[LOG] Jailbreaking Azkaban

[prime-veridian.livejournal.com]

Who: Alison Mallory, Kahvi Sidhe, Ora Yang, and the Order of the Phoenix
When: New Years Eve, 1998
Where: The Burrow, a remote English suburb
What: The Order of the Phoenix jailbreaks Azkaban, and the girls are help out

*~*~*~*~*

Ora stuffed her sash and a spare change of clothes in her bag, and bounded down the stairs to grab her winter coat from the closet in the hallway. "Mum! Dad! I'm ready!" she shouted, stuffing her arms through the sleeves and doing a quick check through the list in her mind to make sure she had packed everything she needed, and everything that would make it seem like she was going to a legitimate sleepover at the Burrow.

"Mm hm," Ora's father said simply as he folded his copy of The Daily Prophet and set it down on the sitting room table. He shot his daughter a dubious look. Ora smiled up at him cheerfully, as if nothing was wrong. She mitigated it a little when her father's look turned more severe.

"You know if you get lost, Ora, you're breaking curfew."

Ora rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Dad, I know. But I'm eighteen! I can Apparate properly; I'm not going to get lost or end up in the middle of the woods."

Ambassador Yang's mouth twitched as if he didn't completely believe his daughter, but had to actually refrain from telling her so. "I'll leave the wards down for five minutes," he said simply, drawing his wand from the fold of his robes, "so if you get lost you can Apparate back."

"Okay, Dad," Ora said. She rolled her eyes again.

"Have you got everything?" Ora's mum asked. She rose from the couch and looked pointedly at Ora's bag.

"Yup," Ora said with a nod. "And if not, I'm sure Alison can lend me something."

"Toothbrush?"

Ora nodded. "Packed it already, Mum."

Ora's mother simply nodded and smiled, and came around the sofa to give her daughter a hug and a kiss. "Well, Happy New Year, and enjoy the night with your friends."

"Thanks!" Ora gave her mum and dad a hug and a kiss each. Her father still did not look entirely happy as he closed his eyes and hummed the chant to lift the anti-Apparition wards surrounding their house, but Ora still managed a smile as she waved and then thought very hard of the Burrow.

*~*~*~*~*

Ottery St. Catchpole was even colder than London, and even in a thick scarf and coat Ora was shivering. She had appeared about one hundred meters out from the Burrow, and was throughly cold by the time she got to the door and lifted a hand to knock politely at it. Even though the house seemed quiet from the outside, Ora wondered if anyone would hear here--after all, she could not imagine that a rescue the proportions of breaking in and out of Azkaban would take any less than a good chunk of the Order.

Comments

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Take to the air? Well, Alison supposed it seemed like a decent enough plan. It would be more confusing for any attackers if their targets weren't in the same place. She nodded thoughtfully, glancing over to where her broom lay just out of easy reach next to the bag of Portkeys.

"No one was hurt too badly, thankfully," she said, elaborating on the wedding incident. It had been chaos, but it had also been over quickly, and while there had been plenty of damage done, there had been no loss of life. She was just as glad for Bill and Fleur about that as she was for everyone else. To have your wedding anniversary also be a remembrance of fallen friends... that was just too much to ask of anyone, she thought.

Alison's eyes skimmed the darkness just beyond the fire's glow as she nodded. "I suppose we should keep alert. The first group must be nearly ready to go by now..." Her grip tightened on her wand as she glanced to the side, but the sound she'd heard had only been a large rat, presumably looking for food among the abandoned supplied. "I do wonder where we are, but I suppose there's no way to tell from in here. I didn't recognize the area outside the windows, but that doesn't mean much, I guess." She paused, doing a quick visual check of the rafters above their heads. "I suppose it's safest if we don't know where anyone else is, but I hope they're doing all right. I really don't think the Order would put any of us in any danger they could avoid." But there was always the danger that couldn't be avoided, and working with the Order ensured there would be some danger, at least.

She pushed herself up off the chair, suddenly feeling restless; she paced back and forth a little bit, eyes on the bag of Portkeys and her broom. "I just want this war to be overwith. This wasn't how I wanted things to be." But then, it wasn't as though she had much say in any of this. Very few people did, in the end. "I hope this never reaches as far as your home."



[OOC: Sorry it took me so long to reply! It's been a long week. o.o;

So do we want the first group to come through pretty soon, I'm thinking? And I'm thinking maybe it's the second group that ought to be the one that's followed, so we think everything is going well and then boom! It's not? XD; Though just let me know if you have another plan you'd like to try, I'm open to whatever~]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

Kahvi nodded--it was probably getting close to showtime, and in this sort of environment, restlessness was contagious. "You're right, I think we're likely in the safest place of all the others." Her eyes continued to flick about the room on occasion, and she sat more stiffly than usual with the anticipation of a surprise. "But safest doesn't necessarily guarantee safety," she added quietly, and perhaps mostly to herself.

"I'm not sure this is how anyone wanted it to be, including... well, it might be close to how he envisioned it, but minus one apparent hero still on the loose." Her smirk was grim. "It'll be a while before any of them start moving on the island--it's remote, difficult to get to, and not worth the trouble for the small population just yet." It was true, even if not comforting, and she reckoned that even the craziest of Voldemort's bunch would think twice before attacking a country known for having a wing of dragons as a pivotal piece of its Wizarding military. However, if things fell through here, it wouldn't be a matter of if, but when. 'Yet' had been the key part of the statement.

"Oh, don't wander too far from your chair... it's the closest and most solid cover we have right now."

