Many thanks to those who reviewed. I am greatly pleased to know that many were surprised with the small twists that I threw into the last chapter, and hope that the fun continues as we pursue this plot point. More yet to come, naturally, but we shall be patient to receive it yes? Enjoy the next chapter! ~F

Chapter Thirty Six

The Hunt Begins

Lucius threw himself aside again as the beast's massive claws crashed into the sand where he and his son had been standing. Why they were suddenly near the front lines he didn't really understand, but there were so many of the sea-born freaks that it wasn't unrealistic that they broke through the front lines of ogres and demons.

Lord Nobu'tan had transformed, becoming a being of pure Felfire and shadows, leaping through the air at the largest of these summoning horrors, latching like a parasitic insect onto the beast's head and attacking it at melee range to distract it from supporting its much smaller allies.

The assorted demons were more than holding their own, but it seemed that the longer that Morgan le Faye, which was who Lucius supposed the woman standing on a cusp of rock channeling magic out to sea had to be, continued her spell there would be no end to the enemy reinforcements.

Luckily it seemed that Dumbledore and some of his allies, including Severus Snape, had arrived and were coordinating with them to stop the mad ancient witch while the Order of the Black Harvest led the charge against the abominations. It was an odd thing to be actually grateful of the old man's presence, but that wasn't something that the Pureblood wizard turned warlock could focus on at the moment.

Again and again Lucius and Draco, who had stayed by him, hurled their shadowy magic at the various creatures, infecting them with debilitating curses and spells that wore away at their hideous flesh with rot and decay, backed up by a fresh wave of demons that surged forward with their hideous war cries.

Soon however, the tide of enemies started to wane, and Lucius looked for some source of their change of battlefield conditions. Then he spotted it, even as the sea exploded upward over by the rocks where Dumbledore and his allies had rushed at Morgan, revealing another of the colossal beasts, and the ancient witch disappearing into thin air as she fled with a cackle.

Then there was a tremendous howling as the first beast fell with a crash, Nobu'tan landing with a spray of sea water and reverting to his human form, breathing heavily as the two headed ogres formed a phalanx around him, grasping their staves and facing off against the last remnant of the abominations with their new massive leader.

"Morgan has fled," he said as he was escorted back to Lucius and the other warlocks, even as their demons mopped up the remaining small creatures, "That last beast is the remaining one that she managed to awaken. We need to slay it and regroup so that we can be prepared for the next opportunity that she reveals herself. I doubt that this is the limit of what she has in mind to bring out of obscurity."

"Yes, Lord Nobu'tan," Yaxley replied, and together they started toward the cusp of rock, where the Light wizards were fighting desperately against the huge creature from the deep.

Crabbe and Goyle Sr. leapt forward, channeling bolts of chaotic magic to launch at the creature, buying time for the rest of them to get into position to back up the four wizards. It was interesting to think that for once in his life; Lucius would be on the same side as Albus Dumbledore regarding anything.

It was a long, grueling battle between the assembled magic users, ogre magi and the great abomination, but after dodging the swinging claws and whip-like tendrils they fell into a sort of pattern, quickly growing accustomed to the methods that the beast attempted to use to kill them all. And with that discovery, the ability to take advantage of its weak points became shockingly simple.

With a final flourished spell one of Dumbledore's lackeys, a younger man with a brown robe and beard, caused a spike of dark rock to fly out of the sand and impale the beast in the chest, slaying it and causing it to crash into the water with a final tremendous splash.

With their common foe defeated, it didn't take long for the warlocks and the wizards to separate into their respective groups and start suspiciously eyeing each other. Lucius knew that Nobu'tan had wanted Dumbledore to be as ignorant of their forces and abilities as possible, but with Morgan and her creatures interfering it simply wasn't a possibility.

Nothing was said between the two groups of magic users, each silently accepting the thanks of the other to their mutual success in this fight, and an unspoken agreement of ceasing aggressions until Morgan was stopped. Nobu'tan turned from them then, and started the process of opening a portal back to Malfoy Manor, making sure that it was impossible to tell where they were going via the view into the portal unless you were intimately familiar with the grounds, as Lucius and Draco were.

