San Franscico

"Welcome to Jonas's high School. Like every year, we have loads planned to enrich all of your fresh minds. To our new students I would like to state that we hold high regard both for academic and non- academic excellence. Please feel free to enlist help from any our staff or your fellow students. Or you could come to me your very own Principal Snyder" exclaimed Principal Snyder in the New Term initiation. There was some scattered clapping but most senior students were not too impressed having heard almost the same thing every year. Pricipal Snyder was a large stout man in his forties. He wore a dark complexion and was of a pleasing nature.

"We have 10 new student this year and I would request all of you to please make them feel welcome so that they become an asset to this institution like all of you have been through out the many years. And, no I won't mention their names because you'll find out soon enough!!. Now enough of my talk. I'm sure all of you are famished. So if all of you all please head for the banquet room you'll find that our chef Miss Hedway has a unique repast prepared."

The students hearing the obvious dismissal headed for the only thing they looked forward to every year. The new ter initiation Banquet in Jonas's high school had no comparison in the state and it was truly a luxurious affair and a great time to mingle with and make new friends. Jonas's high school had been established 30 years ago in 1977 by Sir Edmund Jonas and was regarded since as one of the best institutions in the country.

Of course Percee knew all of that. It was one of the reasons why he and his mother had chosen this place. Like all mothers his mother also wanted him to get a sound education. And so he had applied and succeeded in gaining a chance to study in a classy institution. HE would try his best at being a regular normal student but with his history, staying ordinary was a pretty difficult thing to do. When he was younger he had been so sure that he was cursed. The belief still hadn't left him. His father was one of the greatest sorcerors in the world and he wasn't too sure that a stray curse may not have hit him when he was a toddler. How else would he get into the situations that he did?

Lost in his thoughts, his feet carried him to the banquet hall for the great feast. As he entered the large room , Percee gasped at the sheer hugeness of the place. The entire place was clad in a golden ambienc and there were two huge chandeliers overhead. At the back there were two large spiral mahogany staircases. One led to a large cafeteria from where cateres were currently moving to and fro carrying tasty treats. The other staircase led to what appeared to be an equally large study hall in which Percee could make out shelves of books. He saw that a few students had already made their way over there and were picking out their favourite seats for the rest of the year. The boys and girls were separated into two long tables. There was a golden glow and the smell of good food lingered in the air. Percee found his mouth watering slightly which he asuured himself was a completely reasonable physiological response. Sound of idle chatter filled the room as people caught up with old friends and discussed the goings on during vacation. Perceee being new to this level of social gatheing found himself slightly lost and started watching the only person he recognised- Rachel, as she made her way over to the girls' table, all the while heavily engrossed in conversation with the girls around her. Percee himself looked attractive in his casual wear and 6 feet tall frame and made quite a few female heads turn. Some of the boys started looking at him calculatingly as if to see if he could be a threat to their stand or if he would be a viable player in their match against Central High. Now Football was the major play out in Jonas' , and Central High had been their biggest rivals since ancient history. Any guy who made it to the team was regarded as one of two things by the rest of the school- One is that you are the newest hero in the block and the school could look forward to creaming the competition this year. You would be Mr. Popular and would have a good entree when applying for the sports scholarship while applying for college later on. Option two …You would be Mr. Loser, but you got into the team anyway and everyone hates you for it. People would try to scare you into giving up your chance for a more…adequate player. One of these people caught Percee's eye and pulled him over to sit next to his chair. This guy was Wyatt Halliwell. He was tall, almost 7 feet and with messy blonde hair. He had a boyish look but what was most noticeable to Percee was a thin scar running down his right cheek. He seemed to be the centre of attention in his muscular frame around a small group of guys. As Percee came closer Wyatt got up and held out his hand and shook Percee's hand tightly. Percee, felt the light squeeze as Wyatt's muscular frame closed in on him in that small handshake and Percee instead of giving a grimace just shook back , making it look as casual as he could. Wyatt nodded impressively.

