MISSION RAISE POTTER - Part 2
31 April 1988, Karlstejn, Czech Republic (4 years Later)
"Your Metamorphmagus skills are developing really well, Harry. But you're still unable to make yourself older than fifteen let alone act like one."
"It's difficult to maintain," Harry complained. "It's easy to change my face or hair and grow taller or shorter or even fatter but there's a limit to it! Pushing my body beyond five feet hurts too much."
"Well, you have to do it. Right now you're still too small to attempt magic with a wand and unless you grow you're going to be kept away from a wand.
Metamorphmagus have an incredible power but your study in biology has to be unmatched. The more you know about your body the better you can control your powers and by body I mean hormone development."
Harry sighed and took a sip of the hot coffee. They were in a restaurant called the Krcma U Ezopa, or café Ezop in short, in the small market town of Karlstejn of the Czech Republic.
"What's the rush," Harry complained under his breath. "You've been working me to the bone with all the training."
"The rush is that the department is investing a lot in you," Hugo said severely. "Magic is an important part of your growth and the sooner you're capable of…."
"I know, I know," Harry interrupted irritably and then he sighed glumly. "Maybe going to DisneyLand would be a nice motivator for me."
"I took you there after you succeeded with your facial changes didn't I?"
Harry just sighed and took another sip of his coffee.
"And you're not supposed to be drinking so much coffee," Hugo added sternly.
Harry sighed.
"Will you stop that? It gets on my nerves when you keep doing that."
"What are we doing here anyway? I thought we were going to the Devil's Cauldron?"
Hugo downed the contents of his mug and sighed in happiness. "Czech Beer is the best," he said, ignoring Harry and opening his little pocket box of joints. He lit it and took a deep, stress relieving drag.
"Hello? I asked you something."
"I thought raising you would be easy. But you're a real pain in my ass sometimes," Hugo grumbled.
Harry scoffed and folded his arms sulkily. "The feeling is mutual."
"And then you make me laugh," Hugo grinned. "Want a drag?" he said, offering the joint to Harry.
Harry's eyes lit up. "Really?!" he gasped, eagerly sticking his hand out but Hugo withdrew the joint and smirked.
"But then I do remember saying I won't let you smoke pot until you're sixteen so…"
Harry scowled. "I'm doing my best, you know. You have no idea how hard it is."
"I remember you saying the same about changing your bone structure."
"It's easy once I understand how to do it without hurting myself."
"Well, look at this way. The sooner you grow the sooner you can play with the girls."
Harry grimaced. "Your meaning of playing with a girl is just gross."
"You'll come around sooner than later," Hugo laughed. "If you manage to develop your hormonal glands and they start going wild in your body, you'll be thanking me for pushing you to master your Metamorphmagus powers."
"Unlikely," Harry said confidently.
"Err excuse me sir?" A waiter came up to Hugo with a pained expression on his face.
"Yes?"
"You can't smoke that here sir. I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to leave."
The air suddenly grew thick and suffocating throughout the restaurant. Hugo's eyes turned cloudy and Harry gulped at the power exuding from Hugo's eyes.
"Don't annoy me with stupid requests," he said coldly and a second later the pressure was released. The waiter and those who had complained didn't understand what just happened but suddenly they weren't bothered by the smoke at all. They were puzzled at the sweat on their skin when the weather was so pleasant and the hot sun was hidden behind dense clouds that were drifting across the blue sky lazily. Shrugging the odd feeling off they resumed their conversations and the atmosphere turned light again.
The waiter found himself standing near the bar wondering why he was there and then he remembered the gentleman at table 5 wanted another beer.
"You can be so scary sometimes," Harry said warily.
"Just try and stop me smoking my shit," he grumbled. "Now, you," he said pointing a finger at Harry, his eyes turning hard, "Don't bother me with whiny requests for joints and amusement parks until you master your power. Our mission in Japan requires you to be seventeen years old."
"But that's more than four years away! Of course I'll have mastered it by then!"
"You've been slacking off since we returned to the States last month and that's the reason why we're here ahead of schedule," Hugo snapped.
Harry looked down at his feet angrily.
