Harry hit the grass beyond Hogwarts castle with and audible thump. Pushing his glasses back up on his nose, his eyes followed the sounds of yelling and jeering to find Snape hanging upside down in midair again, his face a mask of hatred. Harry heard a voice call out from the crowd, "Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"
At this, the mob surrounding Snape cheered again, and Harry winced as Snape's tighty whiteys, which weren't so white anymore, inched slowly upward toward his ankles in a kind of bizarre striptease. Several girls shrieked with laughter as the boys hooted madly, and Harry felt the familiar pangs of sympathy rising in his stomach. Somehow though, he didn't feel so ashamed of his father and Sirius this time. After his talk with Sirius about it that night in the fire, and after missing him so badly, nothing he could do would make Harry think any less of him.
He watched for several more minutes, waiting for James and the others to get bored with their little game. They did, soon enough, and Snape fell to the Earth as the crowd dispersed. He landed spread eagle on the ground where he stayed for a long time, glaring at the sky and breathing hard. His breathing slowed gradually and he sat up, looking around. Harry swallowed the lump in his throat as he noticed Snape fighting to control the moisture that threatened to leak from his eyes. Harry could only guess what it would feel like to be humiliated like that in front of everyone, and he was sure that he would probably be doing the same thing if he were in Snape's position.
Time passed slowly for Harry as Snape breathed deeply, trying to calm himself. Twilight was closing in by the time Snape had managed to pull himself to his feet and trudge toward the castle. Harry looked around in surprise. He hadn't realized how late it really was.
He stared up at the sky as stars began to peek out at him from behind fluffy, curling clouds. He closed his eyes, thinking about what he was doing. He had sneaked into Snape's office and invaded his memories. What if Snape caught him here? And how did he know this would even work? He couldn't follow Sirius and James; he had to stay with Snape because it was Snape's memory.
Harry had barely had time to wonder what would happen if he strayed away from Snape when the question was answered for him. Harry felt an enormous tug on his wrists and he lurched forward, falling to the ground. He tried to pull himself up, but something that felt like gigantic, invisible hands were heaving him forward, pulling him along on his stomach as he yelped in pain. He tried to hold onto his glasses with one hand, but the invisible grip on his wrists resisted. He settled for tipping his head backward and gazing up at the sky in order to keep the glasses on his face. Finally, Snape was forced to stop at the entrance to the castle to pull open the heavy doors, giving Harry a few seconds in which to scramble to his feet and run forward a bit, so as not to be caught by the invisible force again.
Slipping into the darkening hallway, Harry had to wait for his eyes to adjust before he could locate Snape. The fifteen-year-old version of his teacher was scurrying down a passage up ahead, apparently headed for the Great Hall. Harry followed at a jog, effectively avoiding being pulled along on his stomach again, which was now scraped and bleeding a bit, he noticed.
As Harry rounded the corner, the Great Hall came into view. He saw Snape slip inside, and he followed him stealthily. Snape weaved his way through the house tables quickly, finally dropping down into a seat on the end of the Slytherin table. As he did, Harry saw a boy lean over and begin to talk to Snape in a low voice. Harry inched closer, curious, and then stopped.
He was torn. On one hand, he could listen to what the boy was telling Snape, or he could take a seat with Sirius and the others at his own table, the Gryffindor table. The decision was made for him when he started to approach the Gryffindor table and found himself in curious circumstances. He could hear the chatter of the Great Hall going on all around him, but he couldn't hear his father. That is to say, he couldn't hear what was going on at the Gryffindor table at all. It took him a moment to realize that the two house tables were so far apart that what Remus, James, Peter, and Sirius were saying was out of Snape's earshot. Because it was his memory, that meant Harry couldn't hear what was going on either. With a resigned sigh, Harry turned to the Slytherin table.
With a feeling of deep disgust, Harry sank down onto a seat next to Snape. Being this close to Slytherins of any generation was enough to make him feel queasy. He leaned closer to Snape and the boy, listening intently.
"Come on, Sev, you gotta come tonight. He'll get mad if you don't."
"Look, Antonin, I don't know if I'll be coming at all anymore. I…I'm not so sure this whole thing is a good idea after all."
Harry gasped in shock and almost keeled backward onto the floor as Snape addressed the boy. Antonin Dolohov, his face youthful but still pointed and pale, appeared shocked at Snape's bold statement. Harry's insides tied themselves in knots. What other surprises would this visit hold?
