Raylynx's POV

Although we couldn't quite tell time in this sunless basement, I knew time was running out- and fast.

We had finished our original mission around daybreak, and been stuck in this basement ever since. Hours has passed, which meant night was getting ever closer. Jasper was lying back against the wall, breathing shallowly. He was awake, though. His eyes often opened and I could tell he was deep in thought, thinking hard.

I went back and forth on thinking about how we would escape, and how I could tell him I was an Animagus without telling him I was an Animagus.

I scrawled at the dirt on the floor with my foot mindlessly, just trying to fight off any anxiety bubbling underneath.

I held back a sigh of frustration and looked down at the ground. It was then- that moment of just seeing my foot pushing the dirt into a straight line- that I thought of the magic circle on the floor of Pendragon's cave.

I hesitated, thinking.

Then, all at once I dropped onto my knees and hurriedly began to push the dirt together.

Jasper sat up. "Raylynx?"

To his credit, he didn't make some dumb joke like, "You're not trying to dig your way out, are you?"

Instead, he tried to get up to see what I was up to.

"Don't," I told him. "Gather your strength. We're going to need your magical strength in a bit, so save it as much as you can."

Jasper settled back, but watched me curiously as I worked with the dust. I erased the runes many times and closed my eyes, wracking my brains to remember the runic language.

Finally, I stood up. Jasper walked up to my side and looked down at his feet.

"It's a magic circle, written in the Ancient Language," he recognized. "Will it get us out of here?"

"It depends on our strength," I replied. "I'm sure they've put multiple barriers up, both on the basement and on the house itself. We'll have to be able to 'lift' the magic circle through all of these, so to speak."

"It would be easier with our wands," Jasper said thoughtfully.

"It would," I acknowledged. "But we'll have to make do without. Do you think you can help me?"

Although I had practiced nonverbal magic more than Jasper, there was a maturity to his power that I still lacked. I did not yet know how to unlock the power in my wand that had produced silver crystal flame. Jasper, I knew, was sure of himself at such a deep level that he could call forth that magic from his wand and from within. I needed his help to break through both levels of barriers trapping us in.

"How can I help?" Jasper asked. "How can I lift the circle?"

"Well, since we're mostly dependent on spells, the easiest way to lift a magic circle is to focus on Wingardium Leviosa. The words don't necessarily mean anything in themselves, really, but it's the way we learned to focus our magical powers to mean 'lift', you see? So just think, Wingardium Leviosa."

Jasper nodded. "Let's do it," he confirmed.

I drew a Communication Rune on my wrist and then raised my hand over the circle.

I closed my eyes and focused on lifting the circle off the ground. The circle began to light up in a pale blue light. The light spread from the dust at my feet and started to run across the circle's outer edge. When it came about halfway around the circle, the light became stuck and struggled to pass over a line and a rune that I hadn't quite gotten correct. I gritted my teeth and tried to replace my mistake with words in my head because I honestly wasn't sure why that bit was wrong. The light shivered and then with a mighty shove, tripped along. When the light went completely around, the whole circle shivered on the floor. Then, I clenched my fist and the circle rose as a form of light, and the dust was gone. The light waves shivered, moving in all directions as the circle hovered slightly above the floor. I could feel the magic flowing through me, including me as a part of the circle. But my energy was not limitless, and I could not afford to waste any more time activating the circle.

"Now," I said to Jasper, and reached my other hand out. Jasper took my hand. He closed his eyes, feeling for the magical flow circuiting around myself and the circle. I felt the magic expand; It took a beat longer for it to come back to me, and I knew he was ready.

I focused and thought hard, Wingardium Leviosa.

The circle began to lift off the floor and came to our waist level, then our eye level, pretty quickly. When it bumped up against the ceiling, however, the circle stopped. We had encountered the first protective barrier.

Wingardium Leviosa!

