The True Halv Blood Prince

The door to the pizza shop closed behind him. He squinted, the sun was just starting to come up over the buildings and it was just bright enough to make it hard to see. After leaving the Order, Percy made his way over to headquarters where, for the umpteenth time that night, he got his ass chewed out. However, after Freeman carved out her pound of flesh, she applauded him for his initiative and forward thinking. According to the report she had received from the Grand Council, our station here was effectively being put in charge of campaign against the dark lord.

They had spent some considerable time going over a plan of attack, but they eventually settled on a tentative strategy. Firstly, they decided that we needed someone with legitimate authority within the British ministry on their side. This someone needed to be respected and influential within the ministry and also needed to be willing to actively work against the interests of their government. Percy already had an in with the order, and their access to a scant few aurors, however he had our sights set a little higher. However, they needed more information before we could begin actively courting allies.

While the order was a good starting point, for finding potentially converters, Percy was less than thrilled with the organization itself. It had become abundantly clear that they were not going to do anything proactive in the war, which was a problem.

So, allies were on the list of what Percy affectionately called, 'shit that needs to get done.' Also on that list was compiling a list of targets to begin following. They needed to form a list of known Death Eaters. As far as Percy understood, the records of Death Eater trials were public knowledge, if nothing else we could start a tail on some of the more likely and high profile targets. They'd get a working understanding of the Death Eater's common schedules and favorite hangouts. They also needed to compile a list of target locations. Percy was working under certain legal constraints for the moment, so until Voldemort moved, they wouldn't be able to actively target his followers. That did not mean however, that Percy and his team couldn't get a few surprises ready for the inevitable time that Voldemort went public.

It was a short drive from the pizza shop to the safe house, and it was still early enough that Percy didn't encounter any traffic. He felt it as he was pulling in to the parking garage. It was just an all-consuming chill down the back of his neck, followed immediately by the hair on his arms standing on end. Steadying his breathing he focused hard on his surrounding's while attempting to make himself look nonchalant. Stepping out of the car, he made his way to the driver side back door and opened it. He used the opportunity to look in the reflection of the window, but he didn't see anything on either side of him.

Shutting the door behind him Percy began, what appeared like, a leisurely walk across the suspiciously empty parking lot. The attack came as I was halfway to the exit. His body acted completely on instinct, diving to the left just in time to miss a jet of sickly green light. The light impacted the wall behind where he had been standing only a few seconds prior. He pulled out of his dive in a crouch, with a flick of his left wrist, a large bronze shield appeared. Taking the place of the fancy black wristband that had been there previously. With his free hand, he drew on the ambient air around him and a trident made entirely of water materialized in his empty hand.

His eyes jumped around the parking garage when a flicker of something drew his attention off to his left. He didn't think, instead he allowed his body to react. With his ears thumping as the familiar rush of adrenaline flooded his veins, he hurled the water trident in the direction of the movement. He was rewarded with a satisfying 'Thwack!' and a scream of pain and surprise. Where previously there had only been air, there was now a body heaped on the ground, three protrusions in his chest from where Percy had tagged him.

He knew there were likely more hiding nearby so he didn't give them a moment to breathe. He reached out again, this time creating a large whip-like tendril. Flicking his hand out the water whip slashed left slamming into the mid-section of another invisible man. The man was launched into the air, before landing harshly onto the hood of a nearby parked car. The impact of his body on the hood caused the car's alarm to go off and the lights to begin flashing. The flashing of the lights cast a shadow on the third man.

Tearing the shield off of his left arm Percy gripped it tightly in his right. He then turned and hurled the circular shield like a discus at the man and he took off at a run at the man the second after it left his arm. The shield collided with the head of man and was sent skyward. Before the man could even register what was happening, Percy was on top of him. He led with a jab to just above the man's waist. Percy didn't hit him with all of his strength, though, so the blow only knocked the wind out him. He double doubled over, gasping. Percy grabbed the man's arm and twisted it viscously to the side, breaking it before gripping the front of the man's shirt and pulling his head down into a brutal collision with his knee.

