The Girl in the Tower
Saturday morning brought Brandt to Hogwarts. He met them outside their common room after breakfast and was led inside. He was just as shocked as everyone else at the state of their room, even though he had seen the pictures before.
Looking at the high ceiling, he asked, "Are you allowed to fly in here?"
"We're not allowed to fly in the castle," Harry told him.
"It doesn't look like we're in the castle," Brandt said with a smirk.
"I guess we can ask Newt and Tina when they get back," Lyra mumbled hopefully.
Brandt gave up on that. It didn't look like they were going to break such a simple rule. They didn't seem to have any compulsion for rules when it came to defending each other, but still recognized authority when it was reasonable. It was good to know where to draw the line with them.
"Well, the two of you should get ready," he told them and passed a small box to Harry. "This is the big wardrobe, tap it with your wand to expand it. I'm just going to leave it with you. Pick out something elegant, but also that would pass for muggle clothing in London for when we go get more music."
Harry took the box and ran off with Lyra to change. Brandt walked over to the little kitchen area where Meli and Daria were sitting at a table and asked to join them.
"How are the two of you enjoying Hogwarts?" he asked.
"It's quite fun," Daria commented while sipping her drink. "I thought I would be in Ravenclaw, but then all this happened," she waved her hands at the room. "My parents grew up Catholic, so they're having a bit of trouble disassociating witchcraft with evil. They seemed to be better when I went home though.
"It's the opposite for me," Meli added. "My parents are Romani, so they have always thought the supernatural was real. My mom even had me reading fortunes for our neighbors before I got my letter. A lot of her customers swore I was better at it than she was." She gave a little smirk, "Maybe I was?"
Brandt smiled at both of them, "Daria, have your parents look into the old witch trials. Most of them were fabricated to kill off people the church didn't like. Though they'll find anecdotes about targeting women who healed incurably sick children, found lost animals, and allowed barren noblewomen to give birth. A lot of these were real witches, and you can show your parents that magic isn't necessarily evil. Miracles can be done with it as well."
The little girl smiled as he turned to her friend, "As for you, you probably do have some seers in your distant family or talent for divination that you should look into. If you want to continue reading fortunes in the muggle world, you will need a permit to do so, and you will need to read up on the Statute of Secrecy. A lot of magicals do have businesses that provide fortunes for muggles, but it needs to be monitored to avoid them finding out about the existence of real magic."
Meli nodded at his serious tone, and Brandt got up to explore the rest of the expanded room. He ducked into the side room with the new greenhouse to find Neville tending plants alongside Greg Goyle. Neville was explaining to him how to trim some of the more delicate plants in the room and control the direction of their growth. He just stood and watched the boys work before Greg looked up and saw him standing there.
He jumped to his feet and stood at attention, "Steward! I didn't see you there."
Neville looked a bit confused and didn't get up for a couple of seconds before mimicking Greg's pose.
"Relax," I was just watching you work. "How were your vacations; Mr. Goyle, Mr. Longbottom?"
Neville just nodded and didn't reply, while Greg looked like he had a question and didn't respond until Brandt gave him a nod.
"I had a question about Harry's gift. The gloves, what are they for?"
"Boxing," Brandt told him. "It's muggle dueling. The gloves keep you from hurting your hands or your opponent too much. It can be as much fun as magical duels, and it builds strength and stamina."
"Harry wants to fight with me?" Greg asked.
"I think it would be better if you talk to him about it," Brandt told him. "I'm positive he meant the gift as something fun for the two of you to do together."
Greg nodded and Brandt left the two of them to their gardening. Returning to the common room, he found Harry and Lyra waiting for him by the exit. Harry was wearing a long black coat that went down to his ankles, with silver buttons down each side of the opening. He wore a blue shirt underneath and black slacks. Lyra was wearing her fur coat with a dark blue dress underneath, and black earmuffs for going out in the cold. Whispers was wearing the leather and fur hat he had gotten as a present from Luna Lovegood.
Brandt gave them both a brief nod of approval and then escorted them down, through the castle, to the dungeons and Professor Snape's office. It took their teacher a minute to answer the door and when they entered, there were nearly a dozen students huddled around the sinks scrubbing cauldrons; all of them were older and most were Gryffindors and Ravenclaws with one Hufflepuff mixed in. Harry recognized a few from last night's party.
They all stopped to look toward Harry and Lyra as they walked in, but one dark glare from Snape had them return to their task of furiously scrubbing at their sinks.
"There was a massive breach of curfew after last night's gathering in Hufflepuff," he told them loudly. "I am glad the two of you had the good sense to go to sleep on time. Come to my office and we'll get you sent on your way."
Brandt walked them after Snape into his office. A few of the snakes in the terrariums perked up at his entrance and greeted Harry with reverence while he did his best to ignore them. Snape opened his desk and pulled out a paper, placing it on the desk.
"I corrected your patent applications for the sticking solution and the tea potion you invented. Have you tested the sticking solution yet?" Lyra nodded.
Brandt placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, and said, "Mr. Potter thoroughly tested it. He stuck his staff and wand to his broom, and used it to joust with the Lampong on the island."
Snape's eyes widened, "Truly?" Harry and Lyra nodded.
"I gave a recording orb to Lord Black, you can speak with him to watch it."
A quill appeared in Snape's hand and he signed the bottom of the form that was marked for a qualified Potions Master to approve, then rolled up both forms and passed them to Lyra.
"Whenever these potions are made commercially, you will receive 5% of the profits from the brewer," Snape told her.
"Should I patent the potion I made to strengthen my staff?" Harry asked.
"Definitely not," Brandt said very quickly, drawing a questioning look from Snape. The steward relaxed slightly and explained, "When you patent a potion, you also reveal the ingredients and brewing method. As it contains details of the creatures where you live, it might tell people about the island."
Snape gave Brandt a piercing glare as Harry nodded along, then Brandt added, "This is also why you shouldn't patent your hair growth potion as it would reveal that the base ingredient is your own hair. You can still sell it without revealing the recipe, as long as it is proven to work."
