times are a-flying [Aria//OPEN]

[ALTAIR LUCIAN BLACK]

The Ministry was at a loss. Everyday people stood around gaping as yet another one of their colleagues, neighbors, or friends were taken in for "questioning" regarding their parentage. It wasn't old news that most who disappear into the lower levels never made their way back and, slowly, the day would return to the way it had been before the Ministry was lost. However, there would be a few interruptions and the cycle of fear ran through the blood of everyone. Well, most everyone.

Altair hardly showed much emotion since the Ministry came under the rule of the Dark Lord. He had been pretty much granted immunity because his blood ran pure for centuries. His mother, where ever she is now, had a strong pureblood line that not even the Black family tree could compete. It also helped that he was distantly related to the Dark Lord's most crazy...err.. most loyal follower, Bellatrix. In all honesty, Altair had never met that side of the family. His father had been disowned for helping his cousin, Sirius, years ago. It was only when he entered Hogwarts did he learn of his other family. Of course, being the prude of a woman his mother was, he was told that the Black family was nothing more than dark wizards with filthy bathing habits --- unlike her prestigious Muggle-hating family.

How Altair, one of the most attractive, athletic and promising Auror, wound up standing knee deep in wilted leaves and dirt was beyond him. He had come in to continue his apprenticeship, now mentored by a Death Eater, when he learned of the newest list of wanted Muggle borns. He had noticed a few names from school, but they held little importance in his mind. A few Ravenclaws that had giggled at him when he would come off the pitch with his shirt off. A Hufflepuff he had a skirmish with after he found a rather tacky insult etched on his desk in Transfiguration. These people didn't give him cause for concern, but the last name listed did... Aria.

He found himself looking over the list time and time again. Before he knew it, he had stunned his mentor - quite easily - and Apparated to the latest sighting of Muggle borns. There was a camp not to far that had been raided and he hoped to find any clue and no clues turned up. After a week of searching, he found himself in the exact place he did not want to be. Standing face to face with a ground of Muggle Borns, their wands raised at him with fear in their eyes. Of course it was easy for them to perceive that he, a born Slytherin and employee of the Ministry, was out to do him harm. But he didn't have time for it. He held out a picture of a beautiful girl in her seventh year. Tawny hair fell from her face as she smiled and twirled with two other girls. It was winter in the photo and snow was falling around them, casting a halo of white around the girl.

"This girl," he said, in a stern voice, "Have you seen her?" Where he had gotten the photo was a mystery. It involved threatening to pulverize a third year in order for him to get it, but once he had it he kept it close to him. Not in a weird stalkerish way... ok maybe a little.

[ARIA SAMANTHA JANE]

Aria was cold. OK, not cold, FREEZING! She might as well be a freaking ice cub she was so cold! She sat by a tree not far from the camp shivering like crazy. She knew that in her tent in the circle of muggle borns was warmth and company, but Aria didn't want that. She was about to make a phone call and she didn't want to be over heard. Aria pulled the cellphone out of her pocket and dialed the number quickly. It rang once, twice, three times and then it picked up "Jane residence." Aria smiled hearing her mothers voice loud in clear in her ear. Aria then hung up with out a word and put the phone back in her pocket. Aria called once a week to check in on them, to make sure that they were OK. She was pretty sure the death eaters wouldn't go after them, but she wanted to be sure. If they did...Aria wasn't sure what she'd do. Aria stood and dusted off her jeans as she hiked back to the camp to get warm. She had stopped just inside the circle when one of the little twelve year old kids who was on the run rushed over to her "sshhh!" he hissed as he grabbed her hand and pulled her down. "Ministry bloke just arrived." he hissed at her, clearly a little frightened. Aria nodded once and poked her head around the tent a little to see a circle of men and women all standing with their wands point to someone. She couldn't see who, a man named Mordred was blocking her sight of him. Aria looked back to the boy. "Stay low. Once you get the chance, run for the other kids and take them to my tent. You lot can hide in there, alright?" she said looking the boy in the eye. He nodded sharply still looking scared.

