Chapter 16 is out! This one should have been posted a few days ago, but what can I say? I'm enjoying summer life!
Now, since there is almost nothing happening at the canon storyline between first and second year, I used this chapter to set up the original plots and to give background to some OC characters. But by the the end of the next chapter, our boys should be back in Hogwarts!
Hope you all enjoy!
Scala ad Caelum
Chapter 16: Winds of Summer
Shana POV
Saturday 27th June, 1992 (Shawn Manor, USA) - After lunch
How the hell did I end up in this situation? That was the only thought in Shana's mind right now. Sure, after many pleas from the boy, the witch had decided to teach him something about the basics of the control of one's magic; but, that bloody kid had forgotten to tell her that all his friends were coming to his manor today.
"So, are you really telling me I came here to receive some lessons?" A girl asked aloud. Her name was Lara, and she turned out to be Nathan Miller's adoptive daughter, which had been a surprise for the former Master.
She was the first one to come, mainly because her father had something to do in the manor today, but so far, she didn't look very excited with the upcoming 'class'. That's it, girl; keep telling that idiot this is not a good idea. The truth is she didn't mind at all to teach Elend's son some of her knowledge, after all, the boy used to spend a lot of time alone and loved learning new magic; maybe, the fact Shana saw her younger self in him had been a deciding factor, but she liked to think she had accepted because of her kind spirit.
"Sorry about that," Alexander apologised. "I know we all agreed to meet here after a month, but it took me many days to convince Miss Shana; and given her busy schedule, there was no way I would let this chance slip. Besides, the others knew about it and didn't complain; in fact, Laure and Russ seemed to be as excited as I am."
"Of course they are, you three are such bookworms…"
Well, time to spend my day with some enthusiastic kids, yikes. Alexander had previously talked to her about his friends, so the witch was able to recognise them when they stormed into the room. "It is a pleasure, Miss Shana," a blonde girl greeted her, maybe a bit too polite. "I was very excited when Alex told me that a very experienced witch was going to give us some lessons about the true nature of magic. I also wanted to apologise in his name because of the trouble he must have given you."
That made Shana smile, and the boy to roll his eyes. "Of course you would make me like that," Alex sighed.
"It is a pleasure to meet you," a dark skinned boy said.
"Likewise," an albino smiled at her.
Well, at least they all are very polite and cute… What was done, done was; so it was time for her first lesson to start. At least this will help me to have some fun today; I must remember that it is always good to rest a bit from time to time.. "Hello everyone," she started. "As you already know, my name is Shana, and today I'm gonna try to teach you some notions about feeling and controlling magic. Firstly, you must know that it is almost impossible to get it done at the first time, so don't get frustrated, okay?"
"Yes, madam!"
"Woah, I wasn't expecting that much enthusiasm," Shana gasped, a bit taken aback. "Well, how should I start? Oh, I know; tell me, what do you know about magic and how does it work? You have already finished the first year of your education, so you must know most of the basic concepts, but, what can you tell me about the real essence of magic?"
"Magic is manifested in the form of energy, and we are able to manipulate it thanks to our magical cores," Alexander answered. "Spells, charms, and curses are the easiest ways to do it, but they have nothing to do with the real control of magic."
"Very good."
"My father told me that each wizard's magic can vary or even get more powerful thanks to our emotions," Laure added. "Strong emotions can fuel our magic, and he also told me that each wizard has a different flow of magic… I didn't understand that last part very well, but it was something similar to how each person has a different personality."
"Yep, that is also correct."
"I read in some duelling books that the flow of one's magic is very important during fights," Russel commented. "In theory, people who are experienced enough can even predict the adversary's movement because of their ability to read it."
"Damn, are you really second year students?" Shana asked, very surprised.
"That is what I tell my father when he asks me why I don't get as good marks as they do," Lara told her. "They are complete freaks!"
The girl is the daughter of some renowned professor from Ilvermorny; the black boy has ties with the Great House of Scamander; and Alexander…, well, I already know how he is. Shana was very surprised with their level, but that only made her happier; after all, it wasn't funny trying to teach something to people who couldn't even understand the basics. "This is something that isn't teached at most of the schools," she resumed the lecture. "But you can use your own magic to enhance your body."
To show her point, the witch directed the flow of her magic to her right hand; even if they couldn't feel it yet, they would totally see her next move. "I know you can't feel it, but right now, there is a good amount of magic concentrated on my right fist," she told them. "To do that, I first needed to expand my magic, which was gathered in my magical core, so it could cover my entire body. Then, I directed it towards my fist, so I could do this…" Shana punched the stony wall without much force; despite that, her fist went through it, opening cracks around the center of the impact.
"How is that possible?"
"What the hell?"
"That was brilliant!"
"That is what I meant when I said you could reinforce your body with raw magic," she smirked. "As Russel said, an advanced duellist can control the flow of their magic in case they need it for a close combat situation. If my reinforced fist did that damage to a solid wall, you can't imagine what it would do to an unprepared person; that is why the first step of this whole thing is covering your body with a protective layer of raw magic; observe the difference."
Now, she applied a portion of her magic to cover another point of the wall, and with the same technique, she punched it; only that this time, just a loud sound was the result of it. "That is what happens when two equal amounts of magic clash, they counter each other."
"You can't possibly expect for us to do that, right?" Russel asked, his eyes opened as if he had just seen a ghost.
"That is mental…" Lara muttered.
"Of course not!" Shana encouraged them. "What I just show you was a very high level of magic control, but since Alex asked me to teach him about it, I thought it would be better if I first showed you what you can really do when mastering it; that way, you would have a mental image of how it would be to redirect one's magical flow."
"Okay, but to do that…, how do we start?" Killian asked, speaking for the first time.
"Since all of you still have the entirety of your magic concentrated around your magical core, the first step would be to 'awaken' it," Shana answered. "For that…, let me think about it…, oh, yeah, I remember how my teacher explained it to me. Well, whenever you cast a spell or something, you must have felt that kind of spark your magic produces when travelling from your core to your wand, right?"
"Yeah!" They all answered.
"This is similar, only that this time you won't be directing towards your wand; now, what I want you to do is relax, just as you did the first time you casted any spell in class. When you think you are ready to go, the next step is trying to feel from where that spark comes, and that place is your magical core. Once you manage it, the only thing left to do is trying to expand it, as if you wanted to cover yourself with a coat of magic."
Shana waited and waited, but just as she expected, they weren't able to 'awake' their magic. But then, the unthinkable happened, and two new magical auras emerged in the room; one was absurdly big, to a point it was unnatural, because that much magic couldn't possibly be coming from an almost thirteen year old boy; meanwhile, the second, was much smaller, but far more refined, like the flowing of water of a calm river.
And they were coming from Killian and Alexander respectively.
Lara, who had been the first to give up, was also the first to notice that Shana's face was suddenly lacking color. "Miss Shana, are you okay?" She asked, something that made for Laure and Russ to look a her.
"This…, shouldn't be happening…," the older witch muttered, observing the two focused boys, who seemed to be completely unaware of their surroundings.
"Of course they would get it done at the first try," Russel muttered, a bit biterly.
"Did you two really do it?" Laure asked them.
"Shhh," Alexander shushed her. "It is very hard to keep this thing, so try to not shout in my ear, would you?"
