AN: I wrote 95% of this story at the same time i wrote Investigator Harry Steel. i wanted to try my hand at a period piece. writing Harry Steel gave me a taste of research. what was around at the time? what did a new Ferrari cost in 2000? how much did cops make? things like that. i wanted to extend that so i wrote this as a challenge. i set the story in 1885 and every fact, wage, and dollar spent is as accurate as i could find. hours of research went in to this and i loved every minute of it. i never posted it because Investigator Steel took off and people liked the action more then the 'boring' everyday life stuff. i had 11 chapters. i took a few days and added a chapter to wrap it up and now i'm posting it. this story is not going to be for every one but if you found the 'boring' parts of Investigator Steel fun then this might be for you. either way give the first few chapters a read and see if you like it.
All questions about my stories are answered on my profile under the new update.
Harry looked down at his watch as the sunlight crested over the tops of buildings in the distance bringing some hope of warmth to the cold mid October air. He sat up in the lounge chair, cracked his neck, and rolled his shoulders. He pulled a Marlboro Red from a gold cigarette case and lit it with his gold zippo. As he took a deep drag he stood up from the lounge chair. He looked down at his black suit and waved his hand over himself to get the wrinkles out. He ran his hand over his face and felt the stubble of not shaving for two days. He looked over the balcony ten floors down and watched the busy street below. Traffic was light this time of the day but in a busy city like Moscow people never stopped moving. He bent down and grabbed the black Zojirushi bottle and took a sip of still warm coffee.
Harry saw movement in the hotel room across the street. A man in his late forties was walking around the big suite of rooms in bathrobe as two working girls got up and got dressed. Harry watched the two very expensive looking women in their mid twenties pull on lacey undergarments. He blinked and smiled, as he went back to looking at traffic again, this time he spotted three black Mercedes S550's rolling down the block and into the driveway of the building across the street. Harry checked his watch and nodded. 6am, the kid was telling the truth. Ten men dressed in black suits got out of the three black cars, four of the men were carrying two big black military style crates in pairs. Four other men had MP5Ks in hand as they walked into the lobby.
Harry put away his black thermos in his black leather messenger bag, hushed out the but of his cigarette, and picked up the Falkor Defence Petra rifle. He loaded up the magically expanded 100 round box mag, chambered the first magically enhanced .300 win mag round, and took a knee resting the Magpul angled fore grip on the balcony railing. He watched as the man in the apartment ushered the working girls back into the bedroom and told them something. They ran into the ensuite bathroom and the man opened the door to the room. The ten men came in starting with the four men with the guns, they checked the room and bedroom but not the bathroom. Sloppy, Harry thought as he shook his head. The four men with the black crates came in next and they were followed by a fat man and a tall man who never left the fat man's side. Harry watched the meeting through his magic scope. The men by the crates opened the lids to show off twenty gold bricks in each crate. The man in the robe pulled out a laptop and showed the fat man files on a computer. The men shook hands.
That's when Harry acted. Starting with the guys holding the submachine guns Harry dropped all of the men in the room except for the fat man and the man in the robe with nine perfect headshots in four seconds. The rifle made no sound and there was no flash. Most of the men in the room died before they even knew what was going on and the rest didn't know where the shots were coming from. The spent shell casings vanished before they could hit the ground. Harry stood and slung the rifle and his bag over his shoulder, drew the Sig p226 from his shoulder holster, and popped into the room with his gun trained on the fat man. He swept the room with his eyes and made sure all the men were dead before he advanced on the fat man. He grabbed his tie and turned his head to look at him.
"Hello Dimitri, what did i tell you last year about buying stolen British intel?" Harry asked in the tone of voice a school teacher uses on her unruly first grader.
"I'm sorry, i did not know he was British until i got here." The man said in a heavy Russian accent.
"I let you slide last time, i can't let you off the hook for this one." Harry said letting go of the man's tie and pointing his gun at his face.
"NO Wait! I have information, warehouses full of black market goods, military grade weapons, aircraft, and explosives!" He said.
"I cleaned out your warehouses three hours ago." Harry said.
"I know a man that can get you Russian ICMB!" The fat Russian said.
"Who the hell can't get their hands on one of those? Besides i've cut a deal with your nephew Anton already, he's my guy in the Bratva now." Harry said shrugging.
"I can give you! I can…" He ran out of steam as Harry's words sunk in. "Not the face, da?" he asked.
"Goodbye Demitri." Harry said shooting him three times in the chest before turning on the man in the bath robe who was trying to crawl over to the coffee table where one of the guys MP5Ks fell. "Really Nigel?" Harry asked shooting the man in the leg.
"Aaahh! I had to try." The man said rolling over holding his leg.
"Well don't. You're just going to make this hurt more. Now I'm guessing the files are on the laptop? Is that all of them, you know the drill. Talk or i hurt you." Harry said.
"The files are on that laptop. I have a backup drive in the bedroom taped under the nightstand drawer." He said.
"Thank you." Harry said pointing his gun at his head.
"Wait don't you want to know who the mole inside MI-5 is?" The man asked.
"How do you think i found you?" Harry said putting a bullet between his eyes. He shrank the two black crates, summoned all the guns off the ground into his bag and tossed the laptop inside. He walked into the bedroom and pulled the nightstand drawer out and flipped it over spilling the contents of the drawer, a gold watch and a big wad of Euros, on the floor. He took the flash drive and walked to the bathroom door. He knocked and heard the two girls cowering inside. "You two didn't see anything, you didn't hear anything, you were hired to do a job, you did it, and you left this morning. You know nothing." Harry said in Russian.
"Da." He got back.
"Good girls. I left money on the floor in the bedroom for you." Harry said before he popped back to the balcony across the street.
He shrank and summoned the three cars and popped away to a side street three blocks away. He walked to his BMW M3 and got in. He sank down in the leather seat as he pulled out his smartphone and called the office. Hermione's disheveled face came on the screen and that put a smile on his face.
"Hey Mia, how's life treating you? Wait isn't it like four in the morning there?" He asked.
"It is, i was working on something and lost track of time so i took a nap on my couch in the office. As for how we're doing, good for the most part, were swamped here dealing with that shipment you sent us three hours ago. That's what woke me. It took up most of the storage space when we started unpacking it." She said with a smile.
"Well it was four hangars full of inventory. Most of it is shit Russian military surplus AK47s and Makarov's, but there were a few nice things in there as well. That pair of SU-34s were nice. I kept the five crates of C-4, and a few of the crates of RPGs, but the rest of it is mostly junk. The black market booze and cigarettes are what was good." Harry said rubbing his face.
