Chapter 21

(Diagon Alley)

Faith and Tara walked down the alley easily blending in with the other magical people. They had come as bodyguards for Harry, who was visiting for a few supplies along with Tonks and Remus. They had split up for now and they were just taking a quick look around.

The meeting with the Delacours had lasted a good hour or so, but Faith believed it had gone well and Harry had made a good impression on Fleur's parents. Gabrielle remained at headquarters with her mother and sister, while Vincent had returned to France to prepare for his meeting with Fudge, who would most likely have Dumbledore with him.

Faith had to admit she had forged a great bond of friendship with Tara since agreeing to aid Xander in this mission. She had not judged her for her past actions and she had even talked to her about what had gone down from her point of view.

Tara had helped her put a lot of her problems behind her and so she could focus more on the situation at hand. She had also listened as Faith described the fights she had been forced into during her stay in prison. That was not easy to talk about, but she found Tara a great listener as well as someone easy to talk too. Glancing at the dark blond haired girl she noted that Tara was glancing at her every now and then. It did not take a genius to tell her that Tara might have an attraction to her, not that she minded.

She'd had no companionship since waking from her coma and what she wanted more than anything these days was someone who shared her life with her. That was the most important thing she had learned in jail. That she no longer wanted to waste her time going from lover to lover and having mindless sex. She wanted a partner who would help her recover fully from the ordeals she had suffered in the past. Maybe if she was lucky Tara could be that partner.

Tara smiled at Faith as she was caught looking and quickly looked away, before she could be seen blushing. Ever since she had first seen Faith she had been hooked. Catching a brief glimpse of her naked, as she changed clothes had just increased her interest in her. Since then she had stuck up a friendship with her and if she was not imagining things maybe the beginnings of something more. She shook her head and refocused her thoughts on her surroundings. It would not do to be caught unaware right now.

"Look there is Harry, Remus and Tonks," Faith pointed out. "I guess they found what they were looking for," she noted with a relieved smile that nothing had gone wrong.

"Guess our time is up," Tara said a little disappointed.

Before they could meet up a group of seven cloaked individuals appeared between them and began to cast spells left and right. A scream of 'Death Eaters' quickly identified them as the enemy. Faith took cover with Tara a second behind her, reaching into her back pocket she withdrew her hidden knife and prepared for a fight. Tara took a deep breath as she pulled her wand from her wrist holder. It had been a while since she had used her wand for combat.

"You up for this Tara?" Faith asked, glancing at her after making sure Harry and the others were ok.

"I've got your back Faith, I promise," Tara replied with a grim smile, before seeming to make a decision. She leaned forward and kissed her, shocking Faith for a second or two before pulling back. "Be careful, they know how to use those wands probably better than I do," she warned, before turning and began to fire of her own barrage of spells.

Faith stared at Tara's back for a few seconds, still somewhat surprised by her forward action, before shaking her head and turning back to the fight at hand.

Harry, Remus and Tonks were like Tara casting away at the Death Eaters forcing them to take cover. She took a deep breath before jumping over her cover and charging the nearest of the lot. She easily dodged the spells he sent at her, as the moment he moved his arm and began to speak gave him away every time. Smashing into the man she drove her elbow into the man's throat, quickly following it up by plunging her knife into the man's gut. She ignored the cry of pain and the blood that came out of his mouth and quickly followed through to the second man.

As before the man was caught unaware and her knife quickly found its way into his chest. Tara took advantage of the shock of the cloaked figure near them at seeing his comrades taken down by a muggle weapon and fired a reducto, which hit him dead centre in the face. She looked away for a moment, before forcing herself to start casting again.

Faith ducked another green spell aimed at her and after coming back up flung her knife into her attacker's eye. Harry seeing this quickly pressed his own attack and led Tonks and Remus closer to the fight, bringing down one of the Death Eaters with a bone breaker aimed at his feet.

However one of the return curse brought Remus down with a pained cry, thankfully the killing curse had not been used and Tonks quickly pulled him back into cover. Faith quickly retrieved her knife, but was grabbed from behind by one of the Death Eaters, quickly before he could get a good hold she slammed her fist into the man's privates, causing him to cry out in pain and then flipped him onto his back and stabbed him in the heart.

"Faith look out," Tara's sudden warning allowed her to just roll out of the way of an incoming Curcio curse. She quickly jumped at the man who had shot it.

