I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 12: High Noon

On the day before they planned to leave, a few of the residents of Stepenwolv decided to make an excursion to Ambersville, obviously not something they did very often. Harry and his friends decided to go with them, eager to explore the largest wizarding town in the United States. They were just heading out of Tric's parent's house when Remus came trotting up to them.

"Harry, I need to speak to you for a moment."

"Sure, prof-Remus." Harry corrected himself.

The professor led him a little way away from the rest, about ten of the residents plus his friends from England.

"Take out Cord, Harry. In all the goings-ons I kept forgetting about him."

"Will he be all right?" Harry said nervously as he held out his wrist and stripped back his sleeve to reveal the leather bracelet.

"Yes, he'll be fine." Remus took out his wand and prepared to take off the spell. "Moody reminded me just a few minutes ago. He seemed to think that you should have you extra protection out away from Stepenwolv." Remus sounded amused and serious at the same time. "Finite incantatum." He said quietly, and the bracelet turned back into the snake with a pop. "You should be watchful, Harry." He told him, "Remember what Moody said at the train station."

"He told you about that?" Harry said, a bit crestfallen. Cord lifted his head from Harry's wrist and looked around curiously. Durry, who was on his usual perch on Harry's shoulder, squeaked at him. Harry heard Ginny gasp, and glanced over his shoulder to see her shrinking behind Hermione.

"He did." Remus said, "and he was quite correct." He nodded at the group before he turned back, and saw Tala coming towards them, holding her broom. "Going too, dear?"

"Yes." She said with a brilliant smile. "We're running low on a few of the ingredients that we can't grow here."

"Well, have fun, then." He said, giving her a kiss and murmuring something that Harry couldn't hear in her ear before heading back towards the Facility.

"We'll be back soon." She called to him, and he turned in mid-step and waved before striding on. "Well, Harry," She said with a brief smile. "This is Cord, then?"

Cord looked at her, then at Harry. "Another 'friend'?" He asked, his tongue flickering out.

"Yes," Harry said in the hissing tones of parseltongue, "This is Tala."

"Pleased to meet you, Cord." Tala said cheerfully. "Let's go join the others, they look eager to be off."

Harry talked to Cord as they went to meet them, "These are also friends, and this is the place that they live." The group was watching them approach, several of them open-mouthed at the sound of Harry speaking parseltongue.

He gulped when they reached them, before switching back to English. "Everyone, this is Cord. He is another pet of mine."

"Where did you have him?" The twenty-something witch named Tric asked curiously.

"Up my sleeve." Harry said, "As a bracelet."

"Interesting." Was all she said in reply, as though people with snake bracelets were an everyday occurrence. She turned to the young man beside her, tall with a straight nose and brown hair that curled over his forehead. Harry dredged up the name from his memory, Genner, he thought it was.

He smiled at her. "I suppose you want one now?"

"Not today, Genner, save it for my birthday." She said seriously. Texi and Sarven laughed at them "Guess you should get one for Texi, too, Sarven, we'll start a new fad." She smiled along.

"We'll do that, then." Sarven agreed, "When's your birthday, Tric?"

"I'll tell you when I remember," She said cheekily.

"She just doesn't want anyone to figure out how old she is," Another young woman provided.

Ginny was still staring uneasily at his wrist, ignoring the other members of their group still bantering among themselves as they moved off, holding their brooms.

Harry dropped back to walk beside her. "It's all right, Ginny. He's quite safe."

"Are you certain?" She asked tremulously.

He didn't hesitate. "Quite sure. Trust me, Ginny."

"I do, Harry." She said with a small smile. "I just, don't like snakes."

"Well, once we get to school, I'll keep him in my dormitory and tell him not to go near yours."

"Thanks, Harry." She grinned as they got on their brooms and took off, the residents still bantering, loudly now, so they could be heard over the wind.



They landed again at the launch near the Ambersville Station, stowing their brooms at the storage facility. It was a small wooden shed with a rack for their brooms, a locking mechanism activated when they touched their wands to it, so it would only open again after they came back and re-tapped each with their wands. Harry thought the lock was rather clever and felt safe leaving his precious Firebolt there.

Most of them headed off in different directions, but Tala stayed with Harry and his friends, showing them around.

The main street of Ambersville, now that Harry was actually there, resembled very much a western boomtown, with wooden storefronts advertising an apothecary, a saloon, even a blacksmith's forge. They lined the dusty street, with boardwalks, water troughs and hitching posts. Harry thought it all looked a little odd in the middle of a wizard town. Tala led them into the apothecary, and they found the interior much more familiar, just like the potion's shop at Diagon Alley.

"It's kind of odd, isn't it?" Harry commented, peering out the dusty window into the old West.

