AN: Just a little forewarning, this is a little AU from the two worlds from the get go, as one would expect from crashing two huge worlds like this together. So basically, anything you know about the American Wizarding World doesn't exist for reasons you'll find out. Also, this story's basically one, four part prequel for the main story. I'll probably put that up as its own story. Anyway, that's it. I hope you enjoy it.

The Infant Enigma Part 1

The last year of the war had been absolutely crazy. Things had been bad enough before, Voldemort and his Death Eaters wreaking havoc and destruction like the Wizarding World hadn't seen in centuries. However, as impossible as it had seemed before, once a prophecy depicting his end was foretold, the rain of destruction only grew wilder, more ferocious. It was taking everything the entire society had just to hold their flimsy world together. And that was only in the magical world of the United Kingdom. The truth was, most of Wizarding Britain didn't have a clue about the full intentions of the Dark Lord or how far his actions had spread.

Voldemort was getting desperate. He was searching high and low for the child of the prophecy, determined to end him before it could ever grow to destroy him. However, that was far from all of the alterations to his plans. For as bad as things were there was still plenty of resistance. Dumbledore and those working with him in particular were an entire thorn bush in his side and the Aurors had managed to capture many of his forces. He could cause enormous amounts of destruction and death, but as things were going, genuinely controlling the Wizarding World was still a desire that would be immensely difficult to grasp in the near future and if he failed to kill the child, the threat it represented had to be neutralized. So he made a move that all those who knew of it would call absolutely reckless, arrogant or desperate. He sent some of his forces to one of what Wizards had long declared the Forbidden Lands. A name given to them for good reason. Almost none of their kind had ever gone and lived to tell the tale.

There were three Countries branded with this title, all for the same reason. Monsters and dark creatures ran wild through them in swarms. Hidden within the Muggle World and the wilderness alike, they were everywhere and were far more dangerous than most anything the Wizards had ever seen, bigger and stronger than almost all of their brethren anywhere else in the world. They seemed a lot more intelligent than the average monster too, for they always found the wizards who dared enter their territory. How the Muggles survived in such places and, even more astonishingly, never noticed the malicious beasts around them was beyond all understanding to even the most informed wizards and witches, but for the most part, the dark creatures seemed to let them thrive. Wizards and witches however, were almost immediately noticed, sniffed out and slaughtered. Everyone of magical nature was taught at first opportunity to avoid all three countries at all costs. For centuries no one dared pass the borders of Greece, Italy and the USA.

Until now.

….

The New world was the most obvious choice to the dark Lord. It was far from the eyes of his enemies and their international connections, all the better to keep his actions hidden. It was a colony of England and therefore, as far as he cared, was its property and would soon rightfully be his when he took over. However, the thing that finalized his decision was its history and status in the Wizarding World. Though well disconnected from the rest of it, the USA had successfully managed to house a small society of wizards in Salem. Initially, back in early times when the colony was much more newly established, the number of monsters had been of little concern. Witches and wizards could move throughout the New World far more easily than the Muggles could ever hope to and eventually established the heart of their society in Salem. It was only in the last hundred or so years that things changed. New monsters never seen outside the Forbidden Lands appeared and bred faster than the wizards could handle and monsters only thought to exist in myths swept through the land. Before long, they were completely out of control and all the magical society was either killed and eaten or driven behind the boundaries of Salem, the only place the monsters would leave them be.

This not only gave his people a chance to find a safe place to set up a base of operations, but a better understanding of what they may find. The records were recent, details not lost through the passage of time and more extensive information could be gathered through observation on trips with a safe place to apparate to immediately being available should something notice them and attack. All in all, it sounded perfect. Voldemort quickly gathered a team, one of very skilled and loyal minions, and sent them on their way, their mission very specific: find the monsters and beasts and determine which could be persuaded to work with him. He had made it happen plenty of times before, giants, Dementors, werewolves, there was always something with human-like intelligence. Enough at least to be tempted by his offers, whether it be for food, power or vengeance. Despite the level of hostility in America, he was sure some creatures would be willing to join him and with their power and numbers on his side, with such beasts having such a great track record killing countless wizards, Dumbledore, the Ministry, the prophecy child, none of his enemies would have a prayer against him.

It was a brilliant plan. It could have worked and ruined everything the protectors of Muggles and Muggleborns fought for. Truth be told, though they would inevitably turn on him, there were a number of beasts and monsters that could have agreed to his offers. Unfortunately for him, the plan was doomed to fail at the hands of his own minions.

