Black Saturday

Sabbat XI

 Rahal's wounds didn't escape notice. Luna was the first to ask if she had been gravely injured, to which Rahal shook her head.
'Just a few scratches, is all. It'll heal in a few minutes; nothing my elven blood can't handle. Not like you menfolk, of course— if you got hit by a good shot from a zombie, we'd might as well load up the slugs right now.'
'Stop scaring her,' Hermione said. 'What's all this about zombies?'
Mozzy said, 'You're a smart witch, yes? Surely you're aware of what happens when you mix the petals of a Black Saturday with napalm wine?'
Hermione hesitated and said, 'Nothing good.'
'Exactly.'
Luna said to Rahal, 'I told you it's dark arts.'
'Which is why it intrigues me so much.' Rahal smeared her blood across her cheek when she rubbed her nose. 'Ah Christ. So I take it you've seen a cryptid or two?'
Luna began to speak, but Solomon spoke over her, saying, 'It's not good. We definitely found something earlier.'
The elf's eyes lit up, and she exclaimed, 'Holy crap, you actually saw a cryptid? Please tell me it was actually a crumple-horned snorkack.'
Solomon chuckled along with Luna. 'I wish it was anything like that. Strange things are happening. Luna will attest that we both saw an ultraterrestrial, one clearly not from my domain.' He pressed Luna's shoulder and motioned for her to speak.
Interrupted. 'So when you say you saw and "ultraterrestrial", you mean something like ol' Mothman, right?'
Again Luna was interrupted. 'Okay, okay, what?' Hermione shook her head and stepped forward. 'What on Earth are you on about?'
Mozzy, hands behind his head, added, 'Yeah, that sounds right scary 'n all, but I thought we already had a plan of action for the night.'
Harry asked, 'What does any of your problems have to do with us? And why did they bring along Loony Lovegood?'
'Luna,' shouted both the girl herself and Rahal.
'Get it right, ponce!'
Hermione stepped forward and said, 'Don't call Harry a ponce!'
'Well don't call Moonshine "Loony", and there won't be any more problems.' That brought Rahal a funny look from Luna.
Mozzy shouted, 'Piss off, Enekai. These aren't your mates.'
Harry and Hermione's faces twitched as they turned to him. Silence thickened the air.
Solomon then said, 'We'll be taking them off your hands, then.' He cocked his head towards Harry and Hermione and asked, 'You know where we're going, right?'
Harry half-shook his head and shakily said, 'Navia, right?' Solomon nodded.
'I'll be frank with you— I only half expect any of this to work.' Solomon bumped Rahal's shoulder. 'And that's being generous with what I've been given.'
Rahal threw him a trollish grin and said, 'What's that supposed to mean, Yoshie?'
Mozzy leaned against the wall and said, 'Looks like you were right there, Eni.' Everyone's attention honed in on Rahal, and she rubbed one of her cuts. As she told, they had faded over the minutes and no longer spilled blood. 'Anywho, if you all don't mind, I'll be staying 'ere. I figured I'd have a little fun with some cyberdelic chicks downtown. And let's not forget your evil juice!'
Mozzy picked up and handed to Solomon a small vial of a sickly violet liquid sitting on a nearby plastic desk. After, he swaggered out of the room, said one final 'Peace,' and disappeared into the night.
After the door shrieked to a close, a short bout of silence won over. Solomon placed the vial inside of another coat pocket in a way so that the neck of it stuck out.
'Thank God he's gone,' Harry said with a heavy sigh. 'He reminded me too much of Malfoy.'
Rahal guffawed, halving over and struggling to catch her breath. 'That's a new one! I'm gonna let 'im know that one, because that's perfect. It's beautiful!'
'Isn't he a bit too young to be chasing women?'
'Moz? Ah, he's a kitsune. Older than any of us,' said Solomon.
'Kitsune?'
'They're nine-tailed shapeshifting foxes from Japan,' Luna said.
'Mythical nine-tailed shapeshifting foxes,' Hermione added. 'No one's ever seen a real kitsune before.'
Rahal scoffed and said, 'Well, now you have. By the way, what was with that whole shocked look back there? You acted like Mozzy uttered some dastardly black magic incantation.' She began picking at one of the wounds on her chin and added, 'Again.'
Harry said, 'It's nothing. Just...'
'You didn't expect him to take your side because of how sinister you found him to be?'
Harry shot Solomon a half-stunned look. 'Y-yes, exactly.'
'You have every right to distrust these two.'
Hermione gave him a bit of snark with, 'And you're so innocent?'
'All would find me trustworthy.'
'That's funny coming from a Slytherin.'
Solomon pulled another cigarette from his coat pocket and turned away. 'Harry Potter?'
He looked up. 'Yes?'
'You're proficient at the Patronus charm, correct?'
'Why do you want to know?'
'It's necessary for all this. If you don't wish to do it, I'll bring you and Hermione Granger back to Ninth Earth.' Every word sounded genuine, and his timbre was deep. Some otherworldly force filled Solomon's voice, and he spoke in explosions.
Yet this seemed to escape Harry's notice. 'What about Ron? And Luna Lovegood?'
'I presume Ronald Weasley is with Poxhart over on Navia, correct? I'll fetch him immediately. And Luna, of course—' He turned to meet her eyes, and she turned to Harry, so he continued with, 'She's the closest to Rahal, so her choice depends on what they decide upon. Though I cannot force you to make a decision, I will tell you this.' He turned back to Harry, eyes locking. 'I already know what you will choose.'
Once more, there was silence.
'Whoa-ho-ho! Bad ass!' Rahal whooped.
Harry's face contorted as he struggled with what he was told. Hermione pulled him away, and whispered something to him. Then he turned back.
'I'll finish whatever it is you want.'
Solomon pulled the cigarette from his lips, bent it, and flicked it out of a nearby window. 'Eni, take the lead.' He handed her his wand. She twirled it around and hummed the tune of a Celtic hymn. The sparkles returned. Papers on nearby desks fluttered, and the wall plaster tore off at an accelerated rate as the maelstrom grew in intensity. Their hair and clothes whipped in the wind, and the rainbow of colors glowed all around them until they could no longer see any trace of the dilapidated room.
Once more, that stench of shit filled their noses. The blackness of night didn't change, but the architecture around them bore no resemblance to the antemillennialist constructs they saw in Falstead.
They were back on Navia.