Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
-"The Stolen Child" by W. B. Yeats
Six Years Later:
The sun slowly rose over the Brocéliande Forest and cast its soft light to glide through the thick trees.
The gilded rays gently tickled the forest's inhabitants into wakefulness even as it forced into hiding the malicious creatures that roamed the forest at night.
For the forest's dwellers the golden light held in its hue a promise of another peaceful day, as safe and bright as the sunshine glinting in their eyes.
Yet, there were some places forbidden to those dazzling rays, where hope was barred entrance and only darkness prevailed. Deep underneath the forest's enchanting grounds where a secret labyrinth was hidden for evil to conduct its work without the revealing, condemning light of the sun.
Over the years, hundreds of captives had been held within Mordred's Labyrinth, but their numbers were brutally cut down by monsters—be they human or magical—through vicious spells, merciless claws, or cruel experiments.
Now it only imprisoned the unlucky survivors and the Labyrinth thirsted for new children to sink its claws into.
Down where the sun couldn't reach, most of the children no longer dared to dream of the bright world above and those who slipped and allowed themselves to wonder could never dare to cling to their fragile hopes.
Nearly all of them believed their Master was too powerful to refuse or defy and despair had settled its claws in those children's hearts and in many cases it twisted into a devoted surrender.
However, despite all of their Master's efforts, hope had managed to find residence in one girl's heart, brought in stealthily by a spirit stuck between worlds in a Void only the girl could enter.
Still, It had taken years for the girl's green eyes to finally reflect the shining bright light of the welcoming sun above.
Regrettably, it hadn't been hope that had driven the girl to finally escape nor did it have a place here on the outskirts of the Brocéliande Forest where the warm sun couldn't prevent the cold horror that flooded her veins as the green-eyed girl stood facing the Death Eaters as well the terrifying monster she had foolishly brought into their world.
"Enough of this, Eleven! Come back before your Master's patience runs out, girl."
Eleven bared her bloodied teeth. "I'd rather go to hell than back there."
As their spells rained down on her, Eleven fought back with everything she had, despite knowing she was no match for them with the monster there, not when her last encounter with the creature had sent her running like a cowardly little girl.
She threw every curse she knew and summoned the strange magic that always eagerly answered her call. She unleashed it on the Death Eaters and their men, bursting every vein in their bodies without remorse.
They were dead in seconds, a fate less painful than Eleven thought they deserved.
Although she had fought the Death Eaters before—sometimes even winning and still managing to escape when she didn't—fighting or escaping the monster seemed like an impossible task. Nothing Eleven did could hurt it for long and with his addition she feared this was the end of her hard-earned freedom.
Eleven's worst fear came true when one of the monster's powerful strikes hurled her into the half-crumbled fence surrounding the abandoned shed where she had once sheltered.
Her head spun from the impact and the pain coursing through her left her momentarily defenceless—a vulnerability the Death Eaters were quick to exploit.
Two curses hit her at once, wrenching a scream from her that cut off abruptly as Eleven's familiar fell as well and his pain resonated in her own bones and stole the breath right out of her lungs.
Yet, despite the agony racing through her, Eleven fought to get back to her feet, knowing the fate awaiting her if she gave up now.
But as expected from Dolohov, his curse was quite effective in destroying any remnant of resilience Eleven had, her body gave up on her in seconds and she dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.
Her green eyes blurred as her gaze drifted to the sky, for six years she had waited to see it and now Eleven couldn't help but despair as she wondered how many years would pass before she would get to see it again.
'I'm sorry.' Her familiar's own regret echoed in her head.
'It's not your fault.' Eleven's trembling fingers managed to graze against her familiar's bound form. 'We'll escape again, I promise.'
Her last thought was of her friend, Eleven had managed to hide her before the Death Eaters noticed her presence and she desperately hoped the other girl would remain safe. Eleven couldn't protect her anymore, not when she could no longer protect herself.
