Note: Some parts of this chapter is from the points of view of different
characters. POVs jump back and forth. Hope you don't get confused! ^^
Chapter 1
"Have any idea who our Defense against Dark Arts professor will be? Harry asked one of his best friends, Ron Weasly, as they stepped out of the Hogwarts Express.
"I dunno," Ron said. "But Dean Thomas told me it'll be vampire…"
"And you believe him?!" Hermione Granger, Harry's other best friend raised her eyebrows as she too stepped out from the train .
"Hey it'll be kind of cool too, you know to have a vampire for a teacher-"
"Cool!? It'll be dangerous!," Hermione interrupted Ron loudly "What if he harms us? What if he turns us to vampires too, huh? What if-"
"Calm down, Hermione! I think Ron was just kidding," Harry assured her, laughing while Ron gave him a thumbs-up sign. "I doubt it that Dumbledore will allow a vampire to be our professor."
The three friends moved along with the crowd of Hogwarts students towards the group of horseless carriages waiting to take them up to the castle. They waved to Hagrid who was rounding up all the first years for their traditional journey across the lake. They boarded one of the carriages and was about to snap the door shut when they heard the sound of running feet and someone's call. "Hey wait up! Harry, wait!" It was their classmate Neville Longbottom with a pack over his shoulder, he scrambled aboard, slightly breathless. "Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were after me." He explained after seeing Harry, Ron and Hermione's puzzled faces. He sat beside them, catching his breath. "What d'you do? Tie their shoes together and glue their pants to their seats on the train?" Ron asked with a laugh. Harry laughed too as he imagined the scene. Hermione, however remained serious. "Whatever did you do, Neville?" she asked as the carriages started moving.
"Well, I accidentally spilled paint on the floor and they slipped and fell on it." Neville said sheepishly. Harry and Ron burst into more laughter. "And what on earth were you doing with paint on the first place?" Hermione asked. Neville went slightly pink, "Um, I've been taking painting lessons over the summer, and well, I thought I should bring some of my materials to school to, um, practice." He said shyly but there was a touch of pride in his voice. "Here, I brought a painting I did, let me show you…." Neville searched for it in his pack while Ron, Hermione and Harry watched curiously. "Here, um, do you like it?" Neville asked hesitantly. He had pulled out a medium sized frame, in it was a oil painting of a fruit basket. "Wow, it's so beautiful," Hermione breathed out, gazing at the painting.
"Yeah! Look at how the colors blend with each other," Ron added, staring at the painting intently, as if he was seeing something beneath it. "Neville, I never knew you had such talent!"
Neville smiled proudly. "Yeah, you see I used a special kind of paintbrush and I take…." Harry didn't really listen when Neville went on about his painting, and continued examining the painting, it was so beautifully done… he was about to comment on it when he felt a strange prickly feeling at the back of him. He felt as if he was being watched, he spun around suddenly, looked towards the side window and saw a carriage travelling beside theirs. Its curtains were drawn but still he could see a figure, it was the shape of a person, and it was looking right at him. There was also a small white animal Harry never seen peeking from the window too.
"So Harry, do you think Neville can become a professional painter?" Ron's question distracted him and Harry turned around.
"Huh? Oh, um, yeah……" Harry managed to say and he turned back towards the window and saw that his carriage had overtaken the carriage of the figure that was staring at him, it had fallen behind. Harry tried not to think about what had just happened, he didn't need something strange in his thoughts right now, especially on the first day of his 5th year in Hogwarts.
"Oh come on guys, I can't become a professional painter, I just started painting this summer!" Neville exclaimed.
"I don't mean now, I'm talking about the future." Ron replied then he pointed at the painting, his finger traced its thinly painted outline. "Do you have a technique to do this? I mean, it's so straight, the texture's right, it looks so perfect!"
"Perfect?" Neville blushed slightly at Ron's praise. "Actually, I don't think it's really perfect, I had a hard time doing…." He broke off suddenly, looking up from his painting. "Neville? Neville is there something wrong?" Hermione asked slowly, seeing that there was no distractions or whatsoever inside the carriage.
"Do you- do you guys hear something?" Neville asked, looking around.
Ron and Harry shook their heads
"Hear what exactly?" Hermione asked back.
"Music- a melody…" Neville replied as though he was not sure of what he was hearing.
"Music?" Hermione raised her eyebrows. Ron shrugged while Harry looked at Neville strangely. The carriage was utterly silent.
"Um, what kind of music, Neville?" Hermione asked, straining her ears for any sort of sound but still there was none.
"A soft and gentle melody….." Neville frowned. "Don't you guys hear it?" he stared at his friends curiously.
"Neville," Harry said slowly. "Are you sure you're-"
"Oh, never mind," Neville abruptly interrupted him. "It's gone."
"Gone?!" Ron burst out. Then he laughed. "Neville, we haven't even heard anything!"
"Never mind, maybe it was just my imagination that's all. Forget about it." Neville told them assuringly, then he grinned. "Now where were we? Ah yes, the outline….." And Neville continued on about his painting and the different techniques he uses. A few minutes passed and the carriage came to a stop.
