Sins of our Fathers

Disclaimer: This story is the child of one of my productive sugar rushes. As such I do not own: Harry Potter, GrimGrimmoire, or Geneforge.

Summary: The war with Voldemort was over, and the Wizarding world settled into a well deserved calm as everyone's lives slowly began to return to normal. However, four students assembled at Hogwarts begin to set events in motion that threaten to send the entire world into the fires of war again. They all have their own goals, their own strengths, and their own faults. This is their tale.

Chapter 1

"Welcome to Hogwarts"

The world is an ugly place. Time and time again its inhabitants were brought into conflict with one another, tearing the land apart with their powers, leaving behind ruin and sorrow in their wake. However despite the tearful promises, and the masses of graves, the world is still the same. People still hate, still fear, still fight, and still kill. Eventually the fires of hatred and violence will consume it.

The world had to change.

"SLYTHERIN!" The Sorting Hat boomed, having finally made its decision.

Its wearer, a black-haired teenager, removed it and let a small grin spread across his face. The hard part was over. The technique they had used to obscure their minds from the Sorting Hat allowed them all to enroll in their required houses without incident. He sighed and walked over to the half-empty table as everyone eyed him suspiciously. A platinum-haired blonde nodded to an empty seat next to him, as he extended his hand. "Welcome to Slyhtherin, I'm Draco Malfoy."

Replying to the extended hand with a curt nod, he moved on. Of course since half of the Slytherins had joined the Death Eaters they would naturally be missing a few members, he reasoned as he chose an emptier area to sit down. The surviving children were granted amnesty, and following the lead of Draco Malfoy, the same person he just met, returned to Hogwarts. He would never understand these humans. If someone had betrayed his society like that then they would be dead within days. These people, on the other hand, asked one of their former enemies to lead the others to a path of peace. How naïve.

He glanced over at the table across the hall. Sitting with the Gryffindor first-years was his partner. She smiled innocently at him and added a wink before turning back to her discussion with the remaining first years that she seemed to be enjoying her time talking with. He shook his head; she could never take her assignment seriously. With her smooth blonde hair, illuminating golden eyes, and slightly pale skin she seemed almost too cherubic to have anything to do with him. It usually threw people off that they always worked together.

Unlike her, his hair was pitch black and covered most of his face, which was actually to his advantage. Part of his 'growth' involved his body becoming covered in many odd looking runes. Most of his clothing concealed them sufficiently; however, there were a few across his face which proved to be quite troublesome. While he usually wrote them off as tattoos, he preferred people didn't ask. His eyes were another problem. One time, in Spain, he lost his temper when talking to a farmer and managed to give the poor bastard a heart attack. The farmer mumbled "el diablo" over and over again as they carted him off. Well, at least he wasn't too far off. As long as he was calm, they remained black, nothing too out of the ordinary. The problem began when he lost control of his emotions, in which case they quickly changed 

into a bright red color which usually scared the shit out of whomever he was talking to. Not that it didn't help out sometimes, it just got annoying. Despite his best efforts to suppress his real form, some of his 'features' still manifested, particularly when he didn't maintain conscious self-control.

"I applaud your success Gabriel," a soft voiced echoed in his head. As he sat down with the remaining Slytherins, he rolled his eyes slightly. He would never hear the last of that name.

"I told you, call me Nebu already. What reason is there to give me a new name if you don't use it?" he shot back. As he scanned the Great Hall he found the source of the voice: a black Raven was perched on one of the large windows, eyeing the proceedings very carefully. Although most people thought that the Raven was his familiar, Nebu knew that Mephistopheles took offense when people called him a pet. In fact, Meph, as he jokingly nicknamed his mentor, had his hand in history since time immemorial and was certainly far more important than a mere pet. Mephistopheles was his friend, teacher, and quite possibly even father or at least crazy uncle. The only time Nebu had the courage to ask Meph why he always stuck around with someone as minor as him, he got an off-handed 'It amuses me' in response. Not that Nebu minded of course. Mephistopheles was the first demon, other than himself, he had known for a while. It was thanks to him that he learned to suppress and control his demonic abilities. It was also on his advice that he managed to find the society where he came in contact with others like him-- discarded, unwanted, and persecuted. Now he worked with them, although always mindful of his own goals as Meph taught him, on their latest endeavors.

Snapping out of his reminiscence, he looked up as the new headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, gave her "start of term" speech. It was fairly straightforward and to the point, which seemed to characterize this woman well. As the briefing said, she held herself to be a no-nonsense woman who had never shown favoritism and always carried herself in a professional manner. Toward the end of her speech she began to announce new teachers who would replace the vacant posts. The first was Professor Ashby, the new Transfiguration teacher, who would be taking her old post. Ashby was, as she put it, one of her former colleagues and a famed theorist in Applied Transfiguration. Ashby was a tall and well-groomed man, wearing a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and carrying an expensive-looking golden watch in the front pocket of his immaculate dress robes. When acknowledged he merely nodded and motioned McGonagall to continue while he eyed the audience.

When she began announcing the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, she mentioned that the post would be filled by a trio of alumni whom she felt were the most qualified to teach the subject. Nebu noted with slight amusement that the entire Gryffindor table seemed to hold their breaths while she read off the names of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasely as the substitutes. With that, every table except his own erupted in thunderous applause. Of course his table clapped as well, but they were much more subdued, most likely because some of their parents had been on the losing side of the recent war.

As the applause continued he felt a twinge of magic which he instantly recognized as Xerxes' scanning ability. Along with him and his partner there were two other members of his organization present. Xerxes was also a first year, but he was sorted into Ravenclaw. Unlike Nebu, Xerxes was human, and while Nebu felt no hatred toward the blind shaper, he never particularly hit it off with him either. The remaining agent, who had been in the Hufflepuff house for 2 years already, was not making her presence clear so Nebu assumed she had better things to do.

With an unnatural grace Meph managed to glide over and land on his shoulder, the raven's usual perch. The large table in front of him was suddenly loaded with an enormous amount of food as the tables erupted in conversation between newcomers and veterans alike.

"So what happens now?" asked his mentor, taking a bit of sausage from the plate. "You do know what will happen as this plot unravels."

After finishing his bite, Nebu replied, "A war on a scale of massive proportions. Many will die. Many will lose their minds. The world will no longer be the same."

"And you are content with this?" Meph asked in almost jovial tone.

"Everything will change soon, Meph." He mumbled silently, "I'll baptize this world in blood if I have to." and with that he began planning his next steps.

"Amy! Pass the potatoes, would ya?" a fifth year yelled out from across the Hufflepuff table. With a quick smile and a mechanical motion she grabbed the bowl of mashed potatoes and passed it over to the right. The bowl would reach their recipient soon enough. This marked the beginning of her third miserable year at Hogwarts. The third year she would spend hours sitting in class pretending to care about the subject, the third year she would waste her time talking about nothing with her 'friends', and the third year she would put off her search.

"Hey Amy!" one of her friends, Louisa, called out. "So what do you think?" It took her a few moments to register that Louisa was asking her something.

"Sorry, what?" she said with a slightly Scottish accent, one she had slowly begun to acquire.

"I asked if you think Harry Potter and that girl Hermione are a couple?"

She bit her lip for a second to pretend that she gave the matter some thought, then guessed "Isn't she going out with that Weasley guy?"

Louisa giggled at that, then said "So you think I have a chance if I ask…."

The rest of the conversation slipped by Amy. Trust Louisa to care about useless things like that. Unfortunately, Amy had been friends with Louisa and several other girls in their year since enrollment. While they were friendly, being members of Hufflepuff after all, Amy usually strayed from the idle gossiping and needless small talk that her friends engaged in.

There was one good thing about this year. She was no longer the only one of her organization there at Hogwarts. Three others had joined her, including her new "partner", Xerxes. While the two did communicate a bit during the summer, she didn't receive the greatest of impressions from that guy. Besides, she had problems to deal with that were more important to her rather than indulging the blind magician. Naomi, another first-year, who was sorted into Gryffindor, was Nebu's partner. Amy knew next to nothing about the blonde girl, but from what she had heard, Naomi was one of the few people Nebu usually spoke with in more than a few short phrases.

The ash-haired demon sitting at the Slytherin table, Nebuchadnezzar duSante, or Nebu as everyone called him, was going to be their leader for the duration of the year. Although she had been at Hogwarts two years already, he had more training in combat and infiltration, which made him the senior agent in the eyes of their overseers. She had heard rumors about him; he was supposedly an orphan from Spain who somehow managed to find his way into the society on his own ten years ago, a feat unheard of for a seven-year-old. He also had a remarkable level of proficiency with his demonic abilities.

"So Amy?" Louisa turned her attention back to her.

"Hmm?" Amy said, taking another bite of a roast beef sandwich she was eating.

"Which classes are you taking?"

She was referring to the fact that all third years were allowed to take two electives on top of their usual curriculum. "Arithmancy and Care for Magical Creatures," she replied after finishing her bite. They would, of course, be taking the same classes, she guessed. Therein lay the beauty of her house; they always stuck together. Her thoughts drowned out most of the conversation before Louisa tried to snap her out of her broodings.

