Chapter 6: The Birth of Finite Incantatem

The air was getting pretty stuffy in the small passenger compartment where over a dozen witches and wizards had squeezed in. It was difficult to tell where one person ended and another one began, what with everybody wearing brown tweed robes over their simple black clothing.

"Gh- this is ridiculous, how much longer do we-" a tetchy-looking young witch began to complain just as the door slid open and a young man popped his head in, grinning. She was just about to redirect her ire at him, but one dazzling glint of that charismatic smile and a cheery twinkle of those cobalt eyes and her mouth snapped shut on its own accord.

"Sorry I'm late, you lot, I was- blimey, there's a lot of ye…" the blonde young man said cheerfully as he just barely managed to squeeze inside himself and close the door, "I'm happy to – mind the foot, mate – report that cars five and six have been sealed off. No civilians, just the corporation personnel."

"Good, nice job Westerly." said a plump older wizard approvingly.

"My pleasure, Mr. Chomsey, sir." Westerly replied with a grin, "Begin the briefing at your leisure."

"Very well then – let's not waste time." replied the chubby wizard whose name was apparently Mr. Chomsey, "I apologize for the cramped conditions, but I needed the core unit here together. We will set off for the woods the moment we get off the train – we need to be there before nightfall. This is our last chance to find the blasted creature and I will make sure this unit keeps its impeccable record. As for-"

"Uh, sorry, question!" somebody called out genially and a dozen pairs of disapproving eyes glared over at Westerly, "Sorry, just wondering – Mr. Chomsey, sir – if all the other units failed to find the beastie, how are we supposed to track it down, then?"

"Aaaah, therein lies our brilliance!" Mr. Chomsey said grandly, not minding the interruption apparently as long as it gave him a chance to show off, "We won't go trudging away in the mud and dark like the rest of those fools! We will bring the unicorn to us with this!"

He struggled to free one of his chubby arms from where it was pinned down between him and the next wizard and then reached into his pocket, pulling out a fist-sized, glittering object.

The pretty light it gave off – shifting green to blue to violet to red and then back again, did make a couple of people present go "ooooh" and "aaaah", but only one person's jaw dropped in shock from the knowledge of what it actually was.

"No…don't tell me…" Westerly breathed in awe, his dark blue eyes huge in a mixture of shock and exhilaration, "Oh, that's BRILLIANT!"

"Yes, it is quite, isn't it." Mr. Chomsky nodded proudly.

"No, I'm serious – this is honestly, amazingly, mind-blowingly BRILLIANT!"

"Yes, yes, if I may quite say so-"

"I'll take it, then – if that's all right."

Mr. Chomsky blinked stupidly at the sudden change in conversation.
"Say wha-" he began, several of his chins deflating before he broke off with a gasp as Westerly reached out and snatched the object from his hand, "Oi! Give that-"

"Sorry – can't let you lot catch the unicorn, now can I?" the blonde young man grinned brightly as he reached behind him and opened the door, dropping backward through it, "Have a nice day!"

"THIEF, CATCH HI-" was the last thing Westerly heard before slamming the door behind him and sealing it with his wand.

Just as he straightened up proudly, the door to the next five compartments slammed open and a mass of people in brown and black robes poured out.
"THERE HE IS! GET HIM!"

"Oh…right…cars five and six…" he murmured vaguely as he tucked away his treasure in the inner pocket of his robes before unceremoniously dashing away from the raging crowd, towards the last car of the train.

"Now then, Mimi," Ollivander said, taking a deep breath while he was still recovering from the sheer stupidity of what they were doing, "why did you-"

"Oh, right!" the girl gasped, suddenly remembering, "That's what I was trying to tell you back then! I saw a bunch of wizards and witches – they were talking about coming here and hunting the unicorn! They had tons of stuff and this HUGE- um- thing, I think it was a cage or something, it was SO big and-"

"What- hold on!" the bony man interrupted her, waving his hands, "What are you talking about - 'hunt the unicorn'? They can't- it's against the law, the unicorns must never be harmed. And forget the law, the sheer lack of any morals behind such an act is just-"

"But I heard them, Mr. Ollivander!" Mimi insisted desperately, "They were all dressed the same too, like they were in uniforms or something and-"

"Now, stop it – you're just talking nonsense." Ollivander said sternly as he walked past her and grabbed the handle to the nearest compartment door, "You're saying there's some kind of uniformed organization of wizards who are out to do what no wizard would ever do and furthermore-"

He jerked the door open and fell mute as he encountered a compartment full of wizards and witches, all dressed in black and brown.
"Uh…" he said lamely when all eyes in the compartment shot over in shock and Mimi gasped as she leaned in and glanced inside.

"That's them!"

