Advent '10 - December 11th

Dec 11, 2010 20:30



December 11th - 14 days to go

Harry stared at the pile of fireworks that the twins had managed to gather on such short notice. It was up to his waist and twice as wide.

Harry paused and frowned, leaning closer to the pile. Actually, now that he thought about it, where did they get all these fireworks? Because although he could see a few muggle ones, the rest were the whiz-bangs that he knew for a fact that only their shop stocked.

If it weren't for the fact that international portkeys issued by the British ministry took two weeks to pass through the red tape, Harry would swear it was like Fred and George had popped back home to stock up.

As it was he knew that that was impossible. Even if this was the twins that he was thinking about.

Wasn't it?

But still…it was almost as if they had been planning…

Ash squeaked from atop his head as he straightened suddenly and took two large steps away from the pile.

If the twins had been carting these around the entire time then that meant that they had been continuously shrunk and expanded. This, really, was fine for inanimate objects such as clothes and books.

But there was a reason that you didn't use those spells on living things. It messed up the chemical compounds. The muggleborns and well read half bloods would understand that it was all about compressing atoms until their basic chemical formula changed.

In fact, Hermione had given him a three hour long lecture at age nineteen when he had jokingly offered to shrink Ron's package for her when he had been a jerk.

Harry still didn't know if she was just offended at his lack of 'basic' knowledge on the charm or if she was more panicked about Ron almost loosing his…yeah.

Harry had pointed out that she had had her teeth shrunken and was rebuffed with a "Yes, but Harry, my teeth aren't the same."

Apparently the expanding and shrinking had caused the enamel to become almost as strong as diamonds.

So Harry did not want to find out just what the continuous spell work had done to the chemicals in the fireworks. Especially since almost all of them were delicate with spells in the first place.

The pile sitting in the middle of their room could be duds. Or, and it was probably more likely considering his luck, a ticking time bomb with enough firepower to take out the entirety of this building and the surrounding buildings as well.

Thinking about this, Harry took another two steps backwards until he was pressed against the wall. Ash gave out a shrill whistle that had his puffskeins and even the Nifflers gathering around him. Guess it was true what they said about paying attention to the animals in cases of advancing disasters.

He slowly and carefully started to edge towards the door that led to the hallway.

From there he could make a break for it and hope that they didn't explode before he managed to make it to the safe zone. Wherever that was.

He was almost there when Fred and George burst into the room, the door slamming against the wall mere inches from Harry, causing the whole room to tremble.

A firework rolled off the top of the pile, bouncing onto the floor. Harry watched as it rolled across the room heading straight towards him.

"Whoops!" Fred said, scooping up the advancing firework and chucking it over his shoulder and back onto the pile.

Harry whimpered and sank slowly down the wall to the floor. The puffskeins and Nifflers crawling into his lap.

George looked at them oddly. "What's up with you?"

"I saw my life flash before my eyes." Harry replied faintly.

George grimaced and patted him on the head, ignoring Ash's squeak of protest. "Poor you."

"Yeah," Fred added from surveying the fireworks, "no offence, but your life's been kind of crappy."

"Mostly." George added.

"True," Fred nodded, "the parts with us in it were awesome."

Harry rolled his eyes and relaxed a little. After all, he had faced certain death before without cowering.

Besides, it was a little thrilling…

Harry didn't really want to think too closely as to why he liked the feeling. He was perfectly happy blaming his Marauder blood, thank you very much.

Brushing off his puffskeins, he stood and made his way over to where Fred and George were rummaging through the pile and sorting them.

"So," he said, sitting down next to them and gingerly picking up a purple firework covered in gold stars. "What's the plan then?"

Fred shrugged, "Not much,"

"We were thinking about just setting off a few of these in the place." George continued, weighing an acid green with a butchered picture of a Dark Mark on the side of it firework in his hands. He looked over at Harry, "Oh, put that one in a different pile. It's muggle."

"Like you did in fifth year?" Harry asked absentmindedly, placing the firework he had been holding in a new pile.

