S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

By: AGX[tail]

Chapter 5: Road Trip…

***

Hermione stood up and for a few moments stayed quiet before she launched herself at Harry. "Can't say I expected this…" Harry muttered as Hermione wrapped him in one of her trademark lung crushing hugs, burying her head into his shoulder which served to muffle her voice. After a few moments of her incoherent mumbling, she felt a stinging slap to his back quickly followed by another one. He winced as he let her vent for a few moments longer before pulling back and holding her at arms length. "You hit me." He deadpanned.

"I'm sorry! But you've been a great prat, running off the way you did!" Hermione huffed at him before hugging him again. "It really is great to see you again…" She separated from him and took a seat at the table and with a quick flick of her wand, she conjured a tea service. "You've changed a lot…" she went slightly red "You look good, Harry."

She earned a grin at that comment. "Why, thanks Hermione. You've done some maturing as well." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively earning himself a roll of her eyes and a huff. As she prepared herself and Harry tea, she couldn't help but smile at him. He was her best friend once in her life and even though he had left with no warning, she still considered him a friend. "So how've you been Hermione? Other than the whole war situation…"

"I have been alright. Things could be better but then again, they could be worse."

When she didn't elaborate, Harry took it as a sign that she didn't really want to talk about it. He shrugged, deciding not to push the issue considering Hermione might be the only person that he'd be able to actually have a conversation without someone hitting him through it. Well, hitting him more than the usual you're being a git slaps that Hermione was known to dole out every once in a while during their time in Hogwarts.

"So, you work as a mercenary? How is that working out for you?"

"I get paid to travel any where and everywhere to kill people. It's working out good." Hermione stared at him, as if expecting for him to laugh and deny his words. But that denial never came and she received a grin from the ebony haired man sitting across the table from her. "Sorry if it bothers you. But I'm doing the exact same thing I would've been doing here in this country, except I'm doing it world wide."

"And what's that?" She was curious. Hermione wanted to know what kind of justification he had for killing people. She, herself, wasn't a saint; she'd killed an over eager death eater recruit but it had really weighed down on her. From what she saw, Harry killed and that was that, with no second thoughts or hesitations.

"Every life I take means that one more innocent lives to see another day." His eyes were full of certainty and his voice radiated conviction as he spoke those words. "That's a lot of what STALKER does. Some country decides it has big enough balls to invade its neighbors for no reason and the ones who suffer are the ones with nothing to do in the conflict. Homes are destroyed and lives are lost. And that's why I enjoy my work as a mercenary."

Silence reigned for a few minutes as Hermione searched for something else to talk about. She heard him grunt something but didn't really understand it. "What was that?"

"Ron." After a few moments, he elaborated. "What happened to that idiot?"

"When you left, he decided that it was up to him to lead the gryffindors against anything Slytherin. Of course, Malfoy couldn't help but be his usual self and with Snape protecting Malfoy, Ron got frustrated. Everyone knew that the way things were going, that they were going to fight each other." Hermione fiddled with her sleeve as she stared at the wall. Harry guessed that she somehow felt guilty for whatever had happened and he was pretty sure he knew what happened. "Malfoy was getting training from Snape along with the training his father gave him and while Ron had what he learned under you, it wasn't enough. That's where all those scars on his face are from."

"But my question is… what's his beef with me?" Hermione looked puzzled for a moment and Harry sighed. Too much time spent in the wizarding world and not enough spent in the normal world. "I mean, what's his problem with me?"

"Oh, well, I think he's like that because you never tried to teach us any of the other spells that you knew." Harry snorted. Of all the stupid things the red headed prat could be using as some excuse to dislike him, that was the stupidest. "I told him you probably did but for good rea-" She stopped talking when she saw Harry arch an eyebrow at her. "Well, it's true. He's prone to acting rashly and if you taught him any of the spells you used in Diagon Alley… well, it would've been a disaster."

"And of course, his hands and eyes would've fallen off if he had picked up a book to learn spells from?" Harry rolled his eyes. Sometimes, he wondered why the hell he'd gotten to be best friends with Ron. A small buzzing filled the room and Harry looked up, watching as Hermione jumped in surprise. She blushed slightly when she pulled out a small compact mirror and flipped it open, listening for a few moments to the muttered instructions before replying with a quick "Of course."

