Millicent & Edgar vs Regulus & Severus (between 5, 8, 27) // damaged in crossfire: Bertha Jorkins
Explosions were one thing - Millicent had set down her paperwork, finished her firewhiskey, and watched the lightshow out the window while waiting for the notification from the duty staff (Pepper, if she remembered rightly, so she had little concern about him mishandling the situation). She'd been almost ready to floo to the Ministry to supervise the deployment of the squads, though it seemed the explosions had been an isolated incident, when that isolation was broken, and further noises of destruction arose in the night. That changed everything.
Millicent took the stairs down at a run, with the result that she was slightly puffed by the time she reached street level - thank Merlin none of the boys were here to see it. It was caution, though, that had her moving slowly and carefully as she opened the outer door and edged out into the street, having first doused the foyer light. She loitered in the shadow of the building for a moment, her dark grey coat blending in as her eyes adjusted to the night. Which wasn't quite as dark as it should have been. Wand at the ready, she started up the street towards the post office.
By the time Regulus was stepping out of the ruined post office (Severus not far behind), he heard the distinct 'pop' of Apparition. Instantly a woman – she looked to be in her fourties, perhaps – was standing before them in the Diagon Alley street. So it seemed the authorities had been alerted. Stepping aside to give Severus a full and fair view, Regulus shot a swift Incarcerous in hopes of catching her off guard.
Severus followed Regulus out of the post office and quickly accessed the situation. Without much thought he raised his wand and sent a stupefy towards the woman he assumed was a member of the department of magical law enforcement. He didn't recognise her, not that it would have changed his reaction at all. This was war and Severus was determined that he would perform better this time around than the last time. He and Regulus had spent time practising and he hoped that this would allow them to work more completely in unison and thus more efficiently.
Edgar's entrance onto the scene had been clumsy, at best -- he was half-asleep, he didn't have all the facts about what exactly was going on and -though he would admit it to nobody at this point in time- he still had his pyjamas on underneath his hastily pulled-on robes. The slippers were lost, somewhere at the end of his house's driveway, and would no doubt be set on fire by his loving wife before he returned, but right now he'd received the call to action and was answering it. He'd Apparated in, and made his way up the street as carefully and quickly as he dared: it wouldn't do to run into trouble before he had a chance to assess the scene.
Unfortunately, it seemed as though trouble was about to run directly into him; as he rounded the corner by Scribbulus, he caught sight of Millicent Bagnold, her wand raised and looking distinctly concerned -- she was trying to skulk, it looked like, and not doing a particularly fabulous job at it. He was about to call out to her, when the scene was lit by not one, but two spells aimed her way: it seemed like he wasn't the only one not fooled by her camouflage techniques. Thinking rather quicker than he could speak, Edgar shot a Shield Charm between her and the jinxes coming her way: it wouldn't stop anything lethal, but it might give her an extra few seconds to think. And two-on-one was just unsporting.
"Seems like we have a bit of a situation, Mrs Bagnold!" Even tired, Edgar's voice easily carried across the night air. "May I have this dance?"
Severus noted the new arrival as soon as he spoke and he turned to appraise the new situation. The newcomer already had his wand out and looked perfectly capable of taking on Regulus and Severus. Severus didn't particularly like the improving of the odds in the favour of the newcomers. They had been perfectly acceptable before. Severus hesitated only a second before shooting Stupefy towards the newcomer. It was the first thing that came to mind, and Severus would rather just stop him so that he and Regulus could easily make it back to the Apparation point now that their task was accomplished.
He stepped back closer to Regulus facing towards the newcomers and hoping that nobody would come from the other direction before they could take out these two. Were they Ministry? It seemed likely, who else would it be? They were far to together too be anything but Ministry. He followed the first spell with a shield spell that would keep him and Regulus from being struck while he tried to map out the quickest way out of the situation they were currently in.
Millicent felt the familiar jolt of adrenaline as the spells that had been shooting towards her fizzled against a shield - not hers, which was still waiting just on the tip of her tongue. Fear spiked through her, but she shoved it away into the corner that housed all unhelpful things, and let her mental to-do list expand to fill the space. Turning her head just enough to confirm with her peripheral vision what her ears had suggested - that the new arrival and probably her recent saviour was Edgar - she aimed her own Incarcerous back at her cloaked assailants. "Not the moment for flipp-- blast," she interrupted herself, as her spell hit another shield. Options presented themselves, but bringing down the post office on their heads could wait as option B. With a quick sidelong glance to make sure Edgar was with her, Millicent began to advance carefully, readying a Reducto to attempt to blast through the shield.
Noticing that the woman was starting to approach, Regulus focused his attention mainly on her for a moment's time, sparing only the occasional glance to Bones and Severus. Not waiting to find out what attack it was actually going to be, he reinforced their shield enough to last another hit or two and began moving carefully to the side. He knew Edgar was one to be ever-aware of in this sort of setting (according to his first mission in February), but he was still trying to get a feel for the woman's battle approach.
Edgar was indeed ready for most of the traditional openers, although it surprised him a little that the Death Eaters had gone for a simple Stunning spell; were he in their place, faced by an Auror and a highly-trained (not to mention excellently coiffured) Hit Wizard, then Edgar would have been shooting to kill right from the off. He noted the curious fact, and shot his own Blasting hex directly towards the taller figure: he didn't expect it to hit, but it did make contact with the Stunner, sending them both ricocheting off towards the Death Eater's shields. He wasn't in the mood to expend more energy than he had to, if he could use their own spells against them.
Regulus' spells had given Severus enough time to take in their situation. The building behind them was thoroughly destroyed with the exception of the structure. There were tonnes of bricks, shards of glass, and other items in the building, and Severus thought quickly to determine what could be used to their advantage. The two there were not going to be fooled by simple spell work, so he waved his wand at a pile of rubble caused by the original explosive and sent pieces of rock, brick, and glass flying past him and Regulus. The debris would prove a distraction, and Severus used the instant after to once again reinforce the shields about him and Regulus. Immediately following that he sent a rapid succession of stronger defense spells. Stupefy, Sectumsempra and a Cruciatus were fired towards Bones and the woman Severus had not recognised.
Severus had not frequently used the unforgiveables, but he knew also that the Ministry had authorised the use of unforgiveables for the Aurors, and it had served mainly to ease Severus' own guilt in using them against the Ministry. The spell would stick, Severus meant it - assuming, of course, that it broke through the shield and hit his target.
