Chapter 35: Abduction
Things had been going well for me. I'd won millions of pounds in a crazy one-off gamble, pushed farther with my business than I'd ever dreamed, started getting closer to Delilah, and tomorrow was the day I'd be picking up Harry from the Dursleys so he wouldn't have to suffer at their house anymore.
Perhaps things were going too well.
Honestly, I should have known that, with my luck, something bad was bound to happen to me after a streak of good fortune.
And then on my way back from tutoring Justin on a pleasant, slightly overcast July 15th, it happened. A black car drove right up to the curb, and two men jumped out and grabbed me! I was so shocked I didn't even think to resist, and before I knew it, I was in the backseat of the car, being driven to Merlin knows where!
I had to clamp down hard on my emotions via Occlumency, or else I would have started panicking. Since I was nice and calm, I was able to focus on being angry and indignant instead of afraid. I don't know who these bastards were working for, but their actions had put their boss on my shitlist.
"You know, I expected some scrutiny to come my way after winning big after the cup, but I'll be honest, I didn't expect to get kidnapped," I muttered, looking askance at my captors after the shock wore off.
Two burly men sat on either side of me, pressing me in and keeping me from bolting or peering through the tinted windows to figure out where I was being taken. They also remained silent, not interested in speaking to me, which I was annoyed by. They weren't talking or reacting, so I had no idea who they were or why they wanted me.
'At least I have a few items on me,' I thought to myself. The goons had frisked me when they'd brought me in, confiscating my wallet and keys, but hadn't gotten everything, luckily. My Bullet Time Ring was still on me, and would be useful for when I broke free, and I had a couple Stunner and Unlocking Ofuda tucked away in my shoes. It would have to be enough.
After ten minutes, the car came to a stop, and the doors opened. I was pulled out, and only had a little bit of time to register I was in an underground parking lot of some sort before being dragged away over to a door, which opened up and revealed stairs.
"Great, so not only did you assholes kidnap me, but you also want me to walk up a flight or two of stairs," I grunted. That earned me a shove from one of my 'escorts,' and I shut up and walked up a flight of stairs as they commanded.
They then led me down a hallway and into a room that was little more than an empty office space.
"So, this is him?" thin, reedy voice inquired. The speaker was a balding man. He was skinny and wore glasses, and was looking at me the way somebody might observe a particularly ugly animal at the zoo. Interest and disdain, with a hint of amusement.
He sat behind a desk in a room that had all the windows blacked out with paint. It gave it an ominous feeling.
"It's him. Came out of the Finch-Fletchley manor, and he matches the picture," one of the two goons stated.
"It'sa me," I said snarkily in a faux-Italian voice. That brought a frown to the balding man's face.
'Clearly not impressed by my impression,' I thought.
"How very crude," he sneered. "How you managed to get into the graces of the Finch-Fletchleys and the Hunts, I will never know. Your sudden windfall of several million pounds doesn't seem to have improved your manners at all, either."
I said nothing, even though I had a couple retorts burning on my tongue. Instead, I went over what had just been told to me.
'They know I'm associated with Justin's family and Delilah's. Not exactly intel that's hard to come by, but information about my winnings from gambling should be harder to uncover,' I thought to myself, eyes narrowed at the man.
He noticed my expression, and smirked. "Oh yes, we know all about you, Edward Rose."
'Not everything, apparently,' I thought to myself since they didn't use my original name, nor hint at anything from the magical side.
"Let me guess, you want me to spill the beans on my business endeavors with the two families, or something?" I replied, playing along as I folded my arms across my chest. "Or maybe you just want my money for some reason."
"We just want you sign a few things for us. Give us control of your business, including your manufacturing methods for the goods, and we'll let you go without any injury to your person."
"I see why you want my hair growth cream at least, you balding tosser," I retorted, which made him frown deeply.
"And why the hell should I trust people who kidnapped me?" I continued, glaring at him. "Plus, what makes you think I won't be rescued soon, or have people looking for me? You did snatch me off the street in broad daylight, after all."
"You really think we haven't prepared for that?" the balding man snorted. "If you don't cooperate, we can simply release what we know about you to the police. That way, when the police eventually find you, you'll wind up in a jail cell."
I raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what he meant, until it clicked. "You're related to the assholes who kidnapped Delilah," I realized. "You're not just jackboots for hire, you're part of some criminal group, who also has ties to somebody that knows her and the Finch-Fletchleys."
