The night air was cold and crisp. They had been waiting for hours, watching the small, lifeless cabin. According to the Order, this is where Thomas Markley was hiding. Thomas Markley was the last of the devout followers of Grindlewald to be brought to justice. He had been in hiding for over 23 years and had conducted sporadic attacks on Muggles and Muggle-borns since the end of the War. Minerva McGonagall had been selected by the Order to be part of the team that would finally bring Markley to justice. Minerva was a brilliant witch, being the brightest of her age. She was 33 at the time and at the height of her career at the Ministry in the department of Magical Law Enforcement. A proud woman, she was tall and thin with stern features. Her emerald green eyes pierced the dark night as a cold mist settled upon her pale face. Ebony hair framed her face, softening the harshness of her cheekbones. Many nights without rest had left her exhausted, as betrayed by the dark circles under her eyes. Square framed glasses rested upon her thin nose, a crack left in one of the lenses from a stray spell nearly a fortnight ago. Minerva was crouched next to her 5 comrades, waiting for anything to break the tension that had settled upon the air.
If not for her enhanced senses lent to her by her animagus, Minerva would have missed the muffled sound of a chair scraping across wooden planks. That sound was the only indication of life within the dreary cabin. Slowly, Minerva lifted her thin hand to signal to the others that there was indeed someone within. As one they moved forward, careful to silence their footsteps and hide their positions. One of Minerva's comrades, Harold McKinley was at the very lead of the ambush when he halted movement. The air in front of the group shimmered. Clearly a ward. If they were to pass through the ward would alert the occupant to the intruders.
Harold looked at the group and in a shushed voice stated, "there's a ward surrounding the cabin, Minerva I want you to see if you can break through, from how weak it is I believe that it won't sense you in your animagus form, once through see if you can take it down."
With a curt nod Minerva did as instructed. The transformation was swift, in a mere moment a speckled tabby with square markings around her eyes was standing before the group. The tabby approached the ward hesitantly before jumping through. One beyond the barrier, Minerva returned to her human form. She raised her wand and began reciting incantations. The team watched as the ward began to dissolve. Harold was the first to step through. With a curt nod from Harold the rest of the group followed. They passed up the worn path to the door of the cabin when suddenly the door to the cabin blew outwards. Wood splinters flew everywhere. Minerva reacted in an instant, throwing stinging hexes through the gaping hole in the front of the cabin, praying that one would meet its target.
A barrage of spells began to fly out of the cabin and towards the group. A well timed protegeo charm from Harold protected Minerva from a stray curse that found her position. Minerva glanced up towards the cabin to see a wizard standing within. He was dressed in tattered black robes. He had a short grey beard and a bald head. He was extremely muscular, obviously from years of discipline and hiding in the elements. The most noticeable feature was his hollow face. There was a deep scar across the left side of his face crossing where an eye should have been, but instead there was an empty socket staring back at her. The other eye was completely black; the color and life having obviously been taken away from many years of dark magic.
In an instant Thomas began to throw cruciatus curses at the group. Minerva summoned her courage and broke through the protegeo charm that was still shielding her and began to throw a barrage of hexes at the offending man. For every curse her hurled at her, she hurled two more at him. Minerva kept analyzing his movements and his timings. He was repetitive in his spellwork, always pausing for a moment after he cast a stunner before trying one of the unforgivables, the following with some simple disarming charms. His grasp and knowledge on magic was basic, only being fueled by anger, no forethought being put into his spells. Minerva decided to catch him off guard. In a series of flicks of her wand, Minerva had transfigured the steps he was standing on into sinking sand. Before the man realized what had happened Minerva struck him with another stunner as his feet sank into the hungry ground.
The man fell to his knees as the rest of the group closed in on him. Minerva had leveled her wand to his face, ready to put him into a body bind and be over with this night. As the first words began to roll off of Minerva's tongue the sharp crack of apparition flooded the air and Thomas was gone.
"Shite," was all that was heard from Harold as Minerva broke protocol and reached out her magic and felt the trails of Thomas's apparition from mere moments before. Once Harold realized what Minerva was doing it was too late, she vanished into the cold night air.