Harry was not prepared for what happened next, despite his musings. Something hit the table with a bang and Harry whipped his head around. A slender form slid into the chair across from him with a grunt of pain, and Harry felt his heart turn to ice.
Bellatrix Lestrange tossed her shimmering hair and looked Snape in the eye, a smirk playing at her lips.
"I don't think skipping the meeting is a good idea either, Sevvy dear. You got yourself into this, and you're in it until the end, just like we are," she reminded him conversationally, her hooded eyes twinkling. For just a second, Harry could have sworn those poisonous eyes had locked with his own, but a second later Bellatrix was rooting around in her bag, clearly looking for something.
Harry stared at Bellatrix without blinking for several moments. It was hard to see her this way, knowing what he knew. Right now, she was just a child, a common Slytherin thug. At this moment, she had no idea that she would one day grow up to kill Harry's beloved godfather after she had spent over a decade in Azkaban. Or maybe she did. Those eyes, those evil eyes, seemed to know something that no one else did. Yes. She knew.
At that moment, Harry would have given all the gold in Gringotts and everything he owned for a time-turner. If he had turned back time instead of entering Snape's pensieve, nothing in the world could have prevented him from killing Bellatrix. As it was, he knew that any violent action he took would have no effect. He could stab her with one of the soupspoons lying on the table and nothing even remotely sinister would happen to her. She wouldn't even sustain a bruise.
Bellatrix pulled a book out of her bag and slapped it triumphantly on top of the first one, which she had banged onto the table when she'd sat down. Harry stared at the cover, trying to read the name beneath the layer of dust, but to no avail.
"Oy! Bella! What ya got there?" Called a voice a few seats over.
Harry glanced down the table. After Bellatrix's appearance, he wasn't at all surprised to see a young Augustus Rookwood peering back at him, the acne that would scar his face forever now creeping over it like wildfire. Harry couldn't help musing to himself that poor Rookwood was even worse off than Eloise Midgen.
"Shut up you nitwit!" Hissed Bellatrix, her eyes flashing at him menacingly. Rookwood fell silent, but he slid out of his chair and wandered over to stand behind Snape, looking down at the book.
"I found a new incantation!" Bellatrix whispered excitedly to her surrounding crowd. She motioned them all closer, and Harry had to struggle to make sure that he was a part of the tightening circle. Harry noticed that MacNair the executioner had joined them. He definitely felt sick now, but he forced himself to listen attentively.
"I'm going to take it to him tonight," Bellatrix continued proudly, flipping the book open and paging through it quickly.
"But, Bella, what does it DO?" Asked a boy who looked only vaguely familiar to Harry. He realized that he had seen this boy's picture in the Daily Prophet, along with the other escaped Death Eaters.
"Honestly, Lestrange, you stupid git!" Bellatrix snapped. "It's a part of the immortality process. I don't know how much good it will do, but it will help at least a little. Anyway, you know that HE wants to know about ANY spells we find that have anything to do with immortality."
The Lestrange boy shut his mouth, looking sheepish. Harry realized that he didn't know his first name, but he figured it probably wasn't important given what he was witnessing at the moment. All thoughts of Sirius melted away as he listened intently to the plans of the young Death Eaters.
"So you see, Sevvy, I don't think it would pay to miss tonight," Bellatrix purred, winking at a seething Snape. He obviously didn't enjoy being called "Sevvy".
"Well, Bellatrix, if your discovery is as important as you say, then I sincerely doubt that HE will miss me," Snape replied silkily. "I'm sure he will be too busy examining this treasure and congratulating you on finding it to notice that I'd stayed in to do a little extra homework."
"Homework?" Scoffed Bellatrix, her smile disappearing. "Somehow I think that your reasons for staying away have nothing to do with homework. Avery and Knot are coming, and their farther behind in their studies than you are."
"They also have dismal hope of achieving any OWL's at all. I, on the other hand, would like to graduate from Hogwarts one day. I haven't gotten this far by scampering off into the wee hours of the night, Bellatrix. I have far more important matters to attend to."
With those words, Snape swept to his feet and turned to walk away, but not before Bellatrix sneered her final cutting remark to his retreating back.
"More important things like, laundry, perhaps? I have to say, Sevvy dear, your underpanties ARE a bit dirty. I'm sure HE will understand you taking a little time off for personal hygiene. Don't worry, once we tell HIM about today's little incident, I'm sure he'll be more than sympathetic."