Harry nodded, then perked up as he remembered his conversation with Penelope, "I need a solicitor." Seeing the questioning looks on the faces of Snape and Brandt, "I don't know how to make Lyra's coat glow on its own. I asked Penelope Clearwater for help since she figured out how to use the post owl feathers to search for things without Lyra."
"And since you're getting paid, she wants a contract so she gets paid too," Brandt finished the story and Harry nodded. "Amicus Slant represents House Black, so he won't be able to represent you specifically. Ideally, you will want someone to represent you in all of your dealings, but for your agreement with Penny, I will ask Mr. Slant to send one of his apprentices to help you draft this contract, and then we can spend a weekend meeting with solicitors for a more permanent arrangement. Let's plan for the apprentice to meet you next weekend, alright?"
This was all incredibly complicated for Harry. He was still reluctant to fully trust Brandt, but he seemed to be doing everything possible to look out for him. Sharing a quick look with Lyra, he smiled and nodded to Brandt.
Then he asked, "Professor Snape? Do you have an owl I can use?"
Snape nodded and opened a wooden panel on his wall which contained a large tube, leading upwards, then passed a paper and quill to Harry. He quickly scribbled out a note to Penny asking if they could meet next weekend. Just as he finished, a tiny owl fluttered down the chute and regained its bearings before almost crashing into the floor. Snape took the note and tied it to the leg of the owl who flew right back up the shaft, and the door closed behind it.
With all the business settled, Brandt ignited the flames in the fireplace of the office and without making the children repeat their destination, just took a pinch of floo powder and threw it in, calling out "Elmswood Lodge" and vanishing.
Harry watched him vanish and then opened up his coat for Whispers to grab hold, but the Hidden backed away from him and just reached out a hand to Lyra, who grabbed hold and hesitantly took a pinch of floo powder. She spoke the destination a few times to herself before throwing it in the fire and calling out the destination, whisking her and Whispers away into the emerald green fire.
Harry hesitated for a moment, then picked up a pinch for himself and under Professor Snape's protective gaze, whispered to himself, like his sister, then threw the powder in and took off through the spinning fire. The spinning was less disorienting when he wasn't doing it as a group or with a silver monkey adhered to his side. When he arrived, he barely staggered and slowly regained his balance.
Though he looked up to see Lyra and Brandt pointing their wands at Tonks, who looked menacing and pointed a wand directly at Brandt's face.
"That's not Tonks!" Lyra yelled out to her brother.
Harry drew his wand and didn't hesitate to fire a bolt of magic at the intruder. This caused the woman to spring into action, and deflect his spell toward Brandt. At the same time, Lyra let loose a torrent of flames and Brandt cast a black bolt of lightning. Harry's deflected bolt hit Brandt in the head and knocked him to the floor, while Lyra's flames just washed over the intruder, and the black lightning was caught in the intruder's hand, coalescing into a ball of crackling energy.
Instead of casting another bolt of magic, Harry created a large pulse which made the intruder stagger and gave time for Lyra to pull out her staff and slam it into the ground. As it hit, a stream of black smoke erupted from the Sigbin tooth at the top and coiled around the intruder like a snake, binding her in place.
Brandt had gotten back on his feet and pointed his wand towards not-Tonks, his mouth starting an incantation and a hint of green glowing at the tip of his wand.
Before anything more could happen, a pulse of magic came from the intruder's wand which dissipated the smoke wrapping them up and freezing the three of them in place, though Brandt seemed to be resisting just a bit. Not-Tonks raised her wand to cast another spell, but Whispers appeared and dropped from the ceiling in an attempt to bite into her wand hand, but she just moved her arm out of the way and froze the demiguise in place, like the rest of them.
She then pointed the wand to her face and incanted, "Finite Incantatem!"
There was a distortion in the air and Alastor Moody stood in her place. He looked over the frozen wizards and called out, "You can come out now, Nymphadora."
From the next room, Tonks walked in, holding a trembling Opal in her arms. The elf jumped out of her arms and cast spells all over the place, unfreezing everyone there.
"Well, that was fun," Alastor said with a grin and turned to a glass of whiskey on the table.
Brandt was furious, and as soon as he was unfrozen, lashed out with his empty hand casting a ball of green smoke that turned into a tiny screaming skull at Moody. The man didn't even bother to turn around and just cast a bluish shield on his back which dissipated the skull.
"So, Arcturus has been teaching you the family magics?" he asked as he picked up the glass and took a drink.
Brandt just growled and turned to Opal, who was checking over Lyra to see if she was injured. "You were supposed to be protecting the house," he snarled at the elf.
She bowed low on the ground, whimpering a bit and not meeting his eyes.
"I ordered her not to interfere," Tonks told him, apologetically, but with resolve. "She didn't want to do it, but I assured her no one would be hurt."
Brandt stared her down, but she didn't flinch. After a few moments, he turned back to Opal and pointed his wand at her. Along the base of her uniform, there were several small buttons, purely ornamental, and with a twist of his wand, two of them were ripped off and summoned to his hand.
Opal began to cry, looked up at Brandt with tears in her eyes, and then popped away.
Brandt reached up to his forehead and wiped away a trickle of blood from where Harry's spell had been reflected and then marched out of the room.
"What the hell was that?" Lyra screamed at Moody. A pool of shadows was starting to form under her feet.
"Calm down, girlie," Moody snarled while raising his wand toward the shadows. "I wanted to test your perception skills. You saw right through it, but Harry was the only one to take action." He looked at Harry who was conflicted in his emotions, "Ten points to Scamander House."
"You're not a professor," Harry stated.
"That doesn't mean you don't deserve the points. Though, if you ever see me take a teaching job, that's not me. Curse first, ask questions later." He looked behind him at the mantle and told Lyra, "Tell Whispers to stop stalking me. He's not going to be able to sneak up on me."
Harry could see a bit of shimmering where Whispers was crouching on the mantle. Lyra quickly double-tapped her staff on the ground and Whispers became visible. He looked at himself and jumped down and stood next to Lyra, growling a little as he did so.