The man dropped in a heap at his feet. Percy scanned the rest of the garage, straining his ears for any signs of activity, but all he could hear was the thumping of his own blood. He did a quick once over the area, checking on the other two downed men, both of whom were down for the count. The one he had speared with the water trident was dead, his blood mixing in with the water of his makeshift weapon. After his walk, he determined that he was most definitely all alone now, and he began collecting his thoughts.

He needed to get out of there, someone, somehow, knew about his presence in England. To what extent, he had no idea, but he had to assume it was everything. Plan for the worst and you can't be surprised. Looking down at the downed man at his feet Percy groaned.

"Freeman is gonna kill me."

BREAK

Caitlin, Caiti to her friends, Winthrope typically enjoyed her job. She had been with the department since her graduation from Illvermorney four years ago and it had been everything she had hoped for. Action, adventure, and danger. Every new day had been an exciting new tale to tell and she never knew just what was going to be around the corner. Right up until about six months ago. She had gotten on the wrong side of one of the chief agents back in New York. She had spurred his advances which had led him to begin an all-out campaign to discredit her and remove her from the department. Unfortunately for Caiti, he had been at least marginally successful and before she could even blink, she was transferred out of the home office and sent across the ocean to this boring observational role in Britain.

She hated it.

Her life was, simply, boring. The crew in Britain worked on a rotational schedule. Every other day, she was working in the kitchen or restaurant pretending to be an upstanding citizen trying to make her way. Then she would rotate out and follow and observe someone from the infinitely long list of persons of interest supplied by the department. Now under normal circumstances, this could be potentially dangerous, and even exciting work. The stars never seemed to align for her though and Caiti was forced to spend day after day tailing and observing targets who's only crimes against humanity seemed to be their own refusal to part with the seventeenth century.

She sighed and leaned forward against the counter, brushing a strand of her auburn hair out of her eyes as she did so. It didn't help that on top of everything else, the days at the little pizza shop were never busy. She wasn't entirely unconvinced that someone, likely Cole her other team member, hadn't placed a few no-maj repelling wards and spells on the small shop. It was the only reason she could think of why there never seemed to be anyone at all coming in.

She was immediately contradicted as the bell above the entrance rang and the front door opened. She looked up and started somewhat. One of the most attractive men she had ever seen was walking up toward the counter. Tall, broad shouldered, with piercing sea green eyes and slightly cropped but unruly black hair. He was a dream and a half and Caiti had to force herself not to stare. Standing up straight, she reorganized her thoughts and, for the first time since she started this assignment, allowed a genuine smile to grace her lips. As he approached, she got a slightly better look at him, he looked uneasy. His eyes were shifting from place to place and he was fidgeting somewhat. He was nervous about something and the butterflies from earlier began to disappear as caution and preparedness took its place. She surreptitiously lowered one hand from the counter to grasp at the wand holstered under the counter. Something in her gut was telling her that this guy was trouble.

She didn't let the smile drop from her lips though, and focused on the occlumency training the department had put her through to steady her emotions. If Mr. Attractive here had bad intentions, she didn't want to tip him off that she was on to him from the start.

"Hi there." She said, putting as much pep and bubble into her voice as she could, "Is there anything I can help you with?" he looked at her confused for a moment. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see his arms unconsciously flex and un-flex, tense and un-tense, the sign of someone who was anxious but aware. He was definitely uncomfortable about something,

"Is uh…Abigail Freeman here?" She couldn't help but tense slightly, how in the hell did this guy know Freeman?

"I'm sorry but there's nobody named Abigail who works here. Are you sure you have the right place?" She said this through a smile but her grip on the wand tightened. He looked bewildered by her and ran a hand through his hair. It was distracting and he needed to stop it.

