The Alley

Chapter One

"Did you get him?"

"Yes, he's right here." The hooded ginger said, pulling the old man out from behind him.

"Stop you're crying!" A woman in a cloak matching the ginger said slapping the man's face.

"Hey! The Dark Lord wants all of the...special...prisoners to look as unharmed as possible before the execution." The ginger snapped at the woman.

When the shopkeeper heard the word execution he started to cry even more.

"Why, why me?" The man whispered to himself, hoping that the two wouldn't hear him.

"Did I tell you that you could talk?" The woman snapped.

"No." He said in a hushed voice.

"Take him away!" And with that the old man and the ginger turned down an alley and disappeared into the darkness, leaving the cloaked woman standing on the road alone. She wouldn't be alone for much longer though, another cloaked person with another terrified peasant would be arriving shortly. 

"What do you mean by "special prisoner"? The shopkeeper questioned.

"You'll find that out later. But for now all you need to worry about is keeping your mouth shut." Snapped the ginger.

****

A crowed gathered around what used to be the grand Gringots bank. Three hopeless souls stood on the porch with looks of terror on their faces. Three more people joined them,only they were dressed in the same cloaks as the shopkeeper's captor. One cloaked person stood beside each of the terrified people, their wands out and pointed at the heads of the peasants. Many people were gathered around the steps of the bank with the same looks of terror that the prisoners did. There was a group of women crying on a step and another group of men on the verge of tears near them. Everyone knew what was going on. It happened about once a month, the Death Eaters would go to different towns and capture people for public execution. If a Death Eater came knocking on your door at a random hour your death was almost certain.  The Dark Lord wanted the people of the world to know who was in charge, as if the mass killings and the cruelty wasn't enough.

The cloaked ginger was standing outside the crowd along side the women that he had crossed paths with earlier. Their job was to make sure that the people didn't try to escape from seeing the execution that was about to take place. 

"Ron." The woman whispered softly.

"Keep quiet." He whispered back while looking around to make sure that nobody else was listening or watching them. 

"I don't know how much longer we can keep this up." She said exhaling deeply. "The Dark Lord will find out soon enough and we will both be dead."

"They won't find out if we just do what the Dark Lord asks of us." The ginger who the woman referred to as Ron said. "All we have to do is capture, kill and stay under the radar and we will be safe."

"But don't you feel bad. I mean...all we are doing is thinking about ourselves. All the people that we have killed and the lives that we have ruined, doesn't that make you feel guilty?" The woman asked.

"No, no it doesn't." And with that Ron returned to watching the terrified crowed that stood before him. His face had a look of seriousness plastered on it.

"ATTENTION!" A Death Eater who during school was known as Blaise shouted from the top of the porch where the prisoners stood. "Now, you all know why you are here, but in case you didn't I'll enlighten your deluded minds." He smirked a little before continuing. "There are three of your fellow people standing beside me, each has committed a crime in which the punishment results in death." Blaise points to a middle aged man. "He denied any involved with a rebel militia after being seen attacking Death Eaters with said militia." He pointed to a young woman with blonde hair that reached the middle of her back. "She was caught trying to steal food from a Death Eaters' home." Blaise finally pointed to the shopkeeper. "He was caught trying to sell information to one of the biggest rebel militias." The shopkeeper lowered his head and mouthed, "It wasn't me."

Before anyone had the chance to speak or run away the guards yelled a fearsome AVADA KEDAVRA! And the three prisoners fell dead to the ground. Ron could see the shopkeeper, his eyes were now completely lifeless and a glassy film covered the pupil. Ron turned his head and held back tears that were practically forcing their way out of his eyes. He looked at the woman who he was standing by earlier, he saw her inhale deeply and exhale the same way. It was over for now, soon he would venture out into the world again and rip an innocent soul from their family and all that they knew. But for now, it was over.