The Wand and the Sword
It was Christmas Eve. Most of the world was inside celebrating a wonderful day off, away from the cold of outside, enjoying a hot meal. Greater London was nearly empty, except for a few cars that were rushing home from work, ready to enjoy some peace and quiet. Everything was in complete harmony. Except for one man.
He stood atop a tall skyscraper, wrapped in a cloak, impervious to the cold. The wind flapped around him, but he stood completely still. In one gnarled hand he carried a large wand, and in the other hand he carried a long katana, light as a feather. His eyes were closed but he was completely aware of the world around him. He became aware of a presence coming to the building long before it arrived.
With a crash, another man landed on the building, cement tiles buckling under his feet. The first man turned to face this new foe.
"Well, well, well. Rudolphus Lestrange. How nice of you to come," he said.
The man said nothing, but withdrew his wand, and unsheathed a sword which was hanging from his back.
"Ready to die, Lestrange? I always thought that life in Azkaban was still too little for what you did to the Longbottom's. I think I might extract some justice out of you today."
The second man sneered. His face was pallid and sunken, and his eyes kept flitting all over. "We shall see, Moody," he said. "I didn't think you would surrender easily, so I took the liberty of inviting my brother along. He's been dying to meet you."
Rabastan Lestrange apparated in mid-air, dropping down beside his brother and breaking the tiles again. He too had a large claymore and a wand. He had an identical sneer to his brother, which was now directed at Moody. "So this is the famous Moody," he said. "He looks like nothing; we can take him easily, brother."
Moody snorted. These upstarts thought they could take him? How laughable. With that, he removed his hood, and was satisfied to see the two brothers flinch. Not many could stare into the face of Mad Eye Moody and not be afraid. Heavily scarred, signifying the marks of all the battles that he had been in, and there was a large chunk missing from his nose, blasted right off in a fight with another Death Eater.
But the two brothers gained their resolve and stepped forward. "You have chosen death today. So be it, Moody," Rudolphus said, and a blast issued from his wand.
Moody sidestepped the blast and issued one his own. The wand hit the building's floor, right near their feet, and caused them to fall several feet back. Moody was now on the attack, taking his sword and running after the brothers. Rabastan was on his feet first, and he blocked Moody's quick strike to the throat, and hit back with a stab of his own to the stomach. Moody dodged the hit, and jammed his wand into Rabastan's side. Moody yelled "Stupefy!" and the beam of red light barely had a few inches to travel before it hit Rabastan. He flew ten feet, landing right on the edge of the building. Rudolphus was up at that time, and raised his iron claymore behind his head. Moody raised his katana in defense, but the other's sword was much heavier, and Moody fell to the ground in the onslaught.
Rudolphus attempted to cleave Moody's head in two by bringing down the sword like an axe, but Moody rolled, and sparks flew as the sword hit the ground. Moody got up quickly, just as Rudolphus made another attack. Moody dodged this one, but failed to notice that he was nearing the edge. Rudolphus went on a mad offensive now, striking randomly, and not pausing for breath. Moody tried to block him off, but stumbled under the attack, and fell back, this time over the edge.
Rudolphus watched Moody tumble over the edge and let out a sigh of relief. He looked over to his brother, who was hurt but not in any real danger. He decided to risk looking over the edge, to see if Moody had actually fallen or not. Just as he stuck his head out to check, the last thing he saw was a blast of red light.
Moody was hanging, literally, by a string. He had managed to grab onto a protruding flag as he had fallen, which was now beginning to tear. The scum had looked over and gotten a slowing jinx right to the face. Any second now, the flag would tear completely, sending him hurtling to the ground. He looked up. The rooftop was twenty feet away, so climbing up a brick wall was out of the question. He couldn't swing into a nearby window, as the flag would give in under any shift of weight. Only one option left. He began to think of the rooftop, the spot where he wanted to be right now. Just as the flag tore completely, and the piece that he was hanging onto fell from its original, Moody disappeared.
He reapparated onto the rooftop, where the brothers were getting up again.
"So, you survived, did you Moody? No worries, we will kill you now." And both brothers attacked with all their might and fury. Moody was on the defensive, but he was much more skilled than both of them. He deflected their hits effortlessly now. All he planned on doing was keeping both brothers directly in front of him. Rabastan made to parry into Moody's chest, but missed and stumbled forward. This was the chance that Moody had been looking for. Blindingly fast, he took his wand and jabbed it in Rudolphus' eye, who howled in pain. Rabastan, however, was still recovering from his stumble, and had his head in a bowed position to the right of Moody. It almost seemed sad, wasteful even, to end a human life so easily. But Moody put those thoughts out of his mind in the span of a microsecond, and brought his katana down on Rabastan's neck. The sword cut through with almost no effort, and Rabastan's body crumpled to the floor, his head separated.
Moody's magical eye gave him no time to think. He saw through the back of his head that Rudolphus had somewhat recovered from his injured eye, and was now looking unbelievably at the body of his dead brother. Moody turned to face him. Rudolphus was breathing very heavily, and his one good eye was filled with rage. Then he let out a cry of anger that chilled Moody. And without warning, Rudolphus attacked. He was made of pure fury now, and he had very little care for his own personal safety. He kept hitting Moody, whilst Moody, now tired from the fighting, was careful to block every hit. Moody looked behind and saw that he was nearing the edge again. He had no intention of falling off again, and readied himself for what he was about to do. Blocking Rudolphus' slash to the chest, Moody pivoted on his feet, and jumped behind Rudolphus. Rudolphus didn't even have time to be surprised, as a tenth of a second later, Moody raised his foot and kicked him in the center of the back.
Rudolphus went flying off the edge, and Moody ran with his wand out and bellowed "Arresto Momentum!"
Rudolphus, whose face was contorted into fear and anger, looked at Moody while floating in mid-air. His sword and wand had been jostled in his sudden departure from the building, and were now falling a hundred stories to the street below.
He looked at Moody, whose scarred face revealed nothing. He realized that Moody meant to kill him. He began to plead. "Mercy, Auror, I beg of you! Grant me mercy! I will shed these Dark origins, and I will come willingly with you to Dumbledore!"
Moody studied him for a moment, and then let out a laugh that rang cruelly in Rudolphus' ears. "Mercy, Lestrange? Like the mercy that you, your brother and your lovely wife had shown Frank and Alice Longbottom? Or perhaps the mercy that your wife had shown Sirius Black? Or maybe the mercy that your Lord Voldemort had shown to James and Lily Potter? Very well, Lestrange. I shall grant you the same mercy that I granted your brother. I promise, Lestrange, when you hit the ground and leave a big red mark, you won't feel any pain at all." And with a mental effort, he removed the connection between his wand and Rudolphus.
It took him a fraction of a second to realize what was happening. When he did, he began to scream. "NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOO-" and the final scream trailed off into the distance. Moody didn't hear him hit the ground. With a breath of exhaustion, Moody thought of Grimmauld Place, and disappeared.