Chapter 6: *Chapter 6*
November 3, 2003 (Lax, Los Angeles)
Harry was not in a good mood. In fact, this was probably the most annoyed he had felt in his whole life. Why do you ask? It was simply the fact that Harry was in a confined space with his legs tucked in all the way to his chest. This confined space, to be specific, was a suitcase. Why was he confined in a suitcase? Because a U.S senator was about to board his private jet and take off towards Washington. Harry wished he could just walk up to him and just quickly stab him with his knife but sadly the man seemed to know there was a hit out on him and quadrupled his security. So here Harry was, hidden in a suitcase and about to be loaded onto the senator's private jet. All he had was a pound of c4 and a parachute on his back. Oh, and of course the ear-piece in his ear so the last voice he could hear was Nick's. How lucky he was.
"You're going to be fine. If you start freaking out, just take a deep breath and play the Mission Impossible theme song in your head." Nick said through Harry's earpiece. Harry gritted his teeth in anger.
"Really? Don't freak out? How about we have you put in the luggage, plant the c4, and then jump out of a plane at 8000 feet." Harry quietly spat back.
"Oh c'mon Harry. We both know I wouldn't be able to fit in the suitcase. Now stay quieter. I had to pay those customs people to allow that luggage not to get checked before being loaded onto the jet. If your cover is blown then all that money will have been for nothing." Nick said. Harry could just picture the jackass smiling in his head.
"Glad to see my safety is your top priority," Harry said. "Now shut up. I think they're about to lead me into the plane."
After that, they want on comm silence. Harry felt someone grab the bag he was in and lift it.
"Jeezus. These ways a ton. What the hell is he packing in here?" A man's voice said from the outside.
"Probably a buncha expensive suits bought with taxpayer money." Another man grumbled from a little farther.
"Well whatever, let's just load all this stuff on the plane already so we can go on lunch break." The first man responded as he set Harry's bag down in what he presumed was the plane.
"I hear you, man. The wife made me…" The voice was cut off by a loud thump which assumed was the luggage hatch, then all was quiet. Harry waited a few minutes before he heard the engines boot up.
"Alright the plane just started up and is making its way towards the runway," Harry said, updating Nick on his current status.
"Excellent, alright the hard part is over. All you need to do is wait for the plane to get high enough and then plant the charge. REMEMBER to not click the detonator until you have left the plan. We do not need a repeat of Moscow." Nick said exasperated.
"Hey! I told you that the switch was broken. Had nothing to do with me." Harry responded back. The plane stopped moving so he assumed they were now at the runway about to fly off.
"We are at runway about to take off. Make sure you tell me when we get to 8000 feet so I can jump." Harry said as he started to unzip the luggage he was in.
"Got it. Just make sure you are ready to go." Nick said and then went silent so Harry could do his thing. Harry crawled out of the luggage and let his eyes adjust to the darkness for a moment. It was clear he was in the bottom storage of the plane. Once he fully got his eyes adjusted he pulled out the c4. He planted it in what he guessed was around the middle of the plane. Then he moved back to the luggage he was hiding in. He pulled out the small backpack with his parachute in it and put it on.
"Alright. C4 is in place. Now how does this chute work?" Harry said and waited.
"Alright good. Now to activate the chute, there's a blue lever on your right shoulder. When you pull it, your parachute will activate. Before you do that though, look in the front pocket of the backpack. There should be a small rebreather that you need to put on. Be careful with your breathing out there. Those things only got a few breaths in it due to its small size so if it runs out, you won't be able to breathe until you pull your chute. So make every breath count." Nick said
"Great. Thanks for telling me that now." Harry responded sarcastically while he pulled the rebreather out of his bag and put it around his head. He made his way over to the service hatch and got ready to pull the latch.
"Ok. You're about to hit 8000 feet in 5…4…3…2…1… NOW!" Nick yelled. Harry threw open the latch and was literally sucked out of the plane into the open sky. Once he gathered his bearings he flipped over on his back so he could see the plane as it got farther away. He quickly pulled out the detonator and clicked the button before the plane got out of range. At first, nothing happened and he got concerned that the plane was already out of range. Then before he could try clicking the button again. A bright flash filled his vision followed by a loud bang. The plane was alit in flames as it went into a flaming nose dive. Harry smirked and flipped back over and started to see how far he was from the ground.
