The Auror turned back to look triumphantly at where the current Defense Professor of Hogwarts was leaning back in his cushioned chair.
That man then spoke the first words that had left his lips since he entered the cell.
"Goodbye, Mr. Altunay," said the Defense Professor.
Arjun shivered, the "dark will" wasn't pressing down on him anymore but the tone, no, it was the cadence of his voice had invoked some fear in him. He had enough of this man. He walked a little faster until he was out and around the door, at which point he stopped to catch his breath which he had been holding for some reason.
-
Several weeks later.
"…the view of the snow-capped mountains is delightful this time of year."
The Defense Professor was only half paying attention to Flintwick. Carriage rides were not interesting, nor was Flintwick or his idea of a leisurely weekend.
Tom had his own ideas for a fun weekend and indeed had been setting the stage.
As though his mind had been read, which it had not been, Flintwick squeaked at him, "Do you have any plans for this weekend Quirinus?"
"Why yes, I intend to visit Hogsmeade and pick up a few good books to bring back to the castle."
-
It was five pm and Junior Auror Arjun Altunay was slowly making his way towards the Auror's floo exit in the DMLE.
Another long day; Arjun thought to himself as he sighed.
Amelia had increased the combat training session's weeks ago with no explanation.
From the day he started officially as an Auror Trainee he was expected to undergo vigorous combat training with another Auror "of sufficiently superior prowess" until one of them either fell from exhaustion, or curse, or until one died.
Normally these would happen at random, unsuspected off work training at any time.
One time he hadn't even had time to pull up his pants and get off the toilet in the leaky cauldron before Auror Sarah Soverighn had blasted through the door with pure orange light to fill the air with a note of music so loud it was more of a feeling than an actual sound. That had left him disorientated for a few days.
Training could also take place at work, at your desk, at any moment. Sometimes they would specifically tell you the time and place even, but if you tried to prepare it was normally some sort of trap which would overcome your preparations no matter how ready for anything you were almost as though they already knew, that made those even worse.
It wasn't a rare occurrence for the quiet shuffling of papers to be interrupted by some mighty incantation spoken from empty air followed by someone activating a strange device on their desk, or leaping aside. One time Auror Batista turned into multiple copies of himself, somehow. All of his copies casting synchronized wards to deflect a wall of conjured daggers back at where Sarah had appeared.
If you repelled DMLE training attacks that efficiently always got a little bump in pay, and a large bump in ferocity of following "training exercises".
People in this part of the DMLE were expected to be able to react in time. More importantly to not let such distractions interrupt them; at the cost of docked pay and more combat training; even if that distraction is having your desk turned to gushing lava suddenly as a curse misses a lucky Auror trainee.
How on earth was he expected to continue reading files which had turned into molten rock?
There was a ministry official always present, watching and grading you, even if you did not know they were there. Rarely did someone get killed but Mad-Eye and Amelia both seemed to think that it was an acceptable, possibly necessary write off in those cases. There were even rumors the whole process was for rouge or hopeless Aurors who won't work out and are liabilities, a plausible way to kill them. Arjun did not believe those rumors himself.
The training was to happen twice a week for his first 5 years, exercises missed due to in training or field injury would be made up. Then once a month after, but with far more potency and this went until he either graduated to become a Level 0 Auror, until he quit, or until he was killed.
He could almost see the whole point of it; he had become exceptionally more "combat effective" as Amelia put it, due to the training.
That was the routine until around the time of the Azkaban breakout.
Now that he thought about it that was the time that training sessions for ALL Aurors increased to 3 times weekly. Madam Bones was even undergoing training herself, taking on the entire first year crop of Aurors at once on her own. Mad-Eye was showing himself around the building again despite his retirement. "We are preparing for something." He thought to himself.
Arjun understood "CONSTANT VIGILANCE", but the training and new precautions seemed excessive to him. If it was because of Azkaban, so what; they would quickly round up Bellatrix Black and whoever else was responsible once they made a move openly.
Well another move that is to say…
Arjun was starting to think that perhaps the training wasn't so excessive after all. He was just starting to feel the inklings of grudging respect for Madam Bones as he stepped up to the green flames; when suddenly he heard, "Junior Auror Altunay! Have you completed all of the steps in the sign out procedure?"
He looked around to see where Madam Bones was, it wasn't in this hall apparently.
"Yes Director Bones!" He said out loud to nobody in particular, people glanced at him but paid no mind, apparently only he had heard that, and it seemed to be the end of it.
