Disclaimer: Harry Potter is JK Rowling's genius, but I own whatever you don't recognize.
The Burrow was warm. That was the first thing he noticed when he walked into the kitchen. The smell of fresh baked bread was wafting from the oven and a stew was bubbling on the stove, giving off a faint scent of sage and beef. He looked at the clock and noticed with a great sense of contentment that for the first time in a year all the hands were pointing to "home."
He didn't stay in the kitchen long. A sense of desperation propelled him into the next room. Nervousness mounted as he took each step… what would they do to him? What would they say? Finally he was in front of the door, trembling, he pushed it open.
Everyone was there. Ron and Charlie were sprawled out in front of the fire, playing a game of chess. Bill and his father were standing in front of the window talking, Bill was gesturing with both hands while is father pushed up his glasses and looked at him intently. Ginny was sitting on the floor at his mother's feet. Molly held several strands of her daughter's hair, braiding them, while she a Ginny giggled over something. Fred and George were in the corner, as he watched there was a small explosion, a ring of smoke, accompanied with an acrid smell, rose and floated gently above their heads while they snickered. He found himself thinking almost wistfully of their mean spirited jokes and wondered what they were planning.
He nervously tucked his hands behind his back and cleared his throat. "Hello everyone." He said carefully.
The sound rang out in silence, for a minute everyone seemed frozen. Then a smile blossomed on his mother's face, Ginny squealed and jumped up to hug him, joined shortly by Molly herself. He buried his face in his mother's graying hair. He felt several claps on the back and an arm around his shoulders, that told him that his brothers were happy to see him as well. He pulled back from his mother's embrace and saw them all ranged around him, with grins on their faces.
But his father wasn't there. He looked around. He was still standing at the window, his hands were shoved deep in his pockets and he was looking at him with a pleading, disappointed look in his eyes. He swallowed hard before disentangling himself and walking over to his father.
"Father…" He choked out, "Dad… I'm so sorry… I don't know what I was thinking… I should've never said the things I did… I just…" He couldn't continue, helplessly he shrugged his shoulders.
Tears leaked from his father eyes, "Percy… I'm sorry too… we should've supported you more. We shouldn't have assumed the worst. If we had just explained things better…"
"No." Percy protested, "It was my fault… I chose to join the Death Eaters… I…" He couldn't get the words out. Before he knew it his father was crushing him in a backbreaking hug. Tears welled in his eyes; despite himself he began to sob. His father just patted his back and waited, when the sobs finally ceased they broke apart, but Arthur kept his arm around his son.
"Come on, Percy." His mother urged. "It's time for dinner."
Chattering at him excitedly his brothers led him into the dining room. It was a small spread, but lovingly made, warm stew and fresh baked bread. He helped himself. He was just about to lift a spoon full of potatoes and meat to his mouth when a cold draft sent chills down his spine.
"What was that?" He asked aloud. The rest of the family didn't hear him, they just continued eating and smiling, as the room grew steadily colder and colder. "Mum…" He tried to get her attention, she just smiled at him vaguely and continued the conversation she was having with Bill across the table.
Suddenly the door behind him banged open and two hooded figures glided in the door. They had on black cloaks and their rattling breath filled the air.
"Wait… what is going on? Why are they here?" Percy demanded, his voice squeaking.
The entire family was looking at him now. "I'm sorry Percy." His father said looking at him sadly. "You belong with them now."
One of the hooded figures threw back it's hood. Percy gasped as Penny's head emerged, her red curls fall across her shoulders. "He killed my parents!" She shrieked, pointing a long pale finger at him, "He killed them! He should be locked up!"
Percy tried to stammer an explanation, but before any words could leave his mouth the next figure threw back it's shadowy cowl, "You belong to us now Percy…" Belletrix's hooded eyes stared out at him, suddenly her lips spread into a smile "Do you know what we do to traitors?"
Percy awoke with a gasp. Sweat was streaming down his face, soaking through the robes that he'd worn to bed, but he was shivering, he couldn't forget the look in Belletrix's eyes, he could still hear Penny's shriek. Yet, he still could still feel the comfort of the Burrow. He could still see the forgiveness in his father's eyes, the warmth of his mother's embrace…
He groaned and buried his head in his hands. Dreams like this always just made it worse. He'd give anything just to be able to go home. His chest ached for what he'd given up… all for his dreams of power.
His stomach rumbled, bringing him back to himself. Taking Malfoy's "suggestion" as an order Percy hadn't left his room since he'd first walked through the door. He hadn't eaten in three days and this was the first time he'd slept more than a couple of hours. He'd even been too afraid to go to Dumbledore – what would happen if someone came for him while he was gone? He'd sent a message the first night that he wouldn't be able to come for a while, but would keep Dumbledore informed of everything that he could.
Despite himself his thoughts returned to the Burrow, he groaned. His missed his family. It was funny that he hadn't thought much about them at all in the last year, but now that there was no way he could ever go back they were all he could think about.
He curled back under the covers and tried to sleep, he imagined himself back home, wondered what his family was doing… wondered if they hated him yet…. he began to drift off…
Only to wake up to a soft knock on his door. He yawned widely before getting out of bed and walking to the door. He opened it and found Broder standing in the doorway, looking as haggard and hungry as he felt himself.
