Penny Wicks & The Knockturn Ripper (A Harry Potter fanfiction)

Prologue | Mudblood

It was so cold as Dru ran along the soulless, dimly lit cobbles of Knockturn Alley. She felt faint and her heart was pounding so loud she feared her pursuer might hear it. The death-eater known as the knock-turn Ripper was not far behind. She could hear him stamping through the snow close by. All she could do was keep running. When the death eater broke into her home, he took everything from her. Her wand, potions, books, even her shoes. Her bare feet were red from the cold and painful to walk on as she struggled through the snow trying every door she passed. It was no good. The broken, run-down alley was utterly abandoned. If anyone was still living among the ruins it was unlikely that they would leave their hiding places, even to help her.

Finally, she came to a building that had been so severely damaged that there was a great gaping hole in the wall. she was able to crawl through the hole. As the ripper approached she got to her feet and carefully tiptoed away from the hole, terrified to make even the slightest noise. She crouched down and crawled towards one of the dark corners of the room, listening for the Ripper's movements. It was so dark as she made her way around the counter that she accidentally bumped into a large glass jar. Upon turning to stop it from falling Dru's body betrayed her, lunging away from the jar that she now saw contained a severed head. Fighting the urge to scream the place down, she clamped her hand across her mouth and scurried to the dark corner before the Ripper could see her. He stopped outside the hole and for one gut-churning moment, Dru thought he must have heard her. Any second now he would blast the wall down, before stomping in here and killing her. She had no way of defending herself.

Much to her shock, he kept moving. With her hand still clamped over her mouth, she stayed still as a statue, terrified. Listening carefully she heard his footsteps moving past the broken windows towards the door. For a brief moment, she expected him to try the door and come in, but he kept walking. She finally breathed a sigh of relief as his footsteps echoed further away. Standing up, she looked around the room and realized she was standing in a dark arts shop. It was decorated with grotesque masks and human bones. Borgin & Burkes she realized reading a sign by the door.

However, any thoughts Dru had about giving the Ripper the slip were soon dashed as she heard him coming back. Thinking fast Dru tiptoed behind the till for cover peeking out for a moment to try and see him. If she could just have an idea of exactly where he was it might be easier to get past him. His silhouette appeared in the door window brandishing his beloved blades, but once again he made no attempt to open the door. He continued to paise back and forth along the area for some time, indicating that he knew she was inside. She could hear him scraping his blades together as he walked.

The Knockturn Ripper earned his name in 1970 after he killed several muggles and muggle-borns and then displayed their bodies in Knockturn Alley to show his allegiance to He who must not be named. That was only the start as over the years he racked up more victims. What was worse was that he used magic to paralyse his victims before he carved slurs and insults into their skin with his blades and slit their throats. By far his most brutal murder was in December of 1970. The victim was a muggle called Enola Wicks. It was terrible. Instead of mutilation and slitting her neck, the Ripper brutally stabbed her to death. No one knows what Enola could have done to provoke his rage. It's assumed by most people that she interrupted him while he was stalking another possible unknown victim. The thought of what happened to Enola made Dru feel cold and sick.

Looking through the door behind her she saw the back exit to the shop. Once again the Ripper's black silhouette passed the window again. He still didn't try to open the door. Trying to keep it together Dru sat in the darkness and silently waited. He obviously knew she was close by or else he would have left already and she didn't want to wait around for him to spot her. As soon as she heard the Ripper's footsteps moving away she had to make her move. When he finally started walking away she crouched along the floor towards the back exit, trying desperately to be as quiet as possible. Reaching for the door, Dru took a second to look back, making sure the Ripper hadn't returned to the shop window. With the Ripper gone, she grabbed the handle and tried to open the door but it was locked.