35. fire, FIRE!

Once again I find myself working on my codex full name pending. The quidditch match will be tomorrow and so I have prepared as much as I could for my bit of mischief. To start with, we have my own brand of napalm although the name doesn’t fit seeing as it is a derivative from the chemicals used to make it. I will still call it napalm though. The end result is a self igniting sticky jell that is a bitch to put out. 

I may or may not have let my mad scientist out for the creation of my most recent war crime. Afterall, although it self ignites when in contact with air, once ignited it does NOT need air to reignite. Matter of fact, the exothermic reaction of the first ignition is enough to activate a secondary self sustained exothermic reaction from other chemicals mixed in. In other words, once it ignites it won’t go out no matter what. Add to that the fact the stuff is hella sticky and I think it might just kill Quirrelmort out right. As for collateral damage…

“I never said I was a good person.” I said to myself while shrugging. As for what I am working on right now? That would be engraving tiny runes on tiny cubic ward stones. These ones thankfully play nice with each other as they are mostly for atmospheric magic absorption, as well as magic release. 

“Twenty seven tiny cubes each with six faces, each face needing five runes, in three different configurations for a total of two thousand four hundred thirty runes I need to engrave.” I muttered to myself while cursing past me for her ambition. 

“All of that without counting the glyphs I will need to engrave for the exact same purpose.” I kept grumbling as I worked. If this thing dares blow in my face when it's done I will kill a bitch. 

And so I spent my time working tiny engraving tools to carve tiny runes and tiny glyphs on tiny cubes. Did I mention that I had to redo my work a few times because tiny runes and tiny glyphs are extra hard to engrave without mistakes? No, well fuck me sideways with the wrong side of a spear. 

“Come on Silver, hurry up or we will be late.” A rather enthused Sophia said while dragging me by the hand towards the quidditch pitch Why the damned thing is built in a completely different hill than the castle beats me but the five minute walk up hill is a bitch. That being said, being early had the perk of finding rather nice seats to watch the game from. Not exactly front row but close enough. 

As the game began I noticed that Harry hadn’t switched his glasses for goggles as I had suggested, Although there isn’t an easy way for me to tell if he had a sticky charm on them instead. That being said the game went pretty much as I had expected, meaning it was going just like in the movie. Wood got taken out and Gryffindor quickly lost their initial lead. That is when things started going south.

“Harry!” Sophia shouted as Harry’s broom went out of control. Unlike what was shown in the movies, the broom didn’t just shake around trying to knock him off, no that would be too easy. The damned thing instead began smashing Harry against the spectator towers as well as the goal posts. With the nimbus two thousand capable of reaching up to two hundred kilometers an hour it was easy to see that Harry wasn’t having a good time. The only saving grace being that the broom wasn’t reaching those speeds thanks to the number twists, turns and impacts. 

Before anyone could notice I slipped away to enact my plan. As I moved I noticed something interesting. Snape wasn’t present next to Quirrell like he should have been. Meaning no one was counter charming Harry’s broom. No wonder the thing had gone buck wild. 

It took me just a couple of minutes to get beneath the stands yet that was enough for Harry’s situation to deteriorate further. From where I stood I could see him barely hanging by one hand to the broom, face full of bruises and even cuts from glass shards courtesy of his shattered glasses. 

Seeing as he wouldn’t last much longer I made my move. Out of my pocket came a balloon full of my brand of napalm. With a quick swish of my wand the balloon flew with precision hitting Quirrell’s head. Pop goes the balloon and all hell broke loose!

I didn’t even bother containing my mad cackle as the shouts of those near the fire and Quirrell’s own did a magnificent job of masking it. As expected the professors pulled out their wands to put out the fire. Only for the stubborn chemical cocktail to reignite again and again! The panic on Quirrellmort’s face being a delicacy I would cherish for years to come. 

It took all of ten seconds for Quirrelmort to take hold of his turban in an attempt to pull it off. Only for his hands to ignite as he pulled the piece of cloth off his head to show his glorious baldness! And the face on its back. 

“What is that!” Professor Sprout shouted pointing towards the back of Quirrell’s head. Seeing as the gig was up Quirrelmort tried to pull his wand. Only to realize his hands were still on fire, and said fire had now spread to his pocket. 

By this point Harry’s broom had stopped moving but the danger for the first year hadn’t passed. Bruised and battered Harry barely had the strength to hold his broom much less pull himself up on it. 

Not caring for the quickly spreading fire, courtesy of the burning turban spreading it, I pulled out a bunched up sack out of my pocket. Neat trick that, pull a bigger container out of a smaller one so I can pull bigger things out of my pocket dimension. A moment later I held a barely functional half-repaired broom from the sack. 

