Shattered Surrender
by sick-atxxheart
Chapter Ten
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The graveyard was dark, and the Dark Lord carefully concealed his smirk beneath his cloak as the Death Eaters circled slowly around him, their own faces masked with both fear and cloth. As much as he loved being in charge, he loved instilling fear in others even more; he had never been quite sure exactly where that love and desire had come from, but he indulged it willingly.
He carefully studied the faces of those around him, and identified a few before giving up and looking thoughtfully at the ground once more. Voldemort had indeed spent much time contemplating exactly who he believed were unconditionally loyal to him; the list he had come up with was rather disappointing, to say the least. He knew without any doubt that both Severus Snape and Bellatrix Lestrange were unwaveringly dedicated to his cause; he had given both of them many, many opportunities to prove themselves, and both had almost always passed with flying colors. Their hatred for the Light side of things, and Dumbledore in particular, nearly rivaled his own. That fact in itself was impressive.
Aside from those two, Antonin Dolohov had proved himself generally trustworthy; Voldemort respected the man to a certain degree, but found him to be rather dimwitted in certain matters. Yaxley also was useful in terms of spell-casting and manipulation; but other than that, he was a rather arrogant man with an unpleasant disposition. Despite Voldemort's own anger issues, he didn't appreciate other people contesting his decisions or opinions; in general, those who did normally ended up dead. It was rather unfortunate when a useful man had to run off his mouth.
Fenrir Greyback was an irreplaceable asset, and Voldemort had no desire to let him go from his ranks; but the werewolf's bloodlust often got in the way of direct orders. The Dark Lord knew that couldn't be helped, so it was for that reason the man wasn't dead already; but regardless, Greyback wasn't a good choice for bigger missions. Voldemort didn't trust him explicitly, but he was still glad to have him in his inner circle.
Voldemort didn't, and wouldn't, trust Peter Pettigrew with anything more than his next meal. Why he kept the rat-like man around, he wasn't really sure. With the new developments of Harry Potter coming to headquarters, Voldemort wasn't sure exactly what to do with the man. It was undeniable that Pettigrew couldn't know about the child; once a traitor, always a traitor, he thought. At least in most cases- excluding that of Severus, it was entirely different…
Lucius Malfoy was one that constantly puzzled him. He had always been loyal to the cause, even to the point of willingly offering his life; but the Dark Lord could still see the fear, see the uncertainty, see the hesitation in the man's eyes when receiving a direct order. Voldemort knew that Lucius had his own wife, and his own child. Voldemort knew that somewhere inside of him he still had a bit of a heart, and for that reason he was often lenient with the man in regards to his family. However, trusting Lucius was still something he had to seriously contemplate every time the opportunity arose.
There were, of course, others that came every time he called them; but they were merely casualties, young ones who thought the thrill of serving a Dark Lord would be a good story to tell. He had taught them their lesson well, and quickly after they had joined; but they were much too far involved to be let go easily. They were dispensable, though, and Voldemort was rather unconcerned with them. Perhaps they knew of some of his plans, but he didn't trust them in the least bit. Every once in a while, in fact, he fed those new Death Eaters a small, insignificant piece of false information that would still be worthwhile to the light side; if anything came out of the lie, he knew who had spread it.
Quite a few had lost their lives from those little betrayals.
Tearing away from those thoughts, Voldemort returned to staring down the men in front of him. His circle was small tonight; notably, Bellatrix and Severus were missing. He could see a few of the Death Eaters looking suspiciously around, no doubt counting the number of those in the circle; lateness always meant punishment. Undoubtedly they were just grateful that they wouldn't be on the receiving end.
Everything was eerily silent, and the air was filled with tangible tension until Voldemort broke it with his smooth, cold voice. "Is everyone accounted for?" He hissed quietly. He knew perfectly well who was there and who was not; but he enjoyed giving them to contemplate, something to do. Sometimes, the Death Eaters really were imbeciles. He had to prompt them for everything.
"E-Everyone, my Lord," Lucius Malfoy began, stepping forward, "except Bellatrix and Severus." Both names were sneered from the man's mouth, making it obvious the disdain he felt for them; however, Voldemort knew it was all a ruse. While Lucius may not care all that much for his wife's sister, he and Severus were acquaintances, if not friends.
As for Bella- Voldemort was sure that a few of the Death Eaters were at least interested to see how Azkaban had treated her. She had been quite unstable before being imprisoned, and he imagined that they could only dream of how she would be now. Bella had actually been surprisingly level-headed, however, when he spoke to her; he was glad of that fact. He needed her power. However, he would be almost kind to her when that insanity did show through, as he knew it would; after all, she had suffered through Azkaban for him… In his mind, she had a bit of a right to be insane…
"Ah, yes," Voldemort said coldly, carefully concealing any emotion from showing on his pale face. "I have Bellatrix and Severus on assignment, and they are therefore excused from tonight's meeting. They have served me well in the past few days, and I am pleased with them."
His revelation of the fact that the two would be gone for the next few meetings had been carefully planned and worded, in order to ensure the best reaction. Voldemort smirked once again as he watched the poorly disguised shock appear on the faces of the men in front of him. Oh, how they wished they could have been the ones to serve him well!