The wizards apparated away in the same time that Lucius walked through the portal back to his spacious manor grounds. There were significantly fewer ogres than before, but the four two-headed ones remained among those that had survived. Otherwise their numbers had barely been depleted. Macnair was sporting a few injuries, along with Crabbe and Nott Sr. but they were all minor at best and would heal easily with some well placed medical charms.

Lucius and Draco followed Nobu'tan however, shirking their illusions as soon as the portal was closed. "This situation complicates matters intensely," Nobu'tan was saying, traces of irritation in his voice, "not only does Morgan pose an actual threat, but we've been forced to reveal ourselves far more than I would have liked. We've lost much of our strength with the many dead ogres fighting both the Aurors and those creatures, and precious time is left before we need to start working on finding the last artifact and summoning the Legion."

"Do we even know where Morgan went to be able to follow her?" Draco asked astutely, and Lucius had to approve of the logic that his son was pursuing in persuading their leader to reason.

"Of course we don't, that would require effort on our part, and that even if she isn't trying to disguise her location, which after this blundered attempt to stop her is highly unlikely…" the warlock retorted.

"Then we have little that we need to concern ourselves with in regards to her, unless we have some sort of lead toward discovering her location. Let Dumbledore and his allies fuss over that, and we can use the precious time she has bought us to build up our forces a bit more." Draco continued, earning an approving smile from Lucius as he watched.

This friendship with Nobu'tan had made quite an impression on his son, and most of it was indeed for the boy's improvement, even notwithstanding the access to powerful dark magic that was all but hidden from the rest of the magical world. Although that presented another question of his own.

"Was it only me," Lucius started, "but did Morgan seem completely unsurprised by our use of Fel magic, as though she had seen it before?"

"She used Fel magic herself," Nobu'tan confirmed, turning from a map of Britain that he had picked up at some point, "and she also made specific mention of the Legion multiple times, so I suspect she made some sort of pact in ages past with them, and either failed or has attempted to betray them, which would make sense with those abominations that she's working with instead now. Personally," he added, "I'm more worried about Merlin assisting Dumbledore and the others, especially with all he probably knows regarding the Legion, as he fought Morgan before. We'll need to accelerate even further to keep ahead of the old man's moves now."

"There are still only a scant few leads on the Elder Wand, but I will devote every effort to locating it," Lucius affirmed. Nobu'tan had already returned to his map, probably plotting out the best location that Morgan could have fled to, or else some other logistics to recruit new allies for their faction.

Departing, Lucius made his way back outside, before apparating to the location of the one person that was still living, and willing to speak to him, regarding Gellert Grindlewald: Godric's Hollow.

It was always ironic to the Malfoy Lord, that Bathilda Bagshot, the illustrious author of the well worn History of Magic textbooks had lived so close to the most influential families of the modern era, the Potters and the Dumbledores, and was indeed a relative of the previous Dark Lord that had threatened all of Europe with his madness, and more so through his muggle puppet Hitler.

As a part muggle community, normally wizards were required to do what they could to blend in, but Lucius was far above that of an average magical citizen, and wouldn't be compromising his traditional values for the sanity of the pitiful muggles that infested this area. Naturally the muggles glances curiously as he walked down the paved road in his flowing robes, but the aura of superiority that Malfoys were trained in by birth was more than enough to keep any foolish questions from being asked by their filthy lips.

Lucius stopped momentarily to glance at the Potter's memorial, which appeared as some mundane statue to the muggles. Even though it was a dedication to the fall of his old master, and thoroughly in the field of supporting Dumbledore, Lucius was able to appreciate the monument now, as it had led to so much new potential in his life, and great things that might yet change the entire course of their world.

Moving on to one of the nondescript houses, albeit one that had muggle repelling charms on it to ward away any unwanted visitors, Lucius quickly approached and knocked on the door. After several long moments of shuffling from within, an elderly woman answered, "Lord Malfoy, what is it that I can help you with?"

