CHAPTER 5
7 July 1993 - San Niccolò, Florence - 1:44PM
'This is the greatest city in the world.'
That was the main thought running through Hermione's mind as she looped an arm through Blaise's own, the two friends chatting rather amicably about the architectural history of San Niccolò proper.
The Gryffindor was fascinated to learn about the rather large wizarding population that occupied the residences of Monte alle Croci, blending in perfectly with the neighboring muggles due to Magical Italy's considerably more lax view on magical - muggle interactions. Zabini had revealed Florence held the record for the fourth-largest squib population in magical Europe, many holding esteemed jobs in the city's arts and science sectors. In fact, the famous Italian opera troupe Macchina Vocale was composed entirely of squibs, the award-winning dectet revered in the magical and muggle communities alike. As a special treat, Madame Zabini had booked tickets for both families for an exclusive weekend revue for the troupe's opening weekend in Aton Alley.
Given such an exciting itinerary, Hermione was ever more enamored with the ancient and culturally vibrant city, wishing she could spend the remainder of her summer absorbing the various muggle and magical sights of the famed Italian metropolis. 'Now more than ever', considering England was currently at the mercy of five deranged Azkaban escapees and a swarm of soul-sucking wraiths charged with their retrieval. A shudder ran through her unbidden, causing Blaise to stop mid-sentence.
"You alright there?" His brow wrinkled sweetly in concern.
Hermione smiled and rubbed his arm. "I'm fine. Just…just remembered what's going on back home." Blaise grimaced in understanding, wondering out loud if their Third Year would just be canceled until the criminals were apprehended. That led to a spirited debate between the two friends, with Hermione vehemently arguing that a breach in national security was no excuse for them to miss out on their education. The Slytherin, understandably, had been both impressed by her spirit and amused by her unbreakable commitment to academia. He could still remember her great upset at having exams canceled. 'Not even being Petrified by a Basilisk can stop her,' Blaise thought fondly. He oft wondered if the witch had been missorted given her very Ravenclaw-aligned inclinations.
A delighted titter of laughter Emma Granger broke Blaise's musings, leveling a small smile at her happily chatting parents. She smiled at Gunther Hagrid, Lady Serena's personal valet and Blaise's bodyguard, who dutifully followed behind at a respectful distance. Dan and Emma had been making the most of their much-welcomed vacation, getting to spend quality one-on-one time together that the busy dentists would typically never get to have.
It was with good reason too; Mrs. Granger was a little over 3 months pregnant, due in January of the upcoming year.
Though she barely showed, the older woman bore a unique glow that filled her family with joy. The couple had struggled to conceive Hermione, trying (and failing) many times to conceive again. They loved their daughter dearly and were content with an only child, but never lost the desire to have another child. The two had even considered adoption at one point, but Hermione's reveal as a witch had allayed those plans indefinitely.
"You two alright up there?" asked Dan in a too-loud voice to the children as they walked a few feet in front, causing Hermione to roll her eyes. In the tradition of every protective father before him he'd been rather put out that his daughter's Italian friend who'd invited her on a whirlwind Florentine vacation was a boy. His wife, in the tradition of every exasperated yet amused mother before her, lightly smacked Dan on his shoulder in rebuke, giggling when he pouted. Emma winked at her daughter, who smiled gratefully at her running interference.
Dads could be ever so annoying at times.
After a few more minutes of trekking on foot, they reached their intended destination - The Museo Casa Siviero for an exclusive afternoon tour.