"Welcome to Jonas. I'm sure you are one of the new students Principal Snyder mentioned. Please take a sit. We are all friends here. My name is Wyatt Halliwell. You may call me Wyatt. All these are my pals. Except the last guy, he's my brother Alex, but you can call him Chris. Now let's enjoy the feast". Saying so he pulled a plate of sausages near him.

Auror Headquarters, London.

Darius? Darius Sprightwell? Asked Ron to himself as if tasting the words in his mouth.

"Yes. I'm sure of it. He's the one who's been supplying them with weapons and finances." Replied Harry

"The name sounds too.. Ordinary" murmured Ron "Not that I doubt your skill in mind reading, but you must admit that it sounds very dismissive, and yet I feel I should know the name as if from a distant memory. Something about it makes my cogs spin. Daa..r..i.u..es.. Sounds good…but not darklordly enough. And Sprightwell.. Is that a muggle name? This is odd. No it's peculiar. Fascinating ".

Ron out of habit removed his spectacles and wiped them in his handkerchief. Harry recognised this particular trait. Ron was deep in thought.

"Ask Chief Morison to look into the database. The code is 'firerat' Access all files relating to the name- 'Darius Sprightwell and that's with a – 'ght'. Ask for our spies' everywhere if they know anything about it. Send teams alpha and beta to check out the undergrounds."

Immediately the people around Ronald got busy to carry out their tasks. Ron sat down in his chair and crossed his legs. He held out both his hands supporting their weight by holding onto his cane. After a moment of deep contemplation, Ron seemed to nod to himself and summoned his Pensieve from a secret drawer. Slowly he extracted an old memory moving very slowly as if it were a thousand year old parchment. He pulled his wand back and slowly dipped all of it into his head, giving a few moans as the memory wrought its way back into his mind. Suddenly Ron opened his eyes that he had closed during the transfer and they glowed slightly under the storm of Magic.

"After all these years it has come back"

San Fransisco:

Percee was checking out his locker and sought out his time table for the day.He had advanced Geometry as his first two classes. Not a problem. Then it was chemistry…lunch…and he found Rachel coming along his way. She opened the locker next to his.

"Hi how's first day?" he asked casually.

Oh its great. I've already spoken to a few people and they're really friendly replied Rachel who managed to recover her schedule. She drummed her fingers as she checked out her schedu Advanced Geometry it is. By Proff. Geofrrey. Sounds nice.

"We'd better get going" answered Percee

Back At Auror head quarters

"What has comeback Ron?" asked Harry seriously.

"Tell me Harry do you know of the Portals of Secrecy?"

"No..am I supposed to?" asked Harry wondering where Ron was going with this "What are the Portals of Secrecy?"

"Well...it's a secret"

Harry and Miss Lacy groaned at Ron's horrible tact.

"Well one of it's secrets anyway is about the Nomen Magica. Names of Power."

Harry just raised his eyebrows in a questioning gesture. Ron got up and walked to his desk and took out a marker. He pulled a white board in his office and wrote- 'DARIUS'.

"Darius." explained Ron "Son of Hystaspes, and king of Persia from 522 BC to 486 BC. Darius was the Latin spelling used by ancient Roman historians. Question is why did our missing friend choose this name?"

"Ohh..I know this one" muttered Harry sarcastically "Perhaps...its beacause his Parents named him so...you know like I was name Harry and you were named Ron. Its not a big conspiracy Ronald. Its just a name. Like Tom, Dick...or even Harry."

"But..." continued Ron "Tom or Dick were not armament suppliers to a wicked old wizard gang. Heck I doubt if they were wizards. Even Tom Marvolo Riddle went for a name change. Seriously, how can anyone take someone seriously when they seriously have no seriousness to name themselves something seriously better than an old muggle name despite how serious it could possibly sound. Unless they wanted their enemies to fall and die laughing that is. Or maybe they should have tried Harry . Now that's a good name."exclaimed Ron.

