A Different Life
Summary: They all thought Lily was Light. She wasn't. She was in love with the Dark Lord, and gave birth to his son. Now Erus Riddle is growing up, showing just how evil the son of Lord Voldemort can be. Of course, the Light doesn't know that fact.
Spoilers: Not so many. You need to know about Chamber of Secrets and Horocruxes. It's good if you've read all seven books though.
During the chapters, I can come up with some new names. Don't get surprised then.
Pairing/s: Temporary slash-pairings with Erus from time to time. SiriusSeverus
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. They belong rightfully to Mrs Rowling; I just borrow them for the time being.
Other notes: Hermione is not Hermione. She is Cynthia, a girl who loves reading and hates Dumbledore. Harry's real, and full name is Erus Sicarius Salazar Riddle.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Parseltongue"
Visions
-o-
For the readers who like this story, thanks for all the wonderful reviews. I'm really happy you take time to review and make me more proud over my story. There was one of you guys who wanted to see Voldemort's powers more. Well, in this chapter we will see more of his powers just to establish that he is indeed the Dark Lord and has a reputation to keep up with. We can't have him look weak, now can we? Enjoy.
Warnings for this chapter: Implied yaoi between Erus and a certain vampire.
-o-
Chapter Twenty-Five: Anger, Peace and Love
Erus knew once his father would find out about this, he was going to have a hell.
And Voldemort did not fail his son's expectations.
Erus felt the necklace warming up and gulped. It had been three days since he had been to Hogwarts, and someone must have told the man. He was happy Abel and Cain had decided to go to the library only a few minutes ago and sincerely hoped no one of them decided to come back any time soon. If they did, he would never live down the humiliation. He went into the bathroom, locked and then put up silencing charms just in case. He then pulled the mirror up, took a deep breath and enlarged it.
"ERUS! WHAT THE HELL WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND?!"
Voldemort's voice made Erus wince and he slid down onto the floor. The man was paler than usual in fury and waiting for some kind of answer. Erus could not summon up anything else than:
"I just… I didn't want anything to happen to Lucius."
"And went out there when you could have died?!" the Dark Lord screamed. "Are you begging to be killed or what?!"
"No, I'm not!" Erus defended himself. "If I hadn't gone there, Lucius would have been dead!"
"Why didn't you tell me, why didn't you tell anyone?!" Voldemort shouted into the mirror.
"I had to do it!"
"Why do you always have to do things alone?!"
The angry tone in Voldemort's voice was so unlike any other times, and Erus shook his long hair in front of his face so his father would not see his eyes. They were overflowing with tears despite he did his best to make them go back. He was scared now. Scared over the tone, scared of the fury in the red eyes, scared of his own father.
"Erus?" the Dark Lord asked as his son's shoulders began to shake slightly. "Erus?!"
The teen shook his head, not trusting his voice to speak. He gulped dowin sobs, and tried to speak a few times just to shut his mouth because of the tears.
"I need to be alone," he finally managed to whisper, vioce broken and shut the mirror. It dropped to the floor as he dragged his legs up and wound his arms around them. His sobs wracked his whole frame, but they could not drown out the sound of his father's angry voice.
He did not notice when he dropped the silencing charms. He did not notice the bathroom door being magically opened. He did not notice anyone or anything until a pair of arms drew him into a hug. He looked up, startled, at Cain who only smiled a bit, although sadly and hugged him tighter. One of the teen's hands cradled the back of Erus' skull. The emerald-eyed teen rested his head against the other teen's shoulder and closed his tired eyes.
Sirius and Bellatrix checked the crowds of children, looking for the Dark Lord's son. When they got vision on him, they were surprised.
Erus walked with slumped shoulders and dark rings under his eyes. He talked to his friends for a bit and gave them each a piece of parchment. They all put it away neatly and they said their goodbyes. Erus then turned and got vision of the two. He walked up to them, his trunk safely in his pocket and Vates on his shoulders.
"Are we going then?" he asked the two. Bellatrix nodded and replied:
"We're going to the house first and then take the Floo to your father's manor."
Erus nodded, not looking particular happy. Only he knew why. His argument with his father was far from done, and he was sure he was going to break down crying again. He had crossed the line before but now he let himself be put into danger while knowing it. He had known it for a year, and still let himself walk into major trouble that could have ended badly. His father must be really angry at him.
