Chapter One

A tall, shadowed man stared around at the scene unfolding in front of his eyes, and sighed in disgust.  His emerald green eyes shuttered in abhorrence and he strode out of the shadows he was hiding in, his robes pulled high over his face.  Shadow watched as the thirty black-robed, masked men began to fire curses at the houses around them.

One of them, the obvious leader on this mission, was motioning backwards and forwards, shouting commands.  Raising his staff, Shadow started to stun the death eaters as the white-robed Phoenix defenders began to apparate onto the scene, to fight the Death Eaters.  Shadow spotted many familiar faces; Albus Dumbledore and many other Hogwarts Teachers, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Arthur Weasley, Mad-Eye Moody and many others.  He nodded sharply to them, and continued the battle.

Three blackened wizards fell to his next stunning spell, followed closely by two more.  He sensed one of the Phoenix defenders watching him and immediately assumed that he would be the object of much discussion after the battle, when there was time and it was as safe as it could be.

It was the summer holidays, and fifteen year old Shadow should have been locked up in number 4 Privet Drive, with his aunt and uncle; the Dursley's, but he had found himself drawn more and more to the fighting as he sensed the darkness before it began and tried to stop it.  It was only two weeks into the holidays, but he had been out every night for the last week trying to stop Voldemort from strengthening his hold on the world.

Currently, he was fighting in Northern England where he had just guessed the next attack would be.  It had become quite easy to predict the attacks, as soon as he had found the pattern and what the final outcome was meant to be.

His eyes were drawn to a piercing scream and he spun around, ignoring the two Death Eaters as they shot stunner after stunner at him, all of which bounced off his invisible shield. He strode towards the sound and was horrified by the sight that greeted him.

A young girl of, perhaps, sixteen was tied to a bench with her legs spread wide as a small, rather ratty looking man took of his pants and moved towards her.

"Stop!" Shadow shouted, "Take another step and I shall kill you now!"

The man shivered at the coldness evident in the voice, but stepped forward confidently, his penis touching the young girl's inner thigh.  She started to cry, "no!" she whimpered over and over.

Shadow's eyes changed from an emerald green to a silvery grey, and he pointed his hand at the man, "move away from the girl!" he said, and to the mans surprise he did; and found himself bound tightly in ropes.  The girl began to gasp, rasping her relief, as Shadow stepped forward and untied her, "Quickly," he said urgently, "when you arrive, search for a lady called Madam Pomfrey.  She will help you."

The girl nodded wordlessly, and then Shadow muttered a few words in a language she couldn't understand, and she was gone.

He turned back to the battle, surprised to find that many Phoenix defenders were unconscious, although none were dead, and only three stood (Dumbledore, Black and McGonagall) along with him against the remaining fifteen death eaters.

They were each fighting one and the other twelve death eaters had crept up on Shadow as he tended to the young girl.  The tension in his body was invisible to those who did not know him well, and they did not sense his body prepare for the spell he cast only a split second after he turned, opening a hole in the ground that swallowed three of them.

The other nine stared in abject horror at the ground, that the other three had disappeared into and then apparated away with a pop.  Shadow groaned, "damnit" he hissed, stunning the three that were fighting the remaining Phoenix defenders.

"Excuse me, young master Shadow!" said a high-pitched sneer behind him.

Shadow turned slowly, to find himself face-to-face with the ever-irritating Lord Voldemort.  Dumbledore ran forwards but found himself held back by both Black and McGonagall, as well as Shadow who had waved his hand, locking the three of them into a box of some sort, "stay back!" he growled, his voice commanding as he turned back to the Dark Lord.

"Thomas Marvolo Riddle," Shadow greeted the Dark Lord emotionlessly, "How nice to finally meet you."

In a split second, a sword appeared in Voldemorts's hands and he held it loosely, "come now, master Shadow," the Dark Master snarled, "we will fight this battle by the old-fashioned method; with swords.  Or, are you not as versed in that art as you are in those of the magical variety."

Shadow smirked, a heavy sword appearing in his hands too, "enough with words," he said coldly, the temperature shifting slightly in the downwards direction.

He and the Dark Lord circled each other for a few minutes, before the Slytherin ran out of patience and swung his heavy sword towards Shadow's left side.  It was blocked effortlessly, and returned by a far more powerful and dangerous flick of Shadow's sword.

The battle continued for over twenty minutes, with the three onlookers held in suspense as to the outcome.  Neither Shadow nor Voldemort appeared to be overly exerting themselves, but Voldemort was looking the worse for wear, with several cuts on his face and body, while Shadow had only one across his stomach.  It was, however, rather deep and could be fatal if not dealt with soon enough.

Shadow finally landed a blow that caused Voldemort to double over and grunt, before apparating away, "and I hope you splinch yourself, stupid fool!" Shadow hissed angrily, "cowardly beast!"

He waved his hand and the three watchers were released from their 'cage', "wake the unconscious and transport the death eaters to the Ministry," Shadow commanded, "Keep the Pettigrew with you and take him back to Hogwarts.  Take your injured to Hogwarts and I will be there shortly to treat them.  I must rescue the traitorous Death Eater."

With a 'pop' Shadow apparated away, to where he found a one-on-one meeting between an injured Voldemort and Severus Snape.  He remained hidden in the shadows, waiting

"Severus," the Dark Lord hissed, "Pettigrew tells me you have been betraying our secrets to Dumbledore, and that pesky Order of the Phoenix, I assume to Shadow, as well…"

Snape paled ever-so-slightly and looked up, "I regret joining you, Voldemort, I no longer agree with your principles.  I wish, instead, to be released from your service."

"You dare ask such a thing of me?" The Dark Lord hissed angrily, "after betraying me?"

"I am no longer any use to you, with my loyalty failing.  Let me go, and we all win!"

Shadow knew, as well as he knew himself, that there was no way that the Dark Lord could let Snape go.  Instead, he predicted that there would be some serious torturing and a rather painless Avada Kedavra.

"You know I cannot do that, Severus.  Crucio."  Snape was tensed, ready for the pain when it was suddenly rebounded back on Voldemort.  He stared in surprise as the Dark Lord crumpled to the ground, writhing in pain.

A man stepped forwards, Snape recognizing him as Shadow; a fighter from past battles, "obviously your lord cannot take what he dishes out," he said tonelessly as he apparated Snape back to Hogwarts with himself.