Chapter 18 Hit Squad
Jean walked down the hallway, looking at each doorway as they passed. He stroked his fingers against the facial hair of his jaw line, as he stared heavily at each door. Noelle was at his side, shuffling through the folder she held in her hand. She was trying to read each piece of parchment the folder held and, at the same time, walk without crashing into anything.
"Tell me about Alexandre LaBell."
"Hired two months ago by maintenance. Quite the impressive resume. Graduated from Brussel's Academy of Sorcery with AMEs in Charms, Runes, Transfiguration, Defense, and Magical Ethology. Charms apprenticeship immediately after graduating, which was finished in just over fifteen months. His supervisor has nothing but good things to say about him. Guy who trained him says he was quick to learn. So far no complaints. He arrives early, is well liked by his co-workers and gets his work done on time. Everything seems to point to him being an outstanding employee."
"But he didn't come into work today."
"Correct, and his supervisor hasn't heard from him today as to his absence."
"On the day we decide to start questioning Ministry employees," Jean points out.
"No one besides the upper echelons of our department knew we were going to be doing it until this morning when we started," Noelle reminded him.
"I've worked in this department long enough to know rarely is there such a thing as a true coincidence." John paused for a moment as they came to a stop at a T-interesection. "Tell me what else you found out."
"When asked as to anyone else in the building who might know him, his coworker directed me toward an Elise Astiel in Creatures. She was like the others, nothing but great things to say about him. There's a romantic connection between the two of them, at least on her part. She had the same look on her face my daughter gets when talking about her boyfriend.
"A few Enforcers, when they heard I was looking into LaBell directed me toward Enforcer David Quint. From what I was able to gather Quint is sweet on Ms. Astiel and has a large dislike of LaBell because of this. When I questioned him about LaBell, Quint wasn't saying much about the young man but seemed to be avoiding something. I finally got out of him that he and LaBell had an impromptu duel when Quint walked in on LaBell giving Ms. Astiel defense lessons. LaBell won."
Jean raised his eyebrows at that. "Nineteen year old kid with naught but a Charms apprenticeship beating a trained Enforcer?"
"I thought it a little out of place too; especially since Quint is twenty-four years old, almost at his magical maturation, and above-average in power. I pressed Quint on details of the duel and he said LaBell was very good, and didn't win by a fluke; which Quint was very reluctant to admit. So I double backed up to Maintenance again, to see if maybe they forgot to tell me something that could be important. Max Picard, the man who trained LaBell, told me that LaBell has the ability to sense magics in a room."
That caused Jean to blink. "Obviously there is more to this kid than meets the eye."
Noelled nodded her head in agreement. She closed the folder she held and indicated the hallway they should continue down. The two walked for another handful of feet before stopping in front of a door. Jean raised his hand and knocked.
He waited a few moments of no response before knocking again. Again, no indication anyone on the other side of the door had heard them. He looked at Noelle, before bringing out his wand. As discreetly as he could, he waved his wand about the door, frowning more and more as he did so.
"The wards on this flat are high quality stuff," Jean muttered.
"Is LaBell here?"
"Besides us, I don't sense a magical presence anywhere in this building."
Jean slid his wand back into it's holster. He turned from the door and shook his head.
"Get the Chevalier Lieutenants to continue the questioning of Ministry employees. I want you digging up what ever information you can get on LaBell. He's our top suspect as of this moment. That means Enforcers watching his flat twenty-four hours a day until he shows up."
"Do you want me to put a warrant out for his arrest?"
Jean shook his head. "No, that will just tip him off that we're interested in him."
Harry woke with a start, his eyes frantically taking in as much of the room as he could see from his prone position for a few moments before the searing pain in his side drew his attention. The shirt tied around the wound was soaked with blood and he wondered, idly, how much blood he had lost while past out; however long that happened to be.
He lifted his head off the ground looked around the room. The veela was still chained up, and was glaring heavily at him from her position on the ground. The silencing spell he had cast on her must still be in effect. The dead body of the other assassin still laid in the position he had fell, a puddle of drying blood surrounding his body. Judging by the fact that there were no muggle police officers rushing into the room, Harry assumed the hotel room they were in was prepared with silencing wards and notice-me-not charms before he had been brought back here. Either that, or house keeping was used to doors blown off hinges with rooms containing dead bodies and tied up women.
