Magically Marvelous

Chapter 4

Harry sniffed the air and nodded in satisfaction. A successful placement of an enchantment always smelled like ozone to him. He was back in his shop, hiding away in the warehouse section while finishing his newest toy. Seeing as how people were starting to figure out what he was, he figured that it would be a good idea to be able to remove their memories properly.

Harry technically could do this himself, but in truth, he had always been crap at mind magic. His skills were barely passable at Occlumency. His skills in Legilimency were beyond pathetic, and he was mediocre at Obliviation. He could remove memories in a pinch, but he wouldn’t trust himself doing it to someone he cared about. Holding up his newest item and examining it, he hoped that this would solve his problem.

It was a metal object about the size and shape of a pen, only a little fatter. It was made from the purest silver that Harry could find since silver was good at holding enchantments. On the front were two buttons. Above the top button was a small window that hid a dial. The dial held three different numbers … ten, twenty, and thirty. These were the number of minutes that would be Obliviated from the target’s mind. Pressing the top button would cause the dial to spin to the next number. Pressing and holding the bottom button would cause two thin and straight arms to flip up from the sides, creating a T-shape. Holding the button would siphon ambient magic from the environment into the two arms and charge the enchantments. It would take about three seconds from the moment the button was held before the charge went off. It probably wouldn’t be useful in battle, Harry thought to himself. He pressed the top button multiple times, hearing a clicking sound each time. He watched as the numbers continuously changed from ten to twenty to thirty with every click of the button. Satisfied that that part worked properly, he next needed to test the rest of it. For that, he needed a guinea pig.

There was no way that he would test this on himself. The reasons were obvious. Harry didn’t want to toot his own horn, but he considered himself too important to risk. Besides, there was a whole city full of scumbags right outside his front door. He smiled to himself and grabbed his keys.

The good news for him was that by living in a city the size of New York, Harry could quickly find someone doing something that they shouldn’t have been. As he slowly drove down one of the many side streets, he spotted what he was looking for.

“Perfect,” he said out loud when he spotted multiple crackheads going in and out of a particular darkened alley. After going in, they left with much more exuberance … like they were in a rush to get home. Focusing his magic into his eyes, they burned green as his vision cut through the dark night. Peering into the alley, he saw a man hiding in the shadows, dealing small bags of crack rocks to anyone willing to pay. He cut the magic flow to his eyes and smiled deviously. “Bingo,” Harry happily said as he got out of his van. Walking into the alley, he patiently waited in line behind a very skinny, middle-aged man who was either tweaking or was just a very itchy person. After receiving his purchase, the man bolted for the alley exit. Harry stepped up.

“Whatchoo need?”

“Hmmm,” Harry hummed, tapping his chin in deep thought. Behind him, a line of impatient crackheads was forming.

“Man, hurry your ass up. I ain’t got all day,” the dealer replied in an annoyed voice.

“Fine!” Harry huffed, annoyed at being rushed. “I would like to purchase one marijuana cigarette, my good man.”

“Oooohhh!” a high-pitched, warbling, male voice from behind him cried out. “He’s a narc, baby!”

“What the fu…” the dealer yelped as he reached for his piece. Harry snatched the gun from his hand and punched him hard in the gut. As the dealer folded over while struggling to breathe, Harry reached into the man’s pocket and pulled out a handful of crack bags. He tossed them up in the air.

“Free crack for one and all! Merry Christmas!” Harry cheered as the crackheads dove to the ground, snatching up every bag that they could reach.

“And a Happy New Year to you, baby!” the crackhead with the high-pitched voice called back as he scampered off with as much crack as he could get his hands on. Meanwhile, Harry dragged the gasping dealer out of the alley and tossed him into the back of his van. Harry stunned him before hopping into the driver's seat.

“Is there a reason why you decided to resort to kidnapping?” the sensuous voice of Natasha hit his ears, making him jump and yelp. He saw her smirking at him from the passenger seat.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack, for fuck’s sake!” Harry cried out, trying to steady his breathing. Natasha didn’t seem to mind.

“What’s with the dealer?” she asked, looking at the unconscious man in the back.

“I needed a test subject. Don’t worry, he won’t be harmed,” Harry said, starting the van and relocating to a different part of the city.

“For what?” she asked. He looked over and saw flashes of the city’s lights continuously lighting up her pretty face.

“A new magical object that I created,” he explained. He went on to tell her all about the small object resting in his pocket.

“That sounds very impressive,” she said, thinking of how it would be useful to people like her.

“I ran it by Fury. He was impressed as well. In fact, he was so impressed that he obviously wanted some for SHIELD’s use,” Harry smiled.

“And you agreed?” she wondered. Dealing with Harry could be hit or miss when it came to his magic. There were some things that he outright refused to do.

