CHAPTER THREE: THE DEATH-EATERS
There was panic within the massive property that Voldemort had been using as his headquarters. Since the fall of Voldemort, people had been naming names, giving evidence against each other and betraying the oaths they'd taken when they'd been marked as servants of the Dark Lord.
Of the three hundred and fifty-two strong group of Death-Eaters, only five of them remained un-named. One hundred and ninety-three of them had already been caught and put in Azkaban, some with trial, and some without. Forty-nine were dead and buried.
Thirty-six of them had fled the country, which left only seventy-four of the Death-Eaters. Severus Snape was amongst them, watching the chaos, trying to discover whatever else he could find out about the disbanding group.
Lucius Malfoy, one of the highest-ranking Death-Eaters was panicking, though his calm outward appearance showed nothing of the sort. None of the Death-Eaters had been expecting Voldemort's reign to end so abruptly and without warning.
"What do we do now?" one of the panicked voices in the throng of people asked.
"We need to flee before the Ministry discovers us!" another voice answered.
"Coward!" others yelled in response.
"QUIET!" Lucius yelled loudly, getting the attention of the remaining Death-Eaters. "No one is fleeing. Not a single one of you. Our Lord left us no instructions of what should happen if the worst was to happen. We need to decide on a new leader."
"We need to try and restore our Lord!" one of the voices yelled.
There was a murmur after that suggestion, and Lucius bristled, though he dared not say anything against the suggestion.
"It's only a matter of time before the Ministry finds us," another said. "We must be prepared."
"Those who aren't named should collaborate!" one of the un-named suggested. "We can freely search for ways to restore the Dark Lord."
Lucius again looked uncomfortable. He knew he was among the list of named Death-Eaters, and he wasn't looking forward to the trial. His bank account would take a substantial hit to buy his way out, but it would be possible. The Ministry of Magic was almost as corrupt as the Death-Eaters themselves were.
"Yes!" another of the un-named said. "We can continue with the plans our Lord wanted carried out."
"Such as?" Lucius asked silkily.
Four of the five un-named Death-Eaters were grouped in a cluster. They were desperately frightened that the others would betray them at the trials, and they would have done anything to stop that from happening.
"The girl!" one of them cried out. "Our Lord wanted her to be brought up in the ways of the Death-Eaters."
Severus perked up at the mention of the girl. And while it may have been too late to return her to her parents, it meant that there was a chance to get the child back. All he had to find out was where the child was being kept.
Before anything more could be said, all hell broke loose as dozens of Ministry Aurors burst into the room. In the confusion of the battle, two of the un-named Death-Eaters made a break for it.
Evan Rosier and Benjamin Zabini made a run for it, dodging curses and keeping their faces hidden as they raced through the halls of the manor, a single Auror on their tail.
A sudden and sharp shriek came from one of the rooms off the corridor, and Ben knew exactly what it was. He raced to the door that held the young Elizabeth Potter and unlocked it with a quick spell. Rosier looked at him incredulously.
"You're taking her?" Rosier asked.
"I can't leave her here!" Ben argued, though he didn't know why. He justified himself by saying that if it was his own two-year-old daughter he would have wanted her looked after as well.
Rosier just shook his head and continued racing down the corridor. Ben closed the door and listened as the Auror followed Rosier to the end of the corridor. He heard a duel happening, and saw a flash of bright green light flicker under the door. One of them had died, and by the sounds of the footsteps running back to the main room, he would bet that it was Rosier who had lost the battle.
There was a soft tug at the sleeve of his robes and Ben looked down to see a beautiful child with blonde hair and bright green eyes staring up at him. He felt something tug on his heartstrings and he crouched down so that he was eye-level with her.
"Are you from da Min'sty?" she asked, her voice soft, innocent and terrified.
Ben picked up the small girl and nodded. "I'm going to take you somewhere safe."
"Back to mamma and da?" she asked.
Even though Ben was a father to a little girl who was Elizabeth's age, he had very little experience in handling children. Especially a child that he was about to blatantly lie to.
"Your mamma and da asked me to look after you," he said softly. "Now, I need you to be extra quiet. There're a lot of bad men out there who want to hurt you."
"You mean Voltywart?"
Ben almost chuckled at the mispronunciation of the name, before remembering that he had been one of Voldemort's followers. He was not someone who betrayed his Lord. He had the mark at the crook of his elbow to prove it. Just because he didn't want to be amongst those that were named didn't mean he wasn't loyal to the Dark Lord.
"No…"
And it was in that split second that Ben knew exactly how he was going to gain the absolute trust of this girl. He knew exactly how he was going to teach this girl to hate muggles and mudbloods, and to grow in the way of the Death-Eaters.
