Clash of the Forts

[Tristan Howard]

Saturday July 5, 2008
12:06 P.M.[/i]

Today was the day. He got his tools and he was ready. Everyone was out of the manor, except for the ghoul, but who cares about him. After today, the family will ENJOY their masterpiece that they will see unexpectly. This could get him in trouble, but this is for the fun and for other reasons that cannot be disclosed.

He walked beside his enermous house, tried to climb, but it was hard. He would get 3/4 of the way and fall down. Weird enough he was injured. "Wait a minute, I'm a wizard," he said smacking his forehead. He grabbed to tools, and pulled out his wand. "Accio Firebolt! he yelled. The broomstick came flying. The broomstick was about 14 years old. It wasn't the fastest anymore. One of the slowest to be exact compared to other brooms that are out. He hopped on his broom and flew to the top of the roof.

As he landed, he threw the broomstick to the ground that was a long way down. It'll prolly fly back to it's place. He sent a letter to Drew from his owl to start working on the thing as well and the owls had as well a rope with a spaghetti-O can with it too. He got his tools, really wasn't tools, more like bricks, and clay, and other stuff. "Wingardium Leviosa!" was the spell he started to use.

((closed))

[Drew Thornton]

Saturday July 5, 2008
12:07 P.M.

Drew had gotten up early on the fifth of July, despite having to stay up extra late to allow his Great-Aunt Abigail to fuss at him the night before. She apparently did not appreciate the massive amounts of fireworks he had set off in the middle of her London neighborhood. She called it a crass demonstation of American arrogance. Drew called it patriotism, which he felt was his right even if he was overseas.

She would probably be even less appreicative of the fort he was planning to build, a bookend to his treehouse at Hogwarts and an oposition to the fort that was hopefully being built on top of the Howard Mansion. Ah well. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. She was currently spending her time at a Witches' Garden Party in Ottery St. Catchpole and wouldn't be home for hours.

Drew had manged to Leviosa all of his supplies to the roof of Aunt Abigail's spacious townhome and had climbed up after. At the moment, he was attaching a can to a long piece of string. His can was not Spagetti-os though. His end of the communication device was an empty can of Juanita's Menudito, a soup his Aunt could not stand, but which he missed dearly being in Britian. His mom had sent him a case at the start of summer and promised him another when she visited at the end of the month.

The can now attached to the string, Drew tapped on it with his wand. It was impractical to have a connecting string that would span from the Howard's to where Drew was staying, but with a simple spell, they would get clear reception even with a few feet.

"DUDE! Hey, Tristan! You there?" Drew called into his can, wondering if the Gryffindor was there yet.

[Tristan Howard]

drew said:

"DUDE! Hey, Tristan! You there?" Drew called into his can, wondering if the Gryffindor was there yet.

The can started to talk. He laughed and picked up the can. "DUDE! It works! Cool beans. Started to work on your fort yet?" he asked as he set down the can. The can started to slip off the roof. He then cast a spell to cause it to stay where it was.

After a few minutes, he already had the first part done. Well, he was magical. And when your magical. It doesn't take long. But just how big will this fort be? Oh, you will find out soon enough. He started casting a bunch of spells to put the bricks where they should be. He then wiped the sweat off his head. "Whew," he said.

Sad enough, he wasn't even a 1/4 done. He still HAD a lot to do.

[Drew Thornton]

"EXCELLENT!" Drew cried out as Tristan responded. The Gryffindor's voice got a little jumbled for a moment there, but then it came out loud and clear once more.

"I got all my stuff and I was just getting started," Drew told him as he did a Leviosa on his end of the connection, making a virtual speaker phone. He could hear activity happening on the other end and it prompted Drew to get started with his own fort.

[Tristan Howard]

"AH! BLOODY BOOTY HEAD!" he cried out in pain, as one of the bricks accidentally slipped onto Tristan's foot hard. He would deal with it.

"I swear, at least I don't smoke fags (British term for cigarettes, if anyone didn't know). Otherwise, I would need one," Tristan said.

He started to work again.

Time was flying, but the work progress was getting higher. Right about now, he was atleast 46% completed. And it has been only 30 minutes.

"Drew...." he said panting, "you... doing.. any good?" he asked him.

[Drew Thornton]

The swearing caught Drew off guard, mostly because he had gotten out of the cussing habit by hanging out with Felicity so much. She would have been upset by such language, but he just laughed.

The smoking comment threw him for a loop though, still not quite used to venacular despite spending so many years in Britian. Of course Drew knew what Tristan was saying, but it took him a moment to realize it.

Drew's building material of choice was lumber, being as it was much more lightweight and easier to use. He was just about done with his frame when Tristan called over to him.

"Yeah, dude, I'm good. You okay on that end?" he answered with a bit of a smirk. "Sounds like you're having some difficulty over there."

[Tristan Howard]

"Nah, dude. Just a minor damage effect," he said lying. His foot was red, he could feel it.

But that didn't stop him from started back to his fort. After chit-chatting with Drew and working on the fort for about three hours. Were they done?

"Are you done with yours yet?" he asked. As he had one last part to it. He was ready for this thing to officially open.

