Chapter 25
-oOo-
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
-oOo-
This time on The Magic of Amber: The chase to find Lex and Hermione.
-oOo-
November 28, 1993
Bethmale, France
The dawn came just as grey and snowy as it had been the night before. The storm from last night had moved out, and a new one had moved in. This one with an icy rain. Harry was feeling tired, not having slept last night. The bad feeling just kept growing.
It was just past seven when Sirius finally met him in the small dining room of the hotel. The man had a long face. "Eat up, pup. We are leaving in about an hour."
"Why not now?" Harry demanded. "Did you hear from Mister Hammond or Misses Murphy?"
Sirius sat and rubbed his face. "Yeah."
"And?" Harry demanded.
"We need to get Alain and Karl to the train station. John will have a helicopter ready for us at an airport just outside of Saint-Gaudens about ten," Sirius told him as he prepared an espresso.
"What about Lex?" Harry said.
The look on Sirius face didn't lessen Harry's gnawing worry.
"Benjamin is in a hospital with Simmons. Yvonne was able to call just a few hours ago. Benjamin and Simmons don't remember what happened, but Yvonne said that some people from the church of England were at Hermione's house. She doesn't remember what happened, but when she came too, Lex and Hermione were gone. There was some damage to the house. George and Helen say they sent Hermione off to a private school, but don't remember where it is. The only thing Yvonne remembers is that the vicar said something about a place in Wales. John is having his people find every place the Church of England or other denominations has in Wales," Sirius said.
Harry's eyes widened in fear. "The church has them?"
Sirius had a long face. "I think so."
"Bloody fuck," Harry exclaimed. He shot out of his seat. "Why are we still here? We need to go, Sirius."
"Harry, we will get there as soon as we can. I promise you we will find both of them. Listen, I think the church is a lot more dangerous than we thought. This reeks of obliviations and memory charms. I don't know how to do any of that. I didn't think anyone would with what we have found so far. We need to be incredibly careful," Sirius told him.
"But Lex, Sirius! We can't just let her… oh, merlin, what did Owen say they did to him?" Harry asked.
Sirius frowned. "Harry, you will drive yourself barking mad if you think about this. I need you to calm down. We will be in England in a few hours, then we will meet up with Yvonne. We'll find her, pup. Now, sit. Eat. You won't do her any good if you pass out."
Harry wasn't ready to be calm. He was feeling ready to thrust his sword through some people. Running his hand through his hair and then pulling it, he finally plopped back down in the seat. "Fine."
-oOo-
About the same time…
Somewhere on the British Isles…
Lex woke with the biggest headache she had ever had. It hurt to open her eyes. It hurt to move her head. It just hurt.
She wasn't sure how long it was before she could open her eyes. When she did, she looked up at a stone ceiling, stone walls and a small wooden table with a metal pitcher, a giant mixing bowl and a metal cup. A dull grey light filtered into the room from a small window above her head.
Moving to put a hand to her head, she felt something cold on her wrist and the jangling of chains. Moving her arm up enough to see, she started to panic to realize she had a hand cuff on her with a rather solid looking chain. She groaned as she forced her way up. The world spun for a moment when she was able to swing her legs over the edge of a cot.
She leaned over, supporting her head in her hands for a moment until the world righted itself.
She lifted her head. The room she was in was made of stone blocks. A metal door with thick iron bands on it was the only thing on the wall opposite the cot. A full body shiver passed through her in the cool air of the room.
"Fuck," she muttered as what happened yesterday came back to her. She wanted to panic. Her breath started to quicken. She knew she couldn't. Not yet. She had to get out of here.
Trying to figure out where she was and what she might have, she patted herself down quickly. Everything that had been in her pockets was gone. She was still in the same clothes she had on yesterday. Patting her left arm, she was surprised to find the wand holster that Harry had made for her was still there. Her wand wasn't, but the holster was. She didn't know why, but something about that made her feel like things would be okay.
Harry! She thought. Oh, Harry would find them.
She was starting to think about what Harry would do to them, and what Rexy could do to the bastards that attacked them, when a solid thunk and the sliding of metal against metal came from the door.
