Chapter 36 - The Alley
Harry was so stunned at the barrage of expletives from Hermione his mouth was agape for a good few seconds. He would have never believed it had he not witnessed it himself. It was so unexpected hearing so many 'f' words coming out of her it stirred his already florid fantasies into a state of frenzy.
Down boy! Not now!
The sight of two witches glaring coldly at each other doused imaginary freezing water in his pants. Knowing firsthand what powers each of them had, he was quite worried that any inadvertent magical discharge in the small interior of Jack Muller's black BMW would spark a major explosive incident. It was a definite setback if they did not get along well enough to work on the case together.
Before he could think of what to say to calm them down, the unmistakable sound of doors unlocking broke the glacial silence and multiplied the already heightened tension in the air. He quickly locked them back before Hermione could exit and faced his partner, who now had a most satisfied expression on her face.
"What are you doing?"
Andy turned to him, shrugged and deadpanned, "She gave me a fucking choice; I picked one."
"You picked the wrong one!"
"I'm not putting up with your English Ice Princess and nobody, nobody tells me to shut the fuck up!"
"Um, I believe I just did," said a derisive voice from the back seat.
Hermione was really asking for it. Harry remembered the last time someone had cussed at Andy and was thankful she seemed to have not thought Hermione deserving of what she did to that unfortunate person.
Andy continued to express her ire, refusing to talk to Hermione directly, "Explain to her that I'm actually doing her a favour. Because really, if she doesn't leave the car now, she'll be in imminent danger and it won't have anything to do with this fucking case."
"Oh, was that a threat? I'm so scared," mocked Hermione, alarm bells were ringing all over, "Outside, now, and don't forget your wand."
Crack!
"Oh, shit!"
"And you said she was a smart woman."
He did a quick visual scan of the perimeter and found Hermione in a narrow alley lined by trash bins across the street from where they were parked. Was she nuts? He was really putting it kindly when he said that she had good combat instincts for as much as he'd like to see two women duel (really, what man wouldn't?), Andy would make short work of her in that confined space.
"Don't worry too much. I'll have her back for you in one piece."
Click! Click!
A quick swoosh of his wand and a pair of magical manacles suddenly appeared shackling both Andy's wrists to the steering wheel. He conjured them just in the nick of time, the chains rattling as Andy tried and failed to Disapparate.
"Take them off!" she said to him forcefully.
"No. You're on time out!" he replied to her in kind, "Jeez, you should know better. She's a civilian!"
"I never back down from a fight!"
"Oh yeah I forgot. You can't because you're in primary school and this is some schoolyard girly fight," he said to her, ignoring her flaring nostrils and the clenched jaw. "You're going to put up with her because I'm asking you to. I'll talk to her about the shutting you up part because we both know that's not going to happen but you better appear happy about having her around when I get her back. We need her."
Harry heard her swear at him. She would eventually calm down, take out her wand and try to disengage herself from the magical handcuffs. He figured they had a couple of minutes. He Disapparated, and reappeared a few feet from where Hermione was.
"Where is she?!"
She was looking over his shoulder, squinting towards where the car was parked some fifty meters away, and she realized why Andy had not come.
"Release her!"
"Seriously?!"
"Let her come," she was serious, flexing her wand a couple of times, "Don't worry. I'll try not to leave a permanent mark."
Had the situation not been dire he would have found her bravado more amusing.
"Okay, she may have deserved the cursing but challenging her to a duel? Are you mad?"
She stubbornly declared, "I'm going to prove to her that I know how to defend myself."
"She's an Auror, you're a Healer," Harry reminded her, "You're pushing your luck a bit too far."
"I'm not afraid of her!"
"I know you're not. But really, and I don't mean to belittle your abilities in any way, you don't want to be in this one. She's won the national Witch and Wizard Duel championship trophy five years in succession. She's very competitive and, on top of that, she's quite pissed off."
"Oh, well, that's good to know," the fact she just heard seemed to not have dampened her resolve to go ahead. "I won't feel as bad if I lose and you won't think that I'm too much of a coward if I Disapparate to save myself. You could have mentioned this before, you know."