Voldemort slashed through an Auror effortlessly, blood splattering onto his robes and emotionless face. The man's scream echoing in his ears but did not affect him. The Dark Lord did not stop his violent berserk; he continued to slash down people in his way. His frustration was still running high and his patience nonexistent. The Death Eaters went all way out to keep away from their lord, knowing they would not be spared if they crossed his path.
While Voldemort walked among blood and limbs he wondered what went through his son's mind sometimes. Why Erus insisted on risking his life like that, over and over again. Voldemort growled and with a swing of his wand, a man's neck snapped violently, the skin broke and muscles ripped apart. Blood sprayed the air; Voldemort normally enjoyed that scene but now he was only growing angrier the more he thought.
The brat had the nerve to tell him off, and then ignore him for days! It was not often Voldemort was angry with his son, but this was the worst time. The Dark Lord had to cool off before the teen returned to England, or else he might do something stupid. Something he could not take back, and would regret for the rest of his then miserable life if he did.
Like killing his own son.
Erus came out into the living room from the fire and looked around. His father's magical signal was not on the grounds, which made the teen frown a bit. However, he did not complain. He felt tears prickle his eyes as soon as he thought of the confrontation and wanted to delay it as much as possible. He cursed his feelings and wanted to escape to his room as soon as he could. Fabella came rushing into the room to greet him. Erus said his hellos and as Sirius and Bellatrix came out he disappeared out of the room and up the stairs.
"What's wrong with master Erus?" Fabella asked worriedly, twisting her hands together while peering up at Bellatrix.
"Just some things he and his father needs to work out I think," Bellatrix replied. "He will be fine. Now, would you like to prepare some dinner for us? I'm sure the Lord will be hungry when he comes home."
Fabella bowed and dashed away to prepare dinner. Sirius looked at his cousin and said:
"You think Severus is home?"
"Maybe," she said and winked. "Try contacting him."
"Can't if someone is there with him," the man argued. Bellatrix looked at him as if he was stupid. He did not seem to get the point. She let a hand come down then, hard, on the man's head and snapped:
"It's called glamour, you idiot!"
Voldemort came into the house an hour later. Bellatrix and Sirius, who had not gotten in touch with Severus, met him. They could not help but stare at him in horror and yes, even Bellatrix stared at the Dark Lord in horror.
The man was covered head to toe in blood. Even his hair was matted in blood. He shred his outer robe and dropped it on the floor that landed with a wet noise. Even his inner robes were covered in blood. He impatiently kicked his bloodied boots off and immediately Fabella showed up and gathered the things up. She banished something from the boots that looked frightening familiar to a nerve from what must have been a human. Bellatrix and Sirius gulped.
"Fabella has made a bath ready for master," the house-elf said timidly, looking up at her master slightly with the robe and boots in her arms. The Dark Lord seemed to relax a bit and nodded. He turned to the two and said:
"Where's Erus?"
"In his room, master," Fabella answered instead of them. "Fabella asked him if he wanted dinner, but master Erus said no."
Voldemort looked up the stairs and started walking up. Three sets of eyes looked after him worriedly.
The Dark Lord knocked on the door and heard his son move around on the bed.
"May I come in?" the man asked softly. He was not as angry as before (thanks to the 'exercise' he had done earlier); now he just wanted to hear Erus' story of the events in order to try understanding what his son had been thinking.
"Yes," came Erus' voice and Voldemort opened the door.
Erus was sitting on the bed, looking out the window. His eyes were slightly red and the man felt suddenly ashamed he had succeeded making his son cry, and worse, fear him. Therefore Voldemort kept a respectful distance and sat down on the chair by the desk, not far from where Vates were resting. The snake had seemingly decided to not take anyone's part of the events and simply let them handle it themselves. Much easier for him than for Erus and Voldemort.
The Dark lord had spelled away most of the blood but Erus could still smell it, the coppery scent working its way into his very skin. Somehow the scent was comforting, letting Erus know it really was his father and somehow the scent made the man less scary for the teen.
