Fallen Tigers
Chapter 2
I awoke in glimpses. My mind shifted in and out of consciousness, while I felt my body being carried by an invisible force. I heard voices, but was too disorientated to make them out. I tried to force my eyes open, but the lights above me pierced into the back of my skull like a knife. I quickly shut them, and focused instead on hearing what was going on. I felt naked, helpless, especially without my wand, and especially bound to this stretcher. I began to discern separate sounds as different people, and the conversations started to make sense.
"Severe nerve damage, this one has. Good thing they brought him here to St' Mungo's."
"He won't be staying here long. He's under arrest. We'll be taking him to Azkaban the minute he's healed. A lot of good it's going to do him there."
Arrest? My mind had frozen. I made to get up, to push my way through, but I felt a sharp jab underneath my ribs and the passing of electrics to my body. I convulsed on the stretcher, and my mind was going at light speed now.
"Stay on the stretcher, you filth!" one of the voices spat. And for good measure, he jabbed me again in the chest, and I writhed on the stretcher.
"Please!" pleaded one of the voices. "Stop it! Will you kill him before we have had a chance to heal him?"
"Quiet, you! This falls under the direct jurisdiction of the Minister for Magic. Unless you don't like your job, I suggest you patch him up and send him our way. Understood?"
I finally recognized the voice. It was Commissioner for Aurors, Red Madgewick. Why was he here? Why was I under arrest? The questions swam around my mind, and when I tried to open my eyes, I felt a slight rap on my forehead and my eyes closed again, into a dreamless sleep.
I awoke again, several hours later. My arms and legs were bound by some form of tether, and a small wand was zipping around the room, by an invisible force. I watched it zoom around, until letting my head collapse back onto the bed. My throat was hoarse, I needed water. But firstly, I needed answers. Like why I was under arrest. I closed my eyes, I needed to think. What happened that night? McNair and Malfoy had gotten the best of me. This had to be their doing, I knew. Who else?
"Wake up, you sack of shit." I opened my eyes immediately, and there stood Commissioner Madgewick. Other than having a really crappy name, he was also a real hard-ass, and was always yelling at subordinates, but the man was a bully and coward in every sense of the word. Heavy-set, balding, and extremely insolent to everyone he looked at. Behind him were two Aurors, one who I knew by name: Alastor Moody. I didn't know him very well, just by reputation. And a very long and colorful reputation it was. I closed my eyes again. I would get no answers from Madgewick. He would do nothing with me but hurt me physically. I had seen it before.
"I said wake up!" he shouted. I remained still and my eyes closed. What would he do, take me out of bed and beat the answers out of me?
The heavy footfalls that followed apparently answered my question. "Take him out of bed!" he yelled. I opened my eyes to face my new opponents. It was Moody and the other Auror, who had their wands withdrawn. Moody turned to face Madgewick.
"Are you sure this is wise, Commissioner? He is, after all, a decorated member of the Law Enforcement community. It would seem wrong to hurt one of our own."
Madgewick snarled, as if he would like no better than to turn on Moody. But he wouldn't, I knew, because he was weak. "You don't know the charges, Moody, so I suggest you do as I say!"
"Perhaps you might like to tell me the charges, Madgewick?" I asked. They all startled. They had no idea that I had been awake the whole time. "That is indeed customary by our laws, is it not?"
Madgewick's face turned a brilliant shade of red. He looked as though cardiac arrest was just a minute away. "Going to teach me laws, murderer? That'll be the day! I'll have them throw you in Azkaban for life!"
The word murderer came as a bit of a shock, but I recovered quickly. "Murderer? Indeed, Madgewick. And who am I to have murdered?"
"You know full well! I spoke to the Minister, he says there is no chance you'll escape these charges, you snake!"
"Perhaps you could run the charges by me again. It is legality, of course. I would hate to see your case get thrown out by the Wizengamot just because you didn't follow some technicalities."
Madgewick seemed to be getting redder and redder, but he reached into his robes and withdrew a scroll. "Since you were unconscious at the time of your interim arrest, I have been given the pleasant duty of reading you your charges." Unfolding the scroll, he read with a smile growing on his horrid face. "You, Aecus Tigris, are charged with the murders of Gordon Walsh, Jonathan Clayton, Daniel Boone and Clay Smith. I have been instructed to place you under arrest when your healing was completed. I have been instructed----"
I didn't hear what else he had to say. My mind began buzzing. I was under arrest for the murder of my squad mates? What was going on?