B"SD
Neither Assassin's Creed, nor Harry Potter belong to me.
Chapter Two
The Firenze marketplace was in high spirits. Though carnival had been over for nearly a month, jugglers and acrobats still performed to the delight of the city children. Vendors clamored for attention, shouting their wares to passersby. Old men drank in the outdoor pubs, arguing good-naturedly over politics and the ways of life. Young boys flirted; mothers tutted; pickpocketers dashed through the alleyways and in and around carts.
Ezio Auditore Da Firenze watched the city thrive from his comfortable perch atop one of the city's many buildings. The golden sunlight beat down upon them all, a friendly warmth. He sighed happily, sure that nothing on earth could possibly ruin a day as perfect as this.
"OH MOTHER F****G SH****T CRAP F***K!"
Ezio blinked. Twice.
"For the love of- would you get off me?" Ron sputtered as he vainly attempted to squirm out from under the twitching mechanic. Ezio slowly turned to face the two ridiculous strangers behind him with dazed eyes. Rebecca sprang up and dusted herself off, making sure her headphones were securely attached before realizing she was being watched. Letting Ron fend for himself, she gasped and slowly raised a finger to point at the legend before her. Ezio's eyes darted nervously as he took a step forward.
"I hope you'll pardon me for being so blunt, signora," Ezio said quickly, "but it would be really nice if you didn't scream right now."
"Hey, I know who you are..!" Rebecca whispered as her mouth twisted into her unique excited grin, "oh my god! I think I just perfected the animus!"
"You wot?" Ron grunted, finally bothering to pull himself off the ground. His eyes fell on the white hooded stranger with curiosity. Warily, his hand reached for his wand.
"What are you two doing up here?" The Assassin frowned, gesturing to the height- about a three story drop. "I thought it was pretty obvious the guards don't care much for civilians up here."
"Hmm...But that can't be right..." Rebecca completely ignored the befuddled Italian, tapping her foot and placing her hands on her hips in concentration, "Neither of us has Desmond's DNA, so...what's anchoring the memory? Unless..." Rebecca's eyes widened.
"What?" Ron asked anxiously, "What's going on, exactly?"
"I think Desmond's here somewhere," Rebecca muttered, "along with everyone else who was in the room at the time..."
"But...that would mean..." Ron's brow furrowed as he thought- then he took gasped when he reached the answer: "We've got Death Eaters runnin' around with us, in whatever messed up city we're in!"
"Firenze," Ezio grumbled, not taking well to being ignored, "You're in Firenze."
It was Ron's turn to blink."What, like the centaur?" He stared dumbfounded at the man before him before seeming to suddenly realize his surroundings. He stared over the stone ledge of the roof, shocked to find himself nearly twenty feet above what looked like a bustling medieval market place. His stomach dropped as he came to grips with reality. He turned angrily to Rebecca.
"You know, in all that time you were going on about that muggle machine of yours, it might have been a good idea to mention that it has time-turning abilities as well."
"What's a muggle?"
"Are you listening?" Ron yelled, losing his temper. "Look!" He pointed down into the crowd of renaissance-era citizens. "I may not be the smartest bloke on the face of the earth, but even I can see that your ruddy contraption has sent us to the bleeding 16th century!"
"Fifteenth," Rebecca corrected automatically. Ron stared at her, incredulously. "And for your information, Ginger," she said, poking him in the chest, "You and your little wand-waving friends were the ones who screwed up the animus in the first place. This. Is. your. fault." she punctuated each word of the last sentence with a jab to Ron's collar bone.
"Eh...scusi?" Ezio said hesitantly.
"What?" the two snapped angrily.
"What in G-d's name are you talking about?"
Harry groaned, his head pounding. He opened his eyes, the flagstones of a sunlit courtyard looming before him. He sat up gingerly, looking around. The empty courtyard was walled in on three sides by stone houses, with clotheslines creating something of a web in between each villa. Feeling unnerved by the sudden peace and silence, he stood up, clutching his wand tightly. Where were the others?
