Chapter 1: Niall the Warlock
Location: Department of Magical and Muggle Law Enforcement
Date: 5 August 2033
Time: 6:17pm - Two hours and forty-three minutes after 1,102nd Scourge
Niall calmly sat in his uncomfortable metal chair in the dim and dark color-schemed interrogation room at the Department of Magical and Muggle Law Enforcement, quite sure that one side of his bum had gone numb from lack of movement. He did not really mind, or at least he would not mind until his other side of his bum went numb. Then he would get fussy. And not in a make-demands-kind-of-way, but in a make-insults-kind-of-way.
The warlock was not particularly familiar with Muggle law enforcement, but he recognized that they were keeping him waiting for a reason; maybe in hopes that when they finally came in and asked for what they wanted, it would be as simple as offering him something that would make him more comfortable in their stuffy, completely magical-resistant room.
Along with Niall's numb bum, he had been sweating in his robes and he was fairly disgusted by it.
They had kept Niall waiting for almost an hour now, and he had absentmindedly made a game out of counting the dark grey tiles in the walls and ceiling, corresponding every fourth tile with a hex that he knew could potentially impress the two Muggle Enforcers standing at attention on the other side of the room guarding the only door.
The two fully-armored Enforcers had not budged an inch in the time that Niall had been in the room. At one point he even wondered if there were actually Muggles underneath the bulky, slick white armor and helmets of theirs (also completely magic-resistant). They looked more like robots to him, yet he could see their chests ever so slightly move up and down as they breathed.
"How do you breathe in those things?" Niall was finally tempted to ask. He had gotten bored with his hex-counting tile game.
Neither of the Enforcers answered, which was expected. Niall knew they wanted to seem intimidating, and what better way than to remain utterly silent and emotionless. It was actually a good tactic for non-magic folk. It worked. Niall knew quite a few witches and wizards that were scared-out-of their hats by Muggle Enforcers.
He was not one of them.
It was in fact rumored that many of the Enforcers took vows of silence. Niall intended to find out if this were true before he left the building; if they let him leave the building. He wasn't entirely sure if he was under arrest or simply being held for questioning. He had done a number of things that could get him arrested, but he didn't know how much the Aurors and Muggle Enforcers knew.
With a yawn, Niall also rolled his neck before pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. He glowered at the two Enforcers, deciding what hex he would use on each one if he had his wand—for fun of course.
His wand had been the first thing to go when he was taken into custody. Thankfully they had not taken his glasses. He could live without his wand, believe it or not, but not his glasses. Niall considered his need of glasses his only weakness. Casting spells without a wand was one of his specialties; he just needed to see what he was casting at.
The slightly shorter and thinner of the two Enforcers would surely need the Flower-head Hex, Niall decided, which caused a flower to sprout from the top of the victim's head. And the other Enforcer would get the Toe-sparkler Hex which merely caused sparks to fly out of the victim's toes.
For a moment, Niall chuckled at the thought. Both of those hexes he had not used since his Hogwarts days, which felt like ages ago even though he was only twenty-four. Niall was somewhat embarrassed that he still knew those hexes. It wasn't like he was a mischievous teenager anymore; not that he ever really had been. No, Niall was involved in much more troubling things now, six years later.
There was also an issue with casting his wandless hexes. They would not be powerful enough to penetrate the Enforcers' magic-resistant armor, developed by none other than the famous Weasley and Weasley, a company that had paved the way for Muggle protection and safety against magic.
Truthfully, however, it did not matter how magic-resistant the armor was; a powerful enough spell, or a persistent spell-caster could eventually crack through the resistance of their armor, these walls, and anything else that claimed to be magic-resistant. That feat was something Niall was very anxious to try if things went badly here in this little interrogation room of theirs.
Although, if things went badly enough, Niall was not against using a few curses he knew. Curses might be powerful enough to break through the Enforcers' armor and the room's walls. Maybe. He would have to try casting the curses at the two-way mirror that was on his right. He doubted that the mirror was as resistant as the walls.
