Athanasius was seated upon his throne wearing a disconcerted and slightly sour expression. What had happened to him the night prior had put him in a foul mood and also made him eager to discover why it had happened. Although it had taken considerable time, he had discovered a suitable theory behind it. Years ago he had been told by Dumbledore that the difference between him and Voldemort was his ability to love. Now that he had delved into the dark arts this ability was becoming a very unwanted annoyance. His ability was causing him prolonged pain, so the question was how to get rid of it. The answer to his question lay in the ruins of his parents' home, for that is where it had begun. Without telling anyone, he departed to Godric's Hollow intent on removing this particularly nasty annoyance.
Athanasius sped across his parent's land and knelt down next to their graves. "This is where it all began," He whispered into the cold and dry air, "The day Voldemort thought he could destroy me, the day he-", but at that moment he was cut off by the voice of the person he never expected to be here.
"Hello Harry," A man stepped out of the darkness revealing himself to be Ron Weasley, "I knew you would return eventually; it was inevitable."
Athanasius raised his wand viciously at Ron with intent to kill him, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you where you stand or better yet make you suffer like I did to Malfoy." Ron was unable to hid his fear from Athanasius, "Afraid, dear Ron." Ron looked at him with a mixture of sorrow and pity, "Yes, Harry, I am because I know that you will destroy yourself. You, unlike Voldemort, are unafraid of death. In fact, I believe the only thing you do fear is yourself. The other half of you that still loves is, perhaps, all that you truly fear anymore. There was a time when you feared much more, but now it seems that your power has consumed all other fears. Yet," Ron looked at Athanasius with even more sorrow, "You will not rest till you rid yourself of that fear."
Athanasius' eyes twisted with fury, "I fear nothing!" Ron gazed at him with great pity, "Then Harry why are you, if you did not fear your half that still loves then why are you here." To that Athanasius had no answer, he only muttered incoherently to himself, "wrong…kill…not fear…" and apparated away with a long bang.
Ron gazed at the spot Athanasius had just occupied moments earlier and sighed wearily before apparating in a similar fashion.
Upon his return he was told that there had been an attack at an outpost of his which was stationed in Dean Thomas' manor (which he had received from Athanasius as a reward). Apparently someone, a lower ranked of his followers, had decided to turn on them and alert Voldemort of the location of the place. A man named Zechariah Smith. Athanasius had allowed him the opportunity to fight on his side and the traitor had shown his true colors. Athanasius was now in a mad frenzy. His discussion had been aggravating enough. The news of the massacre did nothing to lighten his mood.
He sneeringly peered across his throne room with his wand scanning the men and woman kneeling before him wearing faces full of fear. "Find the traitor. Fail and you will feel my wrath. I will not be merciful in failure, but shall be generous with success. Find SMITH!" His voice bellowed across the room as his followers, who had now been entitled Sons and Daughters of Darkness, trembled with fear and scattered in the attempt to find him. The days of searching were long and it seemed as though no one would be able to find him, but finally on the eve of Athanasius' birthday, Zechariah Smith was discovered and brought before the feet of Athanasius.
Athanasius decided to make a certain mark in terms of there being no more traitors amongst his midst again. He had congratulated Padma and Parvati Patil. They had discovered him while they were ambushed by a group of Death Eaters. After reinforcements had arrived they were able to subdue him and bring him to the knees of their Lord. His pleasure with all those involved brought them much rewards and much honor. The Dark Lord Athanasius smirked at Smith with an evil, twisted expression. He rose from his throne and lowered his wand directly at his face. Suddenly with a flash of dark light, Smith began to shake uncontrollably and contort in ways unnatural to a human. "Do you now see your fatal mistake," Athanasius began with a murderous rage in his voice, "I do not take lightly the foolishness of betrayal, and as you have sought to betray me, I shall prove to you one last time. I shall prove why it is I, who will win this war, and why it is I and I alone who will be ruler of this land."
