FHB: Chapter 31

As Lucius contemplated his decision, he heard it again. Polkus seemed so focused on the meeting that he did not even notice when Lucius slowly slipped away. Watching human and dementor strike a deal was no doubt educational, but Lucius did not like the idea of being watched.

Pulling out his wand, Lucius crept away and kept his eyes and ears open. If he listened closely, he could hear the sound more clearly. It was very subtle but audibly present in the still forest. Following the sound, Lucius used the little moonlight to guide his path. He was careful not to make any sound himself, but with one wrong footing, a twig snapped.

Lucius immediately stopped in his tracks and silence greeted him instantly. The subtle sound of what seemed like walking was gone. He must have alerted whoever it was he was following, and now he and the stranger were on the lookout for one another.

Not daring to take another step, Lucius looked around hoping to see an outline of a being. It was then that he realized he had gone too far, and Polkus was no longer in sight. Now worried that he might have made the wrong decision, Lucius stretched his wand hand forward as he was prepared to use it. Unfortunately, someone beat him to it. Before he could even utter a spell, a dim light whizzed in his direction and hit his wand out of his hand. Lucius watched as his wand flew from his grip and landed in a bush far from him.

Panicking, Lucius ignored the fact that his footsteps were waking the forest and dashed towards the bush. He could barely see where he was going and with another wrong footing, he found himself landing face flat on the ground. When Lucius attempted to recover from the fall, he turned on his back only to find a wand in his face.

“Lumos,” the owner of the wand said and light shone on his face, temporarily blinding him.

Lucius could not see who the stranger was but the stranger could see him clearly. If only his wildly thumping heart did not drown the voice of that stranger, he would have been able to guess who it was.

“Lucius?” the owner of the wand asked.

Not knowing if he should answer, Lucius propped himself on his arm and began shuffling backwards. The bush was within reach and when his hand found his wand, he did not hesitate to use it.

“Impedimenta!” Lucius shouted and watched, as the stranger flew backwards and landed with a thud.

Scrambling to his feet, it was now his turn to see who his enemy was and when he did, he immediately sent her wand flying in the opposite direction. She growled angrily at him as she got to her feet, but she did not make a move to retrieve her wand.

“What are you doing here?” Tanya demanded.

“What are YOU doing here?” Lucius asked in return.

“You should get out of here if you don’t want any trouble,” Tanya warned. It sounded less of a threat and more of genuine concern.

“You should get out of here too,” Lucius said.

“I’m serious.”

(“No, you’re Tanya.” Sorry, I had to)

“So am I.”

“We have aurors all over. We heard about this meeting and…” Tanya trailed off, suddenly aware that she should not be sharing too much.

“You’re lying. There is no way the ministry would send a rookie like you out on a dangerous mission,” Lucius replied.

Tanya looked slightly offended, but she wiped that expression off her face when Lucius continued, “You’re probably here on a rumour, and I doubt there are aurors all over.”

“We have called for backup,” Tanya quickly said.

“No you have not.”

And just as Lucius said so, a spell shot right past them and hit a tree directly behind Tanya. The bark of the tree snapped and both Lucius and Tanya scrambled out of the way as it came crashing down.

“I told you,” Tanya said unconvincingly.

Lucius would have laughed at her lie, but flashes of light and yells of spells distracted him. The forest was no longer dark and still, as the birds fluttered from their nests and out of harms way.

“Where’s my wand?” Tanya quickly asked.

Before Lucius could vaguely point at where her wand had flew to, a painful scream echoed throughout the forest

“Gavin?” Tanya asked softly as fear swept across her face.

There was another scream and Tanya immediately cupped her mouth. Shortly after, Lucius heard his name being hollered.

“Malfoy! Who do you have there?” the voice called out. It was one of his own, even though he did not recognize the voice.

Lucius froze at that very moment. The hand that was holding his wand began to sweat as he stared at Tanya, who was also frozen in place.

“Malfoy! You hearing me, boy?”

Lucius swallowed dryly as he raised his wand at Tanya. He was not sure on what to do. Should he cast a spell on her or tell her to run? Tanya watched Lucius with her eyes wide open, but not a word escaped her lips. Lucius only had two options at that moment; bring her in or let her go.

To Be Continued…

(Leave a comment below or vote on whether Lucius should bring Tanya in or let her go!)

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Chapter 28

“You’re not worth it,” Joanna simply said.

Immediately, seeing that there would not be a duel, the crowd slowly dispersed.

“Typical Hufflepuffs, weaklings as usual,” Matilda shouted, hoping to attract only Joanna’s attention, but ended up stopping all the Hufflepuffs in their tracks.

Clearly noticing her mistake, Matilda quickly hurried off, with her posse following after her like lost puppies.

Just as Matilda disappeared around a corner, an announcement boomed overhead and Professor Dumbledore’s voice sent everyone silent.

