The Dark Lord was seated in chair that was, if not throne-like, imposing enough. He had a fist folded under his chin and his brilliant red eyes stared at the two people standing before him.
"Bellatrix has discovered the location of my wand," the Dark Lord said. "Harry, I need you to attend a ball that will be held in Hogwarts in two weeks time."
oooooooooooooooooooo
Harry Gaunt
Chapter Two – The Soiree
Two weeks later – Riddle Manor
"You look decidedly to much like a guy," said Draco skeptically. He was sitting in Harry's rooms, his arms crossed. "How do we explain the shoulders and your non-existent hips?"
"This is a mission, Draco, not a beauty contest," Harry replied while wiggling into a peacock blue female dress robe. "I'll only be there for a second and I'll slip off. Don't fret."
"This positively sucks," spat Draco nastily. "People are going to think I have bad taste in girls."
Harry glared at Draco through an opening of the dress robe. "That's irrelevant. Our mission is to retrieve Grandfather's wand, not to pet and soothe your overlarge ego," Harry said harshly.
"At least admit that you make an ugly girl," Draco smirked. "Why can't you charm yourself into looking like a real girl?"
"I've told you already, you dunce," Harry said impatiently. He was now curling his hair with a charm and was failing abysmally as the ends burned. "Glamour charms won't work on me because I already have a permanent set of them on."
Draco, extremely vexed, stayed silent despite his intense desire to kill someone and throw a tantrum. He was not looking forward to the other Hogwarts students seeing his choice of a "date." But, Draco stayed silent. One could not, after all, order around imperiously the Dark Lord's heir.
Harry slipped his feet into robust black flats that were going to serve the double duty of dancing shoes and sneak-suit apparel.
"Ok, let's go," said Harry. Draco got up and handed the other end of a well-worn scarf to Harry.
"No one will think I'm gay or anything for going with this butch girl, right?" Draco asked, his fear for a smeared reputation surpassing his fear of the Dark Lord. "Maybe I should say Mother forced me to go—"
"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry said. "Activate."
oooooooooooooooooooo
Voldemort hissed in anticipation at Nagini. He would finally get his precious wand back from Dumbledore. If only the wand had been kept in the Ministry. Voldemort could have had it back in his possession much earlier.
Unfortunately, the wand was being kept at Hogwarts. On the bright side, it served the dual purpose of giving Harry practice in breaking onto Dumbledore's turf and getting Voldemort's wand back.
"Harry will do well, don't you think Nagini?" he hissed at his beloved serpent. She hissed back in agreement.
"Fifteen years it has been, since I've been exiled," said Voldemort to his snake. "But soon, soon I will once more bring death and terror to the wizarding world."
Voldemort shook in his glee and excitement. "And this time, the cause of my demise is loyal to me and serving me," Voldemort whispered. "Muggles and mudbloods alike will finally get what they deserve."
Maniacal laugh could be heard all over the manor.
oooooooooooooooooooo
It was an end of summer ball, one that served the purpose of enjoying the last few days of warmth and sunlight before the deceitful air of fall was to make its appearance. It was also a sign that school was about to start.
The Great Hall was simply decorated with flower garlands. The air was sweetened by their fragrance. In this peaceful era with no Dark Lord or Death Eaters, people could thoroughly enjoy an evening of lively dancing and merry drinking, without having to fear that their party would be crushed by a band of skull-faced scarecrows.
The staff was present at the ball. They were there more to have fun than to supervise. After a summer of gamboling, fooling around and never doing any homework, students tended to be less rowdy and restless.
Lily Potter, potion mistress, walked towards the buffet where dishes were appearing. She had been put in charge of renewing preservation and cooling charms on the food, such that when the students and their guests arrived, the cold foods would taste fresh and warm ones would still be steaming.
Lily waved to Minerva McGonagall, the Transfiguration professor, as she cast a cooling charm on the pumpkin juice. McGongall was unable to respond to the gesture as she was currently involved in a brawl with Peeves, the poltergeist.
"PEEVES, will you stop eating the decorations!"
"The flowers taste like strawberries, Minnie!" Peeves exclaimed, a stem sticking out of his mouth. "Have some Minnie!"
He threw a garland at McGonagall who barely managed to step out of the way.
