Madeye Moody
Despite what others could and would say about Alistair "Madeye" Moody, there was one thing that they would never question. Just one thing. His instinct. Mad he may be, angry, disrespectful and brash, even.
But his instincts were still as sharp as ever.
And that night at the Quidditch Cup his instincts told him that something wasn't right. It started with the appearance of that Michael Crumbley..then Lucius Malfoy and finally, Hadrian Black. Then later, his gut feeling got worse.
Tension was in the air and he could feel something coming. The man had been patroling around the tents with his apprentice, Nymphadora Tonks, or just Tonks as she preferred, when they heard the first scream.
"Tonks, go help anyone, children especially, that hasn't left yet. Warn the people nearest. Do not engage in a duel with anyone unless absolutely necessary!" hissed the elder auror and Tonks looked irritated but nodded quickly, going off in another direction while Moody tried his best to get to the Death Eaters orchestrating this attack.
He pulled his wand, striking the nearest Death Eater, then all hell broke loose.
The Death Eaters pulled their wands, aiming for Moody just as another group of aurors appeared. Spells flew and in the commotion Moody's magical eye trained on something to his left.
A group of wizards, young and a tad older, seperating. But his eyes widened when he saw Sirius Black running off with Remus Lupin. The man was under glamour..but wouldn't Remus be able to smell his scent?
His nostrils flared with the realization that there may be traitors in their midst and though he knew he should continue the battle with the main group of Death Eaters, he took the first opening he saw and ran after Remus and Sirius as quickly as he could with his maimed leg.
"Remus!"
The wolf froze and Sirius suddenly shot a spell at him, causing him to hiss in pain as the skin on his right hand was suddenly boiling hot, the flesh beginning to peel itself from the bone.
Sirius bolted the other way and Remus held his hand as Moody approached.
"Did you know that was Sirius? I have no doubt you could smell him." he snapped and Remus winced, taking his other hand and gripping his wand as steadily as he could, aiming at his wounded hand. "Yes. But I thought that if I could gain his trust again he'd follow me to "safety" when really he'd follow me right to Dumbledore. I smelled his scent earlier. I'm not sure where he is now." muttered the wolf, uttering a spell under his breath and Moody watched as the skin reattached itself rather quickly.
Remus was a good asset to have, being good in most fields. But still..there was something prickling at the back of Moody's mind. He just couldn't figure out what right then. There was no time.
"Right. You six! Over here!" growled the elder auror and Remus let his expression remain neutral as more aurors surrounded them, waiting for orders. "Come with me. Sirius Black is here and we won't let him escape. Got it? Stick with me."
"Do you really need seven people to take down one man?" asked the youngest auror and Moody almost growled, before he was interrupted by Remus' scoff. "If you think otherwise, you're a fool. Sirius Black was the best dueler then and I highly doubt that'd change now. Be careful. And I should let you know, there's a spell we use to use as kids to get out of sticky situations. You'll have to keep him as distracted as you can because if he claps his hands, he's gone." muttered the wolf and Moody cursed.
"What's the spell?" he growled and Remus' eyes flashed gold briefly before the color was gone just as quickly and he shrugged. "I can't tell you that. Black and I have a lot of the same tricks. We grew up together. If I give away all his, I'd be giving away my own." Moody narrowed his eyes at the man but gave a jerk of his head and made off with the aurors.
"Damn it." sighed Remus, standing up with wand in hand. He flicked it briefly and a large silver blue eagle flew out of the tip and into the sky. It had been a while since Remus used his patronus, the only other time anyone had seen it was on the train the year before and almost no one on the Light side knew what his patronus looked like.
"Hey, are you sending a message to Dumbledore?" asked a bruised and bloodied auror, Fletcher, Remus remembered. He remembered because Fletcher hated werewolves and that proved true by the expression on his face despite the urgency of the situation.
Remus paused.
"No. Not at all." Fletcher's expression morphed into confusion and he didn't have a chance as Remus shot one spell, and one curse at the man. The first struck Fletcher directly in the face and the man fell to the ground, confused, but when the next hit him, he screamed.
His limbs flew from their sockets, blood spewing into the air and staining the charred grass below.
Remus shot a spell at Fletcher's eyes and the man was blinded by his own blood, falling completely to the floor and trying to get away on the bloodied bones protruding from the stumps that used to be his arms and legs. "Who's there?! Who?! Who did this?!" he screamed and Remus ignored that.
"Tell my Lord, we had to scatter. I will stay here to bring the Young Lord and his friends to safety. Hurry." he said quietly and the eagle took off, streaking across the sky. Remus observed Fletcher for a few moments, then rushed to his side just as he caught the scent of Albus Dumbledore and Kingsley Shacklebot.