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Albus understood that Merlin's priority was locating and taking Morgan back to Avalon, and preventing her strange sea-born masters from rising to consume the world and so forth, but it was still rather off putting for the ancient wizard to just keep disappearing as he went searching every ancient hiding place that the old witch had used eons ago.

In the meantime, Albus, Severus and Alastor were left to the problems that plagued them already, namely the return of a new term at Hogwarts in the midst of an effective cold war against Nobu'tan and his group of green-skinned warlocks.

At least Merlin had been more than willing to fill them in on the entirety of what the Burning Legion was, and the probable current objectives of Nobu'tan and his faction. Albus was personally horrified that he had potentially been unknowingly facilitating the entire destruction of his world by a rampaging horde of demons hell-bent on conquest and destruction.

The fact that Nobu'tan would happily give over his home planet to these demons however was even more disturbing, and Albus wondered what the boy had been promised in return. In the end he had been forced to accept one horrid truth. Harry Potter had clearly given into the temptation of Dark Magic a long time ago, and had been playing them all for fools with his attempts to blend in while he was at Hogwarts.

Albus could have hit himself with how foolish he had been at the start, so eager to look for only the good in the boy, for every connection to Lily and James that he refused to see what was right in front of him the entire time.

Thankfully Severus and Alastor had said nothing in regards to that, so they continued in their efforts to understand just what it was that Nobu'tan was up to in his goal of summoning the Legion. Merlin had already described what the boy would need, but Albus wondered what he had need of to make his massive portal actually function.

There would have to be a powerful location to house such a portal, which had already been made apparent, from what Merlin had told them before engaging Morgan the first time. However there were other key components that would be needed. Albus could speculate that if Nobu'tan already possessed or figured out the methods of opening portals, and that was guaranteed as he had made no secret of using them before now, he would still need an idea of where in the vast cosmos his other world was hidden, as well as means to channel the breach in space and time between the two points, which would require an enormous amount of power just to achieve, let alone maintain efficiently to allow a literally army to cross through.

The likelihood of such an endeavor actually working were astronomical, but if they boy was proceeding with the attempt; Albus figured that Nobu'tan had some idea exactly how to achieve what he desired.

If the boy was gathering artifacts to that end, it would make sense, as over the ages many relics of great power and diverse abilities had been made, lost and rediscovered. Albus could think of a few that would aid his desires to great effect, not the least of these being the Elder Wand that Albus himself possessed.

Whether the boy knew of the wand, and was seeking it however was not so apparent, but regardless Albus had to be cautious, as such a powerful tool in such evil hands was not wise, and even if Nobu'tan did not succeed in releasing the demon hordes upon their world, such a tool and weapon under his control would cause much harm in its own right.

The wand was made to fight, to be destructive, and cause pain. It took much from Albus in self control to not use it unless he needed to, and even more to only use it for what constructive ends he deemed needful. The Headmaster was aware that that lack of action made others believe him to be soft or unwilling to do all that he could to solve problems, but in reality he was doing more to protect the world by not acting than by allowing the power of the wand to potentially corrupt him into becoming much like Grindlewald before him, who's mad lust were magnified by the wand to his own destruction.

Albus was at least aware of his flaws, and the same age old desire that had once burned in his mind as when he was a teenager, when he and Gellert would plan to overthrow the Muggles and rule the world in peace and justice. Luckily Albus had awakened to their folly with the death of his sister, and would never again allow himself to dwell on those idle and altogether selfish thoughts.

To then have the wand in his hands, and the constant temptation to use it to achieve those old aims, had been a lifelong burden. But the tragedy of another taking up the wand for their own potentially evil ends, or have their good intentions corrupted by the power that the wand represented was far more sickening to him, hence why Albus had kept the wand safe for so many years.

If he was able to die peacefully while still the owner of the wand, hopefully it would lose all its power, and remove such a dangerous tool from threatening the world time and again every moment when the powerful Deathstick switched hands.