Millicent threw up her own shield behind the one Edgar had erected, precision size to cover them both with barely an inch wasted. Excellently coiffured or not, brick dust in her hair was hardly going to be a problem at present. Geared towards physical debris, it did little to stop the wild spells that crashed through Edgar's shield. Mill ducked sideways as a hex sizzled past her ear, and a second seared a path across her flapping coat (not <I>again</i>; she'd just had this coat cleaned and mended). Still half crouched, she threw two reductos in quick succession, the first directly at the Death Eaters, the second into the guts of the building behind them, aiming to bring it down on their heads.
Scarcely dodging the spell aimed at them (and hoping Severus managed the same), Regulus stumbled to the side, tripping over a large piece of debris and catching himself with only slightly less grace than he would have preferred). He once again stood up straight just in time to hear the second Reducto spell zoom into the building behind them. Without thinking, he whipped around to watch the spell collide, and without fail, the spell hit the remaining pillar, reducing it to dust with a loud BOOM, thus allowing a large portion of the Post's front area to fall threateningly behind them. Without thinking, he grabbed Severus by the sleeve and tugged him forward to put more space in between them and the loud crashing of stone behind them. It was Aurors or risking being crushed, and there was nothing impressive nor valiant nor admirable about having a building fall down on top of you. To keep them from appearing completely thrown off, he shot a slicing hex at Bones, letting go of Severus's sleeve once again.
The slicing hex whizzed directly over Edgar's head, connecting harmlessly with a shop awning -- indeed, the hex shot over Edgar's body completely, since he was lying flat on his back, blinking furiously to bite back the scream on the tip of his tongue. The taller Death Eater's Cruciatus had hit him directly in the chest, Edgar's foolish gentleman's instincts being far too powerful for him to override: he'd desired to ensure Millicent's safety at the expense of his own. She was a powerful enough witch, and he knew it, but the traditional pureblood inside him couldn't allow for her to come to harm...and right now, he was paying for that for the most blinding agony a magical spell could achieve.
After a few moments, he felt it lessen. Subsiding at least enough to thankfully scramble to his feet, he watched in no small amount of amusement as the rubble cascaded towards their attackers. The shorter one had tugged on the sleeve of the one who had fired the curse, and the momentary lapse in concentration allowed Edgar to throw off the curse entirely. He was angry now, and there was no playing anymore.
"Imperio! he yelled, his wand aimed directly at the taller of the two. He was the more dangerous, and if Edgar could 'persuade' him to remove himself from the fight, the easier it would be for them. It was risky, using the Unforgivables -- but that was why they had been authorised for use, and if it didn't work he would be able to return to the less taboo hexes.
Severus had only a moment to feel slightly satisfied at the fact that his curse had connected with Bones, one of the Aurors he particularly disliked, before he was caught off guard by Regulus' grabbing his sleeve and pulling him forward. The Post tumbled down behind them, Severus' spell was disconnected, and Bones' Imperio, luckily for Severus and less luckily for the Ministry warriors, flew by where Severus had been standing only a moment before. Severus snapped his wand up and performed another shield spell followed quickly by Furnunculus in the direction of the woman.
Severus might have used the Unforgivable first, and it was completely unreasonable, but to have one turned back on him irritated him more than he had supposed that it might even if he rationally knew that it was possible. Hoping to catch Bones off his feet, he cast a tripping jinx towards the other man, and turned briefly to check on Regulus to make certain he had survived the falling post office all right. Seeing that he had, Severus turned his mind back to the battle at hand, checking to see if either of his spells had hit their intended targets.
She was not an Auror by any means, nor did Bertha Jorkins ever intend to be in the crossfires of any sort of attack. There was a reason she was nothing more than a desk clerk in human resources. A nice, safe job, where she could simply sit behind her desk and not call any attention to herself, but her penchant for gossip very often got her into this sort of trouble. Even if she was trying to keep her nose clean while doing it. The Leaky Cauldron had been a good place to keep her nose clean, at least it had been in the past.
Staying inside of the pub probably would have been the best idea, but when the explosions began she'd panicked, just like quite a few of the other patrons. It had been a quiet night until the first explosion rocked the alley and when that hadn't been the last, Bertha had run out to find out what was going on. In retrospect, she should have run to the Muggle side, But it was too late for that now. She would curse herself later for the stupidity of her actions; for now she simply wanted to avoid dying in clouds of rubble. Quiet honestly, she'd never seen a building fall so quickly or so easily and it was a bit disturbing.
Though not more so than the curses and hexes being thrown back and forth over her head. It was too dark and too confusing for her to recognise who the battlers were, though from the shouts she could try and guess at Ministry versus attackers. She wanted to move, and she tried, but it didn't take very long after her first few steps that something hit the back of her feet and suddenly she'd fallen, slamming face first into the path. With the curses flying back and forth it shouldn't have been any surprise that she'd been hit with a stray tripping jinx. Yet as she smacked her face and arms against the ground and rubble from the collapsed building she had a brief moment of 'how?' There was little she could do.
Millicent saw the body fall from the corner of her eye, and heard a faint yelp even over the ruckus of the duel. She grit her teeth, even as she swatted a spell away with a flick of her wand. This was ridiculous; she didn't care who these two masked goons were or thought they were, she and Edgar were two of the Ministry's finest, and she'd had about enough of this.
Evelyn & Jo vs Fenrir & Rodolphus (near apparition point) - note, the dark mark is above #4
The first thing Evelyn heard were the explosions -- her hand immediately went under her pillow to grasp her wand before she was even fully awake. Rolling out of bed, she hurried over to her window to look outside to see if she could see anything. There, in the distance just down the road of Diagon Alley, she could see the smoke rising from the buildings where the bombs had just gone off. "Bugger, bugger, bugger," Evelyn said to herself as she turned back to her bed and grabbed the set of robes she kept on a chair next to it, pulling them on over her head. Snatching her journal off her desk, she opened it just in time for the alert to go off. Well, since she didn't need to worry about that, Evelyn tossed the journal onto her bed. She wasn't about to just rush out her door, instead concentrating on apparating to a safe spot further down in the alley right behind Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream shop -- and the first thing she noticed was the eerie green glow from the sky above the Liaison Office. Looking up at the night sky, the green skull sent a chill down her spine as she kept herself hidden within the nook of the two shops.
