Apr 27th, 2006, 06:58 PM
NEW FANFIC HOT HOT HOT
Title: Another City, Not My Own (Chapter 14)
Owl the author: here.
Rating: G
Spoilers: PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF. Written between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.
Genre: Action, Humor
Era: Multiple Eras
Main Character(s): H, McG, R
Ship(s): None
Summary: The ultimate air chase on Quidditch brooms begins here!
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Aside from the title, this story bears no resemblance to the fiction/memoir by Dominick Dunne.
Author's Notes:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"ANOTHER CITY, NOT MY OWN"
Chapter Fourteen
"The Parade of the Carnival King"
"Whoa! Hey! Hang on!"
Plunging down the hill from the Chateau Malfoy with Gabrielle on his back, Harry took what turned out to be the worst possible escape route--straight through the Dangling Gardens! He dodged left and right through clusters of palm trees, poplars, red aloes, euphorbias, and fierce-looking prickly-pears. The brightly-lit walking path--deserted, fortunately, at this late hour--zigzagged crazily down the steep hill through the tiered gardens. Harry swiveled around empty park benches, Chinese pavilions, huge fossil stones, and footbridges hanging between ledges as he tried desperately to control the Firebolt.
At the bottom of the hill was the long copse of scrub pines that marked the lower border of the gardens. Harry blundered straight into the pine trees, the prickly branches lashing and snapping his face as he plowed through the thick green foliage.
"Aaaaaaaaaah! Awwww, nuts!!"
They came out of the pine trees over Vieux Latrece, the old section of the city. A shadowy jungle of stone chimneys and red-tiled roofs lay below them, lit by the moon and the stars. Harry spat out a mouthful of pine needles. He was just looking for a flat rooftop where they could land and put on the Invisibility Cloak, when Gabrielle tugged at his sleeve. She pointed up into the night sky. "'Arry! Look!"
Glancing back, Harry saw Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Flint, Derrick, and Bole, all on Firebolts, flying straight towards them down the side of the Hill of the Devil's Eye.
Stupid! he said to himself. Should've sent the other crate of Firebolts out the window before we left, so they couldn't follow us!
With two people on his broom, he knew it would be impossible to outrun Malfoy and his friends. But with the Firebolt's agility, maybe he could still out-maneuver them. "Hang on! I'm going to try to lose them over the town!"
Harry flew low over the rooftops, a series of long, shadowy slants and flat surfaces flashing by underneath his feet. Glancing back, he saw Derrick, Bole, and Vincent Crabbe drop from the sky and close in behind them. Harry dodged right and left through a maze of tall brick chimneys, trying to throw off his pursuers. Gabrielle clung tightly to his waist, her silver hair flying out behind her in the wind.
Rounding one chimney, they suddenly encountered a huge stork, sitting half-asleep in its nest in the center of the roof. As they flew over, Harry's shoes knocked the stork out of its nest. The big bird took to the air, screeching angrily. It flew over their heads, pecking madly at Harry with its long beak. Harry let out a yell. Gabrielle screamed and tried to fight off the bird with one hand. Harry reached back and batted the stork away with his elbow. It flew off across the rooftops, shrieking like a banshee.
The stork had slowed them down enough for Derrick, Bole, and Crabbe to catch up with them. Bole reached out and grabbed the tail of Harry's Firebolt, slowing them even more. Derrick flew in to one side and threw his huge arms around Harry's head. Harry yelled and tried to elbow Derrick in the stomach, but just then he had to dodge around another chimney. Crabbe pulled in along Harry's other side and grabbed Gabrielle's arm. She screamed and tried to fight him off.
To Harry's horror, Crabbe caught Gabrielle around the waist and lifted her straight off the broom! Glancing back, he saw Crabbe land on a flat rooftop, holding tight to Gabrielle as she clawed and kicked at him.
The sudden loss of weight on Harry's Firebolt made him accelerate. Bole lost his grip on the broom tail, but Derrick still had Harry in a tight headlock. Ahead, Harry saw the edge of the roof coming up fast.
All right! You boys want to play rough?!
As they flew over the roof edge, Harry gripped his Firebolt and dove straight down the side of the building! Derrick yelled as they plunged toward the street, the cobblestones in the pavement flying up to meet them like a horizontal brick wall. At the last second, Derrick let go and Harry veered to the right, pulling out of the dive and sailing back up to the rooftops.
His first instinct was to go back and help Gabrielle--but just then Bole slammed into him, broadsiding him in midair. Harry corkscrewed on his broom, trying to regain control. Bole grabbed him around the waist and began pounding Harry's ribs with a fist. The two fliers swerved crazily over the street in an airborne free-for-all. Looking ahead, Harry saw that they were heading straight for the side of a baroque townhouse. On the top floor of the building was a corner apartment with a balcony terrace. A pair of French doors stood open on the balcony, just behind the gilded iron railing. With no time to stop or turn, Harry grabbed the handle of his broom and flew straight through the open French doors, scraping Bole off against the balcony archway.