"Alright Harry, according to your tracker, you are at 6000 feet and descending. At 4000 feet you are going to have to pull your chute. Don't answer me. Conserve your breath." Nick said. Harry didn't answer as he listened to what Nick said. Harry was already on his second breathe and wasn't sure how many he had left so he kept just trying to hold it in.
"You're at 6000 feet, Harry. Just hang in there a little longer." Nick said over the earpiece. Harry tried to take another breath but it seemed the rebreather was out of oxygen. He just kept holding his breath. His vision was starting to get a little fuzzy. He couldn't see the ground that well anymore.
"You're at 5000 feet, Harry. Just hang in there." Nick said. By now Harry's vision was starting to go black. He just kept trying to concentrate but his thoughts seemed to be becoming mushy as well.
"5300…5200," Nick said into Harry's ear but his voice almost seemed to be miles away. He felt so weak. He felt like taking a long nap.
"Har….HAr….HARRY, PULL THE CHUTE." He suddenly heard Nick screaming in his ear. The fog in his mind cleared for a split second which he used to grab the lever on his shoulder and pull as hard as he could. The parachute opened, immediately slowing his descent. He whipped off the rebreather and took a gulp of oxygen as fast and as much as he could in as little time as he could manage.
"Harry. You okay?" Nick asked finally hearing breath on the other end of the mic.
"Yeah," Harry said still trying to suck down air. "Just had a minor asthma attack is all," Harry said trying to calm Nick down. Nick laughed in relief.
"Jesus kid. Don't ever scare me like that again." Nick said with a more jovial tone.
"Sure, as long as you promise to never sneak me onto a plane like that ever again." Harry shot back now that he had regained his breath and started to continue his annoyingly long descent down to the ground.
"Sure kid. Not like we could fit you in a piece of luggage for much longer anyway." Nick said back. Harry grit his teeth.
"Was that a crack at my height?" he loudly demanded since no one was no longer around.
"Of course not," Nick said back innocently. For some reason, Harry didn't believe him.
"I'm sure. How far out are you from my landing zone?" Harry asked since he did not feel like waiting around in some random field.
"Don't worry. I'll be there when you land. Until then, have a safe flight." Nick said as he went silent so he could drive out to where Harry would land.
"Right," Harry said to himself. He looked out to how far up he still was and how slow he was descending.
"Well bugger."
February 18, 2004, (New York, New York)
Harry was currently leaning against a telephone pole. He surprisingly did not have a mission. He was just out in the town relaxing. He was actually excited since right now he was going to see the American version of Diagon Alley. While he was doing this, Nick had gone on a solo mission to meet one of his associates. He called her Black Widow and said she was way too scary for Harry to come with him. So Harry had taken his time to find out where American wizards bought their supplies. Nick had given 50k in spending money which surprised Harry. When he asked why he was giving him so much, Nick just smiled at him and told him that it was his money. When Harry questioned him about it, Nick had simply said, "C'mon. You didn't think you were getting a cut from the missions? We're partners Harry. That means we split whatever is made on missions we are both on. On missions you did by yourself, I gave you all of the cut since you did all the work."
This honestly surprised the hell out of Harry. He did kind of wish Nick had told it to him earlier though. He hadn't realized he was loaded. Nick had told him he would have to go find a wizarding bank to change it wizarding money though. Now all Harry had to do was find the biggest source of magic in the city. Not hard since he could now sense magic. This was an ability he developed to counteract whenever the random people who were after him would chase him down. It was hard still for him to sense individual magic but large areas of it like a magical marketplace in the middle of New York City kind of stood out. So he made his way towards the largest amount of magic he could sense. It wasn't even close to hard. America, unlike England, had close to 2.5 million wizards living in it. England only had only around 70,000 at most. So the market place stuck out like a sore thumb. Getting in was the problem, however. He eventually had to just wait around for a wizard to come by and open the pathway for him. The entrance was in an alley it seemed. Normal people didn't seem to even notice its existence so he assumed there were some charms on it that made it only accessible to magical beings. He would have to learn how to do that eventually. He continued down the alley and walked past what appeared to be a fake wall. As he walked through it his widened. He immediately could tell that this place was built to have as much size as possible. There were shops everywhere in what looked like an outdoor plaza setup. There was all kind of different creatures bustling around. Goblins, Wizards, he could even see the occasional centaur. There was some kind of shop that seemed to be some sort of relaxation center for merpeople. Harry wondered how they even got them in there. He shook his head, as amazing as this all was, he had work to do. He walked up to a man that appeared to be looking at clothes through a window. He tapped him on the shoulder.
