EVERYTHING BURNS AND EVERYONE SCREAMS || Bellatrix & Oliver. Who: Bellatrix Lestrange, a couple of Aurors, Edwin the traitor and Oliver Wood. When: December 7th. Afternoon. Where: Starts out at Barry's Broomsticks, then moves on to Diagon Alley. What: Bellatrix has found out the identity of the mysterious arms supplier and Oliver suddenly finds himself in a world of trouble. Rating:High. Status: Closed. Complete.
Tuesday afternoons tended to bring a lull of customers, especially when the weather was as nice as it was today. It was a brisk, clear day with a perfect blue sky and it seemed as if nature clung as hard to the autumn as possible before it reluctantly made way for the winter.
Oliver Wood was busy, for despite the lovely weather Barry's Broomsticks was crowded. He'd always figured that it would only be a matter of time until people realised that Barry provided quality broomsticks at a reasonable price, but this was pushing things a little. Oliver narrowed his eyes suspiciously and gazed at a wizard who was inspecting a broomstick repairing kit with an intensity that was downright ridiculous. There was something off about the man. Oliver frowned but as so often that day his attention was pulled away. Another customer and another and yet another one. Barry was in a state of happiness that threatened to bring the kind old man close to heart-attack, Oliver thought, his gaze wandering back to the wizard. And then it hit him – the shoes. They were new and shiny and really wouldn't fit to the worn robes the man was wearing.
Oliver's heartbeat sped up. Something was off. He studied his customers a little more carefully but again and again his attention was drawn away before he could come to an observation. The doorbell chimed again and a small, pale man entered, the lose flesh of his face betraying the fact that he'd lost a lot of weight in far too short a time. He waved at Oliver and the Scot's mouth went dry.
What in Merlin's name was this idiot doing here? He knew the man all right, he'd known him ever since he first started Muggleborns out of the country, way before he ever set foot in Azkaban. The man was an old acquaintance, Edwin Guffy. Trustworthy and careful. So what the hell was he doing in the shop in the middle of the day? Officially they didn't even know each other, it was only unofficially that Oliver had provided Edwin with a knife, so he could protect himself from the Death Eaters. Oliver's smile froze on his face as he turned to the man, all business.
"What can I do for you, Sir?" Oliver asked, a fake smile on his face as he left his place behind the counter and came to in front of Edwin. "Can I interest you in a broomstick perhaps?"
Edwin grinned broadly - maniacally - and Oliver's muscles tensed in reaction. "Oliver," Edwin said loudly. "It is you."
And just like that the fight was on. The wizard with the ill-matching clothes drew his wand and so did several others. Oliver didn't allow himself the luxury of cursing Edwin's traitorous arse to hell and back. He grabbed Edwin by the scruff of his neck and hurled him right at the first attacker. The men went down in a tangle of limbs even as Oliver pointed his wand, restrictions and limitations and all, at a cabinet and cast a spell. The cabinet doors flew open and broomsticks fell all over the customers. Another spell and the broomsticks hanging on the ceiling crashed down distracting the first hexes that were thrown his way.
Oliver didn't even wait for the final broomstick to fall, instead using what little advantage he had and rushed out of the shop, using the back door. He honestly hadn't planned to run, he knew that with the tracking charms running away was a moot point. The reaction of fighting back had been pure instinct and now he was in even more trouble than before. For some reason Edwin had sold him out, Oliver realised that much and right now he only had one thing on his mind: he knew he was going down and he would make damn well sure that he took some Death Eaters with him.
Rushing out of the backdoor led Oliver immediately to the adjourning garbage dump, a place that provided the cover he needed. He barely glanced around to decide which direction to flee into when a hex melted a scrap of metal far too close to his face. They were here already! Oliver ducked behind an old sofa that was left here to rot and once again used a small spell to get things moving. Prompted by his paranoia Oliver had prepared the place and now only a few trinkets had to be removed and an onslaught of garbage was going to fall right on top of the Death Eaters. Theoretically.
Oliver accioed a couple of wedges that held everything in place, then pushed, relatively safe behind his cover. The mountain of garbage moved and before anyone could react, an avalanche of trash tumbled down on the Death Eaters. He could hear them cussing as he ran away, zig-zagging across the wasteyard in a mad dash that couldn't lead anywhere.
