Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 208: Intruders
After trying and failing to contact the house, James, Bella, and Fleamont Potter had no other choice but to come here in person.
In front of them was the familiar sight of the Black Manor.
"Everything looks normal from here," Bella pointed out.
"Perhaps it would be better if I went inside first," Fleamont suggested, giving them a side glance while he took his wand out.
"No offense, father, but when was the last time you used that 'thing' to fight someone off?" James asked him.
Fleamont frowned at the question but didn't answer it. It had been a very long time indeed.
"And we need Bella to open the door anyway." James looked up at the building, trying to figure out if there was something off going on inside, but everything was quiet as a tomb.
He knew that the silence was due to the wards, so that didn't mean anything by itself, but just standing here, he had a bad feeling that made him very uneasy.
Bella went ahead and approached the door. The moment she placed her hand on the handle, the house recognized her magic and unlocked with a resounding click.
James placed a hand on her shoulder and gently moved her aside. "Hold on…"
"What is it?" Bella asked.
"Shouldn't at least one of the house elves have come to the door? It was always like this at my house. House elves can teleport inside the house, and they always know when someone is at the door, so it's no effort for them to come receive their Masters when they arrive." Despite telling Loory many times that he didn't need to do that, the house elf continued acting the same way. It was something that felt natural for them to do.
"Now that you mention it…" Bella frowned.
"James." His father called. "Look at the stairs." He spoke in a whisper.
Both James and Bella took note of some broken pieces of ceramic that had landed all over the steps, and the bottom half of a broken vase at the top of the first set of stairs.
"Stay behind me." James moved his hand and his white ring began to glow.
"Kyu!" Primum shot out into the air.
"Be quiet." James scolded the creature. "And stay close to Bella."
"Kyu…" Primum landed on Bella's head and stayed there without complaint.
"That's the thing I saw flying out of the kitchen today," Fleamont pointed out before being startled by a mass of metal climbing up his leg. "What is this?!"
"Calm down. That's Tertivor, another one of my creations. That one will stay with you. He can make for a great shield," James said as the metallic slime wrapped itself around his father's left arm.
"Oh… what kind of creature is this?" The man wondered as he stared at Tertivor changing shapes and adapting to his arm.
"Wands out and don't get distracted. If you see someone that you don't recognize… shoot first and ask questions later," James said as he climbed the stairs leading to the first floor.
He placed a charm on himself to enhance his sense of hearing as he moved carefully across the first hall.
"Mmmm…" He stopped after perceiving something and turned to Bella. "What's right above us?"
Bella glanced at the ceiling unconsciously. "That would be… the small library. Why?"
"Because there is someone moving there," James said.
"What are you planning on doing if it's one of 'them'?…" Fleamont asked.
"We'll see." James simply responded. His reaction was going to depend on what they had done to the inhabitants of this house.
He could not help but think of Sirius and how he could never forgive himself if his actions had changed the future to one where his friend dies before even finishing school.
James applied silencing charms on all of them and continued walking up the next set of stairs, carefully approaching the small library where he could now hear a conversation that two people were having.
"I'm telling you, I heard the door open just a moment ago. We should have gone and checked."
"We were told to stay here. Do you want to disobey a direct order? Go ahead."
The two voices were completely unknown to James, but sounded like they belonged to young men.
He stayed on the other side of the entrance for just a bit longer, trying to pick up the sounds of someone else.
Once he was reasonably sure that only two people were inside, he carefully looked in and confirmed the position of the two individuals as they continued their conversation.
They were both dressed in the same manner...black cloaks and white masks covering their faces.
The Death Eater attire was immediately recognizable to him, as it was something he had grown accustomed to seeing.
James made a gesture for Bella and Fleamont to stay put and then moved inside the library.
His wand flashed with barely contained power before it released a white spark of light that moved as fast as a lightning bolt towards one of the two masked men.
The bolt of light pierced through the Death Eater's head with no resistance, and only when blood began to burst out did the other man realize what had just happened.
"Ahh—..." He only had time to let out a short scream before he was hit by a silencing charm.
And this one was promptly followed by a disarming charm and a set of conjured chains that wrapped around his body, making him tumble onto the floor with a loud thud.
"All clear. Let's go." James gestured for Bella and his father to enter the library.
"You killed that one…" Fleamont stared at the Death Eater with shock on his face.
"I left the other one alive though." James walked up to the living Death Eater and pulled off the mask in one motion.
Bella gasped when she saw that person. "That's one of my seniors!" She recognized him from school.
"They always recruit them when they are still young," James said as he turned his attention to his new prisoner. "Now… we dont have time for a normal interrogation, but I do need to find what you know." His wand tapped on the Death Eater's head. "Legilimency."
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