A/N: Fun chapter, this. I almost wish it was next chapter though, because then is where all the real bloodshed shall begin. Oh well, this chapter is introducing the plot in a slightly better way.

Disclaimer: When have I ever said I own Harry Potter?

Chapter 9

Harry watched as Bella tossed and turned in her sleep, obviously caught in some nightmare. He was half considering waking her, but, not knowing how serious the nightmare was, he didn't want too risk it. Some times, when woken from a nightmare, it only made it worse.

"No, please," Bella muttered, and tossed against. "Please don't hurt me."

Harry gulped at that. In his experience, whenever someone muttered 'please don't hurt me' whilst a sleep it usually had something to do with a terrible memory - but what had been so painful in her past? He knew that her life with Rodulphus (he didn't quite know how her former husband had died, only that it had been quite gruesome) had been far from wonderful, but he also knew Rodulphus hadn't beat his wife, preferring to take his anger out on unsuspecting muggles.

He also knew that ever since she had become a Death Eater she had only been in trouble once or twice with the Dark Lord, and, as it always was, it was for something she deserved, so that only really left her childhood.

Thinking about it, he knew very little about Bella's childhood, other than she and her sisters and parents had lived at Grimmauld Place with her aunt, uncle and two cousins (one of which was Sirius) but other than that... Nothing. He knew absolutely nothing, besides what he had heard from Sirius when he had been alive.

Harry smiled at that thought. It didn't hurt to think about Sirius being dead anymore, or even to talk about the convict at all. He never would have thought it possible when he had first died, but then, he had also not thought it possible that he would be amongst the Dark Lord's inner circle of Death Eaters, having fully betrayed the Light and Dumbledore (here Harry smirked) by telling the Dark Lord who the only known spy was in the circle; Snape. It was funny how things could change in such a short period of time.

Bella whimpered one last time, and tossed a couple more, then relaxed falling into a deep sleep. Harry let an ugly expression which wasn't quite identifiable come onto his face. Now he could be sure he wouldn't be disturbed in his self-taught occlumency. So far he had, in the few days since had had returned from Azkaban, already advanced considerably compared to what Snape had tried to teach him the year before.

During Harry's second stretch in Azkaban he had started to realise a few thoughts (which he had managed to hide from the Dark Lord upon his rescue). The main thing was the prophecy. It said that either he or the Dark Lord would have to kill the other in order for survival, and that nothing could kill else could kill the other until the one of them died. Basically that was a form of temporary immortality, which explained why the Dark Lord had not killed him when he had hold him about the prophecy. But it also made him see something.

Destiny was important. It was his destiny to kill or be killed by Voldemort, and, by Merlin, he wasn't going to be killed, which only left one option: to kill. And that was what he was planning to do - in a while of course. It would be a good idea to wait for things to pan out slightly more before he actually did. And so Harry Potter was taking his first step towards completing his destiny: learning occlumency, and then maybe a bit of legilimancy wouldn't hurt.

He couldn't help feeling slightly guilty (guilt happened to be a trait, though his new version of it was slightly more twisted than it had ever been before, he couldn't rid himself of, even though he tried his hardest) at the thought of betraying the one person who had been completely honest with him all the time (except during visions, but that had been fair game) and had taught him all of the Dark Arts he knew now, but it had to be done. As much as he wished it weren't, the fact the Dark Lord had killed his parents was means enough for revenge, even after all he had done for him. He simply could not allow his parents deaths to go unavenged.

He glanced at the clock yawning, and, seeing that it was quite late, Harry hid the books somewhere that no one would think of looking for them in - a bookcase. The thought of hiding books in a bookcase was ridiculous, almost no one would do it because it was so obvious they felt that anyone looking for them would surely look for them there first. However, if you were the one searching for the books, it was unlikely that you would look in the bookcase because you would probably feel it was so obvious no one would be stupid enough to hide them there. It really did amaze Harry how the best obvious hiding places were the places everyone would think to look but immediately dismiss.

