Summary: Harry never expected something so strange to happen, especially one clad in odd clothes with few too many piercings. Or maybe it's just him.
Rating: Rated M, because I don't think I could ever make this have a lower rating xD
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, well, except for Aaron Grimmel and Gabriel Pyrennth. Those two hotties are mine, and so is the plot. HP characters belong to JK Rowling, and her publishers, or something like that.
Pairings:Harry Potter/ Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasly, Gabriel Pyrennth/Aaron Grimmel, and a surprise pairing that will make you go WTF. :3
A/N: If you haven't read the HBP book, there are some spoilers in this. Well, there will be spoilers throughout the rest of the chapters, so go read the seventh book now!
Incendio – Chapter 2
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Harry was ready to make a run for it when he heard a shout from behind, and he cast a glance over his shoulder seeing Aaron sitting on a limp and defeated Gabriel, with one hand still clamped firmly over the other boy's mouth. Gabriel was still scowling, as few would enjoy having someone forcibly shut them up. "And Harry?" Aaron was the one speaking, seeing as Gabriel was unable to. "You might want to stick around – believe it or not, it's probably safer around us, if you can believe it." He shot a glare at Gabriel, who glared right back. Both seemed ready to have a staring contest, and Harry interrupted them.
"And why is that?"
"Well, you don't have your wand, and from what I've heard you have a nasty habit of getting yourself into trouble. Or, at least, trouble and everything that follows finds you at rather convenient times." Aaron offered Harry a lopsided grin, and continued. "'Sides, it's only a night. And I'm not going to try to molest you," he muttered with a roll of his eyes. "I've got Gabriel here for that." He snickered, then stopped seeing Harry's rather distraught expression. He shrugged, and began amusing himself by poking Gabriel in the head.
Harry shook his head, watching the two before wandering over to the swings. He sat down on the hard wooden surface, curling his fingers around the chains that hung from the beam above him. The raven haired boy sighed, watching Aaron and Gabriel for a moment, trying to make out there words. It sounded like the garble of another language. Either that or they had some strange accents.
Harry closed his eyes, thinking about all that had happened. It had started a while ago – three years ago to be exact. With Cedric's death, almost-death of Mr. Weasley… then Sirius passing away, and Dumbledore's death what felt like only days ago, he was beginning to wonder how he was still functioning. Of course he felt remorse for them, and a pang of sadness… guilt came in great waves that almost threatened to consume him, but by now, he'd managed to cope, perhaps. Losing someone was always hard, and it continued proving itself to be hard, but he knew he had to be strong. Now, more then ever, he had the entire wizarding community would be expecting something from him.
It was a miracle so few knew of the prophecy.
Harry opened his eyes, squinting in the bright light of the sun. It was nearing noon, but it wasn't tomorrow. Still today. He yawned, rubbing his hands on his jeans, feeling oddly cold.
"You okay?" Harry was startled out of his temporary reverie by the voice of Gabriel hovering near. Harry nodded mutely, twisting around so he could see that Gabriel was sitting on a swing beside him. "Hmm," Gabriel murmured, studying Harry's face intently. Eyes appeared to be a swirling mess of coal watched him for a few moments before Gabriel turned his gaze skyward. "You didn't look it. You got some stuff on your mind?" Gabriel questioned, asking the obvious, but perhaps asking Harry if he cared to share.
"Guess so," Harry replied, looking up, trying to see what Gabriel was looking at, but there was nothing. "Why?"
"You looked… I dunno, sad maybe, like nothing could ever help no matter how hard the other person, or thing might try. Like you have far too much weight on your shoulders for someone who isn't all that old in age." Gabriel peered Harry through one eye, then looked away. For this, Harry was glad, because he was now staring openly at the white haired boy. He was surprised – Gabriel's face showed no trace of a smile, which was strange considering the way he'd been acting only minutes ago. But the strangest of all was how Gabriel seemed to know exactly what Harry felt. Harry watched the other boy now, his breath catching in his throat as the sunlight hit Gabriel, lighting up half his face, casting shadows and bright highlights upon every crevice and surface. It couldn't be said he was handsome, or beautiful, or anything, but simply… there. He seemed to hold a surreal image that appeared impossible, but one that he managed quite easily.
