A moment later and my loyal House Elf appeared next to me, startling the information broker. Inky handed over some documents while giving Marky a dirty look, and I laid them onto the man's desk.
"Sign here, and you will be agreeing to work for me. Any attempts to betray me to the Ministry or to reveal my secrets to anybody not already in the know will be severely punished," I informed the other Squib.
"What's the catch?" he demanded.
"Read it and find out," I told him.
Cautiously he stood up, and picked up the contract. He frowned at some parts, but after a couple minutes laid it back down.
"You'll protect me and my business interests?" he asked.
"As long as you protect me and mine," I replied. "We will be working together, after all."
"I can still run my club?"
"Yes. But if you ever receive another request to go after me or anyone I care about? You say 'no,' and then inform me immediately," I stated.
"This is insane," he muttered. "You really think you can sell magical crap under the nose of the Ministry?"
"I've already am," I chuckled. "And they'll have bigger things to worry about soon."
Marky didn't look convinced, but I gave him a confident smile. "Mr. Fetters, I have big plans. And the Wizarding World will either get out of my way or be bowled over."
"You're insane," Marky Fetters muttered, before he still reached for a pen and signed his name on the contract. The ink glowed, binding him to the deal, and he slumped, feeling drained.
"Get out. Please," he muttered, the last word spoken as an afterthought.
"Of course. I expect to see you in my office tomorrow at 10 am sharp. We've got a lot of work to do, after all."
With that, I left a business card on his desk before turning and walking out, leaving my newest employee to ruminate on his life choices up till now.
"This seems like a risky idea," Remus said to me as we walked out of the club.
"Should have just Obliviated the guy," Sirius nodded.
"You two don't understand what it's like to grow up a Squib," I replied as I got into the car. "For a taste of magic, we would do anything. For the opportunity to actually use it and show up the Purebloods who shunned us? He will be loyal. Of course, the contract's magic will help, but I believe he will be an excellent new addition."
"Still, working with a criminal…" Remus muttered.
"I'm not exactly thrilled either," I admitted. "He did try and have me kidnapped, remember? But I'm willing to overlook it. Not like he was the person who ordered it in the first place. He was just the middleman."
Contacts in the underworld would be important, too, distasteful as it was. And Mikey was low enough on the totem pole that bringing him into the fold wouldn't disrupt anything.
"All we got was a name. Thorton," Sirius pointed out.
"He's probably a Muggle," Remus mused thoughtfully. "If he were a Squib, I have a feeling Mr. Fetters would have known. And a Wizard would just use magic to kidnap you himself."
"Make sense," I agreed, before sighing. "Ugh. I hate mysteries."
Both men nodded in sympathy. Then, Sirius snapped his fingers.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" He rooted around in his pockets for something before removing… a newspaper clipping?
"'Sirius Black Escapes Azkaban!'" I read aloud the headline, then blinked. "Holy shit, it finally happened?"
"I can't believe it took them two months to realize you were missing!" Remus uttered with a shake of his head.
"I can," I muttered, and Sirius nodded his head judiciously in agreement.
"Yeah, I'm officially a wanted fugitive!" the last Black declared proudly.
"Technically you're a person of interest since you were never given a trial," I replied. "But that probably doesn't matter to the peons at the Ministry."
"What's the plan?" Remus asked while Sirius pouted and mumbled about 'totally being a wanted fugitive if he wanted to be!'
"I think it's time we send a letter to Harry, and ask him to get us in contact with Susan Bones. Hopefully she can get us into contact with her aunt," I replied as we got into the car. "Although, when I say 'we,' I mean you, Mr. Werewolf."
"What?" Remus exclaimed as I began to drive off.
"Remus, I can't exactly talk with the Head of Magical Law Enforcement about, well, anything. At best she'd ignore me because I'm a Squib. At worst, she'd find out about what I'm doing, or not doing, regarding magical law," I pointed out. "Neither can Sirius. You have to be the intermediary for this."
"I expect a raise," he grumbled, folding his arms but accepting his new task.
"You will get one," I promised. "Anyways, I'm hungry. Who wants to stop for some fish and chips?"
"Oh! Oh! Me!" Sirius said, waving his hand like a child in the backseat.
"It's a little early for lunch, but I suppose I could go with something like that," Remus reluctantly agreed. "But not too much fast food! It's unhealthy."
"Yes, mom," Sirius drawled, and while the other man spluttered, he leaned over to me. "He was like this back in Hogwarts too, ya know. Never understood why such a stickler for the rules hung out with two troublemakers like me and James."
"Somebody had to make sure you didn't do anything stupid. Well, stupider," Remus stated indignantly.
The two then began an argument about who had been more responsible for some of their deeds back in the day. I just snickered as I listened, amused by their antics. And a little bit surprised by just how many of the pranks the werewolf had been the instigator of.
It was nice. Only thing that would have been better would have been finding out who the hell tried to have me kidnapped!
'Soon, though,' I vowed to myself. 'They won't be able to hide forever!'
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