4 4. FIRST CASE AND MEETING A LUCKY GIRL.

Harry found and bought a business with Kate's help in just a few days. The place cost $300,000 and included a building in Queens with a business and two apartments.

He was surprised by how smoothly everything went. He thought there would be a lot of paperwork and complications, but it all went well. He also got a better rate for converting his gold than he expected, losing only 15% instead of 40%.

However, there were still things to sort out, like getting a work visa, business license, and insurance, but he saw those as minor details.

When he entered the building with the keys, Harry realized it needed a lot of work. It was in bad shape from its previous use for illegal activities and being seized by the city. There was damage from humidity, walls that needed repair and repainting, and electrical wiring that needed redoing.

In just a day, Harry used his charm and magic skills to fully restore the business and apartments, solving major issues in no time and at zero cost. What would've taken months and lots of money happened almost instantly.

He spent the next two days transforming debris into furniture through transfiguration—old wooden crates turned into tables, and rusted steel became bookshelves. To fill these shelves, he bought used books from a local store. However, his most valuable spell books stayed locked away as they were one-of-a-kind and irreplaceable manuscripts.

Harry muttered about needing to copy his books before something happened. He shopped for things he couldn't make—like a stove, fridge, TV, and lamps. He also bought a bed and linen.

He set up sneakoscopes by the entrances, silencing them. Hermione's better one was above the business door, Ron's in his apartment.

Finally ready to open, Harry transfigured the sign, blending his ideas: "Harry Potter - Wizard for Hire: Problems solved with arguable efficiency."

With no customers at first, he tinkered with omniocular charm work. He realized they could identify people, like the Marauder's Map, a useful skill for his new job if he could enchant his glasses similarly.

Just as he made progress on the charms, his first customer arrived at his office.

The bell on the door interrupted Harry as he saw a nervous Hispanic woman in casual clothes. She seemed uneasy, looking around his office and wringing her hands. The sneakoscope showed she wasn't a threat.

"Hello, I'm Harry Potter. Please, come in. Can I get you some tea?" Harry offered, guiding her to a chair.

He poured her a cup and asked, "How can I help?"

"It's my son, Samuel. He's been missing for two weeks," she explained.

"Have you told the police?" Harry asked.

"We're not here legally. Going to the police wouldn't really help," she said.

"Okay, Mrs...?" Harry prompted, wanting to know her name.

"Hernandez. Alejandra Hernandez."

"Mrs. Hernandez, let's try something." Harry requested and took a picture of her son and a brush. He grabbed a New York map and a bit of ink, mixing the boy's hair into it.

Studying the magic from the Marauder's map, he improvised a charm using the boy's hair as a link. Dropping the hair-infused ink on the map, Harry cast the spell.

The drop moved to the Bronx. Using a detailed Bronx map, he repeated the process, narrowing the location down.

"There's a general area in the Bronx," Harry explained.

He used a variation of the Homonculous Charm, akin to what the Marauders had used but based on the link to the boy instead of Hogwarts' wards. By dropping the hair-infused ink on a map and casting the charm, Harry could track a general area of the missing boy.

"Okay, that helps."

"You truly are a wizard! You, you really are a wizard!"

"That's what it says on my business card," Harry replied jokingly. "Or, it would if I actually had any business cards."

Harry noted down Alejandra's information, assuring her he'd reach out once he found her son.

He secured his wand to his wrist holster and wheeled his motorcycle out from his office's backroom. Checking his maps, he navigated toward the Mount Eden area in the Bronx.

With a small map from a community center and the last of his ink, Harry pinpointed the location of his target to a rundown apartment complex.

A simple charm kept regular thieves and even parking attendants uninterested in Harry's motorcycle as he entered the apartment complex.

Upon stepping through the main doors, a large man blocked Harry's path.

"Need something?" the man inquired, eyeing Harry suspiciously.

"Yeah, I'm looking for Samuel Hernandez. Is he around here?" Harry inquired.

The man scrutinized Harry for a moment, trying to gauge his intentions.

"Wasn't trying to harm him. His folks were just worried, so I offered to check in," Harry explained.

"Okay. He's in 107. Just turn right, down the hall," the man responded.

Thanking him, Harry walked in the direction he was directed. As he passed by, he noticed movement and swiftly dodged a punch, but couldn't avoid the ensuing kick to the head.

He came to later, his head pounding, on a grimy mattress in a rundown room among other people.

Someone was gently wiping his forehead with a damp cloth. As he focused, Harry saw it was a teenage girl with a punk haircut, one side shaved close to her head. Her tired brown eyes met his.

