Horus Goes Home

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Chapter 23: Ambush Ambushers

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The holidays were over and the group had finally returned to their non vacation activities. Horus had managed to survive the ceremony, the honeymoon and the tourism to make it back to school. With the knowledge of the school that he had gained around the way that the time spent not training, studying or living, it was relatively simple to find out that their had been access to the network at Hogwarts while their was communication only floo and wards against portkey, apparition and the like.

What this meant was that he after finding the passwords to access the private points added them with passwords to connect to the two pads in his domain. He constantly wondered why use fireplaces as their had been a similar one with mirrors but before sufficient enchantments to prevent damage had been developed the more modern methods had been discovered. It was just one of those little things that any hidden group would do to prevent discovery by others by hiding where they met and congregated.

Even after discovery the access to the mystic community was limited and most that were public were secondary entrances for customers for the guild and others for the others. The guild did serve as a way to make collective bargaining and price controls now that some goods were once more requested by mundane and sensitives alike. Although the guild used front corporations instead of the internal ones to prevent accidents.

The majority of items available could not work for mundanes anymore than a broom would and it took effort to allow outside sources and not internal to power the artifacts. This was simply due to the vast majority of items either running off of the excess energies that sensitives and the like generate or having a key that required a suitable matching energy to unlock. That was mostly as safety concerns as some things were far easier to misuse that were of mystical or even magical manufacture. This also allowed things to be hidden in plain sight or under minor illusions to prevent detection. This was also part of the broom process as they worked for those magical but not mundane even though they are charmed.

The process of creating artifacts through enchantment is a tedious process and was even with industrial enchantments a time consuming process to set up while having a rather low cost of operation. This is one reason that technomagickal items are popular is that the repetitive efforts are outsourced in the process from draining the operators and are powered by mostly banks of stored energy in various crystals and the like.

One would think that charming an item would not take much effort and that is true. It is the permanence that separates an item being charmed and enchanted as well as complexity as an enchantment often is a composition of numerous charms that reinforce each other. A broom would be an item approaching being enchanted due to the complexity of charms but lacks the permanence as they wear out and unlike absorptive enchantments are not self restoring. The exception were the so called parasitic enchantments and the like which actively drew outside power to operate and did not take inductive energy like most would use.

This was not the only main difference that the guests at his home learned about. The greatest difference was alchemical gems that along with similar gems stored spell, potion or transformative patterns for use in large scale complexity or repetitions. This meant that instead of making a specific potion if it is understood what the end product was that one was simply able to do a low level transmutation to rearrange the ingredients into the end result. This did not mean that potions were abandoned to be replaced by alchemical gems but more along the lines of the difference between making a discovery and putting it into production. Simply put why spend the time boiling and other processing steps when a little energy and a stored converter can speed the process. This is not to say that your average mystic was ignorant of potions as it was required to pass as an initiate to reach a suitable level in the core disciplines and while alchemy and rituals are main branches they require more fundamentals to achieve their ends than other types of magic.

Basically the Hogwarts curriculum was based on a very watered down mystics education. Alchemy and rituals were not covered until long after their first few years of training and runes were classified under component magic. Geomancy, summoning, necromancy, invocation, primal and elemental magics were most definitely not covered by the school even though Geomancy was a cornerstone of magical construction. That was simply due to the fact that the Ministries had pretty much removed any record of it existing even though the knowledge of ley lines and their use remained in mundane and sensitive hands. This was mostly due to the fact that wards were rather more powerful if one ran then with ley lines powering them.

Some of the lesser knowledge of the field are maintained by curse breakers and ward masters but as those are rarefied professions with their own secret legacies it was understandable that they would retain some knowledge that the general public was ignorant of. They still had no recollection of events over ten thousand years ago which was rather well as wizards really would not deal well with the world as a whole before then. Well it was simply the fact that advanced technologies, non-human non-terrestrial species and other such things would not fit into their paradigm and would not deal with it rather well especially considering their behavior to other beings.

The mystic community in general was aware of this which is why most of the younger generation tended to read science fiction although some were want to look for creative castings in fantasy as some ideas were not thought of yet were of practical value. The common held belief was that mundanes were slightly more likely not to go hysterical if confronted by the general weirdness of life than other isolated communities were for the simple reason that they have pondered such things still there was no reason to inform people at say SETI that their was intelligent life out there just that no one was sure what they had been up to for the past few thousand years as the galaxy in general had a spot of bad luck and was stuck in cyclical dark ages. That most of the other sentient races were persona non grata due to their actions in the Demon Wars when they ran crying like babies and left the human occupied portions of space to burn. Things like that tend to stay in ones memories even after several thousand years.

This led to Horus's group getting a somewhat more in depth view of the world and the mystic community in general than most would get as some of the more concealed truths were revealed. It was just that certain things were thankfully never brought up or thought about. This was mostly due to those aware of magic thinking that Anything accredited to aliens or technology was merely magic being explained away while those aware of advanced tech and other species pass off magic as alien tech. This continued even with the rise of technomagick in the current time frame and even after demonstrating flying vehicles rather than being enchanted to fly most were difficult to switch from their view.

The group was aware of more of the goings ons of the communities than others, but to be honest Horus was as trained and by nature secretive of some things. The only ones that got Anything that could be considered full disclosure was his mates and his avatar. He could trust more to the Senshi than even his more serious lovers due to the imperatives they had hardwired although he knew that those could be bent considering that even mystics had certain hardwired things in their minds.

It was a rather interesting conversation all things considering and it was a very good thing that they had a place comfortable for the rather long discussion that had followed. It was inevitable that curiosity would eventually get the better of them and that even Horus admitted to himself that he had played his cards a little to close at times.

"So I take it that you lot want a bit more information than was provided in the publicly acceptable books that I provided?" Horus asked the group once they had settled down into the interconnected couch. "I know that most of you despite not necessarily being in Ravenclaw have a hunger for new knowledge as mysteries are something that you feel compelled to solve..."

"Of course we do," Hermione, Luna, Padma and several other of the girls said. "You know we are forever curious and precocious."

"I know that well enough," Horus said with a smirk, "but what reason do I have to tell such secrets?"

"I am sure we can come to some sort of exchange," Padma said in a rather suggestive tone as she pulled him over to recline on her rather comfortably.

"After all there are plenty that we can offer and all just for a satiating a bit of our curiosity," Parvati said as she crawled to sandwich Horus between the two toned tantalizing twins.

"We can definitely make it worth your while," Luna and Hermione drawled out with a pair of rather lecherous grins as they ran their hands over the three letting their hands drift in a plan to get him to relax and be a bit more open.

"Please Horus?" Susan and Hannah asked as they leaned over and just traced his face. "We will even go so far as to take a witches oath not to tell anyone else until you say we can..."

Horus sighed at that.

'They make a rather good argument,' he thought while being distracted by there actions before he took a sharp intake of breath. 'Man they even have Blaise and Daphne involved in their bargaining. I am a male and even I have my limits and I should know that eventually they would coerce some secrets out of me. Padma as a pillow against my head with Parvati snuggled on me is distracting enough add to that Luna and Hermione cuddling and it is very difficult and that is without Susan and Hannah playing teasingly to keep me distracted and to finally top it off having Daphne and Blaise tag teaming me while the others keep me from moving. Well it is a win win situation for me...'

"Fine, but remember that you wanted to know this," Horus said with a sigh before jerking upward into either Blaise or Daphne's suckling mouth. "Now what do you know about the so called beginning of civilization?"

"What wizards or others think happened?" Hermione asked as she snuggled closer as her hand dipped lower. "There was some difference but both commonly hold the oldest recorded human indications of records and civilizations at ten thousand or so years ago with a cave painting."

"Well that is off by a lot," Horus said with a sigh before he moved a bit against the cocoon of girls rubbing against and otherwise touching him. "Human civilization goes back over a hundred thousand years and it is just due to rather bad fortune that records and ruins are lacking from the time before those cave paintings what with the environmental upheavals and all. You might wonder that if we had such evidence why not reveal it already since most already have accepted things so far..."

"Well it did come to mind," Parvati said while wriggling and rubbing beneath him. "So why not reveal everything when people found out?"

"A person is smart, but people are not," Horus said with a sigh. "That is something that movie got right. Most were rather uncertain and thought that even with all the psychological research that panic or resentment would have happened. The real history of the world is rather strange and not all of it puts anyone in a favorable light. We were not saints and even we had done some stupid and outright sickening things. Before I go on I want you to give me your witches’ oaths that you will not tell anyone outside the group ok?"

The girls looked at each other and that was a very serious thing to ask for and due to the seriousness that magic made oaths they had been drilled not to make them indiscriminately and only if absolutely necessary. This practice was due to a few people and especially muggleborn children suffering cruel fates by accidentally making oaths based on muggle phrases. This was in part one reason that there was a schism between mundane and every other group and that was that a mundane could swear solemnly, make what seemed to be binding oaths and unless there was an outside magic to enforce it what they said was only words and only those places with honor codes might keep them.

Though it was a little bit freaky to here the girls around him speak and say in sync, "We so swear by blood and magic that we shall not reveal to any outside this group what we shall be entrusted to hear. So it is sworn. So shall it be."

"Well now that there is no worry about some of this getting out and causing a panic," Horus said with a sigh. "I guess I should start at the beginning in a time long passed when the world was far different and humanity was widespread along other fellow sentient beings. What came before was rather interesting and yet most details have faded even from our memories. The first thing to understand is that mystics while sharing the similarities in being able to perform magic have several key differences that has always and will always make us different. Origins do have a way of setting things apart. At the time there were a vast majority of what we would call sensitives today. They were able to utilize at least one form of energy manipulations wither it was over internal or external energies let alone which type either physical, mental, spiritual or a combination did not really matter."

"Well that is different, but it does not seem to be as important as to require our oaths," Luna said in a questioning tone. "So what is it that in the origins that is shocking that we do not know?"

"Well Seras, Kasumi and Nabiki know," Horus began with a sigh wiggling his head between Padma's cushioning breasts. "It would be kind of hard for them not to know. Still these are things that have long been considered left unsaid. Origins are always tricky to accept since so much is built on where we came from as part of where we are and where we are going. Still it would be best to start at the beginning or as close to the beginning as is possible. It was a different time and humanity had once again crawled out of the cradle that they had dwelt in for so long. Humans had achieved the ability to traverse the stars and had even made contact with sentient life not native to earth. While some similarities may be drawn to certain magical creatures not all of the other races had magic. Technology was as large a part of human society as was magic of various forms. Looking back most consider it a golden age unprecedented in remembered human history. We had gotten over the various divisions that had existed and had once more restored that which had been damaged in our rise. That means that technology reached a level greater than is currently available and the messes of industrialization and the damage to the environment had been alleviated. Humanity had set foot on the inhabitable worlds of this system and even gotten a level of space faring to expand outwards across the habitable planets of the galaxy while the rudimentary abilities of terraforming had already allowed for Mars as it is now called to support life as well as the various structures on the other planets and moons. Ships traveled across the expanses of space between the colonies and technology reached a point where the technological equivalent of floo travel existed between the major hubs of the worlds."

"Go on it is getting interesting," Susan said from where she had wrapped herself around him. "What were they like and if things had been so great how did we fall so far?"

"The main fellow sentient races were similar to Veela, mermaids and dragons being that they were avian, aquatic and reptilian. Cephians were an aquatic dwelling species that resembled vaguely mermen except that it was more like the pop culture reference to Aquaman in that they could breath underwater and communicate with aquatic creatures," Horus began to tell them of things that had been. "Well they could survive on land for short periods of time but similarly to amphibians they tended to dry out if too long away from moisture. The Verex were reptilian in nature and quite civilized considering they grew up on mostly desert worlds with very harsh conditions. The Aryael were avian in nature but unlike Veela they did not have both arms and wings but could use their wings as arms with hands similar to some anthropomorphic individuals. Now everything was going well until about seventy thousand years ago on what we call Halloween or more accurately the Harvest Festival. The day before actually as the records show that things went completely Topsy Turvy during the preparations. Well short answer was that a large scale extra dimensional invasion occurred from nine different groups that had already exhausted the natural resources in their dimensions as well as those they had conquered in their unending hunger. They were like locusts in how they stripped places bare. Think extra dimensional version of Independence Day, but without a cool saving thing. World went to a dark age and our allies quarantined human space trapping their own here to try to save the whole. Sadly it was too late as they had already infiltrated their colonies before those measures stuck."

"Sounds like a sound solution if it would have worked isolate the problem and strike when ready," Hermione said. "I take it that things went well and truly wrong?"

"Understatement much," Horus said with a sigh. "Ninety percent of the human population was dead on earth within the day and within a week the same for the spread out population. The troops were in various levels of power and each became exponentially tougher. Relics barely managed to cause harm to the higher ups and the bosses shrugged off nuclear levels of destruction. It turned out that it took the combined attacks of mind, body and spirit to affect them unless one had a relic or a truly holy item. Normal magic users and the like died off rather quickly and the amount of training to handle a level of power to defend against let alone defeat the enemy was decades in training if not centuries to acquire. So a short cut was devised as I told Luna. The first generation died before they turned fifteen and most went in a Pyhrric victory that left entire worlds rendered glass from the destruction."

"Glassed," Parvati said in a shudder as she recalled what was needed for that to happen before she hugged herself tighter to him. "I cannot imagine what a decision like that could be like. To cause that much death and destruction to have to do so is almost unimaginable."

"Well eventually the second generation worked out and such matters became less common. Things continued on as a sudden surge crossed the galaxy destroying them where they could and sealing or banishing of that was unavailable," Horus went on to say. "Their forces were reduced from like grains of sand at the beach to a manageable number. Eventually all that remained were the foot soldiers and other sycophants that hid and buried themselves in the woodwork. Time passed and people rebuilt only without a common enemy to fight the sorcerers of that age took to protecting the villagers where they resided. The people seeing how much more powerful and longer living they were took them to be gods and worshiped them. Eventually after the populous had expanded again in the various regions it eventually came a time where a sorcerers village fought against another sorcerers village and things then went completely down hill after that. Alliances between students and teachers eventually dragged every sorcerer possible that was involved into the conflict which was later known as the Sorcerer Wars and destruction once more followed in the wake. Human civilization once more rebuilt, but to prevent such conflict from arising and threatening the lives of so many again the sorcerers of that time formed a guild to prevent direct conflict between sorcerers involving so many participants. At the time because of the alliances the settling of conflicts were through combat and due to the numbers on each side things had escalated too much. Duels thus became limited to far fewer participants than the open melee that had occurred. The Guild also had a select number of rules and while simple prevented members from restarting the Sorcerer Wars. This was in addition to the way that the Guild would prevent conflicts of interest as well as keep the members honest in what they required for services rendered."

"What happened next?" Padma asked from where she was snuggled on his chest. "There is no way that is the end or things would be much more relaxed."

"Ramifications of the Sorcerer Wars besides the Guild had been rather interesting and that was that like had been done to us in making us weapons we took others and made them weapons," Horus said. "It did not matter what one was as they were at that point considered similarly to how most viewed house elves as merely property similar to serfs in the Middle Ages and as such were readily used and abused by their owners. Not much is clear about some of that but there was a lot of selective breeding and other things that happened the end result was that a mystic variety of both lycanthrope and vampirism was formed in an attempt to recreate the original ritual. Because that did not turn out right and only had a subset of the abilities of sorcerers they were viewed as better than the common fodder but less than the sorcerers. Vampires are easily controllable with Necromancy and zoanthropes could be controlled by Invokers and as such were used in the Sorcerer Wars as heavy hitters when a sorcerer would be either overkill or to unacceptable of a loss."

"Harsh, but considering that wizards did the same it is not right to judge on that," Hannah said in a sad tone. "I take it that unlike the Goblin Rebellions that they were successful?"

"Eventually and after a few thousand years of off again on again war they achieved their dreams," Horus said with a sigh. "Remarkably it was the vampires that were recognized first while both sides used the zoanthropes as meat tanks. It seems odd that one would secede territory to allow the vampires control of certain cities, but that is what happened. The Zoanthropes were unable to resist commands from invokers and beast masters and as such it was not until after the rise of the Vampire Nation and the first pan were birth in a controlled attempt to make stronger soldiers that the zoanthropes rose to unity and thus freedom. The last Mystic War ended in a peace treaty add the creation of two groups the Triad and the Triumvirate. The Triad was to give peace an option unavailable before and as would later be reminiscent of most cultures the peace was solidified by a marriage. Those at the wedding should guess what happened after that."

