'The Dark Lord Ascending'

Welcome to my story!

May I introduce you to Luca? He's a 17 year old Death Eater, and the same age as Harry, Hermione and Ron.

I've rewritten the first chapter of The Deathly Hallows with him as my main character, and we'll see where the story continues soon. Please read and review, much love, Jordan.

Luca peered over his shoulder as the bronze handle of a large, grand mahogany door turned. Two men entered into the drawing room, and interrupted the silence as the long dark cloaks they wore rustled with their strides. The first stopped to examine the surrounding room, in which someone had pushed the original furniture to the walls without any concern. In the centre of the large, dimly lit room was an antique and elaborate oval table that stretched the full length of the room. Sat around it was a group of people in equally matching attire to the newcomers. The second looked accustom to a body that appeared to be miraculously floating above the table, however the other seemed as taken with it as a young man with pale blond hair and an extremely pallid completion. There appeared to be an apparently unconscious human figure revolving slowly upside down.

'Yaxley. Snape,' said a high, clear voice from the head of the table. 'You are very nearly late.'

The two newcomers glanced naturally to the call of their master. He appeared to be sat at the head of the table, in front of a blazing warm fire that gave the room a hot, stuffy feeling. The fire thus made him not entirely visible, and before their eyes fully adjusted to the lighting, they could just make out his silhouette. It came apparent to the two men that the fire was one of the only sources of the light in the room.

As the two men came closer to the table and their master, they saw his face shone through the gloom, hairless, snake-like, with slits for nostrils and gleaming red eyes whose pupils were vertical.

'Severus, here,' said Voldemort, as he pointed to the seat on his immediate right. Luca knew that everybody in this room was diabolically desperate to be seated in such a highly ranked place. 'Yaxley – beside Dolohov.'

The two death eaters found their allotted places and Luca could not take his eyes off Snape, knowing that it would be him to whom Voldemort would speak first.

'So?'

'My Lord, the Order of the Phoenix intends to move Harry Potter from his current place of safety on Saturday next, at nightfall.'

Luca began to fidget in excitement. The interest around the room sharpened palpably, and Luca noticed how the glare from Bellatrix Lestrange had evolved into smugness as she continued to stare into Severus Snape's eyes. The dumb gaze of Peter Pettigrew had advanced to a face of curiosity. Every other person in the room became ever more transfixed upon the conversation being held.

'Saturday...at nightfall,' repeated Voldemort. His red eyes fastened upon Snape's black ones with such intensity that some of the people in the room looked away.

Cowards, thought Luca, as he continually watched as Lord Voldemort probed into Snape's mind, performing highly advanced Legilimency to determine every minor detail. Luca remembered how he had been taught Occlumency recently by his mother, and how pitiful it would be against the Dark Lord himself.

As Snape looked calmly back into Lord Voldemort's face, his lipless mouth began to curve into something like a smile.

'Good. Very good. And this information comes-'

'From the source we discussed,' said Snape.

Many of the faces in the crowd began to look at each other, each wondering the very same as Luca. Firstly, what was this source? And secondly, Snape and Voldemort were having private conversations together?

'My Lord.'

Yaxley had leaned forward to look down the long table at Voldemort and Snape. Luca turned to look down at him, for he was sat at the farthest end of the table. For reasons beyond Luca, the Dark Lord had seated him not too far from himself. Every pair of eyes in the room was now staring expectantly at Yaxley.

'My Lord, I have heard differently.'

Yaxley waited, but Voldemort did not speak, so he went on. 'Dawlish, the Auror, let slip that Potter will not be moved until the thirtieth, the night before the boy turns seventeen.'

Luca looked back to see what Voldemort's retaliation might be, and then to Snape, who to his astonishment, was smiling.

'My source told me that there are plans to lay a false trail; this must be it. No doubt a Confundus Charm has been placed upon Dawlish. It would not be the first time; he is known to be susceptible.'

'I assure you, my Lord, Dawlish seemed quite certain,' said Yaxley. He seemed to be keen to get some sort of reward for his knowledge, and not to be put down by Snape, which Luca knew many of the death eaters were growing tired of.

