Chapter One

The Second Darkness Arises


The silence of the night amplified the eeriness of the area. It was a windless night, indeed, and that every sound made my dead leaves and snapped twigs could have been heard even from afar. There were no creatures of the night, also. But amidst the dead silence, several robed figures moved in a strange quiet pace.

Suddenly, one of the robed men stopped and stood very still. He was followed immediately by the rest of the figures, like a chain reaction. Then, slowly, they began to turn to the first one who stopped and seemed like they were waiting for something.

"Do you know why you are here, brave witches and wizards?" A cold voice asked from the first robed figure. It was dark and horrifying but brought a sense of dominance and evilness with it. It was a voice of a man, a cold and calculating man.

One of the robed figures stepped forward and then made a bow. "Milord, I request for a chance to speak." The cold-voiced figure seemed at the latter but did not speak. "Milord, as far as majority of us knows: we aim to pursue a goal. I heard that it was to be the catalyst of change of the Wizarding community." He said and then bowed so low that it almost seemed that his nose would touch the ground.

"What is your name, wizard?" The cold-voiced man asked.

The man who spoke moved on forward and then slowly removed his dark hood, as if reluctant to uncover his face. He was a middle aged man who was clearly very handsome in his prime years. He had short and blonde hair that accented his ocean blue eyes. He looked quite charming if not for the fact that he was looking at the cold-voiced man in an emotionless manner, a trait very common to an accomplished wizard in the field of Occlumency (a branch of magic that deals with the mind shutting off from external magical penetration).

"My name is Edgar Chamberlain, milord." Edgar announced and then made a curt bow once again. Suddenly, he heard a faint voice that oddly sounded like a giggle. It was a voice from a woman. Then, another robed figure stepped in front.

"Edgar Chamberlain? Are you the one who was working in the Auror department of the British Ministry of Magic until several months ago?" A woman's voiced asked. Then, she took off her hood and then revealed herself to the group. She had a very kind face and a blond hair that seemed to unusually swing in the slightest of movements. Her pale face looked like it was making a faint glow in the dark night. "Somebody spread rumors across the Ministry that you encountered a dragon in Slovakia and was eaten. Was it true then?" She mock asked in a joking tone.

"Obviously not." Edgar snapped back, discovering of the awkward situation he was in. True, Edgar left his duty as an Auror several months ago. He was working under the main Auror squad of Harry Potter, who was the head Auror currently. After receiving an invitation from a man named Auguste, he joined a small congregation of wizards from all corners of the world only to become a small organization formed by a wizard who called himself Alvis. Although the aim was extremely obscured, Edgar joined the organization; he felt like he's been spellbound or something. However, his thoughts gave him the impression that he must not leave the group. "Who are you, then?" He asked at the woman.

"I am Cinderella Mayfield but you can call me Ella." She answered in a rather cheery tone. "I worked at another Ministry of Magic." She added with a flick of her hair. Edgar gaped at her cheeriness, wondering why she seemed to be not affected by the tense situation.

"You're the woman who was rumored to make magical experimentations of werewolves and banshees, aren't you? Ella Mayfield?" A man's voiced asked from the crowd of robed figures. He stepped forward and revealed a man with a wide chest, as if he was wearing a thick breastplate or something. He had short and brown hair and looked a bit haggard. This was the man who gave the invitation to Edgar about the organization; the man's name was Auguste.

Ella turned at Auguste and then smiled. "Yes, I am. I worked at the Creature Management Office of my Ministry of Magic. The experiment, of course, was not legal at all angles but I was fascinated by it so I did it anyways. The upper guys found out and I was sacked as the head and was ordered to be executed. What a long chase that was. I had to apparate from Siberia to Poland for three days to get them off my track." She explained in a tone fit for a mother explaining a story to her child. "You must be Auguste Crust."

"Er – Auguste Crust?" Edgar interjected for a moment.

"You're saying you don't know Auguste Crust?" Another voice rang out from the group. This time, it sounded very Asian. True to his tone, an Asian man stepped out from the group with a vague smirk across his face whilst he looked at Edgar. "You're Chamberlain. A famed Auror from the British Ministry of Magic who went missing all of the sudden, right? The Daily Prophet said your loss made a huge impact at the Ministry. However, isn't it strange you don't know Auguste Crust?" He said in an intrigued tone.