"Well not all of us were able to go, but we should be able to get the story about that out of the others," Daphne said as she lifted her head up. "Now I don't know about the rest of you but I feel a bit neglected..."

"Women," Horus said with a laugh before he was soon lost amid the now more active girls.

"Don't you know it," they said with a laugh before pouncing on him.

"Wouldn't want it any other way," the group said in unison before laughing and continuing on.

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Lemon Scene

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With that Daphne and Blaise returned to suckling on his cock while Susan and Hannah kept his hands occupied with their twats and the Patil Twins rubbed against him with Padma above slowly grinding against his chest and Parvati below rubbing her sex against his ass with her tits cradling his head while the motion gave a slight rubbing to relax his neck. Luna and Hermione were reaching over Horus to touch each other and those between.

'Sometimes I think girls got it easier what with being able to cum more often and harder than a guy can without training,' Horus thought as he felt Susan and Hannah squeezing and gushing his sliding fingers. 'Yep they mostly got the short straw what with periods and pregnancies, but magic helped even that out. So I have to admit without having the hormonal swings and control of pregnancies even to freeze or transfer that they got a better deal than a slightly easier method of peeing upright. Not that they can't but it takes a slight bit more aiming.'

That was the last coherent thought for a while as Horus was soon more occupied with the cuming girls around him as well as the dual blow job that Daphne and Blaise were especially when they deep throated and blow his balls at the same time. The way that they had kept a very slow pace with gentle suction and light kisses during the story before going to an ejaculation inducing suction in a rapid rate kept him from forming thoughts as he responded to the others actions in any manner short of instinctive.

Daphne and Blaise became distracted for a little while sharing cum filled kisses and caresses so Horus was left momentarily open which Padma immediately took advantage of while Parvati convinced the distracted Horus to let his tail out to keep her occupied while her sister rode him. So Horus was in a Patil sandwich without the unpleasant bit that some guys disliked really one wonders why anal is considered submissive at times but those were the breaks. That break allowed Horus to slither between the twin pussies that ground against him without having to worry too much more than keeping a rhythm and bucking between the two grinding girls.

While that was going on Susan was preoccupied with Hannah showing Hufflepuffs strong loyalty was in part due to the intimacy that they share. Besides they were just working them selves up for when the Patils had to recover. Luna and Hermine were somewhat similar in their mutual activities and for once it seemed that Luna was more interested in mutual gratification than her usual games would allow. The girls would have commented on the action but they had their mouths preoccupied if not filled with more interesting things than trivial words would convey.

The Patils were moving about like they were being electrified with the way that they were jerking about as they writhed from the moving impalements. Padma and Parvati were both rather out of it or more accurately into it as they were grateful for both the increased stamina as well as the thresholds that their exercising allowed them to experience. Parvati was rather happy with a tail as while it was narrower that did not mean that it was shorter and any physical limitations were made up with the increased flexibility to better get all the places that were normally missed.

When he Patils slumped to the side to catch their breath and cuddle for a moment their absence was quickly noted and taken advantage of by Susan and Hannah. They had quickly taken their places but in typical Hufflepuff fashion they were more concerned with their friend than themselves so unlike the Patils the two alternated who was where. This allowed the girls to get a few more moments as well as a bit more fun before they needed to catch their breaths. That did allow for the two to do a bit more creative actions while they could monopolize Horus's time as Daphne and Blaise were still too distracted by each other to do much to complain and the others were likewise distracted. They did however have a true Hufflepuff moment where one got Horus's complete attention to be soon overwhelmed by hands, mouth, cock and tail while her friend was also running hands over the two while she roamed with her hands as well over both of them. They did swap back and forth a bit and as it got to be too much during one of Hannah's turns they switched so that Horus was only using his cock and tail on Hannah while his hands and mouth made Susan cream while the two girls hands roamed each other as they both rode him before switching back and forth.

Alas even with training they would eventually reach the end of their stamina and recoup while another set took their place. This time it was Hermione and Luna for a quick go although while similar in their approach with tail and cock inside Hermione there was the difference in that Luna enjoyed both their tongues and hands while Hermione bucked underneath the two. Luna was of course using Hermione's tits as grips and as the accomplished mistress that she was used her hand to drive Hermione along that razor edge. When Hermione was too sore to take anymore pounding she swapped with Luna however she was not completely addled from her fun and returned Luna's attention in yet another attempt to stop being so submissive a partner. While Luna was in a technically submissive position as Hermione rode her face and Horus thrusted and twisted inside her, she still managed while Hermione was tweaking and tormenting her tits to coax Hermione to get her off first.

With the back and forth challenges between the two it was no wonder that as soon as Horus withdrew the two were tussling trying to figuratively and symbolically prove who was on top. That did allow for Daphne and Blaise to get back in the action. Interestingly they were more like Hufflepuffs as they were true friends in that their was more back and forth with his true intentions although instead of being on the side the less involved participant wanted to be between the two and just enjoying the feel of the two moving around her or her beneath them. Blaise was laying on Daphne with her head resting between her breasts while Horus alternated his attentions in who he was mounted in beneath him. The only thing that staid the same was that Daphne was teasing Blaise throughout while Blaise ran her hands down Horus's back through the duration. He did alternate and slide his cock in one while his tail was in the other besides double fucking the mewing girls.

Hannah and Susan had finally stopped their games and rejoined Horus and his current coupling. The group of girls swapped around and among each other while Luna and Hermione as well as the Patil twins occupied each other including swapping around as well. One could tell after a while which Patil was which based on how they moved in response to Luna's actions. Horus would have commented but his mouth and hands were full and he did not feel like he was focused enough for mental communications beyond empathic projections. Daphne was due to the shear support of her tits used often as a pillow while Hannah was likewise lying next to Daphne while Susan and Blaise crawled on top of them as they met Horus's thrusting and probing motions.

One advantage of a tail was that it was flexible yet stiff and as such made a good tool for penetrations. This was in part why it was so very hard to find any female virgins among the zoanthropes as they tended to pop their cherries as it were either with their or someone else's tail or even tongue or fingers before a cock would do so. That was in fact part of the problem for those zoanthropes not raised among mundanes as the culture was very different in such matters and a good number of things that were frowned on or out right illegal among mundanes were considered normal. That being the case it should come as no surprise that while he was currently inside Daphne his tail was sliding and gaining a glistening sheen from Susan's pussy juice. That was not to say that Blaise and Hannah were left out as Susan was doing a very good job in stimulating Hannah as she writhed around as Horus's tail slid inside and slithered about while Daphne kneaded Blaise's tits while his thrusts ran along her slit.

Far too soon for those involved they shuddered one last time before snuggling up to each other. The spirit may be willing but the flesh was still weak and the girls planned on some serious training to be both draining and fulfilling as they needed to get their bodies in tip top shape to lengthen their encounters. While the sex romps would be memorable and shocking in how long and hard they had cum so often the girls planned on always improving so that they had a new challenge to train for. That the training was normally long bouts of hot and heated sex where they went until they could feel stretched and sore was irrelevant except that they liked that almost as much as the romps. Still even sleep and exhaustion did not completely dampen their libidos as the one that lasted the longest would get to sleep stuffed and that was something that they all looked forward to experiencing. It was a shame that it was so hard to find a good man that they had been so eager to share. Still sharing did allow for many scenes and circumstances that would have been impossible otherwise.

Still it was nice for one of the non regulars to win and so Horus rested between Daphne and Blaise with Hannah and Susan cuddled up against him with their pussies rubbed against his palm and their tits nestling his arms between them. All in all everything was great and even the added weight with Horus reclined with his heads using her tits as pillows to cradle his head did not bother Daphne any more than that Blaise was draped over him with his cock still inside her. That was mostly because he had left his tail inside her and it twitched as he slept.

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End Lemon Scene

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So Horus had made up his lack of attention to Daphne, Hannah, Susan and Blaise while Luna and Hermione kept themselves occupied while the Patil twins did the same while making sure they could watch the other groups with ease. By the time Horus was done making it up to the girls he had neglected the other girls were likewise creamed out and sleeping it off.

'Life is good and it is only getting better everyday,' Horus thought as he drifted off feeling the sleeping girls scoot a little closer until they were all touching and kept warm by their shared body heat. 'This sort of thing is really more common among zoanthropes as some of the older clans do not wear clothes unless absolutely necessary and that they puppy pile regardless of form. It builds a strong sense of belonging and is one of the main reasons that unwanted sexual advances are so rare among the tribes. If sex is relatively available there is little reason to force it and the dominance games allow those other impulses to be safely vented. It is only those that live more or less integrated with the mundane that keep the separate beds instead of communal things. Shared beds, shared baths and shared meals really help keep them unified. Odd how I seem to be doing the same thing for my family though that makes perfect sense.'

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School after break was very boring. No make that extremely boring as the lessons in class while improved were far too simplistic to the study group as far more charms and transfiguration had been covered in the name of defense. Mostly that was with the students in general being once more watching the long deliberations that were going on for the trial of the former Headmaster.

Some of the classes were somewhat interesting and some of the non traditional sources were being brought into transfiguration besides the conjuring that was typically taught to sixth and seventh years. McGonagall was currently using the improved lesson plans that had been heavily influenced by the transfiguration chapters of this to that to improve things and not just teach the students that which would be covered on their OWLS and NEWTS. She had even started a small club that would be learning the secrets of transmutation.

The most interesting thing was that those that were in the great potions debate of the fifth year Gryffindor/Slytherin class. Even the most addled minded of the students were prone to take furiously fast notes to get everything in since the banter between the two potions masters was leading to more advanced as well as deeper understanding of the subject.

This was particularly highlighted in one of the nearer classes over the school year when the two began to brew a rather complicated potion and worked rather diligently to shorten the brewing time of such an expensive potion. Horus was not allowed to be part of the competition, but to the winner would go a potion that was rather sought after. This potion was second only to one of the most potent of love potions in how much the underground potion brewers were paid for. This was a potion categorized as beyond NEWT level and if the two succeeded they would have done something truly marvelous. That was not to say that the post Cruciatus potion was nothing, but this would be raising the art to a whole new level.

Felix Felicius, Polyjuice, Amortentia, and Wolfsbane were simply child's play against this potion which traditionally took a year and a day to make far more than the month to a few months that the others could. It was an old potion and not one that a potion brewer would brew save to get their masteries as it was so expensive and time consuming to make. Tears of Time was one of the more literal meanings of the potion. It could do what even the Elixir of Life could not do. It was one of the antiagapates of the highest order and unlike the Elixir could revitalize the body to perfection as was often considered by it having been called the Dew of the Gods in that it restored the body to its peak age while allowing the natural improvements that came with age to be retained.

The main problem was that while it did by someone a longer life span there was the fact that most of the ingredients were either prohibited or exorbitantly expensive. It is in part that reason that Voldemort had not used it to achieve his immortality and went after the stone instead. There were many steps that had to be timed just right and several intermediary potions had to be prepared to be added that it took the considerable effort and most of the time of two potion brewers in addition to the most stringent of guidelines to accomplish the results. It did not infer immortality with a single drink, but a goblets worth was worth more than a billion galleons and normally consumed somewhere between one hundred thousand and ten million galleons in cost of components which did not even take into account the considerable investment of labor involved.

This was mostly due to the fact that an impurity not removed in sufficient time would ruin the potion and that a vial at most would be produced with several cauldrons ruined. It was not just the cost of the ingredients which included several that had to be harvested in set conditions or under specific circumstances such as a mixture of altered components such as is the case in the creation of a basilisk. No the true cost is in the precision of stirring components, measuring devices, cutting implements and even cauldrons.

As is typical besides the bits and pieces of living entities such as plants and animals there is also the ground minerals that have to be just right. That is part of the reason that powdered gems such as moonstone are required. Although a certain stage of the potion required the use of not just wood or specific metals for the stirrer and the cauldrons being of different materials, the middle and last steps would be the most difficult as one has to transfer the sub component compounds while filtering them through specific methods to remove any trace of impurity. The final step requires complicated apparatuses to filter the compounds that are finally extracted. It is a liquid that has been culled from a mixture that leaves behind a rather dangerous powder that some would consider the desire for in the shadier businesses.

The Sands of Entropy they are called and should never be touched for the effects would be disastrous. One would think that a potion that leaves as a counterpart such a compound would be less likely to be made even with the great advantage that it would have. The sands are not to be taken lightly and do have their uses after they are diluted. In their pure form they are too potent similar to why the tear is a liquid and not reduced into a gel. The only purpose that one would have for the tear in its purest form is to reduce someone to an infant without any memories. If one is too young that is the case otherwise they are reverted to children with some of their memories blocked until they are older.

The sands are as harmful as the water is helpful. Dragon hide gloves are the only warning a brewer would have to get his hands away before they are left with a shriveled hand that can only be cured by the water. The only other known method to cure the infliction resulting from the sands is the removal and replacement or regrowth of the removed part. If it is inhaled the subject dies a most painful death as they literally age in the span of moments from whatever age they were to the elderly from before decomposing. Victims do not leave more than dust left after they die.

It was a rather good thing that they were not at one of the critical points in the potion and were at one of the numerous reduction stages where certain chemicals were boiled off. Even this stage was useful as the more abundant intermediaries could be culled for other things.

"Well it looks like everything is on track," Horus said as he watched the mists being condensed into a second phial. "If this modification comes out right than it will dramatically shorten the time and cost of preparation."

"Indeed," Severus said as he continued to make minute changes to the flames. "Still there is plenty that could go wrong. We are lucky that no incompetents interrupted any of the important stages yet."

"It is rather odd that this potion is a practical demonstration for almost every aspect of potion brewing," Horus said with a grin. "At least the students have improved remarkably once they had a sufficient thirst driven into them. Shame that we would get in trouble of we were too creative."

"Yes I don't think the ministry having us poison them and then have them make the antidote in time would go over well," Severus said with a slight grin. "Although at times I wished to use Slughorn's lesson plans I found so few willing to take the time to properly understand potions."

"It is just a facet of children," Horus said as he increased the cooling on the condenser. "They like things done now and lack the patients for long range planning. Why else would they seem to soak up charms and transfiguration while ignoring potions, runes and rituals? It is all about immediate self gratification. They want to reach their goal as soon as possible and forget that the most important lessons are not learned by attaining goals but by the journey to get to the goals."

"Yes that is in part why I tell them no silly wand waving," Severus said. "Well there is also the matter that a large number of potions are sensitive to outside magical interference."

"Another reason why they need to clean their supplies without magic so as to prevent contamination," Horus said as he started the complex process of further refining the byproducts of the potion. "It is a shame that far too many potions leave unwanted byproducts we really need to design potions in regards to being less wasteful considering how much of certain things are boiled off or left as sludge at the bottom of the cauldrons."

"Sad but true that they seem to learn better seeing than reading or studying," Severus said with a sad tone to his voice. "Perhaps with the increased interest there will be a few that will further the Art."

"We can only hope," Horus said as he watched the students brewing their potions. "On the positive side they are at least not making the simplistic of mistakes that they were before. Who knows maybe they will revolutionize the Art as we have tried to do?"

"Perhaps they will perhaps they won't," Severus said as he once more altered the flames subtly to improve the potion they were brewing. "Still they are at least now showing some competency and dare I hope appreciation for the Craft."

"Yes it seems that while you tried to instill some will into them most would rather buckle than stand fast in their place," Horus said with a sneer. "Sheep far too many of them are willing to do whatever anyone tells them. Perhaps someday they will learn to think in general and not be such good little minions. While I understand the need for chains of command and similar things, they are far too willing to follow blindly the commands and suggestions of anyone rather than, Maker forbid, think for themselves. It seems a shame that most would think they needed nothing but rote memorization to do well in here when they need to learn to understand the reactions and combinations of different ingredients and why they occur."

"I look at them now and most at least attempt to not be dunderheads," Severus said with a chuckle. "It seems that this year they finally get what I said in my first lesson. They finally understand that potions while not the instant magic of charms and other wand magics are no less powerful. In fact they can do things with potions that are almost impossible to do without far more control and training when they use potions."

"For any spell that exists there is a potion that does the same thing," Horus said with a grin. "It is only time until one finds out how to make it. There are potions for healing, for any charm imaginable as well as any so called jinx, hex and curse. That does not even account for all the potions that allow transfigurations and the like, in fact the only problem that such potions ever had is that the charms are easier to change on the fly as it were."

"Most people forget about that," Severus said. "Still the potion for things can exist without a spell that has similar effects existing such as the Drought of the Living Death, Felix Felicia, Amortentia and a range of other potions."

