B"SD
Neither Assassin's Creed, nor Harry Potter belong to me
Chapter Seven
"Ah, Ezio my boy…" Lorenzo nodded as the Auditore bowed respectfully.
"The Pazzi are dead," he said quietly, "every last one of them."
"Of course," Lorenzo sighed and glanced away wistfully, "I never believed I could desire the death of others so badly."
"Nor I…" Ezio shook his head, gaze drooping slightly.
"What will you do now, figlolio?" Lorenzo asked friendily, clapping a hand on the young man's shoulder in a fatherly gesture.
"There are more I must hunt, signore," Ezio glared at the older man, determined, "they are already sinking their claws into the heart of Venezia."
"No…" Lorenzo sighed sadly, "La bella Venezia! You must destroy them, Auditore."
Ezio nodded and turned to go, but Lorenzo stopped him.
"Wait, I have something for you before you go…" The banker motioned and a servant approached with a red cape, "This cape signifies you as a friend of the Medici." Lorenzo explained.
"While you wear it guards will be…more tolerant of your actions."
Ezio grinned and grasped the scarlet silk gently.
"Be wary, though," Lorenzo warned, "It will not grant you immunity from the law."
Ezio nodded and slid the cape over his shoulder. He bowed respectfully to the Medici banker and turned away, exiting the grand palazzo.
"There you are!" Hermione rolled her eyes as she spotted the assassin, "I didn't find Medici in there anywhere! Are you sure you have the right building?"
Ezio smirked and tapped his chin, "You know what? Come to think of it…I may have had you searching the wrong building. Oh well!" He laughed and brushed past the confused witch, "Too late to go back now!"
"Ah Ezio!" Leonardo greeted the assassin warmly, "we're all ready to go!"
Ezio scanned the stuffed wagon waiting patiently at the gates of Firenze cautiously. Nervously, his eyes ran over the group of nine.
"Ehm…Leonardo?" Ezio coughed politely.
"What?" The artist replied distractedly.
"How…how are we all fitting in that wagon?"
There was an odd silence as the artist frowned in thought. He paced over to the back of the wagon and peered inside. Ezio tagged along, taking a good look at the cramped interior of the vehicle.
"What's this?" He fingered the papery material of the machine oddly, "it looks like a giant bat…"
"Oh, just a pazzo idea I had," Leonardo chuckled, "I could not leave it behind."
"Yeah, but your idea is taking up a LOT of wagon room." Harry pointed out tersely.
"Baggianatte," Leonardo scoffed, "You'll fit."
"Well…" Desmond winced, "let's get this show on the road…" He hesitantly climbed into the wagon and squished himself into the corner. His eyes darted left and right and then he smiled nervously at the six glaring at him.
"It's not that bad!" He called supportively, "we could fit another five people in here!"
"That's great!" Lucy called, "There's seven of us!"
"Who's sitting in front?" Shaun wondered.
"Well, me of course," Leonardo said, "I've got the directions."
"And me," Ezio nodded.
"Why you?" Ron grumbled.
"Because I am driving." The assassin scoffed, "So I suggest you get used to it."
"Well the sooner we get in," Hermione muttered, "the sooner we get home." Then she too crawled into the back between Desmond and a large box of paintings. Harry went in after her, followed by Shaun, then Rebecca, then Ron. Needless to say, it was a bit squishy.
"Are we all ready?" Ezio called shakily from the driver's seat, trying to hold back his laughter at the chorus of groans and thuds that followed his question.
"As ready as we'll ever be, jackass!" Shaun replied curtly.
"Oh this is so exciting!" Leonardo squealed as Ezio flicked the reigns. The horses set off at a brisk trot, sending the back of the wagon (and all its contents) bouncing up and down.
Once they were out of the city, it took less than five minutes of rocky, jarring road before Ron started grumbling. "I can't see why we didn't just Apparate to Venice and wait there."