One deep breath -- and Evelyn could hear people nearby, the sounds of a battle, and her fist tightened around her wand as she peered around the corner of the ice cream shop to get a handle on the situation and, hopefully, spot some of her fellow Aurors on the scene that she could run in to help. She could see a cluster of people in black robes just down the road to the left. She then looked to the right, hoping she didn't manage to get herself surrounded by apparating into the wrong spot.
Jo hadn't slept well in weeks (since, if she could admit to herself, the night she learned a very hard lesson from Rodolphus Lestrange) and had taken to leaving her journal open, hoping for some alert that would tear her from her faux-restful state when she wasn't playing records or drinking multiple bottles of wine. It was a blessing that this night was a journal night and so ass the alarm went off, she leapt from bed fully clothed and wasted no time in Apparating to Diagon Alley.
It was her intention to find Rufus or Pepper and aide them in whatever way she could but as she took in the scene, it dawned on her that it didn't matter exactly where she started as the place was positively crawling with Dark Wizards. And near the fucking ice-cream shoppe, if that wasn't mired in ironic hilarity. She swore most floridly and swept her hair out of her eyes, searching the dark (and bloody smoky!) alley for a familiar face.
Ah ... "EVELYN," was a bellow and she strode quickly to her fellow Auror's side. "How long have you been here? Have you seen anyone else?" A flame sprouted from a low building not far from the shoppe and she directed her wand with a firm "Aguamenti!"
Evelyn heard the familiar loud crack! of someone apparating nearby, and she turned her head to look, raising her wand up just in case -- relieved to see the person was not another Death Eater. "Jo," Evelyn greeted when the other Auror approached, and she nodded her head in the direction in which she had spotted the Death Eaters. "Not long, I've only just arrived. There's about four Death Eaters just around the corner here, but I haven't seen anyone else yet. There may be more -- I can't make them all out from here, and I didn't want them to catch sight of me before I was ready." She was relieved someone else arrived -- although she wouldn't have hesitated if the situation called for it, Evelyn was a little worried at the thought of taking on four Death Eaters alone.
She edged around to the corner of the ice cream shop once more to have a second look. "I can't tell if Rufus or Octavius are there too," she said, turning to look back at Jo again. "Now that there's two of us, think we ought to get a closer look, then? I reckon it's about time we take some Death Eaters down for a little visit to the Ministry."
... or otherwise. Tonight, she knew, would test her newfound resolve in most things Unforgivable related and so she offered Evelyn a tight smile. "I think you're quite right," she hissed, wand at the ready while she crept toward the knot of bodies down the street.
Wards around the apparition point went off with a shrill whine of a noise, and Rodolphus sidestepped into the curve of Gringotts to avoid fire from the one end while he evaluated the threat from the other. Ahh Josephine; there was a rare gleam in his eyes, and he all but forgot Rufus and Pepper for favour of the auror with whom he'd been most intimately acquainted. She couldn't fail to recognize him by height alone, and that in and of itself brought the sort of satisfaction wanton destruction could not hope for. But the ministry couldn't convict him for being tall any more than they could convict him upon the word of a lone auror, and he grinned beneath his mask, an uncomfortable, toothy sort of grin that vanished as if it had never been. He'd told himself countless times that emotion was dangerous on the battlefield, and this rare indulgence could not be allowed to linger. He had instructions, and he would obey them to the last. CRUCIO - his arm belted outward, the sharp bolt of red tearing across the battlefield between them as he closed the gap in long strides. Rodolphus Lestrange would not be pulling any punches tonight.
Fenrir swore when the wards around the apparition point went off, the thin whine piercing to his more sensitive hearing. He shook it off and turned to see who was approaching, noticing Rodolphus moving towards Gringotts. He hesitated to leave the two they had pinned behind the buildings but then shrugged. He was frustrated by that battle anyway, at least here he would have a chance for his kind of fighting. He ducked over to the other side of the apparition point and got a good look at the two approaching. Both women... not something that concerned him except that it meant they wouldn't have the physical strength to match him... both unused to combat, that was obvious by the way they were far too close to each other.
He waited to see what Rodolphus would do and grinned as he heard the Cruciatus being cast. He shoved his wand into his robes and darted towards the women in the wake of the spell, leaping at them at the last moment and lashing out with his claw-like fingernails. Having someone right in their faces would give Rodolphus more of an opportunity and he trusted the other man to be accurate with his spells.
Evelyn had been about to cast a shield charm when she saw the red light of the curse fly at Jo, to deflect it and allow her time to retaliate, but the sudden movement of the second Death Eater stopped her in her tracks. Why wasn't he using magic? She had to act quickly -- which one should she try to stop? Evelyn quickly moved her focus to Greyback as he charged closer to them, taking several steps back as he swung his clawed hand.
Wand already lifted, she aimed at Greyback and cast a binding spell, vines shooting out from her wand in attempt to entangle him or, at the very least, trip him up a little. Evelyn tried to keep a watch out in the corner of her eye for Jo to try and keep track of how she was doing, but tried not to lose her focus on her own fight. Following the first spell, Evelyn pointed her wand at a heavy chunk of burning rubble from one of the fallen buildings and with a graceful arcing motion of her wand, sent it hurtling towards Greyback
Jo saw the red swirling light before she felt its effects in every pore of her body - Oh this is all too familiar - and bit her lip to bleeding to keep from screaming in agony and frustration. Her wand swept quickly enough, however, and the effects of the Curse wore off quickly enough for her to leap to her feet and gaze at the monstrously large Death Eater through hooded eyes. Rodolphus. "Hullo, old friend," came her gravelly voice as she bowed her head in deference to he who stood before her. He would not show her mercy and thanks to his own tutelage, neither would she. She slashed the air between them with her wand. "Reducto!"
Nonverbal spell shields were easy enough, but Rodolphus did not play much with defence - he preferred to take the damage and power through it, to suffocate his prey and get his hands on them, to do the kind of physical damage that sated him far more than any mere spell could dream of. But Reducto was not the sort of spell one took head on, but rather than dodge, rather than shield himself, Rodolphus attacked the spell itself - "DEPULSO," and he growled it out - taking an almost perverse pleasure in letting Josephine - lovely, dirty little Josephine - know his every move. Purple magic slammed into Jo's spell, forcing it backward toward its owner, and even if she could not see the leer hidden beneath his mask, perhaps she could feel it, could know it in a way she would never have understood Before. And he bore down upon her, no spell upon his lips but to counteract those she might throw to him. He desired to have her beneath his fingertips again. To rend her apart in the heat of battle and leave her for dead once more.
