Disclaimer: I don't own any character or plot. All of them belong to JKRowling
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Chapter - 4
Albus Dumbledore did not like the way Order meeting progressed. Many members seemed to be sympathetic to this new group. Sirius's carefree attitude regarding the killings of death eaters , especially was irritating. Dumbledore knew the value of human life. It wasn't long ago that they were in the midst of a violent war; he didn't want to be in a new war so soon, he needed time to train Neville to let the prophecy run its course. If Dumbledore's plan succeeded, Voldemort would be vanquished permanently without the loss of much life. But with this new group's action of exterminating death eaters,all his plans were in jeopardy. This new group had all the markings of a dark army. Dumbledore knew he will have to act if he had to stop this threat from escalating .He knew his order would come around once these dark group started attacking the innocents . He knew dark wizards would sooner or later attack the innocents whatever their aims are, they all did.
But onething didn't make sense to him, while this group went to great lengths to cover up the earlier killings, Azkaban attack seemed reverse of this trend .It looked like they wanted to make a statement. What the statement was Dumbledore couldn't figure it out.
Today, Harry potter was very happy .It had almost been a year since he came in this dimension. He had effectively crippled Voldemort's empire. He had killed many deatheaters and wrecked the finances of many .Voldemort's ability to wage a war, even if he managed to comeback has been delivered a huge blow. Harry knew Voldemort was very clever when it came to war strategy, he would try to find alternate means .But Harry was not too worried, he had the confidence he would be able to counter any surprise move that Voldemort managed to produce.
But this was not the reason why Harry was happy today. Today was little Daisy's fifth birthday .She was very excited as Harry had promised a special gift for her. All the family & friends were gathered around the cake and James lifted up Daisy to blow the candles and cut the cake, while the rest were singing the birthday song. Daisy got toys as presents from her parents, Sirius & Remus.
After all of them finished eating the cake, Harry took Daisy & Daniel aside and presented them with plastic crowns embedded with shiny stones. He had purchased them from a muggle shop .They were colorful and tastefully carved .Harry had used a charm to make the stones appear like real diamonds and to fit the heads of the children properly. Harry placed a crown on Daisy's head and proclaimed her as the Princess of Potter kingdom, while Daniel was crowned as the Prince of Black kingdom. Daisy & Daniel were thrilled at the crowns and at being made princess & prince. Then the twins entered the picture and all the kids started playing a role playing game .Harry decided that twins would be soldiers, while he would be a general in princess Daisy's court .They were to visit prince Daniel of Black kingdom.
The adults who were watching this childish game from nearby were laughing. Lily was especially worried after last week's massacre and Dumbledore's conjecture regarding a new threat. Her logic was telling that new threat was against deatheaters but her motherly instinct nonetheless started to worry. Seeing her kids play, she momentarily forgot her tension. She noticed later that Harry had Daisy and Daniel in his lap and was feeding them grapes while telling them a fairytale. Harry had been very helpful to her mom in the past one year. He had already started on first year books and was showing good progress, he also helped his mom teach the twins. With Daisy, Lily could see, Harry was set on spoiling her. She didn't know whether to feel happy that Harry was such a loving brother or to feel worried that Daisy would become a female version of James with all that spoiling. Harry's birthday was in two weeks, she had special present in her mind for Harry, for being such a good boy for the past one year.
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Rita Skeeter was waiting in a muggle restaurant in London .It was past midnight and she was impatient. She had received a letter, asking for her to meet him if she wanted to know who was behind the massacre of Azkaban. She was checking her watch. Her would be informer was five minutes late. She had no idea this would be the single most important interview that she would conduct in her life .Then she saw a young man of around 25 years was walking towards her table and sit in a chair opposite her.
"I apologize for the delay MsSkeeter. You are looking nervous, are you worried that I will attack you. I assure you I don't have any such intention, that's why I suggested this muggle place."
"Ok, what is the information that you have regarding the massacre?" questioned Rita.
"My name is Shadow and let me tell you my story" replied Shadow
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Dialy Prophet
The Truth behind Azkaban Massacre and accidental deaths of many pure bloods
By your correspondent Rita Skeeter
Yesterday night this reporter had a meeting with a individual who calls himself "SHADOW" .During the meeting he confessed to be the mastermind behind the Azkaban massacre and not only that he claimed to be responsible for the mysterious accidents that killed many prominent members of our society .I was beginning to get skeptical, then he swore a oath on his magic to tell the truth to me during that meeting. That's when I realized he was telling the truth and decided on a lengthy interview with Mr. Shadow.
