A/N: Thanks to each and everyone of my reviewers. Since I'm not supposed to thanks you guys individually at the beginning of each chapter (rolls eyes), I'll make sure to thank you on my Yahoo! Group when I get home from school.

Now on with the chapter!

Earlier that day, Paris

The group sat in the middle of a Christmas tree lot, using the plants as sheilds. Three of the members were looking around nervously (the symbol of the Dragons displayed proudly on their shoulders), while the fourth member, Raven, sat at a table.

He had a pile of white powder before him. It was a highly illegal and highly addictive substance called Sacarna, made partially out of the muggle drug heroin and billywig stingers. He stuck his finger in it and tasted some.

"Good stuff," he commented.

"You better believe it," answered one of the dealers.

"How much?"

"How much for how much?" asked another.

"For all of it."

"You want it all?" exclaimed the third.

"Yeah." He glanced at the trees. "And maybe a nice six-footer to put it under."

"The tree you can have for nothin'," said the first. "But the stuff's gonna run you a hundred."

Raven whistled. "That much, huh?" He pulled out his wallet. "What d'ya want it in, Muggle or Wizard?"

"Muggle."

"Okay, let's see what I got." He pulled out a stack of bills. "Here you go. Wait, I only got nintey-nine pounds ...... " He reached into his other pocket, but the first drug dealer cut him off.

"Forget it."

"C'mon. I'm almost there. Gimme a minute or two - "

"One hundred thousand, you stupid fuck! One hundred thousand!"

"Oh." He looked down at the money in his hands. "Well, I can't afford that. Look, let's do this instead." He reopened his wallet and tossed it onto the table top. "I take your complete stash, okay? I take it all. For free. And you assholes go to jail."

There, on the table, was a badge. Yes, my friends, our dear ass-kicking hero, was an Auror.

"I could read you your rights, but, nah. You guys know what your rights are."

"That badge ain't real," the first one said disbelievengly, but the other two started to back away slowly. "You sure as hell are one crazy fuck!"

"You're calling me crazy?!?" Raven stood up. "You think I'm crazy! You wanna see crazy? I'll show you crazy! This is crazy!"

He pulled the man over to him and pummeled him Three Stooges style. Complete with with nose tweak. But at the end of his routine, he whipped around and pressed a gun into the second dealer's neck.

"That's a real badge. I'm a real Auror. And this is a real gun. Any questions?" He was about to start ordering the other two to lay down on the ground and to surrender any weapons they might have, when he heard a soft click behind him. He ducked as a fourth dealer shot at him. Instead, the bullet hit dealer number two.

Raven fired his gun at the shooter, hitting him right between the eyes. Though the third drug dealer grabed the gun, he was soon shot, too.

Unfortunately, the one remaining dealer was behind Raven and pressed a gun to his head, disarming him.

Back-up finally arrived, but they stopped short when they see Raven with a gun pressed to his head.

"Shoot him," he hissed.

The drug dealer pressed the gun harder into his hostages head. "Shut up!"

"Fuck you," came the reply. Along with another, "Shoot him!"

The other Aurors didn't know what to do, so the hostage took matters into his own hands.

"Do it, asshole. Pull the trigger."

"Guns down!" the dealer shouted.

Raven went back and forth between his fellow fighters and the dealer, trying to reason with both of them. "Shoot him! Pull the trigger! Kill him! Shoot me! Kill him!"

It successfully freaked the dealer out and his concentration slipped ......

....... so Raven spun around and kicked the dealer in the groin, dislocated his shoulder, and retreived his own gun.

"That was fun," he mumbled.

Later that day, Auror Headquarters, France

Kingsley Shacklebolt sighed as he saw Lisa Turpin in his office. 'That woman could make Gandhi take a poke at her,' he thought bitterly.

"I want Raven pulled from duty," was the first thing she said as he entered the room.

"Um ...... no."

"No. No?!? Captain, he walked into the line of fire."

"Very brave individual, don't you think?"

"This is utter bullshit."

"Oh, is it? Forgive me."

"He's got a death wish." At Kinglsley incredulous look, she continued. "You can quote me. It happens to be my professional opinion."

"Er ..... good opinion. See you tomorrow."

"Captain - "

"Look, you're way off. He's going through a rough time right now, but ..... he'll get through it. He always does."

"With all due respect, I think that's a dangerous attitude to take. May I remind you that his wife of four years was recently killed by Death Eaters."

"I know all about Raven. He's a tough bastard."

"He's on the edge. He may even be psychotic."

"And I think you're wrong. I'm not going to pull my best agent on a hunch."

"You're making a mistake by leaving him in the field. He's suicidal."

"We're gonna wait. And then, if he offs himself, well, then we'll know I was wrong."

"At least give him some easier assignments for the time being. Less likely to have a chance of him ..... "

"Fine, I'll see what I can do."