The Legend of Harry Potter
Chapter 3: The Weakness
From the diary of Lucius Malfoy
Potter did exactly as I thought he would, and is now and until I find a way to destroy it, trapped in my box. It was far to easy to play on his hero complex, though it was not near as satisfying as defeating him in a duel would have been. But I am a slytherin, the use of intellect far out ways the rash need for open combat.
Dumbledore the 'wisest' of all wizards is dead by my hand. His love for the brat and his dear friend Severus Snape were the perfect weapons for instigating his demise. So many of his beliefs were materialised in Severus. The idea of it fills me with an intense satisfaction, which I am fine to admit. His most trusted friend key ininstigating his own death. For him Severus was more than a friend he was a symbol of hope for all he considered lost to dark magic and its intoxicating power. I myself do not feel lost to dark magic, rather I feel I have made a great ally one that makes me so much more powerful than I would have otherwise been.
My only regret is losing Severus as well, that had not been part of the plan…
Many things happened in quick succession.
Alde who Markus had just ran head first into graved his arms to help him up.
Markus managed a gasp of "the muggle's!"
He swerved around with Alde following his line of vision to find them selves looking at two muggle's who had frozen just five meters from them and had equally shocked expressions on there faces.
They were both filthy and dressed in rags, there hair was matted and it was hard to tell the shade of their skin underneath all of the dirt.
They all stood there frozen for a moment, Markus could see his own fear reflected back at him.
Just behind them he could see other Muggle's who had herd Alde's scream and were approaching to see what the noise was about.
Likewise he could here the sound of his own companions move close by in rapid steps.
Instinctively they all pulled out there wands… if they had been caught, if these muggle's were accompanied by wizards their best chance was to take them out then get as far away as possible.
Immediately the muggle's took of in all directions, but he hardly noticed as one lunched himself at him tackling him to the ground.
He struggled to keep hold of his wand.
"Ah!" he cried out in pain as the muggle bit him hard on his wand arm.
The muggle was wrenched of him and thrown to the ground.
Markus stood quickly "no one do Magic!" he whispered.
Spiro had his wand held threatening in front of the muggle.
"Where you accompanied?"
The muggle's eyes were dark brown, so dark in fact they were almost black, he looked both young and old, muggle's he knew didn't live as long as them, it was one of the differences between them, which might have been part of what gave the strange illusion.
He didn't speak.
Rather he glared up at them.
Spiro reached back his arm as if to strike the muggle.
Markus graved it. "We're not like them," he said
Turning to the Muggle he looked him in the eye "how old are you?" he asked.
Matt looked up at the young looking red haired man.
He sat there for a moment contemplating whether to give an answer.
"I don't know," he said
"Of coarse he wouldn't" Spiro cut in. "he's a muggle"
Matt felt braver than he had in all his life.
If he was going to die, he was going to die like a human being.
"Or maybe its because we are not aloud any time keeping devises. I don't think you would do any better if you had no way of keeping count, I thought that was obvious, but then your wizards, I wouldn't expect you to know much about anything."
Spiro looked set to actually hit him this time, but Markus graved his arm again and shook his head.
He lowered him self to the ground at sat next to the muggle.
"Its very important, we have to know, were you alone? Or were there wizards with you? Death eaters?"
"We were alone"
"No wizards"
"Other than yourselves"
A great relief swept them up and he saw Alde and Verity lower them selves to also sit.
"Where are the other muggle's going?"
"There is no where else for us other than the camps"
A tension grew among them again.
"And will they tell the death eaters about us?"
"We don't start a conversation with a wizard unless we want to die"
Markus saw it then, deep in the mans eyes, the desperation, the pain, the hate, and fear.
The same emotions that he saw so often in his fellow wizards, his fellow order members.
He felt a sudden and overwhelming pity.
"I'm sorry," he said looking away.
Silence hung for minutes as some of the tension disappeared.
"What is your name?" Andor asked suddenly.
The muggle looked at him for a while "Matt"
Andor smiled then "my name is Andor, Andor Longbottom" and he held out his hand
But the muggle did not take it, and after a moment Andor lowered it.
"These are my friends, Markus, Verity, Alde, Spiro and Larry"
Each of them (except for Larry who was staring of in the direction the muggle's had run) nodded their heads.
