Chapter Fourteen

That evening Anton was marking class work in his office when a knock came at the door.

'Come in,' he said loudly.

The door was pushed open and the first year Slytherin he had placed in detention plodded in.

'It's eight Sir,' he grunted staring at the office with its deep red walls and odd objects.

'That is true,' Anton nodded 'bring that chair and put it next to the desk and I'll tell you what I want you to do.'

The brown haired thick set boy dragged the chair to the edge of the desk and stood behind it nervously.

'Sit down,' Anton said looking up from his marking 'I'm going to you an easy detention seeing as this is your first, but rest assured if you Ever! Repeat your blatant disregard for my rules you will find yourself helping Filch clean the trophy room.

Now I want five hundred lines on why wand misuse is against school policy, off you go.'

The first year began writing and Anton continued with his marking, ten minutes later the first year began to sweat and pull at his collar as his colour rose

'Professor it's really hot in here,' he almost gasped 'can't you do a temperature spell can you?'

'I hadn't actually noticed,' Anton said truthfully and omitted to tell the first year he was causing the high temperatures without realising, waving his wand he circulated cool air through the room 'nearly finished?'

'Another two hundred to go,' the boy mumbled with his tongue between his teeth

'Excellent you should be out of here soon,' Anton replied scrawling corrections over a sheet of parchment.

Another twenty minutes later Anton dismissed the Slytherin and finished up on his marking and at half past eight he locked his office and made his way into his quarters were he made sure Pyra was asleep and changed into black robes and a thick hooded cloak and then threw floo powder in his fireplace disappearing to Knockturn Alley.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Anton stepped into the dingy alley pulling his thick hood up to conceal his identity, he walked towards a dingy tavern and stepped inside the filthy place. It was a small place filled with witches and wizards with their hoods up and sipping cheap drinks, Anton strode up to the small bar, behind which a short man with grimy robes that once may have been green was serving the patrons. Anton sat down on an empty barstool and beckoned the ruddy faced man over with one finger.

'What do you want,' he said with a voice of uttermost annoyance.

'A Bloody Mary to start,' Anton said tersely 'and a knowing ear would be good.'

The barman slammed the drink down in a dirty cracked glass and stared at Anton concealed face with suspicion.

'What kind of information are you after?' he said after a while 'because I ain't no snitch.'

'I'm not asking you to be,' Anton replied 'I just need you to point a finger if you think it's worth your while.'

As he said this, Anton pulled three galleons out of his cloak pocket and placed them on the bar, the man grabbed them immediately and shoved them into his own pocket.

'I'm listening,' he said realising this was an opportunity to line his pocket.

'I'm what you could call disillusioned with the way wizarding society is run and how many muggle borns are allowed into our world,' Anton let it hang before saying 'I'm interested in helping sort it out.'

'And what, you want me to…?' the barman asked inviting Anton to continue.

'I want you to point me towards a certain witch who can put me in contact with some people who serve someone who's recently returned,' Anton knew that if the barman didn't know anything he wouldn't know what Anton was talking about.

'I don't know anything!' the man said a little too quickly sounding flustered 'and I'm going to ask you to get the hell out of my pub!'

A hooded figure to the left of Anton stood up from their seat and hurried from the tavern as fast as they could, Anton surveyed the barman as he watched the figure go with a look of anguish, wasting no more time Anton stood up and followed the figure.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The hooded person was scuttling down the alley when Anton made it to the door, whipping out his wand he pointed it and shouted.

'Crucio!'

The hooded figure was blown off their feet and smashed into the ground screaming with pain as the curse racked through their body, Anton strode slowly up to them his wand outstretched and he watched unblinking as the person thrashed around on the floor desperately trying to get away from the pain.

Anton cancelled the curse and bent over the twitching figure, he reached and yanked their hood off, in front of him lay the witch who had set the trap and sent him to the Death Eaters at the very beginning.

'Well isn't this a surprise,' he said silkily 'it's the evil witch who gave me a one way ticket to a meeting with a few Death Eaters.'

'Who are you?' she shivered.

'Do you send that many people you can't remember one from another?' Anton asked his voice cold 'but do you ever spend one thought on what happens to those who refuse?'

