Author's note: This is my first bit of fanfiction, so please go easy on me. Special thanks to my awesome beta-reader, Slytherin's Silver Dragon!! Please Read and Review!!

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Prologue: The Vault

Some Date, early 1981

A full moon loomed over the silhouette of the building. A dog howled somewhere down the decrepit side-lane. Rats scampered through the open drains. A lone security guard was snoring in the main door post, the wizard wireless humming in the background.

The blond haired man smiled. It was his first real mission.

"I will not fail you, master."

He had a dozen other men behind him, all of them wearing dark hooded robes similar to his.

Malfoy took a breath, removed a wooden stick from beneath his robes, and then turned to the two people immediately behind him.

"Crabbe, Goyle, I don't want you to ruin this so listen carefully. Go down this street & destroy all the shops. Burn them, blow them up, I don't care. Just make sure nothing can be salvaged once you're done with the place. Kill anyone who gets in your way. Leave no trace, no witness. I will be entering the Main Lab. I will meet you here in exactly half an hour. By then, I should have the documents. Don't be late," Malfoy added with a slight sneer.

"Nott, Snape, McAvoy, make sure these two don't blunder up again. The rest of you, follow me."

*

"Snape! Snape! I'm outnumbered here! Where the heck are you?" Malfoy swore into the twin snake logo on his robe.

Malfoy was battling three guards at once, his wand moving all around him. A green light flashed past him, on both sides, miraculously missing him. The two guards slumped on the floor, lifeless. Snape moved swiftly past Malfoy to take on the guards Nott was battling.

Malfoy was bent over, breathing heavily. A bright orange stream whizzed past him. He knew he should be grateful Snape was with him on his mission. He was loathe to admit it, but he knew how much better Snape was at dueling than him. "Damn it!" he swore under his breath.

Suddenly the logo on his robe started to glow. "Shit," Malfoy swore again.

"Nott, cover me!"

Nott, now freed of his enemies by Snape, moved to give cover to Malfoy, as Malfoy proceeded to the street corner.

"Yes, my Lord"

"Is it over yet?" a cold voice hissed at the other end.

A short silence ensued.

"Do not tell me you couldn't even do this simple task I gave you, Lucius", the voice hissed.

"Its not a problem, my Lord. I'll return with the documents within five minutes"

"Remember Lucius, I do not like to wait. If it takes any more than five minutes, I will be most," the voice paused for a moment at this, "displeased."

A cold sweat broke up the blond man's forehead. "Five minutes, my Lord" he repeated.

"Snape, Nott, recon!"

The two men hurried to Malfoy, their wands a continuous blur as they fended off their enemies.

"What?" snapped Snape, already irritated with Malfoy. "We should have finished this by now. Why are we still here?"

"Because I was unable to break into the vault," Malfoy said.

"I'm not surprised," Snape sneered.

"This is not the time for this!" Malfoy snapped. "We need to get into the vault right now!" He gave a pointed look to the other two.

"Right." Nott spoke for the first time that night "You and Snape lead, I'll cover. We'll combine our powers to break the seal"

"Right", Malfoy spoke before walking towards the staircase.

A flight of stairs later saw them outside a plain, metallic door. All three of them pointed their wands towards it and bright yellow jets of light burst from the tips, blasting the door open.

Snape stepped ahead into the room. A plaque, labeled 'Gene Synthesis' greeted him. As the dust cleared, it became evident that the entire room was totally empty. Even the walls were bare.

Nott was the first to speak. "Where the hell are the documents?"

Movement in a corner of the room alerted Snape. He placed a finger on his lips then pointed towards the direction of the noise. The three started walking towards the corner.

"What the-"

*

"My Lord, we have an...er..." Malfoy tugged at his collar, "development. There are no documents here at the Vault."

"What? That is impossible"

"I am sorry , my Lord, but what I say is the truth. The vault is completely bare. However, we do have something else here, something far more interesting, master"

"Pray tell me what it is," a cold breath whispered near Malfoy's ears.

Goosebumps rose on his arms as Malfoy struggled to compose his fear at surprise at his master's arrival beside him.

"Pray tell me what it is, that I'll find more interesting that those documents," Voldemort repeated.

Snape stepped through the doorway and bowed low. Voldemort looked once at him, then turned & walked into the vault. In front of him was a small glass paneled case. A number of tubes snaked out from all sides only to be swallowed by the adjacent wall. A baby was sleeping peacefully inside.

"I've opened the top of the case, my Lord," Nott said.

Voldemort looked at the infant.

Suddenly the child opened her eyes. Voldemort and the child looked steadily at one other.

"Avada Kedavra!" hissed Voldemort suddenly. A bright flash of green light burst forth from his wand towards the girl.

Voldemort put his wand back inside his robes. He waited till the case emptied of the green light. Then he turned towards Malfoy.

"Its time to leave, Lucius. Our work here is done."

A wide eyed Malfoy picked up the baby & followed his master.

A cackle of baby laughter was heard as they left the room.

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