Isle of Dogs

London, England

January 6h

2023 A.D.

Another blast rocked the area just as Albus, Lincoln and the unconscious Aurora burst out of the doors.

Outside, soldiers had arrived and were engaging three of the Mantis creatures and about two dozen cats while also trying to fend off airborne attacks from the bat-like monsters. There were about forty soldiers in total, all of whom were fighting their guts out.

Across the river, the huge, partially blinded beast was pulling itself back out of the Thames.

Everyone had been split up. They fighting in mixed groups wherever possible. A bolt of lightning illuminated Athena's position. She was standing next to Ron, shooting off as many volts as her body would allow while trying to take cover.

About thirty feet away from them, Scorpius, Lily, Lynx and Violet were laying down cover fire for a group of soldiers that were desperately trying to get to safety.

Ginny and Hermione were nowhere to be found but Albus thought he saw the faint image of long red hair being hustled away inside a crowd of people and soldiers. The large group was serging towards one of the few remaining boats still docked inside the Thames.

It was all they could do now. Get as many people out as possible. This battle was already over. They had lost.

Amelia suddenly came out nowhere. She rushed to Aurora's side looking terrified.

"What happened to her?!"

"He possessed her. We have to leave now!" Lincoln yelled.

"RON LOOK OUT!"

Ron heard the screams and turned. One of the Mantis creatures was right behind him, snarling and raising it's scythe like claws. In a second he had shoved Athena out of the way and raised his weapon at the monster but it wasn't fast enough.

A swipe and splash of red and Ron's right arm drifted through the air before hitting the ground still clutching his wand. The shock hadn't even washed over his face before the creature raised one of it's enormous spear-like legs to crush him.

None of them got the chance to look away. A explosion obscured their views and when the fire and dust had cleared, Ron was gone. The only proof that he had even been there was his severed arm that lay a few feet away.

Rose's scream was unbearable as was Hugo's cry of ultimate rage. Suddenly he darted across the open battleground, unloading every round he had at the beast.

Amelia shot towards him in blur of agile movement, tackling him and dragging him away before he could complete his kamikaze run. Suddenly, they had also disappeared from sight.

Chaos reigned around them but Albus had to focus. He searched around for something, anything that could make a difference.

His eyes locked onto something in the distance. About three hundred yards away. A helicopter, just sitting out in the open as if it was some kind of gift from a higher power.

"Lincoln, can you fly that?" Albus asked quickly.

"Yeah!" he had already begun carrying Aurora towards it.

The Mantis monster turned it's back to everyone. They knew what was coming next. James charged towards Rose, shoving her to the floor just as the creatures bone spikes fired out in all directions.

Lynx yelled out in pain. One of the spikes had glanced her arm, leaving a nasty slash across it. James and Rose crawled over towards her and put pressure on her wound. Rose's face was pale white but her eyes were red and her cheeks were wet. She was trying desperately to expel the image of her father being killed long enough to help the others. She would have time to mourn later, if they survived.

Across the battlefield, Voldemort burst out of a warehouse door but he didn't look right. His skin was changing from human pink to oil black like some kind of moving inkblot painting. He was slouched over and almost seemed out of breath or winded.

He growled and walked toward the nearest person which happened to be a young soldier in his mid twenties that was too preoccupied to notice him approaching.

Voldemort grabbed him by the shoulder and span him around.

"You'll do," he remarked before slamming his hand against the soldiers chest.

The soldiers eyes went wide in shock as a blinding bright light appeared between Voldemort's fingers. A second later it was sucked up into his palm and the soldier's corpse dropped to the floor. He had just ripped the poor bastards soul out.

Voldemort's skin stopped changing and reverted back to it's human look. He straighted up and took a breath, looking recharged.

"Ahh, that's better," he smirked before turning his attention to the battle.

James and Rose helped Lynx to her feet and started running towards Albus, Lincoln, Aurora and the helicopter.

Once they got closer, they saw the reason that it was just sitting there. The windscreen had been smashed and the pilot speared to his seat by one the Mantis's bone spikes.

Lincoln quickly moved Aurora into the back then ripped the spike out of the seat allowing the pilot to fall out onto the floor. Lynx and James got in next, taking hold of Aurora and strapping her into to one of the seats.

"MAL! AMELIA! COME ON!" Albus shouted but the others were pinned down.

He saw Lily dive out from behind some cover and start running towards the helicopter but at the same moment, he felt a chill of fear go down his back.

"LILY NO! RUN!"

She turned to see Albus's twin standing less that fifteen feet from her.

"Lily Potter? How many times do I have to kill you?" he smirked sadistically as he raised his hand.

A haunting ball of green light appeared in his palm causing Lily to freeze in fear. Maybe it was some part of his old life that flashed in his mind or maybe he simply didn't want to take any chances but this time, he didn't aim for the young redhead. He aimed for the wall behind her.

