The Light That Leads You Home – Nine – DizzyDrea

~0~

In the end, the Dverger had offered to include Ellie and Tony in the portkey transfer of several employees, including Master Sharptongue, who was to return to England now that Tony had completed his training in the time chamber. To his credit, he barely stumbled as they landed in the London branch’s portkey arrivals room.

After a quick visit to the Healing Halls for a once-over by Healer Trueheart, they headed for Diagon Alley. Ellie figured Tony would get a kick out of seeing another magical district, especially one so different from the one in New York.

“It looks like a Dickens novel out here,” he observed as they descended the stairs from the bank. “It’s like the wizarding world is a time capsule.”

“It’s pretty much exactly that,” she said. “As I said before, fashion in the magical world stopped at a certain point—for the US, it’s the 20’s, and for England it’s the Victorian era—and since technology doesn’t work for most magicals, they have no need or desire to expose themselves to the human world.”

“I can’t imagine it,” he said as they walked down the street. “I mean, no coffee machine? No cell phones? No cars?”

“Magic has an adequate substitute for most of that,” she said. “Portkeys, floos, and apparition get us where we need to go. Most people use the floo for what we’d term phone calls or send letters via owl.”

“Or that mirror thing you have,” he pointed out.

“Not everyone has access to things like communication mirrors,” she said. “They’re still relatively new, so they’re expensive to obtain. Eventually, they’ll become commonplace, just like cell phones did in the No-Maj world.”

“And coffee?” he asked.

Ellie chuckled. “There are spells that will help you make a cup of coffee, no machines required. That’s a whole different class of spells that we haven’t even touched on yet.”

“Great, more lessons,” Tony grumbled. “Will I at least be able to use these spells at home without getting into trouble?”

“Well, you’re an adult, so as long as you’re not using magic in full view of any No-Maj, you should be fine,” she said. “So, yeah, if you want to use magic to clean your toilets instead of doing it yourself, have at it.”

“Thank fuck for that,” he muttered. “It’ll probably save me a lot of money on cleaning services.”

“Oh, absolutely,” she said. “No sense paying someone when you can just whip out your wand and take care of it in seconds.”

“So, where are we headed?” he asked. He was hunched up in his wool coat, looking a little chilled, so she hit him with a warming charm. He smiled his gratitude and relaxed a little bit. “I see what you mean.”

We’re heading to the Leaky Cauldron,” she said. “Since Lord Black offered us the use of his floo, we won’t have to apparate to the estate and wait in the cold for someone to let us in.

“And we didn’t use the one at the bank because…”

“Because that’s not a public floo,” she said. “It’s reserved for bank employees, and those doing official bank business. If we’d asked, I’m sure Sharptongue would have given us permission, but there’d be a fee attached.”

“Because the Dverger don’t do anything that won’t turn them a profit,” he said, nodding his head.

Tony and Ellie stepped to the side to avoid running into a man walking in the opposite direction, moving as one, which still weirded her out. How she could be so in sync with someone she’d only known for… well, a year, but really just two weeks, was still strange to her. They hadn’t fully bonded yet, but according to Healer Trueheart, there was a nascent bond forming, so they were on their way.

Suddenly, Tony disappeared in a flash of magic. Ellie turned in a full circle, looking for anyone else who may have been close by, but there was no one. The streets were fairly quiet as it was mid-morning. She whipped out her wand and ran a few scans on the scene before any residual magic dissipated.

There was portkey magic lingering in the spot where Tony had been, so someone had clearly planned his kidnapping. She didn’t know if it was a crime of opportunity—no one but the Dverger knew they’d be arriving that morning—or if Tony had been the intended target.

One thing she knew for sure: she wasn’t getting to the bottom of this by herself. She whipped out her mirror. “Maximus Cane.”

Shortly, her partner’s face appeared in the mirror. “You’re already in London, I see.”

“Yeah, we arrived about an hour ago,” she said. “Max, someone’s taken Tony. We were walking down the street, and someone bumped into him. They both disappeared in a flash of portkey magic.”

“Fuck,” he said. “Okay, stay right there. I’ll be there momentarily. Try to preserve as much of the scene as you can.”

“I’ll block off the sidewalk until you get here,” she said. “Just… hurry.”

“I’ll let Deerford know and be on my way,” Max said with a curt nod.