"Tell me," Voldemort said suddenly, fidgeting with his hands. He longed to have a prisoner to torture, the familiar feel of his wand in his hand, the feeling he now missed. But he did not pull the wand out for the sake of his son. He continued, "Your plans during the year. I'm not mad at you. I just want to know what made you act like you did."
The teen looked up at his father. The man waited patiently, not looking angry or washing the emotion over his son in waves. He was still not sure how angry Voldemort was but took a deep breath and told his father everything.
The Dark Lord looked over at his son after the teen had finished. Erus looked stubbornly onto the floor and did not move as Voldemort rose up. The man sat down next to his son and quietly pulled him close. Erus' walls held for a few moments before he broke down again.
Voldemort held the sobbing teen against his chest and let him cry out. Erus grabbed the slightly bloodied robes and felt like he was small again.
Voldemort lifted the small boy up and held the sobbing child close while speaking softly to him. Erus, three years old, cried harder and gripped his father's bloodied robes with his small hands. Voldemort carried his son around in the room and let the boy cry.
When Erus' sobs had turned into small hiccups, Voldemort settled down onto a chair next to Erus' bed and held the boy gently while banishing the blood the child had gotten onto himself.
"What's wrong?" Voldemort asked.
"I had bad dream," Erus said, turning his red-rimmed eyes towards his father.
Voldemort put his son down onto the bed and sat down next to him. The boy peered up at him and the Dark Lord smiled reassuringly.
"Whatever happened in your dream, it will not appear here," he said.
"Bad people hurt Bella," Erus whined. "She was all bloody."
"I can assure you Bellatrix is fine," Voldemort said. "Go back to sleep; you will see her tomorrow."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Erus trusted his father and fell asleep.
Voldemort stroke his son's hair as Erus slowly calmed down. The teen was feeling mildly ashamed of himself; he was almost fourteen now and sobbing like a baby! But the man did not judge him; he just kept on stroking Erus' hair and held the body close to his own.
"You are indeed one of the most stubborn people I have ever met," Voldemort finally said, making his son smile. "Even worse than your mother and me together."
"I had to," Erus whispered. "Couldn't just let Lucius die…"
"I understand," Voldemort said. "But next time, please tell me what you are planning. Let me inside your plans and ideas so I can decide what action should be made. Okay?"
"Okay."
When the two emerged for dinner Bellatrix and Sirius were rather nervous. Voldemort had taken the bath and was now dressed in deep blue robes, still bare-foot though. Erus was dressed in a casual shirt and black pants, and both appeared to be fine as they apparently discussed the Patronus Erus had made.
"Everything cleared up now?" Sirius asked.
"Yep," Erus said as he sat down. "When will Draco and Cynthia come home from school?"
"Tomorrow," Voldemort replied. "They are coming for dinner then."
"Great," the teen said and smiled. "Maybe I'll go to the station and greet them; I'll meet everyone else as well then."
"We can do that," the Dark Lord said.
As the two continued to talk, Erus telling his father of Invisus' face when the teen had done the Patronus again, Bellatrix and Sirius relaxed and began to eat as well.
Erus leaned against the wall, his father next to him and the Malfoys on his other side. Cygnirius and Anastasia were running a bit late, but would arrive before the train in any case.
The teen took a look around the station where the families began to show up. He spotted two red-headed people and concluded it was the Weasley adults. He looked away.
"Sorry we're late!" came Anastasia's voice from their right. They all turned to look at her. She was dressed for once something different than red; she had a deep purple dress on herself with a thin black robe over it. Cygnirius came walking behind her, dressed in complete black.
"It's quite alright," Narcissa said as they greeted each other. "The train is not here yet."
"Oh, how good," the woman said happily before the two began chatting. Cygnirius greeted on the other three and they waited silently on the train.
Once it came, Erus pushed himself from the wall and looked if he might catch some of his friends' faces through the windows. No such luck though; he had to find them.
As the students began to move out, he moved forward. The first one he caught was Marcus Flint, who he remembered must have ended his education at Hogwarts this year. The older teen looked mildly surprised to see him but greeted on the emerald-eyed teen nonetheless and spoke for a little while. Then Marcus' father came up and they had to go. Erus promised to write and watched the teen walk off. He then turned and started to hunt down someone else.
"Erus!"
He yelped as someone lifted him up and swung him around.
"Miles!" he shouted. "Stop it!"