*****************
There was a party at Cornelius Fudge's mansion that night. Guests danced gracefully in the grand ballroom wearing exquisite gowns that made them look like elegant ornaments as they traveled along the floor with their partners. The Minister of Magic was sipping wine beside the buffet table and talking to one of his guest when a young lady wearing a beautiful black dress politely excused him from his conversation and whispered something in his ear. Cornelius nodded and discreetly pulled out a small brown envelope from his pocket and carefully gave it to the girl who nodded back. The envelope went quickly in her hidden pocket. Both acted secretly, as if not wanting to be noticed. Cornelius bid the girl good luck before she headed out the large front doors. She wore a black outfit that barely clung to her. Thin straps ran behind her slender neck and held the bodice in place. Despite her bare shoulders, sleeves covered her arms from mid-biceps to her wrists and a runner of wispy material flared out into a triangle shape on each arm. She moved gracefully yet secretive and mysteriously as she passed the many couples who were waltzing and hurried outside, grabbing her black trench coat from the golden coat hanger that was beside the door. Nobody noticed her leave except the Minister and the figure hidden in the shadows who was watching from outside the window. As soon as the girl stepped outside, the stranger too retreated furtively.
Ayumi Byrne was startled out of her reverie by a gust of cold wind as she stepped outside from Cornelius's Manor. Shivering, she pulled up the collar of her coat slightly and made her way down the street silently. She had been thinking about the special and very important job Cornelius had given her . She was to deliver a really important document, it was about the present whereabouts of You-Know-Who and also instructions to the Dementors of Azkaban. A lone street light greeted her on the corner and she turned to take a shortcut through a muggle junkyard. She walked along the fence to the double gates. A padlocked chain held the two gates together but not very closely, because the chain was loosely wrapped. She squeezed through the opening easily, and slipped into the junkyard. Her eyes had had plenty of time to adjust to the dark, but the darkness in the junkyard seemed a little deeper…. as if it had a little more dimension. And something in the darkness moved. To another person, she would appear to be nothing more than a young woman taking a shortcut, a young woman who didn't mind that it happened to be through a junkyard. But the movement in the darkness knew better. It was pitch black as she passed numerous strange shadows of the many muggle garbage, giving her a intimidating atmosphere. Nevertheless, she tried to ignore the creepy figures which seemed like claws reaching for her.
Silly, they're just muggle junk
She followed the dirt road that led to the exit at the end of the junkyard and was wondering how much longer would she have to walk to reach it when she heard the most peculiar sound. She stopped abruptly. There was silence around her. She frowned, she was certain that she heard extra footsteps behind her but they had disappeared when she ceased walking. She decided not to turn around to see if she was being followed.
Only idiots walk directly behind the person they're stalking
She told herself and continued walking, waiting if she would hear the footsteps again. Just as she expected, there was extra footsteps coming behind her, they were faint and subtle but Lara knew they were there. She slowed her pace and put her hand in her right pocket .She felt her Enfield MKV113 Revolver and gripped it. She whipped around swiftly. No one was there. She smirked, she had expected this, after all a stalker is not suppose to show himself right? He was suppose to wait in the shadows and surprise her…..
Suddenly something flew out from the darkness behind her, reflexively, she whirled around, pulled out her gun and fired. A tin can with a bullet pierced at it's center fell to the floor.
Huh? A can?
She stared at it, bewildered.
I was scared of a can?
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Perhaps she just imagined the whole thing, the footsteps, the stalker? She returned her revolver back into her pocket and started walking again, scorning herself for her 'hallucination'. She was tired from the party after all. She had just taken two steps when her stomach sort of clenched up.
Wait a sec, who the hell threw the can then?
And without warning, she was knocked to the ground roughly.
A distraction! I can't believe I fell for it! How can I be so stupid!?I should have known that someone would be after it! She scolded herself. Someone from a resistance group against Cornelius maybe. And you had to take the shortcut through a dark junkyard!
She staggered to her feet and saw no one.
Instinctively, she put a hand on the envelope she was suppose to deliver in her pocket. It was still there. She let out a breath of relieved.
"You know, only cowards hide in the dark, afraid to face their opponents," She scoffed, trying to reel her attacker into her visibility. "I know you're after the Minister's documents,"
A reply came from the darkness, though it was below a whisper and she couldn't make out any words. She didn't know whether it came from her right side, her left or from behind. This annoyed her.
"If you have something to say, you say it to me, buddy!" She shouted.
And to her surprise, someone did come forward. He stood for a while just beyond the pool of light, his feet in the circle of illumination, the rest of him in shadow. She watched him come fully into her vision, his eyes glinting in the light. He had black hair, stylishly messy; giving him a cool tousled look and high cheekbones, and the deepest, darkest black eyes Ayumi had ever seen.
They're so so-intense…
.She thought as she stared into his piercing eyes. They were icy and expressionless yet Ayumi found quite- alluring? He was well-dressed in black robes with red lining along the collar and sleeves and was carrying something long in his hand. It was a long and sharp. It's deadly silver blade gleamed and sent shivers into Ayumi's spine. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, silent and waiting. Then he suddenly lifted his sword in front of him and before Ayumi could react, something unexpected shot out from it. It was light. A brief flash of light, Ayumi was blinded by it then the next thing she knew, she was hit by a powerful force and was thrown back. Cold night air hissed past her ears and her hair blew in her face as she flew through the air. She slammed into a tree and was unconscious before she hit the ground.
