DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter was created by JKR, I do not own the rights to any characters, nor do I pretend to.

Sirius was sitting in his room, looking at his own wardstones, when he heard a loud explosion and felt the whole castle shake.

"Leave it to Harry to blow up a stone! Ah shit." He carefully packed up his stones before running out. It wouldn't do to have his stones also blow up after all. He booked it down the hallway and saw some of Harry's friends already at the scene.

Viktor, Luna, and Hermione were all eating in the main hall when they heard a loud explosion.

They felt the whole building shake, so they all jumped out of their chairs and rushed towards the commotion. They were the first to the scene.

Daphne was picking herself off the ground from where she was tossed aside like a ragdoll as they walked in. Other than a few light bruises from where she fell, she was perfectly fine. A miracle considering the fact that the powerstone was only 2 feet away from her face. She looked to her wand in awe. Then she noticed Harry and ran over to him.

"The powerstone exploded from being overcharged." Daphne explained.

Viktor nodded his head. "I can't heal this. I don't know vat is wrong. I place him in stasis, okay?"

Daphne nodded her head and Viktor placed a stasis spell on him. "Let's get him to St. Mungo's. A private ward would be preferable of course."

Sirius just arrived and nodded his agreement, before levitating his godson towards the nearest floo. They quickly made their way into the hospital and Harry was sent straight into the emergency ward.

Two medi-witches started examining Harry very quickly. One of the diagnostic spells all of a sudden turned black. "Who put this Dark stasis sell on him?"

"It saved his life." Was all Viktor replied with.

"Maybe, but the real test is yet to come. The cuts and bruises are mostly superficial. His magical core is destabilized, and if it isn't fixed, it will explode. And then he will be dead, and probably the whole hospital will be also. We have to get to the blast ward. Raman, fetch healer Warman. Tell her it's a class 1 emergency." The witch quickly spouted off the orders and levitated Harry's stretcher in front.

They went down three levels and into the blast ward. It had very think walls, and they were very strong and magic resistant. About a minute after they arrived, a very old looking witch appeared through the door.

She walked in without saying anything, and a few quick diagnostic spells of her own. She frowned before starting to explain. "His magical core is destabilizing and splintering, due to a large backlash of magic. I will have to use an ancient spell to fix it. It may or may not work, depending on the magical strength of caster and victim. Give me some room please."

The ancient witch moved her wand in a complicated manner, and a bright golden beam shot out of her wand at Harry. It didn't strike Harry though; it seemed to dissipate into a cloud around him. She shook her ahead before giving it another go.

"Lectus funiculus silicis monachus maximas!" The old witch yelled.

Luna watched with wide eyes as the spell wrapped around Harry for a brief second, before failing again.

"That was the best I could do, but it failed. His magical core is too strong, I can't do it. We only have minutes before it explodes, and we would need someone like Dumbledore to cast it." The witch gave a sad look. She was going to usher them out of the room and call for a lock down.

Daphne took one look at her wand and hoped for the best. She gave it a few practice twirls until she was satisfied she had it right. "Lectus funiculus silicis monachus maximas!"

Everyone in the room turned around in surprise at Daphne, but then turned quickly back to Harry as the spell wrapped around him and absorbed into his skin.

The healer looked surprised as was going through her diagnostics. "I don't believe it… a miracle for sure. He's healed. He's even better than healed. His vitals are all exactly where they should be. It's as if the accident never even took place! Usually the patient is hospitalized for weeks to recover after such an accident, but I believe he is perfectly fine. I don't believe it." The crazy lady was stuttering to herself. Everyone else was looking at Daphne in awe.

Daphne blushed with faint embarrassment but asked a question to divert the looks. "Uh, Healer Warman? What would happen if someone were to use that spell on someone whose magical core was intact?"

"What a dreadful question!" The healer snapped out of her trancelike state. "That spell is ancient magic. If misused it would most likely shatter their core, or tear it completely out. You would be a muggle at best, or a puddle of goo at worst. You're lucky it worked perfectly for you!"

Daphne nodded her head in agreement. She had a feeling that it was her wand that did most of the work anyways and nothing on her part.

No one noticed the change in Luna's demeanor when the old healer was screeching, as Harry took that time to wake up.

"Bugger it all, what happened?" Harry asked tiredly.

"You ate the explosion of an overcharged powerstone." Daphne replied with an apologetic smile.

