GoF: The Hexslinger's Tale
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Deadlands are the Intellectual Property of JK Rowling and Pinnacle Entertainment Group/Great While Games respectively. All recognizable characters belong to them. The only things I own are this story (written for fun and not profit) and any original characters (members of the Quinn family, etc.).
Prologue: Just another Saturday night in Dodge…
Dodge House, Dodge City, Kansas – Disputed Territories; Saturday, June 10, 1878
Dawn was still a little over an hour away but cries of ecstasy bounced off the walls of the hotel room as Mina Devlin continued to vigorously ride the virile young man beneath her through her latest orgasm. It'd been so long since the owner of Black River Railroad had had a satisfying sexual encounter that carnal thoughts were the furthest thing from her mind when she arrived in Dodge for a routine inspection of her local rail line. But that was before she'd seen the young buck that panted beneath her – his own release imminent. The older woman had recognized him from the descriptions given to her by a few of her Wichita Witches; that they'd all worn very sated expressions only lent to Mina's desire to encounter the lad. Even without the accurate description, the Rail Baroness would've taken this man to bed at the earliest opportunity once she felt the power that he barely contained.
As the sun finally crested the horizon, the two lovers fell into a few hours of exhausted sleep. They shared a light breakfast in the privacy of the room before the man known as Gentleman Jim Charles staggered back to his own hotel room across town. It was after the door closed behind him that Mina went over everything she'd heard about him while she planned for their next encounter in the back of her mind.
According to her girls, young Jim showed up in the Disputed Territories about six month ago. Since that time, he established himself as quite the cardsharp and – along with an older sister named Anne Marie – bounty hunter. From her personal experience and the subtle body cues he'd given as she seduced him yesterday afternoon, it was obvious that there was more to Mr. Charles than anyone suspected.
Long Branch Saloon; Later that night…
No matter where you went in North America – specifically Canada and the United States – whenever you walked into a saloon you'd be able to find at least one poker game being played. And just like in every major city back East, in every prosperous cow town and boom town had one place where a certain elite class of men and women gathered in a special back room game. Unlike regular games that were all about pitting one's skills against the other people at the table for a pot of cash and getting caught cheating came with severe consequences, the cardsharps in this game weren't interested in money. When these individuals got together, the game was all about how well you cheated and – most importantly – dazzling the other players with your magic.
Now, way back in 1742, a man named Edmond Hoyle wrote a treatise – or booklet – on a card game played by the members of High Society called Whist. Mr. Hoyle was a scholar in the field of games of chance; his original treatise was followed by those for other popular card games as well as probability theory, backgammon and chess. When the original publisher of the books was going out of business, he sold their copyrights to Thomas Osborn. In a stroke of genius, he made a killing when he gathered all of Hoyle's works together and published them in an omnibus edition known the world over as Hoyle's Book of Games.
What most people didn't know was that old Edmond was also a scholar in another unique field – that of magic. He spent most of his early life traveling throughout Europe and the British Isles gathering together occult knowledge that had been forgotten or lost for centuries and then collated it into a more convenient format that was the basis for a modern magical discipline. He then encoded those theorems into his published works. It wasn't long before those with a similar esoteric slant discovered the hidden treasures those early treatises contained and began to study magic in earnest. With the release of the omnibus edition in 1748, Mr. Osborn unwitting sent the first true grimoire of the age out into the world and into the eager hands of would be mystics. These Hucksters as they called themselves now were the magicians of the modern era.
When the door to the backroom of the Long Branch Saloon opened, the six people that were already sitting around the table – four men and two women – "Gentleman Jim" Charles walked followed by a beautiful slightly older redheaded woman of exquisite beauty that everyone could tell was kin from certain physical similarities.
"Good evening, my friends, I trust you are doing well. Doc, Velvet, it's a pleasure to see you again," the youth greeted the table first and then the two individuals he actually knew as he sat down; his accent was an odd combination of Welsh and British with an undercurrent that only the most skilled would recognize as French.
Velvet was Velvet Van Helter – a huckster that was the son of a wealthy family down in New Orleans, and a cousin from Jim's mother's side of the family but they hadn't met until the younger man and his sister had traveled to Denver on a job. Not only had the two cardsharps had known it at the time. The pair of Hucksters hit it off and the older man took the younger under his wing. One of the first things Velvet had taught him was how to properly dress – much to the amusement of Anne Marie and the horror of young James.
