AN: again the first few lines of this chapter are taken from the other story but after that it's all very different. Things get very weird after this.
The next morning was spent mostly in the cube planing. After lunch Harry dressed in the clothes he took/bought the night before over his everyday, thin dragon hide vest. He hit them with a color change spell from brown the black. He pulled on his undercover shoulder gun rig under his jacket. He picked up his Sig226 off the nightstand and ejected the magazine. He topped off the four magical hollow point rounds he used the day before from the box of ammo he kept in his bed side table. He slid the gun into the shoulder rig and the whole rig vanished from sight. He add the the black leather gun belt and nickel plated colt to the ensemble. He checked himself out in the mirror and he looked like he stepped off the set of Tombstone. When he came out of his room he saw Hermione coming out of the blue room with a big stack of books.
"Hey Mia, how do I look?" He asked.
"Good, but it's missing something. You need a hat." She said walking into the dining room.
"Yeah, I forgot to grab one last night. What did you do with my gun cleaning kit?" Harry asked following her into the dining room.
"It's back in your bag along with the standard Operative supplies, your guns, a few hundred rounds of enchanted ammo, and a gas tank with a few hundred liters of fuel." She said setting the books on the table and passing one to Abby.
Harry pulled out a rolled up green camp blanket out of his bag and rolled it out on the table. Inside was a bag with cleaning rods, brushes, patches, and a huge can of Ballistol. He pulled the Colt from his gun belt, emptied out the three unfired rounds, and cast a reparo charm on the gun bringing it up to factory new but it was still dirty. He could just hit it with a cleaning charm but instead he took the gun apart and cleaned it by hand as the girls talked about enchantments. The chatter and simple task was calming and enjoyable. He put the gun back together and worked the action a few times. He loaded six rounds as Neville walked in dressed in a suit, his tactical dragon hide vest, and grey unspeakable robes.
"Harry, you're only taking that colt with you? And you're leaving your bag?" Neville asked.
"No, I have my Sig in my undercover rig and a second magazine in my coat. That's 306 loaded rounds. If I can't get the job done with that I don't deserve to live." Harry said with a smirk as he grabbed the gold bar he cut from the night before out of the top crate and cut off five bigger chunks of gold with a spell. He hit them with a heat spell to make the five bits look more rough around the edges.
"Right, I'm going back to the mine today. I'm going to set up a few paired portkeys and see if there are any more zombies. Do you think the invisibility enchantments on the grey robes are enough to not be seen?" Neville asked.
"That should do, and hey brooms might be an accepted thing here." Harry said,
"Walk you out?" Neville asked.
"Yeah." Harry said putting the five gold nuggets into a cloth bag.
They walked out of the cube into the bright desert sun but not heat. The temperature was only about mid sixty. The two men nodded to each other and headed off in different directions. Neville got on his broom, activated his invisibility enchantment and took off heading south. Harry popped into town behind the store. He walked a few stores over before coming out of the alley. He walked through the town trying to get his barrings on things. He saw a few shops that peaked his interest. He saw a gun shop, a general store and a blacksmith, but the thing that was most shocking was the small magic shop. He stopped in front and looked inside to see an expanded space full of bits and bobs, it was like most of the things from diagon alley were represented in the shop. He walked to the bank and up to the teller who looked like a man in his early forties and dropped the nuggets on the counter.
"I'd like to trade those for cash." Harry said.
"Let's see what we're working with." The man said pulling out a wand and running it over the gold which confused Harry for a second. "99.9% pure gold. Good heavens above, how did you get gold so pure?" the teller asked.
"I too am a wizard. How much is gold going for here?" Harry asked.
"Normally we pay $10 an ounce for the gold slag the Williamson mine trades us, we pay $15 for mostly pure gold brought in by traders or folks passing through with savings bars, but for gold this pure I need to talk to my manager." He said calling another older man over. This older man checked the gold with an old bent wand as well and nodded.
"How, if you don't mind me asking, did you get gold this pure?" The other guy asked.
"Magic. I found a way to smelt it. Now how much can I get for it?" Harry asked.
"For gold this pure we can give you $20 an ounce. We just have to weigh it and we'll see what we're looking at." He said getting out a set of gold scales.