Fenrir swore and dived to the side as the vines burst out towards him. He slashed at them with his clawed nails, slicing through the few that got near him. He then rolled to his feet in time to see the chunk of burning rubble heading towards him. He knew he couldn't get out of the way entirely but he could minimise the damage. He turned and let the chunk of rubble hit him on the shoulder. He grunted at the impact as it drove him to his knees. A quick roll of the shoulder sent pain screaming through his body but he'd been around long enough to know that nothing was broken. The bruise was going to be impressive though.
He immediately turned and launched himself at the woman who had cast the spells, his hands outstretched. He wanted to get close before she could cast anymore spells so he turn the tables in his favour. Let her try something like that when he was in her face.
When Greyback still did not reach for his wand, Evelyn cursed to herself -- she could hold her own well enough in physical fights, but in the face of this man she was doubting herself. He seemed incredibly fierce, and so she was going to try and do everything she could to keep some distance between them and attempt to force him into a magical fight. Confringo! -- the blasting curse shot towards her opponent as she jumped back out of Greyback's reach, flanking to the left, aiming to put the two Death Eaters in between herself and Jo to corner them. If only she could slow this Death Eater down -- Evelyn didn't want this battle to end without any progress, without capturing someone.
"Protego!", Jo shouted, feeling the power behind the curse Rodolphus bounced back at her as it refracted off of her shield and shattered into a momentary shower of refracted light. She let him come nearer to her, oh she relished the thought of letting Rodolphus taste what she could do without being bound. She aimed an anger filled punch at Rodolphus's nose in the hopes of breaking it so that he would pause in some sort of distraction long enough for her to cast a binding spell.
Oh, little Josephine - Rodolphus had never been in much doubt of the damage the girl could do if released; in fact, he might have given her more of a taste of her own rage that fateful night had they just a little more time. Now, but now they were free to tear into each other, though he fully intended to show her that the agony of torture was nothing to waste he could lay upon the battlefield. The Dark Lord had not chosen Rodolphus for his eye candy appeal, after all.
He moved into her punch and the mask bowed beneath her angry fist, crunching cartilage so that blood spurted out in the hot confines of stiff fabric. But his grin only widened, and a low, amused noise sounded in his throat - something that might have been terrifying to any other woman. But not Josephine, he was sure. Her proximity gave him the access he desired, and he lunged even more deeply into her, hand grabbing for flesh even as he backhanded that sweet curve of jaw. Magic - no, he was a heathen tonight - he would have blood.
Fenrir was alert to the woman's tricks now and he kept his eyes at least partially on the end of her wand. As such, as soon as he saw the flash of the spell this time, he rolled to the side. The blasting curse splatteed against the ground nearby, throwing up grit and gravel. He ignored that as it peppered him and leapt to his feet and put on a burst of speed. He didn't intend to play cat and mouse with the woman. She was quick though and he made a sharp lunge and felt his claws catch in her robes. He clenched his hand in a fist and yanked backwards even as he lashed out with his other hand, hoping to grab another part of her.
Evelyn was quickly discovering that this Death Eater was much harder to keep up with than she had originally estimated. It was too late for her to react as Greyback's claws caught hold of her robes and with the strong yank, the Auror stumbled toward him -- but she reacted immediately, swinging her arm up so Greyback's wrist would collide with it before it struck another part of her body instead. Evelyn's other arm came up to point directly at Greyback's chest, the point nearly touching the Death Eaters' robes when she cast depulso in attempt to throw the werewolf back away from her -- of course, if he didn't let go of her robes first, that might not end so well.
Jo took the backhand willingly, even smiling as she felt his hand lock like iron around her waist. It was good to have him close, to feel his breath in her face. It kept her acutely aware of their situation and just how mortal the two of them were. The alkaline scent of his blood was on the air and she leered, almost a mirror image of the Dark Mark that unfurled above them. There was no hope of casting a binding spell this close (it would effectively tie them together) and she was loathe to use magic when, it seemed, they both much preferred more tangible means. "Oh, Rodolphus," she murmured, even pressing against his body with all of her ample curves as she insinuated her palms on either side of his neck and aimed a headbutt for that all too tender nose.
He could taste that reflection of evil upon her face, the slipping away of morals and boundaries in that toxic green glow for sake of the fight - only the fight - all motive peeled away. Mudblood, halfblood, pureblood - they bled the same, and he wanted nothing, would be sated by nothing, but blood dripping across milky white flesh. And her palms were against him, their bodies mingling as they breathed in blood and hatred and fire; and little Josephine made her move, ill-advised to be sure, for physical realities could not be overcome by desire alone. Her forehead connected with his chin, and he pulled her closer, encouraging sounds rustling out in his throat. His fingers were like vices around her slender hip, thumb pressed bone-crushingly hard into the soft bulge of bone and flesh. They danced in this embrace for several long breaths... but his blood lust was impatient and her body close. He struck out with the palm of his hand - hard - to her face, barely resisting the urge to simply tear away his mask and bite into her, again and again and again.
... and Jo used her grip on his neck to keep from being swept away by the force of his palm. Her fingers were insistent; claws that insinuated into the cords of his neck desiring nothing but to rip and tear. "This is what you want, hmmm? I know what you want." She growled, then, showing all of her teeth (for she had bitten her tongue in the exchange) and spit the bloody saliva into his face.
To which he growled, a bestial, vicious noise that might have resulted in a more horrific sort of murder had that thin barrier against bodily fluids and identity been absent. He drove her backwards, all other fighting and battle but a dream away, toward the burning destruction of the liaison office - away from her companion - away from help, from safety. "Still you fight like a child, little Josephine," he rumbled downward, into her ear, brutally strong palms twisting into her flesh and digging for bone. "This is what your ministry teaches you? Teamwork? Caution? Where is your passion?" Blood smeared over her fingertips, but it would not keep him away - this kind of pain was nothing, childish. He loomed over her, so tempted to break her into a wet, crying nothing.Mmm.
If Jo was anything, she was not childish and felt her ire flare as she palms clamped more tightly around his throat. "I'll show you passion, you monster, when you cease breathing." But she knew the tone of his voice, it called to her blood and the thought of mortality rose in her consciousness like a helium-filled balloon. He was being driven to her end and she knew that he could over-power her, he would if this exchange was not broken off by death or disarmament. She gathered her thoughts as she stared through his mask, trying to pick out the amber flecks in his eyes not reflecting the sickly green above them. Some hint of satisfaction pursed her lips as she funneled all of her strength into a stinging hex that would break their dance and send him far enough away to again take up the wand.
