A/N: Written for the QLFC, Finals Round 1 – Go Bats! Seeker Prompt – Write about any magical creature. (I chose yetis…)
In Need of Some Fine Tuning
Up in the mountains of Tibet, life was looking rather bleak for the members of the International Task Force. The snow fell hard around them in blinding flurries that stung their face and obscured their vision, and the ridiculously vindictive yetis of the north found this the perfect opportunity to sneak up on the Ministry officials they'd begun to regard as oppressors instead.
Percy had no idea what motivated him to join the International Task Force on their year-long stint atop the frozen Tibetan ranges, but there had been no shortage of raised eyebrows when he had announced his decision to do so. The carnage he'd been forced to witness last year and the loss of his brother had driven him wonky, whispered the senior members of the Ministry in their not-so-subtle ways. But in all honesty, all Percy remembered of the intricate thought process that preceded his decision was mentally (and then literally) screaming out his affirmation after intruding a mighty serious conversation between his elderly bosses and then scampering out sooner than he'd believed he could.
He didn't expect his offer to be considered as he hadn't put it across in the most official of ways, but here he was, in a place too cold even for the Snow Owls to visit as a result of which the Weasley clan had to make do with a shaky letter from him every other month. Not many of them were really complaining, to be honest.
"Percy, your shift has ended over twenty minutes ago; we're on my watch now. Care for some hot chocolate?"
His nostrils were assaulted with the aroma of strong, warm chocolate but his eyes only focused on the nails that graced the slender fingers of the woman holding the black mug. Her nails were a shimmery blue, and he noticed that her snow boots were a rather unique shade of blue, too. He abstractly wondered how she managed to avoid the attention of the rather perceptive yetis before he remembered his manners.
"Th-thank you," he mumbled as he relived her of the mug, and then moved to the far end of the bench he was occupying. She slid in clumsily; frozen toes and fingers rid her of her coordination and a stray elbow nearly lobbed his mug of hot chocolate away.
"Hey!" he exclaimed involuntarily just as she began giggling. It was the music of the dance of cold winds between stray icicles and falling snow, and Percy felt like he would feel braver before a monstrous yeti than he would sitting with this girl who seemed obsessed with the colour blue.
"Er," he began rather uncomfortably when he noticed her startling chocolate eyes staring right into him.
But a mighty roar shook the mountains and Percy hardly had a chance to complete his now forgotten thought.
"Run inside!" he hollered as the ground beneath him began to shake violently, and the icicles that hung from the rafters of their accommodation began to meet the ground instead.
"No!" she yelled as she grabbed the mug from is hand, drained it within seconds and then burped heartily. He didn't have it in him to tell her that a little line of chocolate froth was gracing her upper lip and decided to smile amidst the chaos instead.
He didn't know what plans the younger woman had, but he realised that she was most certainly not on the right track when she used an enlargement charm on the mug and went charging headlong into the herd of yetis that were making their way through to the wizard's lodging.
"Hey, they can't attack us here!" he yelled out to her, but it was too late. "The place is charmed to protect us from any magical creature," he whispered furiously beneath his breath before joining her.
It took him a few seconds to decide which direction to head off in as his visibility declined with every snowflake that the sky had begun to shower down on him and within seconds, he was stumped.
"Perrrcyyyy!"
He heard her voice weakly reach out to him, but the howling winds were making it impossible for him to decipher the direction from which it came. But when his vision was suddenly flooded with a vast expanse of white that seemed to go on forever, the young man felt quite faint.
"Percy! Come here, there's someone I'd like you to meet!"
It took a few seconds for Percy to realise that the never-ending mass of white was actually a yeti that seemed to be deep in conversation with the girl in blue.
What was happening here?
Before he could clearly articulate his thoughts, the girl whispered hurriedly to the giant creature that only nodded serenely in response and then made a mad dash for where he stood petrified with an immense fear he was too manly to express.
Her pink cheeks and pretty, exhilarated expression did nothing to calm his panic – if anything, it made him wonder if he was in the company of lunatics. She didn't give him much time alone with his thoughts, however.
