Full Moon
12 October, 2011.
Middle of the night. Knockturn Alley

Only the orange spot of light hovering at about 6 foot above the ground gave away that there was a wizard waiting in a dark spindly arm of Knockturn Alley, nearby Borgin & Burkes. It was the light of a lit cigarette hanging from the lip of local resident, Nathan Briggs. Out on the Alley proper, the light of a full moon cast dramatic shadows. The denizens of this peculiar neighborhood moved through and through, scarce as ever, but with particular care. Briggs, too, was practicing that same care, waiting for whoever it was he was supposed to meet.

He was an in-between. Which is what he'd always been, and if pressed, he'd tell you why in detail. He'd had plenty of time to think about his life during his relatively quick turn in Azkaban Prison. And ultimately, he decided, it all came down to a) boredom, b) a generally misanthropic demeanor, and c) a belief he was owed something.  He was always exactly where he wanted to be, or so he'd claim.

Knockturn locals knew who Nate Briggs was. He'd worked for the Sellaphixes. He'd worked for Cinead Tawse. Now he worked in the kitchen at Calaveras in Diagon Alley. And, lately, he worked for whoever would pay him to break the doldrums.

"That you?"

A shadow darkened the mouth of Nate's little alley. Had his contact arrived?
 

Voices carried through the darkened alley, more loudly than they probably should have for the time of night. Though not entirely clear as to what they were saying it was obvious there were two, a male and a female voice, sporadically interrupted by laughter. As they carried closer to where Briggs was lurking words became a bit clearer.

"This is a bad idea Bri, let's just go back to the flat." The male voice was saying as his tall figure was Taking shape, lean and muscular with dark hair and piercing grey blue eyes that caught what little light could be found.

Practically dancing around him was a pixie of a blonde, easily half a foot shorter than him and apparently on the same level of intoxication, "C'mon Wentworth. I've got years of drunken shenanigans to make up for. Live a little."

They both looked to Nate when he spoke and exchanged a look. Peyton grabbed at his cousin anticipating what she was about to do but couldn't catch hold of the pint sized Auror in time, "Yes, It's me. You got the stuff?" She said in a deep serious voice before breaking out in a fit of giggles, apparently Briar Cavanaugh did not handle her booze well.

Nate drew his wand in the dark in the moment two (not one) form entered the alley. The voice was wrong and - oh for Merlin's sake, it was some soggy party girl and her boyfriend, presumably.

"Lumos obscurus," he incanted, and the tip of his wand glowed a dim red to illuminate who'd invaded his meeting. His contact would absolutely not engage if there was more than Nate present in the alley. With the added light, he immediately recognized Peyton Wentworth.

Nate Briggs was secretly an avid reader of Witch Weekly. He'd begun ironically, hate-reading. But after a time, he found himself keeping up to date and sending in letters under a false name. So yea - he recognized the young Quidditch player. However, he didn't recognize his compact witch of a companion.

"That's cute. Time for you to keep moving. Good night." He ashed his cigarette and gestured 'shoo'.

Peyton looked the guy up and down. His intoxicated brain working on instinct more than anything else. The man was actually rather cute, he was sure Nick would have made some kind of comment or another had they been out together. Then again had he been out with his boyfriend instead of his cousin, they likely wouldn't have made it out to Knockturn Alley in the middle of the night.

He moved forward and placed his hand on Briar's shoulder, giving it a slight tug. Whatever or whoever this guy was waiting for, it certainly wasn't them and he didn't think he wanted to be around when said visitor finally did arrive. Cute or not, hanging around waiting for someone at midnight smelled like more trouble than Peyton needed in his life.

"Sorry bout her, mate. You think the Crimson Robes would be teaching her how to hold her alcohol." He spoke with a smile and a casual air as he usual did. Peyton was often more naive than he gave himself credit for and thought nothing of mentioning that his cousin was an Auror. In Knockturn of all places.

Briar shrugged off Peyton's hand. She was still getting used to having him around and hadn't quite gotten to the physical affection and comfort stage of their relationship. While she had known the Quidditch Star since she was Eleven and had taken countless classes with him it was only recently that she had learned of their familial connection and only a few months since they started living together. That being said she did enjoy his company and much preferred him over his brooding brother. Not to mention he was currently dating her former Housemate, she needed to keep him save for Nick's sake.