Slowly moving into a sitting position, Harry found his wand a few inches from his body and summoned it to his hand. Every piece of furniture in the room was in pieces and strewn about the room. He tried to find his pants under all the crap, but gave up after a short few moments and just summoned them to him. As soon as they were within his grasp, he dug into the front pocket and pulled out the cellphone that acted as his communication with Rick.
"Potter?"
Harry started talking but was quickly cut off.
"In English Potter, I don't speak French."
"I need help."
"What happened?"
"I'm in a motel in Paris bleeding heavily with a dead guy on the floor and a tied up broad. And I'm starting to get a hangover."
"Merlin Potter, what the fuck happened?"
"We can discuss that when you get here. Preferably with a healer. Make sure they're female."
"I can be there in thirty, just give me the location."
He tried to recall where they had went last night after the pub but his memory was to foggy. The veela had gotten him fairly drunk before leading him out of that pub and into the world.
"Hold on a second. I don't know where I am but let me see if I can't find out."
It was a struggle to get to his feet and he had to fight against the pain in his side the entire time. He stumbled over to the window and looked outside. It looked like your standard Paris street. Nothing really caught the eye until he saw out of the edge of his vision a red sign going down the side of the building he was in.
"The sign says Marmotel. I'm on the second floor."
"Marmotel Etoile?"
"Uh … yeah?"
"See you soon."
As Rick hung up the phone, Harry turned away from the window. He summoned his boxers to himself, and slowly placed them on. Something about walking around naked in a room where a man lay dead and a veela was chained up while naked made him feel rather uncomfortable.
He walked over and crouched in front of the veela, who still glared at him. He wondered if he could get some answers out of her. He flicked his wand and took off the silencing spell.
"Who hired you?" Harry demanded.
"Why don't you let me go, and I'll answer."
He felt the veela allure ramp up, pushing against his occlumency shields. However, this time around they had no effect; there was no alcohol weakening his mental defenses. He shook his head at the veela.
"You'd be surprise how calm, rational and hard to seduce men can become after they cum and get their fill," Harry taunted. "This must be hard for you. Poor proud veela reduced to using her allure to seduce men to kill because she has no other skills. And now you find yourself tied up and at the mercy of a wizard, ending up where you were always destined to be."
The veela snarled at him, struggling mightily against her chains. In his research about veelas after finding out Fleur was one during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, he had learned that veela were a proud race. There was a strong stereotype that the veela community was constantly fighting against. A stereotype that painted them as nothing but sex toys to be used and abused by wizarding society. It didn't help that some veela ended up working in brothels, or becoming mistresses and/or concubines of powerful wizards.
"I'll rip your fucking heart out you wizard filth!" the veela screeched.
Harry hit her with another silencer. He really had no choice but to wait for Rick to arrive. He moved over to the wall, and slid down against it. He kept his wand in his hand, with one eye on the door and the other on the tied up veela, who had transformed into her avian form and was silently mouthing death threats at him. At least he thought she was. It was hard to tell with her mouth becoming a beak.
Flames glowed in her palm, but her hands were twisted in such away that they couldn't be directed at the chains that tied her, or Harry himself. He wondered what Fleur would say if she ever found out about this. This was definitely not going to be something he wrote Gabrielle about in his next letter to her, that was for sure.
"Fuck all," Rick muttered as soon as he stepped into the room. Behind him was a female healer, and a pair of female Hit-Wizards.
All three females blanched at the sight of the room, and gave hard looks at the naked female that was tied up.
"I'm assuming that's a veela, and why you wanted me to bring only females," Rick stated, as he rubbed his temples.
"Right in one," Harry murmured.
The healer rushed forward and dropped to her knees at his side. She held a satchel in her hand, which she placed on the floor before using her wand to perform diagnostic spells on him. Once they were complete she cut the shirt he had used to tie around his wound, and peeled it away. It was still oozing blood, and Harry was astounded he hadn't died from blood loss at this point. Having an innate healing ability was really proving useful in his life.
