Deep Within The Department of Mysteries:

Hydrus sat at his desk surrounded by centuries old books as he continued his research. All around him were various books on biology, religion, psychology, and philosophy.

Much like how his father had become obsessive over discovering the mysteries and powers of death, Hydrus had become obsessive over discovering the power of Life. The main reason for his research was to find a way to manipulate his Body Synchronicity Wave in order to further his Clear Mind technique.

Hydrus theorized that when all three soul waves were in sync, he would achieve Total Synchronicity and ascend to a higher state of being. The goal of ultimate power lay at the end of the road, Hydrus just had to figure out how to get there.

Still, despite all of his research, Hydrus was no closer to unlocking the true secrets of Life. Being a vampire meant Hydrus was a dark creature. Dark creatures had a natural disregard for human life built right into their genetic code and the stronger that creature the worse the disregard got. As it stood currently, if Hydrus couldn't utilize someone then they were food. The only exception was his family.

The idea that Life existed as a universal force that bound all living things together was a concept that was hard for Hydrus to wrap his head around. Because that sounded exactly like ambient magic. This was the main source of confusion for Hydrus. Muggles didn't have any magic, therefore, while they may think and feel, they weren't truly alive. He had seen this for himself. On a good day, when Hydrus could actually be bothered to think about muggles at all, he likened them to ants. Small and helpless individually, but efficient when working together. If life force was truly ambient magic, then how did muggles, abominations without a single ounce of magic, exist?

Hydrus ruled out evolution immediately. To evolve was to become better. Evolution was meant to help a species become more adaptable so they could thrive in their respective ecosystems. In what way was evolving to get rid of magic an improvement to humanity? There wasn't one, Hydrus concluded. There was not a single advantage that came with being born a muggle instead of a wizard. The fact that ambient magic was in all living things except muggles reinforced Hydrus's belief that muggles weren't natural, weren't even human.

This information wasn't new or particularly revolutionary. Any wizard with common sense could've just as easily piece together the same conclusion. However, it was in that redundancy that Hydrus found a different understanding.

Something had to be keeping muggles alive. Something other than magic or mere biology, of that Hydrus was convinced. It couldn't just be biology, not in a universe where magic flowed through all living things. There was something keeping them alive, something beyond Hydrus's current understanding. It had to be the Light. He wasn't sure how just yet, but Hydrus was certain that the Light and muggles were connected.

The boy smiled to himself. If that was the case, then he would make sure to drown the world in blood and darkness. He was going to bury the light. Feeling like it was time for a break, he stood and stretched.

"Mum, Grandma! I'm going to take a walk." he called out. Bellatrix stood and joined him, but Druella waved them off with a small smile, engaged in her own research. Hydrus and Bellatrix wandered the halls of the Department of Mysteries in silence for a while.

"What are you thinking?" Bellatrix finally asked. Hydrus regarded her for a moment, weighing how much he could say without potentially getting in trouble again. "I think I can use multiple, independent thought tracks to improve my Clear Mind technique." He said truthfully.

Bellatrix gave him a sharp look. "That's the psychic thing you did that almost unraveled your soul, isn't it? Why on earth are you still messing with such dangerous magic? What if something happened to you, Hydrus?" She asked, sounding worried.

"It's why I need parallel thought tracks. The way Clear Mind works is that I empty myself of all thoughts, feelings, and memories in order to achieve a heightened state. If I can have one thought track keep track of time so I don't overdo it, and another thought track that had the sole objective of reinforcing my body with magic, and a third focused on nothing but various shape-shifting forms, in theory, I should be able to multitask on four different unrelated things at the same time which would all unknowingly work together to strengthen Clear Mind without sacrificing the initial technique." Hydrus said. He had his eyes closed and a frown on his face as he continued to think of ways to evolve.

"Parallel Thought Stream is an advanced occlumency technique. As you are now, learning it would be basically impossible and unsafe. You're still a child, which means your brain isn't finished developing. If you use such powerful and complicated psychic magic at your age, it's basically guaranteed that you'll never reach your full psychic or mental potential when you're older." Bellatrix explained.

Hydrus sighed in frustration. His own research lined up exactly like his mother had said. "This sucks. I'm so close, mum. A new state of being with infinite power is right in front of my eyes and I have no way to reach it all because I'm small." He complained, kicking at the floor.