She closed the mirror and stood up, walking around the table and giving Harry another hug. "I really am glad to see you again Harry. I have to go for now, but I'll be back."

"Don't worry about it… I'll be here all week." Goddamned cage, that's what the room was. But freedom was coming soon. Very soon.

***

"We both know that you're not allowed to enter certain magical countries after the entire mess that World War II was, so who's going to be my minder?" Harry lay on the bed, using his hands as a pillow as he stared at the stone ceiling. As much as he wanted them to piss off, all of them, he had to take care of Voldemort. If not for the wizards then at least for the normal people that died and never knew why they died. The people that had nothing to do with the war but were currently the biggest targets in it. That and Voldemort would start looking for him again eventually and once that started, he wouldn't have any peace until snake face was dead and buried.

As much as he hated to admit it, this whole situation was on his shoulders. It might not be the weight of the world on his shoulders but it was the weight of at least a country full of innocents. Well, innocent to a certain degree, but innocents none the less. He looked up at the spectacled old man that watched him from a chair by the table. Dumbledore had cracked and it had only taken another day of waiting.

"I have decided that Auror Tonks and Miss Granger should accompany you." Harry sat up, meeting the headmaster's gaze with a look of incredulity. Seeing the obvious question in Harry's eye, Dumbledore cleared his throat before elaborating slightly. "Nymphadora's abilities can be of great use to you and Miss Granger's knowledge should be of value."

"Do I get my weapons back?" Harry glared at the man even as he was denied his guns. "I can't babysit them without some kind of weapon…"

"I find myself having doubts as to that, Harry. But the reason I cannot return your firearms is because they were left behind." Dumbledore popped a lemon drop into his mouth, relishing the taste of the candy as Harry glared at him. "Hmm? Did you say something?" The question was answered with a negligent wave of Harry's hand, proffering to ignore the batty old man. "You depart in two days time."

With a last good bye, Dumbledore stood up and headed out of the room, leaving behind a pensive Harry.

***

"I'm not travelling through the floo. That shit is uncomfortable and annoying." Harry stared at the two women facing him, arms crossed on his chest as he gave his final thoughts on the matter. "And if you insist, then go on ahead and I'll toddle off to my cell to wait for my friends." He chuckled as Hermione gave an annoyed huff and Tonks shot him a menacing glare… or at least her attempt at one. It was kind of hard to glare at someone in a menacing fashion if it made you look undeniably cute. The staring continued before Hermione gave another huff and walked off; headed in the direction of the International Floo station exit and into the airport.

"This is going to take forever." Tonks muttered, once all three of them secured tickets for the next outbound flight to Tokyo.

Harry was browsing through a magazine as they walked in the direction of the waiting area. After making themselves comfortable in the plastic seats in the waiting area, Harry leaned over and rested his head on Tonks' shoulders. She stiffened, turning her head slowly to face Harry or at least his hair. "What are you doing?" She whispered, her eyes glinting with what Harry assumed to be anger.

Harry yawned and after putting his feet on Hermione's lap, he closed his eyes. Ignoring the muttered protests from Hermione, he spoke quietly to Tonks, his voice cutting through the din of noise all around him. "We've picked up a tail. That's the reason why I didn't want to take the floo." Tonks shifted and Harry nudged her slightly with his right hand. "Don't move and don't act obvious. Unless you want me to kill the tag along in the middle of a crowded airport."

Tonks sighed, relaxing back in her chair even as Harry slid his head onto her lap, using her legs as a pillow. "Don't worry too much about the rat; I'll clean it up in a bit." Tonks looked down at him, her face twisted into a frown for a few moments before she assumed a carefree expression. A few minutes later, Harry was getting irritated with her. "Leave my hair alone."

"You're using me as a pillow." Tonks gave him a cold smile and her hands kept on twisting a few of the strands into a braid.

"Let's not forget that your legs are on me." Hermione deadpanned, her hand pointing down indicating the obvious.

Harry sighed before standing up, stopping a moment to straighten out his black button down dress shirt. "I'll be right back, I'm going to the restroom."

