Chapter Twenty-One: Fairyland
Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The underlined portions are taken directly from the novel; I do not own those parts. They belong to J.K. Rowling.
Author's Note: This fanfiction is going to be different from my other stories. This picks up where "The Heart of Everything" left off. The time in the books also changes. So, pay attention the time, so you don't get confused. Some of the chapters are other Marcus Flint/Katie Bell stories, just with more changes and deleted scenes added.
Time: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Genre: Romance, Drama, and Friendship
Rating: PG-13
Katie stared at the documents as more moved into place. She really did not understand what was going on. Haley seemed to be just a lost as she was. Marcus did not have much more of a clue than they did. All she knew was they were building a weapon of some kind.
Marcus's brown eyes were closely following the movement of the documents. Whenever he focused on things, he looked much older than his twenty years. Okay, he had not been twenty for more than a few weeks, but still.
Marcus's eyes narrowed as the final documents moved into place. "I don't understand," he whispered.
Katie went over to him. This could not be good. "What?"
Haley was moving over to them too.
"It's a Muggle weapon." Marcus bent down to look at the documents closer. "And it's called Fairyland."
Katie looked at the documents. It did look like a Muggle weapon right out of World War 2. Instead of shooting out bullets, it acted like an extended wand and shot spells. She pointed to the corner of the last piece of paper. "Modelled after the BL 4.5 inch Medium Gun and the British Ordnance BL 60-pounder."
Marcus studied the documents closer. "There is two of them?" His voice went up.
"Looks that way," Haley said.
Marcus gave his sister a look. "Shut up."
Katie rubbed Marcus's shoulders. "Well, the name is kind of different. I mean who names a weapon Fairyland?"
"It could had been worse," Marcus said.
"Such as?" Katie really could not come up with anything worse than Fairyland.
"I will let you know whenever I figure one out."
Katie laughed, but knew that this project was not going to be fun. Both of those weapons were more than likely not serviced in the British military anymore. Finding parts and rebuilding these weapons was not going to be an easy task. Plus, storing and moving these things around was not going to be easy either. Also, people were going to be needed to operate them.
Marcus's forehead was in a frown line. More than likely he had just put two and two together. "I thought that once all of this made sense," he said gesturing to the documents, "that it would all come together. Instead it has made more problems." He hit the table with his fist.
Haley winced. "You really need to work on that temper. You're acting like Daddy."
"I hope not," Marcus muttered. He did not take his eyes off the weapon models.
"I think you got the short end of the stick," Haley continued. "The rest of them have to track Death Eaters and whatnot and you get to build some kind of all get out weapon." She paused. "Your job is much cooler."
Haley kind of surprised Katie. The more she was around Haley, the more of Marcus she saw in the other girl. Neither one of them claimed to be like the other.
"You get to save Fairyland," Katie said.
"Just think, if you fail you could be haunted by a griffin," Haley stated.
Marcus and Katie stared at her. Her analogy made no sense.
Haley shrugged. "It was the best I could come up."
Katie put her arms on Marcus. "How about you take a break from all of that and we do something fun?" she whispered in his ear.
Haley clapped her hands. "Great! I can either come with you guys or I can be left all alone in here."
Marcus rolled his eyes. "I don't trust you here alone."
"Why not?" Haley put her hand on her hip. "I'm not you."
Katie had no idea what that meant and thought that it was probably best not to ask.
Marcus did not answer.
Katie looked between them. Okay, she lied. She did want to know.
"That was a long time ago."
"It was also the one time you got caught."
Marcus gave his sister a dirty look.
Haley pulled out a chair and sat down. "Oh, I get it. Katie doesn't know about your arrest record."
"Enough," Marcus said harshly.
Katie stood up straighter. She wanted to know about this one. "Yeah, Marcus, what happened?"
Marcus looked sick. "Do we have to talk about this now?"
"Yes!" Katie and Haley barked together.
"I want to know if I'm dating a crazy person," Katie stated.
Haley snorted. "Well, of course you are."
Marcus had been backed into a corner. Katie knew that he had no choice but to tell them what happened.
"I got picked up for underage at a party when I was sixteen," Marcus muttered. He looked at Katie and said in louder voice, "It was during the summer before I started seeing you."
Katie nodded. That summer he had still been with Avril. She really could not blame him for not telling her. That relationship had gone pretty sour at the end and she really did not know why. She did not think that anyone besides Avril and Marcus knew the details.
"Was that the only time?" Katie asked slowly.