" Now Mr. senior auror let me do my job. Believe me names are cruel things. Like Darius, king of Persia, had ascended to power admist great controversy and bloodshed. About 512 BC Darius undertook a war against the Scythians. A great army crossed the Bosporus, subjugated eastern Thrace, Macedonia submitted voluntarily, and crossed the Danube. The purpose of this war can only have been to attack the nomadic tribes in the rear and thus to secure peace on the northern frontier of the empire." Ron took a breath

"Great king. Pretty smart but flawed, just like a wizard. The name Darius is not just a name but it is the name. A Nomen Crisp Magica. Very Old but powerful magic. Quite effective."

Ron pulled out an old file in his handpad.

"In the old age of the 5th Magi, Dariouses was the name of the younger god who was made responsible for all descendants of the great Alchemist Heriouses. The eldest of this line took up the name Darius in his honour. The name was then imbibed into the rightful owners by any mage of supreme power which were common in those days. And the name gave its user the power to at will summon the might of Dariouses whch unsurprisingly manifested as magic. Almost all had become wizards of renown until the late century when the name died with Darius III of Persia. The last known existence of Nomen Magica. Until now"

Ron closed his handpad. "Our Darius is one of them. After this many years he has returned" finished Ron, just as he and Harry both simultaneously looked at the door.

Soon there were two firm Knocks.

"Come in" said Ron

Morison, the auror force chief reporting officer came in. He was a 4 year old man who had seen his share of fights. He had been one of the people who knew how bad Voldemort's reign had been. He nodded to both his superiors aand gave a small nod to Miss Lacy too. Then he begin his job of reporting. He looked at his file and calmly handed it over to Ron's secretary.

"Sorry sir, all our teams report a nil. There is absolutely no significant link to that name from any of our agents." Cried out miss Lacy, Ron's secretary. What she didn't expect was Ron to smile brightly as if it were Christmas.

"Well that's good isn't it?"

The reporting officer looked perplexed and even Harry sighed at his friend's eccentric behaviour.

"Seriously. What did you expect to find? Come on this is the ring gang we are talking about." Said Ron stressing the point "They are good at keeping secrets. Give them some credit you know!"

"Yes. I know. I was there" muttered Harry sardonically.

"Exactly" cried Ron as if that explained everything. "Ring gang. With over 20 members. One man turned a bunch of losers by providing them with advanced magical weaponry, without ministry authorisation. Those weapons could turn the tide of war itself. I've never seen anything like it before. A dozen of those guns if charged to full could kill a hundred aurors easily. They were toying with us. Until you came along. And I don't thing you would have survived either if it weren't for your special skills and the Potter Factor. What I'm stressing here is that this person – Darius is no ordinary wizard. He's no ordinary human . He is dangerous. The ring gang were bloodthirsty and unreasonable and Darius Sprightwell attracted them to the idea of powerful weapons and more than a hint of grandeur like a bear to Honey. But all of this…this hocus focus in the last two days were nothing more than a test!" Ron claimed as if he just realised what is two plus two.

As long as Harry had known him…since Hogwarts , one thing he had always known about Ron was that he rarely made claims unless he was absolutely sure of them. That being said Harry had every right to believe that If Ron said that Darius was a tough ass wizard then he very well should be. But Human nature likes to question deep claims and without wanting to that's what Harry did.

"Ron I need to ask if you are absolutely sure about this"

"No"

"No?"

"Obviously YES!! It's pretty obvious all those weapons needed a magical charge. Constructs like that need a good source of power!! Anyone with half a brain can construct a magic peashooter but to actually charge those with red hot piping magic requires a little more brain than that. And from the nature of magical residue which I picked up from you, yes you Harry. You didn't think you could hide the stench of newly regrown skin from me did you? Oh give me some credit. Where was I? Ah… yes the residue. What about it?? O.. Yes it had absolutely none of the flair of white beautiful, pink puffy, your sweet innocent kind of Magic. Which of course rules out Unicorn Horns…and tail feathers if anyone were wondering" quipped Ron

" Now people what are the other possible sources of raw magic power? No points for guessing." Asked Ron holding out his marker

"Well it could be Dragons?" started Harry

"Excellent Harry. The wizarding world has atleast a thousand species of Serpentia Draconis. Believe me, my brother Charlie can vouch for that. Among the thousands, wizards have identified atleast 100 different species to obtain heartstrings or claws for wand's core. But we can safely rule out Dragons here due the differing quality of magical residue harmonics. Clearly no Dragons here. The only type that can safely offer compatible magic is the Chinese white serpent and … well they have donor ship issues. Anything else?"

