Author's note: Italics - non-English (Old Norse, and later: Spanish).

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Few quotes were taken from the "Don" movie, bab la online dictionary, and descriptions from the Harry Potter book 5.

As a not fluent English speaker I want to say sorry for grammar mistakes or in the use of tenses in advance, but I'm looking forward for advices and any necessary changes.

Summary: Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts. In order to find all of Lord Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes, Albus Dumbledore began a cooperation with a group of people who are preferring to live outside of the contemporary magical society. But what Sirius Black has in common with them? No one can escape from the past.

"Harry Potter and Those hidden in the shadow"

Prequel

"So?" asked a very tall blond man. "Have you found anything? ...Hey!" but there was no answering voice. "Do you hear me? Still no? Ah, damn it..."

He rolled his eyes and tried to sit at the stone bench more comfortably. He was bored, it's been about an hour when his companion has lost touch with this world and started to mutter incomprehensible words to himself. It was annoying. But more frustrating was a fact that some Aurors or other wizards could pop in here any time because of an investigation of the events that took place in this very room less than three days ago - the battle between the Order of the Phoenix and Death Eaters. If they'll come here, he will have to fight alone against them cause the other man was still unconscious - in the Spirit World or in the other dimension, wherever he is right now.

Impatient wizard looked around. This room was dimly lit and rectangular, stone benches were running all around it and descending in steep steps like an amphitheater, or more like a courtroom similar to which he had seen in his homeland - Norway, when he was arrested and convicted of attempt of capital murder. Luckily, he escaped and (by the way) set everything on fire. Yeah, those sweet memories...

There was a raised stone dais in the center of the lowered floor, and upon this dais stood a stone archway, it was hung with a tattered black curtain which was fluttering very slightly. A young man was sitting in front of it. After a few minutes he finally stopped muttering and slowly opened his eyes.

Surrounding air was very cold. There were faint whispering noises coming from the other side of the veil - many people were still imprisoned inside the arch.

"Man, what took you so long, yeah?" said the blonde. "I thought it will never end. I can't feel my butt, damn benches... And what do you think?" he asked quickly. "What's inside this arch? It's freaking creepy! This whole place! Complete nuthouse, if you ask me. Let's get out of here, yeah."

"Shut up, Sane." said the other sharply. His penetrating amber eyes were fixed intently upon the arch.

The voices and whispers were becoming louder and louder.

"So... About Sirius Black, is he alive?" asked Sane a moment later, appearing around the side of the archway and gazing at the swaying veil. He already wanted to go to the nearest pub and get a drink, then take a nap and dream about himself setting something on fire. Yes, he loves that.

"He is." the young man answered when he finally came back to reality.

But the veil continued to flutter and sway, and the voices could still be heard.

"Do you want to get him out of there?"

"I must..." he said cautiously. "What time do we have?"

"Almost 3 in the morning." answered Sane.

"Let's go, Ezra is waiting." he got up from the floor and made his way toward the exit into a circular hallway.

"Nah, he probably is having fun right now, don't spoil it, bro. I also want to relax and for one single day forget about this madness... Hey! Wait for me, mate!" he ran up the stone benches and then he walk through the circular room. Everything in here was black including the floor and ceiling, doors were interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue. "Come on, tell me, tell me - what did you saw there?" he asked excitedly, when with a jangling and clattering a lift descended in front of them.

"Will you be quiet for a moment?"

A golden grille slid back and they moved inside, pressing the button marked 'Atrium'.

They walked down the hall, past the security desk, leaving the Department of Mysteries behind.
The whole building of the Ministry of Magic was in a real mess: destroyed walls, holes in the parquetry, broken furnitures and magical artefacts. A few wizards were trying to repair and clean this up, and the others were discussing the recent events and were writing a report. But none of them saw the two strangers - because of a special magical seal which was drawn on a piece of parchment and then sticked to their clothes they could remain invisible to other people, therefore, no one even noticed that someone broke into the Ministry.

"I wish I had seen that fight. I bet it was fun," said Sane cheerfully, removing the magical seal from his jacket as they left the building. "But if I were in their shoes, I would use a Fiendfyre curse, yeah. The two greatest modern wizards fought and they didn't cause any serious damage, can you believe it?"

"You're pyromaniac, whacko. Call him."

