Trigger Warnings: Violence, Gore, Death
Beater 1 prompt: Someone catching a lucky break.
Prompts:
Action/Plot Point: Flyting
Setting: Starry Night
Family: Prewett
Word Count: 3,028
Enjoy! Read, Review, and don't EVER dress a chicken in Sunday clothes!
Trust me.
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They were in the air again.
Alastor Moody shot beneath a death eater, sending up a blasting curse and shattering their broom.
High above the coast of England, Fabian Prewett caught the enemy with a rope binding curse and sent him spiraling into the roaring waves below.
His twin, Gideon, flew alongside Alastor who chased after the remaining two death eaters.
They weaved through the air as curses lit up the night.
Gideon looked up and smiled at the sky. The stars were out. They twinkled brilliantly, unlike the artificial city lights in the distance.
Alastor shield him from a black curse.
"GET YER HEAD OUTA THE CLOUDS, PREWETT!"
Turning back to his foes, Moody shot forward.
Gideon snarled at his mistake and joined his colleague.
The death eaters fought like demons, every attack was lethal and pinpoint accurate.
Alastor flipped upside down to dodge twin killing curses from them then shot backwards, ramming his feet into the nameless death eater's broom, cracking it audibly.
Gideon's shield took Dolohov's next three spells before he was forced into evasive maneuvers.
As long as he was taking Dolohov's attention, Moody could take care of the other one and return to flank.
Fabian rejoined them, striking Dolohov in the side with a bludgeoning curse.
The man roared in pain, letting loose a slew of Avada Kedavras.
"Why didn't you use a stunner?" Gideon shouted to his brother, as he dodged.
"I didn't think it would actually land!" Fabian said cheekily.
"Focus, Prewetts!" Moody barked, having lost the other death eater.
"Sorry, boss!" Fabian said, taking out a sack from his pocket, "I'm on it like stink on a death eater!"
"Can it!" Alastor retorted, catching sight of a cracked broom amidst the clouds. "Distract Dolohov, I'll put down his friend!"
Gideon nodded and Moody flew into the clouds.
"Time to test my new idea." Fabian shouted over the wind.
"I have an eye on Dolohov, he's up ahead and to the left." Gideon announced.
Fabian nodded, pulling forward, and reaching into his bag.
Dolohov glanced behind him and saw the twins catching up.
His broom turned at ninety degree angle and the stupider looking Prewett brother shot right past him, a baffled expression on his face.
Normal brooms could not turn that sharply.
Dolohov raised his wand, but something slammed into his shoulder, sabotaging his aim.
He cursed as the bludger whipped past his face.
Gideon flew up to his brother, "Fabian, careful! Molly'll kill me if we die!"
Fabian gave him a weak smile, before dodging another sickly green curse.
The bludger rounded on Dolohov again.
Not one for quidditch, he found it difficult to avoid the homing projectile and the Auror's hexes.
His fellow death eater and Moody burst from the clouds, back into view.
Alastor angled his approach and roared. "ACCIO BIRD!"
A nearby flock of geese lost one of its members as the errant avian shot like an arrow from a bow.
"HONK!" The goose squawked as it snapped the damaged broom and the rider fell screaming into the ocean far below.
Dolohov's face was fury incarnate, and his attacks tripled in number.
The bludger came back, but this time Dolohov was ready and blasted it into pieces which he sent at them.
Fabian, caught unaware, froze as the iron shards darted at him.
Alastor came up behind the Prewett and banished him to the side.
Before the slivers could reach him, the senior Auror blasted them with a powerful explosion.
Gideon retaliated with a host of offensive charms that Dolohov barely shielded.
Sneering, the black cloaked criminal flew over the water in the direction of the far away city lights.
A scream of pain made Gideon turn from his enemy.
Moody's face was bleeding.
"Alastor!" Fabian cried as the older man tumbled from his broom.
The twins gave up the chase and dove to catch their wounded ally.
Gideon grabbed his right arm and his brother clutched the left.
"Accio broom." He said, summoning the item to hover next to them.
