'Well," the Doctor stretched. "I suppose we'd better get back to the Zeppelin."
"I guess," Harry agreed, triggering the port.
"Welcome back my friend," the Professor smiled. "I trust you had fun."
"Let's just say that it was enlightening," Harry grinned. "Did you all have fun?"
"Yes we did," the Professor nodded. "The Architect has gone off to the island to do his initial survey and we've contacted several other goblins about our plan to mine titanium."
"Great," Harry nodded. "Absolutely great."
"On a side note," the Professor smiled. "We've picked up two new crew members, a Tailor and his wife."
"What are their names?" Harry blinked, that shopkeep moved up another place on the list.
"I can't pronounce them," the Professor shrugged. "So we've just been calling them the Tailor and the Leather Worker."
"Oh . . . that's nice," Harry nodded.
"Let's go to the bridge," the Professor smiled. "So that we may set a course for our next destination."
"Ok," Harry shrugged.
Harry and the Professor walked to the bridge and Harry made a beeline to the center of the room after he got through the door.
"Where to now?" The Professor asked, ignoring the way Harry had taken the Zeppelin's wheel and the 'vrooming' sounds he was making.
"Thailand," Harry smiled. "Great beaches and cool temples."
"Henchgirl," the Professor turned. "Set a course for Bangkok . . . do it NOW."
"You really need to find a better end to that," Henchgirl replied as she locked in the course. "Do it NOW just doesn't flow."
"I know," the Professor drooped. "But you guys voted down my suggestion of hiring script writers to get us all really cool lines."
"I'll just go down to my cabin," Harry backed out of the room. "And let the two of you resolve this conversation in peace."
"He's gone," the Professor peaked through the door to watch Harry leave.
"Good," Henchgirl took the wheel. "Vroom vroom."
"I'm next," the Professor eyed the wheel. "So don't take too long."
IIIIIIIIII
"We have arrived," the Professor smiled as he told Harry. "Henchgirl and I are going to head for the beach after we drop you off."
"I'll meet you there later tonight," Harry nodded.
"No need," the Professor blinked. "We can return later tonight if you wish."
"That'll work," Harry nodded. "What are the others doing?"
"The Doctor is going to visit a red cross snake farm, the Architect is starting construction of your dark fortress, and the Tailor and his wife are coming with us to the beach."
"Snake farm?" Harry blinked.
"She says that parts of it are open to the public," the Professor shuddered. "Not for me, thanks."
"Have fun at the beach," Harry got on the PortTrans pad. "Port me down."
Harry arrived in front of a large statue in the middle of a roundabout and took a moment to admire the large bronze statue. Shrugging his shoulders, he walked over to the road and hailed a cab.
"Yes," the man rolled down his window.
"First of all," Harry smiled. "Where am I?"
"Wang Win Yai," the cab driver smiled. "Where would you like to go?"
"Is the snake farm near here?" Harry got in the cab.
"Not far," the man nodded. "It's over the bridge and a bit up the road."
"Then let's go there," Harry nodded. "I've got a friend that's visiting the place and I want to see what all the fuss is about."
The Cab turned down one of the many streets feeding the roundabout and continued up it for several blocks.
"So what are you doing in Thailand?" The cab driver asked with a smile.
"Just visiting," Harry shrugged. "Seems like a nice place."
"Where are you from," the driver glanced back.
"England," Harry looked out the window and noticed that the cab was pulling over a bridge.
"Nice place?"
"It's not bad," Harry nodded.
The cab pulled off the bridge and past a large hospital, "that big building up ahead is the place."
"Great," Harry nodded, pulling out his wallet. "Let me off on the curb up here."
"Have a nice day," the driver leaned back and held out his hand.
"Here you are," Harry glanced at the meter and handed the driver about five hundred Baht.
Harry got out of the cab and waited at the curb for the light to change. Rushing across, Harry walked through a large gate and looked in awe at the large building.
Paying the fee, Harry walked into the park and looked down into the large enclosures at the large snakes.