Muggles knew the multi-story house as a splendid 19th-century palazzina belonging to Rodolfo Siviero, who'd served as an agent for the Intelligence Services under the command of the Allied forces and in collaboration with anti-fascist militias carrying out intelligence work centered on the artworks stolen by the Nazis. After the liberation of Florence in 1944, Rodolfo collaborated with the Florentine Commission Fine Arts and Monuments to find and redeem Italian works of art that were stolen and taken abroad to other parts of Europe, the Americas, and the West Indies. The end of the Second Muggle World War marked the establishment of the Ufficio Recuperi by the Italian government, appointing Siviero (who was now the foremost expert in his field) to lead it. He also led an Italian diplomatic mission to the Allied Military Government in Germany, with the role of overseeing the restitution of artworks held in the personal storage of deceased, incarcerated, or excommunicated Nazi officials. The Museo - established in the 1950s with the blessing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - was filled with works from every era of Italian art: Etruscan artifacts, Roman sculptures, 13th-century wooden statues and paintings from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Every bit of art was displayed like furnishings in the manse, bearing plaques that described what the artifact was, how it had been acquired, and whom it had belonged to.
What the muggles didn't know was that Siviero worked alongside (unbeknownst to him) a squib named Virgil Krausz-Castelli, who, on behalf of the Magical Italian Government, performed a similar role sequestering any magical art and artifacts that Siviero acquired from the families that constituted Grindelwald's acolytes. The Museo Magico dei Castelli currently housed all of these pieces and then some in a Fideliused wizard-space section constituting the palazzina's attic. The Secret was altered to disappear from the mind of the visitor after each tour was completed, the unique alteration a closely-guarded government secret. Today's exhibition featured two unique relics; Fenthras and Todesflüstern.
The former was an ancient relic that once belonged to the Nott Family, the personal hunting bow of Lelantos Nott, the five times great grandfather of Tiberius Lord Nott. According to legend, the mythic bow had been harvested from the everbark taken from the Feywild, lending a unique sentience to the wood that made it the perfect hunting weapon.
Fenthras never missed.
Sadly the mystical bow had been lost in a card game by Cantankerous Nott Sr., as average a hunter as he was a gambler. He'd lost the bow in a high-stakes poker game in Monte Carlo to Hieronymus Zedescu, the then lord of the notoriously powerful Romanian battle mage family who'd sworn their fealty to Grindelwald's cause. Upon the Dark Lord's fall, the family had been forced to pay major restitution to the German magical government for their participation in the war, and it was only due to the additional bribes they'd paid on top of said restitution that the bulk of the family didn't lay rotting in Nurmengard. Presently, the current head Boian Zedescu was a senior member of the Romanian Auror Corps, married with three children in Durmstrang. His eldest, Olga, was a dueling prodigy and top-ranked duelist in the European Student League.
Todesflüstern - the Death Whisper - was a cursed blade forged from the cursed mercurial steel from Aragath, the Nether Realm. Said Realm was believed to exist in the Dark Wild, but due to the highly provocative (i.e. forbidden) nature of the Dark Wild, the blade was posited as a mere dagger forged of mithril bearing dark magic enchantments. It had belonged to the Belasco family of Bavaria, eventually coming into the ownership of the Kleinwuchs family.
Legend claimed the blade could pull the very soul from the body with one stab.
After the defeat of Grindelwald and the death of Gustav Kleinwuchs, the blade had been retrieved from his ancestral home Die Wolfshöhle.
Reaching the entrance, the party of five politely greeted the guard on duty, before making a break to the bathroom located at the end of the hall to the right. Directly next to the bathroom entrance was a janitor's closet heavily warded with Notice-Me-Nots and Muggle-Repelling Charms. Because Emma was in the presence of two magicals, she was able to enter just fine. In the closet was a magical lift that took them all the way to the attic level. Disembarking, they made their way to the doorman who stood in front of a seemingly black and endless doorway.
"Password?" he asked in a thickly accented reedy voice.
Blaise stepped forward and whispered in his ear: "Il Gattopardo si aggira nella notte." The doorman's eyes widened, before he bent down and hurriedly whispered the Secret in the ear of each member. The obscured hallway immediately transformed into a lavish 19th century-style hallway lined with animated bronze and terracotta shields, ancient textiles, weaponry, medallions, all interspersed with a litany of liturgical motifs.
