Ever since they had been accepted at the circus Harry had been nervously awaiting the day that the young lord and that butler of his arrived. He was worried though. Two weeks had passed and there had been no sign of them. Day by day his anxiety grew, worried for when it was he would have to see the demon again. The interest those two had in him would not turn out well for Harry.

He knew Snake could feel his distress at the entire situation. He didn't press, however, and simply tried to do his best to comfort Harry, even without knowing the exact problem. Harry decided that Snake was now probably one his favorite people ever.

His fears finally came to fruition at his second show. Thankfully, he only felt the demons strange magic after his own act, or else he probably would've completely ruined the entire performance. He had been surprised when Joker had decided to put him out with the first-tiers, especially when some of the others circus workers had been there for months before him, waiting for a chance to perform.

Joker had told him that other than the fact that he was the only one Snake could perform with, he had learned exceptionally quickly, and he had already been physically fit for the job. Which was to be expected, Harry supposed, as he had kept up his training after the war, even though he had decided against becoming an Auror.

Hermione had never really understood why, but Harry's paranoia that anything could go wrong had helped him before, plus, being physically fit had paid off when he started helping the reapers.

He had been relaxing with Emily after the show, when he had felt a whisper of the demon's brand of magic, moving across his skin with a feeling similar to pins and needles.

Sspeaker… what hass happened?

It's…. nothing, Emily…. nothing you have to worry about...go back to Snake for now…

Once she had slithered off reluctantly, he stood and went to look for William, moving as quickly as he could without seeming suspicious. The odd sensation was getting stronger, crackling across his skin like the moment before a lighting strike, and Harry desperately wanted to find Will before the demon saw him. The man would already know he was here, but Harry was trying to put off that confrontation for as long as he could.

Where on earth could William be anyway? Why did he always have to run off to some hiding place?

"Hey there, Emerald!"

Harry froze, afraid to turn around and see just who was with Joker.

"Have you seen Doctor, by any chance, this gentleman here got bit by Bessie and I wanna get 'im checked on."

Slowly, he spun to face Joker, and stared once more into those glinting vermilion eyes.

Harry wasn't sure how he found himself standing in a corner of the medical tent, watching the butler gracefully avoid the many throwing knives speeding towards bastard deserved it. The man knew what he was doing with Beast, and had kept it up just for the reaction. However, instead of being kicked out like Harry had hoped, Joker had invited him and his "friend", to come and try out tomorrow.

Why couldn't Harry's life ever be easy.

He could feel those smug eyes following him as he stalked out of the tent.

He wass trying to get into the first-tier tentss, dear Speaker… He seemed to be looking for something, though his interest in your tent did not seem to be connected...

Harry sighed in relief, thanking Emily quickly before heading off to find William. It was good to know that at least they were at the circus for a reason besides him. He hadn't thought they would go as far as to try out because of the missing children case, but he supposed that as the Queen's Watchdog, the Earl would make sure to see everything through to its full extent.

Watching the two supposedly practicing was both frustrating and amusing. It was obvious that the Earl had no hidden talents to help him fit in in a place like this. He relied too much on his butler and had never truly learned any extra skills. Sure he could use a pistol, but that didn't mean much for him. Seeing how he was, especially next to the demon, it was almost comical.

However, the hilarity from his observations was clouded in his mind by the irritation and panic filling his mind. How on earth were he and Will supposed to do their job now? Granted, they were just waiting, but knowing the demon's nature, more were going to be dying than necessary. The fact that he was tied down to the Earl only made him slightly less of a nuisance, the Earl killed almost as unnecessarily as his butler.

Harry could only hope that they would choose to ignore him in favor of doing their job, but he knew that it would never work out like that. Those two were fully capable of focusing on their task while driving him insane with their attempts to learn more about him.

He knew for a fact that he didn't exist anywhere except the reapers files during this time. He wished he could watch the Earl's face become increasingly more frustrated when he discovers that Harry literally does not exist. Sadly, that fact also meant his chances of being kidnapped just flew through the roof. Harry was not looking forward to when the Earl's curiosity and impatience reached its peak.

The one thing Harry hated about the circus was the showers. First of all, they were bloody cold. Second, there was the fact that they all showered together. It was actually almost like the Quidditch locker rooms, too bad Harry had never liked those either. He didn't want other people seeing his scars. He had gained many from both his… lovely family… and from his… adventures.

The only person who knew the full extent of them was Death, mostly because he had sensed them and basically forced Harry to show them to him. Harry had to both order and physically restrain him from going after the Dursley's.

He sighed, once again wishing he could just go back home for a few minutes to take a nice, heated, private shower. Instead, he made his way back his own tent, water bucket and towel in hand. It was the best he could do until they finally left this place.

