4.3 | Astoria ✓

09 | 2001

A / N

Wattpad's acting up again, please pretty please let me know HERE if you can see this chapter? That being said, there may be a slight delay in the next update as I just realised I've yet to post the faq/afterword chapter to Draconian...? This chapter is longer though, so it should hold you till then!

x Noelle

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KNOCKTURN ALLEY IS one of the safest places at a time like this. The only way to hide from the Dark is to be one with the dark. In the streets where Snatchers and Death-Eaters roam freely, no one ever takes a second glance at her.

Oh, they look plenty at her. Just never close enough to see her for who she truly is. Or what she can really do.

"Two Firewhiskeys." She sets the bottles down on the table, and tries not to flinch when Corban Yaxley places a hand over hers. Inwardly, however, she smirks. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. These Death-Eaters... So deadly, so easy. She looks at him with a level gaze. "Sir, you know that will cost you extra."

"My dear, you'll find that I'm very willing to pay for your services."

Her blood red lips curl up in a smirk. "Room 205. I'll meet you there in twenty minutes."

"Your reputation precedes you, Raven. You had better be worth the wait."

There's a hint of threat in his voice, but she counts herself lucky that he isn't forcing himself on her. That would be tedious to deal with. She does so hate (love) hexing them, leaving them knocked out cold with a bad case of blue-balls for hours while she invades their minds. Yaxley kisses the back of her hand, grabs his bottles and heads up to the room first.

She's about to return to the counter when someone steps up behind her. A wand digs into her back and a low voice sounds by her ear. "Come with us, and we won't hurt you."

It's not the first time she's been held at wand-point. As the men lead her out, she runs through all her options. The White Wyvern is relatively empty at this time of day, and screaming for help will be of no use. In Knockturn Alley, no one really cares when someone's taken away right in front of them. Her boss is nowhere in sight and she's all on her own.

She steps out into the sunlight, and they back her into a small alley. She knows they want her to turn around. The moment the wand eases slightly off her back, she springs into action. Two well-aimed elbows into their chests send them stumbling back. They groan in pain, and she whirls around. With a wand in each hand, she holds it to their necks. But they're just as fast, if not faster. In the blink of an eye, their wands are to her own neck.

Her breath catches. These are faces she hasn't seen in years. "Hello, Nott, Zabini."

Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini stare back at her. The last time she'd seen them, they'd all been in the Slytherin dungeons together. Locked in there while the rest of the school went to fight. She's heard about them though—Knockturn Alley is all abuzz about four Death-Eaters who've turned rogue and sworn allegiance to the Order. Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy are the other two, and the latter is at the top of Voldemort's hit list.