The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, -- W.B. Yeats

Chapter 32

No one in the room knew exactly why he'd been summoned, but all the members of the organisation with some importance were there. Among them were Yamato, Rheinhart, and the more senior vampires. Their feelings ranged from curiosity to impatience. The humans, in particular, felt that they had better things to do.

Anastasiou was angry. The anger poured off him in waves, and it was easy for Draco to ride the emotional outburst back into Anastasiou's mind. Something had happened. He could still hear the cheering barks of the Dark Trolls echo through the vampire's mind. Maximus, Maximus, Maximus…

Fed up with the Dark Trolls' aversion to following anyone's orders but the Mistress's and their leader's—the biggest, foulest, and regrettably, smartest of the Dark Trolls—Maximus had decided to earn himself the right to order them around. To Draco's knowledge, the only way to become the leader of the Dark Trolls was to best the current leader in a fight to the death. The Mistress hadn't done that, but Draco knew why they regarded her as a leader anyway. Somehow—he could only guess because he hadn't been able to pry into her mind when she was awake—some of the Dark Troll magic flowed through her as well. And that was why, in addition to her vast power, they regarded her as one of their leaders.

Killing a Dark Troll was hard, but not impossible. Tests had shown that a Dark Troll's armour could repel any curse, so one would have to hit the creature with a Killing Curse where the thick metal armour was at its thinnest, or in any gaps where it was completely absent. The Trolls were extremely fast by any standards, so that this, by itself, was easier said than done. However, no human had ever attempted to take control of the Dark Trolls by challenging their leader to combat, since the wizard challenger wouldn't be allowed to use his or her wand. Enchanted weapons were allowed, since the troll leader himself wielded them, but no wands.

Maximus had faced him with neither, and even so the fight hadn't even lasted a minute. Most of the time Maximus' blurred form had darted around the arena, until he leapt onto the Dark Troll and punched, with his fist, through the thick patch of armour that covered the troll's heart, though its hide and into its body. He ripped the heart out and showed it to the bemused troll before he keeled over. Draco wasn't sure whether or not he'd imagined it, but he could have sworn he'd seen the heart beat one last time outside the troll's body. That wizarding martial art was very effective, and Draco knew he had to assimilate the knowledge for himself. It would undoubtedly help him out of a few tight spots.

He caught a glimpse of a Dark Troll crossing in front of the open door. The fact that the trolls now bowed to Maximus and saluted him as he swept past them in the hallways infuriated Anastasiou, as did the fact that the Mistress now seemed to be Maximus' concubine. If Draco hadn't known she was a Mudblood, that would have bothered him as well. As it was, he was trying to forget that he'd ever soiled himself by touching her.

She was now following Maximus around like a puppy dog. While Anastasiou couldn't understand why, Draco did know the reason for her behaviour. It was simply in her nature; she wasn't a vicious witch with a goddess complex. While she had behaved that way early on, it was clear that it had been an act. The only reason she'd wiped out the Muggle villages was because the villagers had stabbed her teacher to death in his sleep after drugging his ale. And her transformations had been the results of experiments designed to work out how she could bring him back. But Draco knew she was deluding herself. Her teacher's spirit had moved on and there was no way to bring him back.

His thoughts strayed back to Maximus' defeat of the troll captain. Yes, it was obvious that Wolfe had always held back his full power, and Maximus had shown them all how great that power really was when unleashed. It rivalled and possibly even surpassed Voldemort's power, Draco was sure of that. The more foolish Death Eaters had always believed Voldemort to be more powerful than Dumbledore, but early on Draco had seen the folly in their thinking and admitted to himself that Voldemort's edge had come from his willingness to use the powerful Dark Arts, and his many transformations. On the other hand, Dumbledore had foolishly refused to do the same, putting him at a disadvantage in a head to head fight.

But Maximus was strong…stronger than either of them. Draco had seen it reflected in the blazing aura of whitish light that Maximus had maintained for the full duration of the fight, ten times longer than he'd seen Dumbledore or Voldemort hold similar auras. Draco smirked. That power would be put to good use later...Draco's use. In the end, Maximus would be assimilated as well.

"What are you all happy about?" Anastasiou barked as he rose from his seat at the head of the table.

"I'm just smiling for you, since you seem to have forgotten how," Draco said, as he rose from his seat and began to pace about. "Honestly, it wasn't as if you ever had a chance with her. She needs live meat."

