A/N: Again, reviews are always appreciated. I really do like to hear from everyone and I can already say that two or three reviews have changed parts of this story. Your opinion makes a difference!
Also, you should read my other Harry Potter series, which I plan on finishing off soon! The link here is for The Hammer of Thor, the fourth and final entry in the series. These stories start at the very beginning of my FanFiction writing and therefore, the earlier ones tend to be a bit weak but I really still like them. Please read them and let me know what you think!
s/7642063/1/Mjolnir_Harry_Potter_and_the_Hammer_of_Thor
(For whatever reason, it won't let me put the full link in. Therefore, if you put / in front of the link above, you'll be able to get to it.)
March 12, 2004
8:13 AM
The Atrium
Two days after his meeting with Arthur, Harry decided he was no longer hiding from the world. So, he walked right in the front entrance. After he got through security, he marched straight through The Atrium towards his office. The Daily Prophet had run the letter from Arthur the night before and so Harry had a sneaking suspicion that everyone would be on the lookout for him.
He was right. Just as he got about halfway through The Atrium, he started hearing shouts.
"Harry! Mr. Potter! Mr. Potter! Mr. Potter! Harry!"
Harry turned to see a small wave of international reporters flocking towards him. Harry stopped in place, knowing that he would have to do this eventually. He turned back to the reporters and gathered himself.
"Good morning, everyone. I thought I would see you here."
"Mr. Potter, Jean Hanson for Wizards' News New York, where have you been for all these years?"
"I've spent most of the last few years living quietly in various towns in North America. For the last 18 months or so, I've had a permanent residence in Barrow, AK."
"Mr. Potter, Justin Hoffman, Daily Prophet, what are you doing back?"
"As a favor to the Minister, I have been assigned as a Special Investigator into The Jester. Hopefully, we will be able to find her and stop her very soon. Now, I do have to get going, I can take one more question."
"Harry, what have you been up to with Cho Chang since you got back?"
Harry looked to the back of the crowd to see the identity of the one who asked the question was none other than Parvati Patil standing there, quill in hand.
"Parvati, good to see you." Harry said with a grin. "Due to some previous circumstances, I don't have a place to live just yet and so I've been staying with Cho until I get on my feet. Now, I must really be on my way. Thanks for your time everyone."
Harry waited until the crowd dispersed a little before calling out.
"Parvati!"
Instantly, she turned around and walked back to Harry. She looked fantastic, dressed in a canary yellow dress with matching heels covered in a purple cloak. It was definitely a good look for her.
"Parvati, you look amazing." Harry said, suddenly enjoying himself. "How have you been?"
"Oh, you know." she said shortly with a giggle very reminiscent of the ones that used to echo through the Gryffindor Common Room.
"I don't know if anyone has told you, but I don't actually know. Something about hiding from the world." Harry grinned.
"Right." she said softly. "Well, I'm working part-time as a gossip columnist for The Prophet which means that for me, your return is a godsend. Then, I'm also interning with the Department of International Cooperation."
"Very nice. Any men in your life?" Harry asked.
"Yes, actually. Michael and I have been married for just over a year now."
"Michael? Do I know him?"
"Michael Corner. My name is Parvati Patil-Corner now." Parvati said surprisingly.
"Wow! Michael Corner? No way." Harry said in shock. "Well, I'm happy for you."
"Thanks, Harry. You should come by some time."
"I may have to consider it but for right now, I have to go to work."
"Go save the world again, Harry." she said as she turned on the spot and walked out.
As Harry finished watching her go, he turned and walked to his office. What he found there was astounding.
"Cho? What are you doing here?" Harry asked as he saw his current temporary roommate sitting at his desk.
"Well, I didn't have a job and so Hermione had spent the last day or so looking for something for someone of my qualifications."
"And?" Harry asked, not sure he was liking where this was going to go.
"I am now a Goodwill Ambassador to the World." Cho said excitedly. "That means that wherever you go on your search for her, I can go with you and get you access to files and things that you had never dreamed of."