"Because a journey of that distance would have splinched all of us," Hermione said irritably. For some reason she had been in a waspish mood ever since she had returned with Ezio from visiting that Medici bloke.
"Splinched?" Desmond asked. Hermione huffed in annoyance.
"Apparating is when a wizard or witch can disappear from one place and reappear at a certain destination which they have concentrated on. It's only effective over short distances and needs a lot of focus. Otherwise part of the person's body could be left behind. If enough of the subject is left behind, it could be disastrous, leaving the wizard stuck in between, with no way to go back or forward. That's called splinching."
"Damn," Desmond said, "And I thought taking the subway was dangerous."
"Quite." The bushy haired girl turned back to the road.
"How long did Leonardo say this was supposed to take, again?" Rebecca asked after a few moments.
"What? The entire journey, or until we reach Forli?" Shaun asked. Rebecca shrugged.
"Forli?"
"He said three days, if all goes well."
"Well, there goes that." Rebecca said, leaning back against the wall in defeat. "Since when has anything gone well so far?"
"Oh, stop it," Lucy snapped. "We're alive, aren't we? We're all together. Never complain; things could always be much worse."
"Well, that's a nice thought," Shaun smirked. "Can always count on Happy-go-Lucky Lucy."
"Don't call me that."
Any further argument was averted however. From behind the cart came the unmistakable rumble of hoof-beats.
"Do you hear that?" Desmond hissed at the group, raising his hand to steady himself in the bouncing wagon.
"Yeah, horses…" Ron nodded. Suddenly an aggravated call rang out from the drivers' seat.
"It's Borgia's men!" Ezio announced, "And I think they want us dead."
With a thud, Leonardo plopped into the back of the wagon, landing on a very unhappy Ron.
"Hey!" Ron cried as the inventor scurried off him.
"Those horses are getting closer…" Rebecca said anxiously.
There was a collective gasp as the wagon's pace hastened dramatically.
"Hang on!" Ezio's voice screamed, "It's going to get a little rough!"
"Augh!" Hermione shrieked as she was sent tumbling into the papery bat.
"MY MACHINE!" Leonardo cried and tackled the bushy-haired girl away from it, the two landing in a box of paintings.
"WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE?" Desmond yelled from under Leonardo's wardrobe.
From the wagon's back, Harry could see the horsemen more clearly- the horses were matching pace with the wagon and were only a few steps from the back. From his spot, he could see a Borgia soldier preparing to jump from his horse to the wagon. On instinct, his wand flicked out-
"STUPEFY!" He shouted and a burst of red light broke out from his wand tip and struck the Italian in the chest, sending him flying backwards. The horseman behind him stared wide eyed at Harry and his jaw dropped.
"Ezio!" Harry called, "They're trying to climb on board!"
"Oh no they're not!" Ezio laughed giddily and suddenly began to swerve the wagon violently. The passengers screamed as they were thrown from one side to the other, collecting an interesting range of bruises and gashes from hitting each other and the machine.
"YOU IDIOT!" Rebecca shrieked at Harry, "YOU MADE IT WORSE!"
"IT'S NOT MY FAULT DESMOND'S ANCESTOR IS A PSYCHO MANIAC!" Harry yelled back defensively (which was difficult as his jaw slammed into the wall).
"WE ARE NOT RELATED!" Desmond choked out.
When the swerving died down, Harry was able to get anther good look at their pursuers.
"Hermione, Ron!" He shouted, "See if you can hit them before they jump onto the wagon- stunning spells only!"
The two nodded and stumbled as close to the wagon's entrance as they dared, pulling out their wands.
"STUPEFY!" Hermione screamed and another soldier flew off his horse.
"What do you think you're doing?" Shaun yelled, wincing as a box slammed into his back.
"Saving your bloody life!" Ron replied over the horses' whinnies.
"Oh!" Leonardo shouted, pointing through a small hole in the roof, "Ezio! Someone's behind you!"
