Hello! This story has been all written up. I'm going to post a chapter every Tuesday and that will hopefully give me enough time to write the next one.

I'd like to give a special thank you to my husband, John, and my editor, Hallie, for supporting me and letting me bounce ideas.

My editor is amazing and helped me so much! She's setting up an editing business and is making a website: coffeehouseediting . com

Chapter 1

The Slytherin Who Fought

Vega vaulted over the desk, landing on her side and sliding along the polished wood. She ducked behind a particularly ugly patterned, wingback chair right as the desk exploded in green light.

On the floor above she heard a startled shout followed by more crashing.

"How many of you blood traitors are there?" Her own attacker called out from farther in the room.

More than you were expecting, I promise, Vega thought, but didn't dignify his question with a verbal reply. Instead, she gripped her English Oak wand a little tighter and rolled out from cover. By the time the huge, blond Death Eater was in her sight, her wand was finished making the spell's movement. Petrificus Totalus.

He dove out of the way of her Full Body-Bind Jinx only to run face first into her follow-up spell: Incendio. The jet of flame gave her enough time to scramble to her feet and dash from the room into the connecting hallway.

She nearly ran into another woman who was rushing down the stairs from the floor above. The newcomer's good eye was lit from within with excitement.

"Roni." Vega greeted as they matched strides in their escape. "Excellent timing, as always."

The shorter woman flashed a smile, the spider's web of scarring on the left side of her face stretching. "Of course. Who do you take me for, an amateur?"

The hallway lead to the back door of the three-story decrepit house their quarry was hiding out in. Acting as one, Vega blew the door off its hinges while Roni spun and blocked a spell. Vega ran out, turning at the doorway and partially hiding behind the door frame to cover Roni's escape with her own spells.

The blond Death Eater was using the door at the other end of the hall as his cover, while his accomplice hid in the stairwell. The accomplice had predictable timing though so the next time he flung his arm out, it was in time for Roni's own Incendio. His screech of alarm was loud but the blond Death Eater paid him little attention. He threw spell after spell, a cruel, manic look on his face.

Vega took a breath and pulled up a happy memory.

Bright blue eyes sparkled behind half-moon spectacles.

"That was a very brave thing you did, Miss Black." Professor Dumbledore said quietly as she sat across from him in his office. The Grand Sorcerer's full attention was on her and she tried not to burst from pride at his praise. "Your generation never fails to amaze me. You all give me such…" The Headmaster paused as though afraid of the word. "Hope."

"Expecto Patronum." Vega said clearly and out of her wand burst a shapeless cloud of mist, obscuring Roni and Vega from the Death Eaters' sight. Roni dashed out of the house and Vega put the door back in place with a quick Sticking Charm.

The two women retreated to the trees behind the crumpling house, passing old wood banks topped with spaghetti beeches and hornbeams. The woods themselves were eerily silent, a sharp contrast to the roar of rage behind them. The sound of wood bursting came shortly after. Roni grabbed Vega's arm to pull them both behind a thick beech tree.

"I think they're mad." Roni pushed a reddish-brown strand of hair out of her face.

"Almost like they found a couple of Aurors going through their things while they were away." Vega grinned back, heart racing with adrenaline.

"If they didn't want random Aurors going through their things, maybe they shouldn't have become Death Eaters." The brunette leaned against the beech next to her. "Look at your life, look at your choices." She called out to them, then, quieter, to Vega: "Think-"

The branch above Roni's head exploded, raining splinters.

Vega grabbed Roni's arm and pulled. "Let's go."

They bobbed and weaved through the trees, making sure there was a barrier between their pursuers and themselves as much as possible.

Mentally Vega calculated how far away from the house they were and how long it had been since they had left it before stopping behind another tree. She felt something soft brush her mind and Roni stopped a few trees away, the flush on her face making her blue eye brighter. "There's a new restaurant that just opened up near here."

"What kind?"

"'Med. I hear good things about their grape leaves."

"Ooo. You-"

"ENOUGH!" Someone roared behind them in the woods.

Light was their first clue, followed by the crackling of wood and the smell of smoke. Around the tree to Vega's left a snake of fire wound, then rose up to strike.

"Why is it ALWAYS SNAKES with you guys?" Roni screamed behind her as Vega leapt out of the way. It wasn't her best dodge and she felt the throb through her body when she landed wrong. She pushed it down and rolled to her feet in time to watch Roni's charm bounce off the snake.

