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“I-It’s the Invisible Vigilante!”

The entire Auditorium hushed into silence with all eyes on Andreson, hanging on his every word. The Invisible Vigilante, the person who had dumped eighty-five Death Eaters at their door— and had been the reason for the biggest task force formed in a decade. Moreover, that name popping up now made everyone think about the timing and what it could mean.

“What did he do now?” asked Robards seriously. It was a time of turmoil for the country, they didn’t want a costumed outlaw adding to the problem.

“He has. . . He has taken a resort in the south hostage,” the moment the word left Andreson’s mouth, the silence broke like glass against a hammer; there was such uproar that Robards’ voice to quiet them failed to reach once, and he had to shoot a firework to the ceiling to silence them.

“Hostage. . . the Invisible Vigilante has taken a resort hostage?” Robards repeated Andreson’s words. “What the hell is happening today?!”

Sirius said, “Maybe all wanted criminals are celebrating National Hostage Day and taking hostages of their own.”

“Not today, Black,” warned Robards in a nonsense tone. He turned to Andreson, “Who all are in the resort? I refuse to believe that he just randomly took over a resort. Do we have a list?”

“Yes, sir,” Andreson pulled out a sheet. “A list of guests came along with the report, which alerted us about the incident.”

Robards laid his eyes on the list. It wasn’t a long list with less than fifty people on it. He read every single one of those names— his eyes lingered on some— before handing the list to James and posed the question” “Do you see it?”

James received it, and for a moment, his eyes reflected confusion, but as he made his way through it, his eyes widened and reflected an understanding. “The surnames. . . they’re related to Death Eaters?” There were surnames in the guest list that matched the [Death Eaters and Affiliates] list that DMLE maintained internally.

It was clear what the list wanted to portray— what the Invisible Vigilante wanted to tell them— that he had taken family members of Death Eaters hostage.

“Do you know what this means?”

“. . . That he knew Death Eaters were going to take over Hogsmeade today,” James gripped so hard that the page crinkled and crunched under his fist. “He knew this was going to happen, and he didn’t think to tell us. . . how does this help, huh? That bastard! The Dark Lord won’t care; he will continue on anyway! That arrogant son of a bitch!”

“. . . Or that he got to know about it today and decided to take the family members hostage in hopes to the counteract the situation.”

“You can’t seriously believe that,” James said with some heat.“It’s one of the possibilities, but yes, I don’t think it makes much sense,” Robards replied. “And seeing that you didn’t think of that possibility worries me. . . Black, you’re in charge of this— take a team and try to sort this situation out; keep me updated.”

“You can’t do this,” James interjected, “the Invisible Vigilante is my task force’s duty. I decide how this is handled.”

Robards returned bluntly, “Not with that state of mind, you don’t. I fear you’ll ignore the safety of the hostages because they’re related to Death Eaters and chose to barge inside for a confrontation.” He turned to Sirius, “Black, go; it’s an order.”

Sirius gazed at James for a second before leaving the room.

“Do you want to work on the Invisible Vigilante, or do you want to be involved with Hogsmeade,” asked Robards.

“. . . Hogsmeade,” said James flatly, but there was irritation on his face.

“Then listen to what I’m saying,” spat Robards. “You’ll be in charge of the communication team— you’ll coordinate our teams on the ground and the people inside Hogwarts from here—”

“From here! No. Send me to Hogsmeade; I’ll be better there.”

“You will stay here as long as I say so,” Robards declared. His demeanor exuded seriousness and severity— this was the Head Auror everyone knew. “You have allowed your family’s safety to cloud your judgment. I can’t trust you down at the field, for the time you will stay and help from here.”

“Robards. . . please, don’t—”

“If you want this to change, then show me something— something that will tell me that it’s okay to trust you to make the right decision and not put hundreds of civilian lives at risk along with your friends and co-workers who work with you.” When Robards said that, James looked stunned and even hurt, but Robards didn’t take his words back. “I don’t take any pleasure in keeping you away from your family, but until I know you can handle yourself as the Senior Auror you are, I’m having you stay put. The second I see it, I will give you the order, and you can leave that very moment.”

Robards turned away and returned to address the others, rapidly assigning them duties. James stood there with his fist clenched, puncturing holes into the sheet in his hand. He took a deep breath, and after a few seconds, he was off, out of the Auditorium.

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Sirius blinked his eyes when the rainbow shimmers of the Portkey travel left for the scenery to return to normal. He looked behind his team and saw them having a similar reaction to shake off the travel. They stood in front of the resort in Scotland. Palm trees littered the area with an orange-tiled building in front of them.

