oOo Angels of Heaven and Hell oOo
Chapter 15 - Join Me
oOo
Nobody of the students or Professors dared to move, they were too stunned. One of the Death Eaters close to Rhiannon and Draco stepped forwards.
"Rhiannon," he said and with a shudder Draco recognized his father's voice. "I'm very glad about your decision. I'll take you to him." He extended his hand towards her and for some reason Rhiannon knew that Lucius was smiling behind his mask.
She forced a superficial smile onto her own face, even though she was feeling close to having a nervous breakdown.
'I have to do this. I can't run away. He's only after me.' She thought desperately. Rowena kept strangely silent - no reassuring words came from her. Now Rhiannon realised that she was completely on her own with this. 'Nobody will help me.'
"Excellent," Rhiannon replied with as much strength as she could muster and laid her hand into Lucius' gloved hand. He pulled her to his side and turned to the other Death Eaters.
"Find Potter and his friends," he ordered. "And then bring them to our master. Draco, come with us."
Draco's mouth was set in a defiant line. He remembered how he had told his mother that he would oppose his father. But now Rhiannon had a plan and he could only guess what she thought of doing. It seemed like a choice between his father and his girlfriend to him.
After a second his shoulders slunk down a bit - only a miniature gesture of defeat, yet Lucius would pick it up. Draco was sure of it. He put his wand away and started walking towards the pair. His feet felt heavy and his sight became blurry. He could not walk there - towards the person that personified his personal misery. Not when he saw him standing so near to her. Draco became dazed.
'No,' he thought desperately. 'No, it wasn't supposed to be like this. I was supposed to fight for her.'
Something to his right suddenly moved.
"YOU!" Vanora screamed at the top of her lungs. Draco's head whipped around.
Her face held a wild expression, full of fury; her hands resembled claws. And she was running at him and Rhiannon. She looked ready to kill with her bare hands.
Draco glanced at his father. What would he do? And what about Rhiannon? Lucius pulled out his wand and aimed it carefully at the woman, just as if he had all the time in the world.
"Avada Kedavra." The words were spoken with such laziness, such indifference that Draco could not help but shudder momentarily. The curse could have been aimed at him.
Vanora fell to ground and when her hair had finally pooled itself around her head nobody doubted her death. The first dry sob could be heard in the silence of the Entrance Hall.
"Now, that that's been dealt with," Lucius said calmly. "Shall we go?"
"Yes," Rhiannon replied, but she was staring at her mother's dead body. 'Yes...'
Lucius nodded and turned around on his heel, pulling Rhiannon around with him. Draco followed them as they went out of the hall and onto the grounds of Hogwarts. The snow had molten down in the past days and the ground was muddy now, one had to be careful not to slip on it.
On this ground, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest near Hagrid's cabin, the Death Eaters and Voldemort had set up what looked like a camp. Draco and Rhiannon could almost see the strong magic that the wards radiated. Inside these wards a few more Death Eaters were standing, making sure that the wards stayed as they were. Some trunks were sitting on the ground and in the middle of it all was something that looked like a black flame, that sucked in its surroundings.
Lucius led them there and walked through the magical barrier, simply as if it just wasn't there.
One of the Death Eaters stopped his magic and came over to them.
"Is that them?" he asked in a gruff voice.
"Yes, Avery, they are," Lucius replied in his usual smooth voice. "How are doing with the wards?"
"Everything is all right. As soon as we get the Potter boy, we're leaving and the wards will still be up for another two days."
Lucius nodded.
"Good, I think Bellatrix and the rest of us will be back soon. As I know Potter-"
"Right," said Avery. "We all do. And they're already coming back."
Lucius, Rhiannon and Draco turned around. While Lucius and Avery had been talking the other Death Eaters had left the castle and were coming towards them now. One of them was levitating a figure in a Hogwarts school uniform in front of himself - it could only be Harry.
The group reached the ward and entered. Rhiannon had to force herself to keep her face blank. Now that they had Harry - would she still be able to do something to stop Voldemort? As long as Harry had been save, she'd been relatively calm, but that had changed now"
"Very well," she heard Lucius say, who had his eyes on Harry.
"He revealed himself," said Bellatrix with glee. "He thought he could take us on all by himself. The stupid boy." She grinned, and Rhiannon didn't like it. It looked too mad.
"Then let's go," Lucius said. "Rhiannon." He turned around again and with a little amazement Rhiannon noticed he hadn't let go of her hand since they had left the Entrance Hall and that he had led her around all the time. He had already started walking towards the flame. Rhiannon concluded that it was a portal which would transport her, Draco, Harry and the Death Eaters to Voldemort.
The nearer she and Lucius came to the portal, the stronger the suction of the flame became and finally it consumed them. Rhiannon had closed her eyes when she felt the flame encircle her, but it was not hot - it was icy cold. And as quickly as the flame had sucked them in, as quickly it also let them go again.
Rhiannon opened her eyes and saw that she had been transported into a large circular room, made of dark grey stone. Behind her she could still feel the portal slightly and then Draco appeared at her side.
And before her was a throne - and it was occupied by Voldemort and he was watching them closely.
"Milord," Rhiannon whispered in shock.
"Rhiannon," he replied, lazily. "Come here. I have waited for you."
Lucius let go of her hand and Rhiannon took a small step forwards. Not even in her worst nightmare had she expected the Dark Lord to look like this.
The skin was as white as bones and the eyes small slits, that glowed blood-red. Around his feet a large snake was coiled. But his wasn't the scariest thing. By far the scariest was his aura. Coldness and cruelty came from him and filled every corner of the room and the hearts of the ones who were present.
"There is no need for you to be shy," Voldemort said and it almost sounded... friendly. Rhiannon took a few more reluctant steps forward, until she was only three meters away from the most feared wizard of all time. He looked at her intensely for a few seconds, and Rhiannon felt as if she was tested, though she didn't know for what.
"Leave. Lock the boy up. I will deal with him later," he commanded the Death Eaters all of sudden.
For a few moments the Death Eater hesitated.
"All of us, Milord?" Bellatrix asked finally. Rhiannon imagined she heard a slightly disappointed tone in the older woman's voice.
"Do you dare to question my decisions, Bellatrix?" Voldemort asked back, hissing dangerously low, and leaning himself up. The snake reared its head towards Bellatrix and hissed at her, too. She stared at her master for a second, not quite believing what she had just heard.
"I beg your forgiveness, Milord," she mumbled and bowed slightly, while she backed away. The rest of the Death Eaters was smart enough not to say something else and they all mumbled their greetings to Voldemort and also left the room half-bowed. At this point Rhiannon dared to look over her shoulder - even Draco was doing so. But shortly before he reached the door, he threw her a look. A look that was meant to say something, but that Rhiannon couldn't quite interpret. The look was desperate, yet it also expressed hope, some determination, but, most of all, love.
This strengthened her and she looked at Voldemort again.
"Milord," she said. "What do you require me to do for you?"
"Rhiannon, I fear Lucius didn't select your nurses carefully enough," he said and stood up. The snake hissed again, while the Voldemort walked towards Rhiannon. "Didn't they teach you that a lady should not speak so bluntly?" He stopped right before her, so Rhiannon had to look up to him. Voldemort took a few strands of her hair into has hand and looked at them with interest. It disgusted Rhiannon, but she didn't let it show. Instead she continued to look up at him.
"You will aid me, Rhiannon, won't you?" he asked finally. "You will lend me your power."
Rhiannon forced herself to smile, even though she could feel the skeletal hand of Voldemort stroke her hair.
"I will, Milord," she said.