Rating: T
Summary: The International Apparation Terminal has been blown up by the Death Eaters in an attempt to get the Ministry to surrender. The only survivors trained to deal with it are Katie Bell and Oliver Wood, and it's up to them to get the remaining survivors out alive - but with a rocky past, can the two stand each other for long enough?
But when the group become the victims of a ruthless and detailed search by the Death Eaters, they know that there's a traitor in the group - one with powerful magic. Now, as they fight to get out of the ruins alive, they will have to smoke out and eliminate the traitor before the Death Eaters smoke out and eliminate them first…
A/N: This story is compliant with the Harry Potter books. It's set during Harry's seventh year (although he doesn't appear in the story), which is (presumably) the last year of the war. Katie is not even a year out of Hogwarts, although she was an 'older' student which makes her just over nineteen. Oliver was one of the 'younger' students and is little more than twenty-one.
Just as a general warning, I know there were a few pre-teens who read Misery Loves Company, and I'm just going to warn you that this story is going to be a bit more mature than that, which is (admittedly) pretty simple and random. On the other hand, I'm hoping that this will actually have a plot.
Anyway, I'll try and round this off a bit, because I always seem to have unusually long author notes when I'm starting a new story. Please read and review, no matter if it's constructive criticism or a single word!
'Life and death were parallels that had become all too hard to distinguish.'
My feet hurt from the sand
But still I march on gun in hand
'Cause this is war
This isn't what I planned
I wanted to be so much more
But this is war
This Is War, Smile Empty Soul
Oliver Wood sighed as he stood in line, waiting for his passport to be stamped and accredited for proof that he lived in England. He'd apparated hours ago and all he wanted was to get home to his flat and sleep – he'd spent the entire of his so-called 'holiday' chasing down a rogue Death Eater in Germany that had refused to be caught.
Thinking over it, he involuntarily shuddered. He'd been a member of the Order of the Phoenix for just over a year – ever since Puddlemere United had decided to close their doors until the war was over. Too many prominent Quidditch players had been targeted and they didn't want to risk the entire league being picked off, one by one. Like chunks of meat, Oliver reflected. He'd been lucky- he was still slightly amazed that even after such a short period of time, he'd made it back to England safely.
Of course, there was still the problem of the German Death Eater that he hadn't managed to find. He looked over his shoulder for the third time in as many minutes without thinking. In a war, it became methodical- you never knew what could be lurking behind you, ready to-
He shook his head. It wouldn't do to reminisce about the past. All he wanted was to go home and sleep. He studied his surroundings, unamused at the fact that in the four months he'd been gone, everyone had only become more tense and more bitter. He observed a witch walk up to the main counter to ask a question, only to be rudely sent off to another one without even a glance. Nobody looked anyone else in the eye, or gave anyone a reason to notice them.
Life and death were parallels that had become all too hard to distinguish.
"Excuse me? Sir? Sir?" The wizard on the other side of the desk was looking up at him expectantly. Oliver smiled tightly and produced his passport wordlessly. He might not have liked the new form of social etiquette, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to comply, either.
The man flicked quickly through the small book, frowned, and looked up at Oliver. "You travel a lot for your job?" He asked, grudgingly stamping the page.
Oliver nodded. "Yeah." He found no reason to tell the officer that all the countries he'd been to – Switzerland, Czech, Albania, Serbia and Germany, among others – were for finding Death Eaters and getting information for an underground organisation that was planning to overthrow Voldemort.
The Order of the Phoenix wasn't a secret, really – everybody knew about it. The Ministry had finally decided, albeit cautiously, to allow them to work with their top Aurors and Unspeakables. It was a gift that the Order hadn't necessarily appreciated; they often had a lot more information than the Ministry ever received, and the Ministry members were prone to shift between taking charge of a case and stepping warily back.
The biggest problem with this arrangement was the fact that there could still be Death Eaters lurking amongst the Ministry, ones that hadn't been as vocal about their stance on muggles and muggleborns as Lucius Malfoy or others had been.
Oliver grimaced. He didn't fancy being Kingsley Shacklebolt once the Ministry inevitably found out about his alliance with the Order, no matter how 'generous' they were supposedly being.
He took his passport back from the attendant with a grudging nod. Now, all he had to do was find his way out of the Terminal and he'd be free – at least until Lupin had him doing another assignment in a remote republic that no one had ever heard of.
He had only taken three steps when the sound of a raised voice reached his ears, and he glanced to his left, towards a flustered young woman behind the security desk. She glared at the customer in front of her, pursing her lips as she looked for someone to help her out.
