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LIFE HAD NOT YET found the streets of Lust. Seven thought it strange, usually by this hour the district would be rife with stragglers and drunkards on their way to their first bar of many. Yet still, the streets were silent, not a soul stirred.

She told herself she was just paranoid, but she couldn't help but feel as though something was off, Lust was never quiet, especially once the sun had set.

  —But today something was different. Seven thought it was as if the rest of the district knew something they didn't as her and Draco walked in silence.
  They hadn't spoken a word all night, not since the alcohol had long faded from Seven's veins and her head throbbed with the blare of the streetlight's soulless glare.

  Windows closed and shutters drawn tightly shut, if she hadn't known any better, Seven would've thought the district had been abandoned entirely.

  —At least that was until they heard it; the sound that made Seven feel instantly sick.

  A scream. But not just any scream, one of torture, torment, —death. It was ahead of them, far off but far too close for comfort. The two instantly stopped dead to listen.

  "What is that?" Seven whispered, dreading to think what could cause such a wicked sound.

  Draco didn't respond, only stared straight ahead, eyes fixated on some slight movement in the distance. Seven saw it a moment later, but by then it was already too late.

  In an instant Draco had grabbed her hand and was dragging her along behind him. "We need to go, —now!"

  She didn't argue, fear forcing her legs to move as they turned tail and ran, still reeling from what they had seen.

  Her lungs burned, her heart pounded with the terror that coursed thick through her veins and the weight of the wind stole her breath from her tongue.

  Now she knew why not a soul had stirred all night, why as soon as the sun began to set the people of Lust barred their windows and locked their doors.

  —The Crawlers were coming.

  They ran until their limbs ached and they gasped for breath, yet still it wasn't enough, it was too late; the Crawlers had already seen them.

  Seven gave a shout as the was tackled from behind, thrown to the floor by Draco right as a violently violet curse struck the streetlamp where her head had been just moments before, causing it to give an almighty screech as it toppled forwards, taking with it telephone wires and the balcony of the second floor apartment as it fell.

  They scrambled to their feet and Draco ducked right into the dark labyrinth of alleyways off the Main Street, —Seven followed without hesitation.

  They ran for their lives, dodging and winding their way down the narrow passages, they didn't stop even when they could no longer hear the Crawlers behind them.

  When eventually they did draw to a halt it was due to a dead-end. Draco began to pace back and forth debating what to do next, they couldn't turn back, they would run the risk of running straight into a trap where no doubt the Crawlers would be laying in wait.

  Seven was just about to suggest laying low until they were sure the Crawlers were gone, when to their horror, they heard the cackle of the Crawlers as they began to close in.

"What do we do?" She asked frantically, eyes flying about the alleyway in searching of something, —anything.

  "The only thing we can do." Draco replied grimly, unsheathing his wand, "—You know how to fight, right?"

  Seven nodded, pulling out her own wand in turn and swallowing the sick feeling in her throat as she backed up against the dead-end of the alley.

  She heard their jeers, their taunts, the Crawlers were known for their fondness of the chase. —But then, all at once, something strange happened, something entirely miraculous.

  The instant Seven's back made contact with the brick wall it gave way, much like that at the entrance to platform 9¾, and she fell through, toppling backwards into a dank, grey room.

  Realising instantly what had happened Draco ran through the portal after her, re-emerging into the new environment with his wand at the ready.

  "Are you okay?" Instinctively he was with her in an instant, helping Seven to her feet and she brushed herself off, with a laugh, "Yeah, just wasn't expecting that was all."

  It was only then that they looked up, to see six pairs of eyes staring straight back at them.

• • •

  ON THE OTHER SIDE of the wall however, the Crawlers cursed, staring around in confusion for where their prey may have fled to. "Maybe they doubled back?" Suggested one.

  "No." Said another beastly-looking man, staring at the brick wall with a scrutinising glare. "They're here somewhere."

  He approached it with caution, hesitating before lifting his wand, a gnarled old piece of wood, to the bricks. He tapped it three times in an almost rhythmic fashion. Nothing happened. He did it again, harder this time, but still, nothing.

  "They're not here Fenrir," Grunted a third man, already heading for the exit, "There's no point in hanging around when they're probably miles away by now, let's just move on, the Dark Lord needn't know about it."

  —But Fenrir was still staring at the wall in frustration, "I just... I thought I saw something."

  • • •

  THEY WERE ON THEM in an instant, descending upon the two, wands pointing straight into their faces.

