Thanks to: Cal and Colin Creevey for reviewing!

Questions:

Is it completely impossible that James turns around and joins Harry? Or is he far gone? Or is this a spoiler? Or what?
Eh they're two different things, Sal does intend to kill James eventually so is it impossible he turns and joins Harry? No. But is suddenly going to switch sides out of the goodness of his heart? No. As you see in James' Extra, he is delusional and his mind will always warp the truth to make him feel in the right and he'll always be a sadist no matter what side he's on. He is just barely still a Gray soul though and Harry is that final thread so who knows?

Did they already get Vale out or are they all basically in trouble?
Yes, they already got Vale out. The whole Alaric/Harry conversation was after they Portkeyed from St Mungo's

Hogsmeade was in chaos, the quaint cobbled stones were now charred and the stench of decaying corpses filled the clean air. Bodies were everywhere, the living were being forced outside and the dead were the ones forcing them. Thankfully some living human people had finally showed up so they were no longer purely at the mercy of the brain-dead Inferi, the figures emblazoned with the twisting Shadow Mark symbol were now directing them as they seemed to be ordering the terrified populace.

Mostly terrified anyway, Sly Atoll certainly wasn't afraid and was happier then he'd been in years. Just as he'd predicted- just as he'd wanted, the Shadows were finally taking power and tearing down the foundations of the worthless old way. It sucked so many people had died but most of it was their own fault, the instructions to survive had seemed pretty clear and fair to him so refusing to comply and resisting was nothing short of suicidal. People were just stupid, sheer dumb luck was the only reason the human race had survived at all.

Sly allowed himself to be led with the others, making an effort to stay away from his foster family however because screw those guys. And fuck Terry. He had secretly – or rather not so secretly - hoped Terry would die in the attack but alas, he survived to pollute the world further with his existence. Unless one of these Inferi went rogue and tore him apart right now, Sly would very much welcome that happening. Or maybe he wouldn't even need to watch Terry die if he got to become a Soul Eater himself, he wouldn't be weak anymore then and he could defend himself. He wanted to be a Soul Eater so badly.

"Girls go that way," a voice close by barked loudly enough to draw Sly from his thoughts.

He saw it was one of the Soul Eaters directing people, yelling at two of his foster siblings – a brother and sister – who must have wanted to stay together. They were forced to go two different directions though, the little girl in tears like the pathetic weakling she was. It gave him a bitter satisfaction to see the pair split up, after all it wasn't like he got to stay with his sister. Whit was dead, she'd gone all soft and died to the stupid potion they had every day that their stupid druggie mother just had to give her. So now Whit was dead, his parents were in prison and he was left all alone.

"That way," the man directed him when Sly got close enough, he seemed to just be dividing them by gender.

"Is that the way to become a Soul Eater?" Sly questioned, standing his ground and folding his arms, "Because that's the way I want to go."

"Sly, just do what they want," his foster father hissed at him while the Soul Eater raised an eyebrow, "This isn't the time for you to be difficult."

"I don't want to be lost in the crowd, I want to be a Soul Eater."

"Is that so?" a new voice wondered and Sly spun to see a young man standing there, tall and lanky with dark greasy hair and coal colored eyes. He was dressed surprisingly casually but he stood with an air of power, the other Soul Eater seemed to immediately defer to him indicating he was someone.

"Yes," Sly confirmed firmly, holding his head up high as the man approached studying him curiously.

"Do you want me to make him move along, General?" the other Soul Eater asked.

"Actually its Lieutenant now," the newcomer corrected testily and the other man looked a little afraid.

"Yes, of course. My mistake."

"And no, I'll speak with him. Carry on," the Lieutenant decided and led Sly away, his foster father looking after him worriedly, "Do you have a name?"

"Do you?" Sly shot back instinctively and mentally kicked himself, he should be more civil to the people he wanted to join, "I mean, yes, Sly Atoll."

