Chapter 2:
Dumbledore sat down, suddenly feeling every year of his age, plus a few extra years gained through the guilt of his past. He knew that his "Phoenixes" were making little progress against Voldemort. They were halting the tide for now, but there will still things slipping through the cracks, like the bridge collapse. Dumbledore sighed, slumping back in his chair. He resolved to fight harder, and to never give up on his people. Austyn had shown serious initiative today when he had used the Instant Darkness Powder to ambush the Death Eaters, but his actions were not to be emulated by the others, and so, Dumbledore had had to chastise him for it. He sighed again, his work was never easy, and he always found himself butting heads with someone who was supposed to be an ally in his fight against Voldemort. He felt that he was fighting two wars; one against the general magical population in his campaign to make them see the truth; and the other against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. He sighed once more and left the house quietly.
Austyn and Elise walked back out the front door, turned on the doorstop and disappeared. A moment later, they appeared outside the Leaky Cauldron and walked inside. As they found a quiet table in the corner of the room, a hulking figure walked into the room. Austyn recognised him instantly as Fenrir Grayback, the very same Death Eater whom he had followed to the meeting today. Austyn carefully and quietly drew his wand as Elise, seeing his movement, copied him. Grayback either ignored them or didn't see them, as he sat down at another table in the opposite corner of the pub nursing several Firewhiskeys. Austyn and Elise quietly rose and made to leave, just as a silver phoenix patronus soared in through the window of the pub and landed at their feet. The flash of light and movement caught Grayback's attention, causing him to look up and see who the phoenix was communicating with, a sure sign of supporters of Dumbledore. He fixed Austyn with a sinister glare, realising that this witch and wizard were friends of Dumbledore's.
Elise raised her wand to stun Grayback, but as she did, a wand poked her in the back. An excited male voice in her ear said, "Don't even think about it girlie, or I'll make you a very sorry little girlie indeed" Elise slowly looked sideways out of the corner of her eye and was surprised to find that Austyn had disappeared. A moment later, there was a roar of noise and a great blue flash of light that flew around the pub. Austyn reappeared all of a sudden, casting away the Disillusionment charm now that he no longer had to hide himself. "Now who needs a babysitter dearest Elise?" he asked, the picture of innocence. She growled back at him, "I was doing fine by myself thanks so very much!" He merely smiled and pulled her from the pub full of now unaware patrons, and a few Death Eaters who would have no memory of exactly how they had happened to be in the Leaky Cauldron and why. The phoenix, which had been standing still the entire time, now spoke. It merely said, "meet Hogwarts, urgent" and dispersed into a fine silver mist in the air. Austyn and Elise exchanged concerned glances and walked out into the sunny streets of London, turning once more into the crushing darkness of nothing.