She knocked him and herself down, but she recovered first as the Death Eater was not used to physical fighting. She slammed her fist into his nose, easily breaking it before slitting the man's throat. Somewhat feeling sick at having already killed five people she forced herself forward. Tara and Harry brought another of the Death Eaters down by combing their spells. The reaming four retreated further away, hoping to find better cover, but Faith's knife quickly found another of their number, hitting him in the heart.

This was too much for the three survivors and they quickly apparated away. Faith took a deep breath, as she realised they had won before reclaiming her knife and wiping it clean.

"We're clear," she shouted as Tara and Harry quickly joined her, looking as ill as she felt. "We better get out of here, before any of those idiots from the Order and Ministry people turn up," she suggested, as Tonks helped Remus up and moved to join them.

"I agree, we can't afford to be arrested right now," Tonks agreed. "Things are bad enough between us and it is only going to get worse," she pointed out.

"Let's go then," Harry said, looking around and noting the alley was clear apart from some bodies of people who had been unlucky enough to be hit by the Death Eaters barrage.

"Hold on to me and Remus, all of you," Tonks ordered. "This will drain us quite a bit, but dual appartion is the only option," she added with an uneasy look.

A few seconds later they vanished as Remus and Tonks apparated them away from the alley, and just in the nick of time as several Aurors and even a few Order members appeared. People also began to come out of hiding now that the fighting had finished. The Aurors were confused by some of the dead bodies they found, as it was clear they had not been killed by magic, but by a blade of some kind.

"I wonder who caused this?" Moody wondered, as he checked one of the bodies. "The aim of whoever it was was dead on," he noticed as Hestia Jones passed him.

"I wonder if Harry and his friends might have been involved," she wondered. "I mean who else would fight the Death Eaters?" she asked, at the pointed look Moody sent her.

"Good question lass," Moody consented. "A damn good question and if it was Potter, then why use muggle weapons?" he mused. "Unless it was not him and that muggle girl they brought in," he suggested.

"Harris did say she was dangerous enough to be a bodyguard for Harry before we ended up being kicked out of headquarters," Hestia reminded him. "I guess he wasn't kidding," she added.

"Either way they killed seven Death Eaters and that in my book that is a good thing," Moody finally said, after a short moment of silence. "We better report to Albus, he'll want to know about this," he concluded and moved to leave, followed by Hestia.

(12 Grimmauld Place)

Xander looked up as there was a sudden pop and Harry and the others appeared in the living room. Remus was clearly wounded and he wondered just what the hell had gone wrong.

"What happened?" he demanded to know as Fleur and Apolline appeared with Jenny close behind, alerted by the noise of their apparation.

"Death Eaters struck in the alley," Harry answered as he helped Tonks settle Remus on the couch. "We fought back and killed seven of them, mostly thanks to Faith," he informed them. "I mean you said she was fast and strong, but the way she fought was amazing," he stated with admiration.

"I did what I had to," Faith said at Xander's look. "They were the enemy and they were attacking defenseless people. They could have also killed Harry who you brought me here to protect, so I did what I had to," she repeated. "You should never enjoy killing people Harry, doesn't matter what they've done to deserve it," she said looking to the young man. "That is one thing I have learned from my past, never enjoy killing," she stated, looking him in the eye before turning and walking to her room.

"I'll make sure she's okay Xander," Tara said into the silence and quickly followed Faith and she was quite worried how this might affect Faith.

Jenny moved to help Tonks heal Remus' broken foot, while Apolline made sure some food was brought out by Dobby and Kreacher. Fleur moved to Harry's side and noted that he seemed to be thinking over what Faith had said to him. She slowly took his hand into her own and gave it a strong squeeze, which made him look at her.

"Are you okay Harry?" she asked as he finally met her eyes.

"I will be Fleur, I will be," he responded with a slight smile, which she returned "I just have a few things to think about," he added.

"You were lucky Remus that it was only a bone breaker," Tonks said, as she finally sat down and ran a hand through her hair, which changed from pink to brown.

"I know, I was slow in moving to better cover," Remus agreed. "Thankfully they don't always use the Unforgivables," he added with a wary sigh.

"I'll say that's a lucky thing," Hermione said with a shiver, as she appeared with Daphne and Astoria. "Although it makes you think why they don't, if they love killing so much?" she mused.

"They like to inflict pain just as much as they like to kill," Daphne reminded her with a dark look. "In the first war my uncle was captured and tortured for five days before they finally killed him. The only reason they targeted him was that he refused to use his fortune to aid the Dark Lord's war effort," she told them.

"I'm sorry Daphne," Harry responded. "That must have hurt your family," he added.

"It did, my mother was devastated and yet even with that, they listened to him this time around and maybe even gave in to joining him ravage our world," Daphne shot back.