When it opened, two men in black frocks were at the door. One of them was holding a steaming bowl of something.
"Who are you?" she asked. "Where am I?"
"Fear not, child. You are still young and can be redeemed," one of them said, making the sign of the cross.
She made a face, as much to hide her fear as to be defiant. "There is nothing wrong with me. I know what you do to people with magic. Though you used magic."
"We use the divine gift of god, not the way of the devil. You will come to see the light in time, or you will face the fire," the one holding the steaming bowl said.
She just glared at them for a moment. "I have to go to the bathroom."
"There is a privy pot in the corner. It will be emptied at every meal." The men stepped into the room. Lex moved back on the bed, not wanting them to come nearer.
"Fear not child. We shall not hurt you unless you refuse to repent," the first one said. This man had a distinctive Latin-American quality to his face. The other was a white man with sharp cheek bones.
"I know what you do," she said.
"The first prayer session will be at noon. Eat and you will be given more should you accept our ways," the man with the bowl said. He put it onto the table. She crinkled her nose. It didn't smell like much and looked like the Cream-of-Wheat that her mom liked at times.
"I'm not a protestant," she said.
"It matters not. We are all children of God. The only question is if you still are or have given yourself to the devil. We will be back at noon," the first one said.
"Where is Hermione?"
"The other sinner is going through her own trials. Worry not."
Something in the way the man said that sent a new shiver through her. She didn't really know what Owen had gone through, but she had overheard her mom and Sirius once and it didn't sound good. When the door closed, there was something ominous and frightening.
She looked at the bowl for a moment. Her stomach grumbled. Something about it turned her stomach though. Curling up on the cot, wedged into the corner, Lex tried to fight off the tears. "Harry, please come for me," she said to the empty, quiet room.
-oOo-
Later that day…
London, England
Harry's leg was thumping madly as the helicopter approached a small airfield somewhere outside of London. He had the Sword of Gryffindor between his legs and was taking it a few inches out of the scabbard and then pushing it back in. He would look out the window every few minutes to see England flowing by below him. How he could have thought of this place as home at one time seemed like a lifetime ago now, even though it had only been eight months. Leaving Isla Nublar felt like leaving home and that was how he thought of it.
Sirius was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed, and arms crossed as they came lower to the ground and slowed. He could see the airfield and a black car by a large H on the ground. Even from this distance, he recognized Yvonne with her pink hair.
Harry didn't wait for the helicopter to set down. He pulled on the handle to open the door. Noise, dirt and wind invaded the cabin. He jumped out just as the craft touched the ground. Yvonne came over to greet them as Harry demanded, "Where is she!"
"Easy, Harry. We don't know, but there are three places that Lockwood's security team here in the UK think it could be," she told him.
"Let's go," Harry said, rushing towards the car. "Where are the keys?"
"Hold up. You don't have a licence," she told him.
"I swear, Yvonne, you give me the keys now or I will take them," Harry demanded.
"Harry got his license two weeks ago," Sirius told her as he walked over to the car. Harry was now standing at the driver side door. At the look Yvonne gave them, Sirius added, "We stopped here in England before going to France. Lockwood claimed Harry was his son."
"It's the other side of the car in England," she said, her brow raised and not looking impressed.
"Bloody hell," Harry cursed. "If you don't give me the keys and tell me where to go, I'll start apparating now."
Sirius put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Pup, maybe you should let Yvonne drive for now?"
Harry shrugged off his hand. "Sirius, I have to get to Lex and Hermione. I think something is very wrong."
The older man sighed. "Give him the keys."
"Fine. I'm in the front then," she grumpily said, fishing the keys out of her pocket and tossing them to Harry as he went to the other side of the car. By the time she was sitting down, Harry was already revving the engine. "So, you even want to know where we are going?"
"Wales. Though why we couldn't get the helicopter to get us closer I don't understand," Harry told her.
"That's because the first place is in Reading. This was the closest airfield that we could get permission to land you at," she told him.
"Where are we now?" Sirius asked. Harry was still revving the engine as Yvonne took out a map book.