"You look tired Harry. Now i'm second guessing this next assignment, but i swear this is the last one for a few weeks. You need some down time. I wouldn't send you if it wasn't important." She said.
"I'm fine, i can rest when i'm dead. Where am i going next? Somewhere warm i hope." Harry asked.
"You're going to the America, to a location outside of Las Vegas. The local aurors called us to come investigate an old mineshaft. Something about missing local kids and glowing stones in the mine. The local Aurors looked at it but magic stops working in the the mine and the area around it for two hundred feet. It's an odd anomaly like a magical damping field. Research sent a new Unspeakable, Abbigale Gibson, to look into it. She's from America and tribal magic is one of her field of study. She was sent out a little over three days ago, she sent a short report telling her boss she met with the local aurors and she was going to go into the mine to investigate, and then nothing. She stopped reporting. The local Aurors can't find her. I need you to go find her. See what the hell is going on Harry. She's a 23 year old, good kid, but she's green." Hermione said looking worried.
"Send me the portkey and the file on her and anything else you can think of. I'm sending you the stolen intel. I'm using Portkey sticker 55183. Send me the files using portkey sticker 55184." Harry said taking out a gold business card holder and pulling a yellow circle sticker with a black number string printed across it on a white business card. He stuck the flash drive to the laptop, peeled the sticker off the business card and stuck it to the laptop.
"I'll do that, is there anything else you need?" She asked.
"Yeah, i can do with a full resupply. Extra fuel this time, i had to put Russian gas in my car and it's been running funny ever since. i'm going to have to use my Ferrari until i can flush out the system. Also if i have to use my chopper to do a search of the dessert it's going to burn a lot of fuel." Harry said.
"I'll send you a full care package, with three extra large fuel tanks, how's that?" She said.
"Good. love you sis, say hi your your husband for me. Where is my brother by the way?" Harry asked.
"Neville's in Spain, the seers predicted an assassination attempt on the magical spanish royal family." She said.
"You sent me to Russia in October and you sent your husband to Spain? How dare you i say! I think i will take that vacation after this mission." Harry said faking indignation.
"Suck it up you big baby. I'll see you after this." She said before the smile fell of her face. "Harry, find her please. She should never have been sent on a mission like this by herself. She has no field experience. She's straight out of her master study, and this was her fifth mission and first one off the island." Hermione said.
"I'll find her. See you later, and i love you sis." Harry said hanging up.
A minute later the Laptop on the seat next to him vanished. Harry stuck the next portkey sticker to the seat and pulled up a map of Moscow on his phone. He found an alley a few blocks away that would act as a good portkey location. He put away his phone and started his car. He winced as the car sputtered to life.
"Sorry buddy, i'll flush out your system later." He said as he pulled out into traffic and drove to the alley.
As he pulled into the alley a black file box landed on the passenger seat. Harry looked inside and saw an Unspeakable personnel file, two shrunken trunks the size of a small shoe box, a shot glass with dice on it that read Las Vegas and a sticker on the bottom that read Lady Luck, and two 100,000 liter gas tanks shrunken down to the size of water bottles. Harry smirked and transferred everything into his messenger bag. He shrank his BMW and put it in it's spot in his large gold pill box, and took the shot glass. He said "Lady Luck" and he vanished. He was flying through the air for almost a minute, when he landed he felt very sick. He reached into his bag and pulled out a bottle of japanese ginger soda, chilled it, and took a drink. He was in an alley next to a dumpster just off the strip. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. It was dark but the lights on the strip lit up the city. He looked at his phone to figure out where he was. It was just after nine at night and the shift from Sunday morning Moscow to Saturday night in Vegas really messed with his internal clock.
He pulled out his black Ferrari 458 and got in. He pulled out of the alley and drove a few blocks away to the sheriff's office. He pulled into the lot and got out. He pulled a gold shield out of his bag and clipped it to his belt as he walked into the front door, and walked up to the fat desk sergeant dressed in a dark brown uniform shirt that was too tight and a red stain on his light brown tie.
"I'm agent Harry Steel from the DoM, i'm here to talk to Auror Green?" Harry said looking at the file to get the name right.
"Yeah, he's in the back through the red door. You need an escort?" The large lazy looking officer asked.
"No, i got it. Thanks." Harry said walking through the door to the back.
Harry nodded to officers as he went. He stopped off at the coffee machine and got a big cup of black dark roast and added ten packs of sugar. He found the red door and went through it. He saw a big room with a dozen desks and six men dressed in black uniforms with red ties. All eyes locked onto him when he came through the door.
"I'm looking for Auror Green?" Harry asked.
"That would be me. What can i do for you?" An older man in his sixties asked standing up from his desk. He had a black cowboy hat, a thick grey mustache, and thick coke bottle glasses.
"I'm agent Harry Steel from the DoM. We sent an Unspeakable your way about three days ago by the name of Abigail Gibson. Now she's missing and i'm here to find her." Harry said.
"Yeah, she came by about midday on Tuesday. I took her out to the mine and stayed with her as she did some scans of the area and what not. It was getting dark and i told her we should start heading back but she wanted to keep working. She said she had a tent and flood lights. She showed me the tent and when i was sure she would be fine i left. The next day i went back and found her working in the mine. I stayed out there for a bit but really i was just standing around doing nothing so i left. Yesterday i went back and i saw the tent still up, but she was nowhere to be seen. I called in the rest of the aurors and the deputies to help me search the mine from top to bottom but we couldn't find her and i mean not a trace. No remains or anything out of place she was just gone. That's when i called you folks.
"I see, did you pack up the tent?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, it's a normal camping tent. You want to see it?" The old auror asked.
"Yes please, did you find a black leather bag like this one by any chance?" Harry asked holding up his messenger bag.
"No, she had it on her when she was working but it was missing from the campsite." The old timer said as pulled the small rolled up piece of canvas out of an evidence box and set it on the ground in the open area of the office. He pulled a wand from the holster on his belt and waved it at the tent. The tent popped up and expanded to a six foot tall canvas walled tent.
Harry walked inside and saw the standard two bedroom tent. Every researcher had one, it was part of their normal kit. This one was very sparsely decorated. There were a few books on the coffee table and a wool blanket with native American pattern over the back of the brown leather couch. There was a dream catcher over the bedroom door. Orange and blue earthwear dishes in the cupboard but not much else. Either she just started decorating or she didn't spend too much time in here. In the second bedroom he found a study with more native American art. The book shelves on the right side of the room were full to the brim with books on tribal spells and medicine man potions, but also enchantments, curses breaking, and rituals. The books on the shelves on the left side were on history, science, math, literature. He referred back to the file and saw she had muggle degrees in History and archaeology and masteries in tribal spells, curse breaking, enchantments, and rituals. He spotted four black unspeakables trunks full of more books. On the desk he found a diary but it was blank meaning it was charmed with a password. The old Auror walked into the study behind him.
