The roars and jeers of the crowd fell upon Emmett as the smell of mould and blood filled Emmett's nostrils. His opponent stood across from him, a pale man, larger than Emmett by far, and covered from head to toe in tattoos. He could see the wound on the side of his opponent's face where his last curse had hit him. It had blasted off his ear, and had left a hole in his cheek through which Emmett was fairly certain he could see teeth.

The man began to raise his arm and a spell flew at Emmett, a bright red bolt, but Emmett was too fast, conjuring water causing the bolt to fizzle out on his way towards him. Quick as ever to press his advantage Emmett advanced behind a series of stunners before a fast powerful severing charm lopped off his opponent's arm at the elbow.

The man screamed in pain and collapsed to his knees. And with a wave of Emmett's wand the man fell silent, his head rolled across the dusty floor into the chain link fence that surrounded the arena and with a thud the mans headless body toppled to the floor kicking a small amount of dust into the air.

The crowd went wild as their lust for blood, however temporarily, was filled. A slight witch entered the cage to collect the head and another dragged the body out of the cage and behind a curtain to be incinerated.

Emmett had a thumping in his head and as soon as the announcer had finished with him he was more than keen to collect his pay and get out of the crummy arena and back into the pub above, where his girlfriend was waiting, as afraid as always that he might not return.

However when he returned to the pub Rina was gone. And in her place sat a man. Emmett knew who it was before he even got a good look at him, it was hard to mistake the giant of a man he recognised to be his brother.

Without speaking a word Emmett took a seat next to his brother Spencer.

"So. Still killing people for coin little brother," Spencer began, the disappointment obvious in his deep voice.

"Pay is good," Emmett replied, "Got to support the family somehow. And with the education I was given at our home I couldn't really see what else I was meant to do to make a living."

"Family?" scoffed his brother, "Is that how we are referring to that mudblood harlott now?"

Emmett was furious, but he didn't reply, it was easier to just let his brother talk when he was in this sort of mood.

"I understand you take pride in being the black sheep of the family Emmett, but this is getting ridiculous. Prefect, head boy, 7 Outstanding NEWTS and yet here I find you, duelling to the death for a pittance in a dusty shithole pub in Knockturn Alley."

"I wouldn't call it a pittance, coin is good," Emmett replied, "and besides, we are hardly duelling to my death, I've barely been touched. These guys don't understand what they are getting into with me. They are broke, desperate bums."

"And now they are dead." Spencer replied, the slightest trace of a grin on his face.

"Well," Emmett said sarcastically, pulling a handful of knuts from his pocket, "a toast in their honour?"

"Going to have to give this one a miss little brother."

Emmett's heart soared in relief, he couldn't stand his family.

"But I have a message to pass on from Warner."

Emmett knew straight away that this wasn't good. Warner was his eldest sibling, 12 years his elder and a high riser at the ministry. If he was ready to stick his nose into Emmett's business trouble was sure to follow.

"You're to stop with this reckless behaviour immediately and take the internship you were offered in the department of mysteries. We need someone on our side in there. To keep an eye on things."

Emmett laughed, "An internship? Unpaid I imagine?"

Spencer nodded.

"I didn't work my arse off at school for seven fucking years to go into some bullshit unpaid internship at the department of mysteries." Emmett started with a rush of anger, "Especially not just so my arrogant cunt older brother can help cover up whatever it is exactly he has been doing. If he wants me to do this sort of shit he can come down here and ask me himself. Make sure he doesn't expect a warm welcome though. He might end up like our tattooed friend. And that would lead to some unfortunate questions when he turns up at the ministry in a snuff box."

Spencer stood up to leave, and without a parting word Emmett was alone at the table.

The barmaid came over, to offer him a drink, but Emmett waved her off and stood up to leave himself, passing a sickle to her as a tip.

The chilly July wind outside greeted Emmett as the door of the White Wyvern swung open onto the abandoned street of Knockturn Alley. He made his way down to the bookmakers, where he could collect his cut of the profit made on the duels that night.

The bookie was an old decrepit man, Emmett didn't know his name, and he didn't care. But he recognised the noise that the man was making filling up a sizeable bag with coins that made up his pay.

"Another win today Emmett? Better be careful, keep this up and know one will be willing to fight you anymore." the man wheezed out an uncomfortable laugh, but Emmett didn't reply, except for a shallow nod.

"1% Cut of the bets right?" the man asked Emmett.

