Chapter 26 - Alliances and Tidings of War Part 1

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

"Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will let it pass over me and through me, and when it has passed I will turn and look down the path where fear has passed, and there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

-Frank Herbert, Dune

Your words of encouragement as well as constructive criticism are always encouraged and welcomed.

Take Care and Enjoy!

November 16, 6:30 am Potter Castle

Harry woke up to find Xiana sleeping soundly. Not wanting to disturb her, he carefully extricated himself from their bed and made his way to the showers. He had a very long day ahead of him and need to get an early start. After his shower he dressed himself in his full battle robes and went downstairs for a hearty breakfast. Dobby and Winky had been up even earlier and already had a sumptuous breakfast ready for him. Harry couldn't help feeling how lucky he was to have these particular elves as part of the Potter clan. He made his way to the kitchen and sat himself at the table.

Dobby was busy finishing another stack of blueberry waffles when he noticed his master sitting at the table. With gusto he made his way to his master and said, "Master Harry Potter sir, what can Dobby get you this morning?"

"How about some scrambled eggs, back bacon, stewed tomatoes, waffles and a couple cups of your best coffee. "

"You is missing special wizard smoothie sir."

"Special smoothie?"

"Yes master, this be a special creation from Dobby and Winky."

Harry, not having a clue about what Dobby was talking about, said, "Well, what's special about it?"

"It give master lots of energy, and is replenishing magical core much faster. Winky also says that master have much more lead in pencil. Dobby, knows that Winky want large family to take care of."

Harry's face went beet red at that last comment. Oh well, he thought, if they took the time creating it he might as well try it. He looked at Dobby, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Bottoms up."

Dobby smiled and popped back to the kitchen to fetch his breakfast while he mentally reviewed his to do list.

Harry finished his breakfast and went back up to his private study to pick up the books and the Philosopher's Stones. He knew his subconscious had been working on that very enigma. Why would Dumbledore have made another philosophers stone? It would certainly explain his energy levels at nearly 160 years of age. Why did he have the book of Azuli? There were so many questions, and no answers. He hoped that his time in flux would answer some of these questions. Harry sighed and stored the stones and books in his bag.

Harry heard the door open and saw Xiana in her bathrobe walking towards him. He smiled and waited for her to reach him. When she was close enough, he grabbed her and kissed her with as much passion as he could muster. He knew he would be gone for the next thirty days and he found his time away from her much harder to take. He heard her moaning. When they were both nearly out of oxygen they broke away.

Xiana replied, "Now that's what I call a kiss."

"What can I say? You bring nothing but the best in me."

"I wish I had more time oh husband of mine, I'm feeling quite passionate myself. They say pregnant women are quite insatiable." She smirked at him.

Harry groaned, "You don't play fair."

"Of course not, I was born a Zabini after all."

Harry put up his hands and said, "Well, I know when I've met my match. I give up."

Harry then turned deathly serious and looked up at his wife's deep blue eyes and said, "Today is going to be difficult for you. Just remember, show no mercy. Those bastards are responsible for more innocent death than I can count. They made their bed with the devil and now it's time to pay the piper."

Harry noticed a blue fire appear in her eyes and almost felt sorry for them. Some long awaited justice was going to be dispensed today, he thought. It was time for their proxy to gain prominence. Nothing else needed to be said. They held hands and walked downstairs together. Once they reached the parlor, they parted. Harry went off to the library and Xiana went off to get some breakfast.

Harry made his way to the family safe and disabled the wards and picked up the jewel chest and the dark stones he had acquired from the cave. He then called Dobby and told him to get fifty pounds of Naquadria and twenty pounds of Rhenium. He needed to make his staff in order to wield the more powerful dark magic.

He did a quick a check to make sure he had everything and made his way to the trunk manor by Anubis' pen. Once he reached the pen he spotted Anubis and hissed, sss Great one, I'll be gone for the next two days, I'm counting on you to look after the family. sss

sss Be at peace master, I will not allow any harm to come to my family. sss

Harry nodded and vanished the glass pane from Anubis' pen so that he could roam at will. He looked around his home to get a good mental image. Once he was done he apparated to the scorpion lair to meet with Ollivander. Harry slowly made his way towards the command centre and noticed quite a few people who were already up. He made his way towards the breakfast tables and noticed that Ollivander was up and already eating.

Harry approached the old wand maker, when he looked up and noticed him. He immediately stood up and said, "Thank you for harboring me, in my time of need Mr. Potter."

Harry bowed his head toward the old wizard and said, "The pleasure is all mine sir. I hope to make your stay profitable and mutually beneficial to the both of us."

The old mage inclined in head and replied, "The pleasure is all mine Mr. Potter, or should I say Scorpion Sorcerer?"

"Please, just call me Harry."

The old mage simply smiled, and said, "As you wish. It is obvious from our previous work together that you are building an army. I've been reading the daily Prophet. Although an unquestionable rag as far as good journalism is concerned, one can still extrapolate enough information from the useless dribble to realize that your presence is at the heart of the chaos that is overtaking our world. I must say, we are more than overdue for a change of direction."

"Mr. Ollivander, throughout history revolution has served as the catalyst for change. When an organism ceases to evolve and becomes stagnant, it dies. Our world has reached a crossroad. We either burn our old exterior and renew our self form the ashes of the old like the Phoenix or we die. I'm simply the catalyst for renewal. Hopefully, when we come out of this crucible, the magical races will be united. There is strength in unity. Racial unity is the key to our collective salvation. For too long have the magical races lived on their collective islands and in isolation. We need to build bridges that will stand the test of time. Collective strength will make us stronger and create the tools to face the next millennium."

"Those are very high minded ideals, Mr. Potter. What makes you think that you have what it takes to unite the magical world?"

"I don't know that I have. However, I don't see anyone stepping up to the plate. On one hand we have the ministry, which is so self absorbed in the ideals of power and self-interest that they care only for themselves. Whole armies of sycophants back stabbing each other in the hopes of gaining some small favor from their masters. Meanwhile the ideals of good government are being swept away by rampant corruption. Also, let's not forget Albus Dumbledore, the self-declared leader of the light. The bastard is responsible for so many crimes against humanity that the lines between the greater good and evil have become blurred. Finally, we have Voldemort, the self declared Dark Lord who is so far gone from humanity that calling him a self serving psychopathic lunatic is far too generous. Before him lies the path to absolute destruction for our world."

Pausing to gather his thoughts, he looked directly into Ollivander's eyes and said, "Faced with these choices, what else is there?"

"Believe me Mr. Potter I have been looking for an alternative for a long time. I've known for some time that change was coming. Having seer blood in my line you see, I've foreseen certain events, which will come to pass. We have reached a turning point in our history. I know that a terrible war is about to be unleashed. Seers are able to access the time plane through visions. Visions are the medium by which magical beings can gather bits of information leading to possible outcomes. No magical person can ever gleam the full picture of future events. So many variables come to pass within a span of time, that nearly any permutations of variables can create a final outcome that is impossible to foretell."

