Chapter 3: The Windy City
After an uncomfortably long portkey trip, Harry found himself on a rather slippery rock island which appeared to be man-made. It had what looked like an old brick house on it, and was perfectly round, except for the flat top they were standing on. There was the sound of choppy waves slapping against the foundation below, and Harry was unable to see more than a hundred meters in any direction due to the twilight and fog rolling around them.
"Where exactly are we?" asked Harry, wand out and in the ready position. "And, what time is it here?" "Welcome to the Windy City, kid, it's about five A.M." was the response from the oldest member of their group "our taxi should be here any minute now".
Harry looked at Joey the Clown, and was about to ask why it was called the 'Windy City' (because there certainly wasn't any wind) when they heard the telltale chugging of a diesel engine closing in on their location.
"Stampeli Reparo" muttered Moody, pointing his wand at his shattered wooden leg. It apparently worked as Moody stomped around in a circle testing the work he had done to restore the leg back to operational status."Ain't perfect, but it'll do" he said.
The engines noises were getting closer, and out of the fog a blurry shape materialized. As it got closer, Harry could tell it was a white boat about 10 meters long, with an enclosed bottom deck and an exposed upper deck that was considerably smaller. There was a man on the top who appeared to be operating the controls. As the boat got closer, it slowed and turned to the left, gently bumping the island fortress (for a better word) that Harry and his companions were standing on.
"Thar she blows" growled out Moody, and a decidedly female voice from boat replied "Ahoy Captain Ahab". Harry recognized the voice and called out "TONKS? What are you doing here?"
Harry didn't get his answer, because Moody grabbed his right shoulder and guided him down some slippery stairs to the waiting boat. He stumbled and recovered several times, slipping his wand in the back pocket (contrary to the false Moody's advice during 4th year) of his worn out jeans lest he drop it into the choppy waters below.
There were two men on the boat other than the driver and Tonks, and they each took one of Harry arms and guided him over the side and on to the deck below. Tonks grabbed him in a big hug and said "hey loverboy, did ya miss me" and with a wink pecked him on the cheek and released him. She then turned towards the enclosed cabin and promptly tripped on a piece of green indoor-outdoor carpeting that Harry recognized as the type Uncle Vernon used on the backyard patio during the summertime.
The boat pulled away from the island and accelerated enough that Harry had to grab on to the aluminum ladder that led up to the upper-deck in order to keep his balance. He turned around and noticed Moody and Joey had successfully joined him on the boat. The other two men were in quiet conversation with the gangster.
Moody was holding onto the side of the boat facing out into the wet breeze, looking much like an old bulldog Harry had seen with its head out the window of a car and its tongue lolling to one side. Harry thought he would have made a convincing pirate.
"Excuse me, Prof- I mean Mr. Moody?". Moody turned slowly towards Harry as if being drawn from his favorite place in the world and said "Yar to call me Mad-Eye from now on got it?" he growled. "Oook" Harry replied. "Well, out with it, we got some time to talk now and these 'gentlemen' can be trusted" Moody said.
"Well, I was just wondering how it was, that Mr. Lombardo was able to destroy the Hor- er, locket?" Moody replied "We knew about the Horcrux and have a good idea on how to destroy them once we get our hands on them, thanks to the pensive Dumbledore left for the Order." "But how?" said Harry, confused on how they destroyed it
without getting injured. "Yar remember, in yar second year?" Moody
explained "that diary of ol' Riddle ya killed with the Basilisk fang?"
"Well, we took that one step further, and decided to use the poison of the Basilisk along with a way to deliver it that would take most of the danger of actually handling the Horcrux and poison out of, well, yar hands. The one we destroyed today was at Grimmauld Place, and thanks for not lockin' up the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore and Snape (said with a sneer) were able to go and harvest the poison and other parts for our use. Luckily Dumbledore had them locked up in a cavern beneath the third floor corridor and Snape (again, sneered) didn't get to it before he murdered Dumbledore and escaped."