"So, what are we doing today?" Real-Tonks asked.
"WE are going to do some business for Whispers and then head into Muggle London," Brandt said, walking back in the room, his forehead cleaned up and healed. "The two of you can stay disillusioned and as far away from us as is safe to do so."
"Don't get your panties in a twist," Moody smiled. "It was just a flesh wound."
"You are also no longer welcome in this house," Brandt added, his voice with extra weight.
Magic shimmered around Alastor and he stood up and as if taking forced steps, walked towards the entrance and out the door.
Rounding on Tonks, Brandt said with a touch of anger, "I need to speak with you later as well about business, but for now, I think it's better if you join your instructor."
Tonks looked like she wanted to say something back, but under the darkness of his glare, she relented, looked apologetic, and left the house as well.
Once she was gone, Brandt turned back to the children, "Good work, both of you. Even though he wasn't being serious, you can both claim that you landed hits on Mad-Eye Moody. I doubt even Miss Tonks can make that claim."
Lyra looked a bit smug, but Harry was concerned, "Are you ok?" he asked. "Did my magic hurt you?"
"Don't worry, as Mad-Eye said, it was just a flesh wound. However, it did pack a punch." Looking at Lyra, "What was that shadow thing that you did?"
"I just called on the magic of the staff, I asked it to protect us," she said with a shrug.
"Have you experimented at all with the Sigbin tooth yet?" she shook her head. "I've observed that the fire from your staff comes from the base, though the shadows came from the top, from the tooth. Try to cast that spell again on me."
Lyra hesitated, but when Brandt started casting protective spells on himself, she could see that he was serious and waited for him to finish. He walked to the other side of the room and gave her a nod to begin.
Harry took a step back to give her space and watched as she concentrated for a moment before tapping the staff lightly and a dark aura appeared around The Giver's fur and the Sigbin fang. It slowly grew in size before a tendril shot out and wrapped around Brandt's body many times. His eyes had widened as it wrapped around him, but now he just looked down and examined the writhing black mass.
He struggled a bit in the bonds, and said, "Can you make it tighter?"
Lyra's face tightened and she twisted her staff a little bit and saw Brandt's face turn to a grimace, but he gave her a nod, so she twisted it more and he called out, "Too tight! Too tight!" and she lifted her staff, which made the tendril dissipate into the air.
"That was interesting," he said as he flexed his arms. "I'll update Stevens on this. I have two homework assignments for you. The first is to practice that effect, and see if you can use it as a shield, or to knock away spells and physical objects. The next for both of you is to see if your staves carry an effect when you invert them. Both of them seem to rely on a kinetic effect when they are on the ground. I have no idea if it will do anything, but see if you can do something else with the limited magic the staves give you."
Harry thought that might be interesting to try. He could create his shield at any angle with his staff but hadn't tried to pierce the ground with the antler while channeling its magic. That also reminded him of something else.
"I need to send a letter to Erayden about Hamidreza's tooth," he told Brandt.
"I don't think we will have time for that today, just pass the letter to Professor McGonagall. She will be able to make sure it gets all the way to Africa. Let's get to our meeting now."
They exited to the street, where a few people were wandering around, and started to make their way to the Knitter Critter. They didn't see Moody or Tonks anywhere, but occasionally Lyra would wave to a passerby or stare at nothing. Both Harry and Brandt knew she was tracking their bodyguards. Since she didn't seem agitated, Harry assumed it was just Tonks and Alastor. One person tried to approach Harry but found himself frozen in place as they continued walking. When he looked back, he saw a visible Moody warning the man to stay away.
When they entered the clothing shop, Madison was dealing with another customer, but quickly passed them off to her assistant and approached them.
"It's good to see you both again, Mr. Potter and Miss Black." She looked up at Brandt, "You too, Steward Brandt."
"Hi Madison," Harry greeted her.
Whispers started walking around the shop and sniffing various garments.
"Have either of you made any progress on the Aurora wool?" she asked them.
"The children are going to start on it next weekend. Their holidays were taken up with threatening foreign governments and slaying dark creatures," Brandt said with a smirk.
"I'm sure," Madison said with a smile, though it was clear she thought he was being sarcastic. "I didn't get a good look at Whispers last time, but it's good to see that he's nearly full-grown. I won't need to make too many adjustments to his gloves."
"He's only five years old," Lyra told her.
"Not possible," Madison said flatly. "He's nearly an adult."
"We met him when he was hairless and a few months old," Lyra told her. "It's been a little over five years since then."
Madison's eyes widened, as Brandt said, "It's true, here's a picture of his father and uncle." Brandt pulled out a photo of Chief and Charlie standing next to him. Chief stood as tall as his chin and Charlie was leaning with his elbow on the steward's head.
Madison took the photo and choked at the sight of the enormous demiguises. When she was finished coughing, she looked at it again, speechless.
When she regained the power of her voice, she said, "Well, I guess there will be a lot of alterations in the future. Though now I think I'm going to tell the Auror Corps that we can go into full production for as much as they need."
"Just let me know how much you need and I will see to it that it gets delivered," Brandt told her.
"I will do that." Looking to Lyra, "Miss Black, please call over your familiar and I'll get to work. Mr. Potter, please feel free to explore the shop and see if you can evoke any other interesting properties from the garments here."
Getting a nod from Brandt, Harry began to explore the shop, while Lyra called over Whispers and instructed him to pose for Madison to measure his hands and feet.
Harry was trying to keep his eyes on Whispers and Lyra, not turning his back on them while he walked around. His little brother didn't seem to like all the measuring Madison was doing and tried to fit him with sample gloves. She had to stop every half-minute when he would growl at her or just turn invisible, which required Lyra to calm him down. When he finally stopped vanishing, Harry started to pay more attention to the garments around the room.
When Whispers was relaxed, Brandt asked Lyra, "Can you go outside and find Miss Tonks? I need to speak to her about something."