He ended the call, so she tucked the mirror back into her bag and pulled out a runestone. She rubbed her thumb over the carving. Once activated, it would block the area of the sidewalk where Tony and their mystery abductor had been just before the portkey activated. She set the stone on the sidewalk and pushed a little magic into it with her index finger. The ward sprang up, holding a three-foot area in stasis until Max showed up.

She stepped back and leaned against the building, pulling her mirror out of her bag once again. There were probably a bunch of people she needed to reach out to, but for the moment, there were only two that she really needed.

“Sirius Black,” she said. The mirror wavered for a moment before her friend appeared.

“Ellie, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you for a couple of days,” he said. “Is everything alright?”

“I’m afraid not,” she said, shaking her head. “Tony and I arrived in London this morning, but he was abducted off the street, right in front of me. I’ve called Max, and he’s on his way.”

“I’ll let Grandfather know and join you,” Sirius said. “Any idea who might have taken him?”

“I didn’t get a good look at the guy, but I don’t recognize him,” she said. “I’m not sure at this point if Tony was just convenient, or if he was the target.”

“We’ll figure it out,” he said. “Just stay put, and I’ll come to you. It looks like you’re still on Diagon Alley.”

“Yeah, I thought Tony might like to have a look around,” she said. She opened her mouth to say something else, but Sirius interrupted her.

“Don’t,” he said, shaking his head. “Don’t beat yourself up. It’s not your fault he was taken. We’ll find him, on that you have my word.”

“Sirius, he’s…” She paused and took a deep breath. “He’s my soulmate. I don’t want to lose him. I can’t lose him.”

Sirius’ eyes widened. “That sounds like a story. You’ll have to tell me how that happened when this crisis is over, because I was under the impression that soulmate magic had left the world.”

“I was under the same impression,” she said. “But here we are. Just… hurry.”

“I’m on my way,” he said as he signed off.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down and looked back at her mirror. “Jethro Gibbs.”

It took a few moments, but his face finally appeared in the mirror. “Bishop. What’s going on?”

“Tony’s missing,” she said without preamble. “He was taken off the street in Diagon Alley. No idea by whom or why as yet. My partner is on his way, and I’ve called another friend from the ICW to help.”

“I’ll get to New York and get a portkey to London ASAP,” Gibbs said without even asking.

Before she could respond, the mirror went dark. She huffed, but it was so on brand for Gibbs that she couldn’t even get mad.

Max apparated a few feet from the stasis field and joined her. “Deerford has given us leave to pursue this case as we see fit. If we need more resources, we only need to ask.”

“I’ve called in some help,” she said, waving her mirror before she tucked it back into her bag. “Sirius Black is on his way, and Gibbs is securing a portkey to London as we speak.”

“You moved fast,” he said. “Black is the cousin, right?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I’d have had to call him anyway, so he could notify his grandfather—Tony’s uncle.”

“And Gibbs?” Max asked, one eyebrow raised.

Ellie shrugged. “He’s Tony’s boss. They’re close. If I hadn’t called him, I’d have never heard the end of it.”

Max laughed. “Well, he’s good in a fight, and we might need that before it’s all said and done.”

“Right,” she said.

Just then, Sirius appeared. “Anything yet?”

“I’ve only just arrived,” Max said. He held out a hand, which Sirius readily shook. “Nice to see you again, mate. Wish it were under better circumstances.”

“Same,” Sirius said. He glanced over at the stasis field. “Did you recognize the person who took him?”

“No,” Ellie said with a shake of her head. “He bumped into Tony as we were passing on the street. I had no idea what his intent was until Tony was gone.”

“You’re sure it was a portkey?” Max asked.

“I scanned the area before I set up the ward,” Ellie said. “Definitely a portkey.”

“Okay, then,” Sirius said. “I’ll head down Knockturn Alley and hit some of the usual suspects. If he bought it here, someone will remember him.”

“You want some backup?” Max asked.

“I’ll be fine here,” Ellie said. “I don’t think either of you should be alone on Knockturn. You both scream law enforcement.”

“You shouldn’t be left alone here, either,” Max said. “What if the guy comes back to eliminate the only witness to his crime?”

“I’ve got her back.”

All three turned to find Gibbs walking down the street. “Well, that was fast,” Ellie muttered.

Gibbs just smirked. “What have we got?”

“I confirmed it was a portkey before I erected the containment ward,” Ellie said. “These two were just about to head down Knockturn Alley to see if they could find the shop where he bought it.”

“No guarantee he bought it here, but if it was a crime of opportunity, it makes sense,” Sirius said.