"I would have if I knew you were going to pick a fight."
"She started it!"
What exactly did Andy start?
"Explain it to me because I seem to be missing something here. Andy doesn't want you tagging along the case, big deal. But how did we get from there to me having to restrain her from hexing you and me ending up in this alley trying to convince you not to fight? Now that is beyond logic, wouldn't you agree?"
"She called my work mundane!"
"And I guess we must smite down everyone who thinks so," he hoped the sarcasm would point out to her just how foolish this all was, "I know she can be a real pain without even trying, but she is not the enemy."
"She called me your English Ice Princess!"
His brows lifted slightly as it surprised him that troubled her. The inflamed reaction she was exhibiting was definitely proof that she was not that. His pause seemed to have made her unleash a thought she had been meaning to hold on to.
"Is that code for when you two talk about me? Is that what you told her, that I'm icy, frosty, frigid!?"
"No, of course not..." maybe ice-like was mentioned once about how she was treating him but it would be foolish to admit that.
"And who is she supposed to be? Your Canadian Fire Queen?" she scoffed sarcastically.
If there was only one rhetorical question in the entire English language that would be it.
"Just how much does she know about us?"
Lie.
"Not a lot..." he started and when Hermione gave him a scowl he admitted, "Okay, she knows quite a bit. But that doesn't matter."
"Let me make it clear that I am nobody's princess..."
"I'll point that out to her," and Merlin forbid anyone ever mention anything vaguely synonymous to 'ice' again.
"And while I'm sure you find what happened between us entertaining, I do not appreciate being conversation fodder for you and any of your girlfriends!"
He remembered that being a concern for her that night in Toronto he was Roy. Did she just refer to Andy as...?
"She's not my girl…"
"I was willing to work with her but I will most certainly not put up with her foul language!" Hermione expressed a thought that he knew Jack had heard from so many of Andy's ex-partners.
"It's just how she talks. She doesn't bite when she barks and she's actually likable once you get to know her," he explained, not really getting through to her. "Look, she'll have realized by now just how silly this is and I know you agree that it is. We have to prevent that social disaster, remember? So, can you stop acting like...this and just come back to the car with me?"
Hermione finally put away her wand.
"No," she replied.
"What do you mean 'no'?"
"She's right. Ministry rules and all that distraction bit. I shouldn't be with you."
One minute she wanted to hex her, the next she was agreeing with her. Women! And he wasn't even sure if he totally understood why they were in the alley so he gave up trying to understand that. Knowing her and knowing what was at stake, she was going to stay in Toronto. But what was she planning on doing?
"What about the phial?"
"I promise you'll have the phial back well before the big meeting in two hours."
She was thinking in the background, he could tell. With the possible London connection, he knew she was considering bringing in the Order, if she hadn't decided already. Hopefully they could talk about that later. But right now, safety around the phial was a big concern and her protection was something he could not delegate to someone else. That sense of desperation he had about her earlier that day just got more desperate.
"If I get Ministry approval, will you work with us?"
"You should really discuss things with your partner first because she clearly does not agree with you on that one."
"Andy will, once she understands."
"If she does, fine, but I'm not working with someone who doesn't want me working with them. Either way we can cover more ground if we split up."
"Splitting up isn't right."
Hermione said to him, "Until you get approval from the Ministry, the less you have to do with this phial the better. It'll take some time to take the potion apart and yours is better spent doing something else. We need to find out who those people were at the diner and why they wanted it, and we need to find out where this potion is coming from. I'm sure you and Andy have other things to look into and from the looks of it you've been up all night, you need some rest. "
"You'll be in danger."
When she did not say anything immediately after that, Harry had hoped he had gotten through to her.
"I was perfectly safe until I started hanging out with you," she pointed out in a somewhat more somber tone, "I told you, I can take care of myself."
As he looked into her eyes he sensed she meant so much more with what she just said to him. It hurt her to say it she could not hide it. Like many times since she came that morning she was going to look away but he reached out, took her hand into his, and held it steadily, before she could.
"I know you can and I know you don't feel as safe around me as you did before, but I wish you'd give me a second chance and let me take care of you, too."