"For now… Forget to have your wand scanned once and she's randomly intruding on you for months." Arjun thought, wondered for a moment HOW she had delivered that message before once again he sighed.
He tried to think of the supper his wife would have prepared for him, he'd be there in just a moment. Hippogriff wings tonight if he remembered correctly. She should be up and at it again. She had been ill for a few days and they were worried she had contracted whatever flu was going around but she seemed fine now.
Having already done his training today he could relax and enjoy his supper without fear of his wards being shredded like the tissue he would need to contain the sudden following sneezing fit.
He stepped into the green blaze and quickly found himself spinning. He had an instant to ready himself and he was suddenly spit out into his living room.
Something was wrong he noticed immediately, but it took him a few moments longer to realize it was entirely quiet in the house. Eerily quiet in fact, why wasn't his wife here to greet-
A man stepped out from around the corner of the kitchen.
Before Arjun recognized the face he recognized the "feeling", the hollow pressure and instinctual "RUN" response.
"Quirrell… The Hogwarts Defense Professor? What are you doing here?"
He managed to ask that. He wished he had put some confidence into it, made it a demand rather than a confused question. Or even better, took Mad-Eye's advice years ago to "always come out of the Floo ready for an ambush."
Arjun was been rooted to the spot in fear, and some awful intuition. There may already be unknown magic at play as well.
In fact there was, he could sense it.
Wards far more powerful than anything he had ever tried to pierce were already rooted in place.
Wards against scrying, time looping, apparition, sound, some form of general distortion… He lost track in the web, it was far too complex to grasp in the moment.
He had been through so many drills but that was different.
As crazy as the DMLE exercises could get and as unexpected as they may be they were always safe, always "known" threats.
This man had handed himself over to the full power of the DMLE and then made a mockery of every procedure they had with a combination of obscure magic done without a wand, and dementor level psychological warfare.
Even now a couple of seconds have passed and Arjun was still frozen, unable or unwilling to dare do more than ask the question. He had the intuition that it would be a very bad idea to try to draw at this particular point of the ambush.
"Always trust your gut, son." Mad-Eye Moody had one told him after he had walked passed Arjun's desk, apparently reading from a folder. Arjun had no idea why he decided to suddenly leap out of the chair once Moody had gone out of his line of vision but that's what he had done. He had only JUST gotten out of the way of a mild blasting curse which would have left him out of commission for a day or two.
"Always trust my gut, I can't do anything just this second. I may not need to, let's play this out." He thought to himself.
Some part of his mind nagged at him that a man who pierced his wards when his wife was supposed to be there was a danger regardless of WHY he was there. Never mind that he's stopped me from leaving more securely that Amelia Bones herself could. Some part of his mind nagged at him that this was a man who had broken his will completely simply by HUMMING at him.
The man was clearly absurdly dangerous, but he was also a Hogwarts teacher, he wouldn't actually do anything…
He is the Defense Professor more specifically.
Arjun remembered with a jolt as the realization of the deeper meaning of that hit him.
He WAS exactly the type who would inevitably do something which would lead to his being fired.
Yet Arjun stood still.
Quirrell, or whoever he was, was just standing beyond the doorway in the kitchen.
He had tilted his head at the question but his face remained expressionless and he had said nothing.
"What the HELL are you doing in my home?"
Quirrell stepped forward and Arjun instinctually flinched back a step. He briefly caught sight of the fireplace. He could not tell if the floo fire had actually been extinguished because the entrance was covered by a solid looking wall of toxic green haze.
Panic kept rising.
The man he knew as "Quirrell" finally spoke.
"Perhaps the DMLE has employed me to test your combat skills and cunning." He said it mildly, but there was a hint of reproach in his voice.
Arjun's panic stopped spiking for a moment. "If that's the case-"His thought was stopped as it formed when the man spoke again.
"If that were the case you I would have already graded you as failing the test. Quite honestly I would expect even my first year students to have taken more proactive measures at this point." The Defense Professor frowned; the weight of it literally seemed to affect the gravity of the room.
Arjun couldn't properly think he was confused; despite the wards the man had placed he had actually not even gone so far as to look at him in a threatening manner. Should he draw his wand and fire on the man? He had no visible shields up and was currently unarmed…
"Where is my wife" Arjun asked instead.
The other man's eye's widened a little bit as if in surprise. "She is out" the brief look of wonder was replaced by a knowing smile as he paused. "Of consciousness" He finished.
Arjun inhaled sharply and begun wordlessly forming shields around himself.
