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The fabric of space twisted in black and red before it spewed out Quinn and Amelia Bones onto a moorland. Amelia collapsed onto the ground while Quinn got up from his kneel and looked around.
'Shit!' he cursed inside. In the hurry of getting Amelia away from the Dark Lord, Quinn had apparated to the first place that came to his mind, which was the moorlands where he practices flying that he had been visiting for a while now. 'I'll have to find a new place now.'
He turned to his rescuee, who laid prone on the low-growing vegetation. Amelia's eyes met him, and the Head of DMLE dragged her body away from him.
"Amelia Bones," said Quinn, his voice distorted, "where is your niece? Speak!" He had to go back for Susan, and if he knew which room she was in, it would streamline his entry and exit, decreasing the chances of contact and conflict with assailants.
"She.. . She isn't home," Amelia said, wincing.
Quinn stopped his shoulders from sagging in relief and kept his posture constant. The thumps of hearts ringing in his ears began slowing down, and he felt the high come down.
"You.. . Y-You are the Invisible Vigilante," she said, her mind running the scenes from a minute before. The ice spears, masked figure, the distorted voice — all separately weren't identifying features, but all put together pointed to one individual.
"Are you injured?" asked Quinn instead.
"What were you doing at my home?"
Quinn peered at her, and he couldn't see a wand on her person. Obviously, Voldemort must have disarmed her. "Do you have a way to contact the Auror's Office or the Ministry?"
"Who are you?"
Quinn held back the sigh. She wasn't answering his question. "Who am I is no importance to you, now, answer my questions."
"I'm the Head of DMLE; it is my business more than anybody," said Amelia, her voice returning to her. "The department has a bounty on your capture or identity."
"I do not care for silly bounties. I am not someone the Ministry needs be waste their time to capture; there are much graver problems to be solved."
"Why have you donned the mask then?" she asked. "Why do you change your voice?"
A moment of silence succeeded Amelia's question.
Quinn trained his gaze at her. "I wear my mask to hide who I am underneath. I wish for no one to know the person beneath the disguise — to remain nameless and faceless. There is nothing to look beneath the mask Amelia Bones, do not waste your breath on trying to find out."
"I don't know the motivations behind your decisions or your action. However, you can't continue to do this; the more you do it, the more people would notice and inevitably try to emulate you by putting on masks and cloaks and going out on the streets."
Which was neither lawful nor safe and Quinn knew that which was why he didn't go out every night and acted as a neighbourhood vigilante.
Quinn sighed and apparated away, leaving Amelia stunned. She looked around seemingly endless not-so-green grasslands, and the sky above also didn't seem to be kind today as grey overcast the blue. She didn't even know where she was, much less how to get home or to the Ministry.
Amelia winced as she tried to sit up straight and placed a hand on her side. Bearing through the pain, she tried to stand up while thinking about how to get into contact when a pop interrupted her thought.
"Oof!"
Amelia watched as a young man dressed in the typical style of clothing that was preferred and developed in the Auror Office and worn by the majority of the Auror force.
"Wh-What?!" sputtered the young man as he pushed himself back away from his abductor. He had been patrolling his beat as usual when he heard an apparition pop behind him, and before he could stop his feet, his body froze up, and the next thing he knew, he was thrown down onto the ground.
He took out his wand to defend himself while taking in his surroundings when he noticed the other person sitting on the grass a few steps away from him.
"Madam Bones!" he shouted in surprise before noticing the dirt, grime, and blood on her. "You're injured!" The young Auror immediately stopped backing up and leaped in front of her, coming in between Amelia and Quinn with his wand pointing threateningly at the latter. "Madam Bones, what's your status?! Do you need assistance? Is he the one who injured you?"
The young Auror had positioned himself in a way that his non-wand was hidden from Quinn's vision. He reached into his overcoat pocket, and with his wand in hand, he focused his magic and sent out alerts of the highest level he had the authority to with Auror cipher saying AMELIA BONES DANGER again and again.
"You have called for other Aurors, good," said Quinn.
"I have, so it would be wise for you to surrender yourself right here and now, and maybe we will be able to discuss some leniency," said the young Auror.
Quinn looked over the young Auror's shoulder towards Amelia. "Amelia Bones, you should strengthen your security detail. You are about to become the Minister, and there are many people who are not happy with it — displeased enough to murder you to prevent you from taking the chair. You survived today, but the next time might not be as fortunate as today. Take my advice, and I hope you will be able to live long enough to make the country so that I do not have to don the mask ever again.
"Dark times are ahead, Amelia Bones, and this country will need someone like you taking the helm and steering it through it."
Quinn raised his hand and shot a disarming spell towards the young Auror, who pulled up a shield, but the magic tore through it and sent the wand flying into Quinn's hand, who threw it a distance away.
He didn't want to be spelled while apparating.
By the time Voldemort had met his eye, Quinn was already mid-apparition; thus, there was no need to pull up a shield for safety, much less stupidly attack the Dark Lord. But this Auror was cautious against him, and Quinn was sure the Auror would try to keep him or a part of his body here.
He wasted no more time and apparated away from the place.
The young Auror pushed the ground beneath him and sprinted to his wand. He re-armed himself before running back to Amelia. "Madam Bones, allow me to perform some healing magic; please tell me where you are injured — do you think you're fit enough to side-apparate?"
"I'm fine, son. What is your name and designation, Auror?"
