Chapter 8 : An explosive New Year

The twins' departure from Hogwarts on Christmas Day had left a huge void, in Akira's heart but especially in her schedule. Indeed, all the time she spent watching over them could now be put to good use for her studies or her leisure.

Therefore, she took advantage of the week of holidays she had before New Year to catch up in her Arithmancy course which was extremely time-consuming in addition to overheating her brain that she could then cool down on the empty Quidditch pitch under snowflakes which kept falling.

But these occupations didn't erase the twins from her mind. She was missing their adventures and mischief even though Arcturus was a master at it himself, the latest one he did was the outbreak of a fire in the common room when he tried to reignite the fire in the fireplace. Instead, he set fire to an armchair and was punished by Professor McGonagall for almost making the whole tower going up in smoke.

Akira therefore greeted New Year with gloom. The good mood of the other students on that special day even got on her nerves as she failed to share their joy. But the morning post took care of changing that. Accustomed to never receiving anything from anyone – even from her father to whom she was continuously sending a letter to let him know that she was fine – she was very surprised to see an owl landing in front of her during breakfast, knocking over the bowl of cereal that Arcturus was trying to eat in the process.

"For once, I'm not the one who spilled it." He said cheerfully before looking at the package that the owl had brought to Akira. "What's that ?"

"I don't know." She answered frankly as she was hesitating to take the package or the letter that accompanied it, thinking that they were addressed to someone else.

She ended up doing so as the owl was looking at her with insistence. She first took the letter but didn't unfold it as what the package contained interested her much more. She grabbed it and tore off a small piece of the wrapping before snapping it back into place to hide the content.

"So, what is it ? Don't make the suspense last." Arcturus insisted before reaching out a hand to grab the package but Akira pulled it towards her to prevent it.

"Not here." She whispered to him before getting up while holding the package and the letter in her hands.

She quickly left the Great Hall without even bothering to finish her breakfast while Arcturus followed her, leaving behind him the mess of his overturned bowl while the owl was pecking cereal lying on the table.

Akira reached the Entrance Hall which was completely empty but she decided to not unpack her package in the open. Instead, she climbed upstairs and went into the first classroom that she found on her way to finally reveal to Arcturus what she received.

"I hope the wait is worth it." The latter said impatiently while closing the door behind him.

He wouldn't be disappointed as Akira was ripping open the packaging to reveal its content.

"It's…" He added with concern.

"Fireworks." Akira finished his sentence as she was holding five rockets.

"They don't look like the ones we light for New Year." Arcturus commented while peering at them in bewilderment.

"You mean the Dr Filibuster's ones that produced no heat ? The ones I just received are completely different. Their explosion is powerful and their flames can burn you very badly. It's dangerous material which can tear off several fingers if it's not handled correctly."

"Do what ?" Arcturus asked in a small voice.

"Relax. It never happens. Or very rarely." Akira added to reassure him even if it didn't work.

Instead of dwelling on the mutilations and other severe burns that such pyrotechnic devices could cause, she unfolded the letter to finally find out who got the good idea to send such things to her at her school. She was only half surprised to discover that it was the twins who were explaining the reason for such a gift.

"Hi witch colleague,

Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay until New Year because we weren't blending in your magical world but that won't stop us from celebrating it with you through the fireworks of our village, even if we won't light them at the same time due to jet lag.

See you next year"

Even though the letter seemed finished, what followed the last word was a scribble as another handwriting continued the message just below.

"Sorry for the mess but Matsuo wouldn't give me his pen to let me write a message too. Anyway, I hope they allow fireworks at your school. Otherwise, we would have intercepted the owl you sent to your dad for nothing. Don't worry, we gave him your letter. I'll have to stop there because Matsuo keeps telling me that my text is too long compared to his own. We meet in the summer to take our Chunin and Jonin exams in your case. I'd rather be in my position than yours, Jonin exams are extremely hard from what I heard.

Happy New Year which will start in an explosive way thanks to us."

"So, what does it say ?" Arcturus asked when he saw that she finished reading it.

"Nothing important." Akira replied hastily before hiding the letter in her pocket. "We should rather focus on what we're going to do with these fireworks."

"Why not light them ? That's their purpose."

"I don't think so. They're more dangerous than they look and I don't want to set the school on fire." Akira said while wondering where she could safely hide them.

"I already put things on fire so one more thing won't do a lot of difference. I can take responsibility for lighting them if it can reassure you." Arcturus joked as he was referring to the armchair that he had set up in flames not long ago.

"No !" Akira exclaimed while putting the fireworks out of his reach. "McGonagall will kick you out of school if she sees you playing with explosives after what you did."

