Magic in the Moonlight

CHAPTER Twelve

"Time will not slow down when something unpleasant lies ahead.'"-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

"I hope you know what you're doing," James sighed as he rubbed his eyes behind his glasses before peering through every shadow in the street around them.

"If it all goes south that's what we're here for," Sirius reminded him, almost bouncing on the balls of his feet looking almost a little too excited at the prospect of some action.

They had picked the spot where they were to lay their bait, choosing an old haunt that Lyra had once frequented in her younger days – Cokeworth. Although there was some memories attached to the area, some bad and some good, she tried her best to tune them all out. She didn't want to think about the days she had visited Lily's home or spent summer days in the fields outside of Cokeworth, away from Severus' dark and foreboding home. Lyra tried not to think if said friend still lived in the area. It had been a reasonable idea from James, suggesting that it would be believable that she would come to an area she knew as familiar territory. And despite Remus' complaints, it had been easy to spread rumours of her heading for Cokeworth. The Longbottoms had excelled in their job, spreading quiet whispers that she was heading to Cokeworth on Order business, possibly recruiting new members. The spies amongst the Ministry had greedily taken the information and within days they had heard that Death Eaters planned to trap her in said place.

Lyra took a calming breath, steadying her heart and remembering her Auror training, steeling herself for what was to come. Immediately the pair could see the fruits of her labour, a sense of confident ease emanating from her along with a strong feeling of uncomfortableness as her cool grey eyes met them both. It was most unsettling to the two Marauders.

"Let them come," she finally replied to James' earlier comment, "I'll get the information I need from them about Gideon and Fabian."
There was no doubt in her mind what she would do. This was war and she could not afford to hold back. Nodding, the pair headed to their positions, Sirius pausing for a minute to clap her shoulder before vanishing into a nearby home. Its occupants were currently out of the country providing them with an idea place to watch and wait.

A cold breeze swept down the street making her pull the collar of her long trench further up before she proceeded to head out of the alley. It was awfully quiet, gone were the sounds of children playing in the street or even muggle cars rolling down the streets. Everyone felt the dark clouds above and the oppressing feeling of the war even if they were not magical. Lyra slowly walked down the paved street, her boots almost echoing through the silence. Hearing the distant sound of apparating though she paused mid-step, narrowed eyes watching for any sign of movement. Would they try to persuade her once more or would they simply try force this time? At sensing the spell from behind, she took it as the latter.

Spinning around her shield blocked the incoming assault with ease. There stood one of them, dressed in his long black cloak, silver mask hiding away his face as he raised his wand once more. Two more appeared, flanking him either side, casting stunning spells her way. Lyra dodged one, sending her own stunning spell flying back before turning tail and running towards the house where James and Sirius were hiding. The three tried to cut her off with their spells but she threw out her wand arm summoning the pavement below to bend upwards sharply. Each spell cracked against the pavement creating a small cloud of dust that allowed her to slip inside the house, leaving the door wide open. One of the Death Eaters headed for the door, wand at the ready for any frontal attack that may be in waiting. The other two were a little more wise and headed around the building no doubt looking for a back door.

Within moments the three Death Eaters met up inside the house, looking around confused at the silent building and lack of Lyra.

"She can't have gotten far," one of them growled, pointing to the stairs with his wand, "check upstairs."

The shortest hurried up the stairs, not caring at the noise of his footsteps. The other two waited a moment but heard no noise from upstairs. Not a second later a loud crash could be heard from above and a black shape fell backwards down the stairs, rolling head over heels until he crashed to the bottom of the stairs wrapped tightly in chains that were strangling the masked Death Eater. Rather than rush to the aid of their fallen companion the two instead raised their wands towards the staircase waiting for an attack. They didn't see the dark brown leather chair behind them slowly start to rise, the leather cushions deflating silently before sweeping sideways as it returned to its normal shape draped over the young Auror-in-training's shoulders.

The crack of her spell sent one of them flying, the poor Death Eater slamming into the opposite wall with such force it cracked the plaster, knocking him unconscious.

"What the?!" the final Death Eater spun round in shock but barely had time to raise his wand as the door from the cellar opened revealing James stood there.

His stunning spell made the dark clad man drop to the ground without further fighting. For a moment a silence fell over the house before a short laugh bounced off the walls. Sirius almost jovially swanned down the stairs, massaging his shoulder with a grin.