The other teen only laughed heartily but did let him go after a little while. Kyle came up behind them and greeted on them. His family was in a hurry so he had to say goodbye rather quickly but Miles stayed.
"What about your parents?" Erus asked.
"Oh, they are late. Tend to be that quite a lot," Miles said with a smile.
Eddie, Marcus and Damon squeezed their way to the two and drew Erus into a group-hug. They began to talk all at once, and Erus had to calm them down a few times before he managed to understand even one of them. He let the next five minutes go to tell shortly about Santuario and the teachers for the four of them.
"Erus!"
The three Ravenclaws immediately moved out of the way to let Cynthia tackle the poor teen. Draco came the moment after and did the same, Amber running behind the blonde and jumping up and down around them in her own way of dancing. It was quite a hilarious sight. Eddie's mother came and nearly dragged him away due to they were very late to meet someone, but not before he made Erus promise to write. The others soon scattered and the adults finally got to their children. Amber had calmed down slightly and was now wagging her tail while resting her paws on Draco's shoulders, therefore standing upright. The blonde said she tended to do that a lot because she liked standing on two legs.
"Shall we go directly home to us?" Voldemort asked.
"Well, that's alright unless Draco or Cynthia wants to go home first," Anastasia said.
"I don't need anything," Draco said.
"Me neither," Cynthia agreed. "I also have something I want to show you. Especially Anastasia and Cygnirius."
"And what could that be?" Cygnirius asked suspiciously.
"I can't tell it here," she replied. Erus and Draco had a slight idea what she was talking about.
As they came to the manor, both of the Bellums turned to their adopted daughter and looked at her. She smiled at them and removed something from her inner robe.
"Here he is," she said and opened her hand. Folds of black robes came swirling up in the air to finally become a Dementor. All of the adults stared while it looked around, rather shy. He moved slowly behind Cynthia and Anastasia found her voice:
"Who is it?"
"It's my familiar," the girl declared. "I haven't figured out his name yet since he doesn't want to tell me so I just call him Curiosus."
"Curiosus?" Cygnirius asked.
"He has the bad habit of getting in trouble for his curiosity," she admitted. "But he's nice."
The Dementor was seemingly happy with floating around and checking each of the people in the hall, and did not mind one bit their stares at him.
They ate dinner slowly, talking about this and that. Erus however sat a bit quiet. He had to go to Noir's and Blanc's manor to get the traitor. He wanted to give Pettigrew to either his father or the Lestranges. They all hated Pettigrew as much. Maybe he would just tell the Lestranges to come here and his father to have some free time and then they all could have their fun with him.
"Erus?"
The teen looked up at Cynthia who watched him worriedly.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Just lost in thoughts," Erus replied and scratched his head. "Sorry."
She did not quite believe him but let him be since Curiosus let out something akin to a yelp in the corridor and she had to run to check what the creature had done this time.
A few days later
"Where are you going?"
Erus looked at his father and said:
"To Noir."
"Does he have a steady home?" Voldemort asked as he walked down the stairs. Erus was in the hall and currently waiting for the vampire.
"Yeah, in Russia. With his brother."
"Wasn't it his brother who was in a coma?"
"Not anymore."
Voldemort looked puzzled, and Erus sighed.
"One of the weekends I went to Noir's place in Russia where his brother were, and woke him up."
"What?!"
"I woke Noir's brother up," the teen said. The Dark Lord sighed in defeat. "Hey, at least I told it to you!"
"Small miracles," Voldemort muttered. "Why are you going to Noir?"
"Surprise," Erus replied. "Go back to your paperwork."
"I don't want to…"
Erus pushed his father up the stairs until Voldemort walked on his own. The man muttered about setting 'the bloody paperwork' on fire by accident.
"It won't work!" Erus called after him. "Plan a raid; that makes you happy!"
"Only if I can join it!" Voldemort called back. "It's boring sitting in an office all day!"
"Then you should start exercising," Erus said.
Voldemort looked at his son, and then cocked his head. Then his face shone up and he got a devilish grin.
"Good idea," he told his son before racing up the stairs. Erus swore he heard cackling laughter and groaned.
"Great; now he's gonna be crazy the next few days…"
Erus looked at the rat with disinterest. The rat tried to get out from the cage and Erus asked:
"He won't be able to get out?"
