The Secret Between Us - Prt.2

Chapter Eight.

The prime minister sent one last call to push his meeting back. Astoria, who was on the corner of the room reading her copy of the daily prophet, sank even more into her chair. "So how long will Kingsley keep you up here?" asked the man, taking the young witch's attention.

Astoria set her newspaper down. She folded it, and slid to the very edge of the rather comfortable ivy armchair. "Don't tell me you're already getting tired of my company, Minister. I thought we were getting along." The minister laughed, "Don't worry, Ms. Greengrass. You're a lovely company, but your sudden presence has brought unwanted attention."

"Do you care about gossip more than your life?"

"Gossip can end my career, which is far worse than death."

Astoria lifted her brows as a way of telling the man she understood what he meant. She stood up, setting the newspaper on the minister's desk before grabbing a piece of paper and pencil. "What are you doing?" he asked. Astoria didn't answer the question until she was done with her letter. "Checking in with my boss," she tilted her head to look into the minister's brown eyes. "Since you're so eager to see me go, I want to know how things are on the other side. If they're good, who knows, maybe I'll be on the next train out of here."

"I don't like bodyguards, but i never said I wanted you to leave."

"What are you trying to say, prime minister?"

"I think you know exactly what I'm trying to say, Ms. Greengrass," the minister replied slyly.

Astoria scoffed, for she knew the man was only talk. "Careful there, we wouldn't want the wife to misinterpret things."

"Oh that old hag's probably out somewhere playing chess," said the minister with a chuckle that sparked a small giggle from Astoria. He later took a small glance at the daily prophet. "So how are things over there? In the wizarding world."

Astoria rolled up the piece of paper she had written in. "Well, not good since I'm here, but Kingsley's working on it."

The minister nodded. He stood up, and Astoria gave him a skeptical look. "I'll just order some food, do you want anything?"

"No, I have to owl this."

"I still don't understand why you don't just use the telephone," muttered the man as he picked up his telephone. "You wizards are stuck farther in the past than my father."

"It's the way we work," Astoria replied, stepping outside to send the owl.

There was a light knock on the door that forced the minister to stand up and open it, something he shouldn't do without his escort's presence. On the other side of the door stood his head of security.

"Baron? Is there something wrong?"

The man collapsed in front of him, revealing a short woman wearing a set of black robes burned at its tips. At that moment, Astoria walked in, playing with her wand.

"Turns out my owl's gone--" she raised her eyes towards the now open door. In a sync, both women drew their wands out. "Put it down," Astoria warned.

Zoe giggled, as if Astoria's warning had been some sort of hilarious joke.

"Crucio."

Astoria dodged the curse, while the minister, knowing he was powerless, took cover behind his desk. She wildly moved her wand in a triangular motion, shooting the young woman a nonverbal spell. She blocked it, and took cover behind the chair Astoria had been sitting only minutes ago.

Seeing as the intruder was distracted and much more powerful than her, Astoria scurried behind the desk. "Take my hand," she ordered the minister.

He looked at her with some skepticism. "Just do it!" She snapped while trying to hold Zoe back. The minister did as told. He quickly felt all his insides twist and turn. His hand seemed to do a whole one eighty turn; as if it was made out of elastic.

Astoria tried to disapparate out of the room, but instead only managed to get out five meters from where they were. The unknown witch took this opportunity to point her wand at Astoria.

With a little smirk she said, "Crucio." Astoria fell to her knees. She tried to shoot a spell, but the agonizing pain was too much. The minister quickly crawled out to her side and stole her wand. He aimed it at the witch, yet all she did was laugh.

"It isn't a gun, you filthy mudblood."

The minister tried his best to copy the movement Astoria had done before going down. Zoe smirked. Slowly, she walked to the terrified man, and stabbed him on the throat. She clicked her tongue.

"Beg."

The man swallowed hard. "What?" He croaked.

Zoe brought the wand even higher up the minister's neck. "I want you to beg for your life."

Through ragged breaths, Astoria dragged her way to the woman. Zoe was surprised she managed to move, so she kicked her in the face, knocking her out instantly. Because of what she did, Zoe's patience was now over the edge. She took a step back, then raised her wand once more to the minister.

"Avada Kedavra."

The minister flew back, taking one last dying breath before course took effect.

Zoe skipped past the minister, picked up Astoria's wand, and made her way to the minister's desk to sit on it. She played with the pen on the desk, and later on, a squad, lumpy, and pallid man walked into the room. "Take Greengrass to the ministry," Zoe said, beginning to look through the drawers. "I want Kingsley to know he can't hide this anymore."

Amycus walked towards Astoria, picked her up, and disapparated with her in his arms. Zoe jumped from the desk, knowing that with both minister's death, she needed to act fast, so she called for her beloved pet. It was outside, having its fun with the other wizards stunning the rest of the minister's security detail. He raced into the office.

As she walked out of the room, Zoe pointed at the dead minister. "There's your snack," she said with a slight smile, leaving her pet to dine in on the corpses.

Once outside, Zoe's followers converted into a black cloud, and flew into the air to wreak havoc on another part of England. Zoe waited until Abandon, her black great dane, was out of the house before disapparating along with him.