Moonlit Horizons – Chapter 19

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ok, we're back to normal p.o.v now, Remus!  Just remember some of the things I wrote in 18B because a lot of it bears relevance to what will happen from here forwards.  Just don't forget about Sumpservius whatever you do.  And that stuff about Phaerren magic, that was important… I know you're going to ask how Draezyc knows all about this- you'll find out in a short while, it's quite interesting actually… Well it was for me to write it.

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Remus had given Anna the grand tour of Diagon Alley and had just come out of Gringotts, his moneybag a lot heavier than when he went in.  "An ice cream maybe?"

"Oh yes, is it really any flavour you want?"

Remus pushed open the door to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and nodded.  "At least you get to choose, unlike Bertie Botts beans… But if you want the whiz on those, you ask Sirius, he has a knack for picking out the most disgusting most rare flavours… I think he's had a sewage flavoured one before, and an autumn mud flavour… if there is even such a thing…"

Anna grimaced as she looked at the flavours… "Horse Muck Flavour… who would eat that?"

"Trolls, it's a favourite of theirs." Remus grinned, his grin faded however when a tall handsome young man swaggered into the shop, giving Anna an appreciative stare.

"A double blueberry and whatever this young lady here is wanting." He smiled at Anna.

Remus bristled.

"Erm.. No thank you." Anna shook her head, linking her arm with Remus' "We were just leaving."

"Oh? Such a shame.  Perhaps next time then."

"Perhaps." Anna smiled weakly, noting the sour expression Remus was wearing.

"By the way, the name's Edmus Sumpservius, pleased to be of acquaintance, and you are…?"

"Anna, and this is Remus." Anna shook the hand he offered.

Remus raised an eyebrow as Edmus winked suggestively and turned back to talk to Florean.

Outside the shop, Remus frowned as he saw Draezyc Snape slink out of sight round a corner in between Quality Quidditch Supplies and Flourish and Blotts.

"He seemed nice.  Very friendly." Anna noted, glancing back through the shop window at Edmus, who was sitting at a table with a pensieve expression playing across his face.  "Do you know him?"

"Who, Sumpservius? Never heard of him." Remus shrugged.  "But I'm not exactly the one with the wizarding society's little black book." He guided her towards the tiny alleyway that Draezyc had slunk into moments earlier.  It was dark, especially so, for the day being so bright and sunny.  "But I think we know someone who might."

"Get out of here… do you want to get diced?" Draezyc hissed as Remus ducked under a stray spell that shot in his direction.  "What on Earth are you doing in Diagon Alley, didn't you get the message from Severus you fools?"

"What message?" Anna asked, noting the very worried look Draezyc gave them

Draezyc was nervously looking up and down the alleyway, peering into the dark corners. "Death Eater, sent to Diagon on the information that you'd be coming here today, supposed to capture Remus in order to gain you, Anna."

"Why on Earth?" Remus asked, blinking to see better in the darkness.

"Voldemort hasn't given up, he wants the Phaerren magic and he wants it now, he's sent an accomplished Death Eater to come get you, I'm risking a hell of a lot to come here, but I thought it'd be better to have a watcher on scene if you get the meaning…  Severus went to tell Dumbledore, we were hoping you wouldn't have left at the crack of dawn… Obviously we were wrong." Draezyc ran a nervous hand through her hair. "You have to get away from here… you don't have a chance against Sumpservius."

Anna let out a small cry. "Did you just say Sumpservius… as in Edmus Sumpservius?"

"Got it in one… How did you know?"

"We've already met." Remus said in a low voice. "Florean's just now, he offered to buy Anna ice cream… we left, but I wondered why he was giving her some pretty dirty looks."

Draezyc waved away the last comment. "He gives everyone dirty looks, he's just like that… At least you didn't accept what he offered you; it's my guess that he'd have placed a tracking charm on the both of you the moment you were sitting down…  Very lucky his egotistical character is slightly off putting… Worked in your favour, but you have to leave here now… Apparate, portkey, I don't care.  As long as you get back to Hogwarts as soon as possible."

"But you'd be spoiling my fun!"

Everybody spun round to see a very smug looking Edmus Sumpservius standing in the entrance to the alleyway, twirling his wand in his left hand.  "Draezyc, fancy meeting you here."