Reassuring her little brother first, Lyra peeked outside the shop and looked around, spotting a man playing chess at the cafe across the street with a boy younger than her, but a bit taller than average.
She approached the table and said, "Brandt wants to talk to you."
The man looked up and said, "What? Who are you?"
The boy frowned and said, "Can it wait a minute? I'm almost done here."
"He didn't say, just that he wanted to talk to you."
"Fine, I'll just speed this up," she advanced one of her pieces and started making motions for the man to hurry up.
Both of their decisions sped up, and the man tried to speed up his moves to match the speed at which the child in front of him was making moves. After another ten moves from each of them, the child moved his bishop across the board and announced, "Checkmate."
The man's eyes scanned the board and grunted angrily. Then, he took out two galleons, slammed them on the board, and walked away. After he had gone, the child morphed back into Nymphadora Tonks, as she waved her wand and changed her clothes back into her auror uniform. She picked up the coins and tossed them in the air, caught them, and smiled.
"Let's go see what the broody-Brandt wants."
Lyra led Tonks back into the shop after waving to a disillusioned Alastor who was standing on top of a nearby roof overlooking the entrance to the shop. Once inside, she returned to Whispers who was starting to flicker with anxiety again.
"So have you calmed down yet?" Tonks asked Brandt.
His face was grim, but said, "I'm not used to being ambushed in my own house."
"Then don't ever be a trainee for Alastor Moody. He ambushed me in my home on Thursday by disguising himself as my father and making me breakfast. I was halfway through my eggs when he stunned me. He even got my mother to go along with it. Yesterday morning I stunned both of them just to be sure, and to dissuade them from being complicit again."
Brandt chuckled at the thought of that, then straightened up again. "I wanted to ask you to pass along a message to your friend Ricki. I want to see if he would be willing to work with me on a business venture."
"You could just owl him, what's the venture?"
"I want to discuss it with him first, and I felt like it would be treated as a more genuine offer if I had you pass on the request. I'll be at Elmswood all day tomorrow if he's free then, just ask him to owl me a confirmation and time."
"I'll talk to him at the end of the day today," Tonks told him. "Do you want me to go back outside now? Lyra interrupted me while I was hustling at chess."
"You can stay if you'd like. How does Mad-Eye let you do other things when you're supposed to be on watch?"
"It's on his orders. While I'm blending in on guard duty, he gives me many locations to watch. At random times, he casts a light spell on the location, and I need to count them and report the number at each spot that the spell was cast. Every spell I miss is a stinging hex."
"That old man is crazy," Brandt commented with wide eyes.
"If he weren't the most decorated auror in the corps with the highest closure rate and arrest record, I would agree with you."
"I guess that's true," Brandt nodded and they both turned back to watch Madison start working on the measurements for Whispers's hind feet.
After a few minutes of silence, Tonks spoke up, "You know, I don't think I've ever seen or heard of a demiguise attacking someone."
"He attacked Spencer Crabbe's son on the train when the boy threatened one of Lyra's friends. However, I hadn't heard of such a thing before either. He probably would have gotten Moody too, if it weren't for that eye of his."
"It's probably all instinctual for him, though I bet if he can learn to talk, he could probably learn to fight as well."
Brandt's eyes widened at the suggestion, "I have no idea how we could even teach him such a thing. I already have way way too many things on the curriculum for the children. They have their dueling practice now, and I am going to get them started on geography, occlumency, and knife fighting." Seeing Tonks's reaction, he elaborated. "Their first tutor gave them fancy knives for Christmas presents and the Hogwarts charter allows for the possession of muggle weapons if they are trained to use them."
"Knives for gifts? Sounds like my kind of guy."
"I'm pretty sure he's not your kind of guy," Brandt said with a laugh.
"What? Why?" she pestered him, but Brandt just shook his head.
Suddenly, they were distracted by a muffled yelp from Harry across the room. Brandt rushed over to see a necktie around his neck getting smaller and cutting off his air. Harry fell to the ground and Brandt held him in place to cast a cutting charm as carefully as he could to remove the garment. Even with his precision, it still left a small mark above and below the band.
"What happened?" Madison called out as she arrived next to him. Harry was taking in large gulps of air.
Suddenly there was a large cracking and the sound of broken glass from all around them as Moody apparated directly into the shop, his wand drawn and scanning for threats.
Lyra and Whispers were fussing over Harry as caught his breath and pointed to the tie on the ground. It was silver and brown and looked like the impossible combination of chain link metal and skin.
"It was the tie," Harry coughed, then looked at Madison, "What is it?"
The proprietor picked up the broken tie and said, "It's from a chaincoil. It's a magical snake that is normally used for armor in South America. I got a hold of a single piece and thought it would look nice as a necktie." Suddenly her eyes grew very wide, "It's a constrictor, it crushes and suffocates its prey."
"It's still alive?" Tonks asked fearfully looking at some of the other animal skin garments around the room.
"No, it's dead," Harry said. "I thought it looked like armor, so I put it on and let my magic run through it… though instead of growing stronger, it started to shrink and tighten."
"I don't see any use for clothing that kills the people wearing it," Madison said flatly. "You can skip on figuring out how that one will work on its own."
Alastor still had his wand out and was scanning for additional threats. He turned his head slightly towards Harry, "I can think of a few uses for a defensive magical snakeskin that can kill people. If you find out how to use it, I'll buy it from you." Madison looked shocked, but Tonks just chuckled.
As Lyra helped Harry to his feet, Brandt asked the owner, "How much longer do you need Whispers for?"
"I just finished with the measurements, but I want to take casts of his feet, so I can chart his growth. I should have the gloves done by midweek."
With everyone settled down, Madison set up small buckets for Whispers to submerge his feet in for the castings. Alastor had shattered the shop's anti-apparation wards, which was what caused the sound of broken glass before. He was directed by the shop assistant to the wardstones to fix them.
Just as they were leaving, Harry ran back to Madison, and asked, "I had a question about Gilderoy Lockhart."
"He occasionally shops here," Madison said delicately.