Recognition flickered in his eyes. "I guess we were lucky that powerstone wasn't any bigger, otherwise I would be pushing up daisies right now." Harry gave a weak laugh.

"You are lucky to even be alive right now mister! Your magical core was destabilized and self destructing. Your girlfriend managed to save you."

"Well in that case." Harry grabbed Daphne's hand and pulled her into a long kiss. "How long was I out?"

"It's only been about 30 minutes."

"Oh. Am I good to go?" He was thanking Merlin that he wasn't in one of his weeklong hospital comas.

She gave one last diagnostic charm before nodding her head.

"Awesome."

They made their way back to the castle. Harry looked at the damage to the room. "Damn Daphne, that wand is truly something."

"Yeah it is. It fixed you right up when the master healer couldn't muster enough power for the spell."

"I guess it is only fair that you fix the room up. I'll see if I can salvage the wardstones."

Harry salvaged the other 3 pairs of wardstones and they set them up in the room. It only took a few waves of Daphne's wand and a few of the castle repairing charms that they used in the Chamber of Secrets before everything was like new.

"If we ever need to add new wards to the Castle, you're charging them suckers up."

A few days later, Voldemort was not in a very happy mood.

He was currently back in Britain, after destroying Gregorovich's shop and stealing his wands. He, like many before him, was searching for the Wand of Destiny. While the wandmaker didn't say anything useful other than the fact the wand was stolen before Voldemort was born, he did gleam some potentially useful information from the man's mind; the location's of his competitor wandmaker's shops. His biggest competitor was not Ollivander, like Voldemort would of thought, but rather a wandmaker down in Knockturn Alley. Little did either man know that that wandmaker and the thief were the same person, and that that person was Lord Grindlewald.

That is how Voldemort got to be standing outside of that particular wandshop. He was looking through the window.

He couldn't believe his luck.

He could see the fabled wand laying right there through the window on a golden pillow, atop a golden pedestal.

Voldemort barely held back the urge to barge right into the closed shop and take it. The greed in his eyes could have sent a shiver down an inferi's spine.

He took out his wand and started scanning the place for wards and traps and was surprised at what he found.

"Holy Fuck."

Voldemort was not one to use such primitive muggle terms, but he was at a loss for words. There were dozens, if not hundreds of wards and magical traps on the place, nearly all of them dark and dangerous. There were more than even he had on anything he ever warded. He was loathe to admit that there were even some he didn't recognize, but to Voldemort's excuse it was hard to tell them apart with so much magic all in one place.

Always up for the challenge, Voldemort began work on the immense network of spells.

At the same time Voldemort was tearing down the wards on Grindlewald's shop, Harry Potter was busy on his first mission from DMLE Director Amelia Bones.

He arrived on broomstick, as he was very unfamiliar with the area. It also had the added benefit of being able to scope out the area from the sky.

The town was very quiet, and there wasn't much else near the old rusty warehouse. After disillusioning himself, he made his way towards a side door.

He wisely put up a silencing spell around the door as it would have creaked very loudly. He only opened it about half a foot before shifting into his ashwinder animagus form and slithering in.

He still wasn't very used to his animagus forms, they were disorienting to say the least. As he let the surroundings sink in for a little bit, he noticed that the warehouse was pretty much empty, except in the far right corner. There was a bright blue aura indicating magic of some sort. He didn't notice any human sized body temperatures, just mice and such.

He slithered to the corner and shifted out of his form. He looked on in faint amusement as he realized whatever it was was disillusioned.

"Finite Incantatem!" The invisibility charm slowly dissolved away. He shifted back into his snake to see if there were any other wards or traps, and to his surprise there was none.

He shifted back out and opened up the first wooden crate. There was nothing interesting in it.

The story was the same for the second and third crate. It was what was in the fourth crate that would make his mouth hang open in shock.

There was a scroll case with a note attached. The note was coded so he couldn't get too much from it. It was what was inside the case that got him worried. There were diagrams. At least a dozen. As he leafed through the first few he noticed that looked like tombs or crypts. 'Voldemort is looking for something' was Harry's first thought.

He then came across a diagram of a large manor. He didn't recognize the blueprints, or the picture that was attached. There was also a diagram of the outside wards. He felt sorry for whoever this was that was being targeted.

And then he looked at the next page. It was a picture of a castle he would recognize instantly.

Because he lives there.