The smirk slid off of the man's face at that, and he leveled a neutral stare my way as he slid some documents on the table over to me.
"Sign," he ordered, and I picked up one of the sheets of paper to examine it. There was a lot of legalese that made my eyes glass over, but what I managed to glean from it and the other files was that I was basically selling my company and all of its intellectual property to them at dirt cheap prices.
"This is ridiculous," I muttered, and tore the sheet of paper I was reading in two. The balding man – whose name still remained unknown – glared angrily and I heard the two thugs behind me shift.
I stayed calm and glared right back, and eventually Mr. Balding stood up.
"It seems you've accidentally torn the document," he said smoothly. "I shall fetch another copy."
He then left the room, leaving the two goons to guard me. I could escape at any time, of course. Calling for Inky and having him pop me away as soon as the goons weren't looking would be easy-peasy. Heck, even if they gagged me I could still call for him through the magical bond we shared. But I wanted to know who was behind this, so I held off on summoning the elderly House Elf. I had my suspicions, but I'd find out later.
'The real problem is if this place has any security cameras,' I mused to myself, doing my best to glance around without moving neck, lest I give away my intentions to the duo guarding me. 'I don't think it does, kidnappers probably wouldn't want there to be evidence of their misdeeds left behind like that, but who knows?'
After a bit of discreet looking, I'd found no security cameras on the walls or ceiling in front of me, nor could I recall seeing any in the hallway or parking lot. I decided to act.
"Inky. Stun these men."
The two grunts made noises of confusion at my words. A second later, however, a loud "Pop!" rang out before they fell silent, and I looked over my shoulder at my loyal House Elf.
"Thank you, Inky," I said.
"It is no problem, Young Master Eddy," Inky replied with a bow. As he did, he glared in disgust at the two men who'd kidnapped me where they lay on the floor, unconscious.
"Do you wish to leave this nasty place, Young Master?" Inky inquired.
"No, not yet," I replied, walking over to the desk to inspect it. I wasn't expecting to find anything important, but I wanted to know if Mr. Balding had left some clues to his or his employer's identity.
"Let's see, empty drawers… and the documents could have been printed anywhere," I mused to myself, disappointed when I found absolutely nothing. "Inky, take their wallets and put them on the desk for me. Oh, and get mine too as well, please."
He did so, and I was able to look through their contents a moment later. To my frustration, they had no ID's on them to tell me who they were. They didn't have credit cards or checkbooks, either. But they were flush with cash, each having several hundred pounds on their person.
"I'm taking these," I decided, swiping their money. It was petty, but they'd earned it for kidnapping me.
As I did, I thought a bit about what Mr. Bald had said to me earlier. It was clear they'd researched my background to an extent, so did that mean they knew about some of the other public parts of my life?
"If the kidnappers know about my relationships with the Finch-Fletchleys and Delilah, they also have to know about Harry and Sam, and their families," I muttered to myself. Hot anger at the thought of them being harassed or assaulted filled my veins, and I stomped down on it with Occlumency. I couldn't afford to lose my cool.
"Can you clean up the windows? Or at least one of them? I want to know where I am," I requested as I put a lid on my emotions.
Inky snapped his fingers, and bubbles magically foamed up all over the window panes. Then, Inky conjured some floating sponges, which attacked the blacked out glass in a wild frenzy.
The paint – at least, I assume it was paint – slowly began to fade, but not in time to really make a difference, as halfway through the cleaning, the door opened up, admitting Mr. Balding to the room.
He blinked, taken aback by the sight of his two bruisers lying unconscious in front of the desk, a tiny gremlin waving his hands like a maestro, controlling a bunch of levitating sponges, and me, rifling through his desk.
We stared at each other for a few seconds, but I recovered and reacted first, drawing a Stunner Ofuda and tossing it at the man. It zipped through the air like a red blur and slapped into his forehead, knocking him backwards. He hit the floor with a harsh "THUD!" and I winced.
"Hopefully he doesn't get a concussion," I muttered, before shaking my head. "No, what's more important is getting him to forget he saw Inky. Can't risk him remember that after he wakes up. Same with the goons, just in case."
I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. I didn't know how to make Obliviate Ofuda yet, as I couldn't find that information anywhere. It was likely in a higher-level tome I'd yet to get my hands on, or, worse, restricted knowledge by the Japanese Ministry. Over here, they only taught the spell to trained Aurors or other professionals, so I had to assume it was going to be similar in Japan.
