Disclaimer: None of the characters or setting in this belong to me, the only things that are mine are characters you don't recognise and the plot, the rest belongs to JK Rowling who is a genius. Thank you for listening... ^_^

Author's Note: Okay this story keeps getting weirder and weirder the more I write it, I'm a little stuck on my other stories at the minute so I thought hey yeah write some of this... that should keep people entertained, and look at what I came up with. I need reviews please review... ::looks hopeful:: I have some pretty crack pot ideas but keep listening to my story it gets better... hehehe...

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Before you can become one you must know fully what they can do...

Researching the Shadows

Imacia stopped dead in the street looking around her, why was she running? She wasn't likely to find him, she turned around and headed back to her home. It was going to be strange not to have him there this one morning. But she was sure she could cope no matter how out of the ordinary it was.

The moment she stepped into the house she was sure something was wrong, it didn't feel right. There was an eerie air about the place and she walked in pulling her robes around her more tightly - everything seemed a lot colder. Stepping into the kitchen was all right, everything seemed a lot more peaceful, but she couldn't help getting a bad vibe from one of the rooms. She stepped up and stairs and the cold feeling grew - she was shivering.

Imacia opened the door to her son's room, he didn't seem bothered, and he was fast asleep though it was so cold she could see the mist from his breath. She closed the door silently and continued walking along to her room, the feeling of the cold became worse the further along the corridor she got.

She held out a shaky hand to the door and opened it, she looked inside the room to see Detric sprawled over the bed his eyes open, blind and unblinking. She couldn't help it, she let out a high-pitched scream waking up her son who rushed from his room to see what was frightening his mother.

"Mum... what's going on?" Titus asked in a sleepy voice.

"Detric is dead..." she breathed shutting the door and sinking down it.

"What?"

"Get dressed, I'm taking you to my mothers."

"But what happened?"

"I don't know... Just go and get dressed," she ordered sharply. Titus ran down the corridor and threw his clothes on before Imacia sent him via flew powder to his grandmothers.

Imacia didn't know what happened to him. He was alive one minute and the next he was gone, was she cursed? She got dressed and went to the ministry directly, there was no way this could have been an accident. When she returned with a small group of Aurors who declared his death to have been under suspicious circumstances and took the body away.

What had she done to deserve this? She went to her parent's house and remained there unable to face going into that house ever again. One question kept bothering her... how?

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"I see you have started to achieve something Rycrypt. I trust it is all worth while," Voldemort hissed looking down at Rycrypt who was reading a book not paying any attention to him at all.

"Everything is worth while though I would like to add, I would be a lot more efficient and quicker if you'd stop questioning me all the time." Voldemort glowered down at Rycrypt who continued to read the old tattered leather bound book placing notes of his own in another leather bound book.

"That language... what is that? I've never seen it before."

"An extra precaution my Lord, to make sure this doesn't get into the wrong hands. When the time comes I shall show you what it means." Rycrypt said continuing to make notes, in truth he had no intention of sharing this information with Voldemort, it was far to dangerous to allow shut a mad man to have access to it.

"Be sure that you get the information soon or you'll find your use to me gone and your life will be over. Understand? It seems to have taken you six years to get this far and all I see is scribble for it, get a move on my short-minded friend," he hissed.

"This isn't an easy subject to research my Lord, it is strictly forbidden."

"Not completely..." Voldemort hissed before leaving Rycrypt alone in a huge library. He continued taking notes being sure that no one would ever understand it, unless he told them. He wasn't even sure why he was doing this, all it would take is the impervious curse and he'd be toast. He would have to make two books, one in English and one in the language he understood, and the English version would have flaws. No one would have the knowledge, instead he would give Voldemort the flawed version so if necessary Voldemort could be killed. He began writing the second book, place weaknesses in it, Rycrypt may have been a coward to have joined Voldemort in the first place but he wasn't going to allow someone like that to have the power never to die. He didn't believe anyone had the right to cheat death.

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It took six years for the vision of Detric death to fade from her mind properly, everywhere she went she could see it until eventually she taught herself to ignore it. She spent most of her time away from home now though, she decided the best way to get over that was to stay with her parents who were now becoming doddering old fools, in her opinion. Coldwin would constantly talk about Titus and his education, Imacia wasn't quite sure that the old man got the idea he had already been at Hogwarts four years.

Imacia decided that after all these years she was going to have some fun, she was only thirty-four and still had most of her life ahead of her. On her way to a dance she bumped into a man she recognised. She'd spotted him six years earlier, he still looked roguishly handsome she was careful to note he also looked at her the same way. She flushed bright red when she saw him approach her.

"Good evening my Lady," he hummed. "And where might I ask is your partner?"

"I... I don't have one," she said shortly not wanting to dwell on the subject.

"Oh... I'm very sorry," he said in a rueful tone. "If I may say so a Lady such as yourself shouldn't be going out alone, men prey on beautiful ladies such as yourself."

"I believe I can take care of myself Commander. Men seem to fall prey to me I find." She said calmly.

"Then I am at your mercy, would you grant me the honour of accompanying you to this dance?"

"I would be delighted, Commander Avaro," she said as he kissed her hand, she felt her cheeks turn cerise.

"Please my Lady, call me Randin."

"Imacia," she hummed.