Bellatrix shook her head, a fond smile on her face. "You remind me so much of your father sometimes. He made the same mistake you're making now. Always eager to further your own powers. Always in a rush. Listen to me, Hydrus. We're vampires, we're immortal. We have all the time in the world to gain power and there's no doubt in my mind that you'll be the strongest. But it doesn't have to happen immediately, and it shouldn't either. Before you achieve power, you need to ask yourself what comes after that. What will you do with that power? How will you continue to progress? These are also the sort of things you need to think about." She said wisely.

Hydrus was silent as he processed her words. His mother was right, as she normally was. Clear Mind wasn't the only path to power, but it had been his. Still, Hydrus was very adaptable, he figured that was why he awakened shape-shifting first out of the myriad of vampiric powers. If Clear Mind couldn't go any further for the time being, then Hydrus would find another way to achieve ultimate power.

"What about psychic inhibitors? I don't really understand those, and information on them seems to be really rare." Hydrus asked. Bellatrix held his hand as they continued their walk.

"To call what you refer to as an inhibitor is sort of misleading. The real term is called a Mana Promise. There are tons of Mana Promises, the most well-known being the Unbreakable Vow. Some wizards will make Mana Promises with themselves and in doing so they gain something called a Restricted Power." She said. Unable to keep her hands to herself, Bellatrix picked her son up fully and held him close to her chest.

"What's a Restricted Power?" Came Hydrus's predictable question. He was fully engrossed in their little impromptu lesson.

"It's exactly what it sounds like. It's a power you gain by making a Mana Promise with yourself to restrict your magic in a way that fulfills your Promise. Here's an example. Let's say someone makes a Mana Promise that between the hours of nine in the morning and five in the afternoon they can't use their full power. The wizard would gain a Restricted Power based on that promise. To keep with that example, after five in the afternoon their restricted power would kick in. Not only would they have access to their full power, but the amount of power, and power output would rise dramatically. It's important to be especially careful when meeting a wizard with a Restricted Power. With how individualized Mana Promises can be, a Restricted Power can be anything, and is often highly unique." Bellatrix explained.

"What happens if you break your promise?" Hydrus asked. His mother gently grabbed both of his wrists and pinned him to the wall, tugging at his pants as she did so.

"A variety of things could happen, depending on your Promise. However, there are a few constants. One of them being that you'll lose access to your Restricted Power forever. But most of the time breaking a Mana Promise results in either instant death, or risking RMEO." Bellatrix said softly, sounding very serious.

"RMEO?" Hydrus asked.

"Random Magical Effect Overload. A random highly magical effect happening at a random time. It's a lot like accidental magic except there's no discernable catalyst. Imagine going about your daily life and then spontaneously combusting into fiendfyre. That's RMEO. It's what you almost got last time you used Clear Mind. You didn't just put yourself in danger, but everyone around you. Which is one of the many reasons why your psychic training has been discontinued."

Hydrus was in shock. He had no idea that the aftermath of using Clear Mind would have been so serious. He knew it risked his own life, and he was kind of ok with that. One couldn't achieve power without putting their life on the line after all. He couldn't help but curl in on himself as the powerful feeling of shame ran its course. He could've hurt his family, and no amount of power was worth that.

"Enough with all the academics. Let's go home, Hydrus. Unless you want me to milk you right here in this hallway of course." Bellatrix whispered, kissing at his neck and slowly stroking his penis.

"Right here is fine. We can do whatever we want after all." Hydrus said brazenly. The sound of Bellatrix's evil laughter could be heard throughout the entire department as she publicly mated with her son.

The Shadow Realm:

SPLASH! Frank coughed miserably as cold dirty water awoke him from his sleep. He had no idea how long he had been in this accursed pit of evil. The darkness was overwhelming, and the sense of despair was never ending.

The harsh environment had completely destroyed Frank's body. His hair had fallen out, his teeth had rotted away, he had lost an unhealthy amount of weight, and his body had become enfeebled and in constant pain.

"So, you're finally awake. Have you reconsidered your options yet?" An Unspeakable said.

Frank shook his head weakly. "I won't give in." He mumbled, his body going slack as it continued to lose strength.

