Chapter Two: Phantom

The Time-Stop Chamber in the Department of Mysteries was an extremely peculiar place. Built upon ancient ley lines and being one of the reasons the Department of Mysteries(DOM) was built in such a design, it also was a key asset towards the training of the Unspeakables. Using lost magic, the Research and Development Division of the DOM discovered that the chamber was an anomaly in the time-space continuum. 1 day in the magical world translated to 3 months inside the chamber and you would think that people would keep away from it once they discovered its effects. But nooooo...

The chances of the Research and Development Division or the more aptly named Schrodinger Division, keeping away from something oh so fascinating was akin to the chance of a snowball in the fiery depths of hell. Tweaking it till it was safe and putting a simulation charm along with a few other additions for living conditions and presto! A magical training chamber that was anything but a chamber. And this was precisely where one Mr. Harry James Potter, codename Phoenix, found himself in.

" Can you hear me Phoenix?"

" Yep, perfectly thank you very much Croaker. Question."

"Shoot."

"Where the fuck am I and why the hell can I hear you in my head?"

" You're in the Time-Stop Chamber of the Department of Mysteries & one reason why you can hear me is because I'm a natural Telepath," said the voice, sounding rather smug.

" Time-Stop Chamber?" pondered Harry, half dreading the sound of those words.

"It modifies real world time and all that... rough estimate is that 1 day in the magical world translates to 3 months inside the chamber."

Harry tripped and fell over his feet. Swearing violently, Harry tried to glare at the voice in his head.

" And you weren't going to tell me this till I stepped into the room? " thought Harry, a bit pissed off about the whole thing.

"Well obviously not you dolt. You know.. with the code of secrecy and stuff. How could I even tell you about it?" thought Croaker indignantly.

"Hmph."

"But you've gotta admit it. Its quite brilliant what the Schrodinger Division can discover when they put their heads together."

Harry's footsteps echoed of the wall as he turned left and stopped short at a mundane gray wall with the large letters "2A" written on it. Unsure of what to expect, Harry raised a trembling hand and touched the wall. To his shock, a crack formed where his hand was and the spiderweb crack lines began to spread across the entire face of the wall before it promptly collapsed into a fine dust at his feet.

Raising an eyebrow, Harry stepped into the darkness in front of him. As soon as he took a few steps forward, he heard a soft woosh and turned to see the wall reconstruct itself, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Shrugging to himself, Harry walked on slowly, straining his eyes in the darkness.

All of a sudden, bright white lights came on, effectively blinding him. Raising his left hand to cover his eyes, his right hand clenched his wand in case anything were to happen. Looking around he realised that he was in an all white room with a black suitcase in front on him.

" Relax Phoenix, this is just the equipment room. The suitcase is yours I believe" muttered Croaker.

Moving forward, Harry opened up the suitcase and saw a host of items & potions inside.

"What's all this stuff? There's many things here, clothes, potions, daggers and books.."

" Phoenix, before you touch anything, I first need to tell you the about the history of the Unspeakables, so that you actaully know what you are getting into here."

"Okay.. you sound serious for once.."

"Hey! I resent that statement!"

" So what's this all about?" asked Harry, as he took a seat next to his trunk and started to lay out the items inside for a better view.

"Ahem. Okay... basically nobody knows when the Unspeakables came about. Some theories have us plying our trade back to the dark ages, when thievery and assasinations were tearing society apart and after the decline of the Roman Empire. Other theories say that we originated from other worlds. However, the fact of the matter is this. Modern Wizarding society sees the Unspeakables as part of the Department of Mysteries who research obscure branches of magic. They are right in the sense that they think they know what our Schrodinger Division is up to but that is where the extent of society's view of the Unpeakables and the Department of Mysteries stops being the truth. They do not know the truth that comes after that."

"The truth?" thought Harry, as he pulled out a clear, liquid potion which he immediately identified as Veritaserum.

" The truth is a terrible yet beautiful thi-"

" Spare me the drama Croaker.. You're starting to sound like Dumbledore." thought Harry, with a small yawn.

" Well I never! Ahem.. Okay. I'll let your insolence pass for now and continue my interesting tale. Where was I.. ah. Unspeakables, in reality, are combat operatives that will use any means possible to accomplish their mission. We work in pairs to take out targets, from Death Eaters to muggle terrorists worldwide, that if left unchecked will threaten the stability of the magical world. For an Unspeakable, the greatest asset is his own mind and body, followed by his equipment and training."

" So let me get this straight. We're like the muggle special forces or something?" queried Harry.

" Loosely speaking.. yes. However, one thing that sets us apart from everyone else, such as the Aurors, Hit-Wizards and muggle Please-men is that as an Unspeakable, we embrace both sides of the spectrum and are restricted by no laws, except the Code of the Unspeakables.

" What do you mean both sides of the spectrum?" asked Harry, examining a pair of titanium daggers with runes carved into the handles and blades.