[OOC: No problem, I'm beset with the parents at the moment, so I may be a bit intermittent myself :/

Sounds like a plan to me! Start things rolling whenever you like ^_^]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Alison smiled, if grimly, for a moment. "True - Potter's been good so far about keeping out of You-Know-Who's way. I just hope he can keep at it." She didn't know what he'd set out to do, and Ron had been less-than-helpful with the details. She didn't like putting all of her faith in Potter no matter how reliable he'd seemed to be in the past, but she supposed it was all anyone could do at the moment. Trust Potter, and try to help out in the meantime. Like with this raid.

She hadn't even thought about it, but she realized Kahvi was right - her chair would be the best cover if she needed any, so she paced back over to it and leaned against the back, watching the fire for a moment. Silence fell between the two girls for only a moment before it was broken, and by neither of them.

There was a blast of salt-smelling cold air, and suddenly there was a large group of figures standing just beyond the fire. Alison gripped her wand tightly in her right hand, tensing as her other hand gripped the back of her chair. There was shuffling and stumbling amongst the figures for a moment that seemed to stretch out into eternity. Her mind was racing - was this the first group they'd been waiting for? Or were they Death Eaters who had somehow discovered the waystation location -

There was a large figure at the head of the group - he stepped into the firelight and Alison immediately recognized him as Kingsley Shacklebolt, though she'd never spoken to the man before tonight. He looked down at the two tensed girls from his much higher vantage point, his face unreadable; then, after a few seconds, he nodded brusquely.

"Quickly, the Portkey," he said, holding out one large hand. His voice was deep and seemed to fill up the entire warehouse. "I do not mean to alarm you, but there were a number of Death Eaters waiting for us and they may be following. I cannot stay to aid you; I must get these people to safety."

Alison glanced worriedly at Kahvi even as she dug through the bag beside the chair quickly and pulled out the first portkey - an oven mitt with a tag that read "blueberry."

[OOC: I'm thinking that either Death Eaters can trace the travel of this group and get in that way, or maybe just come on the tail of the second group? It seems more likely the later groups would be followed than the earlier ones to me, but if wizards have a way to trace where someone else has gone then the Death Eaters could send a group to try and clear out the waystation and ambush the second group too.]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

The familiar smell of the sea was only momentarily welcome; by the time the imposing figure stepped into the firelight, Kahvi had a mage slayer concealed in one hand and her wand at the ready in the other. Her eyes flew from the man, the agitated group behind him, to Alison--while she wasn't expecting a group of Death Eaters to pause before attacking or look quite as ragged, there was no sense letting her guard down until she saw some sign of recognition. Unfortunately, this also made Kahvi keenly aware that she was relying almost entirely on Alison to recognize group leaders and/or Order members.

His voice, like his physical form, seemed impressively strong, yet not unkind. As the reverberations died away, she wondered whether Death Eaters might arrive alongside Order members, she might not be able to distinguish between them... Hoods seemed like the usual m.o. of the Death Eaters, but what if they didn't always wear them, and what if they impersonated prisoners to get to the final locations, where surely there were other Order members who would not be expecting an attack. Apart from the mark on their arms, there was no sure way to visually determine whether or not a person was a Death Eater.

Alison, too, seemed troubled by the news as she pulled an oven mitt out of the over-sized burlap sack and handed it over. In a way, they'd been expecting Death Eaters, but they had also been banking on not getting into a tussle with them, either. What they'd really been ready for was the possibility of Death Eaters, and now they would have to face a higher probability of that possibility becoming reality. Kahvi nodded to her partner in as assuring a manner as she could.

"Thank you for the tip, sir, we'll be ready."

The tall man thanked Alison for the portkey, and nodded curtly to Kahvi in acknowledgment of her statement before returning to tend to his people, who appeared physically unharmed, but mentally shaken. As abruptly as they had come, they were gone, leaving only the rushing sound of wind filling the vacuum left behind previously occupied by bodies and the ghost of Shacklebolt's deep voice calling out the portkey's password.

[OOC: Hmn, I am not sure how the portkeys work exactly, but I didn't think they were traceable? May need to look this up or something...]

[prime-veridian.livejournal.com]

[OOC:Portkeys, to my knowledge, are not 'traceable.' That is why the Order is using them during transportation. However, anybody touching somebody who is touching a Portkey will get transported as well. Our plan for getting Death Eaters is that two of them will be tagging along, quite literally.]

[ad-exia.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Okay; I plead momentary insanity because my brain has not been functioning at full capacity lately. XD I'm definitely thinking that having them tag along makes more sense. I can't edit the comment, so, uh, just assume he said something to that effect. I don't know what I was thinking, other than I probably wasn't. ^^;]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Alison shuddered a bit, involuntarily, as the wind whistled by them to fill in the space that the departing group of escapees had left. She glanced over to Kahvi, worried now that their evening was about to get a good deal more interesting.

She hadn't gotten a very good look at any of the people standing in a huddle behind Shacklebolt. She didn't know if any of them were people she knew, and she could only be glad that none of them had appeared injured or ill before they'd left again. It had all happened so quickly - but then, she realized that was how all these sorts of situations seemed to go. You had to keep alert and be able to react quickly if you wanted things to turn out in your favor.

She walked back to her chair in the firelight, gripping the back of it but not sitting down. "I guess we shouldn't get too comfortable, then," she said quietly, noting that Kahvi was still tensed and ready for action. "If Death Eaters are likely to tag along with the next group, they might not have much time to warn us before things start happening." Of course, Kahvi looked quite ready to handle an invasion at the moment, and Alison wondered if maybe the other girl was probably better-prepared to handle this than she was, herself, all experience aside. "You look like you've been in fights, before."

[OOC: Sorry it took so long to reply!!]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

Kahvi cast a worried glance at Alison as she paused by her chair, not sitting down. She herself had remained seated throughout the episode, and now put her knife back with its friends in the holster, and nodded in agreement with her friend's assessment of the updated situation.