Q: What do you know about the accidents of Lucius Malfoy, Cauthers and other prominent purebloods?
A: Their deaths were not accidents. I executed them and then covered up the scene as accident.
Q : So you are saying you are responsible for the murders of twelve prominent members of our society ?
A : Yes ,though I would refer to them as executions ,not murder.
Q: Why did you execute them Mr. Shadow?
A: They were all death eaters of Voldemort .They did heinous crimes for their master. After the war they escaped using their influence and money .I made sure that they paid the price for their crimes.
Q: How can you say they are guilty of any crime, some of them were not even charged after the war, some were under the imperious curse?
A: Rita, most of them had the Dark Mark; it is a complex ritual magic mark which can only be given by the consent of the receiving individual. The mark itself is a measure of their loyalty. Anyway I had interrogated each individual under veritaserum .Each of them confessed to their true crimes.
Q: Don't you think you should have asked the ministry to reopen the cases, instead of taking law into your hands?
A: Tell me, do you honestly think the Ministry which let off the death eaters in first place after receiving huge bribes would take action and reopen the cases , I very much doubt it .As a muggle general once said "The cost of inaction is always far greater more than the cost of action", I choose to act and remove this threat instead of waiting for some honest minister to come to power and set things right.
Q: Even if we agree that the executed were guilty of committing crimes for the Dark Lord., tell me, what is to be achieved by killing them now?
A: Let me clarify one big misconception that exists in the wizarding world today, Voldemort is not truly gone. That night he should have died when his killing curse rebounded on BWL, but he still exists as a wraith form. He was deep into dark magic; he must have done some dark ritual that saved him that night. Point is,he is still out there waiting for opportune time to come back and these death eaters will join him the instant he comes back. Even if Voldemort doesn't come back these power hungry, muggle hating suckers will be waiting for the next Dark Lord to appear on the horizon, to join him as soon as they see potential. They are too dangerous to be left alive.
Q: How do you know they will join Dark lord, if he still exists and he returns?
A: Let me give you an example, which will make things clear for you. During his interrogation Lucius Malfoy confessed that he had minister Fudge in his pocket and he was paying money to him ,In return Fudge was weakening Auror Force by cutting budget for aurors now and reducing the number of aurors in future. Still think I am paranoid ? Lucius was weakening the ministry forces, so that when his master returns, things will be easy for him.
Q : These are serious allegations against the minister .Do you have any proof to back up this charges ?
A: I have the confession of Lucius. Anyway if you want proof, interrogate the minister under veritaserum; you will get all the proof you need.
Q : So ,Am I to assume that your motives behind Azkaban massacre are also the same ?
A : Yes , If voldemort comes back ,his first act will be to rescue his followers .I am merely making sure that there are no followers left for him to rescue.
Q: What about Bellatrix Lestrange, she is believed to have escaped the massacre?
A : No ,she did not escape ,but she is held captive by me . Rest assured that she will not be coming out alive.
Q: So Mr Shadow, your revelations today will create a storm in the wizarding world .What do you want to say the wizarding public?
A: My message to the public is "Put an end to your blood purity nonsense. Let go of your meaningless prejudices. These were the things that allowed Voldemort to gain power. As long there is discrimination, there will violence. Wizards should learn to respect other magical beings, and then only peaceful coexistence is possible."
Q: Are you suggesting with wizards should be friendly with creatures like Fenrir Greyback?
A: Let me update you on one truth, Fenrir Greyback and fifteen of his werewolf friends, who all worked for Voldemort, were also executed by me. But the important point to remember is it was our discriminatory laws against werewolves that have are pushing werewolves to take extreme paths. Allow them equality while taking precautions for our safety, there won't be any werewolf problem. After all they are unsafe only 12 nights in a year,even that can be contained using Wolfsbane potion.
Q : Are you saying that you had Greyback and his followers executed .Exactly how many followers do you have ?
A : Yes ,I am confirming that Greyback and his followers are dead . The number of people working for me will remain confidential for now.
Q : Mr Shadow , What is your message to the ministry ?
A : "First fire that incompetent and corrupt Minister , Wizengamot seats should not be hereditary,move towards a democratic process .Root out corruption from all departments. Stop working for the benefit of a few purebloods and work for the benefit of entire wizarding world. Then there will not be any need of people like me.I will be watching you closely to make sure that mistakes of past will not be repeated"
Q : Are you laying your claim to be the next Dark lord ?
