The Start of a Beautiful Co-Dependence

Jack turned with her friend, feeling very much like a spy as she did. Perhaps not a spy- but definitely something along the lines of a ninja. Turning allowed her a three-sixty degree view of the small crowd that had congregated, though they had all been kind enough to give them a small radius of space to fight their latest opponents.

Poe inquired about her fireworks and a devilish grin unfolded on her face without any prompting from her. "I sort of make them for a living." Jack grinned. It had started with just selling the original Weasleys fireworks. But she had spent a summer taking them apart and playing with them so she had taught herself just how to make them. She found herself grinning at his approval.

And the countdown began, barely giving Jack enough time to conjure a small flame from her wand and late the fuse. There was a brief poignent silence between his last number and then- BOOM! The fireworks burst into the crowd, showering colorful sparks over the patrons of the bar. Jack felt a rise of pride at her explosives, momentarily distracted whilst admiring her handiwork.

"You what -" Nemo had been distracted. Thus, he had not anticipated the thunderous crack with which Jack's fireworks detonated, and to the ground in a startled flinch he'd squatted. Eyes brimming with awe, Nemo was briefly absorbed by the show before him; the flurry of brilliant colors that had set the Leaky's heavy air alight.

He missed a beat before he successfully drew himself from his speculations and sprung to his feet, spinning as he so loved to do. He was the twirling brawler. The ballet martial artist.

And Jack had been most accurate in her assumption that her fireworks would prove an sufficient diversion. "Stupify!" "Stupify!" "Expulso!" "Locomotor Mortis!" Nemo assaulted those around him, who's attention had been stolen by the sparks that proceeded to rain down upon them. One after another, Nemo spat the incantations aloud, following each by the appropriate motion of his wand. With such haste did he move, as to make it appear as though he were engaging in a brilliantly choreographed dance.

For the duel was what Nemo thrived on; what he had been born to do.

"Obscuro!" "Petrificus Totalus!" "Stupify!" "Tarantallegra!" Nemo doubled over with laughter as his target began to dance with wild abandon, before Nemo turned to face Jack again, to whom he offered a genuinely appreciative smile. Never before had Nemo Omara so thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Jack had lived in America for awhile, and Fourth of July had been the only holiday she had allowed her parents to include her in the celebrations of. One year, they had decided that they did not feel like going out. Seven year old Jack had climbed down from her second story room and ran all of the way to the local high school to watch the celebrations there from the fence at the football field. Luckily, her parents had never noticed.

Therefore, it was not a surprise that she had a flare (ha! pun) for fireworks and explosives. They had always been a sort of back burner interest. In school, she had been too focused on juggling school, Quidditch, and detention. (And then later Potter's Army). The only inclination she had about her potential in the area was her zeal for explosive spells.

So, while she heard Poe having his own fun hexing everybody while they coughed and dodged the sparks, she had her own task at hand. Like a conductor gently instructing her orchestra, Jack waved her wand, controlling the fireworks. She split them, letting half follow their own chaotic instincts. Two she sent in a perpeutal spiral, another corkscrewed in circles around a table of menstrating witches, and growing one particularly pesky orange flare.

Her eyes had been squinted and a peaceful smile rested on her lips. She glanced over at Poe just as he did and they shared a large smile. Jack grinned wider. So, was that it now? Friends.

She motioned to the door, backing towards him. In a low voice, she said, barely above the fireworks, "If we are getting out anytime, it had better be now."

A similar laugh to those which had continuously leapt from Nemo's lips that evening bubbled forth, "So much for loosing!" He sprinted towards the bar at Jack's mention of their flee from the scene of the crime after ensuring that her eyes had been otherwise occupied; there was no need to be reprimanded for his brief bout of kleptomania, after all. (Though Nemo was not entirely certain such a 'talking to' would be earned from Jack after the chaotic happenings which she too had taken part in.) And beneath Nemo's ever-present military jacket, he stored the most expensive bottle of hard liquor that he'd found.

"Run, Forest! Run!" He shouted as he returned to Jack's side, and in a flurry of giggles he split towards the door and skidded into the muggy evening air.

Jack was still conducting her fireworks as Poe called out to her. She smirked and yelled back, "I guess we're not good enough at it yet." She laughed, and spotted a man heading after Poe, probably to stop the latter from nicking any alcohol. She pointed her wand at a purple firework and flicked her wand towards the man. It followed her wand tip like the tail of a shooting star and went right between his legs. Jack jabbed the wand up and the purple sparks twisted up towards his face. He backtrapped and tripped, falling on to his butt and cursing loudly.

She heard Poe tell her to run and he ran past her. Dropping control of the fireworks, she hurtled after him, reaching deep into her pocket. At the doorway, she thrust her hand into her pockets and pulled out a handful of coins. She flung them into the crowd and yelled, "Drinks on me!" She stepped back and slammed the door. With that, she turned and looked around for her friend. "Poe?"

"We have company, McDonald..." Nemo announced as he stepped around the corner and into The Savior's field of vision, confined to the rough grip of the auror that had seized him. "Boy, you're all hands aren't you?" Nemo mocked as he struggled against the other man, though his tone possessed a bitterness which did not frequently accompany his words.

"Jaquellene Dyllan, Nemo -"

"Mortimer, you sonofa -" Nemo corrected with another sharp tear of his arm against the auror.

"Omara. You are to report at once to the Minister under custody of the Ministry of Magic."

Jack turned to look at Poe, a big smile of her face as she planned to explain what she had just so brilliant done to quiet those behind at the bar. When he stepped out, though, the smile wiped from her face. Poe was detained by an Auror, and an Auror Jack knew well. He was always showing up at sites where she took in offenders of her department's laws. Any Ministry official could technically arrest anyone, so what Jack did was legal. But this guy, a man named Nikolai Eldon, was always there and pissy when she shrugged him off. And now he was exacting revenge.

However, Jack was still pretty drunk. So rather than handling the situation sneakily or with grace, she blurted, "F-ck me."

She shifted her feet, pulling her knapsack higher on her back. "What the hell are you doing, Nikolai! You can't just arrest us! It was defense. We'll go but let him go, for Chrissakes!"

Oh boy. It was just like detention again.

Nikolai was not deterred by neither Nemo's nor Jack's outbursts; rather, he appeared to have been further fueled by the curses they spat. "I think not," He sneered and pulled Nemo snugly against himself, an action to which Nemo promptly responded with yet another statement from his abundant supply of sexual remarks, "If you're gonna ride my ass the least you can do is pull my hair."

"Oh, very amusing Mr. Omara. Bravo." He then cast a glance over Jack's shoulder and commanded the auror whom had waited patiently in her shadow with a firm nod of his head. With the same merciless grind of crumbled fists and carving knuckles with which Nikolai had secured Nemo, Jack was pulled against her assigned escort.

"You won't be getting out of this one, Jaquellene. I assure."

And with an abrupt and thus quite startling pop!, to the Ministry they apperated.