When Worlds Collide

Chapter 14 - Frying Pan to Fire

However bad the stresses life decided to hand out as a bitter after-dinner mint, they could be somewhat alleviated with a thick creamy flavourful coffee from the sun-kissed table of 'Dulce Vita'. Tony revelled in this knowledge as the muggle magic of the mochaccino slid down her throat, warming it. She smiled across the coffee table as she watched Trina stare quizzically down at her latte - no doubt wondering why it was served in a glass.

"Why is it just Dulce Vita that serves this in a glass?" Trina queried. "It's stupid. It's too hot for me to pick up!"

"That's the point," Tony responded. "It's for decorative purposes only."

"Oh, well that makes it all right then."

Tony leaned back in one of the soft red lounge seats that the café had by its window. This was the sunniest spot of the place, and by far the most comfortable. A polished wooden coffee table squatted between the three seats, and had the two coffees perched on it, as well as a slice of mud cake the two girls were sharing.

"Y'know," mused Tony, absently licking the prongs of her fork clean from her last bite, "as much as I like English accents, it's nice to not have them around for a while."

"Yeah. They were starting to get rather unco-operative and making things hard."

Tony raised her eyebrows incredulously at the understatement referring to their new companions, but didn't say anything as she took another sip of coffee.

"They're not the most happy uplifting people," Trina continued.

"It does put things a bit in perspective though. I mean, we have something that millions of parents worldwide would skin their teeth for, for their kids."

Trina raised a brow. "And that would be...? Surely not having them here, because most parents aren't after that."

"We have found the cure for Potter-world Infatuations! I liked Draco, you sorta liked Bon-Bon, but now it's all I can do to not rip Draco's head off, and you don't look like you've given Ron much thought in the check-him-out way."

"Well, we have had more urgent things to worry about."

"That, and now we've been around them long enough to realise they're more than pretty faces, and we can't shut them up just by closing a book or pressing stop on the DVD remote."

"Somehow I'm not as comforted as it sounded like I should have been."

"At least we're not likely to see them again once we've dropped them off in England," Tony reassured her friend. "They're nice enough people, I'm sure, well, with the exception of one, but when they're millions of miles from home they wouldn't be the first choice of company."

"All considered, they're coping reasonably well now, I guess. No doubt Hermione will be enjoying herself at the library," Trina said. "Now let's just hope the boys don't destroy anything in the flat, or Antonia will kill me."

"Harry should be able to set them straight about muggle stuff," Tony assured her. "Y'know, impart jewels of wisdom like 'Those sockets in the walls aren't designed to hold forks'."

"How are the sales of your car and computer going? We can get outta here when they're gone, right?"

"Yeah, just finalising stuff. Got a guy coming to see the car later, and I'd posted all the specs of my computer on Trade Me, so that doesn't get visitors - I just courier it off. I have a buyer already, so I'll post it this morning."

"So it's all coming along then. Minimal glitches."

"Yeah," Tony affirmed, and leaned back in her chair with her coffee cup in hand. Comfortable silence settled over the two girls, and Trina basked in the sunlit morning's glow.

It was by a small shriek and a burst of adrenalin that Trina started out of her reverie. Tony had suddenly tried to swallow her coffee with her nose, it seemed. Or perhaps she'd just seen a premonition of her death. Or both. Her eyes were wide, and hacking coughs of recovery followed the invading spray of coffee that had flown in Trina's direction.

"Oh, unbelievably gross, Tony!" Trina was distinctly unimpressed as she wiped the drops of caffeinated wetness from her jacket. She looked up to see Tony still looking shell-shocked, her hand over her mouth. "Oh, it's a little late for that! The coffee already left that port!" Tony still didn't move. "Ok, what?"

It was like talking to a cardboard cut-out before Tony slowly and quietly said, "We got our passports, didn't we?"

"Yes," Trina said, rolling her eyes. "We sorted that out back in Hastings!"

Tony didn't look comforted, but in fact continued, "So I have a passport. And...you have a passport."

Trina was starting to look at Tony as though there may have been something unhealthy in the coffee.

"So we have two passports," Tony continued. "But, we have six people."

Trina froze as she shared in the realisation. "What are we going to do?" she said tentatively.

"Um...I don't think we should mention it to the others. Luckily for us, it obviously hasn't occurred to Harry or Hermione that they'd all need one. Let's hope it stays like that."