'If he has been Confunded, naturally he is certain,' said Snape. 'I assure you, Yaxley, the Auror Office will play no further part in the protection of Harry Potter. The Order believes that we have infiltrated the Ministry.'

'The Order's got one thing right, then, eh?' said a voice from down the table, near to Yaxley. He gave a wheezy giggle that was echoed down the table. Luca gave a slight smile but noticed that Voldemort had not laughed, and was looking up the body that was revolving slowly overhead. He appeared to be lost in thought.

'My Lord,' Yaxley went on, 'Dawlish believes an entire party of Aurors will be used to transfer the boy-'

Voldemort held up a large, white hand and Yaxley subsided at once, watching resentfully as Voldemort turned back to Snape.

'Where are they going to hide the boy next?'

'At the home of one of the Order,' said Snape. 'The Place, according to the source, has been given every protection that the Order and the Ministry together could provide. I think that there is little chance of taking him once he is there, my Lord, unless, of course, the Ministry has fallen before next Saturday, which might give us the opportunity to discover and undo enough of the enchantments to break through the rest.'

Luca was impressed. Every member in the room was now transfixed by Severus Snape. Luca felt a monster inside him raving green, for he was murderously jealous, just like the rest of the room he was sure. Snape sure knew where and when to pull out the stops, and knew his contacts, which all of the death eaters would die to have.

'Well, Yaxley?' Voldemort called down the table, the firelight glinting strangely in his red eyes. 'Will the Ministry have fallen by next Saturday?'

Luca turned back to face Yaxley, hoping that he would not anger the Dark Lord anymore than he already had this evening.

'My Lord, I have good news on that score. I have – with difficulty, and after great effort – succeeded in placing an Imperius Curse upon Pius Thicknesse.'

Dolohov, who was sat next to Yaxley, patted him on the back. Many of the people in the room began to smile and Luca was again impressed. He was also happy that Yaxley had completed what he was ordered to do.

'It is a start,' said Voldemort. 'But Thicknesse is only one man. Scrimgeour must be surrounded by our people before I act. One failed attempt on the Minister's life will set me back a long way.'

'Yes – my Lord, that is true – but you know, as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Thicknesse has regular contact not only with the Minister himself, but also with the Heads of all other Ministry departments. It will, I think, be easy, now that we have such a high-ranking official under our control, to subjugate the others, and then they can all work together to bring Scrimgeour down.'

'As long as out friend Thicknesse is not discovered before he has converted the rest,' said Voldemort. 'At any rate, it remains unlikely that the Ministry will be mine before next Saturday. If we cannot touch the boy at his destination, then it must be done while he travels.'

'We are at an advantage there, my Lord,' said Yaxley, who again now seemed determined to gain some sort of approval from Voldemort. 'We now have several people planted within the Department of Magical Transport. If Potter Apparates or uses the Floo Network, we shall know immediately.'

'He will do neither,' said Snape. 'The Order is eschewing any form of transport that is controlled or regulated by the Ministry; they mistrust everything to do with the place.'

'All the better,' said Voldemort. 'He will have to move in the open. Easier to take, by far.'

Luca began to picture Potter walking down an empty London road during the night with one of the members of the Order of the Phoenix, looking shocked and scared as the death eaters began to swoop down. He imagined the Dark Lord's elatedness at the capture of the boy, and his killing. Luca was now very much looking forward to the Saturday after next.

'I shall attend to the boy in person. There have been too many mistakes where Harry Potter is concerned. Some of them have been my own. That Potter lives is due more to my errors, than to his triumphs.'

Luca's company around the table refused to look at Voldemort as he made his speech, each he could tell frightened that they would individually be blamed for Harry Potter's existence. However as Luca looked to the Dark Lord, he seemed to be addressing the revolving body above him.

Luca thought to himself, grateful that Voldemort would not be able to find a way to blame him for Potter's continued life. As a seventeen year old, he had not been part of this feared and renowned group before this summer. Not once had he been given a mission, something important to do that would give him credit, but here he sat, in closer proximity to Lord Voldemort than over half of the other eaters. It had only been last week when the Dark Lord had finally branded him with the Dark Mark.

However, Luca's father, Giraldo, had been killed in battle by the members of the Order of the Phoenix. This had happened before he was born, and Luca had never known his father. However, he had inherited his passion for the Dark Arts, and his gift of extraordinary magical excellence.

