Wraith P.2 Chpt. 51

Chapter Fifty-one: Raw




"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."




It was Avery who had cracked the magical protections around the home of Ted and Andromeda Tonks. And it was rumored that the Tonks were playing host to others. The Death Eater was quite proud of himself to have provided the opportunity to capture not only a Mudblood and his blood-traitor wife, but also their daughter and her husband, Remus Lupin.

When his name had been spoken, Wraith had a flash of memory. Diagon Alley––the sad-eyed man with the careful words. The werewolf.

"You hide it well."

"What do you mean?"

"I've met many a werewolf in these past few months––but you are the most human of them. I congratulate you."

Wraith wondered if he would truly be there in the home of his wife's parents. He had fought at Diagon Alley and that meant without a doubt that he was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. It was no wonder that the Dark Lord wanted him captured. Wraith had pieced together what she had learned of the man and was left with the conclusion that not only was Lupin a member of the order, but a core member at that.

Expecting only a small party within, the Dark Lord gathered only a small number of his followers for the attack. Wraith would play her role as his Lady Death, but it was Bellatrix Lestrange that took center stage that night. The woman wanted a piece of her elder sister, who had made the traitorous decision to marry the Mudblood Ted Tonks. And Bella's own niece had done even worse––to have married a werewolf. Along with Wraith and Bellatrix, Voldemort took Avery and the two Lestrange brothers and no one else.

A storm of rain and ice accompanied the hunters as they approached the grand home of the Tonks. At the gate, Voldemort paused long enough to look to Bellatrix. "Deal swiftly with your sister and niece, Bella, but we want Remus Lupin alive at the end of the night."

Bellatrix looked disappointed. Wraith considered her Lord with pensive eyes.

"And why do we need him alive?" she asked, her voice barely audible over the rain and wind.

"To close a deal I made with Rafe and his wolves," Voldemort replied. He smiled darkly at her, his eyes narrowed. "Announce our presence, my Wraith."

Wraith nodded once and drew back the hood of her white coat as she stepped through the gate. The icy rain plastered her dark hair against her skin as she lifted her arms, calling a jolt of power to her fingertips.

There was a great flash of blue much akin to a bolt of lightning and every window of the house exploded in a shower of glass. Wraith heard a woman scream inside and several other voices shouting out in shock.

The front door flew open as Wraith approached it, with the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters just behind her. A short and heavy man with bright blonde hair stood in the doorway, his wand in hand. Before Wraith could blink, she felt the sting of a Stunning curse hit her heart, and both Avery and Rabastan had collapsed onto the rain-soaked ground beaten down with the same curse.

Impressed by the speed with which the wizard had delivered the curses, she considered him carefully. He was pale, but stood strong in protecting the doorway. "You're quick," Wraith told him with a slight smile.

"Thank you kindly, miss," the wizard replied. It struck Wraith that his face was far more suited to smiling than the grave expression he wore now. "Now, why don't you tell me why you aren't on the ground? Would you be the Lady Death?"

"I am," Wraith told him, holding her head high.

"Well, bloody hell," the man said blandly.

Wraith laughed, unable to stop herself. "Your name?" she asked, sensing the Dark Lord's impatience as he came up behind her.

"Ted Tonks," the wizard replied. "Would you be the one who smashed up our windows?"

"Guilty," Wraith said with the slightest shrug.

"My wife will want a word with you 'bout that," Ted said lightly. His eyes found Voldemort's in the darkness. "Your Lord doesn't have much patience for polite conversation, does he?"

"No," Wraith said musingly, glancing over her shoulder at the Dark Lord, "He doesn't." Smiling still, she looked back to the wizard. "Run and protect your family, Ted Tonks," she told him, "…Or fall now."

Without hesitation, Ted disappeared further into the house and out of sight. Wraith heard him shouting at the others inside as she and Voldemort stepped up the front steps and into the house itself. Bellatrix tore off down one hall, Rodolphus another. Wraith chose the less obvious path, sensing magic at the end of it. She found a small sitting room there.

As she entered the room, a knife buried itself in the doorframe a mere inch from her head. She raised a brow at the dark-haired woman who had thrown it. "You missed," she said lightly.

"Not much practice with it, I'm afraid," the woman said, lifting her head proudly.

"I must say," Wraith murmured, "Bellatrix resembles you much more than Narcissa does. Andromeda."

Andromeda Tonks gestured her wand once again, this time the conjured blade flew directly towards Wraith's heart. Wraith held up a hand and stopped it in mid-air, the point of the blade touching her palm. Wraith snapped her fingers and the blade disappeared completely. Andromeda dove to the side, reaching for something hidden under a chair. Wraith moved quickly towards her, reaching the witch as she brought the shotgun up and pointed it at the girl.

Wraith froze and Andromeda felt a shot of fear to see the utter rage that flashed through her crystal eyes. Power sparked around Wraith as she slowly brought her eyes from the gun to Andromeda's face. "I hate those things," she muttered bitterly, "But pity for you––you hesitated."

