About this story...

This is a rather complex story which starts during Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts. It revolves around five core characters who engage in a fierce battle for power. It's a full action and adventure story and features a love triangle.

You will get a full insight the characters' perception of what is happening, as well as how they are perceived by others. While I have striven to keep them in character as much as possible, they will evolve, but in a gradual and logical way. These five characters are:

Voldemort/Tom Riddle: As ruthless and charming as always, ready to do anything to ensure his domination of the wizarding world.

Harry Potter: Selfless and generous, but with a hero complex he can't seem to be able to master.

Liliana Slytherin: As strong, manipulative and determined as a pureblood heiress of Salazar can get, and who has only one goal: the destruction of her famous cousin.

Draco Malfoy: Selfish and left in his father's shadow for years, he has to learn to overcome his fear and show the world what he's capable of.

Albus Dumbledore: Powerful, wise and even manipulative if needed, he has learned over the years that caution is essential in any war, in particular in those where a certain dark lord is involved.

A number of other characters are presented, as are the relations between them, including Bella, Severus Snape, Gellert Grindelwald, various Death Eaters and two original characters: Ralph Parkinson, Pansy's brother and Jurgen, a vampire.

Although the facts and action change books 6 and 7, the story is as canon as possible, from the material that Gregorovitch uses for his wands to Pansy's appearance. :D

Special warnings: character death, violence, books 6 and 7 partly disregarded. I will include further chapter warnings if necessary.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All credit goes to J.K. Rowling for writing those inspirational books. Many thanks to Lisa 725 and BlackRoseRaven for betareading this story.

Chapter 1

Bella's Wrath

It was a perfect day for Quidditch, Harry thought happily, glancing at the cloudless sky. He was leaning almost carelessly on his Firebolt, his green eyes searching for the Snitch. He knew it was still too early for the Snitch to make its appearance on the field. Malfoy seemed to agree because he was looking rather bored just a few feet away from Potter. From time to time, his eyes would wander in Harry's direction and then move away slowly, a daring smirk on his lips. By now, Harry had become fully aware of Malfoy's Quidditch potential, as well as of his own. He knew Malfoy was very good—probably almost as good as he was—but there was a slight difference between him and Malfoy. And that was the natural talent Harry possessed to be a Seeker, which Malfoy missed. But thanks to his well-built strategies and his natural aggression, Malfoy was getting better each season, and Harry had lost the Snitch to him once the previous year when he was not paying attention. Since then, his reputation for being invincible had been shattered, and he knew he had to be extra careful while playing against Malfoy.

Nevertheless, this beautiful day was making him feel happy, and he had difficulty concentrating. He was smirking back at Malfoy when a sudden breath of cold air swept past him. A well-known feeling began to rise inside his chest, and panic spread quickly through in his body. He saw that Draco had gone just as white as him. They summer sky was becoming increasingly crowded with heavy clouds. And then the first raindrops fell. Harry was feeling sicker with every passing moment, but he continued to sit there rooted, looking helplessly at the grey, heavy sky above them, unable to make a move.

Then he saw it.

It was literally falling from the sky at an incredible speed. He would have never guessed it was actually a person. But it turned out to be a hooded figure on a broom approaching the headmaster's stands. It swept past Harry and Malfoy and halted abruptly in front of the teachers' stands. The cold was becoming more and more severe. Harry glanced at the sky again and saw dozens of Dementors approaching. They had been closely following the hooded figure.

Dumbledore signaled Severus Snape to lower his wand as the hooded figure stopped in front of them. Snape's eyes traveled curiously from the headmaster to the new arrival. He'd seen the Dementors approaching, but he managed to keep his composure. Meanwhile, Dumbeldore's eyes had not left the hooded intruder, who had jumped off the broom and dropped the hood away from her face to reveal her identity. Her face was wet with tears, and her black hair was a mess.

"Durmstrang has fallen, Headmaster! And Igor Karkaroff is dead. He sent you this…"

She came closer to the headmaster and handed him what seemed to be a letter.

Dumbledore still hadn't taken his eyes off the girl's face. She, in turn, was watching his own reaction intently.

"Headmaster, they are approaching," said Snape.

Indeed, the Dementors had flown dangerously close. Some were sneaking around the students, but most of them were crushing close to the teachers' stands, following the girl.

"Yes, they have been following me since I left the Institute," she said, giving Snape a sort of appraising look. "And I'm afraid they're not the only ones." She looked back to Dumbledore. "I'll deal with them, if you don't mind, Headmaster."

"Go ahead," Dumbledore said, without the faintest irony in his voice.

"Excuse me," she said to the teachers and drew her wand, pointing it at the Dementors.

