"All done," I said aloud with a smile. All my homework already finished – even my extra work for Severus - at one o'clock in the morning. Bodoujn meowed sleepily as I stuffed it all back into my bag.

I heard a pop from downstairs and stopped to listen. I slowly stood and left my room, going down the staircase nearby and into the dining room where I saw the very servant of my dad. Ugh, Wormtail.

He was a short, balding man, his hair also graying. He had a pointed nose and small, watery eyes. Like the rat he is.

He gave a whimper when he saw me, "Y-You're the D-Dark Lord's daughter?" he asked.

Right. He didn't know who I was when he last saw me. I sighed, "Yeah, and you're the idiot who thought it'd be smart to give me a concussion in your efforts to scurry away." I walked up to him and took him with me out of the house, mostly pushing him. Once outside, I closed the door behind us and said, "Are you crazy? At least send me an owl so I can come out, what if one of my family members had been awake instead of me?"

He whimpered, "So sorry, milady, I –"

"Whatever," I said with a roll of my eyes. I'm getting good at being evil. Wait.. I shouldn't be proud of that. "What do you want?"

"The D-Dark Lord ordered m-me to come g-get you..."

"Well, why didn't you say so? Come on, let's go, there's not a lot of time to waste!" I said.

He nodded quickly, and held out his arm nervously. I smirked and took his arm, he Disapparated to a house with a very creepy aura. Of course, what else would be the homely abode of Lord Voldemort?

"This is the R-Riddle House..." Peter said, "it was the home of the family on your grandfather's side."

"How is my dad? Does he have a body?" I asked as he led me through the house.

"I-In a way... he still wants you for the creation of the potion to give him a stronger body," Peter said. "He's not very good looking, if that's what you hope for –"

I laughed. "All the better to scare his foes!"

We walked into a room, a fire lit in the grate. A chair was kept close to the fire, facing away from the door, dad was probably in it. On the floor behind the chair was the body of an old man, his walking stick near him. He looked as though he'd been scared to death.

"My Lord..." Peter said. "Your daughter is here."

"Thank you, Wormtail," he said, his voice cold and high-pitched. When I was eleven, the hairs on the back of my neck had stood up upon first hearing his voice. Now that I was used to it, I merely gave an effort to show I was more than happy to hear it. I could just see all the hairs on Peter's body stand up, though he'd been with him for a couple months.

"Hi, dad," I said.

"Melody, it's good of you to come," he said.

"I will always be there for you when you need me," I said. "Is there anything in particular you would like for me to know? Perhaps the point of the disappearance of Bertha Jorkins?"

Bertha was reported missing by someone who was a friend of my Uncle Gerald... I knew the only one behind it could be dad. Though it was odd that no one reported it to the Ministry so they could go search for her.

He laughed, "Does anyone suspect me or Wormtail?"

"Not at all. Neither of you come to anyone's mind... just mine," I said.

"See Wormtail? No suspicion... he's been worried."

"Well, worry is what you get when you ask for a cowardly man to help you on you way to power," I said.

"I returned to him on my own –" Peter started saying, rather courageously. I cut him down easily.

"No, no, no, you may swear that you returned to him on your own, but you didn't. Hadn't you ever wondered why you suddenly appeared to him as you ran away from us? It was me who transported you – you wouldn't have been able to find him, nor would you have looked for him, had it not been for me." I stared him down, he whimpered and backed away from me. "You cast a spell that pushed me away from you... I must say that was a good spell, it gave me a concussion, but before I lost consciousness I made sure I did what my father wanted. You."

"N-No, that's not –"

I smirked victoriously, "Oh, yes. That's exactly how it went, Wormtail. Don't even try to deny it. Indeed you have been faithful so far, taking care of my dad, but were it not for me you would have gone straight into hiding."

Wormtail stayed silent, looking as if he was contemplating his next words.

"Say anything else and I will not hesitate to curse you," I said. "I can read your mind. So I knew in the Shrieking Shack that you did think about going back to my father on the one thought that you had his wand. You would never use it knowing it belonged to him." His eyes widened. I turned to dad, "I trust he gave you your wand back?"

