Chapter 9

The tears have stopped falling and Draco erased all the existence of there being any tears at all before he stood up. "Well, Granger. No need to get your knickers in a knot, it was just a small snogging session," Draco smirked at her.

Draco had guessed that she was probably freaking out about their little make-out session awhile ago. He inwardly patted himself for a job well done, but somehow felt a slight pang on his chest, but quickly brushed the feeling away.

Draco had expected her to snap back at him, but she completely ignored him and just turned to her boyfriend. Draco snarled inside. Well, he won't be your boyfriend soon enough. Though it would've been much more pleasant if he was – that way I could snatch you away from right under his nose. That would've been more satisfying – a bonus after I get into your pants. He smirked.

"What are you smirking for, Malfoy? Get out of here, you've done too much damage already," Ron snarled at him.

Draco smirked wider, raking his perfect hair with his hand. "It was already broken, anyway. It was bound to be damaged sooner or later," Draco drawled, shooting a glance at the couple in front of him to see if they caught his meaning. He was sure Ron wouldn't – he was much too stupid to understand that.

The couple eyed him as he walked out of the compartment. "Granger, you owe me, by the way. I covered for you in the meeting with McGonagall and the Prefect's meeting," he called as he exited the compartment.

A grin was sneaking its way up on his face. He had the perfect plan for Hermione to pay up her debt.


When Draco Malfoy left the room, Hermione took a deep breath – it was time to face Charlie. Though she didn't know why he was there exactly, but questions would come later. Now, she had a confession to make.

"Charlie-"

"I know, 'Mione," he interrupted calmly.

Bewildered, Hermione's eyes widened. "How-"

"Mr. Malfoy told me," Charlie interrupted again, a soft smile on his lips.

Hermione felt new tears sting her eyes, and she almost slapped herself for being such a coward. All she had done in the past hour was cry her eyes out like a baby. It was time she dealt with her own mistakes like the woman of Gryffindor that she was.

"Charlie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, really, I swear -"

"Ron, could you give us a moment?" Charlie interrupted again, nodding his head at his little brother.

Ron hesitantly nodded and smiled slightly at Hermione, patting her on the shoulder before leaving.

Hermione bit her lip, waiting for Charlie to speak. The silence was killing her.

"I'm your new Professor, Hermione."

What he said bewildered her so much that all she could do was blink. She didn't expect that.

"What?"

"I'm your new Professor for Ancient Runes at Hogwarts," he stated again, calmly.

Hermione blinked again a few times. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? And the letter you owled-"

"I wanted to surprise you."

Hermione continued to bite her lip. There was more to his story. She could feel it.

"Anything else you want to tell me?" she asked, hugging herself unconsciously, mentally preparing herself for what she knew was going to come next.

"I think it's better if we remained as friends. It isn't very healthy for a student and a teacher to be together."

There it was.


"Obliviate."

One word. Four syllables. Nine letters. Such a simple word, and yet it had managed to turn his life upside down. Or at least even more twisted – Teddy wasn't sure if his life had ever been right side up in the first place.

The room flashed blue and Teddy quickly stepped out of the train before his ten minute escape period was up. After ten minutes, anyone cast under the Obliviate spell would wake up from their temporary unconsciousness and not remember anything that they were made to forget. He had ten minutes to get out of there.

Wiping his tears with the back of his hand, Teddy slid out of the room and shut the door behind him without looking back, afraid that his resolve would extinguish should he look at the faces of the people he left behind.

Once he shut the door close behind him, a dozen or so Death Eaters were in front of him, all in a single file due to the cramped hallway of the Hogwarts Express. That made them look even more intimidating as they stood like Grim Reapers ready to take him to his death. Sure enough, they all had the signature ring that Teddy had recognized from the Death Eater who had taken Hermione hostage awhile ago – a silver snake with its head biting its tail to form a circle, a blaring red ruby situated on it as its' eye. Teddy could recognize that ring from a mile away. He wasn't afraid of the ring – he was afraid of what the existence of the ring meant. That ring should have been destroyed years ago...as should its' master. But here the Death Eaters stand before Teddy, wearing replicas of the exact same ring. That could only mean...that he was alive.

Teddy closed his eyes and tried to keep the shiver flowing into his spine hidden from the Death Eaters' view. Taking a deep breath, he crossed his arms and put on a bored expression of coldness to face the Death Eaters.

"I assume you've Obliviated the rest of the train?" Teddy drawled as he strained his ears for any sound of life.

Nothing. Even the Hogwarts Express engines that normally rattled beneath his feet were quiet. Teddy then noticed that the train must have stopped.

"Of course," a female voice from a few steps to his right said curtly, almost with respect.

Teddy almost smirked, raised a brow, and chuckled all at the same time, but he decided against it. These Death Eaters were afraid of him. As well they should. Perhaps they've heard of what he is capable of doing. Either that or their new Master warned them of how Teddy could kill them in a snap. Although he wasn't sure, Teddy was leaning more on the latter. It made more sense when he tried to fit more pieces of the puzzle in his head.

Raising an eyebrow cockily (for he decided to play this with an act of authority and boldness, without fear at all, seeing as they already were afraid of him), he twirled his wand in his hands absent-mindedly. "And what of the Professors?"