“The price was steep, but in the end, I agreed. They’ll be restricted to only the top agents in SHIELD,” Harry told her.

“And what did you get out of it?” she asked him, curious.

“You remember telling me about that little beachside cottage in Tahiti that you loved going to so much during your vacation time? The one that was previously owned by SHIELD?” Harry smirked. Her eyes widened. Harry nodded.

“I also agreed to make Fury one for his personal use, along with a Deluminator. You know how he loves his toys …” Harry stopped when he saw her glaring. “Relax, Red. Fury told me that you’d be pissed, so I agreed to continue letting you use it as much as you want.”

“Smart boy,” she said in a slightly threatening voice. No one came between Natasha and her tropical beaches. “Back into that alley,” she told him. Harry immediately put on the brakes. Stopping in the road, he threw it in reverse and backed into the alley as much as he could. Once he was in, he got out of the van and added some magical protections to the mouth of the alley to avoid being interrupted. Both he and Natasha crawled into the back of the van. Waking the man up, they spent the next ten minutes talking to the guy. At nine and a half minutes, Harry pushed and held the button.

Natasha watched as two metal rods flipped out from the sides and created a metal, capital T shape. She heard a high-pitched whining sound that was nearly missed by her ears. After a few seconds of waiting, a flash of light had her blinking away the spots in her eyes.

“What the … Who the fuck are you?” the man asked angrily as he fought against his restraints. Harry and Natasha smiled at each other. They then tested it for twenty minutes, then for thirty. Both worked as he had hoped.

“Excellent!” he cheered as the man slumped over unconscious. Harry put it back in his pocket.

“What about this guy?” she asked. Harry opened the door and hit him with a Rennervate spell. As the guy began to come to, Harry booted him out of the door. He ignored his indignant cry and pulled the rolling side door shut. He removed the protections from the mouth of the alley and drove off, leaving the drug dealer to make his own way back home.

“Did you have a reason for sneaking into my van … other than annoying me, of course?” Harry asked the red-haired temptress.

“I’m leaving tonight on a mission. I thought that you might want to tag along and learn a few things.” Harry turned to look at her.

“Fury okayed it?” Harry asked. Fury wasn’t keen on sending him on any SHIELD-sanctioned missions until he thought that Harry was ready. Harry didn’t mind. It wasn’t like he was itching to go. Even so, it would be good to learn a few things. Eventually, Harry would get bored, and taking a mission might just be the thing to get him out of his funk.

“Yep. Just cleared it with him.”

“I thought that he didn’t want me to learn during a high-level mission?”

“It’s not a high-level mission,” she corrected him. “Barely mid-level.”

“You only take high-level missions,” he replied suspiciously.

“Most of the time, though not always,” she corrected him again.

“Are you taking a mid-level mission just so you can be the one to teach me and thereby continue to annoy me?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You know me so well,” she chuckled happily as she kicked her feet up onto his dashboard. Harry huffed.

“Will the mission be exciting, at least?” he asked with exasperation.

“We’re to investigate a potential arms smuggler. There’s definitely potential for a shootout,” she smirked. Harry sighed. He was a sucker for a good shootout.

“Fine. I’m in,” he told her.

“Good. Drop me off at the apartment near yours then sort yourself out. Don’t be long though … our flight leaves soon. And don’t pack anything. Everything will be provided.”

Harry did just that. Once back home, he dropped his van off and made sure that all his appliances were shut off. He grabbed his Deluminator and stuck it in his pocket next to his memory eraser. With that done, Harry made his way back to “Natalie’s” apartment. He knocked on the door and waited while she unlocked the multiple locks.

“No clothes huh?” he asked in lieu of a greeting. “Please tell me that we’ll be staying at a nudist colony,” he joked as he walked in.

“Can’t wait to see me naked, huh?” she joked back. “No such luck,” she told him and gently kicked a suitcase that was on the floor next to a second, matching suitcase. “That one’s yours. It has clothes, toiletries, money, a passport, everything that you’ll need.”

Harry grabbed it and hefted it onto the table. He unzipped it and pulled out his passport, which was obviously a perfect fake. He then grabbed the three, thick stacks of colorful cash and fanned one stack with his thumb. “Mexican Pesos,” he said. “I guess I know where we’re going.” He pressed a button on his watch and the entire face flipped up, exposing a dark hole. Natasha watched as he took the stacks of cash and stuffed them into a hole that was way too small. In fact, the watch expanded to make room for the money and his entire hand. When he pulled his hand out, it was empty.

“That’s pretty cool,” Natasha told him, feeling more than a little jealous of his cool toys. “Any chance I can convince you to make me something similar?” she asked while opening her own suitcase.