"Until when?!" Trina said almost hysterically. "There's no point in applying for one for each of them! It doesn't work that easily!"

"I know, I know," Tony said hurriedly. "We'll think of something."

"Like what? We're going to swim over there?!"

"We could figure out a way to contact someone who could help, maybe. Perhaps we could start with Wiccan stores and the like. May not be the thing we're looking for, but maybe wizards would use them for fronts or something."

"Sound like you're grasping at straws."

"Better than thin air. Until we get our plan in order, pretend that nothing's wrong." Tony looked to the ceiling in frustration. "Oh, I can't believe I didn't think of that!"

"So what are we going to do here in Auckland, in the meantime?"

"We'll just keep them distracted for a bit. Take them to the Sky Tower. Take them to Rainbow's End." A smile ticked at the corner of her mouth as she added, "Take them to Fear Fall."

Trina couldn't think of anything to say. So she didn't. She just sat.

They both did.

~<>~

Back at the flat, life was continuing in its sweet, vindictive, homicidal way.

"Ron's not 'dirt poor'!" Harry was yelling. "You take that back, Malfoy!"

"Don't mind if I do," Draco said nonchalantly as he snatched his t-shirt back from Ron's inquisitive fingers. "I don't care what kind of inanimate natural object he's as poor as - the fact is he'll never afford the clothes I wear."

"I liked him better drunk," Ron muttered to Harry through gritted teeth. "He didn't stick his nose in our business, with his hangover."

"Believe me when I say," Draco stated loftily, "that you weren't my first choice either, when it came to who I'd pick to be lost on the other side of the world with."

"Why did you come with us anyway?" Harry said, accusingly.

"Well, Potter," Draco sneered, "it just sounded like the sunniest spot at the time. I thought I'd take a holiday. The move was perfectly under my control, of course, just like yours."

"I mean," Harry began, his voice steady but with an underlying note of rage that was common in his dialogue with Draco Malfoy, "why did you get involved in this spell thing that brought us here? You usually have your idiot cronies Crabbe and Goyle with you. Find a better idol, did they?"

Draco frowned, but then gave a patronising smile as he responded, "They'd be hard pressed to find better than me in that excuse for a school, Potter. Especially with you in the student number. However well off those two have done with attaching themselves to me with their parasitic presence, they were in fact stuffing their faces in the Great Hall at the time of our holiday departure. I just happened to be fairly near you at the time."

"Going to hex us, probably," Ron muttered at him, darkly.

"Your gift of foresight is admirable, Weasel."

"Your attitude is really not helping, here," Harry said.

"That just made you a big hypoppotamuscrite!" Draco retorted.

Harry was so surprised at the childish word-meld, that he didn't fire a comeback. "Why do you hate us all so much, Malfoy?" Harry said. "What's your problem with me?"

Draco seemed rather taken aback at this sudden turn to seriousness; at an attempt at a decent conversation, as if they were on good terms. At first he was flustered into speechlessness, but after a moment's thought and an indignant sneer, concluded with, "You want me to be nice to you, Potter? Give me a reason."

Harry and Draco were still facing each other down in the silent wake of this poignant ultimatum when Trina and Tony walked in.

"What'd I miss?" Tony said curiously.

"Nothing," Draco said abruptly, still looking determinedly at Harry.

"Can I have a look at Harry's eyes after you, Draco?" Trina asked. "I hear from many female fans of his that they're supposed to be riveting, but I never quite took that seriously until now, when I see the infamous Draco Malfoy bewitched by their brilliance."

"Very amusing," Draco said sarcastically, not budging.

Draco was torn from his challenging gaze with Harry when a sharp rap came on the door, and he looked up, startled. In realisation that'd Potter had stared him down he scowled deeply and left the room, Ron's amused taunting following him.

Harry turned to see Tony talking with the visitor, and he heard her say, "That's the car - do you want to test drive it?" It was the potential buyer, then.

As Tony left to go to the car with the buyer, Trina said, "As soon as Hermione gets back, we're going out. Just so you know."

"Where are we going?" said Harry.

"Uh...Sky Tower, then Rainbow's End."

"Why?"

"Well, uh..." Trina tried to think of something to say that the trio would receive well, and she nervously picked at her nails. "Ok, this is why: I know you're all getting really frustrated at staying here any longer than you have to, and me and Tony have been doing tourist-y things, so we're just quickly doing these two things, and getting things generally hurried up."