He watched her fall to the ground limply. A small white envelope fell out of her pocket. He hurried towards her, laid down his sword and knelt beside her. He brushed her hair from her face. She was out cold, her eyes closed and was breathing peacefully. Her young face was striking, having the most beautiful smooth and pale complexion. He was distracted for a moment then turned his attention to the envelope. He pocketed it and reached for his sword and stood up. He watched the young woman for a while but she did not stir as he hoped.
Should I stay to see if she's all right? No, I better be on my way, the sooner I leave, the better, I have what I came for anyway, and besides, I have to go somewhere else now…..
He knew that it would be a while before she wakes up and he turned to leave. He took a few steps forward and was about to apparate when he heard something. A whisper
"Shin-no-ippo,"
He turned around and was startled when he saw that the girl had regained conscious and staggered weakly to her feet.
"Shin-no-ippo," Ayumi repeated and winced. That was what he had used on her. The ancient Japanese sword technique that focuses the swordbearer's energy onto the sword itself. It was nearly impossible to execute much less perfect it. The technique was used to knock the opponent out for a while without leaving any lasting injuries. It was not really a physical attack , it releases a what you call a strong energy wave towards the opponent. It didn't make Ayumi knocked out very long for some reason but it made her back and head ache. Her vision was unclear although she could still see the man's figure in front of her. She swayed slightly, trying to regain her balance, feeling completely winded and dizzy.
"The sword style that focuses one's power and energy directly into his sword and releases it to his opponent, disabling them and knocking them out but without physical injury. I always thought it only existed in legends and books," She said quietly.
"I did so too," The man admitted. "Until I had an almost fatal encounter with it,"
"It's an old Japanese technique isn't it?" Ayumi recalled all that she had read about the ability.
"Totally ancient, already forgotten by most actually, not much people use it maybe because not much have mastered it," He told her. Of coarse, except for the old geezer I met before and I,"
Ayumi hated the touch of pride in his voice but still, she could not help but admire him for perfecting such an old but powerful sword style. She noticed something white poking out of his pocket and immediately knew what it was.
"Give it back," She demanded, feeling a bit more steady and regaining some strength.
"I'm sorry, but I can't," He said casually.
"Give. It. Back!" She yelled the last word.
"I'd return it but I've been instructed to take it from you," He leaped onto a large pile of junk. "Bye, you have a good day now," He smirked and quickly disappeared over the edge of it. Ayumi ran after him, jumping across the mountain of junk and landed lightly at the other side. She met no one.
Had he apparated already? And so fast too….
There was a rushing movement behind her. Ayumi automatically spun around and delivered a powerful kick.
Her foot found the target half a second before her eyes and smashed into a shoulder. The man groaned .She tried to follow through with her hands but the he had already grabbed her right forearm and threw her off balance. He jerked her toward him and twisted her right arm behind her. Clutched her throat tightly and held her close. She struggled to break free and found it impossible. She felt that her arm was about to break from his crushing grip.
"Determination. I like that." He sneered into her ear and squeezed her throat even harder. Ayumi ignored the fact that she was having a hard time breathing and summoned all her strength. She swung her right foot heavily upward. It slammed onto his forehead. He grunted in pain and loosened his grip on her instantly. Ayumi took advantage of him and did three things simultaneously. She stabbed her left elbow into his stomach, twisted out of his arms and gave him a clean uppercut. The envelope flew out of his pocket and she plucked it out of the air. He snarled and lunged at her but she slipped out of his grasp once again and ran like hell to put as much distance as she could between him and herself. A huge stone wall loomed in front of her. She made a quick decision and leaped onto a nearby crate, launched herself through the air, grabbed a nearby oak branch, swung over the wall and onto another mountain of junk.
A huge mountain of junk sitting atop a rather steep hill.
And the man was already there waiting for her. Ayumi groaned inwardly.
Why did he have to be so fast?
In a blur, he sped towards her at top speed, his sword drawn in front of him. It glimmered just as it past her face. She had skillfully dodged it, she heard the man curse under his breath as he passed her. Several dark brown locks of hair fell to the ground. He skidded to a halt meters away from her.
Okay, so he hadn't entirely missed me after all. Thank goodness he just got a couple of my hair. But still…
"Leave the hair alone!" She screamed and pulled out her gun and pulled the trigger but he was faster than she thought. Way faster. In another blur, he rushed towards her with inhuman speed like a steel ball fired from a cannon. His feet had left the ground even before her bullet left her gun and he shot passed it. His sword was not outstretched, but instead, his left hand, and it grabbed hold of her throat once again and shoved her towards another pile of junk behind her. She lost her gun as his hand tIt took all of Ayumi's remaining strength to grab hold of his left hand on her neck and swing him around so that it was he who was going to crash into the pile of junk instead of her.