"Woking. It should take up about forty-five minutes to get there. Head towards that gate and then take a right…" she started to tell him. Harry hit the accelerator and the car left skid marks. He only stopped long enough for the guard at the gate to glare at him and open it before Harry was off.
It was an hour later that they were outside an old stone church just north of Reading proper. The place was a few hundred years old with an old slate roof, moss growing up the tower and with a small attached rectory. They investigated it from just down the road.
"Can we go?" Harry asked, his leg bouncing like crazy again. He was wishing Rexy was here. He would let the big guy eat anyone he wanted right now.
"We don't know who is there. That car is not one I saw yesterday," Yvonne said, nodding towards the old car in the drive of the rectory.
"Well let's just cast a revealing charm," Harry said, grabbing his wand and moving to get out of the car.
Sirius put a hand on his shoulder. "Easy, Harry. After hearing about what Yvonne remembers, I think these people know more magic than we thought. Who is to say they wouldn't be alerted to your spell?"
"Sirius, I am not going to just sit here and wait if she is there. If not, we need to move to the next place," Harry just about growled.
"Yvonne, why do they think this old place is connected to the hunters?" Sirius asked.
"Muldoon has been working with some of the InGen security in the States. They have able to track down the priest that had Owen. The accounts the man uses are also used by dozens of churches around the world. Three of them are in Britain. This place is one of them," Yvonne said.
"And the bastard is here?" Sirius demanded.
"I doubt it. We haven't been able to find any footage of the guy since he left Boston in August, but our detectives can't be everywhere," she replied.
"Damn," Sirius muttered.
"Can we go?" Harry asked impatiently.
"And do you plan to just blast your way in?" Yvonne asked.
"Yes," Harry answered truthfully.
Sirius chuckled. "You would." Sirius sighed. "The sword stays in the car. I say we go up and see if anyone is in the church, be all nice to see how many there are and then we can figure it out from there. The key will be to be subtle and nice."
Yvonne shook her head. "You two are completely mental, you know that, right?"
"Not the first time I've heard that," Harry said, not smiling or taking his eyes off the church and rectory.
"Stay close to us. If things go down the tube, one of us will grab you and we will apparate out of there," Sirius told her.
"That's that teleport thing you do?"
"Yeah. Just to warn you it's pretty unpleasant until you get used to it. HARRY!" Sirius yelled.
Harry had had enough. He grabbed his sword, slinging it onto his back as he got out of the car. "Bloody fucking Gryffindor's," Sirius cursed as he got out to follow.
"You're one too," Harry shot over his shoulder as he determinedly walked towards the church.
"That's beside the point," Sirius retorted. He fixed his own sword to his belt and Yvonne touched the gun hidden in her jacket that she was not supposed to have. If they were to be stopped by any bobbies at the moment, they could all be arrested.
"What's a griffin door?"
"I'll explain it to you later," Sirius told her as they caught up to Harry's near jog.
He didn't slow as they passed the old stone houses. At the doors to the church, he paused just long enough to see the times it was open, then threw them open. He marched up the centre of the aisle towards the pulpit.
A man came out a side door. "Good day. Can I help you?"
"I am looking for two girls," Harry said.
The man looked confused. "We have no one here today except you."
Harry's lip curled up. "Listen. I haven't really slept much in the last few days, idiots kidnapped my girlfriend and another friend and we know they work for you. Now, tell us where Lex Murphy and Hermione Granger are, or where the hunters are."
The man's eyes widened some. "I don't know what you are talking about."
Harry wasn't in the mood. His magic reacted and a heavy book shot off a stand on a big table behind the priest. It just barely missed hitting the man, who ducked only after it flew by his head. He looked absolutely terrified. "A spawn of the devil," the man uttered in fear.
Harry gave an annoyed growl.
Sirius stepped to his side. "Way to be subtle."
"Fuck off, Sirius. Where is Lex and Hermione?"
The man was backing away from them. He made the sign of the cross. "I don't know what you are talking about."
Sirius pinched his nose and put a hand on Harry's arm to keep him from pulling his wand. "Listen, Vicar… it is vicar, right?"
"Vicar Lawrence Murphy."