Anastasiou's claws gouged deep furrows in the table as Draco taunted the vampire, but he wasn't afraid. The meld with the bloodstone had left him with considerably greater powers. He still hadn't attuned himself to the stone completely, and he wasn't as powerful as Maximus just yet, but he knew he could easily take the middle-aged vampire.

"Come on, you've got the Order of Illumination with their backs against the wall. Doesn't that make you happy? World domination is within your grasp. If you don't do anything foolish, it will be yours."

Anastasiou's fury abated somewhat as Draco reminded him of his success. World domination was indeed within Anastasiou's grasp, and to give credit where credit was due, Draco was impressed with the vampire's scheming abilities. It was a pity that he could only assimilate other wizards. The vampire's patience and insight that came with centuries of existence would have been a valuable addition to his own skills.

"Yes, the world will be mine!" Anastasiou hissed.

And as soon as that happened, Draco would assimilate every wizard in the organisation and take it over.

"The Rangers will not be able to hide in Caer Sidi for long. I will turn the world against them and they will be hunted as I have been hunted for so long," Anastasiou continued gleefully. "The ones they swore to protect will hunt them!"

Draco half-expected von Brandenburg to begin lavishing praise on Anastasiou, but instead he heard Maximus' voice. "Spoken like a true weakling."

Maximus stood at the entrance to the chamber, flanked by two Dark Trolls. He imperiously marched in, and his guard followed a few steps behind him, but remained in the doorway as Maximus walked up to Anastasiou. Draco slowly backed to the edge of the chambers. This was going to be interesting.

"I am hardly weak!" Anastasiou said. "Weaklings don't build empires like mine."

"Underground empires forged by deception and trickery hardly qualify for the word. You tricked others into following you and respecting you. Therefore, you don't deserve it," Maximus said disdainfully. "You never fought your enemies directly, out of fear for your existence. That makes you a coward, and cowards have no business wielding power. Power is not for the weak."

"The type of strength you're talking about is irrelevant," Anastasiou growled. "Others have tried and failed to dominate by brute force. I learned from their mistakes. Not something you'd understand, since your creator obviously didn't focus on your intelligence."

"You were afraid your prey would band against you."

"That's what happened in the past, and I've learned from past mistakes others made."

"Fear is for the weak. If you can't crush your enemy, even if they've formed an alliance against you, you do not deserve to rule. It would only be a matter of time before you were defeated in some other way."

Anastasiou gave Maximus a mocking smile. "And how exactly would that happen, with all of my enemies out of the way?"

"You should have paid closer attention to the past," Maximus shot back. "Those like you were often destroyed by those they'd considered their allies…also snivelling connivers. It seems like the universe has a sense of humour after all."

"Are you challenging me, then?" Anastasiou growled dangerously, no doubt hoping to intimidate him.

Draco fought to keep a straight face as Maximus merely raised an eyebrow at Anastasiou's tone of voice. Like Draco, he was too powerful to be intimidated by Anastasiou. He probably wouldn't even need his wand to defeat the vampire. "Yes, and by doing so, I am showing more courtesy than your eventual betrayers would."

Draco suddenly felt a great sense of confusion and fear, but it wasn't from Anastasiou. The vampire was only outraged. No, it was coming from Yamato. The Japanese wizard's face was impassive, but as his mind was in turmoil, his thoughts jumped out at Draco nonetheless. Maximus wasn't supposed to behave the way he was behaving. Yamato hadn't created him that way.

Since this parasitic personality had been meant to take over a powerful host, Yamato had decided to keep the possibility for betrayal to a minimum by limiting the personality's ability for independent actions and thoughts for anything beyond the daily routines the human body had to go through to survive. Aside from that, Maximus could only react, like he'd done when disciplining Draco in the Caer Sidi vault. Yamato had also conditioned the parasite to be completely loyal to him alone, since he'd eventually be used against Anastasiou. But not without Yamato's explicit orders, and that was what was happening now.

"Yamato, you treacherous little slant! Call off your pet!"

Maximus laughed. "He can't call me off. I am acting of my own accord. If he hadn't created me to be loyal to him, I would kill him too. But unfortunately, I cannot overcome certain aspects of my creation."