Snape continued to stalk away as though he hadn't heard Bellatrix's comment, but Harry could tell that he had. Harry scrambled after Snape, who appeared to be headed for the Slytherin common room.
He trotted along after his teacher, thinking hard about all he had just heard. Could it really be true? Every single person he had seen Snape talking to at the Slytherin table could be identified as one of Voldemort's most loyal Death Eaters. Was it really possible that it was him they had been talking about? Were they going to see him, Voldemort, tonight? Would it even be Voldemort as Harry knew him, or would it be Tom Riddle? Harry could have kicked himself for never bothering to ask about these details of Voldemort's rise to power.
The only thing he could do was pray that Snape decided to go to the meeting after all. Harry was amazed at the change in himself. His original, selfish purpose for entering Snape's pensieve was to simply see Sirius one more time, but he had easily slipped back into what Ron would have surely dubbed "hero mode". Now that he had an idea that he was privy to information only the Death Eaters could have known, he was sure he would find out some things about Voldemort that could be important to him in the present. All he had to do was hope that Snape would lead him to Voldemort.
He was in for a long wait. The password at this time, Harry would learn, was "Serpent tongue". He supposed all the Slytherin passwords had something to do with snakes or having pure blood. After they'd entered the Slytherin common room, Snape headed for what Harry assumed was probably his room. Harry wondered if perhaps Snape occupied the same bedroom Draco Malfoy would one day sleep in. Snape seemed to be moving in the same direction Malfoy had gone the day Harry and Ron tested their Polyjuice Potion.
Upon entering the dormitory, Snape flopped down onto one of the four-poster beds lining the walls of the room. Dust rose up into the air, making Harry sneeze. It didn't bother him too much, however, as he knew that Snape couldn't hear him. Unfortunately, it was the most interesting thing that happened to Harry for hours.
Harry, though never sure of this hypothesis before, was now nearly 100% positive that death by boredom was entirely possible. No one entered the dormitory, and Snape didn't leave, either. In fact, he didn't do much of anything. He stared up at the ceiling. He played Cat's Cradle with thread from his blankets. He wrote down a bunch of odd things that seemed to Harry to be ingredients, and he wondered if Snape was already experimenting with potions. Eventually, Snape pulled out a book called "The Wand and the Wizard: How to Master Your Wood", which Harry found very funny.
It was hours before someone finally burst into the cocoon of stupor Harry had found himself encased in. He had realized some time ago that he didn't know how to escape the pensieve, so he was rather hoping that things would pick up soon, before he had to figure out a way to magic himself out.
It was Dolohov that opened the door to Snape's silent dormitory, shattering the darkness with a sliver of light emanating from behind it.
"Severus. I'm not kidding. You really have to come tonight. They got that new kid, the one HE's been trying to recruit. Bellatrix finally cracked him. Come on. Please."
Dolohov, Harry noted, sounded almost desperate for compliance. He wasn't sure if Dolohov's insistence had anything to do with Snape's well being, but he dismissed it quickly as Snape rose slowly from his bed and crossed to the door. His heart beat faster. Snape was going to go.
Harry trooped along behind Dolohov and Snape, neither of whom said a word as they marched out of the castle and across the grounds. Harry noticed that they did not seem concerned with security. In fact, neither of them even flinched as they passed several teachers monitoring the hallway. Harry guessed that they must have made themselves invisible somehow, and wondered why he could still see them.
Harry followed the others to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, a hundred yards or so out of reach of the Whomping Willow, whose tendrils swayed gently in the breeze. Harry shivered at the sinister sight and turned back to examine his surroundings.
Snape and Dolohov stood at the edge of a large circle of people, all holding their lit wands aloft. Every face in the crowd was turned toward the center of the circle, facing the man standing there. He was the most beautiful man Harry had ever seen, but he possessed the face Harry had grown to hate more than any other. Tom Riddle stood in the center of the circle, smiling grimly in the wand light. He opened his mouth to speak, and not even the sounds of the wind overhead could be heard in the background.
"My friends," began Riddle, smiling even more broadly, "it is an important night indeed. Bellatrix has brought me not one, but two gifts tonight. Not only has she discovered the key to my immortality, she has also brought me a new Death Eater. It is in his blood, and now he will join us at last."
