5Home is where the heart is
Harry gave a tight grin at Mr. Devonshire. "There is a small delay in the payment transfer, Mr. Devonshire, nothing to worry about." He grabbed his mirror and furiously whispered into it, "Croaker, answer me you bastard!"
It was no use though, the mirror remained dark. Anthony nodded at the two men closest to Harry; they grabbed his arms and dragged him back towards the center of the room.
"Mr. Thompson, I am growing distressed. If I didn't know better I'd say that you were wasting my time, and I know a smart man such as yourself wouldn't do something like that," he said, with the or else at the end left unspoken.
"If you'll just give me another—" Harry was cut off as Anthony snapped his fingers, and one of the bodyguards loosed a bludgeoning hex at his stomach. He doubled over with the wind knocked out of him from the blow.
"Anthony, you're overreacting, this is all just one big mistake." He wheezed out
Anthony stood up and walked to the large window behind him. With a sigh, he waved a hand at his men. "No Mr. Thompson, the mistake was yours when you wasted months of my time. You know what to do, boys."
The men holding Harry quickly released another bludgeoning hex into his stomach and began to drag him out the door. Colored spots danced across Harry's vision as he tried to regain his equilibrium from the bludgeoning hexes; suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back as the men hit the top of the stairs. He was dimly aware of the trip down the stairs, but by the time they reached the bottom, he had managed to clear his head a bit. The men picked him up and frog-marched him into one of the lobby bathrooms, where they threw him to the floor on his back. While one went to the door as a lookout, the man on the left withdrew his wand and pointed it at Harry.
"Sorry mate, nothing personal." He began to make the motion for the Killing Curse. "Avada Ked—"
Before he could finish the incantation, Harry lashed out with his foot and mule-kicked him in the crotch. The man sank to the floor. Harry scrabbled for the wand and sent a silent Stunner at the second man's back before he could retaliate. He stood up, took a deep breath, and looked down at the man clutching his more than likely ruptured scrotum.
"Nothing personal about this either then, right?" He quickly waved the stolen wand and let off a Killing Curse at each of the downed men.
Harry ran towards the door, but before he could get there he heard a muffled voice coming from the man behind him. Quickly he withdrew his wand and turned to look down at the corpse as he knelt beside it. When he rolled the body over, the voice became clearer: it was coming from a mirror in the man's pocket.
"Vincent, you imbecile, what's taking so damn long?"
Harry cursed quietly and tried to assess his options. He knew Apparition was out because of the wards on the area, and his emergency Portkey had been destroyed by the bludgeoning hexes, sohis only good option was to try and get out of the wards' range and Disapparate to a safe location.
The voice on the mirror got louder. "Vince isn't responding, send a couple of boys down there and tell them to be careful."
Harry hurried for the door and paused in the entryway, where he took a moment to try and clean himself up a bit so he'd attract a little less attention outside. He walked out the door through the lobby; Alala the receptionist waved at him as he passed and started to say something but he was already outside before she could get it out. As he tried to figure out the best way to go, he noted that the area was particularly crowded, which would be good for losing a tail in. He knew that the wards only stretched for about a mile in any direction so he started off east down the sidewalk and tried to lose himself in the crowd, but before he could walk more than thirty feet down the road, he heard shouting coming from the direction of the hotel.
"Vincent and Albert are down, find this bastard and put him down!"
When he glanced back he saw five men splitting up to search different directions. Harry did his best to hurry down the sidewalk without being noticed, but considering his location, it wasn't easy at all. He hadn't made it more than ten more feet when he noticed the men coming in his direction break into a sprint. Casting subtlety aside he knew he'd been spotted and he started running; he turned a corner and went down the first alley he came across. He knew he didn't have long to get away: with any organized chase, the longer it went on, the more time reinforcements had to arrive and the pursuers to make plans. Harry had the advantage that they couldn't use any magic to catch him in such a crowded Muggle area, and they would have to rely on only chasing him down.
As he turned another corner he realized he'd come to a dead end; with no options left, he decided to try his luck with one of the doors and he slammed through the door straight ahead of him at the end of the alleyway. A woman screamed as the door burst open but he didn't stop, he knew that if he stopped only for a minute he was screwed. Luckily the back door of the house was unlocked. He threw it open and continued onward into the wooded area behind the house. It was a few hundred more feet to go until he was safely out of range of the wards. His legs burned from the strain of sprinting for so long but he poured on the speed.
Before he could get further, he saw a robed figure emerge from the tree line. He raised his wand to let off a spell but relaxed as the figure got closer.
"Lee?"
Lee broke into a grin and waved at his old friend and comrade in the Unspeakables.
"Harry, I'm so happy you're alive. We've been looking all over for you."
"Lee, what the hell is going on? Croaker said something about a burn notice out on me and left me to die back there."
Lee nodded. "I know, Harry, so that's why I really hate to do this."
Harry looked bewildered for a moment before a spell struck him in the collapsed to the ground and as everything started to fade, he caught one last look at Lee's face before everything faded to black.
Pain was the only thought Harry could process as he blearily began to open his eyes. When his sight finally started to adjust, he tried to look around. He was lying on a rather comfortable bed and his wounds from the meeting were gone. The floorboards creaked nearby and he heard a soft feminine voice with a hint of a french accent "Good morning Harry."