It came to just over 28 ounces of gold. He got $560. He took half of it in paper money and the other half in coins. Harry spent a minute in the bank looking at the ten and twenty dollar gold coins in the small cloth bag he was handed. Silver dollars were one thing. He had seen those but never coins with this value.
He walked back to the store he robbed/shopped last night. The store was called Holland and sons Haberdashery. He walked in and saw the store looked a lot different in the daylight. He could actually see the things hanging on the racks and folded on tables. More importantly he could see the wizard's robes on racks in the back but the thing that grabbed his attention was the hats on the shelves above the racks of clothes. He picked up the wide brimmed black hat off the shelf in the front by the window and put it on his head.
"What do you think?" He asked turning to the old man behind the counter.
"It looks good on you." The old man said with a smile. "Red Holland." The man said coming out from behind his counter to greet Harry.
"Harry Steel." Harry said shaking the man's hand.
"Was there something you was looking to buy, aside from the hat of course." The old man said with a smile.
"Yes we came here by wagon and when we crossed the river our bags with our clothes fell out of the wagon and were washed away." Harry lied smoothly.
"Oh how terrible." Red said.
"Yes, I'm going to need to get a bunch of things. Starting with this hat and that very big leather carpet bag." Harry said adjusting the hat and looking at his reflection in the small mirror on the wall.
"Say you wouldn't happen to be the new deputy marshal would you?" Red asked.
"No, I can't say that I am. Why?" Harry asked.
"We've been in need of more deputies for a while now. We lost two of them to a bunch of undead about a month ago, and our last deputy died in the werewolf attack about a week ago. Now we're just stuck with old marshal John Turner and he don't leave town unless he has to. I asked because you look like a lawman. Sharp eyes, stiff back, and your head on a swivel. Also folks usually don't just come to Eureka unless they got a job lined up." Red said as Harry picked out a few things.
"Well like I said we didn't come to Eureka by choice, we kind of got lost and ended up here. I'm glad we had a lot of money and supplies. But we do need clothes." Harry said.
Over the course of an hour Harry bought three more black suits like the one he was wearing, five white shirts, two black vests, two red vests, a few ties, and two long black heavy leather long rifle frock coats. He got four simple long skirts in dark brown, blue, green, and black as well as six white blouses that went with them for the girls. He added two white shawls, four pairs of gloves, two corset type white vests, and two long jackets cloaks. He grabbed two corset dresses in black and red. Two black small top hats, and two bonnets. By the time he got to the leather goods he needed a second carpet bag.
He found a pair of black riding boots like the ones he was wearing, and two pairs of mary jane style shoes for the girls. As Red was adding up the total Harry added a second wide brimmed hat for Neville and a bowler hat in case he wanted that instead. He also grabbed a box of small cigars from the counter, took one out and put it in his mouth. The whole purchase came to $248 he handed Red $250 and took the two heavy brown leather carpet bags off the counter. Once he got outside he shrank the two bags, put them in his pocket, and lit the small cigar with his zippo.
He walked down the street and when people tipped their hat he tipped back and smiled. Now he felt like a cowboy. He walked into a saloon through the swinging doors and had to fight the grin off his face as he moseyed on up to the bar and order a shot of whiskey. He could hear the score from For a Few Dollars More in his head as he took a drink of the dirty rubbing alcohol water they called whiskey and surveyed the room as he puffed on his small cigar. The room was populated by fifteen people and all of them could have walked off a Hollywood set. From the bar keep in the red vest white apron, and black arm garters. To the three working girls standing at the railing of the upstairs balcony in half dun up corset dresses and smeared lipstick making eyes at him. To the the five men playing poker at a table getting loud over a bad hand. The old lone drunk sitting in the back corner dressed in black with a marshal star on his jacket. There was even a preacher having drinks with a working girl. Harry smiled, paid for his drink, and walked out as the men playing cards started a bar fight.
He walked into the magic shop next and found an older woman walking around the store as a younger woman was sitting at a counter brewing a potion. Both women looked at him when he came in and Harry smiled.
"Harry Steel, I was just passing through town and I was shocked to see your store." Harry said holding up his wand to show them he too was a magic user.
"I don't know why, magic has been known for about twenty years now. But I guess things are different across the pond." The older woman in her 60's said with a smile.
"I wouldn't know. We dimension hopped by accident and ended up here." Harry said judging their reaction, he knew he could always stun them and wipe their memories if he needed to.