Voldemort had decided long before the meeting, as soon as he had taken Harry Potter from Azkaban, in fact, that only a select few of his inner circle would be granted the privilege of actually knowing of Harry's presence in headquarters. Of course, the outbreak had been publicized to the point of obnoxiousness, so everyone knew that the boy had been taken during the escape. However, Voldemort could only assume that almost everyone considered the child to be dead, or close to dead, anyway. He preferred them to think that way.
He had decided that Bellatrix and Severus would stay with the boy at all times not for their own peace of mind, but for the boy's comfort instead. Sirius was also staying with Harry. The man, along with Bellatrix, had been sleeping ever since he had been allowed a bed and time to rest; Voldemort wasn't surprised. He trusted Sirius Black, and had frankly been surprised that no one had mentioned his absence when he had asked. Perhaps they've forgotten about him…
Regardless, Voldemort wanted Harry to be as comfortable as possible. He didn't particularly care, but he sympathized with Harry Potter in a way he didn't think many could. They had had similar childhoods of hell, and he had no desire to wish more pain on a seemingly innocent child. Aside from those facts, ever since the ritual had been performed, Voldemort's feelings towards Harry had been slowly changing.
Curse emotions! He thought to himself, turning back to the men. He really had to start controlling his mind. It certainly did like to wander…
A foolish Death Eater was speaking up, and Voldemort looked appraisingly at him, fingering his wand in his robes. He was just waiting to strike, for anyone suicidal enough to test him- any mention of- oh, yes…
"My Lord… Excuse my boldness… But what of Harry Potter?"
"Crucio," Voldemort hissed softly, the jet of light shooting out of his now-drawn wand before the man could react. It landed with ease right on the Death Eater's chest, and the screams began. They were just as unsettling as the silence.
"My personal business," he hissed again, "Is absolutely none of yours." His red eyes flashed, and Voldemort took a deep breath to keep his anger checked. He had known someone would ask- he had prepared. He didn't need to kill someone simply for asking a stupid question- at least, he shouldn't…
He turned abruptly, letting the curse fall off the man. He could hear the foolish Death Eater stumbling around, trying desperately to get up. No one helped him.
Spinning around and staring each man in the face, Voldemort spoke soft enough so his voice was barely audible. His words had an immediate effect on each person there; they all shuddered nearly invisibly.
"Harry Potter is as good as dead."
He knew without a doubt that the little piece of news he had just shared would be in the Daily Prophet by morning.
He didn't care. Let them think…
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Harry was slowly improving. It had only been about seven hours since the ritual had been performed, but the boy's temperature was back to normal; his body seemed to be functioning properly; and he was alert, if not exhausted. Severus had been feeding him nutritional and strengthening potions every hour, on the hour, along with soft food he knew the boy's tender stomach could handle. Harry accepted it all willingly, with only a murmured word of thanks.
The Dark Lord had informed Severus of the abuse Harry had suffered at the hands of the Dursleys, and the Potions Master had immediately proceeded to curse them into oblivion, at least figuratively. It had taken him quite a few minutes to regain his composure; it was only then that he had noticed Voldemort watching him, amused. He had apologized profusely, but the Dark Lord hadn't seemed to mind. He was funny sometimes.
Voldemort knew of his promise to Lily Potter, before her death. Severus intended to keep it. She had made him swear the vow before she knew of Harry's apparent "Dark magic use," but Severus assumed that she would love the child anyway. Lily had always been that way…
Regardless, Severus often wondered if some of Harry's reactions stemmed from living with abuse for nearly five years. It would make sense; the little boy had a shattered, tragic life, and being haunted by those events was an expected response. Severus' own life of abuse had taught him much about dealing with emotions- but mostly just to hide them away, and forget about them, instead of living them out…
Severus didn't want Harry to end up that way, and he vowed to do all he could to ensure it wouldn't happen.
It was late evening, and Severus stared blankly at the wall. He was the one currently watching Harry; both Bellatrix and Sirius were both sleeping, and he was more than willing to let them do so. Merlin knows he could stay up a few hours later…
What was most curious about the situation was that he, Bella, and Sirius had all been excused from the meeting. He had felt his Dark Mark burn, and it had been a fight to deal with the pain and not go, simply to make it end; but he had done it, and now there he sat.
In the corner of his mind, he heard footsteps in the hall. Rising without a thought, Severus quickly slipped out the door. It wouldn't do to have someone enter without knowing, he thought with a shudder. Surely the Dark Lord would not be pleased.
It was Pettigrew. Severus recognized the small man with such disdain that the look on his face nearly sent Peter running in the other direction. Severus quickly asked a question, however, and stopped him in his tracks.
"What do you want?" He spat, towering over the rat-like man menacingly.
"There-there's an owl," Pettigrew said, stuttering and shuddering as usual. "For the Dark Lord- I don't know what to do with it-"
"You do with it what you do with every other letter for the Dark Lord!" Severus roared. "What else would you do, you incompetent little rat?"
Peter spluttered indignantly for a minute or two, before whispering, "But- but S-Severus, it's from D-Dumbledore."
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Please review. I didn't get as many for the last chapter... but what do you think? I know I brought Dumbledore in early, but it won't go as you think. Thanks for all your reviews this far.
Poll: Do you like how I'm writing Voldemort, or is he wayyyy to OOC? I know he's being kinder than in canon, but I think it's making sense. He's only truly being kind to Bella, Sirius, Severus, and Harry. He's kind to the first three because he trusts them, and to Harry because he is his "mentor"... other than that, is his personality good? I'm writing him to be slightly insane but brilliant, I think. Let me know!