Chapter 7
"Discovery"
By OldScout
Freezing cold and a terrible wind met Willow when the port key's spell deposited her at her destination. Snow and ice pounded her from all directions without mind to the thin sweater or dress shoes she was wearing. She turned to look about and promptly fell on the hard packed snow and ice she was standing on. After a brief slide she was able to catch herself on a ledge. Below her, the ice slope she was on appeared to end at a sharp cliff that dropped off into the clouds. Above her, the ice flattened out to the plateau where she'd originally been deposited. The wind picked up again whipping more snow about and nearly blocking the view in all directions.
As her teeth chattered and hands and feet started to become numb, Willow concentrated on drawing in magic. She could do this, just block out the cold and the wind and the ice beating against her skin and find the magic. Just a trickle seeped into her; it felt like it did when she tried to use it from an airplane. The energy was there it just seemed so far away. "That's okay." She thought. "It'll just take a little longer to gather what I need to teleport."
A noise beyond the howling of the wind got Willow's attention. "What was that?" She thought and tried to look around. It sounded like the whimper of a child. There was a mound of snow a few yards away from where she'd landed. Did it just move and cry? "Oh goddess!" She said. The child had been brought here by the port key too.
Using the power she'd already gathered she levitated up the icy slope to the mound of snow. Fighting against the wind to keep from getting blow from the mountain, the short jump took a lot more power then it should have. Willow brushed at the whimpering mound of snow to find the young girl shivering and huddled beneath, roses still clutched in her hand.
"Shhhhh it'll be alright." Willow whispered before casting a shield and warming spell and gathering the barely conscious child into her arms she crouched holding the child close to warm her. The wind stopped buffeting them and the temperature to began rise. A small sphere of magic repelled the onslaught of wind and driving snow while slowly melting a pocket in the ice below it.
"Concentrate." Willow thought as she rocked the little girl. She had to hold the shield and the heat while trying to gather enough power to teleport herself and the child to anywhere but here. "Stay with me, this might take awhile." She whispered as a particularly strong wind shook the shield causing her to loose focus for a second.
"—"
Crash! Bang! "Damn it!"
Upon landing, Dawn had backed into a table knocking it over and spilling its contents of stacked dishes, glasses and mugs. As the utensils and china crashed to the floor, Dawn swore aloud and took a fighting stance still holding the stake Tonks had tossed her. She was in an old kitchen with plain painted wooden cabinets and a now over turned kitchen table. As she looked around she heard footsteps coming down a hallway. She looked in time to see a figure wearing a black robe and hold a wand rushing out of the hallway toward her. Dawn jumped forward grabbing the hand with the wand she pulled the wizard, spun and connected her elbow to his nose. It was the same move she'd taken out Malformed with. It even produced the same satisfying crunch and scream it had before.
Seeing another robed figure behind the first Dawn used the momentum to throw the first to the ground, spun around and landed a solid kick to the stomach of the second wizard. He stumbled back from the impact, tripped over his own feet, landed hard and swore like a Brit in a slightly familiar voice.
Hearing movement in the kitchen behind her, Dawn spun around pulling her knife. She took her fighting stance; knife in one hand, stake in the other and looked for the next threat. Dawn turned to the left ready to throw the stake when she heard a voice.
"Dawn Summers?" A familiar female voice asked.
Dawn stopped her throw short. "Mrs. Weasley?" She relaxed a bit then took a couple of hurried steps away from the two men she'd just taken out.
"Alastor! Are you alright?" Mrs. Weasley rushed to the first Wizard's side.
"Arrgh!" was the first reply as the man climbed to his knees. "Who attacked us, was it death eaters?" a growling voice asked. As he sat up, a hand was clutched to his nose covering most of his rough and scared face; blood flowed down either side of his mouth from his broken nose.
"By Merlin, you're bleeding." Mrs. Weasley said. "Let me get you a rag."
"It happens when you get your nose broke." The man growled. "Now who attacked us, woman."
"Don't worry about me." A new but very familiar voice said from the hallway.
"Severus, I'm so sorry, are you okay." The red headed witch asked turning toward Professor Snape who was standing in the hallway just behind Mrs. Weasley.
"Ah, hi." Dawn waved at the three with the same hand she still held the stake in.
Alastor held his wand out at the girl but Snape put his away.
"Miss Summers." Snape hissed. "What in the name of all that is unholy are you doing here?"
"You know this creature?" Alastor asked. "What manner of beast is she?"
"Hey!" Dawn defended. "I'm not a creature or beast."
"She's a muggle." Mrs. Weasley said. "Remember, we told you about her, she goes to Hogwarts with Ron."
"Speaking of beasts, where's your friend Ms. Burkle?" Snape said pulling out his wand and scanning the house again.
"If she's a muggle, how did she get in here and take out two trained aurors?" Alastor growled continuing to point his wand at Dawn.
"Keep pointing that thing at me and I'll show you again how I was able to take you out." Dawn glared at the weathered old auror and his wandering eye.
Mrs. Weasley put a hand on Alastor's wand hand and a towel to his face. "She's okay." She said. "We just startled each other. She turned to Dawn. "Child how did you get here?"
Dawn spun the stake she was holding. "Port key, a little present from my sister and her new best bud Nymphadora Tonks."
"Why would they send you here?" Snape asked. "Was there trouble? We were told you were attending a funeral."
