Awakening

By RaistlinofMetallica

Chapter Two:

Threads

Steam curled from the lacklustre cup of coffee in thin tendrils, but the middle-aged blond man sitting at the café table seemed to not notice. He silently turned over a pack of cigarettes in his hand and looked over the crowd of commuters that surged before him as they went about their busy lives. His eyes moved up to the rooftops and landed on a long-haired man in a weathered brown duster. The long-haired man perched on the edge of the roof like a bird, empty black eyes fixed on the people below.

“Bloody angels,” the blond man muttered under his breath and tapped the end of the pack against the table. With the fluidity of an old habit, the cigarette found its way from the pack to his lips and the old gold lighter sparked easily. Both the lighter and pack then disappeared into the pocket of his faded tan trench coat as he took that first deep drag of nicotine and exhaled. Dropping some loose change for a tip, the man turned up his collar and left the café.

A buzzing came from the black phone on his belt, drawing a slow smirk from the man. He took a drag of his cigarette and raised the phone, flicking it open. “This had better be good.”

“A pair of energy spikes occurred early this morning,” the familiar voice of a young man answered almost automatically. “They occurred at approximately the same time, in two different parts of the world, and were nearly indistinguishable from each other. Fortunately, we were able to detect the slight variances in time and narrowed down their approximate source areas. An agent has already been dispatched to investigate the second spike. You’ll be getting the first spike.”

“A spike, eh, Odin?” the blond man grinned and took a long drag on his cigarette.

The reply coming from the earpiece was flat and business-like, as usual: “The target is in your area. I trust that you can handle it quietly.”

He exhaled and reached into the pocket of his trench coat to search for his notepad. “No problem, brat. Gimmie a rough idea of what I’m lookin’ for ‘ere...”

“We’re still analyzing the data,” Odin said tonelessly. “You’ll know more specifics when we do.”

The man sighed, pinching his nose. “Look, brat, I’ve been in this business a long effin’ time –“

“...Which is precisely why you’re being given this specific target,” Odin began, cutting him off. “Your instincts are far better than any of the other active agents in our division and your skills give you an added advantage.”

“You think it’s a magic user, don’t you, Odin?” the blond man stated bluntly.

There was a slight pause on the other end. “The probability is 83 percent.”

The blondeman sighed, running his hand through his dishevelled short hair and snuffed his cigarette on the sidewalk. “Bullocks... Let the boss know I’m on it and call me back when you’ve got more for me.”

“Roger that,” Odin said and promptly hung up.

Shaking his head, the blond man snapped the phone shut and put it back on his belt. “Bloody weird brat, that one...” he sighed and pulled out a new cigarette.

If this energy spike was indeed from a magic user, chances were high that others involved in that world had felt it or were drawn to it. It had happened before, way back before The Wish, and he remembered the brat involved had attracted nothing but trouble. The man sighed and pulled out his lighter. He still had a few contacts, here and there, and he could think of a few less than scrupulous characters that might be persuaded to part with information for a relatively minor stipend. There were also a few places in London where magic users came and went on a daily basis – the biggest running the course of several streets – and, if his target was a magic user, it would only be a matter of time before the target would show up there.

“I s’ppose ol’ Burkes is worth a shot,” he murmured, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. The entrance wasn’t too far away and it would certainly save a little time, as the store itself was in the largest magical district in London. He flicked the lighter open and then closed his eyes, snapping the lighter shut again and swiftly putting it in his pocket. “Right, then... Where’s that bloody pub?”

It was often too crowded to apparate directly into the Alley itself and, like most everyone else, Louis apparated into one of the nearby back alleys that had been set aside by the Ministry as ‘safe’ apparation points. He’d chosen one about a block away to be on the safe side and, though he had to walk a bit, it wasn’t that much of a problem. In fact, he actually managed to get a good look at an antique car parked on the side of the road; it was an old red Porsche Boxter convertible, beautifully maintained and looking as good as when it was new. Several wizards and muggles had actually stopped and were eyeing it with awe.