"What's going on?" Percy asked, hoping that whatever it was he could at least leave this damned room now.
"We've been assigned to a mission."
"We?"
"Yeah," Broder cocked a smile, "Seems like they're keeping us together for awhile."
"So what are we supposed to do?"
"We're being sent to Armenia." Broder began, "Back when the Dark Lord was in power before he had several werewolves following him. They were attracted to his cause because he promised that he would give werewolves equal rights. However, after the Dark Lord disappeared the werewolves were forced to flee. The Ministry wouldn't even throw them into Azkaban. Whenever they caught a Death Eater who was a werewolf he or she would be given a trial by the Committee for Disposal of Dangerous creatures, then executed."
"Until now we didn't know where they'd fled to, but now that it's turned out that Gilderoy Lockhart was a fraud we checked into his werewolf story. It actually happened in Armenia, so the Dark Lord had someone look in Armenia for the werewolves. They've set up a settlement there. Our job is to approach these werewolves and try to convince them to come back and rejoin our cause… to atone for dissertinh the Dark Lord so many years ago…"
"Why us?" Percy asked, "I don't know hardly anything about werewolves…"
"So many Ministry employees suffer from bigotry…" Broder said in an offhand voice, "You're not one of them are you?" Broder's eyes went hard and cold. He was staring at Percy intently.
"No… of course not." Percy hastened to reassure him, "And I'm not even a Ministry employee anymore. The best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher I ever had turned out to be a werewolf."
"Good." Broder was smiling again. "We leave in an hour. Get some stuff around but pack lightly." In a swirl of his black robes Broder was back through the door.
Percy didn't waste any time. As soon as the door shut behind Broder he pulled out his wand. He muttered a few words to it and watched impatiently as a blue light wafted out and disappeared outside his window. He paced his room, hoping that it wouldn't take long for Dumbledore to return the message. He kept putting his hands in his pockets and pulling them out again. His anxiety mounted as the minutes ticked by. Finally ten minutes after he'd sent his message he felt a phoenix feather in his pocket. He pulled it out and pointed it to the air "cinerous" he whispered. A letter dropped out of the air and fell into his lap. Percy picked it up and read it, it said simply:
Mr. Weasley,
I am alone in my office now. I'll be expecting you soon.
Dumbledore.
As soon as he finished reading the words, the letter in Percy's hand disappeared. Still holding the feather Percy put it to his forehead, "flamma itum" Flames rose around him and the room began to spin. Percy was used to traveling this way, his late night visits to Dumbledore's office forced him to adapt to it. He simply closed his eyes and waited until the air stopped crackling around his head.
When he opened them he was in Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore himself was sitting behind his desk, as always looking at Percy gravely. Percy sighed. He was getting tired of Dumbledore looking at him like he'd been sentenced to death, and he, Dumbledore was to be blamed for it.
"Hello Percy," Dumbledore greeted him warmly enough.
"I've gotten a mission." Percy said briskly, "Broder and I are being sent to the
werewolves that fled England after the Dark Lord disappeared sixteen years ago."
"I see," Dumbledore looked interested, "We have been trying to locate those werewolves for the last two years, to no avail. Has Voldemort discovered their location?"
Percy winced at the mention of Voldemort's name, but continued anyway, "They're in Armenia. He got the idea from Lockhart's book, where he defeated a werewolf there…"
"Ah yes," Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling, "As I understand it was actually a local Armenian wizard who saved that village from monthly werewolf attacks."
Percy nodded, "The werewolves are there, in the lake. They have some sort of a settlement there… that's all I know. Broder and I are being sent to offer them the opportunity to atone for disserting the Dark Lord after he disappeared. He is ordering them to return to England and fight for him once again."
Dumbledore had his hands stapled together on top his desk, watching Percy carefully, "Thank you, Mr. Weasley. I will deal with this situation. Do nothing to jeopardize yourself in any way." A look of guilt crossed his face, "Do nothing out of the ordinary, it is not your job to keep them from coming back."
Percy nodded impatiently, silently vowing to do whatever it took to keep them from fighting for Voldemort. The image of Mr. Clearwater rose before he could stop it. Crumpling and dying… that horrified look. He thought of his family, all the pain he'd put them through already. He still had too much to make up for. Dumbledore must've seen something in his eyes because he came around the desk and put his hand on his shoulder. "You've done well so far Mr. Weasley, because of you we captured several of Voldemort's followers at the Lestrange mansion…"
"It's not enough." Percy interrupted, "It'll never be enough."
Dumbledore nodded in understanding, "Keep sending regular messages. I'll send along whatever you need to know as well."
Percy nodded. Without another word he disappeared in flash of fire.
A couple of hours later he and Broder were standing by the shore of a massive lake. The water was choppy and a turquoise blue color, on the other side purple mountains stretched towards the sky. Even though the sun was setting Percy immediately began to perspire in the heat. He was exhausted. Armenia was too far to apparate there directly from England, so they'd had to go a longer way. They apparated first to France, then to Greece, Turkey, and finally here, in Armenia, by the shore of Lake Sevan.