The blast knocked her off her feet and surround her in dust. She looked up just seconds before seeing the avalanche of bricks coming towards her.

Lily was crushed by twenty tonnes of rubble right in front of Albus's eyes.

He was sure that James was screaming something. He could hear his voice but it sounded so far away. Everything seemed far away at that moment. Like he was watching it all through a TV screen. Unable to interact but a first hand witness to it all.

It had been a very long time since Albus felt despair but he felt it now.

A lightning bolt suddenly connected with Voldemort's body sending him smashing through what was left of the wall he had just destroyed.

Albus saw Athena screaming something at him but he couldn't make out the words. It was like she was moving in slow motion, yelling and waving him away while being underwater.

He felt a strong pair of hands clutch his shoulders but even those felt different. The same way you'd imagine being touched in a dream. You know it's happening but you can't feel it.

Albus was dragged on board the helicopter. He made no attempt to struggle or stay behind. It seemed somehow pointless. The door slid shut in front of him and the cabin started to rumble.

He looked over at James. He was screaming while Lynx and Rose had their arms locked around him as hard as they could. Both were crying into his shoulder while trying to hold him down.

Aurora was flopped over in a seat. Still pale white, and apart from the shallow movement of her chest, frozen like a statue. Lincoln was in the cockpit, flicking switches and holding onto stick between his legs.

The ground started to get further and further away. They were in the air. Albus looked out over the burning London skyline, still unable to understand what was happening.

He hadn't expected death to be like this.

No tried to speak to him. No one even acknowledged that he was there.

Malfoy Maison

Istanbul, Turkey

August 4th

2100 A.D.

"So they just left you there?" Anya asked sounding quite shocked.

"They didn't exactly have a choice. If I had been able to get to that Helicopter, I would have left as well. I think anyone would have," Scorpius admitted.

"But why didn't Voldemort know where they were going?"

"Chance," Scorpius said simply, "Vlad told Lincoln that he had prepared them a way off the island but Lincoln never told Albus what it actually was. It just slipped his mind and because Albus never knew...Voldemort never knew. Odd how a tiny little thing like that could make so much difference, but then, Albus was always a big fan of the Butterfly Effect."

Anya nodded just as there was a quiet knock on the door. Simon popped his head through.

"Sir, there's a visitor here for you," he reported.

"Oh, thank you Simon," Scorpius picked himself up from his chair, "I'll just be a moment Anya."

"Okay," she didn't sound too happy for the interruption but didn't object.

Scorpius closed the door behind him as he left. As she heard his footsteps going down the stairs she suddenly had a strange urge fall over her. She very quickly got out of her chair and rushed over to the bookcase that Scorpius had shown her a few days before.

She remembered exactly where the book was. emArthur and the Knights of the Round Table./em She reached up and gave it a tug causing the secret compartment to open up.

Her eyes went wide with amazement as she saw the Sword again. Very carefully, she picked up off it's platform and held it in her hands. For some reason it seemed to make her feel stronger when she held it. As if the giant encrusted rubies or the unbreakable metal somehow filled her with energy and joy.

She felt no shame holding the sword above her head is a victory salute as if she were the Colossus himself.

Her flight of fancy was cut short the moment she heard the front door slam. It made her jump and she very nearly dropped the blade.

She rushed back over to the compartment and put it back where she found it but in her panic, she slipped and caught her hand on the blade. Her heart leaped up inside her chest and seemed to stay there. She couldn't breath.

Blood trickled out of the small slash on her palm. It wasn't a bad cut but it didn't have to be. The sword was tipped with Basilisk venom. That tiny cut was enough to kill a full grown man in less then three minutes. For a tiny girl like her, she probably had less than sixty seconds.

All she could do was stare at the red mark on her hand as it started to feel warm and then began to tingle.

The sheer shock was preventing her for fully realizing that she was about to die. It was such a stupid way to go. Playing with an heirloom of a legend had meant that she would never walk through the gates of Hogwarts and have the sorting hat place on her head. She'd never see any of her family again. She'd never grow up or have the chance to fall in love but strangely enough, at that moment, what most upset her was the fact that she would never get to hear about the rest of Albus's life.

And just as that thought entered her mind, something unbelievable happened.

She watched in frozen shock as the cut on her hand healed in front of her face.

It was impossible. The sword wasn't endowed with healing powers, she knew that much, and the Basilisk venom should have started making her feel light headed and drowsy by now but it hadn't.

She was broken out of her shock by the sound of footsteps coming closer. She panicked and hit the book quickly causing the compartment to disappear into the study. She shot back around Scorpius's desk and jumped back into her seat.

