A/N: I had a little trouble deciding what year of schooling to make this, so the first chapters had some inconsistencies as to what year of school Harry is taking in the story. I finally decided on making this a sixth year fic. I have now adjusted everything, so if yo notice any blatant errors about time frame, tell me in a review. Now that that's out of the way, on with my fic!!!
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Chapter 03: Threats and Suspicions
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"I want to know who they are, and I want to know it yesterday!" Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, thundered at Kingsley Shacklebolt. "These dragons have killed two members of prominent pureblood families! Death Eaters or not, these dragons must be stopped! How are we to know that this Imperial Dragon Circle isn't actually targeting purebloods, and the two that they've killed first just happened to be Death Eaters?"
"I find it unlikely, Minister." Shacklebolt said, in that reassuring tone that he possessed. "The two victims were rumored to be very close to the Dark Lord. That's the most likely explanation. I find it very unlikely that this circle would have something against purebloods as a whole."
"Damn it, Shacklebolt, I don't care what you think! Just find them, and stop them! As Minister of Magic, I can't allow them to threaten our society's stability. Vigilantes can't be allowed to take matters into their own hands. The Order of the Phoenix is bad enough!" Fudge blustered, and walked into his office and slammed the door.
Turning to face his desk, Fudge immediately noticed a few things wrong with his office. One, the shades on his window were pulled down, making the normally bright room unusually dark. Second, the two decorative torches on the sides of his office were burning merrily away, casting odd shadows all over the room. And the most frightening change was the hooded figure sitting in his chair at his desk. Fudge turned back around to leave his office, and found himself staring at a blank wall. His heart rate quickened, and his face paled. He turned back around, to meet his end with some dignity.
"You should listen to your friend, Mr. Fudge." Stated the figure, in a soft dangerous voice. "He seems to have a better handle on the situation than you do. Face facts Minister, most Death Eaters are purebloods. As a matter of fact, the Dark Lord's entire inner circle, aside from Voldemort himself of course, is made up entirely of pureblooded wizards."
"You-Know-Who isn't a pureblood?" Asked Fudge, his curiosity overcoming his fear momentarily. "How is that possible?"
"Lord Voldemort is an assumed name." Said the man, rising from the Minister's chair. "The name on his birth records is Tom Marvolo Riddle. He went to Hogwarts, class of 1945. He was responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets. He was evil then, and he's still evil now. He's more powerful now, but we're working on that."
Finally over the initial shock of seeing the man in his office, the Minister found his courage once again. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my office?" Fudge demanded, trying to sound intimidating, and failing miserably.
"You may call me Flame, Minister Fudge. I am the Imperial Dragon Circle's head assassin. I am here to deliver a message from the Circle." The man said, his voice growing deadlier by the syllable. "The message is very simple. Stay out of our way. Looking for us is looking for trouble. Oppose us and die."
Unbelievable. This man was in his office, standing behind his desk, and making threats. "Are you threatening me, young man?" Fudge blustered. "I'll have you arrested for this!" The young man continued to stand there, his expression hidden under the shadow of his hood.
"You are a quick study, Minister. Yes, that was a threat. I will not be arrested. Not today, at the least. I have other things to attend to today. Remember the message. Good day, Minister Fudge." The man said, before he melted into the large shadow made by the bookshelf on the left side of the room.
Cornelius Fudge gasped at the man's exit, and sat down in the nearest chair. He'd just met the Circle's head assassin, and lived to tell about it. But the man had made it very clear that that could change at a moments notice. He needed a drink!
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"Was the Message delivered?"
"Yes. After the shock wears off, Minister Fudge will certainly put some of his Aurors on the trail of the Imperial Dragon Circle."
"So, now the three opposing powers have all been forced to split their attention. Good, that makes things easier for us. This is getting fun."
"You know, that is the biggest problem with all three of our opponents. They are way too serious. We can play all three sides off the others, and sit in the middle and enjoy."
