Ascension: The Triumvirate

by Define Anachronistic

(AU) The Triwizard Tournament is here and Harry has qualified as its youngest-ever participant. Rivals the world over have put a target on his back, but he's eager to test his mettle against them- the very best of his generation. But unbeknownst to him, all of this is within the scope of Voldemort's plan. Friends appear to be enemies and enemies as friends. Nothing is as it seems.

20. A House Divided

CHAPTER ELEVEN

A House Divided

Michael's Halloween night began with another infiltration.

He had been worried before about sneaking Megan in and out of the London Citadel but after getting away with it for so long he hardly thought about it anymore. However, tonight was the exception. Tonight was the night he broke the Auror's Code. It was the night he took retribution against his brother.

Michael had chosen the time to act with care. Most Aurors were out in the city and surrounding counties at this hour as Dark Wizards and Beasts tended to work under the cover of night. He flashed his badge at the guarded gate and Megan paused to log in her Ouroboros under the pretence of being invited by an off-duty Auror, but she needn't have bothered. Sentries hardly seemed to care as long as visitors had a reasonable excuse.

Security wasn't nearly as tight as he'd believed. Megan seemed to agree.

"If we didn't have so much riding on this I'd try and get by without logging my Ouroboros in next time." Her voice was low as they went up the steps that led to the Boots' private quarters. "Would that be enough to get their eyes off the Odeon?"

The next part of the plan was harder, but not due to difficulty. He needed to attack a pair of fellow Aurors for his plan to succeed.

Michael had known this would be challenging, so he picked a time when an Auror who always sneered at him would be on duty. It was petty, but after a lifetime of strangers carrying grudges against him due to his parentage, Michael was without pity for his sort.

The overall plan would be smoother if he waited until after midnight, but then Tonks and Marcus were on duty and he wouldn't attack a friend. Not even for a chance to strike back at Robert.

It was that thought which kept him climbing the Citadel's many stairs. By morning, Robert will be in shackles, he told himself. Elissa will be down one apprentice.

This internal mantra helped him breathe easier as they neared the watchtower.

Michael ducked into an empty training hall and Megan swiftly followed, closing the door behind her. The door opened a minute later and the two continued on their way, invisible and obscured from all other senses. As they climbed up the winding staircase that led to their destination, Michael made sure to control his breathing and to tread lightly even though he had silenced them as well; they would be going up against trained Aurors, and he knew better than to underestimate them.

He was right to be careful.

The southern watchtower had been his choice as it was at the opposite end of the Citadel to the gates, so there was no chance of any flashes from spellfire alerting the guards there. The guards on duty were known to complain of boredom, as while the other towers had views of the park and city- where they could at least observe Muggles- the southern watchtower mostly watched over the parts of the lake that was cut off from the Muggle world, waiting for an aquatic attack that never came.

Michael had hoped this meant they would be drowsy due to the late hour and lack of stimulation, but he had underestimated the Citadel's preparedness.

The door that led to the top of the tower let out a brutally loud creaking noise the instant he nudged it forward and the two guards instantly snapped their heads in his direction.

Michael reacted instinctively, diving and rolling forward but that didn't help him avoid the Human-Presence-Revealing spell the Auror to his right cast. However, Michael made him pay for it by stabbing his wand into his gut as he came out his roll and cast a silent Stunning Spell.

Unfortunately, despite his attempt to hide the red light of the stunning spell by obscuring it with the Auror's body, the other one- the sneering Auror- still guessed where he was because his partner suddenly rag-dolled. Michael snapped a Shield Charm into place in the nick of time, though the Auror's desperation made his spell powerful enough to shatter his shield rather than deflect the spell back on him as he had intended.

Still, that gave him the momentum he needed to roll backwards onto his feet. He raised his wand to match his opponent's in what would likely have been a gruelling duel if Megan hadn't intervened.

Reminding him of her presence with a flash of blue light behind the Auror's back, Megan made her displeasure known when the man fell forward onto his face, limbs restrained by a Body-Bind Curse. "All the preparation we've done, and it was almost ruined by a creaky door?"

Michael put a finger to his lips before remembering he was invisible. "Shh!" He said instead, as he stunned the Auror. "We don't want him to have a memory of our voices, do we?"

There was a pause before she replied. "No, we don't." He could hear the abashed tone in her voice.

Michael didn't feel the need to continually deride her for it like he would have if he were with his friends. He felt she wouldn't have considered it friendly ribbing if he did so. "Come on, let's get them out of here." Once both Aurors were silenced, bound and disillusioned, Michael levitated them back down the stairs and through the many corridors to the training hall from earlier. Megan followed with her hand on his shoulder so she didn't lose him in their invisible states.

Once the two were inelegantly dumped in the corner, Michael plucked hairs from their targets and dropped them into the two flasks of Polyjuice Potion he had brought with him. "Remember," he reminded Megan as he handed her a flask. "Drink it all. It won't last if you don't have a full dose."

"I know, I know," Megan sighed as she finished stripping the two Aurors of their uniforms and Ouroboroses. "You don't have to keep reminding me." Despite her words, he knew it was a struggle for her to drink down the flask's contents in its entirety and heard her gag more than once. "Don't look!" She warned him as they dropped their Disillusionment Charms and began to change.

"Believe me, I wasn't going to." Michael turned his back, so he didn't have to watch his girlfriend reveal her new burly, hairy form. "Let me know if you need any help with the boots. The buckles can be a bit tricky."

"I know how to put shoes on, thanks." Megan swallowed her pride a minute later when she asked for his help. "Why'd you need so many buckles anyway?" She asked as he showed her how it was done.

"Captain Solace says it's to keep every bit of skin covered in case we get attacked by smaller creatures." He hadn't liked the idea of something vicious crawling up his trouser leg back then and Megan seemed to hate it even more.

"Does that happen often?"

"Oh yeah." He nodded down to the Auror who seemed to be sneering even in his sleep. "This one lost his bits to a sharp-toothed pixie just last month." Megan snorted.

When they were done changing, they marched in time downstairs towards the cells beneath the Citadel. They only had eighty minutes left to the next guard change at midnight, so they had to be quick about it. However, there was a tense moment when they neared the ground floor as both Anthony and Terry hurried past them up the stairs. He feared that the squad was being called in on their night off, but then he remembered that they lived here and felt foolish.

"Are you okay?" Megan asked once the two were out of sight. "You looked faint there for a minute."

Michael took a deep breath as they turned to go down the basement stairs. "I was just surprised. I'll be fine." She looked unsure and Michael- hating to be doubted- increased his pace as they neared the reinforced door at the end of the corridor. He tapped his wand onto his head once more as she pressed one of the Ouroboroses they had stolen against the cool metal.

One guard was spooning sugary cereal into his mouth, captivated with the Odeon which was playing a rerun of The Heart's Darkest Curse. However, his partner- who looked beyond bored with the drama- glanced away at the sound of the door opening and frowned when she saw who it was. "Shouldn't you be on watchtower duty? You moaned about it enough." Megan lifted the clear flask of blood she was holding. "For the vampire? Bit late for dinner, isn't it?"

"Captain Solace wants her fed." Megan shrugged as Michael silently and invisibly made his way around their desks to their backs. "Apparently using the stick didn't work so maybe the carrot will get her to talk."

The guard snorted derisively. "I didn't think Solace had any interest in sticks-" She was cut off by the jet of red light that hit her between the shoulders. Her partner coughed on a mouthful of Cheeriowls as he fumbled for his wand, but it was too late. A second spell had him slumping onto his desk right beside his partner.

"Anapneo!" Michael glanced up to find Megan staring at him. "What? I don't want him to choke in his sleep."

"Good point," she said as he led the way to Bethany's cell.

"Darling! What took you so long?" For someone who had spent over two months strung up from the ceiling, Bethany was remarkably composed. Megan looked confused.

"How'd you know it was me?"

"You can change your appearance, but your scent lingers all around you."

Michael made a note to erase his scent if he ever went undercover around a Vampire before raising his wand once more. "Fortevio!" The advanced tracking spell was one of two charms he had practised relentlessly over the last fortnight, but he still didn't feel comfortable casting it nonverbally. In fact, when the thin, golden thread appeared between the tip of his wand and the stone wall behind Bethany, he let out a sigh of relief. "Honestly, I was still fifty-fifty on whether that spell would even work."

"I'm happy for you," Megan rolled her eyes. "But can you hurry up? We're behind schedule." Michael sighed as he went around the prisoner to the wall. Her abrasiveness was harder to put up with without her pretty features.

Michael knelt in front of the brick the golden thread was connected to but there was no trace of an Anchor there, not even a single Rune. He scratched his head as he weighed his options.

He could try breaking through the wall, but even if the Anchor was behind there, he might be leaving a trace for the ensuing investigation even after repairing the wall. However, if he tried to nullify the Anchor through the wall, he'll likely end up triggering the alarm response-

"What's taking so long?" Megan asked nervously. "Can you do it or not?" Michael was about to snap at her, but Bethany spoke before he could.

"Patience, dear." Bethany smiled at him from over her shoulder. "Your friend likely needs space and quiet to work." Michael turned away from her, unnerved at how alluring a mere smile from a Vampire could be.

