Here is the next chapter on schedule! Also, if you haven't seen, I posted another Future!AU of this set in Legacies. I should have the second part out later this week. It's called if you walk a lonely road, (know that you are not alone)

Ever since Klaus had sent him away, something had been nagging at him that something had happened. He knew the hybrid's moods and this was not something he had seen in the months he had spent with the man.

This teenager, this kid, he had to be involved in this change somehow.

He was young, probably around Elena's age, high school at least, and nothing seemed unnatural about him. He had a heartbeat so he wasn't a vampire but that didn't rule out a werewolf or witch.

The choice of his companion begged the question of how Rebekah knew this kid and what was she doing with him back at Gloria's bar after he already cleaned up the body? She had only been undaggered for a day and he can't imagine Klaus gave her a long leash after desiccating for a century.

But if the kid had already been with Klaus, that would explain why she was with him. Their connection was Klaus and if Klaus was keeping a kid around, he had to mean something. This was his chance. If he bid his time, he might be able to get his revenge on Klaus. His heart ached to remember the devastation on Elena's face when he told her to leave. Klaus had taken everything! If he could get just one win, that would be enough.

There wasn't room for error in his stalking of the two. He knew if he wasn't careful, Rebekah would hear his approach and he would lose his advantage. This building was old and creaky; one wrong move and he could lose his life.

The conversation seemed to flow easily between the two but they talked about mundane subjects, nothing that indicated who the boy was. He did learn that they were looking for something, a spell, a tracking spell they thought might be in one of Gloria's grimoires.

He heard bottles clinking as he cursed himself for not thinking of destroying those damn books when he burned the body. Klaus had wanted Gloria for a reason, it was only logical to assume that whatever spell she was going to use would be in her grimoire. There was nothing he could do now.

The sound of shattering glass and grunting broke him out of his thoughts, reminding him that he needed to focus. Tightening his fist to bury the rising bitterness, Stefan closed his eyes to block out everything that wasn't the two in the bar.

"…let me see…" Rebekah's accented voice filtered through his ears, telling him that it was the boy who had broken the bottle and injured himself. With that knowledge, the smell of blood reached him, threatening his resolve as it seemed so delicious. No, he took a deep whiff of the air…there was an underlying smell, a repulsive scent that made the hair on the back of his neck stand. This kid wasn't human.

He can hear the shifting of fabric brushing together before Rebekah speaks again.

"It healed?" There is surprise in her voice and shifting again and he can only imagine she's moving the injured appendage, examining every inch of skin.

"The last few months I've been healing faster than usual. I mean, I always healed faster after I triggered my wolf but this is different." There's a concerned note in his voice as he talks, not quite scared but definitely a note of unease.

So the kid was a werewolf which makes a lot of sense as to why Klaus wanted, him but why hadn't he tried turning him yet? He hadn't wasted any time slaughtering the packs in the Smokies. What made this kid different?

Rebekah turns over Harry's hand again, clearing away the remaining blood with a stroke of her thumb. The skin was unblemished, like he hadn't just cut his hand open on a glass bottle.

Wolves didn't heal this fast but vampires could. Could this be the dormant vampire side Klaus had theorized Harry had? It would explain the accelerated healing and increased sensitivity. Harry had barely touched that bottle before it broke, looking like a deer caught in headlights as it shattered, slicing through his flesh. It gave her some measure of relief that he wasn't totally unprotected.

Harry hadn't looked up from his hand, remembering his wounds from the previous days and how he hadn't paid attention to how quickly they had healed. Before, it had taken a few hours, maybe a day to heal torn muscles or flesh wounds, but now it was minutes turned to seconds. Something inside him was changing and he couldn't tell if it was good or bad.

"Darling?" his aunt's voice broke him from his thoughts as he turned his attention to her concerned blue eyes.

He tried to give her a comforting smile but it doesn't reach his eyes, "I'm fine." He pulls his hand from her grip, looking around the bar for anywhere a grimoire might be hidden, trying to get them back on task, "I never asked, why do you call him Nik? He introduced himself as Klaus to me."

"Yes, that's the name the world knows him by but his real name is Niklaus. None of our siblings call him that dreadful name. I've always called him Nik but our brothers call him Niklaus."