"Phoenixes" offered Miss lacy.

"Phoenixes? I'm sure I would know if a phoenix suddenly went naked after donating all its feathers to charge up a hundred and fifty illegal magic charged guns. Believe me their cry sends out a magical shockwave, which can be felt through out the planet if you are sensitive enough. I still remember the last one. I couldn't sleep for weeks. Others are even rarer possibilities, if they valued their life anyway, which I'm sure they did."

"What about a Nundu?" asked an eager officer

Ron thought about it. For about half a second. " Nah .Too powerful. Too uncontrolled. The weapons would have blown up in their faces. If they could harness it in the first place that is"

No one offered any more possibilities. Harry was beginning to have his suspicions about where Ron was going with this.

"So. It stands to reason that all their weapons including their BFG gun was charged by pure Wizard magic. Yes…I know wizards can't donate magic. But…if someone was way above normal wizarding levels…like say Darius. Well it's a pretty safe bet to know where the ring gang got their power source" answered Ron in a flourish

"So Darius charged their weapons? We already knew he supplied them with weapons! How did knowing that he charged them with his own magic help us any? Plus there is no known way to safely transfer magical energy from a wizard" exclaimed Harry at Ron's –oh I'm such a genius look.

"Well…" said Ron still wearing his smug look. "For one apparently You don't know of any safe way to transfer wizarding magic. Can't say the same for Darius. Believe me it has happened before. Secondly we now know that he's damn strong. Secondly it confirms my assessment. He's definitely a Nomen. Like I said before it has happened before. It is…was known in popular lore that one of the Nomen Magica's greatest tricks was to donate magical energy willingly. Among the pure mages of the time it was considered something…abnormal or rather a blasphemy. A heavily mistrusted art…but the result was simply terrific. Also was their ability to absorb other's magic." said Ron sitting down in his chair. His tone gradually became melancholy as if he was remembering a horrible event. "Once, Darius II had absorbed the magical strength of a thousand of his mages, unwillingly given. He became unstoppable and with great power he dove into madness and chaos. He was able to wipe out armies with a mere wave of his hands. Some people believed that he became Dariouses himself. However a king whom we came to know as Alexander the Great defeated him…" Ron stopped mid-speech and looked out through the magical window. It was currently late evening and the street lights were slowly lighting themselves.

Ron continued to stare outside the window.

"Harry the ministry has a third level magical shielding specially designed to repel wide remote attacks." said Ron suddenly. He slowly turned towards Harry. "In the past 5 hours I've sensed nearly one thousand magical discharges throughout London Now here is the thing about magical discharges. They are usually vague and annoying. But…" Ron suddenly brought his hands to his brows as if talking brought about a migraine " if the magic is a little bit more complex and specific, anyone experienced enough could actually guesstimate it's type. In this case we have an epidemic of multiple memory modifiers. Brilliant little buggers. And since I know I didn't sanction any Obliviators to do practice work. I'm assuming it is a Oblivia statures multipa. A specialty if you will…"

Harry quickly summoned the closest mike "Team gamma report to station at once. Head out to city zero and spread out. Suspect name Darius Sprightwell. We have multiple attacks of Oblivia Multi" he exclaimed.

"Oblivia Multi?" asked Ron's secretary

"Powerful memory modifiers. Can also be time placed. A dreadful but brilliant little spell. It was Voldemort's brain child. With it you could do unspeakable things. Wide memory wipe outs, false memories, mind commands..anything. Some people killed themselves over its effects in the last great war" answered Harry grimly, even as he ordered further commands through his command mike.