"…Do you think Professor Vector is going to be hard? Amy? Amy!"

"Sorry, guys, just a bit tired."

"It's the first day and you're already tired?" Louisa nearly shouted. "Hon, are you sure you're not sick?"

"I'm fine, really," she said definitively while rubbing her left arm, a habit she had developed for when she was nervous. Her friends eyed her over and resumed their conversation. She traced her fingers over the left arm slowly; it still stung a little. She was certain it would never fully heal after what she had done to it.

It had happened on one particularly bad birthday for her. She had never had the luxury of friends or parents wishing her happy birthday; she was used to being on her own since her childhood. Before she had been accepted into the society, she had spent her childhood meandering about the busy streets of Nice, France. Sometimes she would find a nice home, or a church where she could spend the night, wash up, and get some free meals before moving on. It was almost like the Spanish ritual of Las Posadas. However, for her it had lasted several years rather than one night. If she had been any other child, she was sure she would have become a devout Christian. However she wasn't any other child.

There was a reason she was discarded from normal society, unlike everyone else. Her father wasn't a mortal. He was, in fact, a fallen angel. It was the union of such a being and a mortal woman that had given her life. In short, she was a Nephilim. And it was because of her heritage that she always felt out of place in the house of God. It was on her seventh birthday that she finally had the courage to ask one of the sisters a question that had been bothering her for some time.

"Can you hear him?" She asked politely.

"If I pray, child, yes, I can," the nun replied. "And if you open your heart, so can you," she added giving Amy a warm smile.

"But I've tried, Sister, I prayed as much as I could and yet I still cannot hear Him," she said, looking downcast. "Am I not worthy?"

The nun laughed. At first Amy thought the woman was laughing at her, but then the nun stopped and knelt down beside her. "Our Lord doesn't shun anyone, He loves all of His children, and if they ask He will welcome all of them back into His arms." She held out her arms and smiled at Amy again. "Now come, we will pray together."

Amy hesitated at first; saying she was a bit shy would be an understatement. But the nun was so nice, being there with her reassured Amy. It made her forget the cold nights she had spent on the street shivering in the darkness. So reluctantly she stretched out her arms and placed them on the palms of the nun. It was then she noticed that there was an intricate design drawn across her entire left arm, that she had never recalled seeing before. It made the elderly woman frown a bit. Carefully she slid the sleeve of Amy's blouse to reveal more of the design. When she reached her elbow her eyes widened. Suddenly her face changed to one of horror, as if she uncovered the body of a murdered man on her arm. The woman recoiled and instantly began making the sign of the cross over her chest, trembling and mumbling some sort of prayer in Latin while trembling. Amy was frightened. Most people avoided her if they wanted to have nothing to do with her. Some may have thrown garbage, but no one actively recoiled from her like that before.

The nun ran out screaming "Father." Several minutes later an old man in white robes flanked by several in black appeared before her. The nun pointed a trembling finger at Amy. After placing his glasses over his face the priest walked over to her, and without asking pulled up her left sleeve. Just as the nun had, he recoiled and began muttering prayers, shielding himself from whatever curse the mark bore. It was after several of these chants that they finally tasked themselves with removing the mark on her arm. They had tried everything from washing it in holy water to yelling at her to confess her sins. She wasn't sure what sins she could confess since she was still a child, but that didn't seem to matter. Eventually they proclaimed the verdict. She was forsaken, and would never feel the love of God again. With that they threw her out; even though she pleaded desperately to them and tried to say it wasn't her fault. The father, the deacons, and even the nun that had been smiling at her just seconds ago all stood there mutely in front of the doorway, baring her from entering.

It was on that night that she decided the mark was the reason God wouldn't listen to her. She dared not cry. If this was God's test then she would pass it. So what if the priest could not remove it? She would try harder.

Given that she didn't have much at her disposal, she did fairly well. Using a piece of glass she began to stab at her skin, hoping to somehow cut up the magic that was woven into her arm. Every cut she dealt hurt unlike anything she experienced before, as if her arm was being put through a meat-grinder. Every stab unleashed another sharp scream of fury and pain as she lashed out at her own misery. At that point, the tears that were falling were more due to the agony rather than the events in the church. Eventually she found that the blood-stained shards of glass were no longer working, so she tried her best to rip the flesh off. Her blood would be the penance for whatever sin she had committed. Every time her nails dug into her raw skin she screamed loudly into the empty night and fresh tears fell on the ground. She kept going until she had no strength left in her arms, her voice, or her eyes. Every part of her body ached, and she was shivering from the cold. But despite her best efforts the mark was still there. So she finally decided to burn it off. Of course, after stabbing and clawing at her flesh for two hours, setting it on fire would elicit pain so extreme that a seven-year-old would most likely die from shock. Her throat was so raw by this point that when she screamed she started coughing up blood. To her disappointment, or perhaps salvation, it began to rain. She didn't have the strength to move so the fire was drenched, leaving behind a charred hand with blood seeping through everywhere. Her mark was still there, visible brightly beneath the charcoal that used to be her skin. She was forever marked as one of the forsaken. It was only after that realization that she finally willed herself to cry, harder than she had ever cried before.

She never forgave the nun, or the priest, or even God for that day. How could a being that would welcome even the worst of sinners never accept her even if she had never done anything wrong? Perhaps, she thought later, she was different. For her, being alive was a sin. It was then that she decided to forsake God, just as he had forsaken her. After all, why was she labeled a sinner from birth while others were allowed to choose? With that she turned her back on humans as well. They were beings that, despite their 

promises and assurances, only cared about their own selves. With that matter resolved she decided to find and punish the man who had placed this curse upon her, not for penance, but for vengeance.

The feast was over, not that she was particularly hungry anymore. While the house-elves, as usual, had outdone themselves, that train of thought had ruined her appetite. The plates cleared in seconds as she got up and began walking with the rest of her class towards their dormitory. She didn't even notice until the last second that Xerxes was walking beside her.

"Celeste," he said in a monotone whisper.

Amy cringed. Why did he have to use that name?

"Meet me tomorrow at lunch," he continued. "Make sure no one follows you." With that the kid melded back into the crowd as if he was never there.

Amy was furious; she hasn't been called that in a very long time. Hearing her birth name made her want to explode right there on the spot. It was one of the two things she had inherited from her father, and she detested hearing it mentioned.

It was going to be a miserable third year for her after all.

There were six other boys sorted into Ravenclaw this year, and Xerxes was going to have tolerate the other five.

"Hey Z!" one of the more enthusiastic ones yelled out. "Wanna play some exploding snap?"

"Pass, thank you," he replied in a cool tone as the others left and went downstairs.

Reaching out with his conscience he found the book that he was reading: Metallurgical Applications in Shaping. Flipping the heavy tome to the place where he stopped reading last time, he sent out his magic to scan the words written on the dusty book.

Most people claimed he was blind, which was true in certain ways and false in others. He did not have the use of his physical eyes. They had been blind for as long as he could remember. His father once told him he was present during a rather unfortunate accident. Being blind since a young age made one less reliant on sight and more on hearing, smell, taste, and touch. However, Xerxes took that one step further. He developed an ability he called "the eye of the mind" which allowed him to use his magic to sweep his surroundings and in a manner similar to echolocation create a mental image of his surroundings in his head. He always received some amusement when he began describing things most people would be unable to see to those who didn't know about his ability.

Beside him, a small red lizard began nuzzling against his right leg. The reptile was a fyora, one of his first creations as a shaper, which he kept alive mostly as a memento. He named it Nuru, meaning fire in Akkadian. He softly rubbed the reptile under its chin before returning to his reading. It was relatively amusing reading about how to use certain metals to enhance the durability, strength, or ability of his creations.

Unlike the other members of his group, Xerxes was born into the society. His parents' clan of shapers had been a part of the society since ages long ago; as such he was well versed in their rites and procedures. 

For that matter, his parents were alive and well, so unlike the others he didn't feel the supposed fury of the world turning against him. He merely kept to himself and focused on learning his art: shaping.

He was called a magical prodigy by many people, being able to pick up the basics of many schools of magic in months when normally it took people years. However, if there was one thing he had a passion for it was the art passed down in his clan. Shaping was a technique that controlled the very fabric of life and forged it from literally nothing. The most powerful shapers could summon an army of living beings out of thin air and create utilities in any shape and form, from obedient workers to lock picks and even weapons. Of course it was this ability, which some called "playing god", that had caused them to be persecuted so many ages ago. Xerxes was convinced, however, that it was envy of their magic which had driven them into exile. The shapers had fled and joined the society. Now they and their art silently progressed within its confines.

However, that was ancient history as far as he was concerned. The wars of his forefathers had ended with them. He merely wanted one thing, the ability to do his research undisturbed. While the society sheltered him from the prejudice of the world, he was content to sit in his quarters and practice his shaping. But events had been set in motion that were threatening to end this quiet life of his.

