Abnormalities

[Aaliyah Olaf]

Aaliyah had enjoyed the lunch break with Yakov, and was suprized at how easily they had managed to get on again with each other. As they finished off their food, Aaliyah stood, putting her jacket round her shoulders. When she was out she would wear denim, however as it was uniform, the black suit would have to do. "Thank you" she said, sincerly. "Prehaps we could do this again some time?" she asked, walking to do the door and opening it for him.

As they walked out into the street, the rain had begun to fall, and Li hugged her jacket around her closer. Thank goodness the ministry wasn't far away. "Have anything in particular planned for the afternoon?" she asked. "I know the my collegue needs me to check through the apparition forms. It's so tedious though" she said, at the back of her mind knowning that she was never going to see something different other than cleared. As they reach the ministry, Li nodded at Yakov, nether of them really knowing how to say goodbye. "See you" she added quietly, watching him walk away. Turning, she prepared herself for an afternoon of paperwork.

Back up in the office, Aaliyah held the concent forms for the students of Hogwarts to pratice magic. The 6th years would need the ministry to allow them through the boundries of under-age magic, and it was up to Aaliyah to sign off for the permission. She'd never attended Hogwarts, although she wasnt complaining. Durmstrang had served her well. Glancing at her watch she realized she been at the job for nearly 4 hours, and stood up from her desk to take a walk around the room, pausing by the filter to grab a glass of water. Her collegue had folders left on a desk, and Li picked up the one from the top of the pile, slowly flicking through it. 18th September, 2027. Alex Moran. Death Eater. Born 14th February 1998. Last seen on the outskirts of Askaban. Officals believe he was there to help released captives. Apparated before he could be secured. A death eater on the wanted list? Li couldn't exactly say this was new. She looked down to the photo that showed a man in tatty clothes, and dark brown straggly hair down to his shoulder. Grim, she thought, closing the folder and throwing it back onto the pile. She turned, and chucked away the plastic cup before taking a seat back at her desk.

Aaliyah was about to continue with her work, when her door broke open, and an exasperated man flew through, landing on the carpet. She stood up quickly, eager to make sure he was alright. He looked strangly familar. 18th September. That was today. Before Li had a chance to put the two together, Alex darted back out the room, and various screams and bolts of lights flew past the office doorway. Taking her wand from inside her jacket pocket, Li ran outside the door, looking around. There was no sign of him. Why would he have apparated here? The comotion in the room brought Li back to her sences. There was a death eater running around the ministry. He had to be stopped.

 

[Yakov Olaf]

Yakov returned to his office and started filing the loose papers he has hidden away. His eyes drifted over the pictures, once again. He was glad that him and Aaliyah were talking, again. In fact, they had already been out to lunch for the first time since the good old days, those nostalgic, sepia tinted ones in which the sun shone even when it rained. He checked nobody was watching, and he pushed the papers aside to pluck one of the photographs from the wall: The boy had his arm around the girl, laughing at whatever she had just said. She was beaming up at the camera. Quickly, Yakov stuffed the photograph inside his pocket, and went ahead with sorting through the papers, trying his very best to focus.

Little did Yakov know that right at that very moment, there was a known Death Eater running around the Ministry.

The office remained silent for several minutes. Several minutes in which Yakov managed to correctly file his loose papers and was just hoping to sink his teeth into something more interesting, when a crashing sound outside the door alerted him to his senses. "What the.." Yakov breathed, standing up from his desk and approaching the door, heading outside. He didn't have to wonder for long as to the cause of the noise: A scruffy looking wizard had tripped over the stack of files outside the office. They were meant to be sent for filing in other departments, but whoever was on delivery duty, had gotten lazy again.

"Are you alright, mate?" Yakov asked, holding out a hand to help the man up. "The floors are quite slippery, you'll want to watch out in- Hey! Where are you going?" For the man had not uttered a single word as he was helped to his feet, and had immediately turned and fled. He was running away. Running. "Oi!" Yakov called after him, "I said the floors are slippery!" He had disappeared round the corner. Yakov sighed. Why would people never listen? He turned and opened the door to the office, noticed that, for whatever reason, it was snowing, and managed to mutter "I think I'll have a break."

But only seconds after stepping outside of the door, Yakov was bowled over by someone else. Aaliyah. "For Merlin's sake!" he hissed, "Why does everyone insist on running around the place all the time?!" He couldn't be angry with Aaliyah- he didn't have it in him. He managed to clamber to his feet, helping Aaliyah up, too. "What's the hurry?" he asked, completely oblivious to what was happening.

 

[Aaliyah Olaf]

Aaliyah ran around the fourth floor, wand out in her hand. Occasionally she would crash into someone. At one point she fell into another woman carrying an armful of paper "sorry" she muttered, darting past her. She didn't know where the death eater had got to, but she could make sure he wouldn't get out of the front doors. Obviously, he could apparate again, and that would be bad news, but Li wasn't in a high enough position to disable it. "Colloportus" she pointed her wand at the doors and the instantly sealed shut. Naturally, being wizards, they could charm it open again, although in the chance that the death eater simply ran towards it and found it shut, it could spare the ministry a few more precious seconds.