Andromeda gasped as the shotgun crumbled to dust in her hands. But the woman recovered quickly, grabbing her wand and conjuring another blade. This one she held in her other hand and she attempted to bring it down upon Wraith. Wraith grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

There was an air of desperation around Andromeda now as she struggled. "You will not harm my family!" the woman cried.

"But others will," Wraith whispered.

"You've destroyed my home," Andromeda snarled, finally pulling her hand free of Wraith's grasp.

Wraith slid smoothly to the side as the knife came down at her again. She twisted her hand around Andromeda's arm and suddenly the knife was in her hand instead. She grabbed Andromeda's wand arm and twisted it behind the woman's back, holding the knife at her throat with her other hand.

"Broken glass can be replaced," Wraith told her softly, as Andromeda's wand clattered to the floor, "Your lives cannot."

The door of the room suddenly burst open and Wraith scowled slightly at see that Bellatrix had arrived. Bella stepped into the room, her eyes glittering wildly.

"She's mine," Bella snapped at Wraith.

"So she is," Wraith murmured in reply.

She released Andromeda's arm and the witch was shocked to discover that her wand had ended up back in her hand. She glanced at Wraith with suspicion as the girl stepped around her.

Wraith smiled sharply at her and touched a hand to her cheek. "Put up a good fight," she told Andromeda, "I'd hate to see Bellatrix walk away from this unscathed."

Bellatrix hissed a warning at her, but Andromeda's face was suddenly lit with a sharp smile of her own. She looked to her sister with that same smile.

"Still making friends, I see, Bells."

"Sibling rivalry at its finest," Wraith said with half a laugh. She passed by Bellatrix and gave her a sardonic little smile. "Have fun, Bells." And then she was gone.

Bellatrix lifted her wand, glaring at her sister. "Let's finish this rivalry, traitor," she spat at Andromeda.

Andromeda nodded, her smile gone as she lifted her own wand in defense.     




Wraith followed the sound of battle through the house and found her Lord and Rodolphus in the living room. Voldemort was faced off against Lupin and Rodolphus was only barely holding his own against Ted Tonks. Wraith darted forward to join the Dark Lord and when Lupin saw her, she saw him pale dangerously. So, he remembers me too.

Voldemort glanced at her as he deflected a curse from Lupin. "Wraith!" he shouted over the sounds of the small battle, "Search the house––find those that are hiding from us!"

Wraith nodded quickly and started towards another door that led deeper into the house––but then she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes swinging back towards the front of the house. "My Lord!" she called, "Reinforcements from the Order have come!"

She heard the Dark Lord's muttered curse, but when Wraith tried to head for the front door to hold the Order members off, he caught her arm and pulled her back. "No," he said, keeping his eyes on Lupin. "Do as I ordered. We will handle the rest. Go."

Wraith hissed a curse of her own, but turned away from the battle as several wizards and witches burst into the room. She caught sight of Kingsley as she left the room and it took everything she had not to turn back again.

She hurried through the halls, her magicks stretched out to find any hidden places. They led her into a small room upstairs and she paused in the doorway, frowning. It was obviously a child's room, with the small toddler's bed and the toys scattered across the floor amidst the broken glass from the windows. Disturbed, Wraith stepped slowly into the room, following the sense of the charms she felt. She came to what looked like just another wall, but when she placed her hand upon it, a small secret door opened, just tall enough for a child to disappear through.

Wraith knelt and looked inside. There was another bed inside, and a couple of toys, and it was lit by a small lamp. Wraith saw nothing at first, but her powers had already told her that someone was inside. Her eyes caught the hint of movement under the little bed. She knelt further down to see.

A little boy, perhaps a year old than Rabian Lestrange, stared out at her from under the bed, his brown eyes wide with fear. Wraith felt her heart stop and start again inside her chest. She closed her eyes and took a breath. The Dark Lord knew this child would be here. He must be Lupin's son! She remembered how McGonagall had gotten Lupin to leave the battle by reminding him of his son.

"…Hello there," Wraith spoke very softly to the boy. She held out a hand to him, "Why don't you come out here? I won't hurt you, I promise."

The boy was crying, staring at her with wide eyes, and he didn't move.

"Please," Wraith said softly, "…My name is Wraith. What's yours?"

The child sniffed. "Teddy," he whispered.

"Teddy, please come out from there. We'll find your mother, get you out of here."

Again, the child sniffed, but then he crawled out from under the bed and reached for the hand she offered him. She gently pulled him from the little room and took him up into her arms. The boy began to cry in earnest, burying his face at her shoulder.

"Oh," Wraith sighed, putting her hand at the back of his head. She felt terribly out of her depth. "Shh, it's okay. Let's find your mother." Nymphadora must have hidden somewhere else. I doubt anyone would have expected that the child's hiding place would be found first.

Wraith held the boy tight as she slipped from his room and back into the hall. The sounds of battle had increased below and Wraith prayed that Lupin's wife had not joined the fray. Someone had to get the boy out of the house and she didn't dare leave. Maybe if she couldn't get him away then she could hide him better. No one would get through protections of her making, after all….