They slowly descended until they landed on a small length of sand peeking above the water.
"What are you doing!?" Alastor demanded. "We need to go after Dolohov, we cannot lose him again!"
"Alastor, we need to take you to Saint Mungo's! Your eye is bleeding, there's a piece of metal in it!" Fabian declared.
"BLAST MY EYE!" He bellowed. Before either twin could do anything, he tore out what remained of his eye and summoned a patch over the wound.
"We find Dolohov! NOW!"
He mounted his broom and took off, forcing the brothers to scramble to keep up with him.
Together, they followed the cloud trail left behind during Dolohov's sudden eastern departure.
"Transfigure yourselves some cloaks," Moody growled as they soared, "They'll see our approach otherwise."
"Wait!" Fabian said, "Make sure your cloak has stars dotted on it, or they'll see us regardless."
Moody looked up with his one eye and nodded. "Alright Prewett, it seems you aren't completely useless."
Fabian accepted his response and started on his cloak.
Gideon gave a disgruntled sort of mumble and did the same.
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Minutes later, the trio landed onto a brightly lit building undetected.
"Why here?" Fabian asked.
Moody pushed past him to the rooftop door. "This is the closest death eater sympathizer establishment!" He said, pulling it open.
The twins followed.
He nodded towards the entrance where a long object lay against the wall. "And that's probably his broom right there."
"We can't be that lucky." Fabian said, shaking his head.
Gideon agreed. "He can't be that dumb."
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"He is that dumb."
Three Aurors peeked over a balcony to see Dolohov sitting at a bench with a bandage around his stomach surrounded on all sides by several dozen men and women messing around with muggle games that made loud ringing noises.
There were several known death eaters stationed around the massive room, watching over the proceedings as muggles rested their luck against likely enchanted machines.
They were in a gambling den.
"What's the plan Moody?" Gideon whispered.
"We have seven possible hostiles and a whole lot of collateral damage if we attack now." Alastor growled. "Spread out, take them one by one. Stay unseen."
They split up, Fabian and Moody sticking to the left and right walls while Gideon discreetly moved through the center of the room.
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Fabian slipped into a restroom and with a quick transfiguration, his clothes matched that of the average muggle. Exiting a few moments later, he sidled up the side of the room towards his first target, a bowler hat topped man gripping something under his coat, probably his wand.
He looked on edge.
Fabian feigned drunkenness to get close and confunded him into dropping his wand. The wizard scowled, pushing Fabian away as he reached down to pick up his weapon.
He stunned the death eater and walked around him, snatching the wand on his way.
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Moody stuffed his cloak into a pocket and trusting his new eyepatch to disguise him, walked directly up to his first target as if wanting to speak with him.
The death eater turned to Moody, not recognizing him and sneered.
"What do ya want?" He asked.
Moody leaned in close and hissed. "Sleeeeeep."
He stunned the man and slowly lowered him to a chair.
Then, Moody conjured a pair of shades on his face and cast Petrificus Totalus, so the body would stiffen and look alert.
Satisfied with his work, he pocketed the wand and continued to the next one.
--
Gideon slowly made his way towards Dolohov's back. His entire focus was on the death eater and making sure he paid for what he did to Moody.
A hand grabbed his arm.
He almost stabbed the hand with his wand before realizing it was just one of the gambling muggles.
"C'mere friend." The man grinned. "Yer one of them ain'tcha?"
Gideon frowned.
The man looked to be in his late thirties, with a wispy goatee and a razor sharp mustache that could have been penciled in. His mouth was missing a few teeth and he wore a beret over his blond comb-over.
"Sit, sit." The man insisted.
Gideon, wary of losing the element of surprise to Dolohov, sat.
"I been wantin' to test my luck against one o' you folk." The man continued. "How about a few rounds of poker? I got me a few trinkets of your kind and I'm willing to bet for more."
Gideon clenched his jaw. Stop bothering me, he thought.
"I'm sorry sir, but-"
"You're clearly sneaking up on the injured fella over there, I'll get his attention if you don't."
Gideon reluctantly sighed.