"Junior Auror Philligen at your service, madam!" said Philligen as he began administering first aid treatment.
"Thank you, Auror Philligen. Have you sent for support?"
"Yes, they'll be arriving soon enough."
The Auror badges could be turned into tracking beacons in time of emergency. Right now, there was probably a platoon of Aurors flying towards them.
"Madam Bones, who was that?"
"The Invisible Vigilante."
Philligen sucked in a breath. He was in Auror School as a Trainee when the Invisible Vigilante had struck at the Quidditch World Cup Finals, and they had discussed it in a class. The images they had been shown of the case were the first gruesome ones for his entire batch.
"That son of a—"
He stopped talking when dots suddenly appeared in the sky, flying in a formation he recognized. "The backup is here, Madam." He raised his wand shot a flare in the sky.
The dots turned into people on brooms, who soon landed on the ground. Eleven Aurors came running towards them, and in the lead was Sirius Black.
"Boss! What happened to you today?!" said Sirius. "We got the call from Philligen here and immediately sent someone to check the house, just to find it ravaged. What the hell is going on?!"
"You-Know-Who came knocking," Amelia said, standing up after with tolerable pain.
"WHAT?! Voldemort?!"
Amelia nodded, "He wanted me to either join or die. I was about to die when the Invisible Vigilante suddenly barged and pulled me out here. Junior Auror Philligen was brought here so that he could alert the Office. He's disapparated away before you guys could arrive."
"Were you able to find out who he was?" asked Sirius.
Amelia shook her head, "No, but we need to raise the bounty on his capture — double it, no triple it. And we need to set up a team to find him. I want to know he is; if he's a 'he' or not; where I can find him — I want his search bumped up the priority status."
Sirus blinked in surprise at the sudden order and the intensity. "Why now? Did something happen?"
"He knew," said Amelia. "There wasn't a single word of chatter about the attack or even a peep anywhere that the Death Eaters were about to do something, and we have been looking actively looking for them since the carnival," he eyes turned sharp, "but he knew that You-Know-Who was going to attack me, and he came barging in.
"He was there at Hogsmeade, then at the World Cup, and now this — once I could take it as luck, twice maybe a coincidence, but three times? No, this was no coincidence. That man clearly has a way to know how and when the Death Eaters are going to move, so we need to locate him to find it out."
"Boss.. . if we go by your theory, wouldn't he have also known about the Azkaban breakout, the carnival, or the Ministry?" asked Sirius.
"You have a point, but think about it — even if he has a way to find out the information, he's but one man — he might be limited in his approach, and we can learn his method, with our resources, we might truly be able to exploit it to its full extent."
"But what if there's nothing to be exploited?" asked Sirius. He wasn't the fan of the idea of mitigating resources to find the Invisible Vigilante just because of a theory that might not even be true.
"I read the report on the Invisible Vigilante that you wrote after the World Cup," said Amelia. "In it, you wrote that it was a strong possibility that the Invisible Vigilante was someone who had lost family in the war, who is out for revenge.. . and you how those type of people can be.. . they are desperate, motivated, focused.. . and in this case, the man seems to be putting his all into it."
Sirius pursed his lips; he had indeed written that. "Boss.. . while I don't like the idea, but I see the point you're making. Make the call, and I'll brief the new team on my analysis of the Invisible Vigilante."
"Thank you, Black. Now, get me to St. Mungos.. . I want to be fixed up before my niece sees me."
- (Scene Break) -
Quinn popped up in the alley where he had buried his 'Quinn' belongings. He stamped on the ground in frustration. He waved his hand and charmed the dark corner alley's entrance to not to be disturbed. He slapped his chest, and the mask faded away.
He had missed a crucial opportunity today.
He put his hand on the wall, and the bricks spat out his pockets.
Taking care of the Death Eaters was simple enough — ice and sound, and all were entombed in ice without a peep. Bellatrix Lestrange, however, would have been a bit difficult to take care of without making a ruckus. He probably would have needed to fight her for a good while if he hadn't ambushed her.
He didn't have that liberty.
Time was of the essence, and Amelia Bones' life was at stake.
So he sneaked behind her back and used to Emperyean to create a sword for stabbing.. . and so he pushed the blade into her back — aiming for the heart. However, Bellatrix sprang up a shield in the last moment, which deflected the blade enough that it ended up in her abdomen.
She survived. He wanted to give it another go; however, between her and Amelia Bones, he chose the latter.
He did the last button on his shirt and sighed. For the first time in his life, he had felt that it was okay to be the judge of someone's life — that someone was, of course, Bellatrix Lestrange.
He had failed. And except for the anger from his failure, he didn't feel much of anything.
Quinn looked down at the Noir patch. It had gained another level of notoriety and this time straight in the eyes of Voldemort. It was nerve-racking, to say the least, facing Voldemort — he would have been more confident if he was alone, but with Amelia Bones nearby, he wasn't confident enough for a direct confrontation, thus again, he took the stealthier option.
"I guess it fits the image." He went by the name Invisible Vigilante, after all.
"I'll have to be careful," he muttered to himself.. . and he thought it was time to put in action the next stage of his plan.
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Quinn West - MC - Damn it, I ended up sealing another magic.
Amelia Bones - Head of DMLE - Now, how do I explain to a teen that our house is gone.. .
Sirius Black - Senior Auror - I guess I have to put together a presentation now.. .
Philligen - Junior Auror - Told his batch that he saw the Invisible Vigilante up and close.
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