Horus just laughed before he said with a grin, "Yeah I can see that. Most medical potions are far better than their spell counterparts since they can be tailored so easily to the situation at hand. Skellegrow, pepper up, De petrification and the like are far too complex for most to cast a spell equivalent."

"Yes it seems that if we ignore them and leave them with potions that can be of use to them in their daily lives at the moment or the near future that they are far more likely to actually accomplish them," Severus said as he looked over at the students who were actually brewing the potion correctly with Merlin forbid Longbottom brewing a near perfect potion. "I do have you and Lovegood to thank for his turn of task as well as the Weasley boy as well."

"I tend not to ask what she does with him as I would rather not know," Horus said as he looked over and saw that while the vast majority would get a useful potion with few if any side effects there would be a far larger number every lesson who made their potion more and more improved to have the least side effects and most likely gain Os for their OWL and NEWTS if they continued as they were now. "Still I wonder what they think we are talking about at the moment. They hear our explanation of the potion they are to brew as well as the necessary theory, but after that they hear none of our conversation and even with the increased interest in muggle matters they are not likely to learn to lip read not that the prevention would not safeguard against that."

"It does let us work in peace," Severus said with a chuckle. "Still I get to play the role less and they seem to have developed the other aspects of the lessons I teach and not just of the Art and Craft of Potions. It is rather nice that the spell does not interfere with potions in any discernible way any more than brewing in the castle would do."

"Yes that is rather nice besides the fact that the spell can be used to talk in public about private things without such issues arising," Horus said as he turned to watch the reductions to the condensate turn it to a sky blue color. "Besides it is good to see you not have to play the part. You do teach them how to brew fame, bottle glory and put a stopper on death and that is without potions to do so. It seems a shame that so few really understood what you were trying to do. They need to learn how to stand against challenges and rise to the occasion. Perhaps if they would actually read the textbooks you assign they would get some of the more basic lessons or at least those raised in the old ways still do so. Though it does explain why most people have a low opinion of the Weasleys besides the numerous numbers and how it makes inheritance issues complicated. It does allow them to branch out instead of specializing like most families do. How much of family practices are breeding and how much is the additional lessons they learned as they grew up is up to debate."

"True most of the old families found where their talents lied and passed the knowledge down," Severus said as he once again made minute alterations to the temperature of the potion to separate the materials accordingly. "Most of them now do not do so if they are from newer families as the tradition predates the founders when lessons were taught by family and if not that then through an apprenticeship. Modern schools are just that modern and despite the rise and fall of the Greeks and the Romans most nations did not have public education and as such it was left to the family to train the next generation."

"There used to be public schools way back when but in times of great conflicts such things become less of a concern when one has only two goals surviving and breeding soldiers," Horus said with a look. "Main reason that family ties were so important was that when society in general has a collapse that is the smallest group that one has to cling to. When a nation collapses then one goes to regional loyalties whereas if the regional structure collapses then one goes to the extended families or clans, tribes and the like with if even the clan or tribe loyalties falling apart then one goes to ones family. If even brother turns on brother and the children on parents that is when one knows that things have gone completely to the swamps. People need things to bring them together into groups and I don’t mean in the terms of being social animals like sociologists mean. It is simply that one person has difficulty doing everything that they need to survive. This is especially a given after a certain level of specialization. Take brewing potions would you have time to brew if you needed to tend after a large number of plants? That is in part why most potion ingredients are those that grow with little outside influence besides harvesting them as there would be very little time if one had to tend a garden while brewing. That does not even take into account the other things and I do not refer to delegating in any other way but this. Think how difficult life would be without house elves and the other service professions. All professions are about a trade in services. Elves get somewhere to live while potion brewers provide potions. Is this any different than any other exchange of goods and services? It is similarly in the muggle or as I prefer the mundane world. Someone is interconnected to a large number of people now given that one could conjure a rather large amount of the things one needs that does not provide for all needs. One of the reasons that nomadic groups are in a way communities is that there is a sufficient specialization while maintaining a generalist ability so that while one was talented in one area that person also knew what to do in most occasions."

"It seems that as the phrase goes no man is an island although from you that would better be no man is an island when he has an islands worth of women," Severus said with a smirk. "I do admit that you attract more ladies than your father but at least you are not like he was with the playboy way he had. It seems a shame at times that things went how they did..."

"It was a good deal that he was raised differently and it does put a good point in the nurture versus nature debate," Horus said with a smirk. "One he was wealthy and as such grew up with the idea that if he wanted something he could get it with little to no know effort. Add to that he was favored by Dumbledore and that little effort was given to keep him in line and a firm belief that he was above the rules is it any wonder that it took significant effort to make him change his tune?"

"Your mother was one of the most outspoken and determined ladies I had ever met," Severus said in a proud tone. "She could make even the most ardent of people stand up to attention."

"That gives far too much images that I don't want to know," Horus said with a slightly disgusted look on his face. "I so do not want mental pictures of my parents in the same state I have found Ronny and Luna in. That is just not something I wanted to think of ever. The only thing worse would be if mum was like Luna and that she liked to play with others. I mean I can expect dad to be like that since he never grew up but to have one's mother in those types of positions is just wrong."

"I can understand that I never wanted to think of my mother like that and I shudder to think what the Weasleys would think of Molly if they ever walked in on her doing that," Severus said with a shudder. "I can understand when she was younger and didn't look like she does now, but now with the effects of childbearing and her plumpness is just wrong."

"Yeah she was not bad when younger and considering that she was involved with the debacle..." Horus trailed off with out a hint of concern about the woman.

"I can understand that you have a rather sore spot with her, but..." Severus began but trailed off.

"There was a trial and suffice it to say that no one really cares what happens to her and I got yet another human sized house elf loyal person to deal with," Horus said with a shrug. "Let's just say that most of my issues as well as other peoples can be considered dealt with. I take it that she did something to you as well..."

"She was a rather large factor in a good deal of my misfortunes that she convinced your father to do," Severus said with a sigh. "She did nothing but egg him and the others on."

"Yeah she really is nothing but a gold digger," Horus said with a shrug. "She tried to get both my father and Neville's to get her knocked up going so far as to use a wide range of potions. She seemed to lack the ability to make the stronger love potions not that she didn't try them mind you, but considering how loose she was in her attempts to ensnare any man of means is there any doubt that she would have finally attempted to succeed?"

"Given her determination to improve on the place the Prewitts had fallen to it is no doubt that she would have continued until she succeeded in snagging someone," Severus said with a blasé tone. "I do have to wonder how she had snagged Arthur instead of any of the other choices I do not know and probably would not want to know."

"You are right about that it seems that Neville takes after his father in his activities and that they eventually caught Molly at her games," Horus said in an indifferent tone. "I have to admit that Alice has a rather devious mind and that I know none of the others really utilize Molly anymore. Besides knowing your luck she teased you when you were students together. Besides I think most of them liked when she was restored to be broken it time and again."

Severus had a very dark and sinister look as his mind began to think up ways to vent all of the years of frustration that woman had caused. It was a good thing that the spell prevented the students from seeing his eyes or the terror they had felt to him would pale from what they would feel from those eyes.

"Thank you," Severus said in an honored voice. "It would be nice to finally put things to rest..."

"No problem Severus," Horus said. "Just don't mention what you do with and to her to me ever. I am fairly certain that I do not want to know. I will be rather occupied with my own concerns and as such you have plenty of time to play."

"That is good to know," Severus said with a feral grin. "Now I just need a place to properly thank her..."

"I have just the place in the castle," Horus said with a similar grin. "You may have heard of it, but there is a room that will provide what you need. The problem is that unfortunately it does not provide things that can leave the room. Otherwise it would be the perfect place to brew things without fear of cost among other uses..."

**********************************

Shadows are everywhere and most don't think to prevent there being any shadows in a place as such a measure is rather strange even among the magical world. It should then comes as little shock that the Ministry was no more warded against shadow travel than Hogwarts had been. In fact with the less lighting in most areas to keep the mood in both places there were plenty of overlaid shadows making things far easier than it should have been.

If one thinks about it shadows are most places and with the simplest of actions one can disappear in one with little effort. This goes without those who know enough to become shadow and travel across lighted surfaces to reach a real shadow. Since that is a somewhat higher skill than blending into shadows or most other shadow abilities most with training in manipulating shadows learn to fall into their own shadow regardless of only having a fingers width of shadow to sink into.

The shadows themselves are comforting almost motherly in their embrace as babies grow in a warm dark place where they feel wrapped and hugged as they grow. So most that learn to travel through shadows tend to drift if they have time within the shadows a bit more than necessary. It would seem odd but traveling through shadows is not that difficult compared to resting in the shadows and that is mostly due to the odd way that ones mind must adapt to accommodate the difference in senses when one is in a shadow.

Shadows are connected and the closer they are in real space the closer they are in shadow space. There is a large shadow that interconnects all other shadows and some just enjoy drifting from shadow to shadow. If the shadows are close enough one merely flows from shadow to shadow without drifting too much. When one does this they have a momentary view through the shadow they enter of where they are going.

This is far different when one drifts and sees out of a slowly growing number of shadows. It is said that if one spent enough time drifting just on the periphery of leaving the shadows one could learn to see out of every shadow even if their would be no sound it is a rather useful skill to gain information. The difficulty is that the human mind like most others is not designed to handle the numerous sensory inputs and to handle a grater number of eyes individually. Those beings that are aligned with the shadow element tend to be much better and natural at such skills.

There is a reason that a good number of wise people avoid shadow wolves and that Egypt seemed to have an inordinately large population of shadow cats living there. One of the reasons was that Bast when younger tended to use her familiar bond to watch out for problems or opportunities. All of this would easily explain why Horus would bypass all of the legal rigmarole to reach the Ministry building in London.

Horus was floating on the edge of a rather large number of shadows as he tried to find the closest to his destination while using the others to observe the rather lackadaisical patrols of the corridors.

'It was just depressing when one had no challenge in one work,' Horus thought as he watched professionals make so many rookie mistakes that he wanted to strangle them. 'While it would make things easier there is a sense of accomplishment and pride in ones skills when one overcomes adversity and advisories. This is just a joke with how little security there is. Then again, I should not be too eager or careless there are a few forms of wards and other detection methods that I would not notice from here.'

Horus let a bit of his senses stretch beyond the shadows to double check the wards and the rest. It would be necessary for the most accurate and safe scans to reach from the shadows and use subtle and passive magic to detect things was far more useful than to immediately go hot and scan actively. It was similar to how passive and active electronic detection systems worked that being that passive scans were far less likely to be detected than the more active detections in radiant energy detection than against passive methods.

'Well it looks safe so far and I do have time to kill until the decision comes down,' Horus thought as he shifted most of his attention to the shadows near the Hallway of Prophecy in the Department of Mysteries. 'Now lets see this area will be empty of patrols for a while and baring the arrival of Riddle in a body to see Dumbledore's fall this should go swimmingly. Better not think that again as we both despise the man and he would show up to it if he could.'

Horus turned his attention to reading who the prophecies were about before he thought, 'Well now lets see who this prophecy was delivered to. Hmm they are not listed by who they were given to and by whom but by that with initials instead of names. Now given that Dumbles has a long name it should be simple to find Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore A.P.W.B.D. would stand out and given his opinions of that hack Trelawney would have been the seer to give the prophecy. S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D. concerning Dark Lord and (?) HJP. Well it should have been TMR, but well that must be it. Odd how no one seems to know his real name and it should have been written TMR and Unknown if their were multiple people it could be concerning.'

With that thought he shrugged before he materialized mid air in the hallway with little visible effort. He slowly drifted to the orb while making sure that their were no detection webs that would activate if he took the orb.

'Odd that the orbs are only touchable by the concerned party although that would explain why he didn't send a minion even though he has so few left now,' Horus thought with a mental chuckle. 'Now monitoring webs are practically non existent yet there are so many prophecies here. Then again most prophecies are so vague as to be useless or misunderstood. The few that prophecies make perfect sense are the valid ones describing the few ordained and immovable events that occur. Despite popular opinion free will is not the only thing nor is predestination. There is some truth to each but some moments are purely dynamic in their effects while others are static.'

One would wonder why he was simply floating there. Simply put Horus was in the Ministry Building setting up the trap while he waited for the results from the Trial of Albus Dumbledore. It was a rather simple plan and should be very unlikely to go wrong although there still was a chance. There was a part of his mind which thought that something would go wrong although Riddle would be dealt with. He was just doing his best not to trigger the wards that would be triggered if the sphere would be moved.

'I just cannot shake the feeling that one of the interferences I think is checkmated is merely in check and will come back to ruin things,' Horus thought as he continued to alter the sphere holding the prophecy so that an altered prophecy would be there just in case which would stall Riddle if anything prevented Plan B from working. 'It is a shame that Plan A was disrupted by him fragmenting his soul like that. If it had not he would have been dealt with already and I could have focused all my efforts in dealing with the Ministry and Dumbledore. A shame that things will inevitably end in tragedy for the Wizarding World. Most likely that something will happen that my attention is diverted long enough for a new generation of Pure Blood Supremacists to rise up again to only end in the return of the Wizarding World to the mundane eyes. It is almost a shame that such a wonderful place will almost be destroyed by such a tragic event even if it will lead to better conditions for all involved. Sometimes a tragedy must occur for things to change and get better. Most likely the loss of so many Death Eaters will lead to the next rising coming from the continent again instead of the isles.'

"Now lets hear what it says first," Horus said as he put up a silencing ward as he listened to the given prophecy.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies."

'That will never do,' he thought. 'This merely states something given that inevitably we will fight and that I will know things he does not and that only one of us will walk away when all is said and done. That seems almost a bit too obvious. Best change it to make it that because he acted on the first bit that he heard that he essentially doomed himself. That would be far better than this mark equal and power he knows not nonsense. Either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives is probably misinterpreted to mean an either or immortality when it just means that he will bother me and prevent my goals and vice versa. I cannot believe the idiot planned on no training. If that happened then I would have been completely out classed dealing with him. In the current circumstances things are reversed and with the use of the Veil or Gate as it were I can bypass the protections that having his soul fragmented would give as the fragments anchor his spirit to this plain but do nothing to prevent his death if he is off plane. If he is in the Netherworld he can still suffer and as most of those there are far more powerful than he could ever become he will be no threat although if he is effectively immortal he can still suffer.'

With that thought Horus began to formulate what he wanted the fake prophecy to say. He had to memorize it as there was a chance that Tom would be intercepted before he got here. Most likely that he might try possession instead of going through the process of recreating a body again. What concern was it of his if some follower of the man spent the rest of his life in the Netherworld sharing the mans fate.

'Lets see something like 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him... and thus his fate will be sealed... for the one with the power may destroy or may enslave him at his whim... For if the Dark Lord ever succeeds in killing him he shall die as well.' Yes that sounds right I just have to phrase it in such a matter that it seems completely obvious that I will be his end one way or the other and not just the one with the power.'

So with a firm grasp on a suitably scary for the Dark Lord prophecy in mind he began to place it into the recording sphere and alter it so that it would not tell the original and be undetectable as having been altered. It was a complicated process but the payoff would be huge as it was obvious that since Riddle could not convince him to retrieve it for him as he would have been able to if he had not been suitably skilled in the mental arts that he would have to come himself.

'Well this is a bit less complicated than a high level spell although it is more so than lower level enchantments to weave this result,' Horus thought as he used a combined set of magic to achieve his end results. 'Now lets see I am enchanting the fake prophecy in utilizing the originals engrams to make it undetectable as the signatures will match so I will follow that up by transmuting the sphere through an intermediary where the altered message will be seen as first use of the sphere as there was no previous traces on the sphere. Hmm with the sphere altered without a detectable magical signature it will be as if it was the original and with the sphere holding what is believed to be a true prophecy Riddle will wish to know what he should have researched before attacking me. That is the lesson he should learn before dying and that was he should never have acted on incomplete information.'

**********************************

Horus was a simple person and since he most definitely did not want to walk in on Severus with Molly even if a small part of him wanted to watch whatever or at least hear about whatever he did even if it just was a bit wrong even though they were somewhat friendly professionally as he really did not want to blur the boundaries outside of a professional one by such an act. Still the idea of Molly suffering was a good one and adding to that his plan was in place for dealing with both Riddle and Dumbledore their was reason to celebrate. Besides he knew that Luna would like to see what happened and leaving those two in the same room would be a bad thing as he was rather worried that Severus would have about as much of a chance in her not topping him as Ronny and Nev currently do. It was far better to avoid the situation and spend the time with his lovers rather than get involved. With that Horus settled in with his girls and made the most of the pent up frustration and excitement that his mission had resulted in. It was a simple fact that people regardless of the sub type of human wither mundane, sensitive, magical or mystic have a tendency to what some would call office sex where working with people to a goal leads to heightened sexual tension which normally releases itself in one intense and wild coupling. Besides they were rather excited to know that the Dumbledore threat would be neutralized as well as Riddle.