"I don't like mobile phones, these buttons are too small for my fingers, Muggle crap," he grumbled, but took a phone from his pocket and picked a number. "...We'd finished, yeah... Dunno, he'd only said that Black is still alive... Yeah... Okay... Where? No kidding! Yeah... Yeah, we'll be there in a moment," said Sane and he hung up. "In ten minutes at the Slim Jim's pub," he told his companion. "Let's take a cab, ymmm, that famous black one, for show."

"Hmm... What about this?" asked the other man after he'd removed similar seal from his arm, noticing a luxurious sport car which was parked nearby.

"Hell yeah, I wanna drive!" cried Sane, he ran happily to the car like a child, took a wand from behind his ear and made a few flicks of the wrist.
A car alarm turned off and doors have opened.

They got inside and started to look around.

"You remember how to drive?" asked the younger man, as he checked the lockers and took out a pack of cigarettes which he'd found there and then he lit one. He didn't care that they can crash at the nearest tree (due to Sane's driving skills) he just wanted to leave this place - the sooner the better.

"Muggle stuff is all the same," said Sane, examining the dashboard with interest before tapping it with his wand, and suddenly the car started. "Told ya, besides, I'm a real handyman... You smoke again?" he asked, after catching a whiff of cigarette. "You're always doing it when you're nervous, is it because of Black?"

"No," he answered emotionlessly. "But one more word about this and I'm gonna kick you out through the closed door."

"Ummm, forgive me," said Sane, with a slightly apologetic note in his voice. "Let's hit the road, yeah!"

After a few minutes ride (and crashing into street lamp, knocking it out) they've reached the meeting place - a late night pub in a Muggle-inhabited area at the north side of London.
The area was very quiet, they could hear nothing except the sound of their own footsteps.

The door of the pub had opened. It was a typical English pub with oak beams and wooden panelling, with one exception - a women's brassieres hanging up from the ceiling.

"Sorry, but we're already closed." said a barmaid as she was removing empty bottles and used glasses from tables.

"Too bad, cos we've a meeting here." said (also in English) the younger man, as the door swung shut behind them.

"There's nothing I can do, it's past 3 a.m. I don't work overtime. And if you have a problem with that please visit your embassy, but I'm afraid it's not 24/7. Did you get it, or should I call the cops?" - the girl said in a very unpleasant tone. She didn't take a closer look at them but she could hear that they weren't from the UK, and more than tourists she hated late-night tourists who were only causing troubles, and she was already tired.

"We are to see Ezra, yeah." said Sane ungrammatically in his cheerful voice, and suddenly the barmaid had stiffened and opened her eyes wide.

"I'm extremely sorry, gentlemen, please forgive me," she said apologetically, went back to the bar and started to make some drinks. "I'll prepare our pub specialty, it's on the house."

"Heh heh, twisted Imperio, awesome." called Sane.

The two visitors took the stairs up to the entresol, and they sat on a sofa in front of the only guests in the pub - a middle-aged man with dreads and an attractive blonde woman in her thirties with a cowboy hat on her head.

"Hello, boys," said the woman happily. "What do you think about Patrice? She was very unfriendly when we'd told her that we want to stay here a little longer, so Ezra had to chastened her."

"She'll bring something to drink, Helena." said Sane.

"So it'd better be good. I had a hard day so I'm quite pissed off." she growled.

Everyone was exhausted. They have been very busy since they've came to England - always on the run, planning and preparing a lot of things and bumping into people who they didn't want to see: the Death Eaters, members of the Order of the Phoenix and many other wizards, and it was only a beginning. But today, the youngest person from their group was the most tired, he'd just spent about an hour examining the old archway in the Department of Mysteries from the inside, it was both physically and nerve wracking.

The barmaid brought a large tray with many different kinds of drinks and snacks platters.

"Talk away, Yu." said Ezra, when Patrice also gave them a dozen bottles of Guinness beer, and she returned to finish cleaning on the ground floor.

"There's nothing much to say. It took me a while cos I wanted to check what's inside the arch without me being detected... He's still alive, I didn't see him but it could be sensed," said the amber-eyed young man. "And it looks like he won't die in the near future, well, as far as he will stay there."

"And how do you know that?"