[Drew Thornton]

"Done?" Drew asked, thinking he still needed to reinforce some of the corners, construct an armory, and erect a flagpole. What was a fort without a flagpole? "Uh... almost..." Drew stammered, thinking he could easily work on his end for another couple of hours.. days even.

"Andrew!" his Great Aunt called up from one of the upstairs windows. "What in the name of Merlin's beard are you doing up there? You're disturbing the neighbors!"

Drew didn't bother pointing out that her yelling out the window was probably doing the same thing. "Almost done Aunt Abigail!" he called back, thinking that settled the matter. he turned back to his makeshift speaker phone and spoke to Tristan. "Almost done on this end."

[Tristan Howard]

"YEAH!!!" he screamed as he was finished. He then did a back-flip on the roof, almost losing his balance. "Whoa," he said.

"Well, Drew. I have completed my fortress. Making sure of any flaws," he said as he was inspecting the fort. He casted a spell to keep it steady and glued for life. "Ahh, completed." he stated as he then opened up his door.

The big fort was a two story-fort. It wasn't a big fort, it was a size of a big tee house. He had to figure out who to put in here. Maybe like a bunch of bananas, or water balloons or something.

"HEY DREW! ARE YOU DONE!?" he yelled loud as he can, since he was inside.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew's fort was small but sturdy, a one room structure That he had put up with very little magic. It was a requirement of being in the middle of Muggle London.

He hadn't had time in one afternoon to do everything he wanted to, but he had gotten the basics. He could put the details in later. He was in the middle of getting the flagpole to stay upright when he heard Tristan hollering.

"Almost there!" Drew called back, grunting as he pushed the pole against his fort wall and grabbed a hammer to nail it steady.

[Tristan Howard]

drew said:

"Almost there!" Drew called back, grunting as he pushed the pole against his fort wall and grabbed a hammer to nail it steady.

"OKAY!" he yelled back.

As he waited, he got impatient. He then grabbed a "cannon" or more of a potato cannon. He pulled out a spaghetti-O can, that hasn't been opened yet. He "fired" up the cannon, and put the can inside. Then he pulled the trigger and...

BOOM!

A loud bang fired and the cans went through the ceiling, creating a gigantic hole, smoke was rising as the cans went higher. Spaghetti-O's started to pour down like rain all over the streets.

"YEAH! LET'S DO IT AGAIN!" he yelled excitingly.

Then he thought of something. Maybe Drew was doing the same thing. THE FLAG! He left the flag on the ground. He exited the "fort" and yelled "Accio Ladder!" he yelled as a steel ladder came flying and fitted in perfectly. He climbed down.

"Wait a minute, I could of just used my broomstick!" he said, smacking his head. He picked up his flagpole and climbed back up. Went back inside and started to place the flagpole in. He had trouble putting it in tight enough so it won't fall.

If anyone were to read the flag, it said "Fort Dude". Why did he choose that name for his fort? Don't ask.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew heard a lot of yelling and commotion on the onther end of his can transmiter, but didn't know what to make of it. For one, he wasn't sure Tristan was talking to him, and for second, he was dealing with his own difficulties.

"HOLD ON A SEC, DUDE!" the Ravenclaw called back, though it was unclear who Tristan had been yelling at. He had cut his flagpole on the tal side and was having a problem getting it to stand upright. He leaned up against it, trying to keep it steady as he tried to reach the nails. After struggling for a few moments, he gave up and summoned them. That far up on the roof, there was no chance of a Muggle seeing him anyway, so what was the big deal if he used a little magic?

[Tristan Howard]

Officially completed. Or so he thought at least.

He then walked out of the fort and sat down near the can waiting for an confirmation from Drew. He started to think of stuff from the past. Flashbacks went from seeing a green light flasing in the Shrieking Shack in his fourth year. Finding Avery Thorne dead. Seeing the Dark Mark for the first time. His parents, his grandfather. Drew's capture. He was amazed he was even alive. Then it was the Deva Invasion of Hogwarts.

"Where was I?" he asked himself quietly. Usually Tristan is always there at something bad happens, but he can't seem to remember where he was at that time.

"I'm done, Drew," he said in a calm tone.

[Drew Thornton]

"Just... just a se...cond!" Drew grunted, finally getting the pole to stand upright as he banged a couple of nails into it. The problem was he needed to hold the pole, hold the hammer, and hold the nails. He tried to lean up against it, stedying the thing with his own body, but it slipped and went crashing to the roof.

"Andrew!" he heard his aunt's voice again. "I prefer that you not hold hippogriff polo up there!"

"OKAY!" Drew called back, grunting as he got the pole up again and this time sticking it with a charm. Again, no Muggle could see him way up on the roof, could they?

[Tristan Howard]

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Numerous of cannons were bursting out potatoes and everything. Smoke rising and all of that. Then he realized that could cause a distraction and bring the Daily Prophet on their front door step. But something worse than the Daily Prophet came. It was Grandma Celly.

She saw the fort and littearly SCREAMED like if she was getting murdered. "TRISTAN SHAWN HOWARD!!! WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!!!?!??" Grandma Celly yelled loud enough that the whole neighborhood could hear it. "Uh, it's, uh.... DREW! You talk!" he said yelling back at the can. Dunno if he heard it.