One of the wizards rose in shock.
"Who are you?" he demanded, "You're not with the corporation!"

Ollivander tried to say something, but no words would come out before the door snapped closed right in front of his nose. Glancing down, he spotted Mimi holding onto the handle with both hands.
"Wrong car!" she squeaked out, but it was in vain.

"Intruders! Security breach!" a holler came from the compartment and the girl yelped and grabbed the stunned wandmaker's bony hand urgently, tugging on it.

"Runrunrunrun!" she screamed and Ollivander finally snapped out of his state of shock with a yelp before they both rushed down the narrow corridor.

The sound of doors snapping open one by one followed them, along with the thundering footsteps and shouts as more and more people in uniforms poured out of the compartments and chased after them.
"Don't let them reach the engine room!" somebody hollered over all the chaos, but Ollivander didn't get to wonder on it as he reached the door leading to the connecting bridge between cars.

He jerked the door open in his stride and they dashed through a split second before the last compartment opened and uniformed chasers poured out. Fortunately, Ollivander managed to pull out his wand and zap the handle with it expertly. When he rattled it afterwards, it stood fast.
"Did you lock that one?"

"Yes, but it won't hold for very long if they-" Ollivander suddenly trailed off and whipped around, just in time to encounter a toothy grin belonging to a blonde young man who was just sealing the door leading to the next car, "Who are you?"

"Sal Westerly, at your service." the young wizard said with a cheeky wink, "And who might you two be, then?"

"Er- I-"

"Don't tell him, Mr. Ollivander!" Mimi said, tugging on the man's bony hand, "He's dressed like those unicorn-hunters!"

"You just told him my name!" the wandmaker snapped down at her, but yelped as a loud blow came from the other side of the door Westerly sealed.

"We'll get you, Westerly, you thieving bastard – just you wait!" somebody shouted from the other side before another blow came, sounding like a miniature explosion.

Ollivander squinted at the young man suspiciously.
"They're chasing you too?"

"Yep – can't say I blame them, though, I did steal their thingy." Westerly replied with a cheeky grin, "But why are they chasing you lot, you're more than just stray passengers if you know about-"

Another blast came, this time from the door Mimi and Ollivander had come through.
"We're surrounded!" Mimi gasped, glancing up at Ollivander helplessly, "What do we do?"

"N- How am I supposed to know, I've never been chased in my life!" he snapped before glancing around for an escape route.

They were on the bridge connecting the cars – outside the safety rails it was all clouds and sky with England far, far below.

"Lucky for you – I'm a professional at being chased." Westerly said with a grin, staring at something to the left of one of the doors.

Mimi followed his look and then laughed hysterically.
"A ladder!" she half-squeaked, half-screamed, "We can climb to the roof!"

"We can also jump right off, can't we?" Ollivander snapped back at them, "That's not a proper way out!"

"You have a better idea, then?" Westerly asked pointedly, cringing when an especially loud blast coming from his door caused it to shake in its hinges.

"Yes, matter of fact – I do!" the wandmaker hollered back angrily, "We can surrender, we didn't steal anything."

"What?" Mimi gasped, "We can't do that! Who knows what they'll do to us!"

"Whatever it is, it can't be worse than falling off a train in a sky tunnel!"

Westerly rolled his eyes and rushed to the ladder, grabbing onto it.
"It's Ollivander, right?" he asked and the bony man nodded hesitantly, "Look, I know this lot, they don't exactly like leaving witnesses behind. At best they'll Obliviate you both, at worst…well, we are talking about people who are off to hunt and harm unicorns."

"Mr. Ollivander, we have to run!" Mimi insisted when the lanky man looked torn, "We have to tell someone what they're doing!"

Westerly grinned down at her.
"You're a smart kid," he said, "what's your name?"

"M-Mimi." Mimi said, feeling a little self-conscious suddenly, "Uh…and this is Patchy."

Explosions came from both doors, rendering them completely loose.
"COME ON!" Westerly roared with a grin before climbing up and Mimi didn't wait one second to follow.

"Mr. Ollivander, let's go!"

Ollivander watched helplessly as they both climbed up and disappeared to the roof. Between the near-suicidal escape route and the rattling of the decimated door behind him, his basic impulse was to freeze up, the way he always would in an emergency.

Shutting his watery-blue eyes, the wandmaker took a deep breath to brace himself.
"Merlin, what am I doing…"

Mimi reached the roof of the car and climbed over the edge with surprising ease. She was expecting a gush of wind to push her back, like in the movies, but was met only with a gentle breeze. Looking above, she saw the clouds zipping past, creating some sort of tunnel-shape around the train as it traveled across the sky on invisible rails.

