Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 16: Found You
"Ahhhh!" The thief holding a knife let out a bloodcurdling scream when his hand was ripped apart in a gruesome manner.
Harry calmly walked towards him. "My apologies, I meant to make a clean cut, but I'm afraid that without my staff, the accuracy of my magic has taken a toll." This young body was also not responding the way he intended.
He was going to need a bit of time to get used to it and practice. But he still felt that this new body had a lot of untapped potential in it.
"S-stay away! M-Monster!" The thief crawled back away from Harry.
The others were also watching from the sidelines.
They were currently in a one-way alleyway, and Harry was blocking the exit, so they could only stare at him, paralyzed with fear after seeing what he had done.
He considered his options for a few seconds and made a decision.
"Let's hope this one works properly." He focused a large amount of magical energies into the tip of his fingers. "Sopor!"
Harry snapped his fingers, and a green spark of light filled the alley for a second.
A moment later, the three men collapsed on the ground.
He observed them to make sure that his spell had the intended effect and that they were merely in a profound sleep.
As someone who had participated in countless wars, he had no qualms about killing his enemies, but he was not bloodthirsty to the point where he would lose control.
There was a time and a place for these things, and right now it would be wiser to avoid breaking too many laws in a city that he knew nearly nothing about.
With the problem solved, Harry left the alley and continued walking by himself.
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The city of London had turned out to be even more massive than he had first imagined, and by the time the sun started to peek through the horizon, Harry had yet to make any significant finding.
He ended up sitting on a park bench to rest his young legs.
The use of magic could allow him to continue, but pushing his body too much would come with consequences down the line, so it was better to take a break.
'Hopefully, people will be more amicable during the daytime,' Harry thought.
His first night in the big city had not been a pleasant one, to say the least.
While he was taking a moment to relax in this peaceful place, Harry closed his eyes and began to focus on his surroundings.
"Oh?... there is something there." Harry opened his eyes and looked in a specific direction.
It was subtle, but there were traces of magic.
"Finally… something." After walking all night, he had found a clue at last.
These traces should mean that magical users were definitely living in this city. Now he just needed to follow this direction and find where they were hiding.
'But it's strange… why do they need to hide so much?' Harry thought. It shouldn't have been so difficult to find traces of magical users in such a large metropolis. Unless they were purposely trying to conceal their presence.
During his time as Merlin, magical users were normally revered and given important roles in their kingdoms.
Even barbarian tribes would typically have a shaman or warlock who would hold a lofty position.
The only ones who chose to hide were those who employed the darkest of magics. Those capable of bringing back the dead or requiring human sacrifices to work their hexes.
Kings would typically send their troops to hunt down these types of dark sorcerers because they were a threat to their populations.
Thinking about this reminded him of Morgan le Fey, who had suffered such treatment from Camelot.
Although he was now wondering if it had truly been deserved.
During his last moments, he saw that there was something clearly wrong with King Arthur, and Morgan's warnings began to make more sense.
'Forget it… this is not the time to get distracted.' He shook his head.
These matters were now in the distant past. It was better to focus on his current issues instead.
After resting for a little bit, Harry stood up from the bench, grabbed his bag and his wooden stick, and began to walk in the direction where he felt the traces of magic.
Now that it was daytime, he started to see more and more people walking through the streets, as well as many more of those modern vehicles crowding the roads.
He still received many odd looks from the people walking by.
A ten-year-old child going by himself while carrying a bag and holding onto a stick was definitely an unusual sight.
Harry ignored the unwanted attention and focused on his task. The trace was still faint and required his full concentration in order to follow it.
He took a turn and arrived at a larger street that was filled with all kinds of shops.
'This must be a commercial district. Camelot also had one, albeit much smaller than this one.' Harry glanced over at one of the signs that depicted the name of the road.
'Charing Cross, huh? The place I'm looking for must be somewhere in here.'
Harry had now less trouble following the magical signatures. This meant he was getting closer, as these were becoming more intense.
He kept walking through the busy street for a few more blocks, and then, all of a sudden, Harry found it.
At first glance, it appeared like a normal tavern, but Harry could tell there was a powerful enchantment surrounding the entrance.
He stopped in front of it and observed it for a moment.
People would walk by, but no one seemed to pay any attention to him or the tavern itself. It was like they couldn't even see it.
Harry glanced up at the sign, and a smile appeared on his face. "The Leaky Cauldron… found you."
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