Harry Potter congratulated himself for having his wand on him at all times when he saw a few Dementors circling him. He had never really overcome his fear of them. He was, of course, breaking the rule which stated that wands were not allowed on the Quidditch field, but because his number of confrontations with Voldemort had been growing lately, it would have been madness not to break such a rule. He reached inside his Quidditch robes and drew his wand. The Dementors did not attack him or the other students, though; they seemed to be waiting for something.

Malfoy had now descended towards the teachers' stands. He knew he would be safe there.

Harry looked attentively at what was going on at the stands. The hooded figure had turned out to be some sort of messenger. He wasn't far from the stands, and he could see that he had dropped the hood of his cloak. The intruder was a lean figure with black hair. He turned around to face the Dementors and Harry saw that "he" was actually a young woman. He was stunned when he heard her powerful voice.

"Expecto Patronum!"

And a huge dragon of red light was released from the tip of her wand. It was the most beautiful and probably the most powerful iPatronus/i Harry had ever seen. It didn't just sweep the Dementors away; it also seemed to burn through them. The dragon's tail made the Dementors encircling Harry instantly disappear. At once, the cold was replaced by summer warmth, and the sky cleared.

Ron Weasley drew close to Harry.

"What the bloody hell was that?" he shouted at Harry, who was still unable to look away from the dragon returning to the witch.

"Incredible!" he said. "Did you see that dragon?"

"Yes, I actually did see it, Harry. I really think we should go after the others." He pointed towards the other Gryffindor and Slytherin players who had landed, searching for cover.

"You go," Harry said. "I'll be down in a few seconds."

Ron sighed but complied with Harry's request.

The young witch had now returned to resume her talk with Dumbledore. Harry descended close to the tribune so he could hear their conversation.

The headmaster opened his letter and read the first few lines. Then he raised his eyes to look again at the Durmstrang messenger. He frowned, and she averted her eyes.

"I wish we could talk now, but I know that the Death Eaters have followed me. I think that you should get the students out of the field. I don't want to see what happened at Durmstrang here."

"But they cannot Apparate in here," said McGonagall. "There are old spells in place that protecting the school from intruders."

"Who said anything about Apparating, lady?" said the girl, looking troubled. "Here they come now…"

McGonagall opened her mouth for a retort, but the girl had already jumped on her broom and she flew quickly away from the stands. McGonagall and the other teachers looked up and saw seven hooded Death Eaters descending from the skies on their brooms. One of them was not wearing the mask.

It was Bellatrix Lestrange.

"There she is!" she screamed hysterically, pointing at the girl from Durmstrang. "Kill her!"

All the teachers had now taken out their wands, but Dumbledore made a sign towards them.

"Don't!" he said.

"What do you mean don't?" said McGonagall, voicing what all the teachers were thinking. "They will kill her!"

"Please, Minerva, wait," he said patiently. "We'll intervene if we have to."

"But there are seven Death Eaters and all the students … and this girl, she cannot be more than seventeen…"

But Dumbledore ignored her and stared with anticipation at the Quidditch pitch, which was now threatening to become a battle field. Students had flown away to find cover. Only Potter and Malfoy had stayed, the latter now hovering close to the teachers' stands. Though they were wearing masks, Draco was still able to recognize his mother and father among the Death Eaters. His aunt looked completely mad with fury as she descended towards the Durmstrang girl, and his parents were making desperate signs to him to get away.

Bellatrix swept past Potter without even noticing him. She stopped in front of the Durmstrang girl, who had flown to meet her midway.

"Time to die," Bellatrix said nastily.

Harry watched as the Durmstrang girl ascended towards Bellatrix Lestrange. She was an incredible flyer. She had dropped her cloak and was perfectly aligned with her broom, which Harry noticed to be in a deplorable condition.

Lestrange was now facing the girl, who had a fierce expression on her face. He was too far to hear Bellatrix's first words, but he heard the curse.

"Crucio!"

But the other one had already reacted: "Expelliarmus!"

The rest of the Death Eaters were behind Bellatrix now. Both spells missed because Lucius Malfoy had cut in, pulling his sister-in-law towards him.

"Bella, the Dark Lord will be furious! Let's go!"

But Lestrange was looking like a mad woman. "I don't care. I want her dead!"

"We're leaving," Lucius Malfoy spoke again. "Come on!"

"NO!" Bellatrix shrieked. "Go if you want!"

"This is suicide!" Narcissa Malfoy said a moment later, coming closer to her sister.

"Let's leave, Bella," another Death Eater was saying. This will make the Dark Lord FURIOUS. You are risking your life here!"

"Now, that's where you are wrong! The Dark Lord will be glad if I kill this traitor. You leave!" Bellatrix yelled. "GO!"

"But, Bella…"

"Just GO!"

And they went away quickly, leaving the two women facing each other.