Aria stood leaving the boy, walking slowly over to stand behind Mordred. "Oi, that looks like Aria there! Don't it Mordred!" said a short witch, Maggie, who was facing Mordred and the stranger who was holding a picture out to the woman. Aria froze, confused. She stepped from behind Mordred and crossed her arms over her chest "What looks like me?" she asked sounding a little annoyed. "If its devilishly charming then it probably is." Aria said, trying to lighten the mood a little. Mordred turned to look at her as did most of the people, the man in the middle turned and Aria thought he looked familiar. She knew him from school for sure, she knew he was a Slytherin and that she and him had had a run in, but she couldn't remember his name right off. She glared at him and saw the picture in his hand. It was her and her two best friends, one of them had been killed recently by death eaters. She looked at him as she reached in her pocket and pulled out her wand. "What do you want with me?" she demanded stepping forward to join the circle. Aria looked him over, looking for a sign of him attacking, a sign of any kind of weakness perhaps. She gripped her wand, ready to strike if needed.

[/justify]OUTFIT: here
SONG: herez
NOTES: Mordred has a thing for Aria....just so ya know lol

[ALTAIR LUCIAN BLACK]

His heart pounded when the faces of recognition passed through almost all of those who surrounded him. Despite being up to his ears in wands, Altair kept his feet firmly planted and his chin held high. He was hardly afraid, knowing these runaways were more afraid than brave. If it came down to a brawl he had an inkling that more than half would flee and the other half were ill equipped against an Auror. Well, Auror in training. He was but one test away from becoming a full fledge Auror before the Ministry went down. Somehow he didn't find using the 3 illegal curses on captured Muggle borns as a way to test his prowess in the field. Her name filled the silent air. Cracking through the thick tension and causing Altair to hold his breath, wavering just a second.

His cobalt blue eyes descended on his former classmate as she broke through the rag-tag group. Her own eyes seemed as if they were filled with a fiery passion and, was that a hint of worry? Altair cleared his throat and pocketed the photo, folding it ever so gently as Aria's photo self looked on in amusement. Words escaped him for a moment before he cleared his throat and lowered his wand with a rather fancy twirl of his fingers until his palms were facing forward. "I mean no harm," he said without faltering, his eyes stuck on Aria. "If I were hunting for you, you lot would already be back at the Ministry."

His eyes moved from Aria to Mordred and he sensed competition from the young man. "Besides, snatchers would have no difficulty tracking you down. With your sloppy protection charms," he added, slightly sneering at the man. "I could hear you all a mile away." He cracked his neck and shoved his hands into his pocket, rummaging out a piece of parchment. Unrolling it, Altair cast a quick glance at the registry before his eyes flickered toward Aria. "Are you sure you lot want to be hanging around a third tier runaway?" he asked quizzically, noticing a few people lowering their wands to whisper. "Especially considering the latest incident involving a particular young witch injuring two of the Dark Lord's minions?" He watched as more people joined and cast looks of doubt and contempt onto Aria.

Note: He's such a douche-bag. Lol.
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[ARIA SAMANTHA JANE]

Aria was now glaring at the man. She had met many like him at the ministry, cocky, rude, all 'magic is might' crap. She was getting the feeling that this cocky, rude, 'magic is might' jerk in front of her was nnoo different. With every word the boy was making everything worse. Her mouth fell open with every sentence. She looked at all the faces at her now. Mordred, was the only one not looking at her, but she saw him shift a little. Aria eyed everyone in the circle once and then glared at the man. If she could pull out her wand and curse him to death with out the others freaking out she would be glad to do it. she knew a few that would leave him horribly deformed and she was eager to use one on him right now. She knew who he was now, oh yeah, she knew. He was the man she was going to be put in Azkabank for killing!

Aria held her chin up and said clearly "I told you all when i showed up." she said still glaring at the man "I am glad to leave if I'm imposing." Aria knew who was gonna speak first and she knew exactly what they were gonna say. "That was before we knew they were sending one after you specifically!" A short wizard on Aria's far left said. Aro. Aro hated Aria from the moment she showed up. She didn't know why, and she didn't care. "And I told you! You needed stronger spells! I told you with the ones you were using any idiot would find you and look!" Aria said pointing to the man in the middle of the circle "I was right!" she snapped at Aro. A witch from behind the man cried "Yeah, but he's only looking for you. Not all of us." she said loudly. There was murmuring around the circle. Aria looked at Mordred who still wasn't lowering his wand or looking at Aria.

Aria gave a big sigh and held her hands up "Fine! I said I would leave and so I will." she said turning to head back to her tent. "W-What do we do with him?" said Maggie, her voice worried. Aria stopped to look at him. "He's no friend of mine. Stun him if you want." she said turning to leave again. "Aria! come on!" Mordred finally said turning to look at her. "Your the one in Auror training. You are far more talented then any of us are. You have to stay." he said thickly and Aria caught the extra layer of meaning. She smiled kindly at Mordred "Majority rule." she said shrugging. Most had lowered their wands now. Aria pointed her's at the man and sent a full body bind curse at him hitting him in the chest. "I'll watch him while you all pack up and scatter." she said walking over to sit on the man chest as they all started packing up.