That sounded familiar. How could he have forgotten his father's introduction? Harry remembered now that he had introduced himself as Niklaus but had said most called him Klaus. Harry had just assumed he liked the name better. He hummed at the new piece of information. After getting to know the man that was his father the last few days, the new name oddly suited him better.

He noticed the small hitch in her voice when she talked about her brothers and while he didn't have siblings of his own, he did know the longing of family. It was a topic he didn't feel comfortable with nor wanted to discuss at the moment.

An awkward silence hung over them as Harry struggled to find something to say and Rebekah focused on the movement she had heard outside the bar. She had been suspicious for a couple of minutes that they weren't alone and she could all but guess who it was spying on them.

"You're unnaturally good with Teddy," he pauses, not wanting to come across as insensitive, "have you ever…?" He leaves it open-ended so she could choose to answer or not.

It was a sad smile filled with acceptance and heartbreak all at once.

"There was one we let in but he was taken from us," Rebekah said nothing more, not wanting to reveal any more of their family secrets to an eavesdropper. Harry likely hadn't noticed or identified anything unusually which was understandable.

"Now, enough of that. Why don't you come on in, Stefan, dear." It wasn't a request and she knew the vampire valued his life enough not to refuse her.

Stefan startled at what he overheard. There was a little kid with Klaus and Rebekah?! Was this why the boy was still alive? Pieces connected and he was wrong in his initial observation. This kid was more important to Klaus than he originally thought. He must've been the one here with Klaus when he killed Gloria. This opened a whole new set of doors; Klaus wasn't as invulnerable as he wanted the world to believe. He had a weakness now, a human weakness.

He approaches as the boy leaves but Rebekah quickly grabs his focus and he knows he is treading on dangerous grounds.

"Now why were you spying on us, darling?" Rebekah asked, somehow managing to look down on him despite being shorter.

Stefan looked at her with those puppy dog eyes she remembered falling for all those decades ago. And even though it's only been a few days for her, that spark was gone.

"I wanted to see you…talk with you. Klaus only just returned my memories of the both of you."

Once upon a time, she would've believed him, the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, looking down to hide his thoughts.

"Last time I saw you, the two of you were running from someone."

His picture of concern was perfect, the way his eyes came together, the small frown across his face…she could almost believe his concern was real.

"An exhausting time, I assure you." She forces out a smile as she flirts with him. She had centuries at pretending to like people, this time was no different.

Stefan knew he had to keep trying, find the answers that would help him take down Klaus.

"There was a man looking for you…who was he?"

"No one we have to concern ourselves with anymore." That was the closest thing to the true Stefan would get. The less people knew about Mikael, the less risk there was of someone searching him out.

"Who was the boy? I haven't seen him all summer," he raises his eyebrow as a smile tugs at his lips, teasing her. "He seems a little young to be hanging around you and Klaus."

The atmosphere became tense and Stefan realized he was right, the kid meant something to the siblings.

"I was just wondering when I'd get to meet him, if he's sticking around?"

He tried to keep the smile on his face, disarm her like he remembered doing back in the '20s.

Rebekah moved forward, heels clicking on the floor with every step, "You're not jealous, are you?" She cupped his face tenderly like she use to when they were together.

Stefan didn't have a chance to respond before her lips were crashing into his, his hand coming up to cup her neck to reciprocate. The moment he pulled back to search her face, he was met with the cold stare of burning blue eyes. It was the last thing he saw before his neck was snapped and he dropped to the ground, Rebekah catching his body before it made a sound.

She wiped her lips in disgust. She had known as soon as she kissed him that Stefan no longer had feelings for her and his line of questioning put her family in danger. Klaus didn't trust him and neither did she.

She wasn't going to let these men walk all over her any longer. She was no longer the little sister, the hopeless romantic, the spoiled brat…

No. She had a purpose now and she needed to be a fierce and unyielding fortress for Harry and Teddy.

Harry was still processing what Rebekah had confided only moments ago when a man walked through the door, no doubt the one his aunt had just called out.

"Be a dear; Stefan is an old friend and we haven't had a chance to catch up yet." Harry looks to the man who could only be a vampire if he knew his aunt. Being around a new person, an unfamiliar vampire, filled him with unease, remembering his father's words about powerful enemies. So he took his aunt's dismissal for what it was and slunk off to the back to look for anything resembling a grimoire or where a witch would hide her spells.

