Lady Celestial Stars wonderful story

Part 151

: FleeingChapter Text

Voldemort scowled fiercely, he was currently under siege in Little Hangleton, having fled the Malfoy Manor due to the Rangers flocking in and out of the house and nearly discovering him deep within the recesses of the house.

He had known about the Rangers for quite some time, and even had a spy amongst their ranks. He had attempted to get a few more people to spy on their goings on, but the only way he could actually utilize their members was if they had already joined the Rangers. A Ranger that wished to join them, had to undergo a thoroughly rigorous background check, aptitude, behavioral test and an almost indecent mental scan, nothing was left to chance.

The only way that he managed to get a spy within the Rangers was due in fact to Ranger corporal had been complacent and not taken him seriously and was too confident in his own abilities. Voldemort, himself hadn't figured that the Rangers would be so strong, the corporal he had faced was on par with Mad-Eye Moody, an Auror that not even the great Lord Voldemort was willing to toy with in a magical duel. Moody had always been an Auror that he would want to kill himself, or at least send ten of his best Death Eaters to take down. Just to remove the long present thorn in his side.

Those Rangers were like a vulture, hovering over him, poised to strike at any moment....many fools said that Albus Dumbledore was the only man that he feared; they were wrong. There was an entire organization that caused him concern, and the only thing that gave him relief, was that they figured he was not worth their time. He wasn't foolish enough to be indignant about that, he considered it a blessing that they seemed too important to handle affairs dealing with him. He knew that if they took him seriously, it would be all over.

But something happened that attracted their attention, and whatever it was, he was feeling the white hot gaze of the Rangers. They were now bent on trying to find him and capture him, if they had sent a lieutenant or higher, he would have a very difficult time of getting away.

Instead of the grand Malfoy Manor, he was now holed up in the house where the sires of his father lived. It was as dark and cold as it was when he and Pettigrew arrived the year prior, it wasn't the ideal place to hide, if Dumbledore was in on the Ranger's involvement, then he would have been told by Potter the general area, but with all the protective spells that he had ordered on the house...it was as safe as he could possibly get at the moment.

"My lord, why did you leave Malfoy Manor?" came the quivering voice of Peter Pettigrew, who had caught onto the Dark Lord's robes and was apparated along with him.

"That is none of your concern Pettigrew." hissed Voldemort. He sorely wished that one of the other Death Eaters came with him, Pettigrew was a fool on the best of days...what Black and Potter saw in him was beyond him.

He had plans this year and with the Rangers now hovering over him, there was no chance of them coming to bloom. He'd have to find a way out of this mess and get back on track.

Viper stood on the taller branches of a large oak tree just outside the Riddle House. He preferred being out and about, instead of in the cold walls of the Ministry, and handling all that aggravating paperwork. Though he, as a lieutenant was at the level where he could arrest anyone without real concrete evidence, there was a still a mountain of paperwork to do, even more so if they decide to kill the criminal in the field. And each criminal had a different form that they had assigned to them. For example: a serial killer that had qualified to have the Rangers after them: Name, Alias, Last Address, How many victims, Method of killing, Civilian knowledge, etc, etc.

Then they would have to fill out a bit more paperwork: They would have to answer if the regular or magical law enforcement agents knew of their existence, then there was a whole other stack of paperwork as to why they had to step in and take over.