Tawk waddled away in a rare tizzy, the stench of fear permeating his small and weak frame.
I nearly pissed m'self! Who woulda thought? Lil' Ms. Gaunt's got some sort of pissantry I ain never seen before! That little tyke's sparked some life in her for once!
As he mumbled and drowned himself in his own surprise, he absentmindedly snapped his finger on his right, emaciated hand and went from a sore sight to no sight at all. He perked his invisible Elfy ears and listened for the sounds of those infernal Muggle machines. He heard nothing, and so limply sprinted across the muggle bricks and mortar to the other side of the empty street. Tawk glanced around, his invisible pupils darting from place to place, eyeing for anything that could match his-
Ah, there it is!
Kunningham's Milk Palace!
*currently pending merge with Megacorp
Tawk limp-ran his way to the back of the 'palace' (Muggles have such delusions of grandeur...) and gave the service door a few quick raps of his hand, and stood back.
Inevitably, a pimply young teenage boy almost drunkenly opened the door, so wide that Tawk nearly fell over in wonder.
Muggles are so stupid! A doberman could get through that gap!
Tawk, in spite of his weak and flabby body, nimbly lept through with nary a sound heard into the back room of the 'palace'. And what a wonder it was! Metal, plain, but sturdy shelves were stacked wall to wall in this gray old building with glass bottles of fresh milk. More importantly, as Tawk shivered blissfully, it was nice and frigid!
How long ago was it that Tawk had gorged himself on something that wasn't trash? As he licked his lip, a slight piece of viscera from the tyke's remnants ended up on his tongue and he gulped it down hungrily.
Too long. Long ago, Tee's parents had given Tawk the pick of the pickings, lapping up the prime beef, bacon, and every other lovely scrap the Gaunts hadn't the stomach for one reason or another. Now he was forced to eat literal rubbish to survive. Tawk thought it necessary to fill his stomach, after all, who was going to be doing most of the work for the mistress? Not that little tyke, but Tawk! And what these Muggles didn't know, couldn't possibly hurt them.
As Tawk stifled a raspy chuckle, he snatched 3 or so bottles, and stuffed one in his tunic for the brat. He then silently found the nearest closet, leapt inside, and closed it deftly. He greedily began to grasp at the bottles, and in his gluttony, failed to grasp at the condensating glass, and in almost slow motion, one of the bottles he was holding fell to the ground, and shattered with a roaring chorus. Muffled sounds of rushed movement pushed Tawk into action. He quickly laid the two bottles down in positions that might befit if all three had fallen at the same time, and stepped as far back as possible, and prepared himself.
The door opened and the older man, presumed manager, glanced inside the dark dingy closet toolroom.
"Goddamnit! Which one of you bastards did this?"
The heavily accented man said in his Scottish accent, then roughly slammed the closet shut, and luckily, it swung slightly open. Frustrated, but unmoved, Tawk grabbed a bottle and as quick as possible, limped back out of the Muggle store and back to his mistress.
Tee Gaunt was as calm as she was when she laid her threat to the elf, and Tawk could see she was already taking to motherhood like a fish to water. She was rocking the child back and forth with her weak and shriveled limbs, cooing him softly. Tawk limped over to his mistress tiredly, and lazily dropped the now-warm bottle next to her. He haphazardly hid the colder bottle from his mistress, using his rather large, and rather sullen and scarred, hands to cover the majority of the bottle from view. Tee softly adjusted herself, and picked the bottle up. She opened it, took a sip to affirm it's appropriate warmth, and laid it gingerly across the child's lips, who eagerly sipped at the delectable liquid. Tee smiled, but then spoke in a deceivingly menacing voice, akin to the one she used to threaten her servant earlier.
"Just so you know, the first half of that bottle you're trying to hide?"
Tawk cursed himself and his mistress's newfound competence visibly, and then moved the bottle into open view with both hands in offering.
"Of course this was for y-"
"Quiet, knife-ear."
Tawk gulped.
"It's mine. You can have the other half. Thank you. Evrus was getting hungry."
Tawk grumbled and went to sit down in his pile of trash.
This was going to be hell.