She spun to look up at him, "Oh c'mon Wentworth I'm just having a bit of fun." She cocked her head to the side having noticed the way Peyton had looked over Nate, "Wait no," She looked back to Nate and appraised him herself, "Seriously this guy?" She waved towards their momentary company, "Don't tell me this guy is seriously your type?" She managed to elicit a deep blush and a glare from her cousin, "Oh come on!" She let out a bark of a laugh again.

"Honestly cuz, you need better taste." She looked back to Nate over her shoulder, "No offense, mate."

Nate did not miss the clue that the witch was with the Aurors. Too young looking to be bonafide, more likely a recruit. Lovely. (And he was now connecting Wentworth was gay and she was probably not his girlfriend.) They were now having a cute little tiff for his benefit, and he dropped his wand with a sigh.

They weren't going to leave. And she was as good as an Auror, so it wouldn't do to escalate things. Any other couple he might have flicked a Knockturn Neighborly Jinx their way as some charming local flavor, but lighting a fire under a semi-famous Quidditch pin-up and his miniature Auror friend would not be clever at all.

"None taken," he mumbled.  His fence was not going to be happy about the missed rendevous, but there was nothing to be done of it now.

"You two, eh, celebrating something? Don't you know this is a dodgy part of town?"

Peyton was now beet red. He could have throttled Briar. Then again he had known the former Gryffindor long enough to know that something like this was bound to happen. His cousin seemed to lack certain filters. Ones Peyton believed were essential for polite conversations with strangers. Did he think Nate was attractive? yes, but that had been more of a fleeting observation. There was no reason for her to have called him out on it, nor make their sudden companion painfully aware of it.

"Please, please ignore her." Peyton's voice was tight and tense, showing just how much he wanted to be out of there. He never should have agreed to come down here.

He gave a nervous chuckle and offered Nate a smile, "Celebrating? No, more like commiserating. My lovely cousin here decided I should get drunk each time I lose a match." He spoke plainly without context. Oblivious to the fact that not everyone's life revolved around Quidditch like his own did.

Without thinking he quickly added, "If it's so dodgy why are you out here then?"

'Save me, Merlin, Nate thought. It was time to extricate himself from whatever this was.

"Because I'm dodgy," he replied as if it was written on his shirt. "Well, it's been lovely -"

 Nate had begun to move past them out of the alley when a lit wand appeared in the entrance, backlighting Wentworth and Cavanaugh. It was too bright to see who held the wand, but Nate had a guess. He quickly stepped between the couple and the new visitor and tried to act as if nothing at all was out of the ordinary.

"Great, you showed. These two were just leaving." For a moment there was no response.

Then the figure replied in a rolling American accent, "this wasn't the deal, Briggs."

"Don't be an arsehole about it, it's fine."[1]

1.	I don't have a plan, other than this is the guy that Nate was going to meet to sell something illegal to.

The wide smile on the miniature Auror's face made it clear that she was enjoying torturing her cousin. She gave him a sharp nudge in the ribs when he told their companion to ignore her. She was only having a bit of fun and it wasn't as if they were ever going to see this guy again after tonight.

She let out a bark of a laugh when Nate responded that he was dodgy. Her cousin really was just that naive. Perhaps too many bludgers to the head. The other man didn't exactly look intimidating but then again anyone with a wand could be potentially dangerous. She wasn't exactly the scariest person herself.

Briar whipped around at the voice behind her and had instinctively drawn her wand. The lit wand tip made it near impossible to see the other man's face. Her own fight or flight instincts were kicking in if slightly delayed by the alcohol in her system.

"Yeah mate, don't be an arsehole." She gave a wink despite not being able to see who she was talking to. She wasn't sure how long the other man had been standing there but took a shot in the dark that he hadn't caught their previous exchange.

She shifted from standing next to Peyton to standing next to Nate and put a hand on his shoulder, "our friend here was just asking for an Autograph, he's a huge Quidditch fan." She could see Peyton's eye widen at her gamble. She gave him a look as if to say 'I got this'. Claiming herself to be an Auror wasn't a guarantee that they'd be safe but playing the rich and famous card could be enough to cause the other man to back down. If he attacked them it was more likely to make the front page.

"My god, the simplest thing..." came the long-suffering response from their visitor. "Should've known better than to trust an ex-con."

Anticipating what was about to happen, Nate raised his wand. The stranger's light went out and for a moment his solid frame was backlit from the alley. Acting swiftly the stranger then uttered a spell and there was a rumbling and from the entrance of the alley came a billowing of thick, dusty smoke. Nate could just make it out - the bricks of the buildings and streets were rapidly restacking themselves around the three.

