Disclaimer: Neither I, nor my psychotic partner Emily, own any of the brilliantly awesome Harry Potter characters, except the even cooler ones that you've never seen before. Emily - ahem - dislikes Draco Malfoy. I was in an Insult The Blonde Haired Git mood when I wrote parts of this. Be forewarned!
Chapter Two is dedicated to the FanFiction author Siri Lupin, whose wonderful FanFic has given me much insight into the world of the Marauders. Also, she is writing a book and is nineteen, which I admire very much. So here's to Siri Lupin! Write more soon!
Warning: Craziness Factor 75% If you think this is crazy, you ain't seen nothing yet!
This chapter of the nutty FF, Harry Potter and the Green Flame Torch (GFT for short), brought to you by,
Abby
AND
Emily
Chapter Two
New Friends And Unnecessary - Yet Relevant To The Plot - Enemies
After lying down for a bit to recover her strength, Abbika had decided to go down to Diagon Alley to have some fun. That Tom character, that worked in the Leaky Cauldron, had told her what to do.
Taking out her wand - a long, thin slip of cypress wood - Abbika tapped one of the bricks above the dustbin.
She took a step back and watched as an archway appeared in the wall. She grinned and stepped through, watching over her should as the arch disappeared.
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" said a voice frantically from beside Rose. She shook her head and glanced at the girl sitting beside her, whom she had knocked over.
She appeared to be about Rose's age, with bushy brown hair and a friendly air around her. The girl was looking anxiously at Rose at the moment and offered her a hand to help her to her feet. Rose took it and stood up.
"Are you alright?"
Rose gave a snort of laughter. "Yeah, but I think I was the one that knocked you over, so I should be asking you, eh?"
The other girl smiled. "That's quite OK." She looked down at Rose (because she was slightly taller) curiously. "I don't think I've ever seen you before, do you go to Hogwarts? What year? What's your name? Your accent sounds strange, where are you from?"
She said all this without drawing a breath and Rose laughed and clapped twice. Her companion looked at her a little strangely but Rose was used to this. She wouldn't have felt at home without passers-by giving her strange looks.
Smirking haughtily, Rose began. "Well, I come from way across the rather large expanse of water separating our two splendid continents. Canuckiland. Beaverton. Mapleville. None of those names ring a bell? How 'bout Canada? Eh, eh, eh? You know I looked up 'eh' in the dictionary once and -" Rose promptly broke out in a fit of laughter at Hermione's bewildered expression.
"Off-topic, am I? You should hear what it sounds like to have a conversation between a bunch of us . . ." she trailed off wistfully. She was thinking about Malkansi again . . . and Abby . . . and Sisi and Nick and Kasai and Yassio and Jack . . . and even Vienno . . . Rose shook her head to clear it and grinned maniacally at Hermione when she looked at her concernedly.
"Sorry, I drifted off for a moment there. But I seem to recall you askin' about Hogwarts. Well, I've never been here in England before, not that I can remember at least, but I will be going to Hogwarts this year. I'll be in my sixth. You go there too?"
She could tell that this girl was slightly amused at the way she was flitting between topics like a vampire over the countryside. "Yes, I'll be in my sixth year in September too. By the way, I'm Hermione Granger. Who are -"
But she was interrupted when a distraction presented itself in the form of a malicious fair-haired boy. He strode arrogantly up to Hermione and glared at her out of steely grey eyes.
"Looking for some new comrades, Granger? What's the matter, can't stand the smarmy celebrity and the impoverished weasel anymore?" The youth turned away from the extremely angry young witch in front of him and looked at Rose with an expression that said 'Get down on your knees and bow before me or suffer my wrath!'. Rose felt like throwing up on his impeccably shiny black shoes. "You must be the new girl. I've heard about you. You see, I unlike Granger here, have connections."
"Oh, that may be true," Hermione said acidly. "But I, unlike Malfoy, have morals."
Malfoy turned so that his back was to Rose and whispered so that only Hermione could hear. "You'll pay for that Granger." His voice was filled with malice, but Hermione shrugged it off.