Harry had been worried that something like this was going to happen. Hermione and Arthur had to be worried that Harry was going to take off again. Therefore, they assigned him a partner, something they knew he would hate, in order to ensure that he would come back. It was aggravating and meddlesome from the both of them. However, he could also see the politics involved here and understand that if Harry took off, only a few days after promising the wizarding world that he was back, both Arthur and Hermione would probably lose their jobs.
Plus, the fact that it was Cho definitely made it better.
"Fine." Harry said begrudgingly. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning. Early. We will be taking brooms. Part of me is very worried that Azoli still has some connection to the Russian Ministry. If we show up unannounced, then they wouldn't have time to warn her."
"You really are paranoid aren't you?" Cho asked him.
"You have no idea." Harry replied as he took the seat at his desk.
"What happens when we get there and they give us everything?" Cho asked. "It is possible that they want her gone as much as we do."
"I know." Harry replied honestly. "If that happens, then we can Floo back."
"Would you ever admit you were wrong?"
"Not likely." Harry answered her. "What kind of broom do you fly?"
"Your model."
"Great." Harry grumbled.
After the lawsuit, Harry had done everything he could have done to stay solvent. That included commissioning a biography that he didn't want written and sponsoring a new broom that he didn't really believe in. The Nimbus Company, makers of his first broom, called him and asked him to sponsor their new broom, which would be renamed after him. When they told him they would pay him 30,000 Galleons, he simply asked where to sign.
The only problem with all of this was the quality of the broom. They wouldn't allow Harry to ride the broom before he signed the contract, something that should have been a warning to Harry. However, 30,000 Galleons overrode that warning signal. But, when he finally did get a change to fly it, he was sorely disappointed. The top speed was significantly slower than his Firebolt had been and he noticed that it tended to fishtail out of tight turns. However, the most disappointing aspect was that in a steep dive, it started to vibrate uncontrollably. When he talked to the broommakers about it, they said it was a safety feature to keep young, inexperienced fliers from trying something they can't do.
Harry internally thought that they had a Seeker sponsoring a broom made for Keepers.
What really burned Harry is that two months after the Nimbus HP came out, Firebolt Inc. came out with a stunning new broom. When Ron bought one with his Auror salary, Harry took it out for a test flight. The Lightning Bolt, as their broom was called, was phenomenal with a faster top speed, better banking and the smoothest ride Harry could remember.
In disgust and drunkenness, Harry tore up his contract with Nimbus and was forced to return 24,000 Galleons. Harry did so gladly. He always told himself that unless Firebolt came calling, he was done sponsoring brooms.
At this point in time, the Nimbus HP was a collectors item because so few of them were actually made. Only 500 were made worldwide in the two months they were on the market. Cho Chang apparently had a thing for collector items.
"What? I like the broom." Cho replied.
"Yeah, because you flew a Cleansweep and then that." Harry replied. "If you'd flown a Firebolt, you would have never touched that thing."
"Well what are you getting?" Cho asked.
"Well, I believe that Firebolt just put out a new broom, right?"
"Yeah, The Thunderbolt."
"That's what I'm getting." Harry replied.
"That broom cost 12,000 Galleons!" Cho replied. "That's one month's salary!"
"Yeah. But if you just got nearly one million Galleons, you can afford it." Harry said with a smile.
8:43 PM
As Harry was finally closing up in his office, long after Cho had gone home, he heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." Harry replied curiously.
The door opened and Ron and Hermione stepped inside.
"Hey." Harry said softly.
"Mate, we're going to go out for some drinks." Ron said nervously. "Want to come?"
"Who else is coming?" Harry asked.
"No one." Hermione replied. "Just us."
Harry wasn't sure that he really wanted to spend any time alone with either Ron or Hermione right now, especially Hermione. While he was working on forgiving them for everything, he didn't want to feel pressured into doing so. However, he could tell that they were nervous just to ask him and Harry thought that it couldn't hurt to try just once.
"Where are we going?"
"There's a new place down on Oxford that Ginny and Dean went to last week. They said it's a fun place."
"Alright." Harry replied. "Can I meet you at the Cauldron in twenty minutes? I just want to finish up some stuff here."
"Sounds good, mate." Ron replied as he opened the door and escorted Hermione out.
The moment they were out, Harry stood up and began tidying up his desk. Once he was done with that, he stepped out into the hallway, locking the door behind him and then Apparating in one motion.