7. 12.25a Wave 1 (Order) Arrives
Marlene & Agnes vs Marius, Rabastan, Amycus, NPC (next to 30)
Agnes had been snoozing quite soundly atop Marlene when Dung began banging on the front door. Usually Marlene liked her space, but Agnes just waited till the other girl was sound asleep so she could use her as a pillow. It was Marlene's fault anyway - she hogged the blankets. (That was the excuse Agnes kept ready, anyhow). But back to Dung. Agnes shoved Marlene out of bed to answer the door and remained curled up in the blankets trying to process the inane rambling that poured out of him when the door finally opened. She found it far more likely that Dung had been stepped on after a bar fight than Death Eaters were raiding the Alley in the middle of the bloody night, and she suggested precisely that.
Getting punted out of the bed briefly made Marlene forget her lifelong intention to never again be the person responsible for opening the front door after what had happened at their flat. (It'd worked out for over two weeks! That had to be a new record, as far as learning from past screw-ups went.) Frankly, opening the door to find Dung standing there rambling about something or another wasn't exactly a much more desirable thing to find out on the stoop. As much as she wanted to believe that Dung had just gotten kicked in the head or thrown over a table in the bar over the idea of Death Eaters tromping through Diagon, her nagging curiosity refused to let her go back to sleep. (Agnes was hogging all the bloody blankets to herself, anyway.) And if something was happening, Marlene didn't want to look back later and feel guilty over the fact that she'd ignored one of the few times in his life Dung had (and probably ever would) tell the truth. "Augh, why can't they ever bloody pull this shit when it's convenient?" Marlene sighed, grabbing around in the dark under the bed for her shoes, not bothering to change out of her pajama bottoms and t-shirt into proper robes. As soon as she popped over there and had proven to herself that Mundungus was full of crap, she was coming right back to bed. "Oh yeah, we should probably let the others know first," she added as an afterthought. Just in case.
"I'm comin' too, lady!" Agnes piped up, flopping out of bed and onto the floor in search of something resembling clothing. Not that the Death Eaters (if they were actually there) wouldn't appreciate seeing her in a t-shirt and skivvies, but it was cold as balls out there and she'd rather not have to amputate her legs in the morning. Finally a pair of pants hit her fingertips, and she wasn't sure if they were hers or not, but she dragged them on anyhow and forewent shoes (they just got in her way, anyhow). "Use those necklace thingies." She gestured about her own neck (she'd forgotten to wear them the last time - the time Marlene had crushed her in response to the alarm - but now never took them off) and watched Dung take off with a roll of her eyes. "Goddamned twat." Her wand was under her side of the mattress and she patted herself all over. Everything appeared intact. "Betcha sickles to sugarplums theys got the apparition point covered. Where we gonna get in at?"
Marlene snickered a little as she sent off the alert to the rest of the order via the dogtags. This was potentially a very serious situation, yes. However, knowing that Edgar Bones was probably jumping out of bed in a panic (probably yelling something to the degree of "sweet merciful Zeus!") was too funny. She could kind of see why Benjy had chosen to set them off at six in the morning; imagining the reactions all the other Order members were about to have almost made getting woken up by Dung worth it. "...Good question," Marlene frowned, figuring Agnes was right. If something was going on, it wouldn't be the best idea to Apparate right into one of the designated spots in case they had had someone stationed there to lop people off as they tried getting in and out of the Alley. "We could try popping in behind that cart over by the joke shop, the one that sells the brussel sprouts and cabbage and yams and shit. It reeks over there, no one's going to want to hang out over there if they don't have to."
"It doesn't reek!" Agnes protested, though she secretly agreed. She found the beef jerky cart several blocks down infinitely more offensive to her sensibilities, if not her senses, and felt that she had to defend the honor of what was the only vegetarian cart in the alley. But she paused from her outrage long enough to pad closer to Marlene (she found that apparition was actually easier if she could do it with someone else) and take the other girl's hand in hers. "I know where it is, yeah." She gripped her wand, more than a little worried about the scene they were throwing themselves into the middle of.
Marlene was trying extremely hard to convince herself that this was all just a misunderstanding, and that Dung was just being dumb. She wished that if there actually was something going on, he would've been a little bit more specific as to where in Diagon things were happening, instead of being his vague, rambling, typical self. Wishing for a more reliable report on the scene would've been expecting too much. But hey, if it was all just a figment of Mundungus's very drug-tainted imagination, they could all meet up, have a few drinks at the Leaky, and be back in bed in enough time for her to catch some sleep before she was scheduled the opening shift at work. ...Provided nothing had happened to the Apothecary, which was a thought Marlene tried to shove out of her head as she focused as clearly as possible on the cart she and Agnes were Apparating to. "Ready?" she checked in with Agnes quickly before they both Apparated off to the stand next to Gambol & Japes, the smell even already disgustingly clear in her mind as they popped into the Alley.
"You bet your ass, lady," Agnes murmured, and as they were ripped across space, she just prayed and prayed Dung was full of it. A hard crack sounded out as they appeared in Diagon, a few meters behind a rather smelly, closed down cart. The smile Agnes wore before apparition froze to her face as she glanced around her surroundings. The moonlight was unnecessary in the blaze of the fire directly before them. Gambol and Japes was roaring and orange, and she could see a figure inside, blasting spells across what little was left. "Oh. Fuck." Sentiments were breathed, and ice gripped her spine. Another cloaked figure to the left, shooting at an alleyway - Agnes couldn't hear anything but the crackle of fire and the occasional yells from - Merlin - it seemed every direction. "Fuck fuck fuck." Her voice was tiny, and she dragged Marlene down behind the cart with her. "Holy shit are you seeing this?"
It was too late; the crack had caught the attention of at least two cloaked figures.
Well this was fucking brilliant. Of all of the times for Fletcher to actually be right about something, it had to be when Diagon Alley was going up in flames. Thank Merlin she actually had alerted the rest of the Order before she and Agnes had left to investigate. "Heh, nevermind, let's go back to bed," Marlene indirectly answered Agnes's question with a shaky whispered laugh, trying to get a sense of everything that was exploding around them before making any quick moves. What the hell was it with these idiots and setting shit on fire?