Knowingly or not, she opened herself up briefly for him to see her struggles within. He inched closer wanting to hold her but she immediately stepped back and took her hand away.
"We're wasting time. We should get going."
They understood each other well enough to know she wasn't just talking about the case. That was painful and he wondered how much more rejection he could endure before giving up.
Hermione steered their conversation to the more pressing matter before them. She was determined to not get him involved in the potion analysis.
"There's a professor at York University, Dr. Deng Mao Tan. I'm doing some collaborative work with him. He won't mind me using his lab."
York U did have a Level 5 lab and it would have been his first choice if not for the fact that it had been cited for improper research practices once too often and Professor Tan would have unlikely provided assistance to someone affiliated with the Ministry. Muller would have already guessed they were going to analyze the potion and Professor Tan's lab was the least accessible to the Ministry. The Professor had in the past accused Ministry on spying on him and stealing his research; his lab was always Ministry bug proof and would be perfect to keep it all covert. And, unless the Ministry knew Hermione was with him and that she was an acquaintance of the professor, they would not even think he would go there.
"Let me come with you," he offered as a courtesy.
"I'll take a cab."
This was frustrating.
"You're too stubborn for your own good!"
"I know," she admitted as she summoned his phone, added her number to it and in his notes, the inscriptions on the inside of the phial she was taking with her. She gave it back to him. "Check the empty phial for any markings too and get in touch with the Maro Flacon Companie in Romania. They should be able to give you the buyer's name and shipping address."
"Andy can do that. I'll stay with you," he would not take no for an answer, "Someone's after the potion and while I don't think it's Floyd, we can't assume that whoever wants it will be more pleasant. I am coming with you whether you like it or not. It's my job."
"Your job? Like I was your job last year? I guess the whole Roy Hunt thing did not leave a bad taste in your mouth," Hermione was obviously annoyed, "I'm not part of your job!"
"You may not be but the phial is. It is my job to make sure the phial gets to the Ministry so unless you give it to me, I'm not letting you out of my sight," he said to her, realizing the only way she would not fight this was if there was a good official reason for him to come with her.
"Fine. What choice do I have? After you lost it at the diner, I can't just hand it over to you again, can I?"
He almost pointed out the technically, he didn't lose it but thought he should be thankful for small victories.
"Let's go tell Andy the plan and it's probably best to let me do the talking for now."
"Eggshells," he heard her say under her breath.
"Eggshells?"
"Over there by the rubbish bin," she pointed behind him.
True enough, a sack full of eggshells had not successfully made it into the big metal container and half of it was littered on the ground beside it. Why she pointed that out, Merlin only knew.
They started walking back to the black car.
"What is she doing?" she exclaimed, appearing aghast and scandalized, "Is she giving me the finger?!"
"No. I think that's for me," he replied, seeing Andy was still shackled, odd because she should have broken the spell by now.
Something was not right. He drew out his wand. As they got closer he saw that Andy was actually frantically trying to warn them about something.
Crunch! Crunch!
Behind them, eggshells! He turned just in time to shield him and Hermione from a curse that came from a stubby man who had just appeared beside the trash bin.
Crash!
The hex ricocheted off his charm and bore a deep hole in the opposing wall, powdering red brick on the spot. Harry aimed his wand at their attacker but was not quick enough.
"Stupefy!" a familiar male voice exclaimed, blasting his target up against metal. Their assailant fell into a heap, but got up quicker than he thought possible, swearing.
The voice was Floyd's and he had just appeared with several others at the entrance of the alley, blocking their path to the car. He could not even see if Andy was okay.
"The next idiot who fires off a curse in her direction dies!"
Several popping sounds signaled the arrival of more of his henchmen. The worst case scenario was that Andy was still handcuffed to the car, was under attack and it was his fault. He quickly turned to Hermione as he saw eight to nine hooded figures in what looked like Death Eater robes with wands pointing at them, closing in on them front and back, the alley narrowing even more as they did.
"Disapparate to the Ministry, now," Harry hissed at Hermione, who he noticed had her wand in her hand.
That was the safest place for her that he could think of.