"Voldemort took you away from your mamma to protect you," he explained. "A very bad man named Albus wanted you dead. Do you know what death is?"
"When people go t'live with the angels?" Ellie asked quietly.
Ben nodded. "Your mamma and da have gone to live with the angels Elizabeth. Albus killed them, and he wants to kill you. So I need you to be really, really quiet so I can get you out of here, okay?"
"'tay," she whispered, pantomiming zipping her mouth closed.
Ben almost smiled, but refrained. Ellie buried her head in the man's shoulder as he opened the door and quickly checked for Aurors. When he realised that no one was coming after him, he fled the premises and disapparated quickly, the small girl in his arms.
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"Oh, Ben, thank Merlin, you're back," Ben's wife gushed. She stopped suddenly when she saw the small girl in her husband's arms. "Who is that?"
"Ellie," the small girl replied before Ben could say anything. "My mamma and da live with the angels."
"She's the Potter girl, Bel," Ben explained.
Belinda Zabini frowned. While she may not have had the mark of the Death Eater burned onto her skin, she supported her husband in everything. She was a pureblood witch, and a Slytherin at heart. The only reason she'd never joined the Death-Eaters was because she had her daughter to look after. She believed in what Lord Voldemort believed in. She believed that purebloods should reign.
"What exactly were you planning to do with her?" Belinda asked.
Ben shrugged and put the girl on the ground. She immediately toddled over to Bel and looked up at her, her eyes wide and frightened. Belinda bent down and picked the small girl up.
"Does your mamma live with da angels too?" Ellie asked.
Belinda nodded. "She does."
"Oh…will you…will you be my new mamma?"
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Two-year-old Blaise Zabini couldn't sleep. Something had woken her up, but she didn't know what. With great caution she clambered out of her bed, regardless of the child-safety guarantee that had come with the cot. She was a Zabini after all, not some block-headed muggle child without a bit of common sense.
She began the short trek to her parents room. It was one door down, but something caught her attention. The door to the spare room was cracked open, and the light on the bedside table was on. There was a small lump in the bed, and Blaise was a naturally curious child, going through the rebelliousness that came with being two-years-old. She crept inside and hoisted herself onto a chair before clambering onto the bed.
The sudden jostling of the bed awoke the small figure beneath the covers, who was all but lost in the massive bed that was meant for someone at least six times her size.
She opened her eyes and saw a pair of brown eyes staring back at her. The brown eyes belonged to a pretty girl with dark brown hair that sat dead straight, a part in the middle of her hair.
"Hi," she said cheerfully. She loved meeting people, and even though the last month had been full of new people who were incredibly mean to her, she just knew that someone her own age couldn't possibly be mean.
"Lo," Blaise replied, staring at the other girl. "Who're you?"
"Ellie. Who're you?" she echoed.
"Blaise."
"Blaise…s'pretty. I like it."
"Ellie's a pretty name too…scept…"
"Scept?" Ellie prompted.
"Doesn't start with t'right letter."
Ellie looked confused. "Letter? S'at?"
"Mum's name and dad's name and my name…they all start wit' 'b'. D'ya have any b's in your name?"
"B? Uh…name's Elizabeth. No b's," she said sadly.
"Silly!" Blaise said laughing. "Bef starts with 'b'." Blaise was endlessly fascinated by the letter B. Her parents had often explained that all their names started with the same letter.
"Beth," Ellie corrected her, stressing the 'th'.
Blaise unfortunately was still getting used to pronouncing words properly. "S'what I said. Bef. Beffy."
"Beffy?"
"Beffy, Biffy, Buffy…haha, Buffy! S'what I can call you!"
Ellie grinned, enjoying the enthusiasm from the other girl. She was starved for company, and even if the girl had just given her a strange new name, she wasn't about to complain. She missed her brother, and she desperately needed a friend.
"Wanna be friends?" Ellie asked.
"Nope," Blaise replied.
Ellie's smile fell, and Blaise was quick to rush to explain.
"You start with 'b' now…we can be sisters."
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So, who can tell I'm the youngest and haven't grown up around younger kids before? *grins* (I don't like young kids all that much, so I know crap all about them. Maybe wizarding kids are extra bright or something.)
Someone asked about Dumbledore knowing that Peter was the Secret Keeper instead of Sirius cos of the conversation in the last chapter…just to clear things up, Dumbledore was no where near James and Sirius when they were talking about it. The only people who knew that the Secret Keeper was to be Peter was James and Sirius (and Peter obviously).
So…feedback is always wonderful!!
Oh…and the Scoobies will show up eventually, I swear.
Toodles.
DKG.