"I had a question for him about his time with the yetis, and he showed me a picture of him trying on a yeti suit. I recognized it as your store." While he had been talking Lyra approached and stood next to her brother, listening.
"I was hoping for a big sale from him that day," Madison sighed. "But he just took some pictures and told me he was going to do some comparison shopping. A little over a year later, he published 'A Year with the Yetis.' He did come back and give me a signed copy though."
Harry shared a look with his sister. Both of them were a bit confused about the situation. Madison also seemed to pick up on it and narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything.
When they left, Brandt took them all back to Tangent Alley for lunch. He picked out a French restaurant, but Moody pulled Tonks away and had the two of them stand guard away across the street while disillusioned. The children ordered multiple types of escargot as appetizers and Lyra asked for one plate to be put on a barrel next to where Tonks and Moody were standing watch. The waiter looked confused at the request but complied. Every time they looked at the barrel, a few of the snails were gone from the plate.
Brandt ordered the kids and Whispers a few dishes to share, wanting them to learn about fine cuisine. They had ratatouille, blanquette de veau, bouillabaisse, filet mignon, and creme brulee for dessert. The children hadn't shown a desire to make money, so he wanted to expose them to bits and pieces of extravagance so they would have a desire for more in the future. When they were finished, they returned to Elmswood Lodge, though Moody was not allowed inside.
Looking at Harry and Lyra, Brandt said, "We are going out into Muggle London now. Make sure that nothing magical is visible. Keep your pouches and wand holsters under your coats. Do not take them out for any reason. Miss Tonks and Moody will protect us if there is any need to do so. Whispers will also need to stay here."
Whispers perked up when he heard his name, and repeated, "Ssstay Heere?"
Shaking his head a bit in disbelief, and with a smile, Brandt repeated back, "Whispers, stay here."
The silver monkey looked around and pointed towards the back of the building and asked, "Waarm wadder?"
Brandt nodded and called out, "Opal!"
The elf popped in, and her eyes were still a bit red from crying, though the hem of her uniform was repaired from where the buttons were ripped out. She looked up hesitantly at Brandt as if expecting a punishment.
"Please prepare the master bath for Whispers," he instructed her.
"Yes, Steward," she bowed and popped away.
"Lucky monkey," Tonks mumbled.
While Whispers went off to soak in a luxurious marble bathtub with steaming hot water, perfumes, and house-elf service; Brandt led Harry, Lyra, Tonks, and an invisible Moody out of Diagon Alley where they caught a cab to Piccadilly Circus.
While en route, Tonks discreetly transfigured her auror jacket to be longer and with yellow cords across the chest and stringy shoulder pads. While the driver was stopped at a traffic light, she cast a quick spell at him which made his eyes turn white for a few seconds while she turned her hair from short and red to bushy and black, with a few red and purple highlights. When his eyes changed back, he just continued driving, as normal. Brandt had no idea how Moody was following them, but Tonks wasn't worried, so he didn't bother to ask.
They were dropped off at a triangular plaza in the middle of a very busy street. Harry and Lyra hadn't been around this many people in a long time and just spun around and looked at everything from the old buildings to the enormous number of colorful advertisements covering the sides of some of the buildings. Tonks just smiled at their wonder while Brandt herded them towards a large fountain in the middle of the plaza with a statue of a winged man holding a bow perched on top.
Lyra had never seen this many people in one place before, all just bustling about. There were cars everywhere too, dodging each effortlessly without hitting each other. Everywhere she looked, there was even more going on and when she looked back at where she had been looking a second ago, everything was different than it was before. Then someone said her name loudly.
"Lyra!" Brandt got her attention. "Please try to focus."
"Sorry," she muttered, while Harry patted her on the back.
"Don't worry, if we get separated, this is where we will meet."
Brandt passed the warning vials to everyone including Tonks. They crossed the street to one of the larger buildings facing the fountain. There were signs over the top of the entrance in red and yellow.
"Kids," Tonks waved dramatically at the building, "this is Tower Records. All of your musical needs can be found here."
Brandt led them inside where they found dozens of aisles all divided up by many different sorting methods. Muggles just roamed the store, digging through the collections, oblivious to everyone else around them. They just stood there and took it all in for a minute before a young man in a black leather jacket approached Tonks.
"I'm digging the Sergeant Pepper jacket, can I help you guys out with anything?" Even though he was addressing all of them, he didn't spare a glance at anyone but Tonks.
She gave a glance towards Brandt who took a step towards the clerk, looked down at his nametag, and said, "Leo, that's a good name, named after a great lion. We're trying to expand on the music collection of the children here. They have some of their parent's old records; The Stones, Zeppelin, Beatles, and a few others, pre-1980. But then imagine that they were locked underground for the last twelve years and know nothing about any modern music since then. They could use a curated tour through anything and everything you think would be relevant."
Leo just stared at Brandt like he was from another planet, "Um, sure, dude."
Brandt reached into his pocket and flashed a billfold, "If you have the time to help, it would be appreciated, but we can always find another clerk."
His eyes widened and then smiled, "Don't worry, I've got this." He knelt a bit towards Harry and Lyra. "Hey kids, let's go check out some tunes!" He stood up and started to lead them into the aisles.
Tonks grabbed his arm and stopped him, "Only vinyl, no CDs."
"Oh... Kay," he shrugged, "You're some of those people?"
"Those people?" Brandt echoed, with an accusatory tone.
"People who think vinyl sounds better than remastered music on CD…" the man said carefully. Then getting a nod from Brandt, he guided Harry and Lyra to the vinyl section.
"You know… I wonder," Tonks started after Leo took the kids away, "how many vinyl enthusiasts are wizards and are making up excuses to avoid the new compact discs."
"At least a few," Brandt mused. "So, where'd Mad-Eye get to?"
"He's here somewhere, I can feel his eye on me."
Brandt glanced around, trying to guess which other patron was Moody in disguise. It could be anyone because he didn't need to be looking directly at them to be observing them.