Doc was none other than the infamous dentist Doc Holiday – who'd come to Dodge to visit he dear friend Wyatt Earp. Besides being a world renowned huckster, Holiday had taken Hoyle's teachings one step further when he created new discipline of hexslinging – using a gun as a magical focus to cast spells. He only taught the new system to those he deemed worthy. The problem with that approach was that as much as he controls who he passes the knowledge to, he can't dictate whom his students later teach. In fact, he has felt the need to hunt down unworthy disciples of his former students and exterminate them because they abused the knowledge they were given. Jim's father was one of Doc's students and taught his son the basics of hexslinging before his untimely death.
A couple hours later, Jim bowed out of the game and escorted his sister back to the hotel room they shared. As they wandered the deserted street the air pressure dropped and heavy thunderclouds rolled in. The young cardsharp suddenly doubled over in pain. Anne Marie understood what was about to happen and wrapped her arms around Jim just as a swirling vortex of energy opened in the middle of the street and sucked them both inside.
They finally found him – was the last thought the older woman had as they passed the threshold of the vortex.
Ch. 1: A Weird New World
Potter Cottage – Godric's Hollow, Wales; January 31, 1980
Lily Potter screamed in rage as she threw the hidden monitoring device she'd found against the wall while her husband – James – watched with mild amusement that did nothing to hide his own anger. The crystal vase that shattered was yet another of a series of magical items the couple found around the quaint two-story home that hammered home the fact that the leader they'd placed so much faith in had basically set them up as tethered goats to bait a death trap. After the primal noise died in her throat, the redheaded witch started to pace briskly back and forth across the living room.
"That's it, I've had enough. James, call Sirius and tell him to get his arse over here because we're out of here. Fuck Dumbledore! Fuck those bloody inbred pureblood twats that are hell bent on committing genocide! This world can burn for all I care; the only thing that matters is you, me, our unborn child and Sirius. I've had everything to perform the ritual need to send us to my home stashed away but held off on doing it because I'd hoped we'd be able to make a difference and stop the war from dragging on. Between Dumbledore, Voldemort and the Ministry I've come to understand that the wizarding world here and a large portion of Europe is doomed. It's time to cut our losses and get out while we still can. I refuse to bring a child into this nightmare," Lily finally decreed determinately.
James felt a wave of guilt pass over him by the time his wife finished because he knew at least part of what she'd said was a lie. Lily had collected everything needed for the ritual and wanted to cast it back in their fifth year at Hogwarts when the mutual loss of both sets of parents (although in her case they were foster parents) had secretly brought the couple together. Hell, each time things took a turn for the worse she suggested using the ritual. Each time – from fifth year to now – it'd been James that talked her off the proverbial ledge and got her to agree to wait. At first, it was out of a need to get revenge on the bastards that murdered his parents but later shifted to stubborn belief that they'd beat the Dark Arsehole and his minions. And if he were completely honest with himself, more than a little fear of the unknown that the ritual inspired.
The bespectacled wizard raised his arm then snapped off a quick Patronus Charm. When the ghostly form of a majestic stag materialized – one that mirrored his own animagus form – he whispered in its ear. It took off running through the far wall after he finished his message and then he turned back to his wife.
"I told Padfoot that he needed to get his shite together and be here no later than 11 am tomorrow morning because we're leaving at noon. The two of us will use the time between now and then to pack everything going with us and booby trap the bloody hell out of this place in case Voldemonkey decides to show up," James explained and pulled Lily into a hug. Neither one of them commented on the fact that the action hadn't sparked any of the passion that they'd once shared. Whereas she blamed all the stress the couple was under, he knew the truth but was too much of a coward in this respect to tell her.
"Well, I've already had two-thirds of the Potter fortune and a select cache of heirlooms and artifacts packed up and ready to go so all we really need to work on is whatever you had in mind for the house," the redhead admitted with a wry smile and brief peck on James' lips before the couple separated. The pureblood lord guided the woman through the modest dwelling explaining exactly what he wanted done; all the while he reviewed just how they'd gotten to this point.
Lily had always had her doubts and freely expressed them on a regular basis but for James it had only been the past year that he could no longer ignore what she'd saying or the evidence he'd seen with his own two eyes. In the last twelve months had seen half the Order of the Phoenix's operational forces and a third of the Ministry's Auror Corps wiped out due to a combination of poor intelligence and Dumbledore's incessant decree against the use of lethal force along with his other questionable decisions. The men and women that were lost weren't just faceless members of the masses but people that James had known all of his life.
