Don Sample
2007-01-28 23:59:23 UTC
(Previous parts can be
found at: <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/Fics/BLS/>)
Chapter 4
Dawn flipped through the pages of the newspaper. "This is incredible!"
She stopped at a picture of a bunch of people whizzing through the air
on broomsticks. "You have *got* to be kidding!"
"Nope," said Willow. "Not me, anyway. Maybe somebody else, but if it's a
joke, it's an awfully elaborate one. I'm still trying to figure out the
magic that makes these moving pictures work. It looks like these people
really do play some sort of sport on flying brooms."
Dawn looked at the some of the advertisements on another page. "It looks
like they've got their own secret little world. Clothing stores, book
shops, apothecaries..." She picked up the paper and shook it.
"...newspaper. Even their own government. The editorial page talks about
upcoming elections for a new Minister of Magic."
"They have their own money too." Willow dumped the coins that she had
received as change in the bar out on the table. "I think the gold one is
called a Galleon, the silver ones are Sickles, and the copper are Knuts.
Since I got all this change from a ten, after paying for two beers, I'd
guess that a Galleon is worth about five pounds."
Xander took the paper, and flipped back to the front page. "Most
important, they seem to know someone who looks like I do now, even if he
is some sort of philanderer."
"We don't know about that," said Giles. "As far as I can tell, the only
evidence they have of this Harry Potter's misdeeds, is that they have a
picture of you, with Dawn. The real Harry Potter may be quite innocent."
"He does seem to be famous among these people, though," said Dawn.
"Kinda explains why those guys acted like they'd just seen Elvis."
Willow took the paper back. "Too bad the article doesn't say anything
about *why* he's famous. There's some stuff about how he was breaking
girls' hearts back during his school days too, but nothing substantive."
"We need to learn more," said Giles, "but I have no idea how to proceed.
I'm fairly certain that we have nothing in our library about these
people."
"Um...I may have an idea."
"What is it, Dawn?" asked Willow.
Dawn took the paper, and flipped it over to the back page. She pointed
to an ad there. "They're running a new subscription special: One month
for a Galleon. We fill in our address on this coupon, and 'owl' it,
along with our one Galleon, to the /Daily Prophet/ Subscription
Department, and we get the paper delivered to us."
"But how do we 'owl' it?" asked Xander.
"Hey, do I have to think of everything?"
---
"So, his name is Alexander Harris," said Harry, "and her name is Dawn
Summers. Nearly everyone we talked to agreed that they're Americans."
"That should help narrow it down," said Hermione. "The Home Office keeps
track of all foreigners in Britain. I can put a request through from my
office to our contact there, for more information about them."
"We have a contact in the Home Office?" asked Ginny.
"There are people scattered all through the British government, who know
about us," said Harry. "Some are Squibs. Some are relatives of
Muggleborns, or Muggles who married a witch or wizard. Muggle Affairs
keeps a list of people who can help us out with things."
"Do we know any more about them?" asked Ron.
"They were shopping for a complete new wardrobe," said Harry. "Shirts,
trousers, shoes, socks, pretty much everything. They told a couple of
the shopkeepers that their airline lost his luggage."
"So...it would seem that his appearance changed at about the same time
that yours did," said Hermione. "He had to buy new clothes, because none
of his old ones would fit. If he was responsible for this, he would have
known ahead of time, and already had the clothes that he needs."
"Now that we have their names, how do we find them?" asked Ron.
"We've got an address for them, in Cambridge," said Harry.
"Let's go," said Ginny.
"Don't you have to be at work?" asked Hermione.
"I asked Neville to take care of it," said Ginny. "He's going to be
taking over a lot of my responsibilities, once I start my maternity
leave. I thought I'd give him some early practice."
"Still, it might be better if you stayed behind," said Harry. "We don't
know how dangerous this might be."
Ginny turned a simmering glare his way. "Did you like sleeping on the
sofa?" she asked sweetly. "We had this discussion after sixth year: you
can't protect me by pushing me away."
Harry refused to back down. "I know, but it isn't just you that we have
to look out for now." He looked down toward her swollen belly.
