Enjoy!

"This way," a feminine voice called out to the three hunched shapes behind her. They followed the woman down the alleyway before she suddenly stopped. "The path leads us here and then vanishes," she continued, confusion in her voice.

"Are you absolutely positive about that, Hestia?" a voice growled from the back of the pack. Hestia looked back at the speaker with a look of clear annoyance. Her wand was lit, spilling light over her companions as they lowered the cowls of their capes.

"Of course, I'm sure, Mad-Eye. You either trust me or you don't, and you're the one that chose me for the tracking spells." Hestia replied, visibly trying to reign in her annoyance. It wouldn't help at this point. They were all tired after being dragged from their beds on a sudden mission from the Order and they had been out for hours in the middle of the night, trying to find out what had happened to Harry Potter after receiving owls from Minerva when the boy hadn't showed up to the Welcome Feast and there hadn't been any contact from him in weeks. And the thought on all of their minds was: "Couldn't Harry Potter stay out of trouble for one summer?" But still, here they were.

"That boy just cannot stay still, can he?" a new voice added.

"Kingsley, you knew James. Harry seems to be very similar to him."

"You may be right, Tonks." Kingsley chuckled as he started to cast about the alleyway with his own lit wand. "We might as well look around and see what we can find." The others followed the man's actions and took separate sections of the alleyway.

After several minutes of silence, Tonks spoke up. "I think I found something." The woman, sporting lime green hair this week, was examining the wall at about shoulder height and the others crowded around her curiously. "I think…it's a couple spots of blood."

"That could be from anything or anyone. This is a dark alleyway and the streets are littered with murders and such in the muggle world." Hestia pointed out. Mad-Eye pushed his way to the front to get a closer look at the specks, his magical eye spinning wildly.

"What do you think, Alastor?" Kingsley asked.

"This area is protected from the rain from above, so it is possible that it could have been here weeks ago. However, there certainly isn't enough to suggest he was hurt badly or dead or even if that's his blood." Moody grunted in response.

"Maybe he found someone in trouble and tried to save them? It could be their blood. Harry, from what I've heard, seems to have a pretty strong protective streak and a knack for finding trouble because he wanted to help someone." Tonks suggested, earning nods from the others.

"It's likely. It still remains, however, where did he go from here? My spell ends here. That means he's either dead or apparated somewhere. But he's still a year or more away from even beginning to learn apparation. He couldn't have done it himself." Hestia pointed out.

"He must have run into another wizard either hurting a muggle or one that he trusted and he went off with them or was taken." Tonks mused as she began to pace. "Has anyone talked to Sirius yet? Harry would trust him and go with him somewhere."

"Sirius is one of the ones that has been so worried about the lack of communication. Despite the fact that he hasn't been able to say anything of true interest to his godson, the two have been in contact all summer until a few weeks ago when all communication ceased," Moody said.

"Perhaps he knows something and doesn't realize it. It wouldn't hurt to go speak with him on the matter." The group nodded and prepared to leave, their hoods going back up before apparating to the only place they knew Sirius Black would be.

An angry voice came from inside of number 12 Grimmauld Place, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, though the muggles outside and on either side of the House of Black couldn't hear anything. Only the wizards and witches inside the house could hear the anger coming from Sirius Black.

"How could you think I would hide him? And why do you think I could convince him to leave the fight? He, more than anyone, wants and deserves to fight in this war." Sirius fumed at his accusers. They weren't exactly accusing him of anything, though their questions weren't really innocent either. Mad-Eye Moody's questions, in particular, sounded a bit on the untrusting side.

"Sirius, he's your godson. We know you've grown close and Harry wanted to run away with you after his third year. With everything that happened last year, we wouldn't put it past him to convince you to take him someplace away from everything." Hestia Jones reasoned, trying to calm Sirius down before he woke his mother's sleeping portrait.