I heard a distant echo of Jasper's voice. He must be shouting in his head. The circle broke through the first barrier rather easily. We slowly pushed the circle towards the roof of the house. To my surprise, I felt a slight disturbance jar us as the magic circle worked itself past a small protective charm. But there was no time to ponder it, as the magic circle reached the house ceiling and I suddenly felt a massive weight descend on my hand. I let out a small gasp, but forced myself to focus.

Come on, Raylynx. Get it up! Lift it! Wingardium Leviosa!

The weight was incredible. I mentally imagined myself lifting with my shoulders and legs and not just with my hand.

Jasper growled slightly as he continued to chant the Levitating Spell in his head.

I could feel his power straining against the weight.

I felt the energy of the magic circle flicker.

No! I gritted my teeth and pushed harder. Wingardium Leviosa!

I could feel Jasper clenching my hand tightly. His nails dug into the back of my hand. But even though he was clearly exhausted, his power was building. Then, with a short roar, I felt a burst of energy explode from Jasper. The circle broke through the barrier, which shattered instantly. There was a soft "whoosing" sound around the house, like a heavy curtain falling.

Jasper slumped back against the wall. I stepped towards him and grabbed him gently by the shoulders.

"Jasper!"

"I'm all right," he said, forcing himself to steady his breathing. Sweat dripped down the sides of his face.

"Can you make it?" I said worryingly.

"'Course," he said grimly, and pushed himself off the wall. "They'll have felt that. Whoever cast the protective charms will have felt their magic break."

I nodded. "We don't have much time. Let's go."

We raced up the stairs and pushed the door open.

"Careful," Jasper warned softly. "We don't have our wands."

Our wands… "Wait, Jasper, I think… I think I might know where they are," I whispered, thinking hard. That break in the magic circle… Where the energy shivered… Where would that be, in terms of physical location? How can I translate that breach of energy into space-time fabric? I closed my eyes, trying to remember as Jasper carefully peeked out the window at the end of the hallway.

"They're all gathered outside," Jasper informed me. "They think someone's broken the barrier from outside."

I let out a breath. I know where it is.

"I know where the wands are," I said.

"How-?" Jasper began to ask, but I was already moving.

We stealthily made our way down the hall and I led him into the living room. I began to tap the floor lightly with my foot.

Somewhere here…? No, somewhere here?

"Raylynx?" Jasper asked.

Just then, my foot landed on a loose floorboard that creaked ever so slightly when my foot came down. Jasper's eyes flashed open in understanding. He knelt down and pulled up the floorboard. Then, he reached in and pulled out our wands.

We took them and then snuck out the kitchen window and dropped down behind some bushes.

Jasper snuck out ahead of me, crouching at the edge of the house. He peeked around before coming back.

"There's a lot of guards," Jasper told me grimly.

"Why can't we just Apparate now?" I asked.

Jasper shook his head. "The Albanian Ministry will guess that it's us, and if Symond cooperates with them, which I assure you, he will, they'll know it's us."

"We could try to climb over the rooftops," I suggested instead.

Jasper shook his head. "We're not in London anymore, darling. The rooftops aren't so close together. We're likely to be seen."

We fell silent for a second before Jasper suggested, "Make for the forest. That way, we're headed towards the border. Once we're a few hundred yards in, we're out of Albania and back to where our Portkey took us. Additionally, we could use the shelter of the trees," Jasper told me.

"All right," I agreed. "Are we just going to run for it?"

"Well, we're in a neighborhood populated with a lot of people. So keep calm and walk until they recognize us," Jasper instructed. "Don't run until they do."

He reached up and brushed the sweat from his forehead.

I frowned. It was already an inky black sky, with the last rays of sun diminishing. We were going to have to be quick.

"C'mon," he beckoned.

We both crept out of the bushes and then hurried onto the street, as though we were a normal couple, strolling down the road.

A couple of men in Symond's group turned from looking at the forest to looking at us.

Jasper and I tried to walk inconspicuously, keeping our heads down and pretending to talk to each other.

But one of the men mirrored our steps, following us.

"Keep going," Jasper muttered. We continued to walk towards the river. When we were a few hundred feet away, we saw five more men waiting behind Symond's house, watching the bridge.

