Review Responses
The Great and Powerful Oz- Im glad you hate Dumbledore, he kinda plays the villain to Order members for a while- glad you caught on you smarty pants! And yes, smut there is but she can still meet the Pottermister- Heh heh, I just said PotterMister.
Kurama Forever- Thanks for the review (yet again) and so glad that you like the story! Please keep reading!
Satan in a biscuit- k we are going to try this… I C-A-N-T S-P-E-L-L, marygoo mare goon? Something whatever. And the whole point of the bathtub scene was totally wasted on you. The point was to stick them in a very sexual situation but because of whats happened to them its just…not anymore. Duh And ummm… YAY FOR BADASS GENA!
Chapter 5- Unfinished Business
That morning, miles away in an old Muggle house a rat faced man could be seen scurrying around carrying numerous items to and fro for his greedy master and followers. It had been only a few weeks since Peter Pettigrew had helped his master rise again, the evidence of his masters affection shown on his ethereal glowing white hand, Peter felt invincible with this weapon, as if he could do anything in the world. The only problem was, Peter was weak in every other aspect of his pathetic little life. He was a coward of a traitor and he knew it, he just didn't care, his master would protect him from his old friends. Pettigrew was terrified of the thought that one day Remus would find him, or worse, Sirius or Harry. So he lived his miserable existence, cooking and cleaning for the important Death Eaters just to survive, or just to be part of something, no one could ever tell.
On this day Peter was bustling around the kitchen preparing breakfast for his Lord when the bell rang and he, ever obedient (and scared shitless) literally ran upstairs to answer the call. Lord Voldemort was sitting in a throne like chair facing a grand fireplace, he was talking to another man Peter was terrifyingly afraid of, a greasy haired, hook nosed man with cold black eyes and long sinister fingers. Peter tread the side of the room slowly, bowing when he reached the side of his masters chair. He caught a snippet of conversation,
"Severus, if she indeed is out I want her back with me immediately. No more waiting, I've waited for her for all these years and she doesn't even have the decency to come to me the second her sentence is up? I want her here in 2 days, no later, that way she can have her time to get prepared for me. Is that understood?" He said devilishly.
Severus bowed low, "It will be done My Lord." When he raised he head he practically hissed at the vision of Pettigrew, groveling at the arm of the magnificent chair. Voldemorts red eyes darted next to him to see the sniveling worm crouched on the floor, he ushered Snape out with a wave of his hand and Severus bowed himself from the room. Voldemort pompously turned his head towards Peter,
"Well you heard, she's coming back. And this is not an excuse for you to stare at her all day and make your little whimpering noises when you listen at the door of my chambers during her visits. I find it rather distracting, it will not be discussed again. After you bring me my breakfast go and make my room right for her. You are dismissed." Peter stumbled from the room and down the servants staircase back to the kitchen. As he put the finishing touches on Voldemorts breakfast he was shaking with a sick anticipation, the bell rang for him again. His few moments of being needed.
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Back at Grimmauld Place Persephone sat down at the long Black family table and took a serving of Mollys fabulous lasagna. She would always remember it as the most uncomfortable dinner of her life because Sirius arrived a few minutes after her and they snuck glances at each other all night. She wasn't quite sure how long she had to stay to make her dinnertime look natural, but she could tell Molly sensed her desperation to leave because she was fighting her first instinct of shoving as many plateloads of food down her throat that she could. But as soon as Sirius left the table Persephone was in agony trying to find an inconspicuous time to leave. She was finding trouble because the Weasley children were such an involving bunch, the twins, Fred and George were keen to tell her about their up and coming business and wouldn't let her go. She had a feeling it might also have had something to do with George staring at her chest and his brother catching sneaky glances at her backside. But lucky for her, the boys also had an extremely short attention span that caused them to get into an intense debate with their mother about their shop, Persephone slipped away quickly and ran upstairs as fast as her legs would take her.
She and Sirius had only had a rushed conversation before being called down to dinner and she felt that her hasty explanation deserved a little more. She opened the door and slipped inside, locking it quickly, she sensed him there, rather than seeing him. A candle was burning on a table in the corner and she could just barely make out an outline of him standing in front of the window. She spoke,
"Sirius-" But something in the way he turned and looked at her made her stop, his eyes were intense and remorseful and he stared straight at her, seeing her as only he could. He moved away from the window,
"I don't want to talk about it, we can fight and be mad but that bastards going to make you go anyway. I would rather spend the next couple of days together happy, rather than angry and on edge with one another. I know its better to give in then fight with you, and I learned my lesson about not listening to you." He said with a playful smile, she laughed and the two of them, for the first time in 14 years, truly looked at each other. He was still so goodhearted and loyal and she was still strong and passionate. They were still perfect. Sirius, without warning, covered the distance between them and grabbed her, pulling her surprised but willing body into a long deserved kiss.