In the paper several days later some important news was announced. That was the appointment of a new minister, a result that had greatly displeased the Dark Lord. The new minister was Amelia Bones, a relative of one of the students that had been in Harry's year at Hogwarts, and the changes she made immediately after her appointment displeased the Dark Lord even more.

Her first act was that all Death Eaters that had been accused from the past that were still alive and were walking free due to their innocent verdict were to be tried with Veritaserum if they had not before to determine their guilt.

Her second reform in the system was that each teacher hired at Hogwarts would have to undergo a vigorous check of their records and such (something Harry wished had happened before he had accepted the Dark Mark) and this had annoyed the Dark Lord as it meant that each professor at Dumbledore's school would be better trained, so if they chose to fight against him they would be harder to beat.

Her third and final main change was tighter security around important places such as the ministry and Hogwarts, those being important in Wizarding Britain. This was the final straw to Voldemort. Upon hearing the final piece of the news he had flown into a rage and called a meeting, telling them all to assemble as they were to attack Hogwarts that night, and so tensions were running high.

Failure, they all knew, would have high consequences. It was quite possible that should the attack fail they would be in for a much tougher time with the Dark Lord, and so it was with great relief for certain Death Eaters as they were not put in charge and so would not bear the brunt of the torture for the failure from the Dark Lord, only possibly only a small amount from whoever was in charge of them. Harry was one such Death Eater.

Upon taking a portkey (he really needed to learn to apparate, he was determined to get Bella to teach him sometime) to the assembly point, Harry listened to the orders he was given by on of the Dark Lord's Lieutenants, Lucius in his case, on how they would be attacking. He would be part of the main group who would be in the distraction attack force who would attack head-on from the front gates of the school, whilst other groups would utilise the tunnels from the Shrieking Shack and Honeydukes.

You could practically cut the tension and anxiety in the air with a spoon, never mind a knife, it was so thick. None wanted to fail, all wanted to win, if only to escape what would happen if they didn't. And so, when an orange and black spark was fired up from the Dark Lord's wand, it began.

A/N: Well, that's another chapter out, and next chapter is the assault on Hogwarts. Don't worry the fics not over yet, though it may seem like it with what could be the final battle about the take place. That battle is a long, long way off right now.

HAZZAGRIFF: You know... you are certainly good at boosting my ego.

Kage Mirai: Lol, I just had to kill him off at some point though. It's hard to explain why, but I just had to.

BalrogMan65: Actually, I think Dark!Harry is about as difficult for me to write as Good!Noble!Harry, only Good!Noble!Harry is boring, so I rarely write him because of that. And who says Sirius is alive in this fic? I'm sure I didn't, since I'm still in two minds about it.

Anscray: You know... you've just brought up some good points. I can see where you're coming from with Percy and Fudge, even if I don't totally agree about it. As for astronomy and the elements, well, that could make a fun fic. I can just imagine a super intelligent muggleborn asking different professors if they would be studying certain things wizards don't know about, and professors telling that student to shut up because the kid is showing them up in front of the rest of the class.

K,W,G,T,B: Yay! 8 reviews! Yay! Voldemort did not kill Harry because it meant that he would have not only a powerful servant on his side, but no one could defeat him forever if Harry was kept alive. And I know Fudge's suicide isn't something you read often, nor is Snape's death. I only put them in because I felt this fic was becoming a little... low-death. Still, it works with them dead because they were only minor characters.

Marvin the Depressed Robot(42: Great! And... just a thought that's recently occurred to me... have you read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

VampiricSoul666: Not good, exactly, nor light. He won't always be a Death Eater, as you can probably guess from this, but he will always be dark.

Topsta: Lol, that's what flashbacks are for on the very rare occasions that I use them.

Ryua Malfoy: Lol, don't blame me. I had to get rid of him at some point during this fic. It was my way of making sure Harry had fully betrayed the light side and Dumbledore.