Malfoy turned back to Rose. "You would do well, girl, not to go mucking about with folk like that." He smirked sardonically. "They are a disgrace to the pureblood that runs in our veins. Running off with Muggles, of all the filth on this Earth . . . but I digress. I, am Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."
Rose gave a rather loud hoot of laughter, which could be heard all through the circle of onlookers that was gathering around Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and the mysterious new girl. Hermione rolled her eyes at Rose behind Malfoy's back. Several young wizards and witches around them were smiling too, although most were clue-less as to what the joke was. The few who knew were quick to let the others in on the secret.
"Do you even know what you just quoted?" Rose asked, with the air of someone holding a broomstick above someone else's head and whacking them with it. Malfoy's smirk slipped a bit.
"Well, I'll tell you then, moron. A Muggle movie. Bond, James Bond. I like my martinis shaken, not stirred, thanks. Ooooooooooh, look at me, Muggles suck, but now I'm gonna go and quote a crummy Muggle movie, unconscious of why everyone is laughing at me. My name means dragon in Latin, aren't I special? Weeeeeeeeeeeeeh, I'll just go, grow out my luxurious blonde hair and become a hippie! Mwahahahahahahahaaa, who's the Dis-Master now, eh? Mr. Everyone-should-bow-down-to-me-'cus-I'm-a-spoiled-brat-that-thinks-he's-the-top! Now, I confess, I dunno much about how you Brits mock each other, but my mom says that 'accursed, blustering, idiot of a git' is a sufficient insult on most occasions."
Rose took a deep breath. Then, after taking in the flabbergasted expressions on the faces of her audience, enemy and friend she gave a victorious smile and turned to walk away. But Malfoy's hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "I would have thought that you would have been able to see how they cover our lands in their filth," he said, in a cold, hard voice. "But if you prefer to run amongst the slime of this world, the mud-bloods, Muggle-lovers, half-breeds and -"
"Malfoy! Sod off before I -" A red haired boy had shoved his way through the crowd and with the intention of biting Mr. Dragon's head off. But he was cut off as Rose grabbed the whitish blonde haired boy's arm, summoned her strength and flung him over her shoulder.
This was quite a feat, as the boy was a good deal taller than she was. Everyone began applauding and Rose was slightly startled. You'd think these kids had never been taught Basic Muggle Defence, the way they were going on. With the right leverage you could take anyone that opposed you, if they weren't suspecting it.
Rose looked down at Malfoy and was pleased to see that he looked a good deal less proud and haughty lying on his back in the mud. She smiled (if barring your teeth ferociously can be called a smile) down at him. "I'd help you up, but I wouldn't want any of your filth getting on me, now would I?"
Then she strode away, between Hermione and the red-haired boy, her new friends.
Abbika was getting pretty bored by now. She had been browsing through Diagon Alley for over an hour, gone to Gringotts, taken out some money, gotten all of her school supplies and even gotten a stack of books for background reading. According to her favorite teacher back at Malkansi, however, what she called background reading was more 'escaping from boredom by means of completely superfluous literary exploration'. It didn't matter, either way. Sure, the books looked interesting, but Abbika had been genuinely disappointed that she had not yet come across a single Prankster's Paradise. She would have even settled for a Novelty Corner at the moment.
Sighing, Abbika decided to try one last store. Her eyes settled on a sign that read Weasley's Wizard Weazes. It was flashing various vivid colors and below the name was a picture. Someone appeared to be throwing a cauldron at another someone, who had a badge with a green snake on it. Charming, thought Abbika.
She stepped inside the store and looked around, eyes wide. "A joke shop!" she squealed in delight. Then she took a deep breath, grabbed one of the purple baskets sitting next to the door and ran through the store maniacally.
As Abbika ran, she picked up about three of each item and chucked them haphazardly in her box. After five minutes of this she was standing back where she had started, holding an over-filled basket that weighed almost as much as she did, gazing around to see if she had missed anything, happier than she had been since . . .
Someone tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey -" he started to say from behind Abbika. He must have snuck up on her, and she was so startled that she dropped her bag, spun around and kicked his legs out from underneath him.
Abbika blinked and looked down at the man lying spread-eagled at her feet. He looked to be only a few years older than her (although slightly shorter) and had fiery, red hair. His eyes were staring surprisedly out at her from his freckled face.