The Death Eaters travelled far and wide over the country, searching high and low and did run across many or their targets. They were chased by giant, rabid beasts, lured to and brawled with a Cyclops, been surrounded by giant man eaters apparently called Laistrygonian Giants, and learned with each encounter. They quickly learned that each and every one had some level of resistance to their spells, along with various traits and unique skills with each creature they faced. Though they made no progress in actually creating an alliance, they had learned mannerisms and drives of many of the more intellectual monsters, bringing the potential for alliances at later dates. Voldemort himself was actually pleased with what they had learned with every report given and only grew keener to have such warriors amongst his ranks, though he was quick to realize the need for a way to stop them himself before an offer was carried out. Their resistance to wizard magic alone explained much and warned him to be cautious. Underlings that difficult to defeat were more dangerous than enemies after all. Still, he had plenty of time to determine that and more information coming in by the day. That was of little concern to him.

Everything was going perfectly. Though no deals were done and almost every creature to spot them had them running away to their sanctuary, everything was still pointing to success. That emboldened the Death Eaters, made them cockier, both within and beyond matters of their mission. And of course, that led to their ultimate undoing.

They were used to being on top of the ladder. Powerful, deadly, merciless. Though their identities were hidden back home, they had all ran wild, killed countless puny Muggles and Muggle lovers alike. This nation had left them feeling weak and small to begin with, but now their egos had been re-inflated and they reveled in it. Hence began a series of massacres.

There were no other wizards who dared to pass Salem's borders. Those within only ever stepped out if they heard of a putrid Mudblood coming into being, trying to bring him or her and their family to safety and even that was rare. Most were long dead before they were discovered after all. All of this only meant one thing to the Death Eaters: aside from the monsters that they now knew about and couldn't keep up with their random, frequent apparating, there was nothing that could stand up to them. So they took great joy unleashing their bloodlust on the Muggle occupation.

It didn't take long for word to make it back to England. Normally they'd have never known, but the Death Eaters grew more and more careless with each slaughter. At first it was just quick in and out torture and kills, never staying in one area longer than ten minutes, but as their successful trips mounted without a hitch, they grew more and more confident. They stayed longer, caused larger numbers of death, more destruction. It didn't take long for Salem to determine the cause, an irregularity in itself as the wizard colony paid so little attention to the rest of America. Still, that alone didn't cause the Death Eaters' end. The spellcasters of Salem only knew that it was the work of witchcraft and wizardry, they had no idea who was doing it and rarely contacted the Ministries of the rest of the world anyway, America having long since been abandoned by them. However, the thrill and cockiness grew far too great of an extent. Pictures of the masked killers were captured by one of their victims and published in the newspapers. And then, when surrounded by the screams of their latest victims, the final mistake was made. One foolish Death Eater raised his wand to the sky and cast a spell. Within moments, the Dark Mark was hovering over Phoenix. It was only a matter of days before the British Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix became aware.

Admittedly, that alone didn't do much. The Ministry knew, but saw little point of doing anything about it. After all, they couldn't even identify and stop all the Death Eaters in their country and America was a death sentence. As far as the Ministry leaders were concerned, the idiots who went there could and would either eventually leave or be killed by the savage beasts that hide among men the place had a surplus of. Most agreed, it was the obvious play.

Dumbledore however, was not reassured in the slightest. His trusty spy had just recently managed to dig in to the plan after the mark appeared and the discoveries he made were far from pleasant. The plan and how far it was actually progressing in the field and in Voldemort's mind, was far too dangerous to ignore. So Albus took matters into his own hands and sent his own team of volunteers for the most dangerous mission of their lives.

A mission that they were sure to fail. They could search Salem, they knew they were staying there, but it was still a city and there were many ways to conceal both their hideout and their faces. The best chance they had of catching them was in the short periods of time they were attacking, but then they had an entire country to search and forces far greater than them keen to make a meal of them at every turn. It was like looking for a needle in the piranha infested Amazon River. In the end, they were hoping for a miracle.

….

Fortunately for them one did appear. Unfortunately, it was amidst a tragedy.

Not ten minutes ago, it was just another, ordinary night in the ever thriving city of Manhattan and for the most part it still was. Though late into the night, the lights made it blinding in some places while cars frequently drove by nearly every street. People were bustling wherever you looked. However, there was one place where the usual was brought to an immediate halt as the entire top floor of an apartment building exploded.

Screams filled the night as glass, metal and concrete surged to the ground, pedestrians running for their lives and cars doubling their speed in desperate attempts to avoid their own deaths. Others, further away and relatively safe, just watched on in shock and fear as the deadly debris smashed into the ground, but none spared it much notice for long for it was clear that it was only the beginning.