"So what happened?" Rick asked, waving his hand about the room.
"I was at a pub having a few drinks when the veela walked in. I was buzzed at this point, and she used her charm to get me even more drunk. To the point where my mental defenses went to shit. At that time, her allure was on full blast and made me her little drooling puppy dog. Brought me up here to have sex. Sometime in, she draws a knife, not that I know where she was keeping the damn thing since I had her bloody starkers, and attempted to bury it in my neck. At that point, I acted on instinct and gained the upper hand on her. That bloke," here Harry indicated the dead wizard, "must have realized something went wrong because he came bursting in. We all fought, I tied up the veela, he hit me with a cutting charm and then I buried that piece of wood in the side of his neck."
The healer forced a goblet of what could only be blood replenishing potion, based on the smell, into his hand and made him drink it. As he did so she cast some spells on his wound, most of which caused him to wince in pain.
"Any reason you were at a damn pub? You're sixteen in case you forgot. Oh yeah, and on an important mission for the United Kingdom Ministry of Magic!"
That last part was shouted. It echoed inside Harry's skull, and he winced again.
"We're in France. The legal drinking age here is sixteen. Besides I have a fake license that you gave me that says I'm nineteen. And being a spy is bloody hard work. I felt like a beer or two. Of course I go to indulge in alcohol once and next thing I know, a beautiful woman is trying to kill me. Basically the story of my life that is."
"Did she say anything about who wants you dead? Did they do it because they know who you are?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Well I asked her all nice and polite like, but she refused to answer."
Rick ignored Harry's sarcasm, and began casting repair spells around the room. The two Hit-Wizards helped him out, and soon the room looked like nothing had happened to it, minus the missing bedding which was still transfigured into chains around the veela.
"I'll take the dead man and the veela with me, and let you know what I'm able to get from her. In the meantime, you are to hold up in your flat and don't do anything."
"Oh come on Rick. I'm not a bloody child."
"I mean it Potter. Whoever hired them are going to know they failed. That means you still have a target on you. Hold up in your flat until I tell you otherwise. And just to be certain, Hit-Wizard King will be staying with you."
Harry looked at the severe looking woman in her mid-forties who stepped forward. She looked like a younger McGonagall, and would no doubt follow Rick's orders to the letter.
"James Bond wouldn't need a fucking babysitter," Harry muttered too himself.
The healer worked for another thirty minutes or so on his wound. During that time, Rick was having conversations with the two Hit-Wizards in low voices, and Harry couldn't hear a word of it. When she was done, the healer gave him his own bag full of potions he would need to drink, and salves he would have to rub on the wound.
As the healer stepped away, Harry looked down at his side. The blood had all been cleared away and bandages had been wrapped around his side. He cautiously poked where the wound was, grimacing as pain shot up his side. The healer slapped his hand away.
"You couldn't numb it?" Harry asked, pouting as he looked at his hand.
"The family of spells that numbing charms derive from react negatively with the salve I had to use given the depth of the wound. You're lucky to be alive. You lost more blood than a normal person has in them, and I can only guess you have some strong innate healing ability which barely managed to keep you alive while you were passed out. And James Bond wouldn't be whining."
Harry wanted to stick his tongue out at the healer but held himself back.
"Hold up," King held up a hand.
Harry stopped walking and looked at the Hit-Wizard in exasperation. His flat building was a few blocks away and despite being passed out for, what he had learned was, ten hours, he was exhausted. Probably from all the blood loss. Even after replenishment, blood loss definitely left you tired as all hell.
"This better be good King. I'm starting to get dizzy."
"We don't know who hired the assassins to kill you. We don't know what they know about you. For all we know, they know exactly where you live. They could be watching your flat building, or even laying in ambush in your flat."
"No one can touch my wards without me knowing; they're still good."
King shook her head. "Then they could be watching the building, waiting for you. We'll need to hide our magical signatures and use the disillusionment charm before entering. We're taking no risk."
Harry dropped his head back and groaned pitifully. He directed King toward a doorway that led to a stairwell for second floor flats. He knew how to hide his magical signature and use the chameleon like spell on himself. Only problem was that neither of them stood up to using magic. While that wouldn't matter with the disillusionment charm, since he'd be in the flat by then, it would matter with the hiding of his magical signature. He'd have to go no magic for however long he was hiding in his flat.