"Agh," Shaun groaned- Harry's head whirled to the right, "I'm going to feel that in the morning..."
Upon seeing the Assassin Harry relaxed a bit- but not too much. Painfully, the two climbed to their feet; then began looking around with wide eyes.
"Now this is new," Shaun said thoughtfully, "Rebeccar's been developing something secretly, I see."
"Where are we?" Harry's eyes narrowed.
"Fifteenth century Italy," Shaun replied distractedly, "Though I don't think we've actually travelled in time, per se. I think we're just viewing a memory from a different angle."
"Let's find out, shall we?" Harry smirked mischievously and before the older man could do anything-
"Excuse me, miss," Harry stopped a young woman in a scarlet dress in the street, "Do you know what year it is?"
The Italian stared at him with a confused expression.
"1479," She replied cautiously, thickly accented, "…didn't you know?"
"Right, thanks then," Harry nodded and gave her a pat on the back, setting her back on her way. The wizard turned around to find a very bewildered Shaun.
"Well," he said hesitantly, "This is...ah..."
"Your machine wasn't supposed to do this, was it?" Harry asked, eyebrow raised.
"Uh, no," Shaun rubbed his chin, "no, it's not..."
"We're going to have to find the others," Harry said tersely.
"And how would you suggest we do that? Florence is about the size of London! You think we're just going to run into them down the street?"
"Well we're not going to find them just standing around here like idiots," Harry pointed out, barely keeping the edge out of his voice. "In any case, we need to keep moving. The Death Eaters may have been caught up in the explosion." He set off without another glance backward. Shaun rolled his eyes and scrambled after the dark haired boy.
They set off down the cobbled, crowded streets, drawing stares from all sides. It was their 21st century clothing, Harry guessed. It was only after two street lengths that Harry realized they were being followed. The culprit was a young man, light haired, medium height with a permanent, slightly vacant look on his face. He was definitely tailing them, however. He didn't look dangerous but...
He nudged Shaun, and gestured to their shadow furtively. Shaun caught on rather quicker than Harry expected, considering his increasingly low opinion of the Assassin's intelligence. He nodded, showing he understood, and the two of them dropped back until they stood on either side of the man.
"Three... two... one" they leapt at him.
Without arousing too much suspicion, Shaun and Harry managed to pull the man into a secluded alley where they could begin the interrogation.
"Why were you following us?" Harry hissed.
"I wasn't, signore, honestly," The man stuttered, his eyes growing wider, "I was actually looking for a friend of mine..."
Shaun squinted at the man's features- frizzy, dirty blonde hair- large, bright blue eyes, a red cloak nestled on his shoulders, and of course- a red beret!
"Blimey!" Shaun slapped his forehead for not remembering sooner, "You're Leonardo da Vinci!"
"THE Leonardo?" Harry asked quickly, shocked.
"Ehm," Leonardo straightened his beret nervously, "I am...do I know you, amici?"
"I am so sorry about this, Mister da Vinci," Shaun groaned and patted the bewildered painter on the shoulder.
"I hope you don't mind me asking," Leonardo expression switched from fear to curiosity quite easily, "Why are you wearing such strange clothes?"
"That's our own business," Harry snapped.
Leonardo shrugged, "anyway, have you two seen my friend? About yay high-" Leo put his hand on the top of his beret and did a sort of salute, "white hood?"
Before anyone could answer, said man fell from the sky.
Ezio landed precisely in a conveniently placed haystack on the side of the alley. With a triumphant huff, he clambered out of the straw and looked around at the three frozen men that he had just dropped in on. It only took him a split second to misjudge the situation. What he saw was two strangers flanking Leonardo in a manner that was obviously meant to intimidating. Strange Leonardo may have been but no one was going to threaten his friend while he stood by. No one could blame him for overreacting, could they?