The panic within Yamato increased, and Draco could discern a feeling of smugness emanating from Maximus, accompanied by some thoughts. But it wasn't Maximus…it was Wolfe, curled up in the back of their collective consciousness, and Draco could immediately tell what had happened As the parasite took over his body, Wolfe had corrupted the parasite in turn. He'd been able to change the parasite's conditioning to a certain extent, and add to it. Before Draco could discern anything else, the door into Wolfe and Maximus' minds slammed shut. Wolfe had felt his intrusion and had thrown him out.

Draco turned his attention back to Anastasiou, who was beginning to panic. "The others won't let you get away with it."

"What makes you think they're loyal to you?" Maximus sneered. "You've been treating them like you would your ghouls. They'll be happy to see you gone. And if your little organisation doesn't survive your demise, so be it. I don't need co-conspirators on the path I've chosen to take."

"And what path may that be?" Yamato interrupted shrilly. "You won't do anything unless I tell you to."

Maximus chuckled and shook his head. "No, I'm obliged to follow your direct orders, not live my life exactly the way to tell me to. There's a difference."

"Order him to kill himself," Anastasiou said quickly.

Draco sensed that Yamato was struggling with the situation. He knew that Maximus could easily kill Anastasiou, and he'd been planning to unleash Maximus on the vampire from the very beginning. But if he didn't immediately trigger the self-destruct conditioning he'd buried deep within the personality as a safety precaution, Anastasiou, Von Brandenburg or the other vampires would be upon him before he could order Maximus to defend him.

"Go ahead, Master," Maximus mocked. "Give the order. 'Shinigami,' the name for the god of death; that was the trigger word, wasn't it? That was the first thing I neutralised."

"He s-shouldn't k-know the word," Yamato stammered. "He neutralised the command. But …t-that's not possible."

"Yet he succeeded anyway, didn't he?" Anastasiou snarled.

"Be reasonable, Maximus," Rheinhart pleaded. "You'll have plenty of opportunities to show that you're the strongest. But surely you understand that you won't be able to win if thousands of wizards band together to defeat you. That's madness."

"If I can't do it, then I'm unworthy as well. I know it will be difficult. As it should be, for otherwise the world will fall into the hands of cowards."

Draco rolled his eyes. Wolfe had somehow infected the parasitic personality with some barbarian sense of honour and propriety, and he'd destroy anyone who disagreed. He'd probably succeeded because it didn't cause Maximus' new mission to clash with the older one, namely, to be a destroyer. The only problem with the current situation was that Maximus picked his own targets, and Draco had a hunch that he was very likely on the list of targets. Since Maximus was doing this on his own and not on Yamato's orders, it meant that the contract Draco had signed with Yamato likely wouldn't protect him since it wasn't Yamato who was betraying him, technically.

Draco began to edge his way towards a door that led to a small antechamber. Though the antechamber was a dead end, there was a ventilation shaft that was connected to other rooms. All he had to do was shrink himself sufficiently so he'd fit without any problems. Or maybe…it would just be a better idea to hitch a ride with Yamato, who seemed to have a Portkey on him. Maximus' casual revelation that he'd kill Yamato too if the initial conditioning weren't restraining him, had shocked the Japanese wizard to the core. No longer certain that even those directives would hold, Yamato had decided it was a good time to leave. Draco sent a silent prayer of thanks to whoever was responsible for the necromancer's extreme paranoia.

When he'd nearly reached Yamato, all hell broke loose. Two vampires had launched themselves at Maximus, hoping to restrain him long enough for the others to finish him. The Dark Trolls didn't stir from their spots, and Draco immediately realised why, as a weighted net appeared out of thin air with a snap of Wolfe's fingers and entangled the vampires. It was an impressive bit of wand-less conjuration. He'd seen Voldemort do it a few times as well, conjuring bindings for those he intended to torture, although it had to be more difficult to apply this to a moving target, like Maximus had just now.

Anastasiou hissed and began to transform. Within seconds, Draco was looking at a grotesque, giant bat-like creature. Its red eyes shone with hatred as it let out an ear-splitting shriek that shattered some of the larger glass pieces in the chandelier that hung above the table. Suddenly, a gale-force wind swept through the room, upending the large conference table and hurling everyone to the ground. Being in his bat-form, Anastasiou was affected even worse. His increased bulk didn't compensate for the volume of his wings, so the sudden gust of wind slammed him against the far wall.

