Million thanks to Mishi Gohiku, Nila, allisondasher, G, viohanna, Sakuya217 (awesome long review too, thanks! XD), Basium1 and The Other World.

Thanks to The Other World for pointing out the irregularities and lack of flow in this chapter; I've gone back and revised it. Hopefully it seems better. :)

DISCLAIMER: Disclaimer mode switched on!

Chapter 15: Crossroads

For the second time in many days, Harry found himself walking alongside the ringleader in complete darkness.

They didn't speak as Harry allowed Cain to lead him on deep into the heart of Clemenceau Ave. Cain seemed to be absorbed in his own thoughts, and so was Harry.

The close-call with the wizards had suddenly reminded Harry of the precarious position in which he was currently standing. In all honesty, Voldemort's threat that had been hanging over him ever since he came into the Wizarding World had, for once, faded into the background. He didn't think it was possible, but it was true. He had been too busy surviving each day, fighting for every breath to live. Too much had happened all at once, he hadn't had the time to plan his next move, hadn't had time to think. And now finally his temporary refuge was uncovered.

He didn't know the wizards' identity, but he knew he couldn't afford to stay any longer. In a way it had been a wake-up call, Harry realized. Being stuck in the Muggle world with no contact of the Wizarding world, he hadn't seen the war raging on in Wizarding Britain. Out there, hundreds of innocents, Muggles or wizards alike were dying, but he had no way of knowing and his ultimate battle had slipped his mind.

He needed to leave. He belonged out there back with his friends, Hogwarts. His war was against Voldemort; not Anarchy. He had enough battles on his plate, he couldn't afford to get involved in another one!

But how could he walk away? Rab had frankly admitted that Harry could leave as he liked and the Canines would be in no state to stop him, yet it didn't feel right. There was some kind of tentative trust built between them, and while it remained unspoken Harry knew it extended this far. Rab wouldn't have singled him out to talk otherwise. He must be the hero-complex Ron had been talking about again, because Harry felt a slight brush of guilt at leaving the Canines right when they were at their weakest, but it couldn't be helped. He had to talk to Cain, he needed to convince the ringleader to let him go back to where he came from. Cain would understand, he had to.

As for Dudley, Harry would have to trust whoever it was Cain had entrusted his cousin to; he only dared to come back for Dudley after he was in contact with the Order again. The wizards had tailed him this far, if they realized where and most importantly who Dudley was, Harry shuddered to think what would happen.

Harry eyed the blur of shadow moving before him as they continued to walk on in the darkness. He thought of telling the truth, but the pit of dread in his stomach only grew. A heavy sigh slipped past his lips before he could help it. When he noticed a slight pause in Cain's rhythmic footsteps however Harry immediately cast his eyes elsewhere even though everything else was simply pitch dark and fumbled for something else to say.

"Don't you guys have flashlights around here?" Harry commented, carefully keeping his tone casual.

If Cain noticed the forced light-heartedness in his voice, he didn't let on.

"They do," the ringleader replied instead. After the long stretch of silence their voices suddenly seemed dangerously loud. "They're installed into boxes in the walls. But we're not risking it since I didn't bother to remember the full code."

"Why is it a risk?"

"Because believe it or not, something blowing up in your face might actually do you some harm" Cain retorted.

"Right," Harry muttered under his breath. He took it as a cue to fall silent.

They went on for quite some time, and silence continued its reign. Harry didn't bother to keep track of time after he'd counted the first hundred or so steps. The dull ache in his side was beginning to throb ever so slightly with every few steps. He thought of asking where Cain was headed but in the end decided against it. From Cain's responses he gathered that the ringleader wasn't keen on conversation either.

Presently they seemed to reach a crossroads, and Cain finally slowed their pace to a stop. "You think they're still on your trail?" he said at last.

Harry listened for a full minute, but throughout their whole journey they'd heard nothing of any trapdoors slamming open or any sign of the Ministry Aurors. Either they had decided to follow Harry's fake trail downriver, or the trapdoor had really exploded in their faces and collapsed down on itself like Cain said it would. Somehow Harry hoped it was the former; if they learnt of the underground tunnels in Clemenceau Ave, they might find a way in fast. Then again, he hadn't heard the sound of anything collapsing either.

"Don't think so," Harry replied.

Cain nodded. "Eyes peeled on the left. That's our exit."

