The Auror

[Henric Lee]

Countless snowflakes were dispersed from stormy gray skies and scattered across the air, twirling around and around like giddy ballerinas as they descended down towards the snow-blanketed roofs and streets of London to join their fellows and merge into the ever-growing piles of snow. As if the perpetual frost that snared the ancient English capital wasn't enough, there was also a bitterly cold southernly gale that blew in from port, and this had driven the last few stragglers out on the streets to find shelter, leaving the streets bleak and empty.

On this wintry night, a thick fog had obscured most of London, and so the only sources of light to be found were from the moon, the stars, and a odd little ball of glowing light coming from behind a grimy alley in West End, which was normally filled to the brim with tourists swarming all over the place, but currently devoid of just about any sort of living being save for a mangy, underfed mutt which padded slowly past a road crossing and made it's way towards the glowing ball of light, shivering perceptibly. The ball of light wavered as the canine appeared, and appeared to hesitate, as if it was contemplating fleeing. The mutt looked up with doleful eyes that seemed to persuade the ball of light to stay in place. As the mutt disappeared into the shadowed alleyway and so went out of sight of the many windows overlooking the crossing, a loud crack! rang across the air.

In place of where the mutt once stood was now a tall, grim-looking man, dressed in a matted fur coat worn over a dirty dress shirt patterned with morose baby chicks and a battered top hat. Stroking his badly-tangled beard that wreathed the entire lower half of his warlike face in an attempt to untangle it, Canis Lictor gave up after he nearly twisted his fingers in his own beard, and settled for dusting himself down even as his compatriot, a lean man of average height with an intelligent face embellished with a pair of thick horn-rimmed glasses, stepped towards Canis whilst holding out his wand, at the tip of which a bright ball of light flickered shakily. "Clapham," Canis grunted. "Why are you wearing robes?"

Alfred Clapham deigned not to reply immediately, instead pushing his glasses - which had been about to slip off - up the bridge of his nose, and tapping them into place with one long, almost skeletal index finger. Only after his glasses were in place did Alfred glance down at his fine magenta robes. He observed them for half a second, then glanced up at Canis. "Whatever is wrong with them?" Like his features, Alfred's voice was clear, concise, and generally very smart-sounding, in contrast with Canis's harsh, gratingly serious tone of voice.

"For starters," Canis grumbled. "They're robes."

"I fail to see your point." Alfred commented lightly.

Canis rolled his eyes as he fumbled with his coat pocket while holding up his wand with the other. "Well, did it never occur to you that wearing those ridiculously bright, clearly non-muggle robes, would make blending into a city full of muggles difficult?"

Alfred blinked, then tilted his head and replied, "Disillusionment Charm."

Canis grunted, giving up. "Where's the other fellow? Wasn't this a three-man mission?"

"If you mean Romeo, he's excused himself again." Alfred said dryly. "Something to do with a woman. Or women."

"It's always to do with women!" Canis snapped, somewhat nonplussed. "So is it just the two of us?"

"Not at all. The Department's taken the liberty of sending us a replacement. An overseas replacement."

"Why overseas?" Canis inquired, finally locating the pack of cigarettes he had been searching for, then removing one of them from the packet and fitting it to his mouth, before pointing his wand at the end of the cigarette. Incendio, Canis thought, projecting his mental command outwards. Sure enough, the end of the cigarette was touched by a sudden gout of flame from the wand. This done, Canis put the wand away and puffed on the cigarette happily.

Alfred wrinkled his nose as the cigarette smoke wafted his way. "Did you have to?"

"Yes." Canis said simply. "Yes, I did. Right, continue, what is it with the overseas fellow?"

"Well this case we're handling - it's linked to the Salisbury Kidnappings incident that happened two weeks ago, yes?"

"Uh huh."

"Well it so happens that one of the kidnap victims - Carla Johnson - was an American witch who was visiting her relatives in Salisbury when the whole kidnapping thing occurred. The American Ministry of Magic has insisted on being a part of our operations since then-"

"- Typical yanks -" Canis muttered.

Undeterred by the sudden interruption, Alfred continued with his briefing airily. "Potter's tried to get the Americans to back out of this, but the Minister's obliged the Americans, and has allowed them to dispatch one of their aurors over here."

"Potter didn't try hard enough, I reckon." the grizzled auror sniffed.

"Well, why bother trying so hard?" Alfred raised an eyebrow. "The American War of Independence ended in 1783, by the way."