"Stephan Hunter," the Lieutenant introduced himself as they meandered through the town, his eyes skimming the crowds like he was looking for someone, "I'm guessing from your demeanor you've been on Vanharisk?"

"Yes, my parents gave it me."

"We don't use it, it's not worth it for the side effects."

"I'm better than most children," Sly insisted defensively and truthfully, kids were even dumber than adults and they tried his patience to no end.

"Doesn't matter who's better when you collapse from a seizure," Stephan pointed out dismissively, still more focused on looking around. He was definitely looking for someone, or something Sly supposed.

"The seizures get less frequent in time, I'm still capable of being a good Soul Eater. I swear! I may have weaknesses but knowing what they are I can work around them, I have strengths too and I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

"Well, we'll see," Stephan said with a smirk before finally seeming to find who he was looking for, "And there we are."

"No! Don't take my brother away!" a pale girl around Sly's age was crying desperately at another Soul Eater, she was trying to cling to possibly the ugliest toddler Sly had ever seen in his life – and his face was not helped by being all blotchy and snotty from crying – who shared if nothing else the same dark hair as her.

"I said get!" the Soul Eater growled, bringing his wand down on the girl and sent her spiraling to the ground where the man stomped down on her face so forcefully Sly flinched. That must hurt, "You do what we say now, girl!"

"That's enough, get back to work," Stephan called out lazily as the other man brought his boot up to stomp back down on her now bloody face again, "I'll deal with these two."

The subordinate backed off instantly as Stephan approached, returning to dividing the other throng and ignoring the kids. Stephan stopped beside the girl and offered her a hand up, she took it shakily and the Lieutenant helped her to her feet. She looked more like her ugly brother now, blood streamed from her nose and dribbled from her mouth, the half of her face with a boot print on it was now misshapen. Sly expected Stephen to heal her but he didn't.

"St- Stephan?" the girl wondered as she looked up at him, coping oddly well with her damaged face like it wasn't the first time she'd been injured so, "Carver's brother?"

"I'm glad you remember me," Stephan told her, glancing briefly at the toddler who didn't look like he shared the recognition, "Emerald, I believe? And Damien."

"Yeah," the girl – Emerald, Sly supposed – confirmed and spat out a mouthful of blood as she eyed Stephan warily, "What do you want?"

"To help," Stephan answered in a tone that suggested that wasn't the whole truth, "The siblings of my dead brother are people I should probably take an interest in, I'm sure he'd want to know you're cared for and we did just destroy your home."

"Will we get to stay together?"

"If you do what I want," Stephan shrugged, his eyes drifting back to Sly for the first time, "Should you and Sly here pass my test then I'll allow all of you to go to the Training Tower, you'll become Elite Soul Eaters like your brother before you."

"What if we don't want to?" Emerald shot out immediately and Sly threw her a murderous look, if she screwed up this chance for him…

"Then say goodbye to your brother because I'll make damned sure it's the very last time you see him or the rest of your family," Stephan told her coldly and Sly relaxed, he knew she'd agree to that even though she sighed unhappily.

"Fine."

"Then let's go," Stephen decided.

In the next instant Sly felt himself engulfed by darkness and cold, he felt like he'd been flung off a cliff naked and left his stomach behind. He hit the ground on his knees gasping for breath while his stomach lurched, needing a second to realize he was breathing in clean air and staring down at grass. He heard retching and looked up, seeing the toddler – Damien? – throwing up nearby although while looking queasy, Emerald seemed okay and was still on her feet.

This prompted Sly to make an effort to swallow his own bile to show more composure, not wanting to be shown up. He shakily pushed himself back to his feet, Stephan alone looked completely unaffected. Emerald helped Damien back up, rubbing his back soothingly much like Whit would when he was ill… Sly shook that thought angrily from his head and folded his arms irritably, stupid brats. He hoped they'd never see each other again.

"Alright, come on," Stephan urged striding forwards.

