Terror In The Folds

TerrOr-In-the-FOlds

Chapter 1

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"JAMES!!! Run!!!"

"Sirius!?"

"Just run, damn it, run!" shouted Sirius.

Sirius nearly collided with his friend and started pushing him along the dark alley they were in. James started to run alongside Sirius.

"What went wrong?! It was only a routine check up." James asked. He suddenly realized someone was missing, "Where's Cecil?"

Sirius gave no answer. He turned out of the alley with James at his heels. He stopped and told James to Apparate to the closest safe point. James was about to ask Sirius about Cecil again when he vanished, James followed immediately.

James found Sirius waiting for him outside a small hut surrounded by dense forest.

"Where's Cecil?" he repeated.

Sirius regained his breath before he spoke "We were cornered. Ten of them, death eaters, they surrounded us and- Cecile… he…" it was as though it pained James to say it "He told me to run, and he tried to take them all on."

James didn't need to hear anymore, he knew Cecile was powerful, but he was an old man, almost too old to still be an Auror.

"I ran hard, through the streets, I saw a flash of green light and I knew Cecile was gone. Some Death Eaters chased me, they tried to stun me… cursing Muggles out of there way… I can't believe it James, I just can't… in the middle of bloody London too." Sirius stopped and looked in the direction of the hut. "Did you hear that?"

'Hear what?' James was about to ask when all of a sudden the door to the small hut opened the sound of floorboards creaking reached them.

"Where'd you boys come from?" said a low growl.

James knew that voice. It was a voice he had heard many times back at the Auror Academy.

"Moody…" James whispered to Sirius. Alastor Moody had been on James and Sirius' case the whole time they were at the Academy. It wasn't that he didn't like them, he just thought they were always up to something. And most of the time, they were.

"Yes Potter, its Moody. I see you boys have been busy lately. It's nice to see you're not up to your usual shenanigans."

"Moody" Sirius interjected "We have a problem, James, Cecil and I were patrolling downtown London and we got attacked by several Death Eaters…"

Moody stood looking at Sirius for a moment, "Wait, wait… Cecil Quirrell?"

"Yes, he tried to take on all the Death Eaters, he told me to run and since he was the senior officer I had to comply. I went to warn James, they chased me and blasted some Muggles right in the middle of the street. I got to James and we came here." Sirius explained.

"All right… now tell me, where is Cecil?"

Sirius shook his head…

"Oh no," Moody looked as he was beaten with a stick "…that's the third Auror this week! Alright, Potter you go to the department and send out an alert… Black, you go to Saint Mungo's and get some medi-wizards send them over to the spot where the Muggles were attacked, be sure to send a memory enhancer too. I'll go and secure the area, where is it again?"

"On the west side of quadrant four, near Diagon Alley" James answered.

"I'll go there and look for any left-over Death Eaters." Moody was about to go when Sirius stopped him.

"Please be careful, Moody, as much as you were a bastard to us at the Academy I'd hate to loose you too."

"Oh yes, you reminded me Black… go inform Quintin Quirrell of his…loss…" he whispered "he is at Hogwarts, tell Dumbledore about the situation first. Go, both of you, now." With that last word he Dissapparated, leaving James and Sirius alone.

"After all of this, I'll meet you at the office for the patrol report" James said.

"James don't you think that tonight we could just…" Sirius couldn't finish, he looked down at the grass "I mean it's been rough."

"You go home after this, I'll take care of the report" James knew Sirius and Cecil had bonded with each other; it was almost as though Cecil was a father figure to him. "Hey Padfoot, it wasn't your fault."

Sirius looked up at James as they both Disapprated.

* * *

As soon as Moody could tell where he was, he started walking down the alley he had landed in. When he reached the street he saw a small gathering of Muggles talking amongst themselves. There was a car that had crashed into a light pole and still smoking. He put his wand up his sleeve and then walked over to them.

"What's all this about?" he asked as any curious muggle passerby would. The crowd turned to stare at Moody with utter disbelief. He knew he must look insane with his scarred face and tattered leather cloak. Finally a young pale boy of about seventeen spoke.

"There were flashes of light and a crash" he started "We all came out to see what the mess was and found four people lying in the street… one" he gulped "was dead, but he didn't look it, no sir he didn't."

"What happened to the others?" Moody asked deciding to drop his measly cover.

The boy looked at the others as if for permission to tell Moody more. "Well some men, who were all dressed in black, came and picked them up. They said they were 'dooktors,' I think they were doctors from out of town."

"Death Eaters…" Moody thought to himself "Where did they go?" he asked the boy.

"Down the street and to the right…" the boy replied, "They said that their car was parked around the corner and were going to take the people to a hospital.... say now, where are you going?" As soon as Moody heard where the supposed Death Eaters went he immediately started to run down the street.

As he turned the corner he saw a shadow flicker across the wall at the end. He brandished his wand and ran at full speed. He reached a dead end and saw a small gate to his left across the street. Moody crept to it and opened it up, the moonlight poured into his eyes blinding him momentarily. When he could see again he looked ahead of him, and in front of a dumpster there were three motionless bodies.

"Damn…"

He ran to the figures and bent down, they were still breathing. "Why didn't the Death Eaters finish them off?" he wondered. Suddenly there was a sound from behind him. Moody turned around with his wand held out; he then heard a shout that answered his question.

