Harry Riddle || Harry potter

Chapter 16: The Muggles of Hangleton

Germany, Harry decided, was a boring country. It wasn't at all like England or even France. The language was odd and the buildings had strange architecture. Munich itself seemed rather obsessed with beer. He'd tried some of the stuff in an attempt to soak up local color but had had to spit it out. It'd tasted sharp and a bit sour, and just . . . bad. It was freezing cold outside, as well, with two feet of snow covering the ground, though he supposed that wasn't any different from England.

"Why did we have to come here? I'd have rather have stayed home. What's with all this bloody traveling you do?"

"I have business here, Harry. Would you have rather stayed at the Manor by yourself all Christmas?"

"Maybe."

"You wouldn't have," Tom replied. "You would've gotten bored, then destructive and ended up blowing something up or alerting all the muggles in Little Hangleton to the fact that magic exists."

Harry glared at him. "I could have went to Malfoy Manor for Christmas," he huffed. "I could have been with Draco and Aunt Narcissa and Lucius. I probably would have even seen Bella and maybe even Severus."

"The Malfoys are currently in Barcelona."

"Spain?!" Harry exclaimed. "Draco never told me they were going anywhere."

"I doubt he would have known. It was rather unexpected."

Harry scowled.

Father and son walked through the deep snow in silence for a while until Harry finally asked, "So where are we going?"

"I am going to go and do some business with some of my followers. You are going to be shopping."

"Shopping?" Harry repeated. "Shopping where?"

"Schwabing Alley."

Harry snorted. "Schwabing Alley? Schwabing?"

Tom shrugged. "It's German. I actually think it has a nice ring to it. Schwabing." The black-haired man put his hand on his son's back and pushed him in the direction of an enormous stone building with two tall towers and a terracotta roof. Harry stared up at it.

"What's this?"

"It's the Frauenkirche. Translates as the 'Cathedral of Our Blessed Lady'."

"What's a Cathedral?"

"It's . . . a Bishop's Church."

"What's a Bishop?"

"Like a very high-ranking priest."

"Oh. But why do we have to go through a church? Didn't those 'holier-than-thou' idiots like . . . burn our kind a few hundred years ago? What if they still do that?"

"They don't. Now, the entrance to Schwabing Alley is in here, so come on."

Voldemort pulled Harry up the stairs and through the wooden doors into the Cathedral.

Tom winced at Harry's loud gasp. Several of the churchgoers stopped their praying to look over their shoulders at him.

"This is a church, Harry," Tom hissed. "People are quiet in here."

"But it's so . . . beautiful," Harry whispered back. His wide eyes took in the giant stained glass windows, the rich wooden pews, the gilded ceiling, the sparkling chandeliers, and the large white columns in utter amazement.

"This is a place of worship, Harry, it's supposed to be attractive."

Harry glared at him. "Excuse me if I still get some thrill out of life."