Moments later, Harry landed in Cho's living room. He noticed that she wasn't in the living room and so he began to wander around the apartment looking for her. Harry knew that the list of places she could be wasn't large. Her apartment was four rooms: living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. When he saw that she wasn't in the living room or kitchen, he made his way to the bedroom. Unfortunately, she wasn't there either.
That meant that she had either gone out and he wouldn't be able to find her or she was in the bathroom. So, Harry quickly strode across the room and knocked on the door. Sure enough, he heard a massive crash come from behind the door.
"What the hell? Who is it?" Cho screamed from behind the door.
"Who else would it be?" Harry chuckled.
"I'm not sure." Cho responded. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Last time I checked, I was inviting you to go to drinks with Ron and Hermione tonight."
Suddenly, Harry heard a ruckus and Cho opened the door just enough to stick her head out. Her hair was up in a towel and she appeared to only be wearing a fluffy purple robe.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
"Ron and Hermione wanted me to go out with them this evening. I don't want to go alone and so I wanted to know if you'll come with me." Harry said simply.
"Harry Potter, are you asking me out on a date?" Cho said with a grin.
"Sort of." Harry said softly. "I don't want to go by myself."
"Why me?"
"Excuse me?"
"I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there to ask. Why would you ask me?" Cho said as she opened the door and stepped directly in front of him. Suddenly, Harry noticed that her robe hardly covered any of her legs and he found it very difficult to concentrate on the question she had asked.
"In case you hadn't noticed," Harry said, refocusing himself. "I'm not exactly big into meeting lots of people that I don't know or spending time with people I don't know."
"I did notice." Cho said with a wry grin.
"So will you stop making a big deal about this and just come with me?" Harry asked in frustration.
"Of course." Cho said, chuckling. "Just let me finish getting ready and we'll be gone."
After twenty minutes of getting dressed and then another twenty minutes of consistently returning to her mirror to check her hair, Cho was finally ready. Harry quickly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close, Apparating out of her apartment and into the Leaky Cauldron.
The moment they landed, Cho broke apart from Harry, giving him a dirty look.
"Harry, I have to say that I hate it when you do that." Cho said, referring to his recent trend of Apparating the two of them without warning.
"You'll get over it." Harry said as he turned to see Ron and Hermione in the corner booth. Seated next to them was Ginny and Dean. Harry really wasn't sure if he was ready for this and nearly turned to leave before he felt Cho grabbed his arm and pull him into a hug.
"You walk out that door and you're giving up on having a normal life." she whispered softly in his ear.
"Any chance I had for having a normal life walked out the door on Halloween two decades ago."
"Not true. You take down The Jester and whoever she is working for and it's all over." she replied. "You can retire back to wherever you want to. Maybe you can go play for the Cannons or something."
Harry pulled back and looked Cho directly in the eyes. Her eyes were a beautiful brown that Harry felt that he had never fully appreciated before. He pulled her back in and kissed her directly on the forehead before embracing her tightly.
Several moments passed before either of them let go. Harry looked directly at her again.
"That may have been the best thing that anyone has ever said to me." Harry said. "A lot of people have said that I shouldn't do what I do, that I shouldn't be so interested in saving people. However, none of them ever suggested anything other than being a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher or an Auror. It's nice to not be pegged into that hole."
"Not a problem, Harry." Cho said with a grin. "Now, we probably should go over to your friends."
"Probably." Harry said as he suddenly took Cho's hand in his and pulled her over towards the corner booth. As they approached, everyone at the table stood up.
"About time. Thought we were going to have to leave without you." Ron said as he slapped Harry on the back.
"Nah. I just had to wait for Cho to finish drying her hair for the thirteenth time." Harry said softly.
"It was only six and it was for a good reason!" Cho shot back.
"I know it was." Harry said with a smile.
"Now, let's get moving. It's a ten minute walk to the bar." Hermione said as she led the out of The Leaky Cauldron and onto the streets.
Harry waited for Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Dean to move passed them before he and Cho followed them out. As they marched down the streets, everyone else, including Cho, was involved in some kind of conversation. Meanwhile, Harry simply thought about all that had changed.