"Well we have our parts to play, and fate has hers. Now, onto other topics, I've gathered a set of stones that have extremely unique metallurgical properties that can easily blend with Naquadah and Naquadria. The magics I am learning and inventing will require me to generate large magical densities, which would not be possible for a wand to channel. The Naquadria wands are powerful magical amplifiers and focus. The problem is the energy flux and density that can be channelled with a wand is fixed due to their size. "

Harry saw that he had captivated Ollivander and continued with his explanation, "You see, the size of the Naquadria core limits the magical density that can be harnessed. I think of it as a pipe. The larger the pipe the more flow it can handle and energy losses or pressure drop is much less. That is why I whish to build a staff. The staff will be able to handle much larger magical density and flux. The spells I'll be working with require magical flux that can't be handled with a wand. I would like you to come with and train with us. I would also like your help in researching the properties of the stone and work together in the creation of a staff. There may be a way to bypass the Moon phase of the ritual, but I'll need your help to modify the runes. Do you accept?"

Ollivander nearly had an orgasmic smile on his face and replied, "Mr. Potter, I have a feeling that this staff will be my greatest challenge and creation to date. Your scientific knowledge in material science will be invaluable in this endeavor. Let's not waste a minute. There are discoveries to be made."

Harry laughed at the man's enthusiastic fervor and replied, "As you wish. We have some friends who will come with us. They will be working on other projects. You won't need anything. Rooms, food, entertainment, books and materials will all be provided."

With that, Harry double-checked that he had everything he would need during flux time. When he was done, he went back towards the command centre and found Neville and Luna waiting for him.

Harry yelled, "Good morning you two, you made it. Do you have everything you need?"

"Morning Harry. Yeah, I think we have everything. Luna made a list last night and we just went over it."

Luna with an angelic smile on her face looked at Harry and said, " Sorry we're late Harold, but Neville was in the middle of giving me an orgasm and we had to wait until I climaxed."

Harry's eyebrows nearly fell off his face at that comment. He looked around and found most people stifling their laughs. Poor Neville was beet red in the face. You had to hand it to Luna; the girl was brutal in her honesty. Harry looked Neville in the eye and smirking said, "Good show mate."

Tonks and Remus burst out laughing, with the rest of them following.

Harry told his group to gather around and said, "As you well know, this will be intense four months. Hopefully we'll make some breakthroughs." Harry turned around to pick up his notebook when he heard the twins talking.

Harry looked up and the twins were nearly on top of him, Harry smirked and said, "Morning guys. You two ready for some serious experimenting?"

The twins looked at each other with an evil smirk on their faces and Fred said, "No worries mate. We got it covered." With that they each pulled out a box the size of a matchbox and enlarged it to the size of a multi compartment trunk.

George added, "When we're done, No one will want to get caught in the swamps."

Harry simply nodded and told the gang to follow him. They all made their way to the trunk manor by the great lake. Once they were all settled, Harry went up to the crystal room and activated Odin's Eye. Once again, Harry would make more discoveries about magic, which would have long-term consequences for the war.

Early Morning in Northern Ireland on Aran Island

A small pop sounded in the frigid air near the base of Errigal Mountain in Northern Ireland but no one was there to hear it. Wearing midnight blue robes stood the ancient figure of Albus Dumbledore. Looking very tired and disheveled, he slowly made his way towards a small rock path heading North East. Albus feeling tired, slowly took his time marching along the path, he was in no rush. He needed time to properly think about his next move. He had looked at a mirror early in the morning and had been shocked at how gaunt he looked.

Of course the past week had much to do with the current situation he found himself in. The last few days especially had seen a complete meltdown of over five decades of work. When he thought of that blasted Scorpion, he seethed in rage. Of course, this wasn't the first time that the Wizarding world had turned on him. Bloody back stabbing sheep the lot of them. He looked up and was now approaching a large granite rock. He waved his wand in a star shaped pattern. The rock face suddenly shimmered and was now filled with ancient runes. He tapped three runes in a pattern set as an equilateral triangle. The runes were Thurisaz, Amsuz, and Raido.

Suddenly the air shimmered across his location on the other side of the path, and a large hidden section of a greenish marble door appeared. He again tapped a set of runes in a circular arrangement and the marble door swung open. Albus then tapped three more runes. He tapped Laguz , Sowulo and Pertho. Albus then took a silver knife with a dragon head for handle and quickly slashed across his palm. He then rubbed his palm across the Isa rune. A teal colored dome briefly shimmered overhead and then disappeared. Albus looked around to make sure no one was looking and hurried across the path and entered the marble door. Once he crossed the door's threshold, the granite rock, the doors and the path vanished under a powerful disillusion charm and activated a set of blood wards.

Albus needed to reach his refuge. No one knew of this home deep inside the mountain, which he had hollowed himself over fifty years ago. He had spared no expense here. After all, nothing was too good for his beloved Maya. Just thinking of his beloved brought a restless sigh from him. He slowly made his way to his keep. He had to stop halfway to take a breather. Blast this useless old body, he thought. The elixir kept his body alive and his magic strong. The elixir could only trim ten years from the age at which one started drinking it. Normal age time was the datum from which a wizard or witch would de- age. He had completed his first stone four years ago. Shortly after the Potter brat has so graciously pulled the stone from the mirror of Erised. Contrary to what he had told Potter, Flamel had been the one to implement the final protection on his Philosopher's stone. He had tried getting the stone from Flamel many times, but he had only succeeded in Potter's first year.

Of course he had found out in due course what the protection was. It was amazing to him that a man who was over six hundred years old could be so damn naïve. Listening charms had always been easy magic for him. Albus stood up and resumed his walk down the path. Green lit torches came alive as he came near them. He liked that color. It gave the whole place an eerie feeling. Albus smirked to himself. He almost wished that someone could find his mountain home. He had interlaced so much dark magic in the protection of his keep, that anyone whishing to lay siege to his home was going to experience a world of hurt.

Finally he reached a large oak door laced with large forged iron bands. He took out his wand and removed his wards. One of the wards caused instant castration. When he was done, he swung the door open and stepped into a parlor leading to the living room. Turning his gaze towards the middle of the room, he saw the large polished red oak trunk lying vertically four feet above ground. On top of the trunk, were four carved post, leaning at forty-five degree angle and set at ninety degrees to each other. Each post had gold and silver runes carved in them, representing earth, water, fire and air. The ends of the post were connected to a gold ring, holding a platinum bowl. The bowl itself had a pure crystal ball with a strange bright bluish light emanating from it.

Dumbledore approached the bowl and Accio'ed one of the plush leather chairs close to the fireplace. He plopped himself in the chair and rubbed his temples. He turned his head towards the large kitchen, and looking at the wine rack lying by the north pantry, decided that he needed a drink or ten. He Accioed a red Merlot from his rather large collection, and grabbed himself one hand made German crystal glass. He looked at the wine label and uncorked the bottle. He brought the bottle near the fire to get a better look at the deep red liquid and poured himself a generous amount.

He put the glass to his lips and greedily drank of the blood red liquid. He felt the liquid burn down to his stomach. He poured himself a second glass and noticed that it went down even smoother. He finally felt his body relaxing. Albus looked at the eerie bluish light of his wife's soul and slowly felt his eyes become heavy. He allowed his mind to recall the events of the last few months. He found his mind unable to concentrate. He kept seeing his wife's Horcrux and the events that had put her in that state.

Unknown to Albus, his body slowly fell into a deep sleep. As he fell into a deep sleep, his hand began loosening its grip on the wine glass. The glass fell from his hand and smashed on the granite tiles spraying red wine against the oak pedestal.

Deep in sleep, Albus subconscious lifted the fog from memories he had buried deep in his psyche a long time ago.

