Black Roses

Like Family

I landed with a bump, my knees buckling as I attempted to stay upright. I succeeded, but my left ankle had been twisted slightly and felt strange to walk on.

Looking up, I saw that it was mid-afternoon, and the sun was beginning its stately descent towards the horizon. The other aurors were already gathered together, talking urgently. I limped over to join them.

Titan and Io, who were stood beside eachother, moved closer together and threw me a poisonous glance, denying me entrance to the huddle. Sighing, I managed to squeeze in between Anthony and Gwendolyn.

"We must wait until it grows dark," Europa was saying. "We need to lay low until around ten. This is when we need to be on high alert. There seems to be a spontaneity to the killings, but we have a rough idea of when the murderer will strike next."

"Well?" Titan asked impatiently. "When?"

Europa glared at him, but he seemed undeterred. "We predicted yesterday. As nothing happened then, there is an extremely high chance that they will strike tonight."

"How can you be sure?" Io asked, emboldened by her brother's attitude. "Surely there's no way to predict the movements of an independent person?"

Almost immediately after the words had left her mouth, Io shrank back into herself under Europa scornful look. "You underestimate the powers of the Ministry," she said, in a way that seemed laced with hatred.

I shifted uncomfortably on the balls of my feet. My idea of a team of aurors had always been one of friendship, of loving one another like family, and sticking by eachother until the end. Clearly, that wasn't the case.

The tension was unbearable, the obvious history hard to ignore. I felt like an outsider, and I hated it.

In fact, the only thing I could imagine hating more was being an insider, being an actual cog in this dysfunctional machine. Perhaps experience wasn't always the best merit.

The group soon moved on, and I trudged at the back, no longer so keen to 'follow the pack'. Acceptance. Ha. How naive.

We proceeded in silence, the faint hum of the bustling village growing louder and louder as we approached it. As we passed the big white sign that welcomes visitors driving from who knows where, I found that the village was named Dillymere, a lyrical name that I rather liked.

As we entered the village itself, it was hard to believe that an attack had taken place here only a few days before.

The stone cottages were draped with hanging baskets, gaudy flowers hanging over the edges. The thatched roofs looked like spun gold in the sunlight, and the sparkling windows of each house glittered like giant diamonds.

It was like something out of a fairytale.

Except for one thing.

There were no people.

In a place like this, I would have expected groups of children playing, their parents watching proudly, leaning over their freshly-painted fences to discuss the weather.

But it was completely still, except for the seven silent people walking purposefully along the pavement. I suppressed an involuntary shiver.

After about half an hour of walking diligently through backstreets and mainstreets and backstreets again, Europa stopped short in front of a semi-detached house with dark windows and a slightly unkempt garden.

Theodore and Gwendolyn both shuddered, as if remembering... what?

Then it struck me. This had to be the house. The house where the last attack had been. And Theodore and Gwendolyn must have been some of the first wizards there.

I didn't even attempt to stop my body from shaking now. It was too overwhelming. I felt nauseous, and bent my body over to numb the pain in my stomach.

No one noticed me, dry retching at the back of the group. Not even Io and Titan noticed my pathetic display. They were all looking at the house, silently paying their respects.

And there I was, bent over like a silly little baby.

With much difficulty, I straightened up, and forced myself to stare at the house with what I hoped was a pensive expression on my face. Being sick was not proving myself.

Eventually, Europa led us away, and we took two left turns into a narrow street with barely room for two people to walk abreast.

The alley ran around the back of the house we had just been gazing at, and I jumped when I heard voices coming from it.

Io glanced at me scornfully. "That's the other team from the Ministry, remember? Or were you worried that the big scary murderer was back?"

Titan snickered softly, and Io joined in. I balled my fists up and kept my mouth shut tight.

At last, we arrived in a wooded area just past the village, where an orange glow from the street lamps was now visible in the low light.

Europa addressed the group. "This is where we will be waiting tonight. Anthony, Gwendolyn, I need you to help me with the preparations. The rest of you, try and get some sleep. It's going to be a long night."