"Poker, you said?"
The man grinned.
"How do you play?"
The man's grin widened.
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"Excuse me good sir, but I believe I got a jackpot and my machine isn't giving me my winnings." Fabian said, stepping up to the towering individual.
The death eater in disguise frowned. "Your machine gives you a ticket and you present it to the front desk for your winnings, ain't you ever gamble before?"
"I'm not a gambling man." Fabian said, stunning the man and letting him slump against the wall, knees locking up.
Is that how these muggle things work? How interesting. I thought they just showered you with your prizes the moment you won.
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Moody grimaced as the death eater pulled out his wand.
Eyepatch or no, he clearly recognized the best Auror on the force.
No time to aim, no time to punch, enemy has his wand out first, ah HA!
With the fastest swish and flick ever witnessed by human eyes, Alastor flung the man into the air.
He hollered as his feet left solid ground and the Auror released him, kneeing him in the face with a crunch as he fell to the floor.
The remaining three death eaters around the room jumped into action, moving towards him, Dolohov in the lead.
The muggles of the gambling den fell into panic. They couldn't leave since their money was still there in one form or another and so they went about protecting it as others who fell on worse luck tried stealing it for themselves.
Chaos ensued.
Moody dodged behind a sturdy gambling machine as piercing charms peppered it with holes.
Seems like they want to keep up the pretense of muggles. He thought.
Suddenly, a bang rang out, startling him.
A muggle had pulled out a firearm and shot someone who had been going for his winnings.
A woman screamed.
More guns were pulled out.
This just got a whole lot more dangerous. Moody scowled. Bloody muggles with their bloody guns.
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Gideon flinched at the sound of the shot and moved to stand up.
"Thank you for that round." He said, "But I really have to be going now."
The mustachioed man grabbed him by the wrist.
"Hold on now friend." He said. "I had to go easy on you for the first round, seein' as yer a novice, but you owe me a few more hands."
"I really can't, my brother is in danger." Gideon explained.
"Look here." The man said, ignoring him and pulling out some objects from his coat. "I got some o' those trinkets you folk make for the bettin' pool."
One of the objects caught Gideon's eye and he sat back down, casting a shield around them to join the notice-me-not charms.
"One more thing." The man said, placing a sneakoscope onto the table. "This lil' fella here will tell me if yer cheatin'."
"That's fair, if unnecessary." Gideon said. "Deal the cards."
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Moody held a shield over his left side to block stray bullets as he shot invisible piercing charms back at his opponents.
On the opposite side of the room, Fabian struggled to move through the muggle hoard that had formed, disarming every gun-toting man he saw.
The obliviators will be here any minute. Fabian thought, casting anti-apparition wards as he moved. Just gotta keep Dolohov here until then and we can catch him!
The angry red face of a muggle man jumped into his vision and Fabian instinctively stunned him.
The muggle crashed into one of the slot machines, breaking the front screen and sliding to the ground.
"Nighty night." The wizard smirked as he walked past the now unconscious rioter.
Fabian Prewett calmly made his way towards Auror Moody and the death eaters, when a fat muggle with arms full of money body checked him, sending the wizard face first into a sturdy, metal, foldable chair and knocking him out cold.
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Alastor's cover was rapidly losing substance and he darted to the next closest machine, finally succeeding in stunning one of his foes in the surprise of the mad dash.
He was having more trouble than normal, with only one eye, he kept moving off center and missing his attacks. But, a lucky shot was a shot nonetheless.
Now, with one stunned, another would be forced to stop momentarily to Renervate his ally and Moody would be able to progress with only one death eater attacking him.
He took the opportunity, stepping out from behind the metal box and going for incapacitating hexes.
Two sickly green curses shot at him from the two definitely-not-caring-about-their-comrade death eaters.
Moody's eye widened and he hugged the floor. He had only an instant to send his reply, and he couldn't trust his depth perception anymore. At least I have all my limbs.
Gritting his teeth, he jerked his head to the side so his eye would be dead on his target and gave his response.
The man collapsed in a flash of red.
