-1Part 11: The Meeting
Harry woke in the morning with his mouth achingly dry and his head pounding. He cursed the sun for existing, and got his things ready to travel by Portkey to Mexico City. He was wary of the trunk, which rattled around in its tiny crate, apparently very offended at being shrunk down. Maybe he'd just carry it at normal size after this last little jump of their trip.
Everyone gathered to go after a small, much too spicy breakfast. Hermione seemed rather put out, especially with Tonks. Harry had a vague sense that something dumb had happened last night after he'd gotten pissed, but he avoided bringing it up as he had the feeling it had to do with Hermione trying to find women for him again. Agent Kemper's name might have come up, but his head hurt too hard to concentrate on the memory.
"Let's get this over with," Tonks said, a hand trying to keep her head from bursting open. Hermione just sighed as they headed to the two story, stucco building they were told had the portkey they needed. Felipe was their liaison with all the officials now that English wasn't the primary language. He spoke with several dour looking wizards as they made their way along, until they finally came to a large room with several areas marked off for apparition and a large pile of various objects for turning into portkeys.
"Buenos dias," said the rather attractive Mexican girl that greeted them. "I am glad to help the American government, and the famous wizards from England. Step this way, and I can activate the key that will take you to Mexico City."
Phil and Ron almost choked on their own drool as the witch turned with a flick of her long hair, and led them to an old tire on a small table. Hermione punched Ron in the arm, bringing him back from his momentary male reaction to a beautiful woman. Tonks laughed, but immediately regretted it as it brought the hangover back full force. She whispered to Harry, "You should pay attention to women more."
"Like Ron?" He whispered back. "Thanks, but I don't like getting hit by Hermione either." The witch gestured for them to spread out around the tire. They all took hold, and the girl took out a small piece of parchment that had the incantation for activating the key on it. She did so many of these in a day, she could never keep track of all the random things they came up with for security reasons.
"I think Hermione wants you to leer like an idiot," Tonks retorted. "It might show us you're still alive." Agent Kemper overheard this last part and blushed a bit. She wondered what it was Harry Potter's female friends wanted from him. They were both married, but seemed very interested in his love life, or lack thereof. She hadn't noticed him looking at any women with anything beyond polite kindness, and he was a very nice person. Maybe he just hadn't been looking at her, but she was an attractive woman, she thought. Wasn't she.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Welcome," said a very jovial Mexican wizard in brightly colored robes. "It is an honor to have Senor Harry Potter and his friends in Mexico City. We shall show you our great city, and give you the best of accommodations."
"Ah, thanks," Harry grunted, disentangling himself from the rest of his friends. It seemed Felipe hadn't taken well to portkey travel, and had managed to trip up Ron, which caused a chain reaction of limbs flying everywhere. The others eventually got to their feet and greeted their host, noticing the two large wizards flanking him, obviously bodyguards.
"I am, ah," he paused for a moment to look for the word, "like your Minister. I am el Secretario de Majia, Jose Milagro, one of the chief leaders of the wizards in our country. In a moment, we will ask you to join a meeting with our government's cabinet and some of the leaders of our families-"
"Wait," Harry said, not able to stop himself from interrupting, "I thought we would be dealing directly with the Militar on this case. When will we be meeting with them?"
"As, si," Milagro said, "the Militar is a, ah, police body. Like your Aurors. They will give you information dealing with el Nuevo Sol, but we thought it best if we gave you a full welcome."
"Oh, all right," Harry said. He understood politicians always being worried about appearances, but he thought it odd the Militar wasn't even greeting them. He looked around, and noticed they were in a large, very sunny room. The walls were painted brightly and decorated with antiques and ancient tapestries that moved, showing tiny people going about long forgotten customs.
"Come, come," Milagro said. "You must all be hungry and wanting to see the city. We will offer you our best while we wait for our other guests. Senor Mercador, please go to the first floor. Your father is waiting for you there."
"Phil?" Ron said, who had just been asking his friend about one of the statues. Phil looked apologetically at his friends, and started to walk toward one of the lifts down a small side hall. Harry told him they'd see him soon, which made the secretary harrumph to himself quietly. They all waved as Felipe walked away, and followed Milagro to a large doorway, and into a very well laid out meeting room with quite a few delicious looking platters laid out.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Felipe, there you are," said Marcos Mercador, looking up from a conversation he was having from a much younger girl working in the office. Phil wasn't particularly looking forward to this, as his relationship with his father had never been sterling. He had spent his life trying to live up to expectations, and he knew that he'd now lost all chance of that.