“Anything’s possible,” he smiled and caught the stacks of cash from her suitcase. He stuffed those into his watch as well. He continued looking through his suitcase until he found a wallet. Looking inside, it was filled with all the normal things that a person would have. All of them were fake. It was also filled with cash. Natasha had a large handbag with her own wallet inside. He could tell that their wallets, bags, and clothes were all very expensive.

“Where exactly in Mexico are we going?” he wondered.

“Mazatlan,” she said, pulling out an outfit from her suitcase. “Change into one of your new outfits and leave your normal clothes here,” she told him, taking her clothes into the bedroom. Harry began stripping down.

“Never heard of it,” he called out, pulling on a pair of nice, black dress pants.

“It’s on the west coast of Mexico. It’s a resort town with a lot of tourists. We’ll blend in nicely,” she called back. Thankfully, it was just past summer and was still warm enough to enjoy a trip to the beach.

Magically Marvelous

“When you said we were going to a tourist town, I figured that we’d be hitting up the beach,” Harry complained as they sat on top of a skyrise hotel with a pair of binoculars. The sun was beaming down and baking his head. Harry wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“That’s because you’re an idiot,” she responded and handed him the binoculars. “Look at the very top of that hill over there. His house is the closest to the top … the yellow one.”

Harry held the binoculars to his eyes. Sure enough, he could see the house that she was talking about. He pressed a button on the side and zoomed in. “One, two, three security cameras that I can see from here.”

“That means that there’s probably many more,” she said, taking the binoculars back and looking again.

“So what do we do? It would be easy if I used my magic, but apparently, that’s cheating according to you,” he snorted.

“You won’t learn anything if you always use a shortcut,” she wisely told him. “The first thing we need to do is go over there as tourists. We’ll get a better idea of the situation.” Harry nodded in agreement. They went downstairs and got a taxi. The tourist taxis in Mazatlan were these weird, pimped-out golf carts that were almost the size of a small car. The pair hopped in, and Natasha told the man where to go in Spanish. The good news was that it was a short drive to pretty much anywhere you wanted to go. As such, it didn’t take long before they were driving up the winding streets of the hill. Once they were most of the way up the hill, Natasha told the man that we were getting out. Harry paid him with a handsome tip before the man happily drove away.

“FYI, never give a large tip unless there’s a specific reason to. It tends to get you remembered by the workers,” she instructed him as they walked hand in hand, playing the role of a couple.

“Makes sense,” Harry replied. Natasha was really good at all of this stuff. After a few minutes of walking, Harry placed a Cooling Charm on them both. Natasha squeezed his hand slightly, silently thanking him. They kept on going upward, with Harry’s leg muscles burning the entire way. Walking uphill was quite taxing. The hill was covered with trees and any place that wasn’t was filled with a colorful house. That was one thing that Harry liked about this town. Every building was a different bright color. The houses they were passing were all made in the Spanish style. Each one was fairly large. They weren’t big compared to the mansions in the United States, but they were big compared to the other houses in the city. Once they got to the highest house, she told him to push the button on the side of his sunglasses to start recording. She did the same.

They were wearing expensive-looking sunglasses that held hidden cameras. As they stood there recording the entire front of the house, they gestured and talked about the lovely architecture of the old house. When she had seen enough, they started walking back downhill. Seeing a large bush along the way, Harry pulled her into it and apparated them both back to their hotel room. Immediately, Natasha went for her laptop. She opened it up and turned it on. Removing the micro memory cards from their sunglasses, she plugged them into the computer and started going over the footage.

“Five security cameras in front. There will definitely be others in the back and sides.”

 At some point, they spotted someone sneakily peeking between the side of the window and the curtain. “Is that the guy?” Harry asked. Natasha hit rewind and stopped it on the correct frame.

“It doesn’t look like it. He might be security. SHIELD thinks that he’s getting ready to meet up with some serious buyers in the coming days.”

“Any idea who’s buying?” Harry asked as she hit play.

“None. That’s the next part of our mission. We’re to stay until the meeting has occurred. We need to keep the area under constant surveillance. A second, larger team is in town keeping track of the airports and the town in general. Of course, SHIELD is doing its best to find out any scrap of information. If they find anything, it’ll be passed on to us,” Natasha told him. Harry nodded and grabbed a large bag that SHIELD had placed in their room. He opened it up to see a slew of wireless surveillance cameras and other high-tech toys that they could use to their advantage. Harry thought that the first step should be to lace the hillside with as many of these cameras as possible.

“I know what you’re thinking … and you’re right,” Natasha smiled. “That will have to wait until we’re under the cover of darkness though.

I guess that gives us some free time,” he said.

“I’m not putting on a bikini and going to the beach with you,” she said with no emotion as she continued studying the tape.

“Goddamnit!”

Natasha smiled when he cursed.