With a swift wave of his hand, Athanasius levitated Smith into the air and with one final word spoke death to the traitor in front of his eyes, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" So much power had been put into this killing curse that he was blasted over the heads of Athanasius' followers and collapsed against the wall with his eyes open filled with terror. He dismissed them all except for a girl he had chosen for a special assignment, which no one was to know of except for them. Athanasius turned to the girl kneeled before him and with a small whisper told her of her assignment, "Fleur, I want you to take on a most important task, There is someone within the Order of the Phoenix named Ronald Weasley. I want you to do one of two things, once you have studied him thoroughly. You will either convert him to our cause and bring him to me or kill him." She nodded her acknowledgement to her secret orders and set out to do as she was told. Athanasius summoned Lilith to him and commanded her to gather two people she trusted within their followers and destroy the remaining Horcruxes (Athanasius has already explained the whole scenario about the horcruxes to her). She departed from him and set out to do as she was assigned.
After about a week had passed Athanasius summoned those followers still available and explained to them what he had been planning. "My followers, Sons and Daughters of Darkness, tonight I plan on attacking the home of Severus Snape. I have recently obtained information on his location and have decided that it is time that I repay him for his crimes. His home is heavily guarded and it is rumored that Voldemort is having a secretive meeting there tonight. If he is there then you will leave him to me. Either way tonight marks another attack on Voldemort's forces and perhaps a valuable asset being added to our numbers."Athanasius raised his hands in a show of victory and yelled with vigor, "May your every strike bring death to his followers!" The roar of the Sons and Daughters of Darkness filled the air as they apparated away.
Lord Voldemort had just finished talking of how they might recover from losing their spy within Lord Athanasius' forces when suddenly the door was blasted off its hinges and thrown into Lord Voldemort, who was able to shatter it before it could reach him. That is when it happened, an outbreak of chaos as his forces tried to gather themselves in time to recover from the attack massing against them. Athanasius stepped across the doorway and sneeringly taunted Voldemort, "So we meet again, but instead you have no advantage." Voldemort took his wand out with intense speed and blasted Athanasius back into the streets. After Athanasius was able to gather himself together their fight erupted.
Curses flew between the two of them with so much speed and power that the gravel began to separate and crack. They tried to dodge each other's spells, but the sheer amount of spells being fired made that impossible. Both of them were sustaining significant injuries which began slowing down their movements. "It seems that you have increased in both speed and power, but you are still no match for me," Voldemort spoke wearily, "I could say the same for you Voldemort after all, you are bleeding worse than I am." Athanasius spat back and threw the killing curse at him with such speed that it just barely missed the top of Voldemort's head and instead sped past him and blasted someone behind. With a sneer, Voldemort resumed the fight with Athanasius attempting to pick up his speed. Their battle intensified so quickly that many of the fighters had stopped intent on seeing the winner.
Both finally hit each other with powerful blasting hexes and flew through neighboring buildings. Leaping off the ground Athanasius began sprinting at Voldemort and firing curses along the way. Both were hit by each other's curse again because of their slowed reflexes and fell down shrieking with the pain. Pain was all they felt as they raised their wands to finish off the fight. Voldemort got off a strange spell that mixed together the severing hex and blasting hex, which caused Athanasius to soar through the buildings with his chest cut deeply and as blood poured from his wounds he collapsed from magical exhaustion. Yet Athanasius had likewise gotten off a curse which had done remarkable damage. Pain spread through Voldemort's body swiftly and before long he began to shriek uncontrollably as he was lifted into the air. His eyes widened suddenly and he was thrown into an arc over the buildings and landing with a large crash on the top of a car about a mile from the battle. Men and woman stood gathered around where they had just seen the duel end. Both sides stood still never before seeing such power and speed in a duel and seeing their Lords fall. They rushed to their respective Lords side and apparated away.
A month had passed by and no sign of either Voldemort or Athanasius awakening. Both appeared to be alive, but no one was for sure. The Order of Phoenix celebrated after learning of the battle from Severus Snape who managed to leave unscathed. Yet there was an air of uncertainty across the wizarding world. Some feared that they were still alive and it was only a matter of time before it all continued. Athanasius' followers feared that Voldemort was alive and their Lord dead, while Voldemorts' followers feared the same, but for their own Lord. Silence spread across the Wizarding World.
Another month passed on and still the Silence spread throughout Europe and the whole World.