Great Britain, London
Monday morning
July 25thth
9:00 am.“This is just sick...”
Sebastian's eye's were cold and still as he stood in the alley that brisk cool morning in July, it was a truly magnificent morning at least it had been. The sun had rose into the sky in a brilliant chorus of wonderful blended colors, the air was refreshing, the dew on the short cut lawns was glistening intricately against the blades grass. All was right in the world at that point, people just waking up for yet another day. It was and still would be amazing how fast such beauty could turn to such dark and ugly circumstances. While others would go about their daily lives, Sebastian would be here, his cold gray eye's concentrating on the young beautiful blond before him. Even now her bright green eye's were still lighting up the bleak alley in which she lay, gazed permanently at the sky above, reflecting the precious last moments she must have had before she died. Had she known that this morning would be the morning that she would take her last breaths in this life? When she awoke the day before had she seen that her last moments were trickling by second after second? Did she make the most of this life that she had lived before it was gone? Sebastian bent down slowly to the ground, letting his knee touch the cracked gravel below he reached his hand forward and silently moved the young woman's hair aside from her shoulder. As he knew it would be on her upper shoulder there lay a mark, a mark of such crude device, it was carved into her arm like fire had licked her clear skin. The mark was in the shape of skull, each eye was replaced by a snake exiting the sockets, while knives pierced the skull from the top. Sebastian rose back to his feet and he turned to look at one of the newest Aurors, he had heard his words from before, speaking in a rough, deep, slightly accented voice Sebastian responded:
“Murder's are not know for being pleasant Donovan, even in the Wizarding world. This one was definitely no exception. Given the current condition of this young woman's eye's I would say that she passed only mere hours ago.”
“Here?! In the middle of the city where everyone would be able to see?!”
Sebastian shook his head at Donovan, in reality older then he was at a solid age of forty, he was a rather short and pudgy man with a five second haircut and a stubble of hair on his chin. He was a good man but where he excelled in being a good person, he without a doubt was to be desired as an Auror, he had the hand work but he failed the thinking aspect of the job. Most people think that Aurors are just dueling monkeys to protect the innocent, but there was so much more to it then that, at least after Harry Potter defeated Lord Voldemort and revolutionized the entire Auror organization. Back then it was more brute force and torturing to get the truth then it was figuring things out before it came to that. Sebastian wasn't knocking the old ways, truth be told they worked in a lot of ways, but if history taught one thing, when you torture a psychopath sooner or later... they torture you back. Harry Potter employed a more subtle approach to these old age tactics, he practically wrote the book on a new set of spells that allowed Aurors to solve murders and extract information from possible suspects without even one touch. Sebastian respected Harry, he was an outstanding man with a good heart, and that was unfortunately in short supply these days.
“I am sure it was not as in plain view as your thinking Donovan, after all this is what charms like Disillusionment are for. I doubt that anyone who might have came this way heard or saw even just a glimpse of what went on here.”
Muggles never saw anything and that was the honest truth, it was almost like they thrilled in their ability to never notice things. A powerful enough Witch or Wizard could have possibly seen through the spell, but this murder had taken place no where near a magical portion of town. Even now muggles were passing by this alley way on their way to work or whatnot, unaware that two men and a body were secretly in here hidden by an invisible wall, that if even glimpse touched would make them forget where they are and walk away from the protective barrier. But Sebastian had done enough thinking now, he had the scene memorized in his head.
“OK Donovan this is lesson one so listen carefully. The victim was a nineteen year old female witch, her wands information has told me that her name is Susan Applewood, the last spell she used before he life was take was Confringo so she definitely tried to fight back but failed. The suspect subdued her with magical chains, these markings on her arms indicate that much. By the looks of it he levitated her and brought her to this alley, there is one set of footprints in and then out, and no other signs of struggle. So what does this mean Donovan?.... Donovan?”
Sebastian turned to look for the trainee, to his dismay the man was outside the charm wall talking to what appeared to be a rather attractive female. From his facial expressions he seemed like he was having a good conversation. Sebastian closed his eye's and shook his head in disappointment, why the hell was he the youngest Auror here at the moment, but he was the only one who took his damn job seriously!? Crossing his arms Sebastian was livid as his eye's were now piercingly scary as Donovan finish talking to the woman and quickly walked back into the charm before anyone saw. Seeing Sebastian who seemed less then happy, Donovan quickly walked forward and spoke:
“Excuse me Sir I was interrogating possible witnesses, you can never be too careful, never know what they might have saw.”