"You're a poltergeist! You cannot taste the foulness in your mouth, much less flowers! Leave before I call the Bloody Baron here!" McGonagall threatened, her wand pointed at him. She was slightly desperate because the students and their guests were slowly starting to trickle in. People might get a bad image of Hogwarts if Peeves was left free to roam.
Peeves laughed his way out of the hall, McGonagall sending colorful jets of spells after him. Lily chuckled to herself at the sight. She waved back at one of her student who had just arrived before returning to her charms. Tonight was going to be a joyful start to the new school year as well as the beginning of the rest of her life with the loss of her first-born, a thing of the past.
ooooooooooooooooooooooo
Harry appeared with his blond friend in tow in the office of Professor Sinistra, head of Slytherin. She was grading papers and responded with a mere wave of the hand to Draco's polite greeting. Harry was slightly disheveled. Portkeys had always discomfited him—maybe it was the thought that a portkey could lead you to anywhere and to anyone. Harry smoothed the front of his borrowed dress and slowly exhaled. He followed Draco out into the corridor where they were to immediately head to the Great Hall. A Slytherin prefect of Draco's acquaintance escorted them. Harry let Draco and the girl—Daphné—chat comfortably as he went over the night's plan in his head.
They arrived into the Great Hall. Harry twitched his nose. There were as many flowers as there would be in a funeral. The timing of their arrival was perfect though. There were just enough people to fade into the crowd without making a grand late entrance. Harry left Draco to his own devices and disappeared into the crowd. He would strike later in the evening after every one was well imbedded with what he was going to add in the pumpkin juice.
"Hullo." A boy had just tapped Harry on the shoulder.
Harry stopped walking but didn't reply to the boy, who seemed to be shorter than Harry. Harry stared over the boy's head as if the boy was nothing of any significance and that Harry was only pausing in his stride out of politeness. Harry was playing the role of a pampered pureblood princess after all.
"I've never seen you before," the boy said before quickly mumbling: "Would you like to dance?"
"Thank you, but no," Harry said, clearly pronouncing each word of his refusal. Harry didn't bother to glance at the boy and continued his way to the buffet table, as if it were never interrupted. Harry was half disgusted that someone would think he really was a girl. He half-grimaced at the thought and quickly waded between groups of laughing friends and a couple that was entangled together in a myriad of limbs. No one paid him any attention.
He approached the buffet table and glanced around. There was no teacher around. The only two students there were too concentrated on getting as many slices of pumpkin pies to notice Harry. They had barely stuffed a sweet in their mouth that they were already reaching for a second one. They weren't bothering to chew. They were having an intense swallowing session. Harry recognized them as Crabbe and Goyle, Draco's school sidekicks.
Harry quickly poured himself a cup of pumpkin juice, passing his sleeve over the bowl and discreetly pouring the potion into the juice. In the next five minutes, the potion was going to spread to all surrounding foods and drinks. It was an airborne product in liquid form. Harry didn't try to understand the concept but was grateful for Severus to have provided him with the receipe. It would make tonight's assignment a lot easier.
Any one who would eat or drink food would lose slowly lose focus. They would think only of dancing and playing. They would be under the compulsion of a pleasure potion, easy to brew and undetectable. They would then breathe it onto companions and the sweet air of the room would be embedded with the potion.
He looked up from the table satisfied that the potion was working. He himself had brewed the counter-potion so he would be immune to the pleasure-inducing effect of the potion. As he roamed around, his eyes fell on a redhead, a staff member by the look of the aging lines on her face. She was dancing with some sort of half-breed and laughing loudly. Harry realized this was his mother and he frowned. He glared at her back before disappearing into the crowd once more.
ooooooooooooooooooo
Lily Potter stood beside the staff table quietly enjoying a glass of Butterbeer. She had just come back from dancing with Flitwick. It had been challenging as he hardly reached her waist. Nevertheless it had been fun.
She looked over at her son Jeremy who was chatting away with Ron Weasley. The Weasleys were part of the currently dissolved Order of the Phoenix. Jeremy had often played with the Weasley children.
Ron was currently pointing a girl out to Jeremy and laughing. "…could have been your dad's female version, I can't believe you asked her to dance!" Lily heard distantly. She looked at the girl in question. Lily stifled a laugh. The girl did resemble James to a certain degree, but when Lily looked closely, the high cheekbones and the thin pale face threw the similarities off.