Harry careened through the top-floor apartment, dodging around a large sofa and rocketing down a long hallway. At the end of the hall, he flew through another open door into a vast bedroom where, to his relief, he saw an open bay window on the opposite side of the room. As he made for the window, he glanced to his left and saw a silver-haired old man in a nightgown, standing pop-eyed next to a large, four-poster bed. An old woman, sitting up in the bed, screamed in terror as she saw a boy on a broomstick streak through her bedroom and out the window.
So much for not being seen by the Muggles! Harry thought, as he darted out over the street once more.
He braked to a halt in midair and turned back. He had to get back to Gabrielle and help her! But just then, Derrick came hurtling down the street on his broom and smashed into Harry like a battering ram. Harry's Firebolt dropped out from underneath him and plunged toward the pavement. In desperation, he flung his hands around Derrick's neck and hung on for dear life.
"Ow! Hey! Leggo!" Derrick clutched at Harry's hands, trying to pull him off. Harry lost his grip and fell, but managed to grab the long handle of Derrick's Firebolt. He swung from it like a gymnast on the parallel bar. Out of control, the Firebolt veered towards the wall of another townhouse. Derrick screamed and lashed out with his foot, trying to kick Harry off the broom. As Derrick slammed into the townhouse wall and bounced off, Harry let go of the broom handle, dropped several feet, and grabbed the cast-iron railing of a balcony window. Derrick reeled away from the wall, his shoulder torn and bleeding.
Harry dangled eight stories above the pavement, wincing in pain. The act of grabbing the balcony rail had stopped his fall, but it had nearly torn his arms from their sockets. Planting his feet against the wall, he pulled himself up onto the concrete edge of the balcony. He tried to open the window, but it was locked. He pounded furiously on the glass, but the apartment inside was dark. There was no one home to let him in.
Two stories below, Derrick hovered on his broom, clutching his injured shoulder. He glared up at Harry. "You're gonna pay for that, Potter!"
It was a dangerous chance, but Harry had to take it. If Derrick caught him against the window, he was dead! As quickly as he could, Harry turned himself around on the balcony ledge until he was facing the street. Derrick rose up alongside the wall, a murderous expression on his face. Harry gripped the cast-iron railing with both hands and squared his heels on the ledge. He waited until Derrick was just a few feet below him--and then he jumped!
Derrick screamed as Harry landed side-saddle on the broom handle in front of him. Together, they plunged toward the street! Harry threw his left arm around Derrick's neck and grabbed the handle of the Firebolt with his right hand, bringing them to a screeching halt in midair just above the sidewalk.
Harry and Derrick looked down in shock. They were close enough to count the cobblestones in the pavement. They looked at each other, Harry's arm still locked around Derrick's neck. Then Harry looked up.
At the top of the wall was a long metal gutter trough, hanging out over the edge of the roof. Harry yanked up hard on the broom handle and the Firebolt shot back up the wall. Bricks and lighted windows flew past them as Harry turned the broom so that Derrick's head was directly underneath the trough. Derrick looked up and yelled in horror. At the last possible second, Harry let go and Derrick's head slammed into the underside of the gutter. Harry was catapulted off the broom and up several feet past the edge of the roof. As he started to fall, he grabbed for the gutter, his forearms and elbows slamming down painfully on top of the metal trough.
Harry clung desperately to the gutter, his feet and legs dangling next to the townhouse wall. With an effort, he brought one foot up and threw it over the trough. A horrible metallic groan reached his ears, and the gutter gave a sudden lurch. It was collapsing under his weight! He looked down and saw the long black nails that held the gutter to the edge of the wall slowly start to pull out, one by one, as the gutter separated itself from the roof.
There was a thick stovepipe chimney sticking up out of the roof directly in front of him. Harry lunged for it and wrapped his hands around it. As he scrambled up onto the roof, the gutter trough broke away and dropped towards the street.
Below, Derrick hovered on his broom next to a third-story window, holding the top of his bleeding head. Hearing a clanging noise, he looked up and saw the gutter trough falling straight towards him! It bounced off his head with a loud BONK! Derrick toppled off his broom, fell two stories, and landed with a crash on top of a parked car. The impact of his fall burst out the windows of the car in an explosion of shattering glass.