The moment he saw Bellatrix Lestrange sweeping by on her broom, Harry thought it was time to finish what he had started months ago when Sirius had been killed.

Images of Sirius falling through the old portal in the Department of Mysteries invaded his mind and raw anger raised in his chest.

But Bellatrix wasn't alone. Six other Death Eaters were following her. Harry knew it would be foolish to try to confront all of them at the same time, so he dived to avoid them. But the Death Eaters seemed to have no business with him this time. They were after the messenger, who had left the safety of the teachers' stands to meet them.

This witch is mad, Harry thought. He glanced at Dumbledore, prepared to see him or the other teachers join the confrontation, but none of the teachers seemed too eager to leave the stands.

Bellatrix did not seem to play at all. She had started the fight by using an Unforgivable. Harry knew that no witch of his age would be able to protect herself from such curses.

He suspected that the Death Eaters would be very eager to get away as soon as possible, too afraid to spend too much time on Hogwarts grounds. They knew Dumbledore had to be close by.

Therefore, it didn't quite surprise him to see the Death Eaters flee. But he was surprised when Bellatrix did not leave with them.

Harry noticed the mad look in her eyes, and he knew that she was ready to kill. Since the teachers were not doing anything to help, he felt he had no choice but to join the fight.

Moving closer to the young witch, he cast a protective shield between Bellatrix and the Durmstrang messenger at the exact moment when Bellatrix threw her second Cruciatus curse. It backfired, but the Death Eater was able to dodge it just in time.

The Durmstrang girl glanced over her shoulder and saw Harry.

"This is no Quidditch game," she told him with a smirk. "Now shove off before you get hurt!"

Harry couldn't believe his ears. He was offering someone help against one of the most dangerous Death Eaters, and instead of being thanked, he was told to shove off. He chose not to listen to the arrogant Durmstrang messenger who would most likely get hurt if he did not intervene.

He cast a second protective shield between the two of them, but Bella was quicker.

"Avada Kedavra!" the Death Eater yelled, aiming again at the Durmstrang girl, who avoided the curse by a swift move of her broom.

"Coward! Why won't you fight me?" Bellatrix challenged, as the girl put her wand away.

"Time to end this," she replied coldly. A moment later, she ran her broom into Bellatrix's making the brooms crush together. She clutched mercilessly at Bellatrix's neck.

"Coward, you said?" she muttered in her ear. "No, Avada Kedavra would be too painless for you. You must really feel the pain you caused!"

She hit Bellatrix fully in the face and then forced the brooms to descend together at full speed towards the ground. By now, Lestrange was too dizzy to fight her. They avoided crushing at the last moment, as the girl pulled at the brooms one meter or so above the ground and then pushed Bellatrix off the broom. She kicked the wand out of her hand and reached for her neck again. The expression on Bellatrix's face changed to pure fear as she gazed into those unusual, green eyes.

Bella had not seen it coming.

Though maybe she should have been more vigilant. You can never be too careful. Proof in point: this Durmstrang student who preferred to use brutal force against magic.

She tried to fight the girl, but after many years spent in prison, Bella was not so fit anymore. She felt as if she were suffocating.

She made a last ditch effort to look up, as her opponent pointed her wand at her. Then she saw the expression in her eyes.

"You", she muttered, taken aback. "You…"

"Yes, NOW you know," the girl said, an unnerving grin curling up her lips. "Avada …"

"Don't!" Bella suddenly heard Dumbledore's voice behind them. "It's not worth it. Even if she is a Death Eater!"

Apparently, the old fool had finally decided to show up, and Bellatrix felt relieved.

She knew Dumbledore would not kill her; he would probably just send her to Azkaban. The Dark Lord would come to rescue her eventually. She was, after all, his most faithful follower.

The girl didn't loosen her grip on Bellatrix's neck, not even when Dumbledore's hand gently touched her own.

"It's not worth staining your hands with her blood! Let the Dementors have her!" he insisted gently.

She abruptly released Lestrange. Severus Snape, who had closely followed Dumbledore, forced Bellatrix to her feet, pointing his wand at her.

"She doesn't deserve to live," the girl said angrily. "None of you knows what she did at Durmstrang. None of my colleagues survived."

"I know, Liliana," Dumbledore said, using his most gentle tone in an attempt to calm her down. "But killing her will not make you feel any better."

The girl paced around without looking at Dumbledore. Then she shot Lestrange a look. The Death Eater was trembling uncontrollably and was looking horror-struck.

Not good, not good, Liliana thought warily.

"You will take her immediately to Azkaban, then?" she asked Dumbledore.

He nodded firmly, his eyes twinkling. She saw that but preferred to ignore him. Igor Karkaroff had warned her about Dumbledore's bizarre behavior.

"Very well, then. I'll be on my way now," she said and summoned her broom.