Under the Mask
Lady Highschoolnerd
Disclaimer: Everything is JK Rowling's. I don't own anything, except the laptop I am using and that's because my parents gave it to me. What I am trying to say is that I am poor, so obviously I don't own anything.
A/N: Hope you like my second chapter! I am all excited about writing it because people put me on their alert list! Squeals and jumps around! I feel so loved! Sorry, I'm a bit hyper right now. On with the story.
Chapter 2: Practice
He slowly opened his eyes as the felt his senses adjust to his dark surroundings. When he was certain that everybody else was asleep, he whispered Tempus
3:17 am
He definitely had enough sleep. He slowly stirred as he prepared to leave to his practice room. After the Chamber of Secrets event, he became aware of how important it was to keep his body in shape. No matter how wide a range of spells he knew, it would do him no good if he did not have the energy and stamina to cast them. He stared to used the only room he knew few would have access to, the Chamber of Secrets.
How ironic, he thought, and how fitting.
Ever since, he had been using it for his daily exercise. During the summer after second year, Draco invited him over to his family's ancestral home, Malfoy Manor. There he had learned how to handle and fight with daggers and swords, arts that had to be constantly practiced to keep them in their top shapes. He had also learned the darker spells that were borderline illegal or illegal.
He knew that the world was not black and white, nor was it good and evil. There were only some instances of right or wrong. The only thing he and Voldemort did not approve of was random and meaningless killing. Each death had a specific purpose and goal. Voldemort's earlier words were true. There is only power and how to use it.
He knew that the great Albus Dumbledore have done enough shady things that it could have earned him over ten life sentences in Azkaban. Only the icon of the light used more underhand and silent ways than the direct and violent ways the Dark Lord used.
He silently took his wand, invisibility cloak, and the new map of Hogwarts he had created with him. In second year, he had told his "friends" about the Marauder's Map because the twins already knew about it. He had by then also figured out a way to manipulate it to his advantage. He could make the map show fake dots of people, or eliminate specific areas of the map to keep them a secret. It helped to have the blood of one of the makers of the map running through his veins.
In third year, with all the panic about Sirius Black, he managed to make a new and better map, a more improved version of the one his father and friends had created. It was invisible to the eye of anybody except himself and it showed a three-dimensional view of Hogwart. Only few spells can fool it, and he knew the only person with the power to cast them was Lord Voldemort, somebody he trusted enough to know that he did not want to kill him.
As he crept around to the second and more discrete entrance of the Chamber of Secrets, one that Voldemort had told him about, he kept his ears and senses open. Mrs. Norris should not be able to find him since he had cast a scentless charm on himself and a silencing charm on his shoes, but it never hurt to be alert.
When he had finally arrived in the charms corridor and walked up to one of the niches on the walls, he hissed Open for the heir and a part of the wall moved enough so a person like him can fit through.
Unlike the sink in the girl's bathroom, there were no snakes and hints that it contained an entrance. He crept down the stairs, carefully to avoid any of the rocks and moss that was scattered across the passage.
In the past few years, he took it upon himself to redecorate the large area to make it more inviting and cozy. He had kept all the statues, even though he did not particularly enjoy staring at them, but it would be disrespectful to destroy the properties of one of the founders. Now, he had created a living and studying area with beds, sofas, fireplaces, and most importantly, a library. He filled the shelves with some of his more "light" books incase this place was searched. On the far side of the open space, he created an exercise area, filled with dummies and equipment- a collection of his practice daggers and swords, some expensive body armor, and some muggle guns. Like what he mentioned before, it never hurt to be prepared.
This day had been particularly taxing on him because of the extremely loud and rather violent shouting match his friends had in the common rooms. Simply thinking about it gave him a headache.
Oh yes, he remembered, I need to strengthen my mind shields so I could be prepared if Dumbledore tried anything, like reading my thoughts.
With that thought in mind, he started his warm ups and stretching. He had one hard and bleak day in front of him. His classmates simply make too much noise. Definitely not good to his health.
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