Chapter Four
"I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite."
Harry Potter, dressed in black nondescript robes, let out a sigh and prepared to face the meeting with his followers. Only they weren't really his followers…. They were Voldemort's minions. Not his.
"I can't forget that. I am Harry Potter, a true Gryfinddor. Not some stinking Slytherin…" He muttered to himself. He did consider what he was doing quite brave. Risking his life to infiltrate the death eater organization and actually get the chance to lead them… astray of course.
Dumbledore always looked at him with patient twinkling blue eyes, as if he were a mere child that would not understand the horrors of war. But Harry understood. Harry knew, from visions. There were some visions too horrifying, too shameful and just plain embarrassing. He did not share those visions from Voldemort with Dumbledore, but he always had a feeling that Dumbledore knew.
Dumbledore... He knew everything.------
Harry was woken up by the gnarled and pudgy hands of Peter Petigrew, a sniveling little worm, or so he thought at first. One look at his cunning and shrewd eyes told him he had to be careful, however.
"Wake up! Wake up, Potter." The last word was hissed under his breath, and that hiss was what really got Harry's attention. At first he thought this was some nightmare, but it was only too real for that.
Peter mistook his confusion for an act. "I know who you are and what you are here to do, Potter. You are a fool!"
"Don't touch me!" Harry had snarled.
Peter's voice immediately took on a menacing tone. He raised his hands and cast a petrification spell on him. "Petrificus Totalus."
Peter took in a deep breath, and gave a smile. "Listen to me, Harry. Listen closely because I am only going to say this once. You will never, ever, be able to impersonate Lord Vol-" Peter let out an involuntary shudder and looked meaningfully at his left hand, where the mark used to be. "The dark lord. You will never be able to copy him because you know nothing of him. But that is where I come in. I can help you, I can teach you. The death eaters will never know the difference!"
He cancelled the spell on Harry.
Now free to move, Harry's hand immediately searched for his wand.
"Looking for this?" Peter mockingly held the wand just out of Harry's reach.
"Give it back!" He snapped, and reached out to grab it.
"Listen to me, Potter! You do what I say, and nobody will ever know the difference. I can disguise you and maybe even let you go, if you simply do what I say when we meet the other death eaters." Sneering, Peter threw Harry's wand back at him. "Don't even think about trying to double cross me. You will do whatever I say, and I will let you live."
Harry however had every intention of double crossing him…. Later. For now, he gave a slow nod and examined Peter Pettigrew. His green eyes took in more then they gave out, and Peter found that unnerving. "You want to take Voldemort's place?" He asked with a slow smile.
Tom Riddle, as a boy was naturally manipulative. It seemed some of that had rubbed off on Harry. Peter however was not fooled. A mere child was no match for a spy with skill that made Snape look like an amateur. He had fooled Dumbledore, after all. And the old man was extremely perceptive. Peter recognized the game Harry was trying to play. He said nothing however. "Let the boy think he has something. The more he feels in control, the less control he will have." One of the dark lord's beliefs. Peter had no way of knowing that some of the knowledge and habits of Voldemort had rubbed off on Harry, however. Harry himself didn't know, and a truth serum could not reveal that, no matter how powerful.
"Yes, Harry." Peter himself let out a slow smile. "I want to take his place." Finally he could show the fools, his so called superior death eaters, the true substance he was really made out of.
Harry was not a dull-witted half giant however. He was a young man who had faced many dangers himself, and aided with the shadow of some of the Dark Lord's knowledge, he could see right through Peter like a knife could cut through butter.
But he could not meet Peter's eyes. The eyes of the traitor who betrayed his parents. A spark of rage burned inside him, but he strongly put it out. Now is not the time, he reminded himself. Instead he glanced around the pale dark room, looking anywhere except Peter who remained standing in front of him, just waiting. His arms were folded and he stared at Harry expectantly.
"Okay. What should I do." Harry asked after a sigh that was more for show. Peter swallowed, suddenly having reservations. He pushed these doubts aside and concentrated on Harry.
"You only need to summon the death eaters to start a meeting. You can do this with Voldemort's wand." Peter glanced at a small footstool, upon it stood the yew wand. A dark black stick that gleamed of evil and sickness.
"How?" Harry asked, though he knew the answer. He looked at Peter, a smirk forming his face.
Peter blanched and shuddered a bit but quickly got a hold of himself. Without hesitating, he held out his left hand, and showed the faint death eater mark. It was a skull with a snake sliding it's way out of the mouth.