“And if it was preplanned, he could have secured a portkey anywhere,” Max said. “Yeah, I know, needle in a haystack. But we have to start somewhere.”

“Let’s get going,” Sirius said. “We’ll check in with you as soon as we’ve finished.”

Ellie just waved them away as she rummaged through her bag for her crime scene kit—the magical one, not the No-Maj one. She pulled the moleskine bag from the bottom of her backpack and opened it up. There were a few more wardstones inside, along with an autoquill and some parchment for creating scene reports.

She set up the quill to record the diagnostics they were about to run, then nodded at Gibbs when she was ready to take down the ward. She reached down and cancelled the magic on the wardstone. Immediately, Gibbs whipped out his wand and cast several spells. The quill scraped across the parchment at a dizzying pace, drawing sketches and making note of all magical signatures, including the one left behind by the kidnapper.

It only took about ten minutes for the spells to run their course. Both Ellie and Gibbs kept a close eye on the whole process. When it was done, Ellie plucked up the parchment and scanned the contents, Gibbs reading over her shoulder.

“Portkey magic,” Gibbs hummed. “And one magical signature. No effort made to hide it, so if you have it on file, we should be able to track him.”

“What are the odds this guy is in the system?” Ellie asked, though she already knew the answer.

“He was bold enough to take Tony in broad daylight,” Gibbs pointed out.

“Right,” she said. “He wasn’t worried about getting caught, so he’s done this before.”

“Still doesn’t get us any closer to finding this guy,” Gibbs said sourly.

“Let’s hope Sirius and Max have better luck,” she said.

~0~

Tony groaned as he came to. He had a headache, and his mouth felt like it was lined with cotton, but when he tried to get up, he realized he’d been tied to a chair.

“Fan-fucking-tastic,” he muttered.

It figured he’d get himself kidnapped just as soon as he landed on British shores. He wasn’t even safe from the lunatic fringe in Merry Olde England, it seemed. He glanced around, trying to get his bearings a bit.

The room was of average size, cold, and dank. So, somewhere near the river, perhaps. A warehouse in the port district made sense. No one ever really paid attention to the comings and goings in that area, despite the need for customs enforcement.

He squirmed a little in the ropes holding him to his chair, and they tightened around him in response. So, magical bindings, which meant whoever had taken him was magical. That certainly put a new spin on things.

He took as deep a breath as the ropes would allow and tried to calm his heart down, knowing that the rope spell was reacting to his physical and mental state. Slowly, he calmed down, and in turn, the ropes loosened up just enough for him to breathe more freely.

“Well, how am I going to get out of this predicament?” he muttered to himself.

The door swung open, and the man who’d kidnapped him walked in. He was middle-aged, with dark hair and green eyes. Perfectly average in every respect; even his magical power was just average. Tony turned up the dial on his mage sight as Firewalker had taught him and took a good look at his captor. The man was smarmy, just the sort of criminal his father would have consorted with. There were pockets of darkness in his aura that were disturbing, to say the least. Tony shuddered.

“Not too chatty now, are we?” the man asked as he circled the chair Tony was tied to.

Thankfully, the man had left Tony’s coat on, though the warming charm Ellie had thrown on him was long gone. He figured he’d been in this place for a few hours at least.

“I don’t think I got your name,” Tony said, for lack of anything better to say. Maybe if he talked long enough, he’d get the guy to confess to why he’d taken Tony and what he planned to do with him.

“Perhaps because I didn’t give you one,” the man said, smarmy smile still in place. “But if you need one, you may call me Dylan.”

“Like Bob Dylan?” Tony asked. He cocked his head to the side. “I suppose there’s a resemblance. Pointy nose, nasally voice. I’d bet good money you can’t carry a tune in a bucket, though.”

“Do you fancy yourself a comedian?” the man calling himself Dylan asked.

“I do like to use humor to defuse the tension at times,” Tony said with as much of a shrug as the ropes would allow. “Doesn’t make me a comedian, though. Any more than singing in the shower makes you Bob Dylan.”

The man turned, drew his wand, and sent a stinging hex at Tony. It slashed across his cheek, leaving a streak of pain behind.

“Ow!” Tony barked. “That wasn’t necessary, you know. I’ve never even heard you sing in the shower, so I have no idea if you can even sing.”

“You don’t seem to be taking this situation very seriously, Anthony DiNozzo, Jr.,” Dylan said. “What can I do to make you understand that this isn’t play time?”

