Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all the characters in his universe are owned by JK Rowling… not me. I'm just playing in her world for awhile.
A/N: This chapter is dedicated to anyone who has ever woken up with a new tattoo and a hangover….
The morning began just like the one before it. The golden sun rose and valiantly tried to shine in a sky that was, once again, overcast. The weak sunlight glistened off of grass that was still wet and muddy from the rains of the day before. In the city below people began to awaken and go through typical morning routines; showering, kissing their significant others, and finally breakfast. They prepared to greet the new day.
The morning awoke like any other, but the young red haired man that awoke with it was not the same as he had been yesterday.
For one thing when the cathedral bells went off young man was still sound asleep. He woke up enough to sleepily mutter the spell that would turn them off. Feeling warm and comfortable he rolled back over and dozed off.
When he finally awoke it wasn't to the smell of coffee or to the kiss of someone that he loved or even the warm feeling of gentle sunlight on his face that others in more pleasant conditions wake up in. No, for Percy Weasley it was a sudden searing pain in his arm.
He jerked awake. For a long moment he couldn't remember any of the events of the night before. It was a long disconcerting moment until they began to seep back in and Percy remembered. His stomach sank and his heart began to pound. He pulled up the sleeve of the black robe and stared at the, still burning, brand on his arm.
He remembered making the decision, an echo of his former sense of power coursed through him. He had one painful bitter thought about his family, but it was quickly banished to a darker recess of his mind.
Slowly he rolled out of bed and set his feet on the cold floor. His brain tried to begin processing what had happened the night before, but he shook it off. His sense of dread growing with every step he made his way into the kitchen and began making tea. The familiarity of the task settled him, when it was ready he took the cup to the table and sat. Finally he allowed himself to think about last nights events.
The brand still burned from yesterday, setting the cup on the table he pulled up his sleeve and looked at it again. Finally, long after his tea had gone cold, he pushed the sleeve back down. His mind feverishly tried to work through what he'd done and what he was going to do next.
The meeting hadn't lasted long after his initiation. Percy stood there and listened to the masked Death Eaters give various reports to the Dark Lord; Harry Potter was back at Hogwarts, the Ministry was in an uproar, Fudge had finally admitted Voldemort's return. It was old news to Percy.
He remembered a voice, a familiar silky voice, telling the Dark Lord about Harry Potter. He seemed withdrawn, Dumbledore was worried. He recognized the owner of the voice immediately and was shocked. Professor Snape, potions master of Hogwarts.
But Percy didn't spend long thinking about Snape. Despite the leaden weight in his stomach and the burning on his arm he was surprised to realize that he didn't regret his decision. Even thinking about it logically in the light of day he didn't see how he'd had any other choice.
The vision came to him again, he was Minister of Magic, he had power and authority, other wizards treated him respectfully. None of them looked down their noses at his red hair or his tattered robes. He had thought it was impossible, first the Crouch affair, then very publicly being the Ministry scapegoat for everything they had messed up. But now…. Now it was possible. Voldemort could give him that if he won this war….
The war. That threw everything in a slightly different light, his family was on the other side. Percy frowned, he couldn't be held responsible if they wanted to choose the losing side. All of this was their bloody fault anyway! If they had just been more supportive…
Suddenly what the burning of his arm meant dawned on him. He swore. Jumping up so quickly that he spilt his tea, he spent a minute running around the flat looking for robes before he remembered he was already wearing them. Quickly he pointed his wand at himself, "Scorgify" he whispered. Now they were clean enough to wear in the Dark Lord's presence. He grabbed his mask, which had inexplicably ended up on the floor.
He didn't even have to think about where to go, somehow as he prepared himself to Disapparate he realized he already knew. In a blink of an eye the young man disappeared.
When he reappeared he was outside the same chamber that he had been initiated in. For a moment he was uncertain, should he knock or just push his way in? He remembered Lestrange pushing in yesterday, but he wasn't sure if these were the same circumstances. He stood staring at the snakes slithering over the door wondering which would be the best choice.
"Just go on in." A young man with long brown and green eyes said helpfully. He was walking down the hallway towards Percy. "He's expecting you."
"Thanks." Percy grinned nervously, before pulling on the mask. Hesitating only a second he pushed open the door and walked in.
The chamber was brighter than it had been the night before, there were several green glowing torches lined up along the wall. Voldemort sat on the same throne, but this time a young woman with hooded eyes and shining black hair stood behind him.
Belletrix Lestrange, Percy was happy for the mask, he felt sure he was gawking at her. But she was scowling fiercely at him. Swallowing hard, Percy strode up to the throne and went down on one knee. "You summoned me, my Lord?"
"Yes, Percy." The Dark Lord hissed. "Rise." He waited a moment for Percy to comply then he motioned to Bellatrix.
"Have you read the paper today Mr. Weasley?" She spat out his surname. She withdrew a copy of the Daily Prophet and threw it at him; clumsily he caught it and began to read. The headline read, "Man responsible for Ministry incompetence revealed to be a Death Eater!" Percy's eyes grew round with shock. Under the headline was a rather bewildered looking picture of him taken the day before. His mouth was hanging open and his eyes were shifting around like they were looking for an exit.
"I don't understand…" Percy fumbled for words, "How did they…."
"We let them know of course." Belletrix cut in, "We need the Wizarding world to know that you, a wizard whose family has stood against the Dark Arts for generations, has joined us."
Percy was still staring at the headline. He wondered if his family had seen it yet. He shook his head, there wasn't anything he could do about it now. "So what do I do?" he asked the Dark Lord, "I can't continue living in my flat, too many people know where I am."