The wagon swerved violently to one side, which threw everyone to the left. Such an amount of weight caused the wooden vehicle to tip on its side.
"AAAAAAAAHHHH!" The scream came from everyone, including Ezio as he slid from the drivers' seat. After a few long, long moments on one side, the balance finally shifted and the wagon slammed back on all fours, the two horses in front whinnying at ear-splitting volume. Ron shot a curse from the back hitting a mercenary in midair- causing him to miss the wagon and land face-first in the recently trampled dirt. From that point on, the three wizards were intent on doing everything they could to prevent Ezio from taking matters into his own hands.
"How many of these blokes does that Borgia fellow have, anyway?" Ron yelled as he blasted another Italian.
"I think that's all of them, actually!" Desmond replied, straining his Eagle Vision in search of more glowing red wisps. However his line of sight was already smothering with an alarming amount of blue.
"Ezio!" Hermione called up to the driver, "I think they've stopped following us!"
There was no reply.
"Ezio?" She repeated, frowning.
"Oh no." she heard Desmond say, his eyes wide and his jaw dropped as he pulled his head back inside the wagon.
"What did you see?" Lucy asked anxiously.
"Is that smoke?" Leonardo sniffed the air cautiously, "there's supposed to be a bridge here…"
"EVERYONE HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!" Ezio screamed.
There was a lurch- and then suddenly the wagon was airborne. The girls screamed, the boys covered their eyes, and the horses whinnied.
Then- with a wham the wagon landed on the other side of the bridge, flames licking its wheels. Shaun glanced out the wagon's back.
"Wait- THE BRIDGE WAS ON FIRE?" He shrieked.
"Yeah, and so is part of the WAGON!" Rebecca yelled, attempting to put it out with one of Leonardo's shirts.
"AGUAMENTI!" Hermione shouted and a jet of water sprang from her wand, dousing the flame. Rebecca stared from her to the shirt blankly.
"Huh," she huffed. She turned to Lucy, panting. "What were you saying about things getting worse?"
Lucy started to giggle uncontrollably, and then suddenly, everyone was laughing, unable to stop. Whether it was from relief or just adrenaline, it didn't matter. The entire wagon rang with peals of laughter for a full five minutes. Finally, the laughter died down, Desmond and Hermione finishing off the spell with hiccups. As the group's energy wound down, Hermione began setting the luggage to rights, facing opposition only in Leonardo, who wouldn't allow her to touch the machine, elbowing her out of the way and lovingly straightening the paper wings himself. She straightened the various crates and paintings before squeezing back into her spot with a huff.
Muttering to himself about "saw it somewhere here", Shaun cracked open one of the crates, and dug out a bottle of wine. "Ah! Here." He popped the cork out with a small knife, and drank deeply from the bottle. He had barely lowered it before it was snatched from him by Desmond, who raised it high as if making a toast. "To things getting worse and to surviving Ezio's driving,"." He took a large gulp, and then passed it left, to Hermione.
She shrugged and took a drink before passing it on. When the bottle had been handed around to everyone in the wagon bed, Leonardo climbed back up to the driver's seat and handed it to Ezio.
"It's nearly empty," He complained in indignation, holding the bottle up to the light.
"That's because we really don't want you intoxicated," Rebecca said, "I, for one do not want to see what you drive like drunk if that's your sober driving." There were murmurs of agreement all around. Ezio scoffed.
"As if a single bottle of wine could make me drunk." He said, keeping his eyes on the road. "You underestimate me, Madonna."
"Don't care," Rebecca said, crossing her arms. Ezio shrugged and finished the bottle. He smacked his lips in satisfaction, then tossed the bottle carelessly behind him.
"Oi! Watch it!" Ron said as the glass bottle nearly hit him in the head. Ezio didn't bother answering.
A/N: And there's more wine!
Italian Translation: Madonna: My Lady