If that wasn't enough, then there was that moronic prophecy. Two months ago Dumbledore had called he, Lily and Frank and Alice Longbottom to a meeting to discuss something of vital importance to the war effort. The two couples assembled in their former Headmaster's office only to be told that asinine drivel. Both young Lords and their wives outright rejected the validity and left before the senile fool was able to tell them his brilliant plan to capitalize on the information. A week later, James and Frank had been asked to attend another meeting with Dumbledore which ended with a couple of compulsion charms and the Potter's – at least – trapped in their current accommodations. On top of that compulsion, one of the wards on the cottage prevented the pair from telling anyone the truth about the Headmaster outside of the dwelling.
Hogsmead Village – Scotland; Friday, February 1, 1980 – 9 am
Sirius Black was finishing up the last of his packing when the wards around his flat alerted him to a couple of unwanted visitors. He sighed as he came to understand that he wasn't going to be able to go with Prongs and Lily-flower but at least he was going to keep his guests too busy to stop them from making a clean getaway. With the grace expected from the heir of one of the Old Families, he glided into the living room to greet the unwelcome arrivals.
Potter Cottage – Noon
James glanced up at the clock for the hundredth time in the past hour and cursed; something was up and Sirius wasn't coming. With an expression of sadness he looked over at Lily and gave her the nod to start the ritual. While the redheaded witch chanted in French, he tugged on the cuffs of the shirt that when with the outfit his wife picked out for him so that he'd blend in with the locals at their destination. He felt idiotic but his disgruntlement gave way to astonishment as a vertical shaft of greenish energy formed before them and then morphed into a swirling vortex. Lily handed him a blindfold and instructed him to wear it until they got to where they were going otherwise he might panic over what he saw during the journey.
Reluctantly, he complied and then she guided him through the vortex. He felt the strange magic as they passed through the boundaries of the vortex. After what felt like hours of walking, he felt them move through another vortex and then stop. He removed the blindfold found himself face to face with a rather well used revolver.
Roanoke Island, North Carolina, USA; Monday, February 14, 1860
Isobel Antoinette Quinn nee Le Croix watched as her only daughter walked out of the portal guiding a blindfolded man with her. Once they were out of the portal it closed behind them. The veela arched an eyebrow in accusation when she noticed that her Petite Fleur's free hand rested protectively over her stomach. Without realizing it, she'd leveled the Colt revolver her husband insisted she carry with her at all times in the blindfolded man's face. The shocked look on his face when he saw the gun after removing the blindfold caused her to smirk.
"Maman, put that away; this is my husband James," Lily cried indignantly as she moved to place herself in front of him. That she'd spoken in English instead of French told the older woman at least one thing about the unknown male.
"An Englishman," Isobel huffed but any other comments she planned to make were cut off by her daughter.
"No, Maman, James and his family are Welsh; not that that matters because Papa is from Irish stock," the redhead countered with an arched eyebrow of her own.
Isobel lowered her gun with a laugh and then pulled her daughter into a hug. When she released the younger veela, she held out her hand to her newly acquired son-in-law and introduced herself. "I am Madam Isobel Antoinette Quinn – Lily's mother and Matriarch of the Veela Nation in Exile."
"A pleasure to finally meet you; I am Lord James Charlus Potter, Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter and Baron Aberavon," James replied after he kissed the back of the offered hand.
"Peerages in both the magical and muggle worlds, very good but the weather is a little too wet and there is much to discuss; let us continue someplace more comfortable for all of us. My brother-in-law and his family live in the Quinn Family home in Fayetteville so I shall make a portkey to take us there. I would prefer making one to my home it is just too far to risk due to the dangers of portkey travel here," the blonde woman acknowledged before turning a length of rope into a magical transport device. The younger couple grabbed ahold of the piece of hemp just as it started to glow. With the familiar feeling of being hooked behind their navels followed by a jerk, the three adults blinked out of existence then reappeared behind a moderately sized two-story house.
"Aaron and his family were invited to stay with friends in Raleigh for the week; therefore we have the house to ourselves. Lily can show you around while I see to making us some tea and something to tide us over until dinner," Isobel commented while she led them inside.
James gawked as Lily showed him their room and various parts of the house. He knew his wife's family lived as muggles but everything he'd seen so far looked just like the pictures in Padfoot's Muggle Studies book. A book that Lily always claimed was over a hundred years out of date. The wizard felt the beginnings of a headache that threatened to split his skull open as he tried to figure out the obvious discrepancy.