"And we were wondering" Andor continued "whether you might know something that could help us" there was no response form Matt "you see we are rather stuck, its very important that we get out of this valley, but we're being tracked by death eaters and they've managed to trap us far too well"
Matt's head snapped up suddenly "you're the reason why the death eaters are here! You're the reason why my people are dieing"
Markus backed away in surprise "what?"
"They are starving and killing us, and we have done nothing to deserve it, but they are after you for a reason, I hope they find you and leave my people alone!"
"They are death eaters, once they have decided that some one should die then they will die, if they are starving your people they mean to kill you, mark my words, when they leave your camp no one will be left alive" Spiro stated
Matt sagged "then you have killed all those that are dear to me"
"Truly and honestly we did not know, we were trying to help" Alde said her voice lacking its usual life.
"Help? Us?" Matt laughed, "we don't want your help, we don't need your help"
"Well you need some ones help don't you, muggle's cant fight against witches and wizards" Verity said, Markus cringed and noticed Alde do the same. "They'd be massacred"
"Yes they can" Andor said suddenly
Spiro turned sharply in Andor's direction a frown on his face. But Andor ignored him, and every body else.
"They are much greater in numbers"
"But they can't cast a spell!" Verity added
"Magic isn't the only weapon, tell me, you farm don't you Matt?" Matt nodded looking at him thoughtfully.
"And you use tools? Sharp tools?" again Matt nodded.
"Do you think you could kill with them?"
"Not with out being hit by a spell first," Matt answered almost silently.
Andor shook his head "if there was just one or two of you maybe, but no wizard can fire a spell to cover all sides at once, at least not very easily or very well… one unprepared wizard against 50 prepared muggle's…" they all looked at each other.
"A lot more muggle's would die than wizards" Spiro said
"But you said it yourself, the Death Eaters don't intend to leave any muggle or perhaps even any wizard alive at that work camp"
"Is this going where I think it is?" Verity said
"It is possible" Markus said seriously he turned to Matt.
"We are on a mission"
"What are you doing!" Spiro hissed
"He can help us"
"He is a muggle!"
"I am a person"
Spiro looked surprised by Matt's boldness.
"Markus is right, if we wish to ask for there help we must be honest with them, other wise they have no reason to trust us and no reason to help us, but we must continue this conversation further in, if one of them does get caught" Verity said
"We planed well, no one will be caught"
"Even so I think it is a good idea," Andor agreed.
Many, many years in the past…
Severus entered a comfortably furnished sitting room with a mild curiosity, which quickly turned to surprise and anger upon recognising his guest.
"How long have you been here?" Severus greeted the blond haired man with an unusual air of uncertainty.
"Surprised to see me?"
"This is a bold move, it is very unlike you" Severus replied taking a seat opposite.
Lucius smirked "I do not consider my self in danger in the house of an old friend Severus, should I?"
"Not from me, but I would ask that your visit be quick, if you are captured while in my house I will make no move to defend you"
"It has been aninconvenienceto have to hide from the law, but soon I will hide no more, there are many who still support me in the ministry"
Snape snorted, "and yet none that are brave enough to show outward support to a suspected death eater"
"Suspected death eater, I have no conviction, there has been no trial as of yet and as we both no with out my own or my sons testimony they will not have sufficient proof to convict me, they would not dear, even in my absence I control a great amount of power in the ministry, even as I am in hiding I am in control of much power in the magical world. Those who wish to stop me can not, it is they that lack the power not me"
"Dumbledore…"
"Will not be a problem"
"It is dangerous to underestimate…"
"You give the old man reverence he does not deserve" anger flashed in Lucius eyes, "Albus Dumbledore is no god, he has weaknesses and imperfections just like the rest of us, weakness' I have no qualm in exploiting… do you not think I have thought long and hard about this? Do you not think that I understand just as well as all of us the dangers of Dumbledore? Voldemort fear's his power and knowledge, he also seems to revere the old man, but I am not going to strike out with power or knowledge, I am going to strike out at the old mans heart, mark my words, you will see the one who holds so much of your respect crumble"
"You speck as though the dark lord still lives… what are you planning"
"I am mealy going though with the plans that our lord begun to lay down long before his demise, just in case the brat succeeded. Although I admit that I have added significantly to his original plans, but when he returns and mark my word the dark lord will once again be restored to his former power…"
"Impossible!"