She tried desperately to act natural but there was nothing natural about what had just happened. She rubbed the little bit of blood off her hand and onto her trousers but in doing so noticed how much she was shaking.

She pinned her eyes to the wall as she heard the door handle move. She was too frightened to look around at her Grandfather. Her would know that something was wrong in a heartbeat.

"Well, you were going to find out sooner or later."

That wasn't Scorpius's voice. It was a woman's. A voice Anya hadn't heard in a long time.

Slowly she turned her head to see what she already knew was true.

Standing behind her was not only one of the most desirable women to ever live but also one of the most powerful Anomalies in the world today. So powerful in fact that not even the notorious Max would dare challenge her.

"Hows you hand?" Dominique asked.

Ilfracombe

Devon, England

January 6h

2023 A.D.

They had ditched the helicopter in a field and made there way to the shore line in silence. There they had stolen a small Zodiac boat and used it to carry them towards their way off the island.

The ship looked like it was older than Lincoln. A Russian cargo vessel, anchored about a mile off shore. It was rusted and dirty and the name on the back, emThe Maltov/em was pealing off. It looked like a ghost ship from an old horror movie. Something that had been lost in the Bermuda Triangle for a few decades then reappeared only to claim the lives of which ever unfortunate souls found it.

Of course, to them it was salvation. An escape from the dying country that they were leaving behind.

Salvation came with a price though. They were suppose to be leaving that island with a lot more people. There should have been at least a dozen of them, maybe more, but now there were only six. Albus, Aurora, Lincoln, James, Rose and Lynx.

Everyone else was either dead or getting left behind.

It wasn't a hard decision to make. It was simple logic. They could go back and try and help the others but with Albus powerless, Aurora wounded, the city being over run and facing an enemy a thousand times more powerful than themselves, they would just end up lambs for the slaughter.

If they escaped now, then there was at least a chance of regroup, finding help, coming up with a plan. After all, it wasn't about just saving the people they cared about, it was about winning the war.

If they escaped now, they could come back. They could live to fight another day.

At least that's what they kept telling themselves as they boarded the rust bucket. The truth was that they were being cowardly. They were running away with their tales between their legs. They were abandoning their friends and family and lovers simply because they didn't know what else to do.

They were beaten. It was something they had never planned for. They had never entertained the idea of loosing the fight. They understood that there would be casualties but they had always believed that those casualties would be part of the ultimate victory.

They were wrong.

As the engines powered up and the anchor started to rise, Albus stayed up on deck. He was slumped against the rail feeling the vibrations of the motors.

The others had rushed inside somewhere. Aurora had started bleeding and they had gone to care for her. He couldn't see the point.

He knew what had happened the moment she had collapsed inside the warehouse after expelling Voldemort from her body. She might live, but his child wouldn't.

And for some reason, he didn't care.

He didn't care about anything at that moment. His brain seemed to only be capable to dealing with one thing at a time. Much like Hermione, he was trying to analyze and understand the different variables of what had just happened. That's all it was, mental thought. There was no emotion left.

He had been trying to feel some kind of guilt or sadness but it just wouldn't come. He couldn't feel pain of any kind. Maybe those emotions had been stolen along with his powers.

Right now, his mind was stuck one thing. For some reason this one little thing seemed to stand out from the rest as the ship moved away from the coast. The question repeated inside his head over and over as he watched England shrink into the distance.

Why did Voldemort want to know about Sophia?

Hogsmead Village

Scotland, UK

January 6th

1978 A.D.

"I don't know about this Prongs," Peter said quietly.

The hustle and bustle of the Three Broomsticks made it unlikely that they would be overheard but the four Marauders were still keeping their voices down for good measure.

"He's right James. This isn't sneaking off to the Shrieking Shack or possibly earning detention from some prank, this dangerous," Remus agreed.

"So what? We just sit back and do nothing?" James asked, annoyed by their responses.

"I'm not saying that," Remus sighed, "It's just...you don't even know that this emOrder of the Phoenix/em even exists."

"It does exist! I heard Evans talking about it."

"Have you asked Dumbledore about it?" Sirius asked.

"Not yet. I thought if we all volunteer together..."

"Even if it is real, he's hardly gonna just let us quit school and go off with them lot fighting dark wizards, is he?" Peter cut it.

"Graduation is only a few months off. Once were all of age it's our decision!"

They were silent for a few moments while each of them contemplated the idea that James was putting around.

"If this...Voldemort is really as bad as everyone is saying then Dumbledore's gonna need all the help he can get," Sirius stated, "I'm in."

James nodded with pride at his best friend before turning to Remus. "Moony?"

"He's done a lot for me...maybe I can finally replay the favor," Remus smiled.

"There you go," He patted him on the shoulder. "Wormtail?"

