"People speaking"
'People thinking'
Tottenham Court Road
Ron opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings, "Where are we?"
Harry opened his eyes. For a moment he was startled. The trio still seemed to be surrounded by people.
"Tottenham Court Road," panted Hermione.
After gathering her breath, Hermione insisted, "Walk, just walk, we need to find somewhere for you to change."
Harry did as she asked. They half walked, half ran up the wide dark street thronged with late-night revelers and lined with closed shops, stars twinkling above them. The trio trudged along, feeling self conscious as Harry and Ron were still wearing dress robes.
Ron asked, "Hermione, what are we going to change into? We haven't got our luggage."
Hermione huffed, "Even if you did, our robes will stick out like sore thumbs. We need some Muggle clothing
Harry, inwardly cursed his own stupidity, "I should have made sure I had my Invisibility Cloak with me? I kept it on me every second last year."
Hermione said, "It's okay, I've got the Cloak, I've also got clothes for both of you. Just try and act natural till you change."
She led them down a side street, then into the shelter of a shadowy alleyway, and then, to Harry and Ron's utter astonishment, she pulled out a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, some maroon socks, and finally the silvery Invisibility Cloak.
"How the ruddy hell—?"
"Undetectable Extension Charm," said Hermione. "Tricky, but I think I've done it okay; anyway, I managed to fit everything we need in here." She gave the fragile-looking bag a little shake and it echoed like a cargo hold as a number of heavy objects rolled around inside it. "Oh, damn, that'll be the books," she said, peering into it, "and I had them all stacked by subject. . . . Oh
well. . . . Harry, you'd better take the Invisibility Cloak. Ron, hurry up and change. . . ."
The two boys quickly changed as Harry threw his Invisibility Cloak around his shoulders and pulled it up over his head, vanishing from sight. He was only just beginning to appreciate what had happened.
Harry was worried, "The others—everybody at the wedding—"
Hermione consoled, "We can't worry about that now, it's you they're after, Harry, and we'll just put everyone in even more danger by going back."
While Ron was equally worried about the fate of his family, he comforted Harry, who seemed ready to go back to rescue everyone.
Hermione insisted, "Come on, I think we ought to keep moving,"
They moved back up the side street and onto the main road
again, where a group of men on the opposite side was singing and
weaving across the pavement.
"Just as a matter of interest, why Tottenham Court Road?" Ron asked Hermione.
"I've no idea, it just popped into my head, but I'm sure we're safer out in the Muggle world, it's not where they'll expect us to be."
"True," said Ron, looking around, "but don't you feel a bit— exposed?"
"Let's sit down somewhere," Hermione said hastily.
The trio slipped into a dingy twenty-four-hour café that smelled faintly of burnt oil and reheated chips. The cracked Formica tables gleamed with a thin film of grease, but it was empty.
Harry slipped into a booth first and Ron sat next to him opposite Hermione, who had her back to the entrance and did not like it: She glanced over her shoulder so frequently she appeared to have a twitch.
After a minute or two, Ron said, "You know, we're not far from the Leaky Cauldron here, it's only in Charing Cross…"
"Ron, we can't!" said Hermione at once.
"Not to stay there, but to find out what's going on!"
Hermione complained, "We know what's going on! Voldemort's taken over the Ministry, what else do we need to know?"
Ron grumbled, "Okay, okay, it was just an idea!"
They relapsed into a prickly silence. The gum-chewing waitress shuffled over and Hermione ordered two cappuccinos: As Harry was invisible, it would have looked odd to order him one. A pair of burly workmen entered the café and squeezed into the next booth.
Hermione dropped her voice to a whisper, "I say we find a quiet place to Disapparate and head for the countryside. Once we're there, we could send a message to the Order."
Ron asked, "Can you do that talking Patronus thing, then?"
"I've been practicing and I think so," said Hermione.
"Well, as long as it doesn't get them into trouble, though they might've been arrested already. God, that's revolting," Ron added after one sip of the foamy, grayish coffee. The waitress had heard; she shot Ron a nasty look as she shuffled off to take the new customers' orders. The larger of the two workmen, who was blond and quite huge, now that Harry came to look at him, waved her away. She stared, affronted.
Harry suddenly noticed the two workmen shuffling, as if trying to get something from their back pocket. Harry remembered his own bad habit of keeping his wand in the back pocket, and how Moody, or at least Crouch disguised as Moody, had repeatedly warned him of the dangers of keeping the wand in your back pocket.
The two workmen made identical movements, and Harry mirrored them without conscious thought: All three of them drew their wands. Ron, a few seconds late in realizing what was going on, lunged across the table, pushing Hermione sideways onto her bench. The force of the Death Eaters' spells shattered the tiled wall where Ron's head had just been, as Harry, still invisible, yelled, "Stupefy! "
The great blond Death Eater was hit in the face by a jet of red light: He slumped sideways, unconscious. His companion, unable to see who had cast the spell, fired another at Ron: Shining black ropes flew from his wand-tip and bound Ron head to foot. The waitress screamed and ran for the door—Harry sent another Stunning Spell at the Death Eater with the twisted face who had tied up Ron, but the spell missed, rebounded on the window, and hit the waitress, who collapsed in front of the door.
"Expulso! " bellowed the Death Eater, and the table behind which Harry was standing blew up: The force of the explosion slammed him into the wall and he felt his wand leave his hand as the Cloak slipped off him.