"For the last time, sir, I don't know what you're talking about!" She raised her hands dramatically; an action that would have amused Oliver if not for the slight fear now etched on the woman's face. Taking a few steps closer, Oliver saw why she wasn't smiling any more- the wizard in front of her had his wand out, and it was pointing very precariously at her chest.
He spared a thought for the Aurors – there were plenty stationed at the IAT – he'd seen them before, and no one else seemed to be concerned about the young woman's plight, either. Heaving a sigh, he advanced towards the unsettled customer and the frightened attendant.
"Where are they?" The foreign accent and the tone the wizard used made his blood curl. There was nothing compliant about the man then – he'd taken a step closer so that his wand was pressed flush against the woman's throat. Her eyes darted around wildly, but she didn't call out.
She obviously hadn't seen Oliver coming towards them, and he was relieved. If her eyes had settled on him, then the wizard would have known that he was behind him, and the consequences wouldn't have been pretty, judging by the threatening stance that he had adopted.
A few more steps… Then it happened. The blonde woman's eyes caught sight of him and widened slightly, causing the wizard to turn around abruptly. He fired a disarming spell at Oliver, which missed and hit an elderly lady behind him. Oliver shot a spell back, and soon there was chaos in the International Apparation Terminal of England.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the woman duck behind the desk, then fire a spell that shot bright red sparks out of the tip of her wand. A signal – Oliver had used it more than once during his time as an Order member.
He stepped swiftly to the side, neatly dodging a curse that he suspected wasn't all that legal – the opposing wizard was speaking in German, and Oliver didn't have a clue what he was trying to cast, so he had to think quickly. He aimed another paralysing jinx, but the German ducked, and the spell narrowly avoided the blonde, who had looked over the desk in an attempt to aim a hex.
"Petrificus Totalus! " Oliver's hex hit the wizard in the centre of his chest, and he turned to face the blonde triumphantly. She wouldn't be as shocked as he was – Oliver was fairly certain that the wizard he'd just spent ten minutes disarming was the one he spent two months tracking in a remote province of Germany. He had suspected that the Death Eater might have been following Oliver himself, but it was one thing to suspect the person you were tracking was actually following you, and another to prove it.
The blonde, however, wasn't watching the battle's ending. Instead, her eyes were riveted on the far end of the Apparation Terminal – a group of people, all clothed in black robes with white masks covering their faces. They advanced forward steadily, wands in hand, showing no sign of retreat.
The woman breathed in sharply. "Oh my God," she whispered, so low that Oliver had to lean forward to hear her. "It's a siege."
Nymphadora Tonks was having a bad day. There had been numerous signals for help throughout the day – too many for the Aurors to deal with, so she had been put in charge of sorting through them.
It was a tedious task that required attention to detail, and Tonks was sorting through the incoming alerts slowly. The only reason she wasn't comatose was because of the large amounts of caffeine she'd been drinking.
She sighed as she scanned the list, wontedly flicking her wand to divide the notices into groups. The more important problems to the least important ones. A Ministry official came in to collect them every minute and Tonks found herself wishing they would leave her alone.
As she read, her mind drifted. The Order was becoming wearier and more desperate. That had been made clear at the meeting the previous night, where it had lasted until the early hours of the morning – none of the members could agree on how to attack next.
Mundungus Fletcher wanted to infiltrate the Death Eaters. He believed that the Order would have more of a chance with someone other than Snape- nobody trusted him after what had happened to Dumbledore, but he, Minerva and Remus had had a long meeting and for a reason known only to them, Snape continued to work with the Order.
Hestia Jones believed that lying low for a while would lull the Death Eaters into a false sense of security and that after that the Order could get them.
Kingsley Shacklebolt had yet another idea, one that was put into action months before, although it didn't stop the others from protesting. He believed that it would be for the best if the Order continued putting pressure on Voldemort's followers until they realised that it would have to end one way or another soon, and as the heads of the Order of the Phoenix, Remus and Minerva had agreed with him.
Tonks knew that the final battle would occur sooner rather than later. The Death Eaters had become bolder as time wore on and despite the constant assurances to the public by the Ministry, the Order of the Phoenix was not as powerful as the Death Eaters.
Since Voldemort had come back, more and more people believed that he would win anyway so they joined him purely out of resignment. His forces were gaining in number and the Order's numbers was slowly but surely beginning to dwindle as the amount of people joining began to decline and as the Death Eaters tried to pick them off one by one.