"its no use Harry. HE's gone. Only one bit of magic is still remaining and the person is putting up a pretty good fight"

"What??" cried Harry. "Tell me who remains. I will personally apparate and track the magic. This might be our only lead to Darius" Now that Harry thought about it,he realised why all the aurors Ron had sent aa few hours back came back emtyhanded. All the poeople they had questioned had beenobliviated!!. Oblivia Multi was a tricky spell and there was no way to detect it afterwards, unless you were specifically targeting it. But Ron was different. Even to Harry, Ron's skills seemed extraordinary. The fact that he could track small magical discharges of an obscure spell halfway across London spoke loads about his ability. He himself only just noticed it and that too after Ron, mentioned it.

Suddenly Harry's line of thought broke as Ron nearly bent over on his knees, his face was slowly turning green.

"Call the medics" shouted Harry as he quickly pulled Ron up and checked his pulse. It was steady.

"It's okay Harry" coughed Ron. "The magic…I've blocked it. It wouldn't have led you to Darius. The spell..it was targeted for me. You were the point of origin. I had noticed it the moment you entered the room after your interrogation. The spell…it was alive…slowly making its way out and across the prisoners. That's why it took me quite a sweat to finally remove it"

"So…you blocked a magic which originated faraway in London? and I'm guessing the prisoners are intact too?"

"Yep, in a odd sort of way. Though I'll need a long nap to replenish my magic. Damn Darius can pack a nice punch. I need a drink"

Ron nodded to himself approvingly and took a swig of some red gold potion from under his desk. He gave it one sniff and drank it quickly, his other arm grasping the table as the vile concotion burnt through his stomach. Ron squeezed his eyes and opened them his face settling into a peaceful smile.

"Ahhh…it burns through me so beautifully…"

"Why do you drink it if every time you do your face grimaces as if someone shoved a blast ended skrewt up your rear?" asked Harry questioningly.

Ron still held his desk tightly while his face slowly regained its colour.

"It helps me think clearly. You know gets rid off the cobwebs settling around the brain. You should try it. Rich Source of Iodine. It is good for the brain. Good to solve riddles. Like the fact that your last jaunt into the interrogation room nearly compromised us all. Can't blame you really. That's powerful magic"

Harry bowed his head slightly chastised. He had to be more careful next time.

"Maybe you should try my drink too"

Harry just rolled his eyes exasperatedly. Soon the medics entered the room only to find three apparently healthy people- Head Auror Harry, Senior Unspeakable Ronald Weasley and his assistant, Miss Lacy.

Ron waved them away cheerfully but not before the head medic looed at them and at Ron's drink suspiciously. But he finally left. That's when Harry continued.

"But now we don't have any leads to follow up . I'm notifying everyone about it. I'm assuming he's an A class…"

Ron took this news calmly "He's an X level Harry. And I do know a lead"

The room became so silent one could have heard a pin drop.

"That" breathed Harry "Is impossible. HE..He was the last one. I killed him"

"And…yet you are here. You too are one of them.Or Don't you remember? I assume you do. Its been branded to your brain so you never forget" Of course Harry knew.

"How did he escape our sensors? Another X level?" Harry shuddered.

"Come on Harry. You are the head auror. You have to bring him in. You know only you can. He may be strong. But you have yet to lose a fight."

"Yes. I do indeed have to yet to lose a fight, don't I?"

"You are the master of the Hallows" stated Ron.

"Yes I am. Now about that lead"

"Let's visit Kinestone shall we? St.Mungo's after that" answered Ron.

Both gave a nod. "Well I'm ready" said harry. He was best on the field.

Ron just collected his hat and without Harry noticing snuck in a bit more of his red potion.

"I'm ready too" said Ron.

Before Miss Lacy could respond, they both apparated right through the ministry wards.

All Miss Lacy could think of was -"I hate it when they do that"

Kinestone, Riveris, Orchard

Ron was examining the place where just the day before Harry had rounded up the ring gang.

"Hmmm..cheerful place. Muggle indeed. This place is laced with magic strong enough to rival Hogwarts. Ah…good it is stronger here..The scent…yes.." whispered Ron to himself while Harry was searching around the place and wishing he knew what it was that he was searching for.

"Okay I've got the scent!!" announced Ron as if to an audience of throbbing fans.

