1.
A Quaffle To The Head & Other Such Distractions.

'We used to dance upon the rooftops of
one another's dreams;
always smiling and ever laughing
amidst our youthful denial.
"Life is sweet" you whisper
as we lie awake at night.
The world goes crashing past us
unnoticed and unheard.'

Grimmauld Place was in chaos.

Order members ran to and fro in disorganised panic, the cracks of Apparating witches and wizards sounded every minute or so, and amidst it all the portrait of Sirius' mother shrieked her usual assorted curses and insults, punctuated now and then by a loud bang or clang, which usually signalled the arrival of Tonks somewhere in the house.

With Dumbledore's death had come an uproar of Death Eater activity, and the Order of the Phoenix – leaderless and disarrayed – was struggling to defend the wizarding world against the increasing evil. To make matters worse, Harry Potter had disappeared, leaving behind nothing more than a letter, in which he'd written that he'd explain everything when he got back – if he did – and a will of sorts, which allotted Grimmauld Place to the continued use of the Order and Buckbeak to Hagrid. Mrs Weasley, indignant as ever, had had to be restrained from taking after the seventeen year-old, and when she found out that her youngest son and his girlfriend had also vanished along with their friend, she'd been beside herself with grief.

'Harry's brave, he'll be fine Mum.' Charlie had assured her as he sat by her lounge chair one evening.

'Yes,' she'd replied with a little sigh, 'but poor Ron isn't as brave… Oh my poor Ronniekins!'

Harry's disappearance was the least of their problems, however, as news reached their ears of a treaty that could potentially doom their chances of ever winning against Voldemort… a treaty to forge an unbreakable alliance between the last contigent of giants and the ever-growing Death Eater army.

But while the adults ran amock, forsaking sleep, food and shelter to save their families and friends, the younger component of the Order were elsewhere, spending their lazy days of school-less freedom playing Quidditch on the Weasley property behind the Burrow…

'To your left! Your left Katie, not your right!'

Overcome with a sense of deja vou, Katie raised an eyebrow at her hovering ex-Captain.
They were playing five-a-side Quidditch in the paddock, Oliver as Captain for one team, and Charlie as Captain for the other. However, Oliver's overbearing instincts had kicked in, and as such, he was berating Katie and the others on his team endlessly, criticising every move they made.

'I think he thinks this is a Puddlemere game or something.' muttered Fred, who like Katie, Alicia and Bill, had been unfortunate enough to be stuck with Oliver.

'Stop conversing Weasley and go and make sure Charlie doesn't- Argh! For the love of Godric Gryffindor, do I have to do everything myself!?'

Shooting past Katie and Fred, who hadn't moved an inch since he'd started his rant; Oliver emitted something similar to a battle cry and collided with the second-oldest Weasley, who was promptly nearly knocked off his broom.

'Oliver, are you trying to kill Charlie?' Katie sighed tiredly, 'Because even if he dies, his team will still win.'

Laughing loudly at this, Charlie winked at the younger Scotsman and zoomed off, easily throwing the Quaffle past a dozing Bill, who had been napping quietly on the tree branch he was supposed to be guarding.

'WEASLEY!' Oliver exclaimed, answered immediately with four "what!?"s from various places in the air around him.

'You're allowed to use our first names when we're playing Quidditch, you do realise Oliver?' George said casually.

'He was sleeping during a Quid– ' he retorted loudly, interrupted by Katie who, tired of him, borrowed the recently-retrieved Quaffle from Charlie and lobbed it full speed at the irate eighteen year-old's head, knocking him out cold and sending him into a eight-foot tumble from the air to the un-mowed lawn.

'Katie!' Alicia chided with a shake of her head, trying desperately to mask the relieved smile on her face.

'Nice one Kates.' Lee congratulated her with a wink.

'I suppose someone should go and check on him.' Angelina said with a sour look in Oliver's general unconscious direction.

'I didn't mean to hit him that hard.' Katie admitted with a terrified glance downwards, 'What if I've killed him?'

'There wasn't any blood or anything.' Charlie assured her, 'C'mon, you and me'll go and see how the son-of-a-bludger is.'

As they landed, Katie breathed out a huge sigh of relief as Oliver began to twitch on the ground, waking up from his unconsciousness.