"Like i said there's not much here." He said.
"No there is not. So far everything checks out. I'm going to need to see the camp site and the mine." Harry said.
"You want to go out there now?" The Auror asked.
"If it's not too much trouble. This young girl has been gone for over thirty hours, she's most likely dead, but if she's not then she's out there alone, and hurt. This is her first real assignment, and her file shows no issued department firearms. The faster we find her the better." Harry said walking out of the tent and closing it when the Auror walked out behind him. Harry took the tent and put it in his bag.
"I understand, i can take you out there now. It's about a thirty minute drive out into the desert. The mine is in the middle of nowhere. It only fell in our lap because we're closer." He said walking to his desk to get his coat and keys.
"Why not use a portkey?" Harry asked following the old Auror out of the station.
"The magic gets confused by the damn mine. We tried using portkeys and we tried apparition. They don't work right when you get within a few miles of the mine. The portkey landed an Auror hard enough to break both his legs and apparition let's you off a few hundred feet above the ground." The old man said walking over to a black SUV.
"Hold on a second, let me get my car." Harry said running over to his Ferrari and shrinking it. He put it back in the gold case and ran back to the SUV.
"Unspeakable salary that good ha?" The old man said rolling out of the parking lot.
"No but then again i'm not a normal Unspeakable. The department is divided into two branches. The girl you met is a Researcher. A bookworm that studies the unknown. I'm an Operative. I handle threats. I took that car off a drug kingpin in Mexico. Anything we seize we can keep, the things we don't want get sent back to the department and the department sells it off. They use the cash made from the sale to help fund magical schools and hospitals around the world." Harry said looking over Abigail's file as they headed north out of the city and into the desert.
The file read like a lot of Researcher files. All O's in everything from the Salem institute. Two muggle degrees, and five magical masters in five years. Apprenticed under good masters. Got her black letter after Salem but chose to keep studying. Like most Unspeakables she was an orphan with no surviving family to speak of. That was good, he didn't feel like giving a death notice to next of kin. He would find her body, figure out what killed her, and take the body back to the office to be taken care of in her specified way in the contract and he would move on to the next assignment. It's why they gave him missions like this. Was it sad that this 23 year old girl was dead? Sure it was. But he didn't know her and everyone had to go sometime. Even the Flamel's died after five hundred years.
"So you're like a global cop?" The old auror asked.
"More like a magical CIA agent. We deal with people trying to upset the balance of the world and start magical world wars." Harry said looking at his watch. It was just after ten and as they got further away from the city it was getting darker and darker until Auror Green turned on the light bar on the top of his truck. At the speeds they were traveling the mine was about forty miles outside of the city. It really was in the middle of nowhere.
"Sounds like an exciting job." Green said trying to keep up the small talk.
"It has it's days. If there was a good way to describe the job it would be, travel the world, meet interesting people, then kill them. The upside is i'm always all over the world so i get a chance to buy things that are hard to get or super expensive at a huge discount. Take for instance this morning, i raided a warehouse full of black market goods and military surplus. I got two cases of Marlboro reds, four boxes of black Cuban cigars, a case of Johnny Walker Blue label, a case of Grey Goose, and a big tin of caviar. The crates of C4 and RPGs were nice as well." Harry said with a smirk.
"Nice haul. Were closing in on the mine and her camp site. See the lights." He said pointing to a spot a few miles off the road to the left.
"I see it. Is that the mine at the base of the rocky hill?" Harry asked as they turned off the road into the hard packed sand headed for the camp site.
"Yeah, Abby found the outside limit of the magical absorbing field. She marked it with red paint." He said stopping next to the crime scene tape stretched out between the poles of a half dozen magical flood lights stuck in the ground. Harry got out of the SUV and was hit with a cold breeze. He pulled a black trench coat out of his bag and pulled it on over his thin suit jacket.
"There is definitely bad JuJu in the air. This suit's warming charm works up to almost freezing. I slept outside last night in Moscow. You said this is the line she marked in the sand?" Harry said pointing out the red line made with surveyors paint.
"Yeah, anything magical inside that line gets out of whack." Green said.
"Well, i think the line has moved out. We're inside it now." Harry said holding out his hand. He started walking backwards and when he got two hundred feet away his hand lit up. "The line is back here now." Harry said.
"The damping field is growing. What does that mean?" Green asked looking worried.
"Look, i'm not sure. I'm not a researcher, i was sent here to find an Unspeakables body, and kill whatever got her. But what i can tell you, is whatever this is, it's not good. On the upside my bag worked so it doesn't stop all magic. Let's see if this works." Harry said pulling his Sig 226 out and walking forward into the field. He pulled the trigger and the hammer clinked down but the gun didn't fire. "That's what i thought." Harry said walking backwards out of the field.
"Thought what?" The auror asked pulling his truck back to get out of the bubble.
"My enchanted guns don't work and i don't want to break them so i'm not going to use them inside the damping field." Harry said as he put his gun in his bag and pulled out one of the Russian's Glock 19s and tucked it into his shoulder rig. He pulled out the six glocks, took the full magazines out, and tossed the guns back in his bag. He did the same with the MP5Ks. He slung the submachine gun over his shoulder and put the longer mags in his inside coat pocket.
"What do you want to do now?" Green asked.
"I'm going to make a call, and get back up here to check out that mine." Harry said pulling out his phone and the calling the office. Hermione's face popped up on screen looking tired.
"Yes Harry?" She asked.
"Mia, this magical disruption field is growing and it gives me the creeps. Something's not right with this one. I want you and Neville to come here now." Harry said.
"Okay, um Neville's on assignment remember?" She said.
"I don't care send someone else to take his place. This feels wrong. My enchanted guns don't work but my bag does. The warming charm on my over coat works but the one on my suit doesn't. The whole area feels off. Dark and cold and wrong. When you get here you'll understand what i'm talking about. I'm going to take a ride away from the bubble and set up a portkey. I'll have an Auror waiting to bring you to me, i'm going to walk around a bit and get a feel for the place. But i can tell you this now, something's not right." Harry said.
"Relax Harry, i'll get everything ready on my end. I'm guessing your going to use the next two portkey stickers in that same line?" She asked.
"Yes. Bring your full kit and muggle stuff too. Like i said some stuff works and some stuff doesn't. Bring a few of the black market guns, and some regular flashlights." Harry said.