"Fletcher! Fletcher stop moving!" he hissed urgently and the man growled. "Wolf! Did you not see who did this to me?" he snapped, though his words were weak. He was losing a lot of blood. "No. I'm sorry. Maybe I can-"
"That won't be necessary Remus..he doesn't have much time." came Dumbledore's grave voice and Remus looked up, his expresson remorseful. "But Albus surely you can-"
"I can not. Not even the Elder wand can regrow limbs before he bleeds to death. It just isn't possible. His body is too damaged." he murmured as he stood at Remus' side. "What of his memories?" asked Shacklebot as Fletcher stopped moving, his chest rising and falling unevenly.
"He said he doesn't know who did this." said Remus and was glad only he could smell scents because his own was all over that area. "Of course not. The person that did this was smart.." murmured Dumbledore and the three were silent as Fletcher finally went limp. Unmoving. He was gone.
"Where's Moody?"
"He went after Black." replied Remus and if Albus was surprised he didn't show it. Just turned, leaving with Shacklebot right behind.
Remus stood, cleaning the blood from his robes just as he caught a familiar scent.
"Tonks." he growled under his breath and wanted to go after her, but knew he had to make sure Hadrian was safe lest Tom have his head. He shook his head and went off in another direction.
"Black! Stop! You're not getting away this time!" shouted Moody as he and his group of aurors surrounded the man. Sirius' lips quirked in a slight smirk but the expression was gone just as quickly, replaced with a blank mask.
Moody never thought he'd see the day Sirius Black would use that Slytherin mask.
He growled and shot a boiling curse at the man only for him to deflect it easily, sending it at the auror directly behind him. The man screamed, falling to the floor and Moody ignored that as he and Black exchanged spell after spell, Black deflecting every last one.
Remus was right. The man was a brilliant dueler. His technique was wild and untamed. Spontaneous. Almost as if he wasn't trained at all but Moody knew better. Even with years of experience, Black had been in Azkaban. He should be out of practice. But he was not.
His guard was up yet he was also on the offensive and Moody could feel an extremely powerful spike in his magic each time he used a spell. This Sirius Black was fighting like..like the Lord of an Ancient and Noble House. Not the disowned son of said House.
Moody dodged another spell, frowning when he spotted Longbottom in the bushes.
By now Black had taken out nearly all of the aurors that had accompanied Moody leaving the elder wizard, himself and only two other aurors. Longbottom raised his wand and Moody was so surprised at the words that left his mouth, he forgot to deflect the curse Black threw next.
"Avada kedavra!"
The spell shot toward Black but the man deflected it just as Hadrian Black sent Longbottom flying into a tree. Sirius Black clapped his hands, and was gone in a burst of blinding light.
When the light dispersed, Moody glared over at Hadrian Black but the boy was already focused on the newest arrivals, Albus Dumbledore, Kingsley Shacklebot, Bartemius Crouch Senior, Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin.
"You four!" shouted Crouch Senior as they came down the hill and Remus from the other side. The wolf completely ignored Tonks' presence as he came to the children's side, inspecting them one by one. Hadrian seemed annoyed but not by Remus, his annoyed stare was aimed at Albus Dumbledore.
Moody immediately limped over, ignoring the groans of the downed aurors.
He grabbed Hadrian by the front of his robes and ignored the wands suddenly pointed directly at his head. Even Remus was growling, eyes flashing amber.
"Alistair. You must remove yourself from Heir Black." said Dumbledore, a warning clear in his voice but Moody just scowled as he shook the raven who stared back at him blankly. "What do you think you're playing at, brat?!" he snapped and Hadrian narrowed his eyes at the man.
"Stopping Longbottom from doing something stupid. Not only did he use underage magic outside of school, he used an unforgivable. Or did your ministry not say that was illegal?" retorted the young Black and Albus frowned deeply. "Is that true Moody?" he remarked and Moody grunted.
"Yes. I suppose. The spell would have gotten Black if the man hadn't deflected it." Longbottom rose just then, groaning in pain and Moody didn't miss the flash of hatred that crossed Hadrian's features before it was gone just as quickly as it had come. Moody let go of the boy and scoffed when Draco Malfoy, Neville Lestrange and Ronald Weasley finally lowered their wands.
Hadrian dusted himself off and stepped away from the suspicious auror, standing beside Remus.
"I'm assuming he got away." said the wolf, glancing up overhead. All eyes were trained on the dark mark in the sky and Moody nodded stiffly. "No thanks to the traitor's son." he muttered and there was silence to his words. Moody was fairly surprised by this, turning to look at the children but their faces were expressionless. Hadrian's especially.