Deciding to take the second option (as they could break Bethany's chains and flee while the Aurors upstairs scrambled if it failed), Michael withdrew a thin strip of parchment that had four different Runic Complexes drawn on in pencil and repeated in sequence across four lines. He pressed it on the wall above the brick and tapped it with his wand. "Astrictus!" Once it was stuck there, he repeated this with three more strips of parchment until all four were touching corners around the brick in a diamond formation.

"Think you've got it?" Megan's disguised voice in his ear was so unexpected that he almost toppled over from his crouch.

"Y-yeah." He coughed to cover his stutter. "Paper and pencil to symbolise the temporary nature, four Complexes repeated four times for the "death" of the enchantment and the diamond formation-"

"I'm no good with Runes, remember?" Megan interrupted. "I meant are you ready to go?"

Michael rose. "Let's find out." He pointed his wand at the brick and, when he felt calm and in control once more, he cast the second of his hard-practised spells. "Resigno Inimicum!" There was no flash of light or puff of smoke to let him know if his spell had worked or not, only the clanging sound of Bethany's chains unclasping around her limbs and falling to the stone floor.

As for the woman herself, she landed on her feet with more grace than any human could have managed. She rolled her shoulders once, which was all she needed to recover from the effects of hanging from her arms for nine weeks. "Megan, please tell me you brought more blood than that. I'm starving."

As Megan handed her mother the first of the three flasks she had thought to bring, Michael reached into his bag to withdraw a transfigured doll from his bag. He enlarged it until it was life-sized and cast, "Aevum!" One of the weaker animation spells, the Aevum Charm brought inanimate objects to "life". Unlike Piertotum Locomotor which could operate on its own, the Aevum Charm had to be given specific instructions.

"Pretend to be asleep," Michael told the animated doll. "No matter what happens, do not respond."

"What in the world is that?" Bethany sounded aghast as her doppelganger lay down on the ground, breathing slowly as though in a deep slumber.

"Something to buy us time for when the shift change comes around." Michael levitated the doll until it was where Bethany had been hanging a moment before. "Dissimulo!" As the Nullification Spell faded and the strips of parchment fell to the floor, the shackles snapped back into position but around the doll's wrists instead of Bethany's.

"Not bad," Bethany admitted.

Michael grunted and opened up Eddie's bag. "If you're impressed by that, you're going to love this." When he explained what he wanted her to do, Bethany made it clear that she definitely didn't love his idea. It was only when he pointed out that Polyjuice wouldn't work on non-humans and- aside from the training halls- other magical disguises didn't work in the Citadel did she acquiesce. "And you'll have enough time to drink all that delicious blood Megan got for you."

The mention of her daughter gave her pause and Megan capitalised on it. "Please, Mum? It'll only be until we're away from the Citadel." The puppy dog look she gave her was disturbing for Michael with the stubbly face she was wearing, but it made Bethany soften.

"Fine," she sighed and began stepping into the bag and lowering herself into its surprising depths. "But if you don't-"

Whatever threats she was about to make never reached their ears as Michael zipped the bag closed after her and tapped it with his wand. I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. Opening the bag again, he was pleased when all he saw was the half-eaten sandwich he had left for later.

"She'll be alright, won't she?" Megan looked worried when she couldn't see her mother within the confines of the bag.

"Of course." Michael threw the bag over his shoulder and led the way out of the cell. "A normal human can survive in there for ten minutes or so before they begin to suffocate, and your mother doesn't even need air to breathe. She'll be fine." Unfortunately, this failed to put her at ease.

"What do you mean suffocate?"

Michael picked up the pace, wanting the excuse of being around others for why he wasn't answering her increasingly harried questions.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Even after his growth spurt, Terry struggled to keep up with Anthony when he was running at full speed.

Passing by two agitated Aurors on the staircase, they hurried up through the Citadel towards the training hall on the fifth floor where Felicia was expecting them. They entered in a hurry but stumbled to a halt when they saw the two stunned and stripped Aurors on the ground before her.

Felicia skipped over any greetings. "It's happened."

"We just saw them." Anthony breathed. "We passed these two on the stairs running up here."

"Four short doses are within the amount that was reported as missing from the potions store if you divide it carefully." Terry thought about it. "Michael isn't all that good at Potions, but he can calculate that much on his own."

Anthony didn't seem interested in his calculations. "I can't believe he would actually go through with it." He looked at Felicia, beseechingly. "I know he's responsible for his own actions, but we only made it worse by not stopping him and moving obstacles out of his way. Can't we do anything? Please?"

Felicia's expression was hard when she turned to face them, but it faltered when she met Anthony's eyes. A flash of irritation crossed her face as she swished her wand at the unconscious Aurors. "Obliviate!"

Anthony let out a slow breath. "Thank you."

"It won't mean anything unless we get them back in uniform and to their posts before shift change." Felicia sighed frustratedly. "Terry, help me get them to the south watchtower. Anthony, get them a change of clothes from their lockers and meet us up there."

Levitating the two wizards up the stairs was easy enough, but Terry still found it uncomfortable as Felicia was clearly in a bad mood. Still, he had to try and look out for his friend, no matter how stupid he was being. "There is a clear way out of this, you know."

Felicia didn't even bother looking back at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Terry swallowed nervously. "Michael and Megan are on a date, he spots his brother, calls us in for back up and we just so happen to stumble upon an Acolyte and whatever she has planned."

"Oh, and what of the Vampire?" Felicia did glance back at him this time and rather than angry like he had expected, she looked defeated. "The fact that she's the girl's mother and will be present at the scene makes it impossible to sweep under the rug. Believe me, I've tried coming up with a way that this doesn't blow back on him, but Michael's dug his own grave with this one. Either he gets in trouble for trying to break her out, or we give him a little unseen help and he gets into trouble anyway, but we get to take down another Acolyte as well."

"So, Michael's screwed either way?"

Felica grunted. "At least this way we can use the Vampire as a tracker to get to Vanessa Acosta."

Terry was silent after that. Maybe this was difficult for Felicia as well, maybe even more than it was for them. She didn't seem to have been close to anyone aside from her sister, and now one of the students she had taken into her trust had decided to go rogue. Despite this, Terry couldn't help but recall her earlier words regarding Michael.

I won't teach a traitor.

As he wasn't slowed down by the floating of two invisible, unconscious bodies, Anthony reached the watchtower just a minute after they did and with a single wave of Felicia's wand, the uniforms in his arms were now clothing the Auror Sentries. Felicia waved them back down the winding staircase after propping the two wizards up against parallel walls and jabbed her wand at them before quickly shutting the door.

"You woke them up?" Anthony asked.

"Just one of them." Felicia corrected. "It wouldn't have been believable if they both woke up at the same time."

"What now?" Terry asked, ready to hurry to Nix as soon as possible to back Michael up, but Felicia had other ideas.

"Don't forget about the guards in the cells."

Terry groaned. Cleaning up after Michael was a drag.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Susan heard her brother's voice before she saw him.

"So, what's the plan?"

Though she was already invisible, she pressed herself deeper against the walls as if to blend in with the shadows. Her eyes scanned Knockturn Alley, trying to locate Michael's blonde head, but her gaze stopped unwillingly on a stocky figure in a cloak as he stomped past. Of course, he would be wearing his hood up, she realised. He's paranoid about people recognising him at the best of times.

And these were definitely not the best of times.

Susan ducked out of the alley and followed closely, not wanting to lose sight of them after spending the last two hours waiting in an alley. "The plan is simple." The woman to Michael's left also wore a hood to cover her features, but the sound of her voice was distinctive, alluring and husky. "We go inside and find a way into the backroom offices."

Michael's head twitched. "That's not a plan. That's just an idea."

"You Aurors might need a plan for every little thing, but I prefer to rely on my charm to get me where I want to go." She turned her head to meet Michael's gaze and while Susan couldn't see her features, it made her brother flinch.

The cloaked woman to his right predictably spoke in Megan's voice. "We'll keep anyone innocent from getting near you while you work your charms, but you must keep casualties to a minimum tonight, Mum. We're only here for Acosta."

Susan wasn't sure what surprised her more: that the woman to the right was Megan's supposedly detained serial killer Vampire mother or that they were on the hunt for one of the Dark Lord's Acolytes.

Michael decided to try and one up their shocking revelations. "Don't forget, we're here for Robert too." He glanced quickly towards Bethany Jones. "I helped you escape, so you help me with this."

"I'm not sure if I would call being suffocated help, but yes. Why not?" Bethany shrugged.

Susan followed, shaking her head. Oh, Michael. What have you gotten yourself into?

Establishments like Nix were normally closed or struggling to find customers on a Monday night, but considering it was Halloween, the revellers had come out in droves. Just looking at the long queue was enough to make Susan want to go back to her dormitory and curl up in bed, not wanting to spend another minute out in the cold. However, the queuers looked happy to be there, though this changed when Bethany marched right past them to the doors.

The bouncer looked equally displeased. "Back of the queue right now, or-" Whatever threat he was about to deliver got stuck in his throat as he made eye contact with her.

"You want to let my companions and I inside, don't you?" Her voice was powerful enough to give even Susan pause, and the bouncer didn't stand a chance with the full focus of it upon him.

"Of course." He tapped the doorframe with his wand and waved her inside. "Please come in."

