Chapter 67. Fugitives Have No Friends

Minerva hurried to her office, she couldn't let Albeline escape or she would have a dead student on her hand without the suspect.

She was confident that Harry was quite a skilled Auror but the more she thought about how capable Albeline was, the more she feared that Harry would be able to subdue him all alone.

She hated to air the dirty laundry of the school but it had to be done if she didn't want to lose the only suspect of the crime.

It wasn't just that, all the evidence pointed to Albeline, it was the conclusion of combined speculation that brought them to this point.

There were also dark rumors circulating about him, if this was true then they had more to be worried about than just one dead student.

So she put a call to the Ministry to ask for their assistance, briefly explaining the issue at hand as best as she could while maintaining the image of the school.

Their reply was instantaneous, a couple Aurors would be dispatched immediately to handle it.

-*-

I put up a shield charm immediately after I registered the presence of other people and it was good that I did because an explosive charm ricocheted off my shield the next moment.

I was yet to even see who it was after me but they were already attacking.

The spell cast at me had been powerful too, if my shield charm hadn't been made by the Elder wand I would have been thrown backwards.

For the umpteenth time today, panic crawled up my spine, unease clogging my veins.

They were constantly backing me into a corner, the logical reaction would be to lash out like a wounded animal but I wouldn't do that.

They could take everything from me but my pride would remain, I wasn't going to let them win the mental battle even if they won physically.

Before I could react, a couple more spells hit the shield charm. 

I spun around, my head swiveling from side to side as I tried to gauge where the attacks were coming from.

Were they apparating from one spot to another to confuse me? How many were they?

I couldn't remain here though, eventually, there would be a spell that would break through my shield or pass through it.

In a breath I apparated, letting my instincts guide me to my destination because I had no idea where to go.

I materialized right in front of Vannessa's cottage, the familiar door in front of me.

I was on Butter Street!

The next moment, the front door swung open to reveal my Aunt, she was dressed in fancy robes with a crooked witch hat perched on her head. She looked to be in a hurry.

She froze up when she saw me, her wide eyes looking me up and down.

"A-Audric? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in school?" She forced a nervous laugh.

"Aunt V…" I started to say only for her to cut me off.

"W-Why is there b-blood on your robes? I-I'm sorry but I'm in a hurry." She stuttered, making no move to leave the doorway.

"I…" I tried to explain myself hoping that she would be the one person to believe me.

"You're not allowed here anymore." She said in a firm voice.

As her words sank in, my ears started to ring. It felt like the world was moving away from me.

"W-What?"

"Ever since I took you in, it's been one trouble after another." She lashed out, her brows dropping low. "After months of delay I'm finally getting the award that I worked decades for, I'm not letting you ruin it."

I stepped back like she physically hit me. It would have been a different situation if I had been the one to go to her first.

No, she had been the one to request that I move in with her and now she was blaming me for everything wrong in her life.

I pushed a hand through my hair, unable to laugh or cry.

"So why did you take me in, in the first place?" I asked in a fragile voice.

Even though my Aunt had been switching up in the last month, her cottage was still the first place I came to because I thought that maybe family meant something to her.

'Yeah, I guess not.'

"You just wanted to be seen as the nice Aunt that was kind enough to take in her orphaned nephew." I stepped backwards as I spoke.

She was all in when it boosted her reputation but now that I was in trouble, she was all too quick to distance herself.

This was reality though, fugitives had no friends.

"You ungrateful wretch, you're not even grateful that I took you in when you had nobody!" Vannessa's face scrunched up in anger.

I remained calm or maybe I had just gone numb.

"On the contrary, Aunt, I'm extremely grateful even though you helped me out only for your own selfish means."

"Never call me your Aunt, now please leave my house." Her voice went frigid.

I took this in stride, turning away from her and walking off without another word.

I walked till I got to the crooked sign that read 'Butter St.'

Then I apparated, vanishing from sight with a crack.

-*-

Vannessa had to go back to the living room to catch her breath. She locked the front door firmly behind her and then gingerly sat down on a chair, her robes swirling around her.

Castor and Pollux wrapped themselves around her legs, meowing loudly in an attempt to get her attention.

She placed a hand on her forehead, breathing deeply in an attempt to quell her racing heart.

She knew she should have just kept away from the entire Albeline family, it didn't matter if her sister married into it or not.

A niggling little voice at a dark part of her heart said otherwise though but she silenced it.

It was better that she hadn't been chosen, or she would have been dead by now. Just like Susanne.

The past didn't matter anymore.

She was her own person now, she could take care of herself.

Vannessa shot to her feet, she had an award ceremony to attend, and she couldn't be late.

She stopped to check around the cottage if Audric had come back, only to bump into two Aurors.

"We're sorry to bother you but have your nephew come here?" The taller of the duo asked.

Vannessa quelled the fear in her heart, she had nothing to do with that troublemaker anymore.

"I don't have a nephew." She replied stiffly.

The Aurors shared a look but humored her. "Have you had any strange visitors this morning then?"

"Not at all." She threw her nose up in disdain. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have an award to receive." She dismissed them, walking off.

Audric Albeline reminded her too much of his father, he was quite skilled at raising hell.

A bittersweet shadow of a smile made an appearance on her face before it faded away like it was never there. 

Vannessa lifted her shoulders, dematerializing on her next step.

The Aurors that had questioned her waited till she was gone before moving on to the next stage of their investigation.

They apparated here after a quick regroup because it was one of the places that they suspected that the suspect would try to hide in.

A tracking spell had been used as soon as they materialized here and it revealed the traces of someone apparating just as they predicted.

There were also traces of magical footprints, there had to be some clues to uncover.

They thought that Vannessa acted that way because she was trying to protect her nephew so instead of leaving, they broke into her house to do a more in-depth search.

All they found were two demonic cats that tried to claw their eyes out.

They found the room that seemed to have belonged to the suspect but it was all cleared out, everything in the room packed up in boxes.

Even after using a tracking spell, they found nothing.

They restored the cottage to the state that they had found it in, escaping from the clutches of the two cats.

The shorter Auror spat out a tuft of cat fur, an exasperated expression on his face as his partner quickly healed the scratches that the cats had left them.

"Why are we chasing after this student again? He doesn't want to attend classes or something?"

The tall Auror narrowed his eyes, his gaze sharp. "The Headmistress of Hogwarts had said that he knows something about a student that went missing but I feel like it's more than that."

"You feel like our guy straight-up murdered someone?"

The tall Auror choked back laughter at how blunt his partner was. "I suppose we'll find out soon enough." He replied, bringing out a radio, he needed to report their findings.