"It feels so weird," Killian added, his eyes shut tight. "It is like… my clothes were completely soaked… but they aren't…"
They don't seem to be able to feel each other's auras; because if they could do that… I'd better be dreaming or something. The fact that two twelve year old boys had managed to awoke their auras in the first try was something almost surreal; but it also was far from impossible, especially given the fact that one of them had been trained by his father to shoulder the weight of a Great House since he was six years old. It was very rare, something only very talented wizards were able to do; but they weren't able to detect magic yet. Still, it sent shivers down my spine… those two are monsters; especially the albino kid, where the hell is that much magic coming from?
"Agh," Alexander suddenly groaned. "It disappeared…"
"Same here," Killian muttered. "But that sensation… It was incredible."
"Do you think you'd be able to do it once again if you were rested?" Shana asked, already over the initial surprise. "Or do you think it was…, I don't know, a bit of luck?"
"I'd do it," they both said, at the same time.
"Honestly, you two are disgusting," Laure complained. "Why do I need to work a hundred times harder than you to get the same results?"
"You can't have everything in this life," Lara commented. "Alex is stupid, and Killian is too nice for his own good, so they both have to compensate it somehow."
The girl had tried to lighten the mood, but her friends were too focused on their own things that it was worthless. I need to keep an eye on those two, this can be very interesting; hell, I'm starting to sound like Master Lawrence, and I don't like that. The witch was pulled out of her thoughts when a house-elf stormed into the room. "Lady Shana, we've received a letter for you," the elf said, as she bowed.
A letter? For me? Shana opened the letter, and she only needed to read the first lines to know it meant problems. "Hey, kids, I need to take care of some unexpected business; you must be tired after today's lesson, so you better rest and we'll try to repeat it another day, okay?" Shana told them, as she left the room.
"What the hell does that old geezer of Lawrence want to do with me?" The red-haired witch cursed to the air. He has always been good with me, but I'm not a Master anymore… On whose side will he be? What is that thing he needs to tell me?
All those questions would need to wait for their answers; but, should Shana meet the old Master? It sure smelled like a cheap trap, but he couldn't be so obvious, right? Whatever, I can't be more deep in shit than I am right now. If it really is a trap to kill me, well, it would be so unmannered on my part to refuse the meeting, wouldn't it?
The next day...
Among all the places old Lawrence could have chosen for the meeting, Shana wasn't expecting for it to be held at a balcony in a very nice muggle restaurant, right at the coast of Crete. The Master was sitting alone, eating some fish dish while looking at the great views, so Shana decided to approach him.
She was disguised as some young woman; nothing too troublesome for her to study, but it hid her identity quite well. Back during her first years in the Order of Merlin, before even being named a Master, the young witch had dedicated the same amount of time to studying and analysing people as she had done to the study of magic. What was the reason for that? The red-haired woman was born with two incredible talents; allomancy was the first one, but the better and more unique was her skill to create illusions; the skill to distort the reality other people saw..
Many wizards and witches could create espectres of magic or even complex illusion, but not like her. Despite that, not everything was as good as it sounded, because nice rewards always came with a high price; in this case, and especially for the most difficult disguises, Shana had to cast away her own identity so she could become one with the impersonated fake. It was rather easy to cover herself with the illusion of a young, blonde woman like she was doing right now; after all, she only had to speak the same language as her.
Now, for the most complex jobs, it was a completely different world. When impersonating a certain someone to trick an acquaintance of his, she had to study the objective for a long time; she had to understand how and why he behaved in certain situations; his accent and way of speaking; his fixations and catchphrases; his beliefs and views on the most important topics. It was arduous work, but it often was worth every second of it.
That is why right now, she was feeling rather freed, because she was under a simple mask; one that allowed her to be herself. "It's been a while, Master Lawrence," Shana greeted the old man, taking a seat in front of him.
"It has been, indeed," he greeted back. "As cautious as ever, right? I taught you well."
"What do you want, Lawrence; let's skip the idle talk."
"I always forget you, young people, are always in a hurry."
"Well, having very dangerous people after your head kinda makes you that way; especially, when you have one of them in front of you."
"Ho, ho! Do you really think I want you dead, girl? After all the trouble you gave me during your training years? Please, if I didn't want you dead during those 'girl days', there is nothing that will make me change my mind nowadays."
Shana thanked her illusion, because that made her redden a bit. Merlin, I was such a brat during my teenage years. But she cleared her mind in no time; she couldn't even lose a second here. "Then, why are we here, Lawrence?" She asked.
"Isaac will be holding a meeting with your former allies in the next few days," the old man confessed. "In the very Tower of Merlin."
"That serious, eh?"
"So it seems."
"That is all?" Shana inquired, raising a brow in indignation. "That is nothing of importance."
"There is more, of course; but I will need some information in exchange, you already know how these things work."
"What do you want?"
"Your experience and knowledge about allomancy," Lawrence said, now totally serious. "I'm about to finish my work about allomancy, a book which will excel even among the likes of the ones in the Great Library of the Tower. But there are very few of you, and none have shared those answers I seek so far; that is why I'm here, Shana. I need to know about the enhancers especifically, because among all the metal users, your kin is the one who suffer the most heavy consequences, but nobody will ever answer my questions because they fear that information could mean their deaths."
"That is everything?" Shana huffed. "Okay, I see you are the same old geezer as always. I really don't like giving such delicate information about my powers, but I don't think it will be the cause of my death; after all, one thing is to understand your enemy, and a whole different one is being able to counter him by using the information about their 'weak points'. Despite that, I need you to talk first, Lawrence, give me a reason to trust you."
"Isaac isn't planning on replacing you as the Fifth Master anytime soon; mainly, because he wants to use your Inquisitors against you. Those men should be loyal to their sworn Master, but the seeds of doubts had been already planted in Snake's mind, and we both know he is a…, quite inestable individual. Their new alliance is looking for something, and even though I have no idea of what it is, it was related to some sort of tomb or something like that."
Tomb? If what Jordan said was true, Isaac must also know there is another Horcrux, but why the hell does he suspect it could be in a tomb? And how the fuck does he have so much information? There were too many questions in Shana's mind, and like always happened, not that many answers. Do I trust Lawrence and his information? Do I even trust Isaac's hunches or sources? Shit, why does this thing keep getting harder and harder?
"Well, did that make you happy enough?" Lawrence inquired.
"Could have been better, not gonna lie; but you fulfilled your end of the deal, so I guess now it's my turn."
"Thank you."
"Well, for starters, do you have any idea why enhancers are the ones to suffer the most among all the metal users?"
"My theory is because their allomancy is the only one that enhances their bodies or their neural system, right?"
"On point," Shana nodded. "I've always been very careful with it, so I can't really talk about it with much depth, but from my personal experiences, when you overuse any metal, not only those the enhancers use, you suffer some kind of hangover, but much more shitier; it is like having someone hammering your temples every single second. Now, for us, the users of the physical metals, when we overuse pewter to increase our physical abilities and capacities, it is like someone crushing every single bone and muscle of your body with a death-grip, and you can only lay bedridden for a certain time if you want to recover."
"That is quite interesting. I've already heard about those drawbacks, but nowhere near as accurate as you've just described them; it is precisely what I needed for my book. Now, out of personal curiosity, have you ever reached that point?"
