I can only apologize for the long gap, But in my defence school restarted and A level students get a lot of homework. Thank you to the reviewers of my last chapter:
Taeniaea,
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and
keekers15

Chapter Thirty Four

Anton sat calmly at the table watching as the Minister paced from one side of the tiny room to the other, due to the lack of floor space the short man could only manage a few steps before he was forced to turn round again.

'Your brother was less than forthcoming with some of his answers.' Fudge suddenly said stopping his striding to stare speculatively at the young man in front of him.

Anton said nothing keeping his face perfectly blank.

'I see we're going to have the same problem with you as well,' Fudge continued obviously trying for a reaction.

'You are going to answer me,' Fudge said allowing some of his annoyance to leak out.

First mistake Anton noted, never let the person you're interrogating see emotion.

'At this very moment an Auror is secure a vial of Veritaseum, it won't be long before we get what we want.'

Anton blinked slowly, his lack of movement was obviously putting Fudge on edge, it was much easier than Anton had imagined it might be.

'But,' Fudge said lowering his voice to what the man obviously thought of was a menacing tone 'I have decided to give you the opportunity to speak without being forced…'

He left an impressive pause obviously a chance for Anton to jump in and confess all. Anton kept his eyes firmly fixed on Fudge's remaining silent.

'I know there's something off about you!' Fudge burst 'first you turned up fighting with Pettigrew, then you managed to get a job almost instantly with Dumbledore and then your brother turns up out of the blue in the middle of a storm!'

Anton contemplated yawning but decided that would push the already irate man over the edge. So he settled for resuming in his staring.

Fudge slammed his fist down onto the table top and leaned in close to Anton, it took a lot of the elementals willpower not to lean away from the mans hot breath.

'Your friends have found out you're missing,' Fudge said quietly 'they don't know where you are.'

Anton swallowed the smart retort he had on the edge of his tongue and choose instead to release some of his own anger by allowing a small smile to flicker on his face telling the Minister he was amused by his actions not threatened.

The mans face went a satisfying purple and he wrenched himself away from Anton an expression of poor loathing etched on his face. Taking two steps the portly man yanked the door to the room open and signalled to someone Anton couldn't see.

'Get in here and make him talk, I don't care how.'

The Minister stormed out of the room and an Auror came into the tiny room instead. He was half dark already, he had been fully dark when Voldemort tempted him with a few words and a lifetime of servitude.

'Hello Lear,' Anton said pleasantly 'are you here to make me talk?'

A flash of confusion flashed on the man's face highlighting his sallow features and lank grey hair. Lear buried it quickly.

'I'm here to make sure you regret not talking.'

Anton kept his features calm, it wasn't fear he was hiding. It was fury.

--

Order members patrolled the corridors of Hogwarts in pairs on Dumbledore's orders, they still had no idea what had happened to their fellow member or his brother the morning before. So far the students had not been told what was happening, just that Professor Lukyen was 'unavailable'.

Madam Bones had spoken personally with the headmaster to tell him that their were no records of incidents involving the Lukyen's, though she had let slip the fact that Fudge was positively gleeful every time anything was mentioned.

The portraits that surrounded the Hospital Wing and were hung inside it were all wiped of their recent memories, they couldn't remember one thing that had happened the morning in question, it had taken a powerful spell to succeed in that. The Order members were also under instructions to question the other portraits they came across in case one of them had been visiting one of the affected portraits and had gotten away just before the spell was cast.

Madam Pomfrey was still in a coma but Dumbledore himself was working on a counter to whatever had affected her. Two lower aurors had tried to get into her but when questioned by Moody as to their intentions they soon backed down and left but not before revealing the Fudge had ordered them to transport her to the Ministry. Dumbledore had again stood in the way later when Fudge had tried to get this done through other means, he had used favours that some of the Wizengamot still owed him and proved that Fudge had no legal right to take the nurse anywhere.

--

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny sat together at the Gryffindor table waiting expectantly for the headmaster to begin talking, the whole school knew something was going on, the teachers were on edge, Lukyen wasn't anywhere to be seen, there were people that a few students recognised as Aurors (and even less recognised as Order members), the Hospital Wing was out of bounds with any injured students directed to Professor Sprout temporarily. And Umbridge was positively exultant.