"The archway do not kill on it's own but it leads to a spirit who lives inside there, it's somewhat a kind of a passage. And since wizards have stopped using the arch to execute (as they thought) other humans, the spirit became hungry, so now he must be more thrifty with his food. I've detected many humans, putrefied more or less, they must have been stuck in there for decades. He's eating them little by little, at least it looks like it."

"So that's why he won't eat Black, this or next year," said Ezra, sipping Ballantine's. "When I was working at the Ministry I didn't have direct access to the Department of Mysteries, I only heard rumors. Unspeakables weren't sure what was inside there, they reckoned that this archway can take condemned man directly to the netherworld. But to think that it's a pantry of some spirit? It's kinda gross."

"Rumors? I thought that Unspeakables mustn't talk about their department." said the woman, reaching out her hand to take a snack.

"After all these years you should know me better, everything is possible for me," he said. "Anyway, Yu, can you do it?" Ezra turned to him.

"This is what I must do, so I will," he said indifferently. "But I suppose we'll need a substitute."

"You mean a substitute for Black? To deal with the spirit?"

"Yes, you know the rules, you have to give something in exchange. If I promise to give him a few wizards as a bribe he will agree to release him, it has to work," he said firmly. "I'll have to throw those humans to the other side of the vail later, after my job. Dumbledore can't find out about this cos he already is breathing down our neck, and we can't backtrack now."

"You really are confident," Ezra smiled devilishly. "What did you saw there?"

"That's the best part - a spirit who rules over things which can be found underground." he said, smirking.

"I didn't catch that." said Sane, frowning with concentration.

"Because you are a moron. Tall like a tree but stupid like a goat," said Helena quickly. "He meant 'death'." she explained.

"What kind of folk saying is this?" Sane cried angrily. "If I'm a goat then you are an old hag." he snapped.

"This can go on indefinitely..." said the young man nicknamed 'Yu'. "Nevertheless, this is my domain, the same language, same nature, it's a good sign."

"You're more superstitious than my granny, yeah."

"It keeps me alive," he said swiftly. "Be that as it may, whoever lives inside there I'm sure that I'll figure him out. He emitted a very particular aura and smell, he stank like a corpses, rot and mustiness - same as dementors," he paused to lit another cigarette which he'd taken from the stolen car. "They must have been a part of one being, I must stick to it. I'll solve it before the event." he said, tapping his fingers on the table.

"Now, most of our ideas were crazy, but a few were brilliant, and this is one of them," said Ezra with a satisfied smile on his face, as he was about to take one more swig from the bottle. "20 years ago I couldn't dream about dealing with the Spirit of Death and discovering that dementors are probably part of him. As a scientist and wizardrylogist I must say that fate is giving us a signal that we can gain the knowledge we have lost centuries ago - of the Ancient order, mundus operandi of the magical world, our heritage. When I look back, I must say that decision to abandon my... I mean: our previous life, and being true to ourself, that is to say - the Nauthiz, was the right way, but it's obvious. It's also good for you, kid, even if you don't believe in it.

"You know my opinion." said Yu, he was starting to feel worse by the minute. He had previously predicted that his task in the Department of Mysteries would be tough, but now the tiredness started to be unendurable.

"Yes, I know. The ideology of Nauthiz may be an utopia to you, but I believe that not everything is lost and we can still restore the good past order to the whole world, with magical creatures, spirits, wizards and muggles, without exceptions. People can change, and Nauthiz is a backbone of stability. We need to start a revolution. This is an ideal opportunity to abolish the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy," Ezra was talking feverishly, his voice was low and insistent. "Too bad that you'd already accepted the present situation... Are you not feeling well?"

"It's nothing." he answered, taking a deep, steadying breath.

"Fine," said Ezra, as if nothing had happened. "Well, most people are useless, but we can give them a try, at least temporarily..." he continued, and grabbed a cold bottle of Guinness. "I know that you want to bring back balance to the magical world, but you're waiting for a sign from the sky or whatever. Meanwhile, you can see it right now - take Xenia Farel as example - she helped a lot... too bad she's dead now, but she should had listened to me," he added as an afterthought. "Also everything went smoothly with Dumbledore, and now the Sirius Black's case - it's almost as this task has been made for you. I'm inclined to think that I see a fortunate conjunction of the stars in this. Let us therefore make the most of these positive elements. I'm sure that another sign will finally convince you, and I have a feeling that you are aware of this. Who knows, Xen's arrival was a first good sign, so maybe the next chick you meet will definitively determine your future, kekekekeke..."

