Don't own Harry Potter. Un-betad, therefore read at your own risk.

Catching Lightning in a Firewhisky Bottle

by WriteAlong

Chapter 5: Warming Up

. . . . .

Catch lighthing in a bottle - to do the impossible

Interesting, the auror mused, as he took in the scene that they had stumbled upon. The fact that it didn't surprise him anymore was more telling than anything else.

Someone seemed to have a mission..

"We don't understand Frank, it is just like yesterday. Someone seems to be at work here, I tell you." A colleague whispered to him as they watched their colleagues transport a small group of unconsciousness Death Eaters that they had stumbled upon – again.

"Someone sure seems to have a grudge on them." Frank Longbottom agreed as he surveyed their surroundings.

Just like before, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The only sign that the group had been startled were the few scorch-marks on a tree. The attacker had probably moved in from that side. Unfortunately, seeing as they were in the middle of nowhere, that didn't seem to tell him much. Frank Longbottom was a sticker to routine though and as such made sure to look at a map in the near future as always. It might give him some clue. It had done so in the past.

He inspected the ground between the marked trees, but couldn't find any footsteps. He knew that he shouldn't assume that it had been a man's job without any indication, but by the attacker's rash behavior, he couldn't help but informally identify him as such.

Of course, it could be a woman still, but from experience, Frank found that women were sneakier than this blunt approach. He decided not to tell his wife anything about his suspicions. She would probably like to change his mind.

His colleagues didn't comment when the man crouched down close the ground and carefully crawled-but-not-really-crawled about to look for any signs. Signs that might indicate that someone had been hit and fallen to the ground after being struck by a crucio curse, or had been injured, seeing as cutting curses had become many death eater's favorite.

No such signs. Being outnumbered and able to get rid of his tracks, the attacker knew what he was doing. It made Frank very curious.

He glanced up when someone crouched down next to him, careful to check the spot before he stepped there. Frank Longbottom had a feared reputation concerning messing up evidence.

"We found something." The man muttered and held out his fisted hand.

Accepting the small object that fell from the man's hand, Frank frowned.

"A galleon?" He examined, raising an eyebrow.

The auror shrugged. "One of the newbies – what's he called, Jimmy? - nearly put it in his pocket, but I made sure he learned his lesson. It's a fake though. I guess you should keep an eye on it and take it to the department. We couldn't find any dark curses at work."

Thomas wouldn't have given it to him otherwise, but Frank appreciated the gesture anyway. So Frank nodded his thanks as the man turned back to work. The Auror in charge couldn't help but to cast his own spells to check the object, but Frank couldn't find anything either. Odd.

He returned back to his previous place, where his friend was still watching the others work. Noticing that Frank was caught up with something in his hand, he leaned over to glance at it.

"What puzzles you so, Frank?"

Frank didn't pay him any mind as he brought the tiny object closer to his face and flipped it a couple of times. Inspecting it closely, Frank paused as he spotted writing on the side of the coin.

"In a tight situation and you can't stand the heat? Bring on the fire." He read out loud.

His colleague squinted at the object and shrugged. "A riddle? Is it a prank?"

"I'm not sure." Frank mused, but he put it into his inner pocket anyway.

"I'm more interested in the person who is seemingly helping us out."

Harry smiled slightly as a coin in his breast-pocket warmed for a second, before it quickly cooled again. He sneakily fished it out of his pocket and glanced at the rim, which had 'Frank Longbottom' written on it, before putting it back. It seemed that his target had received the coin. Good. He had been afraid that he would have to sneak into his house and plant it there.

That would have been troublesome; Harry decided as he scraped the last bit of food from his plate and savored its taste. He had to give it to Julia, her cooking was very good. He hadn't realized he had been that hungry.

"I saw that." The barmaid spoke up from the other side of the bar.

"Huh?" his intelligent reply followed.

"Don't play innocent with me." She said, leaning down to meet his eyes. "You smiled."

Oops. Had he really?

"I'm drunk." The 'drunk' Harry slurred and patted her cheek playfully. "Wouldn't dare pl'y with ya." He teased her and let out a chuckle as he watched her mouth fall open.