"Don't forget that we also influence the outcome from the middle, sweetie. I really don't care about that so much, but it is nice to be in control, for a change. Plus, I love thinking about the pain Voldie and Fudge are experiencing, not being in control of this situation."
"Ok sweetheart, the Order has a meeting tonight, right?"
"Right."
"Ok, then we deliver their message tonight. I want to give Dumbledore a clue as to what he's up against, and show the entire Order how helpless they really are against us. That will push more attention on us, and free up more targets for us."
"Alright, sweetie. Can I watch? I enjoyed your chat with Fudge. I laughed for 5 minutes at the look on his face when he saw you for the first time."
"Sure sweetheart, I'll patch you in."
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It was becoming a very normal mood for him, but Voldemort was angry again. Two of his best, killed in less than a week! And to top it off, no ideas as to who his tormentors were! Of course, Voldemort had his suspicions. The manner in which the deaths were carried out suggested things that the Dark Lord could not ignore.
The assassins entered the house without tripping any of the security spells, and without disturbing the apparition wards, suggesting an alternate means of travel. The execution was carried out muggle style with no magical assistance, suggesting very experienced magic scanners. The house was burned to the ground using a very old dark magic ritual fire spell, suggesting uncanny knowledge of magic.
Voldemort only knew of one type of humanoid creature that fit all those criteria, but was reluctant to give them a name. If they weren't what he suspected, then he would look foolish in the eyes of his followers. If it turned out he was right, then another question would present itself. Why weren't they working for him? Voldemort idly pressed the mark on Wormtail's arm. It was time to find out what his Death Eater's knew.
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"Alright Kingsley, what does the Ministry know about the Imperial Dragon Circle?" Dumbledore asked, after the meeting was called to order. Dumbledore was quite worried about this new entity joining the war. The Circle's long-term intentions were completely unknown to him, and it scared him. The Order of the Phoenix needed to exert some form of control over this new group, so that they could concentrate on Voldemort.
"Well Albus, the Ministry has no information about them. Lucius Malfoy's body was checked repeatedly, using techniques both magical and muggle. Malfoy's body was completely unchanged, magically, indicating no spells were cast on him." Shacklebolt said, giving his report with clinical detachment. "Muggle forensic science revealed that the bullets in his chest were 9mm hand-molded slugs. The interesting feature of these bullets, however was the charm on them. Our best scanners took seventeen hours to identify what they did. They call it a penetration charm. The bullets would literally go through anything, until they found their target. Buildings, walls, floors, shield charms, anything. Very impressive spellwork, considering it was done with no wand." The effect of these words was immediate. Every person present started whispering and worrying about the power of the Imperial Dragon Circle.
"No wand, Kingsley?" Albus questioned. "How can you be sure?"
"Well, this is how it was explained to me. When a spell is cast through a wand, the wand filters and concentrates magic in a certain way. Phoenix feathers concentrate magic in a different way than Unicorn hairs do. This is called a wand signature. The department of magical law enforcement has a charm to check what kind of wand did the spells. When used on the bullets, the charm didn't react at all." Kingsley responded. Dumbledore nodded.
"What about Avery? I know that magic was used on him. What was used? I saw a picture of the body, taken by the Ministry's crime scene unit, and his heart was the size of a quaffle." Albus prompted, swinging the focus onto the most recent homicide.
"Avery's heart was hit with a very focused engorgement charm." Shacklebolt said, eliciting gasps from his audience. "His heart was then sliced in two by a sword carrying a severing charm on the blade. Once again, no wand signature on the engorgement charm."
"So these guys are good." Growled Mad-Eye Moody, retired auror and resident paranoid wizard. "One more reason to practice CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
"True, but even the most vigilant can be taken by surprise if they think they're safe." Said a voice from the back of the room. Moody's magical eye swiveled around to face the voice, his body quickly following.
"STUPEFY!" Yelled Moody, leveling his wand at the intruder. Red light flew at the man, and hit…the wall where the man used to be. Moody was dumbfounded. He'd never seen anyone move like that. His eye swiveled around, looking for the man. He was nowhere to be found. "Huh. Must have apparated out. Typical cowardly act of a Death Eater."