Tonks made to stand only to get an amused look from Harry. "Are you planning on watching me while I piss too?"

"Eugh!" Tonks groaned and Hermione grimaced before they both turned away from him. Harry smirked and with a jaunty wave, he walked off in search of the loo. Being back in Britain and listening to the lingo used by his own people; well, it made him realize exactly why everyone always chuckled every time he spoke before he'd carefully blurred out his accent and started using standard english. He chuckled as he reached the exit to the waiting area and turned the corner, catching a glimpse of his follower in one of the mirrored walls across the hall.

"Clean up time…" Harry muttered as he entered the bathroom. Quickly securing himself in one of the stalls, he waited and after a few minutes a curtain of silence fell over the room as the door opened and closed. 'Silencing the room… bad idea.' The footsteps and the tell tale whisking sound of a robe made it to his ears as the first stall opened. Harry closed his eyes and after a few seconds his magic poured out and enveloped the room, creating a primitive anti-portkey and anti-apparition ward.

The door to his stall was yanked open and there stood a familiar death eater. Thomas Yaxley. The man's scarred visage was twisted into a sneer as he leveled his wand against Harry. "Come out boy. My master would like to speak with you." A smile appeared on Harry's face as he stepped out of the stall with his hands in the air. "Throw me your wand." Harry arched an eyebrow at the order before shaking his head. "I have no time to play games with you! Throw me your wand, Potter!"

Harry shrugged and his left hand slipped into his jean's pocket, curling around the cylindrical outline visible there. His smile turned into a smirk as he lunged forward, tilting his head to the right to avoid the purple-green hue of a bone breaker. Yaxley gave surprised shout as he felt something punch into his wrist and through, losing mobility and control of his right hand as his wand fell to the floor. The fist that was aimed at Harry's head missed and gave Harry an opening for him to grip it at the wrist and with a sharp palm thrust to the elbow, the bone broke with a meaty snap.

Following the arm break, Harry stepped back before snapping out with a quick sidekick to Yaxley's knee. In one fluid motion, he ground his boot onto the bigger man's foot and stepped forward, snapping out with a pair of jabs to the kidney that doubled over his opponent. The right cross that smashed into Yaxley's face took him out of the equation. "The idiot should've remembered that I'm the one that scarred him in the first place…" Harry yanked out the purple fine point gel pen out of Yaxley's wrist, trying unsuccessfully to shake the blood off before giving it up as a lost cause and sinking it into the man's eye until it bit deep into brain tissue.

The wand on the floor worked enough for him to cast a few cleaning charms on himself, overpowering them to the point where his skin felt like it'd been scrubbed very thoroughly. With a sharp crack, Harry snapped the wand in half and walked out of the restroom, leaving behind a corpse in a bathroom with a notice-me-not spell that Yaxley himself must've put up. A grin spread across Harry's face as he heard the name of his flight being called, just as he entered the waiting area. As they stood, there were several oddly dressed people that rushed passed the doors, leaving behind many mystified muggles. "I wonder what their rush is?" Hermione looked at Harry flatly, having already realized that Harry had gotten rid of the man trailing them.

***

The manor looked dilapidated on the outside. Windows broken, shingles falling from the roof and the walls scarred by age and mischievous kids that tried their hand at exploring and breaking in to the place. A place that many teenagers had used for tests of courage, as well as a hangout spot at various times since it's original owners died. The old caretaker, with his aging bones, tried to stop them and tried keeping the place in good shape but it just wasn't enough. Now, though, since the old caretaker had died, the land outside had ... run wild, so to speak. The grass that had been meticulously cut and groomed was now a ragged sea and the yard looked like a dumping ground for trash.

Or so it seemed to everyone else. No one bothered with the place since the old caretaker had died. After all, it was hard to care about a place you couldn't remember and if even if it could be, then it couldn't have been approached anyway.

Inside, it was another story altogether. The entire house had been covered in dust, grime and dirt; various corners and rooms filled with empty bottles and trash. Walls had been damaged, the remains of old paintings covered in graffiti and the once comfortable and expensive furniture that filled it, damaged if not utterly destroyed. But now... Now the walls were cleaned, trash gone and of course it was furnished with antique furniture. Walls were repaired and so were the floors and every other nook, cranny and hiding place possible.

