Summary of last chapter:
- Nott and the others follow after Jonathan and Blossom, Blossom's trap catches Leonardo Pennington and he is killed, Jonathan and Blossom barricade themselves in the conference room, death eaters enter but a trap catches Priscilla Dolloway and kills her, battle ensues
- Mexican Standoff between 12 werewolves and 11 aurors leads to a fight which is a stalement with no casualties at first, after first blood is drawn both sides lose several members in quick order
- Lawrence Diggle and associates enter the Courthouse and go down to the basement to pillage it of anything valuable, they begin takin down the wards protecting the riches of House Pyrites
- Calvin and Roxanna leave the Courthouse to escape the situation while Archibald and Hermes confront the death eater group around Camilla Pucey who arrives soon after
Chapter 26:
Reviews please?
4th October 1976, England, Pyrites Courthouse:
„Do you hear that?" Kelly asked her fellow security guards. There had been silence the last couple of minutes until they heard something from the outside of the hidden emergency wardstoneroom.
„Yeah it sounds like some sort of humming" Reef replied with a suspicious feeling. „Hmmmm I don't like this sound"
„You think we have visitors Clockside?" Hanna asked her colleague.
„Perhaps, even if we don't it might be better if we take a quick look to make sure nobody is there. We might only have orders to defend the wardstoneroom but why not secure the treasury here aswell?"
„Hmmmm I don't know to be honest" Kelly said.
**Scene Break**
It you were able to ask Orsulus later about what exactly had happened during the fight he wouldn't have been able to tell you. The only thing he knew right now was that he and fellow Auror Taramyn Orpington were outside running away ahem strategically retreating from multiple werewolves. Their situation had quickly changed for the worse. Multiple Junior Aurors had been killed almost immediately after the werewolves changed tactics. Bloody Shellford just had to resort to melee combat and kill 3 wolves with a silver dagger which made them go berserk. Taramyn and him had quickly been split from their group during the chaos that followed the event. They had to retreat further and further until Orsulus realised that there was no way they'd win the fight themselves. He had ordered Taramyn to run who complied and ran after her. They were now on the grounds running away from the courthouse when they noticed spells flying towards them from the side with high speed. Orsulus and Taramyn were able to throw themselves to the ground just in time. Looking to the place where the spells had come from they were able to see 3 more death eaters running towards them.
A „Stupefy" from Taramyn and a „Diffindo" from Orsulus almost hit two of their enemies but those managed to dodge the spells just in time. Orsulus heard growling behind him and saw that the 2 werewolves were closing in on them.
„Orpington run and get to safety" he ordered his younger colleague.
„But sir, I can't just leave you here" she protested but he glared at her until she complied. As soon as Taramyn was further away and the death eaters and werewolves had closed in on him Orsulus pointed to the sky and shouted „Acidus Pluvia". By the time the clouds had fully formed, the death eaters and werewolves surrounded Orsulus. They grinned at him thinking he had no chance now but then the acidic rain started and teared through the clothes and skin of everyone hit by the rain. Orsulus coughed to cover up the pain he felt but he grinned when he saw his enemies realise they would sooner or later be killed if they stayed in this position. 2 of the death eaters immediately ran away with the last one scoffing at their cowardness. One of the werewolves lunged at Orsulus but the short man ducked under the assault and used a conjure knife to stab the werewolf in the guts. A cutting curse followed but this one was aimed at the other werewolf who went down screaming in pain after thousands of small wounds opened up all over his body... Thousands? That's right. „Mille Caedo" was an old spell Leif Groengraas, one of Orsulus' ancestors, had created. The member of the Groengraas now Greengrass family created the spell at some point during the 16th century after he had toured China and been inspired by a spell they called the 'death of a thousand cuts' performed on a criminal.
Orsulus quickly turned around when he heard footsteps but it was too late as fangs... wait fangs? Sank into his shoulder. A vampire!
'What a disaster... Emelyn my dear I am joining you at last' were his last thoughts before the loss of blood killed him.