"Really? You must feel like a fish out of water. Are things very different from your home?" She asked.
"For the most part what I can see is the same but their are subtle things like free magic use. Walking dead roaming around and things like that." Harry said.
"Yes, that would be shocking. Magic is known and most of us use it freely out here in the west but in big cities we tend to hide it more. Out here people know what we did to close the rift twenty years ago and they let us be, but back east normal people look at us funny if we cast a spell. Overseas has to be like that as well, we've never been mind you but folks seem stuffy over there. No offence." She said.
"None taken, if the people here are as dull as they were in my timeline then stuffy is the nicest word I would use in mixed company." Harry said making both women laugh.
"It's good to laugh about that, for a while there wasn't much to laugh about out here. I'm Alice Rosewood by the way, I don't remember if I said that or not." She said.
"You did not, but then again I did drop a shocker of a fact in your lap." Harry said.
"Yes, it was a shock. I run this little magical emporium and I'm the town Mayor. I got the title when my husband passed two years back. We're a small town of 1,130-ish folks. Not bad for a mining town." She said.
"How many magicals are in this town?" Harry asked.
"Well let's see, this is my granddaughter Mary, my son Bobby work in the bank. His boss, is a wizard. My daugher in law Kate is a witch, Red Holland's wife is a witch, as is his son Scott. Am I missing someone Mary?" She asked.
"Smith, his real name is Sam but he's a gunsmith and everyone calls him Smith." Mary said looking up from her work.
"Right there's Smith. So that's what, eight of us? Not bad for a small town like this. They keep our little business up and running. We also turn a profit selling oddities to the locals. Enchanted things, potions, and what not." she said.
"I see you have almost one of everything I know of and a few things only my sister would know in your shop. Well the town just got four more resident. Me, my sister Hermione, her husband Neville Blackwell, and a friend of ours Abby Gibson. We would love to invite you to dinner and pick your brain about the way the world works I'm sure. Not that talking to me would be helpful much, my sister is the brains of the family. I was a magic cop back in my time. So was my brother Neville." Harry said. He was playing a game here, it was what he did most of the time for his job. People wanted to talk by nature. But they wanted to talk to someone they knew. The more small bits of information he shared with Alice the more she would help them later. And now that he knew she was the town's mayor it was even more important to get on her good side.
"Well if you're looking to take up the trade again the marshall is always looking for deputies and he's desperate now. The pay is not great and the work is dangerous, but people tend to treat the marshal with respect and gratitude." She said.
"Well I don't think we need jobs right away I'll look into that. You would be the second person today to tell me about the Marshal situation. But we have some gold on us, also I'm sure my sister is going to want to buy a bunch of stuff. She's always got ten of everything she needs and coming here without her lab is going to drive her mad. I can see a very expensive shopping trip in her future. As for me, you wouldn't happen to have any Ogden's Firewhiskey and butterbeer would you?" Harry asked.
"No, I don't carry those, I do have Gorman's brand Firewhiskey, it's a bit more smokey and warmer. I also have Cutler's Butterbeer. We do carry Honeydukes chocolate and chocolate frogs if you're looking for a taste of home." She said pointing to a section of foods and drinks. Harry picked through the stock and took a bottle of firewhiskey, 6 bottles of butterbeer, and some chocolate. It all came to $2.90, Harry handed her a $5 coin and waved off the change.
"Thank you, please have your sister come by anytime. I live in the back of this shop. If you ever need anything just knock on my door." She said as Harry open one of his bags and put the candy bars and bottles inside and shrank it with a wave of his hand.
"I'm going to make a few more stops before heading back to get my sister." Harry said.
"Where are you staying?" She asked.
"We have a magic tent outside of the city." Harry said.
"That's not safe at all! You should relocate inside the city walls. We have wards up to protect the city. Good strong wards. If you need a place to set up your tent we have a small patch of dirt out behind the shop, also they have rooms for rent above the bar, the casino, and there's a border house." She said looking worried.
"Is it really that bad?" Harry asked.
"There are huge spiders, snakes, wolves, and coyotes. Not to mention the undead horrors and werewolves out there just walking around. Please, relocate inside the walls of the town." She said.
"I think I will relocate, what's the going rate for the patch of land out back?" Harry asked.
"Nothing, the fact that you and your family are going to be safe is payment enough. It's like you said, there were eight of us in this town before you came here, now there are four more and we have to stick together." She said.
