Till We Meet Again
Diagon Alley. The busiest magical market place in England, perhaps all of Europe. By day, a place teeming with the laughter of small children and the indignant squawks of buyers at the climbing prices. By night, a veritable ghost town.
It was hardly ten o'clock in the evening, yet the streets were deserted. These marked the times when the Dark Lord reigned supreme.
A figure materialized from the shadows of an obscure alley. Stepping into the light, a young man barely out of his teens looked furtively around. The effort wasted, no one was around to observe him, see him take out his wand, bend down and tap the base of a lamp post. He disappeared with a small pop only to reappear underground where a tunnel stretched out for him.
Stooping slightly, as his head brushed the ceiling, he walked quickly to his destination. The tunnels were a labyrinth. Every few hundred yards another tunnel branched out, like a stem branching out of a tree trunk. The young man barely gave these a glance. Keeping his eyes straight ahead, he walked faster.
Seconds later, he reaches the end of the tunnel where a door stands. Slightly rotting in some places, it still seemed strong. A metal ring substituting as a doorknob glowed brightly.
Using his wand, he lightly tapped the ring and pulled. The door opened, revealing a large room. A long table, with exactly seven chairs scattered all around it, was situated in the center of the room.
Six of the chairs have already been taken. Three women and three men simultaneously looked up all of different nationalities; the group contained an Italian-Chinese, a Canadian, an American, two from France, one from Britain and an unknown.
"You're late, James", the Canadian spoke up; her icy-blue eyes glimmered with silent questions.
"I'm sorry, Morgan", grinned James, Potter ruffling his hair (He still hasn't kicked the habit.) and nodding to the other members.
"Be quiet", hissed the Italian-Chinese, Lairusi a.k.a. Lamda, "You know the rules."
James nodded, turning somber. The group had strict guidelines in addressing names. This was to ensure that at the risk of capture, they could never reveal the names of the other members. But now those specific rules were hardly given any notice since most of the members are high-profile in the Ministry.
"I'm sorry, Lamda. I forgot about it", James said addressing the Italian-Chinese, taking his seat beside Morgan a.ka. Epsilon.
"Awww…. Come on Lairusi. Give the guy some slack. You know we really don't need to use those damn codenames. It's confusing enough as it is", the American, Charles Crawford a.k.a. Omega, protested.
The argument was always controversial between the stick-in-the-mud and the laidback members. Here we go, James thought, settling down for the debate. It was also the usual pre-meeting banter.
"That's hardly the point, Omega", Cecile Bordeaux a.k.a. Gamma, a French brunette, emphasized on the codename, "It's to protect us from discovery if one of us is captured."
"I think what Charlie says is right", piped in Celeste Bordeaux a.k.a. Kappa, another French but blonde, "The rule is very much outdated. We can't possibly be captured."
"Don't underestimate the enemy", Leone a.k.a. Pi, said quietly, "Who knows, maybe Voldemort knows that we already exist. "
"Impossible", James now known as Sigma said with conviction, "the death-eaters have been doing regular raids. They can't possibly be aware of our existence."
"That's true", Lamda growled, "but we still have to exercise caution."
Kappa slammed her palm face down on the table, "How do you think we get away to attend these meetings? That we just waltz out of our flats and our guards won't notice. Lamda, we have always exercised extreme caution since joining Medusa. You think we would return to our carefree existence once we are indicted to this organization. That we would blab to the whole world about this very hush-hush group so that we could get mangled or even killed", she sniffed, "well, I think not!"
James sighed, this was going far enough. As unspoken peace-keeper of Medusa, he had to speak up before things got out of hand and speak up he did, "I'm sure that Lamda never doubted your discretion, Kappa. He is just reminding us of our duties in Medusa. Right, Lamda?"
Lamda nodded, closed his eyes and wearily rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I swear on my honor that I have never doubted you."
"Isn't that quite worthless since you're a smuggler and all", Kappa added snidely. James gave her a look and she grudgingly backed down.
Lamda popped one eyes open and glared at Kappa, but didn't rise to the bait. Taking a deep breath, he announced, "I suppose you wondered why I called you all down here."
Kappa snorted and James frowned at her. For being the most beautiful woman here, she was really displaying some very unattractive behavior.
Lamda apparently hasn't heard or was ignoring Kappa. James decided on the latter. Continuing on, Lamda opened his eyes and said, "I heard from my sources that death-eaters are planning on raiding the Ministry. It seems that a research department is nearing on a breakthrough on magic-weakening spells. "
"Not likely", Omega frowned, "The Ministry is an anti-apparition point, except for the Atrium but its heavily guarded day and night. It's also impossible to get in there without being seen. You can't expect twenty death-eaters to storm in there in broad daylight and not have a single eyewitness or have trained aurors turn a blind-eye."
"Your source must be really reliable", Kappa said, sarcastically.
Gamma, slammed her palm in against the table and scathingly told her sister, "Has it ever occurred to you that the death-eaters themselves might be Ministry officials?" Kappa blushed red; she didn't really consider that idea.
Pi nodded, "It's possible and more logical. How many suspected death-eaters do we have in the Ministry?"
Epsilon replied immediately, "There's Crood, Liverspot, Slippet, Rupet and Clavern."
Omega tilted his head back, "Right, we're going to have to watch them closely. What day did you're source say they're going to strike?"
"Wednesday, next week", Lamda said, "It doesn't give us much time."
Pi nodded, "Lamda and I'll have to pass on this one. Too risky." Everyone nodded, as a smuggler and a mercenary, respectively, Lamda and Pi are not allowed in the Ministry, doing so would mean a life term in Azkaban.
Gamma announced, "Right, here we go." She outlined a plan, strategically placing all the members, minus Lamda and Pi, at various intervals. The group went over some fine tuning before the plan was deemed workable but everyone.
Standing up, Lamda nodded at everyone and said, "Pi and I'll acquire the materials. They should be ready in two days, giving you time to go over some minor flaws in the plan. We'll all go at the usual intervals."
Everyone nodded. Every ten minutes, a member of Medusa would exit the room calling out greetings until the room was empty leaving no trace of the meeting or its occupants.
A/N: Okay, so the first chappie leaves much to be desired, but it'll get better I promise.
Anyway, anyone up for being my beta-reader?