"What did you say to him?" asked Dan curiously.
"Just gave him the password of the day." Blaise smiled rather breezily, causing the older man to frown curiously. Emma gently touched his arm and redirected his attention to an animated portrait of Asclepius curing the blindness of Ascles, ruler of Epidaurus.
Once more thankful for her mother's deftness, Hermione looped her arm through the Slytherin's as they made their way to the Todesflüstern display room.
Upon entering, they stopped short.
"Daphne?!" exclaimed Blaise.
The witch sharply turned around from gazing at the cursed dagger, eyes briefly widening in surprise before her expression shuttered. She was joined by her baby sister Astoria and their sister-in-all-but-blood Tracey. The former looked pleased enough to see them, but the latter leveled a tense look at Daphne before haltingly nodding in their direction. Hermione couldn't help but wonder what the witch's issue was; they were unspoken academic rivals, tying quite closely in many of their classes. From her discussions with Harry, Daphne typically kept to herself, Tracey, her little sister, and Millicent Bulstrode (of all people). She wasn't overly friendly with anyone else, maintaining her mask of aloof cool at almost all times. Hermione was hard pressed to believe her stiffness towards her was due to blood status, since Harry would never openly fraternize with a blood supremacist, who, strangely, was practically sisters with a halfblood.
However, Daphne was an Heiress to an old family which had recently been elevated to an Ancient and Noble House.
"Blaise! Hermione! It's lovely to see you both." Astoria curtseyed sweetly, easing some of the tension between their groups. Blaise and Hermione returned her greeting, before turning to greet Daphne and Tracey. The latter relaxed a touch, but the former still seemed a touch uncomfortable.
Hermione had been having too good of a week to let it bother her.
Together with Blaise, they made a decent attempt at small talk. The Greengrasses (save their Lord) were visiting their family vineyards in Tuscany, deciding to spend their entire summer on holiday due to the horrible crisis in England. All three girls would be getting summer tutoring to get up to speed for their respective curricula, with Heir Greengrass hinting that she'd be receiving specialized training at Il Duomo de Firenze.
"With Monsignor Lucardi?" whispered Blaise.
Daphne's eyes widened as she softly nodded. Blaise stared quietly for a few moments before nodding appreciatively, causing the witch to blush. Hermione succeeded in ignoring the odd tightening in her stomach.
Astoria giggled good-naturedly. "So, how long are you and Hermione going to be in town for?"
"Through the rest of the month, Blaise is graciously hosting my parents and I at his family villa in the Tuscany countryside."
"Sounds lovely! We're in Tuscany as well, we have to get together sometime before our holidays end. Our mum can arrange something with yours!" They smiled at the girl's bubbly enthusiasm, keenly reminded of Eurus Kolumbiko's endearingly affable charm.
"We can definitely arrange something," replied Blaise coyly.
"Excellent! Say…how long are you two going to be in the museum for?"
Janus Thickey Ward - St. Mungo's, 2:26PM
Augusta quietly sipped at her tea as she sat beside her son's bed, reaching to occasionally stroke the sleeping man's hand.
Today's visit had been quite difficult; Frank's seizures had been particularly terrible today, having to be sedated after a few minutes into her visit. It was never easy seeing her only son in such an anguished and vulnerable state. His assigned Healers had administered a Draught of Living Death, to "minimize the pain in the manner possible." Alice was also under the effects of the Draught, suffering a violent seizure the night before that resulted in injuries to herself and her Healer. Sniffling, Augusta oscillated between tenderly rubbing each of their arms and sipping her tea.
Her nerves were very frayed today; Lord Gaunt's revelation regarding the Azkaban Treaty's three additional clauses had caused a lot of undue tension and a lot of loud and spirited arguing regarding their little cabal. Augusta would have never thought the priggish Lord Malfoy of having the vocal capacity to even yell.
