Some Inferi, kinda sorta fiendfyre, and bromance
-Maddened-
Harry wanted to scream. He had been trudging through the marshy wasteland for hours and he still had no idea where Blazes contact was. At this rate he could probably find Max on his own. Not only had he tried using magic but the point-me spell was a dud, the wand had just kept on spinning above his hand for almost a whole minute before it dropped back onto his palm uselessly. He casted another point- me spell for Blaze and had the same reaction. Harry briefly wondered why a direction spell wouldn't work and he quickly dismissed that course of thought. Dimensions, lack of magic, different planet, and Horton hears a Who type theories all blew through his mind before he concentrated back at the problem at hand.
The area he was currently in was on the edge of clan territory. So if he went on his own gut feeling and decided to go east he would head into a more populated area where it would be easier to get caught. Now that Harry was thinking about it, Max could've strayed too far east and was picked off by a party of scavengers or clansmen. Which meant he was dead. His stomach hurt at the thought of the rogue man being dead to one of the crazed men he had heard so much about from Blaze and Max. The clan with the oil sounded the scariest out of all the rumors he heard.
Harry sat on a dry rock and watched as the mist curled around him. His bike stood a few feet away to the side of him, he had fluid in the contraption to get him across this huge bowl he was in. Just to the right of it, maybe twenty feet away, stood another one of those tall stilted figures. This one had a crow flying around its head and he had hoped he could get the attention of this being but it was all for naught.
Standing from his seated position. Harry brushed the dirt from his jacket and smiled as he ran his fingers down the buttoned front. The clothing Harry now wore was very different than anything he had ever worn before. Gone were the jeans with t-shirts. They would not make it in this weather and would be very uncomfortable. He had been able to mend and clean the leather pants Max stole for him and Blaze had gifted Harry a shirt and jacket set. The jacket had lots of pockets, which Harry made use of. He was on the verge of figuring out the expansion charm like the one Hermione had used on the quest for the horcruxes. Soon Harry wouldn't need to carry such a big backpack even if he lightened it with a charm.
Merlin, Harry loved Magic.
He had a lot of time to ponder about magical Britain and even his relatives. Hermione and Ron would be married, Ginny would be sad but maybe she would marry Dean. Harry felt his heart pang at that last thought. If they were all alive things would be fine without him. Harry had conceded that he had no idea if they were even alive though. The ceiling of the great Hall could've have killed or done something to more than just him being whisked away. Harry had also entertained the thought if anyone else came with him to this land but the chances were low.
Harry got back on his bike and turned it on before revving the engine, scaring some nearby birds, and slowly made his way along the path. He hadn't been moving for long when he came across a fallen tree and an old man. The man was bald and wore dark torn clothing similar to the other stilted people Harry had seen. He was pasty white and seemed to be humming to himself as he scampered about the fallen tree.
Harry stopped and turned off his bike as he watched the peculiar sight. The man was obviously deranged and needed help. Well, all the people living in the fog seemed to need help but at least this one seemed to show some sign of human intelligence.
The man started mumbling as he crouched down in the dirt to sniff it and then lick it with a long pale tongue. Harry grimaced at the sight and decided to try his luck. He reached for one of his wands and called out to the man.
"Excuse me," Harry said.
A belch was the response. The man jumped and stumbled behind the tree for cover.
Harry scratched his head before putting his hands up in a placating gesture. "I'm not here to hurt you, I was just wondering if you know Blaze?"
Those dark eyes widened and the man straightened up a bit. "Who's askin'?" He grunted.
"I am, my name is Harry and I'm looking for a friend."
The man narrowed his eyes again and stalked forward towards him. "Oh I know Blaze alright. He stole from me, everything from me!"
Harry took a step back and gripped his wand tighter. This could be Blazes contact but maybe not. His mentor probably thought he had a better relationship with the man...
"Listen, I'm looking for Max. Have you seen him?" At this point he was grasping at anything that could keep the man talking and not attacking.
The figure stood at his full height, Harry suddenly became very aware of his shorter stature and the fact that this man was very toned for being so skinny. He reminded Harry of an inferi.
"Max? I've seen him, running around with some pretty ladies. I would've went after him but well, he seemed busy with the war party on his tail."
