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[Bentley Fenwick]

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Fenwick honestly thought he was done with studying the minute he picked up his quill for his last NEWT exam. But no, of course not. To be a Hit Wizard, he had to learn all sorts of defenses and spells far beyond NEWT-level. Which was fine, really, because he did like learning new spells and putting magic to use. He just didn’t think there’d be written tests involved; he should have expected that, of course, but he’d hoped there would be more practical lessons than studying. And tonight, he knew he’d be studying for hours with all the reading his group had been assigned.

Thankfully, the material wasn’t as bad as some of his classes in school had been. Herbology was the absolute worst, and he’d been almost devastated when Professor McGonagall told him he’d have to take it in his NEWT-levels if he wanted to have a career as a Hit Wizard. Herbology and Potions sometimes went hand-in-hand, after all, and Fenwick needed to be able to identify helpful plants in case of an emergency. He understood that, and begrudgingly saw the logic and reason in it, but it didn’t make him enjoy the class any more than he previously had. Somehow, though, he’d managed to achieve an E on his final NEWT, which was amazing to him considering how much he detested the course. And stupid Professor Sprout was always happy and smiling, which he had to admit pissed him off a little. He didn’t like those people on principle alone.

It was particularly sunny that Friday afternoon after training, but it was still too cold outside to actually enjoy it. Still, Fenwick had no desire to go home; the house always had curtains drawn, because his mother had too many headaches to handle any light, and Fenwick was trying to avoid her as much as possible. They’d gotten in a particularly nasty fight the other day, when he’d mentioned he found a flat and would be moving into it at the end of the month. Marla had panicked, cried hysterically, and begged him not to leave her, because he was her “baby boy” and she had to take care of him. When Fenwick said he was an adult and she couldn’t even take care of herself, Marla turned nasty and called him a bunch of names he didn’t think his mother even knew. One thing led to another, and they got into a shouting match, screaming about how much they hated each other until Marla was so exhausted that she passed out in her chair and Fenwick carried her up the stairs and put her to bed. He’d been determinedly avoiding her ever since.

Which was why he decided not to go straight home after training, but took a walk instead. All around London were little shops invisible to Muggles, and Fenwick decided to stop in a little café with a wide window that allowed the sun to stream inside. Despite many of the tables being full, it was relatively quiet inside, which he liked. He could study here, he figured, and it’d be more effective than trying to do it at home. An elderly chap was just leaving a table by the window, and Fenwick went over and placed his bag on the chair before anyone else could come in and snag it. Then, making sure he had some money on him, he went up to the counter to order. A pretty witch was working the counter alone, though he could see two blokes in the kitchen behind her. “What can I getcha?” she asked with a smile.

“What’s the best drink here?” he asked; the menu looked a little confusing. He wanted just a coffee, but it didn’t look like they served it.

“All of them,” the girl replied with a wink. Fenwick gave a short chuckle and leaned forward a bit.

“Okay,” he said a little breathily, hoping this would speed up the process, “what’s your favourite?”

The girl giggled and blushed before looking up at the menu. “For hot drinks, I like the uh… the Colombian Concoction. It’s got a bit of spice in it. And it’s fresh.”

“I’ll take it,” Fenwick decided; it sounded a bit exotic, but maybe this was a more exotic type of café. Well, next time he’d just stick to a Muggle teahouse, then. While the girl prepared his drink, he went and sat down at his table and pulled his books out of his bag.

Maybe the drink would keep him awake enough to focus, if nothing else.

lily evans

[Lily Evans]

It had been over seven months since Lily and James' disaster of a wedding and she still hadn't taken on the Potter name. Sometimes Lily wanted to say screw it, invite their closest friends to a city hall wedding and just get it over and done with, she was that impatient to become Lily Potter. But even that was proving to be pretty much impossible. James had been traveling more frequently than ever these days, and Lily had been tracking a death eater's movements for weeks now, waiting for the right moment to corner him and bring him back to the Order's headquarters for questioning. And thus, somehow, the wedding was the first and last thing on her mind - the last during the day because she was busy with order and/or auror business, and then the first when it was dark and James was home and she was curled into him, her head against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart and falling in love with him all over again as his deep baritone described his day and his finger made gentle, random patterns against her bare skin. It was those times, in the quiet of the night, when she wished she could do the cowardly thing and elope. Just get away from it all. From the Order, from Voldemort. Go somewhere where no one knew who they were, what they did or what they were doing. Those kind of thoughts lasted only a minute, sometimes seconds, before they were quickly batted away. Lily could never live with herself if she did something that selfish. Just thinking about it made her stomach twist with guilt and she threw herself further into her work. She couldn't abandon the wizarding world when there was a madman running around killing her kind; muggleborns. Muggles. Even some half-bloods. No one on the other side was safe from Voldemort.

