The Lion

The Lion

Darkness had fallen over Bristol. The night air quivered like a violin string being played on an exceptionally high note. The wind whistled through the broken glass of an apartment building on the top floor of building 109. The police tape waved back in forth in the wind, beckoning you to come have a look.

Down a few blocks was a graveyard. Two city low lives were patting down the soil on the top of some new graves. Lightning reflected off their spades. This was average work for them, odd jobs, anything to get by until the next drink. A carving of a lion looked down on the hunched men, scrutinizing them closely. The thunderstorm gave the graveyard the kind of eerie feeling of an ancient castle full of cobwebs and creaks.

A young girl wandered down the street, her school bag tossed over her shoulder. Her red hair clung to her face as a light sprinkle of rain began to fall. She watched as the two men packed up and went home for the night. A bouquet of flowers brushed her face as she pushed the hair out of her face with her dirty fingers. She walked through the gate and went to a pair of headstones. Flowers of pinks and purples are set on the grave of Hermione Granger. On the other grave she placed a single red rose. The girl stood there for a while just staring down at the two graves. The air crackled around her. She then turned to leave, sometimes graveyards are just too freaky.

She looked back briefly at the stone next to Hermione's. On the top of it was a carving of the Gryffindor mascot, below the name Harry Potter was carved carefully into the granite. The rain began to fall heavier and the girl took off in a run for cover.

Down the street in the pub The Dented Cauldron Sirius Black sat eating a cheeseburger and sipping a mug of amber brew. Behind the counter Seamus the bar tender shuffled back and forth getting drinks for the few customers in the pub.

"Bleak day," commented Sirius.

"Day? How about week, this town is about as dead as anything is. The Quidditch team has moved to Edinburgh, so you can count sports out as entertainment. Hardly any tourists come around anymore, can't blame them though with this bloody weather."

"Quite so," was the reply.

The door opened and Elizabeth Weasley stumbled in along with a gallon of rainwater.

"Hey there Lizzy," greeted Sirius turning smoothly on his stool. "You hungry?"

"Yeah, oh but don't worry about it..." Elizabeth never had any money. Her mum did her best to support her, well kind of. A while back their dad had left them for the Caribbean. Lord knows what he's doing now.

"I'll pay," said Sirius quickly. "Seamus, another one of these for the little lady."

Seamus came over with a sloppily assembled burger. He looked down at the girl standing just inside the doorway. "Have you been growin'? Ah no, it's just those big shoes. How do you manage with those in the rain?"

"It's all about skill," she replied sliding onto the stool next to Sirius.

"How've you been girl?" Sirius asked her in a buddy-buddy way.

"Not too bad. I just was out visiting people, some old friends I suppose."

"How are they doing, well I imagine?"

"No, well...they're still dead."

"Ah, well," Sirius was at a loss for words.

Back in the graveyard lightning still cut across the landscape. Thunder shook the ground. The Lion's head watched over the scene with its hard unexpressive eyes. The air was humid, wavering with illusions. Stepping out of the air was a man in a tall pointed hat. He leaned heavily on a wooden staff. His black boots were gradually sinking lower into the muddy ground. A dark blue cloak was wrapped tightly around his tall frame. It appeared that he was waiting for something. Slowly he raised his head to the sky. The rain slammed into his aging face.

He walked over to a nearby grave and stood over it. For a while he simply stared at it. It had been a year since...The old man sighed. He reached inside his cloak and pulled out a vile of liquid. He uncorked the vile and sprinkled the contents over the grave. He stepped back and waited. A bolt of lightning lanced down from the murky sky and pieced the earth.

The old man turned his back and departed from the graveyard. His job was done here.

Behind him the packed dirt beneath the grave of Harry Potter began to shift. The red rose slipped between the cracks forming in the ground. A pale hand shot up from the ground holding the rose. The thorns dug into the translucent skin causing drips of dark red to trickle down the hand. It looked as though the rose was crying.

Harry pulled himself out of the ground with all the strength he could muster. It had been a long time since he had moved. His dark red robes were torn and whipped around in the wind. He looked down at his bleeding hand, the rose fell from his fingers onto the grave beside his. His grave. What was going on? He turned around slowly. In the distance an old man was strolling briskly down the street with a large staff. Harry tried to call out, but all he could make was a raspy noise. He looked down at the grave he was standing beside. Hermione Granger. What was he doing here? What had happened? He glanced at his headstone. There was blood dripping down it. He leaned down closer and made out the words written in flowing red, Follow the Lion.

Men in dark robes stood around the room. Their masks were grotesque and white, void of all emotion. Katie Bell shivered in the corner. Her hand had been bound behind her back tightly, rubbing her skin raw. A wand hovered inches from her face. Her body was still shaking from a dose of Crucio.

"Where is he!" hissed a voice into her ear.

Katie's lip quivered as she quietly said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Liar." Silver eyes glared down at her from behind the mask. He knew she was bluffing. It was well know that the Bells covered up for and hid spies from the Ministry in their homes. The Death Eaters were out to find the last of the three great Aurors that were after them. They had already taken care of Potter and Granger, now only that Weasel was left.

"Tell me where he is!" Draco shouted harshly.

"I don't know what- ARGHHHHHHHHH!" Katie cried out in pain as Crucio racked her body once again.

"Seach EVERYWHERE!" All around Katie the walls were being blasted apart. The Death Eaters scurried around looking under the rubble. After a few minutes a stockier Death Eater came over to Draco with a report.

"Nothing." Draco sneered hideously, it almost matched the mask that covered his face.

"Let's go then. Leave no evidence." Kaite's eyes widened with fear. Draco leaned back against the wall casually and added, "Oh and take the girl, she could be of some use to us."

They all filed outside and got into black cars with tinted windows. Draco revved his engine and led the caravan down the block. Then he pulled over onto the curb as the others zoomed past. He stepped out and aimed his wand at the building that they had just come from. "Hey Katie, have you got anything you want to tell me now?"

Katie looked at him in horror and tried to scream through the tape on her mouth.

Draco whipped off his mask and smiled evilly, "I though so..." He muttered a spell and the building was filled with fire. He quickly got back into the car and drove down the street. All down the streets alarms were going off.

"Oh shit..." He was the only one driving on the road at this time of night. There would be Aurors all over him in a matter of minutes. Quickly he pulled into an alley. He dragged Katie out of the car and threw her against the wall. Katie groaned as her head hit the wall. " Now, you promise not to tell anyone?" Katie glared ferociously up at him. "No? Ok then, Avada Kedavra!"

Sirius looked out across the street where the green flash had come from. "Stay here Lizzy!" He ran across the street into the alley. There was a car parked and still running at the mouth of it. There didn't appear to be anyone else around. He drew he wand and slowly went into the shadows. His foot caught something soft. At his feet was a body. He kneeled down and propped it up against the wall. There was blood in the girl's hair and her face was still wet from tears. "Katie..." He remembered Katie from when Harry had been going to Hogwarts. She had also made the national team with Harry, so he had seen her quite often. It had been a while though since those times.

Harry stood at the back of the alley praying that the man on the other end wouldn't see him. Harry had seen the heard the cruel voices and the flash. It had triggered something in his mind, flashes of a masked face laughing at him went through his mind. He looked down at the dried blood on his hand. There had been blood in her hair too. What was he talking about? In the low lights he could make out a door on the side of the alley with a picture of a lion spray painted onto it. He slowly crept over and entered the door. The door led into a dark room. He followed the streetlights until he came to the front door and let himself out into the street. What was going on? Harry wandered along, occasionally grasping the stone buildings beside him for support. The air smelled of smoke. Harry looked up and saw a building burning. Oh shit... He quickly ducked into the nearby alley across the street. One thing he remember was that some buildings were heated by natural gas...

An explosion ripped through the night.

"What the hell?" Sirius rushed out of the alley, leaving the body to be tended by another Auror who had just arrived. Down the street debris was flying through the air in flames. Sirius quickly disapparated to the Mininstry.

Harry cowered in the alley as debris flew at him. The dumpster in front of him protected his body, but his hair was slightly singed. THUMP! Something heavy hit the dumpster, Harry peeked over the edge, it was a body. He pulled himself up to get a better look. It was a man. He couldn't tell from the angle he was at if the man was old or young. Harry groped his way to the body. It was a young man with red hair blackened by soot. Harry reached out and wiped the man's face to get a better look at him. Harry's heart clenched. He knew this man. He didn't know from where, and he didn't know his name, but they had been close. He looked at the rest of the body, there was a piece of metal sticking through the torso. Harry's stomach turned and he staggered back. Quickly he left the alley and continued down the street.

