Chapter 1:

Renewing Pain

It was just another plain summer night at Hogwarts Castle. All was silent and calm while no students inhabbited the mass of carved stone; you could even here the soft chirp of the birds from the forest or the waves of the Black Lake lulling themselves against the beach outlining the water. From a distance you could see an eight foot six inch half-giant patrolling the grounds doing some work for the new Headmaster who at that same moment was just settling into the Heads' Office. All other teachers were either chatting amongst themselves over a swag of mead or two, detailing up their classrooms for start of term specifications or sleeping soundly. Or, in short, all was well.

Two men draped in dark forest gleen hooded cloaks with the Ministry of Magic "M" emblem on the chest were walking hurriedly up the path from the grounds' front gates and making their way inside the castle.

"Is it true? Is it true what has happened here, Ted?" Said the shorter, more stout of the two.

"I'm afraid so, Rogdus, it is true." Replied the other more tall and skinnier fellow, "it seems in our arrogance and comfort of a peaceful world we overlooked something...something that could possibly be more important than the Dark Lord Voldemort himself!"

Rogdus gasped, "How could that be, I mean, even if there were relation ties to him and this child how was he not spotted and confered by the goddamn Ministry!"

"Unfortunatly, sir, we are still trying to figure that out-" Ted continued before he could be cut off, "however, a department in the ministry did in fact recover three key pieces of vital information."

"A-and they are?" Inquiring for Ted to continue was Rogdus.

"One: The mother died tragically in childbirth, not much is none about her, sir, except she was indeed a pure blood, implying another hint of Lord Voldemort. Two: The child's full name discovered on a worn piece of parchment with him read: Apocolypys Marvolo Stane-"

"Wait, that second piece of information is almost completely worthless!" Barked Rogdus, "if it portrayed his last name as 'Stane' then there is no way he could have spawned from Tom Riddle, they haven't the same last name!"

"You jump to conclusions, sir. Wait until I finish this time," he seemed to start to lose some patience, "do you actually think that someone who knew the baby was the Dark Lord's offspring would keep the name 'Riddle'! It's outrageous! Like said, his last name is 'Stane' which brings me to my last piece of information discovered by the Ministry: Stane is the surname of one last family of powerful warlocks, their immense powers passed down through the years until this woman was the only left of their kind. Now think my good sir, if you combine the power of Lord Voldemort and the powers of a Warlock: Ruler of Shadow and Flame together! I'm no expert Rogdus, but I 'spect that child will be a great threat to all the good wizardkind stands for if he is brought up the wrong way."

After this last piece of startling news all the short little man could emit from his mouth was a soft spoken: "Wow."

"Which is why I disturbed you from you evening tea (terribly sorry about that by the way) and brought you here to see the Headmaster of Hogwarts, he knows of the Dark Magic and he will be able to help us."

"Are you sure?" The man said as he waddled along.

"He is well wise beyond his years and I might say is not particurarly bad at magic."

By now they had made their way to the hallway where at the end was the gargoyle providing the way to the office of the Headmaster. Once they got close the gargoyle sprang to life and with a deep voice requested, "Password?"

"The Golden Three." Said Ted.

The gargoyle merily nodded and stepped aside stomping the ground beneath him revealing a stairway up to their nearly there destination. Once they reached the top Ted gently knocked on the door until from within of which is guarded came a soft voice, "Come in."

Ted, followed by Rogdus entered the room, it was circular and still full of all of Albus Dumbledore's astronomical devices, all recently cleaned and polished. Sitting high upon his perch was the red phoenix staring down at them as they walked farther into the room now only lit by the moon, whose light shone vagualy through the giant windows. Many bookshelves were stationed in random parts of the office, all full of the Headmasters favorite books. Of course the walls were full of pictures, mainly the photos of all the previous Headmasters of which Hogwarts has seen, but none shone more brightly than Albus Dumbledore's who kept a confident watchful eye on the cloaked men while barily surpressing a smirk. At that moment the phoenix took flight, nearly scaring Rogdus to death almost making him...well nevermind the details but, as the bird flew around the room it called and soared freely until it finally rested itself atop Rogdus' head.

"Bloody bird, why doesn't he keep that thing in a cage!" Barked Rogdus, apparently fuming because of the talons digging into his skull nice and deep.