A : I would like to call myself as Protector .If you want a derogatory word ,then you can use the word 'watchdog'.I am not doing this for power or money.I am only doing this because I don't want innocent people to suffer for the inaction or foolish actions by people in power.
That ends the interview readers, the whole contents were so explosive, I am unable to give an opinion on this entire 'Shadow' issue. I will leave the decision to the wizarding public to make up their own opinion.
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The next day evening Order of Phoenix was assembled once again.
"As you know situation has become clear since our last meeting. 'Shadow' has come out in the open and had made his intentions is the reaction in the ministry,James ?"
"The dept of magicial law enforcement is in turmoil .With minister's credibility in question aurors are not sure what to believe,but Bones is pushing for us to investigate harder .We have already questioned Narcissa Malfoy,she confirms what shadow has said .Shadow not only killed Lucius ,but also made Narcissa pay half of their money as compensation for their crimes .He also warned her to raise her son without blood purity nonsense ,she was also warned to stay away from pure blood supporting activities. Looks like he had them killed somewhere else and then placed the bodies in muggle car and staged the accident. We don't have any clues except that he is a young fellow ,less than thirty .One thing is for sure; this guy was able to enter many pureblood manors which were heavily warded, at no place where the wards brought down. He is able to bypass the wards somehow." replied James.
"Sirius, whats the talk among purebloods regarding recent events?" questioned Albus.
"Many of them are scared. Most of them are angry with Fudge. Even blood purity supporters are angry that Fudge & Lucius conspired to weaken the aurors. There could be a vote of no confidence in Wizengamot in a few days. Looks like Fudge's day are numbered." Replied Sirius
"Looks like some good may come out of this entire mess afterall, who looks the likely candidate for new minister?"
"Most of them will go for Amelia Bones, they want a strong leader to tackle this Shadow, they are willing to step aside their pureblood agenda for now."
"Aberforth, whats the general public opinion that you have heard of?" Albus asked his brother Aberforth.
"Most people seem to support his actions .The fact that most of the killed were marked death eaters ,people don't want to see him as a Dark lord .Also the killing of Greyback and his pack ,I must say is tilting public opinion highly in Shadow's favour ." replied Aberforth .
"Oh I almost forgot to mention, Nott family was officially declared missing .It looks like they were also the victims of Shadow." added James.
"No need to shed tears for them, they were closet death eaters. Shadow is doing all this to cripple voldemort .Didn't my theory prove correct Albus?" added Sirius cheekily.
"Not necessarily Sirius, he is only claiming to do this stop voldemort .We don't know anything about his real motive."
"He was on a magical oath to tell the truth during the interview." Replied Sirius, not backing down.
"You are only seeing the damage that he is doing against Voldemort. How do we know he is not eliminating powerful people systematically." questioned back Albus.
"What of his followers, James, any idea?" asked Moody.
"This is the strange part. All interrogations start and end at Shadow, no one has seen anyone else. Dementors only sensed a single new presence .This guy is acting on solo basis in all incidents. I feel he has only a few followers."
"Albus, we must be careful with this guy, one thing is sure, he is quite ruthless and magical wards are not working against him. Lets not take any hostile action before we have proof that he is a bad guy." Added Sirius.
"What cowardice,killing of all these people, threatening ministry, cant you see those actions Black?" interrupted Snape.
"He also gave logical explanations for his each action. Every one of them was in accordance with his overall goal of stopping dark lords. As for the ministry, he only threatened their corruption and pure blood nonsense. Whats wrong with that? I see no difference between us and him, except that he is willing to take lives." replies Sirius.
"I see, you have become a quite a fan of Mr Shadow, don't you see the danger of having vigilantes running around killing as they please?" questioned Albus.
"May I remind you that this is also a vigilante group, operating outside the law?"
"Sirius, calm down" shouted Lily "what do you propose, Albus"
"There is nothing to be done yet, we don't have any clue to his identity or location. I would advise vigilance and caution, especially people in ministry .Shadow seems to have special hatred for the ministry folks."
With that Albus concluded the meeting.
Author Notes:
Next Update will be after a couple of weeks
Thanks to all the people who have reviewed my story so far
chrisguy9017 : Shadow will not join the order or put any kids in risk
Ladysavay : Will take care of such mistakes in future.
MartinDeShade : There is never shortage of bad guys ,Voldemort is street smart guy ,he will find a way to become powerful