AN: This is a rewrite of the first chapter for Dark Hunters. After going through so many edits, I was finally satisfied with this opening chapter. Feel free to leave cheers and (valid) jeers. Thanks to the Fidge E Ferret for beta-reading.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP. It belongs to JKR. No cent is being made from this exercise.

Dark Hunters: Return of the Dark Mark

Chapter 1 – Looming Darkness

The wind blew chillier in the somber night. The half-moon shone down with pale hue through fleeting clouds, while in the distance dogs howled their loneliness somberly. It was quite late, although there were people still milling about in the streets of slummy London.

Draco Malfoy took a slight puff from his cigarette while his other hand played with a marble inside a pocket of his tattered overcoat. From the shadows, he lazily observed the fidgety man across the street from him. The man was currently conversing with several tatterdemalion characters of like. On occasion, if the conversations went well, some Galleons and small vials were exchanged discretely.

Draco had been following the man for almost an hour now. Sometimes his peddled appearance could be seen, other times completely hidden. He didn't really care. He figured that tonight's guise was appropriate enough for this assignment.

"Got a light for me, mate?"

Draco blinked and bit back a curse as an elder, haggardly-dressed man walked up to his leaning frame. He had been too occupied with keeping an eye on his target that he forgot about the bum that was loitering nearby the street corner just a minute ago. He recomposed himself and took his cigarette from his mouth, offering the light. "Yeah, sure," he said in a disinterested tone.

The unshaven man took out a half-smoked cigarette from his tattered-up coat and got it lit. "You new around here?"

Draco maintained his eyes across the street. "Yeah, I used to frequent Croydon before moving here. Less cops around here," he said gruffly.

"Aye, Croydon… I used to know someone from here," the man coughed up after several minutes. "You know… before ending up in this hell hole."

Draco quelled the annoyance that was starting to rise from within. Even though the man's conversation was good cover, Draco wasn't in a particular mood to talk with him. Regardless of his fall from higher stature he still disliked associating with commoners, much less London's vagrants. He straightened up form his leaning position against a wall. "Right, well, nothing we can do," he drawled out as a chilly gust of wind flew by. He tightened his coat, tossed his cigarette, and turned to walk away from his new found 'friend'.

"Leaving already? The night's just starting, mate."

Draco turned his head slightly. "Sorry, old man. I'm not feeling up to socializing right now."

"All business and no play," the old man started, "…you Aurors sure are a boring lot."

"Shit!" Draco wheeled around, right hand reaching for his wand.

But he was too late.

"Expelliarmus!"

The blond undercover Auror recoiled as his wand flew out from his hand. He lunged sideways to barely avoid the stunner that came after.

"Feel like playing now, chum?" the man taunted. "Or you could just be a good boy and stay still." He raised his wand.

Draco scrambled up and took out a flask from behind. "Don't think you've got me cornered just yet," he said before he hurtled the flask at his attacker. The vial broke at the other man's feet and soon a thick greenish smoke rose from the ground. His attacker pulled a hand over by his face and he backed away, cursing. Draco lunged sideways to avoid the random stunners flying toward him.

"Accio wand!"

Draco's wand flew back to his hand and he quickly rolled over on his back to face opponent. "Stupefy!" he belted out. The elder man flew back against a wall and fell among a pile of garbage. Draco quickly got up and headed for him, his wand still drawn out.

"Smith! Get out of here!" the man called out loudly to the fidgety man across the street. "There are Aurors around!"

"Dammit!" Draco gritted his teeth as he turned around to chase after 'Smith' before he had a chance to get away altogether. He didn't get very far as he felt someone lunged for his legs.

"You and I aren't done playing yet, boy!" the man yelled. He got up and landed a punch against Draco's left side. "We aren't done by a long shot."

-■-■-■-■-

"Neville, he's on the move!" a tall, hooded figure whispered to his left hand as he watched his target ahead of him from behind a corner. "I can't see Malfoy and someone just yelled for Smith to make a run for it!"

"I'm not sure what's going on," a voice crackled faintly in response from the marble that Ronald Weasley held. "His comlink just went off. Are you ready yet with those barriers? You can't let Smith Apparate out of there!"

"I know that!" Ron Weasley shot back. "I've just finished with the barriers. None of these buyers will be able to get out." He ran around one corner, trying to get to where Draco's last known location would be. "Something must have happened to that git! I'm going to dead air now, Neville."

"Copy that. Keep your comlink live in stasis mode. I can keep tracking you that way," said Neville. "I think I've figured out which path Smith will take. I'm sending the data to your handparch now."

"All right." Ron stopped. He slipped his right hand inside his cloak and retrieved a small, 3 x 5 inch stiff piece of parchment. After whispering "Revalo Datum" a three dimensional image rose from the paper. It was a miniscule scale of the area that he was in right now, down to the small cat that scampered out of a hole just behind him. The image before him detailed the path that Neville calculated. "Did you send the same information to the others?"

"Yes, just now. As you can see, Hermione's about five blocks northwest of your location."

Ron's eyes wandered over on the image. "I don't see Malfoy."

Several seconds passed before Neville's voice cracked through again. "His last known location was about fifty meters west of your current location. Hold on a second." Ron waited as he watched the dot labeled 'Smith' wander through the streets. Finally, Neville's voice came back again. "Malfoy, can you hear me? You're a little bit closer to our target. Ron's closest to you and–"

"I got ambushed," an irritated voice buzzed through. "Some bloke jumped me and warned Smith."