"We aren't storming a Death Eater stronghold," said Ginny. "We're going
to Cambridge to check on a couple of Muggles, one of whom looks like you
now. What can go wrong?"
Ron groaned. "You just had to ask that, didn't you?"
---
Willow took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she re-entered the
Leaky Cauldron. "Okay, I can do this. I've researched all I can
research. I've got my prop wand. I can do this."
She had noticed the wands during her last visit to the pub, and learned
a little more about them from reading the newspaper. These people seemed
to need them to channel most of their magic. So now she and Kennedy were
both carrying slender pieces of wood, that could serve double duty as
stakes, if need be. It was Kennedy who had insisted that their fake
wands had to be sturdy enough to also be used as stakes. The idea of
carrying around a totally useless piece of wood was abhorrent to the
Slayer.
It was the same time of day as their last visit, and when Willow looked
around the room she recognized many of the same faces. She walked up to
the bar, hoping that she looked a lot more confidant than she was
feeling, and smiled at the bartender. "Hi, Tom!"
He smiled back at her. "Good day to you, ladies. What can I get you
today?" He moved toward his beer taps.
Willow leaned against the bar. "Just some information, this time. We're
looking for Diagon Alley."
Tom looked puzzled, and some of the suspicion from the beginning of
their first visit came back to his face. "You don't know where Diagon
Alley is?"
"We know it's near here," said Willow quickly. "We just don't know how
to get there...from here."
"They left that out of /The American Witch's Guide to Britain/," said
Kennedy. "We were just told to go to the Leaky Cauldron."
"There's an /American Witch's Guide to Britain/?" asked Tom.
"Not really, but there should be," said Kennedy. "So how do we get to
Diagon Alley from here?"
"It's just out the back." Tom pointed toward the rear entrance. "Tap the
brick, three up and two across from the dustbin, three times with your
wand."
Willow smiled at him. "Thanks." She pushed herself away from the bar,
and took hold of Kennedy's arm. "Let's go."
Kennedy waited until they were out of everyone's earshot. "So, what are
we going to do when tapping with our fake wands doesn't do anything?"
she whispered.
"We don't know that it won't work," whispered Willow. "If it
doesn't...I'll think of something." They reached a small, dingy
courtyard with a few weeds growing up through cracks in the paving
stones. Willow moved to the wall by the trashcan, and tapped her stick
against the brick that Tom had told her to. Nothing happened.
"Hmmm..." Willow concentrated for a moment, feeling for the magic. She
could tell that there was something there, but she couldn't feel how it
was supposed to work. "Nope. Nothing." She turned back to the entrance
into the Leaky Cauldron.
Willow tried for her best impression of Buffy's guileless dumb-blonde
voice when she asked, "So, was that two up, and three across?" She heard
a bit of suppressed laughter ripple through the bar.
Tom turned away, to hide an eye roll Willow was sure, and spoke to a man
near the fireplace, whom Willow hadn't noticed when she had first come
into the bar. "Neville, why don't you show this nice American witch how
to get into Diagon Alley?"
"Of course, Tom." The man flicked his wand over his robes, making some
soot disappear, and came toward Willow. "I'm Neville Longbottom. You're
from America, are you?"
"That's right." She smiled back at him. "Willow Rosenberg."
"How long have you been in England?"
"A couple of months," said Willow, "but most of it was spent up near
Cambridge, or down in Devon. I've only been in London a few times,
mostly just passing through." She led Neville out the back door. "Hey
Kennedy. This is Neville. He's going to show us how it works." She
turned back to him. "I feel so embarrassed, forgetting which brick Tom
told me to tap."
"That's all right," said Neville. "I'm always forgetting stuff like
that. I'm almost famous for it." He reached out with his wand, and
tapped the brick three times.
Willow had her shields all the way down, to better feel the magic. She
felt a surge of power from Neville's wand into the brick and spreading
out from there, and gave Kennedy a nod. She was confident that she could
repeat it for herself, the next time.
"After you, ladies," said Neville with a bow and a flourish, as the
bricks in the wall wiggled away from each other, to form an archway wide
enough for them all to walk through together. He didn't seem to notice
the surprised expression on Kennedy's face, and Willow tried hard to
look nonchalant as she took hold of her girlfriend's hand, and then gave
her a quick kiss. It was a very effective way of distracting any male
from anything that they needed distracting from.
