(For anybody complaining (this is a joke and I don't need another review about my 'arrogant little lines') about my view points on magical USA look at bottom where I put my sociology and psychology classes to use and put up a logical theory that works, I think.)
Anyway, thanks for pointing out my faults, it really helps. Truly it does. I love criticism and complements, helps with the story. I liked one review so much I made the dude my beta after the first chapter because he told me how it is and gave ideas. But never mind that, on to the story.
Chapter four: Jay Bickley
His bones ached, his head was spinning, and he felt like he was about to puke. He pretty much felt that he just got back from a 'Harry Hunt'. And taking in lungfuls of the dirty alleyway's air wasn't helping much either. It took a few minutes for him to even get steady enough to actually move.
As he fought to regain his balance, Harry slowly turned his head a few times to take in the sights of the scene. There was no real sky, it actually reminded him of the charmed ceiling of Hogwarts. And if you looked close enough, you could see the rocky earth of the ceiling. A few of the taller buildings almost reached the charmed sky, while others struck right through the ceiling and seemed to lead to whatever was above.
The streets were filled with so many different species of magical creatures. Some he knew, but most of the others he didn't. Like the man with that red face and long nose who also had jet black wings coming out of his back; a woman with fox-like ears and three tails following behind her; a small monkey wearing street clothes talking to some blue skinned woman. And the list just continued on, sure humans dominated the street, but it seemed one out of every five wasn't human. It was kind of odd.
Finally having recovered enough, Harry pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he dragged himself and his trunk into the busy street, the wheels of the trunk occasionally skipping from loose gravel. Despite himself, Harry's eyes were darting everywhere as he tried to assess where he was.
The people all around him were speaking English, so that was a positive. But most, if not all, of them carried a different accent than him. And for some reason, muggle devices and technologies were seemingly intertwined with magic like it was how it always was. He licked his lips, the whole area tasted strongly of pretzels and hot dogs.
As he passed one of the shops, he couldn't help but bob his head a bit to music he never heard before. It was rough and brutal yet sounded so smooth. Instead of strings dominating the song, drums and a light tapping ruled. The vocalist didn't really sing, it was more like he was speaking to you, telling a story in poem form while he went along with the sound.
He was constantly turning and looking in all directions as he tried to take in all the sights of the clearly underground magical city. It was so strange, so different from what he was used to. Yet it was also a very welcomed change.
A few people pushed and shoved him out of the way when he seemed to be, according to them, moving too slow. But most would just walk around him like he wasn't even there.
He gave up looking any type of landmark to tell him where he was and went to the closest shop to ask where the hell he was and if he was even in England anymore, even though he was pretty sure he wasn't.
The shop he entered was a little coffee shop, a quaint little place that had a homey atmosphere. He moved up to the counter where he saw another blue skinned woman leaning over the counter blowing a bubble with a bored expression on her face.
"Um, excuse me." Harry spoke up startling the girl and making her bubble pop.
"Huh, what? Oh, uh, how can I help you today, sir?" She said with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, uh, I was just wonder where I was…." He trailed off not really knowing how to explain this.
"Susie's Tea Shop."
"Not the shop, more what city am I in. I kind of just ended up here."
She gave him a weird look like she was saying 'you got to be kidding me' "You're in New York."
'New York?! Oh, you got to be kidding! ...Well, I did think to get very far away and this is far away,' Harry thought to himself "Thank you." He said aloud as he turned to leave, lost in his thoughts.
He was very far away from home and had no clue about the surrounding area. The best thing to do right now would be to find a place to stay and drop off his trunk so he could go explore, but do businesses here accept galleons? It was a different country after all. And where is he going to find a place to stay?
- Hide quoted text -
He silently cursed himself for not asking the store clerk any of this while he was in there, but what was done was done.
His thoughts then moved to Hedwig, he left her back in England and he wondered if she would be alright alone for a while. Because he was definitely not up for another teleport like that for a good while yet, his body was going to ache for a long time to come.
Lost in his thoughts Harry bumped into someone's back, a very hard, brick wall-like back. "Ooof, sorry." He said to the man as he turned around to face Harry.
Harry couldn't see the details of his face due to the shadow of his hat and the hood of his baggy black hoody. But what he could see was his eyes; very sharp, very dangerous brown eyes that looked almost feral.
The man didn't say anything for a few moments just stared Harry in the eyes "You have good eyes." The man's voice was strong and carried a strange accent, like some of his letters came from a man of a different nationality but his swagger spoke like he was a true New Yorker.
Harry let a confused expression cross his face "Uh, thanks. Apparently my mom had the same shade for her…"
"I'm not talking about the color or the shape," the man said waving his hand dismissively. "I'm talking about the look behind them. You've seen death and you are pretty damn sure you're going to see it again."
Harry gaped slightly and wondered how the hell you could tell something like that.