Canis made a harrumphing sound. "Just because I'm not fighting with them, doesn't mean I have to trust them."

"You didn't seem to mind much when the kiwis dropped in to help with Hereford."

"That's different. They've still got the Union Jack stitched to the upper right corner of their flag."

Alfred shrugged. "I don't know why you're so bothered with muggle politics, being a pure blood and all."

Canis grimaced, but chose not to say anything else on the subject. "So, where's the yank?"

"I have no idea. He was due to apparate in here five minutes ago, at the same time you arrived."

"Told you we couldn't trust a yank," Canis said triumphantly.

"When did you ever tell me that?" Alfred replied mildly, then cleverly changed the subject to take Canis's mind off the 'yanks'. "How did the scouting go?"

"They're in the warehouse over there." Canis turned about and pointed at a distant building, unremarkable in appearance. It was a steel-sided warehouse that appeared to serve as a holding point for one of the many delivery services headquartered in London.

"How sure are you?" Alfred inquired as he squinted into the distance, adjusting his glasses.

"Pretty sure, seeing as I had visual on five out of six of the missing victims."

"Which five?"

"Goddard, Farrell, Milton, Gibbs and Daley."

Alfred blinked. "Johnson isn't in there?"

"Nope. Didn't see her. Could be hidden deeper inside. I only skimmed the outer rooms."

"Why couldn't you get into the inner rooms?"

"No way in except through the perimeter. Would look pretty suspicious if a mutt wandered in through the inner perimeter of a locked warehouse, wouldn't it?"

"The mutt could have been staying the night or something." Alfred murmured. "Do you think-"

The thin auror's words were interrupted by a loud BANG! Both Canis and Alfred spun around to face the site where a loud commotion was now ensuing. An explosion rocked the warehouse Canis had pointed out, and men could be heard shouting at the top of their lungs, including a New Yorkan accented voice shouting, "You're under arrest! You have the right to remain silent!"

"I think we've found our American ally." Alfred mused. "Appears to think he's in a budget Hollywood detective film."

Canis clapped his palm to his face, scrunching up his grim features. "Stupid, stupid, stupid yank!"

Wasting no time, Alfred was already waving his wand over himself and muttering a few words under his breath that caused him to fade out of view as he blended into the surroundings like a chameleon. "Aren't you going to cast the Disillusionment Charm?" The invisible man asked. "Or are you going canine?"

Canis nodded. "I think the mutt guise will be fine. Better for distracting them, too. Are we going to rescue the yank or the kidnap victims first?"

"Split up, I think. I'll get the hostages. You help our American friend."

"Got it. Let's move." Even as he spoke, Canis's body was distorting and shifting, breaking down into a canine form. Within seconds, Canis had assumed the form of a large mutt, and was bounding off into the distance even as Alfred hurried after him. As Canis, in his dog form, came near the warehouse perimeter, Alfred pointed his wand at his throat, murmured something, then shouted in a magically-amplified voice: "This is the Metropolitan Police Service! I repeat, this is the police! You have been surrounded! Surrender immediately!" Serving in tandem with Alfred, Canis begun barking as loudly as he could, the ferocious barking sounds mixing in with Alfred's pseudo-loudspeaker voice and causing the din occurring in the warehouse to pause momentarily as Alfred moved towards the warehouse doors while a large dog ran towards where the voices were coming from.

"It's the muggle guards!" One voice said worriedly. "Boss said not to mess with 'em!"

"Relax!" Another hissed. "We'll just use Memory Charms!"

"I don't-" The man's words were cut off as a great mutt lunged at him from behind, knocking the terrified fellow to the ground and rendering him unconscious even as his dumbstruck partner raised his wand to point at the dog. Shifting into human form just as the enemy wizard was about to cast the spell, Canis surprised the man so much with his sudden transformation that the hostile wizard failed to fire a spell, giving Canis time to extricate his wand from the folds of his robes, pointing it at his opponent and shouting, "Expelliarmus!"

A jet of orange light shot forth, forcing the enemy wizard to roll out of the way. As soon as he regained his balance, the enemy wizard pointed his wand at Canis and roared, "Tarantallegra!"

"Protego!" Canis countered, a shield expanding forth from the tip of his wand and blocking the incoming purple beam of light, which evaporated into nothing as it hit the shield. Even as the enemy wizard opened his mouth to fire his next spell, Canis pointed his wand straight at him and mentally commanded: Stupefy!

