Hogwarts a History – Bright lights and the big city
Chapter 07 – The Resistance

"Harry, where are we going?"

Harry looked at his friend like he was thinking about smacking him.

"What?"

Resisting the urge, he shook his head and rolled his eyes, "When I figure it out, you'll be the first to know."

"You're sure we're not lost?"

"Nope" Harry decided, tired of arguing, "we could always go back and see if Ol' Mick could track the car down."

Ron snickered, "Like a wild wallaby" he said, aping the Australians accent.

"Or a crazy crocodile" added Harry.

"Wish I knew what either of those was" said Ron.

"I wonder if there's a bookstore around here anywhere?" Harry wondered.

"Hermione'd know" said Ron, earning him a dirty look, "ya know she would."

Harry snickered a little, refusing to acknowledge the point but also finding it hard to disagree. It would be like Hermione to sniff out a bookstore like Ron could sniff out food.

"Well she's not here so."

"Never around when you really need her."

Harry shook his head, "We'll just have to keep our eyes open and see what we find" he said, rounding a corner and running right into a dirty vagrant.

"I thought we were keeping our eyes open Harry" Ron teased.

"Huh, Whasat? Who're you? Wha'da ya want?" demanded the old vagrant in the worn out top hat.

"Uh, we were…"

"That is to say we weren't, uh…"

"Oh, you think you confuse me with your double speak huh. Well it won't work. I'm too smart for that. Why I'm part of the Resistance ya know."

"The Resistance?" the two boys echoed.

"That's right" said the vagrant smugly.

The two boys stared. Just what the heck had they stumbled into this time?

"I can see you're impressed" said the filthy deluded man, "and why wouldn't you be? It's not everyone they let join the Resistance."

Being the less wary of the two it was Ron who chose to address the wierdo… I mean stranger, "What's the Resistance?"

"What's the Resistance?! Why it's the great struggle. The push against the oppressors. The last bastion of hope for a people who cry out for freedom!"

Ron and Harry gaped. Not because they believed anything the old crazy was saying of course. He sounded like a history teacher who'd just drunk a full bottle of whiskey in one sitting while reading the French Revolution. In his own head he probably sounded quite dashing. In reality the rabid drool and spittle were something less than attractive.

"Uh, if you don't mind my asking" tried Harry, "what exactly are you resisting?" despite his impassioned speech he'd failed to mention that tidbit.

The old vagrant opened his mouth, and paused. His excited expression melting into one of consideration and confusion, "You don't even know" Ron said, his tone accusatory.

The vagrant mumbled and stuttered under the accusation till something caught in his brain. His eyes narrowed, and he looked at the two boys suspiciously, "You ask an awful lot of questions" he said angrily.

Seeing the sudden shift in the unstable adult the two boys took a reflexive step back.

"Oh no ya don't!" the vagrant was surprisingly quick and had a hold of them before they could do more than turn, "Filthy little spies!" he growled, "You won't get away from me."

He was right, though both hated to admit it. Despite looking like a well-dressed scarecrow, he was still stronger than either of them. A fact he proved when he started to drag them down the street.

"Let us go!" Ron shouted.

"Where are you taking us?" Harry demanded.

"The council will know what to do with you."

The council? That didn't sound good. The young boys continued their struggles but to no avail. They were only released when the old bum chose to release them. Unceremoniously tossing them into the middle of yet another filthy alley.

The London sanitation department was really slipping.

"Fellow councilor's. I have captured two spies who threaten to expose us. What shall be done with them?"

The trash cans around them shook as people appeared. There weren't many but all looked dirty and worn, both the man and the woman. The man wore a simple black waistcoat which had probably been very nice once upon a time. The woman wore the remains of an evening gown including a (barely) feathered boa and a rat that perched on her shoulder like a nervous twitchy parrot.

"Well now, what's this you've dragged into our presence?" said the waistcoat man with manufactured importance.

"I just tole you, spies. Open your ears dammit!"

"They don't look like spies, do they darling." the boa woman crooned to her rat.

"I can assure you milady they are. As such they are a threat to the Resistance."

"The Resistance!" they echoed.

"What are you resisting?" Harry shouted, hoping one of these two might know.

"Communism?"

"No, it's Capitalism!"

"Kekeeeee!" opined the Rat.

"You leave Mrs. Thatcher out of this you dirty little…"

"Don't you take that tone at my precious darling you great brute."

The 'Great Resistance' quickly broke down into a great screaming match, during which Ron pulled out the invisibility cloak, allowing the two boys to escape.

"Bloody barmy the lot of 'em" said Ron, once they'd put a good three blocks between them and the old crazy people.

"Yeah, I think I've had my fill of adventure for one night." said Harry.

"But, food?"

Harry sighed, "Only if there's no more 'Resistance'."