On the rooftop, Harry clung to the pipe chimney, breathing hard. A strange warbled screeching reached his ears. It took him a moment to identify the sound. It was a car alarm! Glancing over the edge of the roof, he saw Derrick lying unconscious on top of a parked car ten stories below. The car was surrounded on all sides by a sparkling halo of broken glass. The smashing of its windows had triggered the car's alarm, which was now echoing shrilly through the narrow streets. Lights were coming on in nearby windows as the apartment residents peered out to see what had happened.
Boy, we're really shaking up the Old Town tonight! Harry thought. He pulled out the Traveler's Map and waved his wand over it. "O Traveler's Map, hear my incantation. Lead me now to my destination!"
The map showed that Gabrielle was on the roof of a building several blocks away. But how was he going to get back to her?
Just then, Harry spotted his Firebolt, lying across the street and about fifty yards back, on the awning of a closed bakery shop. It had obviously landed there a few minutes ago, when Derrick had pulled him off the broom in midair. Harry put the Traveler's Map back in his pocket and stood up. He made his way along the edge of the slanted roof, stepping carefully over the rounded tops of the red slate tiles.
As he reached the corner of the roof, Bole suddenly reappeared just down the street on his Firebolt. A minute ago, he had regained consciousness on the corner apartment terrace where Harry had left him, and had followed the sound of the screeching car alarm. Now, he spotted Harry standing on the rooftop in front of him, and a boiling expression crossed his face. He gripped his broom and shot towards Harry like a javelin.
Harry pointed his wand across the street and shouted "Accio Firebolt!" His Firebolt sprang off the bakery awning and hurtled straight at him. Bole streaked at Harry, as if trying to impale him on the end of his broom. Harry had no choice. He stuck his wand in his pocket and leaped off the edge of the roof!
The great thing about the Summoning Charm, Harry had discovered, was that once you got really good at it, the object that you summoned came directly to you, even if you happened to be moving at the time. When it was halfway across the street, Harry's Firebolt suddenly banked downward and thudded into his open palm. Harry swung the broom underneath him as he dropped, dipping low across the pavement and rocketing up to the rooftops once more.
When I get home, he vowed, I swear I'm going to kiss Hermione Granger until she can't see straight!
Bole turned in the air and came back after him again. As Harry darted over the rooftops, Bole swerved in beside him and threw his left arm around the side of Harry's head, trying to get a hold on him. With a snarl, Harry reached back and jammed two forefingers into Bole's eyes.
Bole screamed and let go of Harry, covering his eyes with one hand. Just ahead, Harry saw a huge brick chimney coming up on their right. He drove his heel into the handle of Bole's broom, knocking him into the path of the chimney. Unable to see where he was going, Bole flew straight into the side of the chimney with a sickening crunch! A few bricks fell out of the back of the chimney as Harry flew past it.
* * *
On a nearby rooftop, Gabrielle watched in fear as Draco Malfoy, Marcus Flint, and Gregory Goyle dropped in for a landing on their brooms. She wanted to run but couldn't move. Vincent Crabbe was holding her arm behind her back in a painful hammerlock. Crabbe's other arm was wrapped around her throat, lifting up under her chin so that she was forced to stand on tiptoe, her feet just barely touching the flat roof underneath her. It wasn't enough to choke her, but it did keep her from struggling or crying out for help.
Gabrielle's heart knocked hard in her chest as Malfoy, Goyle, and Flint advanced on her. Malfoy motioned for Crabbe to drop his arm from Gabrielle's chin. Crabbe put his beefy arm down, but kept Gabrielle's arm twisted behind her back.
"Where is he?!" Malfoy demanded angrily, meaning Harry Potter.
Gabrielle glared at him. When she didn't answer immediately, Crabbe wrenched her arm behind her. Hot needles of pain exploded up her elbow to her shoulder. Gabrielle gave a small cry, and a tear dropped out of the corner of her eye.
"I don't know!" she told Malfoy.
"Potter flew off that way," said Crabbe, nodding to his right across the rooftop. "Derrick and Bole were chasing him."
Malfoy looked around the night sky and smiled. "He'll be back. He never leaves a friend behind."
"Draco, who is this kid?" Marcus Flint asked, gesturing to Gabrielle.
"I don't know," said Draco. He looked at her. "Who are you? Don't tell me you're Potter's new girlfriend! He hasn't thrown over that Ginny Weasley brat for a bit of younger flesh, has he?"
Gabrielle stared at him. Then something her sister Fleur had once told her rang in her mind: "If you ever get into a tight spot, don't panic. Just be calm, and use your veela power to try to talk your way out of it. You can do it, Gabrielle. I know you can."
Gabrielle took a deep breath and concentrated her veela magic within her. It was as natural to her as blinking her eyes.
"I am no one," she said, soothingly. "I am just a little girl. I don't even know 'Arry Potter."