There was silence and Harry looked up curiously. Fred and George were looking at him, offended.

"Take that back!"

"We have never-"

"-never, ever-"

"-repeated a prank!"

"Or even had to!"

"Um, sorry guys," Harry pointed out, "but you repeated the swamp thing too. Didn't you do that in fifth year?"

Fred and George looked at each other horrified.

"He's right, Gred."

"We have been repeating pranks."

"Our life is over!"

"Our pranking genius will be called into question!"

"Whatever shall we do?" They wailed together, clutching at one another.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Oh stop being dramatic. You could just say that you're improving on your pranks." He picked up a bright pink glittery one and looked at it warily, "After all, you kicked it up a notch with the swamps. You used three and the batch that was…absolutely foul…"

Harry trailed off to find the twins looking at him like he was some kind of god.

"Harry-"

"-our good man-"

"-our brother in all but blood-"

"-believe us when we say-"

"-we love you."

"Er, yeah." Harry said awkwardly, "Okay?"

Fred turned to George. "You know what this means?"

"Improvement?"

"Most definitely."

George grinned evilly. "The Big One."

The both reached forward and started knocking the fireworks away from the pile haphazardly, sending them skittering across the floor. Harry watched them warily until his attention was brought back when George yelled, "Aha!"

Sitting in front of them all was the biggest firework Harry had ever seen in his life. If he had to judge it then he would say it was about half a metre wide and three quarters of a meter high.

It was pitch black and had the outline of what looked to be an angry Hungarian Horntail etched into its side.

"What is that?" Harry asked, a note of wonder in his voice.

"This," Fred said proudly, "is the big one."

"We've only ever made two. The first one was a tester."

"So what does it do?" Harry asked, running his fingertips along the picture.

Fred shrugged. "Explosion, lights, sounds. The usual."

"Oh, there is the semi-sentient dragon made of flames though." George added.

"Awesome." Harry breathed. "Are we using this tonight?"

"Yup! But it'll have to be outside." Fred warned. "It'll blow the roof off otherwise."

"But being semi-sentient means that it'll head towards the nearest people anyway."

Harry frowned. "Aren't we going into a muggle district? Won't they notice that?"

The twins shrugged. "There were actual dragons in Germany."

"Point. So are we using these other ones as a distraction then?"

Fred nodded, "Yeah, hopefully they'll herd everyone outside so we can set this one off."

Harry grinned. I can't wait until tonight.

The plan was set. Fred had gotten their getaway portkey earlier that day. All they had left to do was to sneak in to the bar and set up the prank.

A hard task when the place was fully packed and the were's were on full alert.

Guess someone had put the word out on them.

Harry and the twins each had their own set of fireworks to be set off inside. The Big One, as it had been dubbed, was being carried along the streets between Fred and George.

The were getting curious looks from the muggles but were too busy carting along about ninety five pounds of explosives to really pay attention.

Eventually they reached the bar and Harry had a moment of doubt as to whether or not this would be a good thing.

The entire place was wooden, built to look like a Japanese temple. Or maybe it was a temple that had been converted. Harry didn't know.

He did know that fire and wood didn't really mix well.

"Um, guys?" He said hesitantly, "Do you think we should use fireworks in that place?"

"Yeah. Why?" the twins asked.

"Well…it's made of wood. I have a feeling it might burn."

George rolled his eyes. "You worry too much. Besides, the fireworks we're releasing inside don't burn. The only way the building will catch on fire is if we release The Big One in there - which we're not. Or we cast an incendio at the wicks and accidentally miss."

Harry nodded.

"Now," Fred said, "help me drag this to the back door. We're gonna sneak in that way because there are scary looking guards on the front."

The three of them dragged the massive firework to the back of the building and hid in near the door. Then they readied their wands in one hand and a firework in the other.

"We break in, light the firework, throw it at them, keep going until we don't have anymore left, and then get back out here to light The Big One."

"Then we run." Harry said nodding along with the plan.

"On the count of three?" Fred said, fishing out his wand.

