Harry returned to his hotel room later that night, pulling out his new camera he hit the button to develop his pictures and spent several minutes flipping through them.
He was pleased to see that he had gotten several good shots of the odd little creature that he had seen, and he was a bit disappointed that several of his photos had not turned out quite as well as he might have hoped.
Placing one of them into an envelope, he addressed it to the Quibbler and chuckled as he imagined Luna's reaction to some of the odd positions the little creature would take.
Discarding the one photo that appeared to be nothing but an empty patch of grass, he carefully packed the rest of them and went to sleep.
Harry got up early the next morning and shouldered his pack, approaching the front desk he smiled at the staff.
"Good morning Mr. Black, did you sleep well?" The polite young man behind the counter asked.
"Yes I did, thank you," Harry nodded back; "I've decided that it's time I moved on."
"I see, checking out then?" The worker pulled out a form, "sign here please."
Harry signed the form and paid his bill, "I was wondering if you could do one favor for me?"
"Of course, what can I do for you?"
"I was wondering if you would be willing to have this letter posted to England?" Harry slid the envelope across the desk.
"Of course," the man took the letter, "I shall have it sent out immediately."
"Thank you," Harry gave one last sad smile, "and have a good day."
"You as well Mr. Black, and do not hesitate to call on us if you find yourself without a place to stay in your future visits to our lovely city."
"I won't," Harry smiled at the thought of living long enough to make a return trip, "good bye."
Harry stepped out the door and within a few minutes had arrived at the train station, walking up to the window; he bought a ticket to Paris and hurried to his waiting train.
While he waited for the train to leave, Harry found himself lost in thought. He wished that he could have spent more time in Holland, Harry realized that with the fact that he was being actively hunted by at least two powers that it would not be prudent to stay in one place for too long.
So it was with a heavy heart, Harry boarded his train and left the Low Countries behind.
As Harry's train left the station, two Staatstovenaars were busy searching his vacant hotel room to see what if any clues the mysterious Mr. Black had left behind.
"What have you got there Bisseling?" One of the Staatstovenaars asked his colleague.
"I'm not sure Dubbeldam," the man squinted at the photo that he had found in the waste basket, "looks like a photo of an empty patch of grass."
"Hand that over," Staatstovenaar Dubbeldam held out his hand, "let me look at it a bit."
"What do you think of it?" Bisseling asked after he had handed the photo over, "why would Mr. Black have left that for us?"
"I'm not . . ." the Staatstovenaar's eyes widened in surprise and he spoke in a tone of awed disbelief, "I don't believe it."
"What?"
"I was assigned to watch over Mr. Black yesterday, command felt that there was a very large chance that he might be attacked by Death Eaters and they wanted to provide a bit of discreet protection." He took a breath, "Mr. Black spotted the tail they had on him the previous day so I was given an Invisibility cloak."
"So?"
"So what I am holding is a picture of the indentations on the grass caused by my standing on it," Dubbeldam looked at his partner, "they said he was good but I never imagined that he could be this good."
"How do you know he didn't have a magic eye or something like that British Staatstovenaar?"
"We checked him for that," Dubbeldam sat on the bed, "and our scans confirmed that he wasn't using any form of Mage Sight."
"So how did he know you were there?" Bisseling asked, "how could he have known?"
"Skill," Dubbeldam replied in a whisper, "he saw my footprints or maybe he heard me breathing, and he left this picture as a lesson."
"What kind of lesson?"
"That if you are going to follow somebody under an Invisibility Cloak, you should remember that you leave other signs and that people have other senses." Dubbeldam stood up, "remember that lesson, while I doubt that you will ever have cause to deal with someone like Mr. Black in the future, it is best to remember that everyone can get lucky."
"I will," Bisseling blinked at the picture, "where do you suppose Mr. Black came from, what kind of place turns out men like him?"
"I don't know, he might be an Onspreekbare or he might be from another sort of department that we haven't even heard of. One thing I do know," Dubbeldam voice firmed as he stood up, "he isn't any kind of Staatstovenaar, otherwise we'd have heard about someone this good before now."
"To start with, I would like to thank everyone for coming to this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix." Albus Dumbledore looked over the group of people, "as always, it warms my heart to see so many people dedicated to the fight against the dark.
Several members of the group applauded politely as the Headmaster finished his opening remarks.
"I have called this meeting for several reasons," Albus began after the applause trailed off, "the first is to give everyone an update on our search for Harry Potter and the second is to allow you all a chance to hear some intriguing new information discovered by one of our members, Kingsley if you would start."