'See? You didn't kill him. Mum'll fix him up fine and he'll be able to play again tomorrow.' Charlie said with a smile, cuffing her gently on the side of the head, 'Although knocking him out probably wasn't a good idea, because he'll be - '

'Katie?' Oliver muttered hoarsely.

'Yeah Oliver, I'm here.' Katie said, kneeling down beside him and smiling gently.

'Once I can move all my limbs and not see three of everything, I suggest you make a break for somewhere far away, like Australia perhaps… because if I catch you, I am going to kill you for giving me this bloody migraine.' He growled moodily, making Katie wince and tip-toe away quickly, leaving him in the care of Charlie, who simply gave him a small kick in the ribs and told him to pull his head in.

&&&&&&&

'There's a meeting at Grimmauld Place in fifteen minutes.' Mrs. Weasley informed them all as they trooped into her house, covered in leaves and grass stains, 'Oh goodness me, what on earth happened to you dear?'

Charlie and Bill had just stepped over the threshold with Oliver supported in between them.

'Uh, he had a little run in with a Quaffle.' Katie supplied weakly with a guilty grimace that Oliver noted and scowled at.

'Ah well, let me have a look at you.' Mrs. Weasley said wearily, guiding the burly boy to a seat and inspecting his skull, 'The rest of you be ready to go in ten minutes.'

'Okay, everybody here?' asked Mr. Weasley as everyone had squished themselves into the tiny kitchenette of Grimmauld Place.

'I don't think we can fit anyone else in, even if we are all here.' replied Roger darkly, squashed in between a grumpy Oliver and rather smelly Mundungus Fletcher.

'Ah, well righto then, lets get to it.' Mr. Weasley hurried along, 'Well, we've been asked by – '

'Arthur dear, stop a minute will you?' Mrs. Weasley interrupted her husband mid-sentence, 'There are some people here that shouldn't be.'

Groaning, Katie let her head fall with a smack onto the kitchen table in front of her, muttering unintelligibly. 'It never, ever works.'

'I'm sorry dear, but you aren't part of the Order yet, and this is a classified meeting.' Mrs. Weasly said gently, with an apologetic smile, 'Why don't you go and see what Ginny's up to? She's moping around the house somewhere.'

Scowling, Katie got up from her seat and trudged out of the kitchen wearily.

'Sorry Kates.' Fred whispered as he passed him, 'I tried to get them to let you join, but since you're not eighteen yet…'

Nodding to show she'd heard him, she shuffled out, closing the door behind her with an unnecessary amount of force.

'They lock you out too?' asked a quiet voice from behind her, and Katie spun around to see Ginny sitting in the darkest corner of the foyer, looking especially morose.

'Yeah.' Katie sighed, sitting down beside the red-haired fifteen year old, 'And all because I don't turn eighteen 'til next month.'

'I never got the eighteen year old thing,' Ginny replied, 'You're legally an adult at seventeen, so technically, they shouldn't be able to stop you from that kind of thing… but ah well.'

'It's stupid.' Katie huffed childishly, settling herself back against the wall.

'Amen sister.' Ginny agreed with a half-hearted attempt at muggle humour.

&&&&&&&

'Okay, so the aim of the mission is to make sure that the giants don't sign the treaty the Death Eaters have.' Arthur explained, tapping his wand on a large parchment map behind him.

'The treaty ensures that the giants are bound to You-Know-Who's orders, and will hold them to anything he commands them to do. As we know giants aren't the most intelligent of creatures: they will sign it without thinking. This will be obviously bad for us for two reasons, the first, because that will mean we have no hope of ever bringing them to our side; and two, because by binding them to his will, Voldemort can make them do anything, and giants can cause a lot of damage when made to.'

'So, how are we supposed to crash a secret meeting with the limited amount of people we have?' asked Bill, his normally perpetually cheeriness replaced by an unusual amount of maturity seriousness, 'I mean, just how many of us are going on this mission?'

'Erm. Well, I don't know how many, let me just count.' Arthur busied himself with the list of names on the table in front of him, 'Ah, well there's eight of us to begin with, and then there'll be ten with our full team… and back-up if needed.'

'Eight?' Charlie echoed incredulously, 'we might as well sign the treaty for them!'