"I mean, if I hadn't, I wouldn't be able to give you those accurate descriptions; but I haven't reached that…, point of being overwhelmed because of the pain. I've always been very careful with allomancy; it is a great talent, especially the combinations of metals I can use, but like everything, a nice power comes with a high price."
"Yeah, I understand; but, what can you tell me about the tin and the way it enhances the neural system."
"Tin is the worst," Shana confessed. "It is also, in my opinion, the best metal, but as I just said, its overuse comes with a great price. What tin does is to increase the speed and efficacy of our neural system in its three basic functions; which are sensation, integration, and response. To compare it with something natural, it is similar to how the neurons with a myelin sheath are able to transmit neural impulses faster than those without it; imagine that, but take it to the next level, and you'll have a very good idea of how tin works."
"Yeah, yeah, I might be old, girl, but when you weren't even born, I was already an erudite for quite a few decades; don't act as if you knew more than me about something."
Merlin, he sure has a delicate ego. The young woman raised a brow at the old man, as if asking him if she could go on. "Okay, thank you, who would have thought it is you the one eager to learn something? Whatever, the thing is overusing tin has two major problems, not counting the general ones I already mentioned. If you overuse it one day, the next one you'll feel like your whole brain was fried, literally; it is very hard to do anything but staring at the nothing while drooling like a baby."
"Yeah, it doesn't sound nice at all; keep going, please."
"It is horrible, but it has nothing to do with what will happen to an allomancer if the overuse was to be continuous at a high level; for example, I'm alway burning tin at a very low pace, that way, I increase my senses a bit; nothing too inhuman, but enough to have a clear advantage over the rest of the wizards. Now, if I burn it for a long time, at a very high pace, my body would end up getting used to it, and that is the worst that can happen to you. Can you imagine having an eyesight so developed that even the faintest of the lights would feel like needles poking your brain? A skin so sensitive that the faintest of the contacts would ignite your whole body in pain? A neural transmission so fast and effective that your own body can't keep up with it?"
"Okay, okay, I get your point," Lawrence interrupted her. "By Merlin's sacred beard, you just made allomancy sound like a curse; you sure have a talent with words."
"You asked me for answers, and I gave them to you," Shana huffed. "Are you happy now?"
"Girl, you must really learn to respect your elders," Lawrence sighed. "But yes, it was even more of what I was hoping to get; thanks to you, my book will probably be remembered as the one which made people remember allomancy. I will publish it after I'm dead, after all, I don't want any furious metal users after me for uncovering their secrets; don't worry, I'll acknowledge your help in the memories."
"Is that all you want? For your work to be published and acknowledged?"
"No. I'm an erudite, what I seek the most is knowledge for myself; doesn't matter the topic. But, are you really a good erudite if you can't show other people your work and research? How else can you prove to the world all the effort and time you've put in it?"
"I see; so it is the erudite's hubris, eh?"
"Partly, can't tell you otherwise," the old man confessed, a sad smile forming in his face. "But, way before I was recruited for the Order of Merlin, my childhood dream was to become a teacher at one of the eight Schools; preferably, at Ilvermorny or Hogwarts. And I still think no one can be a true erudite without that…, desire to pass on all the knowledge to the younger generations. In my humble opinion, that is the main reason why we will never be able to reach our peak as wizards; because our society is founded upon humanity's selfishness; but even if I think that, I still tell myself many times why should I share everything that cost me so much time and effort with people who doesn't work for it?"
He stopped for a moment to take a gulp of his cup of wine, his gaze lost in the azure-blue sea. "Life would be a bit meaningless if you can't leave something of you behind; otherwise, why and how would others remember you? I'm too much of a coward to do many things while I still can, that is why I admire you, the younger generations, so much. In this war you and Isaac brought upon us, I will remain neutral; but please, try to not die, Shana."
"Is that the reason why you spent so much time tutoring me when I was a child?"
"It is the main one, but not the only. After many years in the Order, you start to get used to many wrong things; cowards like me or that poor soul of Rhoblas; people like Xaladir who doesn't hesitate when taking other lives; people like Isaac, who are slaves of their own ambition and bloodline… You were such a breeze of fresh air; an innocent girl who was to be chosen as the Fifth Master; I couldn't let you travel that path unprepared, that would sent me straight to hell, if there is even one, of course."
Finally some truths about you, old geezer. Lawrence had been the one to show the most kindness to her when she got recruited. In an unknown, new world for her, the old man was the one to light the way for her; especially, since Aura disappeared just after retrieving her from that little hut in Canada. But Shana soon learned that people didn't act for the sake of it; there always was something after an action, and until now, the reason after Lawrence's had been a complete mystery; until today, that's it.
What the ole man seeked was a personal redemption; that was why he came to warn her about Isaac and his plans; that was why he had always tried to protect her from the shadows.
"Thank you, Lawrence," Shana said, getting up from the chair. "Really. But I have to leave as soon as possible; I don't want Isaac to suspect you of helping me."
"Well, thank you very much, such a nice detail to have with this old man."
He always tried to hide his feelings under a mask; but this time, as Shana made her way out of the restaurant, she felt the Master's eyes not leaving her back.
Harry Potter POV
Thursday 30th June, 1992 (Grimmauld Place, London) - Before dinner
"So, you are telling me a house-elf appeared in your room out of nowhere," Ron muttered, trying to cope with the information. "And then, he told you that bad things were happening this year at Hogwarts; because of that, he took all my letters to make you feel alone, and he even ruined one of your meeting's uncles; but, since he performed some magic at your house, a letter from the Ministry came, and thanks to that, your family learnt you can't do magic outside Hogwarts, so they literally jailed you in your room, right?"
"Yep," Harry answered, as he bit the head of another chocolate frog.
"What in the world was that? You make my summer look boring as hell, mate."
"I would take yours anytime, trust me."
"But, what happened next?"
"Well, I was starting to lose my hopes, but then, Sirius came to pick me up," Harry smiled, remembering the moment. "Turned out my aunt knew him from my mother's wedding, and since Dumbledore told them about the whole thing of me moving in with my godfather after a month, well, they kinda knew what was coming. Despite that, uncle Vernon tried to stop Sirius, telling him that I was grounded because I ruined a meeting of his."
"Really? What did Sirius do?"
"To be honest, I don't know; I just heard some loud noises and whimperings, and then, Sirius stormed into my room."
"Damn, that sounds bloody brilliant," Ron whistled.
It certainly was. Harry had been waiting for that moment to come since the Headmaster told him about him having to spend one entire month at his uncle's house. The boy had no idea of how Sirius would act or even look like, but the doubts had been quickly forgotten when the man stormed into the room with a big smile on his face. "You look exactly like your father; except for your eyes, those are Lily's," were his first words after seeing him, just before hugging him strongly enough to knock all the air out of his lungs; not as if Harry minded it.
Since then, Harry had been living happily with his godfather at Grimmauld Place; and each day had been a different adventure. One day, they went to see a Quidditch game; the next, they went for dinner to a very nice Italian restaurant; a night of camping in the forest; and many more things. And now that he finally could meet one of his friends, things couldn't look brighter. "What about your summer?" Harry asked the redhead.
"Well, a classical summer in The Burrow, you know? De-gnoming the garden, avoiding the twins' pranks, listening to Ginny's rambling about you… Can't say it was boring, but it certainly wasn't as exciting as yours."
"That sounds rather nice. I would love to visit your house one day."