Behind her, Crabbe twitched a bit. "Oy, Draco. She doesn't even know Harry Potter."
Draco looked at him, confused. Gabrielle focused her veela charm even more. It radiated from her like a soft cool invisible glow. "I am not going to hurt any of you. I mean you no harm. You should let me go."
Standing next to Malfoy, Goyle smiled slightly. "Hey, we should just let her go. She's not going to hurt any of us."
"I am not even ze little girl you are looking for," Gabrielle said hypnotically.
"She is not even ze little girl we are looking for," Crabbe and Goyle repeated mechanically.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU GUYS?!!" Draco Malfoy yelled, throwing up his hands. His shout seemed to snap Crabbe and Goyle out of the veela spell. They looked around, bewildered, as if they couldn't remember what had happened in the last two minutes.
Gabrielle winced. Well, it had almost worked.
Draco stepped towards her with an irate look on his face. "You're doing this, aren't you?! You've got some kind of hypno-power!" He stopped and stared at her sharply. "I know you from somewhere! Where have I seen you before?"
"GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!!"
Malfoy, Goyle, and Flint whirled around, startled, as Harry Potter suddenly dive-bombed them from above. They leaped aside, screaming, as Harry dropped through the center of the crowd of boys. As Malfoy and the others crashed down horizontally on the rooftop, Crabbe loosened his grip slightly on Gabrielle's arm. Gabrielle spun around and slammed her knee into Vincent Crabbe's groin!
Crabbe said "Wurg," and let go of Gabrielle. He fell to the rooftop with his hands between his legs. Harry circled back and came to a halt in front of Gabrielle. She jumped on the back of his broom.
"You okay?" Harry shouted. She nodded and locked her arms around his waist as they took off across the rooftops once more.
Marcus Flint was the first one back on his Firebolt. He took off after Harry Potter. Draco was up and after them a few seconds later.
* * *
Harry and Gabrielle streaked across the rooftops. Behind them, Malfoy shouted "Stupefy!" A huge chimney exploded on their left, pelting them with scraps of mortar and brick as they shot past it.
Once again, having two people on the broom slowed them down. Marcus Flint was only a few feet behind them. Harry looked back and saw Flint pull out his wand and point it at them. He looked ahead, and spotted a large TV antenna sticking up like a tree out of the rooftop.
"Hang on!" he shouted to Gabrielle.
Hugging the Firebolt with his knees, Harry grabbed the TV antenna with both hands and used it as a pivot to turn them. The metal antenna bent sharply under his weight as he veered to the right. He let go, and the antenna snapped back like a pulled tree branch. It slammed into Marcus Flint's face with a loud KRAAAANNG!! Flint flew backwards off his broom and landed with a crash, out cold, on the roof.
Draco Malfoy saw Harry and Gabrielle fleeing to his right. He pointed his wand after them and shouted, "Stupefy!"
At that moment, Harry and Gabrielle flew behind a huge, eight-foot satellite dish. The jet of silver light from Malfoy's wand hit the satellite dish and knocked it clean off its pedestal. The dish rolled across the rooftop like an enormous white wheel, heading straight for Harry and Gabrielle.
"'ARRY!" Gabrielle screamed. Harry looked back and saw the satellite dish tumbling after them. He was unpleasantly reminded of the huge rolling boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He swerved left and right, trying to get out of the way of the dish, but they were trapped in a corridor of dark chimneys.
Suddenly, the roof dropped beneath them in a long, red-tiled slope. Harry put his feet down and slid down the tile grade like a skier going downhill. At the bottom of the slope, he saw a flat roof with a large skylight in the center. In another few seconds, he realized, they would crash straight through the skylight.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Harry shouted. He whipped out his wand and pointed it at the skylight. "Reducto!"
A jet of red light shot from his wand and smashed a gaping hole through the skylight. At the bottom of the tile grade, Harry and Gabrielle jumped through the hole and plunged into the room below. Behind them, the huge satellite dish tumbled down the tile slope. It slammed into the raised edge of the skylight and flopped over on its side, the metal edge of the dish hanging half-over the hole in the glass that Harry had just made with his wand.
Harry and Gabrielle landed on a long white table covered with trays of food, bottles of wine, and silver candlesticks with white candles. They were in a large, brightly-lit apartment with streamers and bunting draped across the walls and ceiling. They had obviously landed in the middle of a Carnival party. Dozens of people dressed in elaborate costumes surrounded the table, staring up at them in surprise and horror.
"Uhh, 'scuse us," Harry said, red-faced. Suddenly, he heard a strange groaning sound, like metal against metal.
"'Arry!" Gabrielle pounded him on the shoulder and pointed up.
