Chapter Five - The Golden Torc
Walking across the muggy carpark, the two young women headed towards a large limousine that was idling in the pickup area. Smiling Terri indicated the waiting limo. "We'll just give Slider a chance to catch up and then we'll get you to your hotel."
Looking a bit perplexed, she looked at Hermione curiously. "I've been meaning to ask you about your choice. I can't remember ever booking someone in that hotel, I didn't even realize there was a hotel like that along the river. Of course there are the usual airport digs, but I've never heard of this place that's actually inside the green area."
"One of my coworkers has relatives here in the area and it's a place that they recommended. Actually I think it's a little family establishment owned by an American cousin or something, but Francis spoke so highly of it I decided to give it a try. Though I live in London now, my heart's really at home up in Scotland, out in the middle of a great deal of natural forest. I think this place will be somewhere I can feel at home for a few days and still get some work done. From what Francis' cousin told me, you'd never know there was a major city just out of sight."
Smiling blandly, Hermione was trying not to laugh at what Terri's reaction would be to an actual wizarding inn like the Torc would be. She'd sent a patronus to her American contact in the Ohio Bureau of Magic from the lavatory in the VIP lounge before she boarded her connecting flight letting them know that she'd be arriving in the company of muggles and to make certain that the more `interesting' residents and staff members were well disguised.
Carefully taking the miniature wand that Ollivander had created for her out of the loop on her bracelet where it usually resided, she touched the windscreen of the limo and silently cast a charm that would allow anyone who rode in this vehicle to see the Torc until sunset tomorrow. She also cast a similar charm on Terri to allow her to see the actual building but not any protections cast upon it for the next 48 hours so that she could see what was going on since she'd insist on accompanying her for check in.
"I've never actually ridden in one of these beauties, I'm afraid you Americans are going to spoil me terribly." Smiling warmly, she looked around to see if her costumed greeter was catching up with them yet. "Is Slider going to be able to get himself away from his admirers?"
"I'll beep him and tell him to get a move on." Reaching for her phone, she flashed a smile at the waiting driver and nodded towards Hermione's bag. "Just get inside out of this humidity and we'll be off in a second or two." Punching a code into the phone, she looked back towards the terminal in expectation. "I don't know how he does it, but he's usually here before the page gets to him. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he knew somehow before I told him when I needed him." Shaking her head, she watched as Slider came jogging out of the sliding terminal doors and headed towards the waiting limo, trailed by the last few of his fans.
As the trunk lid closed on Hermione's bag, Terri looked to the driver who nodded to her. "Time to roll, let's get you checked in so you can get some sleep and be ready for tomorrow." Laughing as Slider joined them, she started to get into the car. "Give away any passes for tomorrow?" Watching the big mascot bob his head enthusiastically, she sighed. "Our work here is done; let's get Hermione to her hotel so she can relax."
Seated in the back of the limo, the three settled in and began to relax. The driver pulled away from the curb and began to head for the exit and the open road. "First time in the States?" Terri asked as she settled back and watched Hermione.
"First trip over, yes." Smiling she started to relax in the large seat and appreciate the spacious accommodations after spending so many hours in an airline seat. "You Americans certainly have more money to spend on baseball than we do on cricket."
"Old American saying, `you spend money to make money'. If everyone thinks you're doing well then they'll spend their money with you to make it true." Smiling wryly at Slider, she continued. "You might as well take that thing off, you're just uncomfortable and Hermione won't tell." Removing the head from the costume, a young man with a ready smile grinned at the two young women.
"That thing was killing me. When my graduate advisor was talking about an internship in baseball management, I envisioned something a bit different." Looking sheepish he removed a glove from his hand and held his hand out to Hermione. "Irving Taledan, at your service."
Taking his hand, she smiled. "Hermione Granger. Pleased to finally meet the man behind the legendary Slider."
"See, I'm legendary. Terri, I've told you I deserve a raise."
Laughing, she countered. "Slider's legendary. You're merely adequate."
Trying to look serious, Hermione joined in. "Terri weren't you just saying that he was uncanny in how he was able to be where you wanted him and when?" Tilting her head to the side a bit, she looked thoughtful. "That sounds a tad better than `adequate' in my book."
"Uncanny is good. Beats the heck out of adequate." Looking at Hermione with a silly grin, he nodded towards Terri. "What say we pack Miss `Adequate' here off to jolly old England and you can be my boss?"