Willow tried hard not to look too much like a gawking tourist as she
walked through the archway, and Kennedy had gotten better control of
herself after her initial startlement. Her eyes were still wide as she
looked around.
Neville was still with them. "So, what are you looking for?" he asked.
"I might be able to help you find it."
"Oh, that's alright," said Willow. "You've been more than enough help
already. You can go back to the pub, if you like."
"I was just passing through, on my way here, anyway," said Neville.
"Oh, in that case, we were going to start out at Gringotts, to get some
money exchanged," said Willow.
"Oh, that's the big white building, there." Neville pointed down the
cobbled street to a white marble edifice that rose above all the others.
"You can't miss it."
They started to walk down the street, which was crowded with pedestrian
traffic, most of it dressed in robes like the people from the Leaky
Cauldron, but there were enough other people dressed in what Willow
considered more normal clothing that she and Kennedy didn't stand out
too much while they chatted with Neville. They told him that they were
looking to buy some books, so he pointed out Flourish and Blotts as they
passed it. He didn't look too happy when Willow asked about finding the
/Daily Prophet/ offices.
"There's something wrong with the /Daily Prophet/?" she asked.
Neville shrugged, and looked a little embarrassed. "They're mostly okay,
if you stick to things like the Quidditch scores, and the adverts. For
most of their 'news' though, they just reprint whatever the Ministry
feeds them, or they're just spreading gossip."
"You mean like that story about Harry Potter a couple of days ago?"
asked Willow.
"*Especially* if it's got anything to do with Harry," said Neville.
"After that last story, Ginny was ready to really blast them."
"You know Harry Potter?" asked Kennedy.
"Yeah." Neville looked even more embarrassed. "We were in the same year,
and house at Hogwarts."
Kennedy affected the breathy voice of a fangirl, looking for news of her
favourite celebrity. "What's he *really* like?"
"*Nothing* like what that Skeeter woman keeps writing about him. He's a
nice bloke, a good friend." He frowned at Kennedy. "He hates people
making a fuss over him. He just wants to live his life. Do his job,
raise his family, and *never* have to fight another dark wizard."
"So, you're friends with him?" asked Willow.
"Yeah, we're good friends, and it really bothers him and Ginny the way
that the /Daily Prophet/ keeps printing nonsense about them."
"Like that story a couple of days ago," said Willow.
"Yeah," said Neville. "I don't know where that picture came from, but
Harry wasn't even in London that day."
"Where was he?" asked Kennedy.
Neville shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't talk about things like
that with strangers. Even when they're as charming as you."
"Oh, you're right. We're being awfully nosey," said Willow. "I'm sorry
about that."
"That's alright," said Neville. "We're here."
"Hmm?"
Neville waved his hand, pointing to the building beside them. "Gringotts
Bank."
Willow felt Kennedy tensing, but she ignored her for a moment, keeping
her attention on Neville. "Oh, thanks a bunch! I hope we didn't take you
too far out of your way."
"No trouble at all," said Neville. "I'm heading farther down the alley,
to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Why don't you drop in, once you've done
your shopping?"
"We'll see," said Willow, not wanting to make any commitments. "I'm not
sure if we'll have time, once we're done our shopping."
"In that case, it's been a pleasure meeting you. I hope to do so again,
soon." Neville gave them a final wave, and continued on down the street
on his own.
Willow turned to the bank, and drew in a sharp breath as she saw who, or
rather what, was standing beside the door. Now she knew what had caused
Kennedy to tense up.
"Is that some sort of demon?" Kennedy asked quietly.
Willow looked at the short creature, dressed in a red and gold uniform,
standing guard beside the bank doors. People were passing in and out of
the building without sparing it a second glance. "I think...it's a
goblin!"
"A goblin?"
"Yeah," said Willow. "They're supposed to have vanished centuries ago!
There are stories about them being in some sort of war with a group of
wizards, and then they both vanished. The wizards, and the goblins!"