She ran her hands all over him, not being able to soak up enough at once, and he held her tightly, afraid that if he let her go they would be separated again. He lifted her onto the dresser along the wall, never losing the power of the kiss and removed her shirt. Her body was still sick and she was so thin but Sirius didn't care, he needed her to be with him. She instinctively reached to cover the mark upon her arm, ashamed of it for so many years, Sirius smiled and grabbed her hands, moving them somewhere where he was happier with. When they eventually made it to the bed, they were trembling and Persephone had tears welled in her eyes, how they had missed one another.
It would seem to them that all the pain they had experienced was washed away in that night together, the next day they found it difficult to hide their happiness from the houses underage occupants, who would surely tell Harry of Sirius' friend the moment they saw him. Whatever chance they got the 2 of them would retreat to a hidden spot until they were sure they would be missed, Sirius' cue to return to the cleaning efforts. Always with a new spring in his step.
Dumbledore arrived that night and went over the details of her reunion with Voldemort the next day, Sirius gruffly exited the room at the sight of Dumbledore. Knowing that if he stayed he would only end up in a row with Dumbledore, somewhere that no one wanted to end up. Persephone listened solemnly while Dumbledore lectured on about the rules and if she got into trouble, she knew all this already. Why was he repeating it?
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The morning of her reunion with Voldemort dawned bright and clear, there was a chill in the air as Persephone disentangled herself from Sirius arms and went to dress. She removed the Death Eater robes that Snape had brought for her and slowly pulled them on, she shoved the mask into her oversize belt. Before leaving, she bent down and kissed Sirius goodbye on his cheek, the stubble tickling her skin. She left Grimmauld Place quietly and with no farewell party, almost as if she was becoming a ghost, or something that was never brought up in polite conversation. She pulled on her hood and apparated to a prearranged meeting place; a deserted alley that seemed as though its only inhabitants were bums and cats digging through the garbage. She only waited there in the rotten smelling concrete passageway for a few minutes before a tall, slender figure turned into the alley and headed straight towards her. They gave her the hand signal, she donned her mask and fell into step next to them, the figure grabbed her arm and the two of them felt the familiar sense of apparation pushing in on them. Persephone let go of the others arm as they came out into a beautiful but forgotten looking muggle mansion. The Death Eater next to her removed her mask and Persephone smiled,
"Hello Narcissa, how are you?" The pale witch gave an arrogant shake of her brilliant blonde mane,
"Dissapointed that I am running the irrelevant errand of fetching you. Oh by the way, how was prison?" Narcissa was trying to bait her, it wouldn't work.
"Why don't you ask your sister?" Persephone replied cooly, before Narcissa could respond a newly recruited Death Eater stepped out onto the landing and called down to Persephone to come upstairs. She walked away without and word and as she climbed she observed the sophistication of the monstrous house. The manor was old but undeniably elegant and everything from the carpet to the painting just emanated wealth and power. Portraits lined the hallways, scenes of muggles riding on horses and fighting in their wars. From looking out the windows she could tell the were sitting on a hill over a small village, she couldn't judge what part of the country they were in, not that it would have mattered. Voldemort surely would have had a secret keeper by now.
She was told to wait outside the ornate golden doors at the end of a hallway with stunning mahogany wood floors, while she waited, Persephone studied a portrait of a family that was hanging in shreds. The depiction had what was once the proud faces of a father, mother and their handsome son but now, the face of the father looked as though someone had slashed at it with a knife and she could see the cut up wall behind his now non-existant face. The portrait was entitled, "The Master Riddles," Persephone found the name rather funny but the painting was not, the slashed face was eeiry and it gave her the chills. The woman and child looked like caricatures, the perfect trophy family. The women was beautiful in a ordinary kind of way, long blonde hair and large breasts, nothing about her made Persephone think that she had been a good person, or even remotely kind. The type of person that was more interested in how their overdone make up looked than if the entire world was bathed in darkness. The son was much the same, hair like his father (or atleast she thought so, she couldn't really tell from the slashed picture) and he had a conceited smile upon his young face. The pair looked vapid and ill mannered, the "highest class" at its absolute lowest.
