69Harry walked into his hotel room tiredly, a large shopping bag full of the books Flamel had let him take in hand. Once the door was closed behind him he set the books down on a coffee table before taking a seat and closing his eyes.
He was exhausted in more ways than one after the day's events. Beyond the exertion from the fight in the auction house itself, the weariness of having had to fight for his life again, so soon after the debacle in the Ministry, weighed down on him.
He just wanted a vacation, for heaven's sake, yet it seemed whoever was in charge of his life preferred to plonk him down into continuous issues for a laugh rather than let him relax.
Still, he couldn't say he wasn't glad he'd interfered. That boy might have died if Harry hadn't been around to heal him. The knowledge that he'd saved somebody's life the way he had helped soothe the ache that was his guilt over his role in Sirius' death. Knowing that he now had skills that would allow him to do more than just cause injuries was reassuring. He wondered if Madam Pomfrey ever felt similarly.
He also now fully intended to drag his friends on a shopping spree in Cassandra's shop. Her ability had proved itself, and he fully intended to read through both of the spellbooks she'd sold him thoroughly.
After a few minutes he groaned and got up, heading for the minibar that came with the room for a drink. Setting aside the alcohol in the fridge despite the urge he had to try it out considering the day he'd had, he grabbed a Coke and took a long pull before moving back to organize the books he'd bought off Flamel.
One he immediately set aside was for Hermione, "Historie of Latin Magicks", a large tome that seemed exactly like the sort of thing the bushy haired witch would get excited about. The fact that it was obviously old and rare was a plus.
The three other books in the bag were his. Tobin's Spirit Guide had been purchased partly because Harry found it interesting, partly because he figured knowing about the many types of spirits and ghosts that existed in the world might be useful considering the travelling he was doing.
Flamel had recommended another book for him after seeing the steel walls he'd made during the fight, "Battlefield Transfiguration and Conjuration". He said it didn't contain specific spells so much as ways to use transfigurations in combat, which caught Harry's interest. He made a note to read a bit of it between his other spellbooks.
The last book was a bit surprising to Harry that Flamel had recommended it. "Old World Etiquette" wasn't the first thing Harry considered might be useful in the immediate future, but Flamel had insisted. According to him the more he traveled the more likely he'd need the information in the book, especially as it wasn't Eurocentric like most books of the type tended to be, so it would still come in handy if he travelled beyond Europe. Harry figured it couldn't hurt, though he didn't imagine he'd be reading it often.
Taking another pull of Coke after putting the books in his trunk he looked at the clock to find it was a little after noon. He considered getting something to eat, hungry after the morning's excitement, before he remembered his promise to Hermione. Sighing to himself he sat back down and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
The phone had barely rung when Hermione snatched the headset off of its base, bringing it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Somehow I'm not surprised you were waiting by the phone for me to call, Hermione." Harry's voice came, sounding amused.
Hermione felt herself involuntarily relax. She hadn't realized how worried and tense she was that something had happened to him till that moment. "Well I don't have a mobile to carry with me. I never saw the point, seeing as I live at Hogwarts most of the time."
"I'm quite liking owning one." Harry said brightly. "Good cameras, and plenty of games to play while commuting." She heard him take a sip of a drink and groan lightly as he sat back. "So, I'm guessing the Order went nuts when you let them know I'd left?"
"Dumbledore has dispatched people to look for you in any country you could be in." She admitted. "And they want me to tell them what I hear from you after each call."
Harry snorted. "Figures. Still can't seem to respect my choices. Not that I'm surprised."
"He's just worried about you, Harry." Hermione said softly. "We all are. Snape revealed that Death Eaters have been dispatched to other countries around the world to gather support and allies, so the odds of you running into one are a lot higher than you thought."
Harry was silent for a moment, though she could hear him take another sip of his drink. "That figures. Even without meaning to Voldemort manages to interfere with my vacation…" Despite not being able to see him Hermione knew he had a brooding look on his face. He was good at those. Quite a few of their female classmates found him attractive when he looked like that. She couldn't see it, though that might just be the fact that she knew what he was usually brooding about that kept her from thinking of the look as attractive. "Well, it shouldn't be an issue if I stick mostly to the non-magical areas like I have been."