"I have," she said plainly in response to Alison's last comment, searching for the simplest explanation. "I... my mother is..." Kahvi started, sighing a little with frustration--she was still tense from the appearance of the first group. "To make a long story short, let's just say it's more or less written in stone that I'm going to be a part of the Tarikhaan military, and I was brought up with that in mind." A few years' resentment, not of the idea of military duty, but more of the idea of being paraded around in the public eye, welled up like an angry lump in her throat for a moment before she could recover. Not the time for it, and people always looked at her with different eyes once they knew who and what she was.

"So you'll have to forgive me if I get a little bossy," she smiled apologetically. "We have to plan now for an attack from the inside--I'd been predominantly worried about discovery of the location and defending it from outside attacks, admittedly." She pressed a finger to her lips and absently played with the end of her braid a bit with her other hand as she mentally went over the warehouse and possible positioning.

The group would likely arrive in the same spot, out in the open area. The Order members would know to go for the portkey, but it wouldn't help any of them to leave part of the group behind--it would also need to be kept out of the way to protect the members at the next leg of the journey.

"When the group arrives, if there are any stowaways, we should undoubtedly outnumber them unless the Death Eaters have gotten ahold of the portkey and used it themselves... in which case, take the portkey and run. We need to be positioned for ranged attack, with cover. For you, this means somewhere high; they probably won't have their brooms after the portkey." Kahvi turned and pointed sharply to the top of one of the shelves, adding "The bags of cement at the top of that shelf will give you decent cover from below, and you should have enough headroom to take off if needed."

"We should hide the portkey in the rafters; it's less likely to be found or damaged. Perhaps tie it down, in case someone gets clever and tries to use a summoning charm. We can leave the rubber chicken in the sack by your chair, in case they know to look for a portkey in a sack. We don't retrieve it until any and all Death Eaters present are subdued."

"You'll also want to transfigure a double of yourself seated in your chair, preferably looking shocked or stunned--that way they won't be expecting you to be elsewhere if they already know we're two to a station. I'll stay here. I should be able to keep out of harms way so long as there aren't many Death Eaters."

She fidgeted anxiously. It felt odd to be speaking at such length, and she didn't particularly like that she appeared to be giving Alison orders, but time was short and formalities useless. "You're better able to recognize Order members than I, so you're in charge of the portkey. However, I do need to know anything you can tell me about identifying Death Eaters before we take positions. Do they always wear those dorky black robes? Anything other than the Dark Mark that I can use to identify them?"

[OOC: No problem :) I think I'm assuming that Shacklebolt basically warned us that some Death Eaters have been taken along with at least one of the portkeys already. That makes the most sense, I think... and is most easily followed by his "can't stay to help" comment.

Hopefully Kahvi's suggestions make sense--it was literally me rattling things off the top of my head, since if I thought too hard that might be unrealistic :/ Sorry if she's too bossy T_T]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

"... Oh." Alison had to admit, she hadn't quite been expecting that kind of explanation. But then, it did suddenly make sense - why Kahvi had come armed (and it might be a good thing she had, if matters got out of hand), and why she looked ready to take charge of this operation like it was a military maneuver under her command. Alison bit her lip, thinking. Was she really all right being "bossed around" by Kahvi? The other girl was clearly trained to take charge, and had more knowledge about fighting than Alison had ever thought possible. Alison had assumed she would be the one instructing Kahvi on what to do, but that was clearly not the case.

But what was the case was that Alison had not been in more than two serious fights, and most of her fighting was limited to punching, kicking, and knocking people off their brooms. None of which was particularly suited to the type of fighting they might encounter if a group of Death Eaters decided to tag along with the next group of escapees.

And so she shook her head, admitting, "Actually, we're probably a good deal better off if you do know what you're doing. You know a lot more than I do, at any rate, so boss away." She offered a wan smile - she knew when to take direction, and more especially not to take it personally. Slytherins might be ambitious, but right now she particularly wanted to stay alive and well - and keep everyone on their side in that state as well - more than she wanted to pretend to take charge when Kahvi clearly knew what to do.

She listened, nodding, as Kahvi snapped off a list of instructions that sounded like a very decent plan. "Let me do that now," Alison said, taking the sack with the last Portkey and levitating it up into the rafters so that it rested at the intersection of two of the beams in the corner, away from any windows but easily within reach of a witch on a broom. Taking said object into her hand, she thought about how to best transfigure a double of herself and also about Kahvi's last question.

"I don't think I've ever seen them wear anything but," she finally admitted. "They wear dark robes and masks, and their Mark is usually pretty visible. But that's really about it - they come in all shapes and sizes, but I don't think any of them would take off their mask to try to blend in." That would make them just as conspicuous, she thought - everyone fleeing Azkaban knew who had been there, and who had put them there. She had never been sure whether the masks had been more to preserve anonymity or to instill fear, but she'd always thought it must be at least a little of both. She'd never seen a Death Eater remove one.

"I suppose you should just be on the lookout for anyone who either doesn't look like they've been through hell, or wearing a mask," she finally said a bit ruefully, thinking about how she'd prefer to have Kahvi not use her knives, if it was all the same. They sounded pretty dreadful, even if they would be a good advantage in a serious fight. "But don't go throwing knives unless you really have to - though I imagine that's what you were already thinking, hm?"

[OOC: Nope, Kavhi is definitely the more knowledgeable one here, so Alison's happy to listen to her. :D; She can recognize when someone is better than her at something! And yeah, it does make sense then that some of the Death Eaters have already tagged along with at least one group, so assuming that is quite fine with me~]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

"You've got to be joking. They actually always wear masks?" Kahvi was astounded--it had seemed too silly to be true, so she'd written that part of the story off as fiction or special occasions for frightening folk. "Huh, I really thought that was just rumor. I guess it's a good thing at least one of us has encountered these people before." At least she was reasonably sure she knew what the Dark Mark looked like; a skull with a snake in it, right?