"One." Harry whispered, sliding over to the door and creaking it open.

Behind it there was a long, dark corridor. Harry and the twins tiptoed down it on high alert. Every so often they would come across another door that was, thankfully, closed.

At the end of the corridor was another wooden door. Harry pressed his ear against it and could hear muted talking and music. He motioned to Fred and George that they had come to the main room.

They cast an incendio at the wicks of the fireworks in their hands then, with a yell, Harry kicked down the door and threw - ducking almost immediately so he didn't get hit in the back of the head by one of the twins' fireworks.

They took the were's by surprise. They didn't even get the chance to yell anything at them before the fireworks exploded in mid air.

Harry's turned into a giant blue comet that streaked around the room trailing glittering silver stars. Fred's started cart wheeling around the were's giving off bright pink sparks and George's was a cacophony of mini explosions.

Harry laughed as the were's started to run around, screaming, trying to dodge the harmless light show. He stepped further into the room so Fred and George could have more space and fished in his pocket for another firework.

It was as he was casting incendio on the second wick that everything went wrong.

One of the were's, a man with bright blond hair, had snuck around to the side of Harry whilst he was distracted looking at the first volley of fireworks.

Just when Harry cast the spell, he spear tackled Harry sideways. This, of course, knocked Harry's aim off a little and, instead of lighting the wick, Harry set the wall on fire.

Of course there was some sort of lacquer on the wood which also turned out to be highly flammable.

Harry didn't notice as the fire spread quickly around the room, licking the ceiling and inching across the floor, as he was busy wrestling with the were who was trying to beat the living daylights out of him. Or strangle him. He wasn't sure.

Fred and George dumped their fireworks out of their pockets and went to go help Harry, who was loosing badly. They each grabbed an arm and hefted the were up into the air and across the room where he smashed through a table.

The were's were panicking and trying to shove their way through the slim front door. Screams and yells could barely be heard over the pop and hiss of the wood as the fire roared through the room.

Harry staggered to his feet, unable to properly catch his breath after his almost strangling as all the oxygen in the room seemed to be feeding the flames. The heat was intense and sweat stung his eyes.

"Fred, George," He coughed out, just as a piece of the ceiling collapsed and sent sparks into the air. "We have to get the people out!"

Fred and George nodded at him, knowing when a prank had gone wrong.

They rushed towards the door, pushing the panicking were's out of the way until they had a clear shot. As one they each sent a spell out, widening the escape so that more people could pass through the open archway that was just beginning to catch fire.

"Go!" They roared at the were's, "Before the building collapses!"

They didn't need to say it twice. Instead they moved out the way and started shooting off aguamenti's at the walls and floor, trying to keep the flames back. It wasn't really working. Especially when the fireworks that they dropped previously caught and exploded all at once in a dazzling array of colours.

Harry stayed behind, every so often ducking a rouge comet or deflecting a firework away from the unprotected backs of the were's. Mostly because he wanted to make sure everyone got out, but partly because he was feeling a little light headed from the previous murder attempt.

Once he was sure everyone had made it through the doors he staggered towards them and the twins who were still shooting water to keep the path as clear as they could.

Then the ceiling collapsed.

Harry found himself buried beneath a ton of sparking embers, his leg trapped beneath a heavy beam.

He shouted in pain as his leg caught fire. Pushing at the beam only burnt his hands but he needed to get this thing off him before he burnt alive. He couldn't apparate as he was trapped in place, he didn't have the portkey and he had no idea where his wand was.

"Harry!" He heard one of the twins shout.

Then the fireworks in his pocket exploded and he screamed in agony. His hands coming off the log to shield his face.

Fred and George were horrified when the roof came down on Harry, trapping him in the middle of the burning room.

Fred was sure that the image of Harry at that moment would haunt his nightmares for a good long while.

"Harry!" George yelled out, making as if to storm back into the building. Strong arms wrapped around his chest, keeping him out the room.

"What are you doing! Let go of me!" George yelled, twisting in the grip trying to break it.