"That's just cheating," Michael muttered loudly enough for Susan to hear as he followed.

Susan quickly ducked inside before the bouncer could put whatever protection had been guarding the door back up. She paused to take stock of her surroundings, but only caught a glimpse of a dimly lit rickety staircase before she was caught by the throat and slammed into the wall.

"I thought we were being followed, but I couldn't be sure." Bethany's voice was a whisper in her ear. "Too windy to get a good sniff of you, but your scent was just so familiar." Susan blinked the stars from her eyes in time to see her give Megan a pitying look. "Your friend isn't very trusting, darling."

"Friend? Susan?" Megan's voice sounded distant, but the surprise was still clear.

"Let her go." A strange pulse went through the skin on Susan's neck and Bethany hissed and pulled her hand away. A moment later, her focus returned and the throbbing spot on the back of her head stopped hurting as she was healed. "Don't ever touch her." The voice was so cold that it took a second for Susan to recognise it as Michael's.

"You're working with her?" Bethany asked outraged.

Michael made an irritated noise. "No, but she's my sister. I won't let you hurt her."

Bethany relaxed as she seemed to understand that this wasn't a deliberate betrayal and turned to Megan. "I take it you didn't invite her."

"No." Megan's voice was even but the anger was clear to see in her eyes. "Why are you here?"

Susan would have liked to have uttered something witty, but all that came out of her mouth was the truth, or at least part of it. "I heard you planning to come here tonight and wanted to know what kind of trouble you idiots were getting involved in."

"So you came to Knockturn Alley- at this hour- all on your own?" Michael tried to look disapproving, but he sounded impressed. "I didn't think you could be so reckless."

"That's not a good thing." Megan snapped.

He shrugged. "We're in no position to talk."

Bethany brought the focus back to Susan. "She's not telling us everything." She leaned in until all Susan could see were her dark, wide eyes. "Why are you truly here?"

Susan felt Bethany's magnetic stare coax the truth from her, but she didn't resist as it matched what she had already said. "I wanted to know if my brother and friend were in trouble. I wanted to help them." Susan tried to keep it hidden but the relief she felt must have shown on her face as Bethany quickly followed with a second question.

"Does anyone know you came here tonight?"

This time the truth was pulled from her mind by hooks that became increasingly painful the more she resisted. "Yes," she finally admitted.

Bethany pounced on her answer. "Who?"

"Harry. I'm supposed to call him for backup in case things get out of hand."

Bethany looked like she was going to continue her interrogation, but Michael brought it to an end. "Harry's not even in the country right now. He's at a fancy ball, half a world away. We're fine."

"And what do you suppose we do with this one?" Bethany reached for her, but Michael shook his head.

"I wouldn't if I were you." He warned darkly. Bethany looked torn between amusement and irritation at the implied threat in his voice, but Megan made the final decision.

"Can you just compel her to forget seeing us? She'll think we managed to slip past her and go back to school." Megan was already turning to go down the stairs as though that solved everything, so she didn't see Susan's rising panic.

The idea of having someone toying with her mind, the way Elissa Corner toyed with her mother's, left her in a state of panic. "No, Michael don't let her-!" But that was all she managed to get out.

A minute later, she was standing in the same alley as before, wondering if Michael and Megan were ever going to show up.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Anthony wondered if this was how Terry always felt when he needed to keep up with the rest of them. Even though he had the longer stride, he still struggled to keep pace with Felicia.

In contrast to Diagon Alley, Knockturn seemed to only come alive at night. However, the shady characters that came out to conduct their business at midnight scattered when they spotted three Aurors marching down the cobblestone street.

"Terry and I can guard the back entrance." Anthony made sure to only speak up when they were within sight of the club, as he wasn't much of a fan of Felica's plan. Unfortunately, she wasn't as focused on her goal of terminating another Acolyte as he had hoped.

"No, you stick with me." Felica unclasped her badge as they stomped past the now skittish queuers. "What happens if our target uses the back door only to find the two of you there?"

Anthony grimaced. As much as he would like to think he was a match for an Acolyte, the likeliest scenario in such an event was immediate death. Terry didn't seem to agree.

"We could take on an Acolyte. What?" He asked when Anthony glanced back at him with obvious doubt. "We could!"

"Enough of that." Felicia shoved her badge into the bouncer's face, not even slowing down as she approached the doors, leaving it to Anthony to confound the man into not warning his comrades inside. "Remember," she began once they were walking down the steep staircase into the club. "We observe for now, but the instant we spot a Death Eater-"

"Call Harry and he calls in reinforcements of a high enough rank to actually authorise this insane mission." Anthony finished.

"Don't call the mission insane, Anthony." Felicia scolded lightly as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "It's bad for morale." He couldn't even tell if she was joking or not.

They stepped into a large dark room with flashing lights, hot from the mass of writhing bodies on the dance floor and deafening due to the cacophony of dance music being played at an excruciating decibel. It was the exact opposite of Anthony's idea of fun, but worse than that, it made it almost impossible to spot their quarry.

Unless you were Terry apparently.

"There!" He pointed towards the bar and Anthony had to crane his neck to see three hooded figures follow the bartender towards the back.

"How did you-?"

"I thought it was weird for the bar to be left unattended." Terry was smiling proudly, though it fell from his face when Felicia turned to him with a frown.

"Why were you looking at the bar?"

"I was thirsty." The defensiveness in his voice gave him away and Felica hummed.

"I'm not your mother, Terry." Felica turned back to follow the path Michael and the others were walking. "Just don't drink when you're on duty."

Felicia led the way across the dance floor, but it was slow going. Unlike the hopefuls outside, the customers within were either too drunk or their senses were too overwhelmed to make way for the Aurors in their midst. Fortunately, their principals were also slowed down by the crowd, so they made it to the other side in time to see Bethany make intense eye contact with the tall wizard guarding the curtain that hid the door to the backroom.

They only made it there a minute later. "We're with Bethany," were the first words out of Felicia's mouth, but the guard looked doubtful. "Whatever. Confundo!" She gritted her teeth as she seemed to come across an unexpected obstacle, but she relaxed a moment later when he became receptive to her sway. "We're here to serve Lady Acosta."

The guard looked pitying. "Best not to keep her waiting then." He lifted the curtain and they ducked underneath and walked across the small space that led to the door. Not wanting to lose sight of Michael, Felicia didn't pause when opening the door, which proved to be a mistake. They found three familiar figures waiting for them in the short corridor that lay behind it.

"Ah, Bedlam." Terry cursed as he fumbled for his communication mirror and Anthony was right there with him. Keeping Michael in sight had been their only concern as they had thought the Vampire would be too focused on her prey finally being within her sights to focus on them.

"Exactly how many of your friends will follow us tonight?" Bethany didn't take her eyes off them, but her question was clearly meant for the uncomfortable Michael. She didn't wait for an answer and instead moved towards them with blurring speed.

Only Felicia reacted quickly enough. She raised her wand in a flash and sent Bethany flying over the heads of her compatriots, smashing through the door at the end of the corridor and into the meeting room that lay beyond.

"What the-?!" A voice bellowed from within.

Anthony and the others were close enough to see who the inhabitants were. However, while everyone else took a cautious step back, he was the only one who took an unconscious step forward.

Vanessa Acosta, Elissa Corner and Vincent Lancer all shot to their feet and drew their wands as they stared down at the Vampire that had landed on their table and reduced it to broken splinters.

Far from looking afraid, Bethany merely smiled from where she lay atop the broken table, her eyes fixed on Acosta. "Hello, Vanessa," she greeted before raising her hand and snapping her fingers.

That was when all hell broke loose.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Most would think jumping off a balcony with no fixed idea on how to land was a bad idea, but Harry pulled off stunts of equal or greater danger with alarming regularity, so he wasn't worried about that at all.

No, instead of focusing on the strong updraft that threatened to throw him into the rocky cliff he was skimming past, he was more concerned with the specifics of the situation he was hurrying towards thousands of miles away.

Was Michael's plan to infiltrate Nix somehow involved in an official mission? If so, why wasn't he briefed on it? And how did an untrained civilian like Megan Jones get involved? What had his friends been up to?

Arresto Momentum!

Ten feet from the ground, Harry's velocity slowed just in time for him to right himself in mid-air and land on three points. Due to the constant physical enhancement on his body, he landed lightly enough on the spongy earth to not damage any of the crops that were growing there. After a moment scanning the terrain, he took off at a sprint to where the Hogwarts Express was parked half a mile away.

"Shouldn't you be at the party?" The train conductor had looked surprised when Harry had run into the train, but his voice sounded sour. He was sat before an abandoned game of Exploding Snap while the driver languidly smoked his pipe by the window.

Harry hurriedly ripped off the boots that had been of no help to his during his run. "I need whatever emergency Portkey you have back to Britain." He didn't have time for niceties. "Right now. It's Auror business."

The conductor didn't look all that impressed, not that Harry could blame him. He doubted anyone could look impressive while hopping on one foot as they put their boots on. "Dumbledore gave us this Portkey for emergencies. I don't think a bad night with your girlfriend counts."

