Ummm... I did get one review for chapter one of LST, but it didn't really have anything to do with the fic. If you're going to flame me, make it relevant, okay? I haven't even mentioned Snape in this story, much less hinted at a relationship between him and Harry... which is not going to happen. There will be no romance in this fic, slash or otherwise!
Disclaimer: Do I look like J.K. Rowling?
Why was she here. A statement, not a question. To come here, she must have some kind of reason, otherwise her family wouldn't let her out on her own. Not while the 'homicidal killer' was on the loose. No— Liam didn't know what she had to do with him, but she had a reason for coming here. Weasleys didn't hang out in muggle bars.
His masked eyes glanced around the room, his senses going in overtime, fueled by the adrenaline pumping through his veins. No one else he recognized; that didn't mean anything.
"Dude… Liam! Anybody home?" A hand waved in front of his face, drawing his eyes, but not his attention. "We understand you dig the chick- why don't you go talk to her? Face it, dude- you need a girl," Lee spoke up in his carefree voice. Liam forced a smile.
"Gee, thanks, Lee. I'm touched. I think I'll pass- I'm going out for some air. I'll be back for the next set, I promise," Liam said, distracted. How many others were here with her? Were they using her as bait, thinking that he would make a move to finish off the family he had supposedly started murdering all those years ago? Was she working for the Ministry? Scenarios over scenarios chased each other through his mind, each more unpleasant than the others.
His hand turned the knob of the door leading to the alleyway behind the club of its own violation, and he stepped out into the cool November air of London.
Not a moment after he had walked through the door, it slammed open once again. His body taking over after years of training, he leapt to the ladder of the building's fire escape. A redhead and three others that he didn't recognize entered the alleyway, spreading out, searching for him.
"Harry Potter! We know you're out here! Show yourself, and your sentence may be diminished," one of them shouted into dank, empty alley as Liam watched on from above, cloaked in the darkness of night.
Right- from seven lifetimes to six. Like that will do me any good… he thought silently.
"Weasley! Do you see him? You said he came out here," the same man continued, quieter this time.
"I did! The lead singer, he walked out the door. If he was Potter, then he probably ran when he saw me," she spat his former name like one utters a curse. "I'm dying for a chase anyway," she added, fury etched in her stance.
"It was probably a false lead anyway. Who did we get it from?" This time, the brunette woman.
"An anonymous source. We don't know who it came from," Ginny replied. Liam had heard enough. If they saw him, they would arrest him on the spot, just in case he was Harry Potter, but if he ran, he'd look guilty. A no-win situation. Liam grinned… his specialty.
The rusted step snapped, giving way to Liam's weight only a story and a half above the Aurors in the alleyway.
"Shit," Liam swore under his breath as all four looked up at him.
"STUPEFY!" four voices shouted in unison.
"Shit."
No way was he going out now. He hadn't avoided capture for seven years just to be caught by a bunch of rookie Aurors.
"Consulo," he said lowly, his hand held out in front of him. He didn't need his wand to do magic. The quadrupled stunner broke into its original four prongs, returning to their casters. Only Ginny and the old man who had demanded that he show himself were fast enough to dodge. Liam knew that they would only keep coming back if they weren't killed- but he wouldn't taint his hands with the blood of innocents. He would not kill this night.
It had been seven years since the last time he had killed- the last time Bellatrix, murderer of his only father, had seen life.
In the confusion following the reflected stunner, Liam had already made it to the roof. Telltale clangs of feet on iron steps rang after him. With a single glance behind him to confirm that they had reached the roof behind him, he flipped over the banister around the roof's flat surface, and swung through the open window of the bar owner's apartment.
"Where'd he go? Did you lose him!" Incredulous voices followed him from the roof, but neither Auror had seen him on the roof.
"No, you were the one right behind him! How did you lose him?" Ginny's voice cried back in outrage. The voices faded as Liam crept silently through the apartment. An almost silent murmur of 'alohomora' saw him out of the apartment and down the stairs to the main bar. Composing himself, he walked over to the table of his bad mates.
"Hey, guys, I'm sorry, but I gotta ditch- one of my patients just went into a coma, I have to get the hospital as soon as possible," Liam swiftly lied to his friends. He hated letting them down, and he hated lying to them, but he couldn't drag them into this further than they already were. A hand slapped the table with a surprisingly loud 'bang!'.
"Dammit, Liam! You can't leave now! Can't we finish one more set? This is our big shot!" Jesse cried. Liam was taken aback. Jesse never really showed a temper like that before- she was the quiet one, keeping to the background, listening rather than talking.
Suddenly, something showed in her eyes that Liam had never seen before. A brown glaze over what had always been ocean-blue eyes. Previously ivory-white skin darkened. Something was wrong. Liam's magic senses were going ballistic. This wasn't Jesse.
"Cho…" Liam gasped. The asian girl had grown, completely out from under the effects of the Polyjuice Potion she had taken. All four Aurors from the alleyway burst in the door. Liam was trapped, no way out, and no one to count on.
"Harry Potter! You are under arrest for homicide!"
"Oh, shit…"
The much-anticipated chapter two of Lightning Strikes Twice… yeah right. Well, I know there are a lot of plot holes, and complete nonsense… but it was hella fun to write!
-Switchblade
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