"You sure? Cause I was in here like not even four hours ago talking with her. And what happened to the other dude who was here?" she tensed, visibly this time and he clearly noticed. She watched as his eyes darted from her own to the counter, pointedly at the hand resting underneath the counter that very slightly shaking.

He raised his hands in the air and backed up a pace just as Caiti brought her wand to bare on him, center of mass. "Woah! Hey easy now! Look I'm one of the good guys! Can I reach into my jacket for my id?" He asked. Caiti didn't respond for a second, part of her wanted to stun him, obliviate him, and dump him in the alley behind the shop. She buried the voice that was saying that beneath a wall of reason. Clearly the guy was knowledgeable about our operation here, to some extent at least. He was also competent. She could see it in the way he moved and stood. She had also spent enough time with the British wizards here to know that even the normal born lost touch with the outside world badly enough to never acclimate as well as this guy had. So reluctantly, she nodded. She didn't trust her voice enough to actually say anything.

Caiti watched as he slowly moved his right hand and dipped it into a pocket on the inside of his coat. Pulling it out, he had a leather pouch that looked similar to a wallet clutched in his grasp. He dropped part of it down to reveal a federal identification card. Scanning it quickly, Caiti's face began to burn in embarrassment as she realized what she had almost done. This guy was with the department and she had just pulled her wand on him.

Hastily, she sheathed her wand and thrust her hand outward. "I'm so sorry about that, it's just things have been so slow around here and you were so shifty looking, not that you're shifty looking even though that's what I just said and I'm sorry but I just thought,-" she was rambling again, a bad habit when she was nervous or embarrassed. Thankfully he seemed to understand and wrapped his hand in hers.

"I'm Percy" he said, all smiles but still looking nervous, "Special agent Percy Jackson." He clarified, "It's nice to meet you."

"Special Agent Caitlin Winthrope, nice to meet you too agent." She released her grip, albeit slightly reluctantly, and crossed her arms, "What do you need to see Freeman for? For that matter, what are you even doing here? As far as I've heard we aren't due for transfers and lord knows nothing is happening around here."

The shifty look reappeared on his face and he rubbed his neck embarrassed. "Yeah about that, things might start to get kind of…interesting around here." Caiti quirked an eyebrow at that.

"What does that mean?" She asked, genuinely curious and slightly excited.

He chuckled nervously, "Well, um, how good are you at disillusionment?"

He'd had Caiti's interest. Now he had her attention.

BREAK

Considering the life, he led, Harry Potter could say in no uncertain terms, that the last few days had been some of the strangest of his life. He had been attacked by dementors, saved by a strange American…something and had been spirited away to some random hotel in London. He had now been stuck here for he wasn't really sure how long. He had spent most of last night watching TV and eating room service food. It wasn't all bad though he supposed. Now that he was free of his relatives he could study and do his homework freely and without fear of retribution. He was happy to say that he had managed to make it through all of his potion's homework and even a little bit of the charms essay he had been assigned.

However, he had grown tired of working and now just wanted some answers. Harry liked to think of himself as a fairly patient guy but he was getting sick of the constant run around. None of his friends were telling him anything, Sirius wasn't telling him anything, and this new guy, Percy, wasn't telling him anything either. It was his life that others were playing around with and he had zero control over it. Last night, as he had been lying in bed, he had vowed that he was going to change that. The second Percy came back from…wherever the hell he had gone, he was going to give that blasted man a piece of his mind, demand some answers, and demand to be taken to see his friends and godfather.

He would have the opportunity sooner than expected, as he was roused from his musings by the sound of the key card in the door. The entrance to the suite opened and Percy staggered in. Harry's tirade died on the tip of his tongue. The man was the picture of exhaustion. Large backs under his eyes, and his previously messy hair looking like a bird's nest.

Harry had wanted to say something along the lines of 'How dare you keep me here like this' but what actually came out of his mouth was "Bloody hell you look awful."