"I'll go first," Harry muttered. "You wait two minutes and then follow after."
Although he couldn't see her, Harry could feel King shaking her head. "I'll go first to make sure it's clear."
Harry snorted. "You can't get past my wards. So if you want to sit outside my flat and wait for me to come in order to let you in, feel free to."
"I'll be right behind you," King said after a few seconds of silence.
Harry had no difficulty moving down the fairly empty streets and to the flat building. He had to wait for another tenant to leave in order for him to slip through the doors. The hallways were empty and he ran into no one on his trip up the stairs and to his floor. As he waited at his door he pressed his fingers to the wards. With a gentle push of his magic he altered the wards to allow King's passing.
He felt King's presence as she approached behind him. Harry stepped to the side as she grabbed the handle of the front door and threw it open. He could see her form shimmering as she stepped into the room. Harry moved in right behind her, his wand held in front of him. Despite his confidence in his wards, it never hurt to be safe.
They double checked each of the rooms and confirming they were the only ones in his flat, both took off the disillusionment charm.
"I need to come up with an excuse for my absence and send an owl to my boss."
"Monsieur Delacour, you told us to contact you if anyone magical shows up to LaBell's flat."
Jean looked down at the speaker on his desk, where the voice had come from. He could connect the communication piece of any one of his underlings to that speaker whenever he felt like it in order to stay in contact when they were on missions. It came with its own communication device as well. He leaned over and pressed down on a button on the speaker that would allow him to respond.
"Is it LaBell?"
"No sir. It's a young blonde, I've seen her around the Ministry before."
"Ms. Astiel," Jean murmured. "Is she the first magical you've sighted?"
"Yes sir."
"Then with no one home she should be leaving soon. Keep me updated."
The supervisor in charge of Maintenance had indicated that LaBell sent her an owl. Apparently the young man had been attacked while visiting a hippogriff reserve over the weekend, and wouldn't be able to come in for the week due to his injuries. The letter had come attached with an official healer's note confirming the incident as well.
Jean returned his attention back to the report he was working on. Day two of the questioning and nothing as suspicious as Alexandre LaBell had arisen. Still, he needed to fill out a proper report to send to the Minster for her to review.
"Sir, its been over five minutes and the blonde hasn't left the building."
Jean blinked in surprise. If LaBell wasn't home how could it be that she hadn't left yet. There was no way she happened to know a muggle with a flat in the same building as LaBell. He pressed the button on the speaker again.
"Are you positive you, nor the shift before you, have seen LaBell enter the building?"
"Positive sir. We only have reading on one magical signature."
There was a few ways one could be invisible in the magical world and spells to hide one's magical signature, while not well known, weren't exactly forgotten knowledge. It was likely that LaBell knew he was being watched and was currently hiding out in his apartment for the time being.
"Stay pat and keep me updated if anything changes."
Jean stood from his desk. LaBell was at that apartment. There was no way he couldn't be. This was their best chance at getting answers. LaBell could just be a bright kid who really was attacked by a hippogriff. However, none of the signs pointed to that. They all pointed to something a lot more.
After picking up the communication device for the speaker, and placing it in his ear, Jean made his way to the connecting rooms that were used by the Enforcers. It was after regular business hours, and many of the departments had already left for the day. Law Enforcement though was around the clock, and while it was true they had more Enforcers and Chevaliers during the day, they still had enough during evening and night time hours.
"I need a team of Enforcers," Jean stated as he stepped into the main room.
Various heads turned toward him, and upon recognizing their boss, the Enforcers in the room all started to quickly jump to their feet. The team leaders in the room each volunteered their support. Jean could see that David Quint was on one of the team's working the evening shift and decided against that team.
"Monsieur Delacour!"
The words buzzed in his ear. Jean quickly brought a hand to his ear.
"Six body armor wearing wizards have entered the building. They look like Dragon Mafia to me."