"Oh, erm . . ." she stuttered, embarrassed. She shook her head to clear it and smiled down at him. "Need help getting up?"
He nodded and she held out a hand and helped him to his feet.
"I'm Abbika, Abby's fine though. I'm willing to bet that you don't get many kids in here that try attack you, eh?"
He smiled. "You're right there. I'm George Weasley. My twin brother and I own this shop. I noticed that you had quite a handful here," he nodded at the pile of merchandise, scattered across the floor, "and came to see if you wanted help."
"Hold on," Abby took out her wand and waved it in a line over top of the pile that had fallen out of the bag. It all began hurtling back towards Abby and George, but most of it made it to the basket. A couple stray articles bounced off the pair and into the basket. One or two missed completely and ricocheted off the walls until they too fell on top of the pile. Abby noticed out of the corner that George was watching this bit of elementary magic with a look of mild incredulity.
She turned back to George and frowned sternly at him. She would have looked fairly intimidating had she not been visibly struggling to hold down a fit of laughter. "Now, would you care to tell me why exactly you were sneaking up on me in the first place?"
"Ah, well, you see," George lowered his voice to a conspirational whisper and Abby leaned closer to hear. "My brother, Fred, and I, we made a bet with each other. Everyday, which ever of us that can get a customer to jump the highest has to buy the other lunch. I had to buy for Fred yesterday," George shook his head sadly. "But I do believe that today I've won!"
Abby grinned brightly. "I concur. I could have sworn I jumped all the way back home when you tapped me on the shoulder. Luckily I managed to realise that you weren't attacking me before I landed any serious blows, eh?"
George took a mock bow and offered her his hand. She stared at him for a moment, then handed him her basket and swept off towards the front desk. He followed, shaking his head.
He emptied out all of her purchases and began to rifle through it, checking prices. "So where is home for you anyways? I don't remember seeing you at Hogwarts."
Abby looked puzzled for a moment before her brain clicked. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I had no idea what you were talking about for a moment there. Hogwarts is the Wizard School though, right? Yah, I'm from way across the pond." She put a lot of emphasis on the word pond. "Canada, the true north, strong and free." She grinned.
"Okay," George said sarcastically. He gave her a mocking look that clearly stated 'I think you are absolutely crazy'. "Well, what brings a fine young witch like yourself all the way over here?"
Abby grinned psychotically. "It's a little complicated. You see, firstly, my ruff, er, I mean roof, was melting -" she could tell that George was seriously doubting her sanity now, "- then my dogsled broke down and my polar bears all caught colds and all the beavers went 'round the bend and started trying to make a dam on top of my chimney and I think the house was about to explode, which may have had something to do with my shoving a couple o' handfuls of Exploding Fireballs up the chimney . . ." she trailed off.
George raised an eyebrow. "Alright, then. Now, I'm just gonna ask you to take a few deep breaths and -" he noticed Abby was glaring at him fiercely. "What?"
"Your eyebrow! Ever since I was little, I've wanted to be able to lift one eyebrow. See, look," she wiggled her eyebrows. It created an aura of complete and certain craziness. "I could eyebrow circles around you, but never lift just one!"
George raised his eyebrow again, successfully aggravating Abby. "OK, so that comes to a total of," he let out a low whistle, "thirty three Galleons."
Abby looked worriedly at the small money pouch in her hand, which looked as if it could have held one Knut if you stretched it out, then grinned wickedly at Fred before emptying the bags content onto the counter. Apparently, the bag was much roomier than it appeared, because a mass of bronze and silver coins flowed out, dotted with a few gold pieces.
"Would you mind helping me counting it out?" she asked sweetly, gesturing to the small pile, which consisted of mostly Knuts.
George winked. "No problem!" With that, he whipped out his wand and prodded the pile with it. The bronze pieces formed little piles of their own before transforming into silver Sickles, then they formed piles and turned into gold coins. After a minute there was only a small heap of golden Galleons and a few other scattered coins.
After counting the money, George looked up at Abby. "Twenty-eight Galleons, thirteen Sickles and seven Knuts. Got anymore up your sleeve?"