"This is ridiculous," said Yu, looking disgruntled. "Mixing booze with beer is too harmful for you."

"Look who's talking. The best role model ever," he laughed. "Anyway, maybe after we solve the problem for which we came here, we can create something bigger? Whatever you choose, it will be a right decision," Ezra didn't paid more attention to his remark, and continued: "This world is rotten, and now the fortune favours us, no one can stand in our way. There are a few things in which you don't look for profit or loss... it's simply necessary to do them. It is our duty to unlock the shackles off our feet and to change this filthy world, and it can be done after we eliminate obstacles like Ministry of Magic and other governments. This is the legacy of manifest destiny. I want to tell you that we will seize this opportunity and do whatever we can to achieve it." he said proudly.

"And here we go again..."

"He overdosed on philosophy." sighed Sane.

"Ezra's having a midlife crisis..." added Helena, she frowned and looked at him with sad eyes. "...It's very sad."

"You're all fools. I need to spend my time with someone normal," said Ezra. "I should've listened to what my mother used to say..."

"What did your mother say?"

"When I didn't listen to what she said, how can I tell you?" he told them. "Okay, let's get back to the point. Oz informed me that Dumbledore's having an appointment this morning at 8 at Gringotts. Helena, you'll go there with me." he ordered.

"Oye papi." she agreed willingly to this.

"It must look like an accidental meeting, we'll wait in the cafe opposite. I'm sure that he would like to chit-chat as soon as he'll spot us, cause now we have a mutual business. Besides, he must feel quite down because of what had happened at the Ministry of Magic few days ago. He'd lost not only a member of the Order of the Phoenix, but, once again, the Black family has been broken, hehehe," he chuckled. "Moreover, dumb-Dumbledore can be wondering whether we can check out what had happened to Sirius Black, and if I'll tell him that we can even try to 'resurrect' Black, he will eat out of the palm of our hand," Ezra looked at them, he was wearing a triumphant smile. "We need Black alive anyway, and thanks to this task we will get full access to the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter, and then, we can reach an agreement with the Dark Lord."

"When will we do it, yeah?"

"The exceptional circumstances require us to take fast, appropriate action." Ezra answered.

"Yupi! We're gonna meet Yu's daddy," said Helena in a mock excited voice. "It does nothing for you, kid?

"Whatever." said Yu contemptuously, not even looking at her.

"But if we want this thing to work, it must sound like Dumbledore's idea. Well, he would like to work with us pretty fast anyway, cause he wants to discover how did we know about the Dark Lord's weak point. There are sometimes fortunate, perhaps even amusing coincidences. We really are lucky." said Ezra.

Just a few seconds later, an Asian girl came into sight, hurrying toward them.

"Hullo, Bora!" cried Sane joyfully.

"Sorry for being late," she joined the gang at the sofa. "What have you done to the barmaid? Imperius curse?" she asked. "When she heard 'Ezra' she started behaving like a servant. I can bet she will bring an ice sculpture any moment." she said with an amused expression on her face.

"She deserved it." said Helena, examining her own manicure.

"You know that I don't speak any Nordic language, so English, Spanish or Portuguese, please."

"Let's do the Spanish evening," said Helena complacently. "Patrice, bring us more tapas!" she yelled. "And I want a little paper umbrrella in my drrink!"

"Yes, Miss!" Patrice cried from the ground floor.

"Matt gave me these," said Bora in Spanish, placing a briefcase on the table. "He took our files from the Aurors office, he suspects that they've more copies somewhere, but he still don't know where."

"In fact, I'm aware that 'a few' people know my previous name, I was quite famous," said Ezra, not even trying to sound modest. "Luckily, I don't have any criminal records, so I can walk through the streets like a free man. However, it's just a matter of time before the Order of the Phoenix will discover Sane's and Helena's data, so you must be careful. If necessary, you can eliminate anybody who will stand in your way," he pointed at the woman in a cowboy hat and at the tall blonde man. "Also Yu's real forename won't be a secret, but it's inevitable," he added. "If we want to succeed, the rest of our lovely family must remain in the shadow and work in secret, you mustn't be identified."

"No worries, even I don't remember my given name. I can work undercover." said Bora.