"Okay, we'll be there in about a half hour. Wait until we get there to go in." She said before she hung up.
"I heard most of that. You think the portkey will work out here?" Green asked walking up to Harry.
"These will. They're paired portkeys." Harry said pulling out his card holder and taking the next two cards out and handing them to the Auror. "I need you to do me a favor. Take these two cards a few miles away and stick the yellow stickers to the ground. You got an extra flashlight?" Harry asked.
"Yeah. Here take mine." Green said handing him the big Maglite off his belt as he got in his SUV.
When he was gone Harry turned on the light and walked around the bubble to the rocky hill that jutted out of the ground thirty feet forming the mouth of the mine shaft. The closer he got to the mine shaft the worse the cold feeling got. He walked back to the spot he started and saw the SUV heading back. When it stopped Hermione and Neville hopped out they were both wearing black suits and over coats. They also had their thicker combat dragonhide vest on over their shirts. They had their black messenger bags and Ak47's over their shoulders.
"That was quick." Harry said hugging them. It had been more than three months since the last time he saw them and he missed them both. He pulled out his combat vest and put it on over his shirt before pulling his suit jacket and overcoat back on.
"Neville walked into the office right after you hung up. So this is the mine?" Hermione said passing Harry a super bright small headlamp and a small tactical flashlight. Harry handed the maglite back to the Auror and put the headlamp on.
"Yes, take a few steps towards it and see what i'm talking about." Harry said. Hermione walked up to the bubble and stopped short.
"Oh, this feels bad Harry. We need to see what the hell is causing this." She said.
"Let me lead. We're all set Auror Green, if you don't hear from us by morning call the office and have them send out a full team." Harry said shaking the old Auror's hand.
"I'm going to stay here in my truck until you guys come out. Good luck you three." He said.
"Well lead the way Harry." Neville said nodding to his brother.
Harry pulled up the MP5K, flipped out the shoulder stock, and turned on his head lamp. The other two did the same thing. Harry walked forwards through the bubble and headed for the mine. The closer he got the colder he felt but he knew the temperature hadn't change. He walked into the mine and almost immediately felt the floor slope down and curve around in a spiral as it went down.
"Watch your step the mine is steep." Harry said.
"We're right behind you." Hermione said. As they started to descend into the mine they noticed the glowing red stone running through the walls in veins throwing off enough light to give the mine a red glow.
"This is not normal." Neville said.
"No it's not." Harry agreed.
They walked a for a few more minutes and at this point they knew they were deep under ground. They came to their first major cut in. It was a large cavern about fifty foot across with a fifteen foot roof supported by large tree trunk beams. Harry looked around the room and spotted movement in the corner of the ceiling. He tilted his head around the beam and saw a huge red and black spider. It's body was the size of a garbage can lid and it had big pincers around it's mouth full of spiked teeth. A soon as he saw it he hit it with a short burst from his gun. The rounds impacted and blasted the spider off the wall. It landed on the ground and it's legs curled up. Hermione and Neville stuck their heads into the room.
"Big fucking spider." Neville said getting the hebegebees at the sight of it.
"That's not an acromantula." Hermione said.
"Wait, do you hear that?" Harry said waving at the two to be quite. He heard it again. It was above him. He pointed up and shouldered his gun. They all turned their heads up and saw a dozen big spiders on the ceiling. They all fired at the spiders as they dropped from the ceiling. They got half of them but the ones that made it to the ground ran at them hissing and snapping. Harry and Neville sprayed the six spiders on the ground and they kept firing until their guns ran dry.
"I think you boys got them." Hermione said.
"I hate spiders." Harry said pulling the spent mag from his gun and putting in a fresh one.
Neville followed his lead. As they crossed the room and entered the next tunnel heading down. A few minutes of walking with the boys scanning the ceiling of the tunnel for more spiders. Harry stopped short.
"You hear that? It sounds like rushing water." Harry said.
"And squeaking." Hermione added.
"It's coming from up ahead and it's getting louder." Neville added.
Harry turned the corner and saw a swarm of rats around something. Harry stepped back, pulled a flash bang out of his bag and held it up to show the other two. They closed their eyes and held their ears. Harry pulled the pin and tossed the flashbang around the corner. He held his ears and closed his eyes but he still saw the flash and his ears had that bell ringing sound. He turned the corner and saw the rats run into holes in the floor exposing the dead body of an older man dressed in jeans and a blue t-shirt. There was a discarded mining helmet and a pickax near by. The wall showed signs of damage and there were small bits of glowing red stone on the floor. The man's flesh was mostly chewed off but the bullet wound to the head was clear as day. The rats didn't kill this man they just feast on the leftovers.
They continued down the tunnel and came to their first junction point. They came to a flat spot that went into two different directions and a tunnel heading down across from them. Harry turned to ask them which way they wanted to go when he stopped in his tracks. Turning his head flashed his light down the left tunnel and he saw movement. He looked at Neville and held up a finger. He pointed down the left side and turned back that way. Neville came to stand next to him and they walked down the hall until they came to a bigger hollowed out room with a door on the other side. Harry looked left and Neville looked right, both of them saw something different.
Harry saw a confederate soldier with half his flesh missing charging at him with a calvalry saber out. Harry brought his MP5K up and hit the zombie with a short burst of six rounds that tore the soldier's chest open. Neville saw a fresher zombie cowboy walking at him with a Colt peacemaker in his limp hand. The zombie fired once missing way off to the left as Neville shoulder his rifle and hit him with a short burst of three rounds to the chest. They both looked at each other for a second before having to turn back to their zombies who were moving again. Harry switched to semi auto and put a round through his zombie's head which stopped it dead. Neville did the same.
"So head shots from now on." Harry said as Hermione came through the door with her rifle up.
"WHat's going on?" She asked seeing the two dead bodies.
"Zombies." Harry said approaching his zombie. He nudged him over with his foot and picked up the saber off the ground. "This guy came from the civil war i think. He's in good nick for someone that old." Harry said pulling the metal scabbard and belt off the corps and put it on around his over coat.
"Harry did you just rob a dead guy?" Hermione asked.
"He's not going to need it and if we run out of ammo a good sword will come in handy for chopping off zombie heads." Harry said taking the gun belt and the colt off the other zombie. "Here Nev. it's a nice belt and gun. And the bullet loops are almost full." Harry said handing his brother the gun belt.
"We're not going to run out of ammo, we're carrying a dozen shrunken ammo cans full of 7.62x39. What the hell is going on with this mine." Hermione asked as a third zombie came stumbling out of the door on the other side of the room. This one was another cowboy with two guns. She hit it with a short burst dropping it to the ground. Neville took the colt out of the holster and put a bullet in it's head as it started to get back up.