"Excuse me. Could you tell me where the bank is? It would seem I have got terribly lost." Said to the man how had turned around and looked at him.
"Of course young man. Go straight down that direction and it will be a big white building on your left." The man said back to him as he pointed down to a pathway on Harry's right. Harry thanked him and headed off down the pathway. When he got to the building the man had described he took a look at it. It seemed a pale white and slightly stuck out in the rest of the plazas bright, jovial atmosphere. He went inside and immediately looked for a teller to help. He saw an assortment of goblins and wizards around the room who appeared to be the tellers. He walked up the closest wizarding teller and got his attention before talking.
"Hello, I have some money that I would like to exchange for currency," Harry said politely to the teller.
"Of course" the teller responded back as he gestured to the seat across his desk.
"Will you being exchanging U.S dollars or foreign currency?" The man asked as he got out some documents and a pen.
"I have 50 thousand U.S dollars I would like to exchange for galleons," Harry said without missing a beat. He had no time to waste today. He was simply heard to get new materials to advance his magic. The teller looked at him in surprise for a second before regaining a look of composure.
"As you wish. The current exchange rate for dollars. It is from 10 to 1 and that's dollars to galleons. You will need to put your name on here for record-keeping. Harry nodded and took the pen before signing the sheet. The man looked at the sheet to confirm before gaining a confused look.
"I'm sorry but you have to put the last name as well as your first." The man said as he slid the paperback to Harry.
"As soon as I get one, I shall be sure to do that," Harry responded with a slight chill in his voice, insinuating the man had just insulted him in some way. The man took the contract back with some awkwardness.
"Ummm…I see. Well, I suppose it can slide this once because you are minor but you should get the last name as soon as a possible young man for future situations like this." The man said as he took the contract back, looking uncomfortable.
"I'll keep that in mind," Harry responded back his voice getting colder.
"Yes, well I'll be right back." The man said as he took Harry's never-ending pouch full of money with him to the back. A few seconds later he came back with his pouch and another pouch. When he gave back Harry's pouch he put the other pouch on the desk.
"Alright here is your pouch. It contains your pouch full of galleons. If you find any discrepancies with the amount given. Please come back immediately and we will have some get it fixed for you." The man said as he gave Harry the other pouch.
"We hope your business today was satisfactory and that you come again." The man said as he offered Harry a polite smile. Harry for his part just nodded and grabbed the pouch before he walked out. As soon as the man couldn't see his face. Nick was right, it was super fun to make people unnecessarily uncomfortable. He would have to remember to do this again. He walked off the bank with 5000 galleons. He walked outside and back out into the plaza. The first thing he did was locate where the book store was. He needed to get more ideas for his own magic not that he really needed it. Over the past two years. He had developed some pretty brutal magic like having super-hot chains come out of the earth, surround his victims, and watch them slowly burn to death. Or forming a blade of super-compressed magic and shooting at anyone dumb enough to get in his way. Nick, however, told him those were only for absolute emergencies. The less magic he used, the less likely it was that someone could track him down. He shook his head to clear his thought. He had to get to the book store. He approached what he assumed to be the book store based on all the books inside. It wasn't too packed inside which was good because he was less likely to be bothered for being some 8 years old alone in a store. He browsed mainly charms and magic used for attacking and defending. Once he had picked a few books that had piqued his interest in that category, he moved on to look for books about magical creatures and finally for books one the mind. Once he had gotten all the books he needed, he brought them to the front counter so he could buy them
"Hello, there young man. Are you trying to purchase these books today?" a perky young woman asked him at the front desk. He looked at her as she looked at him expecting an answer. He said nothing back and decided just continue to look at her until she decided to ring up his purchases.