Professor Dumbledore gazed over the watching the students as they all stared intently back at him, it made him feel like he had failed to deliver this message, he had hoped that they would have had some clue by now but there was nothing.

He smiled gravely at them 'My dear students I am afraid I have something important that you all must hear.'

Definite interest followed that sentence as all the pupils listened attentively.

'Yesterday morning the Hospital Wing was attacked,' gasps rose as everyone stared around as if they were about to be attacked at any moment.

'Please be calm!' Dumbledore's voice rose above the clamour, he waited until silence fell once again 'I do not consider you are in danger at this time, however Madam Pomfrey has been taken to St Mungo's, her condition is said to be stable.'

They all looked shocked as they stared at their Head.

'But that is not all,' Dumbledore continued grimly 'we believe that Professor Lukyen and his brother were also attacked, there was evidence they were both taken against their wills.'

Muttering of horror flew across the hall, Lukyen was a popular teacher even amongst the Slytherins and their respect for him was as obvious as their worry.

'We are doing all we can to find him so I do not want you to be worried,' Dumbledore spoke up again 'but in the mean time your lessons for Defence Against the Dark Arts will be taught by the newly appointed Professor Umbridge.'

--

'Bloody hell,' Ron groaned 'now we know why the whole Order's here.'

'Shh,' Hermione cut in looking round to make sure no one had heard, an anxious look passed her face 'I hope Professor Lukyen's alright.'

'Me too,' Harry agreed fervently, Anton was by far one of his favourite teachers.

'But replaced by Umbridge,' Ginny spat 'I'd rather fail my exams than be taught be that hag.'

Harry's expression darkened 'I bet you anything that her appointment was the Ministry's idea.'

'It's all too convenient for it not to be,' Hermione shot a glare at the woman. 'I wouldn't be surprised if she had something to do with what happened in the Infirmary.'

'Hermione!' Ron said shocked 'did I just hear you speaking badly about a teacher?'

'Well there's something off about her,' Hermione shrugged ignoring the amazed stares she as getting 'and I don't hold much hope that her lessons will be anywhere near as good as Professor Lukyen's.

--

The entire Order was assembled at Headquarters, it was deemed to dangerous to discuss anything at the school regardless of where it was, No 12. was now the safest place.

The disappearance of one of their members was unsettling and everyone wanted it to be solved as soon as possible. What they didn't want to dwell on was the fact that the two brothers may have been killed in whatever took place in the early hours of the morning.

Mad-Eye, Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley and a couple other Aurors had spent the last two days working through all the evidence in the Hospital Wing and they were now as ready as they were ever going to be in presenting their evidence as to what had happened.

Teddy hadn't been told, Sirius didn't want the small boy to be upset unless they had proof one way or another, he had told the five year old that Anton and Rhoan were doing something very important and it meant they had to go away for a while.

'Right then,' Moody barked 'obviously without any witnesses we can't be sure that our evidence is correct but from what we can tell, Ofelia was involved, from what we can tell the first damage was caused by what looks like weather damage- lots of ice and plenty that could have been done by a wind elemental but no fire so we're assuming Lukyen wasn't involved at the start.'

Kingsley took over next.

'The door of the Hospital Wing was blown open and on the wall it hit there was traces of Anton's blood so we're assuming he was in front of the door when it was hit.'

'How much blood?' Mrs Weasley asked worriedly.

'Not too much,' reassured Kingsley 'only the amount of a small injury, not anything serious. Hopefully anyway'

'That's not all though,' Moody said his voice serious 'we discovered the remnants of a dazer, it had no identifying code on it so we have no way of knowing who it was issued to.'

'A dazer,' Sirius repeated 'I didn't realise they were still being made.'

'They're not,' Lupin answered 'the last batch of dazer's was made at the very end of the war, hey stopped production as there was no real need for them, they're better in fighting conditions, half stun your opponent and you've nearly won.'

'So that makes it harder to trace.' McGonagall said resignedly.

'Not necessarily,' Tonks replied 'everyone owning dazers had to register, they were kept mutually for Ministry officials.'