"Well, how about this, I'll pay you $5 a day to set up my tent out back." Harry said setting a five dollar coin on the counter.
"That's crazy. You can rent a room over the bar for $2 a night. For another half a dollar he throws in a good hot meal." She said.
"Well what do you think is fair, we have gold and we're willing to pay." Harry said.
"I said free." She said laughing.
"Free is too cheap and $2 is too much, how about we split the difference and call it a dollar?" Harry asked holding out his hand.
"Fine by me, your paid for five days." She said shaking his hand and pocketing the coin.
"Good, I'll be back in a bit." Harry said walking out laughing.
Harry walked passed the barber and the general store and into the gun store. As soon as he walked in he stopped to look at all the pretty hanging on the walls and sitting in glass cases.
"What can I do you for?" Asked the tall thin man in his early thirties sitting behind the counter cleaning a nickel plated Remington cartridge conversion with silver grips.
"I just got to town and wanted to see what you had. Alice tells me you're a mage and you have nice stock. I love shiny things that go boom. My sisters says I have a problem but I just call myself a collector." Harry said.
"I used to have that same problem until I found a way to have all the shiny I wanted. Sam Hooper. Everyone calls me Smith." The tall man said standing up and wiping off his hand before he offered it to Harry. When they touched Harry felt a small bit of energy pass through his hand.
"Harry Steel. You do have some really nice stock here." Harry said looking at at the guns in the glass case.
"If you're looking for something real nice I have a few special items in the back. The world is a dangerous place after all and you don't want to get caught out with a gun that misfires." Smith said.
"Like I said I'm always looking for something new. I don't have much coin on me but I have some gold nuggets if you're willing to take that." Harry said feeling the magic coming off the back room.
"For a fellow mage I'm willing to work out a deal." Smith said.
"Good let's see your stock." Harry said.
"Can you lock the door and flip the sign?" Smith asked pulling out a battered red wood wand.
"Sure." Harry said locking the door and flipping the sign.
When he turned around Smith was setting a wood rifle case on the counter. He tapped the locks with his wand and they popped open. He opened the lid and turned the case to Harry showing him it was full of hand engraved mirror polished guns with gold inlay and white ivory handles. There was set of Winchester lever action rifles, two Colt Single Action Armys with 4.75 barrels, two S&W Schofields with shortened five inch barrels, two colt cloverleafs, and a set of gold derringers.
"I want." Harry said without realizing he said anything which made Smith laugh.
"All of these are enchanted to never chip, scratch, and always go boom. They shoot straight as hell thanks to the precision rifling I did and these Winchesters are not even on the market yet. I know a guy at the winchester factory and he got me these actions. I made the rest of these guns myself. These are next year's model 1886 chambered in 45-70 for when you have to fight off a troll or big spider. The tube holds eight shots plus one in the chamber in case you run into a band of goblins or undead. This stock and foregrip is carved ivory. Over time this will yellow and the carvings of wolves will stand out in deeper relief. I did all of this engraving by hand. The pair of rifles took me weeks of work but they are some of my finest work. They come with two boxes of smokeless 45-70 that hits like a sledge hammer. The french have been working with smokeless powder and I have my own mix that's a bit more snappy than theirs. The action is enchanted for strength to handle the over cooked rounds. All of the guns in this case have that enchantment." Smith said untying the leather cords that held the top rifle in place and handing it to Harry.
Harry worked the action and it was buttery smooth and locked up with a good crisp mechanical clink. He shoulder the rifle and looked down the sights. The top of the gun even had small engraved lines to cut down on glare.
"I will take the pair, I don't care what you charge. Now what's with the colts?" Harry asked setting the rifle back in it's place on the red felt of the case.
"Hand engraved with gold inlay and ivory handles. They're charmed to shoot straight and never chip or break. It's the same as the Schofields, which are cut to take a .45lc." Smith said picking one of the colts up and handing it to Harry.
"These feel really crisp and the trigger is nice and light." Harry said.
"Yeah, I'd avoid playing with these when you're drunk you'll blow your foot off." Smith said pulling two black leather double gun belts from off the wall and putting them on the counter. "It comes with leather. Every handgun I sell does." Smith added.
"I'm guessing these small guns have the same features as the other revolvers?" Harry asked.
