FOUNDER'S LEGACY

Part 3

Love through the Time

Professor Dumbledore stared at the graduating class; the students were full of enthusiasm at the thought of finally graduating. The old wizard looked in vain for a vibrant redhead girl he knew he would not find, as she had been missing almost eight months. The Ministry stopped its search for her a month ago and declared her death, but Dumbledore felt that Lily was still alive, somewhere. She just was not at Hogwarts.

With a sigh, the Headmaster stood up in front of the graduating class. Their diplomas proclaiming them fully trained witches and wizards. The ceremony ended and he spoke only a sentence more: “I wish you all good luck in your chosen career and I hope you never know unnecessary hardship and heartbreak.”

The graduates bowed respectfully to the Headmaster and their teachers. James Potter spoke solemnly to his friends; he too searched for Lily in the crowd of students. He felt guilty because the potion’s accident was his fault. He frowned slightly when he finally understood that his friends had begun to believe the Headmaster's story of Lily's withdrawal. Only a few remained who believed in the redhead's return. James sighed, ‘She should be here celebrating with her family. I wonder what she is doing now.’

James slowly withdrew into himself after that fateful Potion class; he did not participate in the pranks and he even left Snape alone. The young Gryffindor had matured greatly since Lily's disappearance. His bloated ego deflated significantly as James put his efforts into researching possibilities to get Lily back; so far, he had come up with nothing.

“Are you looking forward to Auror training?” Sirius questioned, interrupting James’ musings. Both young men were going to try to become the elite Aurors.

James forced cheery grin on his face. “Yeah, Padfoot, what are you going to do Remus, Peter?” He turned his attention to the other two Marauders.

Remus blushed slightly and explained. “My father passed away and left me a small fortune; I have decided to travel for a bit, then I am going to be apprenticed to a Defense Master.”

“Good for you, Moony.” Sirius slapped Remus on the back.

“I... I found a job... in Knockturn Alley.” Peter whispered in fright; earning some surprised faces from his friends. “At a bar.” Peter clarified.

Sirius smirked knowingly; there were few establishments like that in the dark alley. “Drunken Goose?” Sirius guessed.

“Yeah.” Peter confirmed.

“Congratulations!” James patted Peter's shoulder.

“So... After seven years in school, our ways are parting.” Remus said slowly. “I wish you only good luck in your lives.”

“But aren’t we still going to remain friends?” Peter whined pitifully.

“Of course, Marauders forever!” Sirius declared resolutely.

“Marauders forever!” The others echoed.

Headmaster Dumbledore smiled sadly at the four mischief-makers. ‘It has been a long time since I had the pleasure to see such a lasting friendship between youngsters.'

Suddenly a flash of light appeared beside the aging Headmaster; a black cloaked man appeared rasping, “Dumbledore, we meet again.”

The older wizard freed his power letting his magic lash out threateningly at the stranger. The students and graduates shuddered at the sheer intensity of it. “Who are you?”

A dark aura emanated from the stranger; it pushed Professor Dumbledore's aura back. “I am the man who will purge the world of mudbloods and muggles. You cannot stop me, Dumbledore. Avada Kedavra!”

The dark figure disappeared as a muggleborn third year was struck down by the Killing Curse. The cloaked man left behind a strange mark and a short message, “You will learn to fear the name of Lord Voldemort.”

Albus sagged heavily in his chair; the aura had almost suffocated him with rage, hate and jealousy. ‘So it begins again.’ Dumbledore mumbled under his breath. He shot a small smile to his concerned students and revived the Hufflepuff. The Killing curse only works when in the presence of the victim.

“What in the hell was that?” Sirius asked loudly.

“It is the new Dark Lord.” James replied. He remembered his father's talks about him; he was supposed to be extremely powerful and very cruel. Wherever he appeared, bloodshed followed. ‘Grindelwald killed father's two sisters and mother's younger brother; somehow I don't think that Potter family will be unscratched by this Dark Lord.’

A year later James was enraged; that fool of Minister decided to send half-trained Aurors out against full-fledged Death Eaters; quite a few young Auror trainees had died because of that stupid order. James, Sirius, and two other Hogwarts graduates- a married couple by the name of Longbottom- had just returned from an unsuccessful defence of a village. James snarled at the memory of when all began.

The Auror department got the call about two hours ago; eight simultaneous raids were conducted on small muggle villages where relatives of muggleborns lived. All muggles executed on Voldemort's followers. The Auror forces spread too thin to cover all calls, so Trainees from the Auror Academy were called too.. James went with Sirius and their instructor to a village near Portsmouth .. They arrived in time to prevent Death Eaters from escaping, but were too late to save anyone.

James almost threw up when he saw what those monsters did to the muggle families. Little boys- twins- were laying in their own blood, their broken limbs lay awkwardly on the ground; various bleeding injuries marked their bodies and there was terror etched on their faces. Sisters raped by the dark wizards, their bodies still twisted from the aftershocks of the Cruciatus and vacant eyes stared at the sky. The girl's mother had received the same treatment, but instead of the Cruciatus, the Death Eaters cut her stomach open and let her die in agony. Her husband had gone insane after he saw his family tortured and killed mercilessly. The dark wizards then slit his throat after they finished with other members of his family.

“No mercy.” James snarled. He threw himself into fight. Sirius nodded grimly to Moody and they attacked. Four Death Eaters fell to the ground under the barrage of spells. Two Death Eaters remained standing, counter-attacking with serious dark curses. James and Sirius dodged unknown spells, but Moody, a former Slytherin, was well acquainted with them. He waved his wand upwards and slashed to the left sharply, a sickly brown shield with red and green spots protected the old Auror from lethal spells.