"For the tourists." Tala said with a small smile, paying for the ingredients she needed and turning back to them. "We give them what they expect to find. The rest of the town is reasonably normal."

She led them out and across the street to the ice cream parlor. She ordered five cones of her favorite flavor and handed them out. "It's called Blue Moon. It's...indescribable."

Hermione took a bite, and looked thoughtful. "It tastes like..." She stopped, really unable to find a way to describe the flavor. "I don't know, but it's good."

The rest agreed with her, and they went exploring the rest of the dusty street, peering in windows and licking their ice cream cones. They were just finishing up when there was a loud bang behind them. Ron dropped his cone in surprise, and Harry's free hand darted to his wand as they all turned.

There, in the middle of the dusty street, two wizards were facing off. A piece of tumbleweed rolled between them and off down the road as they stared at each other.

"You've been asking for this since the first day you walked into this town, Ambers." One of them barked, his pale blond hair swinging as he drew his wand and pointed it at the other.

"You really are an idiot," The other called back tauntingly, "I didn't walk in, I flew in." He pulled his own wand out of his dark-colored robes with a flourish.

"If you'd have kept your head down, I might've let you live, but no! Nothing but trouble." He called, "I OWN this town and you're trespassing."

"Own this town, Willin?" The other said with a sneer, "Perhaps you did, but now I'm here and things are going to be different. You're not going to have your own way anymore. There are LAWS now, and you're breaking them just by standing there."

"Enough talk!" The blond wizard bellowed, "Carnecetella!"

The other wizard doubled over in pain, but still managed to keep his wand pointed at the other. "Stupify!"

"Protego!" He laughed. "Such a weak spell. You should have tried this one. Hituslify!"

Ambers jumped aside with a grunt, hitting the dirt with a great puff of dust. The spell from the light haired wizard hit a hitching post and the post exploded, sending pieces and splinters of wood flying. "Esternomis!" Ambers cried.

Willin didn't manage to protect himself from this one, and it struck him in the center of the chest, throwing him into the side of the Blacksmith's shop with a terrific crunch. He didn't move again as Ambers struggled to his feet, clutching his stomach through his dust covered robes.

"Willin?" He asked, stumbling over to him, and pulling the robes away from his face. He felt for a pulse and sighed with relief.

"Ambers!" A pretty young witch with curly blond hair cried, throwing herself out of the door of an unmarked building and at the dark-robed wizard. "Are you all right? I was so scared!" She clung to him, and he hugged her close, a heroic smile on his face. The noon-bells started tolling.

Somebody behind Harry started clapping, and soon the whole street was full of claps and cheers, Tala laughed outright. Harry found he had to pry his fingers away from his wand.

"What in the name of Merlin was that?" Ron exclaimed as Willin jumped up, suddenly perfectly alright, and joined the other two in a bow.

"That was the saving of Ambersville, featuring the ever-talented Robert Handly and Canter Roberson." Tala said with a little grin. "We only caught the tail end of it." She turned as the wizard who had played Willin approached her. "Canter, another very good performance."

"Why, that sure is nice of you to say, Miss Snowfoot." He said in a heavy southern drawl. "I think I probably should have hit the wall a little harder, though, hardly made a dent."

"Ever the perfectionist." Tala said fondly. She turned back to the others as Canter walked off to talk to some of his fans, "We went to school together, both in the same house."

"You have houses, too?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, yes." She replied. "I believe we even have the same number as Hogwarts. There's Adelbarn, Quisinton, Marifeth, and Rosenturn. We were in Marifeth.

"The school was influenced in many ways by the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Two of the founders actually attended there. The other two were traditionalist American magicians." She continued.

"Where is...Sundonoma, was it?" Harry asked.

"It is south of here, carved into a sandstone cliff near the Zuni ruins." She told him. She told them a lot more as they walked around, occasionally stopping to peer in stores. Ron and Harry were delighted at the sweet shop and bought bags of American goodies to take home with them.

They listened with half an ear as she said that the school's founders, unlike those of Hogwarts, never had any falling outs, that the Marifeths were, in general, the somewhat big-hearted bookworms, and that they were taught Care of Magical Creatures by a Bigfoot named Tony. She seemed full of facts about the school, somewhat like Hermione and the infamous, 'Hogwarts, a History.'

She was so involved with telling them about Sundonoma, that she barely even registered a rather tall wizard with light brown hair who was trying to get her attention. Finally, she turned, a pleasant greeting dying on her lips as she saw him.

"Tristin." She said finally, her eyes wide.