Above them, the eight-foot satellite dish was lying flat across the edge of the skylight. Its weight was shifting, and one half of the dish was starting to tilt over. Any second now, the huge dish would fall through the skylight and crush them!
Harry grabbed his broom handle and leaped to one side, vaulting over the heads of the startled party guests. He landed on the floor and weaved through the crowd of panicked revelers, heading for the nearest exit. Behind them, the satellite dish toppled through the skylight and plunged into the room. It crashed through the center of the long table, bisecting it and catapulting glasses, bottles, candlesticks, and trays of food into the air as the screaming party guests ran for cover.
As Harry and Gabrielle reached the apartment door, a new round of screams reached their ears. Looking back, they saw Crabbe and Goyle drop through the open skylight on their brooms. Crabbe, Harry noticed, looked particularly enraged. Goyle spotted them across the room and pointed at them. "There they are!"
Harry opened the apartment door and darted out onto the top floor landing. To his right was an open staircase, leading down to the lower floors. Harry guided his broom across the landing and pivoted left around the banister. As he and Gabrielle flew down the staircase to the next floor below, the apartment door crashed open and Crabbe and Goyle burst out on their brooms.
Getting out of the apartment building turned out to be like going down a giant corkscrew. As they came down each flight of stairs, Harry pivoted left 180 degrees around the banister at the bottom of the staircase. He flew across the landing past three or four apartment doors, pivoted left 180 degrees around the banister at the top of the next staircase, and flew down the next flight of stairs to the floor below.
They continued on like this down through the eighth, seventh, sixth, and fifth floors--down the staircase, left around the banister, across the landing, past the apartment doors, left around the next banister, and down the next staircase. On each floor, the apartment residents, alerted by the noise upstairs, had come rushing out onto the landing to see what was wrong. Now they dropped to the floor in a panic, or flattened themselves against the walls, or dove screaming back into their apartments as the broomstick fliers shot past them. Harry and Gabrielle didn't dare stop. Screams from the upper floors told them that Crabbe and Goyle were following them down through the apartment building.
As they kept going down through the fifth, fourth, and third floors, Harry noticed something that gave him an idea. At the bottom of each staircase was an apartment door facing up the stairs. As they flew down the stairs from the third floor to the second floor, Harry suddenly braked to a halt on the second-floor landing. He yanked out his wand and pointed it at the apartment door.
"Alohomora!" he shouted. The lock clicked open. Harry grabbed the doorknob, looked back up the stairs, and waited.
A few seconds later, Crabbe and Goyle swerved around the banister on the third-floor landing and flew down the stairs to the second floor. Gabrielle's eyes widened as Crabbe and Goyle shot straight at them like a pair of guided missiles. Harry waited until the last possible second and yanked the apartment door wide open.
Unable to stop or turn (which would have meant crashing into the back of the door), Crabbe and Goyle flew screaming past Harry and Gabrielle, through the open doorway, and straight into the apartment. Harry slammed the door shut! From inside the apartment, he heard loud crashes and bangs, the sound of furniture being overturned, glass shattering, a woman screaming, and a man yelling angrily in French.
Gabrielle held on as Harry kicked off the second floor landing and flew down the last flight of stairs. He sailed across the foyer, opened the front door, and darted out onto the porch.
They were in a small square with a fountain in the center, surrounded on all sides by baroque apartments and townhouses. Harry and Gabrielle looked up. Draco Malfoy was flying over the square, spinning and turning, looping and zigzagging right and left. White smoke was streaming out of the tail of his Firebolt.
At first Harry thought that Malfoy was in trouble, that he had lost control of his broom. But then he realized--Malfoy was skywriting!
Draco finished his message. He braked to a halt in midair, hovering over the square. Looking down, he spotted Harry and Gabrielle standing on the doorstep below.
Malfoy smiled wickedly down at Harry.
Harry stared up at Malfoy with a sickened expression on his face.
Draco Malfoy had just written the words "S-U-R-R-E-N-D-E-R H-A-R-R-Y" across the night sky in big white smoke letters.
A loud crash sounded from the apartment building. Harry and Gabrielle whirled and stared back through the open front door. At the top of the staircase, the apartment door on the second-floor landing burst off its hinges. The door landed flat on the stairs with Crabbe and Goyle on their brooms, standing upright on it. With looks of pure rage, they slid down the stairs to the foyer, riding the door down as if it were a surfboard.
Harry slammed the front door shut. Gabrielle held tight to him as he jumped in the air and shot away down the street. Malfoy followed on his broom. A few seconds later, the front door of the apartment building exploded outward, landing flat on the sidewalk and sliding into the street with Crabbe and Goyle standing on it. They jumped in the air on their brooms, and took off after Harry and Malfoy.
