·Harry Potter and the super bowl breach
"Chapter 1"
Harry Potter still couldn't believe that there were dementors all the way out here. Had Lord voldemort's power grown so quickly in the months which had gone by since Peter Pettigrew
had revived his old master? If so, the Wizarding community had a lot to worry about.
What was even more disturbing was the fact that the dementors been brazen enough to attack
not only Harry but Dudley as well. Dudley was a Muggle and the product of a family which
didn't want anything to do with witches and wizards. Dudley was no threat to Voldemort or
any other wizard -- with the possible exception of his old punching bag, Harry Potter. The
only explanation Harry could think of was that Voldemort had taken control of the dementors
and was confident enough to have them start attacking Muggles in the open.
Most disturbing of all, however, was the fact that the Ministry seemed to be doing anything
possible to interfere with the protection of the Muggles. When Harry had shown the spirit of
Gryffindor and cast the Patronus Charm to dispel the dementor attack Dudley, the Ministry
had responded with a Howler citing him for inappropriate use of magic by a minor. Instead of
the expected award for bravery, he had gotten a provisional expulsion from Hogwarts and a
summons to a disciplinary hearing.
This was not fair. Could Voldemort had already taken over the Ministry as well as the
dementors? He hoped not, as that could cause a cataclysm worse than the one which had
killed his parents and left him with the Dursleys.
The Order of the Phoenix was still on his side, however. He watched as they lined up outside
his aunt and uncle's house ready to whisk him to safety at a secret safe house in London.
They were led by Alastair Moody, the famous Auror. Judging from the man's reactions to
him, it clearly WAS Alastair Moody and not some impostor hiding under the Polyjuice
Potion.
Sparks flew in the air, and Moody launched his broomstick into the skies. The rest of the
Order followed him, including Harry. Soon, they were in the clouds and away from the eyes
of prying Muggles.
A short while later, they approached London. Flying into the capital was going to be tricky
because of the possibility that Muggles might see them. Thankfully the moon wasn't visible:
had it been lighting up the sky, there could have been trouble.
The convoy flew down over the Thames and started heading towards their destination. At
Harry's side was Nymphadora Tonks, a young witch who had an uncanny ability to change
her appearance. Together, in silence, the convey skimmed over the water, leaving virtually no
wake in their path.The boat came at them, around the curve of the river, so quickly that the wizards didn't have
much time to react. Moody barked an order, and the convoy increased its speed to the point
where any Muggles watching from the ship would see just a blur and attribute it to a bird.
Harry veered over to the port side of the ship. Tonks bore left and passed by the starboard
side. Harry watched running lights go by in a blur as he flew by. He was surprised to find
several unusually bright lights illuminating a section near the stern of the ship. Those weren't
running lights, he thought. Someone was either making a video or a Muggle movie. Probably
some couple on their honeymoon, he thought.
He wondered whether he should alert the others to the possibility that the Muggles might
have caught the wizards on film. He dismissed the threat, however. Trained Aurors like
Moody and Lupin presumably understood the possibility and were casting charms to dispel
the Muggles' attention. Harry knew that it took years of training to become an Auror. With all
that extra experience, they could probably do things which Harry couldn't even conceive of.
He dismissed the possibility of Muggle detection and concentrated on the task at hand:
getting himself away from the dementors. He glanced briefly at Lupin, who nodded to him.
His hypothesis had been correct: Lupin had been blocking the view from the Muggles.
Reassured at last, he continued on towards 12 Grimmauld Place wondering what would await
him there.
Had Harry understood that Lupin's nod was simply a comment saying that Harry was now
safe from Voldemort, things would have been a whole lot different. For the Disillusionment
Charm which everything relied on would be good at preventing Muggles from seeing
him...but not video cameras.
To be continued...
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Update #1
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August 7, 1995
Thames River
London, England
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David Stern had no idea that filming a Super Bowl commercial would be so difficult.