Now that his Auror-issue boots were properly on, Harry tore off his ridiculous half-cape and rose to his full height and glowered down at the smaller man. "In a state of emergency, Aurors are allowed to commandeer private property to use weapons, defensive barricades or modes of transportation. So, unless you want me to take the Hogwarts Express for a perfectly legal joyride-"

"No, no, no!" The driver, who had looked lost in the wonders of whatever was in his pipe, now looked alarmed when his train was being threatened. "Here, just take it!" He tossed Harry a hefty thermos which immediately activated when he caught it.

"You can't just-!"

Whatever the conductor was about to tell him he couldn't do was lost to the howling sounds of the activating Portkey. It sucked him into the tear in space it opened and he was sent hurtling across thousands of miles in under a minute after it.

Harry touched down and immediately examined his surroundings. He had landed on the dark, empty platform of Hogsmeade Station. Feeling a little creeped out as he had never been there alone before, especially at night, Harry turned and apparated the instant he got his bearings. He reappeared a moment later at the West Apparition Point in Diagon Alley, which was closest to Knockturn.

Before he could step forward, he was shoved aside, and a panicked wizard stepped onto the Apparition Point and disappeared in a swirl of colourful robes. Harry's eyes widened when he saw the gathering mass of pushing and shoving civilians fleeing the very alley he was hurrying towards, and it was clear to see why.

Knockturn Alley was in flames. The sky above was quickly losing its darkness as it became tinged with the dark red of ash and fire and the screaming residents were either battling to save their properties or fleeing through various Apparition Points, buildings with Floo-connected fireplaces or making a run for The Leaky Cauldron.

With one hand, Harry raised his wand and cast the Anemoi Spell for backup. With the other, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his Auror badge and fixed it to the front of his suit. Then he ran into the burning alley in search of his team.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

As Michael's eyes landed on Elissa and Robert, he remembered the day he was matched with his wand.

"Wielders of wands made of larch wood are pitiful creatures," Ollivander said casually, as though he wasn't insulting his latest customer.

"Excuse me?" His adoptive mother, Francine, had snapped. She rose from one of the chairs Ollivander had conjured for his family while they waited. "What did you say?" She shook off Maurice's hand as he tried to hold her back.

Ollivander blinked slowly at her, seemingly confused as to what had caused offence. "Owners of larch wands are often out of sync with their peers, left adrift from social groups and often find themselves heartbroken and cynical when faced with rejection."

Michael looked down at the beautifully carved length of wood that had connected with him just a moment ago, feeling oddly betrayed. "Then why do you sell them?"

"Because larch is the best remedy!" The Wandmaker announced proudly. "They instil confidence and courage in their owners, and the magic you produce will get you to move beyond all fear of rejection." He hesitated before adding, "Or at least learn to manage it better. Still, it is a surprise that this wand would choose you."

"Why is it a surprise? You don't know me."

Ollivander, likely growing bored with Michael, had begun clearing away the boxes of wands that hadn't taken pity on him. "Well, it is common for certain wand woods to be common to certain families- children often take after those who reared them after all- but your own mother didn't raise you." He paused in his work then, peering at Michael with his pale eyes. "It is strange that you would connect with a wand crafted from the same branch as hers."

Michael had wanted to coolly point out that his real mum wasn't a witch and didn't have any wand, much less one made from larch. But he felt the pinpricks in his eyes and turned to storm out of the shop instead.

Francine and Maurice had made all the right promises and reassurances once they had caught up to him (all of which had been proven false by the following summer) but Robert had said nothing. The silent staring- as though he didn't recognise him- had been a crushing indictment at the time, but now he remembered the way his eyes had flickered towards his wand and recognised it as envy.

Michael must have thought about that look a thousand times in the years since, wondering if he would finally understand its meaning upon meeting his brother again. What he didn't expect was for Robert to fail to acknowledge him whatsoever.

Bethany had come prepared, compelling all the staff and guards under her control before even setting foot in the back rooms, so when she gave her casual greetings to three of the most dangerous individuals on earth, it was a mere distraction for her to summon her thralls with a snap of her fingers.

She rolled with incredible speed to avoid the deadly spells that were fired at her from point-blank range, but she would have been a sitting duck for the next volley if a group of guards didn't come bursting through every door connecting to the large meeting room, catching the Acolytes off guard by attacking them instead of the intruders.

Michael had been involved in plenty of skirmishes over the last couple of years, but this was by far the most chaotic. There were just too many sides to this fight. Spells went flying in every direction and Michael felt frozen to the spot as he was unsure of what his first move should be. He was leaning towards reuniting with his squad to escape this unexpected threat, but Anthony took the decision out of his hands.

The broken table and chairs suddenly came to life and turned to attack the now fleeing Vincent Lancer. The Acolyte vanished them all with a flick of his wand and turned back to glare at his attacker but he stopped and smiled when his eyes met Anthony's. Michael had no idea what was silently communicated between the two, but when Lancer turned to continue his escape, Anthony let out a roar of outrage and followed.

"Anthony!" Terry gasped and shut the communication mirror he was holding before following his brother directly through the three-way fight that had broken out between Acosta, Felicia, Bethany and her thralls.

Wait, Michael thought. Why's Acosta fighting on her own?

Eyes quickly scanning across the absolute anarchy that the room had descended into, Michael let out a roar of his own when he saw Robert duck out of the room and quickly followed. A small part of him felt glad that he was beneath the notice of those fighting as he ducked and weaved his way through the room, but he felt himself instinctively tense when he sensed someone chasing after him.

"Megan!" Even while angry and afraid of Robert escaping again, he couldn't help but be surprised at her company. "Your mother-!"

"-can handle herself." Megan's voice was firm. "You helped me with her, so I'll help you with your brother." He smiled grimly. He was in no position to reject her aid.

"Just hang back and strike when you see an opening." It was all he could offer, as aside from the schoolyard jinxes and hexes all students picked up along the way, Megan didn't have much to offer aside from distraction. She seemed to understand this as she nodded grimly, and Michael regretted not teaching her anything substantial in all the time they had spent together.

The two ran through the unexpected labyrinth of corridors that were hidden both behind and underneath the building before finally coming upon a set of stairs that opened into the alley alongside the club. Michael and Megan ran out the door, through the alley and into Knockturn where the queuing customers were beginning to leave Nix in a hurry. Aside from the staff and security mysteriously disappearing from their posts, nothing should have tipped them off yet to the danger they were in, but that really should have been Michael's first clue.

While Michael hadn't gotten as far in his thought process to consider a plan of attack, he had at least expected to have the element of surprise. Unfortunately, he had underestimated the enemy in his anger.

"I told you it was him." Robert's voice was easy to identify behind his flowing, mercury mask. He was facing Michael but not addressing him directly, which only added fuel to his anger. "I still recognise the feel of his magic."

"As you should." As though Robert's full Death Eater garb wasn't enough to explain the queuers sudden departure, Elissa stood in the middle of the street without a fear in the world. "It's so nice of you to join us, Michael. I was almost afraid we would have to leave without you again."

"Furunculus!" Elissa moved with uncanny speed and caught the spell with a translucent gauntlet made of acid-green Mana. The brief moment of silence that followed was punctuated by the sounds of fleeing footsteps from the surrounding buildings, as everyone seemed surprised by Megan's sheer nerve. Even the girl herself.

This shock was rapidly replaced with a haughty look. Megan lifted her chin and glared defiantly at Elissa. "You're not taking him anywhere," she said coldly. "He doesn't belong to anyone but himself."

Michael felt a rush of affection for her, but it was killed by sudden fear as both Elissa and Robert pointed their wands at her. Quickly stepping in front of her, he raised his wand at his unwanted blood relatives. "You won't touch her."

Robert appeared unmoved, but Elissa seemed almost pleased. "Seems you've found a backbone since last we met." She craned her neck to look at Megan behind him. "Or perhaps you've found someone to inspire you. Men truly are simple creatures."

The sound of shattered glass from the building behind him drowned out Michael's rude response and the sudden- but elegant- landing of Vincent Lancer in their midst was enough to make him forget what he had been about to say. The man did not spare either Michael or Megan a single glance as he hefted a heavy file and thrust it into Elissa's arms.

"Take these for me, would you?" His words were less of a question and more of a demand. "It's so rare for prey to present themselves to me, and he's even brought along a spare. I simply can't turn him away."

"You can and you will." Elissa's anger had been enough to drop Michael and his friends two years ago, but they only seemed to further excite Lancer. "It's your job to play courier here-"

"If you want to punish me later, I'll be more than happy to let you try-" That was as far as Lancer got. A moment earlier, Anthony had leapt from the same first-story window that Lancer had. He softened the street as he fell so Terry didn't even have to pause as he leapt out of the now burning building a second later.

Together, the brothers raised their wands and bellowed something incomprehensible before two jets of light struck Lancer in the side, cutting him off mid-sentence. Like Elissa, he was able to draw out a part of his Mana Cloak to protect himself but- either because he underestimated the boys or conjured his defence too late- he was blasted off his feet and through the wall of The Bottomless Flagon across the street. Without hesitating or giving heed to the Acolyte that stood in their path, Anthony and Terry ran into the tavern after him.

"Oh, for Thoth's sake!" Elissa groaned frustratedly as though a mundane chore had been dumped on her lap. "That man-!"