Sly glanced around as he hastened to follow, seeing they were approaching some house on the edge of some muggle town if the street lights and nearby road were anything to go by. It seemed a weird place for a test, or was he getting more kids? Sly glanced at the others were still with them, in fact seeing them from closer he thought they looked oddly familiar but he was sure he didn't know them. He was good with faces, his father had always impressed upon them that it was a good skill to have. His father was a great man, the Soul Eaters were foolish if they let him rot in prison for life when he could be useful, he hadn't even done anything.

"Oh, hey Stephan," a woman's voice spoke and Sly was snapped back from his thoughts, seeing Stephan must have knocked or rang as a pretty dark-skinned woman had answered the door. She looked upset though, "Did you hear about Hogwarts? I don't know if Andreas is-"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off as Stephen whipped his wand out in a heartbeat, there was a blast of light and the woman was flung back within the house. Damien screamed in shock but Stephen merely gestured for them to follow as he went into the house, Emerald had looked away grimly.

"That'll hurt," Emerald muttered.

"You know what spell he used?" Sly wondered in surprise, it was rare for kids their age to know anything about spell.

"It crushes you, breaks your bones," Emerald answered quietly as they went into the house after Stephan, "Dad used it a couple of times when he was angry."

"That why you're not bothered your face got stomped on? Already used to Daddy playing too rough?" Sly guessed the correlation and she shrugged unhappily, she did open her mouth to reply but they were all distracted by the door slamming shut behind them.

Sly looked away in surprise to see they were in a hallway, Stephan was standing before them with one arm lazily outstretched to the door while his wand was in the other hand levitating the woman. Her body looked mangled now, limbs were twisted like they were broken from her fingers to even her spine. Her face was frozen in a look of horror as Stephen calmly levitated her through the door to the right, a child's shriek of terror was heard.

They followed Stephan into the room which turned out to be a living room and sure enough, there was a little girl in there who only looked around Damien's age. Stephen flung the woman's body into a corner and hit the toddler with a stunner, a man rushed into the room from the other side and Stephen hit him with a spell that bound his limbs.

"Andreas is dead, Josslyn," Stephan said to the woman coldly, tears filled her eyes, "He betrayed us so he died. That's why I'm here, Soul Eaters don't take treachery lightly. Should you choose to turn on us, you're also choosing to forfeit the lives of those you care about-" Sly couldn't help but notice the way Stephan glanced at him and Emerald as he said this, he was warning them "-so now your family has to die."

"No!" the man cried out desperately, "Please! Andreas wasn't our family, we barely saw him, we barely know him- I didn't even like the kid! We shouldn't die for him, we shouldn't die for this!"

"Huh, I guess Andreas wasn't lying when he complained his stepdad hated him," Stephan mused thoughtfully and flicked his wrist, causing the man's lips to seal shut, "Jeffrey, you're a jerk."

"Steph-" the woman – Josslyn, Sly supposed – started to say but it was cut off as she started screaming.

Her body convulsing violently, even worse than Sly's seizures and after a minute a strange glowing orb was wrenched from her mangled body. For a second Sly thought she was dead but she was simply staring unblinkingly at the light, silent tears starting to stream from her eyes. Damien started crying, clinging to Emerald and burying his face in her arm. Sly looked grimly on, if his test was to watch this then fine. He didn't enjoy it but he could endure it, he knew the Soul Eaters could be extreme sometimes.

"Alright then," Stephan said cheerfully, turning back to them and spinning his wrist which conjured a knife, "You're up, Sly."

"What?" Sly wondered in confusion and Stephan tossed him the knife, Sly fumbled to catch it anxiously lest it hurt him and thankfully succeeded.

"This is your test," Stephen explained and gestured to the man who was presumably called Jeffrey, "Kill this asshole, put the knife in his neck. You said you'd do anything so do it, prove yourself and you can become a Soul Eater."