"A war party!?" Harry spluttered.
"Yes, you know. Those crazy dictatorships chasing their giant truck. There was a lot of them," the man said. He pointed down at his feet where there were deep tracks of what had to be a large vehicle and then moved his finger to point in the direction that the sun set.
Harry looked closer and could tell that whatever vehicle Max was driving or riding was enormous. All around him were different tracks but none as deep as this.
"So you're telling me that Max somehow is involved with the clans?" asked Harry. He did not expect Max to bother with dictators. Something must have happened, something bad.
Suddenly the man began to cackle. His long neck arched back unnaturally as he threw his head back. The stringy mess of hair limply laid down his back and partially across his face. It was quite the image, almost what he expected a twenty-year prisoner from Azkaban to look like. Soon the laugh turned into wheezing gasps and suddenly the man collapse onto his knees.
Harry stared at the man, waiting for him to calm down but he just kept on laughing and wheezing. Soon the wheezing turned into hacking. Unfortunately this man was beginning to remind him of Sirius on one of his bad days. His Godfather did well for being in Azkaban for over a decade but his head was never right after. At Least that was what Remus had explained to him after a particularly nasty episode where Sirius had broken a door and fell down the stairs while laughing about things in the dark.
The man suddenly lurched further and pulled out a knife from the folds of his clothes and sprung towards Harry. The man was fast for someone so sickly.
Harry dove to the side and rolled into a standing position, one hand held his Phoenix wand and the other held the Elder. The man stumbled and turned towards Harry.
"So hungry... can you imagine living off the insects and reeds of the land!? It makes me hungry for something more! For meat and you are looking quite fleshy for a young one!" The man was practically screaming at this point and was stalking towards him again and Harry did the only thing he could think of. He waved his wand in front of himself and hissed the first spell he could think of.
"Serpensorpia," he hissed.
Harry now knew what happens when casting a spell while holding two wands. A boa constrictor and what looked like a mamba sprung from each of the wands and the first immediately bound the other man. Harry just watched speechless as the yellow boa wrapped it's long body around the man and began to suffocate him.
The man jerked and screamed and Harry watched slightly fascinated by the display. The snakes continued to constrict around its prey and soon the silver mamba leapt from his defense position in front of Harry and bit the man in the face.
Death soon followed.
...
Harry was once again sitting in the wetland on a rock wondering what to do while ignoring the dead body that lay twenty or more paces away from him. This time he had an idea of where Max was headed but now he had two snakes that he didn't know what to do with. His first thought was to banish them, get rid of the poisonous African snake and the giant constrictor that could possibly hurt him within seconds. Unfortunately the snakes started chatting and Harry was being entertained by the sassy mamba and the motherly boa.
Harry sighed as he felt a large snake make its way up his torso and drape over his shoulders. He had talked to them earlier after they killed Blazes informant and now they liked him because he was entertaining.
"Human, this place is wet," hissed the Mamba.
The boa flicked it's tongue into its ear and hissed one word. "Hungry."
Harry sighed again and stood up, careful of the mamba currently at his feet slithering back and forth.
"I have no food friends, sorry. But I do have to get moving." Harry held up both wands and twirled them and the snakes disappeared back into them.
Within a minute Harry was back on his bike and following the tracks that headed west. He once again passed an uprooted tree and deeper grooves of the larger vehicle before heading away from the wetlands.
Decisions. Harry couldn't decide where to go next. Should he follow the tracks that lead to a war party and possibly be caught by the madness of their government? Max had once told him that only a delusional man would willingly join them. The wizard didn't necessarily fancy going towards the war party or their territory but he already committed himself to finding Max.
This reminded him of the fiasco at the Department of Ministries and how he had thought he was doing the right thing by going to rescue Sirius but it all was a set up. Saving Max could have a similar consequence where going after him would cause more problems.
Harry growled as he slowly made his way out of the fog and into the scorching heat of the desert. He couldn't have Max die like Sirius. The guilt would be too much.
He jerked his handlebars to the right and soon he was speeding east towards the great cliffs that separated Harry from the clans.
Max was having a lovely day.
At the moment he was in a very interesting predicament where his life was hanging by a thread. Never had he been so fucking terrified.
