A/N: I am so excited about this story and I hope after this first chapter you all will be too. It is a slightly different kind of story for me to try and it has been fun and thrilling to put together.

And remember…the clues are there.

I have to thank my beta rubraaura, who really does make what I think is a good chapter great. She is the magician in this partnership, and I can not thank her enough.

The room was dark, save for a single candle on a dusty desk. The old heavy velvet curtains were closed, blocking out any light that might escape from inside. The furniture was old and dirty and although it was a large room the light from the candle only illuminated the desk making it seem very small and claustrophobic. The musty, stale smell of emptiness overpowered even the burning candle wax, contributing to the closed vibe of the room. Outside the sound of the whistling wind penetrated the brick walls and echoed through the dark corridors of the old, abandon mansion, a reminder of the barrenness that surrounded it.

Vincent Crabbe, one of the few remaining, uncaught Death Eaters, sat huddled over the desk flicking through the pages of his newest comic and chuckling to himself, a deep resonating chuckle that rumbled around the room harmonising with the storm outside.

The comic he read was quite humorous to him, each magical page containing a segment of a story about a young Muggle girl getting lost in an enchanted forest and encountering vicious magical monsters. There were, of course, no words in the comic. Crabbe wasn’t one to spoil a good story with complicated words that distracted from the entertaining images.

Vincent had been in hiding for just over a month. His involvement and later escape from the war had left him a marked man, but thankfully there were others like him, others more talented in their magical abilities who worked together to conceal and protect the last few Death Eaters from the army of Aurors and wizards who believed they protected the rest of the Wizarding World from the remaining elements of evil.

The only downside to this protection was being made to stay indoors, in the damp, dark mansion alone. Not so much of a problem for Vincent though, he was happy with his comics and his own company. He slept when he wanted, wandered around when he wanted, and spent hours looking at and admiring the collection of portraits of likeminded pureblood wizards that adorned the corridors of the old Lestrange Mansion. Another complaint would be that there was no house elf to provide him with food or service. He was visited twice a day by Kreacher, one of the only remaining, non-liberated house elves in the wizarding world. That mudblood Granger had finally managed to convince the Ministry that after the war had ended the best thing to keep the elves on their side was to give them the freedom to choose their own destinies. The decree was far to complicated for him to understand, but the upshot of it, for him, was he had no-one to provide for him while in his temporary exile.

The stillness was broken by the crack of someone Apparating into the room. Vincent lifted his gaze momentarily from his comic and sighed. “ ’Bout bloody time, I’m starvin’, ” he said grumpily.

“Really? That is unfortunate, isn’t it? But the charm will work better on an empty stomach.”

Vincent turned and grabbed for his wand.

“Expelliarmus!” The intruder shouted, causing Vincent’s wand to fly out of his hand and slide across the floor towards the door. “I don’t think you’ll be needing that, Vincent.”

“YOU!” He cried, astonished by the appearance of the intruder. “What are you doing here; How did you...”

“Well, that would be telling now, wouldn’t it?” the intruder interrupted in a mocking voice.

“But you can’t have... We have Dark Magic to hide us... We...”

“Yes, yes, I know, I know. You all feel safe with your Concealment Charms and Diversion Charms and whatever other Dark Magic you are using to hide from the Aurors. But where there’s a will there’s a way, Vincent, and I, obviously, have found a way to circumvent your… modus operandi.”

Vincent’s face scrunched up, a befuddled, confused look upon his face.

“Oh dear, Vincent, did I use big words you couldn’t understand?” the intruder asked sarcastically. “I found out how to find you,” the intruder whispered. “The Aurors still can’t do it, although I have no idea why, it’s quite a simple spell really, so I find myself in a unique position. I am, as you know, not an Auror, but should I reveal my secrets? A question I ask myself frequently, but each time I ask it I find myself reluctant to share. So here I am, acting as a vigilante if you will, assisting the Ministry in their efforts to rid our world of Death Eaters.”

“So it was you then, you who caught Nott.”

