Authors' Notes:

Last time, we told you we needed a bit of time to regenerate our craziness.

Well, we were hit with the Horror Honda. So, we tried our hand with this.

More chapters to come.

Just like Horror, we want to reaaally draw it out and send you bit by bit.

We've already finished the story, but it only comes in one chapter at a time.

Warning: Gore, Violence, Horror.

Gonna be rated M for a reason.

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Two days ago. He had felt it. They were dead. He knew they were dead.

He felt the moment death took them and their hearts stopped beating.

The Dark Mark always informed him accurately of his followers' conditions.

It was certain that the Carrows and one of his most faithful servants, Severus Snape, were no longer among the living.

I did not believe that the students were capable of killing. Voldemort thought to himself. The Carrows failed to take their assignments as seriously as they should have. The proper precautions must not have been taken.

He was infuriated that they had not been truthful about how bad the situation had deteriorated in Hogwarts.

There had been no response from the occupants of the castle to his mass telepathy spell. Lord Voldemort could even see that unconventional defenses were raised around the school. It had been that way since before he and his army arrived, probably right when Snape had died. A shimmering crimson barrier surrounded it, the castle and several hundred feet of land around it was completely blocked off by the magical dome.

The snake-like man called forth two of his lieutenants, Antonin Dolohov, and Augustus Rookwood to his side.

"Let me join you, my lord," Fenrir, who had run past the others to reach him, pleaded. "Let me dine on their tender-"

"You shall be permitted inside soon enough, Greyback," Voldemort said in a low voice. "For now, you will stay behind and keep the wolves in line while your betters take care of the wizards. Is that clear?"

The Werewolf bowed his head reluctantly and shuffled back obediently.

Voldemort flashed his most faithful follower a look and sent a direct command into her mind. She would take a small contingent of loyal Death Eaters and scout the perimeter of the barrier. Once she returned, he would give her further instructions.a

He needed to retrieve the Diadem. Those brats were destroying his Horcruxes. That much was clear. If the Diadem joined the rest of his precious artifacts in oblivion, the only protection he would have left would be Nagini.

As he thought about the situation, Nagini floated by in the protective orb he had created for her.

"Ah," Lord Voldemort said. "Nagini is growing restless. Dolohov. Rookwood. You will both follow me."

Refusing to elaborate, he approached the crimson barrier. Its dim glow was the only thing that repelled the oppressing dark of the night.

He halted a foot away from the magical protection surrounding his destination.

Following slowly, the two Death Eaters stopped just behind him.

"Rookwood," Voldemort commanded gesturing at Hogwarts and its protection. "Tell me what you can discern from this…nuisance."

Augustus observed the powerful enchantment for a minute, casting several detection and analysis spells.

"It's a very weak protective enchantment that appears to cover Hogwarts grounds and the anti-apparition wards up to the Forbidden Forest. There is no magical way to enter, although I think we could just walk past it."

His Dark Lord scoffed. "That much is quite obvious, Rookwood. Tell me something a member of the Unspeakables should figure out."

He disliked being demeaned, but he wasn't stupid enough to talk back to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. "I've never seen a ward like this before. Almost like it was created on the spot. It might not even be wizard magic, they do have House Elves. Without professional equipment, I can't determine if there are any additional functions to it and I doubt I could take it apart much less without the aid of a non-human magical."

His master made a disapproving noise and stuck his hand into the barrier before pulling it out. "It was easy to determine its harmlessness. Perhaps the Unspeakables are not as intelligent as they would like to seem to be."

Privately, he thought to himself. I already finished my diagnostic spells before you cast your first one! Did you think you were on the same level as Lord Voldemort!?

"Of course, my Lord," Rookwood said, dropping to one knee, muttering darkly to himself so his master did not hear.

Satisfied, Voldemort studied the barrier once more.

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Bellatrix Lestrange led nine other Death Eaters around the wall.

"I see something Mistress Bellatrix," one of the eager ones suddenly exclaimed, pointing to a spot in the grass some distance away.

Now that it was brought to her attention, she too could make out a glint of silver material next to the barrier, just past the border of the red sphere.

She strode regally to what she was quickly able to see was an arm. It was connected to the rest of the body, which lay within the protective circle.

She stopped a few feet away from it.

"A Ravenclaw?" She questioned.

"Looks like…he fell from the tower," another Death Eater noted. "There's a broken window up there and glass shards on his robes. It looks like he crawled over here before likely succumbing to the injury he got from the fall."

The robes covered the extent of the damage, but judging by the..bits he left behind from the initial landing, he was never going to make it.

He continued. "The body looks a few days old. What could make someone so desperate-"

"Or stupid!" Bellatrix snarled.

He nodded. "That they would submit themselves to such a risky escape rather than whatever was inside?"

"The foolish mudblood probably feared the results of the battle," their mistress sneered.

"Halfblood, akshully," another death eater piped up. "Forf year. Ah rekignize 'im."

Bellatrix glared at him. Leon Craffe was hated for his shameless country origins and for the accent he stubbornly refused to drop.

"Craffe, drag the body over here," she ordered.

"Alight!"

Leon walked through the barrier and grabbed the corpse by its legs, pulling the rest of the arm past the line in the process.

"Oh, wait a secon'! I walked right past it," he said.

A round of chuckling made its way through the group. Bellatrix just frowned, something was wrong here.

Another man started to walk forward but was halted by Leon's voice.

"Nah, ah got dis," he said cheerily. "Don' worry abou' it!"

Bellatrix nodded, using her hand to stall the rest of them.

"Bring it here, Craffe," she repeated.

Leon chuckled in a dis-Hyuking manner and he dragged the body around so he could pull it out instead of pushing it.

He hadn't moved a foot forward when his face bounced off the inside wall of the barrier.

"Heh, wut?" He said, startled.

"Craffe," Bellatrix ordered. "Stop playing around."

He touched the wall and tried forcing his way through unsuccessfully. Then, Craffe grunted and pulled out his wand, casting a purple wardbreaker curse on it. It bounced off.

He started to panic, slamming his fists soundlessly on his side of the shield.

"Help!" He cried, abandoning his accent. "HELP ME, PLEASE!"

"Silence, fool!" Bellatrix snarled. "There's no discernible danger, but I assure you that I will kill you myself if you do not shut your mouth!"

He quieted.

"Can you really not get through?" She asked.

After a shake of his head, her face grew nervous.

"The Dark Lord must know of this," she whispered.

"I'm a just," Craffe coughed. "Wait here."

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Conquest: uhhh, ships are as follows.

Forsooth: We have ships in this story?

Conquest: the titanic, mayflower, and the seawise giant. That one's my favorite!

Forsooth: that makes much more sense.

Conquest: I LOVE SHIPS!

Forsooth: of course you do.

Conquest: anyhow, enjoy the tension, the suspense, the cliffhangers, and the…

Forsooth: major character death.

Conquest: HEY, you're not supposed to say that! We left that out of the tags to surprise them! Now they'll know everything!

Forsooth: if they read the authors's notes at least.

;)

Forsoothandconquest: Sirius, stop winking. Misters Forsooth and Conquest present to you Chapter One!