For a dark moment, the idea that I should just kill him bubbled up in my mind. I'd done it before, after all. Last year's bloody Christmas evening in the parking garage flashed through my mind.
But that had been in the heat of the moment. Pure self-defense. I growled in disgust at myself for evening thinking of going that far for something so minor, and viciously tamped down on that idea.
Unfortunately, not choosing to kill them meant I had to call the Ministry of Magic.
With a heavy sigh I swept the papers on the desk into a pile. "Inky, set these on fire for me, and fetch some Floo powder from the apartment," I requested.
A couple of pops later, and the desk had a cozy fire on top of it, kept from spreading by Inky's magic. Then, I tossed a pinch of green powder into the flames, generously provided by Inky as well, which immediately turned a brilliant emerald color.
"Hello? Um, Ministry of Magic Auror's Department," I said aloud before sticking my head into the flames.
Floo Flames were very weird. They were lukewarm and sort of tickled when you only had a part of your body sticking through. And while it felt like you were falling when you traveled through them, there was next to no sensation for just shoving a limb through. It was like being in two places at once. Very odd.
As I poked my head out, I found myself looking out at a bunch of cubicles in what could pass for a modern office, if not for the flying bits of paper and the oddly dressed people.
My head had come out in a small, head-sized fireplace, one of several, in fact. Made sense to have a sort of emergency line to the Auror department. A few bored looking young witches and wizards sat nearby, and one looked up as I appeared.
"Hey, Tonks! You're up!" a bored witch called out to another one with bubblegum colored hair.
"Joy," she muttered, getting up before moseying over to the fire-cage I was looking out of. "Hey, hi there, thanks for contacting the Auror's Office. Names Tonks, how can I help?"
"I have a couple of muggles I need Obliviated," I said, trying not to show any surprise at the name. It didn't work, as she caught the flicker in my expression. Still, she ignored it.
"Alright, gimme a sec… oh, and please step away from the fire while the agent comes through."
I did so, and stepped back. A few seconds later, Tonks appeared on the desk, Apparating in with a crack of displaced air.
"Eesh, what happened here?" she asked as she caught sight of the three unconscious people. "And why am I on a desk?"
"I started a floo fire on the desk," I explained. "And these three saw my House Elf while he was cleaning. It was, uh, five minutes ago? Maybe ten."
"Cleaning?" she asked, confused, looking around in bewilderment. "Where are we?"
"I dunno, actually," I admitted. She gave me a weirded out look before shaking her head.
"Whatever. Give me a moment. Obliviate!" Tonks called out, zapping the trio. "Cool. There we go. When the wake up, they won't remember they saw anything to do with… a House Elf, was it?"
"Yup," I replied with a nod. "Thanks, by the way."
"No prob. This was the most exciting thing I've done all week," she said with a sigh. "Ugh. I hate that they give the crap jobs to the trainees."
"Sorry to hear that," I said. "Well, I should be going, now."
"How do you know me?" she demanded, putting a hand on my shoulder. "And what's a Pureblood doing dressed in Muggle clothes?"
"I'm a Squib," I told her flatly, and she winced. "That's why I'm wearing these clothes."
"Oh," she muttered, "Sorry."
"It's fine. My family let's me borrow the House Elf when I need it, which is why he was here, in case that was your next question."
"It was, thanks for clearing that up," Tonk said with a nod. "Still, that doesn't answer the first question."
"I know the Weasleys," I said as part of my explanation. "Charlie mentioned you a couple times."
"Oh, neat," she said, accepting it. "Heard he's doing well. Dragon Preserve in Romania, right?"
"Yeah, sounds like he's having the time of his life," I confirmed.
"Well, alright, then. I gotta get back to the department to file the Obliviate reports. See you later, maybe."
"Later," I said, waving at her. She nodded, then vanished via Apparation.
I looked over at Inky, who'd finished scrubbing the windows clean. "After I take a peek outside we're going to return to the Finch-Fletchley's," I informed him. "And please take care of the fire."
"Of course, Young Master Eddy," Inky said with a happy smile and bow. I smiled back, and then looked out the window.
"Hmm, I don't recognize any buildings… no, wait, I think I see something… Yeah, that's Greenwich Park over that way. Huh, we're not as far as I thought we'd be. Good to know."
