Rodolphus landed squarely in the middle of the street, cutting off the two girls in their paths. Lily Evans and her best friend Pandora Quiver.
He had already investigated Lily's background and her information and knew well about her blonde haired friend who often accompanied her. Both
Lily and Pandora froze as the masked Death Eater appeared before them. The narrow street offered no escape routes. There were no side alleys cutting across from the main street to which they could dash and escape.
The only way to run was back the way they had come, but that would mean turning their backs to him. It would be suicide. Their only choice now was to stand their ground and face him head on.
Even so, Lily did not feel the kind of fear one might expect. Her heart raced, yes, but her hands were steady. She was a very competent witch and she was aware of this fact. If this Death Eater was not particularly powerful, if he was anything close to average and not extraordinary, she might just stand a chance.
Her arsenal of spells was limited to what she had learned at Hogwarts, but she was highly proficient in them. More importantly, she had always been clever, quick to adapt, precise with her wandwork, and unflinching under pressure.
Meanwhile, her friend Pandora was almost trembling with fear. She was a capable witch in her own right, and not someone you could dismiss as a below average witch. But it was not every day one came face to face with a Death Eater. The sheer pressure of seeing that dark attire and the eerie silver mask was suffocating.
"Pandora," Lily said firmly, squeezing her friend's hand in an attempt to steady her. An anxious and panicked Pandora would only become a liability in a duel. Lily needed Pandora to at least stay conscious of her situation and be able to protect herself.
"Lily Evans," Rodolphus drawled, his voice low and amused as a grin stretched behind his mask.
Like Lily, he too knew of her reputation. He remembered how Antonio Olario had spoken highly of her in the Black family gathering, praising her talent and sharpness. And the firsthand account from his brother, Rabastan, about how she had handled their ambush at Hogwarts had only fueled her growing fame. His mother, Penalia Lestrange, had taken those reports seriously, very seriously. She was not like him. She was very cautious and careful.
Rodolphus himself would not have cared much. He was confident, perhaps overconfident and too sure, that he could defeat her alone. But his mother had given him explicit instructions. Follow the plan, and take no unnecessary risks.
"You know me?" Lily asked, her disbelief evident.
"Oh, yes," Rodolphus chuckled darkly, raising his wand. A spell burst from its tip, and a plume of red smoke exploded in the sky above him. It was his signal to his subordinates.
They were nearby, his most loyal followers, bound by family relation itself. Penalia had warned him not to face Lily Evans alone and, above all, not to drag this encounter out any longer than necessary.
It took only a couple of moments before three more figures appeared in the street. Four Death Eaters were now surrounding the girls. Two behind and two, including Rodolphus, in front.
The pressure around Lily spiked instantly. Facing one Death Eater had been terrifying enough, but facing four, each cloaked in darkness and malice, was an entirely different ordeal. Her confidence about being able to hold her ground had now faltered. Probably surviving a couple of minutes facing them now seemed enough.
Following his mother's orders, Rodolphus did not waste time. A spell shot from his wand, a streak of red light racing straight for Lily's chest.
Lily reacted at the very last moment. She shoved Pandora hard toward the side of the street and leapt the other way herself, the spell narrowly missing her by inches. The air beside her shimmered where the curse had passed, the street pavement behind her cracking from its impact.
Lily clenched her jaw as realization struck her. Her end was near. But instead of fear, a final surge of resolve coursed through her veins. If she was about to die, she would die courageous. She would die brave. And she would die fighting. And if possible, she would die taking one down with her.
She raised her wand sharply, and a bolt of blue white light streaked from its tip, aiming directly for Rodolphus's head.
The speed of her counterattack took Rodolphus by surprise. For a brief instant, he saw the determination in her eyes and almost faltered.
Even so, his reflexes saved him, he flicked his wand, a spell erupted from it and the two spells collided midair, bursting in a violent flash of light.
Lily was preparing to fire again when a sudden, searing pain tore through her back. She gasped, stumbling forward as blood began to soak her robes.
A deep gash stretched across her shoulder blade where the spell from behind had struck her. A cutting curse and it had left a deep incision cutting almost to her bones.
"Lily!" Pandora screamed in fright from the side.
Rodolphus grinned beneath his mask, watching her falter. There was cruel satisfaction in his eyes, but beneath it, there was a flicker of disappointment. His pride had wanted to bring her down himself, to see her crumble under his wand. And to do it alone.
But now, someone else had stolen that moment from him. And Lily had fallen by a strike from behind on her back.
He raised his wand to deliver the final blow when the air around them suddenly changed. A suffocating pressure crashed down upon the street, thick and heavy, like the very shadow of death itself had descended. Every Death Eater froze for a fraction of a second as their instincts screamed danger.
"Who dares?" A voice, cold, commanding, and filled with fury boomed through the street, echoing off the stone walls of the shops. A figure appeared above them, descending through the air with her wand already drawn and her robes flaring in the wind.
Professor Minerva McGonagall.
"Fuck," Rodolphus hissed under his breath. His stomach twisted as dread sank in. He knew instantly, four of them together were not enough to even amuse her in a duel, let alone survive one.
"Retreat!" he snapped sharply.
The four Death Eaters did not waste a single heartbeat. The air twisted and warped around them, and in an instant, they were gone and they vanished from the street just as McGonagall's wand flared with blinding light. The place where Rodolphus had been standing was blasted open and a crater formed at that spot.
The sudden silence that followed was broken only by the sound of Lily's labored breathing and the faint rustle of her robes as she collapsed to her knees. McGonagall's boots hit the cobblestone a moment later.
Her wand was still raised, her eyes burning with restrained fury as she surveyed the damage. The Death Eaters had escaped.
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