This seemed to amuse the man even further. "Unharmed but unconscious, she will awake remembering herself to have taken a sleeping potion to recover her strength after her new cooking spell went out of control. Speaking of which…"
The Defense professor turned his back to the Auror and in the same smooth motion brought his arm up. The hand which at some point begun holding a wand but Arjun never even seen it appear; the wand issued a blast of silver fire towards the far wall of the kitchen.
"NOW!" He willed himself; the foolish intruder had turned his back.
He had literally turned his back on Auror Arjun to attack his home.
The soon to be made Level 3 Auror pulled his own wand out from his robes. As he drew he flicked it adding another stronger layer to his shielding before bringing it to bear on the back of his foe.
His wand was level and his concentration was a laser, power instantly begun to ripple in the air, sparks of electricity radiating off of him as a swirling yellow fire engulfed his body. Arjun's hair rose in the air as did some of the objects in the room.
"NAIYAS REPUS" He bellowed as the intruder's cursed fire hit the wall, scorched it and extinguished. His back was still turned, paying no mind to the waxing power behind him.
A white blue ball of magic appeared at the tip of the Auror's wand; it was growing in size, radiating bolts of electricity and power. It was the size of a beach ball within a second, he cried aloud again.
"AHEMAHEMAK-" His incantation was cut off, the power he was building winked out. The magical haze surrounding him hissed loud and fast as though doused in water. His wand was thrown from his hand as the ground shook and the entire universe itself seemed to fold in and bounce back on it self. The experience was incomprehensible. Arjun could swear it took 40 years to fall to the floor but it was only a second until he hit it, gasping for breath.
The man hadn't even turned back to face the Auror when he began gathering power and yelling form into his curse.
The Defense Professor had only spoken a single word, in a language more ancient and alien than anything Arjun had ever heard; it wasn't a word that should even have corresponding sound.
In fact he couldn't even remember the sound of it as he scrambled to his feet, looking for his wand.
The absurdly powerful foe was facing Arjun now; he was smirking and holding two wands.
"You dropped this." The Defense Professor said as if he were speaking of a knut. He tossed the wand back, Arjun caught it in surprise. He did not raise it again but rather kept it pointed low as he thought about what he might possibly do.
This man could have killed him within an instant, at any point since he had arrived home yet he had not. He also claimed that his wife was perfectly safe…
"That's a little better." The Defense Professor said as he lowered his own wand and examined his nails.
"Of course if you try something like that again, you had better be certain that it will work. As I have no expectation that you are capable of succeeding I will not attempt to play along again I will simply kill you. I hold no ill will against you for that attempt. I understand you had to try something, no matter how hopeless but any further foolishness will not be met with such leniency. I hope you understand this."
The man's words had grown sharper as he spoke, by the end of his sentence Arjun was almost cut in two with hopeless fear.
"What do you want?"
The man gave a short laugh, "That's an appropriate question finally."
The Defense Professor of Hogwarts placed his wand back into his robes (though Arjun had seen that didn't mean the man could be holding it again at any instant) and took a few steps towards the couch and sat down.
If Arjun was stunned by events so far it didn't describe his tangle of feelings now. Part of him was outraged that the man would have the nerve to disregard him as a threat not worthy of standing for. Acting as though Arjun had never been through Auror training...
That line of emotion was immediately replaced by the memory of the 40 years of time which passed during that short fall to the floor as the powerful curse he prepared was snuffed out. Intense fear and willingness to do whatever it was this man wanted of him if he would just go away replaced all thoughts.
"I want you to apologize." The intruder said as though it was obvious.
"What on earth… I… I'm sorry?" Arjun was missing something here.
The man stood up slowly and casually but even in doing so still made it seem like a direct threat on his life, though he was still not looking at the Auror. He was glancing here and there, around the room, as though looking for something to cure his boredom.
"As I understand it, an apology is often not effective if the person giving it does not even know why."
The man straightened up and looked at Arjun. "Let me stop you from asking stupid questions as you would not immediately realize why. You see during my incarceration in your facility I heard you and some of your fellow employee's bantering on your break. You specifically said, and I quote; I don't see why he needs a guard at all with the wards on this place." The Defense Professor paused.
Arjun did remember this; at the time the he had been referring to the fact that Amelia's security was top notch. He hadn't been implying the man wasn't possibly dangerous, as he seemed to think.
"Look, if you came here to show me that the Hogwarts Defense Professor IS in fact someone worth considering a threat you've really made your point."
The intruder had been slowly walking toward a bookshelf but stopped at that.
