[Spitfire : Chapter Nine]

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16 July, 1992

               The black hood covering her head and it's matching black robes hid the pacing figure in between the stormy-grey buildings. In her hand she held her wand readily under the baggy sleeve of her robe, she passed by people ignoring their obnoxious begging gestures. With every step she took she was somehow shaking someone's hands off of her, whether they were grabbing her to beg for money or grabbing her to scare her. The grabs hardly scared her, though, she was already used to the darkness of Knockturn Alley. In the past, she had made many arrests of dark wizards there, in a way she was thankful that the place existed. Wendy wouldn't be in the places she was in without it.

    The streets were dark, the musty buildings blocked the sunny skies and the area sent shivers up Wendy's spine; not even the Head of Aurors was fearless. She wasn't scared of the people, no, people didn't scare her at all. She was scared of what the people plotted, the terrible deeds whose origins normally started in one of the shops in Knockturn Alley where dark objects were sold. As she sped past people they would look the other way in hopes of not being caught by the Auror. However, Wendy had no interest in them. It was her day off, that meant it was evidence gathering time.

    She was tipped off a few days before of a meeting that would take place in a shop in Knockturn Alley, a meeting taking place between Fenrir Greyback and a few members of his pack. After being denied by Fudge to further her investigation with the murderous wolf, Wendy started to do things on her own accords. A few months after Christmas she was even suspended, it wasn't her fault she ran into Volke Angel, a werewolf in Greybacks midsts notoriously known to watch children on the nights of full moons, though of course the criminally-known werewolf attacking children on full moons was just a series of accidents. Maybe after Wendy took down Greyback she'll start taking down all the Death Eaters who infiltrated the Ministry.

    "Oh m' lady," begged a man, poking out of a dark corner. He wore a ripped shirt, dirt smeared on his face and a few of his front teeth missing. He held onto Wendy's arm harshly, his breath stenching of alcohol and blood. "Would you please help a lad? My daughta, she's collapsed."

    "And what's her name?" Wendy asked, allowing herself to stop for a moment to see if the man's intentions were true.

    She should have kept moving.

    "Brenda," he stated breathlessly, looking around the area nervously. "Brenda Dolph, she's only an ickle twelve-year-old lass. A Ravenclaw, her mums told me of her heart prob'ems but I never listened, thought it was all a mudblood trick. Oh, would you please help me? Magic ain't working."

    "Merlin's beard," Wendy gasped, her eyes wide and ignoring the fact the intoxicated man used the muggleborn slur. "You could've lead with that!"

    "Quick," he said, glancing around nervously once more. "Folla' me!"

    Wendy followed him down the dark alley. Leaning against the dirty-bricked buildings were men and women, some even being children who had the look of darkness spread across their faces. It grew chillier the farther they went, Wendy was almost convinced the alley was charmed with an extension spell. Finally, the man stopped, leaning on one leg as he looked forward into the darkness, "I've brought her m' lord, I did it — as I said I would. Got her down her quiet and unseen, could I get those galleons no—" his rambling stopped and he fell backward, his eyes open blank and a wand pointed towards where he once stood, now with it pointed towards Wendy's chest.

Wendy already had her wand pointed right in front of her, embarrassment flushed her cheeks at being so gullible. She wanted to cast Lumos to see who was in front of her, but she knew that one word would lead to a duel. Wendy held her wand steadily, her nostrils flaring as the strong scent of urine was blown her way by the wind. She even stood in a puddle that was definitely not rain water. But it was too late to move now as the figure in front of her grew closer, she almost growled when she saw who it was.

There Fenrir Greyback stood, his tiny wand pointed her direction being held with his pointer finger and thumb. His clothes were dirty, as if he rolled in freshly mowed grass before arriving. His robes were open, exposing his hairy chest that didn't stop until it got to his head, it seemed the only area he lacked the bush of hair was his head; though he still had a whole lot of it. His teeth were sharpened and yellow. Most likely from chewing on the bones of his child victims, thought Wendy. His eyes were a creepy blue color, he highly resembled a Muggle film werewolf. But what she couldn't help but notice most were the large scars riddling his body, unlike Remus Lupin, Greyback's scars were still open. Dried blood coating them and pus oozing out, he was more disgusting in person than in the pictures.

"Now why is the Head of Aurors following me around on my weekend adventures?" Greyback asked, his thick Scottish accent resembling a growl.

Wendy's lips straightened and her face hardened, "I was only going on a stroll." She lied. "Until this sozzled fool called on my help for his fallen daughter, though seems he had other motives now that I'm on the scene."

"Though it seems." Greyback repeated, his face contorting to a rotten smile. "I know what you've been doing, Ms. Collins, I'm impressed at how indulged you are in this project of yours."