Trina finished her speech, and looked at her listeners with apprehension. She wasn't sure how things would be 'hurried up', but she'd been put on the spot. She'd worry about that later.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, before Harry shrugged and said, "Okay, sure. Sounds good."

An hour and an ice cream later (Tony had bought them all one each to celebrate the successful sale of her car, and computer that she'd sent off earlier) they were all adventuring in Auckland City, courtesy of public transport. The Sky Tower hadn't been exactly boring, but Hermione constantly exclaiming on the educational aspects and making remarks about geographical location took the fun out of it a little, Harry thought. It had been vaguely disturbing to stand on clear flooring so far above the high city buildings below. Ron didn't want to get too near the walls, which were thick glass all around.

Rainbow's End proved to be much more interesting, and one look at Ron's ecstatic face showed the redhead thought the same. Harry had been unsure how his friend would take the roller coaster, but in retrospect, he supposed it wasn't all that different from falling down the shaft to the Chamber of Secrets. Except that hadn't gone in sharp circles or upside down. The roller coaster crawled to a stop and Tony and the two boys walked past various sideshows to meet up with their friends just emerging from the Simulator.

"Hey," Tony called to Trina as they drew nearer, "what was showing today?"

Trina looked in surprise at a bird that had glided alarmingly close to her, before replying, "We were inside a volcano and had to drive this thing around and avoid all the spitting magma."

Tony smiled at Trina's shock over the diving bird. "I like driving the hovercraft around all the futuristic-city wreckage better."

Draco was trying to look cool and aloof, but he'd obviously enjoyed it, since his cheeks had a faint flush of pink and his eyes barely concealed a sparkle.

"The roller coaster was great," Harry said, "what's next?"

"Gold Rush!" Tony exclaimed, and took of at a run to another corner of the amusement park, the other five in hot pursuit. Soon they were all bundled into a large cart, rolling toward the yawning mouth of what appeared to be a dark mine.

"Ok," said Trina, turning around to face the four English youths as if she were imparting a pep talk, "this ride isn't scary at all. But to make it extremely fun, scream as if you're facing your doom, and when you get to the dip in the track at the end, throw your hands up in the air as if you're going down a cliff."

"It works!" Tony excitedly threw over her shoulder, and they were off. The cart built up quite a speed, and at one point looked like it was going to collide with a cart full of coals at the end of the track, but they swerved at the last second to avoid it. They zoomed past a clearly fake man mounted on a pole holding a lantern and gliding along a track, his boneless legs hanging idly.

"AUGH! DEAD MAN WALKING!" Trina screamed, and grasped at Tony's arm. Harry was amused to see Tony screaming right back, and their exhilaration added extra spark to the ride. Of course, Draco had sat at the back, determined not to show any enjoyment, but by the end of the ride the Gryffindor three were more inclined to join in the spirit of things by throwing their hands in the air and calling out a little as the cart went down the oh-so-frightening incline of a slope going down a couple of feet.

"Again! Again!" Tony excitedly called, bouncing up and down in the cart like a small child, as it slowed back to it's starting position. The Rainbow's End staff member controlling the ride laughed at them all, before setting the cart in motion again.

This time, the experience was more animated with added terror of three more people.

"IT'S THE DEAD MAN!" Tony shrieked, pointing to the floppy-legged miner gliding along his track again, and her friends screamed in response.

Harry knew it was just his imagination, but the small dip in the track at the end of the ride seemed so much steeper and so much scarier with all of them screaming as though they were plummeting to their deaths. Well, all sans Draco, that is.

"That was great," Hermione said breathlessly as they all scrambled out of the cart and began to walk to the centre of the park. "Where are we going now?"

"Hopefully something that would provoke a little more genuine interest," Draco drawled bitterly.

"I can think of one," Tony said conspiratorially, and Trina's eyes widened in trauma of the memory.

"I'm not going on that," she said firmly. "No, not ever again. I don't care what you'd pay me."

Now Draco looked more interested.

"What's that?" Ron asked, a little apprehensive.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Tony narrated in a ringmaster manner, "I give you..."

They turned the corner of a building to stand in front of a hugely high structure, and Trina finished, "...Fear Fall."

"Fear Fall?" Hermione asked.

"You go up the side of that column," explained Tony, "belted into a seat. See? There go some people now. Then you're held at the top for a few seconds, before you shoot down at the speed of gravity. People with heart problems etc aren't allowed to go on it."