"All's well and good, Moody, but you needed someone outside the law to deliver said one-two punch, eh?" laughed the old gangster, now joining in their conversation. "You gotta have 'plausible deniability', and that where I come in" he explained. "That means you don't gotta touch nobody or nuttin, cause somebody else does the dirty work for you." "I learned that from an old FBI buddy, just before they threw me in Joliet." "oh yeah, this is Frankie and Johnny, my two Capo's, uh that's like a second in command. Frankie's specialty is guns and Johnny is my wizard in charge of travel arrangements. He picked out our landing area today based on the wards Mayor Doiley's 'Red Squad' sets up to intercept unregulated portkey travel. To be able to portkey into and out of Chicago, you gotta buy a permit. That means paying off somebody at city hall, and the fact that Chicago only allows so many permits it's worse than trying to get a taxi medallion to drive a stinkin' cab. I just don't wanna waste the money."
"Ah, what's Joliet? asked Harry, looking distractedly at the now brightening lake that was coming slowly into view around of them. "State Prison, and a more miserable place you wouldn't wanna be locked up in, either" replied the gangster with a grim look on his face.
"Oh, a Yank Azkaban?" quipped Harry. "No Dementors" said Moody. "Anyway," continued Joey "we took the poison, put two drops into a 200 grain hollow point,
cover it with carnauba wax and BADA-BOOM, BADA-BING! Instant death for a Squib like me or a wizard like you, and destruction to all magical devices like your bunch of Horcruxes." "Oh yeah, one shot takes out any magical shield, too" he added as an afterthought. "As fast as you can pull the trigger, you can drop a shield and the jerk hiding behind it." "Whoa" was all Harry could say in return.
He heard a groan behind him and turned around to see Tonks lying on a couch in the enclosed cabin area of the boat. She was holding a large white bucket and looked decidedly green in the face. "Come out and get some fresh air" said Harry, "It'll do you some good." Before she could reply the pilot of the boat yelled down "Hey Boss, Chicago's finest on the way out!"
Looking through the front windshield of the boat, Harry could see another boat slightly smaller but with flashing red and blue lights on top coming out to meet them. It was flying a flag with two wide blue stripes on it with four red stars in between, and the American flag above that one. The other two men that came out on their boat sprung into action. Frankie opened a long box on the left side of the boat and pulled out several large fishing poles and placed them into holders around the back of the boat. Johnny went into the main cabin and returned with four folding chairs, arranging them and indicating that the guests should sit down. "Relax" said Johnny, "they just like to play like they're Miami Vice once in a while". Harry looked at him with a confused expression, (any more and it'll be permanent) but got no further explanation.
The police boat turned around and pulled alongside theirs. Two uniformed officers stood in the back, one of them yelling out "where are you coming from?" "Just fishin" replied Johnny. "Deposit or withdrawal" joked asked the second cop. The first officer scanned the faces of the passengers he could see, noticed Joey and tapped the first one on the shoulder, whispering into his ear. The first officer put a fake smile on his face, and said "have a nice day, gentlemen". With that, the police boat sped off, heading south along the now visible coastline of the city. Nobody saw Moody removing his hand from the wand
concealed beneath the black cloak he still wore. Nobody saw Harry do the same.
Harry, now noticing the most famous skyline in the world yelled out "Tonks, you've got to see this!" The somewhat recovered auror arose from the prone position she had previously been occupying on the couch and came out to join Harry, Moody and the gangsters. The sun had risen in back of them and burned off the fog, leaving a breathtaking view of what seemed like hundreds of the tallest buildings in the world reaching up to a perfect baby-blue sky. "Welcome to my humble abode" said Joey the Clown Lombardo, spreading out his arms, hands facing up in a gesture that symbolized an open greeting to friends and family. "Uh, thanks" said Harry, not able to tear his eyes away from this wonder of the modern world that lay before him. Moody said nothing as did Tonks.
As they pulled into the harbor the boat slowed to a crawl, stopped and backed into a slip between two docks. There were six men in black suits waiting for them, four on the walkway next to the dock looking away from the boat as if scanning for danger and the other two looking past their boat into the harbour as if expecting trouble from that direction as well.