"But you know that it is, no one has ever been so close to immortality"
"The horcruxes have been destroyed"
"But they were not his only insurance against death, you knew him as well as me, you know that he would have more than one plan in place in the case of his defeat, but you were not the one chosen by him to over see it, that privilege went to me and when he returns and is restored to his full power there will be no one left powerful enough to stop him, and I who will have sacrificed the most of any death eater, I who will have unassisted, destroyed his greatest threats, I who will have returned him to power and made him unstoppable will be given a place of power like no death eater has ever before"
"Surly you do not think that you have suffered the most out of us?"
Malfoy smiled but there was no happiness in his smile, Severus had never seen such an expression of regret on the mans face "you would have made a much better father for Draco than I, he trusts you, but he has never trusted me"
"Should he have?"
Lucius shook his head "no" as he stood up and straitened his robes.
"I have business that needs attending too"
"Of course" Severus stood with him and saw him to the door.
"And Severus think hard on what I have said, because if you find yourself on the wrong side I will make no move to defend you"
"We have used this place before, if they know of it they will not be expecting us to come back here again," Spiro said as they all sat them selves down in the cave.
Matt had stayed silent in their journey, anxious but curious, what ever it was that these wizards had to say they had no intention to kill him.
And to save his people he was willing to do almost anything, even travel side by side with his enemy.
He sat down with them, eyeing them all in turn, trying to understand as much about them as he could.
It was Markus who broke the silence; his eyes fixed on Matt "have you ever herd of the Legend of Harry Potter?"
Matt shook his head and waited for Markus to continue "we don't know exactly what happened, but the story goes that many years ago the world was a different place, there was a time when time was broken up into day and night, a big bright ball of light would light the day, at night it was dark but there were thousands of shinning lights in the sky that looked like many little diamonds"
Matt nodded; similar stories of the sun and the stars were passed down among his people also.
"During that time Muggle's and wizards lived separately but in peace with one another, good wizards ruled and dark wizards were kept subdued and were imprisoned for evil deeds including those against muggle's. Then one day a dark wizard rose, he was the most powerful wizard for hundreds of years his followers were the first ever death eaters, they moved though the world killing wizards and muggle's alike in an attempt to take over the world, then one day he went to kill a baby called Harry Potter, the baby lived, and he was temporarily defeated, the world new peace for a time, the boy was taught at a school for wizards called Hogwarts then one day the evil dark lord rose again, the death eaters who had been in hiding came back out into the open and continued on where they had left of, for years the world warred until the dark Lord was defeated again by Harry Potter. They said he had powers the world had never seen before, they said he was the most powerful wizard ever."
"What has this got to do with now?" Matt asked
"That is how we come to the second part of the story" Verity said "the Legend of the box of Lucius Malfoy"
She looked directly into his eyes "no wizard alive was powerful enough to defeat Harry Potter, but one death eater had a plan; a man called Lucius malfoy, legend goes that he tricked Harry Potter into touching an evil box and trapped him inside, it is said that he hid it away where no one would ever find it. Then with Harry Potter gone Lucius Malfoy lead the death eaters and started to take over the world, since then the world has been under their rule"
"Months ago we received some information that lead us to discovering the mansion that Lucius Malfoy had lived in, it had been abandoned all of those years ago, inside it we found the diary's of Lucius Malfoy and in them the hiding place of the box that holds Harry Potter prisoner" Markus finished of.
"So you're on your way to release him form this box?" Matt asked
"Its not that simple, times have changed, we don't know where the places of those times are. We are taking the Diary's back to the Order of the Phoenix headquarters, with their help we will be able to find the box's hiding place"
"The Order of the Phoenix is real?"
"Yes" Markus said
"Then you are all rebels!"
"Yes, we are all rebels" Andor said
"And once you have released Harry Potter?"
"Once we have released Harry Potter we will rage war on the empire like no one has ever seen, we will destroy it and we shall all be free" Andor smiled
"Muggle's as well?"
"Yes, just like how it was before" Alde said.
1 week and 5 days earlier
Lord Malfoy felt a fear and rage he had never felt before, the order of the phoenix should be in its death throws, but although its leaders were no longer of any threat it still limped on, he looked with disgust at the rebel by his feat, the stench of his puke in his nostrils.
