Chapter 1
Four whirling dervishes streaked across the sky, high above the clouds where they couldn't be seen and their screams of laughter and good natured cussing were whipped away by the wind. Black cloaks streaming behind them as they ducked and weaved amongst themselves in a disordered and chaotic pattern that belied the actual role of three of the group as escorts for the fourth and youngest member.
The group had been flying for several hours but were still in high spirits having made a game of dropping through clouds and dive bombing each other.
"Ready for another go Selene?" The oldest shouted to the youngest, his wild grin evident even in the night.
"What do you take me for?!" She flipped him off before mimicking his actions of checking the runic cuff was still in place on the broom handle and the paired medallion in place on her sternum.
"Your Aunt is going to be furious if you show up with hypothermia!" A third rider yelled, her voice repeating through the earpieces they each wore.
"Ladies first this time."
And she was gone. Rolling off her broom and dropping out of the sky.
Her skydiving buddy quickly followed her into free fall and the remaining two shared an exasperated look, their charge was not willing to be contained to a protected position that night. The same as every time she had repeated this stunt that night her laughter bubbled through each of their ear pieces attached to their goggles.
"COMPANY!"
She short shriek caused a sharp stab of terror to go through the other three riders. The free falling rider pressed his medallion sharply twice to summon his broom, scanning ahead, through a break in the clouds he spotted her in time to watch her plummet through the centre of a ring of stationary black cloaked broom riders and disappear into the next layer of clouds.
Selene plummeted earthward, slowly rotating and laughing at the giddy feeling. She closed her eyes as she fell through a wispy cold cloud, dampening her short black curls. Opening her eyes again, the sight sent a small jolt of fear through her, a ring of black figures just above the next layer of cloud, she shouted a warning to her fellow riders.
Hedging her bets, she chose to drop through the group at full speed rather than risk coming to a standstill in or above the group. She pressed her medallion once to have her broom track her position and ready to be summoned. For one instant it seemed to have paid off. She had made it into the cloud without being targeted by spell fire, only a few surprised shouts following her when she burst through the other side of the cloud and came face to face with a thestral.
Multiple shouts and shrieks came through the ear pieces of her three escorts, now all on brooms again.
"I'm ok. More company... Gonna' stick to the ground." Her short breathless message was enough to make the others pause in rushing to help her but not enough to stop the urge to blast a hole through the skirmish below to keep her safe.
"What happened?"
"How many more?"
"Where are you?"
"Are you hurt?"
The questions hummed through Selene's ear piece as she stared at the two broom riders she had managed to drag down with her. Pressing and holding the medallion against her sternum to slow her downwards trajectory was probably the only thing that had spared not only her but also the grounded riders from serious harm.
The same two who were now pointing their wands at her. Both the skinny boy with black hair and glasses and the witch with flame red hair that appeared to be intensifying in colour were clearly done with scrambling on the ground and now saw her as their closest threat. Tense seconds ticked by in the neat front garden of one of the muggle houses that lined the street as they assessed the girl who had fallen out of the sky. Goggles obscuring part of her face, worn black cloak and curly black hair appearing thoroughly windswept and damp. Selene shifted her weight, subtly checking her surroundings and reaching for her wand as the woman and boy spat questions and threats at her.
"Wild guess here but I think we both wanna avoid the death eaters." Selene focussed on the sky above the other two and drew her wand when their attention was split. "Incoming."
There was a full second of silence before Selene side stepped the first green bolt of light to come in their direction. The woman sprang into action, dragging the boy to the ground and attempting to protect them both from the volley of spells as well as keep track of Selene who dodged through the well-kept garden and vaulted the high fence.
"I'm uninjured, on the ground with two of the second group who appear to be civilians." Her hurried report repeated in the ears of the three riders circling high above as she ran down the narrow alley. "Pursuit by three death eaters."
"I'm coming to get you." The youngest of her escorts started to dive.
"No Dimitri." Five people clattered and banged into the alleyway. "I can clean this up, all of us being seen will just make it worse."
"Make it quick or we will come there." The other female member of their temporarily split group spoke as she stared down at Dimitri, flopped forlornly along the length of his broom.
"Yes mum." The sarcastic reply reassured them more than any placating words.
