For 30 + advance chapter: patreon.com/Snowing_Melody
5, 4, 3, 2, 1—
Sirius crouched incredibly low to the freezing concrete, highly aggressively using the massive, magically conjured hay bale to completely cover his physical presence as much as possible. He was rapidly, violently counting down the agonizing seconds entirely in his hammering Gryffindor heart, desperately praying for Regulus's safety.
A piercing, completely clear hawk cry violently mixed with the howling winter wind above. Suddenly, he heard a heavy, yet incredibly muffled thump as an invisible, heavy object highly flawlessly, lightly fell directly into the massive 'artificial' hay bale sitting directly in front of him—
Sirius, intensely staring exactly at the rustling hay bale, felt his heart violently leap entirely into his throat. He completely couldn't help but ask in a highly tense, low whisper, "Regulus?"
"It's me," Regulus's highly familiar, aristocratic voice came smoothly from the hay, his corporate tone completely filled with massive, entirely undisguised ease and sheer, unadulterated adrenaline-fueled excitement. "Let's go!"
The very next absolute second, the incredibly smooth, silky fabric of the legendary Invisibility Cloak silently, flawlessly draped directly over them, completely covering both of their physical figures in the freezing courtyard.
Beneath the absolute safety of the magical cloak, Regulus's highly flushed, smiling face shone brilliantly with the pure thrill of a flawless gamer execution. He highly affectionately put his arm completely around his tense older brother's shoulder and smoothly, rapidly began to tactically move outwards toward the exit:
"Let's go, James is absolutely still waiting for us. Let's hurry."
Exactly at this highly chaotic moment, a heavily armed Muggle security guard patrolling completely not far away finally, violently noticed the massive, highly illogical hay bale that had suddenly appeared out of thin air. He was completely, utterly physically stunned at absolute first—standing frozen for several long seconds, he gradually, heavily showed an entirely incredulous, terrified expression. He then tremblingly, violently pulled out his heavy black walkie-talkie, his terrified voice completely so incredibly nervous it was almost physically stuttering:
"Captain! The new... the new palace courtyard, there's a highly suspicious, massive item here!... Yes, it's a literal pile of hay..."
"Really, it is a very, highly large pile! It absolutely, definitely appeared completely suddenly just now out of thin air. We might highly urgently need the riot... the heavily armed riot police..."
Quietly hearing this highly terrified, deeply panicked Muggle radio chatter from under the cloak, Regulus completely couldn't help but highly cynically smile and gently touch his nose.
James Potter was absolutely already highly obediently waiting completely at their previously agreed-upon, highly secure tactical location, and he had completely, flawlessly already changed his highly conspicuous clothes—exactly, logically just as Regulus had strictly suggested.
The massive Invisibility Cloak highly smoothly spread out completely again, and the three heavily armed Little Wizards completely, flawlessly disappeared entirely into the highly crisp, freezing cold air of London.
...
Highly tactically avoiding the completely 'making a big fuss' and violently 'overreacting' Muggle security guards currently swarming Westminster Palace—who had incredibly, actually even actively set up a highly secure police cordon completely around Downing Street—the three highly amused Little Wizards cautiously, invisibly headed north.
About exactly twenty freezing minutes later, they safely arrived completely at the dark, dirty Leaky Cauldron sitting quietly on Charing Cross Road, seamlessly nestled completely invisibly between an oblivious Muggle bookstore and a loud record shop.
Perhaps simply because it was exactly the New Year holiday morning, there honestly weren't very many highly suspicious people currently drinking in the dusty pub, making the atmosphere seem a bit deeply deserted and quiet. Standing directly behind the highly dim, sticky wooden bar, the kind, bald owner Tom greeted them completely warmly.
"Happy New Year!" Tom at this highly specific time absolutely didn't mathematically have exactly so many deep wrinkles on his face, and he actually completely still had a fully intact set of teeth.
"Happy New Year!" The three freezing Little Wizards replied highly happily in synchronized unison.
"Owner, we'll take three hot lemon black teas, black bread, fried eggs, grilled sausages, fried bacon," Regulus highly smoothly, flawlessly ordered the heavy meal completely skillfully, like a true regular, "Plus completely add mushrooms and baked beans entirely in tomato sauce."
Exactly like the absolute vast majority of traditional inns in the United Kingdom, the dusty Leaky Cauldron highly reliably served a massive, heavy traditional English breakfast, and the greasy taste was honestly surprisingly, undeniably good.
"Alright right away, Mr. Black," Tom said with a highly warm, welcoming smile. He clearly, deeply remembered Regulus; the wealthy Slytherin heir highly often came directly to the shop entirely during the summer holidays to use the Floo network.
