Chapter Text
The next game was Durmstrang against Ilvermorny. Most of the students stayed to watch, though a large portion of the Hogwarts and Beauxbatons teams went to get themselves patched up or simply rest from the exhilaration and adrenaline.
For example, the Nordics and Eduard, who gathered in the hospital wing, around a bed Madame Pomfrey insisted Tino stay in for a few hours after cushioning Berwald’s fall. Originally she’d wanted to kick his friends out, but after some arguing had decided it wasn’t worth it when Tino would be out soon enough. It was crowded enough in the Hospital Wing though, considering it was both Tino’s entourage plus some Beauxbatons students on the other side of the room.
Well, most of Tino’s closest friends were there.
“Where’s Lukas?” Tino asked midway through Eduard’s dramatic retelling of his point of view.“ of the match.
“Oh, him? Still in the stands, said something about wanting to make Ahlgren nervous,” Mathias said with a snort. “I think he’s making up for not getting to do that all of last semester…”
“He needs better hobbies,” Emil grumbled.
“Could be worse,” Berwald said. “Y’ could be Tino.”
“Huh? What’s that s’posed to mean?!”
“We all saw you ogle Berwald’s ass—” Mathias started, and then winced. “Ow, chillax, Big Guy, I was just joking!”
All five of them ignored the nasty glances the Beauxbatons students were giving them. d’Albret wasn’t very happy about the extreme bruising he had from some particularly rough late-game plays and a tumble post-match, and Jean-Philip Blanchet had played half of the match with what he was finding out was a sprained wrist, thanks to some Bludgeres from Ivan Braginsky and frantic maneuvering.
On the other side of the castle, in the study room, Francis distracted Arthur from his failings as a Keeper by picking a fight with him over toast. Kyle Kirkland and Lorenzo Vargas watched in fascination as Arthur changed from being a pouting mess to snapping at Francis with fury like a lion, the two taking notes for the next time Arthur was in a Mood and they needed to distract him. Broody Arthur was a scary Arthur.
Kiku had returned to the stands to watch the next game with Feliciano and Ludwig, and Yao had done the same to avoid Ivan, who was being weirdly friendly again, to Yao’s great discomfort.
And in Gryffindor Tower, Erika had been let in to try to pry her brother out of his dorm room where he’d barricaded himself, because Gilbert Beilschmidt needed to get to his trunk and find birdseed for his pet canary.
(Somehow, Ilvermorny won. Lukas seemed a little too happy about the fact that two of the Durmstrang Chasers had collided with each other, though, since his idea of “enthusiasm” was a miniscule twitch of the lips, none of his friends brought it up. It was probably just a side effect of seeing one of his bullies get some karma tossed their way.)
.
The home team had some time after that, during which Feliciano Vargas was found carrying questionable candies by an exasperated Elizabeta. When questioned however, he burst into tears and went on for ten minutes about being peer pressured…and then claimed Kiku was behind it, though he wouldn’t elaborate.
Which was taken as Feliciano getting played because Kiku? The guy who had tried to set an April Fool’s joke but only finished preparations on the 2nd? Who folded to Alfred’s persistent nagging? Who went to an Italian restaurant and somehow came out “corrupted” after a single bowl of pasta? That Kiku?
Unbelievable. So it was chalked up to Alfred, the biggest buyer of Weasley products and Gilbert convinced Ludwig to keep his mouth shut about the real culprit via a gift edition of Grimm fairytales.
The Hogwarts Library Ghost returned with a fervency that was truly astounding to the Durnstrang Quidditch team. But there was some pushback–one of the Durmstrang Chasers managed to order in gloves that repelled any jinxes and one or two of the backup players would hide out in hidden passages or keep a look-out when the team was reviewing playbooks, and the more petty tricks became almost nonexistent.
Eduard also learned just how many sweet treats he could eat before collapsing from a sugar high, but at least he’d managed to get assistants in the form of Alfred and Mathew to help run all the hardware. The twins were chaotic, but they were also decently good with Muggle tech so Eduardd was able to get a little sleep before the next Hogwarts match.
.
Francis ended up with a flowerpot stuck to his head, but it was worth it for Arthur to not sulk all day and all night. The team captain needed to be fired up for the next few days somehow.
.