"Hola, papa," Phil said, looking at the floor. Even in his fifties, Marcos was one of the best in the Militar in the country. Until recently, anyhow. "Como estas?"
"Ah, not so good, mijo," his father said, his voice already taking on its lecture tone. Phil suddenly felt fifteen years old again. "Your sisters have missed you. We were worried something had happened to you."
"I know, sir," Phil said, not able to look his father in the eye, "I…sorry."
"Why did you leave your job like that? I hear you got entangled with the Nuevo Sol in England."
"I, I know," Phil said. He had trouble speaking to his father, but he knew this was the one person he had to make understand. Harry, his friends, even Agent Kemper had forgiven his misdeed and even treated him as an equal. He couldn't bring himself to tell them why he had really gone, why he had lied. "It was my fault…I had to go."
"What was, Felipe?" Marcos asked, curious instead of angry now.
"I was the one…at the Militar, who told my superiors that we needed Senor Potter." He choked back his emotion, knowing breaking down wouldn't help him in front of his father. "No one would listen to me, and I insisted that he would be able to stop the cult. Then, they discovered one of our operatives was part of them, and had been keeping us on the wrong track. He had heard what I said, and left his post to tell the rest of the Sol they needed to take care of Harry."
"Is that it?" Marcos asked, pondering now. He hadn't heard all of this from his friends still in the Militar. "You know, Felipe, it hasn't been easy since Sangria and his supporters managed to cripple our operation. All of those wizards out of service now. The family is lucky they gave me a good severance, but we were relying on your income to help with your sisters' education."
"I'm sorry, sir," Phil said, feeling drained after saying everything. He had glossed over the details of the incident, but his father was the only person he had told so far. "I had to. I was worried they would kill Harry Potter, and it would have been my fault, papa."
"Ah, Felipe," Marcos said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "It's good to see you home."
Phil nodded, somewhat relieved to see his father wasn't angry over what he'd done. The two of them walked toward the door, leading to the street of the small, well hidden back alley location of wizard business in Mexico City. Any Muggles that attempted to find their way there always found themselves quite lost and eventually in front of a small tamale stand on the outskirts of the city.
"And you know, son," Marcos said, opening the door for Phil to walk through, "I'm proud of you."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Ah, Senor Potter," said a man as he swept into the room, followed by his own bodyguard. Harry wondered if Mexico was really so dangerous that everyone of any clout needed so much protection. All of the other people they had met so far seemed to have a much larger, very silent man in tow. "I am glad to see you have arrived in Mexico safely."
"Senor Sangria," the secretary greeted, showing almost as much fake cheer as he'd put on when Harry and the others had arrived. Kemper leaned over and whispered to them that this was the man she'd mentioned in New York, who had personally begun a campaign that left the Militar unable to do its job.
"I hear," Sangria started, as he sat down across from Harry at the table, "that one of the Militar has brought you all this way. It is nice to see such a hero in our country, but I am sorry it was for nothing."
"It wasn't for nothing," Harry said, not at all interested in the man's charm. He was immediately reminded of Lucius Malfoy in his hay day. That, and Sangria's involvement with the deconstruction of the Militar made him rather suspect in this case. "The New Sun cult attacked me and my friends in our home. Frankly, I'm happy Felipe risked all he did just to let us know who was responsible."
"Yes," Sangria said, his smile losing a bit of its edge, "we are sorry for all the trouble you have been caused. The Militar is a somewhat inept organization. They can't find the real criminals, and yet find time to bother the great houses of Mexico no end of trouble. I have been leading a campaign for reform among them myself. They will give you no more problems, I assure you."
"Well, it's hard to catch any criminals when your workforce has been cut in half," Andy said, maybe a bit louder than she should have.
"Agent Kemper, yes?" Sangria said. "I assure you, the changes we have called for are in Mexico's best interest. None of you will have to worry about the Nuevo Sol again."
"I know," Harry said, "That's why we accepted the Militar's offer to help with the investigation. We might have come here under odd means, but we intend to help any governments in need when assistance is asked for."
"I see," Sangria said, his cold smile gone completely now. He slowly drained a glass of very red wine, his eyes never leaving Harry's. This would be more complicated than any of them had thought.
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A/N: This chapter was a bit off the cuff. Hope the quality is still up there. I now have a bit better picture of where I'll be taking this, and there will definitely be a bit more action after this. Thanks again for reading, and I always appreciate any reviews.