Hi Guys, I am no dead, just having a hard time finding time to continue working on this fic.

I am finding it a little hard to express everything down on paper (so to speak), but any criticism is welcome.

Anyway, disclaimer has not changed - its on chapter 1...

Without further ado, please enjoy the next chapter of a Game of Shadows!

00o0o0o

"High!" thunk.

"Mid!" thunk.

"Low!" thunk.

"Repeat!" thunk, thunk, thunk.

"Alright, that's enough Harry, Daphne."

Harry wiped his brow, removing the accumulated sweat. Daphne stepped back, away from him, wrinkling her nose, as the overpowering smell of sweat reached her nose. Remus grinned. He just had this sneaking feeling of what would be happening next. 'Annnddd yep, here it comes' he thought.

"Goddamn it Harry, after spending a year with you, I thought you would've been able to at least keep yourself fresh around me" teased Daphne, hand on her hips. She pouted just a little.

"Piss off Daph, you couldn't raise yourself to give a shit. Anyway, that's not what I heard last night…" Harry trailed off, winking. Remus' eyebrows shot off way past his hair line. This was new.

Daphne blushed under the combined forces of the boy's and beast's gazes. She glared at Harry, who chuckled at her childishness. Remus gazed heavenward in complete exasperation, before staring at both combatants, who were looking at him.

"Alright, I was a nice clean duel. No permanent maiming, no killing, no Unforgivables, otherwise free-for-all."

"Awww" said both children, who immediately blushed, then alternatively glared at each other.

"On my count," said Remus, "One, two – FOUR!"

Both of the children sighed, then fixated him with a death glare. If looks could kill, Daphne would've made Hell freeze over, and Harry… Well, he didn't really want to attempt to interpret Harry's gaze.

"Three!" he shouted at them.

0oo0o0o0o00o0o0o0

Daphne lay in a rather compromising position, lying atop Harry, who had stumbled on a rock in the grove. She had attempted to wind him, with a jab to the sternum, but had caught him on the temple, as he tripped, causing her to overbalance and trip on top of him as well.

She looked up into the grinning visages of Remus, and the infernal Sirius Black. Infernal, because of the fact that he had knocked her Father up, shaken him badly, before declaring himself solely in charge of Daphne's welfare. Well, there were more reasons, but she really couldn't take her mind off the current situation. Even more irritating to Daphne, was the fact that her biological father was all too happy to get rid of "The Mistake" as he called her. On top of that, he had revealed to her about her secrets, such as being an incredibly powerful witch, – 'Just look at that wand!' - , and an elemental as well.

Scratch that. An Obsidian Elemental. Sirius had informed her with barely restrained glee that she was the polar opposite, the ying to Harry's yang, who was a Lightning Elemental. He had his defining Lightning Bolt Shaped Scar, she had a scar as well, shaped into 3 dark teardrops in a pyramidal shape. Just another thing her "parents" had covered up, with a blood glamour. They also had a connection through the scars, a sort of cross between a soul bond, and a familiar bond. "Kinky" was what Harry had called it. Bloody boy. How he knew about sex at age 11, was beyond her. The only reason how she knew, is from the combined efforts of Sirius and Harry.

Anyway, due to her powers, she had discovered being an elemental. Obsidian elementals had not been seen for nearly a millennium. In fact, the last Obsidian elemental that was seen publicly, and recorded, had been back in the times of the "Hogwarts Founders". This in itself was a rarity among oddities. There were the four main elementals, Fire, Water, Air and Earth, with an additional 4 elementals, Obsidian (combination of Earth and Water), Lightning (combination of Air and Fire), Volcane (combination of Earth and Fire) and Cyclane (combination of Water and Air). The combination elementals were the most versatile and powerful of the Elementals, and because of this, were shunned from society.

They were also not classed as humans, and therefore had little rights, and over the years hid their abilities as to not be discriminated against. Because of that, they evolved and could only find a lasting relationship and reproduce with another elemental. Unfortunately, the offspring of the elementals had a very low chance of being an elemental themselves.

According to Sirius, notable examples of this were the Four Founders. Salazar Slytherin was an Obsidian elemental, but the other four had been normal elementals. Godric of Fire, Rowena of Air, and Helga of Earth. The opposite elemental of Fire and Water had pitted Godric against Slytherin over time. Slytherin had been ousted from Hogwarts, and become a pariah in his own country. He had left soon after, followed later by Rowena. They had later settled in Albania.

Daphne still hadn't moved from the position. Truth be told, she didn't mind the position, and to her, what Harry didn't know, or realise, wouldn't hurt him. She smiled mischievously. To wake him up, she rolled off him, drenched him in water, and then sent a stinging hex at him.

