~ Chapter Seven : The Death Eater Meeting ~
"Ah, my loyal Death Eaters," Voldemort crowed as they formed a loose circle around him. He frowned at the two newcomers. "And who is this?"
"My Lord," Lucius began, before the man who had led them there could get a word in. "These two are students from Hogwarts who wish to join you."
Voldemort smiled a twisted smile. "Students. Good. And which houses are you in?"
"Well, we were in Ravenclaw but now we're in Gryffindor," Harry explained, fighting to control his instinct to fight against Voldemort. Thankfully his scar wasn't burning (perhaps because he didn't have a scar at the moment).
Voldemort appeared to be confused. "Now…? What?"
"Apparently, Dumbledore decided to sort all the students again this year. Most of them are in new houses. My own son, Draco, is still in Slytherin whereas Crabbe's son is now in Gryffindor," Lucius said smugly.
Crabbe Senior gasped in shock and gazed accusingly at Lucius.
"And Harry Potter? Which house is he in now?" Voldemort asked, his red eyes gleaming. All eyes turned to Harry.
"Uh, he's in Slytherin," Harry said, he hated being forced to reveal that, knowing that they would now set up a plan to kidnap him and probably try to make Draco do it.
"Harry Potter is a Slytherin," Voldemort said, rubbing his hands together. "Well, perhaps I shouldn't try to kill him. Perhaps I should try to gain him as an ally."
Voldemort stared in thoughtful silence for a moment. "This needs further thought. Now, as for our two little students. What are your names boys?"
"Alex Bones, my Lord," Harry said, bowing his head respectfully.
"Michael Abbot, my Lord," Draco said, taking Harry's lead.
"Well, Michael Abbot and Alex Bones, do you come here of your own free will?" Voldemort asked, his voice deceptively low.
"Yes," Harry replied firmly.
"Yes," Draco replied.
"Do you pledge yourself to the cause? Do you agree to do whatever is asked of you without fail?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Come here, Bones," Voldemort commanded.
Harry walked forward, his eyes staring deeply into Voldemort's, never flinching away.
Voldemort smiled. "You have balls. I like that," he said to Harry. "Hold out your left wrist."
Harry pushed away the shock he felt at being initiated so soon. The way Draco had described it, it could take months before they were allowed to join. But then something the man they had met at the Hog's Head came back to him 'He's been looking for some young recruits for a while now' and then he remembered his own sense of dread in response to that statement.
Harry held out his wrist and watched in detached silence as Voldemort pointed his wand towards his wrist. Harry stood his ground and bit back the pain as it felt like thousands of razor blades sliced into his wrist. Harry tasted the coppery tang of blood pool in his mouth as he bit through his lip.
After a long moment the pain passed and Voldemort looked pleased. "Behold, before you we have the future of the Death Eaters. Strong young men who can withstand pain without flinching, who are not afraid to face me but you will not cross me, will you young Alex."
"No, my Lord," Harry murmured. Voldemort waved him back to his place in the circle and gestured for Draco to come forward.
Draco took note of what had just happened and how Voldemort had reacted and knew that he would have to be just as strong as Harry. He steeled himself and walked over to face the Dark Lord. He held out his left wrist.
"Ah, eager, my new recruit? Good, good," Voldemort crooned before he repositioned his wand and said the incantation.
Draco gritted his teeth to keep from making a sound. How the hell had Harry done it? Draco's right fist clenched and he fought what felt like a losing battle with the pain, trying to tame it, bend it to his will. He must have succeeded because suddenly the pain stopped and he glanced down. There it was. The dark mark on his pale skin.
"Another strong young recruit. I am pleased tonight," Voldemort was saying, raking his eyes around his Death Eaters as Draco returned to his position in the circle. "Now, reports from the field. First…I think…yes, Severus, what news from Hogwarts?"
A masked Death Eater stepped forward and a hand reached up to remove the mask. It was indeed Severus Snape. Harry felt his heart drop as he realised that Snape would tell Dumbledore what two of his students had done tonight. It wouldn't take them long to realise that it wasn't the two whose names they'd used and then they'd start a full scale search for the marked students. They would have to try to get Wormtail tonight.
"My Lord," Snape was saying. "There is little to tell from Hogwarts. That beast, Hagrid is not back yet from meeting with the giants. Dumbledore continues to try to convince Fudge of your return, with little success I might add. So he does not have the Ministry's approval to do anything to try to oppose you."
"Why did you not tell me of Dumbledore's little re-sorting ceremony sooner?" Voldemort asked, his voice suddenly cold and harsh. He was pointing his wand at Snape and Harry just knew he was going to use Crucio on him.
"I…uh…" Snape started to explain.
"Crucio," Voldemort said, sounding almost bored. Snape's knees buckled beneath him and he fell to the ground but did not utter a sound.
Harry had to exert extreme self-control to stand still and not do anything to stop the torture from continuing. He felt Draco tense beside him and knew he was feeling the same way. Snape would probably never be Harry's favourite teacher but over the past month he had gotten to know his new head of house and he was not as bad as he often made himself seem.
Finally Voldemort decided he had had enough and he lifted the curse but Snape had already passed out. The meeting continued as if nothing had happened. "Lucius, how are things in the Ministry?"
"Fudge is in denial still. We have a growing number of allies in the Ministry, including, and I have to say that is really is a coup for us, Percy Weasley," Lucius announced arrogantly.