The red beam of light shot forth and slammed into the enemy wizard, catching him straight in the chest. The hostile promptly froze up, his wand falling out of his hand as he rocked on his heels like a statue, then fell backwards with a mighty crash. Canis stayed in his combat-ready stance for a moment, observing everything around him. One unconscious man below him. The stunned enemy wizard lying some distance away. To his left, another shady-looking man whom he presumed was another enemy wizard, lying unconscious against a wall. Canis was pretty sure he didn't take that one out. Then he spotted a man sporting a black leather jacket and fashionably ripped jeans sitting some distance away, apparently stunned. Walking up to him, Canis squatted before the man and searched his body, then in his pocket found a golden badge with the coat-of-arms of an eagle gripping a wand in it's talons. American Department of Magical Law Enforcement, then? Canis pointed his wand at the American auror's body and said, "Rennervate."

The American wizard was suddenly jolted awake, the stiffness leaving his body. Immediately he raised his right hand, only to find his wand was no longer there, and that he was looking straight at a grizzled auror holding his badge out to him instead of a hostile cockney thug. "You are...?" The American asked weakly.

"Canis Lictor. English Department of Magical Law Enforcement. You're the American auror?"

He nodded. "Daniel Hayes. Friends call me Danny. I'd shake your hand, but uh, I can't seem to move it."

"Give it a couple of seconds, the feeling of your arms will come back." Canis said dryly.

Daniel nodded, glancing about slowly. "Have you seen my wand?"

Canis stepped back and took a look around, then spotted a wand lying next to a pair of shattered Armani Exchange sunglasses. He picked up the wand, walked over to Daniel, and handed it over to him without a word.

"Thanks ... Oh, and have you seen my shades lying around somewhere?"

"No." Canis lied swiftly, turning away from him and walking towards the warehouse. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Then get up, yank. We're going to rendezvous with my fellow auror in the warehouse."

"Yank...?"

Not replying to the one-word query, Canis made a point of walking quickly towards the warehouse, causing Daniel to struggle to get up, then follow in Canis's tracks as swiftly as he could. Upon reaching the warehouse, Canis checked the doors, and found them ajar. Magically opened, it appeared. Stepping through the doorway, Canis's first thought was how very dark the place was. "Lumos," he whispered, causing the tip of his wand to light up. He heard Daniel mutter the same incantation behind him, adding another spot of light to the dark warehouse. "Clapham?" Canis called. "Clapham!"

No reply.

"Clapham! Can you hear me?"

Silence. Then...

"Yes."

The voice was so feeble that it unnerved Canis quite a bit. He hurried towards the source of the voice, and soon found Alfred lying against a pillar, his magenta robes tattered and torn, his wand gripped weakly in his right hand, his glasses knocked askew on his face. Falling into a squatting position beside Alfred, Canis hastily checked his body for wounds while Daniel looked around, alarmed, wand at the ready. "What happened, Al? Where are the hostages?"

"There..." Alfred managed to say, waving with his free hand at a corner of the room, where three men and two women were bound by magical chains, gagged, and blindfolded. Muffled sounds of worry came forth from them as they heard the voices echoing about, but were unable to see who these people were, and thus unable to identify them as rescuers.

"Daniel, free the hostages." Canis ordered, and Daniel hurriedly set forth to obey.

"Daniel? That's the American's name?" Alfred asked, then went into a bad coughing fit.

"Yeah. But ignore that. What happened to you? You're a mess. And you smell weird."

"Something... Someone... Attacked me..." Alfred groaned. "Caught me unprepared."

"Damn." Canis glanced at Daniel, who was busy freeing the first hostage, a man who was struggling wildly, giving muffled shouts. "Hold still!" Daniel was saying, exasperated. "Hold still!" Canis looked back at Albert, who was trying to get up. "Hey, settle. You can't even adjust those precious glasses of yours and you want to stand up?"

"The glasses don't matter, I've got to get up... Help you guys..."

"The glasses don't matt-" Canis abruptly looked confused. "What's got into you?" His nose wrinkled up, and understanding dawned over his features.

There was a sudden pause. "What do you mean?" Alfred asked slowly, his fingers tightening along the wand. Canis noticed the movement.

Just then, Daniel let out a startled yelp and staggered away from the hostage he was freeing. The surprise was understandable, for the slightly bruised hostage was the exact splitting image of Albert, save without glasses. In fact, it was Albert. "Canis, get away from him!" Albert hollered. "That's a fake!"

