-1"I've always wondered…what was it like the first time?"
September 18th 1977
It was long past midnight on Walton Way, East Croydon. When looking at the rows of incredibly scruffy and somewhat dilapidated houses that lined the road, one may take exception to one house where the immaculately pruned garden or the way that all the of the windows were in fact completely whole and not at all smashed or vandalised. The owner of the house hadn't been seen for the last few days, but the neighbours weren't that worried; the man often disappeared for weeks at a time.
There was a popping sound, and a tall figure with long, light-brown hair appeared under the lamp-light of Walton Way. He pulled what appeared to be a silver cigarette lighter out of his robes and held it up in the air, clicking it a couple of times. Once he'd clicked it, the street lamps along Walton Way started flickering into blackness. Looking satisfied, he put the cigarette lighter back into his robes again, and turned around to look at the perfect house with raised eyebrows. There were two more loud popping sounds, and two more men appeared in the twilight outside the house.
"Evening Prewett, Lupin," the first man said stiffly, nodding his shaggy head.
"I think it's more of a very early morning, don't you Edgar?" Fabian Prewett said with a small smile. Fabian was a fairly young man, in his mid-to-late twenties by the look of him, with an easy smile and a velvet waistcoat. The man, and to say man was to use the term lightly, next to him was one Remus John Lupin, who had only graduated from Hogwarts at the end of the previous term, and was looking rather frightened. The man named Edgar picked up on this, and gave his version of a comforting smile. It looked rather more like a grimace.
"This is your first Order business isn't it Lupin?" he said in what was obviously an attempt at casual conversation.
"Yes Mr. Bones," Lupin said nervously, shoving his hands into his pockets. Without his friends; James, Sirius and Peter, around him, he was close to panicking at the idea of being on a real Order mission. Of course, being as he was now of age and expected to show the responsibility of a full Order member, he made a valiant attempt at hiding it. Most importantly; he did not want to let Dumbledore down. Luckily for him, Fabian seemed to notice that he was floundering. He made a loud coughing sound.
"Sooo, that's Benjy's house? I always thought it would be more…rundown," he ventured. Edgar Bones cracked a small, genuine, smile and pulled his wand from beneath his robes, making a vague gesture at the well groomed house. Immediately whatever glamour had been put in place over the house disappeared and in place there was a house that had a large number of holes in it and an even larger number of boarded up windows. The grass was overgrown to the point that it reached up to the wizards' waist, and Remus could see what he hoped was a cat running through the undergrowth. Fabian looked between Benjy's house and the other houses on the street.
"It blends right in," he said blithely, starting to wade through the long grass. Edgar frowned, but chose to say nothing as he led the way to Benjy Fenwick's door, Lupin trailing along behind him warily. He and Fabian had their wands drawn, but kept low enough to hide it from any passing muggles who may take an interest in events. Edgar Bones knocked loudly on the door.
"So he lives alone then," Remus said to Fabian. The slightly older man shrugged.
"As far as I know. I dunno much about him to be honest. Think he had a thing with Arabella Figg," Fabian said.
"Who's that?" Remus asked, frowning. Fabian looked thoughtful for a second, then gave a little laugh.
"Of course, you weren't around back then. Gideon and me met her at one of Slughorn's Christmas parties. Dunno what she was doing there - she was a squib; anyway, she was one of Dumbledore's friends. I think she lives down in Surrey nowadays," he said thoughtfully. Remus nodded along, eager to get along with the slightly more reserved of the legendary Prewett Twins.
"So she and Benjy…?" he said. Fabian grinned.
"Yup. She was quite a looker back in the days. Or so I'm told. Anyway, I doubt that matters to poor old Fenwick. He's been trailing Lucius Malfoy for the past two months; a pleasant experience I'm sure," he said. Remus was aghast.
"You knew Malfoy?" he gasped. Lucius Malfoy had been a few years above Remus and his friends when they had first joined the school. He had often wandered around with a group of Slytherins that were now pretty much all confirmed Death Eaters. Sirius and James had made it their personal quest to make him rue the day he had ever so much as thought of the phrase "Blood Traitor". Between Bellatrix Black, Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Black, Regulus Black and Severus Snape, James and Sirius had their hands full. Still, they managed to handle it throughout their Hogwarts years. Fabian chuckled.