And he did. His back smashed into the junk in full force. Pieces of junk showered over him and the girl, who had slipped out of his grasp.. He felt that every single bone in his body had snapped and when things seemed that it couldn't get worse, his feet went wild under him. He had lost his balance and was about to plunge down the steep hill into a sea of more junk. He clawed the air desperately, searching for something to hold on to. The girl was still in front of him looking dazed and tired, her arms over her head, whimpering in pain as mounds of junk continued falling on them. Seeing her distracted, he latched his hand onto her arm, pulling her down with him as he toppled over the edge of the hill.
Metal, plastic and all sorts of muggle objects fell onto her head, Lara put her arms over her head, shielding herself from the debris.
Ouch! Ouch!Ouch!
Ayumi moaned in her head and was wondering when the shower of junk would stop when something had clamped on the arm.
The hell?!
And she went over the edge, plummeting downwards with the man. They tumbled, rolled and tramped down the hill of junk. Ayumi found herself caught in a crazy whirlwind of scenes, at first it was the black sky that she saw, then it sharply changed into heaps of junk then into the man's face, this replayed over and over her eyes as they refused to stop rolling.. Surprisingly, he was still holding her as they stumbled down. Pieces of junk jabbed and hit both of them, a rather large piece of scrap metal grazed Ayumi's cheek while a broken muggle flashlight jammed onto the man's left eye, he cried out in pain. Ayumi grabbed her cheek instantly with her left hand as she felt the scrap of metal leave a cut, she had forgotten that she had the envelope in her palm and it escaped from her grasp. She quickly snatched wildly in the air trying to find it again which was quite impossible as she hadn't stop rolling yet. A plastic office chair collided on her knees and a toaster walloped her hard on her abdomen, nearly knocking her breath out when her left hand grabbed onto something. It was a huge slab of rock jutting out from the sea of garbage, she pulled out of the man's grasp and held on. Her surroundings immediately ceased turning upside-down and she was lying facedown on the ground. She exhaled explosively. Unfortunately, that was not the case for him. He continued tumbling downwards.
He still had his sword in his hand, from the moment he fell and until now, though he was not aware of it. It was just when it appeared right in front of him and gave him a nasty slash over his right eye that he noticed he was still holding it. He let go of it immediately, he could not control his arms at the moment and could 't risk injuring himself again. There was sudden sharp CRACK in the air, like a gunshot but he ignored it. He felt a surge of pain suddenly and was wondering where in his body was it coming from when he lost his hold of his sword. He saw it fly into the night before he banged his head hard on something huge and he was forced to close his eyes. Everything was blurry at first when he finally opened his eyes but it quickly cleared. He sat up and groaned. He had slammed into a large maple tree at the bottom of the hill. It had stopped him but now he had a huge headache and he didn't have to wonder why. He brushed a knuckle gingerly over his gash on his forehead and winced. It was bleeding freely. To his surprise the white envelope was right beside him . He tried to forget that the gash on his forehead hurt like hell and stood up then found himself headfirst in the dirt. His legs had given way and he turned to inspect them. He flinched at what he saw. His right leg was broken. It was truly a disgusting sight. There was no blood or anything but it was twisted in a way that no leg should ever be twisted.
So that was the sickening crack I heard earlier.
He groaned again.
Ayumi laid on the ground for a moment, moving her arms and legs carefully. She did a mental checkup on her condition.
Ok, no broken bones, I still have my head and my brain, just a few cuts and scrapes, hmmm, no big deal.
Before she could stand up, something silver fell from above and shot past her face, just inches away and plunged deep into the ground. She shrieked and jumped up. It was a long silver sword. She recognized whose it was and picked it up. She whirled around and stomped towards the owner, fuming silently. The man was sitting beneath a large maple tree clutching his right leg. She smirked. Not only did he have a huge cut on his forehead that was freely pouring blood but it looked like his right leg was broken too. "Ha! That broken leg serves you right, mister!" Ayumi scoffed. "Looks like you can't run away anymore"
"Ha! Look's like you don't have the envelope anymore" He retorted in a disdainful way. He picked up the envelope, waved it mockingly to the girl then shoved it in his pocket. The girl's face contorted with anger and lunged towards him with his sword in front of her. Seeing that he had to escape before she reached him or he would become headless, she was about a kilometer away, he quickly reached in his other pocket for his wand. His hand found nothing in his pocket.
Time to shift into panic mode! Where could have my wand gone to?
The girl was now has a kilometer away and is also in a rage. He searched frantically around him. His wand was perched atop an old muggle TV set to his far left. Thinking quickly, he got the nearest object to him, a broken eggbeater, and flung it to his wand to knock it down so hopefully it would roll towards him so he could disapparate in time. His wand did drop from the TV set, but to his horror, it was rolling towards him as if it had all the time in the world, and unfortunately he didn't. The girl was closing in him fast, the space between the blade she was holding and himself was 5 meters while his wand, a meager three feet but traveling like a turtle. He threw himself towards the wand, his hands frantically reaching for it. When the girl was a only a meters away, she leaped high into the air, and with some sort of battle cry, brought his sword upward. His wand was a foot away, then half a foot, then centimeters, then just millimeters….
"You're not getting away, you bastard!!" The girl shrieked in mid-air and brought the sword down on him.