"Poor lad," he chuckled, kicking aside the now unconscious and bound Death Eater at the bottom of the stairs, "think he must be new to the whole Death Eater business."

"No point interrogating him then," Lyra admitted, eyeing up the one she had sent to greet the wall, she doubted he would be waking up anytime soon, "bind that other one, I'll talk to this one," she nudged the stunned Death Eater at her feet.

With James' help, the pair hefted the Death Eater into a nearby chair before binding him tightly against it with conjured ropes, his wand confiscated into Lyra's pocket.

"Should we call in Moody?" James suddenly asked.

"In a minute," the dark haired witch muttered, "first I want to talk to this one."

Her bespectacled friend didn't look too happy about not following protocol, something that would have been amusing to Lyra if it wasn't for the serious situation they were in. At the moment though she didn't care, all she wanted were answers. Pointing her wand at the Death Eater's chest, she pulled off the mask from his face.

"Rennervate."

Startled dark eyes looked up at her suddenly regaining their light as the stunning spell was lifted from him. Dark curls fell from the hood of his cloak but she recognised that somewhat European face.

"Igor Karkaroff," Lyra almost smirked, "my mentor Alastor Moody has been looking for you for a while now. A coward who can only do your dark lord's bidding when with others, don't tell me you got dragged along to this sorry affair also?"

"H-How did you," he stammered, his thick accent clouding his words slightly before he licked his lips nervously, glancing down at his bindings before looking at the three of them warily, "this was a trap!"

Quickly losing patience, Lyra tapped her wand against his cheek with a scowl, "well done genius now answer me a simple question and I might consider letting you walk out of here in one piece."

Sirius arched a dark eyebrow behind her, glancing at his best friend who quietly shook his head a little. This notion was ignored by the other two, Igor too busy staring up at Lyra with a twinge of hope in his eyes. He truly was a coward, she couldn't have picked someone better to interrogate; if he could spout anything to save his hide, he would do so.

"I have heard that one of you, Dolohov, is chasing Gideon and Fabian Prewett. Where is he?"

She caught the flicker of panic in his eyes before it was quickly quashed as he laughed nervously.
"S-Scotland, I heard! He was there after those two-"

He was abruptly cut off as Lyra flicked her wand. One of the ropes that bound him slithered up his chest like it was alive before coiling around his neck making his eyes bulge. There was little pressure there but the presence was enough to halt him in his tracks momentarily.

"I-I-I swear!"

"You are lying," she practically spat at him, "if you don't know then tell me now, but if you do you better start telling the truth quickly, and don't worry I can tell the difference."

Moody had trained her thoroughly in telling the difference between someone lying and telling the truth; an important skill considering how many Death Eaters tried to lie their way out of Azkaban. Gulping, the European man shuffled slightly in his seat before clearing his throat, straining his neck upwards as if to get away from the rope.

"I b-believe that…" he licked his lips, clearly re-evaluating what he had been about to say, "I don't know!" he suddenly pleaded, "we don't always know wh-what the others are doing, it's how he keeps us from ruining plans."

Narrowing her eyes, Lyra could see no lie in his words or the panic of his eyes as he pleaded for her to believe him. Much to her annoyance this night soiree had been a wasted venture. Sighing, she let her wand drop and the rope that had wound round his neck slid back to its normal resting place.

"Unfortunately I believe you," she looked over her shoulder at her two companions who had gratefully remained silent, "send for Moody, we'll try this again."

"W-Wait!" Igor suddenly blanched at the mention of the famous Auror, "y-y-you said!"

Steely grey eyes made him flinch, silencing him with her look.
"Where is the next time and place you people will have a gathering?" she queried icily.

He didn't even pause in answering, "w-we were to bring you tonight to Lucius Malfoy's mansion, there will be a few of us there."

"Now hold on Lyra," James finally interjected, grasping her shoulder with a frown on his face, "I agreed to set up a trap, not to follow them into the lion's den. This is not happening."

"Then I'll go alone," Lyra shrugged off his hand, "my cousins don't have long, I'm not going to sit back and wait for the worst to happen."

Hands split the pair apart, Sirius stepping between them with a surprisingly stern look in his dark eyes.

"Now, now, let's not do this here. Lyra, you ain't going nowhere on your own and James, you know that we can't just forget what Lyra heard about her cousins," he eyed up the pair before holding up his hands to them, "let's take care of the matter at hand and think up a new plan. Our trap worked once we can do it again."