Two years ago, the council of the society met to discuss an odd finding by their seers. They had said that a school of magic in Scotland would herald a turning point in their fates, that somehow their future was tied to that school. Well aware of the conflict between the British society and Voldemort, the council had sent Celeste to investigate. Her findings mentioned both the so-called "hero of light", Harry Potter; as well as the recovery of the three "Deathly Hallows", legendary-class articles that were meant to give humans control over death. This naturally caused quite a stir. Mammon, a high class demon, advised that Xerxes, the demon child, Nebu and Nebu's partner, Naomi, should be dispatched to assist the already in place Celeste.

Their primary mission was reconnaissance; that is, they were to ascertain the current state of the British wizarding society and determine if there was feasibility in launching an offensive against Britain. Each one of them had a secondary objective as well. Xerxes', for instance, was to test and finalize his latest research project: Trans-planar Gating. Based upon his research in demonic grimmoires about different hells and different heavens, he devised a system that could temporarily link multiple realms together which could theoretically create a near-instantaneous pathway to any location around the globe, theoretically. Since the society's resources, and therefore reach, were limited, this project would allow them not only to have an unparalleled advantage in mobility and surprise in a warfare scenario, but would effectively allow them to significantly increase their operation range.

The design was still largely experimental; however, he mused, there was no time like the present to test it out. According to his orders, his team would be given new missions over the course of their deployment in Hogwarts. Using the gating device he had developed, they would infiltrate the mission zones around the world and perform their tasks, at the same time testing the capabilities of the gating system.

Turning the page of the book he was reading, Xerxes felt something alerting him. Rising slowly from his chair he walked over to the large trunk with his belonging sitting at the foot of his bed, which contained all of his belongings. After disabling the seals on the lock, Xerxes opened the chest and pulled out the communicator he had been given--a small black sphere that would make possible semi-secure communication over long distances possible. The message was heavily coded, and it took Xerxes a few minutes to decipher it. After fully absorbing its contents he sat there for a few moments, debating the next course of action. With a soft sigh the dark-haired mage got up and, after marking his place in the tome, closed it.

Taking several deep breaths, Xerxes began to rein his magic completely under his control. Reaching out across the castle he easily found Nebu's and Celeste's minds. This method of communication allowed him to contact them within a fairly large distance without alerting anyone or having the message intercepted. One problem with spreading his range of awareness out over such a large radius was that it limited how much information he could process at once and used up quite a bit of his magic. Sending messages to a discrete person was easier.

'Meet me at the edge of the forbidden forest in 30 minutes.'

Cautiously glancing behind him to make sure no over-suspicious person decided to follow him, Nebu approached the lone figure standing in the forest. Taking quick short steps Nebu approached his 'companion'. The mage, Xerxes, had contacted him through his telepathy and asked him and Celeste to meet him in the woods. One of the reasons Nebu was particularly annoyed about this turn of events was that he was supposed to be in command, however the orders were flowing through the human mage. His communicator buzzed him within seconds advising him to follow Xerxes' instructions for the time being. Not one to disobey orders, entirely at least, Nebu quietly slipped past his classmates as he made his way out of the Slytherin room and into the twisted maze of the dungeons. He had no particular trouble avoiding people until he reached the ground floor where he was met with a particularly annoying poltergeist by the name of Peeves. Deciding to avoid pointless debate, Nebu decided to simply banish the ghost toward a particularly cold region of hell for a few minutes until he was done with whatever errand Xerxes had for them.

"You're late." Xerxes said calmly. It wasn't meant to be aggressive, it was merely a statement.

"I had some trouble." Nebu replied equally calm, noting that Xerxes was wearing a large black fur coat. It was chilly outside, however he doubted it merited a fur coat. On the other hand he could have been using it as a way to somehow disguise himself. "Where's Amy?"

"Amy?" He said furrowing his brow a little. "You mean Celeste?"

"She hates being called that."

"Oh." Their speech patterns had been reduced to a staccato monotone with virtually no inflection within their voices.

After a few minutes of silence, another figure was approaching them from the direction of the castle. Within the darkness of the night, it was nearly impossible for anyone to notice the slight tension of muscles in both Nebu and Xerxes.

"Sorry, I had some trouble avoiding the prefects." Amy walked toward them disturbing the darkness with her voice. After being assured they were alone, the two boys relaxed their muscles and motioned for her to join them.

"I'm sure that having me lead the mission will be a bit unorthodox this time, however I assure you there's a good reason for this." Xerxes began in his airy monotone. "Follow me." With those two words the trio began walking into the forbidden forest taking slow careful steps to arouse the various nocturnal animals within. After arriving at a small glade, Xerxes made a few hand motions with which several runes began to glow around them before fading away. "This will prevent interruption." Amy nodded thoughtfully and looked over at Nebu who was busy scanning the surroundings. After being satisfied that there were no prying eyes, he finally faced Xerxes and crossed his hands.

"So?"

"The higher-ups have been quite interested in one of my research projects as of late." He began motioning to the precise arrangement of odd looking crystals with various runes inscribed in them. "It's called trans-planar gating, and it theoretically allows instantaneous movement without triggering the traditional alarms or wards against apparition, portkeys, brooms, floo, etc." Nebu watched attentively as he took in the ramification of this. Was he going to use them as guinea pigs? "Unfortunately it's still experimental." he said a bit wistfully, "But if we are going though with the invasion, something like this would grant us a huge advantage. Therefore, one of the reasons I'm with you is so I can test the device." He concluded. Looking over at Amy, Nebu noted her face was expressing combinations of anger, surprise, and indignation. He supposed, she was being treated a bit unfairly, and this revelation did not endear him to the shaper as well. "Despite what you may have concluded, you aren't exactly test subjects. At least I hadn't planned you to be ones." He said causing Nebu to arch one of his eyebrows. "Deploying four agents for reconnaissance was a bit excessive. The idea was that you would use this device to give you the ability to move around freely to participate in certain missions to keep your skills sharp. However, I wasn't expecting your first mission to be this early."

"Mission!" Amy exclaimed out loud. "What possible mission would we be doing in the middle of the bloody night?" A vestige of a smirk spread across his face, "It's still evening in Colombia."

It wasn't very often that Nebu managed to go to the tropics for an assignment. As a fire demon, he never really appreciated the humidity. Judging by the pained look on Amy's face, the nephilim wasn't thrilled by the weather either. Picking up a small round rock on the ground, Nebu channeled some of his magic into it causing it to give a faint reddish glow.

"What kind of people can live here?" Came an astonished voice from behind him.

"You get used to the climate after a while." Nebu replied, and after thinking about it added, "And the insects." There was a soft groan in response.

The duo continued walking across the jungle. The area they gated to was literally the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by dense foliage in an unknown country (Nebu wasn't even sure it was the right country, they could be in Asia for all he knew) left him feeling a bit edgy and he was some thankful Amy didn't try to strike up a conversation. As they kept getting more and more lost in the dense jungle he heard a sigh.

"How are we going to find her? We don't have a map or instructions. Our communicators won't sync for another hour. I don't suppose you have some kind of compass or something?" She asked with a slight hint of irritation.

"The girl we're looking for, she's a channeler isn't she?" Nebu replied thoughtfully. "I'm sure she's extra sensitive to demonic presences. If she's not dead yet, that is." He noted Amy flinched a bit at that.

"They won't kill her will they?" She asked with a note of worry in her voice.

"While I don't like to judge people I haven't met," he began coldly, "in my experience people like these will most likely wind up killing her." He felt the metal hanging on his neck grow cold at his words, as if it was angry at him.

"People like these?"

"We're in a country that has been torn apart by violence for the last 5 decades." Nebu said, "Fifty years ago, the assassination of one of the country's leaders lead to widespread conflict between the two opposed political parties that lasted a decade. The death toll ran within the hundreds of thousands. After the peace agreement was signed, several guerilla groups formed that, for one reason or another, opposed the government. As the two sides continued to fight intermittently over the next two decades, several powerful drug lords began asserting their power and adding to the conflict. Even know, fifty years after this whole thing started, the death toll is in the millions due to the rampant violence, execution, and massacres in the countryside as the villagers are caught in between the opposing sides of this conflict." He said in a tone that would have made Professor Binns proud. The content of the lecture seemed to faze him as much as cereal for breakfast, that is to say, not at all.

In response he received a small giggle. "I'm surprised you know so much about Colombia."

"It helps knowing how the other side thinks." He replied plainly. "People in places like these are fearful and react violently to anything out of place. They fear their own mortality so much, they act like crazed animals, biting at anything they perceive as a threat." He paused thoughtfully, then added, "It's not like Columbia is the only place where this is the case. Most of South America was caught in the struggle between the Soviet Union and United States, with the member countries suffering fates similar to this place." He frowned a bit, the first reaction he felt slip all day. "What people do to each other, it's not something that's easy on the eyes. In a sad way they're making our job easier." He felt a slight edge in his voice at that.

"So what, are you a human anthropologist?"

"Like I said, I like to know how the other side thinks."

They walked in silence for another few minutes.

"I'm curious," Amy began, "why do you keep wearing that cross?"

Nebu remained quiet for a while, not entirely sure how she knew or what exactly to say to her about it. After thinking it over he replied with the most obvious answer he could think of: "No one would believe a demon would ever wear a cross."

"So you just use it to fool people?" She said, somewhat suspiciously.