That alone was a reason to celebrate as without those two trying to interfere and rehashing an age old battle that had no reason to be perpetuated save pride that there would be no unexpected problems to crop up. Sure there would be the odd monster or demon that threatened the safety of the masses of humanity, but that was something they were prepared for so there was no reason to panic. So it was little surprise with all of the necessary plans having come to fruition that they would congratulate themselves as well as remove any built up stress, excitement and adrenaline in a bit more feverish manner than usual. Still there were limits to the classes of humans and what they could do. A normal man could through stamina and other stress activities increase their endurance to keep up with the limits that ones female lovers had. Mystics and sorcerers originally were designed to be pretty effective killing machines and as such who wants something that needs so much down time and who's effectiveness drops off so easily. There is a reason that most mystic women cannot settle down with a single mundane although physically adept sensitives are more likely. Promiscuity is higher than in the average homo sapien which is already high enough due to the historic child mortality rate. That is without taking into account the slightly lower rates of coming to term compared to the fertility rate although that was mostly due to the fact that war didn't leave much time for more than survival in the beginning.

What this all boils down to is that a sorcerer like any mystic tends to get a bit of a hyper libido normally and when they are basking in the afterglow of success they tend to try to gain an afterglow of completed sexual satisfaction. It was a good thing that Horus was not involved with a fellow mystic or the shear intensity would drain even one of his lines stamina leaving him as little better condition than a guy after being ridden by a succubus. It was a good thing that the die hards were the ones there or else the entirety of the list would have been left in a rather slumped and sated yet fulfilled as well as filled state.

For the girls that were not there they had offset their disappointment with the knowledge that they would be pat of the post Dumbledore settling and planned on having Horus fed a rather large dinner so that he would have plenty of energy to burn off. Sadly none of the Hogwarts crowd would be there except the original group. Since the less frequent had been involved in a previous marathon romp they did not object too much. So with that Horus settled down for a rather enjoyable evening with his original three Hogwarts girls that being the Patil sisters Padma and Parvati along with their dearest friend and lover Lavender Brown and an interspersing of his repeat performance trip lovers those being Usagi, Rei, Ami and the sisters Halliwell. Random chance was sometimes not random when seers were involved especially those interested in scratching that itch.

*****************

Lemon Scene

*****************

Horus had barely gotten comfortable when the girls had suddenly become un-huddled. He was sure he heard a few Jan Ken Po and knew better than to ask what they were deciding on. There were things that men were better off not knowing or even asking about. This was most definitely one of those times to just nod and agree as even if he was in charge one knew that sometimes it was better to accept the inevitable.

'Hopefully this is a less violent way of picking who what and where for tonight.' Horus thought with hope. 'That would be nicer than some of the cat fights even if they are fun to watch as I tend to get caught in between. Well with that look I guess I best just go along as they seem to be even more wound up than I am after that set up.'

Let it be known that Horus has seen the wide spectrum of women and while having not been intimate with every unattached female in his path he had been with enough to know better. No matter how soft and submissive a woman is there are almost always things to make them take a dominant position in a situation. This was one of those moments as those ladies broke into two groups as the huddle dispersed. One headed for Horus and the others headed for the play room. The groups would obviously be reversed next time and that each group planned on relieving some stress. That they had stripped what little they had on after leaving the huddle allowing the clothes to fall to the ground without concern as each stalked their prey.

Horus just smirked as the nude and sauntering women came closer. There was time enough not for formalities for formalities sake but because the preparation was as enjoyable as the act as well as the recovery. Greeting a lover is something that always varies there is of course the kiss and caress, but each is different and even twins sometimes kissed just a little differently. The response is always different as they mold themselves against their absent lovers returned form. So is it any wonder that each lady in turn approached for a slow kiss and hug with wandering hands as they reacquainted themselves with each other? Of course not and that is what happened as each lady approached kissed while lying together as they just enjoyed the moment without more concerns bothering them. The sensual was as important as the sexual in a relationship and this was a moment where they could bask in each others presence for a moment.

The younger girls had less difficulties than they should in visiting and melded against each other in what most would consider typical of high school sweat hearts seeing each other again with the only difference being the complete skin to skin contact. The Halliwell sisters had far more time to get wound up and as such there kisses were more involved as their hands lingered and stroked appreciatively longer as they rubbed against him. Humorously it was Prue out of the three sisters to be the more excited even ending up rubbing herself to orgasm on his knee. The other two even if they were wilder had let his fingers linger and draw out there first release of this encounter much like the younger lovers had. Each of the girls had a chance for a make out session including being stroked to completion before any of them returned the favor.

Horus was as typical for him in what most would deem a reverse gang bang where he was once more swimming amongst the plethora of lovelies seeking solace and surcease in his sublimation with them. Still there was no reason that this night needed clones or added appendages to bring his lovers to ecstasy as with hands, mouth and cock there was plenty of fun combinations that he could try. There were only nine of them after all and it was not like he had to bring them to a continuous stream of conscious scrambling orgasms concurrently as he could focus on a few while the others watched while getting hotter and getting a chance to recover.

That was not to be in the current arrangement which would last through a complete circuit. Lavender started the circuit ridding his face while Padma and Parvati were occupying his questing hands. Usagi, Ami and Rei were of all places kneeling between his legs giving him a triple blow job. While that was going on, Phoebe and Piper were doing a good job of rubbing into his legs while keeping them in place which made them look far less like dogs humping than Prue and here wanton and wild rhythmic writhing on and along his chest. Let it not be said that being on the receiving end of that much female attention is bad or that Prue rubbing like that while her hands ran along his chest was bad it was just that it would appear that the group in general was in far too much need for a few such as several dozen orgasms before being able to actually have some intimacy.

That was normal considering how revved up they were and that any normal group would have had a spontaneous office affair after all of the success rush of that day. Give and take is a fundamental thing and being with a girl that cums from giving head is infinitely far less common than a guy creaming his shorts because he was worshiping a girl’s pussy. Hell a guy can cum just from the stimulation of nursing and fondling a girls tits and that is without counting the young boys who have hair triggers. It seemed that today the group had managed to sink a bit deeper into each others minds than normal as one of the group getting their jollies was enough to trigger the others. It was a good thing that ejaculation and orgasm did not have to be linked for a guy although girls were less likely to feel good about there bedroom skills if they spend the whole night without getting the guy to pop. Why guys think it is solely about stamina and not also recovery time one will never know. Add to that diet effects on the taste of ejaculate similar to a girls pussy juice and with mystics being about as likely to eat the plethora of artificial chemical laden food as wizards there was far less foul tastes in the matter. So without the nasty chemicals such as preservatives and flavor enhancers and far less grease and other flavor tainting things there is little wonder that the magical and the mystical enjoy their almost total lack of foul tasting fluids.

So Horus just went along as he felt girl cum coat his body as he felt his own being greedily gulped and swallowed by whichever girls were currently doing there best to get as most as possible out. If he was asked he would with some thought be able to answer who was where even though his face was obscured as everyone feels different. So the cycle continued as the girls enjoyed their cums and coaxing cum out of him even if they rarely reached out to touch and help each other as they were too involved with riding out their cums or getting some to drink.

That ended with the girls catching there breath as Horus stretched and moved as they drew plenty of air in to help cool off their sweat glistened bodies. Not that Horus was in any shape to say differently as he was likewise covered in sweat and plenty of the ladies had moisturized his skin when they gushed. So unfortunately the girls were left with a mostly still full of endurance Horus while they were taking deep heaving breaths while their legs tended to spread open to reveal their puffy pussy lips waiting for some more attention.

Prue was still a bit recovering after her body stiffening and toe curling orgasms so she was a bit shocked when he knee walked between her spread thighs before smirking at him. That didn't last as a nice moan soon came from her throat causing Horus to smirk. Soon enough the other girls were languidly watching while not playing with themselves they were teasing themselves to keep themselves in the hot and eager mood as they watched Horus and Prue's frantic and wild motions especially as she bucked up to meat his downward strokes to a rather loud clapping smack. Prue's hands were almost scratching like a wild women as they ran along the length of his back before stopping to cup at his ass. Horus was not inactive in any way besides his bed bouncing and body rocking motion of pistoning inside her wet and eager slit as he was running his hands along her body taking time to tease, tweak and tense her tits as well as her ass while his lips trailed along from her face down her neck to stop at her tits were he was rather laborious in making sure that the sweat was licked clean as soon as it became noticeable. Horus even did a rather contortionist act by bending enough to leave a trail of kisses down to her belly button.

Neither of the two were vocal at least not in coherent words. They were mostly slurred and guttural and for the most part were Prue saying something encouraging, demanding or appreciative. Horus left her slumped and panting before she drifted off. She had managed to wrap herself around him in a upward thrusting glomp as she came that last time though. She had slumped off rather limply after that leaving herself spread wide in all sense of the word. The others were just as enthusiastic in their couplings although the twins as well as the remaining Halliwell sisters took turns playing dueling pussy before they returned for a Prue pounding. The difference was mostly in the positions favored by the different groups as well as individuals. The younger girls seemed to prefer alternating between the conventional four those being missionary, doggy, cowgirl and reverse cowgirl with few variations as the girls tended to stick with what worked and would rapidly bring each partner to cum. Phoebe seemed to be for a few ore exotic positions while her sister Piper was more for gymnastics and contortions.

One more run through the girls and Prue was back for another go and the others would soon be there as well. Anal sex can be easily painful for both parties if there is a mistake more so than other types besides the worry of oral of chocking or biting. Why all the girls seemed to pop like crazy when being buggered was anyone’s mystery not that any of the parties would complain about that. So the girls lined up for another go this time getting a nice cock not spreading their pussy lips and spraying what would otherwise be a baby factory with baby juice, but plugging into a girls ass and spraying there. The main reason that there was less concern of complications had to be magic. A cleaning and a few healing spells and instead of walking bowlegged from over fucking like animals they walk with a slight strut.

'It is always the quite ones or the reserved ones that are the most adventurous in bed,' Horus thought as he seemed to be pounding into Prue's ass as fast if not faster than he had so recently been slamming into her sore and obviously red from excitement and use pussy. 'That is while not always true a good measure as they are trying to make up for time as well as aware that since if they don't they are far less likely to have a repeat encounter. Add to that a simple matter of every strange notion and idea that they haven't done yet needing to be explored dealt with and hopefully bring them to a drool inducing mind fried passed out quicker than a bat in the head to a hangover orgasm with a complete lack of taboo as this was taboo but it felt damn good so lets try some more.'

That thought passed rather quickly as Prue was rocking back into his ass spreading thrusts with an almost once more animalistic vigor. Horus was rather distracted by the feel of her ass as well as it slapping against his body while his hands practically mauled her swinging tits with abandon. Short problem is that doggy and anal can be degrading since most people become disassociated with just a whole for the guy and any cock to fill the hole for the girls. The important thing is that there is more to someone you are fucking than an orifice or an appendage. This was in part why hands must be moving and if possible to have the girl look as you are moving. Eye contact and seeing the look in their eyes when they cum keeps it from becoming too impersonal and that is doubly important in polygamous relationships as there is more to share with than just one person so less time to be with each other and not just sexually.

So Horus was doing his best to do that by watching her face contort while he could feel her orgasms and how they made her clench up around him. Sliding in their was far less smooth than inside a girls pussy and this was due to the fact that surprise it is not just a tube going strait that there are kinks and the like to be worried about. Why else does no one try to go to the hilt in a girl’s ass besides the contortions to backtrack the line? Still Horus was going away with his strokes as he had to make sure not to just pound away driving into her in a manner that was disassociating as that could lead to complications and he wanted more lovers not slaves thank you very much. Still his session with Prue ended with her being pounded into the mattress with her ass up and face down and hands gripping the bed as she stopped meeting his strokes and went totally submissive and receiving. Not that she stopped cuming like a firecracker or closer to the same rate as a modern machine gun with its popping and no way less destructive to her behavior.

So the other girls still horny as hell again lined up for a quick digging and thankfully they unlike Prue had not gone all use me and take pleasure in being used. Horus was hoping that Prue was not going to start following him like a puppy. It had taken forever it seemed to get Usagi to not be completely receptive and eager. He liked relationships where his lover was not a total slave all the time. Being a master was time consuming and a very large responsibility that most so called bible thumpers never got. That was a large part why Avatars were so rare as they essentially gave their body, mind and soul to their owner who had complete control regardless of distance. Power corrupts and most Avatars broke since when they were common most weren't psychologically able to handle someone that was even more mold able than clay.

'Thankfully the other girls don't seem to be as likely to loose themselves as Prue,' Horus thought. As he slid slowly inside Usagi's ass while her legs were around her head. 'Still there might be more serious repercussions of her previous relationships than I had thought. That is something to deal with later as I better not neglect any of my girls. They are all unique and have needs which must be met.'

With a renewed vigor Horus resumed a full attention of bringing Usagi to cum which based on her face was going to happen soon enough again. He had barely laid Usagi down before her friends decided that similarly to before to duel with the back and forth. Something that neither the Patil twins nor Lavender had wanted to play with. They could have plenty of fun games later as they needed to get the stress screwed out of them. So Ami and Rei bounced their asses in his lap trying to win by getting him to cum in one and not the other. Ami in a manner similar to how one would think used a combination of previous encounters and a very large and arousing amount of research to win. Horus had turned to pull lavender into his lap but saw the two Senshi settle their argument. It turned out it was the loser had to spend the rest of the night eating the winner out. That was a bit of an incentive besides their normal competition.

So Horus sat there with his hands roaming Lavender's body as she bounced in his lap with his cock in her ass instead of her swollen and tender twat. Soon enough the other girls had curled together as they knew from experience that the room tended to get cold if they didn't pull up the sheets which would not be happening as they were starting to drift off a bit already and Horus and Lavender were still going at it. His hands were cupping her tits as she rubbed her ass against him as she sat on his lap with her hands running between his hands and her pussy which she spent an inordinate amount of time teasing.

Finally Lavender snapped tight and shuddered as she was sunk completely as she could on his cock while her hands were sprayed with her pussy juice while his hands were kneading her tits and his mouth was teasing her neck. She let her head rest on his shoulder as she went limp against him. Horus leaned back taking her back with him letting her rest on top of him as he settled against the other girls. They all were quite tired and would need to be well rested for tomorrow.

Lavender started to drift off to the feeling of his cock against her ass and his hands wrapped around her along with the other snuggling girls having wiggled next to the pair. As was common the group soon found themselves in a pile sharing body heat. Prue was behind them and they had actually reclined on her with little complaint while the sisters Phoebe and Piper snuggled against them quickly before the others reached them.

'This is nice,' she thought as she settled against him enjoying the comforting weight of his hands on her tits. 'I am looking towards summer mostly since we can all pile in his bed without too many problems.'

Lavender had barely completed that thought before the door opened and the other girls entered as naked as the day they were born. Their bodies showed visibly the amount and types of effort done to slack their lusts. Their bodies covered in marks most common from mouth and nail but not all as several had the marks of more stimulating and teasing toys. It was obvious that the girls had used every bit of the playroom and the toy chest to bring them to the slow crawl they had entering the room. The ladies crawled into bed and curled around the rest of the family. That is what they were if not in blood among most but in shared purpose, goals and pleasures.

*****************

End Lemon Scene

*****************

'It is always good to relieve some stress as well as celebrate,' Horus thought as he lay back snuggling against his living pillows and sheets composed of resting lovers. 'Still the year will end and I have a summer to plan. If only I could shake the feeling that something unexpected will ruin things.'

"Shh sleep now," Horus told the slightly wiggling girl before she settled down. "Night all."

"Night Horus," came the mumbled replies from the various ladies as they snuggled closer.

'It is nice to have a time like this,' Horus thought as he drifted off. 'Morning will come soon enough and I will have a reason for my smile besides the fall of the meddling old coot. The girls are planning something I can tell especially how they seemed a bit distracted when they were huddling earlier although with so many of my lovers here it is difficult to spend time with each of them. Now that is something I plan on correcting over summer unless things go horrendously wrong.'

**********************************

Horus was not alone in the Ministry building as he was going o be officially attending the matter with Dumbledore that day. The girls were dressed in robes, but it was what was under the robes that were interesting. Red skin tight leather gave Horus the idea that they were ready to inflict damage when Riddle and his lackeys show up.