"Can't- Can't I kill someone else?" Sly stammered out in shock, his instinct being to not do this and if he had to kill he'd rather kill Terry because at least he knew for sure Terry deserved it, "I could kill my foster broth-"

"No, it has to be him," Stephen cut him darkly, coal-colored eyes focused on him menacingly, "If you want to be a Soul Eater you can't pick and choose who you kill, you have to follow orders and I'm ordering you to kill this man."

Sly swallowed nervously and nodded in understanding, he glanced at Emerald to see her reaction but she wasn't looking at him. He then started to approach his target, his legs were trembling beneath him and the knife in his hand was feeling heavier with each step. Jeffrey's eyes were bulging in terror, he struggled uselessly against the bonds and from the muffled sounds he was trying to speak. Or scream.

Sly reached him and glanced back to Stephan as if he'd suddenly change his mind, the man was watching him with focused eyes. He had to do it. Sly crouched by the man, Jeffrey's eyes filled with tears of fear now. He was the only thing standing between Sly as his future, a better future then this shithole could give. His chance to be strong so no one could hurt, his chance to see his parents again. What was one person's life for that? He didn't even like people and he could potentially have to do worse if he got his wish, there was always a catch.

Sly opened his mouth to tell the man he was sorry but closed it, an apology wasn't going to mean or change anything. He took the knife and slid it through Jeffrey's throat, the blade slicing easily through the soft flesh. Crimson poured from the wound, streaming out like a red waterfall. Sly didn't want to watch but he didn't want to look away, he looked the man in the eye and watched the light leave it. He was a murderer now. Sly swallowed and got to his feet, his legs trembling even more as he left the corpse to walk back to Stephan.

"Well done, you passed your test. You're going to be a Soul Eater now," Stephan congratulated him and took back the knife, Sly just nodded. It was done, that was the important thing, "Emerald, you're up. Kill the child."

"No!" Josslyn cried, seeming to snap out of whatever she was going through at the threat to her – presumably – daughter, "Stephan, pleas-"

Stephen flicked his wrist and Josslyn gave a last scream as her tongue was torn from her mouth, her head lolled as she choked on her own blood but her torturer didn't so much as glance at her. His eyes didn't leave Emerald as he held out the knife to her, a tear rolled down her cheek and she shook her head.

"You heard what I said about treachery," Stephen reminded her and held the knife out to her, "Not doing what I want is treachery, Emerald."

Emerald choked on a sob and more tears rolled down her face, she shakily reached out and took the knife though. She pried Damien off her and slowly walked over to the unconscious girl, Stephen flicked his wrist as she crouched by the toddler. The toddler instantly woke up in panic, screaming as she saw Jeffrey's body and her barely alive mother.

"Calm down," Emerald urged gently as the little girl broke down, reaching out to comfort her which actually seemed to work a little, "It's going to be okay."

"M- My p- parents…" the toddler sobbed fearfully.

"Then close your eyes, don't look and it'll be okay," Emerald told her and the girl obediently squeezed her eyes shut, Emerald raised the knife now that the toddler wasn't looking. The blade trembled in her hand as more tears streamed down her face, finally she lowered it and looked back to them, "I can't do it, Stephan."

"Really?" Stephan wondered with a smirk and Damien shrieked as Stephan grabbed him, jabbing his wand into Damien's throat threateningly.

"It's okay," Emerald whispered tearfully as she turned back to the toddler, her grip on the blade steadying as she slit the child's throat in one swift motion. Sly averted his eyes, "You'll be with your family now, you'll be alright now."

"I thought so," Stephan commented as he let Damien go, looking pleased as he pocketed his wand, "Well done on passing your test."

"You're a monster," Emerald told him as she walked back over.

"Takes one to know one," Stephen stated dismissively.

He held out his hand to take back the knife, there was a spark of defiance in her eyes though and abruptly she lunged with the knife to try to stab Stephan's hand. There was a glow of light from his palm as the blade touched it, almost in slow motion Sly watched as the knife seemed to disintegrate in the light instead of going into Stephan. The light faded when there was no knife left and Stephan punched Emerald cleanly in the jaw, sending her spiraling down to the ground. He actually didn't look too upset though.

