Hello! Sorry for a late update, been dealing with some stuff and finding motivation to keep writing. But the show must go on!
AN: Rewrote some stuff I was unhappy with, and fixed spelling errors.
Chapter 4 : Doubt comes in
"It's not letting me apparate. There must be a jinx or a ward up."
"We'll just head there on foot then." Seamus replied to Harry after letting go of his arm.
This was going to get old quick. He needed a wand, or just a focus of some sort. He could do some obscure wandless spells he picked up on his travels, and some basic charms, but beyond that he just didn't have the time or patience to master anything more complex.
Focusing his magic and intent, he waved his hand slowly over the tarp, before it vanished. With a small smile, he motioned Harry and Ron to follow him out of the alley. He wasn't THAT rusty, it seemed.
The smell of smoke assaulted his senses, as they came upon a burning vehicle around 20 meters away from the entrance of the alley. Muggles wearing various face coverings had flipped it on its side and lit it aflame. They were only in the back alley for around 15 minutes.
Chaos, ugly human chaos.
It was no-doubt the chance at anarchy that drew them here, they probably thrived in this environment. They were hollering and breaking into the businesses and apartment complexes along the street, as sparse muggle gunfire could be heard farther down towards Chippewa Square. One of the muggles holding a bat looked him straight in the eyes.
He felt a wave of magic wash over him, before the muggle turned away, disinterested.
"Thanks." He said without preamble.
He recognized the feeling of the muggle repelling charm, as he cast it so many times on himself in the past while traveling. It would help them avoid trouble as they head towards the hotel.
These muggles must not have seen the 'thing' they just dealt with. Why was it isolated, and why weren't there more? The fact that Harry didn't feel any magic at all on it was worrying. There are magical creatures, like a Husk, that can reanimate corpses to use as fleshy armor, but Harry would have sensed the magic it would have given off. None of this makes sense… Stifling the worry he felt, he focused on his current situation.
Getting to the hotel.
He checked behind him to make sure Harry and Ron were following, and they were. They both looked slightly confused and worried respectively.
As they were passing the bar they were just at a while ago, he noticed someone peeking out the window with their eyes meeting briefly before the figure retreated. If he had to guess, it was the bartender. As he was about to move on, Harry called out for them to wait before he walked over to the door and wiggled the knob, finding it locked.
"Get the fuck back! I have a gun, open that door and I'll blow your fuckin' head off!"
Harry backed away slightly, before calling back.
"It's not safe around here, you think people won't set the place on fire just for the fun of it? We saw some ugly stuff towards Chippewa Square, it's only a matter of time before it reaches here."
Silence.
Maybe best to just move on. Then, he heard some rustling behind the door.
"I live here man, ain't got family round' here for a hundred miles. I ain't leavin'."
"Let him be stubborn mate, we need to go." Ron whispered restlessly.
Harry side-eyed Ron, before calling back to the bartender.
"I'm telling you to reconsider mate, a business isn't worth losing your life over, traffic will be jammed for a long time, so you should take this chance and head out to your family early."
They were met with silence again before Ron nudged Harry to keep going. Harry gave one last look at the door before following Ron and Seamus.
Seamus was a bit surprised that he let go that easily, before he would probably unlock the door and stun him to bring him to safety. But I guess years in the Hit Department could change a person.
It was less chaotic the further they got away from Chippewa Square, yet the slight hint of panic in the air was still there. There were probably reports on the internet, and from friends and family that were detailing that this wasn't a regular riot. Shops were closed, people were walking fast or lightly jogging, traffic was fast and the emergency vehicles passing were faster.
A convoy of black armored vans and buses were passing by with the words 'SWAT' and 'RIOT CONTROL' stamped into the side. It looked like the muggle military, yet Seamus knew that they were only a level up from regular police. It seemed like the American law enforcement are WAY better equipped than the law enforcement back home.
Maybe they could handle it?
After around 10 minutes of light jogging and taking shortcuts through alleys, they finally made it to the building's entrance. The entrance was a part of a five story tall, slightly grand looking building that doubled as a muggle and magical hotel, while the entrance itself was a wall that opened up at the touch of a room renters wand.
A room renters wand.
Seamus anxiously waved his hand over the wall, and nothing happened.
"Why isn't it opening?" Ron asked with worry.
Seamus waved his hand over the wall again, but slower this time. Again, nothing. He pulled out his wand that was snapped in two and waved both pieces over the wall to no effect.
Ron, sensing the growing problem, started panicking and started banging his fists onto the wall.
"Open up! We need to get in!"
Harry walked up to the wall and laid his hand on it, focusing on the magic. He felt something… It felt like, worry? No, he recognized the feeling. It wasn't broken, or jinxed.
"Ron, stop. The emergency wards are up." Said Harry, stopping the banging in its place.
"Emergency wards? We were just here this morning! We have a bloody room upstairs!" Ron said incredulously.
Harry didn't have to read his mind to know that he was most likely worried about Hermione and his family. He grabbed Ron by the shoulders and channeled a low power stinging jinx into both his hands, a technique he was taught to deal with people at the start of a panic attack. The shock and pain was meant to bring the panicking person abruptly out of their thoughts and line of thinking.
It worked.
"I know you're worried about Hermione, and your family, but panicking won't help our situation." Harry said, satisfied that the panicked look was wiped off his face instantly, to be replaced with mild shock.
"I wasn't panicking." Ron said defensively, a little calmer, after the pain from the jinx subsided.
Ignoring what Ron said, he continued.
"Hermione is a formidable witch, and your family are no slouches either. We all lived through a war, and they know how to deal with emergencies better than most. They'll be fine, Ron."
Harry said the last bit while making solid eye contact, to drive the point home.
Seamus was also starting to panic, but hearing what Harry just said, calmed his nerves.
Letting go of Ron, he started speaking aloud to himself, satisfied that Ron calmed down.
"There are Anti-Apparition wards up, but we knew that. We identified that the emergency wards are the cause for it, but what caused the wards to trigger? Either it was manual or lethal spells were detected on the premises."
Ron and Seamus didn't like where this was going,
"You don't think… 'They' are somehow up there?" Ron said with his finger pointing loosely towards the top of the building.
"It's a possibility." Harry replied grimly.
"The wards should have triggered an Auror response, so either they are in there right now dealing with whatever is going on up there, or all the Aurors are busy dealing with other… 'things'." Seamus added helpfully.
"... Now what?" Ron asked no one in particular.