'I really never should have suggested those books,' he thought with a sigh. 'So what if them in skin tight red leather is a good image that does nothing for the fact that they seem to have really decided they like playing those games. Perhaps Luna has been a bit of a bad influence on them. Still they were just letting their inner kink out so it is all good. Besides it keeps the others in line and watching the things they due to keep each other in line is always enjoyable.'

"Well this looks like it will be good," Horus said as they proceeded to stroll down the halls being vary careful not to march down the halls as they proceeded to the elevator. "It took a bit longer than I thought it would, but with all the things coming out I guess it should be no surprise that things dragged on as more things were revealed."

"Just remember that we should try not to gloat to much," Nabiki said with a slight smirk. "People are going to have to remember that this is the fall of someone that was looked on as a pillar of the community and to see one fall so far is rather disconcerting."

"It is just always hard when one sees there inspirations fall," Seras said with a sigh. "There is just something about realizing that they are not prefect and in fact are only human..."

"We seem to have an image of our elders as being above what we were like, but we forget that they were once our age and that they make mistakes and have made many before we met them," Kasumi said with a misty look to her eyes. "It was rather strange when I got to know mother again. I had an image of her that was so idealized that it raised the bar beyond what she was although she was more than I had thought. The image idealized fell and I found myself meeting her again and this time as friends."

"Still it is good to know that in the end everyone gets what they earned in the end," Horus said sagely. "Now let's go see what comes about and maybe their will be some restitution to the lives he has ruined."

"Your more upset that his actions resulted in than what he had done but by his inactions more so," Nym said as she walked with them. "You blame him for the consequences that he tried to avoid and the inability to fulfill his duties in regards to the power he was given."

"Yeah," Horus said with a shake of his head. "Just think about it if he hadn't done what he did when he was younger the results would have prevented the beginning which he just proceeded to allow to snowball out of control. Those with the ability to do something must be held to a higher standard than those unable to actually do something. He knew what was going on and did nothing is that any different than tacit consent?"

"We should hurry up as we don't want to be late," Seras said looking at her watch. "We can continue this afterwards as I don't think any of us want to miss the entertainment..."

With that they turned and walked into Courtroom Ten for the final bit of the trial. As they came in they saw the Minister and the Wizengamot assembled looking down on Dumbledore who was dressed in prison robes that made him look more subdued. It was obvious that he was pretty much giving up with any chance to escape serious punishment. His only hope would have been if Riddle would show up and if he actually defeated him.

That was rather unlikely, but stranger things had happened like the fact that such a trial should have been held in one of the main courtrooms as well as having reporters there. Was it any wonder that the Ministry wanted control on what was revealed in the trial so as to better spin things? The Fall of Albus Dumbledore was something that needed to be handled just right and besides who knew what could be revealed.

"All rise for the honorable Wizengamot," one of the robed guards said.

There were about fifty of them, all, as far as he could see, wearing plum-colored robes with an elaborately worked silver 'W on the left-hand side of the chest and all staring down their noses at him, some with very austere expressions, others looks of frank curiosity. Personally Horus thought the Wizengamot was arraigned in a rather haphazard manner and to make matters more depressing that while he understood why they met away from reporters and made things difficult to get here he rather loathed the shear arrogance that they tried to portray with their image.

In the center of the front row sat Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic. Fudge was a portly man who often sported a lime-green bowler hat which always made Horus wonder what he had been up to with his assistants not that he ever wanted to know about that. Still today his dear puppet had dispensed with it; he had dispensed, too, with the indulgent smile he had once worn when he spoke to Dumbledore but when he caught Horus's eyes he seemed rather pitiful not that Horus really cared about such things.

A broad, square-jawed witch with very short gray hair sat on Fudge's left; she wore a monocle and looked forbidding. He had seen pictures of her before in Susan's possession so he quickly realized this was her Aunt Amelia although he wondered why wear a monocle before passing it off as another oddity of the wizarding world. She did not seem to upset that her niece was sitting near him nor the familiar way that they had moved when they had entered.

On Fudge's right was another witch, but she was sitting so far back on the bench that her face was in shadow for about one second then he saw her and sighed wondering why the toad could not just be a good girl and do as she was told. Delores was an idiot and if anyone could mess up allowing Dumbledore to walk it would be her.

'Maybe I should lend her to Luna,' he thought. 'That would fix her and I would not have to deal with her uppity manners anymore.'

"Finally," said Fudge. "With the accused now being present let us start. Are you ready?" he called down the row.

"Yes, sir," said an eager voice Horus knew well enough. Ron's brother Percy was sitting at the very end of the front bench. Horus looked at Percy and saw the expected sign of recognition from him before he darted his eyes away.

'Perhaps there was a true rumor about him,' Horus thought. 'Luna might break the poor boy considering what Penelope put her through. Still it is none of my business to get involved in.'

Percy's eyes, behind his horn-rimmed glasses, were fixed on his parchment, a quill poised in his hand. It was obvious that he was to be the court scribe although he seemed to feel even more self important than he had previously. Perhaps he would help Luna after all. The thought of breaking Percy for being so simple minded appealed to him and Penelope had not been that bad of a looker and having her beg would break him quicker if not deeper if Luna was playing with him at the same time.

"Disciplinary and criminal hearing of the fifteenth of May," said Fudge in a ringing voice, and Percy began taking notes at once, "into offenses committed under Violations of Ministry Edicts in addition to breaches of the Gringott's Charter as well as Misuse of Authority in regards to violations of the Will and Testament of the Estate of Lord Potter in addition to placing Lord Potter with muggles that you knew would harm and even torture. In addition to these heinous crimes you have continued to intercept the mail and other correspondences of and act as guardian of the former minor Harry Potter.

"Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley -'

The members of the Wizengamot were muttering. All eyes were now on Dumbledore. Some looked annoyed that this had not been settled yet, others slightly frightened as rumors of his not needing a wand for some things; two elderly witches in the back row, however, raised their hands and waved in welcome before catching themselves. It was obvious that the man still had some sympathy which would be crushed today into a broken image that he would never recover from.

The moment that Horus saw Dumbledore he had to restrain himself from the intense emotions that rushed through his normally calm and controlled body. That was not to say that he was not passionate about what he did or when he was with someone just that he was in control and that he willingly embraced those times and he knew that if he jumped on his first instinct that things would not go well. It was better that the man be left a tattered husk, a mere shell of the man he was than to simply dispose of the man at the present.

Horus did manage to tone out the more bland and boring legal arguments that occurred as Dumbledore tried to use legal loopholes and the ingrained respect that he had cultivated to sway the Wizengamot that he had been merely concerned and had mistakenly taken short cuts to achieve his goal. That fell on deaf ears as even Fudge would not be able to get away with such things even with the backing of the War Powers and as such he planned to set an example of the man who had done his best to always leave him fearing the man would steal what he felt he had earned.

'Why must they go into such details,' Horus thought. 'Why can't they just dose him with Verisiterum and get all the answers they need. Things would be simpler if they did that and less time especially mine would be wasted. Hmm I wonder why Karkaroff is here given that he was hiding from Tom and did not go to the Resurrection. Still he seems to be taking an unnatural interest in seeing the man fall. Then again the man did make his life difficult, but it almost seems like it is more than that.'

In fact if anyone knew Karkaroff real well was there, they would notice that the man was acting quite out of character, but anyone that knew him that well was not their either from being dead or doing their best to avoid dying. The fact that he had turned states evidence was not going to cut him any slack with Horus even if most of those he testified against were already dead. Just because he had squealed on his comrades to escape did not mean he regretted what he did only that he had been caught.

Strangely they neglected to bring more people as witnesses and instead spent a good deal of time using the contracts in question as well as records to prove their case. Horus was not upset at not needing to testify as he could just sit back and relax being near his nearest and dearest.

"We will be deliberating our final judgments on the matter," Amelia said. "As this may take a while the accused will be escorted to a holding cell. In the meantime a recess is called for an hour while we deliberate."

'Well at least it will be over soon,' Horus thought as he stood with his entourage. 'Still there is a nagging feeling that I have something to do soon.'

As they made it outside of the courtroom and made their way to the lobby Horus turned to them and said, "Ladies if you would not mind there is something that I want to take a look at. It should only be a few minutes and as such would you mind terribly much if you waited here?"

After a negative response Horus walked off following his sense of trouble. He probably forgot something simple the previous night. He forgot to put a trip spell for when Tom entered so that he would be able to gloat. He could not believe that he forgot something that simple.

**********************************

Horus had gone down the halls towards the Department's Entrance when he felt something was off. It was an odd feeling like having an itch one could not scratch. Focusing on where the sensation came from he felt the particular flavor of Riddle's emotions.

'Damn I should have thought of this,' Horus thought as he made his way to the Department of Mysteries with a raised eyebrow at how few of the security measures were active. 'This cannot be good. Now why would so many of the security issues have gone absent and why hasn't an alarm been sounded.'

Horus jumped into the nearest shadow and dove out in the Hallway of Prophecies to see that Riddle was no where in sight. He should have thought that the sentinel spells would have detected Riddle.

'He must be somewhere else,' Horus thought. 'The girls are able to take care of themselves while I deal with this... As much as I want them blooded Tom would be able to possibly harm them even if it would most likely be indirectly.'

With that worry Horus quickly rushed down the halls as little more than a blur as while he could sense that Tom was near is presence was muted through some intermediary. He finally found him in the entrance to the Department. Horus could not believe what he saw before him as he had been confused that none of the previous security measures he had seen had been present and that was before he saw Tom as he was currently.

"Really, Tom, must you be so melodramatic?" Horus asked in a rather sarcastic tone as he stepped out of a convenient shadow. "Couldn't you have waited until that meddler was sentenced? Really, I just wanted to see him sentenced and prepare for a nice long vacation and then you ruin things by getting involved."

"Potter," came the hiss from Voldemort. "Why can't you just leave well enough alone?"

"You tried to kill me first after all," Horus said with a shrug. "So I take it that trying to solve this peacefully won't work then?"

"Die!" Voldemort shrieked without allowing his face to be seen.

"So I take that as a no then?" Horus asked in a sad tone. "Pity..."

"Stop talking and die," Voldemort interrupted as he started snarling as he cast rather brutal spells at him.

"Well I guess we should get to it..." Horus continued as he leaned out of the way of the latest barrage of spells.

"~I will kill you~," Tom hissed at his opponent.

"~Get in line people far more powerful and skilled want to kill me~," Horus hissed back. "Really possession is so tacky..."

"~Die!~" Voldemort replied as he sent another slew of curses.

"You could have at least possessed someone competent," Horus said moving almost as if their were many of him as the blurs were dispersed as the curses passed. "Instead you possessed Karkaroff and he was just a whiny coward with squib like power."

"~I will kill you!~" Riddle insisted as he continued his wordless barrage of lethal spells.

"Talk talk talk," Horus said in a deprecated tone said before sneering. "Is that all you can do while possessing that weakling?"

"~Stand still and die!~" Riddle once more screamed before sending a volley of devastatingly fatal spells at the source of his problems.

"Come on Tom must you be like this," Horus said with a shake of his head. "You are supposed to be the greatest Dark Lord since Grindelwald. Please stop acting like a student and fight with some skill here..."

"~Die you motherfucker!~" Tom snarled. "~I am the best there is!~"

"Obviously not," Horus said with a sigh. "So you done warming up? I mean I was expecting some of your fodder... I mean minions to be here. No? Well best get started then..."

Horus was dueling with Riddle in a rather relaxed manner as he drove him down the halls. How he had made it past the wards into the Department of Mysteries was a bit of a puzzle. He also wondered why the man was alone.

'Perhaps he sent his followers to create a diversion while he heads to the hallway,' Horus wondered as he continued his forward movement. 'I had hoped that things would go differently but that was not to be.'

"Really Potter you should have expected this," Riddle said in a taunting tone as he continued his retreat towards his goal. "When better to attack then when people are all focused on his trial. Besides I wanted to see him as he lost everything before I win!"

'Things seem to have happened a bit quicker than I had thought,' Horus thought as he weaved around the spells that Voldemort was hurling at him with flowing movements as the spells came close but always missed him. 'It just seems odd that he was so happy with Dumbles fall. How he staid in control while we were in the same room I do not know? He did succeed in suppressing his hatred of me as we basked in our mutual loathing for the manipulative fucker.'

"Really Tom I must ask again must we do this," Horus said with a sigh as he didn't even bother batting the spells away as he stalked forward. "The end is inevitable you will die and I will react the same way as when I killed your lieutenants. I simply killed them and pissed on their graves after shagging their loved ones. Shame you weren't married, but I can make do."

"Never I have become immortal and I cannot be destroyed!" Riddle shouted as he started to send his spells as fast and powerful as he could. "I will defeat you and then with the meddling old fool in Azkaban I will have my revenge!"

"You really should not let your emotions rule you so much," Horus said with a shake of his head. "While it is a shame that Slytherin's line has fallen so far dear cousin that does not mean that I will hesitate to kill you. So you created horcruxes where you stored the fragments of your soul that has no effect thanks to the prophecy."

"So you found out about that and here I was thinking that the old man did a good job to keep you ignorant of it," Riddle said with a jovial tone. "So where is your forces?"

"I should ask the same of you," Horus said before he turned his head and continued, "Let me guess they are distractions so that the Ministry is out of our way?"

"Of course the protections here are not designed to stop us as we are supposed to and are allowed to hear the prophecy," Tom said with a menacing laugh. "Let me guess you are aware of it but you most definitely don't know what it says as neither of us were near the Hallway."

"Perhaps," Horus said with a grin, "if you were to go on our current circumstances there seems to be no evidence that I have made it to the Hallway, but can you be sure?"

"I would have seen you leave sooner," Riddle said with a shake of his head. "My actions towards you make perfect sense if you knew the prophecy..."

"It is a shame that you only heard the beginning of the prophecy as you would have done something completely different than what you did. Really what were you thinking killing the children of your enemies when you could have used them to further your goals," Horus said before sending to his girls, 'Girls Riddle is occupied, but he has set up a diversion. Could you please deal with it?'

'No Problem,' was the general consensus that he received before turning to Riddle.

Horus looked at Riddle in a very disappointed look on his face before saying, "What were you doing? You seem to have let yourself get the same idiocy as the meddling fool. If only you had been thinking you would have instead of killing the children of your enemies raising them as your loyal servants. How could you not think of that? You were brilliant and could have been the greatest and you let that fucking manipulative ass ruin things. Why did you do it you could have taken over so easily and completely with a much simpler plan?"

"I was so close to my goal that I mostly was focused on dealing with any future threat to my plans," Tom said with a contemplative sigh. "That was the first part and I think you must have gotten that from one of my minions before killing them. It was just simply inexcusable to leave a threat alive if I could deal with it. Besides there was no guarantee that you would have been loyal and it was far more certain to kill you. Who would have thought that things would end as they did..."

"Really why you didn't set Malfoy up as a fake and public dark lord while you arranged people to take over as Headmaster and Minister I do not know..." Horus began before trailing off. "That just seems like the Slytherin thing to do.. To rule form the shadows and be the power that controls without being seen. That way their would have been no way you would have to worry about a coup besides instilling a new puppet if the people became dissatisfied with your current tool."

"Well I did wonder why you had to get involve considering you are obviously a Slytherin in your ideals," Riddle said in a pondering tone. "It was nothing personal after all it was war..."

"And all is fair in love and war, I understand that..." Horus began to concede before trailing off before turning to glare at Tom saying quite coldly. "Still it was irrelevant as you killed my parents and if it had not been for one of mum's relatives I would have been stuck at the Dursleys which would have made our lives too similar as the old man would have been responsible for us both being raised by muggles that despised us... Alas fate has determined this outcome... You really should have listened to the whole thing before acting..."

"I take it that you listened to it already?" Voldemort asked with a snarl. "I know I would in your place although I do wonder how you got their first with the inability of even myself being unable to bypass the wards?"

"Simple really you are still limited to the mere power and abilities of a wizard while I am well on the way to becoming godlike in power," Horus said with a dark menacing laugh that put Voldemort's earlier cackle to shame. "Really all that effort and like the meddlesome fool you still have not come any closer to recovering what you lost. A shame as it would be fun to duel properly with you, cousin. I take it that you were unaware of that we are related on our mother's side. It seems a shame that you have to die, but that is the way things have turned out."

"So you ready to end this?" Riddle asked out of curiosity. "You must admit that I have more experience than you do..."