"Sky tunnel…" she whispered, a grin spilling over her face just a split second before somebody grabbed her by the collar from behind and pulled her along.

"Daydream when we're safe, if you don't mind, my dear." a familiar voice said just a split second before Mimi heard a crash behind her and the sound of shouting voices as people poured out into the bridge from the car.
"Mr. Ollivander!" she gasped, looking up, before she practically tackled him, "I knew you'd come along!"

"Aaah!" the wandmaker screamed when he barely kept his balance because of the child clinging on his arm, "Don't do that! Come on, then – follow that idiot!"

"Oi!" Westerly shouted over disapprovingly from a little ways ahead, "I heard that!"

"You were supposed to!" Ollivander shouted back angrily, "And where are we going, anyway?"

"No clue!" Westerly shouted back, looking delighted at the fact, "We should keep away from the last two cars, though – they're crawling with the corporation."

"Corporation?" the wandmaker repeated in disbelief, "What are you on about?"

"I think he means those guys." Mimi said in a trembling voice and Ollivander's head snapped back just in time for him to see their uniformed chasers climbing to the roof after them.

"Yes, the Corporation," Westerly spoke on, oblivious as he gingerly walked along the roof, minding not to lose balance on the wobbly surface, "That's what they call themselves at any rate. I've been tagging them for years with some mates and managed to infiltrate just last- oi!"

He gasped out the last bit as Mimi and Ollivander rushed past him from behind which made him glance back and see the pursuit.
"Oh, bugger!" he shouted before he set off running after them.

"We need to reach at least ONE car with regular passengers!" Westerly hollered as he ran a step behind Ollivander and Mimi, "They won't be so keen to apprehend us in front of witnesses!"

"We need to tell the authorities!" Ollivander snapped back, but Westerly shook his head.

"They won't believe us without proof." he panted, "Why do you think I'm going around getting chummy with them – I'm looking for evidence, the kind that the Corporation won't be able to explain away that easily."

"You mean like stuff used to hunt unicorns?" Mimi piped up breathlessly, "The kind they brought with them?"

Both young men glanced down at her mutely before looking up at each other.
"THE LUGGAGE CAR!" they exclaimed in unison and Westerly grinned down at Mimi excitedly.

"Oh, I like you, Miss Mimi!"

"You're pretty awesome too, Mr. Westerly!" the girl giggled back just before somebody let out an angry holler behind them.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

"Oh no they're not!" Westerly gasped out in shock, but the blast reached him just then.

Mimi screamed and put Patchy up as a shield and the spell bounced off them with an explosion of white sparkles. A second later, Westerly looked down and laughed hysterically.
"I'm still running!" he shouted.

"They're still running!" one of their chasers cried out, "They've got some sort of deflection method!"

"How in blazes did you do that?" Ollivander gasped out in disbelief.

"Patchy saves me sometimes." Mimi replied, "That's all I know."

"I'll need to take a look at that doll later." Westerly said with an impressed whistle before he glanced up, "Ah, here we are – car four, I believe. All going down, the ladder's on the left side!"

"Is it?" Mimi asked uncertainly, causing Westerly to frown a bit.

"I think so…" he said vaguely before glancing at Ollivander, "Is it?"

"I DON'T KNOW, YOU CRAZY- er- LUNATICS!"

"That's us – stark, raving mad!" Westerly laughed excitedly, "Now – JUMP!"

Mimi held her breath, shut her eyes and lunged for the spot over the edge of the car where she thought the ladder was, all just because this crazy person told her so with his toothy grin.

She felt herself flying through the air, hand outstretched but her fingers closed around nothing where the metal bar should've been.

"I missed…"

"Oh no you don't!" somebody hollered and Mimi felt an arm curl around her middle before yanking her back and against something soft. Opening her eyes she saw Sal's grinning face – he looked exhilarated.

"Blimey, I meant a little jump, you almost missed the whole bridge, Miss Mimi." he laughed, making the girl flush red.

"You didn't say a 'little' jump, you just said 'jump'." she grumbled back, still hanging from his arm, her toe-tips just barely brushing the metal surface of the bridge, "And where's Mr. Olli-"

"MEEERLIIINNN!" a scream broke out from above and Sal whipped around just in time to catch a screaming, flying wandmaker in the crook of his other arm before all three of them went flying to the bridge floor backwards.

"Ha-HA, and here's the other one!" the blonde young man screamed with laughter before grabbing Ollivander by the collar to pull his head up, "I meant a little jump!"

"YOU DIDN'T SAY A 'LITTLE' JUMP!" Ollivander hollered back furiously, "We could've-"

"They've gone over the edge!" somebody hollered from above and Mimi struggled to her feet with a gasp.

"RunrunrunRUN!" she screamed, pulling on Ollivander's hand.