At last his fingers touched his wand and he disappeared just a second before the sword could have
slashed him in half.
Chapter 1
"Have any idea who our Defense against Dark Arts professor will be? Harry asked one of his best friends, Ron Weasly, as they stepped out of the Hogwarts Express.
"I dunno," Ron said. "But Dean Thomas told me it'll be vampire…"
"And you believe him?!" Hermione Granger, Harry's other best friend raised her eyebrows as she too stepped out from the train .
"Hey it'll be kind of cool too, you know to have a vampire for a teacher-"
"Cool!? It'll be dangerous!," Hermione interrupted Ron loudly "What if he harms us? What if he turns us to vampires too, huh? What if-"
"Calm down, Hermione! I think Ron was just kidding," Harry assured her, laughing while Ron gave him a thumbs-up sign. "I doubt it that Dumbledore will allow a vampire to be our professor."
The three friends moved along with the crowd of Hogwarts students towards the group of horseless carriages waiting to take them up to the castle. They waved to Hagrid who was rounding up all the first years for their traditional journey across the lake. They boarded one of the carriages and was about to snap the door shut when they heard the sound of running feet and someone's call. "Hey wait up! Harry, wait!" It was their classmate Neville Longbottom with a pack over his shoulder, he scrambled aboard, slightly breathless. "Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were after me." He explained after seeing Harry, Ron and Hermione's puzzled faces. He sat beside them, catching his breath. "What d'you do? Tie their shoes together and glue their pants to their seats on the train?" Ron asked with a laugh. Harry laughed too as he imagined the scene. Hermione, however remained serious. "Whatever did you do, Neville?" she asked as the carriages started moving.
"Well, I accidentally spilled paint on the floor and they slipped and fell on it." Neville said sheepishly. Harry and Ron burst into more laughter. "And what on earth were you doing with paint on the first place?" Hermione asked. Neville went slightly pink, "Um, I've been taking painting lessons over the summer, and well, I thought I should bring some of my materials to school to, um, practice." He said shyly but there was a touch of pride in his voice. "Here, I brought a painting I did, let me show you…." Neville searched for it in his pack while Ron, Hermione and Harry watched curiously. "Here, um, do you like it?" Neville asked hesitantly. He had pulled out a medium sized frame, in it was a oil painting of a fruit basket. "Wow, it's so beautiful," Hermione breathed out, gazing at the painting.
"Yeah! Look at how the colors blend with each other," Ron added, staring at the painting intently, as if he was seeing something beneath it. "Neville, I never knew you had such talent!"
Neville smiled proudly. "Yeah, you see I used a special kind of paintbrush and I take…." Harry didn't really listen when Neville went on about his painting, and continued examining the painting, it was so beautifully done… he was about to comment on it when he felt a strange prickly feeling at the back of him. He felt as if he was being watched, he spun around suddenly, looked towards the side window and saw a carriage travelling beside theirs. Its curtains were drawn but still he could see a figure, it was the shape of a person, and it was looking right at him. There was also a small white animal Harry never seen peeking from the window too.
"So Harry, do you think Neville can become a professional painter?" Ron's question distracted him and Harry turned around.
"Huh? Oh, um, yeah……" Harry managed to say and he turned back towards the window and saw that his carriage had overtaken the carriage of the figure that was staring at him, it had fallen behind. Harry tried not to think about what had just happened, he didn't need something strange in his thoughts right now, especially on the first day of his 5th year in Hogwarts.
"Oh come on guys, I can't become a professional painter, I just started painting this summer!" Neville exclaimed.
"I don't mean now, I'm talking about the future." Ron replied then he pointed at the painting, his finger traced its thinly painted outline. "Do you have a technique to do this? I mean, it's so straight, the texture's right, it looks so perfect!"
"Perfect?" Neville blushed slightly at Ron's praise. "Actually, I don't think it's really perfect, I had a hard time doing…." He broke off suddenly, looking up from his painting. "Neville? Neville is there something wrong?" Hermione asked slowly, seeing that there was no distractions or whatsoever inside the carriage.
"Do you- do you guys hear something?" Neville asked, looking around.
Ron and Harry shook their heads
"Hear what exactly?" Hermione asked back.
"Music- a melody…" Neville replied as though he was not sure of what he was hearing.
"Music?" Hermione raised her eyebrows. Ron shrugged while Harry looked at Neville strangely. The carriage was utterly silent.
"Um, what kind of music, Neville?" Hermione asked, straining her ears for any sort of sound but still there was none.
"A soft and gentle melody….." Neville frowned. "Don't you guys hear it?" he stared at his friends curiously.
"Neville," Harry said slowly. "Are you sure you're-"
"Oh, never mind," Neville abruptly interrupted him. "It's gone."
"Gone?!" Ron burst out. Then he laughed. "Neville, we haven't even heard anything!"
"Never mind, maybe it was just my imagination that's all. Forget about it." Neville told them assuringly, then he grinned. "Now where were we? Ah yes, the outline….." And Neville continued on about his painting and the different techniques he uses. A few minutes passed and the carriage came to a stop.