* * *
Harry and Gabrielle streaked through the maze of dimly-lit cobblestone streets in Vieux Latrece. They swerved up one alley and down another, trying to lose their pursuers. Malfoy and his gang were right behind them. The alleys became narrower and narrower as they hurtled through a series of dark chasms, bordered on either side by baroque houses and apartments. Lighted windows and black walls flashed by as they plunged headlong through tiny squares and courtyards, ducked under medieval stone arches, and careened around blind corners trying to find a way out of the labyrinth.
The wind rushed wildly in Harry's ears as he navigated the twisting streets. He veered around another corner, and suddenly plowed straight through a laundry line that had been stretched across the alley between two apartments. A red lace negligée that had been hanging on the line wrapped around his face. Harry quickly yanked it off and tossed it over his shoulder. (Behind him, Goyle caught the negligée around his head. He ripped it off and started to throw it away--but when he saw what it was, he quickly stuffed it under his shirt.)
As he vaulted a dividing wall, Harry saw an opening at the end of the alley just ahead of them. People were moving back and forth in front of the opening, on what looked like a busy street. As Harry and Gabrielle came barreling out of the alley, a huge delivery truck suddenly whipped by on the street in front of them, its horn blaring! Gabrielle screamed! Harry let out a yell and banked sharply to the right, the soles of his sneakers bouncing off the side of the delivery truck as it roared past.
They were now on a crowded avenue filled with brightly-lit shops and restaurants. The people on the sidewalk screamed and ducked in alarm, falling like dominoes as Harry and Gabrielle rocketed over their heads on the Firebolt. Images of blurred, horrified faces whirled by underneath them as they hurtled over the street. Behind them, Malfoy and his friends exited the alley. Malfoy fired a curse at Harry, and a lamppost on the edge of the sidewalk exploded as they flew past it. The pedestrians shrieked in terror, crouching behind parked cars and diving into open shop doors, trying to get out of the way of the flying broomsticks.
Aw hell, the Ministry of Magic's gonna have my head for this! Harry groaned, internally.
"'Arry!" Gabrielle shouted in alarm.
A large, wooden shop sign was hanging out over the sidewalk, directly in their path. Harry barely had time to duck under it and avoid getting his head knocked off. A series of hanging shop signs followed. As they flew under the dangling signs, Gabrielle reached up and desperately tried to bash each sign out of their way with her fist. One of the signs swung back and smashed Vincent Crabbe in the face, bloodying his nose. Malfoy fired another curse at them. A jet of green light whizzed over Harry's head and knocked one of the dangling signs off its hanging rod. The sign flew across the street and crashed through the windshield of a parked car. The people on the sidewalk continued to scream and dive for cover as the broomstick fliers streaked by over their heads.
Harry and Gabrielle suddenly heard loud music, accompanied by cheering crowds and the crackle of fireworks. They reached an intersection where huge masses of people in Carnival costumes were crowded together along the edges of the cross-street. The people were screaming and yelling, jumping up and down like spectators at a sporting event. Harry flew over the heads of the startled crowd and turned right at the intersection. He and Gabrielle gaped in surprise.
They were back on the Boulevard de la Soleil! They had landed right in the middle of the Parade du Carnival Roi--the Parade of the Carnival King! Hundreds of parade performers marched down the boulevard beneath their feet. Huge colorful parade floats, piled high with flowers and decorated with flashing neon lights, roared down the center of the street. Flaming torches lit the sides of the boulevard and Roman candles sputtered and crackled in the night. The air was thick with confetti, and there was a constant rhythmic pounding of drums, accompanied by all kinds of blaring music. Thousands of people crowded the sidewalks, stomping and screaming, clapping and singing, caught up in the pandemonium of the Carnival.
Harry and Gabrielle watched in awe as a team of bagpipe players in kilts and bearskin hats marched beneath them, blaring Scottish bagpipe music. At the sight of a boy and a girl hovering over the boulevard on a flying broomstick, several of the bagpipe players choked and spit out their mouthpieces. Just behind the bagpipe players came a parade float bearing an enormous world globe, at least twenty feet tall. A huge banner with the theme of the Carnival--"Énormément de Aventure"--was draped across the face of the globe. On the edges of the float, Carnival performers dressed as princes and princesses, knights in armor, cowboys, Vikings, Robin Hoods, and costumed comic-book superheroes were tossing doubloons, flowers, and candy to the people in the crowd.
"Well, you wanted me to see the big parade!" Harry shouted over his shoulder.
"I did not mean like zis!!" Gabrielle shouted back, half in horror, half in jest.
Harry glanced back. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had just come out over the street on their brooms. They braked to a halt, staring in amazement at the parade passing beneath them. Harry decided to take advantage of their momentary distraction. He swerved around the giant world globe and fled down the boulevard.
