Ephemeral

Chapter 1

She pulled the hood down roughly, shielding her face from the eyes of anyone who would have caught a glimpse of her. Her breathing had come out as short huffs, her lungs begging her to stop and steady her labored breathing.

"Are you actually trained Aurors or not? Brooms! Utilize your damn brooms!" the voice was soft from the distance, but she heard it nonetheless. This fueled her determination to run faster. She had pushed herself to the limit. Though the chances were slim, she hoped that she could outrun them. She made a sharp turn into an alley filled left and right with midnight vendors.

She continued to head forward and looked back every once in a while to see if anyone was chasing her. As she ran, someone suddenly cut into her path. He wasn't in uniform, but she recognized him as an Auror. She tried to run around him, but one sidestep of the Auror caused their shoulders to bump, and for her to fall onto the pavement.

"I'm terribly sorry, ma'am, but your running has raised some suspicion." the Auror had extended his hand to help her up. "If you don't mind me asking a few questions-"

The Auror halted as he took a sharp inhale of surprise, hand still holding her wrist securely. Most of her arm was still covered, but even the small sight of the '-OOD' on half of her exposed forearm was enough for the Auror to reach for his wand and send bright red sparks into the air - sparks that were meant to call the immediate attention of any nearby Aurors.

Seeing the sparks dissolve into the pitch black sky made her heart drop. She could already see dozens of Aurors on broomsticks rising into the air and rushing towards them. She let out a scream ("No!") as she quickly drew out her wand with her free hand and casted out a, "Petrificus Totalus!"

"Finite!" the Auror quickly retorted, negating the body-bind, soon following with a, "Stupefy!"

"Finite!" the girl calls out, countering the attack. She cast out her own Stupefy, this time managing to hit the Auror, sending him on his back. Out of pressure from being caught, she cast out Nox. All the light in the alley vanished and left it in darkness. People started to cast Lumos but as soon as light started to appear, the girl was gone. The fallen Auror mumbled, "Sonus." as he pointed his wand to his throat. "Target has fled the scene. She shouldn't have gotten far, hunt her down!"

The girl had navigated through many alleys and found herself by the edge of a river, hidden beneath the thick leaves. She fell onto the grass and caught her breath. Crawling towards the edge, she cupped her shaking hands and drank desperately, not caring about how unsanitary the water could be.

She rolled on to her back, the tips of her curly brown hair dipping into the river above her head. She let her tears finally slide down her face as she let her frustration out. The world was now against her because of what she'd done. No one would stay by her side, not even her best friends. Both of them were Aurors, for crying out loud, and she was now one of their targets.

Oh, just what had she gotten herself into?

Her crying subsides and she was now silent, staring at the leaves that rustled above her head. It wasn't long before thoughts came swarming into her head.

'So I've temporarily escaped. Excellent, but now what? There's nowhere to go to - the entire Wizarding World might soon be after my head!' she thought grimly. She could almost see her name in the headlines, known as the savior-turned-traitor. She began pondering what to do next. It wouldn't be long until she was going to be found. And when she was found, she was bound to be kissing the cold walls of Azkaban. She pondered, and pondered, and pondered –

– until she came to a decision. She quickly got up on her feet and tucked her wand into her dirtied cloak. She walked the length of the river, and planned to continue until she would reach her destination.

She stayed hidden behind the trees, and was extra cautious when she saw a small alleyway that gave a glimpse of Knockturn Alley. This was her landmark that she was close to where she needed to be. She continued walking along the bank of the river until she faced a wide space with nothing but ruins. Not even the color of the grass seemed alive, and the dark night sky was not to blame. She approached the ruins and walked cautiously over them, avoiding being seen.

She walked above the ruins and, even through the pile of wreckage, found that she was in the courtyard in the center of what was once a handsome fortress. Quiet and lazy singing could be heard from somewhere close to her. She began searching around and found that it came from a small temple made out of stone. She bent down and peeked through the open archway that served as an entrance. Three Shrunken Heads were swaying to the singing of the one in the middle. Every once in a while, the other two would join in with the lyrics.

"Excuse me," she said quietly and caught the attention of the three Shrunken Heads. They stared at her until she spoke up. "I was wondering if-"

She was rudely cut off by the Shrunken Heads singing once again.

"Once I saw a Nightingale,"

"I just wanted to know if-"

"Who sang so well,"

"-you knew how to get to-"

"Made my heart swell!" the middle one sang.

"Though you don't have a heart!" the other two sang back. "You're literally just a bell-sized head!" one of them called out. "We all are!" another replied. All three of them laughed loudly, but the girl was not impressed. She pursed her lips as she held back her anger. She took a deep breath and asked again, this time, more bossy.

"Show me to your master." she demanded.

The three heads made no sound as they fell limp. "What? Will you make no sound now that I need you to?" she huffed angrily, reaching into the entrance to threaten them. "We have no master." the middle one said monotonously. He acted completely different from how he was just a moment ago. The girl took this as a good sign. She would finally be taken seriously now.

"Don't waste your breath lying to me. Three Shrunken Heads couldn't possibly have created this temple-like home you have. And it's most impossible that this poor structure you reside in could have possibly survived the wreckage!" she insisted. Receiving no reply, she narrowed her eyes and slowly drew out her wand, pointing it to their small stone house. "Tell me or I will wreck your home."

"A name, miss?" the middle head asked quietly, earning quiet gasps from the two other heads. The girl lifted her head and stated her name.

The middle head looked at his brothers before rolling down what seemed to be a tiny staircase. "Where's he going?" she demanded and the two brothers lowered their heads, answering not her question. The silence seemed to mean something heavy, and so she reluctantly lowered her wand and sat down beside the house.

Meanwhile, the other head rolled down the staircase until he reached the very bottom, where he rolled onto a long brown table. He continued to roll until he reached the very end, where a makeshift bed from stacked grass and sheets were placed. On it was a man who was reading a book. The flickering candle on the edge of the table served as his source of light.

"Master," the head said quietly. "There is someone above who wants to meet you."

"You know very well I don't let anyone down here. Make them leave at once."

"But, sir-"

The man closed his book roughly. He turned and sneered at the severed head that quivered on his table. "Are you deaf? How can you possibly miss what I said? I have no allies out there, who do you think would be finding me? Huh? That's right, Aurors! Only Aurors who want me locked up or, better yet, dead like my father! So unless you want to prove to me that you're even more of a stupid fool than I first thought you to be, you could go rolling back to your brothers and tell the bothersome prick that there is no one who resides-"

"It's the girl, sir." the Shrunken Head said quietly, making the snarky blond boy's mouth shut immediately. "What girl?" he asked in a threatening voice. "The one who my brothers and I see often come by to inspect the ruins for months now. She - she must know what's down here, master." the head replies. The blond boy stared at him as if he expected to hear something from the head.

"She presents herself as Hermione Granger, master-" the head squeals in fear as the boy grabs him by his long black hair. "Keep the entrance shut. Scum are not allowed in my only safe place, especially not a filthy witch like her." he told the head intimidatingly. "Go!" he hissed as he let go of the head.

The Shrunken Head quickly rolled away as the boy sneered in the direction of the Shrunken Head Brothers' staircase. "Brave of her to come forcing her way in here, but so very foolish to do so." he mumbled to himself as reached for his wand and stood by the staircase to hear whatever conversation might unfold.