Hunter

Chapter 2

"Harry, buddy, what are you planning?" asked Sirius.

"I'm bored, and we have a day before we have to hit the train. So I'm practicing a trick some of my buddies showed me," said Harry, bored.

"And what's that?"

"Hotwiring. If anyone asks, my name is Malfoy and you're Snape," said Harry.

"...Deal. And you better show me this trick of yours."

Harry smirked, then they picked a good looking car that wasn't locked. Harry opened the door, grabbed his boot knife and jammed it into the keyhole.

With a quick flick of the wrist, he turned the engine on while Sirius wisely buckled up.

They were off and heading towards a bar that Harry was intimately familiar with.

"Who needs information?" he called out.

"Monkey! What hole have you been hiding in the past week?" called out the bartender.

"Monkey?" said Sirius.

"I'm a research monkey. I get requests from senior hunters for help that can be used by muggles, in exchange for favors later. Or they pay me actual cash."

"So who's your friend Monkey?" asked one of the older hunters.

"Godfather, falsely accused of killing people and currently on the run."

"Thought he looked familiar. You Sirius Black?" asked Jared, who happened to be one of Harry's best clients.

"I am."

"Bah. The cover up was shoddy as hell. If Monkey vouched for you, then you're welcome here," said Jared.

"Harry, how exactly do you know these people?" asked Sirius.

"After the Wendigo incident, I decided to become a hunter when I graduated school. It took me a year to find a bar that catered Hunters, and half an hour to get them to at least share their knowledge. When they found out how good I was at finding solutions to common nuisances, they claimed me as one of their own and gave me the nickname Monkey."

"And by common nuisances you mean..."

"Unusual ghosts, the occasional magical animal, and a duck once."

"A duck," said Sirius deadpan.

"A duck. Mean little bastards, those. Anyway, how is being a hunter any worse than dealing with purebloods and paperwork all damn day? Plus the Ministry can't regulate the hell out of it, and the people who take up this profession are usually good fighters who suck at poker."

Sirius thought about this, and admitted Harry had a point. Being an Auror was dead boring, and Hunters didn't have to fill out boring as hell paperwork or deal with budget cuts due to bureaucracy.

"So how difficult would it be to become a hunter?"

"If you're really interested, I can get you started later. I have a book that most of them have been using for a small fee."

The bartender chuckled.

"Monkey here made the best book on how to deal with common and uncommon threats. Most men here swear by it because it's so damn useful."

"That reminds me...who wants to buy portable devil traps? I finally got them to work!" shouted Harry.

There was a minor rush and the two left after an hour slightly richer than when they came in. Sirius apparated them back to the Order when they saw a cop looking at the car they had stolen with suspicion.