"Hello," he hissed down at one of the large snakes. "What kind of snake are you?"
"A king cobra," the snake replied lazily. "Are you here to watch my show?"
"Yes," Harry hissed back.
"It will be a while," the snake raised its head.
"Thank you," Harry smiled.
"That was extraordinarily interesting," a voice from behind startled Harry. "I haven't seen one of your kind here for quite some time."
"My kind?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"A Parselmouth," the man nodded. "Did he tell you if he was happy here?"
"We mostly talked about the show," Harry shrugged.
"Fascinating," the small man seemed to zone out for a moment. "Forgive my manners, I am Doctor Hanuman Kanchanaburi."
"Mister Black," Harry nodded. "What do you do here?"
"I work for the red cross," Doctor Kanchanaburi smiled proudly. "We use the snake venom to make anti venom to treat snake bites."
"Sounds interesting," Harry nodded. "How many snakes do you have here?"
"Quite a few," the man shrugged. "I don't know exactly, I just work with the venom . . . may I ask you a question?"
"Sure," Harry nodded.
"We have a woman here with some extraordinary blood samples that she tells us she got from a man named Mr. Black, would you happen to be the same Mr. Black?"
"I might be," Harry shrugged. "I have a friend here that might have brought some blood samples."
"Then could we go meet with her to make sure that this isn't some sort of mistaken identity?" Doctor Kanchanaburi smiled, "I very much want to try an experiment with her Mr. Black and I wish to be sure that he is you."
"OK," Harry's eyes crossed a bit. "Will it take long? There are a few other things I'd like to try today."
"No, not long." The man shook his head, "at least in the short term. You'll have plenty of time to come back and see the snake show."
Harry followed the other man into the building and up a flight of stairs.
"Hello Mr. Black," the Doctor smiled at Harry's entrance. "What are you doing here?"
"The Professor mentioned that you were going to visit this place and I thought I'd see what it was," Harry smiled. "I've already had a nice conversation with one of the snakes and with Doctor Kanchanaburi."
"One of the snakes?" The Doctor blinked, "That's a very rare gift."
"So I've been told," Harry gave a dry smile. "Doctor Kanchanaburi wanted to try something."
"I wanted to confirm that he'd have no problems with other venom types after getting a look at the blood and venom samples you brought," Kanchanaburi nodded. "If you both agree then I'd like to inject Mr. Black with a small amount of cobra venom."
"I don't have any problems with that," Harry shrugged. "Doctor?"
"I don't think it would do any harm," the Doctor nodded.
"Excellent," Kanchanaburi smiled. "And I assure you that there is no danger to you, we have ample supplies of anti venom on hand to handle any emergencies that might occur."
Harry rolled up his sleeve and presented his bare arm. "Go ahead."
Kanchanaburi pulled out a small needle and handed it to the Doctor. "Since you are his regular physician, it might be best for you to handle the actual injection."
"Alright," the Doctor swabbed a small patch of skin and inserted the needle.
"What we are going to do is monitor you for several minutes to see what if any effect the venom has on your body," Kanchanaburi smiled. "After that I'd like to take a couple blood samples for further study."
"Ok," Harry nodded. "What then?"
"Then," the Doctor smirked. "He's going to come to me on his knees to beg me to let him give me samples of more venom to inject you with."
"And offer you one of my children to get more blood samples and raw data," Kanchanaburi laughed. "You are an evil evil woman to let me think that you might not share this research opportunity."
"Oh Hanuman," the Doctor fluttered her eyelashes. "You say the sweetest things."
"This all hinges on you granting me permission to pursue this course of study," Kanchanaburi smiled. "And I don't lie when I say I'll be crushed if you don't give it."
"You've got it," Harry watched the Doctor write down a few readings out of the corner of his eye. "Finding anything?"
"Something odd," the Doctor nodded.
"What is it?" Kanchanaburi asked eagerly.