“Listen up,” he spoke to his team. “The person we might encounter is highly dangerous, and even though he has a history of only targeting Death Eaters— don’t think he won’t target you. I have met him once, and he thrashed me to the ground,” he had told his team about his encounter with the Invisible Vigilante, “so keep your guard up, but don’t engage aggressively before I say to do so. And never face him alone— this man stood his ground against the Dark Lord. Get ready, check your gear; we will start soon.”

After everyone was ready, Sirius raised his hand and opened up his palm, and at his command, his team split into pairs of two and dispersed to do some scouting, with one pair taking to the sky on brooms. Sirius himself walked to the front of the entrance with his wand in his hand that loosely hung by his side. He raised his brow, glanced down at the sandy path by his foot, and shifted his foot a little before stepping back.

He raised his wand and held it in a reverse grip, and as if stabbing, he pushed the wand forward. The seemingly empty space buzzed and crackled when the wand hit the invisible ward. The yellow magic began to spread out, and in a few moments, the entire resort complex was blanketed by a yellow ward.

“Hostages and wards. . . must be a trend or something,” he muttered.

Sirius put his hands behind his back and waited. As he was expecting, it took less than a minute for a black-clad masked figure to appear at the entrance. Sirius raised his hand and greeted the Invisible Vigilante, “Long time no see,” he smiled, “how have you been doing; I’m doing great. On the other hand, you look like you need a bit more sun— how about you shed that mask and get a little tan going. We rarely get this good sunshine; why not take advantage of it. What you say?”

There was not a single sound from the other side. The eyes behind the mask simply stared at Sirius.

“Alright, alright, I get it. I thought we were friends, but I now see how it is. I’m just saying, I’m a great friend to have,” Sirius shook his head with a sigh. “So, what do you want? I mean, if you wanted something, you could’ve sent us crippled Death Eaters as payment; we could’ve definitely worked out some sort of transactional deal.”

Sirius watched as one of the most wanted criminals took a sheet of paper from his pocket and levitated it to him— just behind the ward with his wand.“Let’s see,” Sirius leaned forward and squinted his eyes to read, “can’t you remove the ward, it’s difficult to read. . . no. . . I see, no matter— for you, I’ll manage. . . . I see names being highlighted; I know they’re from Death Eater families.”

“I demand the Death Eaters with the same surnames in return for the hostages. The family member and one other person for one Death Eaters. When I get everyone, I shall let everyone go.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. . . wait a minute here,” Sirius raised his hands. “You want us to get you Death Eaters and not the other way around. I don’t know if we can do that; you know, we’re not in the delivery business.”

Again there was no verbal response, but this time Sirius got something that was much more impactful in return. He turned his head back and saw that his team had returned, and when he looked back, Sirius saw a man wrapped up in ropes fly from within the resort. The person was mercilessly dumped beside the Invisible Vigilante.magic

“Bartol Lee,” said the distorted voice.

The now-named Barnaby Lee thrashed on the ground the moment he laid his eyes on Sirius and tried to roll, worm, and push himself towards the team of Aurors, but a kick from the big black boot made him cower on the ground with pathetic cries leaking out of his stuffed mouth.

“Son of the Lee couple, I want both of them in return for him.”

“Listen—”

“Avada Kedavra”

Sirius felt his body freeze as the green flash died, and all movement and sound stopped from the tied-up Barnaby Lee. His team showed a similar reaction, but their instincts propelled their hands to raise their wands for protection.

“. . . What did you do?” Sirius pointed his wand straight to the black face. “Do you know what you just did?”

“I suppose I won’t get the Lee couple now, but if you want, you can always get me them. I have helped you in the past, after all,” the distorted voice seemed more sinister than ever. “Get me the Death Eaters, Auror. I hope this,” he kicked Barnaby Lee’s body, “is enough to showcase how much I want my demands fulfilled.”

The masked killer turned away and walked into the resort. Sirius’ wand trembled as he kept it trained at the back; the spell that had just been used was on his tongue, ready to be unleashed. His eyes moved to Barnaby Lee’s body, and the dead young man’s blank eyes stared back at him. When he looked up, the Invisible Vigilante had disappeared— and had left the body lying in front of the entrance. . . just outside of his reach.

“. . . Sir,” called one of the Junior Aurors.

Sirius didn’t remove his eyes from the dead. “Call the rest of the team,” he had left half of his team with another Senior Auror to be part of the Hogsmeade operation, “I want every single one of them here as soon as possible. Get me wardbreakers. Get me a team of Hit Wizards. I want to take that bastard’s hand and shove it up his arse— take it out and push it down his throat. Why did the Dementors have to leave?”

He turned to his team, “Cast to kill. I don’t care if you don’t try to capture him— if he breathes in front of you, drop him dead.”

. . .

Somewhere in the country, a loud ringing sound broke a sleep.

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FictionOnlyReader – Author – Sometimes my decisions backfire on me.

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