"Fiendfyre is my guess." Vega tried to keep one eye on the snake and the other out for the Death Eaters.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

It was only because she was looking for them that Vega was able to duck the green light aimed at her head by the shorter of the two Death Eaters.

"I just realized where I've seen you before!" Roni shouted with a half-grin, slinging a hex at Vega's attacker while running to get a tree between her and the Fiendfyre. The Fiendfyre itself was growing wings by devouring the wood around them. "You're that bloke who lost his duel with Professor Flitwick."

"The head of the Frog Choir. Ouch. That must sting-" Vega jumped away from another streak of green light, spotting the huge Death Eater at last. "Partis Temporus." She split the winged-serpent Fiendfyre in half so Roni could blast the Death Eaters behind it. The one they were mocking was hit square in the chest. His arms snapped to his sides, and he fell forward.

The huge one gave another howl of rage. The split Fiendfyre burst into thousands of shapes, all squirming and devouring- he must have lost control of it. The two halves became a wave that crashed down on either side of the Aurors before encircling them fully.

"Partis Temporus." Roni parted the Fyre before them only to have the path blocked by a new wave of it.

Vega almost leapt into the Fyre to avoid a death curse. As the circle became tighter, the huge Death Eater stopped casting, content that the Fyre would get them. The smoke was making it hard to breathe or see, the heat was making her sweat through her blazer and loosening her grip on her wand. She held her left arm to her nose, trying to breathe without choking and just ignored the tears streaming down her face. She didn't have the time to wipe them.

A single Fyre-creature had devoured enough of its own that the Fiendfyre reformed together into a huge dragon, rearing its head back to burn them.

Vega pulled Roni behind her, even knowing that if the creature breathed they'd both be cooked. There was simply nowhere else to go.

A blue vial sailed through the air right in front of the Fyre-dragon before being stuck by a spell. The vial burst, encasing the dragon's breath in ice before following it up to the dragon, down its body and into the rest of the Fiendfyre. Within seconds the Fiendfyre was transformed into an ice-like statue.

Letting out a breath, Vega felt herself sag a little in relief. Behind her, she heard Roni do the same before she tapped Vega on the shoulder.

"Lift." Roni pointed towards where the Death Eater was last seen. With the Fyre now solid, they couldn't see him at all. Vega planted her feet and Roni used Vega's shoulder to push herself higher to look.

"They've got this." Vega told her.

Roni nodded and came down. "Yep. And-" She signed heavily. "You were right that we couldn't fight in the house. Did you know about the Fiendfyre?"

"Carrow knew it. And Rowle is vicious enough to use it. Stupid enough to think he can control it." Vega pulled out a tissue to wipe her eyes with before handing the plastic package to Roni. "I knew there was a lot of nasty things he could use. Fiendfyre was on the list." She studied the rearing dragon in front of her. Within the ice-like encasing, the fire still shifted, giving the statue an almost hypnotic quality to it. "Think we can fit this somewhere in the backyard?"

"I'm pretty sure some of the lab boys and girls would want to take a look at it. No one has ever crystallized Fiendfyre before." A voice came from the other side of the wall.

"Did I pay for the components for this-" Vega gestured at the statue before kneeling down to give Roni a lift over the shortest part of its tail. "Transfiguration and potion combination? I feel like this is a new thing." She grunted, lifting up the shorter Auror.

Roni nimbly climbed up before reaching down for Vega's hand. Vega grabbed it and grimaced.

"What."

"Your hand is all sweaty."

"Forget you. I almost died to a Fiendfyre. Of course I'm sweaty. Do you want help or not?"

"Ugg. You can at least wipe it."

Roni withdrew her hand entirely. "You can just rot. I swear, I'll leave you."

"I can't disapparate because we did the Jinx, just in case they had enough sense to run."

"And whose bright idea was that?" Roni put her hands on her hips.

"Mine!" Vega declared emphatically.

"Rot." Roni spat, but she reached back down. She did not wipe her hand.

Vega rolled her eyes but took the hand, stopping herself from making a face through sheer iron will. As Roni hoisted her up, the earlier voice spoke again.