Ron's eyes narrowed. "Bullshit. Did you let your guard down? He's–"

"Shove it, Weasel," Draco hissed back. "I don't have the time to listen to you. I'm not letting Smith get away!" Ron heard the Draco's comlink go off.

Ron bit back a curse. "I'm going to head off now, Neville. We might as well give that stupid bloke the backup that he'll definitely need."

"All right. I've just sent Hermione the data and I'll fill her in. Take care, Ron," said Neville.

-■-■-■-■-

"…And that's the gist of it. It seems that he's taken care of the backup, but I can't say that he didn't get hurt," Neville reported over the comlink.

The cloaked figure let out an exasperated sigh and clenched the comlink marble a little too tightly. "Thanks. I'll take it from here."

Hermione Granger shut her comlink off and slipped it back inside her cloak. She took one last glance at her handparch before reciting the spell to turn it off. She then glanced around her and trained her eyes on the abandoned structure about three buildings east of her current position. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and soon her whole body dissipated into thin air, a crackling sound evidencing her former presence.

She reappeared on top of the roof of the building she trained her eyes on, her brown, unbound hair bristling slightly in the mild gust wind. She took a deep breath as she fought off a dizzy lapse and refocused her senses on her new location. Apparating wasn't a difficult spell for her, but it seems that lately there's something else in the air that made spell casting a little more difficult in London.

Hermione reached inside her cloak and grabbed the green amulet that hung around her neck. Soon, the dizzy spell that bothered her went away. She held her right underarm in front of her and traced her left pointer finger over the brace that covered her arm. A holster holding a metallic wand materialized and slid out to her right hand.

Wand equipped, she now took the time to carefully scrutinize her location. If her assumptions were correct, which usually were, the target would try to escape on foot now, Draco in pursuit. Ron would be concentrating on maintaining magical barriers to prevent the rest of the targets from escaping the perimeters outlined by Neville. Neville then would call for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's Retrieval Unit. And she would patiently wait on the rooftop for the target to come her way.

Hermione didn't have to wait long. The target was now scrambling wildly by the alley, looking over his shoulder every couple of seconds. She took out her handparch, noted that Draco was still about three blocks away, Ron not too far behind him. She ambled over the edge of the northern side of the roof and looked over.

Their target was a Death Soldier. He was suspected of murdering an off duty Auror from another cell several weeks ago and also considered the main seller for a magic-amplifying drug in this slummy part of London. She also believed that this Death Soldier belonged to the cell commandeered by Death Eater Anton Doholov.

Hermione's eyes narrowed as the Death Soldier stopped at a dead end. He took a quick look around before dissipating into thin air with an almost inaudible crack. She cursed as she finally recognized the faint magic traces of Apparating. She quickly reached inside her robes as she ran along the edge of the rooftop. She took out a glass flask and threw it at the location that Death Soldier disappeared from, hoping that she wasn't too late.

The flask broke and wisp of green smoke flared in the air, creating a trail upward. She speedily darted off the edge of the rooftop and jumped down to another, pausing only to wince as her boots absorbed the impact. She pushed the trails of her cloak behind her as she ran after the wispy green material moving ahead. It was in times like these that she wished she had mastered skill with the broom. She hated running and Apparating was out of the question at the moment.

After leaping over several more buildings, the fleeing figure of her target was finally discernable in the darkness of the unhelpful night. She quickly slid the metallic wand by her hip holster and took out a wooden wand. She held it in front of her and aimed.

"Lancea!" she belted. A bright yellow line shot out from her wand which soon took the shape of a thin spear. It sped through the air and hit the Death Soldier square on the back. He screamed in pain as he lurched forward and fell from the roof ledge that he was going to leap from. She reached the ledge that he fell from and peered over. It seemed that the spell wasn't enough to incapacitate her prey as he struggled to get up.

'Better end this now,' Hermione thought to herself as she reached for the metallic wand once again by her hip holster. Muttering a levitating charm, she walked off the ledge and levitated down toward the Death Soldier.

He scrambled around the darkened alley, seemingly looking for his wand. He finally took notice of her presence and lunged at her clumsily. She easily sidestepped the attempt and raised her wand arm once again.

The Death Soldier fumbled backward away from her. "You! You'll nev–"

"Orbo Luciferum!" she cut him off. The tip of the metallic wand glowed and a green light shot out.

The spell hit the Death Soldier in the middle of his chest. Instantly, he gagged and grasped painfully by his torso. "No… I–"

Two more shots hit him and soon he was writhing on the ground. Seconds later, he lay unmoving, his eyes open and his face pale under the uncaring moonlight.

Hermione walked over by the Death Soldier and gave him the once over. She slipped a hand inside her cloak and took out her comlink marble. "Neville?"

"Got him?" Neville's voice came through.

She gave the unmoving figure a nudge with her right foot. "Yeah. Give the Retrieval Unit my coordinates. This one's ready for pickup."

"Okay. Had any troubles?"

She looked at the metallic wand she held in her hand. "None. Tell Vodim though that I had to fire three."

"Three tonight?" Neville paused. "Got it. Ron and Malfoy will be by you shortly. Remind Ron to remove the barriers."

"Okay."

"See you later at headquarters."

"Will do."

-■-■-TBC-■-■-

UL: 11/30/2005