"No, and don't argue," she hissed back, "We've got to get to Andy."
It would have been pointless. Their safety warranted risking Apparating onto a Muggle infested street.
"Reducto!"
Hermione sent an entire fire escape down the side of one building, falling onto a couple of their foes, causing a distraction. Prepared to encounter more of Floyd's men where Andy was, he grabbed Hermione's arm on his left.
Whack!
A deep searing pain cut through his arm forcing him to let go of her as he let out an involuntary yelp.
"Harry! Watch out!" Hermione yelled out a warning.
He regained focus just in time to lean back and duck out of the way of a barbed whip that Floyd was controlling with his wand as it sailed just under his eye, grazing his face. He aimed for it and hit it with a transfiguring spell, sending it back to Floyd. Harry would have been pleased by the look of a big giant noodle on him had it not been for the fact that Hermione was now unarmed, and was physically being restrained by two big brutes.
"Stupefy!" one of Floyd's men shouted from behind, and he felt a slight tickle on his back.
A flurry of missed spells ensued. He had to ward off some and take cover behind one of the trash bins, not assuming they would be as ineffective. Surely, all this magical activity would bring the MLE soon.
"Enough!" Floyd commanded.
Harry peered out through the settling dust to take a quick look and saw Floyd and his party had taken cover as well. He was almost certain that they were Squibs who had taken the potion too, for Floyd would unlikely command the same respect from wizards. Nonetheless, this was a pathetic bunch, and he would have been more brazen had he been alone in the alley with them. Stupid as it was, he got up from where he had crouched down and walked out in the open.
"Potter," Floyd greeted him. "I've finally drawn blood. Can you tell I've been practicing? Quite an improvement from last year, wouldn't you say so?"
Wetness was indeed trickling off his left hand as it hung by his side. He could not afford to look as his eyes were busy watching Floyd and the periphery for any other curses.
"Not sure if it's an improvement. I must say, this is less humiliating than pasta on my face. Would you like red or creamy sauce with that? I can mix something up real quick."
There was suppressed sniggering from within the shadows. It wasn't time to infuriate Floyd further but he just could not help it. How was he going to get Hermione back? He scouted her sentry. They were humongous but not armed and the one on her left had her wand sticking out of his back pocket.
"I know you!" Hermione said, talking to Floyd. "I've met you before!"
"I guess I did make an impression after all," Floyd turned his attention towards her. "I have often wondered if we would have known each other more intimately had Roy over there not duped you into going out with him. That must have been awful finding out that he lied to you."
"Did you kill Ron Weasley?"
"Who? Oh, do you mean the Canon Keeper fiancé of yours? Is that what he's telling you?" Floyd let out a loud amused laugh as Hermione listened to his every word. "Just between you and me he's running away from the guilt so he's blaming me for the accident. If I really wanted to kill someone I would have killed him."
"What do you want, Floyd?" he asked, almost set about what to do. "The phial?"
He laughed and his minions followed suit.
"No, not really. Although, as you can see, it is an amazing potion I could get a lot of money for it. In a few days, what you find out about it wouldn't matter anymore. However, I do need Miss Granger."
"I kind of need her, too, and my need is a bit urgent," he replied, "What do you need her for?"
"Insurance, so you'd behave yourself."
That answer came quick and somehow, even though he could use her as leverage, he was not convinced Floyd was telling the entire truth. He could not wait for the MLE.
"Who came up with that lame idea?" mocked Hermione.
Crack!
"Fuck! He's Disapparated!"
Pop!
Harry reappeared behind the two thugs and grabbed Hermione's wand.
"Incendio!"
"Ah!!"
"Stupefy!"
Thump!
One of them keeled over as the other was off doing the pants-on-fire dance.
A sudden spate of popping sounds filled in the alley. More Apparitionists. Harry could tell they weren't MLE but was too concerned about Hermione. Floyd had her by the arm and was using her as a shield. But judging from the look on his face and the flurry of curses in the background, the new arrivals were not part of his team. Not MLE but not Floyd's. He'd have to think about that later.
"Leave the Bruins! They're not worth it! And no one gets left behind." he yelled out.