"So... is it also true that they don't particularly distinguish between friend or foe? Have you ever seen one accidentally cast an Unforgiveable on one of their own?" Rational people were much easier to fight against, and Kahvi's specialization was offensive rather than defensive. If they really were berserkers, the fight would get ugly... and they might not be able to get people to medi-witches in time if the fight lasted too long. She shuddered, suddenly worried that Dementors might be able to tag along via portkey, too; fear was too powerful an enemy, and fighting the unknown was bad enough as it was.

Kahvi sat silent for a few moments after Alison's last question, unsure of what Alison's reservations were and unsure how to phrase the answer. "They... aren't lethal, unless you hit vital points on the body. The idea with pain knives is to cause pain, not to kill, and the wounds are really easy to heal once you pull the knife back out," she attempted to reassure Alison. "But my reasoning is that Death Eaters are used to having the upper hand, and not used to actually being hit with things that really hurt. A little pain should distract them enough for them to be captured." Hmn, had she erred in her assumptions? Would there be enough resources to capture the tag-along Death Eaters?

"The knife won't keep them from disapparating away, either, and the pain may convince them to do just that, which will buy us time..." Kahvi left the caboose of the statement out. It would buy them time if they didn't apparate back for reinforcements. "Or, um, did anyone in the Order mention putting any anti-apparition charms at the portkey points?" Kahvi tried to disguise the worry in her voice as simple anxiety over a dangerous situation, but had the sinking suspicion that Alison knew where that last thought had gone.

[OOC: She's knowledgeable in the ways of fighting, but Alison's the one that knows about the enemy--that's important, too! Also, very seriously hoping the Order had the foresight to put up anti-apparition charms, or the fight could get serious fast D:]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Alison shrugged halfheartedly. "They actually wear masks," she echoed, thinking about Kahvi's next question. "Well, I haven't ever seen any of them cast an Unforgivable on another, no. But... I guess it's more like, not all of them seem too terribly bright. I mean, not that I'm saying everyone in the Order is a seasoned spell-casting machine, but..." she paused, secretly glad that Fred and George - and their entire family, really - did seem to be rather proficient at spellcasting in sticky situations. "Well, they make mistakes. But they're not as disorganized as I'd wish, I suppose." They weren't all stupid, and much thought she hated to admit it, the people (and, ultimately, person) making the calls weren't stupid either.

"Well, with something like tonight, I guess the Order has the advantage," she said, trying to think it through logically. "They planned this - the Death Eaters are just reacting, and there's no guarantee that they had any sort of contingency plan in place in case anyone escaped from Azkaban." She smiled grimly. "Probably because only one person has ever done it. So hopefully they'll be disorganized and reacting... though I guess that could be bad, too." She thought about how disorganized fights went, and had to admit, they could get pretty ugly.

She hefted her broom on her shoulder and looked around for something decent to transfigure into her "other self" while she thought about what Kahvi had said about her throwing knives. Picking up a large, half-empty sack of what felt like concrete, she heaved it onto the armchair as neatly as she could. Finally, she said, "You're definitely right about the knives, though - I think there's no way they'll be expecting anything like that. It could buy us time, but be careful. I'm sure you know how much pain you can handle, but... " She grimaced. "The less you have to handle, the better, you know?" She knew that people could fight through pain, and was reasonably sure Kahvi had been trained to do that. But it was still pretty distracting, and she didn't want Kahvi to end up worse off for it.

"I don't know about anti-apparition charms... We're supposed to apparate back to the Burrow when we're through," she said, suddenly realizing why Kahvi had asked. "We could try to set up some sort of shield charm to make it harder for someone to locate this place, or apparate in..."


[OOC: I'm thinking they probably did put up some kind of protections, though if there is an anti-apparition charm, I don't know if they can work one way only? Like, you can apparate out, but not in? It doesn't seem to me that they work that way, but I could be wrong.]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

"Mm," Kahvi nodded as she watched Alison move the cement bag into the chair--the Muggle way. She had an appreciation for that sort of thing. "Well, the more knives I'm sticking in them, the less are on me. We'll just have to hope we don't end up with any of the terribly bright ones."

No anti-apparition charm--Kahvi had completely forgotten that they were to disapparate back after all this was done. The only anti-apparition ward she could clearly recall was fairly complicated and required dragon blood, and she wasn't about to cut herself before a fight while wearing her knives, especially if she had no idea if it would work. "I don't think I can manage an anti-apparition ward," she admitted. "If you think the shield charm will work, that may be our best preparation, but I think what it comes down to is that we can't... we can't let any Death Eaters that tag along leave here." If they were going to call themselves Death Eaters, she shouldn't have any compunctions about hand-feeding it to them if necessary.

She quietly widened the circle of fey lights dancing around the chairs and makeshift fire pit as Alison set about transfiguring a copy of herself. A wider range of lights might be useful to them. Her expression wasn't exactly grim or hopeless, but it was distinctly sober. "Maybe I should try and apparate across the room just to test it?"

[OOC: I'm fairly certain the anti-apparition charms work both ways. At least, that's the assumption I was making when I made all of Tarikha an anti-apparition zone. But perhaps the anti-apparition charm is only on the building they're in, and they can step outside to apparate?]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

"Hm... maybe one of us should try," Alison said, eyeing the walls of the building as Kahvi created more light. "I'll try it." She closed her eyes (somehow that always seemed proper, for apparition) and gave it a try -

Nothing. She opened her eyes again, blinking at Kahvi. "It looks like there is a ward up," she said thoughtfully, glancing at the door. "I suppose it would make sense - maybe they just put it around the building proper. I imagine if we go outside, we'll be able to apparate back...