"No… You misunderstand me slightly. While I am glad I have made that particular point the one I was trying to make is that you should apologize, not to me but to Amelia Bones; for your incompetence, your lack of foresight and security in ignorance. You should then hand in your badge and retire, while encouraging the stupidest of you to do the same, then you should move on to more suitable work such as harvesting dung beetles."
Arjun was finding it hard to get as angry as he should at that statement, he wondered if there was a spell to literally increase some's feelings of worthlessness that went along with those words.
"What is it specifically you wish me to apologize for; I do not understand what you want."
He tried to phrase it in a way to show compliance. He just wanted the man to GO AWAY, and obviously he would not do so until he had made whatever point he came to make.
"No… I suppose that you wouldn't."
The Defense Professor said it slowly, "Besides, I do not really care one way or the other about what you or anybody at the DMLE says, or thinks. Ineffective lumps such as you will be wiped aside and replaced with competent fighters who possess intelligence in due course."
Arjun couldn't believe what he was hearing, was this man serious?
He continued on, talking slightly faster. "I must say I am extraordinarily displeased with how poorly Amelia has been training your contingent and securing her fortress. I had thought her to be competent, prudent and resourceful. Well to the extent of which I generally believe people capable anyways. Yet…" The man trailed off.
"I digress; you asked me why I am here. The truth is I am here because I have nothing else important or enjoyable planned this week. Do not be mistaken and award yourself false credit for annoying me enough to come for you in particular. While I admit I had marked you as dead for reasons I can't remember now, you were not high on my list. This could have been anyone really there is a simple experiment I want to try, on a whim."
Arjun just stared in shock.
This school teacher had demonstrated power far beyond what he had seen Mad-Eye do at his fullest, implied he planned to kill Arjun several times along with suggestions of a Ministry take over. Now he was talking of some "experiment", if Arjun didn't do something, even at the cost of his life he SHOULD just hand over his badge like the man suggested.
There wasn't time to react, the man moved faster than a person could without magical aid.
No word was spoken, a hand was raised towards his face, a wand appeared in the hand and the tip erupted with red light just inches from Arjun's face.
He hit the ground and his wand rolled away. The Defense Professor pointed his wand at the fallen man and said, "Don't worry, you'll remember, when it's too late. Obliviate."
He kept his wand in place for a moment as he closed his eyes.
They snapped back open. The Defense Professor looked around the home one more time, looking at the scorched kitchen wall pausing to consider something. He then closed his eyes and willed his wards away and the fallen man's wand floated toward him and placed itself in his robes. With a contemptuous wave of his wand the fallen Auror begun to stir just as the Defense Professor disappeared with a POP.
Arjun got up off the floor. "Thanks Amelia…" He thought to himself.
The floo spitting him out so hard must have been another gesture from her to suggest he remember to operate within procedure at all times.
He looked around, and saw scorch marks on the kitchen wall, where was his wife? Auror Arjun's wand was drawn from his robes in a flash. Suddenly the harsh feelings towards Amelia were gone, she had needed to be hard to prepare him, and he was, although he did feel exceptionally tired and was already quite afraid, from the moment he stood up actually...
He shielded himself and cast several charms. "Just because I can't detect them doesn't mean they're not here." The Auror thought, keeping his guard up as he cleared the house. It was only after he found his wife safely in bed and knew it would have been a waste of time that he realized he should have sent a Patronus for backup before doing anything.
When he found his wife sleeping he woke her to ask what had happened.
"I told you not to trust those homemade recipes!" He laughed, she was never very good at cooking spells but he didn't mind, it all tasted great to him.
"It's alright; I'll prepare supper for us tonight."
He stopped to think of what he would make, it came to him suddenly.
"Alright, you just lay here; I'll bring you some food honey." He kissed her and went to the kitchen to repair the burn marks and cook their supper.
A week later
"Honey, are you alright you look ill." Arjun had just woken up to the worst case of, something, which he had ever had. He thought about the mysterious illness which had been going around the neighbourhood…. "No, I'm a wizard, more immune…" He thought.
"I just need a day off; if I'm not better tomorrow I shall consult a healer. For now I think I'm just going to sleep it off."
The next morning Junior Auror Altunay woke up gasping for air just as all the others who died recently from this flu had. "Q….Q….. Def…Lord…" Those were the last sounds he made to his wife as she wept by his side.
Amelia was looking over the documents, the preliminal groundwork into the investigation of an Auror's death; she had to decide what level of investigation it needed, because regardless how mundane it appeared it was procedure to investigate, sometimes even more so in the mundane cases.
"Well, it's quite clear that there was an established illness spreading before Altunay became sick. He wasn't the only wizard in the area to contract it either." She said to herself, tapping her chin with a quill.