"His blood immediately altered in response to the new type of venom and his body redirected the infected blood to the area around the piece of fang in his bone," the Doctor shook her head. "I am going to have to run several more tests."
"Altered how?" Harry asked nervously.
"I expected the venom to have little or no effect," the Doctor looked up from her notes. "Instead your body changed to the new type of venom and made you immune to it . . . I'm not sure why it moved to the area around your old bite."
"Probably a function of the device you put in," Harry shrugged. "What happens now?"
"Now?" The Doctor smirked, "you go and watch the show. Later, we see what we can do with the data we've gathered."
"Thank you for allowing me to work with you," Doctor Kanchanaburi gave a wide smile. "It has been a pleasure."
"Happy to help," Harry waved goodbye and walked back to the outdoor snake enclosure to watch the show.
Harry spent several enjoyable minutes watching small men lift, feed, and milk snakes larger than they were. At the conclusion of the show, Harry walked off the compound and hailed another cab.
"Where would you like to go?" The cab driver asked as Harry entered the cab.
"Kao Sanh Road," Harry replied quickly. "I've heard that it's a good place to hang out."
"Maybe," the cab driver shrugged. Traffic was light and it only took a few minutes to arrive. Paying his fare, Harry got out of the cab and looked around. An entire street was blocked off and filled with backpackers.
Smiling, Harry walked into the crowd to see what they were doing and became disappointed after walking up the street. The entire place seemed like it contained nothing but cheap youth hostels and travel agencies. Sighing, Harry walked up to one of the blue buildings and sat on the curb.
"What's wrong?" A pair of buxom Swedish backpackers stopped by Harry.
"My guide book talked about how great this place was and it's a bit of a let down," Harry sighed.
"It gets much better at night," the girls smiled. "Come back then and you'll be amazed at the difference."
"Thanks," Harry cheered up. "Have you two had breakfast yet?"
"You offering?" The girls giggled.
"Sure," Harry nodded. "Where would you like to go?"
"The blue building over there has good Italian," the girls smiled. "Or we could go to one of the street vendors a few streets over."
"Thai sounds good," Harry smiled. "Never thought it made much sense to go to a country and not eat the food."
"Then we know just the place," one of the girls smirked. "It has great food and it's not far from here."
Harry and the girls walked to the restaurant and made their order.
"Be warned," one of the girls smirked when the food arrived. "The food here is really spicy."
"You weren't kidding," Harry nearly choked on his first bite. "It's good though."
"There are a few shops that we wanted to check out after this," the girls shared a smile. "Would you like to tag along."
"Sure," Harry shrugged and as soon as they finished the food, found himself dragged into a small shop.
The place was filled with small bronze statues and wood carvings.
"Is there something I can help you with?" The young woman behind the counter gave a wide smile as the trio entered.
"I was hoping to get one of those statues," one of the girls pointed to a statue behind the counter.
"I wanted some carvings," the other girl pointed to several small wooden carvings. "And could you wrap them up?"
"Of course," the woman nodded and turned to Harry. "What about you?"
"Well . . ." Harry looked around the shop and noticed one item that seemed to glow under his mage sight. "I'd like that Amulet."
"Good eye," the woman nodded. "Many people think that they bring good luck."
"That could be useful," Harry paid for his purchase.
"Would you mind helping us carry all this to our hotel room?" The girls indicated their purchases, "it's not heavy but it is awkward to carry all that without a bag."
"Sure," Harry nodded. "Happy to help."
The girls led Harry down one of the many side streets, past a barber pole, and across another street to a small hotel.
"Nice place," Harry said, admiring the surroundings that were much better then the usual youth hostel.
"It costs a bit more," the girls nodded. "But it's much cleaner and more comfortable."
Harry walked out of the hotel a few hours later and hailed another cab.
"Where to?"
"Sakhumvit," Harry closed his eyes and started listening to the radio.
IIIIIIIIII
"Well?" Voldemort scowled.
"We've found him, master," Wormtail cowered. "He's in Thailand."