Harry shook his head, causing a cascade of hair as dark as Gabriel's eyes to cover his own. "I… lost someone," he said simply, with a small shrug. "And I just didn't realize how I felt – how it… hurt until now, I guess."
Gabriel nodded in simple understanding, a look of knowing crossing his face, if only for an instant. "It always hurts," he murmured, not bothering to look at Harry. "And it'll never get easier. But you gotta remember there are people there who might want to help, even if they can't. They want to. It's always better to love and lose, rather then never love at all. I think you have a firsthand experience in both of those areas." Gabriel feigned a smile, and stood up, leaving Harry to think, as if he didn't have enough to think about already.
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It would have been far more awkward if Aaron hadn't of been there. Gabriel had proposed the idea of going somewhere to eat, and Harry had tried to protest. He was still somewhat disoriented from that… 'talk' he'd had with Gabriel, and it didn't help that Gabriel saw fit to leave the park.
"What if my aunt and uncle come looking for me?" Harry protested, knowing it would never happen, knowing they wouldn't look for him until he'd been missing a few days.
"So, would they come looking for you?" Aaron asked reasonably.
"Well…" Harry trailed off, and was saved from having to describe the complex relationship he and his relatives shared when Gabriel interrupted.
"Sounds good! We're off, then!" Gabriel jumped off the back of the bench, landing on the paved ground with a hard thunk as his steel toed boots met the pavement. "So, where to?" He questioned aloud. "How about one of those sandwich places? Seeing as that's what I took from you. Only fair, right?"
"It doesn't matter," Harry supplied helpfully.
"Of course it doesn't, what are you saying? We're talking about food here – the gift from God! The… food!" He waved his arms around, trying to convey his message, and failed horribly.
"Was it a gift…?" Harry wondered, scratching his head.
"Who cares?" Came Gabriel's answer.
"Well, I say we go to one of those pho(1) places," Aaron stated, after having remained silent for a while.
"Ooh, like Pho King?" Gabriel snickered, shooting a glance at Aaron, raising one pierced eyebrow to emphasize his point. He earned an annoyed groan from Aaron, and a bewildered look from Harry.
"What? Fucking… what?" Harry blinked, now thoroughly confused.
"Pho! It's like this Vietnamese noodle. Thing. Err, is it a noodle, Aaron?"
"I dunno."
"Oh. Well, either way, it's very tasty. Just don't eat the tiny peppers on the plate of long stringy things. Those are damn spicy."
"You would know, dumb ass, you ate one!" Aaron snickered at his own words, remembering the time Gabriel had seen the pepper… and primly popped it in his mouth, only to be told by a waitress they were not for eating, but rather putting in your noodles.
"Yes. So I have first hand experience," he crowed, obviously looking quite pleased with himself. Aaron just shook his head. "So, off to Pho King, then, righty-o!" Aaron snickered.
"Idiot," he said affectionately.
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Eating noodles with chopsticks was probably the strangest experience Harry had ever faced. That would have to exclude a large number of things to rank top strangest, but it was still rather odd for him. It was like learning what magic was all over again. That funny feeling you get when you wonder if you're doing it right, or if you're doing it wrong and nobody wants to tell you so, since they want to see what else you'll do.
The world could be a very cruel place. And whoever invented chopsticks must have been out of their mind, because Harry was having some trouble holding them. By the time he'd managed to get enough noodles to ladle on to his oversized spoon (or whatever that was), Aaron had nearly finished his pho, and Gabriel was done. Harry stared at the huge bowl, wondering how they could cram it all in.
Aaron and Gabriel were now conversing with one another in what sounded like French, and they would break out in snickers every few moments. Gabriel cast him a glance, and tried to stop laughing, but failed rather horridly.
"What now?" Harry inquired, rather peeved.
"Oh, nothing," Gabriel said, attempting to sidestep the question.
"I know you're saying something, at least. So what were you saying?" Gabriel coughed, looking over at Aaron.
"Some of it I'd rather not say… and the rest I'd better not say," he said with a smirk.
Aaron grunted his agreement, muttering a 'something like that,' before continuing to eat his pho.