Ron and Hermione were married but struggling. Harry could see it. The spark was still there, but just barely. Harry knew that Hermione only lived at home on weekends right now. They needed to figure things out soon or Harry feared that they would go further down the road to divorce than they had the first time.
Just behind them was Dean and Ginny. Ginny had been right the other night. Harry noticed that Dean didn't seem particularly interested in being there and that he was paying more attention to the other women walking down the street than he was to his date.
Then, there was Harry and Cho. What were they? Harry definitely didn't feel like he would be ready for any kind of relationship but regardless of that, he could definitely feel that there was interest in both parties. She hadn't been a part of his life for so long and so she didn't remind him of the horrible things that had happened after the Battle of Hogwarts.
Also, she didn't seem to treat him like anything other than Harry. She wasn't afraid of him, didn't suck up to him and didn't particularly care if her opinion was different from his as long as she didn't intentionally offend him. The fact that earlier in the day she had basically said to him that he didn't have a choice and that she was coming with him reminded him of Hermione and Ron prior to the war, when he had told them he wasn't going back to Hogwarts.
Back when he noticed that his thinking had slowly shifted from all about Ginny to half Ginny-half Hermione. After Ron had left and Hermione had stuck with him, his appreciation for everything that she had done for him skyrocketed. Then, when everything had been over, he couldn't stop thinking about it.
As Ginny continued to treat him as someone to be glorified, Hermione had treated him exactly like she always had. For that reason alone, he broke up with Ginny, knowing that even if he couldn't be with Hermione, he couldn't be with someone who had treated him like she did.
Most of the reason that Harry felt as betrayed as he did about Hermione's testimony was necessarily what she said. It was the implication. Up to that point, Harry had twice left Grimmauld Place to tell Hermione to leave Ron to be with him. He was willing to give up everything, his friendship with Ron and the Weasleys, his job and his money to be with Hermione.
Both times, he had gotten to within two blocks of Hermione's apartment before turning back home.
Then, she betrayed him. Even though Harry had gotten over what she said, it was the fact that she said it that still had him burning up inside. It killed his love for her. Not only did not love her, he wasn't even sure that he liked her. As it was, being in her presence now was incredibly difficult. All he wanted to do was curse her and be angry with her.
But something in his heart, the part of him that loved her, keeps him in control.
"Harry?...Harry?"
Suddenly, Harry snapped out of his funk and noticed that Cho had been talking to him.
"Did you hear anything I said?"
All Harry could do was sadly shake his head. Suddenly, she stopped the two of them, just a block from the club they were going to.
"We'll catch up." she shouted to the other group before turning back to Harry. "What's wrong?"
"It's too much." Harry said sadly. "It's too much and too soon. Seeing everyone here, having a good time, acting like nothing's wrong. It's all too familiar to me."
"What do you mean?" Cho asked with a concerned look on her face.
"During the war, even before He came back, we had the Yule Ball. Then, you and I dated. Then, Ginny and I dated and Ron dated Lavender. We celebrated winning House points and Quidditch Cups."
"That's what people do, Harry. You have to learn to live with the bad by celebrating the good."
"No." Harry said softly. "We were just diluting ourselves into thinking we could avoid. I keep telling myself: "We were kids. How could we have known any better?." Then, I realize that we knew. We knew all along what was eventually going to happen. Yet, we looked passed it and did everything we could to ignore that it was going to happen."
"We had to, Harry. Otherwise, we would have gone insane."
"No. You could have. You could have ignored it and pretended that it wasn't going to happen. But I couldn't. I shouldn't have. All I wanted was a normal life. So, I dated, I played Quidditch. That's all we're doing right now: playing Quidditch. We're ignoring the fact that we should be out there stopping her."
"We aren't ignoring it." Cho replied defiantly. "All of us know that she's out there. But, we have to take a break sometime. Otherwise, we'll go mad."
"You may be able to take a break." Harry shot back. "The world hasn't rested on your shoulders since you were born."
"You're right." Cho answered softly. "But the world doesn't sit on your shoulders alone, Harry. There are others here that will help you. If you let us."
"Why would I let you? Every time someone helps me, they die."
"Ron and Hermione are still here."
"They got lucky." Harry muttered under his breath.