The second day started with a match between Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. The entire Hogwarts team came out to watch, half of them to see if Durmstrang got more karma and the other half to get a better view of the Beauxbatons plays and strategies.
And then there was Basch, who was still refusing to come out of his dorm room, but had graduated from barricading the door to making the curtains around his bed impervious to being opened.
Beauxbatons’s Blanchet finally admitted he couldn’t play with a newly-sprained wrist despite protests he was fine, and was replaced halfway into the match.. Durmstrang won five minutes later, and then it was Hogwarts versus Ilvermorny. Arthur ushered his team together, bribed Basch out of his bed with the promise of monetary payment, and set to work ordering everyone about.
Daniella Patricks was the Ilvermorny commentator. She didn’t bring snacks, but she wasn’t too horrible, in Eduard’s opinion. And Tino had brought him coffee from the kitchens, so Eduard was pretty sure he could survive an hour or three in the box. Especially after getting more sleep then usual the previous night.
Daniella insisted that he call her “Dani”.
“Heh, that’s funny, I know a guy whose friend nicknamed him Dan,” he chuckled, before taking another sip of his coffee.
“Oh really? Is he here?” Dani asked with interest.
“Yeah, right across from us—he’s the one with spiky hair trying to rizz up your classmate,” Eduard said, jerking his chin out at the crowd. Dani leaned forward to look, and yep, there was indeed a spunky-haired blond Gryffindor batting his eyelids at a giggling black-haired girl from Thunderbird House.
“Of course Celine fucking fell for the British boys,” Dani sighed.
“He’s actually from Denmark. From one of those well-off families, too. You might have some trouble getting your friend back…” Eduard chuckled, then took another sip of coffee to hide his yawn. Maybe he’d pop down and bother Alfred for a Monster during the first timeout…
Dani groaned, her braids flying backwards as he leaned back. “Any tips?”
“Oh don’t worry. He might be the most extroverted of the Nordic Five, but the others will probably scare her off. You’ll see Berwald and Tino on the field, they’re quite intimidating if you’ve never met them before,” Eduard reassured. “A shame they still haven’t decided if they’ll let me join their little group officially, I could use the help with one of the Slytherin girls after me and they’re loads more fun than—”
He stiffened as two people cleared their throats from behind him. Dani turned to see two boys, one a tall fourth-year with a mop of brown hair and the other a shorter boy who didn’t look a day over 12. How they’d gotten up there without anyone noticing, Dani didn’t quite know, but neither looked pleased about Eduard’s comments.
“Care to elaborate on that?” The taller boy asked, leaning down over Eduard’s shoulder. Eduard gulped.
“Er—I mean, I’m sure—”
“We won’t be The Trio anymore,” the younger boy told him, in a voice that reminded Dani of a wounded puppy, complete with wide eyes and trembling lower lip. If he was acting, he was damn good at his job.
“I—no, Raivis, don’t cry, guys c’mon, even if I did join the Nordics ‘the Duo’ has a nice ring to it—” Eduard tried to reason. This was the wrong thing to say, and the next moment, Dani found herself with a new commentary partner.
“Sorry about that. Eduard really needs to take a good nap, he hasn’t slept well in weeks and barely fixed his sleep debt when we tied him to the bed last night. I’m Tolys, by the way,” the older boy introduced himself, ignoring the noises of protest coming from the tower’s exit. Raivis was a lot stronger then he looked, it seemed. “I hope you don’t mind me taking over?”
“No problem. Who knows how long this game will be,” Dani laughed. “It might be a good thing if my co-commentator doesn't fall asleep on me.”
“Nope. Oh, is this the coffee Tino brought him?” Tolys cracked open the lid and wrinkled his nose in disgust.
“Gross,” he declared, before leaning out of the box slightly. “Oi! Feliks! Incoming!”
Dani watched as Tolys levitated the coffee out of the commentary box, down into the stands where, presumably, someone caught it, if the way Tolys looked pleased with himself meant anything.
“An overenergetic Feliks is probably my problem for later, but I don’t think he’s got any death threats over his head at the moment, so I’m sure it’s fine,” Tolys said. “Alfred will probably keep him in check. So, how long have you been a commentator?”
“Oh, me?” Dani asked, quickly shaking off the odd happenings as some strange Hogwarts quicks. “Just this past year. I didn’t quite make it on the team for Pukwudgie, but they needed a commentator, so here I am. You?”