Draco knew he didn't have much time left; Yamato was about to use his Portkey. He drew his wand and summoned the surprised wizard over to where he was lying. When Yamato was in range, Draco grabbed onto his ankle. "You weren't going to leave without me, were you, partner?"

"You made me drop it, you fool!" Yamato yelled over the roar of the wind. Yamato's mind told him what he was looking for. He saw the glove lying in a corner, and summoned it to them. Yamato neatly plucked it out of the air.

As Yamato struggled to pull it on, Draco turned his attention to the rest of the room to see if anyone was trying to stop them. But no one paid them any heed. Everyone was staring at Maximus. He was surrounded by a translucent aura that looked like whitish flames dancing in the violent winds. His hair was standing upright and the floor around him was cracking due to the massive amounts of energy he was exuding. Quaffle-sized chunks of the marble tiles broke off from the floor and floated upwards in a gravity defying dance, breaking up into smaller chunks as they rose higher. Then the stone floor beneath the tiles also began to break, leaving Maximus standing on a pinnacle of rock in the middle of an ever-deepening and broadening bowl. That was the last thing Draco saw, for the world spun around them as they were transported to another place.

They appeared inside Yamato's workshop and swiftly clambered to their feet.

"Quickly, we have to take as much of my equipment with me as possible," Yamato said urgently.

Draco could see that Yamato had been planning ahead for just such an eventuality. He'd rigged the most important pieces of equipment with Portkeys. He feverishly darted around the workshop, activating the Portkeys, and one by one they were transported off to a new hideout Yamato had set up…in the United States. Draco smiled. The United States would suit him just fine. It was a big country that had a somewhat thinly-spread wizarding population compared to Britain.

They heard a muffled explosion, presumable from the conference chamber they'd just abandoned, and bits of the ceiling tumbled down around him.

"Fool…he'll bring the compound down on us all!" Yamato muttered, and further hastened the preparations for their departure.

Draco shrugged. "You made him."

"Yes, but not like this. I must have made a mistake somewhere. I should have known something was wrong when he started copulating with the Mistress," Yamato said in between puffing breaths. The exertion of scurrying around the workshop was more exercise than he was used to.

"You let him retain his basic human needs, didn't you? So why does it surprise you? She's the most attractive female in the compound, even if she is a Mudblood."

"It goes beyond that. He is…protective of her. I didn't enable him to show affection of any kind."

"But you didn't block that possibility out, did you?" Draco inquired.

"No, but I didn't think it would be an issue."

"And Wolfe capitalised on that."

Yamato stopped dead in his tracks and turned top stare at Malfoy. "What?"

"Wolfe was the one who disengaged the self-destruct code you implanted in the parasite. And he also added to and changed its conditioning whenever possible. He couldn't change the most important issues, like never to turn on its creator, but the affection and barbarian's outlook on who deserves to wield power were his doing. And don't stop packing, man. They'll come looking for us soon."

Yamato was now slapping small sticky Portkeys onto everything he wanted to take with him, and after a few seconds each of those items vanished. "Wolfe! Damn, I should have foreseen this."

Draco smiled. "Don't worry about Wolfe. The way he's making Maximus act, he'll destroy himself pretty soon. He can't take on the whole world, no matter how strong he is." And even if he were that strong, Draco would soon be stronger. All he had to do was wait and let the Order of Illumination and Maximus weaken each other. When that happened, he'd be ready with his own army.

"Everything has been transported," Yamato said. "Unless there is something really important you think I have forgotten."

Draco shook his head. He couldn't think of anything.

"Then grab onto my wrist," Yamato said, extending his arm. And after Draco had taken a firm grip, he made a fist and extended his thumb and middle finger from the gloved hand. It was the signal that activated the Portkey, and they were whisked away to their destination in the United States.

They landed again amid a clutter of equipment, and it seemed they weren't alone. A watery-eyed little man Draco knew all too well had his wand trained on them, but was lowering it as he recognised the new arrivals. Last time he'd checked, the man had been one of his own spies. Apparently he'd been doing some work on the side for Yamato.

"Mr Malfoy, I believe you know my assistant."

"Wormtail… always the first rat to leave a sinking ship," Draco sneered.

"I've always liked to keep my options open," Pettigrew replied.