"But if you do better than I expect then I'll take you to a place that is beyond amazing," he added with a sigh.
The angry face disappeared and eager curiosity replaced it. Harry finished his coffee quickly with imaginary super amusement parks spinning his mind crazily.
"It's almost time," Hugo said, glancing at the main road. The town they were in was very small and had a single main road besieged by shops and residences. The road led up to the hill where the majestic Castle Karlstejn stared down at the town, exuding an aura of history and mystery.
"Are we here for the festival?" Harry asked Hugo after they left the restaurant.
"Do you know about it?" Hugo asked. He never knew what kind of books Harry got his hands on and buried his nose in. Everywhere they went; Harry purchased all manner of books, most of them to do with history.
"Walpurgis Night; Some muggle cultures celebrate it as the end of winter and the beginning of spring," Harry said. "They make a huge bonfire and burn an effigy of a witch made out of straw after which they dance and drink until dawn to welcome the coming of spring."
"That's the typical gist," Hugo agreed as they walked up towards the castle on the hillock.
"Walpurgis Night is also an important festival for the magical world and the muggle version is something of a by-product of this festival," Hugo explained. "Magical folk call it the Witches Sabbath. A night when witches and wizards celebrate the arrival of spring as well but in a manner that is far from what muggles would consider decent."
"Decent?"
"They celebrate this time of joy and pleasure starting with a lavish feast, followed by the consumption of hallucinogens and drink and completed by an orgy."
"Orgy?" Harry asked frowning, another new word among the millions that were occupying his brain every day. "What's that?"
"It's a term for when dozens of men and women have sex without restraint with anyone or sometimes... anything."
Harry's eyes widened with shock. "Why?" he asked, turning red with embarrassment. Putting your thing in anything? The thought made his stomach churn uncomfortably.
"Well it's an ancient ritual. The participants believe that through frenzied lust and sexual desire, they would reach a climax which would allow them to be united with the source of all magic. They believed that the end of winter and the beginning of spring was accompanied by an increase in the levels of magic and the ritual would also increase their magical power. Today, however, the wizards and witches who practice this ritual do it for the sake of pleasure alone."
"Wow." Then another thought struck him and he looked at Hugo nervously. "Umm we're not going to see it, are we?"
"Huh? Oh, no. Don't worry. We're here for different reasons."
Harry sighed, extremely relieved.
"But there's a lot more to this day than the Sabbath. The greater portion of the magical world celebrates it like the muggles do. They build a bonfire, camp out with their families and tell stories about the past; most of them have to do with the muggle persecution of magical beings."
"The witch hunts."
"Exactly. The Witches Sabbath was a critical part of what caused the witch hunts in the first place. The Holy Roman Empire was suffering from floods, plagues and all manner of epidemics at the time and they found it easy to put the blame on the unnatural rituals of those who practiced witchcraft. Orgies weren't uncommon back then but the Witches Sabbath at that time involved a lot of madness which included slaughtering goats, bathing in their blood and a lot more gory things you don't really want to know. From then on out, any bad thing that happened to the muggles was blamed on the witches and wizards and this ultimately led to the formation of a government and later the establishment of the statue of secrecy."
Harry was hard pressed to keep up with the long strides of his guardian. He had to run and catch up to him every five minutes and it was tiring him. He kept falling behind because he was also interested in this quaint town where even the slightest noise felt like an annoying disturbance to the peace and quiet. All the houses were made out of wood and some with concrete but they were all painted in different attractive colors. Harry liked the way they dressed too. The girls wore long frilly skirts and the boys, baggy trousers with loads of pockets. He felt a little out of place with the shorts that he was wearing.
But the most thrilling thing of all was that the entire town and the castle were within the confines of a mountain range and worlds apart from modern civilization.
Everything here was shielded by a blanket of unending greenery and as they walked up the path to the castle, a variety of birds with musical chirps flew over their heads from rooftop to rooftop in the biting but gentle breeze of the mountains.
Finally they reached the castle entrance. The castle itself was not very large. It had one tower and maybe three sections judging by the three conical roof shapes on top.
