[HP AU]

[mnt_raph]

"An' you're sure this is the right address?" Raph asks again, for what Mike thinks might be the millionth time.

"Yes, I'm sure Raph. For like the millionth times. I told you," the smaller boy says sighing. "I read the map. I followed Donnie's instructions to the letter. Just...be still, look tough, and try not talk so much. Your accent kind of a dead give away that we're tourists, okay?"

"Bite me, Mikey."

"You'd probably like that too much," he says with a waggle of his eyebrows as he presses the doorbell of the Montoya's East London home.

Comments

[interrogoiterum]

Renee leads them round a couple of turns, to a busier street to a smaller street, until she turns down a dead alley. Picking up the pace, with not even a glance behind, she vaults a low wall.

[mnt_leo]

Without even thinking it, the boys have fallen into their usual defensive positioning. Mike takes point, with Don not far behind. Leo follows next, with Raph bringing up the rear and keeping a close watch on their six.

[interrogoiterum]

Over the wall it's dead space. A few buildings back onto an area of old cement, cracked with weeds poking through, thick with rubbish and a generous layer of cigarette butts. There's even a pile of well-thumbed "lads mags" in the corner.

"I've done magic here without being caught," she says. "Should be safe."

[mnt_leo]

Raph walks the perimeter, kicking at the magazines as he passes.

"Classy."

Don breaks out the spectrospecs and gives the area a once over, looking for the spot in the area that would best suit their needs...and then warding the ever living daylights out of it.

"Mikey? Can I get a hand with this?" Mike, who's just distracted by the new location, nods and shuffles off to help Don with his spellwork.

It's Leo that approaches Renee.

"I've been told you're coming with us."

[interrogoiterum]

"Is that a problem?"

She's watching Don and Mike with interest, but then turns and gives Leo a quick questioning look.

[mnt_leo]

"I don't know that I'm really the one who should be answering that question."

[interrogoiterum]

"I could rephrase?" Renee offers. "Is it a problem for you?"

[mnt_leo]

"No. Though I have to admit that I'd prefer you not get mixed up in this. With us."

You know them, Renee. You should know that they're bad news. That they'll only get you into trouble.

[interrogoiterum]

She shrugs.

"Yeah, could have done with that warning two years ago. But I'm here now, and it's not really about you that I'm coming. Or your brothers."

[mnt_leo]

"No? What is it about then?"

Raph's perimeter sweep seems clear. Donnie and Mike are just about through with their charms work. The air around the area shimmers with with magic.

[interrogoiterum]

She raises an eyebrow at him.

"Dinah."

For starters.

[mnt_leo]

She makes a good case.

"We'll get'er back," says Raph from behind Renee. Though he might be speaking more to the growing look of concern and shame that Leo's currently sporting. "Yo, Egghead. We ready yet? Burnin' daylight here."

"Names won't make this go faster, Raph." Don doesn't even look up from his work.

"We're almost done. Now'd be the time for you to eat something, Raph. There are some Saltines in my Go Bag," Mike says with a grin that's aimed squarely for Renee. "His delicate tum-tum doesn't handle portkeys well."

"Fuck you, Mike."

[interrogoiterum]

The punch aimed at Raph's shoulder is designed to make him feel better.

"Got enough for me?"

[mnt_leo]

Raph sizes her up. If she's making fun of him she gets no crackers. None what so ever.

"We've got plenty of crackers," Mike says before Raph can threaten.

"I'm going to need you guys to take three steps forward," Don says.

[interrogoiterum]

Renee would never make fun of you Raph.

Much.

She grabs a handful of crackers and smirks at him, obediently stepping forward.

[mnt_raph]

It's a testament to Leo's level of self control that he doesn't laugh. He does, however, follow Don's instructions and takes the requisite number of steps forward.

As does Raph, though he grumbles at the order, sending a few crumbs of cracker flying from his mouth in the process.

There's a slight hum, and then a crack of magic as the shield springs to life.

"Thaaaaaat should do it," Mike proclaims with a wide grin. Don seems to agree, giving the area a once over with his spectrospecs on high.

"Detection Dampening is live and stable," he says flipping the goggle-like glasses upon on his head. "We're ready."

"Good," says Leo as he prods at the field. The touch sends a shimmer of silver light along the dome.

"If my..." Don starts, but Mike clears his throat to correct him. "If our calculations are correct, we should be able to piggy back you on the transport so long as we're all touching you and the portkey."

[interrogoiterum]

Renee considers this, and finds it makes logical sense. She pops the last biscuit in her mouth and licks the salt off her fingers, before extending one had out to Leo.

[mnt_raph]

Leo looks from from her mouth to the hand she just licked and then back again. He just raises an eyebrow at Renee.

Raph, seeing Leo's discomfort, smirks.

"She doesn't have cooties, Leo. I know...I checked." OH Mike, you're so not helping. Of course, judging by his snicker, he's not really trying to.

[interrogoiterum]

Renee rolls her eyes.

And in deference to Leo's discomfort, wipes her hand on her trouser leg.

That'll help, right?

"Not getting any earlier," she says.

[mnt_raph]

Resigned is really the best way to describe the expression that crosses his face. She's not wrong, and so Leo squares his shoulder and then takes her hand.

Raph claps him hard on the shoulder. Mike takes Leo's other hand, and Don? Well Don merely pats his brother on the top of the head.

"Are we ready?" Don asks before holding up the plastic bag that contained the portkey.

[interrogoiterum]

"Ready."

Renee glances around at the brothers - her friends and the ones she barely knows, and nods.

"On three? One. Two..."

[mnt_raph]

Don tosses the bag up in such a way that the bottle of Coca-Cola inside comes flying out and up between all of them. On three the bottle is just within arms reach.

Don, Mike, and Raph all reach for the bottle at the same time.

[interrogoiterum]

Renee is right with them, although she closes her eyes at the last second because portkeys are horrible ways to travel.

A moment later, she and all the boys find themselves jerked heavily to from Whitechapel to a different city all together.