"Nope," Noir replied. "That cage is designed to keep wizards like your father locked up. I merely shrunk it."
"Nothing went lost when you shrunk it?"
"No. I tested."
"Great. Where's your brother?"
"Blanc?" Noir said. "Outside; he tends to favour the outside air than the inside one."
"Can't blame him," Erus said. "Lovely weather, even in Russia."
"Now hurry home before your father gets worried."
"In hurry to get rid of me?" Erus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No," Noir said. "Just…"
He did not finish the sentence. Erus cocked his head and looked more closely at the vampire. He could see the faint blush and grinned. He leaned forward and said:
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," the vampire mumbled. "Just go home."
The teen leaned closer and before Noir could lean back the emerald-eyed teen placed a chaste kiss on the vampire's cheek. Erus licked his lips and said:
"You taste sweet, you know."
Noir stared at him and the teen gave him another small kiss.
"Why did you do that?" the white-haired vampire asked, blinking.
"Wanted to," Erus said with a shrug. "You didn't like it?"
"Not quite satisfying," Noir replied.
"What do you deem satisfying then?" Erus asked, blinking innocently.
Noir wordlessly tugged him closer and kissed him softly on the lips. When they retreated Noir smiled a bit, released the tight grip he had on Erus' waist and Erus did the same. The teen looked at the vampire for a long time and then said:
"I think I'll be back for more of that."
"I certainly hope so."
"Dad?"
Voldemort looked up from his enormously boring paperwork and came eye to eye with his son. The teen was smiling innocently, making the man suspicious.
"Yes?" Voldemort replied nonetheless.
"Want a break?"
The Dark Lord blinked. Then…
"Oh please Merlin, say you're here to give me one," Voldemort pleaded.
"Yeah, actually I am," Erus said. "Come."
The man happily left his paperwork behind, sticking his tongue out at it and followed his son. Erus rolled his eyes at his father before leading him down to the dungeons to the meeting room they had there. Once the two entered, Rabastan, Rodolphus and Bellatrix looked up.
"What is going on?" Bellatrix asked the teen.
"Just wait and see," Erus said and opened the bag he had with him. He pulled out a small cage, and in it, a rat. The four adults stared at the cage.
"Huh?" they said simultaneously. Erus grinned and looked at the terrified rat. His voice was sickly sweet as he said:
"I believe you have some unfinished business with this guy, all four of you."
"We have?" Rodolphus said.
"Yes," the raven-haired teen said. "May I introduce to you Peter Pettigrew in own person… eeh, rat-form."
Voldemort's eyes swirled in a number of emotions; the one most dominant hatred. Erus put the cage on the floor and said:
"If you want to know where he was, ask me later but for now; have fun."
The four devilish grins he got in return made the rat squeak in terror.
Stella looked around as she came through the hearth and into Erus' living room. The teen let her explore before addressing her:
"Nice to see you again."
The girl nodded and fiddled with her hands.
"Nervous?" he asked.
"More like terrified," Stella muttered.
"Has your mother turned you blue anything so far?" he asked as they sat down to wait for Noir.
"Not blue but red… twice," the girl said. "Aunt fled one time so mother made me test it. She was very happy today and wanted me to test her newest invention."
"And what did you do?"
"I fled this time. Aunt must be having a great time now."
Erus laughed softly at it and Stella gave a smile. They chatted for a while before they heard the outer door open. Noir soon came in, dressed completely in white, opposite from his name.
"Are we all set?" he asked with a wide grin.
"Yes," Erus said and rose up gracefully. Stella got up as well. "Stella, this is Noir. Noir, this is my friend Stella."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Noir said, taking her hand lightly before laying a soft kiss on the upper side. She turned bewildered eyes on Erus who shrugged and said:
"He does that to many people."
Stella opened her eyes after the Apparation-like thing Noir had done. She looked around in awe. They were in a great hall, greater than the Entrance Hall in Hogwarts with white walls, black floor and a stairwell at the end. Doors that led to other rooms littered the walls, and from a few vampires looked out, confused. When they saw who it was, their faces brightened. A woman came walking, smiling and called out:
"Noir! This must be your friends you have told about!"
