Tyrant Rising

Chapter 1: The Approaching Swarm (Part 5)

Same Time,

Outside The Slaughtered Lamb,

Lambstead

"Weasley! You magnificent cunt, I could kiss you!" Sirius called, firing a pair of cutting curses and an exploding curse at their pursuers as the group of aurors hustled their way down the alley away from The Slaughtered Lamb. He was more than a little surprised that he didn't receive a tide of invective for his crass compliment. "Weasley? Everything alright?"

He knew it wasn't Wilkes, they were all well trained to compartmentalise the loss of a comrade long enough to deal with the crisis at hand, time enough for grief when they were away alive.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just thought I saw something." She was staring into one of the small side-alleys branching off from the one they were currently engaged in retreating down.

"A Death Eater something?" Sirius asked, transfiguring the cobblestones behind them into a thick granite wall and reinforcing the change with an Imutius Charm to prevent anyone from reversing the change. It wouldn't stop a witch of Bellatrix's calibre long, but it would help.

"No," Weasley answered slowly, vanishing stone in the shape of the same runic array she had used outside the pub and bending down to tap it with her wand, charging it. "It was white, white and red. Like bleached bone and freshly spilt blood."

Something about her description struck a chord in Sirius, as if he had heard the same description somewhere before. This was neither the time nor the place to try to chase down a memory, however.

"It doesn't matter, if it's not a Death Eater it's not an immediate threat. We need to keep moving." Apparently, Weasley had been thinking the same thing. Together, they continued their retreat, covering the rear of their comrades having taken over the rear-guard from Mad-Eye and Thomas, allowing the former to take the lead.

"Do we know where this alley goes?" It was a legitimate question, the fact that it probably irritated Moody was only an added bonus.

"Away from Lestrange and her lackeys, that's what's important right now, Black." Moody sounded irritated, but, then, he always sounded irritated.

"She might be a psycho bitch, but she isn't stupid. She was right about them overwhelming us if they manage to get us into the town square, Mad-Eye." Good old Nymphadora, Merlin he was so proud of her, sassy and tactically sound at the same time. And he'd thought she wasn't listening to his lessons.

"These coven-towns are rabbit warrens, only a handful of streets lead all the way in to the town centre, what are the chances that we're on one of those instead of one of the dozens of alleys that go..." Thomas' voice trailed off as their pounding feet lead them around a corner into a large square with a statue of a handsome wizard -the long-departed Lamb for whom the village was named, presumably- holding a staff in the centre. "Somewhere else." Thomas finished lamely.

"Pretty fucking good, apparently." That was his Nymphadora again, he wondered if Harry would've picked up his bitterness so easily, or if he would've been sunny, like his mother. Shaking his head, Sirius locked the thought away with all the others. Harry was gone, had been even before he'd escaped from Azkaban in a misguided attempt to save him from Pettigrew.

"Alright people, we have 90 seconds tops before the Death Eaters come pouring out of that alley and straight up our arses." If Wilkes was still here, he'd have probably made a comment about not minding a chance to get up Bellatrix's arse, he'd always been one for frank appreciation of an incredible set of tits and a finely sculpted bum, even if they were attached to a psychopathic mass murderer. Sirius shook that thought off too, now wasn't the time for grieving for comrades or godsons.