But if Nobu'tan knew of the wand, or had others seeking it for him, Albus knew it was a matter of time before they confronted each other once again over it. Many people knew that Gellert claimed to have the wand, or at the least lusted after it, if one knew the right people to ask. And Albus was more than certain that Lucius Malfoy, still an ally of anyone opposed to Albus himself, would have the foresight to ask those who would remember such old times.

"So," Severus said, returning Albus' mind to the present, "what are your plans once we do locate and hopefully intercept Potter before he summons the Legion?"

They were walking through the corridors of Hogwarts, only rarely bypassing a student that had remained for the holidays, but otherwise alone as Albus inspected the wards of the castle for the coming term. Thinking upon what Severus was suggesting, Albus was conflicted. He knew what the man wanted him to commit to and reply with, but for the life of him Albus couldn't bring himself to actually want to kill Lily and James' son.

"We will capture him," he said at last, ignoring the exasperated glare that Severus shot him as he said it, "We owe that much to the Potter's memory that we at least try to reform their son," he retorted, "placed in the right environment, devoid of his Fel magic, I feel that Nobu'tan would become quite manageable, and we can then take all the time we need to rehabilitate him as necessary."

Albus immediately thought of Gellert, who even still resided in Nurmengard, isolated from the rest of the Wizarding World, although Albus still visited him on a yearly basis to give him information, and a bit of company. Perhaps the tower prison could also be fitted to hold one as magically powerful as Nobu'tan, and block his connections to the Arcane and Fel magic.

"I hope you truly know what you're doing if you hold to that course of action, Headmaster…" Severus said, his voice icy and skepticism evident in every word. "But I believe there is great cause for just allowing the Ministry to try him as an adult and Dark Wizard…"

"We all make foolish decisions in our youth; surely you would agree that mercy is something that benefits in many cases, Severus…" Albus shot back, possibly more viciously than he intended, but the point was sent as the dour man recoiled as though struck. Yes, it had been a long time since Severus was reminded that he too was in a similar situation to what Nobu'tan was going through, albeit from the standpoint of a servant rather than the ringleader, so while not completely identical Albus felt that there was more in common between the two than either would willingly admit.

Severus had no response, but neither did he storm off, seemingly cowed into silence at the harsh truth that Albus had just used to smash his argument. Either that or he felt threatened that, if he tried to give Nobu'tan to the Aurors, that Albus would abandon his protects over him regarding his involvement with Voldemort and allow then to put him in Azkaban as well.

"We need to just focus on finding him first," Albus said after several minutes of silence, wherein they had traversed the entirety of the Charms corridor, and were steadily moving up through the castle, the ambient magic of the castle that they both could sense through the Arcane powers making this job of managing the wards so much easier to monitor. Normally there would be many stops to cast the same spell over and over to gauge the strength and recharge wards here and there, but now they could passively see the levels, and most were still quite fully charges, almost reacting to their presence as Mages, rather than simply wizards.

One of the few good things that resulted from Nobu'tan, Albus mused, and one of the major things that he felt earned leniency toward the boy. While ill intentions were his goal, he was neither deliberately nor outright malicious, nor did he go out of his way to attack or harm anyone, only fighting when others blocked him from his goal or from escape.

It was a much more refreshing sort of conflict than either of the previous Dark Lords that Albus had dealt with, and something that he was more than willing, if necessary, to put up with for a time longer as he worked toward a counter measure to Nobu'tan's desired endgame.

The Legion would not be nearly as forgiving if they were allowed entry to their world, and the loss of life would be staggering should that happen. Whether Nobu'tan knew this, or even cared, Albus did not know. But it was all the more reason to stop him before he could claim an item of great magical strength.

As he walked, Albus thought hard, wondering at the dangers of possibly allowing the boy to know that Albus held the Elder Wand. On the one hand, that would make Albus himself a target, but at the same time that would forcefully draw out the boy and his allies, making them come to him to confront Albus up front over the wand itself. In addition, it would probably present itself a better prize than searching for other, less known relics that may or may not even exist.