Flashback April 29, 1945 Berlin Germany

Albus was sitting with his wife of only two years, Maya Toitovna Bogdanovich. They had found each other four years ago at Lacedaemeon magical University in Greece. The University was situated in southern Peloponnesus, which was originally founded after the Dorian invasions over three thousand years ago. He had completed his apprenticeship there, and shortly after graduation, due to his brilliance in the art of transfiguration had been offered an associate teaching position under master Tyrrimas.

Over the following two decades, he had written many papers on fractal transmutation. He concentrated on determining the magical activation energy threshold and the amount of magical energy needed to effect what muggles call Plank's constant. The research helped to describe how to make a transfigured object permanent. Shortly after his doctorate dissertation, he had packed his bags and left the school for some much needed travelling. Over the next thirty years he travelled far and wide to all parts of the world to study magic from whoever was willing to partake in knowledge transfer. He travelled to Africa where he collected many books on the dark arts, especially in Egypt. He also travelled to the Americas, Asia and finally took a break in Russia. His final destination had been St-Petersburg. By then he had pretty much blown his family inheritance. Deciding that he needed some funds, he had found himself an assistant's professorship at the Odessa magical school. He soon learned that he would be an assistant to the new Potions mistress Maya Toitovna Bogdanovich.

Soon after they had met, they had quickly found themselves to be kindred spirits. Albus found someone who was his intellectual and amazingly his magical equal. They had taken the time to know each other. They took it slow, as both of them felt no pressures to rush into anything. Over the next two years, they slowly fell in love with each other. They were married on their third year. Albus came to realize that he had found his soul mate. Some would call it the love of his life. They established a home together and were very happy. On his seventh year in Odessa, he received an invitation from his old University to become the next Transfiguration master. Using his contacts and influence, he was able to get Maya a job as the next potions mistress. The next year they moved back to Lacedaemeon magical University in Greece.

However, the invading forces of Atilla Octavious Grindelwald would soon shatter his quiet life. In 1939, Grindelwald's forces had smashed through the weak Greek magical government. The only place, which had stopped Grindelwald's advancing forces, had been at the University. Albus and his wife had organized a resistance movement. They had summoned the most powerful native Greek wizards, witches and other magical beings to fight at their sides. His study into the arcane dark magic had come in handy.

The fight had been brutal. When Grindelwald's forces had retreated, over 1300 Wizards, Witches, Werewolves, Vampires, Centaurs, and Veelas had perished. Their win at Lacedaemeon had forced Grindelwald to consolidate his forces. Within a six-month period, he had pulled all of his forces back into Germany. Their win in Greece had been short lived. Over the next four years the Latin based countries of Italy, France, Spain along with Britannia would feel the hammer of his forces. Albus seeing the invasion of his beloved motherland had enlisted in the dark defense league. After many arguments, his wife had joined him. Over the next four years they would cross wands many times with Grindelwald's forces. Due to their intelligence and magical power, both he and his wife had quickly risen into the ranks of the dark defense league and local Aurors. They had eventually been given the rank of Hit Wizard First Class.

Shortly after their promotions, they had gone back to England and established a base of operations from Hogsmeade. Throughout this time, he and Maya had always fought together. They were widely acknowledged as the best-hit wizard team in Europe.

They had led teams on many raids on the main continent, but it seemed that no matter what they did, they had been losing ground bit by bit to Grindelwald's forces. The tide finally turned when the muggles launched operation Overlord. Operation Overlord was the biggest muggle sea and air invasion of all times. On June 6, 1944 three million muggles invaded the Normandy beaches of Omaha, Utah and Juno. Unknown to the muggles, Wizards and Witches from the free world had gathered to form a strike team that would piggyback with the main muggle invasion force. It was felt that such a large muggle strike force would create such chaos, that it would help hide their magical assault. The other benefit was that it would destabilize Hitler and by proxy his ties with Grindelwald's forces. It was well known, that these two were allies, and that Grindelwald would occupy his forces to help prop up his muggle counter part.

To the surprise of the Europeans magical ministries and their representative, the North American, Indian, and Australian contingent had many Native Indians and Aborigines among the hit wizard ranks. They normally never involved themselves with what they called the white man conflicts. The tribes included the Australian Djabugandji, Binigura, and Iningai. The North American natives included the six tribes Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscaroga, which made up the Iroquois nation. The Indian tribes were made up of the ancient Gandharvas, Yakshas, and Kinnaras. These ancient peoples brought with them arcane magic not known or lost to the European nations. These included dream magic, elemental, earth based battle magic, transmutation and magical beast control.

They were asked why they had changed their minds in helping them eliminate the dark wizard, and they replied that if they did not kill the Átahsaia, or cannibal demon, then eventually he would come to them on their sacred lands. Better to kill him now than later, where it might be too late. Regardless of why, the Europeans were very happy to have them on board.

Over the next nine months, he and his wife had established themselves as the most powerful European magical users. The native peoples were not included in that assessment. Albus had made the conscious decision to immerse himself into the dark arts. He had collected many prized books and scrolls on the subject during his long travels, but never took the time to really study them. Three years ago, he had immersed himself into the dark arts, much to the displeasure of his wife. After several years of fighting, even she could not deny their power in battle magic. Their successes had not gone unnoticed by the British Ministry of magic, specifically, the minister of magic who at the time was Markus Alexander Hastings.

The Hastings were an ancient Scottish magical family from the lowlands. They were said to be descendent of the ancient Celts. They were all aristocratic purebloods, who were full of their own self-importance Albus thought. Hastings had tried to pass himself off as a brilliant tactician. It became clear early on, that the man was a complete moron and a novice in the art of war. From 1941-1943, Albus and Maya Dumbledore had made fools of him and his administration. Albus had heard many rumors over the last three years that Hastings wanted to take him down a few pegs, but Albus had always brushed the man off. That error in judgment would eventually cost him dearly.

The day before the muggle invasion, the head of the British Auror division, Horatio Antares McPhee came by and told him that for greater efficiency, he and his wife were going to be on separate teams. Albus argued vehemently against that strategy. He and his wife had always been together. They complemented each other and watched each other's back. To be separated now on the eve of their greatest battle was madness. Albus' hate for the ministry began on that day. As much as he loathed the idea of being separated from his wife, he had little power to countermand the order. He made sure to review important spells with Maria and double-checked their war packs and strategy. Under great suspicion, Albus asked to review the personal files of Maya's hit team. He was not able to find anyone suspicious. They made sure that their battle pouch was filled with potions and runic stones, and spare wands. Maria tried to reassure him that everything was going to be O.K, but he still couldn't shake the feeling of dread in his gut.

Albus and his wife were both given teams and directed to take the ancient Gaul city of Lugdunum (Lyon, France). The city was an ancient Druid conclave and the capital city of the Gaul's. That region of France was said to contain ancient Celtic magical manuscript. Most peoples believed that the Druids knowledge was only passed on from word of mouth. This was not entirely true. Before their death, Druids would inscribe their knowledge using runes. The runes would be stamped on very thin sheets of copper. The stamped sheet would then be brushed with tree sap. After some curing, the sheets were covered by a thin sheet of amber to keep them from oxidizing. Grindelwald with most magical scholars knew this and had many of his researcher scour the country site for ancient Druid dolmens. If there were scrolls to be found, that's where they would be buried. No small feat, as the dolmens were protected by ancient magic. Many of his researchers were lost trying to break into the tombs.