Trying to look thoughtful, Hermione batted her eyes at Irving. "Well just two little reasons I can think of off the top of my head."
"This should be good." Terri countered. "Tell us, Miss `Can't keep a secret from the mascot'. He's been here less than a month from Ottawa and now he wants a new boss"
"Firstly, since I still don't know how you make that infield fly rule thingy work, I think Terri's a bit more qualified than I, even if I do give you more leeway than she does. Which, by the way, I'm beginning to see why she keeps you on a short leash."
Laughing, Terri asked, "Secondly?"
"Well there would be a pair of very annoyed young men at the airport if I didn't get off the return flight next week. I'm certain that both Harry and Ron would notice that she wasn't me. And since I'm supposed to be at a family dinner with everyone the next day, I really don't want to have to explain to Ron's mum why I didn't come home to England. It's been years since Molly Weasley has been mad at me, and I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much."
Noticing a startled look on Irving's face, Hermione looked puzzled. "Did I say something wrong?"
Looking earnest, he asked. "Ron? As in Ron Weasley?"
Totally confused, Hermione answered warily. "Well yes, we've known each other for years now."
Laughing, Irving gave Hermione a look. "Ron was up in Canada a year or so ago and he worked with my brother in our Foreign Ministry on a smuggling case. He kept going on and on about this girl back home. Wouldn't stop talking about her when they weren't working. If you're his `Mione, then I'm very pleased to meet you." Smiling he nodded slowly as Hermione's eyes widened.
Colouring a bit at Irving's characterization, Hermione shook her head slightly. "I wouldn't say I was `his', but I've been friends with both Harry and Ron since we started school."
"Irving, you're telling me you've met her boyfriend?" Laughing Terri started shaking her head and missed the slight frown on Hermione's face. "This is too much. Hermione, just what does this guy of yours do?"
Without batting an eye, Hermione called up Ron's cover story for that particular assignment. "He's with Customs Service. He was in Canada assisting the locals with some smugglers who were going back and forth between Britain and the Canadian Maritime Provinces with contraband and endangered animals." Remembering Ron's endless complaints after he got back from tracking down a blast-ended skrewt that some idiots were trying to smuggle into Labrador to see if they'd flourish here, Hermione shook her head in amazement.
"I'm supposed to call both him and Harry when I get checked in and settled. I'm certain Ron would be floored if he gets a chance to talk to someone he knows." Looking at Irving in a different light now, she smiled and turned back to Terri. "You wouldn't mind if I borrowed the mascot to help me up to my room and then ambush Ron on the phone?" Smiling sweetly, Hermione was wondering if it would be necessary to meddle with her memory a bit or if she'd cooperate.
"Won't this Ron mind if you have a strange man in your room the first night you're away?" Laughing, she teased Hermione. "I usually don't let the strange ones up until the second night." Both women watched their companion blush faintly.
"He's not that strange, he's just Canadian." Hermione replied, grinning at her newfound cohort.
"Hey now. Firstly, I'm still here so let's not do the `talk about him like he's not here' routine. And secondly, one of you is English and the other one's from California so I don't see where being Canadian qualifies as `strange'."
Shaking her head, Hermione laughed. "I'm British, not English, thank you very much. My father was originally from Scotland and my mother's family is from Wales and the States, actually. Very big differences, don't you know."
As the limo proceeded along the scenic drive along the river, the driver slowed and turned into a secluded drive with a discrete sign proclaiming `The Golden Torc - Serving the Western Reserve since 1797'. Looking at it incredulously, Terri shook her head. "You'd think that if a place had been here that long, it would be better known. Must be some sort of marketing ploy." Hermione and Irving exchanged looks as Terri watched the drive wind its way back through the woods as the rustic looking inn came into view.
Nestled among the trees, the Golden Torc bore a striking resemblance to a classic hunting lodge. Two stories of dark wood and fieldstone with a sloping shake roof, the inn seems to be strangely quiet. To her muggle companions, the building is rustic and isolated with a single individual occupying a rocking chair on the spacious veranda. In contrast, Hermione and Irving could see a kneazel, so dark its fur appears almost midnight blue, on the railing watching them while a house-elf peered out of a window on the second story.
As the car pulled into the turnaround when they'll unload, she could see eyes in the woods that press on the building and what looked like a enclosed barn off to the right. A flash of skeletal wing from the door suggested that someone has stabled a thestral, but she couldn't be certain. Descending the steps from the inn, a young couple looked expectantly at the limo as it smoothly glided to a stop.