" As I was going to explain... we do not limit our special warfare tactics and equipment to wizarding methods. We research and implement muggle technology into our systems and weaponry as well so that we can enjoy the highest chances of success during our operations. In addition, we do not have normal wizarding folk in our company of Unspeakables. Last I checked, we had vampires and werewolves in our ranks. As well as those with special abilties such as an aptitude for wandless magic , elementals and telepathy. The combination of people with in-born special abilities with highly advanced equipment and training makes for a very deadly combination."

" Then why aren't we more involved in the fight against Voldemort? Like during the first war, when the Massacre of Diagon Alley took place?"

" The main reason is this. Officially, we are magical researchers in the eyes of the public. Save for us, only the the Minister for Magic and the Department Head for the Department of Mysteries know about our true capabilites. For the past 20 years, we have been working undercover, assassinating key targets and infiltrating various dark sects. We can not go to a full scale assault against the Dark Lord without the activation orders of the minister himself. And I do not know whether you have been informed of the press statement Fudge released last week."

" What did the dickhead say this time?"

" He retracted the statement regarding Voldemort. He claims Albus Dumbledore put him under a Confundus charm that night in the Ministry and that he was seeing things. In order to prove his point that there was no threat to the Wizarding community, he ordered for the Unspeakables to be disbanded and cut the security budget so that more efforts could be placed in the arts and entertainment industry. He's afraid that if he activates the Unspeakables, he's going to lose credibility as all the lies he's spoken the past few years are going to bite him in the arse."

" That's fucking stupid. He's really gone around the corner with this one.." thought Harry as he fiddled with a strange metallic device infront of him.

"Yeah.. So basically even though Voldemort has returned, we can't go into an all out war as we're not officially allowed to. So we'll be doing what we do best, subterfuge, sabotage and assassinations so that the coming war will be kept at bay for the time-being at least."

" Hmm.. I get your point I guess. In a sense its doing things without the knowledge of the minister but subtly and not drawing attention to yourself so that people don't suspect anything."

" Hole-in-one."

"You play golf?"

" Long story.. anyway you'll notice that you have a lot of stuff in front of you. Let's begin. See that bunch of potions in front of you? Take the green one that smells like mint. It's a enhancement and restoration potion that changes certain aspects of your body." thought Croaker.

" Err.. change what exactly?" thought Harry, eyeing the vial in front of him with unease.

" It gives you a very large dick."

" ... No. Seriously man."

" Okay..it strengthens yours senses and bodily functions. You'll find that your eyesight will become perfect and your sense of hearing and smell will become quite strong. Also your bones and muscle will become stronger and more dense. You will not need much sleep and your stamina and reflexes will improve. Also you will heal faster if you are injured. This is just some of the effects that this potion induces."

" Well that's interesting. Any side effects?" queried Harry.

" Err.. it hurts a bit I guess." thought Croaker, sounding a bit unsure.

" Well if it hurts as bad as the Cruciatus Curse, I think I can handle it." said Harry as he uncorked the bottle and drained it. A minute passed.

" Hmmm.. I feel nothing yet... maybe I took the wr-"

Harry's train of thought screeched to a halt as he felt a sharp pain race through out his body. Trying to muffle his screams, Harry collapsed as the pain overtook him and sent into blissful nothingness.

A small female figure, stood invisible at the corner of the room, her brilliant green eyes fixated on her target. She had been patiently waiting for the past 17 hours to be alone with the other man in the house.

Antonin Dolohov. Known Death-eater, murderer and sadist.

" Tonight would be his last night." she thought, as she gave a small grin, allowing one of her sharp fangs to show.

Her homework had paid off. Knowing that he had a weakness for fine liquor, she anonymously sent him a bottle of Grevols this morning. After checking and making sure that there was no poison, he proceeded to nurse the drink to his heart's content after his dinner.

Thoroughly drunk, he sat on his lounge chair relaxing, confidence placed in his guards that were around the perimeter of the safehouse. A team of 7 junior death-eaters, who unknown to him, were in his tool shed, dead as of 15 minutes ago.

Sighing in contentment, he closed his eyes for a moment and turned off the lights with a slurred ,"Nox."

The girl pounced.

With a quickness that seemed almost predatory, she stabbed his neck and heart with two daggers at the same time.

Blood gushing out, Antonin Dolohov tried to struggle. Daphne Greengrass pulled out her serrated blades, arterial blood spurting out and coating the ceiling and walls.

Watching as the life in his eyes extinguished, she check for a pulse to confirm he was well and truly dead before jumping out the second story window and landing perfectly in the garden below. She was sure that reinforcements would not come as she ensured zero magic was used within the wards.

Sprinting for the next 700m till she got past the wards, Daphne apparated to her link-up point before heading back to the Department of Mysteries to give her debrief to her superiors.