There was a neat little slit hidden cunningly in the tunnel walls. Harry squinted in the dark and pressed his palms against the smooth tunnel walls but he didn't manage to find it until Cain jutted out a corner using his finger. Right before them was a tight-fitting trapdoor. Harry thought he could make out a small flight of stairs leading upwards, but before his eyes could adjust properly Cain had entered and ordered Harry to follow close, and he did so mutely.

The flight of steps was comparably short in contrast with their long winded trail in the underground tunnels. When they finally reached open, Harry was surprised when the fresh smell of rain and grass rushed out to greet him. Here out in the open the ground was better lit. Harry looked confusedly around. The whole place was overgrown with all sorts of plants and shrubs but there were no towering trees.

"Are we still in Clemenceau Ave?" Harry said suspiciously.

"Maybe," Cain answered. "Red Circle's place was near the outskirts, we've just ventured slightly over the border."

"I didn't know there was any place like this around here," Harry said, looking around.

"Why, thinking of bringing Dursley here after running from me?" Cain said sardonically.

Once upon a time Harry would have taken it as a threat, but as it was he simply snorted and followed after the ringleader. "Yeah, 'cause it's such a lovely picnic spot," Harry remarked. He was practically wading through waist-deep grass, and his shoes were completely ruined and soaked in mud by then.

"Of course," Cain replied, "but do watch out for mines though."

"Mines?!" Harry repeated, his voice rising half an octave. Cain actually laughed at his expression before turning around to walk onwards. Harry made a face before following.

Harry realized very soon where they were heading for. There was an ancient looking building rising out of the grass not far from where they were. As they approached the building, Harry noticed that the window panes were empty of glass and the even the front door was missing. Harry didn't like the look of it one bit. It reminded him strongly of Anarchy's den.

"Another abandoned factory?" Harry said, trying his best to keep his tone neutral. The reply however was rather unexpected.

"I used to work here when I was younger," Cain said in a rare moment of no-sarcasm civility. Harry was briefly surprised.

"Before the gangster days then" he commented.

They reached the derelict structure soon. Harry remained skeptical of the stability of the structure, but Cain walked in without hesitation. Something inside creaked ostentatiously when he did.

"I figured it would be a good place to hide before we head back" Cain said. He looked around with an almost satisfied sort of air before he sat down at the front porch facing the night. "Make yourself home."

The small semblance of normalcy he'd clung to disappeared at the last bit. Harry glanced around uncertainly as though unsure what he was going to do with himself before sitting down beside the ringleader. He felt decidedly apprehensive at the prospect of what he was about to do. It was as much of his small, irrational bit of guilt and his tentativeness at facing Cain's reaction. Deciding that it would be worse to put it off until Cain read his mind or something, Harry turned to the other, lips parted to speak, but at the last moment he turned away uncomfortably and cast his eyes to the sky instead.

"I'm not going back" Harry said abruptly, breaking the silence. His tone was uncharacteristically flat. "I know you didn't need to bring me here, and I'm thankful for that. But I can't return there."

Here Harry felt more than saw Cain's eyes snap to him, but Harry didn't meet his eyes. He had a feeling he would fumble over his words if he did. "I know I've yet to repay my debt to the Canines, but I swear I'll pay you back somehow" Harry continued, steadfastly looking into space as though he were trying to persuade himself it was a good argument. "I'm rubbish at one-to-one combat anyway, and I'm not a fan of fight clubs - "

"Pay me back, you say?" Cain cut in suddenly. Harry couldn't tell what the other was thinking; the other's tone was completely devoid of emotion. "How would you do that?"

"…a year from now, I'll come back here" Harry fumbled, trying to sound more certain than he felt. "I-I'll repay the Canines whatever amount you ask for."

"And if you don't return?" Cain asked.

Harry's throat felt tight. "If I don't return, then – it means - I'm not around anymore." He squeezed his eyes shut. "I know, I know, I'm not keeping up to my word when you went on some lengths to keep yours, and I never expected that. But – "

"You don't have a debt to the Canines Harry," Cain said suddenly, and this time a faint hint of amusement crept into the other's tone. Harry turned to face him, completely taken aback. Cain gave him a look before adding, "Not after last week."

Harry blinked. He opened his mouth to say something, but once more words failed him. Cain in response smirked at his expression and turned to face the front again. "You're not what I expected either," the ringleader said, finally.