"But I also know how much danger he's in," Sirius protested, though the decibel of his voice lowered and some of the anger began to fade away. "I know how much the Dark Lord wants to find him and kill him. Why would I keep him away from Hogwarts or from the Dursleys or from here even?"

His questions were never answered as Molly Weasley swept into the kitchen in a whirlwind of action.

"Morning," the Weasley matriarch greeted the other Order members as she set some knives to chopping vegetables. A couple of frying pans flew to the stove with a wave of her wand. "You all must be hungry after being out all night." The statement caught the group off guard for a moment before they realized that it must indeed be morning. The owls they had received hadn't arrived until after 11 pm and it had taken them some time to get together before they headed to Harry's relative's residence and questioned them. After learning that he had run away, they'd spent some time looking for clues around the area in which Harry had lived, hoping that he had perhaps just made a very secure hideout somewhere. Nothing had been found and they had resorted to the tracking spell before arriving at headquarters sometime near dawn.

Molly smiled as the realization sunk in and a few stomachs began to grumble with hunger. "You just sit down and make yourselves comfortable. You can put your heads together and try to come up with something over breakfast. Arthur should be down shortly and Dedalus Diggle had said he might pop by this morning. I'm sure we can figure something out to find Harry."

Mad-Eye growled audibly but nonetheless sat down with everyone. Sirius was looking rather dejected as he sat down and Kingsley spoke to him. "Cheer up, Sirius. I am sure we will find him before any real harm comes to him."

"I'm supposed to protect him. That's what I promised James and Lily I would do when I agreed to be his godfather, and then I got myself locked away in Azkaban and then lost the only proof of my innocence. And now Harry is missing." He slammed a fist down on the table. "I feel so god-damned useless!" he exclaimed.

"We all do at one time or another, Sirius," a new voice chimed in from the doorway. Everyone looked over to see Arthur Weasley standing there with a small, grim smile on his face.

"Ah, Arthur, come have a spot of breakfast before you have to pop over to the Ministry," Molly said as she started putting a platter of scrambled eggs with various vegetables and sausage in them. This was followed by toast and marmalade and a pitcher of milk. The plates marched themselves down the table to land in front of a person. Then came the silverware, all mismatched.

"Going in so early, Arthur?" Tonks asked as she waited her turn for food.

"Yes, someone decided it was a good idea to try and charm something called a washing machine to wash vegetables. Now he has a machine that is creating a mini typhoon that shoots vegetables at anyone walking by."

Everyone stared at the explanation, mostly due to the fact that everyone there, with the exception of Arthur, didn't understand why wizards and witches bothered trying to do anything with muggle contraptions. The majority of the time it didn't work and they ended up with an experiment that went haywire. They also didn't understand the man's fascination with muggles and everything they did.

"Good luck with that," Hestia commented skeptically as she loaded her plate with food.

"Barmy," Moody muttered under his breath.

The kitchen was generally silent as everyone ate. Sirius mostly just picked at his food, but he did manage to eat a little something before it was all gone. Molly frowned at him from across the table. He hadn't gained back all of the weight he'd lost while imprisoned and he still looked more gaunt than she was comfortable with. He reminded her a lot of what Harry had looked like the first time she'd met him, as well as each time she'd seen him after a summer with the Dursleys.

"I best get going. Don't want a unsuspecting muggle to lose an eye to a carrot," Arthur said far too cheerfully. A few of the group rolled their eyes, including Molly, though the woman also wore a fond smile on her face. As he made to leave the kitchen he paused as if he'd just remembered something and then turned. "I'd try looking for Harry in Switzerland. I looked further into the Registry and that was the rough area of where the unplottable location was, judging by the country codes."

"And how accurate are those?" Moody asked grumpily, thinking that they could have saved a lot of time the previous evening if they'd known that.

Arthur shrugged. "I wouldn't know but it's a starting point. He might not still be there but at least it's a trail. Good hunting." The red-haired man hurried out of the kitchen and Molly sighed as she realized that her husband left his briefcase behind. Again.