Marlene had seen the same Death Eater Agnes had inside of Gambol and Japes, continuing to destroy the few things inside the scorching building that hadn't already been broiled and burned to a crisp. Spinning around to peek over the edge of the cart Agnes had yanked her down behind, she aimed her wand at the window and waited impatiently for the figure inside to move in front of it again, finally casting Stupefy at him. Or her. It was really bloody irritating to not know who the hell you were fighting against.
Marius was more than finished with his first task, the thrill of the kill making him smile behind his mask. He didn't usually enjoy these things as much as he was enjoying it now, but these English got what they deserved. The light from the flames along with light pouring out of a few buildings cast strange shadows around the noisy Alley, and movement from a nearby cart caught his eye. Figuring that someone might be hiding behind it (and no Death Eater ought to be hiding) he cast a spell of fire in its direction. The cart quickly erupted into flames and he kept his wand ready to hex anyone who might run around from the side of it.
It was difficult for him not to wish to taunt his prey, but his accent was distinctive, even when he attempted to mimic the tones of his peers. He would have to settle for the simpler fun of quiet torture. Come out and play.
Marius's hex drew Amycus's attention to the cart and the figures cowering on the other side of it. Where Marius stood at one end, Amycus moved from his cloaked companion's side to cover the other, prepared to catch whoever was behind it. Amycus wasn't in this for the teasing and taunting and sadistic flair that the others seemed to enjoy. Straightforward spellfire was more his game, and this was his first chance at some real action; behind his mask, his face wore a grin and his eyes glinted with excitement.
He brought his wand arm up, his palm sweating but his aim steady. Poor sods; the people behind the cart had one of two options: both of them masked, aimed, and ready for a fight.
"Fuck's sake!" Agnes threw herself backward as the cart erupted in flames, and there was a sharp undercurrent of anger to her voice as she growled out an aguamenti, trying to put the flames out so that they could have some half decent chance of, well, not dying horrible deaths. Her nervous amusement at the situation had been stripped away to leave only a fearful sort of determination. She was afraid. Damned afraid. But two weren't so bad, right? The one inside Gambol and Japes didn't seem to notice, yet, that Marlene had thrown a spell at him, so if they could just handle these -- "Impervius!" She pressed up behind the cart. It wasn't cowering so much as... tactical maneuvering. Yes. That. And she had to concentrate a minute to protect the cart from further flamery. "Get 'em Marly!" She hissed.
Marlene had skidded back from the cart when it burst into flames, certainly not prepared for her and Agnes's hideout to turn all blazing inferno on them. A quick glance-over left Marlene relieved to find that she at least had avoided catching fire, because singed pajamas and hair was not something she needed to be dealing with, given the she and Agnes had a Death Eater -- make that two Death Eaters -- on their case. Just two. After the events at her flat two weeks back, they could definitely handle two. No sweat.
She stepped away from the one-sided shelter that the scorched cart had provided, hoping that perhaps she could draw their attention away from Agnes, leading the Death Eaters to think that she had been the only one hiding back there. "More fire, huh?" Marlene scoffed, looking between the two and hoping she was coming across as braver and less ungodly terrified than she actually was. "Original!" she mockingly applauded them. "Petrificus Totalus!" she finally shouted out, aiming her wand at the tall one and wishing that the spells weren't so bloody long. He was closer; if that hit, that could possibly buy them an extra second or two to figure out how to deal with the other one.
Marius did not instantly recognize his targets, but he did instantly recognize that they were both women, and that neither was Josephine. He felt a jab of dissappointment since that would have been the ultimate prize in his estimation. Still, they were willing to put up a fight, and that would do. It seemed the nearest Death Eater (and to tell the truth he had no idea who it was) seemed intent on ending this quickly but Marius would much rather draw it out.
A spell came shooting his direction and he deflected it is. He'd heard the words Petrificus Totalus and that was the sort of dueling spell most people grow tired of after their third or fourth year in school. Clearly this wasn't an Auror unless the Aurors had a wish for quick death. A civilian then, which he ought to have been clued in on from the beginning considering they'd been hiding in some sort of cart, but you never could tell. In his opinion the Ministry had yet to show any indication that it wasn't full of cowards and idiots.
The other Death Eater was still taking aim, and the best solution in Marius's mind would be separating the girls so that he could take his good sweet time and enjoy himself. With a quick spell and a flick of his wand he cast a spell that ought to send one of them flying 15 yards or so to the right. It wasn't thatfar, but it was far enough that it ought to be clear to the other Death Eater that he wanted this one for himself. He only hoped he picked the one with more fight of the two of them.
Inside of Gambol & Japes, Rabastan had been in the process of firing of several expulso hexes in succession as he was making his way toward his door. It was during which that his attention was brought to the scuttle going on outside. It didn't take him long at all to recognize the birds - Agnes especially. Tonight she would die. Finally. He would not fail like his contemporaries had consistently done before him.
Quickly exiting the building, Rabastan joined along side of Marius and Amycus in this fight, though his attention was going to be specifically on Agnes - the bane of his existence (or one of them). She slandered his brother and yet she still was there, living and breathing, and fighting them. Not once, but twice, did they attempt to kill her, and there she was, fighting them. It was absolutely absurd, and he was determined to break the cycle. If for no other reason than to please Rodolphus (and the silent gloating he could get away with that he was the one to finally send her to her grave.)
Rabastan had just enough time to take in the scene, and take note that Agnes was one of the two females fighting, when Marius's spell was cast. Rabastan scowled, as proximity speaking, it left Rabastan closer to Marlene than Agnes - and he was feeling rather anxious to hex the bloody shite out of Anges (slow and painful death was on his mind, quick enough, however, to actually kill her this time).
Due to his sheer frustration, the first hex he cast at the other target was not one that would do much damage exactly, but would cause a lot of pain. Wand pointed firmly at the annoying female, "Furnuculus."
Marlene should've known the second that she'd yelled the Petrificus Totalus spell that it was never going to hit the Death Eater she'd fired it at. Fighting against people who wanted you dead was a very different situation than jokingly shooting spells at your siblings to annoy them. This moron had already gotten a shield up almost before the third syllable of the spell had flown out of Marlene's mouth, and was casting back something in retaliation. Instinctively, Marlene ducked, not realizing that the first Death Eater's spell had not been aimed for her at all (but by some magnificent amount of luck, managed to avoid getting smattered in boils in doing so), the hex hitting Agnes square on and throwing her back from the cart.