The young wizard shook his head as he entered the pub. It seemed foolish to leave something so showy and of such obvious worth parked on the street like that. But, Louis hadn't come to nitpick the seeming ignorance of those suffering from affluence-related idiocy: he came for more art supplies and that was simply that.

Louis wove his way through the holiday crowd in the Leaky Cauldron towards the entrance to Diagon Alley, deftly avoiding being squashed between foreign families on holiday and regular patrons. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed some of his classmates sitting at a table near the back and quickened his pace, not wanting them to spot him in turn. Most of the people in his year were tolerable, but these particular ones were belligerent cretins and had been picking on him about his appearance since first year.

He grimaced and entered the small alleyway that served as the main entrance to Diagon Alley. It had always been his looks that caused problems, even when he was little, and it was a fact that irked him to no end. A stupid rare defect in a gene saddled him with albinism and a lifetime of putting up with the stares and mockery of others. It wasn’t his fault that he barely had any pigment in his hair, eyes and skin. Yet, sometimes it felt like he was certainly being punished by everyone for his unusual appearance.

Pinching the bridge of his nose and taking a deep breath to calm himself, Louis turned his attention back to what he was doing and entered the heavily congested Diagon Alley. There was a stationary store here that sold a number of supplies he could use, but he really was set on going to the art store first – if they were open today, that is. There was simply no substituting some wizarding stuff with its muggle equivalent, such as magic fixative, when you were trying to paint or draw moving images, as Louis had figured out rather early on.

The young wizard kept moving towards Gringotts, careful not to get snagged in constantly moving sea of magic-users. He’d grabbed some money before apparating out of the house, so there was no need to stop at the bank. However, the store he wanted was only a short walk from the bank entrance and it was much harder to get lost in the crowd with the big white building as a general point of reference. Gradually, he moved to the other side of the alley and narrowly avoided colliding with a middle-aged blond man; the man growled out a few colourful curses about ‘goddamn impatient brats’ under his breath and kept on walking. Louis shot a two-fingered salute at the man’s back and, with a grin of satisfaction, ducked into the art store.

A tall young man with wild black hair lingered at the counter of Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, examining the flavours with interest. More than a few patrons were giving him odd looks, as he looked more than a little out of place with his cheerful smile and entirely black attire. Finally, the strange young man approached the counter and smirked at the young woman behind the counter. “I’ll have a large chocolate and raspberry, miss.”

The woman squeaked, blushing brilliant crimson, and hastily turned around to get the ice cream. Her customer watched in mild amusement as she bobbled the cone and scoop in her hands for a moment before actually managing to get a grip on them.

Turning away for a moment, the young man scanned the crowd with a detached expression and pushed his sleek sunglasses up on his nose. An oddly shaped jagged scar marked his forehead, just barely visible under the wild hair that covered it; perhaps this young man was an Auror, for they certainly possessed collections of unusual scars and quirks. The young man paused, a slow smirk crossing his lips.

“Ex-excuse m-me, sir?” the woman behind the counter said, still blushing brightly. He looked back at her and she timidly held out the ice cream cone, adding, “H-here’s y-your ice cream, sir!”

The young man reached for the ice cream cone, plucking it delicately from her hand as he absently snapped his fingers with his free hand.

And it was at that exact moment that all hell broke loose.

Literally.

Louis had just finished paying for his new supplies when a strange, sickening icy feeling crept through his skin. Suddenly, there were loud screams of terror coming from the alley and the window exploded as a man was bodily flung through it. It was the middle-aged man that Louis had nearly run into earlier, but he didn’t get to linger on that thought very long. A low, fierce growl rumbled through air and the nauseating stench of sulphur wafted through the window.

The young wizard took a step towards the window, trying to see what was out there, but something was holding him back. A hand, to be specific: the middle-aged man had managed to get to his feet and was grabbing Louis’ arm. “Not that way, you stupid brat!” the man snapped, pulling him back, “Not unless you want to be fast food for a lava beast!”

