Chapter 2

As the two figures looked upon the bloody sight of a mutilated body with faintly glowing symbols spiralling out from it in a complicated sun pattern the silence of the brand new and empty warehouse pushed down around them. The warehouse was utterly bare with a layer of dust and the remains of a powerful ritual being the only occupants.

One of the figure's shook itself out of its reverie and stepped forward and raised its wand, an almost solid silver stag shoot out of the tip and bounded away with a quietly worded alert to the Auror's Office. As the stag bounded off the other figure started casting perimeter wards, as was standard Auror procedure.

"I thought the first scene was bad, but this one is positively humming with death magic." Harry Potter, the stag's owner, commented pulling a face at the ritual circle. Draco Malfoy just shot a Harry a dark look and continued creating the perimeter.

"Strange, these runes are extremely similar to the old demonic runes fell warlocks used to use. But they aren't the same, an adaption of some sort." Harry said silently stalking around the outside of the ritual circle, scrutinizing the blood red runes.

"I didn't know you knew so much about runes, you didn't comment on them at the last scene." Draco had finished the warding and was now avoiding looking at the ritual circle with all his might.

"They were common runes, these are something else entirely. The jagged edges on each one and their chaotic make show that, but they are all ordered in a pattern." Harry glanced up from his musing's "What does this feel like Draco?"

The Malfoy line had the rare ability to be able to sense magic and distinguish between certain types without the need of time and training. "It is definitely dark magic, same intent almost as the last ritual but with deeper reaching power. The wasted death energy is flowing off the runes quickly but it's darker than any magic I have ever felt, it makes me want to vomit but at the same time it calls for me to embrace it."

Harry looked up at him sharply moonlight reflecting of his wire-framed glasses. Draco just gave him a look of reassurance; nothing would ever draw him into using such deadly and destroying power. "I don't know how you can be so close without it touching you; it flows around your body and magic like a rock in a river."

"Don't worry Draco; my magic has grown stronger and stronger at repelling passive dark magic. It came with the job." It was Draco's turn to look sharply at Harry, he rarely mentioned the time when he worked in the Department of Mysteries as an Unspeakable, all Draco new was that a huge project had been undertaken with Harry's unique type of magic working at the forefront.

With a confident flick and uttered word a golden ring formed at the end of Harry's wand, as it started to grow he began to chant in Latin "Ut fune ligabis ad magica tenere stricta usque tene." As he repeated it the circle began to take form as a sparkling golden rope which curled around the ritual and body. After finishing the chant a brilliant gold dome formed over the top than it all faded. Draco stood there amazed at what just happened and what he could see still happening, when the magic rope had formed the magic pouring out of Harry had been immense but now looking at the ritual circle he could only vaguely feel the magic contained inside the invisible dome.

"What in Merlin's name was that?" Draco asked finally finding his voice.

Harry turning around with a sheepish grin "Umm… well it was a magical spell."

"Oh really, I would never have noticed." Came the smooth sneer from the blonde. Then his tone turned serious "No seriously, what was that? You managed to contain the magic and essentially freeze all energy inside of it."

"An old spell, not commonly spoken in Latin but I have found that with Magic working easier with Latin nowadays the spell has a better effect."

Still in a slight daze at the sheer impossibility of just stopping all energy dead Draco asked "What was the original language?"

"Hebrew."

"What? Hebrew is rarely used in spells, why would it have created a spell that should be impossible?"

"It came from a very old manuscript only held by the Department of Mysteries and I'm not sure if impossible is the right word, just highly difficult." Harry said with a mischievous glint. He knew Draco well enough that he had expected a stunned disbelief than the casual inquiries that spoke of a need for deeper knowledge.

"Hmm but wouldn't such a spell need greater amounts of power than what any one person can hold?" The casual façade had replaced Draco's awe just as Harry had expected.

"Normally yes, but I drew upon a nearby source of magic I was attuned to. This one I can't explain, 'It's A Mystery'!" Harry answered using a term unofficially tagged as meaning 'Official Top Secret D.O.M. stuff' by the Auror's office.

With a huff Draco turned away, he hated not knowing what was happening, that was why he still kept many of his old underground contacts. With almost synchronous "Pops" two groups apparated straight through the perimeter wards and into the warehouse. Draco saluted and went over to debrief the just arrived Head Auror detective while eyeing the group of three robed figures. They were the Unspeakable's, a collection of highly shadowy people who only ever let their closest friends know who they were. Harry had gone over to debrief them; he was speaking low and seeming to be saying more than a simple debriefing.

They turned as one away from Harry and glided in their full body and head covering robes directly towards the Auror Draco had just finished debriefing. One of them explained to him in a magically distorted voice that he would be told as much as possible but due to the selection of Runes used in the ritual Unspeakable's were in command of this site.

As Harry strode over to him Draco wondered how the Unspeakable's had even known about the site, "Well that's our job done, the Unspeakable's have it all under control and we have to report to Riley before hopefully getting home."

With a tired sigh he nodded acceptance and disappeared with a soft "Pop", Draco really did hate 'not being in the loop' if he used an apt muggle term.