A/N: This is an old story - my own sequel to Disney's "Hocus Pocus" - that I finally decided to post. I didn't know where else to put it, so here goes. I'll be posting all the chapters, one right after the other. I hope you all like it :)

Standards Disclaimers Apply: I own nothing; "Hocus Pocus" and all its characters belong to Walt Disney Pictures

HOCUS POCUS

BLACK MAGIC

PROLOGUE

Salem, Massachusetts

October 31, 1693

Holding flickering torches aloft, the people of Salem Village gathered in the town square to witness the final execution of the three wicked Sanderson Sisters - Winifred, Mary & Sarah – for their evil crimes. Jedediah Binx and his wife Elizabeth led the village elders as they bound the witches' hands and threw nooses about their necks, preparing them for their final journey. Their beloved daughter Emily had been the sisters' last victim, the very life drained from her. Their son Thackery had gone to rescue her… and had vanished into thin air. Now at last the witches were being made to pay for their evil, but it brought Jedediah little comfort. His children were gone, lost. He could avenge them, but nothing could ever bring them back.

Young Elijah stood nearby, holding the Sisters' forbidden spellbook. He had been the last person to see Emily and Thackery alive, early that morning, and it was he who had summoned the village elders to aid them. Now he silently watched the results of his efforts. Inside, he cursed himself for not moving faster, believing that Emily and Thackery could have been saved if he had just done so. For the rest of his days, he would blame himself for failing his friends.

Once they were done preparing the sisters, the elders drew back and began to read aloud passages from their leather-bound bibles.

"Winifred Sanderson!" Jedediah shouted. "Before thou and thy kin are executed for thy wickedness, I will ask you one last time: what hast thou done with my son, Thackery?!" Winifred rolled her eyes.

"Thackery?" she repeated in an innocent voice. "Hmmm…"

"Answer me!" Jedediah roared angrily.

"Well, I don't know…" Winifred stammered. She turned slightly to look at her two sisters, bound on either side of her, and grinned.

"…cat's got my tongue!" she cackled. Mary and Sarah laughed with her, long and loud. Then, abruptly, Winifred began to sing.

"Sing, sisters!" she called out. As one, they began to chant.

"No!" Jedediah Binx roared again, this time to the gathered townsfolk. "Cover your ears! Listen to them not!!"

All the villagers quickly drew back, clamping their hands firmly over their ears to silence the sisters' evil chants. Unfortunately, in doing so, Elijah dropped the spellbook he had been holding. It fell open as it dropped to the ground, and its pages began to flip past as if with a mind of their own. Without warning, a chill wind began to lash through the village. Dark clouds churned overhead, and foreboding thunder began to roar in the distance. Forks of angry lightning eerily illuminated the small gathering. The pages of the book abruptly stopped moving, revealing a particular passage. Winifred laughed aloud.

"Fools!" she screamed. "All of you! My ungodly book speaks to you! On All Hallow's Eve, when the moon is round, a virgin will summon us from under the ground! We shall be back, and the lives of all the children shall be mine!!" Winifred threw her head back and laughed shrilly, the sound echoed by her two sisters, a howling refrain of pure evil.

Their laughter still hung in the air seconds later, when Jedediah at last gave the signal and their final sentences were carried out.

The gathered villagers slowly began to disperse, but a single figure remained in the background, his features obscured by shadows. He wore a simple black puritan's outfit, his hat pulled low over his face, with a dark cloak pulled tight around his body as if to ward off the wind. His hands clenched themselves into angry fists.

"Winnie…" he whispered. A single tear slid silently down his cheek.

"I swear I will avenge thee," he hissed. "By all that's unholy, I swear it!" Then, with a swirl of his cloak, he was gone.

Sometime later, as night fell on Salem, a mysterious visitor arrived at the home of Jedediah Binx and his wife.

"Who art thou?" Jedediah demanded of the young man who stood at his door.

"My name is Balthazar," the young man replied, his eyes flickering in the shadows beneath his black hat. "I would speak to thee about those we didst execute this morn."

"What of them?" Jedediah asked, frowning. "They have paid for the sin of their witchery."

"It may be their evil is not yet done," the young man said, his voice deep and hoarse. "What of their wicked book of spells?"

"It is safe here with me, for now," Jedediah responded, frowning again, "and here it shall stay. Now, if thou dost not mind, my wife and I have no wish for visitors this night." He turned to go back inside, closing the door behind him. Before he could do so, the young man suddenly grabbed the door with one hand, preventing it from closing.

"Oh, but I do mind," he hissed, "very much! I have need of the book, and ye'll give it to me now!!" He shoved Jedediah angrily aside and stormed inside, his eyes darting about in search of the book. Then he spied it, high atop a wooden shelf beside a flickering candle.