"No, Harry. They were protected by the best wizard in the world."
"Dumbledore wasn't there."
"No." Cho said quietly. "You were."
"Cho, you can't be serious. They nearly died numerous times because of me."
"And yet, they didn't because of you. You were there to protect them."
"Hermione kept us alive." Harry replied shortly. "I was useless. I couldn't think of anything other than the Hallows."
"You were right though. The Hallows were what you needed."
"Maybe I wouldn't have needed the Hallows if I had taken things more seriously." Harry said glumly.
"What do you mean?"
"We were all hiding from the truth. Even before the war, we had the Yule Ball. I dated you and then Ginny. Ron dated Lavender. Everyone dated everyone, not thinking about what was going on in the real world. Hogwarts kept us back. It kept us sheltered from the world and we relished the fact that we were hidden from it. What I should have done was leave school and go train on my own."
Cho seemed to be thinking about something. What she could be thinking about, Harry couldn't know. He knew that he was right. After all this time, he finally figured out what had been wrong and why Hogwarts had been the last place he had seen before he left the last time. It had been a sanctuary, protecting him from the world at large.
"It didn't keep you hidden." Cho replied.
"How can you say that? Voldemort was out there and I was inside, protected by hundreds of students and teachers and the one man that He was afraid of."
"Yes, but just because you were protected from Voldemort didn't mean that you were protected from danger."
"Of course I was!" Harry shouted.
"Really? How did you get the Sorcerer's Stone? Or get into the Chamber of Secrets?"
"I was protecting the school." Harry said shortly. "Simple as that."
Suddenly, Harry saw the look on Cho's face change. It went from a look of frustration to one of understanding.
"You weren't protecting the school."
"Of course I was! What else was I doing?"
"That's not what I mean." Cho said with a giggle. "Of course you were protecting the school but it wasn't just that. You were training."
"Excuse me?" Harry asked. Obviously she couldn't mean that.
"Who was the one person that always knew what was going on inside the school?"
"Mrs. Norris." Harry laughed.
"Well, other than her." Cho replied, rolling her eyes.
"Dumbledore, of course."
"Dumbledore. You mean to tell me that for a teacher that knew that you were a Horcrux and largely had everything figured out beforehand didn't know that the school was in danger?"
"Dumbledore always told me that he trusted people too much." Harry said softly. "Maybe he just always thought that things were going to get better."
"Harry, that's bull and you know it. He fought the Ministry because he knew that what they were doing was wrong and he knew that the world was going to get worse before it got better. That same man wouldn't know when a teacher wasn't who he said he was."
"Moody? That was fairly convincing." Harry said with a smile.
"Harry, I think that Dumbledore knew exactly what was going on and chose to do nothing. He knew about the Prophecy and he knew that without experience in dealing with life or death situations, you wouldn't have been able to deal with the world that you were going to have to save."
"Well then why couldn't he have been more obvious about it? If he was training me to be a soldier, why couldn't he have just told me? I would have walked into that Forest anyway!"
"Think about everyone around you, Harry. Would you have let them come with you, knowing what know now? You wouldn't have. You would have taken off into the night and never seen any of them again. There's only one problem with that. You needed them. You needed them in order to succeed."
"I did." Harry admitted. "I still do."
"Your friends are important to you, Harry. They always have been. Dumbledore knew that while you would be the one to destroy Voldemort, you would need help. So, he hid things from you. He allowed you to step into more dangerous situations than we can count because they would prepare you for the moment you needed to kill him. He was training you for six years for that one moment and he was training your friends for the one moment when they were needed most."
The thought that Dumbledore had known how much his friends would mean to him was both insane and incredibly plausible. He knew that he needed them and that without them, he would have failed everyone.
Suddenly, Harry grabbed Cho and pulled her into a hug. While she had only been back in his life for a few months, he felt that because of how much everything had changed, she was the one who knew him best.
"Thank you." he whispered in her ear. "You are right. I need this."
"I know you do." she replied softly as she let go.
Harry took her hand and they walked the rest of the way to the bar to join Harry's friends.
The friends that Dumbledore had trained to be there for him, no matter what.
