An Unexpected Visit

Oliver had never been the sort of man that had a wide circle of friends, though that mostly came from using his time for other things than socializing. Now that he had a duty to the Order, though, he was trying to be more on top of things. He had spoken with Michael, and could only hope that Tremaine would ensure some assistance from the Lupins when the need for it arrived. That said, though, he had a couple of pages he needed from Grimmauld Place and had asked Alice to come with him after their late dinner.

Never ones to mind a walk, they left the dogs with Ariel and taken off across town. They weren't particularly concerned with getting there at a specific time, but Oliver reached a hand around her waist and slowed them down when he noticed someone standing outside of the hidden building. Oliver wasn't sure if they were waiting on someone, but he didn't recognize the other man, so his suspicions were roused.

"Let's go past and come back," he suggested in Alice's ear. "I don't know who that is, so we can't just go in."

It felt stupid to just walk straight past the guy, but at least they weren't being as obvious by pretending they didn't notice him and acting like they didn't have any plans of entering Number 12.

It had been decades. Nearly three, in fact. He’d been a young man when he’d first learned about Grimmauld Place. It was grim and old, now. Well, grimmer and older. So was he, in fact. It was about time, though, that he finally broke the code on it. That had been his job after all. In the Department of Mysteries for as long as they had had him he had been a code breaker. It had made him invaluable to the government. It had also made his betrayal of them all the more acute.

Now, though, he was determined to finish the task the Dark Lord had set him all those years ago. He knew where Grimmauld Place was.

Inclining his head upwards, Augustus watched as the house grew out into view from between the other two, numbers ten and eleven. His smirk grew into a smug smile and he took his wand from his pocket, knowing that there would probably be wards that would stop him from getting inside. He could cut through them easily enough, he felt, he just needed to keep his wits about him. Only, before he could go inside, a couple came down the road.

Augustus tucked his wand back into his pocket and looked down at his watch, trying to make a show of nonchalance. He let them go past, inhaling the scent of honey and blossom that was coming off of the woman’s hair as they passed. Augustus lifted his head and his dark eyes flicked to the couple, trying to decide who exactly they were. He wasn’t blind, of course. He wasn’t stupid, either. He knew the Order inside and out, it was his job. They’d gotten a little trickier to pin down over the years as they had grown more and more erratic but their leaders were always easy to suss out.

Moreover, their leaders’ weaknesses were easy to suss out, too.

Whipping his wand from his pocket Augustus pointed it down the road at the pair. He faintly recognised the bad form so he decided to fire a warning shot instead of hopping straight to the duel. A blast of purple magic shot down the road and grazed the girl’s temple. Alice gasped, her hand flying to her head and she pulled her hand back to find her fingers sticky with hot blood.

“Ollie,” she whispered as the magic continued to bound down the street. She turned and shrank into the Connolly man as she caught sight of the man down the road, his wand still outstretched towards them.

“Evening,” Augustus called out jovially. “Love, you might want to check yourself. You’re covered in claret.”

She drew her top up to her head and feverishly tried to wipe off the blood but as soon as she did more began to flow and she looked at Ollie desperately, all of the healing spells she knew seemingly leaking out of her head with the blood.

“Oh dear girl come on,” Augustus crowed. “Episkey!” He fired the healing spell down the road and it splashed over Alice, sealing up the gouge he’d made. “Now, wands out. Let’s have a proper duel, shall we?”

The whiz of magic as it flew past his head made Oliver stop in his tracks and turn around, throwing an almost incredulous look before allowing his gaze to practically rake over the man now in front of them. Oliver would not claim to having too many things that set him off, but when it came to Alice, he had months of practice in stepping up to protect her. Nothing like this had ever come up, but it wasn't lost on him that the strength he wasn't always sure he possessed seemed to come up any time she was involved.

This man obviously knew his skills well, given the aim he had managed when it came to Alice's head. But he was sorely mistaken, this stranger was, if he thought Oliver could be so easily goaded into a fight. Still, it was clear which side this man was on, and the fact that he had nearly broken in gave Oliver a little less anxiety over whether or not to engage in the battle. He also knew that Alice could handle herself in situations like this one, but she didn't seem too thrilled with their lot that evening.