"Vicar Lawrence Murphy, we don't want to hurt you. We are only trying to find two girls. If you tell us where they are, we will leave you alone. If you don't, it's going to get harder for me to control my godson. You obviously know what we are. So, you want to find out what we can do?" Sirius asked the man.
Vicar Murphy rummage for something around his neck to draw out a string of rosary beads and a cross. "Stay back, you devil. Magic is of the hell spawn. I will never give you secrets of the Order."
"Oh, fuck," Harry said. He was spending too much time around Lex, he was starting to talk like her at times. "There's an Order now?"
"Apparently," Sirius replied. "Just as long as it's not the Order of the Flaming Turkey."
Harry snorted in a dark mirth.
"You two really need to tell me where you get this stuff," Yvonne said, sounding amused.
Harry quirked a smile until the vicar reached for a solid looking candelabra. Harry reached for the hilt of his sword and pulled. "Do you really want to get violent? Just tell us where they are. NOW!"
The magic that laced his last command had the man cower back. A few seconds later a puddle started to form under him. "I don't know."
"Then what do you know?" Sirius asked.
"Nothing I will tell you." The man held up the candlestick like he was going to use it like a club.
"This is getting us nowhere," Harry exasperatedly commented.
Sirius rolled his eyes and his wand was out. Before the vicar knew what was going on, a red light had knocked him out. Harry looked to Sirius as though to say What the hell? Sirius just shrugged.
"You told me not to use magic," Harry snarked.
"Yeah, well, he was annoying me," Sirius said.
Yvonne shook her head. "You know, I thought you completely barking mad for what you did back at the park to save us, but this is completely around the twist."
Harry chuckled. "You know, this is still not the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me. Sirius?"
Sirius had cast a homium revelio and a few other detection charms. With a shake of his head, Harry felt the pit in his stomach grow. "Nothing. He is the only one here."
"Bloody hell," Harry screamed as he kicked the side of a pew.
"We can look to see if we find anything or move to the next place," Yvonne told them.
"We don't have the time," Harry told them.
"I agree with the pup on this one. If they decide to move Hermione and Lex out of the country, we may never find them," Sirius told them.
"You can't use magic to find them or anything?" Yvonne questioned.
"It doesn't work like that. If we had put a tracker on Lex before we left, we could use it to point us in her direction if we're within a hundred miles or so. I didn't think about it, but we could try a point me spell, but that is only effective within a few hundred yards. If I had some of our books, we might try scrying, but all that is back in Costa Rica and I doubt the arses at Beauxbatons would help us unless we give them everything we know," Sirius told her.
"Fuck!" Harry yelled. "Right. Let's get to the next place. If we don't find them then we will have to go back to Costa Rica or Beauxbatons. Unless you can ask Lynne to look through the books."
Sirius frowned. "I don't know if she knows how to read Latin. The book I am thinking of is in Latin."
"Bloody hell!"
"We'll find them, pup. I know we can find a way to track them," Sirius tried to soothe him, though the man looked just as concerned. Harry grabbed at his hair as though he was going to pull it out before storming out of the church.
"You can't locate them?" Yvonne questioned.
"The location and sensory spells we know are really only good for local use. A hundred yards or so. It was what Aurors are taught and what I taught Harry," Sirius answered.
"I thought magic could do anything," Yvonne commented.
"Not everything, just most things," Sirius replied.
-oOo-
About Dinner time…
Somewhere on the British Isles…
Hermione was sniffing. It had been only a day, but she was already homesick and didn't understand what was going on. Knowing her history of the Church and witches, she was afraid she would soon be led out to a field with a pyre ready to be set for her.
A shiver ran through her body. It was cold in the stone room and quiet. She had yelled for a long time earlier, trying to get anyone to respond. She was hoping Lex was close by. No one answered her screams for help.
When she heard a door opening somewhere outside her cell, she shot up and moved to a corner as far from the wall as she could. The sliding of metal on metal was very ominous. When the door opened, two men in black cloaks and white frocks were standing at the door. It was the same men that had taken her to the noon time prayers. They hadn't done anything to hurt her yet, but the way the priest had spoken, she was a sinner of the worst sort and the only way to repent was to join them in their crusade to rid the world of the devil influence. She had never cared for church, even though her parents had taken her every Sunday since she could remember. After meeting Harry and Lex, she didn't think magic was evil. They both seemed to be too nice to be evil.