Percy, who had been in the middle of kicking his boots off, flipped his middle finger up at Harry, who refrained from telling him that didn't mean the same thing here in Britain as it did in the States.

"Is that anyway to talk to the guy who brought home dinner?" he said, sticking his tongue out childishly. It was then Percy noticed the large square box of pizza in his left hand. He was going to respond, but his stomach beat him to the punch. Rumbling loudly in defiance at having not been fed at all that day. His face burning he turned away as Percy snickered to himself.

He plopped himself down at the small table he had been interviewed at the night before and waited as Percy grabbed things from the kitchen. Percy threw the box of pizza down in the middle of the table and tossed some paper plates and napkins Harry's way, before tearing into the box and stuffing nearly an entire slice of pepperoni in his mouth at once. He let out a satisfied moan and slouched back in his chair, eyes closed, looking tremendously content. Harry busied himself with his own food as he worked up the courage to ask the questions that had been burning in him all day.

"Stop thinking so loudly and just ask the question man." Percy said, in between shoveling the rest of the slice into his mouth. Again, Harry blushed in embarrassment. Personal confrontation was not something he was particularly gifted at, despite being in the house of the brave and bold. He would take another swarm of dementors over conversations like this with a total stranger any day of the week.

"What is happening, you've been gone for ages now and after last night I assumed things would be happening. But you've been gone all day and I've been stuck here on my arse doing nothing with no information just like it's been all summer and I'm sick and tired of being left out of the loop!" The words left his mouth in a tumble as a year's worth of frustration and anxiety spilled out of one after another. Percy just sat back, eyes still closed for a second and let him ramble. For Harry's sake, it felt good, to finally get some of these frustrations of his chest.

Percy let him rant for another minute or so before even acknowledging Harry. As Harry gasped for breath, exhausted from his ranting, Percy finally sat up and opened his eyes. "Better?" he asked, eyebrow raised. Harry just nodded and leaned back in his chair, arms folded, and looked at the man expectantly. Percy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He then launched into a detailed explanation of everything that had happened the night before, including his meeting with the Order and his conversations with the ICW. He had to pause and let Harry fume at what he perceived as gross inaction on the part of both the Order and the ICW. Percy ignored the stuff about the Order but when he explained the line of thinking behind the ICW's actions, eventually Harry began to understand. He even agreed with their line of thinking. With Voldemort thinking no one was on to him, he and his followers would be sloppier and it would be easier to begin putting pieces in place to catch them off balance. He didn't like the idea of sitting back an doing nothing but he could understand it.

It was the last line though that got his attention. Harry had been in the middle of taking a bite to eat when Percy said, "Oh by the way, just so you know I was attacked earlier today in the parking garage so we're going to have to move safe-houses." Harry immediately began to choke on the pizza in his mouth before Percy clapped hard on the back a few times to clear his windpipes. Lungs burning, and back throbbing, the man, Harry noted, was ridiculously strong, he exclaimed, "The hell?"

"Yeah I got jumped on his back here this morning, that's why I was so late coming back here." Percy said, entirely too calmly for Harry's liking.

"Care to explain that?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Well I took them back to headquarters and we interrogated them. Pumped their asses full of truth serum and got quite the interesting story." He took a breath before diving back into it. "So, it turns out that someone at the Ministry really, really doesn't like you man. To the point where someone from the Ministry ordered those dementors to leave Azkaban and come after you."

Harry was stunned. He knew that Fudge and the Ministry weren't happy with what he and Dumbledore had been saying at the end of term in June, but to send Dementors after him? How was that justifiable? That was little less than Ministry sanctioned murder! On a fifth-year! He wasn't a threat to anyone! He voiced as much to Percy who was in agreement with him.

"But it gets better than that, if you can believe it." Percy said. "We pressed these guys a little harder and they told us some very interesting stuff. Turns out they were a group of independent hit-wizards. They were contracted out third-party to watch the dementor hit on you and report back if things went south. Well, I guess two of them were rather enterprising because they followed us after we left your relatives place all the way back here. They tried to jump me when they realized that we had wards on this building preventing them from coming in."