Her eyes closed against her will and with a final stuttering gasp Eleven fell into the unwelcome hold of unconsciousness.
Of the many men sent after her, only four had survived the encounter. They shared a disbelieving look as the girl finally fell, none of them had truly believed they would get the drop on her.
However, their relief didn't last long as they looked back at the monster picking its way through the bloodied bodies scattered around them.
"Get rid of the beast." Goyle snapped at Dolohov. His voice barely heard from where he was unashamedly hiding behind a rotten woodpile, as far away from the action as he could get while still keeping the pretence of participating.
Dolohov tried to conceal how his hands trembled as he rummaged in his robe pocket for the enchanted flute, but he couldn't hide how much the beast terrified him. Especially not when the monster's enormous jaw suddenly unfurled wide open to reveal hundreds of sharp teeth which sank without resistance into the nearest corpse.
"Hurry and send the thing away before it decides we're next." Rodulphose urged as he raced to mask the smell of their blood, knowing the monster was drawn to it. "….or before it does permanent damage to the girl, I guess."
Dolohov brought the enchanted flute to his lips and shuddered in disgust as he recalled what the flute was made of, mudbloods had their uses but their blood disgusted him all the same. Still, he forced himself to blow in the flute three times and waited.
The eerie tune echoed across the forest and Dolohov's legs nearly gave out in relief as the terrifying monster finally moved away towards the trees marking the barriers between Astolat and the Brocéliande Forest. Still clutching one of the corpses, the monster slithered into the blood red and disturbingly pulsating opening that had suddenly appeared in a tree trunk.
"Good, now that's done, let's secure the little mongrel. Can't say I'm keen on another fight." Lestrange gave Mac-Nair a pointed look and the Death Eater growled, he didn't want to be the one caught in a trap if the girl was faking.
"Get on with it Mac-Nair," Goyle yelled, still tucked carefully behind the protective logs.
Knowing he was outranked, Mac-Nair edged cautiously toward the fallen twelve year old and cast a quick spell to confirm her unconscious state.
"We got the little bitch!" He crowed and quickly threw a binding spell at her, it was the same spell he used to keep creatures bound tightly before he slaughtered them.
"Don't let it get to your head. The beast did most of the work for us." Dolohov spat the blood gathering in his mouth, an aftereffect of the cursed flute that would take hours to fade. He scowled at the thought, knowing this was their Lord's punishment for letting the girl escape the last time he had found her.
"Who cares? We have the girl. And with the flute, the monster is ours as well."
"I fail to see how any of this is a good thing!" Goyle wheezed as he finally left his hiding place. "Those children are as beastly as that monster but somehow we're supposed to put ourselves in danger for both."
"Yes we are," Snapped Lestrange, already exasperated with Goyle's predictable complaints. "If it means getting our lord back, I'll gladly sing a fucking lullaby to the wretched things!"
"They're nothing but filthy mudbloods that should be put down, Lestrange. This one, especially, should be begging for death after what she'd done. But instead they'll have us risk our lives to get her back and work with th-that beast to do it! Can't you see how mad all of this is getting?"
"Oh, really Goyle? Care to repeat any of that in front of our Lord? I'm sure he'd love to hear how you've been questioning his orders. He had killed men for less, you know?"
The Death Eaters jumped as Crouch materialised out of thin air as if he had slithered right out of the shadows next to Goyle's trembling form.
Goyle sneered at Crouch even as his face paled at the man's presence. "He is no Lord of mine. I serve only the Dark Lord!"
"Do you, now? And who do you think our Lord is doing all if this for? For once in your life, use that brain you've been miraculously given, Goyle."
"It's been seven years, Crouch. Do you think Black has any intention of getting our Lord back? Our Lord promised us Mordred's Revenge years ago, but now he's gone and Merlin's damned council is still standing while your Lord's done nothing but put us in danger so he could play with his little mudblood toys!"