"With wizarding magic of course," Horus admitted with a grin before taking on a feral grin as he started to change. "However in real combat usable magic I have the advantage and that is without the prophecy in play. It is so funny that it predicts your defeat."

"Perhaps my faithful Death Eaters are not here, but that does not mean that I am without minions," Tom said before a sudden influx of fighters came into the room.

'Undead,' Horus thought offhand. 'However they are neither zombies nor skeletons and yet have as much personality remnants as the demon breed of Vampires.'

"Little Harbear," a red headed woman said. "Come closer mother wants to give you a hug."

"Come on little prongs," James body said. "Come with us and we can be one happy family again."

"Inferi, you made my parents bodies into such mockeries. That is it no more nice Sorcerer," Horus snarled out before continuing in a deep almost demonic reverbing voice, "I WILL KILL YOU!"

This was no longer the witty banter and game it had been. Riddle had crossed the line and Horus was no longer playing with the poor outclassed wizard. Riddle had through his possession passed on a number of the attributes of the rituals he had been through while Horus tended to retain his completely human appearance. At this moment it changed and he let his natural form return.

Little known fact due to the common misconceptions in the media that would persist was that Zoanthropes while not considering their hybrid form per see as their natural form prefer the near human or more accurately the eastern style form where it was the generally human form with the add on of ears and tails. Mostly this is because they don't sacrifice too much abilities while looking almost passing as their ears are hide able and that tails have long had a tendency to wrap them around their waist like belts if they did not use minor illusions to conceal.

Now Voldemort was used to his snake like appearance and even Fenrir's wolf like appearance as well as that of his other allies. That did nothing to prepare him for what he know saw. Before where their had been a young man who was obviously skilled from his previous encounter there was something more dangerous.

'The brat had been fast and quick in our last encounter,' Tom thought, 'but nothing like this...'

It should come as little shock that Tom was rather shocked to see his supposed nemesis suddenly seem to swell both physically and magically along with the rest of the transformation. There were a lot of things that a wizard like Tom could take in stride; however, having a teenager suddenly change to gain enough muscle mass and definition to put grown werewolves and anything short of a half giant to shame. Also seeing the three rather irritatedly flickering tails as well as the suddenly visible ears on the top of his head along with the obviously altered form did little to prepare him for the sudden sense of impending doom and the almost heart attack inducing wave of power that washed over him.

'Those eyes,' Tom thought in shock as he saw them. 'Red slitted and four dots against an inky black that seems to send chills of fear down my spine. Why do I feel like this?'

Horus suddenly moved to deal with the mess that Tom had made with his victims. As most of the Inferi were not people that he knew there was little hesitation in what he did. Horus was practically a blur as he moved to strike them down and grant them peace as he would to the poor bastards that had been turned into ghouls. The only difference was that ghouls while like zombies were completely puppets they were limited to simple things and nowhere near as powerful as Inferi although it did in some ways compare to the Impure World Resurrection that Orochimaru had used in its results.

Zombies, ghouls, most vampires and Inferi were undead and as such were rather susceptible to fire. The fear was because it was a great deal more difficult to reanimate let alone resurrect someone whose body had to be completely reformed from ash this does not take into account Nosferatu such as Alucard and Seras who would reform even from ash with just a little bit of blood. Now a second less thought of thing was that lightning and electricity was similar in its effects as it can cause necromantic flesh to burn quite easily. Normal electricity was rather useless though as the excess energy would normally be absorbed and before overload it would be bled out into the ground in a manner similar to grounding out a static charge.

Magical and other forms of lightning were suitably different from mundane electricity, but that was not noticeable unless one looked at the energy pattern with some rather expensive equipment that was several decades too soon even with the advancements that reverse engineered technomagical items had provided.

It should then have come to little shock to those who knew that Horus was a Lightning Stylist that he would have little problem using fire, lightning or even air to quickly reduce the Inferi to a form that would let their spirits rest. A Fire User would have little problems with undead while Earth and Water Elementalists would have a slightly more difficult time although they could deal with matters even if it would take longer.

Tom was rather ignorant in what a sorcerer could really do as the true limits do not get explained until the student had been well grounded in ethics as well as having a sufficient sense of duty pounded into their heads as well as the cultural ideas that Tom had either knowingly or uncaringly violated. Mystics had little against necromancers raising the dead for good reasons such as fighting or to get necessary information while raising the dead for entertainment value would be frowned on unless their was a clear case of consent of the deceased to use their body in such a manner.

What all that boiled down to was that Tom Marvolo Riddle otherwise known as Lord Voldemort to the Wizarding world was treated to a rather violent and chilling display that made the one he had seen at his short lied resurrection seem tame. A cold blooded murder using reanimated corpses of ones family to try to kill them was crossing the line. Perhaps if he had known of this particular ethic that his opponent had drilled into his head he would have been prepared for what happened.

Right before Tom's eyes he saw the one who had ruined his plans repetitively tear apart his force with a sadistic and shocking display of power and to make matters worse he was not using any spells that he knew. Horus's tails as well as his hands and feet found purchase inside the bodies of one of the Inferi. The poor tool would have a momentary shock as they were electrocuted almost comically as their hair stood on end and electricity visibly sparked between the charged hairs before the bodies natural resistance to electrical flow overheated the body and the blood vessels exploded from being superheated before Tom's eyes. He watched as his greatest weapons of terror jerked and spasmed before the flesh practically melted off the bones before they too cracked leaving the electrocuted and incinerating bodies to turn to ash before moving on.

Tom noticed that he paused on the last two and he thought that he would hesitate before he barely heard the whispered deep voice say, "Forgive me mother, father for what I must do," right before he plunged his hands straight through their chests to hold their hearts behind their backs where it spasmed before melting. He took a deep gulp before starting to turn to prepare to escape. If only he had a portkey that would work here, but his servant that was able to do so was already dead even if he didn't know it.

"Where do you think you are going?" Horus asked as he turned his head from where his parents’ ash now lay on the floor before a breeze scattered them as well as the other piles. "I am not done with you yet!"

It could be said that Tom was prepared for most things in his life. He had after all planned and almost succeeded in taking over the British Isles as well as instilling sufficient fear in the European Wizarding Community to have been prepared to eventually control outright the territory involved. After the orphanage he had seen so many wonderful as well as magical things both beautiful as well as awe inspiring in both majesty and terror. This did not mean that he was prepared for what happened next. He should have been but he had let his superiority complex a wee bit too much freedom and that would be his last mistake.

He did manage one thought before he went even more bug eyed shocked, 'Well... fuck.'

"Prepare for the PAIN!!!" Horus screamed out as he moved forward.

With that Horus preceded to physically break Tom in every way possible while using the Shingan to avoid what even in his current body would be fatal to him as that would allow him to depart. As long as he was alive he could not escape from the flesh trap that his forsaken former servant Karkaroff's body provided. It should be noted that the Shingan was designed backwards in its uses. Where most bloodline abilities grew stronger with each use until they could commit lethal damage, the Shingan was designed and formed in one of the most brutal and warlike periods of human and non human history and as mercy killings were rather important the first level allowed one to see where to inflict lethal strikes irregardless of the physiology of the target.

The second level would have been sufficient for what Horus was doing as that level allowed one too see more than just the critical spots on a target and could incapacitate with or without pain as well as wither the damage would only temporarily disable or cripple the opponent. Anything after that would seem like overkill in this situation, but as Tom had violated one of the main tenets that even Necromancers of the most vile and twisted sort adhered to Horus was obliged to go a step farther than just incapacitating as painfully as possible.

What followed was the most brutal beating that had been done in a very long time and that anyone hearing his screaming in a manner that most would say like a little girl. Sadly it resembled the sound of childbirth with the screaming and heavy breathing. Perhaps that was because tom was feeling a similar form of removal or it could be that similar nerve clusters were being triggered. Suffice it to say that the Ministry was being subjected to the sound of a self proclaimed dark lord screaming in unimaginable pain. That was because he had every bone broken repeatedly before being mended along with every muscle being bruised along with every nerve suffering heightened signals of pain. To anyone watching it would be obvious that the higher forms of the Shingan were effectively overkill although anyone in Torture and Interrogation would wish for the detailed understanding of the specific person’s limits and not the general ones of the human body were present.

Sadly that was just the beginning and soon enough Riddle in Kakaroff's body suffered the exquisite pain of having flesh gouged out while a slightly stinging solution prevented blood loss and guaranteed a good deal of agony. His hairs were rapidly burned off as part of the disturbing articulations of agony that made up this play. Perhaps severing the main ligaments while he jerked about had not been a good idea, but to Horus at the time this was venting. A very well earned case of venting. The man had after all trapped his parent’s souls in a limbo along with all his other victims. Souls were sacred even if they were being delivered to their final judgment and punishment and as such a very important taboo among those with almost none had been broken.

By the point that Horus had calmed down enough to articulate words and not just guttural sounds there really was not much that had not been inflicted to Riddle. Really he had even been drawn and quartered along with dismembered and disemboweled. So there really was not much left considering he looked rather like a piece of ground beef. Sure he had his flesh removed and regrown repeatedly leaving massive scars along with his bones broken before being melted back together instead of removed and regrown and that didn't even take into account what the other minor irritations aggravated. Sadly Horus had more important things to do with his life than torture traitors as he could do so at his leisure after the man was well and truly dead. Still Tom was left as a battered pile of broken flesh and bones and as such unable to resist what happened next.

"You know you should really hear the prophecy before you die," Horus said with a snarl as he dashed forward grabbing Riddle in his arms, "'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him... and thus his fate will be sealed... for the one with the power may destroy or may enslave him at his whim... For if the Dark Lord ever succeeds in killing him he shall die as well.' Isn't that great! No matter what you do you are dying. To think this would have never happened if you had not been so impatient. The look on your face is perfect. It is just what I thought it would be when I heard it."

Horus continues his dash with Voldemort in his grasp as Dumbledore slowly walks in seeing the brat that he despised about to throw Tom through the Veil. He would have to do something or he would loose his last chance. If only they had allowed him his wand. It was not like he didn't have a secondary even though he had been behind the passing of the law that made it illegal without Ministry approval and for only Aurors or Unspeakables to attain them.

Time seemed to stand still with Horus in the air as he threw Tom through the Veil as he kicked back to drive Tom through faster. Horus had a triumphant look on his face as he saw the wide eyed and fearful look of both Karkaroff and Voldemort as the two trapped in the body soared through the Veil. His look of triumph changed to shock as he was spun around and blasted back into the Veil.

"You Bastard!" Horus screamed as he passed the Veil. "You won't get away with this."

"I already have," Dumbledore said with a dark chuckle. "Thank you my dear boy for finally serving your purpose and getting me out of the situation you caused."

With that Dumbledore turned from the Veil and sauntered away from it. He barely got a few paces from where he had been before a group of red clad ladies entered.

'This most definitely does not look good,' he thought. 'Still this is salvageable.'

"Hello ladies," he said in a jovial tone before turning consolingly. "I am afraid that I have some bad news for you."

Meanwhile on the other side of the Veil, Horus was rocketing towards the slumped form of Voldemort. Tom hit the ground hard and rolled over several sharp rocks leaving him with slices that caused him to scream in pain. Before Riddle could say something there was a sudden shadow over them.

"Greetings Guardian," Horus said formally with a bow. "I have been sent to see that this being is properly escorted to the Hall. Since I have seen him this far do you mind if I drop him off?"

"Greetings Speaker," the Guardian said. "My name is Ixial and I guard this gate to the Most Sacred Netherworld. There is no problem if you wish to drop him off. I take it there is a reason that wish to personally escort this deceased soul?"

"Besides the fact that he fragmented his soul so as to avoid receiving his rightful judgment?" Horus asked in a sly tone. "Well there was the fact that he violated several provisions and edicts as well as violating the terms of his punishment in the slaying of Sorceress Lilith of the Serpentine Line as well as several other matters. Do you think central would be annoyed if I stopped over to visit some people as well as discuss how it was that several of his victims have not yet been processed even though they are dead?"

"Those are good reasons, Speaker," Ixial said with a slight bow. "Is there anything that you need?"

"Well I was wondering if you would inform those waiting for me on the other side that I will be held up a bit, but that I will return," Horus said. "That is after dealing with this and the other matter."

"There is no problem as few ever seem to use this Gate anymore," Ixial said in a slightly bored tone. "Why back in the day there were plenty of people flocking to this Gate as it was one of the most easily accessible Gates that existed. It just has not been the same since they built that building around it. Wizards are just so peculiar in how they tried to study it. They sent people who could not return through and then when they came here willingly all they did was be nothing but whinny little brats when they were informed of this. Why did they think they were outside the rules?"

"Arrogance seems to have become rather common for them," Horus said with a sigh. "How is it our fault that they refuse to read directions or follow instructions? There are simple rules to this and that is one must have a connection to traverse the Gates. Those without such ties are unable to cross again either becoming trapped here until such time as the appropriate ties can be forged or trapped on the other side where they will remain often becoming confused until such time as they loose their ties to the other side and return."

"Such is the nature of things," Ixial said. "Without a patron or matron most souls are aimless. It is a good thing that so many have found something to unify them and make things easier..."

"For us you mean," Horus finished with a grin. "It is nice that they still follow some of the old ways although some of the modern religions are quite confusing in what they teach as well as practice. Far too many seem to just drift aimlessly even if they say they follow a path. Still if one follows a set path they will be judged by their system and that simplifies things for us. Why they seem rather insistent on not coming here I do not know. Although I will admit that there are some things in both places that are only available in the one and not the other. Still in the end the system works and everyone gets what they have both earned and deserved. In death there is equality in its inevitability as well as justice served in that one is held accountable in the end. Perhaps that is why they wish to delay the inevitable as they do not think they will receive what they will, but what they fear they will. Still I have to get going as he won't process himself. Until we meet again Guardian Ixial."

"Until we meet again Speaker Horus," Ixial said with a bow. "It is good to see that you measure up to what I have heard."

"With my family and what they expect is it any wonder that I do," Horus said with a laugh as he picked up Tom and proceeded to walk down a path that Tom could not see in the mists.

"Well I might as well deliver the message that he asked me to do," Ixial said with a laugh. "Horus seems rather well adjusted for a Speaker of the Dead. Much better then the last one I talked to. Still he is respectful for those of us that seem to be bound to our duties."

**********************************

While Horus was dealing with his situation a rather changing event was occurring with his girls. They had shed their formal looking robes as they stalked their prey through the ministry. They stalked in their blood red skin tight leather uniforms down the halls with their modified wands in hand and their bonded around their necks wrapped lovingly yet menacingly around them. Perhaps having rather poisonous snakes draped enticingly over their bodies was a bad thing or maybe the fact that their wands had been altered so that any one intending them harm or to whom they wish to inflict harm feels a variable degree of pain with contact with their wand?

It was immaterial anyways as they dealt with what Death Eaters they came across in a swift and debilitating manner. It should be noted that while they neglected to use the so called Unforgivables that they were using spells to disable either through death or dismemberment those that they ran across. It did seem rather odd that they were running across so many Death Eaters since their had been two left in England that were alive and one was a spy. It seemed that Voldemort had been recruiting as well as attempting to reinforce his lingering forces with sympathizers that had little regret if blood traitors died.

"Your going to die mudblood," one of the masked men said cackling as he brought his wand around in an arc towards her before releasing a slicing blast of energy.

In response Hermione merely stabbed her wand forward with a twist launching a rather painful spell which bored through the Death Eater. She looked on impassively as she could see the wall behind him having gained a polished sheen even if it was ground down through the dripping matter falling down inside of him.

She moved on as he fell back barely managing to whisper, "No you will," before his eyes closed.

Her next opponents died rather quickly as their was no time to play with their targets and she seemed to prefer severing charms and other low power demanding spells. She moved forward with Death Eaters falling to her deadly dance with sickening cracks and screams before being sliced in twain. She seemed to make sure that the injury would incapacitate and that meant that they had to be unable to form a coherent thought let alone a word as well as unable to utilize their wands. It was for that reason that when she sliced she seemed to prefer vertical to horizontal slashes with her slicing.

The others were doing just as well although not all of their opponents died as some where merely incapacitated. The problem that the Death Eater side was having was that the vast majority of them needed to say their incantations as well as the wand movements unlike their opposition. Despite being school aged none of the group sent stunners or other school child dueling spells as they instead sent bludgeoning, bone breaking, blasting, cutting, shredding, flaying, frying, incinerating and similar spells with a skill most of their age would not have until many years of being trained as professional duelers.

