Author's Note: The characters found in the story below are the property of J.K. Rowling. The plot, however, is mine. Read, Review, and Enjoy. Se gap lai nhe.

Chapter IV

The 1st Escape

And so it was that Frank Longbottom's career as a mercenary began. Mundungus Fletcher, the group's leader and advisor in all things unsavory, did not need to bother training Frank in much of anything, for there was no better teacher on this Earth than Professor Moody of the Auror Academy. While Frank may have lost his potential work as an auror that was not due to his lack of talent so much as it was due to the interference of the Prewitts. Quite to the contrary, "Mad-Eye" believed Frank to be the most talented candidate to apply for the position in a very long time.

Despite Frank's aptitude in the realm of magical law enforcement, he still needed to work with non-magical weapons. Frank was a quick learner, though, and within the span of one week, he had become a master in the art of shooting, poisoning, sword fighting, etc.

It was on a dark Tuesday night that the Bounty Hunters got their first taste of action as a team. Like most evenings, Dung and Frank sat in their three room flat playing poker and, in the case of Mundungus, drinking rum by the barrel. They had just managed to get thru the first round, in which Frank lost spectacularly, when Frank felt something burn in his pants pocket.

"Ouch!" He roared.

"Frank, m'boy. It's the coins. It's the coins!"

"What coins? Dag nab it, you already have 250 galleons you took from me! What more do you want?"

"Not those coins you bloody oaf. Barty and Regulus have news!"

"Oh, I knew that." Frank replied sheepishly. Frank pulled out his coin. This morning it was just a regular gold coin with naught special about it. Now, however, it bore the legend: "Death Eaters attacking McKinnons. Please respond."

"To arms, m'boy."

Frank and Mundungus went to the third room in the flat, which they nicknamed "the armoury." While there, Dung picked up his wand and fastened a brace of pistols round his waste. In his boot, he hid a bowie knife. He wore an old traveling cloak about him. Frank wore a cavalier style outfit, with a plumed hat, gauntlets, and a red cape behind him. He carried his wand and a sawed-off shotgun. He wore a sword around his waist.

"To the McKinnon homestead."

At the McKinnon homestead, the situation was bleak. Michael McKinnon and his wife Michaela were both lying dead on the ground. As Timothy Travers surveyed the situation, he smiled a wide and horrible grin. Michael had put up quite a fight that had to be admitted. Even after both he had been disarmed, he kept on fighting with an axe he had stored in his shed. However, his tools had betrayed him. Travers smirked as he thought of Michael's last moments when he was kicked in the groin and then hacked to death with his own axe. Then Travers turned on Michael's bedridden wife and hacked her to pieces as well. The remaining Death Eaters were currently just looting and pillaging the home. They were on the verge of leaving for their hidden base when Dung arrived with his faithful associate Frank Longbottom.

"No ye don't Mister!" Roared Dung.

"Stop right there, you scurvy cur," snarled Frank.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A drunken has-been and an failure. I am shivering in my shoes," sneered Travers.

"I would be if I were you," said Frank.

"Frank, m'lad. I am going after his five friends. You handle Travers."

"Right-o." With that brief exchange, the two charged. As Mundungus Fletcher cut down the five supporting death Eater fiends, Frank cut to the heart of the problem.

The duel that followed was long and brutal as the two fired spells at each other in an attempt to undo their opponent.

Finally, Travers shouted, "Expelliarmus!" with the result that Frank's wand flew out of his hand. Travers laughed aloud.

"Well, well, well. We are in trouble now, aren't we and now you are unarmed."

"I am not as doomed as you think, Travers," said Frank with a laugh that bewildered Travers and sent a shiver down his spine. Frank pulled out his sawed-off shotgun and fired it at Travers outstretched wand, snapping it in two. He then fired again, hitting Travers in the gut. Travers looked down at his failing body in shock. Not a minute beforehand, he had disarmed his opponent and prepared to kill him just as he dispatched the McKinnons. Now he himself was in mortal peril, with his lifeblood oozing out of his body, making him weak. With this most unpleasant of thoughts, Travers collapsed into unconsciousness.

"Well done, Frank," said Dung, who surveyed Travers and his five colleagues with loathing. "Let's bind 'em and take them to Amos Diggory. He'll deal with them and get us our reward."

The pair arrived at Ministry headquarters with their prisoners and received 60,000 galleons, which when divided between Frank, Dung, Regulus Black, and Bartimius Crouch, Jr., came up to 15,000 galleons a head.

"Well, my friends. You did very well. Very well indeed. I just regret that you could not save the McKinnons. They were powerful wizards. They must have fought like mad," said Amos Diggory, somewhat glumly. "However, that is six fewer Corpse Chompers to do the will of the Dark Lord."

"Beggin' your pardon, Mister Diggory, but we must be goin' to dole out our reward," Dung stated.

"What do you plan on doing with it?" inquired Mr. Diggory.

"Barty's 15,000 will probably go towards some Zonkos product. Regulus Black will most likely use his to buy his brother Sirius school supplies. His family won't help Sirius out, because he's too friendly with muggle borns. Frank'll use it either to get his girl, Alice, or to buy some more clothing from a circus." Sneered Dung.

"What about you?"

"Me? I need a drink. Blimey, I need a drink."

At that statement, everyone laughed and prepared to go their separate ways. Amos opened the door to his office and found Gideon, Fabian, and Alice Prewitt standing outside it.

"Now what are you all doing here, my fine lads and lasses?" inquired Amos.

"We heard a rumour that Michael and Michaela were…were…"

"Aye, and so they are. Brutally killed by Tim Travers & Co." At these words, Alice burst into very noisy tears. She had been close friends with Michaela and her husband since she was a girl.

"If you'll excuse us, we'll just be heading along," said Frank quietly. As he and Mundungus left to area, Gideon snarled.

"What was that fool doing here anyway? Why is a filthy, slimy creature like him allowed to live when someone decent and pure like them had to die?"

"Don't be rash in your grief," reprimanded Mr. Diggory. "Those two went directly to the home of the McKinnons and attempted to save them. It is due to them that the perpetrators are no longer at large."

"They attempted to save her?" Alice said, shocked.

"Yes. Now if you have naught else to do, I suggest you should leave now." Amos Diggory shuffled them out of his office in an irritated manner that suggested he was furious at their comments concerning his friends.

"Oh, my God. Excuse me for a moment, boys." Alice ran off leaving a bewildered Gideon and Fabian behind.

"What was that all about?" Gideon asked. Fabian shrugged and kept on going.

A short while later found Frank walking towards the Fountain of the Magical Brethren. HE always liked the fountain, though he was never sure as to why. He was just about to leave for the surface when…

"Frank! Wait!"

"Alice?"

"I am really, really sorry for the way I've acted towards you. Amos told us that you risked your life for the McKinnons. I am grateful for it." She bent forward and kissed Frank. Frank was stunned.

"So, are you going to turn me into a yak?"

"No."

"Will you go out with me?"

"You know, I think I will."

And they kissed again.