"Looks as if you have a reception committee, Hermione. Anyone you know?" Terri inquired as she helped gather her carryon and other things.
"Never saw them before, but if I know Francis, these are a couple of his relatives whom he asked me to look up. If they're anything like him, they were probably here an hour before my original flight was scheduled to arrive." Shaking her head, she was wondering how many things she was going to have to explain away before she could get Terri safely on her way.
"I might have to consider staying here from time to time because he's drop-dead gorgeous, in a `take me away to the Caribbean for the weekend and then tell me you name' kind of way." Terri countered, giving the young man of the pair a very predatory look.
Glancing at Irving, Hermione saw his eyes widen as he shrugged his shoulders. "Terri, you might want to see if the woman with him is his cousin or his fiancé before you start planning how you're going to shanghai him." Exasperated, it looked as if she wouldn't be getting rid of her keeper anytime in the near future.
"She's with him but not `with' him. Closer than a cousin, probably a sibling if I'm reading their body language right." Smiling she settled back and did a quick makeup check with a compact she pulled from her bag. "Let's meet the relatives, shall we?" Smiling brightly, she opened the door and exited the vehicle.
"Never saw her do that before." Irving whispered as he prepared to exit the limo on the other side. "Usually she doesn't give guys a look other than her professional "Hi I'm Terri and I'm here to help you so don't waste my time chatting me up' routine. This should be interesting. I'll help you in, leave with Terri and come back for a meeting with those two in your room in about a half hour or so. They're you contacts from the Ohio Bureau. I've met him; she was out of the office when I checked in with them." Sighing in exasperation, he complained. "Americans can't have a central ministry like everyone else. They've got sixty-four separate Bureaus or Tribal Councils for each of their states and native nations plus the Confederation Bureau down in DC." Shaking his head, he exited the limo and held out his hand to assist Hermione in getting out.
Exiting the limo, Hermione noticed that Terri is in an intense discussion with the two who were waiting at the foot of the steps. The witch seemed amused by the whirlwind tactics of Terri, while the wizard was intensely interested in whatever Terri is carrying on about.
Looking up, the witch smiled at Hermione, nodded to Irving and gave a helpless shrug of her shoulders. Smiling to the driver as he handed her bag out of the spacious boot, she nodded to Irving as they come around the back of the limo and approach the trio by the steps.
"In case anyone's interested, I'm Hermione Granger." Laughing at the guilty look on Terri's face, she reached out her hand to her reception committee.
Taking her hand in a strong grip, the young witch smiled and laughed. "I can see that we have something in common, a mother with more regard for classic literature than she does for her daughter's well being in school. I'm Florimell Anders, and you must call me Flori, not Mel as someone who's about to die a very terrible death will no doubt suggest."
Flashing her companion a look that held both warning and bemused tolerance, she returned her attention to Hermione and Irving. "Cousin Francis told us loads about you, but he didn't say you were in the habit of collecting costumed young men." Arching her eyebrow, she looked expectantly at Irving.
"Irving Taledan, management intern with the Indians, formerly of Morrow, Archer, Greevey, and Irving in Ottawa, at your service." Smiling at the look of understanding in Flori's eyes, he bowed over her outstretched hand and a very old-world kiss over her hand instead of the expected handshake.
Suddenly, as Hermione took another step forward, the still quiet of the early evening was shattered. The kneazel on the porch rail emitted a spitting hiss that sounded more appropriate to a bobcat than a household denizen. A trumpeting scream from the barn accompanied by a drumming sound of hooves on a wooden wall was heard. Two loud cracks, the sound of a pair of arriving apparition points was drowned out by a loud "Down!" from the woman knitting in the rocking chair on the porch.
Moving at the sound, Hermione turned to grab the driver and put herself between him and the arriving wizard. The young man at the steps pushed Terri behind him and the steps as he pulled a wand from his jacket. Florimell removed a wand from her upswept hair and silently tried to shield the group from attack. Two wizards, dressed in cloaks and hoods, began firing spells at the group at the steps.
A dark scarlet beam from witch on the porch slid from a shield around the wizard on the left and sputtered off into the dark, igniting a small ash tree that it struck. Hermione's silent binding spell took hold of the wizard on the right as his shield crumpled before a cyan beam streaking in from the open doorway.