"What happened?" Harry croaked.

"You were tricked, like the rest of us," she explained.

"Sounds about right. How long was I out?"

"About an hour."

"Where are my things?"

"I don't know, somewhere in the building. But it doesn't matter. We're trapped here," she whispered urgently.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"We're prisoners. They make us package drugs. Work all day, sleep a little, then back to work," she explained, looking around nervously.

"Who are they?"

"I don't know. They don't say much. Could be any of the gangs in New York."

Harry tried to stand but the room spun wildly.

Sitting up instead of standing, Harry thanked the girl and started assessing his situation. He was a prisoner of a drug cartel along with others. His captors had his wand, but he still had some limited wandless magic, primarily for minor summoning. Spells like alohomora, the banishing charm, and arresto momentum were on his list but hadn't been mastered yet.

"

"What's your name?" Harry asked the girl.

"Uh... Domino, you can call me Domino, you?"

"Harry. Harry Potter. Is there a Samuel Hernandez here?"

A young Hispanic boy hesitantly replied, "That's me."

"Right. Your parents asked me to find you, so how about we get out of here?" Harry suggested.

"And how the heck do you plan on doing that?" Domino asked. "These people are armed to the teeth, and we're locked in."

Harry shrugged. "I've been in worse situations than this before. This will be a piece of cake."

He needed more time to recover, but he couldn't risk being without his wand for too long. Although he had the Death Stick in his trunk in Queens, he preferred not to rely on it as his main wand. Apparating to his apartment wasn't an option with a head injury.

Unsteadily, Harry stood up and approached the door.

It wasn't an impressive door. Just a simple interior one, locked from the outside with a few deadbolts. Vernon had put on more locks in the summer of '92.

Others in the room stepped back as Harry reached for the door.

"If you're heading out, then it's about time I left this place," Domino remarked casually.

"You seem pretty relaxed for a prisoner," Harry observed.

"What can I say, sweetheart? I could've gotten out sooner or later; your arrival here sped up the process," Domino replied.

"Confident aren't you?" asked Harry.

"No honey, I am just very lucky." Answered Domino.

Harry rummaged through a waste basket and retrieved the hilt of the sword of Gryffindor from his apartment, drawing the blade.

"Stay here. I'll clear the way out," Harry instructed the others.

Domino stopped Harry and said, "Really? A sword?"

Harry answered back, "Well, it's not just a sword."

Approaching the door, he slid the sword between the door and the frame, easily slicing through the lock with the enchanted goblin blade.

Taking a breath, Harry cautiously peeked into the hallway. Two large men in gang uniforms had their backs turned, chatting.

Swiftly, Harry knocked one man down and, wielding the sword, confronted the other.

"Drop your weapon and kick it over here," Harry demanded.

The man hesitated but eventually complied, warning Harry of the number of enemies inside.

"Get on your knees, hands behind your head. Tell me where my things are," Harry ordered, kicking the man's gun further down the hall.

"I won't tell you anything! They'll kill me!" the man protested.

"Fine, the hard way it is," Harry replied, hitting the man's head with his sword's pommel.

He continued down the corridor, finding more prisoners in locked rooms. Signaling them to stay quiet, Harry kept searching.

Turning a corner, Harry faced two men walking toward him, unaware of his presence.

Waiting for them to come closer, Harry struck the first man in the face, breaking his nose. The second man reached for his weapon, but Harry attempted to disarm him with a swift motion, causing the man to lose his grip.

Unexpectedly, the first man twisted Harry's arm, forcing him onto the dirty carpet, dropping his sword.

A sudden commotion distracted the attackers. Harry used the opportunity to free himself, grabbing his sword and assuming a defensive position.

The girl who had tended to him joined the fight, incapacitating her opponent. Harry faced his assailant, dodging a tackle and striking the man's head with his sword's pommel.

Harry turned to the girl, finding her repeatedly hitting the unconscious man.

"Stop! He's down," Harry said, pulling her away.

"Why didn't you use your sword?" she demanded angrily.

"I try not to kill," Harry replied calmly.

"The sword's poison! It's lethal," he explained. "We should leave first."

Domino picked up a pistol from the ground, and they found Harry's belongings in a storage room.

"Yes! Let's grab what we need and get out," Harry said, eager to leave quickly.

Domino grabbed a second pistol, and they found Harry's things in a storage room, lifting their hopes. As they planned to leave quickly, five men stormed into the room. Harry aimed his wand and yelled "DEPULSO!", sending three men crashing down. Domino shot another, and Harry stunned the rest for safety.

