"We don't have time for this; the Order could be here any minute," said one of the cloaked men, who seemed to be leader of the group. All that Aaron could glimpse was his back, before he quickly hid behind the corner once again. There were three other people standing beside the one who spoke. There were also more somewhere that Aaron couldn't see, but he did hear them, and they seemed to be struggling with something.

"Oh, come on Lucius, the Order is a joke since Dumbledore died. Plus, I wouldn't mind crossing wands with them at this point; it has been awhile since we last had fun." This was eagerly said by the only women of the group. She was an emaciated looking creature, and her voice crackled as though she hadn't used it for a long time.

What? Did they say wands, Aaron briefly wondered. He nudged Zach and whispered to him, "It seems someone is trying to advocate the magic theory, eh." Zach only nodded and wondered who Dumbledore was. And what was the Order that they kept mentioning?

"Oh, we will have fun, but not before we find the item. Time and time again the Order has gotten lucky, and I don't want to risk losing it to them. You two, check downstairs…I would check the bedrooms first." Lucius pointed to the other men that Aaron could not see, "And you two, leave the boy here, and keep an outlook for anyone outside. I want to be notified right away when the Order gets here." Aaron heard a crash as though something heavy had been dropped, someone whimpering, and suddenly, four load cracks. He risked another quick look and there were only two cloaked people now-he didn't want to know what happen to others.

Aaron noticed that they were standing over someone, and with horrible realization, he realized that it was Tim, one of the guys that were with them. But where were the others? Did they get captured? He didn't have time to worry about that, though, when Lucius practically drawled out a question he didn't quite catch.

Tim, who was only fourteen, was obviously too frightened and confused to answer Lucius right away. Lucius, however, didn't seem to care. In fact, he seemed to be looking for a reason to torture the boy. He pulled something out something that suspiciously looked like a wand and mutter something under his breath. At once, Tim screamed as though in great pain. As quickly as it started, it ended. But Tim was breathing heavy afterwards and Aaron could hear him crying softly.

What angered Aaron was that the women was laughing raucously and he felt a sudden need to hurt her, hurt her more than Lucius, who caused the pain. Thankfully, Zach held him back. But that didn't stop Aaron from standing in the middle of the hallway, and if one of the two cloaked people should happen look up, they would see him. And a small part of him wanted the unknown people to look up, but their attention was fully focused on Tim.

Lucius slowly walked in circles around Tim in such a way that it brought snakes to mind for Aaron. He lifted his want once more, but was interrupted by the arrival of two of the men that had left. "Sorry Lucius, but we couldn't find the item anywhere."

I must be going crazy, Aaron thought. Those men just didn't suddenly appear out of thin air. He didn't even notice that Zach had pulled him back behind the corner again.

"Check again, then," Lucius ordered. And when Aaron risked another look, the two men were gone. I am going crazy.

"Perhaps this boy knows where it is," Lucius said doubtfully. He roughly kicked the poor kid and asked, "Did you happen to see a medallion somewhere around here?" The women snickered and Aaron felt another uncontrollable urge to hurt her, until he heard the medallion mentioned.

He caressed the medallion and felt sick. Should he give the medallion to these men? Would they let Tim go if he did? He doubted it. He heard Tim wail again and looked back at him. Lucius was standing over Tim, with his stick-wand?-pointing at Tim. He didn't have time to decide whether or not giving back the medallion would make things better. He had to act now.

He seized Zach's paintball gun and shot at the hand that held the wand. His aim was perfect and the wand clattered to the ground. He desperately hoped Tim would take this opportunity to escape while his captors where trying to figure out what happened. Tim just stayed though, too frightened to move or even open his eyes to see what happened. Move, Aaron quietly muttered to Tim, getting angry at his lack of action.

"What the-," Lucius said as inspected the red mark that the paintball left. He looked up, straight at Aaron, and he was furious. Aaron saw Zach silently retreat down the hall. Aaron, for the first time, felt fear. That kind of fear that doesn't allow you to move no matter how much you want too. There was a surreal quality to this, as though being locked in a terrible nightmare, trying to run, but not being able too. He suddenly understood why Tim couldn't move.

Lucius started to walk straight towards Aaron, eyes never leaving his face.

Oh shit.