It seemed much safer, this way - though on second thought, that meant that if any Death Eaters did tag along, they'd be stuck here with them until or unless they left the building. Regardless, what Kahvi had said made sense. "You're right, though - I don't think we can let any Death Eaters who tag along leave - not if they could just apparate back outside with a bunch of their mates. We'll have to incapacitate them, at the very least until the escapees can leave, and us too." She supposed incapacitate could mean a number of things, and not necessarily killing... though not necessarily excluding it, either. This was a war, after all. She didn't want to kill anyone, and she would take great pains not to - but if it came down to herself, or the people she cared about, or a Death Eater behind a mask with an avada kedavra aimed in her direction...

She looked down at the broom in her hand, then mounted it and kicked off from the floor, hovering a few feet above it. "I suppose the next group will be along soon." It had been a while since the last group went through, and the second wave couldn't be far behind them.


[OOC: Yeah, I was pretty sure they worked both ways from everything I've read. I like the idea of the anti-apparition charm only being around the building, so they can apparate outside. That sounds like a good plan to me. :D Sorry I've been so slow to respond! ::headdesks::]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

Kahvi held her breath a moment as Alison attempted to apparate, then exhaled a sigh of relief when she couldn't. If nothing else, the Order had been thorough in their preparations. "Good thing, that."

She nodded and gave a slight smile at Alison's choice of words--incapacitate, indeed. "The teacup and saucer is a nice touch," Kahvi added as she admired Alison's cement-bag-turned-doppelganger, which appeared to be caught in surprise mid-sip. Even from right next to it, the dummy looked fairly life-like. As the real Alison lifted off the ground, Kahvi took her place in her chair and struck a relaxed pose.

"True, they are probably due any minute now. Best hide yourself as planned." Kahvi beamed as comforting a smile as she could muster. "Good luck, and remember to take care of yourself first."

The top tier of cement bags were good cover--Kahvi could barely see Alison at the top of them, in spite of knowing exactly where to look. In the stillness of the suspense, Kahvi ran down her short list of the preparations they'd intended to make. The portkey had been hidden and secured against summoning charms and she'd set down a couple of wailing wards in the areas of the warehouse that weren't well-enough lit by the floating faerie lights. They were ready, but were they ready enough?

And where was the next group? Had they run into trouble? Were they coming at all? Downtime was always dangerous during a mission--it allowed worries and doubts to creep into and cloud the mind, and made minutes feel like hours. The bizarre tableau around the impromptu brazier with the unnaturally still double of Alison only enhanced the feeling of frozen time...

[OOC: Cool, that makes things less complicated :) I'm leaving the number of tag-along Death Eaters and their actual arrival to you ^^;;

Also, I realize I keep referring to my light spell as "faerie lights" as opposed to "witch lights," probably because I hadn't realized/remembered that witch lights exist in the HP universe :/ For my own sanity, I'm going to argue that it's a different, but very similar spell used more by druidic and/or shamanic magic users. Faerie lights have always, in my own personal spell book, been smaller and softer than witch lights and, unlike witch lights, are constantly moving and darting. Witch lights are stronger illumination, anyhow--Kahvi's cast these because they aren't as strong and mess less with her night-vision. As a stupid trivia-type aside, faerie lights make for great mood lighting, because they can be cast in colors :D]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Alison crouched low on her broomstick and did her best to remain hidden in the shadows near the ceiling of the warehouse. She felt oddly trapped, though she told herself it was just because she was used to flying her broom outside, not in. There was no way anyone would know that the shocked-looking girl in the chair across from Kahvi wasn't really Alison until they tried to speak to her - or, she thought grimly, cast a curse at her. She felt safer that Kahvi at the moment, and while she realized that tactically, this was probably a good idea because Kahvi seemed perfectly capable of taking care of herself, Alison didn't like feeling as though she'd left her friends out in the open. She determined to keep an eye on Kahvi's back - she could see a lot from up here, and it would give them an advantage.

She didn't have time to think about much else. One moment the warehouse was quiet, save the sounds of a rat or two shuffling round the back, and the next it was filled with people. And with the people came yelling, running, and three white masks in a clump at the end of the crowd. Death Eaters. And they were quickly spreading out, as though to encircle the escapees with whom they'd obviously tagged along.

"Everyone spread out!" Someone yelled - Alison recognized the voice, though she couldn't pin it to a name, specifically. It sounded like one of the Weasleys, Bill or Charlie, but she couldn't make out any red hair in the sea of cloaked people surging below her. "Don't give them a target!"

Various alarm spells went off as those who could not fight ran for the shadows; Alison caught a glimpse of one of the Death Eaters making their way quickly toward the brazier and chairs in the center of the room (they were prime targets, after all) and raised her wand, ready to strike. She'd rather take them down as quickly as possible before they knew what was going on, if it was all the same to everyone else. But at least none of them were edging around behind Kahvi, so the Tarikhan witch wouldn't be caught unawares. Alison turned her attention then to the other two Death Eaters, who seemed more concerned with the escapees.

She smiled grimly and shot a stunning spell down at the one closest to the shadows. It would give away her position, but one down was better than none, and things were about to start happening very quickly...

[OOC: I'm thinking one of the Order "chauffeurs" can be one of the Weasleys, such as Bill or Charlie, and the other can be a redshirt?]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

The shouting voice seemed authoritative--this was good, as it meant someone in the group was recognizable as a leader and had their head together. The masks on the Death Eaters also stood out very starkly in the more dimly lit portions of the warehouse; there were three of them. Kahvi sat still just long enough to get some idea of the headings of the people, who seemed to be dispersing fairly randomly, before rolling behind the chair in a swift motion to dodge an incoming curse from one of the white faced figures.