~*~
He wasn't sure how much space he'd managed to put between them but Oliver didn't dare wasting a moment on looking back. Everything that could slow him down was potentially fatal. He crossed the garbage dump and came out on the other side where a jump down two metres brought him back on street level. He was now in an alley running parallel with Diagon Alley and Oliver prayed to whatever deity would listen that the Tracking Charms were vague enough to make the Death Eaters think he was actually on Diagon Alley. But he had no such luck. With the Tracking Charm on him, it was easy for the Death Eaters to make out his trail and this time Oliver was almost able to smell them before he heard them. Apparently almost being drowned in garbage did nothing to improve their temper. dodged another hex He barely allowed himself a hint of a smile before he felt something hot pass narrowly by his face and hit the house in front of him, leaving a black scorch mark upon impacting.
"Shite," Oliver gasped. There was only one way to go – forward. He knew this place and there were no side alleys to duck into, nothing that could provide cover, making it only a matter of time before he was hit. As if proving his thoughts correct another spell passed him by and he felt a sharp pain in his arm. A severing spell that would have taken his arm clean off if the aim had been a bit better.
Oliver cursed again, frantic to find an escape. He couldn't keep running straight ahead. It was a trap he couldn't hope to escape from no matter how much he dodged the hexes, so he had to improvise. Oliver looked back over his shoulder, his heart beating rapidly. They were gaining on him and bloody hell! Their aim was getting better, too!
Abruptly Oliver changed direction and ran at a door, using his momentum to make him crash into it with his full weight. He gasped as his hurt arm connected with the door – and then he was through. The door crashed into the floor and Oliver crashed right along. And not a moment too soon. The spot where he'd stood a second ago exploded as a hex impacted violently. Oliver's eyes widened and he bit back a curse as he scrambled back onto his feet. At least he was off the street, he thought and immediately ran up the staircase. He had no idea where that would lead him but anything was better than being killed on sight. As far as he could tell, there were at least five wizards dispatched after him. He had to find a way to fight them on his own terms.
Oliver bit his bottom lip, his heart still beating so fast that he half-expected it to burst out of his chest. He had to stop reacting. He had to do something. Arriving on the first landing, Oliver ducked aside and stopped running. Confrontation was the only thing that held the glimpse of a chance for him. He whispered an incantation and a large piece of wood from the banister dislodged itself, providing Oliver with a weapon. And barely a second too soon. His pursuers were right behind him. He could hear their voices downstairs, though he couldn't make out the words.
'Come on,' Oliver thought, his hand tightening around his improvised weapon. 'Come and fight me.'
A moment later he heard movement. Several hexes hit the wall next to him in quick succession, then there was movement on the staircase. Oliver's muscles tensed and he forced himself to wait. He needed his opponent to come closer...and closer...now. With a battle cry Oliver swung his weapon and sent the Death Eater crashing down the staircase again, allowing himself a grim smile when he thought he'd heard bones break. More hexes were flung his way, ripping small, sharp pieces of stone out of the wall that hit Oliver like burning miniature missiles. He knew his previous move wouldn't work a second time when suddenly the chandelier above his head was hit by a hex and crashed down.
Oliver ducked out of the way but he'd given away his advantage. A tall Death Eater, built like a walking wardrobe made it up the stairs and before Oliver had time to react, the man had grabbed him by his neck and flung him against the wall. The breath left Oliver's lungs in a sharp hissing sound as pain exploded down his back. He didn't even manage to get his arms up before the next punch caught him right in the gut, sending him to is knees with a groan of pain.
"Use magic, you idiot!" Oliver heard someone say, then doubled over as a fist caught him again.
"You need to use -!"
His attacked blinked in irritation and that was all the chance Oliver would get. Ignoring the pain each movement brought, he launched his body forward, his shoulder connecting with the other man's solar plexus. Both of them let out a grunt of pain as the man fell on his back, pulling Oliver right with him.
For a moment the Death Eater and Oliver looked at each other, both pretty surprised the sudden change of position. Then Oliver's fist connected with the man's face. Oliver pushed himself up again but this time his legs wouldn't cooperate the way he wanted them to. He grabbed the Death Eaters' wand - a wand that, unlike his own restricted wand, he could use for attacks - but it was too late.