The man behind us had been joined by his partner, and they both began to walk faster. He shouted something at us in Albanian. I slowly slid my hand under my Cloak and gripped my wand. When neither Jasper nor I responded, the man yelled at the other men watching the bridge. They turned towards us. One of them pointed and began murmuring.

"Jasper…" I whispered.

The two men behind us started to jog at a quick pace and were fast catching up to us. A few seconds later and they were nearly on us-

"Run!" Jasper yelled and we both took off, our feet pounding on the street. We made for the bridge over the river and luckily, reached it before any of the men caught us.

Spells rang out after us. We crossed over bridge in seconds and sprinted across the grassy plain, making for the forest about a hundred yards away.

I pointed my wand over my shoulder and shouted, "Expulso!"

The bridge exploded, taking down the three men on it. They splashed into the cold river, shouting.

Another was still stranded on the other side. The remaining three were on our tail, however, sending spells raining on us as Jasper and I finally reached the forest.

"Nearly there," Jasper muttered, forcing himself to keep running. My legs were burning, but I followed him. Suddenly, he turned. We were across the border.

"Take my hand!" he shouted and stopped to reach out for me.

I reached out to grasp his hand, but just then, a spell whizzed through the trees and hit me right in the wrist.

I cried out in pain. It was the same wrist Bellatrix had cursed me and I had never gotten it properly looked at. The flesh had mended itself over the few days before the mission, but it was still damaged. Staggering backwards, I pressed my other hand over the wound.

"Watch out!"

Jasper pushed me behind a tree and turned to face the oncoming duelers.

He threw a Blasting Charm in front of them and then put an arm around my shoulders to push me onwards. We ran forward as the dust and haze settled behind us. Breathing hard, we both stopped behind another tree.

"We see you!" one of the men yelled.

Jasper cursed.

I turned around and took aim. "Petrificus Totalus!"

My target managed to duck and avoid my spell.

Meanwhile, I saw another fighter moving amongst the trees on our left, and coming ever closer.

"Jasper-" I started to warn him when I realized that Jasper was no longer beside me.

I turned and to my horror, saw him writhing on the floor.

I dropped to my knees beside him.

"Jasper, Jasper-" I tried to soothe him.

"G-Get out of here!" he warned, whispering through gritted teeth. He inhaled sharply, trying to resist his transformation. "Raylynx, get away- run!"

With the last of his might, he shoved me away. I fell backwards on the forest ground.

Then, he burst into his wolf form.

I heard the man closest to us yell. He took off, shouting at the other men to back off.

I shot a look behind my shoulder to see the men entirely focused on running away. That moment of distraction cost me- Jasper in his werewolf form lunged at me.

His snout butted up against my side and he shoved me sideways against a tree.

I grunted and fell face-down on the floor.

Breathing heavily, I looked up to see him snarl menacingly and open his jaws, teeth glistening in the moonlight.

I closed my eyes and focused on the word: Intuitive.

I felt my body shrinking and claws jutting out from my paws and whiskers on my face and a tail on my bottom.

I instantly felt warmer with my furry coat, and my vision improved drastically with my brown and yellow eyes.

The werewolf before me paused, confused. I could almost see it thinking, 'Where has the tasty human gone?'

A small part of my mind wanted to laugh at the werewolf's puzzled look, and another part wanted to scream in fear, but now was not the time for either. Instead, I used that opportunity to leap up onto the lowest branch of the tree and I kept climbing up as fast as I could, keeping my body low on the trees, gripping the bark with my claws, and utilizing my tail for balance.

The werewolf below me howled and swiped up at the branches. The tree shook, but I was already far out of his reach.

The night felt incredibly long. I was afraid that the werewolf would make its way to the village, but it stayed on this side of the river and raced around, howling. I winced when it started to bite its own paws out of hungry and frustration and it slammed its own body into a nearby tree and whimpered painfully.

My own wrist was really bothering me. Whatever curse I'd been hit with had really inflamed my previous cut from Bellatrix. I mewed in discomfort and licked at my wrist throughout the night.