"No. Only half a percent, but 50 Galleons upfront as well."

"Right, so all in all that comes to 74 Galleons, 13 Sickles and 4 Knuts."

The man handed him the larger of the two bags Emmett could see below the counter, what the man had tried wasn't lost on him. Emmett supposed most people that were duelling to the death for money probably weren't the best at maths, and if they figured they had been duped most wouldn't live long enough to come collect another bag of coin anyway.

With the heavy bag of coin Emmett made his way home, to the damp apartment above the store next door to the White Wyvern. Tenants in Knockturn Alley were hard to come by so the place was cheap, but it was cold, dark and wet.

When he entered the house he immediately saw Rina waiting for him in the kitchen and felt relieved, he had been worried Spencer might have done something to her. Rina was a beautiful woman, with tanned skin and raven black hair. She had a heart shaped face, brilliant blue eyes and normally she had a tight, toned physique, but at the moment she was heavily pregnant.

Rina was the Head Girl at Hogwarts last year with Emmett, they had never spoken prior to their appointment in the roles as they were in different houses and had only shared classes occasionally. The rest of the school also tended to try and avoid Slytherin students so that had made chances of them interacting with each other even less likely.

"You left early?" he asked her, not annoyed just curious.

"Yeah, I saw Spencer turn up. I stayed long enough to make sure you hadn't been killed, then I snuck off without him noticing. He is a fucking bad guy. I find it really hard to believe you are related to him sometimes."

Emmett laughed, "You have no idea. I don't think he knows you are pregnant yet, which is a minor miracle."

"Minor miracle to be sure, but a welcome one." Rina replied, "Although we can't keep me in hiding forever, I'm about to have a child. And I'm going stir crazy. Besides, you aren't the only one who had grander plans for your life post Hogwarts than this."

Emmett didn't need to be reminded, she had been offered a position under Harry Potter at the Auror's department straight out of Hogwarts, after getting the best results in their year. She had been forced to turn down the position, not just due to her pregnancy, but in order to keep her pregnancy secret from Warner.

Warner was an ambitious man, and more than willing to make a threat to his political career go missing. If he was to find out the true extent of Emmett and Rina's relationship he was likely to do something serious to clear the problem.

"We are going to leave Britain," Emmett said, "Soon. We just need a little more money. I'm getting in for duels every night now. And every weekend I get a real duel, which gets the big money. I have made contact with some friends in America. This time next week we can go missing, convert our money to Dragots and never have to deal with this shit again."

His girlfriend nodded, and without another word they made their way too bed.

For the next week the pair of them were on edge. Every night Emmett fought, and every night when he got home he lay awake, waiting for any noise indicating that Warner had come to cause him trouble. But the days passed by, and every night he came home with another bag of galleons, leaving an unconscious and seriously maimed opponent in the medical tent getting repaired by the witches on duty.

At last it was Saturday again. For the last time Emmett would step into the cage and kill a man to collect a large pay day. He woke up in the early afternoon and headed to the bookie to negotiate his pay for the duel as well as to find out who he was fighting.

The bookmaker was waiting for him, and after a quick greeting they immediately got down to brass tax.

"I want a real fight today." Emmett started, "Big scalp for big pay."

"I think we have just the opponent for you, real big pay, but it might cost you your life." The man said with an evil looking grin.

"I'm not worried about that at all. Who is it?"

"Laurance Valarie, an ex-auror. Got fired for killing some criminal who was unarmed or something a few years back, served a year in Azkaban, Hasn't lost a duel yet. This is his first duel to the death though."

"Huh. And you figure I will be the perfect stepping stone to establish your new duelist?"

"Nothing personal kid," the Bookie chuckled, "It's just business."

"That is fine," Emmett said, "doesn't bother me at all, he will be a dead Auror in a few hours time. As long as the money is right."

"I'll give you 3%."

"No way. I want 10%. And a 100 Galleons flat as well."

"I've never made a deal anywhere even near that, don't be ridic-" The man started.

But Emmett interrupted him, "You don't need to pay it out if I am dead. This is your new guy right?"

"I can do 5%. No bonus."

Emmett turned to leave, "Well when you are ready to get serious let me know." He began walking to the door.

"Wait!" The man shouted at Emmett as he left.

"I can't do 10. How about 8% and the standard 50 Galleon bonus."

"75 Galleon bonus."

A defeated look crossed the mans face, "Fine".

And after a shake of hands Emmett was off.