There was a sharp pain in his chest and Oliver was flung right off the Death Eater, hitting a wall...no, a window. Oliver felt something behind his back give way and then there was nothing but the feeling of shattered glass biting into his flesh and the wind rushing past his face as he fell. A curse whizzed past his face, hitting some wall in the distance. He heard people screaming and running feet and a distant part of his brain informed him that he was going to land in Diagon Alley right...now.
What saved him was the cart of a street vendor that broke his fall. Oliver crashed into a cart filled with pumpkins, sending them into every direction as he hit the cart. His breath was knocked out of him and his vision swam but still the Gryffindor kept a death grip on the stolen wand. Still wobbly, Oliver pushed himself into a sitting position, a mixture of pumpkin juice and blood running down his face.
And that's when his eyes fell on a very familiar person and he felt as if an invisible hand gripped his stomach.
Bellatrix Lestrange.
~*~
Things had been allowed to go on for far too long. The slaves were not behaving as they should have been, the Order was still at large, a resistance was slowly building and at the heart of it all they stood, spending more time squabbling and arguing and back biting and trying to prove who was better than the rest and ignoring the chain of command when they should have been spending more of their time and energy on the matter at had. Bella had had enough though. She had been playing nicely so to speak but not any longer. The comfort with which some of their society had fallen into had allowed things to slip through the cracks and in doing so it had put the people she had cared about the most in grave danger. It didn’t matter to her that the weapons that had been acquired by the slaves were inferior and more than likely wouldn’t do much damage but that was beside the point. The point of the matter was that they had been able to acquire them in the first place and none of them had even noticed.
Fury course through her at a rapid pace, moving most people who stood in her way out of it without so much as even a word sent from her for them to do so. She was in the sort of mood that when she caught the little brat it was going to be a blood bath unlike one she had had in quite some time. Oliver had been more than a thorn in her side for quite some time now and it was time for his annoyance of her to come to an end. She should have known though that sending out the morons that worked for her would be a horrible idea. They could barely make their own coffee for themselves let alone accurately track and capture one measly little boy. In the end though she ended up doing as she should have done in the first place and with the address of his flat in her hands she apparated directly to the door and entered without so much as even knock. Bella didn’t honestly expect him to be there, it would have been incredibly foolish for him to be there but she had hoped that perhaps the hurry in which he might have left would have caused him to be foolish and leave behind a clue as to where he was going or who he was meeting up with if that were to be the case.
Coming up emptied handed she destroyed the flat in a fit of anger before storming out and disapparating to Diagon, her wand out before her feet had even settled firmly on the ground. Coming to her last resort Bella activated the tracking charms that had been placed on the boy as a bound. Wand still held firmly in her hands she let the spell lead her through the crowd, people moving instantly at the sight of her. It really was much better this way. She didn’t have the time or the patients that was required to deal with them and dealing with them would only slow her down and detract her from her main mission. Having been on the verge of having to leave Diagon and head into other areas, a dark grin spread across Bella’s face as a loud crash sounded from nearby and instantly the spell spun and headed in the direction the crash had come from. Had the boy really been so stupid as to come here, to her territory? She had thought him to be at least a bit smarter than that but given that he was a rebel it really shouldn’t have surprised her that he was there.
Moving through the small crowd that had formed, Bella’s wand fell to her side and a sadistic grin spread over her face at the sight of her target down and on the ground, covered in pumpkin juice and looking very much worn out. That didn’t mean that Bella was going to underestimate him and rather than pocket her wand she kept it firmly in her hand as she came to a stop in front of him and knelt down.
“Hello, Oliver. I believe there are a few things that you and I need to discuss.”
~*~
He had suspected that this day would come. Hell, Oliver was surprised it hadn't come any sooner and even though he'd decided long ago that it was worth it, that creating a safe future for his little sister Rose was worth anything, that knowledge didn't keep his stomach from dropping to his knees. Not that he had any intention of showing his nervousness.
"'ey, Bella." Oliver said, his eyes scanning the surroundings for a possible means of escape. A moot point considering those damned Tracking Charms but just sitting down, waiting for his doom wasn't something Oliver could do. Even if, at the moment, it was precisely what he was doing.