**Scene Break**
By the time Augustus and the others had regained their composure, Blossom had quickly gotten back up and joined her husband in fighting the death eaters. Again using their combined style of defending and attacking they forced the four death eaters into a battle of attrition. It was still uncertain however which side's magical reserves would run out quicker.
**Scene Break**
Rosalie Westonbridge was still hidden in the little room on the first floor, wondering how much longer she had to play guard for the little boy in the corner of the room. And a little boy he was. He couldn't have been out of Hogwarts for more than a few years and had obviously never been seriously hurt before. She looked towards him in disgust and disappointment.
„You're very typical for a pureblood scion, you know that?" she asked him but he didn't answer.
'Probably unconscious, eh whatever as long as he lives I don't care' she thought before continuing her rant.
„So typical for a scion.. Pampered even when they're adults making them arrogant and entitled brats. Merlin it's no wonder we keep having problems getting new recruits that are somewhat capable and don't have to be trained from the ground up. It's almost a miracle we have gotten as far as we have but my Lord is nothing if resourceful and inspiring" she muttered. Yes having werewolves in form of the Greyback Pack and even a few vampires on their side helped their efforts massively.
'It is really a shame that creatures like them will be dealt with once pureblood supremacy is established and they are of no use anymore, they make such cute little pets' she thought giggling. Her happy mood turned sour again when she looked at the other person in the room.
„I really hope you won't become the norm of future pureblood scions and heirs, we really don't need weak little shits like you that bend over the moment they feel a little pain." she spat at him ignoring the fact that he had actually been injured quite heavily, she was just a little too annoyed to accept that reality.
'Honestly it's such a shame we lost that frenchie , Fourcarts or something, so early. Than man really knew his stuff for a frog eater and was able to teach that knowledge to others without problems' she thought with a sneer. But it wasn't as if she was much better when it came to fighting, she could survive in a fight against an average enemy but just barely.
What set her apart from most and what allowed her to feel superior however were her healing and brewing skills. She had even apprenticed under Madam Pompfrey when she was still in Hogwarts. The kind woman always remarked how Rosalie was such a nice young girl and it made her hate that the persona she had created for Madam Pomfrey was entirely fake.
'But I couldn't have shown my true personality to her, she wouldn't have understood and would have refused to teach me' Rosalie reminded herself sighing in the process. Being bored always really made her overthink things, didn't it?
**Scene Break**
Chandler gulped after he saw one of his associates die so quickly. Throwing a glance at Camilla Pucey he knew that while she was skilled, more so than him, they had little chance of getting past the defenses of their enemy.
'That man is just way too experienced in combat. Little exercise my ass, Rockwood's either an absolute moron or he intentionally mislead us into thinking the Pyrites' and their bodyguards were easy pickings.' he growled in his head. The man gave him and Pucey no time to think of a new battle strategy though as he hurled dark spell after dark spell at them.
**Scene Break**
Michelle Roberts looked at the riches of the Pyrites with immense greed. This was her chance at gaining some financial back up for her future plans. A muggleborn revolution would need a lot of money after all. She knew the galleons in front of her were just a small part of the wealth of the Pyrites but it was more than enough for the time being. That the Pyrites were a light oriented house and were generally on the side of more equality didn't matter to her.
'If they're British purebloods they need to either die or forsake their magic' she thought. Too long had the purebloods been allowed to oppress muggleborns and others they considered beneath them. It was time to flip the table... well not yet. She and her partner in crime, Jessica Bailey, had only a few allies to speak of and little to no saved up money.
It was funny really: The purebloods that hated people like Michelle and Jessica passionately were also the ones to give them the opportunity to start their revolution. It was even more funny that it was the ministry that had originally set them on this path.
In 1968 Michelle and Jessica had been Auror trainees when they were asked by their superior to infiltrate a mysterious terorrist organisation that called themselves death eaters, if they succeeded they'd become full aurors. Knowing that their muggleborn surnames would get them nowhere, Michelle and Jessica had decided to take on new identities.