"It works." He replied bluntly. "Why do you wear yours?"

Like him, she seemed hesitant to answer. "A memento I guess." She said as if recalling the memories it contained. "When I first tried to master some of my powers, I tried to destroy the damn thing. But all that wound up happening is that it got all twisted and turned dark like that." She said while tracing the outline of the icon. Indeed, the metal was eroded and twisted into the shape of an upside-down misshapen cross with several smooth protrusions around it. It no longer truly resembled anything that Christians would wear. "Supposedly because of the improper spell, it was infused with dark energy and would be really hard to destroy. So I just figured I'd keep it."

He felt, she too, was keeping her secrets about her cross, however he felt there was no need to question it further. It was her problem after all.

Coming from a few miles away he felt the presence of several humans. He held up his hand, motioning for them to stop, as he closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Unlike Xerxes' ability to use his magic to scan his surroundings, Nebu's clairvoyance was much more primitive, however it got the job done, and it didn't require constant concentration like Xerxes did. Coming back to reality, he looked over at Amy, "There are several humans up ahead, most likely a small village."

"Is our target there?"

"I'm not sure." At their distance he could not make out any individual auras unless they were extremely powerful. Switching the pace up to a stealthy jog, they covered the distance required to reach the village in half an hour.

The village was alive with all sorts of activity. Despite it being near the dark woods that they had just traversed through, the village was bathed in light as several lamps, torches, and houses were lit to illuminate the area. It looked like a large bonfire was made in the center of the woods. The entire village was engulfed in commotion as many villagers ran between the various buildings, and attempted to avoid other hurried villagers. Several people were yelling, others were crying, a few people were barricading their houses and peeking comically from behind their windows.

"So, either there's a storm coming." Amy said taking out her wand. "Or this is jackpot."

Nebu nodded. "Can you use a disillusionment charm?"

"We don't learn that until our sixth year. And unlike you and Xerxes I'm not some magical prodigy." She said in a calm tone, her earlier curious and somewhat flippant nature gone.

Nebu sighed, and began to recite the incantation to forge his focus. Although he was working on switching to a more magically potent language such as Japanese, Latin, or Akkadian, he relied on his native Spanish for his abilities.

En las alas del fuego entreguen las palabras del dios.
El mensajero caído ahogue en las sombras humanas.
Re Magus

At the end of his incantation, dark flames erupted in Nebu's hand, and slowly took the form of a fairly large-sized ornate gun. It resembled a slightly enlarged desert eagle, however it was slightly more bulky with several runes around the outside of the gun. It looked more like a display piece than a functional gun due to the multiple ridges along the barrel and the slightly curved handle. The trigger looked slightly more sinister and the sight near the safety was more stylized than usual.

"You use handguns?" Amy asked as she looked over the runic designs.

"I create a wand as my focus in Hogwarts, however I see no need to hinder myself in combat. Handguns work just fine as both a weapon and as a focus." He said cocking the gun. With a smooth motion he brought the gun up to his head and closed his eyes.

Amy flashed her eyes upwards, "What are you,"

Nebu ignored her. "Oscuro."

There was a sharp crack as he pulled the trigger. He felt a tingling sensation, which meant he didn't screw up casting. Amy was still staring at him while trying really hard not to show her surprise and outrage.

"Did you really have to do that?" She said incredulously.

"With wands you have to memorize stupid motions that further complicate casting and slow you down. Using guns, I just focus the energy into the chamber and shoot." He said off handedly. "Your turn."

She squirmed a bit but acquiesced. "Just don't shoot me in the head."

Without response, he leveled the pistol at her shoulder. "Oscuro." With another crack and a small flash, Amy's form dimmed to being near transparent. She frowned a bit and then nodded the go-ahead.

Holding their respective weapons at their sides the duo descended towards the village in silence. At the outskirts they slowed their pace from a jog to a brisk walk. After tossing away his pebble he began, "We'll split up." Nebu instructed quietly, "If we find the target, send a message using the communicators locally. If you're in trouble send a flare up. According to Xerxes, the next gate should appear somewhere around here in thirty minutes. We need to extract her by that time."

"What is our Engagement Protocol?" Amy asked.

"Engage with caution." He dictated. "Shoot to kill."

He thought he saw her nod before her form vanished from his line of sight. Walking quickly, hand carefully holding his gun, Nebu began to weave between the alleyways of the village. The fact that half the village was in a state of hysteria helped most people ignore the fact that a ghostlike boy was walking around their village, it also slightly hindered his movement as he tried his best to dodge every other person who was running around as if they were on fire.

Xerxes' briefing was, in fact, brief, and he received no information on who he was looking for. Although he had tried to send out a wave of demonic energy to attempt to warn her that they were coming, he wasn't sure exactly how to convey it, or if she could understand.

The villagers could be broken up into two groups. The first, mostly composed of women, had members who were sobbing uncontrollably and running away from something as if they were about to be eaten. They tripped over the various chairs and pots that adorned the simple city streets on the way to their little hovels before they slammed the door shut causing the walls to tremble. The second group was mostly composed of men. And they all ran with vigor, as if barbarians charging toward a battle for blood and honour. Their screaming was reminiscent of animals that were hit with a sudden spell of immense bloodlust. Most carried farming instruments: pitchforks, scythes, machete blades, a handful were carrying torches or clubs. Another set carried hunting rifles and shotguns. Mentally, Nebu catalogued what kind of weapons his potential opponents were using and their numbers and order. He was in an unknown territory and knowing how to get out would be very helpful.

Turning another corner, he noticed the streets began to expand in width and the old adobe buildings evolved into larger brick built ones. After following several people he soon found the street that lead out onto the village square.

At the center of the village he was treated to a bizarre scene. Surrounded by several ornately decorated buildings was the paved village square. The plaza was flooded with people with most of the villagers gathered around the center. The torchlight cast their shadows toward the outer reaches of the plaza concealing Nebu quite well. In the center of the plaza sevral figures could be made out. One of them was an old man with a grey beard who, by his somewhat formal clothing seemed to resemble the mayor, or at least the village elder. Flanking him were two well built men wearing heavy black clothes which obscured most of their body. One was carrying a torch while the other was wielding a heavy axe. To the right of the trio stood a middle aged man with short hair, his face appeared defiant despite the fact that he was staring down at the floor and not at his opponents. He was wearing a white shirt as well blue jeans, and his left hand was placed on the shoulders of the woman next to him who, Nebu gathered, was his wife. The wife was wearing a light blue dress which wasn't very fancily embroidered. Her face was buried in her hands and she was shaking, although still maintaining her composure enough to remain standing.

Slightly offset behind the couple was a young girl, no more than 12 years of age. The girl was visibly scared, shuddering, despite the fact that she was bound by fairly thick rope. The white blouse that she was wearing contrasted heavily with her pitch black hair which smoothly ran down her back. While Nebu couldn't make out too well in the flickering light of the torches, she seemed to have been roughed up before being paraded in front of everyone. The striking thing about her were her eyes. They seemed to flow between multiple shades of colors, as if they were reflecting the light being cast on her. They began at a light cerulean shade and then slowly followed the gradient to a maroon color, before flowing to pitch black. Despite the fact that she was probably scared out of her wits being placed in front of her peers like that, she still managed to radiate an air of calm akin to being in the center of the storm.

Carefully, Nebu shot of a burst of energy toward the girl. If she could feel it somehow, then it confirmed that she was the intended target. True to his predictions, she immediately snapped out of her trance and stared toward his direction. He wasn't sure if she could see him or not, however her eyes bored straight into his and shifted to plain black matching his own.

Nebu! Amy's voice came over the communicator. I think I found our girl.

I know. He replied plainly, noting the proximity of her aura to his location. I think it's her too.

Do you have a plan? She asked with some worry in her voice. We don't have too much time.

As Nebu scanned his surrounding he slowly he began to look for ways for the two of them to get the girl away from the village as fast as possible. As Amy said, they were low on time, which meant he had to get, creative.

You're a melee specialist, right? Nebu asked.

What's the plan? She affirmed.

On my signal go down there and hack you way out through the crowd with her. He said while beginning the motions for his next technique. Leave the rest of them to me.

Slowly approaching the crowd, Nebu whispered "Finite Incantatem." to disable his obscuring charm. He felt his hands grow hot as the runes which normally calmly adorned his skin began to glow a dangerous shade of red. The air began to move as he began to radiate thermal energy. Several people turned around wondering what was approaching them and gasped. Closing his eyes and raising his hand toward the sky, Nebu focused the energy he was gathering and yelled: "Hellfire!"

Several geysers of jet-black flame shot out of the ground incinerating anyone who was standing on the epicenter. The tips of the geysers quickly exploded shooting out a shockwave of his hellfire killing, burning, and igniting the surroundings. The gathered crowd exploded as people began stumbling, screaming, and running around in attempts to either hurt him or to quench the flames.