The muggle invasion came, and all-magical team piggybacked with them. They quickly made their way to Lyon via mass portkey. Soon after their landing, they came under intense spell fire. Albus surveyed the situation and realized that Grindelwald's forces were only slightly diminished. Albus saw werewolves, Goblins, Centaurs, and a lot of dark wizards and witches. He soon found himself bombarded by spells and quickly sought shelter. Albus now realized that they had been ambushed. Either there was a spy, or their own ministry had set them up. Albus didn't think that it was a spy. Their units were made up of small cells, which were continuously being checked via Veritaserum. The thought that he had been set up by his own ministry blinded him with rage.

If he wanted to win this, He had to fight for keeps. He released his anger in the form of bloodlust and started killing without mercy. He released the tight grip he held on his core, and fed his magic into the dark arts. He felt a sense of euphoria like he never had before. The feeling was orgasmic. He split his team three ways. He took charge of the centre assault and told his two flanks to retreat, and make their way behind the enemy formation. Once they were in position, he told them to wait for large fireball to light up the sky. Once they saw the ball they were to attack their flanks with everything they had. No one was to be spared. His troops also giddy at the prospect of battle quickly obeyed. The resulting fight lasted almost four hours. Towards the end, he had lost nearly ninety percent of his forces, but they were victorious.

Albus let two senior Aurors take care of the cleanup details, and scavenge hunt and immediately headed towards the other side of town to go help his wife. Upon, reaching La Pierre Du Cheval Albus saw a battered Auror make his way down the street, and ran to intercept him. The man had deep gashes on his face, and was bleeding profusely from his right side. He looked to be in shock.

Albus said, "Where can I find your platoon leader?"

The man looked at him, as if he didn't recognize him.

Albus had no time for the man and grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him violently to get his attention, and repeated, "Have you seen my wife, Maya Dumbledore!"

The mans stuttered and replied, "Sooo,ssoo,sssooo Cccooolllllddd."

Albus gripped the man even tighter and said, "What do you mean so cold. Make sense man!"

The man finally seemed to come out of his shock and looked at Dumbledore in the eyes, Albus had always been a patient man, but the fear for his wife, the loss of so many of his comrades in his recent battles had left him short tempered. He finally took his wand and cast Legilimens. Albus dove through the man's memories like a lead weight dropped in water. He found that his wife and the remnants of her troops were held up at the old Romanesque Benedictine monastery, the ancient abbey church of St Martin.

He quickly ran towards the church and was nearly felled by an AK. He dove to the ground and came to rest behind a fountain. He quickly disillusioned himself and crawled besides an old flowerbed ledge. He slowly made his way towards the bike rack. Where the ledge broke, he peeked around the corner and couldn't see anything. He cast a heat signature charm on his glasses and peeked again. He saw a group of what he assumed were Grindelwald's forces. He dug deep in his magical core and let his fear for his wife control his emotions, he then let loose Bombarda-Magnus . The spell was at short range and crashed into the unsuspecting horde within seconds. Part of the street and the wall where they were hiding was completely obliterated. Albus took another look, but no one was standing. He could hear moans of pain from those who would soon see the afterlife. His eyes held a glint and found himself not caring about their fates.

Albus carried on towards the church. The closer he reached the church, the colder he felt. He stopped for a moment to gather his bearings and saw dark shapes floating in the distance. He realized that he was looking at Dementors. That would certainly explain the man's paranoia. He decided to head east to avoid the blasted beast. He came upon a side entrance and decided to proceed inside. He was surprised that he had very little resistance. Either Maya has dealt with the forces convincingly or the enemy had made a strategic retreat. For some reason, he felt like an iceberg had made its home in the pit of his stomach. He marched slowly. He took his time to analyze the room. There were many ancient glass and stone artifacts lying about. He came across a cabinet that was filled with copper sheets. His eyes widened at the treasure it held before his eyes. The scholar in him wanted to take the precious artifact, but he was on a much more important mission. He passed more cabinets, and saw a door on the south side of the room. He made his way to the door and cast a slew of dark wards. Finding no magical signatures, he crossed its threshold and found a man with Maya's team markings sealing a door.

He made his way to the man and said, "Who are you and what are you doing?"

The surprised Auror whirled around and was about to curse him. Albus had anticipated the move and disarmed the man. The man seemed surprised to see him. Albus could tell that the man recognized who he was, and was nervous for some reason. Albus narrowed his eyes and said, "I'll ask again, who are you and why were you sealing the door?"

"I'm Auror third class Angus McPhee. My whole squad was just ambushed in this blasted church by Dementors. I managed to get away. There were too many of them. I barely managed to escape as it is. It was a free for all in there."

Albus frowned, "A free for all? Am I to understand, that more of your comrades are in there fighting for their lives, and you abandoned them? COWARD!"

Albus took his wand and was about to unseal the door when the man grabbed his wand arm and whirled him around. The man sneered at him and replied, "Look Dumbledore, there's nothing you can do. If you unseal that door, you'll doom us both. I won't let you kill me, you hear me."

Albus felt that something was very wrong. He looked directly into the Auror's Hazel eyes and using his Legilimency abilities he immediately assaulted the Auror memories. Within seconds, he was digging through his memories. He quickly found the battle scene. By that time, McPhee had noticed the intrusion and tried to cast him out.

Albus felt the Auror resist. His Occlumency skills were good, but Albus' mental powers were far greater. He was able to crush his pathetic attempt at evicting him. He soon found other memory links tied to the main battle scene. He decided to unravel these first. He found to his dismay that the man was a special agent to the minister himself. He had been working under cover for over eight years. His sole purpose was to remove any potential opposition to the minister. He found out that the Minister himself with the help of the DMLE director had planned to have him and his wife terminated on this ambush. The DMLE director, who was a close childhood friend of the Minister, had been the one leaking information to Grindelwald's forces. Albus finally found the reason for this betrayal was because the pathetic excuse for minister felt that he and his wife were after his job.

A deep fear suddenly gripped him. He forced his mind back to the battle scene. What he found caused him to cry in anger. He clearly saw Maya and her squad fighting a frontal assault. Albus could see that the air was thick with spell fire. People from both sides were yelling, screaming and falling to all kinds of curses. Every member of her squad was so concentrated on the fight, that no one noticed McPhee leave his position and slowly make his way behind Maya. Albus saw McPhee attack his wife from behind. He had petrified her, and cast Incendio on her robes. He saw his Maya scream, as she was being burned alive.

He had then sent a Reducto curse to the South side of the Abby, and blasted the door. Dementors had been waiting in ambush and began attacking the remaining Aurors. This had happened in the last ten minutes. He quickly pulled out of McPhee's head and kicked him in the balls. McPhee released his grip and he quickly cast Avada Kedavra. The men fell where he stood, with his eyes starring at the ceiling. In a fit of rage he kicked the man and sent a Reducto at point blank range to his head. The man's cranium exploded in a mist of blood and gray matter. A piece of the man's cerebellum stuck to his cheek. Albus was beyond caring. He ran to the door and pulverized it with another Reducto-Magnus. The door and part of the wall was pulverized into powder. He quickly brought forth all of the happy memories of Maya he could muster and cast Expecto-Patronum. An extremely bright and powerful image of an eagle spread out from his wand and attacked the Dementors.

