Chapter 4- Miracle
Tina, Evangeline, and Carneirus left for Albany immediately, not caring that the sun was already setting. Tina carried the mirror with her, but was not surprised to find the connection had been lost when they apparated to Albany. The Henderson's farm was just a couple of miles north of Albany. So they headed there quickly, knowing their time may be running out.
With the mirror tucked away in her coat, Tina kept her wand out in front of her. The farmhouse was on a large patch of land far from the nearest road. Carneirus walked in front of the two women, his wand at the ready. The trio walked slowly over the gravel road leading down to the farmhouse. They had no idea of what to expect.
Maybe the farmhouse was empty. Maybe someone was still there.
Maybe they should have brought more Auror's.
The long walk down the driveway took longer than Tina would have liked, but they couldn't just apparate in. They didn't know if there were any wards or traps up. Halfway down the driveway, Tina cast a small warming charm around herself. December was proving to be awfully cold in Albany.
Tina worried about Graves in this cold. During their conversation, she couldn't tell if he had any blankets or even a coat. From what she could see, he was only wearing a short sleeved undershirt. She worried he was freezing.
She hurried her pace, coming up beside Carneirus. She wouldn't leave Graves there for an extra second.
The trio pushed on, the now set and the dark growing around them. The land looked like no one had lived here for years. Tina knew the family still worked and lived here from time to time, so perhaps the dilapidated look was simply for effect. Or maybe their intel was wrong.
Pushing the thought out of her head, Tina kept scanning the expansive land around them, looking for any sign that someone was watching them. But as the group crept closer and closer to the house, there was nothing. No sign that anyone was there.
A dozen feet from the worse for wear farmhouse, the trio paused. The thought that they didn't know what to expect was ever present in their minds. But they had trained for things like this. They were all seasoned Auror's.
Once again, Carneirus took the lead, heading to the house and up the wooden stairs of the porch. Tina went next with Evangeline following close behind.
Besides the obvious sounds of the world around them, the house was silent. It didn't seem like anyone was home.
Carneirus stopped at the door. "There's a charm."
Tina could feel it. It lived and breathed around them. Most charms were made to be unnoticeable, so that you could use them to hide or trick people. But some…some you could feel. Some were almost a part of their creator. Like Gellert Grindelwald was the one standing in the doorway, not allowing them to enter.
"Good thing I aced my charms class," Evangeline quipped as she stepped around Tina and Carneirus. She worked quickly, but expertly, carefully, and deliberately. Watching her, Tina could tell that Evangeline had done this dozens of times, if not more.
Tina turned to watch the driveway behind them, always worried. She spent a lot of time being worried. It came with the job. Being an Auror was dangerous, especially in these times. Grindelwald might generally work in Europe, but that didn't mean he didn't have American followers. And that didn't mean that they weren't wreaking havoc around the country.
Tina worried a lot lately.
The end of the driveway seemed to be miles away. She narrowed her eyes, trying to focus on something far from them.
And it was getting closer.
She raised her wand.
"We need to get in that house, now!" Tina whispered hurriedly.
Carneirus stepped up next to her, watching a lone figure come closer. "What is it?" he asked.
And then the figure was changing? Growing taller?
And then the bone chilling howl ripped through the quiet night.
"Open the door, Evangeline!" Tina yelled, her heart thumping in her chest. Tina Goldstein had never seen a werewolf before. She had no interest in doing so now.
Tina couldn't tell how far away the werewolf was. But he was too close.
"It's open!" Evangeline finally shouted, pushing the wooden door open.
"Go!" Carneirus shouted. He shot off a spell, hitting the ground just feet from the still approaching werewolf.
Tina hurried into the house behind Evangeline and moved so Carneirus could follow. As soon as he was inside, Evangeline slammed the door shut and quickly began muttering an incantation. Before the door had shut, Tina had a good glimpse of their stalker. The sight of the werewolf was utterly terrifying.
No sooner had Evangeline finished putting up her protective charm than did the trio hear the unmistakable sound of someone hitting the protective ward. The werewolf was slammed onto the porch, his or her body bouncing hard off the decaying wood.