March 13, 2004
12:48 AM
After several hours of sitting and socializing, Harry stepped out of the club to get some air. He had been having a good time that much was certain. However, he noticed the constant looks from Ginny towards both him and Cho and it was unnerving him. What was he supposed to do? He didn't want to simply play a fifth wheel to their car and he wanted to bring someone he was comfortable with. Right now, Cho was the only person that fit that description.
Harry heard the door open behind him and instantly spoke up.
"Listen, I don't want to talk about it right now."
"Mate, I just came out for some air." Dean said as he stepped up next to him.
"Oh." Harry replied shortly. He had definitely thought it was Ginny and he really did not want to talk to her. Not that Dean was his first choice either.
"Listen, Harry, I know I'll never compete with you, bu-"
"You shouldn't have to, Dean." Harry interrupted. "I don't want to be with Ginny anymore. It has nothing to do with her and everything to do with me. If you feel like you need to compete with me, then you need to talk to her."
Dean nodded his head slowly before turning around and heading back inside. Harry stood outside alone for a moment longer before the door opened again.
"Can I help you, Dean?"
"You can shut the hell up and come back inside."
Harry turned around to see Cho standing in the doorway. She was holding another full beer and appeared to be rather tipsy. Harry had never been much into drinking and was moving much slower than Cho had been.
"I think you need to go home." Harry replied with a grin.
"I think you need to shut the hell up and come back inside." Cho said as she attempted to step out into the street.
As she did, she tripped on the doorframe, slowly falling to the ground. Luckily, Harry dropped to his knees and caught her suddenly before she could hit the pavement.
"I think you need to go home." Harry said with a chuckle. "What do you think?"
"Probably." Cho slurred in reply.
Harry helped Cho to her feet before turning to one of the wizards who had been standing outside the all-wizard club, acting as security to ensure that no Muggles entered the magic club.
"Can you watch her for a second?" Harry asked. "I'm going to run inside and go grab her stuff."
"Sure." the guard said stoically.
Once he got the guard's confirmation, Harry tore the door open and ran back inside to the table in the far corner that his friends had occupied all night. As he approached the table, Harry noticed that Ginny and Dean were out on the dance floor. That certainly made saying goodbye easier. Ron and Hermione were seated at the table but they were deep in a conversation that Harry desperately wanted not to interrupt. However, in order to get Cho's stuff, she would have to.
Breathing deeply, Harry dove in and grabbed Cho's purse, grabbing Ron and Hermione's attention instantly.
"What's happening, mate?" Ron asked, breaking from his conversation with Hermione.
"Cho is falling all over the place outside." Harry laughed. "I'm going to call it a night and make sure she gets home safely."
"You sure? We can call a cab or The Knight Bus." Hermione asked.
"Yeah. We have to get up early tomorrow and fly to Moscow anyway."
"I can't believe you are going to fly to Moscow." Ron replied, shaking his head. "That's so far."
"Has to be done. There's really no other way."
"Sure there is. You could not be a paranoid maniac." Ron shot back with a drunken grin.
"That is true." Harry replied with one of the first real laughs he could remember since he got back. "I will see you when I get back."
"Bye." came the unison reply of the married couple as Harry turned and trekked back across the room and out the front door.
The moment Harry walked out the door, something jumped on him. It took Harry a few frightful moments to realize that the thing that had jumped on him was not a thing and had not jumped. Instead, it was thrown and it was Cho herself.
"Of course, the moment you take off inside, the lass here decides that she's going to pass out on me. Nearly knocked me to the ground, she did."
"I'll get her home. Thank again."
"Only did it because you're Harry Potter." he muttered as Harry Apparated out of sight.
March 13, 2004
9:11 AM
After dragging Cho through her apartment and throwing her into the bed, Harry had collapsed onto the other side of the bed and fallen asleep instantly. The next morning, when he woke up, he noticed that once again he and Cho had gravitated towards each other in the middle of the bed.
"Cho." Harry whispered softly.
"Uuuuhhhhhhh." she growled as she rolled over to the other side of the bed.
"Cho, we need to get up." Harry whispered again.
Suddenly, Cho rolled back over and nestled directly into Harry's chest.
"Cho." Harry growled slowly. "We need to get up."