The Death Eater right in front of him stepped forward, leaving a space of an arm's length between him and Teddy. "Taken care of, Theo. Obliviated as well. Though your Professors are talented wizards and witches, they were no much for a dozen Death Eaters. They were stunned and Obliviated in a manner of seconds. I must say, the absence of Dumbledore is making the school and its' staff rusty," a man's voice chuckled from behind the mask.

Teddy's eyes darkened and narrowed. He knew that voice. And the man had called him "Theo". Only "family" called him that.

Halting his twirling, Teddy boldly raised his wand to the man's throat slowly and stepped closer until its' tip poked at his throat. As expected, the other Death Eaters did nothing. Some cringed, some baked away a bit, some clutched their wands tighter, but nobody made a move to stop him. Teddy smirked. How amusing to see the mighty Death Eaters cowering before him.

"Well, well, I'll admit I'm surprised to see you here," Teddy said in a bored tone. "Even more surprised that none of you lot are attempting to stop me from killing all of you right now, as you all well know I'm capable of."

He felt the wizards before him stiffen as he smirked even wider. Teddy eyed the man in front of him, his wand patting the side of his throat tauntingly. The man, however, didn't show as much fear as the others. Teddy could sense his discomfort, yes, but no fear. Teddy didn't expect any less from this man.

"Of course, Theo. Everyone knows how powerful you are. Everyone knows how you have served as Voldemort's secret weapon, his favorite and his right-hand. In fact, even more powerful then Voldemort himself." the man had stated matter-of-factly. At the corner of his eyes, Teddy saw the others shuffle uncomfortably in silent agreement.

"I had no intentions of actually even serving Voldemort. I've made that clear quite a few times. I followed his orders now and then, but as some of you may know I have rejected his order of protecting him during the Second Wizarding War. His loss of my protection was his downfall, as what I expected it to be. He lacked my protection charms that he usually had to make him untouchable," Teddy drawled uninterestedly, withdrawing the wand and twirling it in his fingers once again.

"I would have killed him sooner had he not have made so many Horcruxes already when I enlisted as a Death Eater. I hadn't wanted to track all of them down one by one, so I let Harry Potter do his job in fulfilling the prophecy. My lack of protecting charms just supported Potter in making it easier for him to end the pathetic hypocrite's life."

The man in front of him chuckled, patting Teddy on the arm. "Yes, we know. That is why they fear you," the man said, gesturing to the other Death Eaters around him. "Even more than they feared Voldemort."

Teddy chuckled along with the man and saw the other Death Eaters cringe. "Voldemort is dead. I take it your new Master is not as weak as he?" Teddy asked.

The man shook his head. "I'm afraid to say we have yet to acquire a Master."

Teddy raised his brow. "Oh? But the man who called me out awhile ago said I was being called by your new Master. Quite rudely, even."

"Who was responsible for this?" The man in front of Teddy bellowed.

A Death Eater at the far end of the line walked up to them. "I-I didn't know, I had thought we were after a child. I didn't think the rumors about Tod's youngest son being extremely powerful was -" the man stopped, as he doubled over and dropped to the floor, motionless.

The other Death Eaters, alarmed, all looked at Teddy, eyes probably bulging behind their masks at the sigh of wandless, non-verbal, killing magic.

The man in front of him sighed. "Was that necessary, Theo? Starkwell was a good servant, did what he was told."

Teddy shrugged nonchalantly and continued to twirl his wand in his hands. The man at his feet had deserved it for ever laying a hand on Hermione. "He hurt my friend. Going back to matters at hand, if the wizard who asked you lot to come...'pick me up' isn't your master, than who is?"

Teddy feigned boredom and disinterest as the man in front of him took of his mask and knelt down in front of Teddy. One by one, the others did the same until everyone was kneeling in front of Teddy, heads bowed down. Teddy was bewildered, but he hid it. If he was going to get to the bottom of this, he was going to have to play his cards right. His trump card right now was their fear of him, and he had to use it to his advantage. Any slight indication of soft-heartedness and he was a goner.

The man in front of him looked up, and it was the first time Teddy had seen him again. He had the same unruly dark wild hair, like Teddy's. His dark brown eyes settled over Teddy's black ones, almost fondly. "Theo, I, your Uncle Thomas, am proud to present to you some of your faithful followers. We are ready to serve you, if you are ready to serve as our Master."

Thomas Nott. Teddy's uncle, the younger brother of Teddy's father. He vaguely remembered the man with the unruly hair and brown eyes. Teddy had only seen him a few times as he grew up, but he knew his uncle was very unlike his father. Thomas was a quiet and reserved man, although he was a Death Eater as well.

Teddy looked around him, at the Death Eaters on their knees before him. Most of the faces he recognized as old faces, former followers of Voldemort. The Ministry was still doing a poor job in rounding up the Death Eaters – the proof lay before him.

Without blinking, Teddy looked back into his uncle's eyes and gave him a brisk nod.

"I accept."


A/N: The ten minute unconsciousness thing with regards to the Obliviating spell is just something I made up. As is Thomas Nott, Theodore Nott Sr's twisted mind, and Theodore Nott Jr's awesomeness.

I would very much appreciate a review! :)