Wednesday August 11th 7:00PM

Dean had watched the memory over and over again. His wife was right. He had been way too harsh with his little brother.

Despite what Y/N had become, Dean had to try and support him, to break him free from the darkness that was taking him over, to show him the error of his ways. To make him follow the right path. Dean's path. In the end it wasn't Y/N's fault. He was, after all, a severely traumatised child.

Dean silently prayed to Merlin he hadn't done his relationship with his brother irreconcilable damage. He sat in the living room waiting before Penny finally returned home right at 7:00pm via the Floo network.

He looked at his wife, a look of shame etched on his face. Penny smiled at her husband. She was always quick to forgive. He spoke quickly:

"Let's go to Hermione's house. I need to apologise."

Penny nodded and grabbed his arm as they apparated to Hermione's front yard. They were very puzzled as to what they found.

The Granger house wasn't there. A house was there, but it wasn't the Granger's house, and the people visible through the windows certainly weren't the Grangers.

"Uh, what's going on Dean?" Penny asked in confusion.

"Y/N must have placed wards around the house, but to establish an illusion this elaborate... we need to congratulate him. This is extremely advanced magic. Like Auror level advanced."

Penny's mouth dropped open before she composed herself and asked:

"So how do we get in?"

"Well, I've got an idea love. This will either work really well, or go really badly."

Penny raised her eyebrow at her husband before he grabbed her arm and they apparated into the Granger's lounge room.

"Jesus Christ!" Wendell screamed as he jumped a mile in shock at his friends' sudden appearance in his lounge room. As he breathed heavily and grabbed his chest he heard Dean speak quickly:

"Sorry to burst in like this Wendell. Is my brother here?"

"No he isn't!"

Dean turned, having heard an extremely upset Hermione yell from the kitchen. She was not in a pleasant mood.

Dean walked into the room followed by Penny and the look that met him was enough to kill. He held his hands up to try and appease the girl.

"I'm here to apologise to him Hermione, I know I was out of line."

Hermione's glare gradually softened before she spoke again.

"You're too late anyway Dean, he's gone. Said it was too dangerous for me and my parents if he was here. He thought from the sightings that Sirius Black was hunting him. He said he was going to pull Sirius's eyes towards him and away from us. I don't know where he's gone."

"That explains the wards and the illusion." Dean said to Penny who nodded.

"Illusion?" Wendell asked confused. Hermione looked puzzled as well.

"He showed me how to put up the protective wards he put on our house, but he didn't say anything about an illusion."

Dean chuckled to the girl.

"It's extremely powerful magic Hermione, unbelievably so. It's why we had to apparate straight in here. We first apparated out the front, but it's not your house there, to anyone looking in it's a different house entirely with random people walking around looking busy."

The three Grangers' mouths dropped open in unison. Dean continued:

"As I said it's extremely advanced magic Hermione. Penny and I wouldn't be able to pull off what he has to keep you safe."

Dean smiled at Hermione. She was now blushing in pride at her boyfriend.

"I've said it before, I'll say it again..." Wendell said with a smirk and a chuckle. "Hell of a kid your boyfriend."

"So he didn't say where he was going Hermione?" Penny asked with a concerned tone.

"No, he said he was going to make himself a visible target so Sirius wouldn't look here. Said he had to make a scene and get in the papers..."

Hermione's words trailed off as Dean facepalmed and Penny looked very concerned.

"You don't think he'd do anything... too stupid, do you?"

Hermione had been so upset at Y/N's leaving and distracted with the books provided by Dobby that she hadn't thought about his cryptic words. As she was now talking out his leaving a horrible sense of dread fell upon her.

"That's exactly what I think" Dean grumbled with a worried tone.

"He mentioned Diagon" Monica said suddenly:

"He said he was going make sure he was seen there."

Dean and Penny exchanged a worried glance before Penny smiled at her friend reassuringly:

"Ok thanks Monica, we'll go there now"

Penny reached for Dean's arm before Hermione spoke up abruptly:

"Can I come?" she asked, worried about her boyfriend.