Louis gulped, remembering the hulking volcanic beast described in his DADA textbook, and let himself be led away from the window. The smell of sulphur only grew stronger as it slowly stalked into view, its heavy smouldering claws digging into the cobblestone. Molten rock dribbled onto the ground from the monstrous black jaws of the beast, hissing angrily as it hit the ground. It snarled, snapping its jaws at the bank across the street.

“Time to go,” the blond man said quietly, tugging Louis towards the door. “Hurry up! We haven’t got much time!”

They plunged outside, into air that was unnaturally hot and choking, while the lava beast was still preoccupied. The cobblestones were melted where the beast had passed and there were horribly burnt people lying at the sides of the alley, moaning in pain. The man wasn’t looking at them, instead purposefully guiding him back up the alley and around the melted cobble.

Louis felt sick. “Th-they’re still alive... We’ve got to help them.”

“Too late for that,” the man replied, “We’d be better off breaking that bloody anti-apparition ward that went up before the beast appeared.”

The young wizard only felt sicker, ice flooding through his veins. Someone did this on purpose? Another low growl rumbled out of the beast and the middle-aged man looked behind them, swearing loudly. Louis looked over his shoulder even as the man started dragging him forward and his stomach lurched in horror: the lava beast had seen them and was turning to pursue.

A wounded woman, half her body burned, weakly stretched her fingers out towards them, silently begging for help. She was directly in its path and the young wizard knew that she would die if he didn’t do something. But the man was now urgently pulling him away, telling him to run, and the lava beast was roaring, preparing to charge...

Louis wrenched his arm free, turned, and bolted back towards the woman. His heart pounded with deafening volume in his ears and a small part of his brain screamed that he should be running away instead, but he just couldn’t do that. The young wizard quickly cast a non-verbal flame-freezing charm on himself and stopped next to the woman. As he stooped to help her, he became dimly aware that the bottoms of his trainers were melting on the hot cobblestone, but it wasn’t important. The lava beast charged at them and, instinctively, Louis pulled the injured woman closer to him. Unable to apparate and with no time left to escape, the young wizard whispered an apology to the woman and waited for the smouldering black claws to crush them.

Suddenly, a strange sensation spread throughout his body; it was like cold fire, burning and freezing at the same time, but it was also like the feeling he got when he cast spells. The claws of the lava beast were directly above them now and, amazingly, time appeared to slow for a moment as the cold fire swelled up like a bubble within him, getting bigger and bigger. Time returned to normal then and, instantly, the bubble burst, exploding out of his body in a rush of blinding, blue-white fire.

And then it was gone, leaving Louis half-blinded and desperately clutching to the arm of the injured woman in the middle of the empty, scarred alley. Fine ash drifted through the now cold air in a mockery of snow, but there was no sign of the monster that had been bearing down on them a moment before. The young wizard blinked, trying to chase away the afterimage of the strange light, but it was hard to focus and he felt tired, as if he’d been playing Quidditch for days. A chorus of pops echoed through his ears and he unsteadily looked around at the arriving Aurors, realizing that someone must have broken the anti-apparition ward.

Louis swayed in place, the world appearing to tilt dangerously. Dimly, he realized he was falling, but he didn’t really have the energy to stop it. He was just too tired. Then, just on the verge of passing out, he felt himself being supported by sturdy arms and lifted away from the burnt woman. A soft voice whispered praise in his ear and, finally, he let the darkness bear him away into blissful unconsciousness.

AN: Well, this chapter just totally went in a different direction than I had planned. (The authoress glares at her muse of violent magical beasts, who is trying to look innocent as he hides a Monster Manual behind his back.)Yep, totally unplanned chaotic evil lava beast. The blond man in the beginning is the same one that tries to save Louis in the last section. Interesting, isn't it, how those threads interweave... Anyway, the next chapter is planned and there will be explanations for Louis's little, er, outburst. Reviews would be nice...