Aaliyah knew Yakov worked on the first floor. Dispite the fact she knew he could look after himself, she headed down the corridor the way he'd gone when they'd said goodbye. She heard someone calling, and following the voice. All of a sudden she fell into another person, "oh.." it was Yakov. "intruder" she said simply, her wand still by her side. She was now looking at Yakov, facing down the corridor, when she turned silent and still, only moving to take a few slow steps backwards. Throwing her wand suddenly in Yakov's direction she yelled "Locomotor Mortis" as a burst of red light sparked over his shoulder, aiming for the death eater that now ran around at the end of the corridor. Alex dodged it, running back from another group of attacking ministry officals. Aaliyah turned and pushed Yakov back into his office. "Alex Moran. Death Eater. He was found attempting to assist prizoners out of Askaban. He apparated here" she filled him in breifly. "We have to stop him leaving again" she added, poking her head back out the door.

 

[Yakov Olaf]

Yakov stared, open-mouthed in disbelief. "Sorry.. What?" But there was no time to stand and gawp. The reality of the situation kicked in and Yakov drew his wand. What if he lost his job? Surely he could find a way to claim that it was his job, that he was stopping the misuse of magic, a criminal who would have probably taken out half the Ministry if he hadn't decided in that second to react the way he did and run with what Aaliyah said. "Come one, then!" he said, suddenly alert, diving for the door, "Let's save the world!"

He hadn't known at the time why he had said it, but looking back, perhaps it was due to the way that the situation was making him feel; he was working together with Aaliyah to stop the dark forces, breaking the rules and risking his job when he knew that a couple of Aurors could take this 'Alex' guy down in a couple of seconds. It was the slight feel of excitement, the thrill of the chase and the the things at stake. He hadn't done anything quite like this, before, but he still remembered all the skills he had learnt outside of the classrooms at Durmstrang, the ones he and Aaliyah had used to avoid getting caught by the teachers. Well, now was a chance for him to prove that crazy Divination professor, wrong. He had said that sneaking about in the middle of the night would come to no good, but perhaps today was the day that Yakov's life would finally feel right. Like he had a purpose.

 

[Aaliyah Olaf]

Aaliyah smiled at Yakov, following him out the door. It was true, they were back where they were a few years ago, except this time with a little added danger. Aaliyah opened all the doors in the corridor in turn, warning them of the situation, and immedietly they complied, following each other round the building. Li ducked out the way as someone was forced back down the corridor. She didn't turn to see what happened. They had reached the main entrance again, and there were people everywhere. Li wasn't sure what to do, where to search first, and instivivly held on lightly to Yakov's sleeve before realizing what she was doing and releasing it again.

There was a flash of tatty clothes and Li darted off towards the elevator. The main entrance was huge, and Li's eyes rang with high pitched screams, all due to this one man. Li threw another spell towards Alex through the crowd, this time muttering it in her head. Alex jerked forward slightly before turning. All Li saw was a blur of green heading her way, before being propelled backwards and landing in the fountain in the center of the hall. She went under. It wasn't very deep, but enough so that Aaliyah's body was now soaking wet. Her head had hit the fountain's statue stone, and pressing her hand to the back of her head she felt something warm. She grimanched, washing her hand in the water and pulling herself back over the edge. This day was exactly what she'd planned for. Her eyes were slightly dazed as she looked round the room. The death eater was defending himself with advanced charms, pushing people away as if they were flies. It was obvious he was becoming desperate. Crack he dissapeared. Spells continued to fly around the room for a moment before everyone realized what had happened, before running around trying to get things organised. "Where did he go?" Li said to no one in particular. This was her area. She was the member who dealth with apparation. "I need to find out where he went" she said, jogging to the elevator, her trousers soaking the marble floor.

 

[Yakov Olaf]

For a moment, the two were split up by disctraction; Yakov ran round the corridor, closely tailing Alex, soon joined by other people trying to help. It wasn't particularly easy to get in and out of the Ministry, but this man had gotten in, so why shouldn't he stand a good chance of escape? At least, that's what Yakov told himself, defending his decision as being the correct one. There were shouts and yells, the odd scream of surprise here and there. Moran was doing his best to evade capture, darting through the crowds of people, ducking round corners, slipping past rooms. He was not an easy man to capture, which made him all the more dangerous.

But soon, Yakov was drawn away from Moran, and to the the wand from which light had shot. Aaliyah's wand. Because, only seconds later, she had been propelled backwards, in a gut-wrenching, stomach-churning fashion. She landed in the fountain. Yakov abandoned Moran entirely, running to Aaliyah's side. She was already clambering out of the fountain when he reached her. "Li!" he shouted, "Just take a minute out, okay? You've injured your head." He paused, wondering how severe the damage was, watching her jogging towards the elevator. "Moran is gone. He wont have escaped the building. Please," Yakov said weakly, following after her, "you're drenched. At least dry off before you go." His eyes were pleading. He wanted to check on her head wound and make sure she wasn't in any serious danger.

