Riding a Nightmare

The Bare Facts

Last Time:

Instead of getting ready for bed she started planning her next move, which definitely involved figuring out what was going on downstairs ...

XXXXXXXXXX

A beautiful crow landed on a perch that was surrounded by cats next to Hedwig. The felines didn't pay the birds any mind. In fact, they moved away and a few mewed toward the next room over.

"Coming, my fuzzy ones!" A woman called from the other room and footsteps were heard coming towards them. Ms. Figg came into the room and spotted the crow. "A message from the Death Eater spies? What news could there be right now?"

The message was opened immediately. She was hoping to hear of some more secret plans of Tom's. What she didn't expect was to get word about that one brat that got away.

Good news: The boy was found and they know who he is.

Bad news: The boy was not brutally murdered, but was, instead, found by Tom and identified.

"The brat that saw us ... It's the very brat that wasn't supposed to be let out of his cage! Where the fuck are those idiots?!" Ms. Figg roared as she rounded on the real Hedwig and the innocent crow. "Oh dear. My apologies. I'm not mad at you." She reassured the sweet birds and cats she accidentally startled with her outburst.

After taking a couple breaths to calm down she rushed off. Rummaging upstairs was heard making the cats curious and go closer to peek at what the old woman was doing. Before all the kitties could get up the stairs they came scrambling back down with Ms. Figg. In her one hand was a wooden stamp and in the other was a duffel bag.

"Be a dear and deliver this to those three idiots." Ms. Figg said as she handed Hedwig the stamp, which would make the word 'Lord' when the rubber end was dipped in ink and pressed on paper. "Even those fools should be able to figure out the portkey's password. If not, there's no hope for them." She muttered bitterly.

After the owl flew off to find the people posing as the Dursley family, Ms. Figg rolled up her right sleeve. Tattooed on her wrist was a triangular mark exactly like the marks that Tom found on the spies. Of course, Ms. Figg wasn't aware that the spies who sent her this most recent report were being captured at this very moment. She was too busy worrying about people searching for information on the boy.

Swiftly she picked up her supposedly innocent woven basket and pulled out a wand hidden under the blanket. One incantation a spell was cast, effectively proving that this woman wasn't a squib. After that she reluctantly put the wand back in the basket and opened it up. However, just as she was pulling out a jar she heard the distinctive pop of someone arriving via portkey.

Me. Figg silently stood up and turned, with her jar in hand, to face the three guests, "It didn't take long for Hedwig to find you."

Even though Ms. Figg's tone seemed calm, something was off. All the cats started sneaking quietly out of the room. The crow ruffled its feathers nervously before deciding to fly out the window. It flew away so quickly that it nearly hit Hedwig, who was returning.

The slender Vernon sighed, "We couldn't find a decent lead so we came back to see if there was any news."

The wizard who pretended to be Dudley spotted a white feather out of the corner of his eye. When he glanced over he noticed that Hedwig already bolted despite returning only a second ago. The very fit, muscular wizard also spotted the distinct lack of cats. With one subtle signal he warned the fake Petunia though she seemed to understand how furious Ms. Figg actually was already. It was the Vernon wizard who didn't get it ... yet.

"Is there anything new?" Vernon asked, not really reading the room properly.

Ms. Figg gave a deceitfully calm smile as she walked slowly towards Vernon, "As a matter of fact, there was a report just moments ago." She stopped right in front of Vernon and her smile almost seemed to sharpen slightly. Both Petunia and Dudley stiffened, but Vernon remained oblivious of the danger. "A spy team found out who the brat was-"