Stepping forward slowly, he moved in front of Alice and let his hand drift to his pocket and feel for his wand. "You really think that's going to get you in there?" He asked jerking his chin towards the house. "Making a show in a Muggle neighborhood will only fetch you unwanted Ministry attention and you know it. How about we be sensible for a moment?"

As much as he wanted to lift his wand and flick a disarming spell, if he missed, they would just be all the more trouble, and he would likely end up without his wand instead. At the very least, he could try and convince the other man to put his wand away. Oliver felt more certain in hand-to-hand combat, besides, and if he had to fight at all, he just hoped it would be done his way.

Shock. It froze her joints and made her body run cold. It was a witch out of practise. She was also a witch who was very much the straw to break the camel’s back and make him strong enough to carry the rest. Augustus always liked to assess and it seemed he was right about them. The weakness was always the woman. Eventually, they would all learn that lesson. It wouldn’t make them any less likely to commit to it but they would become more attuned to that weakness. The witch had lost her wits. That suited the Rookwood man just fine.

“I’m sure the Ministry has a more than capable set of Obliviators,” Augustus drawled, twirling his wand around in his hand. “Now, I fancy you’ve got something I’m after. Lay any of these wards, boy?” He asked, pointing his wand lazily in the direction of Number 12. Augustus saw Alice peer out from behind Ollie and he smirked a little bit, tilting his head to the side. “Alright there, love?” She backed off almost immediately and he chuckled, shaking his head.

“Sense is letting me in that house,” Augustus declared. “Now, you can put down your wand and tell me what the key is to getting past the wards being … well, who I am,” he tugged up the sleeve of his left arm and tilted his head forward, raising a challenging eyebrow. “Or, we can give the Muggles a show. Hm? Your witch can be the referee if you like. It might make it an even match between us with her bias.”

“Ollie,” Alice whispered feverishly, one hand coming to press against his lower back. “You know who that is, don't you?” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “He won't take any prisoners.” They had to win.

Oliver's mind was already working and putting together the pieces by the time Alice leaned in to warn him. "Hate to say it, love, but I've figured that much out." He didn't mean it to sound rude, but the stress of the situation wasn't helping him there. "Just trust me," he murmured, unable to allow himself to pull his gaze from their attacker. If anything happened because he made a mistake, Oliver would never forgive himself. That said, he was about to make a potentially massive mistake, and he only hoped Alice would realize what he was doing.

"Alright," he told the other man, his voice raised along with one of his hands. The other wrapped around Alice's back once more. "You want in? Fine. But we're coming with you. I'll take the wards down myself."

Oliver stepped forward, hoping that he wouldn't be hexed before he got to finish explaining his suggestion. "We can make a deal. Skip the duel and I'll help you. Plus," he added, giving Alice a nudge in the other man's direction. "You can hold onto her until you've gotten whatever you're after. Consider it your safety belt."

He lifted an eyebrow almost challengingly, mostly because he couldn't help himself, but lowered his chin so he would be less obviously upset. Oliver doubted he was actually managing to intimidate the man in front of him, but he didn't think it would hurt, either.

Alice stumbled forward, limbs flailing as she tried to catch and stop herself. She threw a dismayed look across her shoulder at Ollie. Fingers closed around her chin and she squeaked as she found herself nose to nose with the Death Eater. His smile was almost animalistic, a different kind of carnal she hadn’t ever seen before. She flinched and sank a little bit, hoping to wriggle out of his grip. The wand arm curled around her, though, and she felt the end of it dig into her shoulder blade. She swallowed and found herself being pulled flush to Rookwood’s side, her breathing pushing erratically through her lips as she tried to keep to her feet in spite of the way he hauled her about.

“Lucky for you, I like blondes,” Rookwood commented. Alice squeezed her eyes shut when she felt his fingers brush a lock of hair past her temple behind her ear. It was almost tender but she knew that it was closer to the way she handled Eric and Lemon, as though she was a creature, something to be petted. Not quite human, but vaguely valuable. If they wriggled their way out of this one, Alice felt as though she was going to be in the shower scrubbing her skin for the rest of the evening. Augustus chuckled in her ear as though he could hear what she was thinking.