"Keep an eye on the kids," Brandt told Tonks. "I need to pick up some albums for Lord Black while I'm here." He pulled a list out of his pocket and wandered into the aisles, leaving the young Auror to watch after him and the kids.
Tonks followed the clerk, Leo, and the kids at a distance. He pulled out many different albums to show them and explain the various bands as well as sing along to some of their songs. Harry and Lyra seemed to just follow him and nod along to whatever he said. While they both were very bold in some areas, they seemed to be very humble when being introduced to new things.
After Leo had a large stack of albums, he started to guide the children toward a back room. Tonks caught up and walked with them into a back room where there was a record player setup. She sat down on a couch while Leo dropped the first record on the player, Aerosmith - Greatest Hits.
Harry and Lyra sat down on the floor by the speaker as 'Dream On' started to play and Leo sat further back on the other side of the couch as Tonks.
"So, is the other guy your boyfriend or something?" he asked.
Tonks chuckled, "Nah, he works for my great uncle." She always found it funny when she told the truth about who she was, so she added, "He hired me for the day to be a bodyguard for the kids."
Leo looked at her strangely, trying to fit the puzzle pieces together in his head, then asked, "So, you're single?"
"Yeah, but as I said, I'm on the job."
"Sure," he scooted a little closer to her. "So what's your name?"
"Tonks, just Tonks."
"Like the weatherman?"
Her eyes widened. Her father was indeed a weatherman on the BBC. After her mother and father eloped, he could never find work in the wizarding world due to the combination of being a muggleborn, and the Black family making sure no one would hire him for anything else. She chuckled a moment in her head, wondering if that's where the term 'Black-balled' originated. He ended up going back to muggle university and getting a degree in meteorology, which led to being a weatherman. Ironically, that job ended up paying more than most jobs in the Ministry of Magic below a department head… even if one were to include all the payoffs most of them got.
"Actually, he's my dad," she told him.
He scooted a little closer, "So what's it like to be the daughter of a celebrity?"
"I make my own way," she saw this guy was treating her like a soft target, so she added, "I'll be a D9 officer next year."
Leo stopped his advance and almost jumped back, "You were serious about the bodyguarding?" Tonks nodded. "So it's just a side hustle while you're in the academy?" Another nod.
Leo just stared at her speechless, trying to reassess the situation he was in. Tonks smiled both in her head and on her face at the man's halted advance, though the smile in her head was bigger. She had seen the man checking her out as they had arrived at the room, but now he seemed to be examining more than just the obvious parts. She subtly adjusted her muscular structure a little larger and concealed the change with a deep breath.
Leo looked back at the kids, "So who are they?"
"Classified," Tonks said simply and stood up to change the record to a band called The Stone Roses.
Leo regained his confidence when she got back to the couch, "So how much free time do you have outside the academy?"
Tonks frowned, "Not as much as I would like. My instructor likes to surprise me at home to catch me off guard, or engage me in an impromptu sparring match in my off hours."
Leo seemed to lose the little confidence he had gained back. Tonks gave him a brief scan with Legilimency and saw that he was definitely used to being the bigger man in relationships, and flirting with a significantly stronger woman was losing its appeal, fast.
"Well, I think I'll gather some more records for these kids, I'll be back later," he walked quickly towards the door and slipped out.
With a sigh of both disappointment and relief, Tonks got up and approached the stack of records that had been gathered so far. She divided them into four piles and told Harry and Lyra, "We want to let you get as much exposure as possible, so only listen to a few songs from the top of each pile. If you like what you hear, you can take all of them and head back outside to gather more from that section."
Both of them nodded and Harry got up to take off the one they were listening to, "I don't really like this one."
Lyra snatched it from his hands, "Well, I do!"
Tonks smiled, the Britpop influence from their time before the Abbotts' party had certainly washed off on her. Leo came back with about a dozen more albums and they started listening to more. Leo kept his distance and just waited for the children to need more albums.
Nearly an hour later, it was obvious that their musical interests didn't overlap much. While they both enjoyed a lot of music from before 1970; when it came to more modern music, Harry liked more rock and hard rock and Lyra liked more pop and lyrical groups.
Instead of having Leo go out to get more, she guided both of them and pointed out the sections they would like and told them to just find a dozen or so they would like to listen to, put them in a basket and bring them back to the room to try out. They both rushed off to their respective sections with baskets to pick stuff out.
Spotting Brandt over in an obscure section for music that didn't fit in any other section, she went over to join him.
He looked up at her approach, "So, how's it going?"
She explained the situation with Leo and the different tastes of the children in music. That they were picking out things they wanted on their own now while she had instructed Leo to keep the listening room reserved for them.
Brandt approved and said, "I think I've picked out Moody, can you help me confirm?"
"Really?" Tonks looked around at the other patrons, but no one stood out.
"The clerk behind the register," he inclined his head towards a woman with a spiked jacket and a shaved head. "She went to take a break almost an hour ago, and came back with a hitch in her step."
"There's a possibility for sure, let me check," Tonks said with a smile.
She walked over to the counter and started talking to the girl in whispers, glancing back towards Brandt every so often. Then they both had a chuckle and Tonks walked back.
"Nope, not Moody," Tonks smiled. "She had a quickie with the store manager while on her break. She also thinks you're cute, but a bit too gothic for her."
"I'm too gothic for her?" Brandt asked incredulously.
"She's punk, you're gothic. Harry's got a bit of a gothic look too. Lyra looks like a posh rich girl, and I'm whatever I want to be."
Just as Brandt was about to respond the bell at the front signaled a group of new customers coming in. A gaggle of about ten girls, probably around thirteen, flooded into the store all laughing and chatting among themselves. They quickly moved their way into the back of the store where the clothing and other merchandise section was.
Brandt tracked them until they settled in, "You think Moody is one of them?"
"It would certainly be unexpected," Tonks responded.
Brandt took a look over towards Harry for a second and then said to Tonks, "Please come with me, Miss Tonks, and play along."
