It was a cold night and though it had barely gone eight pm, the streets were pitch black. There was not a person in sight as The Flame walked the back streets of London. Her red stilettos clicked as she strode down the deserted alleys and sidewalks, her eyes peeled for any movement. She had received a tip off that Cracker Jack, the most notorious crack dealer in London, was going to be carrying out a deal tonight and she had been on the lookout since six pm. Her black and red leather suit made no sound as she walked and she turned another corner, her hair trailing behind her. She was pleased with herself for having gone to the gym that morning; all the walking usually caused her to become breathless and that was uncomfortable in a face mask.
The Flame was a crime fighter. Superhero, if you wish. After leaving school when she was 18, she had toyed with the idea of joining the police but after protests from her mother about her safety, had joined the local newspaper instead as an apprentice journalist. She had stuck with it for a year before she found herself knee deep in paperwork and bored out of her mind every day. She had kept the job, intending to find something better before she packed it in but had found nothing. She had always hated the idea of people being unpunished for their crimes and whenever she saw criminals walk free on the news or in the paper, she couldn't help her fists clenching and her face turning sour.
It happened the night she had to work late. It was going on eleven pm and she was exhausted. She had just missed the bus home (her car was in being fixed) and instead of waiting half an hour for the next one she started walking the fifteen minute walk home. She had barely taken two steps before she heard something behind her. Turning, she couldn't see anyone and she swivelled back around, quickening her pace. Her ears had barely registered the sound of footsteps before she felt a blow to the head and when her face hit the ground, stars swum in her eyes. She turned over to see the blurred figure of a man in front of her, a mask over his face and his hands ready to grab her.
She reacted instantly, her leg lifting up as hard as she could muster and connecting with his crotch. He clearly was half animal because the noise that came out of him almost made her laugh. She stood up, taking advantage of his bent over position, and pushed him to the ground, thanking her lucky stars that she had worn heels today. She walked up to his head, bent down and took off his mask. He was possibly the ugliest person she had ever seen; his yellow teeth looked even worse in the street light and his unshaven dirty face sneered up at her. She took one look before kicking him with her shoe. He was knocked out and it was then she realised she was shaking.
She took a deep breath, composing herself before taking out a pen and piece of paper from her back. She scrawled a note describing the incident and tucked it inside his wallet that she found in his pocket. She then pulled out her phone and called an ambulance, not giving any of her details and hung up. When she arrived at her front door, she could hear the sirens in the distance.
She knew then that nothing would come of her note because how could they prove that had happened? She wasn't sure what made her leave the scene but from that moment on she wanted justice for both herself and the millions of people who were treated horribly and nothing came of it.
And so The Flame was born. The idea came to her that night after she fell asleep and dreamed about what had happened, only in the dream she had a cape on. She woke up, the idea blossoming into reality as she set to work finding an outfit. An old school friend made one for her after she explained it was for a fancy dress party. She had patrolled the streets most nights ever since. Her crime fighting had turned into small incidents to larger ones; the last person she caught was later convicted of abusing young children. She had celebrated a lot over that victory.
The violence never bothered her because of two reasons; she never fatally injured anyone and she knew they had done a lot worse to others. It was this justification that allowed her to bring down the majority of the criminals although by now word had got around about how lethal she was and some could be brought down by the sight of her, something that pleased her greatly.
The authorities knew nothing. Her family and friends knew nothing. As much as the police tried to cover it up, word soon got round that someone was teaching the 'bad guys' a lesson and leaving them for the cops to find. People were whispering rumours, stories, of a heroine in red and black, and she laughed along with her co-workers in the staff room about how some woman could take the law into her own hands and win. She often found it hard to hide her smug smile the morning after a bust.
She was snapped out of her thoughts by a noise and she hid instantly, her reflexes perfect after years of high school sports. Peering around the corner she saw exactly what she wanted; Cracker Jack was walking down the road towards her. She smiled to herself when she thought about what she was about to do and waited until his footsteps got closer. When she knew it was the right moment, she threw the brick she had found on the sidewalk as hard as she could and she was rewarded with a sickening thud. He fell to the ground and she waited a moment before stepping out. Cracker Jack was known to have his thugs follow a few steps behind. When the coast was clear, she bent down and took out her phone, watching his face as she dialled.