"I'll do anything to take down the beast who killed my best friend." Wendy hissed, people crowded around them. Watching in amusement rather than fear, coughing from malnourishment as they prayed one of them would die so they could rob their fallen bodies.

"Allegedly." Greyback reminded, grinning as her nostrils flared in anger. "May I remind you that everything I've done is all alleged, never proven true. You are the Head of Aurors, shouldn't you know this by now?"

"I think we both know that you've done all the things you've been accused of." Wendy lowly stated, she looked down at the figure at her feet. "Besides, we've still got this sap who I just witnessed you kill."

"Oh, so that's how low you think of me, eh?" Fenrir asked, smirking. He then laughed, it sounded like a howl which caused Wendy to step forward lifting her wand towards his head rather than his chest. "He's just under a stunning spell, open eyes must be a side effect of all the fire whiskey he consumes. Filthy street rat."

Wendy kept her wand held high, "Why am I here, hm? Going to kill me before I can get the truth out to the press?"

He laughed. "From what the cockroaches have told me, Fudge dismissed your little crusade to take me down. Besides, what good would you do for me if you were dead?"

Wendy scrunched her eyebrows, her wand arm faltering a bit. Still, that gave the werewolf enough time to shoot a stunning spell at her. She dodged it and watched as the red light struck the chest of a person behind her, causing them to fall unconscious on the spot. She looked back and the werewolf was walking towards her, his lips in a tight grin. "You think I've forgotten about the little wench Lee spawned?"

Wendy angrily pointed her wand at him. "Stupefy!"

He flicked his wand and the spell bounced off him, silent magic. "Levicorpus." He shouted, Wendy scrambled to her feet and dodged it.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Langlock," He countered, walking towards her as she moved backward. All she wanted to do was take the man out, but seeing as that could cost her freedom; all she could do was disarm and arrest him. If she could find the man's weak spot that is.

"Protego!" She shouted in defense. "Incarcerous!"

He flicked his wand lazily. "Crucio!"

"Protego." She shot back, jumping out of the way just in case. "Petrificus Totalus!"

"Crucio!"

"Protego." She countered, pushing people out of the way. "Stupefy!"

"Langlock," He hissed, still walking towards her as she walked backward. "Crucio!"

"Bloody hell," breathed Wendy, she disapparated and appeared behind him. "Stupefy!"

He cracked out of view, this time appearing behind her. He grinned, he watched her turn as if it were in slow motion. He pointed his wand at her, she closed her eyes and felt her body contort as she started to disapparate. "Crucio!" He shouted. The world was already a wobbly mess, her body was barely there as it was struck down. She screamed in pain, unfortunately, she already knew the pains of the torturing curse. But that pain she felt was worse than anything she had ever felt before, she was stuck in a seizure of fire with daggers flowing in her veins as her body regenerated from the failed apparation.

Greyback chuckled, kneeling beside her and petting her tear-covered cheek as she writhed in pain. "I expected more of a fight in you." He said, twisting his wand in his fingers like a quill as he touched it against her temple. She tried to move, despite the pain she was in and he grabbed her by her hair, his large hairy hand cupping her cheek hard. "After all, I did kill your best friend."

Wendy's heart stopped. Fenrir smiled at the suffering girl's reaction as he stated: "Imperio."

Wendy's pain immediately vanished and everything went white, everything around her felt soft and her brain felt like mush. She felt like she was floating. She could hear the sound of laughter, memories flashed through her mind of people who made her happy. She watched as a younger version of herself and Aspen Lee walked to the Black Lake, their arms linked and the other laughing at a joke Evelyn Reid said; they were in their second year or so. Everything felt okay, the anger she felt towards Evelyn was gone and she craved for more memories but quickly everything went to how it was; though this time she was standing.

Wendy blinked, stumbling backward as her muscles ached for her to lay down. She looked around and the area was clear, though in front of her was Fenrir Greyback on his knees, clutching onto his head. She looked up to see the man who brought her there in the first place, he held a steel trash can lid in his hands and wore a fearful expression. Wendy ran for her wand and lifted it from a puddle filled with a smelly substance. She cringed and pointed it at Greyback, "Langlock!" She shouted before he could do harm to the man he held his wand at, quickly his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth and he was defenseless.

Greyback let out a gurgling growl as he leaped up, dodging the spells she shot at him. He yanked the trash can lid from the hands of the frightened drunk and hit him across the head with it, the man fell with a thump and Fenrir turned to Wendy. He now looked angered, very angered as he bled from his head; unable to speak with his tongue stuck to the top of his mouth. He blocked an incoming spell with the surprisingly durable trash can lid before throwing it at her. She blocked it and he disappeared with a crack.

Wendy looked around, clutching her hair stressfully — the werewolf had actually gotten away. She screamed angrily, punching a brick wall beside her. Her knuckles bled and she wiped away the anger-caused tears as she knelt down in front of the man who tried to help her. "Episkey." She mended quickly, though nothing happened. She bit her lip and felt his neck for a pulse, nothing.