"Err…are you lost?" she asked wondering why this boy was looking at her like she was a rock.
"No. Are you?" Harry responded back seriously.
"What? No, I work here." The woman tried to explain to the boy.
"Excellent, then you can ring up my purchase for me instead of looking at me like I'm a cute little puppy that you just happen to find on the street," Harry said joyfully as if he was actually happy to find out she worked here.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." She said a little confused about the boy's attitude, as she started to ring up his purchases.
"Believe me, you would know if you had offended me. The last person who did was torn to pieces by metal chains from hell." Harry said smoothly as if talking about the weather. The lady looked startled and stopped checking his books.
"What?" she said shocked.
"I said that it's absolutely spiffing weather we are having, isn't it. Could you hurry with those books, I have to be somewhere soon." Harry said still talking as he normally could. The lady looked confused but continued to scan the books, now looking at Harry oddly. Harry himself had decided there was an invisible speck of dirt his nail and was trying to clean it off. As the lady finished checking the books and putting them in the bag, she wondered if she was going crazy or if there was simply wrong with this child.
"Your total is 1380 galleons. Shall I wait for you to go get your parents?" The lady asked as she tried to continue as normally as possible.
"Oh no that's quite alright. I don't feel like raising the dead today. Here's your money." Harry said as he dumped 1400 galleons on the counter.
"Feel free to keep the change," Harry said over his shoulder as he grabbed his books and headed out the door, leaving a completely befuddled woman behind him. As soon as he got out of the store, he ducked into the nearest alley and laughed. God this was fun. Was this what it was like to be Nick all the time? Man, he had truly been missing out. This was the most fun he had in years. After getting himself under control he decided to leave the alley the same way he came. When he exited back into the muggle world, he started walking back to his and Nick's current safe house which was for once, an actual house. When he got there, Nick was already home with a somber look on his face.
"Hey what's with you?" Harry said, as he walked over and finally got Nicks's attention.
"Oh hey. Nothing just thinking." Nick said back to Harry with his trademark smile coming back on his face.
"Don't hurt yourself." Harry shot at him as he put his books down and dropped the bag of galleons on his backpack.
"Haha. You're hilarious." Nick laughed sarcastically
"Tsh, whatever. So what happened with you and your acquaintance? Everything turns out nonlethal?" Harry questioned.
"Yeah. Everything went fine. I guess some organization was chasing her and she wanted to know if I knew anything about it." Nick said."Did you?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow. If there was one thing he learned, it was that Nick had spies everywhere. In fact, over there travels, Harry had been acquainted with many of them. He would be surprised if there was an organization out there that could slip under Nick's radar.
"Yeah, a little. I told her what I knew for old time's sake and we parted ways." Nick said back.
"Hmmm. This doesn't sound right. Where's the part where you get yourself somehow caught in a shit storm that you then drag me into." Harry said amused. Nick pouted back at him.
"That was one time," Nick said trying to defend himself.
"3," Harry said back impassively.
"Those other 2 times don't count," Nick said still trying to defend himself.
"The hell they don't," Harry yelled back at him.
"Whatever. You're just a hater." Nick said, apparently satisfied with how he concluded the argument. "So did you get all that you needed?"
Harry smirked as the memory of the fun he had come back to him.
"Oh, I got so much more than what I needed," Harry said with a creepy smirk. Nick backed at him suddenly weary.
"Did you go freaky changes on someone again?" Nick said with a clear accusation in his voice.
"Why Nick. Would I ever use my power over magic to harm somebody simply for my personal amusement?" Harry said with a faux innocent voice.
"Well…there was that rapist from Singapore…" Nick trailed off. Now it was Harry's turn to pout.
"That was one time. " Harry said back mockingly. "Anyways, I'm pretty tired so I'm going to sleep."
"Alright good night," Nick called out.
"Goodnight Nick"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone