Quinn observed the Death Eaters standing outside a local Quidditch stadium.
The target was yet again a department head, and the reason she was visiting a stadium was to see a game that her son was playing in as part of a local team in a second-tier league. Quinn gazed around to see if he could discover someone hidden, but none was in sight. He sent out the gentle winds to do his scouting, but they also returned empty-handed. The Death Eaters he could see were the only ones present.
'Which means that the situation with Nott hasn't created a problem,' thought Quinn. After the fight at the bar was over, Quinn had read every Death Eaters' mind present in the washroom, and he had found that the two teams didn't have any communication with the Rivers Lock, which meant that he could spin the narrative any he wanted. He had edited the memories in the mind of Nott and Rivers' spy in Nott's team to make it so that they would remember their operation as a success— while the backup-cleanup crew was expunged of their memories of ever getting a distress call from the spy and were made to believe that Nott's team had done the job correctly.
It was a three-way insurance. Rivers would meet Nott and get a positive response; he could call upon the spy and get the same answer; the backup crew's leader would convey the same result.
Quinn let the winds under his feet go and allowed himself to freefall from the sky. The winds fluttered for a moment before Arresto Momentum cut his fall, and he was beside the Death Eaters. He flicked his wrist, and the Death Eaters fell down like bowling pins.
"One more, and I'll be done for the day," he sighed, "but before that." He looked at the target walk out of the stadium's VIP gate and flicked his wrist again, and she fell down on the ground, face first. Quinn wrinkled his nose. "Sorry about that," he muttered. He was going to need to fix that before he could let her go. He couldn't let any of the targets continue on with their days because the Death Eaters had plans with their corpses.
'Better than in my care than theirs,' Quinn shrugged as he got to the standard memory alteration.
. . .
The sun was near setting, with the sunset red almost out of sight and about to be replaced by the evening blue. Only one Death Eater team was left, and Quinn had saved the easiest one for the last.
He turned his head from the changing sky when he heard the pops of apparation. The last Death Eater team had arrived. He stepped out from the shade of the tree and came upon a huddle with the last leader, Lucius Malfoy, addressing his team. Quinn sighed when he saw the long sleeve that hid Lucius' right missing hand. That hand could be healed back to new in a week tops; the cut wasn't caused by dark magic and only needed the material and the jolt from magic to regrow— but Lucius hadn't grown it back because it was fear rather than magic holding him back.
'I hope he doesn't get punished,' he thought as he raised his hand for several stunners to fly out of his hand. The entire team dropped to the ground, and it made Quinn realize how easy it was some time to simply take out people from the shadows.
He sat down the Death Eaters and cast Tetani Nervum onto everyone except Lucius as he still had a job to do. As the soot and haze covered the Death Eater, he heard footsteps coming to a skidding stop. Quinn turned and saw a middle-aged in track pants. It was the target; he had his house right around the corner, and around the same time every day, he would go for a run around his home. Quinn shrugged, and a stunner caught the man in the chest, and he flew a couple steps back before falling down to the ground.
"Well, time for chaos."
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
"Lucius Malfoy just reported back," said Rivers to the Voldemort, who was again reading in his room. "The last Ministry head has been captured and killed. They're ready to be presented."
"Good, give them the signal to proceed."
"They'll move at six."
Voldemort's hand, which was writing on parchment, stopped. He leaned back on his chair and stared at Rivers for a moment before saying, "I would like to see."
"My Lord?"
"I would like to see one of the displays."
Rivers thought for a moment before shrugging internally; he didn't mind the Dark Lord tagging along. The Dark Lord was the one who ordered the operation, Rivers had no say in refusing him, so he asked, "Which one would you like to go visit?"
"Lucius. Perhaps I was too hard for him. I shall witness his work and graciously bestow the permission to have his hand healed back. It'll be excellent to re-affirm the fickle Mafloy into out of our ranks. I'm sure he'll be elated," said the Dark Lord. "Where is Malfoy?"
"He's in charge of Diagon Alley."
"You must like him to give him Diagon Alley."
"He was the most logical and calm of all. It was a rational choice to give Diagon Alley to Malfoy," Rivers said before posing a question. "Your room has changed quite a lot, My Lord. May I enquire the reason for the sudden change."
Voldemort raised his right arm for a wand crept out of his sleeve and slid into his hand. Rivers stilled as he cautiously gazed at Voldemort while hiding all his emotions; he didn't dare to reach for his wand. Voldemort gazed at the wand as he spoke, "Magic is power, Rivers. If you master magic, you can master pure power. Mastering magic, however, requires knowledge— the more knowledge I gain, the more magic I'll master, and more power I'll acquire." Voldemort looked up at Rivers. "I can sense that you disagree."
"No, My Lord. You are correct."
"You're simply saying that to agree with me," Voldemort called him out. "Both of us have been leaders of organizations. I of Death Eaters and you lead the Novellus Accionites— but the truth of the matter is that the only reason you gained followers was that you used my name. . ."
Rivers kept his face steady, but his fist clenched behind the table.
". . . and why do you think that is?" continued Voldemort. "Even when the world thought I had perished, they responded to my name— why? Because I commanded that much power. So much so that even after my death, people didn't dare to say my name and taught their children to not utter it." He pointed his wand at the book and raised it up, "This is the source of all of it, Rivers. Magic and knowledge. You are witty and wise, but you lack the might of magic. . . and that's the difference between you and me." Voldemort stood up, "Come now, as we witness the start of my rise."