A black robed figure walked down, his normal swaggering stride rushed. The silence in that particular part of the house broken only by the slight whisk sound that his robes made with every step. At the end of the hallway was a black door, plain and unadorned, usually the type that was unworthy of caution. But not this one, this one brought dread to whom ever disturbed the room's inhabitant. The death eater stopped, pausing to shake his hand for a bit before curling it into a fist and knocking lightly.

"Enter..." The voice was cruel, cold and imperial; the words spoken with a sibilant hiss that was barely audible. Inside was what amounted to a small library, with dark oak bookshelves filled with numerous books, scrolls and rolls of parchments. A fire crackled inside, trying and failing desperately to dispel the chill that seemed to permeate the room along with the rest of the house.

The death eater was quick to kneel before the figure sitting on a high back armchair, crawling forward to kiss the black robes before him. Voldemort couldn't help but enjoy the spike of fear that lanced through the man's mind the brief moment that his cold red eyes met with those of the death eater. "Tell me... what news do you bring?" Snape had brought news to him, more than a week before, confirming what he'd learned from his spies in the ministry. Harry Potter was back and in contact with the wizarding world. A cruel smile had snaked its way onto his lips the moment he'd learned that. What's more, the Boy-Who-Lived's return was heralded with the death of two dozen aurors, a blow to the ministry that helped his cause.

"My lord... Yaxley is dead. His body was found in the muggle airport facility outside of the International Floo Terminal." The words rushed out of the kneeling man along with a small flinch when Voldemort's hand twitched slightly. After a few moments of silence, Voldemort looked down at the kneeling figure and carelessly waved him away. A smile appeared on his lips at the small sigh that escaped his follower's lips almost involuntarily as he moved to exit the room quickly.

With a negligent flick of his wand and a "crucio," the black robed figure collapsed before the door, twitching and screaming in pain. "Go..." The whimpering man stood up, and rushed out of the room as fast he could in his current condition.

"Yaxley is a loss that will be difficult to replace... but he was a mad dog since Potter ruined his face. Harry Potter, I shall enjoy our next encounter..." A laugh erupted from Voldemort's lips as thunder crashed outside.

***

"I hate you so much…" A bleary eyed Tonks stumbled into the room, pausing only to toss her wand onto the stand next to the bed before collapsing face first into it. A few minutes later she was dead to the world as she sunk into dreamland. Hermione rolled her eyes at the overdramatic witch before going into the restroom to change into a pair of comfortable pajamas and taking the bed next to Tonks' bed.

"Can you conjure me a bed? I seem to have been forgotten about…" Harry arched an eyebrow at Hermione, who rolled to her side and after a few moments, slept. "Oh, fuck this... I'm not sleeping on the floor..." Harry muttered, grabbing up Tonks' discarded wand and after a few tries, managed to get a reaction from it.

***

"Ughh…" Tonks let out a groan, turning her face deeper into her pillow as the blinds in the room rolled up automatically, allowing the bright sunshine to pour inside. The ringing of an alarm soon followed and she groaned even louder as she tried to bury her head under her pillow. Tonks was never a morning person. Never. She went as far as to dislike early risers, wondering how the hell they did it every day. It was and always would be a mystery.

Her eyes snapped open when she realized someone was squeezing her breast. "Who the fuck?!" She turned around and was met with a groggy looking Hermione who gave her one last squeeze before reality caught up with her. Her hand snapped back quickly and her cheeks were suffused in scarlet as she stuttered through an apology.

And of course, Harry laughing was what brought her out of her stuttering as she whirled around to see the green eyed man eating and laughing from small couch that ran along the wall across from the beds. Harry grabbed a bottle of soy sauce, dumping a copious amount on his white rice before grabbing his fork and continuing his meal. As much as she tried, she couldn't get back to sleep so after a while she sat up in bed, her eyes half closed and a drowsy look in her eyes as she glared at Harry.