Quite a few believed that upon completion of their interrogation, they should return the prisoners back to Azkaban Prison to satisfy the Occupancy Clause and prevent a Dementor Apocalypse. The prospect of those hellish specters being at Hogwarts was already harrowing enough even in spite of Neville's ability to cast a Patronus. What was worse was the potential for them to all end up soulless husks, if they were lucky and the Dementors kept to Wizarding England.
Given their ravenous natures, Augusta was highly doubtful.
Shifting uncomfortably, her mind wandered to the prospect of 'giving alms' to the foul creatures. The thought of defenseless muggles being used to whet those demons' appetites… She shuddered in spite of herself.
Reason begged her to agree to return the prisoners back to Azkaban once the interrogation was complete. It would save many innocent lives from the Dementors' wrath. It was the most logical and pragmatic solution, and Madame Longbottom prided herself on her steadfast practicality in all applicable situations.
But then Frank whimpered in pain, face twisting in brief agony.
Revenge beat back Reason with a mighty and unforgiving blow.
Death to the Lestranges.
La Salla Grande - Teatro della Pergola, 6:43PM
Sitting in the warded and very spacious VIP box belonging to Lady Serena, the five schoolmates delighted in their meal as they enjoyed the performance of Pagliacci with the world renowned Luciano Lanza. The maestro was currently in the midst of performing the infamous aria Vesti la giubba, the grief-stricken lachrymose of his dramatic tenor reverberating beautifully in the massive amphitheater. Somehow, Astoria had convinced their group to have dinner together ("like back in Hogwarts!"), tasking Heir Zabini to procure dinner and a show.
Naturally, he'd delivered.
Or rather, Gunther had delivered the delicious meal from Buca Lapi; a tender and savory Bistecca alla Fiorentina paired with a cornucopia of flavorful vegetables, paired with a non-alcoholic date wine and a dessert of a seemingly endless supply of sweet Florentine biscuits kept warm and fresh in a charmed picnic basket. The warding charms allowed them to speak freely without disturbing the other patrons in the massive auditorium.
"This food is divine," moaned Tracey as she savored her bite of steak. She was seated next to Daphne who sat between her and Tory. The latter sat to the left of Zabini, who snickered as he chewed his asparagus. Granger sat to his right, giggling at the blonde as she continued moaning over her meal.
"I have to give it to you Blaise, you really know how to impress a girl."
"One tries Tory." He toasted her with his drink and a flirty wink, causing the younger witch to giggle in tandem with Tracey. Daphne and Hermione rolled their eyes in matching amusement.
"So," said Daphne after a bite of her potatoes. "What other opera houses does Heir Zabini have unfettered access to?" The Greengrass Heir was considerably more relaxed than before in the museum, engaging in conversation and even spirited academic debate with Hermione. The muggleborn had given the pureblood the benefit of the doubt, chalking up her initial attitude as a consequence of nerves and shyness. 'Hope I'm bloody right on that else Harry and I are going to have a very long talk.'
So engrossed were they in their conversation that none in the quintet noticed Gunther suddenly crumple to the floor as a bright red dart stuck out of his neck.
None noticed the patrons slowly file out of the auditorium as additional Anti-Apparition, Anti-Portkey, Notice-Me-Not, and Repelling Charms spring up, ensuring none others could enter or leave.
They didn't notice the men that stood guard at each of the side entrances on each side of the room, six in total. In lieu of wands, they carried handguns.
"Riiiiidiiiii, Pagliaaaaaccioooooooo,
col tuo amoooooooore infraaaaantooooo!
Riiiiidi del duoooool, che t'avveleeeeeenaaaaa iiiiiil cooooooooor!"
Luciano finished on a dramatic and very loud flourish, left hand brandished to the sky. The Hogwarts Five made to applause, before freezing at the strange sight before them:
Luciano had somehow unholstered his wand, pointing it to his face as he dropped his Glamor Charm. Blaise's eyes widened in recognition, before further widening upon realizing the direness of their current situation. The others realized something was wrong as well, as one of their group gripped her wand in a vice grip as she was mentally assaulted with a wave of buried memories.