Niall turned to the mirror and looked himself over. The last few days had not been kind to him, as he been on the run. His usually combed sable hair has sticking out in obtrusive directions and he had grown what was not yet a full beard but a decent amount of hair was on his face. A few more days and he would look like a proper warlock, he thought.
His royal blue robes were even faded and worn on their edges. The price of getting them tailored or replacing them was offensive at this point and time. Niall was flat out broke. These robes and one other set, a nice satin green one, was all he had left.
How long had Niall gone without brushing his teeth? Too long. He was again, disgusted. Untidiness bothered him, which is why hardly anyone suspected him of being a warlock. Dueling was another one of his specialties, but most warlocks chose to look disheveled in order to intimidate during a Wizarding-duel.
The door swung open and Niall felt a brief relief rush over him as two persons stepped inside the room. The first was most likely a Muggle, Niall could tell by the uptight manner with which she carried herself. Even if a Muggle wouldn't admit it, magic scares the living-color out of them. This woman was putting on a front that said "I'm not scared of you and your kind" when she was obviously scowling because she was. She wasn't completely unattractive for a Muggle as she wore a business skirt and blouse that complimented her feminine form. She was holding a folder of information that Niall just knew she couldn't wait to use against him.
The second person, to Niall's great dismay, was an Auror who gracefully came in the room with her wand out like it was a natural limb of her body. The Auror wore the typical hooded robes, this one black with lacy silver sleeves and puffs on shoulders. It opened up at the midriff to show a silver underskirt. The silver matched the silver mask covering her face. The only skin Niall could see was the woman's dainty hands with painted black nails. Her long and wavy dark hair escaped the sides of her hood and he felt a chill as she stared at him with her dark eyes.
This look, the look of the Auror, had been popular once before, but with an entirely different group of people. The look of the hooded robes and silver mask was borrowed from a group known as the Death Eaters back in the days of the Dark Lord Voldemort. It was only in the recent years that Aurors had taken up the look themselves. Niall understood why. Intimidation had become an important method of protecting oneself ever since the veil was first opened.
Fear was a powerful tool and had been incorporated into the gloom of everyday life. Too bad it attracted Dementors, but that was kind of what the Aurors aimed to achieve anyway. It made their job easier if the Dementors came to them, rather than them having to hunt down the Dementors.
An Auror's job these days was mostly hunting down and extinguishing Dementors that came from beyond the veil. It was discovered when the veil first opened that Dementors existed in great numbers beyond it, and while the tortured souls from beyond the veil would return where they came from after their fifteen minutes of havoc, any Dementors that came down with the scourge would linger even after the veil would reclose.
The streets were never truly safe, so Aurors were out on the streets night and day chasing and trying to extinguish the Dementors that haunted them. "Extinguishing" meant packing the foul creatures into little balls of smoke and gloom. You can't kill a Dementor, but Aurors had certainly found a way to capture and hold them. What they did with them afterwards was entirely a mystery to Niall.
Establishing communication with Dementors from beyond the veil had proven impossible. These Dementors were far more hostile than past Dementors—the ones who once guarded the prison of Azkaban. These new Dementors were like wild animals that preyed on anything that showed fear or weakness. This was why intimidation had become an important way of living. Don't show weakness, don't be afraid, and the Dementors leave you alone. For the most part.
It was harder for Muggles, because they couldn't even see the Dementors. They knew about them—how can you not when you see someone succumb to a Dementor's Kiss right before you. But only witches and wizards could really see them. It had even become common for Muggle families to hire a witch or wizard as a bodyguard or escort as they went about their lives. That way if there were any Dementors wandering about that had escaped the eyes of the Aurors, the bodyguard witch or wizard could potentially protect the Muggles.
The Muggle woman sat in the chair across the table. She dropped the folder at the center of the table like it was incriminating for it to exist in the same room as Niall. She opened it up like a book and picked up the sheet on top. Looking it over with a disapproving glare she read, "Niall Phileas Nazgul." She stopped. "Nazgul," she chuckled. "Like in the Lord of the—"
"Don't," Niall derisively interjected. "Why does every Muggle that hears my last name relate it to that book series? Did you ever stop to think that maybe the author borrowed the name from my pureblood family of witches and wizards?"