A few blocks away the Death Eaters sat around with mugs of beer at a table. The room was dusty and broken down, but it suited its purpose. In the corner a few prisoners were huddled. Every once in a while one of the Death Eaters would shoot a spell over to torture them. This was prime Death Eater entertainment.

Harry stopped outside a building. The number said 109. He looked up at the smashed window on the top floor. Slowly he walked around the side of the building. An abandoned, ripped painting of St. Mark looked up at him from under the fire escape. "Follow the lion..." Harry began to climb the fire escape. When he reached the top he stopped and looked around. There was only an open window on the wall. Tattered blue curtains flowed out the windows. Harry reached out and fingered the fabric. A vision of a young women entered his mind, "Harry, what do you mean you like the old ones better?" The woman glared playfully at Harry and tried to swat him. Harry shook his head and crawled in the window.

Elizabeth wandered down the street following the loud music and occasional screams. She walked up to the burly man standing in front of a metal doorway.

"This is no place for you little girl," said the man mockingly.

"Shut up Nott, let me in." Elizabeth quickly went past Nott through the door and down a flight of creaky stairs. Cigarette smoke engulfed her as she descended. It was funny how the Death Eaters had taken up such Muggle habits. Around the room seated at tables were men dressed in black cloaks drinking and smoking. A few were playing games of Scaring Snap. Elizabeth scanned the tables and bar.

In the far corner her mother was fulfilling her extended waitress duties. Her blouse was half off and her skirt was riding up where the man's hands were caressing her legs.

"Mom?" Elizabeth asked approaching the scantily clad woman.

Ginny Weasley looked up at her daughter. Her mascara was runny and her lipstick was a bit smeared. "Lizzy, I told you not to come down here! It's no place of you."

"Mum, I just need some money for dinner to-"

Ginny reached into her blouse and pulled out a twenty-pound note. "Here, this should do ya. Now scram hon." Life had been hard on Ginny. She was going in the opposite direction of everything she really wanted, but there was only so much she could do. She was at the bottom of the bottom, and this "waitressing" was all she could get to support her and Lizzy. Ginny sighed and made her way over to the bar.

Harry looked around the flat in the half-light. There was glass all over the floor. The furniture looked fairly normal, familiar. Suddenly he had a vision of a man and woman lying on the coach looking deep into each other's eyes. Tiny gold fairies all around the room were the only light source. The memory lasted only a second, then he was left alone. The items that usually would be found on dressers and tables were scattered on the floor. A vase with dead flowers lay strewn under a cracked mirror. A vision of a woman carefully applying lipstick in front of it while a man waited impatiently at the door with her coat popped into his head. Stop it!

Harry grasped his head and sank to the floor.

Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out a vile of bright green liquid. All eyes turned on him.

Crabe stared at Draco in awe, "You're shitin' me man..."

The group of Death Eaters was having a series of contests in their current victorious drunken state. They had already drank every kind of drink, swallowed a mass number of things and were running out of ideas.

Draco held the vile up to the light. "This, my friends, is a special type of poison. It only kills those with a certain blood type. Now, we're all gonna have a nice little bet here. Pick one of 'em," Draco indicated to the prisoners in the far corner. "Each the chosen ones with drink some of this, and we'll see who picked well," Draco grinned evilly.

Peter looked over his large mug at Draco, "Who the fuck makes this stuff?"

"Yours truly," Draco grinned as he stroked Ginny's leg as she walked by.

Harry stared around the room, everything triggered some emotion, but from where? He thought back to where he had come from...the graveyard. Had he died? He looked around the floor. In the far corner was a patch of red. He crawled over to it and reached out his fingers...Hermione was thrown against the wall, a man in black was coming after her. Over on the wall a head of a lion looked down on him. It looked scary, darkened by age and dust. Originally it had been a mask made for Harry by Hermione for a costume party at the end of their seventh year. Harry pulled it off its nail on the wall. Whoever did this to Hermione would pay.