Although Lyra felt the need for urgency she couldn't help but hear the logic in the Marauder's words. Growling quietly, she shook her head before muttering, "to think I'm being scolded by Sirius Black," before nodding, "fine."

Igor who had almost been forgotten about, looked up at the three before paling further, his hope of being released quickly diminishing as the sound of several people apparating alerting him. There was no doubt in his mind who it was even before he heard the thudding footsteps of the Auror.

"Some nice work you've done here," grunted Alastor Moody as he shouldered through the door, her scarred mentor eyeing up the three incapacitated Death Eaters, "keep this up and I might have to induct you two into the Aurors too."

That night proved to be a long night indeed. Two further times they baited Death Eaters to that street in Cokeworth. Each time Lyra would draw them in, the first lot arriving not long after Moody had left with the captured Death Eaters. Clearly they were eager to see if Igor and the others had been successful. They had fallen to their trap as easily as the first. Once more Lyra questioned one of them for information on Dolohov however it seemed said man was elusive. The second group of Death Eaters were more trouble. For one there were more of them, the group of five proving troublesome.

By the end of the night Sirius was sporting a bloodied bandage to his arm, James fixing his glasses with a gash across his cheek that had almost blinded him and even Lyra had earnt herself a couple wounds. She ignored the stinging feeling of her side where a lucky spell had tried to cut her open. It seemed like one of them had decided it best that if they couldn't capture her by normal means, they would try anyway to incapacitate her. At one point snakes had been conjured, trying to wrap themselves around her tightly but James had been quick to sever them with a flick of his wand. She swore she'd be cleaning snake blood from her coat for weeks. But once more their traps had proven pointless although it was a matter of perspective. In one night the deadly trio had captured eleven Death Eaters, mostly low ranking members who knew next to nothing of future plans. Moody had been more than pleased despite his return trips to gather the captured witches and wizards, mentioning that he was going to appeal to the Head of the Auror department to hurry up her inauguration as an Auror. If anything just so that she could bring her own captives in to Azkaban rather than have him running about. Lyra was still not sated however; there had been no news of Dolohov. The more the night had gone on the more appealing it looked to launch an attack on the Malfoy mansion.

In the distance the sun was beginning to rise as the three left the house in Cokeworth for the final time. It was time for rest.

"Come on," Sirius offered an arm around her shoulders, wincing in pain as he jostled his injured arm, "we can't do anything more tonight, but I'd say eleven Death Eaters is pretty good going for an Auror in training and two Marauders!"

Despite herself she let a small smile reach her lips as she allowed him to hold her in a one-armed hug as they walked down the street.

"Sorry for bringing you both into this," she finally sighed, running a hand across her face wearily as her shoulders sagged.

"As if we'd let you do this alone," James scoffed from her other side, finally returning his fixed glasses back to his face, "not only would Lily kill me but I think Remus would actually blow up."

That made the trio chuckle before Lyra winced, "can we please not tell Remus the whole details of tonight?"

Sirius quickly nodded, "hey I'm not going to be the one to tell him that we took on eleven Death Eaters in one night, I do actually value my life."

Apparating back to Godric's Hollow they were greeted at the entrance to the village by Remus and Lily. It seemed the pair had been waiting for them and had been waiting a while judging by the blankets wrapped round them, cups of steaming hot tea beside them. Upon seeing them the pair leapt to their feet. Immediately Remus was pulling Lyra into his arms despite the snake blood that adorned her coat, squeezing her almost painfully tight. Despite everything Lyra was happy to be in his embrace once more, sagging against his chest with the last of her energy.

"I'm okay Remus, we're okay," she told him quietly from his chest.

Later that day after managing to catch several hours sleep, Lyra had been sat with her second cup of tea, still being fussed over by Remus, when someone knocked at her door. She didn't even have time to move before Remus had already answered it, waving at her to stay seated. Honestly, he got so mothering sometimes. Nursing the hot drink, she watched with tired eyes as Albus Dumbledore entered her home once more. She expected him to either question how her night had gone, or perhaps maybe even congratulate her on their haul. She did not expect the sadness in his usually warm blue eyes. A cold feeling settled in her stomach as she shakily placed her cup back on the counter.

"What is it?"

The elderly wizard slowly walked towards her and with each step she felt her heart slow until finally he was in front of her, still perched on the seat behind the kitchen counter. His hands clasped hers tightly as if to offer some comfort but all it did was instil fear.

"The bodies of Gideon and Fabian were found this morning…I am truly sorry my dear."