"No absolutely not" Wendell replied quickly and sternly. "Y/N set all this up to keep you here and safe, you're not about to risk that by wondering around ok!"

"But-"

"You're dad's right Hermione" Dean answered abruptly, cutting her off.

"Besides imagine if we found him and you were with us. He's mad enough at me as it is."

Dean's eyes went wide at the thought. Hermione giggled.

"Ok, ok, but let me know if you find him, please?"

"We will" Penny said with sincerity as she walked up and hugged Hermione tight.

"You stay here and keep safe ok. We'll let you know as soon as we hear something"

"Ok. Y/N did send me a lot of books to read."

Penny chuckled. "Sounds like him".

With that and a pop the married couple were off to Diagon Alley.

—~—

The couple had searched through Diagon for a couple of hours, even venturing into Knockturn, no one had seen Y/N.

Most of the shops had shut by now, and he hadn't been in any of the bars that were open.

The last place to check was a dodgy looking tattoo parlour. Dean looked at it before Penny chuckled:

"I doubt he would've gone in there."

"Can't hurt to ask" Dean said with a shrug as Penny rolled her eyes. They walked in to see a particularly short and dirty looking man at the counter. He smiled towards Penny lecherously, resulting in Dean glaring at the man:

"Greetings, I am Edophus Fletcher at your service. Friends call me Ed".

"Well Ed, I'm looking for my little brother. You had any young wizards come in today?"

Edophus chuckled and answered:

"I can't possibly disclose information about a customer."

"He's our family! We're worried about him!" Penny snapped. Dean meanwhile pulled a handful of Galleons from his pocket and threw them down on the counter top.

"I had one; looked young but swore he was 18. He was a weird kid. Intense, but again his Galleons were good enough for me."

"Why was he in here? He didn't get tattoos did he?" Penny asked in horror.

"Well he wasn't here to shop for tulips was he" The small wizard snapped back. Dean's expression made him reconsider his words quickly.

"Yes... he got three pieces done. Two standard tattoos and one magical one."

"What?" Penny shrieked. "What did he get done?"

Edophus chuckled:

"Now that you ask, I can't quite remember..."

Dean slammed more Galleons on the counter top in anger as Edophus smiled:

"He got a Phoenix on his neck, a Grim Reaper on his right hand and a magical girl's face on his calf. Said the girl was his sweetheart and the Phoenix was a mark to "show his new friends which side he was on" whatever that meant.

"What about the Grim Reaper?" Dean asked.

Edophus became visibly uncomfortable as she shifted on the spot.

"When I asked him about it, it was like the whole room got dark and a big breeze came through the shop. Kid scared the hell out of me. All he said was 'I have become death, the destroyer of worlds.' Like I said, he was a weird kid."

A shiver ran up Penny's spine as she asked:

"Do you remember the girl's name? Anything about her?"

Edophus's eyes fluttered to Dean quickly, but instead of more gold coins, Dean pulled his wand. He was getting more and more frustrated and his expression showed it. Ed was now getting scared as he voluntarily offered a suggestion:

"I've got pictures, take 'em of all my art. Take a look."

Dean looked at the last three pages of the man's tattoo photo album.

Yep, it was Y/N who got tattoos- the girl was Hermione all right. The magical tattoo smiled as her hair shifted in the breeze.

"Did he say where he was going?" Penny asked, extremely worriedly.

"To the Ministry to see some fuckwit."

"What fuckwit?" Dean snapped, his patience having ran out.

"No that's just what he said, some fuckwit. Don't know who!" Edophus answered in fear.

Dean gently grabbed Penny's arm and they walked out the shop.

"Let's go home, Ministry's closed now. We'll check there in the morning."

Penny nodded sadly. Y/N getting tattoos, talking of new friends and going to the Ministry. This couldn't be good.