"You've always been a coward and an impatient one at that." Crouch sneered. "Did you think bringing down Merlin's system would be that easy? Those filthy children are the Dark Lord's plan, our Lord has done nothing but follow the Dark Lord's plans and work on getting the Dark Lord back, you absolute imbecile! And that monster you're so afraid of is a fucking sign that we're finally succeeding!"
"How is that m-monster even–"
"Because as we've been telling you for fucking ages, it means we've finally reached the Dark Lord's kingdom!"
Goyle sputtered with fear at the mention of that kingdom. Most of his objections stemmed from the fact that he unfortunately and surprisingly understood the implication of contacting that realm. Before it had been sealed, the kingdom had spilled the dementors into Avalon, he trembled to think what other kinds of creatures resided below. If the monster was any indication, nothing good could come from opening a gate to that wretched realm.
It was for that reason he had tried to kill the girl instead of capturing her, she was the key to opening the damned gate. If only she hadn't been made this competent in combat and he wasn't constantly under watch from the others, Goyle would have already gotten rid of the problem and made sure the gate to hell would never be opened again.
"We'll continue our enlightening conversation once we have this filth secured." Crouch waved off the sputtering man and headed towards the unconscious girl. He waved his wand over her prone form and added his own binding and stunning spells just in case.
"We still have to get fresh blood for that damned flute to keep working." Dolohov hissed through bloodied lips as he helped Mac-Nair pile the corpses scattered across the ground, The wretched girl had spared no effort in trying to kill them all.
"We'll get those in Astolat, town's littered with mudbloods." Crouch replied as he started erasing the girl's magical signal and any trace of blood she had left behind. One droplet was enough for a skilled tracker and they couldn't risk her getting traced, not yet at least.
"What about the Seventh-borns?" Lestrange asked. "Where exactly are we going to get those? It's not like there are many pureblood girls born seventh in their families just waiting around for us to pick them off. "
"I've already managed to locate four. Greyback and I marked one before I joined you in your…heroic capture. We'll go get her this afternoon at the latest."
Crouch's smirk fell quickly as he looked down at the corpses they were securing and the mess of blood surrounding them.
"But first let's get this over with. Make sure to remove any trace of us being here, the last thing we need is for the Knights to get wind of this. The Prophet's announced they've been assigned the case by Merlin's filthy Hand."
"What?" Mac-Nair screeched and dropped the corpse he had been floating. "The Knights are after us now?"
Crouch rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mac-Nair, do keep up, we already knew they would. But don't worry your little head, our Lord has a plan and it's quite entertaining, I assure you. Sirius Black will rue the day he dared stand in our way."
"We'll have to make sure the girl didn't tell anyone anything." Lestrange eyed the girl as if contemplating interrogating her right here. "If Black's on the case, he might figure out what really happened to his little mongrel."
"Oh, my lord will make her spill everything, don't worry." Crouch smirked. "And as for him finding out…..that's eventually our Lord's plan, and trust me, Black will break long before he gets to see his soiled filth again."
"What do you mean the Lord wants him finding out, Crouch? We can't afford having Black on our tail, it's bad enough the Knights have been alerted to our…activities. Now you want Black to come after us with his personal vendetta!"
"That's not information you'll ever be privy to, Goyle. We can't afford you running your mouth, especially not now when we're finally so close to pulling this off."
As Goyle turned beat red in anger, Crouched just sneered and resumed erasing the girl's tracks while the other Death Eaters worked on removing the corpses and clearing the grounds of any trace of magic or bodily fluids.
Perched high in the trees, Luna Lovegood remained frozen, her wide eyes fixed on the Death Eaters and the motionless girl they surrounded.
If she could have, Luna would have resumed screaming in terror when the Death Eaters appeared in the monster's trail. Better yet, she would have fought them with Eleven if her friend hadn't instantly cast a spell to petrify her in place and concealed her just as the Death Eaters had appeared.
"Stay safe." Were her friend's last words and tears streamed down Luna's face as she wondered if between the terrifying monster and the vicious Death Eaters, Eleven would ever be safe again.