Toivo was to week to move, or speak. He knew he was going to die soon and that was his hope.
Lord Malfoy raised his wand "Avada Kedavra"
A beautiful stream of green light flew towards him, but Toivo was not afraid, he was relived at the prospect of finally finding peace…
Matt lay low to the ground rushing back to number 8's sleeping hall, he tripped over twice in his excitement, his breath catching in his throat. Rushing up to the hall he swung open the door and slipped inside to find all of number 8 awake, there was a collective sigh of relief.
"We have to help them," he gasped out "it might be the only opportunity we ever get to help ourselves."
Hogwarts
"Mr Weasley!"
The young man with short cut brown hair exclaimed trying to catch up with the redhead man who was incredibly fast at moving thought the corridors.
Mr Weasley stopped and turned to face the charging youth.
"What is it?"
"Sir we know that your son and the two others were heading for London, but there's more, the London out post has reported four missing presumed dead, the empire has been in such a state lately that we only just received the news, among them was Baudouin Dumbledore, but if we are right then your son and his companions should have arrived not long before the four out post members went missing, but I don't think they are dead, I think where ever your son is, they are also with him…"
Mr Weasley suddenly turned violently and stormed away without explanation leaving the youth standing awkwardly in the middle of the hall confused and bewilder.
In the darkness muggle's from number 8 slipped though the camp to other sleeping Halls, one by one they spread the news and by the time they exhaustedly slumped of for there shift in the fields they new that other groups were sneaking from one hall to another spreading the news.
After number 8s shift Matt and Herald (who had been chosen by the group 8 as there representative) would be again travelling into the forest.
This time it would not only be group 8, but a representative from each of the 8 groups, they were aiming for arriving at a similar time.
But organising that had proven difficult, after there shift they would signal to group 7 who would be in there sleeping hall, they would signal to group 6 working in the fields who would sneak there representative of, it was all planed to avoid any group counting's but even so it was a big risk.
There were a lot more wizards in the camp since the arrival of the death eaters, luckily the wizards seemed unconcerned about what they might be doing, so unless they were torturing one of them they were largely ignored.
They would meet not far into the forest and then Matt would lead them to meet the rebel members.
Matt new it was one thing to plan what was going to happen, and another thing for the plan to actually work.
There would actually be less of them than had been out last time, but this time they came from all of the groups and timing was crucial.
It was one of the few times that Matt was glad of the length of the shifts in the fields.
It gave them time to manoeuvre, not much but enough for what they were going to do.
Cullen stood as he found himself doing more and more often looking out towards the forest.
"A beautiful night isn't," he said to the approaching figure behind him
"Sir?" the young order member asked
Cullen closed his eyes "imagination is a precious thing David, and for all we know beyond the darkness the stars might be out"
He opened his eyes and looked at the blond man "ether you have come up here to, like myself, to enjoy the view, or you have something to tell me, very few venture here, so tell me, what is it you have to say?"
"We have news about your son sir… your son and three others from the London out post are missing, they were presumed dead by the out post but we have additional information. It appears that they disappeared not long after our sauces show that Markus Weasley, Verity Murry and Anneliese Fletcher may have arrived in London. Considering that Markus Weasley and your son were well known to be best friends we do not think it is a coincidence"
Cullen closed his eyes. "I see"
"Sir, there are many who suspect, considering there reputation, that maybe it is they that are the ones with the book sir? Maybe they are on there way back here now with it"
Cullen turned away "perhaps" he whispered
David stood for a moment looking at the mans back, he had hoped for more of an answer but realised that none would be coming.
Turning he left the way he had come.
Cullen looked out towards the dark forest, an icy blue tear slowly making its way down his cheek, he had been hoping for some hero's, he had been urging on there speedy journey, but his only fear had been the safe delivery of the book, now a new fear clouded his heart, what had been nameless, faceless hero's now had names and faces and one of them was his son.
"Toivo" he whispered
He could see his sons face vividly in his head, his mothers brown eyes and hair, her impulsiveness and good nature, little of him could be seen in his son, but he liked it that way, it always amazed him how something so perfect could come form someone as flawed as himself.
"Stay alert, move swiftly, and come home"