Thoughts wandering, he didn't notice the figure barreling towards him until he was knocked backwards into the dirt, water spilling all over him.

"Shit!" Seeing just who it was that had run into him, he yelled after him. "Watch where you're-"

However, just before the kid rounded the corner, Harry caught a glimpse of his tear stained face, cheeks flushed and panic shining prominently in his eyes. The boy's clothes looked like they were wet, something must've happened in the showers. He wondered if the boy had similar secrets spread across his skin.

Well, he probably didn't have some giant mystical tattoo, but Harry would bet he had some scars he didn't want anyone to know about.

Harry sighed before getting up and grabbing the towel, looking around before wandlessly drying it. He knew he couldn't just leave the boy to deal with whatever it was on his own, besides, it was cold and the kid's clothes were damp. The butler, however, was sure to arrive soon to the scene, and Harry did not want to deal with any sort of confrontation.

Heaving another sigh, he gave up fighting with himself and started jogging towards the wagons.

Deep breaths, Harry, it's not like the kid's gonna kill you for being nice.

But his demon might.

Shit.

Deep breaths, Harry.

You're a Gryffindor, Harry. Just do it.

In what was definitely one of his stupider choices, Harry didn't announce himself before simply walking up and wrapping the towel around the earl.

"You're going to catch a cold if you stay out here in those clothes."

He could tell that he had startled the earl, who had obviously expected his butler. Harry could see his shoulders tense, though the kid was trying hard not to show his surprise. Too bad. Harry had been through war and enough interrogations to notice.

"Look, kid, I know I'm not your butler, and you probably are gonna hit me or something, but I'm too nice a person to let you freeze to death. Now I'm going to leave before that same butler arrives and tries to eviscerate me."

Harry had almost made it to freedom before the kid called out to him.

"How did you know about that?" The tone was full of suspicion and thinly veiled accusations. Harry realized his mistake in referring to Black as the kid's butler.

Shit.

Good job, Harry, you blew it.

William's going to kill you.

Shit.

"Know about what?" Harry still hadn't turned around. He knew had been caught.

"Do you believe me to be a fool?" Drawing himself off the ground, the boy forced Harry around to face him. Grabbing his shirt, he pulled Harry down until he could glare directly into his eyes. "Do not talk around the subject, you know full well what I am referring to."

Being so close to the kid's face was even more unnerving when he knew exactly what lay beneath that eyepatch of his.

Sighing, he let his shoulders sag.

"Alright fine, you got me. May I introduce myself, once more, Lord Phantomhive. Hadrian Potter, at your service."

"The man from Undertaker's shop? What in blazes are you doing here?"

The whoosh of fabric and the soft sound of shoes hitting the dirt behind him told him that the butler he had been trying to avoid for so long had finally cornered him. Why was he ever nice in the first place? Why couldn't he have just walked away and let the demon take care of the boy?

"Indeed, my Lord, I would quite like to know that myself, especially after our… meeting… shall we say, at the Viscount Druitt's party."

At the butler's mention, Harry began to get annoyed.

"Do you two really think you're the only ones with a job to do? Well, I mean technically I don't have to do it but still, there are other people who are just trying to get their jobs done."

"And what, pray tell, makes it your job, or any else's besides mine. That job, as well as this one, were assigned to me by her Majesty as the Queen's Watchdog."

"Do you think the Shinigami don't have supervisors in charge of everything? And who decides whether it's the queen or the Shinigami leaders who overrule. Besides, it's not like the demon's don't have a hierarchy either, what about their leaders. Although personally I'd rather they didn't have supreme rule."

Harry could hear a soft exasperated huff at the mention. He had to resist rolling his eyes.

"So you're a Shinigami?"

"Is that the only thing you listened to? For your information, no, I'm not a Shinigami, just a… well, let's call it an associate for now."

"Do tell, what exactly you mean to say by associate. Moreover, what would we be calling you once the present now has passed."

"Well that's for me to know, and you to never ever find out because I don't like you or your demon friend. Now if you could just let go of my shirt, I'd be very grateful."

The earl narrowed his eyes at him before using his grip to shove Harry away, causing him to stumble and fall back, straight into the butler's chest. Unnaturally warm hands grip his upper arms, and he can feel the abnormal heat through his shirt. The earl has already turned and started walking away, uncaring of whatever his butler did, somehow trusting the demon to not jeopardize their already fragile cover.

Hot breath was once more next to his ear, and he could feel soft strands of hair brushing against his cheek.

"Best run along now, little one. I'm sure we'll meet again soon, and you can explain just what it is that makes you so… special."

A low chuckle echoed in his ear, and suddenly the grip on his arms was gone; the only remnant of the demon's presence being the brush of wind flowing past.