"Harry Potter, if you yell one more time, I swear to Merlin-"
"I didn't yell, Cho." Harry replied. "You're just really hungover."
"I knew that." she said softly as she pressed herself against Harry. "You're so warm."
"I appreciate that." Harry said with a smile. "I really do appreciate that, but we need to get going."
"How long will it take us to get there?"
"Well, it's about 2,500 kilometers away. How fast does that piece of junk you fly go?"
"About 160 kilometers per hour." Cho replied. "And it's not a piece of junk."
"It's a piece of junk. And only 160? That's slow."
"Really? How fast does your broom fly?" Cho asked.
"Well, I went and got the Thunderbolt during lunch yesterday. So, 200 KMH." Harry shot back.
"Two hundred?" Cho asked in surprise. "That's insane."
"You're telling me. You're also probably glad that I bought you one too."
"What?"
"Well, I can't afford to buy you a new apartment so I'm offering you a place to live at Potter Manor when I finally get everything moved in and I bought you a Thunderbolt."
"Harry, that's too much." Cho replied. "Please take it back."
"Nope." Harry replied. "They're in the living room. We need to be ready to go in about fifteen minutes. And to answer your question, it will take about thirteen hours."
"Thirteen hours?"
"Yeah, so let's move."
"What time will it be when we get there?" she asked as she started to get changed.
"A little after 1 in the morning. We'll find a good hotel, sleep for a few hours and then get a good start in the morning."
"This is going to suck."
"Yes. Yes, it will."
March 14, 2004
2:04 AM
Moscow, Russia
It was just after 11 PM in England and just after 2 AM in Moscow when Harry and Cho finally landed just outside of town. They had flown at breakneck speeds all day, only stopping twice for food and bathroom breaks. The two of them nearly collapsed in exhaustion as they landed. Thankfully, they were able to land on a grassland not far from the edge of town. The moment they landed, Harry fell to the ground, relishing the stopped movement.
"I hate you." Cho growled as she breathed deep.
"I hate me too." Harry agreed as he got back up. "Let's not walk. I can Apparate us to the bar where we can stay."
"Sounds good." Cho said as she approached him. He took her hand and turning, whisking them away to The Drunken Warlock, a favorite wizard's pub in downtown Moscow, just a few blocks from the Kremlin. Once they stopped spinning and landed at the bar, Harry let go of Cho and walked to the bar, hailing the bartender.
"Do you speak English?" Harry asked the bartender.
"Da." was his simple reply.
"Good. Do you have a room for two?"
"Da."
Harry had a feeling that he didn't know as much English as he let on.
"How much?"
"9 Galleons a night." the bartender replied thickly.
"Fine. I'll pay for two nights."
"Da." he replied as he took the money. "Room dtwo."
"Two? Thanks." Harry replied before waving to Cho, indicating that she should follow him.
The two followed the bartender as he led them down the short hallway behind the bar to their room. As he opened the door to their room, Harry looked around and saw that it was simply a single room with a sink in the corner.
"Bathroom end of hall." he spat out shortly.
"Shower?" Harry asked. The bartender's reply was a shake of the head.
"Great." Cho grumbled.
"We'll figure something out." Harry replied before turning back to the bartender. "Thanks again."
"Not problem. I sleep now. Not wake up early."
"We'll try not to." Harry replied graciously as she showed the man out of the room.
"Damn, I'm exhausted." Cho replied as she slowly crawled into bed.
"Me too." Harry replied as he joined her. "I just set an Alarm Charm. My wand's going to sing "God Save the Queen" at ten."
"Fantastic." Cho said as she quickly slipped off to sleep.
Harry followed her quickly.
11:24 AM
After sleeping through the Alarm Charm for nearly thirty minutes, Harry and Cho woke up and quickly got dressed. Just before they left, Harry sent a letter to his one contact within the Ministry here in Moscow. Hopefully, he would be able to help them get the information they wanted.
Harry grabbed a quick bite to eat from the bartender down the hall before Apparating directly into the Entrance Lobby of the Ministry. As Harry looked around, he observed the room. It was large and incredibly square with the entire room being made up of right angles. But the best feature was the open air column that shot up through all the floors. It was surrounded by the lifts and was fit with a weather and warming charm. Meaning that if you got out of the elevator on the fifth floor during the winter, you would freeze and you wouldn't get rained on.