"Disqualified!" yelled Remus.

Daphne sighed with exasperation. It was always the way. She would let her playfulness out, right after she had beaten him, only to lose the match, because she would use more spells or techniques upon him, after he had been knocked out.

Sirius smirked. He and Remus exchanged looks. Harry woke quite suddenly, when Daphne decided to hex him in the jewels. He 'eeped' before meekly getting up, clutching his anatomy.

Daphne smirked amidst snorts of laughter from both adults present. She knew it was unfair to pit her against Harry, as she had started her magical puberty, and developed her powers and magical ability to surpass Harry, even with the extra training he had done. He was also still not using a wand, despite Daphne almost begging him to get one, if only to satisfy her curiosity as to what it would be.

00oo0o0o0o0o0o0o

Months passed in the same way they had before. Daphne's heart had hardened against emotions, allowing them only to be seen by Harry, Remus and Sirius. Both children had advanced Occlumency, Daphne being slightly less advanced than Harry, according to the tests that Remus and Sirius had conducted during the first week of February. Both children had impenetrable barriers, but were developing counteractions with their defences. Truth be told, Remus was the only person who still had contact with the outside world, and all other members of the motley family preferred it that way.

That seclusion ended today. Harry was twelve and a half, Daphne slightly younger, but both had been through training pushed by Sirius. Harry still didn't use a wand, because he was not in tune with his magical puberty spurt, and therefore Daphne was the more powerful of the two. Sirius and Remus had trained them well. Daphne had almost full control over her elemental abilities, and was proving to be a talented duellist, with a thirst for knowledge, and an absolute prodigy at potions, arithmancy and transfiguration. Harry, on the other-hand, appeared weak in contrast. He had two limited elemental abilities that he could control, a master dueller in terms of skill, but no magical power, prodigy at transfiguration, charms, ancient runes and technomancy. Unbeknownst to either adult or Daphne, he was also quite talented at necromancy, which require wandless abilities (which Harry had in spades).

Today was a test though. Remus and Sirius had somehow received a tip-off that a group of wizards were to be attacking another group of wizards. Normally, the Australian magical society would leave the groups to battle it out. The ministry operated under the ideal that if it didn't cause massive unrest, or spill into the innocents and break the Statute of Secrecy, all was fair play. Unfortunately, it seemed like a certain (so called ex) Death Eater, Mulciber, was behind the rallying of one of the groups.

Of course, Sirius naturally hated anything and everything Death Eater, and had convinced both children, and Remus, that it would be a good measure of Harry and Daphne's skill levels, against trained adult wizards. Harry, for some reason, had an immunity to the Imperious Curse, so he was assigned to takedown Mulciber, whose signature spell was the Imperious Curse. Daphne's target was a lesser known wizard of Australian birth, who was a blood purist, named Charles Blake.

Not much was known about Blake, but there was even less known about Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass, and they were banking on the element of surprise to subdue the eleven wizards of the aggressive group.

0o0ooooo0o0o000ooo0o0o0o

Harry wiped the sweat from his eyes, ignoring the faint stinging of the salty liquid as it interacted with his eyeball fluid. Daphne, on the other hand, looked completely composed, her pure-blooded upbringing and cold mask of indifference were out to play, disguising her inner emotions. Harry gently clasped her hand, startling her slightly. She turned and studied him intently. Even to her, he looked rather agitated. She turned away, opting to study their surroundings.

They had apparated to an unused park moments before, without Sirius and Remus' support. The adults were preparing the back-up plan, if all four of them could not subdue the combatants. The air hung heavily around them, wrapping around Harry especially. It tickled him, calling to his inner necromancy, causing it to raise its head and roar its displeasure at being contained. A swing swung back and forth slowly in the wind, creaking, sending shivers up Daphne's spine. A see saw lay abandoned in one corner, a forlorn looking gazebo in the opposite corner. The muted colours of the playground had eventually faded, leaving rusted metal in plain sight, giving the park an overall sombre mood. Daphne had never seen a more depressing place.

Harry and Daphne were currently sitting on the dark green seat situated to one side of the gazebo. They had a clear view of the park, which they sat scanning for movement. They didn't have long to wait. There were multiple apparition cracks in the area. Harry stiffened, his pulse racing. Both children felt multiple emotions rush through them momentarily, fear, apprehension, nervousness and a sick sense of expectation and longing, before being overwhelmed by the advance of adrenaline that flooded their systems. Harry's eyes took in the three wizards who stood at the head of the "pack" of the other eight wizards. They were all dressed in pure black robes that clung to their frames slightly. The three main wizards all had cloaks that billowed behind them, giving an air of importance and distinction tempered by the silliness of wearing cloaks to a duel.

