It had been several years since I had been in contact with anyone from the wizarding world. Sure, they still hunted me, but that didn't necessarily constitute contact. No, I was indeed a marked man for all wizards. They called me dangerous, told their children stories, labeled me a madman. Mad? No, I'm not mad. Though, the way I live – alone, dark, on the edge – most men would go mad. But this has been my life, my choice. I could go back, but I suppose they would arrest me, try me, send me to Azkaban… But I wouldn't want that, would I? After all, I have a lot of work ahead of me.

My name is Aecus Tigris. My former employers were those of the Ministry for Magic. There I was a captain in the Magical Law Enforcement Hit Squad, the wizard equivalent of a Muggle police captain. I had a long running career. I was a member of the same squad that had apprehended Sirius Black, though how much good that had done was shown later on. I was promoted to Captain after that arrest, when my superior had gone insane at the sight of all the mangled Muggle bodies that Black had strewn across the street. There, I led a fairly slow couple of years. Three years later, Black had done the impossible- he broke out of Azkaban prison, and we were charged with bringing him back. Coordinating with the Aurors and those vile Dementors, we scoured the earth for Black. Apparently the Dementors found him at Hogwarts but lost him again. Can't trust those bloody things.

Anyways, after that fiasco, life seemed to have settled down again. It was a month after Black had escaped Hogwarts, in the early summer, when everything went wrong.

We received a tip from one of our reliable sources that a group of remnant Death Eaters were planning to raid a few Muggle houses, in the outskirts of London. With the escape of Black still on our minds, we planned to come back to the Ministry with something good, thus ensuring our positions on the squad. So a group of four, myself included, set out that night of June 30th to capture some Death Eaters. We arrived at one of the addresses given to us, where we found nothing. We apparated to another address, and nothing again. We got to the fourth address when we realized something was wrong.

Lights were flickering inside the house, which made no sense, because the house obviously had no electricity, so there was no need for lamps or a fire. Looking closely, I saw that all the windows were alight with dancing light. The house was on fire! A loud braying laugh broke through the air, and the front door burst open, and fell off its hinges. One by one, a group of black-clad figures stepped out of the house, laughing crazily. Their wands were out. I quietly told my squad to find some cover and get their wands out. This was not going to be clean. Five of us against four of them, and we had no license to kill. These four, however, would not care what they did to us. They had no red tape binding their hands.

The four walked down the porch steps and stood on the front lawn. One of them stretched his arms and spoke.

"Killing Muggles always makes me tired. Let's head back to your house, McNair. I could use some more drink." One of my squad members stirred, but I raised my hand, silencing him.

Another took a flask out of his robes and drank it down, and threw it through the front window of the house.

"Let's go, McNair. What are we waiting for?"

The one named McNair spoke. "Nothing. I want to see this house collapse, and crush those pathetic little Muggles."

"They're already dead, McNair!" I bowed my head in frustration- we were too late. "The other Muggles will be here to put out the fire soon!"

"Are you afraid of Muggles, Nott? But if you are indeed scared, we can leave." They all put away their wands, and this had been the moment I had been waiting for. Giving a quick hand signal, my squad jumped out from the cover, wands withdrawn and pointed at designated targets.

"Freeze right there!" I bellowed, and they jumped, startled.

One of the Death Eaters reached for his wand, but my Lieutenant, a man named Gordon Walsh was a lot faster than he was, and that Death Eater was soon sprawled on the ground, smoke rising from his stunned body.

"Anyone else want to try that?" I asked. Might as well weed out the heroes first. They all raised their hands slowly, and we all approached our quarry.

"You'll pay for this, Mudblood!" one of them hissed. The slight had obviously been directed at me, since the rest of my squad looked at me.

"Mudblood? You must know me then, scum. Tell me, how is that?" I asked.

"I know you, Tigris. I know all about you, and that mother of yours. Filthy little Muggle she is. I even suggested that we try her house tonight, but killing such a feeble item doesn't seem sporting enough." This was the man named Nott speaking. I looked at him for a few seconds, then walked towards him in particular. The rest of my squad stepped back- they knew what was happening. I grabbed Nott by the collar, reared my fist back and hit him in the face once, twice and a third time and he fell to the ground, howling in pain. The rest of the Death Eaters backed away, too, while I continued to kick Nott in the stomach while he lay crying on the ground. "You know what the Muggles call this?" I yelled at Nott. "Street-fighting! I actually enjoy this more than using a wand, you know!"

"Captain!" I heard, though barely. There was a slight ringing in my ears from all the anger I was feeling. I looked up at my squad, half of whom were facing the other way, their wands pointed at an unseen threat. I looked harder in the darkness, and I saw it- five more hooded figures.

"Kindly step away from Nott, Tigris. I would hate to have to explode you into several different pieces." I recognized the voice immediately, from all the times I had seen the scum inside the Ministry.

"Malfoy!!" I pointed my wand at him immediately, but foolishly so. As soon as my back was turned, I heard the rustle of robes, and turned to see my original prey had gotten their wands back. My squad was now outnumbered almost two to one, and caught in the middle. I knew this was the end.

The laughter from the Death Eaters continued. I heard the crackling of the fire behind me. I slowly re-joined my group, and the Death Eaters began walk closer. I looked back to see Nott get up, blood leaking from his nose and mouth.

Malfoy was about 10 feet away when he said, "Take them!"

I had been waiting for this, and dropping to one knee, I pointed my wand at the closest Death Eater, who I stunned in the stomach. I quickly turned and pointed the wand at McNair, but the spell missed, and I in turn was hit by a glancing stunner. As I fell to the ground, I saw Walsh lying on the ground, his face muddy and his eyes blank and lifeless. I could still see and hear when I hit the ground, and I felt the falling of bodies beside me. It was obvious that my squad had been taken when the shouting of spells vanished in the air. My breathing became heavy and labored, I knew I was going to blackout soon. I heard Malfoy and McNair beside me.

"Shall we kill this one?" asked McNair.

"No. I'm going to make an example of this captain," said Malfoy. "Do you hear that, Tigris? Your buffoonery will help us beyond anything you can imagine. I shall see you in court, captain."

To Be Continued