"What have you been doing, then?" Hermione asked in curiosity.
"I spent quite a bit of yesterday at a museum." Harry said lightly, sounding more relaxed now. "Big place. Lots of walking. I took pictures, though. I'll show them to you when I get back."
"A museum?" Hermione said, surprised. "That's not something I imagined drawing your attention. Which one?" She asked, partially in real curiosity, partially wanting to find out where he was. "I've always wanted to go to The Met, for instance, or the Smithsonian."
"I went to an art museum. Don't remember the name. Had some interesting pieces, including some relics from old civilizations. It was surprisingly interesting." He said with enthusiasm in his voice. "And yes, it's a bit outside of my usual wheelhouse, but I've decided to challenge myself during this trip to try new things."
Hermione pouted at being foiled in her attempts to wheedle out his location, but then smiled softly. "I'm glad you're trying to broaden your horizons, Harry. I think that's very admirable. Did you do anything else interesting?"
"Did some shopping." Harry admitted. "Bought you a book. I intend to send it by owl tomorrow or so. Cheaper than sending it by normal post, I think."
Despite herself Hermione perked up with interest. "Really? What's it about."
"It's an old book on latin magic I found in a used book sale. Looks valuable, and what little I read of it made my head spin, so obviously I immediately thought of you." He said, his tone teasing.
Hermione blushed, but couldn't help but feel excited. "I'm looking forward to getting it." Then she frowned. "I thought you said you were sticking to the muggle areas, though…"
"I said mostly." Harry reminded her. "I spent this morning in the equivalent of Diagon Alley this city has. I plan on going out and enjoying the mundane sights for the rest of today and most of tomorrow, though."
"Any particular attraction you want to visit?" She asked, once more trying to wheedle a clue out of him.
"There is one I plan on going to immediately after lunch. I can see it from my hotel window right now, actually." He sounded amused now, and she could tell he was having fun winding her up with vague hints and clues, which made her huff.
"Well, I hope you have fun before the Order brings you back home." She told him snippily.
"You're assuming they'll be able to find me." Harry said, amused by her irritation. "I have a few tricks up my sleeves."
She admitted to herself that he likely did. Harry could be very resourceful, when he needed to be. Still, she thought he was overestimating himself a tad. "We'll see, Harry."
She heard him chuckle lightly. "Well, I'm getting hungry, so I'm going to hang up now."
"Wait!" She called, and she heard him pause, waiting. Scrambling for anything else she could get out of him she spoke. "How much longer will you be staying where you are?"
Harry hummed, considering it. "Not sure, actually. Probably a day, maybe two. I still haven't decided on my next destination."
"Alright…" Hermione said, making a note of that. "I expect another call in two days, understood?"
"Yes mum." He agreed, amused again. "Bye."
"Bye." Then she sighed as he hung up. She looked up when her mother set a sandwich in front of her.
"Grab something to eat before you go write your letter, dear." Ophelia said with a smile.
Hermione smiled back. "Thank you, mum." Grabbing her meal she took a bite, her mind still on Harry, and what she was going to tell the Order.
Harry sighed with pleasure as he looked out the view of the restaurant he was sitting in.
He'd decided to go for a bit of luxury, and after a recommendation by the hotel concierge and a quick trip online he now sat in the Jules Verne, a restaurant that rested on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. He counted himself very lucky that someone had apparently canceled their reservation and left a spot open for him.
He smiled at the waitress who brought him the dessert he'd ordered, eyeing the Clafouti appreciatively. Picking up his spoon he scooped up one of the wild cherries in the custard and ate it with relish.
As he sipped the coffee that had come with the dessert he brought his mind to his conversation with Hermione. He knew he was irritating her with his vague hints and misdirections, but he honestly didn't see why she would expect anything else from him considering the circumstances. Hopefully the book he got her would soothe her irritation.
The news that Voldemort had sent his Death Eaters out across the globe was both worrisome and incredibly annoying. It was like the bastard knew that Harry was planning on taking a vacation and was determined to ruin it as much as possible out of sheer pettiness. Now Harry would have to be more careful as he travelled. Thankfully Flamel's gift would keep them from recognizing him unless he stupidly allowed them to.