'But some of those Ministry officials,' Mad-Eye drawled 'ought to be locked in cells in Azkaban!'

--

Anton spat a glob of blood from his mouth onto the floor and dropped onto his bunk, Rhoan was lying flat our on his humming slightly under his breath.

'What's got you in such a good mood?' Anton asked irritably.

The real Rhoan smirked and raised himself up onto his elbows.

'I could try and be in a bad temper, but that was possibly the worst interrogation I've ever encountered and I'm just so bloody happy to be here.'

Anton rolled his eyes.

'I like the decoration in here.' (We need to get the hell out of here)

Rhoan's ears immediately perked as he recognised their old code.

'I think a bit of colour would make more people want to stay.' (How soon were you thinking)

'It wouldn't take long to do.' (Within the next couple of days)

Rhoan nodded 'at least we've got some drinks with us' (Before they dose us with potion)

--

The door opened a couple of hours later and a small tray of food was shoved in, Rhoan and Anton both stared at it, there was two tiny bowls of a sloppy grey soup that smelt as unappetising as it looked, one lonely slice of bread and two limp pieces of wilted salad that was starting to turn brown.

'Yummy.' Rhoan smirked rolling of his bunk, he reached to the tray and picked the two salad leaves and tossed them at Anton.

Anton was about to brush them onto the floor when his eyes rested on the candle that was fixed to the wall flickering with a red flame, out of the corner of his eye he spotted the jug of water and the two tumblers. Slowly a small smile appeared on his face.

'I wonder,' he whispered.

'What?' Rhoan asked curiously.

Anton didn't reply he stood up walked over to the jug and poured a small amount into one of the tumblers, he then dropped one of the leaves into the water and made his way over to the floor space in-between the beds. An expression if interest and understanding had come over Rhoan.

'Would you pass me that candle please?'

Rhoan stood on his bed and reached out to the candle holder and yanked the lit candle from the wall, the flame flickered as he lowered it down and passed it to Anton, then he got off of the bed and sat on the floor opposite Anton with the cup in the middle.

'We're going to have to do this quickly.'

Anton nodded 'you got any spare air in you?'

Rhoan smirked 'I can hold my end, what we've got to worry about is how long it's going to be before we're interrupted.'

'A minute at most,' Anton replied 'and there's no proof this will actually work, with the anti-magic bracelets.'

'Like a little thing like that would stop us.' Rhoan smirked 'after three then?'

Sounds came from beyond the door,

'Fuck the count of three,' Anton snarled.

He dropped the candle into the cup and at the same time Rhoan blew into the cup and they both shoved as hard as they could with their consciousnesses.

It was an explosion, there was no other way to describe it. Power rushed from the small plastic cup with the strength of a high powered blast. White light enveloped the room and the two elementals and forced itself back into them.

The anti-magic bracelets strained with the effort of stopping the magic, this resulted in the Elemental power entering them as if coming through a tiny hole instead of washing over them like it usually did.

It was an effort to keep their concentration fixed purely due to how much it hurt having a type of magical overload and not being able to get it over with quickly.

Then suddenly it was like a fracture in the dam that was stopping the magic shunting it open slightly, the magic rushed in a little faster and then finally the dam was demolished and magic poured in filling both of them.

The white light cleared suddenly and Anton blinked a couple of times to clear his eyes. Opposite him Rhoan was doing the same thing, the door was wide open and an Auror was lying with her eyes closed in the corridor behind.

Anton stood up and the anti-magic bracelet fell onto the floor broken into two halves, Rhoan yanked his one away from his leg and tossed it away from him.

Anton lit his hands with fire and stepped cautiously out of the cell,

'She's dead.'

'No loss there.' Rhoan replied following Anton and conjuring wind to his hands.

Footsteps rang out in the empty corridor heading towards them from each direction, Anton and Rhoan immediately stood back to back brandishing their respective powers.

Lear was one of the first people to arrive facing Anton, seconds later the Auror that had interrogated Rhoan came down the other side of the corridor.

Anton gave Lear a bright smile before blasting him with fire, the man tried desperately to create a shield but it didn't hold for more than a couple of seconds before it faltered and then failed, the fire engulfed him instantly and for a couple of seconds he screamed and writhed on the floor, then he did nothing as the flames continued to consume his body.