The tall Auror stood, "so far we have turned up nothing in our search for 'The-Boy-Who-Lived,' though we have ruled out the possibility that he is hiding in one of England's magical enclaves, and the current thought is that he has probably used his knowledge of the muggle world to find a suitable place to hide."
"Thank you Kingsley," Albus nodded happily, "Bill?"
"Harry's account has not had any withdrawals for quite some time . . ." the red head trailed off.
"What is it?" Dumbledore prompted.
"Something is bothering me," Bill replied absent mindedly, "not sure what it is though."
"I have faith that you will figure things out in due time," Dumbledore nodded, "I believe that you had another matter you wished to discuss before we adjourned Alastor."
"One thing," the scarred man agreed, "a few days ago, four death eaters were involved in an attack in Amsterdam."
"Why didn't we hear about this before?" Shacklebolt asked curiously.
"Because the four of them were put down before they had a chance to cast a single spell," Moody replied with an evil looking leer."
"Dutch Aurors have some sort of field to detect magical transport?" Kingsley mused.
"No," Mad Eye's leer became more pronounced, "they had the misfortune to appear before a man by the name of Black who became slightly annoyed at having his meal interrupted."
"And?" Dumbledore leaned forward in interest.
"And he hit the lot of them with a dozen Reductor Curses, had em' down before they could blink." He let out a harsh wheezing laugh, "man I know in Dutch Law Enforcement tells me that whatever else he is, this man is a serious player, said that he spotted every one of the tails they put on him."
"You think we could recruit him?" Dumbledore asked hopefully.
"Too soon to tell," Moody snorted, "though I doubt that he would be willing to work here if he's as good as they say he is, and if he isn't as good then I don't think that we should waste the resources to find him. So at the moment my advice is to wait and see if we can get more information."
Harry smiled as he got off the train and took his first breath of Parisian air. Looking around, he made the split decision to do a bit of sightseeing before going off in search of a hotel room and at the moment his first inclination was to head towards the tower that had for generations defined the Paris skyline.
Hailing a taxi, Harry told the driver to take him to the Eiffel Tower and then sunk back into his seat to enjoy the car's air-conditioning.
"Wake up," the driver's voice pulled Harry back to consciousness, "we have arrived."
"Thank you," Harry paid the man his fee and left the cab, walking towards the great elevators that serviced the tower.
Looking past the crowds of people waiting in line, Harry stepped up to a small ticket booth that went unnoticed by the majority of the people waiting in line.
"How may I help you?" The attendant in the booth asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I would like to visit one of the observation decks," Harry answered with a smile.
"This booth is for magical sections only," the attendant replied with a board tone, "would you still like to buy a ticket?"
Harry purchased the ticket with a nod assuming that the magical section would be less crowded then the non magical one, "what now?"
"Go towards one of the normal elevators and step inside, the ticket will do everything else."
"Thank you," Harry nodded politely and then walked towards one of the elevators, noting with surprise the way people seemed to take no note of his presence among their number.
Stepping into one of the elevators Harry's excitement grew as it began its trip to the highest level.
"Wait one moment sir," the conductor stopped Harry before he had a chance to leave the elevator, "we haven't reached your stop yet."
The doors closed and then opened without any perceptible movement of the car, "here we are sir."
"Thank you," Harry nodded to the conductor, "and have a good day."
"You as well," the conductor called out in reply as the doors of the elevator closed once more.
Stepping out onto the deck, Harry found that his earlier assumption that the magical section would be less crowded was true. Looking around, he found that the observation deck was empty save a small man and his larger female companion.
Walking towards the two to get a glance of the magnificent view, Harry began to hear bits of a rather . . . odd conversation.
"Look at the lines Henchgirl," the little man gestured towards one of the supporting beams, "can you imagine a more elegant way to construct this tower?"
The girl shook her head in silent wonder as she admired a line of rivets, "it is truly wondrous." She agreed, "But Professor, when shall we get a chance to make our own masterpiece?"
"Soon Henchgirl soon, I feel that we are not yet ready to embark on such a project." The little man answered sadly, "We must allow ourselves to learn all the mysteries of science before we create another such wondrous structure."
"Yes," the 'henchgirl' struck a dramatic pose, "but some day the world will gasp in awe upon seeing the marvels that we work."
"Yes," the small man stopped upon noticing Harry's approach, "it appears that we have a visitor."
"Good afternoon," Harry nodded politely, "may I ask what you are doing?"
"What we are doing is admiring the design of this amazing engineering masterpiece, we do it because our job, no our passion is to meld the wonders of science with the mysteries of magic to create perfection," he answered proudly. "To do so, we must familiarize ourselves with great feats of engineering like this tower here."
"Oh?" Harry regarded the two curiously.