Riddle turned and beckoned a figure behind him to come forward, and Harry stifled a scream as Sirius Black's grinning face was lit by the ominous glow of the Death Eaters' wands.
At this, the mob surrounding Snape cheered again, and Harry winced as Snape's tighty whiteys, which weren't so white anymore, inched slowly upward toward his ankles in a kind of bizarre striptease. Several girls shrieked with laughter as the boys hooted madly, and Harry felt the familiar pangs of sympathy rising in his stomach. Somehow though, he didn't feel so ashamed of his father and Sirius this time. After his talk with Sirius about it that night in the fire, and after missing him so badly, nothing he could do would make Harry think any less of him.
He watched for several more minutes, waiting for James and the others to get bored with their little game. They did, soon enough, and Snape fell to the Earth as the crowd dispersed. He landed spread eagle on the ground where he stayed for a long time, glaring at the sky and breathing hard. His breathing slowed gradually and he sat up, looking around. Harry swallowed the lump in his throat as he noticed Snape fighting to control the moisture that threatened to leak from his eyes. Harry could only guess what it would feel like to be humiliated like that in front of everyone, and he was sure that he would probably be doing the same thing if he were in Snape's position.
Time passed slowly for Harry as Snape breathed deeply, trying to calm himself. Twilight was closing in by the time Snape had managed to pull himself to his feet and trudge toward the castle. Harry looked around in surprise. He hadn't realized how late it really was.
He stared up at the sky as stars began to peek out at him from behind fluffy, curling clouds. He closed his eyes, thinking about what he was doing. He had sneaked into Snape's office and invaded his memories. What if Snape caught him here? And how did he know this would even work? He couldn't follow Sirius and James; he had to stay with Snape because it was Snape's memory.
Harry had barely had time to wonder what would happen if he strayed away from Snape when the question was answered for him. Harry felt an enormous tug on his wrists and he lurched forward, falling to the ground. He tried to pull himself up, but something that felt like gigantic, invisible hands were heaving him forward, pulling him along on his stomach as he yelped in pain. He tried to hold onto his glasses with one hand, but the invisible grip on his wrists resisted. He settled for tipping his head backward and gazing up at the sky in order to keep the glasses on his face. Finally, Snape was forced to stop at the entrance to the castle to pull open the heavy doors, giving Harry a few seconds in which to scramble to his feet and run forward a bit, so as not to be caught by the invisible force again.
Slipping into the darkening hallway, Harry had to wait for his eyes to adjust before he could locate Snape. The fifteen-year-old version of his teacher was scurrying down a passage up ahead, apparently headed for the Great Hall. Harry followed at a jog, effectively avoiding being pulled along on his stomach again, which was now scraped and bleeding a bit, he noticed.
As Harry rounded the corner, the Great Hall came into view. He saw Snape slip inside, and he followed him stealthily. Snape weaved his way through the house tables quickly, finally dropping down into a seat on the end of the Slytherin table. As he did, Harry saw a boy lean over and begin to talk to Snape in a low voice. Harry inched closer, curious, and then stopped.
He was torn. On one hand, he could listen to what the boy was telling Snape, or he could take a seat with Sirius and the others at his own table, the Gryffindor table. The decision was made for him when he started to approach the Gryffindor table and found himself in curious circumstances. He could hear the chatter of the Great Hall going on all around him, but he couldn't hear his father. That is to say, he couldn't hear what was going on at the Gryffindor table at all. It took him a moment to realize that the two house tables were so far apart that what Remus, James, Peter, and Sirius were saying was out of Snape's earshot. Because it was his memory, that meant Harry couldn't hear what was going on either. With a resigned sigh, Harry turned to the Slytherin table.
With a feeling of deep disgust, Harry sank down onto a seat next to Snape. Being this close to Slytherins of any generation was enough to make him feel queasy. He leaned closer to Snape and the boy, listening intently.
"Come on, Sev, you gotta come tonight. He'll get mad if you don't."
"Look, Antonin, I don't know if I'll be coming at all anymore. I…I'm not so sure this whole thing is a good idea after all."
Harry gasped in shock and almost keeled backward onto the floor as Snape addressed the boy. Antonin Dolohov, his face youthful but still pointed and pale, appeared shocked at Snape's bold statement. Harry's insides tied themselves in knots. What other surprises would this visit hold?