I then turned back to Inky, having memorized the area, as well as a nearby street sign. "Okay, I'm done. Off to the Finch-Fletchley's, please. The usual drop off spot."
Inky snapped his fingers, and I went from standing in the empty office to being right around the corner from the house, right near a bus stop. I was obscured by several hedges, so nobody would see me appear from nowhere.
"I need to start working on more defensive and offensive enchanted items," I mused to myself as I walked up to the Finch-Fletchley's gate, ringing the doorbell.
"Mister Rose?!" one of the servants gasped when they answered.
"Hey, hi, just thought I'd let you all know I'm back," I said, giving a cheeky wave.
"Oh, thank goodness! Mister Warner saw you get snatched right off the streets!" the servant babbled, dragging me into the house.
I was brought into a parlor room where Mrs. Finch-Fletchley, Justin, and, to my surprise, Delilah as well, were sitting down, looking fretful.
"Mr. Rose!" Justin exclaimed gleefully when he saw me, jumping up from his seat and running over to my side. He wasn't the only one, as Delilah also bounded over to my side, grabbing my hands and looking me over closely.
"Oh my god, are you okay?" Delilah asked, checking me for injuries.
"Delilah?" I uttered, perplexed. "What are you doing here?"
"I came here as soon as I heard you'd been kidnapped!" she declared, face red in embarrassment. Or maybe anger? I couldn't tell.
"I'm fine," I assured her. "Couple of goons couldn't do anything to me."
She looked me in the eyes, and I winced at the pain I saw in hers. "Don't scare me like that," she pleaded.
"I promise I won't get kidnapped again," I told her.
"Idiot!" she scolded me, though I could hear a faint laugh in her voice.
A cough interrupted us, and I looked over at an amused Mr. Finch-Fletchley and a couple of police officers who walked in from another room.
"As heartwarming as this reunion is, and as glad as we are to see you safe and sound, we do have some questions for you, Mr. Rose," a bobby informed me.
"Of course, officer, I'll be glad to help however I can," I told him, tamping down on the annoyance I felt at being interrupted.
"First off, can you explain what happened, exactly?"
"Well, I had just finished tutoring Justin here, and was leaving to go back home, when this black car with tinted windows zoomed up right to me…" I began to explain.
The next half-hour was boring, as I carefully gave an edited retelling of what had occurred earlier. I made sure to leave out anything about magic, and simply said that I had slipped out when they were distracted.
I was pretty sure the police officers didn't believe me at all, but they couldn't call me out on it, not with the Finch-Fletchley's nearby. Eventually, they left, claiming they would look into who was responsible, but I wasn't going to hold my breath. Odds were they weren't gonna find out anything useful.
'I'll have to do my own investigations,' I thought to myself.
"So, what really happened?" Delilah asked me when the bobbies had left.
"Pretty much what I said, although I escaped by knocking out my kidnappers with Stunner Ofuda and Inky's help," I said.
"Whoa! So they really worked!" Justin exclaimed.
"They sure did. Definitely need to work on making some more. Just in case," I said.
"I will make some discreet inquiries myself," Mr. Finch-Fletchley said, sipping at some tea to hide the dark scowl on his face. A kidnapping right on his doorstep? A massive insult a man like him could not let pass. "They likely won't try anything for a while, though. Still, I hope you will try and stay safe."
"I doubt they will be able to do anything while I'm in France. I'll be sure to pick up a couple magical defenses in the markets over there. They're a lot looser with restrictions when it comes to self-defense. A couple hexes to discourage ne'er do wells sounds like a wise investment," I said. I then blinked and turned to my girlfriend.
"Oh, and speaking of which, wanna come visit France with me and my friends?" I asked Delilah.
"Really? You're asking that now?" she asked, a hysterical laugh bubbling out of her.
"No time like the present. We leave in a couple days, on the 17th," I informed Delilah, who gave me a flat look.
"You know that's not what I meant," she grumbled, and I chuckled.
"Yeah, I know, sorry about that, just having fun," I replied. I then turned serious. "However… do you want to go?"
"I think that would be lovely," she replied softly. She then tilted her head to the side. "Is there going to be magic there?" she asked in a very soft whisper.
"Yeah, probably," I said, and she nodded.
"Okay. I want to learn more about magic. Will you teach me?"
"I'd be happy to teach you," I told her.
"Great," she said with a grin.
And seeing her smile, I felt that everything was going to be alright.