Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor Death Note.
Pairings: none
N/A: I blame this on a guest reviewer in Quirky Magic (chapter 5, Dec. 20) who made an innocent comment, and I quote: "The thought of L vs Hedwig…" I swear I couldn't take this off my mind. Anyway, dedicated to him or her, whoever they are.
Sugar Mice
There are moments in live when people come across unusual scenes. The one Harry Potter stumbled upon while shopping was supposed to be fairly common in comparison to the range of unexpected situations that could happen.
With his luck, though, this was too much to ask for.
I mean, cat fighting in the middle of a store packed of people is somewhat expected, what with the number of times this scene is depicted on TV and/or the movies.
Imagine this: he was at a muggle branch of Honeydukes, still in London. The store was of Olympic proportions and was full of last minute shoppers in search for Christmas gifts. The perfect circumstances for this kind of quarrel.
In the middle of the crowd, an alarmed squeak suddenly sounds over the constant noise produced by the voices of dozens of humans. Considering that half of them are children, and a big part of the other half are their mothers, a circle is quickly formed around the area were the squeak came from.
The only beings left in its middle is a teenager (or is he already an adult?), an owl, and a tiny mouse between them.
The last two beings weren't supposed to be there. The mouse was supposed to have been sent to the magical branch of Honeydukes, for it was a charmed sugar mouse, not a regular one. The owl, on the other hand, was supposed to be outside the store, waiting for its owner to leave the candy shop.
It doesn't really matter now. The cat fight was about to start, and it was wise not to intervene.
Harry Potter watched amused from the sidelines as the teenager and the owl circled each other with narrowed eyes. The treat (Why in hell hasn't its charm weaved off yet?) cowered pitifully between them both. The human component of this quarrel was a male who seemed to be around twenty years old, dressed in ridiculously baggy jeans and white long-sleeved shirt. His raven hair was even more messy than his own, and dark circles lined the underside of his pitch black eyes. He was on the floor, crouched in a position that resembled a wild cat. If he had a tail, Harry imagined, its tip would be calmingly waving from side to side, like a hunting feline. He wore no shoes.
He made an attempt to get the mouse, but Hedwig, the owl, stopped it with a lightning fast movement that Harry barely managed to see. They circled each other again, and the crowd of spectators waited for the next move with bated breath.
The wizard was amused by the fact that the dispute was so entertaining, that nobody even thought about pulling out their mobile phones and recording everything. He almost snorted when he saw that there was a betting going on at the other side of the perimeter.
"I wonder who will be the winner." Said a voice just behind him.
Harry turned around, and relaxed when he saw it was an elderly man who spoke. "I don't know, maybe the man?" He answered, tentatively.
The other hummed. "Maybe, but it's not certain. The owl seems awfully smart."
The wizard snorted. "So does her opponent."
"True, true." He said, and turned back to watch the conclusion of the fight.
In that moment, however, noticing that its hunters were distracted with each other, the sugar mouse made a lunge towards the candy shop's doors, running with all its might to freedom.
It was an awfully anticlimactic end, for all except the mouse and the sole winner of the bet.
"Now that it's finished, I must meet my charge." The elderly man said.
"And I must pick up my owl." Harry said, and extended his hand to the other. "It was nice to talk to you, Mr..." He trailed off.
"Watari. You may call me Watari." He said, shaking the offered hand.
"Then you may call me Harry." He said, flashing a smile.
N/A: Almost forgot to say, any review answers in this fic will be PM'd