Voldemort's eyes widened as Harry and Draco's did as well. "We have a Weasley? He wants to join us? Well done, Lucius. We have been trying to turn a Weasley over to our side for decades and finally Lucius has done it. Bring him to our next meeting and we shall initiate him. Any other news?"
There was much shuffling of feet and general staring around at anything other than Voldemort.
"Fine. I shall go now. But at the next meeting, at the same time next week, I shall expect to have some news from each of you. And my newest Death Eaters, you shall bring me news of some new recruits from Hogwarts, names of some students who will join us," Voldemort said before glancing down at Snape.
Harry and Draco nodded.
"Take Severus back to Hogwarts with you, he's still out cold," Voldemort commanded.
"Yes, my Lord," Draco replied and he walked over to his professor to assess the situation.
Voldemort and most of the Death Eaters apparated away but Lucius caught Wormtail's arm before he could apparate too. A fierce but quiet conversation ensued which Harry watched carefully to see if he could catch Wormtail before he could get away.
Lucius whispered what looked like a final threat and dropped Wormtail's arm before apparating away.
"Sir?" Harry called out to Wormtail before he could get away. The rat turned around curiously.
"Sir, I was wondering…uh what's it like to be so close to the Dark Lord?" Harry asked, trying to sound like he was in awe of Wormtail's trusted position in the Dark Lord's inner circle.
"Well, it's a very privileged position," Wormtail, a.k.a Peter Pettigrew said proudly.
"You must be very clever to have a position like that," Harry continued.
"Oh yes," Wormtail agreed heartily.
"Do you think maybe you could help us with Snape? We aren't sure how to get him back to Hogwart's and surely a smart wizard like yourself will be able to help us," Harry said, hoping that Wormtail wouldn't remember that he was supposed to be a smart Ravenclaw student.
"Well, I really should go," Wormtail said uncertainly.
"It will only take a minute," Harry cajoled.
"Okay, but then I have to go," Wormtail said, agreeing to help them.
The two of them stepped over to Snape and Draco (who had been listening to the conversation between Harry and Wormtail and had an idea of what Harry was planning). Wormtail took out his wand and enervated Snape, who looked groggily around for a moment before Draco grabbed Snape's arm and slung his arm around Harry's waist. In that instant Harry grabbed Wormtail's arm and reached into his pocket for the portkey. All four of them felt the strange hook-like pull around the navel.
Dumbledore's office
Albus Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, shuffling through paperwork and drinking tea, as he waited for Severus to return from the weekly Death Eater meeting. He sighed heavily as he thought of what Severus was forced to endure in order to spy for the light.
Suddenly four people appeared out of nowhere in his office. With the reflexes of a man half his age, Dumbledore had his wand in his hand in an instant. He immediately recognised the crumpled body of Severus and his eyes moved to the other three. He recognised all of them but one caused his eyes to widen as he raised his wand.
"Petrificus Totalus," Dumbledore said resolutely. Harry let go of Wormtail at that moment and the rat's body froze and fell to the floor. Harry reached down, pulled his wand out of his hand and politely put it on Dumbledore's desk.
Dumbledore's eyes scanned the two students in front of him. "Alex Bones and Michael Abbot. This is indeed a surprise."
Harry cleared his throat and glanced at Draco, who nodded his acceptance. "Actually, Sir, we're not Alex and Michael, we took Polyjuice potion. I'm Harry Potter, and this is Draco Malfoy."
Snape, who had managed to drag himself into an armchair, stared at them in disbelief. "But you were initiated!"
Dumbledore gasped, "You weren't."
Harry responded by pulling up the sleeve of his robe to reveal the dark mark. Draco did the same.
"Oh sweet Merlin," Dumbledore said as he dropped back down into his chair, suddenly looking so much older than he usually did.
"When does the potion wear off?" Dumbledore asked.
"At about nine am," Draco replied.
"Well done on brewing a Polyjuice potion, Draco," Snape said wearily but still managed to convey the impression that there was no way Harry could have done it.
"Hey! I'll have you know that Hermione, Ron and I brewed Polyjuice potion in our second year!" Harry said indignantly.
"What?" Snape snorted.
Dumbledore merely smiled at this information. "Well, as it's currently two am, there are still a number of hours before the two of you return to your normal bodies. Your roommates will be asleep by now so you can go back to your dorm now. I will deal with Mister Pettigrew. Oh, boys, perhaps you can go via the hospital wing and send Madam Pomfrey up here to attend to Professor Snape. She knows the meeting was tonight, you just need to let her know that he is here."
The two boys nodded and walked to the door.
"Harry, Draco, I expect to see you in my office after lunch, say around two pm," Dumbledore said sternly.
"Yes sir," they both replied before leaving the office.
As they walked through the hallways towards the hospital wing, Harry remembered what it had felt like to have Draco's arm around him. It was a nice memory and Harry wished Draco would put his arm around him now. He sighed.
"You know, you're going to have your father on your back about getting me to Voldemort now," Harry said lightly.
"You know I'm going to ignore him. I told you I wasn't going back home again and now I really can't because if he sees this, he'll know it was me," Draco said, tapping the wrist with the dark mark.
Harry instinctively grabbed Draco's hand and squeezed it supportively. He was about to let go when Draco clutched at his fingers so he hung on. They walked through the halls like this, holding hands until they reached the hospital wing.
Back in one of the corridors they had passed through, two heads appeared from behind a statue of a humpbacked witch.
"Did you see that?" one seventh year student, a boy, asked excitedly.
"Did I ever!" the other seventh year student, another boy who looked identical to the first boy, replied.
TBC