Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.
A/N: This is the prequel to The Essence of Terror and The Endurance of Trials. I hope you will check them out. Let me know if you like/don't like my story and why.
"Many declared that He was Doctor Faustus, whom the Devil had sent back to Germany." – Matthew Lewis, The Monk
Auror Isaac Potter shuffled his feet as he dragged himself to the door of his manor. He was getting too old for all of this. Next week he was scheduled to retire from the Ministry. Count Dioscuri Morano had been in hiding for the last five years, only to make another attack right before Auror Potter's retirement. Potter had been assigned to the Morano case ten years ago when he committed his first major crime: Morano had strangled one of his own friends because he had insulted him. Morano had only been eighteen.
At first, Morano had committed crimes out of vengeance, but this last one seemed to be only a taunt. He was trying to prove to the Ministry, especially Auror Potter, that he was uncatchable. Potter was the Auror in charge of trying to capture and punish Morano, but as of yet had been unsuccessful. With every new death Morano caused, Auror Potter began to feel even guiltier.
Why Count Morano never joined Voldemort was obvious. Morano had no qualms against people because of blood or status: all of his crimes were personal. Besides, Morano's style was pretty much the opposite of Voldemort's. Voldemort was obsessed with death. Morano believed in psychological torture before death.
His latest crime was probably his worst, and Potter was certain that it would haunt him for the rest of his life, however long that may be. He was, of course, getting rather old. The parents of the dead children, however, and that poor new worker, had plenty of years of nightmares ahead of them.
The investigation had begun the night before, when the new intern at Gringott's, Katherine St. Aubert, had gone by to pick up some papers and heard the commotion.
From the interviews with St. Aubert and the parents, looking at the evidence, and his knowledge of Morano, Potter had put together what had probably happened in the last week.
The first dead woman, a week prior, had been found at the bottom of a large staircase, surrounded by blood. St. Aubert had found her, along with the older woman who was showing her the ropes of the bank. Seeing the pool of blood, they had alerted St. Mungo's, who flooed over to Gringott's and pronounced her dead at the scene. Her eyes had been gouged out, and her heart fatally punctured.
The Aurors were busy trying to detain Voldemort and could not look further into her death at the time. In their haste, the Aurors wrote this woman's death off as suicide, but now Potter was not certain. Either it was a real suicide that Morano copied for his purposes, or it was a forced suicide. Morano did not do the actual killing of people if he could help it.
The second woman's body was found last night, another apparent suicide. Upon further investigation, nobody could have blamed this woman if it really were suicide.
Emily Woodworth had stayed late at Gringott's to finish off some paperwork. As she was leaving, a man who looked vaguely familiar confronted her. Five years of hiding changes a person, so Morano did not look quite like the picture she remembered seeing, and she certainly did not associate him with the nice young man with whom she went to Hogwart's.
"Hello? May I help you? Are you lost?"
"No. I have found that which I have been seeking," and he pointed his wand at Woodworth.
"What are you doing?"
"You are my next lucky accomplice."
"Wh-What are you talking about? I-I refuse to do anything for you."
"Awww, Emily, I am hurt. After all I did for you at school, you refuse to help me with one little thing?"
"What do you mean? I-I have n-never seen you before in my life."
"You give me pains. Really, Emily, how could you forget me? I saved you from the Giant Squid. I got you out of trouble when you snuck out to meet your boyfriend in Hogsmeade. You never repaid me for any of that. No, you threw it back in my face when you turned me in to Dumbledore for fighting your friend, Elizabeth, causing me to be expelled."
"Dustin?"
"I no longer go by that name. Now, Elizabeth I took care of last week. Now it is your turn. Her death was almost painless compared to what yours will be."
Emily had been scared from the moment Morano pointed his wand at her, but now she was absolutely terrified. Her heart was pounding, and she was starting to sweat all over. She had not told the Aurors at the time, but Elizabeth had been her best friend growing up. They had drifted apart over the past ten years, but finding her body on the first day of her new job had certainly given her a jolt.
"P-Please don't do anything to me. I'm sorry for what I did. I didn't know Dumbledore would expel you."
"Yes you did. That's why you told him. You hated me. I was nothing but nice to you, and you threw away what could have been a great friendship." He leered at her as he said this, showing it was not friendship he had been wanting.
"Come on, Dustin. Forgive and forget."
"Ha ha ha. You kill me. Really, you do. I do not know this forgiveness of which you speak. I never received any, and I will not hand out any. And do not call me Dustin."
Emily's fright was increasing by the second, so all she could do at this point was nod her head.
"Now, follow me, and you will see what I have in store for you."
She had no choice but to follow the deranged man.
He led her to a broom cupboard and told her to open it. He had a surprise in there.
Hands trembling and palms sweaty, Emily turned the doorknob.
Immediately she heard the cries of, "Miss Woodworth! Help us, please! This man came into my house and took me from Mummy and Daddy." She recognized all three children in the cupboard. They were all children of old school friends whom she saw on a regular basis.
"Don't worry, kids. If Miss Woodworth does what I tell her to, you will be all right. You will even get to see your parents before the end of the night."
Not quite sure if she could trust the words of this deranged man, Emily nodded in order to reassure the children. "I won't let anything happen to you guys."
"Now, kids, I need you to cooperate, too. If you do what I tell you, Miss Woodworth and your parents will no be harmed" he paused, "physically, at least."
Morano produced three pieces of meter-long string from his pocket. "Okay, Miss Woodworth, the first thing I want you to do is to transfigure these into strips of cloth."
Not wanting Morano to think he had complete control over her, Emily could not resist chiding him, "You never were any good at Transfiguration."
Too late, Emily realized she should not have angered Morano. He slapped her forcefully across the cheek, scaring the children.
Though tears stung her eyes, Emily quickly tried to reassure the children she was fine, and then she transfigured the strings before Morano could get upset again.
"Great. Expelliarmus. I cannot have you possessing a wand during the rest of our game," he said as her wand flew into his hand. "Now, tie one of these to each of the children's ankles."
She hurried to do as he asked, not seeing any immediate harm in the task.
"Okay now children, this is where you get to help out Miss Woodworth. I need you to walk with us over to the balcony. Can you do that for us?"
The children nodded silently, quiet tears rolling down the youngest girl's cheeks.
About fifty feet (15.24 metres) separated the balcony of Gringott's from the streets of Diagon Alley below. The few people who got the chance to view Diagon Alley from the balcony were lucky indeed; one felt on top of the world from that standpoint, seeing all the people rushing to the shops below.
The children, of course, could not see over the railing in order to view such sights, even if there were people out there. It was after ten o'clock, though, and nobody was in the streets. The never-ending fear of Voldemort ensured the streets cleared themselves by eight thirty, when the sun went down.
"Now," Morano addressed the children condescendingly, "are any of you afraid of heights?" The children shook their heads no. "Great. No worries, then. I need all of you to climb up on the railing. Miss Woodworth will assist you."
At this point, Emily knew she must take the risk of intervening. "You cannot do this. It's unsafe. Do you want these children to die?" She whispered the last part, not wanting to alarm the children than they already were.
"If your transfiguration skills are as superb as you think they are, you should have nothing to worry about. If you do not do what I say, these children will die for certain. Would you prefer possible death or certain death for these poor, innocent children?" He correctly interpreted her silence. "Good. Now help them climb up."