Ginny was one of the exceptions as she seemed to use simple yet twisted methods such as summoning out vital organs like the heart or alternating with banishing ribs to puncture heart and lung as well as using a most horrifying alternative to the bat bogey hex which instead of creating forms out of mucus utilized something far more pain inducing in the apply named blood bat curse where the blood was ripped out to create anima that would attach the victims and their allies. Her most notable kill was when one of her targets survived the curse and tried to hit her in the back only to have her spin around dodging the curse before burying her hand in his chest. She looked wide eyed for a moment as she removed her hand and what was clenched in it. His heart was their and she felt it beat in her hand thrice before stopping causing her to look up and see the blood flowing down the gaping whole and causing her to notice her hand covered in blood as his blood drained out of the wound.

The Patil Twins were back to back alternating blasting and bone breaking spells. They favored going for quick kills as their shots were aimed at head or heart instead of belly wounds. With them back to back their was little if any blind spot to attack them from and they circled about leaving the recent recruits leaking blood and other fluids most notably leaving splattered brains coating the walls. The two twins were the epitome of both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw showing both determination and cleverness as they moved. Blasting ones wand hand off served a rather quick way to incapacitate along with destroying other limbs wither through blasting or bone breaking hexes. Considering that they needed a few to answer questions as the slaughter continued the twins focused on breaking the bones along the spine to paralyze their enemies. It would seem rather odd that so many experienced wizards fell to such a small number, but given the intensity of their training it was like saying one was trying to shoot ducks in a barrel with an elephant gun as the poor Death Eaters experienced what being on the receiving end of overkill was like.

One could not say that Lavender was uncreative in her uses of household charms for combat situations. As she had spent time on cosmetic charms before meeting him, she tended to use them to her advantage. It is interesting to see how the simpler spells can be used to such entertaining ends. The charms that were used to improve ones physical look were easily subverted to cause pain and suffering to incapacitate their opponent. With little effort she blinded her opponents, scrubbed the flesh to the bone in places and used glfs to blind and overload the senses. Charms that could be used to straighten, cut or otherwise alter hair were used on other targets. Straightening ones internal organs from their winding proved rather fatal along with shearing charms effect on living materials.

Everything was going rather well until one moment a Death Eater got lucky with a boxed in shot and struck one of the girls with a Crucio. The poor bastard never knew what happened as he made the mistake of landing his curse on Luna Lovegood and she was more than willing to return the favor with interest. It would be noted that Luna was a sadist although she tended to only use pain to heighten pleasure in her activities that did not mean that she had any queasiness in torture as some of her previous actions had attested too.

So it should have come as little surprise when she stood up still under the curse and slashed her wand at the fool that was trying to cause her pain. He cried out as her curse unarmed him by cutting his arms off as if they were being slid into a meat slicer leaving instead of two arms cauterized slices of fingers, hands and the rest of the arms littering on the ground and two cauterized wounds where the arms had been.

There was no trace of Loony Luna in her actions as she smiled in a manner that the Death Eaters were familiar with on their own faces when they tortured helpless and hapless magicless people. The Death Eater was unfortunate as the others in the room had been dealt with and without a source of interruption he would be on the receiving end of her attention. She stalked forward in a smooth manner that despite the pain proceeded to redirect his blood flow as he licked his lips unknowingly as she approached.

Luna stopped in front of him and gently ran her fingers down his mask for a moment before saying, "Shh... Don't worry it will be over soon."

The idiot actually let his guard down and visibly sagged in relief failing to notice the look in her eyes when she lifted her hand from his mask. His eyes went wide as he felt a momentarily pleasant motion as her hand ran down the bulge in his pants. This was momentary as when her hand went to as he thought caress him Luna suddenly took what was in her hand and squeezed hard. He would have fallen down from his knees if she hadn't kept such a firm grip as more tears ran down beneath his mask.

He screamed as a wet tearing sound was heard across the eerily quite of the room before he fell backwards onto his ass. He tried to wiggle and kick away but this only served to have Luna twist and dislocate his knees and legs with sickening cracks.

"You really should have known better," she said softly as she once more rested her hand against his mask. "It is always the quite ones they say... It is a pity that you had to find out like this, but it cannot be helped. You made your choice and must pay the consequences."

"Why didn't you just kill me?" the death eater whimpered out. "Baring that why didn't..."

"I use the Cruciutus?" Luna asked with a smile. "Simple really the Unforgivables would mean that they would want to send me to Azkaban and really they are so uncreative. I am far more creative than to use such simple crutches when there are so many better ways to inflict pain than such rudimentary methods..."

The others had already dealt with their own opponents and there was not a one of the ladies there that had not been well and truly blooded. They had not necessarily relied on the spells in their duels even if most favored using magic to deal with the filth. The three mates had as was their want physically dealt with their opponent and after seeing what Kasumi had done not much would faze them about what Luna had done and would do. Kasumi had simply walked up to one of the Death Eaters and with a kind smile on her face twisted one of their heads off like a cap on a bottle. That sort of thing had been expected of Seras and Nabiki but not Kasumi so after seeing that one would be rather desensitized.

With that the group continued their thorough and mostly quick job at their appointed task of removing the Death Eaters and their sympathizers from the land of the living. It should be noted that while there were no survivors that they would not be necessarily easily identifiable due to the rather brutal and disfiguring methods in which most died. The sole exception was Kasumi who moved in a manner familiar to the family she had been mated into and seemed like a female version of the angel of death only that this one was an angel of mercy delivering a swift clean and relatively painless death to those whose path she crossed. There seemed to be no malice in her actions as she swiftly dispatched her opponents to the afterlife in a manner that they barely would know that they died before they crossed over and as such would be rather confused when they arrived and would most likely chalk it up to a hallucination of their angel of mercy granting a merciful death compared to what happened to their comrades.

Luna and the others continued on as they had and if their had been many if any survivors they would have been shocked at what they heard. It was a scream but to the Death Eaters it was a familiar voice although one they had never heard and could not imagine screaming. Voldemort had just started screaming like a little baby. The ladies stopped their actions and playing and quickly disabled those poor unfortunate Death Eaters that were left before darting to where He was. They wanted to see his moment of triumph and they were looking for an even more intense celebration than before. Everything was looking up until they got there. When they did they could not contemplate what they had seen. One thought was clear to the group and that despite outside interference that He would return and in the meantime they could take out there sudden frustrations out on the one responsible. It was in this moment that there was no real difference between what Luna and Kasumi were thinking to doing to the one that had ruined their carefully crafted plan.

'Oh yes,' they thought as a dark look crossed their faces as they glared at the man. 'Albus Dumbledore would pay for this insult. Of that I am sure of.'

Perhaps it would be more merciful for him to have an accident or maybe spend the rest of his life with the Dementors after all they would only make him relieve his worse moments and sap away any happy thoughts. That had to be better than whatever the ladies would do after all Kipling was right about the female gender in that they were far more vindictive and vicious than the males. A guy would kill you with some torture while a woman would make your life hell wishing you would die but never allow it to happen. For a moment those deliberating in the chamber felt a sudden moment of pity for the man before realizing that somehow the man had done something to really annoy someone and that no matter what they decided his life was over or maybe better if it was.

**********************************

Horus had just been knocked back through the gate along with Voldemort by Dumbledore. The group looked rather upset by that and if they did not work quickly the man would say that Riddle grabbed him as he was banished to get his last laugh. That it would remove the main opponent was completely immaterial.

"Alas poor Harry die in the vanquishing of Voldemort," Albus said with a forlorn look on his face. "I think that this good dead should..."

Dumbledore did not get far before he was cut off by the sudden flaring of the veil and that a rather large figure crawled out of it before standing up and towering over them. He was dressed in rather white robes that offset the giant black wings on his back and their was the flaming sword at his hip.

'This does not look good,' Albus thought as the large than a giant being turned to glare at him.

"Really Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," came the booming voice that shook the rooms. "Did you really think that you would get away with this?"

"Well I…” he managed to stutter out at being confronted by what was most definitely not a magical creature that resembled an angel.

"Of course not now do be a dear and try not to die to soon," the voice said which allowed the meddlesome old fool to relax before his face paled at what was said next. "They have yet to find a suitable... punishment for you."

With that Dumbledore promptly ran off back to where he should have staid as he suspected that if he staid for too much longer that he would be dragged off and things would end rather badly for him. Not that his running away did anything to delay the inevitable as it was not his choice to drag him off at that moment.

"Well it is good to see that little wanker gone," the voice continued before bowing toward them before apologizing. "Terribly sorry about that. Names Ixial, I didn't want to scare you as I was sent to send you a short message. That being that if nothing untoward happens that he will be back soon it is just that he wanted to drop Riddle off himself and try to find out why his parents were unable to attend his wedding."

"Well that does sound important," Seras said with a sad sigh. "I just wish that the bond did not seem stretched since he went through."

"Well he is getting to meet his birth parents after only having memories of his infancy about them," Nabiki said with a smile. "I remember how I felt when mom came back so I can see where he is coming from."

"Still he will wonder what kept them from attending the wedding unless there was something else preventing them from going," Kasumi said looking over the assembled ladies there. "Considering he is supposed to have most of his mother's personality in regards to his actions I just do no see her not showing up for her son's special day."

"Yes no mother would do that," Nym said wondering how long they should wait here. "He will be gone for a while and if we don't do something that idiot will make sure that things are not in a good shape when he gets back. Um, Ixial does he have to return here or could he return elsewhere?"

"He knows how to return and he could always return to his domain," Ixial said after a moment of thought. "I think I should talk to Arcturus about what his suggestions for dealing with that idiot are. If you would excuse me I need to return to my duties. And please do not follow through as I would be duty and honor bound to escort you to the check in and I don't think that letting you wander about lost there would be good."

"I can imagine with how large the place is that it would be rather difficult not to get lost," Seras said with a nod. "Well e should stop taking up your time then and we still need to track down the idiot."

With that the group turned and waved goodbye to Ixial as he crouched back and crawled back through the veil.

Just as they were about to leave the room Dumb-as-a-Door walked in and said, "Well now that he is gone all I need to do is obliviate you like I planned and say that Harry was dragged into the veil by Voldemort when I banished him and with out your contradictory testimony I will once more be exonerated and without the boy I can say that it was for the best and come up with enough excuses so that I will once more be reinstated into my power."

"I knew I forgot something," came a voice from the veil as a very long arm reached out and wrapped around Dumb-as-a-Door. "Now then I believe being chased by wolves for a few centuries and eaten alive with being regrown in between would be a good start. Oh my the way there are a rather large number of people that want to make your afterlife interesting and I hate to say that it is almost as long as if not longer than the number that want to deal with Mr. Riddle."

All Dumbledore did as the hand dragged him back into the veil was to scream and struggle as there was no way out of the grasp and the wards prevented him from leaving and he had no chance to use his wand to make a portkey. He was wide eyed and shuddering as the arm retracted into the veil and his eyes burned with a hatred as the group watched him being sucked inside. There was no way that they would interfere with a rightfully wrought justice to the old man. The only problem they had was explaining what had happened.

"We should mention something, but what can we mention that does not sound out of things so that they would try to lock us up," Parvati said with a look on her face of complete sorrow. "If he had not knocked Horus in we could say something similar to what the old coot planned on that Voldemort wanted a Pyhrric victory and dragged Dumbledore with him or that he ducked the shot when Dumbledore tried to kill two birds with one stone but that he felt a moment of guilt afterwards and broke down before walking into the veil, or something of the sort such as Dumbledore was summoned by Horus as he was falling into the Veil because Dumb-As-A-Door tried to have Voldemort take him with him."

"Yeah we will need to come up with something as I don't think what happened would be bought by the public," Nabiki said with a sigh as she tried to think up something appropriate. "We could always say that Horus was injured in the battle and that just as he was about to dispatch Voldemort that Dumbledore came in and tried to claim credit and that allowed Riddle to try to chuck Horus in but got Dumbledore before Horus kicked him through the portal where he received a minor wound that while easily treated will leave him needing to recover for a while. That way Voldemort is gone and Dumbledore died trying to take the credit in stopping the monster of his own creation while offing Harry Potter."

"That should work," Seras said with a thoughtful look on her face. "A shame that neither received justice in this life as they escaped to the next. At least we know that justice will be served there if it was not served here."

"Anyone else think that Gringotts might mistake him being in the Nether with being dead?" Hermione suddenly asked with a contemplative look on her face. "As we know he isn't dead and yet he is currently in the afterlife the detection spells for that might have been triggered. Still the Ministry most likely will not be informed right away and as such he will be able to avoid any more fame that returning would cause."

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While things in the living world passed Horus had been rather giddy as he practically skipped along the paths that traversed the Netherworlds outermost regions. It would seem that the Gate that the Unspeakables had erected their headquarters around had been one of the ones rather far out from any modern territory. Oh he could see the paths that led from the entrance through various rather winding and quick paths through the various domains. Still it was a rather far way from the processing center. Even in the afterlife their was paper work or at least the appropriate forms and the like to deal with.

'That is one of the advantages of dying instead of taking a Gate,' Horus thought as he dragged the kicking and screaming brat along the paths where for reasons unknown Tom kept ending up crossing the rougher terrain that was obscured by the Mist, "one ends up at processing right away and only has to enter the cue instead of hiking there. Still things should go rather quickly as he is overdue and there is a simple form and procedure for that.'

Horus kept his pace as he marched down the obscured and seemingly non existent path in the mists. One could say that every religion got some things right and a good deal wrong about the afterlife. Despite what some think the afterlife was not just arranged by the various parts that reflected what people thought their personal and cultural ideals of post life was. While there were regions that resembled the various past religions ideals such as Valhalla, the Elysium fields and the Summerlands that did not just mean that they were arranged simply or that places resembling the various Hells of religions such as Hel, Hades and Nifelhiem as was portrayed on Earth, Midguard and other names for the places that people believed was reserved for those that violated the religious codes and other social mores that they believed in. Even the tales of Jason and the Argonauts had some basis in fact that being that to prevent unprocessed souls from going somewhere outside of there personal destinations made the place shrouded in mists to those who were not aware of the various paths that interconnected the various separate regions.

The paths required keyed lanterns and maps to find ones way there were a few exceptions of course and those were those on the path to being considered either a demigod or a god based in their power as well as awareness. Part of the reason that ghosts occurred as often as they did was that unclear souls saw the mists and literally forced themselves back to the living world and buried what they saw. Unfortunately not many ghosts were self aware and most became trapped in what their minds locked onto. That was partly why even Tom as a shade had not made contact with his followers and that was that his consciousness was not completely aware for several years as he was focused mostly on surviving.

This was mostly why he was panicking as even if he thought he was doing things for a greater good he deep down knew what he was doing was wrong by his own beliefs formed in the orphanage. It was mostly a two fold situation that he had as he wanted both to avoid pain and whatever hell he would earn as well as dish out pain and suffering like he had received to those he felt responsible. Despite what he had reasoned to himself he deep down believed in the very core of his fragmented soul that he was evil even if he felt the ends justified the means. This was a very good reason that he was literally trying to keep himself from being dragged too far forward. This had only resulted in that he was suffering injuries from his struggle through the mists.

It could have been mere moments or untold ages but not soon enough from Horus's point of view they arrived at the processing center. It did not in any way shape or form resemble any particular faiths final judgment image in as much as it resembled a DMV designed in hell for a multi billion person cue. Then again processing was mostly the paperwork and the like before one was judged and properly rewarded. It might seem odd but even punishments were a rewards for actions done as well as what most people would think of as rewards. There were two processing centers that made any decision. It boiled down to wither one was to be reincarnated for whatever reason or if they would actually not need to go back. The other one sorted people by what they believed before forwarding them to the smaller belief based processing. Things became more complicated for someone if they were neither being reincarnated nor believed in anything in particular as then things became even more subjective and normally just waited around until a decision was made.

Why most people thought that one either went up or down to either paradise or hell one never knew. Christians were odd but then again so were most religions as irony really came into play when they got there. Religious fanatics tended to be accidentally dropped in sensory deprivation chambers where they saw there actions form many views until such time as they actually understood what they did and why.

The first thing that Horus did when he got there was grab a number and attach it to Riddle as well as the usual preprocessing paperwork for his case. Then he walked over to the receptionist. He recognized her even if it had been several years since they had last talked. Mostly this was due to his having been around when his aunts were babysitting him when he was younger and they liked to look over the undecided to see about possible recruits especially due to the almost systematic destruction by other faiths followers.

"Hey Sally," Horus said with a grin. "Got a reluctant one for you. I hope you aren't too upset by the added paperwork that my actions had caused."

"Not really due to the restless actually getting around to processing and moving on," Sally said grinning back. "So who did you bring this time?"