"You have to hit them with head shots to put them down." Neville said.
"Well we're at an impasse, do we continue down zombie lane or try the other side and see where it takes us?" Harry asked taking the gun belt off the new crops and handing it to Hermione with the two colts. She shook her head but Harry gave her a 'don't be a pain look and she buckled the gun belt around her waist and shrank it to fit.
"Let see what's back the other way but one of us has to keep an eye out behind us for the walking dead." Neville said turning around and heading back down the tunnel they came from.
Harry followed but he kept looking back to make sure nothing was following them. They headed down the other tunnel and found piles of red stone that glowed bright enough to see without the headlamps give and the tunnel a odd red hue. They came to another big room but this one was a dead end. But they found the half eaten bodies of five teenagers being chewed on by three dead saloon girls. The boys took out the dead women with three head shots. Hermione was horrified for a second before her brain kicked in she looked at the open chest cavities of the teens and saw that while their flesh was ripped off by teeth their hearts were cut out cleanly.
"These kids were killed and their hearts were cut out. This looks like it might have been a part of some dark ritual. Let's head back that way." She said.
"Great, through the zombies." Harry muttered leading the way.
In the tunnel he saw two more shambling confederates. He dropped them both with head shots and took the swords and belts and passed them to his friends. Hermione rolled her eyes when he handed her the sword but she put the belt on. They advanced into the room where they killed their first three zombies and found six more. Three cowboys, a barmaid and two more confederates. Harry again dropped them all with head shots he took the double gun belt of one of the cowboys and took the guns off the two others and added them to his bag.
"Will you stop looting the zombies!" Hermione shouted in a hushed whisper.
"Have you never played a video game or seen an action movie? You always loot your kills." Harry said leading them through the back door way and down another tunnel.
"I get it. Pass me that's nickle plated Smith and Wesson Schofield." Neville said making Harry laugh as he handed over the shiny silver gun.
As they walked down this tunnel they heard chanting. There was another chamber. This one was lit by torches on the wall. In the center of the room was an alter. A man dressed like an indian with a feathered headdress and warpaint was chanting and dancing. Laying on the altar was a naked blonde woman. She looked knocked out or dead. She was tied to the altar and her eyes were closed. Around her were candles and the five missing hearts. The back wall of the room had a jagged tear in it and that's where the zombies were coming from. Harry fired three times into the side wall stopping the indian from chanting. The man turned to him as Neville and Hermione dropped the three zombies that came through the rip.
"Hands up, step away from the blonde and kindly explain what you're doing." Harry said as six zombies came through the rip and Harry had to turned to help kill them.
"I am finishing a ritual my ancestors started a long time ago. The white man took our land, killed our children and rapped our women. This is how you'll pay for it!" He said pulling a knife from his belt and cutting open his chest.
"Hermione can i just shoot this guy?" Harry asked.
"I don't know Harry!" She said as a second portal opened opened next to the zombie portal.
"Now it all ends!" the indian yelled turning to stab the blonde, that's when Harry shot him in the back of the knees dropping the man to the floor. "NO! My people will be free!" He yelled plunging the knife through his own chest. Harry ran up to the table and cut the blonde loose with his new sword. She was unconscious, but alive. The two portals colessed in the center of the wall and they pulsed with power. Then they exploded bathing them in red light. Harry thought they were all going to die but when the light faded they were standing in the room alive.
"Um guys, Are we dead?" Harry asked holding the naked blonde to his chest.
"I don't think so. Hey look, the walls stopped glowing." Neville said.
"And the cold feeling has faded. Also our indian friend is gone. So are the hearts and the zombies." Hermione said looking around the room.
But we still have the guns and gun belts and their are guns on the floor. Grab those Nev." Harry said.
"Good call." Neville said finding a Lemat revolver.
"You two are the worst." Hermione said casting a few spells on the walls.
"Well let's get out of here and call in a team to investigate this. Hermione can you help me with this girl, i'm guessing this is Abby?" Harry asked looking down at beautiful young woman in his arms.
"Yes that's her, her things are over here. Why don't you set her back down and you two turn around while i get her up and dressed." Hermione said as she grabbed Abby's bag and her cut up clothes as Harry set her on the altar again.
Hermione hit the girl with an enervate and when she came to her head shot up and she let out a scream.
"Relax! You're safe." Hermione said covering her with her undamaged coat.
"What happened?" She asked looking confused and disoriented.
"We were hoping you could tell us. Let's fix your clothes and get you dressed." Hermione said helping her off the stone table.
"Wait! The guy, the Washoe indian. He's opening a portal to another dimension!" she said looking around the room.
"He's dead. We stopped him." Hermione said helping her put on her undergarments, black skirt, and white blouse.
"Good, if he succeeded in even the slightest way he would have altered the timeline forever." Abby said putting on her black low heeled pumps.
"Wait, define a little bit because he was pretty far into the chanting and cutting and stabbing part." Harry said turning around to look at her. She was tall and thin but well proportioned and her cold blue eyes had a look of intelligence about them. When she stood up she had a grace to her movements like a dancer. She reminded him of someone famous, and when she turned to the and pick up her bag it clicked for him. She looked like Taylor Swift.
"That's not good. Was there a rip in the fabric of reality?" She asked.
"Two of them, one was spewing zombies, and the other one was just taking shape the two rips combined and then exploded." Hermione explained.
"Oh god." Abby said looking like she was going to faint.
"Oh god what?" Harry asked.
"He completed the ritual!" She said.
"No he was going to stab you and i shot him, he did stab himself however." Harry said.
"I don't know what happened but something must have changed. The ritual was complete. Not as intended but still complete. What you just described is a planes walker ritual. We have to get out of here and see what's different." Abby said slinging her bag over her shoulder.
"Alright, let me and Nev. lead us out." Harry said nodding to his brother as he changed mags and started out the tunnel.
It took them fifteen minutes to get out of the mine because they took their time and looked for any more spiders, rat, or the walking dead but they ran into nothing. When they did make it out they didn't see the black SUV, or the lights with the police tape, or Auror Green. Harry looked around before shrugging.
"I wonder where he went?" Harry said pulling out his pill box. He pulled out his lifted black Jeep Rubicon. "Come on let's go." Harry said. As they loaded up into his big truck. Harry started the truck, and flipped on the big overhead light bar and the high beams. He turned to get back to the road and headed that way. After a minute he didn't see the road. He stopped and scratched his chin.
"Something wrong Harry?" Neville asked from the passenger seat.