Rivers silently stood up and followed after Voldemort. As he looked at Voldemort's back, Rivers clenched his jaw as he failed to think of a way to get rid of Voldemort. . . and that made him feel what he had been just told.
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
In the winter, even with a thick coat of snow coating the roads, roofs, and the nook and crannies of the Diagon Alley streets, the Diagon Alley was abuzz with people shopping in the shops that the marketplace had to offer. The shops sparkled with their lights under the night sky, shining their glows on the paved paths.
"Ugh, the cold's hurting my back," Sirius Black pressed the sides of his fists into his lower back.
"What happened to your back?" asked James, looking around the street, observing everything that entered his eyes. Today was the monthly random check of the area under their jurisdiction, which they did to check if the rookie Aurors were doing a good job at their patrol duties. James was in charge of Diagon Alley and had placed his most promising subordinates on Diagon Alley, so he wasn't expecting any problems, but it was better safe than sorry.
Sirius groaned, "I didn't sleep well yesterday."
"What happened?"
"I was with this girl I met yesterday, someone I picked up at the bar," said Sirius twisting his waist in an attempt to gain some relief. "We were having fun, as we ended up at her place—"
"Okay, okay, so you slept at her place, and the bed didn't suit you; is that it?" James said with a sigh.
"I did sleep at her place, but not on her bed. . . things were pretty wild, and I woke up on the floor with her draped on me," Sirius smirked and then gleefully said, "It was a good night."
James shook his head. "When are you going to settle—"
"Oh, here we go."
"— find a good girl, start a family—"
"Can we not do this again."
But before the banter could continue, they heard screams and shouting of men and women that cut through the joyous theme of the streets. Sirius and James turned back and saw a crowd of people gathering around a spot. They exchanged looks, and their faces assumed an Auror-on-duty expression as they ran towards the crowd.
"Move aside, move aside!" Sirius pushed people aside as he and James made their way to the front of the crowd. "Aurors! Move back, move back!"
When they reached the front, two Senior Aurors gasped when they saw the scene that had gathered so many people. Seven people, on their knees, forming a circle with their heads bowed down to the ground; their arms hung wide on wood beams. One sleeve each of the seven men were torn, revealing their arms— and showing the tattoo made up of a skull and a snake— the Dark Mark.
"Death Eaters," whispered James.
"Who did this?" said Sirius.
"I can guess, and I'm pretty sure it will check out their arms for magic, but he has never been so public with his showings."
"No, not in public like this."
"What did they do? Or is he planning something?"
"How would I know. . . let's get the people away from the scene."
James and Sirius were about to call out to people when they heard someone call out to them by name. They turned to see a Junior Aurors pushing her way to the front.
"Sir. . . sir," she huffed to catch her breath. "Sir, twelve Ministry departments are missing! None of them—" The female Auror stopped when she saw the seven Death Eaters. "W-What happened here?"
"Continue the report," ordered James.
"Err, yes, sir," she said with her eyes still on the Death Eater kneeling circle. "Just now, we got a report—"
"Sirs!" another voice called after them. Three Aurors turned to see another Junior Auror pushing his way to the front. "Head Auror is calling you back to the Office, sirs. We got multiple reports of Death Eaters sightings—" his eyes went to the Death Eaters— "exactly like this! Oh my god, who is doing this?!"
Sirius and James looked at each other. "He's involved," said Sirius. James nodded, "Oh yeah, no doubt about it. . . let's go—"
"Sirs!"
"Again?!" Sirius exclaimed when another Junior Auror came running through the crowd. "What is this? Why isn't just one of you relaying messages."
"Sirs!" exclaimed the third Junior Auror, standing in line with the other two. He looked at the female Junior Auror before continuing, "The department heads have been returned in a group outside one of the Office gates!"
James was speechless, but Sirius had one final thing to say, "Today is a Friday, man. . . why can't they choose a better time?"
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
On the roof of a building in Diagon Alley, Voldemort and Rivers watched the commotion.
"Lucius reported that the operation was a success," frowned Rivers. He looked at the Dark Lord, who hadn't said a single word since they had arrived.
"Do you see the Aurors there?"
Rivers moved his eyes, and to his surprise, he saw James Potter and Sirius standing in the front of the crowd.
"I heard what they're talking about," said Voldemort. "One of them said that all the department heads just showed up at the Aurors Office— and they," he pointed at the Death Eaters, "met the Invisible Vigilante, I can sense his magic inside their arms. . . so I will ask this once, Rivers Lock— when did you start colluding with the Invisible Vigilante?"
". . . What? I'm not colluding with the Invisible Vigilante."
Voldemort turned to Rivers, and he backed away, feeling the eyes of the ruthless man on him.
"You were the one who knew the entire plan, Rivers. You're the only one that could've told him about it."
". . . I didn't."
"Speak the truth."
"I did not collude with the Invisible Vigilante. I haven't even seen him in person."
"You leave me no choice," Voldemort raised his hand, and Rivers felt like someone had buried everything below his neck into the ground— he couldn't even move his toes. "If you won't tell the truth, I'll look inside myself."
Rivers felt like his heart would leap out of his throat, and Voldemort moved closer to him, and when the pain arrived, he couldn't even scream out.
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
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Quinn West - MC - Chaos. . . just the other way around.
Rivers Lock - Death Eater - Nooooo!!!!!!
Voldemort - Dark Lord - I'm feeling displeased.
