So sorry it took so long! But here it is!


Chapter 2: Death Eater Doom

Elaine spun and slashed her wand. Expecting the same spell as the last time they had faced off, they put up shield charms. But she had only conjured a simple silver sword. She slid into a fencing stance. Surprised, the Death Eaters dropped their shields. Being wizards, they thought physical devices such as swords were crude and nothing to worry about. Big mistake. She darted in, slamming the sword into one of the Death Eater's shoulders.

He dropped to the ground, screaming in pain and unable to use his wand arm. The other two were wary of the silver blade now. One raised his wand to block a stroke and found it sliced neatly in two and blood welling from a cut in his chest. She backed off and spun the sword in her hand. She lunged at the Death Eater's neck and he raised his shield charm to protect there. In mid-lunge, she flipped the sword up and caught it so the point was facing down. She smashed it into her enemy's knee, shattering the bone.

She tucked her hair back behind her ear and returned the sword to her wand. "Now go and tell your master how you lost to a little girl." Aiming a final vicious kick at the nearest Death Eater, she strode away.

Elaine stepped through the door into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and locked it behind her. "Everything okay, Elaine?" George asked, stepping out from behind a couple shelves behind her.

She jumped, startled and faced him. "Everything is fine, why do you ask?" she replied, too quickly to be calm.

"Neat Patronus," he said by way of explanation.

"Oops." She waved her wand and the silver tiger disappeared. "Well, I did run into a dementor on the way."

"Anything else? It doesn't take that long to go to the store."

"Oh, alright! I met the three Death Eaters I got rid of yesterday."

"You better watch out for yourself. Attacking Death Eaters is like asking for trouble."

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were almost worried. Well, don't be. I can take care of myself just fine. And I live for trouble." Glowering at him, she picked up her bags of food and went up to the flat to prepare dinner.

Soon enough, closing time came. "I left lasagna on the stove for you. See you tomorrow." Elaine and Verity left together again. They met no trouble on the way to Verity's house. When she set off on her own, Elaine conjured her Patronus again. She didn't like people to know how scared she got at times. She stepped into her door and set all the usual protections about her little house.

Collapsing gratefully into her cushy armchair in front of the warm fire, she gave a contented sigh. A white gerbil clambered up her arm and perched on her shoulder. "'Lo, Shiromi." At the sound of her voice, several other gerbils followed suit. A dark golden one with long whiskers, Hige, clambered onto her head. Piper, the light gold and white one and the smallest of the bunch, curled up in her sleeve. Nutmeg, with her little tan spot on her naturally colored back, was digging through Elaine's bag. Jerika, who looked as though she came directly from the wild, was watching out the window. Closer to the fire was Albright, another naturally colored gerbil. She and her sister Jenny, a soft grey with a black tail, were working together to fold clothes. The males were less helpful. Dagen, a completely grey gerbil, was curled up in front of the fire, asleep. His brother Marc was stuffing his face with seeds from the huge food bowl. Their other brother, Kendrick or Kenny for short, was buffing himself up on the running wheel on the table.

Gerbils alone were not Elaine's only pets. Her cat, Mugwy (mug-why), a tortoiseshell, was watching the gerbils with mild interest, saving his attention for the other cat, Patches. She was white, black, and ginger, with large green eyes. She was in the kitchen, standing lookout over the ferret, Taw, who was cooking pasta for dinner.

Knocking at the door ruined her evening of perfect relaxation. Irritably, she stood up. All the gerbils but Shiromi jumped off. The white gerbil stayed perched like a bird. She peeked through the window. It was a Ministry official. She opened the door slowly. "Wha'd you lot want?"

"You performed a Patronus charm in the middle of a Muggle street. I am here to ascertain if that allegation is correct." The little old man had a wheezy sort of voice.

"Gee, let's see. The only place 'round here that is not a Muggle street is bloody Diagon Alley! Sure, I performed a Patronus. I am over seventeen years of age and there were no Muggles present. Now, go pester someone else." Elaine shut the door in the stumpy wizard's face.