It was a picture of Sirius's castle.

There were only blueprints of the outside, and only a diagram of the outside few wards. Whoever scouted the place obviously did it by broom. All because the place is unplottable didn't mean you couldn't see the place with your eyes. The only thing that would make the castle invisible like that was the Fidelius, and all the magic in the world couldn't cast that charm on a place the size of the castle.

The next diagram was of Hogwarts. It wasn't as accurate as his marauders map, but it was still disconcerting. Especially since it had all the wards listed. He sighed as he rolled all the diagrams back up and placed them back into the case. He figured that this fell under the category of 'stuff that Amelia Bones would want to see'.

He exited the warehouse, but not before turning back into his snake form and setting the whole place on fire. Whatever else was in the boxes was going to be nothing but a pile of ashes.

He activated the portkey in his pocket.

Back at the manor, Daphne was nervous. So nervous in fact, her best friend Tracey took it upon herself to calm her down.

"Calm down, will you Daph? You're making me nervous just watching you." Tracey said.

It was true. Daphne was a nervous wreck. "I can't help but wonder if something's happened to him!" she screeched.

"You read the note. It is nothing but a reconnaissance and sabotage mission. Even if he did run to trouble, nothing but the Dark Lord himself would possibly stand a chance against Harry. They wouldn't send Harry off on a dangerous mission for his first go around."

"I suppose…" she was still unconvinced.

"You really love him don't you?" Tracey asked.

The question caught her off guard. "Yeah, I suppose I do. He means everything to me. "

"It's as I thought then." Tracey responded with a smirk.

"What's that?"

"You have it bad for Harry, and you want him to be yours- forever."

She opened her mouth for any angry retort, but cut it back."I just can't believe this is actually happening."

"Me too. Most of us thought you were just going to grow up to be a cold bitch who did nothing but absorb herself in her studies, get force-married to a 90 year old rich guy, kill him, and live off the rest of your life with that guys fortune by yourself."

"Hey-"

"I'm kidding. I'm glad you found someone you love."

"Me too. It's really surreal at times."

"Want to go down to the kitchens for some hot chocolate? It will make you feel better."

"Sure. The elves better have some Firewhiskey down there too." She mumbled the second art to herself.

"What was that?"

"Just a sneeze."

Voldemort was actually sweating. He couldn't believe it. He didn't even know he could sweat anymore, what with all the various dark rituals he has done over the years.

"Whoever put these wards up must have had a little bit of skill. " Voldemort understated, but that was as close as a compliment he would ever give. "It's a shame that I'm going to have to kill him, otherwise I'd ask him to join me."

He was nearly done dismantling the wards and traps. It took him most of the night, but he eventually did it. As he was nearing the end, his thoughts drifted to the information that he would be collecting after he was done here. Various diagrams of places powerful artifacts were once thought to be located. Others were of diagrams of potential targets, namely Hogwarts and Harry Potter, along with allies of Dumbledore.

Voldemort was loathe to admit, but Dumbledore had some powerful allies. Alastor Moody was easily the equal of any his inner circle members. The professors Flitwick and McGonagall were no slouches either. And he won't ever forget Dumbledore's mentor. He had plans for Dumbledore's mentor, but supposedly he died a few years ago. Still, it never hurts to double check and that's why he had to get the layout of his manor.

A new ally of his offered the information to him in an act of good will. It was a very strange fellow, but who was he to deny information like that?

Back in the wandshop, Voldemort slowly entered the door and took a look around. He didn't take notice of the light layer of dust on the ground, nor the faint smell of sulfur. There were many wands on display, but none of them seemed overly special. All except for the one on that golden pillow.

"That is it!" He let out an undignified whoop of triumph. He took out his wand and gave a few last inspections of the room around, seeing if he missed anything. He gave a small nod in satisfaction. "The Wand of Destiny is mine!"

He grabbed the wand and pulled it off the cushion.

And then his world exploded around him.

Being the arrogant prick he was, he didn't check for non-magical traps. A simple thin string was attached to the wand. The string was connected to flintlock spark triggers that were connected to a dozen kegs of gunpowder and an erumpent horn. There was nothing overly muggle about it, being that gunpowder has existed since the time of the founders.

"Oh cock!" was the only thing Voldemort managed to say as the explosion consumed him.

a/n- I still got about 3 or so scenes planned out before the start of the semester begins.