“Just because I’m cracking jokes doesn’t mean I don’t get that I’m in trouble, here,” Tony said. His panic meter ratcheted up a notch at the fact that the man knew his full name. “The ropes gave that away, if you want to know the truth. Well, and waking up alone in a warehouse in the port district.”

“Very good,” Dylan said, smirking. “Your detective skills are as advertised, I see.”

“Well, I don’t like to brag…” Tony trailed off. Dylan sent another stinging hex at him, though this one Tony managed to dodge at the last second. “You know, I find it rude to torture someone without telling them why they’re being tortured. If you’re after information, all you’ve got to do is ask.”

“Oh, I’m not after information,” Dylan said. He fired another stinging hex at Tony. This one made contact with his shoulder. “I met you once as a boy. Did you know that?”

“Courtesy of my father, I presume?” Tony asked. He really didn’t remember the man, but then he’d tried to forget the parade of con men and criminals his father had associated with over the years.

“Your mother, actually,” Dylan said. “She was worried that your father would attempt to use your magic to pull one of his cons. Her solution was to have your magic bound.”

“And let me guess, you were the one who performed the spell,” Tony said. “Well, I’d say it’s nice to see you again, but it’s really not.”

Another stinging hex flashed by him; he was getting really tired of being hexed. He still had the dimensional store the Dverger had sold him, which contained his wand among other things. And he still had his ring on, which meant that Dylan didn’t know what it was, or else he’d have confiscated it.

Not that he was confident in his offensive or defensive magic to use either magical focus at the moment. He’d have to pick his opportunity very carefully.

“What your mother didn’t realize was that by repressing your magic, she was helping me create a powerful tool,” Dylan said. “Children as powerful as you are who are forced to repress their magic will often become an Obscurial. You were a gift to me. With you and the Obscurus you carry, I can wield power the likes of which no one has seen.”

“Well, fuck,” Tony said. “You’re crazier than a shithouse rat. I wish I’d known that. I’d have tried to escape sooner.”

“Oh, you’re not going anywhere, Anthony,” Dylan said with the sort of evil grin that Tony had always believed only happened in the movies. “You’re going to be my path to fortune and fame. Together we will—”

“Please don’t say rule the world,” Tony said. “That’s the most ridiculous, overused trope in cinema today. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to be a cliché.”

“I’m quite serious,” Dylan said, clearly becoming frustrated by Tony’s lack of cooperation. Good. In Tony’s experience, the angrier the criminal got, the more mistakes they made.

“So am I,” Tony said. “I’m not… whatever it is you think I am. And even if I were, I’m not going to help you do anything except maybe get arrested. That would be good.”

“You’re going to do exactly as I say,” Dylan said, low and intense. “And if you don’t…”

“You’ll what?” Tony asked when the man just trailed off. “You’re not going to kill me. You can’t use me if I’m dead, so what else is there?”

“Perhaps I haven’t been using the correct spells, thus far,” Dylan said. “You’ll change your mind. They always do.”

He paused and took a deep breath, likely for dramatic effect. Tony rolled his eyes. “Crucio”

The curse burst from the man’s wand and hit Tony square in his chest, knocking the breath from his lungs. It felt like tiny knives piercing his skin; it spread through his body like a fire, pushing into every corner and crevice until he was nauseous with the pain.

Just as soon as it started, it was over. Tony gasped for breath, trying to rein in his fluttering heart, which felt like it was either going to explode or stop altogether.

“Now, release the Obscurus and show me what you’ve got,” Dylan ordered.

“Perhaps you didn’t hear me the first time,” Tony said breathlessly. “I’m not an Obscurus.”

“Still not ready to cooperate, eh?”

Tony braced himself as the curse hit him once again, fire dancing along his nerves until he was white with the pain of it. When it ended, he was left gasping for air, slumped in his bindings.

Dylan took a step toward him, and Tony chanced a look at his captor. The man was sweating, his hands shaking, and his breathing coming in short gasps. So, there was a cost to casting that curse. He knew it was classed as Unforgivable and that intent mattered, as with all curses.

He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take, but he needed to weaken Dylan as much as he could if he was to have any chance of getting out of this situation. Sitting around and waiting for rescue just wasn’t his style. He was just going to have to rescue himself.

~0~

Cast (from top left):
Patrick Stewart, Aiden Turner, Michael Weatherly, Colin Firth, Callum Blue, Emily Wickersham, Rege-Jean Page, Mark Harmon