While she hadn't seen Agnes get blasted several feet away, (the fact that the Death Eater from inside the blazing joke shop had joined them outside had stolen away her attention), she definitely heard it as Agnes skidded into the ground. "Shit," Marlene swore under her breath, automatically wanting to run towards her friend's side. Nononono, they weren't supposed to split up; didn't that arsehole know that? She fired off blasting curses at the short Death Eater closest to Agnes (silently praying that her urging of GET UP at Agnes would work), and then spun back around, trying to keep both of the Death Eaters on her side within her sight-line. Pointing her wand at the tall one again (well, tallest. What were they feeding these guys?) as if she was going to hex him, switched up at the last second and cast a stunner at the Death Eater who'd just come out of Gambol and Japes, hoping to fake them out. And also hopefully knock out the Death Eater of the Fiery Inferno while she was at it.
Amycus noted the appearance of Rabastan over his shoulder, but focused his attentions on Agnes, who'd conveniently been blown right within firing range. If Rabastan wanted to go after Agnes, he'd have to get in the game fast, as Amycus was more than happy to take care of her himself. He didn't recognize her, didn't wish her ill specifically; she just happened to be right in front of him. None of this stunning and petrifying crap, either; he growled out a Cruciatus aimed straight for the lone girl in front of him, relishing the rush that one could only get from the Dark Arts.
Agnes didn't have time to count her lucky stars that Marius's spell only hit near her - and that she wasn't thrown back the entire length she ought to have been, because there seemed to be death eaters coming at her from every direction. Fuck this. Fuck.This. And she was scrambling onto her knees and screaming out a shield that blasted away into shattered red magic around her. Was that a fucking cruciatus? Did that motherfucker actually just shoot a cruciatus at her? Rage spilled across her insides, hot and nauseating in a way Agnes was positive was bad for her karma, but she couldn't stop it - couldn't stop the fury and the blinding desire to absolutely murder the people that wouldn't. fucking. stop.
In the brief interim after Amycus's attack, she reacted, every part of her operating on instinct alone. She scooted back onto her heels, fingers scraping across the ground and gathering up dirt, pebbles, and lord knew what else was buried around them, and launching it toward Amycus, "OPPUGNO" was belted out after to send the filth flying at him with all the weight of her magical rage behind them. She didn't bother to wait and see if it had hit, for more important than her vicious desire to damage those that had so damaged her was a desire to survive, to attack again, and again and again; she shoved herself back toward the cart, half knees and hands, not caring how much of an ANIMAL she was to these people. If she could have gotten her claws and teeth into them, by God she would have.
It took every bit of Marlene's concentration to focus on saving her own arse and not to worry about trying to act like Agnes's bodyguard. Her friend knew what she was doing and could take care of herself in a fix; obviously Agnes had gotten out of just as sticky of situations as often as Marlene herself had over the last few months. That didn't stop her from nearly flipping her gourd when she heard the cruciatus curse used, her face going white and Marlene's stomach dropping so hard and quickly that she wondered if that was what splinching an organ felt like. Maybe she'd ask Sirius's brat little brother about it later, if she was bored and felt like wasting time and brain cells.
Outnumbered fight situations were not exactly the sort of experiences where a person had a chance to let their attention wander, though, and as soon as Marlene saw that Agnes had avoided getting crucioed, she jerked her attention back to the masked Rabastan and Marius, knowing that freezing up even for a second would be highly problematic. They seemed to be a bit more excited to use Unforgivables than the Death Eaters who'd raided her flat had been, and Marlene didn't know this part of Diagon nearly as well as she did her apartment, especially not when the only light in the Alley was coming from the fire-engulfed shops surrounding them. Pulling up a shield charm around herself, Marlene tried to keep an eye on both of the Death Eaters at the same time, ready to try to dodge or block whatever they tried sending at her, feeling really uncomfortable with this whole two-against-one thing.
Of course, this was Marlene, and her tendency to do the opposite of what was a good idea usually won out against any sort of sense, and soon enough her mouth was flying just as fast as the curses slashing through the air. "Oh come on, you need back-up already? That's pathetic; all height, no fight, eh?" Stop talking, Marlene. Bloody fucking hell, stop trying to taunt them, bad idea, BAD IDEA, she silently chided herself. She knew better, she really did! It just... didn't matter, and she always kept blabbering even when she knew that this was so much more idiotic than instigating people over the journals. Pissing them off wasn't going to make them stop what they were doing and decide to call it a night. Finally gathering some sort of sense about her again, she shot out as powerful a Confrigo spell she could at the gravel and splinter-covered ground between the two of them, hoping to hit both blokes in one blast.
Rabastan moved deftly to the side, avoiding the brunt of the gravel spraying up toward him. He felt the spray of the dirt and rocks as they grazed his side, but it wasn't going to deter him from his targets - both the one right in front of him, and the other a few feet away that he was anxious to kill. Before he moved on to Agnes, the foolish and mouthy one in front of him would have to be silenced. However, he had no intention of a quick kill for the mouthy one either, nor did he he want to silence her so soon that he would miss out on hearing her scream. Particularly now, after she taunted them so arrogantly, Rabastan had every intention of hearing her foolish taunts replaced by agonizing screams and pleas for mercy.
He aimed his wand at the shoulder of her wand arm, and with immense concentration (despite all that was going around them) he cast "Sectumsempra!" with all the force he could manage. At least, this time, he wasn't close enough for the blood to get on him.
Amycus came this close to getting a face full of garbage and debris as a result of Agnes's wrath. He managed to deflect most of it, but a few pebbles bounced off his mask and dirt rained down the front of his robes. Torqued off that his Cruciatus had missed, he scowled and aimed a vicious jet of red light at the scorched cart by Agnes, and it was put out of its misery; a loud crack and it was blown to pieces. Satisfied that he had at least destroyed something, he once again reached into his arsenal of unsavoury curses, and fired a Furnunculus hex at the girl dodging spellfire on the ground.
