A/N: Just a general warning, this fanfiction is rated 'M' for a good reason. Thank you to reviewers.

The burden of human suffering had never hit Harry as hard as it did during his first visit to Liverpool Labour Camp. As he stood alongside the other Death Eater recruits in silence, he tried his hardest to ignore the suffering of the brown robed skeletal figures that passed him by. It took a great amount of strength to look ahead, avoiding the eyes of the unfortunate muggles and mudbloods that passed him by. Some of them had limbs and body parts missing, including eyes. Others had the brutal effects of hexes and cruel curses placed upon them. None wore shoes; their feet were chipped with mud and cuts. Their bodies were covered with the soot that fell on them from neighbouring sweatshops.

Harry felt ignorant and arrogant about how he had thought about the labour camps before. He had previously pictured them to be places where people were worked until they died but he had never spared to really think about the conditions. The depravity. There were many ways to violate people, the slaughter them, mutilate their bodies and destroy the human spirit. When he remembered that his mother had died in a place like this, he felt a stab of pain in his chest like a sword going through him. He wondered how Hermione and the little girl had escaped from a place like this.

The labour camp was surrounded by barbed wire that moved and slithered. There was a succession of poorly constructed wooden huts, at least fifty in number, each of which spanned at least thirty meters wide. There was nothing but dirt and rock underfoot. There were also official buildings used by the guards and other staff. These had an ominous look. What had shocked Harry the most was the scale of the operations, the horrors that happened here were occurring at a grand scale. This wasn't the only camp, nor was it the biggest. There was nothing that he could do about any of it.

These people were not only worked to death but every part of their body could be used and recycled. There was a high demand for body parts all over the world, parts that could be used in a variety of dark magic or other purposes. There were machines that rendered fats and ground tissues for gelatin. They were used for all sorts of experimentation, magical or otherwise. The knowledge gained from these experiments was sold overseas for high prices. Muggles were killed for sport when the guards became bored.

If Harry had to pick a worst thing about the place, it would be the presence of dementors that surrounded the camp to feed off human misery. They drifted through the sky above like vultures for prey. There was no escape. Only a thin magical barrier prevented them from swooping down on prisoners and guards alike.

One thing that Harry felt that he could not accurately describe was the smell of the place. Corpses were left out in the open. The factories stunk of sweat and whatever else happened there. There were lots of other smells Harry didn't want to think about.

"I suggest we stay here until Madame Lestrange comes for us," Raynott said in a low voice, he was the first one to break the silence. Nobody argued with him.

Although the guards were largely indifferent to what was occurring around them, Harry and the other trainees were not. Harry began to see sides of his fellow students that he did not think that he would ever see. They were performing actions that would bond them forever, in the worst possible ways. His pureblood peers were no longer as greedy or power hungry as they had been before. Fear was quickly becoming an increasingly powerful motivator. Everything Madame Lestrange ordered of them was under the guise of training but Harry began to doubt that, they were being tortured. The six of them waited in line as instructed. Obsidious Macnair had disappeared after training last week, they were too afraid to ask about what happened to him.

"All of my years as an aurora," muttered Besenreiter the Austrian under his breath, "I never would have been prepared for anything like this. Ever."

When Madame Lestrange came, she was accompanied by the head Death Eater Amycus Carrow. He was a portly looking wizard with an ugly face. He greeted them with a smile and a knowing twinkle in his eye. Lestrange said not a word but looked at them all with the same sinister smile.

"Ah, so these are the new recruits. How nice." He spoke with a lisp, "I hope that you are all that Madame Lestrange has promised. After a general tour, you will be split up in groups for the rest of the day. Tomorrow you will then alternate and do something else. Same with the day after that."

After a general tour of the camp, they were sorted into teams again. Bonneville and Fred Weasley went a factory overseer to observe factor operations. Besenreiter and George Weasley went with Madame Lestrange to collect body parts. That left Raynott and himself into the custody of a short man called Dr Pauncefoot who was the head of the medical and experimentation team.

Dr Pauncefoot led them towards an unsuspicious-looking small redbrick building. Although Dr Pauncefoot otherwise seemed unremarkable, Harry couldn't help but have an instinctual distrust of the man.

"It is only once a year that I receive new visitors to my laboratory," The man continued to say as they walked together, "Some people are shocked by what they see inside, which is understandable. The special elite team seems small this year. I think Madame Lestrange is becoming quite picky as time goes by -"

"Evans," Raynott whispered into his ear, he seemed genuinely terrified, "I have known previous recruits who have gone mad after what Dr Pauncefoot has made them do. Even those who have successfully completed training refuse to talk about it."