"This is Erus Riddle," Noir said and Erus bowed his head to the woman. "And this girl is Stella Mosowitz."
The woman's eyes widened at the last name. She looked at Stella and said:
"And your reason of visiting?"
"To find lord Mosowitz, if he is here today," Noir said. Stella gulped and Erus took her hand in reassurance.
"Lord Mosowitz has not been well for many years," the woman said. "All since he came back from the attacks from the humans, he hardly speaks."
"Attacks from the humans?" Noir asked. "Why was I not informed of it?"
"He was ashamed he could not stand up against them," she whispered. "They could not accept he loved a human woman, and had a child with her."
"Tell us more," the white-haired vampire said as they began to walk.
The woman looked once more at Stella and said with a smile:
"If that girl is his child, lord Mosowitz will be overjoyed."
"How so?" Stella asked. The female vampire looked at the girl and smiled softly.
"He was told you had been killed and his wife hated him," the woman replied quietly. "That was the beginning. He stopped eating and roamed the halls all day like a ghost. He never spoke, and did not have strength enough to dare returning back to his wife to try to explain. The curses inflicted on him by the humans have yet to heal as well."
"What kind of curses?" Noir asked. "I know good healers, human healers, who do not refuse a vampire treatment."
"It was Black Magic," she said. "One was to make his skin burn every time he was in the sun; lord Mosowitz could handle the sun before the curse. He even loved it. But now… he hates everything that has to do with light. Another one was to make him try attack his family because of blood thirst. He nearly bit his wife before he fled from their home."
"And that's why he hasn't returned home?" Noir said while Stella bowed her head.
"Yes," the female vampire said as they stopped outside a door. "He has not been outside this door for many days, and does not react well on visitors."
She knocked gently on the door and said:
"Lord Mosowitz, there are someone who would like to see you."
Only silence answered her request. She repeated herself and the door slowly opened. She stepped back and peered into the darkness of the room.
"My lord?" she asked.
"What?" a raspy but deep voice replied. "I already told you, Lenis; I do not wish to see anyone." (A/N Lenis means Smooth/Gentle in Latin)
Stella stepped forward and looked inside the darkness of the room. She took a deep breath and said:
"Is your wife's name Bellus?" (A/N Bellus means Cute/Pretty in Latin)
Erus, Noir and Lenis withdrew and Stella smiled a bit at her friend before bracing herself and entering the room.
"How did you know that?" the raspy voice said quietly. A rustle in the corner told Stella that the vampire was seated in a chair of some sort.
"My mother… her name is Bellus," Stella said slowly. "While she didn't know her husband's first true name, he gave her the last name. That has been my last name. Mosowitz. I don't know anything about my father; I didn't even know why he left us. But I was never angry with him, because mother was never angry at him. I knew one day I would find him, and I would show him what I had become."
A gasp was heard, and the man stood up from his chair. Glowing blue eyes shone up in the darkness and Stella walked a bit closer.
"Stella?" the voice said feebly. She tried to smile reassuringly as she replied:
"Yes, I'm Stella… father."
Noir played with Erus' long hair as the teen sipped some tea. Lenis looked up from time to time from her book, apparently worried. She then looked over at the two and cocked her head. She had known Noir for a long time, and she had never seen him act like that with anyone. The vampire seemed fascinated with the youngster, and she could not figure out why.
But when the white-haired vampire tilted Erus' head back and kissed him deeply, Lenis' eyes widened. She quickly hid her face behind the book to hide her blush.
"My lord, you did not tell me you had a lover!" she squeaked out. Noir chuckled and said:
"Erus is not my lover. We are simply friends with benefits."
"So far," Erus murmured, licking his lips. "Dad would kill you if he knew this."
"Oh, then we must make sure he will never know of this," Noir said. "He is very terrifying when he's upset."
"Noir, he isn't the Dark Lord of humans for nothing."
Lenis' eyes widened some more and she stared at the boy. The Dark Lord's son was that raven-haired teen?! This day was just getting weirder and weirder.
Lenis decided to go and talk with a friend of hers and walked out into the hallway. But once she was out there, the two heard her shriek:
"Lord Mosowitz!"
They both got up and ran out to see what was going on.
A vampire with same brown hair like Stella, only short and tousled with clear blue eyes and white skin looked at Lenis and replied:
"Yes, my dear?"