Not that he expected he'd be able to avoid trouble anyway, knowing his luck.
Finishing the last of his meal Harry quickly paid before making his way to the lifts.
Within minutes he stood on the top floor of the Eiffel Tower, taking in the breathtaking view of Paris. He was smiling widely, the heavy thoughts that had been weighing on him blown away for the moment. He absently wished he had a camera before reminding himself of his phone and pulling it out, walking around the perimeter of the tower as he took pictures to get the entirety of the view. Thankfully he'd gotten a phone with a lot of memory, anticipating the fact that he'd be taking plenty of pictures and some video.
Looking down he saw the crowded ground a long way down, farther than he'd ever been while flying at Hogwarts. It made him wish he had his broom so he could dive off the tower.
Stepping back he looked up at the clear sky, glad he'd decided to push past the morning's events to come. It had partly been sheer stubborn defiance in not wanting to let Voldemort ruin his time in Paris, and he felt vindicated in his choice.
"Fuck you, Tom." He murmured with a small grin before resuming his picture taking.
Nicholas was taking a seat in his sitting room with a glass of wine in hand, relaxing after the day's events. He had hoped that the day's auction would go well, but apparently the fates had other plans.
Still, at least they weren't complete bitches. They'd sent Monsieur Potter to him at precisely the right time. The boy had needed help and reassurance, which the multi-centenarian was more than happy to give. He hadn't expected the young man to pay him back by dealing with the Death Eaters Yaxley had brought along, which had allowed him to hold the, admittedly skilled, man off.
Giving him some books and a trinket he had no use for was definitely a cheap bargain after his help.
He looked up when the fire he sat in front of rose, expecting to see Perenelle walk through the flames to join him. He was only mildly surprised, however, to see his former apprentice's face in the flickering embers.
"Albus…" He murmured, slightly amused. "You heard, then?"
"Indeed." The younger man said as he studied Nicholas intently. "I did not expect them to attack you, Nicholas. If I'd known I'd have seen about sending somebody to support you. You are uninjured?"
Nicholas snorted. "The young punk had some skill, I will admit, but thanks to his assistance being dealt with I was able to hold him off without too much trouble." He smiled lightly. "Have a little faith, Albus."
"You had help?" The headmaster asked with interest. "I hadn't heard that, only that you'd been attacked by Death Eaters."
"Yes, a young man of my acquaintance was in attendance. He's a very skilled healer, as he saved a young boy's life when the lad's lung was pierced by debris. He managed to surprise the other assailants." Nicholas said idly.
"Indeed…" Albus said idly. "That is good. I always thought we could use more healers than simply combat specialists. Does this young man have a name?"
"Hermes." Nicholas said. "Hermes Black. And before you ask, no, not those Blacks. This young man hails from the mundane world."
"I see. Well then, I will make sure to keep an eye out for such a promising young man." Albus said with a smile.
"Was there anything else, Albus?" Nicholas asked. "As much as you know I enjoy our conversations, I am tired after the day's events."
"Of course, I'll leave you be. Just one last thing, however. Young Mr. Potter has decided to take a trip outside of the UK without telling anyone till he was gone. Considering he said he could speak the language of the place he was gong, I doubt you'll see him in France, but I still wanted to alert you just in case. Could you please inform me if you see him in the future?"
Nicholas took a sip of wine to hide his smile. "I promise that, if I come across the young man in the future, I will let you know, Albus."
The bearded face in the fire smiled, relieved. "Thank you, Nicholas, that takes a weight off of my shoulders. I'll leave you be. Have a good evening."
"And you as well, Albus." Nicholas said with a smile as the fire went back to normal before he chuckled to himself.
"And why do I have the feeling you've played a trick on Albus, dear?" His wife's voice came from the direction of the door, indicating she'd arrived.
Nicholas rose to greet her with a small groan as his bones ached, still smiling. "Let me tell you all about it…"
Night had begun to fall over the City of Lights and Harry was standing at the balcony of his room, enjoying the sights and sounds of Paris as he sipped another Coke. He was considering his next move, whether to move to a different part of France and explore some more, or move to another country entirely. He'd be lying if he said that the idea of going to one of France's famous nude beaches wasn't appealing.
