The war was over.

That should have made him happy, and yet the world felt evenmore gray and dismal than it had before. Every day more ‘order’ members wereousted. Some were ‘re-educated’, their minds defiled in the name LordVoldemort, others were sentenced to Azkaban. The dementors were happy with thatruling of course because unlike the poor souls that had once been fed to them,members of the Order had known a spectrum of happy emotions.

Evan had quit the ministry. There was no reason to hide whohe was now. That should have made him happy too. He was free to pursue whateverextracurricular activities he wanted. He’d even been asked to teach atHogwarts. There was an opening for a charms professor and of course potionssince Severus was teaching the Dark Arts.

He stared at the headstone that adorned her grave. It was sostark and simple, not at all like the woman it represented. For one wildmoment, his lips quirked as he imagined the way she would rage over thesimplistic and boring marker. It certainly didn’t do her justice.

“MasterEvan?”

He glanced over his shoulder at the house elf and noddedfaintly. The reminder was all he needed. He had unfinished business and then hewas going to put London and his “allies” as far behind him as possible. He didn’tbelong here anymore. He was like a collared beast, a threat to those whodispleased the new tyrant, which meant there was only one thing left to do.

One Hour Later

“HelloTravers.”

The man on the other side of the door eyed him with a scowl,clearly confused for a moment before he shrugged and held the door open. They wereallies after all. Evan sauntered in, taking in the interior with an absentsweep. He was surprised to find it was so neat. Given the dark man’s preferencefor ‘smashing’ his victins, Evan hadn’t guessed that the man would capable ofthis kind of cleanliness. “How have youbeen doing?” He asked, his tone mild as he continued to survey.

Marlene had been killed in her home. It only seemed rightthat Travers die in his.

Devon shrugged and crossed the room to stand almostawkwardly near an arm chair. “Fine. Whatdo you want Rosier?” He asked tersely.

Evan turned around to face the man he’d thought of killingceaselessly since he’d found her broken lifeless body. By the time he’d foundout, it had been too late to save her. He hadn’t even been able to hang aroundand search for her killer because it wouldn’t have made sense for him to bearound. He’d been forced to leave her, bloodied and cold on the ground—He closedhis eyes, drawing in a deep breath. “Business.”He said coolly.

“Huh?”

A flick of his wand and the man stood motionless for aheartbeat before he toppled back to the ground with a dull thud. Evan ignoredhim as he began wrapping wards and charms around the room. It wouldn’t do forsomeone to interrupt them. When he was satisfied that the room was thoroughlyprotected he turned to the wizard that had taken her light from the world. Hetook his time, chaining the Death Eater from the ceiling so that his feet justbarely brushed the floor, and ensuring the shackles on his feet were tightenough to prevent kicking. Then he removed the petrification spell and startedsetting out his tools.

“Whatis this all about Rosier? What the fuck man?”

Evan ignored him. This was revenge. Cold. Determined.Unforgiving. He didn’t even look at the bully when he threw the first crucio,mainly because he was afraid the spell would kill the man and he wanted Traversto suffer. They had hours and Evanwas a master at dragging it out. “You’relucky of course.” He mused absently as the man’s bellowing pants of painfilled the otherwise silent room.

He picked up a dagger, a gift from Marlene, and he movedback to the Death Eater. “I would preferto make this last for days.” A cold smile tugged his lips but never quitereached his eyes. “Unfortunately, I can’trisk that someone might actually like you enough to visit and thus foil myplans. So we have the night.” There was no room for argument or debate. Hehad a plan, and he’d carry it through, and when he left, Marlene’s killer wouldbe dead, just as he’d delivered justice to his mother’s killer so long ago.  

“Whyare you doing this?” The man whimpered, the bullypersonality receding like a fallen mask.

Evan stared at the man long and hard, green eyes sharp andicy with hate. “Because you took herfrom me.” He lifted his wand again, and not another word left his mouththat was not a curse.

Every so often Evan would heal the man, extending their timetogether because it didn’t seem to matter how much the man screamed, or howmuch blood anointed the floor, the rage in his gut remained unappeased. At onepoint he even discarded his wand and just wailed on the man. He broke ribs,smashed the man’s nose, and still the yawning pit of emptiness threatened toconsume him.

When the first fingers of light began to tint the sky, Evanfinally put away his tools. He removed all trace of himself, but he left DevonTravers hanging from the ceiling with a langlock curse so that the man couldn’tcall out for help. Then he took the dagger that Marlene had given him and heshoved it into his gut in one clean slice. That was how she’d died. He’d lefther to bleed out, alone and cold. Evan had found her at the end, but it hadbeen too late. All he could do was hold her as the last desperate throws oflife shook her body.

He cleaned the dagger and stowed it before glancing one lasttime at Travers. With any luck it would take the man hours to die, and even if someonedid find him, it would be too late. Just as he’d been unable to save her, noone would be able to save the hanging Death Eater.