Chapter 10: The Underground

Looking around at the sights around him, this was not the London that Harry remembered, the plain and simple truth was that this was a war zone. The buildings were all in various stages of collapse and the roads were littered with the debris of burned out cars and the accumulated garbage of years. Scattered amongst all the chaos were patches of nature gone wild, grass and shrubs overgrowing what had once been the heart of a great city.

"My, God," Harry whispered in shock. "What happened here?"

Larry was climbing over a large pile of rubble, looking back over his shoulder the young man smiled sadly at his companion. "The entire old city looks like this. The BSA claimed there was a magical guerilla group hiding in the city and declared war on them."

Larry pointed at the darkened ruin of one of the buildings on the far side of the street. At first Harry could not understand what he was looking at. The front of the building was gone, yet there was a strange cavern like feeling to the ruins. It was almost as if the inside of the building had been larger than the outside. Suddenly Harry saw something that turned his blood cold, a faded sign that he had once known very well.

"The Leaky Cauldron," he said, walking over to the sign and brushing away the accumulated dirt. "This was the first magical place I ever saw as a young child."

"Yeah," Larry said as he walked over to stand next to Harry. "BSA troops knew the place was filled with civilians but they claimed the terrorists were hiding inside. They blew the Cauldron wide open, killing everyone inside; they tore through it and into Diagon Alley. Their real target was Gringotts and the gold hidden inside of it. Anything that got in their way, they destroyed and that included innocent people."

"Why all the rest of this," Harry asked, gesturing around at all the carnage and destruction.

There was no real explanation that Larry could give in order to answer Harry's question, although he tried many times as they walked through the ruins of London. It was just too hard to explain it all. The level of destruction surrounding them could not be explained, save to an insane man. The addition of the strange half-light that surrounded them did not help Harry to understand what he was seeing.

Looking up at the skyline as they silently made their way along the cracked and cratered streets, Harry saw the enormous tower of glass and steel that dominated the horizon. The structure was so large that he had originally assumed that it was much closer then it was. He had thought they must reach it at any moment, yet each step only seemed to add to the buildings vastness. It was only slowly that Harry realized that they were still miles from the building and that they were walking through its gigantic shadow.

Pointing at the structure, Harry finally asked the question that was plaguing his mind. "What is that thing?"

"That's London Tower," Larry said glancing at it. "After the BSA effectively destroyed London, they had to do something about all the refugees living in the streets. A group of ambitious architects were gathered from all over the world and they came up with the idea for that little piece of Hell on Earth. The BSA loved the idea because it put everyone under their thumb, making it far easier to control everyone. Of course, by the time they had enough of it built to start moving people in over a quarter of the refugee population was dead from starvation, exposure, and outright violence."

"You telling me that's the only livable building in all of London," Harry asked in shock.

"And not just here," said Larry shaking his head. "The BSA had them built all over the world. Most of the major cities of the world are now one or two towers just like this one. It made it a lot easier for the BSA to weed out the undesirables when they are all housed under the same roof."

Pointing to the half-hidden entrance to the London Underground, he led Harry down into the cavern like entrance. Harry for his part remained silent and followed his companion, his mind thinking over what he had been told so far. When they reached the bottom of the stairs they squeezed through a set of rusted metal gates and into the darkness beyond. Harry was just about to pull out his wand when dim red emergency lights flickered on in the darkness.

"When the BSA attacks first started the locals started hiding down here in the Underground," Larry said as he made his way through the eerily quiet tunnels. "They rigged up solar lights to work when the power was cut off. Finally, when there was no place else to live, they moved down here full time."

Harry looked around at the sad traces of semi permanent shelters that had been built along the walls. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, only the tracks of rats showing that anything had lived down here in ages. Still, Harry could see the discarded belongings of the people that once lived here. Pictures hung on the walls of some of the shelters, showing the fade images of happier times for the people that had once lived here. This had been a horrible place to live, but Harry could see that they had tried to make the best of it.

"What happened to the people that lived down here," he asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the memories that were thick in the air around him.

"The BSA finally started moving people into the Tower," said the young man as he jumped of the platform they were standing on and down to where the tracks had once been. "They offered food and comfort to people that were starving and desperate. There were riots and everyone ran, leaving behind everything they had ever cared about. In the end, that first group ended up being used as slaves to build the Tower, more than two thirds of them getting killed in the process."