"Police and an ambulance, please." She spoke into the phone and told the operator the address. After hanging up after the question 'and your name please, miss' she replaced the phone in her cleavage – one of the only setbacks of the outfit was the lack of storage space – and looked at the man lying on the floor. He turned his head, groans escaping from his mouth and she grinned.
"Who – who are you, you crazy bitch?" He asked, his hand coming up to clutch his head and she laughed.
"The Flame. And don't you forget it."
Ginny Weasley woke up the next morning to the sound of her phone beeping and she rolled over in bed, groaning as she reached for it. Having a double bed and being single was one of the greater things in life in her opinion and the other side of the bed often housed both her laptop and phone. Opening one eye she saw she had a missed call from her mother and she groaned once more, letting her phone fall back onto the bed. She lay there for a minute more before realising her mother would only keep trying until she answered. She sat up, stretching her arms and yawning, her hair falling over her shoulders in a mess and she scratched it absently. Slipping out of bed, she pushed aside the red stilettos on her floor and found her slippers, sliding her feet into them and heading for the bathroom. The second she shut the door she heard her phone and came walking back out to get it.
"Hello, mum."
"Oh, hello dear. Did I wake you?" Her mother said, her voice incredibly loud on a Saturday morning.
"No, mum." Ginny replied and she sat on her bed, her fingers twisting in her hair as she talked. "I only just woke up though."
"But it's nearly lunchtime!" Mrs. Weasley replied sounding scandalized and Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Yes, I know that but I had a late night last night." She explained and she could hear her mother making tutting noises down the phone.
"What on earth were you doing?" Her mother asked before continuing to talk and not waiting for an answer. "Listen anyway, Ginny. It was all over the news this morning and I thought you might want to know for your column."
Ginny rolled her eyes once more. Her column was a sports column, focusing only on sports. She had explained this to her mother plenty of times but had given up trying any further. Every time there was something exciting in the news she would ring and tell her, excited that she had got to Ginny before her boss had. Half the time Ginny never had the heart to tell her that she couldn't write about that story because unfortunately, on the same day, England lost the cricket. She usually gave the excuse that her boss wouldn't let her which led to both her parents harbouring an intense dislike for her boss, Taylor, and at Ginny's 23rd birthday party they had refused to talk to her.
The lack of sleep was getting to Ginny this morning however and she snapped slightly. "Look, mum. I really don't want to have to tell you again but I do not write about the daily news. I write about sports and nothing more." Her mother was silent and Ginny almost felt bad.
"Now listen here, Ginny. First of all, don't speak to your mother like that and second – tell that boss of yours to give you a promotion so that you can write the daily news." She said and Ginny snorted loudly. "And don't you laugh at me, young lady. Anyway, you've got me all bothered I've forgotten what I was going to tell you. Ah yes – you know that crack dealer that the police have been trying to catch for months?"
"I'm not sure. It rings a bell." Ginny said lazily, now lying down on her bed as her mother kept talking.
"Well, he had some ridiculous name, I don't know what it is but he was found last night on the side of the road with a head injury and they've caught him now!" She said, all excited as if this was her main goal in life – to see a crack dealer get caught.
"They?"
"Oh, that Flame person. It's all over the papers because the police are so embarrassed that it wasn't them that got him. But if they weren't so lazy, well they would have caught him already, wouldn't they?" Her mother said and Ginny nodded before realising her mother couldn't see her. She made a few excuses, said her goodbyes and hung up. The bath was calling her.
Ever since becoming The Flame, Ginny had been regularly going to the gym. One of her brothers, Ron, was incredibly jealous of this and Ginny often liked to brag about her muscles in front of him, much to his displeasure. She had to keep up her fitness and it had proved to do well so far. As she lay in the bath feeling her muscles thank her for the hot water, she heard a crackle from her closer and her heart skipped a beat. Her radio scanner had been a great find in a second hand store and it hadn't taken much to fix it up and have it working. She heard almost all of the phone calls to the police, as well as some walkie-talkie action between squad cars and this was a great benefit when you were an undercover superhero. She kept it in her closet simply because she didn't want others finding it and really, what visitors would be looking in her closet?
She stood up, the hot water having turned warm, and climbed out of the bath. As she pulled the towel around her, her mind returned to the night before as she remembered the thud as the brick had collided with Cracker Jack's head. She winced slightly. He would have a hell of a headache this morning.
