And it Starts
The day started out nice. And Harry wished it stayed nice.
Harry more often than not stayed within the confines of his home. He only managed to have the will to leave when he ran out of groceries and needed to get out of the house to buy food so he wouldn't starve.
His home took about two hours to drive before he reached the nearest city. So Harry thinks it's a real hassle to drive and normally just apparates in some alley then buy his supplies before finding another secluded area and apparating back into the comfort of his home.
He knew he was turning into a hermit but Hermione was not here to nag and drag him out so he was going to ignore it.
The wizard was in the middle of knitting himself a comfortable red scarf when he noticed that he had run out of vegetables and only had a pitiful 3 pieces of eggplant and a single potato left in the fridge.
Harry groaned before casting a wandless acio to summon his trusty grocery bag and putting on a nice jacket.
He didn't bother to comb out his hair since he knew that if there was one particular curse that was impossible to break aside from his Potter luck it was his Potter hair. Really, how come Potters were this cursed? Who hated his ancestors enough to curse them like this. Harry would like to know so he could hex those bastards to the nearest hospital.
Harry sighed and shook his head then apparated to a familiar dark alley he memorized as his landing point since no one ends up this far.
He passed by the colorful and warm market street and a smile made its way to his face. It was nice being in the middle of the bustling street with the sounds of laughter, haggling, and sales in the air.
This was the kind of crowd that Harry liked being in, it was like gaining life again. Being part of something.
The colorful stalls and fresh produce were everywhere and on the cobblestone street, Harry let himself relax and buy from his local shops.
While Harry was indeed a hermit, he still has his manners and was very polite and generous to the shop owners.
So he was very much well-liked by the sellers and would catch up to talk to him.
"Caro Mio, you have grown thinner! You should eat more. Here, this is our newest shipment from the farm. Very fresh"
A jolly older woman who had insisted on being called Zia Elena during his first meeting greeted him happily.
"Good morning to you Zia Elena"
The tanned woman grinned brightly at him again. She had taken a shine to the polite pale foreign who barely goes out at all back when he had first met her.
"Signor Harry, nice to see you out! We have nice weather today!"
The old man selling fruits right beside the Zia Elena welcomed him as well. Harry greeted them with a warm polite smile and began to chat with them as he filled up his grocery bag.
"—But still, it is quite suspicious no Elena"
The old man chattered about the latest gossip around town towards Elena. The older woman then nodded with her arms crossed.
"Indeed, Cara Bella even reported seeing armed men! How did that even manage to happen? "
Harry listened to the gossip and a frown appeared on his face.
It appears that about a week ago suspicious gunshots were heard and a few citizens saw a couple of armed men in black pass by. They were known as mafioso.
In Italy, they were seen quite frequently since it seems that they were quite common in this country unlike in his previous world. While Harry himself hadn't had the chance to encounter one of these mafiosos, he had heard a lot about them from the others.
They were a common enough sight that they might bring caution but not enough to disrupt the daily life here even when they brought guns.
Honestly, it was such a security breach to have armed criminals lurking around but who was Harry to judge. This was one of the muggles' ways of living in this culture.
As long as his peaceful life wasn't bothered he was fine. It wasn't like these mafias would try to find him when he was just plain Harry, a British foreigner looking for a new scenery.
Harry then thanked and paid for the vegetables and fruits before moving on to the next shop.
He remembered that he was also running low on salt and other seasonings so Harry decided to drop by to buy some of it to refill his stock.
Harry still had his wand hostler strapped on his waist and hidden by some charms so that the muggles wouldn't notice the weird leather contraptions that held his wand.
He knew better than to leave anywhere without his wand. CONSTANT VIGILANCE as always. Moody would be so proud.
So when he was turning on a more secluded corner of the street and heard a loud gunshot erupt into the air, Harry already had his wand in his hand and read to cast a stupefy.
His eyes moved towards three large men in black with guns in their hands who were running on the far end of the street, seemingly chasing after someone.
He cast a Disillusionment Charm upon him and proceeded to walk away from the loud noises.
Soon many more men began to crowd into that area and Harry's eyes widened when he saw a couple of the emitting colored auras on their bodies.
An Indigo colored aura surrounded a man and beside him were two men with red auras.
Harry was beyond confused because he knew there was no magic in this world, so what the heck was that.
He decided to investigate it later when he wasn't in danger of being dragged into this mess and possibly shot.
But as Potter luck would have it, his wishes just won't come true.
Really, Murphy's law should just be renamed Potter's law. Because anything that can go wrong with Harry will go wrong.
Just as he was about to apparate home away from the chaos, his instincts kick in when he heard a crack over him and saw that a figure had stumbled over the balcony three stories up and was about to fall.
Before he knew it, Harry's saving-people thing kicked into high gear and he ran to catch the falling person.
With seeker worthy reflexes and strength earned from curse breaking, Harry managed to catch the falling figure.
But before the man managed to fall into his arms, Harry's world appeared to slow and a burning warm feeling spread across his chest.
Then the orange flames that Harry only managed to see when he was at death's door in his previous world erupted like a wild inferno, encasing the whole street and spreading like wildfire.
At first, he panicked and thought he was going to burn the whole street down when he noticed that the flames seemed only warm to the touch and didn't destroy anything.
He immediately calmed down and now focused on the man he was carrying.
The man couldn't look more Italian.
The handsome man was tall and lean. He wears an all black suit, with a yellow long-sleeved shirt, a black necktie, and a black fedora with a yellow stripe. He had thin curly sideburns that looked oddly cute for such a man.
Harry looked into the man's expression to see if he was in pain to judge whether he fell from the balcony because of an injury. But was instead greeted by wide obsidian eyes staring at Harry as if a daze with flushed cheeks.
He had seen that expression on people who had drunk one bottle too much of firewhiskey or when trapped in a Veela's allure.
Harry sure as hell wasn't a Veela so the man must have been drunk and stumbled out the balcony.
Really, muggles don't have protective magic that would allow them to bounce back or remain unharmed upon landing. They really should avoid balconies when drunk.
Harry expected the man to stiffen from fear of almost falling to his death or atleast being carried by a stranger bridal style. Harry sure would.
But when he moved the man slightly, it seems to have made them conscious again slightly, and let out a muffled sound of surprise as they continued to stare at him.
'Well, this is getting uncomfortable.'
"Um, are you okay? Can I let you go now?"
Harry awkwardly asked as he shuffled the man to help him stand up again but the Italian man gripped his arms and prevented it from happening.
'Crud, this guy has a grip of steel'
He expected for maybe a retaliation and was ready to throw the bloke to the ground but the man instead appeared to melt into his arms as cliche as that sounded.
Then those dark eyes began to show adoration and awe.
Oh no. Oh no no no no no
Harry has seen eyes like those on his adoring fans. Heck, these were worse. The man was looking at him as if he was a gift from Merlin and the answer to the questions of the universe.
Oh no no no no
He was out of here.
With no remorse whatsoever, Harry forcefully dropped the guy to loosen the hold on his jacket to no avail. So he instead took off the jacket swiftly and left it in the man's hands before turning around and running like Fluffy was nipping at his heels.
He heard the man yell out to him but he didn't care.
Harry could handle dementors, basilisk, vile curses, and dark lords. But he will not willingly face a crazed fan in the form of a stalker again. He. Was. Out.
Running to a secluded alley, Harry didn't even bother with the groceries he left on the ground beside the Italian and apparated back to the comfort of his home.
He collapsed to the floor and vowed to not leave his house for at least a month. Food be damned. He would grow his own crops. He was a wizard, he had magic. He could do this.