The girl was plain and easily forgettable, making Lily wonder why Jeremy had asked her to dance. She was certainly going to tease her son tonight. And then the girl looked up, straight at Lily, and scowled. Lily did a double take and choked on her Butterbeer. When she looked back to where the girl had been standing, there was noboby.
But Lily had seen the girl's eyes. They had been a startling emerald green—the same emerald green that Lily stared into when she looked in a mirror. Lily shivered in her chiffon gold dress robe. The girl had eyes like Harry. The vivid eyes with a hint of darkness she could not forget even in her dreams.
She shook her red hair and went in search of a stronger drink.
oooooooooooooooooooo
Harry stood near the window of Dumbledore's office. He was surveying the office with hawkish eyes, trying to figure out where an important and dangerous object would be kept.
He had abandoned Draco early on and slithered away from the soiree after the potion had begun to take effect and the students had started to get rowdier. Draco should be in the arms of that Parkinson girl at the moment. Harry snickered. The girl had a nose like an upturned pasted triangle and the brains of an insect high on aphrodisiac but she wasn't Slytherin for nothing. She had managed to corner Draco everywhere he had gone. Her Draco-tracking skills had been superb. Harry revised his thoughts. She was like a dog in heat.
Harry being neither extremely ugly nor remarkably good-looking when dressed as a girl—despite Draco's opinion—had not been much paid much attention to, except as Draco's "pureblood friend." Harry had easily slipped away with the excuse of "having a headache."
Somehow, Harry had managed to confuse the gargoyle into letting him into Dumbledore's office. And so now, he stood, racking his brains for where the headmaster would likely hide something as lethal as Voldemort's wand.
Harry searched several magically enhanced hidden caches before it clicked in his head that since the Dark Lord had been considered quite dead for the last fifteen years, his wand wouldn't necessarily be thought of as a lethal weapon.
Harry suppressed a triumphant cry when he discovered the thirteen-inch phoenix feather wand in an unsealed cupboard. He just had time to conceal the wand in his peacock dress robe when someone entered the room.
Harry looked up into the curious eyes of Dumbledore.
"Hello my dear. May I ask you what my office has that is so interesting?" asked Dumbledore.
"Oh, I had a headache, sir," Harry said in a high-pitched voice. He was talented enough in Occclumency that Dumbledore would not be able to glimpse into his mind and see the swirl of lies Harry had been prepared to use. Harry wondered how Dumbledore had managed to thwart the effect of the potion before realizing he should have taken into account Dumbledore's superior senses of observation and retaliation.
Harry tried to look affected. "Draco was busy dancing with the girl in pink and told me to find my own way home," Harry said in a whiny voice. "It was extremely callous of him. So I looked for a fireplace on my own."
"I do believe you came in through Professor Sinistra's office," said the Headmaster pleasantly. "Let met escort you there and you'll be able to floo back."
"Oh thank you, Mr. Dumbledore!" cried Harry in his high-pitched voice, putting his hand on his fake bosom. He had the satisfaction of seeing Dumbledore cringe at the sound. "I will be forever grateful to you. You are so much nicer than Draco described you!"
As they walked towards the astronomy tower where professor Sinistra's office could be found, Dumbledore questioned Harry on his life in Durmstrang. Harry had all the answers as he had been prepared to answer questions like this.
Before letting Harry go, Dumbledore asked a final question: "Please, my dear Miss Hortensia, do tell me how you got past the wards and into my office?"
"Oh, I simply asked the gargoyle to please let me in," Harry mumbled quickly. "He was very nice about it."
Dumbledore looked suspicious for a moment but when he looked up again, his eyes were twinkling. "Goodnight to you, Miss Hortensisa. I hope Hogwarts was enjoyable to you."
"Oh, it was, more than you'll ever know," Harry replied in his fake falsetto voice. He smiled sweetly at Dumbledore before he yelled "Malfoy Manor" into the floo.
Dumbledore stood quietly in Professor Sinistra's office for quite a while after "Miss Hortensia" had departed. In the end, he dismissed his suspicions and headed back to the festivities where the students were starting to get things heated up. He would need to do some supervising and chaperoning after all.
oooooooooooooooooooo
Narcissa Malfoy brought tea and biscuits for the Dark Lord's heir. He was sitting stiffly on a couch and biting the inside of his lower lip bloody. He looked distraught, but the lines on his face smoothed into a smile as Narcissa approached with the tray.