"Petrificus Totalus! " screamed Hermione from out of sight, and the Death Eater fell forward like a statue to land with a crunching thud on the mess of broken china, table, and coffee. Hermione crawled out from underneath the bench, shaking bits of glass ashtray out of her hair and trembling all over.
"D–diffindo," she said, pointing her wand at Ron, who roared
in pain as she slashed open the knee of his jeans, leaving a deep cut. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Ron, my hand's shaking! Diffindo! "
The severed ropes fell away. Ron got to his feet, shaking his arms to regain feeling in them. Harry picked up his wand and climbed over all the debris to where the large blond Death Eater
was sprawled across the bench.
"I should've recognized him, he was there the night Dumbledore died," he said. He turned over the darker Death Eater with his foot; the man's eyes moved rapidly between Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"That's Dolohov," said Ron. "I recognize him from the old wanted posters. I think the big one's Thorfinn Rowle."
Hermione turned to Ron, "Ron, lock the door. We need to do something about them. To think Death Eaters are bold enough to attack people in the Muggle world as well. We need to handle these two."
Before the trio could move forward with their plan, the door slowly opened and a brown haired, blue eyed stranger came into the café. The trio were alert in an instant, their recent encounter with the two Death Eaters left them jumpy.
The man looked at the trio of wands pointed at him. His eyes studied the three young wizards, like a predator sizing up his prey. The sharp gaze caused a chill to go down the trio's spine as Ron and Hermione broke out in sweat. Harry, with his close encounters with death, handled the pressure slightly better.
"I am not your enemy. Please put down your wands before you do something you regret."
The man spoke in a soft voice, though his eyes never left their wands. There was a hint of longing and resentment in his eyes.
Ron spoke shakily, "Identify yourself, or do you think you can do anything to us without drawing your wand."
The man sighed. Suddenly, his figure vanished. Before the trio could react, the man was within arms reach of the trio, his hand blurring forward to snatch the exposed wands. In the trio's disbelieving gaze, the man plucked their wands and placed them in a small cylindrical container.
Instead of saying anything else, the man walked forward towards the two Death Eaters. Dolohov was already unconscious but Rowle was still awake. The Petrification spell would soon break down. To prevent the Death Eater from making any movements, the man knocked him out with a quick strike against his neck. Rowle suddenly crumpled to the ground like a puppet without its strings.
The man turned to Harry and spoke respectfully, "I wish our meeting could have been under better circumstances. Good evening Mr. Potter, I am Brandon Smith. Your contribution to protecting the people has been quite significant."
Harry nodded to the stranger, taking in his stranger's attire. The man was wearing a large coat, his torso was covered by a sleek black armour while he wore a comfortable combat uniform underneath. The man smiled as he picked up the wands of Dolohov and Rowle. Placing the wands in another small cylindrical bottle.
The trio watched in silence as the man withdrew strange devices from his pocket, carefully running them over all the areas affected by magic. After five minutes of running his devices, he stopped and turned to the trio.
"Looks like we are done here. Come, I'll take you to a safe place."
The trio followed Brandon outside the café. Brandon was standing next to a large van. He waved the trio over, "Here you go, sit in the car, we'll go to the headquarters soon. Just let me get those Death Eaters."
The trio watched Brandon go back into the café, in a couple of minutes, their eyes were wide in shock. Brandon came out of the café, holding the two men as if they weighed nothing. He unceremoniously threw the two Death Eaters into the trunk, motioning for the trio to get in the van.
The van drove smoothly on the road. However, Harry was nervous. While Brandon did not seem like a supporter of Voldemort, appearances can be deceiving. He opened his mouth to ask something, but Brandon quickly hushed him.
Brandon spoke apologetically, "While I do not care much about the sound of your voice, I was made aware of your habit of saying the name of the Dark Lord, but let me tell you, his taboo is back in place. Anyone who says his name, will basically broadcast his emotions and location to anyone with a Dark Mark."
Harry shut up at that. Soon, the van pulled near an unremarkable building. Brandon ushered the trio out, carrying both the Death Eaters on his shoulder. The trio followed Brandon into the building. Soon, several people came to Brandon and took the Death Eaters, while Brandon led the trio into the interior areas of the building. Finally, the group came in front of an office cabin. Brandon gave a three fingered knock and the trio entered the room. First, they saw a large map of the country, then leaning on the map was a tall, muscular, well sculpted man, intently studying the map. The man looked at the trio, his deep, violet eyes looking at the trio with some amusement.
Harry's eyes grew wary at the man's face. The face was familiar, almost too familiar. There were subtle differences, sure, but the face reminded Harry too much of Lucius Malfoy for his liking. Finally, Harry got his question in.
"Um, sir, can you tell me who you are and what is this place?"
The man smiled. Turning to his subordinate, he commanded, "That will be all Brandon, I will talk to you later."
Brandon bowed respectfully and left the room. The man turned to the trio and introduced himself, "Well, let me introduce myself. My name is Hugo Malfoy, and this place is the Special Quelling Unit of Illegal Bewitchment. SQUIB for short. Welcome to the fixers on the Muggle side. We make sure that no wizard makes trouble in the Muggle world."
AN: This is my new fanfic. It takes inspiration from Fate/Stay Night and Jujutsu Kaisen. This is the first chapter, stay tuned for the second on Friday. Thank you