"You must be out of your mind, Yamato. Wormtail here is a compulsive traitor."

"I have taken suitable precautions to ensure his co-operation," Yamato said, and his thoughts prompted Draco to notice Pettigrew's new hand. It wasn't the smooth silver one he used to have. This one looked more like a medieval gauntlet.

"I see you've got a new paw."

"One of my better works," Yamato said. It is strong enough to crush skulls, has a Portkey function similar to the glove I just used, and contains three poisonous darts that shoot out of the index finger." And what Yamato didn't say, though Draco could tell anyway because of his Mind Reading ability, was that it wouldn't work against Yamato, and worse, would deliver a nasty curse to Pettigrew if he tried. That was the precaution Yamato had taken.

"What happened to the old hand?" Draco asked.

"It stopped working. It began to get a bit inflexible two years after the Dark Lord's death, and it kept losing magic until it wouldn't move anymore."

Draco understood. With Voldemort dead, many of the things he'd conjured stopped working. It was actually surprising that Pettigrew's hand had kept on working as long as it had. "Well, no sense in walking around with a useless metal claw, I suppose. Does it blend in with your Animagus transformation?"

"Of course it does. Do you think I'm an idiot?" Yamato snorted, looking highly affronted.

Draco shrugged. "I thought I'd ask, since Voldemort's replacement always remained silver. Anyway, what makes you think this place is secure? How do you know Anastasiou won't find us?"

Yamato chuckled. "I don't think Anastasiou is among us anymore."

"He isn't?" Pettigrew asked, astonished.

Draco didn't answer Pettigrew. "You know what I mean. He had lots of Mind Readers running all over the place. How do you know he hasn't been keeping tabs on you?"

"I know he has, but the fact of the matter is, I never thought about this little retreat in public, so I deem it highly unlikely that any of his spies picked it up."

"I did."

Yamato pulled the Portkey glove he'd used out of a pocket of his coat. "After finalising my preparations, I locked the knowledge away inside my mind so Anastasiou's henchmen couldn't get to it. Aside from being a Portkey, this glove functioned as another type of key, namely to unlock that information. This glove was only to be used when I decided to leave Anastasiou's employ permanently, and I decided to do so today. You only read the relevant thoughts after I used it, didn't you?"

"Clever."

"Merely clever? I think brilliant would be a more appropriate word."

"If you wanted someone who'd suck up to you, you should have brought von Brandenburg along."

"I think it is safe to assume that he isn't among us anymore either," Yamato grinned. "You said that Wolfe influenced Maximus to a certain extent, right? Well, Wolfe's always hated Anastasiou and his vampires because they were responsible for the deaths of his mother and maternal grandparents. Since I didn't include any directives about not harming any vampires, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that he'll wipe out the whole undead brood. On the other hand, he might be a bit more pragmatic than that."

"In what way?" Pettigrew asked.

"He may use any vampire foolish enough to stick around as cannon fodder, hoping that they might cull the weak from the ranks of his prey so only the worthy adversaries remain," Yamato explained. "At least, his behaviour left me with that impression. It all depends on how much Wolfe managed to influence Maximus."

When Yamato looked at him inquisitively, expecting a confirmation of his theory, Draco shook his head. "Wolfe caught me peeking and threw me out before I could see the details. Still, I'm not sure if Wolfe would have Maximus spare the vampires and unleash them onto the world, assuming that the vampires don't scatter and hide, of course. No, he wouldn't risk harming the sheep he spent his life herding. Too many people he's attached to would be at risk."

"True, but he has shown a remarkable amount of disregard for their safety when zealously pursuing a goal. I recall hearing that he planted a tracer on Potter's girlfriend and allowed you to capture her. He could be relentless, like Lei Li was." Yamato pointed out.

"He really broke the rules when he had that Harry Potter Cauldron Clone created, didn't he?" Pettigrew mentioned.

Draco had forgotten about that. They'd all been surprised when their source in Concordia had finally heard why exactly Wolfe had wanted a clone of Potter. He'd needed it to close a causality loop caused by time-travel. Apparently there had been an accident that would have ended up costing the real Potter his life. Wolfe had travelled back in time to stop it. In order to ensure that his past self still travelled to the past, it had to appear as if Potter had really died, so he substituted Potter with the clone.