It was a crisp morning, the perfect day for a stroll around the park because the weather wasn't too bad as long as you were wearing a thick jacket that had a heating spell placed on it and, for once, it didn't look like it would rain, and yet, instead of enjoying it, Lily Evans was following the suspect all the way into a nice-looking cafe. She hesitated around the corner, waiting for him to enter and, after waiting a safe amount of time, she followed, wincing when the bell rang quietly to indicate her entrance. She crossed to the bar immediately and ordered a black coffee, watching the heavy-set male through the reflective glass behind the bar. As soon as she received her order, Lily spun around and casually surveyed the area. She did a double-take when her gaze reached a familiar face, eyes narrowing a little and then widening in surprise. Before she could think of doing otherwise, Lily found her feet carrying her towards her friend's table, speaking quietly. "Fenwick?" When he looked up, a warm smile unfurled on her lips and she placed a hand against the back of the empty chair opposite him, tilting her head questioningly. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"

[/color] She still had a pretty good view of the potential Death Eater from this seat, and she figured she'd at least be a little more conspicuous here than she would be if she was to sit alone.

When he invited her to sit, she smiled gratefully and pulled out the chair, crossing her legs as soon as she was seated and taking a sip of her drink. Her smile became a little wider as she did the customary glance over what she could see of him. "You look good. How has life been treating you? Merlin, it's been much too long. I haven't seen or spoken to you since we graduated!"[/color] Fenwick and her weren't particularly close; but then again, she had gotten the impression from school that he wasn't particularly close to anyone. Maybe it was just an assumption (and Lily was aware of the phrase that to assume made an ass out of you and me), but she'd seen enough of his interactions to know that most of them had been particularly friendly. He was an intimidating bloke, certainly, but Lily had always found him to be pretty harmless - to her, anyway, although she was sure there were plenty of students from their year who would disagree whole-heartedly. Maybe it was just because he'd always treated her somewhat kindly. More so than other people, at least. And yes, she had noticed. Lily Evans noticed a lot of things. "What've you been up to since graduation? Gosh, it's so great to see you."[/color] If her smile was perhaps a little too enthusiastic, it was because Lily hadn't had the opportunity to just sit and talk with someone who wasn't a part of the order in a very long time. Seeing a fairly new face was definitely something uplifting. And even though she was technically here on Order business, she couldn't see the harm in catching up with an old school friend while she waited for Dolohov to make his next move.

ooc: this is really short and horrible, but i haven't written for lily in so long and i'm still trying to get back in touch with her ;___;

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[Bentley Fenwick]

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The Colombian Concoction was actually disgusting. Fenwick did his best to not gag the second it hit his taste buds, but he didn’t waste time in setting the cup down firmly on the table and pushing it away from him. Well… he certainly woke up, even though it was from how gross it tasted more than anything else. Maybe he could focus on his reading now. Taking out his books, he flipped open the first one to the last page they’d discussed in class.

“Fenwick?”

Now that was a familiar voice he hadn’t expected to hear. Fenwick lifted his head, his eyebrows going up at the same time as the one and only Lily Evans smiled down at him. He blinked, perplexed, since it was rare that anyone actually smiled when coming across him. Then again, he never gave them much reason to. But Evans was… different. All throughout Hogwarts, Fenwick had respected her for her intelligence and common sense, and the fact that she didn’t take shit from anyone, but his respect dwindled a bit in seventh year. That was when she’d started dating that dunderhead Potter, something Fenwick would never understand. But (to his disdain) he seemed to make Evans happy, and anyway, he wasn’t friends with her, so what did it matter to him who she dated? It didn’t. Obviously.

“Yeah, go ahead,” he said automatically, mentally kicking himself for it. He actually did need to study and Evans was a huge distraction. Physically, she was more attractive than she knew – or maybe Fenwick just had a thing for redheads with freckles. So of course Fenwick wanted to look at her and appreciate the view; not that he was a pervert or anything, but when a pretty girl – woman – sat across from him, deliberately, he wanted to look at her. And Evans seemed eager to sit with him, for some reason. He figured he ought to count it as a bonus, but something was definitely off, especially at how pleased she seemed to be at running into him. He’d respected her, sure, but they certainly weren’t friends in school, and he highly doubted they would be now. Even this whole façade of playing catch-up and the ‘how’ve you beens’ would get old after a few minutes; it would have been easier to get it over with if she hadn’t invited herself to sit. He peered at her curiously for a moment, wondering if she was sitting with him to “blend in” – maybe an old flame was chasing after her and she needed a break. He glanced around the shop, but didn’t see anyone staring at him or Evans, so he shrugged it off.