For the next month, Tawk spent it reviving his mistress and looking after little Evrus. Surprisingly, Tee rose quicker than either of them expected, and was stronger than she had been in a long time. Even though they still hid in the back alleys of the city, Tee knew they would have to move on soon. Already she heard passerby speaking about missing supplies and foodstuffs, Tawk's doing. Sooner or later, word would get out. An investigator would come ringing, or Tawk would rob the wrong person, one of her kind. And so, barely a month after December 3rd, 1979, Tee and Tawk, with Evrus in toe, ran through the dark streets of that nameless Muggle town, and took to the countryside, avoiding the big roads and highways in the hopes of finding some nowhere town to siphon resources from. And so this cycle continued, for months, which drug onto a year. Once she was strong enough, Tee began taking jobs with her son in tow, and luckily, Muggles seemed more sympathetic than she previously hoped, and she was raking in reasonable sums. Soon enough, she no longer needed to wear filthy cloths, and even better, she didn't seem so sickly anymore. It was in the small town of Burford that Tee Gaunt rose from her stupor, and though by no means was she as well off as her parents were, she scraped out a living for her son, working and earning enough money for boarding at a slophouse in Burford. She, for the first time in her life, no longer felt helpless or meek. And Tawk respected her much more- or so he seemed to. Evrus remained small and weak, but healthy. This went on for some time. No longer did Tawk steal on orders of his mistress, and no longer did they fear the inquisitor Aurors, for Tawk remained hidden well, and Evrus was far too young to manifest magic, while his mother was a magicless Squib. For the next year, Tee Gaunt was determined, and happy, and fulfilled. Until the fateful night of the Battle of Burford.
It was an hour or so after midnight, and Burford was deadly quiet. If Tee had been magically attuned like most witches her age, she'd have felt the uneasy tinge of Muggle Suppressant, a spell designed to keep Muggles unaware when wizards had to act in the open. But Tawk and Tee were not Muggles. And that's how they woke to a startling sound of combat.
Flickering blasts of light sped across the windowsill, through the boards and plastic one could clearly see sickly green tendrils darting amidst lightning the color of crimson, and the clear sound of chants filled the air.
A horrific Avada Kedavra chorus sung out, accompanied by those terrifying flicks of light, with a responding army of expelliamus, stupefy, and Impedimentas to lash back, all the while Tee cradled her son and cooed him in the hopes that he wouldn't sob and attract the wrath of those that battled fiercely outside. Tawk trembled at the display of raw, awe-worthy power being displayed outside, and knew if they were found by either side of the conflict, they'd killing curse first, and ask questions later. And so he made himself as small as possible, shut his mouth, and prayed the child would do the same.
And all too soon, the disconcerting quiet dominated the soundscape, and Tee continued to coo her son.
Tee strained her ears in between her cooing, and heard the distant talk of the victors.
"...it doesn't seem right, does it?"
"What? That we won? Their leader's half-way 'cross the country and they're disorganized. What's to be surprised about?"
"Why they were here in the first place."
"What'dya mean? Death Eaters flock to small towns like this."
The first voice was gravelly, low, and Tee got the impression that it was a rather intelligent man behind said voice.
"Certainly, but why here in particular? Usually they pick small Muggle towns with strategic important to barricade themselves in, or an iconic one to terrorize. But here? There's no entrenched defensive spells, and there's less than a few hundred people here. Why? Why here?"
"I try not t' question the why Severus, my job's to root out the filth, not ask why the filth rooted where they did."
"Moody, you just enjoy the fight, admit it."
To the chorus of voices, Tee only noted the on-edge, almost insane voice and the low, gravelly voice as distinct. Just as if on queue, the lead Auror, with his low and grating voice stopped any future argument.
"Enough. I am not convinced that the Death Eaters weren't here for the same reason we were."
"We were here to follow up on a report of Death Eaters. You're saying they were looking to regroup?"
"Which means there's more scum afoot!" To this, the unstable, accented voice chuckled loudly.
"Perhaps." The gravelly voice spoke, getting more clear, and rising in volume. Tee suppressed a terror-filled tremor in her core, knowing that he was drawing near the abandoned home, the extension of the slophouse that she was renting.
A pale, wiry hand pulled down some of the plastic on one of the windows, and a pair of beady, black eyes peered into the home.
Tee's fear rose in her throat, and could only hope that the darkness would shield her and her kin from the eyes of the Auror.
A dark, fury-embedded voice shouted an all too familiar chant.