Ollivander and Sal scrambled up to their feet before all three of them barged into the next car, just when the door to the previous one opened and a crowd of uniformed pursuers joined their comrades who were dropping from the roof.
"Straight forward, we have to reach the luggage car!" Sal shouted as they rushed down the narrow corridor.

"Hang on, we're in the passenger car now!" Ollivander gasped in realization, "I've got an idea!"

He stopped and drew his wand, pointing it at the ceiling.
"AVIS AUGREY!" he shouted and a flash of sparks exploded from his wand a split second before the car was filled with ear-piercing, mournful wails and wing-flaps. Mimi's jaw fell in shock when she looked up for the source to see a dozen small, black birds flying all around. They had naked, wrinkled necks and heads, like vultures and seemed to be frantically trying to hide from sight.

"You created birds?" Sal snapped at the wandmaker as the door at the far end of the corridor opened and the Corporation people began pouring through, "What good is that going to-"

He was cut off by the sound of all the passenger compartments' doors slamming open and the screams and chatter of people rushing out to see what was making the eerie noises. The corridor was chock-full in a second, allowing nothing and no one to pass through.

Sal shut his mouth and nodded, looking impressed.
"Creating birds." he repeated slowly, a grin spreading over his face before he slapped Ollivander's shoulder, "HA! Nice trick!"

The bony man yelped, barely catching his round glasses as they flew forward.
"Th-thank you." he managed a timorous grin, "I- I might get rid of the wails in the future, though."

"And make them less ugly." Mimi piped in cheerfully.

"THAT IS IT!" somebody hollered from way across the crowded corridor, sounding royally pissed off, "I'VE HAD IT! Send the Lethifold after them!"

Sal and Ollivander paled at the very same time, their eyes shooting towards the end of the car and then back to exchange horrified looks of disbelief.
"Did they say…" Sal began, but Ollivander shook his head vehemently.

"Don't be daft, they can't have tame Lethifolds!" he snapped, "Who has tame Lethi- oh, my Merlin…"

Sal followed his look and went stark white, dark-blue eyes widening in horror.
"And Morgana's knickers…"

He trailed off in horrified shock as something black puffed itself up above the screaming passengers' heads. Not just one – two, three of flowing, silky-looking black sheets went swirling into the air, hissing hungrily.

Mimi backed away a couple of steps in terror as those familiar creatures of nightmare flew into view. She knew what they were, oh she knew…
"Sheet Monsters…" she uttered as she watched them grow.

Ollivander's birds, now in panic, flew into them and would get enveloped and then consumed instantly while the creatures swirled forward.
"Oh, I'm sorry…" Ollivander gasped when it saw it happening, "I'm so sorry…"

"We're out of here." Sal commanded in an uncharacteristically grave voice.

"What?" Ollivander snapped angrily, "What about all these pe-"

He cut himself off when he met the blonde man's dark blue eyes. They were now fierce and imposing and the young man himself looked at least a decade older.
"Those things are chasing us." he said, "We run, they follow. That's the only thing we can do – now MOVE!"

He shouldered his way past the wandmaker and through the door leading to the next car. With a dry gulp, Ollivander nodded and glanced over his shoulder one last time to see the Lethifold halfway through the car, still feasting on his birds as they went along.

"T-those Augries were tucked away s-safe in their nests somewhere just a minute ago." the wandmaker stammered, feeling a lump rise in his throat, "Suddenly they got yanked here…terrified, in the broad open, shrieking in panic and looking for a place to hide where there wasn't any…"

Mimi paused, looking up at the young wizard who was in the brink of tears. She glanced at the panicked birds and her chest felt tight. They'd all get eaten by the time the Sheet Monsters reached this end of the car.

Suddenly, her eyes flew wide and she grabbed Ollivander's bony hand with both her own, tugging on it.
"Send them back!" she gasped, making the young man glance down at her confusedly.

"What-"

"Can you send them back, is there a way, Mr. Ollivander?" the girl elaborated impatiently, "Like- like an anti-spell or something! There's got to be, I mean – what do wizards do when a spell goes wrong?"

"I don't…I never thought about that…" he said slowly, "There should be a reversing spell, why don't I know one…?"

"Make it up!" Mimi ordered, "You make wands, those are more complicated then spells, right? Right?"

After a pause, Ollivander suddenly straightened up, eyes flashing determinedly and pointed his wand at the shrieking Augrey.

"FINITE," he roared while a white light suddenly started spreading from the tip of his wand, "INCANTATEM!"

~~~TBC…

A/N: Uh...hello? Anybody out there? I don't mean to whine but a review or two would be nice now and again - I'm working blind here, no idea if anybody even likes this whole mess of a story. O.O