“Shit!” I shouted as I shot myself through the many wooden cross beams supporting the stands. The reason for my curse being that Harry had just let go of his broom. With the professors focusing on Quirrell and the fire. She doubted they would be able to help and she wasn’t betting on Harry surviving a fall of over twenty meters. 

Broom moving past what it should I burst out from beneath the stands only to pull my want before jumping atop the thing. A quick sticky charm made sure I would fall or sleep off the broom as I raced towards Harry. 

As Harry reached the ten metter mark I flew beneath him grabbing him by leg before speaking around my own broom to bleed off some of the force of the fall. So imagine this: Me upside down holding Harry by the leg as my barely functional broom’s back ignites from magic overload. Fire spreads fast through the stands which are made of cloth and wood. Quirrell screams in pain as he becomes a human torch with a second voice screaming from the back of his head as well. Pure unadulterated chaos. 

“Hold tight!” I shout more out of theatrics than anything else seeing as I am the one holding Harry. Angling the quickly falling broom upwards I let dispel the sticking charm as we begin to fall with around five meters between ourselves and the ground. Did I mention Harry has been screaming the whole time? No, well he is still screaming as I point towards the ground and launch a barrage of spells. 

First being spongify turning the ground from a solid surface into a bouncy one instead. Followed by arresto momentum on ourselves to diminish our falling speed as well as a gust of wind to further slow us down. At the last moment I swing Harry around so he wouldn’t land head first, instead landing on his own two feet before being launched sideways thanks to the spongify spell. Me on the other hand just bounce up one before canceling the spell. 

“Well, that was something, don't you agree?” I say while admiring my work. I should have thought of a better plan than letting my pyromaniac tendencies take over. At least with us being at the center of the pitch there is no chance for the fire to reach us, that is unless a spectator tower decides to fall towards us. 

“What is going on!?” Harry asked clearly panicked and who could blame him? Today had gone southward sideways faster than a basilisk gaze can kill. 

“Hell if I know.” I lied with the same ease as I breathe. Before Harry could speak again I took him in a fireman’s carry and booked it out of there as a flaming spectator tower came crashing down on us. Does a jinx count if you only think about it and don’t speak it out loud? 

Now, you may be wondering why I am not worried about Sophia. Answer being that the girl had fled as soon as the professors gave the order. Seeing as she had been seated on the other side of the stands she had plenty of time to escape before things went tits up. Or at least that was my thought until I saw the crazy girl running towards me and her brother! What the fuck! 

“Sophia! What are you doing here!?” Sure the playing field isn’t on fire but it isn’t safe either. 

“I came to check up on Harry!” Sophia shouted as she began inspecting Harry who is still draped over my shoulder. Said boy winced noticeably one Sophia poked one of his ribs, probably cracked. 

“Anyway, we need to get out of here pronto.” That said I took Sophia's hand before sprinting towards the stands, specifically, towards the bit that isn’t on fire just yet. Not wanting to risk it I also spent some vitality on an enhancement spell for Sophia so she could sprint faster. And good thing I did as we barely managed to get out of there before that also caught fire. Now that I think of it… there will probably be more dead than just Quirrell… not my problem as long as Sophia is safe. 

“Come on, let's take Harry to Pomfrey.” My words broke Sophia out of her thoughts as she looked towards the burning stands. Harry for his part had passed out along the way, be it from exhaustion or the smoke who knows. A five minute jog later we found ourselves inside the infirmary where Pomfrey worked like a bussy and treating the many burn victims of my bout of insanity. 

“Quickly put him here.” Doing so I laid Harry down on a bed as Pomfry did a quick check on him. Before quickly dismissing his injuries as nothing that requires her immediate attention unlike those with third degree burns. Sure, he had many bruises and a few cracked bones but nothing eminently lethal. And so we were ushered out seeing as we weren't hurt. 

“W-will everyone be alright?” Sophia asked a few minutes into our return to our common room. 

“Well, Pomfry is an expert in her craft, all of those there will be right as rain in a few days.” it went unsaid what would happen to those that weren’t there, or rather what had already happened. 

That night Sophia broke into ugly crying as the stress of the day finally hit her in full. I had to spend the better part of an hour consoling here and using my calming pheromones to get her to finally relax. 

The next day came with grim news. Quirrell died, which is a good thing in my book. Unfortunately he wasn’t the only one, A pair of seventh year students died as well while rescuing others, and a fifth year and two fourth year students died as well. All in all, Six deaths total and many, MANY burn victims. Thankfully, Pomfry professed her belief that she could heal them with minimal scarring. Those with the worst burn were sent to saint mungo’s however. 

“Not to self, don’t use fire in a flammable environment. Rather obvious in hand sight.” I muttered under my breath as I ate breakfast. Was it odd that I ate like nothing happened while everyone else barely ate anything?