"Avada-"
In an instant, the beady eyed Auror reacted and drew away from the window, and Tee heard his voice clear as day:
"Avada Kadavra!"
A deathly blast of viridian damnation blasted ridiculously close to the windows, but Tee heard the furious voice laugh.
"You missed, traitor!"
"But I won't!" the unstable man shouted, "Crucio!"
A ghastly howl of pain filled the night air, and all the individuals of the house shook in empathy, and in the moment, Tee neglected her comforting of the child, and Evrus began to make small, distressed noises. A struggle could be heard loudly, and a sick splat of a punch was distinctly heard, and finally, the beady eyed Auror began his interrogation.
"Why were you here? Did the Dark Lord give you direction, or are you really so foolish to act so brazenly?"
"Piss off, you lanky wanker!"
And punctually, the 'lanky wanker' chanted:
"Crucio!"
An accompanying cry of suffering rang out, and the lead Auror slowly repeated.
"Why..here?"
"A'right, a'right! Stop the pa-i-in! I'll tell ya', I'll tell ya'!"
"Then talk."
A moment passed, and only the small troubled sounds of a baby could be heard in the dingy room of that broken down house.
"Well?!" the unstable man shouted out. Almost immediately, the Death Eater shouted out in frustration.
"It's a Gaunt, a'right? We were looking for a Gaunt."
"A Gaunt?" Multiple Aurors asked simultaneously. But the beady lead Auror aggressively continued.
"The Gaunts are nothing now, don't lie to me fool!"
"It's true! It's true! I don't know nothin' 'bout nothin' but Malfoy was goin' on and on about how there was a mainstay Gaunt left, how the only other Gaunt worth a damn, Tibrin, had died to that Potter bitch, but Tibrin mentioned there was another Gaunt, a main branch one at that, and sent us to find 'im."
Desperation peaked in his voice, and throughout his explanation, panic spread through Tee's body. She had been careful, how, how on earth did they find her?
The lead Auror continued.
"And? Did you?"
"No, you blindsided daft twat! If we had found 'im you'd all be dead! I've seen what Tibrin was capable of, and the main branch Gaunts are supposed to be ten times better!"
"Why would you think they'd be here, in this backwater, instead of closer to the main branch Gaunt's lands?"
"We were using the Gaunt Registry, a'right? A gift from the Dark 'ord 'imself!"
The Registry? Tee had heard of it. Tee's father had said the head of the primeval branch, a stupid, fat, pot-bellied drunkard had stashed the enchanted Gaunt Registry somewhere in the Gaunt Lands, and the Dark Lord, a descendant of the aboriginal Gaunts, had claimed it for himself to locate any worthy Gaunts to join his cause.
-The Registry, much like the Marauder's Map, dear reader, was a remarkable piece of work, but instead of relying on observation of Hogwarts through advanced scrying methods, the Registry of the Gaunts tracked the blood relatives with a certain amount of Gaunt ancestry throughout the globe. My Master has used it a number of times in his travels, but Voldemort used it mainly to either eliminate or assimilate Gaunt survivors. Supposedly, according to an unimportant Death Eater during the Battle of Burford, Lucius Malfoy had used the Registry to locate Tee Gaunt. This led to the Battle that cold March night.-
When it became clear that the interrogation would yield no further results, the Aurors restrained the sole surviving Death Eater, and the next few hours crawled by ever-so-slowly. The Aurors, Tee knew, would spend the next few days observing the town to see if the mysterious Gaunt would flee or show themselves in anyway whatsoever. Then, as per her recollection of the purges she knew of, they'd draw her out using painful scrying magics, and if that didn't work, they'd flush her out using (and she shook violently with fear when she thought of this) gryphon hounds specially trained by the Phoenixes and their Auror allies to sniff out the purer of blood.
Tee knew it would only be a matter of time before she was found out. And so, she thought, it was much, much better to not delay the inevitable. During the day, she hid her face in the old, dirty cloths she'd worn during her initial exile, and made her way to work. She explained to her boss, a gruff but patriarchal man, that she was being chased by violent men who worked for a loan shark (the only fair equivalent) and he'd immediately took to the young woman. He packed her a care package full of blankets, food, a canteen of water or two, and, especially, a gun. He explained the basic premise to the bewildered Squib, and she realized it may be her only defense, and listened intently. Afterwards, he said that he understood what it was liked to be chased, as he'd fell in bad with the law in some country called Fanlind(Editor's note: Most likely, Tee, as an insular Squib, heard Finland incorrectly) and had to run for it. He said he didn't expect her to pay him back, that it was an investment into Evrus' childhood, and that she'd better not waste it.