"Um…is this part of the performance?" asked Tracey nervously.
"No, it isn't." Blaise's expression was grim.
The transformed singer laughed with maddened exuberance, the effect quite ironically frightful given his old-timey clown costume. "La commedia… È FINITA!" His wand flashed as his expression twisted into a hateful snarl.
"REDUCTO MAXIMA!"
The explosion was deafening.
The attacking wizard had missed their group but he did not miss the canopy above them, blasting it to smithereens. Ears were ringing as thick plumes of dust exploded in the air. They had been lucky to find cover behind a row of seats, but the falling masonry had clipped half the box off, leaving them entirely too vulnerable for their comfort.
Hermione, Blaise, and Daphne had been quick enough to cast a Protego Maxima, large enough to allow Astoria and Tracey to huddle underneath.
"WHO THE HELL IS THAT?!" Blaise grimaced at Hermione's shout, but responded nonetheless.
"It's my cousin Enrico…Enrico Montessi."
Tracey's eyes widened in recognition at the surname. "Hang on a mo'...you're cousins with the son of the Black Hand?!"
"Black Hand?" Hermione looked momentarily confused, before her eyes lit up in recognition. "The Wizarding Mafia…" The witch fixed Blaise with a fiercely disapproving glare. "Of course it is! My very first trip to Italy with the only Italian wizard I know, and now, I am under siege by the bloody Wizarding Mafia! How silly of me not to have expected it on my very first trip to Italy! Of course!"
"What the hell do these Montessi people want with you?!" Daphne asked incredulously as she fought to maintain her shield. She was starting to feel the strain on her core.
Blaise huffed. "Salvatore Montessi was my mother's fourth husband and also the capo di tutti capi of the Florentine Black Hand! And because of the circumstances and timing of his completely natural and non-suspicious death, I'm set to inherit his position in the organization ... if I make it alive to the age of twenty-five! Something all my Montessi cousins would rather not see happen…especially Enrico, who is barely 21 himself!"
All four witches glared with varying degrees of irritation at the embarrassed boy. It was a second too long as another blast of spellfire from Enrico flew their way. "COME OUT AND SHOW YOURSELF ZABINI! FIGLIO DI PUTTANA! I WANT TO SEE THE LIGHT LEAVE YOUR EYES WHEN I KILL YOU! DIFFINDO HORRIBILIS!"
"BLOODY HELL!" Tracey exclaimed in fright. Hermione, Blaise, and Daphne allowed their shields to lapse, casting Laceros, Expulsos, and Flipendos to push the man backwards. A loud-mouthed braggart he may be, but Enrico had the ability to back up his brash mouth. He deftly blocked, deflected, and parried the spells with a seeming ease. The defending students were starting to get tired.
The guard men slowly began approaching them, firing off their guns with unrelenting speed
"Bloody perfect, we have to deal with bullets too!" With a grunt Tracey summoned a slab of debris and transformed it to a makeshift metal dome to provide additional cover. Astoria mimicked her action twice over, reinforcing the dome and pouring a bit of her magic into it. She allowed for a tiny enough hole to form to point her wand through, aiming directly for men on the left.
"IMMOBULUS." "STUPEFY." Her whispered spell struck true, freezing one shooter and knocking him out cold. She successfully repeated the action on another, inspiring Daphne to redirect her efforts to do the same, successfully taking out one.
Enrico continued his assault on Blaise, Daphne, and Hermione, and despite their impressive talent, the older wizard was quickly gaining ground. Blaise overreached and showed too much of his body as he fired a spell, allowing one of the shooters to get two shots - one in his shoulder and the other in his breastbone.
"AAAARRGHH!"