The whole group stared after him. It was when Sirius stood and hurried for the door to the kitchen to follow after Arthur that everyone else spurred themselves into motion.

"And where do you think you're going?" Tonks asked, side-stepping in front of the man before he could leave.

"You heard Arthur; Switzerland is too big for four of you to search. I'm going to come help you," Sirius said as if it should be obvious to everyone and tried to push his way past the woman.

Tonks was having none of it and pushed back. "It's too dangerous!" she insisted as Sirius tried again. "You know Remus wouldn't agree with this decision." Before Sirius could protest, Moody spoke up.

"Let 'im go, Nymphadora." The lime green hair the woman sported suddenly turned into a flame red and everyone knew why, though she didn't get a chance to protest the use of her first name. "No one will be looking for him in Switzerland. We can do some minimal transfiguration to disguise him and if there is any trouble Sirius can transfigure into his Animagus form." Everyone looked at Moody with blatant surprise on their faces, as he had always been one of the strongest supporters of keeping Sirius as hidden as possible.

"Moody, are you su-"

"Of course, I'm sure, Molly. Sirius is right. We don't have the numbers to search all of Switzerland and we can't quit our jobs. That will just make it all look suspicious. In fact, Kingsley, you better get out of here. The Minister will likely be whining for you." Moody sneered at the mention of the Minister of Magic. The tall man nodded and started to leave, Sirius letting him pass, equally as flabbergasted that Moody was on his side this time.

"So…I can go?" Sirius asked, still unbelieving.

"How many times do I have to say it?" Moody snapped. "You and I can get started now while the rest of you get some sleep or get to your jobs, whichever you prefer. We can brief the next searchers when we meet up. And if someone does happen to recognize you, however unlikely, you can turn into Padfoot. Even fewer people know that form abroad than here." The small group nodded and one by one they started heading out the door. Sirius stayed where he was as Moody began to transfigure the younger man, lightening his hair to a dirty blond. His eyes were changed to look a bright green along with a darkening of his skin so it didn't have the normal pallor it had sported for the last 13 years. Finally, Moody deemed Sirius to look different enough to leave the house, though they still used Moody's invisibility cloak when they left and apparated to Switzerland.

"I told you something was up." Hermione whispered furiously at Ginny and Ron as they sat in the thinning common room. Harry hadn't been at the Welcome Feast, nor had he appeared when they'd headed up to Gryffindor tower. The small group, also including Neville, had since spent their evening turning at every sound coming from the entrance of the tower in the hopes that Harry was still going to show up. It was now very late and even the most notorious night owls were making their way to bed.

"What d'you suppose happened?" Ron asked, appearing much calmer than Hermione for once.

"A million things could have happened, Ronald. Most of them bad. What if You-Know-Who has him and is torturing him right now?" Hermione surmised, getting up to pace in front of the fireplace.

"Oh, come on, Hermione. If he had Harry, he would kill him straight off, which is a good thing." Ginny interjected.

"How on earth is that a good thing?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Hermione, use your brain." Ginny responded patiently, rolling her eyes. "As I said on the train, if You-Know-Who had killed Harry, we would know by now. He would have announced it and his new regime weeks ago and Ron, Neville, and I might not be in school, and you certainly wouldn't be."

At this, Ron stood as if to defend Hermione. The bushy haired girl sighed. "Ron, stop it. Ginny is right. I'm just letting my fears get the better of me. And, I'm muggle-born. I would have no place in…Vol-Voldemort's regime." A collective gasp came from the small group while a disbelieving snort came from outside of the group. The only other two people now left in the common room were Seamus and Dean. Dean looked decidedly uncomfortable and hung back a bit when Seamus moved forward.

"What a load of rubbish. Harry probably decided he was tired of lying and defending his lies to everyone. He was probably too embarrassed to come back," Seamus said with a sneer.

