Pepper is the sword-arm of crazy (pickledpepper) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-04-17 11:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! [1980-04] april, octavius pepper |
Who: Pepper
Where: Hogsmeade
When: Thursday night
What: Burninating the countryside magic shops
Rating: PG-13
Status: Done
Arson was different from theft. More noticeable, for one thing, which meant Pepper was rather more pressed for time than when he and Jo had merrily traipsed through Hogsmeade ransacking the shops. There was, however, something particularly satisfying about watching the flames catch. He could still smell the soot as he apparated away from Diagon, leaving Borgin & Burkes burning with flames that he hoped would spread before anyone could deal with them. He'd decided it was best to avoid the main street, concentrating solely on the end of Knockturn Alley, and by the time he'd left both the pawnshop and the store of body parts opposite it were roasting.
It would have been quickest to take the Apparation point behind the Lestrange library, but paranoid and cautious, he landed instead halfway between the Hog's Head and Shrieking Shack. Pausing, he checked that his disillusionment charm was still holding before creeping towards the village. Move slowly, he reminded himself. Slow and quiet, don't draw attention to yourself.
Twice he had to pause to avoid people, but in the end he made it to the apothecary without incident. The wards were stronger now, but the basic properties of them were the same - a small, tight smile showed his amusement at the fact that if things kept going like this he'd be able to break into the place in his sleep.
Still, every sound made him look around, hoping that anyone who might have heard about fires in Knockturn Alley would not connect it to here. It took perhaps longer than it should have to get the wards down. Two minutes, he told himself. Two minutes, and if he didn't find what he was looking for, he'd light the fire and get the fuck out.
The Jobberknoll feathers were easy enough, but when he located the dragon's blood he grimaced at the locked glass cabinet it was stored in. More obstacles. More wastes of time. Not much that someone as determined as he was couldn't get past, but he was well past his two minute deadline when he finally set his hands on the vials. He was running out of time, and he could feel faint trickles of sweat tickling his skin, irritating him.
Quickly he moved around the shop, starting fires anywhere they would catch, moving back towards the exit so that he wouldn't accidentally cut himself off. Almost at the door he cast incendios at a couple of more explosive things, the reaction making his heart beat faster and his pulse quicken with adrenaline.
He was halfway to the Apparation point when the quickly-spreading fire brought the patrol running and suddenly he was ducking hexes. "Fuck," he hissed, breaking into a sprint and narrowly missing something with a bright blue light. He risked splinching if he tried to Apparate too far like this, with people trying to kill him and momentum barreling him across the open space between buildings. So it wasn't Gairloch he focused on as he gripped his wand tighter. It was the other side of the village, a mere few hundred metres away.
The spell gripped his stomach and yanked, and when he came through the other side he stumbled and fell, the landing on the hard ground knocking the air from his lungs. He lay there for a couple of seconds, winded, before remembering the precious dragon's blood and quickly reaching for his pocket.
Unbroken. Thank god. Not that he was safe yet. He pulled himself to his feet, casting a single glance towards the Hog's Head before attempting to calm himself enough to concentrate on the loch-side camp.
Another tug at his stomach brought him home. This time when he sank to his knees it was with relief and easier on his bones, sucking in breath to replace what he'd lost in his escape.
After a few moments he got up again, moving towards the barracks at first slowly, then increasing his pace to a trot as he made for Rufus' lodgings. He'd want these last ingredients.