Sirius

"Perfect opportunity." After a brief moment of thought, Anduin decided he couldn't just sit back and do nothing. He certainly didn't expect the two men to leave once they'd finished fighting, and thinking they hadn't noticed him would be wishful thinking.

Anduin seized his chance, stood up, and raised his wand. He fired an Impediment Jinx at the man like an invisible cannonball, then ducked low and dashed out, charging straight at the man behind "Snape."

Avery and Snape had finally caught wind of Sirius Black's whereabouts that day. They'd tracked him all the way to Knockturn Alley, and Avery had been preparing to unleash a powerful curse to take Sirius down in one blow when a spell suddenly shot out from behind him.

Avery jumped in fright. Forgetting all about the curse he'd been charging, he spun around in a hurry and flung out a Shield Charm to block the incoming attack. Then, on reflex, he fired a curse back. But as his spell flew farther and farther away, he still couldn't see where his enemy was. He scanned the area carefully, then looked down and saw a short figure ducking low and closing in on him.

Anduin lowered his body and charged at Avery. He planted his left foot and swung his right leg hard to the left, whipping it toward the wand in Avery's right hand.

The kick landed. Pain shot through Avery's right wrist, and his wand flew away. Stunned, Avery hurried to retreat, hoping to get closer to Snape.

His reaction was quick, but his opponent was quicker. Before he could take two steps back, Anduin pressed the attack. After kicking away Avery's wand, he pivoted, planted his right foot forward, and drove a spinning kick into Avery's stomach with his left leg.

"Ugh!" Avery doubled over, nearly bringing up his dinner from the pain.

Anduin's "combo" wasn't over yet. After the kick, he straightened up, stomped forward with his left foot, grabbed Avery's head in both hands, and drove his right knee into Avery's face.

"Thump!" Avery took the knee full in the face and flew backward, blood spraying from his face. He hit the ground and passed out.

Anduin had finished the entire combination in the blink of an eye. As soon as he'd dealt with Avery, he raised his hand and fired a compressed Impediment Jinx at Snape.

Snape, who had been trading spells with Sirius, reacted at last. Even in the sudden emergency, he coolly flicked away a curse Sirius had sent his way, then turned and fired a spell with all his strength.

"Sectumsempra!"

With a whoosh, a spell shot from Snape's wand.

The two spells collided in midair. Snape's spell sliced Anduin's Impediment Jinx cleanly in half, like a knife cutting through a watermelon, and continued straight toward him.

Anduin was stunned. What kind of spell was that?

He summoned all his strength and cast another Impediment Jinx, forming it into a shield in front of him. But even the shield couldn't fully stop the Sectumsempra. He could only watch as it slowly carved through the shield before his eyes.

Realizing things were going badly, Anduin was about to roll to the side and dodge when a flash of light suddenly appeared around him. Another shield sprang into being and blocked the attack. A silvery-white doe appeared across its surface.

When Snape saw that his attack had failed, and noticed the magical shield formed by the doe standing before Anduin, his eyes flickered briefly. He didn't attack Anduin again. Instead, he casually shot a spell at Sirius, then lunged over to Avery and Disapparated with him.

Anduin let out a long breath. That had been terrifying. So that's the kind of magic adults use? If that mysterious shield hadn't appeared, I might have been done for.

Anduin thought for a moment, then took a Copper Piece from his coat pocket. It was the "talisman" Lily Potter had given him. Its surface had noticeably lost some of its luster.

So Lily's talisman saved me. I didn't expect this so-called talisman to really protect me.

While Anduin was lost in thought, Sirius saw that the danger had passed and hurried over from the other end of the alley, wanting to see who had saved him.

Seeing someone approach, Anduin quickly raised his wand in warning, its tip pointed toward the man.

"Hey, little wizard, don't be nervous. I'm no Death Eater. Were you the one who drove off Snape and Avery, those two Death Eaters?" Sirius came closer and saw that the person was an Underage Wizard.

"I'm not that good. I just took one of them by surprise while they weren't paying attention," Anduin replied, watching the man before him with some caution.

"Ha! I'm Sirius Black. You can just call me Sirius. I have to say, you're pretty good. I saw it all—you took that guy down in just a few moves." Sirius laughed.

"I just got lucky. I still almost got killed by that man you called Snape. Are you an Auror, or are you with the Order of the Phoenix?" Anduin eyed him warily.

"You know about the Order of the Phoenix?" Sirius looked at him in surprise. "That's right, I'm a member. It's practically an open secret by now."

"I see. What a coincidence, then. I'm Anduin Wilson." Anduin finally relaxed and smiled.

"Nice to meet you. That Protective Charm you just used was really impressive. It didn't seem like the sort of spell an Underage Wizard could cast." Sirius laughed and praised him.

"That was the talisman Lily gave me. I don't have the ability to cast such a powerful spell myself," Anduin said with a sigh.

"Lily? Do you mean Lily Potter? You know Lily Potter?" Sirius looked at the young man before him, amazed that he knew his good friend.

"Yeah, I met her when I went to buy my school supplies. Her husband, Mr. James, was there too. She gave me such a valuable talisman the first time we met. I really don't know how to thank her." Anduin remembered meeting Lily and couldn't believe she'd given him such a precious gift so casually.

"Haha, Lily's a very kind person. We all started at Hogwarts in the same year, and they're my most trusted friends," Sirius said with a laugh.

"Since you know them too, we're friends now. I'll just call you Anduin. And you said you were getting ready to start school? You mean you haven't enrolled yet?" Sirius was shocked. He hadn't expected an Underage Wizard who hadn't even started school to take down a Death Eater on his own. Judging by Anduin's build, he'd assumed the boy was in his third or fourth year.

As Anduin and Sirius were talking, several people suddenly Apparated nearby.