Who: Renee Dawlish, and NPC Aurors Daniel Jameson and Anton Demarco What: Finding out how much Lucius Malfoy knows Where: The Forbidden Forest When: Forward dated to 01.26.03, late afternoon Rating: Medium for language and fighting
A light rain pattered above head on the canopy of leaves, the sound of which was amplified by the vast forest surrounding Renee. But the ground underneath was almost still dry, if only because the dense trees made for excellent roofing in that moment. But that didn’t mean anyone was comfortable, no, they were all on edge. She looked around and barely saw the movement of one of her two partners moving silently throughout the underbrush, wands drawn and breathing hushed so as not to be detected by any thing, or anyone, that might possibly be around.
A stray critter veered in their path here and there, but so far, the entire Forbidden Forest remained eerily quiet, causing the hairs on the back of Renee’s arms to stand on end. Every small creak, every snap of a twig, had her at the ready to fire at a moment notice. But so far, they had found no one. She wasn’t quite sure at this point if that was a good or a bad thing.
When Rabastan Lestrange had come to her just several days before about this mission, for a brief moment, she had considered turning him down. She was trying to start a family with John, and she knew his concern for her well being would set him on edge the entire time she was away. But Minister Lestrange had been upfront with her, stating that she was one of the best around, and he needed a team he could trust to get their mission handled. With such high praises and the weight of what he said next weighing on her, she couldn’t refuse. Besides, her most recent test had shown up negative, so for right now, she didn’t have much to worry about, except keeping herself alive. That’s why she had now been wandering and crawling around this damn forest for nearly twelve hours straight.
She perked up the slightest bit when she saw a silver flash to her right, her associate motioning for them to move over in his direction, more towards the west. They were incredibly deep within the dangerous foliage, and there was barely any light to illuminate in their path. Instead they were surrounded by a dark, green glow guiding them forward. She had to hope that if Lucius Malfoy did have people searching the forest already, they weren’t being as careful as they were in covering their tracks. But she knew that line of thinking would only get her killed and maintaining her high level of alertness and caution was the only thing that would allow all three of them to potentially walk out of there alive.
A strange whisper carried over the barely there breeze, which is what Anton had heard earlier, and his reason for beckoning them all forward. They were spread out in a straight line, about twenty-five feet between each of them as they continued forward, stopping as another quiet, yet audible pop sounded a ways away, but directly in front of them. The closer they got, the more small noises they heard, and several of them to say the least. Spread out in a similar fashion to themselves, but maybe not quite as planned out. Without hesitation, Anton, Renee, and Daniel got down on their stomachs to army crawl forward, being careful not to move too much of the surrounding shrubbery and alert those in front of them to their arrival.
Soon, a small clearing came into view which held a very well camouflaged tent, no doubt holding far more room inside than it let on by its small appearance. Two men were seen not incredibly far, one casting a spell over and over, that attributed to the popping noise, no doubt some sort of location spell, but what kind, Renee had no idea.
The other was moving about, craning his neck and perhaps looking for another member of their party, but she couldn’t be sure. Turning, the man closest to them who didn’t seem to actually be scouting the area like the other began to speak, their tones hushed.
“Have you seen Kareen? She’s supposed to be back by now. She had the grid marked off to the east,” he mentioned, looking in the direction where Renee in and her partners had just moved in from, making her blood run cold at his words. Just then she heard a crashing not far behind them, most certainly the sound of someone running through the forest without much of a care if they were heard or not. Renee hunkered down lower towards the ground, her face to the dirt as she barely breathed. She could feel the slight breeze of a figure rushing past her, a small blonde girl crashing into the campsite, her wand drawn.
“There’s signs of others. They tried to cover it up, but I caught a trail about two kilometers back. I alerted Mr. Malfoy we may need backup depending on how many there are, or what they’re even doing here.”
So that was it. They were with Lucius Malfoy, and he did certainly know the resurrection stone was lost somewhere within the Forbidden Forest. Renee couldn’t help but wonder over how much ground they had already searched, how many parties there could possibly be. But that was part of what they intended to find out.
“Fuck… If they’re close, we should probably let Burke and Travers’ groups know so they can be on the lookout.” The one who had been searching not far away came back over to join the others, clearly unphased by the turn of events happening.
“You know, could just be some dumbass fucking kids from the school wandering around out here. You don’t need to go get your fucking knickers in a twist every time you find a supposed trail, Kareen..” he scoffed, moving back to the tent and inside, emerging with a thermos and taking a long drink. “Remember three days ago when you swore we were being followed, and it just ended up being a fucking Centaur?”
His words sparked a small argument, and Renee’s attention fell away from them for a moment as she felt her stomach drop, and the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Something… something was coming. Clutching her wand closer she whispered a small message spell, alerting her companions to her feeling, but it was too late.
“Well, well, well, what the fucking fuck do we have hear, lads and lasses,” said a deep, booming voice to her left, over by Anton. She watched as he was pulled from the ground, man pressing a wand to his neck.
“Kareen alerted me you might have some company, so me and mine thought we might check in on your party. Looks like you missed some vermin around your campsite, Chuckie, my boy. They’re not going to be too pleased with you back in Tinworth. Especially considering they now know were here.” Making a clicking noise, he motioned for two other women who were with him to spread out, no doubt looking for Daniel and herself. Rolling onto her back, Renee made the split second decision and aimed her wand behind the tent and whispered an explosion spell.
The ground blew, causing all of their attention to be snapped away as she shot up, Daniel seeming to get the picture as well. It was a flurry of panic, to say the least. There were six against three, and Renee wasn’t a moron. Those odds were nearly impossible in this sort of environment, and their only hope was to disengage and apparate the fuck out of there. But not until Anton could do the same.
Daniel and herself both made a beeline for his captor, firing shots as he tried to defend and hold onto their partner at the same time. It made for clumsiness on his part, but not on the part of the other individuals there who were firing in their direction.
Renee felt a sharp pain in the back of her leg, feeling the fresh air sweep across an open wound that began to quickly seep blood. She stumbled, grunting in intense pain as she cast a defensive spell behind her, blowing the area of ground near the small blonde’s footing, causing her to topple. She looked up and saw Daniel manage to disengage Anton from the other man’s grasp, but only because he had made the executive decision to take them both out with a spell, leaving him with Anton’s crumbled form.
She watched as he had to dive away from his partner as a flash or red, purple, and blue light shot in his direction, and Renee screamed out, “I’ve got him. Leave! I promise you!” He gave her one look and nodded as he apparated away with a loud pop. She lunged at her partner, grabbing onto his arm as a flash of fire began to burn her skin, but she had managed to apparate away before the spell hit in full, leaving them both in the designated meeting spot. Daniel had already been waiting for them, and did his best to stem the bleeding for Renee, long enough to make it to Mungo’s for treatment.
They would be on call, per the Minister’s orders. And now, they had their answer.
Lucius Malfoy was scouring the Forbidden Forest. Three parties, from the looks of it, three scouts each. Even though the numbers seemed small, they could cover a lot of ground. And after this, they knew, that Rabastan knew as well. Which means their search parties would probably double, depending on manpower.
Something told her the search for the stone was now officially on. And this would not be the first battle the Aurors ran into trying to stop their enemy from obtaining his next weapon.