Domino checked the men for ammo while Harry scanned the hallway with a spell. He sensed about ten people gathered farther ahead.

"What are you?" Domino asked, pointing her gun.

"A wizard. We'll talk later," Harry replied.

Harry used a spell to sense ten people waiting in the hallway. "They're probably ready to attack as soon as we step out," he said.

He devised a plan. "Let's give them something to shoot at."

Meanwhile, armed men and women in the hallway waited for Harry and Domino, intending to open fire the moment they appeared.

Suddenly, the noise of cawing birds grew louder. "What's happening?" someone asked as the noise intensified.

"OPPUGNO!" a voice shouted from the storage room.

A flock of ravens poured out, attacking the armed group, causing chaos with their cawing and flapping. Harry and Domino took cover behind a magically protected table, shielding themselves from bullets.

As the gunfire and screams echoed, Harry hoped the other prisoners remained safe.

After a brief silence, Harry prepared to confront the injured and disarmed criminals. He cast spells to neutralize anyone still a threat.

"Clear!" Harry called back.

Realizing they weren't in the clear yet, Harry asked Domino to fetch the other prisoners while he checked for any remaining threats. He sensed three more people nearby but wasn't sure if they were hostile.

"I'll lead. You get the others," he instructed.

Domino nodded and hurried to the rooms where the other prisoners were held.

Harry spent a moment clearing some of the gore from the hallway, not wanting to cause any distress to the people he was trying to help. The magical exertion, coupled with his head injury, left him feeling drained.

When Domino returned with the prisoners, Harry noticed some minor injuries among them, probably from stray bullets.

"Stay close and wait for my signal," Harry instructed the group. He then handed Domino the key to a motorcycle parked across the street.

As they approached an intersection, Harry sensed two people in a cross hallway ahead. He couldn't detect the third person anymore.

"Two enemies to the right," Harry told Domino. "I'll cover you while you get the others across."

Taking a deep breath, Harry turned the corner, facing a barrage of bullets. Despite being hit in the shoulder, he summoned a shield charm that deflected the bullets back at the gunmen.

"Run! Quick!" Harry shouted, urging Domino and the prisoners to move.

As the gunmen's weapons clicked empty, Harry dropped his protective shield.

Using a spell, one of the thugs was flung upward and crashed back to the ground. The other reloaded but took cover when Domino shot at him.

"They're out of ammo! Let's go!" Domino screamed, pulling Harry outside.

Exhausted and injured, Harry stumbled into the morning light and quickly joined Samuel on the motorcycle. They sped off down the street, pursued by two bikes and an SUV.

One of the pursuing SUVs lost control and crashed after a tire blew out during a turn.

Harry accelerated the motorcycle, trying to outrun the remaining vehicles.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Domino asked as the other motorcycles gained ground.

"I only learned how to drive like two weeks ago. I'd rather not survive what we just did just to crash," Harry explained, turning down an alleyway.

Finding a highway, Harry hit a button on the bike, creating a burst of fire that propelled them at incredible speeds.

An explosion behind them indicated their pursuer had been hit.

Exiting the highway, they stopped at a parking structure. Harry asked Samuel to call his parents from a payphone outside.

With Samuel gone, Harry asked Domino for help, his injured arm hanging limp.

Domino nodded, the adrenaline wearing off.

"Can you take my jacket and shirt off? I think I was hit back there," Harry asked, revealing a bad bullet wound.

"The bullet missed the bones at least," Harry observed in the mirrors.

Using a healing spell, Harry closed the wound, leaving a scar.

"One issue with that spell, it leaves scar tissue," Harry explained.

Too tired to clean his clothes, he put them back on.

Domino woke him, warning about falling asleep after a head injury.

"So, what are you?" Domino asked.

Tired and not thinking clearly, Harry decided to tell her the truth.

"I'm a wizard. Or that's what Hagrid said." Answered Harry in a half-joking tone.

Samuel came back. "My dad's coming," he said.

"That's good. You'll be safe here. I'll head home," Harry said, trying to stand but stumbling.

"You're in no shape to drive," Domino said, taking the keys. "I'll take you."

Harry tried to object but knew he couldn't drive or apparate.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. I owe you my life!" shouted Samuel.

Harry waved goodbye to Samuel and got on the motorcycle with Domino.

"Take care, Samuel. Oh! Here, Domino. Geminio!" Harry said, creating a duplicate of his helmet and marking it with a red spot. "It'll work for a few days."

He gave Domino his address in Queens, and they rode off into the night.

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(edited chapter.)

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