"I believe I should say a little more about myself. My parents were doctors who wanted me to follow in his footsteps at any cost. I had to turn down my Hogwarts invitation at eleven years old. When I decided to rejoin the magical world, I was met with hostility and aggression. Until I demonstrated my usefulness to the Dark Lord himself that is, then they began to beg for me to join them."

Harry's suspicions were raised higher. A mudblood who had risen to a position of power in a place like this was a sinister thing. Dr Pauncefoot opened up the door to reveal a sterile white hallway with door either side. There was no way to see what was behind the doors but from the faint sound of weeping, wailing and calls for help, he knew that it was nothing good.

"I can't say that I am well liked for what I do. However, I do enjoy my work. No other job in the world would allow me to discover the knowledge that I have gained over the course of my career here."

They followed the doctor past the corridor and into a room with a sign called 'Cadaver Room'. In this room were aluminium tables, tables of a variety of surgical equipment and what looked like a wall filled with filling cabinets for bodies. There was nothing to suggest that this room was any different to a hospital morgue: silent, forbidding and isolated from the rest of the world.

On the centre table was the body of a girl. She looked like she would have been around twenty with brown hair and what would have been a pretty face.

"I assume that you both can guess what I want you to do," Dr Pauncefoot said with a smirk, "Surely they tell stories about me. If either of you would prefer a male let me know. I usually like to just stand here and watch. Madame Lestrange has instructed me to be as harsh as I can when selecting applicants."

Harry looked to Raynott, who was white as a ghost. They understood what they were being asked to do but for a moment, neither could move. They would die if they did not go through with this.


It was raining heavily outside and Josie couldn't help but stare vacantly outside the window, wishing for math class to end so she could leave for the day. Math was definitely not her favourite subject, all of those equations and symbols did nothing but bore and confuse her. It didn't help that it was the last class for the day. She remembered that Harry was good at math, he liked the challenge. Josie liked her arts and magic classes better, particularly drama and charms.

Besides her usual daydreams, which usually involved alternative plots to her favourite radio shows, her thoughts turned to Harry. Over the last couple of weeks her brother was becoming increasingly miserable and bad tempered. It was upsetting to see him this way. Harry was her only surviving family, a brother who had always been there to protect her. He had been the one to bear the responsibility for looking after them both and he had made hard choices when they needed to be made. Although she knew he would never admit it, Death Eater training was difficult for him.

"Oi, Jose," whispered a voice from behind her, "Could you move forward a little? I want to move away from the water leak."

It was Charlie who sat behind her. She turned around and looked up to see a large mouldy damp spot in the ceiling that had only just begun to drip water onto the back of his chair. Josie moved her chair and desk forward for him.

Since the Riddle School was established in the early eighties, it had never been fixed or repaired. Without the use of magic from the teachers, Josie was sure that the building would collapse. Vandalism, broken glass, leaky rooves, wonky tables and rickety wooden chairs were just a small picture of all the physical damage that had occurred during its years of operation. Their education included both muggle and magical subjects but to no great depth. They were only taught the skills necessary to work menial jobs, nothing more was expected of them. Josie was lucky to have had parents that were good teachers. She was also thankful to have Harry, Hermione and Dean around to teach her tricks.

In Josie's year level there were only fifteen students and they all knew each other reasonably well. Josie tried to get along with everyone and was generally well-liked. She had a close group of friends who she spent a lot of time with. Most of them were orphans like she was. Despite the poverty of their education, most of the students and teachers were good natured decent people who tried to make the best of their situation. When you knew that students at Hogwarts had everything available to them and the only reason why you couldn't attend Hogwarts was because of the blood in your veins or for other reasons that you had no control over, it was hard not to feel bitter.

In Harry's year there had been fifty students at the Riddle School and there were fewer students in the years below her. It was only a matter of time before the school would be shut down. Besides the high death rate of the lower social classes, banned inferior marriages and forced sterilisation, many simply decided not to have children.

"Hey Josie," whispered her friend Stevie from across the room. Stevie then used wandless magic to levitate a paper origami crane and made it fly towards her when Mrs Fisher wasn't looking. Its little wings flapped almost as fast as a hummingbird. The rest of the class smiled in amusement. That was typical of Stevie; she preferred to use wandless magic when possible. Josie liked her little tricks.

It was difficult to imagine how different life would have been for Stevie Eastchurch if she had never been bitten by Fenrir Greyback as punishment for his non-participation in one of the Dark Lord's schemes. The pretty, clever blonde could have easily been a top student at Hogwarts.

Josie delicately unfolded the paper crane and read the note:

'Anthony Goldstein, 15 Pureblood Victory Plaza at 4pm today. Use back entrance. He's a D.E.Y. but you can trust him. He's got a good rep. Remember to say "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy".'