Harry was not prepared for what happened next, despite his musings. Something hit the table with a bang and Harry whipped his head around. A slender form slid into the chair across from him with a grunt of pain, and Harry felt his heart turn to ice.
Bellatrix Lestrange tossed her shimmering hair and looked Snape in the eye, a smirk playing at her lips.
"I don't think skipping the meeting is a good idea either, Sevvy dear. You got yourself into this, and you're in it until the end, just like we are," she reminded him conversationally, her hooded eyes twinkling. For just a second, Harry could have sworn those poisonous eyes had locked with his own, but a second later Bellatrix was rooting around in her bag, clearly looking for something.
Harry stared at Bellatrix without blinking for several moments. It was hard to see her this way, knowing what he knew. Right now, she was just a child, a common Slytherin thug. At this moment, she had no idea that she would one day grow up to kill Harry's beloved godfather after she had spent over a decade in Azkaban. Or maybe she did. Those eyes, those evil eyes, seemed to know something that no one else did. Yes. She knew.
At that moment, Harry would have given all the gold in Gringotts and everything he owned for a time-turner. If he had turned back time instead of entering Snape's pensieve, nothing in the world could have prevented him from killing Bellatrix. As it was, he knew that any violent action he took would have no effect. He could stab her with one of the soupspoons lying on the table and nothing even remotely sinister would happen to her. She wouldn't even sustain a bruise.
Bellatrix pulled a book out of her bag and slapped it triumphantly on top of the first one, which she had banged onto the table when she'd sat down. Harry stared at the cover, trying to read the name beneath the layer of dust, but to no avail.
"Oy! Bella! What ya got there?" Called a voice a few seats over.
Harry glanced down the table. After Bellatrix's appearance, he wasn't at all surprised to see a young Augustus Rookwood peering back at him, the acne that would scar his face forever now creeping over it like wildfire. Harry couldn't help musing to himself that poor Rookwood was even worse off than Eloise Midgen.
"Shut up you nitwit!" Hissed Bellatrix, her eyes flashing at him menacingly. Rookwood fell silent, but he slid out of his chair and wandered over to stand behind Snape, looking down at the book.
"I found a new incantation!" Bellatrix whispered excitedly to her surrounding crowd. She motioned them all closer, and Harry had to struggle to make sure that he was a part of the tightening circle. Harry noticed that MacNair the executioner had joined them. He definitely felt sick now, but he forced himself to listen attentively.
"I'm going to take it to him tonight," Bellatrix continued proudly, flipping the book open and paging through it quickly.
"But, Bella, what does it DO?" Asked a boy who looked only vaguely familiar to Harry. He realized that he had seen this boy's picture in the Daily Prophet, along with the other escaped Death Eaters.
"Honestly, Lestrange, you stupid git!" Bellatrix snapped. "It's a part of the immortality process. I don't know how much good it will do, but it will help at least a little. Anyway, you know that HE wants to know about ANY spells we find that have anything to do with immortality."
The Lestrange boy shut his mouth, looking sheepish. Harry realized that he didn't know his first name, but he figured it probably wasn't important given what he was witnessing at the moment. All thoughts of Sirius melted away as he listened intently to the plans of the young Death Eaters.
"So you see, Sevvy, I don't think it would pay to miss tonight," Bellatrix purred, winking at a seething Snape. He obviously didn't enjoy being called "Sevvy".
"Well, Bellatrix, if your discovery is as important as you say, then I sincerely doubt that HE will miss me," Snape replied silkily. "I'm sure he will be too busy examining this treasure and congratulating you on finding it to notice that I'd stayed in to do a little extra homework."
"Homework?" Scoffed Bellatrix, her smile disappearing. "Somehow I think that your reasons for staying away have nothing to do with homework. Avery and Knot are coming, and their farther behind in their studies than you are."
"They also have dismal hope of achieving any OWL's at all. I, on the other hand, would like to graduate from Hogwarts one day. I haven't gotten this far by scampering off into the wee hours of the night, Bellatrix. I have far more important matters to attend to."
With those words, Snape swept to his feet and turned to walk away, but not before Bellatrix sneered her final cutting remark to his retreating back.
"More important things like, laundry, perhaps? I have to say, Sevvy dear, your underpanties ARE a bit dirty. I'm sure HE will understand you taking a little time off for personal hygiene. Don't worry, once we tell HIM about today's little incident, I'm sure he'll be more than sympathetic."
