Chapter Seven: Lasciate Ogne Speranza

 

Chapter Seven: Lasciate Ogne Speranza

            “I don’t see why I can’t be there with you. It’s a party!”

            Since the day she took in William “Billy” Batson (or “Double B” as his new Time Lord friend called him), not a dull moment had passed for Maureen. The quick-witted 14-year-old orphan made her feel like a mother again – a feeling that she didn’t think she would experience after giving up Shyla, four regenerations ago. Of course, William was no ordinary kid. Shortly before Maureen found him on the streets of Philadelphia, he was chosen by an ancient wizard called “Shazam” to be a new champion against mystic, evil forces. Now, whenever Billy uttered the name of Shazam, he transformed into an adult superhero – though he still had the mind of a teenager.

            As much help as Shazam would’ve been if things had gone south at the party Maureen decidedly crashed at Malfoy Manor, Maureen couldn’t risk Lucius Malfoy himself detecting William’s magic. “We talked about this, Billy,” Maureen kept her voice low, addressing her young companion through the microphone in her left earring. “You know why you have to stay.”

            “Yeah, but…” Batson complained through her earpiece. “Gizmo’s acting all fussy. I don’t know if he’s hungry or not. I mean, it’s not midnight yet. So do I just…?”

            “No!” Maureen’s outburst drew a few stares from some of the other party guests. “Never feed him, unless he tells you to.”

            “Well, how am I supposed to know if he’s telling me right now?”

            “He’ll make a little gesture with his hand, like he’s pointin’ to his mouth. Is he doin’ that?”

            “Yeah, he’s doing it right now.”

            “Then it’s time for him to eat. There’s some chicken I saved up for him in the kitchen. Give ‘im that.”

            “Oh…was that meant for him? ‘Cause I had it for lunch earlier.”

            Maureen groaned. Another mouth I gotta feed!

            “What are you doing here?!” It wasn’t Billy’s voice that she heard addressing her. Unless he somehow developed an English accent of his own, this voice was someone speaking to her from within the crowd of partygoers she stood among.

            She was surprised to see that it was Draco Malfoy, a little older than when Maureen last saw him, which was shortly before the breakout of the Multiverse War. “Funny,” she told him, “I was gonna ask you the same thing, but in different context. Like as in, ‘How did you get here?’”

            “I should have you thrown out,” Draco threatened. “You’re nothing more than a pretender! I know who and what you really are!”

            “So do I, honey,” Maureen countered. “Remember, we’re not among wizards or witches here. All these people…” She gestured to the guests around them. “…they’re not just Muggles – they’re Muggles who don’t know that you and your family are wizards…or from another dimension. So, to be real with you, if there are any ‘pretenders’ here, it’s you lot.”

            Draco fumed, knowing that she had him dead to rights. “What is it that you want?”

            Before Maureen could answer, her aquamarine eyes momentarily diverted away from Draco and to two strangers that waltzed right into the ballroom. Clearly, by their attires (which were not only inappropriate to the “all-black” dress requirement, but also inaccurate with the time period), they were party crashers like her. And yet, she recognized one of them as the Newt Scamander.

            It definitely was the famed Magizoologist that Maureen read about during her time at Hogwarts. Without anyone (save for Maureen) noticing, he used magic to darken his apparel and that of his preteen companion, keeping them from standing out in the crowd.

            “Well?!” Draco’s impatient tone reminded her that she was in a conversation with him, prior to her discovery of Newt Scamander. “Are you going to tell me what you want or just stand there staring like a nutter?!”

            Maureen smirked and glared at him. “You know what? I’ll tell ya later. I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.” She knew being so secretive with the spoiled wizard boy would make him angry even more – that was the reaction she hoped for. But, with the presence of Scamander, who she knew was just as much out-of-place from this dimension as Draco and his family, she had to investigate. As soon as she approached the Magizoologist and his young friend, she feigned admiration and asked, “You wouldn’t happen to be Newt Scamander, would you?”

            Scamander visibly stiffened, obviously not expecting to have been recognized. “N-No…I-I’m afraid t-that I’m not,” he stammered.

            Maureen continued on with her charade, pressing Newt. “I’m so sure of it. ‘Cause you look exactly like ‘im.”

            “How would you know what he looks like?” Scamander’s young friend challenged.

            Pretending to have finally noticed him, Maureen said, “I’m sorry. You are…?”

            “He’s my nephew: Benjamin,” Newt introduced.

            “You have an American nephew?” Maureen inquired, doing her best to get Scamander to slip.

            “He’s twice removed,” Newt quickly recovered.

            Maureen was anxious to see how much further down the rabbit hole Scamander and his so-called “nephew” were willing to go. Unfortunately, the murmurings of the other party guests attracted their collective focus to the center of the ballroom. As it became apparent when they looked through the crowd, a group of hillbilly men stormed their way in, crashing the party way more than Maureen, Newt, and Ben had.