"Yes," he said, sounding thoroughly amused. "Wormtail, fetch some more food from the village, I believe we are nearly out."

"Y-Yes, my Lord. Right away, my Lord," Wormtail said, scuttling out of the room as quickly as possible.

"Coward," I said in Parseltongue.

"Yes... but he is my best hope of health... Come, Melody... I want you to look at me with your own eyes." Dad replied.

I braced myself. I already knew he wouldn't look normal, so I could only hope that I'd be able to withstand the look of him. Making my way over to the front of the chair where he sat, I pitied him instantly but didn't dare show it. I lowered myself to my knees in front of the chair to be eye-to-eye with him.

He was in the shape of a crouched human child. His red eyes had stayed, and he was hairless, but scaly-looking. His skin was a dark, raw, reddish black. His arms and legs were very feeble, but he kept his wand at his side, and his face was as I had seen him before, flat and snakelike.

His smile showed he was pleased. "You are braver than Wormtail."

I chuckled, "He is that afraid of how you look?"

"He may not say so, but he regrets ever staying with me. He flinches when he looks at me... shudders when he touches me..." he spat.

I touched my hand to one of his, touching it delicately. His skin really did feel scaly. "If it's any consolation..." I said softly, wondering if I should really say what I was thinking of saying. What the heck, I might as well, I thought. "But, I think you look adorable."

He laughed, a cold, sharp laugh. "I wondered what you were going to say."

The only reason he couldn't read my mind was because I kept it blocked whenever I was around him. It helped, because the real pivot behind my thoughts was how much I hated myself for helping him. Bringing him back to power just made me clench my teeth, but I couldn't let him see that. Being behind the scenes – knowing his plans let me know what I could try doing to put a stop to it. Sometimes there was nothing I could do, so I merely followed through with many of his plans regrettably.

"At least I speak my mind so you don't have to wonder for long," I said, giving him a smile. "Now, this business with Bertha Jorkins..."

"Wormtail brought her to me, and she held some very valuable information that was easy to torture out of her. She had a memory charm cast upon her so she wouldn't remember this, but... one of my followers is still alive, though I'd heard him to be dead. Barty Crouch Jr., son of Barty Crouch –" I'd heard of him, "– was my most faithful servant. His father had switched him and his dying mother in Azkaban. He keeps him at his house under the Imperius Curse."

"What's the plan?" I asked.

"We act after the Quidditch World Cup – are you going?"

I nodded, "With the Malfoys."

He nodded too, "I heard from that woman that Alastor Moody – renowned auror – will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts this year. I have some Polyjuice Potion at my disposal. I want Barty to take place of Moody. I need an inside man who will keep his eye on Harry Potter for something special."

I chuckled, "I guess you don't want to tell me what's happening?"

He smiled, "If it's a secret to all students, it would very suspicious if you know... I have given rules to Barty to teach you how to Apparate."

"I could get Professor Snape to," I said.

He looked at me thoroughly, "Do you not trust my judgment?" He sounded threatening.

I chuckled, that's debatable, "In no way am I questioning your judgment in him, but Professor Snape is my private tutor. Private lessons with 'Moody' could make him jealous."

He shook his head, "It would be better for Barty to teach you. He would give you free reign."

I nodded, "Okay then."

"The plan will work... it will work..."

Wormtail came back a short while later and returned me home, it was about six and – of course – no one was up yet. No one liked waking up early and since Blake came into the family, it was nearly impossible to get any sleep.

As if on cue, I heard Blake's crying and the groans of every single person in the house.

"I'll get him!" I shouted out, running up the stairs to Blake's room where he lay in his crib bawling his eyes out. I gently picked him up and bounced him lightly.

He his tears slowly reduced to whimpers.

"Who's a cutie?" I said softly in a babylike voice. "Who's a cutie?"

Blake giggled, his small face lighted up in a smile.

"That's right! You are!" I cooed. "It's okay now. Big sister is here."