Amy! Now! He yelled to her. Suddenly across from him on the rooftop a figure appeared out of the shadows. Spreading her majestic black wings the silver-blonde nephilim gracefully descended toward the center of the square. "Protego Radius." He heard Amy yell as a light blue cylinder surrounded the girl in time for several bullets to bounce harmlessly off the shield. Bringing his gun up, Nebu channeled his energy into the gun's breach to prepare his next spell. With another sharp crack a small red beam of energy left the muzzle and expanded into a thin red crescent. His Igni Lamina technique channeled some of his energy into a thin wedge of very hot fire which was easily able to cut through bone, wood, and sometimes thin sheets of metal. His first shot managed to cut down three of the people charging at him, the one leading the charge managed to get the top part of his torso separated from the still moving lower half creating a gruesome scene. The two men flanking him managed to get away with fatal cuts that resulted in either instantaneous death or severe blood loss. Using a saber tucked into her robes, Amy had gracefully cut down the three men on the platform, and was already guiding the dumbstruck family toward his position. Every so often she would bring up the saber and separate some unlucky person's limbs from their body. Nebu fired several more shots, each catching those people still attempting to hinder their movement and promptly having them join the growing collection of corpses on the ground. Within a few minutes of the fight Amy and Nebu managed to finally meet up toward the edge of the square.

"She can speak a little English." Amy informed him as she caught her breath. "Her parents can't though."

"I can't maintain control of the hellfire for much longer." Nebu said as he felt the torrent of force from his creation wriggling out of his control. "We need to leave."

"Where are we going?" The dark-haired girl asked with a strong Colombian accent.

"We're leaving." Replied Nebu. Already beginning to walk toward the street he mentally marked earlier as their exit route. "I'm Nebu."

"Thank you." The young girl replied, her voice still very shaky, "I'm Isabel."

"We all have to stick together from here on out." Amy said. "Concentrated we'll be harder to stop."

Nebu nodded as he pushed back some of his magic so he would at least look somewhat presentable and not scare their new attachés.

"Isabel, le llamaste?" The father said in a very worried tone still looking over him and Amy. He was asking her if she called to them, meaning the father knew of her powers and didn't wish her harm. That meant that the parents were not an immediate danger, however he far from trusted them. The girl shook her head with a bewildered look on her face. Then she turned her eyes on Nebu again, which slightly unnerved him. "No le llamaste, más que él me llamó." She replied hesitantly trying to explain to her parents what happened. She did indeed understand him when he tried to contact her earlier.

Ignoring the chatting between the girl and her parents, Nebu returned his focus on his surroundings paying close attention to any humans that might choose this moment to get in his way. Judging by the chaos surrounding them, however, he figured most of them were too busy recovering from their intervention. The few people that had stumbled into their path usually managed to run away fast enough before Nebu had to shoot them. Behind them, the village square had already been scorched by his hellfire as it began to die out. Unfortunately hellfire was somewhat of an advanced technique, and without full control of it, it would not remain long in the human realm.

The first 'resistance' came in the form of a rifle bullet whizzing by them and striking the wall of one of the nearby buildings, expelling a small puff of white dust in the process. Wheeling quickly, Nebu noticed one human hiding behind an overturned wooden table while reloading his rifle. In a smooth motion he brought up his pistol, and using a bit of extra energy fired two bullets into the table. The force of the bullets cracked the table in two, revealing his target which slumped to the ground as his blood began to soak into the sand. Although the exchange was brief, the husband pulled his wife down to avoid being hit, while Isabel grabbed Nebu's wrist and circled behind him. Nebu winced a bit, since she was digging into his skin with her nails, however he couldn't blame her.

Twelve years ago, when he was living in a foster house in Spain, his demonic nature began to manifest itself in ways that did not endear him to the humans he was living with. Just like this girl, he was ostracized, feared, and eventually almost killed. It was something he had dealt with already, and now it was something she would have to deal with. The metal on his neck cooled again, reminding him to end his broodings and return his attention to reality.

"Stick close." He told Isabel, as she let him out of her grasp. She nodded slowly, however her eyes were still fixed on him, which unnerved him a little. Although he wasn't sure about what channelers were capable of, he got the feeling that she was able to somehow understand his thoughts, the notion of which did not appeal to him. Regardless, when he offered her his hand, she placed her small palm into his, accepting his role as the leader and assuming hers as the follower.

When the surrounding jungle was visible at the edge of the village, they began to speed up, if they managed to escape before the village decides to give pursuit then they would be relatively safe, since there were only a few of them, and would be harder to find in the dense vegetation. It wasn't until he heard gunshots in the distance did they slow their pace.

"Amy!" Nebu yelled out to his teammate. "Do you hear anything?"

"Gunshots," she replied, listening to the soft cracks they heard in the distance, "automatic weapons. Those aren't the villagers Nebu!"

Looking at the two scared parents, who seemed to be whispering something rapidly, as well as at the confused expression on Isabel's face, Nebu began to consider his options. Going through the forest was now a dangerous option, since too much stray fire may bog them down while they avoid taking casualties. The village was a possibility, however charging into a mob full of people whose relatives he just killed would not earn them a warm welcome either.

"We're pulling back." He finally decided. This earned him a glare from Amy as Isabel explained to her parents the situation.

"Vamos a regresar?" Asked the father incredulously. "Nos matarán allí!"

Nebu, however, wasn't in the mood to be reminded of the consequences of his decision. Tugging Isabel's arm he began speeding up in the direction of the small adobe houses and toward the still-ongoing chaos of the village. She was squeezing his hand a little harder at this point, which made sense considering he was about to drag her to the same place they just escaped from, however she kept her fear in check and followed them as their pace accelerated.

The gunfire began to intensify as the guerilla soldiers began to approach the village. Nebu could already make out some of the words they were shouting. It seems as if they had met with a military patrol and were rapidly approaching the village to use it for an escape route.

"Are they stupid?" asked Amy as she drew her wand, "They're going to involve the entire village,"

"That's the whole point." he coldly cut her off as he gripped his gun a little tighter in the event he had to use it. "They want to bring the whole village in. Escape is easier if the surroundings are in a state of panic or disorder." Amy shook her head as she continued walking.

Within minutes the gunfight had caught up to them. Between the cursing and constant automatic fire, it became very difficult for any of them to talk.

"So why are we splitting up?" Amy yelled out as they were hiding in the alley between two buildings while gunfire erupted around them.

"There's not a lot of cover for all of us to be effectively shielded. I'll take Isabel, you take the parents." He ordered Amy. After sensing a lull in the gunfire, he tugged Isabel's hand as the two of them dashed across the street toward the closest shelter. Gunfire resumed around them, and Nebu heard Isabel whimper. He, too, was on edge after a bullet whizzed a few inches away from his left cheek. Firing off several shots in the opposite direction, Nebu dove in the alcove behind what looked like a small pottery store and pulled his companion down with him to get her out of the line of fire.

"Are you all right?" He asked brushing himself off after she got up. She answered by merely looking back toward Amy and her parents. Amy had a slightly harder job since she was guarding two people and the gunfire resumed in torrents after the first crossing.

Although it would be futile to take on all the combatants, Nebu thought, he could at least lower the volume of fire. Bringing up the pistol he was holding on to, he channeled some of his energy into the breach, causing the runes to glow bright red. Isabel turned around and looked wide-eyed as Nebu prepared to use his spell.

"Imbera Trucidi." Nebu fired several shots into the sky which looked like black fireworks. Although they were effectively giving his position away, they were also seeking shots. After finding a target, they shot down at an incredibly rapid speed, killing whomever they targeted. Various soldiers started shouting when the bullets landed, but the gunfire died down just enough for Amy and Isabel's parents to go through. "We have to move!" Nebu barked and pulled Isabel up. They had given up their position and would be pinned if they didn't take advantage of their mobility right now.

As they sprinted past the gunfire he could feel her pulse race at levels alarmingly high for a human. By now her body must have been pumped full of so much adrenaline that it was taxing her ability to function on any level beyond fight or flight.

"Felipe!" Nebu felt Isabel's hand constrict when they heard the female voice screaming from several yards behind him. Nebu had to drag Isabel behind cover before she got them both killed by standing in the middle of the road.

"Protego!" Amy's shield charm created a visible blue wall in front of the alleyway where she was hiding. Instantaneously the gunfire redirected toward the shield.

The Father's dead Nebu! I'm sorry but I think I managed to get scratched too. I'll draw their fire while I heal up, go on ahead and secure a path to the gate! Nebu took two seconds to register her command before peeking out behind the barrel that shielded them. Next to the blue-lit alleyway, the body of Isabel's father was sprawled on the ground. His torso had been torn apart by bullets and was bleeding heavily, dyeing his shirt and jeans in a dark maroon color. His skin was pale, accenting the growing bald spot on the top of his head.

Nebu heard a sharp gasp behind him, and reacted in time to push Isabel down before the next volley of bullets killed her as well. Her face had gone as pale as her father's, and her body was unresponsive to his calls. He could hear her softly mumbling, asking her dad to answer her. "I'm sorry." He said trying to somehow placate her. Although analytically her dad wasn't a priority, he still had no intention of separating the girl from her parents. Now, his teammate was injured and Isabel was breaking down.

Nebu. Amy's voice came over the comm. Her mom's catatonic, I can't get her to move at all. I can move her but she'll be a hindrance if we take her with us.