"Come on Harry, keep up!" Hugo called when the distance between them got a little larger.
His four foot frame hurried along to catch up to Hugo.
Night was falling faster than expected and Hugo led Harry around the castle to the courtyard where there was a huge bonfire being made ready. It was nearly 10 feet wide and 10 feet long with a human effigy made out of straw tied at the top. Stalls had been put in near the corners where food was being made ready to serve along with drinks for the adults and juice for the kids.
"Can we watch?" Harry asked excitedly. He had never seen a campfire this large before.
"We ought to reach the Devil's Cauldron before nightfall," Hugo said and walked straight into the woods.
"Can we come back later?"
"Sure kid. Now come on. Let's go."
Hugo dug his hands into his pockets, his arm nearly sinking in the whole way until he grasped what he was looking for and pulled out a broom. He tossed it to Harry who caught it happily. He loved flying. It was the best feeling in the world.
Hugo removed another for himself and under the cover of the thick forest; he began to navigate around the trees and overgrowth.
"So what's the Devil Cauldron like?" Harry asked.
"It's a slum," Hugo said. "It's a place where criminals, the poverty stricken folk, werewolves, vampires without a coven and thousands more who don't fit anywhere else in the world come and live."
"Like Creepy Corner?"
"No, this is different. Creepy Corner is a place where business takes place. You saw it for yourself last year. This place however, is like a home. A place where these people can say they belong."
Harry's interest was piqued. "And what are we doing here?"
"Like I said, it is a home to criminals and the information we get here is priceless.
However, to get it comes with a price tag weighed in gold."
"A price tag beyond our means?"
"These people do not rat out their own kind unless they feel it's worth the price," Hugo said grimly. "What we're looking for is information on the whereabouts of 'John the Wraith'."
"We've been doing that for a long time now!" Harry complained.
"He's a shadow who travels in the blind spots of our shadows," Hugo said sourly. "But he's the mind behind the manufacture and sale of purgestones around the globe and this time one of my informants says the Devil's Cauldron is a hotline for him around this time of the year."
The prugestones were stones with an enchantment only few were capable of casting. It was a stone that dark wizards loved and a stone that caused unending migraines to Law Enforcement all over the world. The stones were difficult to find but if one got their hands on it, they could place it in the hands of a muggle and a thrall was born. Dark Wizards used it to control the muggles or wizards for their own desires; perverted and dangerous. Criminals used these stones to surround themselves with loyal servants who would murder and carry out dealings without the slightest protest no matter how degrading the task. The stones also ensured that if caught, the guilty could claim pardon under the banner of mind control and be sentenced only to a couple of months of mind healing.
"If we find him and directly make a deal with him, then my identity as a smuggler will become rock solid and it will open a can of worms hidden from our sights as of yet," Hugo added.
It was quite sudden, the way the trees melted away and instead of solid ground, Harry was looking down at the biggest Cauldron he had ever seen. A sinkhole, shaped like a cauldron so deep that he couldn't even see the bottom.
The air was hot and humid and there was no sky above. The entire forest had taken flight and grown over this gigantic hole providing complete cover from prying eyes.
Roots and dirt kept falling from above and Harry felt like the forest could fall on their heads any second. There were hundreds of balls of fire that floated around them providing light in the dark and more heat than necessary.
Harry was already sweating and his mouth was half open coupled with awestruck eyes.
Hundreds of witches and wizards, flying on broomsticks went in and out of the hole and there was a constant barrage of cracking sounds, like a million balloons being burst one after the other and there was no end to it.
The folk flew out of the Cauldron and apparated after landing on the small strip of ground all around the cauldron. The land looked tiny in comparison to the size of the hole But it was capable of providing footing for as many wizards that needed it with the aid of magic.
Harry could see rows and rows of orange balls, lighting up each level and they kept going further down until it looked like there was a massive fire burning at the bottom.
Just a mental image of hell.
"This is so cool," Harry breathed.
"Come on. We got to go to the eighteenth level."
"How deep is this?!" Harry gasped.
"Deep," Hugo laughed. "The scum of the magical world grows larger every year and so does this hole."