"You can't go in there!" The were, a man with short black hair, said. "The rest of the ceiling could fall too!"

"I don't care! We need to help him! This wasn't supposed to happen! It was all just lights!"

The were was about to say something else when Harry seemed to explode and all they could hear was his tortured screams.

"No!" Fred yelled, running forward and ducking under the hands that tried to grab him to keep him back from the building. "Harry!"

He skidded to the open doorway, which was now completely on fire, and aimed his wand carefully, casting the strongest flame freezing charm he could at Harry.

He was relieved to hear that Harry's screams of pain turned to laughter.

The were holding George relaxed his grip in his state of shock and George twisted out of it, running over to join his brother.

They glanced at each other and nodded, before pointing their wands at the beam. "Wingardium Leviosa!" They yelled.

Even with the two of them putting all they could into the spell, the beam barely raised enough for Harry to slip his leg out from underneath it. They were both panting with exhaustion as they backed away from the building which was groaning alarmingly, but grinned at the sight of a laughing Harry, completely on fire, hobbling towards them. Not noticing the figure that was making his way towards them.

Harry thought he was going to die. And even stay dead this time.

The pain was immense, on par with the Crutiatus curse, burning every nerve end and all he could do was lie there and scream.

He was mentally begging anyone to come and save him when he felt a spell hit him and blessed coolness wash over him. The flames, instead of burning him, started to tickle.

Unfortunately, Harry was very ticklish, and as the fire was so intense it immediately set him off into gales of laughter. He squirmed around trying to evade the flames but his leg was still pinning him in place.

As soon as he felt the beam shift he dragged his leg out from underneath. It hurt a lot but it didn't feel broken. Spotting his wand lying only a foot away, miraculously on the only foot of floor that didn't seem to be burning, he crawled towards it and snatched it.

Quickly casting a Episky at his leg just to make sure it would take his weight, he staggered upright and started to hobble towards the twins.

He caught sight of a man heading towards them and tried to get them to turn around but he was laughing too hard. He could do nothing but watch.

The man was tall, really tall and had dark hair that brushed his shoulders. For some reason he seemed to be wearing a wetsuit and an open Hawaiian shirt.

Their eyes caught and for one moment time seemed to slow.

Then the rest of the ceiling fell.

Harry barely had a moment's warning, just a loud groan and then a snap, but he did manage to get a shield up in time.

Wrapped in a protective bubble he watched as wooden beams and tiles fell on top of him, bouncing off the shield and away. The flames still licked at him so he still couldn't stop laughing. He was sure, by now, everyone thought he was insane.

It took three minutes before things stopped falling on him and Harry felt safe to drop the shield. He was standing, surrounded by eight foot high piles of flaming debris.

Tucking his wand into it's sheath he reached out and started to scale his way to the top, emerging, still laughing hysterically, to find the were's, the twins and the new man looking at him with wide eyes.

Then The Big One exploded, launching a giant flaming dragon, twelve stories high, straight into the air behind Harry. It slowed down and then flapped its wings twice, turning its gaze onto the crowds of people standing below it.

Harry could only watch as it let out a huge roar and dived at them, skimming so close that everyone instinctively ducked and held their hands over their heads.

Fred and George used the distraction to cast the flame freezing charm on each other and race over to Harry, grabbing him by the arms.

"Time to go."

Harry nodded at them but only had eyes for the man in the wetsuit who was staring back at him. For some strange reason he felt drawn to him, even though he was too far away to pick out any identifiable features.

He had a feeling that they would be meeting again.

The twins grabbed an arm and a moment later they had apparated back to their hotel room.

Harry, away from the flames, felt the pain of his burns flair up and he collapsed, groaning onto the ground.

Fred and George immediately sprang into action, grabbing their trunks and fishing out a pain relieving potion and a dreamless sleep and forcing them down Harry's throat.

"Don't worry," was the last thing Harry heard before slipping into unconsciousness, "we've got you."

harry potter, advent, harry/savitar, slash, dark hunter

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