Prologue

Forbidden Forest, Twelve Years Ago

Even as night fell, the horizon was lit by random flashes flying from hundreds of wands in the battle for Hogwarts. The once majestic castle was now in ruins and casualties were rising on both sides. Nonetheless, the Battle went on, for neither side had given up hope. But for the hooded figure bent against a tree; panting heavily, all was lost. Clad in a battered black cloak, with tears streaming down his bruised, pale face and clutching a dripping wound on his left arm; Nathan Claymore looked nothing like the smart and cheerful Fourth-year his peers always looked up to.

After the murder of his parents; who had been Aurors for the Ministry, by Death Eaters the previous year, his life had quickly turned into a freakish nightmare. Orphaned, he had harbored seething hatred towards the murderers and when he found out they were among the ranks of the Dark Lord's army; he had recklessly charged in for redemption. But he had been no match for their power and would have been killed if not for his friends who fearlessly fought with werewolves just so that he could escape. Seeing his friends get butchered while being powerless to do anything had deeply shaken his conscience.

Currently, his eyes widened with fear as he noticed some movement behind him. A sudden burst of adrenaline in his veins caused the pain in his arm to subside as he ran deeper into the woods.

§§§

Nathan had no idea how long he had been running for or where he was. The pain was worse than ever and exhaustion was fast setting in. His vision was getting blurry and he felt that he would faint soon. He felt his legs catch on something and crashed heavily onto the forest floor. The impact knocked the breath out of him and left a nasty gash on his forehead. Groaning, he somehow found his wand and croaked:

"Lumos"

The clearing lit up faintly. Painfully, Nathan made it up to his feet when he noticed hoof prints all around him.

"Centaurs" he thought. As he looked around at the trail, he found something glinting from inside one of the prints.

Curious, he picked it up to find and odd black stone. It had a jagged crack running down its middle around which were inscriptions. Some were indiscernible but there was what looked like a circle inside a triangle faintly etched on it.

Maybe he was delusional due to exhaustion but the stone looked oddly familiar. Like something out of a book he had read as a child….