*****************
There was a party at Cornelius Fudge's mansion that night. Guests danced gracefully in the grand ballroom wearing exquisite gowns that made them look like elegant ornaments as they traveled along the floor with their partners. The Minister of Magic was sipping wine beside the buffet table and talking to one of his guest when a young lady wearing a beautiful black dress politely excused him from his conversation and whispered something in his ear. Cornelius nodded and discreetly pulled out a small brown envelope from his pocket and carefully gave it to the girl who nodded back. The envelope went quickly in her hidden pocket. Both acted secretly, as if not wanting to be noticed. Cornelius bid the girl good luck before she headed out the large front doors. She wore a black outfit that barely clung to her. Thin straps ran behind her slender neck and held the bodice in place. Despite her bare shoulders, sleeves covered her arms from mid-biceps to her wrists and a runner of wispy material flared out into a triangle shape on each arm. She moved gracefully yet secretive and mysteriously as she passed the many couples who were waltzing and hurried outside, grabbing her black trench coat from the golden coat hanger that was beside the door. Nobody noticed her leave except the Minister and the figure hidden in the shadows who was watching from outside the window. As soon as the girl stepped outside, the stranger too retreated furtively.
Ayumi Byrne was startled out of her reverie by a gust of cold wind as she stepped outside from Cornelius's Manor. Shivering, she pulled up the collar of her coat slightly and made her way down the street silently. She had been thinking about the special and very important job Cornelius had given her . She was to deliver a really important document, it was about the present whereabouts of You-Know-Who and also instructions to the Dementors of Azkaban. A lone street light greeted her on the corner and she turned to take a shortcut through a muggle junkyard. She walked along the fence to the double gates. A padlocked chain held the two gates together but not very closely, because the chain was loosely wrapped. She squeezed through the opening easily, and slipped into the junkyard. Her eyes had had plenty of time to adjust to the dark, but the darkness in the junkyard seemed a little deeper…. as if it had a little more dimension. And something in the darkness moved. To another person, she would appear to be nothing more than a young woman taking a shortcut, a young woman who didn't mind that it happened to be through a junkyard. But the movement in the darkness knew better. It was pitch black as she passed numerous strange shadows of the many muggle garbage, giving her a intimidating atmosphere. Nevertheless, she tried to ignore the creepy figures which seemed like claws reaching for her.
Silly, they're just muggle junk
She followed the dirt road that led to the exit at the end of the junkyard and was wondering how much longer would she have to walk to reach it when she heard the most peculiar sound. She stopped abruptly. There was silence around her. She frowned, she was certain that she heard extra footsteps behind her but they had disappeared when she ceased walking. She decided not to turn around to see if she was being followed.
Only idiots walk directly behind the person they're stalking
She told herself and continued walking, waiting if she would hear the footsteps again. Just as she expected, there was extra footsteps coming behind her, they were faint and subtle but Lara knew they were there. She slowed her pace and put her hand in her right pocket .She felt her Enfield MKV113 Revolver and gripped it. She whipped around swiftly. No one was there. She smirked, she had expected this, after all a stalker is not suppose to show himself right? He was suppose to wait in the shadows and surprise her…..
Suddenly something flew out from the darkness behind her, reflexively, she whirled around, pulled out her gun and fired. A tin can with a bullet pierced at it's center fell to the floor.
Huh? A can?
She stared at it, bewildered.
I was scared of a can?
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Perhaps she just imagined the whole thing, the footsteps, the stalker? She returned her revolver back into her pocket and started walking again, scorning herself for her 'hallucination'. She was tired from the party after all. She had just taken two steps when her stomach sort of clenched up.
Wait a sec, who the hell threw the can then?
And without warning, she was knocked to the ground roughly.
A distraction! I can't believe I fell for it! How can I be so stupid!?I should have known that someone would be after it! She scolded herself. Someone from a resistance group against Cornelius maybe. And you had to take the shortcut through a dark junkyard!
She staggered to her feet and saw no one.
Instinctively, she put a hand on the envelope she was suppose to deliver in her pocket. It was still there. She let out a breath of relieved.
"You know, only cowards hide in the dark, afraid to face their opponents," She scoffed, trying to reel her attacker into her visibility. "I know you're after the Minister's documents,"
A reply came from the darkness, though it was below a whisper and she couldn't make out any words. She didn't know whether it came from her right side, her left or from behind. This annoyed her.
"If you have something to say, you say it to me, buddy!" She shouted.
And to her surprise, someone did come forward. He stood for a while just beyond the pool of light, his feet in the circle of illumination, the rest of him in shadow. She watched him come fully into her vision, his eyes glinting in the light. He had black hair, stylishly messy; giving him a cool tousled look and high cheekbones, and the deepest, darkest black eyes Ayumi had ever seen.
They're so so-intense…
.She thought as she stared into his piercing eyes. They were icy and expressionless yet Ayumi found quite- alluring? He was well-dressed in black robes with red lining along the collar and sleeves and was carrying something long in his hand. It was a long and sharp. It's deadly silver blade gleamed and sent shivers into Ayumi's spine. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, silent and waiting. Then he suddenly lifted his sword in front of him and before Ayumi could react, something unexpected shot out from it. It was light. A brief flash of light, Ayumi was blinded by it then the next thing she knew, she was hit by a powerful force and was thrown back. Cold night air hissed past her ears and her hair blew in her face as she flew through the air. She slammed into a tree and was unconscious before she hit the ground.