Harry softly snorted. A cloaked head snapped around, looking in Daphne's and Harry's directions, with a searching gaze the eyes hidden beneath the hood attempted to penetrate the darkness of the park. Beckoning to a few followers, the cloaked figure broke from the main party, and crept toward the gazebo. Daphne's hand slipped from Harry's as she sneakily crouched, then moved away from the structure, intent on finding her target. Meanwhile, the three wizards approached the gazebo and Harry steadily. Green eyes narrowed with distaste as he identified Mulciber heading the terrible threesome. Two more cracks of Apparition were heard. Harry groaned internally, taking his frustrations out upon his palms with his fingernails. Trust Sirius and Remus to apparate into a known hostile area. As blood trickled beneath his fingers, the three other wizards turned as one, to face the unknown intruders.

Harry exploded into action, two severing curses leaving both hands at once, decapitating Mulciber's two henchmen. Mulciber wheeled around, turning to face the new threat.

00o0o

Across the park, Daphne had risen from the shadows to launch her own attack against the wizards, in an attempt to thin some of the ranks of the group, alleviating future problems as she made her way to Charles Blake. Using transmutation she lashed out with huge clumps of earth, exploding beneath wizard's feet, throwing them high into the air. Daphne was concentrating on the move, and thus missed the slicing hex that slashed across her arm brutally. She yelled with pain, losing concentration as the blood dripped just below her shoulder. The two wizards who experienced the power of earth scuttled from the female elemental. She twisted, throwing several nasty curses at them, ignoring the wound and the caster. After rendering both wizards incapacitated, she turned around to spy a grinning Charles Blake.

"Hello sweetcakes." he called to her. "Would you like to play? I'm sure you would. Here, I'm a nice person, why don't you open the duel?"

Daphne snarled, and slashed across her chest with her wand. Blake blinked in surprise at her curse choice, before deflecting it. "Very nice darling, but I prefer things that have a chance of hurting me and raising the adrenaline. I may have to find another challenge, hey sweetie?" he taunted her. She saw red, and sent several spells at him, her anger at being taunted fuelling the intensity of the magic that she cast. A noticeable aura was now surrounding her, blackness writhing then curling around her. It wasn't a nice aura.

00o0o

Harry heard Daphne's yell, and slipped, losing his footing. For his efforts, he barely blocked a dismemberment curse that was cast at him. It splashed against his shield, destroying it in a shower of magical sparks. Harry faltered again. Relying on his smaller magical core was a disadvantage in this fight, and it was showing. He had perspiration all over him from before, and it was increasing in volume as the fight continued. It was his skill in duelling that was levelling the fight at the moment, but Harry knew it wouldn't continue for much longer. He had underestimated Mulciber, thinking the wizard has an average dueller, with average amount of magic, who routinely used the Imperious curse. All of the above points were wrong. The ex-Death Eater was above average in terms of magical power and duelling prowess, dwarfing Harry for power, and hadn't yet used the Imperious yet.

Harry frowned. Moving to nonverbal casting, he sent a barrage of spells at the man. It was a bewildering array of lights, most of them being harmless joke spells that grabbed Mulciber's attention and kept him distracted. He cast a reflecting shield behind the man, aiming slightly above his head. Mulciber completely missed the spell, but still retaliated finally casting the Imperious upon Harry. Pain lanced through Harry's head as he dominated the outside influence on his mind. He fired a bone dissolving curse above Mulciber's head, who dumbly looked at the curse, still not believing the apparent easiness of being able to combat the mind control curse. The spell flashed, then rebounded downward, colliding with Mulciber's head, which shrunk disgustingly, then exploded. The body tilted forward, blood leaking from the stump of a neck - all that remained from the once attached head.

Harry looked up, meeting the eyes of Sirius, who looked disgusted, his emotion running clearly across his face. The look of revulsion that was worn by the normally happy man twisted deeply in Harry's gut. He watched numbly as a yellow curse was hurled toward Sirius, who remained oblivious to it. It crashed into a blue shield that had sprung around the shell-shocked man. Sirius disappeared with a crack. A second crack was heard as Remus also disappeared, following in the wake of his fellow marauder. Harry's side exploded with pain, as his lapse in situation awareness allowed an attacker to gain the upperhand. He quickly fired a curse at the man, watching him fall, then apparated with a crack.

00o0oo

Daphne heard all three cracks of Apparition of Sirius, Remus and Harry as they left. She used a piercing curse that ploughed through a primitive shield, placing a nice hole through the heart of the man duelling her. She apparated away from the battlefield with a distinct crack.