Harry's throat turned dry, and he gulped. The snake… It was moving.
"What is this?" He asked wide eyed and fearful.
Peter grimaced. "When you defeated Voldemort back when you were a baby, this is what happened. Soon it will fade away, and when that happens you will be allowed to leave."
Harry began to understand. "When will the mark fade?"
Peter shrugged, and with a twitch of his right hand, wandlessly summoned Voldemort's wand to Harry. "Do it." He ordered.
"What, now?" Harry was a bit awed, not at the wandless magic itself but at the fact that Peter could actually do it.
"Yes." Peter ordered hoarsely. "Do it."
Harry picked up the wand from his lap, and stood up. He would enjoy this. A bit of payback for the crimes Peter committed. "Stay still."
He knew what to do. He had seen this in visions that Voldemort had sent him, not on purpose of course. He brought the wand to Peter's mark.
Peter screamed.
Then he stopped, quite suddenly and let out a sigh. His face was pale and haggard. The summoning that Harry did was so alike to Voldemort's way…. He was having doubts about his plan himself. The summoning was done. The death eaters would be in the meeting chamber in minutes, and that was all Peter was going to get to brief Harry on what to do.
"You will walk in, back straight and chin up. Act proud and arrogant like Malfoy and strut around like you own the place." Peter spoke fast. He raised his wand and cast a spell that would shadow out Harry's features. "That will help. Keep your hood up, and cast a crucio at the last person to arrive."
So that was how Voldemort stopped people from being late. Harry admired the sheer genius of it. Torture does have some merit, he inwardly decided. He looked up and paid more attention to what Peter was saying.
"You will order the death eaters in a circle, and you will tell them I am in charge while you are away on business."
"Wait, what do you mean away on business?" Harry demanded, fingering the two wands and calculating his chances of winning a fight against Peter. He is more than he lets on, Harry mused. He doubted his ability to win a fight against Peter, because Peter was not a sniveling little worm like he pretended to be. His self assurance scared Harry into doing nothing, which was after al what Peter wanted.
"For two weeks. You will tell them you are going to…" Peter paused, "Egypt. You are looking for some ancient manuscripts."
Peter shot Harry a hard look that said, If you screw this up, we are both dead. Harry gave as hard as he got however. "Act stern and merciless… Like Voldemort. Don't be a sniveling little Gryfinddor like-"
"Like you?" Harry interrupted, his eyes wide with faked childish innocence. Peter flushed in anger, shot him a glare and walked out. "Follow me," Peter commanded in a hoarse voice.
If Harry didn't know any better he might have thought he hurt Peter's feelings. That touched a note of hysteria in him and he almost broke down laughing while running to catch up to Peter.
They walked the dark and gloomy hallways in silence. "Where are we?" Harry asked.
"Voldemort's castle." Peter replied, and steered him into a thin corrider which led to a slightly ajar door.
Harry looked slyly at Peter, who suddenly became very nervous. A thought had occurred to him, what was stopping Harry from simply ordering the death eaters to kill him? Peter squashed down the fear, "Harry's just a kid." He said to himself, but he had no idea how wrong he was.
Harry himself was actually frustrated at Peter's useless advice. Does he think I am a dolt? He asked himself. I can do this much better on my own.
In all of Harry's dangerous adventures, he always fought alone. He fought Quirrel alone, he fought the basilisk alone, he fought the dementors alone….
This is like any other battle, Harry thought. I will fight this alone.
They walked into a huge hall, that was actually well lighted comapared to the rest of the place. Peter steered him into the middle, and stood behind him, to the right. Harry stood tall, and tried to be as menacing as possible. His face seemed featureless and the shadows he stood in covered his stature quite well.
"Here they come." Peter whispered.
The first death eater popped in, and took his place in the circle of life as his lord had put it. Harry watched him appraisingly, but did not examine too closely for several other pops could be heard. The death eaters were coming.
The meeting was about to begin. It was really too bad Harry hadn't examined the first death eater to come too closely. Or else he might have noticed the bright blue twinkling eyes and gray strands of hair flowing from beneath his hood. His white beard was neatly curled and tucked away underneath his black robes.
Albus Dumbledore let out a proud smile at the independence of his protégé. Everything was going according to plan. One of them anyways. Albus Dumbledore had a lot of plans, one for every situation, for every possibility.
Even for something like this. But Harry did not notice Dumbledore. He was having trouble not trying to be intimidated at the sheer size of the death eaters.
The meeting had begun.