Ron gulped audibly, and they all turned to watch the group of people who had gone up in the seats and now looked the size of small paper clips.

"They're just staying up there," Ron started. "It's not-"

"Just wait," prompted Tony.

Then with a click, whatever was holding the seats at the top let go, and the people came plummeting down to earth, their screams barely able to keep up with them.

"What family-friendly entertainment," Tony said with a sarcastic smile. "Of course, I'd only go near it if someone made it worth my while. Been down once - never again. 'Never' being a conditional state of mind, naturally."

"Me neither," Trina said, looking slightly sick.

"It's probably not that bad," Draco said, but he looked a little put off by what he'd just seen. "You're just dramatising it."

"Am not!"

"I might go on it," said Harry looking up to the top of the massive column. "It looks fun. And at least it's something I've never tried before, so it'll be an interesting experience."

"You'd go on that, Harry?" Ron asked incredulously. "It'll probably kill you when it hits the bottom!"

"Oh, it slows down before the bottom of course," Tony interjected, "otherwise your brain would shoot out the top of your head. I don't know exactly how high that monster is, but it probably takes less than 5 seconds to get down. Ever wondered what it felt like to fall from a 18-storey building?"

"Come with me, Ron?" Harry asked. "Hermione?"

"No way, Harry," Ron said, and Hermione didn't look overly keen either.

"We'll watch you from down here," she said.

Harry looked levelly at Draco. "You go on it," he challenged. "See if they're over-dramatising it."

Draco looked vaguely as if he'd wished he hadn't said anything.

"You going on it, Potter?"

"Why? You scared?"

"You wish."

The two boys once again stood in a face-off, and the others looked between them as if watching an exciting tennis match.

"Go," Harry once again challenged him.

After a moment's thought, Draco allowed a small smile of anticipation at the corner of his mouth to escape and he stuck out his hand as he said in a challenge, "I'll go if you go."

Harry looked down at the offered hand - a moment recreating one that happened five years earlier. With a glint in his eye, Harry looked determinedly at Draco...and took the offered hand, giving it one brisk shake before they both headed over to the bottom of Fear Fall.

Harry had noticed Ron's face of incredulous surprise before he'd approached the giant column at a run, Draco jogging behind him. He knew something formative had just happened, but he wasn't sure what.

He knew they were not friends. It wouldn't happen that easily. And there were too many things standing in the way of that anyway. For a start, no one had established where exactly Draco Malfoy's loyalties lay. Harry turned his head in mid-run to see Malfoy behind him, his pale hair being blown back by the forged breeze. His grey eyes were excited, with a glint at the challenge before him.

No, they were certainly not friends. But as the two boys were strapped into seats, Harry knew that despite the absence of friendship, they had reached an...understanding. There was no other word Harry could think of to describe it. He still didn't like the blonde on the other end of the row of seats, of course, but it seemed that since the handshake, their avid dislike for one another had reached a more neutral plane.

That in itself was more than Harry would ever have thought possible, and in the shock of that realisation he hadn't been aware that the seats had begun their slow ascent up the column, until he saw broken and dismembered limbs on the roof of the building just below. Initial terror set in before he realised they were a deliberate novelty addition of the ride. He looked over to see if Draco had noticed them. He obviously had, but his nervous excitement still outweighed his apprehension.

It was like riding in a lift - except on the outside of a building, and his legs dangled freely from his chair, his feet idly kicking at nothing, many feet from the ground. There was a click as they reached the top, and the cap on the structure held onto them. He could no longer see the expressions of his friends on the ground, but imagined Ron's nervousness and smiled.

He waited for the descent, but it didn't happen. What if they were stuck up here? What if-

Then it happened.

Harry's stomach felt like it flew out of his mouth. He was falling... so fast... The force of the air on his face as he fell was so harsh he found he couldn't keep his eyes open, so he clamped them shut... there was nothing to focus on anyway...it was moving so fast... so fast...any minute, any minute now, he pleaded. Slow down...

After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few seconds, Harry felt the presence of a new feeling, but it hadn't been what he'd imagined a slowing ride would feel like. Instead of feeling the air rushing upwards past him, it seemed to envelop him entirely, and snatch him from his very seat.

And then he hit the ground, falling forwards onto his hands and knees.

Something's wrong, he thought. The ground beneath him was gritty stone floor, not the grass of Rainbow's End. And it was night.

With a start, Harry knew he was home.

But it wasn't a good thing.