Order In Chaos

Soft, almost silent footsteps followed her unceasingly as she wound her way through the dim deserted corridors. It was after ten thirty, and the Ministry of Magic was practically empty, since almost everyone else had been smart enough to leave at a fairly reasonable time.

Calista Flint adjusted her handbag and clipboard, and sped up her pace a bit, eager to get home, and with a feeling of anxiety growing in the pit of her stomach. She knew in her head that there was no reason to be scared; she was in the bloody Ministry of Magic for Christ's sake! There weren’t any thieves or mass murders lurking around the corner. Calista had just finished berating her overactive imagination, when she heard a definite thud, and a swish of fabric from no more than ten meters behind her.

‘Shit!’ Fear gripped her heart, and she stopped dead in her tracks, realizing the instant she did that the wiser decision would have been to keep on going and hope she was very damn close to the exit. ‘That won't work now though’, Calista thought miserably, as she fumbled for her wand. Just hold your ground girl, and hope it's one of those damn elves, or just another jittery employee who stayed too late at the office.’

Gathering her courage, Calista counted to three, and turned around quickly. She almost screamed in shock when she saw that nothing was there but empty walls and the occasional flickering torch. She felt her heart pounding against her chest as she stood, her feet locked to the floor, looking for her elusive follower. The only place anyone could be, was back around the last corner. But that had been at least thirty meters ago, and the sound had been so close....

Shaking off some of her fear, and once again resuming her hurried pace, she continued onwards, wishing that she had, for once, taken the main exit rather than the back way. Usually, she found it more relaxing to walk alone for fifteen minutes rather than get caught in the never-ending terminal jams at the main Apparition points, but tonight, with all the horrible news lately, and now these creepy swishes and footsteps... Calista supposed she was just being paranoid. ‘See, here we are!’ She thought, as she turned the corner and spotted the steel doors leading into the Muggle street outside. She grinned rather stupidly, as her hand reached out and grabbed the handle. She gripped it firmly, and turned until-- ‘It's locked!’ Calista panicked, ‘It's bloody locked, how can it be bloody locked, I've been out here later than this, and it's been fine! What the hell is going on?’

Calista looked down at the wand in her hand, and feeling a bit stupid, attempted an opening charm.

"It's no use," said a voice from the shadows, "that door's protected by a much more powerful curse than that could ever break."

She turned to see a figure in the shadows and shuddered. From the voice she could tell that it was obviously a male, but that was about as much as she ever knew, both because he was cloaked in the semi-darkness, and because of the words she heard him scream-- right before the blinding green light.