The deeper they traveled the worse the smell got. "Any chances you can cast a smell suppressing charm?" Harry asked, cringing.
"Endure it."
Harry knew that was going to be the answer. An odd thrill and fear fluttered in
Harry's stomach as they descended. He could not see the bottom and all it seemed like was that there was a fire waiting for them down below which was pulling them towards it hypnotically.
"Who built this place?" Harry asked, still in awe.
Hugo smiled. "Voldemort."
Harry's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Voldemort was a Dark Lord to the people on the ground and he was a savior to the people who didn't have a ground to call their own. The war with Voldemort was more than just about blood purity to the underground. To them he was a beacon that would allow them to have a home and a means to survive and most importantly freedom from persecution. He built this place with the help of Goblins as a shelter for them - promising the land above the ground after he was victorious."
"But then he was vanquished," Harry said. He gulped when he realized that he was probably the most hated name in this hole. He looked at Hugo nervously, but his guardian was as cool as a cucumber.
"What's so special about this place?" Harry asked. "Couldn't he have built this in Britain?"
"Not without the ministry finding out about it. This area is called a magical dead zone because you cannot use magic here."
Harry frowned at the contradictory statement. "But..."
"I don't know how he did it but he managed to do this and in addition it is completely invisible to the world where right and wrong actually mean something. You cannot find this place unless there's someone who knows its location escorting you. It took me a long time to find someone I could con into leading me here."
There were narrow gaps all around the cauldron at each level and a brightly lit network of tunnels and people would be seen through the gaps.
Each level had a roman numeral carved into the Earth above it and Hugo stopped at number eleven.
He looked at Harry with utmost seriousness. "You'll find goblins, werewolves and humans here and all of them have one thing in common; Greed. The tunnels are complex and it's easy to get lost so keep track of the path you take, understand?"
"Yes."
"There might be a chance this is going to be your new home for a while."
"You're kidding. This is worse than a pigsty!"
"Everything that you've done so far, in the States and Iran, was to prepare for this place," Hugo said, his eyes and tone deathly serious. The fun and games are over once we put foot on this underground. Keep up your disguise at all times, make as many friends as you can and be a star in their eyes."
Harry suddenly felt the pressure of uncertainty and doubt in his abilities. A place like this was bound to be filled with violence and scary people. But then every time they went to a new place he always had the same feeling.
A confident smile appeared on his face and he looked up at his mentor with eyes made of unbreakable resolve.
Hugo cast a spell to hide them from sight temporarily. "I think Tyson Storm should make a name for himself here," he said. "What do you think?"
Harry crunched his eyes and adjusted his features to match that of the fictional Tyson.
Black hair turned brown, green eyes turned black, high cheekbones adjusted to become a little more rounder and harsher, height changed to four feet ten inches to match that of an average twelve year old and his skin turned from White to pale brown. Harry Potter turned into Tyson Storm; short tempered twelve year old whose face was designed to be forgettable.
Tyson was an orphan who Henry - the name Hugo was known by in the Devil's Cauldron - picked up in New Mexico during one of his dead drops.
"Good," Hugo said, pleased with the speed of the change. "Now remember the rules."
"Don't break character and no emotional attachments," Harry recited. They were lessons pounded into him in the harshest ways possible.
"Choose the people you make friends with wisely," Hugo advised. This is not like Detroit where you knew whom to befriend." Hugo took a deep breath and smiled reassuringly.
"Now are you ready?"
"Yes."
Hugo led the way into the crack between level eighteen and nineteen and immediately there was a drastic change in temperature. The inside was cooler than the sweltering wind that was blowing within the central column of the gigantic slum.
Ventilation. The answer dawned on Harry and his respect for the design of the underground network went up a notch. Even the smell had reduced to bearable but all thoughts of hygiene took a back seat at the sight of so many people in an underground slum.
The size of the underground level was beyond the scope of what Harry imagined. It was huge! Had hundreds of little tunnels branching their way into hidden depths.