"Where's the road?" Harry asked.
"Isn't it up a bit?" Neville asked looking out in front of the jeep.
"I have to check something real quick. Stay in the car." Harry said getting out. He pulled his firebolt broom from his bag and took off into the air.
He climbed up to a few hundred feet and looked to the south. Nothing. No lights. Just dessert, and darkness. He went higher. Still nothing. Then he caught a glimmer of light in the distance up north more than three hundred miles away. The light coming from the town was so small it made him feel sick to his stomach. He dropped down and landed next to his car. He put away his broom and got back in the jeep.
"What's going on Harry?" Neville asked.
"Well, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is i didn't see any more zombies and we're facing the wrong direction and that's why we didn't see anything. The bad news is there is no Las Vegas." Harry said rubbing his head.
"What do you mean there is no Las Vegas?" Neville asked.
"You know, big city full of lights and sin? Yeah, it's not there. From what i saw the only thing close by is a mining town back that way. You know, because it's not 2016 anymore." Harry said looking at the girls in the back seat.
"Well, we wanted to know what changed." Abby said looking sad.
"But if it's not 2016 then what the hell is it?" Neville asked.
"My guess, some time after the civil war." Harry said holding up his saber.
"We need to know for sure." Hermione said.
"I agree. Let's fly to the big town i saw and stop a few miles away. I'll go fly in under my cloak and get a feel for the place. The problem is it's about 300 miles from here and i don't know if you guys feel like flying that far on a broom when it's just above freezing out there. So what i can do is make a set of paired portkeys, do the trip myself, and you can just pop over. Our phones still work right?" Harry asked.
"They should, they work on magic not satellite tech." Hermione said pulling out her phone and calling Harry. His phone vibrated and he answered to see if the connection was good. Which it was.
When he got the Okay. He got out of the car, picked up two rocks they flashed blue and he handed one to Neville. He pulled out his broom and took off again. This time he pulled a black scarf out of his bag and wrapped it around his head before he really started moving. It took Harry almost an hour flying at top speed but he finally made it to the town with the lights. He was right, it looked like a mining town. He pulled on his invisibility cloak and did a quick scan of the town of about a thousand people. The light was coming from street lights made of lanterns and there were horses, buggies, and wagons in the dirt roads. It was close to two in the morning and the only place that still had life was the saloon and even they were closing up shop. Harry glided down to a man walking down the street away from everyone. He grabbed the man and pulled him behind a building. He pulled the cloak off and drew the colt from the holster still around his waist and pressed it to his head.
"What year is it?" He asked.
"18… um. 1885. Please mister, don't shoot me." The man said.
"I'm not going to shoot you, i'm just used to talking to people at gunpoint. What is today's date and the name of this town?" Harry asked.
"It's Saturday night, mid October i think, this here town is Eureka." The man said looking confused.
"One last question, has there been anything strange going on in or around town?" Harry asked.
"No, i mean besides you holding me up." The man said.
"Thank you for your time. I need you to look at my finger." Harry said holding up his index finger. A white light flashed from it and Harry pulled on his cloak as the man blinked and continued to walk back to his house.
Harry saw that he was standing behind a clothing shop and unlocked the back door with a wave of his hand. He ghosted into the shop and took a white shirt, brown pants, a brown three quarters length suit jacket, a red ascot, and a pair of brown riding boots. He took one of the gold bars he got from the the Russians and cut off a small nugget. He left the gold on the counter and vanished out the back door. He flew out of town about a mile to a big pile of boulders and called Hermione.
The group portkeyed to him and Harry pulled out a black cube from his bag. He set it on the ground and put his thumb on the top. It expanded to a six foot black cube with a door. Harry lead them into a huge house. The cube was not new to the Operatives. They each had one but Harry put a lot of time and magic into his cube. The six by six foot outside space was expanded into a 3600 square foot four bedroom five bathroom home decorated in the georgian style. Once they were all in he hit the rune by the door to shrink and cloak the cube. They all sat in the dining room looking at Harry.
"It's Saturday night mid October 1885. We're in Eureka Nevada. And so far according to the drunk i accosted nothing strange has happened. I think we might have just gone back in time." Harry said.
"If that's true we're stuck here." Hermione said rubbing her forehead.
"What do you mean stuck here? Can't we do a ritual or something and get back?" Neville asked.
"No. If we did go back in time it means we erased the future or we jumped to a parallel dimension. Either way we're stuck. You can play with time but not that much. Going back is easy. A kid with a time turner can go back but hopping forwards is not a thing you can just do. We can't go forwards because the world is being written as we live it." Hermione said.
"Well shit." Harry said scratching his chin.
"That sums it up nicely." Neville said.
"Well on the up side we don't have to go to work, the Department of Mysteries won't be formed for another 45 years." Abby said laughing nervously.
"Well i was owed some vacation days anyways and on the up side we are rich. I have two crates of gold on me plus whatever else we have with us." Harry said.
"Gold is not worth as much as it was back in our time. The price of gold was fixed at $23 or something like that at this time. A gold brick is 400 ounces so you're looking at $9,200 per brick. The good news is the average worker makes about $2 a day and you can buy the nickel plated colt peacemaker you have in that gun belt for about $25." Abby said.
"Then we're still rich. There were twenty bars in each box. That's like $368,000. We can buy this state for that price. And that's if we stay here. Who want's to go see London? We can still catch Jack the Ripper i think." Harry said with a smirk.
"How are you excited? We're stuck in 1885 you dumb ass!" Hermione said.
"Hermione think about it. We can change history. All we have to do is kill three babies and the world would be a better place. Tom Riddle, Albus Dumbledore, and Gerrit Grindelwald. That's the worst dark lords of the next 130 years." Harry said.
"Not Hitler?" Neville asked with a smirk.
"Naw, he's a pushover. It was Grindelwald that was pulling the strings. He was the architect of the holocaust." Harry said waving her off.
"You're still sore about the old man using you as a sacrificial lamb and a piggy bank?" Hermione asked.
"You're damn right i am. I have half a mind to go home to England, find Dumbledore's father and shoot him in the face." Harry said jokingly before he stopped short. "Hey that's not a bad idea. It's cleaner too. I've never killed a baby before but a random guy? Sure. It's what i get paid to do." Harry said.
"You know you might be onto something Harry. I mean who says we have to sit on our hands and do nothing? The paired portkey won't be invented for another seventy plus years meaning things have to be shipped everywhere by boat and train. Think about the damage we could do if we open an import export shipping business. One trip to London by plane and we can ship boat loads of cargo to the states in seconds." Neville said.
