Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters, they belong to J.K. Rowling. This fic is based on 'The Darkness Within' by Kurinoone, Harry's background story as well as Damien belong to her.

A/N: Kurinoone helped me a lot with the ideas and writing for this fic, I would like to thank her immensely. Also, if you haven't read her story this will probably make no sense as it is based on it. Props and thanks to my amazing beta and cousin dbest89. Updated: 13/10/2019

I'm killing them all

I put my soul on the line

I purify sins

That I committed in life

I'll follow them all

And I'll be bringing them down

Wherever they go

I'm right behind

There's nowhere to go

Your head on the line

There is no rope

You're running out of time

So where will you go?

When I will murder your soul

Murder - Within Temptation

Sturgis Podmore ran his fingers through his straw-coloured blonde hair for the eleventh time in the last twenty minutes, he was quietly pacing back and forth from one side of his room to the other. He had tried falling asleep, but he just couldn't shake this feeling. . . something was off. Maybe he had forgotten something important, or maybe it was just one of those days every Auror had once in a while where every single hair on the back of their neck was standing on end

He had been constantly on edge since he left the office.

Merlin's beard, he was turning into Mad-Eye.

Call it instinct if you want, but his gut was trying to tell him that something was wrong. Almost as soon as he had closed the door of the office behind him, he had felt it, eyes looking in his direction. You know when you can just tell, someone is looking at you from across the room. Well, that feeling had stayed with him all evening. At first, he thought he was being followed but after a bit of rationalization he had discarded that theory, it was just not possible. He was an Auror, one who had left the Auror's Department at 5 o'clock — like every other Auror. He had walked towards a chimney connected to the floo network, one which was still inside the Ministry, and had proceeded to transport himself to his ancestral home.

Nevertheless, that didn't take away the fact that Sturgis had still felt eyes on his back.

It had been a very average day for him, he had woken up late next to that cute petite brunette who waited tables over at that French restaurant across from Gringotts. He had arrived at the Ministry an hour late, in a fantastic mood. However, that had quickly changed when he had realized he was going to be stuck doing paperwork in the desk the entire day. He had grumbled and complained most of that time to Kingsley about not getting any real missions.

Sturgis hated paperwork with every fiber of his being, almost as much as he hated You-Know-Who. . . almost.

Even though the self-proclaimed Dark Lord and his Death Eaters had been acting a lot as of late, the Minister hadn't ordered any actual missions. Sturgis held no respect for Cornelius Fudge, knowing the kind of man he was. That was the reason he had joined Dumbledore's 'Order of The Phoenix' all those years ago, corruption inside the Ministry; well, that and the obvious problem of having the world's most powerful Dark Lord ever to live wanting to push his pureblood philosophies and ideals onto everyone else.

Sturgis lived inside a small manor in Scotland, secluded from everyone and everything, just how he liked it.

As he made his way over to his bedside window, he found himself — for the millionth time — unable to contain his smile at the breathtaking beauty of the huge dense forest that encircled his home and stretched all the way into the horizon. Even at this time he could vaguely hear the birds singing. The sun was going down behind the trees, as it left a very dark shade of orange sky.

Sturgis sighed as he sat down on his bed.

He knew they were nowhere near the end of this war. Neville, even with all of Dumbledore's private lessons was not ready to face You-Know-Who, and Sturgis doubted he would ever be ready. After all, the only wizard who had ever fought toe-to-toe against him and survived was Dumbledore.

He had to admit though, old Albus was a damn good leader, not only placing his faith in the prophesied child but also acting against the Death Eaters when the Ministry's Aurors where not quick enough to act. Yes, Albus Dumbledore was someone worth following.

The unmistakable noise of a door closing, coming from downstairs, made Sturgis stand up abruptly as if struck by a bolt of lightning. There was only one door downstairs, the entrance to the manor. He had closed that door earlier when he had entered his home and being a 'bachelor for life' as he liked to call it, he lived by himself. No one had access to his house, not his usual conquests, not Kingsley, not even Albus.

A simple spell to check the protection wards notified him that they hadn't been activated. The intruders had somehow found a way to enter his home without triggering a single one of his defense wards. What's worse, they had been breached without the silent alarm alerting the Ministry or the Order.

What in Merlin's name was going on? How? What? Just how had the Death Eaters found him? And how was it possible that they hadn't even activated a single one of his protection wards?

The Auror cursed under his breath as he frantically searched his room for his coat. Said coat had the emergency portkey he always carried around. His right hand came up to his face as he facepalmed — astounded at his own stupidity. He had left his coat by the couch, right next to the main door.

He didn't think the situation could get worst unless He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself made an appearance just for little old him. Sturgis was alone in his house with no way out against Merlin knows how many Death Eaters.

His feet made no noise as he began to slowly edge towards the stairs nervously, taking out his curved wand in the process. His Auror training kicked in, his eyes narrowed, his breathing became steadier by the second.

As he took the first step into his living room the lights suddenly went out without warning. There was complete silence, no footsteps, no sudden noises, no nothing.