Kennedy had a look around. "Maybe we just found where they all
disappeared to."
found at: <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/Fics/BLS/>)
Chapter 4
Dawn flipped through the pages of the newspaper. "This is incredible!"
She stopped at a picture of a bunch of people whizzing through the air
on broomsticks. "You have *got* to be kidding!"
"Nope," said Willow. "Not me, anyway. Maybe somebody else, but if it's a
joke, it's an awfully elaborate one. I'm still trying to figure out the
magic that makes these moving pictures work. It looks like these people
really do play some sort of sport on flying brooms."
Dawn looked at the some of the advertisements on another page. "It looks
like they've got their own secret little world. Clothing stores, book
shops, apothecaries..." She picked up the paper and shook it.
"...newspaper. Even their own government. The editorial page talks about
upcoming elections for a new Minister of Magic."
"They have their own money too." Willow dumped the coins that she had
received as change in the bar out on the table. "I think the gold one is
called a Galleon, the silver ones are Sickles, and the copper are Knuts.
Since I got all this change from a ten, after paying for two beers, I'd
guess that a Galleon is worth about five pounds."
Xander took the paper, and flipped back to the front page. "Most
important, they seem to know someone who looks like I do now, even if he
is some sort of philanderer."
"We don't know about that," said Giles. "As far as I can tell, the only
evidence they have of this Harry Potter's misdeeds, is that they have a
picture of you, with Dawn. The real Harry Potter may be quite innocent."
"He does seem to be famous among these people, though," said Dawn.
"Kinda explains why those guys acted like they'd just seen Elvis."
Willow took the paper back. "Too bad the article doesn't say anything
about *why* he's famous. There's some stuff about how he was breaking
girls' hearts back during his school days too, but nothing substantive."
"We need to learn more," said Giles, "but I have no idea how to proceed.
I'm fairly certain that we have nothing in our library about these
people."
"Um...I may have an idea."
"What is it, Dawn?" asked Willow.
Dawn took the paper, and flipped it over to the back page. She pointed
to an ad there. "They're running a new subscription special: One month
for a Galleon. We fill in our address on this coupon, and 'owl' it,
along with our one Galleon, to the /Daily Prophet/ Subscription
Department, and we get the paper delivered to us."
"But how do we 'owl' it?" asked Xander.
"Hey, do I have to think of everything?"
---
"So, his name is Alexander Harris," said Harry, "and her name is Dawn
Summers. Nearly everyone we talked to agreed that they're Americans."
"That should help narrow it down," said Hermione. "The Home Office keeps
track of all foreigners in Britain. I can put a request through from my
office to our contact there, for more information about them."
"We have a contact in the Home Office?" asked Ginny.
"There are people scattered all through the British government, who know
about us," said Harry. "Some are Squibs. Some are relatives of
Muggleborns, or Muggles who married a witch or wizard. Muggle Affairs
keeps a list of people who can help us out with things."
"Do we know any more about them?" asked Ron.
"They were shopping for a complete new wardrobe," said Harry. "Shirts,
trousers, shoes, socks, pretty much everything. They told a couple of
the shopkeepers that their airline lost his luggage."
"So...it would seem that his appearance changed at about the same time
that yours did," said Hermione. "He had to buy new clothes, because none
of his old ones would fit. If he was responsible for this, he would have
known ahead of time, and already had the clothes that he needs."
"Now that we have their names, how do we find them?" asked Ron.
"We've got an address for them, in Cambridge," said Harry.
"Let's go," said Ginny.
"Don't you have to be at work?" asked Hermione.
"I asked Neville to take care of it," said Ginny. "He's going to be
taking over a lot of my responsibilities, once I start my maternity
leave. I thought I'd give him some early practice."
"Still, it might be better if you stayed behind," said Harry. "We don't
know how dangerous this might be."
Ginny turned a simmering glare his way. "Did you like sleeping on the
sofa?" she asked sweetly. "We had this discussion after sixth year: you
can't protect me by pushing me away."
Harry refused to back down. "I know, but it isn't just you that we have
to look out for now." He looked down toward her swollen belly.
"We aren't storming a Death Eater stronghold," said Ginny. "We're going
to Cambridge to check on a couple of Muggles, one of whom looks like you
now. What can go wrong?"