“I play for Gryffindor,” Tolys said. “I had far too much on my plate this semester, though. The Headmistress asked, but it was just a bit too much…Oh, the professors are here–the game’s beginning.”
He quickly pushed the button on the panel in front of them labeled “On”, and tapped the mic to test it as behind and below him and Dani, a number of professors settled into their seats.
“Hello, everyone! Welcome to the second half of the second day of the tournament! I’m your Hogwarts representative, Tolys Laurinaitis, standing in for Eduard von Bock. Don’t bother him for the next twelve hours unless it’s an emergency, please. And welcoming my co-host from Ilvermorny…”
“Dani Patricks! Hey, y’all! I hope you’re all just as pumped as we are to see who comes out on top today! So let’s meet our players!”
“From Hogwarts—Kirkland, Oxenstierna, Williams, Wang, Väinämöinen, Honda, and Zwingli!”
“From Ilvermorny—Long, Hernandez, Lacrosa-Marienx, Ramos, Maxwell, Scotte, and Alzeroq!”
“For commentary in French and Swedish, please tune in to the radio lines set up or to the livestreams any Ministry official standing about should be able to direct you to! I know we’ve got quite the international audience today, so a special welcome to you if you managed to figure out how those Muggle inventions work.”
“You got that right, Tolys. And now, the players are circling up, the ref throws the ball—and they’re off! Ramos of Ilvermorny has the Quaffle, with half of Hogwarts on his tail!”
“Looks like Väinämöinen is closing in, but Ramos does a lovely reverse pass and...—”
“—caught by Scotte! They’re headed for the goalposts, but those Hogwarts beaters are on top of their game today, and aiming those Bludgers like no tomorrow!”
“Seems Oxenstierna and Williams have recovered from yesterday’s fumbles. It’s good to see that the rather adventurous tumble at the end of yesterday’s game wasn’t too serious. Oh, that was a very nice Dopplebeater Defence by Oxenstierna and Williams!”
“Scotte dodges, but drops the Quaffle!”
“Honda’s got it now! That Yajirushi broom of his is quite something!”
“Oh, that’s what that is? Impressive! But is Zwingli on one as well?”
“Don’t think so. I believe Zwingli’s on a Cleansweep Twelve. In the twenty-first century. No idea how he does it.”
On the field, the Hogwarts chasers had performed an almost clean Parksoff’s Play, though Yao had to reach over a distance to grab the Quaffle and nearly fell off his broom. But the commentators didn’t notice, as Dani had grabbed the shared player info sheets to fact-check Tolys, who was watching her with amusement.
Then she shoved the papers at Tolys with a loud, “What the fuck” that echoed throughout the stadium. Tolys’ laughing was also picked up by the mics.
“Our greatest apologies to any families tuning in,” he gasped out through laughs. “My co-host has just found out that the Hogwarts Seeker does in fact use a Cleansweep Twelve and is competing against Ilvermorny Seeker Catherine Alzeroq, who is using a Thunderbird VI. Again, Zwingli defies all known laws of theory as he spirals–and fakes out Alzeroq.”
“Told you it’s time to upgrade, you git!” Arthur yelled at Basch, who looked like he was seriously debating abandoning his search for the Snitch so he could fly up to the commentary box and give Tolys a piece of his mind.
Dani finally managed to collect herself enough to return to her job, Tolys still snickering a bit every so often between his commentary.
“Wang’s got the Quaffle, but Maxwell snatches it after a Bludger from Hernandez. Y’all, it’s getting tense on this pitch, Ilvermorny’s close to scoring, and Kirkland—”
“Kirkland blocks! Ilvermorny does not score, and the game continues!”
“But it looks like Ilvermorny’s got a trick up their sleeve, and Ramos has the Quaffle, pass to Maxwell, pass back to Ramos, aaaand score, hell yeah! Ilvermorny-Hogwarts, 10-0!”
“Alright, someone get Francis out of the stadium,” Arthur demanded.
“You can’t just blame everything on your boyfriend, Artie,” Matthew called.
“I can and I will—HEY! Get back here, you little—”
But Matthew was long gone, zipping past the others in his glee. In fact, the Quaffle was actually thrown before Matthew could even get into position, and the poor Hufflepuff had to turn and fly the other direction on a point to keep up.
