...

"The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard, but I will better the instruction." - William Shakespeare

...

It was a dark place. And due to the recent events much darker than it has ever been. The forbidden forest has always been a rather scary place, but now the grounds were covered with blood and bones; dead bodies could be seen all over the place.

But for some odd reason, there were still people gathering around, completely ignoring the corpses all around them. They all wore different emotions on their faces; anger, hate, disappointment, hurt - some of them even fear.

Their black, monotone and slightly torn robes, that showed scratches, cuts and bruises, were equally dark reminders of their former leader, the belief they had all shared and the battle they had recently lost.

With the last stroke of the clock, two cloaked figures made their way up to a higher position to overview the crowd beneath them.

"Gather around, my dearest friends, for we have the victory to become truly ours once and for all!" an old man's rusty voice echoed through the clearing.

"The victory is already lost! Our master's been defeated!" shouted a voice from the crowd and affirmative sounds followed his words.

Now the other person on the top made a step forward and contrary to her partner - whose robes still showed a slim and in every way masculine figure - her body was round and when she started to speak, the words came out of her mouth in a very high-pitched voice.

"The Dark Lord might be dead, but there is still something left for us! One thing they can't take from us..."

"Our vengeance!" the man finished with a very dramatic gesture.

Clarity replaced the puzzled looks on the others faces.

"We will take over the castle tomorrow! For all it's worth, for it's all we have left! And we'll fight everyone standing in our way! Therefore we need all of you! Help to make Hogwarts the school it was supposed to be years ago! Help me, help us, to right the wrongs! Or to say it with the words of the Ministry of Magic: Do it for the greater good: do what must be done!"

With these words, even the ones with little doubts left, joined in the applause. In order to prepare themselves for the very last battle, they left the forbidden forest with new found energy and in quite a hurry, leaving - apart from the dead bodies - only the two people on the mountaintop.

"This was better than I had ever imagined!" said the woman excitedly.

"You really do have quite the persuasion skills, I might add, Dearie. Though, it's not really a hard task to manipulate all their haunted souls for your own purpose."

"Well, just don't forget that without my skills, the Dark Lord would have finished you off right away, old man!"

"Oh, I have not forgotten. Otherwise I would not have joined you up here to gather all these idiots," the man sneered.

Now the woman turned to face the man, confusion written all over her face.

"What do you mean, idiots? They're following me, just like you do."

The man started laughing.

"Oh, on the contrary, Dearie! You stopped Tom from killing me, therefore I helped you to get your followers and we are even."

This said, the woman looked like she just got hit in the stomach, and she could not reply. So the man explained, still wearing a bright grin.

"As much as I'd love to rule over Hogwarts, there is one simple reason as to why I cannot join you: This whole attack has only one purpose... you want to get your own vengeance and kill the person you hate most. Unfortunately, I have my own purposes for this person, and I need her alive."

The woman, again, looked puzzled.

"But you do realize that she will be dead tomorrow, don't you? I will kill her myself, didn't you listen?!"

The older man only laughed.

"Indeed, I did, but I doubt you'll succeed," he smirked, "because even with your so called backup, she's still a pretty hard piece of work, you know."

"I will succeed this time, and if it is the last thing I do!"

"Well, Dearie, then our ways will part here. I wish you the best of luck; for you'll certainly need it," he cackled and, after a moment of thoughts, fished something out of his pocket. "But I'll give you this, as a little thank you gift. Just in case all else fails."

He handed her a short, but nonetheless sharp knife, wrapped in a scarf - probably used as a protection from the blade.

"That's all?" The woman asked, eyeing the knife skeptically.

"That's all you'll need," he said and grinned again. "After all, even the best villain needs a helping hand once in a while, right?"

Just as he was about to vanish, he turned around once again.

"And maybe you should fix your hair before you go into battle tomorrow… this pink ribbon there looks a bit burned if you ask me."

Hello lovelies!

Thanks for checking out my story!

Now here's the cover - all disclaimer (this should work for the entire story): I sadly don't own Harry Potter or any other character of the books. I wish I did, but they all belong to JKR.

A little sidenote... I'm from Germany, therefore I apologise for any spelling and grammar mistakes in advance!

This is the first story I ever published, so I would be happy to recieve a few reviews on what you think!

It also has a lot of ADMM. I know - it's not canon and JKR had announced more facts about our candy-loving headmaster - but ever since I saw Dame Maggie (my favourite! Actress ever) and Richard Harris in the first movie I it just *feels* right that they belong together.

This story means a lot to me, since I put a lot of effort and thoughts into it, so if you don't like the pairing, you have now the chance to turn around and not to read it.

In some parts it will also be sort of AU-ish for obvious reasons, but you will see that soon :)

Additionally, the quotes at the beginning of each chapter do not belong to me either!

I really hope you like it!

All the best, Lexi