“Attention all final year students, please proceed to the great hall immediately.”

“But we have class,” Annoria said in reply.

“No astronomy, I’m fine with that,” Joanna said, as they began following the small crowd towards the great hall.

Once they had arrived, the great hall had been rearranged. The tables and benches were stacked up against the wall, leaving a huge empty space in the center. At the teacher’s table was Professor Dippet, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Merrythought, and three people whom Joanna suspected to be the aurors.

“What is going on?” Annoria asked.

Asking the same question to herself, Joanna hoped it had nothing to do with Tom and his horcuxes. And when she spotted him at the corner of the teacher’s table, she sighed a small relief.

“Recruitment drive,” someone answered Annoria’s question from behind them.

“It’s not that easy though,” another student added.

“They didn’t do this last year,” Annoria said.

“Shortage in staff,” Joanna replied, and the students around her chuckled softly.

Some of the prefects began to ask students to move forward, as everyone was crowding at the back of the hall, and none dared to break off from the group.

“We are not going to hurt you,” the female auror said.

Cautious laughter followed with the crowd slowly shuffling forward.

“My name is Nyla and we have been told by Professor Merrythought that you are one of Hogwarts’ finest badge in defense against the dark arts. So, a few of us has decided to fish out the talented ones to join our force,” the female auror explained.

“You’re not going to try and kill us are you?” a Gryffindor student asked. He was bold enough to speak up, but clearly not so brave after all.

“Of course not. We’re going to run this recruitment test just like how we do it in the ministry. It is legal and safe, trust me,” Nyla answered confidently.

Nyla was a slim, tall and pretty, middle aged woman, and her two fellow colleagues were men, one of them taller than Professor Dumbledore, and the other slightly shorter than Nyla. All three of them had battle wounds, but Nyla did the best job at hiding hers.

Just as Joanna had finally studied them all, she noticed that the three of them had positioned themselves at the front of the hall. They were pulling their wands out so slowly that Joanna was certain she was the only one that saw. Instinctively, she pulled hers out slowly as well.

“What we’re going to do today,” Nyla paused when she spotted Joanna with her wand, and then she continued, “is to test your speed, accuracy and creativity in a combat duel, especially when you’re caught off guard.”

Immediately after she had spoken, her two colleagues started firing spells at the students. Screams and yells echoed throughout the great hall as students were running towards the exit.

Joanna, with her wand at hand, blocked off as many spells she could while she yelled for the ones around her to take out their wands.

“What. Are. They. Doing?!” Annoria yelled in between the piercing screams.

“Fishing out the talented ones,” Joanna shouted in reply.

A few other students started emerging from the crowd of hysterical students with their wands, defending the flying sparks of all colors that was heading towards them.

“I. Can’t. Keep. This. Up. I’m. Not. Good!” Annoria said, now losing breath as the aurors did not sop.

Having her attention diverted to Annoria for just a second, Joanna did not see a spell that was intentionally meant for her. The moment it hit her on the chest, she flew all the way to the back of the hall, and landed onto one of the stacked tables.

Pain rose from her joints as she tried to stand up. Being slightly above the crowd, she saw Nyla aim another spell at her.

“Why is she picking one me?!” Joanna said to herself.

Quickly dogging the red spark, Joanna fired a spell back at her. It was no longer a game of defense.

Joanna watched as Nyla blocked off her spells as they started heading towards each other. She was sure they would finally come face to face when one of Nyla’s colleagues decided to come to Nyla’s aid.

This is unfair! Joanna thought.

Joanna looked around to see if anyone would come to her aid, and when she saw Annoria on her knees, having given up, Joanna knew she was done for.

The next spell that hit Joanna sent her wand out of her hand as she landed on her back. As she laid on the ground, not wanting to move, she heard the spells stop and the screams slowly died down.

“Fished out the talented ones already?!” Matilda shouted from under her tears.

Joanna couldn’t help but laugh.

“I believe we have,” Nyla said. A loud click came from the doors of the great hall, and Matilda stormed past the once locked doors.

“She wasn’t very good, Nyla,” Professor Merrythought said as the crowd watched Matilda leave.

“You can all return to your dormitories now, class is cancelled for today,” Professor Dippet announced, and some of the angry and upset students decided to let go of their grudges immediately.

Finally sitting up, Joanna scanned the hall for her wand. When she saw it lying 10 feet away, it was being picked up by no one other than Nyla.

“I believe this is yours,” Nyla said, as she walked towards her.

“Thank you,” Joanna replied as she took her wand.

“You gave a real good fight.”

“Thanks.”

“Ever thought of becoming an auror?” Nyla asked.

Was that an offer? It must have been. Joanna had never thought of becoming an auror, considering her family’s background, but just the thought of finally being able to break her family’s curse was hope she never had before. Should she take up Nyla on the offer?

To be continued…

(Leave a comment below or vote on whether Joanna should become an auror!)