A/N: I'm so deeply sorry, I'm sure many of you thought that this was a continuation of a story I labeled as dead. In a way, it is, but I won't lie and tell you that's what it's meant to be.

CONTINGENCY ORDER THETA-D

After hastily finishing his first crucial task, Dobby looked around at the mayhem, and sighed. His longtime partner's instructions had been clear, and even with everything that had happened, they persisted. So he did the natural thing, and followed those contingency orders to the letter.

Would he ever see his partner again? Dobby couldn't say. Theta-D was as close to a worst case scenario as a contingency plan could get, after all. But deep down inside, something in Dobby told him that all wasn't lost. And as he looked into the infant's glowing green eyes, he couldn't bring himself to disagree with that unknowable impulse. So as he performed exactly what Theta-D required, Dobby felt something that had been wearing thin in recent years. Hope. And maybe that was all he needed.

OOO

When Hagrid heard the crack, he knew the house was falling apart. He'd been approaching cautiously, but now he abandoned all of that caution. As he rushed in, he couldn't see the beam that he assumed had snapped, but he could see James. That almost stopped him, but he pressed onward. His nose, mediocre though it may have been, was good enough to tell him that there was only one survivor here. So when he saw Lily, he stepped over her too, mourning all the while, unable to stop the thick, salty tears running down his face.

And then he saw the eyes. Those eyes…Hagrid felt something stirring in him. Unknowingly mirroring the emotions Dobby had experienced mere moments earlier, Hagrid felt hope begin to stir within him for the first time in what seemed like forever. Those were Lily's eyes. And if that hair was anything to judge by, the wee lad had gotten the best of both of his parents. So he choked out a few reassurances, picked up the lad, and marveled at how perfectly the child fit into the palm of his hand. Then he turned to leave.

And paused. He couldn't just leave them like this. The lad would understand. So he shifted Harry to his other hand and picked up Lily before hurrying down to the living room, scooping James up as he made his way back outside. Once he was outside, he saw a friendly, familiar face. As Hagrid delicately put down two of his best friends, Sirius Black walked up and laid an understanding hand on his elbow.

"Are…are they…?" Sirius couldn't seem to get the words out.

"Little tyke here made it, but…" Hagrid could get the words out either.

Sirius stiffened, and then let out a choked sound. As he knelt next to the best friend he'd ever had, and the woman who he'd always thought was kinda hot. "James…Lily…what have-" he choked down a sob, unable to finish the thought.

Hagrid couldn't stand it. Sirius was as good a lad as James had ever been, and a good friend. "Look, they're still with us," he said, handing the lad over, "He's got her eyes…an' his hair."

Sirius took the child numbly. The two seemed to stare deeply into each other's eyes for the longest time, before Sirius actually smiled. And even laughed, in a strangled way. "Ha! He does at that. He really does." The Sirius grew pensieve. "Hagrid, I'm his godfather. Let me take him. Someone has to take care of him, and I can make sure he grows up right."

Hagrid shook his big head. "'Fraid I can't let yeh do that, Sirius. Dumbledore's orders. He'll be safe, don't you worry."

Sirius looked back up at Hagrid. "Alright. But you take care now. I'll not have my godson growing up to be some stiff-necked fop because he got dropped on his head." The humor fell flat; even Sirius couldn't work up a smile anymore.

Hagrid placed a hand on his massive chest, right over his heart. "You have my solemn word."

At that, Sirius handed the baby back to Hagrid, and took one last, long look at the bodies of his friends on the ground. Then he turned to leave. "You can have my bike. I shouldn't need it much, and it's a smoother ride that that damnable bus." He muttered more, but he was facing away, and Hagrid couldn't make it out. Then he walked away, vanishing with a sharp crack.

Hagrid followed him after one last look at James and Lily (and a watery sniff of his nose). As he threw a leg over the…bike, had Sirius said? Hagrid looked over the controls. It took some experimenting, but he figured out the basics soon enough. Tucking the lad into a pocket, swaddled in cloth, and making sure his head poked out, Hagrid took off into the night, not even giving surprised when the contraption started flying. That's how transportation worked in his mind, after all. That bus thing only drove on the ground because it was always picking people up.

And as he flew, Hagrid once more felt that stirring of hope within himself. With the night air blowing past and the best parts the two greatest people Hagrid had ever known along for the ride, maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe the storm had passed.

OOO

Much later, Hagrid had gone through several storms and weathered them all. And wouldn't you know, the little tyke was sleeping.

A/N: This is an announcement, and a teaser. My beta's currently a bit...unresponsive, but this is here anyway, because why not. Future drabbles for this story (the one I mentioned recently, a spiritual successor of sorts to Harry Potter and the Significance of Subtleties) will be posted alongside this one, in a separate story called WORKING TITLE HERE-drabbles and nonesense. It will be called this until I come up with a relevant working title, because due to a minor and recent continuity rework, Undercover doesn't work so well anymore, and I'm trashing the idea.

Best of wishes,

feauxen

P.S. I am truly sorry to any fans of SoS, but this will in all likelihood be the last update to this work. The project is well and truly ground to a halt, and replaced with another. At this point, you really do know as much as I do, because I haven't made and won't make new plans or outlines for the storyline.

I do apologize.

~f