Quinn House – Fayetteville, North Carolina
The chimes from the grandfather clock in the parlor sounded two o'clock as the Potter's joined Isobel in the dining room. Small plates of bread and cheese were set before three chairs at the table and tea was just being poured as they sat down. The trio ate and drank in silence for a few minutes before starting what promised to be a very long conversation. Noticing the puzzled expression James wore, his mother-in-law decided to get things underway.
"James, you obviously have some questions so please ask," the blonde observed. Her natural French accent softening until it was hardly noticeable.
"Okay, I know that we're in the Muggle World but this is nothing like what Lily showed me the summer before our sixth year. Everything here looks straight out of the Muggle Studies textbook but that can't be right unless we somehow managed to travel back in time. Just where are we," he addressed the Hippogriff in the room.
"You were very close to the truth but it is not as simple as that. The portal that my daughter opened brought you not just through time but to another Earth – a different world. My people first came here from your world just before the start of the muggle Second World War. It is common knowledge that Grindelwald used his puppet – Hitler – to start that conflict to masque his own attacks on the wizarding world of Europe. What is not as well known is that he tried something similar in the early 1900's; his agents were the ones actually responsible for the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand. The only reason he failed in his designs as he lacked the allies to pull it off.
"Not long after the Arch Dukes demise, Grindelwald requested an audience with representatives of the Veela Nation. After much deliberation a delegation of three was sent – one representative for each of the three Veela Colonies – to meet with the budding Dark Lord. He wanted the backing of our people in his bid for conquest but was rebuffed when he revealed his true intentions due to the veritaserum that had been slipped into his drink. In retaliation for our refusal and for being so easily tricked into revealing his actual plan he destroyed one of the colonies and left no survivors as a warning to the rest of the Veela Nation.
"When he began his second bid for power, it was understood that our Nation was faced with annihilation if he succeeded. The Matriarch of our colony in Southern France practically impoverished the colony by contracting the Niebelung Dwarves to hide it behind both fatal wards and Dwarven Fidelius Charm. As Matriarch of the colony in Northern France, I chose to take a different route. I made a hasty pilgrimage to see the Oracle in the ruins of Delphi. The ancient witch told me that my people would only survive if we fled to a new world. She gave me the ritual that led us here. On Halloween night in 1932, I and the members of my colony performed the ritual.
"We arrived in Acadia after we stepped through the portal that was opened. It took us three years to acclimate to this new world mostly due to the fact that magic was different here and we had to learn how integrate it with our own natural magic along with how to exist in this place. Eventually, we left Acadia and migrated down through Canada and all the way to Louisiana – just outside of Baton Rouge. It was 1800 when we arrived but over the next decade the three hundred Veela that came with me thrived. As a race, the veela always breed true but instead of only having daughters like in our old world the magic of this one allowed us the ability to have sons as well.
"Ma Petite Fleur was five when one of our Seers had a vision that the time had come to send one of our own back to our former home to learn what happened during our exile. While we debated on who to send, the same Seer had a second vision that our emissary would be a child… my child. It took several months of arguing before my Nathan agreed to let our little girl go.
"One of the things we learned after coming to this world was that the Gringotts existed here as well. The goblins are actually a race that originated in the Hunting Grounds and maintained permanent stable portals through it to their banks through the worlds. I went to them and they arranged for Lily to cross through with all the necessary paperwork to place her in foster care. Aside from letters delivered via the goblins, this is the first time that my daughter has come home."
James sat in silence while he digested both the food and what his mother-in-law told him. Despite being raised in the Wizarding World, it was difficult to wrap his mind around the existence of parallel worlds and yet the proof was all around him. He snorted in mild amusement when he realized why Lily had insisted that he read all of those muggle Western novels and then went back to mental reconciliation. While he was busy doing that, Lily was enduring an interrogation from her mother – in French to keep it private when the younger woman let slip that her husband hadn't learned it yet.
Isobel finished firing off her questions then sat back and listened to her daughter's answers. Every now and then she'd stop Lily and ask her to clarify some point or another. The older woman tried not to show jealousy as she listened to her child describe life with her foster family – the Evans, whose name she adopted for her education and hide her heritage. During the explanation of Lily's Hogwarts years and the Wizarding World as a whole Isobel became distressed that not much had changed since their exile. If anything, the bigotry and intolerance of the Pureblood Elitists had gotten worse. Listening to the atrocities committed by the Dark Lord Voldemort – the Matriarch of the Veela Nation laughed at such an obviously false name – convinced her that at some point in the near future she was going to send an offer for their Sisters back in Southern France to join them. This world might not be totally safe with all the whisperings of a coming War Between the States but it was still a better place to live than there former home.