Nebu thought quietly for a moment. If they abandon the mother as well, then there is no doubt that Isabel will most likely lose her mind. She's already having a severe case of shell shock, and the repercussions of losing two parents could kill her when she gets off the battlefield. On the other hand, their chances of survival would be much lower if they were carrying a statue around with them. There's a warehouse 100 meters from here. Nebu finally decided. We'll regroup there, can you make it?

I think so. Came the slightly hesitant reply.

"We need to go!" Nebu tried to urge the still-crying girl. Seeing that she was still unresponsive, he sighed, "No hay tiempo para llorar ahora." He said in his native language, making out his ever-present Castilian accent. "Saldremos primero, después podremos llorar." He avoided speaking in Spanish earlier, so he could listen in to the family's candid conversations. However, now he was hoping that if she heard something familiar, she would snap out of her grief long enough for them to leave this place. True enough, she quieted down a bit, and lifted her head toward him. Accepting the reluctant sign of acknowledgement, Nebu pulled her up and began to guide her through the bullet ridden alleyways and streets.

By the time that they had arrived at their rendezvous point, Amy was already there. She snapped her wand at Nebu, however she quickly lowered it. Instantly Isabel broke free of Nebu's grasp and sprinted towards her mother, and grabbed her in a tight hug as if she was holding on to the side of a cliff for her life. Her mother seemed reanimated by that and returned the hug as both women broke down in bitter tears. Leaving the pair alone, Nebu turned his attention to Amy, who now had a small red stain near her right ribs.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"It stings a bit." She said, seemingly without any pain. With that he nodded and sat down. Closing his eyes he began to meditate and re-focus his demon energy so as to not lose control of it. He also took the opportunity to use his clairvoyance to determine just how many more humans there were.

The four of them sat there quietly, as Isabel and her mother tried to comfort each other while sobbing quietly. Amy seemed slightly disturbed by the sight, Nebu noted. Despite the conflict, the number of humans outside seemed to be increasing rather than the opposite. And more were arriving from both edges of the village. Furthermore, the gate was scheduled to open in fourteen minutes and they were stuck 

inside a dark warehouse in the middle of the village, surrounded by two armed militant groups shooting at each other.

Periodically some stray bullet would pierce the walls of the building, creating a small shaft of fading yellow light that fell on the floor. "There are more of them coming." Amy reported, after lowering the wand from her ear. "Judging by what I picked up, there is a guerilla base nearby, and the soldiers called in for backup from a nearby army base. This is only going to get worse." She finished with a slight edge in her voice. Nebu could feel the screws around them tightening. They were now stuck in the middle of a developing battle between guerillas and the Colombian Army. By this point, he was sure, the rest of the villagers were all caught in the crossfire and killed. He somehow doubted either side wanted to take their chances with the armed mob that was formed to kill Isabel so they most likely opted to rid themselves of the third party.

He was awoken from his thoughts by Isabel. "You know Spanish?" she asked in a quiet shaky voice.

"I lived in a foster home in Spain." Nebu said quietly, recalling his last few days at that residence.

"Did you leave or were you…" She asked him innocently, however it pulled Nebu onto a dangerous train of thought, that he quickly ended by pushing his memories down along with his anger. She must have sensed this as well because she quickly added, "You don't have to answer."

"When I was four years old, I started hearing voices. It was like I could hear some invisible people talking in my head. But no matter where I looked I couldn't find them." She sighed, sitting absentmindedly on the floor, "When I asked my parents they were scared, and made me promise not to tell anyone. So I tried my best to ignore the voices, but even after a few years it wouldn't go away." Nebu sat quietly as she recounted her childhood, noting the fact that she was talking to the ground rather than to anyone in particular. "One day I finally met one of the voices I kept hearing. I think you people call him an imp? He said he ran away from his master, and wanted to hide out somewhere where they wouldn't find him. So I offered to let him stay at our house."

"You weren't scared of him?" Amy asked.

"He was funny." She replied, forcing a weak smile. "He told me about the demon realms, about how they all came out on some nights and played tricks on people. He told stories about other places far away from our village." She seemed nostalgic mentioning her impish friend. "One day, my friend, Lina, came to our house to play, and she saw me talking to someone." Her mood changed then. A hint of bitterness crept into her voice. "I told her about him, but she didn't believe me. She told her friends that I was talking to myself, and they told their parents. They thought," she paused her stifling a sob, "that I was possessed. They wanted to exorcise me!" At this she broke down in tears again.

Amy walked over and placed her hand on Isabel's shoulder. "It's fine." She said soothingly, shifting back to her friendly demeanor. "This is why we got sent out here: to get you out of this place somewhere safe." She knelt down to eye level, and lifted Isabel's head to face her own. "Our friend will create a gate for us to escape through in a few minutes. We'll be long gone then." With that Isabel seemed to calm down a bit.

Nebu was quiet throughout the exchange, absorbing the words of the young girl. While she was talking her eyes changed color to a light gray that resembled those of her mother's. She must have reverted back to her original color by then. His mind, however, was lost in his memories from twelve years prior. Sighing, he spoke reluctantly, "When I was five, like you, my abilities began to manifest. However, I didn't have the luxury of keeping them to myself." He kept his tone even and avoided being drawn in by any memories as if he was merely a spectator in his own life, "When my keepers tried to somehow deal with me, I got scared and lost control of my powers. I ran away shortly after." Mindful of the presence of the cross on his neck, he opted to end the story at that.

She was still staring at the floor, lost in her own memories. "Things will be different soon." He said out loud, hoping it would bring her out of her semi-catatonic state. "One day you won't have to be afraid of people like these." Out of the corner of his eye he noted that Amy nodded in agreement.

Their moment of tranquility ended when someone began pounding on the doors of the warehouse. "Hay personas allí." said a masculine voice from behind the door. Leveling the gun on the door, he let his clairvoyance envelop his surroundings. There was a group of soldiers at the front door, several were going around the back and encircling them. They were trapped.

"How do we exit?" Amy asked drawing her wand and losing all emotion she once had in her voice.

"We're surrounded." He said, leveling his gun at the door. "Not much choice but to shoot our way out. The gate opens in 2 minutes. We just need to make our way there and we're fine."

They both nodded and leveled their respective weapons at the front door. Isabel, regaining her composure, grabbed her mom's hand and led her behind him and Amy. They all nodded, then Amy brought her wand down in a sharp motion and yelled "Reducto" blasting apart the wooden door, using the shock of the explosion to push the soldiers back, clearing them a path.

Following suit, Nebu channeled some of his energy into 3 orbs of fire which he tossed at the remaining soldiers who had not been knocked down. Using the momentum, they sprinted outside. Gunfire began to pour around them, whoever was shooting at this point no longer cared about who they were shooting, but rather that they were shooting at something that was not a friend.

Block by block, building by building, Amy and Nebu began to mow a path through the remaining soldiers. Most of which were converging on the sound of screaming and gunfire. It looked like the guerillas had mostly lost, and the soldiers were merely sweeping for survivors at this point. Both Isabel and her mother were slowing down, their bodies were most likely not used to exerting this much effort under continued stress. Despite the labored breathing and stumbling steps, however, they were keeping up with him.

There were only a few seconds left on the clock, before the gate opened. But on the battlefield, a few seconds makes all the difference.

"Mama!" He heard Isabel scream from behind him. Turning his head around he saw in slow motion, as her mom's face contorted in agony, as several bullets exited from her chest. Suddenly she let go of Isabel's hand and tumbled on the dust behind her, dead. Although he had already reached cover, Isabel was still a few steps behind him, and he wasn't close enough to pull her in like last time. Turning around on the spot, she sprinted toward her mother's body.

"Isabel!" Nebu screamed out after her. "Damn it!"In seconds he was sprinting through the pouring gunfire ignoring his logical misgivings about getting shot. In the next few moments the world slowed. Every bullet seemed to leave a trail in the air as it whizzed by him. He witnessed in perfect detail, as another burst of automatic fire tore into Isabel's body. Every bullet caused her to shudder from the impact as a fresh burst of blood flew out like a small geyser. He watched helplessly as every one of the 10 bullets pierced her from her leg to her thigh, and finally ending the stream in her upper left abdomen. She lurched forward, and fell to her knees, her body trembling. Despite everything, she was still not dead when he slid up to her, kicking up a cloud of dust. Her body fell obediently into his outstretched arms landing softly and carefully as if they were dancing.

Enchanteresse de la nuit,
Envelope nous de ta protection;
Sur la scene le rideau tombe-
Shadow Veil!

Somewhere toward the instinctive part of his awareness, he saw Amy create a wall of darkness around the three of them. However his attention was focused toward the girl he was holding in his arms. Her white blouse was drenched in blood by this point, and Nebu could feel the warm liquid flowing through his fingers and dripping onto the ground. Her irises were quivering, and her breathing was shallow and rapid. By this point she must have been feeling immeasurable pain, and unable to do anything because her body was slowly giving up on her. Her lips were losing their color as she mouthed something silently. Nebu supported her head with one of his hands, letting her smooth black hair flow through his fingers.