"I know that," growled Ezra. "Nobody needs to know how many of us are in the UK right now. Contacting the Order of the Phoenix or Death Eaters in person will be Sane's and Yu's job."

"I would like to see it - the Order of the Phoenix trying to get buddy-buddy with Yu," said Helena, an evil smile spreading across her face. "You may have pretty eyes, boy, but your attitude is terrible, don't be too harsh with them. This will be just great," she laughed. "We already have a bad reputation, and now they will be even too scared to talk with him, hilarious."

"It's necessary, even if it means cooperation with Dumbledore and Sirius Black," added Ezra. "We all have a dirty work to do, the next months are gonna be busy... I hate this beer. Bring me a tequila, girl." he said, when the barmaid brought them a colorful drinks with the decorative cocktail umbrellas; guitar-shaped ice sculpture; watermelon bowl full of punch, and another snacks platter.

"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!" said the Muggle. "I have allowed myself to order you a pizza, ladies and gentlemen. I didn't know what flavour would you like, but I didn't want to bother, so I've chosen everything from the menu."

"I'm starting to like her." Sane smirked.

"You like every girl who is overweight." Helena remarked and took another drink.

"At least she looks better than you and your hairstyle... Ouch!" he yelled, when Ezra had hit him on the head.

"You should kick him out, dear. He's completely useless and he's an idiot. All he do is screw around all day." she said maliciously throwing a furious look at Sane, but Ezra ignored her and started to read the files from the Aurors office.

Sane smiled when he figured that he has nothing to worry about.

"I don't screw around! Today I was watching over my little bro, and thanks to it, no one bothered him during his job in the Death Chamber." he said, grinning.

"How did you find that place? I thought it's difficult, especially when we don't have any spy there, at least yet," Bora was curious. "...What's wrong? You look sick."

"It's no big deal," said Yu, trying to sound casual, but everything started to hurt him. "Potter showed me the way."

"Harry Potter?" she repeated.

"The one and only," he confirmed. "I knew that he saw how Black had fallen through the arch, so I looked into his mind for a while and as a result he led me there," as soon as he'd finished one cigarette, he'd light up another. "Potter is an unqualified underage wizard, so now he may think that it was only a bad dream because of his traumatic memories or other shitty reasons. Using someone else like those humans from this Order of the Phoenix or whatever would be too risky cos they might get suspicious, and no one should know that we were there."

"True," said Helena. "And if we're talking about Potter, I've found a perfect nark who will spy on him at Hogwarts, so we'll know everything about his doings."

"Oh, yeah, I also have an announcement: their leading daily newspaper can be soon in our hands," Bora added with satisfaction. "My old friend Luke will help."

"Good job, my loyal lambs. You all know what to do," Ezra poured more tequila in his glass and raised a toast. "We are gonna checkmate all of them. So, may the fortune favour us."

"And what are we gonna do later, with the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix, when Yu will put an end to his... ummm... business, yeah?" Sane asked rhetorically. As far as he know, Ezra wants to get rid of them in the first place.

Sane didn't care a whit which side will they choose at the very end - Dumbledore's or Voldemort's, he only hoped he would fight, burn and get as much gold as he can, and that no one will get in his way.

"To put it bluntly, let them go to hell." Ezra answered carelessly and took a sip.

"Yeah, cheers!" they raised their glasses in a toast.

But the youngest man wasn't that enthusiastic, his thoughts were still in the Department of Mysteries.
He took out another cigarette.

"I'll do it, but no sooner than next month," he said. "I need some time to rest, and I must consider how can I get Black out of there."

"You need a Healer, dude."

"I can handle myself," he said roughly. "Besides, before I start 'working' for the Order of the Phoenix, I must do something for Voldemort."

"What if Dumbledore finds out, yeah?"

"I don't care. I'm not here to make any permanent alliances with him," said Yu. "I need Dumbledore and his stupid Order just until I solve this problem with Voldemort. I'm fighting for my life, so nothing else matters now."

"We'll be doomed as well if Voldemort discovers what do we know about his weak point." said Sane, who for some reason looked unconcerned.
But only Bora didn't know that they are talking about Horcruxes.

"Then stick to the plan, so he won't," said Yu, sweeping his dark hair out of his eyes and throwing a cigarette butt on the ground. "Carrying this burden is my role to play."

TBC