"I'll highly happily pay for it!" James violently rushed to proudly say, actively, highly aggressively pulling out his massive, incredibly heavy leather money bag. The highly distinct, heavy metallic sound of solid golden Galleons violently jingling inside echoed loudly across the quiet pub—
James Potter, being a highly wealthy, arrogant pureblood heir, absolutely rarely ever legally carried cheap silver Sickles or worthless bronze Knuts when he physically went out.
With this highly pleasant, incredibly loud metallic sound of pure gold, a highly dark, hunched figure sitting entirely in the darkest, filthiest corner of the pub—which completely, physically looked exactly like a highly disgusting pile of dirty rags—violently twitched.
Regulus's highly sensitive, cold CEO radar instantly, flawlessly went off. He highly subtly, quietly tugged directly at James's sleeve, completely, silently signaling him heavily with his dark eyes to be highly, tactically discreet.
...
"Although I mathematically completely can't actually turn myself invisible completely with a Disillusionment Charm just yet," James highly happily, completely swallowed a massive mouthful of hot, buttery mushrooms, "Invisibility fireworks are honestly an absolute complete piece of cake for me to invent. Speaking highly of which, the absolute, completely most highly dangerous tactical part of the raid entirely still depended completely on Sirius..."
"It honestly wasn't really all that dangerous," Sirius said highly nonchalantly, violently spearing a greasy sausage with his fork, and smiled arrogantly, "It's literally just highly casually pouring out some completely withered dead branches and fallen autumn leaves entirely from my expanded pocket. Even if a heavily armed Muggle security guard completely caught me physically doing it, exactly what could they logically legally do? Force me to violently sweep the courtyard floor?"
Sirius's sharp grey gaze then completely, highly intensely turned directly to his brilliant younger brother, with a highly massive hint of pure, unadulterated Gryffindor curiosity: "But exactly what about you—Regulus, exactly what on earth are you actually, mathematically trying to actively do with all these highly dangerous, insane physical experiments of yours?"
"This highly public place isn't completely the secure place to legally talk about it," Regulus thought highly analytically for a highly tense moment before answering in a highly low, completely conspiratorial whisper, "But basically, logically speaking, it's completely mathematically related entirely to highly advanced spatial magic—you completely both absolutely know exactly about Portkeys, right?"
In Regulus's highly calculating view, the highly complex, virtual gaming transportation completely between fixed geographical spaces (fast travel) was actually highly, mathematically exactly very similar completely to the physical concept of Portkeys entirely in the wizarding world. It was the absolute, perfect cover story.
"Hmm... I absolutely legally know about Portkeys—" James deeply furrowed his brow, highly analytically thinking for a moment, "We actually violently saw highly qualified older Wizards actively use them the absolute last time we legally went entirely to the Quidditch World Cup. Aren't they usually highly inconspicuous, garbage objects?"
"Exactly. What I'm completely, actively mathematically looking for right now—" Regulus's dark voice dropped completely even vastly lower, acting exactly like a spy, "is a highly classified, completely hidden Portkey."
A highly hidden Portkey?
"Then... did you actually physically find it up there?!" James leaned completely, highly eagerly closer over the greasy table, highly intensely curious. "Could it actually mathematically be—highly hidden completely 'in that specific place' at the top of the clock?"
"Not completely, scientifically confirmed just yet," Regulus gave a highly mysterious, incredibly calculating CEO smile, "But—"
He smoothly, elegantly picked up his hot teacup and completely, highly tactically began to immediately change the dangerous subject: "Massive thanks entirely to your highly flawless tactical help today!"
"Hey, it's absolutely no big deal at all," James proudly patted his Gryffindor chest.
"Those heavily armed Muggles' terrified facial expressions were genuinely, completely really highly funny," Sirius also completely laughed loudly, recalling the radio chatter.
Three thick glass cups completely clinked entirely together highly happily!
Meanwhile, currently situated about exactly one physical mile away, the completely bewildered, highly terrified Muggle security guards stood completely frozen directly in front of the highly massive, fully prepared, heavily armored riot vans, finally, highly awkwardly discovering entirely with absolutely both massive relief and completely crushing, highly pathetic embarrassment that the highly terrifying, suspicious pile of hay completely in front of them... was actually, literally just an incredibly ordinary, highly mundane pile of ordinary dry hay...
Exactly what they highly mathematically really, actually urgently needed was the municipal sanitation department, not the heavily armed riot squad.
...
"Exactly how about we actively, highly legally go completely down to 'Knockturn Alley' next?" James suddenly suggested incredibly excitedly completely at the wooden table, seeking more adrenaline. "The three of us heavily armed purebloods completely together, entirely plus the legendary Invisibility Cloak as tactical backup, there absolutely shouldn't mathematically be absolutely any real danger at all."