For all the dread he'd been harboring, the conversation actually went way better than he expected. He had even been imagining himself getting beaten up and tossed into the sea of wild grass or something. "Does that mean you're letting me go?" Harry asked just to be clear, but the ringleader countered it with his own question.

"What do you mean by you won't be around anymore?"

Harry swallowed. It was a simple question, easy and direct, but Harry didn't know what to say. There was too much Cain didn't and couldn't know to understand. There was a slight pause when Harry fell silent before he replied. "In my world… I'm fighting my own war," he said haltingly. "It only ends with my victory or my death."

Silence. Harry looked away, not wanting to face the questions that would come, but then Cain nodded. "So I was right when I said you had a fighting stance before I taught you," he said.

A slight brush of amusement coloured Harry's voice. "Yeah well, you have no idea."

"I'd call it a waste of potential, but turns out you weren't," the ringleader said with a small taunting smirk. "Still, it's been years since they found another fighter of Fyris."

For some reason Harry felt compelled to explain, and he started speaking, letting his voice fill in the unnatural quietness between them. After all, if anything a small bridge had been crossed, and the words came to him easier somehow. "When I brought Dudley on the run, I - abandoned my position in my world. As you probably knew, I planned to take Dudley and – well - escape from the Canines the moment he got better," Harry admitted. It wasn't like it mattered now anyway. Cain made a noise of amusement. Harry cleared his throat and continued. "Then obviously, things got – complicated. Being here it was easy to forget about my responsibility there and for a moment I did. But I can't do that. I know you must fight for the Canines, but I need to fight for my world too," Harry finished, hoping the other would understand.

Cain didn't say anything for a while. Harry resisted the urge to clear his throat or fidget in the background. Cain had said he owed the Canines nothing. By logical interpretation Harry would assume that meant he was free to leave now, but then the ringleader's countenance didn't seem as if he were relenting. Or perhaps he was. Despite the weeks he'd spent with the other, Harry had no way of reading Cain.

"Your world," Cain said, repeating Harry's words. "It must be a very different one."

Harry nearly let out a laugh before he hurriedly composed himself. "Yeah. Quite different," he said in a controlled voice. But what the ringleader said next threw him aback.

"You're used to fighting alone" Cain stated abruptly, his eyes shifting to face Harry. It looked like he was expecting confirmation or something, so Harry complied albeit with wariness. "Uh-huh."

"Word of advice, stop doing that," Cain returned swiftly. "You'll lose more often than not, however good you are."

Harry looked surprised. "I would have thought you were one for individual combat too," he said.

"True, but the pack always hunts together" Cain flashed him a grin.

Harry nodded, but not whole-heartedly. He understood what the ringleader was trying to say, but Voldemort wasn't specifically targeting his friends; it was only him. He was the one the Dark Lord chose to mark, and therefore he alone was the prophesized one, the one Voldemort vowed to kill. The Canines were different; they were a pack united against their rival Anarchy; Anarchy was just about their enemies just as they were Cain's, even if the rift had first started because of Kerr's anger and jealousy.

Harry chanced a look at Cain, but the other was still staring out into the open space quietly. He was still expecting Cain to ask more about his 'world'; as far as he was concerned there were many curious points from Cain's perspective – his pursuers way of attacking using a stick, if Cain had noticed, and there was the order from the 'Ministry'. It would certainly pique interest, especially when it was pretty clear that Harry was high on their priority list.

He was grateful that the 'questioning' hadn't happened yet though, he was tired of coming up with more lies when he'd just tried his best to be honest minutes ago.

Harry fidgeted a little with his shoelaces, but when he looked up Cain was eyeing him with an amused expression. Somehow Harry got the impression that the ringleader knew exactly what he was thinking about. When their eyes met however, Cain simply rolled his eyes.

"You didn't ask me about Anarchy either," he pointed out.

...

Number Four, Privet Drive

"Careful Weasley, don't touch anything" a rough voice snapped at them.

Ron paused in mid-step on the staircase and rolled his eyes with a great air of irritation. Before he had the chance to mutter something snarky under his breath however a hand had tugged him none too gently up the stairs and almost shoved him onto the landing. It didn't stop Ron from bursting out with indignance the moment they stepped out of Moody's vicinity.

"It's not like we're foreigners or something!" Ron exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air as soon as they were out of earshot. "But no, they feel the need to repeat it again and again as if I don't understand English. At least I don't speak like mizz Delacouree – "

"Can you lower your voice?" Hermione snapped at him irritably. "It's hard enough to focus without you complaining all the time!"