Harry could almost understand the desire to leave this place. He had only been down in these cursed tunnels a short time, and he already felt the need to escape. If this place was anything to go by, the lives of these people had been the next best thing to living in Hell that Harry could imagine. It the smell that still lingered thick in the air was any indication, Hell would have at least smelled better.

"Peter died down here," Larry said breaking the oppressive silence. "He was down here trying to help people escape from the Tower and one of these fucking tunnels collapsed on him. He's still down here someplace since we couldn't find his body under all the rubble."

"I'm sorry, Larry," was all that Harry could think to say.

"Not your fault," Larry said looking at him with a strangely cold smile. "He was doing what he thought was best, helping people that couldn't help themselves. Things just didn't work out the way he planned."

Silence fell over them again as they continued to walk further and further into the darkness of the tunnel. Occasionally they passed deserted platforms, long ago converted into communal kitchens and washrooms. For some reason Harry felt the need to look for the names of the platforms each time. Temple, Blackfriars, Mansion House, Cannon Street, and eventually Monument passed behind them in the darkness. The tunnel had been converted into a series of small brick shelters built against one wall, a narrow path on the other. At first Harry had felt the need to look inside the little brick structures, the insides all looking much the same with a rack of beds stacked against the far wall and shelves for storage on the other.

Harry stopped looking in the small dwellings when he found one that was not completely empty. At first it was too dark inside to see anything clearly, but then after a moment his eyes adapted to the gloom and he realized the bed was still occupied. There, eternally holding each other, were two skeletons. One was much larger than the other was, Harry assumed the parent of the smaller figure. It was the shape of a plastic baby doll, neatly tucked under the small arm bones of the smaller skeleton that brought burning tears to Harry's eyes.

"Not everyone wanted to give up their freedom," Larry said looking over Harry's shoulder. "If they hadn't all been Muggles, this place would probably be thick with their ghosts. If we are grateful for nothing else about this place, we should be grateful for that."

When Harry had originally thought about exploring London he had expected it to be much the same as he remembered it. Now that he was here, Harry realized how big of a fool he had been. The BSA was a force for pure evil, no matter what they might claim to the contrary. Expecting them to stop their quest for power with the destruction of the Wizarding world had been a naïve dream on his part. He had underestimated their disregard for human life, and he would not make that same mistake again if he could help it.

"See those blue lights ahead," Larry asked a little further along the tunnel. "That's where the anti-magic field kicks in. The Tower sewer entrance is about six hundred meters further on but we'll be defenseless once we pass this point."

"Right," Harry said as he reached up his sleeve and pulled out the Elder wand. "Lumos."

Looking at the bright white spark of light on the tip of Harry's wand Larry looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face. "What's that for?"

"I want to see the field in action," Harry answered as he stepped into the glow of the blue lights.

Unsure of what to expect, Harry paid close attention to everything around him. He continued to walk further and further into the field but nothing happened, his wand remained brightly lit. Turning, he could see the shocked expression on Larry's face. There was something else that bothered Harry though, namely the sudden headache he felt and the faint sensation of fluttering he felt in his mind. At first, he could not place the sensation, although he was sure he had experienced it before. It reminded him of when someone was trying to…

"Larry," he said with dawning comprehension. "Do you feel anything strange right now?"

"Like what, Harry," replied the puzzled Weasley.

"Do you feel anything in your mind?"

"Well other than a great deal of frustration and a headache, I feel alright."

Harry smiled and gestured with his wand to where Larry had his hidden in his jacket. "Try casting a spell."

Doing as told, Larry pulled out his wand and attempted to cast a simple summoning charm. Nothing happened and he tried several more times before Harry told him he could stop. The idea was a bit frightening to Harry. If he was right about this then the BSA was even more dangerous than he had previously thought. Harry held out his wand in front of him to get a better look at Larry's eyes. They seemed just ever so slightly out of focus, as if the young man were distracted or worse.

"You can put your wand away now," Harry said quietly.

"Care to explain what's going on," Larry said sliding his wand back into his jacket. "How come you can use magic inside the field and I can't?"