Thousands of stalls and huts were propped all over the places without any regard to organization or convenience to others. Countless numbers of people were walking in groups laughing and shouting at one another just so they could hear each other over the incredible noise that filled the underground. Liquor bottles and cigarettes were littered all over the place and Harry's eyes nearly budged out at the size of some of the people on the level. Obesity, it seems, was rampant even in a slum.
He saw groups of teenagers haggling with a fat ugly man with warts on his face over the price of what seemed to be fried lizard. Another group of boys and girls were sitting in one corner, smoking and glaring at anyone who dared come within ten feet of their group. A pack of dogs were being chased by some excited children and in the midst of all the chaos, Harry was being led into the maze of tunnels by Hugo.
He held onto Hugo's pants for fear of getting lost in the catacombs and he bumped into no less than twenty stinking legs on his way to where he had no idea where.
As they went deeper into the tunnels, the crowd of filth became thin and instead of huts and stalls, there were proper doors embedded in walls that actually extended from the ceiling to the floor. The entrance of the level, it seemed, was like a terminal of an airport or train station in a fourth world country. The inside, however, seemed more organized but the twists and turns and branches of tunnels were even more confusing.
Harry saw holes in the ground and roof, through which ladders were propped and people kept passing through, either on foot or on brooms.
Oddly, the practice of magic seemed scarce and he wondered why that was.
"We're here," Hugo announced suddenly and Harry, whose eyes were elsewhere, bumped into the thirty fifth pair of legs. "Get into character," he warned before thumping on the wooden door.
The doors were flung open and in the center stood a lady. Harry figured she had to be a lady because of the cheap cocktail dress that she was wearing but he also felt it could be a man because of the mean face, stubble and lack of breasts.
"Gloria, it's been a while," Hugo greeted.
"Henry!" Gloria shrieked in a high pitched womanly nasally voice. "Where have you been?!"
Gloria leaned forward and kissed both cheeks and Hugo reciprocated.
"Who's the kid?"
"Gloria, meet Tyson. Tyson, this is Gloria. She's the landlord of this level."
"Pleased to meet you," Harry said gruffly without interest.
"Shake hands," Hugo ordered and glaring mutinously, Tyson obeyed.
Manicured fingers shook his tiny hands delicately and Harry drew his hand away quickly.
"Are we going to be here long, Henry?"
"Can we come in?" Hugo asked politely.
Gloria didn't move and instead looked at Hugo calculatingly. "What do you want?"
"A home for me and my adopted kid," Hugo said laughing. "I thought living in the world above would be easy but ... Well..." He shrugged helplessly and looked at Gloria with eyes asking for help.
Gloria smirked. "The line is long, Henry. Everyone of those vagrants out on the front porch are looking for a home."
"I'm aware," Henry said smoothly, "and I came prepared."
Gloria pursed her lips, painted with dark red lipstick and Harry didn't like the look she had in her eye. Or was it he who was pretending to be she?
"I suppose the cost will rise and some complimentary gifts should bump you up the pecking order," she said, licking her shiny lips, revealing a row of yellow teeth.
"May I come in?" Hugo asked again.
A shiver of disgust ran through Harry's spine. Hugo wasn't, he wasn't going to do what he thought he was, was he? Harry thought in horror.
"I'll see you in an hour, Tyson," Hugo said, winking. "Don't get lost and don't be late."
"Sure," Harry muttered and turned on his heel not wanting to let his morbid imagination get the better of him. He heard Hugo walk in and the door banged shut.
Harry took a deep breath, closed his eyes and embraced the personality of Tyson Storm. Short temper, American accent, twelve years old, likes to fight, delinquent, hates weaklings and sometimes acts too big for his boots, boasts a lot and a general asshole.
A smirk grew on him and his sharp beady eyes turned in both directions before deciding to go towards the front porch as Gloria had called it.
Every left,every right, every bend that he took was memorized and filed away for his return journey. Five minutes into his journey, Harry realized he was nowhere near the entrance of the level but it didn't bother him. His task was to look for children his own age and mingle. But so far, he had come across a number of cold faced, miserable adults and a couple of tall men that looked at him with perverted eyes. Pedophiles, Harry thought warily and hurried along before they could get a hold of him.
The dull intensity of light remained constant throughout and fifteen minutes into his quest of friendship he came across a disturbing sight.