Behind him, Malfoy motioned to Crabbe and Goyle. "There he goes! After him!"
The world globe parade float was followed on the boulevard by a team of jesters and tumblers in red-and-white checkered costumes. The jesters juggled balls, clubs, and rings, while the tumblers flipped and cartwheeled down the street. As Harry and Gabrielle flew over their heads, the jesters all stared up in surprise and dropped their juggling items. Several of the tumblers lost their rhythms in mid-tumble and landed flat on their backs on the pavement. The crowd watching the parade screamed and shouted in delight, pointing up at the broomstick fliers as they raced down the street.
"Everyone is looking at us!" Gabrielle shouted.
"I know!" Harry said. "Let's just hope they think we're part of the entertainment!"
They flew over a marching fife-and-drum brigade in blue military uniforms and yellow-plumed triangular hats, with pipers piping away and drummers beating out a quick staccato rhythm on their snare drums. As they saw the broomstick fliers soaring over their heads, the pipers dropped their piccolos and flutes, and the drummers dropped their drumsticks in shock. The members of the brigade stumbled over each other as they knelt to pick up their instruments and equipment. The parade started to back up!
Ahead, Harry saw three huge helium balloons, each about ten feet long, being pulled down the street on thick ropes by Carnival performers. He swiveled around the huge balloons, trying to put more barriers between himself and Malfoy's gang. The balloons were in the shape of a lion, a tiger, and a bear!
"Oh MY!" Gabrielle shouted, as they skidded through the air past the bear balloon.
As they soared over a troupe of Polynesian drummers in grass skirts, a tremendous BANG!! sounded behind them. The shockwave of the blast shook the air, and Harry gripped his broom handle hard to steady the Firebolt. Looking back, he saw that the lion balloon had just exploded! A jet of green light suddenly struck the tiger balloon and it too exploded with an ear-splitting BANG!! A third BANG!! rocked the street as the bear balloon exploded as well.
Should've known THAT wouldn't work, Harry chided himself. Should've known Malfoy wouldn't hesitate to blow the balloons out of his way.
But as it turned out, all three balloons had been filled with confetti! With each loud BANG!!, a snowstorm of rainbow-colored paper burst over the street. Behind Harry and Gabrielle, Malfoy and his gang were now trying to navigate their way through the fog of debris that was now floating over the boulevard. The crowd, thinking that the exploding balloons were all part of the show, screamed and applauded as the confetti rained down on them.
Draco Malfoy cursed. Damn these Muggles and their stupid celebrations! The air was so thick with flying paper that he could barely see Harry Potter and his passenger flying in front of him. Draco turned and shouted back to Crabbe and Goyle. "Come on, you idiots! Don't let him get away!!"
"Where're we goin', Draco?" yelled Crabbe.
"I can't see a thing in all this flying stuff!" shouted Goyle.
The three boys stopped and stared at each other in shock! With all the helium that was floating in the air from the exploded balloons, their voices sounded like squeaky cartoon mice. With a snarl, Malfoy made a slashing gesture in the air with one hand, as if to say, Oh, come on! The hell with our voices! Crabbe and Goyle followed him through the blizzard of confetti.
Ahead of them, Harry and Gabrielle flew over a float with an enormous biplane sitting on it, surrounded by white clouds. A huge barnstorming pilot made of flowers and papier maché sat in the cockpit, wearing a cap and goggles and a red scarf around his neck. The plane's propellor was spinning, and Carnival performers dressed as 1920's flapper girls stood on the huge wings, waving and tossing trinkets to the crowd.
An electronic beeping to the tune of "Frére Jacques" sounded right behind Harry. Gabrielle pulled out the shell phone. "Bonjour? Maman?" She jabbered to her mother in French, then suddenly slapped the two sea shells together, ending the call.
"That was your mother?" Harry called back.
"I told 'er we were too busy to talk right now!" Gabrielle shouted, breathlessly.
"You got that right!" There was nothing that Gabrielle's parents could do to help them right now. It was best, Harry thought, if they didn't know the danger that their daughter was in at the moment. He had other things to worry about.
Another parade float was coming up, this one with a lance-wielding knight fighting a huge green dragon. The dragon, about eighteen feet long, was an animatronic figure. It's head, neck, and tail swung from side to side, accompanied by a recorded "dragon roar," as it slowly rolled down the street. Harry, who had seen real dragons up close, thought vaguely that this dragon looked nothing like the real thing. But as they flew over the animatronic dragon, a very real jet of flame--a special effect from the float--suddenly shot out of the dragon's mouth and nearly scorched them! Harry swerved around the float, cursing, as the crowd broke into applause once more.
Sheesh, he thought, I can't even avoid trouble with a FAKE dragon!