'I do a job!' she spat 'I serve the Dark Lord and I'm proud of it, I don't care how many people get killed because they can't see the bigger picture.'

Anton lent towards the witch and yanked her sleeve up, on her arm was the Dark Mark that was burned black.

'Well well it seems I've come upon a Death Eater,' Anton said sweetly 'a Death Eater with no protection from her comrades, mind you, I doubt they'd run to your aid, as they say, there's no honour among thieves.'

'We will hunt your down and kill you,' she seethed regaining her strength 'no one will dare to stand in our way!'

'Crucio!' Anton cursed again, watching with interest as the witch was reduced back to a quivering lump.

'You are never going to send another wizard or witch to their fate' Anton promised as he stopped the curse.

'The only way you're going to succeed is if you kill me!' she yelled 'and I don't think you've got it in you!'

Anton crouched down and lifted his wand, looking round he realised not one resident had come to investigate the sounds 'you're wrong,' he whispered in her ear 'I've definitely got it in me.'

Her eyes widened in surprise and realisation as Anton lifted his wand and barked 'Avada Kedavra!'

The green curse hit the witch and killed her instantly her face still looking shocked.

'Game over,' Anton said coldly holstering his wand 'you shouldn't have doubted me.'

Leaving her body on the litter strewn floor Anton stood up and headed away from Knockturn Alley back towards the fresher air of Diagon Alley. Sweeping down the cleaner street Anton hurried into the Leaky Cauldron and flooed through the fire arriving in his office with Pyra awake and looking worried as he climbed out of the grate she ran towards him and jumped into his arms licking him with her fiery breath.

'What's the matter girl?' Anton asked hugging her 'were you worried about me?'

Pyra gave him another lick in answer, knocking back his hood Anton ran a hand through his hair and frowned as he thought of the trials to come in his fight against Voldemort.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The next day went as well as the first day, the only difference was that his lessons must have been talked about with interest because his classes were all buzzing with excitement as they lined up outside.

The last lesson he had to teach was third year Hufflepuff and Slytherins and Anton felt himself cursing which ever idiot had paired the two houses, the Slytherins in this year were vicious and lots of them came from Death Eater families, the Hufflepuff's were more docile than he'd seen in any other year and didn't seem to know how to combat the Slytherins.

After a vain attempt at teaching them what boggarts were (nobody seemed to grasp what they were and kept asking him why wizards didn't know what boggarts truly looked like) he had also taken a total of thirty points from both houses and barely resisted cursing one girl who would go on to kill Molly Weasley while not even batting an eyelid.

When he eventually dismissed his class and sorted his classroom out it was already well into dinner and the main course was nearly finished, he hurried to the teachers table and took his seat, grabbing a bread role he took a bite from it before filling his plate with sausages and bacon – meat filled him faster and gave him more energy.

A black raven soared into the hall and circled in the candlelit sky before dropping a letter in front of Anton, he recognised with interest that it was a blue howler, clicking his fingers the letter sprung open and instead of screaming it hissed its message venomously, nevertheless it was still loud enough for a lot of people to hear.

'Anton…Looks like I've found you, you may be taking a little break in the safety of a school. But trust me Voldemort is still after you and I will take pleasure in being the one to kill you, I don't care how many times you've escaped death. It always catches up…'

Anton stared thoughtfully at the howler as it turned itself into a shower of water droplets raining down on the floor in front of the table, Ofelia was definitely getting impatient and it showed.

Nearly every student was staring at Anton, all interested in why their new teacher was getting death threats from a mystery source. The teachers were looking anxious at what it could mean and Dumbledore was keeping his face placid but Anton could see his mind ticking away.

Turning to Professor McGonagall he asked calmly 'Minerva, you wouldn't mind passing the gravy would you?'

-=-=--=-=--==-=-=-=-=-

Anton excused himself early from dinner and hurried to his office where he pulled a flat silvery bowl from his desk that was roughly thirty centimetres in diameter. Setting it on his desk, Anton conjured a ball of fire and dropped it into the bowl where it swirled in a glowing stream of light, next he broke a twig off the plant and dropped it in, it swirled along with the fire. Clicking his fingers Anton then lowered the shield on the tornado and waving his hand he forced some of the air into the bowl to dance with the other two elements.

