The beginning of the HP crossover. Very slow build up but action expected by chapter six or seven.
Chapter Four: Diagon Alley
Pain. Agony. Bright blue light. Coalescing electricity, numbing his veins and spasm the muscles. Terrible.
Then it was gone. Scott lay on his back in the middle of an empty London street, gasping for breath, every bone in his body shaking in torment. He blearily looked up to see Nate standing over him hands on his hips.
"H-how d-d-did y-you …" Scott tried to form words but he couldn't quite make his jaw work. Nate snorted and gave him a superior smirk.
"Third time through didn't hurt as much. Guess I'm getting used to it." He said. Scott's only reply was a middle finger.
"You got ten seconds to get up or I'm carrying you. We gotta go." Nate told him. He walked over and casually leaned up against a light post, looking first one direction and then the next. As Nate kept watch Scott tried to pull himself together. He was up on his feet in time, though he staggered a bit as he picked up the fifty pound world-shifter and closed the Samsonite container around it.
"Where to?" Nate asked. His eyes seemed to rove everywhere at once. Shakily Scott turned around to view his surroundings. He purposefully located their shift point to outside of the Leaky Cauldron, yet he couldn't see the damn place.
"Well shit." Scott cursed under his breath as he surveyed the endless string of buildings.
"What?" Nate asked, switching his gaze back to his brother.
"Well it appears we can't see magical buildings because we don't have magic ourselves. I should've remembered that."
"The fuck you say?" Nat shook his had and walked down the street cursing with every step. "What does the place look like?" He called.
"A run down pub," Scott yelled back. Nate was by his side in a heartbeat.
"Oh we just got turned around, the bar's over there," Nate said as he pointed at the dilapidated structure. Scott followed his arm and saw the pub. The building looked older than the other structures on the street, and it had a construction that looked to be out of the Victorian era. There was a very small sign hanging off a pole at the top of the door.
The Leaky Cauldron.
"How the hell did you find that?" Scott blurted out. He double checked to make sure his bags were in place before hefting the Samsonite container with their precious device.
"It's instinct. I know how to find bars. There's eight of them on this street. Though this one looks to be more of a hole in the wall," Nate told him as the pair made their way to the door. Scott calmly walked inside and stopped in the small atrium. He looked around at the pub tables and sighed as he saw only two robed patrons slumped over drinks. The far back wall was dominated by a massive bar that ran the length of the room. Tom the bartender, a rather skinny man stood cleaning glasses with a dirty rag.
Scott scooted aside and let Nate slip in behind him. Nate let out a soft whistle as he viewed the place.
"Now this is a bar I want to drunk in!" He said excitedly.
"Not now. We don't have the money anyway. Let's just get our enchantments and shift back for the rest of our gear. You can drink all you want when we're finished here." Scott told him. His eyes never left the bar. He finally glanced at Nate and did a double take.
The big man had the carrying straps of both the ALICE pack as well as the army duffel bag in his right hand. The metal pack frame for the ALICE was still attached to the bag, which was strange as Nate didn't keep the thing clipped onto his back. For that matter Nate looked like he was favoring his left side more than his right.
"What the fuck?" Scott asked, forgetting to keep his voice down. Nate spun to look at his brother. Scott put down the Samonite container and prodded Nate's left shoulder with hi hand. The wince and grimace from Nate's face was all Scott needed.
"You've been shot! When the fuck we're you going to tell me you were shot?"
Nate leaned away from his brother. Scott was scarier than all of DARPA when he was riled up.
"No the best place to have this conversation. It's an old wound.
I wasn't entirely bulletproof when I got out of Russia. The shift aggravated it a bit. Let's just get this thing done." Nate whispered to him.
After realizing where he was Scott continued on to Tom's bar without a glance back. He knew they brought the attention of all the eyes in the pub. At that moment, Scot didn't care. As far as he was concerned his idiot brother was proving his stupidity again.
"Tom? You're name is Tom correct?" Scott asked as politely as he could. The skinny bartender looked and one brother and then the other. His eyes flicked warily towards the exits. Scott and Nate both caught the looked and internally approved.
"Yes it is," Tom said. His right hand disappeared below the rim of the bar.
"Sorry to bother you this fine morning. I'm Scott Craig, this is my brother Nate, we're both taking leave here in London." Scott smoothly lied. Nate cut in perfectly.
"Rammstein AFB in Germany is not the best place to go on duty." He said. Scott nearly didn't succeed at keeping a straight face.
"Right, anyway my daughter received a letter of invitation for some magic school called Hogwarts. Since we were both out on deployment my wife thought it safe to hold Sasha back until Nat and I could check things out. So we were told to come to this pub and buy school supplies from some shopping district call diagonal alley."
"Diagon Alley," Tom cut in. His ease and manner relaxed slowly until he seemed at ease in front of the two men. His eyes looked thoughtful as he walked around the bar and shook both men's hands.
"You're muggles I'm guessing?" He asked. Scott feigned ignorance.
"Muggles?
"Non-magical people. Your daughter, Sasha was it? Yes, she is the first muggleborn witch of your line. You should expect more of the same. Rather unusual you would wait this long in the year to come by," Tom explained. Some of his tense suspicion was back, but Scott easily redirected it.