The Zabini Heir screamed in agony as he crumpled, bleeding terribly. Tracey screamed and immediately attempted to administer first aid she'd learned from Lockhart in the previous year, but she was clipped in her side by a Lacero before she was Disarmed and sent flying into the wall unconscious. The Greengrass sisters screamed as Hermione did her best to maintain the offense with Enrico's much faster and more powerful spells.
With a snarl he deflected a wave of Expulsos, before roaring as he brought his wand downward and screamed "SPACCARE LA TERRA!"
Absolute bedlam.
The sound of breaking and crumbling masonry was one she would never forget.
The heavy and foreboding THUD THUD THUD of ancient stone as it rained down from the sky.
The floor beneath them split into two, before pulling apart and separating their group. Three of their number, including Blaise, were already unconscious and covered with all manner of bleeding cuts and bruises. Blaise and Tracey's situation was more dire since they'd already suffered a bevy of serious life-threatening injuries.
Her own body was covered with a plethora of injuries, and she was fairly certain she'd broken a rib or two, along with a severely sprained ankle.
It would have to do.
Taking in the damage, she saw that almost all of Enrico's thugs were dead or unconscious, trapped under the mountain of broken stone caused by Montessi's earthquake spell. Several fissures ran through the walls that were somehow still upright, and it was only a matter of time before they crumbled too.
Enrico, somehow, was still standing, eyes alight with maniacal glee as he rapidly approached a crumpled and bleeding Blaise. He looked absolutely insane, face macabrely painted with rivulets of his own blood and ash. His focus was singular, not aware of anything or anyone else in his surroundings.
He was going to murder Blaise.
That could not stand.
With the remaining strength she possessed, the witch centered herself with deep Occludic breaths. She only had one chance.
"LANGLOCK! EVERTE STATUM! SYRTES! EXPELLIARMUS!"
Enrico whirled around in shock as his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, preventing him from vocalizing a retaliatory spell. He was pushed exactly two feet to his right directly into a hole in the floor, enough to trap him from moving. The hole turned to quicksand as he started to sink in earnest just as his wand flew out of his wand into his attacker's own.
"STUPEFY!" The murderous bastard was finally unconscious.
Stuffing his wand into her dress pocket, the witch quickly hobbled over to a felled Blaise, quietly summoning the remainder over to her side so she could tend to them all at the same time. Softly casting "BIOGNOSIS" she calmly assessed the following two being the most urgent:
For Blaise: two bullet wounds, with one still lodged in his breastbone. Severe internal hemorrhaging (blood aspirated in lungs), three broken ribs, and debris lodged in his airways.
For Tracey: Deep side laceration, but not life-threatening. Major blood loss, a snapped ulna and femur, and a major concussion. Mentally cataloging all the spells she sadly knew to deal with such injuries, the witch got to work.
"BRACKIUM EMENDO." Tracey's bones were repaired with a series of audible snaps, before "FERULA" conjured bandages around her limbs. Though they were healed, she would take no chances. She summoned some Blood-Replenishers from her mokeskin pouch, pouring two down her throat. She was pleased to see Tracey's breathing level before she turned her attention to Blaise.
"CARPE BULLET DIMITIS." As gently as possible the heavily Occluding girl slowly retracted the bullet from his breastbone, careful to not exacerbate his already grievous injuries. She repeated the spell over his lungs to remove the aspirated blood. Anapneo cleared his airways, before a phial of dittany was poured over his open bullet wounds. She watched as skin slowly knit itself back together, adding more dittany to the spots where the muscle seemed to be knitting back slower than the others. The witchling summoned three more Blood-Replenishers from her mokeskin pouch and poured them all down his gullet, massaging his throat to ensure he swallowed. Blaise seemed to be on the mend as his breathing turned less shallow. A sigh of relief escaped her lips, thinking she was in the clear.
Naturally, his heart stopped beating.
"SHITE!" Thinking as quickly as possible, the horrified witchling sped through the mental catalog of healing spells she could think of to reactivate the failing organ.
It came in a lucky flash.