She let out another frustrated yell, a strain of curses following it as she conjured a Patronus for her fellow Ministry officials. As she took care of the situation, a man of in the crowd with a moving skull burned on his arm silently stepped forward. He watched Wendy to make sure she didn't look back at him as he stepped on Fenrir Greyback's wand, making all magical evidence disappearing at once as the wooden wand broke in half.

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A few hours later.

The atmosphere was tense, everyone was silent as the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, seethed quietly in his chair. Wendy sat across him looking at her feet while a healer patched up her bleeding knuckles. Two Aurors stood at the door, watching guard in case anyone tried to attack. Though even they couldn't help but also falter at the tension in the room, waiting to see how Cornelius Fudge would react to Wendy's unauthorized mission.

   "Explain to me again what happened." Fudge stated, rubbing his temples stressfully.

    "Minister, I've al—"

    "Collins." He warned, giving her a look which told her she was in deep shite.

    She sighed tiredly, disappointed in herself. "I got a tip from a friend saying Greyback was going to hold a meeting with his pack in an object shop in Knockturn Alley. I-I went and a man came running up to me . . . the victim, under Greybacks orders, he begged me to help his daughter who he said collapsed — let me remind you this was all a hoax as Greyback was the only one waiting for me. We spoke for a bit, him flaunting about none of his dirty deeds being proven true. And we dueled." Wendy explained, she didn't know why she excluded the part about him confessing to Aspen's murder. "He threatened Cassie, Aspen's kid, and put me under the Imperius Curse. I suppose when the . . . victim, hit em' in the head with the lid he broke concentration and I broke out. I langocked him and he disapparated after hitting the saps head, very hard I suppose as he's-al

    "Dead." Fudge continued for her. He rubbed his face. "To summarize, you went out to do an illegal mission and caused the death of a very important Pureblood wizard."

    "I wouldn't say very important . . ." Wendy mumbled, remembering how drunk the man was. Plus, he was hanging around in Knockturn Alley — he was definitely dodgy. "Besides, Greyback is the reason why the man was even involved, he killed him for Merlin's sake! We should be hunting the beast down, lock him up for good! He used an unforgivable curse on me after he tried using 'Crucio' on me multiple times. That'll give him hundreds of years in Azkaba—"

     The door opened, startling the two guards. A guard from the outside came in, William Berkley, he glanced at Wendy with worry as he walked in. "Minister, I have an Alexander Sleet here to speak with you, says it's very urgent."

    "Well tell em' I'm busy," Fudge stated in annoyance. "I'll get to him later."

    "Minister," William said, his eyes coated with fear. That's when Wendy noticed the boys trembling hands and shaky stature. "He says it's very urgent, life or death." The Minister's eyes widened in realization, Wendy scrunched her eyebrows and the healer who worked on her hand quickly scrambled out of the room as the apparent Alexander Sleet walked in. The healer hadn't even finished patching her up.

    The man looked to be forty, he was almost the same height as Wendy but he was still scary looking all the same. His hair was long and greasy, his face highly resembled a troll and he looked as if he ate children for dinner; Wendy wouldn't be surprised if he did. He whispered something in the Minister's ear, pulling away with a smirk as Cornelius Fudge wore a horrified expression. He coughed, tugging at his tie as he looked at Wendy. "Ms. Collins, seeing as the crime you committed was rash and dangerous, I am forced to remove you from your position of Head of Aurors office."

    Wendy froze, her breath stopped and her blood ran cold. "What?"

    "You are also fired from being an Auror altogether, you have until the end of the day to be gone with your things. If you haven't left, we will be forced to remove you with an escort." Fudge continued, he stood up; drenched in a nervous sweat. "You've done well Ms. Collins, I wish you luck with what's to come. I recommend you not to further your investigation into Fenrir Greyback, I wouldn't want to see you in the Daily Profit with an Azkaban prison number hanging around your neck." He walked past her, Alexander Sleet and his guards following him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have matters to take care of."

     He then left, as well as the guards and Alexander. Wendy sat in the chair, shocked as to what happened — which happened very quickly. William Berkley, her assistant, stood flabbergasted at what he just witnessed. He wanted to say something, to comfort her as well as ask her what she did to deserve such a punishment. Though all Wendy could do was sit and wonder, what the hell did Alexander Sleet, the mystery man, say to the Minister that frightened the man so badly that he fired her?

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Authors Note:

If I had the patience I would've written this chapter much better, but then that would mean I'd be working on it still and like, I'm tired my bro's. So excuse this piece of crap which I'll be calling Chapter Nine, I guess you'll get the main point of it by the time your reading this. Vote if you liked I guess, it'd be appreciated!

April 30, 2019
3,027 words