"That's quite easy. My mother loves having people at home, and she especially enjoys cooking for as many people as possible; if I ask her, she'd probably ask me why the hell didn't I bring you sooner."
Life at the Black's household was certainly the best he's ever experienced, but as happy as he was, Harry wished there were more people around. True, one of Sirius' childhood friend, Remus Lupin, often had dinner with them, but he always disappeared without saying a word, just to come back another day the same way; then, there was this other man, Gerard, who often dropped by to talk with Sirus about something Harry wasn't supposed to know; adults matters, or so the boy thought.
"We can do that," Sirius piped in, drying his hair with a towel, having just finished his shower. "I'll talk with Molly about it, she'll be delighted to have you around, Harry; but now, it is time for Ron to go back home, I promised his mother I will drop him by his house before dinner."
"Well, see you soon, Harry," Ron said. "Be careful with those house-elves fans of yours; I agree with Sirius that it must have been a prank from Malfoy or some other pureblood student, but you never know if they'll be waiting for you to come out of this house to drop a bucket of water on you head."
Trust me, you wouldn't say that if it had appeared on your bed. Since getting out of the hell of Privet Drive, this had been the first time Harry had been able to meet one of his best friends; it would have been great if the others would have come, but Hermione was in another country with her parents, and Neville was grounded because of something. Still, it felt really nice to see Ron once again; especially to see him out of the school, because that meant Harry wasn't a prisoner anymore; he was free.
The chance to meet the Weasleys came the next week, but in a different scenario from what the boy was expecting. "Harry!" Sirius called him. "We are going to Diagon Alley today; we'll meet with the Weasleys there, so prepare yourself. If you still want a pair of gloves for Quidittch, you better remind me of it when we are there, because I'll probably forget about it."
Once he was dressed, Harry made his way to the fireplace. The first time he used the Floo powder to travel, it really shocked him, but now, he just threw the powder into the flames. "Diagon Alley!" He exclaimed. When he opened his eyes, the boy found himself at the Leaky Cauldron, with Sirius appearing right from the next fireplace.
"Well, here we are," Sirius said. "Come on, the Weasleys should be around here; they are some tall gingers, it can't be hard to find them."
He was right; they found them outside of the tavern, waiting for them to come. "Sirius, here!" Ron's father, a tall redhead with a long nose greeted them. "Oh, you must be Harry Potter, a pleasure! Ron told me great things about you."
"Nice to meet you, sir," the boy greeted back, as he observed some red-haired girls trying to hide behind the man. That must be Ron's sister, but what is she doing?
The group started to walk, with the two adults at the head of it. "What 's up?" Ron asked him, coming to his side. "My sister Ginny can't ever shut up, but you completely silenced her, that is rather nice."
"It is a bit uncomfortable, mate. By the way, where is the rest of your family, shouldn't the twins be here?"
"They went ahead with Percy and mum, it was pointless to have everyone waiting here when we have to buy so many things. Did you read Hogwarts' letter? Merlin, they want us to buy all those Lockhart's books; and they aren't precisely cheap…"
That last part came in the form of a barely audible whisper, but Harry was near enough to grasp it. There wasn't anything Ron hated more than talking about the little money his family had, and Harry hated it; what was the point of him having so much money in his vault if he couldn't help his best friend? But, he wouldn't dare to even offer them any money at all; he commited that mistake in the past, and he wasn't going to hurt the Weasleys' pride like that; even though charity was the last thing Harry would consider that act to be.
"Harry! Ron! Over here!" A femenine voice exclaimed at them. Hermione Granger, one of Harry's best friends, ran down to meet them, with her bushy, brown hair flying behind her, and more tanned than ever. "I didn't know you were coming here today!"
"Well, me neither until a few hours ago," Ron answered her. "It was all very rushed, but my father told me we were going to Diagon Alley today with Harry and his godfather-"
"Oh, is your godfather here, Harry?" Hermione interrupted him.
"Yes, the one and only Sirius Orion Black is here!" Sirius piped in, greeting the girl with a wave of his hand. "You must be Hermione Granger, the most intelligent student in the whole year! Yep, Harry talked to me about you."
"Oh, nice to meet you too," Hermione spluttered back, reddening a bit because of the compliments.
"Yeah, just what we needed; another adult complimenting her," Ron whispered in Harry's ear. "As if five professors weren't enough."
"Ronald, what did you just say?"
"Nothing! Was telling Harry I didn't know about Sirius' middle name!"
After the brief exchange, they all made their way to Gringotts, where Hermione's parents and Ron's mother were waiting for them. Once they were in the bank, Harry and Sirius separated from the group because of their vaults being on a different floor than the Weasley's; but they all met again on the surface after grabbing their money.
"I wish those stubborn and prideful Weasleys could accept some money as a friendly help," Sirius practically whispered in Harry's ear, after watching the long faces of the redheads after coming back from their vault. "You won't find people as nice and honest as them, but by Merlin's beard, they sure can be stupid."
Not long after that, everyone went his own way; Sirius went for a drink; Percy muttered something about needing a new quill; the twins went to meet some friends of theirs; Mrs Weasley and Ginny were going to get some secondhand robes; but they all agreed to meet at Flourish and Blotts in a hour.
The three friends went for a walk after Ron's father convinced Hermione's parents to go for a drink; so, Harry invited them to some ice-cream while they talked about their summers. "I can't believe school is starting in less than a month!" Hermione complained, as they got out of a shop. "I still need to revise all the potions and charms! And I didn't even get to read the astronomy book!"
"Merlin, save us," Ron whispered, just before dodging the girl's slap, aimed at the back of his head.
"I wish I could have done something," Harry piped in. "I was a bit busy being jailed and those kinds of things, wouldn't recommend it to anyone, though." That made the girl gasp in horror, but Ron's laughter was even louder, so Harry found himself smiling; yeah, it was great to meet his friends once again. If only Neville was here…
The hour was about to end, so they made their way towards the bookshop, just to find an absurdly big crown in front of it. "What the hell is going on?" Ron cursed.
"Look there," Hermione squealed, pointing at something with her finger. "Gilderoy Lockhart is going to be singing copies of his autobiography today! We can meet him!"
"Yikes," Ron groaned. "She's also crazy about him…"
The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches of a certain age, just like Mrs Weasley's, but the three of them managed to get inside of the shop after some dirty shoves, both given and received. There, they each grabbed a copy of The Standard Book of Spells II, just to meet with Mrs Weasley back in the line to get the copies signed by the famous wizard. This wizard seems to be a big thing; man, I really hope we are having a good teacher of Defence this year; or at least, one who doesn't try to kill me.
The man sure had the looks; with his wavy, golden hair and blue eyes it was no wonder that many old ladies had fallen for him. "He is an incredible wizard," Hermione whispered to her two friends. "You must read all his books! It is really incredible that we are having the chance to get our books signed by him!"
"Out of the way, this is for the Daily Prophet," a reporter went past them, shoving Ron to the side.
"Cunt," the redhead cursed.
Unfortunately for them, Gilderoy Lockhart seemed to hear that, because he set his eyes on them. "It can't be Harry Potter?" He shouted, so the whole shop could hear him. As everyone started to whisper, the man dived forward, grabbing Harry by the arm and pulling him to the front. "Smile brightly at them, Harry," the older man advised him. "Together, you and I are worth a front page at the most read newspaper in the country; every good wizard needs to work on his reputation, you know?"
