A/N: Oddity Update - halfway done with the next chapter. But the tone has come out all wrong. So, currently reworking on it as I don't want to ruin the fic. Kinda finding hard to pick up where it stopped to be honest :)
The Last Doomtreader Update - currently writing out Harry's trial. 8 Chapters in. If you need Evelyn's interaction with a particular character I'm open for requests.
Here's the next chapter of the muggleborn OC fic... enjoy!
Chapter 2
Adam Conrad was laughing his ass off.
He was stupid. Not just ordinary stupid, but he was in a league of his own. After all, which sane idiot would try to fight criminals hand to hand when they had guns and he had magic?
Well, the end result was him getting shot twice – once in the arm and once in his gut, before coming to his senses and killing the bastards off with several well placed severing charms. He might have used a bone breaker curse or two, but in the end it got the job done.
He had to admit, trailing behind the bastards like some spy when he had seen them kidnap a young woman was idiotic too. Hell, he could have simply fired stunners from far away. But, he had to be stupid enough to act the hero and end up getting shot.
The only good thing was that the bullets miraculously missed any vital spots. It gave him ample time to take care of the bastards. But, before he could heal himself he needed to leave this place. Healing spells needed meticulous care and this place was not safe.
The only problem here was the young woman who was looking at him with a dumbfounded expression. If firing hexes in a muggle area wasn't enough, her mere presence was a serious breach of International Statue of Secrecy. His best option was to kill her too. But, he wasn't heartless enough to do that.
"You," he gasped causing the young woman to look up at him in fear.
It was understandable to Adam. Not everyone could kill four armed goons by waving wooden stic at them. Adam grimaced as he made his way towards her.
"Are you alright?" he asked knowing full well she was not.
She dumbly nodded her head in reply.
"How… what…" she stammered.
"Don't bother you pretty head," he dismissed her gruffly. "I will explain later. We need to leave this place soon. It will be teeming with cops soon," 'and Aurors.' he thought to himself. "Sound of gunshots do tend to create a ruckus."
"Yeah…" she shook her head still unable to grasp what was going on.
Adam, on the other hand, was completely focused on pillaging the goods from the goons. He was disappointed to find that they didn't have anything of value. But, one of them did have an uncollected cheque in his pocket. As he scanned it, he was satisfied with the lumpsome amount written in it.
'Criminals do live like kings,' Adam thought to himself.
"Come here," Adam gestured the young woman, "hold my hand."
"What… why?" she asked fearfully.
"If you don't want to wait till the cops arrive, you better do as I say. I can always leave you here," Adam snapped irritably as the wound on his ribs started bleeding profusely.
Meekly, she placed a hand on his hand. Adam didn't have much time to think on her meek behavior. He knew he would faint from blood loss soon, if he didn't see to his wound. Gripping her hand tightly, he concentrated hard on his bedroom and spun on the spot.
With a popping sound he arrived in his bedroom. His knees faltered at the sudden travel. The young woman wasn't much better off either. She promptly started vomiting on the floor. Adam didn't pay much attention to her. He staggered towards his drawer and rummaged through them to find the Blood Replenishing Potion he had bought the last time he had went to Diagon Alley.
Once he found the potion, he staggered back to his bed and collapsed on it. Grimacing, he fumbled a bit before getting off his shirt. He knew that the bullet shot at his arm had passed cleanly through, so the only one left was the one in his stomach. Gritting his teeth, he pointed his wand at the wound.
"Accio Bullet"
The bullet shot out of his stomach fastly and clattered on the floor. He blinked away the blank spots in his vision. He almost felt like fainting. Luckily, he was sober enough to understand that he had only done half of his job.
Vaguely recalling the spell for mending wounds, Adam softly muttered it pointing the wand at the wound. As the spell took effort, he saw the wound slowly mend. It was a shoddy work. He knew that it would leave a scar. But, he didn't care about it much. It took a minute or so for the wound to mend. The same process was repeated for the wound on his arm.
As a final measure, he pointed at the gut wound and muttered, "Ferula". Bandages wound around his stomach tightly. The snug feeling gave him a small measure of comfort. The process was repeated for the other wound too.
Once done, he downed the Blood Replenishing Potion and grimaced at the taste. As the potion began its work, he staggered back towards the drawer and fumbled once more before retrieving a small vial of Wide Eye Potion that he had saved during his OWL year. He quickly downed it too. He knew downing potions one after the other was hardly advisable, but in his hurry to get away he had made some mistakes.
Mistakes that needed to be rectified before the Aurors or cops arrived. He knew he was running short on time, but he had only been away from the scene for about five to six minutes. If he hurried, he might be able to clear away any loose ends. Gritting his teeth, he turned around to find the young woman watching him in fascination.
He shot an apologetic smile at her as he donned a new shirt, "I am sorry, but this needs to be done."
As she watched in confusion, he pointed his wand at her. Fear enveloped her face quickly. Before she could utter anything, he stunned her and levitated her to his bed. Once he was sure that she wouldn't run away while he was dealing with his mistakes, he concentrated on the place littered with dead bodies and spun.
He arrived with a pop and looked around anxiously. Luckily, no one was here yet. He quickly combed the scene and vanished his blood. He knew that the cops had some new process that could help them identify the victim with some body fluids (he had heard about that from a cop bragging at a bar). While he didn't worry about the cops much, if the Auror department had some kind of process like that, he would be fucked.
So, he made sure that nothing related to him was present at the scene. He could hear footsteps rushing towards his location from the distance. Deeming a job well done, he spun and once more appeared inside his bedroom.