Taking a glass vial Anton walked to the nearest bathroom and filled it with water, when he added the water to the bowl it churned along with the others. Summoning a small dagger Anton sliced it across the palm of his hand drawing deep red blood, holding his hand over the bowl he dripped his blood into the bowl the four elements turned into glowing white liquid and Anton frowned as he thought of what he was going to do.

Taking a deep breath he lowered his mind shields completely and pushed his conscious into the bowl.

'Ofelia,' he whispered 'where are you?'

After what seemed like ages an answer came from a long distance away.

'In my mind Anton,' the voice of Ofelia laughed 'I didn't expect you to take the risk, turns out you can still surprise me.'

'Your little stunts are getting old Felly,' Anton said irritably 'you can't get to me in here and I'm not afraid of coming to you if it means I'll stop you.'

'But that's your one mistake,' Ofelia breathed 'by checking I was far away you had to invoke Elemental magic, and that's means you lowered your shields…and that means I'm in your mind just as much as you're in mine. You've let me in…'

Anton realised his error and pulled back from the power but Ofelia understood what he was doing and pushed all of her energy down the mind line and towards Anton. The raw power smashed into Anton and pushed his conscious back into own body along with the angry mind of Ofelia.

Anton's eyes flew open and his vision was tinted with blue and he could still hear Ofelia laughing in his mind, thrusting out his hand he reached blindly for the bowl, he managed to feel the rim and striking it hard he knocked it from the table, it hit the floor with a crack as it broke, immediately the blue vision snapped away and the laughing was cut off, a shockwave cut through the air like a bullet and blew books and objects from the shelves.

Anton stood absolutely still for a few moments gasping slightly in shock at what had happened, the bowl was lying in three pieces on the floor and not a trace of any of the materials he had used or the white liquid remained.

Eventually he straightened up and shook his head to clear the dull aching that had come on after the use of Elemental magic, bending down he picked the broken pieces up and waving his wand he mended the basin and returned it to the drawer.

Flopping down into his chair Anton closed his eyes tiredly, scampering feet signalled that Pyra was coming over to him, when he opened his eyes she lifted her front feet up and placed them on Anton's lap and then lowered her head as well. Anton smiled tiredly and stroked her hot head.

'I'm an idiot,' he said quietly 'I took a risk and I messed up.'

She looked at him quizzically before closing her own eyes.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Half an hour later a sharp knock came at his office door, Anton who was in the middle of choking down his well regulated potion gulped the rest down grimacing.

'Come in!' he coughed wiping his mouth.

The door swung open and an irritated Draco Malfoy stomped in looking utterly put out at the prospect of having to serve detention.

'I'm here for detention,' he said coldly.

'Well I would say that detail is obvious,' Anton said impatiently his tolerance at an all time low.

'So what do you want me to do?' Draco asked his tone edging into insolence.

'What do I want you to do…?' Anton pondered the question 'I know exactly what I want you to do!'

He stood up quickly and grabbed his thick cloak off his desk and swung it over his deep red open robes beneath which his black trousers and dragon hide boots went well with his black shirt.

'We're going to go on a walk,' he said striding to the door his 6"3 frame towering over Draco.

'Where to?' Draco said nervously.

'The Forest,' Anton said relieved to be leaving the stuffiness of his office.

'THE FOREST!' Draco next to yelled 'are you mad?'

'If you continue speaking to me like that then I will be,' Anton warned sweeping through his classroom with Pyra at his heels 'now get a move on before I give you another detention.'

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

By the time they reached the edge of the forest Draco had abandoned any sense of dignity he had managed to hold on to and was trembling with his wand grasped firmly in his hand. Anton wasn't sure why he had brought the teen to the forest, he didn't have any great resentment to the boy- just the adult he would become if things didn't change.

'Are you sure this is wise Professor?' Draco asked hesitantly as he stared into the thick foliage.

'There is nothing to worry about Malfoy,' Anton replied taking a step into the darkness with his wand lit with Lumos.

'What about the dark creatures?' Malfoy pushed not wanting to follow his teacher.

'They won't bother us,' Anton said almost cheerfully 'I know my way around the forest better than most.'

He strode into the forest with Pyra chasing after him, it took Draco until Anton had got to five meters in before he hurried after him.