"Take some recruits and kill him," Voldemort was starting to get tired of having to do this every few days.
"Thank you master," Wormtail nodded. "It shall be as you say."
"This is just a small taste of what awaits you if you fail me . . . CRUCIO."
Peter writhed in agony for a few moments until Voldemort lifted the curse. Not wasting a moment, he rushed out of the room and grabbed a few recruits.
"You," Wormtail pointed. "And your two friends."
"What is it?" The young recruit had heard stories about what happened to death eaters that went with the rat.
"The dark lord has ordered me to take you hunting," Wormtail sneered. "Come with me."
The three death eaters arose with great reluctance and followed the rat like man.
"Touch this portkey," Wormtail sneered.
"Not a chance," one of the braver recruits shook his head. "I've heard about what happens when you try to portkey after Black."
"We're not Portkeying to Black," Wormtal smirked. "We're going a few blocks away . . . Black won't have time to work his little tricks on us."
"Where are we going?" The recruit wanted to stall as long as he could . . . maybe Black would have left the area before they got there.
"Some place called Cowboy," Wormtail was starting to lose his temper. "Now take the damn portkey."
Sharing one last glance and with great reluctance, the death eaters placed their palms on the portkey.
"What's going on?" One of the recruits called out, the portkey had landed them in a large crowd and he watched as several muggle women grabbed his companions and began dragging them away.
"Don't do anything," Wormtail was a bit annoyed that none of the girls were showing any interest in him, "we can't afford to cause a scene . . . make your way towards Black and we'll attack him when we've had a chance to regroup."
"Understood," the recruit nodded as he was pulled into one of the surrounding bars.
Transforming to rat form, Peter made his way to the spot that his contacts had told him that he would find the mysterious Mr. Black.
Peter spent several minutes observing the man that he believed to be Mr. Black before he was rejoined by his team.
"What took you so long?" Peter growled.
"Those girls were really persistent," one of the recruits replied nervously.
"And they were stronger than they looked," another agreed. "They wouldn't let me go."
"Whatever," Wormtail sneered. "We'll wait until we have a good chance to take him and then we'll attack."
IIIIIIIIII
Harry got out of his cab and began walking up the long boulevard. Occasional glances down the side streets alternately shocked and embarrassed the boy as he took in the things that Bangkok had to offer.
After a time, he became aware of a strange itch in the center of his back. A quick look around did little to stem his growing nervousness and Harry quickly darted down one of the side streets in hopes of either losing his pursuers or finding a more isolated place to bring matters to their natural conclusion.
Ten minutes and several curves found Harry walking into a deserted alleyway. Concealing himself in one of the door ways, Harry waited for his shadows.
"We know you're here Black," Wormtail called out nervously. "Come out without your wand and we won't hurt any Muggles."
"Wormtail," Harry growled. Seconds later, a muttered incantation caused a long whip of fire to emerge from his wand.
"I said drop the wand or I'll start killing muggles," Wormtail was sure that Black wasn't the sort to let innocents die and he had spent much of his convalescence thinking up this plan of attack.
"Die," Harry flicked the tip of his wand and sent the stream of fire hurtling towards the rat's face.
Wormtail screamed as he felt the fire burn off part of his face and his hands groped frantically for the portkey that was his only means of escape. The rat was lucky and managed to find and activate his portkey only moments before Harry's next attack would have ended his life.
The stunned death eaters nearly wet themselves as Mr. Black's eyes flicked away from the spot that had been occupied by his last victim and focused on them.
"Hell with this," one of the recruits screamed. "Apparitate out."
The other recruits nodded fearfully and attempted to make their escape, the dangers were great. Apparition was dangerous at the best of times, adding in the stress of combat . . . well, let's just say that their chances of survival were only marginally higher than they'd be if they had chosen to stay behind.
Harry growled as he watched the death eaters escape. Mentally adding another check mark next to the list of times he had let Wormtail escape, Harry sighed . . . it had all been going so well until this happened.