Ron groaned. "You just had to ask that, didn't you?"
---
Willow took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she re-entered the
Leaky Cauldron. "Okay, I can do this. I've researched all I can
research. I've got my prop wand. I can do this."
She had noticed the wands during her last visit to the pub, and learned
a little more about them from reading the newspaper. These people seemed
to need them to channel most of their magic. So now she and Kennedy were
both carrying slender pieces of wood, that could serve double duty as
stakes, if need be. It was Kennedy who had insisted that their fake
wands had to be sturdy enough to also be used as stakes. The idea of
carrying around a totally useless piece of wood was abhorrent to the
Slayer.
It was the same time of day as their last visit, and when Willow looked
around the room she recognized many of the same faces. She walked up to
the bar, hoping that she looked a lot more confidant than she was
feeling, and smiled at the bartender. "Hi, Tom!"
He smiled back at her. "Good day to you, ladies. What can I get you
today?" He moved toward his beer taps.
Willow leaned against the bar. "Just some information, this time. We're
looking for Diagon Alley."
Tom looked puzzled, and some of the suspicion from the beginning of
their first visit came back to his face. "You don't know where Diagon
Alley is?"
"We know it's near here," said Willow quickly. "We just don't know how
to get there...from here."
"They left that out of /The American Witch's Guide to Britain/," said
Kennedy. "We were just told to go to the Leaky Cauldron."
"There's an /American Witch's Guide to Britain/?" asked Tom.
"Not really, but there should be," said Kennedy. "So how do we get to
Diagon Alley from here?"
"It's just out the back." Tom pointed toward the rear entrance. "Tap the
brick, three up and two across from the dustbin, three times with your
wand."
Willow smiled at him. "Thanks." She pushed herself away from the bar,
and took hold of Kennedy's arm. "Let's go."
Kennedy waited until they were out of everyone's earshot. "So, what are
we going to do when tapping with our fake wands doesn't do anything?"
she whispered.
"We don't know that it won't work," whispered Willow. "If it
doesn't...I'll think of something." They reached a small, dingy
courtyard with a few weeds growing up through cracks in the paving
stones. Willow moved to the wall by the trashcan, and tapped her stick
against the brick that Tom had told her to. Nothing happened.
"Hmmm..." Willow concentrated for a moment, feeling for the magic. She
could tell that there was something there, but she couldn't feel how it
was supposed to work. "Nope. Nothing." She turned back to the entrance
into the Leaky Cauldron.
Willow tried for her best impression of Buffy's guileless dumb-blonde
voice when she asked, "So, was that two up, and three across?" She heard
a bit of suppressed laughter ripple through the bar.
Tom turned away, to hide an eye roll Willow was sure, and spoke to a man
near the fireplace, whom Willow hadn't noticed when she had first come
into the bar. "Neville, why don't you show this nice American witch how
to get into Diagon Alley?"
"Of course, Tom." The man flicked his wand over his robes, making some
soot disappear, and came toward Willow. "I'm Neville Longbottom. You're
from America, are you?"
"That's right." She smiled back at him. "Willow Rosenberg."
"How long have you been in England?"
"A couple of months," said Willow, "but most of it was spent up near
Cambridge, or down in Devon. I've only been in London a few times,
mostly just passing through." She led Neville out the back door. "Hey
Kennedy. This is Neville. He's going to show us how it works." She
turned back to him. "I feel so embarrassed, forgetting which brick Tom
told me to tap."
"That's all right," said Neville. "I'm always forgetting stuff like
that. I'm almost famous for it." He reached out with his wand, and
tapped the brick three times.
Willow had her shields all the way down, to better feel the magic. She
felt a surge of power from Neville's wand into the brick and spreading
out from there, and gave Kennedy a nod. She was confident that she could
repeat it for herself, the next time.
"After you, ladies," said Neville with a bow and a flourish, as the
bricks in the wall wiggled away from each other, to form an archway wide
enough for them all to walk through together. He didn't seem to notice
the surprised expression on Kennedy's face, and Willow tried hard to
look nonchalant as she took hold of her girlfriend's hand, and then gave
her a quick kiss. It was a very effective way of distracting any male
from anything that they needed distracting from.
