Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.
Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Additionally, there is references to the global pandemic, the ongoing protests against police brutality, onscreen police brutality, and threats of messy violence. Blood is a major plot element as is trying to reclaim a cultural heritage as an adult. Feel free to back out if need be.
Author's Note: So, this isn't a crossover or anything, but I blatantly based the family in charge of the Cardiff Autonomous Zone on the Vegas from 9-1-1: Lonestar. It has absolutely nothing with my growing crush on Gina Torres.
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 14); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Cry Power; Gryffindor MC; Ethnic & Present; Rian-Russo Inversion (x5); Setting Sail; Zed Era; Old Shoes (Y); Bucket Listing; Short Jog; Green Ribbon
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 14 – Assignment 03
Subject (Task No.): Geography (Task#3: [ALT] Write about a full pandemic.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Fantastic Beasts [79](Mythology AU); 365 Prompts [186](Harry Potter); Scavenger Hunt [06](5 Collected Same Character)[2]; Days of the Year [Mar 15th](something completely unexpected); Black History Month [17](a riot); Flowers [14]("...and shove it."); But Can You Spell It? [O](OC); Stop! Hamper Time (Jams)[Strawberry Jam]("Strawberry Fields Forever" - The Beatles); Would You Rather (12)[Magical Creature]; Fantasy February (10)[Accidental Summoning]; Gwen's Candy Shop [Bowl 3](Roma/Rromani); That Lovin' Feeling [List 1](06)[First Love Declaration]
Other MC4A Challenges: WiB [3E](Drawing/Painting); Vocab [1E](Ignorance); Ship (Heroic Shadow)[Wi Med 2](Hitting/Kicking); Fire [Hard](For a God's Love); Chim [Karma](Copper); Hangman [05](Queer Relationships); Hunt [Fa Set](Protest)/[Wi Set](Living Room)/[Su Con](Fries/Chips)/[Fa Con](Casserole);
Representation(s): Romani & Desi Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini; Original Characters; Reclaimed Heritage; Autonomous Zone; Black Lives Matter
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Suddenly Audrey; Second Verse (Middle Name; Unwanted Advice; Deadliest Catch; Most Human Bean; Rock of Ages; Bad Beans; One Man's Cow; Under the Bridge; Civil Disobedience; Easy Zephyr); Chorus (Pear-Shaped; Bee Haven; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Fire Song; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; A Long Dog; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature; Wind Beneath; Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; In the Trench; Call Me Dantes; Some Beach; Getting On; Stitichin' Time)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: SHoE(n/a); FIN(Radiance); War(Orator; Obstruction); Wings(Bower; Scintillate); DP(Immemorial); Share(Augur)
Word Count: 1763 words
(^^)
Accidental Demon Acquisition
(^^)
Harry checked the book with the design again. He tweaked the copy he had made on the quilt top. It wasn't anything fancy, but it still felt significant in a way that he had gotten used to about deliberately doing things that connected him to his parents' different heritages. His parents would have likely taught him these things if they had lived. Since they hadn't, Harry now had to learn them from other sources.
Like the book of Rromani symbology that Luna had gotten him for his birthday last month.
He was careful while he added the quilting, binding the batting to the quilt top. The bright copper thread he had chosen for the repeating symbol looked great against the purples and blues he had chosen for simple starburst pattern of the quilt top. He had chosen the symbol specifically because the book had said that it meant good health. With everything going on in his life and the world in general, he could use a little bit of good fortune and health.
After he finished the quilt, he cast a series of cleaning charms on it. Then he folded it and put it on a stack of already made quilts. He was going to be delivering the whole stack to local autonomous zone. Cardiff's wasn't as big as the one in London, but it was the closest one to the main Potter estate, Ashbury, and well, there was a global pandemic happening. Staying close to home helped limit the potential spread of the virus even while supporting the protesters.
He eyed the scrapes of purple fabric left over from the last quilt as he cleaned up his living room from his latest project. He had a load of masks that would be included with the blankets and other sundries. He also had built up a bit of a selection for his personal use. He didn't need another one.
But this one would be purple, and he could practice the symbol again.
And it wouldn't hurt to have another mask, not when people continued cling to a willful ignorance about the dangers of the pandemic.
(^^)
Harry smiled beneath his new mask as he helped Charles stow the food he had brought. His wife Tommy had done the same with the medical supplies that Harry had dropped at the medical tent before heading over to the building serving as the communal kitchen for the zone. Their twin girls were acting as runners throughout the zone, and he had barely caught a glimpse of either nine-year-old in the hour he had been there.
He had already made a note to ask at the hygiene tent if the inventory needed more curl conditioners. So many donations remembered basic toiletries but forgot about more specific ones. Menstrual supplies were already on his list of things to routinely bring as were diaper supplies, because outside donations rarely included either.
"You are a bit of a mystery around here, you know," Charles said as they exited the pantry. His dark skin glistened where it wasn't covered by his bright pink mask. Around the kitchen, other volunteers were in the process of preparing lunch. The fryer already had multiple baskets of chips draining. Maria was trading out the casseroles from the oven with the same scary efficiency Harry had come to expect from the tiny grandmother. "Mostly because no one has figured out where you came from yet."
"I was raised in Surrey," Harry answered the unspoken question as he used the sanitizing station near the door. "But my dad grew up nearby, and I took over the estate once I came of age. There's no mystery here."