"You take that back, you slimy git," Ron roared. He was held back by Neville as he lunged for his year-mate.

"Of course you would believe him. But there's no real proof," Seamus spat back. "And because of him and Dumbledore, my mum almost didn't want me to come back. Didn't want me learning under a crackpot like Dumbledore and alongside a crazy delinquent like Harry."

"You believe everything your mum says, hm? Little mummy's boy? Where did she hear all this? Your stupid mum listening to all the crap that's being printed in the Daily Prophet?" Ron shouted and lunged again. This time Ginny stood to help Neville hold her brother back.

"Ron, it's not worth it. We know Harry is telling the truth," Ginny said quietly.

"Don't you dare call my mum stupid, Weasley!" Seamus took a few more steps forward, drawing out his wand as he did so. Dean stepped in to hold the other boy back, grabbing his wand arm.

"Seamus, come on, let's go," Dean urged.

"You don't believe the rubbish they're spewing, do you, Dean?" Seamus demanded in an accusing tone.

"I don't know what I believe. But it's late and we're all tired and should probably go to bed." Dean urged Seamus away from the group and towards the stairs.

"Fine. But I want him to stay away from me," Seamus agreed as he nodded his head towards Ron.

Ginny and Neville didn't let Ron go until the other two disappeared up the stairs, then all four of them sat in a slouch. They were all silent for some minutes before Ginny finally let out a yawn.

"I don't think Harry will be here tonight. We might as well go to bed now. Classes will be rough in the morning as it is," Ginny stated and looked around them all. They all nodded and Ron grumbled all the way up the stairs. Ginny grabbed Ron's shirt before he could follow Neville all the way up to the boys dorm. "Dumbledore will have the whole Order mobilized, now that Harry didn't show up here. I'm sure they'll find him in no time," she whispered to both of them. "Goodnight." Hermione nodded and waved to Ron as she followed Ginny into the girls dorm and Ron went upstairs, all of them worrying about their friend.

Harry looked out his window at the mansion longingly. He knew that right about now his friends would be in the common room of Gryffindor Tower, stuffed after the Welcome Feast. He knew they were going to be worried and thinking up the worst fates that could have befallen him when he hadn't shown up at Hogwarts. Part of him really regretted not going back to Hogwarts. It had been the first place he had truly felt at home.

He also regretted that he couldn't really communicate with Sirius. The man was probably worried sick about him. They had barely seen each other in the time since they had met at the end of Harry's third year, but they still had started to develop a close bond.

The more he thought about it, the more he began to wonder if he was going to ultimately regret choosing to stay with Kit. Finally, he had to step away from the window and think about something else. He was sitting on his bed when Kai found him.

"You know, Dmitry isn't that fond of being kept waiting," the vampiress said from his bedroom door.

"Huh?"

"Your math instructor. You met him. Dmitry? He's not one that likes to be kept waiting and you're about 5 minutes late," Kai replied with a chuckle.

"Oh, bloody hell," Harry muttered under his breath. "Math wasn't one of my strengths when I was studying it in primary school. I hope he likes to be frustrated."

"Don't worry. He may not like to be kept waiting, but he has a decent amount of patience and is pretty good at teaching. You will be fine." Kai patted his head as Harry walked by her. "Off you go!"

Harry nodded and hurried off down the corridor and Kai watched him. Her eyebrows furrowed in both thought and concentration as she watched the boy go. She was growing rather fond of the boy and she was certain he was thinking about Hogwarts and his friends. Anyone would be at this time. She understood the draw, but she would be sad if he left. And Kit would be devastated. It would be a repeat of when Sirius and James had been here and then left, only worse. Harry had elected to stay. If he suddenly changed his mind, Kit would probably lock himself away in depression. And Yu...everything would go downhill again.

Kai sighed. As much as she had grown fond of Harry, part of her wished Kit had never run into the boy and brought him here. It would have made their lives much less complicated.