Noelle had told him about the attacks on the Dragon Mafia over the past few months. Even if LaBell wasn't the one who broke into the Ministry, an attack on his person by the Dragon Mafia seemed to indicate at least some kind of involvement with whoever had been going after the Dragon Mafia recently.
"Make that two Enforcer teams." Jean pointed out two of the team leaders in the room, both of whom started gathering their team. "Quick run down. Our main target, who is to be restrained using non-lethal force unless forced to use otherwise, is the suspect in an ongoing investigation. When you see him, don't underestimate him as he is a skilled duelist. He is the target of a Dragon Mafia hit squad that has arrived at the location we are heading to. Get your stuff and get back here in four. We're leaving in five."
There was a knock on Harry's door that caused him to jump in surprise. He had been in his kitchen, fixing himself something to eat. He wasn't expecting anyone to visit him because no one should know where he lived. He grabbed his wand from the counter and moved toward the door. King already stood at the door, her wand in one hand, as she looked out the peephole.
"It's a blonde," King muttered.
"A blonde?" Harry asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he moved forward.
"Young, pretty with hazel eyes," King described.
"Elise!" Harry exclaimed. "King, please do me a favor and go into my study and close the door."
"This isn't just your apartment you know. This is your base of operations for your mission here in France supplied by the United Kingdom Ministry."
Harry grit his teeth. "Yes, thank you King. I'm well aware of that. I will get rid of her as soon as I'm able to, now please go into the study."
With a scowl, King slowly did as he asked. In that time frame, Elise had knocked again.
"Coming!" Harry called out, switching to French as he reached out with his magic to manipulate the wards on the door to allow Elise access.
He opened the door to see Elise and invited her in. As soon as she passed the threshold, she had her arms wrapped around him.
"I heard you were attacked by a hippogriff! Are you okay?" she asked , pulling away and looking at him with concern.
"Uh yeah. Just a really deep cut in the side. Was just advised to take the week off, to be on the safe side," Harry answered with a small smile and a shrug of his shoulders.
Harry invited Elise farther into the apartment. He closed the door behind her as she made her way to one of his couches, where she sat.
"I have to say I'm surprised to see you."
"I hope you don't mind," Elise stated.
Harry shook his head as he sat next to her. "No, not at all. It's just I'm actually pretty tired and was thinking of taking a nap."
"Oh, of course, you must still be weak."
"Yeah, a little"
Harry gave Elise what he hoped was a tired looking smile. She looked around the apartment for a moment, as if searching for something to talk about.
"The undersecretary to the Department of Wizarding Law Enforcement was asking about you yesterday."
Harry felt his insides grow cold. That was not something he wanted to hear, at all. He tried to adopt a confused expression on his face.
"Really?" he asked, feigning surprise. "I can't imagine as to what."
"Apparently they've turned their investigation internally from that break-in a couple of months ago."
"Oh, that makes sense." And it did. Harry hadn't left a trail to a potential outside source. It only made sense that running out of outside leads, they would start looking at Ministry employees themselves. Unfortunately, they started asking those questions on a day he just so happened to not show up to the Ministry without letting his supervisor know why. "I guess since I was out of the office I'm sure it made them a little suspicious of me."
"I'm sure it will smooth over once you come back into work," Elise assured, patting his hand. "I told them nothing but good things. Not that there's anything bad to say about you."
Elise was giving him a shy smile. Harry returned it with one of his own.
"Right back at you."
Then Elise was leaning in and kissing him. He responded immediately, even as his thoughts fought with each other. Rick was right yesterday in that he was here for the United Kingdom Ministry to help stop a building alliance between the Dragon Mafia and the Death Eaters. He was now, more than likely, a suspect in the investigation about the break in. Not to mention he was currently hiding out from other potential assassination attempts. On the other hand, he liked Elise and was a sixteen year old male, and no amount of Ministry training could change hormones.
"Six men have entered the building."
Harry and Elise jumped away from each other as if shocked.
"Merlin's balls King!" Harry shouted.
"Alexander, who is she?" Elise demanded, confusion and hurt etched on her face.
Harry made a face of disgust as he realized what Elise might be thinking.
"Ew. Totally wrong idea. She's my … bodyguard," Harry answered, frowning slightly.
