#p important

His job for him had always been simple: he was undercover. He wasn’t supposed to do anything except his job. And doing that job meant socializing and building rapport with his superiors and fellow peers. Although he knew he had an abrasive personality, his professionalism had always scored him points and it hadn’t hurt that every now and again he’d attracted the attention of certain employees. He had quickly shot to the top of his own department for his brilliance and his skill and somewhere else he’d been celebrated for the same brilliant and also for further infiltrating the ranks at the Ministry.

Tonight, though, was different. Through the very careful chain of communication that had been established, Xander realized he’d be sent on what was meant to be his first mission for them. There had been a single name on the parchment that had been delivered to him, but the message was clear.

Rose Riley.

He knew that it must have been from the very man assigned to keep an eye on her and without further hesitation, he quickly found the file on her, found out where she lived and set out.

The November air was crisp and cool. Signs of the holidays were slowly cropping up. Some shops had decided to start decorating early whilst others were probably waiting for the month of December to arrive.

Xander had no trouble finding out where she lived. The neighborhood she lived in was loud and dirty. He looked around and could see all sorts of lowlifes and sneered slightly at them before moving forward, thinking how ironic that he could stand out in a place like this with his neat suit underneath his cloak.

A hand on his wand, he was quick to dart into an alleyway as he saw her exiting her residence. He watched her walking with haste and quickly followed, making sure to stay enough behind her to not seem suspicious. He wondered briefly why she didn’t just apparate but realized as she stopped at a local liquor store why she’d chosen to walk.

He lingered just outside in the alley adjacent to the shop as she spent several minutes inside, but once she reappeared he was quick. A non-verbal full body bind and she keeled over, the noise of her newly purchased bottles of liquor breaking against the tough concrete didn’t cause alarm amongst the neighborhood. Music blasting nearby with a hushed drug deal being conducted around the corner meant Xander knew no one was paying attention. Dragging her immovable body, into the alley, he lingered over her briefly, but silently.

He knew what he had to do.

He started beating her. Kicking every part of her he could get at. The corner of his eyes caught a lead pipe on the ground and he picked it up; a sickening crunch was heard as it made contact with her head. Ante mortem wounds meant that the cause of death would appear to have been due to a beating. Furthermore, he could tell that the gangs would be the most likely blame for her death. He didn’t doubt that this sort of thing happened often in a ruin like Hackney, London. Fucking thugs deserved it. 

Dropping the pipe, Xander didn’t bother to check whether she was breathing or not. He could see the damage was done and to make sure the job was completed fully, he pointed his wand at her and there was a silent flash of green light. If she hadn’t been dead before, she surely was now.

Knowing full well it would be far easier with a wand, Xander made deliberate moves to drag her lifeless body across the ground (a trail of blood visible on the pavement) and into a nearby rubbish bin, stuffing it inside. Either her body would be picked up by the trash collectors only to be discovered too late by muggles or she’d be eaten by stray animals and her death to be remained forever unsolved. Even if her body remained perfectly intact, Xander knew as he cleaned himself off and snapped the wand in two, that it would never be connected to him.