AN: Hi there and welcome to my first HP fic. First things first, quick disclaimer, JKR owns the Potter universe yadda yadda you know the drill, not here for money here for fun. Second up, this is rated M for a reason; There will be graphic violence, there will be gore, there may be rape, there will be consensual sex, there will be torture, there will be character death. I do not pull my punches in my writing and you have been warned. Any one reading this who is under the age of majority in their country should turn around and head back the way they came, same with anyone who is averse to any of the above or has a weak stomach.

Now onto the cheerful stuff, I decided mostly on a whim, and then planned obsessively for months, this fic. It's pure HHr, there will be fluff aplenty amidst the gore and violence, there will not however be "Will they/won't they" angsty moments, there might be fights, but there won't be the typical "chapter of worry" where the author keeps the readers on tenterhooks wondering what's going to happen with their pairing. As a reader I hate that and I couldn't bring myself to write it if I tried. Now be warned, this is a tragedy, whether H, Hr, or someone else close to them dies isn't for you to know just yet, I'm not giving away my plot in the opening AN, rather it's a warning for anyone who might feel ripped off by such an ending, turn around now and walk away.

Some housekeeping;
As mentioned this is HHr, they won't be paired with anyone else, but everyone else is as they say, "Up for grabs", all characters will be monogamous, I'm not one for harems, threesomes, whateversomes.

Part of me wishes I could add more "Themes" to this story, give people a better idea of what they're getting, but I can do so here, the relationship between the various character parings will revolve around different things, for HHr it's the undying bond of friendship and trust between them. Support, partnership, etc. Other pairings will have their own "focus" but not all will be obvious. Finally I want to point out before we get started that I don't condone abuse of any kind, rape, torture, murder or any of those other horrible things. But the world doesn't always share my views and unfortunately to portray an accurate story and have true inter character relationships these things need to be included, especially in such a bigoted society as wizarding Britain in the HP universe.

About the universe, this is a slightly AU fic, in that it will contain concepts that JKR's universe doesn't (as far as I'm aware) explore at all, such as impulse casting and spells that shape the world around the caster according to their will. These will be an integral part of some parts of the fic and I ask you to be patient with me and have an open mind, hopefully everything will slot into place nicely.

Before we tackle the story itself I have one last thing to say, there will not be Horcruxes in this fic, that's right, I'm going there. I've seen a few authors do this in different ways, (Muggledad is a good example, he tackles his stories with a nice and refreshing air of scepticism and originality that I'll be trying to channel (But not copy)). This story starts in the summer just after Harry's third year at Hogwarts. Some of the characters in this story will be altered in personality or appearance to fit my ends, /shrug, deal with it. Underage use of magic… this is a tricky one, because while I like the concept as a literary device it doesn't fit well with the universe I have imagined for this fic. So to elucidate I have come up with an alternative. Instead of having a flat ban on all magic for under seventeens, I have instead devised a sort of tiered release, allowing young teens to practise magic at home for the purposes of study or convenience. First years are allowed to practice simple charms such as lumos and other simple spells that make living a bit easier, second years are allowed a little more freedom, and so on. The International Statute of Secrecy (Henceforth known as the ISS) still applies as normal, as does the reasonable use of underage magic clause for life threatening circumstances or cases of near bodily harm.

I hear you I hear you, let's get on with it.

LGreymark.