"Not even for this?" The Unspeakable flashed a syringe. Frank whimpered pathetically at the sight of it. "Please! Please, I need it!" He begged.

"And I want you to have it Frank, but I can't until you answer my questions."

"Ok! Ask me anything! Just get me the hell out of here!" He pleaded. The Unspeakable smiled sinisterly but it was hidden by his hood.

"The Light. What is it?"

There was a brief moment of silence between the two as the wind howled and the dementors started to grow restless.

"It's neutrally charged magic devoid of intent." Frank answered.

"That's impossible. All magic requires intent, and neutrally charged magic doesn't exist. I thought we were getting somewhere Frank but if you're going to lie, then you can stay here with the dementors for a bit longer." The Unspeakable said haughtily, turning away and smashing the syringe of heroin underfoot.

"It's the truth I swear! Please! Don't leave me here! Please! Please!" Despite his begging, Frank went unanswered as despair, agony, and suffering filled his conscious mind once more.

?:

Team 42 ate quietly in the cafeteria of their newest outpost, Thunder Cloudian. A massive airborne IDA base that hid amongst dense clouds and unleashed devastating lightning strikes on anything that got too close.

Infiltrating IDA as a squad had been relatively easy. However, gaining any sort of useful information wasn't, especially not under the eye of Luminary Moody. Just because information was hard to come by didn't mean they had made no progress.

One of the things they had managed to send back was cloudstone. Cloudstone was a strange material that was light enough to perpetually float but hard enough that using it as building materials was actually feasible.

By sending cloudstone back for the Unspeakables to study it was plausible that they would find a way to scan for more. If the Unspeakables could scan for cloudstone then they might be able to find the legendary Sanctuary City. It was a backup plan in case Frank didn't crack.

Sky rocks weren't the only thing that Team 42 were investigating of course. As a newly formed IDA squad prepping to go to war, they were expected to train with the Light.

Learning to use the Light was an intensive, arduous process. Sirius likened the Light as the zenith of Holy Magic. Dark Magic required the user to constantly channel strong negative emotions to achieve powerful effects. Holy magic was very similar, requiring a myriad of positive emotions.

The Light was different though. In order to use the Light at all, one had to empty themselves of all emotion and abandon their heart. In the words of the Luminary, the Light was pure and diluting with feelings was considered blasphemy.

There was no anger or joy. The Light was truly neutral and passed judgment on one's soul without bias. This was why the Light was so difficult to wield. Power without influence was a concept that human beings weren't capable of understanding. If one's mind wasn't clear, then there could be no Light.

Condensed neutral magic was what made up the Light. That's why the Light canceled out all magic, dark or otherwise. The only real weakness that the Light had was that it took on some of the physical attributes of real life light. Which meant things like time, gravity, and mirrors could all hypothetically be used to combat the Light.

Since the Light had physical attributes, theoretically, a skilled alchemist could manipulate the particles and their bonds to transmute the Light into something else. Of course, that was impossible. Manipulating subatomic particles was beyond even the skills of Nicolas Flamel, the greatest alchemist to have ever lived.

The last and most plausible counter Team 42 discovered was to use legilimency to instill a powerful emotion, any emotion, into a Light-wielder. It would disturb the neutrality needed to use the Light and create an opening. That was easier said than done however, to make someone who couldn't feel anything, feel something was a tall order.

Team 42 had no way of testing any of their theories as none of them were capable of using the Light. All they could do was continue to gather information and slowly pass it along as to not give away their intentions.

New York: Manhattan

Bellatrix slowly got out of bed, being careful to not disturb Hydrus or Druella's sleep. With MACUSA being completely decimated, Magical America had very quickly become destabilized and lawless. Even now the great muggle city burned.

Narcissa and the Church had done good work infiltrating the country and secretly spreading Noctism. With no government to stop them, Bellatrix had decided to take Hydrus to New York so he could finally begin learning ambient magic. Of course, they would have to clear out all the vermin first. Bellatrix licked her lips at the thought of the slaughter.

Putting on robes, she quietly apparated to the roof of the penthouse that they stole from the Graves family. There was smoke in the air, people were screaming, and blood painted the pavement.

There was so much pain and suffering on the streets down below and it was getting Bellatrix really excited. Once she finished here, she would need a midnight Hydrus snack. No doubt the boy would enjoy that.

