Phoenix Hawk Chapter 12
Disclaimer: Do not own, please don't sue for playing!
AN: Long time no see! This story has been a devil to write, and I'm sorry for that. I hope the block is over and done with, and we can keep moving. Thanks for sticking with me thus far, I deeply appreciate it.
Harry was awakened the next morning by a slight 'fsh' noise, that of a match striking alight. Yuku turned a lamp's wick up, increasing the amount of light in his bedroom.
"So sorry, Master Harry. Problem in the camp," she informed him as he sat up in bed.
"Dammit. All right, I'm moving. Can you get me coffee please?" Harry grumbled, throwing back the blankets and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He scrubbed at his face, shaking off the cobwebs of sleep, before standing to hunt for clean clothes.
Yuku disappeared to fill his request, and quickly reappeared with a large mug of black coffee. He took it with a sigh, noting with pleasure that it was the right temperature for drinking quickly. Yuku found and gave him clothes one at a time so he could dress quickly in between gulps of the black liquid.
"Okay, I'm ready. Hold the fort," he handed back the mug, and gave an insouciant wave before transforming into a dusty, gray brown, white headed vulture* with startling green eyes.
"Yes Master Harry," Yuku agreed as the vulture leapt for the open doorway. Ungainly on the ground, the vulture took a few tries to get airborne.
Harry gained altitude fairly quickly and utilized a thermal to coast in a circular pattern over the camp. He could see nothing obvious and made the choice to land and talk to Elliott. He morphed out of the change in front of the expedition leader's tent and "knocked" at the door.
"Come!" Elliott called from inside.
Harry pushed the canvas aside and went in. "Elliott, what's going on?" he asked, finding the other man seated at his kitchen table.
"Not sure what you mean, Harry, other than it being a town run today," Elliott turned in his chair to look at the young man.
"Remind me who's going?" Harry requested, moving over to sit next to Elliott.
"I believe it's Praeter and Kat this time. They should be leaving within the next couple of hours," Elliott informed him.
"All right. I'll be unreachable for the rest of the day. Do they apparate to Zheleznogorsk-Ilimsky* or fly?"
"Usual to apparate out and fly back. Some of the potions can't be subjected to apparation," Elliot explained.
"I see. These are usual supplies then? Nothing weird gets picked up, that you've ever seen?" Harry interrogated, voice flinty. He understood the 'problem' Yuku had mentioned. The two people on his watch list now had opportunity for mischief.
"No, nothing," Elliott responded.
"Anything go missing from here?" Harry sounded angry. It was a question he should have asked earlier.
"Well, I do have a list of personal items people have lost. Never thought anyone was stealing," Elliott flinched back from Harry, his anger palpable.
Harry grunted, irritated that the idea of a thief hadn't occurred to him. "Make me a copy of that list, please. I'll pick it up when I return," he requested, getting up from the table.
"Of course," Elliott replied.
Once back out in the summer heat, he traded his human shape for that of another bird of prey and took to the air to wait for the others to make an appearance. Town runs meant getting lists from the others, of their needs, and confirming the main camp's requirements before leaving.
Spotting the pair emerging from their tents, Harry flapped brown barred wings to take himself out of the lazy spiral and away from camp at his best possible speed. He arrived at Zheleznogorsk-Ilimsky after a few hours, and found a decent perch at the entrance to the small Wizarding section of town. With the keen eyesight of the raptor whose form he was inhabiting, Harry was able to scan the length of the main street, determining the layout and identifying any offshoot alleys.
It wasn't too long before his marks appeared, heading for the red, brick barrier between the Muggle and Magical worlds.
"What is it with brick?" Harry wondered mentally, watching Praeter Hanson tap an easy pattern across the face of the barrier to open the way.
Kat Crosby slipped through as soon as it was wide enough, and Harry saw her lips move. Praeter said something back, and entered the Wizarding street, letting the barrier slide closed. Once inside, they split up, causing Harry to curse liberally, the sounds spilling from his beak only the gruff grunts and caws of the European Honey Buzzard.
He dropped off his perch and winged into an alley to shift back to human, landing on his feet.
"Of course they would separate. Can't stay together like I need you to. Aggravating wizards," Harry grumbled. He drew his wand and cast a particularly complicated spell of his own devising. He had needed some kind of independent watcher that would follow a mark, and then report back everything it had seen and heard. The playback was very similar to a movie. It was one he didn't like to use, as it was easily disrupted, but he needed it now. It was a small, diaphanous cloud, that blended into the background in order to avoid detection, and chased after Praeter while Harry cast new spells to disguise his own appearance.
Now blonde haired and blue eyed, he left the alley to follow Kat, who was heading into the apothecary.
He managed to keep her in sight, watching as she paid for a crate of potions that were carefully shrunk and pocketed. Whatever the ingredients were, they obviously suffered no ill affect from that standard of Wizard shipping.
She left the apothecary and wandered the street, coming eventually to a second pathway. Harry assumed it was this town's equivalent to Knockturn Alley. He followed Kat down this road, and watched as she found a shabby storefront with a broken window. No sign hung above the door, and no product samples lay in the display.
He watched her go into the dingy place, and had to recast his Watcher Spell to follow after the woman. Now at loose ends, Harry went back out to the main road, and searched for a place to eat while he waited for something to happen, or the Watchers to return. The place he found, served him a heaping plate of pierogi and sausages, and gave him all the tea he could stand.
He was left sitting for several hours until the pair of archaeologists reappeared. They settled in the same tavern and ordered food of their own. Harry wondered what he'd learn from the Watchers before he returned to the dig site. He let the pair have their lunch and depart for the camp. He had other work to do.
He settled his bill, summoned the Watchers and apparated straight back to his own tent, surprising no one there with his reappearance.
AN: * So yes, Harry has a multiple animagus talent. All birds of prey. There is a way to do this, in this universe, but of course, we don't know what that is, yet. He has been a Honey Buzzard and Griffon Vulture in this chapter, and owls in previous chapters.
* - this is a real town in Siberia.