''So… You want to play dirty.'' Moody grinned frighteningly. He sent few mid-level dark battle-hexes. The Death Eaters were caught off guard by the old Auror's knowledge. One of them managed to dodge the curses but the second wasn't so lucky; he fell to the ground badly burnt.

James and Sirius stared at Moody in astonishment; they had not expected him to use Dark Arts, he was an Auror. James opened his mouth to ask his instructor what he was doing when the last dark wizard attacked Moody. The Auror merely smirked and waved his wand lazily; the dark curse sent by the Death Eater rebounded from Moody’s silver shield back towards its caster; he went down screaming.

Moody turned to his bewildered trainees. “You must fight fire with fire, otherwise you'll be killed very quickly.”

“But... but... but... It’s the Dark Arts.” Sirius stuttered out uneasily.

“Gryffindors...” Moody muttered. “Your foolishness will one day cost you your life.”

A sharp tug on the wards caused the trio to stiffen. The wards trembled and then shattered under the onslaught of power. A mysterious wizard wearing a black robe and a hood that covered his face appeared emanating a menacing aura.

James frowned; this wizard was very strong. The dark aura was the same as the one that took Professor Dumbledore by surprise during his graduation at Hogwarts. His friend and fellow Auror trainee seemed to come to the same conclusion, but the hot-headed Sirius managed to drew attention to himself when he cried out. “YOU!”

The dark wizard turned to both young men his voice resonating around them. “Indeed, Mr. Black.”

“Tormenta! Crucio!” a disgruntled Moody attacked; he did not want the dark wizard to vanish without proper introduction. James added a cutting curse and Sirius put his pre-Hogwarts education in the Dark Arts to use.

The enemy wizard withdrew his wand; dodging Moody's curses. A blue-green shield sprang to existence in front of him, absorbing all low-level spells. ''Tsk. Tsk. Aurors using the Dark Arts. What would your superiors think?” The wizard mocked them. “Maybe you should consider joining the winning side- mine.”

“NEVER!” an enraged Sirius shouted, blindly attacked the unknown wizard.

‘Young fool, he was baiting us.’ Moody thought. ‘But he is good. Divide and conquer. And what's this?’ Moody thought as he noticed a small opening in his opponent's shield. Sirius's curses had had some effect after all. The old Auror sent a cutting curse at the dark wizard. It went straight through the shield and cut off his hood, Moody recognized the familiar face.. “Tom.”

The dark wizard scowled angrily. “It is Lord Voldemort now, Moody. Long time no see.”

“Not long enough.” Moody cut him off.

“Don't get angry with me.” Voldemort said patronizingly. “Why won’t you join me? You were a Slytherin once, just like I.”

Moody sneered at Voldemort. “I may be a Slytherin but I'm never going to bow to you, Tom, Tormenta!”

Voldemort stepped aside, waving his wand as he counter-attacked. ''Crucio! Crucio! CRUCIO!”

Each Unforgivable hit the Auror and he fell to the ground twitching in pain. Moody clenched his teeth and refused to make a sound. His young trainees stared at his torture in horror.

“We have to do something!” James whispered. Sirius nodded.

“We'll fire a Flame curse. Get ready.”

“Join me and your pain will end, Moody.” Voldemort tempted. Then he continued coldly. “Join me... or die.”

“Go to hell, Tom.” Moody rasped out defiantly. Just as he finished his retort, Voldemort was hit by twin dark purple spells. He fell on the ground with hiss, inwardly cursing himself for forgetting about the young Aurors.

''Accio Moody!'' James shouted. The trainees caught their instructor and portkeyed out.

The Dark Lord stood up heavily, his wand-hand badly damaged. ‘Those wretched Gryffindors, they managed to catch me unaware, but they will pay for it.’

Headmaster Dumbledore sighed, the last two years were hard on him. First Lily vanished, then a new Dark Lord rose to power and this Dark Lord was powerful and many times worse than Grindelwald. During the first months he targeted mostly muggle areas, later he shifted his attention to Aurors and their families.

The raids on muggle villages were worst; the muggles were tortured into insanity, then killed in gruesome ways. Muggleborns were humiliated, the girls raped then tortured until they begged for death, but death was not granted to them. Voldemort's Death Eaters played with them until all of their bones were broken and their internal organs ruptured. Only when they tired of their playthings were they killed. At that point, death was salvation.

In response to this Dark Lord, Albus founded the Order of Phoenix; it was a group of people fighting against Voldemort, consisting mainly of young graduates from Hogwarts, Aurors and few others Dumbledore suspected were Unspeakables.

The fear and uncertainty spread throughout the magical community. Voldemort's hate was enormous and it poisoned the minds of pureblood wizards. His name was so feared that ordinary witches and wizard started to call him You-Know-Who.

Albus was tired. The Prewett brothers were killed only two days ago in an ambush, Moody was injured seriously when he duelled Voldemort and only help from his two students saved his life. Nevertheless, the news he brought; the identity of Lord Voldemort, Tom Marvolo Riddle, a brilliant student, polite boy, and a clever Slytherin. He had been Headboy and a model student. But first and foremost, an abused child who never received any help from those in power. Thus, he became a power-hungry and hateful monster because of people's negligence.

The Headmaster did not want to wage another war, but it was inevitable; people were dying everyday, civilians, mostly muggles, were slaughtered, but something was slowly creeping forward. A change was glimmering in the air, and though Dumbledore could not discern whether the change was for good or for ill, he knew that soon, one side would triumph. The question was- which one?