Intrigued, she followed him until they were near the group of girls, but in the CD section nearby. She followed his lead as he started looking through whatever the collection was in front of them.
After nearly a minute, he spoke up, louder than he needed to converse just with Tonks, "I wish there was more to do than just look after rich kids, you know? Sometimes it gets boring, especially with the ones who don't get out enough."
Tonks stared at him for a second before following suit, "I don't think it's so bad, guarding kids is a lot better than adults, they cause less trouble. What's up with the silver in his hair, though? He's only twelve."
"I wouldn't have thought so when I met him, he acts older. What twelve-year-old is that strong?"
"Probably to look after his sister," Tonks replied. "He looks out for the women in his life."
"I guess so. Probably comes with the territory, when you're an orphan," Brandt said with a somber tone.
"I guess you're right," she said, matching his tone, but glared at him to tell him she didn't approve. Brandt just gave her a tug on the finger and started walking away.
When the two of them got to the other side of the store, Brandt reached up and tapped Tonks on her ear. Suddenly she heard a multitude of other voices and he turned her to face the group of girls in the corner.
"I placed a listening charm while we were standing around," he told her.
"I didn't catch it, I hope Moody didn't see me miss it."
Just then the group of girls seemed to nominate a girl with strawberry blonde hair to go talk to Harry. She seemed a bit nervous but slinked her way closer to the hard rock section where Harry was. He didn't notice her approach as he was engrossed in reading the lyrics of the album he had open in front of him. Even though the girl couldn't hear it, Tonks and Brandt could hear her friends, through the listening charm, pushing her to talk to him and giving her encouragement.
When she was standing almost right next to him, the girl said, "I like your coat."
Harry looked up and stared at the stranger in front of him. After a second, he looked down at the black fabric and buttons and replied, "Um, thanks. This is the first time I've worn it."
They shared an awkward silence for a moment before the girl smiled and said, "I'm Liz, what's your name?"
"It's Harry," he took a half step back and extended his hand for a formal handshake.
Liz was a bit surprised but extended her hand, which Harry took and turned a bit for the more feminine grip and raised it slightly, causing the girl to giggle a bit at the formality of the action.
"Do you live around London?" she asked.
Brandt could see that Harry was having trouble figuring out an answer as he knew he wasn't supposed to talk about magic.
"I, uh, go to a boarding school in Scotland. During the breaks, my sister and I do a lot of traveling."
"That sounds like fun! My family went to France over the summer, through the Chunnel, where have you been?
Harry had no idea what 'the Chunnel' was, and hadn't been anywhere other than the island and the UK, but he had landed in a few places. It wouldn't hurt to exaggerate his travels a bit.
"Recently, we've been to Istanbul, Dubai, Nepal, and a few places in South Asia." Harry smiled smugly to himself that he sufficiently disguised their real home to the girl.
"That's so cool!" she beamed at him. Her smile made Harry shift a bit back and forth. "Do you come to London a lot?"
"A couple of times a year. We came today to get…" he paused for a moment to try to figure out how to talk about Whispers, but then just abandoned it completely, "music to play at school. What kind of music do you like?"
"I'll show you!" Liz exclaimed and grabbed Harry by the hand, giving him no choice but to follow her lead.
Liz's friends scattered as she pulled Harry over into the merchandise corner and to an upright album of posters sticking out from the wall. Liz flipped through them until she came across a poster of three boys sitting around together, with the name 'A-Ha' written across the top.
Harry stared at it and asked, "What's their music like?"
Liz thought for a moment before saying, "Some upbeat, fun… a bit soulful at times…" she stared back at the photo. "You know, you've got hair like Morton, though yours is a bit wilder, and with those streaks."
Harry reached up to his head and twisted a strand where he knew a silver streak was, remembering when Weaver first put it in his hair. He looked back up at the photo of the three older boys. Maybe he looked a bit like the middle boy with dark hair, but much younger.
"Do you want to go listen to them in the back?" Harry offered.
"What? Where?" Liz asked.
"There's a back room where my sister and I are listening to music."
Liz smiled with a bit of hesitation, "Ok…"
This time Harry took her by the hand and started to lead her back to the viny section when an adult woman stepped in front of them.
"Where do you think you're going, young lady?" she asked.
"It's ok, mum," Liz told the woman. "This is Harry, he was going to take me in the back to listen to some music."
"I don't think so," she said firmly, then turned to Harry, "You're a bit too well dressed to be a NED, but you're still not taking my daughter off somewhere by herself."
Harry had no idea what a NED was, and just stood there speechless, and a bit uncomfortable. Luckily he was saved by Brandt and Tonks who arrived up the aisle he was standing in.
"Madam, what seems to be the problem?" Brandt said, with an adversarial tone.
She seemed to compare Brandt's outfit to Harry's and then said, "This is your boy?"
Brandt gestured to himself and Tonks, "We are his escorts for today."
She raised an eyebrow at the phrase, but continued with the same firm tone, "This boy was about to take my daughter off to some dark room without my permission."
"I'm sure he meant no harm," Tonks told the woman.
"All the same, we need to be leaving now."
Liz gave her mom a pleading and embarrassed look as her mother pulled her away.
"When will you be in London again?" she called back to Harry, though he had no idea.
Tonks reached into her pocket and Harry saw a quick sparkle of magic as she pulled out a white card and approached the woman.
"If your daughter wants to write to Mr. Potter, she can send him a post here."
The woman looked at the card and squinted, "Hauge & Ward's Academy? I've never heard of it."
"It's a very exclusive school," Tonks informed her.
"Fine," she passed the card to Liz and dragged the girl away, the rest of the group of girls following after.
When Tonks got back to Harry, Brandt raised an eyebrow and said, "Hauge & Ward's Academy? I've also never heard of it."
"There's a post box in Aviemore that forwards mail to Hogwarts. It's for muggle parents and others who don't have owls," Tonks explained.
Harry tugged on Brandt's coat, "What just happened?" he asked with confusion.
"That woman didn't like you pulling her daughter around," he told Harry. "We'll need to have a talk about things like that sometime soon."