"Harry! Harry!"
Harry looked to the far end of the room where he saw Vitali Osin walking towards the pair of them. Vitali was the director of the National Magical Police, sort of like the Aurors of England. However, his department specialized directly in the deaths and murders of wizards. The Aurors here worked more as a task force for uprisings and worked as special investigators for the NMP. Everyone that wanted to be in the NMP started as an Auror. Certainly, Azoli Vinogradoff had started as an Auror and would have made the NMP had she stayed long enough.
Vitali was a well built man in his early fifties. He had long white hair pulled straight back in a ponytail that hung to the middle of his back. He wore bright red robes with a black suit hidden underneath. His hands were adorned with at least ten different rings and he wore several necklaces and he capped it off with several earrings in both ears. He reminded Harry very much of Bill Weasley, aged twenty years.
Harry knew Vitali from a case during his time in the Auror Office. He had been chasing after a group of Romanian-born magical terrorists who had sought refuge in St. Petersburg. Vitali had been instrumental in helping Harry find them and capture them.
"Harry, how are you?" he said through a mild Russian accent.
"I'm very well." Harry replied as she shook his hand. "Vitali, this is Cho Chang. Cho, this is Vitali Osin, director of the National Magical Police."
"Please to meet you." Cho said as she too shook his hand.
"The honor is mine." Vitali replied before turning back to Harry. "Harry, your letter was very vague. I hope that I am able to help you."
"Let's go to your office and talk." Harry answered. "I don't want to be overheard."
As they walked the short distance to Vitali's office, Harry observed that the Ministry here worked similarly to the one in London. Paper airplanes with notes on them flew around the halls and the lifts were constantly running people up and down the floors of the massive building.
Thankfully, Vitali's office was on the first floor and so just a short trip later, they were there. The room was spacious yet modestly decorated. All that resided within the room were two bookshelves, a desk and two desk for guests. Other than that, there was a small table in the corner that Vitali had put family photos on and the far wall was covered in filing cabinets.
"Please have a seat." Vitali said as he indicated to the chairs in front of the desk. "Now, what is the problem?"
"The problem is Azoli Vinogradoff."
Instantly, Vitali's mood changed from someone looking to help to someone enraged by something.
"We lost track of her over eighteen months ago." Vitali admitted growling with a rage. "We had been following her since 1999 when we are fairly positive that she joined with your Lord Voldemort."
"Oh he most certainly wasn't mine." Harry joked.
"Of course." Vitali laughed back. "Anyway, we were following her and then a year and a half ago, she disappeared off our radar. There were rumors that she had hopped the Strait and was living in Alaska but we were never able to substantiate them."
"Alaska? That's where I was living."
"Yeah. We think that's why she was there."
"Wait, how did you know that I was living there?"
"Kingsley Shacklebolt requested that everyone try and keep track of where you were. I think he was afraid of you getting pissed off and coming back to town and try to kill everyone." Vitali replied.
"Great." Harry shot back.
"Yeah, not my idea." Vitali replied. "But anyway we thought she was living in Alaska but we couldn't check. We're never on greatest terms with the Americans and just waltzing right into Alaska is a bad idea. So, we left her there. Plus, she doesn't have any living friends or relatives."
"Not anymore anyway."
"Excuse me?"
"When I was in Alaska, her trainer, Noah, came and worked with me so that I could beat her when the time came. She killed him about a week ago."
Vitali instantly looked flustered. He jumped up and immediately began looking in his filing cabinets. After several minutes of silent, frantic searching, he found was he was looking for. He came back to his desk and instantly began reading the file in front of him. When he was done, he looked up, a look of severe confusion on his face.
"Was this man an American?" he asked as he looked up at Harry.
"Yes." Harry replied in confusion.
"Mr. Potter, I don't know how to say this. We record every Auror's trainer and every NMP trainer. We have for the last fifty years. Azoli Vinogradoff worked with only one trainer. He was a Russian man by the name of Gabriel."
"Can we talk to him?" Harry asked.
"No."
"Why not?" Harry pressed.
"Because Azoli killed him five years ago."