"What's going on?" Several men stormed the alley with wands drawn.
"Death eater attack," Harry slowly lowered his wand. "They all got away."
"Your name sir?" The man at the front of the group pulled out a small magical recording device.
"Mr. Black," Harry didn't notice the men sharing shocked glances. "And it looks like those morons have managed to spoil my day again."
"I see," the man turned off the device and put it in his pocket. "You may go."
"Thank you," Harry pocketed his wand and walked out of the alley . . . why did these things keep happening to him?
"Why did you let him go?" One of the other Law Enforcement Officers watched Harry's departure.
"Didn't you hear his name?" The man at the front smirked.
"What about his name?"
"Mr. Black is one of the most dangerous men in the world," the man shook his head. "And from what I know of him, he wouldn't have done anything without good reason . . . besides, what do I care if a long nose decides to kill a bunch of other long noses?"
"Sir," one of the other men interrupted. "The wards picked up the signature of several Apparitition accidents down the street that occurred right before we arrived . . . do you think we should check them out?"
"Why not," the man shrugged. "Might be fun to hear what they have to say."
The men made their way down the street and spent several minutes admiring the pulsating mass of flesh that had once been a death eater hunter killer team.
"I heard he liked to make things look like accidents," the man nodded with no small amount of satisfaction. "Nice to see that my information is accurate."
"What do you want us to do?"
"Take them back to headquarters and see if you can't get them fixed," the man smirked. "I'd like to have a bit of fun with them."
IIIIIIIIII
"What happened?" The death eater's eyes cracked open.
"I was hoping that you could tell me," the death eater turned to regard the small man in an official looking uniform next to his bed.
"I'm not saying anything," the death eater growled defiantly.
"Your friends said something similar," the man nodded. "Very well . . . you're free to go."
"What?" The death eater's eyes widened.
"You're free to go," the man in the uniform gave a frightening smile. "As far as I can tell, you've broken no laws during your stay so you may go."
"I can't go," the death eater shook his head. "He'll kill me."
"That is not my concern," the man in the uniform shrugged. "You have broken no laws so I cannot hold you and so you may go."
"I've broken plenty of laws," the death eater stammered. "I'll tell you anything you want to know just don't let him get me."
"Yes," the man in the uniform nodded. "Your friends said something similar to that as well . . ."
IIIIIIIIII
Peter was engaged in an activity that he rarely indulged in . . . thinking. Before he had counted himself lucky to escape from his encounters with Mr. Black with his life. Now . . . now he was having to consider something very frightening.
"He's killing me one piece at a time," Peter shuddered. "He's making it slow, drawing it out to make it worse."
Peter was a coward, that was one of many things that he had to accept about himself. He wasn't strong, he wasn't handsome, and he wasn't brave. He had joined Voldemort out of fear, he had betrayed his friends out of fear, and he had spent years posing as a family's pet rat out of fear.
"He's going to kill me after he tires of this game," Peter didn't want to die. "I've got to think of a way to stay safe."
AN: Wang Win Yai is very near where my apartment was, has a good ice cream shop there and I used to get shakes every day or two. I miss Thailand and I've been to most of the places in this chapter. The conversations with the cab drivers were all taken from my memories (Even the very short ones). If you want to know what Harry did in that hotel room, he was playing chess.
OMAKE: That has nothing to do with the story.
Harry walked into the girl's hotel room and put the items on the bed.
"We must confess," one of the girls smiled. "That there was another reason we wanted you to come up here."
"What's that?" Harry's eyebrows raised.
"We're members of an elite Swedish agency," one of the buxom girls replied.
"Code name Swedish Bikini Team or SBT," the other girl added. "And we want you to join us."
"Would I have to become female?" Harry eyed the exit.
"No," the girls shook their heads. "We could always use someone to rub suntan oil on us, that will be your cover."
And so Harry lived out a happy life and as for Voldemort . . . he choked to death or something.