He couldn't help it. For now, most things were going according to plan, which put him in a good mood. Maybe he should play a prank to celebrate. He hadn't done that in a long time. He briefly recalled the pranking wars that he had with his boys and had to restrain his hand not to take a swing from his favorite mixture that helped him forget. He wouldn't do that to the fond memories with his boys. It was only seconds later those other memories tickled in – their death had been quick, but still hurt so much – and he slipped some of the mixture in his current drink anyway.

As he took a mouthful, he didn't notice the shocked expression of the barmaid. He sighed in relief – and a little guilt – when the nasty memories blurred once again. He wouldn't be able to keep this up forever he knew, but he would work on that later. With the situation he was now in, everything was too sensitive.

In time, he would kick off, he told himself.

But not yet.

What the hell.

It took a while for the barmaid to process what the drunk in front of her had just said. The moment she did, she had looked over to Julia – who nearly always listened in – to check whether she had imagined it or not. The laugh on the cooks face told her enough and she turned back to Whisky.

"Did you just – " Rosmerta tried to recover but she couldn't finish the sentence.

"Wha?" Whisky asked, looking confused, swirling his drink. He suppressed another smile.

"You were flirting with me?" She blurted, surprised by the fact that Whisky of all people – who had been incredibly depressed the last week – suddenly made a joke. A flirty one at that!

The man spluttered at her. "Me?" He cried out dramatically.

"Yes you!"

The man took another swig from his bottle and scratched as his stubbly beard. His confused green eyes met hers. "Really?"

"You did!"

"Did what?" He asked, looking even more confused. "Wha did ya say?"

"You're impossible!" She complained, picking up his plate and putting it away.

A few other costumers chuckled behind them. Having been asked to join the spectacle by Julia, Dan watched the pair from just outside the kitchen. His face sported a silly grin, but he wisely remained quiet as he watched the barmaid get flustered.

Rosmerta glared at the frustrating wizard, cheeks slightly pink as she turned her back to him. "Don't confuse me, ya drunkard!"

"Nah, g'rl. Ya pretty and all, but I'm not your type." He placated her as seriously as he could, with his current state as it was, didn't come across as very serious.

She shot him a pointed look over her shoulder. "See! You're doing it again!"

"Doing what?" Whisky repeated, looking at her through his glass.

She proceeded to ignore his question. Whisky looked questioningly towards Dan who simply shrugged with an amused expression. Frowning, the drunk looked back towards the woman that was ignoring him.

"What wash she talking about?" He asked the man next to him, who simply shook his head. Giving up, Whisky finished his drink and pushed it towards the woman with a pleading expression.

"No."

"Pleash?" He practically begged her earning him a glare.

"I pay?" He added, looking somewhat smug that he had been able to come up with a good argument.

"You're impossible." She growled, but filled his glass anyway. Whisky took a few large gulps and sighed contently, before frowning thoughtfully at her.

"Imposhible. R'lly? Ish that even posh'ble?" He muttered under his alcoholic breath – before staring down into his now nearly-empty glass as if it would provide him an answer.

"Go to bed already." Rosmerta grumbled under her breath, knowing that no matter what she would say, the drunk always seemed to have a comeback. The more sloshed he got; the wittier he seemed to become.

Whisky nodded slowly, accidently shifting his weight a bit too far and tumbled to the ground with a loud thud. Dan leaned over the bar to make sure he hadn't broken anything and shook his head when he saw the man lying sprawled over the ground, but with his arm in the air in an effort to keep his drink safe.

Not a drop of liquor had spilled during the fall.

Dan heard Rosmerta scoff as she too leaned over the bar.

"And that was your last drink! House rule!" Rosmerta told him happily.

The only reply that she got was a disappointed moan from the fallen figure on the other side of the bar. A few costumers helped him up and empathically patted him on the back. Slowly but surely, they were becoming familiar with the odd friendly drunken figure.

"Sweet dreams Whisky!" Rosmerta called after him.

"Enjoy your headache!" She finished a bit too merrily Whisky thought absently as he stumbled towards the stairs, steading himself by leaning against several guests. They didn't even look surprised anymore and let him. Just before he disappeared he shook his fist at her.