Finally, the sun came up and I was able to breathe again. I leapt lithely from tree to tree until I came upon Jasper, back in his human form, lying amongst the leaves, unconscious.

I started to leap down a branch, when I heard voices coming from the other side of the river. I could only hear them already thanks to my cat's hearing.

I hid myself in a bright patch of orange foliage that hid me reasonably well and looked out. The men from last night were coming back. There were four of them- two wizards and two witches. Two of them were holding an enchanted net between them. I growled, but I knew I had to hold my indignation back and wait to utilize the element of surprise.

They came forth, whispering, and I could hear their voices becoming more anxious as they approached the forest.

Then, a witch shouted and pointed at Jasper, who was still asleep under the tree I was in. The four of them raced to Jasper, who stirred slightly at the footsteps approaching him.

Then, just when they started to throw the net over him- I dropped on all fours onto the forest floor.

The wizard closest to me let out a startled cry and looked behind him. He gasped as I transformed on the spot.

One of the witches began to lift her wand at me, but she was too late.

"Stupefy! Impedimenta!"

I Stunned the witch and then Blasted the other wizard who had been ready to throw the net.

The remaining witch and wizard sprang into action and started to duel with me.

I put up Defensive Spells, but I couldn't slip in any jinxes of my own- They were too well-coordinated.

Damn it, this could end badly, I thought.

Then, Jasper's eyes flashed open. I saw his brow furrow as the sounds of our fight reached him, but then his eyes landed on the three of us dueling mere feet away from him.

Jasper rushed to his feet and shouted, "Stupefy!"

The wizard on my left collapsed.

The remaining witch shrieked and threw an Explosive Curse at me.

My protective shield defended me from any real harm, but the curse still threw me back a few feet and I landed unceremoniously on my butt.

She turned to face Jasper, who was cringing at the pain of forcing his muscles to work. He had thrown himself hard at the tree last night.

I scrambled to my feet.

"Expelliarmus!"

The witch's wand flew out of her hand before she could curse Jasper.

Jasper pointed his wand at her and muttered, "Petrificus Totalus."

She froze and fell over.

Jasper fell onto one knee. I rushed over to him and helped him back up.

"How- how did you survive?" Jasper asked me. "You're not hurt, right?"

"I'm all right," I reassured him. I half-smiled as I answered, "Werewolves can't climb trees."

"Let's get out of here," Jasper breathed out.

"Hold on to me now," I told him, and then Apparated.


However, we had only just managed to step inside the Auror headquarters when Savage hurriedly approached you.

"You can't be here," he whispered urgently. "Keep out of sight. Find a closet or some-"

He cut off as voices could be heard coming out of the main room and into the hallway where we were standing. The voices were raised, arguing loudly.

"We have done nothing to warrant such suspicion!"

"The Embassy was intruded upon, I tell you!"

"Get in here!" Savage shoved Jasper and I into a tiny broom cupboard, used mostly for storing old papers.

I fell back against shelves of papers. A box nearly fell on me, but Jasper reached over and managed to shove it back in time.

Then, he winced.

"You all right?" I whispered to him.

Jasper gave me a forced smile. "I'll manage. How's your wrist?"

I let out a long breath. "Could be a bit better, I suppose."

I felt light-headed as I leaned back against the shelf. It wasn't helping that we were cramped in this space.

We heard doors being thrown open as the officer from the Diplomatic Office said uncertainly, "Um, I don't think that this is appropriate conduct. I really think we should sit and discuss this first. I'm sure it'll all been a misunderstanding!"

Then, Ahmed's voice roared out loudly, "Out! This is an insult to the British Ministry!"

We heard people grappling and wrestling, then footsteps sounded past our cupboard and we heard two men being forced out.

The cupboard door opened and Ahmed peered down at us.

With only one look at the both of us, he said, "Hospital."

"We need to report," Jasper murmured as we got to our feet.

He was breathing heavily and he swayed slightly.

"I'm not believing any report you give until you're patched up," Ahmed said bluntly.