"-will be punished when you report his actions to General Cushing, master," Robert said soothingly. "As for now, the Dark Lord's needs take precedence."

Elissa let out a long sigh. "You are right. Of course, you are right." She glanced at Michael and gave him a wistful smile. "You boys place nice while I'm away, alright?" Her jocular tone turned serious when she turned back to Robert. "Bring him home." She waited for him to nod before bending her knees and leaping onto the nearest roof (which the fire had now spread to) with her enhanced strength.

As Robert watched his master leap from roof to roof and out of sight, Michael struck first, hoping to get the upper hand through surprise.

Formae! The ground between them became as malleable as putty and he shaped it into a dozen spears that shot upwards in an attempt to impale his brother. Unfortunately, such a tactic wasn't enough to bridge the gap of strength between them, and Robert was already leaping into the air before the spears were even fully formed.

While in mid-air, Robert transfigured the spears into a bull that he blasted towards him with a Banishing Charm. Michael raised his wand and brought it down like a sword before the confused and enraged bovine could reach him. It was severed neatly in two down the middle, and he flicked his wand at the two halves before they could touch the ground. Mobilicorpus!

As Robert flung cords of crackling electricity his way, Michael moved the first half of the severed bull to block it while he sent the other flying at the spot his brother was about to land on. While Robert froze the bull with an Impediment Charm and landed gracefully atop it, Michael cast the Aevum Charm on the second half and sent it stumbling into his brother, knocking him from his perch.

Watching Robert tumble onto the ground before rolling to his feet, Michael had the sudden realisation that the gap in strength between them wasn't as wide as he had feared. The same thought must have crossed Robert's mind as he was quick to inform Michael of his assessment. "You've grown more than I would have thought, but don't think this is a fair fight, Michael. You're fighting to kill, while I'm fighting to capture." Michael could almost see the petulant expression he must have been wearing underneath his mask.

Michael wasn't sure if he had been trying to outright kill Robert, but he wasn't about to admit that indecisiveness out loud. "It's amazing what a little parental attention can inspire. Now that Mum and Dad don't have to worry about their golden boy, I've become their sole focus. They haven't thought about you in years." He had meant for the lie to infuriate Robert and throw him further off balance, but this only seemed to amuse him.

As the fire on the row of buildings around him seemed to get out of control and the crowds gave them heavy berth while running for Diagon Alley, a second, much larger, explosion rocked the tavern his friends had run into a minute earlier, causing it too to go up in flames. But Robert wasn't paying any of this the least bit of attention. "Really? From what I remember, I asked Mum and Dad to leave you behind, not shower you with attention."

"What?" Michael could hardly hear himself utter the word over the roaring flames, but Robert seemed to understand through context.

"You had everything I ever wanted: proud ancestry on both sides of your family, a history, a legacy to carry forward into the future. You actually carry the Corner name!" Robert shook his head in disgust. "But instead of being proud of it all, you hid from it all like a coward and took the punishment the world heaped upon you."

It all fell into place. Michael had always wondered why Robert had never provided him with any real help with the mistreatment and malicious rumours that were thrown at him. "What would you have had me do?!"

"Fight back!" Robert shouted back. "You should have made your father acknowledge you instead of acting like the dirty secret he treated you as! You should have shamed him into taking you! It would have worked- you know what he is now and the way he simpers at your mother's feet-!"

"You mean as you do?" Michael shook his head in disgust. "You already had parents who adored you. Parents that fell apart when you went away!" Parents who left me just because you asked them to, he added silently, though he still refused to believe they had cared so little for him.

"No, they fell apart because I made them."

"What?"

"They welcomed me back home the summer I escaped Hollow Pen, the same day you planned to go to that silly Quidditch camp." He smirked. "They didn't even bother putting up protections against me."

Michael swallowed. The fight was now forgotten as he neared answers to questions that he didn't even know he had. "Why weren't you there when I came home?"

"I never planned to stay. Only to follow orders."

"What orders?" Michael demanded. "Whose orders?"

Robert shook his head with aching familiarity, just as he used to do when he needed to explain something he thought was obvious to his dumb little brother. "To separate you from anyone who would try and take Elissa's place in your life. She wants you beholden to her and her alone." He chuckled. "I made Mum and Dad forget all about how they felt about you. Muggles and Squibs," he sneered at the words, "don't feel as we do. Their love is so easy to extinguish."

Michael's hands shook, but Captain Solace's lessons on lying came back to him even through his rage. He had spent enough time trying to decipher accomplished liars like Harry and Anthony to know when someone was holding something back. "Why tell me this?" He demanded. "Wouldn't she be angry with you? Oh, don't tell me-" He pretended to have an epiphany when Robert remained silent. "You want her all to yourself, don't you?" He grimaced. "She's your aunt, Robbie. That's disgusting."

"Don't joke about her!" Robert took a menacing step forward and Michael had to repress the urge to raise his wand. "She found me when I first used accidental magic! She taught me of our family, my rightful place in the world and all the things my father-" he spat the word as though it were a curse "-had hidden from me. Before you were born and took her from me."

Michael's brain was starting to hurt with the deluge of information Robert was throwing his way, but he still had the presence of mind to keep up his insulting questions when he spotted a shimmer of air behind his enemy. "Then you want her to be your new mummy? You're twenty, Rob. That's almost as bad."

It was hard to tell with the mask on, but he was certain that Robert was about to reply before he ducked away from the sickly yellow spell that had been shot at his back. Whipping his wand around, Megan's Disillusionment Charm failed, and she was dragged through the air towards him where he gripped her by the throat. "You want to know what's worse? What I'm about to do to her."

Megan's face was twisted in fear as she struggled to breathe. She scratched at Robert's gloved hand that squeezed her windpipe, and Michael didn't feel much better. He was frozen, not from fear but indecisiveness, as he had no idea how to save her.

Mercifully, he wasn't alone.

"RELAISHO!" The bellowed Revulsion Jinx was so powerful that it not only forced Robert to let go of Megan, but it sent the two flying away from each other. Robert was thrown against the crumbling stone walls of The Bottomless Flagon, but Megan was sent soaring towards the burning club that Anthony and Terry had left behind them.

Michael began to raise his wand to protect her (though whether he should do so from the flames, or the rough landing made him hesitate) but he needn't have worried. A familiar figure burst out of the collapsing doorway with incredible speed, leaping into the air to catch Megan in his arms before landing gracefully beside Michael.

As he gently lowered the shaking Megan back onto her feet, Harry kept his eyes fixed on the rising Robert. Michael had only ever seen his best friend look at Kitty Lawless and Antonin Dolohov with such hate.

"No, Robert. What's worse is what I'm about to do to you."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

When Bethany had crashed through the doors and revealed the three Acolytes in the room beyond, Anthony had taken an unconscious step forward. He heard the brief exchange of words and watched the messy fight break out as though it were happening at a distance; his senses entirely focused on the enemy.

The now fleeing enemy.

Snarling, he lashed out with his wand and commanded the broken table and chairs to attack the fleeing Acolyte from every direction. However, the enemy- both powerful and learned- sensed the incoming attack with ease and he twisted back to vanish the animated furniture before it could even come close to striking him.

With a snarl of his own, he glanced back at the broken doorway to see just who had the nerve to attack him, but it was quickly replaced by a smile as he seemed to recognise Anthony on sight. However, instead of acknowledging him in any way, Vincent Lancer turned away and continued his flight from the room with nary a word.

Anthony had made a lot of promises when it came to his mother's killer, assurances that he wouldn't seek him out for revenge or place himself in unnecessary danger, but these pledges all paled when it came to his very first promise: the vow he had made to his father.

I'm going to find him, and then I'm going to kill him.

With a roar of outrage, Anthony gave chase. Ignoring the distant voice that called his name, he weaved his way through the chaotic three-way fight that had broken out between Felicia, Acosta, the Vampire and her thralls. He made it across the room and through the door that led to a long corridor with doors on either side and a steep staircase at the end.

Anthony heard footsteps pounding after him as he ran down the corridor, but he paid it no mind. No door was ajar so he made for the stairs at full speed and took them two steps at a time. He faintly registered someone calling his name, but all he could focus on was the sound of his furiously beating heart in his ears as he hastened to the first floor.

Unlike the ground floor, the first was given to a single large office that had windows on either side: the left looking over the club while the right the street outside. It was dark but illuminated intermittently by flashing beams of lights from the club, revealing a surprisingly modern, minimalist office that had only a silver metallic desk with a single leather chair and a shelf of expensive liquor on the wall behind it.

No, Anthony realised much too slowly. That's not all.

The steep staircase opened up right into the office, so when he ran into the room the fourth wall was in his blind spot and he unintentionally exposed his back to the enemy. It was only due to how little of a threat he posed that Lancer remained focused on his task instead of attacking him when Anthony foolishly presented him with the opportunity.

Whipping his head around, Anthony immediately spotted Lancer opening a safe that was built into the wall before withdrawing a hefty file from within. His hands had been busy with the safe and file, so his wand was holstered. Anthony didn't waste the opportunity.

Confringo! Just as he had earlier, Lancer sensed the attack coming even with his back turned but didn't bother drawing his wand to defend himself. No, instead he simply got behind the heavy safe door and half-closed it behind him, allowing the enchanted metal to take the Blasting Curse for him.