Though quite imaginative, Luna hadn't fully grasped what the creature haunting Eleven really was. The girl hadn't gone to details when she had finally told her about the monster, but the sheer terror in her voice had pierced through Luna's heart all the same.
However, the reality of it hadn't truly sunk in until she suddenly found herself facing the beast. Had Eleven not appeared when she did, Luna was certain she would have been long dead.
And because she had come to save her, Eleven had ended up in the capture of the ones she feared the most.
Luna knew coming back here had cost Eleven everything even though her friend had revealed very little about herself or what she was running from, not even sharing her real name—or so Luna had thought. But she always made Luna repeat her promise that she will not tell anyone about her.
She had looked so grave as she warned Luna that her pursuers had spies everywhere and would stop at nothing to find her, even if it meant killing Luna and her family.
Luna had kept the promise, telling no one—not even her parents—but now she wondered if breaking it was the only way to save her friend.
No matter the risk on her life, Luna couldn't bear the thought of her friend suffering and especially not when she was the reason Eleven had been captured in the first place.
"Alright, I'll take her back to the Labyrinth while you lot finish up here." Crouch said and a cry lodged in Luna's throat as he picked up El's tightly bound form.
They were going to take her away and Luna had no way of knowing where they were going and what they were going to do to her.
"We'll pick up a couple of mudbloods on our way, we can't risk running out of blood, that beast is hard to control as it is."
"Fine, but make sure to lay low, can't have Black sniffing too close."
Luna committed every Death Eater present to memory and everything they had said and done, even though she didn't know who to turn to with the information she had and who she could trust to help her friend.
Her parents had already instilled in her a deep mistrust of the government, but after meeting Eleven and hearing the things she had revealed, Luna was sure she could never trust anyone outside of her parents and Ginny.
Luna's usually serene mind raced as she searched desperately for a way to help her friend. The Aurors were quickly discarded and her parents—as much as she loved them, couldn't provide the help she needed.
For a second, she thought of Ginny's uncle, he was a Knight and his partner, Sirius Black, was clearly someone the men below didn't want finding out about them. She could go to them, ask them for help.
The thought lingered briefly but was quickly dismissed as she remembered El's warning that the Death Eaters constantly kept the Knights under surveillance.
"Oh and Goyle, come back with the others once you're done. I haven't forgotten about our earlier discussion and I'm sure our Lord would love to hear what you have to say."
In the blink of an eye, Crouch was gone, taking her friend along with him.
Still perched motionless high above, Luna wept silently in helplessness and guilt.
Desperate, her frantic mind circled back to the Knights, her mother trusted them and considering the fay never trusted wielders, it was a ringing endorsement as far as Luna was concerned.
'They have…magic that helps them watch everything the Knights say and do, Luna. They know everything that goes on in Camlann and even in the Knights own homes if they wanted. They could listen to anyone, anywhere. You can't tell anyone about me…promise me, please. I don't want them to hurt you, please Luna."
Luna despaired as Eleven's warning echoed in her head. If Eleven was right—and Luna trusted she was, she couldn't go to the Knights for help. She couldn't go to anyone.
Sirius took a sip of the terribly made tea and tried not to grimace at the bitter taste. He hastily put the cup back down and tried to centre himself for the coming meeting. Dealing with Death Eaters never failed to test his already thin patience.
"Ugh, it's like I'm back in that dead banshee's Bundimun infested basement," Hestia's face screwed with disgust as she tried the tea Yaxley's secretary had brought in. "Think Yaxley had this sent as payback for us taking over his case."
Sirius snorted. "If he had, then it would've been poisoned instead of tasting like hippogriff dung. And I've already checked, it's clean."
"Careful, Sirius, Moody's rubbing off on you." Hestia laughed, and their commander's eye spun in their direction at the mention of his name. "Next thing and you'll start yelling 'Constant Vigilance' and frightening the poor trainees half to death."