She sighed in frustration. The Order needed to attack while they could, before too many members died. She'd tried to convince Remus at the meeting but he hadn't listened, and when they had gone back to their house they'd argued some more.
The other members had tried to stay out of the argument out of respect for their relationship, but even Tonks hadn't been able to miss the tightening of mouths and the derisive snorts when she'd voiced her opinion. If they left it until too late, the Death Eaters would take the opportunity and then they'd be forced into battle, no matter how unprepared they were.
She wasn't even allowed to take on any interesting assignments. Instead she was expected to do her job at the Ministry, where she could access valuable information and resources. She understood Remus' reasoning for that, but she didn't see the point of the task that Kingsley had assigned her.
It was unbelievably dull, and she wondered why it was her specifically that had to do it. There were lower ranking Aurors than her, and Kingsley should have known to place her somewhere that would be beneficial for the Order.
"Tonks!" A bellow behind her made Tonks look up. It was Kingsley striding towards her. She couldn't read his expression but she squared her shoulders determinedly. If he was at the meeting the night before then he would have understood why she was so tired.
"Kingsley?" She frowned when he came to a direct stop in front of her, but then he produced a cup of coffee and handed it to her mutely. She hid a smirk and accepted it. She'd always suspected that Kingsley Shacklebolt had a soft side, but he was playing right into her hands by giving her the evidence. "Thanks."
Kingsley nodded at her and turned to leave, but something caught Tonks' eye as she glanced back down at the incoming calls. "Fuck!" She breathed, and turned to grab Kingsley's arm urgently. "Look at this!"
Kingsley looked at the spot next to her finger. His eyes widened slightly and his mouth set firmly. "Get Evans," he said, his eyes still planted on the alert. His expression hardened and Tonks knew this was more serious than she'd first thought. "Tell him we've got a code sage."
Katie Bell gazed at the figures trudging towards her with a horrified fascination. She'd mostly been trained for spy work, such as picking up acquaintances for information and recruiting. She hadn't been with the Order of the Phoenix long – she'd been living in New Zealand for a year – and so she hadn't been on any assignments during which she confronted any Death Eaters.
But the cold reality of the situation set in for her when she saw a flash of green light emit from one of the Death Eaters' wands and hit a young woman cowering in the corner. She didn't even have time to scream before her body slumped to the ground lifelessly.
Katie opened her mouth – to do what, she didn't know. She wasn't sure if she would have screamed, gasped or cried, but before she could make a sound a hand came down over her mouth and she was pulled to the ground from behind.
She was terrified. The training that had been drilled into her for months was forgotten, and she writhed under the person that had taken her down. Her assailant had rolled on top of her to keep her from moving, but his hand was still covering her mouth, so she bit him.
He let a low grunt but didn't take his hand away, and Katie glared at him from widened eyes. The man lying on top of her looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't quite place him. He had dark brown hair that had grown a bit too long, but he was clean shaven and had dark brown eyes that were flashing angrily at her.
"Stop moving!" He hissed, using his other hand to hold down her arm. Katie stared at him momentarily before another noise distracted her from her thoughts.
Voices. They started out quietly, but slowly rose in volume blended together until it was a chant – a chant that continually got louder until she couldn't determine how far away they were.
She glanced around to see if they were hidden and realised that she hadn't moved away from her position behind the desk – the man had tackled her down so that they were both half under the bench. With one huge effort, she pushed him off of her and sat up slowly, shuddering as the voices got louder yet again.
The man sat next to her, and they both tried to push themselves as far beneath the desk as they could. She stared at the ground where the German wizard's wand had fallen when the man next to her had stunned him, but stopped when she felt a gaze rest heavily on her. She glanced up, startled, to see her new comrade staring at her with a frown. Katie would have said something, but at that exact moment an explosion sounded and then all hell broke loose.
She heard someone scream as a massive crash sounded from the corner and she knew that it was the roof caving in. Voices were yelling and screaming, and she could hear the footsteps of people that had been hiding go thundering past.
More people had arrived and she stood up determinedly, wand in hand. The sight before her made the breath leave her lungs. The roof was caving slowly, with huge bricks of concrete crumbling slowly and smashing to the ground. She watched as a chunk of cement broke off and hit a man lying on the ground in the abdomen – there was no time for warnings.
Death Eaters were fighting the few people that had dared to stand up to them and killing off those that hadn't. The security guards had finally arrived but most of them were holed up in the corner by a few Death Eaters. Those that hadn't been stopped were lying on the ground motionlessly.