The brothers before her were something different.
"Hello, little sister. It is time for evening prayers and then we will break our fast," one of the men said.
Hermione's stomach grumbled. She hadn't had anything to eat since the rather tasteless gruel that she had been given this morning. "I want to go home," she told them.
"You are home, little sister. It is up to you if you accept the hand of our father or his wrath," the other told her.
After the warning this morning from the first two that had brought her breakfast, she really feared the fire, but it seemed so hypocritical to her fourteen-year-old mind that these men obviously used magic, but they were trying to tell her she was infected by the Devil.
"Now come," the first one said.
She shook her head. Her mother had read up on the occult and cults and this was sounding more like a cult than the Church of England.
"Little sister, we do not want to resort to the cleansing that is usually required. If you cooperate and accept the Lords teachings, you will be accepted. If you don't…" the second brother said. It sounded rather ominous, and he took out an elaborately decorated rod of gold and white leather straps. She thought she felt something like she did when she held her wand.
"What about my wand," she asked, having thought about it.
"A tool of the Devil. You will destroy it when you accept our teachings, and the Brotherhood will endow you with your true investitures. The rod to protect the flock. A staff to keep the evil at bay. A Holy worship sphere to subdue those touched by the Devil." The first man reached into his robes and pulled out a round sphere.
Hermione swallowed. Her mind raced at what was being said. As afraid she was about being kidnapped and now threatened to conform or else, her survival instincts were kicking in. She would have to go along until she found a way to escape.
"Where is Alexis Murphy?"
"The two of you will remain separated. Maybe if you both accept our teachings, you will see the other little sister again," the second man told her.
She couldn't keep her hands from shaking, but she did stand tall and put her head up. The brothers seemed to accept this as her willingness to follow them and led her towards a small chapel at the end of the prison block she was in. She would find a way to escape. She just didn't know where to go when she did. Would InGen help her if she could find a place nearby? She wasn't sure she trusted her parents anymore, but had a feeling that Mr Hammond, Harry and Lex would protect her.
She had to find Lex too.
-oOo-
Later that day…
North coast of Wales…
Sirius was looking out the window as they drove through the winding roads that snaked along the Welsh coast. He had been this way a few times as a young man when Lily had wanted to go out into the muggle world. The war didn't really touch these areas as much as the wizarding world, so they could forget themselves for a few hours before they went back to the death and destruction that was happening in their world.
The muggles knew something was going on but thought it all related the Troubles with the IRA from Ireland. If only they had known, then the current world they found themselves in could have been the reality.
Yvonne was driving in the darkness as it approached ten in the evening. He had grown up and lived his entire life on the British Isles, but it didn't feel like home anymore. Isla Nublar was where he looked forward to returning. It was where Harry was, and he knew his godson was not leaving. As much as he loved magic, he knew Harry was in love with the dinosaurs. He had thought briefly about whether they should move to protect the preserves, especially with how some creatures seemed to be escaping, but Sirius didn't want to now. He had originally started to look for Hogwarts and the other schools because he wanted to go home, only to realize he had already found one.
"I think he finally fell asleep," Yvonne said softly.
Sirius looked over his shoulder. Harry's head was propped on his hand as he leaned against the window. His eyes were closed, and his chest moved in a slow rhythmic pattern. Usually, Harry looked peaceful in his sleep, except when a nightmare took him. Today he looked weary and careworn. Sirius had no doubt that Harry loved Lex, and this was eating him up to have her in danger and him not with her.
"He needs it," Sirius said.
"Sirius, I don't want to think about it, but what happens if Lex and Hermione aren't at the last place?" Yvonne asked.
Sirius sighed. Harry had wanted to rip that old abbey apart when he found out Lex wasn't there. No one was actually there, and it looked to have been ill used for a while. The only things they had found was two rods and a strange orb that they both knew where magical but didn't know what they did. They also found a weapons cache, but everything was of far lower quality than the goblin silver steel they had.
