xxxxxxxflicker
xxxxxxxxxxxxticking clock // oneshot
xxxxxxxxxxxxlisten while you read
xxxxxxxxxxxxcowritten by yamadou
The last rays of sun streamed through the field, stretching over the area like tinted saran wrap. Shadows lurked behind the strands of grass, waiting to slowly envelop the space. It looked like a giant Hufflepuff flag, the contrast of colors. It could be argued that he should instead look for yellow but he’d never understood why they needed that distinction in the first place.
Gold fit them better anyway.
“Get over here and help.” The tallest member of the group griped, irritated.
“You know I can’t do that anyway.” Green eyes rolled as the man stayed put, standing in the middle of the field. He’d never been any good at charms and would only get in Quin’s way.
“Me neither!” The youngest voice laughed as the owner plopped down on a log.
“Fine, I’ll do the perimeter myself.” The blonde huffed, drawing his wand and a faint line of light followed it as he walked away from the campsite and towards the trees. He murmured Latin of some sort, charms that the rest of them cared too little about to actually learn and so they left the spellwork to him.
They’d all been busy preoccupied with too many other things lately to learn much anyways. The adult world was much more chaotic and demanding than they’d prepared for. Setting time aside for this brief interlude over the summer had been nothing short of a battle itself. Ryker was sure Wyatt and Quin were missing something important at work this weekend but he didn’t feel guilty. The Ministry had taken plenty of time from his friends already, it could wait on him for a change.
“Sorry that took so long but they’re all set up now.” The brunette took a seat next to Basil after arriving in his typical breezy manner. He emptied his pockets of the plastic and paper wrappings he’d shoved into them and dropped them into the makeshift trash bag they’d designated. It’d taken longer than he’d liked to arrange everything but being the only muggle born, he’d been the only one familiar enough with the merchandise to handle it.
Or so they’d told him. Lazy bums.
“When can we start?” The old seeker chirped up, leaning back with an anxious look on his face. Even now, Basil seemed extremely youthful with his big expressive eyes and his short lived attention span. The other two looked at him and he blushed a bit remembering what had just happened.
“Oh, right. Quin’s still charming the place.”
“You could always help!” Came faintly from a bit aways.
“Oh man, you made him do it himself?” Wyatt glanced between the two with a hint of scolding disapproval to his tone. Ryker began to look for stars.
The sun had slipped below the horizon while they’d waited for the blonde to finish. A vibrant crimson still hugged the distant ground as the sky above painted itself blue.
“Fine, I’ll make the fire.” That was something he could handle at least. Ryker rose to his feet and opened the bundle of wood that Wyatt had thought to buy. Tossing the logs into their makeshift fire pit without much care, the man glanced up to check that Quin was almost done. The field wasn’t small but it wasn’t particularly large either. Good thing there’d been no PE class at Hogwarts, the noble would’ve failed this speed trial.
“You have to arrange them, Ry!”
“Huh? Oh yeah, go ahead.”
Tch, as always he got stuck with the childish jobs. Basil grumbled as he climbed down on the ground and began removing hunks of wood to properly start the fire. He’d finally graduated and become a young man but even now the others treated him like a kid. No longer was Basil half Quin’s height and squeaky voiced. He’d probably always have his large eyes and youthful attitude but he didn’t like being treated like their baby anymore.
Nor was he sure how he felt about his former idol anymore.
It’d been two years since the older Cats had gotten jobs and Ryker didn’t have much to show for it. While Wyatt had managed to become an Auror and Quin had been accepted into the Wizengamot, the last member had yet to find steady employment. To say he felt let down would be an understatement. When confronted, Ryker just laughed and changed the topic quickly while avoiding eye contact. Basil got the feeling that there was something he wasn’t being told but there was little he could do about it.
“We’re good to go.” Pale blue eyes glanced at the trio as stylish leather shoes basically strutted back to the campsite. The blonde seemed to approve at their foresight to begin the fire and fished some of their dinner rations out of a cooler with his wand. If anyone embodied the overuse of magic for simple daily tasks, it was the Benett. Plates of paper passed hands and styrofoam cups perched on logs, dirt and boxes for tables. The food wasn’t all that great but the company made up for it as they picked their way through the fruit salad.
“Urg, I don’t think I can have anymore.” Ryker wiped at his mouth and tossed the remainder of his plate into the fire. The rest all watched, glanced at each other and a decent amount of fruit toppled in after.
A great deal of the natural light had faded away by now and all that remained was the glow of warmth before them that flickered across their faces, the shadows slowly claiming the rest of the world. Night was in its full splendor now and it demanded to be recognized. Quin shivered, he’d never minded darkness before but in the past two years, whispers of war and unsolved violence had begun to steal that from him.
It was nights like these that kept him from sucumbing to that fear. Moonlit hikes through forests, rough wrestling in the backseat of a grungy bus, expensive bar crawls dressed up as each other, the light-heartedness of his friends always whisked away the tensions of the unstable world they lived in.
Not that they were angels or anything. They were downright prats most of the time.