With an inarticulate battle cry, he leapt at Shaun, knocking him away from the artist. Shaun grunted in pained surprise, falling back into the stone wall, while the assassin pummeled him.
"Hey!" He cried, trying to shield himself from the blows. "Stop!" Both Leonardo and Harry leapt forward, trying to pull Ezio off of him.
"Ezio! Basta!" Leo yelled, tugging at his arm. Ezio finally pulled back, swearing in rapid Italian under his breath.
"What the hell was that for?" Shaun demanded, rubbing a particularly painful spot on his arm. Ezio shrugged carelessly. "Don't give me that," Shaun snapped. "I demand an explanation."
"Just forget it, Shaun," Harry said, observing Ezio with a calculating eye. "He's obviously not a Death Eater or a Templar. Just calm down."
"Easy for you to say, magic- boy," retorted the furious assassin.
"Templar?" Ezio piped up.
"Yes, as I was-" Shaun stopped mid-sentence to study his attacker. He felt his glasses slip down his face as his jaw dropped slightly.
"You think I'm a templar?" Ezio asked, faintly amused.
"Shaun, do you know him?" Harry turned to Shaun, eyeing his face warily.
"Yes," Shaun said softly, "You're Desmond's ancestor; Ezio...Ezio Audi...Audi-something."
"Auditore," Ezio sniffed indignantly, "And how is it you know my name, yet I do not know yours?" Ezio then turned to Leonardo accusingly,
"And what were you doing in a dark alley with two strangers that could easily be mistaken for muggers?"
"Ezio," Leonardo made a slight effort to calm down the angry assassin, "I was merely looking for YOU, and these two thought I was following them." Leonardo stroked his beard thoughtfully, "it appears they are being chased..."
"By Templars?" Ezio asked suddenly.
"Possibly," Harry replied, "But we definitely know we're being tracked by Death Eaters."
"Yeah, we never settled the whole, 'magical-chase-thing' business, you know?" Shaun said to Harry hotly, "The one that blew our doors off?"
"Magical?" Leonardo asked curiously.
"And you're sure it's not Templars?" Ezio asked warily, "Because I know some have been moving about the city lately." At this Ezio folded his arms and looked thoughtful, "it was strange though. They were dressed as traditional Templars described by the codex- black robes, black hoods-"
"Wait!" Harry interrupted, somewhat fearfully. At Ezio's cocked eyebrow, he re-established his voice, "You saw Death Eaters running around? Where?"
"If your Death Eaters are wearing black robes, then yes," Ezio nodded, "Just south of here, I think."
"Well then, off we go," Shaun shrugged, "It was nice meeting you two."
"Yes, here," Leonardo nodded excitedly and handed Shaun a slip of paper, "It's my address. As I said earlier, I find you and your friend here very intriguing."
"We're not up for study." Harry said flatly.
"No, but since you're obviously not from here-" Leonardo began hopefully.
"Give it up, Leonardo," Ezio groaned, "You're always too sweet for your own good."
A few minutes later, the assassin and the wizard left the alley and headed south, hoping to meet with some of the others on the way...
If there was a single childhood dream Hermione would've thought impossible to come to fruition, it would have been being thrown into renaissance era Italy. The sights, smells, dress, and architecture of the city square around her were unmistakable, however. This was, despite all logic, Italy of the fifteenth century.
This is what happens when you mess with Americans, she thought irritably. She looked around the bustling crowd, searching for a familiar face. She brushed self consciously at her robes, feeling distinctly out of place. Ducking her head, she pushed her way towards a cart selling bolts of cloth. The proprietor – a bearded, well-fed man-had a friendly, open face, and -she thought, - as a merchant, had a slight chance of actually understanding English.
She reached the cart with little difficulty, and opened her mouth to speak. The man preempted her, bursting forth with a long string of rapid Italian that she was shocked to discover she understood.
