Chapter 36: We didn't start the fire

Suddenly, a hand pulled him out of the way just as the first flame singed the tip of his hair. He turned around to see who it was, and he was somewhat surprised to find Nick standing there.

"What the hell is…," He was cut short by Nick.

"Commonplace here; people attack us all the time. Mostly just to scare us into stopping the Creed and shutting our business down," Nick said and turned to the sky. In the sky was a giant brass cauldron floating in the air. From it, men were jumping onto the Creed's Island and attacking with magical spheres. Buildings were falling apart, but oddly enough, not a single person was injured.

"What's going on?" Alan asked, finally awake. He had fainted from fatigue and the heat from the flames.

"Can you stand?" Harry asked giving his friend a hand.

"Yeah, I think so" He answered and attempted to get back on his feet. He finally got his balance after stumbling a few times. "So what do we do?" he asked turning to Nick.

"Well, what you do is up to you, but I'm in the mood to fight. Besides, these idiots might be good practice for you." Nick reasoned taking out a small black rectangular object with the thickness of three credit cards. He placed it between both his palms and it began to glow. The glow was mystifying yet extremely powerful, almost angelic. He removed his top palm from the device and began moving his finger in various patterns across it. Spells began to shoot in every direction, zig-zagging through crowds to hit their targets. It was poetic.

Before Harry could ask about the mechanism, a barrage of spells rushed at them like attack dogs, giving Harry an idea. He reached down and scooped up a few pebbles and threw them in the direction of the spells. Right before the pebbles reached the ground, Harry waved his wand and they all turned into ferocious attack dogs. The dogs took the curses head on, but kept charging at the source of the attacks. There, they maliciously tore into the flesh of their targets, causing them to either retreat or die.

Alan meanwhile was moving his wand in an intricate pattern, as if he was dancing. It was odd at first, until something even stranger happened- a few of the invaders dropped their weapons and grabbed their heads and began to scream and writhe in unbearable agony. Their screams penetrated the atmosphere. Harry turned to Alan, who had a look of deep, profound concentration on his face. It was clearly his doing- an illusions spell if he wasn't mistaken, albeit a slightly rudimentary one.

After that, everything happened quickly. First, the few survivors who had arrived attempted to make their way back into the giant cauldron before they were killed. At the same time, a few residents blasted the cauldron from every angle, breaking it apart piece by piece- until it finally blew up. The explosion caused ample quantities of flaming hot metal to shower the Island, but it seemed the only ones to panic were Harry and Alan.

"Quit looking so on edge." Nick scolded. "Those things won't even reach us before they disintegrate" He turned around. "Come on, I'll walk you two back to your house. I was on my way there anyway"

The two followed him, all thoughts of shopping for food forgotten.

Inside the house, they found the two girls awaiting food. After Nick diffused the situation, he addressed the four of them.

"I was sent down here to send you four on your first mission. It's pretty simple, but if you were to screw it up, you'd ALL be fired and have to pay the Creed 100,000 galleons a piece," he began. He pulled out his device, and placed it on his palm before tapping it twice. A projection of a map appeared, and it appeared to have quite a bit of detail on it.

"So what are we doing?" Grey asked impatiently.

"See this?" Nick asked pointing at a small blue pebble. The four nodded. "This is the tear of Tyranus, a dictator who once led the Creed. He was a vicious ruler, but he was a magical mastermind. His last act before he was murdered was to create this artifact. It is said to have great powers, but not a soul has been able to figure out if that's true. You five will transport this to a laboratory down in the Catskill mountains. We can portkey you to the base of the mountains, but you'll have to follow a path for about fifty miles. The object is valued at 500,000 galleons presently and must NOT be lost to any bandits or you guys are screwed," he said putting away his device. "Well, have fun with that."

The four were of mixed opinion.

"Finally, we get to do something," Grey said ecstatically. "I'm going to go pack!"

"Well, this is unexpected," Suki said, voicing the remaining three's thoughts.

"Yeah, it's barely been a few weeks and we're doing a half a million mission. What's the commission for this anyway?" Alan asked.

"Zero galleons Al, it's a mission for the creed remember? No commission on inside missions" Harry reminded. "Where the hell is Edward anyway? He's going too isn't he?"

"I should hope so," A voice came from the door. It was Ed. "Don't bother, I got the details." He said shortly and went up. "Be ready in one hour, we're leaving."

A/N: I know its extremely short, it was just a "I'm alive, don't eat me" kinda chapter, More coming real, real, soon. In fact, after January is over, I can finally get back to working on it more. After college apps are finally over of course. By april I'll let u guys know where I'm going (if its anywhere decent) so be prepared for a really sad or really happy A/N.

Anyway, what do u think? Finally got their first mission out. After this, I'm going to try to fast forward a bit, pick up the pace. If there is anyone who objects to this course of action, speak now or forever hold your peace. And by forever, I mean until the next chapter. Well, read it and don't forget to review! This story is alive because of the feedback I get. You guys are awesome. Thanks for your loyalty. If you have questions, I'll start answering them in my ANs. Goodnight to all and Merry Christmas!