Sebastian shook his head at the man, it was bad enough he went outside the barrier and risked their discovery but then he lies horribly to cover his ass! Sebastian hated liars an for people he was training, it was even worse for them.
“Donovan I am only going to iterate this once and once only so listen and shut up okay? One you do not, repeat, do not leave a scene that is being protected from the eye's of muggles. This is a stupid idiotic mistake that children would make. You risked this entire investigation scene by going out there and talking to that woman. Second you damn well know that there are no witnesses to this murder, if you had been giving any sort of care to what I was saying you would know that. An three I hate liers especially terrible ones, I might have a reputation for not know what emotions are, but damn it I know what flirting looks like, I am not an idiot! We are not some rabble of woman chasing police men Donovan, we are elite magical enforcers and we conduct ourselves as such. Now today's lesson is over, report back to the Ministry immediately and file a report of your actions for Mr. Potter to overlook and detail your lack of interest in this case.”
Donovan opened his mouth to argue but Sebastian's glare told him other wise, the man, defeated, muttered yes sir and apparitioned out of the wall and into a designated spot away from prying eye's. Sebastian turned back towards the body with a heavy sigh, he would finish of this crime scene alone it would seem. Yep it was just another lovely Monday morning in the great Britain.
Great Britain, London
Monday afternoon
Ministry of Magic
Auror Department
July 4th
1:40 pm.Sebastian sat in his office silently as he typed on the thin screen terminal in front of him, he silently detailed his report from the earlier investigations he simultaneous worked on a training report for the ladies man Donovan. Sebastian would be ever grateful for Harry Potter changing their internal system of keep records, back in school he had hated writing long hand and typing was much easier on his wand hand. Sebastian read some of his report out loud under his breath as he revised everything:
“The young woman in question, Susan Applewood was presented with the curse mark on her right shoulder like the last four victims. Which in conclusion is the fifth death related to the same curse mark within the passing four months.”
Sebastian looked up when he heard a knock on his door and then it slid open revealing the head of the Auror Department.
“Mr. Potter Sir how can I help you?”
Harry Potter slowly entered the room completely before closing the door and taking a seat in the rather large plushy black chair in front of Sebastian large Mahogany desk. Producing a piece of paper Harry began to speak:
“I received a personal deposition from one Donovan Grendel this morning requesting that he be assigned another instructor, preferably one that isn't and I quote a snobby kid. I take it that this mornings training did not go exactly as planned did it Mr. Reeves?”
Sebastian for the slightest of seconds showed a rather pure disappointment from hearing how Donovan had described him. The look however disappeared as fast as it appeared before Sebastian sighed and sat back in his chair and spoke:
“No sir it didn't go well, he was apparently more interested in breaking protocol and talking to cute woman then he was learning about the crime scene. On top of that he then proceeded to insult my intelligence by telling me he was gathering possible information from witnesses when there clearly was none. I was detailing my own report of the incident as was going to send it to you within the hour, I guess he is just trying to save his own skin now.”
Harry looked at the report then back at Sebastian before placing it on his desk and sitting back in the plush chair folding his hands on his lap.
“Donovan said you were rather crude and seemed unfeeling towards him or the current situation. He said he was only trying to help by talking to the woman. I know that him breaking protocol was wrong and lieing about it was worse, but he is after all a recruit Mr. Reeves. Recruits are not well known for not making a few mistakes when they are first placed in the field. That's why I assigned him to you because your a great field investigator and would no doubt keep him safe if worse came to worse. Mr. Grendel will be disciplined for his actions, breaking protocol and giving false information to a ranking officer, however I came here to request that you, try... to be a bit more sympathetic to the newer recruits. You are a great Auror Sebastian you even give me a run for my money at times in magical dueling, but you have got to show a little more emotion towards the recruits, and your peers under you, with all the new people we are getting in here we need to make them feel comfortable here. This is a stressful environment to begin with and they need to know they can come to you with anything. I know that you have faced some rather terrible things in your past, and I am not saying this change has to come over night, but I want you to try Mr. Reeves, okay?”
“Yes sir Mr. Potter you know you can always count on me.”
Sebastian gave a weak but attempted sincere smile as Harry nodded to him with a genuine smile and departed the office. Sebastian sighed deeply before he returned to his report and started typing again.