            Lucius was not at all pleased with the intrusion, walking straight up to the leader of the hillbilly group (a rugged man in overalls wearing a bowler hat) and telling him, “This is not the place for this, Bubba Joe!” Maureen almost snickered at the typical redneck name.

            “Beggin’ yer pardon, Mister Malfoy,” Bubba Joe said. “We found another one to put to work.” One of Bubba Joe’s men tugged on a rope latched onto a person they had hauled in with them.

            It was then Maureen, Newt, and Ben realized exactly what stirred the attention of all the partygoers: Bubba Joe and his posse were hauling a tall, slender, and blond African American woman. They tied a noose around her neck and beaten her. The very sight stabbed at the pit of Maureen’s stomach.

            “They’ve got Alicia,” she heard Ben whisper rather loudly to Newt, evidently knowing the blond black woman. “Those jerks are treatin’ her like an animal! I’m gonna go alien and beat the tar out of them!” Maureen side-glanced at the infuriated boy, noticing how he was about to slap his hand down on a peculiar watch he wore on the other.

            “Ben, don’t!” Newt stopped him, clasping at his hand. “We’ll find another way to help her. Let’s just be thankful they haven’t got Eleven…wherever she might be.”

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            Alicia could hardly concentrate on the world around her. Every part of her ached enough that it made her want to regenerate just to erase the pain…and even the humiliation. From what she was able to comprehend of her current surroundings, she was amid a multitude of guests at a fancy-dressed gathering – kneeling on the cold marble floor.

            Fighting to breathe and barely conscious, she saw the Malfoys through her hazy vision. “Take her down to the cellar,” Lucius commanded Bubba Joe, the man responsible for her degrading predicament.

            The noose around her neck tightened as she was forced to get back on her feet.

            Bubba Joe and his men led her down to the cellar as instructed. Beyond it were groups of strapping young African American men – most of them barely clothed – mining in an endless underground cavern.

            “What is…all this?” she rasped to her captors.

            “This is Hell, darlin’,” Bubba Joe taunted her. “Abandon all hope.”

            Taking reign of her leash, Bubba Joe jerked on it hard enough to send Alicia collapsing against a rock wall at one corner of the cavern. The impact between her already-bruised flesh and the wall’s jagged edges was excruciating to say the least. The senseless act invited a few sympathetic stares from the enslaved men, though it only lasted a fleeting second.

            Shortly after Bubba Joe and his posse departed, one of the men dared to defy his superiors and check on Alicia’s well-being. “Hey dere, girly,” he softly said to her. “You still wit us?” Alicia hardly uttered a word to him, lightly touching at her throat. The contusions from the noose were there on her neck, but there was internal trauma as well. Seeing this, the man turned to a little boy no older than eight and said, “Samuel, git dat water over ‘ere, boy.”

            Samuel stood at a rather diminutive height. He had large bushy hair and a bit of a potbelly that, while shirtless, stuck out. Nonetheless, he was strong enough to carry a massive pail of water over to Alicia and the man. He took out the ladle submerged inside, scooping up enough water for the parched Time Lady to drink.

            The first couple of gulps burned but, after a few more, Alicia felt her throat freshen up again. “Thank you, sweetie,” she told Samuel, who returned her appreciativeness with only a smile.

            “Can’t believe Bubba Joe sunk so low as tuh bring a beautiful sunflower like you down ‘ere in dah pit wit us,” her fellow slave said. “Name’s Harris, by the way, ma’am.”

            “Alicia,” she presented herself. “This ‘pit’, as you called it…is this where the Malfoys have been keeping Cthulhu?”

            Harris shrugged. “I know nuttin’ ‘bout no ‘Cthulhu’, ma’am. I just know I’ve been workin’ ‘ere fer as long as duh Depression’s been goin’ on…which has felt like years now. Since then, things been gettin’ rough fer us. None of us even seen duh light of day and only been gettin’ food, water, and rest ‘err few hours or so.”

            “I can’t believe the Malfoys have all of you working as actual slaves down here,” Alicia revolted. “Any of you even dared to escape?”

            “Henry Dobbins did,” Harris said. “But ol’ Lucius Malfoy caught ‘im befo’ Henry could git any ferther.”

            “Where’s he now?” Alicia asked.

            “Duh heck if I know,” Harris replied. “All I’s know is dat Henry Dobbins was a crazy fool! Talkin’ ‘bout monstuhs bein’ in dese ‘ere caves.”

            Alicia held on that description. “I don’t think Henry is as crazy as you think.”

            “HEY!” The commanding tone of a guard (one of many down in the caverns) alarmed Alicia, Samuel, and Harris. “You three git back on to workin’!”

            Alicia did just that, but not while also formulating a plan in her Time Lord brain.