"They do with one exception. They take standard colt 45 cartridges. I expanded the cylinders to accept the bigger cartridges. It took some fiddling but I got it to work. They pack a bigger kick but it's an easier cartridge to find and it's better for killing what you're shooting at." Smith said.
"Now that's a good bit of magic. Would you mind explaining how that works to my sister? She's the more learned of the two of us." Harry said taking a round off his belt and putting it in the cloverleaf small cylinder. It fit and there was room for the cylinder to spin.
"I will if you take the whole case." Smith said.
"Like I said, name your price for the case and ten boxes of colt 45 and as many boxes of the smokeless 45-70 you have." Harry said.
"For the rifles it's going to be $200 for each one. Another $200 for the colts and $150 for the Schofields. I can give you the cloverleafs and the dangers for $250. Boxes of 50 rounds go for $.50 each. The smokeless .45-70 comes in boxes of 50 for $2.50. I have 20 boxes. So that's what?" Smith said adding it up in his head.
"That's $1,057.25? Gold is going for $20 an ounce in town at the bank so that's about, 52 ounces? Does that sound right to you?" Harry asked pulling out the shrunken gold bar and expanding it.
"Yeah, that sounds right to me." Smith said eyeing the brick of gold with a shocked look on his face.
"You have a scal I'm guessing?" Harry asked carving off a chunk with a spell.
"I use it to measure lead for casting. It's not very accurate." Smith said picking up a scale from under the counter.
"Well as long as we come in just over three pounds were okay. Anything over the 52 ounces can be a tip." Harry said as Smith set up the weights.
They weighed out three pounds and Harry pulled out one of his carpet bags and added the two double gun belts, the boxes of ammo and the shrunken case with the guns. He was about to leave the store when he saw a very nice short double barrel coach gun with gold engravings of a stagecoach at full gallop on the wall by the doors.
"I'll take this coach gun and six boxes of brass shells too." Harry said grabbing the shotgun and checking the lock up and triggers.
"$24 for the gun and $6 for the shells." Smith said grabbing the six boxes of shotgun shells off the shelf as Harry took out the coins to pay. He set them on the counter before tossing the gun and the shells into the bag. He re-shrunk the bag and shook Smith's hand.
"Pleasure doing business with you Smith, I'll have my sister come by some time to talk to you." Harry said opening the front door and flipping the sign before he walked out.
"Please do, and if you ever feel the need to buy more guns come see me first. I'm always working on something. You wouldn't happen to be the..." Smith started to say but Harry cut him off.
"The new deputy marshal? no, but I think the universe is trying to tell me to take the job." Harry said tipping his hat as he walked out of the shop.
Harry made one more stop at a horse pen at the edge of town to ask the price of a horse before popping back to the cube. He walked in and found the two women pouring over books on the dining room table the same way they were when he left three hours ago. Harry un-shrank the carpet bags and set them on the table.
"I got us all two outfits each, and six shirts, I also got you girls some extra bits. I was not sure about the size but a few spells will fix that. Neville's not back yet from his trip to the mine?" Harry asked.
"Not yet but it's and hour flight to get there and he wanted to do a fly over the area, plus he's armed to the teeth so I'm not worried." Hermione said opening the bags and looking at the skirts and blouses. "Simple and plane. I like it." She said holding up the green skirt.
"I figured you two would want to go with a more school marm look instead of street walker, but I got you both a few corsets and I also added two fancy dresses and hats which are a very important part of the wardrobe by the way. You feel almost naked without a hat on. I have a bunch of cash left over, and man is this money very ease to counterfeit. We could make stack of this stuff and no one would know the difference. And the coins we could make out of lead and plate them in gold." Harry said holding up a ten dollar bill to the light.
"Why tempt the law?" Hermione said as Neville walked into the room.
"She right you know, the US Secret Service was created to crack down on counterfeiters. Or it was. You know until we get confirmation of the time line that's going to be annoying." Abby said.
"Well I can say without a doubt we're not in the past." Neville said dropping into a seat.
"More zombies?" Harry asked.
"No and nothing is going on with the mine. But I set up a few paired portkeys if we ever want to check it later. On the way there however I did spot five huge tarantulas the size of a beetle and I'm talking about the car. I took them out with my .300 win mag rifle just to make sure they don't come this way. It took 3-4 head shots to bring down each of them. That's not something I remember from history. We sidestepped into someone else's past. Now we just have to see what else has changed. How did it go for you Harry?" Neville asked.