Great Britain, London
Monday night
Somewhere outside of London
Hilly grass side
July 4th
9:41 pm.Sebastian sat silently with his back up against a rather large oak tree as he looked out upon the ever expanding grassy knolls below the hill. In the distance he could just barely see the lake as the light of the moon glinted off the surface. Completely alone the man just sat there with his head cushioned inside of a man carved nook in the tree. He let the thoughts of the day will his mind, the murder, Donovan, Harry, the crime scene. It all poured in as only in this moment the mask he wore day in and day out had slipped off in the lonely darkness of the night. The truth was things did get to him, Donovan and his words, Harry and his, both different tactics but the same, about him and his inability to express himself. Maybe in someways he wished he could open up who he was, he truly did want people to know him on the inside. But he couldn't, he couldn't let himself do that, when he knew how it would end. He wanted those connection he never in his life got to understand, but if he did then life's cruelty which seemed to follow him would just rip it away and leave him torn again.
Sebastian closed his eye's slowly as his thoughts mashed together and slowly faded, then switched to another as he fell into restfulness slumber.
”Help me Sebastian! Help me!”
Sebastian was frightened as he lay in a dark and foreboding cemetery, the area was full of thick fog. He shivered profusely as he just a young boy now, his heart thumping hard in his chest. He heard the screams by he was frozen to the ground his arms wrapped around himself as he shook, the air was so cold and lifeless. Tears were streaming down his dirt stricken face as the fog around him seemed to form into shadows, the looked at him as the ground seemed to move under him. The world around him seemed to change as before long Sebastian slowly looked up, looming before him was a very large old tombstone cross.
“Help me! Please help me!”
The voice was muffled now as it was very close by, Sebastian shook even harder as he cried, raising himself up he crawled towards the grave as his legs wouldn't work. Weakly he started to pull earth up from in front of the cross with his hands, however no matter how hard he tried the earth replaced itself almost immediately. Sebastian cried in defiance as he tried so desperately to dig, out of nowhere suddenly a large shadow hand grabbed him and pulled him aside. Sebastian felt himself lifted in the air to see a pair of red glowing eye's glaring at him. Opening his mouth to scream no sounds came out as the shadow formed a mouth of glistening white teeth dripping with blood. In a deep chilling voice it spoke:
“Sebastian... Sebastian?”Sebastian awoke with a start as he wand was immediately in his hand and ready to attack, the field in front of him came back into view as he slowly realized where he was. Turning his head quickly he saw Harry Potter kneeling down beside him his hand on his shoulder.
“Sir? What are you doing here?”
“There's been another murder Sebastian your being called in, it looks like the same MO as all the others, however these is a new development that you need to see.”
Almost instantly Sebastian felt himself squeeze through an invisible tube the size of wire and instantly he was a large house in an unknown location. As he arrived there was several other Aurors there already, they all seemed to look at him as if something weird was on his face. Slowly walking forward Sebastian saw the body of a young brown haired woman on the ground, blood had softly matted her hair. However what caught his attention was the large wall in front of him, something had been written in the victims blood... it was an cross with a message written underneath:
“You can't protect them, and before the end you too will join them. You too will know the feeling as your last breath leaves your body, and you face the greatest fear of all... Death.
The cursed Reaper”
Great Britain, London
Monday afternoon
Ministry of Magic
Auror Department
August 25th
10:00a.m..“Whoa whoa whoa... let me see if I understand what your trying to say, your telling me that our only surviving witness wants to throw herself into the lions cage and see if it works out?”
Sebastian sat in Harry Potters spacious office as he looked at the man in disbelief, their first actual witness, the first survivor of the Cursed Reapers victims, wanted to leave their protection and go finish her last year at Hogwarts! Either this girl was stupid and ultra brave, and at this point Sebastian was leaning towards stupid.
“We tried to warn her on the consequences, but she insisted on completing her last year and letting the chips fall where they may. An as a adult witch we are unable to hold her here against her will or any other way for that matter, what it boils down to is that its her choice and she made it.”
This was pure lunacy, even an fool would realize that they are gambling their life for a stupid reason. Hogwarts was a safe place, but if time had proved one thing its that its defenses are not impermeable if not outright bypass-able. An even more... she was the only witness alive in these brutal murders, the only one who somehow escaped... they needed her now more then anything, if nothing more she could help them find this Dark Wizard and put them away for good.