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By the time Harry finished, it was sometime around noon, and he could attest that was full. The strange trio left the store, and Harry hadn't bothered to ask why they hadn't paid for their meal.
The silence that had been present throughout the meal was broken when Aaron finally spoke up. In an almost annoyed, gruff voice, he inquired what they might be doing. "We gonna go anywhere, or just lurk about at the park?"
"Boring!" Gabriel declared with a loud voice, causing a few people to turn their heads, and Aaron to kick Gabriel between the shoulder blades. "Ow, meanie," Gabriel complained, turning around to glare.
"Stupid," Aaron retorted, with a snicker. "O-genki desu-ka?"
"Deinki desu!" Gabriel declared something in another language, causing Aaron to laugh and kick him once more.
"What did he say?" Harry demanded, wondering if he really wanted to know.
"Well, see, one time we took this Japanese course because Pyrennth has this obsession with learning languages. So, when the professor asked use 'O-genki desu-ka,' How are you? Gabriel replied with Deinki desu, rather then Genki desu. This meant he declared himself as a light bulb, rather then saying he was well." Harry found himself grinning along with Aaron, and his grin widened at the sight of Gabriel's annoyed look, after being kicked twice.
"What was that, uh, kick you did?" Harry stuttered, wondering why he felt so foolish for asking a simple question.
"Front snap kick, as it's referred to in the art of Tae Kwon Do." He shrugged at Harry's bemused expression. "I took Tae Kwon Do when I was a kid. Haven't forgotten much, that's all." Harry thought there might be more to that explanation, but he decided to drop it.
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As many times as Harry had been warned never to go off with strangers, or accept food, he'd done both, and nothing bad had come of it. He'd gotten to try that 'pho' stuff, and afterwards Aaron, Gabriel, and Harry wandered into the Chinese district of London, as they were on the outskirts of it anyways. They came across an interesting store that sold rather shady looking items, including swords and weapons. It had fascinated Aaron and Gabriel, but left Harry a little unnerved by their interest.
After that, they'd managed to find their way back to the park by nightfall. It didn't appear as though anything was wrong, and for that Harry was glad. Both his aunt, nor uncle had come looking for him, and he saw no trace of flashing lights. He hadn't been missed.
He sat on the bench, staring out into the gloomy darkness, jolted awake by a loud snore from Aaron, who was currently residing beneath a tree. Gabriel had found a way to climb a tree, and was now sleeping in it like some sort of feline. Harry had wondered if Gabriel would fall out, and worried about it until Aaron had assured him nothing would happen.
He'd managed to fall asleep, but was awoken by Gabriel shaking him awake, with a distinct frown upon his face.
"You were having one hell of a nightmare, Harry," Gabriel stated. Harry blinked, his mind whirling in a state of comatose. And with sudden start, he remembered the dream.
First his parents, screaming, saying they regretted ever saving him.
"You hit your cousin, Harry! How could you?" Lily screamed at him, and Harry remembered himself cowering. Then, Cedric, and Voldemort's face as he killed the boy without any thought. Sirius, then Dumbledore. And Snape's sneering face as he'd cast the killing curse upon the headmaster.
Harry blanched, staring at Gabriel with wide eyes. "It was nothing," he muttered, sullenly.
"Sure as hell it wasn't! Not many kids shout things in their sleep that include the words 'don't die,' and 'it wasn't my fault.' You've got some heavy guilt, obviously." Gabriel bit his lip, thinking. "Just try to go back to sleep, kay?" He patted Harry's head in an almost fatherly manner, and climbed back into his tree.
Once Harry had thought the other had fallen asleep, he let himself drift off, relishing the sleep that came, without any deaths, or screams.
Gabriel watched Harry for a few minutes after the boy had fallen asleep, keeping a watchful eye on the boy before he allowed himself to sleep as well.
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(1) Pho, the Vietnamese 'noodle' is pronounced FUH. So Pho King sounds like… well, sound it out. You know what I mean ;D
And as a little note, I did go to a pho restaurant… and I did eat the little pepper… and DAMN that was hot xD Never again will I eat random peppers without first inquiring –falls over-