Giraldo Malvagita was an immensely gifted wizard, who had joined Lord Voldemort out of school; to toy with his passions and beliefs. He was a descendant of a pure blood line of witches and wizards, renowned in Italy not only for the Dark Arts, but great magical capabilities and vast wealth. His mother, Nunzia Di Angelo, was part Veela, and his father, Donato Malvagita, had inherited vault after vault of gold. He had one twin brother, Stefano, and attended Hogwarts and had been placed in the House of Slytherin, just like Luca had. Giraldo had met Luca's mother at Hogwarts, Evangeline Baxtor, daughter of Arnold Baxtor, descendant of the great wizard who invented the Cruiciatus Curse, and Araminta Malfoy, sister to Abraxus Malfoy, aunt to Lucius Malfoy.

Giraldo had been hit with a killing curse fired by Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody, which had hit him square in the chest. He had not stood a chance. However Luca's father had done well injuring many members of the Order of the Phoenix in that battle, and had been the cause of Moody's glass eye and permanent limp.

Like his mother, Luca now fought with Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters to avenge his father's death, and was determined to have Moody dead, along with every other member of the Order.

A cry from below interrupted Luca's thoughts and like every other Death Eater in the room, he glanced beneath his feet.

'Wormtail,' said Voldemort, with no change in his quiet, thoughtful tone, 'have I not spoken to you about keeping our prisoner quiet?'

'Yes m – my Lord,' gasped Wormtail from down the table. He scurried towards the door scruffily, and disappeared through it to see to the prisoner.

'As I was saying,' continued Voldemort, looking to the tense faces of the Death Eaters around him, 'I understand better now. I shall need, for instance, to borrow a wand from one of you before I go to kill Potter.'

Luca instinctively plunged his hand into his robe pocket and withdrew his wand and placed it on the highly polished table in front of him. This did not go unnoticed by Voldemort whose snake like mouth rose once again to that of a smile. Luca looked round to his fellows to see shocked faces looking at him, to his wand, and then to Voldemort. It was as if they had been asked to part with an arm.

'Let's see ... Lucius, I see no reason for you to have a wand any more.'

Lucius Malfoy looked up. He glared at Luca's wand with his sunken and shadowed eyes, and spoke hoarsely.

'My Lord?'

'You wand, Lucius. I require your wand.'

'I...'

He looked towards his wife, Narcissa Malfoy, who refused to look his way. They had been acting awfully strange recently. Narcissa had refused to see Luca's mother at all this summer, and they were great friends. It appeared that Lucius reluctantly took his wand from his robes and passed it down the table towards Voldemort. Luca considered the honour it would be to have the Dark Lord borrow his wand, and how much he would like it. He debated with himself for an instant to intervene, but instead left his wand on the table just in case Lord Voldemort changed his mind, which he very rarely does. Voldemort examined Lucius's wand fiercely.

'What is it?'

'Elm, my Lord,' whispered Malfoy.

'And the core?'

'Dragon – dragon heartstring.'

'Good,' said Voldemort, as he compared lengths with his own wand. Out of the corner of his eye, as Luca had been admiring the Dark Lord, he captured Lucius make a quick involuntary movement. It seemed he expected to receive Voldemort's wand in return for his. Voldemort's eyes widened maliciously. Luca mirrored his expression as he turned to face Malfoy again.

'Give you my wand, Lucius? My wand?'

Luca laughed at the humiliation that Lucius Malfoy was facing first, and many of the crowd began to snigger.

'I have given you liberty, Lucius, is that not enough for you? But I have noticed that you and your family seem less than happy of late ... what is it about my presence in your home that displeases you, Lucius?'

'Nothing – nothing, my Lord!'

'Such lies, Lucius ...'

Whilst the room were still immersed in the engagement of Lucius Malfoy and Lord Voldemort, Luca could hear the tongue of Nagini, the Dark Lord's beloved snake, emerging through the door. Luca could understand it as it called for its master.

'Master, master ...'