Snape continued to stalk away as though he hadn't heard Bellatrix's comment, but Harry could tell that he had. Harry scrambled after Snape, who appeared to be headed for the Slytherin common room.
He trotted along after his teacher, thinking hard about all he had just heard. Could it really be true? Every single person he had seen Snape talking to at the Slytherin table could be identified as one of Voldemort's most loyal Death Eaters. Was it really possible that it was him they had been talking about? Were they going to see him, Voldemort, tonight? Would it even be Voldemort as Harry knew him, or would it be Tom Riddle? Harry could have kicked himself for never bothering to ask about these details of Voldemort's rise to power.
The only thing he could do was pray that Snape decided to go to the meeting after all. Harry was amazed at the change in himself. His original, selfish purpose for entering Snape's pensieve was to simply see Sirius one more time, but he had easily slipped back into what Ron would have surely dubbed "hero mode". Now that he had an idea that he was privy to information only the Death Eaters could have known, he was sure he would find out some things about Voldemort that could be important to him in the present. All he had to do was hope that Snape would lead him to Voldemort.
He was in for a long wait. The password at this time, Harry would learn, was "Serpent tongue". He supposed all the Slytherin passwords had something to do with snakes or having pure blood. After they'd entered the Slytherin common room, Snape headed for what Harry assumed was probably his room. Harry wondered if perhaps Snape occupied the same bedroom Draco Malfoy would one day sleep in. Snape seemed to be moving in the same direction Malfoy had gone the day Harry and Ron tested their Polyjuice Potion.
Upon entering the dormitory, Snape flopped down onto one of the four-poster beds lining the walls of the room. Dust rose up into the air, making Harry sneeze. It didn't bother him too much, however, as he knew that Snape couldn't hear him. Unfortunately, it was the most interesting thing that happened to Harry for hours.
Harry, though never sure of this hypothesis before, was now nearly 100% positive that death by boredom was entirely possible. No one entered the dormitory, and Snape didn't leave, either. In fact, he didn't do much of anything. He stared up at the ceiling. He played Cat's Cradle with thread from his blankets. He wrote down a bunch of odd things that seemed to Harry to be ingredients, and he wondered if Snape was already experimenting with potions. Eventually, Snape pulled out a book called "The Wand and the Wizard: How to Master Your Wood", which Harry found very funny.
It was hours before someone finally burst into the cocoon of stupor Harry had found himself encased in. He had realized some time ago that he didn't know how to escape the pensieve, so he was rather hoping that things would pick up soon, before he had to figure out a way to magic himself out.
It was Dolohov that opened the door to Snape's silent dormitory, shattering the darkness with a sliver of light emanating from behind it.
"Severus. I'm not kidding. You really have to come tonight. They got that new kid, the one HE's been trying to recruit. Bellatrix finally cracked him. Come on. Please."
Dolohov, Harry noted, sounded almost desperate for compliance. He wasn't sure if Dolohov's insistence had anything to do with Snape's well being, but he dismissed it quickly as Snape rose slowly from his bed and crossed to the door. His heart beat faster. Snape was going to go.
Harry trooped along behind Dolohov and Snape, neither of whom said a word as they marched out of the castle and across the grounds. Harry noticed that they did not seem concerned with security. In fact, neither of them even flinched as they passed several teachers monitoring the hallway. Harry guessed that they must have made themselves invisible somehow, and wondered why he could still see them.
Harry followed the others to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, a hundred yards or so out of reach of the Whomping Willow, whose tendrils swayed gently in the breeze. Harry shivered at the sinister sight and turned back to examine his surroundings.
Snape and Dolohov stood at the edge of a large circle of people, all holding their lit wands aloft. Every face in the crowd was turned toward the center of the circle, facing the man standing there. He was the most beautiful man Harry had ever seen, but he possessed the face Harry had grown to hate more than any other. Tom Riddle stood in the center of the circle, smiling grimly in the wand light. He opened his mouth to speak, and not even the sounds of the wind overhead could be heard in the background.
"My friends," began Riddle, smiling even more broadly, "it is an important night indeed. Bellatrix has brought me not one, but two gifts tonight. Not only has she discovered the key to my immortality, she has also brought me a new Death Eater. It is in his blood, and now he will join us at last."
Riddle turned and beckoned a figure behind him to come forward, and Harry stifled a scream as Sirius Black's grinning face was lit by the ominous glow of the Death Eaters' wands.