Combining this with the knowledge of the Triwizard Tournament that the Ministry was strong arming back the next year, it could easily present the perfect trap to set for the warlock. Making sure that Nobu'tan had to participate in the tournament, and thusly forcing him back to the walls of Hogwarts would do a great deal of rattling the boy's otherwise unchallenged freedom.

The presence of the wand would make it irresistible therefore, and Albus would formulate something to the effect of defeating the boy and his magic prowess through that. Sirius would also perhaps play a major role through this, creating a link to the boy of someone who knew him long before the catastrophe that took him from their world ever occurred.

Nodding to himself, Albus smiled. A plan was now in the works, and Albus could happily turn his attention to dealing with Morgan, and providing whatever support to Merlin he could.

"I believe the castle will be as ready as possible for the students to return this evening," he said at last, turning to Severus, "Is there anything else you wish to discuss, or would you like to go and attend to preparing for your classes?" Albus asked congenially, and Severus stalked away in response.

Albus knew that that would be the answer, but chose not to comment. Severus was still struggling with all the new information that had been dropped into their laps through the windfall that had been Merlin, and even Albus was finding difficulty wrapping his mind around a few of the details. Which was why he had so quickly chosen to focus on what he could control, locating the warlocks, and sent Alastor out to try again to hunt down Nobu'tan.

Through Sirius, they knew that the boy had not yet returned to Durmstrang, which meant that it was highly likely that he was in Malfoy Manor. But after the last complication at that residence, the Aurors had no authority or business approaching that place, and personally Albus was sure that they would find the same defenses, and more, waiting for them if they did return.

This was why Albus had sent Alastor to investigate the place alone. Between his enchanted eye and his gifts as a mage, the veteran Auror stood the best chance of scouting the area safely and determining if Nobu'tan was among those in the Manor. Even still, Albus didn't have high hopes of learning the boy's whereabouts so soon. It was more likely that he wouldn't see him again until Morgan was discovered once more.

Small blessing that it was, the warlocks were at least sided with them against the forgotten creatures of the 'Old Gods', as Merlin called them. Unfortunately, it seemed there was little to do but wait and train to keep their collective knowledge of the Arcane as sharp as possible. Albus had learned a few things from the last encounter, both from his own fighting and watching Merlin, who seemed to also wield pure magic arts along with something else, a more direct connection to the very elements of the planet around them that Albus lacked.

There was much room for improvement, even if Albus was somewhat anxious to be our actually accomplishing their goals against these two great threats, but for the first time in a long while, he was rather powerless to move against either of them as of yet.

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Nobu'tan knew that Lucius had a strong lead to the Elder Wand already; otherwise the man wouldn't be so confident about it when he returned from whatever errand he had gone to. However the man did not share his findings as of yet, perhaps wanting to follow it up and see if he could discover a bit more. The Pureblood was planning a trip to the area near Durmstrang, one of the quaint little villages that Nobu'tan hadn't bothered enough to care visiting.

Whatever the errand was, the young warlock allow his servant the anonymity that he desired, so long as the wand came to his possession once they discovered it, all would be well between the Order and the Legion.

Between the search and waiting for Merlin to rediscover Morgan, Nobu'tan himself was hard at work trying to find new allies for them to convert to bolster their forces. More ogres was always an option, but one would never know how large a particular clan could be until viewing them on the ground, and while his four ogre magi were powerful, a sufficiently large clan might resist them, so it was better to not risk it until they knew more.

Unfortunately that left a very slim margin of magical creatures that he could rightfully call to his aid. House elves were out of the question, the little servile beasts too enslaved to their own ideals and families to rise up against anything. Goblins were already at his call, but in the midst of a deal to wait until the Legion arrived. Centaurs wouldn't leave their forests, and were more concerned with the movement of planets and stars than the world around them.

Giants were an option, but they were even less subtle than the ogres, and would be significantly more difficult to persuade through bouts of demonic magic. Being four or more times the size of the mage in question tended to give one the air of superiority, and they tended to hate all magic users with a passion.

