FicWad

Men in robes were not an unfamiliar sight in the Blue Dragon. The area was home to a wide variety
of mystics and eccentrics. These men were different. They were hard men, as hard as the group that
was sitting in the far corner. The other customers look down at their drinks as they passed by. Most
of the regulars decided to make it an early night. Big Jim's gang and the Death Eaters eyed each other
across the empty pub.

Big Jim moved first. At his signal, his men rushed into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and grabbed the
terrified Dudley.

The Death Eaters met them at the door to the shop.

"Give us the boy, muggle," Jugson said to Big Jim.

"Step aside you crazies."

Jugson drew his wand.

"Oh, look boys, a pointy stick," Big Jim said. "Getting all high and mighty, are we?"

Big Jim drew his gun.

Jugson flicked his wand and repeated the incantation to transfigure steel into silk. In a moment the
gun would be a bunch of coloured ribbons and Big Jim and his gang would be frozen with fear.

The Dark Lord had explained the technique to him. "When you attack a muggle for the first time,
always begin, if possible by a simple transfiguration spell. Muggles will sometimes withstand a hex
or a curse, but the mere sight of a solid object changing form before their eyes never fails to inspire
irrational panic."

The Death Eaters smiled and waited. Nothing happened. The gun remained as hard and black as the
look on Big Jim's face. The spell had failed because the gun was mainly plastic with only a few parts in steel,
a new model that Big Jim had smuggled in from Austria at great expense.

"Move, you freak."

Big Jim's fist slammed into Jugson's stomach and he went down. Rosier knocked Big Jim over with
a stunning spell. The rest of Big Jim's gang drew their guns.

The Death Eaters dived for cover. They had never faced muggles armed with guns before. They
knew that, in theory, a sufficiently powerful shield charm would stop a bullet, but no wizard had ever
want to put that theory to the test.

Spells and bullets flew across the narrow street and into the shop. Harry heard the noise and ran down
stairs. Dudley was hiding behind a counter. Harry cast a shield charm that gave Dudley a few seconds
to get upstairs. Harry bolted the door and followed him.

Rosier transfigured Joey's gun into a banana. Joey sank to the ground gibbering with fear and
disbelief. None of the other gangsters saw the spell and the fought on.

Someone set fire to the shop. Harry and Dudley were trapped upstairs. The stairway was burning
and the street below was filled with Death Eaters and gangsters Harry mounted his Firebolt and held
out his wand. "Get on behind me and hold on," he told a terrified Dudley.

"Reducto!" Harry shouted.

Harry's spell blasted away the wall and part of the roof. The timbers of the shop exploded in flame.
He flew and Dudley flew out under cover of the smoke.

Aurors and police arrived at exactly the same time, at opposite ends of the street. The Aurors ignored
Jim's gang, who rushed past them to the waiting get away cars. The Death Eaters blasted their way
past the police with their wands and reached the Portkey.

Aurors and police faced each other across the empty street. Later that evening the Minister of Magic
paid an urgent visit to the muggle Prime Minister to sort things out and concoct a cover story.