It seemed the Americans were there for a good and fair fight, and wouldn’t back down. They were able to score once more before Kiku managed to land a shot in the highest goalpost, and then Tino with another Parksoff Play with Wang. Ilvermorny then scored twice more.
It was the Ilvermorny captain, Seeker Catherine Alzeroq, who called a timeout, the game having gone on for a goof forty-five minutes at this point and Ilvermorny chaser Loki Maxwell having started choking over a dry throat. While the Ilvermorny team dealt with their own problems, the Hogwarts team huddled up.
“We need to up our game. We can’t be bloody beaten like this!” Arthur snapped. “They’re putting us on the defensive. We need to get the upper hand, not bloody lose to a bunch of silly Americans!”
“We could try that thing Ber and I—” Tino started, but five people immediately protested, and the Finnish boy stopped that particular line of thought that, while a potential option, involved some very risky plays that Arthur was sure would get someone killed on top of giving Tino a return to the infirmary; Considering the number of tryhard daredevils on his team, it might be possible, but he was putting his foot down on standing on one’s broom while it went at a ripe eighty miles an hour, magic or not.
He decisively looked away from Berwald, whose ever-present glare seemed to intensify after Arthur shot that idea down.
“We could try the Thimbeling Shuffle.” Yao suggested.
“All offense intended, but that only worked with Tino, Berwald, and Mathias, and that’s only because those three share a braincell,” Arthur retorted. “We save that play for a last resort, unless you’d like to become good friends with the pitch floor?”
Tino immediately protested the idea that he and Berwald shared any braincells with Mathias, while Yao complained that Arthur wasn’t thinking outside the box. While they argued, Berwald quietly prodded a Nimbus 2000 that had “Tolys Laurinaitis” engraved on the handle into Basch’s hands. Matthew nibbled on crackers in the corner, quietly watching the commotion.
And then Kiku spoke up.
.
“Hey, wait a minute…That’s my broom!”
While Tolys tried to figure out how Basch had ended up on the former’s Nimbus 2000 (though he wasn’t complaining, the guy’s Cleansweep was seriously kind of sad), Dani cheerfully took over the commentary for everything with a wide grin on her face. Behind them, even the usually stern Hogwarts headmistress was hiding her quiet laughs behind a handkerchief.
“Hogwarts seems to have regained their drive! No Quaffle is getting even close to the goalposts—this is going to be a close one, folks! Wang passes to Honda, Maxwell steals, but a Bludger from Oxenstierna stops that line in its tracks. Quaffle drops to Ramos, and then—oh, that was a fake punch. Good reflexes there! Quaffle is swept up by Väinämöinen, and it seems like we’ve got something happening here, Williams and Oxenstierna are flanking Väinämöinen now.”
“Bludger incoming from Lacrosa-Marienx—”
“—deflected by Williams, Väinämöinen throws Quaffle to Honda, and that’s a nice spike to Wang, I did not know we were playing volleyball here.”
“Neither did I. They’re at the edge of the scoring area now, Wang JUMPS UP AND KICKS IT INTO THE GOAL! LONG REACHED OUT BUT TOO LATE AND—OH MY GOSH—”
“HONDA CATCHES THE REBOUND AND KICKS IT BACK THROUGH THE HOOP! Both teams are tied, 40-40! Aaaaaand Honda’s down, oh Merlin someone please go check on him—”
Kiku had indeed managed to kick the ball back through the hoop as planned, but after landing on his broom had decided to strike a pose, in an attempt to perfectly mimic his favorite Quidditch player, Yoshihiro Suzuki. He’d almost succeeded, were it not for the rogue Bludger that hit him off balance and down into the sand where he’d landed heavily.
A timeout was quickly called, and Madame Pomfrey announced a few minutes later that Kiku was not to play any further, having broken a couple of bones and sprained his ankle on top of having a concussion. The Japanese exchange student was lucid enough to ask if the Tsunami had caused a flood, which prompted a scolding from Headmistress McGonagall about taking unnecessary risks.
The Hogwarts team huddled up in the locker room once more, Mathias having run down from the stands upon seeing Kiku’s crash.
“You’re in,” Arthur sighed, though Mathias was already pulling on his uniform. “Thank Merlin they changed the rules about subs…any luck with the Snitch, Basch?”