He pushed himself up into a sitting position with a grunt and noted with a pang of gratitude that apparently nothing but pumpkins had been broken. He flicked a bit of smashed pumpkin off his shirt and gave Bellatrix a lop-sided grin, all the while holding on to his stolen wand like a life-line. He was going down today, even Oliver was aware of that, but he'd be damned if he went down without taking some of them with him. His smile grew a bit more genuine.
"If I'd known you'd come to see me, I would have gotten some cookies or so. Seriously, Honey, you need to call ahead. I have nothing useful at home to offer you and now you make me feel like a really bad host." Merlin, it was starting, Oliver realised as he slowly got to his feet. He was rambling. Merlin help him, but once he started there was barely any shutting him up. And still no possible means of escape in sight. Yet.
He rolled his shoulders and something in his back snapped back into place with a cracking sound. "Sounds disgusting, doesn't it? Anyway, let's say I go home, get a shower and then I'll call you back?"
~*~
Bella stood there silently, patiently, watching his every little move and cataloging things that she was more than certain he never even knew could be cataloged and one thing was certain, the longer she stood there and watched him and listened to his inane rambling and prattling the more furious she got. Through it all though she remained still and quiet, her face giving away nothing that would hint or give notice at the storm that was brewing beneath the surface and preparing to unleash itself on the first person closest to her and as she took a single step forward that person became Oliver. Under different circumstances she would have bantered with him and would have been amused at his rambles and the pure and utter rubbish that passed his lips when they met but today she had one goal to accomplish and the longer he stood there rambling the worse he made things for himself.
Once he was firmly on his feet, more useless words pouring past his lips, Bella finally moved. In a move faster than most would believe her able to make at her age she was in front of him, her hand fisting in his shirt as she used her momentum to push him backwards until he came into solid contact with the outside of the building closest to him. The calm, blank look that had been on her face previously disappeared and in its place now was one of pure and utter fury. A look that most people who were in their right minds and even a few who were out of minds would know meant pain was in their imminent future.
“Did you really think that you would get away with it boy? Did you honestly think you could do such a thing and that none of us would ever find out the truth? Your girl squealed like a little rodent, Oliver. It was so cute how she tried to act all brave and bold and daring but just like everyone else she cracked and in the end, her cracking, is going to cost you everything.”
~*~
Oliver gasped – what was it with Death Eaters and quick movements lately? Had they all been attending some sort of training? - then his back hit the wall and he couldn't quite suppress a groan. His lips parted at Bellatrix' angry glare, he was surprised and a little shocked to see her lose her composition quite like that when suddenly his world came crashing down on him. Hermione. She had hurt Hermione.
Sense flew out of the window and Oliver matched Bellatrix' anger easily, no longer even thinking of snarky little quips to annoy her. It was a movement out of sheer rage. Oliver didn't even think about using magic. He brought his head down with an abrupt movement slammed it against her nose. He thought he could hear the sound of breaking bones and smiled grimly.
~*~
Bella was the type of person who pain didn’t bother her. It didn’t make her cry out or flinch. It was something she lived with every single day and something she embraced completely. That wasn’t to say though that she didn’t feel it for she did and when Oliver’s head slammed into her face a low grunt sounded from her and she was forced to release him as she stumbled back a few paces, her hand coming up to wipe away at the blood that started oozing. What little hold she had had on her temper slipped and it snapped, fury racing through every inch and bit of her body as her nose continued to throb in time with her heartbeat.
For several heart beats she wiped the blood away from her nose, her gaze leveled solely on him as she debated on what to do next. Her first instinct had been to kill him right then and there for daring to draw her blood, something that to her personally was a crime and offense worthy of death, but she tamped down her initial desire, instead allowing it to build and grow and morph into something else entirely. It wasn’t often that Bella changed her mind but as she stood there, her own blood staining her hands and the pain in her nose pounding with every beat of her heart she did in fact change her mind. In a flash she drew back her fist and slammed it into his face as hard as she could, not caring in the least that he was at least physically bigger than she was. Bella was by no means a weak person be it mentally or physically.
Not waiting for any sort of reaction from him she hit him with a stunner and then follow up spell that had him sleeping before his body ever hit the ground. Kneeling she placed a hand on him and before disappearing she barked orders at the Aurors still standing around an gaping at her to clean up the mess the boy had made before they disappeared from sight.