"The world will change." He whispered softly while holding her hand. He was cursing himself mentally. She smiled weakly, something which caused her eyes to twinkle even more. "I promise," he said, trying to keep the harshness out of his voice, "I will change it." The last of the blood drained out of her face. Her pulse became more and more faint until he could no longer feel it. Her eyes lost all of their color as they became dumbly transfixed onto some point in the sky. Her body became cold, and her limbs slumped to the ground.

She was dead.

Placing Isabel's body on the ground, Nebu felt something hot streak down his cheek. He wasn't sure why but his entire body was trembling, his fingers were curling so tightly that his nails dug into his palm causing it to bleed. His teeth were slowly grinding against one another as he gritted his mouth to prevent himself from screaming. He began to grow hot, as if lava was now coursing thought every vein. His hair seemed to stand on end as if it was charged by some electric current. His vision began to blur as he felt every bone in his body to shift and twist, growing, transforming him into something more feral, more bloodthirsty. A sudden rush of energy, rage, and euphoria swept through his body, drowning out the cold sensation from the metal on his neck.

These humans, Nebu thought, these animals were going to regret ever setting foot in this village. The last conscious thing he remembered was his mouth curling into a satanic grin as a low growl exited his throat.

"And then he shoved his wand up the Troll's nose!" Ron finished, mimicking the motion with his own wand.

Ginny snorted, and everyone else laughed at Ron's account of his first year's adventures, which all seemed more and more epic every time he told them, usually ending with him saving the day somehow.

"I hope this won't be on the test." said one of the first years, still braving to stay up with the older half of the house as they reminisced on their more 'innocent' years in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the fact that it was almost dawn, Ginny thought, they had all stayed up the night, sipping butterbeer and catching up on their summer activities (apparently Harry was looking for his own place to live now).

Hermione laughed a bit at the first year, probably still remembering herself when she first came, and said in her 'professor' voice, "We'll be expecting you to calculate the distance the wand needs to travel before the troll is knocked out." As the first-year's eyes widened at her comment, Ginny couldn't stifle her laughter, and started cracking up, joining her were just about everyone else in the house. Luckily he didn't take any offense and, accepting the joke at his expense, started laughing too.

After they all settled down and Ron launched into another epic tale of courage from their earlier years, Ginny sat back on the couch in front of the fireplace and felt the comfy fabric welcome her in. Her eyes were already closing, and she wasn't entirely sure how she was going to get to class on time tomorrow, but she enjoyed sitting in their common room by the fireplace with everyone without having to worry about who would die tomorrow.

She leaned her head back and let it sink slowly into the warm couch. To her left, Harry was grinning as Ron was retelling their adventures in the forbidden forest from their second year, however his right hand was reassuringly holding hers. Truth be told, she had long since come to terms with the horrible events of her first year in Hogwarts, however Harry was still mindful of when her thick headed brother would bring up some bad memories. She squeezed his hand, letting him know she was ok, and listened attentively as Ron began describing Aragog to the first-years.

It wasn't until several minutes into the story that she heard someone sprinting down the stairs from the girls' dormitory. She shot up when she saw two firs year girls stumble down from the stairs, breathless. Their faces, while they were catching their breath, looked like they had just been told that they were expelled.

"What's wrong?" Ginny shot up and walked over to the two breathless girls, her reflexes from last year getting the better of her. Her hand was already on her wand when she walked up to them and her voice, despite her best efforts, was a little shaky.

"It, It's Naomi!" One of them stuttered, between deep breaths, "She's, something's wrong with her."

"Hermione!" Ginny said turning to the brunette witch who was already walking toward them with a stern expression on her face.

"Let's hurry." She said, her voice switching to a commanding tone that Ginny was sure she picked up during her 'travels' with Harry last year. "Tell us what's wrong on the way."

As they were running up to the girl's dormitories, the short haired brunette, Alyssa began explained what happened to Naomi. "I couldn't sleep." She said recovering from almost tripping up a stair. "And I heard someone twisting a lot in their bed, and I thought they must be having a tough time too. So I got up to see who it was."

Her friend, a somewhat tall first year with dreadlocks named Alana, continued, "That's when she woke me up."

"And you both went over to check Naomi?" Ginny asked, reaching the top of the staircase.

"Yeah." Replied Alana, "At first I thought she was having a really bad nightmare," she said with her American accent, "but when we tried to wake her up," she paused uncomfortably.

The four of them entered the first-year's room to find the traditional set up with 4 beds each with a trunk at the bottom of the bed. One of the beds was untouched, and two were unmade. Ginny assumed that's where Alana and Alyssa slept. The fourth bed was occupied by a young pale blonde girl.

Ginny's eyes widened when she finally adjusted to the darkness of their room. The blonde girl, Naomi, was wrenching and flailing in her bed, something which made Ginny slightly sick for some reason. She looked over at Hermione, who was frowning, however showed no sign of discomfort. Inwardly Ginny was glad she could rely on her friend to keep a cool head.

"We need to bring her to the hospital wing." Hermione finally said. "I'm worried that if I try to do anything I might make it worse." Ginny nodded, and in tandem with Hermione walked over to the girl's bed, and lifted the thrashing girl out. It took them several tries, the girl adamantly resisted anyone touching her, and Ginny managed to dodge a few fairly close punches before they managed to somehow restrain her enough to bring her down the stairs.

As they began their slowed walk with their captive down the stairs, Ginny found herself lost in thoughts that very much scared her. "What do you think could do this?" She whispered to Hermione, somewhat afraid to hear the answer. Could someone have attacked her? Was it the death eaters?

The older girl's lips didn't move for a while, but Hermione seemed to be thinking it over very carefully, something which gave her the chills. Disliking the silence, she spoke up, "You don't think it could have been,"

"No." Hermione answered definitively guessing her thoughts and somewhat scaring her with the hint of vehemence in her voice. In all fairness, she was somewhat relieved that Hermione wasn't considering it a possibility. Readjusting her grip on the girl they entered the common room which was now clear save for Ron and Harry who were both staring anxiously at them. Ron's eyes quickly widened as he gaped at thrashing girl.

Ginny couldn't help but snap at him. "Are you going to gawk at us all day or are you going to help us, Ronald?" She said, switching somewhat into their mother's tone, one she had gotten well at imitating. Stuttering, Ron stumbled out of the couch followed by Harry as they grabbed the thrashing girl.

"Oi, what's wrong with her?" Ron said trying to prevent Naomi from punching him in the eye as she struggled to free herself. "It looks like the Cruciatus."

"We're out of range if anyone cast it on her." Hermione finally spoke up.

"Then what is it?"

"Poison?" Hermione suggested. "I was thinking about it on the way here. It doesn't seem like she is under any kind of magical stress so I'm assuming that it's poison. Although I have no idea what kind it is."

"We need to get her to see Madam Pomfrey now. We'll discuss this later." Harry commanded after helping Ron with Naomi. Ginny mainly remained quiet during the exchange as she watched how the 'Golden Trio' managed to work so well together: calm, coordinated(well except for Ron), and efficient. It took that kind of teamwork for them to overcome the challenges they faced throughout their lives and it looked like it never went away.

The four of them made their way through the empty corridors of the Gryffindor tower through several floors of ever-shifting marble staircases until they finally came up to the door of the Hospital Wing. 

Without any sense of decorum Ron merely pushed through the door like a bull and bellowed. "Madam Pomfrey!"

Ginny rolled her eyes at him, as a stern looking elderly woman walked into the room wearing blue robes with a white apron, carrying several potions. "What is it this time Mr. Weasely?" She asked in a somewhat tired voice. Within seconds however, she noticed the girl they were carrying and dropped the tray of potions. "What's the meaning of this? Is this some sort of prank?" She asked shrilly while running over to them.

"We don't know." stuttered Ron, while handing her over to the matron. "We just found her, and she was acting like this."

"Help me get her to a bed." Harry and Ron moved instinctively at the order, and deposited her to the nearest bed without hesitation.

"Call Professor Slughorn, I may need help brewing an antidote." She ordered while using her magic to bind the girl to the bed. Ron, without complaint, was out the door in seconds.

Ginny somewhat admired how they handled the situation: calmly, without wasted word or motion. Following Harry and Hermione she stepped away from the bed and sat down on the nearest bench. Hermione had her eyes fixed intently on Naomi's bed, most likely still trying to figure out the nature of her condition. She almost jumped when Harry placed his hand on her shoulder. "She'll be fine." He said in a soft voice. "Relax."

Ginny sighed, in spite of everything, Harry was able to remain calm. She felt her muscles unclench as she took a breath to calm herself. She let herself slide back into Harry's arms, and trying to at least feign a smile. He nodded and brought her so that she could lie her head on his shoulder. It was late, and after running down to the hospital wing, she felt her body start giving out on her. Her eyes became droopy, and within a few seconds she let them close. Harry would take care of things, she thought.

With the feeling returning to her legs, Amy finally stood up. The sight in front of her, however made her legs wobble again. Finally she righted herself, and taking several unsure steps, made her way toward Nebu. The boy was in the center of the painting she felt herself walking through. Having exhausted all possible targets for his rage, it seemed like he was finally returning to normal. Clouds of black smoke rose as he was undergoing, what looked like, a very painful transformation.