“I know what you mean. Haven’t really spoken to anyone from our year.” It was true; he was one of the only 1977 graduates that went directly into training to become a Hit Wizard. It wasn’t a popular career choice at all, and he knew a lot of students wanted to do other things before settling down with a career. He saw former classmates around the Ministry, sure, especially since Hit Wizards and Aurors were close departments, but didn’t make an effort to communicate.

“I’ve been all right,” he replied, keeping his tone casual. Evans’ eyes kept flicking somewhere behind him, but he didn’t turn around. She probably didn’t want him to notice. “Doing homework, of all the bloody things.” He indicated his books, but relaxed his posture in his chair to show that he didn’t care about the interruption (even though he kind-of did). “Thought I’d seen the end of that, but no, no, there’s always more. I’m uh, trying to be a Hit Wizard. Someday.” He gave a low chuckle and flipped some pages of his book absently, glancing back at Evans and tilting his head a bit. She drank black coffee. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he made a note of it. Fenwick tended to notice small personal details like that; at least, he did with people he respected.

Oh, all right, and with girls he may have once fancied. Once. Years ago. But she dated stupid people, like that Prewett bloke and now Potter.

“What about you then, huh? What’s your life story?” His eyes flickered to her ring finger; there was no wedding band there, not yet. “Still with that Potter bloke or did that ship sink after graduation?”

He couldn’t have a conversation without being a little bit of an asshole, whether he had a soft spot for Evans or not.

[Lily Evans]

It wasn't a surprise to hear that Fenwick hadn't really stayed in touch with anyone. She'd been in the same House with him for seven years and they'd hardly had an entire conversation that lasted longer than ten minutes, and she'd noticed that he constantly preferred to be alone. She honestly didn't even know if he had any friends. Why she had noticed was beyond her. Although - all right, that was a bit of a lie. She knew why she'd noticed, because back in fifth year, she'd harbored some sort of...odd mixture of admiration, respect and borderline-infatuation. She couldn't call it a crush, because one didn't crush on someone like Fenwick. No, no, it was mostly just a great interest in him, because because a part of her had always found him somewhat mysterious. Maybe it was the perpetual expression of angst or anger, or the way he didn't speak unless spoken to, or the fact that he was so incredibly intelligent, but not just in academia in particular. She'd taken enough classes with him to know that he was reasonably book smart. She didn't quite know how to describe it; it had only been a sort of girlish fascination. Thinking back on it made her feel embarrassed by the juvenile girl from her past, and grateful that Fenwick had never seemingly noticed. She supposed the one relief she had about that phase in her life was that she hadn't done the typical things one did with their crush, like scribble hearts all over her notebooks and test what her name would sound if she took on his last name. She had to pat her fifteen-year-old-self on the back for having some restraint. But that all came back to the fact that it wasn't really a crush. More like an intense admiration and curiosity about him that never really went away, only faded into something a lot less...well. Strong.

Lily was startled by the mention of homework, glancing down and feeling guilty for not even noticing that he'd been doing something important before she had so rudely interrupted him. "Oh! I'm really sorry, I didn't even realise..." She trailed off and bit her lower lip uncertainly, assessing him. For someone who'd been interrupted, he didn't look too bothered. In fact, he almost looked relaxed about it all. Maybe it wasn't that important. Or maybe he was just putting up a front for her. You never could tell with Fenwick. Still, Lily took the easy way out and relaxed in her chair again, sipping at her coffee and wishing she'd put in some more sugar to take away the bitterness. The caffeine would help her stay alert, though. She had no idea how long she'd be able to tail her suspect for today; she may get lucky and have him not disappear on her. He'd slipped from her fingers one too many times, and frankly she was starting to get a little tired of it. "Hit Wizard, huh?"