Kahvi darted out towards the brazier and kicked it into the oncoming Death Eater, who screamed as the flames burned part of her robe and mask. A bright blast flew down from the shelving--Alison was already casting, but it didn't seem as if anyone in the crowd had yet registered where the shot had come from. If Kahvi made a big enough scene here, they might stay confused a little longer. Dingy long blonde hair had been rustled loose as the Death Eater brushed at the flames on her face instinctively, a couple of the wavy locks smoking, and then she was screaming frantically, drawing the attention of the entire room to her. Two knives were buried up to their hilts in her thighs, and the pain runes had kicked in.

"Grenn!" The standing Death Eater's voice held a note of desperation as he changed course, uncannily dodging a couple of spells aimed in his direction, and aimed a sectus curse at the disappearing witch behind her.

"UnGH!!" Above the din of the screaming rescuees, who were mostly reacting to the continued hysterical wails of Grenn and her spasmic attempts to claw her way away from the brazier, the thud was only just loud enough to be heard. The curse had barely grazed the side of her right thigh, but eighteen pain runes made it seem much worse and she'd botched the landing of her mad dash for cover behind Alison's currently beheaded doppleganger and chair. As much as she wished she could write off the injury as a lucky shot, she could tell from the way this third Death Eater moved that this wasn't his first fight...

Scrabbling into a ready position, she started to undo the buckle of one of her holsters to alleviate some of the pain. From what kahvi could see, it looked like the third Death Eater had been pretty squarely stunned by Alison and a curly-haired man--she could only assume an Order member, as he was in possession of a wand--appeared to be casting a paralysis charm on him, but was unwisely out in the open.

Suddenly the third Death Eater turned and threw a curse in the assumed Order member's direction; Kahvi could not see where it had gone and she had been too occupied fumbling with the buckle on her harness to react in time, but another spell had come flying from the tops of the shelves and in dodging it she hoped he had not hit his mark. But he knew where Alison was now, and a pained yowl made it clear that his spell had hit someone. The unnamed Death Eater dodged another blast from somewhere else--the Order member? Or his partner?--and cast yet another warning sectus curse at the chair Kahvi was crouching behind to cover himself as he made his way towards Alison's shelf. The warehouse had gotten much quieter--the Death Eater witch had apparently blacked out, as the knives were still embedded in her legs and she no longer moved.

[OOC: Ahahaha... well, here's the conundrum--if it's the Weasley brother that studies dragons, he'll almost definitely recognize Kahvi because she and her mother have been in a lot of the pictures for studying/documenting Tarikhaan volcanic dragons as their "handlers." As Kahvi, I'm trying to keep that under wraps (although I've been banking on Hagrid not recognizing her, as she is taking Care of Magical Creatures), but as myself, I'm fine with it going either way--the other girls will have to discover who Kahvi is eventually... So it's up to you who it is, Kahvi won't be able to recognize either of them.]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Once the target of her stun spell had gone down, Alison surveyed the scene below her, watching for an opportunity to attack. A strangled shout caught in her throat as she saw one of the Death Eaters below head for Kahvi, who had rolled the brazier into his associate's face - and then launched two of her knives, as well. Alison saw Kahvi disappear in the flickering, dying firelight below, and cursed under her breath. She seemed in pain, but all right... but who knew for how long?

Thankfully most of the escapees had fled to the shadows and were difficult to see by now. That was good - it meant the "battlefield" (as it were) was clear of civilians, but it was also bad, as it made anyone still fighting that much easier to target. She glanced uneasily down as below her and saw that a cloaked figure with curly hair had begun to cast what looked like a paralysis charm on the Death Eater she'd stunned.

But before the man could finish the incantation, the flash of a spell shot by and Alison dodged upwards as below her the curly-haired figure cried out in pain and doubled over. Leaning over her broom, Alison couldn't tell how badly he had been hit; she risked a swoop downwards only to have to pull up again almost immediately as another curse whizzed past her ear. "Hey!" she yelled, though it wasn't as if it would do her any good, and snapped off a couple of jinxes in the Death Eaters' general direction, though she wasn't sure any of them had hit.

She sailed up into the rafters again, searching for Kahvi and the second Order member - Charlie, had it been Charlie Weasley? - as she tried to stay in the shadows. A number of curses reverse-rained upward from below as the third Death Eater kept trying to hit her, but at least she was good at dodging on a broom. Twice there were near-misses, but she'd begun to feel more confident that she was well-hidden up here and prepared to shoot off a few more spells of her own when a reddish bolt of light shot past her from behind, startling her and nearly knocking her glasses off. As it was, a small chunk of hair from beside her temple went fluttering down toward the ground.

The Death Eater she'd stunned was now stirring; they were propped up on one elbow and aiming their wand at her exposed back. "Oh, no you don't," Alison muttered, preparing to cast a full body-bind this time, but suddenly an angry figure darted out from the shadow and kicked the wand out of the Death Eater's grasp. "How dare you!" the cloaked figure - it sounded like a woman - shouted, and proceeded to next kick the Death Eater in the head.

... Well. Alison wasn't going to turn down help like that. She turned back to scanning the middle of the room desperately - where were Kahvi and Charlie? She'd lost track of them both, but at least the third Death Eater wasn't shooting any more curses upwards...


[OOC: XD I liked the idea of kicking the Death Eaters in the side so much, I figured we had to use it~]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

The third Death Eater sneered as he paused his upward volley of spells--the girl was well hidden, but she'd come out eventually if he just waited. There was another Order member that probably made it through, but from the shouts at the outer reaches of the slowly dancing fey lights it seemed he was preoccupied rounding up people and tending to the injured.

"RrrAUGH!!" He yelped and clasped his wand hand, only to cut his left hand as well. "Bloody mageslayer, augh..." The Death Eater gingerly grasped his now slippery wand in his off hand, as the mageslayer was embedded in the top half of his right hand, having severed his thumb in the process. "Bitch!" he spat, doing an impressive job of holding down the pain as he turned to seek out his tormentor.