"Oh, I think there is," Charles countered. He tapped his mask. "I may not know what the symbol means, but I recognize it from the Roma who lived down the street when I was a kid. And you have the look of an Indian. Not to mention that you've got to have donated thousands of pounds worth of stuff here already with no sign that you're feeling the pinch. That would be impressive even without all the pandemic issues."
"My parents," Harry started before needing to swallow around a sudden lump of grief in his throat. For so long, they had been more notions than people to him. Dying and coming back and now reconnecting with the heritages denied him had changed that. The accompanying grief felt new, like he had lost them more recently than when he was a toddler. He breathed deeply before trying again. "My parents left me plenty. I think they would want me to share."
Just then, Isabella skidded into the kitchen. Her poofs rocked forward with the sudden shift in inertia. She looked scared.
"Dad, there's cops at the border. Mum sent me to get you."
"I'll go," Charles said, shifting from friendly interrogator to zone leader as naturally as breathing. "Pass word to the prefects to gather the kids to the shelter point. Grab Evie on your way there."
Harry and Charles were running towards the border before the girl could answer. The guards volunteering to protect the line were arguing with the armored cops in their face shields and bright yellow vests who were looking increasingly agitated at being denied entrance to the autonomous zone. Having heard what had happened in similar situations at other zones, no one wanted the armed men to enter. No one would be packing up and leaving either, not until their message had been heard.
The police weren't willing to listen. What a complete and utter surprise.
"What's the issue here, officers?" Charles asked as they arrived, barely winded. Harry had once thought that no one could command attention like McGonagall and Dumbledore could, but since getting involved in the protests and specifically the Cardiff autonomous zone, Charles has shown himself to be above and beyond exceptional in that regard. (Tommy was even better, especially in medical situations.) Harry could see the cops shifting nervously and the guards straightening their backs.
"You need to disperse," the cop in charge answered. He shook out a folded piece of paper. "Your little shanty town here is a danger to public health. You will disperse or we will remove you by force."
Charles pulled his reading glasses out of his breast pocket. Putting them on, he took the paper and made a show of reading it. All around them, the protesters of the zone and cops alike were quiet. Charles hummed thoughtfully as he reached the end. Then he folded the order and offered it back to the officer.
"With all due respect, officer," Charles said without a hint of compromise, "you can take that order and shove it."
A cheer went up from the protesters. Harry grinned behind his mask, proud of the man he had come to admire so much over the past few months. None of them expected the lead officer to just strike with his billy club. Carl's reading glasses skidded across the sidewalk as he went down from the blow. Harry put himself between the cop and the zone leader before he could even think.
He tasted blood as he took the next blow. He could feel it wetting his lips and the way his new mask began to soak it up. The familiar mix of adrenaline and magic stirred within him, reminding him not only of the only recently concluded war but also of years living with the Dursleys.
Unlike Carl, Harry didn't go down. He had taken harder blows from bigger opponents. He caught the third swing with his forearm. Immediately, he rotated his arm to get a grip on the club. A single yank was all it took to disarm the cop. Harry immediately threw the billy club away, not willing to appear armed and give the bastards any more excuse to attack.
"Leave," the cop ordered in a growl. He was sneering beneath his face shield. Harry huffed, spraying a bit more blood onto the interior of his mask.
"No," Harry refused, squaring his shoulders and grounding his stance. "You leave."
A slow clapping caught everyone's attention. Leaning against a building nearby was a handsome Black man with micro braids that came down to below his shoulders. He was dressed black denim trousers and a black vest. His bare arms were impressively big. He also had a pair of daggers strapped to the outside of each thigh (both of which were just as solid looking as his biceps). When he pushed himself away from the wall to stalk closer, his hair made little clicks from the tiny purple beads that decorated each braid.
"You are," the man said, his violet eyes tracing over Harry hungrily, "very nice. Normally, my summoners aren't." The man gripped Harry's chin like it was something precious and tilted Harry's face as if examining the bloody face mask. He tisked in disapproval and began stroking over it with his fingertips. "It's the correct symbol, but that does not look like a deliberate offering."
"The blood?" Harry questioned. He shook his head a tiny bit, feeling dazed. He could feel the heat coming off the man, and after so long without anyone getting close to him ("SOCIAL DISTANCING!" his inner Moody screamed instead of "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"), that heat felt scorching. Harry swallowed. "No, not deliberate. He, uh, he was going to hit Charles again. I stopped, I stopped him."
"Delicious," the strange man commented, now tracing his fingertips over the shell of Harry's ear. "What shall I call you, my sweet summoner?"
"I'm Harry," he answered, feeling unsettled but calm at the same time. "I'm just Harry."
"I am called Blaise," the man replied with a smile that had a hint of fang, "and you are precious. I am going to love working with you. I can already tell." Blaise's eyes flashed scarlet as he turned back towards the nervously shuffling line of cops. A pair of leathery wings burst out of his back to arch over all of the protesters. "Now time to give you the first of my courtship gifts. Nothing says 'I love you', after all, than tearing apart your enemies and presenting their still beating hearts."
The cops screamed before breaking in to a sprint away from the autonomous zone. Blaise watched them go with a satisfied smirk on his face. When they were out of sight, he turned back towards Harry. His glittering eyes had returned to their previous violet, though the wings had only been tucked against his back.
"That never gets old."
