Chapter 10: The Knights of Walpurgis

Harry heard the heavy tread of boots and the rustling of many cloaks outside his door.

He grabbed the wand which was never far from his hand, and allowed the brown snake Mischief to wrap around his left arm. Then he pried the door open a crack, hoping to take out a few using it as cover.

His wand fell from nerveless fingers.

The figures wore bone white masks and jet black robes. They were not outside of his door, they were outside of Voldemort's. There was going to be a raid.

Harry knew what he needed to do. He needed to shut his door. He needed to walk back to his bed and lie down while hundreds of people died slow, torturous, horrible deaths.

So why was he picking up his wand? Why was he leaving his room? Hadn't he said that he'd wanted out of this war?

"Tom"

The other figures scrambled away from Harry as if he had the Plague. Or as if he had a massive snake on his arm that was baring its teeth. One figure did not move. He was easy to identify: Voldemort wore no mask.

"I can't just sit here quietly when I know that you're going out there to massacre a bunch of innocent people."

Voldemort stiffened. "I believe I've stated before that Muggles are not people."

"Well to me they are people and should therefore not be slaughtered. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm saying convince me."

"Why should I bother? It seems if I fail to convince you, I have to reevaluate everything, yet if I convince you I gain nothing."

"If you can convince me that you're right, I'll help you." Harry's heart was beating like a hammer against his ribcage but his head was oddly clear, as if he were fighting an actual battle. "After being identified in the ministry, Lucius Malfoy's reputation is in tatters." He ignored the choking sound someone made in the crowd. "You need a new public face. How much smoother would your campaign go if you had behind it Harry Potter's name?"

Voldemort narrowed his eyes at him. "Muggles have no magic and no souls. They are capricious and cruel. They would see us all dead for no other reason than because we are different than them. They would have us cower rather than take our rightful places, have us cower rather than have us even as equals." He said the word with distaste. "We who have magic are Earth's chosen. We have a duty to protect our mother Earth from the muggle scourge that is blackening her waters, that is sickening her air, that is tearing into her very flesh to make petty trinkets. We are the Knights of Walpurgis!"

As one, the Death eaters stomped their boots in assent.

Harry thought out his next words very carefully. "And why do you say that muggles have no souls?"

"When they die, they do not leave ghosts as we do."

Harry resisted the urge to pull his hair in frustration. This was going to be harder than he had thought. Where was the pureblood bigotry? If he said that muggles did leave ghosts that you couldn't see, Voldemort could say that maybe they did have souls, but their souls were weaker. And that wasn't much better than saying they had no souls at all.

Harry could not afford to lose, but he was taking too long to think about this, Voldemort was beginning to smile, and Mischief was shifting impatiently on his arm…. Harry stared at Mischief.

"And what does it matter?" Harry said.

"Speak clearly. What does what matter?"

"What does it matter if they have no souls?"

Voldemort looked at him incredulously but Harry pressed on. "By your logic, Nagini also does not have a soul."

For the briefest instant, there was a violent glint in Voldemort's red eyes, but then he looked away. He did not quite manage to sound indifferent when he said, "I suppose snakes also do not leave ghosts when they die."

"She has no soul and yet she still has value does she not?"

Voldemort clenched his fists and said nothing.

"Would you see her harmed for something she lacked through no fault of her own? For something she was born without?"

Voldemort whirled around and put a hand on his door.

"We will continue this discussion tomorrow."

"And the raid, my Lord?" A blank mask said from the towering wall of black robed bodies.

"Postponed." Voldemort snarled.