"Why would Tonks give a muggle a port key that would bring her here of all places?" Alastor growled turning toward Professor Snape as he put his wand away.
"Perhaps we should ask said muggle." Snape replied and looked at Dawn.
Three pairs of eyes turned back to Dawn.
"Because they always have to protect me." Dawn Sneered. "One of these days they're going to realize I can take care of myself."
"I would have to agree with you there, girl." Alastor grumbled around the dish towel he was holding to his nose.
"Dawn," Mrs. Weasley asked. "What were they protecting you from?"
"Oh, a bunch of stupid death eaters attacked us at the funeral."
"What!" All thee asked at the same time.
"Can you believe how stupid those people are? They attack us at the funeral for somebody they killed; it can't be pretty." She tapped her foot a couple of times. "And I'm here missing it." She looked at the three staring at her then something clicked. She turned to Mrs. Weasley. "Mrs. Weasley, what are you doing here, wherever here is, with Professor Snape and Leather Face over there? And why, for that matter, would Tonks send me here?"
All the implications suddenly dawned on Snape "Great, that's all we need." He threw up his hands and walk out of the kitchen.
"What's the problem?" Alastor grumbled. "We'll just put a memory charm on her." He ignored the glare from the girl.
"Go right ahead." Snape said from the other room. "I just don't want to be around when that creature comes for your spine."
"—"
Hard foot steps and a soft dragging sound echoed through the empty stone hallways. Five men wearing black robes with hoods and white masks marched through the old corridor. The two in the back of the procession held a young woman with disheveled long brown under the arms. The young woman's hands where shackled tightly behind her back, her head hung forward and her toes dragged along the cobble stone floor.
"Here." The leader pointed to a dark room at the end of the corridor. The two with the girl dragged her into the room and dropped her in the center of the floor. One of the others pointed his wand at a rope hanging from the ceiling and mutter a spell. The rope transformed into a chain. The unconscious girl groaned as they twisted and over extended her arms to pull them up over her head and hook the shackles to the chain. Another spell was said causing the chain to shorten until the girl's toes where barely touching the floor.
The five stood back and looked at the young girl with tangled dark brown hair obscuring her face. "You're sure she's a slayer." One of them asked. "She didn't put up much of a fight."
"The identifier spell says it's a slayer." One of the others stated.
"She'd better be." The first said. "We paid a high price for her."
"It is."
No sound was heard, nothing changed but all five turned at the same time to see the Dark Lord enter the cell. "You have a guessst." He stated as he looked at the young girl. He looked out from under his robes at the five. "I sent a dozen. Five return. The little girlsss must be quaking in fear."
He turned back to the prisoner. "Wake it."
One of the five produced his wand and said a spell. Nothing happened. He said it again. Still nothing.
"Is she still alive?" one of the wizards asked.
"It lives." The Lord stated. "Must I wake it if you can not?"
The wizard tried the spell again. This time the girl moved.
"Such competence. It is no wonder so many fear my name."
The girl lifted her eyes and glared through her hair at the wizards. "You can't hurt me anymore." She told the group.
"We haven't even started." One of the wizards said.
"Do you have a name?" the Lord asked.
"Names are for friends." The girl replied. "You're not my friends."
The Dark Lord stepped forward and ran a skeletal hand up the side of the girl's face. She didn't turn away, just continued to stare at him. "Then what shall we call you, child?"
"Death."
"—"
"Police, everybody stay right where you're at." Inspector Clayson yelled at the all the people gathered around the grave site as he held up his badge.
Miss Summers ran up to him and took his arm. "Come on, Inspector, we have to get you and Mrs. Peach out of here."
"Miss Summers, there's just been a deadly attack which you were in the middle of…"
"They're muggles." One of the new arrivals said pointing a wand at the inspector and Mrs. Peach. He was dressed similar to the original attackers but wasn't wearing a white mask.
One of the others pointed his stick at one of the bodies, there was a flash of light and the body was gone. "Hey, you're tampering with evidence." Inspector Clayson yelled.
"Miss Summers, stand aside, we have to take care of this." The man said pointing his wand at Inspector Clayson.
"Put your wand away and get those death eaters out of here." Buffy said and fixed a stare at the man. "And if any of them are still alive I'll need to talk to them." She stood up on her toes to look the man in the eyes. "Do you understand me?"
"Yes Ma'am." The man turned to leave.
"Wait," Inspector Clayson said. "Miss Summers is not in charge here. I am."
"Please take care of them, Miss Summers, or we'll have to." The man said and continued to walk away.
Buffy turned back to Inspector Clayson and took his arm again; this time with a vice like grip. "Inspector, please. Come with us and we'll tell you everything you want to know. These men are sanctioned by the government to take care of this situation. If you don't come with us now, you won't remember any of this, just like you don't remember what you really found in that alley where Sarah was killed."
Clayson knew he could break this woman's grip, at least thought he could as he watched the bodies disappear and Miss Summers' group heading back to their vans. He didn't resist and followed along.
"Inspector, what is going?" Mrs. Peach asked as she rushed to keep up.
"I have no idea, but I think Miss Summers plans to fill us in some time soon." He deliberately didn't look at the tree line where he had stationed his surveillance team. At least they would have record of what occurred here.
What Clayson didn't know was that a locator charm had exposed his team. All they would remember would be setting up to record the funeral and falling asleep.
To be continued…..