They flew over a float with a large pirate ship manned by Carnival performers in pirate costumes, followed by a float with a tall Arabian warrior standing on a huge flying carpet. A troupe of medieval minstrels marched beneath them, playing flutes, lutes, and tambourines, followed closely by a team of Spanish flamenco dancers. Next came a float with performers dressed as the Three Musketeers and D'Artagnan, a float with a massive gray submarine bearing Captain Nemo, and another helium balloon in the shape of a hot-air balloon, with Philias Fogg and Passepartout in the basket.
As they flew over a team of Florentine flag-twirlers, Harry glanced back and saw that Malfoy and his gang had caught up with them again. Malfoy had his wand out, but with all the confusion and flying confetti, he was having trouble getting a clear shot.
Ahead of them was the Carnival King--a huge float bearing a towering, thirty-foot statue of a fat, bearded king in red robes, with a gold crown on his head. Just ahead of the Carnival King came a smaller float, a flower-covered platform with a large golden throne in the center. A tall, dark-haired beauty in a white lace gown--the Carnival Queen, Harry guessed--sat on the throne, surrounded by six beautiful girls tossing flowers and candy to the spectators. Harry put on a burst of speed, again hoping to use the Carnival King float as a barrier between himself and Malfoy. The Queen and her attendants squealed in delight as he and Gabrielle circled around the Carnival King's head.
But as they came around to the back of the float, Harry and Gabrielle ran smack into a crowd of stilt-walkers on tall stilts, and unicyclists on twenty-foot unicycles. Gritting his teeth, Harry weaved through the forest of sky-scraping performers. Just then, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle came tearing around the Carnival King's head at top speed. Shocked by the sudden appearance of the broomstick fliers, the stilt-walkers yelled in surprise and fell backwards into the unicyclists. Both teams lost their balance and toppled, arms flailing, into the crowds on either side of the boulevard. The spectators screamed as the unicyclists and stilt-walkers landed on them. One of the stilt-walkers, trying to stop himself from falling, reached out and grabbed hold of Draco Malfoy's broomstick. Crabbe and Goyle watched in horror as the stilt-walker fell, dragging Malfoy down into the crowd with him.
Harry decided that this was the right moment to make a break for it. With Gabrielle hanging on behind him, he urged his broom down the boulevard. The parade was stopping, backing up due to the "log jam" created in the center of the street by the fallen unicyclists and stilt-walkers. Looking back, Harry hoped that the mayhem might keep Malfoy and his gang occupied for a while. But to his disappointment, Malfoy suddenly popped up out of the crowd on his broom. With a furious glare, he motioned with his wand for Crabbe and Goyle to follow him once more.
At the end of the Boulevard de la Soleil, Harry and Gabrielle flew over an overpass that stretched across a section of the Auto-Route. Below them was a wide trench, bordered on either side by steep concrete walls. Six lanes of cars roared by in either direction underneath the bridge, their headlights blazing in the night.
"'Arry!" Gabrielle shouted, behind him. "'Ere zey come!"
Glancing back down the boulevard once more, Harry saw Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle bearing down on them. Harry realized that they had reached the end of the parade, and there were no more floats left to hide behind! They were caught over open territory, and Malfoy finally had a clear shot at them.
Harry looked to his left, over the edge of the overpass, at the Auto-Route below. Cars and trucks were speeding in and out of the entrance to a nearby traffic tunnel that seemed to pass under the very heart of the city. There was nothing for it! Harry dropped over the side of the bridge and raced for the tunnel, flying over the traffic.
"Keep your head down!" he shouted to Gabrielle as they headed down the tunnel entrance.
* * *
On a rooftop in Vieux Latrece, Marcus Flint suddenly regained consciousness. His head was bleeding freely from where Harry Potter had hit him in the face with the TV antenna. Flint wiped the blood from his forehead and looked around. No sign of Harry Potter anywhere, nor of Draco Malfoy and his friends.
His Firebolt was lying on the roof a short distance away. Angrily, Flint mounted his broom and kicked off, rising into the night sky over the city.
Flying over a nearby street, he saw the flashing red lights of an ambulance. A team of paramedics was lifting someone on a stretcher off the smashed roof of a car. Staring down at the accident scene, Flint realized with a jolt that the person on the stretcher was Derrick, his friend. Derrick's partner, Bole, was nowhere to be seen.
As the paramedics carried Derrick towards the ambulance, he glanced up and spotted Flint hovering over the street. He waved to him, smiling deliriously. Flint turned and sped off before the paramedics looked up to see what Derrick was waving at.
Soaring over the city of Latrece, Flint made a solemn vow. He was going to find Harry Potter--and he was going to make him pay for tonight!
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