"He did, but that situation was different. He had the clone made to save Potter's skin."

"Either way, letting the ends justify the means is an integral part of his mentality," Yamato said. "But I suppose we'll have to wait and see what happens."

With that, the discussion ended, and they set about preparing the hideout to fulfil their future needs. Since Yamato didn't want them touching the sensitive material, Draco and Pettigrew were done rather quickly. Draco wanted to use the opportunity to familiarise himself with the surroundings to improve his chances of Apparating successfully. But he didn't want to run the risk of drawing the Order of Illumination to their location.

Before Draco formally joined Anastasiou's organisation, they had managed to capture a Ranger while he'd been on leave, and introduce a parasitic personality into his mind. Information from that Ranger had been invaluable, for it had revealed the existence of the Order of Illumination's Orbital Eyes. A pity that the Rangers had found out about Quist relatively quickly. But fortunately, they'd still had one reliable source left in Concordia. Like Quist, there was a parasitic personality controlling her. Though that parasite's host had never been privy to the Order's secrets, she'd interacted with Rangers enough to be able to give Draco and her other contacts a relatively clear picture of the scale of Ranger activity at given times. This information was based on how many Rangers, and which Rangers went to relax at the bar she worked in. The fact that her father was a Ranger didn't hurt either. Unfortunately, she'd been cut off from the Rangers by their move out of Concordia. But one of her final messages had been very interesting.

"Did you hear what our source in Concordia found out before the Rangers moved away?"

Yamato stopped arranging his equipment for a moment. "About Quist, and how they found a way to remove the parasite within him? Yes, I heard. But I can't believe they found a way to remove it."

"Just because you don't know how to remove one doesn't mean someone else couldn't have worked it out," Draco smirked.

"This is my area of expertise, and I'm telling you there is no way to remove one. Well, in theory it's possible, but it requires massive amounts of energy. On the other hand—and I believe this is what happened—it would be much easier to make a device that interferes with a parasite's hold on its subject and neutralises it."

Draco shrugged indifferently. "Whatever you say. I feel like going out for a stroll to get my bearings. Got any of those Confundus Amulets handy?"

Yamato handed him one after rummaging around for a few minutes. "Try to keep out of sight, will you? This thing protects you from magical detection, but you're on the most wanted list around here too. Maybe the average American wizard will not recognise you, but someone from their Magical Law Enforcement might. I'd advise you to wear some Muggle clothing and to use something that conceals your features. We're in Salem. Their Ministry is located here, and the wizarding population is at its densest here."

"No, I was planning on attracting attention by prancing around in wizard clothes. Honestly, man." Draco rolled his eyes and drew his wand. Back when he'd smuggled dark artefacts, he'd taught himself to transfigure his own clothing as he was wearing it, in case he needed to lose himself in a Muggle crowd. His choice of clothes would reflect the environment he was in, but his all-time favourite had been the dark grey business suit.

Half an hour later he strolled through the town, regarding the Muggles from behind his sunglasses. He smiled, knowing that the time had come to begin his own expansion.

He needed something that would really draw the attention of the local Ministry wizards, and it would be convenient if it were close to a safe Apparition point. In towns like the one he was in, those spots were generally unplottable alleys, marked as such by distinctive graffiti. Usually they were situated in central locations, and he made his way to where he thought such a location would likely be in a town similar to Salem, with a relatively high concentration of wizards. His educated guess paid off after about twenty minutes of searching.

He pulled his wand out of a long and narrow pocket specially designed to hold his wand, and chose his target. A fire hydrant steadily growing to the proportions of a skyscraper ought to do it. With a flick of a wand, the hydrant began to grow. He wouldn't let it grow too fast, since that would bring an excessive number of Ministry wizards to the site to Obliviate the Muggles, and he only needed one or two wizards. It also had to grow slowly enough for the Ministry to have plenty of reaction time. A few minutes later, it was sticking out over the roofs of the lowest buildings. Such events, deliberate or accidental, were not uncommon in wizard-rich environments, and Draco knew that a Ministry wizard would pop out near him any second now.

He was proven right moments later, when an overeager-looking wizard appeared about ten feet away with a loud cracking sound. The pimply-faced wizard noticed him standing there, twirling his wand. He tried to look stern and intimidating as he approached Draco.