"Now you're thinking Nev. I like that. What do you say to Potter and Longbottom shipping?" Harry asked waving his hand like he was picturing the sign on a building.
"I think you both need to go by you're Unspeakable covers. There's already Potters and Longbottoms in the world and even if we make waves we can't mess with our family lines. So Blackwell and Steel Shipping." Hermione said mocking his hand gesture as she rolled her eyes.
"Hey Harry, we got enough fuel to make a flight across the Atlantic?" Neville asked.
"We do, Hermione sent me two big gas tanks and a full resupply right before i came to America. In fact i still have to flush out the cheap Russian gas from my M3. Speaking of cars maybe we should take stock in what we have." Harry said.
"Good idea, start with that black hole you call a mission bag." Hermione said.
"I have no idea what's in here. I'm almost afraid to dump it out." Harry said standing up and taking off his bag. He held it open over the table and things started tumbling out. Soon the big 8x4 foot dining room table was piled 3 foot high with shrunken stuff.
"Jesus Harry, do you ever clean out your bag." Hermione asked picking up a half eaten candy bar and tossing it at Harry who caught it and expanded it.
"No, i'm too busy. For the last ten years I've had maybe a hundred days off." Harry said.
"Well lets see what we're working with. We need a room to store all this stuff. Why don't you find a place in this big ass house where we can store things while we go over this stuff and inventory it." Hermione said pulling a small shrunken trunk out of her bag. She expanded it and pulled out a hand full of shrunken trunks.
"Is that a trunk full of shrunken trunks?" Harry asked.
"Yes, all Researchers have one, we're taught to keep things organized. Something you Operatives never got the memo on. And don't smirk Neville were dumping out your bag next." Hermione said opening the empty trunks next to the table.
"Nerd." Harry muttered walking away as he took a bite out of the half eaten candy bar "Hey it's still good!" He said.
Harry cleaned out the smallest bedroom by shrinking the furniture and setting it on the bookcase in the corner. When he came back to the dining room the table was barely touched and Hermione was keeping track of things on a clipboard as Neville and Abby were stacking things in trunks.
"How's it going?" Harry asked.
"Good, we might be able to live off the junk in your bag for the next ten years." Hermione said.
"Well you guys look like you're all set. I'm going to go cook dinner." Harry said walking out of the room only to come back through the door a second later. "Abby you don't have any food issues right?" He asked.
"None, i'll eat pretty much anything. I had a meal bar in the car a bit ago but i'm still super hungry." She said.
"Good." Harry said walking out.
"I Still can't believe that's Harry Steel. And i can't believe Harry Steel is Harry Potter. You know girls in the Research department read his mission summaries to each other as fanfiction right? He's so cool and awesome in the files." She said with a blushing smile.
"Well keep that kind of stuff to yourself. Harry hates people fawning over him. And i told those girls to stop doing that." Hermione said.
"We only do it when you're not in the room. Silvia said you knew Harry Steel, and you stopped them from fantasizing about him so you could keep him all to yourself. Of course Silvia is a fat cow and a mean bitch so what does she know. Now on to the more important question, is he single?" Abby asked adjusting the small reading glasses on the end of her nose and she looked at a small diamond ring.
"Not that i know of, he keeps that stuff to himself. Then again, seeing as we're in 1885, if there was a Mrs. Steel she's out of the picture now. Neville, is Harry seeing someone?" Hermione asked.
"Nope, not since that blonde in Paris. What's her name? The the french spy." Neville said.
"Sophie Martin. Magical branch of the DGSE." Hermione said nodding.
"So he likes blondes?" Abby asked with a smile.
"Harry likes women that are breathing. You peak his interest and he's on you." Neville said.
"How can i do that?" She asked.
"You already have. You're the only woman in this time period that bathes everyday and shaves her legs. Trust me you have a leg up on every other woman around. Now can we please get back to work? Hearing you two 'girl talk' is slowing us down and i want to get done. I need a hot meal and a bed. I've been going for two days straight." Neville said yawning.
"Sorry Nev." Hermione said kissing him as she went back to work cataloging things off the table.
An hour later Harry came into the dining room with two plates loaded with chicken tacos, rice and beans in his hands. The table was mostly cleared off except for a line of shrunken vehicles. There were 58 cars, 6 bikes, 5 boats, and even a small private jet. Harry set the plates down and walked out to get the next two. He set them down and went back for four sets of silverware, napkins, four bottles of beer and a bottle of hot sauce. He sat at the head of the table where they left a space open for him. When he sat down he saw Abby was making her way through her first taco. He shared a smirk with Hermione and Neville.
"Abby, since you started first i'll let you say grace." Harry said stopping her mid bite.
"Um, sorry, um i didn't mean to. Oh God." She said blushing bright red that's when Neville lost it which sent Harry and Hermione over the edge. "WHat?" Abby asked looking indignant.
"You have to learn to relax Abs. We're life long friends and i know that can feel a bit daunting for you but we're the only four people in this boat together and that means you have to get used to us. We all met first year of Hogwarts and we've been friends ever since. In sixth year we took a forced camping trip to find and kill pieces of a dark lord's soul. Our other friend Ron flaked on us and left us for dead. That's when the three of us became family. That was what? Close to twenty years ago." Harry said digging into his plate.
"The summer of 1997. 19 years ago. My God we were all so young back then. Fighting a grown up war with kid's spells and old guns we found in a trunk in my parent's basement." Hermione said looking wistful.
"We're still young. We're powerful magicals, we're in the mage level on the Merlin scale. We'll live another 110 years easy, 140 if we take care of ourselves." Harry said said with a smile.
"Speaking of living that long, you had 12 crates of MREs in your bag. Not cases mind you crates. That's 480 MREs. Those things have a long shelf life but it's not forever." Hermione said.
"Really?" Harry asked scratching his chin.
"Yes really, they were stored in a black supply box." Hermione said looking at the list on her clipboard. "Do you ever eat them?" she asked.
"Only when i can't get anything good or i can't cook my own meals. Every full resupply comes with a crate of them." Harry said with a shrug. "What else was in the bag anything good?" Harry asked.
"Well there was a lot. Let's just run down the list. Did you know that your bag was full of loaded guns, most of them cocked without the safeties on?" Hermione asked with a smile.
"I mean, i kind of figured as much. Half the time i clear a room i just summon the guns off the ground into the bag. What are we looking at in terms of numbers?" Harry asked.