Narcissa Malfoy was one of those exquisite products of expansive pureblood breeding. Not only was she tall, blond and beautiful, she held herself aloof, cool and was an admirable hostess. Lucius Malfoy could not have married a woman of better pedigree.
Harry approved of Draco's mother. She knew her place in this cutthroat world. Not like Harry's mudblood of a mother who danced with half-breeds and consorted with muggles. It disgusted Harry in no end that he'd come out of her womb. He was thankful that the Dark Lord had put him back in the right direction.
Harry thought about Lucius Malfoy, the Dark Lord's right-hand man. After Crouch had resigned his position as Minister of Magic following the conviction of his son as a Death Eater, ten years earlier, Cornelius Fudge, the bumbling politician had taken his place. Fudge was incompetent and greedy for votes. He let several wealthy Death Eaters from prominent pureblood families return from exile and escape Azkaban with the promise of "community service," which usually meant a generous donation for Fudge's next presidential campaign. Malfoy and Nott had been two—but not the only ones—of such escapees. They had been part of the circle that had been contacted after the Dark Lord had been brought back.
Thus, it was in the opulent home of the Malfoys that Voldemort's heir recuperated from his ordeal of dealing with a manipulative Dumbledore.
"Thank you for the refreshments, Narcissa," Harry said to Draco's mother, taking the tray from her. "But I must make haste and return to Grandfather."
Narcissa, quick to understand, smiled and waved her wand. A knapsack containing robes and other necessary accessories appeared on the couch.
"I will return to my quarters then, young Master," she said demurely as she turned to leave. "Please send my regards to the Dark Lord and may his ventures succeed."
"Thank you, I will pass on your words," Harry said approvingly.
She nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Harry stripped off the despicable peacock blue dress robe and threw on the robes Narcissa had left him. He transferred his weapons onto himself before exchanging the black flats for his usual dragon boots. He was relieved he hadn't needed to use any of his weapons in Hogwarts. It would have made escape difficult and would leave evidence of him having been at the school.
Harry stuffed the dress robe in the knapsack and slung it over his shoulder despite his misgivings about dressing as girl again. He might need it again and the dress robe had useful pockets of concealment inside it. He threw floo powder into the roaring fireplace.
"Riddle Manor," Harry said clearly before stepping into the green fire and vanishing.
oooooooooooooooooooo
James Potter was sitting in the Leaky Cauldron with his best friends, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Their other faithful marauder, Peter Pettigrew, had been missing in action several years earlier and presumed dead.
The three marauders were celebrating the birth of Sirius Black's second child, a girl who had been christened Lola Henrietta Black. She had a shiny bald head and a rosy tint to her cheeks. Sirius' wife had brought her to her parent's house on this glorious August day, leaving Sirius to enjoy the evening with his friends. Sirius' elder child was in the same year as Jeremy Potter and currently dancing at the Soiree at Hogwarts.
James raised his firewhiskey and said: "To Lola Henrietta Black, the newest addition to the Black family." He winked at Sirius who grinned. It had been fifteen years since that nightmarish day at the Quidditch World Cup. Sirius had taken James' words at heart and had started to believe that he deserved his own happiness. Sirius then proceeded to help the Potters as well as himself overcome Harry's horrific end. Sirius had married soon after and settled near Godric's Hollow.
Remus raised his own glass and said: "The Marauders honor a new heir." This time, all three of them grinned sheepishly at the memories of the pranks they'd pulled back in Hogwarts.
"Cheers," Sirius said simply and drank his firewhiskey in one long gulp. The other two followed his example. In these times of relative peace, one could properly enjoy a night out with the boys without worrying about coming home and finding it burned down with the Dark Mark set over it. Life was as good as it could get.
But James, deep inside, wished with all his might for Harry. For the wizarding world, Harry Potter was slowly becoming just a name in a textbook, but for James Potter, his son's name still evoked a dull ache in him. His precious lost one…
James poured himself another glass before passing the bottle to Remus. He hoped his Lily and their second son were enjoying themselves at Hogwarts' Soiree.
Sirius clapped James on the shoulder, noticing his melancholic mood and talked about the various aurors who'd gotten themselves drunk at the Ministry's Midsummer Party. James laughed along and Remus listened intently to Sirius' gossip.
oooooooooooooooooooo
"My Lord, I can't help but express my concerns about this plan," said Severus to the Dark Lord. "What if Harry realizes the truth of his background?"