“Yes, bless him. He wasn’t so tough when he was on his own. Cowering in the corner of his cottage, he was. Never thought I’d see the day one of you actually apologised to me, but he did. The Aurors were astounded when I sent the alarm flare up... the red lion was ingenuous, don’t you think?”

Vincent huffed in disgust. “I’ll tell them, tell them who you are, tell them what you’re doing!” he shouted indignantly.

“There you go again, jumping the gun. What will you tell them Vincent? That I was here? That I caught you? They would laugh at you. They would never believe you, but just in case they did, I intend to Obliviate our conversation from your memory... As a precautionary measure, of course.”

The intruder moved over to the curtains and pulled them open. The night was dark and stormy, but that made no difference to the intruder. With a flick and a swish, the alarm was sent, and a huge roaring red lion filled the dark sky. A crash of thunder boomed outside, followed by a bolt of lightning that seemed to rip open the sky, and then they were there, a troop of Aurors on their Firebolt 2005’s zooming through the clouds and towards the dilapidated mansion.

“Oh, I am cutting it fine; they are much quicker this time, they might catch me if I don’t hurry,” the intruder said, turning dramatically cloak swishing in a theatrical manner.

“W..w...what you g...g...gonna do?” Vincent asked, a slight quiver in his voice.

“Hand you over, of course. But I must first remove me from your memory. It’s been... a pleasure talking to you again Vincent. OBLIVIATE.”

Happy that Vincent was suitably restrained, the intruder brought a small bottle from beneath their cloak and a few drops of it’s contents were trickled over the room leaving the most unusual smell to circulate around, then, the intruder brought out a card with an ornate letter M printed on the front and placed it carefully onto Vincent’s chest.

“It was a pleasure, Vincent... to send you to Azkaban.”

The intruder turned quickly back to the window and picked up the broom they had brought with them.

The muffled sounds of people filtered through the door. The intruder loved this part of the capture. Leaving it to the last moment to leave, the intruder posed a quandary to the Auror squad. Should they chase or should they concentrate on the unconscious prisoner? With the Nott capture, they chased, but only for a while, the intruder was too good a flyer for them, but would they be tempted this time?

As the door crashed open the intruder plunged out of the window and sped away into the night, but a quick glance over their shoulder showed two of the Auror team in hot pursuit.

Flying was the intruder’s best weapon. The broom came to life, twisting and turning through the forest in front of the Mansion. The sound of breaking twigs followed the intruder’s path through the trees and the slapping of the wet cloak flapping behind sounded like the leathery bat wings scrambling through the night. The Aurors were not put off by the thick wooded chase though, and deftly followed weaving their way over and under the branches. On the other side of the forest was a meadow, long and wide with no hiding place for the fliers to conceal themselves in.

Speed and clouds would be the essence of the chase now.

Gripping the broom, the intruder pulled up hard and turned to see what distance there was between the Aurors. They were too close for comfort, so with every effort the intruder pulled the bloom skyward and accelerated for the cover of clouds.

Behind, the Aurors looked at each other and copied their prey. Pulling hard upward they too accelerated into the clouds in pursuit of their intended target.

Flying in the cloudy skies had it’s drawbacks though and as the Aurors struggled to keep their target in sight, the rain and wind seemed only too happy to aid the intruder in the escape, whipping strands of wet red and black hair into the eyes of the Aurors and obscuring their sight.

“Harry, mate, let’s go back. He’s too fast.”

“Come on Ron… We can get him.”

“Harry, don’t be stupid. He’s well gone. The cloud’s too thick, mate, we’ll never find him.”

Harry pulled up on his broom and sighed, “Have you ever seen anyone fly like that? So fast and agile.”

Ron pulled up along side Harry and wiped his face with the cuff of his Auror cloak “Not even Krum was that good, or you mate, no offence. Who ever that is I want to shake their hand before arresting them.”

“Yeah,” Harry chuckled “...me too.”

The pair turned back towards the mansion, but little did they know that high above them was the elusive intruder, smiling and sweeping back their hair with pride at the sound of the two best fliers in the ministry admitting that they were better at flying than them.