“Oh, love,” he crooned, guiding her back towards the house, careful to put her in between himself and Ollie. “Did your father not teach you Occlumency?” She gasped and furrowed her brows down over her eyes, trying to muster up some sort of defence. Her mind suddenly felt like cool mush between her ears. Every inch of it, he began to plunder, ripping down drapes and overturning tables, entering trunks into which she’d stored her thoughts, leaving her utterly open and exposed, as though it was her clothes he’d torn through and not her secrets. “Ah-hah,” Augustus’ voice teased by her ear.

“No not that one,” she begged as she felt his approach to a dark cavern where she’d ordered her former life. He didn’t heed her. He tore through it like a storm and she felt his grip on her loosen as shock rippled through his body. She tried to pull herself out of his grasp but the wand dug painfully into her back, making her gasp and writhe awkwardly in an attempt to wriggle away from it, only serving to draw herself tighter in against him.

“My safety belt is a dead woman, Connolly,” Augustus deadpanned, a smirk rippling across his features as he assessed her. “Anderson is an old business partner of mine,” Augustus added conversationally, as though they were in a situation a thousand miles away from this one, trading stories. “I suppose I was right then, Miss Anderson, your father didn’t teach you Occlumency. Although, Paul Rousseau tried. He was always much better at politics than he was magic, that one. Oh, come come now, don’t cry, dear. We are all friends here. You see, your boyfriend will do me a favour, I’ll let him live in repayment to him and if you do something for me at a later date, I promise I won’t tell Krum where you are. How does that sound, Connolly?” He offered Ollie a sardonic smile. “Now open the house.”

Breathe, Allie.

Oliver hated him. He didn't care what this man may or may not have done for society in the past, Oliver wanted him gone. He wasn't at all that type of person usually, so it shocked him enough to cool and temper his thoughts, even as he zeroed in on Rookwood and started wondering if Alice would actually hate him for this. Oliver wasn't sure he would be able to blame her, now. Not that he was expecting her to be thrilled to begin with, obviously. But he was genuinely concerned about it now.

Being outside of the situation, and never having seen anything like that happen before, Oliver was completely lost as to how he could stop it without hurting her. She kept moving, so the best he could do was draw out his wand while the other man was distracted and hold it down at his side, just behind his arm in the hopes that she would hold still long enough to let him aim.

Rookwood spoke, though, and Oliver saw red. Again. He had absolutely no idea what the man was getting at, but he had threatened the Order, had clearly suggested what he wanted from Alice, and had done something so bad that he had made her cry. Even if Oliver wasn't certain - he had a guess - what it was, there was no excusing any of that. So when the demand came that he take down the wards, he lifted his hands slowly in a show of agreeing to go along with it.

Oliver glanced at the house, pretending his focus was settled there, but in an instant he had redirected it, aiming his wand at Rookwood's hand and releasing a slicing charm easily fit to rival the one they had seen earlier. In the moments that followed, the breaths of reaction time, he bolted forward and wrapped his fingers around the wand pointed at Alice's back, ripping it away as his wand arm reached for Alice herself.

"I'm sorry," he spoke in her ear, his pulse racing and his voice fairly unsteady. "I'm sorry. Just get back a bit, yeah? Just in case."

Oliver didn't wait to see if she listened or not. In fact, he half hoped she didn't, and that she too had her wand drawn. Turning back to Rookwood, he tucked his own away and held up the one he had stolen. "Now, let's see you be brave when you've got nothing to hide behind."

Both hands gripped either end of the wand before pushing downwards and together all at once, snapping the wood in half and releasing a tiny puff of magic. The pieces he tossed into the road, half waiting for a car to drive by and just tear them up even more like the might've done in those movies Alice liked.

Pain blistered across his hand and Augustus winced, mentally cursing himself for not anticipating a rash move from the boy. He felt his wand leave his grasp and he heard the wood splinter. When he realised what had happened, Alice was behind Ollie and Augustus, bleeding, stood alone with no magic – or, at least, no facilitator of magic.

