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-Chapter 4-

A Meeting

The room was dark and damp. The walls and floor were black and the ceiling was too, with a chandelier hung from the middle. Many of the lightbulbs were smashed and broken but no one ever got round to fixing them. They shouldn't be staying long in their 'borrowed' residence. A long, wooden table stood in the middle of the room with several candles on it all burning mysteriously.

Spiders hung in their webs, waiting for what was about to happen. They waited for their prey and sat in the middle, being blown about with the wind. Which was howling about the room in a temper and raging in every corner. A couple of puffskiens ran away from the building and a unicorn ran to alert the others, in the wood outside. Dark wizards liked unicorns, they liked their blood and they liked them dead.

The centaurs knew it was coming. They had seen it in the stars and the history of the earth. It would be stopped, but not for a while yet. Maybe months, maybe years would go by before he was over thrown. They dreamily watched the night sky, reading in between the stars and sparsely conversing with one another.

A man walked down a long, spindly, spiral staircase that was in one corner of the room. He was wearing flowing black robes and at fifty-four, Tom Marvolo Riddle looked very good for his age. He was handsome and charming, but with a twisted smile and red eyes. Also instead of a nose he just had two slits. This may have been from the drugs or from the snake venom he was using to make himself even more powerful. He was a determined man and extremely good at magic, especially the dark arts.

Tom had a flaw though. He was greedy and power hungry. He was also ambitious. He had been preparing for his attacks since he was eighteen and had them all ready. He had even planned ahead for the future, preserving his eighteen year old self in a diary and then left it lying around so that if someone found it he could tell them how to open the Chamber of Secrets. He was the heir of Slytherin and proud of it. But no one needed to know that just yet.

He had been a model student at school so no one would think of him when they were trying to guess who the evil man was. He would use his alternate name. Instead of Tom Marvolo Riddle he twisted the letters round and came up with I am Lord Voldemort. Which, he thought, worked very nicely. Very nicely indeed.

He walked down the rest of the stairs and stood on the table with his arms in the air and began spinning. Creating a spooky humming noise and a white light. He carried on and it got brighter and brighter and faster and faster. But he soon got bored of it, like he did with so many things. He stopped and the light burnt itself out. He smiled and watched the stairs.

He was followed by about twenty hooded figures. Who glided down the stairs and took their place in a circle around the snake man. They were all different heights, some men and some women. Some of them looked nervous and were shaking slightly but most of them stood proud and tall and they were all dark and mysterious. The man scanned his supporters and went to each one in turn. He told them to hold out their arm as he touched his wand to their forearm and whispered 'mosmordrearmo.' The followers winced in pain, but Tom showed no mercy as he moved onto the next one.

Severus Snape stood silently in line next to Lucius Malfoy. Idiots, he thought, they don't have to go through this torture if they don't want to. I have no choice, but they do. You'd think that the ones that knew what was coming would back out. They're only doing it because they're scared of him. They don't actually believe all this nonsense.

Tom moved onto Malfoy who whimpered, but stood proud and strong, not daring to open his mouth in case he screamed.

When Tom reached Snape he paused and looked him over. Piercing Snape's eyes with his own. Looking them over for signs of guilt and purity. He found neither and cautiously placed his wand on Snape's arm and said 'mosmordrearmo' and moved onto Igor Karkaroff, who was next in line and shaking violently.

Snape looked down at his arm and saw the deadly skull engraved on it. He sighed and remembered about the Order. He was doing the right thing. It was his duty. It would earn him respect, although his father would probably disown him. But what did he care? He hated his father. Always trying to show off and be better than everybody else. Snape was left to his own devices. No one cared what happened to him. And to be honest, he didn't care either. No one wanted him. He was good for nothing. He didn't want to be evil and he didn't want to be good. So he was pleased when Dumbledore came up with the plan.

The plan was already working splendidly. They all thought he was a deatheater, apart from the people who knew the truth. Everyone would love him when he managed to over throw Voldemort and he would be the hero for once. Not Potter. Not Black. But him. Severus Snape.

Tom Riddle had finished marking his followers and had now returned to the middle of the circle, leaving the deatheathers behind. Some of them were on the floor, some were clutching their arms and quite a few were crying in pain. Tom laughed. He stood in the centre laughing a cold, high pitched laugh and said 'mosmordre' and a skull appeared in the sky.

He's a lunatic, thought Snape, a raving lunatic. He's mad. Why does he want to do this? Think of the muggles that are dead and the muggles that will die. Probably the wizards as well, if they get in his way to seize power. I wouldn't mind so much if he got Potter or Black, but if he touched Lily I'd kill him! He'll probably target her as well, I mean she's a mudblood and she's incredibly powerful. She'll put up a good fight though! Just think! Her and me could be the ones to stop him! Together!

He was snapped out of his wishful thinking when Voldemort began to speak. Snape didn't like his voice, but he wasn't scared of it. It was high, like his laugh and dangerously soft.

"My supporters" he said waving an arm at them "you are now free to kill! When you kill think of me and remember you will have power! There is no good and evil only power and those too weak to seek it! Remember to look for mudbloods and muggles first and make sure you get rid of them all! Now go!"

They left the room and apparated back to their homes. Snape went straight to Hogwarts, to report his progress to Dumbledore and have a word with him about letting Potter be Head Boy.

