For a moment, it looked like Zatanna wanted to say something else, but then she bit her lip and looked away. “So?” she asked softly.
I tried to think quickly, mentally jumping back and forth as I considered the options. Both going with her or sticking to my original plan had their pros and cons, and it was just a question of which ones out weighed the others.
If I went with her, Zatanna could introduce me directly to her father, which would hopefully start us off on the right foot. However, it was possible that he might react the same way that she originally did, thinking that I was trying to use his daughter against him, which could be pretty bad. Subverting younger elements of a family was a classic trick for getting past heavy wards and I was hoping to avoid having a fight break out if I could help it.
Going with her would also put Giovanni on the back foot right from the start. He wasn’t expecting anyone right now, and had a show to perform in an hour that he needed to prepare for. Sometimes putting the people you were dealing with on the back foot was good, like in a negotiation, but oftentimes people would react poorly in such circumstances, something I definitely wanted to avoid.
On the other hand, me being there might actually help reduce any suspicions her dad might hold towards me. I wouldn’t be the strange wizard his daughter had run into and then told I’d see her later, but rather the polite young man in front of him with a winning smile and a firm handshake. We Blacks tended to be rather handsome and we knew it––it was much easier to be angry at an ugly unknown than a smiling, attractive stranger.
It also meant that if he decided to instantly turn hostile, he would not have any time to prepare a trap for after the show. As long as I was not caught unaware, I was confident in my ability to escape from a single hostile wizard caught by surprise. Few people were prepared to suddenly have a conjured Inferius appear on top of them and it took time to cast an anti-disapparition jinx.
Meeting with him later had its own advantages and disadvantages as well. If I asked Zatanna to pass along what I’d told her about me, it would give him time to consider what I’d said. Seeing his daughter unharmed and not under any sort of compulsion or curse might also warn him that I truthfully didn’t mean either of them any harm.
It was certainly the more formal, polite option. Ambushing a wizard while they were otherwise occupied was rather rude; it was why I had been planning to wait until after his performance and not come to meet him before it.
I looked at Zatanna’s hopeful smile and made a decision. I smiled warmly, “That would be greatly appreciated, thank you Zatanna. I know you likely have many other more important things to attend to and I am thankful that you are taking the time out of your day to assist me.”
Zatanna smiled back at me, “Of course, I’m happy to! Helping people is what being a superhero is all about. I’m sure that dad, or maybe uncle Kent will be able to figure out what happened.”
She gathered up her things and stood up, leaving her empty plate and cup on the table. I rose to my feet as well and was surprised when she grabbed my hand, pulling me along towards the door. “Let’s go before dad comes looking for me. He can be a huge worry-wort sometimes.”
Huh, she sounded slightly bitter about that. I made a mental note about it and let her pull me after her out the door, down the street, and into a narrow alleyway between the theater and the neighboring building. I gingerly stepped around some discarded rubbish on the ground and wrinkled my nose at the smell wafting off the dumpster we passed along the way.
We stopped at an unobtrusive door the same color as the brick around it with no visible handle. Zatanna tapped a finger against it and mumbled a short incantation I could barely make out, “Rood Nepo.”
The door clicked, then swung out towards us. I caught the edge of the door before it could hit Zatanna in the face and then slowly opened it the rest of the way once she’d taken a step back. “After you,” I told her, bowing slightly and gesturing towards the open doorway.
Inside, we found ourselves in a maze of dimly lit corridors. Fortunately, Zatanna clearly knew where she was going, easily navigating us down hallways lined with numbered rooms, up a flight of stairs, through a room filled with clothing racks covered in translucent white sheets, and finally into a brightly-lit back room filled with props, one side blocked off by a thick velvet curtain.
“Dad?” she called out, “Dad, I’m back, and I have someone with me!”
There was no response for a moment, and then the curtain parted and Giovanni Zatara stepped into the room. He was a slender man of medium height, dressed in the same suit, collared shirt, bow tie, and yellow vest that I’d seen him wearing in the videos I’d watched at Big Belly Burgers, though the matching tophat was currently absent. He had black hair the same shade as Zatanna’s, a well cared for mustache over his lip, and thick black eyebrows.
“Welcome back, Zatanna,” he greeted his daughter, a thick Italian accent coloring his english. “Cutting it a little close, no? And here I thought you were excited to perform on stage with me today.”
He opened his arms and Zatanna stepped into his hug, then quickly pulled away.
“And who is this young man,” Giovanni asked his daughter, peering at me suspiciously. “I do not recognize him. Is he one of your classmates? We’re a long way from New York city.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Zatanna floundered for a moment and realized I was going to have to count on myself to make a good impression here. I put on my most perfect smile, stepped forward, and extended my hand out towards the older wizard, my palm turned up and my wand hidden away in my sleeve. “Good afternoon sir, and my apologies for disrupting your preparations. My name is Hydrys Black and I’m afraid I only had the good fortune to meet your brilliant daughter earlier today. I’m a fellow wizard and I fear I’ve run into a spot of trouble that I was hoping you would be able to assist me with.”