[/color] she repeated, genuinely interested as her green eyes left the muscle-bound man to fixate on her old friend. "That's pretty interesting. Suits you, I think, and I mean that as a compliment,"[/color] she added with a genuine smile before raising her cup to her lips and glancing behind him to make sure her target was still within her sights, taking note of what she could see of the people he was talking to so that she could try to match them up with names later if she needed to. "What's it like, studying for that? I'll bet it's tougher than being an Auror. You have to learn to be a lot...sneakier, I suppose?"[/color] she guessed uncertainly, wanting to keep the conversation going, and not just because this table happened to be a prime spying position.

His words didn't phase her much; if anything, she found herself smiling indulgently at him. "Yes, I'm still with 'that Potter bloke',"[/color] she confirmed with a light chuckle. "I'm studying to be an Auror, actually. I dunno if you knew that or not. It was either that or be a Healer. For some reason, being an Auror called to me."[/color] She shrugged casually. Maybe it was her innate need to not just help people, but to protect them too. Or maybe it was because, with this war, every soldier counted. She glanced up again and momentarily felt a flutter of panic when she saw the Death Eater make to stand and leave. Making a split-second decision, Lily leaned forward and spoke quickly, her words low and rushed. "Okay, cards on the table - I'm following someone. You've probably already noticed, I'm still working on my subtlety. But I need to bring him in tonight because I have enough reason to believe that he...deserves it,"[/color] she had been about to say that he works for You-Know-Who, but no matter how low she'd dropped her voice, you never really know. "I could really use your wand. I'm handy with a wand, but he's got physical strength over me. Think you can momentarily postpone your studies long enough to do that? Could be good practice for your future occupation."[/color] Her words were, perhaps, a little manipulative, but persuasion was all part of her training. That's how she justified it, at least.

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[Bentley Fenwick]

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The best thing about Evans, Fenwick decided, was that she wasn’t your typical smart girl. She had an edge to her; of course, she followed the rules, always dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, but she was also a person you never wanted to cross. Maybe it was because she was a redhead and they were famous for their ‘fiery tempers’, but Fenwick definitely had respect for her, enough that he didn’t try to piss her off as much as he did others. Plus, she wanted to be an Auror – she hadn’t gone unnoticed by him at the Ministry, or the fact that she was in some of the classes and training sessions Aurors shared with Hit Wizards – though she and Fenwick had never been in the same one. But how many girls wanted to be Aurors these days? He’d have thought she’d be a Healer, or come back to Hogwarts as a professor. But no; she wanted to be an Auror and fight dark wizards and save the bloody world. Evans was cool, and she didn’t let it get to her head, though he was sure she knew it.

“I figured, I’m going to need my own bed at Mungo’s anyway, with all the shit I get myself into,” he said, cracking a small grin. Once upon a time, he could have tried not being an ass and getting into fights. Nowadays, he decided that it was just… easier… to be the way he was. Being nice wouldn’t get rid of all the anger he had built up inside of him from the years of darkness and abuse at home, years he kept secret from everyone. Being nice to others wouldn’t make him feel any better. Anyway, it didn’t matter. “Might as well have it covered by the Ministry.”

Oh. So she had considered being a Healer. Then again, it made sense, for her. Both professions were involved with helping people and saving lives, but an Auror was more… full of action, more trying to prevent the things from occurring rather than trying to save those who’d already been hurt. “I’ve seen you around the Ministry, yeah. Thought you were just following Potter around, but it’s… good… that you want to be an Auror. It’s dangerous though, you know. Rough business. I’m sure you’ve noticed it’s mostly men.” He raised his eyebrows, taking another sip of his disgusting coffee and grimacing. He actually wasn’t trying to piss her off, but he was curious as to how she would react if he pushed a couple buttons.

Her eyes kept looking somewhere beyond him, something he’d briefly noticed before; this time, though, she seemed to find what she was looking for. Fenwick’s stomach seemed to leap upward as she lowered her voice and explained the situation. He leaned forward, his studying forgotten and his asshole attitude gone; this was serious, because Evans wouldn’t (and probably couldn’t) make a joke about something like this. His brows furrowed as he listened intently, his mind made up before she even asked that he was going to help her bring him in. He glanced past her shoulder to the window behind her, trying to catch a glimpse of who she was looking at, but he couldn’t tell even though he could see the other customers reflected. “Who is it?” he asked her, his voice just as low. In his head, Fenwick tried to go over his training. He needed to look natural so as to not set the mark off. Leaning back, but keeping his gaze on the window, he tried to look casual as he put his book back into his satchel. Evans quickly whispered the mark to him, and Fenwick saw his reflection at the last second as he walked past their table. Making a split second decision, Fenwick reached for his coffee, “accidentally” knocking it to the side so that it spilled onto the sleeve of the target.

