Harry Potter and the Devil's Apprentice

Summary: At the age of 7, Harry Potter disappeared. 10 years later, the world is in turmoil. The Order of the Phoenix struggles to survive as the Dark Lord reveals his mysterious Apprentice. AU

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

I apologize again for the crappy third chapter. I did it in small spurts in between writing an essay and a lab report. And as I said before, I'm making this thing up as I go so it's a bit harder to write than some of my other stories. I can only promise this: the next chapters will be longer.


Hundreds of miles from Grimmauld Place, someone felt particularly uneasy. He got the sense that the game of 'Harry Hunting', which had been played since the day he was born, had been taken up a few notches. And although his cousin had seemed to thoroughly enjoy the sport, he preferred Quidditch to almost anything.

Chapter 4: The Writings on the Wall

A brown-haired boy strutted haughtily into a dark room and an anomalous array of candles immediately sprang to life. He flopped onto a chair, waved his wand over himself and sighed with contentment as he transformed back into a pale, dignified looking, blond.

"My life," he sighed, "Is so difficult…"

"Says the heir to the Malfoy fortune to the lowly homeless kid," the black haired, green-eyed boy from the paper walked into the room and rolled his eyes at his friend.

Draco Malfoy snorted, "You're as much of a lowly homeless kid as the Queen of England. Besides, this is your home."

In one sweeping motion, the blond gestured grandly at their surroundings. Dank stone walls surrounded it, the rocky texture of them made all the more prominent in the presence of dim light that flickered ever so often as the odd assortment of candles randomly floating through the air slowly burned out. In the middle of the room was a plain wooden table with two entirely different chairs. A small bed lay in the corner, more hard than soft, and a few bookshelves lined the walls, packed with dark texts, some thought to be lost to world entirely. On the walls were hundreds of ancient symbols and writings in languages long forgotten by the average man. If not for the writings on the wall and the books on the shelves, the room would have been rather uninteresting.

"Okay," Malfoy said, "so maybe this isn't the most comfortable home…"

"On the contrary, I find this place quite comfortable," the raven-haired boy replied, "But it is just that, a place. Not a home."

"You're worried about something, man. What?"

The emerald-eyed teen cursed himself for forgetting to don his usual mask.

"That man just startled me is all." Was his response.

"And you're nervous about today's encounter with Sirius Black why…?"

"I just don't enjoy being hunted. I know where my loyalty lies, and it's not with some moronic ministry, or some hopeless order…" there was a hint of malice in the young man's voice as he spoke. "And anyone who tries to convince me otherwise is not going to have a good time of it."

"OK…" Draco gave his friend a look, "You just need to calm down Jimmy-Jay. There's no way the ministry can get to you if you're in full disguise. It was probably just a coincidence Black spotted you anyway."

"There is no such thing as a coincidence," the other boy countered. "I feel as if something is about to happen, something is about to change. And do NOT call me Jimmy-Jay! If you were anyone else, you wouldn't have that stupid grin on your face just now."

Although he said it in a light manner, Draco didn't doubt it was the truth. He looked up at his companion, now tracing one of the odd patterns on the wall, muttering to himself.

He sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose as he murmured, "You're probably right, Draco. They won't find me. To the world, I am dead."

Not precisely," Malfoy countered. "To the world, you are Harry Potter. And they'll never give you any peace, whether the majority of them believes you to be dead or not."

A long silence followed. Something was changing, Harry knew, the sense of it hung heavy in the air. But for the moment he brushed it off and continued to trace the writings on the wall.

"I think," he murmured so low Draco could barely hear him, "it will be safe to journey to London again tomorrow."

---------------

"Yes, master," a cold female voice replied from behind a Death Eater's mask, "All has been accomplished as planned today. And tomorrow's excursion has been perfectly premeditated as well."

"Excellent," Lord Voldemort smiled maliciously. "Now where is my Apprentice? If they're not down here in ten seconds…"

At that moment, the door to the chamber burst open, revealing a foreboding looking figure, cloaked in dark gray. The only thing one could see under the figure's hood was a black mask that, though smooth as glass, reflected no light.

"My Lord," the Apprentice bowed low, "I apologize profoundly for keeping you."

The Apprentice's voice was low, raspy, and cruel. It was not the voice of a man, but of something unexplainable, something feared. A product of the mask, the voice was, to disguise the voice of the person behind it. The Apprentice had chosen the voice, much to the approval of the Dark Lord.

"Be thankful I'm in a good mood tonight Apprentice." Voldemort snapped.

"You are much too good to me, My Lord," the Apprentice bowed yet again.

"Lestrange, out!" the Dark Lord barked to the Death Eater, who was curiously watching the exchange.

Lestrange jumped, bowed, and rushed out of the room, not seeing, but feeling the Apprentice's burning gaze on her back. The Dark Lord chuckled.

"I hear everything has gone well, My Lord," the Apprentice murmured, "Our affairs will be much better dealt with now that Rockwood has been… punished for his treachery."

There was no change in the Apprentice's voice when he said it, yet Voldemort looked at his Apprentice searchingly, "You seem rather pleased that Rockwood is gone. Is there something I do not know about between you and him?"

"No, My Lord." The Apprentice replied, "Only a few, slight disagreements in judgment. He was only out for himself, and did not know how to serve his master properly. I assume that is why he failed so terribly at his last task."

The Dark Lord nodded, searching his Apprentice's mind and finding only contempt for his former Death Eater in it.

"Our only problem now, I suppose, is that we do not have a decent spy. The Order is becoming more secretive with each death, and now that Severus has been discovered…"

"You will find a way, My Lord. Ancient magic, fate is on your side."

Voldemort, satisfied with the proclamation, nodded yet again.

"Now then, my young Apprentice, I believe we still have some unfinished business to attend to. You weren't quite up to par on your lesson earlier today. You are to go to The Chambers and await punishment."

The Apprentice bowed yet again, "Yes, My Lord."

Voldemort grinned maliciously. His Apprentice was strong, stronger than anyone but himself, perhaps stronger than himself when it came to enduring pain. And all of the Apprentice's power belonged to him. His grin widened.

And on the other side of the mask, the Apprentice donned a malevolently delighted look that could rival the Dark Lord's.


Hi. Um… next chapter will be either somewhere around this size or much, much longer. Sorry it took so long to update. I was working on Defending the Light in most of my free time this week.

There are now 2 people who guessed right on who the boys were. Congratulations to Nitasha and Shadowed Rains! The nicknames Harry and Draco gave themselves are indeed plays off of their father's first names. Jay-Jay equals James and Lu Lu equals Lucius.