"Bellatrix is taking the newest initiates to her husband's family home." Bellatrix's mouth tightened, a disgusted look came over her face as the Dark Lord spoke. "You are to go with her. There you will learn the necessary skills for fighting this war."
Fighting. That word revolved in Percy's mind for a second. Somehow he'd never considered the fact that he'd actually be physically fighting the Order and the Aurors. He knew some of them, he liked some of them.
Well what did you expect? The nasty voice in his head asked snidely Did you think you could just put on a mask and wait for the power and respect? He didn't seem to have much of a choice anymore. He wanted to ask what he was expected to do, if he was going to be expected to kill anyone. Suddenly he had a million questions and felt like a fool for not asking them before. But he couldn't ask them now. He had made his choice and none of those answers would be able to change anything. "Yes, my Lord." He said as smoothly as he could.
"You are dismissed." Bellatrix said imperiously, "Return here in one hour's time, meet me outside this chamber."
"Yes, ma'am." Percy gave a little bow before turning and walking down the aisle leading to the door. Behind him he heard Bellatrix say softly, "My Lord, again I must protest, it is a waste of my talents to have me cleaning up after a bunch of snot nosed…."
"It is my wish Bellatrix. After your failure at the Ministry the other day, you need some time to… refocus your loyalty…"
"But my Lord…"
"Silence." He hissed. "You are lucky I don't punish you further….."
Not daring to slow down and reveal that he heard what they were saying, Percy walked out of the chamber. Once he was in the corridor he Disapparated to his flat.
He didn't waste any time. As quickly as he could he pulled out his trunk and began neatly packing. He didn't have much to pack, he decided to leave all of his old tattered robes behind. He mostly just threw a few toiletries and books into his trunk before slamming the lid shut.
Percy looked around his flat for the last time. His time there hadn't been very happy, in fact the few times he was actually home, and not at the office, he had been very lonely. His flat had always seemed too quiet after the chaos of the Burrow, but it had been his. Now he had no idea where he was going to end up, or what he was going to end up doing. He sighed before pointing his wand at himself and Disapparating back to the chamber.
He had a little time before he was to meet Belletrix and the other initiates, but he didn't dare explore. Instead he pushed his trunk against the wall and sat on it, leaning against the wall he fell into a light doze.
He hadn't slept very long before he began to hear voices around him. Opening his eyes he saw people in dark robes standing around. The other initiates had come. There were ten of them standing in the hallway and most of them were deep in conversation with the people nearest to them, shooting him suspicious looks as they talked. They seemed very confident, but their eyes were constantly shifting and the few times he heard someone laugh it sounded high pitched and forced.
It didn't take long for Bellatrix to appear, and when she did all talking immediately stopped. Without saying a word Bellatrix walked to the fireplace, "You are all to floo to Lestrange Mansion. Once you are there my husband will direct you further." She motioned to the nearest initiate, a blond nervous looking witch. She grabbed some floo powder from an urn next to the fireplace and stepped in, her voice shook a little as she cried out "Lestrange Mansion!" In a burst of green flame she was gone.
One by one the initiates did the same until it was finally Percy's turn. His stomach began fluttering nervously but he calmed himself. He grabbed some floo powder and in a flash of green he was tumbling past grates, he was accustomed to traveling this way, his family often used it to get to Diagon Alley every year before school began. Finally he tumbled out of a large brick fireplace. Rodolphus Lestrange was standing five feet in front of him directing the last initiate to have come through.
When that initiate walked in the other direction, guiding her trunk along as it floated three feet above the ground, Lestrange turned to him. "How nice to see you again, Mr. Weasley." He greeted him with a small smile. He took out a bit of parchment, "This is a map of the mansion," he pointed with his wand to a place on the map, "The spot that's glowing is your room. You are expected to report here" he pointed to another spot on the map "for your first training session tomorrow at eight o'clock." He handed the map to Percy, it was marked with two glowing dots.
"Thanks." Percy took out his wand and used the Locomotor charm to make his trunk float as he guided it along the hallways. He got lost once, but with the help of the map he was finally standing outside of a room with the numbers 3827 inscribed in silver on the door. Feeling vaguely apprehensive he pushed open the door.
The room was small and bare. Pushed up against the right wall was a small cot and a bureau against the left. Along the back wall was a rather large window with two small torches next to it, burning with the same smokeless green flame as the torches in Voldemort's throne room. Sighing he guided his trunk to rest along the back wall beneath the window.
Exhausted from the nights events and the sudden changes of the last two days Percy immediately went to his cot and curled up on it. He had a brief moment to worry about what the next day would bring before he fell into a restless sleep.
A/N: Ha! My pretties! Chapter four is finished. Sorry it took so long, for some reason I couldn't get this chapter out. I'm not getting this story in chronological order, I keep trying to write the next chapter or the one after that. Or I'm jotting down notes for events happening further in the story.
On the other hand you can be happy because the next chapter is almost completely written (and the next two after that) so they will be up shortly. You shouldn't have to wait this long for another update again (I'll never be finished in time at this rate)
Can anyone catch the Star Wars reference in this chapter? I'll give you a hint. It's a number! I'll dedicate the next chapter to you if you get it and tell me in a review!
To my lovelies!
Miss Piratess: winces ooo.. if that last chapter made you sick then I'm worried about your health reading this story… there will be a lot of angst coming though! I promise! Loads and loads of soupy gooy angst. That should make you feel better!
Rutu: blushes thanks. And yey for being added to people's story alerts. That makes me happy! Not telling about the ending though…. smiles mysteriously
XTin2000: Thanks! I tried to get it to sound as much like something JK Rowling would do as I could! Sorry I didn't update so fast, but I'll do better from now on!