"Ya enjoying tish way too mush!"

Rosmerta simply grinned.

Darkness and pain.

As he came to, Frank decided that he didn't like the situation he was in. He remembered having gone home, spending a free day at home and then as he got back to work… vaguely remembered taking a hit coming from behind him, before he had been knocked out. He peered from under his eyelashes and mentally curses when he saw the bare surroundings.

A fucking cell.

He looked down at his hands and clenched his teeth as he saw the short thick chain connect to his bound hands. His wand was – of course – nowhere in sight. Being wandless made him quite defenseless and his stomach turned. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to keep his breath steady.

The blood marks on the floor weren't helping.

Unfortunately, before he could completely calm himself, a loud screeching noise warned him that his peace had ended. He glared furiously at the hooded figures that entered his cell.

"Hello Longbottom. I hope you are comfortable." One of the men sneered.

Frank clenched his fist, refusing to reply to him. The Death Eater growled warningly at him and took a step forwards, but was stopped when one of the other's put a hand on the man's shoulder. With what Frank assumed to be a glare, the man stepped back.

"Don't be rude, my friend. We wouldn't want to upset our guest, now would we?" Death Eater number two said way too pleasantly as he approached the bound auror. The masked man leaned forwards, right into Frank's personal space in what must have been meant to be an intimidating manner.

Composing himself, Frank glared fiercely as he met the man's dark eyes.

"We want some information."

From that moment, Frank was more than convinced that he was going to die. Still they would be wrong to assume that he wouldn't go down with a fight. No matter how limited his options were.

Frank snarled at the wizard and leaned his head back against the wall to create a bit more space between their faces. He could see the amusement in the Death Eater's eyes as he watched him.

"There is only one thing I will give to you." He whispered under his breath.

The man's eyes narrowed dangerously. "And what may that be?" He almost purred in amusement as he leaned a bit closer to listen to him.

It was the wrong thing to do, as a cry of pain followed as blood dripped onto the ground.

"Crucio!"

The auror absently figured that the man hadn't appreciated Frank's head-butt aimed at his nose. Even through the pain, Frank couldn't help but smile bitterly. It had been worth it.

Alice, Sirius and James would have been proud of him.

Nobody noticed that deep within Frank's pocket - charged by the 'crucio's energy – a coin heated up to a dangerous heat. A rune activated, triggered said heat. It started to convert heat to energy even more effectively to charge even more and within a minute, the many hidden tiny runes that had carefully scratched into the coin had all been activated. The coin shone brightly and the text on the rim changed.

"Let's turn up the heat."

In another part of the country a rather sloshed-looking man staggered in his step and righted himself.

"Are you alright?" Another guest asked him.

"Mfine…Need to take a piss." The man slurred distractedly, stumbling rather quickly towards the other side of the room – towards the completely wrong door.

Dan shook his head and didn't bother stopping the seemingly confused and hurried form.

"He's completely out it. Is he always that drunk? "Another guest observed conversationally and Dan shrugged.

"I don't think I have ever seen him sober yet." He told the man, whom raised an eyebrow. Another guest hummed and joined their conversation.

"Sounds like a shitty life to me." He said, before actually pushing his drink away from him. "Maybe I shouldn't drink so much either." He mused.

"Hey, don't go and decrease my earnings." Dan joked.

"His life has been rather shitty, I think. He seems perfectly happy most of the time." Julia mused as she brought the guest there food.

"Merrily drunk." Rosmerta cut in.

Dan shrugged. "At least he is happy?"

The guests laughed and continued their conversation about the odd man called Whisky. His name was starting to become well-known around the village. It was during that conversation that one of the guests suddenly frowned and pointed something out, that they had somehow completely forgotten about.

"What is his real name anyway?"

The two staff members and their boss froze and glanced at each other, before realizing that neither of them knew.

"He never objected to being called Whisky." Julia realized.

"He never told us his name." Rosmerta agreed.

"We never asked." Dan finished before he glanced towards the door. "Can't we ask him?"

It was that moment that they all realized that the drunk had been gone for quite a while.

"Oh dear."

Will they manage to find out though...

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