The hooded man gave a wild smile and ruffled Harry's feathers "Heh, I think I like you kid! By the way, you got some soft hair. Using some of that girly conditioner, are yah?"
Harry opened his mouth to say something but the man started talking again and grabbed Harry's trunk, pulling him along with him "Well it don't matter, I don't judge. Now come on, I want to check something."
Once again, Harry tried to open his mouth to say something but he decided against it. Maybe this guy can tell him a few things he needed to know. And if he's someone dangerous, he could probably manage a short teleport to get away.
"And here we are!" The man practically shouted as he kicked the door of the brick building open dragging Harry in with him.
Harry was very surprised to see that the building the strange man brought him into was a bookstore, a very large bookstore, one that would put some libraries to shame.
"Why are we here?" Harry asked as the man dragged him over to the counter. The man started to look for the clerk but didn't see any.
"Give me a minute, kid," he said as he jumped over the counter and entered the door on the back wall.
"Can he do that?" Harry asked himself before he started to hear the sounds of surprise followed by some yelling and a few bangs. "Apparently not."
He started to think it might be smart to leave but before he could move a shocked looking clerk and the hooded man came out from the back holding a thin white book that was marked M.I.M. in gold letters. "Oi, kid, get over here."
Harry cautiously did so, but not before he took a look at the clerk next to him. He looked nervous sure, but it wasn't like fear nervous. It actually kind of reminded him of how some people reacted to him on his first trip to Diagon Alley.
"Okay kid; channel some of your magic into this book." He instructed handing Harry the book, only to have Harry look at it confused.
"How do I channel my magic?"
The hooded man slapped his face in frustration, mumbling something before asking Harry where he was from.
"Surrey...Britain, sir."
"That explains it. Brits don't teach much more than how to use a wand." The clerk next to him nodded his head in agreement. "Okay, let's see. How to explain this."
The man stroked his chin a few times before he spoke again "Okay, you know that feeling when you touch your wand and use magic to do a spell?" Harry nodded his head "Just do that to the book. Think of it as your wand and channel your magic into it like your preparing a spell."
Harry gave an unsure nod but focused his magic into the book, imagining it was his wand, and muttering the word 'Lumos'. For a few seconds, nothing happened and he was going to question what he did wrong but stopped when he noticed the book started to change.
At first it just went from a book that looked barely twenty pages to one that would give some of his school textbooks a run for their money. Then the color of the book started to bleed from a pale white to a deep crimson with a black tribal moon and white tribal sun orbiting around each other. And last the letters M.I.M were more pronounced and the meaning of each letter laid next to it.
Muggle Inspired Magic.
"Oh, I'm really going to like you, Decchi," the man said with another wild smile. "Your magic must be strong if can unlock that much of the book. And you also got a nice mind set if you got it this far."
"Decchi?" Harry asked, ignoring the comments on his magic and book parts. That word would just irk him because he didn't know what it meant.
"It means 'apprentice.' I had a master in Japan once who called me it, and it kinda stuck." The hooded man said waving his hand as if it didn't matter.
It took Harry's mind a while to process the information just given to him. "Wait! Apprentice!? Don't I get a say in this!?"
The clerk behind the counter looked dumbfounded, "Kid, I really suggest you take up this offer. Do you have any clue who this is?"
"No."
The clerk looked like he was about to have a heart attack at Harry's naivety "This is Jay Bickley. War Mage, top class spell inventor, Master Duelist, Poet-Warrior, Master of American Magic, the list goes on. And he took all he learned and made it into something that makes him one of the top mercs in the world. You get taught by him, there is no telling how strong you can get."
The man in question looked like he couldn't care less, but none the less he was enjoying the praise.
"Uh, sorry but I'm kind of going through some stuff right now. Plus I got to get back to Britain. School starts in two months and…"
"Bah excuses. I can't train you all year round anyway, got jobs to do. I'll arrange for you to get back to Britain in two weeks. But in those two weeks, you're mine. Got it?" The man's voice left no room for argument and made Harry cave where he stood. "Good," The man stretched his hand over the counter "Name's Jay Bickley, but you will be calling me 'sensei', got it, Decchi?"
"Yes...Sensei. My name is Harry Potter." Harry said shaking the man's hand.
"...Could swear I heard that name somewhere before...oh well," the man jumped back over the counter and slammed a few American dollar bills on the counter for the clerk. "Okay, Decchi. Let's go. For the two weeks, you'll stay at my place." Harry would later swear on a stack of bibles he heard an evil laugh coming from his new sensei as he dragged him out of the store.
Jay dragged Harry about two blocks away, ignoring all complaints from the black haired boy, and stopped in a small booth that reminded Harry of a bus stop. "This is always a bitch." The man mumbled.
And before Harry could ask what he meant he felt is body being compressed and pushed through a tiny little space. When the sensation stopped, he felt like he was going to puke...again.