"Yeah, he joined, just as I was leaving. Stuck-up little brat he was too. Still, we had the last laugh," the Prewett twin said, smirking.
"What did you do?" Remus asked.
"We stuck him in a closet that would only appear every seventeen hours. I'm not sure that he ever quite knew what happened to him," he said, a hint of nostalgia over his Hogwarts days evident in his voice.
"Prewett, Lupin, stop your mother's meeting and get over here," Bones said with a hint of worry in his voice. Edgar Bones had known Benjy Fenwick for a very long time and had often worked with him on Order business. Fenwick had been best man at his wedding. He had his shaggy head up against the wooden door, obviously trying to listen for noises inside the house. Bones took a step back and raised his wand.
"He's not answering, so either he's not in, or he can't make the door," Bones said. Immediately all traces of humour were gone from either of their faces.
"Homenum revelio," he whispered. There was a single flash from inside the house.
"Someone's in there," Remus said cautiously. Bones raised his wand and blasted the door inwards on itself. It was pitch black as the three of them stepped inside, and they simultaneously whispered Lumos. The glow from their wands managed to show stacks of cluttered newspapers and a few tables that looked like they had been overturned in some kind of struggle.
"Benjy?" Bones called. Fabian violently hushed him, bringing a finger to his lips and motioning towards what appeared to be the study. Now that he knew where to look, Remus also thought that he could hear a shuffling sound. Ever so slowly, the three of them crept onto either side of the door so that they could see into the room. There was a desk that was piled very high with all manner of parchments. And behind the desk, the three of them could clearly see someone searching for something.
"Stand up," Fabian ordered, wand trained on the searcher "Slowly,"
A blonde head flicked up, and Remus recognised it immediately. Lucius Malfoy; complete with ponytail and pretentious goatee, and the slightly stunned expression of someone who had just been proven wrong in his belief that he was completely infallible. His eyes flicked around, looking for an escape route.
"Lucius, we can do this easily," Fabian said "Or we can take you down by force,"
With a burst of strength that deeply surprised Remus, Malfoy threw the table over onto it's side and shoved it into the doorway.
"Confringo!" he shouted, causing the table to explode with a force that knocked the three members of the Order of the Phoenix onto their backs. They heard a crashing sound, that clearly signified Lucius Malfoy jumping through the window and out into the street below. Edgar Bones was up on his feet first, following the Death Eater through the path he had taken. Fabian Prewett staggered over to Remus, helping him up from the ground, swearing loudly.
"Go fetch me some firewhiskey from the kitchen would you?" he gasped, and Remus noticed that a large piece of wood was embedded in the side of his face. A great deal of blood was pouring from the wound, covering Fabian's hand as he tried to cover it.
"It's not as bad as it looks," he assured the young wizard "just get me the damned firewhiskey,"
Remus hurried into the kitchen, noticing more signs of a struggle as he went. An overturned chair here, a scorch mark there and once even a grand piano that looked like it had been hacked at with a sword. The kitchen door was hanging from it's hinges, and Remus suddenly felt a sense of inexplicable dread as he approached. He peered inside, and all his fears were immediately confirmed.
Benjy Fenwick had been tied to a chair. At least he assumed that it had been Benjy Fenwick; he had only met the man twice and his face was now unrecognisable. An interrogation, a brutal, horrific interrogation had taken place here. That must be the reason why Malfoy was still there when Fenwick had disappeared so many days ago. It looked like it had been Diffindo, not Sectumsempra; the cuts were too small and numerous for the darker magic. But instruments other than wands had been used, from the doorway he could see a bloody butcher's knife in the sink. What was left of Benjy could barely even be called human, the intense wounds disfiguring him beyond all recognition. Remus shuddered to think how long he'd been left like this before he finally bled out. In fact he felt as though he were about to throw up.
"Lupin! Where's that drink?" Fabian shouted from the other room. Remus opened his mouth to respond, but he thought he might throw up. He staggered into the study that had been ripped apart by Malfoy's exploding table.
"Fabian," he said weakly "I've found…oh god…there's only bits left,"
That was the point where the 17 year old wizard threw up all over the floor, much to his own disgust.
AN: So I got kind of bored by my other First War fic, so I started afresh. Hopefully I should continue with this one. If you've read it through, please review. I always love to hear criticism. As long as it's constructive…