Disclaimer:
I don't own any of the stories referenced in this story.
There will be a full list of all the stories referenced In this one to give credit where credit is due i.e. Not me.
-'Dr Gashi, thank you for receiving us at such short notice.'
Dr Gashi turned out to be a woman, just this side of 30 with black hair and sharp features, she was wearing what Harry expected from a field biologist, Khakis and work shirt with hair tied in a bun.
Her smile was guarded towards Lara but the way she looked at him clearly said that she was used to handling students everyday.
He was glad for that translation spell as it seemed that Lara was quite fluent.
-'Your welcome Lady Croft, I must admit that your assistant's request intrigued me.' She gave them a questioning look. 'What could possibly link a population drop in small rodents and reptiles to archeology?'
-'From what I read on your paper the population drop is small enough to indicate maybe one or two specimens of the larger predator, or,' She paused and looked significantly at the doctor. 'An alternate cause of death. Poisoning for example. I noticed you left out the analysis of the corpses.'
Harry sat back and let the verbal sparring between the two women go on. He had some idea of what Lara was trying to hint at but he had nowhere near the amount of pure knowledge of their respective subjects to even make a pertinent comment.
-'I did mostly because there were very few corpses, mostly bones which is what you get when something eats them.'
-'Let's cut to the chase doctor, I believe that something was recently opened in that region, I don't know if it's ruins or a tomb or maybe even a blocked mine but I'd like to take a look.' She gave her her most earnest look. 'I don't want to trample on anything and even less start digging in a national park. I came to you because I'd like to know exactly where you found this out and go there myself, once again this would strictly be an eye of sight survey, no digging, no cataloging, strictly inspect the site and leave.'
She was obviously still suspicious of her motives but he could see that the look Lara was giving her was working.
-'What's going to happen if there IS something to be found there?'
-'Simple, with your testimony we can claim joint discovery of the site, petition for a permit to explore the site and hopefully we can uncover another piece of the past of this country as well as help understand what happened in the region.'
The discussion from that point on escaped Harry completely. They started discussing sites, GPS coordinates, underlying strata and water tables, he might as well not have had the translation spell.
It took an hour before Lara was comfortable enough with the indications given by Dr. Gashi to take her leave. As they got back to the car she threw the keys to him.
-'I need to input some of this data so you drive ok?
Harry gaped.
-'Uh...o..k, sure.'
He sat down in the driver seat and started adjusting the seat etc.. he was just 6 inches shorter then her but when driving a car that meant he had to switch everything around.
He turned the ignition and felt the motor roar in response to the throttle.
He clicked on first gear and smoothly engaged out of the university parking lot and into traffic.
He had a bit of difficulty with gears and when to switch but the operation of the powerful car was easy, like the broomstick he could feel his body respond naturally to his environment, smoothly pushing the throttle and sliding between the cars he got on the main street on the way back to the hotel.
-'It's a 2 hour drive to the place she indicated,' When he started to turn to look at the computer she pointed forward. 'Eyes on the road. It's already 6 so we should probably head out tomorrow morning first thing, Did you bring hiking gear?' At his raised eyebrow she laughed softly. 'Of course not, well unless you can transfigure something we'll stop at a sports store and get you geared out, there's about 45 min of walking just to get to the site.'
-'Can't we just fly? My broom is in our luggage.' He interrupted her.
-'It's a thought and we'll take it with us just in case but this is a national park, there will be people walking around and park rangers, we can't be seen remember.'
He nodded, it was a valid point certainly.
-'Ok then, you tell me where to go.' He gave his best butler impression.
-'I'm still looking up directions, give me a minute.'
As it turned out the store itself was only a few streets away.
Harry had visited sporting goods stores before of course, waiting while the Dursleys wasted money on Dudley, but he had never been with someone who knew so much about the activity in question.
Lara was a professional, veteran of dozens of expeditions in the harshest of climates, she had him try on 6 different pairs of hiking shoes before she declared herself satisfied, clothing, a new backpack with huge sturdy straps, even sunglasses and cream.
He smiled as the sales people came over twice to try and be helpful, every time she was the model of politeness and ladyship as she informed them that no, in fact she had everything in hand and would be happy to credit them the sale when they were done but for now all she required was privacy.
Finally it was done, an hour of changing rooms, walking, jumping and sometimes running with all the shoes she had him try, with and without his new backpack on.
As they walked to the register she beckoned to the first sales girl that had approached them and pointed to his overflowing basket.
-'Would you mind totaling us up please?'
With a smile the cute blonde took his basket and started scanning the items.
The price was in Leke, the local currency, and even without knowing the exchange rate the amount was getting scary. When it passed 30,000 he turned to Lara.
-'Is this ok, Do you want me to get some of that?'
She looked up from her notes to the cash register then down to Harry before turning back to her notes.
-'You're kidding right?'
He was shocked at her dismissal.
-'But it's a lot of money.'
Even though they were speaking English the cashier looked up at them as he said this.
-'Harry, I'm a Lady, not only are my titles bringing in cash but land ownership and my companies are constantly flowing money to my bank account.' She looked him in the eye. 'I couldn't spend all my fortune in my lifetime short of buying an Aston Martin every week,' She went back to her notes. 'But if you feel so bad then I'll tell you what, when we hit your world, you pay for everything and we'll call it even ok?'
He caught the grin on her face as she said this and relaxed.
-'You got yourself a deal my "Lady".'
She laughed at the sarcasm used for her title.
Harry was standing in front of his bed in their hotel suite.
He had unpacked most of his possessions and was repacking them in his new backpack.
He was engrossed in folding one of his dress shirts when the bathroom door opened and he heard Lara walk out.
-'You want to go out? I'm feeling restless.' She asked as she stepped to her suit case.
He put his shirt in the bag and looked up to answer when she dropped her towel.
Harry's jaw hung open. He had never seen a woman naked before and it was obvious she was taking care of her body, he could see the faint scars that her lifestyle required. His eyes traced one going from just under her shoulder blade to …
-'Well do you?' She looked over her shoulder with a smile.
Harry had to look down as a blush crept over his cheeks.
-'uh sure, .., I mean, ..., sure why not.' He stammered.
She picked a few articles of clothing from the bag and started back to the bathroom.
-'Good, let me get dressed and we can head out.'
He heard her laugh as she closed the door.