He had cleared himself a path and went to find his wife. He felt his heart was going to burst out of his chest he was so worried. He vaulted across a set of benches and just as he cleared it, he could see that he was too late. His wife's soul had been pulled from her body, but was still hovering above her face. The Dementor was about to pull down his hood, to kiss the soul. If he chased the Dementor away he would lose her soul. He did the only thing he could, he reached deep into his knowledge and remembered a passage on Horcruxes from the book of Azuli. He had to act fast. He needed a receptacle to hold the soul. He looked at one of the shelves along the wall and recognized a fifteen-century Venetian crystal ball. He banished the crystal ball by Maya's head, and having committed murder in cold blood, had already fulfilled the first criteria for making a Horcrux. He immediately cast several warding spells to hold the soul from escaping the crystal ball. He began chanting in an ancient dialect using phonetics. Tewet-Ka-Kheperu-Maat-Heru-Khuti-Mââ-Xerou

At first nothing happened, but slowly the bluish orb, which was Mayas' soul, began moving towards the crystal ball. The Dementor began screeching, as if it was in pain, or upset. Albus didn't care. He had to save his wife's soul. He kept on chanting until the soul seeped into the pure crystal ball. Once her Soul was encapsulated, he cast his eagle patronus at the Dementor and managed to get it away from his wife's body. He ran to her and picked up his wife's Horcrux and grabbed his dead wife's burned body and took out one of his secret portkey, and took them to Dumbledore manor.

Once he reached the manor, he quickly put his wife's body in a stasis field and put his most powerful wards on her Horcrux. Looking at his wife's body and soul, a part of his own soul had died today. As her husband, he had failed to protect her. He had been careless and under estimated lesser people than him and it had cost him everything that meant anything to him. His beautiful Maya was dead, and her soul trapped. Tears streaked down his cheeks. They were going to start a family after the war. They had both agreed to live in England and had accepted teaching positions offered by Armando Dippet. He looked down at his wand and a deep rage filled him. His face had turned to stone that day. He swore on Morgana's dark soul that those responsible were going to pay.

Albus cursed the fates and knew that he would stop at nothing to bring her back. He realized that he could never be happy again until he and Maya were back together. If he failed, then he would make sure to release both of their souls. That day, he realized that he needed to be the one in charge. He needed to be the chess master. He had a lot of research to do, and the best place to do this was at Hogwarts with all of her resources. He needed to control the ministry and the Wizengamot. To do this he had to gain glory. Through glory would come influence and power. He would be the one dictating the terms. He needed to fashion himself a persona or alter ego, from which he would hide his true persona.

Suddenly Albus woke up from his slumber, and looked up to see the pulsing blue light from his wife's Horcrux, and remembered his dream. He had once again relieved the events of his past. His leaned back in his chair and began formulating a plan to salvage some of his prestige. The only way he was going to regain some of his power base, was to take over the ministry and put his Order of the Phoenix members into key positions.

He needed to let go of his headmaster position at Hogwarts, and take over as minister of magic. From there, he would use the vast resources of the ministry to finish his research. He was going to destroy the Wizengamot. They were going to pay for their betrayal. He would then use the might of the ministry to reign in the Potter brat and destroy this Scorpion Sorcerer. He had already killed a Dark Lord and felt he could do it again. Man makes his own fate, he thought. In his mind, there was no such thing as a supreme entity that dictated mans fate.

The great Albus Dumbledore had fallen into the same trap that many other great men before him had. In their power, they thought that they were untouchable. The great failure in their education is that they were not thought to comprehend matters concerning human destiny. Man supposes that he directs his life and governs his actions, when his existence is irretrievably under the control of destiny. Destiny is simply Fate's mistress. In the end like Voldemort, Dumbledore would learn that one cannot cheat Fate.

END Flashback

Morning of November 16 Southern England

Xiana was looking at her watch, for the fifth time since she had arrived at McAllister Abbey. She had her full robes on and was under a disillusioned charm. It was still early in the morning, and she knew from her files that Matthew McAllister always went on his morning walk on his way to his stables, to meet with his mistress for his quickie fix. Little did he know that his mistress was stunned and would be unable to meet his needs till the end of time. The thought of the obese bastard touching any woman made her skin crawl. Tubby was responsible for using his influence with Gringotts, that allowed Dumbledore to bury the Potter family will. He was also responsible for laundering galleons from family vaults that had been exterminated during Voldemort's first war into Dumbledore's vault. He had also been instrumental in pushing discriminatory werewolf and vampire laws in the ministry with Dumbledore's blessing. The ugly bastard was a closet first class bigot.

She was brought from her thoughts when she heard someone whistling up the path. She was hiding behind one of the large red oak trees darting these lands. She watched the fat bastard waddling down the path in his ridiculous purples robes. She sneered and took out her wand. She activated her watch and made a full sweep of her surroundings. She looked at the dimensional map, which showed that the man was alone. Not taking any chances she cast a noticed me not, silencing and befuddlement perimeter ward. The last thing she needed was someone catching her in the act.

She waited until he passed her position and silently cast Petrificus Totallus. The tub of lard went down like a wounded Erumpent. The look on the man's face was quite amusing. She sauntered over to the idiot and removed her disillusionment charm. She flicked her wand and unfroze the man from his neck up.

The man spluttered, "Who are you to do this to me? Do you have any idea who I am? Release me at once and I may give you leniency. I'm a member of the Wizengamot and a High Lord. Now release me!"

Xiana sneered and slowly lowered her hood and then flicked her wand. The man screamed as the skin on his wand hand started hissing and smoking. The epidermis started bubbling and the skin started falling off. The tissue began to char and carbonate. The stuffed pig screamed his head off.

The man began uttering obscenities at her. He went on and on about her being a whore's spawn who should be a sex slave for Azkaban.

"Now, is that any way to talk to a lady." She purred at him.

She flicked her wand again and a small purple sphere of plasma shot from her wand and hit the man's right eye. The plasma ball penetrated the lens of the eye and instantly boiled off the jelly like fluid in the vitreous cavity and the instantaneous expansion of the gas ruptured the iris, lens, and cornea causing a spectacular blow out of the eyeball. The pig screamed until his voice was raw.

He finally stopped screaming and managed to pull off enough control to look at her closely with his good eye. He spluttered and managed to squeak, "I remember you. You were at the Christmas ball two years ago with your twin. You're a Zabini. Why are you doing this?"

When he realized she said nothing, he whimpered and said, "Please, I don't know what you want, but I can make you rich beyond your wildest dreams. I can give you power. Please tell me what you want."

"Actually you're wrong."

The fat bastard frowned at her and replied, "Wrong about what?"

"My last name. Two year ago I was a Zabini, now my last name is Potter." With all the training in flux time, it had been over two years she thought.

She watched with pleasure as the idiot started sweating profusely. She knew him and his ilks had been ready to prosecute Harry under Umbridge and Fudge's orders. "I see you remember Harry Potter. Well why shouldn't you? After all you tried to fuck him over did you not? Well you know what they say? What goes around comes around."

She felt his eye looking at her form and noticed his face changing into a sneer. He gasped and managed to speak, "I see that the half blood bastard didn't waste anytime knocking you up. Tell me, how long did it take for you father to disown you? Such a waste, how is it that the daughter of such a proud pureblood family lowers herself to shack up with such a pathetic wizard as Potter. He is nothing but a whelp of no importance."

With a look of disgust on her face she continued, "You know nothing of my family you disgusting maggot. You call my husband pathetic. He is a thousand times the wizard you could ever hope to become. You're not worthy of speaking his name. As for what I want, I want your head on a silver platter. My husband and his associates know all about your past dealings and your cozy relationships with Dumbledore. We know all about your dealings with Dumbledore and Lucius Malfoy."