"If you two are done, yes, it is a combination of a Switching Spell and a Fire Protection potion." Once Vega was seated on the dragon's tail, she could see the speaker was poking the Death Eater Roni hit with the Full Body-Binding Jinx. She was hard to miss: tall, thin as a stick and with skin so pale she practically glowed in the moonlight. She had her bright blue hair tied back in a low ponytail that spilled over the shoulder of her black robes. Vega debated whether she should tell her to stop annoying the Death Eater or not.

"Elfie." The last member of their group admonished. Taller even than Elfie, she was putting the finishing touches on an Incarcerous spell.

Elfie pouted but stopped poking their captive when Liv called her name.

"I still haven't heard a good reason why I can't have this in our foyer." Vega waved her hand over the dragon.

"I would like to protest against any Fiendfyre in the house." Liv said with a grin. "All in favor of not having Fiendfyre in the foyer, say 'Aye'."

"Aye." All the women except Vega raised their hands.

"How unfortunate for you that the house isn't a democracy but a benevolent dictatorship." Vega slung her legs over the edge and jumped down. For a moment she wasn't sure if her legs would support her.

Roni's legs 'accidentally' hit Vega when she swung down after her. Vega gave her a dirty look which the shortest member ignored.

"'Benevolent Dictator'?" Liv raised an impressive, dark eyebrow.

Vega nodded sagely. "And this very benevolent dictator has heard her people's words and will graciously allow Elfie to deliver this to the Department of Mysteries boys and girls on loan until such time that they deem it safe to be put in my foyer… or backyard if it doesn't fit."

Liv rolled her eyes while Roni snorted.

"YAS." Elfie said before approaching the dragon to inspect it. "I'm going to need help transporting it."

"How many?"

"Of us? Just one. If I had to grab a Labbie, I'd need at least three in order not to break it."

Vega closed her eyes for a moment, thinking.

"Liv, would you assist Elfie after you both give your Mediterranean orders to Roni. Roni, retrieve food. I'll deliver the Death Eaters."

Liv raised her hand, frowning.

"I could help deliver the Death Eaters and then get food." Roni beat Liv to objecting.

Vega nodded. "I hoped you'd say that. Thank you. I'll make an initial report and then we'll all meet at home."

The others looked a little more comfortable with their assignments and Liv walked closer to Elfie to listen to her plan for getting the statue out of the woods.

"Rock, paper, scissors for the bigger one?" Roni pointed at the blond one but Vega shook her head.

"Reserve your strength. I can always take the Floo network home."

Roni scowled again before sighing and turned to the other two. "What do you want?"

"I'll text you." Elfie said, distracted. "Do you know the name of it?"

"Uhhh…"

"When you get there, text me the name. I wanna look at the menu." Elfie was still not looking at them, instead she was casting spells that went up and down the length of the dragon.

"Liv? How about you?"

"I think I'll go for something spicy today." Liv tilted her head in thought. "Could you ask them what's good and just get me some of that?"

"Sure." Roni shrugged before shuffling to the smaller Death Eater.

"Not even going to ask me, are you?" Vega performed the Levitating Charm on the big one as Roni did the same to hers.

"Nope. I already know what you want, you creature of habit." Roni threw over her shoulder before striding away.

Vega pursed her lips but said nothing, instead using her longer legs to catch up.

"I feel as though you're mad." Vega tilted her head at the shorter woman once they were out of earshot of their other friends. "I would like to know why."

Roni sighed again. "You did the whole 'it's not my idea, it's yours' thing again. Which I know I shouldn't be angry about because we," she gestured between the two of them, "know I don't like to be ordered." She paused. "This is better, really."

"Want me to just not let you know I was hoping you'd go one way?"

"No, that'll be worse. I'd just start second guessing all my decisions." She rubbed her temples, carefully keeping her wand up. "I'll just have to get over it or figure out a better plan."

Vega grimaced. They'd been working to find the best way Roni could be part of the team. She hated being ordered around, even if the orders made sense. Roni would never be trusted as an Auror on her own. Vega and the head of the Aurors had to fight to get her accepted. They all hoped this, her needing to be part of a team to be trusted as an Auror, was temporary but it had to work in the meantime.

"We'll figure it out." Vega patted Roni's shoulder as they came to the edge of the Anti-Disapparition Jinx.

With a nod to each other, they grabbed their prisoners and left the woods behind.