"If Lynne can find the tracking spells or the scrying rituals, we will use those and go from there. If not, we will see if Muldoon dug up anything else. If worse comes to worse, we race back to Isla Nublar to find the information ourselves," Sirius told her.
Yvonne looked into the rearview mirror at the sleeping boy as they passed under some street lights. "I don't know if he will go along with that," she said after a moment.
"Probably not, but that is why they make stunning spells. He'll be pissed at me, but it might be the best we can do to get the girls back," Sirius replied.
"Maybe," Yvonne said. They were silent for a few before she said. "They are good for each other, you know."
"I know." Sirius gave a small smile. "It's the Potter curse."
"Curse? What do you mean?"
"It's what James's father Charlus used to say. The Potter men usually found their mates early in life and got married early. Charlus said it was because they always found so much trouble. If a Potter lived past forty-five, they were generally good, but many died early because they were known to be fighters and problem solvers. I just hope the pup will live that long," Sirius said with concern. As much as he loved Harry and wanted to keep him out of trouble, trouble just had a way of finding the young man.
Yvonne clicked her tongue. "I would have never noticed he gets into the thick of things."
Sirius chuckled. "Yeah. He's just like his father and grandparents that way. His grandmother one time challenged half the Wizengamot to a duel when they tried to pass some new muggle laws before Voldemort came to power. She probably would have beat them all too if her brother hadn't stepped in. James was born about ten months later, from what she said."
Yvonne gave a soft laugh. "I see where his temper comes from then."
"Oh no, that is all his mother. Lily was a redhead and as fiery as that implies. The rows that James and her used to have would shake the cottage they lived in. Then it would shake as they made up," Sirius said with a grin.
"Nothing like a good make up shag," she replied. "Still, I worry about him."
"I do too. We better find her, or he's likely to take down the entire church, or die trying," Sirius said.
Yvonne looked in the mirror again. "Between him, Muldoon and InGen, he might just have the resources he needs."
"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "How much longer?"
"Maybe thirty or forty minutes. I've never been to this part of Wales. I think we should find a hotel or something and see what we are up against. He can't keep just charging in," Yvonne concernedly commented.
"Again, that is his father and grandfather. They would run into hell and back for someone they love," he said. Sirius was feeling the same. Being with Lynne, and knowing that Lex was sort of like his real daughter, had him just as concerned as Harry. Tim had really grown on him as well.
"You really think they are together for the long run? They are young."
"The Potter Curse," Sirius repeated. "I see it. It won't be long before he probably asks me about marrying her. James wanted to marry Lily within about two weeks of meeting her for the first time when we were just eleven. He spent six years slowly wearing her down until she agreed to go out with him, and they married at eighteen, just a few months after we were out of school. Most think it was the war that drove them together like that. I know it was their magic. Potter men find their true love early and will stop at nothing to get it."
In the light of the dash, he could see her frown. "And if we can't find her?"
"I really meant it he won't give up. He will go to London, or Rome or wherever else this all starts and tear down the church brick by brick until he finds her or destroys them. If something happens to her, he won't rest until he utterly destroys the church, or it destroys him," Sirius said rather morosely. "Potters rarely live long after their mate goes. But they can cause irreparable damage on their way out."
"Bloody hell. I've seen what he can do, but you think he is that powerful? How much can magic really do?" Yvonne questioned.
Sirius's chuckle was far darker this time. "Magic can do just about anything. Harry is powerful. I don't know if he realizes how powerful he is. He is only sixteen and is more powerful than I am. Most wizards keep growing until they reach their early fifties. Between now and then I would expect his magic to double in strength, though we usually reach about seventy-five percent of our peak by about twenty-one. If he puts his mind to bringing down the church, it will happen, or he will die trying."
Yvonne didn't say anything, believing his words.
In the back seat, Harry whimpered as though he was having a bad dream. Both adults looked at him worriedly, having seen what his nightmares could do to him. For all his power and maturity, Harry was still a sixteen-year-old kid that was still learning what life was.
-oOo-
Next time on The Magic of Amber: The rescue…