Sirius barked a laugh, he couldn't deny that his years as a Knight had given him an ugly understanding of Mad-eye's paranoia.
"Speak of the devil." Hestia grimaced as Yaxley and the Aurors entered the meeting room.
Sirius kept his face impassive even as the tendrils of dark magic coming off the Death Eater reached him. The man's magic tasted bitterly acidic and worse, by its strength, Sirius could tell he had cast dark magic recently.
The mere sight of a free Death Eater walking had Sirius's blood boiling with rage and while he had learned to conceal it better, he could never bear how the spectre that constantly haunted him was brought into sharp focus in the Death Eaters' presence—the condemnation in those phantom green eyes always threatened to break him.
"Lord Black," The man at Yaxley's right simpered. "It's an honour, a true pleasure."
"I'm sure," Sirius drawled, not returning the sentiment.
"No need to kiss Black's arse, or any of our arses' for that matter," Moody barked at the Auror. "The knights were pulled into this case and we have some work to do considering your lot managed to muck it up worse than even possible."
The Aurors shifted restlessly in their seats —the few who had joined to do some good were shamed at their failure, while the majority with less honourable intentions were just uncomfortable with the Knights' presence.
As the rest of the Auror's filled in, Sirius winked at Tonks and inclined his head in Kingsley's direction, the only two he trusted in the whole Auror's department.
"Now, I want to see everything you have, maybe it'll help me understand why kids have been going missing for a whole year and the esteemed Aurors have done nothing but twiddle their thumbs!"
"Mad-eye, you do realise we're working with you as a courtesy." Yaxley hissed.
"I'd like to see you refuse Merlin's Hand," Moody smirked, the scar on his face twitching into a vicious tilt. "I won't say I'd mind getting rid of one more Death Eater."
"You're out of line, I was exonerated!"
"Pffft, as if that means anything to anyone. Your Failed Lord would've been exonerated by those judges, doesn't change the fact that you kissed his boots just like everyone else in that psycho band of his."
To Sirius's chagrin, Hestia intervened before Yaxley's face could get any redder. "Gentlemen, I believe we have a case to solve and kids to find. Might as well get started.
Sharp coldness flooded Sirius's veins as heard the case files and listened to the auror's findings, the case was much bigger and certainly more horryfying than they had initially thought.
There have been reports of pureblood kids going missing for the past year, and though they were not assigned the case, the Knights still kept up with it. Moody had theorised that one of the darker covens was indulging in sacrifice rituals while Sirius's first instinct was to suspect the Death Eaters considering most of Avalon's tragedies could be traced back to them.
But when the number of missing kids kept on mounting while the Aurors failed to even find a lead, Moody had petitioned The Hand to take over the case. Thankfully, Merlin's judge had quickly decreed the case a matter of Avalon security and ordered the Knights of the Round Table to take over.
However, this was the first time the Knights had been given concrete evidence and details, rather than chaotic accounts from grieving parents seeking their help or the Ministry's propaganda spun by Rita Skeeter.
Kingsly's and Tonks' reports—the only ones worth the read, painted a much darker picture than the theories Moody or Sirius had come up with.
They provided evidence that kids had been disappearing much earlier but without anyone noticing, because those kids were the wrong sort for anyone to care about.
At least twenty nine Avalon muggleborns have gone missing the last two years, either disappearing from their homes back in the muggle world or from the preparatory schools and the few muggleborn orphanages here in Camelot.
As expected, their disappearances garnered no attention from the Auror Corps headed by Yaxley until pureblood children started going missing as well.
Tonks found reports of Greyback sightings in the areas surrounding the muggleborn orphanages around the estimated time of the kids' disappearance. Kingsley went even further, he had investigated back in the muggle world and found reports from muggles witnessing strange lights and men wearing black dress-like garments and white masks, Death Eaters as the citizens of Avalon knew them to be.
"How exactly did those Death Eaters manage to cast magic in the Muggle World without it alerting the Aurors?" Sirius asked through gritted teeth.