The heavy sliding noise became louder as the huge snake emerged to climb slowly up Voldemort's chair. Being a Parselmouth, Luca had always been able to understand and talk to snakes. A gift he shared with the Dark Lord, which was greatly admired and craved by the other Death Eaters. Nagini rose up Voldemort's chair and came to a rest upon Voldemort's chair. Luca became intrigued with Voldemort's relationship with the snake, its body as thick as a grown man's thigh, when they first met three months ago. As Voldemort absently stroked the creature with his long, white fingers, he continued to look at Lucius Malfoy.

'Why do the Malfoys look so unhappy with their lot? Is my return, my rise to power, not the very thing they professed to desire for so many years?'

'Of course, my Lord,' said Lucius. He was sweating, clearly anxious not to upset the Dark Lord. Luca thought his handing over of his wand had indeed been rather tactless, and he was rather right to assume the Dark Lord may punish him. 'We did desire it – we do.'

Narcissa made a weird movement with her head that resembled a nod, and her son, Draco, who had still been gazing up at the body, quickly glanced to Voldemort, and then back to the body again. Luca stared at Draco, an acquaintance from school, a family relative. He clearly looked scared, frantic to find some sort of escape route from Voldemort's clutch.

'My Lord,' said a dark woman halfway down the table, her voice constricted with emotion, 'it is an honour to have you here, in our family's house. There can be no higher honour.'

She sat beside her sister, as unlike her in looks, with her dark hair and heavily lidded eyes, as she was in bearing and demeanour; where Narcissa sat rigid and impassive, Bellatrix Lestrange leaned towards Voldemort, and Luca understood that mere words could not demonstrate her longing for closeness.

'No higher pleasure,' repeated Voldemort, as he considered Bellatrix's longing to be closer. 'That means a great deal, Bellatrix,' he continued as he stared into her eyes that she could not avert from him, 'coming from you'.

Her face flooded with colour and her eyes began to well with tears. Luca wondered, she was clearly one of the most devoted and emotionally attached Death eater sat at the table.

'My Lord knows I speak nothing but the truth!' Her voice was hysterical.

'No higher pleasure ... even compared with the happy event that, I hear, has taken place in your family this week?'

Bellatrix's stare did not leave Voldemort's slit like eyes, but her face was now plastered in confusion and she tilted her head to try to understand Voldemort's words.

'I don't know what you mean, my Lord.'

'I'm talking about your niece, Bellatrix. And yours, Lucius and Narcissa. She has just married the werewolf, Remus Lupin. You must be so proud.'

Luca pressed his lips together to avoid laughing, but it was no good. He burst out laughing at the humiliation that they were undergoing. A member of their family was marrying a werewolf. Luca could not think of anything more revolting, and neither could the others as there was an eruption of jeering around the rest of table. Luca had never seen the Death Eaters so loud and pleased, for they had taken great pleasure in the dishonour and were all exchanging gleeful looks. Snape looked smug but did not laugh, and Yaxley thumped the table with force.

'Quiet! Quiet!' Luca glanced to Voldemort's shoulder where Nagini was perched. She was hissing angrily, and only Luca and Lord Voldemort would have understood. The others did not hear her and continued to taunt as they were so jubilant at Bellatrix and the Malfoy's disgrace. Bellatrix's face, once full of colour, turned an ugly shade of red.

'She is no niece of ours, my Lord,' she cried out over the outpouring of delight. 'We – Narcissa and I – have never set eyes on our sister since she married the Mudblood. This brat has nothing to do with us, nor any beast she marries.'

'What you say Draco?' asked Voldemort, and though his voice was quiet, Luca stopped giggling and the outcalls and laughter hushed up through the authority in his voice. 'Will you babysit the cubs?'

Again the outcalls and hilarity begun, and Luca watched as Draco Malfoy looked to his father in terror, who was staring down in his own lap. He glanced towards his mother who shook her head ferociously, and returned her eyes to the wall.

'Enough,' said Voldemort, as he soothed Nagini who clearly was not happy with the outbursts. 'Enough.'

The laughter died at once.

'Many of our oldest family trees become a little diseased over time,' he said, as Bellatrix gazed at him, breathless and prayerful. 'You must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy? Cut away those parts that threaten the health of the rest.' Luca had been nodding the whole time and his mind wondered to the fate of Bellatrix's sister, the Mudblood, and her niece.