Granted, Blast Cola had had an excellent quarter and more stores were selling Blast than ever
before. However, the ability to sell soft drinks didn't translate well to making fancy
commercials.
The CEO had paid over $3 million to acquire a 30-second slot for Blast. Now it was up to
Stern, whom the CEO had tapped to actually make the commercial. The CEO had told him
that he could spend up to $2 million on this commercial, and that his job would be on the line
if it didn't live up to expectations.
He had given the advertisement a lot of thought and had decided that he'd have a young
couple drinking Blast in several countries on a round-the-world honeymoon tour. They had
already filmed segments in Rome, Shanghai, Moscow, Honolulu, and San Francisco. Now, it
was time for LondonStern had decided immediately that the scene would be shot from the Thames on a luxury
cruise liner. The couple would be drinking Blast in their cabin's private balcony with the city
skyline lit up at night. It would make a beautiful scene, and it would set the stage for the final
shot in Tempe, where the game would actually be played.
The stars in the commercial were actually two gorgeous employees who worked for Blast.
The man's name was Jake Myerson. He was 26 and was a quality control specialist. The
woman, Rebecca Marshall, was 24 and worked in accounting. Not only were they attractive,
but rumor has it they had the hots for each other. That made the commercial even easier. They
wouldn't have to put on any false airs to flirt with each other.
Getting the actors to memorize the scripts was one thing. Getting all the cameras, lights, and
so forth in the cabin was something entirely different, however. Beds had to be moved a few
feet to make room for lights. The TV had to be taken off the wall, and the film had to be
placed in the minifridge to keep it from spoiling -- after all, cold film tended to work better
than warm film.
Eventually, however, everything was ready. Stern told the actors to take their positions on the
balcony. Big Ben was coming up on the starboard -- behind the couple when seen through the
camera -- and Stern really wanted Big Ben in the shot. What else truly exemplified England?
He hoped that this shot would work out. If not, they'd have to rent the boat AGAIN and it
would take time. Money wouldn't be a problem. However, several crew members were
getting a bit antsy. They hadn't been home for several weeks and were getting homesick.
London was their last stop, and many people were praying that this shot would pass muster.
Stern watched as Big Ben drifted closer and closer. He lifted up his hand and raised all five
fingers in the air. The thumb went down. 5, 4...
At 3, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. All he could see was a distortion of some
sort, an area where the view of the other side of the river seemed to be twisted in some way.
It seemed to be flying in the air towards them, very quickly. It was too small to be a
helicopter and flying too slowly.
The countdown continued. 2, 1, 0. The lights turned on and the actors began their script.
HER: "Jake, look at this! Big Ben! Just like in the books!"
HIM: "I see, Becky! It's beautiful! Look at all the history there!"
HER: "Can you take a picture of me with it in the background?"
HIM: "I'm afraid I can't right now, honey."
HER: "Why not?"
The camera turned to show Jake with a video camera at his feet and a bottle of Blast Cola in
his hand. Behind him, out over the river, the bird grew larger and larger. Oddly enough, it
wasn't flapping its wings. Must be a kite, Stern thought.The commercial continued as Jake pointed at the bottle of Blast. "Because of my Blast Cola.
The tangy, fruity flavor cheers me up and make all of our problems just pass us by like
phantoms in the night."
The line came out perfectly for a change. What was even more impressive is that the
distortion flew right behind Jake from the perspective of the cameraman. He couldn't tell
what it was in real time, but whatever it was had added immeasurably to the shot by
symbolizing the "problems" that were passing the speaker by.
Rebecca, who couldn't see the distortion, continued as if nothing had happened. "All right,
Jake. I understand now. Go ahead, indulge yourself in Blast. We can always take the boat
again if you want the Big Ben shot."
Perfect, Stern thought. Just perfect! With a fist pump, he said: "CUT! That's a wrap, boys!
PERFECT!"
Everyone cheered and began cleaning up the set.
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To be continued....
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