It felt as if everything around just faded away as Talbott could only hear on repeat Harry's cries as he held onto Cedric's lifeless body, tears streaming down his face as he yelled that Voldemort is back. That name resonated through his entire core, heartbeat appearing to stop before it started to frantically beat inside his ribcage, the feeling making him sick to his stomach.

Another blow soon followed, the Ministry of Magic refusing to acknowledge the truth, adamant that those were only lies and rumors. However Tonks and Talbott were the very first ones to witness the shift in power, especially with the number of Death Eaters suddenly increasing.

They were at war.

The Order of the Phoenix was reinstated in an attempt to protect Harry and as many people as possible. However a few members could barely fight against the tirade of Death Eaters roaming the streets. All at once, everyone became the enemy. Talbott trusted no one apart from himself, despite staring his comrades in the face, he was still skeptical, cold and used few words to express himself.

In his eyes, anyone could betray anyone, be it out of fear, or due to other sick reasons, at the end of the day, they all appeared the same in his eyes. Betrayal carried the same weight.

He was always on edge, always watching over his shoulder, each face carrying for him the mask of death. No friends, only people he knew, all kept at arm's length. Whenever he walked the streets of London on patrol, it felt as if he was walking between the devils of his past. Now however, he was ready to retaliate, wand at the ready at a moment's notice. Fast, swift, agile, precise.

A true soldier.

Spending countless hours training further, pushing his body, enduring, gritting his teeth through the pain and fear trying to catch him by surprise.

When it came to missions, he spoke his mind, retaliating against orders, Finnemore trying to bring him back with his feet on solid ground, however he was too far gone "There are Death Eaters out there yet you're sending me to investigate scared Muggles who apparently saw magic being performed?" Talbott raised his voice, throwing the file back on his superior's desk.

Keeping a cool head, he stared at him, brows raised "Are you done? These are your orders, go catch figments of your imagination on your own time Winger. Dismissed." Some of his colleagues chuckled between themselves, whispering and stealing glances at him as if he was losing his mind and he was not realizing it. In their minds what good was an Auror of Talbott's caliber if he was there in the middle of them spewing nonsense?

Moody had warned him, advised him to keep his head lowered and not draw attention to himself. Despite being happy that the real Moody was back and helping them, Talbott was weary of even him. Even if his former trainer still had the ability to make him see sense, it was hard lately to get through someone as stubborn as Talbott.

It felt as if he purposely detached himself from everyone, keeping his distance far more than before.

However due to his diligence and perseverance, he was a valuable part of the Order. His animagus form meant he could infiltrate far easier than Sirius could. His enhanced hearing and eye sight helped in gathering information.

Especially served him one night.

As he was scouting from above for any odd activity, a certain voice caught his attention. At first he thought his mind was playing games on him as he heard two men discussing. However as he silently approached, it was then he saw him. Of all the people, he did not expect Felix Rosier to walk freely down the empty streets of London.

However it was his attire that made Talbott's blood boil. Dark robes were covering his body, the person he was speaking to not doing a good job of concealing the Death Eater mask inside his deep pockets.

It was probably one of the few rare moments that Talbott depicted any emotion, especially at such a level. As he landed and morphed back, it felt as if everything dark that he had tried to hide inside himself spilled, soiling his soul. Drawing his wand, the man near Felix was knocked out immediately by a sequence of spells.

Felix was quick to react, dodging one of the spells directed at his head. By the look in Talbott's eyes alone, he was certain the man before him did not want to arrest him, did not wish to ask questions, but instead wanted to kill him. Cold chills ran down his spine, sweat covering his brow as a slight tremble travelled up his arm. He was afraid, he was genuinely afraid of what Talbott Winger would do to him.

"Where is she?" his deep cold voice reverberated through his chest as he took slow steps towards him, wand perfectly aligned with his face, ready to cast any spell necessary.

Felix swallowed, taking a few steps back, eyes lowering to ensure the man he was with was indeed unconscious and was not faking it and listening in. However his mind did not dismiss the possibility that others might be close. Shaking his head, Talbott launched a warning shot at his feet, pavement breaking apart in small pieces, scattering on the ground.

"I won't ask again you scum!"