His abilities without a wand did not extend to duelling. Without his safety belt, either, he knew he had to act or leave. He couldn’t whirl away without a wand. It would have to be on foot until he got to Diagon Alley. That would take far too long, though, so he needed to try and get to Ollie. More particularly, he needed to get to Ollie’s wand.

“You were willing to sacrifice your witch, boy,” Augustus taunted, holding out his hands, making himself a bigger target, almost daring him to strike. “Did no one teach you anything about this sort of life? If you’re going to put your own neck on the chopping board, don’t take your witch with you because she’s always going to be the one to die first.”

Augustus took a teasing step forward and behind Ollie, Alice jumped back, her juddering hands patting down her pockets for her wand. Augustus smirked. Two wands. If he could only get his hands on one of them. Hers. Hers would be easiest, silly witch that she was. It wouldn’t be right, though. Augustus spared a look at the broken shards of his wand, the core slithering out of one jagged end.

It was enough to whip up some passion in the wizard and he surged forward, making a snap judgement about what he was going to do. Naturally, the eldest had to throw the first punch.

[ooc: #AugustusPunchedFirst]

"I wouldn't let that happen," Oliver returned, his tone practically a growl. "And she is more than capable of handling herself, even around bastards like you."

He had a few more choice words that he wanted to throw out, but there was something behind Rookwood's gaze that made him hesitate.

He didn't move quick enough. The sheer force of the impact below his eyes set him staggering backwards a few steps, and this time the blood that Rookwood caused was not thanks to any magical ability or hex. Of course, Oliver had created that dilemma for himself, really, so he had no right to be as upset as he was. Except, that's right, this guy had come in and threatened pretty much everything that was important to Oliver, and he was having none of it.

Holding up a hand to protect his face, Oliver did the first thing he could think of and ducked forward, swiping a leg around to aim for the other man's ankles. He pulled out his wand again, creating a bit of distance between himself and the Death Eater.

"Alice," he began slowly, turning his chin towards her but not allowing himself to swing his gaze away. "Go inside, love. Please. Call a meeting."

(OOC: “Mum he started it!”)

A horrified gasp ripped past the blonde witch’s lips and her hands shook to stifle the sound. She stepped forward, still fumbling with her wand, but couldn’t get enough purchase on it with her sweaty palms in order to properly see about hexing Rookwood back where he came from. He had seen, though. He had unlocked every box there was to be found. She almost felt as though he would pre-empt the spell with all he’d seen of her. He knew her every whim, every penchant, every dark and dirty tale. Everything had been overturned. Now she wanted just to burrow under the duvet of her and Ollie’s bed and hide for a week. But she couldn’t and in fact she wouldn’t because the strong surging desire to protect the Connolly man overrode every desperate receptor in her body telling her to run away.

Rookwood’s back gave out a sickening crunch when he hit the pavement and he let out a guttural groan as though he was realising that he was perhaps too old for street brawls. He had fallen in a clatter and a whoosh of robes and he now looked as though he was beaten. Yet, ever a Slytherin playing the long game he chose to lay there, propped up slightly on his arms. He watched curiously as the witch turned on her heel and hurried away, disappearing behind the door to Number 12, Grimmauld Place. She’d gotten in without a hitch. But then, the wards probably recognised her benevolence. He was almost certain that the light witch could even penetrate the wards of D’Eath manor, she was so unassuming.

“Well then, Connolly,” Augustus breathed, still managing a certain level of sardonicism despite the wand in his face. “You’re a red herring indeed.” Augustus’ eyes roved over the man before him, at the wand, at the form, at the fuming look on his face. He was searching for vulnerabilities, something to exploit. But the witch had already called for the Order. He could feel the change in the air. Soon enough, they’d be thundering into Grimmauld Place like the reckless storms that they were. It wouldn’t be a place that any Death Eater would want to linger, let alone Augustus Rookwood.

“Better let me go before the Order arrive, hadn’t you? Sense of fair play and all that. Be a good Hufflepuff, boy.”