Willow tried hard not to look too much like a gawking tourist as she
walked through the archway, and Kennedy had gotten better control of
herself after her initial startlement. Her eyes were still wide as she
looked around.
Neville was still with them. "So, what are you looking for?" he asked.
"I might be able to help you find it."
"Oh, that's alright," said Willow. "You've been more than enough help
already. You can go back to the pub, if you like."
"I was just passing through, on my way here, anyway," said Neville.
"Oh, in that case, we were going to start out at Gringotts, to get some
money exchanged," said Willow.
"Oh, that's the big white building, there." Neville pointed down the
cobbled street to a white marble edifice that rose above all the others.
"You can't miss it."
They started to walk down the street, which was crowded with pedestrian
traffic, most of it dressed in robes like the people from the Leaky
Cauldron, but there were enough other people dressed in what Willow
considered more normal clothing that she and Kennedy didn't stand out
too much while they chatted with Neville. They told him that they were
looking to buy some books, so he pointed out Flourish and Blotts as they
passed it. He didn't look too happy when Willow asked about finding the
/Daily Prophet/ offices.
"There's something wrong with the /Daily Prophet/?" she asked.
Neville shrugged, and looked a little embarrassed. "They're mostly okay,
if you stick to things like the Quidditch scores, and the adverts. For
most of their 'news' though, they just reprint whatever the Ministry
feeds them, or they're just spreading gossip."
"You mean like that story about Harry Potter a couple of days ago?"
asked Willow.
"*Especially* if it's got anything to do with Harry," said Neville.
"After that last story, Ginny was ready to really blast them."
"You know Harry Potter?" asked Kennedy.
"Yeah." Neville looked even more embarrassed. "We were in the same year,
and house at Hogwarts."
Kennedy affected the breathy voice of a fangirl, looking for news of her
favourite celebrity. "What's he *really* like?"
"*Nothing* like what that Skeeter woman keeps writing about him. He's a
nice bloke, a good friend." He frowned at Kennedy. "He hates people
making a fuss over him. He just wants to live his life. Do his job,
raise his family, and *never* have to fight another dark wizard."
"So, you're friends with him?" asked Willow.
"Yeah, we're good friends, and it really bothers him and Ginny the way
that the /Daily Prophet/ keeps printing nonsense about them."
"Like that story a couple of days ago," said Willow.
"Yeah," said Neville. "I don't know where that picture came from, but
Harry wasn't even in London that day."
"Where was he?" asked Kennedy.
Neville shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't talk about things like
that with strangers. Even when they're as charming as you."
"Oh, you're right. We're being awfully nosey," said Willow. "I'm sorry
about that."
"That's alright," said Neville. "We're here."
"Hmm?"
Neville waved his hand, pointing to the building beside them. "Gringotts
Bank."
Willow felt Kennedy tensing, but she ignored her for a moment, keeping
her attention on Neville. "Oh, thanks a bunch! I hope we didn't take you
too far out of your way."
"No trouble at all," said Neville. "I'm heading farther down the alley,
to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Why don't you drop in, once you've done
your shopping?"
"We'll see," said Willow, not wanting to make any commitments. "I'm not
sure if we'll have time, once we're done our shopping."
"In that case, it's been a pleasure meeting you. I hope to do so again,
soon." Neville gave them a final wave, and continued on down the street
on his own.
Willow turned to the bank, and drew in a sharp breath as she saw who, or
rather what, was standing beside the door. Now she knew what had caused
Kennedy to tense up.
"Is that some sort of demon?" Kennedy asked quietly.
Willow looked at the short creature, dressed in a red and gold uniform,
standing guard beside the bank doors. People were passing in and out of
the building without sparing it a second glance. "I think...it's a
goblin!"
"A goblin?"
"Yeah," said Willow. "They're supposed to have vanished centuries ago!
There are stories about them being in some sort of war with a group of
wizards, and then they both vanished. The wizards, and the goblins!"
Kennedy had a look around. "Maybe we just found where they all
disappeared to."
--
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>