The blonde woman had laughed as she learned about the Mating Dance the redhead had forced her husband to go through but a quick check of their bond showed her that something was off about it. Nothing bad per se but it wasn't as strong as it should be; it was more like that of one shared between close friends instead of that of the one between lovers and mates. That was something to think about later because she was shocked when her Petite Fleur admitted that she actually fought in Blood War that raged back there. Then the discussion moved on to Lily's pregnancy and her expected due date – the end of July. This of course led to the mentioning of the so-called prophecy that Dumbledore tried to force upon her and James.
Isobel had been angry when she heard about that last bit of foolishness that she had to flee outside before she transformed and set the house ablaze. She was much calmer after she returned from venting her rage out back. The veela was equally happy that there were no neighbors for miles so there were no witnesses to her magical temper tantrum. James proved to be ready to get back into the conversation when she sat down. The three adjourned to the parlor after the older woman informed the cook to start on dinner.
The rest of the day and evening was spent coming up with plans for what the budding family's next moves were going to be. Not even the hearty stew that served as their supper stopped the back and forth between them. It wasn't until the grandfather clock chimed 10 that basic plan was agreed upon. Because Lily's pregnancy was far enough along, apparation was only to be used as a last resort and side-along apparation not at all. A portkey to Louisiana was out for reasons explained earlier and muggle transportation was too slow and hazardous in its own right to get them there safely. Portals through the Hunting Grounds – which James still had no clue as to what they were – were out as well but Isobel never went into why that was.
In the end, it was decided that they would remain in North Carolina with Aaron Quinn's family until after the baby was born. Between the three of them they would set up a temporary private floo network between the Fayetteville house and Lily's parents' home in order for her father – Nathan – to visit as often as he like and his work permitted. When asked when his father-in-law did for a living, Isobel had taken perverse pleasure in informing the man that defiled her little girl that her husband was a Texas Ranger. She smirked when she watched the color drain from his face. What she hadn't known at the time was that Lily had forced James to read several novels that featured Rangers as primary characters.
Once mother and child were safe to travel, the family was going to head out West. Whether the Potter's settled in Louisiana or Texas was still up for debate. At some point James wanted to do some exploring. In the meantime, the Quinn's were going to help the refugee wizard get acclimatized to his new home and Lily back into the swing of things. As soon as the kids disappeared back upstairs, Isobel let out a sigh then concentrated on opening a Portal and then stepped through into the comfort of her husband's loving arms. She just needed to make sure that she was back before morning.
Campsite, Eastern Texas
Nathan Thomas "Nate" Quinn had sat impatiently by his campfire as he waited for his beloved Izzy to show up. The Texas Ranger had been on the trial for the better part of the past month and had looked forward to spending some time alone with his missus but that changed after he received one of the spectral animal messengers – a patron, or something like that – that told him their daughter was coming home. It had been seventeen years since he'd seen his precious little girl and he was anxious for any news. Finally, as he reached the point where he couldn't wait any longer, Izzy strode through a Portal that opened on the other side of the fire. Just from her expression he knew something was wrong so he quickly moved toward her then wrapped her still sexy form in his strong arms.
"What," the lawman yelled once Isobel filled him in on all she'd learned. She smiled when he fingered his gun when he heard his baby was expecting.
AN: I know it's bad form to start another story when it's been so long since I've updated any of the others. Since my last updates work and illness kept me pretty tied down but last month – while writing a new chapter for Lost Family – my computer crashed… hard. Not only was everything I'd been typing get wiped out, everything on my hard drive (which included all of my stories) was gone as well. Not even the backup on the recovery disk survived. It was only last week that I discovered that I'd remembered to at least copy Lost Family, Midshipman Potter and the WTF File onto the flash drive I'd let my niece borrow to save her English homework on.
The bottom line to all of that is that as of now the only three active stories I have at the moment are the two actual stories mentioned above and this one – the result of a two day Adventures of Brisco County Jr. and finding an a box of my old Deadlands stuff. Eventually, Unchained will be reposted as a friend is currently copy and pasting it from FF; however, it will be edited to remove the Unspeakables plotline because looking back on it I just had too much already going on in the story.
I hope to have new chapters for Lost Family and Midshipman Potter posted by next weekend at the latest. Until then, I hope you all enjoy my latest crossover.