The horror of realising that the missing children were probably in the hands of those human scum was straining the meagre control he had on his rising temper. Or they were already dead, Sirius didn't want to even think of that possibility.
"That's what I'd like to know." Moody said. "I do seem to recall The Detector working just fine last month when you tried to get the Thomas boy expelled for accidental magic, Yaxley. How come it could easily detect a minor magical mishap and yet fail to detect Death Eaters doing Merlin knows what in the muggle world?!"
"Just because muggles thought they saw robed men doesn't mean Death Eaters were there, Mad-eye." Yaxely sneered.
"Pretty accurate description of Death Eaters, though. Can't say there are many bone mask wearing blokes running around the muggle world, especially since…how did the report put it?" Sirius made a show of shuffling through the parchments. "Here it is, deranged men wearing black dresses–no wait, not that one…. ah, yes shooting strange lights from their sticks and acting very unseemly…quite violent…very vulgar and rude when approached. I'd say that's enough to verify they're Death Eaters. They were always a bunch of nutters and I'm sure getting constantly crucioed by the Failed Lord didn't help their case any."
Hestia snorted. "Nothing else could explain why they followed the noseless nutter."
Yaxely shot them a venomous look, "As your commander just pointed out, the fact that The Detector had not registered anything is further proof that the Death Eaters were not involved and in fact nothing happened to those muggleborns. I've already dismissed those cases based on that fact. Both Tonks and Kingsley should have listened to their superior instead of wasting our time on muggleborn hysteria."
"There are twelve muggleborns missing in Astolat alone." Tonks scowled at the Head Auror. "Their parents had instantly reported their disappearance, and the fact that there were signs of violence, but for some inexplicable reason those cases too were dismissed."
Kingsley took over before Yaxley could interrupt and went on discussing the muggleborns' disappearance as if his boss hadn't spoken at all. Despite the anger thrumming in his veins, Sirius was impressed with how the two had managed to gather all of that information and investigate these cases without their Head Auror noticing what the two were up to.
As Kingsley explained the rest of their findings, a nagging suspicion began to take root in Sirius's mind—something about this case felt eerily similar to the one he and Gideon had been investigating before Mad-Eye had pulled them into this one.
For the past two months, Sirius and Gideon had been investigating the strange cases of magical creature related disappearances occurring around the Brocéliande Forest.
It started when a teenager disappeared near the forest's border close to the Centaurs' enclaves, leaving behind only signs of struggle and a broken wand. Besides the boy's blood, the magical forensic unit found the saliva of an animal they couldn't identify.
Then the remains of a child had been found, mutilated beyond recognition near the forest as well. The child remained unidentified to this day.
Afterwards, a wizard had disappeared from Astolat, a town near the forest's east border. Similar to the teenager, they found only that strange saliva and the victim's blood at the scene while the wizard's trail had cut off abruptly as if he had been disapparated mid struggle. Magically reconstructing the crime scene didn't yield any results, too much time had passed and any magical imprints had long since faded.
Eight had disappeared since then and all had shown signs of struggle but had left no magical trail for Sirius and Gideon to follow. While the Brocéliande Forest was quite dangerous at night and thus magically sealed, all the disappearances had occurred during the day and only around the forest's borders.
The magical residents of the forest were of no help. It took a lot of convincing for the centaurs to even admit that two of their numbers had disappeared. Aside from making cryptic remarks about dark kingdoms and a red star brightening soon—a remark that struck a raw nerve with Sirius—they refused to share their thoughts on what might be behind the attacks.
Most of the fay had only recently migrated back to the forest for the winter, leaving them with little information to offer, aside from the sightings of strange young witches wandering the woods and vanishing before they could be warned to leave.
Sirius and Gideon had been sure Greyback and his pack were behind it somehow but couldn't find any evidence to get a warrant or to bring them in for questioning. Now Sirius began to suspect that they had failed to find evidence because their case was much bigger than they had originally thought, that the aurors case was tied to it as well and it wasn't just Greyback acting on his own.