Kahvi had taken the pause as an opportunity, both to disable a hand and to dash behind a couple of red barrels. She couldn't see or hear Alison, but she could hear people moaning, shouting, and... kicking? elsewhere in the warehouse. Where was Alison? The pain was going to Kahvi's head and clouding her thoughts, but unless the Death Eater was ambidextrous, she had the upper hand.

A hollow crack echoed through the room before anyone really saw Kahvi catapult herself out from behind the barrels in a sort of somersault drop-kick to the Death Eater's head. He himself had barely had time to raise his wand to defend himself. She landed on her hands, teeth bared with fury and swept back around to catch the falling Death Eater, her kukri instantly pressed to his neck. "Didn't think you were going to get away with all that, now did you?" she hissed as the Death Eater dazedly reached a bloody hand towards his neck as if he would pull the knife away from him. He wheezed confusedly.

"That's enough!" It was the voice from earlier, but to Kahvi's surprise he wasn't speaking to her, but to a different witch, and perhaps the two fellows beside her. "Ben's been injured, and Kendra hasn't been getting any better--we need to leave now, quickly."

A small throng of wizards and witches gathered around the red-headed man, but Kahvi could not see her friend among them. Had she landed? Was she still hiding at the top of the shelving? Panic formed a small lump in her throat and she unconsciously pressed the blade closer into the Death Eater's throat, eliciting a small pained twitch. "Alison?" She gave the Death Eater an angry pinch at the base of his neck--he yelped and then slumped to the floor, unconscious and still, save the pulse of the blood still oozing from his thumb-stump. "Alison?!"

[OOC: Ahahaha, I love the kicking witch <3]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

"I'm all right," Alison called, thinking she was likely as glad to hear Kahvi's voice as the other girl would be to hear hers. She scanned the scene below, her eyes finally resting on the top of Kahvi's head. She circled slowly into the light and flew lower, surveying the scene before her. It certainly looked like a whirlwind had gone through, with the brazier overturned over one of the Death Eaters, one lying unconscious on the ground with his wand some ways away, and a third bleeding slowly from where his thumb had used to be. The curly-haired supposed-Order member below her didn't look like he was in such great shape, either.

A figure pushed through the crowd at the edges of the light, pulling his hood back so he could see in the madly flickering light. She could just make out his features from above and saw that it was indeed Charlie Weasley. He seemed to be unhurt, and quickly taking control of the situation. He looked up as she called down to Kahvi, his rugged features tugging into a smile that was only somewhat tinged with bitterness.

"There you both are; I'm glad to see you're all right, and doubly glad for your help," he said, glancing around at the group of haggard-looking people slowly emerging from the shadows and counting them off quietly. "We've got injured, but I think it isn't anything we can't take care of somewhere else."

Alison noted that a few of the people staggering out into the fire- and fey-light were clutching arms or sides, and a good number of them looked pale, but none of them seemed unable to survive a Portkey trip. There were two people helping the groaning Order member who'd been hit to stand. She nodded. "Just a minute - " Pulling her broom up into a climb, she retrieved the last Portkey from where it had been hidden in the shadows of the rafters. Landing, she handed it over to Charlie. "Here's the last Portkey. You'd better get out of here as quickly as you can... what do you want us to do with them?" She glanced at the Death Eaters lying on the ground - all were severely injured and certainly incapacitated; she didn't want them to follow any of them, but she also didn't think she could kill them even if ordered to.

But Charlie just shook his head, glancing at the prone figures as well. "Leave them. They can limp back to wherever they came from when - if - they awaken." Alison noted grimly that he was looking at the woman beneath the brazier, which was smoking ominously. "You two get out of here and back to the Burrow." He looked from Alison to Kahvi, his eyebrows knitting as if in thought, but then he turned back to the crowd of escapees. Alison wondered if he'd noticed the mageslayers. "All right everyone," Charlie said, clearly addressing the group now gathering around him. "Everyone gather round, make sure you can reach the Portkey..."

Seconds later they were gone, with a rush of air to fill the empty space left behind.

[OOC: Whew! Sorry that took longer than it should have, I was busier than I though this weekend. ^^;]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

Kahvi breathed a sigh of relief and visibly relaxed on hearing Alison's voice and seeing her fly up for the port key. While everyone was busy getting ready to portkey out, she subtly shifted to obscure her injured side and pulled out her wand. With her mageslayers off, it was just a run-of-the-mill cut, but she didn't think it would do for Lysienne to see that any of her friends had actually gotten hurt, however minor--the Gryffindor girl seemed to take injury personally, and wouldn't need more to worry about. Besides, if she'd had some rescuee injuries as they'd had here, she'd probably seen enough hurt for one night. A light healing spell, tergeo, and darning spell later and you'd never have known she'd been injured or that her jeans had been torn.

The Order member--presumably a Weasley from the hair and resemblance--was leaving instructions for dealing with the Death Eaters. She could pick out the sickening aroma of the mask burning along with skin and hair and knew the female would have more than just the Dark Mark on her when she awoke, but as long as the mask itself wasn't magically reactive it would be easy to heal without scarring. Kahvi looked up from re-fastening her mageslayer holsters just in time to catch a curious look from the man before the group gathered and disappeared with the portkey. Was there something on her face? She involuntarily smoothed down her hair.

With a flick of her wand, she summoned the wands of the Death Eaters nearest to her, securing them under the straps of the holster around her waist before pulling the mageslayers out of the unconscious bodies. She wasn't taking chances, particularly with that third one, for sure, and she certainly wasn't above stranding the whole lot of them there even if they were quite injured. Just for good measure, she cast a full body bind on them both.