"Sir, are you—"

He never got the chance to finish his original sentence, because Draco had shoved two fingers into his chest as soon as he'd come close enough. The wizard stared down to where Draco's fingers had connected, and saw black ooze quickly spreading out over his body.

He gasped. "Oh God."

Draco smirked. "Malfoy will suffice."

The ooze engulfed the wizard completely for a few seconds before it receded, leaving in its wake an exact copy of Draco. He saw himself reflected in the duplicate's sunglasses as he leaned forward to straighten the duplicate's tie.

"Thank you," the duplicate said graciously.

*

And what rough beast, its hour come at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? -- W.B. Yeats

***

Calen: Great, then we're cool.

Gogirl: I wouldn't know. I never watched Dawson's Creek.

MerlinHalliwell: I have a pretty vivid imagination, but I have a long way to go with regards to writing. Thanks for the compliment, though.

Terra: Well, I'm a bit of a weirdo myself. ;-)

CatatonicReaction: Huh? I'm not familiar with that expression

Lourdes: Here is the next chapter.

Starwest45: You'll just have to wait and see. Nut I'm glad that the chapter made you think. That's exactly what I'm aiming for.

Lord Dreadnault: Of course Ginny's views are flawed. That's not what I meant. I meant that she isn't completely beyond reason, and that's what you seemed to be implying in your previous reviews. I could be wrong, though.

Jake: I'm sorry this chapter took so long to be posted. The thing is that I like to keep a two chapter buffer zone and I haven't been able to write much lately, so the posting has been catching up to my writing. I chose to finish chapter 34 (which is over 10,000 words) before posting this chapter.

Chelli Potter: Ah, yes…is Wolfe/Maximus indeed the dark general? Good, I was wondering when someone would bring this up. *evil cackle*

jadesfire: Well, Harry and Ginny are smart enough, so…

bane: I don't live in the States either, nor am I a movie buff.

Okay, now to answer your question as to why I believe Harry and Ginny will get together. The answer: I don't. I'm hoping they will get together because I'm a hopeless romantic. I want to see Ginny's affection returned. (Hermione said that Ginny gave up on Harry, not that she's over him.) Before OotP I had no evidence whatsoever to really support my theory. However, in OotP we've seen that Ginny's tough enough to handle Harry, and possibly the danger they will be in later. She's clever and attractive.

(Yes, I think Harry thinks Ginny is pretty enough. Not like Cho, but certainly no dog. Allow me to elaborate. 1) Tonks has been described as having a heart shaped face, which is usually considered symmetrical and attractive. Also, she's related to Narcissa and Bellatrix, the former having been described as beautiful in GoF, and the latter as having lost her beauty in Azkaban, implying that she was rather attractive in the past, evil or not. ;-) 2) Tonks is often described with regards to her hair colour and outfit. Now JK doesn't have Harry drooling over Tonks, but the mere fact that he always gives her a once over means that he does notice her. 3) The infamous quote where Harry thinks Tonks could look like Ginny's older sister when she grows long red hair. Yeah, I know it isn't much to go on, but it's something. And Ginny was interesting enough to attract Michael Corner's attention, who later proved to be 'good' enough to hook up with pretty and popular Cho Chang. That suggests, though it doesn't prove conclusively, that Corner mingles with the more popular crowd and has either charm or looks going for him.)

She's also brave and has a good sense of humour. After OoTP I think she'd be a good match for Harry. I hope that answers your question.

LadySiri: That's okay. Schoolwork comes first. Did you find the e-mail useful? Please don't see it as a flame. It really isn't.

Casual Reader: Of course.

nycgal: No need to thank me for putting her in.

Stefanie: I'm glad you like my original characters. I do my best to make them as three-dimensional as possible. A/U means Alternative Universe; when events in fanfiction diverge from canon.

jona: I respect your tenacity. I would have given up on DoR a long time ago if I had been in you shoes.

Brad: Sorry, no light shows.

Petals: 36 chapters may not be enough. I might need a chapter 37

Lioness-07863: I try to update every 10 to 12 days.

Jane Grey: It was rushed. A victim of having too many subplots. :-( Oh, and Harry will enter the fray. Harry and Wolfe will fight. I'm not bullshitting you.

Lady Reaper of the Shadows: Did you spot the Matrix reference in this chapter?

Obsessed-With-Snuffles: Read when you have time.