“Saw it a few times, couldn’t get to it.”
“Alright, go right for it if you see it. As for the rest of you—”
“Can we do the Thimbeling Shuffle now?” Tino asked. Matthias nodded eagerly.
Arthur bit back a deep sigh, and wished Tolys was there in the locker room and not up in the commentary box.
.
“Oh, this should be fun! Mathias Densen will be replacing Kiku Honda as Chaser for Hogwarts!” Tolys said enthusiastically. “We should be expecting some good plays coming up.”
“Oh really?” Dani asked. “Wait, isn’t he…?”
“Yup, everyone’s favorite Apollo wannabe is about to take the field! He, Oxenstierna, and Väinämöinen have been flying together for years—I’m quite excited to see them competing in the same team today. Ah, here they are now—Kirkland, Oxenstierna, Williams, Wang, Väinämöinen, Densen, and Zwingli!”
“Ilvermorny’s roster hasn’t changed, still got the same gang back for more! I’m real interested to see how they react to the newest player on the field,” Dani added.
“Names, Dani!” the Ilvermorny Headmaster reminded. But the game had already begun, and Eduard was already talking, though the Ilvermorny Seeker yelled at Dani to use their names the next time as she flew past a minute later.
“Wang has the Quaffle, and boy does the Hogwarts team seem to have regained their spirits after that last bit of action and a fresh Chaser! Pass to Densen, and he’s off to the races, what a blimey clean maneuver between the opponents that was!”
“Ramos and Maxwell are hot on Densen’s tail, looking for an opening to snatch that Quaffle. Densen seems pretty unbothered being separated from his teammates though, is—is he laughing?”
“That sounds about right,” Tolys, who had had to suffer Mathias’ antics on more then one occasion, sighed heavily. “Here comes Väinämöinen and Oxenstierna from behind, and check this out, folks—we get to witness a rare instance of the trio’s favorite flying formation: the Nordic Pointer. Densen throws the Quaffle right over the heads of his opponents, while Oxenstierna sends a Bludger cracking towards Densen. Densen flies up, that Bludger clears a perfect path for Väinämöinen to score, and he does! Ten points to Hogwarts!”
“You mentioned it’s been a while since they’ve flown together—how often do they do this maneuver?” Dani asked over the cheers of the crowd.
Tolys shrugged as he replied. “Eh, only a couple times, when some of us were having some friendlies. They play for different House teams, so it’s a real treat to see them pull this off.”
“You got that right!” Mathias yelled as he flew past, laughing into the wind and nearly smacking into Basch, who didn’t even seem to notice he’d almost been part of a hit-and-run, his eyes narrowed in concentration.
“Interesting. Scotte’s got the Quaffle now, and playing cat-and-mouse with literally everything for the hell of it, by the way. They’re sure giving Wang and Densen a workout there,” Dani commented. “I wonder if they and Maxwell will pull off something similar, they’ve also been flying together for quite some time…”
Emily Scotte made a loop, straight towards Mathias, and just before colliding threw the Quaffle and veered left. Tino and Loki Maxwell proceeded to wrestle for the ball, both in rather precarious positions until Mathias used one of his obnoxiously long arms to grab the Quaffle out from under them. He flew off towards the goals, the other Chasers in hot pursuit.
“That boy better not give the opponent any penalties again,” Headmistress McGonagall muttered in exasperation as Mathias came a little too close to kicking Ilvermorny Beater Yvette Lacrose-Marienx in the face.
“I see why he was on second string,” the Ilvermorny headmaster agreed, flinching when Mathias did a barrel roll and would have crashed headfirst into Seeker Catherine Alzeroq were she just a bit slower. “A little bit of a liability, huh?”
“—Densen sure is giving the refs a run for their money, alright,” Tolys said into the mic, his eyes fixed on the blond sixth-year. “He’s now in the scoring area, he aims, he throws—aaaaand his hand goes through the hoops, that recent growth spurt did not do him any favors.”
The stands filled with groans as Mathias sullenly flew back to his team, the referees calling a penalty shot for Ilvermorny. Arthur looked rightly annoyed, though both Tino and Matthew were snickering to each other.
“Well, at least that was entertaining,” Tolys grimaced.
“You can say that again! Looks like Scotte will be taking the penalty. They look quite concentrated, as does Hogwarts Keeper Arthur Kirkland. Hmm, I can only wonder why.”