"Did we catch any of the Death Eaters that staged this attack?" questioned Moody and Tonks shook her head, eyes darting to Remus, who met her stare with a cool stare of his own. "No. When they saw the dark mark they disappeared. It seems that they had been waiting for that signal." she said and Dumbledore hummed in thought.
"What was the point of this? What did they gain?" muttered Tonks and Dumbledore sighed. "Publicity. This will be in every newspaper known to the wizarding world. The world will be changing far sooner than I had expected." he murmured faintly and there was a long silence.
"Mr. Longbottom, you'll have to come with us. This must be taken up with the ministry." stated Crouch Senior as the boy had finally managed to drag himself over to the group and the young wizard looked pale in the face, but Moody wasn't sure if that was because of the thought of being arrested or because of the sharp avada kedavra green eyes trained on him.
"Malfoy will have a hearty laugh about this one." Moody grunted, taking out a silver flask, Hadrian Black staring at him. "At least he won't be drunk as he does so." Moody's eyes widened and he watched as Remus nodded toward Dumbledore then gathered the children up and took out a portkey.
"I'll contact you soon Remus." called Dumbledore and the wolf hummed. The group was gone and Albus sighed deeply.
"Alistair I have a job for you."
~^~
"How dare that blubbering fool even attempt to kill.." Hadrian scowled, the raven pacing the expanse of the Malfoy's sitting room. Draco was seated on the sofa with Neville, Solaris snuggled into his side while Ron stood beside the sofa, frowning in thought.
"But did you notice, Hades?" he questioned and the raven nodded. "I did. It's not easy to cast an unforgivable. Especially not for someone with a light core. Longbottom is still weak..but he is making progress. We'll have to get rid of him soon." he said, eyes flashing.
"Soon. Not now. That would be suspicious." sighed Remus as he entered the room. He looked tired as he took the chair near the fireplace. "How's everyone else? The twins?" questioned Hadrian and Remus made a face. "The twins are fine. So is Luna and Blaise, however Adrian got hit by a stray bombarda and Theo got a pretty nasty scar from Fletcher before the man died."
"How'd he die?" asked Neville.
"I killed him. I used a bombarda maxima on his legs and arms, then blinded him. He bled out after. He however does not know it was me because I obliviated him beforehand." explained the wolf, Hadrian attempting to respond, when quick footsteps were heard and his father was suddenly rushing into the room.
He saw Remus and immediately tackled the wolf in a hug. "I'm so sorry. I had to make it look real." he whispered and Hadrian was confused as Remus rolled his eyes. "I know Sirius. I'm okay. You knew I'd be able to heal myself."
"Yes but I didn't want to hurt you. I'd never hurt you." mumbled the dog star, his eyes big and Neville coughed to hold back a laugh. Remus chuckled and ruffled the man's hair, making him pout. "It's fine Pads. I'm fine. Are you?"
"What are you two talking about?" asked Draco and Sirius stood straight again, running a hand through his hair. "Moody caught us running off so to make it seem like Remus was still Light, I threw a spell at him and ran off. The spell would have been deadly if I used all my magic when casting it." answered the dog star and Neville's expression turned into one of realization.
"So he saw through your glamour and wondered why Remus hadn't because he's a werewolf. He'd be able to smell your scent." and Remus nodded in confirmation. "Yes. It would've been bad if I had tried to make some excuse about the glamour when my nose never lies. It was thanks to Sirius' thinking that I didn't have to kill Moody right there while someone could see. Dumbledore would know that Moody could only be taken down if he was off guard. He would only be off guard, if he were speaking to someone he thought an ally."
"You're an amazing dueler." commented Hadrian, glancing at his father and the man smirked. "That I am. I am a Black of course. But are you alright? You're pretty angry." at these words Hadrian's magic flared up and everyone in the room tensed up, even Solaris sat up with attention.
Anubis and Isis were the only two that didn't seem detered by the magic.
"Of course I'm angry! How could that idiot even think of casting that spell on you?!" Hadrian said, his tone rising and Sirius put a hand on his son's shoulder. "I'm fine Hadrian. I wouldn't be who I am if I couldn't protect myself. Your restless magic is making you more fiery tempered than usual. That isn't good right now. Not when we're approaching the end game. When we're so close to overthrowing that goat for good." he said quietly and Hadrian took a breath.
Sirius was right. He had to get a hold on his emotions if he didn't want to make a mistake in an angry fit. "Right. Sorry. What is Tom doing right now?" he said, Sirius humming as he watched his son carefully.
"Right now he's at the ministry. With his new identity he's been rising through their ranks fairly quickly. They want his input on this incident." said the dog star and Hadrian hummed in response.
"Alright..where's Barty?"