Disclaimer: The canon characters belong solely to J. K. Rowling. Some situations and quotes belong to my favorite HP fanfiction author michelle-31a. This story also contains minor crossovers with the latest series of Dmitri Yemets. References to borrowed places are put in author notes. I don't own any characters except for OC. No money is being made and no copyright infringement intended.

Dedicated to michelle-31a for inspiration and support.

THE FIRST MISSION

Prologue: The D-Night

The Hogwarts grounds were almost completely deserted, since it was rather late in the evening. Yet it would take a vigilant person to notice two strange figures observing the castle from the shadows. One of them belonged to a girl with waist-length blonde hair, dressed in Hogwarts school robes. The other figure attracted less attention because this person was wearing a long grey cloak and the face was almost completely hidden by the hood.

The two were silently looking at the castle for a rather long time, until the person in cloak spoke.

"It will happen tonight."

The voice with slight accent belonged to a man and was calm, but there was a strange air of finality in it.

The girl didn't shift her unblinking gaze from the Astronomy Tower as she replied, "Are you sure there's nothing we can do?"

The man sighed. "We both know it, though I wish we didn't. The Hade's lists can't be altered. Even I can do nothing and it makes me wish I'd never received that secret memo number twenty-seven..." There was a discernable bitterness in his voice now.

The girl finally broke her stare and turned to face her companion.

"Are you going to give me any instructions?" Her voice was now more dreamy than worried.

"All in due time, Celesta," the man said. "Right now you should just act as you feel right. And I suggest you to move inside lest someone sees you here."

The girl he called Celesta stared at him for several seconds. Her protuberant silvery eyes gave her a permanently surprised look, which she clearly wasn't.

"Well then, I'll go now," she said dreamily then observed the man from head to heels and added, "Your cloak is getting dirty."

The man was only head or so taller than her, so it wasn't surprising that overly long cloak dragged after him. Without turning, the man waved with his hand and the cloak immediately became few inches shorter and a bit cleaner.

"You shouldn't abuse these powers, you know," Celesta said serenely.

"Who should be speaking? Wasn't it you who single-handedly fried a dozen of Acromantulas not to mention several Death Eaters?" the man asked in what seemed to be a mock indignation.

"I had good reasons for it," the girl replied calmly while observing strange khaki color streaks all over the cloak.

The man sighed again. "It seems I've got used to having these powers... But I shall try to do without them. You're essentially right: we shouldn't use them as much as possible lest someone sees. When in Rome, do as Romans do."

"I have never been to Rome," Celesta said wistfully. "I've always wanted to visit Vatican..."

The man made a coughing sound suggesting that he was restraining laughter.

"For all I know, wizards and witches aren't allowed in there," he said at last.

"Well, that's rather rude, I think­ –" she didn't finish the sentence and suddenly ducked. The man remained where he was and watched another two figures emerging from the school gates. One of them was very tall and thin and had long silvery beard; the other figure seemed transparent to the man and was surrounded by a faint silvery glow. Upon closer inspection, it belonged to the student with messy dark hair. Not noticing them, the two left in the direction of Hogsmeade.

"All right, here they go," the man whispered. "And we should be on our ways as well."

Celesta started walking towards the castle when her companion stopped her.

"Celesta! Are you not forgetting something?"

"What?" She looked at him, unfazed. Then her face lit with realization. "Ah, yes, of course."

She extracted her wand from behind her ear where it was tucked for safekeeping and tapped her forehead with the tip, muttering: "Tarnungis schattinus".

Next moment, her features became vaguely visible in the fading light. She made few more steps towards the school before dissolving in the shadows.

The man nodded approvingly. At least, the months spent to teach the girl this spell weren't wasted... He looked at the towers for a few more seconds then turned away.

"Good luck, Celesta," he whispered before walking off in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. Well, even though the cloak was shortened, for an accidental observer it would still seem that he rather glided than walked...