"Expelliarmus!"

Moody's wand flew into the air. A voice cackled with amusement.

"The great Alastor Moody," said a low and quiet figure that was stepping out of an invisibility cloak, "I never would've thought we'd catch you tonight. Quirrell was a stroke of luck but you… I thought you, above all else, would have known better."

Moody swelled with rage, he knew that voice. It belonged to Wyllam Rosier, a known Death Eater. Moody had almost caught him a few months ago and ever since then Rosier declared a personal vendetta against him. Two more figures stepped out of invisibility cloaks. "How come I didn't see them coming?" he asked himself.

"Give it up Rosier, swarms of Aurors will be here in minutes." He growled and stood up.

"That's what we're counting on…" Rosier replied with a sneer.

"Oh no…"

* * *

James ran into the office of Julius Kemp, the lead Auror. He was breathless; he had to Apparate to the closest point and then run the entire 3 miles to the Ministry. After pausing to regain air, he spoke quickly.

"Julius, send out an alert. Death Eaters are in quadrant four near Diagon Alley they attacked Muggles, Moody is at the site looking for them."

"What!" Julius shouted, he was in shock, "When did this happen?"

"About a half hour ago, I had to run all the way from the apparition point." James explained.

"Okay I'll send out the alert. We'll be there in ten minutes… wait a moment where is your partner, where is Black?" he questioned.

"He's at Saint Mungo's getting medi-wizards and a memory enhancer, and then he's going to Hogwarts-"

"Hogwarts??? What the devil for?" Julius interrupted.

"Oh sir, I forgot to tell you, Cecil Quirrell was with us, he- he didn't make it." James said looking down, "Sirius is going to Hogwarts to tell Quintin, Cecil's son."

"Moody told him to go, didn't he?" he said, "Figures with what I did to him…"

"What do you mean, sir?" James asked curiously.

"Don't bother, forget I said anything…" he spoke in an odd tone, "Alright, you stay here and owl the Minister, wait for me to come back, get Black back here too. I'll go get Hit Wizards and Apparate to the scene as quickly as I can." Julius regarded James for a moment and then left the room.

James sat down in a chair for a moment; he would send an owl to Dumbledore first, then to the Minister.

* * *

St. Mungo's Hospital was (to any normal pedestrian) an immense condemned building overlooking the small village below it from atop Bradsbury Hill. But to a wizard, one saw a gleaming white building, literarily gleaming from all the charms on it. What made its location so genius was its proximity to Muggles. No foreign wizard would ever guess to look in the middle of a Muggle-inhabited village. The mansion-of-a-hospital was not gleaming tonight however, especially when Sirius Black apparated inside of it.

As he appeared right beside the front desk the nearby nurses all shrieked with fear. Under normal conditions, an apparition into St. Mungo's was forbidden, but Aurors had special clearances. And these were definitely not normal conditions. Security Wizards rushed towards Sirius.

"WAIT!" the young man belted "I'm an Auror, with level Z-1O8C clearance."

"That's last month's code" said a young woman behind him.

Sirius spun, it was one of his best friends from school, Adeline Muskovitz. He was amazed

"Adeline!"

"Sirius." She acknowledged with a nod of her head. "Are you going to give me the correct password or not?"

Sirius snapped back to reality and remembered the seriousness of the occasion. "There's no time. There's been an attack, on Muggles, in the middle of London."

"Merlin's Beard!" she gasped.

"I need medi-wizards and one, if not several, memory enhancers. It's chaos, Adie." He breathed. He was somewhat surprised when he heard himself using his old pet-name for her. So was she.

"I'll get right on it." She said as she tapped her wand to her throat. Her voice magically transported itself to where she wanted it to go. After a few seconds she when she listened to the reply she removed her wand from her throat and spoke to Sirius again.

"Where'd the attack happen?"

"Quadrant four, near Diagon Alley." He replied.

Adeline replaced her wand to her throat and spoke again. During this time Sirius was looking at what he thought was his long-lost friend. He had some questions for her: "Where had she been? What have you been doing? Why did you leave? How did you end up back here?"

Adeline put down her wand to again and looked at Sirius. "We're sending a team of seven from Diagon Alley, lucky they were there now. They should be at the scene in minuets.

"Good." Sirius said, "My guess is Julius will be there with Hit Wizards waiting."

"Sirius," Adeline spoke, "You look worried, tell me… what happened?"

Sirius couldn't bring himself to relive Cecil's death and he had other business to attend too.

"I'm sorry, Adie, I can't. Not now." He responded, "I have to go to Hogwarts." The Auror turned to leave.

"Hogwarts, what for?" Adie asked.

Sirius decided to make it brief, but it would crush Adie. "It's Cecil, Cecil Quirrell, he's dead, Ady. I've got to go to Hogwarts to tell his son." It was as painful for Sirius to watch a single tear role down Adie's cheek as it was for her.

"I'm so sorry Adie… I wish I could stay." Not only was Sirius stunned to hear him say this, but that it was true too.

She pushed her tear away and straightened herself up, there was so much sadness in her eyes, "I'll be fine, go. Go to Hogwarts." She put her young hand on his cheek, "You need to."

Sirius seized her hand gently, squeezed it as he looked into her eyes and without a word, disapparated to Hogsmeade.