"Lumos" whispered the Auror as he continued walking in the same direction. Even with the sun still setting, all the windows and curtains were closed. Something that had to have happened recently, a fact Sturgis had failed to notice before. The panic started to settle in. He still couldn't hear anything, no footsteps, no small whispers, no failed attempts at silent intakes of breath, absolutely nothing — just silence.

He had a plan. Granted, it was a simple one, but it was usually those kinds of plans that ended up working instead of the needlessly complicated ones. He would silently move as fast as he could towards the entrance, where hopefully the You-Know-Who's followers hadn't noticed the emergency portkey inside of his coat. Grab the portkey, use it to get the hell out, alert the Order that his house had been compromised and that he needed backup.

The devastating kick that landed on his right side — right on his ribs — made all thoughts of quietly escaping disappear from the Aurors mind. The wind was knocked out of him as his lungs cried for oxygen. Sturgis was sent flying by the sheer force of the blow. Pain exploded across his left side as he crashed into his family's old piano, destroying it. The ringing in his ears intensified, he could almost hear the ancient wood of the piano crack as he tried — and failed — to stand.

He coughed three times before finally pulling himself up from the remains of the furniture. His own mind already berating him for not noticing his opponent earlier. That kick had at least cracked one of his ribs, if not more, and the crash that had followed had done something to his left arm, he didn't think it was broken, but something was definitely wrong with it, no doubt about it.

The Auror turned to face his attacker, who had somehow turned the lights back on.

No surprise showed on Sturgis' face when he saw the black Death Eater robes on the figure, but something was different. Death Eaters usually had white skeleton-like masks and they carried out attacks in small squads. In contrast, his opponents face was covered by a silver mask and — from what Sturgis could see — he seemed to be alone.

"Is this all the mighty Order of the Phoenix has to offer? Frankly, I find myself disappointed."

The blonde haired, middle aged Auror couldn't contain his gasp as the sound of the intruder's voice reached his ears. The voice gave away the fact that it wasn't a full-grown wizard behind the mask. His attacker couldn't be more than a mere boy, probably still a teenager if Sturgis had to guess.

"Who the hell are you?!" Sturgis shouted as that ringing in his ears finally began to recede.

The boy merely smirked at him, ignoring the question entirely.

The reality of the situation started to set in. Sturgis knew that even if his attacker was only a boy, he had to bring him into custody. After all, they needed all the information they could get on You-Know-Who and judging by the way this kid dressed and talked, there was no doubt on his mind that he was one of his followers.

Cold sweat had began running down Sturgis' face. He had never thought that he would have to hurt a boy. A knot twisted on his stomach as he made up his mind. Less than a second later, he sent a powerful stunner towards the boy. "Stupefy!" yelled Sturgis while taking a step forward, his left arm trembling as he held it close to his broken ribs.

His attacker grinned as he moved his head to the right, allowing the red light of the stunner to miss him by mere inches. The sound of glass shattering echoed through the manor as the spell flew right by him, missing him altogether and hitting a window instead.

"My turn" he spoke.

Almost at the same time the words reached him, the Auror found himself being hurled across the room by an invisible force. It felt like being struck across the chest by a sledgehammer, or close to what he imagined getting kicked by a full-grown troll would feel like.

His vision became blurry, the pain intensified as the back of his head smashed into the wall with a resounding thud.

Sturgis could hardly believe what he had just witness, this kid had just wandlessly thrown him across an entire room. He hadn't even uttered a single spell. Nonverbal, wandless magic. Was such a thing even possible for someone who was not Dumbledore or You-Know-Who? This kid. . . no, he couldn't keep calling him 'kid' after that display; this Death Eater hadn't even moved a single step since the Auror had seen him. A shock of fear shot down his spine as realisation struck home once again. . . the boy was just toying with him.

Sturgis raised his arm to try to stun his opponent again when he felt it — the lack of weight on his right palm — his wand wasn't there.

"Looking for this?" asked the teenager smirking, amusement dripping from his voice as he played with the man's wand, spinning it around in circles.

The loud crack that followed had Sturgis gasping as he witnessed his wand being snapped in half.

Nothing happened for a moment as the injured man stared unblinkingly as the remains of his most precious possession scattered across the floor.

"Are you here to kill me?" whispered the Auror, gathering every inch of courage left inside of him, trying — and failing — to see the eyes of his opponent.

"No" said the intruder. "That's what she's here for" he explained with a hint of affection in his voice.

That was when Sturgis finally noticed another figure stepping out of the shadows behind the boy. Cold blue eyes glared back at him, unrestrained rage stirred behind those eyes, burning him like ice, they seemed to see into his very essence. A wave of terror went through him. They saw everything, reminding him of his biggest failure, a failure he blamed himself for.

He knew those eyes.

In that moment Sturgis understood. After a second of looking at the new figure he had finally recognized her. His eyes went wide as he realized why she was there.

"Avada Kedavra!"