Harry Potter and The Fortress of Woe
Summary: Post HbP: While Harry is about to start his search for the Horcruxes, Voldemort manages to lay his hands on some ancient knowledge, granting him the ability to mentally enslave the whole British population. It is up to Harry to stop the hideous plan, but Voldemort has decided to enrol the help of the best assassin of the Wizarding World. And then there is the matter of the feisty redhead, who is determined not to let Harry slip away without her…
Notes: rated for language, violence and graphic sex, you have been warned! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't, nor will I ever, own Harry Potter, nor will I make any money with this story.
Prologue: The ultimate plan
Tom Riddle was sitting in an old, but very comfortable armchair, crafted out of ebony. The flickering twilight of the dungeon, he was sitting in, made it hard to read the scroll he was holding in his spidery, pale hands, but he liked it anyway. The room was roughly thirty feet long, fifteen feet broad and ten feet high. Bookshelves lined the walls left and right of his throne, endless rows of knowledge only broken by a fireplace in the middle of them. Most of the room was occupied by an enormous table, crafted out of the same wood as his chair, which was currently littered with all kind of maps, spellbooks and vials, instruments he used to wage his war. A thick, blood red carpet covered the entire room, obviously having been customized for this dungeon sometime back in the past. Sooting torches were placed high up the walls, blackening the ceiling and creating more darkness than light. It was not easy to read the foreign, tiny, black runes on the parchment, he was holding, but he could live with that.
He did not understand a word anyway. Sighing, Riddle, or Voldemort as he liked to call himself, rolled the ancient document up again and delicately placed it on the floor next to his throne. He summoned himself a goblet of red, rich wine and brought it to his thin, bloodless lips. Sipping the alcoholic beverage, he allowed himself a few moments of fury. Everything had been going so well! He had been ecstatic as one of his subordinates had been able to organize this ancient piece of information! If the rumours are true, then this old scroll was the key to ultimate power, granting him dominance over the world. But as soon as he had unrolled the old parchment, his elation had faded away.
He had known then, that he was not able to read the runes, but he had hoped that somewhere in these ancient, dark books a dictionary was to be found. That's why he had returned to this house, which had belonged to two of his old followers, who had died in the first war, in the first place! His hopes had been disappointed and the countless hours he had been spending in this room in vain. His only hope was that someone of his Death Eaters stumbled over the key to this mystery, but he considered this highly unlikely, considering the average intelligence of his goons. Someone like Snape or Ocean would be up for that job, but he needed them here and could not send them away hunting for something that probably even did not exist in the first place. Even the fortunate demise of Dumbledore could not raise his mood at the moment.
To make matters even worse, he could not punish anyone for these unfortunate events. It was no one's fault exactly, except for the author of this bloody scroll and he had been dead for more than nine hundred years. Of course, he could grab on of his men and torture him until his own anger had withered away, but knowing that the victim had not done anything wrong thoroughly killed the mood. And Draco Malfoy was still on the run, making him and his Death Eaters appear completely incompetent. Riddle would love to get his hands on the young Malfoy, he really enjoyed hearing someone begging for death.
Just as he was about to lose himself in this pleasant fantasy, the large double door at the other end of the room burst open, revealing a young, panting Death Eater, with a large book clamped under his arm. Voldemort furrowed his brows in vexation, hoping for his young goon that it was good news.
"What do you want?" he hissed after the Death Eater had crossed the room and was kneeling in front of him.
"M-My lord." replied the young man in a quivering voice. "I found this one in a very old bookstore in Edinbrough. I believe that it is a dictionary, translating the runes of the ancient scrolls into Jamuraan' ones. I assumed that you wanted to acquire it."
"Give it to me." commanded Voldemort, grabbing the book, bound in worn leather and started to flip through the pages. After a few minutes he spoke up again. "Excellent, you may go, make sure to leave your name at the door; you may be handy in the future."
He did not bother watching the young hotshot walking out of the room; he had already started to translate, writing his translation down on a freshly summoned role of parchment. Voldemort lost count of time, engrossed in his work. It was hard to translate these ancient runes and more often than he would have liked he was forced to guess the meaning of a sentence, but he his excitement grew with every rune he deciphered. Looks like the rumours are true! If he could get his hands on this power, then his goal of world domination would be nearly achieved! The whole world population would be his mindless puppets, dancing at his every whim! A wonderful fantasy!
Finally, after almost two hours of hard work, Voldemort was finished. He quickly scanned the page again, contemplating his next steps. Then he summoned a new piece of parchment and scribbled down a few parts of the translated scroll.
"Get me Snape and Ocean." he said quietly to the empty room. Even though no one was inside, he knew that the two Death Eaters standing guard at the door, heard him as clearly as though he were standing right next to them.
Two minutes later, the double doors leading to the room burst open and two men in black cloaks strode into the room. One had greasy, long, black hair and a very hooked nose, while the other one had a handsome, aristocratic face, ice blue eyes and short cropped black hair.
Both of them walked to Voldemort's throne and knelt down in front of him.
"Rise." commanded Riddle curtly. "Ocean, Snape, I have instructions for you."
"We are at your service, my lord." returned David Ocean, while rising from the floor. Voldemort could not stop even a trace of fear in his servant's eyes and he had always liked this fearlessness. It was a very nice exception of the usual.
"And I expect nothing less, Ocean." hissed Voldemort. "Now listen closely, I don't want to explain this twice. Severus you will have to brew me this complicated potion and I expect you to do it right on your first attempt."
Snape took the piece of parchment out of his master's hand and quickly scanned it, before speaking up.
"Master, you are aware of the fact that this potion will take a long time to be completed?"
"I know Severus, I know. How long do you think it will be before we could use it?"
"Around Halloween, I think." replied the greasy-haired Death Eater. "It will take sometime to gather the required ingredients, some of them are very hard to come by. Also the potion will have to simmer for two months."
"Then you should start immediately. But don't leave yet, I have something to discuss with both of you."
"Ocean." said Riddle. "You are going to lead the hunt for Draco Malfoy. I want this useless whelp getting caught in at the latest a month. It will be very enjoyable to torture the life out of him…"
Voldemort was lost in thought for a moment, before speaking up again.
"It is of utmost important that we will succeed in summoning the fortress. Dumbledore is dead so the only dangerous enemy we still have is Harry Potter. I want him out of the picture and I want it to be done soon. Any suggestions?"
"There is a very proficient assassin called the nightshade." answered Ocean after contemplating for a few heartbeats. "If the rumours are true then he has been in the profession for almost three hundred years and never failed so far."
"Excellent." replied Voldemort, a predatory grin forming on his face. "Severus, I want you to contact this nightshade. I want Harry Potter captured and brought to me!"