He didn't like this new habit of meeting vampires. He had met more vampires in the last few days than he had his entire time in the magical world, he was itching to find more wolves.

He ran a hand through his hair, messing up the earlier effort he had put in to make it presentable.

Being a Seeker meant he was good at finding things. It wasn't difficult to snoop through the spare rooms to find the treasure hoard Gloria had been stockpiling for the last century. She was a practicer of odd magic that he hadn't heard of before, had stores of ingredients he had never seen though he had no doubt Hermione would know what they were.

…SHIT!

Harry forgot to return Hermione's text last night! With everything that had happened, it had completely slipped his mind that she had messaged him. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he mentally did the math and knew Hermione would still be awake in England. Taking a chance that she wouldn't completely eviscerate him, Harry pressed the dial button and held his breath.

He only had to wait for two rings for his fate to be decided.

"Harry Potter! Do you know how worried I have been!?" her voice came through the speaker and Harry could imagine how frazzled and stressed she must have been the last few hours. He winced but knew he had to speak.

"I'm really, terribly sorry! A lot happened yesterday and I ended up going to bed early last night. I wasn't ignoring you, I swear!"

Hermione paused, knowing how rare it was for Harry to sleep through the night. By the sound of things, he had a full night's rest which was all she could ask for him at times. She would forgive him this one time. Instead, she started in on why she had texted him in the first place, "I was so worried for you. The last thing you texted me was that you were meeting a witch your father knew."

He winced at the reminder of how terribly that meeting had gone, moving the phone from his ear to the table and switching it to speaker mode so he could multitask.

Best not to worry Hermione any further or she might make her way across the ocean to chew him out for his recklessness.

"Turns out, she couldn't help. But while I have you, you wouldn't happen to know a spell for tracking a specific object?"

She hummed in thought, muttering drifting through the line as she filtered through what she knew of tracking spells. He was able to catch the names of the incantations, scribbling them down on a spare sheet of paper he had found. He knew his friend so well.

Before she could launch into a full-blown lecture on the theory and practical nature of each spell, Harry interrupted her, already feeling guilty of doing so.

"I wish I could talk more but my aunt is in the next room and I gotta try these spells so we can get answers."

Uh, he did not mean to drop that tidbit of information so soon!

"Harry Potter! What do you mean aunt!? Don't you hang up on me!"

"I'm really sorry but I'll call you back before you go to bed and tell you everything, I promise!" he paused, hesitating before continuing to speak, "And can you not tell Ginny? I want to tell her myself."

He glanced to the door where he could hear his aunt coming, "Sorry, I really have to go! I'll call you tonight."

He winced when he hit the red button to end the call, thankful that he was on the other side of the ocean right now.

"Ah, who was that?" Rebekah asked the second she walked into the room, Harry remembering the advanced hearing vampires had and that she had most likely heard him on the phone.

"A friend from home. I asked her about tracking spells. She knew a few so I can cross-reference them with Gloria's spells if they don't work."

Rebekah sent a half-smile to her nephew, asking if she could use his telephone to call Nik.

Unlocking his screen, he pulled up the contact information he had gotten from Klaus that morning.

Handing his phone over to Rebekah, Harry went off to the side to give her some privacy, flipping through the grimoires to see if he could find anything that matched the spells Hermione had given him.

Rebekah gives him a bright smile as she accepts the device, raising an eyebrow at the pop-up notification from a Hermione Granger that was in all caps.

Harry blushed and focused in on the book in front of him.

"Yes, your precious godson is still alive."

Rebekah let an unimpressed look cross her face. Honestly, this was how he answered a phone call from his son? They would need to have a discussion on his mannerisms. For now, they had other problems.

"I'm glad to hear, brother. We have more important matters. I caught your little lapdog eavesdropping at the bar. I snapped his neck but I can't move his body without leaving Harry and I can't allow him to see his body! So move your arse and get someone over here!"

Klaus had to let out a brief chuckle, it was unexpected that Rebekah made the first snafu.

"I'll take care of it, little sister. Have you found any leads?"

She growled at the mocking tone he used, "I'll tell you know when you take care of the body!"

Rebekah angrily pressed the End button but was satisfied that Nik would take care of everything.

Klaus makes his way to the lobby, Teddy napping upstairs. Hailing a taxi, he puts on his most charming smile.

"Whe're ya goin?"