"As I said, both Nate and I were out on deployment. We both serve in the American military. This is the first time we could both be out on leave. My wife is going to re-enroll Sasha for next year."
Tom nodded and smiled broadly. He gestured to the rest of the pub. All the stares were back to drinks, and no one seemed to pay them any mind. In this world no one cared about muggles.
"Well then welcome to the Leaky Cauldron. This is your entrance and exit for Diagon Alley. If you will follow me," Tom led them to the very back where he tapped an easy combination with his wand on the back wall. Nate and Scott memorized the order of the bricks. They thanked Tom several times before facing the new street.
"This is like Disney world, only more real." Nate breathed. Scott could only nod as he looked at the medieval cobblestone pathways and the small but eccentric stores. Few people were shopping at this time of day, but Scott could see the traffic would pick up soon.
"Since when have you been to Disney World?" Scott asked. He slowly made the way towards the back of the Alley, where he knew the goblin bank resided.
"Lots of young high school girls at Disney World," Nate explained. He had a nasty grin on his face. Scott shook his head.
"By the way, whose Sasha?" Nate asked. Scott laughed.
"Name I gave my FAL,"Scott told him. His mind was already thinking about the big black assault rifle he left in his own universe.
Gringotts bank was a massive white limestone structure that looked like it was melded with the Earth at it's foundations. The walls were smooth and shear, stretching high to overlook most of the alley. Easily, it was the tallest structure on the street. There were four ornate limestone columns leading up to the main doorway. The dark brown wood doors clashed sharply with the white walls of the bank.
"Impressive," Scott said to himself. He felt Nate nod next to him. They approached the doors and immediately noticed the two guards standing smartly at attention. This was their first ugly look at a non human race. The goblins were about four feet tall a piece, with faces that bore a strong resemblance to a pig's head. Their arms and bodies were covered in a thick layer of muscles. They wore a thick metal armor on their chests and carried wickedly sharp spears.
The two goblin guards gave Scott and Nate the same glance over. The four warriors summed themselves up and there were slight nods all around. Though the goblins looked a bit more fearsome in their smiles. Nate and Scott marched past and pushed open the doors.
The inside of the bank surprised the both of them. The goblins seemed to take after the muggle way of efficiency. There was a long line of teller boots with several desks and chairs laid out for private business transactions. The only difference in the Goblin bank over the muggle one was a cash a currency transaction booth along the back wall. That and there were train cars waiting on a track that disappeared into the bowels of the bank, what Scott knew to be the deep vault tunnels. Scott led Nate over to the currency transaction booth.
"Yes sirs, how may I help you?" The goblin teller grated out. The voice was bored, yet still had a hard edge to it. Scott smiled thinly.
"What's the exchange rate for dollars into galleons?" He asked.
"Ten to one." Scott promptly slid over five thousand in cash. What happened next impressed him. The goblin snatched up the money, and in a span of a minute had it all counted and sorted into different bill stacks. The teller picked up a silver pouch, counted five hundred gold coins into it and handed the pouch over. Scott knew immediately the pouch had been enchanted for weightlessness, and the size was too small for the amount inside. He gave the pouch to Nate for safe keeping. Their eyes met briefly, and Nate seemed to notice the same thing.
"What is your exchange rate for unique currencies?" Scott then asked the teller in a lower tone. The goblin's eyes never changed though his eyebrow rose a fraction.
"Unique?" The goblin rasped. Scott detected an intrigued quality to the voice. He nodded and fished out his ten rough cut diamonds.
"Black market?" Scott asked as he handed over the diamonds. The goblin did not conceal his surprise. He scrutinized the stones in his hand, then turned his gaze on the brothers. They held him steady and did not flinch. This was a test, it was obvious enough.
A small jewelers magnifying glass came out from under the desk. The teller spent several minutes looking at each diamond. He made not a single sound nor any gestures to give away his contemplation. Scott and Nate waited patiently. Finally the goblin set the last diamond on the counter.
"One hundred galleons per stone," The goblin said quietly. Scott suspected immediately it was a low ball figure. He worked up the amount in his head before nodding to the goblin.
The creature looked at him in surprise for not demanding more. He swiftly raked the diamonds out of sight and handed over another pouch loaded with a thousand galleons.
"Will that be all sirs?" The goblin asked, respect now under toning his voice. Scott nodded.
"Yes, I noticed these money pouches are weightless. They also seem to hold more than normal. Is there a vendor in this Alley who can provide quality enchantments like these on our bags? We are more than willing to offer top dol-galleon for their services." Scott explained.
The goblin was silent for a very long time. His eyes flicked from Scott to Nate and then back to Scott again. Finally he spoke.
"Zane's shop in Knockturn Alley. Ask the Spider hag for Zane. She'll point you the way."
"Thank you." Scott said politely. He and Nate exited the bank. The goblin teller continued to watched them as they left.
BTW For any service members or like family reading this fic. I truly admire and deeply respect your service to our country. So that little snip at Rammstein AFB was for the story alone, not for any personal ideas. If you hadn't figured it out by now, I am very pro military. The only reason I did not join myself was I love civilian life a bit too much.
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