'Well, there will be ten of us once we're all there.' Arthur corrected his son weakly.

'Who exactly are the ten people going?' enquired Oliver quietly from the back; his head seemingly back to normal thanks to Mrs. Weasley's help.

'Well,' Arthur coughed, cleared his throat and consulted his list, 'let me see here… Okay, well, Bill and Charlie will be going. Fred, George, Roger, and you Oliver. My- '

'Oh great,' Fred interrupted morbidly, 'I have a one in ten chance of dying on my first mission.'

'Oh hush, dear.' Mrs. Weasley reprimanded, wiping away a stray tear as she did.

'Yes Fred, mind your mother please,' Arthur said sternly, before going back to his list, 'and as I was saying… myself and Remus shall be leading you lot in, and then Tonks and Kingsley will be joining us later on. And Lee, Angelina and Alicia, you three are on standby for immediate back-up.'

'Oh how lovely,' Angelina drawled with a tone startlingly similar to her boyfriend's, 'the men go first and if they die, the girls get called in. Bloody brilliant.'

'Come on Ange,' Tonks said bracingly, 'At least you're on call.'

Flashing the fuschia-haired woman a scathing look, Angelina remained mute, folding her arms and leaning back into the chair she was sharing with a pale Alicia.

Coughing, Arthur smiled weakly.
'The mission shouldn't take long… two, maybe three weeks.'

'Twenty-one days to die. At least they're being generous.' Charlie muttered, earning a cuff up the back of the head from Bill, who was standing behind him.

'Look. I know it's a dangerous mission.' said Lupin, speaking up for the first time, 'But, if you haven't forgotten, you're all quidditch players. Your reflexes are something amazing. Magic can only take you so far, that's why you lot are being assigned in the first place. We had to have young, fit people. And that's what you are.'

'The younger you die, the smaller you are – the easier to bury you.' hissed Fred to George who snorted at the morbidity of it all.

'Alright, that's more than enough!' Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, her eyes puffy and red from holding back tears, 'I think that we should leave it there, just for today.'

Nodding, Arthur flicked his wand at the door. It opened slowly, and they all quickly filed out, eager to escape the anxious tension of the sweltering little kitchenette.

As soon as the door opened, Katie and Ginny jumped to their feet.

'What is it? What's going on?' demanded Ginny, frowning slightly at the dark looks on the faces of the twins.

Singling Oliver out, Katie grabbed his arm.
'Oliver, what's going on? Why is everyone so upset?'

Frowning and shaking his head, he pulled his arm from her grasp and trudged upstairs after Roger and Charlie.

'Oliver!' she called indignantly, taking the stairs two at a time after him, and running headlong into the door he had just closed, 'Ow! OLIVERRR!'

Opening the door again, he looked down at her on the floor with a look she couldn't place.

'Look Katie, we just need to talk for a bit, alright?' said Roger from behind Oliver, who grimaced apologetically and closed the door again, locking it.

Her jaw dropping, Katie remained on the floor, stunned.
She was still there when Fred and George trudged up the stairs, both of them looking like they'd aged in the last hour.

'Kates, what are you doing on the floor?' asked Fred as he and his twin stepped over her frozen body.

'They… they locked me out!' she burst out angrily, leaping to her feet.

'Katie, I-' George started, but was drowned out by the stubborn little brunette as she hammered on the door with all her strength.

'OLIVER TOBIAS WOOD! If you don't open this door RIGHT NOW, I'm going to BREAK it down!' she screamed, belting it with her fists as hard as she could.

'Katie, stop!' Fred and George yelled simultaneously to no avail.

Her eyes screwed up in anger, Katie continued to hammer the door, which all of a sudden seemed to be much softer, like toned muscle. Familiar toned muscle. Wrenching them open again, Katie slowed her movements down a stop when she realised it was Oliver she was bashing.

'You finished?' he asked with a wry smile, taking a step out of the room and letting Fred and George walk into it, closing the door behind them.

'Um, yeah, I think so.' She mumbled sheepishly, looking down at their feet.

'Look, Kates… we're going on a mission. And it's dangerous. And we're scared. And that's why no ones especially jubilant at the moment.' He explained in short, sharp bursts, as if it hurt him to say it.