"Much better then yours did. I have confirmation about this history. Magic is out in the open, out west people practice it without so much as a blinked eye. In the big cities to the east they don't take to it as much, and the stuffy europeans most likely still hide away. There are eight magic users in the town. There is also a magic shop. I set up a place where we can move the cube to behind her shop for a dollar a day. She's also expecting a visit from you Mia to ask questions. Nev. I have our clothes in this bag. I got you two hats to try on. It's super important to have a good hat. Gold is going for about $15 an ounce, but the pure gold we have will fetch us $20 an ounce. Everyone I talked to asked if I was the new deputy marshal, they are in desperate need of some as the last ones died. I also found a gun shop runned by a wizard." Harry said.
"What did you buy now?" Hermione asked as Harry pulled the gun case out and expanded it.
"Toys. shiny shiny toys for all of us." Harry said opening the locks on the case and showing off the guns inside.
"Oh those are pretty." Neville said.
"And magically enchanted. Smith the gunsmith is a wizard. Neville I got you one of these rifles and this set of Schofields that take .45 long colt," Harry said handing him the guns out of the case. "They came with nice new shiny black leather gun belts. For you ladies I got you each a Cloverleaf and a gold deringer. They both take colt 45 rounds too so watch out for the kick. I also got you a good coach gun Mia." Harry said handing them the guns. He took off his gun belt and put on the new belt with the two new colts. "How do I look?" Harry asked posing with his rifle in his left hand and his colt in his right.
"Like a spaghetti western character." Hermione said.
"Then mission accomplished." Harry said loading nine rounds into his rifle. "Also I'm going to need you to expand the mag tube of this rifle. Nine rounds is not enough." Harry said.
"No it's not enough if there are huge spiders walking about." Hermione said looking at the huge 45-70 rounds. "You think those will do the job?" She asked.
"They should, if not we have our guns as back up. But wherever possible, unless we think we're going to die I'd like us to use the guns of this time period if we're around people. If we have to shoot someone I don't want to have to draw my sig to do it. There are too many questions in that." Harry said.
"I agree, unless we run into those big fucking spiders again. I almost crapped my pants when I saw them." Neville said.
"I'll look into expanding the mag tube, but there is nothing I can do for the revolvers. The only fast reload you can do there is carry more guns for more rounds on hand or we use the scofield design and I make some speed loaders for it." Hermione said nodding.
"Also the price of horses is ridiculous. Pack horses are cheap but a good riding horse is almost $200!" Harry said.
"$200 Harry? You're sticker shocked over $200?" Hermione asked.
"Do you have any idea what $200 can buy you in this time period? All the clothes I bought and the two very nice leather bags were less than $250. We don't have stables in the cube. Also we have to take care of a horse. It's bad enough their slow and uncomfortable but they eat and shit like a horse." Harry said.
"Well lucky for you we've been looking into that. You see where as you have guns and explosives and cars in your bag we have our libraries. Abby and I are working on making living gargoyles. Basically big metal sculptures of horses that act like real live horse when activated. But if we're going to be enchanting all this stuff then we need more supplies." Hermione said.
"I don't know what half the stuff in the store was but I'm sure Alice at the magic shop has what you're looking for. By the way Alice is the town mayor so don't try to bargain her down on anything." Harry said.
"Good to know." Hermione said.
"If she doesn't have what you need we'll fly to the next big town and set up a portkey network."
"That's something we should do no matter what. I bet you can get a better price for gold in a big city like Chicago or New York, and we should see if Dragon Alley is still in New York." Hermione said.
"I'll make you a deal, let's get our feet under us out here for a week or so and then I'll head east to set up portkeys. Also there's job openings for deputy marshals. I can only imagine what that job's like out here." Harry said.
"We'll let me change into these clothes while Harry moves us into town." Hermione said taking some of the clothes with her.
Harry popped the cube into town behind Alice's shop and went back inside as his sister came out wearing the white blouse, brown skirt, and a scowl.
"Harry, I know your intention was to get us something to blend in but the skirt is way too long. I keep tripping over it. There's a reason the female Operative skirt suits are knee length and loose. This corset is digging into my hips, and the shawl is way too grandmother for my tastes." She said looking uncomfortable.