Just then, the fake Albert pointed his wand at Canis, his features contorting. "Crucio!"

With lightning reflexes, Canis immediately transformed again, going into his animal form as the Cruciatus curse was fired out of the pretender's wand and shot overhead, slamming into an overhanging rope holding a bunch of crates up in midair. The force of the curse snapped the rope in half, causing it's load to be dropped straight to the ground. Canis let out of a bark of warning as the crates slammed into the floor, causing the hostages to writhe about in a panic while Daniel and Alfred shouted incoherently. As smoke rose into the air, a shadowy figure stepped out of the thick cloud of dust and pointed his wand at the back of a vaguely canine-shaped head. "You lose," the pretender snarled. Just then, he was startled by a sharp poke at the back of his own head. The smoke cleared to reveal a makeshift canine head hastily assembled out of the wreckage left behind from the fallen crates.

"No." Canis said quietly. "You lose. Hands up. Drop the wand."

The pretender held his hands up in the air, dropping his wand to the ground with a clatter.

"The hostages alright?" Canis called to Daniel and Alfred.

"They're okay!" Alfred called back somewhere behind all the wreckage.

"Alright. Good. Now..." Canis turned his attention to the pretender. Alfred's features were slowly starting to fade away, getting replaced by a smooth, handsome, almost boyish face, which smiled at Canis demurely. "Jeez." Canis commented dryly. "You actually look decent. Better than Alfred's mug, anyway. Why'd you even bother copying him?"

'I'm hurt, Canis." Alfred said as the dust cleared and revealed him and Daniel working to free the hostages one by one.

The cornered enemy wizard simply smiled. "You're toying with something far beyond your imagination, auror. My masters are not the sort you should be trifling with."

"If I had a galleon for every time I heard that, I'd actually have enough money to open a Gringotts bank account." Canis said loftily. "Your name?"

"Rennes." The handsome wizard replied.

"Well, Rennes. If that's even your real name. We'll check it up back in the office." The grizzled auror prodded his wand deeper into Rennes's head, making him wince slightly. "Care to tell me who your employers are?"

"They are people who are quite unwilling to leave out loose ends." Rennes responded in an infuriatingly vague way.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Canis asked impatiently.

His question was answered almost a split second later as the signature pop! sounds of apparation could be heard. Not just one, though. The initial pop! was soon followed by a multitude of pop! pop! pop! sounds, making Canis realize what was going on.

"You lose, auror." Rennes taunted as voices filled the air, all repeating the same incantation:

"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!!"

Canis threw himself to the ground as explosions tore into the warehouse, blasting open the walls and throwing crates, boxes, cranes, furniture, machinery, and all manner of assorted objects flying all over the place. The ensuing blast knocked Alfred, Daniel, and the newly-freed hostages to their feet as well. Even as Canis struggled to get up, he could see Rennes running towards a large number of shadowed figures in the distance, who were starting to disappear one by one via apparation. "They're getting away!" Daniel shouted.

"Do we give chase?!" Alfred called.

"No!" Canis hissed, glancing up at the roof, where numerous cracks were appearing. "This place is about to collapse! Get the hostages out of here! Daniel, grab one, Alfred, you grab one as well, I'll grab the other two!" Even as he spoke Canis ran towards two scared-looking witches in tattered clothes. "Relax, ladies." Canis said smoothly as he took hold of both their hands just as Daniel and Alfred followed suit with the other hostages. "The situation is under control!" Canis jerked his head at Alfred. "Apparate now!"

With two pop! sounds in quick succession, Alfred and Daniel disappeared with their respective charges.

"Hang on ladies," Canis murmured as he squeezed his eyes shut, gripping the hands of the two witches tightly. "This'll be a ride to remember." His body was suddenly pulled backwards. It felt like he was jerked off his feet, then sucked into a whirlpool of movement along with the two witches, whilst his body was tugged and pulled in all directions. Just as he apparated, he heard the warehouse's foundations giving way, causing the building to go crashing to the ground heavily. But it was alright now. The hostages had been rescued. And the aurors were all safe. Still, Canis mulled. The perpetrators had gotten away.

As Canis appeared in the middle of a street with the two witches, before an old-fashioned telephone box, standing next to Daniel and Alfred, both of whom were holding on to two dazed-looking wizards, he said aloud: "Well, I don't really fancy leaving loose ends out either."

Henric Lee presents:

THE AUROR​