She watched with satisfaction when his face showed complete surprise, he started to sweat and plead for his life again. She pointed her wand at his neck. The man started screaming, and taking a deep breath she whispered, "Aquilo-Bipennifer." She watched as his head was decapitated from his shoulder. She waited until he had finished his last spasms. She levitated his head unto his body and threw a portkey at him. She waited until the portkey activated and pointed her wand above the cottage and whispered "Mosmordre." She looked up as the green skull and snake made its appearance and smirked. She then Accioed her raptor broom from behind the oak tree and made sure she was disillusioned and took off. As she was flying close to the skull she thought about the snake face bastard and whispered, "Welcome to the revolution Dumbledore. Let's see how you respond to Riddles attack."

Meanwhile in the small magical district in the town of Hythe, Blaise was sitting in a little pub called the Hope Inn on Stade St. He was looking at his prey, who was on his sixth Hobgoblin Ale. At least the fool knew his Ales if nothing else. Hobgoblin was one of the more respectable Wychwood ales. Of course, the file on High Lord Gurney Eric Mason had much to say about the man's impressive appetite for all things alcoholic.

The Mason's were an old pureblood family dating back to the dark ages. Their family had invented some wards and healing spells. They had helped stave off a variant of the black plague during the Dark Age, which had decimated some of the eastern magical towns. The family had done very little else in the last three hundred years. Like many pureblood families who did not marry muggle born wizards and witches, their magical talents had slowly eroded due to inbreeding. According to the file, he and Dumbledore went way back, even before the war with Grindelwald. He had used his family connection to help elect Dumbledore as supreme Mugwump. Even thought Mason was a mediocre wizard, Dumbledore had kept him in power, and in exchange, Mason had endorsed every proposal the so-called Light Lord had proposed. Anyone who dealt with Wizengamot politics knew that Mason was a Dumbledore lackey.

He was sitting at a table near the fireplace adjacent to the west wall. He was wearing a glamour charm and was pretending to read his paper, which had been spelled to be transparent. He looked at his watch and wondered if Theo had finished his assignment. Looking around, Blaise was happy to see that the pub didn't have many people up and about. This was a typical morning where the local patrons were just waking up and getting ready to go to work. They were too busy wolfing down breakfast and coffee to pay attention to their surroundings. He looked up and found Mason walking up to the bar to pay his tab. Show time he thought.

Blaise had already paid his bill a while back, and simply walked out of the pub using the back door alley. There were the usual crates and garbage bins that one would expect at the back of any pub or restaurant. He picked a set of barrels stacked on top of each other and used his watch to scan the area. His map showed some muggles on the other side of the magical wall. There were no Witches or Wizards about. He cast a notice me not, sound proof and an alarm perimeter ward. He tapped his head and disillusioned himself. He didn't have to wait long before the stupid idiot came out of the back door staggering. The man seemed completely oblivious to his surroundings.

Blaise stepped out from behind the barrels and moved in front of the man. Mason bumped into him and stumbled back and fell to the ground. He looked up at Blaise and yelled," Watch where you're going!"

Gurney managed to sit up and looking at the man in front of him suddenly felt a cold chill run down his spine. The man was wearing scaly black-green robes and his hood was completely obscuring his face. He was tall and his voice was cold and impersonal. He was brought out of his thoughts when the man spoke.

"I know exactly where I'm going and what I'm doing. Do you?"

"I'll have you know I'm a High Lord of the Wizengamot, with close ties to the supreme Mugwump. I suggest you run along, before you land yourself a one way ticket to Azkaban fool."

Again, Gurney felt his bones chill when the man whispered, "In case you haven't heard, that would be ex Mugwump."

"Not for long! You'll see. He'll be back in power before you know it. The Potter brat won't know what hit him. I'll make sure of that."

Blaise lowered his hood and saw the man gasp. The lump suddenly shot his wand out of his holster and tried to curse him. Blaise saw the fool coming a mile away and simply flicked his wand. The idiot's wand was sent flying into the harbor. The man looked like he was about to shit himself.

Blaise pointed his wand and hissed "That's where you're wrong. Conflo-Corculum"

The last image that Gurney Eric Mason would see in his life was the ice-cold blue eyes and a small black scorpion tattooed on the left man's cheek. He now realized that he was looking at one of the Scorpion Sorcerer's soldier. He saw a deep blue light strike him in the chest and felt extreme pain for a few seconds and blood suddenly spurted from his mouth and he knew no more. The curse had caused the man's heart to explode. Death was assured within seconds.

Blaise looked at the dead High Lord and whispered, "Welcome to the revolution." He took his wand and pointed towards the chimney and cast Mosmordre. Blaise smirked as he saw the green skull and snake light up the sky. Part of the plan, was to let Voldemort take all of the blame for these deaths. His job finished, he tapped his wand to his ring and portkeyed back to the lair.

That morning the dark mark had been spotted all over England. The scorpion army was on the move. Slowly they were infiltrating the highest levels of power.

Early Morning Riddle Manor

The Scorpion Army weren't the only ones busy that morning. Voldemort was sitting on his throne thinking about his next move. He was refining his plans to invade Azkaban. His first tasks were do teal with his treacherous Wizengamot minions. He had ordered Bellatrix, Mulciber, Valeria and Veturius to bring the traitors to him and retrieve a very special death eater from St-Mungo's. They had just come back with the little worms. He had no qualms exterminating them. They had been found out and were of no use to him. However, he was going to make sure that his death eaters learned the price for turning traitor. He looked up at his parchments and made one last modification to the rune sequence. His knowledge of Horcruxes and been invaluable for this research.

He walked from his throne room to the staging area. When he arrived, he found the Lords bound and tied to their chairs. With a sneer of disgust on his face he looked at each one of them, and was pleased to see a look of fear on their faces. He so enjoyed drinking in the smell of fear this early in the morning. He looked towards where his servants were kneeling and found Barty Jr. standing beside Bella with a vacant stare on his face. That vacant look would change if his plan worked. First, he needed to stoke the egos of his death eaters. It was time for the carrot, he thought.

In a soft hissing voice, "Bella, you and your group have done very well today. I am most pleased with your efforts. There are some muggles and scrolls for you and your group to play with. Be careful with the scrolls, the dark magic is quite potent. You will also each receive 500 galleons."

He smirked when he saw the insane glint in Bella's eyes. The others were pleased to just be thrown a bone. It was a fine morning indeed. He yelled, "Wormtail, get your useless carcass over here now!"

He heard the pathetic rat come sniveling from the kitchens. With a leer on his face he hissed, "Are the preparation complete Wormtail? I will be most displeased if they are not."

"Mmmy… mmmyy looorrdd, the Dementors are ready. The table and runes have been drawn to your exact specification, my Lord. "

Fixing his scarlet eyes on Wormtail he hissed, "Pray that they are Wormtail. I do not tolerate failure."

"Bring in the Dementors."

Wormtail and Mulciber scurried off to the anti chamber. They both picked up a nullifying crystal necklace and reached the Dementors. They pointed at them to follow. They came back with the dark demons gliding behind them. Everyone in the room began feeling the effects of the demon except for the Dark Lord.

Voldemort glided towards the traitors and said, "Did you really think that you could fool Lord Voldemort? You belong to me you miserable worms! Lords indeed."

One them seemed to find his voice and stuttered, "My Lord, we never wanted to betray you. A powerful wizard put us all under the Imperius. Please my Lord shows mercy. Let us make it up to you."