“Oh, terribly sorry!” Fenwick exclaimed, standing up and grabbing the target’s sleeve. “Such a clumsy little sod, I am – are you hurt? Let me take a look.” He tried to roll up his sleeve, but with a curse and an insult, the bloke shook him off and kept going. Fenwick glanced at Evans for confirmation; they waited a few moments before rising in unison and going after him.

It didn’t take too long to catch up to the mark; it was obvious he didn’t know that he was being followed. Fenwick reached inside his pocket and pulled out his wand, only just realising that he’d left his bag back at the coffee shop, but he’d go back for it later. The adrenaline was starting to pump through his veins and he couldn’t help but grin. Come on – this was exciting.

“I think,” he said lowly to Evans as they gained some ground, not bothering to hide his excitement, “I really should take a look at that arm.”

Chuckling to himself, he raised his wand.

[Lily Evans]

At his joke - or what she assumed to be a joke, at any rate - Lily chuckled lightly, although she didn't doubt his words one bit. "Fair enough." While she might not know a whole lot about Fenwick, she knew that he was the type who would be in and out of the hospital wing because of his general tendency to be violent and aggressive, especially towards other people. She was sure he'd also put a number of his classmates in the hospital wing as well. Judging from the glint in his eyes she often saw, and the bulge of his muscles, she guessed that he won most of the fights he participated in. And yes, she had noticed said bulging muscles. Although a woman engaged to be married, and one who was completely and utterly in love, too, surely Lily was allowed to appreciate another man's...ah. Assets, as it were. It wasn't like she expected James to turn a blind eye when a woman with a particularly large pair of knockers strutted by. She just hoped that he'd be subtle enough about it so she didn't have to at least act jealous or annoyed. Naturally, if said bird happened to purposefully eying her fiance and was actively trying to claim James' attention, then she certainly wouldn't be acting at all.

"Yeah, it is quite dangerous," she agreed, her eyes slightly narrowed. Was he trying to insinuate that women were incapable of handling themselves in such dangerous situations, or was he simply trying to tug a reaction out of her? Either way, she simply smiled politely and took a sip of her coffee. "I have better things to do then follow James around like a lost puppy,"

[/color] she added, finally addressing the comment that had irked her the most. Although she'd never seen much blatant difference in the whole women empowerment bit - as in, people still viewed women as inferior, at least slightly, to men - Lily had hoped that, with the start of the war and every able witch or wizard being needed that it would have lessened a little. But she had still noticed the distinct lack of females during training, and Lily often felt like she had something to prove, like she deserved to be here as much as the men and just because she was anatomically different did not make her weaker. "And it may be rough business, but it's nothing that I can't handle,"[/color] she said dismissively, and if she seemed a little defensive that's because, well, she was.

Thankfully, now that Lily was addressing him about a serious matter, Fenwick seemed to drop all acts of purposefully riling her up, leaning forward to listen to her. She knew instantly that she'd made the right decision in trusting him - he was cautious, a lot more than her, and quite subtle. Plus, while she would have simply tried to follow him out, Fenwick went the extra mile and attempted to confirm their suspicions that he was, in fact, a Death Eater. Lily couldn't help but be impressed by his little ruse of knocking over the coffee onto the sleeve of the man's robes, although she kept her expression deceptively blank, her eyes slightly narrowed on the forearm, attempting to catch a glimpse of what would have been damning evidence. The fact that the man was insistent on shaking off Fenwick's attempts to "aide" him was evidence enough that he had something to hide, or that's what Lily decided, anyway. She didn't need much proof, anyhow - the man he had been talking to was a suspect as well, although not one that was on Lily's list, as far as she knew. When Fenwick looked over at her as the man hastened to leave, she gave the tiniest of nods and then stood with him, letting him lead the way while her fingers automatically dove into her robes, wrapping around her wand, always the type to be prepared just in case.

She had to quicken her pace to keep up with Fenwick's much longer strides, but she was a lot less winded then she would have been in the same situation before training. They'd had to learn about building their stamina, especially if they were chasing someone without magic, or running away from someone, also without magic or the ability to apparate. When she realised they were gaining on the Death Eater, Lily's grip on her wand tightened and she pulled it out, the anticipation and thrill building up in her stomach as she moved even faster. She hadn't been on very many chases before, so this was both new and exciting and she could see it was infecting Fenwick, too. In the back of her mind, she realised that they were both just a pair of eighteen/nineteen year olds fighting a war for those much older than them, who'd lived a lot longer. They could claim maturity all they wanted - at the end of the day, things such as missions and training and all of that, while still taken seriously, still proved to be somewhat of an exciting...well, game almost. Oh, Lily realised that a lot of it was life-or-death situations. But that didn't make it any less thrilling. If anything, it was the opposite. And she was well-aware that it sounded juvenile and stupid, but she was barely nineteen years old. She figured she had some allowance.