"Well, fix it. We have time. Wear whatever the hell you want. Who's going to complain. This isn't our time line. Fuck it up as much as you want. I just thought you would want to blend in a bit. There is a whole store full of pre made clothes. They also sell bolts of cloth, thread, and buttons. You made the operative's suits, make something you like. I like the suits, they make me look like Lee Van Cleef from For a Few Dollars More." Harry said putting a cigar in his mouth.
"Well give me a few minutes." She said walking back into her room.
"You think I can get a poncho, hat, and shearling vest?" Neville asked with a smirk.
"Sure, you'll look good Blondie." Harry said with a grin.
"This is so cool. I wonder if we can hunt down a group of bandits?" Neville said.
"We should be able to. Like I said they need deputies." Harry said dropping into a chair next to him. They cracked open the bottle of firewhiskey and by the time they finished their glass Hermione came back out. She had on brown slacks under her skirt which was cut to the ankle with a slit up the front to mid thigh and the two sides were pinned back. She had the corset vest over her white shirt and it was colored brown and cut to fit her waist. Over the top of that she had a brown leather duster.
"Neville I took your riding boots and leather jacket, I'll stop by the store and get you a replacement. Maybe I can take back a few of the things I don't like. Abby you should go try some of it on and see what you need to take back or change." She said going to the trunk with the revolvers. She grabbed a colt in a brown leather gun belt out of the trunk and took the colt single action out. She put the gun belt on and shrank it to fit her and shrank the holster to fit her new colt cloverleaf. She loaded the cloverleaf and the derringer. She dropped the colt into the holster and tucked the derringer into her coat pocket.
"You look, what's the word, where people dress in brown and have brass and google's." Harry said.
"Steampunk." Abby said walking into her room with the bag of clothes.
"That's it. It's a good look for you Mia. Very cool." Harry said standing up.
"Except there is no steampunk in 1885. Do you think this is too much?" She asked
"Maybe, but who cares? You'll either start a trend or you'll be Helena Bonham Carter weird. Either way this is you dealing with the fact that we're stuck here so dress how ever you like." Harry said. Abby came out of her room in a black waistcoat dress that came to the knee, over a white shirt with black slacks under it and the maryjanes.
"Will this work? If so I'll make a few of these and you can take the dress and the skirts back." She asked.
"Like I told her, we're stuck here. This is not the past. Wear whatever you want. My sister is inventing steampunk and you can help her." Harry said.
"Good, I like this dress, and the slacks make it more practical. I wish I had a long tailed black jacket to go over it. I need some fabric as well." She said looking down at herself.
"Well, let's all head into town before it gets too late and they close up the shops." Harry checking his watch. It was just after four.
They all walked out of the cube which was tucked in behind Alice's shop between her backdoor and the mountain wall fifteen feet away. Harry lead them to the haberdashery and Red made the exchanges for them with a smile and a knowing look to Harry. They bought a few bolts of black and brown cloth and the four tanned cow hides he had along with a bag of buttons, and a few spools of thread. They put all the purchases into the carpet bag after Harry cast an expansion charm on it before heading to Alice's place. As predicted Hermione just started stacking things on the counter and Harry knew they were going to need more cash so he made a run to the bank to trade in 50 more ounces of gold for $1,000. When he came back to the store Alice was adding things up and chatting with Hermione about something. Harry paid and they took it all back to the cube. Harry invited Alice back to the cube and agreed to escort her granddaughter back to the farm at the edge of the town by the back gate. When he came back to the cube they were sitting around the dinner table chatting and laughing. Harry made stuffed pork chops, with mashed potatoes and gravy. They ate and Harry escorted Alice back to her place ten feet from their door. While he was outside he heard shouting from the main gate followed by gunfire. Neville came out the open door with his winchester rifle.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"It sound's like a commotion by the main gate." Harry said summoning his rifle and a box of more rounds. "You want to go check it out?" He asked as Hermione came to the door.
"Yeah, let's go see." Neville said.
"We'll be back in a bit, there's shooting at the main gate." Harry said before the two men ran off in that direction. They came to the main gate and saw the old marshal shooting at something with lever action rifle. Harry climbed up the twenty foot winding staircase to the gate tower with his brother following him. Harry finally got a good look at the marshal. He was an older man with grey hair and a grey beard. He had a frail look to him. Years of drinking and the stress of the job turned him into an old man before his time.