It was then when Felix felt the anger bubbling inside his stomach "How dare you look at me like that?" countering with his own spell, the men exchanged blows, neither managing to cause any harm to the other "You abandoned her."

Their blasts interacted causing sparks to fly between their spells, Talbott's eyes appearing red for a moment, dangerous being the core of his stare. However Felix countered just as well, not backing down, baring his teeth.

"Don't pretend to know what happened. Tell me where she is!" fire being launched from the tip of Talbott's wand had Felix hitting the pavement, a huff leaving his lungs as the back of his head roared in pain from hitting it. For a short moment he lost focus, feeling as if his brain scrambled inside his skull.

But seconds later, pain radiated in his hand as Talbott stepped on it, lowering himself, a punch against his nose causing his eyes to water, pain exploding through his face "What did you do to her?" he knew this was personal, otherwise no Auror would resort to physical violence unless their wand was taken from them.

"Nothing." Felix barely rose his hand to block another punch, Talbott coiling his hands in his shirt, lifting him "I left her in France." He barely uttered the last line, however it was still audible.

"Liar!" he did not buy one word coming out of his mouth. In his eyes he was not facing Felix Rosier anymore, former colleague at Hogwarts, no. He was face to face with just another Death Eater. The only exception was that this one knew about Talia, had spent the last months running with her "Tell me what you monsters did to her."

Felix's punch interacted with Talbott's jaw, managing to draw blood as he bit the inside of his cheek, however it only served to further antagonize his attacker as a couple more punches were thrown in retaliation. Letting him go of his shirt, Felix just chuckled, bloody teeth revealing themselves from under a broken lip "You really never deserved her." He mocked, despite his disadvantage "You only managed to hurt her, make her cold and even then she still shinned brighter than anyone I knew."

How he laughed managed to anger Talbott even more as he got up, forcing Felix on his feet, wand at his neck "You think you know everything don't you. Then why are you here in this situation?"

How he craned his neck did not sit right with Felix, him wishing to just be rid of Talbott, the only reason why he had no cast the killing curse being Talia "Because I chose to sacrifice myself so she could flee." He whispered the words, not blinking as Talbott searched his eyes trying to assess if he was telling the truth or not "If it wasn't for her, I would have killed you by now. Crucio."

A yell of pain tore through Talbott's throat as he dropped to his knees, Felix spitting the blood from his mouth. He took pride in seeing him in that position, body convulsing in pain as he cast the spell once more "To be fair in a sense I hope she returns and gives you exactly what you deserve."

Walking back to his colleague that was still unconscious, he casted Obliviate just to be on the safe side, ensuring his secret was safe. Picking him up, he Dissaparated, but not before torturing Talbott once more.

The searing pain took a while to leave his body, Talbott managing to get up on a pair of shaky legs. Running the back of his hand across his lips, he sighed, thankful that at least there weren't anymore Death Eaters or else he would have met his demise despite Felix not casting the spell. There were many more that would without even batting an eye.

Making his way back to his apartment, he spent late hours in the night boxing up all the letters he had received, all those that he could not send. Every picture was taken out of frames discarded in the back of his dresser so he would not look at them. Notebooks with poems and thoughts also found themselves inside the boxes, Talbott taking everything with him to the Ministry, placing them in the locker that he never used. If there was one place he still believed would keep those memories safe, it was there.

They would be mad to attempt attacking the Ministry of Magic.

When he managed to make his way to Grimmauld place a few days later, he mentioned the incident to those present there. However no one knew anything, she had not kept in contact with anyone. Not Tonks with who she had been conversing back and forth. Not Moody, Dumbledore or Snape, who were the only ones she reached out to when danger was near and Death Eaters were in Romania recruiting former members and new alike.

It was as if she vanished and if Felix did indeed leave her in France and there was some truth to his words, then surely Talia was not there anymore. There must have been too much heat that caused him to make such a drastic decision, however even if that was the case Talbott knew what he saw when facing him.

Whatever he knew of the former Felix Rosier was lost. And there was no guarantee that the next time their paths would cross, that he would not try to kill him. After all said and done, Talia represented for Felix a ghost of the past.

And for Talbott the prospect of death was breathing down his neck. Times have changes and would continue to until the war ended.