The Blackmoores were a convenient family whose surname they could use as the family had actually moved to Macusa at some point in the 1920s and when the girls learned of that fact they traveled to Blackmoores' home in Indiana to ask if they could pretend to be the Blackmoores' cousins. The Blackmoores' pater familias Jason Blackmoore, intrigued by the girls' plan to infiltrate a terrorist organisation, had agreed to their request.
Michelle Roberts and Jessica Bailey had become Michelle and Jessica Blackmoore, orphans the Blackmoore family had blood-adopted into the family after the girls were the sole survivors of a burned down orphanage. Jason Blackmoore had gone beyond the girls' expectation to make the backstory airtight and actually blood-adopted them, something they were very grateful for. In return they had to promise they would report everything they deemed important not just to the ministry but also to their new family.
Having accomplished what they had come to America for, the new sisters returned to Britain and attended the ministry yule ball that year knowing they'd find someone there that would try to recruit them. Knowing they had to make their possible interest known subtly they started talks about the recent squib protests where they expressed disdain to everything non pureblood.
And voila not a week later they got letters by Lord Lestrange inviting them to the wedding of Rodolphus Lestrange to Bellatrix Black in the coming summer. There they were approached by a man who introduced himself as Augustus Rockwood and within the month they were initiated as death eaters. They were disgusted how eager their so called associates were to rape, torture and murder people. It was because of this that they refused to take part in raids on muggleborns excusing that as „being too good to waste their talents on mudbloods".
Their pleas to their superiors in the ministry to just do something about them fell on deaf ears. No proof that esteemed members of society were terrorists and all that. This disappointment made them break their ties to the ministry and they stopped their reports to them. The „Blackmoore Sisters" as their associates began to call them slowly gained the trust of the charismatic but insane Voldemort's inner circle and were major contributors to the success of the attack on Shafiq Manor. It was probably only that success that allowed them to survive the following inspection as Voldemort only half heartedly searched for any disobedience in their minds, it probably also helped that his fury was directed at one Qeldon Greengrass that night.
By that point their idea of starting a muggleborn revolution was beginning to form which made them reconsider their stance on not taking part in raids on muggleborns. Their skill had become widely known but it took them some time to gain enough trust as Voldemort was still suspicious about their origins.
Finally at the end of last year they were told they'd lead a team of death eaters in an attack on a muggle village. They knew they'd have to prove themselves to get further in their plan, for that reason they had been absolutely ruthless during the attack. It pained them to do that but it was for the greater good they eventually justified it to themselves.
Since then they had lead a small number of attacks on muggleborn targets. Instead of killing the muggleborns and their families however they transported them to the United States together with their most important possessions and made it look like they had burned everything to the ground. They quickly gained the nickname „Arson Sisters" for their preferred use of fire. So far they had rescued around a dozen muggleborns with their families who had decided to build up an underground resistance movement. Over time their nickname became more and more accurate as the two conspirators genuinely regarded eachother as sisters as time passed.
A sound to Michelle's side drew her attention back to the present. One of her associates had begun to take apart the wards protecting the money and items in front of the group.
Michelle and Jessica looked at eachother thinking the same thing, they would have to take this money for themselves without alerting the others of their treachery.
**Scene Break**
The battle was not going well, Rufus Scrimgeour could tell that much. He had no idea where Umbridge and Orpington had gone but at some point the two had suddenly disappeared. Rufus dodged a spell that exploded something behind him. Then the ground suddenly began shaking. An earthquake? Here in Britain? That couldn't be natural.
Surprised a pureblood like Scrimgeour knew what an earthquake was? Well when he was still in Hogwarts he befriended a half blood whose family had immigrated from Japan. His friend, despite being only a child back then, had already experienced more than one earthquake and had told Rufus how devestating the natural disaster could be. This one didn't seem to be nearly as bad as the ones Rufus had been told about but it was apparently enough as Rufus saw in the following moments.
Another auror was killed, this time it was Indigo Harlemshake. They had to retreat but Aurors Shellford, Dagworth-Granger and Pyke apparently had other ideas as they left the entrance hall, which by now was badly damaged, and ran into the hallway to the side.