"Ah, Ya Ren Ren. I would never forget your name, even if it is in Chinese." Auguste turned at the Asian man.

"Please call me Ren. I don't like my Muggle parentage very much. Anyways –" he turned to Edgar again. "How come you don't know the man who killed twenty Muggles in Ayala Bridge in the Philippines?" Ren asked him and without waiting for an answer, continued on. "Yes, he caused the collapse of the bridge some months ago. I heard a very brief rumor that even the British Minister of Magic held out a helping hand at the Philippine Magic Bureau.

"Of course, the Chinese government also sent out some help and as one of a special squad of hit-wizards, we chased Auguste across the globe. Apparently, he chose to hide in England. So foolish of me."

Auguste laughed. "I have had a hard time dodging Chinese hit-wizards, y'know." He said happily as Edgar and Ella gave him query looks. "Ren was especially good at memory modification so he had the privilege to chase me even if they're around Muggles; he would just wave his wand and everything in his ten kilometer radius would lose all their memories about our chase around the area. Ren apparently were the one responsible for the riot in Beijing and modified at least a hundred of memories to look like a thief was mass-attacked by the townspeople."

"Had a bit of struggle, mind you. Cracked my wand."

They all heard a faint sigh and all of them stopped at once. Ren, who had been unusually cheery since his introduction, fell back into the crowd and was soon followed by Auguste and Ella. Edgar, who had been spoken to earlier, remained before the cold-voiced man. He made a bow as soon as he realized that they spent a considerable amount of time talking and chatting.

Much to his unusual feeling of horror deep inside him, the man began to remove his own hood and exposed himself to the group. From the corner of his eyes, Edgar thought he saw Ella shift uncomfortably as they watched the latter reveal himself. He was tall and lean but he had a strange distinction of looking similar to a ghost figure. He moved gracefully, as if his own bones would collapse if he didn't move properly. The man revealed a long hair that reached his shoulders and had an old, square eyeglass that made him look like an old professor of great difficulties. He sighed again and then bored his striking gray eyes at the crowd.

"You, people of famous and infamous contributions to the Wizarding world, are gathered here today as you agreed to help me achieve my goals." The man said, waving his hands at them. Some of them seemed to have difficulties holding their own knees and were blatantly shivering. Whether in fear or the coldness of the area, Edgar knew not. "I gathered the best of the best although you clearly have a very, very vague impression of my truest motive.

"Why did you join then? I wondered as people of great reputation and power stood before me. But alas, I came to the conclusion that perhaps many of them would accuse me Confunding them, or perhaps using some strange type of jinx; some may even think they've been Imperiused. None of them are true however. You came here because you knew something was going to happen. That, perhaps, Alvis, the person who formed this organization, was going to do some sort of revolution. Against whom, he knew what many of you thought. Against power."

Nobody moved. Edgar felt a sudden rush of panic as he thought of the cold-voiced man's words. He knew, of course, that that what he was saying was true. He joined the obscure organization because he needed to do something. That something was never discussed to any of Edgar's friends or relatives, not even his wife. You see, he was plotting on overtaking Kingsley Shacklebolt's position as the British Ministry of Magic. He planned many things naturally. Once or twice, he ended up at a conclusion of bashing into Kingsley's office and snapping him with a simple Killing Curse. That would have been so easy if not for Harry Potter's revised security measures and that everyone and everything in the Ministry was well-protected, even Edgar himself.

Perhaps, Edgar began to think as he looked around the crowd, that the people gathered here today plotted of many things against their own government or of someone in power. Edgar turned to the man with glasses and saw him looking at the latter. For a long moment, Edgar looked at the gray eyes before the man turned against him and then began to walk again. The robed figures followed him by sight for a moment before all of them followed.

"We journey on to Hogwarts." The cold voice rang out to the woods.

"Yes, Lord Alvis." Ella responded. Many of them stopped for a moment in shock, including Edgar, but recovered their senses and then continued on walking.