Harry's head was spinning from all of these revelations. "How can they not know who hired them?" He asked, confounded by the idea that someone else was trying to kill him and he didn't specifically know who.

"They were contracted via owl and the payments were made in gold by a third-party deposited into a non-traceable vault over in Gringotts. Goblins don't care about the affairs of mortals unless they directly interfere with business so they don't care. Unfortunately that means that they also can't tell us who this third-party is so tracking down the people responsible is going to be…tricky."

"Meaning impossible! And so, we have no idea who is trying to have me killed?" Harry asked, furious. It was just like his life for something like this to pop up unexpectedly. He wasn't sure what he had done to deserve the ire of so many powerful people but it was starting to become emotionally and physically exhausting.

"I never said that." Percy said, sitting up straighter, "I said that it was going to be tricky, not impossible. See these hit-wizards were smarter than their contractor gave them credit for. One of them was rather gifted with Thaumaturgy and managed to trace the magical signature back to this third-party person."

"So what?" Harry asked, "We track this guy down and force him to tell us who he works for."

"Because as much as I love the phrasing of that, it's a little more complicated."

"Of course, it is" Harry muttered. "Alright, why?"

"Because the woman who brokered the deal is Elizabeth Greengrass, and judging by the look you're giving me, I'm guessing that name means literally nothing to you." Harry nodded, though he recognized the last name as belonging to one of the girls in Slytherin in his year. "Elizabeth Greengrass heads the largest financial advisory firm in Britain." At seeing Harry's blank look, he explained, "Essentially she takes other people's money and either spends it or invests it on their behalf while taking a percentage for themselves. As far as we can understand it, the Greengrass was hired out by somebody to deliver the instructions and payment to the hit-wizards on behalf of the buyer."

"So, this Elizabeth Greengrass is part of all this?" Harry demanded hotly,

"That may not be necessarily true." Percy responded, brushing some crumbs off his shirt. "Often times nondisclosure agreements are part of the initial contract between buyer and third-party. In this case, I'm willing to bet that the Greengrass' had no idea what type of deal they were brokering or even what the money was for. The hit-wizards told us the orders came in the form of a sealed letter. I think it's likely that they were just told to deliver the letter and stack of coins and not ask any more questions.

Harry nodded, it was sound logic and it made sense. But there was something that was bothering him. "But it someone was willing to go to all this trouble to not have things traced back to them, wouldn't there be some kind of protections in place to keep us from figuring it out?"

Percy nodded, "It's entirely possible but I figure that the Greengrass' are smart. They've been doing things like this literally for centuries. I would hazard a guess that they likely have some way of keeping track of all these kinds of payments just in case of a situation like this. Because you would be well within your right to sue them and theirs for all they're worth. So me and his team figure they have some kind of collateral for any shady purchases like this that exonerates them, or tracks down the original perpetrators."

"So now we just have to go to them and what? Ask them politely for their records? I somehow doubt they'll be ok with that. We don't exactly have much proof here."

"No" Percy agreed, "But that is why I have this" and he pulled out his badge, "This is my do whatever the hell I want and get away with it badge. The ICW and their agents trump anything and everything. The second I show them this and maybe threaten to have their entire practice audited, they'll scramble to get what we need."

Harry nodded he could believe that, but there was one more thing still bothering him.

"Wait" Harry said, realizing something, "If we don't know who the buyer is, then how do you know that it was the ministry that sent the dementors?"

"Because our people have been watching Azkaban closely, ever since your godfather escaped. They usually have someone posted nearby to report on anything weird or unusual and they said that the night of your attack, a representative from the ministry arrived with a letter from the office of the minister for some type of errand and immediately two dementors left the prison. Only one came back. It's not hard to fill in the blanks."

"Alright." Harry said after a long moment, "So where do we start."

Percy grinned.