"How… why… WHAT?!" the female vampire got out.
Stella looked at them and said:
"Father suddenly wanted to hear everything about what you said about healers, Noir. He literally dragged me from the room."
"How good to see you back on your feet again," Noir said to the vampire. "Of course we will discuss this. I can have them brought here right now if you like."
"Oh please do," lord Mosowitz said, his voice no longer raspy but only deep. His steps were light as he stepped down the last few steps, a dreamlike face on. "It feels like I'm young again!"
Erus saw the expression the vampire wore and chuckled. Stella and her father looked at him, the exact same expression on their faces.
"Well, now I know where Stella got her dreamy expression from," he said to them. "A pleasure to meet you, lord Mosowitz. I'm happy I could help my friend to find you."
The teen bowed deeply to the vampire, and Stella wondered where he had learned how to deal with vampires and say the right things.
"Oh, you are the one who helped her?" the vampire said, waving his hand to tell Erus it was not needed to bow for him. "I cannot thank you enough, and please, do not call me lord; I shall be known as Berum to you for that is my real and only name. A title like lord is nothing I care much for."
The vampire seemed full of energy, but his body was deathly underweight and he was soon getting tired. He had not moved around a lot lately, so his bones and joints had grown stiff. He sat down in an armchair and leaned his head onto his hand.
"I have let myself become a living corpse," Berum said sadly, looking at his thin hand and long nails. "I cannot return to Bellus looking like this."
"You will not," Noir assured him. "Healers will arrive in a few minutes, and before you know it you will be back as you used to be."
Stella had to leave her father though, but he promised he would come as soon as he had healed. He also made her promise not to tell her mother; he wanted to surprise her.
As soon as they were back at Riddle Manor Stella almost hugged the life out of Erus. He gasped and said:
"Can't breathe!"
She let him go a bit and said:
"Thank you so much!"
"I just asked Noir if he could search for your father, that's all," Erus said. "I didn't really do anything."
Stella turned around and looked at the white-haired vampire. She then proceeded to give the vampire an equal strong hug and Noir chipped after breath. She then stepped away from the vampire and said:
"I can't wait to see mother's face."
"What are those three doing?" Anastasia asked Voldemort.
The man looked up and gazed through the window. Erus, Draco and Cynthia were sitting in a small circle, all three holding hands and their eyes closed.
"They said something about their blood sibling bond," the Dark Lord replied to the woman. "Cynthia wanted to explore it a bit more."
Meanwhile, the three children sunk deeper into the meditation state. When Cynthia opened her eyes, she was no longer outside.
Instead she was in a round, large room with her two brothers in front of her. They both opened their eyes and looked around.
"I wish it would be some light here," she muttered and to their surprise, sunlight came upon them. They looked up and saw a clear blue sky.
"I wish we were by a lake," Erus said and immediately the room changed into a beach and a lake nearby. He looked around and continued, "Cool."
"What's going on?" Draco and Cynthia asked.
"We are inside our minds," Erus said. "Most likely connected with our blood. And we control our minds of course so whatever we wish here will be here."
"How about some food?" Draco said and said food popped up a moment later. "Cool."
The three seated themselves to eat some before continuing their discussion.
Erus looked around the place and sighed. He absolutely hated Quidditch. Voldemort chuckled at his son and said:
"You're the one who said it was alright."
"I guess I wanted to make Draco happy for once," Erus replied and sat down by his father. "But I can't believe I still said yes to look at a Quidditch game."
"Oh, but it's the Quidditch World Cup," Voldemort reminded him.
"Since when did you like Quidditch?"
"I don't. Sirius is the one who was nagging about it."
"When is he not nagging about Quidditch?"
"When he's too busy snogging Severus," Voldemort replied before returning to the Daily Prophet.
"True," Erus muttered.
Draco came and sat down.
"Oh, why can't the day move faster?!" the teen whined.
"Don't ask me," Erus said and pulled up a book.
"Another book?" the blonde asked.
"I'm more of a reader Draco, and you know it."
"What book is it?" Cynthia asked as she sat down.
"Just something about Necromancers," Erus replied. "Where is everyone else?"