In total 73 muggles had come down with this "flu" and died from it along with 4 other wizards, none of particular importance. Frankly she had expected Altunay to wash out or be killed before he was anywhere near retirement, never particularly gifted and weak willed… Amelia wasn't trying to disparage the dead she was simply stating facts. The fact was Arjun Altunay was not important enough to be assassinated.
"While even the muggle doctors where stumped about what this mysterious illness is, I don't really find it particularly suspicious; these events are not unheard of." She had looked and indeed found many instances through even "recent" history of killer disease sprouting suddenly, claiming muggle and wizard alike.
Something small in Amelia's intuition said she should look deeper. Something larger just felt sad for the boy.
Many Aurors die, in fact 1 in 4 die before they are even eligible to start accumulating retirement benefits. When the death of an Auror is strange or heroic in some way they normally get a nick name.
Amelia couldn't even imagine what they would call poor . The Auror who was killed by a (un)common cold.
Amelia picked up her stamp, which was blank. She flicked her wrist and it was embossed and saturated with ink, she stamped it down on the document.
"Warrants Level 2 Investigation Maximum."
She flicked her wrist and the paper vanished, filed away until such time that it could be given a day to investigate.
Two months earlier.
There was only one light on in the muggle high school after hours but the light did not illuminate the dark window from the outside. Only three people remained in the building, an unconscious janitor lying beside his slop bucket who would awake swearing at himself for slipping in the spill. The other two were standing behind the counter of the chemistry classroom.
The long haired man inspected the vial. "It is blue… The literature I have read says the substance should be a flakey off white powder." The light seemed to dim in the room and a source less chill wind rose as the man finished his sentence.
The other man flinched back for a moment but stood tall again, a gleam of confidence twinkled behind his eye glasses. "It is the true substance."
The man paused for effect, "with a tweak of chemistry", he continued; "you had said that the effects were sufficient but more to your advantage if they were drawn out for a longer period. I have extended it from a few days to a week and a half. Give or take for body weight and metabolism, other factors such as-"The other man raised a hand while still examining the vial and the teacher stopped speaking as the words caught in his throat.
The tall dark haired man turned to regard the weathered teacher. He looked him in the eyes for a moment, something flashed between them and the teacher lost his balance for a moment.
"Yes, very well done indeed." The mysterious client said simply.
The teacher was about to ask if he would be given the brief case full of money; $150,000, which he was shown when the man who never gave a name had first approached him. Indeed he had brought it with him tonight. Before he spoke however, the deceivingly bored sounding voice cut off his train of thought.
"I admit, I know little of this as of yet. The dosage you've provided, will I need to use all of it?"
The teacher stumbled again, this time in shock. He pushed his glasses up with a finger. "I thought he said he knew about this-"the older of the two men was cut off mid thought again.
"I only know what you know, so you will tell me." The voice sounded annoyed now.
"What…" the teacher thought again, before realizing he should not offend or keep his client waiting.
"God no… That vial could devastate half of a city…"
The teacher froze as he realized what he had just said.
Was any amount of money worth that? What were this man's intentions? Who was he and why had Walder been so inclined to go along with this in the first place, the money surely, but even still he should have known better. He had never stopped to think of the possible magnitude, he knew there was only one reason for this request but he had just assumed it would be limited, controlled…
The teacher broke into a cold sweat, which wasn't helped at all by the first, genuine eye lightening smile that the other man had broken into at the last sentence.
"You know, just a few months ago I could have made great use of an intellect such as yours," the man was straightening and drawing a stick from the inside of his suit.
"However, as of late I myself have begun studying your arts. In time I will master them to the degree which you have, and then surpass that."
Walder was about to speak in indignation, despite the growing cold in the room and the adrenaline which had begun pumping when the man had withdrawn that… stick…
Before he could speak, before he had time to register the movement as threatening the man had gestured with the dark wood in his hand and Walder was blinded by a green flash.
The chemistry teacher hit the floor with a thud as the other man carefully placed the vial into his suit pocket with one hand and withdrew an ordinary leaf. The other hand was already lifting the wand in the air and casually tracing out patterns of strange "anti-light" in the shape of some ancient rune; at the same time the dead man's corpse begun to radiate the same anti-light and the man begun to speak.
After
"Are you finished with that paper Professor?" The Defense Professor asked politely of Professor Vector, she handed it to him.
First he scanned the entire paper, within a minute he went back to thoroughly observe the obituaries.
After a moment he smiled, "Thank you." He handed the newspaper back to her.