He ignored the question, "You're going to listen carefully. You're to go to Gloria's Bar six blocks west to pick up a body. I want you to take the body to this address," Klaus tucks a slip of paper into the man's pockets, smile never faltering. "There are ropes and vervain located in a green bag, tie him in the vervain soaked ropes. Send me a picture when you're done and…cut your throat when you finish."

The cab driver audibly swallowed but nodded in understanding, the compulsion taking over.

Satisfied, Klaus double-tapped the car door, sending the man off to his death. He watched the yellow vehicle until it turned left, victory shining in his eyes before they narrowed, darting across the street. It felt like someone was watching him. Paranoid when he couldn't find the offender, he retreated upstairs to check on his charge.

"So, Hermione said tracking specific objects was difficult because if there wasn't a clear picture or intent, the magic could backfire or find the nearest object that satisfied the parameters. Since I don't know what the necklace looks like, I can't draw a clear picture in my head to summon it. We also don't know where it is. My magic can't work over long distances."

Rebekah had already concluded this but she let Harry continue, glancing down at the page he had left off at.

"I can't do that but you can. If I channel you when you're thinking of the necklace, it could work."

Harry looks for her permission as she steps forward, hand presented with a challenging look.

Gulping, Harry looked over his notes one more time before beginning the spell. Grasping her cold hand, Harry licked his lips and began.

Rebekah marvelled at the magic she could feel blanketing the room. Harry was powerful, more powerful then they had first thought. She hadn't felt magic this dense since their time in New Orleans. She pulled at the image of the necklace she had carried with her for nine hundred years, letting the image fill her.

The magic swirled for a few seconds before dying and she knew it was a failure before Harry even said anything.

She gave him an encouraging smile as he tried the second of the three spells.

…It ended the same as the first.

Nervous sweat began to bead down his forehead as he set up the third spell, hoping that this was the one. He was scared to look at Rebekah, fearing that she was growing annoyed by his constant failures. He wiped his clammy palms on his pants leg before taking her hand into his again.

Rebekah could tell Harry was getting anxious with his heartbeat skipping and the perspiration on his forehead and hands. She wasn't bothered by his failures, learning more and more just by watching him perform magic. She enjoyed watching him work, his face scrunching in concentration, something that definitely did not come from Nik!

No, she thought harder, he reminded her of another brother, one who had enjoyed magic to its fullest, who had marvelled at each of his creations and strove to push the boundaries. He reminded her of Kol before he became a vampire.

This time, she felt the magic twist around her memory, almost pulling it out of her mind. It was working!

Harry clenched his eyes as his magic came back to him, a series of flashes before he was forced out of the connection.

He pulled his hand from his aunt's, panting as he tried to organize his thoughts.

"I saw it…some-someone was wearing it. But I couldn't see where."

He ran his hand through his hair again as he caught his breath.

"Just gimme a sec, I can try again." He wanted to see if he had been forced out of the connection or if he had lost his hold on his magic.

"No, you've done enough today. We can try again tomorrow. We found the books now let's get back to Nik and Teddy."

She was worried. Not sure if Harry meant to or not, she had seen the flashes as well but there was no way to know where it was. It had been in a room, around someone neck and that was all she had seen before the connection had been terminated.

For now, the best option was to regroup and go over what they knew. Harry did good, she was proud of that. Already, she could see he was a better person than previous Mikaelson's.

The air was getting stuffy and she wanted to get out of this memory ridden hellhole. She waved Harry ahead when he had packed all the books away. She had one last piece of business to take care of. Finding the stache of matches all witches had, Rebekah gathered a small pile of scrap paper and fabric, pouring a circle of alcohol before lighting the match. She watched the flames burn, taking the past memories of this place with it, the orange/red reflecting in her eyes as she coolly observed them spread.

No more romance, no more fairy tales, no more running. For the first time in centuries, she was taking on a new role, shedding the layers that had clung to foolish notions of love. Family was Always and Forever and she would protect that.

Closing the door behind her, she looked to her charge and felt at peace with her decision.

Harry looks at her quizzically, sensing something had changed about her.

She can only sigh and shake her head when he turns to her, hair blowing in the Chicago wind. Her hand reaches out to smooth it out before it became any more of a bird's nest.

Harry can only laugh.

"It's a hopeless endeavour."