Selene stepped immediately to the left at the end of the alley way and waited in the shadows for the duelling group to exit. The first two, the woman and boy, ran in a wide arc to the right while hurling curses at a death eater on a broom. One sharp flick of her wand and he was unconscious, followed by a shield to deflect the hastily cast stunner from the boy.
She pressed a finger to her lips looking pointedly at the other two, ignoring the death eater who when separated from his broom, bounced and skidded along the road in a bloody mess. She stepped further into the shadows as the woman silently direct the boy to do the same. Listening closely, she could hear the muttered conversation from the slowing pair of footsteps. They had done well to remove two of them from their brooms.
Selene picked her way through the garden to double back on the high fence which served to mark the last of the alleyway. The two remaining death eaters grew warier the longer silence prevailed over the street until they were edging towards the end of the alley. Perched on the high fence from some meters back she lined up their heads and cast.
Ronald Weasley was just pointing out the appearance of the remaining two death eaters when their heads exploded. Grey and red sprayed in a wide circle as the bodies collapsed one on top of the other in the opening of the alleyway.
He stared in shock at the dark red puddle, barely registering Tonks trying to drag him to his feet. He stared at the puddle but didn't see the boots that leapt over it or hear the words that were exchanged between the boots wearer and the woman tugging at his arm.
Ronald Weasley had just witnessed two people's deaths. Two death eaters who had been trying to kill him only moments ago, but he never expected to see them die like that in front of him. He knew, in an abstract way, that people might die tonight, people he knew and cared about, people he didn't, people he might wish were dead.
The horrific scene that his brain seemed to process in slow motion turned his stomach in a way he had never expected. Death. Violent and messy, it was all too clear in the pools of sickly light cast by the street lamps.
Selene dropped down from the fence and whispered an update to the riders before stepping out of the alley. She inspected the unconscious death eater briefly before speaking to the woman with red hair.
"We could make it look like a motorcycle accident, or do you have other plans for them?" She spoke casually and kept her wand pointed vaguely downward.
"Don't bother, more will be here soon." The woman tugged insistently at the boy's arm, he appeared to be in shock, still staring at the headless death eaters.
"Then you need to move and I need to know if you're a threat or if you might have a use for one battered but alive criminal." Selene stepped into the downwind as she spoke, maintaining a light tone as she sniffed the air and nearly gagged in the scent covering the woman. "Although those aren't mutually exclusive options."
"You're a murderer!" The skinny boy surfaced from his state of shock, spluttering.
"You're a fucking idiot!" Selene mimicked his outraged tone, then sarcastically to the woman. "And you fuck a werewolf! That's an interest we share, can we be best friends now?!" Snorts of laughter and an exasperated sigh came through her ear piece; they could hear the whole conversation.
"Are you part of Greyback's pack?" The woman visibly tensed and held her wand tightly in front of her, her voice laced with fear. The boy had clearly recovered from his shock and was now expressing his emotions by shouting jumbled insults.
"Eww! I do not want to be cannibalised! And you need to shut up." The last part was directed at the boy who stared at her wide eyed. "They clearly intended to kill you and I didn't need to eliminate them for you. Besides, this one isn't dead." She indicated the one with his head still attached.
"But, but you didn't have to kill the others!" He spluttered. "Could have just stunned them instead right?"
"That would have a given them a chance and they were very intent on killing or maiming you! Why are you so upset that I won when I'm not the one that wants to kill you? And what would you have done with them anyway? It's not like the ministry is capable right now." She spoke over the woman's protest about being an Auror and continued her lecture. "They had intent to kill, so what was yours? If you think about all the things they would have done, it's not really so terrible that they can't ever do those things now."
"Stay on track Selene, they're not short term threats and you need to get moving." The female voice admonished her. "Give her a contact point, she knows a wolf who's probably not in with Greyback's pack, or at least she isn't."
"So I really should be going but if you ever need help with wolf things or whatever, here's a card." Selene produced a rectangle of heavy parchment which was blank except for a small image of a howling wolf printed in one corner. "Write your item of business and a rendezvous point on it. It works one way and only once." When the woman didn't move to lower her wand or to take the proffered item Selene muttered 'whatever' to herself, dropped the card on the ground, obliviated the still unconscious death eater and backed away into the nearest garden before disappearing into the shadows as the soft pops of apparition began one street away.