"Ah, a beautiful young woman," he said magnanimously. "What are you looking for today, Madame? We have silks in all colors of the eastern lands, linens like you couldn't imagine! Now, for a special beauty as my lady, we have a color not available in any other city in Italia-" He was digging through the contents of the cart, before Hermione cut him off.
"I'm sorry, sir," She said, only mildly surprised now to find herself speaking in fluent Italian. This must be how Harry felt when he spoke Parseltongue, she thought absently. The foreign language came just as naturally to her as English did. "I'm not looking for clothes today. I'm actually looking for my friends…" her voice trailed off as a black shadow passed across her peripheral vision. Her body stiffened in shock. Death Eater.
She turned slowly, not wanting to draw his eye, her hand drifting to the wand hidden in her sleeve. The proprietor frowned.
"My lady?" he said worriedly, "Is something the matter?"
"Nada," Hermione said absently, "Grazi." She moved away slowly, trying to put as much distance between the Death Eater and herself. To her dismay, however, she saw the black robed figure turn in her direction. She had been spotted. Not waiting for him to start toward her, she all but leapt into the crowd, jostled by the people who were walking every which way. Even as she tried to lose herself in the hustle and bustle, she knew it was useless; her modern clothes and hair would give her away, even on the slim chance that the Death Eater didn't recognize her face.
Glancing back in panic, Hermione could see that the Death Eater had quickened his stride, a smile visible beneath his hood. He was catching up. Employing one of Ron's favorite phrases, she abruptly switched directions, trying to throw him off. The part of her mind that wasn't panicking, listing all the hexes she knew, and trying to plot a way through the press of people briefly commented that Ron would be thrilled that there was an Italian equivalent to-
"Hermione!" she spun around, wondering where the voice had come from. To her infinite relief, she finally spotted Harry, standing with that Shaun fellow and two strangers .Gathering her robes into her left fist, she ran flat out through a gap in the crowd to meet them.
"Harry," She gasped in relief. "Death Eater. There." She pointed behind her, into the brightly colored, teeming crowd. Harry's smile vanished, his hand flying immediately to his wand.
"Did you see who it was?" he asked, squinting into the brightly lit square. Hermione shook her head.
"No, but he saw me." Her friend's frown deepened. "Where's Ron?" Harry shook his head, a gesture to show that he didn't know.
"I had hoped he was with you. We need to find him."
"And everyone else," Shaun put in, unhelpfully.
"Well obviously," Hermione said tensely. "What your friend was doing to that god-forsaken machine of hers…"she added under her breath.
"Wait," The white-robed man said, before Shaun could muster an angry retort. "These friends of yours, was one of them ginger-haired and the other rather short?"
"Yes!" Hermione exclaimed. "Where are they?"
The stranger pointed upwards.
Bewildered, Hermione followed his gesture, and saw that he was pointing to the roof of the building next to them. "Wha-?"
"Your friends are quite a rude pair," the Italian said in a bored voice. "I left them sniping at each other on the roof."
"On the roof?" Hermione said disbelievingly, but Harry cut her off.
"Is there a way up?"
"Certainly." He said. "Up the stairs. But the door to the building is in the front." Harry swore under his breath.
"Wait," said Hermione, "Why can't we send Shaun out? They won't recognize him." Harry's face brightened. "You're brilliant, Hermione.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Shaun said, "They may not recognize me, but they will certainly figure out that I'm with you. Look at what I'm wearing!" Hermione and Harry shared a glance, then as one, looked at Ezio.
Ezio's face went from passive, to puzzled, and then deteriorated into indignation. "No. No. NO. I won't."
Two minutes later, a white-hooded, pre-Elizabethan clad Shaun ducked out into the Italian sunlight.
A/N: Just a small note: Firenze and Florence are the same place, as are Venezia and Venice.
Italian Translation (such as it is):
Scusi: excuse me
Amici/Amico:Friends/ Friend
Basta: Enough
Italia:Italy
Nada: Nothing
Grazi: Thank you