Harry was about to explain his theory when they heard the sound of running feet approaching them from the direction of the Tower entrance. A moment later, they saw a light coming towards them and then they heard voices crying out. Harry quickly pulled Larry back to the last brick shelter they had passed. Hiding inside, Harry extinguished the light from his wand and then concentrated on the noise that was growing louder by the moment.

"Stop," shouted a man's deep voice.

"Leave me alone," screamed the ragged voice of a woman.

Looking through a crack between the bricks, Harry watched as the dark shape of the woman passed beyond the anti-magic field. Then as she reached their hiding space, he stepped out and grabbed her round the waist before spinning her around and into the shadowy brick building. With reflexes honed over a lifetime of practice, Harry completed spinning around before erecting the most powerful shield charm he could two meters inside the anti-magic field. A second later the three men that had been chasing the woman ran right into the shield and collapsed to the ground with sickening thuds.

"Those are BSA Hunters," Larry said as he stepped out of his hiding place. "We've got to get out of here before they wake up."

"Who are you," asked the panting woman.

Assuming the trained authority of an Auror, Harry spoke very calmly, "I'll be asking the questions for right now. Why were they chasing you?"

"I wanted to leave the Tower," she said meekly. "They didn't want me to so they chased after me."

"Is that the only reason they were chasing you," he said as he saw the three men starting to wake up.

"Just let me go," she pleaded, watching the men with growing fear. "I don't know what you hit them with but if we run now, they might not catch us."

Harry was not a fool. Even if they ran now, the men would most likely have some type of Muggle communication device on them. They might escape for the moment but most likely there would be another group of these hunters waiting for them on the other end of the tunnel. Pointing his wand at the three men, anti-magic field or not, Harry fired three stunners at the men. The woman saw this and shrieked, Larry only managed to catch her round the waist before she ran for it. Her face was so pale in the dim light of the tunnel that Harry thought she might actually glow if all the lights were suddenly turned off.

"Please don't kill me," she begged.

"Why would I want to kill you," he asked her gently. "I try never to hurt anyone I've just rescued from my enemies."

"But I'm a Muggle," she said looking at the wand in his hand. "Wizards always kill Muggles when they get the chance to."

"Someone's been listening to the BSA a little too much," Larry said in a voice devoid of any humor. "Don't believe everything those bastards tell you. Better still; don't believe anything they tell you. Ever."

Despite her obvious fear and exhaustion, she laughed weakly. It was a rusty sounding laugh that made Harry think that she must not have had much to laugh about for a long time. When she looked up and saw Harry examining her, she quickly looked away and fell silent.

"My name is James," Harry said remembering Larry's warning about his real name. "The young man with the quick wit is my friend Lawrence. Would you mind telling us your name?"

"Antonia," she said in a barely audible whisper. "Antonia Cartwright."

"Good to meet you, Antonia," he said as warmly as possible. "Can I ask why you wanted to leave the Tower?"

"They killed my parents and took my little brother away," she said, her voice now louder and filled with fire. "They kicked me out of my home and forced me to live in the bowels of the Tower. I just wanted to be free, and maybe to find my brother."

"Why did they kill your parents and take your brother," asked Larry with a voice filled with a rage that Harry could also feel burning in his gut.

As they talked, Harry led them back the way they had come. Antonia explained that the BSA had tried to take her brother away the previous month, claiming that he required special care. When her parents had protested, the BSA had backed down saying they could not stand to come between parents and their children. Not a week later her parents had both been killed in an accident when the elevator they were riding in had gone out of control, falling forty stories and killing her parents instantly. Nothing like it had ever happened before but no one questioned it when the BSA declared it to be nothing more than an accident.

The next day Antonia was informed that she and her brother, William, would have to move to smaller quarters. This was far from being uncommon since space was always at a premium in the Tower. So, they moved to a smaller apartment on the lowest inhabitable level of the Tower, directly above one of the waste processing plants. The smell had been horrendous and William had grown ill almost immediately. Fearing for his health, Antonia had taken her brother to the infirmary and that had been the last time she had seen him.