'This battle is lost and we need to cut our losses, I better cast a distraction' he thought before chanting „Caligo Eructo!". Immediately a thick mist began to fill the entrance hall and this coupled with the earthquake that was still going on left the werewolves disoriented and distracted. Not long, just a few seconds, but that was enough for Rufus.
„Weasley get your ass outta here, I'll be right behind you"
**Scene Break**
Johnathan rolled out of the way as a killing curse flew towards him, shielding his wife from a bone breaking curse while she kept the pressure on one of the death eaters. It wasn't too easy defending his wife against 4 enemies at the same time but he had little room to do anything else but keep Blossom alive.
Her fighting style was beautiful, dancing around curses of several types as if they didn't exist while using her creativity to mercelessly pummel into the defenses of one of their enemies.
The death eaters unfortunately quickly became aware that she was focusing on one of them and changed their approach of doing things differently. 2 tried to keep Johnathan busy while the other two tried to get through the defenses he put up around her time and time again. It was only a matter of time before one side would suffer a casualty and Jonathan be damned if he wouldn't do his best to keep Blossom alive this day.
Blossom knew that the moment was coming where she had to start defending herself instead of relying on the skills of her husband and it seemed like that moment had come. She conjured a chair in the air in front of her just before said chair before was hit by a killing curse making it explode into small pieces that carved themselves into her skin. She winced in pain but ignored it in favour of sending a flesh rotting curse towards her enemy. The battle went on and Blossom was increasingly forced into defending herself and linked up with her husband. The battle became a stalemate until she had an idea. It would do a lot of damage to their home but oh well so be it.
'It is not like we lack the money to repair the courthouse' she thought before whispering to her husband that she would cause a distraction. Stabbing her wand downwards she yelled „Terraemotus!" and waited for her spell to take effect.
**Scene Break**
Chandler and Camilla knew they were in deep shit, their enemy was wounded and still managed to keep both of them from attacking him.
'He looks like a Pyrite and has all of their characteristics but is he really one? There were no mentions in our orders to be careful around the bunch. I thought everyone of them would put up some resistance but ultimately fail once we teamed up on them but this man is just not doing what he is supposed to do' Camilla thought angrily and confused unknowingly mirroring her associate's demeanor just a minute ago. It was at this moment that the ground began shaking.
**Scene Break**
„Merlin's balls, what is happening?" Leighton Belleville, one of Michelles' associates, cried out in his confusion.
'Typical pureblood degenerate. The Pompus ass doesn't even know what a bloody earthquake' she thought with barely hidden disgust but forced a confused look on her face. She turned to Jessica in an exaggerated motion which got her her sister's attention.
„Sister dear, any idea what this phenomenon could be? I don't think we have ever experienced something like this, have we?" Michelle asked with a pointed look and Jessica understood what her sister was trying to tell her.
„No Mi' I don't think I have ever heard of something like this" Jessica said nodding profusely.
„Alright whatever this is it doesn't matter, let's focus on what we have come here for" Lawrence ordered his teammates. His subordinates nodded and Lawrence reveled in the power he had over them for a bit before turning his focus back to the matter at hand. Within the minute the wards protecting the Pyrites' fortune were disabled and luck seemed to be with them as the ground stopped shaking too.
„Shawcross, Belleville get out the bottomless pouches and fill them with the coins and smaller artifacts laying around here. Bole, I will inspect the larger artifacts and look for anything of value to our Lord, compile a list of the things I tell you about. Blackmoore and... Blackmoore guard our backs. Understood? Then why aren't you moving?" he ordered the other 5 death eaters. Lawrence walked towards a pile of books and furniture suppressing a shiver. He had seen the furious look the two women sent his way at being ordered around by him like that. They were apprently still miffed that he had been given command for this part of their mission. Well he couldn't really treat them any other way, he had to establish dominance after all.