Abby looked pensive for a moment, then leaned over, reached behind George's ear and pulled out two more galleons. She tossed them into the mound and sighed. "Well, that's the last of it. All the money I got out of Gringotts to buy stuff throughout the school year. Eh well, maybe I should've bought less books, hmmm?"
George nodded remorsefully. Then he smiled and looked around to see if anyone was watching, before beckoning Abby closer and whispering in her ear.
"Now, Fred and I have never had anyone work for us before . . . but as you seem to be in a bit of a pinch and as I am getting a free lunch today, I think I'll put in a good word for you. If Fred agrees, you could work here for the summer, eager as you are for pranks. Now, the pay wouldn't be glamorous -" he stopped there, suddenly noticing that Abby was clearly not paying him any attention, dancing in circles around the shop.
He shrugged, packaged her stuff up, checked his watch and decided to leave her for a bit, see if she was a little less crazy when he came back. George headed out the door to have lunch with his twin, the Canadian girl twirling her way around the store behind him.
Rose was glad to find herself getting on so well with her two new pals. Sure, her mom had said she would have no problem making friends, but that's what mom's are supposed to say.
Hermione was very smart and knew all kinds of stuff. Rose found herself thinking that Abby would've probably enjoyed talking to the brainiac too. But she shook herself out of those thoughts and thought about other stuff.
Ron, the red haired wizard, was alright. He was less of a bookworm than Hermione and liked to joke around. For the first time since coming to Britain, Rose felt at ease.
Glancing up and down Diagon Alley Rose sighed. She still hadn't found a prank store! Ron'll probably know where the best place to go is, she thought idly. Hermione's too, eh, smart for pranks. Shame though, with her brains we could really wreak some havoc.
Rose poked Ron to get his attention. "Ron, do you know where I can find some prank stores?"
Ron grinned and nodded vigorously. "Yeah, my brothers own a joke shop just down there." Ron pointed back behind them.
Rose smiled. "Well, I'm gonna take a look. Who's with me?"
Before Ron could reply, Hermione side-stepped him. "We would, but we have to meet Ron's mum in a bit. A friend of ours couldn't make it today and we have to get his supplies too. But if we don't see you here again, we'll catch you on the train."
Waving, Rose raced down the street to where Ron had pointed. Finally she found the store. Weasley's Wizard Weazes. "Nice use of alliteration," she said to herself, laughing. Rose took a moment to admire the picture, which she found expressed her nature perfectly. That was Rose in a nutshell. Rose's lips twitched and she walked into the store, then gasped in shock.
There was a girl running around the store. She was wearing an ecstatic expression and was whirling and dancing, oblivious to the world. She had waist-length black hair, streaked with silver and bright amber eyes. Her skin was pale and she was quite tall.
Rose stared at the girl in shock, then cried out, "Abby!"
The girl stopped so quickly that she fell on her face. "Rose?!"
"OH MY GOD, I KNOW YOU!" they shrieked in unison.
(A/N: OK, so some of you may have noticed the Craziness Factor in this chapter. Or as our idol JKR would say, the aura of distinct dottiness. So whether it's CF or AoDD it is there and if you can't handle it then there is no use hanging around, lol. Abby and Rose have distinctly dotty personalities, gals after my own heart (Emily too, lol) and in future chapters they will only get wilder. ENJOY!
Y'all may have noticed my Vampire mention in one of the Rose parts. I have read The Saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan and fallen in love with it. In these books, vampires can flit, like running really fast, but instead of over-excerpting themselves, the world just kind of slips by. So, you all know what to do. READ DARREN SHAN'S BOOKS NOOOOOOOOOOOOW! Hem, hem.
We also mentioned a couple of stores that Abby and Rose have been to in Canada. Prankster's Paradise, which is the best of the best and Novelty Corner, which is little kid stuff. Neither of these stores really exist tho.
When Abby and Rose yell "OMG I kno you!" that's based on a true story. Ya see, my old friend Thea and I used to say that all the time to each other at our basketball practices. We were so cool. Really.
Well, I think that's all. C ya!
Abby)
