As Harry raced toward the dead end, he pointed his wand to the ground and whispered the spell to project his image. "Ego exertus!" Casting the spell was no problem, but moving his body and his image simultaneously proved slightly nauseating for Harry.
Harry's physical body, now invisible, took a left at the dead end while the visible image projection of Harry's body took a right. Harry stopped physically running, though he pressed his image on just a little bit further.
In an attempt to make it so he could stop the nausea and more firmly grasp his bearings, Harry quickly ensured that his physical body was about ten feet away from the t-shaped intersection, and that it had its left hand outstretched, the cheap wand aimed dead ahead toward his projected image. He then focused his senses on his projected image.
The pounding footsteps of his pursuers came within earshot. Harry made his projected image bend over as if he was out of breath and panting. Big and Bigger rounded the corner and spotted Harry's image immediately. They pointed their wands at Harry's image.
"I think you can stop right there," growled Bigger.
" Stupefy! '" yelled Big, not wasting time on smart remarks. He could see the image of Harry's wand pointed toward him. The beam of red light passed harmlessly through Harry's projected image. Confused, Big and Bigger stared at Harry.
Harry smirked at the pair of toughs. " Stupefy multiplicitus! "
Several stunners exploded from the cheap wand that Harry's invisible body was holding. Hit by multiple stunners, Big and Bigger fell to the ground, both unconscious. Harry cancelled the image projection spell and was soon fully in his own body, clutching a wand in each hand.
With both amusement and annoyance, Harry noted that the recently-purchased Wanda and Wandel wand was smoking, having been pushed to the edge of its capacity. Deciding that it might still be good for very basic spells, Harry pocketed it and then walked over to the unconscious wizards. A quick glance up and down the street revealed that nobody was around.
Harry used a spell to restrain Big and Bigger, then revived them. "Who sent you after me?" Harry demanded briskly, glaring at them.
"None of your business!" Bigger retorted, struggling against his restraints.
Harry rolled his eyes and with a couple of quick jabs of his wand vanished their sleeves. Surprisingly, Harry found no Dark Marks on their wrists. "So," said Harry quietly, "you haven't been branded yet."
"What are you talking about?" Big demanded, his voice betraying a little bit of fear.
"Tell me what I want to know," Harry commanded, doing his best to imitate Voldemort's trademark hiss. "Who sent you after me?"
"You'll never know," Bigger said loudly, looking back and forth down the alley to see if there were any bystanders that might step in and save them from Harry. There were none.
Harry examined both of them, staring at them with what he hoped was an intimidating expression on his face. He also tried to connect with his magical core and bring some of his power to the surface. His friends from the future had told them that it energized his green eyes.
Big grew very fearful, but Bigger only became more defiant, though said defiance wasn't so much bravery as it was stupid nobility. Harry realized that he wasn't going to get much out of Bigger, though the wizard could still prove useful.
Smiling thinly, Harry waved his wand and levitated Bigger. Harry walked briskly around the corner he'd been chased around, Bigger floating in the air behind him. He set Bigger down on the street, cast a sound distortion charm around them, and then hit Bigger with the most powerful tickling charm Harry could ever remember casting. Harry then conjured a number of firecrackers and set them off. For five minutes, Bigger howled with laughter, though Big, who was sitting around the corner, heard only screams and grunts mixed in with an occasional bang and sizzle.
Harry eventually stunned Bigger before returning to where Big was sitting and sweating it out. Big was ready to tell Harry everything. Without asking, he told Harry every detail he could remember.
"There's a pub down deeper in Knockturn," he gasped, almost as if Harry had tortured him instead of his companion. "It's called the Serpent's Fang. There's a wizard who goes there sometimes. He's offering a reward for anyone who can engineer your capture."
"Tell me more," Harry said.
"That's all I know! By Merlin, I swear!"
"So you just randomly decided to go into the kidnapping business?" Harry said dryly.
"The reward was good-one hundred galleons. Technically, all we had to do was find you and them summon this other bloke, but we got greedy, thought we could barter for more if we captured and held you," Big declared piteously.
"Capture, you say," Harry mused thoughtfully. "What about kill?"
"No. The instructions were specific. You had to be captured alive."
"Wonderful," Harry said. Deciding that he was not likely to get any more information from Big or Bigger, Harry slashed his wand down and obliviated Big. He then rounded the corner, performed the same spell on Bigger, and departed from Knockturn Alley via apparition as he wondered how it was that not a single passerby had appeared to interfere in the whole affair.
....
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