Constant Vigilance, Alastor. He thought. Well done.
The last death eater paused.
Alastor and Dolohov looked at the other, each weighing their chances, the world around them forgotten.
Moody could see the moment Dolohov made his choice.
His body tensed underneath his skintight body suit and jet black robes.
Then, he turned and ran, abandoning the others.
Moody cursed, scrambling to his feet.
If he was fast enough-
But the death eater was already out the door.
He'll have disapparated by now. Moody growled internally.
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"I raise."
Gideon sucked air through his teeth.
He was losing. Badly.
In his hand was a sure win, three cards out a royal flush, and one on the table.
A sure win.
If he could get the fifth part.
"What is it now?" He asked.
The main grinned with his nasty smile, "My special items versus your wand and broom, Three black ones, six of the green, twelve blue, and twenty red."
Gideon counted his remaining tokens.
"Call."
The man's grin turned nastier.
"Alright, let's see the next card."
A two of spades. Not helpful at all.
Gideon licked his lips.
"I can read you like a book, magic man! Your wand is gonna be mine!" The man crowed putting a cigarette to his lips and pulling out a lighter.
Gideon hid his panic well. If the ace of diamonds doesn't show up soon, I'm DONE FOR!
"I raise by four of the blue ones."
Two bolts of green shot off to the side and Gideon flinched.
He was running out of time! He had to get out there!
The fiery haired Auror had already lost his enchanted cloak and boots, he couldn't lose his wand when a battle was roaring around him!
"All in."
The man dropped the lighter.
"What?"
"All in." Gideon repeated.
It was his last hope, if he bluffed hard enough, the man would give up on this pot and he could leave with his dignity intact and something for Moody.
"I'll call your bluff, all in."
Or maybe he wasn't very good at bluffing at all and the poker expert he faced could very easily tell that he had no confidence in his hand.
He watched the man resettle his cigarette and say, "Let's just flip the card, no point in going through every step, I reckon"
Gideon nodded reluctantly.
Four cards were down, a two of spades, a king of diamonds, a seven of clubs, and a seven of hearts.
What were the chances of him pulling an ace of diamonds?
"Alright, an ace of diamonds, now we show our hands, boy."
Pretty good it seemed.
The man started gathering the tokens as he plopped down his hand.
Two sevens, four of a kind.
Gideon calmly placed his hand down.
He watched the cigarette slowly lower until it fell free of the lips, plopping onto the table and burning the velvet.
"Alright," The man said, defeated. "You win. Take your prizes and go."
Gideon excitedly grabbed the round object and took off, leaving the several thousand pounds in tokens on the table behind him.
"I accept your parting gift." The man said with a nod and a grudging smile.
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"Incarcerous." Moody said angrily, tying up the last unconscious foe.
"Six out of seven isn't bad." Moody sighed. "But it ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH! We could have caught ALL SEVEN if one of us DIDN'T LOSE A FIGHT WITH A MUGGLE!"
He turned, shouting directly in Fabian's face at the end of his rant.
The Auror had an eye black enough to make a dementor jealous.
Gideon chuckled.
Alastor rounded on him.
"YOU HAVE NO ROOM TO TALK, PREWETT!" He spat. "I DID NOT SEE YOU DURING THAT ENTIRE FIGHT! WHERE DID YOU GO? TO GET A LOAN FROM GRINGOTTS?"
Gideon's smile never wavered.
"And what exactly do you have to smile about?" Moody hissed.
"This." He said pulling a small object from his pocket.
"A dancing frog statue?" Moody asked genuinely confused.
"No wait, that's for my sister, Molly. Here."
Gideon shoved his hand back into his pocket, this time pulling out a lightning blue, artificial eye, covered with pulsing veins.
"I got this off a muggle collector. You can use it in place of your eye!"
Moody picked it up out of his hand and looked it over. "One more thing Prewett."
"Yes?"
"Where's your cloak and shoes?"
Gideon opened his mouth and stopped. "That's not important right now, let's get these death eaters into custody."
Alastor grinned wryly, pocketing the eyeball, "Let's."