2 It Begins

In the dead of night, the crickets chirped and sang their nightly songs, interrupted only by the footfalls of the dark cloaked figures making there way over the chilly September ground. The chirping stopped as an irritated figure kicked over a few rocks, crunching the small insects with his boot.

"Damn bugs, never a moment's peace." The dark figure muttered to the snickers of his comrades.

The leader of the group just rolled his eyes as he repositioned his white mask on the pale face beneath. "Enough, you can squish all the crickets you want later, Avery. Tonight we will spread the true fear of our lord to these vermin. Kill all who oppose you, if we are lucky maybe we will get to claim a few aurors as well. Now get out of my sight, all of you!"

Grinning maliciously, the Death Eaters raised their wands and charged into the sleeping muggle village below as they raised their voices in their battle cry. Above the awakening carnage below, the leader slowly smirked as he raised his own wand towards the sky. Muttering a single word, a jet of the blackest light escaped into the starry night as a giant green skull appeared high above, a snakelike smoke weaving its way around the dark mark. Without a second thought, the man raced down the hill after his cohorts. Spells flying from his wand as he struck down any escaping victims.

Sometime into the battle, a battalion of aurors arrived, but to no avail. They were quickly struck down by the superior numbers of Death Eaters. Very few escaped with their lives that night, causing more fear and hopelessness to spread across the countryside.

Skip forward two years…

In a small village on the outskirts of Berlin, Germany, a ferocious battle was underway. A small group of wizards had barricaded themselves and most of the townspeople into the small meeting hall in the center of town. Kicking out the glass of the small windows, a select few began to shoot spells into the surrounding ranks of Death Eaters that were closing in. The rest of the defenders had stationed themselves around the huddled group of villagers on the floor, ready to go down if needed.

Every one of them knew the cost of fighting this particular battle; this region had been a hot spot for Voldemort for some time now. It was said that an ancient artifact from Merlin himself was hidden within this land. No one knew what it was, whether it was of any importance or not, but the light knew that it must keep Voldemort away from it at all costs.

"Tonks, take over, Mad Eye's gone down." A tall thin man with graying hair rose from a sitting position on the floor as he hurried to the farthest window as the gnarled man defending slumped to the floor stunned.

A woman with coal black spiked hair and bright purple eyes stepped forward to cover the now undefended side as she fearfully watched her friend begin to shoot spells out the window with inhuman speed. "Be careful Remus." She whispered softly.

Another two defenders were struck down by a sickly green spell before an earth shattering roar filled the air. Silence descended immediately as both sides of the conflict looked fearfully about, only seeing the pale sweaty faces of their frightened companions. Another roar sounded throughout the night, only this time much closer to the center of the small town.

As the remaining members of the Order of the Pheonix watched from the shattered remains of the windows, a large group of Death Eaters were flattened under the hooves of a large black beast. Flames flickered along the edges of its bull like snout as it angrily towered over the whimpering wizards. More minotaurs appeared along the edges of the forest, trapping any unsuspecting or fleeing Death Eater under their hooves as they came.

Several Death Eaters had escaped in the confusion by portkey, as apparating wards had been set up earlier when the attack had begun, inevitably dooming many. The fleeing wizards had gone straight to their master to inform him of the outcome, undeniably, he would not be pleased.

"What's going on out there!?" Tonks screamed as she roughly pulled a panicking villager back into the huddle.

Remus Lupin was watching transfixed by the scene before him before Tonks screams registered in his mind. Turning his head slowly, but keeping his eyes on the lumbering minotours at all times, he whispered something incoherent towards her general direction.

"What?" Tonks yelled, fear creeping into her voice as she struggled to keep it steady.

"Minotours. Their real!"

While the Order was recovering their wits in the crumbled meeting hall, a black hooded man arrived by portkey in the center of the mayhem. Taking in his surroundings with a carefully controlled expression, Tom Riddle, or Lord Voldemort as he liked to be called, moved silently among his fallen followers and the towering beasts hovering above them.

Nearing the town hall, Voldemort let his presence be known as the few members of the resistance shrank back in fear from the windows. Leaking a bit of his aura for the right effect, he addressed the minotours staring maliciously back at him.

"Why do you fight for them? The minissstry will only lock you up or ressstrict you now that you have ssshown yourssselves. Join me and you will never have to fear them."

Silence met his demands before a soft chuckle filled the air. Stepping from the shadows a short gray cloaked figure approached the seething Dark Lord.