Lancer cheekily poked his head around the door. "Is that all?" He tutted. "Try harder."

A flash of white-hot rage shot through him, but before he could even make a move, the safe door was flung wide open, exposing Lancer. The entire shelf of liquor zipped directly into the safe where it was met by a second Blasting Curse. Anthony felt a hand grab the back of his cloak and tug him down the stairs just as a deafening explosion took over the room.

"Huh." Anthony's ears were ringing, but he could still hear the surprise in Terry's voice. "I didn't think that would actually work."

"Of course, it didn't work." Anthony tensed and raised his wand. Terry did the same next to him as they poked their heads over the top step to see a singed- but clearly uninjured- Lancer walk out of the safe. "That was better, but I've never seen a more telegraphed move." He gave a sad shake of the head. "Even that sow you called a mother put up a better fight."

Anthony roared and reared up to attack, but that was what Lancer had been hoping for. An arc of orange light slashed through the air towards him, only to be stopped by Terry's sudden shield. However, the force of the spell was too much and both boys were thrown back down the stairs. Anthony's vision was overtaken by stars as his head collided with the ground.

"Rennervate! Wake up!" A sharp slap struck him in the face and Anthony opened his eyes to see a furious Terry looming over him.

"The Reviving Spell would have been enough," Anthony muttered as he sat up and took his bearings. They were at the bottom of the staircase and no time seemed to have passed at all.

"I slapped you because I had to save you twice, you prick." Anthony turned to his brother, shocked as he had never heard him sound so furious before. "You want him dead and you want to be the one who does it? Fine. But you're not allowed to get yourself killed in the process. Especially if you're too angry to put up a real fight."

Knowing that he was right and that every second counted, Anthony nodded once before climbing to his feet and running back up the stairs, far more careful with his approach this time around. Making sure to have a keen awareness of his surroundings, Anthony peeked into the office but saw no danger present aside from the fire originating from the safe. It was already burning across the entire back wall. The only difference between now and before was-

"The window," Anthony pointed to the broken glass. "He must have taken that file and made a run for it."

Terry looked concerned. "Whatever's in that thing must be important," he mused, but Anthony didn't care to hear it. With a running start, he jumped from the window and softened the cobblestones beneath him as he fell, bouncing once before landing in a crouch. He was distantly surprised at how quickly Terry followed- considering his usual fear of heights- but he was more concerned with Lancer, who was talking to Elissa Corner across the street and handing her the file he had retrieved.

In harmony, the brothers raised their wands and bellowed, "EXPULSO!" The combined jets of light struck Lancer in the side with enough force to throw him into The Bottomless Flagon.

Terry snarled frustratedly as they gave chase, not even pausing to look at the other Acolyte as they passed. "That should have been enough to blow a hole right through him!"

"He's fast with his defence," Anthony explained as they neared the doors. "He likes to toy with his victims, make them think they have a chance before turning the tables on them."

Inexplicably, Terry seemed pleased to hear this. "We can use that-" he was cut off by the stream of fleeing punters who almost bowled them over in their haste to escape the tavern. Though most of them were carrying their drinks with them as they fled, so they couldn't be all that scared.

The moment they managed to fight their way inside, the floorboards beneath them came to life and began to roll forwards. The pair were carried towards the bar which Lancer was standing atop, waiting for them.

"-use that against me?" He finished for Terry and again Anthony was too slow in realising the obvious. If Lancer was capable of Mage Sight, then of course he would be able to enhance his other senses too.

As they struggled to maintain their balance on the moving floorboards, Lancer twirled his wand in the air for consecutive conjurations: heavy chains melted out of the air and wrapped around Terry's limbs, yanking him off the ground and into the air before a spear so dark it seemed to be crafted from shadows was thrown at Anthony. It pierced his shoulder with such force that he was thrown backward and skewered to the wall.

Anthony felt bones crack and muscles tear from the sheer force of the spear's momentum and his collision with the wall, but he quickly found himself wishing that was the extent of his injuries. The cold, numbing sensation emanating from his wound wasn't due to the spear, but because his brain was slow to understand the extent of the pain he was suffering, but when it finally caught up, Anthony screamed in agony.

The sound of his torment only made Lancer chuckle. "You know, I usually have to work to figure out what matters most to my toys- their life's work, a treasured possession, or a loved one- but I've been paying attention to you, Anthony Goldstein." He waved his wand and the bound but struggling Terry was brought closer to him, close enough to touch. Anthony forgot all about his pain as he began casting every releasing spell that he knew to free himself. "He matters most to you." With his eyes on Anthony, he gave Terry a sharp slap across the face and wet his lips when he heard Anthony's impotent threats. "And you brought him right to me. This is your doing."

Lancer twirled his wand, and the chains began to burn so fiercely that they glowed bright red. Terry's eyes widened and he howled like a wounded animal.

Anthony was so angry that he forgot all about his pain and all about releasing spells. He dropped his wand and brought both hands up to rip the spear from both his shoulder and the wall it had skewered him to. His Ouroboros burned and his wand slapped into his palm the instant his feet were on the ground, and he raised it towards the enemy.

Lancer only looked excited by his rage, and languidly raised his wand to defend himself, but Anthony had taken Terry's warning to heart, and he kept his focus instead of attacking blindly. Animating the bar to rip itself off the floor and buck Lancer from atop it, Anthony finally caught the Acolyte off guard as he fell backwards into the tavern's shelves of liquor.

Not giving him a chance to get his bearings, Anthony summoned the chains that held his brother towards him before casting the most powerful spell he knew.

Igniotempus!

And the world was overtaken by booming explosions and roaring flames.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The further he went into Knockturn Alley, the denser the fleeing crowds became. Harry gave up on trying to fight his way through them and simply leapt to the top of the nearest building before jumping roof to roof to where he sensed Susan's familiar magic.

While Harry knew he had to get to his squad as quickly as possible, he was also the only person who knew Susan was even here. He was the one who had convinced his untrained friend to follow Michael and Megan alone, so if anything happened to her, it would be his fault and he would never forgive himself. His squadmates had both their training and Felicia to fall back on, so he figured they would be fine without him for a few minutes.

When he got close enough to figure out exactly where Susan was, he somehow began to run even faster across the roofs from the dead sprint he had been in before. Of course, she's inside the burning building! Harry felt as though a cold metal hand was squeezing his heart as he dropped down from the roof and into the side alley. The club had a back door civilians weren't escaping from. That means she's either in serious trouble or has the survival instincts of a Diricrawl.

Harry ran into the building and down the stairs without care, heading straight towards Susan who was hurrying in his direction. "What do you think you're doing?!" He hissed at the invisible spot along the wall. Whether because she hadn't seen him approaching or hadn't expected him to be able to locate her, he was unsure, but Susan almost leapt a foot in the air when he spoke to her. "Most people leave a building when it catches fire!"

"Harry?" He could sense her shaking her head in confusion before explaining her actions. "I was going to leave, but I couldn't leave these people behind." Harry had been so fixated on finding Susan that he had overlooked the three stretchers that were floating beside her and the unconscious people atop them. "There's more, but-"

"-but that's not your job." Harry interrupted firmly. "You're not an Auror."

Susan's concentration must have slipped because her scowl almost became visible to his eyes. "I don't need a badge to help people." She continued before he could think of an appropriate response to make her see sense. "Captain Solace is back there by the way." She nodded in the direction she had come from. "I'll be back to get the other hostages she frees once I've got these three to safety." Harry stared at her. "What?" She demanded.

He was at a loss. Susan was one of his favourite people in the world and he thought highly of her, but he had never expected this. Her Disillusionment Charm had failed, revealing her tangled hair, soot-marred features and wild eyes, all of which left her hardly recognisable. Most of all, she didn't seem the least bit scared. "What's the situation with Captain Solace?" He asked finally.

If Susan noticed his pause, she didn't comment on it. "She's fighting that Acolyte, Acosta, back there. Be careful," she added. "She could kill the hostages at any time."

Harry nodded. "Here," he waved his wand, casting both a Bubble-Head Charm and a Flame-Freezing Charm over her. "So you'll have an easier time of it when you come back for the other hostages we free."

Susan beamed and Harry felt butterflies come to life in his stomach. "I don't know why, but I thought you'd put up more of a fight."

Yeah, so did I, he thought. He took off towards the fight before he could get any more confused about girls this evening. He called back to her over his shoulder. "Just make sure you redo your Disillusionment Charm, alright?" The last thing he heard before rounding the corner was the sound of her cursing as she realised how visible she was.

His run was less panicked than before, both because he found it difficult to keep track of Susan's location and Felica's while running at full speed. However, he made it to the club itself in less than a minute, though he froze in the doorway when he witnessed the bizarre and chaotic three-way fight that had taken over the dance floor and bar.

On the far side of the room by the entrance, Felicia stood with her back to the wall: dozens of civilians were begging, crying out for help as they approached her with swinging fists and kicking feet. Their bodies were moving as though they were marionettes being pulled along by a puppeteer. Stunning and incapacitating them seemed to do little as their bodies moved without any accord to the people they belonged to.