Bellatrix would make sure Hydrus was extra spoiled for a while. It was thanks to him that Bellatrix had managed to gain even more power. He had revealed the secrets behind his Clear Mind technique and had even provided her the answer on how to improve upon it. Now, it was time to test it.

"Clear Mind: Assault Mode!" For the first time ever, Bellatrix willingly let Nebula take center stage. Using psychic magic, she had emptied herself of all feelings, save for two that made up her very essence.

Her unyielding and undying love for her son, and her unrivaled bloodlust.

By modifying the Clear Mind technique in this way, it gave Nebula a concrete goal to focus on. Her fangs elongated, her claws sharpened, and her eyes became predator-like. The Vampiric Demon, Nebula, had manifested at long last.

The Demon raised her hand skywards and channeled a massive amount of magic into the sky. The magic was so dense and so powerful that it was visible for miles.

There was a rumbling of thunder and it started to rain. Nebula licked her lips as she got ready to unleash carnage.

"Thundaja Ultima!" Nebula slashed her hand down, there was a flash of light followed by a truly heaven shaking roar. When it was over, an entire city block was missing, the scorched remains of the earth being the only reminder that something had existed there in the first place.

With the death of so many muggles, ambient magic rushed to fill the void, leaving a dazzling display of lights of pure power.

After the testing was complete, Bellatrix effortlessly took control from Nebula. She fell to the ground clutching her head as her memories and emotions came rushing back. She breathed heavily in an attempt to catch her breath. Once Bellatrix recovered, she stood and apparated back inside, intent on restarting sexy time with her son.

Thunder Cloudian:

"Alright rookies, listen up! We're currently several thousand feet above Greece and I have a mission for all the teams gathered here. Team 13 and Team 21 here are your orders." Luminary Moody handed each team manila folders. His eclectic blue eye prosthetic whirred and spun randomly, before he physically turned to face Team 42.

Barty accepted the manila folder with grace, using all of his occlumency skills to not show his nervousness.

"You have your orders, dismissed!" The Luminary shouted. All the Teams fell into a single file line and marched out. Once they were back within the relative safety of their barracks, Barty opened the folder and read the mission assigned to his squad.

He pursed his lips and lit the orders on fire using wandless magic. "Is that a good or bad thing?" Antonin asked. Barty shook his head. "They've found more objects containing bits of the Time Force, our mission is to head to Athens and retrieve it. Stealthily."

The members of Team 42 looked troubled. They hadn't expected IDA to find another object so soon after obtaining the Jewel of Janus. It was clear they had eyes and ears everywhere, and it raised their concern about the entire war effort. If IDA could infiltrate Athens and study the Time Force, What couldn't they do?

But more importantly, did Team 42 complete this mission and directly aid the enemy, or did they throw, and risk exposing themselves while they were deep in enemy territory?

"Pack your things, and make sure to visit the inventory. This mission isn't going to do itself." Barty ordered, deciding for all of them.

"Jr, are you sure about this?" Sirius asked. Barty smiled a mischievous smile. "Of course I am. This is our opportunity to learn more about this mysterious Time Force after all. Now get going, I need to concentrate." Barty sat down crisscross applesauce style and placed his wand in front of him. He closed his eyes and placed his hands on his knees, clearly meditating. The others left, knowing it was no use trying to talk to Junior when he got like this.

As the others left, Barty contemplated why his rookie squad was being sent on such an important mission. Had they been recognized? No, that was impossible, if any one of them had been recognized then they would have been killed awhile ago. If they had been recognized, then there was no way they would be allowed near a Time Force object or receive training on manifesting the Light. Was it mere coincidence, and Barty was probably being usual hyper analytical self? Probably. Could it be fate? After all Time and Space were supposed to be opposites, at least according to Lord Noctis.

And there was no one better at manipulating wizard-space better than Barty Crouch Jr.

It was because of his invention of the lacrima that the Crouch name still had relevance. That and the tragic death of his father. Barty let out a little chuckle at that and subsequently broke his meditation. He stood, grabbed his wand, and gave it a wave. His moleskein pouch flew to his outstretched hand and he clipped it to his side. Once he was all packed, Barty left to find the rest of his squad and to make sure they weren't doing anything stupid.