Peter seemed to be having a much harder time coming to a decision. "Even if this 'Order' is real and he lets us join...what can four seventh years do?"

"I don't know," James admitted, "something, anything. All I know is that what this emDark Lord/em is doing is wrong and I'm not just gonna sit back and do nothing. Not when I can help."

"My goodness," a voice from behind James breathed.

The Marauders turned around to see Lily Evan standing behind them with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised. She had a strange little smirk on her face and was looking directly at James.

"Did I just hear James Potter say that he was going to do something selfless? Somebody call the Prophet."

James frowned and looked away with a twinge of resentment on his face. "Yeah well, got to do something after I leave school," he mumbled quietly.

"Really? Or is this just another way to get a medal around your neck?" she asked accusingly, "Is being Head Boy and a Quidditch star not enough Potter? You need to be hero as well?"

James stood up in a huff with his ears turning red. "Yeah! Your right as always Evans! This just another way for me to show off!" he spat before storming off.

"That's a shame," Lily called out, "because I was going to talk to Dumbledore, to see if he'd let you join."

That caused the Marauders to stop in their tracks. They all looked around with perplexed looks on their faces.

"That's if you're serious about this?"

"Yeah! Yeah, we are!" James nodded excitedly.

"Well, I'll see what he says," she said simply before walking away. As she did, the tiny smirk that she had been wearing turned into a happy grin.

James Potter had finally grown up.

"Don't look too happy Prongs, he might say no," Sirius warned as they headed towards the entrance.

"He might, or he might welcome us with open arms...who knows," James grinned.

Outside the Inn, the floor was still covered in white snow and both children and adults were wrapped up in warm clothing. A few people were having snowball fights while others were quickly crowding into the nearest warm shop or pub that they could find.

As the Marauders headed back towards school, Sirius was practically rammed into by a small, twelve year old child.

"Whoa, easy little man," he said.

The child just looked at him with a slightly insulted look before walking away.

"Sarno," a woman growled, "why don't you give Mr. Black his money bag back."

They turned to see a beautiful nineteen or twenty year old blond standing against the wall of the Three Broomsticks. None of them had ever seen her before. If they had, they certainly would have remembered. Both Peter and Remus stared at her with their months open as Sirius checked his pockets for his money bag.

"You cheeky little -" Sirius hissed, grabbing his money bag out of the child hand.

Sarno ran over and stood next to the blond.

"I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it," she said in a silky voice, "we were all young once."

Sirius's anger seemed to have vanished completely and he joined Peter and Remus in practically drooling over her.

The blond gave them a small nod before walking around to the side of the Inn and disappearing. Just as she did, Sirius snapped out of his trance.

"Hey! How did you know my name?!" he didn't get an answer.

The Blond and the child, Sarno, walked through the deserted back alleys of Hogsmead until they reached a small open shed that looked like it was built to give horses or thestrals shelter.

As they approached a twenty something woman in dark robes stepped out of the shadows and stood in their way. She was quite beautiful but had cold darkness in her eyes and a wand in her hand. Three men, also wearing dark robes, stepped out and moved up behind her.

"Hello Bella," the blond said simply. She wasn't afraid of them.

"Well?" Bellatrix spat.

"Well?" the blond mimicked.

"Bella, where are your manors?" A cold voice said from the shadows.

A man, hooded and cloaked moved slowly inside the shelter. Most of his face was covered in darkness but it was still plain to see that something wasn't quite right about him.

Bellatrix and the others moved aside and allowed the blond to walk forwards.

"Hello Tom," the blond smiled lightly.

"Sophia. Always a pleasure to see you," Voldemort chimed.

"I'm sure," Sophia said, looking back over her shoulder. Bellatrix seemed to be trying to burn a hole in the back of her head. "Bit risky, coming so close to Hogwarts isn't it?"

"Risky for anyone else," Voldemort stated.

"Are you sure about that? Dumbledore is recruiting follows to oppose you. Sirius Black looks to be one of them."

Bellatrix hissed.

"Really? Isn't that a shame. Is there anything else I should know?" Voldemort asked slyly.

"Lily Evans seems to have already been invited. Potter, Lupin and Pettigrew are also looking to join, Pettigrew however seems a bit reluctant. He seems to be the weak link in the chain. Put some pressure on him and I'm sure he'll break and deliver the others to you," she stated.

"Well, once again you seem to know so much...and yet, you give this information to me without any demand for payment," he said as he shifted through the shadows, "I wonder, what is it you want Sophia?"

"Well, all is said and done...I don't want to be forgotten," she smiled.

"Oh don't worry...you won't be."

She gave him a small nod before turning and walking away with Sarno is tow as if nothing had happened.

This was after all, just another one of the building blocks she was setting up in her grand scheme. One that would change the world forever.