“C’mon, it’s dark enough. Time to start things off, yeah?” Wyatt stood, shifting to stretch out his back for a moment, and unrolled the sleeves of his trademark. It was getting too cold for much skin to show and the four of them took a moment to suit up for staying outdoors the rest of the night. There was a quick ‘hold still!’ in a young voice and Ryker’s yelp followed a loud slapping noise as two silhouettes struggled to deal with something on the tiger’s arm.
“Alright, I’ll begin the Flame-Freezing Charms.” The blonde was quick with his wandwork, a shimmering light flooding over them before vanishing and a cool sensation of a relaxed breeze on their faces. Their brooms were piled outside their tent and each boy claimed his before slipping on them comfortably, rising higher into the air until they were above the height of the trees that surrounded their clearing.
“Let’s start twistin’ some hay!” Basil beamed and began to loop in excited circles around Wyatt, waiting for the safety expert to begin the show. The brunette grinned in response and sent a small spark of fire down to the paper tubes arranged neatly on the ground. All eyes followed a trail of glitter as it climbed through the sky. A split second later and-
Bright colored stars exploded in the air around them. Burning dust sprinkled down, cascading like sequins. Thunder echoed in their ears, louder than gunshots and yet the air was filled with laughter. They were in their own galaxy, just the four of them, surrounded by all this light.
A hand reached out timidly to catch some of the falling ash, nervously testing the lion’s handiwork. A gasp followed by the proclamation ‘it’s warm!’ caused the rest of the cats to chuckle at the naivete before shyly repeating the same motion. Brooms raced around as the fireworks went off, weaving through the falling streaks as if it were another quidditch drill. The charm protected them from harm, the sparks and debris felt like a cool shower rain.
Bursts of blue and purple illuminated their faces and Quin pulled to a stop, content to float in place as the rest of the world continued around him. Ryker’s loud shouting sounded like a gleeful trumpet and he swooped after Basil, trying to grab onto the end of the other boy’s broom in a game of tag.
They were too old to shriek with the same excitement they’d had as children, back during those years of school, but the joy was evident on their faces as they hurled taunts back and forth. It didn’t take long to rope Wyatt into the sport as well and they swarmed about like bees, flying frantically and sporadically in the bright spectacle falling down over them.
“What’re you doing?” The ex keeper pulled to a stop in front of the blonde, going from 60 to 0 almost instantaneously, one of his old favorite tricks. The noble paused, watching the reds and golds reflected in the other’s eyes. The colors suited him well, cascading across his face like a flame. This cinched it, Ryker should’ve been a Gryffindor. But Quin couldn’t be more grateful to the old hat, that the other three had been spared the lion and herded into the barrels by the kitchen.
“Just watching.”
“Watchin’ what?” Another voice asked from his right side suddenly.
“You spacing out or something?” It certainly felt like they were suspended in space, what with all the heat from the lights and the way they orbited around in the air. Wyatt tapped his fingers on the hilt of his broom, the rhythm of the explosions reminding him of a song. He couldn’t place a name on it, nor remember the lyrics perfectly but he was certain it was one of Basil’s. The younger boy always knew the best bands, probably something his mum had to do with.
A silence fell as the four sat suspended in air. Despite this trip to boost their spirits, the heaviness of what awaited at their return still hung over a few of them. The flashiness of the night had distracted them momentarily but a break in the show was just enough time for a dark thought or two to plague them.
The optimist whispered a word or two to liven things up again and a small orb of light fell to the clutter of cardboard beneath them.
The brunette grinned as the sparks began to shoot up in quick succession, eliciting murmurs and whoops of surprised approval. The purebloods hadn’t expected much from the muggle fireworks but it looked like they could hold their own against wand-produced ones.
“Follow me!” He led the way to the ground, almost landing and waited for the rest to follow in obedient confusion. The white glowing lights shot up like rapid fire rockets and crackled like static amplified by twenty. Milk chocolate eyes glanced at them, up to the shower of lightning streaking across the sky, and back at his friends challengingly. An eyebrow cocked an unspoken message, ‘ready?’
Basil nodded and Wyatt took off first, the rush of the wind filling his ears as he took off vertically with the fireworks, the force of them hitting him with a slight pressure that reminded him of days in the backyard with Senka and the hose. He laughed and twisted the broom to spin as he continued his ascent, the world swirling as stars and falling dots of glamor begin to merge and blend and the sounds of something powerful exploding in his ears overwhelming his senses. He could smell the heavy scent of ash and whatever powder they put in the formulas strongly.
An intense wave of dizziness overcame him and he steered his broom back to a stable horizontal position, struggling to not throw up through his laughter. The roaring of the firecrackers died out and faded as the last of the shimmering dust rained down.
After this, they’d go back to their busy lives tiptoeing around whatever was quietly brewing behind closed doors and praying the other three would be smart enough to stay out of trouble. The world fell to darkness again, save for a few lights twinkling above. It was cold and the stars were too far out of reach to offer much comfort or visibility.
The brightness of each other would do just fine though.
Yamashii Community Member 
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