors had on her, breath catching in her throat and vision swirling. The school was a battle zone. Her knees felt weak as she watched the Aurors defend the school from the DEs. Anguished shouts and hellish commands filled the night air.

"Not again," she whispered. She swallowed the lump in her throat and stumbled up the path towards Hogwarts. The agent pulled her glock from her holster and fired off a round at the shrouded figures. Two were fatally wounded. Jade ducked as returning curses flew near her face. She stepped over a Death Eater corpse and then an Auror, one whom she recognized: Dedalus Diggle.

She paled, and the slight edge she had had, vanished. Jade stood in the middle of the battle, frightened and lost. Absently, she fingered the electronic bug she had placed in her pocket earlier that day. Hexes whizzed by her, but she was oblivious. The sounds around her died as she sank into her despair and an icy silence smothered Jade.

Only when a Death Eater stumbled into her as he scurried blindly, did she awake from her stupor. Jade was yanked back to the present battle zone, all the cries and screaming deafening her again. The DE's hood flipped back, revealing his bald, sweaty head and sharp nose. His frantic eyes darted over his shoulder and Jade knew him immediately, Peter Pettigrew. In the second that he stood in front of her before racing away, she pulled the tracer from her pocket and stuck it securely into the folds of his hood.

The leader of the Death Eaters snatched hold of Dumbledore and gave a short, loud whistle. The cloaked figures instantly stopped what they were doing and all pulled out from their robes tiny silver orbs: illegal portkeys. The clan vanished in a flash. All except Pettigrew, who seemed to have lost his portkey.

Sirius came bolting across the grounds; the reason Pettigrew had been dashing madly in the first place. Jade could see the lethal glare in his eyes as he neared her. Pettigrew squealed and transformed into a rat and scurried towards the gate. Sirius snarled and was about to transfigure himself when Jade threw herself in front of him. Sirius made to push her aside, but she wouldn't budge.

"GET OUTA THE WAY!!"

"Stop! Let him go!!" she shouted.

The rat crossed the gate and morphed back into a man. He grinned victoriously and apparated with a distinct 'pop.'

Sirius growled in frustration.