Josie gave her friend thumbs up. She then placed the piece of paper under her desk and set it on fire, taking care not to reveal her wand to Mrs Fisher or set her skirt alight. There was a light trail of smoke coming out from the side of the desk but this was unnoticed by who Mrs Fisher continued to babble on about adding and multiplying fractions. Some of her classmates suppressed laughter; it had become amusing to see Mrs Fisher ignore their blatant misbehaviour.

Josie then tore a piece of paper from the back of her notebook and wrote back:

'My brother knows him. They were in the same year at school here. He's nice. Thanks.'

She then folded the piece of paper into a plane and chucked it at her werewolf friend. Stevie quickly read and hid the note.

Something finally caught the teacher's eye and she turned to Josie, "Is there something wrong? Or is Little Miss Chatterbox actually doing work in my math class for once? You're being unusually quiet today."

"Everything is fine, Mrs Fisher" Josie said with a smile.

Her old spinster math teacher raised an eyebrow sarcastically then returned to the board and continued the lesson. Her friends giggled.

Josie had never told anyone about her brother being a Death Eater Youth or that he was training to be a specialist Death Eater. Nor did she tell them about Celeste.

Josie had been trying to help the small girl anyway that she could but the damage that had been inflicted upon her was severe and she needed help that Josie could not give. Harry was right; Celeste could not stay with them. She needed Celeste to be smuggled to a safer place – out of London. However, she did her best to do what she could in the meantime with children's books she replicated and snuck out of the library. Josie felt that Celeste was largely her responsibility, considering how it was her that found her on the streets. Celeste was improving with her reading and becoming calmer by the day. She was looking better too and gained a bit of weight. Hopefully Anthony would deliver what he had promised.

When the school bell rang at three o'clock, Josie raced outside to catch the next bus to Pureblood Victory Plaza. Normally, Josie would spend the afternoon with her friends but today was obviously an exception.

On her way, she was stopped by one of the Riddle School Death Eater Youth patrol officers. The DEY was about Harry's age, a redheaded pureblood boy called Weasley. He took one look at the children's books in Josie's bag and shrugged. He clearly was uninterested in his duties. Although some DEY were fanatics, others like Weasley, were uninterested Hogwarts students forced into their duties. Josie sighed, it could have been worse. It could have been Romilda Vane.

Josie's bus trip was uneventful and Josie did her best to not appear nervous. The risks of her doing this were astronomical. For her and for everyone she loved. The muggles on the bus appeared mostly wore blank faces and looked tired. Another day of oppression had come to an end.

The propaganda called 'Pureblood Victory Plaza' a place of the triumph of Wizardry and even to enemies of the Dark Lord, the architecture had an authoritarian magnificence. What had once been the Buckingham Palace was now an open space with ice statues that never melted, floating spheres that projected propaganda posters, a large moving basilisk replica and other impossible designs. Each of the ice statues represented those who the Dark Lord wanted to commemorate. She recognised some like Malfoy and Crouch Jr but the majority were unknown to her. The area was paved with marble and was kept as clean as possible. Any littering by locals was dealt with severely.

The shops around the sides were busy with people, mainly purebloods on shopping sprees. Josie never failed to notice the witches wearing fashionable robes made with the most elegant fabric and donning the latest accessories. None of them wanting to miss out on the glamour or elegance of this season's fashion. This included wealthy foreign magical tourists who were being shown the cleaner areas of the regime. This was of course allowed to help paint a prettier picture of a darker reality, their activity was heavily monitored.

15 Pureblood Victory Plaza was a busy crystal shop called 'Exquisite London Crystals'. It was owned by a muggle woman known as Mrs Goldstein-Roths who lived in the upstairs room with her husband, two children and her wizard nephew. Only a few of the shopkeepers were muggles. This was done deliberately to create an illusion to the outside world that muggles were included members of the regime and that there was nothing wrong.

Josie walked into the alleyway behind the side street. Thankfully the place was empty with the exception of a few garbage cans. Nobody was there and it did not look like anyone had followed her. However, she could feel like someone or something was following her. She dismissed it as paranoia.

She quickly knocked on the wooden backdoor and waited for a reply. In contrast to the beautiful crystal pieces that were displayed at the front entrance, the backdoor and the rest of the back street looked decrepit and chipped. There were also what appear to be blood stains at the bottom of the door. It was as if there had been plenty of scuffles here, of Death Eaters and their prey, which occurred right at the back of the elegance and wealth of Pureblood Victory Plaza. All of this was unknown to the wealthy foreign tourists who saw this country as a success.

She knocked on the door three times.

"Who is it?" said a voice from the other side.