Walking over the various scattered body parts lying around she finally reached, the now human-looking boy who looked like he just woke up after being passed out for a while. He slowly stood up, and Amy could hear as every bone in his body protested the motion. He winced a little, however he righted himself. Then, slowly, he began looking at his surroundings.

The scene around them was something out of a horror movie. There were bodies, more correctly body parts, sprayed all over the ground. Corpses were everywhere, on the rooftops, in he shattered windows, impaled to walls, and hanging from trees. One particular soldier, Amy remembered, had various body parts burned to a crisp while he screamed and begged for mercy. His charred remains managed to find themselves embedded into the wall of one of the buildings.

The tan dirt that used to cover the road turned dark crimson from all of the blood that was spilled on it. The white adobe turned a particularly bright shade of scarlet. No matter where Amy turned her head the color seemed to have become a shade of red, as if she was wearing tinted glasses. The only thing, surprisingly that was not covered in red was Nebu, who, like her, was taking in his surroundings. Despite everything, he showed nothing that even resembled an emotion as he looked over his working. His eyes, which were blazing red earlier, were now completely void of any colour.

"How long was I out for?" He asked in a raspy voice.

After processing his words for several seconds she finally answered, "At least an hour." He took that in without reacting before he returned to scanning the surroundings. "You don't remember?" She asked carefully.

"When I transform, I lose most of my higher brain functions." He replied simply. "What about Xerxes and the gate?"

"I told him we were having problems getting to it, so he will reopen it when I call him." She summed up, wincing a bit as she felt the pain return to her arm.

"Did you elaborate?" He asked.

"No." She kept her voice level blocking any and all emotions that were going through her head

"You should tell him to open one now." With one last look he began to walk toward Isabel's body. "There's nothing else for us to do here."

Using her communicator, which was now able to connect to the one Xerxes had, she told him to open a gate at their location. Within seconds, a large blue shimmering disk appeared, beckoning them to go through it.

Nebu reappeared, carrying Isabel's body over his shoulder. "Are you all right?" Nebu asked, looking down at her arm. She carefully lowered the sleeve of her robe to cover up the bleeding, which was mostly over.

"Fine." She lied and followed him through the gate.

They stepped through the gate one at a time, without looking back at the ruined village. Amy immediately shuddered as the cold Scotland air blew around her body. She was already used to the tropical air of Colombia.

"I take it the mission was a failure." Amy heard Xerxes ask as he walked up to them. The glow of the gate faded as they were left in the twilight of the Forbidden Forest.

"We were caught in a firefight between local guerillas and the Colombian army. The girl and her family didn't make it." Nebu reported with a somewhat tired voice.

"What about the village?"

"No survivors."

Xerxes sighed. "I suppose that's for the best then. An insignificant village caught in the crossfire is par for the course in that country." She noted that neither of them expressed any sign of emotion describing the massacre she had just witnessed.

Nebu nodded and placed the girl down at his feet. "Think you can help me bury her here?"

"Why here?" Xerxes asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"No reason." Nebu sighed looking down at the body.

Xerxes sighed too as he looked over the bullet-ridden body. "Your partner, Naomi, was carried off to the hospital wing. She looked really sick."

Nebu suddenly tensed at that. "What? Why?"

"I have no idea."

Within seconds Nebu's body was tense and alert. His hair became slightly rigid as hot air began circling his body. She began to smell the same hint of sulfur she did when he transformed in Colombia.

"Take care of things here." He growled and in a flash started running toward the castle.

"Wait Nebu!" She yelled, attempting to keep up with him, however the instant she started to move she felt her body lurch and her throat constrict. She felt herself cough a couple times which caused her throat to dry out every time she coughed. The inside of her mouth tasted like a penny, and there was a small pool of blood in front of her face. Standing up slowly she felt the pain in her arm start again.

"Just what exactly happened over there," Xerxes spoke softly, "that would merit you using those powers?" Amy shook her head, clearing out her head from the increasing nausea and stood up slowly. "Don't bother following him." Xerxes said, this time more definitively. "It would be quite suspicious if three new students and one returning, each from a different house, suddenly started working together."

"No less suspicious than a student from Slytherin visiting a Gryffindor." She retorted, feeling somewhat angry at her partner.

"Ahh, that." He said in a somewhat amused tone. "Naomi, his partner, also happens to be his little sister." Amy looked up at him, he seemed serious at least.

"You should rest. It's been a long night, and you're in quite bad shape." He said calmly before turning around and heading toward the clearing with the gating materials and Isabel. "I'll handle clean-up here and I'm at least half certain our leader wouldn't do some kind of stupid stunt."

Amy rolled her eyes. Xerxes didn't exactly know what Nebu was capable of. She was sure that he would be at least somewhat worried if he'd known what happened in Colombia. She shuddered as images of Nebu's demonic form ripping a person in two like paper came flooding into her head. There was one thing Xerxes was right about; she was done for the night. Sighing, she began to take slow steps toward the castle, making sure no one would notice a bloodied girl wandering around on the grounds in the middle of the night.

She wasn't sure how long she was sleeping for, however Ginny's peaceful nap on Harry's shoulder was interrupted by the sound of two doors being burst open, followed by a distinctly irate male voice. "Where the bloody fuck is the school nurse?" His voice echoed like thunder in the normally quiet hospital wing.

Ginny stirred and somewhat groggily got to her feet brandishing her wand. She was flanked by Harry, Hermione, and Ron, who appeared to have returned by this point. Each of them stood side by side wielding their wands in opposition of the newcomer. The black-haired intruder was wearing a brand new set of robes with the Slytherin logo embedded in the upper chest. As Ginny recalled he was an exchange student and was sorted into that house earlier that day. His pale face seemed to radiate fury as he aimed his stare down at them. In fact, he was not the least bit intimidated by the four wands pointing in his direction and did not bother drawing his. The air around him seemed to be excited by the energy radiating from his body.

"Is there something we can help you with?" Replied Harry seemingly not impressed by the intruder's temper.

"You look like a healthy enough bloke to me, why don't you bugger off. We have sick people here who need rest." Ron followed up with a bit more hostility in his voice.

Ron's advances didn't appear to even faze him. In fact, he appeared to be even angrier. Ginny wasn't sure if her imagination was getting the best of her, however his eyes seem to flash red every three blinks or so. After a ten second stand-off he pushed through them with a smooth casual step which carried a surprising amount of force, "I'm afraid one of the first years managed to piss of a senior and find out what the consequences are."

Although his advance disrupted their formation, Ron reacted rather quickly and grabbed his wrist. "A Slytherin with a conscience? Somehow I can't believe my ears."

"Far from it." He replied, his voice growing colder, "His screams are keeping me up."

"Good to see dear old Slytherin hasn't changed a bit." Ron shot back, however the Slytherin boy didn't seem interested in the exchange. As he scanned the room he found Naomi's bed, and turned around.

"What's her story?"

"She has a cold." Hermione replied evenly, "why?"

The boy had his eyes on her for a few seconds as if in thought, then with the same ease freed his hand from Ron's grasp and made his way toward the exit. "Let the nurse know I was here when she gets back." He forcefully closed the doors behind him. Ginny wasn't sure what caused the abrupt shift in his demeanor, but she was certain he stole yet another glance at the sleeping Naomi.

"Wonder what was up his arse?" Ron blurted out as he walked over to Naomi make sure she was ok.

"Language Ron." said Hermione absent-mindedly, her head elsewhere. "He was obviously worried about her. Maybe she's a friend?"

"Somehow 'mione, I doubt it." Replied Ron. "I wouldn't put it past him if he was the one who did this to her."

"Come to think of it," added Harry, "if something like what he said happened in Slytherin did indeed happen Draco would have been here first."

"Is Naomi all right?" Ginny asked, changing the topic of the conversation.

"She got better a few minutes ago, just about before he came in," Replied Harry, "which certainly adds to our suspicion of him."

"No joke." Agreed Ron, "Should we tell McGonagall?"

"We probably should. Maybe she knows more about how these two incidents can be related?" Hermione suggested.

In the meanwhile, Ginny had walked over to the bed of their patient, who seemed to have relaxed and kept still throughout the confrontation. Placing her hand over Naomi's forehead she noted that the girl still had a fever. Ginny also noticed that her lips were moving. Leaning in closely she tried to make out what she was saying.

"Hey Hermione." She called the older girl over. "What does 'onii-san' mean?"

The brunette paused for a while. "I think it's Japanese, if I remember my Ancient Runes correctly." She bit her lip a bit before she finally seemed to remember. "I believe it means 'brother'."

History is like an Endless Waltz. The three beats of War, Peace, and Revolution Continue on Forever.

-End Ch.1-

Author's Notes:

-Mephistopheles is depicted as a demon similar to that from Faust rather than Advocat from GrimGrimoire.

-The story is set post DH

-Shapers are taken from a game called Geneforge by Spiderweb Software. However they are depicted slightly differently here than their game counterparts

-Please Read and Review as I will attempt to work on this as well as my other fic in the meanwhile