"You may be right. So, what do we do with them ?" Arcturus asked with concern.

"It's my business since I'm the one who received them and your past mistakes could get you in more trouble than me. I'll store them somewhere where no one can find them and I already have a place in mind." She said as she was thinking about the Room of Requirement.

"Good luck on your mission but you won't need it since the school is almost empty at the moment. You'll really have to have a lot of bad luck to run into someone."

"That's for sure." Akira agreed before leaving the room after checking that the hallway was deserted.

She then took the direction of the seventh floor to reach the Room of Requirement but to do so, she had to pass through a particularly icy place. Indeed, sixth-year Gryffindor students had managed to break a window there by accidentally letting go the Bludger they had taken without permission to destroy the classroom of Arithmancy. They had received a punishment for their crazy idea but their initiative had been applauded by all the students who had this lesson since they would have been deprived of it until the room was put back in place.

This freezing cold would have been inconsequential if someone hadn't had the bad idea to pour water on the ground, transforming this seemingly innocuous hallway into a real ice rink. But Akira only discovered the ice when her foot slipped on it, causing her to fall full length on the ground and let loose the rocket fireworks which slid away from her. And as if hurting herself wasn't enough, the culprit showed up just at this moment.

"Finally !" Peeves exulted while clapping his hands enthusiastically. "I've been waiting all morning for someone to fall but it was totally worth it."

He paused when he spotted the fireworks on the ground. Akira was struggling to get up when she saw an ominous glint in his eyes. Predicting what was to follow, she threw herself on the rockets but Peeves who was closer picked them up before her as she slid again on the ice and fell.

"What do we have there." He said mischievously while examining his finding more closely. "Oh, it's first choice fireworks that promise to make a big boom !"

"Give them back to me right away." Akira threatened him while getting back on her two feet.

"Hmm, no." The latter replied after pretending to consider her offer. "They're the opportunity I was awaiting to finally have fun on New Year because watching people fall on ice is great but create chaos in the whole school is even better."

He then flew through the air with his dishonestly acquired loot while Akira didn't dare to run after him to not fall for the third time on the layer of ice that was under her feet. Being unable to stop him, she swore between her teeth but that wasn't going to arrange the situation. Instead, she had to act quickly to intervene before he light up the fireworks and she needed help to do so. She found it in the only person in the school who knew that she had such dangerous objects in her possession.

"Peeves is really a nightmare. Who knows what he can be up to with such fireworks." Arcturus commented as they were roaming in the hallways looking for the poltergeist.

"Can we concentrate on finding him instead of thinking about what he might or might not do ?" Akira said sharply as she was feeling culprit for giving him the possibility to threat the lives of the people who were still in the school for the holidays.

They searched each floor thoroughly but found no trace of the poltergeist. The only thing that eventually gave up his location was the noise produced by one of the rockets that he ignited. The explosion was such that its sound echoed in their hallway, making them look at each other worriedly before running to reach the place where it came from. But they weren't the only ones as few students and Filch were already on the scene of the disaster.

"He's not here anymore. Let's keep looking for him before he does it again." Akira whispered to Arcturus once the shock of discovering the Trophy Room completely ravaged by the explosion passed.

They left the place which was covered with broken glass as the display cases were smashed and rewards were damaged by the rocket that flew everywhere before producing a strong explosion.

However, Peeves was more difficult to find than expected. In fact, he had time to cause two other explosions before they found him. The first one was in the kitchens. Akira and Arcturus hadn't been there after it produced but they had heard students talking about it. Obviously, the house-elves who were working there had been scared to death as they might have been killed by the rocket and the damage caused in the room was likely to impact the evening Feast. The second explosion happened in the library. This time, it was students and Madam Pince whom had been terrorized, not to mention the books that had caught fire because of the sparks emitted by the firework.

Peeves was starting to cause a lot of trouble and his pranks were getting more and more out of control to the point that he was going to end up hurting someone. Akira and Arcturus redoubled their efforts to prevent it and they eventually found him. He was trying to light one of the last two fireworks he had in his possession with a match behind the door of the Hospital Wing. He eventually succeeded in lighting its wick and with an evil smile, he tried to open the door with the intention of throwing the rocket inside. But just as he was about to get rid of it, Akira and Arcturus came running to his level. Akira, who had been the fastest, took the firework out of the poltergeist hands before realizing that she didn't really know what to do with it as it was about to explode.

"Throw it out the window !" Arcturus advised her while opening the one closest to him.

Without delay, she threw it outside before Arcturus closed the window behind. That was a close one as they saw the firework fly away to explode a little further, producing a shower of red sparks in the sky.