"No time to talk," King cut in, before Elise could go any further. "Like I said, six men just walked in. Looked like a Dragon Mafia hit squad."
As she talked King walked toward the front door and waved her wand at it. Numerous translation charms had been layered on the apartment, so although King spoke in English, Elise as able to understand her in French.
"Dragon Mafia hit squad? Why would there be a Dragon Mafia hit squad coming into your building?" Elise demanded, confused, as she quickly stood from her spot on the couch.
"King's right," Harry muttered, sticking with French. "No time to explain. We need to get you out of here."
"Too late," King stated. "They're almost on this floor."
Harry let loose a string of curses before standing up and grabbing Elise's hand and pulling her to her feet. He quickly led her down the hallway and to his bedroom.
"Alexandre, please tell me what is happening!"
"I'll explain everything after Elise. Right now, I need you to stay in my room. Don't come out until I come get you."
He left her standing by his bed as he moved to the closet. The wards on his door would hold long enough, as he quickly strapped the various pieces of his dragon hide armor into place. Both his spare wands, sitting in their holsters, hung from the closet rack as well. He strapped them both into place and turned to find Elise staring at him with shock and confusion.
"I don't understand."
Harry shook his head. "That's my fault. I'll explain everything but not right now. Wait here."
He moved to the door, mentally remembering every spare knife he had hidden throughout the apartment. He turned and looked back at Elise one more time before heading into the hallway and closing the door behind him. When he arrived in his living room, he saw that King had turned the couch into metal and was currently crouched behind it.
"You couldn't conjure anything? Or use some transfiguration?" Harry asked, looking around.
"I'm a Hit-Wizard, Potter. I'm not good at transfiguration," King defended herself. She jabbed her thumb at the now metal couch. "This is the best I can do."
"Bugger all," Harry muttered to himself.
He could feel the wards on the door being hacked away at. The wards were holding for now but they wouldn't last. He quickly moved to the coat closet, which he threw open. An outer robe and two muggle jackets hung from coat hangers. He cast some spells on them before partially closing the door. He weaved his wand at the kitchen, which was just off to the left of the door and concentrated. He weaved his wand through the air, and soon found himself staring at a male lion. The beast yawned loudly, showing off its large fangs. Harry nodded his head. Awesome, he now had a lion in his kitchen.
He felt the last of the wards crumble under a brute force attack. He dove to join King behind the now metal couch as the door exploded inward under the pressure of the collapsing wards. Spells started flying quickly through the doorway, slamming into the walls and various furniture.
Harry peeked out behind the cover to see the group of six slowly move into the apartment. They seemed to realize where their target was hiding, and directed their spells at the couch. Harry aimed his wand over the cover and fired back a few poorly aimed curses. He used his mind-link to his conjured lion to put it on the attack.
None of the attackers noticed the animal when they moved in but they certainly noticed it when it pounced, landing on top of one of the men and knocking over three of the others. As the lion bit into the left forearm of the wizard it was on top of, which the man had raised to defense his face, and the rest of the attackers were distracted, King decided to make her move.
She jumped from cover, shooting a barrage of spells at one of the attackers who had been knocked over. The man tried to defend himself but fell under the barrage of spells. A loud crack filled the air as the lion's powerful jaws broke the forearm of the wizard in half, causing the man to let out a loud scream. The head of the lion exploded in a shower of gore, as another Dragon Mafia man, who Harry was just going to start referring to as Goon 1 with the others in similar fashion, took the lion out of the fight.
Goon 2 was trying to track King's movement, as she tried to move into a flanking position on the hit squad. It was at that moment that the outer robe and jackets sprung from the closet. The jackets tied around the man's two wrist, jerking them upwards where his spells slammed into the ceiling. The outer robe wrapped around the man's neck and began choking him.
Harry tried to take advantage of the confusion, standing from his cover and launching spell after spell. The remaining three Goons pushed further into the room, moving away from the restricted area of the entrance way. They used magical shields as cover as they moved into his living room, where suddenly crouching behind his couch no longer benefited him.