Within the building was pure chaos. Screams echoed throughout every hall, completely drowning out the thunderous thumps and bangs of stomping feet and slamming doors as they fled from their homes. However, none got far. Within moments of the explosion flickers of darkness appeared all over the place, appearing and disappearing around every possible exit. A few people managed to make out the forms that appeared from them, people clad in black robes and skull masks, often accompanied by cackling or malicious laughter, but an instant later they were struck with blasts of deadly, sickly green light, another explosion would occur or the ceiling would fall upon them. Either way, it was the last thing they'd ever see again.

Sadistic jeers, screams of both fear and agony, pleas for mercy and the booms and bangs of destruction pounded into everyone's ears. Fire, exploding debris, the blinding lights of deadly spells and falling and twisted bodies were burned into the memories of everyone within sight, a great deal of it all falling out shattered windows and putting the pure, blood freezing terror into the Muggles watching the horror from the so-called safety of outside. Within minutes, everyone within was dead and the building was dangerously unstable. A few more pushes and it would fall, crushing all of those that were stupid enough to gawk at the show.

"Well now, that was fun!" Dark glee dripped from the voice of the shortest Death Eater as he laughed, sauntering his way down a ruined hallway. "I never get tired of that look of shattering hope as the filth realizes that they're dead."

"Trust me, we know." Another grunted impatiently, appearing out of nowhere. "Now would you all hurry up! We've been here too long and the place surely wreaks of our magic by now. I don't particularly like the idea of running into those old, snake legged hags again!"

"Better them than those harpies. At least they don't fly." A third one shrugged, this one clearly female, as she approached alongside two more. "Still, you worry too much Angus. In moments we will be gone and free to see what comes from the safety of a far building. Personally, I'm hoping for the tailed hags. I have a feeling they would be easy to tempt with our lord's deal and they are plenty strong. And not being too horribly resistant to our magic is a benefit as well. I'm sure the Dark Lord could find the sufficient spell to keep them in line."

"All the same, we should leave." Another stated, this one much broader and gruff than the others. "We have noticed that this city is particularly well infested with monsters. It is far from wise to linger pointlessly when our location could soon be home to countless, unknown creatures."

"Yeah, yeah." The shortest sighed, lazily raising his wand into the air. With a quick incantation, he unleashed another stream of light into the air, a feral smile growing behind his mask as it grew and took form until a giant, glowing skull with a snake slithering from its mouth stared down at the city, eliciting yet another bout of pure, terrified screams from the populace, drowning out the quickly approaching sirens. He relished in the misery and chaos he left behind. "Relax Brutus, at this height, we could easily aparate away long before anything r…"

"WAAHH! WAAHH!"

"Sssshhh, sweetie, hush now."

All five Death Eaters shut up immediately at that, all of them straining their ears. Apparently they'd missed a couple filthy dogs. A baby and its mother. The short Death Eater couldn't stop the irritation from bubbling in his gut. That wouldn't do, his pride wouldn't allow it. When he went Muggle hunting, all Muggle filth in the area was to die. He couldn't have his reputation ruined by a pathetic mother and her whiny brat! How pathetic would that sound to the Dark Lord and his inner circle? He'd be a laughing stock! No, he was going to find them and slaughter them.

The others, all of them older and having much higher standing within Voldemort's forces, simply followed with amused smirks or shakes of their heads as he stomped his way across the hall, raising his wand. It was easy to tell where they were, the blasted baby was still screaming its head off.

"Bombarda!"

BOOM!

"AAHHH!"

"WWAAAAAAHHHHHH! MOMMA!"

There wasn't so much as a speck of light, the door simply blew apart, the resulting woodchips, splinters and dust blanketing the hallway. Striding purposefully through, the Death Eater headed straight for the small living room and through to a kitchen following the sounds of blubbering, panicked breaths and the squeaking of an opening window. It only took him seconds to cross the tiny place and find himself before a freaked out young woman whipping around to face him, her baby crying on the counter, trying to get back into her arms.

"Well, well, aren't you a pretty lass." He sneered cruelly, looking her up and down. "It's a shame I don't have time to play. I'd bet you'd scream good."