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Concealing the real book from Voldemort was getting harder and harder especially when he was questioning every part of the method. Rycrypt knew that if Voldemort managed to get to the real book there would be no stopping him. The second book contained another method of keeping someone alive, it explained such methods as borrowing a corpse - it sounded crude but a method Rycrypt guessed Voldemort would try if he got desperate. There was one method, it involved the elixir of life, but that was a long shot, if there was one thing Rycrypt knew it was how to lie. He discovered numerous methods of bringing people back to life and he knew that in order to fool Voldemort he had to make sure the second book died with him.

The first book he called 'The Book of Shadows' it explained how a person could pass their spirit to another, how they would be able to escape as a ghost when the host breaks eight stages of the bond between the ghost and their own person. One thing that amazed Rycrypt was the ability of this spirit to absorb the killing curse to become a shadow. He kept notes on all of it until he managed to test his theory on two cats. When one died it was the instinct of the living cat to enquire what was wrong with it, the small amount of contact was all that was needed, the spirit of the dead cat was passed to the living one by a small chant which Rycrypt performed. He was careful to notice the reaction of the cat, he could see the spirit enter it, the living cat shuddered. After that he felt cruel, he inflicted lots of different stressful situations upon the cat until eventually something stepped out of it. Rycrypt nearly had a heart attack as he saw the full power of the ghost cat. He was unsure about his next decision but went ahead with it anyway. A jet of green light swallowed the room and the ghost cat went from silver to semi oblique black before it proceeded to rub itself against his feet. It was like the cat was alive again. The other cat however remained still, the shock of the whole event was too much for the living cat, it never moved again.

He studied the cat for weeks watching as it walked through walls, most of the time by accident but it was possible. As if the cat were dead but not quite dead. It was frightening. He called it Abendigo as if to try to lighten the fear from within himself, the cat however didn't seem aware of it's state sleeping curled up on his shoulder as he continued to research more methods into the late hours of the night.

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It was strange for Imacia to be back amongst Muggles, going to see Randin on an RAF base was fun though, she'd been with him for nearly a year and had no plans to marry him at all. It was going to be a while before she would ever marry again.

"Good day, I'm here to see Commander Avaro," she said to the man at the front desk, he picked up a phone and about ten minutes later Randin appeared smiling and chirpy.

"Hello Imacia... how are you today?" He asked kissing her on the cheek, he seemed like the only man she had ever met other than Rycrypt who wasn't intent on getting her to bed. Titus however didn't think much of him, he thought Avaro was a time waster.

"I'm fine... just thought I'd come and see you," she said sweetly.

"I'm touched, shall we go somewhere for lunch, I'm famished and I don't fancy eating here."

"Sure, any suggestions?"

"We'll find somewhere," he smiled. "I'll be back later Corporal."

"Okay Sir," the young man said shyly.

Imacia selected an Italian restaurant... she thought they were having a nice time until Randin managed to start choking on a piece of spaghetti that managed to go down the wrong way. There was nothing she could do for him, the staff at the restaurant were trying to get him to breathe properly and all Imacia could see was Detric again, blue and pale, though she could also see something else but she dismissed it. Before she knew it Avaro was dead and she was alone again.

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"Have you discovered anything better for me Rycrypt?" Voldemort hissed.

"I..." Rycrypt muttered looking at the cat that had started to rub itself against Voldemort's legs.

"What is this?" He said going to pick it up but his fingers slipped straight through it. "Is it dead?"

"Not exactly," Rycrypt mumbled looking at the floor was Voldemort pointed his wand at it.

"Avada Kadavra!" He roared, the room filed with green light and all sound stopped. When the light died down Voldemort looked at the cat, it was still brushing itself against his legs. "How is that done?"

"I'm not divulging that information!" Rycrypt said his heart racing, he was dead, he could tell.

"Will you not?" Voldemort hissed pulling out a small knife - Rycrypt remained on the chair, Voldemort pressed the knife lightly to his forehead and started dragging the knife down his right eye.

"No!" He said defiantly though the pain was incredible.

"Then you leave me no choice," he said pointing his wand at Rycrypt.

"I'd love to stay and find out what you're going to do but... I have to go and give myself up." Rycrypt said stoutly before disapparating long with the cat that had hopped onto him and the books.

"You may think you've escaped me for a while but while you're still useful you'll be on my list of people to get... and people to kill," Voldemort hissed into the darkness. "Watch him..." He hummed to a tall man in the corner of the room.

"Yes master," the man said in a slippery tone, his silver blonde hair shimmering in the candlelight.

"That man has tried to make a fool of me Demetrius be sure he doesn't get away lightly, have the ministry send him to Azkaban. That should weaken the spineless maggot."

"Yes Lord," Demetrius said with a dry laugh.

"Go now my slippery friend, be sure he's punished to the full extent of the law and perhaps a fraction more. I don't want him to think I'll grow soft because he has the answer to my demise."

"Yes Lord," Demetrius said mindlessly.

"You may be of more use to me than I first thought," Voldemort hummed looking at the cold blonde man with burning grey eyes.

"When I have the information you are looking for I shall return my Lord," he said disapparating - leaving Voldemort alone in the library.

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Author's Note: No real cats were harm in the writing of this so I apologise to all the cat lovers out there, but cats are cool and a shadow cat... that would rule! Hehehe... Anyway I hope you liked it, I know it's a little strange and yes I know I suck at writing but never mind. Okay now I'm totally narked this needs more reviews! ARGH! This is in fact something that links onto 'Natural Veritaserum' but it requires you to pick it apart and think about how they link... can you tell me? I need jam, and reviews, I need reviews more than I need jam because if I don't get reviews I loose the will to write and believe me if that happens no more story ARGH!!!

I.C. Fire

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