"What?" shouted Harry from the distance only to find himself suddenly appear next to Ron. The sudden shift of scenery startled Harry enough to aim his magically charged finger at the enemy…which was a sheepish Ron

"Well..you were a little far away and I was too tired to shout So I pulled you here"

answered Ron sheepishly and a tad defensively.

"One day Ron when my magic reacts a bit violently to that little pull-apparition trick of yours, it will follow the source magic like a hellhound and when it finds the owner of said magic…believe me I wish dearly that it wouldn't hurt" promised Harry ominously and Ron shivered

"Well now that we are all cleared of our airs and all." Stammered Ron.

He wanted to say something further probably about that brilliant scent he had a few minutes ago but the effect was ruined and he just pulled a ball of light literally into his hands. Harry shut his eyes from the intense white light, which looked like a fist-sized version of the sun. He recognised the magic instantly. A powerful tracker charm. The strength of the charm was directly proportionate to its brightness. Most aurors could not even perform the magic and those who could, only managed some small wispy lights. One day Harry would definitely check out Ron's file. Something tells him that he and Darius were not the only X level wizards in town.

Ron released the ball into the air and it just vanished like a phoenix apparating.

"Are you tracking him?" asked Harry

"The scent" answered Ron his face in full concentration.

"What scent" asked Harry stupidly

"Darius' magic. This place is full of it"

Harry never felt stupider in his life. Of course. Darius' magic had charged the weapons lying here in this place. Ron had got its scent and is now tracking it. Like a magical sniffer dog.

After 5 minutes Ron sighed. Harry just groaned. He knew what that sigh meant. Ron's tracker failed.

"Come on Harry. There is one other place where I can check. And I doubt Darius can give me the slip there"

"Where's that?" asked Harry

"St. Mungo's" answered Ron and then apparated.

In St. Mungo's

"Where is our detainee being held" asked Ron walking through the hospital hallway with Harry at his side.

"Room 51 special detainees sir" replied one of the aurors- James Patrick.

Well lets pay our guest a visit. What is his current status?

Still in a coma sir.

"Wrong, Mr Edwards, but nice try. Do read up on the differences between Coma and Cursed Sleep. I believe there is an excellent anecdote to illustrate this in Wilkins's and Wilkins's.

Mr. Edward nodded, his other hand furiously noting the suggestions down in his secret notepad. He wasn't one of the senior aurors for nothing. The fact that he was a Ravenclaw may also have had something to do with his eagerness.

On reaching the Special Detainees section, the said room, Ron opened the door and peeped inside. There lying on a bed was the leader of the ring gang with drips on both his arms. His face was pale almost blue, his skin was sagging and his eyes were looking straight ahead as if watching something mesmerising. Ron without waiting for the doctor's approval went and looked into the patient's eyes. His pupils were dilated and the retina looked hollow at the sides as if a small insect chewed them off. Ron activated his inner sight and looked more closely. No evidence of any residual charm. Expert work. Ron felt his pulse. It was slow.

"He's ready" was the only warning Harry got before Ron suddenly grasped the patient's temples with both his hands and engulfed it with powerful mind magic. Harry could sense the force of Ron's magic even from such a distance and his skin tingled from it. The other two aurors in the room never sensed a thing. Harry himself couldn't recreate it with such finery.

Ron was soaring through thousands of images, each revolving around him like electrons around the atomic nuclei. His hand moved like the conductor of an orchestra, all his integrity and thoughts held together by sheer will power.If his concentration went astray for even a second, his being would be overrun by the malestorm of memories and he may end up in an actual coma.The body can't live without the mind.But Ron was in his element. In a moment Ron had pinpointed the epicentre of the foreign residual curse within the mind of the patient and shot to it like the snap of a rubber band. Almost at once Ron found himself in a well-concealed memory, his own magic casually squashing all defences. He looked for what he wanted to see. In a moment he felt the build up of energy as his suspicions materialised in the form of a figure in front of him. He was well built, atleast 6 feet tall with wavy black hair and a handsome visage which held a calculating look. Ron ignored his passive threat and looked down upon the figure in this mind field.

"Hello Darius"