Prologue

Harry Potter was not in a good mood. He had just come home to find that oaf Dudley bent over, rifling through his trunk with his fat ass stuck in the air behind him. Harry slowly moved to a position behind Dudley, stepping forward steadily and silently, before he cleared his throat.

''Find anything interesting?'' Harry asked, feigning curiosity. His cousin yelped like a stuck pig, bouncing up and bolting out of the room as fast as his short legs could take him. It wasn't very fast.

Harry smirked before turning back to his trunk. He had returned from Diagon Alley the day before, after finally receiving his Hogwarts letter. A quick glance told him that nothing had been taken, which didn't surprise him. To be honest, he was surprised that Dudley had even been brave enough to come into his room. It was almost admirable, and was the only thing that saved him from getting hexed immediately. Still, the Dursleys knew they were in for a bad month before Harry left for the school. He wouldn't want to leave without having some fun first.

After Dudley left, he turned to his new owl, Blake. He was nearly pitch black, with the exception of some grey highlights running through his wings and his piercing brown eyes. He was barely given time to see his new masters room before he was sent off to Knockturn Alley, phoenix core wand in tow. There was no way in hell that Harry was dealing with the bloody trace on his wand, and he just happened to know a man called Borgin that had experience dealing with enchantments. Not that he really needed a wand, though. His wandless casting ability was refined and perfect. A wand would simply make it easier to control the amount of magic expended upon casting, so it had its uses.

He sighed and fell back onto his bed, grinning when he remembered the time the Dursleys had tried to stick him in the closet under the stairs. The bloody closet! That was around about the time his powers were just emerging, and Vernon realised that as he spent the next week barely able to sit. It probably didn't help that Harry had taken the elder Dursley's bedroom and dumped them in Dudley's spare room.

He turned then to his other new pet, Lucy. She was a beautiful Albino Burmese Python, golden in colour with white patches running along her body. She noticed him looking, and turned towards him. The second he looked at her in the shop, he knew she was there for him. The connection was immediate - a ''familiar bond'' Harry believed it was called.

''Jusst who wass that pig of a human?'' She asked, a little disturbed that something of that size could possibly exist.

''I wouldn't dare taint you with that information, my friend.'' Harry replied. ''Jusst ignore him and the other two animalss in the housse. If any of them sso much as look at you funny, though, then… well, have fun.''

She nodded her head, happy with those instructions. As a magical snake, she was impervious to most forms of physical contact, to prevent people stepping on or harming her. As such the Dursleys wouldn't be able to touch her if they wanted to, but it would still be amusing to see them trying in vain to touch her as she wrapped herself around their necks.

''Don't kill them, though.'' Harry warned. ''Ass much as I despisse them, I need them alive. Were they to die, the blassted wardss around thiss house would fall, and it would give Riddle free reign to come after me. He would happily break the truce to get at the one who could harm him.''

Harry sighed then, and got up. Lucy nodded her assent before wrapping herself around his left arm, getting comfortable under his sleeve whilst he donned himself in the deep green robes of The Old Guard faction. Pulling up the enchanted hood, his face was covered in shadows so that nobody could identify him. He used his metamorph powers to give himself a bit of height, and then he apparated silently out to his next meeting.

Ten years ago, Tom Marvolo Riddle had attacked the Potter residence. He killed both Remus Lupin and James Potter brutally, before moving upstairs. As much as he wanted to kill her, he knew having the support of Severus Snape was more valuable. Instead, he used the imperius to move Lily out of the way before he turned his attention to little Harry. Taking a deep breath, he began the horcrux ritual. He wasn't sure of how exactly it would effect a living person, but he hoped that he would fulfil the prophecy by someday taking over the Potter boy from the inside.

And while the ritual certainly worked, it left Riddle quite weak. The effects of performing a ritual of that caliber on a human were severe enough, but his already splintered soul had trouble taking that amount of punishment. He didn't die, but the magical exhaustion from the ritual lasted for a little over eight years. Nobody could have expected it, and nobody knew about it, thankfully. When the truce was offered by Dumbledore a month after the Potter attack, Riddle took it. In return for him calling in his Death Eaters and giving the country peace, he was given 33% of the Wizengamot seats, and was left alone in Riddle manor. Additionally, he was allowed to view the full prophecy, and as he didn't want to let them know he'd already heard it, he begrudgingly agreed to the terms. He didn't know how long his weakened state was going to last, so he'd had little choice. He slowly built up his forces during his down time, but without displays of power it was slow going.

Two years ago, he had finally regained his powers. Since then, the truce had slowly been fracturing as the war began to reawaken. The Death Eaters and the now huge force that was the Order of the Phoenix began to clash. The biggest battle so far was only a 10 versus 12 battle in favour of the Death Eaters, in the streets of Godric's Hollow. The fight ended with two or three casualties each, as the sides accepted the draw and backed off. Dozens of smaller skirmishes had been breaking out since then, however, though neither side was relenting to the other just yet.