It was after her shower and after breakfast that she realized there was something different about the Harry Potter she was looking at. "You've got earrings!" Hermione, who'd been staring at them for a while, nodded in agreement even as Harry rolled his eyes at them both. He tweaked his earrings, 5 multicolored horseshoe earrings on his left ear and 4 on the right ear, making sure that they took notice of them. "Two pairs give me a small shield, won't block a friggin heavy curse but it'll drain it somewhat and a few others do a few things including translation spells." It was after he showered and got dressed that they left the hotel, with Tonks groaning for breakfast after she'd been unable to eat anything brought to the rooms.

***

"Hey! Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Tonks jogged forward, managing to stumble on the slick tile flooring of the hotel's entranceway. It took her a few moments after that to catch up to the long strides that Harry was taking, with a peeved Hermione next to him as well. Harry looked at her and smirked, watching as her face slowly lit up with the red hue of her blush as she remembered the rather compromising position she'd woken up in.

"I'm not lesbian and not bisexual. And what you saw this morning was just an accident." Hermione seemed to go redder and even Tonks stayed silent, decidedly trying to forget about her rude morning wake up.

"Oh, come on. How many times have I heard that excuse? It's only an accident. I wasn't groping you." He tried his hand at imitating her, earning himself a punch to the shoulder from both women. Really. It wasn't his fault they'd ended up in such a compromising position. Or maybe it was… but that would teach them not to leave him bed less. Jetlag was a bitch and even if he was trained to be able to be on the move at a moment's notice, he enjoyed sleeping on beds... and hammocks. He couldn't forget about the hammocks.

"Oi. Don't you think walking around talking about this sort of thing is- inappropriate?" Tonks looked around them nervously, her eyes darting about and taking in all the people that were around them as they made their way down the crowded street. For a moment, both Hermione and Harry looked at her strangely. That earned her a chuckle from the decidedly amused Harry Potter. Hermione shook her head before giving a huff and crossing her arms, looking away from Harry.

"If you haven't been paying attention, then you'll now notice we're not talking in the native language, Nymphadora." Tonks hissed! Harry laughed as he watched her hiss at Hermione like a pissed off housecat. After a few more moments of bickering, they finally fell silent as they continued their trek through the streets. Three blocks later and Harry hit the first alley that he saw, ignoring all the other people that were in the standing in front of doors along the alley walls.

"You… brought us to Hooker land." Tonks deadpanned, scanning the people and the shops along the alleyway warily, ignoring the suggestive signs and the instances where clothing seemed to be lacking. "Why are we in hooker land?" Harry rolled his eyes. He didn't ask them to follow after him , yet they did. Now with the questions. His hand slid down his face, a groan heaving from his mouth as he turned to face both of the huffing women.

"I'm here to talk to a friend. I'm not here for a hooker." He rolled his eyes at the suspicious glares he got from both before turning and continuing on his way. After a few more shops were passed, he found exactly what he was looking for. Kasumi Bath House. Or so the sign said, according to the translation charms that were embedded in one of his nine earrings. Nine purple-green and orange hued horseshoe earrings that he wore now that he wasn't under constant Dumbledore supervision.

For a few moments, he stood outside, staring at the place with a faint sign of interest before a girl walked out.

"You!" Harry stared at her for a moment, trying to put her face to a name when she started moving. He hopped back, avoiding the kick that whipped out at him, and was forced to duck as the sidekick she threw at him was turned into a high round house kick. He avoided the quick series of punches, backing up some more to stay out of her fighting range and to try and match a name with either a reputation or a face.

Her blonde hair was styled in a page boy cut, leaving a few bangs long enough to cover her right eye as she glared at him. Bright blue eyes, blonde hair and with a slim, toned figure, she was attractive. What stood out the most was the scars on her face, one on her forehead going from above her right eyebrow to her left; the other started on her left cheek and went across the bridge of her nose to her right cheek, like a jagged three sided box. Combined with life in the world of mercenary's and it made her deadly, feral but with undeniable sex appeal.

"Who did it? Who the fuck pulled the trigger on my brother?" For a moment, the glare in her eyes softened at the mention of her brother. He knew exactly who she was talking about but unfortunately for her, he didn't have any answers. Not the answers she wanted to hear, anyway.

'Shame she doesn't like men…' The thought crossed his mind as he stared right back at her, trying to think of what to tell her.

A/N: And that's the end for now…. See you all in a bit…and Thanks for any reviews…