"I'll kill him."
Amy's voice shook, not with fear but with rage. The name Old One-Eye hit her like a physical blow. Her hands trembled as years of buried fury clawed their way back to the surface.
That man had ruined everything. Not her career, not her reputation. Those were just titles. What broke her was the memory of standing there as an Auror, watching fifty Muggles die, knowing she had failed them. Knowing she had been powerless.
After her dismissal, she had hunted Old One-Eye obsessively, chasing rumors across borders, nights blurring into days. But he was internationally wanted for a reason. One woman alone was never going to catch him. When the trail went cold, the bottle became her refuge. Then the money ran out. The house was sold. The Leaky Cauldron became home.
"Amy," Lina said softly, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Don't rush in blindly. He's dangerous, and he has people. Stay here. Tonight, I'll bring him in myself."
Lina meant it. If Old One-Eye was caught by French Aurors, he would be tried in France. And France did not offer life sentences for monsters like him. A guilty verdict meant immediate execution.
Amy's breathing gradually slowed under Lina's grip.
Rowan, meanwhile, had caught onto something else entirely.
"Restricted ancient artifacts," he said quietly. "That's interesting."
These weren't ordinary cursed objects. Standard restricted items were dangerous enough, usually enchanted through dark alchemy and banned outright. But ancient relics were worse. They were excavated from old wizarding tombs, forged with forgotten magic, their effects unpredictable.
They were valuable because they offered glimpses into lost branches of magic. They were forbidden because they were disasters waiting to happen.
A century ago, an American wizard had purchased one smuggled relic taken from beneath a pyramid. Mishandling it had wiped out an entire neighborhood. Three hundred Muggles dead.
Every Ministry treated this trade as a capital crime.
By the time night fell, Lina left to rendezvous with her team.
Amy waited exactly ten seconds before slipping into invisibility and following her.
Rowan followed too.
Amy tracked Lina from the streets, careful and quiet. Rowan took to the air, wings spread, gliding above the rooftops under concealment. If Old One-Eye was moving ancient relics, there might be knowledge worth salvaging before everything went up in flames.
They reached the western edge of the magical district, where Lina and a group of Aurors stopped in front of a brightly lit tent.
A magical creature performance troupe.
It made sense. A crowd. Noise. Movement. Legal use of expanded space charms. Perfect cover.
Decades ago, these shows had featured lethal beasts. Now they were regulated spectacles, filled with rare but harmless creatures meant to entertain families. The Ministry allowed them to use large-scale extension charms precisely because no one wanted magical animals escaping into the city.
Rowan had attended once or twice. No real danger. No real interest.
Lina and the Aurors bought tickets, disguised as ordinary visitors. Amy dropped her concealment briefly to do the same. Rowan landed, dismissed his wings, and followed.
Inside, the tent expanded into a vast indoor arena, easily the size of multiple football fields. Hundreds of witches and wizards filled the space, children darting between stalls selling enchanted sweets and novelty charms. Firework spells shaped like flying beasts crackled overhead. Bubble rides drifted lazily through the air.
Finding anyone in that chaos would be a nightmare.
Rowan moved to higher ground and waited.
He didn't wait long.
An explosion tore through a performance platform several sections away. The tent shook. Screams erupted.
A voice boomed through the air, amplified by magic. "Aurors of the Ministry! A dark wizard apprehension is in progress! All civilians, evacuate immediately!"
Panic surged as families fled toward the exits. As the crowd thinned, the scene came into focus.
Two groups faced each other across the ruined platform.
On one side, Lina and the French Aurors, wands raised.
On the other, Old One-Eye and his followers.
They hadn't started fighting yet.
Several ordinary witches and wizards were being held between them, wands pressed to their throats.
Hostages.