"PARVA IMPULSA ELECTRICA!" She pointed her wand in the direction of his heart, gently repeating the shock spell to reactivate the failing organ. Pinching his nose shit, she applied a quick and gentle 'VENTUS DEORSUM' in his open mouth, making sure to angle her wand downward. She repeated the makeshift CPR technique thrice, before Blaise suddenly and sharply inhaled a great gasp of air.
"Oh thank Merlin!" His eyes widened in shock, before adjusting in recognition. He gripped her free hand in a vice grip, mouthing an incomplete 'thank you'.
"Don't thank me yet, we all still need to get out of here!"
Suddenly Blaise's eyes widened in horrified shock, his gaze locked in just behind her shoulder. He lifted a weak hand as he pointed and whispered "Gr-Gr...b-b-behind y-y-you..." Whirling around the witch gasped in fright.
It was one of the shooters who swayed side-to-side as his face dripped blood in a ghastly sight. His left leg looked to be broken and he seemed to be on his last breath. He had his gun pointed directly at their faces, eyes glinting in malice.
'This was it. She was going to die anyway. FUCK!'
A vicious growl sounded behind their attacker, who looked momentarily confused as he shakingly turned around. He gulped in audible fear.
It was Gunther, who growled again. He looked absolutely furious, and without a second of hesitation opened his mouth ... and kept opening it until his jaws were more than six inches apart revealing jagged rocky teeth inside! The man started babbling in fear as Gunther forced his armed hand into his gaping maw.
CHOMP!
He screamed and dropped to the ground while clutching the bleeding stump where his arm used to be. Gunther took a step back and began chewing ... loudly. After a few seconds, he spat out several pieces of broken bone.
"Not enough calcium you buggering twat!" The two children gawked, before the witch jumped from her kneeling position and raced into the startled giant's arms, hugging him fiercely.
"Thank you Gunther." He looked momentarily startled, before tenderly rubbing her head.
"You're very welcome miss." She separated and gestured to a passed out Blaise and Tracey. They were the most serious of injuries, but they are stable. Blaise needs a hospital immediately. So do the others in fact."
"And I reckon you as well miss." The witchling smiled tiredly.
"I imagine you're right. Let's just get out of this killbox before-" The sound of rushing footsteps sounded as members of the muggle Polizia di Stato and Carabinieri rushed into the two open entrances, ordering the two "to freeze and put your hands in the air!"
'Just what I bloody needed on a vacation; a police record and an International Statue of Secrecy violation! Mum and Dad are going to kill me!'
AN 1: What would an AD chapter be without some overly dramatic operatic reference? LOL. Luciano Lanza is my own portmanteau of Luciano Pavarotti and Mario Lanza, two of my favorite tenors. Rather fitting in this chapter more than any, since we are in Italy.
AN 2: "Aton Alley" is a reference to "atonally", which means "marked by avoidance of traditional musical tonality". Found it quite amusing :)
AN 3: Enrico Montessi isn't dead, he'll be back...in some equally violent capacity. Casting-wise, I'm thinking Filippo Scotti ('The Hand of God').
AN 4: Blaise's rescuer is intentionally vague, the effectiveness involves maintaining some anonymity. We'll see who it is when the time is right.
AN 5: Fenthras is directly pulled from The Legend of Vox Machina/Critical Role, major fan. It may be relevant in Year 3, but I'm undecided. Definitely for Year 4/5. Todesflüstern (Death Whisper) also pulls from TLoVM's 'Whisper'. It will become relevant in Year 4.
AN 6: No decision yet on Dan & Emma Granger's casting. We'll see!
AN 7: AN 7: Forgot to add this - Rodolfo Siviero is a real-person, real Bond-like figure who did help recover a lot of priceless arts/artefacts stolen by Nazis. Virgil Krausz-Castelli is pulled from Leo Krausz-Castelli, an Italian-American art dealer who originated the contemporary art gallery system.