'My Father will hear about this,' Draco muttered angrily under his breath 'this is not what a detention should be like.'

'Not what you expected when you attacked Neville?' Anton asked icily 'you should learn Draco, that not everything is going to be how you like it and those in the service of others often learn that lesson the hard way.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Draco asked his insolence forgotten as he eyed his teacher warily.

'Nothing Draco,' Anton answered walking faster into the darkness 'at least nothing you need to worry about yet.'

They walked for at least ten minutes until quite suddenly Anton sat down on a fallen tree, Pyra lay down and curled up at his feet utterly at home in the forest.

'Sit down Draco we're going to be here for a while,' Anton said coolly.

The Slytherin cautiously sat down opposite Anton his wand grasped firmly in his shaking hand.

Anton smirked to himself and taking a deep breath he relaxed his body and stared into the starry sky – Draco on the other hand was getting more and more nervous with each passing second, he kept jerking his head round to see if he could spot anything within the dark foliage.

Anton felt immorally gleeful at the punishment he was putting the boy through, the part of the Forest they were in was relatively harmless, it was in just the right place to be missed out by most of the animals of the forest as they moved around. Draco was unaware of this and especially as the last time he had entered the forest he had been scared witless and he wasn't faring much better this time.

A high crooning echoed through the nearby trees and Draco jumped to his feet his breathing rapid and sporadic.

'Calm down Draco,' Anton said quietly 'nothing's going to attack us here.'

'But didn't you just hear…?' Draco said fearfully.

Anton shook his head and went back to gazing at the stars.

The crooning sounded again and Malfoy whipped his whole body round.

'Sir!' he next to shouted 'I am not staying in here with these things! We'll get killed!'

'I doubt it,' Anton yawned stroking Pyra's head.

Draco managed to lower himself back to the ground, his arms were wrapped around his knees and trembling. Anton nodded to himself, he had succeeded in his aim, he had successfully got rid of Draco's offensive attitude and was positive that next time he had the fifth years Draco would be the most polite.

Anton opened his mouth to speak to the teenager but was cut off as the crooning came a third time. Not even waiting for Anton to speak Draco jumped up and ran from Anton obviously terrified.

'I'm not staying here!' he yelled.

Anton leaped to his own feet – Draco was running in the wrong direction! And towards danger.

'Draco get back!' he called angrily.

The boy kept running, Anton heaved a sigh and ran after him with Pyra chasing close by.

--=-=-=-=-=-

Draco ran in a haphazard manner his feet catching on branches and tripping on the uneven surface. He could hear Professor Anton chasing after him no doubt to make him go back to the spot they had been in, he redoubled his efforts to get away.

The ground was getting steeper and the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was getting closer, with one last ditch attempt he hurled himself forwards…and into nothingness.

He was falling into a small ravine, at the bottom he could see the shadow of a huge creature with bulbous purple eyes, something moved and the creature's glinting razor white teeth gleamed into view as he saw food hurtling towards him.

-=-=-=-=-=--=-=

Anton had seen Draco reach the edge of the gully, he almost seemed to jump forwards… Anton threw himself towards the fifth year reaching the edge just as Draco toppled over it.

Taking a mad risk he threw half of his body over the side and grabbed, through some unknown feat his hand came in contact with Draco's leg, he gripped it hard and stopped the boys death plunge.

Draco's terrified face looked up at him and then back at the Lynchen that was waiting expectantly below. Gathering his strength Anton yanked Draco back up to the top and back to safety where Pyra as giving- if possible, a look of utter disapproval.

The boy lay on the ground shaking madly and shivering.

'Please don't make me stay here' he almost begged any arrogance long gone.

Anton guiltily helped the boy to his feet and handed him his wand back that he had dropped on the floor.

'Lesson one,' Anton said grimly 'never run headlong into unknown places without a backup plan. I think that concludes tonight's detention.'

-=-=-=-=-=

Anton took a shortcut back to the edge of the forest, grateful that no other animal decided to approach them.

When they got back to the castle he handed Draco a vial of pepper-up-potion before dismissing him, the teenager went shakily his egotism coming back as he got further and further from the teacher.

'Oh come on!' Anton protested to the salamander who was still looking at him critically 'he had it coming.'