Get me outta here, please... But Lockhart clearly had another idea, as the man announced in the next seconds. "Ladies and gentleman, I have the pleasure to announce that young Harry and I will have the pleasure to work very close in the future, in fact, I will be teaching him at Hogwarts this year since Albus Dumbledore himself decided that my talents would be needed for the good of the students; after all, I will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts!
The public started to clap and roar, just as Harry tried to look down; the boy tried to run back with his friends, but he was intercepted by one of Lockhart's assistants, who gave him the whole collection of the wizard's work. After that, the boy staggered towards where Mrs Weasley and Ginny were. "You can have these," Harry mumbled to her, dropping the books into a cauldron. "I don't want anything that man has touched."
"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" A new, but familiar, voice piped in. The king of the disgusting people, Draco Malfoy, was also here. "The famous and incredible Potter can't help but to have his little moment of glory every place he goes, eh?"
"Leave him alone!" Ginny exclaimed at the blond, speaking for the first time in front of Harry.
"Look at that, you found yourself a girlfriend!" Malfoy whistled.
Ginny started to redden, just as Ron and Hermione fought their way over. "Malfoy," Ron coldly said, as soon as he saw his housemate.
"Weasley," Malfoy almost spat. The blond glared daggers at the redhead, but didn't keep pestering him as he had done with Harry; it was more of a glaring competition.
"Draco, don't lower yourself at their level," another voice piped in. It was the man Harry saw the first time he went to Diagon Alley, Draco's dad.
Now they were starting to gather the crowd's attention, even though Lockhart was trying very hard to make himself noticeable once again; but the show was just starting. "Lucius Malfoy, what a surprise to see you here," Arthur Weasley came into the scene. "Shouldn't you be worrying about other matters?"
"Oh, you've been quite busy at the Ministry lately, haven't you? Hope they are paying you for the extra work, you clearly need it," he sneered, as he grabbed a very battered copy of Ginny's transfiguration book. "What a way to insult us, wizards…"
"We have a very different opinion on what insulting wizards is, Lucius."
"Clearly," the blond man agreed, sending a very condescending look to Hermione's parents, who were watching everything with a very uneasy expression on their faces. "The company you keep, Weasley… just when I thought your family couldn't sink any lower…"
There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr Weasley had thrown himself at Malfoy, and now, the two of them were literally fighting in the middle of the library. The twins were cheering for their father as people exclaimed and tried to move out of the way. "Arthur! Stop right now!" Mrs Weasley hollowed, placing herself in front of Ginny.
The two men ignored everyone as the fight continued; until Harry appreciated something. "Watch out, Mr Weasley! He is going for his wand!" The boy exclaimed.
But Malfoy didn't have time, because the two adults were suddenly pulled away from each other by a blast of magic. "What the hell is going on here?" A woman asked, as she stormed into the shop.
She was young, with her long, blonde hair tidied on a single braid which reached until her lower back; she was wearing some kind of blue uniform, with the logotype of the British Ministry on her left chest. "Is someone gonna answer me?" She asked, raising her brow in a menacious way.
"Shit, an Auror," George muttered.
An Auror…, they were the magical police. Malfoy was the first one to get up from the floor, trying to look as regal as possible. "This man lost his head and attacked me out of nowhere," he almost spat.
"Excuse me if I don't believe you right away, Lord Malfoy, but I have problems thinking that is all," the Auror answered, not backing away.
"Jessie, what the hell is going on?" A new voice piped in. This time it came from a young boy, who was wearing the same blue robes; he had short, brown hair, and long nose; but his posture and presence gave away that he was much more easy-going than his female companion. "Oh, Lord Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley… don't tell me it was them…"
He walked forward, just until he was right by the young woman's side, and whispered something into her ear. "Yeah, yeah, I already know that," she sighed, quite exasperated. "Listen, we were on our routinary patrol when we heard all this noise coming from here, so now that everything is settled up, how about each one of you go on his way and forget this happened; after all, this is just some silly fight, right?"
"That would be a good solution, indeed," Malfoy almost spat, glaring daggers at the Auror. "Well, I'll see you soon, Weasley; I hope the Ministry won't shut down all those new projects of yours; it would be a shame to not earn those extra galleons, right? Come on, Draco, we'll buy your book in another place. You can have this piece of shit, girl." As he said the last part, he tossed the ragged book back into Ginny's cauldron, who, not one to be taken aback, held her gaze during the whole exchange.
The man left the bookshop , but the atmosphere felt quite heavy. "Well, well, that was such a nice work, young lady," Lockhart piped in, with that bright smile of his. "I would have done it better, of course, but I'm sure you'll learn a few things if you were to read my book Things to do when there is street fight in front of you, by Gilderoy Lockhart."
"Who the hell are you?" The two Aurors asked at the same time, sending some weird look at the future professor.
"Oh, not only are you good at your work, you even know how to joke!" Lockhart laughed. "By Merlin's beard, Aurors sure got better these days!"
"Listen, whatever you were doing before the fight, you can resume it," the male Auror told him. "But we need to get going; crap. I'm gonna have to fill out some paperwork tonight because of this…"
"Mr Weasley, you should be more careful with whom you fight," the blonde woman said. "I can imagine what he did to rile you up like that, but don't forget that man still has very powerful allies within the Ministry."
Not waiting for a response, the woman got out of the shop, with the man following her closely; still muttering about having to do some paperwork. "That was totally awesome, Dad!" Fred exclaimed with a big smile, but it disappeared quickly after seeing the furious look his mother sent him. "I mean, how could you do that in front of us? I find myself pretty disappointed..."
"Arthur!" Molly exclaimed. "What the hell were you thinking! To get in a fight in front of your children! In front of Gilderoy Lockhart!"
"Molly, my dear," Arthur tried to defend himself, his voice coming out in a whisper. "Maybe we should…, talk about this in private? People are starting to look at us…"
"You bet it!"
"Merlin, that is a furious mom for you," Ron whistled, coming to Harry's side as his mother dragged his father out of the bookshop. "Man, can't believe my father punched that cunt of Malfoy right in the face; must be the coolest thing I've ever seen."
"I don't know why, but whenever that man appears, there is always a fight," Harry sighed, remembering the events of last year.
"What do you mean?"
"Long story…"
In the end, they all came out of the shop, with Percy trying to apologise to the owner, who was practically fuming, on behalf of the whole family. Mr and Mrs Weasley weren't around, but the boys could meet with Sirius, who just came from the Leaky Cauldron; maybe reeking a bit too much of alcohol.
"What? Can't believe Arthur punched that bastard in the face!" He almost exclaimed after hearing the story; in his defence, he looked to be fairly sober despite the smell. "I should have been there... only Merlin knows how much I wanna punch one of those presumptuous lords…"
"Don't let my mum hear you talking like that," Fred advised. "I got…, a bit too carried away and she almost ripped me another."
"Ha!" Sirius laughed. "Will keep it in mind."
They kept talking about trivial matters and laughing until Ron's parents came; then, each one took the floo to travel back home; and only after tossing the powder in the floo, Harry realised he had forgotten to buy the Quidittch's gloves.
Yeah, it had been quite an eventful day.
Levitt POV
Sunday 10th August, 1992 (Tower of Merlin, Greece) - Middle of the morning.