'I want to know what's going on…' she said urgently, grabbing his hand and holding it to her chest, 'Where are you going? Why is it so dangerous? Who's going?'

'Katie, you know I can't tell you that.' Oliver replied, looking down at her, his brown eyes locking with her blue ones.

'Please Oliver… if I can't come just because I'm one lousy month too young, the least you can do is tell where it is I can't do to.' She appealed quietly.

'Don't blackmail me into this.'

'Then tell me and I won't have to.'

'Kates…'

'Don't "Kates" me!'

'What!? Just because I can't tell you classified information!?'

'Especially because you won't tell me this "classified information"!'

'Katie!'

'Oliver!'

'ENOUGH!'

Startled into silence, Katie stared at him incredulously.

'Don't yell at me… you never yell at me unless we're on the pitch.'

'Then don't push me!' he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air, 'Look, you know what? You win. I'll tell you.'

She didn't say a word. Instead, she launched herself at him in the tightest hug he'd ever been given in his life.

'We're going to Bulgaria…' he whispered quietly, rearranging their limbs so that the hug was slightly more comfortable for both of them, 'We're going into giant territory. It's me, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George, Roger, Lupin and Mr. Weasley.'

'Giant country!?' she exclaimed, forcing him to clap a large hand over her mouth.

'Shhhh!' he hissed, looking around and pulling her into the first room he found, 'Yes, giant country. That's why it's so dangerous.'

'Oliver…'

'Look Katie, I know it's dangerous, but as Lupin said - '

'Oliver. Stop.'

'No, you stop. Look, as Lupin said, we're all Quidditch players and - '

'OLIVER!'

'WHAT!?

In answer, there was a loud inhuman screech that nearly deafened them, followed by an ominous flash of large claws that slashed the air centimetres before their faces.

'This is Buckbeak's room!' Oliver yelled needlessly, as they both fumbled for the doorknob.

'I think that's obvious.' Katie panted as they leant against the door, once they'd managed to get out of the room.

'No wonder we're all freaked out about Bulgaria,' Oliver said darkly, 'there's enough monsters in this bloody place to kill the lots of us, let alone throwing ourselves into a mountain range crawling with Death Eaters and dominated by giants!'

'Oh God.' Was all Katie could say as she slid down the door to sprawl out on the floor.

'Still, I suppose things could be worse.' He said mildly with a shrug, changing tact and sitting down beside her.

'Oliver, are you sure Mrs. Weasley checked you out thoroughly? I think I hit you harder than I thought.' She replied, reaching over and patting him tenderly on the skull.

'Australia is definitely the best place for you.' said Oliver with a scowl.

Disclaimer: Does anyone else get sick of writing these things? Okay, so I can't really talk.. i forget them most of the time. That said, this counts for the whole story, k? All familiar character are not mine, they belong to JK Rowling. Nicolas and Tatiana, who are yet to come in this piece of literature, are mine, although their appearances are not... Nicolas is based on the lustworthy Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Tatiana is based on some Bulgarian supermodel that I cannot find the name of anywhere. The pretty little words at the top of this page in italics are mine, they are part of a poem, so please don't use them without asking.. although they aren't really worthy of anyone wanting to steal them, so never mind. I'll be using lyrics from musicians, and i promise to name them all in this A/N section, so never fear.
End of Disclaimer.

God, if that Disclaimer was any longer it'd be a fic all on its own. -rolls eyes-

Hello and welcome to the new-and-improved version of 'World On Fire'!

I know it doesn't really look much like the other version, but that was really the whole point.. it kinda sucked. I mean, the idea was alright, and I've since improved on it dramatically, but the interpretation of it in writing wasn't, so here's the best I can do. Note too, that this is the first story I've ever had a plan for, so perhaps that's what's helping, lol.

Um, can't think of much else to write, the Disclaimer took up most of my witticisms (or however you spell it), so I think that's it... OH! except that i have links to photos of all the characters involved in this story on my profile, so please check 'em out if you get a chance.. the ones of Jonathan R-M and Sean Biggerstaff in particular, are definitely worth a look, trust me. -winks-

Okay, so thanks for reading, and reviewing is great too.
I promise I'll try and reply if you do review.. so please do. haha.

Ash xx