Marcus nodded. "It was the only time I got caught."
Katie already knew that. She knew that he had been pretty wild before he started seeing her. He had almost fallen from grace, but managed to bring himself back. She had wondered what changed. It had taken her many years to realize that she was the one who changed him. She had not meant to either.
Haley cleared her throat. "Now, that we have that little piece of business taken care of, what are we going to do?"
Katie had not really thought about that. She just wanted to hang out with Marcus. As long as he was involved, she really did not care what they did. Since Haley was more than likely coming along, they would have to do something that would be fun for all of them. If it was just her and Marcus, there would be a lot more options. But as it was.
Marcus was looking at Katie. "Well?"
"Well what?"
"What are we going to do?"
Katie shrugged and thought about. She really did not know what there was to do around here.
"We could go zip lining," Haley suggested.
Katie did have to admit that did sound fun. She had always wanted to go, but never got the chance. She did not know what was so thrilling about flying down a hill with nothing but a piece of rope between you and your death. It just sounded really fascinating. She was game.
Katie chanced a glance at Marcus. His face was as pale as ice, but he did not say anything. She knew that other than Quidditch, Marcus did not do heights. It was a strange concept and was something that she really did not understand.
"Is that a problem for anyone?" Haley asked.
Marcus gave Haley a look. "You're sick, you know that right?"
"And where would you be without me?"
Marcus did not respond. Katie knew where he would be: on the ground with his two feet planted firmly on it.
Haley smirked evilly at her brother. Katie never understood why they insisted on tormenting each other. "Are you good with that?"
Katie saw Marcus's Adam's apple move. "Yeah," his voice was slightly higher than normal. If Katie had not been listening closely to him, she would not had noticed it.
Haley pulled Marcus's truck keys out of her back pocket. "I knew you would feel that way." She threw the keys at Marcus, who caught them with ease.
Katie looked back at Marcus. His face colouring had turned back to normal, but she could tell that he was not okay. She was not going to say anything because she really wanted to go. If he had a problem with it, then he was going to have to say something himself.
Marcus jingled his keys. "Let's go then," he said.
Haley nodded and headed in the direction of the garage.
"And get this suicide mission over with," he muttered under his breath.
Katie tried not to laugh. She found it so odd that he would not say that he did not want to go. He was probably just trying to prove that heights did not bother him. He was going to play tough guy when the reality of it was that he probably wanted to find himself a corner and cry.
He looked up at her with an embarrassed look on his face. "Did you hear that?"
Katie nodded.
"Great," he muttered as he walked past her.
One Hour Later
The three of them stood on the edge of a zip line platform. Marcus was hovering a few steps away from the edge though.
Katie stared down at the trees and at the soft rolling hills. She could not wait to this. She wanted to feel the wind rush through her hair and her body. She wanted to be falling and saved at the very last night. She just really wanted to do this. She wanted to have this last blast of the summer holiday.
Haley was bouncing up and down. "So, how wants to go first?" She glanced back at Marcus. "Do you want to go, brother?"
Marcus shook his head.
Katie bounced forward. Energy was rushing through her body. "I will." She strapped her helmet on.
Haley nodded. "Marcus, you can go last."
"Fine with me," Marcus muttered.
Katie let the attendant strap her in. As she laid on her stomach, she stared straight ahead. In a matter of seconds she would be flying down the side of a hill and it would be amazing.
"Ready?" the attendant inquired.
Katie nodded and the attendant shoved her forward.
She was flying through the air. The wind was pushing her down in the platform she was strapped to. She looked up at the grayish sky then back down at the lust green grass. This was amazing. She could see for miles.
The line was making a sound that resembled a zipper being zipped up. That line was the only thing keeping her from plummeting to her death.
She was gaining speed as she raced down the hillside. The height of the hill was ending to fast, but she was still gaining speed. She reached the end of the hill and shot across a plain. The speed was now slowing down. Far too soon, she reached the end of the line.
Breathless, Katie allowed herself to be removed from the zip line. Afterwards, she turned to watch Haley and Marcus come done.
Haley stood beside Katie after she was released. "That was awesome!"
Katie nodded. " I know."
A few seconds later, Marcus joined them. His face with pale and he was breathing hard.
Katie hugged him. "What did you think?"
Marcus was bent over with his hands on his knees. "I think I'm going to be sick."
"That's the spirit!" Haley laughed.
Yeah, I've never been zip lining and don't know what's it like. This is a video I watched while writing this chapter: watch?v=3r0pROzHY5M.