Besides both cases involving missing individuals, ties to Greyback, and the same methods for removing their trace, Tonks' report had solidified Sirius's suspicions since she had found that the muggleborns who went missing recently had all lived near the Brocéliande forest as well.
Still, Sirius decided to share his suspicions with Moody only after they were done with the Aurors. The last thing he needed was for Yaxley to gain any information that could help him further sabotage the investigation.
"All I'm seeing is a couple of Muggleborns realising they couldn't keep up with our world and going back to their appropriate place." Yaxley sneered as Kingsley and Tonks finished presenting their findings on the muggleborns who had gone missing here in Avalon. "Why the mighty Knights should concern themselves with it is a mystery to me. But of course we—the humble servants of Avalon, will always comply with The Hand's commands."
"Aside from the obvious reasons you're wrong, Yaxley, how about the fact that some of those muggleborns went missing right after managing to receive a Hogwarts letter?" Sirius asked. "How many kids do you know manage to reach Hogwarts' standards enough to not only get an invitation, but also earn a full scholarship, only to suddenly decide they didn't want to go to the legendary school? And then, for no apparent reason, vanish without a trace in the dead of night, with no word or explanation to anyone?"
"And they never showed back up in the muggle world, they just disappeared completely." Tonks added, ignoring her current boss' glare.
"And many were quite young as well. I highly doubt they had the need or the means to leave Avalon on their own." Kingsley added, still looking calm even though he must have had this argument with Yaxley a hundred times already. "I firmly believe the muggleborns did not leave willingly, Head Auror."
Sirius gritted his teeth as Yaxley tried another tactic and Moody took on the argument, he knew that trying to reason with the Death Eater was of no use.
At times like these, he regretted that Lily had stopped him all those years ago when he had set out to purge Avalon of its Death Eater problem. Seven years on, the legal system she had placed her faith in had done nothing but serve those degenerates.
Now, things had reached the point where the Head Auror's job seemed to be in employing the law to enable the Death Eater's crimes and to obstruct anyone attempting to investigate them.
"The Muggle world is vast and rather primitive, or so I've heard," Yaxley waved off Moody's latest argument. "I highly doubt you could find a couple of lost muggleborns without using magic in such a place. And since magic is forbidden there, it's more than likely you just couldn't find them using their inadequate methods. The taxpayers won't be pleased to know we're wasting their money there at any rate."
"It's the Aurors job to protect our citizens, Head Auror. If that means searching both Avalon and the Muggle World then that is what we must do. Those children are depending on us."
"Of course, Auror Kingsley, and I will stop at nothing to protect our citizens. But tell me, are we supposed to go chasing after wayward muggleborns every time their incompetent parents couldn't manage to keep an eye on them?"
The constant anger thrumming in Sirius's veins surged like a wild storm and with the condemnation of fierce green eyes imprinted in his eyelids, Sirius's control finally snapped. "It says much about the state of Avalon that the likes of you, Yaxley, not only have the luxury to breathe but are also entrusted with protecting its citizens. Those kids were taken and I'm bloody sure you know exactly where they are. Your Death Eater—"
"I would be careful if I were you, Lord Black." Yaxley interrupted, his eyes glinting with maliciousness. "You're close to accusing another Lord of treason."
"Oh, Please," Hestia scoffed as Sirius fought to control his temper. "It's not an accusation when it's true, we all know you're still running around with—"
"Miss Jones! I've been tolerant—"
"Enough!" Moody shoved off the table, the motion fluid despite his wooden leg. "We're done here. Considering the Head Auror seems to think it's a waste of time, we'll stop wasting ours with him. This case is now officially under the Knight's jurisdiction. Kingsley, Tonks, you're enough to fulfil the cooperation laws. We'll call upon the esteemed Aurors if we need our shoes shined!"