The moment to meet their new allies had finally come, and Levitt wasn't particularly excited for it to come. Everything had been way too fast; just after finishing the mission in Croatia, they came back home with a captured Inquisitor, but thinking the journey was over; until those fuckers contacted Jordan, that's it. The soldier knew there weren't any limits for the man's ambition, but, what was he after? That was the real question, and if he knew the answer, he maybe could have understood why the Captain had decided to change sides.
"I'm a bit nervous here, not gonna lie," Mikko said. "I don't really like meeting new benefactors, I think we've had enough of vile bastards for five entire lives."
Many of the greeting party shared his opinion, only that they weren't talkative enough to share it. "This is what we do, Mikko; this is the life you choose," Levitt told him. The young boy had joined their ranks just after becoming an adult; he was the third heir in the line of the Great House of Kovanen, and because of that, he had felt the need to make a name for himself; after all, his House had been the leaders of the Hunter's Union for centuries, so becoming a mercenary must have been a good way to irk his father.
"Lady Sakai, are we close enough?" Jordan asked the prisoner.
"Not yet," the Inquisitor answered.
After some days of debating what they should do with her, Jordan had decided to defrost her to see if the young woman could slip some information about the Order of Merlin; it had been totally useless, of course, but that was before they knew about the change of benefactors. Hikari Sakai walked at the head of the group, with Michael and two of his men around her; the Inquisitor was chained, and her magic was locked with many 'reduction runes', which had been applied in her shackles, but that was purely Ashley's work.
The beach they were walking through right now was incredibly beautiful, but not enough to make Levitt relax. "Here," Sakai announced. "Now, we just have to wait for them to open the wards and barriers."
They must have been observing them for a while, because as soon as those words came out from her mind, the barrier was lifted in front of them. There weren't many changes, mainly because the beach continued for some kilometres, but not far from them, in the middle of the water, there was a gigantic structure.
The Tower of Merlin.
Actually, there were six towers, not one; in the outer circle, there were five very tall towers, maybe around eighty metres tall each one, made of what seemed like very polished marble; but they all paled in comparison with the central one, the real Tower of Merlin. It clearly was the core of the compound, and it had to be higher than a hundred metres; it was made of the same material, but from each one of its five sides, there was a magnificent cascade of pure water flowing down.
It was the most astonishing view Levitt has ever seen.
"Look at that…," Ashely muttered, to his right. "It is amazing…"
Almost all the members of the group started to mutter words of amazement, but they were all silenced almost instantly. From the island in which the Tower was standing, a bridge made of white light was born; little by little it started to grow, and in less than a minute, it connected the island with the beach. "That is their way of welcoming you," Sakai explained. "You better feel grateful, because very few people have the honor of visiting the Tower; it must be a first for some filthy, honorless men like you."
"Whatever you say, your highness," Levitt shot back. "But after being captive with us for more than a month, I'm not sure who is the filthy one here."
"Silence, you two," Jordan commanded. "Now we are on the same side; it would be nice for you to remember that, Levitt."
Of course you would say that… Since the woman didn't talk again, the soldier also remained in silence, just as the group started to cross the bridge. It was a really small party, mainly because only those whom Jordan trusted enough had been invited; even one of the higher ranked officials like Levitt didn't know everyone, but he was cool with having Michael and two of his squad members.
As they got closer to the island, the allomancer's enhanced senses allowed him to visualize the little group of people that was waiting for them at the end of the bridge. There were six persons; an old woman, who was standing by the side of a younger man; two masked individuals, one of them wearing a dragon's mask, as the other did the same with an unicorn's; and finally, Jin the Stranger, accompanied by that disgusting woman of Avarice.
"Heya, Jordan! It 's been a while!" Jin greeted them, as soon as they stepped onto the island. Levitt tested the ground with some light stampings, but just as the looks indiqued, it was made of common rock; it was almost funny how different it was from the magnificence of the Tower.
Jordan nodded at the mercenary in response, but his gaze was set on the man next to the old woman, "We finally meet, Master Isaac," the captain saluted, bowing his head a little.
So that if the infamous First Master, eh? The man was very different from what Levitt expected him to be; he was far too ordinary. Isaac was tall and looked healthy, but a few wrinkles had started to appear in his face; his skin was of the same tone as the soldier's, that light, brown typical of Thailand and other eastern countries; his head was almost covered by a white hood, but everyone could see that the man was completely bald.
Still, the man's presence was imposing; just as his magical aura was.
"Captain Jordan," Isaac greeted back. "It is a pleasure for me to welcome you and your men to the pride of my Order, the Tower of Merlin; but before we get inside to talk about the important business, I think there is something you must do."
"Of course; Levitt, you know what to do."
The loyal soldier made his way towards the chained inquisitor, and after unsheathing his sword, Levitt destroyed each one of her shackles. "You are finally free, even if you did nothing to deserve it," he almost spat. "We might be on the same side, but I will never forget that you killed one of my squad members; his name was Pierre, and even though you proud yourself of your honor, you can't even remember him because you went on a frenzy just to kill me; and you failed."
"Levitt, enough."
The Inquisitor limped towards the old woman, who embraced her as a mother would do with her daughter. "I'm so glad that you are okay, Hikari," she whispered, and Levitt heard it because of the tin; but then, she raised her head to look at Jordan. "Thank you for treating her well, Captain; even if she killed many of your men; this speaks greatly of you."
"I'm a man of word, Master Aura," Jordan thanked her. "I look forward to working with you in the future."
The two women started to walk towards the tower, just as Isaac signaled them to follow him inside. "Are we really going into that thing?" Mikko whispered to Ashley.
"I think so; but these people are giving me bad vibes," she mouthed back.
Sometimes, being able to hear more than others was a pain in the ass, especially at first, when your own brain isn't accustomed to the extra information. So far, everything is going smoothly, but I need to keep all my senses at maximum. When they got into the Tower, Levitt understood why the exterior was so poor; it was because those fuckers had used all their money to decorate the interiors. This place is…
The soldier allowed himself a moment to be astonished. The place they were at had to be the reception, but it was as big as the most incredible manor he had seen; in the middle of the absurdly big space there was some kind of symbol carved into the marble, and from the pentagon which surrounded it, a bunch of different currents of water were born from each one of its points; those little currents turned into small rivers after fifty metres or so, where the marble was replaced with fertile ground. These bastards have an entire ecosystem here… Fucking hell…, there are plants from all over the world.
"We welcome you to the Garden of Morgan le Fay," the Unicorn-masked guy announced. "This is the entrance to the Tower; as you can see, there are two openings at the sides and one in the front; the first ones will lead you to Fifth and Fourth tower respectively, where their Masters live; and the later, will lead you to the core of this place, the Tower of Merlin."
"I don't want to sound prickly or anything like that, but…, wasn't Morgan le Fay the mortal enemy of Merlin?" Ashley questioned.
"Written history often skips parts which don't benefit the victorious side," the First Master answered.
"Well, I know that, but…, aren't you the Order of Merl-"
"Ashley, drop it," Jordan cut in.
"Well, now that we are all here, why don't you show our fellow soldiers the beauty of this place, Avarice?" Jin suggested; he had tried to hide it, but that was an order; they didn't want unnecessary ears in the meeting.
"If that is what you want…," the pink-haired witch answered, not sounding very happy about the decision. "Follow me, ladies and gentlemen, I'll show you around."