"Nay!" Jedediah Binx roared. "Leave my house, while I still let thee!" He grabbed the young man from behind, wrapping his arm around the intruder's neck.

"Get thy hands off me!" the young man roared back, eyes flashing with rage.

"None may touch the person of Lord Balthazar Sanderson and live!" As if by wordless command, bolts of lightning-like energy crackled from his body, striking Jedediah and hurling him back. He flew back through the still-open doorway and collapsed on the ground outside. His wife, Elizabeth, screamed from where she stood inside. Concern for her husband overriding her fear of the terrifying intruder, she hurried to Jedediah's side, kneeling beside him on the ground. Frightened tears streaked down her face.

A look of smug triumph on his face, Balthazar whirled around to face his fallen adversary, swirling his cape about him. In doing so, he allowed the eerie moonlight outside to fully reveal his terrible features. A long, ugly scar ran down one side of his face, from his forehead to his cheek. The eye it crossed was cloudy and dim, obviously no longer of any use. The other was a pale icy blue. He had long, unruly white hair.

"You did execute my loved sisters!" Balthazar roared angrily, pointing an accusing finger at Jedediah's sprawled form. "Now I shall avenge them… and all of Salem shall suffer!" He raised one hand into the air and a bolt of glowing ethereal energy crackled from his fingertips, reaching out to snatch the forbidden spellbook from its resting place. The book floated up off of the shelf, and flew through the air into his waiting hand.

"You!!" Jedediah cried out, still struggling to get to his feet, as he finally recognized the intruder. "You're still alive?!"

"I escaped your 'justice' with ease, old man," Balthazar replied calmly. "No mere mortal is a match for my unholy power!" He waved his hand and the book flew open, pages flying past to reveal a particular passage.

"Now shalt the legacy of my sisters pass unto me!" he shouted. Murmuring under his breath, he began to repeat the words inscribed on the pages before him, an ancient and arcane spell. As he did so, the words and symbols on the page began to glow softly.

So wrapped up was he in casting in spell, that Balthazar was no longer paying any attention to Jedediah Binx, still lying sprawled on the ground just outside. Horrified at what he was now seeing, Jedediah summoned all his strength and forced himself to his feet. He was weak, the strength seemingly drained from him by Balthazar's magical attack, but he refused to give in.

"Elizabeth!" he whispered urgently to his wife, who stood beside him. "Bring me my musket, quickly!" Though still terrified of Balthazar and whatever sinister forces he was now conjuring within her home, Elizabeth did as she was told. She knew her husband was still so weak from Balthazar's attack that he could barely stand, much less run for the weapon himself, and so she did her best to swallow away the mounting terror rising within her and ran quickly back inside the house. The musket hung on wooden pegs on the wall just inside the doorway, and she was able to grab it and rush back outside without Balthazar even noticing her. Jedediah took it from her and swiftly raised it towards his adversary, as Elizabeth ducked down behind him.

"Stop!" he shouted back at Balthazar. "Cease thy evil conjuring or I will shoot!" Balthazar seemed not to hear him at all, and continued chanting his spell. Waves of pale glittering light were beginning to emanate from the pages of the book, slowly swirling about the young man's body in a dizzying vortex.

"I did warn you!" Jedediah shouted again, and he tugged on the trigger of his weapon. The musket roared, and its shot struck the spellbook, tearing it from Balthazar's grasp in an explosive burst. The evil young man was hurled back by the impact of the shot, and crashed to the floor. Steadying himself, Jedediah took a cautious step forward, still training his weapon on his fallen foe.

Balthazar lay on his side, the upper corner of his shirt and coat burned by the musket ball. His hair was tousled and wild, his eyes wide with fury.

"No!" he roared angrily. "The spell has already been cast! If thou hast interfered with it…!" As if in response to Balthazar's words, the swirling vortex of energy emanating from the book suddenly exploded across the room in a blinding maelstrom, hurling both men back. The musket clattered from Jedediah's grasp, and he grabbed wildly for something to hold on to. Balthazar struggled to get to his feet and stand, but the raging energy storm was too powerful. He fell back again, landing hard on his back. Then the waves of energy washed over him again, overwhelming him in an instant.

"NO!" Balthazar roared again. "I cannot control it! You have…!" The rest of his words were cut off as the waves of blinding light completely consumed him. He cried out again, as if in pain… and fell suddenly silent. As quickly as it had begun, the mystical maelstrom then suddenly ceased, and the spellbook of Winifred Sanderson dropped to the floor with a heavy thud. Balthazar was nowhere to be seen.

Standing in the midst of his tempest-tossed cottage, clutching his musket once again, Jedediah Binx stared with wide eyes at the discarded spellbook and swallowed.

"Thy will be done…"