Persephone scoffed and a sudden realization hit her, the slashed man was Voldemorts father, and the women and boy were his second family. Dumbledore had told her about the tragic demise of his mother at the orphanage and now she could see why Voldemort would hate the man so much, he had skipped over them for another family. One that could be deamed as socially acceptable, against her better judgement, Persephone felt something close to pity rearing inside of her body. She was interrupted in her train of thought when none other than Peter Pettigrew stepped out of the golden doors and walked towards her.
She was surprised at herself. Always proud of her ability to detach from her feeling when on a job she found it arduous to try and keep herself from lashing out and giving him what he deserved, a long and painful death. If she was nervous, it was no match for what Peter felt, he was terrified that she was still working for the other side and would kill him. Well, one out of 2 was right. Persephone made sure her mask was on correctly and followed a forever trembling Peter Pettigrew through the horrific golden doors.
Sunlight streamed in through the large windows on the side of the room and reflected off the polished floors, giving the room an unnaturally bright glow, it was offsetting after being in the dark hallway. Peter quickly closed the doors behind her and all at once Voldemort was behind her, his sweaty palms covering her eyes with a bandana. Well, he certainly wasn't nervous now was he? Persephone fought the urge to throw up.
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She arrived back at Grimmauld Place 9 hours later. Exhausted and loathing herself, Sirius met her at the door, ever loyal, he waited patiently while she took a long cold shower. They headed down to the Order meeting together while the children cleaned out the papers from Mr. Black's office desk.
When she walked through the doors she was greeted with a roar from the veteran Order members, so basically, everyone who hadn't been killed or tortured into insanity. Mad Eye Moody gave her a very atypical hug, after the day she had had, she didn't want anyone to touch her, but she returned every hug she was given and put on the biggest smile she could manage. Sirius hated seeing her like that, the most real person he had ever met had to spend her life forced into being fake, it made him miserable for her. The meeting was straightforward, Snape and Persephone gave their reports on whatever information they had (Snapes report was a lot longer than Persephones, which she hated) and Dumbledore gave out instructions for the upcoming weeks. But then Dumbledore asked for volunteers, to go and get Harry in 1 week from his aunt and uncles house. Persephone knew it would be pointless to try and volunteer but she need'nt have worried, Remus, Mad Eye and many, many others volunteered for the trip. Feeling a bit depressed she escaped to the kitchen to grab something to eat fast so she could get upstairs, she didn't really feel like sitting down with everyone tonight.
Sirius noticed her leave and started after her but Dumbledore caught him saying that he needed to speak with Persephone about something important and that he should just wait.
"Absolutly not. I have left plenty of times, if you want to talk to her you can talk to me too." Dumbledore was surprised by his sudden assurance and allowed Sirius to lead the way, having him sit in on this conversation was a small price to pay for the poor man to think he had won some battle. Dumbledore knocked on the door and without waiting for a reply walked right in to see Persephone in the corner with her sleeve half way up her arm. She was staring intently at the Dark Mark on her forearm, slowly running her fingers over it; Sirius was sick to see that it was glowing, making the skull even more grotesque than before. She jumped out of the chair, pulling her sleeve down she switched on the light and greeted Dumbledore in the most polite way she could manage. She still wasn't happy with him, especially after today. He came across the room and sat down on an armchair by the window, Sirius came and sat with Persephone on the small loveseat in the corner.
"Well, I could sense you weren't telling us everything tonight at the meeting. Is there anything you would like to say now?" He asked in a belittling voice, Persephone was annoyed,
"No Dumbledore, the only thing I havent told you is the location, which as you know, I cant tell you." She refrained telling him about Peter still being around, but he knew anyway.
"And what about your old friend Wormtail? Is he still scurrying about people more powerful then he?"
Persephone made a noise in between a snicker and a sigh, "Yes of course, and too damn bad that you knew that. I was so looking forward to killing him without your rules butting in." Dumbledore rose from the chair and to pace around the room,
"If you kill him now your entire mission goes down the drain." This statement made Persephone angrier than ever, he was telling this to her as though she was a petulant child, had she not infiltrated Voldemort and his cronies without incidence before? Trying to hold her temper she replied in a very dangerous voice,
"Dumbledore, you do your job and I will do mine."