A boy maybe fourteen or fifteen judging by her size was trapped in a corner, cowering in the face of a menacing werewolf.
Harry's blood went cold and his instincts were telling him to flee and abandon the boy to his fate.
Tyson however, was hot blooded and hated people who took advantage of the weak even more than he hated the weak. It was with that thought and without a seconds concern for his own fate if the werewolf turned its fangs on him, Tyson Storm let out a blood curdling yell and using his metamorph powers to increase the density of his bones in his hands he ran forward and punched the werewolf in the gut.
"Get away from him, filthy dog!" he yelled.
People passing by hurried away instead of helping.
The werewolf stumbled back, surprised at the sudden attack but looked hardly affected by the strong punch.
A low growl rumbled in his throat and crazed yellow eyes turned their attention to the pest that interrupted his hunt.
"You have a death wish, it seems brat," a deep and raspy voice growled.
Harry gulped and backed away while the other boy inched towards Harry, trembling with fear. "W-why did you...?"
"We can take him," Harry said confidently, interrupting the boy.
Incredulous blue eyes stared at him and at the same time the werewolf leaped.
The bravado that had momentarily overtaken his senses fled as soon as he saw the snarling face come close and he pushed the boy out of the path of the crazy werewolf before jumping away himself. "Run!" he shouted.
But there was nowhere to go. Fate it seemed had led them to a tunnel with a dead end and the only exit was covered by a drooling werewolf.
"Run where?!" the other boy hissed unhelpfully and together they backed away until their backs hit the wall.
Fear filled Harry and he wondered what Hugo would do if he found out that Harry had turned into a werewolf on his first day in the Devil's Cauldron. Harry began cursing Hugo to hell for bringing him to such a dangerous place in the first place and he closed his eyes and prepared for the worst when the werewolf bent its knees, making ready to pounce and bite.
"What do you think you're doing Mack?"
Harry opened his eyes and to his relief, saw another man holding Mack the werewolf's shoulder in a vice grip.
Mack growled in reply and tried to break free but it was futile. The other man was much stronger.
"Go back to level thirty or else I'll tell the warden what you've been up to."
"That kid," Mack growled angrily.
"I don't want to hear it! Now move before I make you!"
Mack glared hatefully at the other kid before turning around and storming away.
Harry and the other kid sighed in relief and slumped to the ground.
The man who saved them gave them a glance to see if they were hurt and after deciding they weren't, he followed Mack the werewolf.
A few minutes of silence was observed between the two boys while they thanked all the gods they could think of for letting them survive that freak encounter.
"Thanks for saving me," the other boy said after a while. "I would be turned if you hadn't shown up."
Harry stood up and looked at the boy closely. Long curly blonde hair, blue eyes, taller than him, thin as a rail and hollows cheeks.
"Names Tyson," he said in return and stuck out his palm.
The other boy grinned and took the offered hand and pulled himself to his feet. "Gale," he replied. "Thomas Gale."
"What'd you do to piss the hound off?"
Gale grinned and removed a pouch from his pocket. "Stole his gold," he laughed.
Harry blinked in shock. Apparently the werewolf's anger was justified. Harry then snatched the pouch out of his hands.
"Hey! What the hell man?!"
"My price for saving your ass," Harry replied, pocketing the light pouch.
"Give it back!"
"Make me."
Gale looked into those cocky, challenging eyes and changed his mind. "Fine," he said, defeated. "It's not like there's much in it anyway."
"How bout we spend it to celebrate our survival?" Harry asked. He didn't want to turn the boy away. This was his chance to wiggle into the circle of pickpockets and thieves.
"I have to go back to the den first," Gale said.
"The den?"
"Our hideout," Gale explained.
"Oh. Do you mind if I tag along? I'm new here."
"Sure," Gale said enthusiastically. "You saved my butt. The others will be thrilled to hear about our encounter!"
Harry grinned. Looks like the first part of his mission was a success.
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A/N: If you're enjoying my works - please do consider supporting me at pat~reon /raulfictitious. We're about 3 missions (~6 chapters) ahead!