As the adrenaline faded, exhaustion took hold of him. He promptly fainted on the floor.
(*)
When he woke, the sun was already rising. Adam looked around blearily and staggered to his feet. The moment his eyes fell on the young woman lying on his sofa, the events of last night came back to him in a rush.
"Oh shit, I forgot to take care of her," he cursed to himself and renervated her.
She came around slowly. The moment she laid eyes on Adam, fear etched across her face. Adam cursed himself inwardly before taking a seat opposite to her and maintained a fair distance. He knew that if he wanted to harm her, the distance wouldn't matter much. For the first time in his life he realized how woefully vulnerable the muggles were to wizards like him.
"No wonder those bastards went after you people," Adam chuckled lightly to himself as the young woman looked at him with confusion.
For a moment he felt like explaining his actions to her, however in the end his sanity prevailed. He knew he could never let her keep the knowledge of what she witnessed. It was too dangerous for both him and her.
Letting out a huge sigh, he spoke, "No need to panic. I know this all sounds crazy, but bear with me for a moment."
When the women didn't reply, he continued, "I think I have established that I have no ill will towards you. We can agree on that at least right?"
"But…. but… how… what… I mean, who the hell are you?"
"Ah that," Adam shook his head, "Forget it, it would do you no good to know who I am. It is better this way. Look, I know that your trust in me is not that high. But, just answer this. Since you slept here last night will anyone be panicking right now whom we need to inform?"
"Oh," she worriedly nibbled her lips.
Reading her hesitation for what it was, Adam replied with a kind smile.
"Look, I understand why you are hesitant. But, honestly, if I wanted to harm you, I would have done it already. Just tell me so that I could let them know you are here. There is a phone downstairs and I can ask them to come and pick you up. In the meantime, I will answer any questions you might have."
"Oh, ok," she mumbled softly. "There is no one waiting for me at home. I have recently shifted here for a job in the city."
"Ah, then alright," Adam smiled at her.
His wand flashed the next second.
"Oblivate"
The young woman's eyes glazed over. Within seconds Adam fired the next hex.
"Stupefy"
She fell over stunned. Adam looked at her for a few seconds before shaking his head.
"As much as I would like to take advantage of her, it simply doesn't feel right," Adam shook his head. "Well then, let's end this show."
He walked over to her and summoned a bottle of alcohol he had in store. He poured a little over her clothes and sprinkled a bit on her face and mouth. Once done, he renervated her once more and hid his wand.
"Ah I see, the sleeping beauty awakes," he said jovially.
The young woman looked around blearily.
"Where am I?"
"You, young miss, are in my apartment. I came upon you last night passed out in the streets. It didn't feel right to leave you there alone. So, I brought you inside. I gotta say that getting drunk and passing out in the street is very irresponsible of you."
"What?" the young woman looked confused for a few moments.
But the moment she sniffed her dress, the smell of alcohol made her face turn beet red.
"I would have taken you to a hospital, but the smell of alcohol prevented me from doing so. I was pretty sure you got drunk and passed out. Didn't see the need for hospital," Adam chuckled. "Anyways, if you want you can freshen up. I will be in the kitchen making some breakfast. You are welcome to join."
"Oh no need to trouble yourself," she said rising up hastily. "I will call my brother and ask him to pick me up."
"Your brother," Adam paused on the way to kitchen.
'Damn sneaky little minx! You said you lived all alone. Thank Merlin, I didn't do anything stupid. I should have oblivated you on the spot and left you there.'
"Sure, no problem. The phone is over there," Adam indicated the phone and went into kitchen as if he didn't care what she did.
After obtaining his address, which was just a few blocks away from where she was kidnapped, the young woman got on the phone. From the kitchen, Adam could hear her whisper-order her brother to come and pick her up quickly and get her away from this creepy fellow. He ground his teeth in irritation, but let that unfavorable description of him pass. All he wanted now was to send her away and be done with it. Within twenty minutes, a car came by and picked up the young woman.
"Miss, I never caught you name. Can you give me your number?" Adam played up the creepy guy persona causing the brother to glower at him.
The young woman didn't even speak a word. She boarded the car quickly and left the place. Adam watched her departure with bemusement. He shook his head and went back inside to finish his breakfast.
Once done, he went to the bank and cashed in the cheque that he had retrieved from the gangster. A simple Confundus Charm made sure that the bank employee didn't ask any details about him and simply processed the check.
With quite a bit of money in hand, Adam immediately headed towards Gringotts and converted it into Galleons. He also opened a bank account in Gringotts and deposited his newly earned fortune. The process took the rest of the day.
When Adam stepped into his home again, he let out a sigh of relief. He was glad that at the least he was able to get something out of the whole debacle. With some small amount in his newly opened vault, he didn't need to worry too much about his job. Until that moment, he didn't know how much it weighed on him. Now that it was settled, he can concentrate on getting his NEWTs and finding a proper job without any rush.
Little did Adam know that while man plans; fate laughs. Sooner than he might think, the war would be on his doorstep. And this time, he didn't have the luxury of thinking about his future. After all, survival always comes before any thoughts of future.
A/N: As you might have guessed Adam is not a truly light character. He is grey and has an apparent disregard for law. He is a typical orphan streetrat and his behavior will reflect that. While he is not a bad person per se, he is not a rule abiding citizen either. The story will evolve with Adam and his reactions to the situations he lands himself in. He has his personality flaws and I am trying bring more realism to his character instead making him look like a storybook hero.
If you have any comments, let me know...