Nate immediately spun to try and slip out the back way but almost slammed into a wall closing up behind them. Above, the same story. The twinkle of the night sky bricked up.

"Lumos obscurus." His wand lit them in a low red glow. He was shaking his head at the other two. "Perfect."

He wasn't exactly worried for his life; magic could dismantle what magic had erected. He was, however, thoroughly inconvenienced and was sure he'd be in that state for some time to follow, because these two dimwits and their nocturnal stroll. Hopefully, the miniature Auror pup wouldn't get all law-enforcey.

Peyton swore loudly as the trio was boxed into some strange brick box. He reeled on his cousin, fire in his grey blue eyes, "Are you kidding me Bri?! Signing autographs?! That's the best you could come up with?!" He started to pace the box. He hadn't bothered taking out his wand. There was a reason he was a Professional Quidditch player and it certainly had nothing to do with his wandwork.

He looked to Nate who seemed to be as pleased with their current predicament as he was, "Look Dodgy, I'm sorry my cousin is a complete git." He paced again stopping every so often to press his hands against the wall to make sure it wasn't an illusion.

He spun back around to his cousin, "you better be able to fix this or so help me Briar-"

Nate had to cross his arms to maintain a comfortable distance from the pacing Quidditch player. Thankfully, Wentworth's ire was directed at his cousin. The less attention paid to the 'why' of this encounter the better. Actually, ideally, both trespassers would forget any of this every happened. The thought of a memory-altering spell crossed his mind, but that wasn't a spell he just head ready in his pocket. No need to make this worse.

"Untwist, mate," Nate said, honestly trying not to come off as patronizing. "Probably only bricks. Just Apparate."

Eh, then he winced. The one who'd entombed them, he had a rather devious reputation and Nate realized it was absolutely possible a nasty curse or two had been added to ensure a splinching.

"Or if one of you can pop a shield charm, I can blast a hole."

The space was tight, thought Nate, and flying shards of stone didn't seem appetizing.

Briar made a show of rolling her eyes at Peyton as he went off on her. Had she not been currently a trainee for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she'd be tempted to hex him. Her wand was already in her hand and it was twitching. She didn't appreciate him scolding her like this. She didn't like anyone scolding her, family or not and despite having known each other for all of their teenaged years, they had only recently discovered they were related.

Instead she turned to their unwilling companion. She was feeling herself sober up somewhat, though she was rather confident in her own skills even if she had been completely sloshed, "Apparating is off the table." She added sharply without explanation. She hadn't been thinking along the same lines as Nate - that the bricks were hexed - but the fact that she knew Peyton had failed his apparition test the first go around. She wasn't sure if he had succeeded in the make up course.

Without a further word Briar threw up a solid and rather strong shield spell around the three of them, "do what you're gonna do mate." She was still intent on keeping things casual and friendly with Nate.

Well, piss - this baby Auror was being clear-headed and reasonable! What was this world coming to? It was frankly a little unsettling, but gift horse and all that. She was being very helpful in his efforts to get away with some light crime.

Nate made sure he was safetly with in the Ministry Approved and Tested Magical Shield^TM, and cast a stout 'Reducto' at the street-side part of their little brick house. The sound rattled nearby windows, but the wall was pulverized. Bits of masonry were thrown into the street, and some were deflected away from them by the magical shield. Each impact made a ripple like a pebble in a pond.

Loud noises were not that uncommon in Knockturn, but that was no comfort for some grouchy/dangerous residents. It was best to shoo.

He turned two his new friends and placed his hands together in front of his chest.

"Thank you, dears. Must be going. I hope your stay in Knockturn is brief. Bit of advice? Avoid dark crannies," he said as he began to saunter backwards to the street.

Peyton was thankful for the shield that Briar had thrown up. He knew that it would be a powerful one. She didn't get into the Auror Academy just because she was a Cavanaugh. There was some real raw talent there. Despite it all though he had thrown his arms around Briar, his big frame easily taking over her smaller one and kept his back to the explosion. Her charm was still in place long after the rubble settled and only dissipated when he let go of her.

Peyton stood up and brushed himself off even though none of the debris had landed on him. He nodded curtly to Nate before he sauntered off, "same to you mate." He eyed him suspiciously for the first time that night. He was thankful that no one had been hurt during their chance encounter but it was obvious now that their companion likely had been there without the best intentions. Peyton found himself wondering what they had managed to interrupt and just how lucky they had been to be walking away.

He looked down at his pint sized cousin, "was that enough adventure for you?"