There was always the option as well to summon more powerful demons, or even demon lords, and attempt to persuade or subdue them, but that was even more dangerous than parlaying with giants. You would never know the personality of higher ranking Legion warriors until after you summoned them, and mortals were always at the top of their lists of prey.

There wasn't much else in the regions of Britain or near about that was sentient enough for his use, although, when he checked the tomes in Lucius library again about near human magical creatures, one did strike him as a strong possibility: the Veela.

Native to the continental areas of Europe, more so toward the western portions, which worked for him just well, the Veela were said to prioritize fire magic and wind as a natural part of the avian heritage. They could also be deadly beautiful, and possessed great strategic and cunning minds.

Supposedly the largest colony of these was located in the middle of France, hidden away from poachers and muggles that could easily fall to their allure. Grinning to himself, Nobu'tan prepared for the journey. He would need speed over control or power, so only summoning Teg'Ramm to himself as extra protection, Nobu'tan opened a portal to Knockturn Alley, the southernmost place that he knew a location for. Once stepping through, and smirking as the assembled crowds of haggard and eerie shoppers leapt back at the sight of the ogre mage, Nobu'tan conjured a half dozen eyes of Kil'rogg, sending them out to the east and south, seeking a place close to the waters of the Channel for them to open a portal to.

If Lucius wasn't already gone on his trip, it would have been simpler to have the man take them to magical Paris and work outward from there, but it would not be helped at the moment.

Several more jumps to carefully selected areas that were secluded enough to disguise the bulk of his bodyguard, and Nobu'tan had them as a sea port, more specifically in the shadowy recessed under a pier, while Nobu'tan threw more eyes across the water, looking for a suitable place to cross via magic.

It was somewhat magically taxing, but a good exercise in how quickly Nobu'tan could travel if he so desired. Nowhere near the strength of an Archmage, but quite effective nonetheless. An abandoned building on the far side of the ring of water surrounding Britain was their next stop, and Nobu'tan stopped for a short rest, casually tapping into the Arcane to conjure some highly sugar enriched food. It was still quite unappealing to his pallet, but served to replenish his magical energy extremely quickly, so that they could move on before being discovered.

Three more portals, and scouting sessions via eyes of Kil'rogg, and they were finally in the rough location that was mentioned by the book in Lucius' library. Finally, in that place, Nobu'tan released the largest number of eyes yet, spreading them out in all directions, searching for even the smallest scrap of magic. He had to completely stop and sit upon the stone floor of the cave that they had halted in, as his vision was completely removed from his body as he scanned the surroundings from eye after eye, seeking desperately for the community he needed to find.

It didn't take surprisingly long for him to zero in on their location. The floating eyes had a knack for seeking out magic, and he quickly had views of the quaint little community, surprisingly muggle aside from the obvious magical nature. It seemed that those on the continent were far more integrated into the nonmagical world than Britain.

Nobu'tan stood, a smile forming on his face. There was a taste of disquiet in the air of that place, along with the magic of fire. Reaching through space and time, he wrenched his last portal needed to arrive at their destination, happily stepping through the middle of the community, which sported a typical magical marketplace, just as alive and busy as Diagon was.

The crowd, mostly the female Veela, all stopped at the sudden influx of his power and darkness, that and probably the imposing stature of Teg'Ramm at his back. Nobu'tan knew what he must do to win over these people, as Gul'dan had favored explaining to him many times exactly how he had won power over the Horde, using a combination of persuasion, manipulation and the temptation of power through the blood of demons.

Naturally, he needed their good graces before proposing such a drastic concept as partaking in the blood of demons, but still, long reaching goals…

Walking casually through the quaint marketplace, the ogre mage at his back, Nobu'tan tried to appear casually interested in the various foodstuffs and other benign items that the village was trading among themselves, waiting for someone to work up the courage to address him and ask the burning question that he could feel on their minds.

Eventually, a rather self important woman appeared, clearly the leader of this community of magical creatures, and looked at his haughtily, "Can we help you, young sir?" she asked, the French accent only slightly thickening her words. It was amusing that they presumed that Nobu'tan spoke only English, but rather irrelevant.