"The lovely Tala." He replied, his voice like raw silk being pulled over concrete. He took her hand and made to kiss it before she tore it away. He scowled for a moment before his face settled back into slightly disinterested urbanity. He leaned back, lacing his hands in front of his stomach. "I've been hearing the most disturbing rumors, Tala." He said with a half-smile that looked like a sneer. "They're saying that you married one of those creatures you love so much."

"They're not creatures," She replied, her voice straining to match his polite manner. "They are human beings."

"Certainly." He murmured. "But is it true? Did you find a tame one to warm your feet on the full moon?" He leaned forward conspiratorially, "Tell me, what's it like that time of the month, animalistic?"

Tala fought hard to contain a cry of rage. "Why don't you go back to where you came from, prison, I believe it was?" She spat.

"I'm shocked at you, Tala." He positively purred. "I came from right here, as you recall. I've only recently come back. There are so many interesting rumors floating about, some of them coming from all the way across the sea."

Tala turned white beneath her tan. "It was true." She whispered. "I may have hated you, but I didn't think..."

"Oh, my, but you are jumping to conclusions." He said, a mean little smile on his lips. "We used to know each other quite well, and you think that of me?"

"Yes." She whispered. She stepped back, and he grabbed her arm.

"You should let her go, right now." Someone snarled from behind Harry. He turned to see Sarven standing behind him, his face like a thundercloud.

"Why, if it isn't young Sarven." Tristin sneered. "I thought you'd be dead by now."

"I live, no thanks to you, Stepfather." Sarven growled menacingly, "Now, let her go." Tristan released Tala's arm with a deliberate gesture.

"Such an impertinent little bastard." He said with a great smile, "I should have done something about that long ago."

Sarven started forward with a roar, and it took both Harry and Ron to restrain him. Ginny and Hermione had their wands out. Ginny reluctantly tucked hers back in her robes at a sharp gesture from Tala, but Hermione kept hers trained on the wizard, a furious look in her eyes. But Tristin wasn't looking the young witch menacing him with her wand. He was looking at Harry, who was still trying to keep Sarven, his teeth bared as he tried to reach his stepfather, back.

"I never thought I'd see the day." He said quietly. "Harry Potter." Harry looked up, aware of the man's eyes trained on his forehead, on his scar. "The one who threw down the Dark Lord."

Now Harry stiffened, he felt Durry clasp his neck tightly, and glanced down to see fur the color of charcoal. He released Sarven, occasioning a yelp from Ron as he now had to restrain him on his own. Ginny ran to help him, talking soothingly under her breath. Harry wasn't really aware of them. Tristan had called Voldemort the Dark Lord, only his servants called him that. His hand found his wand.

While he was pulling it out, Cord lifted his head and looked at the man, his tongue flickering nervously. "Another 'friend?'" He said.

"No," Harry hissed back.

"Oh. May I bite him?" The snake asked coolly.

"Not right now..." Harry thought a second. "A menacing hiss might be appropriate, though."

The snake complied, and Harry saw the man look at him with narrowed, wary eyes.

Tristin backed away, his hands raised in mock surrender. "Oh, I wouldn't DREAM, of hurting you, Mr. Potter, that honor goes to bigger wizards than I." He turned and disappeared into shadows.

Tala had to breathe deeply for a few moments before regaining her composure, though her face was still pale. Finally she turned. "Hermione, put that away." Her voice was crisp, business-like. Hermione slowly sheathed her wand. "That's better." She went to Sarven, who still had Ginny and Ron holding his arms, pulled him away and wrapped him in a big hug. He resisted for a moment before sagging against her. She said a few words that Harry couldn't hear, and Sarven nodded, turning away and raking his sleeve across his eyes.

"We will have to leave right away." She said seriously, reaching in the front of her robes and pulling out a stone wrapped in wire, suspended from a beaded necklace, she enclosed it in her fist and closed her eyes.

Within five minutes, every one of their entourage had appeared, some appearing quite blown, as though they had run a distance. Mitexi went immediately to Sarven and took his hand, her eyes fixed on his. "I'm alright." He muttered. She continued to look in his eyes, almost demandingly. They couldn't hear what she said, but he nodded, and her face grew incredibly hard.

"Everyone!" Tala said, an unfamiliar note of command ringing in her voice, "To broom, then straight to Stepenwolv." No one protested.

As they practically ran back to the broom shed, Harry contemplated the change in Tala. He had once seen a nature show about wolves when he was allowed to watch television at Mrs.Figg's. They had talked a lot about the alpha female of the pack. Harry realized that, although Chepi was the one in charge of the research, when Tala was around she was in charge of the people. She was the alpha female of her pack, and she took their protection very seriously. The reached the shed and each retrieved their brooms.

Tristan, he was sure, was an American Voldemort supporter, maybe even a Death Eater. The thought made him cold, even more than did the wind they flew through on their way back to the valley.

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