As though that wasn't bad enough, Bethany Jones was inexplicably here on the side of the room closest to Harry. She was fiercely fighting her way to the bar, tearing through innocent civilians without any concern for them as she fought to get near her target. However, she was brutally repelled by the final layer of defence the third party had made for themselves, slamming into the wall next to the doorway he was standing in.

Harry took all this in immediately and moved before anyone present could react.

Fulgari! As much as he would like to execute Bethany for the senseless violence she had caused, she was still Megan's mother and he didn't want to be the one to kill her. Instead, he bound her in sizzling cords formed from electricity. She screamed, but Harry wasn't concerned about that as he had cast a Disillusionment Charm over himself before anyone took notice of him.

Trusting Susan to take care of the wounded that lay dying all across the dance floor, Harry leapt over them directly towards the Acolyte that was taking shelter behind the bar. Vanessa Acosta was a Master of the Mind Arts and primarily used puppets to commit acts of violence for her, so if he were to get in close-

Unfortunately, he was far from the first to try and attack her invisibly, so Acosta was well prepared for him.

Her second ring of defence- six witches and wizards who stood guard around her- snapped their heads to follow his trajectory through the air and lashed out at him simultaneously. Not knowing of any shield that could stand up to six powerful Expulsion Curses at the same time, Harry reached deep within for his ultimate defence and his world was overtaken by purple.

The protective wings of his amethyst crow were cracked by the force of the spells but held up in a way his various shield charms wouldn't have. Still, he was blasted backwards into the doorway he had just leapt from. The impact likely would have broken his back on the edge of the frame if it weren't for his Combat Avatar.

"Harry Potter?" Vanessa Acosta seemed to recognise him by the sight of his crow. She sounded exasperated. "Of course! Why not him as well? Everyone else seems to be here tonight!" She tutted. "You know, Aurors used to have some sense back in the day-"

"No one cares, you old hag." Felica snapped. She had made use of both his and Bethany's back-to-back distractions to release the civilians from their bindings and the last of them were scrambling up the burning stairs and into the street outside. "Now, you can come quietly, or you can come in a body bag."

Acosta narrowed her eyes dangerously. "You have no idea who you're threatening."

"No, you don't have any idea who you're facing." Harry dropped his avatar and Disillusionment Charm, so he was visible once more. "We've killed Acolytes before."

"One," she snorted. "The very worst of us. Stripped of his title to boot!"

Felica smirked. "I suppose that makes you the weakest Acolyte now. No wonder Corner and Lancer left you for dead."

Acosta snarled and whipped her wand in Felica's direction. The civilians under her control pointed their wands at her but Harry was already intervening. Taking care to jump over the still invisible and newly returned Susan- who was rapidly healing the civilians Bethany had tossed around like bowling pins- Harry jabbed his wand at the bar. Acosta cast a Shield Charm but he wasn't aiming for her.

Bottles of hard liquor came zipping off the shelves behind the bar before smashing into the heads and backs of the controlled civilians. Incendio! All six of Acosta's puppets went up in flames, sending the Acolyte stumbling back to avoid getting scorched.

"Harry!" He heard Susan gasp, but no one else was close to her so it went unnoticed. Felicia seemed to understand what he was going for, and she immediately charged towards the bar to cross wands with the cornered Acolyte. "Why would you-?!"

He extinguished the alcohol-born flames with a wave of his wand. "Survival instincts are stronger than any compulsion spell bar the Imperius Curse," Harry explained, and the still-smouldering victims started fleeing for the stairs. "Listen, is what Felicia said real? Are Elissa Corner and Vincent Lancer here too?"

Susan nodded. "I think Corner fled but Anthony and Terry-"

"-are fighting Lancer." Harry finished. There was no way Anthony would let such an opportunity for vengeance slip through his fingers and Terry wouldn't let him fight alone. "I've got to go after them. Get these people out of here and if you see any Aurors, let them know what they're walking into." He took off running for the exit before she could respond. His senses were keener now than they had ever been before, so he was able to hear a familiar hated voice speak over the roaring flames.

"You want to know what's worse?" Robert was saying. "What I'm about to do to her."

The stairwell was all but destroyed by the fire, but he was able to clear it in a single jump, bursting outside in time to get an idea of the situation. "RELAISHO!" Harry caught Megan in his arms and landed beside Michael before gently putting her down. "No, Robert. What's worse is what I'm about to do to you."

As Robert climbed to his feet from where he had been blasted back into the burning tavern behind him, Harry spoke to his friends. "Get inside there and help Anthony and Terry."

"No!" Michael's denial was fierce and quick. "This is my fight!"

Harry's nerves were already on edge from having little to no idea what was going on, so this denial made him lose control a little. The air around him grew heavy as a dark purple coat of energy emanated from his skin. "I have no idea what's going on, but I have a feeling you two are behind it all. If they die, I'll hold you responsible."

Whether due to the menace in his tone or the cold laying of blame but Michael and Megan turned and ran into the burning tavern without pause. Harry turned his full attention to Robert. "I wouldn't if I were you," he warned the former Prefect as he moved to attack the pair as they ran past him. "You're going to need every bit of focus you have to survive this."

Robert scoffed. "You've gotten better, Potter. I'll give you that much. But it'll take more than the likes of you to challenge an apprentice of an Acolyte." He raised his wand and got into a standard duelling stance. "Besides, I've beaten you twice before, remember?"

Harry cocked his head to the side, his body loose and unconcerned with his enemies' stance. "Here's the thing, Hillard. I'm not eleven years old anymore."

And then, before Robert could say another word, Harry exploded forward with blinding speed.

Raising his wand arm as though he were about to curse him, Harry instead got in close enough so he could land an uppercut on Robert rather than a spell. He justified it to himself as being unpredictable to his opponent, but in reality, he just wanted to get one satisfying blow in after all the grief the traitor had caused.

Robert proved his augmentation by only stumbling backwards instead of having his jaw shattered by the enhanced blow and he quickly slashed his wand in the air before Harry could close the gap between them again. For his part, Harry had to stop himself from instinctively countering with a Shield Charm when nothing came out of Robert's wand. His Mage Sight told him something was coming his way, so he conjured his usual murder of crows to take the attack for him.

He was right. The crows died within a second of being created, falling to the ground as puncture wounds littered their bodies, matching the markings that only darts gave. Scowling, Harry was about to use the crow's bodies as a distraction for his next attack when he felt the familiar touch of Legilimency on his mind.

Immediately centring himself as Nicolas had taught him, Harry was able to hide his surprise that Robert was able to use the offensive Mind Art in the middle of a duel. Apparently, he wasn't the only one impressed with his opponent's showing.

"Sharp instincts." Robert complimented. "I didn't think you could sense the difference between spells and conjurations, but I underestimated you." He whipped his wand around. "It won't happen again." The fire from the tavern came alive and formed itself into a dozen thick, fiery ropes that lashed out at Harry to sever his limbs.

Serpensmorta! Harry countered by transfiguring these bindings into serpents and sent them forward to attack. Robert seemed largely unconcerned by this. He ignored the slow, slithering creatures in favour of a quick victory.

Jabbing his wand forward, Robert fired a bolt of lightning at him, but Harry sent it careening back as sizzling cords of electricity. Robert conjured a column of earth to block this, but this had given the snakes enough time to reach him for their attack- some biting and snapping at his ankles while others tried to wrap around his limbs and torso.

Taking advantage of this, Harry jumped onto the nearest roof before immediately jumping to the next as the first gave way due to the damage the fire had already caused. He carefully aimed his wand down at the street where Robert was dispatching the last of the snakes. Ingosus! Less powerful but prolonged bursts of electricity shot from his wand and down onto Robert who was driven down to one knee.

But he's still moving. Harry muttered a curse. Robert must have insulated himself when Harry had used his own lightning against him.

Robert jabbed his wand at the ground and Harry immediately sensed something moving towards him, first through the ground and then through the burning building he was standing on top of. Leaping high into the air, he just managed to avoid the binding chains that burst through the roof, but instead of feeling relieved he only felt insulted.

Robert was fighting to capture, not to kill.

Your time will come, Elissa Corner had said that day over the canal. But only when it suits the Dark Lord.

It made sense that Robert would follow the same order an Acolyte had been given by their master, but it was still insulting that he felt himself capable of taking Harry in alive.

Facti Fumos! Vibaku! The chains were transfigured into smog before drifting down to join the smoke from the rest of the burning street, swirling around Robert and invisible to the naked eye.

Robert didn't give away if he sensed it or not, instead twirling his wand with careful and deliberate movement at the building Harry was standing upon. For his part, Harry had no idea what he was sensing as the magic seemed to emanate from the entire structure, but the truth quickly revealed itself.

The once proud shop rumbled and rose into the air as it shifted and moved, transfiguring itself beneath his feet into a mighty, earthen golem. Harry jumped once more, this time across the street, but he aimed his wand down at his enemy as he passed him overhead. Contorting himself to avoid Robert's curse, Harry slashed his wand down at the smoke which transfigured into a tornado of swirling wisteria petals.

As he landed on the roof across the street, he could almost taste Robert's palpable confusion with the seemingly harmless attack. Likely wary of a trick, he quickly vanished the petals, but that only revealed the swarm of killer bees that lurked within.