"Are you o--whoa, what happened to him?" Kahvi was surprised at the beat-up condition of the Death Eater who'd been stunned by Alison. Even though the bruises hadn't started to color, he was scuffed all over with grime that told the story of a series of impacts. Alison, in comparison, looked unharmed. "Did you do all that?" she asked as she picked up the wizard's wand... wands?

"Hmn, there's an extra wand here." Kahvi looked at the two thoughtfully. "I'll bet one of these belongs to the man who got hit--he must be an Order member to have had his wand." She frowned a bit, hoping the man didn't panic when he realized he'd misplaced it. "We'll have to see if Mrs. Weasley can get it back to him..."

[OOC: That's fine, it looks like I'll be pretty busy this coming weekend as well ^^;;]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

A full body bind was a good idea, and it made her feel much safer as the warehouse fell mostly quiet once more. It prevented them from having to otherwise incapacitate the Death Eaters, and at least they wouldn't have to worry about them waking up and catching the girls unawares before the spell wore off.

Alison shook her head at Kahvi's question; "No, that wasn't all me. I had some help from below." She couldn't help but smile slightly as she thought of the fervor with which that woman had attacked the Death Eater. She'd been brave, and Alison was grateful for her help. Now she looked at her friend and tried to assess what she'd been through visually, hoping it was nothing too bad. "How are you, are you feeling all right?" She'd seen Kahvi pull the mageslayers out of the bodies, but that didn't mean she'd feel 100% just yet. She checked the side of her face where that curse had come awfully close, but there wasn't any blood; a scratch was likely the worst she'd have gotten.

She looked at the second wand in Kahvi's hands, studying it for a moment before deciding that no, it didn't look familiar. But that wasn't odd - there were plenty of Order members whose wands she wouldn't know on sight. "Yes, I'm sure Mrs. Weasley can get it back to its owner." She glanced around for anything else they ought to clean up, pulling out her own wand once more to return their somewhat-worse-for-the-wear chairs back to their original forms. "I think we should return to the Burrow as soon as possible. I want to know if anyone else is back yet."

[OOC: Eek, I totally thought I'd replied to this, sorry about that. ^^;;]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

"Hmn? Oh, yes, I'm fine." Kahvi nodded somewhat absently, gears still spinning behind her calm, if serious, expression. She noticed Alison fiddling with the bit of hair near her ear which appeared to have been singed shorter. "Close call?" Thank the fire goddess for Alison's good reflexes.

"Good--what with the wandmakers disappearing and all, I'm sure the extra wands will come in handy as well." There'd been an advantage to being an unknown amateur wandmaker for her brother in that he and his similar peers had not been targets of any of the recent wandmaker kidnappings. It had always seemed such a disadvantage in a society that placed a very high value on wands from well-known makers, yet now it seemed a heavy and thus far unknown price for those Wizarding designer labels to pay for their fame and fortune. If the wandmakers were dead, it would be a heavy blow to the Wizarding society even if the whole You-Know-Who problem was sorted out.

Ah, recognition. Kahvi turned back towards the particularly skilled Death Eater. She didn't have the luxury of a mask to lend her anonymity, and neither did Alison. "Give me a minute... I don't want these to remember our faces, and I still have to deactivate the screaming wards I put in the back of the warehouse. Obliviate!"

She methodically hit each Death Eater with two memory charms each, just to make doubly sure that they wouldn't remember anything past tagging along with the original portkey that had brought them here. Out of curiosity over her opponent, she used the tip of her wand to lift his mask away from his face just a bit--he was an older man with veteranly wrinkles about his eyes and a slight peppering of gray in his short black hair. The man's mouth had been turned downward, perhaps the remnants of the grimace from just before he had been put under. Kahvi let the mask slip back in place and left to deactivate the wards she'd put up earlier and replace the makeshift brazier.

A few startled rats later, she returned to the main portion of the room and sucked all but one of the fey lights back into her wand. The last light lazily floated its way to a door.

"Shall we step outside, then?" While a part of her felt her friends were up to the task of defending themselves and that she shouldn't worry, worry she did and she couldn't blame Alison for wanting to hurry back. Besides, Alison would also have the twin Weasleys to worry about.

[OOC: Well, it looks like we're all ready to head back. Time to start a new log post thingy?]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Alison sighed a bit and tried to tuck the too-short piece of hair behind her glasses frames. "Better my hair than my face," she said, glad to hear that Kahvi at least sounded fine... She sounded a little preoccupied, really, but not a painful sort of preoccupied. She resolved to keep an eye on her friend, but not so much that she would be a nuisance.

She watched Kahvi cast her memory spell - a very good idea, and if the Death Eaters woke up confused as to where they were or how they'd gotten there, all the better. Alison checked to make sure everything else seemed to be in at least some semblance of order as Kahvi removed the wards she'd placed. "Thanks," she said, gathering up her broom and the sack that had held the Portkeys as the other girl finished. Now that the excitement was over, Alison found that she was tired and a little sore - most likely just the effects of her adrenaline rush tapering off, but getting back to the Burrow and its cozy beds sounded like the most wonderful idea in the world. She wondered if Lysienne and Ora were back yet; or, she thought, Fred and George.

She nodded as Kahvi seemed satisfied, and the two girls stepped out into the dark night, glancing at each other in the darkness - there weren't many streetlights outside this warehouse, and the road was more mud that asphalt - before they both disappeared with a faint rushing of air.

[OOC: Yep~ :D Was I supposed to start the next one, I think? And it was going to take place the next day, correct? Just making sure I'm not totally forgetting, but I think that was the idea.]

[prime-veridian.livejournal.com]

[OOC: I think we're supposed to just go back to commenting in the main thread. :D I like the idea that we close it off by skipping to the girls the next morning.]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Sure, I can go back to the main thread if that's best~ I'll try to get a tag out tonight or tomorrow!]