He knocked again. "Am I to presume you will not attend a hearing?"

"Damn right you are."

"Then I suggest a compromise. I will give you a citation and you will try to refrain from casting unnecessary spells for the period of one month."

"Fine. Give me the stupid citation and let me get back to dinner." The wizard handed her a slip of parchment.

"Have a good evening, ma'am." She shut the door in his face again.

"Fat chance of that. You make one mistake and they never let you forget it. Instead of worrying about me, why don't they hunt down those Death Eaters that seem to follow me around?" she complained to her gathered assortment of pets. There were several nods of agreement. A delicious aroma wafted out from the kitchen. "Yum," she muttered as she let her nose guide her to the table.

The next morning, she was awake, even before her pets came to wake her up. She was thinking, standing fully dressed before her upstairs window. It seemed to her that Scrimgeour had not forgotten their last meeting. That had not been her fault, but he had insisted it was. Her eyes flashed dangerously at the thought of the now Minister of Magic. She had had a strange urge to snarl at and bite the man on their previous encounter.

He had been a little sore about the fact she had figured out how to remove her Trace and wouldn't tell him how she'd done it. But that wasn't what had made him very angry with her. It was more along the way of dark magic. And, she thought darkly, that stupid amulet didn't even belong to me!

Feeling murderous at the memory, she banished it from her mind and focused on the leaves down below. As soon as she felt suitable calm again, she walked slowly down the stairs. After missing breakfast yesterday, she decided she didn't want to miss it again today. From the smell, she determined Taw had prepared pancakes, a specialty of his. Watching the floor in front of her, she made her way to the kitchen. The dangerous thing about having small animals running about the house was the risk of stepping on one.

Just outside the kitchen door, she stooped and poured some food into the gerbil bowl. She stood up again and opened the door slowly, so that anything on the other side had time to get out of the way. From the refrigerator, she retrieved a small plastic tub containing homemade cat food. This she emptied into a large bowl on the windowsill. She didn't need to make Taw any food; he made his own.

A glance at the clock told her that, despite her good intentions, she was going to be late again. Fortunately, she could Apparate, so if she wolfed breakfast down, she might still make it on time. It was also good fortune that the pancakes could be folded many times over and eaten in one monstrous bite. In about four minutes, the pancakes had all at least entered her mouth. Elaine stood up and, spinning on the spot, Disapparated.

She had timed it perfectly, although accidentally. She arrived exactly at the same time as Verity, who had walked. Together they tried the door, only to find it was locked. There was a crashing noise from the interior of the shop and a mop of red hair could be seen through the window. A couple seconds later, the lock clicked and the door swung open. Verity went to help an out-of-breath Fred get up off the ground where he had fallen after apparently having barreled down the stairs from the flat in a rush to open the door.

"Sorry, mates. Didn't get up when we were supposed to." Fred turned apologetically to both witches in turn. Not a minute later, George fell down the steps, landing on the floor, face first, still snoring slightly. Elaine felt tiny claws digging into her shoulder and noticed her white gerbil, Shiromi had come with her. The little rodent was always trying to come with her out of the house. Not that she wanted to leave her mistress when she finally made it outside the house. It was too cold.

"Go get him, Romi." The gerbil skittered down her arm and leapt off from her hand. Shiromi nipped George on the ear. Not too hard, not even hard enough to draw blood. George yelped and shot his body up into a sitting position. The white gerbil sprinted smartly away from her victim and back to the warmth of Elaine's shoulder.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" he bellowed, reminiscent of Ron.

"That was quite a bit softer wake up call than I usually get," Elaine said, smile glowing on her face.

It took George a moment to figure out what she meant. When he finally did, he said, "Alright then. Where's the bloody monster that did it, then?"

"Shiromi. The bad little one that hitched a ride on my shoulder out of the house this morning. Also the one that seems to think she's a bird." George watched how the animal perched on the witch's shoulder seemed to be contrite while she was being admonished. She seemed to know exactly what Elaine was saying.

"As long as she doesn't get in the way, she can hang around today," George said, rubbing his ear. "Off to work, people."