And so she didn't. She made a plan of action.
It was late in the March evening, dusk threatening to ruin the loveliness of Burford. Tee Gaunt rushed along with her son in a pack on her back. She had the Muggle firearm in her front pocket, tucked beneath her cheap leather belt. Tawk, invisible to most, toddled behind his mistress. But fate is a crueler mistress, as it just so happened that the Aurors in the sky on their state-of-the-art brooms reported the small abnormality of magical distribution.
-Tawk's invisibility was undetectable to the eye, but unknown to either him or Tee, the Ministry had authorized the use of a scrying type of magic that would alert them to any form of magical essence being dispersed. And once the town'd been cleared of any magical inhabitants, such as the few wizards, it was plenty easy to find Tawk's invisibility on their scrying globes.-
Strode from the nearest alley came a man in a dark, simple robe. He wore his hair plainly parted from the middle, and had black beady eyes attached to his pale unblemished face. Following behind him was a man with a shifty look, walking fast, his eyes darting around, looking for any danger. When those two came within 10 or so feet of the young woman, they looked around, as if searching for something.
Tee, meanwhile, recognized the beady-eyed Auror, and held her breath as she struggled with the urge to sprint as fast as possible away from them.
Instead, she maintained her brisk walking speed, hoping Tawk would not give them away, or they would not recognize the telltale signs of a Gaunt heir.
"Brim and hell stone, Snape! They said it was right in this sector. What are we missing?" The older, scruffier, and unsteady looking man cursed.
The ever-present gaze of the lead Auror perturbed Tee, and she could tell he was judging if she was the source of the disturbance.
That's when the older man briskly walked over past Tee's shoulder and she heard a raspy and familiar "erf".
She hesitated. She realized that soon Tawk would be found out, and despite how easy it'd be for her to leave him behind, to continue walking briskly and hope he'd be okay, Tee was not capable of abandoning her lifelong servant.
And so, without any further hesitation, the image of the Muggle weapon flashed in her mind, in all it's modest silver finish, and emaciated design that reminded her of skeleton fingers, and with a resolve she knew would damn her, Evrus, and Tawk, she drew the pistol in a flash.
"Leave him be!" Tee yelled desperately, and squeezed the trigger.
The older man, who was grasping the invisible Tawk tightly, looked to see the barrel of a Muggle weapon pointed at his face, and had no time to react.
A loud BANG!resounded throughout the streets of Burford, even if no muggle could hear it.
The older man tumbled over in pain, clutching at where his left eye was previously, and cursed incoherently.
Tee had a split second to realize what she'd done, and turned to take aim at the second intruder, but was stopped with an alarming "Expelliarmus!" which sent the metal savior of a tool flying far behind her onto the ground.
Meanwhile, Tawk had undid his invisibility spell in shock, and stood mouth agape at his mistress, who had thrown away her escape to protect him.
But it was for naught, as promptly, nearly a dozen Aurors spilled onto the road from adjacent alleys and streets, while a few more came in from the sky.
The thin, pale, and lead Auror looked to be unshaken by this act of desperate violence, as he held steady his wand pointed at the young woman's head.
"Such barbarism." He said with a cold menace.
He looked at the old, graying House Elf. It dawned on him then and there.
"So...you're the Gaunt, then?" He spoke clearly, but it had been long since a male wizard had looked upon the then-18 Tee, and recollections of Tibrin's fury filled her waking mind. She felt her resolve, her fury, and her strength tumble into shambles as fear and panic took root in her psyche.
"I- no! I'm no one! I'm...you were going to hurt him and I just- please!" Tee rambled, and fell to her knees in a pleading shameful stance.
"Don't hurt us! We just wanted to make a living here amongst the Muggles! We aren't Death-" She quickly spoke, but was cut off by a sickening, bloody crack that knocked her onto the cement in front of her, and it took but a few seconds for all the world to fade away.
This?...is...how I die? How...we...die...?