The Aurors hadn't arrived, nor had the rest of the Order. Katie spared a thought for them before her eyes spotted a wizard who was firing spells at the building's ceiling and walls, causing the debris to fall down prematurely.
She glanced to the left. Her latest acquaintance had followed her gaze, and when she tilted her head in his direction he nodded and let her take the lead as she rushed over to him. There was no one in their way to stop them; everyone was either rushing to get out or standing their ground and fighting. People would have presumed that they were looking for an exit.
The destructive Death Eater was short and stout, but Katie wasn't fooled. She gestured for the man to go around on his other side, before she crouched down behind a corner that hadn't yet crumbled and shouted a stunning spell. She'd never tried avada kedavra, and she wasn't going to start now.
He hadn't been as intent upon his task as she'd presumed, and before her spell hit he stopped what he was doing and put up a shield, firing another hex back at her. She leapt out of the way and fired yet again, but he'd read her mind and put up the shield.
Her comrade suddenly threw a silent hex at him, but once again their opponent dodged and turned around so that he faced the man instead of Katie.
She couldn't think properly. The shouts and screams of agony around her penetrated her mind until she wasn't even aware of what she was doing. Her trainers had never mentioned anything like this, and she'd never thought that battle would be quite like this. Deep down, she'd always presumed it would be a few quick spells and then they'd be done.
The Death Eater shot what Katie thought was a cutting spell at her assistant, and it brushed past his arm. She didn't have to hear his grunt of pain to know that it had hit him. She gritted her teeth and winced when a lump of cement hit her shoulder, but forced back the tears of pain. She could moan about the bruise later.
Taking careful aim, she didn't bother thinking about what spell she was going to use until the second before it left her wand. It hit Voldemort's follower in the middle of his back, and he fell forward like a plank.
Katie didn't bother checking to see if he'd hit his head on a lump of ceiling, or even if he'd died. Instead, she ran over to the brown-haired man that had gotten hit by the spell and examined his arm. Blood was flowing freely and she knew that if it wasn't stemmed soon he would pass out from blood loss.
She bent down and ripped off a section of her robe. It was only her IAT uniform, and somehow she doubted that she'd be going back to work anytime soon. Roughly, she wound the strip around his upper arm, pursing her lip and frowning when the blood darkened the material. She placed a second strip on top of the first, but as she was contemplating on whether or not to tie a third, a piercing shriek caused her to look over her shoulder.
A young woman of perhaps twenty with flowing auburn hair and a thin face framed by dark glasses was crying as a Death Eater strutted up to her and held a wand against her chest. Katie saw her shoulders shake, but she proudly raised her chin as the Death Eater leaned in to whisper something in her ear.
The red-head paled considerably and her shoulders shook more. A whispered plea escaped her lips, but before Katie could move a light flowed from the wand and the girl fell to the floor in a mass of crumbled robes.
Something in Katie's stomach turned. It can't be… The girl's proud stance had seemed so familiar. She'd seen it before, when… When I made fun of her about liking George. Katie didn't realise that she'd cried out loud. "No! Alicia!"
The Death Eater that had been responsible for killing her friend turned to her with a small smirk on his pointed face. His cold eyes glinted maliciously as he took a calculated step towards her.
He had taken one more step when there was a loud cracking noise from above. Katie snapped out of her frozen state and glanced up. The ceiling had cracked all the way, and as she watched it began falling. To her, it felt as if everything was in slow motion. She saw the large light break off and fall, towards her, but her mind and her body felt disconnected and she could only stare numbly as it came ever closer.
Katie had never been afraid of death. At that precise moment, she almost felt as if she was ready for it. She felt peaceful, and she was prepared to meet her impending fate head on.
But her new companion had other ideas. "Katie!" He shouted, and in her moment of mounting irrationality she wondered how he knew her name. "Get down!" He lunged for her and they both fell down. Katie heard a sharp crack and felt her head slam against the cool tiles of the floor.
Her vision blurred and the light was fading, but before she passed out she heard a blast, and heard the bangs as what was left of the ceiling fell down around the two of them like chunks of concrete hail. She barely had enough time to cover her eyes as a rock hit the back of her head and the little light she saw faded away, only to be replaced with unconsciousness.
On the ground I lay
Motionless in pain
I can see my life flashing before my eyes
Dead I fall asleep
Is this all a dream
Wake me up, I'm living a nightmare
Time Of Dying, Three Days Grace
A/N: And there ends chapter one. A lot of things will be further explained in the coming chapters, in case you're confused. Don't forget to press the little blue button on the left before you leave :D