"No, I am perfectly fine myself," Nobu'tan replied casually, "However I would ask you if there is anything that you could use of me?"

He knew that they would be suspicious of him with this approach, but at the same time Nobu'tan had a hunch that the idea of a human helping them was so foreign that they'd be intrigued by the concept enough to allow him into their confidence.

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Sirius was getting bored. He had been watching Durmstrang for several weeks now and there had been absolutely no sign of his godson. Albus had already mentioned that they had encountered Harry again back in Britain, but that Sirius needed to remain just in case he returned to the school.

Harry had not thus far, and with the winter weather steadily lightening up, or the equivalent this far north where the snow was just slightly less thick than before, Sirius was getting antsy to move on or return to Britain.

In fact, walking through a village near the school, Sirius was getting ready to just leave and go back to Hogwarts, when he spotted a man that he had hoped to never see again. Lucius Malfoy couldn't help but look out of place in any environment, his rich acromantula silk robes shimmering off the reflected light from the snow, even while all the people around him in this village, Sirius included, had dull thick clothing that retained heat well but also wasn't overwhelmingly fashionable.

Wondering what the blonde Death Eater was up to this far from their home island, Sirius shifted into his animagus form and followed Lucius, listening carefully as the man inquired of several residents as to the location of a man by the name of Gregorovitch. Even Sirius knew him as a wandmaker, having gotten a new wand for himself from the rather downcast man. What the pompous pureblood wanted with the foreign wandmaker Sirius did not discover, and Lucius went directly to the shop that the villagers had indicated.

Sirius wouldn't be able to follow him effectively once Lucius entered the shop, but he was able to huddle against the side of the building, near a partially dysfunctional window that was cracked open, and try to listen in on what was going on inside.

Sirius' grasp on the native language was shaky at best, he himself having to resort to pointing and other hand gestures when he bought his wand from the man, but apparently Lucius did not have the same problem, as the pair of men started conversing in some rapid language to the point where Sirius had no chance of following.

Apparently, even these people on the continent couldn't stand Malfoys, as the conversation started to become heated very quickly, almost to the point of Gregorovitch shouting at Lucius, but the odd thing was, around a half hour later, the pureblood left the shop again with a large smirk in place on his cold and calculating face.

That was not a good sign as far as Sirius was concerned. Whatever Lucius was happy about, usually meant bad things for everyone else. When the man apparated away at last, Sirius changed back into his normal form, and quickly shot a Patronus messenger to Albus, informing him of what had occurred, and decided that, if Lucius had taken an interest in the last area that they had known Harry to be, then maybe he could stick around a little longer, just in case something was going to go down here once Harry returned.

Turn on his heel; Sirius bypassed the front of the shop on his way back to his post, glancing casually at the sign that had been carved on the front of Gregorovitch's door, that of a wand that had always struck Sirius as familiar somehow. But he had never been able to place where he had seen a wand like the one displayed on the door, with three knot-like bulbs along the length, and made from a wood that Sirius did not recognize on sight, which was rare for a pureblood to not know.

Shaking the silly thoughts away, Sirius refocused on the task at hand, boring thought it might have been to sit and watch a school from afar for the safety of his godson.

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Draco sighed to himself the moment he set foot on the Hogwarts express, knowing that he and the other young warlocks had just willingly signed their way out of any of the interesting or important conflicts that their Order was going to engage in for the rest of the term. The likelihood of Dumbledore missing them, or even allowing them to go home to be of use to Nobu'tan was next to zero, and even if he did that would be worse, as he would then learn that they were all allied with him and knew his power.

Secrecy was their best weapon, as even if Dumbledore suspected that they knew the powers of a warlock, and no doubt the man that Nobu'tan had declared was Merlin had told the Headmaster everything there was to know, he could still do nothing without solid proof. And Slytherins were nothing if they weren't secretive.

They would lie low, much as they had the previous year with the Chamber of Secrets, and grow in power, making sure that once they had opportunity they could strike the heaviest blow possible for their cause.