"But she dragged me around before!"
"That's different," Brandt said while Tonks rolled her eyes. "It's also possible that the woman didn't see it. Like I said though, we'll talk about it later."
Still a bit confused, Harry loaded up his basket with more records and went off to the backroom, presumably where Lyra was.
"That's not fair to Harry," Tonks said after he disappeared into the back room. "Especially after you orchestrated that whole situation."
"This isn't the time or the place to give both of them a 'Witches and Wands' lecture. Though, we need to do it soon. From what little I know about you, I bet you need time to create some grand plan for counter-indoctrination of whatever you think I'm going to tell the children."
Tonks flushed with guilt, then tried to shift her red face away, but made it purple with pink dots for a moment before it returned to normal.
"I thought so," Brandt said smugly. "Lord Black is giving you space to operate how you see fit, but there are lines, and some traditions that must be followed. I'll let you know when you cross them."
Recovering herself, Tonks asked, "Then how about we plan on giving them 'The Talk' next weekend? I'll prepare a separate one for Lyra as well."
"They have dueling in the morning on Saturday. You can come to watch them fight with Augustus Stevens, and probably some of their Slytherin friends, and we'll talk with them after."
"Oooh, I'd love to spar with Stevens," Tonks said giddily. "Maybe it would give me a leg up in my duels with Moody."
When Tonks and Brandt returned to the back room, they found Harry and Lyra having a discussion with Leo about different types of music, while sitting on the couch. Lyra jumped up and grabbed a few more albums she had picked out to show Tonks while Harry put on some louder rock from a guy called 'Ozzy Osbourne.'
When it started to get late, Leo found a cart for them to load up all of the albums they had assembled and brought them up to the front to be paid for. Brandt brought a large amount of muggle money and paid for all of them, then took a few more bills and passed them to Leo for all his help.
He smiled and took the money, putting it in his pocket, "Thank you very much, Steward Brandt, and you too, Nymphadora." He winked, his eye glowing blue for just a moment.
Both of them looked at Moody, disguised as the clerk, in shock.
Brandt held his hand out, "Give me the money back,"
"No, I earned it. I spent all day helping you out and teaching the children about music," he smirked back to Brandt.
"You were flirting with me!" Tonks said accusingly.
"That was Leo," Moody said. "I switched with him when he left the room. He's under my invisibility cloak in a closet right now. I'm going to dump the memories of the day into his head and half the tip you gave me into his pocket when we're done here. Though you should come back and talk to him sometime. While he's terrified of you, he was thinking of giving you some gigs as concert security for shows that the store sponsors."
Brandt looked down at Lyra, "You can see through glamors!"
Lyra and Harry smiled, while she said, "He asked us not to tell you."
"And you left the children alone in a dark room with a stranger that you hadn't vetted," Moody said to Tonks. "You've got a long day ahead tomorrow."
Tonks shivered.
Moody finished running up their purchase and said, "You can bring this all to the back room and call your elf to take it away. I've turned off the security cameras there… which is also something you should have done, Nymphadora."
The four of them returned to the back room and called for Opal, who took all of the records back to Elmswood to pack. When they returned to the front, Leo had a spacey look in his eyes and was staring off at the ceiling like he was half asleep. Tonks cast a non-verbal diagnostic spell to confirm that he was the real thing before they exited and took a cab back to the Leaky Cauldron.
Tom, the bartender, offered to have them eat dinner there and put on some music of their choice, but Brandt said they needed to be back at Hogwarts. They got back to Elmswood with a minimum of hassles from people wanting to talk with Harry and found Whispers lying on the couch next to a spread of fruit and fish, prepared by Opal. The elf had placed all of their purchases in a trunk near the door and was busy combing Whispers's hair while he ate.
All four of them had a good laugh at the very well-groomed demiguise who didn't even bother to get up and greet them, just turn an eye towards them in acknowledgment.
"You're welcome to stay," Brandt told Tonks. "The children will floo back to Hogwarts now, and I have some errands to run."
Lyra was busy getting Whispers ready for the next few minutes and told him quite a few times about how nice he smelled. Harry brought the trunk of music to the fireplace and seemed to be going through some kind of list in his head. After a minute he stopped and approached Brandt, who had been surveying the odd behavior.
"I wanted to ask you about something," Harry said hesitantly. "Theodore Nott gave a letter to me and Lyra from his father…" he trailed off.
"Yes, I got one as well," Brandt said with a grin. "Lord Black paid him a visit and explained to him the error of his ways, and was told that he would need to provide letters of apology to you, me, and Lyra."
"Theo said he has never apologized in his life," Harry pushed for a better answer.
"I don't know the exact details of what happened myself. However, you can compare the situation to your first meeting with Draco. Some situations can be solved with a strong word, others require a more forceful approach. While I can't be sure which happened, I can make an educated guess."
Harry understood, and asked, "Does he need us to make an amulet for Theo's father?"
Brandt considered the situation, and said, "If there was any blood, I doubt he kept any. I will ask though, for the future."
With both children ready to leave, they said goodbye to Tonks and held Whispers's hands as they took the floo back to Severus's office at Hogwarts.
FFN Response:
Guest Ch 65 - Yes, a strengthening potion would be bad for wandmakers, if the prices weren't adjusted to match. If, for example, the average wizard purchased three wands in their lifetime, then the cost of a strengthened wand should be at least the cost of three wands. It would probably be more as they could also sell the feeling of nostalgia that comes from the idea of having your first wand last forever. Then you have to factor in the possibility that only one person has the recipe and control over the protective potion. That would mean control of the market and possible hostile reaction from other established wandmakers, and collaboration from up-and-coming ones who want to disrupt control inside the industry. It's possible that existing wandmakers already have something similar and have intentionally suppressed it or have an agreement with others not to use it to keep from upsetting the market. Maybe, in a later year of school Harry can be kidnapped by a cabal of wandmakers that will threaten him to either suppress his recipe or make it so expensive that no normal person can afford it.