 

[Aaliyah Olaf]

As the elevator doors opened, Libby took a step inside, closly followed by Yakov who was doing his best to make sure she was okay. No doubt the back of her suit and white blouse would also now be soaked in blood, but she put that thought out of her head and concentrated on the matters at hand. The doors closed behind them, and as the sound of the chaos dissapeared, the low tinkly tune of the elevator began to play, as Li stood in silence. After a moment she broke it with a sigh. "I can't have a break. This is my job on the line, and more importantly people's lives. He may well have gotten out of the building, but if he's still here then officals are in risk" she said, wandering out onto the fourth floor. Her back hurt to the impact of the spell, but it would wait.

She picked up the folder than she'd held previously and watched as the words updated themselves. "Department of Mysteries" she concluded, tearing out the page and stuffing it into her pocket. She never knew, it might come in handy. She flicked her hair that was now sticking to her face out of the way, "Can you dry me?" she asked Yakov, putting her arms out so that he could cast the spell. It wasn't great to be feeling three times as heavy.

 

[Yakov Olaf]

Yakov stepped out of the elevator with Aaliyah. "In a moment," he muttered, creeping around behind her to examine her head. Well, it could have been worse, but it wasn't exactly good. She was definitely likely to be woozy. "Look, you need to either find someone here who can heal you, or you'll have to go to St. Mungo's. You can't go on chasing a criminal like this." He sighed, using his wand to dry her off, which took a couple of minutes. Her hair was still wet. He felt it best not to tamper with injuries he did not have the training to heal. His time at school had been spent learning how to cause trouble and how to use the Dark Arts, not learning how to fix a wound, however shallow it may have been.

"Sit down.. Please, just for a minute or two." The eyes looking at Aaliyah were fifteen years old, again, seeing her as not just a close friend, someone they could trust, but someone they deeply cared about, however much they tried to avoid admitting this. "Now," Yakov said, glancing away for a second, "I think it's only a minor laceration. I know there may appear to be a lot of blood, but it's watered down from your brief swim in the fountain. In short," he said, looking her in the eyes as if checking for any sign of trouble in them, "I think a brief visit to someone capable of safely performing the correct spells to mend your head is in order." He smiled at her, tempted to tease her. Which he did. "It's difficult to tell if there'll be permanent damage," he grinned, "seeing as there isn't much difference to before you hit your head." He gave a slight laugh which showed he was joking. He wouldn't laugh if she was seriously injured. "I think it's the adrenaline," Yakov said, brushing her hair behind her ear, "that's stopping you from rolling on the floor in pain."

 

[Aaliyah Olaf]

Aaliyah couldn't meet his eyes, and instead sat down at stared at the carpet for a moment. "I can't stay here when there's a death eater running loose. I'm fine" she inisted. Her head stung but she was sure it wasn't that bad. "We have to get down to the Department of Mysteries" she adde. She took up again slowly, raising herself to her full height, before staring straight into Yakov eyes. She hadn't realized they'd be so close. All the memories came swimming back to her mind, as Aaliyah's hand reached for Yakovs.

They stood there for a moment, ether of them moving, before suddenly they were plunged into a rib grinding atmosphere, every one of their organ feeling like they should crack. Just as soon as it had started, it stopped, and Aaliyah released Yakov's hand. "Sorry" she said apologetically, tearing her eyes away to look around there surrounds. She had apparated them to the department. The place was full of glass balls and prophesies (sp?). She walked quietly down one corridor, listening for signs that Alex was around here somewhere. He had to be, and Li assumed he was doing something similar. One wrong move and this place would come crashing down on top of them.

 

[Yakov Olaf]

For that moment when she had made contact, Yakov had felt the old emotions swamping him. Did she still like him? He didn't need any more complications, right now, not with a Death Eater on the loose. But she was causing him such confusion, such bewilderment. Just then, a horrible feeling overwhelmed Yakov as the world shifted, and a second later he was stood in the Department of Mysteries with a slightly taken-aback expression pasted upon his face.

Yakov understood that Aaliyah was still keen to keep looking for Moran. He considered heading in the same direction to make sure Aaliyah was going to be okay, what with her head injury, and all. But Aaliyah was an amazingly independent girl who had taken care of herself for many years. And so it was that Yakov went in the opposite direction, moving silently and cautiously through the towers of glass whispers. The world had become a deadly sort of silent. Yakov held his wand out a short distance before him, ready to defend himself should he meet Moran before Aaliyah did.

Just when he had been about to turn and head in Aaliyah's direction, a very delicate note was pitched to his ear: It was the tiniest chink of a solid wooden wand tip against a ball of glass. But it was enough to make Yakov look up. He almost wished he hadn't. There was a moments pause between the two men, staring with surprise into one-another's eyes, not knowing who would make the first move, and what that move would be. Yakov spoke first "Aaliyah!" he suddenly bellowed. Moran reacted quickly with a spell, sending the light speeding from his wand and hitting Yakov in the face. He was blasted aside, crashing into a shelf. The glass was falling from the top shelf, towards him. He managed to lift his wand and, ignoring the pain in his back, managed to send a shield charm up, causing the glass to roll off of it and clatter onto the ground around him.