  "What are you doing here?" One growled, the light emitting from the top of his wand blinding Seven and she held her hands up to shield her eyes. "—How did you get in?"

  "—It was an accident!" She answered quickly, "I leant against the wall and fell though, we didn't realise it was an entrance..."

  The men did not seem satisfied in the slightest.
  "Liar!" Screeched the only woman in the group, "Don't listen to her she's lying!"

  "I'm not lying!" Seven snarled back, eyebrows drawn together in frustration. "We were trying to escape the Crawlers and ran into a dead-end, that's all!"

  Something in the air seemed to shift, and for the second time tonight Seven feared for her life.  "—You lead the Crawlers here?!" Roared the largest of the males.

  "Just kill them already! Kill them now, —they already know too much!"

  "It's too late. If the Crawlers really are here, —if they get in, then it nothing matters anymore..."

  "They could be lying, trying to save their own skin, —leaving them alive is a risk we cannot afford, Dawlish, and you of all people should know that."

  The largest of the group gave a sigh, "You're right."

  Seven held her breath and closed her eyes and she felt Draco tense beside her, but not in fear, for he had seen what Seven had not in the dim light. —And before their captors could so much as utter a curse, a new voice tore through the darkness.

"—Draco?"

• • •

THEY STOOD BEFORE ECHO, who sat perched upon a crude throne forged from scrap metal and driftwood. He stared down at the two intruders with a look of bemusement, a sly smirk creeping onto the corners of his lips.

  His ebony skin seemed almost gold beneath the flicker candle light and he let out a slight laugh. "It's good to see you again, my old friend."

  "I wish I could say the same," Draco made little effort to return his joviality, instead keeping his gaze firm and assertive, "—But due to the current circumstances..."

  Echo shrugged, "Nonetheless it's good to see you're alive. I heard very little of you after the war, in fact, I don't believe I heard anything at all." He cocked his head ever so slightly, "You know you never once tried to find me, when I looked everywhere for you. I thought you were dead Draco, —we all did."

  Seven was left feeling like an outsider looking in, she wasn't sure whether to be angry, upset, confused or all of the above. Draco had known Echo all along, granted he might not have known his location, but he had known a damn sight more than he had let on.
  "—You know him?" She hissed under her breath, so that only her partner could hear.

  "—Not now, Seven." He snapped, never once breaking his eyes from his long lost friend. Angry, she decided she should definitely be angry.

  Echo glanced between the two of them, his face subtly shifting with intrigue as he cocked his brow at her. "Seven? —Is that what you go by now?"

  "—We're not here for niceties." Draco interrupted, and Seven didn't miss the way his jaw ticked, or the way Echo caught her eye. Something strange was going on here, something Seven was not a party to. "We need you to tell us where Gluttony will be staying on the twenty-seventh of this month."

"And why exactly would I do that? —I mean clearly old ties mean very little to you Draco, so why should I tell you anything?" Echo raised a dark eyebrow at his old friend, "—And as you yourself once told me; a secret worth seeking, is a secret worth keeping."

  Seven could tell it was only a matter of time before Draco snapped and all sanity of discourse would be long lost. His voice was dangerous when he spoke. "—Because this is important."

  Echo shook his head. "That's not good enough."

  "God damn it, Zabini!" Draco snarled, palms flexing in an effort to keep himself contained, "Can you just trust me on this for once in your damn life!"

  "You see the thing is Draco, I did trust you once, a long, long time ago... And now look at where it's got me!" He threw his hands in the air, signalling to all that surrounded him with a humourless laugh as he leant forward on his broken throne. "I'm the deity of the damned, and I've got a bounty on my head that would make Griphook blush!"

Seven couldn't take it, the deceit, the hidden truths, the skirting around the truth as if it never existed and all at once she blurted out, "—I killed Lust..."

At once the room fell silent, and even Draco was staring at her now. His gaze made her skin crawl; he was furious with her, she could already tell.

But she couldn't see the harm in it? From what she'd heard it sounded as if Echo wanted the Sins dead just as badly as they did, and without him they had nothing.

Anyone else would've thought she'd threatened Echo by the way all eyes were suddenly on her, no one daring to speak until she cleared her throat and continued, "—And next, we're going to kill Gluttony. —After that Sloth, then Pride, Greed, Envy... And lastly, Wrath." Her words scorched her lungs with fire, a rage that had been manifesting inside her for years now. "I'm saving him for last... I want him to know we're coming for him."

***
QOTD-What do you think Seven has against Wrath? -TFOA