"Don't try to stab me with a knife I conjured, honestly," Stephan stated as if it was obvious, rolling his eyes. He folded his arms and smirked as Emerald picked herself back up dejectedly, "You have guts though, I like that. You just need to remember what side you're on-"

Stephan stopped mid-sentence as a baby crying broke the otherwise silent atmosphere, they all looked up as the sound was coming from above. These people would have to have a baby. Their gazes drifted back down, Emerald looking horrified.

"Hmm," Stephan mused thoughtfully, "Am I feeling merciful today?"

Stephan was feeling quite pleased with himself as he finished dropping the kids off at the Training Tower, he liked to recruit Elites. The Shadow Master did intend the Training Tower fall out of use eventually, once they had the world and everything settled down it wouldn't be so necessary – although since Brutus was the one so keen on kid safety he was hoping her mind would change – to have Elite soldiers. Stephan was opposed to this so in the meantime he tried to boost the numbers as much as possible so at least there'd be more of them, he wasn't allowed to mass initiate people but he could add a few promising kids here and there, those related to Soul Eaters were also fair game.

Aside from that, he'd conquered Canada, Hogwarts was toast, the Shadow Master continued being fantastically immortal and he had finally been promoted to Lieutenant. It was about time, he lived to serve and he could that best with more power. He'd be a better Lieutenant then the others, he'd been raised for this whole life after all. He was to be meeting her soon and had things to do but while he was he in the Training Tower, he thought he should check on his brother Ethan quickly.

Stephan reached Ethan's door and knocked while unlocking the door magically, keeping him locked up in the magically protected room was necessary for Ethan's own safety due to his suicidal tendencies. He didn't expect or care about getting an answer and went into the small room – if he Ethan wanted a bigger room he knew what he had to do to get one – which had a bed, a dresser for clothes, a window and a crib on the far end for their youngest brother Decimus since Stephan had hoped being responsible for the infant might help Ethan. He was a good brother, no matter how ungrateful they acted. The baby was sleeping now and Ethan was sitting on the floor, hugging his knees to his chest.

"Ethan," Stephan barked irritably as he went over to his brother feeling frustrated, he didn't understand why he was like this or how to snap him out of, "I take it Davin or Rocio told you about Andreas already."

"Yes," Ethan answered quietly without looking at him, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"He's a traitor, just forget about him," Stephan insisted, he didn't get why that was so hard, "Traitors aren't worth getting upset over."

"He was our brother," Ethan whimpered, starting to sob and Stephan rolled his eyes at the redhead, "And now he's dead, that's all that matters."

"Ethan, you have got to pull yourself together," Stephan told him as he crouched by his now weeping brother, "You can't break down just because a traitor dies, you can't be like this. If you were anyone else we'd have killed you already."

"Then let me die, all I want is to die."

"You're not dying!" Stephan snapped at him, he hated this, "Stop wanting to die, there's no reason to die. You can have anything else- anything you want! A puppy, a broom, a mansion, money, to get laid, a city in your name or… whatever else people want! You can have anything since we own the world, I can make it happen but you just have to stop being like this."

Ethan just shook his head.

"Well have fun stuck in this room then," Stephan announced as he stood, not having time for this now. He didn't know why he even bothered.

Stephan left the room, resealed it magically before using a Specter to return him to Hogwarts the once famed school of witchcraft and wizardry. It was empty now though, Sal certainly didn't want it to be used as a school which was why the kids and Hogsmeade residents would be moved to Canada for the time being. The staff had almost unanimously been involved in the escape effort so there hadn't been many adults to deal with but the non-exceptions had been hauled off with the kids, because of course there exceptions.

