The Art of An Ending

Chapter One: The Unbreakable Vow

The street was deserted, shrouded in a chilly mist that seemed to seep in to one's very pores, though there was no sign of people anywhere in sight, though there remained ample evidence that there must have once been residents living there. There was no sound apart from the whisper of a cool breeze, and no sign of life but for a scrawny fox that had slunk down the street to nose hopefully at one of the many overflowing bags left on the pavement besides equally overflowing rubbish bins.

But then, with a very faint pop, a slim hooded figure appeared out of thin air down a shady alleyway that ran between two of the abandoned houses. The fox froze, wary eyes fixed upon this new phenomenon. The figure seemed to take its bearings for a few moments, then set off with light, quick strides, its long cloak rustling over the grass.

With a second and louder pop, another hooded figure materialised, soon rushing after the first.

"Wait!"

The harsh cry startled the fox, now crouching almost flat in the overgrown grass of the lawn. It leapt from its hiding place and stalked towards a nearby bush. There was a flash of green light, a yelp, and the fox fell back to the ground, dead.

The second figure turned over the animal with its toe.

"Just a fox," said a woman's voice dismissively from under the hood. "I thought perhaps an Auror- Cissy, wait!"

But her quarry, who had paused and looked back at the flash of light, was already rushing down the street, past where the fox had fallen.

"Cissy- Narcissa- listen to me-"

The second woman caught the first and seized her arm, but the other wrenched it away.

"Go back, Bella!"

"You must listen to me!"

"I've listened already. I've made my decision. Leave me alone!"

The woman called Narcissa was a good distance down the street now. The other woman, Bella, followed at once. Side by side, they walked, glancing around at the abandoned houses. Clearly it had been this way for some while, judging by the overgrown gardens, and clearly they had been abandoned in a rush, judging from the abandoned toys in the gardens, remnants of childhood in the form of broken seesaws and rusting swing sets. Clearly something had happened here, though questions of what and how and why remained unasked and unanswered in the chilly evening air.

"They lived here?" asked Bella in a voice of contempt. "Here? In this Muggle dunghill? We must be the first of our kind to ever set foot-"

But Narcissa was not listening; she had rushed on ahead once more, her pace quickening.

"Cissy, wait!"

Bella followed, her cloak streaming behind her, and saw Narcissa darting through an alley between the houses into a second, almost identical street. Some of the streetlamps were broken; the two women were running between patches of light and deep darkness. The pursuer caught up with her prey just as she turned another corner, this time succeeding in catching hold of her arm and swinging her round so that they faced each other.

"Cissy, you must not do this, you can't trust him-"

"The Dark Lord trusts him, doesn't he?"

"The Dark Lord is... I believe... mistaken," Bella panted, and her eyes gleamed momentarily under her hood as she looked around to check that they were indeed alone. "In any case, we were told not to speak of the plan to anyone. This is a betrayal of the Dark Lord's-"

"Let go, Bella!" snarled Narcissa and she drew a wand from beneath her cloak, holding it threateningly in the other's face. Bella merely laughed.

"Cissy, your own sister? You wouldn't-"