"Yes but you must listen to reason Per-"
"With all do respect, you have asked me to do a job and I will do whatever is necessary to keep that job safe and if killing a sniveling piece of filth like that would help secure it, then so be it." She paused, "But I am not dumb, I have no reason to kill him right now. He is too useful to kill at this moment and besides," she added with a wicked smile, "It will be Sirius' pleasure to end his life, not mine." Persephone was one of the few people that when talked to, could end a fight and win, without you even realizing what had just happened. Dumbledore knew this and said good night to the couple.
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Sirius and Persephone had 2 days of bliss before she was called upon for her first mission as a Death Eater, it was simple enough, seeing as how the Dark Lord didn't want his girlfriend getting injured or arrested again. Persephones mission was to collect the information on all other Death Eaters in Azkaban, simple because she was to report to the Ministry and the record keeper to discuss her release from prison anyway. All she had to do was freeze him and his clock during the meeting, take a peek at his papers and copy the information, it was childs play. When Persephone went to drop off the information at the Riddle Manor later on that afternoon, Peter was the only person there to take it from her. He was twitching his nose and smiling an eager smile, his wrinkled and wart filled face crunched in a disgusting form. He greedily took the packet from her and asked her to wait inside for a package from the Dark Lord.
When he came down with the yellow envelope Persephone knew she could easily kill him then and there. Make the rug come undone on the stairs, have one of the suits of armor fall on top of him, or just use Avada Kedavra. She toyed with these thoughts but decided against it, just thinking of Dumbledores disapproving glare made her livid, so she figured she would just restrain and avoid it.
How people love their little fantasies.
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The day of Harrys arrival came and Persephone was officially moving into Remus' house for the remainder of the summer, her things were packed and she was leaving as soon as the orders meeting was over. She and Sirius sat together, their knees touching underneath the table, while they listened to a report from Sirius' cousin Tonks on security measures the Ministry was or was not taking in light of recent events. Persephone wasn't ashamed to admit that she kind of enjoyed Dumbledores public persecution, it was about time. Tonks finished her report and the entire order suddenly heard the familiar screeching of Mrs. Blacks portrait in the entrance hall.
"FILTH! BLOOD TRAITORS- BESMIRCHERS OF MY FATHERS HOUSE!"
Sirius gave an exasperated sigh, "Oh Jesus there she goes again." He stood and raced from the room, everyone could hear his angry shouts being yelled back at the fuming portrait,
"Shut up you old hag!"
"MY OWN FLESH AND BLOOD! BRINGER OF MUDBLOOD FILTH!" And then she was quiet, Sirius and someone else had managed to close the curtains over her large and unmovable face. The order members didn't dare laugh, not in front of Persephone, although she was fighting the urge also. Sirius stomped back inside the room and announced that Harry and his escort had just arrived, he then threw himself back into his chair.
Persephone found it next to impossible to concentrate once she knew her godson was upstairs, she was fidgeting and anxious, she might not have been able to get to know him, but she was still able to meet him. When the Order meeting finally adjourned after what seemed like hours Persephone jumped up and went to head directly to the entrance hall but she was blocked by Dumbledore.
"I thought we had discussed this. We're not causing him anymore heartache." Persephone rolled her eyes,
"Im not going to throw my arms around him and tell him about his parents wedding and the times we babysat when he was little. But your not going to stop me from seeing him, you owe me that much." Dumbledore hesitated and Persephone continued, "Dumbledore you have 2 options, you can either step aside now or do it after I make a big scene and call everyones attention." She smiled pleasantly.
Dumbledore stepped aside and Persephone beamed as she walked with the throng of Order Members towards the front doors. She heard what had to be stampeding elephants barreling down the stairs, but it was only the Weasley children, Hermione Granger and a young boy that Persephone would have sworn was James Potter. He was the perfect replica of his father, the wild jet black hair and lanky but strong looking body. When he hit the landing Persephone walked up to him allowed herself to be introduced by Remus,
"Harry, this is Persephone Parker, a current Order Member. Persephone this is, as I'm sure you can see, Harry Potter." She extended her hand and Harry shook it, when he looked up at her she had to catch her breath. His eyes were the most brilliant shade of green and an exact reproduction of Lily's eyes, she felt as though she was looking into her best friends eyes for the first time in 14 years.
"Its nice to meet you." He mumbled before following his friend Ronald into the kitchen for dinner, Remus looked at her apologetically but she just grinned. She would have been surprised if he had turned out as a perfectly normal child after what he had been through in his short lifetime. Persephone picked up her bags and gave Sirius a quick and covert kiss before heading off to Remus's house.
To Be Continued….
Next time: Cant tell! Any summary I try gives too much away!
Disclaimer: See chapter 1.