He scowled at her and she scowled back.
"Yes, yes," she said. "It says right here," she tapped the sheet of paper, "that your family is a very long line of magic-nobodies."
So she was the type to throw insults back, Niall recognized. It would actually make the interrogation a lot more fun.
The Auror chortled underneath her mask and Niall turned to her with a puzzled stare. She stared back with eyes of amusement. She was smiling underneath that mask of hers, he could tell. Was that normal behavior of an Auror? To laugh during an interrogation?
This would be interesting, he smiled at the Auror.
"Mr. Nazgul," the Muggle woman regained his attention. "I am Muggle Enforcement Officer McKinsey and this is Auror Officer Angel."
Niall snorted and turned back to the Auror again. Angel was not a typical last name for any witch or wizard. The Auror had her arms crossed and was tapping her fingers on one of her forearms, her wand in her other hand. Her eyes were regarding him with interest.
"What's so funny, Mr. Nazgul?" Officer McKinsey questioned with coldness. "Do you find Ms. Angel's presence to be a joke? Because I don't in the least. She is here to make sure you don't step out of line. You can imagine what a skilled Auror like her could do to a wizard such as yourself. You are wandless and surrounded. She is armed and ready to strike if you so much as think of using magic in here. Oh, yes," McKinsey went on without checking to see if Niall was even intimidated. "We know about your adept ability to cast spells without a wand. We know a lot about you, Mr. Nazgul."
"Really?" Niall said half-heartedly. "Am I under arrest?"
Officer McKinsey's mouth twitched. "Not exactly," she answered. She wasn't happy with her own answer. "You are here because we have some questions for you. As of right now, anyway," she tried sounding threatening. It didn't make Niall anymore uncomfortable than what he already was.
"We have reason to believe you have the answers," she hissed "Our sources informed us you might." She seemed to doubt her sources.
"Go on," Niall was going to play along.
"As you probably know," she stabbed back at him. "We have an ongoing investigation to find the Dark Lord. Our sources have led us to you!" she said it like it would surprise him. "We think you know where the Dark Lord hides. If you cooperate, Mr. Nazgul, any incriminating evidence we have on you will," she closed the folder, "not be as important as capturing the big guy. You are child's play," she scowled at him again.
"And if I don't know anything?" Niall had to ask. He felt like he was set up for the question, but who cared?
"I'm glad you asked," she flashed an ugly smile. She reopened the folder and slid it across the table at him. "There's enough information in there to get you sent to Azkaban for three lifetimes. Experiments on Muggles. Assisting other Dark Wizards. Not to mention witnesses that have seen you cast a few Unforgivable Curses."
"Dark times call for dark measures," he put weakly.
He did not touch the folder. He knew what he was guilty of. Why else would he go on the run when he found out the Aurors and Muggle Enforcers were looking for him? He wasn't afraid, but he certainly did not want to spend a boring lifetime in Azkaban for crimes that almost every witch and wizard had committed over the past three years. Things had gotten ugly out in the world. It wasn't his fault. Not entirely.
Was being sent to Azkaban even much of a threat anymore, he wondered? It was probably far safer behind the walls of a Wizard-prison than it was everywhere else right now.
"Cooperate," Officer McKinsey repeated with a smile, "and your time with us will be brief and possibly pleasant. We can get you some water, if you'd like," she innocently blinked her mascara-coated eyelashes at him.
And there it was. The start of the bribery that would get him to talk.
The Auror reached her wand down and tapped the table. An empty glass appeared with a quiet pop and thunk as it landed on the surface. Niall was impressed. Making items appear out of thin air was talent, and it appeared to be a real glass, too. She tapped her wand to the rim of the glass and water began to pour out of its end, filling the glass.