The potential Gray members were being held in the Dungeons which included a few staff, a few students and a witness on their hit list, they'd be tortured to death for information. There was a werewolf too hurt to be moved in the Hospital Wing and the Healer, they were letting him stay until the next full moon where he'd either die or be moved to join their werewolf army if the Healer could save him and the Healer was also useful for keeping the tortured alive for that too, he'd be moved to Canada after that. Finally there was the Headmaster, Sal had wished to speak to him so he was being kept in the Main Hall. Everyone else was their people, there were some slaves, a handful of soldiers, James and then a hoard of Inferi outside.

Stephan hoped this wouldn't take long as he leaned against the door outside the main hall, he hated being in buildings – especially large ones such as this – that he didn't know the layout of. He hadn't been to Hogwarts after all so he wasn't familiar with it, James had though which was why he'd put him here. He jolted abruptly to attention as the Shadow Master stepped out of the Shadows, staff she'd created in hand. It was long and looked rather like she'd just found a branch of random white tree, the top held a blue crystal which was encased in a cocoon of crisscrossing tendrils of the same organic looking white wood.

"How was London?" Stephan asked pleasantly as she strode forwards, raising the staff and the doors opened to the hall.

"No more," Sal answered coolly.

Stephan inclined his head in understanding as he followed her inside, smiling at the thought of her razing the city. The Headmaster leaped immediately to his feet in panic, an entitled looking pompous ass if ever he'd seen one. Andreas and Martha had neither liking nor respect for the man and while they were traitors, Stephan was inclined to believe them on this. The man had surrendered from pure cowardice not out of genuine belief in them – which was foolish in itself - being right, Stephan had no respect for people like that.

"Greetings!" Weedy Larry – that's what his siblings had called the man anyway – squeaked, trying not to look absolutely terrified and failing spectacularly as he stumbled towards them from behind the far table Stephan had been told staff used, "How can- can I be of service to you fine people today?"

"I want the password to the Headmaster's office for future reference," Sal demanded readily.

"Oh, it um… it's just Laurence Winthrop," the man answered nervously, twiddling his thumbs uneasily and Sal raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't that your name?"

"Y- Yes, yes it is," Weedy Larry confirmed, fidgeting like a weasel but for some reason Stephan thought he was being honest, "What's wrong with using your name as the password?"

Stephan delved into his mind, causing the man to scream in pain as he quickly confirmed Weedy Larry was indeed being truthful and skimmed some memories of him actually using said password to back it up. The idiot was just arrogant and terrified of them.

"He's telling the truth," Stephan confirmed as he left his mind, leaving Weedy Larry to crumple on the floor clutching his head.

"Good," Sal muttered.

"Was that really necessary?!" Weedy Larry shrieked, upset at having a little headache, "I've been cooperating! I've been good!"

"Doesn't matter," Sal shrugged and flicked her wrist, setting the man ablaze, "You're Headmaster and your predecessor was a bastard who wouldn't let me or Tommy go to Hogwarts so… you have to pay for that, password was all I needed."

On that note, Sal turned on her heel and left the Headmaster burning to a painful death. Stephan followed after her, not seeing a reason to stay and the dying screams filled the air behind them. Neither of them was fazed.

"Will Hogsmeade be cleared out soon?" Sal questioned as they walked briskly.

"Yes," Stephan confirmed, "I was going to check on it when we're done here, they should have them moved out today. And Hogwarts already has been."

"Good. When they're gone have the people you were using for that start a search effort for Omega, when things are more organized it'll become a more coordinated one but for now I think it's important to just get people out there."

"Understood."

"Has James got anything from the prisoners yet?"

"I'll check but I don't think so, it hasn't been long and he'd have probably contacted me already if he had."

"Understood. Give him the rest of the summer, that should be plenty of time then we'll just have to move the prisoners if they're still alive and necessary. I want this place empty by September, I want to use it."

"For what?" Stephan wondered curiously and they came to a halt.

"It'll become my brother's tomb," Sal answered readily, her expression saddening a little and Stephan nodded in understanding, "I need to check on my son but I'll be back, deal with these crappy details so I don't have to. We still have more hell to raise."