Harry almost fell over when Jay's large hand slapped him on the back "Good job Decchi, most people puke after their first trip."
Harry mumbled he almost did and then noticed he was no longer in the bustling underground city. Instead he was in front of a rather old but well kept apartment building in what he guessed was non-magical New York City, because of the actual sky overhead. Though in general it looked like a rather run down part of town. All the buildings looked uninhabitable and barely anything other than rats were visible on the deserted the street.
The stones that made up the building in front of him were yellow with age and thick vines grew out of cracks in the wall but besides that it looked rather modern. New windows, freshly painted doors and frames, and even a satellite dish on the roof.
"Like it? I own the whole damn thing." Harry looked from his new teacher to the ten story building and back.
"Why would you need a ten story building?"
Jay just shrugged "I got shit to do that needs some space. Besides, the others need a place to crash"
"Others?" Harry asked as they headed up the first few steps to the building. Why did that word worry him?
Jay started to search his pockets for something "Just my two baby brothers and my two best friends." He stopped his search when he found a set of key's in his left back pocket "Fair warning. Don't piss Lucy off. She is scary as hell. Especially at that time of the month."
Jay opened the door and ushered Harry in, revealing a hotel-like set up on the first floor. It had a fancy red carpet and there was a lot of golden trimming tracing the furniture. Fake light bulb candles lit the room from all corners. All that was needed was a desk and you got yourself the first floor of some fancy inn, though it did seem to have a small office in the back.
While Harry was inspecting the room, Jay made a semi-disgusted look. "I hate this floor, too fancy, but Lucy said it would make the clients think more of us or some shit like that." He shook his head and made his way to one of the three elevators on the right wall. "Come on, Decchi. We've got to set you up in your room."
Harry made a mild jog over to the elevator, still partly wondering how the hell he ended up here. He had some doubts and uncertainties about this guy, but at the moment it felt like he could trust him...if only just a little.
He watched as the elevator reached the fourth floor and he could already hear the music from the other side of the door. It seemed similar to what he had heard back in the city, but slightly more harsh and feral.
"Damn it. I told Michael not to blast that fucking music so loud! I know it sounds good but still." Jay mumbled as he got out the elevator and started to slam his foot on the left side door. "Turn that shit down!"
Harry only then just realized something important: his new teacher has the worst mouth he's ever heard. Though from behind the blasting door he could hear also faint 'screw you' yelled back.
"Shitty little brother," Jay mumbled before he turned to Harry. "Okay, this floor is living quarters, don't ask what the others are until I tell you what they are and don't go anywhere near the second floor. Got it?" Harry nodded his head "Okay, anyway. There are eight rooms on this floor. All have their own bathroom but we all share the same kitchen in the middle of the floor." He pointed down the hall revealing a rather large looking kitchen with three hallways stemming off it.
"You can pick whatever room you want, just not any of the ones with a mark on the door." Harry nodded his head again. "Good. Now I need a nap. See you later, Decchi" And with that the still-hooded man went through the kitchen and into the hallway on the right.
Harry stayed in the hallway for a few moments, his mind still trying to wrap itself around the various events that had took place thus far today. After a few moment, he finally collected himself and moved to the hallway across from him and found an open room on the right.
The room was bare and white with only a lonely bed and dresser to decorate it. Harry placed his trunk at the foot of the bare bed and laid down.
He laid there and thought of what happened in the last few hours and one thought crossed his mind "What the hell have I gotten myself into."
So what? Good? Bad? Disappointed? Approve? Please tell.
(Build behind idea of Magical America)
America was and is seen as the land of opportunity, a place where people who had hard lives can come and try to make something out of themselves. And I think Muggleborns fit that description on the head.
How I see it is that Muggleborns would come to America in vast amounts building the foundation to the country along with a few of the Pureblood coming to make more money. So the country would be more accepting of the muggleborn citizens. And as time went on and more and more magical people came from non magical families they brought part of their old lives with them and slowly integrated it with magical society, to the point that wizard in America use tech almost as much as Muggles.
Then you have the influence of magic from other countries coming into play. How other countries and continents pulled off their magic mixed with the European making American magic. I could explain right now what American Magic is but then I would have to explain my idea for the countries that actually have different magic.
I also think wizards who used experimental or dark magic would flee from where they were to America hoping to be able to continue their practice in peace. Which would lead to Americans just seeing magic as magic, not light or dark.
Sentient magical creatures would see America the same way as the Muggleborns and would also become a major part of the founding making them more accepted in the country. Not saying there isn't predigest in the country just more hidden due to the bigots being greatly outnumbered.
Personality of the country, I'm not really sure. I'm American so I can't be biased and can only put in my view point on the country as a whole. Headstrong, violent, lazy, kind hearted, vicious when attack or when friend is attacked, competitive and inventive. Other people not from my country please tell me if I got the general gist of the country.
Anyway, I think that makes sense, kind of, I think, right?