"YOU!" Remus growled, grabbing his wand out of his pocket.  "I'll hex you into little pieces…"

"No, I don't think you will." Edmus shook his head. "You value your little Phaerren plaything too much to do something as rash as that." He clicked his fingers and two other dark hooded figures appeared in the alleyway, leaving no escape possibilities as one cast an anti-apparition ward over Remus and Anna.

"I am NOT a plaything!" Anna shouted, trying to get anyone in the street to notice the commotion in the alleyway.

"They won't hear you." A silky voice laughed from behind one of the dark hoods. "The whole alley is a no go area, they can't hear you or see you, they don't know the alley exists."  

"Sir!" Sumpservius bowed low to the hooded figure.  "Mister Malfoy Sir, I did not know of your arrival."

"Lucius Malfoy!" Remus almost choked.

"Yes, Lupin, it is I.  You should be quite familiar with me as you impersonated my gracious self just a few weeks past.  You thought nobody would notice? They did, and lucky for myself they did too.  Or I would not have understood how the Phaerren could have broken free." Lucius took down his hood, flicking back a strand of his silvery blonde hair from his eyes.  "And you, Snape.  I expected better of you."

"Cut the crap Lucy." Draezyc sneered. "You're not my master, you're not even my equal."

The hooded figure next to Malfoy grunted dangerously. 

Ah, that must either be Crabbe or Goyle… I can never tell which… Remus thought, barely daring to take his eyes off Malfoy and Sumpservius.

"Snape… You don't think we know about your little schemes? To topple the Dark Lord and take his throne and glory for yourself?  You could not possibly think it would have gone unnoticed amongst the Death Eaters?  I have been watching you for a while."

 Malfoy advanced on Draezyc, who simply smiled slyly.  "You think its fame and Voldemort's power that I crave?  Once again, like so many ties before, you're so soooo wrong!"

Remus rolled his eyes; it couldn't be good to get into a fight with Malfoy.  "Leave it, Draezyc, he will only hurt you."

"Very true, Lupin my wolfish fiend." Malfoy nodded, "But sadly, that is not the reason I am here.  You two are the sole reason.  A traitorous servant such as Draezyc can be dealt with later."

"What do you want?  I've already told you I know nothing about what I am." Anna looked down to the floor, "I don't understand how I could possibly be of use to you."

"You could be of use to me how ever little you may or may not know." Edmus stroked Anna's arm.  She flinched back, slamming into the wall.

"How many Malfoys does it take to turn on a lightbulb?" Draezyc paced the alleyway grinning…

"What are you doing?" Remus hissed, watching as Draezyc's hand slipped into her robes to pull out a tiny vial, which she drank as her back was turned.

"I don't have times for your Muggle jokes Draezyc." Malfoy sneered, grabbing hold of her arm and throwing her towards Remus and Anna.

"Pity." Draezyc shrugged. "The punch line was quite amusing."

"May I?" Edmus pointed a wand at Draezyc's head.

"Of course." Malfoy nodded.

"Incendio!" Edmus shouted, pointing his wand at her heart.

"The jet of flames shot out of his wand, hitting Draezyc, in a few seconds she was engulfed in flames, and suddenly she disappeared.

"Edmus, I did not tell you to completely vaporise the woman…" Malfoy sounded slightly irritated.

Remus frowned.  The flames hadn't vaporised her, whatever she had drunk out of the vial had.  His questions were answered when Edmus suddenly fell to the ground; something atop of his was beating him senseless.

"What the devil is going on?" Malfoy yelled, trying to grab at the thing pounding Edmus.

"She's taken some invisibility and formlessness potion…  This could be our chance to run." Remus whispered in Anna's ear.  "Did you see where she dropped the vial?"

Anna pointed to a small green vial near a rubbish pile.  Remus nodded to her, and she silently crept along the wall to where it was on the floor, bending down, she picked it up and took a sip from the bottle.  As with Draezyc, it did not have an immediate effect, she slowly slunk back to Remus and handed him the potion.  Malfoy was too busy trying to save Edmus from strangulation from an invisible force to realise what was going on.

Lucius Malfoy turned round as Edmus stood up, now fine, but tentatively massaging his neck.  His scream of outrage echoed through the alleyway.

"They've escaped!" he threw a glass portkey against the wall, where it smashed.  "Goyle! Were you not watching them?  Which way did they go?"