Voldemort whipped out his wand and hissed, "Crucio." The pathetic lump fell on his back and started trashing on the floor while screaming himself raw. After nearly two minutes under the curse the oaf shit himself.

Irvine was always weak, he thought. With a disgusted look on his face he lifted the curse. He looked around making sure that all of his death eaters were looking and yelled, "Let this be a lesson to all of you. You're all responsible for your actions. If you succeed in your tasks, you will be rewarded. If you fail in your task, you will be punished. If you turn traitor, well you're about to see what happens to traitors."

He flicked his wand and the Lords were petrified except for their heads. Everyone in the room who didn't have a necklace felt the effect of the powerful Dementors. He hissed in the ancient Celtic language and the Dementors glided towards their prey and lowered their hoods. With glee in his eyes he watched his death eaters shaking at the sight about to unfold. The ancient demons grabbed their prey and with practice born of eons, lowered their mouths to within a foot of their prey and with exquisite screams they began pulling souls out. The blue orbs floated above their victims and one by one they were absorbed by the ancient demons.

Lord Voldemort relished in the fear of his death eaters. Not only had he paid the price for his next ritual, but had sent a powerful message to his remaining troops. He flicked his want and unfroze the Lords. He could see their vacant expression. The only evidence that they were alive was the rhythmic sound of their breathing. Without constant bodily care, they would perish within a few weeks. With a sneer on his face, he flicked his wand, and suddenly the kissed Lords caught fire. In their non-existent state, they didn't even cry out as the blue fire consumed their bodies. Once they were reduced to ash, he Scourgifyed their remains.

As he was ready to make his way to the ritual chambers, one of his death eaters came in through the foyer and headed straight for him. He noticed that it was Amicus. He narrowed his eyes and hissed, "What do you want?"

"My Lord, we have news that the dark mark was sighted all over Southern England early this morning. I was wondering why I was not summoned for the attack. Have I displeased you my Lord?"

What in the name of Morgana's hairy cunt was going on he thought. "What do you mean the dark mark was seen all over Southern England? I haven't authorized any attacks. Are you sure about this?"

"Yes my Lord, I just came back from the town of Hythe, and saw the dark mark floating over a pub."

"Do you know who was killed?"

"No my Lord, I thought I would check with you first to see why I was not part of the battle?"

Voldemort looked at his eager follower and found he had no desire to punish him. The man simply wanted to know why he was not serving his Lord. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Your devotion is to be admired Amicus. I must say this news greatly disturbs me. I can only conclude that someone is framing us for something." He began pacing on the marble floor deep in thought. Someone clearly wanted him to take the blame for something, but what? He needed more information.

He turned around and said, "I want three teams to go investigate where my mark was spotted, and find out everything you can. Amicus you take the west, Bella you take the south and Mulciber you take Eastern England. Now, all you leave me except for you Wormtail. Take Barty to the ritual room."

Voldemort had realized a long time ago that his ability to carry out necromancy and soul magic on other being had been severely diminished when he had created his own Horcruxes. Had he known the price at the time he might have searched harder for another option to immortality. He despised magical weakness of any kind. Necromancy was a powerful magic and he had unknowingly diminished his own ability to carry out. Hence his need for the pathetic rat, how he hated depending on anyone.

Voldemort went to his private chambers to pick up his tome, his Mayan blade and the Onyx chalice. He came back to the ritual room and told Wormtail to lay Barty on the table. He noticed the Dementor floating in the North left corner of the room. Using his Legillimency powers he connected with the Dementor and sent the demon images of how the ritual was going to take place. The only acknowledgement that he got was a slight nod. Not wasting anymore time. He disrobed and began carving intricate runes on his body. He carved Ansuz above his heart for divine power, and then he carved the Nauthiz rune in the palm of his right hand to call upon destiny. The third rune was Pertho carved on his forehead to call forth the birth of new. He asked Wormtail to power up the runes with his raw magic. He then took his wand in his right hand and cast Caeruleum-Cremare on the Onyx goblet. A dark blue fire sprung around and on the goblet. He then took his ritual knife and sliced his left hand. He let his blood flow into the goblet. He added Chanca- Piedra, Mandrake root powder and crushed fairy wings to goblet.

Having finished his initial preparations he looked at the Dementor and sent him an image to come to the table. He told the Dementor to bend its head close to Bart's face. He took his servant's head and poured some of the goblet's content into his mouth. He ignored the gentle blue fire licking his hand. He held the goblet in his left hand and took his wand and began chanting in ancient Yucatan Mayan. He hissed, "Ch'uhul- Ch'am- Ya-k'a- U-b'a-Ke-le-B'alam-Ma –Matan". Wormtail followed his master's instructions and with him repeated the chant seven times. After every chant, Wormtail would pour some of the goblets contents into Bart's mouth. A deep purple and black aura surrounded the Dementor and Barty. The aura began pulsing and began shifting toward a blood red color and soon shifted to a cerulean color. The Dementor extended its arms and opened what passed for a mouth. A small dark blue orb emerged from its mouth and slowly drifted towards Bart's mouth. The blue sphere hovered above his face for a few seconds and then was instantly absorbed into his body.

Voldemort seeing the soul disappear into Bart's body ceased his chanting and waited. He hadn't realized how much magical energy would be expanded in this ritual. His damaged soul had been severely taxed. Were he not powerful, the ritual could have cost him his life. Voldemort looked up and saw Bart's body thrash as if it were under the Cruciatus curse. After a minute or so, he stopped trashing and took a big gulp of air as if it was the first time he had ever breathed.

Bart's POV

The soul that once went by the name of Barty Crouch felt as if it was swimming in an endless void. It was somewhat aware of its surroundings. It somehow felt permanently tethered to some sort of energy shaft. At least that's what the other blue spheres projected, or rather felt. No one could speak in this state. It was more like having a permanent Legillimens link to all the other spheres. He constantly felt weak. It felt as if he was being bled slowly. It remembered being ripped from the shell known as Barty. God how painful it had been. He never wanted to experience that ever again. Now that it thought about it, it should have tried getting itself killed. Anything would have been better than this fathomless existence. It was about to contact one of the other spheres when it suddenly felt a pull, and knew no more.

He took a sudden deep breath and opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was the face of the Dementor as it was about to kiss him. He was disoriented and sickly. He felt as if he had wakened from a deep nightmare. He turned his head and noticed a semi bald fat man and recognized him as Wormtail. Still disoriented he looked in the far corner of the room and noticed a Dementor hovering there not doing anything. He sneered and spat at the demon. God he hated the bloody bastard creature. He brought his hand to his face and examined it. He then looked at his body and realized that he could feel once again. Finally realization dawned on him that he was back in his body. With a look of pure joy on his face he quickly sat on the table and brought his head up and noticed his Lord smiling at him.

"My Lord, I don't know how you managed this feat, but you are truly the greatest wizard alive. I am yours to command as always my Lord." Barty jumped from the table and knelt before his Lord.

Smiling from his success and having his most trusted inner circle member back, he said, "Rise Barty, stand at my side once again. Unlike the others, you have never failed me. Lord Voldemort always rewards his faithful followers."

They both walked out of the ritual chamber to see the surviving members of his inner circle reviewing plans. He was bringing Barty up to speed on past events since he had been kissed. The first one to notice them was Bella. Voldemort was pleased to see her eyes as large as dinner plates and her lower jaw wide open. He could tell by her confusion that she was wondering how Barty was animate once again.

It didn't take long for her restraint to break down and said, "My Lord, how is it possible that he walks around as if he was himself again?"