While the pilot of the boat was securing it to the dock, the other two standing guard facing the harbor. "American Hit Wizards", whispered Tonks to Harry. "They take their jobs very seriously" she said, before hopping off the boat onto the dock. It would have been graceful if she hadn't been tripped by the rope tying the boat to the mooring. Tonks landed flat on her face and was helped up by one of the men who had accompanied them on the boat. "Thanks, Frankie" said
Tonks to the man, blushing both her cheeks and hair the same shade of bright pink. Harry could swear he saw one of the hit-wizards smirk but when he blinked the smirk was gone, replaced by the neutral look they all seemed to have.
"Come on Harry" said Tonks, reaching a hand out to help him from the boat. Not wanting to take a chance on Tonk's being able to remain balanced he waived her off and leaped onto the dock with the practiced ease of someone hopping off a broomstick after a game of Quidditch.
Frankie said "Follow me" and lead the way to the walkway where the four hit-wizards were waiting, patiently facing away from the harbor towards the parking lot where a large black stretched Cadillac was awaiting their arrival. Lombardo, Moody, Frankie, Johnny, Tonks and Harry all entered the vehicle, two of the hit-wizards also got in, one in front and one in the back as the car took off through the parking lot towards the buildings that seemed to touch the sky.
Harry stared in wonder at all the people rushing around downtown Chicago, and realized that this vehicle must have similar charms as the Knight Bus. Nobody noticed them, and traffic lights, other vehicles and even buildings seemed to move out of the way as they went through the loop and towards the north side of the city at a high rate of speed.
"Magic is the only thing holding up some of these buildings" said
Joey "many are so old their foundations have just about rotted away" he explained. Harry noticed that Tonks and Frankie seemed to be getting along quite nicely, sharing a quiet conversation on the other side of the expanded limousine. There was a rectangular table that popped into place once everyone was seated, and refreshments also appeared as if by house elves sent it over. Harry took a bottle of what appeared to be butterbeer and opened it, enjoying the first taste of American Butterbrewski (according to the label). "Ah, refreshingly cool, a little weak but welcome all the same" he exclaimed gently, as if appreciating a fine piece of art.
"Harry Potter is too kind" said a voice in medium-high pitch. Looking over at the front of the table towards the driver sat a very small dark-skinned creature in a red and white flowered shirt so bright that Harry needed to squint to see it properly. It looked like a cross between a house-elf and a dwarf. "Hello" said Harry to the creature, a smile on his face. "Ah, Harry Potter's reputation as a friend to all beings is well known throughout the world" said the creature in a mild Pigeon-English accent. "I am Kahele (pronounced Kah hale lay) and I works for Mr. Lombardo's family. Before you ask, no, I am not a house elf enslaved like in your England, it's not allowed in America. Your Dobby will be joining us tonight at the estate. I am a Menehune, one of the few remaining true Hawaiians. My brother Moku and I trade off every six months so we can visit Pele and keeps our magic alive. We works the rest of the time, and Mr. Lombardo pays us well enough to work only half a year at a time." "I'm very pleased to meet you then, Kahele" said Harry. "Did you say MY Dobby is coming tonight?" "Yes" came the reply "he is needing to bond, and you are the only wizard he is willing to bond with." "Dobby is a distant cousin on my Auntie Kamuelea's side, I think…?"
"Why does he need to bond with any wizard?" Harry asked. "Because without bonding, Dobby and other house elfs lose their lives in a most unpleasant manner" said Kahele. "Bonding magic is their life-force, and without the bond of a wizard they lose their sanity, then their lives, slowly and painfully. Tis the house elf's curse." "And what happens if the one they've bonded to dies?" Harry inquired, thinking about the insane house-elf Kreacher. Sirius apparently never bonded with him after the evil Mrs. Black died some years before. "Their brains cause them so much pain, they lose the ability to think straight and go insane, eventually dying because the brain is torn apart from within" said the Menehune. "Well, I'll just have to take Dobby on then, won't I?" mumbled Harry, not really looking forward to having a hyperactive house-elf around all the time. It would be like Colin and Dennis Creavey on caffeine. He shuddered at the thought.
Harry was brought out of his distraction when Frankie announced that they would be arriving in a few moments. The limousine drove into a tunnel under what looked like a major city street, then suddenly turned right heading for a concrete wall at high speed. "AHHH!" yelled Harry. Just as they were about to collide with the wall they went through it as if it was the barrier at Kings Cross Station.