"I'm not moving from here," Levitt stated, making everyone look at him.
"Look at this, the loyal dog has some balls," Jin laughed. "I like him, he should stay here."
"Levitt will be of a great help to complete our goals," Jordan vouched for him. "So, I would prefer if he was here to know everything firsthand; you can trust in him, I'll give you my word. But, may I wonder why all this secrecy? I'll need to tell my soldiers as much information as I can so they can get the job done as best as possible, so I'll probably have to tell them whatever we are going to discuss in the meeting."
"It is not about secrecy," the Dragon-masked one answered, and this Inquisitor's voice was of a woman. "Is about respecting the chain of command; low ranked subordinates shouldn't ever be present in a meeting of this calibre; and they need to know it."
As much of an elitist shit that is, I kinda agree with her, especially in a mercenary's company; even us have people who would sell us if they could get something very big because of it, the allomancer thought, as he took a seat in one of the couches Isaac had just conjurated. The once enemies now stood all together, in the very same room; even though the atmosphere wasn't so tense, there still were traces of mistrust; maybe because of Levitt's wary gaze, or maybe because of Jin's funny smirk.
"Let's start with the meeting," Isaac started. "As you already know, the obsidian dagger Shana found in Croatia was a true Horcrux, only that it had been destroyed by someone; whether it was recently or many years in the past is some information we are lacking. As we now know, thanks to Captain Jordan, Shana discovered something important during that day, so we can assume she probably has an idea on how this whole thing continues."
"May I ask how does it continue?" Jordan asked.
"There is another Horcrux," the female Inquisitor answered. "But, that is everything we know about it; its whereabouts and form are still something we don't have; and that is why we decided to create this new alliance with you, the Wings of Liberty."
"We really thank the trust you have in us," Jordan said, starting one of his motivational speeches. "As of today, it may seem we have nothing to begin our search, and that is true; but, that was also true with the dagger, and after more than a year of searching, it now lies in our hands. For the first one, we were on opposite sides, and that slowed the search a lot; that is the main reason why I think we should be in high spirits now. Shana might be a formidable enemy, but our forces are way stronger than hers and Shawn's. I promise you we won't stop until the Horcrux is in your hands, Isaac; just as we promised in our contract."
Levitt had to roll his eyes after the speech was finished, just as Jin and the unicorn-masked Inquisitor subtly sniggered. "Told you so, Isaac," Jin commented. "Jordan was our man; what a way to fire us up, you runt, ha!"
Much to Levitt's surprise, there was an honest smile on the Master's face. "I totally agree with you, Captain Jordan," Isaac nodded at them. "We should not underestimate Shana and Elend Shawn, but I think this search will be far easier than the first one; mainly, because we already know where to start. Tell me, are you ready to begin with this?"
Jordan's impassible mask showed one emotion for a mere second; that shady gleam in his eyes that appeared for the first time at the meeting before the mission in Croatia; a gleam that scared the shit out of the loyal allomancer, because when it appeared, it was the moment Captain Jordan turned into a different man. "I'm ready," he answered.
The dragon-masked inquisitor got up from her couch, and with a wave of her hand, some water and dirt from the garden started to gather in the middle of their circle of couches; after some seconds, Levitt understood; the witch was creating some kind of world map. "We might not know its exact location," Isaac piped in, pointing with his wands at different spots of the map; marking some places with little points of light. "But we know Herpo took his Horcrux with him; tell me, Wings of Liberty, are you ready for some tomb raiding?"
Ashram POV
Friday 15th August, 1992 (Denmark) - Near midnight
Ashram tried to enjoy the tasteless soup under the moonlight, just as some wolf howled not far from them. Since the Dark Lord was defeated in Hogwarts, his life had consisted in running from one place to another; at first, when they still were in England, they needed to be very careful with the auror's patrols, in their search of Peter; but now, far from the country, the man and his coward companion put all their efforts into tracking their lord down.
"For how long have you been like this, Artem?" Ivan Dolgov asked. The man was a Russian Auror, very similar in complexity to Ashram, but his hair was of a light blonde, instead of raven-black. They had been friends back during their years at Koldovstoretz, and only because of that, the man knew his real name.
"I dropped that name long ago, Ivan," Ashram answered. "Now, the only thing I care about is to find the Dark Lord, that is why I called you."
"Well, nothing extraordinary has happened in Russia in the last months, so I doubt he is there; and that is good for you, because if he is as bad as you say, our motherland is the worst place for him to retreat."
"That bastard is still alive?"
"Better than ever, his son has replaced him as the Head Auror, but if something extraordinarily bad were to happen, everyone knows he would take the lead back; after all, Viktor Shatov's reputation speaks alone."
That was indeed a problem; Russian's old symbol of peace meant trouble, but the Dark Lord was as wise as none, and he knew better than to escape to Russia. "It is funny, you know?" Ashram started, after some seconds of silence. "Here we are once again after many years, but this time, you come here as an Auror, who would have thought you'd end up like this?"
"Life is full of surprises," Ivan shrugged it off. "I never had that much determination as you did, and by the time I was about to join you and your cause, that Dark Lord of yours was defeated by a baby. I had nothing to do, and a life ahead of me, so I basically applied for many jobs; fortunately, the National Department of Security was lacking in personnel rather heavily, so I applied for it, and they contracted me; that simple."
"Ivan Dolgov, the brave auror…"
"Drop it already, I don't believe in that crap of fighting for the weak or risking your neck for them; never have, and never will. I wanted the easy way, and the Ministry was paying very well; besides, I'm not in the Anti-Wizard Corps. I work at different shitholes, dealing with magical creatures which represent a danger to society. I just have to kill some filthy beasts and get myself a nice bag of money; no questions, no superior officers supervising my job… a dream come true, my old friend."
"So, you aren't gonna help me, right?"
"Sorry, but can't risk myself like that. If I stumble onto some information during my patrols, I'll try to reach you; but you are on your own, mate."
That is what friends are for, Ashram thought, after the man disapparated from the place. Whatever, I've always done everything on my own, this time is no different. The man closed his eyes, and by the time he opened them, the first rays of sun were brightening the whole clearing.
"Oh, so you are awake now," Peter said, crouching down near the campfire. "I couldn't sleep, so I went for some wood and hunted a few rabbits."
"Good job, Peter; today is gonna be a long day, so we better eat a little before we leave this place."
"W-Where are we going? Do you… know anything about the Dark Lord?"
"Nothing at all; that is why we need to keep looking everywhere."
That same night, they arrived at Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, thanks to some illegal portkey; they were far more expensive than those the Ministries had for the free use, but Ashram didn't want any people knowing about him and his travels. The man knew the Dark Lord had to be somewhere in the Eastern Europe, but the worst part of those countries was the language; especially when you were trying to get information about something.
"Peter, I'm going to the shadiest places in this city to see if I can get some clue about our Lord," Ashram told him.
"And… what about m-me?"
"Do whatever you want, but you better don't get caught; because if that happens, you better pray for them to kill you in sight."
The man whimpered, but he walked away from him. I shouldn't worry about him, there's gotta be very few people in this world who are better at surviving than that rat. It was almost midnight, and that was good news, because it was the best time to meet interesting people. But before that could happen, the wizard made his way towards the magical part of the city.