Giovanni’s eyes narrowed as he studied me, but he did eventually take my hand and shake it once. He had a very firm grip and I could feel his magic, rich and potent, pulsing just beneath his skin. “Giovanni Zatara,” he introduced himself slowly, enunciating each syllable. “I do not believe we have met before, Mr. Black, and I do not recognize your name.”
Well, that was something of a relief, even if he clearly hadn’t meant it to be. I shook my head, “Of course not, I wouldn’t have expected you too. I––”
Zatanna interrupted me before I could finish what I was trying to say. “It’s ‘cause he’s a time traveler, dad! He’s from the past so of course you wouldn’t have heard of him before.”
Giovanni’s expression didn’t change, his eyes boring into my own. “Is that so? The past, you say, Mr. Black?”
I was slightly annoyed that Zatanna had just blurted it out like that––I had hoped to get into things slowly to give Giovanni more time to relax––but her interjection would probably save us some time so maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing. “Ah, yes, that is essentially correct. I found myself abruptly in this time just a few days ago and have so far been unable to locate the local magical authorities, so I decided to seek out the most publicly visible wizard I could. I was born in the early nineteen-hundreds and it seems the world has changed a lot since then. It was quite a shock to have a muggle––oh sorry, no-maj––direct me to you, but it seems the Statute has seen some revisions since my time.”
Giovanni stared silently at me for several long seconds. “The statute?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
I frowned. “The Statute of Secrecy, I mean. The sort of thing you’re doing now, why, it would have had you in Azkaban faster than you could say obliviate.” There was no look of recognition on his face. I tried again. “You know, the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy? The ICW statute signed in 1698?”
“I am afraid I do not know of that of which you speak of, Mr. Black,” Zatara told me solemnly.
What? Even if it had been altered or repealed, the Statute had been a defining part of wizarding life for more than two centuries. That was a pretty long time even by wizarding standards.“So wait, you’re not an ICW agent? Do you work for MACUSA?”
“I am not familiar nor affiliated with any organizations by those names. I am a member of the Justice League, and nothing more.”
He…didn’t sound like he was lying, but what he was saying was utterly absurd. Had…had Grindelwald perhaps succeeded in his efforts to remake wizarding society as I knew it? But no, Germany and his puppet muggles had lost the war and I would have expected to find a very different world around me if he had won. Still, I had to ask, doing my best to frame the question in such a way that it didn’t sound like I disliked or supported him, “Did…Lord Grindelwald win the war?” I asked haltingly.
The expression on Giovanni’s face was utterly inscrutable. “I would not know. The name certainly does not ring any bells, so I would say it is doubtful.”
What in Merlin’s name was going on? How could an adult wizard not know about Grindelwald, MACUSA, or the ICW? Even if Grindelwald had died the same day I’d vanished and both organizations had collapsed, their names shouldn’t have so quickly vanished from history!
“Ilvermorny, Hogwarts, Durmstrang? Do…do any of those ring a bell? Beauxbaton? Gringotts? Barry Winkle? Uh, Olivanders?” I rattled off a dozen other names of wizards and notable institutions, but each time Giovanni shook his head. My heart was beating a mile a minute in my chest and it was starting to get hard to breathe.
How could an adult wizard have never heard of any of those names. One or two, sure, but any of them? Was Giovanni some sort of muggleborn who’d figured out magic all on his own and never had any contact with the wizarding world?
His next words dispelled that meager hope and left me utterly reeling. “I’m afraid I’ve never heard of any of those things before. My family’s library goes back centuries, and I do not believe I have ever come across those terms in all my years. Nor do I quite know what a muggle or no-maj is, though I think I understand from context what you were trying to communicate.”
“I…I…” I couldn’t breathe. “Yo-you’re l–l–lying!” I stuttered out, my words twisting in on themselves like snakes.
Zatanna was saying something to her father, but her words were nothing but smears of sound drowned out by the ringing in my ears. Everything felt like it was spinning, and I could feel a throbbing, burning heat in the center of my chest where my new magic lay. I felt like I was only barely present in the moment, my head throbbing and my magic bubbling uncomfortably.
“I speak naught but the truth, I fear, and my spells tell me you do the same. From what you and my daughter say, it seems that perhaps you may not have been just temporally displaced as you say.”
Zatanna appeared beside me, her hand on my shoulder. “Hydrys? Hydrys? Are you okay?”
I tried to bat her hand away, but the weakness in my limbs stopped me. Instead I focused on her touch, her firm presence and magic against my own.
My wand dropped into my fingers seemingly of its own accord, the yew wood singing within my mind like the phoenix whose tail feather formed its core. I felt a connection form, another condensed droplet of knowledge appearing within my mind, but I couldn’t focus on it. I squeezed the wood so tightly that my knuckles turned white and my nails dug into my palm until they drew blood.
“What? How? Why?” Questions raced through my mind, but I couldn’t focus enough to even articulate them properly, much less try to answer them.
Giovanni cast a spell and I was lifted off the ground and lowered onto a soft cot. “Come, Zatanna,” he intoned softly, “we shall allow him to rest while we finish our preparations. There is not much time left and you still need to get dressed.”
I didn’t hear Zatanna’s response, but Giovanni’s voice was firm when he answered her. “No, daughter. Come along, now. And I wish to hear all about how you met this…young man while I work.”