Ron made to snap something in retort, but before he could so much as open his mouth Hermione's fingers suddenly seized his in an icy clutch, causing him to jump and nearly slip off the steps and fall right to the bottom of the staircase. Ron twisted slightly to regain his balance and compensated by crashing into the bannister, causing more than a few disapproving hisses from the other Order members downstairs. Neither of them noticed this however; they were both transfixed at the sight before them.

"There's someone's blood on the floor," Hermione said, her voice a little higher than her natural pitch.

There was a large ugly brown stain caking both wood and tiles. It spilt down from the landing to the middle of the steps. Ron hurriedly stepped back when he noticed that he'd been standing in a pool of dried blood. In mute silence, the two Gryffindors exchanged glances before walking up the rest of the steps together. It wasn't until they had arrived at the top when Hermione found her voice again.

"His uncle must have been really hurt," she said shakily.

Ron had nothing to offer about the topic. He had suspected as much after his father had came home bearing news of Vernon Dursley's long-term hospitalization, but it was a different thing altogether to witness the crime scene at which Harry's uncle had been assaulted. "Come on" he said instead, "this is Harry's room."

Harry's bedroom was in absolute shambles. It was clear that someone had searched through it before they had; Harry's trunk which had been half-packed for his stay at the Burrow was completely overturned, and Harry's belongings were strewn all about the floor. Ron felt his insides turn cold at the unwelcome sight. What had the intruders been searching for? Did the Death-Eaters come with the belief that Harry was hiding in Privet Drive? Or were they looking for something else?

Even as the thought passed his mind Hermione suddenly clapped a hand to her mouth in sudden revelation. "Ron, the fake locket by R.A.B., Harry kept it didn't he?"

Ron felt a block of ice slide over his spine. "I-I think so – he said he wanted to keep it for remembrance purposes or something – "

"Accio locket!" Hermione cried, whipping out her wand. Nothing happened; no gold and silver locket came flying out from beneath the bed. The trunk, which Ron had been positive that Harry would place it in there, remained still. Hermione bit her lip in frustration. There could have been enchantments on the locket to prevent it from being Summoned, and the locket was still hidden somewhere in the room, or it could have already been taken.

"Maybe – maybe Harry hid it somewhere really hard to find?" Ron suggested, looking around the room uncertainly.

"Ron, if You-Know-Who saw it, he would know what we're after!" Hermione said, her voice rising despite her attempt to keep it down.

"It's not like it makes a difference now does it!" Ron hissed. "We don't even know where Harry is! He could well be hunting down Horcruxes on his own in any part of the world. You knew it too Hermione, Harry was reluctant to involve us in doing you-know-what after Dumbledore's death." He sat down with a thump on the bumpy bed, ignoring Mad-Eye's warning completely. It creaked under his weight. "Isn't there anything we can do while Harry is gone?" Ron ventured slightly.

Hermione looked at him, his uncertainties reflecting her own. "You mean, we start hunting them down without Harry?"

Ron sprang back up to his feet and began to pace. "Well I don't know!" he said in frustration. "But there must be something else better for us to do than sit at home all day and fret and wonder if Harry's still out there somewhere. Dumbledore left us a mission as well! There was something else in his will, I know it, otherwise he wouldn't have left us what he did." A dark look flickered over Ron's face as he remembered the day the Minister of Magic and showed up with the deceased Headmaster's will. "Harry's was probably the most important of all of ours, but now they're probably being prodded and peeled to shreds in that bloody Ministry building!"

"But what can we do Ron?" Hermione asked, her voice sounding just as helpless as he was. "We don't have a single lead as to what the Horcruxes are. If Professor Dumbledore had spoken to Harry, we could have helped him hunt them down together, but now they're – " She trailed off. It hung unspoken in the heavy atmosphere; they were both gone.

There was a bleak silence they lapsed into, but all of a sudden a flash of brilliant blue glinted off something which had fallen on the floor. Hermione gave a sharp gasp, but before she could move Ron had already bounded over to it. It was a broken shard of mirror lying on the floor beside the overturned trunk. It looked by all means perfectly normal, and when Ron picked it up only his wide-eyed gaze stared back at him through the reflection. Ron turned around slowly to face his bushy-haired friend.

"I didn't just imagine that, did I?"

A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Please review! :p