The day passed by in a flash. Just before closing time, a customer arrived. In person. And alone. Elaine was cleaning the counter where they had had a love potion spill. Verity was in charge of doing the potions and was quite adept at it. Her sleeve had brushed on of the bottle sitting on the counter and knocked it over. It hadn't been sealed yet and spilled all over the wood. The bell on the door tinkled quietly as it opened.

"Welcome to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Can I help you with anything?" she sang out, pulling the phrase from memory. Elaine scrutinized the stocky man carefully. He didn't look like he meant any good. Out of sight, her wand raised slightly.

"I'm looking for the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder." His voice was gruff and sounded as though he was partially trying to disguise it. Or else his throat had nearly been crushed. She did a once over on the man. The three Death Eaters that she had incapacitated had been the third bunch to come after her. In one of the first couple, she had almost crushed one's windpipe. "The Instant Darkness Powder?" he inquired again, thinking she had spaced out on him.

"I heard you the first time," she snapped, angry at him for interrupting her train of thought. But, he was right. Back to the Instant Darkness Powder. They had indeed gotten a huge shipment in earlier that day. However, she didn't want to sell it to someone who could be a Death Eater. Time to be cunning. "I'll take you to it."

As she stepped around the end of the counter, she pretended to stumble on the hem of her robe. Unwillingly, because he had no control over his reflexes (that was what she was counting on), the man caught her. She grabbed his left sleeve and because he had caught her with that arm, she was hanging partially over it. She got a quick glimpse of a Dark Mark. It wasn't a fake one, someone trying to pass themselves off as a Death Eater to avoid being murdered; it had the malevolent and sinister aura of a true one. Elaine would know; she'd seen enough of them during her childhood.

"Thankee kindly, sir," she said, stalling for time. "I'll just check the records to see if we have any in stock."

"I thought you were going to show me where they are at."

"Was I?" She looked thoroughly confused. She could tell the ploy was working; the man himself was unsure he had heard right the first time. To stop any further protests, she grabbed a clipboard from behind the counter. "Yes. Um-hmm. That's interesting," she said, as if reading the shipment list.

"What's interesting?" the man asked, trying to look over her shoulder at the parchment.

"Only that we were supposed to get a shipment in today, but it never arrived. Bad weather in Peru, unfortunately. They were unable to ship anything out."

"I'll just have a look around the rest of the shop, then."

Elaine didn't trust him. "Why don't you start over there?" She pointed to the back room. Smiling, the man went the other way. As soon as he had gone around the corner, she smiled and walked to the back room. He had fallen for the simplest of psychological tricks. Who did he think he was messing with? She was a master at psychological manipulation.

While the man was looking in the one part of the shop, she removed all the Instant Darkness Powder from the shelf. It had taken them nearly all afternoon to put them up, but staying late was a fair price to pay to keep Voldemort's cronies from gaining weapons. She had just finished covering up the packets she had dumped into a barrel with the original contents of the barrel, when the Death Eater came around the corner.

"As you can see, sir, the shelves are empty. We have no Instant Darkness Powder."

Unfortunately, George had heard this part of the exchange and came out of the workshop. "But Elaine-" he began. Then he noticed the look she was giving him. "But Elaine, I thought we had a shipment coming in today?" he amended.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Weasley. Bad weather in Peru. They contacted me, I'm afraid, and I forgot to inform you."

"Well, just tell me next time."

The man watched this exchange suspiciously. However, satisfied at least that they were telling the truth, he nodded and headed for the door. As soon as he was out of earshot, George hissed, "Tell me why you just wasted an afternoon's work and why you had me lie to a customer!"

"Death Eater," she said out of the corner of her mouth. Understanding instantly, George backed away. She seemed to have some personal vendetta against the Death Eaters and it was dangerous to get in the way. Not to mention a strange amount of bad luck concerning the Death Eaters as well. He'd never seen anyone targeted so much and not taken care of by Lord Voldemort personally. The Death Eater left, surprisingly without having taken anything.