"Yes," the little man answered proudly, "and I can see by the fact that you have not recoiled in horror that you share my vision of combining magic and technology."
"I suppose," Harry shrugged, "or it could be that I don't know enough to recoil in horror."
"Nonsense," the little man disagreed, "I can tell that you are a man of intelligence and refinement so allow me to introduce myself, I am Professor Fergus Farnsworth and this is my henchgirl, Henchgirl."
"Hello," Henchgirl waved.
"And together we are the greatest team of magical engineers that the world has ever seen." The two of them gave Harry a look of anticipation.
"I'm . . . Mr. Black, and I'm just a guy on vacation."
"Pleased to meet you Mr. Black," the Professor shook his hand, "would you care to aid us in our expedition through the mysteries of life?"
"And what exactly would that entail?" Harry asked the diminutive Professor.
"Do you know what the most difficult part of my job is Mr. Black?" The Professor asked in a flamboyant way, "I'm thinking of what to make next."
"Huh?"
"Take my steam powered hair brush for example," the Professor continued, "it was a marvel of engineering, a wonder of spell-work, but nobody uses it."
"It weighed nineteen pounds," Henchgirl supplied helpfully.
"Yes well," the Professor glared at his assistant, "Henchgirl and I have no problem with the science and the spell-work, but we find ourselves unable to find worthy projects to devote our time to. And so Mr. Black we are asking you to help us."
"Ah," Harry nodded in understanding, "but why are you asking me?"
"Two reasons Mr. Black, the first being that you have not run away or berated us for our 'idiotic' goal and 'muggle loving' ways."
"And the second?"
"I notice that you are wearing an odd pair of glasses Mr. Black, of a kind most often used by archivists and people in . . . government service." The Professor smiled nervously, "and that you are wearing a rather interesting bracelet that is the cause of the rather interesting magical effect that makes it difficult for me to focus on your facial features, a bracelet usually used by criminals and people in . . . government service."
"Items which are also useful for a tourist that wishes to blend in better than is normal," Harry answered honestly, "but I still don't see why you want my help."
The Professor licked his lips nervously, "I do not believe that you are an archivist Mr. Black, and I hope that you are not a criminal. I have heard a rumor that a man matching your characteristics foiled an attack by a dozen Death Eaters in Holland, and I was hoping that a man of your experience might have an idea for an item or two that would be useful in his line of work."
"It was four Death Eaters, not a dozen," Harry grinned, "and I'm still not sure how I can help you."
"Just tell us some of the problems that you have experienced with your equipment or any of your perceived needs," the little man replied quickly.
"Ah," Harry nodded in understanding, "you want me to think up things like . . . a more durable wand or something."
"A more durable wand?" The Professor repeated dumbly.
"Friend of mine had his wand broken a few years ago, caused all sorts of problems." Harry smiled in remembrance, "ended up being a good thing in the end when another man got his hands on it."
"I see," the Professor made eye contact with his henchgirl, "and a wand that could not break would have been useful to this friend of yours?"
"I suppose that I'm not too good at this huh," Harry shook his head ruefully, "but at least you didn't waste too much time with me."
"Not at all Mr. Black," the Professor answered quickly, fearful that he would not hear anymore, "I find your story to be quite fascinating, elegant in its simplicity. What other problems have you experienced with wands?"
"Well," Harry scratched his head, "I've had my wand taken and used for purposes that I would not approve of, so some sort of security feature would be nice."
"Anything else?" The professor asked as to write notes frantically.
"I can't think of anything else," Harry shrugged then added with a laugh, "though you could look up Ministry regulations and find ways to circumvent everyone they have concerning wands."
"Thank you for your excellent suggestions Mr. Black. And now that our business is concluded, would you care to dine with us?"
"I'd be delighted," Harry nodded to his two new friends, "where do you suggest we go?"
Thoughts on France from Harry's book, 'Everything you will Ever Need to Know while Traveling around the World.'
France is a wonderful country and in it you can find many wonderful things, from the lights of Paris to the beaches of the Riviera, you can have many unique experiences in this delightful country. However there are a few things that one should know before embarking on your trip to France, among these things is the fact that the 'Agonie Curse,' a curse that is similar to the Cruciatus Curse is illegal to perform within the borders of France; another illegal charm is the 'Masque Charm,' a charm that when cast makes it difficult to track the individual wand signatures needed by Aurors to help solve crimes. In short, there are a lot of spells that are illegal to perform in France, spells that for one reason or another are legal to perform in many other countries. What follows is a complete list of spells forbidden in France complete with incantations and wand movements, this list is cross referenced with the in other country sections and should be studied for academic purposes only.