He made his way to the arena below the White Wyvern and took a seat in the upper bleachers. Not long after he took a seat his brother Spencer entered the stands and took a seat beside him.

"Last chance little brother," the burly man said.

Normally Emmett would have considered backing down to his brothers demands, but not now, not so close too freedom. The boat was organised, Rina was already on it waiting for him and would be there when he got there in just a few hours time and his brothers had no way to find her between now and then. Especially not when Spencer was busy here with him.

"Go fuck yourself Spencer." Emmett replied.

Emmett shouldn't have been so openly hostile to his brother, but the taste of freedom was getting to him. He wasn't worried about how annoyed he made Spencer now. It didn't make a lick of difference to him.

With a disappointed sigh his brother left just as the crowd began to file in. The fights ran from early afternoon to late at night, but only the last few duels on a Saturday night were to the death. Most were just standard duels with limitations to protect the lives (if not the safety) of the participants.

By the time his duel, the last of the night, rolled around it was already past 11 o'clock.

He made his way down to the arena. Where the announcer and his opponent waited for him.

"Tonight," The announcer started, his voice magically amplified, "In our main event of the evening we have something special for you."

The crowd roared with approval.

"Fighting out of the blue corner, with 6 wins and obviously no losses, most wins of any of our duelists, a former head boy at Hogwarts, Emmett Burke."

The crowd roared again.

"And out of the red corner, making his debut in a duel to the death tonight, but with a record of 11 wins no losses with us in non lethal bouts, a former Auror and Azkaban inmate, Laurence Valarie."

The crowd completely lost control. Unsurprisingly the heavily favoured auror had drew the attention of the crowd in a way he never had.

After the referee stepped in and made sure they new the rules, which was just that they weren't allowed to use any unforgiveable curses, the duel was underway.

His opponent was fast. He advanced rapidly behind stunners. Emmett felt one singe the hairs on his legs as he dived out of the way.

Emmett threw up a shield, but his timing was off. Valarie blasted through a disarming charm. And Emmett felt his wand fly from his grasp as he got thrown on the ground.

Dazed Emmett rolled desperately to the side as he heard a spell crash on the ground next to him, throwing dust into the air.

With the next curse he wasn't so lucky. It hit him square in the chest, he felt his eyes swell shut, he had been hit square in the chest with a conjunctivitis curse. It was incredibly painful and without any wand Emmett had to act fast if he wanted to survive.

Not like this, Emmett thought to himself, he was so close. He was so close he could taste the freedom, his girlfirend, his child and America waited on the other side of this pain he was experiencing. He gritted his teeth and took a stand.

Barely able to see Emmett roared in pain, he threw his hand out, trying a wandless knockback jinx. He saw the blur that was his opponent get thrown into the cage wall. Emmett quickly crawled across the ground. His hand grasped his wand and he quickly stood up.

He managed to dodge a yellow blur coming his way and fired back a curse in the direction it came from. The blur managed to dodge the curse, but he lost his footing Emmet quickly used a severing charm to puncture the swelling in his eyelid. He felt the pus and blood explode out onto the dusty floor. His vision came back to him.

Not a moment to soon, Valarie had regained his footing and sent more stunners at Emmett, who found himself on the retreat. His shield charm held up this time, protecting himself from the stunners.

The second he had an opportunity Emmett fired back a stunner of his own, and it hit Valarie square in the face tossing him on the ground unconscious.

Emmett advanced on the unconscious body, ready to finish the job, but as he raised his wand he was distracted by screams in the upper bleachers and a bright flash and explosion blinded him and threw him to the ground.

He pulled himself to the cage and tried to stand up. Leaning on the cage for support he managed it and looked around. The arena had broken into chaos. Law enforcement had busted in and were rounding up as many of the fleeing patrons as they could manage.

After his attempt to apparate was unsuccessful Emmett slumped back to the ground and waited.

In a few minutes when things had calmed down two men approached his tired, busted body. The smaller of the two men aided him to his feet, and he found himself face to face with the bald head of his eldest brother Warner.

"Emmett Burke, you're coming with us. We are done here."

Dejected, Emmett could do nothing but nod. He took a step away from the man supporting him and tried to take a step under his own strength. His legs would not hold and he collapsed to the floor.

He looked up at his two captors, he recognised the man next to his brother immediately, as the man cast a spell that knocked him unconscious he realised just how much trouble he was in. The second man arresting him was Harry Potter.