'Yes, my Lord,' she whispered, and yet again her eyes were swimming with tears of gratitude. 'At the first chance!'

'You shall have it,' said Voldemort. 'And in your family, so in the world ... we shall cut away the canker that infects us until only those of the true blood remain ...'

Luca glanced towards Bellatrix, who had long since been his favourite Death Eater. She showed masses of dedication to the Dark Lord, and she would do absolutely anything in his support. She had served in Azkaban for a very long time, which many thought had made her bitter. But no, Luca thought she was a magnificent witch, and she had taken the time to get to know him, to teach him things to help him better himself. She had clearly seen great potential in him, and he would be forever grateful to her. She had taught him different dark spells, charms and jinxes to assist in duels and battles. Bellatrix had even proceeded in assisting Luca in something in which he had been working on for many years. It began in his fourth year of Hogwarts, when Quidditch had been suspended and the Dark Lord killed Cedric Diggory during the Triwizard Tournament. Lessons were tedious for him so he needed a new outlet for his powerful magic. He had watched witches and wizards in the past change into animals, and he so desperately craved it. He dropped Quidditch in his fifth year, still trying to achieve this very advanced magic. However Luca could never accomplish the transfiguration, until very recently. With Bellatrix's encouragement and advising, he had finally carried out a triumphant transformation into a fox. He had never, ever been so pleased with himself before that moment.

He glanced towards Voldemort, in awe, speculating whether he could perform such magic. Bellatrix had told him that no other Death Eater had such skill. Of course Lord Voldemort would be an Animagus; it seemed daft to determine that the greatest wizard of all time would not possess the skill to change into an animal at will.

Looking to Voldemort, he saw him raise Lucius's wand and point it directly at the figure revolving over the table. Everyone looked up. She came bursting to live with a groan and began thrashing against invisible bonds.

'Do you recognise our guest, Severus?' asked Voldemort.

Luca watched as Snape raised his eyes to the upside down face of the woman. As she revolved to face Snape she cried out in a terrified voice, 'Severus! Help me!'

'Ah, yes,' said Snape, as she turned slowly away fro, him.

'And you, Draco?' asked Voldemort, stroking the snakes snout with his free hand. Luca watched as Draco shook his head jerkily. Luca knew very well who she was.

'Luca?' asked Voldemort, looking at him, then back down his wand which still lay on the table.

'I'm afraid I didn't take that class, my Lord. I wouldn't want to learn about vermin.' Voldemort smiled as Luca spoke in a resentful tone and glanced back up to the woman. There was a small amount of appreciation around the table and many nodded in support of Luca.

'For those of you who don't know, we are joined here tonight by Charity Burbage, who, until recently, taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'

There was a cackle from nearby, and Luca caught a glimpse of Alecto Carrow nudging her brother and looking very pleased with her self.

'Yes ... Professor Burbage taught the children of witches and wizards all about Muggles ... how they are not so different from us ...'

Luca saw Nott spit on the floor. 'Severus ... please ... please ...'

'Silence,' said Voldemort, and with another twitch of Lucius's wand, she fell silent, as if gagged. 'Not content with corrupting and polluting the minds of wizarding children, last week Professor Burbage wrote an impassioned defence of Mudbloods in the Daily Prophet. Wizards, she says, must accept these thieves of their knowledge and magic. The dwindling of pure-bloods is, says Professor Burbage, a most desirable circumstance ... she would have us all mate with Muggles ... or, no doubt, werewolves ...'

There was no mistaking the fury and anger as Voldemort spoke. Nobody laughed as he spoke, all staring up at Charity Burbage reluctantly, waiting ... She turned to face Snape, and had tears streaming own her face. Snape looked quite impassive and she turned away.

'Avada Kedavra.'

The flash of green light paralleled Luca's bright green eyes, and with high anticipation, watched as the woman crashed to the table. Several Death Eaters leapt back in their seats, including Travers and Macnair. Dolohov laughed, whilst Draco Malfoy fell off his seat and onto the cold floor. Luca leant so far onto the table, he was sure the person next to him must not have seen what happened.

'Dinner, Nagini,' said Voldemort in Parselmouth, which Luca very much understood. The great snake made its way from Voldemort's chair and swayed and slithered onto the polished wood.