"Because," came a new voice, "it would be a shame to cage such valiant a beast. If you think about it, for Fawkes here, the world is his cage and he is wild, I would hate to tame such a bird as a proud phoenix, I dare say he would try to burn me!" The man chuckled, "now gentlemen, you may remove you hoods if you like, for I would like to see who I'm talking to, I don't want any Death Eaters trying to trick me now, the Ministry I know wants them all alive to interrogate and I am somewhat ashamed to admit if I ever gave any Death Eaters to them they would be dead." The man walked down the stairs now into the view of the two Ministry workers who quickly removed their hoods at the mention of possible threats.

"Now, now Headmaster sir you know the Ministry believes that all the Death Eaters were captured and sentenced to Azkaban or killed!" Said Ted, half joking and half serious.

"Now, now you listen here Mr. Theodore, you know I dont trust the beaurocrats, the jurisdiction and the Ministry itself! I don't suppose you can't blame me after what took place all those years ago, eh?" He said now sitting down behind his desk and pouring himself a glass of scotch.

"It is good to see you again, my friend."

"Alas my friend, it is good to see you too. Now before we get down to the business and propositions I know you bring from the Ministry of these latest events...would you like a drink?" The Headmaster smiled slyly.

"Lovegood Rubyrum is it?" Said Ted pointing at the glass bottle of scotch.

The Headmaster sighed after taking a sip, "Ah the finest she's ever made dear Ted." And without having to hear an answer he poured both of the Ministry workers a shot and levitated it over to them. "Now down to business: I assume you bring me the news that after going over your daily files, which I may add you have done losely in the past few years given the state of calm and quiet things, that you discovered that a few years ago, two to be exact, a woman died giving birth to a child believed to be fathered by Voldemort and now risks our world once again because, well, the rest is obvious."

Rogdus looked at Ted in amazement, "He is good."

"Yes he is," Ted laughed and now turned his attention back to the other, "but there is something else too," this seemed to surprise the Headmaster some, "the name tag found with the boy startled and puzzled us some at the same time, sir. His name is Apocolyps Marvolo Stane. Which we found after retracing the name was the last known family of powerful warlocks who bore dark magic inside them. So generally this child, with the combined powers inheritted from Voldemort and his genetic Warlock powers he could be-" Ted stopped there, for the Headmaster's expression had changed from funny and bright to dark and gloomy.

"In that case, Ted, I would excerise caution and do all you can to secure the child until I can arrange a special meeting to observe him. Meanwhile, Rogdus, do all you can within your department to find the history of the 'Stane' name." He ascended from his seat behind the desk and Fawkes flew over his head back onto his perch, "and with any of your memories," he walked towards the pensieve, "just...cast them away." He pointed his wand to his temple and extracted a silvery white threat like matter and gently rustled it into the bowl. "I would appreciate it if you would now leave me alone to myself to think." Both Ministry workers started to walk out the door, "Ted if you could, for a moment, speak with me.

"There is a small matter in which we need to discuss." Said the Headmaster, a small smirk on his face.

"Yes sir?"

"I know your tired of hearing this," the man walked slowly towards Ted, "but you look so like you father, except you hair, its your mothers: Tonks'."

"Thank you sir, I have heard that a lot around the Ministry, but it means more to me from someone who actually knew them well."

"It is my pleasure, they were great people and died fighting for what we had."

"Had, sir?" Said Ted, streching the issue.

"Theodore my friend, have you taken your potion for this month?" Completely ignoring the issue.

"Uh, y-yes I have, sir."

"Good, good, now...you may go. I hope to see you again soon."

"Thank you sir, and also with you," he turned around and began to walked towards the door.

The Headmaster grinned slyly and said, "You are quite generally Lupine aren't you Ted?"

Ted laughed, "Yes I am sir," and made a wolf like call, "sir, just out of curiousity, how did you know about all of this information before it was even publically released?" He said in a more serious tone.

The Headmaster's smile trimmed and his expression became serious as well, "I have felt a pain recently that I have not felt in a long time, son. I simply trigured a minor incident with this pain and from their I contacted the Ministry immediatly. That is how I knew, Ted."

"Ah, that explains it...what kind of...w-what kind of pain exactly was it?"

The Headmaster looked over at his wand laying on the desk, "A pain in my forehead, a pain, I have not felt in over twenty five years..."