He watched her fall to the ground limply. A small white envelope fell out of her pocket. He hurried towards her, laid down his sword and knelt beside her. He brushed her hair from her face. She was out cold, her eyes closed and was breathing peacefully. Her young face was striking, having the most beautiful smooth and pale complexion. He was distracted for a moment then turned his attention to the envelope. He pocketed it and reached for his sword and stood up. He watched the young woman for a while but she did not stir as he hoped.
Should I stay to see if she's all right? No, I better be on my way, the sooner I leave, the better, I have what I came for anyway, and besides, I have to go somewhere else now…..
He knew that it would be a while before she wakes up and he turned to leave. He took a few steps forward and was about to apparate when he heard something. A whisper
"Shin-no-ippo,"
He turned around and was startled when he saw that the girl had regained conscious and staggered weakly to her feet.
"Shin-no-ippo," Ayumi repeated and winced. That was what he had used on her. The ancient Japanese sword technique that focuses the swordbearer's energy onto the sword itself. It was nearly impossible to execute much less perfect it. The technique was used to knock the opponent out for a while without leaving any lasting injuries. It was not really a physical attack , it releases a what you call a strong energy wave towards the opponent. It didn't make Ayumi knocked out very long for some reason but it made her back and head ache. Her vision was unclear although she could still see the man's figure in front of her. She swayed slightly, trying to regain her balance, feeling completely winded and dizzy.
"The sword style that focuses one's power and energy directly into his sword and releases it to his opponent, disabling them and knocking them out but without physical injury. I always thought it only existed in legends and books," She said quietly.
"I did so too," The man admitted. "Until I had an almost fatal encounter with it,"
"It's an old Japanese technique isn't it?" Ayumi recalled all that she had read about the ability.
"Totally ancient, already forgotten by most actually, not much people use it maybe because not much have mastered it," He told her. Of coarse, except for the old geezer I met before and I,"
Ayumi hated the touch of pride in his voice but still, she could not help but admire him for perfecting such an old but powerful sword style. She noticed something white poking out of his pocket and immediately knew what it was.
"Give it back," She demanded, feeling a bit more steady and regaining some strength.
"I'm sorry, but I can't," He said casually.
"Give. It. Back!" She yelled the last word.
"I'd return it but I've been instructed to take it from you," He leaped onto a large pile of junk. "Bye, you have a good day now," He smirked and quickly disappeared over the edge of it. Ayumi ran after him, jumping across the mountain of junk and landed lightly at the other side. She met no one.
Had he apparated already? And so fast too….
There was a rushing movement behind her. Ayumi automatically spun around and delivered a powerful kick.
Her foot found the target half a second before her eyes and smashed into a shoulder. The man groaned .She tried to follow through with her hands but the he had already grabbed her right forearm and threw her off balance. He jerked her toward him and twisted her right arm behind her. Clutched her throat tightly and held her close. She struggled to break free and found it impossible. She felt that her arm was about to break from his crushing grip.
"Determination. I like that." He sneered into her ear and squeezed her throat even harder. Ayumi ignored the fact that she was having a hard time breathing and summoned all her strength. She swung her right foot heavily upward. It slammed onto his forehead. He grunted in pain and loosened his grip on her instantly. Ayumi took advantage of him and did three things simultaneously. She stabbed her left elbow into his stomach, twisted out of his arms and gave him a clean uppercut. The envelope flew out of his pocket and she plucked it out of the air. He snarled and lunged at her but she slipped out of his grasp once again and ran like hell to put as much distance as she could between him and herself. A huge stone wall loomed in front of her. She made a quick decision and leaped onto a nearby crate, launched herself through the air, grabbed a nearby oak branch, swung over the wall and onto another mountain of junk.
A huge mountain of junk sitting atop a rather steep hill.
And the man was already there waiting for her. Ayumi groaned inwardly.
Why did he have to be so fast?
In a blur, he sped towards her at top speed, his sword drawn in front of him. It glimmered just as it past her face. She had skillfully dodged it, she heard the man curse under his breath as he passed her. Several dark brown locks of hair fell to the ground. He skidded to a halt meters away from her.
Okay, so he hadn't entirely missed me after all. Thank goodness he just got a couple of my hair. But still…
"Leave the hair alone!" She screamed and pulled out her gun and pulled the trigger but he was faster than she thought. Way faster. In another blur, he rushed towards her with inhuman speed like a steel ball fired from a cannon. His feet had left the ground even before her bullet left her gun and he shot passed it. His sword was not outstretched, but instead, his left hand, and it grabbed hold of her throat once again and shoved her towards another pile of junk behind her. She lost her gun as his hand tIt took all of Ayumi's remaining strength to grab hold of his left hand on her neck and swing him around so that it was he who was going to crash into the pile of junk instead of her.