"What are you? Which one of them sent you?" The Death Eater and his allies were actually stunned at that. They had expected fear. They had expected begging, pleading for their lives. They had expected screams of pure fear. However, this woman was doing none of it. Yes, she was moving protectively before her child, but other than that, she was purely defiant. Her form was tense, almost ready to pounce, and her fierce eyes showed none of the disbelief Muggles usually portrayed at the realization of seeing real magic. Then there were her questions. Not who were they, but what were they. Not 'why are you here', but 'who sent you'. This was neither what you'd expect of a Muggle nor the place to find a Muggle in the know, yet the Death Eaters knew instantly. This dark haired young woman knew of magic and she had been expecting trouble.

"I don't care about their petty squabbles and paranoia! I don't care about what he represents to you or them! You will not touch my son! Whichever one of those arrogant, petty and paranoid Lords you serve, you can go tell them grow up and butt out of our lives! I don't care what you are, you won't harm a single hair on his head!"

Lords? This woman had a history. Did she somehow know about their master? Or were there other magical lords running around this savage land? The young wizard was leaning to the latter. Magical lords paranoid about this child? If this woman was indeed human like he thought, she sure showed no signs of magic, that made the brat a filthy half breed of some kind. Still, he shook his head clear of all of it. It didn't matter.

"I can assure you, you know nothing of our lord, wench." Angus snarled, coming back to reality himself and glaring at the piece of dirt that dared talk to them so defiantly as he raised his wand. "Whatever you have mixed yourself with is of no interest to us, nor will it save you, filth! Be grateful that our time is short, or I would torture you to insanity for your lack of respect to our kind. Avada Kadavra!" The sickly green blast struck home before anyone could react, right into the poor woman's chest. Blown off her feet, she crashed into the counter before collapsing brokenly to the floor, her wide, yet still defiant gaze staring unseeingly at the ceiling.

"MOMMY!" The Death Eaters actually flinched at the toddler's screech as he crawled fast and dropped to the floor with a thump. If he felt any pain from it, he didn't even pay it the slightest bit of attention as he stumbled to his mother, shaking her shoulder. "Momma! Mommy, wake up! MOMMY!"

"Oh for Merlin's sake, this kid has to shut up!" The woman snapped, raising her wand as she stepped forward drawing the young boy's attention. "Don't worry little brat, you'll join her in a second."

However, she never managed to utter so much as a single syllable of her curse. For right as she targeted the boy, another piercing scream struck their ears and with it, the sink tap exploded.

"Wha-AAHHH!"

"CRAP!"

"Damn it!"

It was a sight none of the Death Eaters had ever seen before. With but a simple scream, the boy had summoned a simply huge amount of water to his aid. At first it was purely protective, spiraling around him and his dead mother, but that barely lasted a moment before it surged at them, blowing all five of them right off their feet and flinging them hard and fast across the room, crashing brutally into the furniture or far walls before falling brokenly to the ground.

"Unbelievable." The young Death Eater couldn't believe his eyes. Stunned and aching all over, he found it hard to focus on the world as he looked around, but he could still make out the damage. Angus and his female partner were both unconscious and Brutus' leg was twisted the wrong way, no one looked capable of rising again easily. The entire room was soaked, but much to his horror, it wasn't staying that way, for the water was once again being pulled into the air and back, circling the still crying, very dry baby. He couldn't comprehend what happened, what he was seeing. It wasn't possible, no baby was this powerful! How quickly so much water was drawn to him, was still being drawn from both the room and the sink, the amount of force behind the assault, it was far beyond anything an infant had ever done before. Even the most powerful of toddlers generally only had enough power to make themselves levitate of pull their toys to them. This child had already shown the power level of a pubescent wizard and to top it off, instead of passing out, as would be expected, he was pulling it back, ready to go again! It was beyond believable, beyond possible! This kid had power, too much power. If allowed to live, he could very well become stronger than the Dark Lord himself.

Unfortunately for him and his buddies, there was no time to ponder the implications or how to respond to that realization, for at that moment, another group of people charged through the apartment doorway and these guys were definitely wizards. Not his allies either, for instantly all their wands were pointed their way.

"Stupefy!"

The young Death Eater didn't even think, he just apparated. He was there just long enough to see the multiple streams of red lights soaring their way, to see his allies struck before he disappeared.

However, even though he managed to escape, nothing but dread and despair could be found in his mind. For he was likely to face punishment worse than death. All of his allies were captured and without them, he could not hope to survive in America. As good as they'd gotten with moving around the country, there were still countless close calls that were only survived through group effort. And what made it even worse was that they were ultimately stopped by a baby and British wizards. Even with only a single word uttered, he'd recognize his home's accent anywhere. Their own arrogance had drawn too much attention to them. The dark Lord would have his head.

Maybe it would be better to simply let the monsters get him.