But that wasn't the problem Riddle faced. No, his concerns were of the mysterious third faction that had appeared. Nobody yet knew who they were, what they aimed to achieve or even who led them. What was apparent, however, was that they were strong. Oftentimes during a clash of the Order and the Death Eaters, a group in green robes would appear and join the battle. They had only revealed themselves 6 or 7 times so far, but the worrying part was that they hadn't had any casualties yet. They turned up, injured the majority of the wizards in the battle, then left before the fight finished. They were powerful, but what's more, they were an unknown. That's what had Riddle worried more than anything else, the idea that he, the Dark Lord, had no idea what was happening. The thought almost frightened him.

He looked around the main chamber of Riddle manor. His strike team of 4, ordered to assassinate the Abbott family, had just returned with two dead and one more severely injured. The ''green robes'' had struck again, although according to the standing member of the strike team, the Order members who had turned up to protect the Abbotts were also crippled. Something had to be done.

''It seems,'' he began, drawing the attention of his inner circle, ''that these green robes are a bigger threat than I first anticipated. Until I understand who they are and what their goal is, we must proceed with caution. From now on, missions will always be spearheaded by one of you. You will only pick out your team right before you leave, and brief them on route to your targets. This will be in effect until I find the mole in our ranks. And they will pay. You are dismissed.''

Riddle stood and strode towards his chambers. Entering, he walked towards his desk and sat. Pulling some parchment towards him, he began to plan a way to deal with his newest enemy.

Albus Dumbledore sat down at his desk heavily, before popping a lemon drop into his mouth. The calming draught inside helped relieve much of the stress he was feeling. Mundungus Fletcher had just been killed in the attempt to protect the Abbott family. Not a devastating loss, but an unexpected one. Thankfully, the Abbotts had been spared as the green robes arrived, but they apparently didn't even bother with the Hannah and her family, instead choosing to simply join the fight and then back off. It was getting frustrating. Their only purpose seemed to be to fight against the armies of Albus and Tom. Perhaps they were unspeakables, trying to hold up the truce? Albus didn't know for certain. And that was not acceptable.

Albus looked up at the occupants of the room. The four heads of houses were there, along with Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks - his auror allies.

''Well, let's get this over with quickly. The students are arriving tomorrow, and I imagine we all need a good night of sleep to deal with that particular event,'' he said, grimacing slightly at the thought. ''Though I doubt it, does anyone have a clue as to who these green robed people are? While they don't seem to be too much of a problem right now, they're showing themselves more and more often. Frankly, I'm worried. While they've certainly helped us on occasion, like the attack just now, they've been interfering in our own plans too. I don't like that kind of wildcard, especially not when we're at war. If we could discover who they are, perhaps we could form some sort of truce or alliance with them, but at the moment I don't know how we would go about doing it. Thoughts?''

''Thought it'd be the unspeakables at first,'' Moody grunted, ''but nah, this ain't their style. They go in with a goal then get out. I highly doubt they'd be causing this amount of disorganised chaos.''

Minerva spoke up ''Personally, I don't see the point to speculating about it. There's no way to tell right now. I'm sure in time they'll come out with their goals, after they're in the right position.''

Albus looked at his deputy and nodded thoughtfully. ''Yes… alright, I can see your point. We'd just be stumbling around in the dark, scrambling for the right answer. For now then, we'll cut down only to necessary operations. We'll show up at attack scenes to fight the Death Eaters, then get out as soon as possible. If the green robes appear, we disappear. Let them burn themselves out against the Death Eaters.''

''You expect us to just sit back on the defensive? This is a bloody war, Albus! We can't afford it!''

''Enough, Severus. We have little choice in the matter. Above all else, we want to restrict the amount of casualties caused. Until we are able to act without interference, we proceed with caution. No point stumbling around in the dark.''

Snape grumbled, but agreed. Everyone else in the room was quiet, deep in thought. How were they supposed to fight the unseen? The unknown? It was a completely unprecedented situation.

''Moving on. We do have some good news, in that one Harry Potter will be arriving tomorrow.'' He smiled then, as most of the room grinned or whooped. ''You all know what's happening tomorrow. Kingsley, I want at least 8 aurors at the station, and another 4 at Hogsmeade. Tonks, you're the best of us on a broom, so I want you following him as his family brings him to Kings Cross. The cloak you are to use is behind you. As for everyone else, eyes peeled. No matter the house he gets put in, I want you all supporting him. We must win him over to our side as fast as possible. Now, as long as there's nothing else, it's getting late.''

As nobody appeared to have anything to say, they all got up and traipsed out of the room. Albus leaned back into his throne and sighed. When had things gotten this complicated?