"Tom Marvolo Riddle," Horus said sadly. "He had such potential and due to the actions of an exile he became one as well."

"Ah him," Sally said with a nod. "He is overdue isn't he? So why does he look like he was thrown off a few cliffs?"

"Well that was mostly due to the fact that he made a few Inferi which are a form of undead where the soul seems to be forced to animate or at least prevent the soul from resting," Horus said in a droll yet reproving tone. "Some what similar to some of the restricted soul magics. Most likely it would explain a sudden increase in on holds finally being finalized."

"Yeah a good chunk went through a little bit ago," Sally said with a shrug. "These things normally happen for ghosts and the like, but there were far too many at specific intervals. They were not here or there or anywhere mostly in a limbo state from what I can tell. They should be settled in a few. I'd suggest checking in before Anything else. Give any of the new arrivals time to get settled before showing up. You do have several reports to deliver after all."

"One of the constants in life and death," Horus said with a dismissive shrug. "Paperwork is eternal and everywhere as there is always things that need to be processed. I take it that a summary will be long enough while the nuisance gets settled. I don't particularly care where he ends up as long as we don't meet again."

"I can understand that based on what I have seen so far," Sally said wish a sigh. "Shame that a relative had to fall so far and having to put them down like a dog."

"It is a families business to take care of there own," Horus said as he leaned against her desk. "One does not farm out internal matters to outsiders. That has always been our way as without that things would have been far worse."

"A repeat of the Sorcerer Wars is not something anyone would like even the Mystic Wars came far too close for most’s comfort," Sally said as she sorted some paperwork. "Those that recall the Demon Wars had become too solitary before the Sorcerer Wars or they could have been prevented. Shame that things always seem to need conflict to change alas it is one of the sad facts of life that change always comes through struggle and that the final result is never what either faction wanted but a compromise between the two with the stronger having a more influential role in shaping the aftermath."

"It is a sad fact that no matter how much we change from our origins that we are still in some ways human and as such human fallibilities and tendencies," Horus said with a blank look in his eyes. "Still there are many differences between us and as sad as it is true none of us ever really fit with them, we were always too different to ever truly be apart of their world. It never really matters how much we try there is an inevitable gap between us that separates us more so than any other division among the throngs of humanity. We are human, but at the same time not human like them anymore than any other branching of humanity was similar. They may still divide themselves based on such minor deviations based on skin tone, region of origins, religion and the like but those differences are within such a small percentage genetically there is relatively few differences although those that exist are the testament to the different selection pressures that influenced the population and the viability of certain traits that are now considered harmful."

"You mean things like the gene that made survival in winter as well as through famine through an ability to store body fat to survive similar to bears or the tendency of sickle cell anemia in areas where there was Malaria as well as high altitudes selecting those offspring with both recessive and dominant trait," Sally said thoughtfully before she turned and cocked her head to look at him. "Why is it that anyone that spends enough time on the other side think receptionists and the like are addled? Besides I have to do something while I wait and reading some of the more interesting discourses on analysis of mundane as well as mystic genetic knowledge has been quite interesting. A shame that trying to translate certain concepts is still tricky. It is a bit easier now than trying to create mental paradigms to explain such complex matters."

"Well it would be like trying to back engineer a language to handle concepts that were not part of the lexicon," Horus said with a shrug. "While modern inventions need names to identify what something there is a difference in trying to explain how something works and why. Still there was some breeding programs that left some vague notions after the fall. We have come far but I always think we have so much to rediscover and improve upon. It is a good thing that even the quarantine did not totally protect the allies even if they were willing to cut and run."

"I think it is best said that 'We may forgive but never forget what has been done to us'," Sally said as she entered some checks on her pad while cross referencing with Riddle's file. "Well you most definitely should not run into him in the future, but you really should go hand in your copies of your mission files."

"Right Sally," Horus said with a mock salute. "Be seeing you around."

"That Horus is so like his father it is not even funny," Sally said with a chuckle as he walked off. "Still they keep this place from getting too boring. Who would want this place to be boring since the living are rather boring in how they act half the time?"

Horus left the processing lobby and proceeded down the numerous labyrinth of twisting shifting corridors that made the Labyrinth of Minoan Myth seem simple to solve. This was understandable as the design was built when paranoia was rather common and making things difficult to invade rival offices was necessary as things used to be far less civil between the various divisions let alone the individual offices. Finally there was a wall and not a door with no discernible marking setting it off as he entered the shadow regions that led to the shadow department before going down a spiral set of stairs down what looked like a bottomless well. Just because people were dead did not mean they could not be harmed nor the same for the various long lived and immortal beings that congregated here.

'The really old ones are paranoid about access to their domains,' Horus thought as he drifted down the well feeling the pressure mount. 'I know there are infinitely easier ways to get to the office, but he always redirects those here unless it is something ultra important that cannot wait. Then again the paranoia is mostly due to the possibility of rogue shadow elementals entering with ease. Really the effort to create a truly almost impregnable room was quite excessive especially to make it immune to all known form of teleportation methods. Creating a barrier to prevent shadow travel too but not from the rooms here was a massive effort by one of his predecessors, but he took it too the next level. Finally reached the bottom of the well and now to enter the private shadow.'

With that Horus sunk into the only known shadow that led to the office. The shadows around the well were trapped to prevent someone just ghosting through them to this shadow. If someone was not cleared this shadow would chuck the poor fool into the shadow wells where he or she would be torn apart by being chucked into the shadows of several black holes elsewhere in the galaxy. War and battle had largely influenced mystic society as a whole and as such they never really went into a peaceful lull after the Sorcerer Wars. Such lulls never lasted and there was always someone that would seek to take what they had without concern for them. It did not matter if it was extra terrestrial, extra dimensional or even native threats, mystics had maintained a combat situation even with the most recent long lull since the Season of Sorrow.

All this was understood as Horus stepped out of the shadow only for it to vanish behind him as he stepped into a shadowless room. Unlike when he had appeared before the Serpent Order at a tribunal assembly he was appearing before the chief in his own office. It was an experience designed to make one think they were bearding a lion in his own den. The room was completely white without a single shadow existing as the entire walls and surfaces in the room emitted light. This prevented any one trained in shadow manipulations let alone shadow teleportation from entering. One would think that all that light would allow someone with the ability to travel through light instead of shadows to readily access the room but somehow their methods would have a similar fate although instead of ending up in a black hole they would end up scattered through pulsars.

In the room was a desk with two sigils on the desks surface. He was here to see his father who was Lord Oroborus, Father Snake as well as Father Shadow, and as such a deal of protections were quite justified. The Serpent Order were professional assassins and there had been a good number of attempts to rise to the top by taking out the boss. He was Shadow, he was Serpent and as such he dealt with the feeble attempts with scorn even if he knew not to lower his guard. That was part of why maintaining various multiple identities as well as persona let alone instances was a necessity and why Master Sorcerers learned to split there attention beyond what even clones could do.

'Most likely this is just an instance and not really him,' Horus thought as he walked over to the desk. 'Maker knows that even my aunties rarely leave their domain in person but send an instance to interact while the majority of their presence remains where it is. Sort of similar to having an Avatar but is more complex than even blood clones. The main self is aware of both self and all instances for the most part. Sure there were a few stories where an instance became unsynchronized, but that was normally when the instance lost awareness or became amnesiac and as such could not connect to the whole. That mess in Germany was a truly scary thing and demonstrated why since even before separation we had stopped getting involved after India. Ah well here it goes.'

With that thought Horus laid his hands onto the symbols and focused. One would wonder why he didn't just send messages and that was because certain bureaucratic reasons required both a written and a verbal report for major activities besides just sending a call. The room changed as it would to the last security measure to access the true office. The desk was now surrounded by a barrier that prevented travel in any direction or through any element. That was especially tricky as an air elemental would in theory be able to go anywhere there was air and that a simple air bubble would suffice even underwater or formed in space. Well actually it was possible to prevent air elemental teleportation as well as water, earth and fire with ease while shadow and light were difficult to deal with for a different reason. That was of course due to the elemental traversing through another world as one did with the light and shadow elements.

The barrier was designed to permanently deal with an intruder if they got this far in a rather complicated manner and he had only seen the records of what had happened the last time someone tried to force entrance. It was of course the fact that if anyone had been able to force their way this far that they had to be powerful and as such a powerful precaution had to exist.

Passing the final authorization method was trying and one never really remembered how they did so. It was far more secure that way. So Horus finally appeared in a stone castle like room with a desk that was of a very dark wood that had roughly the same density as depleted uranium mixed with some super heavy elements to make it well and truly almost indestructible. It helped that one could slam an idiots head against ones desk without worrying about the desk breaking under the pressures and stresses.

"~You called for me Father,~" Horus said as he stood at attention after snapping off a traditional straight handed chest salute.

"~That I did,~" Oroborus said with a sigh. "~I take it that you are ready to give your report?~"

"~Yes sir,~" Horus said before he proceeded to condense everything that happened since the Rian Patrol. "~So you see sir I was wondering if you have any idea about what to do for my Quest?~"

"~I do,~" Oroborus said before pulling out a file and sliding it over for Horus to look at. "~Things however are not so simple as you can see.~"

"~An extra dimensional mission sir?~" Horus asked with dread. "~I can understand the reasons, but there is something that you are not telling me.~"

"~Long and short is that I know that part of the mission will be to prevent your alternate self from living with those people and if possible help out in preventing any similar mistakes as happened here,~" Oroborus said. "~Travel back and forth will not be limited as you might dislike, but taking analogs along is trying as you know due to stresses and the like. My alternate has been alerted to your arrival. The main difference between here and there is that the spell to transport you was blocked by the wards around Privet Drive and as such currently prevents others from retrieving your analog. My analog already is prepared for one deviation and that is to prevent the situation with one Ranma Saotome from spiraling out of control such as with the Neko-ken and Jusenko. The current plan is for my alternate to drag your alternate along side and cross train the two kids. You may not be aware of it but some of the training effectively blocked Ranma's awakening. It came close at Jusendo but the trigger was suppressed and this is having a negative effect on his development although based on what reports I have received the damage is being undone rather quickly. Now I suggest that you speak with your parents now that they are settled. Just because you were separated from them does not mean that you should care less for them. Remember my own issues with my parents and that sometimes it is too late to make things up.~"

"~Yes sir,~" Horus said before snapping a salute and leaving. 'It sucks that he has to be so busy so often but that is life,' Horus thought. 'Besides we can talk when I get back since I will finally get to talk to my birth parents.'

With that Horus left to go track down his parents unaware that things were going to go completely pear shaped in the next instance. Sometimes revenge was taken for such petty reasons. That especially was the case from petty people who were quite arrogant. Besides he had the feeling that things were going to get complicated anyways and that he best take the time to talk with his parents now that he could as he was most likely not going anywhere once he got back. His girls were predictable that way.

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In a little corner of the Ministry Delores Umbridge was fuming. That brat had made her life hell and if only there was a way that it could be fixed. On the positive side all the opponents of her rise were gone now that the Dark Lord, Dumbledore and Potter had vanished through the veil. It was not like any of them could come back now was it?

'With the way things are going I am loosing all of the power and authority I have worked for,' she thought in a huff. 'There has to be something if only it had been different. If he had been raised by someone else he would never have grown into the threat he is today. He has Fudge under his thumb and he was supposed to be under mine. All that work to make him dependent so that we could deal with the contamination of our society. All of that effort has gone to waist.'

"I just wish..." she trailed off when she felt the sudden shifting of air and their was a strange person their.

"You just wish what?" the girl asked looking at her curiously. "That the person that ruined your life suffered is that really wrong?"

"Well," she began wondering if this was someone that would take what she said to ruin her more as the girl seemed a bit to eager to hear her.

"Come on no one would say anything," the girl said coyly. "Just tell me what you really wish would happen."

'These wizards are so foolish,' the girl thought. 'All that information about magic and wishes and they have no sense of being careful. Besides with this I can get even with that bastard.'

"I wish," she began taking a thoughtful pose as if actually trying to phrase things right. "that Harry Potter had been raised by people that would have made him satisfactory politically and socially malleable to the cause."

"Wish granted," the girl said as she changed form.

"Well now to see what is going on," she said as she stalked back paying the wish granter no head as it didn't matter what happened with that as i it did she could not wait to see the change and if it did not than she had a contingency plan.

In the Veil room the veil flashed twice and Ixian's voice came out, "Make that a complication."

"Lovely," Nabiki said in an irritated tone of voice. "Whatever happened has well and truly delayed our mates return. Now we really should be sure to vent with what few of those... filth that remain. I don't know about you but before put me on edge and while I would prefer a more pleasant way to relieve the stress... I don't feel like doing so while he is gone just yet..."

"I may be by nature a caring person," Kasumi began in her typically serene voice with a calm look on her face before her pleasant face contorted to a mask of rage as her eyes flashed before she snarled out, "but these scum need to pay in blood and pain. When that is done we find whoever caused our Mates difficulties and take our pound of flesh."

"Agreed," Seras snarled out with her fangs distended and her aura flowing around her a mix of black and red. "Whoever did this will suffer."

The others looked at the mates and realized that the bond had well and truly forever changed them. What they had not expected was the complete change that came over Trish and they were helpless to do more than look on at what happened next.

"While our Lord may be gone at the moment he will return of that I know," Trish said as her body seemed to shudder as power flowed through her bond to her Lord. "I know you all can feel it through the bond, but unlike a mates bond I can feel he is rather annoyed rather than angry at the moment. He will return however that flash seems to have made it difficult for him to return as if he steps out of the Veil or anywhere else on this world that is not part of his domain that something will be triggered. Something that we most assuredly do not want to happen. I can say that after we deal with what few of the filth are not yet dead that we need to come up with some truly inspired punishments for those involved. We know that he is alive, however the Ministry and Gringotts will be unable to tell that he is and as such we will probably be brought forth to hear his will. I do know that will bring some complications when he returns, but until then we carry on in what he wants. Now if you don't mind I plan on starting with that idiot over there. I suggest you pick and choose which ones you want to vent on."

"Sounds good to me," Nabiki said looking over the others. "on the down side it seems that I have gained a bit more blood lust than I had thought. We might as well drag the ones that are alive back home. I suggest tat we chuck what few bodies that are nearby into the Veil before we drag off our entertainment."

"I take it that you all are going to be even more charged when we get back," Luna said as she wiped some of the blood on the corpse of one of the nearby dead Death Eaters. "I know that after I am done venting that I will be most definitely leaving Ronny and Nev emaciated from how wound up I feel."

"Yeah It seems that we gained a bit of the need to shag in the blood of our enemies," Seras said. "Not that I haven't been through that before with Him, but it just seems wrong not to feel him pounding away as my mind drifts away."

"Yeah," the other girls said with a sigh before grinning. "We can definitely have some fun before He gets back. It just wouldn't due to get out of practice..."

With that the group turned to the few living and merely in crippling pain Death Eaters and sympathizers. Perhaps the rather bizarre lives they had recently had overly twisted them from what they had been like little more than a year or two ago, but the group in general didn't really have any hesitation or reservations in doing things that would have disgusted and horrified them before. Their younger selves would have had a problem with killing, torturing and other such things. This group currently had no problem with chucking the corpses through the Veil to remove evidence let alone the dragging off to physically, emotionally and mentally break their enemies. Perhaps it had been the desensitization to things through the excessive kinky sex which had mixed pleasure and pain in such a stimulating manner or maybe it was growing up with a different moral foil that did it. In the end it didn't really matter as the group would most likely take their time because they needed something to do until he could return. In some ways one might feel a momentary and quickly fleeting sensation of sympathy before one realized that these people were rather fond of using violence and fear to achieve their goals so was their any harm in returning their actions in turn. While two wrongs do not make a right that did not mean that it would not make them feel better.

Still some would say manner years later that they could still hear the horrible screams of terror and pain in the dead of night. It just goes to show that one should not try to take over the world with incompetent help especially those that attempt to substitute sadism for skill. There is a fine line between healer and torturer as the greatest of each needs to understand the human body and its limits as for a healer to know how to repair and judge what is wrong while a torturer uses that to bring their subject to the brink of death and to keep them their without letting them receive their sweet release.

At least none of them had planned to Molly who had done this. They probably would have spent most of the time emptying their stomachs from the thought of that woman in any sexual context and then just hand her off to Luna with the explicit statement that they never wanted to know what happened sort of like how most never wanted to know what Severus did to Molly. The only one that ever had asked had been Luna and that was to see if she could get some useful techniques to try out.

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Continued in Chapter 24: Aftermath

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