Chapter Two
Far above the ground, somewhere in the Himalayas, an uneven ring of smoke swirled, gaining power until it pooped out a large mass of something white and shiny. The smoke faded as the mass untangled itself, starching out to make a ribbon of ivory flesh. On its back, a young boy cast a banishing charm on himself, cleaning away all trace of dragon spit form before.
Boy and Dragon-Snake then flew silently, headed towards a distant mountain peak. This silence was not broken even when the boy flipped himself off the beast's back, falling towards certain death until, swoosh, and the dragon twisted in a serpentine fashion back under the boy, . Harry Potter, now straddling the creature's neck behind the head, instead of the torso behind the shoulders, sighed and pulled himself tighter against this old friend.
The smooth decent brought them to a small clearing with a house in the middle, small enough to be insignificant, but large enough for the dragon to land easily. Harry slid off to the ground, and patted the things enormous head and murmured words of thanks. The beast gracefully followed him toward the door of the small house, but waited patiently as Harry went inside.
The house was all wood, and covered in a thick layer of grime. Some of the windows were cracked, but none were truly broken yet, and the dawning sun gave the place a glow. Harry was familiar with this place, and walked purposefully down one of the few hallways.
The house showed little of interest. The sparse furniture was far from fancy, and the walls were bare. Harry's steps took him to one of the bedrooms, indistinguishable from any other room in the house, except for the bed, with its mattress dusty and bare of sheets, which filled up most of the room. A dresser stood against one wall, an empty book shelf against another, and the eastern wall had a window that allowed enough light to see by.
Harry allowed himself a moment of contemplation before striding in and firmly grasping one side of the mattress. He heaved, and tilted it out of the frame of the bed. Stepping through the bed frame, he pushed the mattress against the far wall, the one with the book shelf. Next he pulled his wand from his sleeve, and a quick severing charm frayed the material of the mattress. Harry then reached inside, and after fumbling through the fluff, pulled out a long, twisted metal bar, which he left propped up against the mattress. Stepping back to the bed frame, he began pulling up the slats of wood that ran horizontally across the bed to support the mattress. Leaving on the slat that was closest to the foot of the bed, he sat himself upon it, and reached back for his metal bar. His feet were splayed apart, and he placed one end of the metal bar right at a knot in the wood of the floor, and rapped it sharply. A perfect square of wood fell away beneath the floor, and clattered in a rather hollow metallic way beneath. He reversed the bar, hooking the bent end into the hole and pulling away, and lifted a large part of the floor. The whole piece of floor he placed against the mattress without getting up.
A space about four feet by five feet was bare of its wooden covering, revealing a view of a picturesque metal plating, covered in twisted lines and a strange written language. Harry once again took up his bar, and knelt on the metal. With his head pressed against the iron, and looking straight across it, he could locate the areas where the vine-like stripes were raised from the metal itself. Choosing the one nearest him, he slid the straighter end of the bar through it, and one after it. He grabbed the bent end and pulled, and the bar came easily, and a large ring of the metal moved beneath him. Harry fiddled with the bar, fitted it trough loop number three, and pulled again.
In this fashion, Harry bit by bit slid his bar through the hoops, much like fitting a stiff belt through the loops of a rather wrinkled pair of pants. It was a puzzle, or, more accurate, a combination lock, for he knew the answer, or the combination. Like a combination lock, it was in a circle. The two initial hoops pulled along with them a ring of metal that nearly touched the edges of the area missing its floor, and he got to progressively smaller circles as he worked on. Sometimes he moved it clockwise, sometimes he moved it counter-clockwise, sometimes he would push pieces further into the ground, or pull them closer to him, (this was where the twists and coils of the bar came into play) and some times he skipped over loops and their corresponding circles altogether, until he passed the middle, and began working toward the opposite rim of the circle.
It took Harry a mere half-hour to reach the other side of this project. He stopped a moment to arch his back and hear it pop, which caused him to groan. Then he grabbed two parts of the bar, now laced thoroughly through the metal ground. He laced his fingers between the bar and the plate and twisted, one hand going in either direction. The part of the bar that lay over the middle of the circle fell apart easily, clearly showing where the two ends had been made to lock together. With this accomplished, Harry was free to clamber out of the indent in the floor, and stretch back over to grab his hand hold in the bar again. The bar came with him, and with the bar, half of the metal door-in-the-floor. Harry walked over to the other side and got the other door, which laid bare the rest of the contents of the safe.
A plethora of items were his for the taking. All were arranged in order, so he had no problem finding what he was after. Immediately he took two small satchels, both of which were labeled in the same language as on the door. Harry rummaged through the other items, pulling out a few small boxes, a ring of keys, several thick envelopes, and many sets of clothing which he held up to himself, deemed them far too small, and sighed at the loss. He moved a large cardboard box to snatch the backpack underneath, and filled it with his choices.
Harry opened a small suit case that was filled with hand guns. He expertly inspected a few, examining the working parts for damage and wear, and selected two. These were carefully put into safety, loaded with ammo, and packed, one in a pocket of the bag, and the other in the small of his back, trapped between undershirt and belt. Extra clips went in the bag, with a single clip in his left pants pocket.
Harry moved on to knives, which went in his boots, and a short sword, for which he removed the getting-rather-stuffy parka, and strapped to his back.
He was putting the unneeded things back where they belonged when he stumbled across the pictures. They were still in the corporate yellow envelopes from one-hour-photo establishments. He rifled through them, recognizing the people and places. Harry paused at a few, and finally tucked a small number away, and returned the others.
With his mission mostly accomplished, Harry took the time to close up. The things were placed back in the safe, the doors he shut, the bar he pulled out, the floor he replaced, and he followed with the bed slats. The bar he reconnected to itself and stuffed into the mattress, and the mattress was treated to a hasty "repairo" and then hefted back into place. Harry left as quietly as he came.
Morning had almost fully risen when he stepped back out into the chill mountain air. The dragon was waiting. It greeted him with a deep rumble, and then tried to nuzzle him. Harry, in return, stroked it along the snout, and spoke in plain English.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Harry stopped his pets and began to walk around the things head "I guess it was rather foolish to expect those clothes to fit me after all these years." The beast lowered its head to allow Harry to climb on. "In hindsight, e-e-rgh, I probably should have put some larger clothes there, especially when you consider that we built that thing to last for years. Although, truthfully, I don't think I, or anybody else, expected to live this long." Harry patted the beast between its horns, the only part of its head he could reach. "Oh well. No one else thought of it." Harry shrugged it off, and changed topics. "Head north", he ordered the dragon, "we're going to see Junpei. He'll know what to do."