I left early the next morning, after breakfast and saying my goodbyes to Lys and her parents before heading out over the Atlantic at speed. I estimated that at top speed I should be able to reach the west coast of the United States in around two hours or less. I still wasn't sure out how fast I was actually going, but I figured that I was at least beating the Concord, and if memory serves, which I know it does, the Concord could make the trip from Europe to the States in just about three and a half hours or so.
I know, I could have taken a portkey, but it would have been a real hassle to do so. Portkeying directly to the states wasn't possible due to the distance. If I wanted to do that I'd have to stop over at Iceland first, then another stop at Greenland, and let me tell you, I'm fucking surprised that Greenland actually has a magical community, hell, I'm fucking surprised that there is anyone living up there period! But apparently there is like a thousand wizards habituating there, in their own little Savage Land. They live in some valley on the east coast that is filled with natural hot springs, likely due to a volcanic hotspot, that keeps the place temperate year-round. With a little bit of magical help of course. I was considering heading over there for a quick stopover on my way back, I thought it could be interesting to see what was in essense a reverse oasis.
After a stopover in Greenland I would have to go to Canada before being able to take yet another portkey down to the US. Jumping through that many countries would require that I get permission from each country, while I was there. I couldn't arrange it beforehand, no, I had to be physically there and do it in person. Bloody fucking magicals! That, for the uninitiated, was a small mountain of paperwork for each country and a "small" waiting period while it got approved. I would not be surprised if it took me a whole day to go from Britain to the United States, possibly more, knowing magical bureaucracy.
Flying cross Atlantic might not be the most fun I will ever have, and it did put my joy of flying to the test, but it was far more palatable than spending a day going through a bureaucratic nightmare. I just had to make sure to pee before I took off. I suppose I could have stopped and had myself a tinkle if I wanted to, come to think of it, it might even have been fun, I bet no one has done that before. At least not without a boat.
World's first mid-Atlantic pee, without a boat. One for the history books, I'm sure!
I don't know exactly how long it took, I didn't have a timepiece and I didn't bother looking what the time was when I left. But the sun didn't seem to have moved much when I hit Newfoundland, I turned southeast from there and followed the coast down past New Brunswick before I passed the border into the United States and Maine, followed shortly by New Hampshire before finally arriving in Massachusetts. I bypassed Rhode Island and headed straight for Connecticut before I finally arrived at the outskirts of New York.
After that, it wasn't too hard to find my way. Torby's contact was supposed to have a shop in Manhattan, which was easy to find, the place was located somewhere in the East Village, which was itself supposed to be located in the southern part of the island. Torby told me to look for a park and then find the St. Brigid Roman Catholic Church and once there to go down 8th Street behind the church, that's where the shop was supposed to be. Finding the park proved to be somewhat difficult as it was basically the size of a postage stamp. I ended up running around Stuy Town for half an hour before I realized that I was in the wrong place and moved down some and finally found the right park and the right church, and finally the right house. The house was not much to look at. The house looked like a T from above, six stories tall and it had one of those quintessential American zig-zagging fire escapes that were just an open invitation to any enterprising burglar that cared to put in a bit of effort. And on the bottom-most floor was the shop.
Old Joe's Thrift and Repair Shop.
Not the most imaginative name, but then it was run by a wizard, even if he was a muggleborn. The wizarding world was infectious when it came to the loss of creativity. Having found what I was looking for I landed in the ally on the left side of the house and dropped my concealing charm before I made my way around the house towards the shop.
I got some odd looks from the pedestrians due to my odd getup since I hadn't bothered to transfigure it into something appropriate. I bet they were just jealous of my kick-ass cape. Seeing the open sign in the window I just pushed the door open and walked right in. A cheery little bell by the door announced my arrival and a man in his late forties, early fifties, appeared from the back room holding what I think might have been a radio. He looked fairly put together, and in good shape, the only indications of his age were some crow feet by the side of his eyes and solid white hair. I hoped I'd look that good when I was that age.
"Welcome to Old Joe's Thrift and Repair Shop, I'm Joe what can I-" He stopped as he laid eyes on me, blinked in surprise before giving me an incredulous once over before a smile broke out on his face. "Woah there, what are you supposed to be kiddo, a superhero?" The proprietor asked before breaking into laughter at his own joke.
I couldn't help but smirk a bit before I floated off the floor and summoned lightning to my hands. "I think I'd do alright."
Joe looked shocked for a moment before a light went off behind his eyes and a matching smirk appeared on his lips. "You're the guy Flash said was coming to town."
I landed and dismissed the light show before giving the older man a quizzical look. "Flash? We talking about the same guy, yay high, red hair and an attitude?"
"Yeah that's 'ol Flash alright, never went by Torby when he used to hang around these parts. Even though that was his name at the time, didn't find out it was Torby 'till a few years ago when he showed up out of the blue and set me up with this place." Joe reminisced fondly before refocusing on me. "He asked me to show you around 'an see to it that you didn't walk into trouble."
"Much appreciated," I told him semi-politely.
Joe grunted before pulling out a wand and waving it at the door, the Open sign flipped around and I head the door lock. "Well, no time like the present, let's get this over with so I can get back to work."
"Lead the way McGurk," I said jovially.
Joe shot me a warning glare before snorting. "So, you know anything about why Flash wants me to dig up some eggheads and talk to them about computers?"
"Nope." I lied easily. "Probably something to do with money."
"Well, that I could have guessed all by myself." Joes grumped as he leads me into the back and over to a fireplace. "Alright, here we are. The name is the Pantheon hotel. It's the entrance to Whimsic Alley, which is where you want to go. I'll go first." He stated before disappearing in a blast of green flames.
I shrugged and stepped into the fireplace and threw down my own handfull of Floo Powder. "Pantheon Hotel."