"What's going on?" Harry asked scanning the area for an enemy but he didn't see anything.
"God damned goblins. They keep trying to attack the gate. They tried to climb in but I shot one and they ran off. Who are you, I don't know you." He said giving them both a pointed look.
"Harry Steel and his is my brother in law Neville Blackwell. We just got to town. You know this gate could use some better lights. Some magical floodlights would let you see for miles and it would help guide lost people trying to find this place at night. It might also scare off the dogs and goblins." Harry said playing a game he liked to call keep them off balance. The marshal didn't know them and he didn't see them come in but to keep him from asking questions Harry kept jumping to new topics.
"Marshal John Turner. Magical flood light you say?" He asked.
"Yes, I'm sure my sister can make a few in a matter of minutes. For now I can cast a beacon charm that should last all night." Harry said waving his hand and a basketball sized globe of light formed. He floated it out to a few hundred feet out in front of the gate and fifty foot off the ground bathing the area in front of the gate in light for miles.
As soon as the ball was up Harry spotted movement in the landscape. He pointed it out to Neville and they both shoulder their rifles. Harry watched as a green four foot tall evil house elf looking creature in a loincloth, holding a gnarled looking five foot tall staff came out from behind a boulder to inspect the light. As soon as he showed his face Harry blew it off. There was screeching and six more came out and ran at the wall all of them had different weapons. Most of them had little more than pointy sticks, but two of them had old rusty cavalry sabers and one of them had a revolver. Harry and Neville made short work of them. Harry reached out with his magic and didn't feel anything. He summoned the goblin corpses and their things and dropped them on the ground inside the gate. He ran down and inspected them. They smelled horrible, and they looked like they never saw water in their life. He took the old rusty sabers and the gun. They were junk. The staff however had magic in it. They had a few things on them like old broken pocket watches and some coins. It looked like they collected the junk they found in the desert. Harry got back up on the tower and moved the bodies into a pile off to the side out in front of the gate and blasted them with a fire spell.
"Nice town you got here." Harry said with a smirk.
"What did you say you two did again?" the Marshal asked.
"We were in law enforcement." Harry said.
"You two wouldn't happen to be looking for a job would you?" He asked them with a tired smile.
"We are unemployed at the moment. What's the pay for a deputy marshal in this town?" Harry asked.
"$3 a day. Of course you also get first shot at bounties that come in and if you go on hunting parties you can sell some of the stuff you collect to a few shops. Like that goblin magic stick. Alice might be willing to take that off your hands for a dollar or two, the gun's go to Smith who pays a few dollars up to $15 for a good revolver. More for something really nice. We got the magical telegraph line and things have been coming in over the last four days but I don't have the manpower to handle it. The bank handles payments. It's good work, dangerous as hell, but good work. You two men look well suited for the job." He said.
"We'll think about it and get back to you in the morning. Are you stuck up here all night?" Harry asked.
"Not all night, the men in the town share the gate watch duties for a few extra dollars. My replacement should be here in a bit." John said.
"Well we'll see you tomorrow, and we'll see about those floodlights." Harry said.
"It was good to meet you Marshal." Neville said shaking the man's hand before he followed Harry down.
"Did you hear him? $3 a day. The contracts and bounties better be worth it." Harry said.
"So you think we should do it?" Neville asked.
"Hell yes, this sounds like fun, but we still need to find a real income source." Harry said.
When they walked into the cube the girls asked what happened and they told them about the goblin attack and the job offer. Hermione agreed that the gate could use a magical lantern and drew up some plans for one as the boys headed into the living room to watch For a Few Dollars More on Harry's big as 72 inch tv. They all had a smaller set up. A tv and a magical hard drive full of entertainment. All you had to do was put a DVD into the black box and a few seconds later the box spit it out and it was stored on the hard drive. Harry had over three terabytes of movies and tv shows stored on his hard drive. Every night he put on a different movie and tried to get through it. If it was boring he passed out on his big comfy brown leather couch. If it was a good movie he made it to the end and headed off to bed. This was all standard department stuff created by his sister and her team of eggheads. And as he sat there watching Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef on his big tv he thanked god for his sister. Because being stuck here would really suck if he didn't have his tv and he music collection.