The staff of the infirmary ignored all of her protests, and the BSA representative on the floor had informed her that he had no record of her ever having a brother. Her desperation had finally grown so overpowering that she had broken into the infirmary one night in an attempt to rescue William. Unfortunately, she found no sign of her brother and the records of his arrival and stay completely erased. Returning home that night, Antonia found her apartment ransacked and all traces of her brother removed. To make matters worse, she was reclassified as a "trouble maker." She was moved to yet a smaller apartment and her ration card downgraded to the lowest rating possible.

"I was starving," she said as they finally reached the Charing Cross station and made their way up to the street. "I was informed I was to start working in the waste processing facility the next day and I knew I had to get out. I just knew that if I stayed then I was going to have an 'accident' just like my parents. So I ran. That was two days ago and I've been looking for a way out ever since. This morning I stumbled across the entrance to the old Underground tunnels, so I waited till the coast was clear and then I made a break for it. There must have been an alarm on the gate because the moment I opened them, all hell broke loose."

Harry guided them out of the Underground station and past the rubble around it. They had obviously been in the tunnel longer then he had realized, the long shadow of the Tower was gone now; the sun had risen past the monstrous building and now hung near halfway down to the western horizon. Larry led them back to the building they had arrived in that morning while took a look at the young woman.

In the darkness, Harry had taken her height to be a sign of her age. Now in the light of the day he was shocked to see how young she really was. She was a very pretty girl with amber colored eyes and dark brown hair, yet Harry thought she could be no older then Larry. Given the soft features of her face, she might have even been younger than that.

"You want to be free," he said to her simply. "I can help you with that wish. I can take you somewhere the BSA can't find you. I can even help you find your brother if you want."

"You help me find my brother and I'll follow you to Hell," she said fiercely. "What I want to know is why you would want to help a Muggle."

"That's our Harry," Larry chuckled, "he likes to help everyone if he can."

Antonia looked at Harry sharply, "I thought you said your name was James?"

"Oh shit," muttered Larry, turning to give an apologetic glance at Harry.

"It is," Harry said smiling at her. "My full name is Harry James Potter."

The young girl's face went deathly pale at the sound of his real name. He eyes were filled with the fear that had suddenly resurfaced in her mind and she could only stutter as she looked at Harry.

"See you've heard of me," he said with a forced chuckle. "That would be another of those things the BSA tells you about that you shouldn't believe."

"You can't be that murder," she stammered. "He's been dead for hundreds of years and no one would name their child after that psycho."

"He's the same one," Larry said gently. "He's not that bad once you get over how old he is. Just don't get on his bad side before he's had his tea in the morning. His wife is actually the one to really look out for, she could scare the BSA when she's in a mood."

"Trust me," Harry said laying a reassuring hand on the woman's trembling shoulder. "I promise you will come to no harm if you come with me."

She looked at him for a moment, as if she were trying to judge the truthfulness of his words. He could see the indecision in her eyes as she tried to make her decision. It was only when she looked over her shoulder at the Tower that she seemed to make up her mind, and nodding her head firmly she smiled at Harry. Larry gave a friendly laugh and then led them inside the building they had arrived at earlier that day. Once safely inside, Antonia seemed to visibly relax.

"Fawkes," called Harry and a moment later the great bird flew in through an open window at the back of the building and landed on Harry's shoulder. "Antonia, this is my friend Fawkes. He's going to help us get out of here."

"How's a bird going to get us out of this place," she said with an expression on her face that clearly showed her doubt.

"Just take hold of his tail feather tightly, and don't let go. It's a magic thing but it won't hurt you, I promise."

The young woman steeled herself to touch the offered tail feather. Larry did the same and Harry followed suit a moment later. With a nod to Fawkes, there was a bright flash of flame and smoke then nothing. The empty building stood empty and quiet for several minutes before a sound could be heard in the distance.

Two rows of men in black uniforms, twelve in all, came running down the street carrying large machine guns. A thirteenth figure ran behind them, a gold medal the only sign of his rank hung on his chest as they ran past the building that Harry and the others had occupied only a short time before.

"Find that bitch," barked the officer. "Find her and kill her!"

"Yes, sir," shouted the twelve running men.

"No one escapes the Tower!"

"Yes, sir!"

"No one defies the BSA and lives to tell about it!"

"Yes, sir!"