As soon as Fenwick spoke, the Death Eater turned, and the redhead saw the tip of a wand and a flash of red and acted on instinct, shouting "Protego!" and reaching to push her hand against Fenwick's chest so that he was behind her and protected by the shield, from which the spell bounced off harmlessly. "You're only making this worse on yourself,"[/color] she warned him, keeping her voice calm, but determined. "Don't do anything rash. It's two against one, we all know who's going to win this fight,"[/color] she continued, sounding completely certain.

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[Bentley Fenwick]

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Get him.

It was the only thought in Fenwick’s head as he and Evans approached the suspect from behind. Get him, get him down, and keep him there. Who needed back up? Who needed the professionals, the fully-trained Aurors and Hit Wizards? Evans had been the brightest witch in their year, and certainly was a lot tougher than Fenwick had given her credit for. And he, himself, had been quietly smart, achieving high grades with a chip on his shoulder and a punch waiting for anyone who crossed him. He was capable of bringing down a Death Eater, with or without Evans’ help, he was sure of it. He gripped his wand tightly, keeping his eyes trained on the suspect’s back as they drew closer.

Their suspicions of him being a shady character were confirmed as he whirled to face them, wand raised and a spell coming their way. Fenwick readied himself for a counter-strike, but Evans had shoved herself in front of him, sending the suspect’s spell off-course. He mentally commended her on her quick reflexes, and had to admit that her reaction had been better than his. A counter-spell would have done no good if he’d been hit and knocked out of commission; a Shield Charm was definitely the smarter option. She was clearly good at them, too, having made a strong one seemingly effortlessly. Rational thought was quickly being pushed out of Fenwick’s mind as rage began to build; the realisation that he tried to attack them was setting in, and Fenwick felt a little snarl emit from the back of his throat. Evans was saying something, encouraging him not to do anything and just come quietly, but Fenwick knew that wasn’t the case. In fact, he was hoping it wasn’t.

And he was right; no sooner had Evans stopped talking than he raised his wand arm. This time, Fenwick didn’t hide behind a Shield Charm; he threw himself in front of Evans, non-verbally casting, “Everte Statum!” as he swished his wand. The suspect tried to dodge, but the spell hit, sending him flying backward a few feet and landing in a heap. Fenwick stepped forward, grinning triumphantly, but he’d only taken a few steps before the Death Eater flailed to his feet and sent his own spell at him on the way up. Fenwick gasped for air, feeling as though he’d been punched in the gut. He doubled over and clutched his sides, which were now searing in pain, as though his insides were being burned up.

Okay, now he was pissed off.

“Son of a—” he growled. “Furnunculus!” he shouted, feeling a bit of satisfaction as he heard the Death Eater shouting in pain. Boils popping up all over your body was never a pleasant experience; Fenwick had never thought to use it in a duel himself, but one of his opponents had done it during training, and the pain had been so intense that he was too distracted to focus on his next spell. Funny how such a simple, childish spell could cause so much damage. Fenwick tried to stand, but the breath was still knocked out of him; whatever spell the suspect had cast lasted longer than most offensive curses. He tried to suck in a breath through his mouth, getting a bit more air into his lungs, and finally managed to get to his feet. “I’m fine,” he snapped at Evans, though he couldn’t really recall her asking; she just seemed the sort. “I’m fine, just – get him, get that f**k*r.”

There was a red haze taking over Fenwick’s vision; the more he tried to catch his breath, the more infuriated he became at the man who’d cast the curse. It wasn’t a job now; it wasn’t something Evans had asked him to help with. Now, it was personal, even though Fenwick didn’t even know who the hell the suspect even was. His ribs hurt and his lungs burned and his vision swam, and he just wanted to wrap his hands around the man’s throat and squeeze until – no. No, he couldn’t do that. That wasn’t his job, his duty. As a Hit Wizard, he was trained to only kill if absolutely necessary, and they weren’t at that point yet. At this point, he was pissed off enough that he almost hoped it would be. And if it came down to it, well…

Maybe then he’d be the one begging for breath.