Rude awakening

Strange....Serena felt dizzy as she tried to gauge where she was. Despite trying to regain her composure, she continuously felt someone was siphoning out her focus.

Like a funnel filtering through her mind, she felt uncomfortable. Her eyelids twitched as she jittered.

Feeling a sharp tip against her forehead, Serena roused.

"Where am I? Who are you?" Serena screamed, clutching the armrests of her chair.

"Calm down, you are in safe hands." Ivan assured, removing his wand from her temple.

"What have you done to me?" She spoke.

"Nothing to fret about, just a little search. I don't suppose you mind waiting in that chair until he comes back." Ivan responded, walking back to his desk as he jotted down the remaining memories.

At his words Serena tried to wiggle out of the chair, but an unseen force kept pushing her down.

"Let, me go. This wasn't part of the deal." She struggled.

Ivan sighed, "I have no time for your ramblings, consider this your last chance". He flicked his wand and Serena felt her lips impossible to part.

She could only sit there and watch, Ivan ignored her and jotted down a few more notes. He seemed to be contemplating as he repeatedly tapped his quill on to the paper.

Not a minute later, the door opened and Zack barged inside.

Serena saw the boy, and tried flailing her arms to no avail, she couldn't move then an inch. At most, she glared straight at him as the he tried to figure out what had happened.

Zack noticed the girl's glued lips, and laughed.

"You said I was the one with odd hobbies? Where did you pick that up." Zack said.

" I've had my fair share of encounters." Ivan replied.

Zack moved in closer, inspecting the notebook in Ivan's hands, he nodded soberly, "Did you finish what you needed?"

"All done." Ivan said, closing the notebook.

Zack saw the scattered papers on the desk and whispered faintly, "How bad is it?"

"Worse than I thought. A man named Igor Karkaroff, an alumni of Durmstrang serves the Dark Lord. He's managed to pull old friends into his circle of death eaters. They're in a recruiting frenzy, taking old Russian routes, they've managed to bypass our borders" Ivan muttered.

Zack immediately recognized the name. Igor Karkaroff, indeed. A death eater serving the Voldemort in the first war, eventually he would go on to become Durmstrang's headmaster. Only to be slaughtered in cold blood when the Dark lord returned.

"What are our options." Zack inquired.

Before Ivan could get another word in, Serena started shuffling in her chair, seemingly begging to leave. She couldn't understand what was going on.

The two men had simply continued to mumble in low-breaths in front of her, which only served to grow her anxiety.

"It seems your friend is quite anxious despite agreeing to this." Ivan said gruffly.

"Maybe I wasn't clear about the process. I will take her from here." Zack shrugged in reply.

At his words, Ivan undid the invisible binding on her body as she finally stood up.

Her lips parted slowly, Serena gasped for air, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

Zack paced towards Serena as he pulled out a silver pin and clipped it on his jacket.

"Ready to leave?" He asked, casually.

"What the hell are you talking about. Where are we?" Serena questioned immediately.

"It's a place you shouldn't know about. I am afraid if I told you, I would have to kill you." Zack chuckled.

Serena's heart sunk to her stomach as she heard him, perhaps believing he would really do it, she went morbidly quiet.

Zack placed his hand on her shoulder, ready to apparate out, as Ivan called him.

"When you're back, be sure to join us in the assembly room."

Zack nodded as he triggered the apparition, both their figures swirled into space as they vanished.

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Serena and Zack appeared as their figures were pushed out to the safehouse.

Zack surveyed the room, as he let go of serena.

"Like I said, none of your friends are awake yet. They're safe, just as I promised."

Serena walked up to Luca, briefly checking his condition as the boy snored obliviously, She seemed hesitant as she spoke, "What now?"

Her eyes drifted off towards him looking for an answer.

"You're free to go. As far as I'm concerned, this deal is over. I played my part, you've played yours." Zack said, turning away from her.

Serena contemplated her words before finally standing up, "Thank you. For helping us." She slightly bowed her head.

Zack saw her gesture, disregarding it as he left some parting words, "You are in Bucharest, the city is safe, and it will remain so for the next few months. When you leave this house, don't come back."

Before Serena could get another word in, Zack disapparated, leaving the girl in silence.

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[Underground Base]

Ivan had gathered the various associates into one large room, as they all sat across a table. Many pondered the occasion, but some knew the death eaters threat.

As such, they gossiped amongst themselves, sharing tid bits of what they knew.

Raina who had been called back from the frontier, couldn't hold her patience any longer, " If you've called me based on here-say, then I would rather be excused. I've no time for chit chat" She slammed her first on the table.

"I find your lack of respect for our colleagues rather disturbing" Andrei commented, staring her down through his spectacles.

"Funny, I find your lack of contributions rather suspicious. Tell me, are your trackers scared of the frontier?" Raina retorted, crossing her legs as she slumped back in her chair.

Zagreus sitting beside Andrei frowned, however just as he tried to respond, he felt a hand clutching his arm under the table and he glanced to his side. Noticing Andrei's unwavering gaze towards Raina, he noticed him slightly shake his head, Zagreus hence chose to stay quiet.

"Cat got your tongue? I suppose the scout teams are just a bunch of cowards in the end. Always lurking at the sidelines, while we hold the front." Raina said.

Her words, slightly riled up the table. Few looked to her with scornful gazes, but couldn't muster up any words to interject. That was until Nikolai shot a side glance towards the woman.

His usually stoic and steady nature was nowhere to be seen, as a slight frown creased his brows. The giant man glared and scoffed.

Without saying a single word, he had squashed the minor kerfuffle within the table, as no one wished to go against him. It wasn't about power or stature, rather Nikolai's position among the society was quiet influential.

He also served as the current National Defense secretary. Despite the job being only temporarily his, he had taken the most heat among the associates, yet not a single failure had come out on his end. In fact, he was responsible to hold the western lines. Hence, not a single breach had ever occurred.

In fact, he too had heard of the death eaters covert invasion through Durmstrang's routes, his only regret was not being able to face them. He considered it his own failure to not think of that possibility.

Ivan cleared his throat, as he slammed his notebook on the table.

"If you're all done bickering and ready to listen. I assure you that today's meeting is essential. I've received crucial intelligence from, a trusted informant of mine. In fact, it could even be the difference between our victory or defeat."

At Ivan's crucial remarks, everyone had settled in their chair. Paying full attention. While the group had gone silent, Dalton stepped in the room, and took a seat.

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you thought in the comments.