"Shoot first and ask questions later, Mr. Moody?" The same voice said, this time from behind Dumbledore. "Not the best way to establish friendly dialog. Of course, I understand that you've never really been the diplomatic type." Dumbledore turned slowly, to look at the young man. He was wearing black combat robes, cuffed with flames. In the middle of his chest was a large red Imperial Dragon Circle Insignia. He was wearing a hooded cape, the hood completely hiding his face. The energy radiating off of the man awed even Dumbledore.
"Good evening, young man. My name is Albus Dumbledore. May I ask yours?" Dumbldore said conversationally. The young man wasn't holding a wand, but Dumbledore knew that he was still dangerous.
"You may call me Flame, Mr. Dumbledore." The man, Flame, said. "I am the chief assassin of the Imperial Dragon Circle." Now Dumbledore knew that this man was dangerous. He also suspected that this was the man who had killed Lucius Malfoy and John Avery. "I heard you discussing my work a few moments ago. I felt it would be appropriate for me to comment. I also have a message for you from the Circle."
"What comments did you wish to make about your killings, Flame?" Dumbledore asked, glancing at Remus Lupin and Mad-eye Moody. Lupin and Moody sidled into a position behind Flame and pointed their wands at him.
"Come on, Mr. Dumbledore, you say killing like it's a bad thing. The way I executed them was artistic, and brutal." Flame said, with a small humorless chuckle. "But that's not what I really wanted to address. You were talking about my wandless magic abilities. You could probably guess all night and you would leave no better off than before, so I'll let you in on my little secret." Flame leaned forward conspiratorially, but spoke in a manner that all in the room could hear him. "Only humans need a wand to focus magic." The entire room gasped. Dumbledore glanced at Lupin and Moody again, and gave them a fractional nod.
"STUPEFY!" They roared together. Flame shrugged his shoulders, and fell through the floor. The spells once again impacted on the walls. The entire room was dumbfounded this time. "What just happened?" Lupin asked, feeling a little faint.
"You specialize in dark creatures, Mr. Lupin. Surely you have a guess." Flame stated, stepping out from a darkened corner of the room. Lupin's legs gave out, and he ended up sitting on the floor. "Mr. Dumbledore no doubt has a clue, as of now."
Dumbledore was watching the scene with wide eyes. There was only one creature in the world capable of that, but they were supposed to be extinct. "A Shadow Master…" Dumbledore trailed off. He quickly pulled his wand. "NOX TOTALUS!" He yelled, plunging the entire room into darkness. There were a few screams, but nobody moved.
"Very good Mr. Dumbledore. You found a way to keep me here. However, how do you expect to subdue me?" Flame said, chuckling at the man's attempt to stop him. "I have a message for you, from the Imperial Dragon Circle. Pull your spies out of the Dark Lord's Camp. If you do not, they will die."
"Why is that? Do you know who they are?" Asked Dumbledore, searching the darkness with his ears, trying to pinpoint the Shadow Master's location. It was no use. The man's voice seemed to come from everywhere at once.
"Of course we know who they are, we're not stupid." Retorted Flame, annoyance evident in his voice. "But Voldemort doesn't know who they are. We know all of his plans before he implements them, and if we start killing the Death Eaters involved, Voldemort will kill anyone he suspects of being a spy. Your spies will be found, and killed. Pull them out, Dumbledore." Having delivered his message, flame conjured a ball of light, and melted into the shadows.
"Finite Incantatum." Muttered Dumbledore, and all the lights went back on. "Well, that was certainly food for thought" He said, somewhat bemused by the whole situation. "Alright people, the assassin was right. We need to pull our spies out as quickly as possible. I need workable scenarios for extraction of each and every one of them in 48 hours, understood? Good, see you in two days. Be safe, my friends."
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A/N: Things are heating up. What do you think so far? In the next chapter, we're going back to Hogwarts for some Harry adventuring. Should be a good time. See you all soon!