Theodore, Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle and a few of the others that had been recruited joined Draco in his compartment for the train ride. It was a rather quiet affair, they all realizing the same ultimatum that was set in effect as soon as they entered the Hogwarts grounds. This was the land of Mages, where the Arcane was foremost. The powers of the Fel had to be hidden perfectly, or they could all face terrible repercussions, not only from Dumbledore, but Nobu'tan as well.

Granger walked by just after the train pulled away from the London station, with her entourage, and smiled at them through the compartment window, but made no move to enter. That was the second part of their problem, the rivalry with Granger's mages. Draco supposed that it wouldn't be long before their groups were finally aware of the full capabilities of the other, possibly through the intervention of Dumbledore himself, and then hard questions would be asked.

Fighting between their groups wouldn't be immediate, but it would happen eventually, and Draco knew that the Order of the Black Harvest was ready, mostly. There were plenty of lesser warlocks that were still learning the ropes, those that had been recruited by them in school but had yet actually met Lord Nobu'tan aside from his persona of the Ravenclaw Harry Potter.

The ride passed on in near silence, most of the people in Draco's compartment either resting or reading to themselves. Crabbe and Goyle played a quiet game, which still ended up as the loudest thing in the compartment, so Draco could easily hear anything that took place out in the corridor of the train, children and other students running up and down, being chased by prefects and whatever else.

Thinking to himself, it was extremely strange how he had changed in the course of two and a half years, after meeting the boy that turned out to be the most powerful warlock in their world. Before then he would have been just as blissfully ignorant as those children running the halls, but instead he had had his eyes forcefully opened to the true reality of their world, and its desperate struggle to hang onto life itself with the approaching advent of the demonic Legion that sought to scorch their world to a crisp.

And gazing across the room, he knew that the story was the same for each and every member of the Order here, as they were still so very young, and now had very adult issues and problems ahead of them. Studying and learning the wizard magic had become secondary, more of a facade to make sure that they weren't discovered rather than their primary purpose in life, which in turn grew steadily more complicated as Nobu'tan strove ever closer to his goal.

Even with all that they knew, Draco wondered how the others in this compartment felt about the death of their world, if most of them even knew of it in the first place, and the fact that they were planning to leave to a fresh, green world with magic rife in every square foot.

The sky grew darker as Draco thought, eventually mustering the energy with the others to purchase some food from the plump witch and her trolley, but even in eating they were silent, contemplating the next moves that they needed to take.

Their most junior members needed the most attention, and Draco felt that the time for recruiting more people had passed, as now they were being hunted, and right under the enemies crooked nose they had little room to move unseen, and therefore had to devote every ounce of energy to their demonic studies, and making sure that it remained a secret. There was no time to make sure that new entries were trustworthy to not go straight to Professor Snape with their activities, and through the traitorous man to Dumbledore himself.

At least, Draco thought as they finally pulled into the station at Hogsmeade, that he would be able to serve as the lookout for Nobu'tan, keeping an eye on Dumbledore's movements and if he left the school for any reason, as they all had been taught how to summon the green floating eye scouts, coined after some orc warlord named Kil'rogg, and the warlocks could communicate message through them to a specific recipient, which them voided the need for owls and potential captures of their missives.

Gathering his energy, and taking a deep breath, Draco took his trunk and departed the train, trudging across the lawns to the carriages, which would bring them deep into the bowels of Dumbledore's sphere of influence and control, but there were plans now set in motion, and Draco would make sure that the old man learned nothing from them, even if he dispensed with legality or propriety and had them all interrogated on the spot. Those who knew anything wouldn't talk, and the others only knew of their current activities at the school, and therefore couldn't betray anything vital to them.

Even still, while Moody would likely be willing to torture children for information, Draco knew that the Headmaster hadn't the heart to do something as cruel and efficient as force them all to speak. He would rather draw out the information subtly, probably using Snape as his chief tool, but they were already aware that their head of house was not to be trusted, which only left them to work towards a plan for whatever else the old man had in mind to pry information out of them.