Still, he didn't want to spend too much time in a single country. Not only did that increase the odds of being caught by either Voldemort or Dumbledore, but there was a lot of the world to see and too little time in which to see it all.
Deciding that he'd do some research later he moved back into the room, closing the balcony doors behind him and sitting in front of his computer, wanting to relax a bit more. Looking at his desktop he realized that he hadn't used the laptop for one of the main thing's he'd bought it for. With that realization he quickly started up one of the games Callie had convinced him to buy.
Taking another pull of his Coke as the Final Fantasy XIV login screen came up he slowly made his way through the setup and character creation. He briefly considered making a Gladiator or Archer, but then he considered what had happened earlier in the day. Quickly going to a quick guide for more information on his options and seeing that what he remembered should be an option from what he heard of previous Final Fantasies at primary school was gated behind another class he quickly made himself a Conjurer. Satisfied with his decision he smiled as he went through the opening cinematic, but when he found himself in the world proper he blinked, suddenly a bit overwhelmed at the sheer amount of information on the screen.
He had never gotten around to playing many games, the Dursleys never willingly letting him, and the few times he'd snuck onto Dudley's PC it'd had games like Call of Duty on it, not Final Fantasy, so Harry was a bit lost.
After a few minutes of stumbling along he almost closed the game out of frustration before he took a breath and calmed himself. Then he picked up his phone and dialed a number in his contacts.
"Hello?" Came a lazy sounding female voice he remembered from a couple of days before.
"Hello, Callie? It's Harry." He said slowly, not sure if this was a good idea.
"Harry!" She exclaimed in surprise, sounding much more attentive now. "Oh wow, I wasn't expecting to hear from you. That'll teach me to not check caller ID. What do you need? I can't believe you've already gone through all the movies I recommended."
"No, I just, uh, need some help with one of the games you told me about." Harry said, a little less hesitant now.
"Oh? Which one?" She asked with interest. When he told her she laughed happily. "What a coincidence! I was about to hop onto it. Tell me which server you're on and I'll join you so I can walk you through things."
"Are you sure?" Harry asked. "Wouldn't you rather play with your main character?"
He could practically hear her shrug. "I was just going to do some smithing, make some money. This promises to be much more interesting. Put me on speaker so you can play while we talk. If you want to continue after tonight I recommend you get yourself a gaming headset, though. I should have thought of that when you were buying your stuff, now that I think about it."
"Alright." Harry said, smiling as he gave Callie the information she needed. As the night wore on he found himself having a lot of fun, and already knew he'd be buying himself that headset.
Hi all!
Holy shit, I managed to get a chapter out on time instead of the very end of the month! What sorcery is this!?
Hopefully this momentum will continue and I'll be able to write more and update more often.
In any case, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Not too much happened, but after the last chapter I figured Harry needed to wind down.
He'll likely be spending one more day in Paris, and France itself, before moving on. The options I'm considering for his next destination are Barcelona, Spain and Rome, Italy. Barcelona is more likely, cause he can go from there to Italy, and then elsewhere in Europe from there, without having to double back weirdly just to hit Spain rather than continue east.
I always planned on bringing Callie back as Harry's link to mundane pop culture, guiding him around things like games. I will say, for those I know are going to ask, that I don't see her as a potential love interest, but she will be a friend.
By the way, I wonder if any of you can guess what job Harry was wanting to obtain in FFXIV but needed Conjurer for first. I figure it should be fairly obvious.
All of the books Flamel gave Harry have a purpose. If you've read Make A Wish you should be able to figure out part of it. I will say that the Battlefield Transfiguration book is mainly to expand his combat capabilities, though I'd think that's obvious.
As always I want to remind you that you can have a say in what I write when you donate to my Pat A Ron. Every dollar donated equals a vote in my monthly poll for what to update. Finding Healing was this month's winner, which is why it was updated today. So go ahead and donate at Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis.
I can't think of anything else that needs to be said regarding this fic, so I'll just say that I am in support of all the protesters in the US and the rest of the world. Keep at it guys, but do your best to stay safe while you do. BLM.
Thank you all for reading, please review, and stay safe out there. Till next time!