Tom sat on the table with his serpent Nagini twisting around his arms and going over his plans. If indeed this prophecy is true then this boy's parents will be extremely powerful, so he was going to have to find someone at Hogwarts to help him sort out the powerful form the weak. He also needed help getting rid of mudbloods, they really were disgusting and needed getting rid of as soon as possible. Mudbloods were not proper witches and wizards and they don't even have proper surnames. It's surnames that count.

He thought about his life so far. Before Hogwarts he was raised in an orphanage. He was glad. Better there than with his filthy, muggle father. No wonder he got rid of his dirty name quickly. If was disgusting. He thought about life at Hogwarts. Sucking up to the teachers, making plans for his future, opening the chamber and framing that great oaf Rubeus Hagrid. He was a fool if he thought that no one could see he had an aromantula in a box! Then he thought about his long year's preparations for his uprising. His careful preservation of himself in the diary, his pinpointing of muggles, his enlisting of supporters and of course his revision of dark curses. He was going to take over the world and no one would get in his way. Not even the boy because he would deal with his parents.

He let go of his serpent and it slithered along the floor and curled up in a corner, hissing softly. Tom looked up and saw a face in the window, which ran off with a face of terror when he knew he'd been spotted.

"Accio" said Tom lazily and the boy came to him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see anything" the boy stuttered, looking really frightened.

"What's your name boy?" Tom drawled, looking him up and down. He was small, chubby, with mousy hair, blue watery eyes and a pointy, ratty face.

"Peter Pettigrew" he managed to stammer. He was staring at his toes and wriggling them about. Sweat was pouring down his face and his breathing was fast.

"How old are you Peter?" Tom said silkily.

"Seventeen, eighteen this year" Peter said, pushing his words out with force.

"So you're still at Hogwarts? Are you not?" he said, smiling grimly.

"Yes, about to start my final year" he said looking further at the floor. He was terrified of the man's face. It was hideous. Like a snake. But not a snake. It was a scary combination of a man and a snake, it freaked him out.

"How would you like to help me out, Peter? And gain a little power?" Tom said, still smiling, he had found his spy. It was exactly what he was looking for. A fool. Yes, this would be easy.

Peter thought it over. Power? Power would be nice! It wasn't pleasant being bossed around all the time. He could be like James Potter if he had power! Maybe even better! He would be able to boss James Potter about! That would show him! The great Peter Pettigrew! It sounded good! The almighty great and powerful Peter Pettigrew! Yes, power sounded good.

"What would I have to do?" he asked, looking at the man's face at last. It wasn't all that bad. He could get used to it. He wondered how old the man was. Forty? Maybe even fifty? He couldn't tell. The snake like features made it hard to determine or even estimate an age of this creature. For he could hardly be called a man.

"I am on my way to the top! I will soon be the greatest wizard there ever has been ever will be. Lord Voldemort and his faithful servants, sorry, followers and sharers of glory will rule the world. All I need you to do is let me know all the names of good wizards and mudbloods from your school and then give them to me! Then, my dear Peter, everyone shall know your name for being the greatest person alive for ratting out all of the evil wizards! Now, Peter, do any names jump straight to your head?"

"A couple, my lord. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Lily Evans, Katie Felton and Gemini Black are the best witches and wizards in Gryffindor house and I can easily find out others. By the way, Lily Evans is a mudblood."

Peter talked to Tom about all sorts of things and Peter started to quite like him. He was a nice person and he was only trying to do good things. He could make the world a better place and make those less fortunate bigger people. Lord Voldemort was the right path to choose and Peter would never let anyone else rule his life ever again. Voldemort would give him everything he ever wanted and make sure he got what he wanted. In return Peter would do anything he asked him to do and do it properly and thoroughly.

Voldemort was pleased. He had found exactly what he was looking for. A gullible fool. He was in Gryffindor, so he might be brave, but he doubted it. He was a nervous, dithering imbecile and totally under Tom Riddle's charm. Tom had always been able to charm the people he needed to and it came in very useful. The only person who hadn't fallen for it was Albus Dumbledore, the old transfiguration teacher and now the headmaster of Hogwarts. Tom was more powerful though and had spells that Dumbledore would never have. Dark spells. Evil spells. Black magic.

Tom planned out his attacks carefully and decided to wait until the school was up and running again before attacking it. In the meantime he could cure his boredom by torturing and murdering innocent muggles. It was always fun. He now had a spy and would get all the information he needed, and then discard of poor little Peter the gullible idiot. This was going to be fun.

Tom Riddle sent Peter home in the early hours of the morning. Then he milked Nagini and drank her venom. He looked over a few spells before going to sleep in his borrowed residence. It wouldn't last long though, they would soon realise that the muggles from this house were dead and he would have to leave. It was a good enough place whilst it lasted though and he would make it serve it's purpose. Which was to house him and make a meeting place until the time was right to attack. He was looking forward to the attacking part. He got great satisfaction out of watching others suffer. That was just the way his sick mind worked though, it couldn't be helped. He had killed someone when he was at school and sent someone to prison and now he would do a lot more. He had already killed his first victims, his father, grandfather, grandmother and a family of muggles and there were more to come. Mudbloods and muggles better watch out Tom Marvolo Riddle is about.