"Are you questioning my reasoning, Severus?" said the Dark Lord. "If you hadn't been loyal to me for all these years, I would've crucio'd you several times already for your impertinence."
Severus winced but continued nonetheless. "My Lord, there are currently two Potters residing in Hogwarts. He will be curious despite his hatred of them."
"Then we will have to placate his curiosity," said the Dark Lord. "I cannot afford to lose him but there is no one better suited for this mission."
"I advise against this venture, my Lord," Severus said tentatively but froze at the look of rage storming in the Dark Lord's red eyes. "But of course, the Dark Lord knows best and I am only a faithful servant." Severus kissed the hem of the Dark Lord's robes.
"And you had better remember it, Severus," the Dark Lord whispered menacingly. "I assure you that I know exactly what I am doing, my loyal servant."
"Of course, my Lord," replied Severus. "Shall I go fetch the young Master then?"
"Yes, send him in," said Voldemort. "And leave us alone."
Severus nodded. He got up and walked to the door, where Harry was waiting, a chocolate croissant half in his mouth and half hanging out. He motioned at Harry to go inside. Harry nodded back to Severus and entered Voldemort's private quarters, the croissant still in his mouth.
"I certainly didn't teach you such atrocious eating habits," Voldemort said, as he waved at Harry to sit down opposite him. "It was Bella, wasn't it?"
"No, it was Crabbe and Goyle, the junior ones," Harry laughed. He plopped down on a lavishly decorated armchair and helped himself to a handful biscuits.
"Please crucio them for me, next time," Voldemort said, frowning.
Harry nodded as he swallowed.
"I was very pleased with your latest mission," said Voldemort, abruptly changing the subject. He twirled his recently re-acquired wand. "I have regained much of my strength."
"Thank you, Granddad," Harry grinned cheekily, his teeth covered with chocolate. "I'd like to see Dumbledore's face when he realizes your wand's disappeared."
Voldemort was silent. He sipped his tea and smiled almost affectionately at his heir.
"You might have the chance to do so," Voldemort finally said.
Harry stopped nibbling on his biscuit. He swallowed forcefully. "What do you mean, Granddad?"
"I need to know what the Order is up to, before and while I make my comeback," Voldemort explained to Harry. "I need a spy in Hogwarts."
Harry's kept his face devoid of signs this time. He waited expectantly for his lord to continue.
"You are trustworthy, competent and an accomplished liar," Voldemort said to Harry. "I want you inside Hogwarts. You will gather intelligence from within."
Harry inwardly beamed at the praise but at the same time, he shuddered at the work it would take to pull off the task. Harry thought quickly. He'd have to hide some of his features, find a safe way to communicate with the Dark Lord, keep his abilities in check and then, make sure Draco didn't give it all away with his big fat mouth.
Then, Harry would have to discover who the Order members were and where the meetings occurred—but they certainly weren't going to regroup until the Dark Lord made his comeback.
"I will enroll you as a sixth year in September," added Voldemort. "You'll be saying you are transferring from Durmstrang due to family issues."
"Yes, Granddad," said Harry solemnly. "I will not disappoint you."
"If I am in need of your assistance, I will contact you," Voldemort said as he deposited his empty teacup on the tray.
Voldemort slowly lifted himself from the luxurious couch of his private rooms. Harry shoved the rest of the biscuit into his mouth, sensing that they would be busy planning for the next couple of hours.
"Come, young one," Voldemort beckoned. "We will prepare for this long undercover project of ours in my study. I shall summon Lucius and Severus."
Harry grabbed a handful of biscuits and stuffed them in his pocket and ran after the Dark Lord. Too much thinking made him ravenous.
"You will be Harry Gaunt, descendant of Slytherins," Harry heard the Dark Lord say. "And Lord Voldemort will rise once again."
oooooooooooooooooooo
A/N: Harry will not turn out to be a nice boy. He will not join the lightside. And he will not be paired with either a girl or a guy. Well those are my thoughts right this moment anyway lol.
PS. Join the PPP club: pampered pureblood princess. Get house-elves to file your nails, curl your hair and eat pumpkin seeds as you read out-loud the new edition of the Weekly Witch to your pureblood girl friends.