"They do not fight for the light, nor do they fight for the dark. As for the ministry's restrictions, why should they fear them? Minotours are powerful enough on their own to hold their own ground, pity the fool who wishes to control them."

"And who are you to ssspeak to me with sssuch an insolent tone, I can kill you where you ssstand before you can blink." Hissed Voldemort angrily, how dare this stranger treat him as if he were a common muggle!

"I had no intention of joining this war so soon, but it seems that Fate has her own plans for us. You seek the object of power that is said to reside within these lands, do you not?"

"Merlin'sss artifact, yesss, I am sssearching for it, if you have it give it to me now!"

The cloaked figure shook his head in silent mirth. "And how would you make me? If you have not noticed as of yet, your pitiful army is trapped under the hooves of my comrades. You may be able to take a few of us out, but I can guarantee you that you would be ground into the dust before you could get far. What I have for you is a proposition, I will give you the artifact if you will leave these lands for now. I know it would be too much to ask you to never return, you don't exactly strike me as the type of wizard to honor any agreement for long."

Voldemort observed the small statured figure before him with a critical eye. This stranger was openly antagonizing him in front of his subordinates, but on the other hand he was offering the very item that he had been coveting for so many months. If he killed the man now he could be searching for many more months if not years to come.

"You have a deal, my army ssshall leave thessse landsss for now in exchange for the item. If you attempt to trick me I ssshall know and will kill you where you ssstand." Voldemort snarled.

"Yes, yes, we have all heard the same little speech, torture, death, and the rest of that jazz." The small gray cloaked man replied in a bored tone, seemingly oblivious to the reddish tone Voldemort's corpse like face had taken. Reaching into his cloak, the short figure pulled out a small package wrapped in a bit of ancient brown leather and handed it over to the dark lord to the horror of those watching from within the crumbling building.

Voldemort smirked evilly as he held the object in his pale bony hand. At last, Merlin's lost artifact was finally his. If the myths were true, then this was the key to unlocking one of Merlin's many secrets.

"You have upheld your half of the bargain, and I will leave these lands for now. Release my men and I will let you live."

If the cloak wasn't hiding his face in darkness one could almost see the little man roll his eyes in annoyance. Raising his voice to be heard over the frightened squeaks of the trapped deatheaters and the ominous growls of his minotaur friends, he ordered the release.

With a wave of his wand, Voldemort brought the anti-apparition wards down as the air filled with the cracks of his fleeing minions. Clutching the crumbling package tightly against his bony chest, Voldemort apparated himself away, but not before glaring hatefully at the cloaked man before him.

As soon as the dark lord had left, the Order of the Phoenix ventured out from the ruins. The man known as Remus Lupin stalked over to the short man with a feral look in his strange amber eyes.

"Do you know what you have done? You may as well have just signed all of our death sentences yourself! That artifact in the hands of that monster could be disastrous, who knows what kind of power it possesses..." Lupin ranted on for a bit more before stopping to catch his breath.

The man just waited patiently for his chance to speak before answering the accusations with an indifferent tone. "That 'artifact' as you call it will be of no use to him unless he changes his career drastically."

"You switched it with a fake somehow?" Lupin asked hopefully.

"Voldemort would have been able to sense a forgery a mile away, that was no fake." Lupin's face as well as the other Order members regained their pale, sickened expressions back at this point.

Turning to leave, he called over his shoulder at the defeated Order before disappearing into the shadows. "Merlin had many secrets, but few knew of his skills and interests other than magic. I doubt that his culinary interests were a highly sought over item, as he had a rather eccentric taste in food."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Deep within the walls of a crumbling mansion far away, a scream of rage reverberated throughout the halls as the residing Death Eaters hid from their master's fury.

"What isss thisss foolissshnessss" Voldemort screamed as he threw the battered book against the wall. Collapsing in his throne, he rubbed his temples as he attempted to calm himself down to no avail.

Scuttling across the room from his master; a short, bald man who resembled a rat more than a man in his appearance as well as mannerism, slowly picked up the book to bring back to his master. Glancing at one of the faded pages within, he nearly stumbled over in his surprise, and was barely able to keep his grin off of his pointed face.

Setting the open book down on a table beside the throne, he returned to the shadows to wait for his master's next beck and call.

On the page that was left open was an intricate script full of directions for a rather bizarre concoction. The title of the recipe was 'mountain troll stew'.