"This is Yanna, she's the head of the Tibetan Yeti clan," she rattled off like she'd learnt all this data by heart. Percy could only stare as she rushed him through the introductions to the other members of the clan who slowly lumbered in, each looking more frightening that than the other. They bared their teeth in what he could hope were gestures of friendship, but in reality Percy couldn't for the life of him separate one from the other and was soon unable to calm the uncontrollable shiver in his bones.
The one he'd been introduced to as Yanna marched towards him then, and it took every ounce of his will power to not turn around and bolt. If they were anything like Hermione's crazy cat, he thought morosely, it would catch me within seconds and have me as starters for Christmas.
"Hello," he half-stuttered, half-grunted and shut is mouth immediately as the expression on her face morphed into one of anger.
"Percy," the woman began soothingly, which is when Percy realised he didn't even know her name.
"She understands our language, they all do," she said earnestly. Yanna nodded eagerly in affirmation while relatively smaller yetis waddled out to the forefront, looking curious.
"I've been trying to let the Ministry know for several years now, but they've always considered me a bit of an oddball, so…" Her pale cheeks turned just the slightest hint of rose and Percy found himself smiling despite the strange circumstances he was under.
"So, let me get this straight," he began. "This isn't your first time here, is it?"
Both she and the yetis shook their heads in response, and Percy grinned.
"And the Ministry has been simply sending in convoys of frightened officials for practically no reason?"
His audience nodded.
"Do they harm any of you?" Percy suddenly asked, his eyes growing wide with concern and a large yeti beside Yanna nodded forlornly.
The girl exchanged a few grunts with the yeti before she spoke. "It's fear that prompts them to do the things they do," she began carefully. "The yetis haven't attacked all that many humans – not really. They were even pretty friendly with the monks and shamans who used to inhabit these areas, before they relocated. A massive storm broke their monastery down and the yetis actually tried to help," she added sadly. "But everyone chooses to believe that the yetis tore the lovely buildings down and swallowed three monks whole."
A smirk began forming on Percy's once rigid face. "I have a plan in mind," he said in true Weasley fashion. "But I'll need your help…"
Two hours later, the earth shook violently in one corner of Tibet, like multiple earthquakes threatening to rip the snowy mountains apart. Two young people sat atop the shoulders of incredibly snow giants that lumbered towards the Ministry quarters in perfect formation, not once stepping a toe out of line.
"Mr Gladwash!" Percy hollered as the gigantic feet that carried him swiftly covered the distance to his boss' quarters. The wind was on their side for a change and Percy smiled as the shutters unfurled to reveal a shrivelled head with unruly hair bursting in every direction. He shut the windows immediately and Percy could figure more shadowy shapes entering his room.
"Let me take care of this," the girl near him said. "Oh, and you can call me Audrey."
Percy smiled in response but then gazed open-mouthed as she deftly hopped off Yanna's shoulders and attacked the quarter's doors like her life depended on it.
"Open up, Mr Gladwash!" she yelled in the sweetest way possible. "I know the others are in there, and I do not want to brand my superiors for cowards," she added.
After a few more moments of cajoling, the door opened by just the tiniest bit and a nose poked out.
"I am not about to become yeti food," the tired voice declared stubbornly.
Percy grinned.
"Sir, did you know that the yetis are vegetarian?"
Audrey laughed as the herd of yetis promptly brought out large squashes and melons and stuffed it into their cavernous mouths.
Mr Gladwash nearly fainted at the size of their teeth, but a quick Calming Draught and several hours of explanations later had the entire team fascinated.
"So you're saying they're more helpful than destructive?" Fendran Oppenstein, a thin man with an annoyingly high voice asked interestedly as he already built plans of using the creatures' brute strength to his advantage.
"They'll eat you the second you try to take advantage of them" Audrey was quick to reply, nd it amused her thoroughly to watch him pale by a few shades.
"I thought they were vegetarian?"
"Oh, they are. You really don't want to tempt them into sinking those lovely teeth of theirs into your rather delicate skin, do you?"
It didn't take much after that for the Ministry to change the protocol of its entire International Task Force, and that of the Magical Creatures department as well. Immensely happy to have played a part in such pivotal change, Percy and Audrey, grateful to the yetis decided to spend two months every year with Yanna and her pack and help preserve their kind by spreading awareness throughout the Wizarding World.
And, though she'd never say so, Yanna was pretty proud of having played a part in helping Percy and Audrey discover their love for each other.
fin