“This is too big a gamble Sir Hogwarts is highly protected but there have been ways past its defenses, not to mention that this year the Tri-Wizard tournament is taking place at Hogwarts which is going to allow many different people onto the grounds. Hell even you remember what happened when Barty Crouch Jr cursed the cup and forced you to compete in an attempt to kill you. There are too many possibilities in which this person can get at this girl.”
“Your right Mr. Reeves that's why we have a plan in motion to keep her as safe as possible. We will not allow her to go unprotected knowing that she has the death mark on her.”
“Plan... what plan? Why have I not heard talk about it already?”
Harry got up from his seat with a rather mischievous smile on his face as he motioned for Sebastian to follow him. Sebastian eye's widened slightly, he didn't like when Harry smiled like that, the last time he smiled like that he had Sebastian pose as a female bar maid to spy on a bunch of low class dark wizards at in a pub in Hogsmeade, the department had never let him live that moment down. Harry silently lead Sebastian down the hallways when they reached his office, Sebastian looked at Harry with a sinking feeling as his office door was opened and Harry put his hand out for him to look, peeking in Sebastian's eye's widened as he looked at Harry.
“Oh no... no no no you are not doing this!”
They both now sat in Sebastian's office, across the room was a chorus of items including a trunk with his name on it, final year books, a Hogwarts uniform which bared the emblem for Ravenclaw. Sebastian was beside himself as Harry was smiling and seemed to be enjoying the fact that his emotions were showing through the cracks, just like the bar maid proposal.
“There has got to be another way Sir, anyone else. Uhm... Donovan! Just give him a polyjuice potion and send him I am sure he would love to hit on chicks over there! I know I spoke badly of him but it was a pack of lies, he is perfect for this assignment!”
Sebastian spoke quickly as Harry just seemed to keep making his smile larger and larger, the man was definitely enjoying this. Sebastian covered his face with his hand and leaned back in his chair as he felt like he was getting a tension headache.
“Your not getting out of it Sebastian, just like the bar maid skit in Hogsmeade. I seem to remember you suggesting a lot of others who were more suited. But truth be told you were perfect for that job just like your perfect for this one.”
“Excuse me for being blunt but you have no idea what it is like to be a hot serving girl in a bar with drunken men. Do you have any idea how many men pinched my butt, and commented on how lovely my breasts were? Do you know what its like to have a drunk man come up to you and whisper in your ear that he would like to do unspeakable things to you in the bedroom.”
“Speak a few?”
Sebastian opened his eye's as he looked at Harry who looked like he was about to laugh, Sebastian found himself smiling as he suddenly let out a small but hearty laugh as Harry did too, a rare moment in deed.
“OK, OK tell me how this is suppose to work? I mean I am pretty sure that I just can't come to Hogwarts with no suspicion and join a house.”
“We are having your alibi being worked out with the Headmaster as we speak, you are going to be an exchange student who will be taking the place of another Ravenclaw whom we have already contacted and offered an all expense payed trip to the Beauxbatons Academy in southern France, they were ecstatic about the opportunity.”
“Beauxbatons! Really... couldn't I have been a student from Durmstrang Institute its seems a heck of a lot more fitting for me.”
“Yeah we were pretty sure that no one was going to go there willingly, you do realize how rough they play down there? We played the France card instead, we needed to be sure someone would want to transfer for their last year.”
Sebastian smacked his head and put his elbow on his desk and put his face in his hand, first he was a big blossomed bar maid now he is coming from a school known for its lovely woman and their butterflies...
“Oh and when you get on the train to go to Hogwarts to make sure there is no doubt your coming from Beauxbatons you will need to wear this...”
Sebastian looked up as his eye's widened an he backed away...
“That is not bloody happening! Not in this life time Sir, No this time I refuse!”
Sebastian stood on the platform to Nine and three quarters with a rather nasty look on his face, his arms were crossed as various students looked at him with a snicker. The light powder blue uniform that all students from Beauxbaton wore was getting him various laughs from half the student body. Oh this was far from over, he would get revenge on Harry for this somehow someway. Sebastian took a deep breath as his luggage was loaded onto the train, slowly hopping up the stair way he climbed onto the train for the first time in years. It was unclear what lay ahead of him on his road, but he knew for sure already that this year was going to be long.
