He made it to the store unmolested and went back to work. His eyes kept darting around the room, making it hard to concentrate. He messed up the schedule three times before he got it right. When he went to help Jesse with the inventory, his attentiveness was so unfocused that the man chased him out of the area. Seeing that he was little help, he went home early.
He was just in time to eat the nice roast beef dinner. After that they settled down for a night of video games. Harry did his best to play the grownup games, and had fun trying to beat Sirius. When the five and a half year old went to bed, Hydrus and Sirius told Remus what had happened.
"So our mysterious lady is playing with your mind, which makes sense if she's the one behind the depression spell and your feeling of being followed," the werewolf said thoughtfully. "She might not even know you're immortal, she might just be saying something to see how you'll react. You might have just played into her hands."
"It was either that or have a full-on panic attack in the middle of the store," Hydrus defended himself.
"I am not saying you did something wrong. I am merely pointing out that now she knows how to push your buttons," Remus said, hold up his hands in a compliant gesture.
"No, you're right; I need to have better control than that. It's just been so long since I've had anyone target me. I mean, the Killing Curse didn't faze me, because I know it really won't do harm. But, if my secrets get out, then I'll have to leave. I don't want to do that," Hydrus said, slumping in his seat. "I've worked hard for everything I've accomplished since I've been back. It took years of preparation to get me here."
"You didn't see anyone looking suspicious?" Sirius asked, leaning forward.
"No, they were all looking at me to see why I dropped my cup, but everyone's face was simply curious," he answered.
"You didn't get any bad vibes, like before?"
"Nope, everything was normal."
"Well, damn."
"Have we looked at the wives of the Death Eaters that died?" Remus inquired.
"According to the Black women, none of them are doing anything shady," Sirius said. "It was one of the first things I asked about when all this Dark Lady stuff came up. I'll ask them to keep watching. I can even order Cissy to give me the gossip."
"Well, damn. I have not heard anything from Mundungus either. There's no word of anyone trying to rise," the werewolf said, running a hand through his hair.
The three men sat in silence, trying to figure out how to cope with this new development. They brought out their book-readers and researched more. They went to bed in the wee hours of the morning, finding nothing. The next day being Sunday they spent the day at the house relaxing.
Weeks passed and the hats and gloves went on sale just in time for the Christmas rush. They were hot sellers in the prank shop; the hats didn't do as well in Madam Malkin's, but the gloves did. Hydrus also marketed the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, which also flew off the shelves. There were a few of the shock mines and the alarm system that he sold as well. He set the alarm system up in Grace's flat and in his stores.
The Weasleys were once again getting income they couldn't find the source of. If this kept up then there would never be second-hand wands in that house again.
The cure for the spell was in one of the Death Eater books, so they made sure that the unsigned note writer sent it to St. Mungo's, which started the newspapers fighting again.
Hydrus took to carrying a gun in his pocketspace, in case he needed to defend himself in the non-magical world. He had to go to the continent and buy it off the street, but since it was well hidden he didn't feel the need to let anyone know he had it. So far, nothing had happened since the tea episode and he was busy with his stores, teaching Harry and taking care of his investments. Soon it will be Christmas and he needed to do his shopping. He hired a private investigator to watch his back and completed his shopping without incident.
When he got home he called to see who was there. His entire family came into the living room. He looked at their smiling faces and realized this was the reason he would fight this Dark Nutter. He would protect them with his… well, life. Smiling back at them, he settled down for a relaxing evening.
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