It had been ages since the last time Ashram visited magical Zagreb, but it was the same as always; today, there were even more people, maybe because of the good weather. It took him some time, but the wizard managed to find some local newsstands. "Hello, do you speak English?" He asked some old man, who seemed to be in charge of the shop, once he stepped inside.
He just exclaimed something in Croatian without even looking at him, but after some seconds, a younger man came from the door behind the counter. "Hello, good sir; what do you need?" He answered in English, with some accent.
"I was looking for some recent newspaper," Ashram told him. "I don't have an exact date, I'm interested in every one from the twenty-seventh of May onwards; I want to know if something… extraordinary happened in those days."
"May I ask why? Just out of curiosity, of course; we don't have many clients with those… requirements."
"I've been working in the countryside for a month with some friends, and since we are staying in the capital tonight, I need something interesting to read while I take a shit."
The young man snorted at that, but he didn't avert his attention from the different newspapers on some shelf. "If it is for that, I know exactly what you need; wait a moment, it should be here… and… here it is! This is the daily version for the international clients, it is the one from the day before yesterday, and it talks about some disaster which took place in the countryside; there was some abandoned town that was completely destroyed; some very fucked up thing."
"Thank you, young man; here, take this and keep the change," Ashram thanked him, dropping a golden galleon on the table. He made his way out of the shop, just to take a seat on the nearest bench to read the newspaper.
The incident of Dakovo; all the information so far.
One of the most talked about topics in the last month has been the famous incident of Dakovo, mainly, because of how mysterious it is; even to this day, we practically know nothing except that it took place in the last month. But, if there is something that can spur the need for knowledge of the people is how hard a Ministry tries to cover something up.
Whether it was some unknown magical beast, a battle between two rival bands, or even some failed experiment from a governmental operation, it is something only a few officials know.
"We don't know yet what was the cause of this catastrophe," our national Head of Defense declared to us. "The damaged zones had been totally inhabited for centuries; it is true the ecosystem has been completely destroyed at some points, but that is all. As we are talking right now, our men are trying their best to decipher what really happened here; but, there is nothing to worry about, the situation is completely under control."
Ashram read the rest of the article, but there wasn't anything of interest. "Ah, how I hate these sensationalist newspapers," the wizard sighed. "This one isn't as bad as the English, but rubbish is still rubbish."
Despite that, he had new, and very valuable information. I highly doubt it was him the one to cause so much damage, but he is the Chosen one, after all; there is nothing impossible for him. Magical Zagreb's 'bad side' was much more dangerous than Knockturn Alley, but it was also smaller; still, it wasn't very hard to find for a man like Ashram, who was a common visitor of those dark places.
For the little he knew about how Zagreb worked, the Dragon's Inn was the best place for what he wanted to do; and his hunch didn't take long to be confirmed. "Information, you say?" One of the inn's guards almost spat. "You don't seem like the kind of wizard to have enough money, but it is up to you; there are many other ways to pay for something here; including your limbs, ha!"
Ashram ignored him and went through the door the man was guarding, which led to a more selective part of the inn. "Hey, don't ever ignore me like that, you fucker," the guard grunted. "If you want information, Luka is your man; he is the guy with the patcheye, the one over there."
This 'secret' part of the inn was just a classical shithole, with many men drinking, abusing drugs, or even spending their money on some whores; but the real deal was the people who weren't doing anything of that. "You are Luka, right?" Ashram asked the man, taking a seat in front of him.
"Don't ask if you already know it," he grunted back, as he shuffled some cards at an incredible speed. "What do you want? I have plenty of smuggled goods-"
"I want information about the incident of Dakovo," Ashram interrupted him.
"Oh, you got balls, man; but you know? I have the hunch that you might be able to back that attitude of yours with actions, so why don't we make a deal?"
"I have enough money for the informa-"
"I don't want your filthy money, bastard. Whatever happened at Dakovo is some fucked up shit, if you know what I mean. For that, I want you to do me some favour."
"What is it?"
"Here," Luka said, giving him some written napkins. "That is the name and location of a man I want you to kill, in a discreet way, if you know what I mean…"
"Why does it have to be me?" Ashram asked. "I'm sure you have plenty of men to do this shitty job."
"Because the man who has to die is one of my men, who recently betrayed me. The thing is I can't send a guy of mine to kill him because then, the rest would know someone had enough balls to betray me, and that is something a man in my position can't ever allow, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean…"
The man cried something in Croatian, but Ashram didn't have the time, nor patience, to hear him begging for his life. "This should be discreet enough," the wizard said, as he pierced the smuggler's body with five different streaks of magic, simulating the kind of death a very dangerous, local magical creature used to inflict on muggles and wizards alike. "Hope you don't mind, buddy, but I'm taking your wand as a proof."
The boring hunt had led him to a little hut in the forest; the man clearly knew his day had to come sooner than later, because his place was covered by plenty of wards; which were pretty useless, but that was the best most wizards could do, so Ashram respected it. "A-Are you finished?" Peter asked, from outside of the hut. "This place is making my flesh creep…"
"That's because you are a coward," Ashram answered, getting outside. "But yeah, I'm finished; now, I just have to collect the information."
This time, the guards of the Dragon's Inn didn't give him any trouble, so the wizard found himself in front of Luka in no time at all, dropping the wand in his table without uttering any words. "That soon?" The smuggler asked, quite surprised.
"I'm a pretty talented man, if you know what I mean…"
"Don't mock me! But yeah, I'm starting to realise you might be a bit too troublesome to keep around; so tell me, what do you want to know?"
"Everything you know."
"Well, that ain't a lot, you see," Luka sighed. "As I told you, it was some fucked up shit, to a point in which up to this day, the Ministry has leaked nothing, and I'm sure you know what that means… But, the underworld has ears everywhere, and from things I picked here and there, it seems the cause of the disaster was some fight between two unknown groups; and the winners were good enough to get rid of every single piece of information about them after finishing; there are very few groups which work like that, if you know what I mean…"
"Yeah, you are telling me that it was either Jin the Stranger's group, or someone from the Eye of the Red Sun," Ashram guessed. "It certainly wasn't what I was looking for, but it was useful anyway. I guess this is goodbye for us, Luka; we'll meet once again in hell, if it exists, of course."
Ashram started to walk away from the man, but his voice stopped him. "Wait a moment, foreigner," Luka called him. "I can tell you still want to know more about the incident, but don't dare to go there; the ICW has its eyes set on whatever the fuck happened, and unlike the Ministry, they don't like to play games. If they catch you, they'll know about us, and I can't allow that to happen."
"I think you are misunderstanding things here," Ashram said, with a calm voice. "First, I don't care whatever the fuck happens to you and this shithole; second, I have no interest of going there; third, the ICW can get in line to suck my balls; and fourth, don't ever threated me, okay?"
Now, all the eyes of the inn were set on him, so the wizard prepared himself to act if necessary. "Stop it, lads," Luka stopped them, as he raised a hand over his head. "Let him go."
Seems like you weren't that stupid; good play, smuggler, Ashram thought, as he made his way out of the inn. "W-What happened?" Peter asked, once they met a few alleys past the tavern.
"We rest tonight in the forest," Ashram stated. "There is nothing of interest in this country, so we'll move onto the next one tomorrow at first light. Also, we might have some unwanted guests tonight, so we'll take turns to sleep."
Wait a bit more, my Lord; your loyal subordinate is coming for you…