Star and Lightning

14th Chapter – Meeting Voldemort

Starlett was terrified and hurt. Those guys, that had caught her, had brought her in a tiny, dark cell. The air was cold and wet, quite like inside an old dungeon she had once visited. She was worried. She didn't know where Zaza was or what would happen to her now. She should have stayed at Hogwarts where she was safe. There was a throbbing pain at the back of her head and her broken wrist hurt like hell. Almost every part of her body seemed to be covered with small, bleeding wounds. Starlett was shivering, from cold as well as from pain and fear. Suddenly, she heard footsteps in the hallway that stopped in front of her door. Carefully, Starlett moved in a corner of her cell. After some time, the door was opened and a dark figure with a white mask in front of his face entered. He said quietly:

"I will heal your wounds. No questions."

Starlett thought about trying to escape. But though she still had enough power to knock him out, there would surely be more guards and she had no idea where she was or how to get out of here. So she stayed where she was.

The man hold a vial filled with a dark green potion in front of her face. Starlett asked: "What is it?" The man didn't answer, he only ordered: "Drink!"

After hesitating shortly, Starlett did. It tasted terribly, but it eased her pain.When the man muttered a spell to heal her wrist, Starlett asked: "Where am I? Why did you bring me here?" With a quick motion, he re-broke her wrist and as Starlett was wincing with pain, he said in a low voice: "I told you, no questions." When Starlett nodded with gritted teeth, he healed her wrist again.

No more word was spoken during the rest of the treatement. After the mysterious man had left, Starlett was alone with her thoughts again. She felt much better now and began to investigate her cell. After five minutes she was done. The cell was about 2m wide, 3m long and 2m high, had only one door, one little window with opaque glass and in one corner there was a dirty and torn blanket.

Starlett sat down on the blanket to keep a bit of her body warmth and tried to feel the magic of her surrounding. There were a lot of wards like she had felt in Hogwarts. But there also was something else, something dark. She was hungry and thirsty, but no one came and she heard no sound from the hallway. After some time, she fell asleep.

When Starlett woke up again, it was brighter inside her cell. She suspected that it was already the next morning. She was cold and her muscles ached. Even though she was used to sleeping in uncomfortable positions at ugly places, she felt worn and not well-rested. Besides, some of the pain had come back. Starlett got up and stretched and then she tried to get a look out of the window. Standing on the tips of her toes, her nose was right in front of the window but she couldn't look through it. When she touched the glass with her fingers she was violantly thrown back. She sat down on the blanket for some minutes but then she began restlessly pacing her cell. She was hungry and thirsty and some wounds still hurt and she still didn't know where she was or why she was here, all in all she was in an irritable and angry mood.

Finally, some hours later, the door opened again. A black-hooded figure with a white mask told her to come with him. Starlett would have liked to be defiant and refuse but she remembered the harsh treatment from yesterday and she desperately wanted to get out of her cell. She was led through what seemed like a thousand of dark and cold halls until they reached a giant painting of a snake eating a lion. Her guard muttered something under his breath and the painting swung open and revealed a hole of 2m diameter in the wall. He motioned her to go inside and the opening closed behind her. At a loss for what to do, she went straight on in the darkness until she saw a light after the next bending. When she emerged the tunnel, she stood in a gloomy room where all curtaines in front of the windows were closed and a great fire was the only source of light. In front of her, there was a table with food and silverware for one person. At the other end of the room a tall figure wearing a black robe stood with his back to her. Starlett froze when the figure turned around and she looked into a reptilian face with red eyes.

"Elisha Potter, known as Starlett till now. Welcome in Serpent Castle. I apologize for the treatment you reveived. It seems like some of my Deatheaters forgot their manners. Please sit down and eat." He motioned her to sit down in the armchair in front of the food and sat down in an other one himself. Starlett hesitated and watched him critically. But the food smelled very good and she was hungry, so she sat down and began to eat. She was aware of him watching her but she didn't care. When her hunger was quenched, she sat up straight and asked:

"Who are you? And why am I here?"

"I am Lord Voldemort, the greatest sorcerer of the century whom everybody fears. And you are here because I want you to work for me."

"I? Work for you?" Starlett asked unbelieving. "Why should I? Your followers, those Deatheaters, attack me, hurt me, kidnap me. I was in that damn cold and wet dungeon for a whole day without food or water and I don't know where Zaza is."

Voldemort smirked. Starlett was confused, she had expected him to become angry, not to be amused about her.

"I already apologized for the way you were treated, they didn't do this under my orders. And for Zaza, she is fine."

"But Dumbledore told me that you want me dead. You are the one who killed my parents! You are evil!" she screamed.

"My dear girl, understand one thing: There is no good or evil, there is only power and those who are too weak to seek it. I have power and I use it and I seek even more power. Dumbledore is a fool not to use his power for his own advantages. Your parents were fools, too. They didn't understand the concept of power. They died trying to protect others. How heroically!" He laughed evilly and continued. "The truth is, the true way of life is based on power, not on good and evil. Your parents death was their own fault. And I don't want you dead."

"But you tried to kill me." Starlett said quietly.

"Indeed, I did." He looked at her pensively and her scar began to hurt, but she didn't show it. "Your scar. I tried to kill both of you at once. You also backfired the curse. I suspected that you were still alive, but I didn't know for sure. And all the time you have been in London, right under my nose."

A shiver made his way down Starlett's back. The way he was talking now sounded threadingly.

"You could be very powerful." He continued in a soft voice. "You have the potential. But Dumbledore will never let you fully develop it. He is afraid of people with too much power. I can teach you things he would always withhold from you. And you want to learn, don't you?

"When you aggree on this, I will let you and Zaza free. You will attend Hogwarts and learn there. But I will teach you secretly and you will do some jobs for me."

When Starlett didn't answer, he got up and led her back to the tunnel that led out of his rooms. "A Deatheater will bring you back to your cell. There you have time to think about my offer. Remember, I seldom make offers as advantageous as this one."

At the end of the tunnel, a dark-hooded figure waited for her and brought her back to her cell. Starlett tried to remember the way they went, but failed. She suspected that they were going an other way back than they had come. Voldemort obviously didn't want her to know the ways around the castle. When they reached her cell, she was pushed inside and the door was locked again. Sitting on the cold floor, Starlett thought about his offer. It would at least get her and Zaza out of here. And maybe, he was right. She had experienced it in her street life: Those who had power used it over those who were weak. And was there really knowledge, Dumbledore would keep from her?