"Thank you, Auror Angel," McKinsey amiably said as she took the glass of water for herself. The Auror slowly walked behind and around Niall's chair as McKinsey took a long drink from the glass. When McKinsey stopped glugging, she made a happy sigh and set the now empty glass next to her.
Niall rolled his eyes. "I'll cooperate," he said with effort. "Ask away," he sulked into his sweat-soaked robe.
The Auror had stopped at the wall with the two-way mirror and was looking at Niall's reflection. He had the feeling that he could feel her gaze on him no matter what part of the room or direction she was facing.
"Let's start with a simple one," Officer McKinsey snootily retorted. "Your family, the Nazguls, say that they have not seen you for over a year, Niall," she switched to his first name like they had suddenly become friends. "Why is that?"
"I've been elsewhere," he pronounced with contempt. "If you must know. I've been in hiding from everyone and everything."
"Of course you have," McKinsey growled like she had caught him red-handed with something. "Everyone is trying to hide from the outside world." He did not respond to her scorn. "Maybe this question will be easier," she followed up with. "Have you encountered the Dark Lord before?"
The Auror seemed particularly interested in Niall's answer and she turned on her heels to watch him sweat as he answered.
"It depends," Niall answered slowly. "To which Dark Lord are you referring to?"
"The current one," McKinsey spat. "The one responsible for this mess the world is in. We are at war, Mr. Nazgul—war with the dead from beyond the veil. At the fault of a man who could care less that he's cursed the entire world. He has yet to name himself."
"A man," Niall repeated.
"Or a monster," she offered back. "Whichever you prefer."
"I know of neither," Niall shrugged.
Officer McKinsey slammed her fist down making the folder jump up and scatter some photographs that were within. The photos were of some rather ugly Muggles that Niall remembered experimenting on. It was unfortunate that the experiments had failed. The Muggles could have had beautiful rock-star worthy faces had the spells he tried using had worked. They would be thanking him right now rather than pressing charges on him.
"All of our sources say you have information, Mr. Nazgul! Do you deny this?"
"I know of no Dark Lord," Niall said with gravity. "Only because the Dark Lord you speak of, the one who opened up the veil, is not a man at all. He is in fact a She. A Dark Lady, so to speak."
McKinsey had ceased all anger as she stared at Niall, wide-eyed. "All our information and witnesses claim that the Dark Lord is a man," she said with weak suspicion. "Are you saying that dozens of people are lying?"
"You did not ask me who those people saw," Niall said quietly. "You asked me who was responsible for opening the veil. The answer is a woman. And to answer your next question. Yes, I did know this woman at one point in my life."
The Auror Angel had made her way back around Niall's chair again. She was excitedly yet impatiently twirling her wand in her hand. Niall even noticed the Muggle Enforcers shifting in their spots. His information must have been that moving.
"Explain," McKinsey said the one word at first. "I want to know if you're telling the truth. I want the full story of how you know this… Dark Lady."
"That will be easy," Niall wiped the sweat off his brow with the sleeve of his robe. "Can we get one of your Muggle-contraption fans in here first?"
McKinsey did not hesitate. She turned to one of the Muggle Enforcers and nodded. He left the room without a word, the sound of the door closing with the shuffle of his boots.
Auror Angel produced another cup on the table, filled it with water, but this time tapped the glass on the side as well. The water inside the glass formed ice-cubes at its top. She pushed it towards Niall. He looked up at her with a curious and suspicious stare now. He once knew a witch that used to put ice in everything she drank. She was born in the states.
Officer McKinsey made no objections to him taking a drink, so Niall took the glass, smiled up at the watchful Auror, and winked at her before gulping down the contents. The ice was all that was left and it rattled in the glass as he set it down.
Immediately he said, "Her name is Evangeline Foster," while he continued to stare at Auror Angel who proceeded to refill his cup. "But she hated that name, so when I knew her she went by the name Ivy. She thought it sounded better." He turned to McKinsey and smiled. "I knew her, Officer McKinsey, because I attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with her. You could say… that's where it all started."