Just as she was about to give up, Wraith heard a door burst open down the hall. A young woman with mousy-brown hair and a heart shaped face came out into the hallway, frantically looking around. When her eyes fell on Wraith and her son, she let out a whimper and fell to her knees. Wraith walked down the hall to her, disliking the tears that ran down the woman's pale face.

"Are you Nymphadora?" Wraith asked her.

"Yes," the woman said breathlessly, "Please don't hurt my son," she pleaded, "Please, take me instead!"

Wraith closed her eyes, a raw hurt in her stomach. With an impatient breath, she reached down with her free hand to grab Dora's arm. "Get up," she said sharply, "You can't run on your knees."

Teddy reached out towards his mother with a cry as soon as she was standing. Wraith passed him quickly into Dora's arms and then knelt to pick up the wand that the woman had dropped. Pushing it into Dora' hand, she looked squarely into her eyes.

"Get him out of here," she said firmly. "The fight is still in the living room––you should be able to get to the back door without anyone seeing you."

Dora stared at her. "I…I don't understand. Why would you help us?"

"War is no place for a child," Wraith told her, ashamed that her voice broke slightly. "Take him away, keep him safe. And tell no one that I helped you."

"I…" Words seem to fail the woman, but then she steeled herself. "Thank you," Dora said.

Wraith deliberately turned her eyes away until she heard Dora run down the hall and out of sight. She waited a few minutes more, shaking slightly. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she started down the hall once more. There was no one else hiding. It was time to return to battle.  

She met Kingsley on the stair. It was hard to say who was more stunned. The man recovered first and he lifted his chin as he looked at her.

"Where are Tonks and her son?" he asked, his deep voice a rumble over the sounds of battle.

"Already gone, it seems," Wraith replied, giving him a crooked smile, "But at least I have you to play with."

Kingsley didn't hesitate. He reached into his cloak and Wraith was rather unsurprised when he pulled a gun out.

Goddamn it, Vaisey, she thought bitterly as she darted to the side of the stair. She heard the gun go off and felt a sharp pain in her right arm, but she had only been grazed. Bloody hell, he's a better shot than the others.

Not eager to be shot again, Wraith let out a breath of power and rendered herself invisible.

Kingsley remained remarkably calm as he slowly backed down the staircase. When he was on even ground again, he called out. "Are you still here, Lady Death?"

"Of course," she replied, staying unseen. Her voice seemed to echo from every side of him.

"Why am I still standing? At Diagon Alley, you dropped me without even touching me."

"I like a challenge," she told him.

Kingsley brought the gun up, pointing it harmlessly at the ceiling as he looked around for some sign of her.

"I really hate those things, you know," he heard her oddly echoing voice say.

He looked at the gun in his hand and scowled. "So do I," he admitted, "but I'm afraid they've become necessary when it comes to you."

"I'm sorry," Wraith told him sincerely. "I can't help that I'm immune to your magic."

"What are you?" Kingsley asked her.

"I don't know," Wraith whispered.

Kingsley whipped around, for her voice had been right behind him. Wraith grabbed his arm and the gun in his hand disintegrated just as Andromeda's shotgun had.

"Better than you fall out here," Wraith said, looking into Kingsley's eyes, "It's less likely that you'll be killed."

Kingsley's eyes narrowed in confusion, but before he could speak, his eyes suddenly closed and he slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Wraith touched a hand to where the bullet had grazed her. It had healed in an instant, but the white sleeve of her coat was torn and spattered with drops of her own blood. She breathed a sigh of relief that the bullet had not hit her. She would have been helpless in her healing.

Frowning, she looked down at Kingsley's fallen form. "I wonder," she said softly, though he could not hear her, "If you had managed to shoot me and I had fallen––Would you be able to put a bullet in my head?"

There was no answer for her.

It took Wraith a moment to realize that she could no longer hear the battle. It was over. She knew the results before she had even returned to the living room. After all, the connection between her and the Dark Lord was open and she could sense that he was perfectly fine. And as long as the Dark Lord lived…

Wraith stepped into the room and assessed what she could see. Ted Tonks was lying in a heap at one side of the room, a wound on his head bleeding. He was alive, at least. The same could not be said of some of the others that lay crumpled on the floor. But Wraith turned her eyes away from them and looked to Voldemort instead. He and Rodolphus were standing in front of the kneeling form of Remus Lupin. The werewolf's arms were bound behind his back at a painful angle, but he was looking up at his captors with relatively calm eyes.

"My Lord," Wraith called, making Voldemort turn. "The woman escaped. It looks like she Disapparated when the windows broke."

"And the boy?" Voldemort demanded, "The child?"

"Child?" Wraith repeated, her voice sharp and cold.

The Dark Lord seemed to realize his misstep and he turned away from her with a scowl.

"I found no sign of him," Wraith said slowly, her eyes meeting Lupin's briefly, "Nymphadora must have taken him with her."

Lupin's eyes closed and the sheer relief was clear on his face.

"No matter," Voldemort said, "They cannot run forever." He looked to Rodolphus, "Go and find your wife. We've leaving."