Elaine took off after him, wand held aloft and ready. "Yo, old man!" The Death Eater turned slowly around. To him is seemed as though the simple shopgirl had suddenly turned on him. He couldn't imagine why; it wasn't as though she could possibly know he was a Death Eater. Although, she did look a little familiar. That Weasley boy had also called her "Elaine", the name of the target he'd been sent after once.

Suddenly he was dangling in the air. Instantly he knew who she was. He recognized the spell. The short hair and magenta robes had thrown him off. He had been in the first group hunting her. She had had longer hair then. She had mortally wounded all of them. Only gasping a quick healing spell had kept him from dying along with his partners.

"Why don't you freaks ever die?" said a high, cold voice. It was the girl. Elaine was furious beyond reckoning by this point. "Rictasempra!" she said suddenly, and ropes began to bind the Death Eater. "Wait here, my enemy. The Aurors should be by pretty soon to pick you up."

Elaine stepped back in the shop. George was still standing where he had been when she had left. "Since we're going to be staying later to fix the Instant Darkness Powder, I'll make dinner." She bounced up the steps to the flat. He figured it must have gone well. For her at least. Likely not for the Death Eater.

All too soon, the work was done, the dinner eaten. Verity had already left, heading home at the normal time. "Romi! Time to go home!" Shromi hopped lightly up her arm to resume her shoulder position.

"You were right when you said they make excellent house keepers. Bring her back some time; she was a great help with the filing!" George laughed as Elaine gathered up her bag.

"I'll think about it. G'night." She stepped out into the street. The Death Eater was gone, with the Ministry, for she could pick up no traces of dark magic in the area. She left Diagon Alley.

Elaine let her feet carry her home. Her mind was elsewhere. She was thinking of her grandmother, the one who had cared for her since her mother died shortly before she went to Hogwarts. Her grandmother had been killed in her seventh year, last year as a matter of fact, by Death Eaters, or possibly even Voldemort himself. The Ministry had refused to investigate the death, not only because they were going through that time of rejecting the idea he was back, but because she had been perfectly calm at the time of her death. They wrote it off as old age.

The problem was Elaine had recognized the look on her grandmother's face in the photo they had shown her. Nothing ever fazed Acrua Kellswater, least of all Lord Voldemort. She had never feared him, only been disgusted with him. The look she had died with was one of projected calm, with the barest traces of disappointment beneath them. It was the closest her grandmother ever came to being angry. And despite her feeble appearance, Acrua could have taken on any Death Eater that had come calling. That just left Lord Voldemort. Elaine refused to call him "you-know-who" or "he who must not be named". She agreed with the assessment that the fear of a name only increases the fear of the thing itself. She hated Voldemort with a passion, but wasn't afraid of him. Call her foolish, call her brave, it didn't matter to her; she just blindly hated him.

Since then, she had had an intense dislike for anything to do with the Dark Arts. And she had inherited her grandfather's insane temper. She could get angrier than anyone on the face of the planet. And in such a state she was particularly dangerous, as she could no longer recognize friend from foe. For the first time in her life, she had felt jealous and resentful of Harry Potter, the one that had gotten rid of Lord Voldemort the first time, and the one that was constantly meeting up with him. What she wouldn't give for the chance to talk face to face with the Dark Lord. Although, she would probably snarl at him instead of talk, but that's beside the point.

Elaine wished and wished that her grandmother was still alive. Shiromi, picking up on her mood, snuggled a little closer to her neck, ticking Elaine with her soft fur. Unable to keep from smiling, Elaine let out a little giggle. Her pets always knew how to cheer her up. When she reached her doorstep, Mugwy opened the door for her. He was a clever little kitty when he wasn't too lazy to do anything. Yawning, she stretched out in the armchair in front of the roaring fire. The animals all dozed around her and on her. Without realizing how tired she was, she dozed off, falling asleep in the chair.


I have to apologize in advance; I am currently not in possetion of either my book 6 or my book 7...grrrrrrr...So it might take me a little while longer to get the next chapter out. -sob-