"We can do it, sir," Jasper insisted.

"Get out of here!" Ahmed shouted, and booted us out.

"Come back when you're a functioning human being again! You're wasting my time!" Fed up, Ahmed shoved us outside the Auror Department.

"He's not the most patient man, is he?" I muttered.

"No, but he cares about his men as must as the mission. That makes him a definite keeper in my book," Jasper chuckled wearily. "Come on, Miss, to St. Mungo's."


Jasper was properly treated at St. Mungo's and I was assigned a week's worth of rest, which I accepted.

My body was begging me to take a break and I knew it was high time I listened.

But before I went back home, Jasper and I gave our report.

"Vladimir confirmed that his information never got to Rookwood," I told them. "Hence, it never reached the Dark Lord."

"Well, that's good news," Gregory said.

"Regardless, did you find out what the news was?" Ahmed asked me.

I hesitated.

The information Vladimir carried was highly dangerous because it hinted that Voldemort had created Horcruxes. If this information were to fall into the wrong hands, especially within the Ministry, if it reached ears of lurking Death Eaters who had paid their way out of punishment, then…

But no.

It wasn't my right to withhold information. Then, I would become like Dumbledore. Even Dumbledore struggled in his position, as brilliant as he was. I wasn't going to try to imitate him, when my intellect was admittedly, less capable than his.

"Vladimir said that his work was on the human soul. He had just discovered that a soul can become unstable enough to split apart."

I held my breath after I finished speaking.

To my relief, nobody seemed to quite take in what I had said.

"That's definitely Unspeakables for you," Gregory shook his head. "But whatever it is, the information didn't get to him, is that right?"

I nodded.

Then, Jasper looked at me. I raised my wand and Summoned back the documents we had taken from Vladimir's desk.

"We found something else while we were in Vladimir's room," Jasper said, holding up the folder. "It was on the table besides the window. Perhaps it will give you further leads on uncovering Rookwood's spy network."

Ahmed received the folder and nodded. "Good work, you two. Now, I've heard you're both to have a week off."

"I'm all right," Jasper said lightly.

Ahmed frowned. "I know you started this mission without fully recovering from the last one. You both started this mission without fully recovering. I'm not blind, Jasper."

Jasper smiled and inclined his head. "Understood, sir."

As we left Auror headquarters, Jasper said to me, "Well, that was quite a successful mission, on our part."

"Oh yes, remarkably successful, except for our twenty-four hour detour," I said sarcastically.

Jasper laughed. "Also, you were remarkably quick on the uptake, distracting him while I pocketed the documents. Your subtlety is much appreciated."

The way he spoke was so elegant and matter-of-fact, just as I remembered him when I met him at the Kaius' residence. When it came to the term "gentleman", no one exemplified it as well as he did.

"Thanks should go to you," I reminded him. "You are the one who convinced Ahmed to let me join you, after all."

Jasper smiled and said, "Ahmed may be slow to trust, but he has an eye for talent and he wouldn't want it to go to waste."

Then, he paused. He stopped walking and turned to me, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Miss, I know I should be sorry for having put you in danger like that, and I am sorry for risking your life and nearly jeopardizing the mission, but would you- would you understand if I can't apologize for being a werewolf? It's simply who I am, and I have to accept that, and every time I apologize for being a werewolf, I get farther and farther away from self-acceptance. So, I can't say I'm sorry for what I am, but I know it was difficult for you because of me, and for that, I am sorry. I'll be better prepared next time," he promised.

I appraised him with surprise. He spoke the words I had wanted to hear from Remus for so long... Something in my heart eased, knowing that there were people who were capable of thinking this way, but another part of my heart tightened, because Remus wasn't at this level of self-acceptance yet.

"Miss?"

"Thank you," I said fervently. "Thank you for saying that."

Jasper smiled, but looked at me curiously. Clearly, that wasn't the response he was expecting.

Nevertheless, he replied graciously, "Thank you for understanding."

We came to the Ministry exit and Jasper saluted me briefly before turning and leaving in the opposite direction.