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[ALTAIR LUCIAN BLACK]

It was easy to scare a crowd of already frightened people into turning on one of their own. That was what he came to learn about Mudbloods. They were nothing but flighty individuals with little power to control their own emotions. In all honesty, he didn't want anything to do with them. They could all be caught by snatchers for all he cared. The one thing he cared about what getting Aria to safety, even if that meant hog tying her to a log and rolling her along with him. Needless to say, he wasn't at all surprised when they turned on her. Their wands were forgotten by their sides as fear griped their bodies. She was strong and obviously not afraid of going with some one like him, but not before she would help some one else. That was her way and that was the way of her annoying house. Altair kept his eyes on Mordred, the young wizard with an eye for his Aria. He attempted to stop the group from turning on her, but his efforts were futile. It didn't matter that he obviously had a thing for her, nor did it matter that he was the de facto leader of the runaway group. This was a democracy at its best.

Altair sighed as he saw Aria round on him. He could easily deflect her body bind charm, but he wanted to let her think she had a little more leverage than she did. His body contorted, straightening out like a board, until he fell on the ground with a thud. "Ow." He said lightly, feeling Aria sitting on his chest. Body binds were never that fun. They made you feel tingly all the way through, as if your entire body had fallen asleep. Pin and needles. Not the best few minutes he had to spend, but at least he was being somewhat happily sat on by Aria. "You do realize that your lot has made quite a commotion, haven't you?" he asked lightly, resting his head against the damp soil. "Snatchers are all around these woods, looking for just the moment to strike and you, Aria, just set off the bomb." He couldn't help but grin at the situation. Perhaps he should have told her that he triggered off a few notifying spells while walking through the forest. Snatchers were quite crafty and even with protection charms still managed to locate even the most difficult of Mudbloods.

He could only chuckle as the sounds of booming echoed across the forest. The shouts of Mudbloods filled the air as fire crashed on one of the tents. "Run! They're here!" shouted a strawberry blond man as he grasped onto his satchel and shoved a 12 year old out of the way. No one Apparated with the fear that the Ministry was monitoring who went where. A tree came crashing down as a group of three snatchers made their way out of the splinters. "Now, now loves," he said to a group of young girls, "I wonder why you lot would be out 'ere campin'" He grinned a toothy smile, one that made one of the girls break out in tears. "Let's round em up, boys," he said with a smirk, raising his wand high. Altair sighed and blinked twice, "I'd offer to help but seeing as I'm a bit... tied up..." He locked eyes with Aria for a second.

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[ARIA SAMANTHA JANE]

Aria leaped to her feet when the snatcher showed up. She sent some stunning spells and body bind curses their way. Aria was about to run to get into he mob and help fight when the man on the ground spoke. She glared down at him "Any of these people die, any of those kids die and I will come back and kill you." she said seriously. Aria had no idea why he was here and most of all she didn't know why he was so worried about her or how he knew her name, how he had that picture, or what the hell he wanted with her, but she knew that the moment he showed his true colors and hurt someone she would have reason, finally, to attack him. Aria glared down at him one more time before she rushed off to help fight the snatchers.

Aria wasn't a cowered. She was far from scared of running head first into a fight which is why Aria was so enthusiastic to be an Auror. She pushed a couple of people out of the way until she was at the front and yelled "STUPIFY!" hitting one of the snatcher right in the face. "PUT OUT THAT FIRE!" She cried as she sent more stunning spells at the snatchers. Mordred came up on her right as did another man she didn't know to well the three of them toke on three snatchers. Aria, Mordred and the other man flicked, slashed, jabbed and twirled together looking like a strange dance as they deflected and sent curses back. Mordred blocked a spell for Aria as she sent a curse at the snatcher he was fighting while the man sent two live bears at the other two. The snatchers backed up a little but when the bars turned to smoke the came back full force.

Finally Aria stunned her snatcher Mordred sent his flying into the forest and the other man had him tied tightly in ropes. Aria smiled at Mordred and the man and then went to help put out the fire. It seemed the fire was curse because it wouldn't go out no matter what. "Step back!" Aria cried as she sent a ball of water at it. the water went all over the fire but didn't put it out. "Damn." she muttered and turned as one of the kids screamed. Two snatchers where cornering the little students. Aria rushed to help them.

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