While Robert would have been safe enough to attack Harry before moving to eradicate them- due to the full uniform and mask he wore- he still carried the same instinctual fear most humans did of deadly, swarming insects. As such, he worked to vanish them while Harry animated his dead crows to attack him as well while he worked on using Robert's weapon against him.

As the golem finally finished forming and rose to its full height, Harry whipped his wand at it. Carpe Retractum! A thick rope of golden light shot out the end of his wand, wrapped around the golem's legs and Harry- with his augmented strength- pulled as hard as he could, tipping the giant golem forward so it would fall on top of its creator.

Robert, finally free of dead crows and killer bees, finally took notice of what Harry was doing and saw only one safe retreat for himself. Tunnelling underground as the golem fell atop him, Harry could sense Robert abandoning the fight and fleeing for Diagon Alley, but he didn't let him get away.

Running and jumping to the roof of the next building and then the one after that, Harry stabbed his wand at where Robert would be in a moment and cast, "Seisimos!"

Like a ripple from a pebble tossed into a pond, the spell hit the earth, causing it to roll outward in a devasting- but very localised- earthquake. As the burning shops around them collapsed and crashed down onto the street, Robert was thrown into the air by the force of it and Harry moved before he could get his bearings.

Manus Terra! Hands formed from earth shot out from the ground and wrapped tightly around Robert's arms and legs. Even over the deafening crashing of the buildings around them, Harry clearly heard the satisfying cracks of his limbs being broken in multiple places.

Harry jumped down to the rubble-strewn street and began to make his way over to Robert. Before he could even get close, he heard a loud voice bark, "AURORS! DROP YOUR WANDS AND SURRENDER!"

"Oh, now you show up?" Harry muttered as he turned to flash his badge. His scowl quickly fell away when he saw exactly who his backup was. "You took your sweet time getting here."

"You didn't exactly make it easy to reach you, did you?" Tonks tutted as she and Richard checked their surroundings. Harry was about to reply when he noticed that their third squadmate, Marcus, looked like he'd seen a ghost. He wasn't the only one to notice.

"Marcus? You alright?" Richard tried to sound professional, but the worry for his boyfriend was clear in his voice.

Marcus didn't even glance at him as he slowly approached the downed Death Eater. "Robert?"

Of course, I wouldn't be the only one to recognise a Death Eater with an Aspen wand. Harry grimaced, but as bad as he felt for Marcus, there were more pressing matters at hand. "There are at least two Acolytes on the scene," he abruptly announced, startling the three Sentries. "Captain Solace was engaged with Vanessa Acosta in Nix-" he pointed in the vague direction of where the club had been- "and the rest of my team was fighting Vincent Lancer over there. I understand that Elissa Corner was here too, but I haven't seen her."

Then, without waiting for them to come up with some kind of plan, he moved as quickly as his augmentation would allow. He had wasted enough time with Robert. His friends might already be dead.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"I've stopped the bleeding, but I can't close the wound." Those were the first words Anthony heard as he slowly returned to consciousness. "I think it might be cursed."

"Terry?" Anthony croaked. His throat felt like it was rubbed raw with ash. "Is he-?"

"I'm fine." Terry's face suddenly loomed over him, much too close for comfort. "Just some burns that Megan already healed."

Anthony blinked and examined his surroundings. Terry, Michael and Megan were all kneeling around him amongst the burning ruins that had once been The Bottomless Flagon. The front walls were still standing, but the back where Anthony had directed his firestorm was completely destroyed, and the flames seemed to have continued to the rest of Knockturn Alley and even beyond.

But he didn't care. Terry was safe and Lancer was dead. That was all that mattered.

"It's over." Anthony wasn't ashamed of the tears of relief that had begun to sting his eyes. "It's finally-"

He stopped speaking when he felt the earth rumble beneath them. The four quickly got to their feet and made way as a mountain of smouldering wreckage began to shift and move before being tossed outward in every direction. Michael protected them all with a large Shield Charm, but Anthony would have preferred to take a chunk of debris to the head then see Vincent Lancer rise out of the fire like a phoenix being reborn.

The translucent blue body of a giant scorpion uncoiled revealing Lancer within it, injured and burned, but alive.

Anthony's devastation evaporated when he saw the look on his enemy's face: pain mixed with anger. For the first time, he wasn't enjoying himself.

Anthony took a step forward and he felt the others behind him tense, ready for a fight.

Lancer must have been furious, as he didn't waste any more time with his usual goading threats. Instead, he transfigured the fire around them into whips that he lashed out at them with, but Michael conjured a column of earth to shoot through the broken floorboards and blocked it.

Anthony quickly ducked around one side while his brother went around the other. Sphaera Inflamarae! A dozen fireballs shot towards Lancer in rapid succession, reducing the rabid bats he had sent towards them to ash as they continued forward to attack him. Terry conjured razor-sharp blasts of air that Lancer levitated a broken rafter to block, but he wasn't prepared for it to be switched out with a thin cloud of green mist.

Anthony wasn't sure which potion Terry had used a Switching Spell on, but he was impressed with its results. Lancer cried out in agony and shut his eyes as his skin began to turn red and peel away. He conjured a wave of water to fall onto himself to wash the potion away before sending it forward to extinguish the fireballs.

However, Lancer was a petty creature. He transfigured the steam that had risen from the fireballs into a green cloud of his own. It immediately proved corrosive as it touched Megan's skin just as she moved out from around the column to get a clear line of fire, and her shrill scream echoed in Anthony's ears.

Terry quickly moved to heal her, leaving Anthony and Michael to deal with Lancer as he approached menacingly.

He seemed to be done playing around as he blocked their spells with contemptuous ease with his Combat Avatar; a shield he knew it would be almost impossible for them to break through. However, he wasn't done reminding them of their place in his worldview.

"You, boy." He jerked his chin at Michael. "Elissa's whelp. Stay out of this." His Nightmare Hex broke through Michael's shield, leaving him thrashing on the ground as he fought his fears instead of the very real enemy before them.

And just like that, Anthony stood alone.

"Anthony." The use of his first name made him hesitate, so he was too slow to avoid the scorpion's translucent blue claw that slapped him into the wall. Dazed and seeing stars for the second time that night, Anthony only came to when a hand wrapped around his throat and pinned him to the wall. "Do you want to know what I did to your mother?" He hissed in Anthony's ear. "Do you want to feel what made her scream for me, Anthony?"

Anthony tried to summon the wand he had dropped during his unexpected flight across the destroyed tavern, but it was too late. Lancer stabbed the tip of his wand into his open shoulder wound and something black, slimy and alive entered his bloodstream.

He had known torture before, but this was different. While the Cruciatus Curse had set every nerve ending on fire, this parasite entered his body, flowed through his blood and attacked him from the inside, killing him like a sentient virus would. Anthony felt like his body belonged to someone else as he thrashed and screamed, but he had enough control to close his eyes, so he didn't have to see Lancer excitedly lick his lips at the pain he was causing.

Which was unfortunate, as he missed the look on his enemy's face when someone burst through the wall behind him, place their hands on Anthony's shoulders and swing their left leg around his torso to deliver a monstrously strong hook kick to Lancer's side, sending the Acolyte flying across the room.

Anthony dropped to the ground and flopped like a fish, but he had enough strength to open his eyes. He saw Harry's back as he stood defensively in front of all of them.

Lancer swore as he quickly got back to his feet- hand pressed into his injured side- glaring at Harry as though he were rude for interrupting. "How many of you are there?"

"Enough." Harry's response was clipped and cold.

"Enough?" Lancer repeatedly dubiously. "To stop me?"

"Enough to slow you down, certainly." Harry clarified. "Auror squads are on the scene as we speak. Commander Boot too, and I don't think you want to face him. Not after what you did to his friend."

Lancer paused and for the first time, Anthony saw the weariness his adoptive father inspired in their enemies. "You're no fun at all." He sighed before raising his wand and bringing down what little of the roof remained onto their heads.

In the time it took Harry to levitate and move the fallen roof from overhead, Lancer had vanished. "I can't sense him," Harry told Anthony as he worked to remove the dark substance he had been poisoned with. He was siphoning it from his shoulder and into a conjured box he'd enchanted with a Runic Complex even Anthony didn't recognise. "He must have used a Portkey. The Aurors would have had the Apparition Points and Floo Network on lockdown."

Terry hummed as he began working on stemming Anthony's blood loss now that Harry had removed the lingering Dark Magic within. "He definitely used a Portkey. There's no way he can face my dad after the condition we left him in."

"Oh, I lied." Harry sounded utterly unabashed by this admittance. "The Commander isn't here."

"But there were three Acolytes here!" Michael sounded aghast, as though he wasn't responsible for tonight's events. No less responsible than you are, Anthony reminded himself as he glanced at Terry's shaking fingers. "Three! There's almost never that many in one place."

"Yes," a deep, familiar voice said. The five of them turned to see Commander Boot step inside through the hole Harry had made in the wall. "Which is why we normally send far more than a Cadet Squad when such an event occurs." His eyes first flickered towards Megan and then over Harry's dirtied formal wear. "And we normally have more to show for such destruction than one captured Death Eater."

The Commander glowered down at all of them, but Anthony didn't need his disapproval. He was already painfully aware of what an utter shitshow tonight had been.