At the same time Rhoan hurled a small tornado at his opponent, the Auror was caught up in it and then blasted backwards, he stumbled to get up a look of fear on his face now he wasn't the one in control, Rhoan sent a stronger swoop of wind at the man it smashed him heartlessly against the wall where he slid down his neck at an odd angle.

'We need to find the Minister.' Anton said looking at Rhoan, the Elemental nodded in agreement.

'You go that way, I'll meet up with you later.'

They set off in separate directions, Anton moved quickly but carefully down his end of the passage.

The corridors were as bare as the cell they had been kept in with regular intervals between each hanging candle, the effect was very bleak, the grey walls repeated over and over again with no break.

The thin passageway started to widen slightly, Anton slowed his pace slightly as he heard voices ahead of him.

'Did the message get out?' came a frantic male voice.

'It just left,' was the hassled female reply 'she knows that they've gotten out.'

Anton cursed under his breath, he had hoped to surprise Ofelia with their escape. Anton increased his speed again and it wasn't long until he reached an open archway, he chose his standing point carefully to see what was happening.

Two Aurors if extremely questionable light loyalty stood with their wands out on opposite walls there were two closed doors, the woman was a real threat, she was older than the man and obviously had more training due to her stance and watchful air, the younger male was decidedly jumpy and was tapping his wand against his leg every couple of seconds.

Anton called flames to his hands and moved slightly more into the open so as to have a better shot, he was right in his initial summery of the two Aurors, the woman immediately dodged to one side and shot a deadly green beam towards him, Anton threw himself back into his concealed position as the killing curse smashed into the wall behind where his head had just been. Anton crouched down and hurled himself back into the line of the doorway keeping close to the ground at the same time hurling a blast of fire.

It hit the Auror before she had a chance to even consider dodging, she fell to the floor writhing, the man tossed spells from his wand some regular light spells but more than a few of a dark variety, fear was governing his actions.

Anton ducked to avoid a stunner and then feinted to one side to throw his aim off, Anton flung a fireball at the mans wand hand, its hit was met with an agonising screech of pain, the wand was dropped as he clutched his badly burnt hand to his chest. Anton took a step into the room and immediately the mans survival instincts and training kicked in because he dove for his wand with his uninjured hand.

Anton was faster he seized the wand and snapped it into two pieces, the Auror fell forwards whimpering in pain. Crouching down Anton grabbed him by his robe front and forced him to look up.

'Now,' he said his voice low and even 'I'm going to ask you a question, one question and you're going to answer me, do you understand?'

The man nodded.

'I need you to tell me where the Minister is.'

The mans eyes widened and Anton who had his gaze firmly on the man saw the almost imperceptible eye flick to the left door.

'And if I don't.' He spat 'what happens to me?'

'You've already told me.' Anton answered throwing the man down on the ground, lifting his knee up he smashed it into the man's temple.

The Auror's eye rolled backwards and he slumped to the floor.

Anton swept to the closed door, a metre away he blew a stream of fire of such force and heat the wall around the magically locked door crumbled and fell in parts. Anton planted his foot on the searing doorway and kicked hard. The wall where the hinges were attached collapsed and the fell back with a crash.

Anton stepped firmly into the room and scanned it. It didn't take long for him to find what he was after.

Fudge was crammed in a corner quivering, his wand shaking in his hand, he raised the wobbling arm and aimed his shaking wand.

'I'm warning you!' he shouted in attempted bravado 'don't take another step.'

Anton vaulted across the desk that was standing in-between them and ploughed into the Minister, the man's head cracked back against the wall behind him and a glassy look filled his face. Anton tore the wand out of the now limp grasp and quickly cast a spell to tie him up.

Behind him he heard footsteps rapidly approaching. Anton swung round with fire in one hand and the stolen wand in the other, he lowered both when he saw Rhoan striding towards him holding their wands, swords and Anton's firestone.

He shot the Minister a cold smile before looking to his brother standing over the man.

'Anton we need to get out of here. All the other's have been dealt with.'

Anton nodded 'we need to leave no trace of the dead.'

Rhoan smirked 'already done.'