Mad-Eye clunked his way out of the room, ignoring Yaxley's sputtering protests. Sirius was swift to follow, halting only when Yaxley tried to replace Moody's chosen Aurors with two of his own loyal ones.
"Now, now, Yaxley. What misfortune are your Auror's willing to endure if Moody decides they need a quick judgment by The Hand before they can work with us. You know how Merlin's staff gets whenever someone unsuitable enters its domain and is judged unworthy. Personally, I'd love nothing more than to be rid of them both, but I doubt they feel the same way."
The replacement Aurors paled and dropped back into their seats.
With a muffled snort, Tonks grabbed her bag and scattered parchments and tripped her way out of the room while Kingsley followed in a more sedate pace.
"Wotcher, Cuz. Long time no see." Tonks' hair flickered from pink to dark green. "Mum's pretty mad at you, by the way. Do try and visit before she storms Grimmauld."
Sirius hummed noncommittally and quickened his pace, knowing Tonks will have trouble keeping up with him.
Though he missed Andromeda and Ted, socializing demanded an energy Sirius often lacked. Worse still, Andy saw through him far too easily—he couldn't pretend he was fine around her the way he could with most others in his life.
"That's Sirius Black!"
"Lord Black!"
"…..the man who conquered!"
Sirius moved through the crowd with the ease of seven years' practice, working hard to tune out their adoring stares and the unnervingly reverent comments that verged on worship.
Although taking Veritaserum during the trial had been wise advice, Sirius sometimes wished he could throttle Dumbledore for not warning him about the consequences of the public learning about his role in Voldemort's downfall. Sirius would never have agreed to being hailed as a saviour, even if the alternative was rotting in Azkaban.
Gideon joined them once they reached the Atrium. He sidled up next to Sirius, looking for all the world as if he had been at the meeting with them all along.
"…..so?" The redhead muttered.
"Probably in on it," Sirius confirmed.
"Well, I managed to get all the files–"
"And you'll manage to get my staff where the sun doesn't shine if you don't shut your gob!" Moody snarled, his eye whirling in every direction. "Save it until we're back in Camlann!"
Sirius and Gideon just rolled their eyes, beyond used to the wizards' paranoia. Tonks—who was as unfortunate as she was lucky to have been accepted as his apprentice, still jumped and nearly poked a man's eye out with her wand as the Commander yelled 'constant vigilance' and proceeded to rant about corrupt Aurors.
Once she gets accepted into the knights and Sirius had no doubt she would, Tonks would get used to their commander's quite impassioned yet highly paranoid speeches. Especially considering she would more than likely develop a bad case of paranoia herself.
"What did you learn, then?" Gidion asked quietly as they waited for their turn in the Floo queue.
"Twenty nine children have gone missing this past year and sodding Yaxley had been covering it all up. God knows how many others have gone missing without us knowing about it. And the kicker, Death Eaters probably have them. "
"…What?" Gideon's face paled and he looked at Sirius as if his partner was speaking in Gobbledegook. "We would have heard about it, Sirius. Parents would've petitioned us at least."
"I don't know, most of them were orphans but we still need to check the petitions. Rotten cherry on a shite cake if we have a rat in headquarters."
Chills racked his frame as Sirius went into the green fire, everything about the case unnerved him. Sirius always tried to separate himself from his cases–as much as he was capable of that at any rate, but the thought of children in the hands of those monster made his stomach turn with tangible horror.
"Camlann Fort." As the green flames whirled and sent him spinning between the Camelot's fireplaces and hearths, one thought kept circling in Sirius's head only to take root in his heart and solidify into grim determination. He will find those children no matter the cost. Sirius had already failed his own child and he couldn't bear failing another again.
Note:
-Bundimun: magical creature that resembles a patch of fungus with eyes and smells like decay.
-On the Centaurs remark 'a red star brightening soon' that greatly bothered Sirius: the Mira star —a red giant star, is a periodic variable star, which means it changes brightness, it becomes bright enough to see with the naked eye then it dims to become invisible and so on… just leaving this here, lol.