"Maybe they haven't given in to him," Astoria argued, giving her sister a slight glare.

"If they refused him Astoria, then they were most likely be killed," Daphne said, shocking the others at her blunt reply, while Astoria gasped as if she had been slapped. "It's an option you are going to have to consider," she added, noting her sister's look.

Astoria glared at her harder, before turning and storming away back to their room. Daphne sighed and dropped into a nearby chair. She hated having to say that, but her sister needed to realize that their parents were either dead or that they had joined the enemy. She just hoped this would not cause her sister to hate her.

"You ok?" Harry asked with some concern.

"Yeah, I just hate that I had to be so blunt with her," Daphne answered, giving him a weak smile. "I wish the Dark Lord had stayed dead the first time you got rid of him," she stated.

"Yeah, don't we all," Tonks agreed.

(Hogwarts)

Albus looked concerned as he listened to Moody's report of the results of the recent Death Eater attack. He did not like the idea that Harry and his friends had begun to strike back. Even given he had just pushed through new laws for the Aurors and the Order members to use the Unforgivables. He wanted to be in control of what Harry did. He growled a little annoyed that Sirius had caused so much trouble for him in his will. He had to get the boy back under his control, but right now that was impossible as Harry and his group was locked up in headquarters and refusing to lift the lock-down. He cursed Bill Weasley for causing the breach that had led to the lock down in the first place. He leaned back in his chair and considered his options, which were few and far between right now. "I want you to set up a guard to watch over headquarters. The minute Harry or any of his companions leave I want to be notified," he ordered after careful consideration.

"Ay I can do that," Moody said with a nod. "You hoping to grab him?" he asked.

"I am certain if I can talk to Harry I can rebuild the trust he feels we have broken," Dumbledore said, giving a half truth as he planned to have Severus brew a potion that would help him influence Harry back into line and away from the Harris'. "We just have to be able to see him for me to do that," he added with his usual smile.

"Ay, well I'll go and set that watch up," Moody said, a little uneasy at the look in the old man's eyes. Something had been off about his old friend for a while now and it seemed to be getting worse. He then turned and left, wondering just what was going on.

(Riddle Manor)

Voldemort smiled viscously as he watched Bellatrix torture the there Death Eaters who had dared return from a battle without killing the people who had dared attack them. That one of them had stated he was sure Harry Potter had been among the group and not one of them had tried to capture him had enraged him all the more.

"Finish them," he ordered, as most of his other followers, including the newly recruited Greengrasses, who had finally given into his wishes, watched.

Bellatrix smiled coldly, before shouting out the killing curse three times, watching in satisfaction as the three failures dropped lifelessly to the ground. She hoped to one day see Harry Potter die just the same for daring to hit her with a crucio.

"This is what happens to people who fail me," Voldemort warned the others. "Now leave me and continue your training," he ordered before turning to Bellatrix. "Did we loose anyone of importance in that raid?" he asked after everyone had left them alone.

"Only Nott my Lord, who was the supposed leader," Bellatrix reported.

"Clearly we need to train them better. Nott was over confident and arrogant and he paid the price," Voldemort responded. "Let us make sure no one else makes such a mistake again," he added.

"Yes my Lord," Bellatrix agreed with a bow.

(12 Grimmauld Place)

Faith lay with her head in Tara's lap who ran her hand through her hair. She was trying to deal with the fact that she had killed seven more people, no matter that it was for the right cause this time. She had hoped to never do such a thing again, but she had known before agreeing to help here that it might be something required of her.

"Easy Faith, you did what you had to do to survive and protect the rest of us," Tara said gently, planting a small kiss on her forehead. "You did your job, no one blames you for what you had to do," she added.

"I know," Faith responded. "But it doesn't make me feel any better," she told her. "I'd hoped I wouldn't have to do that again, in the end it seems I can't escape death," she muttered.

Tara did not respond with words, but instead drew her into a deep loving kiss. It took a few moments, but Faith finally returned it. Pulling away after a few minutes they stared each other in the eyes.

"It is not death that is after you Faith, but the need to fight," Tara told her. "You are a Slayer, one of the protectors of this world and sadly that means having to fight," she explained. "It doesn't mean you have to kill, disable them if you want, as long as you come back alive," she stated. "To me," she shyly finished.

Faith couldn't help but smile at the shy way Tara had said that, before drawing her down to engage in another kiss. Slowly they lost themselves in the kiss and Faith put what had happened out of her mind. She concentrated on what she was feeling thanks to Tara and it was love, she was sure of it.