"Uh… that way." Goyle pointed vaguely to the left, where Edmus and Malfoy skidded to the end of the alleyway, quickly discarding their death eater cloaks before thundering out into Diagon Alley's early morning shopping throng, desperately searching for their escaped victims. Goyle was waddling after them, and as soon as he had lolled around the corner Draezyc Snape appeared lying flat on the stone floor of the alleyway.

"You can show yourselves now." Draezyc squinted at the empty alleyway.  "Oh I see, taking advantage of the fact I can't see you to get in a quick grope… yeah, it's been done already you two.  Just ask Sev if he remembers Advanced Potions class in our seventh year… if he doesn't go red it'll be shocking."

"Snape never blushes." Remus' disembodied voice answered.

"Then you obviously don't look close enough." Draezyc noted, sitting up and nursing her burnt hand.  "I thought Sumpservius would do something like this… never a clean death, always tortures the poor buggers first… in a twisted sort of way, it reminds me of me.

Remus blurred slightly then became visible, sitting on top of one of the rubbish bins, Anna appeared moments later sitting on his lap.  Draezyc shook her head grinning.  "Not the time or place for that."

"How did you get that potion?" Anna smiled, "It was amazing."

"It's a bonus of having a husband who's a potions genius." Draezyc smiled back.  "He's a veritable gold mine of weird stuff that makes you do odd and eccentric things, it's what you could say was a pastime of his."

"Perhaps we should leave here before they return?" Remus suggested, looking out at where they had left their death eaters cloaks.

"They'd see you," Draezyc shook her head.  "Oh… crap." She was looking at a figure who was massaging his neck and advancing towards her.  Remus an Anna were safely hidden in amidst the rubbish bins and Sumpservius had not as yet noticed them.

"For god's sake when I vaporise a person I expect them to stay vaporised… you know.. its called having the decency…"

Draezyc pulled out her wand, "Crucio!"

Edmus fell to the floor, screaming and howling in pain, clawing at himself and the cobbled stones.

"Silentio!" She muttered idly. 

His screaming suddenly stopped, and all that was heard was the scraping sounds he made against the stone.

"Stop it!" Anna cried, looking on in horror at the manic grin on Draezyc's face.  "Please, just stop it."

Remus took Anna into his arms, but not able to look away, he stood transfixed watching Sumpservius writhe in pain.  "Draezyc I think that's enough… Don't you? If you have to kill him at least make it quick."

"Have a reputation to live up to." Draezyc laughed, suddenly ceasing the cruciatus curse.  Remus picked up the wand that Sumpservius had dropped, in his pain.  "Now… I'm going to give you a choice… just nod your head for which one you'd prefer." She crouched down beside Edmus' head.  "I can cast deleo, Incendio, engorgio, or scelestus."

Sumpservius was violently shaking his head.  Unable to move to get up or to try to scramble away, he was giving Draezyc a pitiful pleading look.

"You can't decide?" Draezyc asked sweetly.

Remus pulled out his wand, "A…. Avada… Kedav…"

Draezyc snatched away his wand.  "I don't think I'm going to let you tarnish your golden reputation.  This is all my pleasure."

"For god's sake then make it quick, he doesn't deserve this." Remus looked down at Sumpservius who was now nodding, agreeing with Remus.

"The sad thing is… he know he's not going to get that sweet pleasure." Draezyc sighed melodramatically.  "Perhaps I should give Severus the pleasure, I'm sure he'd like to dissect you and portkey your bits back to Voldemort… You know what… Edmus… you always admired my handiwork with Pyrrus Bones… why don't I give you the same honour?"

Oh gods no… She can't… She can't be serious… this is impossible, I thought she was different now, not some maniac homicidal lunatic… she's going to draw this out… Oh gods no…  Remus cringed, thinking of how James had described how he'd found Pyrrus' dismembered remains.

Draezyc raised her wand, a glitteringly mad look in her eyes.  "Say hi to my father in hell won't you?" She watched Sumpservius silently whimper.  Grasping madly at the stone, trying to find an escape.

"Scelestus!"

Remus turned away, taking Anna with him as he heard the harsh sound of flesh being ripped apart, the drip of blood on the stone cobbles.  And he heard laughter…

Draezyc was laughing.

TBC