He was hanging onto an extremely tall pole that was connected to a war vehicle. The war boys were trying to shoot him up and it seemed like the war rig with Furiosa and the girls was not going to make it.
He swore as he swung far to the right, his body was so close to the ground that he could feel the dust and dirt kicked up from the other vehicles pelt him all over. Max knew that he would have welts his arms and face to go along with the many cuts a bruises he had. He was shocked that he could function as well as he could with the blood loss he had from being a blood bag.
Max watched as Furiosa's war rig slowed down a smudge more. He closed his eyes as a bullet snagged his jacket and another whizzed past his ears. Yells from the war boys and screams from the girls were layered over the roaring of engines. Max had to somehow get off this pole.
He opened his eyes and saw the war party was heading for a giant fire snake. Max remembered the fire bird and saw the resemblance between the massive snake… they were heading towards and Harry's bird.
Max let the pole swing to the the other side of the vehicle and flung himself onto the car next to him.
Two expertly placed right hooks left him a driver's seat and a deceased war boy as a passenger. Max yanked right on the wheel so he was parallel with the war rig.
Looking over he saw Furiosa trying to make eye contact. Panicked eyes stared down at him and he attempted crack a reassuring smile. Suddenly red swarmed around the vehicles and seemed to attempt to cling onto the sand and then the vehicles. None of the fire clung to the rig or his own car. Max twisted in his seat and squinted at the bus behind him. A snake head broke from the red and its fanged mouth opened and engulfed the whole vehicle. The rogue turned back around and started making plans. If the fire-snake ate away the whole war party then they would have a free ride home.
Max revved his engine and he sped ahead of the war rig and scanned the horizon. No Harry in sight, Max frowned and eased on the gas.
He hoped he didn't pass the kid. The pass ahead was not a friendly place and even he wasn't sure they would make it through unscathed. Max jerked in his seat as the engine of the war vehicle started to screech and rumble. The hunk of metal started burning up, the engine was going to explode.
"Hey!" He yelled. The war rig was going to pass him. Max pulled one of the golden levers next to the steering wheel and crawled out the window. One of the girls had opened up the passenger door.
"Get in!"
Max looked back and saw two vehicles still following them at a distance. One was fucking Immortal Joe too.
He jumped and grabbed the frame of the rigs door just as his 'borrowed' vehicle started to sputter. Sets of feminine hands pulled him in and he laid his head back against the seat.
Furiosa looked back at him thoughtfully. "What do you think of that fire snake?"
Her big brown eyes were full of worry and hope. After the horrible revelation of the death of the green place he hoped Harry would be a ray of light for her and the girls. Max was not exactly sure everything he could do but that magic stick could do some good for these women.
"I know who did it," Max managed to get out.
One of the girls, Toast maybe, raised her hand thoughtfully. "We saw no one in front of us. The fire that came with it may have covered them but if it was a weapon it would have to be fairly close to do that much damage."
Max scoffed. "He's good."
Harry may be young but he carried that stick like he was born with it. The kid is probably following at a distance and waiting. The two vehicles following were closing in. The stress the rig had from the fire race had been hard on the engine but the pass was in view. Max wasn't sure if the fire animals would be back or what would happen.
"We will make it." One of the old woman said from the passenger seat. "The sun willing, we will make it."
The sound of bullets being passed and murmured thanks could be heard as everyone prepared for the pass and the possibility of the crazy dictator coming up there ass.
Harry was impressed and maybe a bit scared at first. The vehicles were of various sizes and shapes with crazed brainwashed humans crawling over them.
He hadn't ridden long when he found tracks. Lots of tracks going both directions. Harry had stood around for a bit before realizing he was a wizard and that it wasn't rocket science for him to figure out which way to go. A quick revealing charm showed which tracks were more recent and he hit the road.
It was not long when Harry saw the dust in the distance. He wasn't sure which way they would turn so he couldn't short cut to them and they were going fast. The only reason he could see them was because he left the mist behind.
Harry glanced at the wand in his hand and briefly thought of bike beneath him before chanting, "Antecedo Momentum."
The bike beneath him groaned before shoot forward. His goggles pressed against the skin of his face and his hair whipped around violently. There was no glass to protect him from sand and Harry immediately regretted not having a cloth to cover his face. He would look damn scraped up. He was much closer now and could tell they were going straight with no turns.