Marlene's wand had been aimed at the other Death Eater, the Incarcarous spell just on the tip of her tongue, when Rabastan's hex collided and sliced into her shoulder. Her arm jerked up, the ropes from her spell missing their target and tangling around a signpost instead, it feeling like someone had stabbed a million tiny knives into her left arm all at once. "Bloody fucking fuck!" Marlene cried out in pain and surprise as the spell tore away at her skin, blood beginning to soak through the few slivers of fabric that remained where her shirt's sleeve had been moments ago. She suddenly found herself very very aware for the first time as to how stupid an idea showing up to a battle in her pajamas had been. Her wand nearly slipped from her hand as the cutting spell made contact, but the quick rush of panic that accompanied nearly losing her only means of protection tightened her grip around it as she pressed against her shoulder with her other hand reflexively, trying to still the bleeding. (She had no desire to actually look at the injury to see how bad it was.) Angry adrenaline surged through her as she glared at the one whose hex had hit her, temporarily forgetting about the other Death Eater. This one needed to go back to the damn burning building he'd come from. They liked playing with fire? Then fine, there was more of that where that came from. "INCENDIO!" she yelled, jabbing her wand in Rabastan's direction, trying to ignore the flash of pain that jerked through her shoulder. That spell hadn't let her down in the past; hopefully it wouldn't decide to fail now.
Boils exploded out over Agnes's ankle and she moaned with pain, and she lashed with a "CONFRINGO" to Amycus, hoping viciously that it blasted him into a thousand ugly, stupid, wet pieces. Her ankle hurt but it was nothing compared to how bad some things might hurt, she told herself, dodging another spell that came from her right (Marius) and huddling back near Marlene. She wasted no time - in two sharp syllables she'd drawn up a brick wall between them and the death eaters, hoping it would hold, for the mean time. "Hold 'em off for a sec," she whispered frantically, trying not to laugh at the outlandishness of the request. Warding this hastily-made wall was at the top of her priority list - they needed something to hold off their attackers, even if only by a few inches.
Rabastan had been too smug, watching the connection of the sectumsempra curse, to prepare to defend himself against her retaliation. It was sloppy work, something he'd be angry at himself over later, but when the full force of her incendio hex hit him that was the farthest thing from his mind. He cursed behind his mask as he caught on fire, the blazing hot pain immediately triggering his senses. Fucking shite he cursed to himself, trying not to show how much pain he had been in. Unable to focus on much, aside from putting out the fire he found himself in, he had no choice but to temporarily ignore the girls. "Aguamenti," he muttered, angrily, and as the jet of water came spraying from his wand, Rabastan wasted no time in dousing the flames. The fucking bitch.
Marlene had absolutely no intention of waiting for the Death Eater she'd set on fire to finish tending to himself to continue attacking; after all, she doubted the bastard would have extended her the same courtesy were their roles reversed. Oh no, not at all. She was seeing red, due to both her aching left arm (was all that blood seriously hers?) and the blinding anger she felt towards the Death Eaters who just wouldn't. Go. AWAY. This one simply enjoyed the luxury of being the one who Marlene had hit once, and thus was about to become the one she focused all of her rage on. And Agnes had asked her to hold them off while she worked at building them up some sort of protection, and dammit, she was going to do that. Starting with the burned up fucker, before he had a chance to gather his senses. "Diffindo!" Marlene screamed the hex, still pointing her wand at Rabastan. To hell with the other two; Marlene wasn't done with this one yet. Her wand arm was becoming less and less steady as the seconds passed, the effects of the Sectumsempra definitely doing their job, and she was praying that she could make the spell hit her target via blind fury alone.
Ironically, it was Amycus's DMLE training that probably saved him from being blasted into a thousand pieces - though he resented the ugly and stupid part, thanks. He threw up a shield charm just in time to deflect her confringo and was suddenly faced with a brick wall. Literally. Amycus pondered this for a moment, but not too long. After all, the longer he waited, the more wards she'd have a chance to bestow upon the wall separating them. With a mental shrug, he began firing a number and variety of blasting hexes at the wall, hopefully weakening its strength with each one.
Agnes warded the fucking thing to the best of her ability and then used it to shield herself while she crept around Marly-side. "Shit." That was dark magic that had sliced open her friend and she had no idea how to make the bleeding stop, much less close up the wounds. She shook her head and had to leave them alone, hoping she could help by at least knocking the offending death eater back to even the numbers a bit. "Depulso! Levicorpus!" Back him up or hang him up. Either seemed as good an option as any.
Rabastan needed to get his head focused, as he was cursing himself for being so sloppy. The fire was out, but with barely enough time to deflect the diffindo. The hex was strong, but sloppy, and he could tell that she was beginning to weaken from the sectumsempra. At least that was one thing to be proud about. The severing charm made a gash, right across his abdomen. It hurt, but he was lucky that her force had been weakened from the sectumsempra because it wasn't deep enough to take him out of the battle. What was a bit of pain? Pain was, if nothing else, an excellent mechanism to motivate oneself to focus more. Anger, hatred, etc... helped the dark spells hit with more force - and pain resurfaced the hatred and disgust he felt for those fighting them. They would lose. He'd see to it. As far as Rabastan was concerned, it was about time that Agnes died, and the bint that was standing in his way would just have to do so as well.
Without much time to even think about the pain in his abdomen, Rabastan found himself flying backward, from the depulso hex. Landing roughly on the ground, his body slamming to a halt, was not a pleasant experience. Doubling the pain to his abdomen and the burns he had received, and Rabastan was absolutely livid. He was out for blood, now, more so than before - if possible - and the fight was just about to get interesting.
He got to his feet quickly, with the intent of taking out both the bints who needed to be taught their place - six feet under ground - and quickly. The wall, however, would be a problem. Knowing that it was bad to take his attention away from the bints, he only hoped the brick would fall on them. Much like he had done inside the building he came out of, Rabastan began to cast the expulso and deprimo hexes at the wall with as much hate and fury he could manage. His... prey, for lack of a better term, was beyond that wall, beyond that temporary protection, and it was an annoyance he wished to be rid of (much like the girls).
Things were almost going kind of okay for the moment! One -- two! -- of their hexes had hit Rabastan ("HOPE THAT HURTS, FUCKER!" Marlene had yelled out at him as Agnes's spell slammed into his stomach), they were... well, not safe behind the brick wall, but better off there than they'd been out in the open, and while they were outnumbered, they weren't dead! That was always a good thing. "I think it's going well!" Marlene snickered over the chaos, throwing a halfhearted grin at the smaller girl as she aimed her wand at the midget Death Eater to the left, suddenly realizing that oh shit, they needed to worry about more than just the guy hexing them from the center.
Marlene had definitely spoken too soon. Not a few brief moments after the words had left her mouth, the various wrath-filled blasting curses from all of the Death Eaters smashed into the girls' barricade blasting them back several feet, an eruption of brick and smoke and noise annihilating the wall, a barrage of heavy red and brown stone crashing and raining down on top of them.