The Third Wave

00- Prologue

Forbidden Forest, Twelve Years Ago

Even as night had fallen, the horizon was lit by random flashes flying from hundreds of wands in the Battle of Hogwarts. The once majestic castle was now mostly in ruins: the magical barrier encompassing it long since exhausted, it's walls crumbling, and it's defenders rapidly losing ground. Casualties were rising on both sides but none had given up hope yet, so the Battle raged on.

But for the shivering hooded figure: bent against a tree, panting heavily, all was lost. Clad in a battered black cloak, with tears streaming down his bruised, pale face and clutching a dripping slash wound on his left arm; Nathan Claymore looked nothing like the bright and cheerful Fourth-year his peers had always looked up to.

After the murder of his parents; who had been Aurors for the Ministry, by Death Eaters the previous year, his life had quickly spiraled into a freakish nightmare. Now orphaned, he had harbored seething hatred towards the murderers and when he found out they were among the ranks of the Dark Lord's army; he had recklessly charged in for redemption. But he had been no match for their power and skill.

He probably would have been killed if not for his friends who had fearlessly fought with Grayback's werewolves just so he could escape. Seeing his friends get butchered while being powerless to do anything had deeply shaken his conscience.

Currently, his eyes widened with fear as he noticed some movement behind him. A sudden burst of adrenaline in his veins made the pain subside just enough to be bearable as he ran deeper into the woods.

§§§

Nathan had no idea how long he had been running for or where he was. The pain was worse than ever now that exhaustion was setting in. His vision was getting progressively worse and he felt ready to faint at any moment.

His sluggish movements caused his legs to catch on something and he crashed heavily onto the forest floor.

The impact knocked the breath out of him, scraped his limbs and left a nasty gash on his forehead. Groaning, he felt around for his wand and then croaked:

"Lumos."

The clearing before him lit up with a feeble light. Painfully, Nathan made it to his feet and looked around. He was in a deep part of the Forest but there was no way to recognise exactly where. When his gaze set on the ground, he noticed several hoof prints in the area.

'Centaurs' he thought. As he observed the trail some more, the glint of something inside one of the treads caught his eye.

Curious, he picked it up to find himself holding an odd black stone. It was more or less circular with a jagged crack running down its middle around which were inscriptions. Some were indiscernible but there was, what looked somewhat like a circle inside a triangle faintly etched on it. The crack bisected this inscription.

It could be that he was delusional due to the exhaustion and pain. But, for some reason, the Stone felt eerily familiar to him. Like something straight out of a story he had been read to as a child.....