Floyd mumbled a spell which Harry could not hear over the fighting, the missed curses and the cracking sounds of a magical retreat. It caused Hermione to lose consciousness, and he guessed it was to prevent the splinching that would likely happen if Floyd Disapparated with someone reluctant to go.
The momentary loss of balance brought about by Hermione's dead weight was an opening. He lunged forward, hurtling himself hard towards Floyd before he could disappear with her. The momentum landed them feet away from Hermione and knocked their wands away from their reach.
Floyd recovered from the impact sooner than he did. A large boot caught him in the mid section as he tried to get up, causing him to fall on the ground again. He barely got back his wind back when his head exploded as the same Timberland shoe found the side of his head.
"They wouldn't let Squibs play Quidditch so I played a lot of soccer growing up," Floyd explained.
Another well placed kick brought him down on his stomach again, but he would not give Floyd the satisfaction of hearing him groan and he was going to get up until he passed out.
"Wish they let me play Quidditch instead?"
He heard Floyd walk around him, then timing it perfectly, he avoided the next foot that came his way. Harry used the force of the glancing blow to get Floyd off his feet. This time, he was up at the same time Floyd was.
Ignoring the gnawing aches and pains, Harry quickly landed several jabs into the git's face, staggering Floyd backwards, throwing punch after punch until he physically had to stop to recover. What he saw as he did was a surprise. Floyd spit out a tooth and some blood, but aside from that, there was hardly a scratch on his face.
He grinned mockingly, "Are you done?"
Before he could try another round of blows, a curse hit Floyd from the side. It was from one of the latecomers, a Stunner, although it did not even move Floyd. The brown haired wizard who cast it seemed not as perplexed as he was but sent another ineffective one, drawing more annoyance than anything else. What was going on?
"I hate pesky Bruins," Floyd muttered under his breath as he shoved his right hand in air, palm towards the direction of his attacker, sending the man up and back a few feet.
That was definitely new and unexpected.
Harry saw his wand on the ground and was about to retrieve it when Floyd got a hold of his neck. With extraordinary strength, Floyd lifted him up by the throat, until he could not feel his feet touching ground, the firm grip on his windpipe made breathing quite impossible.
He brought his hands up to try and pry off Floyd's fingers but couldn't. His legs continued to dangle and frantically search for secure footing even as he was able to force a couple of coughs to relieve his need for air.
"I could kill you right now," Floyd taunted.
His face was hot, his eyes watery and he was sure he was going to lose consciousness soon. He saw a couple of spells hit Floyd but that did not even distract him.
Vroom! Vroom! Vrrooommmm!
From the corner of his eye, he saw Andy in Muller's black car careening down from the street into the alley, horns blasting like crazy as figures got out of the way. She was heading straight at them, pedal to the metal. Floyd had seen her too, for only someone deaf would not have heard the warning that she was coming. He looked irritated that he had to deal with it but did not move a muscle. Harry prepared himself for the impact.
Crash!
The sound of metal against metal rang as Andy hit Floyd, dragged him a few feet and crushed his legs between the now silent but steaming front of the Beemer and a large rusty trash bin.
Floyd let out an agonized cry. Unfortunately, the force of the collision did not make Floyd let go of him and as the injured man cried out, Harry felt his grasp tighten even more. His feet found traction and with all the remaining energy he could muster, he threw his weight down, packing a blow onto Floyd's arm from above, hearing bone snap.
With another scream, he finally let go. Harry found himself on his knees on top of the carhood holding onto his neck, panting, trying to catch his breath, looking into the eyes of a somewhat dazed Andy who was struggling to get her wand up through the semi-deflated air bag.
Then the car moved back…an inch…and another.
"What the fuck…?"
He didn't have to know how to lip-read to discern what Andy just muttered from inside the cabin as she saw something that made her eyes widen. He turned and witnessed what she did. Floyd physically moved the car back again. There was blood everywhere. His legs were mangled, his arm was unnaturally bent, and he was looking at him with hatred in his eyes.
Then, with a snap of his fingers, Floyd was gone.
A/N. I kind of needed Floyd to become a worthier villain - what do you think?