He looked at her with narrowed eyes and said, "Let's just say that I've discovered some lost magic and leave it at that." The tone in his voice made it plain for her to drop her line of questioning.

"As you wish, my Lord."

She saw her Lord looking at Bart with a smile when he hissed, "Now that Barty is back with us, we will finally succeed in our recruiting efforts. I want all of you to bring all the data you have on the Vampires, Werewolves, Giants, Trolls, Banshee's, Veela. I want numbers, location, current alliances, enemies, and magical protection. Bart will review our current plans and we will meet again in four days. That should give Bart enough time to comment on our plans and recuperate."

He was about to dismiss them when Alecto came running slightly out of breath with a tablet in one hand and a newspaper in the other.

"What have you got for me Alecto?"

"My Lord, it would seem that some High Lords faithful to Dumbledore have been executed. It would seem someone is framing us for the murders. I went to three different sites, and the answer is the same, no one remembers anything. I checked for Obliviation, poisons and Imperius but they were all clean."

Voldemort sneered and hissed, "There is only one explanation for this, fool. Who else would be foolish enough to challenge me except this Scorpion wizard? The little bug is really starting to get on my nerves. Well if we're going to take the rap for this, we might as well give them more reasons to fear us. I want to plan a raid on Diagon Alley very soon. I want you all to identify some worthy targets. It's time to have some fun."

Voldemort looked at the paper Alecto was holding and noticed it wasn't the Daily Prophet or that rag the Quibbler. It could only be that other paper again. If he ever found this Tenebrae Noctiluca (Dark Side of The Moon), he would take a month off his plans to personally torture the little bastards. That blasted paper was causing him more problems to his recruiting plans than he cared to admit. He had already sent two parties to try to find where the rag was operating. They'd come back empty handed, to his great displeasure. He'd let them know how very displeased he had been at their constant failures.

The Discovery

Article by:Tenebrae Noctiluca

Faithful Readers, if you hadn't heard by now, our incompetent ministry and buffoon of a minister have once again failed the magical constituents of Britannia. Minister Mud, eerrr Fudge I mean, had the brilliant idea of filling the ministry coffers, by expanding Azkaban and housing all of the most dangerous dark Wizards and Witches from all of Europe and North Africa. Why would he do this you ask? Well minister useless didn't want to raise the average household income tax in order to make up any revenue shortfall that will no doubt occur due to the upcoming war with He-Who-Should-Have-Stayed-Dead.

Who really benefits from this deal you may wonder? Well I'm sure some of you have guessed it? The sniveling, over privileged, prejudiced, inbred purebloods who have been raping the British Wizarding world for the last eight hundred years of course. By Merlin's sagging right nut, we wouldn't want to deprive them of their debauchery money would we? Well putting away the sheer injustice of magical Britannia, doesn't Fudge realize that he has just given a sure means to the half-blood Dark Lord to increase his army a hundredfold if Azkaban is broken into?

My fellow Wizards and Witches please do not delude yourself, the ministry's security measures are bound to be cheap and inadequate. Azkaban will be broken into and the worst dredge that our society is capable of creating will be out on our street assaulting your sons and daughters. The minister is playing right into the hands of the self proclaimed Dark Lord, the half-blood Tom Marvolo Riddle.

For those of you who are new to our circulation, you heard right, Voldemort's real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, his mother was the squib Merope Gaunt and his father was a muggle. Now, how hypocritical can you get? The half blood argument for his assault on our world is that he wishes to purge it of half bloods, muggleborns, and squibs saying that they are deluding the strength of our world? The boy apparently grew up abused at St-Mary's orphanage in the early 40's. Instead of using his powers to improve our world, the psychopathic maniac with a severe mommy and daddy issue has decided to proclaim himself Lord of the purebloods and wage war on the rest of us. How pathetic can you get?

For those of you who fear his name and his death eaters you only give him power that he doesn't deserve. Instead of running in fear, why don't you all learn some spells and start fighting back? Muggleborns and half bloods outnumber the purebloods fifty to one, and by sheer numbers we can overpower them. Think about that the next time you see death eaters attacking your home.

Since we're into the topics of Dark Lords, some of you may have heard by now the conviction of Albus Percival Wulfic Brian Dumbledore for his ghastly deeds against the boy-who-lived. How the mighty have fallen. Dumbledore was convicted of breach of family inheritance, thievery and endangerment to name a few of his misdeeds. The self-proclaimed Light Lord is not so light after all. It's come to our attention that while Dumbledore was getting his just rewards handed down to him, the family manor was attacked and raised to the ground by the Scorpion Sorcerer himself. These events have done much to renew this person's faith that no one can escape fate's justice. Dumbledore if you are reading this, welcome to the revolution.

Now as to Azkaban...etc

Voldemort looked at the paper sheeting in rage. This was not the first time the rag had revealed information that should have never seen the light of day. Not able to keep his temper in check and seeing that some of his subordinates were also reading the paper he needed to put on a little show and vent off some frustration at the same time. With that thought in mind, he snarled and crumpled the paper and yelled, "Lies! How dare they vilify me, the greatest Dark Lord in centuries? They will all die a painful death when I catch them." He threw the paper on the ground and hissed, "Incendio."

He turned around and snarled, "Get back to planning. Soon they will all see why it's not a good idea to vilify us. He left to go back to his chamber for some much needed reflection. The proverbial cat was out of the bag on many things. Because of that blasted paper, the moron's would beef up security even more just to prove a point. Perhaps a large break out was not ideal. Maybe a coordinated series of fast lightning strikes on the other Wizarding prisons would be much better. He was realistic enough to know that he could not get every one of them. He just needed to succeed on the ones that had the biggest payout. He would wait to attack Azkaban. He needed to lull magical Britain into a false sense of complacency.

Ministry of Magic London England

Early that morning, as with most government offices across the world in muggle and wizard kind, functionaries were coming in with indifferent stone like faces holding some sort of stimulant in hand. Like well-oiled machines they slowly made their way to their offices. One particular functionary by the name of Martha McCauley made her way to her desk that was adjacent to the minister himself. She had been chosen over eight months ago to be the top ministry administrator. After over thirty-five years of experience as a professional administrative office manager, she had reached the pinnacle of her field.

She made her way to her desk and started riffling through the list of mail that the minister would have to see and take action. It was her job to categorize the mail in terms of importance. She picked up the daily newspaper and quickly riffled through them. She picked up the daily prophet and scanned it to make sure that they hadn't botched the minister's scripted article. Everything seemed adequate. She put it aside and noticed the other news print laying beside the internal documents ledger. She picked it up and started to read when she heard a plethora of swearing, curses and such coming form her boss's office.

The door swung open with a bang that echoed throughout the hallway. She quickly turned around to see an enraged Cornelius Oswald Fudge foaming at the mouth. He looked at her and shaking the paper in his hand bellowed, "Incompetent am I? How dare this pathetic rag call me a buffoon? I want to see Amelia Bones and Veturius Longshanks in my office in thirty minutes." Let's see if this insignificant rag can withstand his full power. He will have the Aurors and Unspeakable trace this bloody damnation of a paper. When he's done with the owner, he'll wish he'd never heard the name Cornelius Fudge. He looked at the paper in his hand and threw it at his secretary and marched back to his office and slammed the door.

She looked back at her boss' door and simply shook her head. She sat at her desk and wrote the summons for both department heads. At times like this, she wondered if a career in herbology would have been better.