Another loud crack announced the arrival of a house-elf with a large iron skillet who proceeded to apply the well worn kitchen utensil to the cloaked head of the still moving wizard. His concentration broken by the not so subtle application of cold iron to his skull, he crumpled to the ground as a trio of spells engulfed him.
Looking quickly from Irving to the pair at the steps, Hermione nodded from Irving to the driver and from Florimell to Terri. Watching as both cast silent confundus spells, Flori rolled her eyes when her companion glared at her.
Hermione pointed her wand towards the burning tree and summoned a stream of water. "Now that they're under, repair any damage and clean them up and give them some memories that won't give them nightmares for the next week." Looking over her shoulder at the witch on the porch. "Is there a healer on the premises in case anyone's injured?"
"Other than that concussion that Thunder gave that one over there." Pointing at the downed wizard, the house-elf was standing threateningly over the unconscious wizard brandishing the skillet menacingly in case the unmoving wizard began to move. "Keller in the bar can heal well enough to cover up any small scrapes or bruises these two may have gotten. Any of you know those two?" She pointed at the two robed figures.
Florimell, carefully advanced on the wizard not being guarded by the house-elf, and rolled him over with a flick of her wand. "Looks familiar, but we've been going through so many threat sheets that they all start to look the same. Oscar?"
Shaking his head at Terri, who was standing there glassy eyed, before he looked up, he sighed. "Beats me Mel, I think they might be on the list that Ottawa sent down last month, but it's difficult to be certain. Irving, are these two of yours or ours?"
"They're yours, sort of." Watching Oscar and Terri closely, Irving began to shake his head. "They're the Taliaferro brothers out of Atlanta." He replied, pronouncing the name `Tolliver' with an exaggerated southern drawl. "Cronus and Fornjot, two very disreputable scions of a very old and very wealthy pb family." Shaking his head slightly at Oscar, he continued. "The Georgia Bureau sent out a notice about these two about a year ago. I'm surprised you didn't get the word here in Ohio if they bothered to tell Ottawa about it."
Snorting, Oscar looked at his sister and smiled. "Last summer? Are you kidding? New Albany was 300 points ahead of Stone Mountain in the quidditch standings at that point in the regular season and they were a lock for the continental playoffs. First time in eight seasons that Stone Mountain hadn't made the playoffs. I'm surprised Atlanta would even admit we were part of the Federation, much less cooperate with us."
Shaking his head, he looked down and smiled at Terri "Sorry about this." Tapping her gently on the temple with his wand, her eyes fluttered close as Oscar modified her memory. "Hated to do that, she seems the type to be very appreciative of a guy who just saved her life."
"Oscar, behave yourself or I will tell your mother." Florimell said sharply with just a hint of a smile. Looking up at Hermione, she grinned, "Younger brothers, what can you do with them."
"Wouldn't have the foggiest, I was an only child. But a friend of mine is the youngest of six brothers, so I can see your point." Shaking her head, she stood up and looked around. "Was this for me, you folks, or were your two good old boys just muggle baiting and bit off more than they could chew?"
Standing up from the rocker, the witch on the porch put her knitting down and sighed. "We better get everyone inside, I'll set the wards up to keep out the riff raff and we'll decide what needs to be done. Usually when there's a problem here, the authorities aren't here until afterwards. Going to be a bit strange with sheriffs and aurors onsite when something starts, rather than after the fact." Leaning over the railing and extending her hand to Hermione, she smiled. "I'm Mary Tudor Bethune and welcome to the Golden Torc."
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A/N - A couple of points of clarification. Slider is the mascot for the Cleveland baseball team. I really should have clarified that last chapter. Sorry for any confusion that may have caused.
The American Wizarding community (in this world) never moved past the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union in their thinking. They weren't particularly enamored with the English wizarding authorities after the Revolution for some strange reason so they became very big proponents of less centralized government, regardless of what their muggle neighbors decided to do several years later. They also kept slightly better relations with the native nations and tribes, and now had a Confederation that roughly paralleled the Muggle states with decent relations with most of the wizarding tribal councils on the continent. The central government in Washington (such as it is) has limited authority and jurisdiction and is mostly tasked with keeping the massive muggle bureaucracy from mucking things up too badly for the Wizarding states.
Irving knew very well who Hermione was when he met her at the airport, but he had never connected `the' Hermione Granger that he knew from what he had been told about the War Against Voldemort with the `Mione' that Ron was going on about while he was in Canada.
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