"The grasshopper lies heavy."

The door opened to reveal the familiar figure of Anthony Goldstein. Josie leaped forward and hugged him. It was good to see a familiar face that could help. Anthony hugged her back, although not as hard.

"Hey, it's good to see you too. Come in."

Josie followed Anthony into the hallway and the small backroom. It was cluttered with a single bed in one corner and a drawer in the other. On the floor were piles of books and a scattering of clothes. On the wall was a Death Eater Youth poster, only the 'Encouraging strength. Endowing wisdom. Enforcing pure practices. A free world for Wizardkind!' slogan was changed with a black marker to read 'Encouraging pureblood society to endow young assholes with the means to enforce brutality. A fucked up world for everyone!'

"Hahaha," Anthony said when he caught her eyeing the vandalised poster, "Your brother had a good laugh when he saw it. It's true."

"But you could get in trouble?"

"Yeah, sure… But who would see it besides my aunt, the rest of my family and your brother. Besides, if I get caught that poster will be the last of my worries."

Josie thought for a moment, her brother had never been a pureblood supremacist but she didn't imagine him making snide jokes with Anthony. Harry always seemed proper.

"So what can I help you with, Josie?"

"I need help for Harry but first I need help with something else. We have someone in our house that needs to be kept hidden. We can't keep her at our place anymore. She needs special help. I heard that you can help with these things."

Anthony seemed genuinely surprised, "I can. I know what you are talking about. But I am surprised; Harry doesn't seem like the sort who would hide an escaped person. He's not inclined to take such risks."

"He had no say in the matter."

"That would explain it. Anyway, how is Harry? I haven't heard from him in a while."

"Harry's terrible. He needs help. Please talk to him. Last night he came back a real mess. He screamed when Hermione served Jelly to us as a treat. He never wanted her to serve it again. He babbled something about the gelatin."

Anthony frowned, "I'll visit over the weekend. That way I can take your new friend with me. I have a friend who has been smuggling out people for years. Just remember that whoever leaves Britain can never come back in. What we are doing is more than just treason. We will be killed if they find us. "

Josie felt relieved, it was another burden taken off her shoulders.

Josie nodded, "That would be good."

"Just remember, I will be there with a friend. He's a pastor."

"Ok."

"Now I can take you out the front entrance. Tell people that you were just visiting me because you're concerned about Harry."

"Yep. I can do that. I have one more question. Does Harry know that you do this?"

Anthony gave a cunning smile, "You know, Harry isn't the only one who is good at mind tricks. I learnt from him. I owe him a lot. No, he doesn't know and for the moment it's for the best."


Holding the Sword of Gryffindor in a hanging point stance, Dumbledore destroyed the second Horcrux by stabbing the book with a downward slash. A blood curdling scream came out of the battered leather diary then a trickle of dark red blood. The blood soaked into the cold, dark earth. Albus felt relief knowing that one more fragment of Voldemort's soul was eternally banished. Then there was only silence in the forbidden forest.

"Would Tom be aware that you are destroying parts of his soul?" asked Minerva from underneath her tattered black cloak. There was nobody to hear them in the darkness; the only creatures that could have heard them were the trees.

"I would think that he is so far removed from human emotions that he wouldn't notice. I am glad that we could destroy it together."

"Ha! It was you who brought down the sword."

"Yes," Albus said with a nod, "But it was you who penetrated Malfoy manor to retrieve it. That couldn't have been an easy task."

"Hmph, I'm glad I don't teach anymore. I couldn't stand to teach the likes of the Malfoy children. The younger two children would be nicer if they had not been raised to be so conceited. The eldest is just a monster."

"I heard about the death of their youngest son, Scorpius."

"Yes, killed because he was a squib by his hands of his father. The wife and younger children are quite distraught about it."

Albus sighed; he had heard similar stories a thousand times before. He knew countless stories of parents who were unable or, in the case of the Malfoys, unwilling to save their children.

"Now that we have destroyed both the diary and the locket, I believe that we should move along to find the ring and Hufflepuff's cup. The diadem and Nagini, which I believe will be the hardest things to find and destroyed, will be destroyed last."

"Speaking the ring, how close are you to finding the elder wand or discovering what the last Horcrux is?"

"Only the Master of Death will unite the Hallows. I haven't been unable to discover what the last Horcrux or know whether it even exists."

Minerva looked out into the distance, there was a slight slither of orange appearing in the horizon.

"I will have to leave now, Albus. The cover of night is leaving us."

Albus reached out and grabbed her shoulder, a reassuring gesture. Life had been hard for the both of them with lots of work with little reward.

"We will see each other again soon. This time I will bring a young man for training."