Both he and King kept up their spell fire, the Goons struggling on the defensive as the life was choked out of Goon 2, who slowly stopped struggling against the outer robe wrapped around his neck as his teammates left him to die. King hit the Goon with the broken forearm from the lion in the face with a stunner, making sure the man was fully out of the fight, but took an over-powered piercing hex through the middle of her forehead for her efforts. Blood and brain matter sprayed against the wall behind her.
Harry blinked in surprise as he threw up a shield around himself, trying to process everything that had just happened. He found himself standing in the middle of the three remaining goons, who formed a triangle around him, spinning in an effort to keep an eye on all three. The coffee table pressed against his leg, as he quickly contemplated his next course of action in the brief lull of combat. The furniture of his living room blocked a clear path to Goon One and Goon Four, but gave him a straight shot to Goon Three.
He dispelled his shield and dove toward Goon Three, who tried to backpedal from the sudden movement. Harry came up only inches from the man. He used his left hand to grab the man's wand hand, forcing it into the air, and used his right hand to grab a handful of the side of the man's robe. Harry twirled one-hundred and eighty degrees, spinning the goon in his grasp with him and into the way of the incoming spells from the other two.
Harry didn't know the spells that slammed into the man he used as a human shield, but judging from his screams of pain, they weren't tickling charms. He pushed the goon away from him, and once there was some space between the two of them, raised his foot up and kicked the goon in the midsection. As Goon Three fell backwards, crashing through the coffee table, Harry was diving to his left.
He came up in a role, blocking the spells that had followed him in his dive. He summoned one of the hidden knives, conveniently located behind Goon One. The knife burst through the extremely thin layer of plaster it was hidden behind and shot through the air before burying itself, tip first, up to the hilt in Goon One's back. As the man stumbled forward, Harry hit him with a stunner that dropped him to the ground.
That left him and Goon Four. The man looked nervous. He was the last of six. The man had every reason to be nervous. Harry felt a feral smile make its way onto his face. In his first few days in France, while doing his initial observations, he had made the assessment that Dragon Mafia members were untrained brutes. They relied more on numbers and fear than skill, and it seemed he was right.
As Goon Four launched an attack, Harry was already summoning the coffee table to intercept the spells. The wooden piece of furniture shattered into various sized pieces as the jets of light collided with it; pieces which Harry banished at Goon Four. A strong gust of wind blew most of the coffee table debris to the side. A few larger splintered found home though, some cutting through the non-armored sleeves of the man's robe and into the skin, while others hit the dragon hide vest.
Harry went to cast another spell but blinding white light shot from Goon's Four wand and blinded him. Harry crouched down and threw up a shield. He hear footsteps and immediately knew the man was trying to make a break for it. With a sweeping motion of his wand, Harry dispelled his shield and cast a wide net tripping hex. There was a loud thud followed by loud curses, and not the magical kind.
The cursing gave Harry a general idea of where the goon had fallen, and he cast enough stunners to put down a dragon in that general direction. He tapped his eyes to restore his vision fully, and looked around. The apartment was a mess, and there was a handful of dead bodies. The lion he had conjured had vanished sometime during the fight, but there was six down Mafia hitmen, one of whom was definitely dead and another two whose alive or dead status was questionable from where Harry stood. Plus there was King, whose death would definitely put Rick in a bad mood.
Harry moved to the window, trying to see if he could spot any other Dragon Mafia men, and instead saw Enforcers making their way into the building. He glanced at the clock on his wall. About ten minutes from the Dragon Mafia arrival to now. He had to hand it to whoever tackled the wards, the man might not have been able to duel, but he would definitely tackle a complicated warding scheme.
He quickly made his way to the bedroom and threw open the door. A spell slammed into the door frame right next to his head from a terrified Elise.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have startled you," Harry apologized, as he made his way in.
"What happened?" she asked, stuttering over her words.
"It's not pretty. I'd advise staying in here. Enforcers are on their way up. I have to do something. You can tell the Enforcer's everything you know, and I promise I'll tell you the full truth soon." As Harry spoke, he made his way toward his bedroom window. He pushed it open and pushed out the screen. He swung his leg over the window sill and turned toward Elise. "Tell Monsieur Delacour I'll be stopping by soon to sort everything out."
With that, Harry ducked under the open window and allowed himself to fall from his apartment to the ground below.