"Someone wanted to talk to dad, and then they wanted to talk to Cygnirius, and then they wanted to say something to mum and Anastasia," Draco said. "That was boring so we left."
Voldemort felt slightly left out but decided not to abandon the nice place he had just to get up and talk to people he rather wanted to kill than be nice to.
"Ah, Lucius! How nice for you to join! And your friends; how good, how good!"
The Weasleys, Dean, Seamus and Neville turned around at Fudge's voice and stared. The Malfoys were first, followed by the Bellums and finished with the two Riddles. Ron glared at Erus with hatred but the teen had still his nose buried in the book and ignored everything else. They were pretty amazed when the raven-haired teen ducked one of Anastasia's flying arms before sitting down on his place and successfully talked to both his father and Cygnirius without turning his eyes from the text.
Draco however, glared for Erus' sake at them all and then sat down where they could not see Erus so easily. Cynthia sat down on the teen's other side, glaring at the four boys at the other side with venom in her eyes. The twins had a hard time to stay serious, Ginny giggled once in a while and Bill looked at the sky, ignoring everything. Otherwise he would start acting like his little-sister or his two brothers.
Erus did not notice when the game started. Or when it ended.
"I can't bloody believe you missed it all!"
Erus looked innocently at Draco who only fumed some more at the look.
"And don't give me the look! You and your books during Quidditch-games!"
Erus shrugged and said:
"I was there."
Draco rolled his eyes and replied:
"You, my dear friend, is the only who can ignore a Quidditch World Cup-game."
"That's my charm," Erus said with a smile.
Erus was woken up by a scream and sat up in the bed. Draco looked up sleepily and mumbled:
"Dad said something about scaring the Light shitless."
Erus banged his head in the pillow and muttered:
"That means we have to get out as well, or else the Light will take us."
The blonde groaned as he realized it was true and the two got up and re-dressed quickly. As they came out Voldemort turned around and said:
"Good, you got the point. Take Cynthia with you and go to the forest nearby. We won't be there."
Erus nodded and rubbed his hair as they waited on the girl. She appeared a little while later, yawning and her hair pretty messed up. The three children walked away, Cynthia with her arms linked with the boys. Voldemort shook his head and pulled his famous 'Dark Lord'-hood up and walked away to have some fun.
"Great; here come the dark brats."
They turned to the voice and saw the four Gryffindors. Erus looked bored at them and said:
"Oh, we entered the chicken corner of the forest. Let's go to the normal corner of the forest."
"I agree," Cynthia said, smiling.
Draco said nothing; instead he sleepily steered the other two away from the four.
"You freaks!" Ron screamed.
Erus whipped his wand out but Cynthia stopped him. Ron smiled smugly at the action but was confused when the girl stepped forward. She looked at him, drew her arm back and then delivered a fist into his face. She then screamed:
"Curiosus!"
The Dementor sprang forward and opened its mouth wide, the temperature dropping several degrees. The four tried to run but the Dementor stopped them with its rotten-like hands. Erus looked at them and said:
"Cynthia, stop him now!"
She reluctantly did so and Erus wandlessly and nonverbally bound and gagged them. He looked over at the girl and said:
"Make Curiosus shrink again; Light people are coming."
She did so, now a bit ashamed over her rash decision. Erus kneeled down by them and stretched out a hand. His hand began to glow deeply purple, and he curled the hand like a claw. His voice was deep when he spoke:
"Memoria amoveo." (A/N Means Remove memory)
The purple light covered the four and when it retreated they were unconscious. He rose up and removed all traces of his magic.
"What spell was that?" Draco asked. "I've never heard it before!"
"I made it," Erus replied tonelessly. "It's Black Magic."
It was then the two children realized their friend had become something more powerful than they had ever imagined.
Tbc…
Alright, this is just ridiculous! One month! GAAAH! Well, I didn't get inspiration enough; school takes out a lot of ya! And I do believe I said the whole summer, but I skipped a bit now. Didn't check a last time for any spelling mistakes, so don't get upset becuase of that.
Chapter 26: The rest of the summer, and the beginning of fourth year. Hopefully will come out sooner than this one. Dunno if it will be any pairing between Erus and Noir, but there were some people who wanted it and I started to think about it. For now they are friends with benefits.
Until later,
Ja,
Tiro