"I still have one chance left." Peeves said before trying to light the last firework in his possession.

"Unless the Bloody Baron catches you. Talking about him, he's right at the end of this hallway." Akira lied to him as she knew that the Slytherin ghost was the only one that Peeves listened to since he scared him.

This ploy was enough to divert the poltergeist attention as he turned his head in the direction that Akira was looking at, giving the latter time to grab the firework that he hadn't lit yet.

With the dangerous weapon in her hands, Akira decided to clear off before anyone – especially Filch or a Professor - reached this part of the castle. She sped off with Arcturus on her heels as Peeves began to chase after them to get back his most prized possession. However, he didn't succeed as Akira accelerated to the point of also losing Arcturus who was out of breath. She went to take refuge in the dungeons which were sufficiently labyrinthine so that Peeves wouldn't find her anytime soon. She then waited as long as possible in this hiding place, at least until Arcturus had the idea of coming there to find her.

"Over here." She whispered to him as she was in the small room that was used as storage for Potions.

He joined her without waiting and she gently closed the door behind him while not making the slightest noise.

"Peeves ran into Filch while looking for you." Arcturus revealed to her to justify why the latter didn't find her. "He's in big trouble right now but at the same time, it's not as if Filch worried him."

"Right now, I don't care about Peeves' fate. What worries me the most is what to do with this rocket so that Peeves never found it." Akira stated as she was still holding the item in her hands.

"There's only one way to make a firework disappear."

"Which is ?" Akira asked eagerly.

"Blow it up of course." Arcturus answered simply.

"But it's dangerous and punishable after what Peeves did with the others." Akira replied with despair as she thought he would come up with a great idea.

"But at least, that rocket would disappear from the school for good. And it's better if we blow it up safely outside than if Peeves manages to throw it into the Hospital Wing."

"You've got a point." Akira admitted. "And it's just a single rocket. We no longer have the whole stock to light."

"It could be settled in five minutes !" Arcturus added enthusiastically as he finally had the opportunity to light one.

But it still had to be done at the right time while it was daylight outside and the presence of two students with a firework in the middle of the white snow wouldn't go unnoticed. It was better to wait until night fell but not too long either because having this firework in their possession could only get them into big trouble. They therefore agreed to leave the castle once the students, teachers and other supervisors were in the Great Hall for the Feast.

Once the way was clear, they snuck through the snow in the dark, leaving footprints which Arcturus briefly erased behind them as Akira was carrying the rocket. Once they had reached a reasonable distance from the building, they dug a hole until they reached the frozen ground which they had trouble to dig in order to put the wooden rod of the rocket into it to get it stable.

"I should have taken gloves with." Arcturus complained as they finally managed to hold the rocket securely in position towards the sky.

"We'll soon be able to return to the warmth and enjoy the Feast. Now, step back a bit so I can light it on."

"You'll be careful, won't you ?" Arcturus asked her with concern.

"Of course. I don't want to end up with…" She began but stopped mid-sentence to not scare him again with ripped fingers. "Anyway, I'll be careful so you don't have to worry about anything."

Arcturus walked away but with reluctance. Now that she was alone, it was time to get rid of this cumbersome firework and also enjoy it because it was still New Year's Eve.

"Incendio !" She said while pointing her wand at the wick.

A spark came out which lit it immediately. Now that everything was in place, Akira ran to join Arcturus who had reached the entrance door of the castle. She turned around just in time to see the rocket take off and explode into the sky, producing a gigantic ball whose brilliant red sparks stood out against the inky black sky. The show was beautiful but also extremely loud as it produced a bang that resonated throughout the grounds.

This forced Akira and Arcturus to rush inside the castle and hide near the marble staircase while a few students came out of the Great Hall to see what it was, just like Filch who was probably hoping to catch Peeves in the act. In the midst of this confusion, they both slipped inside the Great Hall and sat down to take part to the Feast as if nothing happened.

Despite the fright the house-elves had when Peeves detonated a firework in their kitchen, partially ravaging it in the process, they managed to make a decent meal from the food that hadn't been spilled or burned. On the other hand, the heatless fireworks from Dr Filibuster that they were allowed to light after the midnight countdown turned out to be very dull after the show offered by the twins' rockets.


Happy New Year everyone !

I hope that unlike Peeves, you've been careful with the fireworks you lit. I know I said that I would leave Akira alone in this chapter but I came up with the idea of the fireworks and Peeves hadn't made an appearance in my story for a long time so I couldn't resist.

A new year is beginning and with it, new challenges. Let's see if Akira will be able to deal with them to get back as promised to Konoha to see the twins for summer. Starting now, I'll publish one chapter per month so see you at the end of this one.