By the time she was dressed and had eaten, it was well after lunchtime and she remembered with a jolt that she was due at her brothers house for dinner. As much as she loved Ron's girlfriend's dinners, the meal tonight was a trick to get her to the house. They wanted help planning their wedding and so far Ginny had avoided helping them at all costs however her conscience had got the better of her and she had agreed only on the condition that she be fed while she was there.
Hermione Granger was the best thing that had ever happened to her brother and she had been happy for them both when they finally got together after years of bickering at school. It was a classic opposites attract relationship and they still fought like cat and mouse, only now they were both rewarded with make-up sex. Ginny screwed up her face as she knocked on their door, wishing terribly she could erase that thought from her mind.
"Ginny!" Hermione gushed as she opened the door and the two women briefly hugged. They had become close over the years that Hermione had spent as Ron's friend and even closer since they started dating. Ginny had always wanted a sister and Hermione was an only child; it worked perfectly. "I'm so glad you could finally come."
"Me too, Hermione. I'm sorry I've been so – er – busy." Ginny stammered as she shut the door behind her and followed the brown haired girl down the hallway. She could've sworn she heard Hermione snort but decided to ignore it as they entered the lounge. Ron sat on the couch, a drink in his hand and a rugby game on the TV. "Is that the quarter final?"
"Yeah – don't tell me who the favourite is!" He called quickly and Ginny grinned. Due to her sports contacts through the paper, she was always first to know the favourites for any game or tournament; something that Ron both envied and despised.
"I won't, I won't." She said hastily and Ron visibly relaxed. "Now, where's my food?" She said and Ron grinned up at her.
"You sound just like me."
The dinner passed over quickly and Ginny was lucky enough to escape without having to do any planning. They explained that they simply wanted to have her over for dinner to show that they could spend time together without it being about the wedding, though all Hermione could do was talk catering and Ginny found herself tuning out of their conversation for most of the night.
When she arrived home the exhaustion hit her and she made straight for her bedroom, pulling out the radio scanner and sitting it next to her bed. It had become slightly therapeutic to listen to it before she fell asleep and she climbed into bed, the static having become a comforting sound to her. She felt her eyes drooping almost instantly but a sound caused them to fly open.
"60-4, 60-4. This is Black. Potter, do you copy?" She opened her eyes, recognising the voice of a police officer she often heard over the radio, Sirius Black. The man he was calling for, Potter, was James Potter, another police officer and Ginny turned towards the radio, ears tuned.
"Yeah, copy 60-4. This is Potter. What do you want, Sirius?"
"Any sign of the fire tonight?" Ginny snorted loudly. 'The fire' was their codeword for The Flame as the authorities had clearly guessed she was listening in somehow; how else would she know what was happening? The nickname she thought was ridiculous and the moment she had heard it she knew it was about her.
"No, nothing, why?"
"Just wondering. I wouldn't mind learning a few tricks off that woman."
"From what I've heard, Sirius, she's a machine and if I'm totally honest with you – I think she'd crush you." There was the sound of laughter over the airwaves and they crackled for a second.
"Thanks for having a bit of faith in me, James. You're probably right though – she does a better job than the rest of us put together. But don't tell Scrimgeour I said that." Black replied and Ginny realised they were referring to the Chief of Police, Rufus Scrimgeour.
"Not a chance. You still coming over for Harry's 24th next week?" Potter replied and Ginny reached up to turn the radio off, satisfied the topic of her was over. She turned over and snuggled into the blankets, feeling incredibly happy at that moment. She was better than the rest of the police. It was something she partially knew already but to hear two of London's top cops saying it made her swell with pride. Nobody else could do what she did and it was that thought that sent her off to sleep, a smug smile on her face.
So! A bit of a random story but my sister sort of gave me the idea of this and now I'm running with it. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and I will do my best to update soon along with Love At First Sight if you're reading that too. I hope to make this funny and a bit of an action fic at the same time and I'm going to try and keep the same characters (as you saw up there) as much as possible. If you didn't get it already, this is out of the Potter world. No such thing as magic (it killed me to write that) and they are just ordinary people - Muggles, I guess. There will be a little fluff though not as much as usual. It's a higher rating due to the language, suggested themes (drug use by the criminals, etc) and other possibilities later in the fic. If you review, I will give you all a copy of the new Harry Potter DVD when it comes out next month. Thanks!
Disclaimer: That was a lie about the DVD. I would love to be able to do that but truth is, I can't even afford it for myself. But hey, you could review anyway? :))