**Scene Break**
„It's quite nice that this shaking, whatever it was, has finally stopped aye?" Andres Shellford asked his fellow aurors Hector Dagworth-Granger and Jordan Pyke but the two didn't bother replying, instead choosing to catch their breath. The three had defended themselves against the werewolves when they saw an opening to the side. The still ongoing earthquake, not that they knew what the shaking was, disoriented them and forgetting that they still had two more surviving colleagues they ran into the hallway to the side leaving their colleagues behind to fight against the five remaining werewolves. Five? Andres had managed to get one more werewolf with his dagger by stabbing the man in the back. He unfortunately had no opportunity to take his baby out of the werewolf's back and had to leave it behind. Making sure they weren't followed by any of their enemies they hid in a random room.
„Well lads we have found ourselves in quite the situation eh?" Andres asked the other two men in the room.
„You are unfortunately right with your assessment Andres" sighed Hector running his hand through his thinning hair. Andres' friend was visibly exhausted, Andres himself wasn't feeling much better and Jordan Pyke looked even worse.
„Shouldn't we.. try.. to protect the Pyrites... against the death eaters?" Jordan managed to say between breaths.
„Unfortunately Mr. Pyke we have little chance to do much in our current situation. We have no idea where Umbridge and Orpington are. Harlemshake, Pickford, Wintringham and Johnson are dead and now that I think of it, I think we have left behind Scrimgeour and Weasley in the entrance hall" Hector reminded the young auror of their situation. Andres perked up at the last sentence.
„Morgana's tits, we really kind of left them in an unfavourable situation there, didn't we?" he asked smacking his palm against his forehead.
„But guys then we have to go back and help them!" Jordan exclaimed worried about his colleagues. Hector pondered about this for a moment.
„Hmmm you're right Mr. Pyke but do not worry too much. Scrimgeour is a skilled and experienced auror and Weasley is no slouch himself despite his young age" he said shortly before the young auror bolted out of the room, eager to rejoin the fight. Andres shook his head in exasperation.
„The Youth!" he exclaimed „Always so impulsive". Hector nodded and they followed Jordan back into the entrance hall.
**Scene Break**
'What is this shaking? Has my spell caused this?' Blossom wondered as the ground continued shaking. She had once read the name of the spell in the family grimoire, how to use it and it's description saying to use the spell if you needed a distraction.
'Well distracting it is but this really isn't what I thought the spell would do' she thought before realising that she had never even thought about what the spell would actually do. It certainly did what it promised though as it disoriented their utterly unprepared enemies which allowed her and Johnathan to go on the offensive. For the time being atleast as the shaking stopped again after some time and allowed the death eaters to get back into the fight properly.
**Scene Break**
The shaking took all three combatants in the room offguard. Hermes stumbled forward and fell onto his face, breaking his nose in the process while Camilla and Chandler stumbled into eachother before landing on their backs. They looked at eachother in surprise, they had never experienced something like this before. Hermes shrugged it off pretty quickly however, he was too old to be taken out of a fight by the ground shaking a little as strange as it was. His Reducto unfortunately didn't hit his target as the shaking caused Hermes' aim to be a little off. The explosion of the doorframe behind Camilla took her out of her stupor and she shielded against the following severing curse.
'This man is taking no chances and Merlin his stamina, am I battling a battle mage here?' she thought becoming increasingly worried that she might not survive this encounter like her friend Josephine. Chandler also got up and rejoined the fight but their enemy was still somehow fighting as if the fight had just started. The only consolation was that blood was running out of the man's nose even if the pain didn't seem to faze him one bit.
**Scene Break**
**End of Chapter**
Characters in this chapter and the amount of chapters they have appeared in:
- Kelly Turpin (2)
- Reef Clockside (2)
- Hannelore Hopkins (2)
- Orsulus Umbridge (3)
- Taramyn Orpington (2)
- Augustus Rockwood (5)
- Blossom Pyrites (3)
- Rosalie Westonbridge (2)
- Adolphus Pyrites (4)
- Chandler Abercrombie (3)
- Camilla Pucey (3)
- Michelle Blackmoore (1)
- Jessica Blackmoore (1)
- Rufus Scrimgeour (2)
- Jonathan Pyrites (6)
- Hermes Pyrites (4)
- Leighton Belleville (1)
- Lawrence Diggle (2)
- Andres Shellford (3)
- Hector Dagworth-Granger (1)
- Jordan Pyke (2)