"Well, we unloaded all of them and separated the guns from the ammo." She said pointing to the stack of shrunken black trunks that were stacked on the floor. "We have a magically expanded trunk full to the top of loose 9mm rounds. We have a trunk half full of loose .223 ammo. A trunk a third of the way full of .45acp. And we have a trunk full of ammo boxes packed with calibers like 7.62x51, .380acp, .357 magnum, and .308 match grade." She said pointing out the tagged trunks.
"Wow, and that was all from unloading guns that were just laying around in my bag?" Harry asked.
"Yes. The guns are in those seven trunks." She said.
"So we have enough guns and ammo to arm a good sized military?" Harry asked with a smirk.
"Yes, now let's talk about the safe way to store explosives and incendiary ammunition." Hermione said.
"What now?" Harry asked laughing.
"Bricks of C4, semtex, crates of frag grenades and flash bangs. Aircraft ordnance shrunken down in old wood boxes. You had six crates of hellfire missiles in in an ammo can along with a hundred shrunken belts of 50 cal aircraft ammo. If one of those things went off in your bag it would have leveled a few dozen city blocks." She said.
"That's not cool." Harry said. "Was there anything good in there besides all the dangerous things that go boom?" Harry asked.
"Let's see. You had 2,750 rounds of enchanted 9mm hollow points, 1,600 rounds of enchanted .223, 1,400 rounds of enchanted .300 win mag, 1,050 enchanted 12 gage buckshot shells, and 675 rounds of enchanted .500 nitro express. You also have ammo cans full of regular bulk NATO ammo. You have about 280,000 liters of gas thanks to the tanks i sent you and a few dozen gas tanks we found with small bits of fuel left at the bottom of the tank. Also we found a whole trunk worth of random jewelry and bricks of cash. You also had a bunch of perishable goods like boxes of candy bars, bags of beef jerky, and cans of soda. You also had a bunch of luxury items like cases of cigarettes, bottles of booze, and boxes of cigars. Normally this is where i would tell you you have a problem but seeing as we ended up a 130 years in the past i'm going to let your hoarder like need to loot your kills and buy in bulk go for now." Hermione said looking at the three page long list of junk they found.
"So this is what an intervention feels like." Harry said smirking.
"Harry we love you but your need to rob from the people you kill is getting out of hand." Neville said in a serious tone.
"You don't get to talk Mr. half full magazines. My husband had half the amount of magical ammo you had in half empty magazines." Hermione said.
"Changing mags during a firefight is something we were taught to do." Neville defended. "And thanks to us we have all this to work with. The only thing in your bag was a trunk full of trunks and those magical food bars." Neville said.
"True, i do feel like i came to a potluck without a pot." Hermione said.
"At least you had all that AK47 ammo and guns and stuff. I literally only have books, some MREs, and a trunk full of trunks." Abby said.
"Don't feel too bad about it. You're normal. I am not. On the up side if i ration out my cigarettes i can keep smoking Marlboro Reds until the company starts making them again." Harry said pulling out his gold cigarette case taking out a cigarette.
"Please can you not smoke that in this room?" Hermione asked.
"Okay. Oh, i forgot to add my mission vehicles. I have my 2015 BMW M3, 2015 Jeep Rubicon, 2013 Ferrari 458, 2009 Mercedes e500, 1986 Buick GNX, and my 1969 Boss 302 Mustang. I also have my Ducati Scrambler, and my 23 foot Hacker craft gentlemen's racer speed boat." Harry said opening his gold pill box to show off his cars. "Also don't forget the aircraft. i have my P-51 Mustang, my F5-E, and my Gazelle helicopter." He added lifting out the tray to show off the shrunken aircraft.
"With your two planes, the Learjet from your bag, and Neville's Spitfire, Hawk 200 fighter jet, and his Gazelle we have air travel covered." Hermione said marking it down on the list.
"Oh i forgot i have my car with me. Add a yellow 2010 Corvette Z06 to the list." She said pulling the shrunken car out of her jacket pocket.
"Nice. You're a speed freak?" Harry asked.
"Not really. It was my grandfather's car. He loved it almost as much as he loved me. He died five years ago and left the car to me." She said smiling a sad smile as she looked at the matchbox sized car in her hand.
"Sorry to hear about that. Maybe we can buy some land in the middle of nowhere and build a track so we can take our cars out for a spin. For now i guess we're going to have to stick to horses but that's going to be inconvenient. If we're constantly going to be on the move building up our Shipping company then taking care of a horse is going to be tough." harry said.
"I may have a solution to that, let me look into it. But i think we need to take a few weeks and figure out what we're doing here. Are we going to stay out here in the middle of nowhere? Are we going to move to a big city? Are we going to attempt a trip to the UK? These are all things we have to figure out. Also, as normal as things seem here, we have to make sure none of those zombies came through into this time. If they did we have to stop it, it's on us after all." Hermione said.
"Well i think we need to hit the sack for now. It's close to four in the morning and I've been up for the last three days straight." Harry said vanishing the empty plates and collecting the silverware. He walked into the kitchen and dumped it in the sink, when he came back out Hermione and Neville were gone.
"They said they were going to bed in the blue room." Abby said finishing her beer and vanishing the empty bottle.
"Then that means you're in the gold room. Let me show you to your room." Harry said leading her out of the dining room and down a hall passed the living room. He stopped at a door and opened it showing her a white room with big gold furniture. There was a big king size bed with a gold headboard and white bedding. Gold nightstands, a gold and white fainting couch, and a gold writing desk with a gold and white chair.
"It's a bit…" She paused to come up with a good word to describe the room.
"Gaudy? Ridiculous? Overly flashy? Yes it's all of that. I took this furniture from a drug kingpin. It's where i got my Ferrari. It looks a bit flashy but the bed is super soft and the sheets are Egyptian cotton." Harry said walking to the door on the other side of the room. "This is the bathroom. It's white marble and gold to keep up the theme. You can open your tent over here and get your things or you can stay in your tent, it's up to you. I'm in the bedroom at the end of the hall if you need anything and Hermione and Neville are next door. See you in the morning." Harry said walking to the door.
"Harry, i just wanted to say thank you for coming to rescue me, and also thank you for your hospitality. I know i'm an outsider for now, but i hope that one day soon i'll be a part of your family too. It's like you said we're stuck together." Abby said with a awkward smile.
"Relax Abs, you're fine. Now get some rest." Harry said closing the door behind him as he walked out of her room.
Harry entered his room which was painted dark green and had big dark wood furniture. There were swords and antique flintlock guns on the walls and a six foot stuffed dragon's head on the wall over the fireplace. Harry took a hot shower and passed out on his big four post bed. As he drifted off a thought hit him. For the last twenty years he always had something to do. A job or task to complete. For the first time in a long time he didn't have shit to do tomorrow.