And he did. His back smashed into the junk in full force. Pieces of junk showered over him and the girl, who had slipped out of his grasp.. He felt that every single bone in his body had snapped and when things seemed that it couldn't get worse, his feet went wild under him. He had lost his balance and was about to plunge down the steep hill into a sea of more junk. He clawed the air desperately, searching for something to hold on to. The girl was still in front of him looking dazed and tired, her arms over her head, whimpering in pain as mounds of junk continued falling on them. Seeing her distracted, he latched his hand onto her arm, pulling her down with him as he toppled over the edge of the hill.
Metal, plastic and all sorts of muggle objects fell onto her head, Lara put her arms over her head, shielding herself from the debris.
Ouch! Ouch!Ouch!
Ayumi moaned in her head and was wondering when the shower of junk would stop when something had clamped on the arm.
The hell?!
And she went over the edge, plummeting downwards with the man. They tumbled, rolled and tramped down the hill of junk. Ayumi found herself caught in a crazy whirlwind of scenes, at first it was the black sky that she saw, then it sharply changed into heaps of junk then into the man's face, this replayed over and over her eyes as they refused to stop rolling.. Surprisingly, he was still holding her as they stumbled down. Pieces of junk jabbed and hit both of them, a rather large piece of scrap metal grazed Ayumi's cheek while a broken muggle flashlight jammed onto the man's left eye, he cried out in pain. Ayumi grabbed her cheek instantly with her left hand as she felt the scrap of metal leave a cut, she had forgotten that she had the envelope in her palm and it escaped from her grasp. She quickly snatched wildly in the air trying to find it again which was quite impossible as she hadn't stop rolling yet. A plastic office chair collided on her knees and a toaster walloped her hard on her abdomen, nearly knocking her breath out when her left hand grabbed onto something. It was a huge slab of rock jutting out from the sea of garbage, she pulled out of the man's grasp and held on. Her surroundings immediately ceased turning upside-down and she was lying facedown on the ground. She exhaled explosively. Unfortunately, that was not the case for him. He continued tumbling downwards.
He still had his sword in his hand, from the moment he fell and until now, though he was not aware of it. It was just when it appeared right in front of him and gave him a nasty slash over his right eye that he noticed he was still holding it. He let go of it immediately, he could not control his arms at the moment and could 't risk injuring himself again. There was sudden sharp CRACK in the air, like a gunshot but he ignored it. He felt a surge of pain suddenly and was wondering where in his body was it coming from when he lost his hold of his sword. He saw it fly into the night before he banged his head hard on something huge and he was forced to close his eyes. Everything was blurry at first when he finally opened his eyes but it quickly cleared. He sat up and groaned. He had slammed into a large maple tree at the bottom of the hill. It had stopped him but now he had a huge headache and he didn't have to wonder why. He brushed a knuckle gingerly over his gash on his forehead and winced. It was bleeding freely. To his surprise the white envelope was right beside him . He tried to forget that the gash on his forehead hurt like hell and stood up then found himself headfirst in the dirt. His legs had given way and he turned to inspect them. He flinched at what he saw. His right leg was broken. It was truly a disgusting sight. There was no blood or anything but it was twisted in a way that no leg should ever be twisted.
So that was the sickening crack I heard earlier.
He groaned again.
Ayumi laid on the ground for a moment, moving her arms and legs carefully. She did a mental checkup on her condition.
Ok, no broken bones, I still have my head and my brain, just a few cuts and scrapes, hmmm, no big deal.
Before she could stand up, something silver fell from above and shot past her face, just inches away and plunged deep into the ground. She shrieked and jumped up. It was a long silver sword. She recognized whose it was and picked it up. She whirled around and stomped towards the owner, fuming silently. The man was sitting beneath a large maple tree clutching his right leg. She smirked. Not only did he have a huge cut on his forehead that was freely pouring blood but it looked like his right leg was broken too. "Ha! That broken leg serves you right, mister!" Ayumi scoffed. "Looks like you can't run away anymore"
"Ha! Look's like you don't have the envelope anymore" He retorted in a disdainful way. He picked up the envelope, waved it mockingly to the girl then shoved it in his pocket. The girl's face contorted with anger and lunged towards him with his sword in front of her. Seeing that he had to escape before she reached him or he would become headless, she was about a kilometer away, he quickly reached in his other pocket for his wand. His hand found nothing in his pocket.
Time to shift into panic mode! Where could have my wand gone to?
The girl was now has a kilometer away and is also in a rage. He searched frantically around him. His wand was perched atop an old muggle TV set to his far left. Thinking quickly, he got the nearest object to him, a broken eggbeater, and flung it to his wand to knock it down so hopefully it would roll towards him so he could disapparate in time. His wand did drop from the TV set, but to his horror, it was rolling towards him as if it had all the time in the world, and unfortunately he didn't. The girl was closing in him fast, the space between the blade she was holding and himself was 5 meters while his wand, a meager three feet but traveling like a turtle. He threw himself towards the wand, his hands frantically reaching for it. When the girl was a only a meters away, she leaped high into the air, and with some sort of battle cry, brought his sword upward. His wand was a foot away, then half a foot, then centimeters, then just millimeters….
"You're not getting away, you bastard!!" The girl shrieked in mid-air and brought the sword down on him.
At last his fingers touched his wand and he disappeared just a second before the sword could have
slashed him in half.