Harry turned his vehicle to the right to speed past everything ahead of him, probably the war party and hopefully Max separate from them. He was impressed and maybe a bit scared at first. The vehicles were of various sizes and shapes with crazed brainwashed humans crawling over them. Luckily they did seem to be chasing something, a lorry. A giant demented lorry.
It took a moment but Harry was finally able to verbalize a way for him to slow down. He hoped no harm was done to his bike.
He couldn't tell if Max was anywhere in the lorry or the other vehicles.
"Merlin's Balls." There was Max, he was on a pole! Harry looked at the cliffs in the distance and raised his wand arm.
"Fiendfyre."
A snake shot forward with incredible speed and the red serpent was suddenly out of view. Harrys fiends were still the left of him so the snake grew in size until it was basilisk on the horizon charging the party. Harry always fell off his bike as he watched the red beast raise over the two cars in front and crash into the remain behind it.
Harry had to look away. There were explosions and screaming and despite having lived through one war did not mean he wanted to watch people die. Max was his friend. Hopefully Max agreed, and Harry owed him.
Another muttered spell and he shot forward over some sand dunes. He wanted to go check on Max but he also knew that he was magically drained from all the spells and needed to get ahead and wait.
The wind brushed through his hair the bike rumbled beneath him. His wheels went forward as smoothly as they could with magic trying to seep into it. He was hungry and tired and he just realized he had been awake for probably a whole 24 hours.
He blinked and the land wavered and he mumbled for the vehicle to slow down. It did.
Staggering on his feet, he let the bike fall and sat his butt on the sand. He was draining. Maybe one last spell before he was magically incompetent for the next bit of time. Harry raised his wand and shot out green sparks. Hopefully that as good enough.
Max watched as a green jet of light rose above some dunes just to the right of the entrance.
He had blondie conked out on his shoulder and another girl draped over her. He wasn't really in a spot to drive. He looked over at Furiosa's profile. He grunted.
"Hey."
The woman looked over at him.
He jerked his head to the lights that were disappearing in the wind. "Go there."
Furiosa gave him a look, that look. The ones females were so good at giving that included "your hopeless why do I put up with you".
He was ready to argue but she turned onto a semi flat area and Max jostled the girls so he could get the window open wider.
"The hell?" Blondie was awake.
Max was sticking his head out the window and squinting, trying to keep his eyes exactly where he saw the green. The same green from the fucking light show Harry gave him months ago. He should've known the kid would try to find him when he didn't come back to the hide out.
His hands flexed against the rim of the window, there was a dark spot on a dune. "Slow down!"
A swear from the front made Max turn his head. "No! We have a mad man on our rear, we cannot risk this!" She had a point.
"Fuck." Max pulled himself out of the window fully while everyone else yelled at him. The rig slowed down enough for Max to jump out grab the mass of clothes that was Harry and jumped on the rear of the rig as it started to pick up speed. The rogue had one arm wrapped around the limp body and the other around the ladder. It took a minute but Max got the boy in a fireman carry and started his way up the ladder. A yell from behind him told Max that Immortal Joe was closer because of this but he couldn't care less.
When he was making his way along the top one of the green place woman came up to him to help but he stared her down. Like hell he was letting some hag drop the kid off the side of the truck. She ended up helping him into the cab through the side door.
Harry was hugging him from the front, probably awake now by the feel of arms tight around his neck and legs gripping his hips.
He settled down in the seat behind the passenger and tucked Harrys head underneath his chin. The body on top of him relaxed but he could feel hands gripping his jacket tightly on his chest.
Max wove a hand through the long back locks. They were greasy and sandy from days' travel and wondered how long the boy had been looking for him.
Someone cleared their throat and Toast, he was pretty sure it was Toast, was looking back at him with a considering expression. Furiosa was the one who made the noise.
"So who is he?" she asked.
Max looked back down at the boy, not really realizing he was burrowing his nose in the next of hair. "The only person who can bring back the green place."
That got everyone worked up even more.
-Maddened-
A/N:
How long does it take a bitch to post a chapter?
This is half the size of the first chapter… hell