"We need to find Graves and quickly!" Carneirus ordered.
At once, the trio lit their wand tips and began looking around. The inside of the farmhouse looked slightly better than the outside, but not by much. Still, it was obvious someone had been living or meeting here.
Tina rushed through the living room, looking for any sign of a trap door. She went into the back room of the house, which turned out to be a dining room. Further back was the kitchen. No sign of any door or trap door, leaving to a basement. Her heart skipped a beat as another howl rang out in the night air. The good news, Tina decided, was that it appeared to be only one werewolf. The three of them could handle one werewolf.
Right?
Tina went back into the dining room, looking it over once again. She had to be missing something. She met back up with the other two in the living room, both looking as dejected as she felt.
"We have to be missing something, right? He has to be here," Tina said. She was dismayed to hear her own voice. She sounded like a whiny teenager.
The trio jumped as another howl went through the air. Tina walked over to the window at the back of the living room and looked out.
And then she saw it.
A storm door. Out in the middle of the backyard.
"Out there," she whispered, holding the corner of the curtain aside.
Carneirus and Evangeline came up beside her. One of them sighed heavily.
"Well shit," Carneirus muttered.
"Two of us will have to hold off the wolf while the third goes for it," Evangeline said.
Tina let the curtain drop as the trio stood to stare at one another. None wanted to do either part of the plan.
"I've not even seen a werewolf before, let alone fought one," Tina finally said.
"Me neither," Evangeline said.
"I've sort of fought one. Should be easy enough, if there is only one. Just hit him with a stun and then a rope," Carneirus said. "But if there's more…or if there is a wizard waiting…," he trailed off.
"We've got to try, Graves is depending on us to save his life," Tina said, trying to force herself to stand a little taller. "He would do the same for us."
Carneirus nodded solemnly. "Yes, he would." He took a quick look between Tina and Evangeline. "Tina, you go for Graves. Evangeline and I will protect you, if nothing else."
Tina looked at Evangeline, who only nodded once. "Get him and let's get back to headquarters."
Unspoken words passed through the group of silent encouragement. They had all put their lives on the line and for, seemingly, far less.
They walked into the dining room where the back door was and prepared themselves. The lights on wands went out. Evangeline muttered the incantation to bring down the ward around the house.
Once it was down, Carneirus ran out first, followed by Tina, and then Evangeline. With her protectors on either side, Tina ran as quickly as she could for the storm cellar. There was no guarantee that Graves was even in there, but she had to look.
"Stupefy!" Carneirus suddenly shouted from slightly in front of her. The light shot out of his wand and flew past a twisting body.
"Stupefy!" Evangeline followed quickly.
Tina turned her eyes from the fight and kept focused on the storm door. She was almost there. Her open coat flapped around her as she hurried through the night.
"Not so fast," a high pitched voice said from in front of her.
Suddenly, someone was between her and the storm door. And Tina could not allow that.
Without thinking, she blocked the spell sent her way and silently threw an Expelliarmus at the woman. She blocked it back and with a wicked smile, sent a familiar green curse at Tina.
With athletic skill that Tina hadn't known she was capable of, she threw herself out of the way of the unforgivable curse. Before she had hit the grass, Tina shouted "Glacius Duo!"
She had only ever used the charm once before, on a plant, just to practice. As Tina hit the ground with a heavy thud, her head lightly bouncing off the dirt, she watched the stunned witch in front of her be encased in ice. Her hands were raised in surprise and her eyes wide, the witch was left frozen.
Tina paused for only a second and then pushed herself up from the ground. Aiming her wand at the storm door, she shouted "Bombarda!" Bits of broken wood flew all around her. She shielded herself from the debris and then hurried down the steps.
And into the dark. "Lumos." The staircase lit up around her and her heart stopped.
It was the room. Tina swung her wand around, illuminating the room, as she paused at the bottom of the stairs.
Huddled in a corner, dirty, broken, and alone, was a body.
"Percival?" Tina called out.