“Considering Kirkland is Hogwarts team captain, he’s probably putting all of his frustration into this.”
“That would check out for sure, for sure. Scotte lines up, and sends that Quaffle whirling! Kirkland doesn’t block it, but his fingers nudge it just enough that it misses the goal by inches!”
A cheer for Arthur went up, though a couple of Hogwarts students booed, most prominently Matthew’s twin, Alfred, who was still mad he’d gotten cheated over some tea Arthur had promised to owl-order the week before and also still very much rooting for his home country.
“GG Hogwarts, now back to the fun stuff!” Dani called out. “Aaaand they’re back! Quaffle to Ramos, then Maxwell.”
“Steal by Wang, and a very nice pass to Väinämöinen, who just avoids a Bludger from Hernandez. Densen’s circling, looks like he might be aiming to pick up the Quaffle from Väinämöinen. Oh, looks like Zwingli’s seen something! He’s gone from tense to focused!”
“You can tell from here?” Dani asked in surprise. “All looks the same to me.”
“You learn after watching him chasing after people who annoy him enough times. It seems Alzeroq’s also noticed something, and the two are now neck and neck, oh there’s a glint there, the Snitch is in sight!”
“Väinämöinen just passed to Densen, by the way.”
“Both Seekers have their hands outstretched, Zwingli faux-punches Alzeroq, anD THERE WE GO! ZWINGLI’S CAUGHT THE SNITCH! HOGWARTS HAS WON TWICE NOW AND WILL BE PLAYING THE FINALS!”
Basch made a round with the Snitch held high in his hand, the rest of his team cheering. Mathias, who’d been close to scoring, tossed the Quaffle away as he threw his arms up in celebration (it went flying and Hufflepuff Chaser Raivis Galante caught it in the stands, to his own shock and his friends’ admiration).
“YES! Hey Alfred, you owe me and Feliks!” Tolys cheered, forgetting he was still on the mic. “Good game Ilvermorny—you all put up quite the fight.”
“As did you. Any plans for celebration?” Dani asked with a grin, as below them Madame Maxine turned the mic off with her wand with a grumble about “English boys with no manners for one’s ears”.
“Yo, broski! Come on, we’re like, totally gonna party! Alfred, like, completely owes us so much butterbeer!”
“Feliks Lukasiewicz, please do not block the exit to the commentary booth!” Headmistress McGonagall scolded the blond. “And no getting your friend drunk! You’re both underage!”
“And Mr. Laurinaitis is a terrible drunk,” Professor Flitwick added helpfully.
“Filius!”
“Don’tcha worry, Headmistress,” Feliks grinned. “C’mon, Liet—I wanna beat the crowd!”
“I have a weak stomach—”
Feliks was the Slytherin Quidditch captain, and despite Tolys being taller, could easily pick up the brunet with one arm and shimmy down the ladder with the other. Then again, Tolys didn’t fight back whatsoever, and Dani had a feeling this wasn’t the first time, if the Hogwarts professors’ sighing meant anything.
.
That evening, Gryffindor Tower was abuzz with a party. Or rather, it had started in the common room but eventually spilled out into the Viaduct Courtyard. Yao Wang, Elena Santiago, and Francis Bonnefoy were at the center of it all–a truly amazing sight considering the three didn’t usually have the best relationship.
Maybe it was because they were keeping the party under some control while also having an agreement to keep Alfred from going too crazy with excitement.
“Get off the railings!” Yao shouted at some Beauxbatons girls. “I know you all very pretty and photographic aru, but that is dangerous to stand like that!”
“¡Necesitamos more punch, Francis!” Elena yelled over the sound of Arthur doing riffs on a guitar. Where had he found an amp? “And chips. So much chips. Las papas fritas ya han sido comidas.”
“And napkins,” Antonio added.
“And napkins,” Elena sighed, looked at the almost-empty basket she’d put on the table just a minute prior. “How did we get to this point?”
The answer was simply: the snowball effect. Thankfully, by ten the heads of each of the schools and multiple professors ahd come out to sho everyone back into the castle for the night, and so the majority of the students were able to get a good sleep.
The few that didn’t included the Prefects, who had to do night duties, and a few particularly rowdy partiers who snuck into the dungeon after hours to pass around some Firewhisky.