"We've got a long way to walk. We know that the werewolf settlement is somewhere underneath the surface of the water, but we don't know exactly where. The man who was here before couldn't give us an exact location, only within the next hundred kilometers or so."
They spent the rest of the day hiking, the lake seemed endless. After several hours Broderstopped andsaid, "It's getting dark… we might as well set up camp and continue looking tomorrow."
"Are there any muggle settlements around?" Percy asked, beginning to transfigure some stones lying around into wooden logs.
"Not around here," Broder replied, "This area is cloaked to muggles, that's how we know they are here somewhere."
They didn't say anything else until the sun had set and they were sitting in front of a, rather pitiful looking fire.
"So what's your story?" Broder asked suddenly, poking at the fire with a long stick. Under his care the small fire was soon at a full roaring blaze. "I've heard of your family, they're in Dumbledore's crowd. How did you end up here with us?"
Percy thought for a long moment before he answered. "They are. Death Eaters killed my uncles nearly twenty years ago. But we were always very poor, my father has too many kids and no ambition." He winced as the words left his mouth, he still couldn't believe that he'd actually said that to his father. "We never had any money. I've always known that I wasn't meant to be like the rest of my family. I was meant to be something better something greater." That was so arrogant, when had he gotten so bloody arrogant? "I left home after the Dark Lord rose. Minister Fudge promoted me to be his Junior Undersecretary at the Ministry; my father was convinced that I was only promoted to spy on the family. We had a horrible row, I left and haven't been back since." Images of the Burrow rose in his mind; tears began welling in his eyes. The ache in his chest was back; he'd been such an idiot. He'd wanted to be greater than his family, to be above them. Now he'd sunk lower than he'd ever thought was possible. His family ended up being so much better and greater than he'd ever given them credit for.
Percy stared at the fire, willing his eyes to dry and his face to be stoic. When he was finally sure that he had control of himself he looked up at Broder, who was now staring off into the distance. "So what about you?" Percy asked, "Why are you here?"
Broder gave him a surprised look, a faraway look came into his eyes as he began to speak. "My father was a werewolf. He was bitten when I was ten." He gave a faint smile and Percy's shocked expression and continued. "We were outside our country house watching the fireflies a few months after my mother died. A werewolf came out of the bushes and attacked me. My father managed to pull him off and kill the werewolf, but not without being bitten himself." He focused on Percy's face; "My father's life was hell after that. Older werewolves have a particularly hard time adjusting to their condition. He would be sick for days after a full moon, he lost his business – all of the other businessmen didn't want to have anything to do with a werewolf. We lost all our money and had to move permanently into the country. My father would lock himself up in a cage every full moon, in our cellar. He would have me stay awake by the door so that if he ever got free I could make a run for it and get away."
A sorrowful look passed over his face, "Then one night, on a full moon, a woman two miles away from our house was found mauled in her bed. The ministry investigated and decided that my father must have gotten out of his cage and killed her. They dragged him away the next morning, without even letting him recover from the full moon the night before. The trial was brief, I tried to testify that I could hear my fathers roars all night – that there was no way he could've gotten out, but the ministry didn't believe me. The next time he transformed the Minstry executed him." His face became cold but his eyes were blazing, "I loved my father. After my mother died he was all I had. I was only sixteen at the time, but I swore that I would work against the ministry, the corrupt government who could unjustly kill a good and gentle man. My father was a great man; he didn't deserve the way he was treated by the wizarding world. The Dark Lord has promised the werewolves that serve him that when he comes into power he will give them equal rights and treatment. It is for my father that I follow him, it is for my father that I kill for him." He whispered that last part; a haunted look shadowed his face. Percy his guilt over Mr. Clearwater's death mirrored in Broder's eyes.
The silence stretched long and uncomfortable between them after that. Broder was still staring into the flames with a dark look on his face, the light from the fire making strange shadows dance across his eyes. Percy didn't know what to say.
"I'm going to sleep." Broder said abruptly. "We have a long day tomorrow." Without another word he turned his back on Percy and the fire and lay down on his blankets.
Percy stayed awake for hours after that, thinking about Broder's story. He was beginning, despite himself, to like the other Death Eater… and he was betraying him. He sighed. Things used to be so much simpler.
A/N: Sorry that it took me over a week to update, but I hope I've made up for it with this really long chapter. It's almost twice as long as my usual length. I went away for the weekend and didn't end up having access to a computer for four days. So that puts me behind schedule. Expect the next couple of chapters to take a little longer, we are getting to the part of the story that I haven't planned out quite as much. But once we get past this hump it will be smooth sailing until the end. (stares at the countdown on her computer) Gods I hope I'm going to make it….
Now that a hit counter I see that many people are looking at this story and not reviewing… I highly doubt that the same three people who reviewed are looking at this over and over again… please pretty pretty please review for me?
Rutu: Yeah… I'm glad I made you scream things at the computer. (winces in guilt) so sorry I made you wait so long….
GMUXMenSoaps: (zips up mouth) not telling about Broder. You will all just have to keep reading to find out…
Punker88: Thanks!