Sirius's sharp grey eyes completely, violently lit up slightly. He said with massive, highly violent interest, "That's honestly absolutely not a bad tactical idea at all—there are mathematically completely vastly more actual adult Wizards located nearby down there, and we absolutely can completely legally use our highly lethal wands entirely freely without the Trace triggering."
The two highly eager Little Lions absolutely both turned completely to actively look highly expectantly entirely at Regulus—although Regulus was completely biologically the absolute youngest at the table, he was entirely, undeniably the absolute default, highly respected tactical leader completely of their highly lethal small group.
Regulus completely didn't immediately answer verbally. Instead, he smoothly, flawlessly took out some highly classified, glowing Revealer Paper directly from his inner pocket and highly quickly, completely silently wrote something exactly with his fingertip, entirely looking down at the parchment.
The two highly observant boys sitting directly opposite him completely, instantly tactically understood the silent corporate signal and absolutely each smoothly, flawlessly took out their own highly classified Revealer Paper—
Hmm!? [We have a highly hostile, greedy tail tracking our gold. Time to highly aggressively set a violent trap.]
...
After finishing their heavy breakfast, the three highly armed Little Wizards highly enthusiastically, completely loudly hugged exactly each other warmly goodbye directly in the pub exactly like entirely innocent children.
The two highly dangerous Black brothers completely stayed entirely safely inside the pub, completely while the highly oblivious, wealthy little fat sheep James Potter happily entered Diagon Alley entirely completely alone and highly quietly turned directly into a highly narrow, extremely filthy alley that physically seemed incredibly dark, highly suffocating, and incredibly winding completely even exactly during the bright day, stepping away from an entirely inconspicuous, dark stone turn.
The highly creepy, highly illegal shops sitting completely on absolutely both dark sides entirely of the freezing alley were absolutely, clearly highly illegal Dark Arts shops, their highly dusty, filthy display windows completely, entirely filled completely with highly nauseating, terrifying dark items: highly disgusting shrunken, violently shriveled human heads, terrifyingly massive, highly hairy black spiders, highly cursed fat candles constantly emitting an entirely eerie, freezing green light, and so on. The absolute largest and highly most completely conspicuous one had a massive, highly faded wooden sign that violently read—Borgin and Burkes.
There were actually completely even highly shady, completely pale shop assistants currently violently busy completely entirely inside; they absolutely weren't legally taking absolutely any festive holidays entirely for the New Year—it was completely, clearly absolutely not a legally registered, legitimate shop.
He highly deliberately, completely tactically exactly chose to heavily walk entirely through the highly strange, incredibly gloomy, dangerous places, physically looking almost exactly entirely like a completely highly terrified, completely headless fly highly awkwardly stumbling completely around the dark entirely in a massive panic.
At exactly one highly dark point completely on the road, two completely, highly shabbily dressed, terrifyingly pale dark Wizards violently watched him intently from the shadows, whispering highly maliciously, their dark eyes completely seeming incredibly, violently malevolent.
James was actually completely, highly surprised completely to logically find entirely that he absolutely wasn't physically feeling highly much actual tension or pure fear at all. He was a Gryffindor.
Finally, he heavily turned completely into a highly freezing, completely dark, cold dead-end stone alley. At the exact, absolute highly dead end entirely of the alley was a completely highly ruined shop that had completely violently closed down.
The physical environment entirely here is tactically, highly completely good~ "Hey there, my completely highly wealthy little sweetheart," a highly hoarse, terrifyingly raspy voice suddenly violently sounded completely entirely directly behind his back, "This highly dangerous alley absolutely isn't exactly a place a rich little boy exactly like you should legally ever be."
James highly slowly, completely smoothly turned entirely around. A highly filthy, ginger-haired, incredibly scruffy-bearded adult dark Wizard was completely, highly violently blocking his entire physical way out.
Heavily judging completely entirely by the highly unwrinkled skin exposed completely from behind his highly filthy hair, he absolutely completely didn't logically seem incredibly, physically very old either.
"Simply hand entirely over absolutely all your heavy gold money completely obediently—and I absolutely can safely, completely take you physically out of here alive." Saying this highly aggressive threat, the adult Wizard completely entirely in front of him grinned incredibly, highly crookedly, physically revealing highly disgusting, rotting yellow teeth.
James completely, highly quietly looked entirely at the highly aggressive other person completely quietly entirely for a highly tense moment, and completely, highly suddenly, he absolutely also completely grinned—
The legendary, highly terrifying, arrogant Marauder grin.